Frost Station Alpha 1-6: The Complete Series (29 page)

“I can stop numerous pirates,” Makkon added. “And just because only three made their way to your armory to steal suits doesn’t mean there aren’t more on the station, more that would have recovered from your gas and woken up by now.”

“And you’d like to help us just because,” one of the scientists said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, his finger tense on the trigger.

“I’d help because I’d like to not die from whatever is causing that alarm.” Makkon glanced at Tamryn again. He also didn’t want her to go to the lab when they had no idea what they were dealing with, not without him. Maybe not at all. He supposed she wouldn’t consider fleeing to the mining ship and getting off the station.

Porter seemed to catch that glance. Tamryn had donned everything except her helmet now, and she had tied her hair back, so the rumpled fresh-from-sex look and untucked shirt were hidden from sight, but maybe Porter was remembering that. Or maybe she, like Brax, simply perceived more than was convenient.

“I won’t deny that you could be an asset if you worked with us,” Porter said, looking at Makkon again, “but if we succeed, what guarantee do I have that we can get you back in your cell?” She waved at the vault.

“What guarantee do you want?” He didn’t want to give one at all, nor suggest anything. He wanted to be able to escape while he was out there. They wouldn’t easily capture him again. He knew it, but she knew it too.

Tamryn watched them but said nothing, clearly letting this be their deal. He couldn’t tell if she wanted him along or not. She couldn’t deny that he could be useful in a fight, but she probably knew him well enough now to realize he would take any opportunity he could get to fulfill this mission. Even if Porter extracted his word from him, who knew what would happen? Events might favor him somehow, far more than they could if he remained in a cell. Or a refrigerator.

“I don’t suppose you would be willing to wear a neuro collar?” Porter asked.

“A what?” Makkon had imagined having to give his word, not wear some device.

“We use them on the big predators.” She waved back toward the labs. “If we want to study them without tranquilizers, we put the collars on them to control their behavior via signals that run up the spine and into the brain. If they’re not being aggressive and trying to kill us, the collar is dormant on their necks, but if they try to lash out at or bite us, we can take over the basic functions and walk them away, keep them from attacking.”

Makkon couldn’t help but sneer. Having the damned combat armor obeying someone else’s commands had been bad enough. Still, he wouldn’t be honor-bound not to try and escape if they were controlling him by some physical item. They would have been better off trying to extract his word. All he would have to do was surprise whoever held the remote control for the collar and take it.

“Who’s
we
?” he asked. “Who gets to control the collar?”

Porter frowned, then looked at Tamryn.

Makkon thought Tamryn might volunteer, but instead, her expression grew dyspeptic. “You trusted me so little that you locked me in here with him, and now you want to give me this power?”

“I don’t,” Porter said honestly. “But I’ll be too busy figuring out how to contain and dispose of whatever mess those people made. I could give the fob to Cox, but I suspect your big friend here would be much less likely to attack you to try and wrest control of it.”

That might be true. Makkon could no longer imagine grabbing Tamryn by the neck.

Tamryn grimaced at Porter’s words. She either didn’t want to control him or didn’t like the idea of letting him go at all. Makkon hoped for the former. He wanted Tamryn to value him enough that she would want to take him along, even if it might be difficult to restrain him again. He would help, at least until they dealt with the problem. He almost started to tell her that he wouldn’t mind if she had the control, but she spoke first.

“I think if you made him give his word not to try and escape while we’re working with the hazard, then that would be more likely to keep him from attacking anyone.”

Now, Porter grimaced. “Jason, go get a collar. We don’t have time to stand and debate this in a committee.”

Makkon arched his eyebrows but said nothing. Tamryn had, indeed, come to know him. That made her an appealing ally and a tricky opponent.

“Alert, alert,” came the computerized voice over the speakers. “Lab Charlie on Sub-Level Nine has been sealed for containment procedures. Sub-Levels Nine and Ten will be sealed in five minutes.”

Porter cursed and pulled out a tablet. “We need to get down there before it’s too late. The automated system doesn’t know what it’s dealing with.”

