Partners: Book Two, page 3
Dev studied the nav comp. “Oh. This is not so far from where we got on this boat.” She pointed out. “Wouldn’t it be better to try to get there? It seemed like good shelter.”
“Sure, if you want them to shoot your buddy on the back.” Jess said. “Not to mention, shoot us. We made better time back then. I thought we had another day of this to get back that far.”
“Oh.” Dev frowned “So then how are we going to get back to the carrier?”
“Let me get back to you on that. One potential life threatening disaster at a time.” Jess fought the controls, as the seas rose suddenly and rocked the boat.
“Want me to take this now?” Dev asked, diffidently. “You look cold.”
Jess wasn’t going to argue. She slipped out of the chair and let Dev take her place, noting Dev seemed freshly scrubbed and had a fresh jumpsuit on, with her lined one over it with the top part draped down behind her unfastened “Wait a minute. How long have you been awake?”
“About a half hour.” Dev got herself settled and adjusted the throttles. “I didn’t want to bother you when you were concentrating.”
Holy crap. Jess stared at Dev’s slim back in shock. Had she really been that oblivious? “Well,” she grunted. “Least you got some rest.”
“I did.” Dev said in a cheerful tone. “It was nice. I liked how the motion felt.”
Jess went to the back of the control center where they’d brought their things and got herself sorted out. She could see where Dev had changed and repacked her carry sack neatly, and the carefully folded packet that had contained some fish she’d apparently consumed.
Jess regarded the station. She saw her own meal had been set out for her, with a covered cup of tea next to it. She touched the cup with her fingertips and smiled. “Thanks,” she called up to the front.
“You’re welcome.” Dev answered, as she turned the bow a little and headed closer in to the ice.
Jess undid the catches on her suit and stripped out of it, ignoring the chill of the air as it hit her now bare body, though it made her start shivering. She took a sanitary kit out and wiped her skin down, giving her shoulder a cursory glance before she changed. The injury was almost healed as she’d expected, and she pulled the sleeves up over her arms and fastened the suit over her.
It brought immediate warmth and she exhaled in relief as the mild shivers abated. Braced where she was between the console and the wall, the motion of the ship was no more than annoying, and it felt good to be standing after all the hours crouched over in the chair.
She was stiff and a little achy though.
Cautiously, she flexed her arms and twisted to either side, relieved to only feel mild discomfort from her back. Maybe that one, too, was finally healing. “About fucking time,” she muttered under her breath.
Med had told her, matter-of-factly, that the toxins on the knife had almost killed her far more surely than the six inch cut it made, but even knowing all that didn’t ease the frustration of dealing with how long it was taking her usually robust body to recover from it.
Ah well. Jess uncapped the tea and sipped it while she opened the food packet with her other hand, bracing her body against the wall. “You’re so nice to me, Devvie.” She said. “I notice you left me the spicy one though.”
Dev smiled, visible in the reflection from the windows. “I’m sorry. I just can’t eat that,” she admitted. “I’ve never encountered anything like that before.”
Jess chewed the fish with a sense of melancholy appreciation. “My mother used to cook with these kind of spices,” she said. “Reminds me of her fish gumbo. Most of the time the citadel doesn’t use anything more exciting than sea salt. Wonder where these bastards got this from? I didn’t see any at the market.”
“I don’t know,” Dev said. “We didn’t have anything like that in the creche. I am sure they would have tried that on us if there had been, they tried everything else.”
“Don’t feel bad. Same for us when we were in school. I ate seaweed so many ways I thought for sure I took on a green skin tone there for a while. My favorite thing back then was pizza.”
“Pizza?” Dev carefully piloted the boat through a pair of back-toback waves. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”
“It’s kind of a flat bread thing, with soy cheese and little sardines. They used to get rid of the crap from the nets that way, but I liked it.” Jess finished one packet and started on a second, aware of being really hungry. “Wish I had one now. There’s just so much of this cold crap I can handle at one time.”
“That sounds interesting,” Dev said. “They don’t have that at the base?”
“No. They consider it junk. Don’t want to give it to us. We’re supposed to put stuff in our bodies that makes them work better. That’s the theory anyway.” She swallowed the last of the second packet and started rooting around for more. “That’s why those parties are so damn
popular. We get stuff we don’t usually get.”
“Like those brown things.”
“Exactly.”
“Those were really good.”
Jess chuckled. “I knew we were two of a kind when I saw you scarfing those.” She drained her tea and put the cup in one of the holders, then went over and joined Dev at the controls. She studied the cloud pattern, and put her hand on Dev’s back. “Can we go any faster?”
The slightly darker lump on the horizon was now visible as a gray, craggy outline, rising from the surging sea. She could hear the surf roaring as it broke against the stone, and around the edges a thick roiling fog was drifting. “See if you can get between those shoals.”
Obediently, Dev pushed the throttles forward, and aimed the boat for the looming rocks, as the storm rolled over them with increasing fury. The rocks looked dangerous. “I don’t remember seeing those before,” Dev said. “We were farther to the south going the other direction.”
