The Killing Jar (25 page)

CPI CORRIDOR

AUGUST 22, 2232

Mable clutched the strap of her black bag as she walked to the pod with Theo. She was putting her favorite items at risk, but if she had to run, she would take her treasures with her. There was no telling when an opportunity might come up.

She might get to see Hadley today.

Or she might have to leave Dasia behind today.

Mable wasn’t as thrilled at the prospect of leaving as she used to be. Still, the Root was her home and Hadley needed her.

Instead, she was stuck with Theo. In a plain black backpack, he carried their extraction supplies.

The pair marched forward with a sort of confidence she wouldn’t have expected. Over the last week, they’d spent nearly all their time together, reviewing the files and discussing the extraction procedures.

All in all, he wasn’t more than a pack mule. His shirt was so tight it looked to be cutting off circulation—courtesy of the style-blind hussie girlfriend—but he was actually pretty smart. At least his questions didn’t melt the flesh off her face.

Theo let the pod navigate on autopilot, probably for the best considering his history. They rode in silence to the shuttle dock passenger load area and headed for the terminal. The busy crowd of tablet-obsessed travelers created a continuous rumble through the metallic dock. Theo and Mable tried to weave through the crowd but found it less than manageable.

When the fourth person crashed into her, she’d had enough. “Get off me!” she shouted as she pushed the woman away. Her attention forced away from her tablet, the woman looked up as if she’d been set on a new planet, then returned to her tablet and continued on her way.

“Fucking tablet whores!” Mable groaned to no one in particular.

Theo rubbed the short stubble atop his head and let her take the lead. Of course, he didn’t want to be seen with her.

Mable pressed the travel badge on her wrist to the scanner at the shuttle door. When the screen flashed “Welcome aboard, Camille Cristophsen (S)”, Mable laughed and continued onto the shuttle. Only Arrenstein would pick such a prude name.

Mable found a seat along the wall and sank into it. Theo followed behind and joined her a second later.

“If you’re not ready, I’m sure we can get Nick to assign someone else—”

“I’m fine,” she muttered in response. She reached into her bag and pulled out her tablet.

“What happened to ‘tablet whores’?”

Mable noticed for the first time he didn’t have his. “You’re flaming out your ass because you forgot yours?”

“It’s in my bag. What’s your problem?”

“You’re my problem.”

“Fuck off,” she whined.

“Fuck you,” he fired right back. Mable refused to tell him, but she was kind of impressed. Maybe good ole Theo pretty boy was growing a spine after all. She kind of liked it.

That was a problem.

She found her place in her book and continued reading, giving him the coldest shoulder she could manage.

From the corner of her eye—not that she was looking—she could see Theo rub both his hands down the length of his athletic pants. Up and down, up and down.

He was getting nervous.

Not her problem. She kept reading.

The sudden plethora of good books to read was by far the best part of her new life at CPI. In the Root, there was a finite quantity of physical books, mostly manuals for various mechanisms, and even fewer tablets. Stolen tablets would self-destruct and it wasn’t as if making one were easy in the underground. Mable had gone a good two years without more than the book of fables in her bag. She’d read it cover to cover nearly fifty times.

Not that she didn’t like fables, but she was ready for something new to read. In the last month, she’d burned through six books, but
Memoirs of a Geisha
was by far the most interesting and she wasn’t even finished yet. Ancient Japan was a cruel place. Mable liked to think she could relate to that.

When the woman came by with their drinks, Mable was beyond disappointed to find a glass of water. For real? Water? What happened to vodka?

“Not going to drink it?” Theo asked when his glass was dry.

“I’d prefer something a little stronger.”

“Dr. Arrenstein wants us to be cautious. I’m sure alcohol wouldn’t help.”

“Wow, thanks mom.”

She could feel his anger fall off him in waves. His breath grew tight in his chest as he said, “What happened to you? Seriously, there’s no reason to be like that. I don’t treat you like that.”

“It’s none of your business.” It was pretty much the example of not-his-business.

“Do you want to know how I got here?” he asked, quieter this time.

“No.” She already had all the details she needed.

