Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5) (31 page)

Kaguya landed near the dogsled with every external light
blazing. The large, fur-clad man stood beside the sled with an ice pickaxe and
a homemade spear. His beard and mustache covered the bottom half of the small
opening in his hood. Frost due to his breathing whitened his facial hair. The
dogs were huddled in a small cave behind him.

“I’m not going back,” Monty shouted.
Although he had found a sheltered niche, the wind keened through the rocks
above them. His aspect was the same as Conrad’s, mounted on the body of a
caveman. Monty was taller. His face and emotions were deeply scarred.

“I’m not armed.” Kaguya demonstrated,
holding up her good hand as she wandered forward.
Five meters.

“What about your friends inside the
shuttle?” Monte demanded.

She shrugged. “Go ahead. Probe
their intentions. I know you can.”

He looked toward the vehicle, and
his eyes glazed over. While he swayed on his feet, she closed the distance
between them. Kaguya knocked the spear away.

“I’ve never seen so much
potential,” he said, blinking. He stepped back, still clenching the pickaxe.

“The woman is your older sister.”

“I don’t have sisters, and my
brothers are dead.”

“She was Zygote 1. My father
allowed me to raise her as my own.”

“Prove it,” he sneered.

She passed him her platinum-edged
Mori company ID. On the back was the phrase, “If found, return to Tetsuo Mori
for a reward.”

Monty raised the point of the ax to
her throat. “Give me one reason not to feed you to my dogs.”

“I might deserve that, but Laura
and her husband have made significant sacrifices to find you. You owe it to her
to listen to her offer.”

“I’d rather die than be a slave for
a corporation,” he snarled.

“I believe you would. No. We’ve
come to take you to your father.”

“If he cares so much about me, why
isn’t he here?”

“His starship is orbiting above us.
His name is Conrad Zeiss, and he just returned from a twenty-year mission.”

This surprised Monty, but he could
tell she wasn’t lying.

“Why would I care about Zeiss?”

“Because Tetsuo Mori created you,
in part, to use as leverage against him. You living happily ever after with
Conrad would be the purest form of revenge against Mori Genetics I could
imagine.”

Monty looked embarrassed. “Maybe
so, but I don’t do well trapped inside small buildings.”

Kaguya tried to tap her sleeve
link, but normal electronics wouldn’t work in this cold. “Come inside. Let me
show you the videos.
Sanctuary
is a giant biosphere. You never have to
stay inside.”

“You have to realize how farfetched
this sounds from my point of view. I mean, who the blazes are you, lady?”

“The one who should have been your
mother,” she said, risking the rejection. She handed him the work-release
document. “Look, you don’t have to come with us. You get your freedom either
way, but you could have so much more. You could be part of a family—exploring
other worlds.”

He stared down at the pickaxe and
up at her earnest face. “Can I take the dogs?”

“Not to the ship. The ecosystem is
finely tuned. A large predator would unbalance it.”

“I mean in the shuttle. I won’t
leave them here to die.”

Kaguya smiled. “Certainly. We’ll
take them back to the prison when we pick up the others.”

“I’m not setting foot there again,”
Monty insisted grimly.

“You don’t have to get out of the
shuttle, and you can hold your rifle the whole time. We rented this vehicle for
the whole day. Given the circumstances, I think we should make a trip to
Sanctuary
as soon as possible.”

When she opened the shuttle
airlock, the couple was discreetly covered by blankets. “Just load the dogs in.
Then you can sit up front with me and tell me about your life.”

Furrowing his brow, Monty pointed
at the couple. “Are they okay?”

“They’ll be fine. The dogs will
just snuggle around them. Your sister has deep CU also.”

“What?”

She shook her head. “I have so much
to tell you about who and what you are.”

“No offense, lady, but I haven’t
talked this much in the whole last year. My head is already hurting.”

“Magnesium. I have it in my purse.
When you start to see halos, take magnesium.” Rummaging around the pilot’s
seat, she passed him a water bottle and the spare pills she kept for Laura.

He stared at the medication,
uncertain whether to trust her.

****

On the flight back, Laura yipped when a dog nuzzled her.
“Cold nose. Hello?”

Stu refused to wake, becoming one
with the dog pile.

Laura dressed nervously beneath the
blanket. While putting her jewelry back on, she fiddled with the locket, eager to
see some of Stu’s baby pictures. Someone had been playing with the locket’s
advanced functions: Slide Show, Select, Delete, Sort, Import, Export, Age, and
Merge. When she clicked on Merge out of curiosity, the device prompted “Male or
Female.” On a whim, she clicked Female, and the locket crunched data for a few
moments with the wait message “Building Composite Child.”

