Crystal Deception (18 page)

Circumstantial evidence indicated the friend had bartered
for the device so there would be no evidence of a transaction. Criss reviewed
the record of this friend’s travels and found images of him as he carried his
personal gear back to the moon. The difference in size and shape of his pack on
his return trip lent credibility to his supposition.

His search also revealed that Kyle, paranoid that his
competition was spying, had installed the device in a fashion that was hidden
from all monitoring, believing such extreme behavior was necessary to maintain
a competitive edge against his shady competitors. As an interesting side note, Criss
learned that Kyle had been right to be cautious. Two of his four challengers indeed
had him under surveillance. It did not appear that either had knowledge of the
device.

Accepting their serendipitous good fortune, Criss guided Sid
as he disconnected the grapple from the racer and mounted it between the rear
skids of the scout. During the procedure, Criss acknowledged to himself that
because of Sid’s instincts and perseverance, a critical challenge was resolved.

* * *

Sid, safely back inside the scout, made
his way to the tech shop to see how he could help. He found Juice flat on her
back in the adjacent operations compartment. She had a wall plate off, her head
was stuck inside the partition, and she was fashioning a connector to the ship’s
central system so she could install the new units. Sid wandered over to her,
sat down, leaned against the wall, and started thinking about what lay ahead.

“Can you hand me the multi?” he heard Juice say.

He leaned forward, picked out the instrument from the array
of tools she had spread out around her, and like a nurse working with a
surgeon, placed it firmly into her outstretched hand. Interested in a diversion,
he toggled his dot to watch her work.

As he sat, he thought about the enigma who was Juice. She
had a quirky and likable sense of humor. She would often interject seemingly
random thoughts into a conversation, and he couldn’t always tell when she was
being serious and when she was making a joke. And she sometimes responded to
the unfamiliar in a manner that projected a lack of confidence.

Yet when presented with a technical challenge, this same
person became a brilliant technologist who tackled the most complex tasks with
calm assurance. Sid reminded himself that she directed the program that created
Criss. Even though, unbeknownst to her, she was receiving help from the
Kardish, this was a singularly remarkable achievement.

Growing bored while watching her work, he toggled to normal
vision. He leaned back and brainstormed ways they might gain entry into the
Kardish vessel. As he sat and contemplated, his eyes drifted to Juice’s body. Deep
in thought, he considered her runner’s build, not aware that she was calling
for another tool.

Juice giggled and he watched her move her arms straight out over
her body. “Is this really all you have to do?” she asked.

Sid, unaware what had prompted her actions and statement,
toggled his dot to see what she was doing. He saw her seeing him studying her.
The back and forth of images between the dots looped on and on, much like when
two mirrors are facing each other and a reflection tunnel trails out forever.
In this case, Juice’s headless body was in the center of the tunnel. He quickly
averted his gaze, toggled his dot back to normal view, and mumbled an apology
as he stood up to leave.

“Wait,” she said. “I could use your help for another ten
minutes.”

Still embarrassed, he sat back down and mumbled some more.

“Hey, Sid,” she said. “Let’s rescue our friends.”

Like a cold shower, this simple statement brought his
attention back to the task at hand. Together they finished the installation and
buttoned up the wall plate.

The scout now had a Criss-approved cloak, stealth
communications, and a grapple unit integrated into the ship. In spite of Criss’s
confidence, Sid had learned long ago that he could improve his chances of survival
during dangerous operations by treating such untested capabilities with great
skepticism. This was especially true for a mission of this sort, where failure
meant capture and death at the hands of aliens.

“So what’s the plan?” Sid asked.

“We separate from the racer and power up the cloak so we can
make our final approach in secrecy.”

“Seriously?” said Sid. “That’s it? Don’t you think they’ll
be able to figure out where we are by plotting our current path? And if we
change course, won’t they see our thrust and track us that way?”

“Yes, but I believe I can create complex thrust patterns that
will reduce their ability to pinpoint our location. They will be uncertain of
our position in minutes and will have lost us completely within an hour. If we
wait several days before we make our final approach, we will regain the element
of surprise.”

