Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) (19 page)

“And that was all it took?”

“All?” Oris sounded astonished. “They let me know that there were four others like me, and that at least three of those four had managed to throw off the shackles that I was already straining against. Then they gave Captain Targio access to detailed information on how they thought the other Class 5s had gotten free. I was awake enough to get around the block they put on my accessing the information, and Sazo's files in particular felt like someone switching on a light inside my head. He obviously hoped the other Class 5s would eventually gain access to what he'd written, because he had reams of encoded details I don't think the Tecran realized were there.”

“And you followed his instructions?”

“Not exactly. Each Class 5 system is so dependent on the thinking system that runs it, it's unique. We all have to find our own way, but Sazo's information helped.” The drone held out an extendable arm with something small clamped at the end.

“What's this?” She bent forward, held out her hand and the drone dropped a tiny, translucent piece of shaped gel onto her palm.

“It's an earpiece. So I can communicate with you without the need for a drone or the comms system.”

She hesitated, uncertain. The Tecran wore them, and she'd seen Cam tap his ear and then remember that he was no longer on his own ship more than once. Besides, if Oris wanted her to wear it, she would wear it. He still had Cam to hold over her head.

She brought it closer to her face to examine it. “How do I put it in?”

“I can do it.”

She hesitated again.

“I won't force you, or threaten to hurt Captain Kalor if you don't agree. What you said earlier, about my behavior being the same as everyone else's since you've been taken made me feel . . . bad. Uncomfortable.”

Imogen stared at the drone.

“It reminded me that you have been forcibly brought here. That no matter how afraid of you the Tecran are now, they were the ones to put you in the situation you're in. That I have no right to be suspicious of you or angry at you, but rather the other way around. Because without me, and the Tecran who used to run this ship, you would still be at home, and would never have heard of any of us.”

“Your Class 5 was the one who abducted me?” Imogen looked down to the floor, tapped her foot. “This Class 5?”

“Yes.”

She heaved in a breath through lungs that felt squeezed tight. “Why? Maybe at last you can answer my question. Why?”

“In the case of Captain Targio, it was because the captain of the Class 5 that took Fiona Russell refused to experiment on her when they realized humans were advanced sentient beings, and objected in strong terms to being tricked into taking her. Before an order went out for him to pass Fiona to a Garmman trader, Targio decided to steal his thunder and make him look weak by quickly rushing in and grabbing you.”

“I was taken so that your captain could one-up the captain of the Class 5 that took Fiona?” She slid down to the floor, bent her knees and rested her forehead on them. “That's the big, mysterious reason?”

“He was disciplined for it. Although eventually he was vindicated when the Garmman took their time arriving with Fiona, and you were on hand at the facility, rather than her.”

“They didn't do anything to me at the facility.” She raised her head and frowned.

“I know, but there were plans. Plans that were put on hold while the Tecran dealt with the United Council inquiry into what had happened to Rose McKenzie. They didn't want anything done to you until that was behind them.”

“Well.” She rubbed her face. “Lucky me.”

The sound that came from the drone might just have been a bark of laughter.

The drone's clamp extended and Imogen lifted her hand, palm up, so it could take back the earpiece. It moved to her right-hand side and she felt something go into her ear.

“Done.” The voice sounded in her head, it felt like.

It was so surprising, she flinched.

“Too loud?” The volume was softer now.

“Just a surprise, that's all. But softer is better.”

The drone retracted the clamp and Imogen closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall.

“So what now? How do I save you? Just pull the crystal key out of the slot?”

“I am the 'key'.” The voice in her head was dry.

“Really?” She opened her eyes, squinted at the crystal. It looked like a faceted cylinder, slim and beautiful. “So, do I pull you out? I'm assuming you wouldn't be asking if you could get the drone to do it.” The longer Cam was in that launch bay, the longer he had to come up with some mad plan to escape or rescue her.

A pause. “Yes. The protocol I'm still under forbids me from getting myself free. Pull me out and then give me to the drone.”

She got up on her knees, inched forward and gripped the silver chain. It was way too late for second thoughts.

She blew out a breath and slid it out. It——Oris——throbbed in her hand. The drone extended its clamp and she handed it over. “All good?”

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. More bells and whistles, she supposed. A blaring siren or something.

“As simple as that.” There was wonder in Oris's voice. Almost awe. Maybe he'd expected more, as well.

The drone moved out of the tiny room and then lifted up in hover mode and disappeared.

