Eye of the Abyss: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 3 Read online

  She shrieked.

  “It’s just the guard.” Giselle came up beside her with an amused look.

  “Of course,” she replied, connecting to Sanul with her cerebral implant. How are we doing?

  “I’ve got the maintenansh ‘botsh down,” he slurred into her mind. She realized the phytrophor still had him in its grasp—lucky bastard. “The repair order ish in the shystem.”

  Okay, she sent back.

  “She’s here about the maintenance order.” Giselle spoke in a confident voice to the statuesque artificial.

  It stared at each of them in turn, the black dots of its pupils glaring from within white eyeballs. “You are arriving 73 seconds after the maintenance assistance request.”

  “She was nearby,” Giselle said. “As was I.”

  “You are not with maintenance, Giselle Tauthe.” The android took one step forward. It was a slow, non-aggressive move but Cygni still found herself in need of a step back. Made of dense, self-repairing silicon cells around a carbon-nanotube skeleton, Revenant’s artificial guards could punch through a wall with ease.

  “I was on an errand to bio-resources when she asked me for assistance,” Giselle responded, seemingly unaffected by the android’s threatening move.

  Sanul? Cygni messaged.

  “This is Ila, Haem Cygni. Sanul is getting the bio-resources review request into the system,” niu responded.

  She held her breath. Her cerebral computer registered an identification request. It was time to see if “Sarasa Bless” was going to hold up to scrutiny.

  “Identification confirmed. Proceed.” The android stepped back and shut its eyes.

  “Creepy,” she muttered to herself. She was sure she would never get used to those things. Though robots were ubiquitous in the Confederation, these advanced android models were restricted almost entirely to the Confederate elite on account of their astronomical cost. She couldn’t understand why anyone would want these bone-chilling things around.

  “This is as far as I go,” Giselle said. “Work fast, the baron doesn’t like anyone to linger in his quarters.”

  “Of course,” she said, realizing Giselle must have turned off her loop-jammer by now. The guard was probably still listening to them, as were the security devices in the walls.

  Giselle gave her a nod and headed back into the lift. She heard its doors slide shut, leaving her alone in the antechamber of Revenant’s personal quarters.

  Her heart raced, and she stared at the door before deciding to just go for it. The left one slid open revealing, to her surprise, another lift car. She boarded it and waited. The door closed and she experienced a brief moment of vertigo as the car ascended. When the door opened again she found herself staring at the white wall of a hallway. She wasn’t expecting it, thinking that maybe she would have been greeted by the sight of a palatial office, like Baroness Sophiathena’s, and the plainness of the corridor took her aback. She proceeded into it, noting the smell of disinfectant was heavy in the air. The hallway spanned three steps in either direction before turning at a right angle on both ends. With a shrug, she went left and followed it into a modest living room that was about twice the size of her own.

  “What the hell?” she whispered to herself, taking in the white leather sofa sitting atop a black carpet with the comet of Cosmos Corp in the middle. The room had another picturesque view of the city through a transparent wall. There was a cold, empty fireplace opposite the sofa, and a handful of small pedestals over which hovered the spectral faces of Solan men and women she didn’t recognize. Ahead of her a glass wall separated this room from what was, as far as she could tell, a statue garden with a white-pebble floor. There must’ve been at least a dozen humanoid statues within it, and she could tell the garden was a lot larger than the room she was in. It took her a moment to realize each of those statues was probably an artificial, like the one she passed to get up here, and the thought made her shudder.

  Thinking to avoid walking through a forest of guardian AI’s, Cygni doubled back to the lift and took the right passage. It brought her to a small sitting room with a low coffee table framed by two fern-like plants. The comet-symbol of Cosmos Corporation, wrought in silver, hung on one of the walls. Opposite her was another glass door through which she could see that the statue garden extended to this side of the apartment as well.

