Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (29 page)

Commander Vega stopped. “Yes?”

“Devin’s innocent.” Palmer’s gaze pleaded. “I know the evidence is against him, but… He didn’t murder anyone. He’s only here because he wants Jane to be safe. He’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to die.”

Ordinarily, Commander Vega would have responded by sharply telling him that he was a fool. Something felt different that time. She continued on her way without a word.

An alarm blared. Her second-in-command shouted over the comm, “Commander! There is an unidentified spacecraft approaching the ship. It is armed, and I believe it is hostile. It has not responded to attempts to communicate. I have deployed Betta Unit S.”

“Very good.” Commander Vega entered the elevator. A hostile in such a remote area was likely a lone mercenary or another lost fugitive.

She pressed an icon on the elevator’s touchscreen. An external view appeared. The hostile was a small, triangular ship. It easily evaded the Bettas, heading straight toward the
Granite Flame
.

The hostile crashed into the Stargazer docked at the warship’s side. A disproportionately large explosion ensued. By the end of it, nothing remained of either vehicle.

Commander Vega entered the bridge and listened to the second-in-command’s brief report. Apparently, the sole purpose of the hostile had been to destroy the junker.

The evidence was still indisputable. It was the word of a convicted murderer and a love-struck boy against solid facts and hard proof. Everything had once been so clear, but no longer. Commander Vega’s confidence was nothing more than a façade she presented to herself. She tried to stand by her certainty, to line up the proof of Devin Colt’s guilt with the strange circumstances that seemed to follow him.

But the cracks began to show.

Chapter 17

Glares and Nightmares

“P
ony, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Jane noticed a small open door that led to a room full of wires.

That door was her chest; those wires, her insides.

She closed her chest. Metal rods replaced her fingers, but she could still feel with them, still sense the smoothness of her mechanical body beneath the cold fingertips.

Devin, whose body was also made of metal, stood before her. A pair of deep blue claws slowly tore him apart.

“
Stop
!” Jane lunged toward him. A large window trapped her. She frantically tried to crash through it, but it seemed unbreakable.

Sarah appeared beside Devin. She laughed as she watched his destruction. “Devin won’t go to heaven!”

The claws ripped Devin’s body in half. “I’m just a machine, Pony. We’re all machines.”

A wall of flames devoured what remained of him.

“Devin!”
Jane screamed and fought as hard as she could, but she couldn’t get to him… couldn’t save him…

His face disappeared into the fire. “Why do you care? I’m not even real.”

“You’re real! I don’t care if we’re made of metal and wires! We’re real! Devin!
Devin!
”

“Jane, it’s all right. It’s just a dream.”

Jane opened her eyes with a start. Adam hovered over her, looking down with concern.

“Where’s Devin?” Several needles attached to opaque tubes stuck out of her hands and arms. She wanted to rip them out.

Adam caught her hand. “Calm down. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“Where am I?” Jane looked around. She lay in a white bed with a metal rail, situated in a small room and surrounded by medical equipment.

A memory and cold realization hit her.

She bolted up. “
Where’s Devin
?”

Adam hesitated. “We’re at the Central Hospital of Kydera City. You’re in one of the private rooms in the Colt Wing. Your father’s across the hall.”

“
Adam
!”

Adam drew back, his brow creased in an apologetic expression. “I couldn’t stop him, Jane. I had a feeling he was going to turn himself in, but it wasn’t my place to tell him what to do. And you were dying.”

Dying?!
“I was fine!”

Adam shook his head. “You barely made it. You’ve been unconscious for more than three days.”

“What?” It felt like a few hours, at most. Jane even had the kind of dull headache she always got when sleep-deprived.

A cold line trickled down her back, as though someone threaded her spine with a string of ice.
The execution has been scheduled for two weeks from today…

The Republic of Kydera had no appeals court. There was no need. Thanks to the computers, their system was flawless, infallible, efficient. The science behind forensics methodologies, which had taken generations to develop, had proved indisputable time and time again. DNA didn’t lie, including the DNA of computers. Sophisticated scanning programs tracked all movements in the codes. If a dozen people saw Devin Colt shoot his father, and the computers showed no signs of having been tampered with, he must have done it. Or so the thinking of the almighty “they” must have went.

Jane lay back in her bed and stared at the white ceiling panels.
Due to the heinous nature of his crime, Devin Colt has been sentenced to death…

“I’ve petitioned President Thean to commute your brother’s sentence.” Adam seemed to read her thoughts. “Riley and I are working on an online movement to gain support. I won’t let them execute him, Jane.”

