Read Ghost of Mind Episode One Online

Authors: Odette C. Bell

Tags: #romance, #mystery, #aliens, #space, #action adventure

Ghost of Mind Episode One (5 page)

BOOK: Ghost of Mind Episode One
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Stop,’ someone bellowed from behind her.
That someone was John. His voice, still bolstered by the ICN, rang
around the entire promenade, managing to arc high even over the
roar of the wind.

Maybe Alice hesitated for just a second, the
thought of what she was about to do shaking through her, but she
did not stop.

Alice ran at the railing.

Chapter 6

John Doe

Praking hell. The weather fields for the
entire block had just shut down. John knew that the authorities on
Orion Minor were lax when it came to repairing field holes on the
lower levels, but this was ridiculous. They had obviously ignored
maintenance for so long that a critical cascade had occurred.

As John flung himself along the promenade,
the electronic hum of his armor’s joints filtering through the roar
of the wind, he made a mental note to have a chat with the Orion
Prime once this was all over. Treating the slums like the galaxy's
dumping ground was one thing - a particularly deplorable but
politically acceptable thing - but endangering the 20,000 plus
inhabitants of Block Alpha was not.


Stop,’ John suddenly bellowed. His stomach
snapped in, a tight sensation of fright rushing through
him.

Not only had that woman not run inside with
everyone else when the weather fields had shut down, but she was
now looking like she wanted to jump right over the railings.

They were currently 3412 meters exactly above
ground level. John did not need to access the ICN to calculate that
no soft-fleshed alien - no matter how spruced up with implants -
could survive that fall. The salt-laden winds would rip her to
shreds well before her lungs burst and her skin snapped off from
the cold.

She hesitated, her body shifting back the
smallest distance. And then she threw herself forward.

John felt rendered to the spot, eyes bulging
wide as he watched. Was it suicide or sheer stupidity?

He got over his shock though. Then John Doe
ran after the woman.


Computer, access the nav system of the
Pegasus,’ he snapped, voice sounding out even though it didn't have
to. He was using his implant to link up to the ICN again, giving it
one last-ditch desperate order before Commander John Doe did
something very, very stupid.

He ran after her, legs pumping as the armor
upgrade the ICN had given him began to seize up, salt collecting in
every groove and joint.

He watched in horror as the woman, her hood
somehow still in place, grabbed hold of the railing and vaulted
down. Maybe he saw her mouth for a split second, maybe he
registered the lips drawn up in a terrified grimace, but not once
did he see her eyes. Despite the ferocious updraft that would be
slamming into her, the fabric stayed resolutely in place.

Seconds later John clamped his hands on the
railing and jumped over himself.

The second he did was the second the ICN
began blaring warnings in his ear. Everything form a location
warning to a velocity warning to a bloody weather warning.


Hey, what the hell is going on down
there?’ a voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

As John's eyes plastered open, the view of
the building shooting past him as he dropped like an armor-clad
stone, he sucked in a breath.


Did you just jump off the freaking
building?’

It was Parka, John's enigmatic engineer.
Responsible for maintaining the systems of John's ship, the
Pegasus, Parka had never been one for respecting the chain of
command.


Are you a freaking idiot? That armor
upgrade is already seizing,’ Parka snapped. ‘What the hell are you
doing down there, John?’


Getting cold,’ he managed. Because he
really, really was. As his armor began to shut down, his hastily
made and ineffective upgrade no match for the natural weather of
Orion Minor, the salt and wind were forcing their way in through
the cracks.


No, I can see that. Just integrating with
your medical implant now,’ Parka said, voice drawing out, then she
let out a short, sharp huff, ‘you've got 20 seconds before the cold
shuts down your brain. Oh, and 10 seconds before a gust of wind
slams you into the building,’ Parka added in a tight, frantic
breath. ‘Beaming you out.’

Before John could snap at Parka to hold off,
the familiar light of the transport beam shot towards him. Racing
through any building in its way, piercing through any structure no
matter how thick, large, and sturdy, the transport beam grabbed
hold of John.

Just before it could break up his molecules
and send him hurtling back to the ship, John managed to drop the
node.

That had been his plan. John was a lot of
things, and certain commanders had always referred to him as a
risk-taker, but he wasn't a bloody idiot. He hadn't jumped off this
building thinking he would somehow catch the woman and wrestle her
though the nearest smart-glass ceiling he could find; the fall
would kill them both.

His only option had always been to drop a
node her way so the Pegasus computers could pick up a scan long
enough to pinpoint her position for transport.

Just as John lost all grip in his hand as it
began to break up, he dropped the node. He always had one or two in
his pockets; simple tech that carried a signal the Pegasus could
latch onto. You never knew when they would come in handy.

Just as John's body finally disintegrated
entirely, he caught one last glance of the woman.

She was free falling. But her arms were held
out wide, her legs stiff. She was also not dead - his armor was
holding it together just long enough that he could pick up the heat
of her body. But for how long he did not know.

Seconds later John's view changed. The image
of that woman dropping through the white, salt-laced winds of Orion
Minor seared into his mind, the black swirl of being transported
was replaced by a sheer white light. Then John Doe reintegrated on
the bridge of the Pegasus.

He didn't stumble, he didn't fall to the
ground and have a fit, and neither did he indulge in a little
scream. He was no rookie; he'd transported more times than he could
count. Still, the feel of his bones and muscles and skin and body
suddenly seemed wrong, and just for a second he fought the urge to
try to rip it all off. Transporting did that. The sensation of
being recreated by a powerful light was not spiritual and it was
not fun. And some people simply could not hack it.

John was not one of those people.

Taking a brisk step forward, ignoring the
fact you weren't meant to make any sudden movements so soon after
reintegration, he nodded at the computer officer before him. ‘Lock
onto the node's transmission and beam that woman now.’

