Aidan turned to face me, his head moving like his neck was stiff. He dropped Nathan, who fell to his knees clutching at his neck with his good hand and coughing wildly.
‘Aidan, stand down.’ I placed my hands on Aidan’s cheeks and looked into his eyes. ‘Please, Aidan, stand down.’
Aidan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his irises were beginning to change back to normal. Across the hold, the lift doors opened. Darren and Alex raced over to us, their pulsar rifles blasting. Aidan pushed me to the ground and turned to face them, back in protection mode now with a vengeance. Once again, his eyes were fully white, allowing him to see in a number of spectra at once.
‘Darren, don’t be a fool. Drop your weapon,’ I called out. ‘You need to show Aidan that you’re not a threat.’
Darren charged at Aidan, his pulser rifle blazing whilst he cursed us both with words I’d never heard in that particular order before. I launched myself on top of Nathan, trying to cover him so that he wouldn’t be hit by stray weapons fire. Nathan groaned beneath me. I was hurting his arm but that couldn’t be helped. I risked a glance up to see Aidan holding Darren off the ground by his neck.
Darren was kicking and struggling whilst Aidan regarded him, tilting his head as he slowly smiled.
‘This is for my sister,’ Aidan said softly.
‘Aidan, wait—’ I began.
But too late. A quick, upward jerk of Aidan’s hand and Darren was still, his neck broken. I turned away, sickened. Alex, Darren’s colleague, immediately dropped his rifle and started to back away, his hands out before him to show that they were empty. Aidan didn’t follow him. He stood like a sentinel between me and Nathan and the rest of the world. I rolled off Nathan and got to my feet, putting out my hand to help him up. Nathan looked at me, his emerald green eyes dark and ice-cold. Using his good hand, he pushed himself up. My empty hand fell to my side as Nathan and I watched each other.
He knew that I’d come within a hair’s breadth of letting him die.
He knew.
72
Mum ran into the cargo hold, flanked by Sam and Harrison, both of whom were armed. She made her way over to the detention cells, only to stop short when she saw Darren lying dead on the floor.
‘Don’t come any closer,’ Vee pleaded. ‘And for God’s sake, put down your weapons. There’s been enough bloodshed. If Aidan perceives you as a threat, he’ll drop you where you stand.’
Mum turned to the men behind her and nodded. Harrison didn’t need to be told twice. Sam, however, wanted to hold onto his gun but thank God common sense kicked in. Watching Aidan intently, Sam carefully lowered his rifle to the ground.
‘Nathan, are you all right?’ Mum asked me slowly, though she never took her eyes off Aidan.
No, I wasn’t all right. My arm hurt like a son-of-a-bitch and Vee wanted me dead.
I know which one hurt worse.
‘I’m fine, Mum,’ I replied quietly.
‘Vee, I had nothing to do with this.’ Mum was facing Vee now, speaking quietly but with real urgency. ‘I had no idea what Darren and the others were planning. Darren only told me what he’d done after the event.’
I risked a glance in Vee’s direction when she didn’t reply. She wasn’t looking at Mum but at me. I immediately turned away. I couldn’t bear to look at her. It hurt too much.
‘Nathan, you’d better leave,’ said Vee. ‘Go and get your arm sorted out.’
I walked out of the cell, quite frankly not caring if Aidan attacked me again. If he did then he’d be doing me a favour by putting me out of my misery.
Vee wanted me dead.
She’d got her wish.
73
Everything was so messed up. Two people were dead – Maria and Darren. Three more were injured, one of them seriously. The only small mercy was that Aidan hadn’t hurt the children, Simone and Khari, who were distraught and grieving for Dooli. Rafael was currently looking after them.
Everything was so damned messed up.
Aidan was no longer in protection mode but it didn’t matter. The bodies were removed from the cargo hold, but no one wanted help from me or my brother. The commander gave her quiet orders and everyone skirted around us, giving us a wide berth. When at last, we made our way back to the bridge, no one came near us. And I do mean no one. And as Aidan’s sister, I was viewed as just as dangerous, if not more so because I controlled him.
