PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES, page 30
“Kai!” The woman hopped out. They embraced and the blonde kissed Kai on each cheek. “Nik hinted there was someone familiar at the gate. I’m surprised to see you!”
“Were you expecting someone else?” Kai said wryly.
“What brings you out here?”
“Reassignment. I didn’t think you’d be here. Your name didn’t pop up on the STS-127 roster.”
“You never called.” The blonde frowned.
Indiana got out and stretched.
“Would it’ve mattered?” Kai asked.
“Probably not.”
Indiana coughed.
“Jeri, this is Indiana Beckham. Indy, my cousin, Jeri Brand.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Indiana shook Jeri’s hand. It was lightly callused, well manicured, and firm. It felt sure and steady.
“Another surprise. I heard you retired from fencing. At least that’s what the news feeds say. Most also say you were in Geneva or you’re having Elijah’s baby in secret.”
Indiana rolled her eyes and turned around. “Do I look pregnant?”
“Hell no. Then again, my sister-in-law Lany looks just like you after popping out my nephew Beau, so I’m not going to judge.” Jeri smiled, then returned to business. “Nik’s in Warehouse Two. I’m going to take you over to the badging facility first. You won’t be able to get into any of the warehouses without the correct badge. Hop in.” Jeri got back into the four-person golf cart.
Kai grabbed her messenger bag and hopped in. Indiana grabbed Janny from the dashboard and got into the backseat. The electric cart whirred away.
“I knew you’d land on your feet,” Kai said.
“Spoiler alert: it’s been a roller-coaster ride. If things don’t work out with this project, I’ll be on STS-137, according to Jim Lopez.”
“Big Jim still running the program?”
“To the end.”
Indiana gazed at the woman who sat in front of her. She was slightly taller than average. She had a nice figure under the jumpsuit and wore a sports bra—showing cleavage and bouncing with every bump in the road. Her short hair gleamed like beaten platinum. She smelled faintly of chlorine and had a faint French lilt.
“You still flying rotary-wings?” Jeri asked.
“Yeah, they let me. Not as fancy as you flyboy squids.”
“Why the hell does everyone know how to fly an airplane? You, Ellen, Jeri here,” Indiana said to Kai.
“Ellen?” Jeri raised an eyebrow. They stopped at a small building. After a half an hour, Kai and Indiana walked out of the office with nameless chipped photo badges. Jeri threw the cart into reverse and drove them to one of the enormous hangers they could see in the distance. Jeri parked, and they walked through a more thorough security checkpoint.
Indiana emptied her pockets and left Janny in a cubbyhole.
Kai managed to keep her messenger bag, though it had to be thoroughly searched before it was returned to her. In front of them, sitting on its end, was a squat, powerful vessel. It looked similar to the aging NASA space shuttle fleet in the sense that it had an elongated airplane look to it, with curved wings. But there the similarity ended. Part of the vessel was still enshrouded in scaffolding and tarpaulins. The nose was blunt and wide, and the wings were swept farther forward than in the narrower space shuttle design. The wings also curved upward above the space frame, to the point where the wing tips were as high as the fuselage itself. Everything below the wings was covered by tarpaulins, so the main engines were not visible. The vessel was about half the size of the space shuttle. Workers climbed over her like ants over an anthill. She was covered in hexagonal honeycomb tiling painted in a combination of black, international orange, and gleaming silver, all declaring she was an experimental device. The hatches were painted over with black and orange bull’s-eyes.
“Ladies, meet the Archimedes,” Jeri said, beaming.
Indiana was impressed with the majestic ship. It looked enormous this close up.
Jeri had a rapturous look, almost as if she had not seen it before. “I’ve watched it being built. The living quarters were completed just last week. You should see how she looks from the inside.”
“Reusable?” Kai asked.
“She is. Telemachus borrowed heavily from the SpaceShipOne and Orion designs, even a little from the old Buran. Easy to do, since they’ve been abandoned in favor of newer designs and revenue streams.”
