Dawn of Procyon (16 page)

Chapter 30

PSD 29-213: 1037 hours

As Cait finished replacing the EVA suit in the repair closet, Pasternak appeared through the now open bulkhead doors, pushing the trolley slowly toward her. He smirked as she looked up.

“Well, well, well,” he drawled good-naturedly, “if it isn’t the local hero herself.”

“Shut up,” she said, smiling in return.

“I’m surprised you came back to fraternize with us commoners, Cait. I hear they’ve named a star system after you already.”

“Now that you mention it, I didn’t see you showing up to help. What happened, Nak? You lock yourself in the toilet again or something?”

Pasternak accelerated, as if he meant to run her down, but she stepped nimbly out the way. The trolley clattered to a halt inside the closet. “Har har. As it turns out, I was on my way over here, but you were too efficient.”

“Yeah. A likely story.”

Pasternak jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “You sure scared old Spud. He ran into the workshop rambling on about an invasion or something. Said we were all going to die.”

“Let’s just say he didn’t hold up too well under the pressure.”

“Is
that
how you describe it? He locked himself inside the cabin of that old broken down series two T1-X at the back of the workshop. They’re still trying to get him out.”

Cait laughed despite her weariness. “Maybe I’ll assign the job of getting him out to you, huh?”

“Don’t you
dare
.”

“It’s either that or scrubbing the condensers down in the plant room on Minus Seven. Make up your mind.”

Pasternak smiled. “Do they like . . . send you to jerk training when you become a supervisor, or is this just something that comes naturally to you?”

“Oh, I can do a whole lot worse than this. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, Nak.”

The smile slipped from Pasternak’s face, and he motioned down the corridor, suddenly serious. “Dodge sent a couple of guys outside the epidermis to add more plating over your patch job, and Franklin and Milford are down the hall trying to get the power back on.” He leaned forward conspiratorially. “A few others are hanging around, as well.”

“Who?” Cait said sharply.

“A couple of Marines, and the lawman.”

“Doing what?”

“Sniffing around. Apparently there’s some suspicious circumstances here. You know about that?”

Cait thought of the dead men who had been lying in the epidermis. Then she remembered Fraxa’s terrified face and the way she’d spoken about the men who had kidnapped her.

What had the leader’s name been? Archer?

She glanced into the darkness that filled the corridor. Maybe she had an opportunity to find out something more about their crew. Find out if Fraxa really
was
safe.

“Not really,” she said. “I’ll go and check it out, make sure Franklin and Milford are on track.”

Pasternak shrugged. “You’re the supe. Do what you want.”

Down near the breach site, Cait found Franklin and Milford picking through wires in the busted electrical conduit. The two Optechs had been arguing over something moments before, but upon seeing Cait, they simmered down and turned back to their work, like a couple of guilty schoolboys caught gossiping in class.

I’ve only been their supervisor for a few hours, and already they’re looking at me differently.

Is this why Landry hasn’t made many friends among the other Optechs?

“Can I help you?” someone said.

Cait turned to see a tall man in a black uniform shining a flashlight in her direction, his dark hair combed neatly to one side. She recognized Marshal Cole immediately, but by the look on his face it was obvious that he didn’t know her.

“I’m Supervisor Underwood from Maintenance. Just came to check up on things.”

“Supervisor, huh? Can you tell your men to get on with the repairs? We could use some light in here.”

Cait glared at him. Although she hadn’t interacted much with the Marshal before, she knew that he was viewed with some disdain by many of the Optechs. “Rent-a-cop,” they called him, in reference to his lack of any real power in the outpost. A glorified security guard.

“They’re doing what they can,” she said in a measured tone.

“And I’d also like to talk to whoever did that patch up job over there,” he said, swinging the flashlight and directing it toward the section of wall that was thick with nano-webbing and the marks of the arc-welder.

“You’re talking to her right now.”

“Well, that makes it easy.”

“What can I help you with, Marshal?”

Cole glanced around the narrow interior of the epidermis. “We found a real mess in here after you were done. Seems like there were a few casualties.”

