It is most peculiar that he is a master of robots, atmospheric restoration, and other forms of high technology, but does not embrace the internet, implanted communicators, or other advanced work-saving systems.
—Excerpt from “Enigma Man,” one of the Jeeling news articles
Sonya was surprised to see a uniformed General Rivington Moore VIII—her older brother—standing near her shuttle as she departed from it, on the landing field of the Imperial City Spaceport. He was accompanied by two men and a woman, also officers. His companions wore caduceus medical insignia on their lapels, entwined snakes with wings on top. It was just before sunset, with long shadows stretched across the field.
“One of our Skyship operatives sent me a mindcom,” he said, as soon as he and the medical personnel were out of earshot of the other passengers. “Apparently you have not been feeling well? Very bad headaches? I’ve been extremely worried about you, so I brought these doctors to diagnose you right away. You didn’t send me any information.”
“I couldn’t transmit because something has gone terribly wrong with my mindwave communicator, on both the military and the civilian frequencies.” She pointed at her head, grimaced when a needle of pain stabbed her temple. “I took a couple of blows from Devv Jeeling, and the thing went haywire.”
“So that’s it.” His gaze narrowed. “I assume there’s no way to patch things up with him now?”
“Not a chance. I told him I don’t ever want to see him again. I just needed to come straight back here and get it fixed.”
The young General shook his head in displeasure, seemed to care more about the gap in future intelligence information than her welfare. “How did things go wrong between you two?”
She looked at the other officers, then at her brother. “Is this a conversation you want to have here?”
“They all have security clearance,” he said, “of the highest level. My personal security clearance.”
“Are you trying to blame me for what happened on Skyship?”
“I would remind you, that you were on duty there, one hundred percent of the time. What caused the fight?”
“Didn’t your other operative tell you?”
He didn’t reply, was looking increasingly angry.
“Since you already seem to know, Rivington, I found someone else I like on Skyship, and Devv got jealous over it. But he had no right to hit me; there’s no excuse for striking a woman.”
“Under ordinary circumstances that might be true, but when you are on an important assignment, you are obligated to exercise extraordinary care.” His gaze narrowed. “You didn’t do that this time, did you?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something? I was not specifically assigned to enter into a relationship with Devv Jeeling when you sent me to Skyship. That just happened. I thought I liked him, and the connection had the bonus of giving us access to inside information.”
She grimaced in pain, could barely raise her voice enough to make him hear her. “I’m suffering severe headaches, seeing VR images in front of my eyes, and hearing messages that fill my brain. Overlapping pictures and sounds are driving me crazy.”
He looked at the female doctor. “Captain Tolliver, can you check her implant?”
The officer nodded, stepped forward to her. “From your bruises it appears that your boyfriend hit you on the cheek and on the forehead?”
“Yes, the blow to my forehead was the second one, and after that my mindwave implant started acting up.”
“Hmmm, blows such as those do not normally cause problems with these units, or with the civilian models, because all are implanted with deep needle-sensors into the inferior and superior colliculus of the midbrain. Nonetheless, something could have been jolted when he hit you.”
The doctor removed a small white device from her jacket pocket, ran it over the top of Sonya’s head and around the sides and front. “Your implant is indeed malfunctioning. It needs to be removed.”
“How fast can you do it?” Sonya asked. The pain had subsided, but she was still seeing the jumbled images and hearing the cacophony of voices.
The doctor pointed to a mobile medical station, parked by the terminal building. “Immediately,” she said.
“All right,” General Moore said. “Let’s get you fixed up and send you back.” He led the way to the medical station.
“I’m not so sure about going back,” Sonya said. “Things have gotten complicated on Skyship. More than the relationship with Devv.”
He stopped and looked at her inquisitively. He didn’t look angry any more. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m not sure if Billy Jeeling is that bad of a guy. I’m not sure if he deserves what we’re doing to him. He should retire, I agree with that, but—”
“You’re not one of my advisers,” he said in a curt tone, and then stalked away abruptly, leaving his sister alone with the medical team.