While he waited for the collar, Makkon put his borrowed combat armor back on. It did not chafe any less than before, but he would feel better facing some toxic substances if he wore a self-contained breathing system. Tamryn had already locked everything on, except her helmet.

The scientist who had been dispatched returned soon with a metal collar that looked like it would be difficult to break, even with his strength. Perhaps the fastener would prove less sturdy.

“Hurry up and put it on him,” Porter said, glancing toward the speakers, where the voice was repeating its warning.

“Uh.” The scientist—Jason—took a step toward Makkon, eyed him up and down, then halted. He handed the collar to Tamryn. “Here.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Even Tamryn approached him warily, perhaps fearing he would knock her away. Even if he had a mind to, several rifles were still aimed at his chest.

She reached up and placed the collar around his neck, her eyes locked to his as she did so. Had there not been an audience, he would have said something, that it was all right, even if it wasn’t. The collar lengthened of its own accord to fit around his neck, proving it wasn’t the straight metal device he had thought it might be. When the ends touched, the hum of electricity coursed through him, reminding him uncomfortably of that net the scientists had slung over him.

“If you give me your word you won’t try to escape while we’re dealing with this and you won’t hurt any of the station personnel, I’ll stuff this in my pocket and forget about it,” Tamryn said, taking one hand from his neck and holding up the remote control. She spoke quietly enough that he wouldn’t have made out the words over the alarm if he hadn’t had keener than average hearing. Porter and the others shouldn’t have heard.

“If our situations were reversed, would you give me
your
word?”

She smiled briefly. “No, but I’m not that bright. Judging by Captain Porter’s lack of jokes and tense expression, we could all end up dead here. This is an extreme situation.”

She stepped back, nodding her readiness to Porter.

“You could let all of us go—” Makkon waved toward the vault door across the corridor, “—and we could all escape on our ship.”

“As your hostages again?” Tamryn asked.

“Your ship won’t be going anywhere with the containment procedures in effect,” Porter said.

Makkon thought they had given the ship enough firepower that it could break away from any locks, but he kept the thought to himself. If chaos took over here, he would keep the plan as a backup. Though he couldn’t leave without Brax and the others. Even if this team had been sent out as a potential sacrifice, they were so short on people already that he had to do everything he could to keep them alive.

“Is that collar on? Come on.” Porter jogged down the corridor, speaking into her tablet. “Cox? You ready?”

Tamryn still had a hand on Makkon’s neck, though the collar had fastened. “Your word?” she asked again, tucking a lock of his hair behind his ear.

A tingle went through him that had nothing to do with the crackling electricity from the collar. It reminded him of their interrupted moment.

“You have my word that I won’t hurt you,” Makkon said, though she had probably known that already, “and that I’ll help as long as it looks like a solution can be found. I’m not following that woman to my death—or the death of my mission.”

From the twist of Tamryn’s lips, he doubted she had received the answer she wanted, but she stepped back so he could walk out of the vault. They jogged after Porter, their boots clomping in unison on the deck. They might be going to their deaths, but Makkon smiled, glad to be working side by side toward a common goal with Tamryn once again.

Chapter 19

The alarm was blaring even more loudly in the corridor outside of Anise’s lab. Tamryn, Cox, and Makkon, all armed and clad in combat armor stood in front of the door, while Anise, wearing the red hazmat suit, fiddled with the controls. As the computer had warned, the lab had been sealed, and overriding the lock was proving difficult. Maybe that was a sign that they should seal off the level and keep it that way until Fleet arrived, but nothing about the message Makkon’s people had sent had warned Fleet that they needed to bring a team of containment specialists with them. The scientists here ought to be trained for this.

Tamryn shifted her weight, looking up and down the corridor, wondering where the pirates who had caused this problem had gone. She trusted Makkon would sense them coming first and deal with them, if they were foolish enough to return to their mess, but she remained alert. What else could she do? She knew nothing about containing biological hazards, or whatever this turned out to be.

Anise flung up her hands, then kicked the door. “I need this opened.” She looked at Tamryn’s laser rifle, then at Makkon.