“We were,” Jess agreed. “We’re up into the Greenland Archipelago. Should be safe though, never had much population.” She draped her arm over Dev’s shoulders as they eased between two tall, jagged spires and as they did, the winds dropped, and the seas got calmer.
“Wow,” Dev said. “That’s much better.”
It was still raining almost sideways, but the boat now made better headway as they threaded their way through half hidden rocks outlined in white and green froth as the stone walls rose up on either side of them. Past the rocks there were further gray lumps, and over all a mist was rising.
“Yeah, that is much better.” Jess studied the landscape. “Haven’t been here in years. There’s just this small southern bit that’s not under ice. See, the glacier picks up there.” She pointed. “Mostly seals live here.”
Dev brightened. “Really?”
“Mm.” Jess pointed at a rock escarpment. “That’s where I killed my instructor. We use this as a training base.”
“Oh.” Dev watched the water calm as they moved farther inside the waterway, where bare stone rose on either side of them. They were protected from the wind and the waves, and as she throttled down the engines, they both heard a loud sound from behind them.
Jess responded instantly, bounding over and grabbing her blaster from its holster, getting to the door and through it before Dev could even open her mouth.
The hatch slammed.
“I think that was the bear,” she said to the empty room.
A moment later, the hatch slammed open and Jess popped inside. “Bear,” she explained briefly. “I think it wants to go home.” She closed the hatch and rejoined Dev, dripping rainwater all over the deck. “See that inlet there?”
“Yes.” Dev turned the bow toward it. “Is this where the bear lives? How did you know that?” She peered at Jess in bewilderment.
“Bears live here,” Jess said. “I don’t know if this one does, but we can let it off there.” She pointed at an outcropping of rock that overhung the water just barely. “It can figure out what to do after that.”
They heard the loud noise again, a rough, barking roaring sound that made the metal vibrate under Dev’s fingertips. “Is the bear mad?”
“Bored. Sounds like me when I’m stuck inside too long,” Jess replied.
Dev didn’t really think the bear was bored, but she merely nodded and continued to edge toward the sheltered area, seeing a rock overhang just past it where they could probably let the boat sit while the storm passed. She watched through the window intently, looking for evidence of the seals Jess had mentioned, highly entertained with the idea of seeing both animals here on one trip.
“You know what it sounds like?” she said, after the bear made the noise again. “It sounds like she’s calling out to someone.”
Jess regarded her with a tolerant grin.
“Maybe there’s another bear here.” Dev didn’t catch the look. “Maybe she has a friend.” She put the engines into idle as they neared the rocks, and drew in a quick breath as she saw something moving “Oh! Look!”
Jess thumped lightly against the console and peered out the window, blinking a little as she saw two fast moving off-white forms galloping toward the boat. “What in the hell?”
Dev’s eyes lit up. “They’re little bears!” She bounced in place. “Oh! Look at them!” She grabbed the scanner and flicked through its programming, selecting the record function and focusing it on the animals. Then she set the scanner down and swung the boat sideways a bit, putting the back of it up against the rocks. “Jess, look. She knows them!”
Jess sighed. “She does,” she admitted, watching the bear scramble up onto the side of the boat and then jump to the rocks, where the two smaller bears met her. “Gimme those controls. Go look at it. Chances are you’ll never get to see this again.”
Dev didn’t hesitate for an instant. She grabbed the scanner and went to the door, working the hatch and popping through it. She scrambled down the steps and forward onto the bow, going around to the side against the rocks where she could get a good look at the bears.
The big bear was greeting the little ones with every evidence of happiness, licking them as they stood up on their back legs and patted her with their front ones, making small, cawing sounds.
Dev got it on the scanner, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. The little bears didn’t seem to mind either the rain or the noisy boat idling next to the rocks, and she got a good shot of them as they raced around the bigger bear in circles.
The bear sat down and let them climb over her, and then rolled on her back and patted them with her front feet.
It was amazing. How had Jess known to bring her exactly here? Dev felt a sense of awe at her partner’s intuition. She had known! Of all the places in the whole wide ocean, to bring the boat here, right where the two little bears were waiting for her?
Amazing! She turned and looked up into the control center, seeing Jess leaning on the console and watching the bears with a big grin on her face.
Even if she pretended not to care, she did. Dev nodded a little to herself. Sometimes the proctors were like that. Sometimes, even Doctor Dan was. But the truth of them would shine out at times, like it was with Jess right now. She could see her face, and see the unguarded happiness in it and she knew.
She knew there was a good and big heart in her partner. No matter what she said about her conscience.
Then the rain started to come down harder, and Dev felt the boat move away from the rocks toward the overhang. She walked along the rail, keeping the bears in sight as long as she could, then waved at them as they pulled past.
The big bear looked up at the motion, and opened her mouth, letting out one of the roars.
Amazing. Dev grinned, shutting the scanner down as she shook the icy rain from her eyes and headed back for shelter. It didn’t even matter that she was now wet through and cold, not if it meant she’d gotten to see that. She trotted back up the steps as the boat pulled under the overhang, then she paused as it became evident that the overhang was much more than that.
