Hey there fans (if there're any left) I know it's been a while, but here's the fifth chapter. Follow this link to find the other chapters. topic58275.html
Kari pried open her eyes, wondering if it had all been a dream. But her right hand was still bloody, and the words ‘Yet.’ still glared at her from the message log. Behind her, a massive cloud of smoke and debris rained down on the populace.
“What just happened?” Kari asked, wondering if 27 could hear her.
If she could, then there was no telling: the message log remained the same. Kari tried to take over the ship again, tried sending a universal message, tried opening the hatch, but nothing worked. Reluctantly, Kari settled into her chair, arms crossed and eyes glaring at the main screen. Outside, it was turning dusk, and the tinted windshield was rendered almost entirely black.
As Kari waited, she wondered what 27 would do to her. More throat-grabbing? Would she have Jard beat the pulp out of her? Whatever it was, nothing could take away the thrill of her ride. Kari grinned just remembering the loops, turns and barrel-rolls.
Prepare for landing, Kari…and then, re-entry.
The message brought Kari back to the screens, and she saw that they were approaching what look like a sky-scraper under construction. Netting covered three sides of the building, and a single steel tower rose into the sky like a lonely stork. The building itself was a skeleton of concrete and steel beams, but there was space enough to land a Wasp on the topmost layer. Even though it was dusk, Kari could make out the huge figure of Jard standing next to the landing spot.
The Wasp hovered over the concrete roof and then slowly descended until the shock-absorbing legs touched down.
Instantly, the door hissed open and Jard grabbed her around the waist with one hand.
“Let go of me!” Kari screamed, really beginning to panic now.
“Shut up, girl,” Jard’s voice was heavy with anger. “You shouldn’t have run away. Now put your finger here.”
Kari recoiled as Jard held up a glowing case of plasma. The last time she’d stuck her finger in plasma…
But she had no time to react. Jard grabbed her hand and shoved it in. This time, however, there was only an electric shock that threw her back at the Wasp. She hit one of the legs and slumped to the ground, the breath knocked out of her.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” Kari taunted, getting to her feet.
No, Kari, 27’s voice was once more inside. This is.
Kari froze as an unbelievable pain gripped her mind. Images, feelings and emotions rushed at her in a storm of fury. Out of the dark a horde of bright, glowing eyes stared at her, some narrowed with hate, other wide with fear. If she was screaming, she never would have been able to tell, someone was bellowing “27!” over and over in her head; always the same voice, always laced with rage and vehemence.
Suddenly, Kari felt the sensation of something long and thin striking her back. The feeling doubled, trebled and then burst into a full-fledged whipping that brought torrents of tears to her eyes. Someone, something was tearing her back into pieces with a million razor-tipped lashes. Before that feeling could really settle into her mind, a new one appeared; so quickly that the two overlapped. It was Kari’s greatest fear. Falling into oblivion.
Her fingertips and face were bitterly cold just from the rushing air that seemed to rip the very skin from her body. At the same time, her body felt strangely warm, and the two sensations made Kari sick to her stomach. Black, black darkness enveloped her, pulled her in. She fought it, trying to pull back, to kick away, anything.
But on it came, stretching shadowy fingers around her, gripping down tight, crushing her.
She shriek, one long, shrill cry that pierced all else.
And then the darkness closed completely around her.
In his personal office at the Seljik Air Traffic Control Tower, fleet commander Jacin Wells pounded his fist into the metal table. It wouldn’t have mattered how hard he hit it, the reinforced mekkin layer was almost four micrometers thick, and could take the pounding force of a VAV without denting. What did matter, however, was that he was still two VAV’s and four V-Wasps short. It had been his idea personally to employ the racing-ships in the police system, and now, on the first day, they had failed him miserably, taking four good pilots and seven million credits with them.
“Sir?” a junior officer opened the door to Jacin’s office tentatively. “Ah, the Chief wants to see you.”
Jacin sighed and drew his long fingers through his graying hair, grayer now for the past hour of harrowing chasing.
“Tell him I’ll be there,” he replied. “Five minutes.”
The officer left, and Jacin remained where he was, mulling over what had happened. He’d known Kari, even spoken to her before. Of course, there hadn’t been the slightest recognition in her voice, probably because tuners and police didn’t have good relationships in the hectic world, but he had hoped she would have pulled over in fear of him: he’d jailed her three times before, the last time with her spending a few weeks in the hospital. Or had it been months?
