Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection (156 page)

Brennon took a moment to absorb the information then met her gaze, his expression guarded in the way skilled politicians perfected. “The argument could be put forth this makes you biased with respect to this project, arguably to the point of clouding your judgment on the matter.”

It was a challenge she had been prepared for, and one for which the most compelling response happened to be the honest one. “It certainly does mean I’m biased, sir—biased
against
it.”

“Oh?”

“The medical procedure alone will subject Alexis to significant personal risk. If anything goes wrong she will end up neurally damaged at best, brain dead at worst. If the procedure goes well and the connection with the Artificial is successfully established, I’m sending her to fight on the front line of the most violent, dangerous military conflict of our time. I stand to lose her every step of the way. Make no mistake, Prime Minister—I in no way
want
to do any of this.

“Yet objectively I have no choice but to agree this plan is our best option to achieve victory, and our best chance for this plan to succeed is for my daughter to be at the forefront of it. She knows more about our enemy than anyone. She has spoken to these aliens, she has engaged their ships in combat, and she has not only studied but rewritten the programming underlying their technology. On the field of battle she will see what others cannot and, by virtue of her neural connection to an Artificial, react to it faster than even the most experienced of us can.”

Forgive me, David. I am so very, very sorry, but I must do this.
Then she uttered the most difficult words she had or would ever speak.

“For those reasons, with your approval I will make her the point of our spear, very likely at the cost of her life.”

PART
III
:

EMERGENT

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?”

— Mary Oliver

26

EARTH

EASC
H
EADQUARTERS

M
IA KEPT GLANCING OVER
at the flawlessly rigid military officers striding purposefully on either side of her.

They had been waiting for her at the commercial spaceport when she disembarked the transport. Displaying an excessive formality and corresponding lack of emotion, they had instructed her to accompany them without elaboration. So she did.

The journey included a shuttle ride across some lovely azure waters to a military spaceport on Vancouver Island and a trek across a military campus in chilly winds to a mid-rise building identical to a dozen other mid-rise buildings surrounding it. The final leg consisted of a gauntlet of three ridiculous security checkpoints, two lifts and four hallways.

After several failed attempts at idle conversation she’d granted them their silence, so she jumped in surprise when the one on her right pointed at a doorway and spoke. “They’re expecting you inside, ma’am.”

Mia graced him with a nod in return for voicing words, as it appeared to have been a difficult act for him. “Thank you. And thank you for the ride.” She considered the curt head jerk in response a small victory.

She stepped through the door to find herself in some sort of hybrid conference room-data center. A circular table in the center hosted a series of screens and panels and an interactive display above it. Two smaller rectangular tables to the left featured multiple data input nodes and minimalist chairs. The right wall supported three workstations and a small meeting room beyond them enclosed in soundproof glass. The far third of the room contained two couches, a cushioned chair, a long table amongst them and a kitchenette to the left.

Alex Solovy stood at the center table next to a woman with a mane of blond curls loosely bound at the nape of her neck. They both leaned into the table studying several graphs and didn’t immediately notice Mia’s presence.

Caleb sat on one of the couches at the rear of the room, one leg draped casually over the other. A man sitting in the chair next to the couch had adopted a similar posture, and they were deep in conversation.

Caleb did immediately notice her presence, however. A smile blossomed on his face as he stood and began crossing the room. The other man followed suit, tucking longish locks of hair behind his ear as he rose and turned toward her.

She halted a few steps inside the doorway. “Oh, you have
got
to be kidding me. No, you know what, I am not in the least bit surprised to discover you two know each other. It’s karma.”

Noah laughed and shared a look with Caleb. “Good karma or bad?”

“That depends….”

They made as if they were going to vie for being first to hug her, but she held up her hands in protest. “Easy, boys. I think I’ll just hug Alex instead.”

They had unsurprisingly garnered Alex and the other woman’s questioning stares by this point, and Alex’s brow furrowed at Mia as she approached and gave her a one-armed hug. “Is there something I’m missing?”

“Nah. But if I were you I wouldn’t allow these two to be alone together for an extended period of time. Mayhem is sure to ensue, with chaos hot on its heels.”

“Now that I can believe.” Alex gestured to the woman beside her. “This is Kennedy Rossi—yes, that Rossi and no, she’s not a…what did you call it, Ken, a ‘gilded ice queen with a rod up her ass and syrup in her saliva’? Kennedy, meet Mia Requelme, the woman who hacked the security on my ship you swore was unbreakable.”

“Seriously?” Rossi’s eyes twinkled. “Impressive.”

“In fairness, I did have the slight assistance of an Artificial.”

Alex’s expression gained a markedly cryptic aspect. “Yes, you did—which is why you’re here.”

Mia instinctively glanced over to where Caleb stood, he and Noah having taken up observation posts against the wall. He simply tilted his head toward Alex. Curious, she obeyed and returned her gaze to Alex. “Do I at last get to find out what is behind this retro cloak-and-dagger routine? I did come a long way in the middle of a war.”

