Genesis (13 page)

Riley drove out into a busy street, thick with cyclists, cars and a few long transport vehicles. Above them a shuttle zoomed along its line and on both sides of the street crowds of people walked to and fro carrying cases or talking into their coms.

The adults in the front were quiet and the car wasn’t moving fast enough for Rosie. She felt sick with anxiety and fiddled with the pendant at her neck.

Riley turned the car down a narrow street and stopped it in front of a tall building. “Right, I’ve got to get that stuff. You wait here–”

“Forget it,” Aunt Essie cut him off. “We’re coming with you. Your boy can wait.” Pip made a rude exclamation at this but Aunt Essie ignored him.

“That’s not a good idea,” Riley said.

“Tough.”

“What am I going to say if someone sees you?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. Come on, Rosie.” Aunt Essie got out and opened Rosie’s door.

Riley let out a long breath. “Fine. Pip, you stay here. If we’re not back in half an hour–”

“Yeah, I know,” Pip said curtly. “Leave the car and go to the safe house.”

“Safe house?” Aunt Essie said sharply and pushed the car door shut.

“Just a precaution,” Riley said.

Rosie and Aunt Essie exchanged a look. “Okay, whatever. Let’s go.” Aunt Essie led the way up the stairs to the front door.

The building looked like apartments. The lobby was small and poorly lit, and the reception desk was attended by a responsive hologram of a woman of about forty. It looked at them expectantly as they entered. “Can I help you?” It spoke in a voice two octaves too low, followed by a loud spit of static. Rosie flinched and covered her ears.

“Suite 452,” he said. The hologram blinked, then became a grey fuzzy shadow. Riley reached under the desk and fumbled around for a moment before coming back to them with an entry card. Behind him the hologram flickered back to normal and stared past them as though they weren’t there.

“This way,” he said and headed towards a lift.

They emerged on the third level into a corridor filled with people. Long windows stretched across the opposite wall and on either side of the lifts was a row of doors, all whooshing open and closed as people entered and exited. The air was cold, despite the sunlight pouring in through the windows, and Rosie rubbed her bare arms.

“Where are we?” she whispered to her aunt.

“Not sure but I saw a Microcorp insignia on some workers’ shirts. Could be a research facility.”

“It is.” Riley had heard them. He glanced back. “It’s deliberately not signed and in an apartment block to stop the competitors sniffing around.”

“That’s what the trick with the hologram is for,” Aunt Essie said.

“A simple code deviation – I designed it.”

So he’s some kind of security expert, Rosie thought.

Riley swiped his card through a door lock and they went through to another hallway. They hadn’t gone far when a short, balding man coming out of a door up ahead saw Riley and began to walk towards them. Rosie heard Riley swear under his breath.

“Riley,” the man called, hurrying up to him. “I’ve been messaging you for three days. Where have you been?” He did not seem pleased, and Rosie and Aunt Essie hovered behind his shoulder, trying to be inconspicuous.

“Sorry, I had to go to over east.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to complete that report.” He looked curiously at Rosie and her aunt. “Visitors?”

“This is Dr Black from Orbitcorp and her student,” Riley replied. “They wanted to see some of our new technology.”

Rosie stiffened at the use of her aunt’s name, but the man only gave Aunt Essie the once-over and said, “Orbitcorp snooping around new tech again, eh? You can tell your superiors it will cost them. Only the reviewed work, Riley.” He gave him a warning look then left. Riley took off again, turning into another corridor.

“Why did you tell him my name?” Aunt Essie whispered as he paused at a door and swiped his card.

“I had to. There’s surveillance everywhere. Why do you think I told you not to come in?” He led them into a small, musty office.

Rosie figured this had to be Riley’s. A large desk sat in front of a glazed window and high shelves held myriad coms, digi books and assorted computer parts. There were no other chairs except the one behind the desk, which was clear apart from embedded computer controls.

Riley went to the desk and touched some sensor buttons. A blue image of a Microcorp logo appeared and began to rotate above the desk. He moved his fingers lightly above the controls and the logo disappeared to be replaced by lines of text and the Senate insignia of joined hands.

He turned to her aunt. “Give me your current ident.”

