“Wouldn’t it be easier to wait for you to leave here?” Jason asked.
“Interforce is the last stop on this shuttle run. It goes right up to the station after that. They could try to blow the shuttle up out of the sky, but it would go up and into space before they probably caught her.” Doctor Dan said. “But it sure was audacious.”
“That’s damn sure.” Jess ran a hand through her hair, and grimaced a trifle. “Well, glad they got skunked anyway.”
Now, the room was starting to fill with people. Dev kept to one side, as technicians poured in and Stephen Bock arrived at a run, puling up to a halt next to their little group. “Came in at sea level.” He said. “They were up and over the ridge before the systems caught them and in there.” He looked at the bay. “They dropped a team and went topside. Too fast, and too high for us to follow.”
“Huh.” Jess grunted. “Told you they’d get an advantage going half space with those damn things.” She said. “We can’t chase them.”
‘Wasn’t my decision.” Stephen said, shortly. “Everyone clear?”
Jason looked around. “Looks like.”
It was then that Bock noticed Doctor Dan standing there. “Mr. Bain was asking for you.”
“I bet he was.” Kurok handed over his blaster to one of the security men, who took it gingerly. “Well, it appears I’m stuck here for a while longer.” He patted Dev on the shoulder. “Let me go see what the old man wants.”
He turned and left the outer lock, passing through the inner corridors and disappearing as the rest of them watched him go.
“You said he was a scientist?” Jason asked, quizzically.
“He is a scientist.” Dev said. “He programmed me.” She added, after a brief pause.
“Huh.” Jess’s brows twitched. “That might explain a few things.”
“What?” Jason looked at her.
“Never mind.” Jess exhaled. “Well, they got us good, that’s for sure. Never had the guts to go for our bay before.”
“You pissed them off.”
A cleanup team was removing the enemy bodies, zipping them into bags and latching the bags to the weight carrier they’d brought with them. Technicians were moving aside the destroyed console, and someone else was erecting a set of temporary lights in the corner.
A squad of security showed up, with a portable blast barrier they started to set up to close the gaping hole in the wall
Stephen shook his head. “That was ballsy.” He regarded the outer door. “We’ll need to keep the inside seal on until they get that rebuilt.” He glanced at Jess. “You think it’s their way of sending a message back for what you did?”
Jess shrugged. “Stupid if it was. Besides, you heard Kurok. He thinks they were after him.” She said. “And I wouldn’t say he’s wrong.” She added. “C’mon Dev. Let’s go get breakfast now that all the fun’s over.”
“That was fun?” Dev straightened out of her jumpsuit, twisted askew from her crawling on the floor. “I think I liked being chased by all those planes better.”
Brent snorted. “Score.”
“Yeah, well, let’s get chow before the old man blows up.” Jason joined them “Not gonna be a happy day.”
**
Dev entered her rad station, her book tucked under her arm as she paused to review the space in front of her.
She liked it. The room was low ceilinged, and cozy, with translucent couches and chairs and towards the back, what Jess had explained to her was a meditation space that was lit in a soft blue light and had a padded floor to sit on.
She put her book down on the table and went to the small closet in the wall. She removed her boots and her jumpsuit, and put them inside, feeling the faint movement of air against her bare skin as she went to the control panel.
She put her palm on it. After a second, it chimed. “Name.” A soft voice asked.
Dev studied it for a minute. “Dev.” She pronounced.
The system digested that. “NM-Dev-1?”
“Yes.”
“This system will code your presence recording you as “Dev”.” The voice said. “Stand by for scan please.”
Dev waited, and felt the tickle over her skin as the system reviewed her body. This felt totally normal to her, and she remained still, breathing easily. “This is my first experience.” She said, after a pause.
“Acknowledged.” The voice answered. “This session will consist of one standard hour. Advise this system if you experience any difficulty, or if discomfort results.”
“Yes.” Dev agreed. “Thank you.”
Talking to machines was often easier than talking to people. Dev felt the light change, and she felt faint warmth on her skin as the rad came on and bathed her. There was something in the quality of it that made her smile and she walked into the space with the chairs and picked her book up, sitting down on one of the couches and leaning back.
Jess was working on the mission plan, and she suggested that Dev get her rad in and that she’d come get her when she was ready to go over what they were going to do. That seemed like a good idea to her, and now she was content to relax in the light, enjoying the warmth and the soft sound of the machinery around her.
In the crèche, there never was an issue about getting sunlight. It came and went constantly, and you could always count on catching some in the dining hall, or the gym, or just in the halls while you were waiting for a class.
And, of course, in the sleep pods as they rotated up along the rim of the crèche they were exposed to the sun as the covers turned translucent and so, she’d never had to think about it before.
Here, she did. Dev stretched her legs out on the couch. She wondered what people outside the citadel did, and made a mental note to ask Jess about it later.
She set her book down and folded her hands over her bare stomach, thinking about the attack they’d suffered in the morning. It had been scary for her. She had felt a little like she and Brent were more of a hindrance than a help and it bothered her a lot that there hadn’t been anything she could do to help Jess at all.
If they had been ordered to launch – then there would have been good work for her. But they had bypassed the hangar deck when they went into the last curve and then all she and Brent could do is stay on the ground and hope they didn’t get blasted.
Brent had even talked to her about it. Commiserated with her. Dev had felt sort of good about that, since it was the first time the tech had even spoken to her outside ship com. She’d even walked back to the dining hall at his side and it hadn’t really felt uncomfortable.
That was nice. She didn’t want the others to feel bad all the time around her. Dev studied the calm, dim room. She would finish her rad, she decided, and then maybe go do some work in the gym. Maybe by then, Jess would have her plan all worked out.
**
Jess slowly sat down at her desk, grimacing a little as her back protested. The spot where she’d been stabbed had ended up slamming against a door handle in all the tumult and she’d felt a sharp spear of pain that at the time, she’d ignored.
Now, it was throbbing, and the jolts of pain were going up her spine and through her neck and giving her a banging headache.
She should go to med. Jess glowered at the screen in front of her, and rested her forearms on the desk, debating the issue with herself in silence.
If she went to med, she’d be stuck there. They’d ground her again. Jess studied her twined fingers. Before she hadn’t really cared that much, after Joshua she’d been more than glad not to be under any pressure either to take a new partner on or go out in the field.
It had been all right, to her, to step down after she’d gotten back from the failed mission, spending her time either curled up in bed convalescing or out on the ledge, just watching the sea. It had been a long time – hell, it had been since her entrance into field school since she’d taken a break and just let life run past her for a while.