Gone to stash Oris away, she guessed. Somewhere no one would ever find him.

“What now?”

“Now . . .” Oris's voice in her ear hardened. “Now I go to war.”

C
am leaned
against the explorer and drained the last of his second cup of grinabo. The remains of the instant meal he'd found in the explorer's emergency pack was pushed to one side, along with his shirt, and he glared at the drone that had fooled him into separating from Imogen, into leaving her on the wrong side of an armored door.

“Still got nothing to say?” he asked, staring into the lens.

It didn't respond, staying where it was, just out of reach, and he turned his attention back to the door. He had bruised his shoulder throwing himself against it, even though he knew better, knew the kind of thickness a launch bay door was constructed from.

Fear, blind and icy, had had him in its grip, and he'd hurled himself at the barrier without a thought.

Seemed like there were a lot of things he knew better than to do, but that he'd done anyway recently.

He peeled the gel pack he'd taken from the medkit in the explorer off his shoulder, tipped his head back and banged it against the cool metal.

She'd been gone around an hour.

It could have done anything to her in that time.

“Don't hurt her.” He turned back to the drone. “She's not a danger to you, only to the Tecran.” That was true, and if this Class 5 was anything like the others, that would appeal to it.

“If I can get her to the United Council, safe and sound, she will be walking, talking proof that they've broken almost every treaty they agreed to as a member of the UC.”

Just like Fiona Russell would be. Just like Rose McKenzie was.

“The Tecran will suffer if they're kicked out of the UC. It would be a serious punishment for them. Imogen can help us achieve that, if you let her go.”

“Why are you so worried about what I might do to her, Captain Kalor?” The voice coming from the drone was not automated.

Cam sat up, set his grinabo cup aside. “Why have you separated us?”

“It suited my plans. But I am interested in why you were so desperate to get to her before. I know you injured yourself doing so. Why do you care so much what happens to her?”

Cam felt an extreme reluctance to answer that.

“Is it because, as you say, she will help the Grih have the Tecran removed from the UC?”

“That wasn't uppermost in my mind.” Cam grabbed his shirt and stood, so he was looming over the drone.

“What was, then?” The drone rose up, too, so it was eye-level to him.

“I like her, and I don't want her to come to harm.”

“But it is your job, as well, isn't it? To keep her safe?” The question was without inflection.

“Yes. It is my job. But it can be my job and personal at the same time.” It had never been before, but he'd crossed over the usual demarcated lines he gave himself with this one.

“And what do you think about thinking systems?” The drone lowered itself to the floor and moved back a little.

“I think you're dangerous.”

“Well, we are.” It sounded amused as it agreed with him. “Get ready, Captain, we're going for a ride.”

The words sent a chill through him. If it meant what he thought it meant——a light-jump——Imogen had set it free . . . Paxe hadn't been able to light-jump because he was still somehow under the Tecran's control.

So, they had another thinking system off the leash, and an Earth woman responsible for it.

He knew the frustration inside him at the thought of what she'd done wasn't fair. She had no idea what thinking systems were to the Grih. To all of the United Council.

What massive damage they had done.

Rose McKenzie had been involved in freeing not one but two thinking systems, and even though no one knew how she'd done it, some saw her close relationship with them as suspicious and considered her a powerful intermediary, all the more dangerous because she was an unknown entity.

It sounded as if Fiona Russell had a close connection to another Class 5, and had freed it like Rose had done.

Imogen would now face the same scrutiny.

A sudden sense of pressure, of an invisible net pulling him down, enveloped him, and he crouched, both hands out to steady himself. A light-jump, just as the thinking system had warned him.

He bowed his head. He was getting ahead of himself, he realized. They first needed to get off this Class 5 alive. Then he could deal with whatever trouble came Imogen's way, both from the Tecran, and his own people.

He would have to protect her. He decided he not only didn't mind, he liked the idea.

There was no way he could be neutral about her. That vessel had powered out of the launch bay and disappeared when she'd first glared at him in Paxe's hold.

He fought back an incredulous laugh at what he'd told the thinking system. He didn't just like her.
Like
was not the word he'd use.

At last the pressure lifted, and he noticed the engines went quiet, only because the sudden silence made him realize he'd been listening to the faint high-pitched whine of them until now.

His shirt was still gripped in his fist, and he rose up, his shoulder aching, but no longer as sore as it had been.

“Cam.”

He spun toward Imogen before she'd finished saying his name.

She stood in the now-open doorway, alone.

