21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
The cold receded gradually, feeling following it: tingling in the fingertips, stiffness in the neck, a sense of nausea that only got worse the warmer Deysan Moritz became.
Ten seconds after becoming aware of the fact that he was waking up out of cryo, he leaned over the side of his open tube and vomited a load of stomach acid and preservative onto the floor.
Of fucking course, Elenus would see to it he didn’t get the injections to prevent sickness coming out of cryo.
But … why was he coming out of cryo? Deysan would have expected to be locked in this fucking tube until his jailers came to pick him up.
Instead, the darkness of the cryo room was broken by red and yellow emergency lighting, spinning around in circles.
It took a moment for his ears to come back online, but when they did, Deysan heard an automated voice calmly repeating: “Flare incoming. Emergency procedures enacted. All personnel head to the secure shelters in the center of the station. Flare incoming. Emergency procedures enacted. All personnel head to the secure shelters in the center of the station. Flare incoming—”
Deysan grabbed the set of plain, utilitarian work clothes that were stored in the bottom of every cryo unit and pulled them on, then staggered over to the wall and slapped his hand against it.
“Computer, explain flare,” he said hoarsely, coughing around what felt like a rock in his sternum.
Shit, he was in bad shape. He’d probably be able to sue the fucking asshole who ran this station for it, once he was picked up.
After all, Gania wasn’t going to let one of its wealthiest representatives be treated like a prisoner, no matter what he was accused of.
“A radiation flare from Cloverleaf Quasar is due to reach this station in thirty-seven minutes,” the computer said.
“This will bring radiation levels to three times what they are now, for a duration of three point two-one minutes. All personnel must proceed to the secure shelters in the center of the station.”
Deysan stood there for a moment, absently rubbing his chest as he tried to wrap his head around this information.
He’d been woken up out of his cryo sleep because an emergency situation was about to happen.
Given the fact that he hadn’t seen Elenus’s sneering face the second he opened his eyes, Elenus and the …
whoever it was who he’d almost killed, gods damn it he’d been so close …
didn’t realize that he’d been released. They were probably sitting in the shelter right now, safe and sound, not thinking anything about their hapless prisoner.
Not so hapless now. Thirty-seven minutes …
that was a long time, comparatively. Plenty of time to, oh, get a ship into space and activate its high-speed drive before Elenus even knew it was gone.
Three times the radiation was a lot even for the Catalina’s capabilities, but it wouldn’t last long.
She’d endured days under this place’s regular deadly radiation without a blip.
If he wore a greenie suit, ordered her to focus her shielding on him, he should be able to endure it. And after that …
The universe was waiting for him. And Elenus wouldn’t be able to follow, not without cooking himself in his insufficient second ship. Perfect.
Now who’s having the last laugh, you piece of shit?
“Computer, keep this contact classified,” Elenus commanded as he slid his feet into a set of papery shoes.
“Understood.”
“Guide me to the hangar that contains Elenus Desfontaines’ ship Catalina.”
“Understood.” A string of glowing blue lights appeared on the wall.
Deysan followed them on wobbly legs, stopping every now and then to vomit.
He was going to make Elenus pay for this treatment.
He was going to break his spirit, break it completely.
He’d record it all, make sure Elenus could see him forcing his stupid ship to damage itself before he handed it over to his buyers.
It was going to be beautiful.
The lights led him to a vaguely familiar hangar, and the door opened instantly at his touch. In the center of the large, dark room was … was … Deysan narrowed his eyes. That was the Catalina? It had generally the right contours, but the lines seemed a little different, the—
“Daddeee?” A flash of color played over the hull, and Deysan’s suspicions vanished. This was it, all right—refitted for some reason, probably just because Elenus was bored, but the same mechanics underneath the new fittings. He kind of liked the bulkier, retro look, actually.
“Computer, isolate all audio and visual in this hangar,” Deysan said.
“Understood.”
Deysan watched as the flare of pink light turned orange, then dark, dark red. Yes, Catalina had figured out who he was. It was scared … just how he liked it to be. “Noooooo,” it bleated into the hangar, a desolate cry shared with no one who cared. “Where’s myyyy daddeeee?”
“I guess he didn’t care enough about you to let you know,” Deysan replied and watched the effect of his words ripple across the ship’s frame. God, Elenus had made such a delicious mistake when he programmed an AI to incorporate feelings. “We’re getting out of here, you and I.”
