This Alien Shore (26 page)

“That's fine.” The stranglehold on her heart loosened up a bit. “Just give me the total.”

It was almost more than she had. In the end there were only three chits left in her palm, of such denominations as would hardly buy her lunch. If the food vendors even took chits, which she doubted. She was going to have to find someone who could alter her debit chip, and soon. Or at least get far enough away from this place that she didn't envision her pursuers lurking behind every comer.

She found a comer of the vending area which was less crowded than most and took refuge there, feeding the software into her headset. Her hands were shaking, and she couldn't stop them. God, this wasn't how she had dreamed of entering the outernet for the first time, this half-baked race for data. At last it was uploaded properly, and she put the headset in place; tiny icons flashed their approval as contact after contact lined u
^p
with the ones embedded in her skull. Then came the blessed words ALL CLEAR, and she visualized the icon that would start the software running.

^***
WELCOME TO THE NAGONI 476B INTERFACE
^***

 

IN ORDER TO SERVE YOU MORE EFFECTIVELY, NAGONI CORPORATION WOULD LIKE SOME INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR PAST NETWORK EXPERIENCE. THIS WILL BE USED TO

 

“Fuck that!” Derik had taken control, but it only lasted a moment. Then he was gone and Raven slid neatly into place, taking control not only of the brain they shared but of the brainware as well. With blinding speed she fed a dozen icons and text codes into the visual processor; half of them were things Jamisia had never seen.

... TO USE IF YOU WISH TO DO THAT LATER. COMPLETE LISTING OF NAGONI'S PRODUCTS CAN BE OBTAINED BY ...

 

Now Raven swore. It was less colorful than Derik's usual expletives, but under the circumstances, even more unnerving. Raven understood programming better than any of them; if she couldn't get the interface to do its job quickly, none of them could.

God damn it, all they needed was a simple map of the station; if she were back home, Jamisia could have accessed it by now. Why the hell wasn't planetary Earth on the same headset standard as the rest of the universe?

*** WELCOME TO THE OUTERNET GATEWAY ***

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Raven flashed through half a dozen displays impatiently, messages designed to soothe the rockborn mto feeling comfortable with the vastness and the vagueness of the electronic entity they were about to become part of. She had no time for any of that crap. At last she got to one display that mattered, ENTER YOUR BRAINWARE SPECS FOR REGISTRATION, and she gave it the false specs her tutor had provided: Hauck 9200, model 42A. It wasn't the name of what was really in her head, but it was still hellishly impressive; not one in thousands would have a current-model Hauck, and as for the 42 series—

Jamisia tried to shut the program down. But it had already made contact with the outernet registration programs, and was uploading the data she had given it.
SHIT!
Only one in ten thousand might have brainware like she did, and if her enemy had gotten any information on her at all, he might know what to look for. He could have hacked into those programs and set up a sniffer, how hard would that have been? He already knew when and where her ship was coming in. It was a good bet she'd sign on to the outernet as soon as she got an interface program, and this was the closest supply point—

Jamisia ran. Somewhere in the back of her head, using her own little comer of their brainware, Raven was still searching for data. Jamisia just concentrated on running, on getting as far away from that vendor area as she possibly could, in as little time as she could manage it. Deep inside she knew that it was a mistake, that running made her stand out from the crowd and put her in even greater danger, but she couldn't stop herself. The sudden feeling of being trapped, of finding herself surrounded by faceless enemies at every turn, had triggered memories that were even more terrifying. Like being buried beneath a mountain of rubble. Like feeling the air squeezed out of her lungs with every tortured breath. Like knowing that she was trapped, trapped forever, there wasn't now and never would be any way out—

Someone grabbed her, strong hands on both arms jerking her to a stop. For a moment she couldn't even respond, as her mental circuits struggled to switch gears from terrors of the past to those of the present. Derik took over their flesh then and almost managed to pull himself loose, but despite his dreams of male bravado, it was only a small and slender body he was wearing, and not a very strong one at that. The hands held her tight.

“Easy, girl, easy! I'm trying to help. Calm down.”

Gasping, she subsided. The man holding onto her looked mostly human, though his skin was streaked with blue; she couldn't tell through her frightened tears if that was a Variation proper, or just some alien cosmetic custom. “Calm down. It's all right. Tell me what's wrong.”

“I ... I ...” She was back in control of her body now, and gasping for breath. What should she say? She could hardly dare trust this stranger, whose only contact with her thus far had been to witness her panicked flight. God alone knew who he was, or what he would do if he even guessed at the truth. But she needed someone to help her. She couldn't get away from her pursuers by herself. “I need to get off the docking ring,” she gasped. “Away from here.” God, if he would only help her do that it would be enough, it didn't even matter right now where she went. “Fast ....”

He hesitated only for an instant, then straightened up and moved through the nearest gate. His strong hand on her arm would have made it hard for her to break free, but right now she was happy to stay with him. “I don't have a—” she began, but he whispered “Shhhhh” to quiet her. He paused for a moment when they reached the gate, and she realized that he was feeding it a passcode through his headset. ACKNOWLEDGED, the display confirmed. SECOND CODE? With a start Jamisia realized it was asking for her passcode. “I can't—” she began ... and then she realized that he was in communication with the gate's security program once more. CAPTAIN'S OVERRIDE ACKNOWLEDGED, it said at last. And the gate irised open.