We made one stop before we headed back to the bridge – the medical bay on the mid deck. Doctor Liana and Mike was busy tending to the injured, some of whom had their friends around them. The moment Aidan and I walked in, all talk ceased. Every eye was on us. Fear was a living, breathing presence in the room. It was as if everyone had taken a step back from us even though no one had moved. I looked at Aidan. He was back to normal but he hadn’t said a word since he came out of protection mode. I knew my brother could feel but, not for the first time, I wondered if he felt things in the same way that I did. How did it feel to know he’d killed and injured so many others? Did he justify it in his cybernetic mind by telling himself that it was self-defence, that he was coming to my aid and that my safety was his priority? Did he tell himself it was just the way he was wired? Or did he not tell himself anything at all? He didn’t say and I didn’t ask.
‘Back to work,’ the doc ordered Mike. Her tone was terse but that could be put down to the pressure she was under.
‘Doctor Liana, may I have a word with you?’
‘Not now, Vee. Can’t you see I’m busy?’
‘It can’t wait, Doctor,’ I insisted.
Irritated, Doctor Liana came over to the now closed medi bay door where Aidan and I stood alone. She was the first person I’d seen since leaving the detention cell who hadn’t viewed me and my brother with abject fear.
‘What’s so important that it can’t wait?’ asked the doctor.
Pause.
‘Doctor Liana, why did you do it?’
Her eyebrows raised, the doctor looked at me with unconcerned patience, waiting for me to elaborate. ‘You’ll have to be a little less vague if you expect a meaningful answer,’ she said.
‘Why have you been killing your own?’ I asked. ‘You’re responsible for all the so-called accidents that have plagued this ship – the airlock, the engine conduits, the mess hall. One elite to another, I’d like to know why?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said the doctor, giving me an indulgent smile. ‘Are you ill, Vee? Stressed? Now that you’ve officially registered me as the ship’s doctor, I’m the only one on board who can legitimately relieve you of your duties. You know that, right?’
‘I know. And with your expertise and your nanites still in the ship’s computer, I don’t doubt that you could do it too. Like I said, I’d just like to know why? I give you my word as an elite that I won’t repeat a word of our conversation.’
The doctor swatted aside my question with a shrug and an imperious wave of her hand. ‘What are you accusing me of? The only mindless killer on board is your brother.’
‘Come on, Doc. No one else is around, it’s just us. Let’s face it, no one will believe a word I say now. Commander Linedecker will take over this ship and take you all to Mendela Prime and there you’ll stay, which I suppose is what you really wanted all along.’
‘NO!’ The doctor raised her voice. She glanced around quickly, before lowering her tone to a more normal level. ‘I want to go back home to Earth.’
‘And I was going to take you there, so why set me up? Why make it look like I’m the one responsible for the incidents in the airlock and the engine room and the mess hall? What did I do to make you hate me that much?’
I’d confided in this woman. Trusted her. I’d sincerely thought we were friends. Apart from Nathan, she was the one with whom I felt I had most in common. She’d been like a second mum to me. God, but my judgment of people sucked.
‘Of course I don’t hate you, Olivia. You’re one of the few people on this shi
p I can tolerate. I’m on your side, I always have been.’
‘You have a strange way of showing it,’ I scoffed. ‘Setting me up to take the blame for your actions.’
‘Olivia, the ones who died, they weren’t your friends,’ Doctor Liana insisted. ‘Jaxon was plotting with Darren to take the ship from you from the first day they arrived on board. And Ian and Corbyn had agreed to join them.’
Stunned, I stared at her.
‘Exactly. I couldn’t let them do that,’ said the doctor. ‘I was genuinely sorry about Mei and Saul, especially Mei. She wasn’t allergic to art and culture like most of them on Callisto. Her death was a real shame. It was just supposed to be Jaxon and Darren in that airlock but Jaxon was alone when he met with Mei and Saul to try and persuade them round to his cause. Jaxon reckoned the airlock was the only place on board where conversations weren’t recorded.’