VERONICA STREET, TORONTO, NORTH AMERICA

AUGUST 22, 2232

Theo pulled up the ecomm system on his wristlet and typed in the message.

JANE GALLAGHER: I’M GOING TO DO IT.

She would know what it meant. Nate sacrificed for Casey. Theo would sacrifice for Jane. That’s what people were supposed to do when they cared about each other.

The shuttle landed without another word shared between him and his ‘partner’. Mable was the most useless, combative partner he could imagine. At least it would be short lived.

As they navigated the tube, Theo pulled up the coordinates on his wristlet and pointed the way.

“What is that thing?” she asked.

“Something I made a while back. It connects to my tablet so I don’t have to carry it around all the time.”

“Impressive.”

Theo couldn’t decide if she was genuine. Her hands were busy adjusting her hair into a loose pony tail, though several pieces still fell across her face.

“Aren’t you supposed to keep the bun? Dr. Arrenstein wants you to look like a Scholar.”

Mable rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to be a Youth. And Arrenstein can eat shit and die.”

Theo shook his head and kept walking. He wanted to like her, to make this work. Somewhere deep in there, Mable was probably a good person, but she was too warped, too rough around the edges. Theo wouldn’t be forced to tolerate her behavior. Not when there were alternatives.

“Are you going to wear the cam?” Theo tried to keep the hope from his voice. He couldn’t be blamed if she refused to follow instructions.

“Yeah, how else are you going to communicate with me?”

Dammit.

“You said you didn’t want to wear it.” Theo fished the device from the equipment bag and handed it to her. “Do you need help?”

Mable snatched it. “No.”

From the shuttle dock, the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Evaluation was only four blocks away. Not worth the trouble of arranging a pod. The pair stepped into the afternoon light of the dome and stopped so Mable could maneuver the cam over her ear.

Theo tried to help, to offer her a better suggestion for placement, but she swatted him away. He could only watch as she held the device above her ear and winced as the five points punctured her scalp.

Her breath became ragged with the pain, but she never cried out. Theo was almost impressed until her remembered the way she screamed at cleaning. Clearly that had been nothing more than a cry for attention.

With the cam in place, they walked in silence for two blocks before they passed a café. “This is close enough,” he told her and started for the door.

“Hey,” she called after him. “The bag.” Mable reached out her hand.

“Right. Here you go.” Theo lifted the strap over his head and handed it to her. “I’ll trade you.” He held out his hand but she ignored him. Mable slid the bag over her shoulder to sit on top of the one she already carried. Then she turned to continue on toward the lab.

The Ninth Street Diner was a fine establishment, though he didn’t have much basis for comparison. The walls were lined with black booths and a series of tables occupied the central space. A long counter ran along the far wall and sat a few single patrons.

Theo slid into a booth and attached the audio tabs behind his ears. He set his wristlet on the table and projected her vid feed onto the facing chair. The tablet would have been much easier, but he needed the wristlet for this.

Scanning the café, the other patrons were mindlessly engaged in their own tablets. None would notice him.

“Can you hear me?” Mable asked in his ear.

“Yeah, I’m getting your vid feed. All set on this end. Take a left at the next intersection, then the pharma complex is on the right.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Her rudeness, her insistence on being short and condescending in that moment sealed their fate. Theo was certain he couldn’t continue on with her.

He knew what he had to do.

LRF-PS-101

AUGUST 22, 2232

Perkins-196 floated in the space above her desk. Aida’s eyes stared, glazed over as she gave in to the daze.

Could this really be it?

Or, more prevalently, had Dr. Parr really died on the verge of this discovery?

As more and more data arrived over the last three days, the three Planetary Systems researchers had spent every available moment in calculations, scans, and projections. They had yet to find a flaw.

Atmospheric tests showed a volume of thirty two percent oxygen, vastly higher than the eighteen percent produced by the atmosphere converters in the last two hundred years. It was higher than the twenty one percent before the war.

Aside from the oxygen content, there was a high quantity of available nitrogen and carbon dioxide that allowed for photosynthesis and cellular respiration. There were no signs of hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, or any other substance that would be toxic to breath in high concentrations.