He led her through with a firm grip, and she heard the door hiss shut behind them. The dock they had entered was a small one, and it led to a sleek private vessel being prepared for flight. His ship? She glanced up at him, saw him nod ever so slightly. His ship.

She looked behind her, back the way they had come. The gate was closed now, and no one without a suitable passcode would be able to make it open. For the first time in too many hours she managed to relax a bit.
Safe for now,
she told herself. Granted, it was a small safety—in the presence of strangers, in a dock about to be emptied—but in contrast to where she'd been a few minutes ago it seemed like heaven.

The pilot's hand was still on her arm; not until her breathing had slowed and her heartbeat was close to normal did he release her. “Now,” he said, and his tone was gentle, reassuring, “want to tell me what all this is about?”

She hesitated. It was tempting to imagine she could trust such a man, spill her secrets, gain aid ... but only a fool would actually do so. She hurriedly tested a few lies in her mind, but none sounded valid enough that they would assuage this man's suspicions. At last she decided the best thing to do was put off the issue ... hopefully until after he got her out this place.

She put on her best helpless-young-girl face and murmured, “I can't. I'm sorry. But I can't.” Hell, sometimes it worked.

If he meant to question her further, he didn't get the chance. Another man was coming up to them, this one a slender figure in a no-G jumpsuit.

“No more time for girlfriends, Allo.” His face, sculpted in sharp angles, was softened somewhat by a teasing grin. “Ship's almost ready to go.” As he nodded toward the ship, she saw his Variation: a half-dozen tendrils cascading down from the back of his head in the place of hair, which twitched and curled as he spoke. She remembered that Variation from her schooling, and knew that the slang name for his home planet was Medusa; what the real name was, though, she couldn't recall.

“Found this one running along the concourse, scared of something. Says she needs to get off the docking ring, fast, but won't tell me why.”

She watched while the Medusan absorbed that. “Is that so?” he said at last, and to her, “Where are you trying to go?”

Jamisia bit her lip, wondering what to say. At last she ventured, “Doesn't matter.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Got money?”

She nodded, then dared, “Enough for passage.”

“Ah!” The Medusan laughed; his skull tentacles jiggled in time to the sound. “So she wants to be a passenger, does she? And what does our illustrious captain say to that?”

The blue-faced man studied her; she had the queasy feeling that his eyes were somehow looking right into her brain. At last he said, “We've got the room. Won't be the first time we've taken someone in at the last moment, or the last.” He paused, studying Jamisia. “Not sure I want to get involved in this, though. Not without knowing what's going on.”

The gate chimed softly; someone was trying to come in. She listened, breathless, but only silence followed; whoever had sought entrance had lacked the proper codes.

She felt the Other slide into place, and for once was grateful to take a back seat. Her body controlled by another soul, she heard herself say, “I'll pay double what the trip would be worth.”

The captain said nothing.

She waited.

“That's not enough,” he said at last. “Not if there's trouble in your wake.”

“That won't be a problem for you.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “I don't know that now, do I?”

She met his eyes with a steady gaze. “Then name your price.”

The captain stared at her. Inside, Jamisia cringed. Then he laughed, long and heartily.

“I like this one, Sumi. Program a bunk for her, will you? I think we have a passenger.”

He hesitated. “You sure this isn't a mistake, boss?”

He smiled but said nothing. There was an odd pause then, a heartbeat in which all sound seemed strangely suspended. Then Sumi nodded slightly, giving his approval. With a strong hand on Jamisia's shoulder, the blue-faced captain propelled her forward, toward the small ship. “You do understand that I'll expect more information than that, don't you—”

“Raven,” she said quickly. It was the first time any one of the Others had given a real name to an outsider; the sound of it was unnerving to Jamisia.

“—Raven. I'm letting you off the hook now, we're all in a rush, but later I'll expect some real answers.”

“Later,” she said evenly, “you'll get real answers.”

He looked strangely at her for a moment, as so many people did these days—sensing something in her had changed, but not knowing how to define it—and then turned his full attention to the ship. “You heard her, she wants off the docking ring NOW.” He grinned. “So let's move it.”

You sure this is the right thing to do?
Jamisia ventured.

Nothing is sure anymore,
Raven answered calmly.
This'll get us off the station. Nothing is more dangerous than staying here.
And she added gently,
Relax.

Foreign voices greeted her as they approached the ship. Variant accents from half a dozen planets. Those who saw her seemed startled by her presence. Was that because she was a Terran, so rare in their world, or just because she was a stranger? No doubt the captain by her side was feeding them information on what had happened, via the outernet. She had been told that under the right circumstances, a quick exchange of visual information could seem almost like telepathy. It was unnerving to walk up into the ship like that, knowing that messages discussing her were even now zipping through the air about her head. When she got the interface program up and running, maybe she would be able to listen in.

“All right,” the captain said, “I want out of here within the hour. Tam, run the gateway programs. Calia, make sure those new charts are loaded. And Sumi—” He glanced down at Jamisia and smiled. “Show our passenger where the guest accommodations are, will you?”

She hesitated only a moment, then nodded and began to follow him. With only one glance back toward the gate, now silent.

Safe,
she thought.
At least for now.

Then she moved into the depths of the sleek little ship, and left her enemies behind.