Transcendent (9781311909442) (15 page)

Shelby laughed. “Never had a stiff drink
before?”

“Alcohol?”

She nodded and took another sip.

“Isn’t alcohol banned?”

She tilted her head. “Are you going to
report me?”

He laughed and felt his chest and belly
warming. “To who, you?”

She winked and turned to glance at the small
fields of berries growing under the hydroponic lights. She twisted
her head to stretch her neck and then slipped her blue and white
jacket off. “Hot and humid in here,” she observed. “Something wrong
with the machinery?”

Krys nodded. He’d been sweating since he
stepped into the greenhouse. “Irrigation system wasn’t working.
Wasn’t enough pressure, so I found a couple of leaks and fixed
them. I think I optimized the watering schedule too.”

“You think?”

Krys shrugged.

Shelby turned to study the rows of fruit and
herbs. “We need more of these greenhouses,” she said. “Something to
justify being stationed here during the night cycle.”

Krys took another drink and found it went
down a little easier the second time. He regarded the drink before
turning to her. “There’s enough carbon in the repository for a
couple of greenhouses, but rigging up the lighting and plumbing
would take more supplies than we’ve got.”

She watched him and smirked. “Something
wrong?”

“What? No!” Krys grinned. “Just thinking it
wasn’t so long ago and I’d have been too young to do this. Um, not
that I’m much older now. I mean, uh, just that there was a minimum
age and—”

“Krys,” Shelby silenced him. “Venus didn’t
have a law about that.”

“We didn’t?”

She shook her head.

“Oh! Mom and Dad always said I was too
young,” he said and lapsed into silence.

Shelby watched him and nodded. “I’m sorry
about your parents.”

He jerked and stared at her. “What? Oh,
well, not much I can do about that,” he said. “Move on and work
towards a better tomorrow for the human race. That’s what you keep
telling me.”

She nodded and shifted to lift her right leg
so she could half sit and half lean against a table. “I don’t have
to agree with or like everything I do,” she said.

Krys shrugged again. They’d had enough
conversations that he knew where her loyalties were. She was a
soldier and a good one, but she was a decent person too. He liked
her, and he knew he would have liked her even if she hadn’t saved
his life.

“So, um, why are you checking up on me?” he
asked her after the silence began to feel awkward.

“Check up on you? Didn’t think I needed to.
I was off work and thought I’d say happy birthday.”

Krys winced and looked down at the control
panel. He jerked his eyes back up and saw Shelby watching him. Why
was she so nice to him? Time and again, she went out of her way
where he was concerned. She’d even risked her job and probably her
life. He started to open his mouth to ask when she slid off the
table and stood up.

“A new supply ship will land soon. Lesk
should bring back the supplies you two listed.”

Krys nodded. The colony commander was back.
“Um, good, we’ll need them for planting when the sun rises.”

She nodded and took another drink. “I should
be going,” she said.

Krys nodded. “Um, okay. Thanks for the
drink.”

She smiled. “Don’t let anyone see you with
that. Too many people have seen too much of you already.”

He stopped mid-drink and looked at her. “I
don’t understand.”

She sighed and leaned against the table
again without sitting on it. “Think about it,” she suggested.
“Everybody who works and lives here knows about you. Odds are
pretty good the word has spread, too. People talk.”

Krys frowned. “There’s not much contact
between colonies.”

“No, but people have families and friends
all over the solar system. Word gets around.”

“So, um, I take it that’s bad?”

Shelby shrugged. “A young man your age
should be in a reeducation center.”

“I’ve been learning a lot here.”

She sighed. “We’ll figure it out when we
need to.”

“We?”

“I,” she corrected. “You’re just an
impressionable young man and it’s my job to shelter and nurture
you.”

Krys snorted.

“What’s that for?”

“You’re what, five years older than me?”

“Six!”

“Five. Today’s my birthday.”

Shelby clamped her lips shut. “I’ve had
proper training and education. Five very important years.”

