Sanctuary (Jezebel's Ladder Book 3) (5 page)

Tetsuo Mori wore his black hair
back in the style of an ancient samurai, in contrast to his modern Alexander
Amosu suit with no tie and gold-limned buttons. When he heard about the plan to
inseminate Kaguya to gain stock, he remained stone-faced for a long time.

She concluded with, “Everyone will
believe Zeiss did it. Kaguya confessed to their affair before her disability. I
have hospital logs for him visiting her three times, which I will bring with
us. The nurse will testify to my version, or she will die in an accident.”

Eventually, he asked, “You would
kill, ruin the name of a man who helped us, and steal his legacy to make me
richer?”

She bowed before the screen. “And
give you the greatest psi talent in the world, an heir who towers above kings.”

Mori nodded. “You are the best of
all possible wives. I will deny you nothing.” His breathing became deeper.
“Hurry home. I would thank you in private.”

****

Sitting in her jet on the helipad,
Amanda waited impatiently for clearance to leave this barren wasteland before
anything else froze. Over the intercom, the pilot said, “Ten minutes till the
flight path is clear and all systems are green.”

The fertility doctor seemed
nervous. Dr. Drang’s price had been a chain of clinics in California and a
guest spot on a popular talk show. Now his conscience was chafing him like
diaper rash. Amanda was losing patience. “We’ll stop in Bangkok to perform the
procedure discreetly. Then, you’ll be free to tender your resignation. The war
gives you the perfect excuse to leave guilt-free.”

“I am only supposed to give the
samples to their family.”

“Red is an orphan, and Zeiss has a
sister who is incapable of safeguarding this property. It belongs in New York with the board.”

Drang squirmed a little. “That’s
not completely true. There is one other party who might have a claim. Their
will leaves the samples to Mira Hollis—with authorization to implant the pre-fertilized
ova.”

“Mira Hollis, the Fortune heir, can’t
have children?”

“I couldn’t speculate on that. I
only know what the codicil attached to these containers specifies.”

“If something happens to Hollis?”

“The samples pass to Claudette
Fortune. PJ Smith and his wife are last on the list.”

“Why would they be interested in
the Zeiss progeny?”

The nurse was quiet, riveted to the
news coverage live from the Brazil spaceport. They were showing photos from
inside the alien craft. Lisel ignored the arguments, as she had for the past
half hour. After the baby was born, she would receive a villa in Bavaria. They were all surprised when the nurse pointed to the screen and whimpered.

The inset with the man reporting
live from the port turned to static. The view of the spaceport from the jungle
flared white and froze. The final image showed a string of TV vans being lifted
into the air, with a bright column in the background. Hans sat on the arm of
her chair, unable to take his own gaze off the picture.

Moments later, Amanda’s glasses
flashed red and provided details about the tragedy. A small nuclear weapon from
Algeria had wiped out the Brazil spaceport and all the dignitaries present.
Amanda turned to the doctor. “This has just become the premier ticket on the
continent. Now you need to decide—are you loyal to me for the rest of your
life, or will you get off my plane?”

“If you kick me off, I could still
tell the board.”

“Half of them were at ground zero.”

He no longer felt as confident. Her
next statement knocked out all remaining moralizing. “All Fortune Aerospace
sites are targets now.” She pointed to the logo on the space-tracking arrays
beside the jet. “I’m guessing you’ll be high and mighty for about an hour
before you glow. I can name three other people on that iceberg who’d worship me
for the opportunity to leave. You have thirty seconds to decide.”

In ten seconds, Dr. Drang clipped
his seatbelt.

Amanda pressed her newfound
convert. “Why would Hollis or anyone else care about Zeiss’ children?”

“Because Red, as you call her, is
the real Mira Hollis. The woman in New York is a media shadow and a friend.”

She did some quick addition. Any
Zeiss children would eventually inherit controlling interest in the Fortune
empire. This man had just handed Amanda the keys to the world. If the Zeisses
returned, she could blackmail alien secrets from them. If they died, she would
be the regent to the sole heir of Fortune. She could dance on the old bastard’s
grave.

When the take-off thrusters fired,
the doctor nearly wet himself, afraid that the nuclear explosions had already
arrived. Amanda signaled the attractive, young stewardess. “Mai, make sure the
good doctor stays relaxed on our trip.”

