Randoms (31 page)

“Then Zeke destroyed their ship,” Charles said, “and they replaced their strategy with a need for revenge? It is not very intelligent.”

“It might be cultural,” Mi Sun suggested. “Maybe honor and revenge are just really important to them.”

“We're talking about beings who hurl in public to make a point,” I said.

Nayana sighed. “We're still just looking at pawns.”

“There are too many players we haven't seen,” Charles observed.

Nayana looked up, smiling. “Maybe we can't see them because they've been captured.”

“The selection committee!” I nearly shouted it. She was onto something.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Think about it. They've been captured, but they're still in play. Vusio-om tried to use them as a bargaining chip at your hearing, and that's where all of this begins. The committee picked our planets. They had a grand strategy in mind.”

“But we don't know what it is,” Charles said. “What can we find out about them?”

I cleared my throat. “I, uh, have it on good authority that the Confederation has buried their service files. They can't be hacked.”

“Good authority,” Nayana said with a sneer. “What, your pet kitty?”

“Nayana,” Mi Park said. “Remember, we're all on the same side now.”

“Sorry,” she muttered. “It's just who I am.”

“Yeah, don't be who you are in front of Tamret,” I said. “It might be bad for your health.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your girlfriend's hacking skills aside, did you ever consider that you don't always have to break the law? The government service files may be hidden away, but there's info on these people in the public domain. Interviews,
biographies, public writings, media appearances. Did you look at any of this?”

“No,” I admitted, feeling kind of foolish. I'd been so dispirited at the thought of what was being kept from us, I hadn't even bothered to look at what was readily available.

She tapped on her data bracelet for a second and then looked up, grinning, like she'd stumbled on a secret stash of goodies. “You know what? I think we're on the right track.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because,” she said, “I just leveled up.”

•   •   •

We stood looking over Nayana's shoulder as she began scrolling through data on the selection committee members. I thought that even if she was right, and we were onto something, we weren't going to make any big discoveries tonight. There were five members of the committee, and they all had long records of public service, most of the context of which was totally inscrutable to us. Duggsur Yikyik Eeee had spent four years as chairbeing of the Rimerian Lower Educational Reform Council, but really, so what? Was that an impressive position or a laughable one? Influential or pointless? None of it meant anything to us.

I could tell that Nayana was growing frustrated too. She read through a lot of data on Mr. or Ms. or whatever Eeee, but the second member got a much more cursory glance.

“Maybe we should get Dr. Roop in on this,” Mi Sun suggested.

“That might not be a bad idea,” Nayana conceded. “Assuming we can even trust him.”

I hadn't told them what we had discovered about Dr. Roop, and I still didn't know if I wanted to. I remained silent while
Nayana summoned up the image of a third committee member.

He was a big guy, muscular and humanoid, looking different from an Earthman only in minor details. He had green skin and a large protruding brow, the same as Hluh. In the picture he stood, looking at the camera or image taker or whatever, arms crossed. He wore a theatrical cape with a high collar. He wore no shirt, but there were two red bands crossing his muscular chest.

Nayana must have seen me staring. “Yeah, I noticed him too,” she said. “That's some idiotic getup, right? He's a Yionian, like your data-collector friend, but that doesn't look like a Yionian name. They always have lots of repeated sounds, like his, but they are usually longer.”

“Maybe he is a convert,” Charles said. “I read of this—beings who transform their appearance to look like members of other species.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice distant. I was thinking that too. I looked at his face. I looked at his name. I had no doubt he was a convert. A convert was exactly what he had to be.

I sat down next to Nayana.

“Not so close.” She shoved me.

I ignored her. What I saw on the screen made everything else insignificant.

The numbers on the bottom of my HUD were rolling upward at a dizzying speed as the system struggled to keep up with the torrent of experience points. It was like I'd hit the bonus level on an old-school video game. The only time I had ever racked up so many points this quickly had been when I'd saved the
Dependable
from the Phandic saucer. I was going to gain a whole bunch of levels, but I didn't care about that.

“Hey, I'm suddenly gaining a ton of experience points,” said Mi Sun.

