Terminal Point (13 page)

“I don't think Lucas would appreciate you killing anyone here,” Jason said, eyeing her warily.

Kristen gave him a sly look, her mind briefly brushing against his mental shields. “Lucas doesn't like cleaning up my messes.”

Jason didn't know how her damaged power functioned and wouldn't trust her, no matter what assurances Lucas made. The dysfunctional empath rarely left her victims breathing, but Jason was still alive. The mental pattern of his natal shields must have been enough to stabilize her, to show her how to build her own. He wondered how long her sanity would last.

“Stay out of my head,” Jason said. He placed a hand on top of a wide stack the scavengers had created in the twenty minutes he'd been gone.

With a slow, methodical wink, Kristen answered, “Maybe.”

Jason gathered his power and teleported the boxes of seeds with him to the dome, the first of many teleports. It was less weight than the cold-storage units or the various pieces of disassembled terraforming machines, which was easier for his mind to handle. He'd have to deal with the heavier items eventually.

An hour later, but what felt longer due to Jason's headache, a commotion around one of the shuttles caught his attention. Quinton was yelling instructions at scavengers as they painstakingly shifted one piece of the terraforming machines out of a shuttle's cargo hold. Jason swore under his breath and jogged over to that area, holding his power in reserve.

“You should have called me for this,” Jason said.

Quinton shrugged. “You were busy with the seeds.”

“Of everything we brought out of Spitsbergen, these machines are pretty fucking important.” Jason took a step forward and raised his voice. “Hands off, I've got it.”

Telekinesis stabilized the heavy weight of the piece, the final product something he couldn't fully envision. Lucas had the diagrams downloaded and stored in a datapad, stolen from the Arctic. The terraforming machines could be reassembled, but more would need to be built eventually. Learning to reverse engineer that technology was going to be integral to rebuilding the planet. The terraforming machines were capable of cleansing and cloning with the aid of nanites on a level that could jump-start a previously uninhabited planet such as Mars. Fixing Earth came with government interference, and in the past no one had been willing to fight it for the sake of everyone. Even now, it was anyone's guess how long the machines would last.

“Just don't drop it,” Novak joked as Jason carefully settled the piece of machinery on the flatbed of the cargo sled.

“Novak, shut the hell up,” Quinton said. He followed a step behind Jason, keeping an eye on the telekinetic. He didn't like the strained look on Jason's face. In the back of his mind, Quinton could feel the push and pull of power not his own, and it made him a little dizzy. He wasn't sure when the bond would settle, but he hoped it would be soon.

“You need to find yourself a sense of humor, man,” Novak said.

“Give me your lighter and I'll show you what I do for fun.”

Novak didn't offer it up.

With a shuddering groan of cold metal, the transfer was complete, and Novak climbed into the enclosed cab of the yellow vehicle, flat tracks rimmed with snow.

Jason bent over to rest his hands on his knees and breathe. “How many of those are left to move?”

“Two more pieces for this set,” Quinton said.

“I'll move them, but I won't be able to teleport anything afterwards.”

Quinton nodded and watched as Novak started the engine of the snowcat, carefully pulling out into the small road that linked the airfield to the station and the dome, joining the work caravan that was departing and returning in a steady loop. Headlights mingled with taillights while the aurora australis moved across the night sky high above them.

 

THIRTEEN

SEPTEMBER 2379
AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA

Dr. Isaiah Korman was a pockmarked drunk, but he could still see straight when jacked into a system. The biomodifications that had replaced his eyes shifted in his metal-lined eye sockets, their observations fed directly to his brain through neuroports. Korman took a sip from a metal flask and swallowed as he studied Threnody's test results.

“He wants the impossible. Did I say that already? You get stuck down here and you're screwed.”

“Are you done yet?” Threnody said from where she sat on the metal exam table. After four hours of tests, she was done with him.

