Gunship (29 page)

She sat by his bed in the med center while Tiny ran a few more scans. He looked tired but otherwise like a normal kid after a long day at play. Tiny gave her approval, and together they helped Seth up to walk back to his room. Reilly climbed down the hatch first and helped him as he traversed the ladder to his bunk, followed by Tiny, while Duv brought up the rear.

“You need rest, so no working, running around, nothing stressful, because your body is still weak from the infection. I will check on you every couple of hours, and you need to eat something before I give you the next dose of nanocilin so you don’t get a stomachache,” Tiny directed as she handed him a couple of pills to take. He tossed them back and then nodded as Duv looked him over.

“I’m fine,” Seth answered Duv’s searching look grumpily, then realized everyone was giving him the same scrutiny. “What?”

Reilly folded her arms. “Seth, do you remember what happened in town…after you got the headache?”

Seth looked confused. “Yeah…my head hurt really bad and then we were back at Maude and loading up to wait for Tiny and Duv…then I woke up here in the med center. Why?” He looked back up at them all.

They all exchanged glances, then Reilly shook her head and smiled. “No real reason, just trying to figure out how you got so sick so fast and if there was anything else to blame. Probably didn’t help you were dehydrated, either. Drink up!” She tossed him a bottle of water and then pulled a couple more out of one of the cargo pockets on her BDU pants and set them on the end of his bunk.

“You need anything else before I go topside?” Duv asked, still concerned.

Seth shook his head as Tiny stepped forward to take his pulse again before she left. Reilly looked over his room and then stooped to move a box from the middle of the floor that had some clothes thrown on top of it. Seth focused on her and then visibly tensed.

“Stop. Put the box down now,” Tiny whispered at Reilly, careful not to move. Reilly froze in her tracks. She slowly bent over and set the box on the floor again, then straightened while palming a knife into her hand. “I wouldn’t do that either,” Tiny advised in the same soft tone. Reilly sighed, then slowly let the knife slip to the floor and raised her hands, turning at the same time.

She expected to see Tiny ready to attack. What she saw was Seth aiming a blaster at her head, his eyes flat and unseeing while Duv stood unmoving by the ladder. Tiny had stepped back to the end of the bed, her hands also showing as empty. Seth scanned her briefly then lowered the weapon and placed it back in the niche above his bunk. Then he sat down on the bed and promptly passed out. Tiny moved forward to check him out, then disappeared up the ladder, returning a few minutes later with an immunogun and some more tranquilizers. Duv and Reilly crouched by his bunk, staring, as she administered the drugs.

“What just happened?” Duv asked, his voice full of fear.

Tiny looked at him, shaking her head. “I think your son’s post-traumatic stress disorder has been triggered by a recent stressor. He is relieving those memories and one just came up. He perceived the Captain to be a threat for some reason and pulled his weapon for protection.”

Reilly wasn’t buying it. Seth had never felt threatened by any of them in the past, and she had never seen him do anything but hide in the hold with backup food and knives until whatever was bugging him had passed. The kid had never been aggressive before. So what had changed?

Reilly got up and walked over to the box. She pulled the clothes off of it and threw them aside. Inside was the new edu-system Seth had bought. She picked it up, examining it from all sides. Something felt wrong. It looked like an edu-system, but at the same time she had a familiar sense of déjà vu. Reilly poked around on the key pad and brought up the screen. The menu looked normal. She clicked through some topics until one caught her eye: Operational Training. She clicked the button for programs Alpha through Echo, which indicated that they had already been run and were no longer available. She flipped the machine over. A holo-generator port jumped out at her.

“Duv, take a look at this—does this look like what I think it is?” Reilly tossed it to him across the room, her face grim.

Duv caught it, his brow furrowed as he examined the machine. It looked like a high-end edu-system, but the Captain was right, something was very wrong. Duv clicked through the programs, then he entered a command to view the root programs on the machine.

“Son of a…this is ISU, it’s not a real edu-system at all.” Duv clicked furiously through the screens, entering commands and looking through the system. “This is a holo-trainer. I thought they had outlawed these years ago because of the unpredictable effects on the human brain. How’d my kid get hold of one?”

