| |
New Manhattan HOSH, Sickbay
Multicolored threads of illumination twined through a white mist, some sprinting, others curling lazily, like the afterimage of fireworks inside closed eyelids. Tessa floated in a pulsating cloud.
This was familiar, but not from recent memory. When did I experience this before? Where am I?
An oval spiraled into being, pale blue letters on a black background.
Damage Report: disruptor dart degraded synapses and interrupted cohesion. Body shut down initiated to prevent further damage and preserve function.
Memory flickered. Magnus reaching for her, calling her name. People staring. Her hand disintegrating.
My hand. Panic ripped through her as she realized that all the input she was receiving was mental. She couldn't physically see or feel anything. Am I back in the neural orb?
More words appeared on the disk. The human soul is intact. The nanocyte body is intact. Repairs to synapse and cohesion are ongoing. The oval spiraled closed, having nothing further to report.
Get me some kind of sensory input before the bugs come calling.
Light came millimeter slow, breaking across her consciousness in a razor thin line. A dark shape loomed, monochrome, blurred, until it resolved into Magnus's concerned face.
"Tessa? Are you awake? How do you feel?"
She wanted to tell him she couldn't feel anything, but her vocal structures weren't ready to cooperate yet.
Magnus turned his head and yelled to someone out of sight. "Why isn't she talking? Her eyes opened, so she's awake."
"Repairs are in progress. This will take some time."
Shock sent jagged waves through her mind. What the hell is Sirius doing here? And why is he still talking?
"According to the data readouts, she is conscious, and she can see and hear you now. She is also..." Sirius trailed off.
"What? She's also what?" Magnus demanded.
"Highly agitated. I am pleased to have been of service, but I believe my presence here may be stressful for her. I should close the connection..."
"You can't leave. She hasn't healed yet," Magnus said.
"Her nanocytes were already healing her. I have augmented the repair program, and a fresh nanocyte infusion is on its way to you on our fastest ship. In all honesty, I am not needed here. I only stayed because..."
"Because he couldn't... Resist dabbling... In a new... Experiment." Tessa's voice was hoarse, cracking on every other word.
"You are not an experiment, Tessa. You never were," Sirius said. She didn't respond, and after a moment, he sighed. "I should go."
"You shouldn't... Be here," she said.
Sadness and amusement colored his tone in equal measure. "Technically, I'm not there. At least, not physically."
Making a massive effort, Tessa turned her head toward the source of Sirius's voice. His image wavered about a meter away from her, half his true size and nearly transparent. Her eyes widened as she saw he was still in the same Teutonic bioform, dressed in red and gold as he had been the last time she'd seen him.
He gazed at her as if he would never stop, and Tessa glared back. It was easier to forgive him when she didn't have to look at him.
Tearing his eyes from Tessa, he turned to Magnus. "She should be almost completely healed within the next few hours, but her material and energy reserves are depleted. So, it is important that she take the infusion as soon as it arrives. Please let me know if there are any lingering effects."
"I– all right," Magnus said, and the hologram winked out. The room was silent for several moments until Magnus spoke again. "Your vital signs were erratic. Some of the doctors said they were failing. No one here knew how to help you, so we sent a message to Elara. Sirius set up a hologram so he could monitor your treatment firsthand."
"How kind of him." The sarcasm in her tone was heavy enough to unbalance a star cruiser.
Magnus frowned. "Gaia said he was the most knowledgeable about your body type, so she asked him to help."
"Of course she did."
The frown deepened. "Tessa, without him, you might have died. Why are you so upset?"
"Let's just say we have a history."
The frown eased. "Old boyfriend, hmm? That explains a lot. Can't say I'm sorry he came, though. Seems a nice enough fella."
"He seems to be a lot of things." She looked around the room.
Sterile white and green, standard issue hospital bed, side table, medical monitoring unit. Of course, the readout there was crazy, with spiking lines and loops of color no human body could have produced. No windows, of course.
"We're still on the HOSH, I'm guessing?" she asked.
"Ah, changing the subject, I see. Yes, we're still in New Manhattan."
"How long have I been out?"
"A day, and a few hours."
"Any idea who did this to me?"
"Well, I have ideas. New Manhattan Security Force has no clue. They want to talk to you, by the way. Something about how an enemy could do what they did to you and not show up on a single security feed. Apparently, the HOSH is loaded with cameras, and not one of them picked up the assassin."
"Atah and her damn miraza camouflage."
"That's what I said. But I don't think they believe me. Looked at me funny and took a step back."
"Huh. Imagine that. One invisible assassin attack, and everyone starts giving you the side eye."
He settled into the only chair in the room and propped his feet on the end of her bed, ankles crossed, a man at ease. "At least they didn't arrest me, though I got the feeling from the chief investigator that she would have liked to."
"Yeah? What makes you think that?"
"Aside from the way she kept fondling her wrist restraints?" He smirked. "Because, as the not-so-lovely Detective Karyn MacWilliams pointed out, I was closest to you, and the only one on the HOSH who knew you well enough to have a motive."
"Huh. And she didn't put you in a cell because..."
"Video evidence. I was behind you when the dart hit. The trajectory doesn't work for me being the shooter."
Tessa relaxed into the bed and closed her eyes. "Makes sense. But you said you told her about Totepe. She didn't think an insurance policy for tons of credits was motive enough for Atah?"
