Rayne

  Dr. Miller couldn’t contain herself and exclaimed.

  “You let that girl out into the public? Are you kidding me?”

  Cpt. Gault turned to address her with a level stare.

  “Dr. Miller, I believe I’ve expressed my opinion on your competence in regards to Rayne.”

  The doctor closed her mouth, obviously wanting to say something, but not having the courage to interrupt him.

  “Over the course of the last month while she has been on my ship, there has not been a single incident that would suggest your diagnosis was correct.” He may have been stretching the truth there, but he needed to justify her leaving the ship somehow. He was also blissfully ignorant of Rayne’s attack on Dr. Miller several days prior, the marines having kept that secret to themselves. “I saw no reason or evidence to suggest that I should restrict her movements.”

  Dr. Miller opened her mouth to argue but was silenced by Dr. Gault with a gesture.

  “Let me make sure I understand.” The chess match had begun in earnest with those six words. Having been in enough arguments with her and seen her launch attacks on anyone stupid enough to oppose her, he knew it began with those few words. “The first thing you do when you arrive on this station is to immediately release your crew along with my test subject.”

  She was out of her depth here, though. She hated the procedure that ruled his life; found it got in the way of results. Dr. Gault made calls to important people and some poor bastard was left to make it look right on paper. She just didn’t know the ins and outs and the advantage was his.

  “Procedure, Lizzy.”

  “Would you stop calling me that?” She actually preferred the use of her full name, if it was used at all; otherwise nearly everyone called her doctor or Dr. Gault.

  “Procedure…Lizzy, is to release non-essential crew from service unless there are standing orders, or pending orders, that would require them to stay aboard ship. As I’ve already pointed out, my orders were to come to this station. Period. Having been given no other directives, I released non-essential crew. That included the marines and that included Rayne. I can hardly be blamed that you and you contingent failed to be specific in your requirements.”

  Seeing she wasn’t going to get traction on that point, Dr. Gault changed directions.

  “Okay, fine. Is Rayne with the marines then?”

  “No idea.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Are you being deliberately evasive?”

  “Not at all, Lizzy. I just don’t keep track of the comings and goings of my crew when they take leave. If it isn’t pertinent to this ship’s operation, I don’t pay attention any more than you pay attention to where your secretary went on vacation or what your test subject’s name is.” He threw the last part in as a dig to their earlier argument. “I’ve got enough to worry about without keeping track of where they go on leave.”

  “When will they be back?” He could see she was starting to get annoyed again.

  “Two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” she asked, incredulous. “Unacceptable. You’re stalling. You’re deliberately trying to keep her away from me.” Her voice raised on octave.

  “Lizzy, I’m doing nothing of the kind,” he lied. “It will take two weeks to refuel this ship for service. Traveling ten light years has a tendency to burn quite a lot of fuel.” He inserted a little sarcasm hoping to antagonize her a little more. “If you don’t believe me, call your admiral friend. I’m sure he can confirm it.” Oh, boy. She was flaming now. He saw that she was starting to get splotchy around the neck, which was the prelude to a major blow-out.

  “Call them back, then. Right now.” She punctuated each word with a finger on his desk and ended with slamming her palm down.

  He replied with infuriating calm.

  “Unlike you…Lizzy. They don’t all have retinal viewers and dot phones glued to their heads.” They didn’t actually, but they all carried portable comms for emergency recalls, which they’d conveniently left in the barracks.

  Her face got ugly and she screamed the next sentence as Dr. Miller backed wide-eyed into the corner, her data pad held to her chest as if for protection.

  “I want my test subject and I want her now!”

  There was the eruption he’d been waiting for. He was pretty sure he’d even gotten a little spittle on his cheek. What a force of nature. Now to twist the knife in a little further.

  “I think I’ve had enough of being yelled at by a ‘civilian’ on my own ship. And now that I think about it, I think I’ve been yelled at enough by you in particular while we were married.”

  Dr. Miller mouthed a silent, “Oh.”

  “You can leave…Dr. Gault.”

  Dr. Gault’s nose flared as she appeared to consider her next move. Whatever it would be, it wouldn’t be accomplished here. She stalked out without a word and the sharp clack of her heels echoed into the distance. He’d kicked the hornet’s nest now, but damn if that hadn’t felt good. He leaned back in his chair, indulging in a wide smile.

  ***

  Dr. Gault walked through the station, anger billowing like a thunder cloud around her. She was still too angry to speak, but the look on her face spoke volumes and the crowds parted before her rather than be subjected to her wrath. There were few people capable of making her as angry as she was now. Unable to speak, unable to think, unable to get what she wanted. As she exited the ship, the security officers she’d sent to the shuttle berths had informed her neither the test subject nor the marines were there, and had likely already made it planet-side. She’d had everything in place only to have her worthless excuse of an ex, muck everything up. She’d been deliberately thwarted. She was absolutely sure of it. The look on her husband’s…ex-husband’s face had made that plain enough. He thought he could pull one over on her, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t lie to save a life and the truth always showed in his eyes when he did. He’d made a passable attempt at it, but she’d known by the laughter spilling through his serious façade that what he’d done was deliberate and he was taking great joy in interfering with her work. No one messed with her work.