When the image of the girl
appeared, she was dazzling.
This is what our child could look like.
Laura reached out to rotate the image.

Kaguya’s laugh from the cockpit
broke Laura’s reverie. There was someone else Laura needed to meet first. She
threaded the mammal minefield up to the cockpit. “Hi,” she said with her
brightest smile.

“I’m afraid I’ve spent his word
quota for the next year,” Kaguya said with no trace of remorse.

Laura drank in the features on
Monty’s face, especially the savage intelligence in his eyes. She extended a
hand. “Pleased to finally make your acquaintance. I’m the first science
experiment, Laura. Sorry we couldn’t spring you sooner. I just broke into the
database a few weeks ago.”

“You’re glowing,” he observed.

She smiled. “My husband boosted my
talent to find you. It was exhausting for us both but well worth the risk.”

“Risk?”

“He sort of lost the ability to
speak,” Laura explained.

Monty rumbled, “I like him
already.”

Hand on hip, Laura said, “Be as
rude as you like to me, but be nice to the other members of our team when we
reach the plane.”

“I’ll stay up front until the
spaceship,” Monty said, hugging his rifle.

Laura raised an eyebrow.

Kaguya explained, “I told him we
were going to fly to
Sanctuary
while we have the window of opportunity.
We could take all the essential people and send the plane back as a decoy.”

“Even if Stu can arrange that, we
still have to go back for the school girls. We’ll also need a medical team for
Herk.” Laura glanced through the door at her sleeping husband.

Waving the excuse away, Kaguya
said, “You’re the ambassador’s wife. Just tell people what’s going to happen.”

“Shouldn’t we wait till after the
UN vote?” Laura asked.

“If the measure doesn’t pass, they
won’t let you leave with more astronauts,” Kaguya reasoned. “The governments
will use any excuse they can to hold Stewart hostage to extort more tech from
Sanctuary
.”

I just don’t like operating like
Nana.
“Okay. You inform Oleander, and I’ll wake Stu.”

Laura whispered softly in Stu’s ear
until he trundled into the cockpit. He grunted and waved to Monty, who nodded
in reply. Brushing her hair behind her ear, Laura said, “Mom thought we should
take a load to
Sanctuary
today while we have the shuttle and atmospheric
cover.”

Stu’s expression changed suddenly
from bliss to sadness, but he nodded in a resigned way. Then he went back to
the cabin to pet the dogs.

“Trouble?” asked Kaguya.

“I guess he’s never seen a dog
before,” Laura explained, a little embarrassed.

Monty unclipped and went back to
introduce Stu to the six animals. He told the silent ambassador all about their
care and feeding.

Eyes wide, Laura stole the vacant
copilot seat and turned up the heat. “Sure. Everybody likes Stu.”

“It will take time for Monty to
open up to any of us.” Kaguya checked her fuel gauge. “When we arrive, we’ll
refuel and unload the dogs. Don’t tell anyone we found your brother yet. As
cover, tell the warden we need the Ballbusters crew as a search party.”

“How do we rationalize the crates
and suitcases?”

“Constructing a base camp for the
search. We’ll need at least two trips into orbit, depending on the mass. We may
have to stop at Esperanza Base for fuel if the prison doesn’t have enough.”

After a moment of silence, Kaguya
prompted, “So?” When Laura didn’t supply details, she asked, “How was bonding?”

A smile crept onto Laura’s face.
“Thanks for the chemical assist.”

“It was just vodka and vanilla,”
Kaguya admitted. “I couldn’t find any useful medications at the prison. You
just needed to believe. I always knew you two would make a pair.”

As instructed, Kaguya didn’t tell anyone on the radio that
Monty had been rescued. The base camp ploy worked for everyone but Oleander,
who resisted until Laura requested crates that could only be of use on
Sanctuary
.
By the time Kaguya landed the shuttle back at the prison, Oleander had teams
ready to service the craft and swap cargoes. Kaguya met her outside and scanned
the manifest. “Stu wanted the minerals and materials for his pet AI delivered
as soon as possible.”

“People are more important,”
Oleander replied. “If the repairs have waited this long, they can wait a few
more hours. Besides, to make room for this shuttle,
Sanctuary
has to
move what’s left of
Ascension
out of our landing bay. Since the ship is
going to cannibalize those materials, Snowflake will have a head start on his
minerals.”

After this exchange, no one said a
word about their real destination. Oleander strapped an ultralight, folding
bicycle into an overhead bin.

Kaguya kept the cockpit door sealed
and let Laura handle the persuasion. The warden charged them a premium for the
extra fuel but left them otherwise unhindered. Joan provided the rendezvous
coordinates, and the mute Stu piloted.

