Pip sat on the table next to Rosie’s aunt, his knees pulled up to his chest, watching her. She was very pale and still. The only indication she was alive came from the slight rise and fall of her chest.
The nanoplast had stopped the bleeding and Yuang had allowed her to be injected with some blood and tissue replicators, but that was all. He’d strapped her to the med bed and left Pip to watch her. If she died, Rosie would never forgive him.
He picked up the small medigun and shot her with another dose of nano-repair cells and watched the slow beep of her heart on the monitor.
When Yuang had given him his orders, he hadn’t expected any of this to happen.
He had only asked him to watch Riley and to report on him. But Yuang hadn’t known then who Riley was. He’d thought he was just some guy poking around in things that may or may not be important. Now everything was messed up.
He leaned his head back against the cold hull of the ship and closed his eyes. He hadn’t slept for two days and things were starting to get – clouded. Rosie was clouding him up. Messing with his reasoning. It had been harder than he’d thought to betray them. Only the thought of why he was doing it had kept him on track. Do the job and he could go home.
That was still how he thought of the Enclave: home. The place he’d grown up, safe, or so he’d thought. He hadn’t been back since he was ten. Eight years he’d been on Earth. He missed Mars: the smell of the sulfurous air, the red dust and the clean, warm corridors of the Enclave. He should be happy to be going back – relieved to get away from Earth’s stink and the threat of the MalX. But part of him was uneasy.
Before his parents died, the Enclave had been all he’d known. Now it was different. He’d seen things on Earth that didn’t add up to what he’d been taught. Ferals that Helios took and didn’t bring back. Riley saying there were things about Helios that even he didn’t know. And now what was happening to Rosie’s family.
He rubbed his eyes. He had a headache and was nauseous from hunger. He should look for something to eat – there would probably be some protein bars in the galley. And he should ask Yuang for a shot of the antiviral, just to be certain. It wasn’t a real cure, but Yuang had said it would stop him getting the MalX while he was on Earth. Now he was going home, surely Yuang should give him one more, just in case.
Essie made a soft noise and her hand twitched under the straps. He gave her another shot of the nano cells, and was discarding the empty pill case when one of Helios’s soldier drones, a grunt as he called them, appeared suddenly in the doorway.
“Oi.” The stocky red-haired man filled the exit. “Yuang wants you up top.” Like all the other grunts this one was wearing all black with a gold Helios insignia stitched on the collar of his shirt. And, just like all the other grunts, he’d been pumped so full of muscle enhancers he looked like a no-neck walking bag of rocks. Dangerous and just short of stupid, the grunts followed orders like rabid dogs and had implants that downloaded straight into their cerebral cortices so they could use any weapon they came across. They could run for days and also liked to hit things: animals, walls, him.
Pip slipped the medigun under Essie’s mattress. “Coming,” he said and he followed him out.
“She still alive?” The grunt jerked his head towards the medical bay.
“Yep.”
“Pity, she kicked me in the balls.”
“What balls?” Pip retorted and received a slap to the side of his head, which sent him slamming into the wall.
“Don’t be stupid.” The grunt grabbed him roughly by the arm. Pip’s head was swimming and he felt bile rise momentarily in his throat. The grunt ignored his staggering and shoved him into the ship’s lift.
Pip’s head was still ringing from the blow as they got to the bridge. His insides were loose with nerves. What did Yuang want from him now?
“Get a move on.” The grunt prodded him in the back.
“Piss off!” Pip tried to shrug his hand off but the grunt only laughed and pushed him again. Anger boiled in Pip’s gut but he knew better than to fight back. He still had the scar on his thigh from the last time. He settled for quiet abuse. “Small-balled freak,” he whispered under his breath.
Yuang was standing with his back to him in front of the wide view port, staring out at the streaming stars.
The Cosmic Mariner had the best tech money could buy. There were no buttons or switches on Yuang’s bridge, all the controls were 3-D and AI-integrated. Yuang’s pilot, Nerita, rested, half reclined, within a curved transparent dome. An elegant helmet of fine wires sat on her dark shaved head and a single glinting eye cover connected her to the ship’s operating computer. Her hands moved in the air in front of her, manipulating constantly changing images of amber light that projected up from the floor.
