Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) (15 page)

"I still don't understand," Alice said. "I mean, I understand the part where Watson's a Tetron, and he used his knowledge of our encryption keys to hack my brain. What I don't get is how he got on Goliath."

Kathy paused, putting her hand up to silence Alice before leaned out into the intersection, checking both directions.

"We don't have time for the whole story right now. What we need to do is take his chip and plug it into a computer."

Thirty minutes had passed since she set Alice free. The soldier had been more than a little confused, having only fragments of memories of the last week of her life while she was under the compulsion of the Tetron. Kathy had spoken to her sporadically as they moved through the ship, giving her a quick rundown of where they were and why. Everything that happened before that had to wait.

They crossed the intersection. Kathy couldn't hide her smile at the thought of Watson's tantrum when she had turned the tables on him. She was willing to bet the human configuration was still kicking something somewhere.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Alice said in a whisper.

"Sorry for what?" Kathy asked.

"Touching you."

"You remember that?"

"He made me watch. It felt like a nightmare, and I couldn't wake up. There were other things he made us watch. He's killed half the crew just for pleasure." She gasped. "Oh. Poor Jacob."

Kathy stopped and turned around. "What about Jacob?"

"Watson has him in one of the storage rooms off the hangar that he turned into his private quarters. He's been making Jacob do things to him. He made us watch."
 

Tears ran from her eyes, running from her cheeks and dripping onto the floor. "Oh, Kathy, I'm so sorry. I hit you, too."

Kathy forced the thoughts of what Watson was doing to Jacob from her mind. He was the weakest of them all. Truth be told, he should never have survived Liberty. Of course, the monster was abusing him.
 

She reached up, grabbing Alice by the neck of her fatigues and pulling her face down. "You didn't do anything," she hissed. "Watson did it. Watson is responsible. I know it's hard, but try to clear your mind and help me find a terminal to plug the chip into."

"What is it?" Alice asked, biting her lip to calm herself.

"I don't know yet. Something Watson's parent gave him."

"Parent?"

Kathy nodded. "The human Watson is a configuration, a partial version of a Tetron like the ones you've seen out there." She waved towards space beyond the hull. "Watson attacked the Origin configuration that was in control of Goliath. He defeated it, uploading a version of his intelligence into it. The Tetron call it a Secondary. The original Tetron gave Watson something it didn't want him to have stored directly in his memory. I don't know what it is yet, but the only reason a Tetron would do that would be to prevent another Tetron from being able to discover the data."

Alice's face paled. "You're one of them, aren't you? I heard you speaking to him through me. You know too much not to be."

"Yes and no. I'm enough of a Tetron to help you fight them. That's why I'm here." She paused for a few seconds. "It's not the only reason, but it is one of them. Please, Alice. Think. Is there anywhere we can bring the chip that may be safe?"

Alice considered. "What deck are we on?"

"G."

"I know where there's a terminal. I can't guarantee that it's safe."

"How far?"

"I'm not sure. It's hard for me to get my bearings down here. Every corridor looks the same."

"We're near the center if that helps."

"A little. Watson had a small workshop in one of the storage rooms down here. We thought he was hiding because everyone hated him for being a pedophile. It was a perfect cover, the fat bastard."

"He still is a pedophile. There's something broken with him. With all of the Tetron, I think. They've learned emotion, but it's like they learned it wrong. Does he know that you know it was there?"

"No. I don't think so. He wasn't there when I stumbled across it."

"Try to get me there. We'll have to take our chances. He won't let me get away again."

"Okay. I think it's-"

She paused. They both felt the tug as the Goliath moved into hyperspace.

"Where are we going?" Alice asked.

"I don't know. If Watson has determined how to find Tio's brother, it means we're running out of time. Come on."

Alice took point, leading them carefully through the vast maze of the Goliath's internal structure. Kathy kept the memory of their travels, making sure that Alice didn't send them back the way they had already come.

"I don't know," Alice said, stopping. "I found it by accident, and I had the ship mapped on my p-rat. I don't even know if it's still here."

"We've covered a lot of ground. You're sure it's on G?"

"Yes. I'm positive about that."

Kathy thought about it, matching their path against what she knew of the ship. "There's a storage area this way," she said. "We haven't passed it yet. It could be that one."

"You know everywhere we've been?"

"Yes. Let's go."

They turned left and headed down the corridor, taking a right-hand fork and then turning right again. Kathy drew them to a stop when she saw a silhouette outlined in the dim lighting.

"Who is it?" Alice whispered.

"Can't tell. Male. Six-three. Muscles."

"Could be one of Major Long's pilots."

"Either way, he's standing guard over something."

"What do we do?"

Kathy thought about it. She didn't want to kill the man. At the same time, she wasn't sure how she could reach him from this distance without drawing fire.

"I'm going to shoot him," she said.

"What?"

"If my aim is good, I can knock him down. We patch him up and set him free."

"Okay."

Kathy slowly removed the rifle from her shoulder. She held it up, sighting along the barrel. The man's head started turning towards them.

She fired. The shot echoed loudly in the corridor. The man fell.

Kathy and Alice both ran to him.

Spider-like machines the size of a man's head began to pour from the doorway he had been guarding. Their legs had been tooled to end in sharp edges.

"Shit," Alice said, slipping her rifle into her hands.
 

"Frigging decoy," Kathy said, loosing a volley into the spiders. The front row toppled in a mess of shattered metal. Many more followed behind. "Back up."