Come to think of it, Jacin hadn’t heard from her for a long while. Where she’d been and how she had gotten the V-Wasp was a mystery to him, tugging and nagging at the corners of his mind. Eventually, though, he gave it up and stepped out of his office into the hectic control room. Robotic and human personnel alike worked like a hive of ants over the latest Kari case. Jacin walked down the hall to the Chief’s room, circling around a group of pilots that was examining the details of her flight. A video played over and over, but they were still glued to the screen. Jacin watched as the Wasp flew over a sky-scraper, around a crane, past a row of sickly, Seljikan trees and finally through a low bridge arch. The red, police Wasps were in such a tight formation after the flight that not one of them stood a chance when a missile came out of the sky and slammed directly into the thick of them.
Strange, how Kari had saved her best tricks for last.
“My head…”
The groan woke Jard, who’d dozed off waiting for Kari to regain consciousness. The giant rose from the cot where he’d been sleeping, and the thin metal legs creaked back in relief. Kari was turning and tossing in her bed, beads of sweat dotted over her forehead.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, staring at Jard piercingly.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed, shrinking away from him.
“I wasn’t messing with you,” Jard replied, as normally as if he’d said it many times before. “Can you walk?”
Kari threw back the covers and sat up in the bed. Her hand was bandaged, rather clumsily, thanks to Jard, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Where is she?” Kari asked, her voice hoarse from the screaming she done only hours ago. “Where’s 27?”
“In your head, probably,” Jard replied nonchalantly. “She likes to mess with people’s minds.’
“Hell, yeah,” Kari replied, then gave Jard a strange look. “How did you get into this? Weren’t you the biggest wrestler in the galaxy?”
Jard grinned and flexed his enormous arm muscles, as if posing for a picture.
“It was a long time ago,” he explained. “I dropped out of that game when 27 found me.”
“But why don’t you up and run?” Kari insisted
“Like you did?” Jard returned, raising his eyebrows.
Kari clenched her teeth and balled her fists.
“I hate her.”
“Well, she can hear you speak, so take it easy,” Jard warned, getting up and crossing over to the other side of the room. “Coffee?”
As he spoke Jard lifted a glass beaker and a dark liquid sloshed around in the bottom. Kari shook her head, and tried to stand. Her limbs were weak from the ordeal, but, mercifully, there wasn’t a sign of the whippings on her back. She wondered at it, and Jard answered to the look on her face.
“She did that to me some time ago,” he explained, pouring himself a cup from the beaker. “Worse shit I ever knew. Made me cry like a baby.”
Kari laughed at the image of Jard crying, but it came out in a snort. Jard ignored her and continued.
“I’m not sure what it is, but I think it’s her memories,” He said. “She must have lived a hell of a life in another host.”
“Host?” Kari repeated. “So she really is a parasite?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” Jard looked surprise. “You remember Lorna, don’t you?”
Kari could only faintly remember the ponytailed, advanced technician that had shaken hands with her in the presence of a harrowing corpse. She nodded to Jard.
“Well, that was her last host,” Jard said, setting his coffee cup down and getting another mug. “I was the one before that, but I’m not sure about anyone else.”
“So why didn’t you take your money and leave?” Kari asked. “Lorna did.”
Jard shrugged and half-smiled.
“You didn’t ask to stay with her, did you?” Kari questioned, narrowing her eyes.
Jard nodded, blushing slightly.
“Idiot,” Kari muttered. “How could you be so stupid?”
Jard didn’t answer, instead, he poured another cup of coffee and presented it to Kari. The latter didn’t even move to take up Jard’s offer.
“Seventy-billion credits and freedom from her mind-worming and you frickin’ stuck with her?” Kari shouted. She didn’t give a damn whether or not he’d done so, but it exasperated her to realize he’d given up something she would have snapped up in seconds.
“First off,” Jard corrected. “I still got half the amount; the furniture and Nanotouch back on Violet was mine. Secondly, she pays a hundred billion for the jobs. Thirdly, I…”
His voice trailed off into an inaudible whisper, and then quickly returned to the coffee machine as if he’d never spoken to Kari in his life.
“You what?” Kari asked, striding across the room.
She’d intended to grab his shoulder and turn him around to face her, but she hadn’t taken in the fact that her legs were still jelly-like (not like she could have turned him anyways, even if she was ten times stronger) and crumpled under her.
