Aneka Jansen 3: Steel Heart Read online

  ‘Thank you,’ Ella said. ‘Do I need a suit to go down there?’

  ‘Hmm? Oh, no. This is habit. The area you’ll be working in has nothing in it considered any more dangerous than the common cold, and those bugs are in the deeper labs.’ Turning, he left the room, dogging the door behind him and leaving Ella to work out what to do with herself.

  She had just decided that she would go get some food and coffee when it occurred to her that Nayland had known she was with Aneka. It was not a secret, but not exactly public knowledge either. Well, it was a secure facility and they would likely want to know who was coming to visit. Shrugging, she started out and down to the canteen.

  FNf Delta Brigantia, Sapphira System, 8.12.525 FSC.

  Aneka heard the warp drive’s tone drop in pitch and knew they had entered the gravity field of Sapphira. The system had three, fairly widely spaced stars in it and the complexity of the resulting gravity tended to give warp engines a little trouble. For a second she held her breath, worried that the damaged drive would fail under the stress, but then the sound cut out entirely and the ultrasonic howl of the antimatter torches took over.

  ‘All hands,’ Anderson’s voice sounded over the cabin speakers, ‘We have arrived in the Sapphira system. We’re currently on full burn for Sapphira Three. Prepare the ship for reception.’

  It had been an ‘all hands’ broadcast, but Aneka had nothing to do. She lay back on her bed and relaxed. Beside her, Grant was looking restless. ‘You’re still on official sick leave,’ Aneka pointed out. ‘The others can handle it.’

  ‘Huh. Hopefully I can get some bone regeneration done while the ship’s being repaired.’

  ‘If you do, you’ll have to go back to sleeping in the bunkrooms.’

  Grant laughed. ‘No one’s going to believe I was in here this long and we never fucked.’

  ‘Alison would throw me out an airlock if I hurt your wrist. How long d’you think the repairs will take?’

  He shrugged. ‘Five days? Give or take. I’m a gunnery tech, not an engineer. It’ll take a proper dry dock to repair that forward turret so we won’t be handling that here. You’re pretty keen to get back to that redhead of yours.’

  ‘Yeah. Ella… She liked me as soon as she saw me. Knowing what I was didn’t bother her at all. She’s believed in me even when I doubted myself and she’s got this smile… It’s like someone lets the sun into the room when she smiles.’

  ‘Sounds like a really beautiful woman.’

  ‘Oh yes. She certainly is beautiful, inside and out.’

  Hayward Alpha Research Facility.

  ‘Fourth of June, Twenty-one-oh-three. Subject Twelve was infected with culture Two-One-Nine-B at oh-nine-twenty-six. Immediate signs of discomfort. Skin ulcers appeared after fifteen minutes, thirty-two seconds accompanied by extreme pain. Convulsions followed at seventeen minutes. Death occurred thirty-six seconds later.’

  There was no sign of a smile on Ella’s face as she listened to the recording. She had been going through them for four hours and so far she had discovered a litany of horrifying deaths. It had started with rodents, moved on to monkeys of some description, and now it was people. Whatever this mysterious ‘Tilton’ facility was that the Hayward team had found, it was apparently conducting bio-weapon research. Subject Twelve was only identified as a number; she knew nothing more about him or her, but whoever it had been they had died what sounded like a horrible, painful death so that more death could be inflicted on others.

  Finishing the transcription, Ella got up from her seat in the sterile, white lab she had been given to work in. She needed to eat. She was not hungry, exactly, but she knew her blood sugar was getting low. Her bio-monitor was telling her that, the readout projected into her vision field.

  There was one of Kottigan’s people outside the lab door ready to escort her back up to ground level. Her clearance allowed her in and out of the lab, but they still insisted on keeping tabs on her when she moved around down there. It was starting to make her feel paranoid, and they were all lousy conversationalists.

  Nayland found her as she was sitting down in the canteen with some fruit and black coffee into which she had put too much sugar. He smiled at her, an expression she did not feel like returning. ‘How’s the transcription going?’

