Ghost of Mind Episode One (9 page)

It was a last ditch survival move that she
had no control over. If she could not escape, then her body would
hunker down, making itself as strong as possible to withstand any
blow it could.

The problem was, no blow would come, and now
was not the time to ground to a halt. Now was the time to be
clever, to look for an opportunity, and to run like hell. But no
matter how much Alice told herself that, she could not shift
through the block of fear that locked her in place.

‘
Come on, get up,’ John called to her as he
motioned an arm her way. ‘You can do this the easy way,’ he began.
He didn't finish his sentence.

He didn't have to.

Alice had just enough control to dart her
eyes to the left. The transport hanger was now fully open, and it
was large enough that she could see into the hanger bay of the room
around her.

She was in Central Security; she recognized
the logos on the walls. She also recognized the device they were
now wheeling up into the transport.

A portable containment field, level three,
just as the good Commander had ordered.

She didn't have the energy to fight it, she
didn't have the control to move, so instead Alice watched in abject
horror as they set it up. Within seconds a vibrant yellow energy
shot around her, surrounding her in a force field strong enough to
contain a plasma explosion.

Her eyes wider than they had ever been,
watering from the pressure of having them stuck so far open, the
containment field lifted her off her feet. She had no choice in the
matter; the powerful bio electrical field just pushed her up until
she was floating, stiff as a rod, in the center of the blue bubble
that was the containment force field.

‘
Where do you want her?’ one of the
officers who had walked in with the containment field flicked his
gaze from Alice over to John.

‘
Take her straight to a holding cell,’ John
replied quickly.

‘
Okay, sir. We've got it from here,’ the
officer nodded John's way, flopping a hand towards him as he did.
The movement triggered the field, and the blue crackling ball
shifted forward at a slow pace, Alice still suspended
within.

Though no one could see her eyes, her hood
still flat in front of her face, if they had, they would have noted
how scared she was.

She had never been trapped like this. She had
always had an avenue for escape. But she did not have the strength
to fight this field. Even if she had been her usual self, and that
transport beam hadn't syphoned off her energy, she would have still
picked up a sweat breaking through a containment field like
this.

John took a slow step beside her, never
speeding up faster than the containment field as it rolled its way
down form the transport and into the hanger bay of Central
Security.

‘
Sir, it's okay,’ the security officer
repeated, voice deliberately slow and clear, ‘we've got it here.
You can go and report to the Chief.’

‘
Oh no you don't. This woman has given me
too much trouble,’ John turned to face her, his helmet angled high
as his eyes no doubt locked on her bottom lip, ‘too many surprises
too. Humor me, but I'm going to accompany her right to that holding
cell. If the Chief is desperate for a debrief, tell him where I
am.’

The security officer gave a strangled little
cough, but did not add anything.

The next few minutes were some of the most
agonizing of Alice's life. As she lay suspended in the containment
field, she saw the corridors and cells of Central Security as they
travelled slowly through them.

‘
Maybe we should increase speed,’ the
officer mumbled after a few minutes of slow pacing by her side, ‘if
we take a little energy from the field—’ he began.

‘
That's not going to happen,’ John jumped
in before the guy could finish.

He was looking at her again.

God, what she wouldn't give to see his face,
especially his eyes. Though it would likely freak the hell out of
her, she could use his expression to try to understand just how
much John suspected.

While Alice doubted the guy had jumped to the
conclusion she was an Old One, it wouldn't take long once the
computer had scanned her. But what did he suspect? Just what was he
thinking as he angled his head slowly her way?

Alice wanted to throw up, which was funny
considering she hadn't eaten food in over a month.

‘
Okay sir,’ the officer eventually mumbled,
voice low.

‘
Trust me, son, you do not want to lower
that field. This woman jumped off the side of Block Alpha and
didn't die.’

The officer gave a short snort and raised an
eyebrow. He obviously didn't believe John, but he was obviously
also smart enough not to challenge a commanding officer, especially
not one who was heading up the Union's new mission into the Rim.
John Doe was a little bit of a superstar at the moment. With the
importance the Union placed on Old Tech, he might as well have been
tasked to protect life itself, considering how much attention he
was receiving.

Finally the containment field rolled into a
holding cell, and when it did, the very sophisticated fields
locking into place over the door, Alice was about ready to die.

This was it, it was over.

The containment field winked out of place,
but rather than let her down gently to the ground like it was
supposed to, it gave up halfway through and Alice slammed against
the hard floor of her cell with a resounding thump.

‘
Hey,’ John snapped from outside the
door.

‘
Wasn't me,’ the officer answered
immediately, ‘lost field integrity at the end
there . . . not sure why . . . some
kind of fluctuation in the power grid.’

It had not been a fluctuation in the power
grid, it had been Alice. Her own energy had fed right back into it,
overloading the circuit. Though she hadn't been able to do that
while she'd been stuck inside that blue bubble, as it had cut out,
her body had linked to it automatically.

It wasn't something she could control. But it
was something Alice had to be very, very careful of. Whenever she
was tired, injured, or very, very scared, technology, Old or New,
would integrate with her. And it would usually not be a pretty
sight.

Groaning a little, though not loud enough
that it could pick up and press through the fields covering the
large open door in front of her, Alice picked herself up.

The holding cell was huge, way bigger than
Alice's own quarters.

It was probably intended for a rock warrior
or one of the colossal hard races from the Farrier system.

Instead it was currently housing little old
her.