  “Shit,” she muttered, feeling her heart beat inside her chest. There was no getting around it. She rubbed her sweating palms against the soft material of her jumpsuit and made herself approach the door.

  The air in the garden smelled dry and dusty. Her feet crunched in the pebbles coating the floor, but she kept her attention on the statues around her. Each held a pose similar to something out of an old Earth museum. Some looked like they were giving speeches, others were locked in battle, and some where performing domestic functions. Some held jars, others grasped tools or long poles with bladed tips. Her mouth went dry as she moved among them. The pebbles crunched louder with every step. Were they really statues or artificial guards? They weren’t moving, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that their eyes were on her.

  They know, she thought, then chided herself for giving into fear. If they knew they’d be on her already. They couldn’t know, she reasoned. It was her nerves and the humid air rattling its way through her chest; that had to be it. She stopped and closed her eyes.

  Calm down, she told herself. When she opened them she found herself looking at the darkening sky over a field of urban lights through the transparent wall. Nowhere else in the city was the view so clear, so fantastic, and despite all reason she found herself staring in fascination.

  The sound of a door opening to her right snapped her head around towards it in time to see a figure emerging from the room beyond. She ducked behind one of the statues before she realized what she was doing and froze with her hand on its muscular buttock. She jerked her eyes up to stare at the thing, watching and dreading any sign of movement as the crunch of pebbles ground into her ears.

  “He can’t do this. Shutting down all space traffic in and out of the Kosfanter system will disrupt the economy,” a familiar male voice said as two figures moved into her view. She identified Premier Dorsky as he passed with a woman whose razor-straight blond hair hung just above the shoulders of her black dress. She recognized Baroness Helena Olivaar-Revenant a moment after she saw the woman’s face.

  “He can. He has,” she responded to Dorsky’s statement. “We must catch the murderer of my husband and make him pay or the other barons will smell blood in the water. You’re just going to have to issue the command like the good pet that you are.”

  “I’m the Premier of the Confederation.”

  “You are my cousin’s pet. It’s important you don’t get any other ideas about your station. We expect the transition to be smooth.”

  “We?” Dorsky stopped, turning towards her in a way that put Cygni right in his line of view.

  Her throat tightened as his eyes flickered over her.

  “Yes, Caspian. Zalor and I.”

  “I think you’re overestimating your position,” he responded.

  “Think whatever you like. The thoughts of a cerberai don’t trouble me.” She turned her nose up in the air and started forward.

  Dorsky frowned at Cygni. “Helena, why don’t you go ahead without me. I think I forgot something.”

  She stiffened. “Idiot.”

  Cygni heard the baroness’ feet crunch across the gravel before the sound vanished into the hiss of a door.

  “You can get up now,” he said and offered his hand.

  She took it and let him pull her up. “Thank you.”

  “I guess you’re here about the maintenance ‘bots? They stopped functioning all of a sudden. I admit that it was strange, but maybe it’s a glitch in the system—not that a professional like you needs my opinion on anything.” There was a twinkle in his eye as he spoke.

  She smiled back and wiped her sweaty palms on her hips.
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br />   “You know, my barony produces environmental regulation systems and artificial habitats. I know it’s not a directly related field, but I am an engineer by training. Would you mind if I accompanied you during your repairs?”

  “Ah—”

  “I won’t get in the way, I promise.” He smiled, just like in his speeches.

  “Ah, okay.” Her mouth twitched.

  “Lead on.”

  She looked around at the doors in the room.

  “I believe we’re going to the primary communications circuit first,” Dorsky offered.

  “Oh, right. Yes.” She feigned a smile and started for the door he came through.

  His company was unwelcome, and the longer she stayed in these apartments the greater the chances of her being discovered by either the computer system, or by Dorsky discovering she wasn’t what she appeared to be—but she had no choice. She was also going to have to figure out how to plant a spy-grain or two in the office with him watching her, and she had no idea where this comm circuit actually was. She ground her teeth in frustration. Why was nothing going her way?

