34
A LOT OF DAMN NERVE
MALLORY DRANK FROM the data firehose.
At first, the stinger was excruciating. She could dimly feel the muscles in her hand tightening into a fist and not letting go. She felt Xan’s embrace, and then his warmth was gone.
The hivemind took her.
Too many eyes, too many ears, too many tastes she didn’t understand, far, far too much information—she wanted to close off all methods of sensory input to stop the flood, but out of all the noise she felt one singular presence.
Just relax. We don’t control the information. We simply accept it. Your job is to help witness, help process. You don’t have to do all the work, silver scout 42 whispered to her. It didn’t keep to the usual form of communication, and Mallory realized she wasn’t using her translation bug to hear this.
Her subconscious slowly unfolded from its fetal position and opened itself to the information, and it swept over her.
Only two things now pulled at her awareness, inside and outside the station.
Inside, her aunt Kathy marched up the hallway, Calliope’s gun—Calliope’s gun?—in her pocket.
“Where did she get that?” she asked.
Your human companion dropped it.
Kathy demanded to know where the shuttle bay was from anyone she passed. Most ignored her, the stress of their day vastly eclipsing the needs of one loud human.
Outside the station, Mallory watched the battle as Xan did, but from the compound eyes of the scout aboard Infinity, not her own.
All of the other data were still washing through, but those two scenes stayed with her like seeds in her teeth.
Do you see now?
“No,” she said. “See what?”
You don’t cause the murders. You don’t attract them. They attract you. You’re not aware of it, but when the probability of a murder is high, you go there to witness.
“I’m like a murder-sniffing dog?”
I suppose, the scout said, sounding unsure.
“Then what happened with Eternity? Did I sense all of this and decide to come here months ago?”
Of course. The hivemind that you had access to was here. They were seeing the problems with Ren, and the dissatisfied Gneiss, and the chances of Infinity to collect a passenger on Earth. There are many, many things at play. You will never understand every single one. But they worked together to bring you here.
Mallory was so baffled at this information that she just sat and soaked in more data as Aunt Kathy continued her search for the shuttle bay.
A Sundry had stowed away aboard Grandfather, transmitting his point of view of the battle. Sundry were on every ship. They slipped in everywhere and observed.
“Why me?”
You were a test. We wanted to see what your brain would do with a taste of the hivemind’s logic. Your love of details made you follow violent situations. We gave you our venom, which can enhance bonding in some sentients, as well as be the base for healing drugs.
“Heal? I went to the hospital and nearly died.”
Our pure venom can kill if we intend. You have done well with our connection. You may stay if you like.
Mallory felt cold and, back in her body, could feel her hand swelling up. “Stay?”
We wanted another sentient to bring another point of view to the hivemind.
“But I’m human. I can’t take all of this all the time.”
Your body is dying. You need to be with us.
“Dammit, that’s not fair, why are you killing me? Why sting me if you knew I was going to die?”
There was a chance you wouldn’t react this strongly. There was a chance you would.
“Well, fuck. What is Kathy doing now?”
There is a 76% chance she will shoot one of the humans, 23% chance of shooting another sentient. There’s a 0% chance she will successfully steal a shuttle and a pilot to get back home to Earth.
“Zero. Why?”
Eternity can’t see the threat yet. She is too busy fixing the problems with the station and bonding with her new host. But if the human takes a shuttle against its pilot’s will, there is zero chance of it reaching jump distance before Eternity attacks.
“What can I do to stop Kathy? Does this connection of yours help me? Silver Sundry do shit with all that collected data, right?”
A pause; even the deluge of information slowed as the hivemind deliberated.
No.
Mallory drifted along, confused. “No? You’re not even going to go through the probabilities?”
No.
“I thought you were the ones who acted, who did things! Then what the fuck is all this for?”
To give us a human’s point of view. The voice sounded puzzled.
“I thought this relationship was mutually beneficial!”
We can keep your mind alive in the hive if your body dies.
“That’s not a benefit when you’re the ones who killed me! This is bullshit.”
If she was going to die, she had better do something to help her friends. Infinity had docked, its Sundry spy watching Phineas and Lovely exit the ship.
She thought for a moment, wondering if her pounding heart was panic or the shock her body was experiencing. She focused, trying to find a specific pair of compound eyes that were gathering the right information.
Two Sundry watched Kathy brighten as she found the shuttle bay. Mallory saw through their eyes and felt the alien workings of their minds. They saw the murderous human and the two innocents. They calculated new odds as to chances of death.
She sent an order. That’s no good. Move.
No. Stop. This isn’t the way.
“You assholes broke the way of things when you took me without consent into your hivemind,” she said, and told the Sundry, Sting.
It resisted. She pushed again. Sting. Don’t kill, but sting her face. Make it hurt.
Resist.