“So am I,” Charles said. “I think we hit on something.”

Their words were a distant noise, almost like they were speaking a language I didn't understand. It was one of those moments when everything comes together. Or maybe it was one of those moments when nothing comes together and you realize just how little you actually know. I wasn't sure which, but I knew that this was one of the most important moments of my life—and that was coming from a guy who had already gone into outer space.

I looked at Charles. He had the most influence in the trio, and he was the one whose loyalty I had to make sure of. The others would follow him.

“You said you regret how you've treated me,” I told him. “Did you mean it?”

“I just picked up two levels,” Charles said. “Whatever is going on is important. I am with you.”

“But do you
trust
me?” I demanded.

He considered this for a moment. “Yes,” he told me, his voice solemn.

“Maybe,” Mi Sun said.

“Trust isn't really my thing,” Nayana said.

“I'm not joking,” I said. “I saved all your lives on the
Dependable
, and I've got more levels than any of you. I need to know if you are willing to do some risky things if I can convince you it's for the right reasons.”

“I don't understand,” Charles said.

“I need to confirm some stuff,” I said, “but you have to tell me if you are in or out.”

“In or out of
what
?” Nayana said irritably.

“If there's one thing Ms. Price said we can believe, it's that Earth is in danger. I don't think making our eighty is going to make a difference to Earth if the Phandic Empire and the Confederation decided to fight over our planet.”

“No,” Charles agreed. “It won't.”

“Do you want to save our planet from the Phands?”

He nodded.

“You'll follow me?”

“Doing what?” Mi Sun asked.

“Breaking a lot of laws,” I said. “Probably getting our delegation kicked off the station, unless we're really lucky. But what I have in mind might just save our world. You in?”

“Yes,” Charles said.

“Yes,” Mi Sun said.

“No!” Nayana nearly shouted. Then she sighed. “Fine. Okay.”

“I need to check some things out. Be ready.” I said. Then I ran as quickly as I could.

•   •   •

I pounded and pounded on the door. Finally Thiel, Tamret's roommate, answered. She looked like she'd been sleeping, which made sense because it was now pretty late at night.

“What?” she said.

“I need Tamret.”

“Yeah, we all know that. The whole galaxy saw the picture of you two making lovey eyes like a couple of dopes.”

A white hand landed on her shoulder and yanked her back. I heard her crash into something, breaking glass, and a loud hissing sound.

Tamret smiled at me. “What do you need?”

I pulled her out into the hallway. “You told me you could hack into the secret files on the selection committee,” I said quietly. “Did you mean it?”

She set her gaze at me. “I can do anything.”

“But you can do
this
?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “It's easy to do, but impossible to conceal. They'll find out, and they can track it to me within a few hours.”

I nodded, thinking this through. “Can you find out where they are being held prisoner?”

“The Phand said the Confederation knows, which means it's in the system. That means I can find out. But again, they'll know I've been snooping around. What's this about?”

I called up the data file on my bracelet and showed her the picture. “It's about him.”

“That's one of the committee members,” she said. “I remember his nutty outfit.”

“Yeah,” I said. I was grinning so hard my mouth hurt.

“So, what's the deal? Who is this J'onn J'onzz to you?”

“That's not actually J'onn J'onzz,” I told her. “J'onn J'onzz is the real name of Martian Manhunter, a core member of the classic Justice League lineup and my favorite comic book character for as long as I can remember.”

“I don't know what you are talking about. If he's not this J'onn J'onzz, then who is he?”

“He's a human,” I said. “He's from Earth. He's altered his appearance, but his name, that look—it's a flag that only the right person would recognize. And I'm that person.”

“And how does this selection committee member fit in?”

“He's the reason why the randoms were chosen,” I said. “Sessek, the Ganari, because she could break into secure buildings. You, because you can hack. And Steve. It all makes sense now.”

“I don't understand,” she said. “Who is this person?”

“His name is Uriah Reynolds,” I told her. “He's my father.”

•   •   •

Tamret took hold of my hand. “Anything you need. Just say it.”

