Planetside by Mammay Michael

Author:Mammay, Michael [Mammay, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780062694669
Amazon: 0062694669
Goodreads: 35657891
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published: 2018-07-30T06:00:00+00:00

Mac had the security detail stay outside the door. I suggested having them inside, but he insisted, so I let it go. Gutierrez and Guildsten. It paid to know the people protecting your ass by name. I promptly renamed them G One and G Two, with Gutierrez being G One on account of her seniority.

Alenda sat in front of my terminal, feeding data to a giant screen she’d had wheeled in. “Where do you want to start, sir?” It was the first time she’d spoken in several minutes. She’d been quiet, since my attack. Shaken a little, I think.

“I want everything,” I said. “Every satellite picture we’ve got of the area around Karikov’s base, in every spectrum we’ve got. I want infrared, I want chemical emissions, I want power usage. If we’ve got a sensor that picks it up, I want to see it. And I want to look at how it has changed over time. Let’s go back six months to start. We’ll know if we need to go back farther once we see what we’ve got.”

It was a lot of data, but I had time. I’d put off interviewing the folks at the hospital for a couple of days.

“I’ll start bringing them up, sir. If we’ve got multiple passes of the same sensor, I can parse it down so we only see one or two per month.”

“Okay, but keep the rest handy.”

“Yes, sir. Sir?”

“Yeah?”

“What are we looking for?”

“I have no idea.”

Alenda looked at me as if to say, Really? She was too polite to actually say it though. “I get the feeling that you don’t trust me, sir. You’re keeping me in the dark.”

I thought about my response for a moment. “I really don’t know what I’m looking for. I’ll know it when I see it.” I hoped that was true. I believed it though, and had a history of making it work. I often had no idea what I was doing until the moment when it fell together. I didn’t feel the need to mess with a successful formula.

“Sir, I want to be a real part of this investigation.”

I sighed. “Sit down, Lex.”

She sat on the sofa, but remained stiff.

“You are a critical part of this investigation.”

“I fetch things, sir. I’m good at it, I get that. But I’m not really a part. You’re keeping most everything from me.”

“I understand the situation you’re in, with your boss,” I said.

“Sir . . .” she paused. “Sir, I . . .”

“Go ahead. Say what you’ve got to say,” I said.

“Sir, I don’t give a shit about my situation.” She paused. “I’m half in, and that doesn’t work. I want to be part of the team. For real. Help figure this out.”

I sat silently, looking at her, considering. I decided she meant it. I couldn’t say why I got that impression, but I trusted my instincts. “Okay,” I said.

“Okay, sir?” Her eyes narrowed.

“Okay, you’re in.” I would have said it even if I didn’t mean it. I needed her help, and if I pushed her away now I risked losing her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.