Betrothed Episode One (19 page)

“
He died three years ago.”

I was
stunned. But I had a job to do. “What do you mean? I saw Lieutenant
Mark Havelock a little over a week ago.”

The
security officer took a much needed breath. “Mark Havelock was
killed at one of the Newfound Institutes on Earth three years ago,”
she stuttered, barely capable of believing what she was
saying.

My mouth
jutted wide open. “So who the hell are we dealing with
now?”

“
Mark Havelock,” she answered.

I
trusted my offices – every single one of them. They were all good
people, and I knew I could always rely on them.

They
didn’t play games.

So even
though this sounded like a game, I didn’t snap. “What’s going on
here?”

“
He’s a graft,” her voice shook.

My jaw
slowly opened, my breath wheezing from my mouth. “A graft? How …
how did you find that out?”

“
Sir,” if she looked uncomfortable before, now she looked as
if she wanted to crawl out of her skin.

My
eyebrows crumpled so far over my eyes I could barely see out of
them. “What?”

“
It was an anonymous tip off.”

“
And it’s been confirmed?”

“
Yes. They sent us a bunch of information, including bio scans
and data files. It’s stuff that’s been meticulously deleted from
the Newfound Institute’s records. But once we had the information,
our technicians ran a forensic audit and confirmed the information
is definitely what was deleted from the newfound
databases.”

I
brought a hand up, unashamed of the slight tremble, and rested my
palm flat against my chest, my crooked fingers barely capable of
straightening. “So you’re telling me that the Newfound Institute at
some point knew that Mark Havelock was a graft?”

She
nodded.

I swore.
I wasn’t usually one to swear. I was controlled, I was trained, and
I knew my position and the dignity and respect it afforded
me.

But that didn’t stop the expletive from cracking through my
lips.

This was
huge.

This
implicated the Newfound Institute and God knows how many other
people.

“
Do we have any idea where this anonymous tip off came
from?”

I knew
the answer well before she shook her head.

I
brought both hands up and locked them over my forehead, letting
them drag slowly down my face, indenting against my cheeks and nose
and mouth as if I was trying to drag my face off my
skull.

“
Maybe it’s somebody who used to work for the Institute? Maybe
somebody who knew Havelock was a graft but their conscience caught
up to them and they couldn’t hold that secret any
longer.”

“
Maybe,” I conceded in a weak tone. “Or maybe they appreciated
that right now we need this information.”

She shot
me a confused look. “You think somebody out there is on our
side?”

I didn’t
answer.

I
couldn’t answer.

It was
time to stop thinking and to start finding out.

Patting
a hand down my face one final time I let my arm drop and I strode
towards the door. “Keep me updated. And show me that information on
Mark Havelock. If I’ve had a graft traipsing around Cluster, I want
to know just how much damage he’s done.”

“
Yes, sir.”

I strode
out of my office. Though my stride was determined, determination
wouldn’t be enough.

The complexities in this game had just doubled.

And the stakes of this game - the universe.

Anna Carter

I awoke,
stiff from head to foot as if I’d just run 10 marathons. In many
ways, I had.

With a shaking, trembling, practically convulsing hand I
pushed the scrappy fringe from my face. My hair was oily and here
and there
clumped
with a few droplets of blood.

Bringing the same hand down, I wiped it over my top lip, and
realized my bleeding nose had dried long ago but it had left a
trail of sticky and dried blood all the way down my chin and
neck.

I
blinked hard, swaying back and forth in my chair as I pressed my
still shaking hand over my eyes.

“
We have reached the planet’s orbit. Landing protocol
initiated. We will touch down in approximately two minutes,” the
computer said, its electronic voice echoing around the
room.

Though I
was dizzy and my ears were ringing, I somehow managed to gather
together the energy to open both eyes and stare at the view screen.
Sure enough a large green-blue planet had come into
view.

“
As per your original instructions, we will utilize the
long-range intergalactic communication satellite on the primary
continent of this planet to send your message.”

“
My message?” I stuttered.

“
We will be unable to land near the tower. Security is too
sophisticated. You will need to remove the communication manifold
from this ship and manually enter the facility
yourself.”

“
What, why?” I managed.

“
To send your message,” the computer repeated
tonelessly.

“
What message? I didn’t ask you to send a message.”

“
You programed this computer with very specific orders. You
programed this computer to remind you of those orders. You
programed this computer to remind you that after you woke up you
would be weak and you would require reminding.”

I could understand every separate word the computer was
saying, but I just couldn’t comprehend them.

My mind
rang like 1000 bells were lodge between my ears.

“
This computer will assist you.”

“…
Thank you,” I managed, for some reason
remembering my manners even though I’d forgotten everything
else.

Oh no …
I hadn’t forgotten everything else. In a flash it returned to
me.

Good
God, I’d escaped from Cluster. I’d hacked into a maintenance tower
and stolen a ship!

What was
I doing?

My
heartbeat tripled and my hands began to shake like they were
tectonic plates crumbling under an earthquake.

“
You should calm yourself,” the computer suggested.

Should
I?