As copilot, Kaguya spoke to the
passengers over the PA. To explain their steep ascent, Kaguya said, “Stu wants
to rise above this weather system to reach the search area quicker.”

Standing behind him, Laura said,
“You seem depressed. Is there something wrong?”

When they switched propulsion
systems due to lower oxygen, Stu gestured for Laura to strap in.

Kaguya increased the airflow to
compensate for a slow leak in the vacuum seals. “He has a very tight landing
zone, and gravity is going to change directions once we’re inside the bay. The
mass isn’t well-balanced or secured. Don’t distract him.”

Because Monty was already in the
navigator’s chair, glued to the window, Laura wandered back to the main cabin.
Since the hold was full, the luggage racks and spare seats were also jammed
with vital equipment collected for
Sanctuary
.

Over the South Pole, in an already
chaotic weather system,
Sanctuary
dipped lower into Earth atmosphere
than ever before, opening the lens of the landing bay. A white hole opened in
utter darkness. Kaguya examined the comm board. “Did you signal for that, Stu?”

“No. Snowflake sensed Laura because
she’s an Index,” Stu whispered. “They’re like the keys to the Magi ship.”

“So
Sanctuary
can’t operate
without one, which is why Mira couldn’t leave the ship.”

“Why won’t you talk to Laura?”
Monty asked.

“Complicated,” Stu replied,
flipping the shuttle. Even warned, the passengers cursed or shrieked at the
reversal.

Kaguya ventured a guess. “He’s
bonded to her, which means he can never be with any other woman. But he’s made
promises to me and other people that may upset her.”

“Busy,” Stu said, clicking a series
of switches with his left hand while feathering the stick with his right. “This
is Rescue 972 requesting permission to dock.”

Zeiss’ voice came over the headset.
“Gravity Boy, welcome home.”

Their landing, though gentle by
comparison to their recent velocity, was solid enough to spill the contents of
several suitcase racks. No one was injured, but Kaguya glared at the young
pilot.
If he doesn’t resolve his problems soon, they could harm us all.

Three people in spacesuits ran to
the shuttle airlock as Kaguya completed the shutdown sequence. “Monty, send
your sister up here and then help people disembark.”

Oleander barked orders to shepherd
the rabble. “We have a short window. Gravity is just 10 percent Earth standard,
but in about two minutes, the air will be about the same pressure and
temperature as the airstrip we just left. Line up single file. I’ve opened the
cargo hatches. I’ll need each of you to carry as much as you can to the
decontamination chamber.”

Someone asked, “Will we be safe
without suits?”

“As long as no one shoots us with
beam weapons again. If that happens, even the suit won’t help,” Oleander
replied. “Don’t worry. Stu is keeping watch.”

Stu stared at the control panel,
apparently lost in thought.

Kaguya said, “I’m nervous about the
reunion, too.”

“How did you lie to her for so
long?” he muttered. “It hurts not telling her the truth.”

“Losing her would hurt more,” she
replied.

Laura came into the cockpit
smiling. “This is so exciting. My father couldn’t come to the bay because of
the risk, but Yvette said she could take me down to meet him.”

Kaguya licked her lips. “Tsukiko,
Stu and I have to make another trip for the bulkier cargo and the last few
people. He won’t admit it, but he’s been missing you. Could you ride along with
us one more time before seeing the habitat? I know it’s a sacrifice, but—”

“Anything,” Laura said, placing her
forehead against Stu’s. He closed his eyes, reveling in the contact.

“From the nav chair, you may even
be able to touch him,” Kaguya offered.

Laura popped out to tell the
others.

“Thank you,” Stu said.

“I’ve given us both a few more
hours. She’ll forgive us eventually,” Kaguya said, assuring both herself and
the young man.

****

Departing from
Sanctuary
, Laura’s mother and husband
clammed up. They seemed nervous during the stop at Esperanza Base to refuel.
Laura gained access to the airfield tanks by claiming to be part of a search
expedition for an escaped prisoner. After servicing their craft, a clerk
bundled in a white, down jacket resembling the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man asked
for a voucher. The carte-blanche account from the Fortune CEO no longer worked,
so Laura had to use the traceable stock account instead. “We have a short fuse
before they find us,” she told the two sphinxes.

Kaguya stood beside her son-in-law
in the refueling station’s office. “The blizzard has thinned, but we can still
be anywhere in the world in a few hours. You could have a proper honeymoon
somewhere warm.”

“Get thee behind me,” Stu replied.

“It’s what we all want,” Kaguya
stressed.

Stu raised his voice. “I promised
to fix Snowflake as soon as possible.” On the last bit, his voice broke. When
everyone in the room stared at him, he calmed himself and said, “I always keep
my word.”

