Traitor Read online

Kieran gulped. “Repairs.”

  “You were in the programming.”

  “Yes, I’m the chief engineer. We have to reprogram the ship to work with all the modifications.”

  Rami’s fingers reached across the screen, digging through the programming. Fortunately, the code was hidden deep enough that it was impossible to get to unless you knew exactly where to go, but Rami was sharp enough to know Kieran wasn’t doing program modifications, and angry enough to keep looking.

  Cold sweat dripped down his back.

  The secret of the Observers, of Kieran’s home, had been kept for thousands of years. A select few people over the millennia had found out. He had told Sarrin. But no one had ever let themselves be caught.

  “It’s encoded,” Rami spat at Kieran. “Why? What were you really doing?”

  Kieran was in too deep. Too tired. His pulse raced, thready and too fast — too many stims and not had enough sleep. He shook his head like he didn’t understand why it would be difficult to access, secretly glad the Augment hadn’t been able to find his subroutine or all the data he had collected. “I told you, programming modifications.”

  “It doesn’t look that way.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “I didn’t really know what to think when I said all that stuff on the bridge about you and the warship. I almost let the others convince me to give you a chance. But you’re actually a spy. A cracked, filthy UEC spy.” It happened too quick for Kieran to see, but Rami had him pinned against the wall, feet in the air. “When is the warship coming? How much time do we have?”

  Kieran clawed at the hand that was around his neck. “I don’t know. I’m no spy.”

  Rami slammed him into the wall, his head pouncing off the grey panelling so hard his vision blacked out. “I don’t trust your repairs for one minute,” spat Rami. “You’re asking us to wire energy convertors backwards….”

  A tick went off, Kieran’s entire cheek twitching. “To help the ship run better!” He clenched his fist, driving nails into the flesh of his palm. “We’ve been through the calculations. Those modifications bring our efficiency up three-hundred per cent. Without them, we can barely power life support.”

  “You’re asking us to rig explosives for you, and we won’t do it any more.”

  “They won’t blow if you wire them right!” Kieran pushed Rami away, suddenly aware they had an audience. In the doorway to the engine room, a half-dozen Augments had gathered, spilling in and lining the walls.

  Grant wrapped a hand around Rami’s arm and pushed him to the other side of the engine room. “Stop it!”

  Kieran dropped to the ground, a hand coming up to his bruised throat.

  Sarrin, having come out of the engine, stood by the access hatch. She gripped the hatch, her fingers curling the metal around her hand.

  Oh no. Kieran blanched, he recognized the distant, swimming look of her eyes.

  Rami slipped past Grant, driving the heel of his hand into Kieran’s thigh, and Kieran slumped to the ground, eyes watering.

  Sarrin gulped, her breathing heavy. Her expression shifted, one instant slack with panic, the next her lip curling up in a sneer. She grunted, shifting back with effort. She was fighting it, but she was slipping.

  “Stop!” Kieran held up a hand.

  Rami growled again. Sarrin let out a matching growl.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, helpless as Sarrin balanced on the edge of a trance — not because she was in danger, but because he was.

  “What?”

  “Rami, I’m trying to help you, I swear. You have to calm down. You don’t know what she can —.”

  Grant rushed forward, catching Rami as he pulled back to strike Kieran once more.

  Sarrin ripped the hatch from the engine block, the metal screeching. Grant and Rami turned at the same time.

  “Sarrin!” Kieran leapt to his feet, ducking as the hatch flew across the room with enough force to knock Rami aside and then stick into the wall.

  “What in the Deep?” Rami yelled.

  Her eyes darted, meeting Kieran’s for an instant before she turned and fled, jumping over the engine and disappearing into the walls through an open panel.

  Rami lifted himself up, lunging after her. His hand nearly wrapped around her foot as it slid into the wall, but Kieran tackled his arm. “Don’t!”

  “Get off me,” Rami shouted.

  “You don’t know what you’re doing. You have to stop.”

  “What is going on with this ship?” Rami grunted. “You expect me to believe she’s Twenty-seven? That girl is cracked. She ripped that hatch apart and threw it as us.” He lifted his arm, examining the bleeding gouge across the side of his bicep. “And you.” He stormed towards Kieran.