I closed my eyes, basking in the warmth of her touch and her willingness to help me. “Things might get really bad.”

“I don't care.”

“Okay,” I said, as much to myself as to her. I needed to clear my thoughts. Was I really going to go through with all this? Was I really prepared to risk so much? “I have to make sure Steve can do something. If he can, I'll need you to start looking for that prison. And then the clock will be running.”

“What is Steve supposed to do?” she asked.

“Exactly what Dr. Roop brought him here to do,” I told her. “He's going to steal us a spaceship.”

Part Three

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

W
e moved the operation to my room so Tamret's roommate wouldn't bother us. I explained everything to Charles, Mi Sun, and Nayana—that the Phandic Empire had my father as their prisoner, and how we were planning to find him and get him out. Tamret had been reluctant to take my word for it when I told her that the other humans were on our side, and she had regarded their apologies with contempt, but in the end she had been willing to suspend her disbelief. I took a break to pack an overnight bag with at least a couple of changes of clothes and some spare underwear and I told the others to do the same. It was something to do, and it seemed like a good precaution against the interior of the ship getting too rank. I also suggested they load up on food rations and hydration packs. I had no idea how long this trip was going to take, and we needed to be prepared for anything. Afterward all we could do was sit quietly until Tamret was able to hack into the Confederation governmental system and find the location of the Phandic prison where the selection committee was being held.

For more than an hour, there was no sound but the soft tap of her pads against the glossy surface of the holographic keyboard. Then she looked up, and she was smiling. “Got it,” she said. Then she activated the comm feature on her data bracelet.

“Oi!” Steve's voice came over the system.

“I've got the destination. You good on your end?”

“It's like they're asking me to take their ships. I'm sending you the location of the meet right now.”

“See you in a few,” she said. Then she looked up. “Are you guys ready?”

If they were half as nervous as I was, they must have been telling the most serious lies of their lives, but everyone nodded. Almost everyone.

“Wait, why are we doing this?” Nayana asked. “If he wants to go after his father, that's his business. What's it to us?”

“Because he is going to go no matter what we do,” said Mi Sun. “And if he gets killed or captured, we're done.”

“There will be many experience points for us if we do,” Charles observed.

“Fine,” Nayana said. “But I won't like it.”

“There's more, too,” I said. “I'll explain it on the way, but this could basically secure Earth's entry into the Confederation and its safety from the Phands.”

When they were all near the door, Tamret turned to face them. “Every last one of you,” she said, “is a total piece of garbage as far as I'm concerned, but Zeke says I should trust you, so I will. But if I think you're even considering betraying him, I will rip your throat out and never give it a second thought.”

“Thank you,” I told her, “for motivating the troops. Let's go find Steve.”

When we stepped into the hall, Ms. Price was there, waiting for us. Her arms were folded. “Something is going on with all of you,” she said.

“Uh, no,” I said. “Why do you think that?”

“Four humans and the cat hanging out.”

“We're just chilling,” I offered.

“You all seem to be chilling with overnight bags,” she observed. “I don't like it.”

“I'm way past caring what you like and what you don't,” I told her.

“Tamret, go back to your quarters. The four of you, I think you'd better follow me.”

I didn't know what to do. We couldn't follow her, and we certainly couldn't get separated from Tamret. On the other hand, if we ran, Ms. Price would alert the authorities.

Fortunately, Mi Sun had a solution I hadn't through of. She pivoted to her side, and her right leg shot up lightning fast. She didn't so much kick Ms. Price as smack her in the face with the top of her foot. Ms. Price was lifted off the floor and crashed into the wall. Her eyes rolled back, and she fell, limp as a sack of laundry.

Mi Sun's face was totally blank. Tamret indulged in the smallest and most menacing of all possible smiles.

“I'm sure that was satisfying,” I said, “but her sudden injury will alert a medical team. We should get out of here.”

We ran.