  “You know, my barony also produces terraforming systems,” Dorsky continued as they entered a spacious room lined by potted plants and a few couches. “My ancestors terraformed Venus.”

  “Oh, wow.” She took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. This wasn’t her first infiltration, and she reminded herself she knew how to do this and do it well. Perhaps if she kept him distracted she might be able to pull this off. “Having terraformed the seat of the human government must bring you a lot of prestige with the other barons.”

  “You’d think so, but unfortunately people don’t respect the Dorsky name, or the seat of the Premier, as much as they should these days. It’s a real pity, but I think humanity lost its soul somewhere between our glorious ancestors and the present day.”

  She paused in the center of the room. There were six doors leading out, all unmarked.

  “Can I tell you a secret, miss—ah?” He put his hand on her shoulder. It was an exercise of will not to flinch away.

  “Ar—Bless, Sarasa Arbless,” she said, recovering quickly from her blunder. Arbless? Get it together Cygni, you’re better than this.

  “Miss Arbless, that’s an unusual name.”

  She shrugged, smiling as kittenishly as she could manage. If he queried her implant it wouldn’t match what she said.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be uncouth. You can’t imagine the stress I’ve been under lately. I think it’s starting to wear on me.” He returned her smile. “I believe you’ll be wanting this door.”

  Dorsky headed for the portal at the right on the far side of the vast room. She hesitated, but dared not contact Sanul now that she was actually inside Revenant’s quarters. She had no doubt that any such transmission would be traced, so she had no choice but to follow the Premier. She was shocked when the door slid open and he lead her into a bright-white room with a bookcase against one wall and a black desk before it.

  “This is the office, not the utility closet,” she said.

  “Yes, it is.” He smiled and turned towards her. “As you might imagine, a lot of people would love to see the Premier of the Confederation taken down.”

  “What?” An electric shock seemed to pass through her. What was he talking about?

  “Their reasons are political, or personal, but the Premier of the Confederation has always had to look out for such lethal situations. He gets special cybernetic hardware installed to detect hidden holographic projectors, cybernetic weaponry, and chameleon implants. It functions automatically, scanning everything within twenty-meters.”

  Oh fuck. She took a step back and shook with the impact as she slammed into the office door. Dorsky stepped forward, closing the distance between them to centimeters. He searched her eyes with his gaze, and a half-smile appeared on his face. Was he calling security? Were the statues in the garden about to burst in and rip her apart? She took a long, shuddering breath, wilting before him.

  “So, what now?” she whispered.

  “Baron Revenant is one of the most paranoid people I’ve ever met.” He took two steps back from her and placed his hands into the pockets of his dark blazer. “I suppose for someone who deals with what he does, it’s understandable, but it is still a little extreme. If he were here you’d never be allowed in this room.”

  “But the comm circuit is in here?” she asked.

  He moved out of her way and motioned her towards the desk with one hand. “There are no communications or security devices in here save one. That one.” He pointed to a black column off to the left of the desk with a small crystal dome nestled into its tapered apex. “That is a quantum-particle communicator with a high bandwidth. You wouldn’t believe how expensive it was to make.”

  “I guess not,” she said.

  “It is an instant communications device, inexorably linked to its mate on Xanadu Station in the Helix Nebula. You know, that is Zalor’s personal retreat. The device is uninterruptable, and uninterceptable. An amazing feat of technology and quantum science, really.” He shrugged. “The point is, that with that thing off, as it is now, no one can know what you do in here.”

  “Shouldn’t I be looking for the comm circuit?” She asked with slow words.

  “Why? There’s nothing wrong with it,” Premier Dorsky said. “I told you I’m an engineer. I checked it myself when the maintenance ‘bots stopped working.”

  She swallowed. “Ah, okay.”

