The plans for the base in my memory didn’t indicate any microphones in the area, but I refused to take any chance that my voice could be picked up. The Swarm wanted me dead because they knew their grand plan was foiled and I was now useless as a puppet.
But if they became aware that I had become a living repository of all of their memories, that my nanites and I had managed to pull off the most extraordinary intelligence coup ever, they’d go to epic additional lengths to see me dead. Worse, they’d change the backdoor access codes of their AIs here on Earth, which I couldn’t risk.
Tessa’s eyes almost bulged out of her head. “All of their memories?” she mouthed back at me. “Are you sure?”
I nodded vigorously. “The greatest intel score in the history of the galaxy,” I whispered in her ear.
“Incredible!” she said in awe.
We paused, remaining absolutely silent as the couple scurried by us on their way to locking themselves in their room. Tessa’s face was mere inches from mine, and my night vision allowed me to see that the shallow groove the bullet had cut into the side of her skull had already stopped bleeding. The nanites had accelerated scab production and were beginning to stitch the superficial wound closed.
“I know we need to get going,” said Tessa softly once the couple had moved out of earshot. With our hearing in enhanced mode, we no longer had to whisper, as we’d hear anyone coming before they could hear us. Even so, it paid to keep our voices down. “But before we do anything else, Jason, I need you to know how sorry I am that I lied to you about my past. I know you’ll never forgive me, but—”
“I forgive you entirely,” I interrupted hurriedly. “I know how you feel about me. I know that Nari and the Federation have good intentions. I know Nari has been truthful about most things, and only lied for what he thought were humanity’s and the galaxy’s best interests.”
“But how can you—”
“Long story,” I said, making it a habit of interrupting her, “for another time. Just know that I love you, and that there is nothing to forgive.”
Tessa brightened visibly, and then a broad grin spread over her face. “Does that mean you won’t try to shoot me again?”
I laughed, trying to do so as softly as possible. “I did mention I was possessed, right?”
“That’s every man’s excuse. The devil made me do it. I’ll allow it this one time.”
I grinned, but only for a moment. As fantastic as it was to settle into our old patterns of banter, we had wasted too much time already. “Getting back to business,” I said, “if we run into the base commander, Kenneth Kussmann, kill him on sight. He’s controlled by the Swarm.”
“Yeah, I know that. My nanites just finished restoring my memories of the interrogation he conducted yesterday. It was quite clear that he was channeling the Swarm.” She raised her eyebrows. “I told him you would save me, and he told me you would try to kill me. Turns out we were both right.”
She paused. “What about the others on this base? Are they all controlled by the Swarm?”
I shook my head. “Only Kussmann. Even those with military training are innocent. All just well-intentioned people being used.”
“Well-intentioned people who now have orders to kill us.”
“Unfortunately, yes. Still, we should spare their lives if possible.”
“Of course,” she replied.
“They store personal force shields on this base,” I continued, “built into belts.”
I had thought this technology from the fake skirmish on the island was strictly fictional, but Nick had indicated otherwise, and the Swarm’s memories of the base had confirmed it.
“Personal force shields?” repeated Tessa. “There is no such thing. Not even within the Federation.”
“The Swarm supplied plans to the humans they duped, so there is now. But it’s a prototype technology,” I added, the nanites having implanted additional information just then into my memory. “And it has a ways to go before it’s fully perfected.”
“Meaning what?”
“It offers nearly perfect protection. The problem is that it’s ultimately lethal to the human inside. So the belts are only used on the most vital missions, or those that would be suicidal without them.”
“What’s the point?” said Tessa. “The tech protects you from being killed by others—but it kills you itself.”
“It would if used long enough. But the devices monitor for irreversible damage to the person they’re enveloping, and shut off automatically when that point is reached. For most soldiers, that gives them about three minutes. Plenty of time to survive a single firefight, breach, or skirmish. My nanite AI has calculated that given the presence of nanites in our bodies, we can probably use the belts for up to fifteen minutes before the point of no return.”
“I see. So the plan is to grab a few of these belts and find the nearest exit.”
I winced. I had forgotten she had no idea where we were. “Not so much,” I replied. “It turns out that the facility we’re in is under the ocean.”
“What?”
“Yeah, under the ocean. But on a ledge, so we aren’t as deep as you might imagine. The belts are kept in the armory in the military section of the base, which is located underground. Well, under-ledge. You know what I mean.”
“And you want us to purposely go to the military quarters?” said Tessa in disbelief. “Isn’t that like bank robbers hiding out at a police station?”
“I thought you enjoyed challenges,” I said with a grin, overjoyed she was alive, and thrilled to be working with her yet again, despite our desperate situation.
Tessa returned my smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she replied. “The frying pan was getting a bit too comfortable. I can’t believe we didn’t jump out of it sooner.”
47
I was in a tiny, dark closet, inches away from Tessa Barrett, with the fate of the galaxy at stake, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to wrap my arms around her. How desperate I was to hold her. To kiss her.
I shook my head to clear it. “The armory is just an intermediate step,” I told her. “Our final destination is the base’s zip-craft hangar.”