Ghost of Mind Episode One (21 page)

‘
Am I sure those little perfect handholds
hadn't been ripped into the side of my elevator shaft before? Yes,
John, I am very sure. And here's another thing. I cross-referenced
the shape of the damage done to the elevator to the damage done to
that little service panel we pulled out from close to the engine
core . . . ’ Parka trailed off.

John finally closed his eyes. What the hell
was happening here? He knew, just as well as Parka knew, just as
well as anybody in the entire Union knew, that there was nothing
that could withstand the incredible radiation of an omidium engine
core. And yet, if what Parka was saying was correct, then someone,
that woman quite possibly, had done just that.

Keeping his eyes closed, John planted a
hand over his face, leaning hard into it. ‘I'm coming back to the
ship,’ he concluded in a snap.

‘
Of course you are,’ Parka agreed, ‘because
this is bloody serious. I have no idea what I'm dealing
with.’

‘
Keep it together until I get there,’ John
snapped and then he cut off the audio feed.

He turned slowly to Evelyn. Her eyes were
wide, and it was clear that she had heard the entire conversation
and was smart enough to pick up on the fact that something wasn't
going right for John Doe and the Pegasus.

‘
What is it?’ she asked in a slow, quiet
voice, those beautiful blue eyes wide as she spoke.

John, still with his jaw clenched, shook his
head slightly. The move was tense, and if he didn't find a way to
relax his shoulders, he would no doubt end up with a fantastic
headache by the end of the day. But right now a fantastic headache
would be the least of his problems.

‘
I have to go back to the ship, we have
a . . . problem,’ he said with a short
nod.

‘
I’m coming too; I could help you,’ Evelyn
said as she took a keen step towards him.

For a moment John considered telling her that
wouldn't be a good idea, but he stopped himself in time. If this
woman really was going to be aboard the Pegasus for the whole
mission, then John had to start relying on her, especially if he
wanted to keep the peace with the Admiral. So giving her a short
nod, the both of them turned around and quickly headed back down
the promenade.

The view and its beauty gone from his mind,
there was only one image John could concentrate on. That hood,
those lips, and that half smile.

She was alive.

And even though that meant John was now
facing a world full of problems, he couldn't help but smile in
turn.

An invisible weight lifted off his shoulders.
The specter of her throat being crushed by that soldier robot
evaporated. In its place the hood remained. And the question, the
burning question of what and who she was and what exactly she was
running from.

John quickened his pace until he ran.

Chapter 31

Alice

Rubbing at her eyes, blinking them open as
she stretched her shoulders, Alice leaned back and looked up at the
sun above.

While it was never a good idea for a
soft-fleshed race to stare up at a bright sun, it didn't bother
Alice in the least. She stared and she stared, her eyes open wide,
unblinking, and fixed on that fiery ball above. Even though the
weather field around the docking ring blocked out most forms of
radiation and kept in an artificially-generated atmosphere with its
own wind, air, and heat, Alice fancied that the sun above pushed
through for that moment and heated her up with its rays.

She was standing in what looked like an
abandoned section of shops, just beyond the promenade that led down
to that incredible view of the ocean below.

‘
This section is currently undergoing
repairs. According to the ICN, it will be abandoned for the next
two weeks. There has been a problem with radiation leaks from an
unsealed conduit, and for this reason it is out of bounds not only
to soft-fleshed races, but to robots too; radiation may alter their
neurological circuits, after all.’

Alice gave a small smile and nod. She knew
all of this. But she wouldn't stop Helper from speaking; the sound
of its happy little electronic voice kept on hammering home to
Alice that she was no longer alone.

Sighing, stretching her arms again, and
really allowing herself to feel the freedom of the movement, Alice
let out an enormous breath. It resounded and rang around the empty
shops around her.

It was so good to be able to make a noise, to
make a movement, and to not be scared that someone else might pick
up on it. She could, presumably, run around dancing throughout this
entire section, screaming and singing at the top of her lungs, and
nobody would ever find out. Helper had already logged onto the ICN
to ensure that the local scanners in this area would not pick them
up, and knowing him, he would be constantly monitoring the rest of
the entire docking ring system to ensure it would not suddenly
alert people to Alice's presence.

‘
Feel free to explore this area, oh great
one,’ Helper began.

Alice quickly put a hand up. ‘Just call me
Alice,’ she said. While it was fantastic to have him around, Alice
really didn't know if she could put up with being called great one
all the time.

Helper buzzed a yes, then presumably got on
to computing possibilities and whatnot, leaving Alice to wander
around the abandoned section of shops and promenade.

The shops were all large, clean, semi-open
buildings with wide walkways between each other. They were crammed
full of consoles and technology, though any goods had probably been
taken out for fear of radiation contamination. Still, that did not
stop Alice from spreading her fingers wide and letting them travel
over the thick console closest to her.

She didn't give one hoot about the radiation,
and neither did Helper. They were both immune. There were, after
all, certain advantages to being Old Ones in this galaxy and
universe. Though the disadvantages outweighed them
immeasurably.

Humming to herself, possibly for the first
time in years, Alice kept on exploring around her. Once upon a time
she had often danced and twirled around, her imagination and
natural exuberance and cheerfulness unstoppable. But years and
years of being on the run had all but burnt that cheer up.

There were potted plants, strangely enough,
dotted around the area, and Alice found herself inspecting them
closely. Some were green, lush, and obviously from temperate worlds
like earth, yet others were strange and wonderful-looking, not
possessing leaves or branches or stems, but a collection of
latticework, crystals, or something else equally as wonderful.

The universe, after all, was a very big
place. And on planets like this, rich enough to bring together all
the best bits, you got a smorgasbord of everything unique and
incredible.