"She doesn't think Atah exists. The bank cited privacy laws when she contacted them about the insurance, so she doesn't have to believe the bounty exists either."
"So, it's just you and me."
"And the guards they insisted on placing outside the door, plus the monitor here in the room. If I kill you, she wants it on video."
"If you wanted to kill me, you'd have done it on the way here aboard the Oracle."
"I don't think she's looking that far back."
"If Atah is behind this, she had to have followed us here."
"Or put a tracker on the Oracle. I'll check that." He stood up, prompting Tessa to open her eyes.
"Magnus?" she said. "She won't stop at one attempt, and she won't care who she has to go through to get to me, either. You could have been hit just as easily as I was."
"The weapon she used... It was designed with you in mind, Tessa. She wasn't after anyone else this time."
"Still. Collateral damage is always a possibility. I’m lucky no one else got hurt. Lucky you didn't get hurt."
Ignoring the suggestion she hinted at, he grinned at her. "And lucky I was there to break your fall. So, what's next?"
Something loosened in her chest. He would stay and she couldn't force herself to be sorry. "We try to lure her into the open. Our place, our timing. And we take her out."
He nodded. "Good plan. As long as she didn't think of it first."
New Manhattan HOSH, Docking Level, the Splinter
Safely back in her cabin aboard the Splinter, Atah ground her teeth in frustration. Hiding out between Leafa2 and the HOSH placed her in New Manhattan’s shadow – able to piggy back on their interstellar communications array and hack in without actually landing in the space dock. She’d even been able to access the HOSH by suiting up and slipping through the maintenance tunnels. It had been a risky process that she never wanted to repeat, but it would have been worth it if she made her kill.
But she hadn’t.
How Graham had managed to survive a direct hit from a disruptor dart was beyond her. There was something she was missing. So, she revisited her research on Tessa Graham. First, she studied the Bainaran news footage again. The fight between HiveZ and Tessa Graham on the Eagle, recorded by security monitors and leaked to the media a week after the event, was quite informative.
Irritation tightened her features as she watched Tessa discard her stolen miraza tunic as if it were worthless. When Tessa jumped onto HiveZ, toppling them backward, half into the orb, then firing ice point blank into her enemy's torso, she grinned.
"Gotta hand it to you," she murmured. "You aren't afraid of the hard choices."
"Apologies, Captain. Please repeat," Bex said.
"Nothing, nothing." Atah started the sequence over, viewing it one last time from the beginning. "Bex? Assess target based on new data."
"Disruptor dart will incapacitate target, but not terminate. Her systems were able to compensate and effect repairs before critical damage could be done."
"I got that when she strolled out of the med-bay a few hours ago. How?”
“Her body appears to be a construct made of millions of individual nanocytes, each one cooperating to support life and defense functions. The dart was ineffective because it triggered an automatic shutdown before the disruption could spread to critical systems.”
Atah’s jaw ached as she ground her teeth again. “Got it. Suggested course of action?"
"The target's weakness lies in extremes of temperature. Heat above 3000* kelvin would destroy her. Cold below 273* would incapacitate and create vulnerability."
Atah thought that over. "So, hotter than I can generate with a regular weapon."
"Affirmative. Also, data indicates that HiveZ and Tessa Graham share a body type. It is therefore logical to assume that she can take evasive action similar to what HiveZ demonstrated in the video."
"Which means I'll have to surprise her, no matter what I'm packing. OK. Do we have a freeze blaster in the weapons locker?"
"Yes, Captain. It is an older model with limited range, but fully functional."
"Good. I'll add that to my harness. How much ammo do we have for that?"
"Two boxes, ten cartridges each."
Atah groaned. "Not as much as I'd like, but sufficient, if I'm careful."
"Incapacitating Graham will not be enough."
"Don't I know it? Surprise was good, though. If I'd had the right weapon, I would have been on my way to the bank with her head by now."
"A weapon capable of instantly terminating Tessa Graham would also destroy everything in her proximity."
Thinking it over, Atah nodded. "Yeah. That's a lot of collateral damage. I'll have to see what I can do about limiting that. If I'm not careful, I could wipe myself out while I'm killing her. Can't collect the reward if I'm dead."
"Affirmative. Also, her ability to regenerate makes taking her head to the bank inadvisable."
"Well, aren't you the little killjoy?"
"I am not familiar with that phrase."
"Of course not." Atah shrugged. "All right, video evidence will have to do. And, I'm thinking freeze and destroy is probably our best bet."
"I am not programmed for gambling."
Atah sighed. "Just a metaphor, Bex. Not meant to be taken literally." Not having an organic companion really sucked sometimes.
"I understand, and concur with your conclusion."
"Good to know. Anything else?"
"Indications are the duster she wears is Andorran leather."
"What? Show me."
Bex obligingly pulled up hacked video surveillance from New Manhattan's security database.
Atah let out a low whistle when she looked closer at Tessa's leather duster – something she had seen but not paid much attention to before. "That's a pricey fashion choice. And one of the better options if you don't want to get dead."
"Note that her coat was not fastened, allowing your dart to strike her chest."
"Which means she probably won't make that mistake again. Damn. I hate a missed opportunity." She studied the frozen image for several seconds, and finally grinned. "That duster would make a nice replacement for my miraza tunic."
"She is unlikely to let it go without a fight."
Atah's grin turned vicious. "I'm counting on it."
