Captivate (Alien Cadets Book 2) Page 31

  Sam blinked.“That–is this your defense? You claim that Senator Fontley is a Rik?”

  The senator had a completely blank look on his face, which slowly began to suffuse with red as he realized what her accusation meant.“How dare you? I am the elected representative of the Human Coalition Committee. You might as well accuse Faal of being a Rik!”

  Faal snapped his beak in anger.“Let us refrain from entering into absurdities. Is this all you have to offer?”he asked the director.“Do you admit that the Rik who sabotaged the space station did so as an organized effort of the interim Rik government?”

  “Of course not. We had no intention of targeting the Spo station. Why should we? But I don’t deny that these Rik you have investigated are guilty. I don’t know how or why they undertook this plot, or who subsequently murdered them, but I also know that that makes no difference.”She glared at Senator Fontley again.“I’m positive that you have already made up your mind to dissolve the treaty. Nothing I can say will make any difference.”

  Senator Fontley had regained his complexion.“Whatever my previous convictions may have been, your conduct and outrageous insults today have certainly made up my mind. As representative of the Rik people you have demonstrated a lack of candor, a complete indifference to the loss of life on the space station, and a vicious inclination to turn on your human allies. I can do no less for my people than to dissolve a treaty that chains us to the wild vicissitudes of an ungrateful race.”

  Sam was not surprised at the senator’s reaction. The Rik director had made a strange gamble, to accuse him of being a Rik. Senator Fontley’scareer in government was documented for longer than Sam had been alive. And although Sam new better than anyone that the Rik might try anything, even turning a former senator, Fontley was so…so human. Sam didn’t like him, but in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, he felt no doubt of the man’s humanity. Also, the Rik/humans he’d met so far were not master’s of human behavior. Even if they had the data down, like Shara, there was just something off about them.

  Still, Sam made a mental note to ask the Spo about adapting their blood test. It would be a good idea to start testing everyone in government circles so that these sorts of accusations would not plague the new human government for the next thirty years.

  In the meantime, Sam felt a deep sense of loss. This was the end of his very brief attempt to rehabilitate and benefit from the Rik. It had been a crazy idea to begin with, and perhaps he had been wrong to try it. Certainly Nat and Basher had thought so.

  Senator Fontley rose from his chair and spoke in his CNN voice.“I hereby, with the power vested in me by the Human Coalition Committee, utterly dissolve the treaty between our two species. Now and henceforward, humanity shall not sponsor the Rik into the Galactic Council. The Rik shall survive how they may, and humanity bears no responsibility to aid, succor, or defend them in times of prosperity or crisis.”

  Wow, Sam thought sadly. Senator Fontley really had made up his mind early or he never would have gotten the wording so precise on the first try.

  Faal tapped his thick tablet with a claw, and then showed the translation of the judgment to Sam and Fontley.“I believe I have that here correctly. I shall submit it directly to the Galactic Council at your command.”

  It was in Spo and Merith which Sam doubted Senator Fontley could read. Nat was the best at this sort of thing, but she wasn’t here, so he gave it his best shot. Sam perused it carefully, and finally nodded his head.“It is as correct a translation as the senator couldwish.”

  “Then please submit it,”Senator Fontley said.“And let us be dismissed.”

  Faal reclined a little further in his chair and smiled faintly at the director.“This will be a dangerous time for the Rik, without sponsorship or ally. Without sentient status,” he added.

  She narrowed her eyes and her reply was such a combination of animosity and bleakness that Sam winced.“I’m certain you’ll give it your full attention,” she said.

  “Oh, perhaps not that,”Faal answered gently.“But some large part of it, yes.”

  The Rik director stood abruptly.“I believe there is no reason for me to stay. I would wish you good day, but that seems to be a mark of sentience I am no longer required to adhere to.” She nodded to Faal and made her way from the room.

  CHAPTER 41

  In Nat’s room, Sage quickly evaluated the biocomputer. He’d heard about this project, to put a human brain in a biocomputer, but he’d told her the truth. It hadn’t been his area of research.

