The Empress Capsule (Audacity Saga Book 1), page 17
“I’ll take that as you’re not planning on filling me in. Whatever you say, Commander.” He didn’t like the idea of earning his keep by just standing around doing guard duty. He’d had enough guard duty for a lifetime in the last six months, and Li had had many more enemies after him than an unassuming ship like the Audacity. But he couldn’t deny he’d probably look more formidable than Jenny would, for example, so he could see the wisdom in that too. Although their high-tech armor didn’t hurt and would be enough to give most assailants pause.
“This is a Union area too. Some Puritan viruses going around undoing other people’s gene work. That should make things extra fun. I hope those tattoos are real and not cell mods and your breather is working.”
“Oh, yeah. Breathing filtration’s always the first thing I check. And yeah, the tattoos are real. The old-fashioned kind, if that’s what you mean.”
“So, where did you get—” she started.
Xi suddenly cut in. “I apologize for the interruption and for shattering the illusion that I am not listening to your conversation, Commander, but you’ve received a high-priority message.”
She slapped a palm to her face. “What is it?” she grunted.
“I apologize, but unless you would like to grant Kael F14 access, you will need to leave his presence to receive the message.”
He stood up. “No problem, I can leave.”
She frowned at him as she strode to a cabinet and placed her dish inside. A washer? He tried to remember its location. She stepped over to the fridge again. “No. You’re still eating, I’m not. I’ll take the message in my cabin, Xi. Be right there.” She pinned him with her gaze. “You sit back down and eat.”
“Is that an order?” He sat back down, smiling.
“Do you want it to be?”
Yes. “Whatever you prefer, Commander.”
“What have you been surviving on, rations?”
“Maybe.”
“Here. Eat this too. Helps with the nightmares. Doctor’s orders.” She slid a plate in front of him and sat a vacuum box beside it.
He blinked. “Milk and cookies?”
“Baked yesterday. You don’t want them? Chocolate chip.”
He just stared up at her for a moment.
“Tomorrow will be oatmeal raisin, so I guess you could hold out for those.”
“No, no. Is this what you feed a man who’s tried to kill a member of your crew?”
“I didn’t see it that way. Now eat.”
“Yes, Commander.” He wished he could call her Ryu to say thanks, or even Ellen. But overstepping his bounds with her would only hurt his chances, he suspected. “And thanks.”
She walked out slowly, then paused in the doorway, turning back slightly but not meeting his eyes. “It’s what Dremer fed me when I lost my chip,” she said, so softly he almost didn’t hear her. So she did have some personal experience with chips. “Trust me, it helps. Goodnight, Kael.”
He caught his breath at that and stared after her.
She’d called him by his name.
Ellen headed back to her cabin, shaking her head at herself. Cookies, really? And she’d been just about to ask him about his tattoos. Maybe she should just go over and offer to try some “hot-bunking” together while she was at it. Next, she’d be figuring out how to walk in heels. Or borrowing some to even contemplate the attempt.
No. Lord in heaven. What the hell was she doing?
And what the hell had that been about when she’d arrived? Kael had looked like he’d been caught in a bear trap, and Josana wasn’t usually one to storm out of anywhere. Oh, of course, she did tend to waltz around, stare down her nose haughtily at the rest of them, and make incessant comments about the ship’s lack of some amenity of the week, but she usually did it in a composed, floaty manner.
Then again, Ellen could guess exactly what had been going on. With someone like him onboard, she’d expected to be hearing sounds of “fraternization” going on already, but Kael seemed to be keeping to himself. He was trying to stay out of trouble, most likely, but she shouldn’t be surprised Josana had been the first one to stir trouble up. That girl pounced on available men like a cat on raw meat. Though she was six years younger than Ellen, the girl had ten times the experience with men.
And yet… he’d almost seemed to prefer Ellen’s company. That was a first.
Josana worked her charms well, and she was practiced at it. Ellen was about as charming as a plasma grenade, which was to say, not very charming at all. The only people who preferred her over Josana were her soldiers, refugees, and people who wanted her to shoot something.
His resistance to Josana’s charms, if that was what she’d seen, definitely raised her estimation of him. If she were a man coming off a decade-plus dry spell with supercharged brain chems, she’d probably act a little more… inappropriately. He had more control than he was giving himself credit for, she was sure of it.
She palmed the hatch shut as she arrived. “What is it, Xi?”
“Again, I apologize for the interruption, Commander, but I thought you should know immediately.”
“Yes. Who’s the message from?”
“Me. I have some findings from the analysis you requested.”
Her heart fell a little in spite of herself. She didn’t really feel like hearing what inevitable bad shit Sidassian was up to just now. Couldn’t she have a few moments to enjoy the illusion that he was a good man who actually liked her company? Who could be a friend? Perhaps something more? Even if he did have ulterior motives, they still seemed to get along so well…
She scowled. No, no, she shouldn’t have a something more. And definitely not with a man who had ulterior motives, especially nefarious ones. “Out with it, Xi.” Rip the bandage off quickly, right?
