On a Pale Ship Read online

  Too soon, she released him and pulled his hand into her own, not yet willing to let him go. It was at this moment that Luc became imminently aware of the bulk that was Gob. He stood next to Jimmy, watching them with a big smile on his face.

  "I'll not be referred to as 'the old lady,' James. Keep it up and you will discover just how petulant I can become," Dorian said. "And you, Mr. Alcazar, should wipe that dumb look from your face. It is I who control the purse strings around here and I will not soon forget my poor treatment aboard Little Deuce any time soon."

  Luc pulled her close. "Don't blame the boys," Luc said. "I told them to take you away. I couldn't do what I needed if you were in danger. Marek was making you a target."

  "I'm no shrinking violet, Lucien," Dorian said, her frosty attitude having returned in full. "That danger is the only reason I haven't had their bodies returned to the states in which I found them. I understand you successfully recovered Lieutenant Bastion and captured four of the feral children."

  "Katriona was lost," Luc said, not willing to acknowledge his successes.

  "That failure belongs to James and me," Dorian said. "We both know Marek well enough to have guessed he would counterpunch. He has always been a master strategist."

  "I don't see what he gained," Luc said. "I'm thrilled to have Emilie back, but he traded her for Katriona, and his losses with the childlings was considerable."

  "His gambit only partially paid off," Jimmy said, pushing off from the wall. "If Dory hadn't frankensteined the three of you as quickly as she did, Marek would have rolled through here, taken your bodies, and possibly taken out Dory as well. His payoff could have been huge. As it was, he traded Macillvain for Bastion, so he broke even."

  "There are different levels of effectiveness of the hero gene," Dorian said. "All four of you are at the highest level. Marek as well. I haven't tested her, but it is unlikely that Lieutenant Bastion was at that level. The fact that they modified her brain pattern suggests as much."

  "Modified her brain pattern?"

  "Repressed memories and attempted to lay down new norms," Dorian said. "The brain is a resilient organ, but it seeks to make sense of the input it is given. This can be taken advantage of."

  "You're saying Emilie was brainwashed and that's why she was with Marek?" Luc asked.

  Dorian winced at Luc's poor choice of words. "Brainwashing is such a naïve phrase," she said. "It requires a combination of chemicals, stimulus, and time to change a brain like Ms. Bastion's that’s been imprinting and interpreting patterns for a few dozen stans."

  Luc smiled, his eyes coming to rest on the freckles above her cheek bones. "Even when you're making me sound like an idiot, you're just cute as hell."

  Dorian shook her head. "Your idiom doesn't make sense. No culture considers hell to be cute. And this is a good example of bad imprinting. Popular culture has adopted a ridiculous idiom, even though it makes no sense entirely. People repeating a phrase mindlessly embeds it even further."

  Luc nodded his head. "I imagine that'll get less cute when we're fighting, but yup, it's still working for me."

  "Tell me we have a plan that doesn't include you guys making googly eyes," Jimmy said.

  Luc gave him a sharp nod. "First, we need to substantially increase security around Dorian. For whatever reason, Marek took a swipe at her today. If he'd come at her directly, I'm afraid the fight would have gone worse for us."

  "I'm only exposed because I visited the lab," Dorian said. "Most of the time I'm aboard Little Deuce."

  "Where you were attacked by a trusted confidante," Jimmy said. "Luc's right. Your security is not up to snuff."

  "I'm not walking around with a bunch of apes trailing behind me," Dorian said. "I've done that before and I don't like it."

  "Let's deal with the immediate," Luc said. "First, I need to get my arm worked on. I've lost mobility."

  "What?" Dorian asked, grabbing Luc's right hand. "Push on my hand."

  "Can't," Luc said.

  "This way," Dorian tried to push him down the hallway. "You should have said something right away."

  "Hang on. Jimmy, here's your pistol." Luc handed the pearl-handled pistol back to Jimmy who accepted it happily.