Laura examined the carte-blanche
voucher and asked the clerk, “Why didn’t this one work?”

“Eh? Big scandal. Your company is
freezing every account that fraud touched in the last year.”

“Fraud?” Laura echoed.

Stu and Kaguya zipped up their
parkas, put gloves back on, and strode toward the parked shuttle.

“Yeah. Turns out she’s really some
broad by the name of Mary Smith. The real Mira Hollis hired her as a media
shadow, a look-alike. Hollis was such a recluse that nobody noticed when Smith
took over,” the clerk said, relishing the juicy story. “They’re searching her
estate now, hoping to find the body.”

Aunt Mary? Stu knew
. “Why
would Mary Smith kill Ms. Hollis?”

“I can think of a trillion
reasons,” the clerk said with a chuckle. “They say Maurier, her bodyguard, was
in on it.”

Laura jogged after Stu, demanding
an answer. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Close the hatch,” her mother
hissed.

Slamming and cycling the airlock
door, Laura repeated, “Why?”

In the seclusion of the cockpit,
Stu replied, “Not my secret.”

“Your family perpetrated this big
hoax to get rich?” Laura asked, pulling up the news feed on her pad. The film
clip showed the elegant, blue-eyed, blonde CEO posing for mug shots in Rio.

Stu ignored her and pushed buttons
for the preflight check.

Kaguya slid into the copilot chair
beside him, “The real Mira asked her to. It’s all legal. Your grandfather
colluded.”

“Stu told
you
but not me?”
Laura asked, hurt.

Water dampened Stu’s cheek.
Were
those tears or melting snow?

“I knew Mira from the Academy.
Remember?” her mother replied.

Laura wrinkled her brow. “The only
Mira you ever mentioned from there is the bitch who stole Dad and ran off to
space.”

Trying to shorten the preflight
delay, Kaguya took one of the checklists herself.

The enormity of the lies dawned on
Laura. “You mean Miracle Hollis became Mira Zeiss, criminal astronaut? That’s
why Dad had 2 percent of the company? A God-damned wedding present? A big-assed
bribe?” Laura paced, furious as conclusions mounted. “Everybody on the
Ascension
crew knew about this?”

Kaguya and Stu communicated in
shorthand as they completed the list.

“Will somebody talk to me?” Laura
demanded, willing to pull a plug to get their attention. The shuttle was
taxiing across the runway.

“One question,” Stu said, “and then
I’m going to need everything I have to fly through this weather. Kaguya has
been a trooper, but now that she’s tired, the blinking lights have been sucking
her in a little.”

Laura went for the biggest crime,
the one likely to unlock the most puzzles. “Why did Mira steal her own
company’s shuttle and violate the UN embargo to land on the alien artifact?”

“Because as the Index, she was the
sole person on the planet who could open the ship,” Stu said. “She inherited
the twenty-eighth Page from her mother, Jezebel.”

“Given her family history of failed
pregnancies, Mira wasn’t likely to have an heir. They were sure she would be
the final Index,” Kaguya added as they picked up speed and the engines roared.
“It took me a long time to accept why Mira had to be the one to go on the
mission, but I finally understood. Sit down, dear.”

Falling into the seat, Laura
strapped in. Hugging the mountains to evade radar, Stu was flying this bird
like he’d stolen it … which the authorities might conclude when they tracked
the fuel purchase. “If her talent was so critical to the world, I don’t
understand why she just wouldn’t freeze a few eggs as a precaution.” Then it
hit her—with all their advances, unfertilized eggs couldn’t be frozen.
They
needed sperm first. Who better to supply that than her trophy husband, the
tall, blond Conrad Zeiss?

What would that child be like?

Laura listed the attributes to
herself, beginning with the physical, and transitioning to the talents.
The experimental
zygotes were Mira’s. Grandfather was trying to forge the keys he needed to
steal the spaceship.
Laura felt dizzy. “I came from Mira’s egg?”

Kaguya was holding her hand now,
crying. “I didn’t know either at first, but by then I loved you as my own.”

“You didn’t tell me?” Laura shouted
at her husband.

“Hush. He has to concentrate. Mira
and I made him promise not to.”

After several tense minutes of
buffeting by the winds, Laura risked another timid question. “Do you have any
photos of her?”

“No, but she was the heroine of
Sojiro’s manga,” Kaguya explained. “The Dahlstroms thought you’d pick up that
clue for sure.”

Laura felt ill. She staggered back
to the cramped closet toilet.
Everyone else knew. This is worse than Santa
and the Easter Bunny combined.

She was still wallowing in private
when they landed at the prison.