Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) by B. V. Larson

Author:B. V. Larson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-01-09T07:00:00+00:00

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Wandering the halls, I found myself back on Blue Deck. It was with a slightly guilty feeling that I buzzed in, trying to get Anne to answer my call. I had to wonder if Natasha was tailing me with either an electronic trace or an actual spy-buzzer. She’d done both before.

Anne had been ignoring all inquiries sent by tapper since our last date. I figured chiming for her from Blue Deck’s security door sent a more powerful message. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to talk to her so badly—I guess it was because our one and only date had felt unfinished to me.

At last, the big metal door to Blue Deck opened. The hatchway wasn’t like those on the rest of the ship. Blue Deck was closed off to casual traffic, restricted for the lowly likes of me. Combat troops were to stay out, and techs doubly so. The bio-people operated like a priesthood, charged with maintaining their revival machines without interference from the locals.

I’d never fully understood their paranoia—except for the knowledge that their machines were probably the most expensive pieces of alien hardware we had aside from the starships themselves.

When the door opened, I had a little speech all prepared. I’d expected to meet with an orderly, who would be sour and dismissive. Getting past such a person was the first requirement, and I’d done it before.

My bullshit speech died in my throat. Anne herself looked up at me with tired eyes.

“You don’t give up, do you?” she asked.

I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Her short hair was pushed back, but strands had still fallen onto her face, glued there by the sheen of perspiration on her cheeks and forehead.

“You’re just as pretty as I remember,” I said.

She laughed. “Like I said, you never quit.”

“Anne, I know you’re real busy and all,” I said.

“But you want another date. Don’t you?”

I did. She was right about that. But I had another more pressing matter to discuss this time around.

“Of course I do,” I said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I wanted to ask about Drusus.”

Her face froze. “I can’t talk about that, James.”

“Why not? What’s the deal?”

She looked over her shoulder then stepped out into the passageway with me. “Turn on that thing Natasha gave you,” she whispered.

I knew what she was talking about, and I did as she asked. Some years back, Natasha had perfected a device that would prevent officers and other techs from listening in on her private conversations. It even hid your location from computer monitoring systems, all without tripping security alarms.

At least, that’s what I hoped it did. Natasha had built it and instructed me on its function. I just used the thing. So far, I hadn’t been arrested and executed for using it. As far as I was concerned, the device worked.

“Done,” I said. “Now, what about—?”

Anne kissed me. She did so with real feeling. I was surprised, but I went with it. We made out for about ten seconds, and a pair of passing techs snickered behind our backs.

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