Chapter 7

Alice

The cold and wind and ice still hadn't cut
through her, frozen her to the spot, or even dented her mood.

Because he was gone. He'd transported away.
Why in all that is holy had the man followed her off the railing,
Alice didn't know. Though she could appreciate that his armor was
better than anything else in the slums, the weather of Orion Minor
was unforgiving.

But he was gone. And just in time. She'd
heard his armor creaking, cracking up, giving way. She'd smelt the
fear, listened as his heart had started to go haywire in his
chest.

Alice didn't indulge in a laugh or a smile,
and neither did she redirect her falling body towards the building.
Though she could probably latch a hold of it, clamber up and
through some hole in the side, she wasn't going to bother.

She'd already made the decision to fall all
the way down to the planet's surface below. The salt and snow
covered surface that was legendary for its particularly horrendous
beasts and monsters.

It wouldn't bother her. The cold and animals
should keep the security forces away for now. Then all Alice had to
do was track across the landscape until she found a block
sufficiently far away from Alpha that no one would look for
her.

Then Alice would begin life again. And if
that didn't work - if John Doe still wouldn't give up or if he
somehow figured out that the fall hadn't killed her - she'd find
her way off the planet. No matter the costs, no matter how hard it
was, she'd do it. Alice had no other option.

As the wind slammed into her, it did not
force her against the building; she held her ground. She made
herself heavy, redirecting her energy to increasing her relative
weight. It kept her anchored against the wind and ensured the salt
glanced off with no damage.

Just as the white, ice-covered surface of the
planet below came snaking into view, something happened.

A light. The familiar bright yellow of a
transport beam. It sliced right through Alpha Block beside her,
right at her.

She had a split second. She rammed her eyes
wide, her body stiffening in a snap.

She did not have time to move out of its way;
it would have her signal anyway.

The beam locked onto her.

The light began to condense over her form,
shifting right through her as it tried to break down her
molecules.

But it was not going to happen. While Alice
could not allow herself to undergo an in-depth biological scan, she
could also never allow herself to be transported. The whole process
would reveal exactly what she was. Plus, there was another, far
more prominent problem; transportation was based on Old Tech.

And Old Tech, no matter how removed from the
original devices developed by her forebears, always responded the
same way around her.

As the beam tried its hardest to break her
down, it suddenly surged. The light grew to a blinding, blistering
white just as Alice's own eyes widened as far as they could, the
skin around them drawing so tight it could snap.

Alice, baring her teeth, letting the burning
sensation of the beam travel through her, concentrated with all her
might.

As the light surged, the beam itself became
ten times as strong. Whereas before it could have safely
transported anyone within a 200 kilometer radius, now it could
service half the planet.

Nothing in the Union tech database could do
that, unless it was attached to one of the giant generators in a
Union Forces’ battle cruiser.

But despite the light, despite the strength
of the beam, Alice fought.

And she won. The beam suddenly doubled back
on itself, snapping around like a whip, not a light, then it
crashed into a section of the planet below. There was a massive
burst of energy, then pop. Nothing. A 100 meter block of snow and
salt was suddenly gorged out of the surface below her, the beam
snapping it up and transporting it away instead of her.

Alice, eyes still so tightly held open that
she could have crushed her own cheek bones, continued to fall. But
whereas before she had controlled her descent, her arms and legs
stiff and wide to slow her fall, she no longer had the energy.

She flopped, the hood finally fluttering form
her eyes as the winds of Orion Minor ripped into it.

Alice was strong. Unbelievably resilient when
classed against a soft-fleshed race. She was the last of the Old
Ones, after all.

But she was not immortal. She was not immune
to damage. She would not be spared from death.

And though she had a list of abilities that
would make Commander John Doe blush, her weaknesses were worse.

She could be sapped dry in an instant. Old
Technology had used the energy of the very creatures that had
created it. While Alice could operate it, if she was not careful
the Tech would steal right into her soul and take away everything.
Every last scrap of life and power.

That had been the downfall of the Old Ones,
she was sure of it. And right now, as the transport beam had
feasted on her power, it might be the end for Alice too.

She plummeted.

 

Chapter 8

John Doe

With wide open, pressed eyes, he'd watched.
The view screen of the Pegasus had recently been updated. The old
smart glass was gone, and in its place was a section of hull that
had been infused with holographic receptors. They offered a full,
interactive 3D representation of whatever area John instructed the
computers to scan. Whether it be a desolate section of space, a
building, or a planet - John and the other members of the bridge
crew would be able to walk around and interact with the vision
completely.

It had taken some getting used to. It made
things feel uncomfortably closer and all the realer.

It seemed to heighten his reactions too, and
right now as John watched the Pegasus' transport lock onto the
falling woman, he slammed to his feet. Heart in his mouth, he saw
the transport beam crack to white.

There was a sharp, surprised inhale of
breath from his side. ‘Sir, receiving massive feedback along the
transport line,’ Foster, the human pilot, snapped.

John could see it. Prack, everyone on the
bridge could see it.

As John's jaw went slack, his previously
tightly-clenched teeth dropping open, he stepped forward, right
into the display of the transport beam. ‘What the—’ he
began.

And that would be when the Pegasus' systems
went haywire. The lights dropped to half-illumination as a red line
around the floor blinked on.


Red alert, system feedback unsustainable.
Transport lock lost. Beam about to go critical,’ the computer
chirped back in an unfazed, electronic drone.


Oh sh—’ Foster began.

John jumped back, bringing his hand slamming
down on the control pad that sat by his chair. Fingers flying,
despite the fact he wasn't wearing any armor to assist his speed,
he managed to key in new coordinates to the computer.

BOOK: Ghost of Mind Episode One
2.59Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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