  The biocomputer was connected to a screen, a power source, and a signal booster, but it was simple to disconnect the wires from the exterior ports. He carefully placed the computer into the custom-made, cushioned bag Faal had provided. On consideration, he also packed up the power cord and the signal booster as well. He couldn’t fit the screen, but Faal might want these things.

  I have back-up power. I can still notify Sam and Nat of what you’re doing.

  “But will you?” Sage went to the door.

  Nat went to the mess hall, I convinced her to get something to eat. You should be able to make it to the stairs now.

  Sage blinked at the words. “Have you decided to help us?”

  I despise you. But, yes. Temporarily.

  It was enough for Sage. It was nonsensical, but Claire seemed to draw out the self-sacrificial in everyone. He motioned to Athlete and they jogged as silently as they could back toward the stairs and the door they’d entered by.

  Juliet wasn’t in sight, but as they got nearer she popped out of the same storage closet they’d hidden in during their first escape.

  “What took you so long?” she hissed. Then she slanted a surprised look at the glasses he still wore.

  Sage didn’t pause to answer her. He held the tablet near the exterior door and motioned them through as soon as it opened. His pack was considerably heavier now, and he forced away the unusual thought that it was weighed down by guilt as well as technology.

  Nat got back to her room. She knows.

  They hustled back the way they’d come, but it was only a matter of seconds before Nat hurtled out the door. They were half-way down the observation deck and she didn’t even slow as she took stock of the situation.

  Shoot, that girl could run, Sage thought unhappily. He himself was hampered by the heavy pack bouncing against his back. He didn’t want to permanently damage the computer by jarring it senseless, but –

  Nat launched herself toward him in a low tackle and caught him at the waist. They both hit the ground, nearly at the edge of the platform, and Sage automatically hunched his back to try and cushion the computer’s fall. It hurt like hell.

  Athlete jerked her off of him, and Nat jabbed an elbow at his chest, while also kicking at Sage’s knee. She didn’t have quite the right leverage (thank heaven) to do serious damage, but it also hurt. Sage scrambled up.

  Athlete still had hold of one arm, but Nat now slammed her free fist backward into his groin. His grip loosened slightly. Nat twisted away from him and went for Sage. Juliet threw herself between them before Nat could check her momentum. Juliet crouched ever so slightly and took Nat’s charge on her shoulder. She grabbed Nat’s left forearm in her right hand, and using the girl’s own momentum, heaved her over her shoulder.

  Sage had no time to admire her technique. Juliet had forgotten how close she was to the edge of the platform.

  Nat’s thighs hit the railing and she flailed her arms for one panicked second. Then she fell into the abyss dominated by the large spinner.

  ***

  Akemi was locked in a silent scream. From two perspectives she’d seen Nat attack the Rik. From two perspectives she’d seen Nat topple over the edge of the platform.

  Nat spun and flipped as she fell, and Akemi couldn’t even tell if she was screaming because Akemi could only hear her own mental scream.

  No!

  Akemi barely registered as Sage went to the edge to look over. All that mattered was Nat. Falling,
spinning toward the bottom...

  But no. Sage looked over the edge, and to Akemi’s shock, Nat was a mere six feet below the edge of the platform, clinging to an exposed pipe.

  Her face was bare, her glasses gone, and Akemi realized with profound relief that Nat was NOT falling. Only her glasses had tumbled free.

  You will help my sister. Right now. She sent to Sage.

  Sage shook his head, already backing away. “You can alert Sam and Basher now. We’re gone.”

  I am alerting them! But she could fall by then. This is your fault. HELP HER NOW!

  ***

  Basher escorted Faal and his retinue of soldiers from the negotiation room to the main exit, more than a little pleased that Faal would have no more excuse to visit the embassy.

  Faal detained him just outside the door while one of his ‘aides’ went to get his ground-car. “Although we do not see eye to eye on certain matters, I still feel I may congratulate you on the outcome of today’s work. We have always agreed on the relative value of the Rik.”