What I
should do was contact the Foundation Forces, try to explain what
was happening to me, and fall on their mercy.

Even
though that was unquestionably the most sensible thing to do, I
didn’t do it.

This
time there was no vision playing in my mind to stop me, either. I
stopped me.

Call it
gut instinct or second sight, but I could tell it was too late to
contact the Foundation Forces.

Something else was going on here.

I watched the view from the main screen as we came in to
land. The planet went from a dot of green-blue to vast oceans and
continents below me. We shot through the atmosphere with such speed
it was seconds until a continent turned into a vast plain and then
a mountain and then a rocky outcrop.

We landed, the ship plateauing smoothly and dropping without
so much as a shake as it settled on the ground.

For
several seconds I sat in my chair and I stared and I stared and I
stared at the view screen. When I stopped I brought my hands up and
stared at them instead.

I was
looking for a solution, but there wasn’t one to be
found.

“
You must access the communications facility. You must remove
the communications manifold from this vessel.”

“
How do I do that?” I stuttered. Even as I asked that
question, I started to see how it would be possible.

However
fleetingly, a vision returned. But it was distant, extremely
distant, and thankfully easy to ignore.

The
pain, however, I could not ignore.

It seared behind my left eye as if a sun was going nova
behind the lens.

Clutching a hand to my face, I screamed.

“
It is unwise for you to use the ability at this time. Your
body has been weakened.”

“
Ability?” I questioned in a hesitant tone.

“
You programed this computer to remind you about the ability.
You programed this computer to tell you it is unwise to use the
ability until you have had a chance to rest.”

“
What’s the ability?” I asked with a dry mouth.

“
This computer does not know.”

“
How do I stop myself from using it?” My voice shook
badly.

Fortunately the computer could make out what I was saying.
“By keeping yourself safe. If you enter a dangerous scenario, the
ability will return.”

I
couldn’t process what the computer was saying. I didn’t want
to.

Yet I
knew it was right. Instinctively I knew it was right.

I couldn’t deny the existence of the ability, nor could I
deny the fact it would return.

So
reluctantly I pulled myself off the seat and stood before what I
assumed was the communications panel. “How do I remove the
manifold?”

“
I will talk you through the process.”

I
followed the computer’s instructions, but it was far less smooth
and easy than when I was following the vision. My hands didn’t
instinctively know what to do, and they kept fumbling and making
mistakes.

The
computer was thankfully patient, and was incapable of irony or
insult. Eventually, I managed to remove the manifold.

Occasionally a few flecks of dried blood would flake off my
lips and chin. I was in a right state. My oily hair clung to the
sides of my neck, and my tunic was torn in places.

Thankfully the burn I’d received on my hand was now gone.
Clearly the vision had dealt with it at the same time it had
programmed the computer.

There
was no time to clean myself up. I imagined if I paused for some
personal grooming, the visions would return.

It was
safer to do what I was told.

I couldn’t put up with the pain of seeing things again. It
was like being torn in two over and over again. Maybe this is what
Prometheus felt every time his liver was eaten out only for it to
regrow and to be eaten out once more, endlessly.

Before I
made my way out of the ship, the computer made me download
something into a chunky portable gauntlet. I soon realized that it
was the computer’s AI.

As weird
as it sounded, considering it was only electronic and artificial, I
was thankful to have company.

As soon as I reached the outside world, I
shivered.

It
wasn’t cold, it wasn’t my fatigue either; it was something
else.

Something beyond intuition. Beyond my standard visions,
too.

Something that reached further.

Something that warned me danger was coming.

“
It will be difficult but not impossible to circumvent the
security of the facility. Currently it is unmanned.”

“
Well that’s good,” I muttered.

I didn’t
want to bring anybody else into this. God knows how much
destruction I’d wrought on Cluster. God knows what I’d done to that
tower. I could have hurt people, even killed people, and I wouldn’t
know.

That
terrible thought settled on me like a dark cloud.

“
You are shivering. You are cold. We can return to the ship
and manufacture a jacket.”

“…
No, I’m fine. We just need to get this done,” I
added. Or did I? Was that a vestige of the vision controlling my
lips for a few short seconds?

I didn’t
want to get this done. I wanted to stop and crumple into a ball and
forget any of this was happening.

So why
was I still walking forward? Why was I trusting the computer or
whatever I’d told the computer to tell me during my frenzied
vision?

I
couldn’t answer that question.

I just …
had to keep going. Had to believe that somewhere at some point I
would find out what was happening to me.

…

Captain Fargo

“
So we aren’t the first people to go through this room then?”
I pushed my hands into my pockets, my shoulders rigid with tension
as I stared around the room.

I wasn’t
any closer to solving this mystery; with every passing second, I
was getting further and further away.

The
mysteries kept mounting with no sign they would stop.

Right
now I was standing in Miranda’s hotel room. There was no luggage
and the room was clean.

Too
clean.

Every
trace of DNA had been removed from it.

Somebody had been through it before we had
arrived.

“
Whoever cleaned this room, they did a thorough job,” one of
my technicians commented.