  "Gob, Jimmy, the security team here has a limited armory. See what you can find. Gob, after that I want you no further than ten meters from Dorian's location at any time," Luc said. "I'll set her up with a babysitter alarm you can monitor. There's no reason you need to be in the same room with her, which should alleviate her concerns about being followed around."

  "Wait a minute, you can't order him around," Jimmy said. "You don't even know if he's going to join the team."

  "Gob, is that the case?" Luc asked. "We're going after the folks who attacked the station. Only way that works is if you're on my team. We talked about the other options. Have you come to a decision?"

  "I have, Señor Gray. With honor, I witnessed you fight against evil. It was the welfare of the team you placed above your own. It is with you I will take my stand." Gob’s low voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke. "Jimmy, we will find this armory. I would have a weapon for our next battle."

  "Well, all right, partner," Jimmy drawled, clapping him on the back.

  Dorian pushed Luc toward the hallway. "Now you'll come with me?"

  "Honestly, I'd feel a little better if I had a weapon of my own," Luc answered.

  Dorian pulled a slim laser pistol from her waist band. "I'll protect you."

  "You're so sassy," Luc said.

  "I know. I'm ridiculous. I just haven't felt so alive in years."

  Dorian led Luc to a room near the laboratory where she had him remove his tattered shirt so she could inspect the arm. With adrenaline leaching from his system, Luc found he had difficulty keeping his hands off her. Dorian chuckled as she patiently fended him off, working to determine the extent of the injury.

  "Lucien, this is bad," she said. "Didn't this hurt? We might need to put you back in the tank."

  "Sure it hurt, but I've had worse," he said. "Can't you patch it? I'd really like to maintain consciousness."

  Dorian pushed at the skin around the deep wound. "I would prefer the tank, but it should heal," she said.

  "Perfect. Feels better already."

  "Why me, Luc?" Dorian asked.

  "Why you, what?" he asked, picking up his tattered shirt.

  "We were never really a thing and you've dated a dozen women over the last twenty stans," she said. "Only two of those made it past a week. I believe Ada Chen might have given you a run for your money if she'd been willing to stick around."

  Luc grinned as he tried to straighten out the ruined shirt. "I wondered if you'd 'fess up to checking me out."

  "Those aren't exactly the words I'd use."

  "Do you believe in love at first sight?" Luc asked.

  "Not specifically," Dorian said. "I feel like there's more to it than sight. I believe there's a complex series of interactions: chemical, psychological, stage of life, those sorts of things."

  "You're describing compatibility, not love, Dorian," Luc said. "Love is that thing you feel when you know it's right."

  Dorian tipped her head to the side and then nodded. "Okay. There's an emotional component. Why me? You're not a gold-digger. You aren't drawn to power. I'm a middle-aged woman and you've certainly had access to much nicer looking women. I don't understand."

  "I think you'll reconsider the gold-digger comment when I tell you the funds I'll need to go after Marek and Katriona," Luc said.

  "Be serious."

  Luc gave up on the shirt and set it down, giving Dorian his full attention. "Really drives you nuts, doesn't it?"

  Dorian didn't answer but traced a long finger across his muscular chest and down to his well-shaped abdomen.

  "There's no good answer, Dorian. I just know that I want to be with you. And I am serious about the cost of your little war," he said. "What's bugging you is that you feel the same way."

  "I've had a family, Luc
ien. My grandchildren have great grandchildren," she said. "I loved my husband very much."

  "Do you feel guilty?"

  "No. It's not that. We're just so different. Our histories are so different."

  "Damn exciting, isn't it?"

  Dorian stared into Luc's gray-blue eyes for a long minute. "You have no idea how much money I'm willing to spend to recover Katriona and those children. The technology they're using is my invention, Lucien. I'd give my entire fortune to put this genie back in the bottle."

  "I can't imagine the burden you carry, but history is full of good technology being used badly," Luc said. "I'm not sure you understand how expensive this will be. We're going to need a ship, custom armor, custom weapons, munitions, and support staff to start. The list is nearly endless."

  Dorian pinched at something on her HUD and flicked it lazily to him. Luc's eyes grew wide as he saw that she'd transferred an eight percent interest in Wotton Enterprises to him. "What's this?"

