Snapping on his ring light, Jak flashed it around the room they had descended into. It was a small, bare basement with an unfinished, damp floor. He had almost forgotten the flood; he hoped they didn’t run into a lot of water along the way.
Turning to his left, he followed Co-Lanen through an opening in the wall into another basement. This one was crammed full of furniture, tools and other odds and ends. It too had an opening in the left wall which they passed through. They went on like that for awhile. Sometimes walking through a narrow passage for a long stretch then coming to a room or sometimes the passage would be short with a series of basements following. Many of the doorways between were locked and they had to force them open with an R.O tuner Co-Lanen had brought along. They came across a few puddles but nothing major. It was becoming drier the farther they went.
“Are we there yet?” Jak asked as they stopped once again for a locked door.
Co-Lanen spoke as she fiddled with the R.O, “Almost. See the orange line on the door?”
Jak nodded.
“That means we are at Findae Court. The next one over is Olgdon.”
As the door slid open, his antennae tingled as if something was about to happen. Then again maybe it was just from getting pinched. He touched the left tip to check if it was still swollen. It seemed worse since the last time he checked it. He knocked into Co-Lanen who had stopped at the next door.
“Did you hear that?” she asked in a furious whisper.
“I told you I can’t hardly hear anything. And don’t whisper.”
She reached up to put a hand over his mouth. “I think someone’s behind this door.”
Jak groped for the crossbow. Passing him the R.O, Co-Lanen pulled her rafter off the holster and held it ready.
Releasing the safety, Jak pulled in a breath and opened the door. No one was there. He jumped as Co-Lanen placed cold fingers on his arm.
“What’s that over there?” she asked, pointing down the passage to a dark lump on the floor.
Jak’s ring light revealed a dark head of hair. The crossbow was back on his belt and he was bending over the body before he had time to think or hear Co-Lanen’s warning to wait.
Tugging at the damp jacket, he carefully rolled the limp form over. Rob Keller! The head lab tech’s face was gray with a thin film of perspiration. From the smell, it was clear bodily function control was gone.
Jak felt for a pulse, waiting several seconds before feeling the slight beat beneath his fingers. No blood. No apparent wound. He took out his scanner, blanching at the results. Keller’s myelin sheath protecting his nervous system had been almost completely stripped away. The man should not have been alive.
“How is he?” Co-Lanen asked, still whispering.
Jak shook his head.
Keller opened one eye but gave no sign of recognition.
“Rob,” Jak called, close to the tech’s ear. “Rob, it’s me, Jak. Can you hear me?”
The dying man’s mouth moved. It took several minutes before Jak could figure out what he was saying.
“Tahk.”
“Althan Tahk?” Jak asked. “Did he do this to you?”
Keller slowly closed his eye then reopened it.
Jak took that as a yes. “Why?”
“Water.”
Co-Lanen had a small canteen and crouched down to hold it to Keller’s lips. Most of the liquid dribbled out the side of his mouth.
“Didn’t want...kill kid.” Fresh sweat beaded on his forehead as he strained to tell them.
“What kid?”
“Miller.”
“You killed Steve Miller?”
“No!” Rob was agitated now, trying to move his head but only managing a fraction of an inch. “The other...father. He not...give weapon. Tahk wanted...kill Steve too.”
Thick veins stood out on his neck, darkly red against the gray.
Jak squeezed his shoulder although Rob probably couldn’t feel it. “Don’t try to talk, Rob. We’ll get you out of here.”
Drops formed at the corners of Rob’s eyes. “Too late.”
Jak shook his head. Although he had to agree, he had been trained too well by Aurelia not to give up as long as any sign of life remained. He reached for his comm-link.
“Wait. You have...to know.” Rob gave a weak, gasping cough. Co-Lanen offered him more water. “The Company...some planned...Tahk sabotaged the
Pasteur
.”
Jak remembered his encounter with Tahk on the
Pasteur
. Was it only a few days ago? He should have realized something was wrong. An electric surge of frustration and anger swept through him. “So what’s the plan? And who in the Company is behind this?”
His one good eye closed, the lab tech lay still. His occasional gasp for breath echoed through the tunnel.
