Steel Beneath the Skin (2 page)

‘I think we tell her. I’d like to do it face to face. The containment room has an air lock, there’s no danger of her getting out.’

‘And no way for us to help if she decides to pull your limbs off,’ Bashford pointed out.

‘Yes,’ Ella replied, ‘but I think it’s a risk worth taking. I don’t think she’s hostile. And anyway, if she is, do you think you can keep her contained.’

‘You’re crazy,’ Monkey said.

‘Gillian?’ Drake asked.

‘It’s a risk, but I’m not sure there’s an alternative. As Ella pointed out, we aren’t equipped to deal with this. If she’s hostile we’ll have to divert to a naval base, and that will likely end this expedition.’

‘Okay,’ Drake said. ‘Ella, you’ve got the go ahead.’

~~~

Aneka looked up as she heard a door shutting. It was not the door to her cell, but through the small window in it she could see Ella. So the door was some sort of air lock. Well, that made some sense if she was actually in quarantine.
High-end NBC system, maybe.
Now, the fact that she knew what “NBC” meant suggested that maybe she was in the military. Maybe. She sat up to wait.

The inner door slid open, sideways, and Ella stepped through. She was not wearing a hood or helmet, or even a paper mask, so bio-hazards were out of the equation. She smiled and walked over to sit down on the chair which was bolted to the floor near the middle of the bed. She had a pretty smile, but it was distorted by worry.

‘How are you feeling?’ Ella asked.

‘Aside from the memory thing, I’m feeling fine. I don’t think I’ve ever felt better.’

‘Fridgy.’ Aneka wondered whether the girl ever looked anything other than happy.

‘Physically that is. I mean… I’ve been thinking and, if you’re a human, even if you don’t call yourself that, and we’re on a spaceship, then I guess I was stuck on that ship for quite a while.’ Ella nodded; she looked uncomfortable, which was a change. ‘How long?’

 ‘We aren’t entirely sure.’ At least the final dates had come back before she came in. She could do better than “about a thousand years.” ‘We ran dating analysis sequences on everything we could and we’re coming back with dates of eleven-hundred and seventy-three years, plus or minus forty.’ Ella watched as this figure sank in; she was expecting something, probably hysterics, but Aneka just sat there staring at her toes.

‘My hair’s white,’ Aneka said after a while. ‘It used to be blonde. Dirty blonde, but blonde. Now it’s white.’ She looked up at Ella. ‘And I think someone gave me a boob job while I was out.’

The statement made Ella look at Aneka’s breasts. ‘They, um… They did a really good job on them.’

‘They’re a little bigger, I think, definitely more… perky.’

‘They’re…’ Ella shook her head and made a desperate attempt to look professional. Aneka spoke first.

‘Why would aliens kidnap me, turn my hair white, and perform cosmetic surgery on me?’

‘Well… Do you notice any other differences? Small things, maybe.’

‘Got a mirror?’ Ella pointed to a sink near the door which had a small mirror over it, and Aneka headed over to it. She looked into it, frowning as she turned her head from side to side. Then she turned and started twisting around to peer at her body. ‘I used to have a filling in one of my molars. I think that’s gone. Nothing else I can see… There was a chicken pox scar on my neck that I can’t feel.’ She looked down, pressing at the skin of her right thigh with a thumb. ‘The bullet wound I had here... that scar’s gone too. Odd, but…’

‘And there’s just the memory loss? You don’t
feel
any different?’

Aneka frowned. ‘You’re skirting around something. My memory’s fragged, but I’m pretty sure I’m the kind of person who prefers not to be bullshitted.’

‘I’m not actually sure what that means, but… maybe you should sit back down.’ She looked like she would be a lot more comfortable with Aneka sitting, so Aneka sat, perching on the bed and pulling her knees up to her chest. ‘I’m not really sure how to explain this…’

‘Just say it. I’ll ask questions if I don’t get it.’

‘Okay… The aliens who took you were called the Xinti. We think they were organic beings once, but that was thousands of years ago. They kind of… uploaded their minds into huge computers, used different bodies, robotic and engineered biological, according to their needs.’ She paused, her eyes fixed on Aneka. ‘And… that’s what they did to you.’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘You’re, basically… um, a robot. A synthetic organism anyway. There’s a cybernetic chassis with an organic body hung around it. Your mind is running as a program on the computer that controls it all. An emulation.’

There was silence as Aneka sat staring at Ella. She did not appear to be angry, or violent, or anything really. Just stunned. ‘That’s insane,’ she said after about a minute. Her voice was quiet, and uncertain. ‘I’m… I feel like… me. I can feel… I feel…’ Her voice stopped. She stopped. She just sat there, unmoving, not even breathing, her eyes blank.

‘What happened?’ Gilroy’s voice said over the speakers. ‘The readings on her electrical activity just dropped sharply.’

‘I think… I think she crashed. Shock? I’m going to sit here until she comes back.’

‘
If
she comes back.’

Ella did not answer, she just pulled her knees up, mimicking Aneka’s posture, and settled down to wait.

