She awoke with a start as her alarm buzzed in successive chirps. Jennifer usually was awake enough to wait for it, feeling efficient and proactive as she waited even a few minutes for it to sound. This morning, though, she had slept right through it. Her dreams had been vivid. It was strange to see Helene Tobias invading them. Her face was an enigma to the youth leader. What she had known of the woman had been completely displaced in just one day's time of direct contact.
She showered and dressed, checking her appearance once last time in the mirror before entering the hall. A transport mech arrived on schedule to collect her bag and take it to the flight hangar. As instructed, Jennifer took the tram back to the research lab area. Tobias was waiting for her in the reception area. She was leaning against the wall near the lab door, arms folded, casually resting against the gleaming exterior. Today, though, the reception area was void of activity. There were no scientists milling about, no maintenance mechs running supplies.
Jennifer glanced at the chronometer on the tram before exiting. She was perfectly on time. No one could claim she was either early or late for her meeting with Tobias. She was exactly on time, as trained and expected.
The cadet walked with confident strides toward the doctor, her footsteps echoing off the walls in sharp staccato clicks.
"Good morning, Jennifer," Tobias said, still leaning on the wall. "Sleep well?"
Again, it was another question Jennifer was not prepared to hear. She had learned that dreams were the byproduct of the brain's processing imagery of previous days. For all she had ever known, it was. She never gave it a thought until the doctor had asked.
"Very well, thank you," Jennifer answered politely. She stood at attention before Tobias, awaiting orders.
"Come, then," she said. "Things to move, grouchy lords to please."
With that, she turned and opened the lab door. Just inside, on the tables Jennifer had diligently cleaned the day before, sat two containers of what she assumed were the personal belongings of Tobias. The lids were sealed. Tobias directed her to one of the crates, instructing her that it was to be transported very carefully.
To the right, two mechs stood awaiting instructions. Tobias turned her head toward them.
"Mason, Dixon, follow," she ordered.
The two mechs came alive, marching after them like obedient pets.
Together, the group moved the crates to the tram in the reception area. Tobias and she placed them on the floor and activated the tram. It pulled out and wound its way around the northern arc of Volcania to the flight hangar. When it stopped, they were at the entrance to the where the fleet of cargo ships sat. Jennifer picked up the box Tobias had assigned her to carry and exited the tram. Mason and Dixon took up the rear, carrying nothing, not seeming to perform any function.
The flight hangar was considerably busy. Crews prepared cargo ships for the day's runs. Tobias led the pack toward one on the far end of the flight line. It was being prepared for flight. Jennifer stole a look inside the cockpit but found no pilot. It piqued her curiosity. She had developed a reputation as a talented pilot, but she was still not permitted to take a ship on her own, not until she had completed her Youth training. Still, the flight chiefs frequently extended her flight time as a courtesy, a reward for her excellence and hard work.
Tobias was sharp and observant. Nothing seemed to escape her. "You said you like to fly, correct?"
Jennifer straightened to attention. "I have an excellence rating for this ship," she said, not caring that it sounded proud the way she said it.
"So you said," Tobias affirmed. "Let's see just how excellent you are. I've taken the liberty of loading coordinates into the flight computer for our destination." She boarded the cargo ship without another word. Mason and Dixon followed, their feet clacking against the metal steps that led up into the passenger area.
Jennifer's heart sped up a bit at the opportunity of being able to fly once more, only this time, the prospect of having Doctor Tobias on board was unnerving. She felt like the doctor enjoyed closely observing her every move, asking uncomfortable questions that seemed to so defy the very core values of Lord Dread's vision. Perhaps it was something that Jennifer should include in her next journal entry. She wondered how she would communicate with him, for those had been his explicit instructions, yet she had received no information on how to do that. Tobias seemed to be aware of the smallest detail. To circumvent her would have to become a mission of sorts. It would require stealth and cunning, all of which Jennifer had excelled at in simulations.
She climbed into the cockpit of the ship, feeling uncommonly at ease at the helm. In all her experience in the Dread Youth, she had never trained so hard at something she . . .
Tobias's question from the previous day played in her mind. She . . . liked to fly. It was difficult make sense of that description. It felt foreign and somehow wrong. She had been training for flight because she her proficiency at the skills required was the best in her class. It was only natural that she should be assigned to at least operate cargo ships.
Flight control contacted the ship, clearing it for departure. As it did, Doctor Tobias slipped forward into the left seat, in the co-pilot position. Suddenly, Jennifer's confidence was shaken. She was being observed again. Instructors and leaders had observed her for a lifetime. Somehow, though, this was different. No matter how she tried to think of it as just another test, she could not shake the notoriety of Tobias and her influence on the rise of the empire.