As Alice explored, she let her guard drop.
Why not? Helper was with her, and she really, really needed to have
some time to de-stress.

Though she did not know it at that point,
those few precious hours she took to wander around that section,
staring at the plants and shops and windows, would be the last rest
she would find that day.

Chapter 32

John Doe

As soon as he walked into the main section of
engineering, Parka snapped up at his side. His Chief Engineer
glanced quickly towards Evelyn, maybe let her eyes flicker down
Evelyn's long figure, gave a chuckle, winked at John, and finally
got to work.

‘
We’ve completed a thorough scan of the
ship. And it is just as I told you over the comlink. We have salt
everywhere. And from the specific chemical analysis, I can confirm
that it has come from Orion Minor.’

John frowned powerfully, shrugging his
arms and closing them around his middle. ‘But that doesn't confirm
that she is on board, does it?’

He needed something more. Sure, his hopes
were high, but until Parka pointed out the exact corner that the
elusive woman in the hood was hiding behind, John was going to play
it cool.

‘
Okay, sure, I can't confirm that she was
on board or even if she is still currently on board; whoever
stuffed with our scanners did an incredibly good job of
it.’

‘
How long until they are up?’ he
began.

Parka put up one of her stocky hands in a
second, her fingers spreading wide. ‘We are onto it. It was our
first priority. And this time we’re not going to take any chances.
I have personally placed guards at every single ICN terminal, I'm
keeping the computer on high alert, and every single access, no
matter where it is on the ship or who it comes from, I am keeping a
personal eye on. If she is on board, we will find her, no matter
how sophisticated she is,’ Parka said under her breath, her
expression slackening for a moment.

John could tell that his Chief Engineer was
impressed. Incredibly angry that her own personal ship had been
messed with, but nonetheless impressed at what this woman had been
able to do.

If, of course, it had been her.

Keeping his arms still crossed firmly in
front of his chest, John nodded towards the console before them.
‘You said something about my room?’ He raised an
eyebrow.

Parka clapped her hands together, all 20 of
her fingers wriggling over each other. Then she cracked her
knuckles, and got to work on the console, her digits moving faster
than John could comprehend.

In a second, a perfectly formed hologram
appeared in the center of the massive circular console that the
Chief was working on.

John recognized the display instantly; it was
of an empty elevator shaft.

He frowned. The move snapped and
impossible to stop. ‘What the hell caused that?’ He said as he
leaned in, planting a hand on the console and getting as close to
the hologram as he could.

The blue image flickered before him as John
leaned in, his own personal bio signature interfering with the
matrix, but he didn't care.

What the hell was happening to his ship?

‘
It must be a robot,’ Evelyn said suddenly
from behind him.

John had almost forgotten she was there. And
he did the courtesy of turning to her and nodding, just to
acknowledge that she'd spoken. But he had no doubt in his mind that
that was not the handy work of a robot.

‘
We have certain fields in place within
each of our service tunnels and elevator shafts,’ Parka said as she
cleared her throat, her voice slowing down as her words became much
more audible. It was obvious Parka thought Evelyn was going to have
trouble keeping up. ‘As soon as we figured we might have a security
problem on board, they snapped into place. They stop synthetic
forms of life by way of a restriction field. We basically pump the
entire thing full of neuro blocking gas that prevents their
electronic pathways from communicating,’ Parka began.

Evelyn gave a quick nod. ‘I took basic
engineering,’ she said carefully, possibly not trying to be rude.
‘But my point is, not every kind of robot out there will be stopped
by a field like that.’

Parka shrugged her shoulders, the move was
a strong one considering how stout and sturdy her race was. ‘True,
but we have absolutely no indication that anything that
sophisticated is on board or has been on board. Plus those kind of
robots are so rare that you wouldn't waste one on a mission like
this. There's nothing on the Pegasus worth going after.’

John watched carefully as Evelyn stiffened
up, her cheeks suddenly paling.

It made his brow buckle from confusion.

‘
I wouldn't rule it out is all I'm saying,’
Evelyn managed eventually. There was a certain tone to her voice,
and John didn't know what it meant, but it made him damn
suspicious.

‘
The Chief is right, nobody is going to
waste a robot like that, there's only got to be a handful of them
in this entire galaxy, and the Union tends to keep a pretty close
eye on them,’ John said as he locked a hand over is chin and began
to run it along his jaw.

Again Evelyn seemed to be holding
something back. She had her hands primly and tightly clutched
before her, one thumb rubbing over the other quickly. ‘Maybe you
should talk to the Admiral about it then,’ she said
quietly.

Parka shot John a long look, and John could
see that his Chief Engineer was just as suspicious as he was.

Clearing his throat, John figured they had
other priorities for now though. ‘Get back to the thing about the
salt, I take it it's through the elevator shaft, concentrated on
any damage made to the panels?’

Parka nodded emphatically. ‘You bet it is.
In fact, and this is where it gets interesting, I have been able to
track a path. Someone has obviously pulled themselves out of the
service tunnels near the engine core, run along one of the
corridors, jumped into the elevator shaft, climbed all the way to
the top, and then, I'm sorry to inform you, Commander, they've gone
into your own quarters.’

‘
Hold on, if you are concluding this based
on the fact that there are salt traces unique from Orion Minor,
aren't you forgetting that John was there too?’ Evelyn suddenly
jumped in.

It was a good point, but no doubt one that
John's Chief Engineer would already have thought of.

Parka raised an eyebrow, and maybe she tried
to give a friendly smile, but it was far too toothy. Parka, after
all, did not like to have her authority questioned. She did, of
course, love to question absolutely everybody else's, but when it
came to engineering competency, you would have to be out of your
mind to suggest Parka was anything but the best Chief Engineer in
the Union.