Rain Saga (12 page)

“But of course, master. It is far too cramped. An Artificial Intelligence such as myself requires
room
to function properly. As is, I barely have enough space in there for my most basic subroutines—”

“It’s better then nothing, Ed! If you don’t like my work, then build your own chestplate!” Ben then turned back to Luna, who was finding it hard to keep a straight face. “Please forgive him. He’s a little … opinionated.”

“I can see that,” Luna replied with forced calmness. “So, why is this ship called the
Second Wind
? Is it a figure of speech—like getting your second wind in a race or something?”

“I wish,” Ben replied. “This is sort of embarrassing, but it’s called that because my first ship, the
Wind,
kind of well … sank. This is my second one. And in all honesty, this one is about a million times better then the last one. It’s a lot bigger, too.”

“I see.” Luna said, stifling a chuckle. She cleared her throat then asked, “So who were those men who found me? You mentioned something about their boss—Leo … or something like that. Who is he?”

“Well, the first thing I think I should point out is that his name is Leon. Leon Vespasien. I don’t think he’d like it very much if you called him Leo,” Ben said with a smirk. “Second, those men were part of his gang. And just in case you were wondering why I went through all the trouble to save you when they were already saving you, let me share a few well-known facts about Leon. Number one: He does
not
help people unless he can get something out of them. Number two: He probably thought you were an agent and therefore would have tortured you to get whatever inside information he thought you might have. Which, of course, would have been a problem, because you’re not an agent.”

This at once caught her attention. She held up a hand, cutting him off mid-sentence: “Wait, how do you know I’m not an agent?”

“Well, for starters, if you were an agent, you would be packing a lot more firepower then a 9mm handgun. Plus you don’t have enough muscle mass to be an agent. They go through intense physical training on a regular basis, so they’re usually really muscular—even the women. From the looks of you, I’d say you’re probably a technician or a researcher of some sort. No offense.”

“None taken.” Luna let the blunt comments about her physique slid. Truth be told, she was more concerned with how he could tell so much about her just by the way she looked and the equipment she carried. In fact, the more he talked the more it became obvious to her that he knew way too much to be an ordinary Swamper. There was something hauntingly familiar about him, too, as if she’d seen his face before somewhere, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“So, let me get this straight,” she said, “he’s a terrorist then?”

“More or less … Well, he’s kind of a mediocre one. But don’t get me wrong. Everything I told you is true. He and his Cajuns are plenty dangerous, believe me. They’ve had it out for Unitech ever since the disaster. They wouldn’t have treated you very well and probably would have used you as a bargaining chip to pressure the company into meeting their demands. At least that’s what they did with those two guys they caught a few days ago.”

Luna sat up straight. “Two guys? Did you see who they were?”

“Um, sort of. I only saw them for a second. Leon and his gang had them at their base camp and I couldn’t get to them in time—”

“Just tell me if you saw who they were!”

Luna was taken completely by surprise at her outburst and found herself staring apologetically at Ben’s equally surprised face.

Smooth, Luna. Real smooth.

Awkwardly, she apologized, “I am
so
sorry. Please, can you give me a description of the two men you saw?”

Ben nodded, “Uh … sure. The first guy I saw was a blond. I would say he was about six and a half feet tall or so and kind of on the thin side. The other one was Hispanic—average build about five ten, five eleven. Both of them were wearing Unitech factory uniforms, and the tall guy had a big
 
gash on the back of his head, like he’d been in a fight or something.”

Frank Travis and Raúl Sanchez
—
the two men from the news report,
Luna thought, chewing on her numb bottom lip.
So they were kidnapped by terrorists with a reputation of hating Unitech? I wonder …
 

“Ben, I’ve got something I want to ask you, and I want you to be completely honest.”

“I’d hate to see what would happen if I
wasn’t
,” he replied, and she glared at him.

“This is serious!” She snapped. “I want to know whether or not Leon’s gang is the one responsible for the attack on the Cathedral reactor.”