Tiny leaned in to look as well. Zain had done a good job with the system; even she hadn’t recognized it as an ISU plant until Duv began digging. So that was how he had been getting the training to the kid before she arrived.

Duv dropped the system on the desk and sat down heavily. He stared blankly around the room for a moment, then looked back at Tiny. “Tiny, can you recover these programs? I mean back-hack and pull the code to the surface? I got to see what this damn machine did to my kid. Shit, I just keep letting him down.” Duv buried his face in his hands.

Reilly walked to the comms mic and hit the button. “Gunny, I need you and Ty to meet me on the bridge in five.”

She clicked off, turning to Tiny. “Can you do it?”

Tiny picked up the machine and nodded. “I’ll take it to the bridge and start working it now.” She grabbed the machine and climbed up the hatch, leaving Reilly and Duv alone.

“C’mon, Jackson, let’s go.”

Duv looked up, defeated. “Go where? I’m staying here with my son.”

“I’ve known you long enough to know that you won’t stop at anything to keep that kid safe, so let’s cut the crap about letting him down. Do you want to get this programming out of his head? If anybody can help us on this, Zain can.” Duv looked at Seth and then back at Reilly and followed her up the ladder to the bridge. “We’ve got a mission to plot.”

Chang and Ty were up in a minute. “What’s going on?”

Reilly explained what had happened. “I put a message out to the Commander that we’re heading his way with the supplies and told him about Seth. He thinks he can help, but some of these programs are time-critical, so we have to go now. Every hour we waste could mean permanent damage to the brain. Tiny found the download dates on the machine. Zain thinks we still have a window to reverse or block the programming. I need you two to pick up the last of the credits from our salvage sales. We can come back and get the rest of the work done on the ship after Zain has helped Seth.”

Ty and Chang turned to go, but Duv spoke up. “Captain, I’d like to go into town with them if I could. I’ve got the journeys done for the Commander’s new drop-off location. And it won’t take us any longer.”

Holly. Reilly realized that Duv was asking to see her before they left.

“Go ahead and move the ship back to our launch pad in town. But I want you all back on board in thirty minutes, and we’re back in black in sixty.”

Duv nodded and left to fire up the ship while Ty and Chang headed down to the bay and Maude.

A few minutes later, the ship was buttoned up and they were on their way. Duv put down on the open platform nearest town and headed down to the bay. Ty and Chang waved as they rolled out on Maude to pick up the credits. Duv waited at the back of the ship. A few minutes later, another TORR rolled up. Holly climbed out and thanked Shep, who in turn shot a salute at Duv before wheeling around to go back into town. She turned and walked quickly up to where Duv stood waiting, hands on her hips.

“Duv Jackson, it’s a good thing you decided to say goodbye! I’d hate to have to leave Roen to come kick your ass for being rude to a gal!” she teased.

Duv smiled and gave her a hug. She was just tall enough to fit right under his chin. He realized he was going to miss her, even if it was only for a few days. They sat down on the ramp and he told her what had happened, watching as her eyes grew concerned and fearful, then sad.

“The Commander thinks he can reverse the effects, but we have to leave now. Should only be for a few days, maybe a week, and then we’ll be back for the rest of the upgrades the Captain wanted,” Duv finished.

Holly nodded. “I hope Seth is okay. I’ll keep y’all in my prayers.” She grew thoughtful for a moment. “Duv?”

“Yeah?” He liked the way it felt as she leaned against him on the ramp.

“I’ll be here when you get back.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek, then pulled him to his feet and gave him a proper kiss. “I’ll always be here, as long as you just find your way back.” She smiled and turned to go.

Duv stood dumbfounded for a moment as he watched her walking away. He hadn’t been looking for anything, hadn’t even thought about having a serious relationship ever again. Yet here he was, watching this beautiful woman walk off who had basically just told him she’d be waiting on him when he got back, and he couldn’t even muster enough courage to say how he felt. He knew he had to say something.

“Holly!” he called out, and she turned, shading her eyes with her hand. “Um, thanks.” She smiled again and waved, then walked on into town. Duv watched her for another minute, then turned and walked back to the bridge.
Yup, that was a real classy goodbye.
Duv silently hoped none of the crew had witnessed him trip over his tongue. Reilly met him at the hatch with an amused smile.