  "Henrietta Wotton is my business partner and a good friend. She's agreed to bring you on as executive director of the research and development division. You'll also have a seat on the board of directors."

  "What does this have to do with our mission?"

  "Wotton manufactures high end weapons as well as armor for small governments and private military organizations," she said. "As an executive of Wotton, you'll meet with potential customers, giving you access to locations and people you'd ordinarily have difficulty reaching."

  "That's brilliant," Luc said. "How about a ship?"

  "I just happen to have a copy of Wotton's latest balance sheet. Open the fixed assets beneath fleet heading," she said. Luc's AI displayed a mystifying report filled with numbers onto his HUD. The heading 'fleet' was highlighted, beneath which groupings of vehicles were listed. Luc's head swam with the details as he worked to catch up with the display. "I took the liberty of transferring a freighter from one of my other companies in exchange for a new contract." His AI drilled into a subheading, beneath which sat a single entry for an unnamed Anino Airframes custom freighter. His eye fell on a number, six million credits in a column to the right.

  "You gave me a ship worth six million credits?" Luc asked.

  Dorian paused, obviously scanning numbers on her HUD. "Technically, it belongs to Wotton and I suppose you haven't spent a lot of time working through financial reports. No, that's a customization I like to see on the fixed asset reports. Six million is the annual depreciation expense. That particular frame depreciates over an eighteen-year life. See the column next to it, that's the residual value at twenty-two million credits.

  "You're saying that’s a 130-million-credit ship? We're not using Little Deuce?"

  "You're a quick study," Dorian looked at him approvingly.

  "You knew I wouldn't let you come along."

  "You are charming company, Lucien," Dorian said. "But I have a business to manage. I can't very well do that and chase my boyfriend across the galaxy."

  The noise of someone moving nearby and the smell of strong coffee woke Luc from a deep sleep. He'd dreamed of the horrible events of the past weeks but woke with a strong sense of hope. Sun streamed in the window and fell across the naked body of Dorian as she pulled on her formal business suit.

  Luc slid from bed and caught her before she could finish. Tipping her head to the side, she welcomed his presence as he kissed her neck and pressed his chest against her back. They'd spent the early evening enjoying each other, but exhaustion had won out and they'd fallen asleep with Luc's arm draped protectively over her for most of the night.

  "I have something important to show you this morning," Dorian said. "I won't ruin the surprise but you'll want to dress quickly."

  "I don't know. You make a pretty compelling case for nudity," he replied.

  Dorian turned to him so they were facing each other. "I have the body of a forty-five-year-old woman. I don't understand what you see."

  "The heart wants what it wants," he replied. "And remember, you called me your boyfriend last night."

  Dorian picked up a cup from the table and handed it to him. "I despise mysteries," she said, using the distraction to shrug her suit into place and closed the seam. "I had the staff prepare clothing in the same style as you had on our last visit."

  Luc took a long drink of the scalding coffee, delighting in the burn as much as the rush of stimulants delivered by the caffeine. Setting the cup down, he pulled on the plain gray pants and loose-fitting, light-beige natural-fiber shirt.

  "I've never worn clothing like this in my life," Luc observed as he pulled on a pair of high quality tactical boots.

  "Oh, right," Dorian said. "It's difficult to find the patterns that scream 'thirty something, depressed bachelor.' I might have taken some liberties in upgrading your look."

  As he stood, Dorian pushed the shirt tails into his waist band. "You're the director of the research and development division of a company that grosses four-hundred million credits annually. I'm afraid you'll need to learn to look the part."

  Luc shook his head as he picked up the blaster pistol that had been sitting beneath the pile of new clothing and attached it to a receptacle on his belt. A green glow on his HUD reminded him of the protection orders he’d given to Gob. The man had slept in a room next to theirs and was up and roaming around.

  "Gob, I have Dorian," Luc said. "We're headed out. You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

  "Good morning, Commander Gray," Gob's smiling face appeared on Luc's HUD. "I'll be ready when you are."