  The unpleasant thing, Basher thought, was that they did. “I only wish we agreed on more personal matters,” he said coldly.

  “Perhaps we may, in time. I look forward to our discussion when next I have occasion to visit the embassy.”

  “As that may not be for many a long year, I’ll say goodbye now.”

  “On the contrary, Senator Fontley has asked me to visit again before he goes back to Earth. I shall see you soon.” He limped slowly away, and Basher forced himself to stand at attention by the front arch of the embassy until he was out of sight. There were a lot of undertones here, and Faal’s obvious, almost purring, pleasure at the outcome made him very unhappy. Sam didn’t look too thrilled either. The only one who could rival Faal’s good mood was Senator Fontley. Basher wished he would shut up already. He’d won his point, and Basher pretty much approved, but there was no need to suck up to Faal as he was doing…. let alone inviting him back to the embassy.

  Basher and Sam were the last ones waiting outside when Senator Fontley finally took himself off. Sam had a defeated look on his face and Basher was about to say something when Sam froze. Basher could tell he was reading a message from Akemi.

  “What the –” Sam took off running, without another word. The door automatically shut behind him.

  Basher tiredly retrieved his token from the inner pocket of his jacket and pressed it to the slight indentation in the door. Nothing happened.

  “What the hell?” Basher turned the token over, and tried again. Nothing.

  He was in no mood for this. Basher examined the teethed edge of the token, checking for chips or dust. It looked fine. He held it up to the door again, and this time a tiny red light appeared above the door frame.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The light meant that the door was now ice-locked. It would require four separate token keys to be unlocked. It was a precaution against various methods of hacking the tokens or the doors, but his token should be fine…

  Basher pressed a hand to his eyes. He pictured Claire last night, standing right next to him, almost touching him. He pictured her kicking the wall with her foot. Could she have done something to his token? She certainly hadn’t touched it, but she’d sure been ready to get away... as soon as she got a signal? He hadn’t felt his token buzz, but he’d been very intent on the conversation. Too intent.

  Cursing silently, Basher began to make his way to the rear entrance to the embassy. He had to go nearly a quarter mile out of his way, down two levels, and try to enter by the observation platform. He’d set his tablet down on the table in the negotiation room, so he couldn’t even tell Akemi his stupid predicament and have her alert someone to let him in.

  And what had made Sam suddenly run away like that? If Claire had managed to get a copy of the code from his token, and given it to the Rik... Basher broke into a jog.

  ***

  Sage backed away from the edge of the platform. Away from the sight of the girl clinging to the pipe below them. “Even if she fell, she’d be alright. There’s bound to be safety measures for tourists. Gravity fields to slow the fall.”

  To Sage’s surprise, it was Juliet who argued with this. “No, Claire would want us to help her. The sooner we do, the sooner we can leave.” Before he could grab her and force her to walk away, Juliet sat on the railing and swung gently backwards, hanging by her knees. “Just hold onto my ankles – my legs, not my pants! – and lower me another couple feet.”

  Athlete complied, getting a good grip on her ankles. He slowly slid her forward until she was hanging completely upside down. He braced his own waist against the railing and lowered her further.

  “Okay,” Juliet said calmly. “Don’t let go yet, alright?”

  Nat’s hands were sweaty and she shifted her grip unsteadily. “I didn’t expect you to help at all.”

  “I’m going to hold onto your wrists, like this,” Juliet said. “And now you release your right hand, just your right hand, and grab my wrist.”

  She waited while Nat swallowed and switched her hand.

  “Good girl. Now the left hand, just like that.”

  Athlete swayed forward a bit when both girls’ weight shifted to him, and Sage steadied him. Juliet was right, Claire would want them to help this girl, but what Claire wanted wasn’t always the best thing for her.

  “Now Athlete,” Juliet called. “Slowly pull me up until I can pivot my waist over the railing.”

  Impressive muscles bulged in Athlete’s neck as he slowly did what she said.