Korman rubbed a hand over his face. His fingers skimmed over the wires that cut out from his eyes and back into his skull through his temples. Half his skull was metal plating, tapering down to his spine. He seemed to have more cybernetic replacements in his body than Matron did.

“Your nervous system is intact. More than intact. If your synapses were talking to each other any louder, they'd be screaming.”

Threnody scratched at her bare arm, fingernails moving around the needle stuck into the crook of her elbow. “Doesn't feel like it.”

“You said he tanked you?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” Korman took another sip from his flask. “Lucas must have found an upgraded program, because you're healed. Fully functioning body. It's a damn miracle.”

“I was nearly dead.”

“Well, I can officially upgrade your status to living. Congratulations.” Korman let out a bark of laughter that grated on Threnody's ears and toasted her with his flask. “Goddamn it, I could use a biotank like that. It fixed you faster than any of the ones I've got here. I hope Lucas brought it with him.”

“It wasn't just a biotank that did this,” Threnody said, splaying one hand over her knee and thinking about someone else's power in her body.

“Your psion physiology probably had something to do with it. You've all got complicated genomes. You people can take more damage than us humans and survive it.”

Korman tipped his head back and poured what remained in the flask into his mouth. What was left of his skin, already blotchy, got redder. Threnody slid the needle out of her arm. She wasn't going to stay in the presence of someone intent on drinking himself to death. She got to her feet, bootheels touching the floor as the door to the small lab opened.

Lucas stepped inside, gaze moving over the two. “Korman. So glad I caught you mostly sober. Diagnosis?”

“Mostly sober?” Korman snorted and tossed his flask onto the nearby counter. “I took the nanites out of her veins. She's got no lasting damage from trauma. More like she wasn't damaged to begin with. What am I supposed to do with her?”

“Nothing.” Lucas walked over to view the vidscreen, assessing the information in silence. “Interesting. Looks like all my efforts saved your life, Threnody. Care to thank me?”

“No,” she said.

“Smart girl,” Korman muttered. “He's worse than the damn World Court when it comes to torture. Best to keep your mouth shut.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“The Strykers Syndicate's OIC got terminated on a worldwide news stream the other day. They left her second as Acting OIC.”

Korman was telekinetically yanked out of his chair and slammed against the wall. Dangling with his feet off the ground and struggling to breathe against the pressure wrapped around his throat, he clawed uselessly at Lucas's power.

“They did
what
?” Lucas snarled.

For the first time since they'd teamed up, Threnody heard actual, real emotion in Lucas's voice, saw it on his face. Shock and fury drained all the blood from his face, the dark circles beneath his dark blue eyes standing out sharply.

Surprised, Threnody cleared her throat and said, “He can't answer if you kill him.”

Abruptly, Korman fell to the floor. Threnody never saw him land, too busy staring at Lucas's shaking hands. She took in all the tiny details of how he stood before turning her head to look at Korman.

“Get out.”

The doctor obeyed her in record time, stumbling out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him. Threnody walked over to lock it. Turning, she put her back to it and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop Lucas from leaving the room, but judging by the way he looked right now, he wasn't going anywhere until he got himself under control.

“Is this about the Silence Law?” Threnody said, refusing to look away from Lucas's gaze.

“No,” Lucas said, taking a deep, steadying breath. Some color started to return to his face. “No, it's not.”

“Then why are you worried about Ciari?”

“It doesn't concern you yet.”

“Yet.” Threnody let out a harsh laugh before moving away from the door to stand in front of Lucas. “We are here because of your goddamn concern, Lucas. Don't lie to me.”

For one brief moment, something alien filled his eyes. Alien because Threnody never thought she'd see fear inside Lucas.

“I should have taken her with us when we left Buffalo,” Lucas said. “She was only in Toronto. I had time to get her down here and have Korman perform the extraction.”

“Why are you worried about her?”

“She's carrying my child.”

Threnody felt as if she'd been punched, all the breath leaving her lungs. Shock came first, then the sickening realization that no unborn child would be able to survive what a neurotracker could do to a human body.

