The Ninth: Invasion (22 page)

“It’s okay.  We’ve done this a couple of times before.  I just have to keep telling myself that.”

“True, but those times weren’t by choice.  This time is different.  Just say so and I’m on the floor.  If you want, I’ll even sleep outside the curtain.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  The last thing I’d want is those Protectorates to see you sleeping on the floor outside.  The others would never let me live
that
down.”

“Suit yourself.”

Brent readied for sleep, making sure his pocket watch was safe before getting into the bed.  He was careful to hug the edge of the bed as much as possible to give Cassandra plenty of space.  With them both in the bed, he tapped on his pad a few times before the illumination in the room dimmed.  As he closed his eyes, his tiredness hit him.  His mind focused entirely on the blissful idea of sleep.

“Brent?” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“Did you mean what you said in the 3P?”

“Of course I did.  You are a very,
very
pretty girl.”

“Not that . . . pervert.”

“I was just kidding.  I know what you meant.”

“Well?”

“Well what?” Brent chuckled as he asked.

“If you are going to be that way, then forget I asked!”

Cassandra rolled over, exaggerating her movements to draw attention to them.  He smiled in the dark and tapped on her shoulder.

“What now?” she asked angrily as she turned to face him.

“I love you, Cassandra.”

He kissed her forehead.  There was no response.  Brent wondered if he had really upset her by playing dumb before.  As he closed his eyelids again, he felt a hand snake over him.  In the dark room, he could barely make out Cassandra snuggling up next to him.

“I . . . love you, too.”  She held him in the darkness.

Gentle warmth spread over him as she drifted off to sleep.  He would have to thank the girls for setting this up.  Thoughts of Eos and the war completely disappeared into the warmth as he faded into the land of dreams.

“Administer Bloom,” a shrill voice called through the intercom.

“What is it, Miss Fields?” Nathan asked, trying to keep the loathing out of his voice.

“There is an urgent call for you from the mess hall.”

“Regarding what?”

“I’m your secretary, Administer Bloom, not a psychic.”

“Do you know who called for me?”

“No, Administer.”

“You didn’t ask for
any
details, did you Miss. Fields?”

“No, Administer.”

Thoughts of murdering his secretary filled his mind as he made his way to the mess hall.  He thought up no less than thirty distinct methods of eliminating her by the time he arrived.  His favorite was putting her in an airtight room and letting her yell at him in her shrill voice until she used up all the air.  A bolt of energy zipping out of the mess hall pulled him right out of his fantasies.  He quickly hugged the wall next to the doorway and carefully looked inside.

Several rows of tables had been flipped on their sides, creating a barricade not far into the mess hall.  Several young troopers were firing at anything that moved.  Off to the side, near the doorway was a small barricade.  Nathan quickly recognized several security personal and medics hiding behind the makeshift cover.  When the troopers starting firing in another direction, he quickly trotted to the medics.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded as he ducked behind the cover.

A few pulses of light flew over the table.

“Word got out,” a weary voice answered.

“Doctor Benedict?” he asked in surprise.  “What are you doing up here?  Shouldn’t you be in Medical?”

“I wish,” she said with an annoyed smile.  “Turns out we didn’t do as great a job keeping things quiet as we thought.  I was summoned for a medical emergency, then they started firing at me.”

“They found out about the ITU?” Nathan asked in horror.  “I thought we severed all outside links.”

“We did,” a woman in the uniform of security said angrily.  “One of those cursed bookies must have smuggled the information in somehow.”

“I’m guessing these are ITU supporters?” Nathan ventured.

“That’s our guess,” Dr. Benedict said.

“What I’d like to know is how so many of them got together without anyone noticing,” a medic said, ducking when another volley of pulses flew over the barricade.

“They only have training rifles,” Dr. Benedict said thankfully.  “They can’t kill anyone, but they can still do plenty of damage.”

“Take it from me, you don’t want to take too many hits,” a man leaning against the wall moaned.  “It might not be lethal, but it feels like it.”

“Suck it up.”  The medic shook her head.  “You only took a few hits to your shoulder.”

Abruptly, the pulses of light ceased.

“Is the Administer there?” a voice shouted from behind the large barricade.

They all looked at him expectantly.

“I am,” Nathan said nervously.

“We demand you let us contact the ITU!”

“To what ends?” he called back.  “So you can tell them we are here and have them come kill the rest of us?”

“If you surrender, no harm will come to you.”

“Said the trooper shooting at us,” the moaning man shouted.

A few pulses of light flashed overhead.

“Brilliant move,” the medic said angrily.  “Are you trying to get us all killed?”

“What did I miss?” a rough voice asked.

Nathan was so happy to see Jack he wanted to give him a big kiss.

“These troopers have barricaded themselves and are shooting at anyone who comes in here,” Nathan said in a panic.  “They want us to let him talk to the ITU.”

“Not going to happen,” Jack said with a tone of finality.

“That’s all well and good,” Dr. Benedict said irritably.  “But besides being stoic at them, do you have a real plan?  Can’t you put those abilities of yours to good use and end this nonsense?”

“I’ve been trying,” Jack said in a tone almost as irritated at her’s.  “They have several Weavers supporting them.  I’m having a hard time identifying the culprits.”

“Administer!” the trooper called out again.

“Yes?” Nathan asked nervously.

“If you don’t give in to our demands, we will be forced to take more drastic measures.”

Nathan looked at the others behind the barricade in panic.

“What kind of drastic measures?” he asked quickly.

A high-pitched jingle filled the room.  A moment later a metallic tone sounded.  Nathan stole a glance over the barricade to find a grenade bouncing toward them.