“That’s a goddamn shame,” Kai muttered.
“Hallo!” a man called out from the scaffolding. He waved and made his way down the shuttle.
“She’s kind of small,” Kai said.
“She’s small enough to be encased and mounted at the top of an Atlas V rocket, though she won’t need the Atlas propulsion if her new drive works as planned.”
A tall, lean man joined the short man who was making his way to them. The short man had a swarthy, jovial face. “Nikolai Gastov, director of Telemachus,” the short man said, then shook hands quickly and took off his hard hat. “You must be Kai MacGabran and Indiana Beckham. An honor.” He kissed each of their hands. “I was just doing an inspection of the new tiling system. I’m pleased you arrived so soon, and how very fortunate that you’ve arrived today. This is Dr. Jeremy Kovachs, chief propulsion engineer. He’s just brought the new propulsion drive test frame. It’s being assembled right now.”
Jeremy shook hands with Indiana and Kai. “We’ve only built the test frame on computer, so in theory it should come together properly. Fortunately, we have some experts working on it now. My daughter is a huge fan of yours, Miss Beckham. It’s hard to believe you’re here.”
“I got kicked out of my last job,” Indiana quipped.
Nikolai looked at the Archimedes. “What do you think of her? This has been the best project of my career. After all the work I’ve done over the years on satellites and communications launch platforms, I never thought I’d get the chance to build my own space shuttle. I used to dream about going into space, except that I get incredibly motion sick, even in a car. It’s a shame.”
“So that explains why you live so close to campus,” Jeri mused.
Kai looked over the shuttle. “She’s awfully small for a shuttle. I saw the Space Shuttle Enterprise in the Smithsonian. She was big.”
Nikolai rubbed his hands together like a kid in a candy store. “Archimedes is forty years newer than the Enterprise, and if I may be so bold, parts of her are about fifty years more advanced as well. And under budget, too.”
“How long has she been under construction?”
“She’s about a decade in the making, though if Jeri or Tom told you, it was like she was built yesterday.”
“Could’ve fooled us,” Jeri grumbled.
“Oh, the life support module. Niceties,” Nikolai clucked.
“How long before we can test the engine?” Jeri asked Jeremy, who pulled out a hardbound green notebook.
“It’ll be a month before the frame is built around the engine. It should be ready to test by then, if all goes well.” Dr. Kovachs scribbled some notes into the notebook. “What’s your weight?” he asked Indiana.
“What do you need that for?” Indiana asked.
“Uh, just for weight calculations for . . . the . . . frame.” Dr. Kovachs realized what he was saying.
“Is there a maximum weight?”
“Oh, the frame will hold any weight up to three hundred pounds if you’re wearing one of the old space suits.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m less than three hundred pounds.”
“Have you seen your ass lately?” Kai murmured.
“I will kill you where you stand,” Indiana said.
“Well, that leaves us two days to kill before the propulsion test. Who wants to put on a space suit?” Jeri asked.
Indiana held up her hands. “Hold on, hold on. One, why would I be sitting in the test frame of a fucking rocket engine—”
“Gravitic drive,” Nikolai corrected her.
“Gravitas drive, and two, why would I want to put on a space suit? Not that I’m opposed to it, but I thought Kai was here for a little visit.”
Kai cleared her throat. “I may have misrepresented things when I said I had a job offer.”
“Actually, she’s already on the payroll as our payload specialist and secondary propulsion engineer,” Nikolai said.
“Still not answering my questions.”
“I think for these questions, we’ll have to go to my office,” Nikolai said.
“I’ll get back to seeing how the test rig is coming along,” Dr. Kovachs said. “Nice to meet you all and look forward to working with you, Miss Beckham.”
As they followed Nikolai to the second exit from Warehouse One, they passed a section where angular black helicopter components were spread in a clean room. In the center was the bare frame of an incomplete Raven.
* * *
“Miss Beckham, I understand that you have been ‘expelled’ from your previous position?”