  "Please call me Luc. Have you eaten?"

  "I have not eaten so well since I was with mi madre."

  "Ready?" Dorian asked.

  "We're Oscar Mike, Gob," Luc said.

  "Right behind you, Jefe."

  It seemed to Luc that Gob's accent grew thicker as he became more comfortable. Fortunately, Luc's AI flashed translations for all the unfamiliar words.

  Luc grabbed coffee from the service cart and looked wistfully at the array of food. His stomach growled loudly but Dorian was almost through the door. Taking a final long draw on the coffee, he set it down and hurried after her.

  Dorian pulled up short as Gob ducked out his room, his bulk filling much of the hallway. Placing a hand on Gob's arm, Dorian stepped around the large man. "Good morning, Gabino," she said in passing.

  "Good morning, Ms. Anino," he rumbled with no hint of accent.

  "Good lord, man," Luc said as he followed behind Dorian. "Did you grow larger through the night?"

  "I think it's the boots," Gob answered. "I'm still just a hundred fifty-five kilos. I believe the synthetic muscles are lighter than human tissue, though, because I'm at least ten centimeters taller than before and I believe my girth has expanded."

  The three of them crowded into an empty elevator car.

  "You're right, Gabino," Dorian said as the elevator dropped and then started moving horizontally. "Your overall volume was increased to match the maximum potential in your DNA. We found it difficult to keep your mass down with the upgrades to your skin. How did that work for you back in the lab? I saw more than one blaster bolt hit you."

  "They felt like stings from a really big bee," Gob said. "Not very pleasant, but the protections were effective. I was happy that the children's knives were unable to pierce the skin. I draw a line at hurting them."

  "There may come a time when we have to hurt them to help them," Luc said.

  "We will find an alternative," Gob said, stolidly.

  "There might not be one," Luc said, flashing back to his fight with the three children outside the building. He'd hated himself for his actions, but at the time he'd found no alternative.

  "I don't believe that," Gob pushed back.

  "Hold on, boys," Dorian said. "You're both going to want to see this."

  Luc felt frustrated at Gob's simple insistence and he knew his frustration was because of the guilt he felt at his own actions. It didn't escape Luc that the elevator car had taken the
m back to the laboratory building.

  "My team has been working all night to discover the cause of the aggression found in the captured children and in Lucien's colleague, Lieutenant Bastion. We've had a breakthrough."

  "That was fast," Luc said. "What kind of breakthrough?"

  "I have assembled a team of the finest scientists," Dorian said, smiling. "They know more about human physiology than any before them. They were as offended at the children's treatment as we were and have been working tirelessly. The fact is, there is not much that can be done to a human that they cannot identify easily. Isn't that right, Doctor Pham?"

  A small oriental man approached, returning Dorian's smile. "You are too generous with your praise, Dorian. Doctor Zoya's work is well known to us. It was a simple matter to extrapolate her previous research. What she has done is as elegant as it is heinous. Simple instructions are programmed into nano-receptors in the children's neural pathways. A feedback loop was added that causes pleasure when the children obey and pain when they resist. Further, their skeletal structures were modified and muscles enhanced. Doctor Zoya made several small, but significant breakthroughs."

  "Can the modifications be reversed?" Luc asked.

  "In part," Pham replied, leading the group into a room that overlooked a smaller, dimly-lit lab where the four children and Emilie all lay on beds. If he hadn't known better, Luc might have thought they were simply asleep. "The feedback loop was relatively easy to remove. Unfortunately, Doctor Zoya was not careful with how the nano-receptors were placed and the patient's long-term memories have been compromised."

  "Can you wake them up?" Luc asked impatiently.

  "There is no way to know if they will cause harm to others. The feedback loop is gone, but there has been reprogramming," Pham replied.

  "I believe I have two volunteers who are willing to take the risk," Dorian said.

  Pham looked at Luc and then to Gob, nodding his understanding. "Any aggression they might have will be short-lived. I believe the two of you are well suited to the task. I'd ask that you leave weapons behind, however."