  When Juliet was half over the railing, she talked Nat through switching her grip to the edge of the platform. Sage helped Nat the rest of the way over the railing, and Athlete swung Juliet over.

  “Okay, that’s it,” Sage said. “We helped. Time to go.”

  Nat was visibly shaking as she shook her head. “Can’t... can’t let you go...”

  Sage ignored her and pulled Juliet after him as they ran the rest of the way to the entrance of the observation deck. When they reached the junction of several thoroughfares, he remembered to jerk Claire’s glasses off and put them back in the bag. They couldn’t let Akemi see where they went next.

  CHAPTER 42

  Claire had worked intently throughout the very long night, but she decided at a certain point that she had to lie down and close her eyes for a moment. She was almost certain that it was past morning, but the unrelieved darkness baffled time. That was half of the point, Claire was sure. The darkness cut off the prisoner from the rest of the world, even the knowledge of what the rest of the world might be doing.

  She’d eventually managed to get the access plate off the wall, which was tricky to do without destroying or disconnecting the sensitive electronics behind it. After feeling around in the palm-sized hole, she said a devout prayer of thanks that this lock seemed very similar to the ones at Faal’s estate.

  Next it was a matter of trying various combinations of magnets to fool the lock into opening. Unfortunately the combinations weren’t of an on/off variety. The access plate would respond to the pressure of a Merith hand and a short sequence of digit flexations. Claire used four magnet strips to mimic four fingers, and got out four pins to mimic a Merith’s claws.

  Each magnet needed to be held a slight distance from the plate. She didn’t have to exactly mimic the Merith’s fingers, but rather the electrical resonance of the hand. The magnets were a lot more reactive than a hand would be, so she had to find the right distance.

  That was the most time consuming part, and Claire nearly gave up. It was then that she lay down and closed her eyes. She rested, but when she felt on the edge of sleep she made herself get back at it. If she fell asleep in this dark she might sleep for hours.

  She began again with the magnets and was legitimately shocked when the plate hummed its readiness.

  She wanted to squeal with triumph, but she froze instead. If she moved any of the magnets, the plate would turn off. She might be able to mimic this exa
ct position again, but she might not. Now came the tricky part. She held the magnets fanned out with one hand. She couldn’t hold all four pins easily, so instead she picked up one pin and tapped it over each magnet in turn.

  The door didn’t open. That was okay. She tapped it backward, mentally numbering in her head: 4, 3, 2, 1. On her hand it would be: pinky, ring-finger, pointer, and thumb.

  Nope.

  Claire hoped this was only a four digit combination. The ones at Faal’s estate were only four motions. She assumed it was because the real trick was pretending to be a Merith, not knowing a code.

  Claire blinked her eyes and forced herself to think methodically. It would not take very long to try each combination, and if it proved to be more than four she could reevaluate.

  She found the correct combination at 4, 1, 3, 2. The access plate hummed again, at last, and the door slid open.

  The light momentarily blinded Claire, but she surged to her feet. She only had moments before one of Faal’s guys realized her door was open. She’d put several picks in her pocket for just this moment, and she quickly got them out and put them between her fingers like she’d once been taught to do with her keys.

  Her eyes were watering but she could see. She went back the way they’d brought her onto the ship, and sure enough, one of Faal’s soldiers popped into the passageway just in front of her.

  Claire punched him, but instead of aiming instinctively for his eye (as she remembered Kitteh’s advice), she aimed for his lower throat. Whether because he was slightly surprised or because he had instruction not to hurt her, Claire actually landed the punch.

  The picks were pushed back and two pierced her hand – searing pain! – but one punched through his skin with a satisfying pressure.

  The Merith reeled back with a yelp, probably more surprised than anything. He clutched awkwardly at the tiny piece of metal coming out of his neck and Claire dashed past him.

  The exterior door of the ship was not locked and it opened at her command.

  There was an airtight passage here that led only to an elevator. She ran to the elevator and tapped for the lower level, only now noticing the remaining picks in her bloody hand. She put them in her pocket and wiped her stinging hand on her shirt.