Jak shook the man’s shoulder roughly enough to make Rob’s head wobble and droop to the side.
“Come on, Keller,” he demanded, “You’ve got to tell me. What’s the plan?”
“Jak, the man is dying,” Co-Lanen reprimanded. It was the first time she had spoken and her voice seemed to bring Rob around.
Opening his eye, he looked up at her. “I’m scared.”
Still frustrated, Jak sat back on his heels as Co-Lanen bent over Rob.
“You are passing into a new state of being,” she told him, her voice gentle and soothing. “You shall see the universe as it really is.”
“Didn’t want to kill...”
“I know. You will find a way to make up for it.”
Rob rolled his eye in Jak’s direction. “Supposed to use weapon...on the
Pasteur
.
Phoenix
will retaliate.”
“Why? What’s the purpose of destroying the ship?”
“Company wants...army. Operation East India...ask Rekhaan. Want...sell arms...” Rob’s voice trailed off into a loud gasp. His eye was still fixed on Jak. It took a second before Jak realized the man had stopped breathing.
“Gedden,” Jak swore. He felt for a pulse. Nothing. He started chest compressions. One...two, three, four, five. Breathe. “Come on, Keller!” One...two... Blood spurted from every orifice.
Co-Lanen stumbled sideways against the wall.
Jak sat back on his heels, breathing fast. “Poison. If I get my hands on Tahk...”
Co-Lanen sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. “Why don’t you call the
Pasteur
? We’re not going to find him down here by ourselves.”
Jak pulled out his comm-link, tapping in number one. The link beeped then the display read “This number is no longer functional.”
Swearing again, Jak keyed in the comm-tech number.
Fran answered the call, “
Pasteur
C.C. how may I direct your call?”
“This is Dr. Rialus...”
“Just a minute,” Fran interrupted. “Let me patch you through to Dr. Aurelia.”
A pause then: “Where the hell have you been?” That was Aurelia’s voice.
“Your link isn’t functioning,” Jak retorted. Their words to each other were tense, unsettled, even beyond the obvious frustration. It was the first time they had spoken since he had pulled her from the river.
“I’ve got a new one. Number 457. And don’t change the subject.”
“I just found Rob Keller...”
“Rob Keller! He had my comm-link. Let me talk to him.”
“He’s dead.”
“He can’t be. How can he be dead?”
“Hydromylex. Look, I need to talk to you on a secure channel.” Jak was getting impatient.
“Secure...what?!” Aurelia’s voice faded a little as if she had turned her head. “Oh, not you. Jak, I’ll have to call you back. Do not go anywhere,” she abruptly signed off.
The tunnel seemed suddenly quiet. Jak stared down at the bloody corpse. The rotten fruit smell of hydromylex was beginning to permeate the air.
“Do you believe all that?” he asked out loud.
Co-Lanen looked up at him from her position still on the floor against the wall. “Believe all what?”
“What you told Keller. About Gedden, the other state of being. Everything our parents believe.”
Co-Lanen closed her eyes. “I would like to think I am something more than my physical parts. That something of me will live on.”
Jak slumped against the opposite wall. “So would I.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Snapping her comm-link back on her belt, Aurelia turned to face Radif. She was standing by the
Pasteur
’s security desk about to enter the corridor between the ship and the space station. She scratched at the cuff on her wrist.
“What do you want?” she asked, staring up at the huge Berellian.
“You’re about to leave the ship,” Radif replied.
“So?”
Radif didn’t say anything.
“Im going to see the governor.”
Radif looked at her.
“Fine.” Aurelia spun on her heel, marching down the corridor, her boots echoing against the metal. She could hear Radif’s heavy tread right behind her.
As soon as she crossed the threshold, Aurelia felt dismayed. Davis’s main docking area was crammed to capacity with people. There had to be several thousand Jidalians and who knew how many others, all refugees from the planet.
The air was stifling and difficult to breathe as Aurelia tried to push her way through the crowd. In a moment, she found a path opening before her and realized people were seeing Radif first and moving out of the way.
At least he’s good for something, she thought.
