“It’s a book.” Dev said, with a touch of hesitation. “You have them here, right?”
“We have them, but.. they’re on plas.” Jess peered at it. “Can I see it?”
Dev passed it over to her. “One of my teachers gave it to me.”
Jess put her pad down and touched the book, opening it and running her fingertips over it. The pages were thin, and an odd scent came off them as she peered at the writing. It was, as Dev had said, too dim to really read it, but she could make sense of the words if she concentrated on them.
Dev sat quietly, watching her. Jess’s head was bent over the book as it was cradled in her hands, one elbow leaning on the chair arm with her legs tucked up half under her.
The brown sigils were very visible on her arms, but now that Dev could see all of her, she could see the scars there too scattered over her skin and she thought about how much all of that must have hurt.
Jess was tall, and she had long bones. She had wide shoulders but you could see a lot of her skeleton under her skin though there tough sinew there too. There was one long scar from her right knee to her ankle on the inside of her leg that made Dev grimace just to see it.
She had gotten badly hurt only once. She’d been in the null grav gym and there had been a malfunction, and she’d fallen two stories on top of one of the agility systems and broken her leg.
The pain had been incredible. She’d been very glad she’d passed out and woken up in the medical center, her leg already set and muzzy with painkilling drugs. “I’ve read it a hundred times.” Dev said, into the silence that had built around them. “I find something new every time.”
Jess looked up from the book and smiled. “I haven’t read one of these since I was very small.” She handed the book back. “And I’ve never read this one.” She glanced at the cover. “Lord of the Rings.”
“Would you like to borrow it?” Dev asked. “It’s really a good story.”
“Later.” Jess agreed. “I’d love to.” She shifted and reached for the pad, halting in midmotion and closing her eyes, then opening them and exhaling. “Don’t think I’m going to get a chance to read it in the next couple days.” She lifted the pad and triggered it. “Here’s the deal.”
Dev put the book down and leaned on the arm of the lounge she was on, studying the pad. After a moment though, she looked up at Jess’s face, surprised to see some tension there. One long hand was tangled in her hair holding her head up, as the other tapped the pad, and there was an awkwardness about her posture.
“So, this is what we’re gonna do, if the intel comes back.” Jess said. “This is the edge of the Greenland islands. That’s’ where the fishing fleets work out of.”
“I see.” Dev murmured.
“Tough place, but.. “ Jess tapped the screen. “I’ve got some remote family here, and we can cross over into enemy territory here, in this little group where they all trade together.”
Dev nodded. “How does that assist us?”
“These boats, they trade with the bad guys.” Jess drew a line on the screen. “I’m going to get taken onboard as a mate, and get into the lab that way, when they go to trade fish to them.”
Dev considered that. “I see.”
“What I’ll need you to do is hide out there, and keep com open, then come get my ass out of there after I finish the job.” Jess said. “Got it?”
“What are you going to do?”
“Depends.” Jess said. “If I can steal the tech, I will. If not, I’ll destroy it.” She studied the pad, and then looked up her pilot. “I’d rather steal it. Then we get the benefit.”
“This sounds difficult.” Dev commented. “What if they find out who you are? Will they be angry?” She watched Jess shift a little; setting the pad down and leaning back in the chair, as the warm, purple light bathed her.
“Chances are, they will find out, and sure, they’ll be angry.” Jess said. “That’s part of the game.” She studied her pilot. Dev was stretched out on the couch, but there was a furrow in her brow and she looked a little perturbed. “But the goal is to get this job done. It’s important to us, because if they take this technology forward, they could start reclaiming land and that means these skirmishes we do might turn into something a lot bloodier.”
Dev’s head cocked to one side a bit.
“There aren’t enough of us left to have a war, Dev.” Jess said, after a long silence between them. “But livable land means more people and more resources, and then they will have enough bodies to have a war with and we won’t.”
“This is going to sound kind of foolish.. or maybe ignorant.” Dev said, slowly. “But wouldn’t it be more productive to cooperate and assist everyone in making progress?”
Jess smiled faintly. “Yes, it would” She said. “But that’s not how we’re wired, Dev. “
“I see.” The bio alt considered the statement. “I will do my best to assist in the plan and achieve good results then.” She said. “I hope you will achieve your goals safely.”
Jess sighed. “Yeah, me too.” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “We’ll have to do some trading in the islands and I’ll need to put together a cover.” She mused. “And make sure we can cover up that necklace of yours. That won’t work out there.”
‘Are there bio alts on the outside?” Dev asked.
Jess shook her head. “In the citadels, and in the admin centers, yes. But not in the outlands. They don’t even know what a bio alt is. I said cover it so they don’t cut your head off and try to steal it.”
Dev’s pale eyes widened.
Jess chuckled wryly. “Don’t worry. They can’t break into a carrier. Yet.” She leaned back again, the pain having subsided into a mere dull throb again. “I think this is going to work, Dev. We’ve never hit them this way before, and I’ve got a lot of chances to back out if it looks like it’s going to crash and burn.”
“Have you ever done that?”
Jess looked over to find those interesting green eyes watching her, the faintest of smiles on Dev’s face. “Done what, back out?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Jess grinned, rakishly.
“I didn’t think so.” Dev grinned back. “I’ll do my best to take care of your ass, then.”
They both chuckled, and their eyes met, and after a moment, Jess looked down at her pad, and smiled. “I definitely feel safer now.”
**
Dev entered the gym feeling happy. The big facility was nearly empty, and she went over to the changing area, finding the cabinet with her name on it and changing into the short jumper and shoes she found inside.
She wasn’t really sure why she was happy, but the rad session had been enjoyable, and she’d appreciated the fact that Jess had stopped to let her see the plan and talk to her about it. It was very different than the rescue, and it had a lot of sneaky bits to it she found really interesting.
Jess had a clever mind. She reminded Dev just a little of some of her favorite teachers in the crèche, who were always pushing her to look at things from different angles, so she could make good choices and not stick to one data source.
Jess seemed to like angles, too, and when she was being extra clever, she tended to smile a lot.
She liked that smile. Dev closed the cabinet and entered the exercise area, remembering what that looked like and feeling her face echo it as she crossed into the big space and paused to study it.
The gym was multi leveled, and had different sections intended for different purposes, including a climbing obstacle course, a running space, a load bearing area and, to her surprise since she hadn’t seen it when Jess showed her the gym, a huge tank of water.
As she watched, a tall man she didn’t know went over to the tank, and jumped into it, disappearing and then surfacing and starting to move along the top of the water using his arms and legs. “Wow.” Dev muttered to herself. “What’s that all about?”