Page 24 of Stellar Drift
“The ship must launch.”Elkano sounded very certain.“However, the ship has nine hours to achieve orbit, with no other instructions for that time period.I believe we can land and pick you up.There is no countdown or time limit for the orbit period.We can leave immediately if we have a destination.However, the encrypted section has other restrictions.”
Sairy made a face.“Landing would definitely be a challenge.Elkano, leave that encrypted section alone for now.I’ll keep a channel open for you while I talk to Houyen.”
She turned to him and waved a hand apologetically.“Sorry.Not what you signed up for, I’ll bet.”
“To be honest, no, I didn’t.I like reading adventure serials, but I never wanted to be in one.”
A rude noise erupted from her.“Black box project managers are all warped to the max.The more convoluted the plans, the better.To them, people are just pieces in ann-dimensional chess game.”
“Who is Adastra whats-it?”A creeping sense of claustrophobia nibbled at him.Probably his brain’s way of telling him to run away, but he couldn’t abandon Sairy and Kyala now.“I’m sorry.It’s my fault you’re even here.”
“Ratshit,” she replied vehemently.“This stage was set years ago.You’re just unlucky enough to see behind the curtain.Adastra FEL-14 was the experimental mothership for thirty-five experimental exploration ships, including mine.We were all being trained for an undisclosed mission.The CPS made sure we couldn’t talk about it by having telepaths regularly erase inconvenient memories, like family and friends, or twisting our memories about dates and events.”She made a disgusted sound.“My memory has so many holes, I can’t even tell you how long I was on the project, or when we launched.It could have been five or even ten years.Elkano’s is no better.”
She looked like she wanted to pace.He knew the feeling.
“Anyway, one day, our mothership ordered me into the cryopod in my ship with Elkano.I thought it was just another test, but instead, she ejected all her ships for no reason we could determine.But our records are a fragmented mess.I suspect that happened when the project leaders tried but failed to gain control of us.The mothership ordered us to jump into transit space on a random vector, with an imperative to hide, then complete some unknown task.We don’t know how long we spent in transit, but we ended up on Qal Corona.”She waved a hand in frustration.“Elkano and I have been through our records a thousand times, but we still missed this.”
Houyen’s intuition sparked.“If this were an adventure serial, your ship would have a secret self-destruct sequence if you or Elkano do something that exposes the project.”
Rather than scoffing, she seemed to take him seriously.“Good point.Elkano, look for unlabeled hooks in all primary systems.Let’s not make it easy for the assholes to terminate us.”
“Will do,”replied Elkano.
He dredged his memory for what the vivo-vault interior should look like.“About that crate.On the assumption that it was added to the vault after the fact, they would’ve had to improvise a place for it.The vault was optimized to save space, kind of like an extreme version of a starship hydroponics section.I wouldn’t think a million spheres would be the most efficient use of space, but I’m not an engineer.”
Sairy rocked back and forth on her heels.“I don’t trust that vault not to lock us in or give my ship more secret instructions.I’d just as soon fry this whole cave with incendiaries and pretend the volcano blew its top.Plus, I bet it would stop the infinity fever outbreaks.”
“Maybe.”The thought of that amount of habitat destruction pained him.The damage to the cloud forest alone would take decades to heal.“Having that crate might give you options, though.If we see it from the doorway, we could—”
His gauntlet vibrated and sounded a pattern he’d hoped not to hear.He let his chin drop to his chest.“That’s Matsurgan, my boss.I can dodge him, but not for long.He only calls me directly if he’s mad, so I’m guessing he’s about to recall me.”
Sairy threw up her hands with an exasperated look.“May as well answer now.This day is already cursed by the gods of chaos.”
Houyen squared his shoulders as he opened the comm, leaving it on speaker for Sairy to hear.“Albasrey.”
“I know where you are and what you’re doing, you self-righteous piece of horseshit.You disobeyed a direct order not to investigate an imaginary disease.Garamont tried to lie, but he couldn’t fool me.Your career is finished.Do you hear me?Finished!”Thumping in the background sounded like a fist pounding on a desk.“If you aren’t back at the Ryaksha base by eighteen hundred today, I will charge you with theft of CPS property and any other violations I can scrounge up.You can kiss your pension goodbye.”
Houyen fought to hang onto his temper.“Respectfully, sir, the charges won’t stand, and you have no authority over my pension.”
“The farking hell I don’t!If you don’t come back right now, you may as well not come back at all.Your new duty station will be the Great Void.No, that’s too good for you.I’ll just have you committed to the mind shop for a sixty-day evaluation of your dangerous obsession.”
Houyen made himself take a deep, calming breath, even as his heart pounded in his ears.“Again, respectfully, you don’t have the authority to do that, either.”
Matsurgan actually growled.“If you’re not here on time, Ranger Albasrey, I’ll report you as dead.Your goddamn pension and everything else you own will be frozen until you prove to CPS budget trackers that you’re alive.It’ll take years to straighten out.I better be seeing you soon, Ranger Asshole, or good fucking luck with your life.”
The call ended.
The only sound in the cave was the alarm beeps from the vault’s access panel.
After a long moment, Sairy cleared her throat.“Since Elkano and I have to leave anyway, we can get you to the base in time.If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah, sure.”He pinched the bridge of his nose.That was the responsible thing to do.The comprehensive records he’d amassed would eventually prove Matsurgan had seriously overstepped his authority.One way or another, the infinity fever data would get to the right people.And months or years later, the CPS would act on it, and then move Houyen to another planet, where he’d start all over again doing a job that it seemed only he believed it.
A surge of anger gripped him.“I’m tired of corrupt coworkers.I’m sick of bosses with the emotional regulation of a toddler.I am so damn tired of losing friends just when I’m getting to know them.”He dropped his hand and caught her eye.“Especially you, by the way, just so you know, because I admire the hell out of you and want to get to know you, even though you’re already with someone else.All in all, my life tanks.”
He cast a baleful eye toward the access control panel, willing it to stop with the annoying beeping.Unsurprisingly, it ignored him.
“This is going to sound completely warped…” She trailed off.