They couldn’t have asked for better.

Any colonists on Perkins-196 would be treated to the best air of their lives.

Aida was still lost in admiration and guilt when Calvin appeared out of nowhere. “I just sent you the preliminary biological analysis. There’s considerable flora and fauna present already.”

She snapped out of it as fast as she could and started the motions on her tablet to bring up the data.

“What’s wrong?” Calvin sat in the only available chair. His brow wrinkled and his emerald eyes were soft.

“Nothing.” She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had bothered to ask about her.

“You know, you’re not a very good liar.” His smile consumed her.

“I’m just tired,” she admitted, though she didn’t go so far as to tell him she hadn’t been able to sleep for weeks, not since—

“Why don’t you take the afternoon off? We’ve made plenty of headway so far. Even Niemeyer is on board. You deserve a break.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” On the holographic projector, images of the planet’s surface appeared. Rather than the lush green jungles she’d pictured, she saw only purple. A plum plant-like thing with a narrow stem with a lush lavender poof on the end, so delicate it looked like sugar. Beside it was a crimson bush with leaves perfectly straight and pointed, like an explosion in progress. Tree-like things had trunks so dark they were almost black, but the leaves, though small and light like the seeds of a dandelion, were so many colors: rose, pink, and magenta.

“This is amazing,” she said, though it came out quiet.

“I thought you’d like it. But seriously, I think you should take a few hours off.”

Aida shot him a cocked eyebrow. “Well, thanks to you, I’m the Lead, and I don’t have to listen to you.”

“You’re no good to us if you get burnt out. Go home. I insist.”

While Aida usually enjoyed Calvin’s company, this time, he only managed to irritate her. She clenched her teeth and glared.

“Tomorrow, you’ll be rested and fresh and we can look at the bio specs.” Calvin smiled in a way she hadn’t seen before. It was pained for some reason.

Aida sat in her chair and thought about that. About the planet she found that still seemed so right. About her junior researcher who smiled like that.

She didn’t know how long she sat dazed at her desk. By the time she came to, her tablet was dark and Calvin was gone. Aida wondered if she’d been rude and made him leave. It wasn’t like her to daydream that way. She rubbed her eyes and tried to think of what she was doing.

Then she remembered, Calvin told her to go home.

Why she listened to him, she didn’t really know. Maybe it was those green eyes that haunted her, or maybe she was really tired. Or maybe she wanted to get away from her office and think about something else.

But she hadn’t expected Sal to be home. He looked surprised to see her as well.

“I thought you’d be working late again,” he said.

She walked past him at the small metal dinette and sat on the edge of the bed to remove her heels. “Calvin wanted me to take the afternoon off.”

With his eyes on his tablet, he asked, “Calvin?”

Aida realized her mistake and corrected, “Dr. Hill.” She didn’t know when she’d started to think of him as Calvin.

“Oh.” Sal didn’t appear concerned in the least. And he didn’t have a reason to be concerned.

“I told you Director Filmore made me Lead?” She knew very well she hadn’t told him, but it was as good a time as any. Despite the circumstances, there was a certain measure of pride in attaining a Lead position so early in her career.

She didn’t mention Calvin’s hand in every step of the process, but in the end, the director had agreed to her new position.

“That’s great.” His eyes never left his tablet.

“With your promotion last year, we should have enough to apply for a Child Permit.” She held her breath and waited for his response.

“Maybe in a year or two.”

“You’re right.” She kept her voice even to hide the depth of the wound. She already knew the answer to that question. It hurt her more than she thought it should.

Aida grabbed her tablet from where she’d tossed it on the bed and began reading through the news. A list of tomorrow’s provision flavors. A simulation of interplanetary fuel consumption from the Propulsions unit. Astrobiology had a vid of a new plant that could grow without water, as long as it was kept in a humid environment.

She couldn’t find a single interesting article. Her own research was far more dynamic than anything else that popped up on the LRF feed.

Three hours later, she gave up. She pushed her feet back into her heels and returned to her office. She didn’t have anything to do at her apartment except sit in silence with Sal, and she’d had as much of that as she could handle for the day.

