A Plain Jane Book One (30 page)

The closer they neared
their destination, the more Jane started to pant and the more her
breath came in shallow little bursts. It wasn’t because she was
tired – even though she could hardly keep up with Lucas as he raced
along – it was because she was scared. Actually it was more than
that, it was as if her body was preparing for something, as if
every single one of her cells were now poised in
anticipation.

The more poised and
expectant she became, the more she found herself walking closer and
closer to Lucas until she even bumped into him several times. He
didn’t put a hand on her shoulder and push her away, but he did at
least glance down at her and acknowledge it with a bare
smile
. ‘It is going to
be fine,’ he tried once more.

She doubted that. It was
going to be something, but it wasn't going to be fine. Coming home
from work and sitting on her window ledge while she ate a lovely,
warm Hoyan hotpot, was fine. Sitting at work as a stream of
beautiful sunshine warmed her back was fine. Meeting a shadowy
contact on a planet far away from Earth in the hope that he would
be able to tell her what was going on, was not fine; it was
adventurous. Jane had spent her entire life distinguishing very
well and very competently between fine and adventure. She did not
waste her breath pointing this out to Lucas though, because she
hardly had the breath to force her body to keep on following
him.

She really wasn't built
for this; she could hardly walk at a brisk pace, let alone run
around the Galaxy as they frantically sought answers to their
conundrum. Yet, despite that fact, Jane continued on.

Eventually they managed to
reach a very tall tower. It was not connected to the main city:
they’d had to use a slingshot transport to get to it, because it
was a good 500 meters away from the rest of the interconnected
buildings that made up the main metropolis.

At first Jane had been
incredibly wary as she’d approached the peculiar transport, but
when Lucas had offered her a hand, accompanied by a rather inviting
smile, she’d ignored the hand and walked up into the transport next
to him, being sure to shoot him an intense look. He had shrugged,
laughed, and had told her in a quiet voice to hold onto something
strong.

Before Jane had processed
that, the platform suddenly shot up and out from the street. She
let out a yelp, latching her hands onto the railing before her,
even though the platform was shielded from whatever inertia that
should be accompanying its movement. Then it absolutely shot
towards the other building. The effect of it was like being slung
from a canon. In fact Jane had once seen a documentary about a very
peculiar ancient human activity of loading oneself into a cannon
and being shot at various targets. Apparently humans had done so
for entertainment, but Jane did not find this entertaining one
little bit. In barely several seconds the platform docked with the
building 500 meters away. Rather than slowing down like a ship
would, it slammed into a security field. At that moment, Lucas
latched a hand over her arm, no doubt ensuring she didn’t fall over
from the shock of it all.

‘
Steady there,’ he said as he let
her go, the security field around the platform blinking off and
allowing them to leave.

As she stumbled to her feet,
her legs shaking as she followed Lucas off the platform, she could
hear that he was laughing very, very quietly. ‘What was that
thing?’ she demanded. ‘And why are you laughing?’

‘
It's a slingshot transport,
Jane,’ he answered, ‘and I am laughing because that was impossibly
cute.’ He kept on chuckling as he started to walk away from the
platform, not bothering to turn to her.

Which just left Jane
completely confused and a great deal flustered. Cute? Impossibly
cute? What exactly was that meant to mean?

B
efore she could storm up to him and ask,
she noticed that Lucas came to a very sudden halt in front of the
building before them.

It didn't have any doors, or
perhaps its entrance was somewhere around the side and simply not
visible from her angle. Nonetheless Jane found herself staring up
at it, confusion on her face. ‘How do we get in?’

Lucas didn't answer. In
fact he was just standing there, body stiff. After a while she
realized that he was probably talking to somebody over his
com-line, and she just left him in peace.

She walked around behind
him for a bit, waiting, trying to be the good sidekick as he no
doubt received an important call. She headed over to the side of
the path that ran all the way round the building, and found herself
staring down at the ocean below. She hardly ever saw the ocean: it
was not close to either the Galactic Force nor where she lived, and
Jane certainly wasn't one for travel.

Yet
now that she stared down at the dark blue
mass before her, she had to admit that it was beautiful, inviting
even.

Strangely
inviting.

Lucas was still busy
having his conversation, and who knew how long it would take. Maybe
the Galactic Force had finally managed to re-establish control over
its communication lines, and they’d called their wonder boy to see
how he was going. Lucas was probably talking to the Dean herself,
or perhaps even the Galactic Union President. Yes, that made
sense.

T
he more Jane stared down at the ocean
below, the more she was filled with the frankly peculiar and
entirely inappropriate compulsion to jump in and have a swim. It
was inappropriate because she was half way through a mission to
find out why some mysterious and thoroughly fiendish creature was
out to get her. It was peculiar because Jane couldn't swim. She had
never had the chance to learn, after all; swimming was a little bit
too close to adventure.

Y
et now here she was, body inching closer
and closer to the end of the pathway and the ocean below. As her
body moved, a sharp, tight pressure began to build in her
brain.

It was mad, thoroughly
mad, but the desire to just jump into the water was starting to
build and build and build within her. The desire was different to
the by-now familiar control of the implant. It felt uneven somehow,
clunky; it seemed to lack the seamless integration that the implant
was capable of.