“You could say that,” Indiana said, and sat down on Nikolai’s couch as he gathered some papers from his glass desk. Behind him was a glass etching of the blueprints from the original Star Trek Enterprise—NCC-1701. Kai sat down next to her. Jeri lounged across from them on another couch.
Nikolai handed her the sheaf of papers. “Here I have a job offer for you. It consists of full pay, full benefits, and a reasonable sum of shares of Telemachus’s internally held company stock.”
“I really don’t need money.” Indiana tossed the papers onto the table. “Why am I being asked into this program?”
“We sent them your kinetic transmission scores after we pulled the dampener,” Kai said. “They know about the manifest wave technology.”
“Full disclosure: we only know of the technology. Of what you can do, but not what you’re capable of. We’ve had testing done previously.”
Indiana frowned. “Well, you know I can’t manifest without my focal rings. This whole thing is pointless without those rings. They were tuned to me.”
Kai turned to Indiana. “I have another confession.”
“You’re a man?”
Kai kicked her in the shin.
“Goddamn it!”
“I didn’t quit the project purely because you were ejected, though in part, that was true. Maven suggested that I take this new position and bring you along. I’m not as strong in manifest transmission as you are, but it was the best way to get you to come with me.”
“You could’ve told me.”
“Would you have come if Maven asked?”
“Nope.”
“You also don’t keep secrets.”
“Good point.”
Kai opened her messenger bag and tossed a small bag to Indiana.
Indiana opened the pouch and pulled out the Joyous and Brightkiller rings. She put them on her hands. They felt natural. They felt like a part of her. She flexed her hands and felt an overwhelming desire to manifest.
“They’re not your original rings. Maven had Donna make these special for you. They’re called Arondight and Secace. As long as you’re a part of Project Archimedes, you can wear those rings. Courtesy of Dr. Myrrdin. I have two sets as well— Ainavainë and Sardayáwë—but I don’t think I’ll be able to use both at the same time like you,” Kai said.
Indiana clenched her fists. Another gift from Donna. She felt an emotional wave starting to crest and forced it down. “What am I going to be doing, where do I sign, and can I wear these in a space suit?”
Everyone laughed.
“Okay, okay, so!” Nikolai said. He handed Indiana a pen. “The first thing you must do after you sign is give us a fine demonstration of your fencing skills.”
“I could do better than that if we had a grid.”
Nikolai held up a finger and pressed a button on his desk. “Miss Leone, come in, please? Bring the package.”
A tall brunette secretary walked in, rolling a large silver case that Indiana guessed was like the portable collector gridpack she had used in Geneva. A pair of glasses hung in the vee of her blouse.
“Leone?” Kai asked.
“Allo, Kai.” Leone smiled. Kai stood and hugged her. “I didn’t recognize you with your new look.”
Leone touched her hair. “I needed a change. It will probably grow back out.”
Indiana stood and Leone turned to her. “Mademoiselle Beckham.” She extended her hand. “Happy to see you again.”
“I’m sure you are. I wondered where you’d gone off to. Have you gained weight?”
“Have you?”
“Not really,” Indiana admitted. Leone’s nose crinkled with amusement. “You’re my DAMSL again?”
“I’ll be your DAMSL for the demonstration, but when you go on mission, Kai will assist. Are you ready?” Leone plucked the thick-framed glasses from her blouse. The changes in her were subtle, with more of a flare to her hips and her fuller shape.
Indiana shook the thought from her head, knowing it was misplaced jealousy now. She matched Arthur.
Leone knelt down and opened the case. She extended the fins, connected cables, turned on the system, and put on her glasses. The lenses darkened—AR gear, Indiana guessed.
Kai moved to sit next to Jeri.
Indiana paced the room a bit, eager to begin. Had it really been only a week since the last time she manifested? Since Sam had been abducted? Since Donna had died?
