Dark Star Page 11

  “I was.” She pushed her hair back from her face, something she did when she was really worried. “We all were. It was … amazing. It’s not perfect. It’s a trial version, and the results haven’t come back complete. But the last volunteer is still alive after twenty-four hours when he should be dead. It might be the result we’ve been hoping for. But we barely got time to celebrate. I was furious you hadn’t come back, so I sped down here to tell you the news. But I got a call an hour ago. Thing is Pip, the trial vaccine has gone missing, and so has Raina. Both the formula notes and the sample are gone.”

  Pip almost dropped his glass. “What? But how did she get past Budjardin?”

  “We don’t know. We think she must have drugged him, though how she managed to get him to take it is anyone’s guess. And we can’t ask him. Inja said Budjardin has gone away and won’t tell us where. They’re dealing with it in their own way.”

  Pip pushed his beer away, no longer thirsty. “Got to be Sulawayo.”

  “Seems like it,” Essie said. “So even more reason to be extra cautious with her.”

  Pip got up and began pacing back and forth. “We’ve got to do something. If Raina gets the stuff to her, she might think Rosie is expendable. I’m sure Sulawayo was counting on using her to lure me in. That’s how they do things, Helios; they’re tricky bastards. We have to go after her.”

  “Tactics, Pip, tactics.” Essie put a hand on his arm. “If we don’t do it right, we lose Rosie for good.”

  He pulled away. “Yeah, but I don’t have to be so cautious now. If they think they’ve got the cure, they won’t care about me so much, will they? I’ll be lower on their to-do list.”

  “We don’t know for sure the vaccine really works yet,” Cassie said. “It might be a false positive. They’ll still need you to complete an effective vaccine – just like we do.”

  “Fine. I’m willing to take the risk.” He threw up his hands. “We have to get Rosie out, you know that. I’ll give myself up if I have to, to get it done.”

  “And I’m hoping it won’t come to that,” Essie said, “but if that’s our last move, I won’t stop you.”

  Her sudden agreement took Pip by surprise.

  “Do you mean that?” he asked.

  “Yes I mean it,” she said quietly. “I would trade you for her. She’s my family, Pip. I promised her dad I’d look after her. So if you have to go, you go, but not right now, not today. We’ve still got options.”

  Pip sat down again. “All right, good then,” he said, but he knew his voice was uneven. Going back to Helios for him meant a slow but certain death, Essie knew that. Once they had the MalX cure out of him, he would be too dangerous to leave alive. “So what now?”

  “I’ll see if Whitely can do me an aerial nav search of the area off the byway, see if I can pick something up. You and Cassie find somewhere to hole up and I’ll contact you to meet back here if I find anything.”

  “So we just sit?” Pip said.

  “For the moment, yes.” Essie looked at him sideways. “But I’ll give you the com Rosie contacted me on, so if she calls again you might be able to hit her back. You got enough credit?”

  “I’ve got money,” Cassie said.

  Essie got up. “I’ll see you soon then. Stay out of trouble.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Dalton drove his family car to the Academy on Monday morning, but then sat in the air conditioning staring out through the tinted window at the gates. He’d hardly been there the last few weeks and didn’t want to go back in. He missed Rosie. More than he should, more than Pip wanted him to. He knew he was getting far behind in his course work, but was finding it hard to care. Since discovering that note from his dad to Sulawayo, and those odd plans on the com, he could think about little else than how she was, what she was doing. And he was confused about exactly how his dad was involved. He’d put the chit back in the office, but it played on his mind all the time. The code had been so easy to break. Nothing added up. He should never have let Rosie go like that.

  He bit his lip, watching the students who had started to filter in through the gates. He couldn’t remember ever having felt so goddamn powerless. Was this how Chris felt against his dad? Was this how his mum felt all the time?