They started to retreat, firing on the spiders as they skittered over the remains of the ones that had been shot, edging ever closer to them. If they caught up, they would slice them both to ribbons in seconds.

Kathy's rifle clicked empty. She tapped the magazine release, letting it clatter to the floor and quickly replacing it. A second later, Alice ran dry as well.

"I don't have another magazine," she said.

Kathy grabbed her other spare from her pocket and tossed it over. Alice caught it at the same time one of the spiders leaped at her.

"I don't think so," she said, smashing it with the butt of the rifle. It flew backward, knocking a few others over.

"This isn't working," Kathy said. "We need to try somewhere else."

"Where?"

Kathy had an idea. "Somewhere a little more risky."

"More risky?" Alice said.

"Come on."

They both turned and ran.

Mitchell felt the pull of the universe moving back into its proper place. He looked out at the stars ahead of them from the Carver's bridge, watching as two-hundred-twelve other ships popped into existence around him.

"Jump complete," Lieutenant Atakan said from Captain Rock's station. "We're a four-hour jump from Yokohama."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Mitchell said. He twitched his jaw, activating the communicator. "Aiko, Calvin, Joon, it's our show now. Meet me in the hangar."

"Roger," they replied a few seconds apart.

"Lewis, you have the bridge," Mitchell said, turning and heading for the door.
 

"Aye, sir," Lewis said, moving from his station up to central command.
 

Mitchell moved quickly through the corridors, first heading to his room to grab his pack, and then rushing to the hangar.

"Good hunting, sir," one of the mechanics, Corporal Wilson, said on his way down the lift. Mitchell wasn't sure how the Corporal knew where he was going, but he thanked him anyway.

The others were already waiting for him when he arrived. They were all dressed in grays and standing by at a small transport. The transport would shuttle them over to the Kemushi, where they would change into clothes more befitting a Federation citizen. Then they would jump into orbit around the planet and hope that there was still some kind of civilization there. If not, they would have secondary coordinates already plotted to get them away as quickly as possible, using their momentary eyes-on to decide on another course.

There was nothing about the mission that gave Mitchell the impression it would be a success. On the surface, it seemed more like a disaster waiting to happen. It was the type of thing the Riggers had done before. Impossible missions. Crazy missions. Katherine told him the Mesh was broken. He held onto that idea and his trust in his teammates. That was what would get them through.

"Colonel," the others said as he approached.
 

Mitchell looked them over. Aiko had been transformed in the two weeks on the Carver, both mentally and physically. The constant training had added toned muscle to her slender figure, chiseling her features, while also giving her some much-needed confidence. She stood at attention with her head up and her jaw out. It made Mitchell proud.

Joon was one of Tio's men, a former Federation soldier who he had gotten to know a little bit through brief conversations in the mess. The thin, energetic man didn't speak English comfortably, and according to Calvin he didn't speak much in his native Federese also. Mitchell did know that he had left the Federation after his mandatory service time was up and his occupational testing had suggested he was best suited as a soldier. It wasn't that he wasn't happy with the career choice. Instead, he had been unhappy with the pay and quality of life he could expect. Tio had paid better and provided more.
 

"Is everything ready?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes, sir," Calvin said.

They boarded the transport. Mitchell took the controls, opening a channel through the onboard communications system.

"Carver, this is Haizi. We're ready for egress."

"Roger, Haizi," Lewis replied. "Prepare for departure."

Warning lights began to flash in the hangar. The rest of the crew was already clear, and a moment later the outer airlock began to open. The docking clamps released, and the expulsion of air from the deck mingled with the Haizi's thrust moved them out into space.

"Good hunting, Colonel," Lewis said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Haizi out."

It was a short ride to the Kemushi, waiting only a few hundred klicks from the Carver. They eased into the hangar, the ship vibrating softly as the docking clamps closed on it. They waited for the hangar lights to turn green, and then departed.

The commander of the Kemushi, Ming, entered the hangar to greet them. He was a short, heavyset man with a long, narrow goatee and bushy eyebrows.
 

"Colonel," he said, approaching them. "Welcome to the Kemushi."

"Thank you, Ming," Mitchell said, bowing to the man before taking an offered hand. "Is everything ready."

"Yes. When you say jump, we'll say how far." He laughed.

"Let's not waste any time."

"As you say, Colonel." Ming walked over to a panel on the wall. "Seung, the Colonel is ready to jump."

"Aye, sir," a female voice replied. "We're set and ready. Jumping now."

Mitchell felt the pull again as the ship entered hyperspace. His stomach complained a little, and he could see Calvin and Aiko's did as well.

"My apologies, Colonel," Ming said, noticing their discomfort. "The engines on the Kemushi are a bit old, and the calibration is off. You get used to it."

Mitchell hoped he wouldn't be on board the old trawler long enough to get used to it.
 

"Follow me," Ming said, leading them out of the hangar. "I have everything you requested. I think I have the right sizes."

He brought them to a small storage room, opening it up to reveal racks of clothing. While some styles tended to be universal, others were highly specific to the planet and sometimes city where they originated. The Kemushi seemed to have it all.

"That's a lot of clothes," Aiko said, her eyes surveying the room.

"Aye," Ming said. "We've made a living doing this sort of thing for Mr. Tio. Mainly in Federation space and out on the Rim. If there's information to be found, we'll find it."

Calvin moved deeper into the room. Mitchell followed behind him; certain the Federation Admiral knew what he was seeking. He stopped at a rack near the back, lifting what appeared to be a suit from it.
 

"Like this, Mitchell," he said.