Legacy Code

Era huddled against the wall and pressed her hands to her ears, blocking out the piercing sirens. The emergency lights cast a red glow over the rest of the colonists in the stairwell. One step above her, a mother held a young boy, his eyes wide in fear. Era dropped her hands and clamped them over the gentle swell of her belly.

Where was Dritan now? First shift was over. He’d be done working.
Safe
.

Today they’d finally find out if their baby had the Defect. She’d be late for her appointment, but it couldn’t be helped. The entire ship was on lockdown.

Was it a fire? A hull breach? Another uprising? Era shivered. No. She would not let herself imagine all the things that could have gone wrong. The 
Paragon
was the safest ship in the fleet. Whatever the problem was, they’d have it under control.

But a maintenance crew might be called during an emergency like this. A maintenance crew like the one Dritan was on.

Era stared at the panel across from her and began to count the rivets, one by one, pushing her terror down. When she ran out of rivets to count, she started over.

Then the sirens cut out, and the emergency lights shut off.

“All clear.” A voice blared from the speakers above the landing. “You may now return to your duties.”

Era blinked in the silence and gripped the handrail. The flickering yellow light of the dying lume bar above the landing cast strange shadows over the colonists. The young boy broke into sobs. His mother reprimanded him, but he didn’t stop.

Era stood, shaking, and walked up the stairs. The
Paragon
had dedicated all of level four to Medical. She kept going until she reached it. Several colonists waited in front of medlevel’s doors. A whir sounded, and the locks disengaged.

As the doors slid open, a group of colonists exited and ran up the stairs. Light blue suits, the helix and triquetra patch on their sleeves. Medics. Era’s stomach clenched. Which sector had Dritan’s crew worked today?

The sting of disinfectant burned her throat as she entered the waiting area. She surveyed the space, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. A few people waited on the worn metal benches.

Dritan wasn’t one of them.

A line of clerks sat at stations against the wall, and Era headed for the one marked
Population Management
.

A young brunette clerk, face drawn, sat up straighter behind the high counter as Era approached.

Era swiped her shift card across the stationary’s scanner, and the large black box beeped in response, verifying her check-in.

The clerk twisted her wrist to the right, and her small transparent eyepiece darkened, taking on a reflective quality. She splayed her fingers wide to bring up an interface only she could see. “Era Corinth?” She stood. “Follow me.”

Era glanced back at the doors. Dritan had promised he’d be here—that she wouldn’t have to face this alone. But he was too late. She wiped her damp palms down the coarse fabric of her suit and hurried after the clerk.

“Do you know what happened?” Era asked as they entered the wide corridor behind the waiting area.

The clerk stiffened and kept her gaze straight ahead. “I’m sure they’ll tell us if we need to know.”

Era swallowed and tried to focus on the route they were taking.

It’d been hard to get used to the maze of corridors on this ship. She’d grown up on one of the smaller manufacturing ships in the fleet, the
London
. Her home, like every other deka, only had a single medcubic. But the
Paragon
was the fleet’s flagship, ten times the size of the largest deka. When you needed the best medical care, you applied to come here.

The clerk stopped at a cubic and ran her shift card across the scanner. The door opened, but Era hesitated. What if Dritan was injured, or worse? He’d never miss this. What had kept him?

The speakers in the ceiling crackled. “Medics to medbay three. Medics to medbay three. All hands clear the entrance. Incoming casualties.”

The clerk paled and gestured to the cubic. “The medic will be by soon.”

Era steeled herself, her heart in her throat, and stepped into the small space.

A tattered exam table, two stools, curved cabinets anchored to the walls. It was nearly identical to the place where they’d removed her implant so she could get pregnant. But she’d never seen a machine like the one in the center of
this
medcubic.

The rusted panels were missing rivets, and a crack ran through the main holo interface. Had to be the genscanner. The
Paragon
had the only one in the fleet. The medic would use it to scan her womb, and they’d know right away if her baby had the Defect. Pain-free, unlike an amnio.