  “Are you insane?” Grant shouted, putting himself directly in Rami’s path. “You can’t upset her like that.”

  “Upset her? We’re talking about a traitor, a UEC soldier.”

  Kieran climbed to his feet, his body suddenly far heavier than it had been moments ago. All he wanted to do was lie down. Go home. See his brother, hug his mother.

  “Was that or was that not Twenty-seven?”

  “Yeah,” said Grant, “but she’s not like they say in the stores, okay.”

  Rami threw up his hands. “This is unbelievable. First, she doesn’t want to attack the warship, and now”— he gestured vaguely to the place where she’d disappeared—“whatever that was.” He put his hand to his head as though he was feeling faint, but he charged around the small room, strong as ever. “You. Now Twenty-seven. Can’t anybody else see it?

  “See what?” Grant held his hands on his hips, making himself look solid and broad.

  “That’s not Twenty-seven, Grant. That’s not the girl who knows that fight is might, or that we need to attack first to survive. That’s some shell. The engineer’s done something to her. The same as he’s done something to you and everyone else.”

  Kieran shrank back, uncertain of what exactly he was being accused of this time.

  “Remember what the UECs did to us in the war?” Rami shouted at the Augments in the doorway. “Well, there’s a UEC soldier in front of us right now.”

  “Rami,” Grant shouted, but Rami didn’t flinch. His glare fixed on Kieran, dark blue eyes menacing.

  “We’re on the same side,” Kieran said carefully.

  Rami jabbed an accusing finger into Kieran’s chest, hard. “UEC,” he spat, then he pointed at himself. “Augment.”

  “The Army wants us to be enemies, but we don’t have to be.”

  “Once a soldier, always a soldier.”

  “I’m not a soldier.”

  “You sure look like one.”

  Kieran took a step back, suddenly contemplating the grey uniform he wore and what it must seem like it meant to the others — he could already feel their stares digging into him. He was an Observer, a historian here to explore. His time at the academy and enrolment in the fleet was a means to an end, a way to access the interplanetary ship that would take him to the outer worlds.

  Rami took a menacing step towards him. “Where were you when we were fighting the war — curled up safe at your mission headquarters?”

  Actually, he was a million lightyears away, travelling at nine-tenths the speed of light, circling around a massive black hole to slingshot for another return pass through this galaxy. But Rami didn’t want to hear that, couldn’t hear that.

  “Look, I’m just coordinating the efforts here, because this is my boat.” He said, hoping to calm the situation, his back already pressed against the wall. “I know this ship best and how to get her functional again.”

  “No, I know your game. Stalling us. That planet messed up your plan, so you’ll do anything to keep us from hiding there.”

  “That’s not —,” Kieran tried. “At least out here we know what danger we face.”

  Rami turned on him. “At least out here, you know exactly when the warship is coming back to get you and turn us all into prisoners. I’ve seen your mods, dange
rous inversions and haphazard wiring. I know you’re rewriting the programming and you’re turning all the energy convertors into bombs, but I don’t know for what.”

  Kieran took a deep breath. “I am trying to help you. We need to rewrite the programming to compensate for all the modifications — even the thrusters aren’t balanced.” He saw the Augments gesturing back and forth, considering him, but their postures were relaxed, unlike Rami’s. “This is my ship, I’ve gotten us all this far. No one else seems to have a problem trusting me, so why do you?”

  Rami growled. A real growl that came from the depths of his throat. “The planet isn’t dangerous. You are.”

  Kieran’s heart crashed around in his chest painfully, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off Rami. The Augment was unpredictable. No wonder Sarrin had nearly slipped. He hoped she was okay in the walls wherever she had gone.

  “Come on,” Grant tried to pull Rami away, but this time Rami resisted.

  “We’re at war.”

  “The war is over,” said Kieran. “Right now, the UECs think we’re all dead, they don’t know there’s anything to fight. Let’s not start the war before the warship even comes back.”

  Rami blinked incredulously. “I’m done with this. It’s time we instigated the Rule of War.”