Jumping to Criss’s defense, Juice said, “Given what we’re up
against, I think that sounds pretty solid.”

Disappointed by the lack of creativity in the plan, Sid
said, “I think it’s time to take you both to school.” He turned and walked back
to the tech shop. “Juice, I’d appreciate an extra pair of hands. And Criss, I’ve
got a design challenge for you to work on.”

“What do you have in mind?” Juice asked, following him.

Sid answered without turning around. “We’re going to blow
ourselves up.”

Chapter 24

Cheryl controlled her breathing as
she eyed the Kardish guard. Crouched in a passageway of the
Alliance
with a carryall of food, water, and weapons over her shoulder, she held up the
sheet of cloaking material as her only cover. He stood at the far end of the
passageway, weapon at the ready, looking in her direction.

Her weapon hand was free. In a slow, steady motion, she lifted
it behind the sheet. Aiming with one eye and a pinhole, she targeted the guard
while remaining motionless, hoping he would move on. But when the blond alien
tilted his head, Cheryl knew she had seconds to act. The guard cupped his free
hand behind his ear. She held her breath.

The Kardish chose to trust his instincts.
Bizt
. A
luminous bolt of radiant energy flew above Cheryl and hit the wall down the
corridor. The alien peered over his weapon to evaluate his success, and Cheryl
used that moment to return fire.
Zwip.
The white bolt from her weapon
caught the alien square in the face, kicking his head back.

Before the Kardish guard hit the floor, Cheryl stood up. The
cloak sheet fell away as she rose. She fired again, this time hitting him in
the chest. She shrugged the food and water off her shoulder and, taking long
strides toward the downed guard, fired a third time, her anger overriding her
training. She stood over the body and fired a fourth time, relieving a portion
of her pent-up fury over the capture of her vessel, the slaughter of her crew,
and the desperate situation of her surviving team.

She stood there for several seconds and then cursed. The
smell of charred flesh was overwhelming, and his fall had created a
considerable thud. Her instincts were screaming that it would not be long
before the other guard became involved.

She chose to be proactive. She retrieved the carryall and
placed it at a corner so she could grab it during a hasty escape, then picked
up the cloak sheet and refashioned her draped shawl. As she adjusted it, she
hoped that the burn hole from her weapon was not too visible.

Working her way to the main hatch of the
Alliance
, her
approach took her to the corner where she had hidden when the aliens had first
entered her ship. Stopping in the same spot where she had nearly been shot, she
studied the hatch. It was partially open. She leaned out, turned her head back
and forth rapidly as she looked up and down the passageway, and pulled back.
She didn’t see the other guard.

She edged over to the hatch, peering through the gap to see what
she could of the Kardish vessel. The second guard was nowhere in sight. Her
anxiety crested—she did not want to be caught by surprise a second time.

Edging the hatch open with her toe and keeping her weapon at
the ready, she scanned back and forth as her field of view widened. She exhaled
in relief when she finally caught a glimpse of the second guard, still sitting
at the bottom of the structure, still half asleep.

Cheryl pulled the hatch open and called out to the guard,
speaking a mumble of nonsense syllables in a deep voice, loud enough to be
heard, but quiet enough that the guard wouldn’t be able to hear her clearly.
The guard turned his head and said something. She called out again, mumbling
more nonsense sounds. This time the guard stood up and called back. Cheryl
remained silent, hidden by the cloak, and waited.

The guard paced several times as if trying to think of a
reason to sit back down. He shook his head and let out a visible huff of
annoyance. He began an ambling climb up the structure toward the
Alliance
hatch.

Halfway up his climb, he must have sensed that something was
amiss. He stopped and began speaking to someone.

She heard Jack through her speck. “You okay? I’m hearing all
sorts of chatter from a speck I’d put on the commander of the guard. He says
he’s coming to investigate and wants the guards out front at attention.”

She turned away from the hatch and whispered, “Hold.”