~~~

Aneka watched as text scrolled past her vision field. She did not take it all in, but what she saw seemed to be diagnostic information. Actuator systems, power systems, biological activity, sensors. The final statement was an “unexpected process halt” report stating that her systems had successfully dumped short term memory to long term after the event. Ella had been telling the truth. At least that was what it looked like considering that she was watching her body go through what amounted to a start-up health check.

Ella was still there, where she had been when Aneka had blacked out, which was four hours ago, according to the downtime statement she had seen. The lights in the room had been dimmed and the redhead was sprawled in her chair, eyes closed. The rhythmic breathing, the steady rise and fall of her chest, indicated that she was, most likely, asleep.

Aneka sat still and took in what she could see. The room, and the one beyond the window as best she could tell, had bare metal walls which looked like hammered steel. The floor was smoother, but with ridges which presumably improved traction. There were screens which looked more or less like the LCD screens she was used to, but a lot thinner and in some cases transparent, outside the window. Instruments and machines of various types she had no clue about could be seen beyond those. There was no one out there watching, though she had to figure there were cameras she could not see in the room, so someone could have been monitoring remotely.

Then there was Ella. She was a pretty girl. Cute might be the right term. Asleep and not smiling she looked kind of sad. Aneka found herself wanting to see the girl smile again; she had a really cheerful smile, it made you feel better seeing it. Her breasts were on the smallish side, her body slim without any excessive muscle, but still toned. The suit she was wearing was clearly some sort of spacesuit. It was very thin, but there were ridges in the fabric which suggested some structure. The fabric itself looked like plastic, but it clung to her skin more like rubber. It
really
clung, following every contour.

Reaching out slowly, Aneka put her finger on Ella’s knee, which happened to be the closest available body part. The suit felt like plastic, slick, like polythene. When she pulled back and looked up, Ella was awake and smiling. She really did look so much better when she was smiling.

‘You’re awake,’ Ella said, stating the obvious. ‘We were a little worried I’d broken you.’

‘Broken, yeah. So, I watched my start-up sequence this time. I guess you’re right. I’m a robot.’

‘Not a robot exactly,’ Ella said urgently. ‘Well, yes, a robot, but you’re more than just a hunk of metal.’

Aneka lifted her hand, watched as she curled and straightened her fingers. ‘No, this looks like living flesh. A cyborg? I’m a Terminator Series sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor?’ She gave a half-hearted grin. ‘My brother was so into sci-fi. He’d think this was great… except he’s been dead for a thousand years.’

Ella jumped on the positive. ‘Fridgy! You remember you had a brother? Your memory’s returning?’

‘Fragments. I remember I had a younger brother, and I remember getting “The Terminator” for him on DVD and getting told off because my dad thought he was too young. I can’t remember what he looked like, or his name. I still can’t remember
my
name.’

‘I can help you with that.’ The voice was male and it came from the speakers. Aneka looked up to see a man standing at the window. He was tall, powerfully built, good looking, and dressed in the same sort of one-piece suit as the Ella. His head was bald, but he had the kind of skull that looked good on. He held up a plastic card. ‘Aneka Jansen. While you were out a couple of us went over to check the room we found you in for any evidence. Assuming this isn’t just some faked ID, you were working for a company named Anderson Security Consulting. We found a little booklet too, a “passport,” in the same name. That says you were a citizen of “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”’

‘That’s a terrible picture. The passport photo was worse. I nearly went back to the shop to get it done better.’