  Dalton left the Academy and spent the day driving aimlessly around the city and sitting in Central’s many cafes until the sun began to set, then went back to the apartment. He kept thinking about the plans he’d seen on the com. Satellites over the Earth. It meant something. And he kept thinking about his mother. She seemed frightened of his father. Every time he was home she hid herself away. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen them together. Did she know his secrets? Was there another reason she buried her mind with drugs?

  He stepped out of the lift and Pilar greeted him as he entered the great room. His father wasn’t home. Pilar had made no mention of seeing him come from his father’s office that night, but sometimes he caught her looking at him with sadness, like she was worried about him. It made him feel he owed her an explanation, though she never asked and he knew she never would. She’d always kept his family’s secrets, even those they kept from each other. “Is Mum in her room?” Dalton asked.

  “Yes.” Pilar seemed concerned. “Are you all right, Dalton?”

  “Sure, never better.” He took the stairs two at a time, knocked once, then opened the door.

  His mother was sitting on one of her squashy low lounges watching digi-tel with the sound down. Her hair wasn’t brushed and her face was bare of cosmetic decoration, making her pale. For the first time in a long while she almost looked her age.

  Dalton crossed the soft carpet and kneeled down in front of her. “Mum?”

  Her eyes were open but her gaze was fixed and she didn’t respond.

  “Mum?” She flinched and focused on him.

  “Dalton?” She wasn’t quite with it; he could see the effects of drugs widening her pupils. Good, it would be easier for her this way.

  He settled onto the floor, worry and a surge of long- forgotten affection surfacing briefly. “I need to talk to you, okay?”

  She smiled at him. “Do you need money, son? I have some–”

  “No, it’s not that. It’s about Dad and what he does. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

  Her smiled faded. “He runs our business,” she said softly, but there was hesitation there.

  “Not just the business.” Dalton lowered his voice, “I mean Helios, Mum. I know about it, about his involvement. You do as well, don’t you?”

  Fear came into her face and she shook her head. “I don’t know that word; that’s not a real word.”

  “Yes, it’s real.” Dalton leaned closer. “You know it; Chris knew it too, didn’t he?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  “I’m sorry, Mum,” Dalton said, “but–”

  “No!” Her voice rose. “You can’t speak of it. Don’t say it. He’ll hear you! You mustn’t! It’s not real, none of it. None, none.”

  Dalton faltered. Maybe he shouldn’t have done this. “Mum, listen.” He tried to get through to her over her ramblings, but she suddenly lunged and grabbed his arms.

  “It’s not safe! You have to get away. You can’t stop it! He’ll make it happen. Chris tried, but he couldn’t. The plan, it’s not right, but it might save us. So maybe it is, maybe it is. Do you think it is?”

  “What plan?”

  “The plan. Stop it all, control us, the people, the planets, the worlds. Maybe it’s good. Do you think it’s good, is it?”

  Desperation and fear shone in her eyes. He felt terrible in the face of her distress.

  “I’m sorry, Mum. Yes, yes, it might be good,” he said in soothing tones. “It’s okay. You don’t need to worry.” It seemed to help, the terror began to fade from her eyes.

  “Get some rest.” Dalton eased her back into the cushions. “It will all be okay.”

  “No.” She pushed her face into the cushions. “Nothing will be okay aga
in. Nothing.”

  Dalton left, closing the door quietly. He was filled by a terrible hollowness and pity for his mother. He didn’t know what to do, or what she’d been saying. What plan? Had she overheard something his dad had said?

  He sat in the great room with the lights off watching the sky fall to darkness outside and the city lights brighten, creating haloes in the pollution.

  Eventually, his father did come in. He switched on the lights then halted in surprise seeing Dalton on the couch.

  “What are you doing in here, in the dark?” He switched on more lights, brightening the room.

  “What no fatherly greeting?” Dalton said.

  Jebediah paused. “I don’t expect that sort of comment from you, son.”

  “Glad to disappoint you,” Dalton said. “Did you have a good day? Changed the world for the better yet?”