He removed a black box from a desk drawer and put Aunt Essie’s card into it.

“I don’t have an ident card,” Rosie said, watching as sets of numbers rotated in midair above the desk. “It’s expired.”

Aunt Essie looked at her in surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Rosie shrugged. “Dad didn’t want to, you know …”

“That’s all right,” Riley said absently. He pushed more buttons and a holographic picture of Aunt Essie appeared and alongside it the name Alice Branigan. “I’ll just pull your details off the population web and make a new card. It will be easier than adjusting a current one. There.” He hit a few more buttons and gave Aunt Essie her new ident. “Here you go, Alice.”

She made a face. “Alice is the name of a woman who serves coffee at a spaceport.”

“Good, then that’s what you do.” Riley looked at Rosie. “Do
you
have any name preference?”

“No.”

“How about Cate Branigan, Essie’s daughter?”

Rosie shrugged and Riley quickly tapped away. “I’ll use one of my old cards, re-code it and add your name.” He tapped some more and Rosie’s face appeared.

“That capture was taken last year,” she said.

“Doesn’t matter, it’ll pass.” He moved the information around then placed a new card in the black box. A minute later he handed her the ident. “Right, let’s go.” He powered the com down. Rosie studied the image of her face on the card. Her hair was shorter, but she supposed it wasn’t too different.

They made it to the lobby and out the front door without incident. But then Riley stopped dead on the top step, so both she and Aunt Essie bumped into him. The car and Pip were gone.

Riley put his arm around Aunt Essie’s shoulders as if he did it every day and grabbed Rosie by the hand. Startled, Rosie was about to speak when he said in a low voice, “Play along – there’s a Senate guard across the street.”

The guard was leaning against a black car, talking to someone inside.

“Do what he says, Rosie.” Aunt Essie put her arm around Riley’s waist and smiled. Rosie tried to smile back.

Riley led them down the steps and strolled casually towards the main street.

“Keep going,” Aunt Essie whispered. “Don’t look back.”

Rosie walked as casually as she could. The back of her neck was prickling and she couldn’t help herself – as they reached the corner, she glanced back. Her heart leaped into her throat. The man was half a block behind them.

“He’s following,” she whispered.

Her aunt swore and Riley increased his pace.

“Where the hell is Pip?”

Rosie was beginning to panic. “Does the guard know who we are? Could he be with Helios?”

“Maybe,” Riley said. “See that group of people ahead?”

Four men were standing in a group in the middle of the pavement talking.

“Yes.”

“As soon as we get around them, we run.”

“No,” her aunt’s whisper was harsh, “we’ll look suspicious.”

Riley spoke through a tight smile. “He might not know who we are but if he’s a Helios mole, he’ll know about Rosie. He’s probably recognised her. Do you want to risk it?”

“You’re the one who risked her!”

Rosie’s pulse was racing. They were going to be caught before they could even get off the planet.

They reached the men and as soon as they were around them, they ran. Rosie dodged past people, trying to keep up with her aunt. She could see the top of Riley’s head just ahead of them. Behind, people exclaimed as the man pursued them. Hovercars hummed past her and overhead two shuttles zipped by each other in a rush of air that made her hair lift.

“Come on!” Aunt Essie called back to her.

Rosie dodged around an old woman, then almost fell as a small robot buzzed out of a shop and under her feet. She stumbled and panic overwhelmed her as she was pushed towards the road by the crowd. She’d lost sight of her aunt and the man in pursuit was almost on her. Suddenly, a car pulled up alongside on the kerb. The side door flew upwards and she saw Pip at the controls.

“Get in!” he shouted.

She threw herself into the passenger side. Pip gunned the motor and she slammed the door shut as the car lurched forward. Her aunt and Riley weren’t too far ahead and had seen the car. Pip barely slowed enough for them to jump into the back seat, one almost on top of the other.

“Go!” Riley closed the door, looking back at the guard. He was on the kerb watching them and talking into a com as Pip swerved into the line of traffic and sped away.

For a long tense moment, none of them spoke. Riley stared out of the back window. After a while it seemed as though they had got away. No sirens sounded and the traffic moved smoothly around them.

“He might not have known who we are,” he said finally.