“If you’re talking about the dead guys, yeah. I saw them.”

“How many did you see?”

“Three.”

“Were they alive when you got here?”

“I guess so. They weren’t moving, I can tell you that much. I was just focused on doing my job, repairing the damage.”

“Was there anybody with them?”

Cait thought of Fraxa hiding in the storage unit, about the tragic story of her parents’ murders and her life after the kidnapping. She’d been through a lot—more than any kid of that age should have to endure—and the last thing she needed was to be pinned as an accomplice in a criminal enterprise.

“No,” she lied. “It was just these three.”

Cole glared at her, evaluating, as if he sensed something was amiss. “No one wandering around? No one equipped in EVA suits?”

“A couple of Marines came by to check out the area. That was all.”

Cole stared thoughtfully down at the omni-device in his hands. “I have some witnesses who said they saw you carry a kid out of here. Is that true?”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t with those guys.” Cait turned and pointed at the bulkhead. “I found her behind those doors. I think she might have come from one of the Ag-rooms.”

“Where is she now?”

Cole obviously hadn’t been notified by the Infirmary that the girl was there. That being the case, he wouldn’t know about her being an illegal, she realized.

It wouldn’t take long for him to find out, though.

“She wasn’t hurt too badly. She’s over at the Infirmary for observation.”

Cole handed her the omni-device. “Do you recognize these men?”

Cait looked at the first mug shot of a man with olive skin and a trimmed mohawk. She’d never seen him before, or the second man.

The third, however,
was
familiar. It was the balding man with swirling tattoos that she’d seen lying dead on the floor when she’d arrived. The name on the mug shot read ‘Dion Archer’.

This was
him
, the one who had kidnapped Fraxa.

“I saw this guy,” she said, tapping the screen. “He was on the floor, right over there.”

“The other two?”

“I don’t know them.”

Cole took the omni-device from her. “Okay. Thanks for your time.” He walked away.

“Is he going to be all right?” Cait called after him.

Cole turned and smiled wryly. “Afraid not. He got what he deserved.”

“What do you mean?”

He walked back over to her. “Archer and his crew have been on my radar for a while now. They’ve been dealing in stolen goods, for the most part, but they’ve dabbled in blackmail and murder now and again, too. Real pieces of work.” He pointed at the breach. “I figure they were trying to knock a hole through to the next layer of the epidermis. There’s some affluent apartments on the other side. They could have really cleaned up.” He gave Cait a direct look. “They didn’t seem to care that they were endangering every man, woman, and child on this outpost with this stunt. In fact, I’ll bet they didn’t give it a second thought. Not when they could’ve made a few quick bucks.” Cole rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m just not sure how they planted the explosives. See the conduit there, beneath the blast area? Your Optechs tell me the steel is weaker there, and that’s the place they targeted.”

“Sounds about right.”

“So how did they crawl through the conduit to place the IED? None of Archer’s crew were small enough to fit inside.”

Cait immediately thought of Fraxa, how her tiny frame would easily allow her to access the depths of the conduit. She was all too aware of how closely Cole was studying her face again.

“Look, I don’t—” Her omni-device chimed, indicating a incoming call. Thankful for the interruption, she gave Cole a curt wave. “Sorry, I have to take this.” She turned her back on him and walked a few paces away before answering. “Hello?”

“Underwood?” Dodge appeared, his face red. He was irate. “What’s going on with you? Why aren’t you back at the workshop yet?”

“What?” she said, incredulous. “Haven’t you heard about—?”

“I don’t care about the breach. You shouldn’t be out there playing the hero. Your place is here, organizing your Optechs.”

Gratitude
, Cait thought sourly.
This guy is unbelievable. After everything I’ve done today . . . 
“But I had no choice–”

“What about the mess with Landry? Have you cleaned that up yet?”

“No, I—”

“
Get on it!
” Dodge thundered. “I want you back at the workshop ASAP. At this rate you’re going to be pulling an all-nighter.”

