Starshine: Aurora Rising Book One (46 page)

She set the glass on the table and eyed Alex a moment. “I
do
have something which meets your requirements. One of a kind and thus far solely for me. It’s not on the market.”

“It will be used only once, after which I will wipe it. My word.”

Claire’s gaze drifted up and across the balcony before settling again on Alex. “I keep it in here—” she tapped her temple with a razor square fingernail, causing a ripple along the glyphs on her forearm “—too valuable to store anywhere else. I can burn you a copy. Twenty-one thousand. And it’s worth twice the price.”

Alex smacked her lips and took a sip of her drink. It represented a good deal of money, but nothing she couldn’t pay. She nodded. “Do it.”

“You got it.” She reached into a pocket of the utility belt slung over her hips and removed a slim burner interface. She reached behind her head, rested the tiny oval at the nape of her neck and secured the harness above her ears. “Watch my drink for me?” Her eyes glazed over.

Alex scanned the area with careful nonchalance while she waited. The downstairs may be for mindless trips, partying and hookups, but upstairs serious business was being conducted.

The balcony was much larger than it first appeared and sported a number of couches, tables and private alcoves. Certainly, much in the way of alcohol and recreational chimerals were being consumed—but hard tech was also trading hands. Judging from the hints of trunk lines winding along the walls, she expected active hacks were presently ongoing as well—likely some for sport, others for friendly competition, others for thousands of credits…and still others for
real
stakes.

She noted in her peripheral vision when Claire’s vision sharpened. The woman removed the interface from her neck, ejected a tiny reflective crystal disk and pocketed the equipment. Beneath the table she extended her hand, palm open. Alex did the same, placing her hand over Claire’s and holding it there as she transferred the funds. She took the disk and slipped it in the tiny pocket in the front of her pants.

“Thank you, Claire. I do appreciate this.”

Claire laughed and sank back in the chair. “Fair business trade. You just bought me some fancy new hardware for my lair. Good luck with whatever adventure you’re diving into. I’m glad to know you’re still in the game.”

She started to protest that she wasn’t, not really…instead she merely smiled. “Thanks.”

“Sure you don’t want to stick around awhile? Sandi, Markos and I were thinking of flying the bridge a little later. I seem to remember you enjoy it?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “
I
seem to remember being the one who taught you how to do it in the first place.” Diving off the top of the Golden Gate Bridge using nothing but a tensile double-fiber strand when she was sixteen had gotten her arrested; by twenty-four she had gotten far smarter about it.

“
That’s
right….”

She chuckled lightly and stood. “As tempting as it is, I’m afraid I must go. Urgent doings and all.” She leaned over and gave Claire a quick one-armed hug. “Stay frosty. Don’t get caught.”

“Never.”

She took the stairs two at a time and hurried through the crowd to the exit. The damp chill outside was, for the briefest moment, a welcome change from the stifling underground atmosphere. Then it was simply cold and wet.

She rubbed her hands over her arms and hurried up the hill toward the levtram station. She could catch half an hour of sleep on the transport to Seattle.
Maybe
an hour nap at the loft, but no more. She’d need the rest of the intervening hours to get ready—for the Board meeting, followed by a small jailbreak.

44

EARTH

V
ANCOUVER,
EASC
H
EADQUARTERS

A
LEX FINISHED EXPLAINING
what the data in the report meant in terms so simple even a non-cyberized five year old could understand it, then gazed down the horrifically gaudy conference table at the collected leadership of Earth Alliance Strategic Command expectantly.

The meeting had started late, on account of she had no idea what. Then she had been kept waiting for an hour while they discussed classified war concerns. Her patience hung by a brittle thread by the time she had finally been shown in…but seeing as the matter was of the utmost importance she refrained from showing it.

Now that it was over, she thought on balance she hadn’t done badly at all. Her mother had given her a tiny nod of approval at the end, which from her was high praise indeed.

General Alamatto pretended to study the visuals still displayed above the table—well it was
possible
he was legitimately studying them, but unlikely—while she fielded nitpicky questions from the others.

No, she didn’t believe the ships in the visuals represented the entire force. No, she didn’t have any idea how many more there might be. No, she didn’t know where the portal originated. No, she didn’t possess hard evidence the aliens were using the terahertz signal as a form of communication; that’s why she had called it ‘speculation.’ No, she didn’t see their weapons in action, for
shockingly
she had not taunted the armada into shooting at her.

Perhaps tired of waiting for Alamatto to take the lead, one of the Regional Commanders on holo—the one with the fiery orange hair, O’Connell?—leaned forward. The stance on his stout frame was so assertive he appeared as if he were about to bull rush the table. “Based on Metis’ location, these ‘aliens’ will traverse Federation space long before reaching our territory. We can use this to our advantage. A Seneca under attack from two fronts will be far weaker and easier to defeat.”

“Are you fucking
kidding
me?”

O’Connell made a laughable attempt to virtually stare her down. “I will not be talked to in such a manner. I am—”

Her mother
was
staring her down, but she ignored her to meet O’Connell’s gaze icily. “Of course. Pardon my manners. Are you fucking kidding me,
sir
?”

The man practically came out of his chair and through the holo, but Alamatto cleared his throat loudly over O’Connell’s protestations.