  One of the station’s crew looked up at the last minute and barely dodged out of her way as she came storming into the waiting area. She was still angry, but the long walk had helped her collect her thoughts and she’d now settled into cold, calculating fury. She’d been played. That much was evident and her ex was the author of it. She thought briefly about having him reassigned to some hardship post on the edge of the galaxy as captain of a cargo freighter, but then discarded the idea. That would be too easy and tantamount to admitting defeat. No, she would beat him. Did he think he could match wits with her? Not in this lifetime or the next. She’d play his little game and then crush him under the heel of her shoe like the little bug that he was, and then keep him around to rub his face in it. Oh, he should have remembered who he was messing with. The man was so one-dimensional, he didn’t have a chance. All he had was rule and procedure, while she had the entire resources of the military and government at her disposal without the need to play fair. She’d get her test subject back, even if she had to tear the whole planet apart to do it.

  The next shuttle docked and its passengers disembarked. Dr. Gault drew a few angry stares as she cut to the front of the line, entering the shuttle with her security team who blocked access for the other passengers. She tapped her dot phone and dialed a number with her retinal viewer as she looked out the viewport window to the thunder clouds building on the planet below.

  A voice answered on the other end and the doctor made her curt request.

  “I need a retrieval team.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Rayne was glued to the viewport as the shuttle descended into the atmosphere. Droplets of water slid sideways across the window as they passed through a storm cloud and then burst into the open sky beneath. The sun was setting on the
distant horizon and the billowing clouds were a brilliant shade of orange. Rayne could feel the last heat of the sun’s rays on her face as the shuttle made its way through the heavy air traffic to the ground.

  The city beneath her was immense. Tall buildings of every shape, size and color dotted the landscape all the way to the horizon. Some were glass, while others were stone; some tall and others low and sprawling. The fading light brushed the tops of the tall buildings making them sparkle and shine, but the lower buildings were cast in shadow as the city’s lights began to take over for the setting sun. Air cars, shuttles and vehicles of every imaginable type moved in a complex dance across the sky choreographed by the planet’s traffic AI. Rayne noted multiple layers of traffic as they descended below the level of the tallest buildings, and then looked down to see specks that were people moving about on the ground.

  Rayne began to feel a sense of panic start to creep into the pit of her stomach. So many people. How could she possibly track who was friend and who was foe? Where could she run? Where could she hide? She had no weapons, no armor and no defense. She closed her eyes to shut out the sensory input only to have her brain automatically pull up the others. She shut those down as well and listened to the hum of the shuttle’s engines and concentrated on her breathing. She wanted to be normal. Rayne breathed in slowly and then out. She wanted to think normal. Her breath hitched in her throat as she fought the panic and frustration. Her brain thought in attack and escape vectors, the best targets for a kill shot and the best places for cover or concealment. She kept trying to tell herself there was no longer any need of that in a place like this, but her brain wouldn’t listen.

  She took a deep breath and held it for several seconds and then let it slowly out. She needed to do something or this was going to end in disaster when they got off the shuttle. There were relatively few people with them now, but after seeing the specks that were people on the ground, she knew it wouldn’t be too long before she would be shoulder to shoulder with the city’s masses.

  Rayne thought back to the festival she’d attended with her parents as a child. Maybe she could pretend. It was a child’s game for which she was a little too old for now, but if it kept her from striking out perhaps she could make it through. She continued to concentrate on her breathing and wished, not for the first time, that Lena were still with her. Why had she left? She didn’t understand, but wasn’t going to cry over it. She dug through her memories of the festival with her parents, remembering all of the people, noises and bright colors. It was a happy memory and she held to it in hopes it would block the rest.

  The shuttle slowed suddenly as it landed and the doors opened. The warm evening air wafted in, carrying along with it the smells of people, food, and concrete. Rayne grabbed Abena’s arm and kept her eyes tightly closed as the cacophony of noises assaulted her ears. Unlike the station’s shuttle berths, these were open to the air, and noise and people filed past on the platforms. She muted her hearing to a faint whisper of what was going on around her as they made their own way down the platform and into the bustling crowds.

  On the station, Rayne had been surrounded and protected by marines. The crowds and the activity, while overwhelming, hadn’t been near anything what they experienced now. There were thousands upon thousands of people moving through the corridors and sidewalks, jostling them at every turn as they made their way to whatever destination Abena and Taft had decided. They did their best to keep Rayne sheltered but with the heavy crowds it was impossible to keep her completely protected. Rayne kept her hearing down, focused on her breathing, and thought of the festival dancing as she held tightly to her mother’s hand.

  “Rayne, ease up on my arm a little, will you? I think my fingers are going numb.” Rayne relaxed her grip and Abena turned to Taft. “Where’re we headed to first?” She asked as she scanned the crowds and surrounding buildings.