“My best friend has lost her mind, and is now going to literally
lose her mind
. That’s what’s behind it.”

Mia was accustomed to interacting with strangers who carried unknown motives and acquaintances who carried secret motives, so she didn’t allow the odd dynamics at play among those in the room to fluster her. The fact she was standing in a room at Earth Alliance Strategic Command together with a Senecan Intelligence agent, the daughter of the Alliance Fleet Admiral, the heir to the Rossi fortune and
Noah Terrage
did make it one of the more unique experiences she’d had recently, though.

Alex leveled a glare at Rossi. “We’ve talked about this. I’m not going to lose my mind.”

“No, because you already have.”

“Ken….”

“Forgive me if I’m worried about you. I tell you what—why don’t I let the three of you talk. Noah, can I buy you a milkshake?”

“Will there be tequila in it?”

“Eww. Only if you put it in there.” Rossi pushed off the table, went over and grabbed Noah’s hand and proceeded to haul him to the door.

Oh.
Mia scrutinized Noah as he passed; he gave her an exaggerated shrug of helplessness in response.

She shook her head in amusement as they departed then turned to Alex. “I hope I didn’t say the wrong thing, because I get the feeling there is a great deal going on here. I also find myself most interested, but being the only one in the dark about everything will stop being humorous in about thirty more seconds.”

Alex grimaced. “I apologize. No, you didn’t say the wrong thing—she is actually worried about me is all.” Alex’s focus slid to where Mia knew Caleb still stood behind them for an instant before veering back to her. “I’m not technically supposed to fill you in yet, since you’re not technically approved for participation or, well, any part of Noetica. But I’m going to anyway.”

Noah and Kennedy returned carrying milkshakes for everyone a little while later. Mia reached out to accept the tumbler without diverting her attention from the schematic in front of her.

She didn’t understand all of it, at least not to any level of specificity. But she understood enough. The nature of the connections between the human cybernetics and the Artificial’s signal was clear enough. Soft adaptive data buffers built into a system which allowed pertinent information and communication to flow in real-time while preventing them from overloading the person’s brain were sheer genius. The mechanism by which the human was able to dive into the Artificial’s processes was beyond anything she’d ever seen…but she had an instinctive sense of how it could work.

She looked up at Alex. “And it’s irreversible?”

“Yes and no. The connection can be blocked by you at any time and for as long as you need. If you no longer wanted to have access to the Artificial, the connection node can be surgically removed. But the alterations to your cybernetics will have to remain. Absent a full cybernetic rebuild—and what a nightmare that would be—those are permanent. And lacking the connection they were intended for, their effects might be unpredictable.”

Mia sucked on the milkshake straw. Vanilla. Nice and simple. “Caleb? What do you think?”

She realized it was a loaded question, what with Alex not only leading this initiative but undergoing the procedure herself—first, and possibly soon. But she frankly needed his advice, and it seemed she needed it now.

He dragged his chair closer until he sat opposite her, laced his fingers together beneath his chin and met her gaze in full. “I think it is absolutely your choice. You shouldn’t feel any pressure to do this if you’re the slightest bit uncomfortable. I think there are physical risks, but Dr. Canivon makes a persuasive case for them being minimal. She believes she can pull this off without damage to…the person participating. What it will be like for you after, I…I just don’t know. No one does.”

His shoulders rose noticeably to project a confident bearing. “But if you want to stand on the front line against the aliens, if you want to do more than you can in any other way to defeat them,
and
if you’re okay with what that means for you personally—then I won’t stop you. I asked you to come here because you’re a superb candidate, and because I knew you’d want the opportunity to decide for yourself.”

Beneath his words lay a series of deeper messages, stacked in fine layers like exquisitely prepared Greek baklava. He recognized he could not protect her and wouldn’t strive to do so. He believed she was strong enough to help save the world and respected her enough to allow her to risk her life in the attempt. And if he had ever been hers in any real way, that time had passed.

His words and the subtext they carried held an air of finality, as if a door previously left ajar was now closing. She didn’t doubt if she were to need him in the future he would come running, but things would be different from now on. If there was a from now on.

She was grateful for the first part, touched by the second, had already suspected the third…and swallowed any bittersweet tinge it left behind as the price of a life fully lived.

She consciously removed any wistfulness from the smile she gave him. “Thank you, Caleb—for your candor and your trust.”

Then she turned back to Alex, who had been trying her damnedest to give them the illusion of privacy. “I’m in.”

“Terrific. Now all we have to do is convince them to let you in.”

“I’m simply trying to understand why you would want to do something so risky. It’s not like you at all—well the risky part is, but not the helping society or the getting all cozy with the military.”

Alex shrank against the wall and motioned Kennedy closer to her. The hallway was filled with prying ears, but they couldn’t go anywhere more private without taking her entourage of guards along for the trip and she was trying to not turn the conversation into a Big Deal.