They had to wait several minutes for the express elevator. Aurelia stood drumming her fingers on her arm, the noise pressure from thousands of voices talking at once pounding pain into her head.
The
Phoenix
had to have taken off by now, she worried.
The elevator door slid open and Aurelia found herself pushed back against Radif’s furry arm as it emptied. He pushed her forward and into the car at last.
Aurelia slipped into the five point harness while Radif crossed his arms across his chest and stood stockstill in the middle, facing the rear wall. He barely swayed as the car went swooshing toward the governor’s wing.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Aurelia reopened them to look at the Berellian. “Shouldn’t you be on the planet doing something?” she asked.
“Like what?”
Aurelia shrugged.
“It’s dangerous to go back now. I couldn’t stop the fighting anyway.”
Aurelia closed her eyes again.
“I think your sending the
Phoenix
down was the only choice you had.”
Aurelia opened one eye to look at him. His face was impassive as always. She wasn’t quite sure how to take that.
Radif turned to face the door. “I hope my people have gotten out.”
Nothing more was said.
The elevator slowed, stopped and opened on another scene of chaos. the clerks were cleaning out desks,pulling items off walls, stacking up boxes. It appeared they were doing a data dump from the computers as well.
Aurelia stopped a heavy-set woman with short gray hair who was huffing as if she had just run a marathon.
“Where’s the governor?”
The woman caught at a breath, “In his office. But you can’t go in there.” She tried to snatch at Aurelia’s sleeve but missed as Aurelia shoved past.
Governor Arnott was frantically pulling things out of desk drawers, his face flushed and hair askew. He looked up like a kid caught with the cookie jar as Aurelia and Radif walked in.
“What the hell is going on?” Aurelia demanded.
“We’re leaving,” Arnott said.
“Excuse me?”
“Who’s your friend?”
“Never mind him. Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m moving the station.”
“Like hell!”
“I can disconnect the main docking section. It’s perfectly capable of jumping to hyperspace.”
“You’re not moving this station.”
Arnott slammed the desk drawer shut. “Oh, yes, I am.”
“You’ll never work for GEM Co. again.”
“I think I will.”
“You’re not leaving until every last soul down there is safe.”
“They’ll have to look after themselves.”
Rage propelled Aurelia across the room. She saw Arnott’s eyes widen, saw him tumble over his chair, felt her palms hit the smooth mahogany desk.
It turned over and hit the floor with bone-shaking vibrations. The corner splintered, flying off to leave a deep scratch in the wall.
She would have had her hands on Arnott’s neck but she suddenly couldn’t move with Radif’s arm around her. He lifted her off her feet and pulled her back.
“Let go of me!” Aurelia struggled against his brute strength.
“Trying to prove you’re capable of murder?” Radif set her down and raised both bushy eyebrows at her.
“You saw her!” Arnott shook his finger at them, trying to put his hair in place, his lips visibly trembling. “She tried to kill me.”
Aurelia caught her breath. “You’re not worth the effort, colo-bate.”
Straightening his clothes, Arnott walked around his overturned desk, the long way, with Radif between him and Aurelia. “We’re still leaving.”
“Not with my ship you’re not,” Aurelia warned.
“If it’s still docked in one hour, it goes.” Arnott had the last word as he walked out.
Aurelia slumped against the arm of the couch, seething with frustration. She rubbed her palms. They both had a band of red where they had hit the desk. She sat up.
“Dammit. I forgot to call Jak back.” She pulled out her comm-link. “Jak, where are you?”
“In a dirty, smelly basement,” Jak replied, sounding as tired as Aurelia felt.
“The
Phoenix
is picking everyone up at Linden Court. Cna you make it there?”
“I’m not sure. Don’t worry about us. We’ll be okay.”
“I am worried. Why did you want a secure link?”
“Keller gave me a lot of information. Althan Tahk sabotaged the
Pasteur
.”
“Figured.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Go on,” Aurelia shook her head.
Jak continued, “He said there’s some kind of conspiracy within GEM Co. Said to ask Rekhaan about Operation East India.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fine,” Aurelia sighed. “Just try to get to Linden, okay?”
“All right.” Jak signed off.
Aurelia looked up at Radif. “Let’s go, jailer.”