  “You can’t be serious,” started Grant. Behind him, the spectating Augments stirred uncomfortably.

  “The strongest of us should lead, that’s the way we’ve always done it. Evangecore didn’t give us much, but they tested us, and they marked those of us as strongest.” Rami started to pull of his shirt.

  Kieran gulped, and he thought of Sarrin and her forty-three procedural marks. “We don’t need to do this.”

  Rami ignored him entirely. His shirt came off, revealing lines of black symbols and lines. The other Augments stared, as did Kieran. Many of the others had let their marks show through strategically ripped clothing, so it wasn’t a shock to see, but most of them had a handful. Rami had at least a dozen. “Evangecore selected me, tested me, trained me.”

  “That’s fine,” said Grant. “But you forget”— he pulled his own shirt over his head —“you may have had more marks when we went into Junk, but they kept experimenting on me.” He turned, revealing lines of black tattoos along both sides of his spine, an ugly scarred mass in between. “I have twenty-nine now.”

  Rami’s eyes blew wide as he scanned Grant’s back. But his surprise was short-lived, giving way to an unfriendly sneer. “You have a chip in your brain that can control you. You’re my brother, but I wouldn’t let you lead me through the canteen. Nothing personal.”

  “Nothing personal? You’re saying you don’t know if I’m in control of myself. Of course I am.”

  “You’re practically hugging this UEC.” He shot a dirty look at Kieran. “It’s me or the common.”

  Kieran held his breath, Grant considering him then Rami. “I want to help you,” he said, searching for the right words, “but if you want me to take a step back, I will. I’m not here to cause problems.” No, he wasn’t here to have any type of memorable impact whatsoever. “But don’t give the Central Army the power to tell you what to think of me — they want us to hate each other. It makes their job that much easier if we tear each other apart before they even get here. You have the power to make your own decisions about who to trust.”

  The small engine room sat in unnatural silence. Finally, one of the Augments, Thomas, stepped forward. “Kieran’s right.”

  “What?” Rami stammered.

  “We don’t need to start a war. We don’t need to organize into battalions. Until the warship comes back and realizes we aren’t dead on that moon, we have a few minutes of peace. Let’s focus on fixing the ship instead of tearing each other apart. Twenty-Seven trusts Kieran, and so do we. He’s given us no reason to think otherwise.” Around him, heads nodded.

  Kieran’s knees weakened in relief and he nearly fell where he stood.

  “Come on, Rami,” Thomas said. “If he says he’s rewriting protocols for all the repairs, I’m inclined to believe him. Gods know we’re rewired most of the ship.”

  Face red, Rami sputtered. The Augments at the door had already dispersed. Thomas waved him towards the door. “We need your help to boost the thrusters. Don’t become the problem here.”

  Grant came to stand beside Kieran, watching as Rami and Thomas disappeared into the main engineering bay. “That was close,” Grant said, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “I didn’t realize — he was always extreme when we were being held on Junk, but not like that. He’ll try again. Don’t give him any fodder. With this chip in my brain, he’ll convince the others not to trust me either — Gods know I barely trust myself. Rami’s always been like that, trying to take charge, to make himself the alpha. You’re lucky Thomas likes Sarrin, and the others like him. I’m just telling you like it is.”

  Kieran gulped, forcing his racing pulse to slow. “I gotta go find Sarrin.” He wiped a shaking hand over his too dry mouth.

  Grant stopped him with a hand on his arm. He stared at the ground, his expression warring with something internally. “I need to know — I didn’t think I did before, but now I do — did you fight in the war? Did you want to?”

  Kieran searched his face — did Grant possibly believe that after everything?

  Grant screwed up his eyebrows. “I need to know.”

  “No,” he shook his head violently, “this is my first posting. Graduated last year.”

  Grant paused, frowning as he did the math. “But you joined the Academy before the war ended.”

  “No, I did it double time. First in my class. Graduated a lieutenant. I was nowhere near body 609-alpha during the war.”

  “Six-oh…?”

  “Earth,” Kieran corrected himself quickly. “I just wanted to work on a starship.”

  Grant searched his eyes for a minute, then he put his hand on Kieran’s shoulder. “Okay.”