It was late enough the others had probably already returned to their own apartments, but she didn’t mind. She enjoyed the solitude.

Her mind went to the plants on Perkins-196. She pulled up the images of the violet organisms and looked them over again. So striking, so vibrant in color, she found herself drawn to their appearance, to their very existence.

She heard a knock that scared her straight out of her chair. Calvin stood in the open doorway, his knuckles hovering inches from the metal. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you left the light on. I thought you were supposed to go home.”

“I did. I came back.” She didn’t want to explain why she was more comfortable at work than at home.

“Plan on staying for a while?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Mind if I join you?”

“I’ll be fine, thank you anyway.”

“If it’s all the same, I’ll stay. You look like you could use some company.” Aida couldn’t decide what she wanted. Sitting in silence with Sal had been enough to drive her from the apartment, but she didn’t want to talk to Calvin about that.

Filling the silence, Calvin reached into his pocket and handed her a container. “Would you like some strawberries?”

In shock, Aida accepted the box and opened it to reveal the bright red berries inside.

Calvin sat in the chair opposite her desk before she could protest. “Have you ever had them before?” When she shook her head, he continued, “Their sweet and juicy. You could almost east them for dessert.”

“Dessert?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I’ll show you one day. For now, how about your planet? These images are amazing.”

“Stunning,” she admitted. “What about wildlife?”

“So far, there’s no sign of anything larger than a house cat. Mostly primitive species, similar to our insects and fish. Nothing of the higher orders of vertebrates. That’s good, right?” He leaned in to get a closer view.

Aida relished talk of planets again. “It depends. Larger native species can be predators that threaten the colonists, but others can be a food source. It’s really case specific, dependent on the available resources and the established ecosystem.”

“The probe should be close enough to get samples here in the next day or two. We’ll be able to determine the chemical composition of these plants, if they’re edible or toxic.”

“Or if they have a defense mechanism.”

“I take it that’s happened before?” Calvin propped his chin on his fist and waited to hear the story.

“Perkins-41. The local plant-life had edible leaves, high in fiber and nutrients, a really great resource. But when they harvested the leaves, the plant would shoot an acid out the top of the stem. Even brushing against it would cause some of the smaller ones to extrude the acid.”

“Sounds like it could be managed with the right precautions.”

“We thought so, too, so Dr. Parr instructed us to move forward with a base level colony on the surface. The colonists struggled to carve out a preliminary campsite or grow any foods that weren’t killed by the native plants. Two months later, it was decided that the species was too aggressive. Our choice was between wiping out the entire surface vegetation or continue looking for other planets.”

“And Dr. Parr chose to move on.”

She remembered it as if it had been only days, rather than years ago. “Yes, he did.”

“Do you think that was the right choice?”

“Of course. We discussed it for weeks. He was always very considerate. He thought of every angle to a problem. That’s why he was so good.”

“You’re like that, too, you know.”

“No, I’m not. I wish I was, but I’m not.”

Calvin stood and walked around the desk to squat beside her. He took her hands between both of his and said, “Aida, you are exactly like he was. You think about things in a way most Scholars couldn’t dream.” When he stood again, he pulled her up with him.

Her heart raced like never before. He was so close, he held her hands with such care, she couldn’t even think of what to do.

“Look at you. Always dressed exquisitely. You care about appearances even when you think no one notices. Even your husband, he doesn’t notice, does he?”

“What are you getting at?” She didn’t like this turn, didn’t like his tone. His comments hit far too close to home.

“I mean that you are something special. You are exactly what we need to find the right planet. We don’t have Dr. Parr here with us anymore, but we have you, and that’s more than enough.”

It was then he leaned in and kissed her.
A
real kiss, one that stole her breath and left her knees weak. He pressed one hand to her cheek. The other pulled at the small of her back. Her whole body against his.

Aida knew she would regret it. She would hate herself for it, but she nonetheless gave in to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck. She pushed up onto her toes as much as her shoes would allow.

When he leaned her onto the desk and tugged at the zipper of her body suit, she knew the line had been crossed.

But never, for even one second, did she consider stopping him.