“I was able to detect a serial number on the outside of the canister in its storage location from a microcam I released. The hardware was purchased—well, I will spare you the exact details, as you’ve instructed. But ultimately, I was able to trace the purchase to two addresses, one on Capital and one on Desori X. Our intelligence files link both addresses with Enhancer High Command. The Capital address was the last known residence of their deceased empress.”
She whistled low, then rubbed her chin. “The scientist we saw. Get the armor cam footage and cross-reference it with known images of EHC officials. Damn.” If the man had been high-ranking, she wasn’t sure that would have changed anything, but it didn’t feel good to not know for certain.
“One of the three armor cams has been deleted from the databanks, Commander.”
“What?” Ellen frowned harder now. “There’s no reason it should be—”
“Agreed. The deletion metadata has also been removed. Whoever deleted it removed traces of their activity. This is highly suspicious and unusual activity.”
“Well, frag. What time is it where Simmons is?” If they had a traitor onboard, he needed to know.
“2300.”
Hmm, he could be asleep, and she really needed to get back to that herself. Despite the importance, what were they going to do about it? The footage was already gone. “Send him a written update of this, will you? Can you complete the cross-reference with the footage from the other cams?”
“Yes. It is already running.”
“Can you increase security around mission-related footage, Xi?”
“I will create a continuous, remote backup and attempt to obfuscate its activity. And I will remove what deletion privileges I can from extraneous crew members. Zhia, Merith, you, and the doctors will of course still need access.”
“How about you tell me if they’re touched at all, too? By message is fine.”
“Acknowledged, Commander. Also, I’ve found a match. May I turn on your display?”
“Yes.”
The holo flickered to life with the image of the unconscious scientist side by side with a portrait of a man in full silver-trimmed Enhancer regalia.
“This scientist appears to be Enhancer Lord Regent Jun Il Li.”
Damn. They’d scrambled a higher-up. Would there be repercussions? Not if he didn’t know who they were, but then there was the matter of Kael. If he was here to follow them, the stakes could be higher than she’d anticipated. “Do we have any clues to what he was researching? And do we have any records of Theroki working with them?”
“Theroki are believed to have been contracted for personal guard duty.”
“That’s probably Kael.”
“Yes, I concluded the same. And, one moment—yes. Data on Li’s suspected activities were not clear. We are still working through the encryption on the files uploaded from the bunker you infiltrated. I will query Simmons if he would like to raise the priority of resources assigned to cracking these files. What few leads we have suggest a typical Enhancer research interest in the refinement of a certain variant of female genes, possibly fighter or diplomat archetypes.”
“Hmm.” What did this all mean? Did it really tell her anything, aside from that whoever Kael worked for on his mission was not just some lowly scientist but rather a big shot?
“Considering what Kael has mentioned about his mission and Alexandra has gathered in her biometric scans, I would say it is a greater than fifty percent likelihood that the canister contains the results of Li’s research. Or at the very least, a part of or copy of it.”
“Agreed. Wait—Dremer has you calling her Alexandra now?” The AI defaulted to referring to people throughout the ship as they requested to be personally addressed, which could be both amusing and confusing.
“Yes.”
Huh. Maybe Ellen was the only uptight one. Whatever, that was nothing new. Her job was to be uptight. “Any actions you would recommend aside from informing Simmons?”
“No, Commander.”
“The target tomorrow—is it an Enhancer lab?”
“Yes. But it is not related to Li or High Command. Also, the mission objective is to install sniffers to grow our intel network. No subjects are believed to be in jeopardy, although a secondary objective is to confirm that report.”
Ellen nodded. She’d read that much already. Hence her plan to have him stay at the ship, but if it was more distantly related to his mission, even better. Only a few of them would need to go, and they’d need to be fast and quiet.
Too bad they still didn’t have that other cloaker fixed. Maybe Bri could look at it. If not, the armor’s dynamic camo would have to do. She really needed to get more rest; what hours she’d gotten hadn’t done much.
“All right. Thank you, Xi.”
“I apologize again for interrupting, Commander. You seemed to be enjoying yourself. Was this helpful?”
“Yes, very much so. Why do you say I was enjoying myself?” And are you reporting that sort of thing back to Simmons? And did Ellen really want to know if Xi was?
“I based my analysis of your emotional state on your heart rate, muscle tension, and facial muscles. Also, according to my data, you have sat down to eat in the galley fewer than five times, all of them requested directly by crew members. This anomaly required some hypothetical explanation.”
“And your hypothesis was I was enjoying myself?”
“It was that you enjoy Kael’s company in general.”
She winced. “Don’t tell him that, will you?”
“Of course, Commander. Will it be disappointing for you if he turns out to be a danger to the crew?”
She gritted her teeth, wondering how to possibly answer that. “Yes,” she said slowly, not sure exactly what she was admitting by saying so. “But I’d like to know sooner rather than later.”
“For the safety of the crew?”
“Yes. But also so I don’t become… friends with him, if he’s a danger to us.”
“I will do my best to expedite any tasks I have that can ascertain the truth of his mission.”
“Thanks, Xi. I appreciate that. You’re very helpful.”