Era sat on a stool and pushed up the cuff of her suit. She traced the infinity symbol on her wrist. She’d gotten the left half, teardrop-shaped, when she turned twelve and became an apprentice. The right half stood out, its pigment darker. They’d completed her tattoo eleven months ago, the day she’d paired with Dritan.

An image of Dritan formed in her mind. His body battered and bloody. His chest, still. Once-bright hazel eyes staring blankly ahead, their spark gone. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Incoming casualties.

After the sirens shut off, those medics had run
up
the stairs. Dritan’s crew spent most of their time doing maintenance in the sublevels, didn’t they? He’d be fine. He probably just got held up by the lockdown like she had.

The door slid open, and Era opened her eyes. An old woman with short, gray hair entered. The lines on her face made her look older than fifty—the right age to be a patient on medlevel, not a working medic.

The woman gave Era a tight smile, twisted her wrist, and her eyepiece darkened. With one finger, she tapped the air in front of her and opened her hand wide. “I’m Medic Faust. And you are…age seventeen, fifteen weeks pregnant…” Her lips parted, and her hand froze mid-gesture. “Era Corinth. Your husband’s name is…?”

“Dritan Corinth.”

“Corinth…” Medic Faust said, a strange edge in her voice. “From which deka?”

“The
London
.” Era squeezed her hands tighter in her lap.

“Oh. Was he born there?”

Why did it matter?
I just want to get this over with.

“No, actually. He was born on the
Meso
.”

Medic Faust studied her and gave Era a small smile.

“Well.” She turned to the genscanner and gestured. The machine hummed to life. “Unzip your suit to the waist, and lie down please. This will only take a minute.”

Era’s heart sped up.
Just get it over with
. Besides, the sooner this was over, the sooner she could find Dritan.

She unzipped her faded black suit with slow care. The zipper had already come away from it twice, and half the pockets had holes in them. It couldn’t take many more repairs. If she lost it, she’d be down to one. It’d take months to work her way up the list and get a new suit from the
Vancouver,
the textile deka.

The cool air hit her skin, and she shivered, crossed her arms over her sore breasts, and climbed onto the exam table. As she lay back, the cracked plastic stuck to her, prompting goosebumps to spring up along her arms.

The medic took several square patches from the cabinet and pressed one onto Era’s bare belly. “Just a small charge.”

A tiny shock rushed through Era, and she winced. Medic Faust frowned, peeled the patch off, and applied a second one. Another shock coursed through Era’s body.

The medic made a fist to shut off the genscanner. “This is what happens when we don’t get the parts we request. We’ll have to do this the way the rest of the fleet does, I’m afraid.” She lifted the patch from Era’s abdomen and turned to the cabinet. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you were relieved to bypass the needle.”

The medic carried a tray over and set it on the shelf next to the exam table.

The needle was huge.

“Amnio?” Era sat up, her stomach churning. “There’s less risk with the scanner, isn’t there?”

“Yes. A scan’s safer than amnio, but—” she lifted the needle from the tray, “I’ve done this many, many times. Lie back, please.”

Era settled back on the table. Experienced. Probably the most experienced medic in the fleet.

Medic Faust placed a cold hand on her lower abdomen and pushed down, feeling for something. Era stared up at the lume bar in the ceiling and tried to keep her breathing even.

“A pinch, now.”

Searing pain shot through Era, the shock of it worse than grabbing a glitching helio from the air barehanded.

“Hold still.”

The needle quivered from where it had been plunged deep into her womb. The muscles in her abdomen seemed to seize up, and Era fought to keep still, trying not to imagine how deep the needle went.

Medic Faust twisted a tube onto the needle and pulled, drawing up clear liquid. After an agonizing minute, it was over, and the medic smoothed a bandage over the wound. She held the vial up to the light. “Good. We got enough. Your results should be back in about a week.”