There was a thick high bench that ran along
the back wall, and there was a door approximately 10 meters across
that was covered with so many flickering fields it looked like a
rainbow. A dangerous rainbow. One that wouldn't just repel you, but
that would burn all the skin off your hands if you tried to so much
as touch it.

And right now John Doe was standing behind it
with his arms crossed and his head held at that particular angle
that was threatening to make Alice pop.

Chapter 14

John Doe

John couldn't believe his eyes. She was still
alive. And what was more, the cuts along her arms and the multiple
tiny abrasions that had covered her cheeks and arms were gone.

As if they'd never been there.

And though she sat exactly where the
containment field had dumped her, as stiff as a board, she was
still very much alive.

Which was incredible considering what she'd
gone through.

‘
She's in the cell now, sir - the Chief has
requested,’ the officer began.

‘
Then tell him to come down here. I'm not
moving from this door till we finish those scans,’ John
snapped.

The officer made a little strangled noise,
but John hardly paid attention to it. Instead he kept his eyes
locked on the woman. Which was a good thing, otherwise he would
have missed her twitch powerfully at the mention of a bio scan.
Just what did she have to hide?

‘
Okay sir,’ the officer managed in a
single, sharp breath. John had been in charge of troops long enough
to know when someone was holding something back.

Turning slightly, hating the fact he had
to take his eyes off the woman, John looked down at the officer.
‘What?’

‘
The scans can't penetrate through this
cell. It's not designed for that. Also, because systems are being
upgraded right now, the only system capable of doing a full bio
scan is in the main area.’ The guy practically winced away from
John as he spoke.

It wasn't as if John was going to hit the
officer; while the guy's information was not welcome, John had come
a long way from the disciple that used to be doled out in the
slums. ‘Right,’ he let out a frustrated sigh. ‘I guess we'll be
needing that containment field again.’

‘
Sir,’ the officer was a little bolder
now.

God, bad news again - John could just
tell. ‘Yes?’ he hazarded.

‘
While our systems are being upgraded they
won't be able to penetrate through a containment field.’

John's shoulders deflated, and if it wasn't
for the fact his armor was rigid, he'd probably drop to his knees
in frustration. Okay, maybe not all the way to his knees, but this
news was not welcome.

Taking the time to glance back at the woman,
John stopped. Because she was standing, the stiff look of her body
gone, her head raised. Though he still couldn't see past her hood,
he could see her top lip.

She was smiling.

He'd been right; smiling suited her far more
than the morbid scowls she'd been offering him. And he imagined
that right now she had a lot to smile about. No doubt this was
brilliant news for her. If they had to move her into the central
area, she would try her hardest to escape. And considering what
she'd gotten up to over the past hour, her hardest might just be
better than what John would have to offer in reply.

Before John could think of a plan, he was
interrupted. He turned to hear a rattling, croaking cough.

It belonged to a tall Bakar. His face, like
all Bakars, was lined with spikes and was one of the most fearsome
sights in all the universe. Fortunately this guy was not rattling
an electro spear and whetting his tusks in preparation for glorious
battle though. He was staring down at John with a less-than-pleased
expression.

‘
Chief,’ the security officer by John's
side suddenly snapped a salute.

So this would be the Security Chief of Orion
Minor. It made sense to pick a Bakar - with the number of slums
crawling over the lower buildings of this planet, you would need
someone hardnosed, and in this case spikey, to deal with the
crime.

‘
Why did you redirect the entire ICN? Why
did you take hold of one of my transports? Why did you dictate our
priorities while the entire weather field of Block Alpha is
offline?’ the Chief asked. He had a voice familiar to all members
of his race. One that reminded John of stone grinding against
stone. It always made his back itch and arch.

Planting a hand on his chest plate, keying in
a short code that saw his helmet disappear as the plating of his
armor rearranged in a hiss, John didn't bother to set a force field
to replace his helmet just yet. Though he would. He was not going
to stop being cautious around this woman. Not until the hood was
drawn back from her eyes and her identity revealed.

John did not flinch and neither did he
look for a second like he was sorry for the numerous inconveniences
he'd caused the Chief. ‘Union dictate,’ John snapped
simply.

The Chief considered him warily. ‘For
that,’ he stretched a hand past John and flicked it towards the
woman within the security field.

It was a dismissive move, and one that made
the woman shift on her foot to face the Chief.

John cleared his throat carefully. He
understood that the crap the Chief would have to deal with would be
immense, but John liked to think every being in the universe
deserved a certain level of respect. Right from the pirates to the
exalted leaders.

Fixing the Chief with a look that made it
clear John wasn't impressed, he cleared his throat pointedly. ‘Yes,
for her,’ John emphasized the word her. She wasn’t a
that
, she was a
person. An important distinction. The kind of distinction you used
when something was alive and breathing and worthy of being
distinguished from the grit and slime and detritus that lined your
walls.

The Chief narrowed his eyes, all three of
them. ‘Are you going to explain why she is worth this? It looks as
if an unarmed security bot could take her down.’

John gave a sharp laugh. ‘Hey, you go get
one and we'll see if it can. Or,’ John crossed his arms, ‘if you
are done questioning my authority, I would be happy to fill you in
on the situation.’

John had gotten into trouble for his attitude
on numerous occasions before. Hell, it had been the one thing that
had almost prevented him from being promoted.

There was a chain of command in the Union
Forces, and you respected it. You did not sass your superiors, and
you always acted with decorum. That extended to not deliberately
pissing off Security Chiefs on backwater planets.

But John had been promoted, and no matter how
deep he dug, he could not uproot the side of his personality that
always rallied against injustice and intolerance.