T
he more the desire built within her, the
more a stabbing pain began to radiate from her
head

A
s Jane battled with her almost suicidal
compulsion, Lucas was still simply standing there, ramrod straight,
obviously still confabbing with whatever heads of state,
dignitaries, and Galactic leaders that had called for a
chat.

 
. . . 
.Jane jumped in.

She actually jumped into
the water.

The shield that she knew
would have been in place around the pathway to stop people from
falling in and drowning just wasn't there.

So Jane hit the
water.

She started to
sink.

Lucas Stone.

He couldn't move. He
couldn't move a muscle. His armor had just seized up. Every single
joint of it had locked into place without a single command from him
and, in fact, despite every single attempt to override
it.

I
t wouldn't listen to him: the living
membrane was accepting no commands from his mind.

He practically swore at it
to get going, but it wouldn't respond.

That strange subroutine
he’d been vaguely aware of since arriving had started to consume
more and more power the second they’d walked off the slingshot
transport (well, Jane had wobbled off).

N
ow that program was using every single
scrap of power that he had, and there didn't seem to be a thing he
could do to override it.

I
f that wasn't bad enough, he’d just heard
a splash from behind him.

Although his heart had
raced at the sudden and unexpected sound, a sharp and punctuated
breath leaving his chest, he hadn't been able to turn around to see
what it was or what had happened. And with his armor completely
unresponsive to his commands, he couldn't use it to obtain readings
on the environment.

He couldn't move and he
had no idea what was going on. He also couldn't see
Jane.

She had been behind him
when he’d stopped, when his armor had ground to a halt.

She hadn't once walked in
front of him.

He had no idea where she
was.

A
s the seconds passed, the sound of that
splash still ringing in his ears, his blood turned
cold.

He wanted to shout out her
name. He couldn't.

He wanted to turn to see
if she was still behind him. He couldn't.

Instead whatever program
that had seized his armor remained in control, completely
paralyzing him.

T
hen he heard something floundering in the
water behind him, heard the frequent and erratic splashes as
something thrashed about in the ocean just several meters to his
left.

He started to hear the
choking.

Something was
drowning.

Lucas knew it was
Jane.

Chapter 18

Jane

Fear seized Jane's mind as
water lapped into her mouth. She started to choke, thrashing as she
tried to move to one of the pillars that held up the path she'd
just jumped off. But she couldn't gain enough control over her
body, couldn't will her arms and legs to move quick enough. She
didn't seem to have control over them.

Through it all the buzzing
in her mind grew in strength.

Jane started to swallow
water; the waves lapping up and into her mouth as she slipped below
the surface.

A
s she started to sink, she saw
something.

It was on the other side
of the city, near the slingshot transport.

It was black. It had a
thick body with six legs extending from its torso like a spider,
and a single, pointed tail whipping up around it. It looked like an
Earth scorpion, except jet-black and huge.

It glanced her
way.

Before her eyes sunk below
the waves, she saw it move. It launched itself off the opposite
platform.

Then she started to drown,
her mind filling with static as she swallowed water in her frantic
attempts to breathe.

The static built and
built, and Jane got the distinct impression it was trying to fight
something.

Her whole body shook from
the electrifying effect of that ringing.

It grew and grew and grew
until suddenly a pulse shivered through her.

Jane regained control over
her body; the insidious pain that had forced her into the water now
gone.

Yet it was too late
though.

Jane's body was shutting
down.

Yet at the last instant,
as her eyes closed, her senses dimming, she felt her limbs kick
into gear. As she moved, something reached her, wrapped around her
middle, and pulled her out of the water.

Jane's body shot from the
water so quickly that her wet hair slapped against her
face.

Whatever had hold of her
twisted her around until it dumped her on the path, her body
hitting the ground with a violent, wet, resounding
smack.

Then she saw it. The
assassin robot. It was standing barely a yard from her, its small
head tilted to the side, its large, intelligent, electronic eyes
locked down on her.

It twisted its tail
around, the point of it glinting in the sun.

It was about to
strike.

She tried not to move, but
shook forward as she coughed and spluttered. Her mind began to
whirl; the buzzing that had overcome the urge to drown returning
with a surge.

It filled her brain. There
was nothing but the buzzing. It resonated down her arms and legs,
shaking her body as she lay there on the ground.

Lucas still stood there,
his back turned to her, his body stiff and unmoving. Either he was
having one hell of a fabulous conversation or he couldn't move at
all.

So she waited, the buzzing
still shaking through her limbs, the assassin robot still poised to
attack.

Yet
time wound on, and it didn't
strike.

It seemed frozen there,
poised but unmoving.

The buzzing in her mind
built to a point until there was a clicking sound that echoed
through her thoughts.

The assassin robot finally
did something, but it didn't attack. It leaned down to her, its
eyes coming so close to her own, that she could see each of the
concentric, blue, electronic lenses turn around as it focused its
attention at her.

It didn't attack; it just
looked.

A whole minute went past,
Jane choking as quietly as she could, her shoulders shaking, her
body soaked, but her face always angled up to the robot right in
front of her.