‘They aren’t recorded in the sleeping quarters either,’ I pointed out.
‘Yes, they are. They’re just securely stored and never accessed unless someone dies in their room or something happens that needs investigating,’ said the doctor. ‘Jaxon and Darren held all their clandestine meetings in the airlocks until the . . . accident.’
‘How d’you know all this?’
‘They tried to recruit me too,’ the doctor replied.
‘And Mei and Saul?’
A pause, then the doctor shrugged. ‘Collateral damage. Accidents happen.’
I gasped. I couldn’t help it.
‘Like I said, I’m sorry about Mei and Saul, but they shouldn’t have been in the airlock.’
Whoa!
Keep talking, Vee. Don’t show your revulsion.
I had to appeal to the part of her that considered the drones beneath her. She thought she and I were alike. Elites. Kindred spirits. I needed her to go on thinking that.
‘And those in the mess hall?’
‘You mean the bores at my table?’ said Doctor Liana with scorn. ‘All they could talk about were the merits of utility dispenser Prop versus the stuff they used to swill back on Callisto. That and what their lives would be like on Mendela Prime. I could’ve told them, their lives on Mendela will be exactly what they were on Callisto. That class of person takes their ignorance with them wherever they go.’
‘Max and Dooli died.’
‘Then I did them a favour,’ Doctor Liana said evenly.
Oh. My. God! I tried hard to keep my expression neutral but it was so hard. Now that the doctor was talking, she didn’t seem to want to stop and I wasn’t going to get in her way.
‘What was wrong with talking about their dreams for their lives on Mendela Prime?’ I asked. ‘Was that a bad thing?’
‘I want to go home, to Earth,’ said the doctor. ‘I don’t want to go to Mendela Prime first. I don’t want to go there at all. I’m sick of space, I’m sick of moons and miners and morons. I’m sick of transports and ships. I want to go home. And with what I know about everyone on board this ship and the Resistance movement and all the pirates and traders who help those on Callisto and the other moons to escape, I can easily buy my freedom.’
‘So you were willing to trade their lives to get what you want?’
The doctor opened her mouth, only to snap it shut again. She seemed to realize that she was being a little too outspoken. Her gaze grew speculative as she regarded me.
‘If I were responsible for the incidents on board, which I’m not, but if I were, I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to get home with no detours along the way,’ said the doctor. ‘Of course, I’m just guessing as to what the motive behind all these accidents might be.’
‘Mei, Saul, Jaxon, Ian, Corbyn, Max and Dooli – you’re responsible for all their deaths. Doesn’t that mean anything to you.’
‘Meh! Prove it.’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t need to prove it. Commander Linedecker is no one’s fool. She’ll figure out what you’ve done.’
‘Catherine? I don’t think so. All she cares about are her precious drones. I suspect she’s convinced you’re responsible for all those deaths. She’d much rather believe you’re responsible than her vulgar colleagues. There’s a woman who’s forgotten what it’s like to be civilized.’
My jaw dropped. ‘And murdering people? That’s civilized behaviour, is it?’
‘I was helping you,’ said the doctor. ‘Protecting you – just like your brother here.’
I was about to throw up.
‘I could always tell the commander the truth,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘Tell her about this conversation.’
‘You gave me your word that you wouldn’t, or have you been around drones for so long that you can’t remember how to keep a promise? Besides, why would Catherine or anyone else on board believe a word you say?’ asked the doctor. ‘It’s your word against mine and everyone knows that you and your brother are stone-cold killers.’
‘I’ve restored the three robotic laws in my brother. He can’t harm any more humans,’ I said. ‘What I did was wrong but I was all alone on this ship and acted out of fear. You? You’re deranged. You’re Norman Bates with a medi-kit. That’s the big difference.’
‘Norman Bates from the film Psycho?’ Doctor Liana smiled in amusement. ‘I’m probably the only one on board this ship who would’ve got that reference, which shows the type of people I’ve had to associate with for the last several years. Well, no more. I want to go home. I want to be with my own kind, with people like you, not with ignorant drones.’