She skillfully engaged the maneuvering engines. The ship lifted off the hangar floor, gliding forward gracefully toward the exit. Jennifer waited until the ship had cleared the doors and was in open air outside the base. The sky was its usual dusky rose. The higher elevations gave way to brighter sunlight, as the ship cleared the lower layers of dust in the atmosphere. Chase pulled up the coordinates to Alaceda and activated them in the flight computer. The facility was located in a region safely controlled by empire forces. It was nestled in the side of a mountain, the entrance barely visible even on the flight schematics.
Tobias was watching the instrument panel intently, seeing the correlation of maneuvers to the response of the readings. At one point, Jennifer noticed Tobias steal a glance at her as she piloted the ship.
"What's the structural tolerance of this ship?" Tobias asked finally.
Chase reeled off the statistics without even thinking. "Triple titanium layering, capable of fourteen-g pulls with a cargo capacity of seventeen-thousand kilos. Artificial gravity invoked in negative-g situations."
"Speed?"
"Standard cruising speed is two-hundred forty-seven knots."
"Thrill factor?"
Again, Jennifer did not know how to answer. It was another one of those unexpected questions that had no logic to it. There was no sense of academia in its content.
"Thrill factor?"
"Sure," Tobias said with a small shrug. "How much of a thrill do you get from flying one of these?"
"I'm not aware of any rating information with that title," she said safely.
"You won't find it in any text," Tobias said knowingly. "It's what you feel inside, how flying this ship makes you feel."
A wave of frustration flitted through Jennifer at yet another one of Tobias's questions. It was as though the doctor was trying to trip her up, to catch her with an incorrect answer. She decided to be bold and address the issue directly.
She threw the ship on to automatic pilot and turned to Tobias. "I don't understand what you want from me. My assignment is to assist you in your research, Doctor."
Tobias seemed intrigued by the confrontation. "So it is. However, it's also my job to make sure you are capable of assisting me in that research. We'll be spending long hours in the lab. If I want a robot working for me, I'll assign Mason and Dixon to do the work."
Jennifer averted her eyes from the doctor. "Your questions are difficult to answer." It was not an easy thing to say.
"They're not meant to be easy, cadet. If they were easy, you wouldn't be flying this ship, nor would you be assigned to me."
"I don't understand why you're asking me these things," she said, looking out the cockpit window at the brightening sky. "What do they have to do with your research?"
"My career has been spent asking questions, Jennifer. If I don't ask questions, I don't get answers. If I don't ask questions, I may never achieve the next level of knowledge. Knowledge is not the product of knowing the answers but of questioning the why."
Jennifer engaged control of the ship once more, sensing Tobias was being cryptic on purpose. It made no sense, and the youth leader dared to acknowledge it caused a feeling of frustration. She increased the throttle, channeling her emotions into the ship's drives. Her jaw tightened when she saw Tobias smile at the action.
She completed the flight with accuracy, setting the ship down in the camouflaged hangar that lay in the side of the mountain. It was necessary to use the ship's guidance systems to hit the target. Visually, the entrance was impossible to detect. A thick upshot of dead trees concealed the bay. The approach required a vertical descent, followed by slow forward progress. Jennifer accomplished the entire feat using instruments alone, retaining the hope that it would impress the good doctor. However, Tobias did not congratulate her on the completion of the approach. In fact, she said nothing when they finally landed in the bay. She merely rose from the cockpit and prepared to disembark.
Mason and Dixon clomped down the stairs after Tobias while Jennifer secured the systems inside it. Once she had finished, she exited the cockpit, took hold of the box Tobias had assigned to her, and caught up with them on the hangar floor.
Jennifer took a moment to inventory her surroundings. The landing bay of Alaceda was microscopic compared to that of Volcania. Its capacity was for maybe two more cargo ships, and even that would have been a tight fit. As it was, her ship was the only one in the dock. Three technicians moved toward it and began unloading its cargo, taking care when placing the containers onto a carrier under the watchful eye of Tobias. Mason and Dixon stood placidly by, awaiting her orders.
The air seemed different in the Alaceda hangar. There was still the comforting smell of hydraulic fluid and grease, but there was an occasional breeze that was not held in check by artificial ventilation systems. It blew in from the hangar doors that were still slightly ajar. Even though the mountainside had been burned, the air was clean and fresh. The scent of recovering vegetation sailed on it. It reminded her of the hydroponics lab she had spent time in two years earlier, where she learned the cultivation process that fed the overunits and Dread Youth that served Lord Dread. She had never been where it was growing naturally, though. The smell intrigued her, and she suddenly longed to venture outside the bay and see naturally growing plants for herself, if only out of curiosity.
It was not to be, though. Tobias called for her to follow the entourage to the exit of the bay and into the inner halls of Alaceda. It seemed more compact, smaller than Volcania. The halls were not nearly as grand. They were more like tunnels, made of concrete with lights spaced at even intervals in the ceiling. She waited for the scenes to improve, but they did not. The occasional offshoot of a hall to the right or left was the only deviation in the layout until they came to a security checkpoint. The mechs manning the station blocked the passageway.