  His father took off his jacket and laid it over the arm of the sofa opposite. His expression became circumspect. He sat down, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other, resting a hand on his bent knee. “If you have something to say, Dalton, you should say it.”

  All the questions, the fears, the worries that plagued him built up in Dalton’s chest until he could barely breathe. Something to say? He had too much to say, too much to ask and it wasn’t just about the things he had found out recently. It was years of wondering, years of suppressed anger. But still it was hard to start, to ask. His voice was strained as he spoke. “What are the plans on your com for? I saw them, those satellite systems, that space station. What’s it all for?”

  His father appeared unsurprised. “You got into my personal com? I thought you had.” He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “They are nothing, part of the Curtis and Co water project, that’s all, nothing for you to be concerned about – since you have no real interest in our company.”

  “If you say so.” Silence fell between them. Dalton felt his father watching him, weighing his words.

  “Spit it out, Dad.” He put a bitter emphasis on the word. “Pretend I’m one of your minions.”

  His father exhaled. “Don’t be sullen; it’s not the Curtis way.”

  “So I’ve discovered.”

  Jebediah shifted in his seat. “Son, I’ve been aware of your investigations into me for a while, and I’m disappointed. So very disappointed you felt you had to do that behind my back.”

  “Maybe I’m more your son than you thought.” Dalton was oddly relieved about being caught out.

  “I found your gear, your hidden alcove in your room.”

  Dalton’s chest contracted in shock and he glared at his father. “You searched my room?”

  “I hardly think that’s the problem here, do you? I know you’ve been making those Rogue Waves. You’re the one who shouted to the world that I am part of Helios, that Curtis and Co is corrupt.” His dad’s expression was calm, but regretful.

  “Well, you are, aren’t you?” Dalton said.

  “You saw the note I left in the book in my office; there seems little point in denying it. I can see you’ve made up your mind.”

  “You’re on the Pantheon list; I’ve seen it.” Dalton leaned towards him, hands clenched hard in the cushions. “You’re part of the whole problem, you’re part of the people who made the MalX.”

  “So you are closer to that Rosie Black than Sulawayo has let on, I see,” Jebediah said. “She didn’t mention you being involved in that last fiasco up in Nation lands, but I assumed you were there. That is how you injured yourself, isn’t it? Doing Riley Shore’s dirty work?”

  “Where is Rosie?” Dalton said. “What have you done with her?”

  “Done?” He raised an eyebrow. “Son, I don’t want to hurt her. I’m trying to change Helios, make it better, and your friend is part of that solution. Why would I hurt her?”

  “So you’re saying you are behind the rebellion within Helios, that you want to stop them? But you can’t have always been like that. How long have you been part of Helios?”

  His dad sighed. “A very long time. Before you were born.”

  “And what did you say to Chris when he found out?” Dalton sprang up, unable to sit any longer. He took a step towards his father, towering over him. “Were you still part of the great hierarchy then? Did you find his questions a problem? Is that why you let him die? You knew about the MalX. Your goddamn Helios created it and you left him out there; you may as well have killed him yourself.” He was shouting, his muscles quivering with rage. He wanted to grab his father and shake him, but he couldn’t quite do it. The words filled the air between them, the long held accusation echoing back off the walls.

  Jebediah didn’t move. He stayed sitting back against the couch. “I did not kill your brother,” he said quietly. “That was a mistake, a terrible, terrible error that I will live with for the rest of my life.”

  “At least you will live,” Dalton said. “That’s not much compensation for Chris, is it?”

  A tiny muscle moved in his father’s cheek. “No, it is not.”

  “What are you going to do then? Make it all better, make Rosie help you get the cure from Pip and save the world? I find that hard to believe, Dad.”

  “I’m doing what I can, whatever I can to save those I have left. And you are one of them, you and your mother. Don’t judge me for that.”

  But Dalton stepped away, shaking his head. “You talk about us like you care, but it’s only words.” He went to the window and stared unseeing over the city.