  * * *

  Gal kept his head down as he worked his way through the maze of grey corridors, memorizing every inch of the warship’s layout. The Valkas was still docked at Etar station, but they would disembark any minute.

  Hap’s words still echoed through his head: It’s too dangerous. He felt that danger now more than ever, surrounded by elite Tactical officers whichever way he turned.

  He shut his eyes, wondering what exactly he thought he could do, why he thought he alone could stop a warship. There were two planets out there, lush and green, breathable atmospheres, good gravity — but they weren’t good planets at all, were they? They just looked the part.

  That’s why Hap had ordered the Valkas to find the planets instead of Gal’s terra-forming crew. The planets were dangerous. They had to be destroyed. But it didn’t sit well with Gal — maybe because he still blamed himself for the death of planet Earth he couldn’t stomach the destruction of these planets. He should have just left them alone.

  “Gal, what are you doing?” Aaron appeared beside him.

  Gal frowned, but answered anyway. “Looking around.”

  “For what?”

  “A way to stop them, or it will all happen again, and Cornelius will die.”

  “Who is Cornelius?”

  A memory of an old-fashioned man with round glasses and a kind smile jumped to the forefront of his mind, but he held his tongue from answering Aaron as a lieutenant came bustling around the corner, nose burning in a grey data-tablet.

  “Hey, Cap’n,” the lieutenant nodded at him.

  Gal sighed, acknowledging the officer. “Wood.” He gave him a stiff captain-ly nod. But Gal stopped; Kieran shouldn’t be on the Valkas.

  Neither should Gal — that was three years ago.

  The grey hallways of the Ishash’tor materialized in front of him, similar but not the same as the corridor he thought he’d been standing in a moment ago.

  Kieran smiled at him. “Good to see you up. How ya feelin’?”

  “Yes,” Gal stammered. “Well.” He studied
the walls and bulkheads of the freightship. They should feel more familiar, but they pressed in on him all the same, confusingly similar to the grey walls of every other UEC ship in existence.

  “I think I saw Rayne headin’ for the bridge not too long ago,” said Kieran.

  “Huh? Rayne?” Gal scratched his head. What would she be doing on a warship?

  “Yeah.” Kieran squinted at him, sharp green eyes peering in. “I thought you might be lookin’ for her.”

  Gal shook his head. He didn’t want her involved. The walls blurred and shifted around him. Was this the Valkas? Or the Ishash’tor? Kieran was standing in front of him, but he was certain he was standing on a warship. “Kieran, what are you doing?”

  Kieran glanced around quickly, and Gal saw the faint bruising that was blossoming on his neck. “Have you seen Sarrin?”

  Gal’s chest constricted around his thudding heart. Sarrin? An Augment. This wasn’t Evangecore, he was sure of that. Where was he?

  “Nah? That’s okay,” said Kieran. “I was gonna check the shuttle bay next. There’s good hiding places there, but I don’t know if she knows the shuttle will be on her way back any minute now.”

  “Sh-shuttle?”

  “Yeah. Back from the planet, hopefully with some useful finds this time.”

  “The planet?” Gal yelped. No, no, no, it was too dangerous.

  “Yeah. Whatever we do, there’s a lot of repairs still. I gotta find Sarrin though. Glad you’re feelin’ better.” The lieutenant disappeared down the grey corridor, leaving Gal utterly confused and alone.

  Grey demons jumped around. Aaron appeared once again.

  Gal tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry.

  “Gal, who’s Cornelius?” Aaron repeated.

  Gal shook his head. “The shuttle’s going to the planet, but they have no idea. We have to stop them before they realized what it os, before everything is destroyed.”

  “Is this what happened last time, Johnny?” asked Aaron, frowning at him.

  “Yes.” Because they were on an infinite loop, all of it happening over and over again.

  “Which planet are they’re going to? Junk?”

  Gal stalked forward, following Kieran, the corridors of the grey warship flying past. “No. Cornelius. It’s too dangerous.” He slipped into the shuttle hangar and into the unoccupied bay where the shuttle should be returning. He couldn’t let the shuttle come back, not if it was going to tell the others what was down there.