“Noooo!”
“Oh yes, we are,” Deysan growled, limping over to the ship and knocking threateningly on its frame.
“You’re going to take me out of this place, and you’re going to do it fast because if you don’t, I’m going to go find your daddy right now and smash his head in with a sonic wrench, do you understand me? ”
“Not myyy daddeeee,” Catalina crooned desolately. “Nooo, pleeease.”
“Then shut up and get ready to get out of here.”
That was the beautiful thing about a ship that “thought” for itself—it could make decisions that counteracted the orders of its creator.
No doubt Elenus had told it that Deysan wasn’t to be trusted or listened to, but this was a young, na?ve intelligence.
When he leveled threats, it took them seriously, like a child would.
That meant he could take it out into space without Elenus being able to do a godsdamn thing about it.
Undone by his own hubris in giving a machine the ability to make these kinds of decisions. It was perfect. Deysan hoped he got to see Elenus’s reaction via the comm system when he realized what Deysan had done.
With the ship’s engines humming into preflight mode, Deysan turned to the station’s computer. “Where are the greenie suits?”
“Inside the third compartment to the right of the door by which you entered.” Deysan went and got one, struggling into it. His heart was beating too fast … but he’d be fine once he’d had a chance to rest and to gloat. “The hangar door cannot be opened,” the ship’s computer went on.
Deysan scowled. “Why not?”
“Emergency procedures dictate that all external openings be under lockdown during a flare.”
“The flare isn’t here yet,” he argued.
“We are within the risk zone, as the flare is expected in approximately twenty-one minutes. The hangar cannot be opened.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. How was he supposed to threaten a stupid computer into compliance?
The answer presented itself as soon as Deysan thought of the question. “Catalina,” he snapped, “figure out a way to override the hangar door’s controls in …” How long should he give it? “Five minutes, or I’m going to kill your daddy slowly.”
The ship whined again—like a dog, Deysan thought. Some of his fellow CEOs had been enamored of the ancient Earth canines, resurrecting their DNA and making designer dogs for themselves. Elenus hadn’t been one of them, but apparently the exposure had stuck.
Three and a half minutes later, Catalina announced in a small voice, “The doooors will oooopen noow.”
“Good.” Deysan looked around the hangar one last time, but there was nothing he needed there. The ship was bound to be stocked with food, and Elenus knew better than to leave his getaway vessel under-fueled. “Then we’re getting out of here.”
And as soon as they were a safe distance away, he was going to call Elenus to gloat … right before he flew off to make his next fortune.
Good fucking riddance.
***
“Flare incoming in five minutes. Emergency procedures enacted. All personnel must head to the secure shelters in the center of the station immediately. Flare incoming in four point eight minutes. Emergency procedures enacted. All personnel must—”
The station’s computerized voice cut off abruptly as Deysan shut the outer airlock. He frowned as he tried to figure out how to get the inner door to close—this had been so much more intuitive before Elenus had made all these ridiculous changes to the ship. Eh, he’d get it to handle it on its own.
“Catalina, prepare for departure,” he said, picking his helmet up off the floor and heading for the bridge. This area, at least, hadn’t changed much. It was more intuitive than ever—he hardly had to do a thing at all before the ship was anticipating him.
It wouldn’t do to let the bitchy little thing anticipate him too readily. He’d have to make sure he scolded it for something after the flare was over, really punish it—maybe while he still had Elenus on the line. And speaking of …
“We are prepaaaared for depaaaarture,” the ship said quietly. “Opening hangar doooors.”
Deysan sat and watched in satisfaction as the station’s hangar opened exactly as the Catalina had said it would. This ship really did have a magnificent brain, for what it was. “Take us out. Then hail the station again—make sure it gets through to Elenus.”
“Yesss, siiir.”
Good ship. Maybe he’d teach it to call him Master. That would be gratifying. The thrusters kicked on—a little noisier than he remembered, but their glide out into space was smooth enough. “Excellent. How long until the flare?”
“Two and a haaaalf minutes.”
“Any response from Elenus?”
“Not ye—yesss. He is respondiiing. Should I—”
Deysan banged his heel against the Catalina’s control panel. “Of course, I want you to connect us, you stupid thing! What have I been asking for this whole time?”