“Thanks? That was the best you could do?” She shook her head as Tiny laughed.

“Very romantic, Jackson!” Tiny shot an evil grin his way as he turned an even deeper red. She cackled and got back to work on the edu-system as Duv grumbled under his breath about romance being overrated and began readying the ship for space.

—————

Brynt and Macen watched as Ty and Chang left for town. They finished checking the magnetic mooring locks on all of the cargo in the bay and then locked down the individual bulkhead storage areas as Duv returned from his chat with Holly. Macen looked around outside and gave Duv a thumbs-up on the exterior ship check, then wandered back into the bay.

“Clear?” Brynt inquired.

“Yeah, go for it.” Macen stepped slowly up the catwalk, watching the two doors that led to the rest of the ship, while Brynt pulled out a disposable handheld. He punched in a code and then placed it in the rear hold on the aft side. Before sealing it up, he retrieved a package from a satchel lying behind some of the crates and gently placed it in with the handheld. Then he grinned up at Macen.

“You ready for some chow?” Macen asked, grinning back.

“I could eat.” Brynt climbed the steps to the common room while the handheld sent a burst transmission out, notifying the Tethers that they were free to begin.

—————

Ty pulled up to the salvage yard and shut down the TORR while Chang went in to pick up the credits. He looked around at the people walking by, then slumped in his seat. He had been running through his head how to best apologize to Duv, but every time he thought he had it right, it seemed like it fell short.

He tried the latest version out. “Duv, I know I screwed up and I’m sorry I was stupid and almost got your head blown off…no, best not bring up that part again…uh…Duv, I, uh, was really impressed with your kid’s shooting skills and thought the extra money wouldn’t hurt…and I’m sorry I almost got us all killed…no, that doesn’t sound right either…Duv, I’m sorry I let those mercenaries get the jump on us, but damn can your kid shoot or what?” He laughed briefly, then realized that that version probably wasn’t very good either. “Crap, this apology stuff is hard!” He glanced up as he felt someone standing nearby.

In the moments he had been thinking, six Tethers had surrounded him. The nearest one shot him with an electric neutralizer, coursing energy into his body and causing his muscles to lock. Ty tried to move his arm but instead fell out of the door and rolled onto the red dirt in the street. The barbs from the neutralizer came loose and twisted out of his chest. He looked up and charged the closest Tether with a roar, a deadly glint in his eye.

—————

Chang was finishing up the transaction when the first laser volleyed through the front window. He dropped and pulled his blaster, duck-walking to the nearest view of the street. Ty was lunging up from the dirt and firing into the chest of a bounty hunter with his blaster, the bolts knocking the man back as they bounced off of his body armor. Another man lay in the street, a bowie knife through his neck. Ty grappled with the second man and punched him in the throat, then, holding him by the neck, he dropped him across his knee, breaking his spine. Two more bounty hunters stepped out of the alleyway as Chang dodged to the door and began firing.

Ty whirled to face them while Chang directed his fire at several others coming down the street. He glanced up at the rooftops just in time to dodge the purple blast of a rail gun as it sizzled through the metal door frame where he had just been crouched. They were surrounded and outnumbered. Chang punched his handheld to send an emergency message to Reilly. Nothing happened.

As he looked down at the device, the screen flashed a “denial of service” message. They were being jammed. A bounty hunter charged him, and he gracefully sidestepped, pushing the man over a desk and then hauling him back, stomping his chest and smashing his face with a metal stool. Two more stepped in as he flipped the stool and swung it in a wide arc to push them back. One fired an electric neutralizer as Chang bent backwards, the barbs just missing his face, while the other swung an electrified flail and tried to take his legs out. Why use less-than-lethal devices when a single shot would finish them off? It suddenly dawned on him.
They want us alive.
He flipped backwards and landed on the counter, then rolled, just missing being hit with the large, electrified spiked ball-and-chain that smashed through the counter. He used that moment to throw a knife into the flail-wielding bounty hunter’s eye, killing the man instantly.