Dangerous Evolution (18 page)

Our cell afforded barely enough room to lie down, but Stinson
found a way to pace nervously nonetheless.

“They are going to dissect us,” he said matter-of-factly,
reconciling himself with his fate.

“No!” I snapped, jumping up from where I sat to stand beside him. Val
and Sa were in a contest to see who could look the most scared—Val was winning,
but just barely. I motioned to them, and Stinson paled, realizing his mistake.

“I’m sorry, of course you’re right,” he said. “We are probably
just being held hostage.”

“You are both wrong,” Rroske called from the other side of the
room. It was re-sealing the door now that all of the soldiers had left. “No one
is going to be dissected, well not yet anyway, but you will be helping me with
a couple projects I’ve been working on.”

“What
projects
?” I demanded.

“All in good time, human, all in good time.”

Except for its size, Rroske was a typical looking Sentient; its
only remarkable characteristic was that it had no obvious mechanical augmentation.
But because it had been able to hear our conversation from across the room, I
did wonder if its hearing had been enhanced.

With the four of us safely locked away, it went back to its work,
hunched over a standing console. Rroske was engrossed in something, rapidly moving
its hands over the pedestal’s control surface and occasionally muttering to
itself.

“Ah ha,” it said finally. “Well that explains that.” The Sentient pushed
itself away from the console and turned to look at us.

“I had your records transferred over to the
Na’ardeen
,” it
said. “Very nice work doctors, I am so pleased that you brought the research
from Seveq. I’m afraid I lost contact with the ship after your escape.”

Rroske focused on Val and Sa. “I knew sending you both there was a
good idea.”

“What are you up to, Rroske?” Sa asked, showing more courage than
I’d previously seen from the doctor.

“Oh don’t worry, Doctor Sa, I will explain everything as soon as
we pick up my…package at Sens.” Rroske turned its back to us and returned to its
work.

The Transit took nearly six hours.

Rroske spent the entire time pouring over the research data from
Seveq. Occasionally, it would mutter something to itself, or make a note on a
separate console, but it made no further attempts to speak with us.

Val and I passed the time talking to one another; about our pasts,
some of my earlier cases, the war, even Natasha. She was a good listener and
the words flowed easily. I knew this was helping her stay calm—to not dwell on
our situation—but I had my own selfish reasons as well.

Using a piece of fabric she’d ripped off her dress, Val pulled her
hair back into a ponytail, allowing me to see her eyes as we spoke. They were
not only a beautiful shade of blue, but full of intellect and compassion. Those
eyes coaxed me into talking about things I’d never discussed before.

Including children.

We talked about our shared infertility due to the Permalife
treatment…and the regret it caused; about how we’d traded the ability to create
life, for the gift of immortality. Even though we were newly acquainted, we
spoke like old friends do, and it felt
good
. I realized that she was,
quite literally, a captive audience, but I knew that she was enjoying our
conversation as well.

Stinson spent the entire time sleeping, while Doctor Sa pressed
its face against the force shield, straining to see what information Rroske was
salivating over—trying hard to figure out what it was working on.

A shrill buzzer sounded, and Rroske snapped to attention—accessing
an image from outside the ship. The Sentient displayed it on the large screen in
front of it; from our position in the corner of the room, we had an excellent
view.

A small section of the
Na’ardeen’s
hull was visible in the
bottom, left corner of the image, but the rest of the screen was filled with a colored
graphic, superimposed over this area of space. It detailed the location of an immense
black hole, and even though it wasn’t visible to the naked eye, I felt a primal
uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. Anyone in their right mind would, human or
Sentient.

Rroske magnified a section of the grid and a tiny object came into
focus. “Safe and sound,” it said. It left the screen set at that magnification,
and within a few minutes, we were close enough to see details of the object more
clearly–well objects, actually.

One of the structures appeared to be a combination of two Transit
engines and a conventional sub-light drive system; I’d never seen anything
quite like it. Maybe it was some new Sentient technology that we hadn’t seen
yet. Whatever it was, it was active, holding station at the edge of the event
horizon—a second, smaller object was tethered to it.

The second piece of the strange configuration was a silver
ellipsoid, a little more than two meters long. The engines held it in place
like a fishing lure, waiting to catch something coming out of the singularity.
A thin metal line was the only thing keeping it from being sucked into the
gaping hole. It was an absurd setup with an indecipherable purpose.

Thov’s voice broke in over the intercom system.

“Doctor Rroske, if you will send the coded signal we can move to intercept
your experiment.”

“Sent,” it replied, waving a hand over the console.

The engine array began to increase thrust, its movement obvious as
it travelled across the artificial grid overlain onto the blackness of space.
It was pulling away from the singularity—through the ergosphere—and into normal
space. I could tell from the positional readings that the
Na’ardeen
was
moving to meet the probe, or whatever it was.

Rroske engaged the communication system. “Please have the package
brought directly to my lab after retrieval. Do not open it under any
circumstances. I will remind you again that The Consensus and Science Council
both have directed you to follow my orders in this matter.”

Thov didn’t dignify Rroske’s admonition with a reply, but the
doctor nonetheless looked happy as it turned to face us. “Soon, you will have
all of the answers you wish, Doctor Sa. And as for you, my special human guests,
you will prove
very
useful in testing my latest creation.”

Its smile faltered. “The virus is not very original I fear. In all
honesty, I should admit that it’s heavily derived from Doctor Evans’ re-aging
research.”

Val came alive; her fear was gone, replaced by anger and
indignation. “My work!” she said. “What purpose could you possibly have for my
work with the Permalife antigen?
And how did you get it?”