With public transport, it took almost a quarter hour to reach the docking port where Steve had asked us to meet him. I kept expecting some kind of security to catch us, but if they'd found Ms. Price, they hadn't awakened her and gotten the details about us yet. It was also possible she hadn't chosen to turn us in. However angry she was, and I had no doubt she was steaming, she was probably reluctant to sink Earth's chances of joining the Confederation just for the pleasure of seeing Mi Sun get in trouble.

We had to go through a public terminal, sort of like an airport, and then to the docks housing private ships. These were in what looked like a huge warehousing system of cubicles stretching more than a mile along one side of the station's lower section. It rose up for fifty levels of cubes, and each individual cube was about the size of a basketball court. The interior section of each was open, except when a ship was entering or exiting. Then bulkhead doors would close, and an internal plasma field, as a secondary precaution, would seal the chamber before the outer plasma field went down and the bulkhead opened.

We passed several signs that announced only beings with legitimate business were permitted in the docking area, and that seemed to represent the extent of the security. We traveled to the section Steve had indicated, and then took an open lift up twelve levels to get to the right docking bay. Steve was standing outside, leaning against the wall, arms folded, and looking like he was posing for the cover of
Spaceship Thievery
magazine.

“Artifact carrier,” Steve said. “Fast, decent weaponry, excellent shielding. Best of all, the owner's off-station on a commercial venture. By the time he finds out about an unauthorized launch and asks the peace officers to investigate, we'll be long gone.”

“Nice,” I said. “How'd you find it?”

“I helped him.” It was Dr. Roop. He emerged from inside the hangar. Given the context, his dark, boxy Confederation suit made him almost appear like a crime lord—albeit one with an unusually long neck.

The other humans looked nervous, like they had been busted. I hadn't told them about Dr. Roop's involvement in all this. I hadn't been entirely sure I understood it all until now.

“This is what you wanted all along, isn't it?” I said. “It's why you picked the other randoms. You needed Tamret to get all the data and Steve to steal a ship. Sessek, the Ganari, was supposed to help us break in once we got there.”

“You'll have to make do without her,” Dr. Roop said, widening his eyes. “I wasn't counting on the rest of the human delegation joining you, and I think with all your skills, you should do well.”

“Why didn't you just tell us?” I asked.

“Because if you'd known your father was being held prisoner, you would have wanted to go before you were ready.”

“How do you know we're ready now?” I asked.

“I don't,” he told me. “I've gambled that your having discovered what you need to know indicates that you are now ready. Waiting for you to discover the truth gave you time to train, learn ship operations, and hopefully gain the skills you needed to succeed. I've sent everything we know about the prison and about Phandic security protocols to your data bracelets. I've examined the data extensively, and I believe this is something you can do.”

“I don't understand,” Nayana said. “Why do we have to do this? Don't you have trained people to take care of this sort of thing?”

“We do, but they won't,” Dr. Roop said. “The councils are too timid to risk Phandic anger. But that is your greatest advantage: Whatever the Phands think will happen, the last thing they will expect is a brazen rescue attempt. In the Confederation, we simply don't do that sort of thing, and they know it. But your kind—you are daring and reckless, and you have all been training. I know you can do what needs to be done.”

I swallowed hard. We were really going to do this, then. It was so insane, so unbelievably stupid, and we were going to do it. “You chose the three others after my father was captured,” I said.

“Yes,” Dr. Roop agreed.

“And me?”

“He had already tinkered with the system by choosing you,” Dr. Roop said. “I was not so much breaking the law as continuing to work with a law that had already been broken.”

I had no idea how my father had come to be here on Confederation Central. I had no idea why he'd left his family, why he'd left Earth. I would have to ask him when I rescued him.

“He's a good friend,” Dr. Roop said. His data bracelet beeped, and he looked down. “Apparently, someone assaulted Ms. Price, and the peace officers have been asked to apprehend all of you. Perhaps it is best you be on your way.”

I nodded.

Dr. Roop awkwardly offered me his hand. “Your father taught me this.”

I shook his hand. “I want to know everything when I get back.”

“And I will tell you. We both will.” He leaned forward. “Before you go, you should level up. We're past the point of being discreet, and you'll need every advantage you can use.”

I nodded. It was sound advice.

“Good luck, Zeke,” he said. Then he left.