One held out a palm scanner. Tobias obliged it by placing her hand on the pad. After a moment, the perimeter of the device turned green, indicating Tobias was cleared to enter. Then it was Jennifer's turn. She, too, placed her hand on the scanner. A brief moment of worry ignited in her when the panel did not turn green as it had for the doctor. Instead, it turned yellow, requiring senior authorization for approval. Tobias took the pad and tapped in an approval on its surface, handing it back to the mech guard when she was done.
At once, the guards stood aside to allow passage. The group continued their journey through the next set of doors until they came upon the entrance to the lab, clearing marked with a plaque on the outside announcing it belonged to Tobias and that unauthorized entry was prohibited. When they entered, Jennifer was surprised to see such a difference in the lab's condition as compared to the one at Volcania. Everything was in order – and catalogued – from what she could see. It was like they were stepping into Tobias's lair, a place that few were privileged to see. It was so unlike the Volcania lab. It was almost as if the doctor had personalized the space. The walls were adorned with pictures and mementos. A circular board of throwing skills hung on a far wall, the projectiles randomly thrust into the material.
"Put that box on my desk, please," Tobias instructed, making her way to the desk. She dropped the box she carried heavily onto the surface. Then she pushed two stacks of data pads out of the way so Jennifer could do the same.
Jennifer looked around the lab again. It was about half the size of the Volcania lab. The enormous number of projects inside it made it seem even smaller. There was hardly a clean surface to be found. It was the antithesis of what Jennifer had imagined the doctor's lab would look like, especially one in a secret facility.
"Your disappointment is becoming disheartening," Tobias said, again observing her. "Not what you expected, is it?"
"It's not what was pictured in our learning texts." It was a lie. Jennifer's disappointment was building at a furious rate.
"We really need to work on saying what you mean and meaning what you say, child. Obfuscation may get you far in the Youth, but it's a fast track to the door with me."
Jennifer registered the meaning quickly. She had excelled in her vocabulary studies and was at least comforted in that she knew what Tobias meant. Still, she felt herself standing there, speechless and under verbal assault by a superior.
Tobias approached her, looking her directly in the eyes. There was no wrath in her demeanor, though. Instead, her features were soft.
"The truth may sometimes be painful," Tobias said, "but it is what it is. Science is truth, Jennifer. If you can't speak the truth, then you're wasting your time and mine. Now, what is the truth?"
No lessons in her Youth training covered this kind of questioning. It was worse than torture in most respects. Again, it felt like a test. What if Lord Dread had set the whole thing up and was testing to see how loyal one of his top students was?
On the other hand, what if Tobias was asking for a genuine answer and failed to get one? Either scenario presented a losing end. Jennifer tried to run through the permutations as quickly as possible, weighing the evidence. Her lord had given her explicit instructions to report all findings. She was about to answer in her best Youth form when she remembered that Lord Dread had specifically asked her to report on Doctor Tobias's research projects and not her personal demeanor. It seemed he wanted empirical information, not a commentary on her social interaction with the doctor. She decided to take a chance.
"It's not as sophisticated as I expected," she said carefully. "I thought there would be more."
Tobias gave a bright smile. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Tobias had no idea, Jennifer thought. "No, it wasn't difficult, Doctor Tobias. Would you like me to clean off the lab tables now?"
"Touch a thing on these tables, and I'll cut your hands off," Tobias said without missing a beat. A smile followed the warning. The smile was more menacing than a drill instructor screaming during training. She had the distinct sense that the doctor meant it.
"Understood," Chase managed, and it was. Nevertheless, her voice sounded small in her ears, like a weak child. She waited for Tobias to issue an order, clasping her hands behind her back in parade rest.
Tobias turned and began a small tour of the lab. "The lab at Volcania was nothing more than a room in which to keep busy. This place," she said, waving her hand about, "is where my real work is done. This is a place that is off limits to everyone, including your precious Lord Dread."
Jennifer followed carefully behind Tobias.
"He won't leave his lair, and I won't let him in here. As long as he gets results, he's happy, and I intend to keep it that way. Your job," she said, turning to face Jennifer, "is to keep your lord and me happy. You'll do that by assisting me in my research."
Tobias continued her tour of the room. "We need to set some ground rules. First, don't touch anything unless I permit you. Everything here is in its place for a reason and in delicate stages of development. One false move can destroy years of research. Is that clear?"
"Yes," Jennifer said, wishing she could find a more confident voice.
"Second, that door over there," Tobias said, pointing, "is strictly off limits to you. Under no circumstances are you to enter, look inside, or attempt any sort of investigation into its contents. Is that understood?"