She was also pleased that she
wouldn’t have to pay Director Stanton for his assistance; though it was a shame
about the earring.

At ninety-six minutes past the event, Zeiss experienced a
blinding headache coupled with vomiting.

Oleander was the first to say, “His
pupils and symptoms look like a concussion.”

Twenty minutes later, Auckland couldn’t find anything physically wrong. “It’s mental—page related—whatever it
is.” He treated it with a cold pack on the forehead and an anti-inflammatory.

The commander was clearly
suffering. Red held him on her lap as he shivered. “Are you saying it’s
psychosomatic?”

“Not at all. I just don’t know what’s
causing it.”

By rank, their pilot Lou was
supposed to take over the mission. However, he didn’t press Red on the issue
yet. “Is it a relapse from earlier injuries—like when the whales died?”

Auckland shook his head. “This is new.
He’s more sensitive than the rest of us.”

“Anything wrong with the two volunteers?”
asked Red.

Toby said, “Halfway through their
rinse cycle. If anything, they’ll outlive us all. Healthiest humans I’ve ever
seen. The scrubber has actually done some error correction on aberrant
patterns.”

“Like?” asked the other physician.

“Mercy was set to have breast
cancer in another ten years. Not anymore.”

“Wow. Her mother and sisters may
want to get screened for those symptoms,” Auckland told Oleander. “Use the
words lobular carcinoma in your report.”

“Saving lives is our number-one priority,”
agreed the Swedish Out-of-body expert.

“Too bad we can’t ship a few of
these toadstools home,” said Toby.

Sonrisa, the structural engineer,
shook her head. “That would be like sending a faucet. When it got back home,
they’d wonder why water doesn’t come out anymore.”

Frustrated, Toby asked, “What does
the Great and Powerful Oz say?”

“Sensei suggests we ask our own
people what happened,” Red replied, feeling like an oracle.

At the two-hour mark, Zeiss’ Swiss
watch beeped, causing Herk to pull out a large Gauss gun—a vacuum-friendly device
that used magnetism to accelerate bits of metal to lethal speeds. A knob on the
side that adjusted the size of the bullet looked like it was set to the size of
a quarter.

Red had to calm the guard. “It’s
just the signal to send Ole out again. Toby, anything more to report on the
alien tech?”

The nanobiologist laughed. “In one
hour? I could do a dissertation on what we
don’t
know. Things we figured
out, I’ve told Ole already.”

“Ditto,” said Sonrisa.

Taking a deep breath, Oleander
closed her eyes and focused on her brother, Johann.

She appeared on the bridge of the
tiny
Seraph
moments later, and her brother smiled in relief. Out of the
corner of her eye, she noticed that the pilot’s breath came out as a fog.
Why
so cold?
she thought to her brother.

“We’re conserving our power for a
long stay and hiding our energy signature,” Johann replied. “Tell us what’s new
in the alien craft.”

Oleander gave them an update about
the decontamination procedure and a few minor gadgets they had discovered.
But
this is like describing the movie posters outside the theater. We won’t even
remember them once the main feature starts.

“Let’s just hope we can afford the
ticket price.”

Her brother was the master of
understatement.
What happened?

“Casualties at L1 and moon base
were 10 percent higher than expected.”

Not good, but not enough to make
all of you look this serious. What else?

“We were told not to communicate
the news.”

It hit Zeiss like a riot club to
the head. We need to hear it.

“Brazil mission control was bombed.
Technically it was the Algerians, but all the technology came from the Chinese.
China owns the country’s debts and rail lines. We’re sure they pulled the
strings but can’t prove a direct link.”

Oleander flickered for a second,
unable to speak.
Oh God. Who died?

“It was a nuke—everyone in a two-kilometer
radius. Zeiss’ sister, anyone the astronauts invited, all but three board
members, and all but one of the Smiths. It was the highest concentration of
Fortune personnel and Active talents to gather in the last decade.”

Why didn’t the US military warn them? They could’ve evacuated.

“China owns a lot of US debt, too. The president was informed that advance warning of the target would pull the US into the war. No one wants to be part of this. As soon as the sun comes up at the Hague, criminal charges are being brought against Zeiss and Horvath.”

Any good news?