Jane’s lip quivered. “Where is he?”

“The Kydera City Penitentiary. I tried to see him, but he’s not allowed visitors—not even you, I’m afraid. They said prisoners on death row are only allowed visitors the day before their scheduled executions.”

Jane firmed her mouth. “It’s not going to happen.”

“No, it’s not. Riley and I stirred up quite a storm over the whole case. We’ve pointed out all the problems they overlooked. For example, your father was known to lower his shades whenever he had a visitor unless it was something he wanted made public. He wouldn’t have allowed a private quarrel with his son to be seen. The justice system won’t overlook the facts.”

Jane nodded. It would work. She’d find the evidence to prove her brother’s innocence. She’d bang on President Thean’s door demanding clemency, if she had to.

Adam glanced at the digital clock on the wall. “I have to go soon. I have a meeting with some people helping with the petition.”

Jane sat up. “I’m coming with you.” Her head felt light, and she drooped forward.

Adam caught her shoulders. “Not today. You’re not strong enough yet.”

“Yes, I am!”
He’s right—I’m really not.
She wanted to sink back into the bed after barely a few seconds of sitting up. But Devin was
her
brother, and
she
was the one who should be looking out for him.

“Adam, I really appreciate everything you’ve done, but let me take it from here. You should go back to your life.” Jane smiled jokingly. “I’m sure you’ve got a lotta homework piled up. Better catch up before they stick you in a remedial class.”

Adam sat down in the chair by her bed. “That’s not important. I’ll drop out if I have to.”

“Please, you don’t have to do all this.” Jane paused.
How do I say this?
“I know you’re only doing it because… because of me. But this whole thing with Devin… It’s not your problem.”

Adam took her hand. “Of course it is. You love him so much you hid your pain for days while your life drained away. I won’t let them take him from you. You know I… I would do anything for you.”

“Damn, you’re such a sap.” Jane pulled her hand away with an inexplicable frustration. A hurt look crossed Adam’s face. She softened her expression.“You don’t have to do anything for me. I’m not… I’m not the one you should pin your hopes on. I know we… heh… went out a few times, but… I’m the wrong kind of girl, Adam. I’m not…”

“I don’t expect you to be anything. I care about you, that’s all.”

Despite her efforts not to read into it, Jane recognized the tenderness in Adam’s voice. Her awkward frustration hung in the air. She looked away, wondering what she could say.

“I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable.” Adam sounded calm. “I know this comes at an odd time for our… for lack of a better word, relationship. We were friends before, and I’m still your friend now. Friends don’t abandon each other, especially at a time like this. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, and, like I said, I don’t expect anything.”

Jane looked at him and saw only honesty.

Adam leaned back with a slight shrug. “Besides, I don’t want to see anything happen to Devin, either. Even if he were a complete stranger, I still wouldn’t want to see an innocent man executed. You know how I feel about capital punishment.” He smiled that infuriatingly adorable smile of his and extended a hand. “Friends?”

Jane took it and smiled with relief, grateful for his understanding. “Friends.”

Adam checked the time again. “I really should be going. I’ll visit again in a few hours. They told me you’d be able to go home soon after you regained consciousness, but you have to keep the needles in, okay? They’re giving you what you need to get better.”

Jane sighed. “Yes, Doctor.”

Adam left. Jane obeyed her body’s command to lie back down. She considered sleeping, but as soon as she shut her eyes, the image of Sarah from her nightmare swam across her vision.
Devin won’t go to heaven!

“Bitch.” Jane opened her eyes and glared at the ceiling.
Dreams are nothing but random crap.
She tried to forget her latest one.

Her thoughts turned to her father across the hall. She pressed an icon on the touchscreen by her bed to call for assistance.

An elderly nurse appeared at the door. “Yes, Miss Colt?”

Jane pushed herself up with her elbows. “I want to see my father.”

“Advanced as medical technology is these days, you still need your rest, at least for a few more hours while the medicines restore you to full health.”

“Please, I haven’t seen him since—since it happened. I just want to see his face again.”

The nurse opened her mouth to speak, then smiled resignedly. “All right, dear. I guess it can’t hurt.”

The nurse approached the touchscreen and pressed an icon. The bed rose, hovering a few inches above the ground. She detached the touchscreen from the wall and used it to guide the bed out of Jane’s room and into the one across the hall.