  ‘I’ve done maybe half the audio notes,’ Ella replied. ‘Honestly I’m dreading what I’m going to find in the later ones.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘They were doing bio-weapon research, Alec. They were infecting Jenlay, well they were Humans back then, but living people. They were infecting them with incredibly virulent diseases and watching them die.’

  Nayland nodded. ‘We got that from the written reports. That’s why it’s so important that we get this researched and vaccines made. Some of the viral material we found is still viable. Can you imagine what terrorists could do with this?’

  Ella winced and forced herself to eat. The fruit tasted of bile. ‘I guess. When you put it like that.’

  ‘Exactly. Beyond that, studying the epidemiology of these diseases could help us improve future genetic treatments. Jenlay are resistant to a lot of diseases, true, but not all of them. We may be able to equip future generations with far greater resistance by studying how these ones infect and propagate.’

  She managed a half-hearted laugh. ‘It’s just a shame I have to listen to a bunch of clinical sociopaths to do it.’

  ‘Scientists, Ella,’ Nayland replied. ‘They were scientists. Perhaps their methods left something to be desired, but they believed what they were doing was important, much as we do here.’

  Ella kept the frown off her face as best she could; hiding her emotions had never been one of her strong suits. ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘I guess.’

  Nayland gave her another smile and walked away, and Ella watched him go, glad to be rid of him.

  FNf Delta Brigantia.

  Captain William Goddard was not someone Aneka was anxious to see again, but there he was, standing just inside the aft airlock, waiting to be escorted up to the mess so that he could be briefed on the situation in the Negral system. Her one consolation was that he seemed to be displeased about the arrangement too.

  Goddard was the officer in charge of the naval station on Sapphira, a relatively short man, but imposing. Aneka suspected that he made up for his lack of stature by beefing up on the muscle. Unfortunately he was a weak soldier, and a weaker politician, which was likely why he had ended up commanding a station on a planet almost eighty parsecs out from New Earth, well out on the Rim. It seemed likely that the one thing he had liked about it was that he never had to actually do anything, and now he had been stuck in the middle of a huge political incident. To some extent she could forgive him the sour expression he shot at her, but then again, it was not actually her fault he was having to get off his butt.

  ‘Captain Goddard,’ Anderson said as they approached.

  ‘Commander,’ Goddard replied, ignoring protocol, ‘and Miss Jansen again.’

  Aneka looked at him, took in the irritation, but also the worry and distraction. ‘Don’t worry, Goddard, you won’t have to deal with me much. Captain Anderson will handle the briefing.’

  For a second, Goddard looked confused. ‘Apologies, Captain. I’ve got New Earth sending messages every day. I mean, what are they hoping will happen? It takes eight days for my reply to get to them! I’ve got a Vice-admiral Crofton arriving in the system tomorrow and some sort of military advisor from the Herosians coming in the day after…’

  ‘Come on,’ Anderson said. ‘We’ll go up to the mess, get you and your team some coffee, and then I think we’ll make you happy.’

  Goddard raised an eyebrow, but clearly decided that the coffee was a good idea and started in the direction Anderson and Aneka had come from. ‘We have a ship matching orbits with you now to handle the repairs,’ he said as they went. ‘We don’t have any genius mechanics floating around Sapphira spaceport, but they’ll get you patched up enough to ge
t you back to New Earth safely.’

  ‘Good,’ Anderson said. ‘We jury-rigged a lot of stuff to get us back here.’

  ‘We can supply the parts you need and people to fit them.’ He glanced back over his shoulder. ‘Miss Jansen, I’ve a request from the Administration that you go down to Sapphira Vista. There are some people down there who want to talk to you.’

  ‘Oh really?’

  ‘Yeah, I can take you down when we leave, if that’s okay?’

  ‘I guess I can manage a visit to the surface.’

  ‘Good, saves me a headache.’

  ‘Because we’re all about saving him from headaches,’ Al commented.

  ‘Sure we are,’ Aneka replied.

  Hayward Alpha Research Facility.

  Alec Nayland sat at his desk watching a display on his computer screen. It was showing Ella at work in the lab she had been given.