Krys glanced down at the control screen and
noted the timer on it. He fought down the smile that threatened his
face and turned back to her. “Okay, Miss Know-it-all, will you help
me out with something then?”

She pushed away from the table and left her
drink on it. “Happy to help. What’s wrong?”

“I need to take some readings on some
valves, but I can’t adjust them and take the readings at the same
time. Can you give them a twist when I tell you to?”

She nodded. “Of course. Where are they?”

Krys pointed beyond the control booth they
were in and down into the greenhouse. “Head down there, second
aisle, and I’ll tell you when to stop and adjust something.”

Shelby smiled and stepped through the open
arch of the booth and down onto the same level as the growing
bushes. Each row of fruit was suspended in boxes half a meter off
the ground, allowing plumbing and wiring to be exposed. She walked
several meters before turning and looking back at Krys. “Well?”

“A few more steps,” he said and then glanced
at the panel. “Then beneath the strawberry bin. Look for a round
connector with knurling on it. There are markings on it; just twist
it clockwise seven marks.”

Shelby nodded and bent over. Krys watched,
enjoying the view and biting his lip. He counted down with the
clock on the display and just as she dropped to her knees and
reached under the bin, the sprinkler system activated.

Shelby yelped and jumped back. She slipped
and fell, sprawling on her back in the aisle while a deluge of
water drizzled onto her. She climbed to her feet and glared at Krys
before she stormed up the aisle and into the booth. She found him
laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach and tears were
running down his cheeks.

“What—”

Krys tried to contain himself but he burst
out laughing even harder. She glared at him and he shook his head
before trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“I’m going to shoot you myself,” she growled
at him before turning away.

“Wait!” Krys managed to gasp.

She stopped and spun, her eyes little more
than narrow slits.

“You said,” he paused, gasping for air, “you
said it was hot in here!”

She stiffened, lifting her head even as she
pushed her chest out. Krys couldn’t help his eyes as they dropped
to her wet uniform and noticed how the water made it cling to her
skin more than usual. He stopped laughing and stared.

Shelby looked down at herself and shook her
head. She let out a laugh of her own and raised an arm so she could
shake her finger at him. “You’re going to get yourself in a lot of
trouble, young man.”

Krys forced a grin on his face and swallowed
past the dry lump in his throat.

“Finish up and get to bed,” she said.
“That’s an order.”

“I thought you were off duty?”

She grabbed her dry jacket and her cup and
said, “I’m never that off duty.”

Krys nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She smirked and turned away. She walked
towards the door and stopped. “Thanks for the shower—I needed
it.”

Krys stood mute as she strode back out into
the aisle and made her way through the artificial rainfall to the
door. She opened it and walked through, leaving Krys staring and
gaping at where she’d been.

Lily stared at the back of the chair in the
dimly lit booth and reached out to touch the fabric. The chair was
padded but firm. She stepped around it and took in the control
panel stretched out in front of the chair. The panel was level but
not smooth; different sections had textures raised to help the
pilot identify by touch where their fingers were.

She sat down in the seat and saw smaller
controls on the arms of the chair, including a green icon that was
labeled, “Start.” She pressed it.

The console moved, earning a yelp from her.
It slid over her lap and she had to lift her arms to avoid having
them pinned. The sliding surface latched onto the arms of her chair
and stopped. She felt something bump against her feet but she
couldn’t see through the darkness beneath the control panel to
figure out what it was. The curved display screen in front of her
came to life and showed the interior of a large warehouse.

“Welcome, Miss Lily Strain.”

Lily gasped and glanced around. The voice
was pleasant but firm. Feminine, but without any noticeable accent.
“Uh, hello?”

“Please refer to the control board in front
of you. Since there is no neural link, pedals at your feet control
your speed. The blinking control on the board is for determining
direction of movement. Please proceed to the garage entrance.”

“Um, okay,” Lily said as she moved her feet
and found the pedals. She pressed her foot against one lightly. The
display moved and she heard the sound of a large metal foot taking
a step. The only problem was that her view had twisted several
degrees to the left. Lily pressed her foot against the left pedal
and the left foot took a step. Her display swung back around so she
was facing the door directly.

