Syn-En: Registration (26 page)

The man called Pet carried a sleeping girl in his arms. Ruth urged the stragglers to walk faster.

Bei moved into step behind the little girl. He’d keep his promises to Job. No one would be left behind. And after he registered, he’d return for the rest of the Deutche clan.

A tremor traveled through the floor. A moment later an aftertaste of nitrate hit the back of his throat. Someone had used Rome’s explosives.

The security officer glanced over his shoulder and frowned.

The fight had turned. Which way, Bei couldn’t tell.

Sucking on her bottom lip, Ruth turned to look over her shoulder.

Keyes slowed. “Should we…”

Bei shook his head. First the registration, then the rescue. No more delays. “I’ve seen video clips of airplanes. They do not make that sound unless they are going to crash.”

“I think that is part of the fun.”

Twenty meters ahead, Rome turned down a corridor.

The civilian cortege slogged behind him.

Keyes eyed him over the head of one dozing toddler. “Bei, we don’t have the medical supplies on board the
Icarus
to fix Nell Stafford. I don’t know if anyone can fix her.”

“I’ll fix her.” The hair on his skin stood up. Sensors registered a slow power draw on his systems. Nell. She was using his energy reservoirs to keep herself intact. Alive.

“NDA.” Nell muttered.

Keyes adjusted her hold on one sleeping child. “Did she just say NDA?”

“She’s sleeping.” Why would his wife be talking about their skin, their neodynamic armor? He turned the corner.

Rome and the others stood by the elevator in the middle of the passageway. He handed off the toddlers to the women before lifting the boy from his shoulders. “You stay here. When the coast is clear, I’ll send the lift down.”

The skin over Bei’s cerebral interface tightened.

Acquiring network signal. Signal acquired. Welcome back, Admiral.

Hail,
Icarus
. What’s the status of ET?

The elevator doors rumbled open. Rome reached for the drawstrings holding up his pants.

Keyes’s voice popped into Bei’s head.
Hey, there are young ones present.

Right, don’t want to scare anyone.
Pivoting, Rome dropped his trousers, presenting everyone with his bare backside. He quickly disappeared as his skin switched into camouflage mode.
Better?

ET’s ships are estimated to touchdown in sixty-two seconds.

How long until the elevator reaches the top?
Bei held up his hand before Rome touched the control panel.

Thirty-four seconds at maximum capacity.

Plenty of time, and only one chance. “Everyone inside.”

Everyone raced for the elevator. The two women arranged the children, packing them in tightly.

Holding his trousers over his invisible privates, Rome yelped. “Watch the toes.”

Six seconds later, Bei entered, keeping Nell’s back out of sight. Overriding the elevator’s programming, he forced the doors closed and the lift creaked upward.

Can’t this thing go any faster?
Rome shimmered into view.
I could have climbed and been there already.

And speaking of arriving… Bei caught the eye of each adult civilian. “Once we arrive, we’ll need to hide in a utility closet.”

The women blinked.

Which word wasn’t used anymore? Bei scrapped them all. “Exit the elevator, turn right and enter the first door. We need to be quick and quiet.”

Ruth tugged on his trouser leg. “Scraptors?”

The children shifted closer, held each other’s hands.

He could lie, spare them the truth. But he needed their silence, and they had a right to know. “Yes.”

Pet wiped his snotty nose on the back of his hand. “I can fight.”

The women nodded. “So can we. No more Deutche children in the mines.”

Admiral, I count seventy-two Scraptors and four Municians between the two vessels.

Keyes shrugged.
With those numbers, it’s close to a fair fight.

“No. Thank you.” The elevator slowed. “We hide in the closet and don’t draw their attention.”
Nell can’t afford the delay.

Understood.
Keyes shifted her attention to Nell.
How is she?

She’ll make it.
The elevator doors opened and he backed out.

ET will touchdown in twenty….nineteen…

I’m on it.
“Hold these for me.” The security officer handed off his trousers to the boy he carried, then shimmered out of sight.

The boy hugged them tight. “I want to do that when I get older.”

Orderly, yet rushing, the civilians hustled outside, turned right.

Fifteen…

Pet reached the door first. He yanked on the knob. “It’s locked.”