  “You could help me,” Jebediah said to his back. “Come with me to the Enclave. You can see your friend, ease your mind that she’s all right, and help me change things. This … alliance you had with Riley Shore, it was misdirected, that’s all. I can overlook it. We could work together on this, instead of it tearing us apart.”

  Dalton almost laughed. “Tearing us apart?” He faced him. “And since when have we been close? Do you really think I trust you enough to do that?” But his father didn’t change expression, didn’t speak and Dalton wondered about going with him. He could find Rosie, maybe get her out. It could work in his favour. But would his father actually allow it? And how could he convince him that he really did believe in his dad’s cause of changing Helios, when all he wanted to do, with his whole being, was tear it all down. Helios had to go; there was nothing to save. Like their family, his father had destroyed it.

  “Why don’t you bring Rosie to me instead and I’ll leave?” he said. “I’ll go away. You can disown me; you won’t have to deal with me or my misdirection any more.”

  Jebediah appeared genuinely sad and reflective. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  “I want you to let Rosie go, yes. Then you won’t see me again, not if you don’t want to.”

  His father took the silver com from his pocket and activated it. “That really would break your mother’s heart,” he said. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” He spoke into the com. “Vin.” He looked at Dalton with weariness. “Sorry, son, but this is for your own good.”

  Dalton began to back away. “What are you talking about?”

  The lift doors chimed and opened, and three large black garbed men came in. Three on one, he had no chance.

  Dalton spun on his father and lunged at him. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted but it was no good. The first man was on him in seconds, a hard arm around his neck, the second and third took him to the ground. Dalton struggled, but something cold and sharp touched his neck and the last thing he saw before the lights went out was the back of his father’s shoes as he walked away.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Headache again?” Gillian emerged from the shower stall rubbing a towel over her hair and caught Rosie pressing her fingers to her eyes. She stopped.

  “No, just tired,” she lied.

  “Yeah, bitch of a workout today.” Gillian dumped her towel on the floor and began dressing. Already in her uniform, Rosie slumped on the bench waiting. They were the last ones in the bathroom after an exhausting mo
rning of training that she’d barely got through. She was out of energy.

  She’d spent the last three days feeling like she was in prison. All day, every day, had been taken up by fitness training, weapons or tactics classes. And an operative had been shadowing her and Gillian every waking moment, as if Alpha was waiting for them to try something again. Every night she dreamed of Pip, of him dying, of the manacle and a darkness coming for her. She was exhausted. And the dark spot in her vision was growing. Along with a constant headache, she also now had a catch in her chest when she breathed in that scared her. The implant degradation was getting worse. It was frightening, and left her dull and slow. A bad thing to be in here. She’d had no chance to find out more about what she’d overheard Alpha talking about or to talk to Gillian. Except for now. She took in the empty bathroom. For the first time they were alone and she had to take advantage of it. Gillian groaned as she tried to comb out her tangled hair. “Why can’t they get us some proper cleanser?”

  Rosie folded her dirty clothes and reached out a hand to grab Gillian’s elbow. “Why don’t you run some more dry blast over it, might help. I’ll wait for you.” She looked meaningfully at the shower compartment and Gillian’s disgruntled expression cleared.

  “Yeah, right, good idea.” She dropped the towel and headed with Rosie back to the shower.

  They shut themselves in and turned the shower on high, using the hum of the mechanics to cover their whispers.

  “What’s up?” Gillian got straight to the point.

  “We’ve got to talk.” Rosie chose her words carefully. She didn’t know Gillian well, but she had a gut feeling about her. She could be helpful if she could convince her Helios was far from perfect. “So you’re part of Sulawayo’s rebel group,” she said. “How much do you know about me?”

  Gillian said, “You mean, why you’re here? I know you’re not any ordinary joiner, if that’s what you’re getting at. Sulawayo doesn’t tell me much, but she did say you’ve got some special info we can use. My job is to make sure you fit in, watch your back.”