Cait began to protest again, but Dodge had already hung up. She turned to see Cole staring at her, his eyebrow arched. “Sounds like you’ve got enough on your plate,” he said. “Thanks for your help.”

“Yeah. No problem.” She turned away, still seething about the call from Dodge. When the day came that OC kicked him out of his office, Cait would be waiting to take over. Things would change. Not only would she get things done, but she would earn the respect of those under her as well. She would treat them right.

Calming herself down with a deep breath, she took one more look around the area, wondering if there were any clues here that might tie Fraxa to the criminals. She didn’t know what Cole would do once he found the girl; maybe he would come to the same conclusion that Cait herself had, that she was an innocent victim who had unwittingly been dragged into the whole mess.

Or maybe he wouldn’t.

Chapter 31

PSD 29-213: 1611 hours

Landry moved forward cautiously, waiting for the Argoni to strike. A part of him was screaming that this was a trap, that the creature’s disappearing act had been nothing more than a ruse to coax him out of his hiding spot, making him an easier target. That the weird movement of the boulder had been a distraction, something to throw him off guard—a magician making a flourish with one hand while the subterfuge was carried out with the other.

After a few steps forward, he still couldn’t see any sign of the Toad. He could see its footsteps lead off for a few meters, then disappear at the large boulder.

“Wait a minute,” he said suddenly. “What if it’s got some sort of cloaking device? What if it’s sitting there right now, invisible?”

“There is no documented evidence of the Argoni possessing cloaking technology,” HAIRI said.

“How would we know about it if we can’t
see
it?”

“A good point.”

“Is there a possibility it used a gadget to instantaneously fold to another location, like the other side of the planet?”

“You are postulating the existence of a miniature fold engine?”

Landry realized he already knew the answer. “It’s impossible. You can’t fold space with a device that would fit into your hand. You need more mass to generate the quantum field. Plus, you can’t jump distances that small. You can only fold between star systems.”

“Correct.”

“Unless the Argoni are more advanced than we thought, and can manipulate time and space in ways that we can’t.”

“There is no documented evidence of this either. It is also not possible theoretically.”

“So there has to be some other explanation,” Landry said.

“Stop here please.”

Landry did as HAIRI asked, looking around in confusion. “What? What is it?”

“I would like to show you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“I took the liberty of activating the recording function from your EVA camera,” HAIRI said. “While you were observing the Argoni, that is. Please direct your attention to your HUD for a moment.”

A video projection lit up on the inside of Landry’s visor, showing his view of the Toad from a few minutes before. He watched as the Argoni shifted the piece of the scout into one arm, then reached down to the outcropping of basalt with the other.

“Here,” HAIRI said, increasing the video magnification to maximum, zooming in on the edge of the basalt. “Watch this part carefully.”

Landry watched as the Toad’s arm dropped down. Something dangled from the end of it and touched the outcropping of basalt.

“What
is
that?” he said.

“Keep watching.”

HAIRI slowed the footage down, and Landry saw what appeared to be some kind of black liquid seep out of the rock in response to the Argoni’s touch—what he had previously thought was a shadow. The image shifted suddenly away from the Argoni.

“This was the point at which you hid behind the boulder again,” HAIRI said.

“Yeah. I remember.”

“I will reverse the footage once more. Take a close look at the end of the Argoni’s arm.”

“What’s the thing sticking out of the end of its arm?” he said as HAIRI froze the footage again.

“I believe we have seen these protuberances before, only a matter of minutes ago.”

Landry considered that. “The thing sticking out of the sand, back at the dogfighter wreck?”

“Yes. It is my contention that the limb we found did in fact belong to an Argoni. I believe it is part of its arm. The protuberances, what we might consider the equivalent of human fingers, appear to be the same as the ones in this footage.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. If it’s a Toad arm, why hasn’t it decomposed already? I thought that’s what happened when they die.”

“That
is
perplexing. I do not have an answer for you. Perhaps if you had been willing to take the specimen with us . . .”