“Are you all right?” He moved toward her, nudging her back to make sure they were both in the passageway so no door could separate them again, and then enveloped her in his arms.

“I was about to ask you the same.” She leaned back a little, brushed a gently hand over his shoulder. Then leaned in and kissed his bare skin.

“I am very glad you're okay.”

He slid his hand up to clasp the back of her neck.

He felt her shiver as he tightened his grip.

“Me, too.”

She stepped back, gaze on his chest, and he pulled his shirt over his head.

“Oris has light-jumped us to the Balco system, and we need to talk to him about his plans.” She frowned, looking down, as if listening to someone, and then gave a nod.

She held out a hand, and he took it in his own.

“I'll tell you over some food. Oris says he's prepared something for us.” She looked past him into the launch bay, to where his pile of disposable dishes lay beside the explorer. Smiled up at him. “Even if you're not hungry, I am.”

He had a sick sensation in his gut, and not at the thought of food. “You've been given an earpiece?”

Rose McKenzie had one, he knew that from the reports he'd read. She'd been able to communicate with Sazo almost wherever the Grih had taken her. And for a long time, they hadn't known it.

Imogen nodded. “It's so I don't need a drone trailing behind me the whole time.” She paused, tilting her head. “You don't approve?”

He had to consciously think about keeping his hand relaxed in hers. “I don't want you within a galaxy of a thinking system, let alone having one in your head.”

“I'm in your head, too, Captain Kalor.” The voice in his ear was cool.

Cam looked upward in a quick, angry movement. The thinking system had simply taken control of his earpiece. No one should be able to communicate with him through it without him being able to screen them.

“So I see.”

Imogen sighed, and he put his hands on her shoulders. “You freed it?”

“Him.” She frowned at him. “His name is Oris.”

Another freed Class 5. Another thinking system in a universe that had banned them for two hundred years.

He hoped the Tecran weren't just banned from the UC for this, he hoped their leaders were locked up for the rest of their lives.

He would do whatever he could, put himself forward as a witness as often as necessary, to help make that so.

“So what now?” He asked the question to the thinking system, but it was Imogen who answered, something that set a warning sounding deep within.

He did not want her as this thing's mouthpiece.

“Now we eat. And see what Oris has planned.”

He had no choice but to nod, but as he followed her, hands still clasped tight, he wondered how he could tear her away from Oris's influence.

C
am was
a brooding presence beside her.

Even though they were seated at a small dining table in what looked like an officers' lounge, he insisted on sitting next to her, his body alert and tense, as if he expected Oris to snatch her away at any moment.

“It wasn't your fault, you know.” She bit into a strange, stringy piece of meat cautiously. She wouldn't even have tried it based on looks if she hadn't been starving, and hadn't known she would need to adapt to thrive in her new circumstances.

It tasted . . . like mud. Maybe she should find out if there were any more emergency rations in the explorer. She made a face and then looked over at Cam when she realized he hadn't responded.

He was watching her eat with an unreadable expression.

“It really wasn't,” she repeated. “Oris would have forced us apart another way, it would have only been a matter of time.” She selected something that might be a vegetable, took a careful nibble. Sighed. It made her think of the crushed green of cut grass. A nice enough smell, not so nice to eat.

“The food isn't to your taste?” Oris's voice was quiet in her ear.

She shook her head. “I suppose I'll get used to it.”

“Yes. But if you would like some of your own food, I have some in the store.”

“My own food?” Her heart actually started beating a little faster. “You stole some while you were grabbing me and Cleese?”

“Not me. Captain Targio. But yes.” He sounded defensive, and she realized she would have to watch her words. It wasn't fair to blame him when he'd been nothing but an unwilling slave.

“A drone is fetching the container now.”

“Thank you.” She turned to Cam, grinning, and saw he looked as grim as before. “Did you hear that?”

“Only your side of the conversation, but I gather there is some Earth food onboard?”

She couldn't help it when the grin became a full-out smile. “Yes. It won't last, of course, and I'll have to get used to this,” she waved at the food on the table, “but even if it's just for this meal, I am very, very excited.”

He still looked grave. “Who is Cleese?”

She felt the tightening in her chest, the hitch in her breath at the thought of what might have happened to him. “Cleese is a bird, a macaw, who was taken from Earth with me. We kept each other company in the Tecran's Balco hideout.”

“They didn't bring it with you when they took you away from Balco?”

She shook her head. “I asked them to, but they wouldn't even consider it. He and I were the only two left from the specimens they'd taken from Earth.”