Next to her the copilot sat in front of a slim podium and next to him another man was surrounded by a semicircular console that controlled the ship’s weapons. Nerita glanced at Pip as the grunt shoved him into the room, but didn’t smile. She was less nasty to him than the rest but was still to be treated with caution.
“Come stand by me.” Yuang called to him without turning. “Leave us, Reave, and shut the hatch.” The grunt grunted and gave Pip a final push forward then left.
“We’ve caught up with your friend,” Yuang said, turning to him at last.
“She’s not my friend.”
Yuang smiled. “Of course she is. You’re just not a very good friend to her. How is our patient?”
Pip shrugged. “How should I know? I’m not a doctor.”
“Is she still breathing?”
“Yes.” Pip was uncomfortable talking about Rosie’s aunt. What if Yuang guessed he’d given her the extra stuff? “What are you going to do about Rosie and Riley?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
“Well, they still have an item I want, since you didn’t manage to get hold of everything.” Yuang let the comment hang, just long enough to make Pip nervous. “But I don’t want to scare them,” he continued. “Shore will know what this ship can do. We are going to follow them, at a distance, until we reach Mars, then I’ll offer them a choice.”
“What choice?” Pip didn’t like Yuang’s tone.
Yuang looked at him. “Sometimes people need to be given a reason to do something. I will offer them two alternatives. One of those alternatives is handing over the diary that you were supposed to retrieve.”
Pip swallowed. He knew what the other alternative would be. He’d seen what the weapons on this ship could do. A bunch of Ferals had stolen a shuttle once to escape the Enclave. They hadn’t made it more than a thousand kilometres out of the atmosphere. Their deaths had been soundless, a burst of light and heat.
Yuang had said all of them had been infected with the MalX. That they had been planning to infect as many people on Earth with it as they could because they believed it was a plague sent by God to cleanse the Earth. Yuang said the MalX had driven them insane. Pip didn’t want to end up like that. Unlike some of the other Ferals they tested, he had no immunity. Yuang had tested him himself. He’d seen the results. He could die as easily as anyone else.
Pip looked at the streaming stars, wondering how far ahead Rosie and Riley were. If they would only listen to Yuang. Pip had known him since he was a kid. Yuang had been like an uncle or an older brother to him since his parents had died. He’d made sure he had everything he needed. A room in the dorms, food. He was the one who visited him when he had no one. When he’d been sent to Earth it was Yuang who’d cushioned the blow, said everyone had to be tested and this was his test. Surely he wouldn’t actually kill Rosie and Riley? As soon as Yuang had what he wanted, he’d let them go. And Pip could stay in the Enclave and everything would be like before.
Yuang watched him. “They cannot be allowed to stop what we are doing, Pip,” he said. “You know that. We are trying to save them as well as the rest of Earth. If they cannot understand that …” He shrugged and put a hand on his shoulder. “I am trying to save many lives, not just a few. Remember your parents? I wish I could have saved them.”
“I know.” Pip tensed. “Let me talk to her,” he ventured. “She might listen to me. Let them land on Mars and I’ll go back to them. I’ll get the diary.”
“You would get nothing. You betrayed them, Pip. You overestimate your charm. Besides, I don’t want to risk losing you.” He squeezed Pip’s shoulder, almost affectionately, then clasped his hands lightly behind his back. “If they don’t hand over what I want, I will be left with no choice.”
“But what about the diary?” Pip said.
“Perhaps it is safer disposed of. Anyway, enough talk.” Yuang turned away from the view port, guiding Pip with a light hand back towards the door. “Go back to the mediroom and check on the woman. We may need her to encourage them yet. I don’t want to resort to violence unless I have to. Remember why we are doing this, Pip. Remember your parents.” He pushed him towards the exit. “I’ll send Reave for you when we reach Mars.”