“Thank you. I appreciate you saying so.” Could an AI sound pleased, or was she projecting?
Ellen sighed and dimmed the lights, tossing off her cargos and donning the shorts she usually slept in. She flopped into her bunk and pulled the covers back around her, hoping for fewer nightmares this time.
Or maybe dreams of something… someone else.
As she lay there, trying to sleep but failing, something else occurred to her. “Xi?” she said softly into the darkness.
“Yes, Commander?” Xi’s voice was the same as ever, booming in the black room.
“Did you form some hypothesis on Kael as well?”
“Yes. Do you believe he would want me to share it with you?”
She paused, unsure of that. His privacy hadn’t occurred to her. “Well, I’m the commander of this ship, though,” she said weakly. Entirely an excuse.
“His initial actions appeared to be normal human behavior, hunger driven. Once Josana approached him, he displayed many signs of alarm, enough to trip my sensors in preparation for disciplinary action.”
“What kind of disciplinary action?”
“I have algorithms designed to police unwanted sexual advances on crew members and passengers. Josana was nearing a verbal warning on my part. He made her very excited, and she had a similar effect on him physically.”
“Oh.” Ellen sighed.
“She made him very uncomfortable otherwise. So I have noted her a possible harasser in his file. I was just about to trigger a reprimand when you entered, and I preferred to let you handle the situation. His reaction to you was much more comfortable.”
“Ah,” she said softly. Just what she wanted to be. Comfortable. Ugh.
“You are alarmed now. Have I caused you some concern?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine, Xi. Good job monitoring the safety of the situation. But I’m sure Kael can handle himself with Josana.”
“I protect all equally, Commander. A benefit of a digital presence monitoring behavioral boundaries.”
“That’s good of you, Xi.” She sighed. “I think I’ll go to bed now.”
“Yes, Commander.” There was a pause. “But I have not told you my hypothesis.”
Ellen snorted. The AI was as literal and structured as Simmons. “Oh, yes. What was it?”
“I hypothesized he very much enjoyed your company, and not Josana’s. In case that was at all unclear.”
She let herself smile in the dark at those words. “That is a little comforting, thank you, Xi.”
“Good night, Commander.”
“Good night.”
She drifted off to sleep, and dreams did not come.
Chapter Eight
“So… I’m like a nuke launcher with the safety off?” Kael blurted.
Dremer winced. “Did I say that? I didn’t say that.”
“Am I wrong?” As he sat on the one chair in a cabin crowded with shelves heavy with fine mechanical parts, Dr. Dremer had briefed him on her studies of his biometric scans.
“Well, it’s a lavish metaphor but not exactly wrong per se…”
“So are you saying I should get my chip fixed and back to Theroki standard as soon as possible? What does any of this mean?” He fidgeted with the seam on his worn black pants, not even trying to hide his nerves at the moment.
“No, no, I don’t think you should get it fixed. Maybe ever. These are extremely intense fight or flight responses that take days to return to normal. Even your resting rate would be considered stressed for most people. What the chip is currently doing for your health isn’t good either, but it’s better than their standard setup. The long-term effects to your health are well documented and severe.”
He frowned. He certainly hadn’t counted on anyone commending his decision to damage the thing. “I don’t think they were too concerned about the long-term, Doctor.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Well, are you?”
He hesitated. “Yes, ma’am.”
“The levels of epinephrine and cortisol alone are putting you at much higher risk for heart disease, cancer, depression, strokes. Also common infections, headaches, digestive problems, memory impairment—”
“Okay, I get it, Doc. It’s terrible for me.”
“It’s killing you. And I’m not even a medical doctor. Although I have studied implants and chips like these a great deal, most don’t influence the body’s biochemical systems. I checked this over with Dr. Levereaux, though, and she agrees these chips must be shortening the lives of anyone wearing them. By a lot.”
He took a deep breath. Well, they didn’t tell you that when you signed up. Then again, he didn’t know many Therokis that expected—or cared—to live to old age. Kicking the can at some point before then was kind of a given. Which was exactly why he was doing the right thing by this. More than he knew, it turned out.
“Listen, I have a couple of suggestions. I’d like to take a look at your chip, make a copy maybe—”
“You mean, completely remove it?”
“Yes, I—”
“I don’t think so, Doctor. Even if I wanted to, I can’t while the oath programming is engaged. And I don’t think I want to.” He didn’t trust them that much yet.
“Well, think about it. All of this—just think about it. Options for the future. The other thing is brain scans. We only have a rudimentary facility here, but I’d like to get a look at how your prefrontal cortex is operating.”
“Um…” That sounded worrisome.
“If it’s operating normally, and I could get a copy of the chip, Levereaux and I might be able to work on something to remove the lingering chemical boosting going on. It would be a start at least.”
“If it’s not operating normally?”
“I’m not sure how long you’ve had the chip or how much your brain has grown to depend on it.”
“Eleven years.”
“Hmm, well, that could be worse. And how old are you now?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“So, seventeen at installation. Young, but not a total child. Your brain did still have some maturing to do with the chip in place, though.” She sighed. “Well, think about it. If you want, I’m happy to help however I can.”