  ‘We’ve confirmed the presence of nanomachines in her system?’ he asked.

  ‘Full confirmation would require extracting blood.’ The voice came from the woman standing on the other side of his desk. Lisa Corazon was a pretty woman with shoulder-length, blonde hair and a trim figure. She wore a lab coat like Nayland’s, but complemented it with a sheer blouse and a narrow, fairly short skirt. ‘The bio-scans indicate the presence of some form of foreign material in her system. Nanoscale foreign material. Inorganic.’

  Nayland nodded. ‘Find a reason to get a blood sample. Fake a minor outbreak or something.’

  ‘I’ll arrange something,’ Corazon said, turning on her heel. ‘How much of a hurry are we in?’

  ‘She’s working through the audio files fast. I think she’ll slow down when she hits the videos. We have a couple of days.’

  Arlyn, Sapphira, 9.12.525 FSC.

  Aneka watched her diagnostics scroll past on the inside of her eyelids. Everything was, as usual, optimal. Then she opened her eyes and looked out at the bright skies of Sapphira through the huge picture window of the room she had been given in the resort city of Arlyn.

  Sapphira was a world of two sides. On one there was Arbonatura, a fairly large continent full of farmers. They did not have a particularly stunning lifestyle; they lived out on a world in the Federal Rim and made a living by making food that no one in the core really wanted. On the other side of the world was Sapphira Vista, and it might have been on a different planet. No one from Arbonatura wanted to work there so all the staff at the numerous resorts were imported from other worlds on fixed-term contracts. Almost all of the tourists were from the core: rich, spoiled, and hedonistic. The Rim Worlders who went there were generally richer and even more spoiled. Aneka had arrived in Arlyn the night before and already she wanted to leave.

  Whatever, she had an appointment to see Representative Andrea Vaughn in an hour. She slipped out of bed and headed for the, extremely sumptuous, shower. Meeting Vaughn was, undoubtedly, going to be as much fun as a root canal and she wanted to be feeling fresh and happy before she started. It was unlikely she would be feeling the same way afterwards.

  ‘I’m picking up a range of radio wavelength and high frequency light signals,’ Al said as she stepped into the bathroom. ‘They correspond to patterns used in medical scanning equipment.’

  Turning on her heel as though she had forgotten something, Aneka went back into the bedroom, found a small device in her bag, activated it, and carried it through into the bathroom with her before starting the shower.

  ‘Think they got anything?’ she asked silently.

  ‘I doubt it. The jammer is operating quite well; they won’t get anything now either.’

  ‘So the question would be, who bugged my bathroom with a med-scanner?’

  ‘I could make a list?’

  ‘I figure we’ll just wait for someone else to try something and narrow it down that way.’ She paused. ‘Didn’t Vaughn have something to do with Hayward Pharmaceuticals here?’

  ‘That was supposition. She is, however, a regional Representative and her position holds a responsibility to the businesses here.’

  ‘And the pay is probably better if she does nice things for the big medical corporation.’