“What
are
you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the terrorist attack on the reactor that caused it to malfunction. Was it Leon’s gang, or wasn’t it?”

“A terrorist attack?” Ben repeated slowly, and Luna detected an edge of anger in his voice. “Is that really what they’re telling people now? That it was terrorists?”
 

Of course it was terrorists! Everyone knows it was terrorists! Where have you been for the last twenty years?
She mused angrily, and then she saw the troubled look etched on his face.
 

“You’re serious?” Luna said slowly. “You really don’t know what happened?”

“No, it’s you and everyone else who doesn’t know what happened! Cathedral couldn’t have malfunctioned! It was built so that it couldn’t! Don’t you see? A terrorist attack was impossible! Any idiot could see that!”
 

Luna drew back against the wall. She could see the rage burning in his eyes, and she felt terror welling up in her. She was trapped in a small room with an incredibly angry man she barely knew. Trembling, she pushed herself farther back from him.

Ben glared at her for what seemed like an eternity, gazing into her terrified eyes. He then slowly turned away and ran his hands though his messy hair. “Listen … I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. Just … just forget I said anything, okay? In fact … forget you ever saw me.”

Luna swallowed hard and nodded, then mustered up all of the courage in her small body and spoke. “Ben. Who are you? I mean … who are you really.”

“I’m nobody. …” He muttered.

“No, you are
somebody
.” Luna whispered. “You can tell that I’m not an agent, right? Well, I can tell that you’re not a Swamper.”

“You can tell that, huh?” Ben asked with a dry chuckle, and Luna nodded.

“You know just as much about Unitech as I do—maybe even more. Plus you haven’t explained why there’s an AI unit running this ship. I know there’s more to you then meets the eye. I’m just wondering what it is you’re trying to hide.”

Luna held her breath and focused her attention on his clenched fists. Slowly, his white-knuckled hands uncurled, and he turned to face her again.

“There’s no fooling you, is there?”
 

She shook her head, still too afraid to allow her lungs to fill with air.

“Fine … I’ll tell you what you want to know. But you won’t believe me.” He sighed. “My name is Mark. Mark Anderson. My father was Jack Anderson, the founder and president of United Technology Incorporated.”

He was lying. He had to be. Jack Anderson
had
no children. And yet … the pieces did seem to fit. He did resemble Mr. Anderson. But a physical resemblance didn’t mean anything. She needed more evidence before she’d accept his explanation. A
lot
more evidence.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You can’t. And frankly, it’s probably in your best interest if you don’t. Forget you ever saw me. Forget we ever had this conversation.” He paused as if choosing the right words, then he continued slowly, “There are … things … going on that you would be wise to stay out of.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, “What sort of things are you talking about?”

“I already told you, don’t get involved!” Mark snapped, and even though his tone was harsh, Luna could hear concern in his voice.

“Listen, Luna. Bad things have a habit of happening to people who stick their noses into things they shouldn’t. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times to hundreds of people, and I would
hate
to see something happen to you. It’s for your own good that you forget everything that’s happened to you out here. And I mean
everything
!”

How does he expect me to forget everything? It’s not like I can erase my memories,
Luna thought sourly.

Suddenly a tiny electrical shock coursed through Luna’s body, causing her to yelp in surprise.

“What was
that
?”

“I don’t know. Something just shocked me,” she replied, rubbing her arm near where the burst of electricity had originated. Suddenly she realized, “It’s the tracking chip!”
 

Mark tensed, “Ed! Scan for any signals originating from this room!”

“Yes Master Mark, right away. Yes … I am indeed detecting a homing signal originating from Subject Luna. I’m afraid it won’t be long before members of the Unitech Security Agency arrive at our location. I advise we take evasive and preventative action immediately.”

“Agreed.” Mark said, staring intently at Luna. “I’m sorry, Luna, but it’s too dangerous for me if you stay on this ship.”

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“We need to get you out of here fast!” Mark replied, walking quickly to her side. “Here, give me your hand.”