Johann sighed. “In about forty
minutes, the first waves of survivors from L1 will be landing at the UN moon
base. With our allies pulling out, moon base is already debating whether to
send
Cherub
back out for the other half of the construction-platform survivors.
At T plus 10 hours, mach 20 missiles from L1 hit moon base. With only one
launcher to defend themselves, they won’t stand a chance. They need shuttles.”

For how long? We’ll be safe for
a few hours.

“You’ll get the same treatment here
soon after. Part of every wave will be aimed your way just to divide our defenses.
Mach 20 capability was supposed to be allied tech. Some of the leaders sold out
or changed sides.” He recited a depressing list of betrayals they had uncovered,
plus UN resolutions pending for the next morning in New York City. “But that’s
in the past. There’s a slower wave at T plus 19 hours. After a lull, at T plus 61
hours, moon base gets the fast missiles from high-Earth orbit. At T plus 120
hours, the slow hell rain arrives—every piece of nuclear ordnance they haven’t
used since WWII. There’s no way we can stop it all. If you fellows on the
Ascension
don’t pull a rabbit out of the hat by then, we’re all dead.”

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln,
how was the play? What are they demanding?

“All the pages. Everything from the
artifact, including the
Ascension
.”

I’ll be back with an answer as
soon as I can, but I can tell you what it’s going to be.

Johann nodded.

****

Oleander explained to the crew of
Ascension
,
“Z is suffering from exactly the same effects as the whale attack—on a much
larger scale. A large number of Actives were murdered in retaliation for our
landing.”

Red paled. “You’re saying they did
this because of my plan? Because of me?”

Her friend Risa hugged her. “We all
agreed, girl. Don’t make this your fault. The world needs what we’re learning.
The breast cancer cure alone will help two million women a year. My grandma
died of that. Because of us, no one else will lose a mother, grandmother, or
wife that way. That was the first hour of our visit, and we’re not even in the
front door yet.”

Meanwhile, the doctors went to work
easing Zeiss’ symptoms. Their first step was to insulate his mind with the hood
of a neoprene-like wet suit. The rubbery material blocked mental or Out-of-body
attacks. The second step was to administer blockers.

“This cocktail will prevent neurons
forming PTSD loops. He really needs sleep,” Auckland announced.

“Not a luxury we have right now,”
Lou snapped. “He’ll get all the rest he needs once he’s in the decontamination
pod. Right now, we need to decide our response. Which Actives died, and who
killed them?”

The space worker put an arm on Lou’s
shoulder. “Algeria nuked the entire Brazil spaceport.”

“Vanessa,” Lou gasped.

“Your fiancée is gone,” Oleander
whispered back. Turning to the others, she added, “Everyone who cheered us on
in the VIP seating—friends, family, coworkers, support techs, and all but three
members of the Fortune board.”

There was a long silence. Several
team members cried, mouthing the names of those they lost.

Zeiss said, “My sister Claire was
staying at the Smith mansion for security. They treated her like one of their
own daughters.”

“Grandma Claudette,” mumbled Red. “I
thought she could survive anything.”

Risa shouted, “At least you didn’t
fight with your family members before you left. I called my dad a heartless
prick.”

“Your dad
was
a heartless
prick,
caro
,” Herk said, patting her awkwardly. “He didn’t let your mom come
on this trip because he wanted to sleep with his secretary.”

“I know,” Risa replied, tears
streaming down her face. “But he died showing support for me.”

Herk said, “At least your mom’s
safe at home, and Mary Smith’s alive, right?”

“Yes,” Oleander confirmed. “She was
the only member of Mercy’s family who escaped.”

Lou changed gears. “Hold on. Algeria? France closed that spaceport years ago. What happened?”

“The Chinese lent the Algerians
money to reopen the site—cheaper than building a new space city,” Oleander
replied. Then she explained the layers of betrayal: allies who failed to act,
and others who actively joined in the attacks from lunar orbit. “They’ll
eventually wipe out the UN moon base unless we give them the pages and the tech
from this ship.”

Lou had a wild look in his eyes as
he shrugged off Oleander’s comforting arm. “We can still control the telescope’s
lens. The first time it dipped into Earth orbit to deliver the pages, the
device caused devastating tornados. We could sweep the Chinese space cities up
with cyclones and eliminate the threat. If they want our tech, we’ll shove it
up their asses!”