“Not gonna happen.”

“In any case, from analyzing the footage of the Argoni’s interaction with the rock, I can see that some sort of reaction occurs when the Argoni’s fingers touch the basalt.”

HAIRI played back the footage, and Landry had to agree that the AI was right. The fluid
did
appear to coalesce around the Toad’s protuberances and stick to them like glue.

“Okay, this is seriously weird. And I don’t think I want to stand around here in the open any longer.”

“Wait, I have a theory.”

“I’m listening,” Landry said.

“I postulate that this segment of basalt is some sort of gateway. We saw the Argoni touch its fingers against it, and then it promptly disappeared.”

“A gateway to what?”

“I am not certain of that. But it could be that this device is the Argoni equivalent to our own biometric authentication,” HAIRI said, “much like the bio-doors you would use at the outpost.”

“So it opened a doorway here.”

“Yes,” HAIRI said.

“By mashing its tentacles on a rock? How is that possible?”

“I would remind you that we understand little of their technology. It is highly probable that their methods are vastly different to ours.”

“Well, it’s a nice theory and all—”

“Why don’t you try opening the doorway, Landry?”

“Say
what?
”

“You came here to find the antenna, did you not? In order to do that, you will need to find out where the Argoni is taking the components from the scout.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll just make some magic
goo
appear from this rock over here, shall I?”

“There is no need to be facetious.”

“That’s what you’re suggesting, isn’t it?”

“Assuming you can suggest a better plan, I am happy to try an alternative.”

Landry mulled over that for a few seconds, trying to think of a reason to disagree. “Happy to try an alternative, huh?”

“Happy as a pig in mud,” HAIRI said.

Landry couldn’t be sure whether it was HAIRI’s inflammatory tone or a mote of desperation seeping into his consciousness, but a moment later he was striding recklessly forward. He leaned down and pressed the glove of his EVA suit against the outcropping of basalt, as the Argoni had done, and waited.

Nothing.

He prodded it with his fingers, scraped them back and forth, and then finally began to rub at it, like a man desperate to coax a genie from a lamp.

Still nothing.

“There, happy?” Landry snapped.

“Yes. As a pig in mu—”

“Stop saying that.”

“Landry, I was not suggesting you try to open the door with this method.”

He grudgingly acknowledged what HAIRI was intimating. “You want me to go and get that thing out of the dirt, don’t you?”

“If it
is
the limb of an Argoni, it may allow us to progress.”

“Through this biometric security system. That’s
made of rocks
.”

“Precisely.”

Landry scanned the horizon. It was getting late. Soon, Procyon A would set, and they would be left in the twilight world of Procyon B. He wondered if he would survive another night out here, if his battery would last.

He had a very strong suspicion that it wouldn’t. He’d used up most of his luck already.

“Okay. I’m going to die anyway, so why not?”

He made the trek back to the dogfighter wreck and found the severed limb sitting in the deep orange rays of the late afternoon sunlight. He eyed it distastefully for a moment, then reached down and plucked it from the sand.

It was surprisingly light, like a small branch, although it was soft and squishy to the touch. As quickly as he could, he arranged it securely in amongst his life support gear, then headed back toward the outcropping of basalt again.

By the time they reached it, twilight was upon them.

“What happens if this sets off some sort of alarm?” he said, holding the limb in his hands.

“Then our mission to find the antenna will fail.”

Landry wasn’t really expecting his little trick to work. He assumed that, if this
were
some kind of biometric authentication system, there would be safeguards against any attempted manipulation, such as using dead parts of trusted entities to gain entry. He knew that those safeguards existed in human systems, for example. You couldn’t just poke a man’s eyeball out, skewer it on a stick like a kebab and use it to fool a retina scan. The sophistication of the scanner was such that it would detect the lack of fluid dynamics through the retina and other parts of the eye.

Still, he’d gone this far, he figured. He might as well try.

Landry shrugged. “Okay, here goes.”

Slowly, he lowered the limb and brushed its tentacles across the face of the rock.