  ‘Also true.’

  ~~~

  Andrea Vaughn was a true citizen of the Federation. Her idea of a meeting dress was short enough and tight enough that Aneka would have found herself pulling the hem down every two minutes. It was also very low cut which showed off her expansive cleavage. Her long, dark-blonde hair hung around her shoulders in a manner designed to look casual while she had spent an hour getting it just right. The thing that told you most that she was from the core worlds was that she did not adjust her skirt at all. Not even when she sat down opposite Aneka and casually crossed her legs.

  ‘There has been a lot of confusion in the system recently,’ Vaughn said. The pleasantries had been shortened since they had met before. ‘There are a number of rumours, increased military activity. Of course, we heard the news from New Earth about this… Negral is it?’

  She knew damn well it was. Aneka smiled. ‘Negral, yes.’

  ‘I received word that someone from the Herosian military is on his way?’

  ‘I heard that too.’

  ‘I really just wanted to find out whether we should be worried. Xinti so near to us. Herosians coming to visit. Increased patrols in the outer system. It’s worrying.’ She was trying to sound extra reasonable. Aneka’s sensors had detected the same med-scanner radiation in her office as had been used in her hotel room.

  ‘I’m sure it is. I’m sure you know I can’t talk about it and that a briefing will be issued by Federal Administration once they’re ready.’ Aneka brightened her smile a touch. ‘I can say that you have nothing to worry about. I think everything will be returning to normal soon.’

  ‘Well, that’s reassuring.’

  Aneka nodded. ‘There’s no danger to Sapphira in anything that’s happening. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?’

  ‘Not me, personally. I received a request… Some researchers at Hayward were hoping to talk to you about potential knowledge sharing with these Xinti you discovered?’

  ‘Not actual Xinti, and I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. They’ll have to go through channels just like everyone else.’

  ‘A shame.’ There was the tightening around the eyes, almost too subtle to notice if your perceptions operated at Human speeds.

  ‘Sorry.’ Aneka rose to her feet.

  ‘Your flight back is later this evening. Do enjoy our resort until then.’

  ‘I’m sure I will. I have to say it’s impressive. And such extensive medical technology.’ She suppressed the grin which wanted to show as Vaughn’s jaw tightened. ‘Please give my apologies to Hayward Pharmaceuticals. I’m sure they can get the information they were after another way.’

  ‘I’m sure they can,’ Vaughn replied. ‘They are a very dynamic company.’

  Hayward Alpha Research Facility.

  ‘Miss Narrows?’ Ella turned at the sound of the voice to find a woman standing just inside the door of her lab. Blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, smallish breasts concealed primarily by her lab coat since the blouse beneath was sheer and white. Long legs were topped off by a skirt short enough to be something Ella might wear. ‘I’m Lisa Corazon, one of the senior researchers.’

  ‘Hi,’ Ella replied, wondering why the woman was there.

  ‘Just checking up on you. Alec asked me to look in, introduce myself, see how you were getting on.’

  ‘I’m fine.’ She glanced back at her console where she had transcribed the latest recording. ‘Well, a bit nauseated, but fine.’

  Corazon walked over, peering at the transcript for a second. ‘Ah, yes. What they were doing was…’

  ‘Yeah. What I don’t get is the timescale. We’re a little unsure of exact dates, but we got a lot of information from Aneka that helped us figure out broad ranges. It seems like the bulk of this research was carried out during the Xinti War. I can’t imagine what they
were hoping to achieve. I mean, the enemy was alien, not even organic, but they were experimenting on Humans.’

  ‘Nothing we’ve seen establishes a motive. They seemed to believe in their work. There’s no evidence of hesitation in doing what they did. Whatever they had planned, they thought it was for the best.’

  ‘Huh.’ Ella turned back to her screen and cued up the next recording. ‘I should get back to this. I really want to get through it and be done.’

  ‘Of course. My lab is just down the hall. If you need something, ask the guard to get me.’

  ‘Sure, thanks.’ Ella reached for the start button, waiting for Corazon to leave. The door closed and Ella frowned. There had been no surprise at the idea that the experiments were carried out during the war. Exactly how much did they know about the bio-technology they were dealing with?

  Arlyn.

  Aneka had spotted three people tailing her as she walked down the picturesque main street of the town’s central district. Two of them she did not recognise: men who looked too big and too focussed to be tourists, and who seemed to cross her path too often for coincidence. The third she did recognise and she got the distinct feeling that Peters was not really trying to follow her unseen. If he had been, he would have been a bad choice anyway; she recognised him immediately from her last visit to Sapphira.

  The shops were typical tourist traps. Small snack bars sat beside high-ticket, designer clothing shops. Gift shops, expensive restaurants, and bars shared street frontage. It vaguely reminded Aneka of a ski resort, though the crystal mountains Sapphira Vista was famous for were a few hundred kilometres north, and the air temperature was way too high for snow. She had changed into a bikini top and a skirt for her trip out, but her body’s simulation algorithms had still decided that forming beads of sweat on her skin was appropriate. Aneka decided that a cold drink was even better, and headed into a bar which looked like it had shade and air conditioning.