The hivemind as one assaulted her. No. This is not the way we do things.
You’ve got a lot of damn nerve. Fuck it. I’ll sting.
She concentrated, and the wasp’s wings began to buzz. She took control of the Sundry but wasn’t able to manage the complex muscles to command the wings to fly, and instead of flying, she fell onto Kathy’s shoulder, tangling in her hair.
The Sundry fought her for control, and the hivemind screamed at her.
She couldn’t have the perfect target, so she went for the first piece of skin she could, at the nape of Kathy’s neck.
Kathy screamed, mostly in shock, and Mallory let the Sundry go. Kathy’s reaction was to slap the stinging insect away, but instinct made her do it with her right hand, and that one held the gun.
Now. One more thing, Mallory thought sternly as Kathy crumpled, leaving a spray of blood and cartilage on the wall.
MALLORY’S HEAD SPUN, and she wondered how long it would be until she suffocated for good. She had an odd sense of seeing Stephanie dock from both outside and inside. Her hatch opened and Xan ran out.
YOU BROKE OUR rules. The hivemind, both sides, were pissed.
“You never told me the rules. And what about my rules? You stung me without consent. You didn’t give me a beneficial symbiotic relationship,” Mallory said. “I’ve heard about your intergalactic whatever regarding symbionts. You have laws about this shit, and you didn’t follow any of them.”
We must come to an agreement, the Sundry said at last. We will contact you in a cycle or two.
“And if your venom kills me in the meantime?”
She gasped, tightly as if through a straw, as another puncture invaded her thigh. This one was far away and not nearly as painful. A few more tight breaths, and her airways began to clear.
She opened her eyes. She was still aboard Stephanie, and Xan, Lovely, and Phineas stood over her. The perky mech face of Tina peeked in from the outside.
She looked at Lovely. “I found your grandmother.”
MALLORY WAS SITTING up and enjoying breathing when Mrs. Brown entered the shuttle bay. The blue and silver Sundry had gathered and were sitting on the walls and ceiling. But when Mrs. Brown came in, they immediately left the area. Mallory felt a tinge of fear in the back of her head, where she still had an uncomfortable sense of buzzing.
Lovely nearly tackled her grandmother in a hug, both delighted and demanding to know where she had been and if she was okay.
Mrs. Brown immediately started directing the shuttle bay workers as if she were a youth group leader at a summer camp. She had several busy shuttle bay techs checking Infinity and Stephanie for damage and directed drones to recover the wreck of the Gneiss grandfather, who was still hurtling away from the station. Stephanie had said he wasn’t out of control; he was pouting and wouldn’t come back on his own.
She ordered all the humans to the medbay for treatment, telling Eternity to give them human-sized rooms. Tomorrow they could talk.
THAT NIGHT, HER hands still aching from being swollen but overall much better, Mallory had a visitor.
Xan stood there. He was wearing a new T-shirt and Calliope’s cleaned and mended coat, and had bathed.
“Almost didn’t recognize you in a new shirt,” she said, stepping aside to let him in.
“Yeah. I don’t feel great robbing the dead, but Mrs. Brown insisted I get some new clothes from the shuttle since the only other option was borrowing from Phineas, and we’re not the same size.”
“What’s up?” she said.
“Both Calliope and Phineas brought me thumb drives. I wasn’t able to open the private data on one without the other. How the person who sent these figured the likelihood that I would get both drives from them is beyond me.” He took the offered chair, and Mallory sat on her bed to listen.
“A file on Phineas’s drive said that the officer who set it up wanted to make sure my brother would know their plans and help protect me.” He shook his head. “Looks like they didn’t know as much about me and my family as they thought. But the encrypted data tells everything about the God’s Breath project. Calliope was sent here to test the drug on aliens, but she wasn’t the only one. Seven other people on the shuttle were given the pill, including your aunt.”
“No shit,” Mallory said, covering her mouth in shock. “So all that stuff about bringing me home and being a family . . .”
He shrugged. “May have been true. You said her thing is happy suburban life. She doesn’t have family without you, so maybe the offer from the army made it worth it.”
“You thought Cal dosed the kid, but she said she gave him a Valium, right? What if she was telling the truth and Kathy was the one who dosed the kid and clubbed him?”
“That is possible,” he allowed. “At least we won’t be remembering her as the one who caused those dominoes to fall. Although she did plenty of other domino knocking. Cal was the kind of person who just ran around taking nails out of horses’ feet to see what kingdoms she could conquer.”
“We could interrogate Kathy when she wakes up,” Mallory suggested. “I know Mrs. Brown wants to do that before she goes home. But who were the other six who had the drug?”
“They were all first class,” Xan said. “Dead.”
“So Kathy dosed Sam,” Mallory began, “and when Eternity touched his mind, the drug weakened her connection with Ren. Then Kathy clubbed Sam. Then what, Adrian pulled Ren out of the physical connection with Eternity? Which ended up killing Ren?”