“Cool,” she whispered. She studied the
control panel, wondering how she could move her arms and turn the
body. The biomechs were robots, sure, but she’d seen them move like
that and knew it was possible.

“Please proceed to the garage entrance,” the
voice repeated.

“Sorry,” Lily said. She pressed both feet
against the pedals and felt as though she was moving forward. On
the display, the garage door loomed closer and then it was behind
her. Bright sunlight streamed down on a dirty world of gray. There
were no trees or grass or any sort of vegetation. Just a barren and
desolate landscape. She took her feet off the pedals and
waited.

“Change heading to zero-niner-three and
climb the ridge.”

Lily saw the compass indicator on the panel
and feathered the pedals until it read ninety-three. She pressed
her feet against both pedals and felt a thrill run through her as
the biomech thundered ahead through the desert landscape. Her
biomech climbed up a hill, adjusting itself for the incline, and in
a few moments she let off the pedals and stared over the lip of the
ridge. She waited there and stared at the uneven ground ahead of
her.

“Please proceed to the top of the
ridge.”

Lily frowned. She was at the ridge already.
If she climbed to the top of it, she’d be fully exposed. Wasn’t
that dumb? She frowned and throttled ahead until she felt she’d
reached the top.

Several red shapes appeared on the display.
They highlighted vehicles on the uneven plain in front of her.
There was one tank, two trucks, and another biomech. She studied it
and recognized it to be a scout class biomech. It made her wonder
what model she was piloting.

More controls flared brighter on her
display. “Weapon systems engaged,” the voice said. “Use the left
pad for controlling the left arm’s optical system and the right pad
for the right arm’s primary weapon.”

“What—”

“The weapon your scout class biomech is
equipped with is a fifty-millimeter autorifle capable of firing
semi-automatically or in three-round bursts. Your ammunition for
this exercise is unlimited.”

Lily clamped her mouth shut and bit her lip
to keep from smiling. She placed her hand on each slightly
depressed circle. Two yellow flashing bars showed at the bottom of
her display. She pushed her fingers forward until the bars rose and
formed targeting reticles on the screen. She saw the end of the
rifle appear at the bottom of her display on the right-hand
side.

“Target the truck on the left with the
optical weapon.”

Lily moved the left arm until the reticle
passed over the red target. It turned orange, indicating a high
probability firing solution.

“Discharge the weapon by tapping your thumb
against the firing control.”

Lily glanced at the board and saw her thumb
was resting on it. She gulped and moved it off. A quick glance at
the screen to confirm she was still lined up with the truck and she
tapped her thumb against it. For a tiny moment, she thought nothing
had happened.

She looked again and saw a blackened section
against the truck’s cab where her reticle had pointed. The door and
engine compartment looked warped and bowed in while the glowing
metal cooled rapidly and darkened. Her orange glowing reticle, now
darker as the weapon was recharging, had obscured the damage.

“That was weak,” she muttered.

“Center the primary weapon’s firing reticle
on the truck.”

Lily jerked in surprise and brought the
weapon across too fast. She had to back it up to confirm a probable
firing solution and then waited.

She didn’t wait long. “Fire when ready.”

Lily tapped the firing button on her right
pad and heard the loud roar of the fifty-mm cannon go off. It
struck the truck in the back of the cab and tore the rear and top
of the cab off. Air exploded out of the breached compartment and
clouded for a brief instant before being disbursed into the
vacuum.

“A moon!” Lily breathed. That explained the
lack of vegetation and colors. She wondered which moon the terrain
was modeled after. Earth’s Luna or maybe Phobos or Deimos? Heck,
for all she knew it could have been one of the moons of Jupiter,
Saturn, or even Uranus.

She supposed it didn’t matter. What mattered
was that the truck was thoroughly disabled. The cab was smashed
open and the storage compartment in the back was rent nearly in
half by the powerful shell.