“Get down!” he screamed as he dived away from the flipped over table.

It was too late.  The table exploded into hundreds of fragments as the grenade went off.  Nathan’s ears rang as he tried to get his bearings.  Jack had an odd look on his face.  Nathan followed his glance and felt sick to his stomach.  Dr. Benedict wasn’t moving with a large table fragment embedded in her side.  A small trickle of blood oozed out of the wound.

Jack stood and walked toward the barricade.  The troopers opened fire on him, but he didn’t flinch.  The pulses of light streaked around him as he lowered his head and his eyes narrowed.  The sound of three pained screams filled the mess hall and the weapons fire ended.  Three young Weavers stumbled out from behind the barrier, wailing in terror.  Jack stared at them with murder in his eyes.  The three continued to writhe on the floor until they passed out.  The rest of the troopers stood and raised their hands in surrender, but Jack wasn’t finished.  The assembled troopers started to quiver as he worked on them.  Several collapsed to their knees while others broke into tears.

“That’s enough, Jack,” Nathan called out.  “We have more important things to attend to!”

Jack paused for a moment and then turned back toward his friend.

“We have to get her to Medical,” he pleaded.  “Now, Jack.”

With a brutally swift motion the Master Weaver pointed at two of the surrendering troopers.  They shook openly.

“Grab that table over there and bring it here,” he ordered.

The two instantly complied as the Master Weaver headed toward the doctor.  As gently as he could he lifted her up onto the table.  He then grabbed the collar of the taller trooper and pulled him to meet his face.

“You will carry this table to Medical
now
,” he ordered.  “You will keep it perfectly level and run as if your lives depended on it.”  He pulled the trooper a hair closer.  “Because it
does
.”

Brent awoke gently.  There were no tones or glaring beams of light in his eyes.  As the fog of sleep lifted, he remembered where he was.  It made sense there wouldn’t be a wake up call for the cargo bay.  The citizens of Deriso were passengers, not crewmembers; it made no difference to anyone if they woke up in a timely manner.  Stirring, he found his right arm wouldn’t move.  A familiar form was clinging to him, preventing any movement of his arm.  Cassandra shifted slightly, pulling on his sleeve like a small child.  He couldn’t help but smile affectionately as she cuddled in her sleep.  He couldn’t bring himself to wake her.  He wondered in passing if anyone else would even believe him if he explained how the fierce heavy worlder was as gentle as a kitty while she slept.  After a while shorter than he would have liked, she started to stretch and wake.  Groggily, she wiped at her eyes.

“Morning,” Brent said in a soft voice.

Her response was more of a yawn than actual words.  He chuckled to himself.  He was probably the only one who knew about this childish side of Cassandra.  Once she was fully awake, she was back to her strong, albeit easily embarrassed, self.  She looked up at him and smiled warmly.

“Not going to glow red or pull away in embarrassment this morning?” he asked, returning the smile.

“Nope.  I thought about what you said last night.”

“And?”

“You are right.  This isn’t like the other times.  This is my choice, and I’m determined not to regret it.”

“Regret?  What’s to regret?  We just slept in the same bed.”

“For someone who’s so smart, you sure miss a lot.  I meant
this
decision.”

Cassandra moved close and pressed her lips to his.  As she kissed him he felt her hand moving over his chest.  Her actions seemed more forceful than normal; there was no hesitation in her movements.  A tingle ran up his spine as he felt her hand sneak under his shirt.  Her hand left behind a warm sensation as she moved it.  He could feel her other hand moving up the back of his shirt.  Together they were holding him tightly.  She pulled away from her kiss to look him in the eyes.

Her face was a deep red, but there was something different about it; there was no embarrassment in it.  She stared at him with an odd expression.  For an instant, Brent wished his Weaver abilities actually worked so he could know what she was feeling.  Her hands hesitated as she hovered over him.  The expression on her face was a strange mixture of concern and desire.  He realized she was waiting for him to make the next move.  Brent placed his hand against her cheek and pulled her down, kissing her tenderly.  He felt a slight wetness drip onto his cheek.  In surprise he wiped at his cheek as he stared at her.  A few tears ran down her cheeks as she smiled at him.

“You really do love me, don’t you?” she asked with a sniffle.

Nodding with a smile, he wrapped his arms around her.  She dug her head into his chest.  He could feel a slight, warm wetness penetrating his shirt.

“No more tears,” he said in a gentle voice as he lifted her head.

She kissed him passionately as her arms held him close.  Slowly her hands began to move again.  With a start he realized they were gradually working their way lower and lower.

“No regrets,” she whispered in his ear.

Suddenly a swash of light flooded the space.  The curtain at the end of the room had been flung open without any warning.

“Are you two up
yet
?” Marie shouted.

“Marie!  Don’t be rude. Leave them alone.”  Liz pulled on Marie’s uniform.

“She’s just curious if our plan worked,” Penny said.

Cassandra had frozen in place from the shock, holding perfectly still.  Brent swore he could feel her heartbeat pulsing.  Fortunately they were both still under the covers of the bed, so they hadn’t been caught, yet.

“Hey, I only see one person in that bed.  Where’s Brent?” Hiroko asked.

“How can you tell it’s Cassandra?” Penny asked while looking under the bed.

“Are you kidding?  Just look at the long hair.”

“That’s well enough, but where is he?”

Cassandra’s pulse quickened.  She was lying on top of him, her hair obscuring his presence to the girls at the edge of the room.  Needless to say it would be difficult to explain their current positioning.  Discreetly, he snaked his hand under the sheet and tapped quickly on his pad.