Re-Coil - J.T. Nicholas Page 0,106

we were getting into.

I’d known that I had no chance of convincing Shay to stay on the bridge, much less return to the shuttle. I had made sure she was armed, if only with a Gauss pistol, and that she—and I—would be placed toward the end of the stack. I’d seen enough of the Bliss-infected to leave as much of the work ahead to the professionals as possible. Hell, a good attorney could argue that Shay and I had already met our obligations under our contract and were free to go.

Of course, we needed the Genetechnic shuttle to go anywhere.

And whatever my contract said, I wasn’t terribly keen on the idea of the Bliss virus spreading throughout the system. Like the rest of humanity, I’d grown used to the idea of immortality and I’d be damned if I let some trumped-up computer virus threaten it. So, like Shay, I wasn’t about to be convinced to turn back now.

“Very well,” Korben said. He’d taken a position farther forward in the stack, though he, too, was leaving the point work to the professionals. I didn’t quite understand the Genetechnic security forces’ command structure, but all of them seemed to defer to Korben. “Let’s move out. And do remember that Ms. Chan’s heat map is more of a best guess than a guarantee. Keep your eyes open, people.”

On his words, the point man slipped through the hatch, weapon up and at the ready. The rest started filing in behind, breaking off into two columns, one along each wall of the corridor. I could sense the unease pouring off the security personnel, see it in the tense set of their shoulders and the quickness of their steps. Was it the corridor itself? It made a perfect killbox if the enemy happened to have any heavy weapons. On the other hand, they hadn’t been able to produce a firearm yet, and that killbox worked both ways.

No. It was, I realized, the emptiness.

I didn’t know the normal mission of the Genetechnic security department. I suspected that the armed assault of space transports was probably not one of their regular duties. If it was, it was against human resistance. Whatever the coils might look like, Bliss wasn’t human. There was a feel a place had when humanity was present. An energy. A vitalness. It was something you didn’t really notice except when it was gone. Something defined more by its absence than its presence.

The emptiness was a feeling I’d grown accustomed to over the years. Most derelict vessels shared it. The passenger liner wasn’t derelict, not in the normal sense, but it had that same feeling. And if you weren’t used to it, it was enough to put anyone on edge. Even the hardened security operatives.

Sarah, open a channel just to Shay, please. There was a slight beep of acknowledgment, and then another letting me know the channel was open. “You okay?” I asked. “This can be a little rough under normal circumstances. These… aren’t exactly normal circumstances.” I kept my eyes open as I talked, not bothering to look toward Shay. None of the indicators of the Bliss-infected were on us yet, but Shay had stressed that the system wasn’t perfect.

“I’m okay,” she replied. There was tension in her voice. And fear. For the situation, certainly—humanity may have found a way around death, but no one looked forward to the physical mechanics of dying. The thought of being brained by one of the infected or being dragged down by their endless numbers was hardly an encouraging one. But there was something more to it than that. Something deeper.

“We’re going to make it out of here,” I said. And even if we don’t, I didn’t add, we have a backup plan in place.

“It’s not that,” she replied. There was a moment of silence and I brought my weapon up slightly as the soldiers in front of me came to an abrupt halt, crouching down against the corridor bulkheads and shouldering their own weapons. Whatever had inclined the point man to stop seemed to pass muster, because a few seconds later, we were moving again.

“Then what?” I asked.

“It’s the whole situation, Carter. I just… argh!” She let out a sound of frustration that was somewhere between a scream and a growl. “I just want this to be over with. To go back to our old lives.” Her voice slid from frustration down into rueful as she said, “I didn’t really sign up to try and save all of