She did as he asked without question, and before her brain even had time to register what he was doing, he had removed her IV and stuck an adhesive bandage to the back of her hand.

“Can you move your arm?” he asked.

“No, not really.”

He sighed, “Okay, that’ll complicate things. We can’t put your armor back on, and that is
definitely
going to raise some questions. Which means we’ll have to improvise. Follow me.”

He led her out of the room and into a well-lit corridor winding through the bowels of the ship. She followed him wordlessly as they passed bulkheads and hatchways before he led her into a large room filled with survival gear and other related equipment.

“Since you can’t use your own suit, you’ll have to rely on some Swamper tech,” Mark said, handing her a breathing apparatus like those she’d seen the other Swampers use.

She stared at the crude device and curled her lip in disgust. “You
have
sanitized these things, right?”

“Of course I have. Now hurry up and put it on. We don’t have much time.”

Reluctantly, Luna complied. The crude, homemade device was heavy and uncomfortable, and the straps dug into her skin when she tightened them. But she knew it was better then nothing and decided not to complain.

Once she was thoroughly prepared, Mark took her out of the storage room and led her into a large, open space running from one end of the ship to the other, where hundreds of cars had at one time been parked during the ferry’s runs. Now the huge floating garage served as a hanger for a small fleet of boats and amphibious craft.

“I’d bet the Swamper gangs would love to get their hands on this collection,” Luna commented.

“You have no idea.”

Mark led her past the seaplane and gestured toward a large lifeboat suspended above the ground by a network of steel cables connected to a conveyor system overhead. “That’s your ticket home. Come on, let’s get you ready to sail.”

She followed Mark around to the side of the thirty-foot vessel and peered into its roomy cabin. Because it was a lifeboat, there wasn’t much in the way of elegance except a row of bench seats along both walls and a tiny toilet near the stern. But it was dry and warm inside, and the solid door and roof meant that it would continue to be that way even through the fiercest storm.

Luna gripped the side of the doorway with her one good hand and awkwardly heaved herself up and in. The lifeboat rocked slightly under her feet and she gripped the nearest seat to steady herself.

“You really don’t have very good sea legs.” Mark commented wryly, pulling himself up behind her.

She sank into the seat and glared at him. “So, what now?”

“Well, now that you’re aboard, I’ll have Edward take control of the boat’s navigational computer. He’ll get you where you need to go. All you have to do is sit tight and wait for the agents to pick you up.”

“You
do
know they’ll question me, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know,” Mark replied. “When they do, tell them you were helped by a Swamper merchant. I’ve been a merchant before, so it’s not a total lie. But whatever you do, please don’t tell them any more than that.”

“A Swamper merchant. Got it.” Luna said with a nod.

“Okay. Well, I guess this is goodbye … ”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Luna replied.

“Yes.” Mark nodded, turned, and walked toward the hatch then paused and turned back to her. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot this,” he said reaching into his pocket. “I went through your sample case after I brought you here. Most of the vials were broken, but I did manage to salvage a few of them … ”

He walked back into the cabin, and Luna extended her hand as he gently dropped three of the clear tubes into her palm.

“Thank you, Mark,” she said, looking up at him gratefully.

“Don’t mention it. It’s the least I can do.” He smiled and then made his way back to the doorway. “Well, we’d better get you on your way. Goodbye. And good luck.”

“You, too.” She called after him as he crawled outside and sealed the lifeboat’s hatch. A moment later the boat lurched and begin to move. She looked up through the bow windows and watched the ferry’s massive doors opening out into the stormy, rain-streaked night beyond. The boat continued forward on the overhead rail until it was over the open water, then it slowly descended into the murky, wind-tossed swamp below.

The boat’s cabin light flickered for a split second, then Edward’s computerized voice drifted through the tiny vessel’s built-in speakers, “Remote interface to lifeboat controls complete. Hello again, Subject Luna. I will ask you to please remain seated for the remainder of your brief voyage. There is a storm outside, and this vessel will pitch violently. And I would hate for you to injure yourself further.”