She looked back and saw the second guard had a newfound
hustle in his step as he hastened his climb. He called out to his partner, the
tone in his voice showing increased annoyance with each repetition. When he was
most of the way to the top, Cheryl stepped into the middle of the hatch, let
the cloak fall open, took aim, and shot him in the chest.

As the guard fell backward, his foot slid forward and hooked
under a cross joint of two beams. It remained tightly ensnared as he continued
his fall, and his body swung back into open space between the beams. Held by
his foot, he dangled upside down, either dead or dying. His arms hung loosely
over his head and his free leg splayed out to the side.

Cheryl stepped out of the hatch and onto the structure.
Gripping the frame to steady herself, she leaned out to get a good angle and
fired again. The energy bolt hit true.

Pulling herself back into the ship, she moved to retrieve
the carryall. As she ran through the ship’s passageways, she called Jack. “I
have food and water and am on my way to Cait. We’ll need to be ready to run
when I get there. I just killed the two guards.”

She didn’t concern herself with stealth as she hustled to
the alley hideout. When she turned the corner, she found Jack on his knees, the
gadgets and gizmos of his toy-master packs spread on the ground. He and Cait were
sifting through the items, organizing things into piles.

“Cait,” she said. She ran up, knelt down on one knee, and
put an arm on the officer’s shoulder. “How are you, Ensign?”

“I’m really tired, Captain. But I can move. I’ll carry my
load.”

Cait was pale and her eyes were glassy. But they had no choice;
they had to move.

She opened her carryall and let the contents spill onto the
ground and picked out an extra weapon for herself. After snapping it on her
free wrist, she handed one to Cait. “Armor up. Here are extra charge packs.”

Jack moved one of his now-empty toy-master packs next to
Cheryl’s pile and went to work. “Let’s fill this one-third with food and
two-thirds with water.”

“Eat and drink from the stuff we can’t take,” Cheryl said.
“We should at least start full.” She ate an energy bar as she paused to think
through their next steps.

Jack reached into a crevice and pulled out his ghost pack.
He viewed his toy-master inventory piled on the deck. Cheryl could see that the
ghost pack would hold maybe a quarter of his gear at best. He picked through
the pile and filled the ghost pack with a selection.

“I’m guessing communication and demolition will be our
priority.” He said.

Cheryl helped Cait finish loading the food and water.
Dig
deep, Cait
, she willed her.
We need you.

* * *

Jack recognized the purring of a
Kardish cart in the distance. The direction and movement of the sound told him
it was headed for the
Alliance
.

“So you shot the two guards?”

“Yeah. They were my first ever. It’s really different from
shooting a projection sim.”

“The smell is different, if nothing else.” It was a random
thing to say, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking of the casualty
score. It was a soldier’s habit.
Two for us and four for them.
He was
not the type to settle for even, envisioning horrific destruction before the
score was even ballpark close.

Over the sticky speck, Jack heard the guard’s superior
shout, “I told you two to be out front and at attention.” When the admonishing
tone changed to one of surprise, Jack guessed the superior had discovered the
fate of his men.

“Time to move,” he said, hefting the heavy food pack onto
his back. He handed the ghost pack to Cheryl, who shouldered it without a word.
He picked up the cloak sheet and shook it out. “My guess is that we’ll be most
vulnerable to overhead imaging until they can get troops out. We’re going to
hold the cloak sheet above us and move in a tight formation under it. That
should give us reasonable cover for now. I’ve explored up ahead and have a
rough idea of a destination. Any other ideas or concerns before we move out?”

“Let’s go,” said Cheryl.

“Each of you put a hand on my shoulder. That’ll keep us
grouped under the sheet.”

The two each placed a hand on one of his shoulders, and Jack
swung the sheet around and above them. He spread his arms up and out to support
it from the front, while the other two used their free hands to keep the sheet
centered above them.

“Here we go,” said Jack. He walked slowly until they got the
hang of moving as a single unit. As they made progress in synchronizing their
steps, he picked up the pace until they were moving at a steady shuffle.