We headed inside the hangar and toward the artifact carrier. It looked much like a shuttle on the outside, and I recognized the configuration of the interior from the many sims
I'd run. This would be just like a sim, I told myself, except we might all get killed.

“I need a minute to level up before I go,” I said to Tamret. “Can you get everyone settled?”

“Of course.” She began tapping on her data bracelet as she walked into the ship.

I checked my numbers and I now had enough points to reach level sixteen, which meant I had six points to assign, and I put them all in various piloting-track skills. Again, I was tempted to add some points to strength, but I resisted. More than ever, I would need to make sure my piloting skills were strong. Steve and Tamret and Mi Sun were great fighters. Making myself a little stronger would not matter. Making myself a little better at the helm might make all the difference. Two points went into agility, two to intellect, one to constitution, and one to vision.

I'd leveled up before, and was always kind of disappointed that my new skills didn't make me feel any different. I wanted my heart to race, my senses to come alive, but I always felt like the same old me. I knew the added abilities were slight and subtle, but I hoped they would be enough to help us.

When I got on board, Steve had taken helm. I took navigation. Everyone was already strapped in and sitting still—except Tamret, who had her keyboard out and was typing furiously. “Don't mind me,” she said. “I can do this while we move.”

We shut the ship doors and sealed the inner bulkhead, and as soon as we were properly depressurized, we opened the outer bulkhead. A message came in over the ship's comm from the station's traffic server. It appeared, it said, that we were making an unscheduled departure. We didn't answer. We simply departed, unscheduled. Steve eased the artifact carrier forward, and I
watched on the reverse viewscreen as the station fell away.

Just like that we were gone, in our stolen ship, heading away from the station. I felt a sudden jolt, almost as though we had tunneled. My senses tingled. The world instantly felt sharper, more defined, more vivid. I could feel my mind churning, purring like an engine. I wondered if it was the new skill points kicking in, but I doubted it. Even my hearing, which I hadn't touched, seemed improved. I knew it had to be my imagination, or maybe nerves, but I didn't care. I felt good. I felt strangely ready to take on this absurdly dangerous mission.

This is what it feels like,
I thought,
to be an outlaw.

The station's traffic server continued to send inquiries at us, imploring us to return, and then asking if we required assistance. Finally, we sent back that we did not need help, and that seemed to satisfy them. As soon as we reached the regulation distance, we plotted our tunnel and opened an aperture. We dropped out of the universe and were on our way. It would take the better part of two days to reach our destination. There was nothing to do but wait.

•   •   •

I did a lot of waiting. The excitement I'd felt turned to fear, and finally to worry. Steve went in the back to nap, and I sat at the helm and watched panels that required no attention from me. I tried not to imagine getting my friends killed in a pointless and reckless exercise. I didn't know what I was doing, and if I did, I would never have done it. A rescue mission on a prison planet? It was pure lunacy.

I still felt strange, like there were bugs crawling on my skin, like every sound was magnified a hundredfold. I supposed being hyperaware was the price you paid for being a criminal.
Better to be overly sensitive, I told myself, than to be oblivious.

I sat there, thinking about what we were doing, what we had done, and despite the confidence I'd felt when we left the station, I was suddenly full of dread. What we were attempting was foolish and reckless. Dr. Roop had said we could do it, but that didn't make it true.

Charles came and sat next to me, and I didn't notice he was there until he asked what was on my mind. I wasn't really in the mood to tell him my problems, but I figured I had nothing to lose. He had followed me this far.

“At the hearing,” I told him, “when the Phandic Ambassador said there would be no peace while I lived, I was thinking that it was exactly like
Star Trek IV
, and how bad it would be if things became like
Star Trek V
. Now here we are. Does that make you Spock? Tamret is Uhura? The girls are like Sulu and Chekov or something? Steve is Dr. McCoy? We're all old and lame. This is going to be a disaster.”

“I have not seen that film,” Charles said, “but I do recall another American space adventure in which the heroes must force their way into an alien fortress. I believe in that one it was to rescue a princess. Do you know this story?”