“Ms. Solovy, please. Surely you understand—the goal of war is to defeat the enemy. The General may have put the matter somewhat indelicately, but he raises a valid consideration. If these aliens attack the Federation, it will almost certainly bring a more rapid conclusion to the war and prevent the loss of a great many Alliance soldiers’ and citizens’ lives.”

“Almost certainly—until they get
here
.”

“We will be on our guard, and study them when they attack Senecan worlds—
if
they attack Senecan worlds. By the time they arrive here we can be ready for them.”

“You’ll
study
them while they slaughter millions—billions—of innocent people?” She gestured at the images hovering above the conference table. “Do you
see
the size of those ships? They can destroy entire colonies with those monstrosities!”

Alamatto raised an over-trimmed eyebrow. “I must admit I am surprised at your reaction, Ms. Solovy. I would expect you to harbor no love for Seneca, given what happened to your father.”

“Do
not
bring my father into this.”

He withered under the force of her glare, shrinking into his chair. “I’m merely saying—”

She laughed darkly. “You know, I don’t particularly care for war personally—it did, as you so
delicately
noted, kill my father—but for the most part I don’t give a shit what you do in your free time. But
this
…these aliens aren’t going to distinguish between Alliance, Senecan and Independent. Why should they care? I’m pretty sure we all look the same from space—and even up close. Admirals, Generals, whoever else is here, you ignore this threat and you are signing
all
of our death warrants.”

Alamatto seemed to locate a piece of his backbone and straightened up. “We’ll be the judge of that. Thank you, Ms. Solovy, for bringing the matter to our attention. We can take it from here.”

“Right.” She stood, the picture of calm, and gave the table a final once-over. “Thank you all for the privilege of wasting my time.” She didn’t wait for the offended expressions and exclamations before walking out.

She was actually surprised when her mother caught up to her at the lift; she’d have thought it too unseemly for her to excuse herself from the meeting so quickly.

“Alexis, wait. You need to understand—”

She whipped around and came
so
close to shoving a pointed finger in her mother’s face. “
No
. I understand fine. You work with a bunch of power-drunk, narcissistic
pizdy
with the collective intelligence of one of your teacups.”

“Alexis!”

“What? Dad would be
disgusted
by this. Why aren’t you?”

“Your father died fighting Seneca—”

“My father died serving his government and his superior officers—who I’m starting to think were probably no better than those Neanderthals in there. He died fighting a stupid, pointless war which never should have been fought. Don’t you
dare
brandish his death as a totem to justify sanctioning the slaughter of billions.”

“That is not fair. I would
never
debase his memory in such a way.” Miriam blinked and took a deep breath. “I fear your petulant little temper-tantrum did far more to hurt rather than help your cause—but it may surprise you to learn I happen to agree with you, at least as to the seriousness of the threat. I will do everything within my power to draw continued attention to it and advise—”

Alex snorted in derision. “You want to do something, Mom? Then goddamn
do
something.”

She pivoted and hopped onto the lift as it descended past the floor. After tamping down the urge to hit the closest available hard surface, she checked the time.

Excellent
. The Board had wasted her afternoon and now she had precious few hours to prepare.

Thirty hours later, Caleb still chose to believe her…but the possibility did occur to him that she might not be able to pull it off.

Electronic shielding blocked all communications within the facility. He couldn’t send or receive messages or pulses, much less livecomms. The sense of isolation was far greater than it had been in Metis. There diversions had abounded, so to speak. One diversion in particular. Here though….

The trip over had been brief; he had every reason to think he was still on EASC grounds. He sat in a 5x4 cell, bounded on three sides by walls thick with sound-proofing materials. The fourth wall consisted of translucent glass and a small door, allowing any who walked by to see inside while preventing him from seeing out. Not that they needed to stand on the other side of the glass to observe him, for every corner of the ceiling held a surveillance cam.

The cell contained a cot—far less comfortable than the one on Alex’s ship—a toilet, a tiny sink and nothing else. Near as he’d determined when they’d brought him in, he was about a third of the way down a long hall of identical cells. He presumed some of the other cells held prisoners, but thanks to the sound-absorbing walls he heard no rumblings in the vicinity.

Other than food delivery through a slot in the glass wall, he hadn’t had contact with another person since being dumped unceremoniously in the cell the previous afternoon. No interrogation—pharmaceutically or cybernetically aided or otherwise—and no inquiries as to his mission or intentions. Given they knew his identity, they presumably knew when he had arrived on Earth and assumed whatever his mission was, he’d found little opportunity to pursue it.

The one thing he couldn’t figure was
how in the bloody hell they knew who he was
.

He’d had an ID busted twice in seventeen years, and in neither instance had the culprits uncovered his true identity, just that he’d used a false one. And the Roark ID was strong; it included fingerprint and iris overlays courtesy of his cybernetics as well as a well-documented and verifiable personal history, complete with face scan. Granted, security measures would be heightened given the war, but he’d seen no hint of a DNA scan on entry to the premises. And he’d made a point not to touch any surfaces once they were inside.

The only possibility he was able to come up with was the ID had been flagged as both false and attached to him by Alliance Intelligence. He hadn’t used it in…two years? Conceivably at some point over the period it had been compromised. Unlikely, but conceivable.

He assumed they intended to eventually do something with him. If he were to guess, they would transfer him to wherever they would be keeping the inevitable prisoners of war. He felt certain the Alliance had moved beyond 20
^th
century internment camps to a more refined form of confinement. Nonetheless, he hoped like hell Alex got here before that happened.