“All in good time, Doctor Evans.”

Rroske walked over to a refrigerated wall cabinet, withdrawing a
small metal box with two locking clasps on the front of it. With the container
gripped in one hand, the Sentient walked to the door controls and disengaged
the internal locks. The door slid open, and it leaned out to ask the two
soldiers outside to come in.

As the soldiers waited impatiently, Rroske returned to the work console
and scanned through some information. “Here we are,” it said. “Doctor Evans and
Commander Malik are the two oldest. Bring them out, and strap them down to the
medical beds.”

“What are you playing at, Rroske?” I demanded.

“I’m not
playing
at anything, Commander. I have never been
more serious about anything in my life.”

I communicated my intentions to Stinson with a single look; a look
anyone in the military would immediately understand. He gave me a slight, barely
perceptible nod, signaling that he would be ready. We weren’t about to let this
Sentient dissect us.

The two soldiers walked across the room, stopping directly in
front of the shield. One of them bent down to deactivate it from the generator
panel, while the other stared at us with its bracer arm outstretched. When the
force shield dropped, Stinson and I leaped at them both, each attacking the one
closest to us.

I remember a loud, buzzing pop, then feeling like a brick wall had
fallen on me. I fought against the crushing weight, struggling to remain
conscious. I could breathe, but just barely; my heart was beating erratically,
trying to force its way through my ribcage to escape the current. The soldiers had
shocked us into paralysis as soon as we’d come in contact with them.

I regained enough of my wits to berate myself,
nice plan
dumbass.

I was extremely dazed, but remained conscious, feeling the
soldiers roughly lift and throw me on one of the medical tables. Through watery
eyes, I saw them place restraints around my wrists and legs, but couldn’t feel
the straps tighten. I managed to move my head to one side, and watched them
place Val on a bed next to mine. As sensation started to return, numbness was
replaced by pain and anger.

Despite her fear, Val looked calm. She had finally found her
center—achieved some sense of balance. You don’t get to be as old as we were
without seeing a good bit of unpleasantness. She’d witnessed violence and death—especially
during the war, and she’d seen plenty of mankind’s propensity for self-centered
behavior, usually at the expense of others. Life in general could be a real
kick in the ass, and Val had seen it at its worse. But she was tough, I
realized, and proving to be more resilient than I’d imagined.      

“What are you doing to them?” Stinson yelled from behind the
re-established force shield; he was lying on the ground in pain, but still
defiant.

Rroske walked over to us, carrying the little metal case. “Don’t
be alarmed, Captain Stinson, they will be just fine.” The reassurance was so
hollow; the lie so obvious, that Stinson didn’t bother replying. Doctor Sa
knelt beside him and grabbed his arm, trying to help him stand.   

Rroske checked my restraints, then placed the container at the foot
of the bed. “This won’t hurt a bit,” it said, opening the box to pull out a
one-shot needle. The Sentient was quick, pressing the needle against my neck
before I could even react.
Not that I could actually do anything,
I
thought. I don’t know if it was the size of the needle, or the fact that I was
still partially numb, but there wasn’t any pain. Before either of us could
protest, Rroske pulled out a second needle and leaned over to inject Val. Whatever
it was, we were both infected now.

“There,” it said. “All done. Let me know if you feel any
discomfort. I am
not
a barbarian after all.” Rroske’s fake smile was
more unnerving than the needles had been. It dismissed the two soldiers with a
wave of its hand and they gladly moved to leave.

As they were walking out, two other soldiers came in; pushing the
ellipsoid I’d seen poised over the abyss of the black hole. “Excellent,” Rroske
said. “Place it right next to our two human friends.”

They wordlessly followed the doctor’s directions, pushing our
medical beds closer together to make room for the container. The tingling in my
hand was subsiding, and I felt it brush up against Val’s fingers.

“Answers, Doctor Sa. I believe you wanted answers.” Rroske looked
over at the soldiers just as they finished sliding the pod into position.

“You two can go,” it directed, then followed them to the door—sealing
it after they left. “They hate when I lock them out of the lab, but now we’ll
be able to talk without interruption…or any eavesdropping.”

It walked over to the strange container delivered by the soldiers,
entering commands into a recessed panel hidden on the top of it. The pod was
right beside me, and I could hear sounds of movement starting to come from inside—latches
releasing, a good deal of whirling mechanical noise, and finally, the sound of air
pressure equalizing.

The lid started to open.

“It looks like a coffin,” Val whispered.

“Quite the opposite, Doctor Evans. If anything, it is more like a
womb.”

Rroske reached into the pod and removed a small, clear capsule. Its
interior shrouded in some type of dense, gaseous mixture—hiding its contents
from our view. The Sentient placed the container on a wall-shelf near our heads,
then pressed a button on the side of it.

As soon as the top slid aside, the sound of an infant crying came
pouring out of the capsule.

“You monster!” Val yelled. “You left a baby perched on the edge of
a black hole!”

“Calm down, Doctor, the container was well shielded. I had to make
sure no one else could take the thing, and without the right code, the engines
would have shut down—everything would have gone…well I’m sure you know.”

“Bastard,” I said. “What kind of animal are you, Rroske, that you could
do
that
to a child?”

Ignoring me, it lifted the baby from the capsule and into our
view; my breath caught in my throat;
the child was blue
. Not the color
of oxygen deprivation, a vivid, glowing, royal blue. Minute black electrical
pulses coursed across its body, and I recognized at once that it was a Sentient
child. Val spoke before I had a chance to put the final piece of the puzzle in
place.