“Yeah. But here’s something else I found out on Cal’s thumb drive. She had three missions. She was to test the drug on the station, arrest or kill me, but also, she had to try to get you back to Earth. The government wants you, Mallory. Maybe even more than me.”
“For what?” she asked, baffled.
“They want to weaponize you. They figure if people die near you, then you might be a good weapon. That was why they tried so hard to get you to Billy’s party.”
“You’re kidding.” She stared at him. “Even if that was how I worked, there’s so much chaos that there is no way to actually target someone. And Calliope never said anything like that to me. She never hinted that she wanted to get me back to Earth.”
“She could have been waiting for the right time,” he said, twisting his mouth as if something tasted bad.
“So if I go back—”
“They most likely will arrest you on an imagined charge and make you work for them.”
She smiled bitterly. “No one believed me for so long when I thought I caused the murders. They probably won’t believe me when I say that instead I’m attracted to the murders, not really a murder catalyst.”
“Looks like we’re both stuck here for a while, then,” he said. “At least the station host likes us now.”
“Hah. You didn’t throw her in jail.”
“That’s probably water under the bridge. You saved her life, remember.”
“Then she saved mine, so that debt is paid.” Mallory sighed. “Anyway, what ever did happen to Adrian? Is he healing?”
Xan smiled and tried to bite it back. “He got carried around the station all day by a very angry security officer. He’s being treated, but he’s pretty messed up. Mentally and physically. A bad connection with the station can be pretty harmful.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Mallory finally broke it. “Thanks for, well, everything today.”
He grinned at her. “You saved me more than once. Goes both ways. Do you know what you’re going to do with the Sundry?”
“Shit. Right. Yeah, I know. I am not going to do anything. I don’t like them very much, and they’re pretty pissed at me for my move with Kathy, but they’re too useful. Xan, they just collect data. So much data that they don’t use. They knew about God’s Breath, didn’t tell anyone.”
He stared at her. “They knew about it. They could have prevented this?”
“Yeah. I only understand a tiny bit, but they’re more interested in seeing the outcomes of different actions. They almost never manipulate data; they just like to watch. We’re a soap opera to them.”
“How did you find out?”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead where a throb still sat, refusing to move. “If I can meditate, I can touch the hivemind again. If I fall asleep just a tad, I can kind of touch it. It’s hard, and they don’t like it when I do it since we’re not really friends. But I don’t think they can stop me.”
“Is it safe for you to do that?”
Mallory laughed. “Has that stopped us doing anything we’ve done in the last two days?”
“I guess not.” He stood. “I need to check on Infinity. Stephanie needs some sanding, and Tina, God, she will always need help.”
“Okay,” she said, standing and walking him to the door. She held up her still-swollen hand. “I can help when this thing heals.”
She opened the door for him. He stepped outside and said, “See you at breakfast?”
“Yeah,” she said. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Thanks for keeping me going today. I’m glad you’re here on the station.”
“I had to pull out the tough love. But you handled it.” He took a few steps down the hall and then turned back. “Listen, do you remember being on Stephanie when the Sundry stung you?”
“It’s pretty fuzzy,” she said, frowning. “I’m not sure. Did I say something stupid?”
He smiled slightly. “No, not at all. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She watched him go, too emotionally worn out to feel much of anything. She needed a friend more than anything on the station, and if he wanted to pretend he hadn’t hugged her, she’d respect that.
She hadn’t remembered. But the hivemind had.
THE HUMANS (MINUS Kathy and Adrian, both in the medbay), Ferdinand, and Tina met the next morning for breakfast. Mallory and Xan were so stiff from their adventures that they could barely move; they’d learned that the magic healing bug goo, as Phineas called it, wasn’t given for “minor injuries.” Ferdinand served them and sat down with them. Tina sat on the floor, with several tables moved aside to make room for her. They all had stories to tell and were desperate to knit them together to make sense of the previous day.
But first, everyone wanted to hear about Mrs. Brown.
“You’re part of the station now?” Lovely said. “What the hell does that mean? When do we go home?”
“Honey, I’m not going home. There’s very little for me back home except for dealing with parole violations and cancer treatments that won’t work,” the old woman said firmly but kindly.
“What about your family?” Lovely demanded.
“You can come visit whenever you like,” Mrs. Brown said. “For free. Hell, move here if you want. But understand that I’m much better off here.” She glanced at Phineas. “You both visit. There’s not a lot left of our merry little band that survived. That terrible woman doesn’t count.”
Kathy had survived the gunshot, disintegrating most of her ear and bursting her eardrum when the gun went off. She was heavily sedated and confined while she healed.
They frankly weren’t sure what was going on with Tina. Calliope was technically dead, and her body was gone, but talking to Tina was a completely new experience now.