The nurse stopped Jane’s bed beside the one where Victor Colt lay unconscious, attached to so much medical equipment that, for a moment, Jane’s mind flashed to the AI workshop and the human-looking android parts wired into various machines.

“Hi, Dad.” Jane had so much she wanted to tell him, but she didn’t want the nurse to hear. She said it silently in her head.

I love you, Dad. I know you’d hate that I let myself get pulled into this mess, but I’m doing it for you, and I’m doing it for Devin. If I don’t act, they’ll kill him, and the bastards who did this to you will get away. I still hope the justice system will realize they’re wrong, but if they don’t… I don’t care what I have to do. I won’t let him die. If you want to stop me from being a fool, wake up and yell at me. Please, Dad. Please wake up…

Tears streamed down Jane’s face. She felt the nurse’s comforting hand on her shoulder.

Wait a sec…
The best evidence of Devin’s innocence lay right in front of her. Her father had been shot from the ceiling, not point-blank. Surely the doctors had noticed—unless No Name hacked their systems and altered the records. “Whom do I talk to about a second opinion?”

The nurse frowned. “Excuse me?”

“I want my father’s scans redone. The originals must’ve been wrong. There’s no way he could’ve survived being shot point-blank. It must’ve been from a distance, from the internal defense guns on the ceiling.”

“I’m sure the records are correct.”

“Please…” Jane widened her eyes into a pitiable expression. “My father and my brother are all I’ve got, and if there’s the slightest chance my brother’s not guilty…”

She covered her face, and it wasn’t long before the tears returned. The nurse first tried reassuring her that the Kyderan justice system was infallible. After a minute of Jane’s sobbing, the nurse agreed to have a doctor come in for a second opinion as soon as possible.

Jane wiped her eyes. “Thank you.” Exhausted, she reclined in her bed.

I love you, Dad. You’ll always be in my heart, but I’ve gotta get you out of my head.

According to the night nurse, Adam had visited, but Jane had been asleep, and he hadn’t wanted to disturb her. She wished he had. He’d put himself down as her contact, and she’d been told she needed him to check her out of the hospital. The medicines had restored her completely. Even the scars on her arm had vanished. She felt energized and ready to go. She’d tried simply walking out, only to be escorted back by a pair of orderlies.

Jane wasn’t in the mood for holovision, but she needed something to keep her mind from replaying her disturbing nightmare.

You’re real! I don’t care if we’re made of metal and wires! We’re real!

“Shut
up
!” She pressed the button to activate the holovision projector, which flipped through arbitrary channels. A hologram of Adam appeared.

What’s he doing there?
“View channel!”

Adam stood before a crowd of reporters. “If the police were to examine the facts more closely, they would see the inconsistencies. Devin Colt is innocent, and I think it’s clear that evidence was planted and records tampered with. I pray President Thean will give us more time to prove what is, for me, an indisputable truth.”

Thanks, Adam.

A reporter started detailing the case. Jane had no interest in listening to people tell untruths about her brother. “Change channel.”

Every news channel obsessed with Devin Colt’s crime, and every entertainment channel fawned over the music sensation Sarah DeHaven. Jane shut off the holovision with a huff. She lay against the tilted back of her hospital bed and daydreamed about pouring Lithran stinger ants on the bastards behind No Name.

Someone requested entry. Jane eagerly swiped the icon to open the door. “I saw your bit on the news!”

It wasn’t Adam who walked in. Riley grinned, waving his scrawny arm too quickly. “Hi, Janie!”

Jane blinked in surprise. “Riley! What’re you doing here? Where’s Adam?”

“I’m right here.” Adam, carrying a canvas sack on his shoulder, entered behind Riley.

Riley shoved his hands in the pockets of his baggy orange pants. “So, I quit BD Tech and came looking for you guys, but not before I did a little diggin’.”

Jane sat up and hugged her knees. “How’d you get here without No Name catching you?”

Riley spread his arms, shoulders raised. “Uh… Bought a Moray ticket? Riley Winklepleck’s a boring maintenance worker with a clean record. No one’s interested in him.
Corsair
has been gettin’ in plenty of trouble, but he’s just a name on the Net, and not a unique one at that. Online me can kinda fade into the crowd until the time comes to do some major demonizin’, like I did on the Hard Planet.
Man
, have I got some
stuff
to tell you!”

Jane hugged her knees tighter in excitement. “What is it?”