Yvette said, “We can’t, or we’ll break
our charter. The aliens wouldn’t let us into the control room. We couldn’t be
allowed to infect the greater gathering of souls.”

“That’s fine by me,” Lou shouted.
“Then nobody gets it. People down there don’t deserve a better life. Let them
drown
in their own filth and decay!”

Herkemer held up a hand. “Only
countries can fight like that.”

“So we declare our independence!”

With great difficulty, Zeiss
squeezed out words. “I hurt, too. But we’re here to lead and save people, not
kill.”

“Then
do
something. Burma and Nigeria have drafted a resolution. In about six hours, the anti-space coalition is going
to ask for the pages, and the UN is going to cave. They’ll build their own
teams to come up here.”

“Sensei said pages won’t be needed
once we’re inside,” Zeiss reminded his wife.

“So you’re saying we should all
climb inside the pods early?” Red asked. “Once we’re through, the pages on Earth
will go blank?”

“That would minimize damage and
what the enemy can demand,” Herk said. “Then they wouldn’t dare attack us—there
wouldn’t be anyone else to send if they did.”

“Do you think that matters to the
Saudis?” Lou asked. “They
like
the way things are now.”

Oleander stroked his back to calm
him. He took world events personally, much like Johann did. She tried to gently
guide Lou into the adult course of action. “It would buy us time to unlock more
here. We’d have about 114 hours after entering the control room to find some
solution. It’s what we’ve trained all our lives for. If we can’t think of
anything by then, we could still go the revenge route.”

Toby double-checked the remote
monitors of the two women who had volunteered. “We’ll come out of these pods
better than when we go in. I’d stake my life on it.”

“All in favor?” asked Zeiss.

Eventually, everyone awake in the
room raised a hand. Herk asked, “What about Crandall? Will the pages go away
with him out there?”

“No,” Red answered. “But Sensei
made vague noises about sterilizing the outer regions before we could have
access to the shuttle again. Everything has to be purified by water or fire.”

“People who don’t decontaminate in
these pods are going to die?” asked Herk.

“I don’t make the rules,” Red said.
“When Active lives are being lost, aliens start categorizing in absolutes in
order to protect the ones left.”

Over the radio, they tried unsuccessfully
to convince Crandall to join them. In the end, Herk said, “Pause recording.”

“Paused,” Crandall echoed over the
link. “What do want to say that Big Brother can’t hear?”

“If you’re not coming in, you have
to be part of our oil slick.”

“What?”

“When submarines are trying to fool
the surface ships dropping depth charges, they release spare fuel and dead
bodies.”

“Is that a threat?”

“We’ll send out the two empty suits
with the other debris we have. The seats in
Ascension
are removable.
When we don’t need the acceleration couches or extra radiation shielding, the
flip-down panels built into the walls are good enough. You can claim you were
the only survivor because of your EVA suit and Override talent.”

They could hear the crinkle as
Crandall nodded. “It could work for a while, and buy you all some time while
you cycle through the filtration process. How do I explain your death, Herk?
You have the same gear and qualifications as I do.”

He replied, “Tell them you couldn’t
drag me away from my wife’s body before the walls closed. You can ride
Seraph
back to help moon base and save a lot of lives. They won’t survive without you.
Maybe our enemies won’t go after the part of our families that survived if they
think we’re all dead. You can honestly say, ‘When I left, they’d passed out
from blood loss, trapped under tons of alien junk.’”

“Okay. I’ll buy you some time. It’ll
take an hour to gather enough garbage to look convincing. Can you tell me where
the tools are?”

Sonrisa walked him through the
maintenance procedures that she’d practiced hundreds of times in dozens of
adverse scenarios.

When they had an ETA on Crandall’s
departure, Oleander projected over to the
Seraph
to inform them of the
plan. Her appearance still matched her nineteen-year-old self-image, proud and
protective.
We’re all climbing into decontamination now on the off chance we
can help end this insanity sooner. Crandall is leaving at T plus 2.5 hours,
with everything we can give you. We’re selling the catastrophe scenario.
Swoop
in as close as you can with your bay doors open. The thrusters on his pack can’t
outrun a missile.