“I need to get Kathy to confess; that’s about all that will get my cousin out of jail. I don’t know if I can tie the older murders to her,” Mallory said. She glanced at Xan. “I also need to know if she dosed Sam.”
“Oh, I can tell you that, dear,” Mrs. Brown said, frowning at her literal boiling beverage. “We need to get some coffee aboard. But on topic, from Eternity’s memories I was able to see Calliope give Sam a white pill. The weaponized pill was blue, if I understand correctly. I haven’t seen who got it to him, but I know it wasn’t your friend.
“The station is at her full capacity now and can piece together the situation that led to the shuttle attack,” Mrs. Brown continued. “There will be a number of questions from Earth. I’ll be inviting a delegation here to retrieve the bodies and the criminal and to hear how this will play out. I will make locking up that woman one of the requirements of humans coming here. As well as the safety of our permanent residents. And no military. Eternity will know.”
She looked pointedly at Xan. “Speaking of military and what they tried to do, I understand a few of our human visitors brought some of that God’s Breath drug aboard. What has become of that?”
“I went out with Infinity and spaced it,” he said. “I got the idea when we were sucked out of the airlock, but Stephanie caught us too fast for me to dump it then.”
“There is none left on the station,” Mrs. Brown said, rather than asked.
“None that I know of,” Xan said.
“Good. Like I said, I will set up stipulations to protect you, and—”
“You don’t have to protect—” Mallory started to say, but Lovely shook her head.
“Don’t even think about telling Gran what to do. Best you don’t fight her.”
“And what the hell were you thinking, Tina?” Mallory asked, focusing on the massive seated Gneiss. “Just launching yourself at Stephanie’s grandfather like that?”
“Stephanie’s grandpa didn’t want her to hurt me and thought he was protecting me. So I thought if I was going to get hurt somewhere else, he would have to follow.”
“That logic is incredibly dangerous,” Ferdinand said.
“It worked, and it was fucking metal.”
Mallory leaned over to Xan and Ferdinand. “Is Calliope really dead? ’Cause Tina sounds different.”
Ferdinand hummed briefly. “What she did was an ancient practice that our people haven’t done in centuries. Stephanie’s grandfather was one of the last, and he said he would never tell how he did it. I think Stephanie and Tina let instinct take over. But it’s hard to study the effects of an illegal act since no one wants to admit if their ascension was natural or not, so I don’t know much of the details about it. I’m actually afraid of the long-term ramifications of this. What Tina’s family will say. What happens when my father wakes all the way up. The ossuary is locked for the near future until everyone there calms down.”
“Eternity is monitoring the situation,” Mrs. Brown said.
“What about you?” Lovely asked Xan. “What’s your plan now that you have a spaceship to keep you safe?”
“It’s dangerous, but I’m taking Phineas home and we’re going to bury Grandma. I need to get some legal documents going to transfer the land to him,” he said. “But I’ll be back.”
“I’m sure Infinity can keep you safe for the duration of a funeral, and a quiet meeting,” Mrs. Brown said firmly.
“Or alert every nation’s military that I’ve come home,” he said. “We’ll see.”
“Nah, you’re not risking all that for me,” Phineas said. “Grandma won’t be allowed in sacred ground. She was too mean. A funeral will probably be me pouring her ashes under the porch and saying, ‘Don’t fucking haunt me, Grandma,’ or something.”
“Or you could bring them to space and release them into a star or something,” Mallory suggested.
Phineas snorted. “Like she deserves that.”
“And Lovely, are you going back to your job?” Mrs. Brown said.
“It’ll take some PT, but I think I can get back to playing. Playing without your pinky finger isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. And after everything we did yesterday, playing for an orchestra without a pinky and without aliens attacking me doesn’t seem scary at all.” She took a hesitant sip of the beverage in front of her, winced, and put it down.
“Are we good, Mrs. Brown?” Mallory ventured. “I understand if you don’t like me, but a lot has been going on, and—”
Mrs. Brown firmly interrupted, “There are a lot of times in our lives when we have to do what’s right. That night, two of those rights collided. I killed an abuser, and you reported me doing it. You’ve since saved my life and my granddaughter’s, so I’d say we’re even. But moving forward, more humans will be coming to the station. Can you handle that?”
“I think so. I still would prefer to understand this ability I have, and the Sundry and I aren’t on the best terms,” she said.
“No one is on good terms with them, if they let others get harmed with no action,” Mrs. Brown said. “Unfortunately, cutting off ties means no more access to the translation bugs since the Sundry maintain the species language databases.”
“You’re not going to ask Stephanie to take you somewhere else?” Xan asked Mallory. “You’ve pretty much got your own shuttle now.”
“And leave all my friends?” Mallory shook her head. “Nah. I’m done running. I’d like to give living a chance.”