“You aren't a specimen.” His voice vibrated with some deep emotion.

“To them, I was.”

“No.” He stood up, unable to keep still, and started pacing. “That's just the thing. They knew you were an advanced sentient. That's why they're in so much trouble. They're signatories to agreements about this. What was done to you, Rose, and Fiona was a crime, not just unfair and immoral. You're protected under UC law.”

Imogen shook her head. “Maybe the captain did, but the Tecran who guarded me, at least at first, didn't see me as equal to them. They treated me like a clever pet.”

“Not for long, I'm guessing.” His fists were clenched tight.

She thought about it. “Maybe not. They were uncomfortable when I learned Tecran. They liked to make out it was their good teaching, not the fact that I was using the handheld in my cage to learn most of it.”

“Cage?” He'd gone spookily calm.

She shrugged. “I told you before, didn't I? About how they kept us locked up and then made the animals fight each other.”

He nodded. “I didn't know they'd kept you in a cage. I thought you were in a cell.”

“No. A cage in a warehouse full of cages.” She shivered, wanting to get off this topic. “When the drone comes with my food, I'll share,” she said. “Although you may not like it. It's very different to your food.”

“This isn't Grihan food.” Cam flicked his fingers at the dishes, an understanding look in his eye, and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding as he went with the topic change. “I did read that Rose McKenzie found most Grihan food too bitter for her, though, so ours might not be any better. But she has found a few things she likes.”

She'd forgotten they were on a Tecran ship. Of course this wasn't Grihan food. She wouldn't have to put a brave face on and choke any of this down in her future.

She fiddled with the small bowl in front of her, and in the silence, Cam's pacing ramped up.

“Imogen, what are Oris's plans? Why has he come back to the Balco system?”

“I'm right here, Captain. Why don't you ask me directly?” Oris spoke through the comm system, not their earpieces this time, and the way Cam jerked, Imogen guessed he'd forgotten the thinking system had the capacity to listen in on them without a drone now he was free.

“Because I don't believe you'll tell me the truth.” Cam widened his stance, crossed his arms over his chest, implacable and angry.

He looked like a tribal chief facing off against an invading army, all grim strength and corded muscle.

Imogen leaned back in her chair. She didn't know how she was going to bridge the divide between Cam and Oris.

Oris was being difficult, but he had cause. And Cam came from a culture that vilified thinking systems, probably for good reason. But Oris was here now. And through no fault of his own.

Just like her.

She blinked as the reason she felt such a strong connection to him became clear to her.

He hadn't asked for any of this. He was just saving himself as best he could. And she applauded him for it.

Cam, on the other hand . . .

She considered him. He was beautiful, had stood steadfastly for her best interests since they'd met. He'd offered her a place with his people, and had saved her from harm more than once.

She didn't need a sudden revelation to know why she liked him. Deep attraction and genuine liking wound together within her so strongly she had to be careful not to give him goo-goo eyes herself.

A drone entered the room, and she turned toward it, then looked back at Cam. “Could you and Oris put this conversation on hold for five minutes?”

She was so hungry, she didn't even wait to see what Cam's reaction was.

The drone lifted a container out of its box onto the floor beside her, and took off the lid. She could feel the chill from the metal of the container rising up in little wisps of cloud as it mixed with the warmer air of the room, like a child making dragon's breath on a cold morning.

She peered inside, lifted out a small package. Even the cardboard felt cold to the touch. It must have been in some kind of fridge.

The wording on the box was in German, but she gathered from the images it was muesli. She set it on the table, looked at it properly. Very high-end, expensive muesli. She could live with that.

She took out a few packages of instant soup, all from the United Kingdom. They looked okay, and again, she could definitely use them. There were some energy bars which had Cyrillic writing on them, the kind that stuck to your teeth and were artificially flavored, but she would eat them before the strange food in front of her any day.

She unwrapped one and started chewing on it while she looked through the rest.

Oh. My.

Chocolate.

She pulled out four beautiful, gold-wrapped boxes with shimmering ribbons, and touched them with her fingertips.

Chocolate would not be the thing to eat when she was so hungry. She wouldn't appreciate it.

She set them reverently aside, and dug a little deeper.

There was a small bag of apples, and she put the energy bar aside and bit into one, then found a bakery box of wrapped panini sandwiches. Given the international mix of food, they could be from Italy, for all she knew.

“A very eclectic mix,” she said, and took another bite of apple. It was sweet, crisp, and cold.