“I’ll get it.” The crowd parted before Keyes. She twisted.

The tumblers sheered in half and the door opened with a creak.

Pet rushed inside.

Ten.

Bei, ET is rolling out the welcome ramp.

They’re almost inside.
Bei crowded the civilians toward the room.

“Can you hold this for me, Ruth?” When the little girl nodded, Keyes camouflaged herself and undressed. She draped her tunic over Ruth’s head. 

The little girl pulled it off and slid inside the closet.

Bei stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind him.

Touchdown, Admiral.

The door popped open.

I got it, Admiral.
Keyes eased the door closed.

Bei felt her presence on the other side. Breathing swirled in the cramped space. Small hands pressed against his legs. Bei transferred part of his consciousness into the Wireless Array. A digitalized version of his bridge appeared then rippled away.

I apologize, Admiral, but fuel reserves are critical. I cannot maintain visual. Audio only.

He could work with audio.
How far can you travel?

With current life support levels, I can travel seven hundred kilometers.

Only one answer mattered.
Enough to reach the Erwar Consortium?

Yes, Sir.

Good. Set course and prepare to punch it upon my command.
Bei’s sensors flared red. Nell’s heart rate plummeted.
Report, Rome.

Twelve bug-uglies and two stink-bugs are just standing on the ramp.

We need to get on the
Icarus. Bei stiffened. Nell’s blood pressure dropped to forty over ten.
She’s beginning to crash.

Fuck, Bei.
I could get their attention and you could make a run for it.
Rome’s irritation flooded the WA.

Negative. Her life signs are holding.
Low, but holding. For how long, he didn’t know. Didn’t intend to find out.

Bei, the idiots are returning to their ship. Engines are powering up and kicking dust. I suggest we make a run for it, while their visuals are obscured or the assholes change their mind.

Agreed.
Bei signaled the
Icarus
to lower her ramp
.
“When I open the door I want everyone to run as fast as you can after the naked people.”

Rome snorted.
Naked people? I’m a Syn-En soldier, not a naked people.

Just haul ass, sweet cheeks.
Opening the door, Keyes winked at Bei.

Ruth handed her the tunic. “Do we follow you?”

“My husband, sweetie.” Taking it, Keyes slipped the shirt over her head.

Partially obscured by the dust, Rome cupped his hands over his mouth. “Everyone hold hands with the person in front and behind you. Move fast and keep your mouth and eyes closed.”

“The youngest. They won’t be able to keep up.” Pet took the anchor position but didn’t set down his child.

“We have them.” Keyes loaded up with three toddlers and headed out.

The last toddler raised his arms to Bei and opened and closed his fingers.

Holding Nell’s ankles in one hand, he picked the boy up by his waistband.

Spittle flew as the boy made crashing airplane noises.

Hand to wrist, the adults and children created a human chain. Ruth reached the Chief first then the two disappeared into the orange haze.

In the middle of the line, Keyes walked beside the youngest.

Bei covered their six. Closing his eyes, he brought on his infrared sensors. The two ships hovered a hundred meters overhead. The
Icarus
used her turbines to keep the screen up. Why wasn’t ET moving away?

Admiral, ET seems to be attempting to land again.

Lead naked person on board, Bei. Keyes has just reached the ramp. I’m heading to the bridge.

Roger that.
Bei watched the bright white flames of the civilians board his ship. His bare feet touched metal.
Raise ramp and prepare for lift off. Let’s use ET’s touchdown to cover our tracks.

Gears ground behind him and the ramp shifted.

Pet stumbled, found his footing, and staggered to a bench.

Keyes stepped from the haze. “All present and accounted for.”

“Punch it, Rome.” Bei set the toddler on the deck.

Punching it.

Keyes fell in behind him, shielding Nell’s back from their view. “The infirmary is prepared.”

The ship hummed to life under his feet. Adjusting his magnetic strength, he rolled with the motion as the
Icarus
gained altitude.

A repair warden climbed out of the engine room. Rome’s favorite spare arm hung from one socket, spindly limbs graced the other seven.

The civilians pressed against their seats.

Ruth hugged her knees to her chest. “What is it?”