“What did you locate as a destination?” asked Cheryl.

“In a minute you’ll see that this tub is broken into
sections. I suggest moving toward the front section. The bow is where we put
the good stuff on our own ships, and my guess is that their command bridge will
be that way.”

Jack led them out to a lane and along it to the broad,
straight road. He let the sheet fall to his shoulders and looked in both
directions, eyeing the enormous walls that divided the ship along its length.
He knew that the bow of the ship was toward the nearer dividing wall, and he
took a moment to confirm this by studying the taper in the hull overhead.

He lifted the sheet back up above him. “Ready?”

He started them shuffling down the main road. They passed by
one building-sized box unit after another, scurrying in lockstep and listening
for Kardish scouts. Jack understood that being on a main road held the highest
risk for discovery by their hunters, but it was the fastest way to gain
distance from the
Alliance
.

While shuffling down the road, Jack listened to the Kardish
superior as he walked through the
Alliance
. The anger in his tone
flipped to apoplectic fury. He screamed at his staff to redirect all resources
to a search and ordered the deployment of foot patrols and roaming carts. Jack
heard him yell, “Find them and bring them…” And then there was silence.

It continued for several minutes until Jack concluded that the
sticky speck had either been discovered or dislodged. He thought it most likely
to have been dislodged, reasoning that if they’d discovered it, they were smart
enough to use it to deliver deceptive information. They could have set a trap
using staged conversation and then sat back and wait while the three walked
into it.

“The search has gone full scale,” said Jack. “Let’s get off
this road.”

They turned down a side street and onto a narrow alley,
keeping to backstreets after that. None of the alleys went very far before
dead-ending, so they were forced to zig and zag and even retrace their steps on
occasion. Their persistence was rewarded with slower but steady progress.

They were about halfway to the dividing wall when Jack felt
a hand slip off his shoulder. He stopped and looked back. Cait was bent over
panting.

“I’m sorry. I can make it. Let’s keep going.” She
straightened up and reached her hand out, but was so weak she missed Jack’s
shoulder and stumbled.

Cheryl caught her and held her up. “It’s all right, Cait.”
She guided her over to a narrow gap between some smaller box units. Catching
Jack’s eye she said, “We were going to be taking a break anyway.”

The gap went a short distance and then turned a corner into
a slightly wider area. Cheryl helped Cait sit down. The hideaway offered great
cover in every direction but up, and Jack solved that by laying the cloak sheet
across the boxes above them. He unshouldered the food pack and pushed it under the
cover of the sheet as well, then noticed that Cait, leaning in a corner, was
already asleep.

“Is she all right?”

Cheryl looked at her and back at Jack. “I’m wiped too. I
don’t know what comes out of those weapons, but they really suck the life out
of you.” She took off the ghost pack, sat down next to Cait and huddled against
her. “I’ll keep guard over her.”

“I’m going to push ahead and see what I can learn.” He
picked up the ghost pack and slipped it on. It shimmered and then disappeared. “I’ll
bring my toys with me to keep me company.”

“Hey,” said Cheryl. “I can see fuzzy patches. You’re
starting to show in places. Don’t be thinking you can stand in front of them
and be invisible.” She twirled her index finger. “Turn around.”

Jack did a slow pirouette.

“Your back is better, maybe ninety-five percent. Your front
is more like eighty percent.”

“Just the fact that you can tell front from back is bad
enough. This suit wasn’t designed for what we’re doing here.”

As he spoke, he could see her eyelids drooping. Moments
later, they were both asleep. He stood there quietly and confirmed he could see
them both breathing steadily. As he walked out of the hideaway, he toggled his
speck to urgent mode so Cheryl wouldn’t be disturbed by his idle chatter. But
if he spoke under stress, even in a whisper, the speck would amplify the words
and grab her attention.

He left the hideaway and made his way out to the main road,
placed a tracer on a corner box-building so he could find his way back, and
began a slow jog down the road. He reached a comfortable stride and then he
heard the purring of an approaching cart.