“Are you joking?” Threnody said weakly, searching his face. “You're not joking.”

“I need to find out what happened to Ciari.” Lucas headed for the door, but Threnody's hand on his arm stopped him. “Let go.”

“You can't leave the South Pole. We only just got here and Ciari's torture was days ago.”

“All the more reason for me to leave.”

“And do what? You're in no condition to save anyone right now.” Threnody dug her fingers into his arm and moved so he had to look at her. “We need more downtime.”

“You don't understand,” Lucas snapped, wrenching his arm free of her grip and glaring at her. “My daughter is why I'm doing all of this.”

Threnody didn't move, never broke eye contact. “And I'm doing it for everyone else. Your reasons aren't any more or less valid than my own, despite your shitty attitude. So for once, listen to me.”

Lucas blinked at her, momentarily thrown off-kilter by her complete lack of obedience.

“Korman said the World Court put the Strykers Syndicate's second officer into the OIC post as
Acting
OIC,” Threnody said. “They don't do that unless the OIC is still alive. Which means Keiko is running the Syndicate and Ciari is still breathing. I can't say anything about your daughter, but if Ciari's been helping you all along, betraying both the World Court and Nathan beneath the rules of the Silence Law, don't you think she would have watched out for her own unborn child?”

“Would she?”

Threnody punched him in the same spot Quinton had. Her fist made contact only because Lucas wasn't thinking straight and wasn't up to full strength. Lucas's head snapped to the side and he swore.

Threnody shook out the tension in her hand from the hit. “You goddamn bastard. After everything that Ciari's given up for you, you're really going to ask that? Fuck you, Lucas.”

Lucas touched his mouth, fingers skimming over swelling tissue. She hadn't split his lip, and she had half a thought to try again to rectify that mistake.

Don't,
Lucas said into her mind, but without the heat of anger.

“The OIC is a position I would never want,” Threnody said after a long moment of silence. “Ciari's argued for our lives over and over again and this is the payment she gets for it. For toeing the fucking line and letting you do what needs to be done, she gets her fucking brain fried. And you think she'd risk losing her baby?”

Lucas let his hand drop away and he spat on the floor of the lab. “I need to know what happened to my daughter.”

“After the clusterfuck in Buffalo, Ciari had to know she'd be summoned before the bench. She'd have time to do whatever she could to save the baby before that order came. Your daughter is most likely in Toronto. Probably in the medical level of the Strykers Syndicate.”

Lucas closed his eyes, but the tension didn't leave his body. “Can you be certain that's true?”

“No, but it's the most logical place. We can't run off and find out just yet.” Threnody lifted both hands to rub at her temples, feeling a headache coming on. “We need to be at full strength before we rush into things, otherwise we'll make mistakes and it'll cost us.”

“Tomorrow,” Lucas said after a moment. “We'll figure out what to do tomorrow.”

Threnody could only agree to that compromise, and this time she didn't try to stop Lucas from leaving. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, pausing only long enough to say, “Coming?”

She followed him out.

Lucas led her to a small room barely big enough for a single bed and an old, rickety desk. “Yours,” he said. “And Quinton's. I'll let you decide who gets the bed. Cafeteria is down the hall. It's cramped quarters all around, but don't worry. I'll keep an eye on my sisters.”

He said it as if they were still a threat and she stared at him. “Should I be worried?”

Lucas didn't answer and started to close the door. Threnody put her hand against it, forcing him to stop. Threnody gazed at him silently for a moment before saying, “Get some rest.”

Lucas closed the door. Shaking her head, Threnody went to sit on the bed, wondering if it was worth it to peel out of her skinsuit. Instead, she slid beneath a patched blanket and dozed.

Threnody woke when the door opened again, instincts too fine-tuned to ignore even the slightest of noises. She opened her eyes and watched as Quinton came into the room and switched on the light.