  “I’m thinkin’ we need to ditch the military look first. I remember there being a mall just off the main plaza over there. It’ll also give us a chance to get out of the crowd and give Rayne some space to breath.” He glanced over at Rayne who still had her eyes squeezed tight and was holding to Abena’s left arm with both hands.

  “You don’t think we’ll blend in with the rest of the military types walking around? We’re not the only ones here,” she observed.

  Taft straight-armed a street vendor and pushed their way past.

  “True, but if they start looking for us, they’re going to be looking for the uniform first, and when we get to the festival, most everyone will be wearing civvies.”

  “True. You got a plan for where we’re going to stay?” They made their way around a crowd listening intently to a musician playing his instrument while several other audiences gathered around the dozen or so street performers.

  “Most of the hotels and other rentals were booked. I checked as we came in-system. There’re so many people here for the festival, almost everything’s taken.” They ducked past several more street vendors and pushed toward one of several buildings circling a square filled with people. “I found a Japanese couple that had a couple of rooms for the week. Totally got lucky.”

  “Is this the place you were talking about?” They stood at the edge of a crowd as they all moved in time with the music being played by a small band on a stage at the center.

  “Yeah, that’s it.” Lights flashed and danced in the darkness, battling with the retail store’s bright lights.

  Abena moved to guide Rayne toward the mall but was stopped short by Taft.

  “What?”

  “Take Rayne somewhere quiet.” He had to raise his voice to be heard over the cheering of the crowd as the song ended. “See that bench over next to the wall under the overhang. That should be perfect.”

  “Where you going?”

  The band began their next song and the crowd cheered louder.

  “Let me do the shopping. I’ll be back in a few.”

  He turned to leave, but Abena grabbed his sleeve, stopping him short.

  “I’m not letting you buy my clothes, Taft. Knowing you, you’ll come back with a miniskirt and a tube top.”

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” he smiled. “But no, that’s not why I want you to wait.”

  “Then why?” She put her free hand on her hip and glared.

  “Come on, Abena, think. If we go in there, we’ll have to use credit off our ID chip. If we do that, they’ll see what we’ve bought thus making our change of clothes useless. I’m going to do some creative acquisitioning, and having you two as an audience won’t help.”

  Abena nodded in understanding, but then pointed her finger in his face.

  “No miniskirt and no tube top. If you get anything sexy or inappropriate, I’ll break your nose and make you go back in to get something else.”

  Taft held up his hands.

  “Okay, Okay. I’ll find a paper sack and you can wear that.” He backed away and turned toward the store with a grin on his face.

  Abena scowled and guided Rayne to a seat in the quiet semi-secluded seating area. It was separated by low hedges and lit by a single light. Rayne kept her eyes closed tight and began to rock herself back and forth while Abena rubbed circles on her back in hopes of keeping her calm. She looked anxiously around, hoping they were far enough out of the way to be left alone.

  ***

  Rayne kept trying to focus on the memory of her parents and the festival as she rocked herself forward and back. She found the movement gave her agitated body and mind something to do as she tried to remember. She remembered her father being so serious and her mother telling him to lighten up. She’d punched him lightly on the arm and then pulled them into the dancing crowds. It had seemed like hours they had spun and danced to the music and even her father had finally relaxed enough to enjoy himself. They’d finally stumbled off to the side, exhausted from the fun, just watching the crowd as it continued n
on-stop throughout the night.

  Rayne’s focus slipped and her brain flashed a warning. There were targets everywhere. Impossible numbers to defend against and she felt her adrenaline spike and her stomach twist. No, she shouted in her head, but her brain kept blasting the warning and opened up the data pathways to track them all, searching for escape routes. Rayne clamped down and focused on her breathing, fighting for control. The sane part of her brain, the part that knew she was free and safe, told her she could relax and that there was nothing to fear here. It told her she could be normal, that she could laugh and have fun and dance with the others. The T80 side of her brain screamed for her to lash out and defend her position. It told her search for and eliminate the targets around her, unable to determine friend from foe. It looked for attack patterns, ambushes, escape routes, and to prep weapons that she no longer had. So far it was a standoff, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay on top before the other side took over.

  “Hey, soldier girl.” A group of five young men sauntered toward their bench. Abena cursed quietly as they fanned out around them. They were all in their late teens and had the look of street gangs on any human-inhabited system. The styles and colors changed from place to place, but the predatory look in their eyes and the way they walked did not.

  “You look hot, baby.” The one in front, obviously the leader of the group, stepped closer. The leering smile on his face was anything but complimentary.

  Abena tried to look calm and uninterested.

  “Go away. Not interested.”

  “Come on now, you don’t have to be that way. It’s a party, why don’t you come dance with us?” It seemed evident that dancing was the last thing on their minds and if Abena wasn’t worried before, she was now. It was apparent these guys weren’t going to back off, and if Rayne got involved, they’d be picking bodies up out of the street. So far, Rayne had stayed in her own little world, but she knew that could change in an instant and whatever tenuous influence Abena had wouldn’t be enough to save these guys.

  “Look guys, my friend here is having some problems. Trust me when I say you don’t want to be a part of it.”