They should have brought the thermite lance; that would have been a more appropriate tool for cutting through doors. Makkon stepped forward before Tamryn could try with her rifle. He planted his palms on the door, one atop the other, and turned sideways. Tamryn raised her eyebrows, recalling that this tactic hadn’t been effective for Brax on the bridge of the
Felling Axe
.

Makkon spread his legs and tried to physically push it open. Tamryn knew he was strong, and could imagine the muscles in his shoulders and back rippling, even though the combat armor blocked the view, but she doubted this would work.

“I’ll eat my boot if he gets that open like that,” Cox said.

“The metal combat boot or the synth-leather uniform one?” Tamryn asked.

“Both.” Cox drummed his fingers on his rifle. “The metal one might take longer to digest.”

A noise between a groan and a squeal came from the door. The alarm lights flashing in the corridor seemed to grow more agitated. Makkon grunted, and a gap appeared between the door and the jam. Tamryn stepped forward and stuck the tip of her rifle through, hoping the door wouldn’t snap shut again with something in the way. She needn’t have bothered. Makkon got his fingers around the edge, and then pulled the door the rest of the way open much more easily.

“I suggest waiting to eat your boots until the contamination alert is over,” Tamryn said.

“Yes, ma’am. They’re not any good without ketchup, anyway.”

The way Cox still called her ma’am made her smile as much as the silly line did. He must not be among those who knew about the kiss and who thought she was siding with the enemy. She hoped he never found out.

Anise stepped into the doorway of the lab warily, her helmet swiveling as she took everything in. “I was afraid of that.”

“What?” Tamryn eased forward, trying to see around her shoulder.

Anise held up a hand. “Don’t go in. My suit’s alarms are going off even more passionately than the station alarms. The air is contaminated.”

No doubt. The entire laboratory looked like a hurricane had gone through, with equipment knocked to the floor, papers strewn everywhere, and broken vials leaking chemicals in a back corner. Though she had no idea what was in them, Tamryn’s first thought was that they might be responsible for the alarm. All of the artifacts that had been left out on the table in the center were gone. The vault door stood open, with the vault inside empty.

Makkon noticed a laser rifle that lay on the floor by the wall, oddly abandoned. Nobody had given him a weapon when they let him out of the vault, and he swooped in to pick it up. Cox started to turn his own rifle toward Makkon.

Makkon lifted a palm and kept the muzzle of his new acquisition toward the door. “Only if pirates show up.”

Cox hesitated, so Tamryn put a hand on his forearm, gently pushing his rifle toward the floor too. She hoped she wouldn’t regret abetting Makkon later. But surely, he could have disarmed Cox—and her—at any point on the way down here if he had wanted to.

Anise did not seem to notice the exchange. Wordlessly, she pointed toward the table. Papers and broken equipment were strewn across one side, but on the other, odd holes pitted the surface. Those hadn’t been there before. Broken ceramic shards littered the gray floor between the stools Tamryn and Anise had perched on earlier. Some dark sludgy material colored the shards, lay puddled on the floor, and had spattered the legs of the stools, the
smoldering
legs of the stools. Grayish-blue smoke wafted from the seats, and as they watched, one leg gave out. The stool toppled, landing at the edge of one of the puddles. The pieces that touched immediately started smoldering. The floor, too, had grown pitted, and Tamryn guessed that the sludge would eat through it eventually. She shuddered, imagining the acid-like material eating through level after level of the station until it reached the hull and ate a hole in it. That would definitely leave them in a bind. But no, surely Anise could find a way to contain it. Another ceramic jar, perhaps.

“Is that biological in nature?” Makkon asked. He remained by the doorway to watch the corridor, but was scrutinizing the gunk at the moment.

“I don’t know.” Anise had yet to step into the lab. “There weren’t many words on the outside, just a few warnings about opening the jar. Figuring out the substance inside wasn’t as important as translating the text on the artifacts related to the FTL engine. Or so my superiors told me in a message. I’d examined it, like I said, with X-rays and various measuring devices, but the most I’d figured out was that it would be a good idea to leave the lid on until I knew more.”