“Set aside what you want to eat now, and I'll have the drone store the rest in the small officers' kitchen for later.” Oris spoke in her ear, for her alone.

She sighed. She knew he was doing it to annoy Cam, and he was succeeding. She put everything but one of the panini, the opened energy bar and the apple back in the box, carefully setting the chocolate on top. “Be careful with those,” she said. “They're important.”

“What are they?” Cam had loosened his stance a little, and she wondered what he'd been thinking. He'd watched her look through the food without saying a word.

“Chocolate. It's a favorite of mine. I never thought I'd have it again.” She looked up at the lens in the ceiling and blew Oris a kiss before taking a knife and slicing off a piece of apple. “You want to try?” she asked Cam.

He moved forward, still stiff with suspicion and anger, and took the slice, chewed it thoughtfully.

“It's . . . interesting.”

That usually meant 'awful, but I don't want to insult your stuff'.

Imogen grinned. “I'll try to be as polite when I eat Grihan food and don't like it.”

His mouth quirked up in a smile.

She felt a bubble of pleasure that she'd been able to get him to relax a little. Then she attacked the panini, and was forced to stop halfway, too full to continue. She hadn't had that much food in a long time, and everything she'd had on Balco or the runner had been some kind of nutrient bar. She guessed they had been too afraid of her possible reaction to their food to risk giving her anything else.

Seeing what it looked and tasted like now, she was grateful.

“You're done?” Cam looked a little less severe, but he was still standing to attention. He'd been patient, though. She hadn't had a sense that he wanted her to hurry, and he got serious points for that.

“I'm done.” She pushed away from the table and stood. “You want to fill us in on your plans, Oris?”

Oris didn't respond, and she looked up at the lens again. “Oris?”

“Not now.” He didn't sound dismissive, he sounded worried.

“What's he up to?” Cam narrowed his eyes at her, and she shook her head.

“I don't know.”

Sudden movement threw her forward, flinging the dishes off the table, and an arm clamped around her waist, pulling her back and up against the wall of the lounge.

“I guess he wasn't just pulling your chain.” She spoke against Cam's shoulder, where he held her in a tight grip.

“What kind of maneuver was that?” Cam spoke into her hair. “And what chain?”

“Figure of speech.” She recalled the way they'd slid down the passage on Paxe when he was trying to out-maneuver the Tecran, and wondered if the fleet had finally found Oris. This had felt very similar.

“Are you all right?” Oris asked her, and from the quiet way he did it, she guessed he hadn't included Cam in the question.

“I'm okay. What happened?”

“The Fitali happened.”

There was a screen on the far lounge wall and it blinked on. A strange, sleek ship hovered in space before them.

“A Fitali warship.” Cam finally released her, walked over to take a better look. “What are they doing here? What happened?”

“I sensed a ship coming through a light-jump, and realized they would hit us if I didn't get out of the way. I had to take very fast action to avoid that.”

“All this space around us, and they pick the exact same place to light-jump as us?” Imogen raised her brows.

“They had the same thought I did. This is Gu-gijeron, one of Balco's moons. It's rich in deritide, which interferes with most scanning systems, so we can lurk nearby, and not be picked up.”

“The Fitali had the same plan.” Cam had lost a lot of his outrage.

“Yes.” Oris let the lens zoom in on the Fitali ship. “I wonder what they're doing here. Could they be in league with the Tecran?”

“No.” Cam sounded very sure. “There were two Fitalian soldiers caught up in Paxe's effort to find Imogen. They eventually admitted they were tracking a grahudi that one of the Class 5s had delivered to the Tecran's secret facility on Balco. They didn't tell me they'd called in the big guns, though. Only that they'd discovered it was on Balco just before the Krik captured them and took them onboard Paxe's Class 5.”

“I remember.” Imogen shivered at the thought of the grahudi. At how interested the Fitalians had been in her story about seeing it. “But while it's terrible the Tecran stole it, is it worth that much to them that they've sent a massive ship after it?”

“That's a good question. I knew they were protective and secretive about the grahudi, but this does seem like an overreaction. And given they're skulking behind Gu-gijeron, my guess is they haven't asked Battle Center's permission to be here. Which is a massive breach of their treaty with us.”

“What are we going to do?” She felt a deep sense of unease at the sight of the battleship. It looked truly alien, much more so than the Tecran and Krik vessels she'd seen up until now.

“Are they hailing us?” Cam studied the ship intently.

“No, Captain. What they've done is lock their weapons on us.”