There was a cave there, and the engines sounded suddenly much louder as Jess steered into it, and then they were out of the storm entirely and in a big, dark space.
Jess turned the boat’s lights on as Dev entered the control room, and she looked out in surprise as the cave became visible. There was a very rudimentary dock there, and weather worn equipment lockers, and she recalled Jess saying they trained in this place. “That was amazing, wasn’t it?”
Jess smiled. “That was pretty cool,” she admitted. “You don’t get to see cubs very often.”
“Is that what they were? They were really beautiful.” Dev observed the scanner, bringing up a shot of the two smaller animals and showing it to Jess. “See?” It was a close-up of the two, their appealing faces turned toward the scanner, small pink tongues showing along with the dark eyes, and the small curved ears.
“Mm.” Jess idled the engines. “That one,” she put a fingertip on the screen, “is almost...almost as cute as you are.” She watched Dev blush a little, then she looked up and her expression changed completely. “Now that, on the other hand, isn’t cute at all.”
The lights had swept to the deeper part of the cave, and now outlined a large, hulking form that was all too familiar to both of their eyes.
“It’s a carrier,” Dev said, after a long shocked moment.
“Bet I know which one it is too,” Jess replied grimly.
“The one that attacked this boat? The one with the pirates?” Dev shifted the scanner and started a routine. “Is this where they are?” She paused and looked up. “Are they here?”
Jess’s eyes were flicking everywhere, her hands tense on the controls. “All very good questions, Devvie,” she muttered. “Let me park this thing and let’s find out. At the very least we found us a faster ride.”
“I see.” Dev ran her fingers through her damp hair. “That’s very interesting.”
“Could be getting way too interesting.”
Chapter Two
JESS FINISHED TYING up the boat, her ears cocked to pick up anyone approaching. So far, the cavern had been silent and was apparently empty, but she was old timer enough not to trust that.
Dev stood on the dock, scanning the interior of the cavern with her hand held comp. She had her tech jumpsuit on, and her jacket over it, the gusty wind puffing the pale hair on her head in various directions. Jess watched her for a moment, and then she went over to join her, peering over her shoulder. “Anything?”
Dev studied the screen. “Nothing alive,” she said. “Just the carrier and some frozen dead animals.” She shifted the pack on her back, twin to the one Jess was wearing that contained all their gear.
They had left all the stuff they’d bought for the scientists on the boat, also a few of the black diamonds. The rest were tucked into Jess’s pack, along with the few things they’d picked up for themselves.
Jess relaxed a little. “Let’s scope the place out. See what we can find before we steal that carrier.” She started across the ice, pausing for a moment to lean a gloved hand against the ice, lifting her boots up one after the other and slapping her steel spikes into place. “Slippery.”
Dev nodded, having already extended her own boot appliances. She dug her feet into the surface a little as she followed Jess, conscious of the steady stream of vapor coming from her lips in the cold.
The carrier crouching balefully at the end of the cavern stirred in her a very mixed emotion. Certainly that would get them home faster, but Dev felt a sense of profound disappointment that they weren’t going to have just a little while to be still and practice that sex thing. Dev sighed and squared her shoulders, putting thoughts of that aside as she climbed up the slanted ice path that led away from the water.
The cavern didn’t look lived in. Aside from the few old crates, and some rusted ladders half buried in the ice, there was no sign of human habitation, and as they moved up the slope her scanner confirmed that. There were no residual bio markers, save a few traces she tracked to the carrier itself.
That, she reasoned, was likely the one that had attacked them. It had the same silhouette, and the markings on it matched the pictures she’d taken during the battle. She slowed as Jess did, the agent pulling her blaster from its holster and holding it ready in her hand.
A motion of her thumb, and the safety was off. Dev heard the faint sound of the internal power pack spooling up and glanced down again at the comp, sweeping the area past the carrier to see if anyone was going to try and stop them. “No bio returns,” she commented, in a low utterance.
“Good.” Jess swept the pad the craft was parked on incessantly, her peripheral vision hunting for any motion past the edges of the iced shelf. Even if Dev’s comp didn’t pick up anything, she was never really sure until her own senses confirmed it.
Quirk of the brain. She knew Dev could be trusted, and she knew in fact this particular tech could be trusted, but still. There was a place for human instinct in their business and few knew that better than she did. So she cautiously moved forward onto the platform, feeling the bite of her crampons against the ice. “Carrier giving off heat?”
“No,” Dev said. “Exterior temperature is ambient.”
“Good news.” Jess approached the craft and paused, then knelt to pick up a small piece of ice. She stood and considered, then she tossed the ice at the carrier, both of them twitching a little when it hit the hull and dropped with a faint thunking clang.
Dev studied the comp readout, seeing no reaction in any of the electrical spectrums to the intrusion. “No scans,” she said, as Jess moved very carefully over to where the entrance door was. “I’m not getting any indication that systems are active on board.”