“Let’s hope so,” Aunt Essie said.

Rosie didn’t speak; her heart was still thudding hard, more from fear than the run. What would have happened if they’d been caught?

Pip glanced at Riley in the rear-view mirror. “He arrived not long after you went inside. I didn’t want to risk him seeing me,” he said.

“You should have left the car,” Riley answered tightly.

“It’s stolen, boss. I thought it’d be smarter to take it.”

Riley didn’t reply. He looked angry but Rosie thought Pip was right. The Senate guard could have checked it and then they’d really have been screwed.

“Where did you learn to drive?” Aunt Essie said.

Pip shrugged. “Around.”

“Do you know the way to the spaceport?”

But before he could answer, Riley said, “Pull over in this side street. I’m driving.”

Pip was about to argue but hesitated at the look on Riley’s face.

Without a word he stopped the car and they swapped places. Riley drove towards a steep ramp that led to the upper freeway that circled the city. He gunned the engine, speeding up to 200 kilometres per hour. Rosie sat beside him feeling tense and wishing she’d changed places with her aunt in the back.

It took nearly an hour to get to the public spaceport. It was on the coast, to the south of the city and the freeway exit led right to the outer gates.

The spaceport covered an enormous area. It had two terminals: one for interplanet travel and another for off-world launches. Riley parked the car at the edge of the sector for the off-world terminal and they got on the hoverbus to the terminal.

The bus was full of holiday-makers: couples with matching luggage and families with noisy kids. The four of them huddled together, all of them tense, none of them speaking. The display on the bus announced there were two ships bound for Space Islands waiting to launch. Rosie hoped they’d be able to get on one of them.

The terminal was like a shuttle port without the shuttles. A line of auto check-in booths took up one corner, another line of desks sold tickets nearby and there were dozens of shops selling clothes, food and liquor. A holo sign proclaiming the latest in nausea-calming space travel drugs rotated near the entrance and ship stewards wearing Space Islands uniforms smiled brightly at people as they showed them where to submit luggage.

“We need to keep out of sight,” Riley said. “Especially you, Rosie. Get between your aunt and Pip.”

He shoved Pip so he was walking beside her, blocking her from view of most people in the area.

“No worries,
boss
,” Pip said, his tone tinged with sarcasm. Obviously, he was still annoyed about the driving thing but Riley appeared not to care.

He took them to a retro-themed cafe and directed them to some stools along a side wall. Then he bought them each a drink and went to one of the public comnets. Rosie sucked the sweet, bubbly liquid through the straw, feeling the rush of engineered caffeine hit her empty stomach, and looked for the telltale Senate uniform. She couldn’t see any, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Maybe someone from Helios had seen them already. Maybe they weren’t dressed as guards.

Aunt Essie looked narrow-eyed at everyone and didn’t touch her drink, while Pip downed his in a few swallows then proceeded to twist his straw into strange shapes, flicking Rosie with the remnants of liquid left in the tube.

“Stop it,” she hissed. He smiled and sprayed her with drops again. She threw her straw at him, wondering why he was suddenly so cheerful.

“Children,” her aunt said quietly.

Pip raised his eyebrows at her, his eyes mischievous, and flicked her aunt, spattering liquid on her arm.

“Cut it out, Pipsqueak!” She glared at him.

“Pipsqueak?” He grinned. “Jeez, Aunty, a nickname? Does this mean you like me?”

“Sure. The way I like poison in my tea.”

He chuckled and looked sideways at Rosie. “It’s true, I am a dangerous addition to beverages, and highly addictive.” He winked at her and put the straw in his mouth, chewing lazily on it. She stared back speechless. Was he flirting with her, now in the midst of all this?

Riley came back to them and said, “I managed to get us three berths on the second ship. It leaves in an hour.”

“Three?” Pip’s smile disappeared.

“You don’t need to come.” Riley took a sip of Aunt Essie’s drink. “Besides, you’ve got no ident.”

Pip stood up. “So I save your arse and you dump me?”

“Keep your voice down.” Riley’s own voice was low and controlled. “You don’t need to be involved any further. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on the Senate.”

“So that’s how it is.” Pip threw the straw onto the table.

“I’ll still pay you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”