‘What about this consulting company?’ Ella asked. ‘Consulting sounds technical, maybe you were a programmer, researcher?’ Considering the muscled body it seemed unlikely, but you never knew.

Aneka’s eyes narrowed. ‘We did private security and hostage rescue. I was a soldier… later a mercenary, basically. Yeah. I was working in… Iraq! My team and I were sent in to pull out four engineers taken hostage by insurgents…’

Iraq, May 16
^th
, 2011.

The enclave consisted of four mud-brick buildings within a low wall. The squad of six moved in on it by twos, keeping low. The guard on the south side died silently when his throat was slit. Another two guards died just as efficiently before the team swept in toward the buildings.

There were lights on in only one building. Aneka pointed Sims at the window. It was boarded shut, but his grenade launcher would make short work of that. Perry and Quinn were motioned to the door. She nodded to Sims as soon as they were in position. The launcher spoke twice and two stun grenades shattered the wood over the window. A second later the interior of the building filled with bright light and smoke, and two loud bangs left the occupants wondering what was happening long enough for the breach team to enter. There was the sound of automatic weapons fire.

Three insurgents, half dressed and carrying AK-47s burst out of one of the other buildings. They made it barely three yards before they were cut down.

‘Hostages secure,’ Perry’s voice announced over their field radios.

‘Move them out,’ Aneka said. ‘Sims, Dalton, Teague, make sure we’re not followed.’

Everything was running smoothly so far, just the way Aneka liked it. She stood up and took point out of the enclosure as Perry and Quinn hustled their charges out of the building. Four hundred yards out and they would make sure they were in the clear, and then bring in the evac chopper. Plain sailing.

They put the hostages in the centre of a circle and stood, weapons pointed outward. All four man were battered, bruised, and in shock, but they were safe now. The three remaining members of the extraction team moved up a couple of minutes later. Sims gave an “OK” sign as he walked toward Aneka. There had been no trouble. It was almost going too smoothly.

‘Sims, get the chopper on the radio,’ Aneka said as Dalton and Teague joined the circle.

‘I think it’s here,’ Sims replied, pointing upward. There was a light in the sky where he was pointing, pulsing red. Then the area was saturated with bright light and wind.

‘What the fuck’s he doing?!’ Quinn yelled.

Aneka covered her eyes and looked up at the vehicle overhead. There was wind, but no noise from the blades. She was just about to say that she did not think it was the helicopter when something hit her in the chest. Her entire body jerked and her vision blurred. For a fraction of a second she heard yelling, and then there was nothing.

FScV Garnet Hyde, 13.6.523 FSC.

‘Sounds like an electronic rifle hit,’ the man behind the window said. ‘Puts several thousand volts through you guided by a couple of laser beams. Feels like someone plugged you into the mains, then you black out.’

‘A ranged taser,’ Aneka said. ‘Yeah, something like that.’

‘Uh, Aneka, this is Leo Bashford, one of our facilitators,’ Ella said by way of introduction.

Aneka looked out at the bald man. Probably ex-military, fairly intense, and watching her carefully. ‘I don’t remember what happened after that. There were ten of us there. Have you found anyone else?’

Bashford shook his head. ‘We did a bit more searching where we found you. It was basically a section of the ship’s hold. We haven’t had time to go through the rest of the ship. Besides which, we need Ella for that and she’s been in here.’

‘Uh, yeah. Thank you for waiting for me to come around.’ She let herself sit back against the wall, though she continued hiding herself behind her legs as much as possible. ‘Thanks for, well, rescuing me, I guess.’

‘We were passing by,’ Bashford said. ‘You were lucky the ship detected the mass. You were a navigational hazard, and a hard one to detect. A dead ship in space is next to invisible, especially at warp velocities. Once the ship saw you it was obliged to slow down and wake one of the flight crew. They have to file a Navigation Hazard Report.’

‘But Drake, the captain, realised what he was looking at and woke the rest of us,’ Ella continued. ‘We’re with the University of New Earth doing archaeology, anthropology, that kind of thing.’

‘Wait… “New Earth”?’

Ella’s face straightened. ‘Joval Five was renamed as New Earth in two-fifty-five by our calendar. Old Earth… well, we’re not even sure where it is now. We have a rough idea, obviously, but it’s not worth finding anyway. The Xinti… it’s a cinder. We lost so much…’