“It’s a warden.” Bei shifted to the side as the spider-like creature crawled toward him. “It repairs my ship.”

His focus dropped to the canister in the drone’s hand. What the hell? The warden held his supply of neodynamic armor. Bei held out his hand. “Are you malfunctioning, warden?”

“I am to repair Nell Stafford.”

Bei reached for the NDA. “Nell is flesh and blood. That is for Syn-Ens.”

“It is for repairing.” The warden sliced open the canister. With Rome’s spare arm, it spun Bei around and poured the Neodynamic armor down Nell’s back.

Her arms and legs unlocked.

“Nell!” He grabbed for an ankle. Caught it, but it wasn’t enough. Her pulse was gone. She wasn’t breathing.

She flopped backward.

The warden caught her in its spindly arm, carefully rolled her onto her side and set her on the floor.

“What have you done?” The field keeping Nell intact could have shorted out. She could be dead. Raising his fist, Bei swung at the warden.

Standing on the bench, Keyes caught his fist. “Look at her.”

The liquid metal armor coated her vertebrae and ribs, built a framework of mesh, straps of synthetic tissue and muscle and spread out in sheets of silvery skin. Thin strings tapped into her nervous system.

Bei crouched next to his wife, carefully set her leg on the deck. The NDA filled in the missing pieces of Nell like finishing a jigsaw puzzle. But was it enough? He skimmed her wrist. Her heart resumed beating. “How is it doing that?”

“We’ve always assumed the NDA was a patch, maybe it’s something more.” Keyes reached out to touch the silver curve of Nell’s back.

The warden pushed her hand out of the way. “The NDA must identify with Nell Stafford’s coding, no one else’s.”

“Sorry.” Keyes rubbed her hand. “Her vitals are stabilizing. You know what this means, don’t you?”

His wife would live. His magnetic field pulled him toward the ceiling. “I’m never letting her out of my sight again. Ever.”

That way he could keep her safe and prevent his cardiac subroutines from melting down.

Now that Nell Stafford is firmly in the land of the living,
Rome’s irritation charged the air.
Bei, either the Erwar Consortium has been destroyed or we’re in Butt Fuck Erwar. I see nothing but a sand pit.

Coming.
“Watch her.” Bei marched to the ladder at the end of the crew compartment.

“No one shall touch her until the process is complete.” The warden shifted forward, planting its rectangular body over Nell’s.

He shook his head. He’d been talking to Keyes, but the warden worked, too.

Ruth reached out to touch the drone’s body. “Is it safe?”

“Yes. It’s our helper.” Keyes patted the metal torso. “Now who would like to sleep in a nice soft bed?”

Climbing every other rung, Bei quickly scaled the ladder then raced up the steps to the bridge. A sandy pit filled the view screens. “I ordered the shuttle to take us to the Consortium steps.”

“Sorry, Bei.” A soft voice filled the cockpit. “I kinda changed the plan.”

Although digitized, he knew the inflection. He checked the bridge’s entrance. Empty. “Nell?”

“Yep, I escaped Mom’s make believe world.” Nell snorted. An image of her smiled back at him from view screens. “That’s so old school SciFi. Well, my mind did. My body’s still down there healing itself. I’m taking up a lot of space in the mainframe so you’re kinda blocked.”

Rome shook his head. “We have limited fuel reserves and you took us for a joy ride? What if we don’t have enough juice to reach the registration point?”

“We have enough. Mom calculated it. Besides, we have to retrieve Elvis. He’s at the Skaperian embassy.”

Bei skimmed her image’s cheek. “Nell, the embassy was destroyed.”

“No.” Her brow furrowed and she turned, looking at the picture she overlaid. She bit her lip. “But I sent Elvis there to be safe. He was supposed to warn the Shish, Padgows and Ck’son. We were all supposed to be free together.”

Bei’s cardiac subroutine malfunctioned. He wouldn’t fail her in this. That feather-face meant the world to her. “Run scans again. Penetrate the crust as far as you can.”

“Elvis must have taken them into the tunnels.” Nell’s chin trembled. “Please.”

“Rerunning scans.” Rome’s fingers flew over the control panel. The computer beeped the results—no life signs. Just sand, tons and tons of sand.