  “We both know you don’t belong here, and I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m helping you. I’ve been Premier of the Confederation for the last three terms of office. My run isn’t over, but that little shit thinks he can replace me, just like that. It’s time someone told that spoiled brat ‘no,’ don’t you think?” He shot her a smile. “You don’t have to answer. I know that puts you in a strange position, and you don’t know even half of what’s been going on. Look, just get on with what you’re doing and get out of here before Helena decides to come looking for me. She’s as bad as he is. If she happens to get caught up in his downfall, well, so much the better.”

  Cygni couldn’t believe her ears. She knew from the party, when she served as his date, he seemed like a nice man, but she had no idea of his true motives. She wasn’t sure she did now, but as the old saying went, she couldn’t chance looking this gift-horse in the mouth.

  “Thank you.” She moved to the desk and fetched a spy-grain from her pocket.

  “My thanks will be another term.” He smiled. “Don’t forget to close the door on your way out, and don’t you dare leave anything in here that can give you away.”

  “Yes, sir, Mister Premier,” she said.

  He nodded at her and strolled out of the room.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Calemni IIb, Calemni System

  41:2:43 (J2400:3173)

  The dampeners in Meia’s ear-implants kicked in to protect her hearing as the first bullets from the Praetor’s gun flared like miniature stars against Iapetus’ aegis field. There were three of them, Meia noted, and from their positions she knew each deadly projectile would have passed between the eyes of their targets had they not been annihilated by the thin layer of 6,000-degree plasma flowing within the aegis’ magnetic field. In theory, the DS-109 model could keep an aegis going until the power in its superconducting batteries ran out, but if the Praetor did something to overload the generator in Iapetus’ body there would be a few microseconds to target and fire on them while the field cycled back to full strength. That wouldn’t be much of a threat with a normal opponent, but this was an Abyssian. A few microseconds was more than enough time to send a bullet through each of their brain pans. Worse than that, there was an added threat when fighting what amounted to a mobile AI, and it was one she dreaded more than an overloaded shield.

  “Lieutenant, he is attempting to hack my system again,” Iapetus reported as they backed up with as much haste as they could down the maintenance tunnel.
r />   If they lost Iapetus to the Praetor they were dead, but that aside, losing him would kill her inside first. He was her only friend on this miserable moon, and probably the last one she had left in the galaxy.

  “Kill your comm system and prepare to return fire. You, too, Captain. We don’t want him getting into our implants. Abyssians can bypass military security.”

  “Acknowledged,” Iapetus returned after Meia shut down her comm. He dropped to his knees with the particle accelerators in his forearms facing forward and locked the HEL turrets in his shoulders on target.

  She pressed her body up against the hard, ceramic-polymer armor of his back and aimed her growler with both hands. Fukui pushed in beside her over Iapetus’ other shoulder, and aimed a PX-32 gauss pistol at the Praetor with a look of total determination.

  “Quick burst, then we put the aegis back up,” Meia said. “On my mark.”

  “Acknowledged, Lieutenant,” Iapetus returned.

  The Praetor stopped moving forward and raised his pistol into position to fire on them. A cold bolt of fear shot through her body.

  “Ready?” she whispered to Captain Fukui, keying her into the targeting software that linked them to Iapetus.

  The captain nodded. Her tail twitched in the air behind her.

  “Go.” She squeezed the growler’s trigger as Iapetus dropped his aegis field. Her system automatically dampened her hearing again as bullets raced from their barrels, and Iapetus’ particle beams lit up the corridor walls with yellow-white light. The Praetor shuddered with the impacts and returned fire. She felt a pressure brush across her left cheek, leaving a line of red-hot pain in its wake, and ducked her head behind Iapetus’ torso. She looked over to check on Captain Fukui and found her on the ground, clutching her arm where fluid, glowing bright in infra-red, poured out from between her fingers.

  “Aegis up!” she shouted to Iapetus, as his frame vibrated with the impact of the hypersonic bullets striking it. A moment later the protective cocoon of plasma snapped to life around them.