Oh hell, no!
‘I’m nothing like you,’ I said, outraged, my mask slipping somewhat.
‘Of course you are,’ the doctor smiled. ‘You have a love of literature and films and music and art, all the things that separate us from beasts and drones.’
‘Don’t you think it’s damned hard to care about music, literature and culture when you’re close to starving, working in inhuman conditions in the mines and having to fight every day to survive?’ I asked scathingly. ‘Don’t you have any empathy? D’you lack the imagination to realize that? If so, then perhaps you should read more books.’ I clamped my lips together to stem my verbal tirade against this bitch.
Silence reigned between us.
‘Tell me something, still speculating of course,’ Doctor Liana said at last. ‘What made you decide I had something to do with the deaths on this ship?’
‘You had the technical know-how and everyone at your table in the mess hall got ill – except you,’ I answered. ‘I think you spiked the jug of water, probably after you poured out a glass for yourself, and then you poured a drink for everyone else and sat back to watch them all become violently ill.’
‘Maybe I just hadn’t got round to drinking my glass of water yet?’ Doctor Liana suggested.
‘Your glass was three-quarters full and there were water stains around the rim. You drank some but you didn’t get ill. I didn’t need to be Stephen Hawking to figure out the rest.’
The medical bay doors slid open. A slight turn of my head confirmed that Commander Linedecker stood behind me, flanked by Harrison and Alex who were both armed.
Doctor Liana frowned at the sight of them. ‘What’s going on, Catherine? Why are you here?’ the doctor asked.
Only when she’d finished speaking did she realize what had happened as her voice bounced back at her from the corridor outside the medical bay. With dawning realization she turned to stare at me.
‘Aidan’s been broadcasting our entire conversation everywhere throughout the ship, except for in this medical bay,’ I told her. ‘I gave you my word that I wouldn’t repeat our conversation and I kept my promise. You told everyone what you did, not me.’
Doctor Liana shook her head. ‘I’m disappointed in you, Olivia. Using such an old trick to catch me out.’
‘I’m not ageist, Doc. I don’t care how old a trick is as long as it works,’ I told her.
‘Doctor, you will be escorted to one of the detention cells and there you’ll stay u
ntil we reach Mendela Prime,’ the commander told her.
‘You can’t lock me up. You need me,’ the doctor replied, her tone confident. ‘These people in here will die without me.’
‘I think more than enough people have already died with your help,’ said the commander. ‘You will come with me.’
‘You can’t do this. I may have made a breakthrough in finding a cure for the Mazon virus which wiped out the original crew of this ship. You need me.’
That made me start. Hope warred with disbelief inside me. Had she really made a breakthrough when it came to curing the Mazon virus, or was this a bluff? I glanced at the commander, who slowly shook her head.
‘You will not be given another chance to harm anyone else,’ the commander insisted. ‘You will have no further access to the ship’s computer or any of the crew.’
Dr Liana turned to me expectantly, like she was waiting for me to leap in and speak on her behalf. Part of me was stunned at her brazenness. I must admit, more of me was intensely sad that the woman I’d considered a good friend had turned out to be so morally warped. But what if she had found a cure? I dismissed the thought. The commander was right. She was too dangerous to be left to her own devices. Hopefully, if she was telling the truth, she had left all her notes in her computer logs so we’d still be able to access and study them.
‘Liana, you’ll be escorted down to a detention cell,’ said the commander, her expression hard as stone.
I thought the doctor might argue, but after shaking her head at me as if I were a disappointing specimen, she allowed herself to be led away by Harrison who looked like it wouldn’t take much for him to shoot her on the spot. The commander stayed put.
‘Aidan, you can stop the ship-wide broadcast now,’ I said.
Aidan nodded.
The commander beckoned me out into the corridor. Aidan and I followed her out of the medi bay. She waited until the doors had closed behind us and Alex had moved back a discreet distance.
‘Vee, was it true what you said about reverting this robot’s programming so that it can no longer hurt humans?’ The commander pointed at Aidan.