Jard lifted her back onto the bed and found a whitish vial from one of the counter cupboards. He poured it into the coffee and re-offered it to her.
“Drink this,” he said. “It’ll make you feel better.”
Kari had never liked coffee; the old world beverage stuck to her throat with its bitter taste and didn’t have half the tingle a shot of Ampere –her favorite energy drink back in her old racing days– packed. Nevertheless, she took the mug and gulped it down, hoping the whitish fluid was some sort of energy boost. The coffee was sweet and creamy, and felt more like hot chocolate than coffee; much better than any of the poor examples she’d tried. Warmth spread into her cold limbs and face, almost as if someone had wrapped heat-blankets around her body.
“What is that?” Kari asked, licking her lips and wanting more.
“Kopi Luak,” Jard explained proudly. “Old Sol material, took three years to ship this here.”
Kari nodded dazedly and tried to calculate how much a single cup of the expensive coffee would have cost. Jard seemed to have heard the calculator in her head, and pointed to the open cupboard.
“Seven million credits,” he said, referring to what looked like a two-pound bag of coffee grains. “And every bean well worth it.”
Kari shook her head and lay back in the cot; she knew exactly what she would have bought for seven million credits.
A V-class Wasp, right?
“Gah!” Kari shouted, nearly rolling out of her bed.
Jard gave her a strange look, and then nodded.
“The tiger returns,” he whispered mysteriously, before leaving the room.
Kari glared after him, and then wondered how much 27 had heard of her conversation with Jard.
All of it. 27 informed her. And then there was that lovely nightmare you had.
“I didn’t have a nightmare,” Kari replied aloud. “Just you cramming me with your sick childhood. Those were your memories, right? Jard said–”
He knows nothing. 27 interrupted, and Kari felt the squeeze again. Now, are you ready yet? We have to go.
“But what about my Wasp?” Kari countered, fearing that 27 would leave it behind.
It’s mine, 27 corrected. And Jard already got rid of it. Besides, your pay has been deducted seven percent for your reckless behavior; I suggest you don’t pull any more stunts.
“What?” Kari shrieked.
I said, your pay–
“Not that!” Kari screamed. “You destroyed the Wasp?”
She was about to rush from the room to protect her beloved ship, but suddenly her body stopped moving, no longer obeying her commands.
The Wasp was put there to test you, 27 explained, moving Kari’s body slowly out the door. There was a seventy-five percent chance that you would desert me.
“So why did you bother putting it there at all?” Kari moaned, seeing that they were now walking along the steel girders that made up a corner of the roof; the V-Wasp was nowhere to be seen.
I wanted to see if I could trust on the remaining twenty-five percent. 27 replied. Unfortunately for you, I couldn’t. Up ahead Jard stood next to a transport cruiser, a civilian VAV. Now I will be forced to keep you under extreme watch.
“The monitor band, Jard,” Kari called out to Jard, but it was 27 speaking through her.
Jard seemed to know it, and fished a bracelet from his pockets. He snapped it around Kari’s right wrist, and then the flooding sensation of 27 returning control snapped her back.
“What is this?” Kari asked, turning the metallic band around on her wrist.
It fit well enough that she couldn’t take it off, but it wasn’t too tight so as to cut her like the mekkin handcuffs had.
A monitor: just in case you decide to go joy-riding again
Kari tugged at the band, but felt no give whatsoever.
“It hurts,” she lied. “Can you loosen it?”
You forget, Kari, 27 said, the slightest hint of anger in her voice. A being that can take control of your body can also regulate your emotions and feelings: you’re lying.
Kari sucked in her breath and bit her lip: dammit, how could she have been so naïve? Meanwhile, Jard had started up the VAV and was pulling away from the landing port. Only then did 27 relinquish body control, and Kari pressed her face to a window, hoping to catch sight of her Wasp.
Looking back at their distance and height gave Kari an unobstructed view of the skyscraper. The room had been built on one of the upper floors, the VAV launch pad on the roof. Aside from those two objects, everything else was just steel beams and concrete pillars: not so much as a glimmer from her Wasp.
Before Kari could ask 27 what had been done to the ship, the entire skyscraper collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris, falling in on itself like a pack-of-cards tower. Somewhere in the confusion, Kari thought she could see a dark shadow falling into the dust cloud, a shadow large enough to be a V-Wasp.
Dazedly, she sat down again, not bothering to even talk to Jard. How she hated 27!
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