The demonstration was short, but it left Indiana filled with lightness of being. Nikolai was unhappy about his glass desk being shorn in two, but he was amused and impressed by the blade technology at the same time. The blades winked out. Leone’s glasses went back to clear after she powered down the system.
Indiana wiped the trickle of blood from her nose.
Jeri spoke. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like Star Wars brought to life.”
“Without the humming and the Force,” Kai said, folding her arms.
Jeri had watched with an intensity Indiana recognized from when she first saw the manifestation herself. Indiana flexed her fingers and felt that she could not live without these rings. Arthur knew what he was doing. The bastard was right, she thought. She vowed no one would take them away from her again.
“What were you saying about some space suits?”
* * *
“These are terrible,” Indiana complained at the modernly furnished apartment she walked into.
Jeri smiled. “Funny you say that. That’s the name of the street this complex is on. Terrabil Place.”
Indiana dropped her bag and looked around. It was much larger than her dorm room at Tintagel but smaller than her loft in Chicago. She had room, but not enough to really practice in, the way it was configured.
“You have my number?”
“Janny does,” Indiana said absentmindedly.
“Janny?”
Indiana pulled off her shirt. “Going to take a shower now.”
“I’ll come by when we’re ready to test.” Jeri shrugged and shut the door.
Despite taking a leisurely tour of America before arriving in Houston, Indiana enjoyed that first shower at a place she knew she was going to stay at for a reasonable amount of time. She stepped out of the bathtub, her skin scrubbed pink.
“Hector would like to talk to you,” Janny said.
“Yes!” She snapped up Janus as it made the connection.
“Hey, kid,” Hector said groggily.
Indiana smiled. “Hey, Heck. You made it.”
“Yeah, it was interesting. I don’t know how to explain it and my head is buzzing.”
“Sounds about right.”
“I just got out of the tank and woke up in my room. Where are you?”
Indiana’s mind went blank. “I’m somewhere else.”
Hector sighed. “Light on your feet as always. Spill it.”
Indiana told him the story about her trip to Geneva, the death of Donna, the loss of Sam, all of it, including Arthur.
“Man, a guy goes to sleep for a few days and people do crazy things. My sister is in love?”
“No,” Indiana lied.
“No? Guess I’ll have to do some pugilism to right this wrong. So more of us made it than before. Looks like there’s going to be maybe ten of us? So far there’s like eight, so don’t you feel less special now?” Hector told her briefly about the candidates and about T. S. in particular. T. S. was going through the initial battery of tests, but it did not look promising in terms of his being able to manifest. The project continued, though only Ellen and Arthur were the primary instructors, with either Lamar, Percy, or Ed rotating in to give training as they slowly tried to run down cold leads overseas.
“What do you want me to do?” Hector asked.
“I want you to stay there. Learn to be like me. Help Arthur.”
“What about you? You won’t remember to put on pants without me around.”
Indiana looked at her pantsless self in the mirror. “Hey, I did okay without you around.”
“It doesn’t sound like it,” Hector teased.
“I have Kai with me.”
“Oh, well, what do you need me for? I know the major. She don’t mess around. So you want me to stay and keep training?”
“Yes, and maybe be like me. Didn’t you always want to grow up and be cool?”
“Ha ha,” Hector said. “You never said Conditioning would be so weird.”
“I’ve forgotten most of it. It’s mostly your mind rewiring itself and some things get shorted out for a bit.”
Hector laughed again, this time deep and genuine. Indiana felt his warmth and also the pang of the loss of his once ever-present company in her spartan life. “Hey, I have to go. I think I’m going to eat a hippo. If they have a hippo. I wonder what they taste like.”
“Call me all the time, okay? I have Janny with me.”
“I always knew my job would be taken over by a robot. I thought it would be a day planner that one time until I realized you can’t read.”
“I can read good. I been reading lots of words—”
“You sure you don’t need me? I can help you,” Hector interjected.
“No, Hector. I want you to stay where you are. It’s time for you to do better things without me.”