Jennifer looked at the door. It was large, a heavy grey metal hulk that looked as though it would require a battalion of mechs to break through it. An ocular security scanner waited patiently beside it.
"Understood."
"Your duties will be limited to a daily schedule which I will give to you at the start of each shift. You are not to deviate from that duty list unless I instruct you to do so."
Tobias continued her shuffle around the room. She returned to the desk where a large collection of data pads lay precariously balanced. She picked up one, examining the contents. "For now," she said, "you'll report to your quarters and get settled in today. Feel free to take a tour of the facility. You'll find out quickly what are restricted areas and what is common."
Again, Jennifer was surprised at the order. "The rest of the day? It's early morning. My assignment is to assist . . ."
"Your assignment," Tobias countered, putting the data pad back on the desk, "is to follow my orders. Right now, my orders are for you to get settled into your quarters and get your bearings of the facility. You're no good to me if you don't know where you are or where you have to go to complete a task."
A flash of anger and frustration flitted through Jennifer as Tobias summarily put her in her place. The dream assignment was crashing down around the Youth Leader like a crumbling wall.
"As you wish," Jennifer said with a curt nod of assent.
"Mason will show you to your quarters." She nodded at the mech. "Mason, take Youth Leader Chase to her living compartment."
The mech came to attention and approached Jennifer. It waited patiently for her to move to the door.
"While you're getting settled," Tobias said in parting, "run the facility's audio tour. It'll help before you start meandering around this place to know what goes on around here."
She turned away from Jennifer and the mech and resumed her inspection of the data pads. Her silence told of the cadet's dismissal from the lab. She led the way, followed by Mason. Once they were in the hall, Mason took the lead, clanking unceremoniously down the corridor. They passed through several bulkheads without incident. There were not nearly as many people assigned to the station as Volcania. In was a minute fraction, in fact, compared to the thousands who served Lord Dread at the main base. There were no frills in this place. She had not even spied the symbol of the Dread empire, something she found suspect in a way she could not identify. It seemed more utilitarian, which she found strangely comforting. The place churned with purpose. The few workers she saw were carrying on tasks with ardor. It was as she thought all those in the service of Lord Dread should be.
The air held a strange dampness. It smelled of dirt and rock. Occasionally, they passed by tiny sections of walkway that had not been shored by construction. Bare rock served as the wall of the corridor. Some portions were shiny with natural water that condensed on the stone.Unlike Volcania, there were no temperature variations. From her lessons, she surmised that the insulation of the mountain kept the facility at a constant temperature. She was willing to bet that it was easier to manage the facility's environment than it was to maintain the large central base.
The deeper Mason took her into the base, the more secure areas they passed. Each area was guarded by two mechs who stood at attention. They did not acknowledge Chase's approach in any way, nor should they, she knew. They were programmed to react only when an intruder challenged access to an area. They were machines – unfeeling, running on planned algorithms and set conditions. They were perfection in their operation. Their performance would only improve with time, making them more efficient and able to make judgments based on logic.
She surveyed as much as she could as they walked the corridors. The smaller dimensions of the walkways seemed confining, as though making the air thinner and less available. The logical side of her mind told her there was sufficient oxygen, since there were workers effectively living in the mountain. System alarms would have sounded if the environmental controls had detected anything less than acceptable. She tried to keep that in mind as she followed Mason, but she could not quell the raging sense that something was wrong.
They entered another nest of corridors. Mason came to a stop outside one door and touched the control panel off to the side. The door slid open, revealing personal living quarters. Jennifer looked inside and saw her bag set neatly on the bunk. Mason stepped aside and allowed her to pass. It turned and left without any acknowledgement that they had reached their destination. The door closed again, sealing her inside the room.
She looked around. This space was larger than the quarters she had earned at Volcania. In fact, it seemed almost too large for her. Not only was there a bunk and a standard desk, but now she saw shelving units and an expanded communication center. Several monitors lit up the wall with scrolling information. Jennifer sat down on the bed, surveying her surroundings. The lights were muted, giving the room a softer look than she was accustomed to seeing. One thing that caught her eye was a personal food portal, providing meals when she wanted. There was no need to enter a commissary. All she had to do was request a meal and it would be generated in the port.
She pulled the bag off the bed and set it on the floor in front of her. Unpacking the bag went quickly. All the clothing and uniform accessories were placed neatly in the closet provided. There was more than enough room to store what she had brought. When she sat back on the bed and looked into the open closet, she realized just how sparse her belongings were. In truth, she owned nothing. What she did have in the way of uniforms belonged to Lord Dread. He had provided for her and would continue to do so as long as her performance remained as perfect as it had been.
Doctor Tobias had left Jennifer with a standing order to learn about the base, starting with the audio summary of its operations. She followed the command.
"Computer, play audio synopsis of this facility."
The computer chirped three times, acknowledging the command. She lay back on the bunk and began listening to the presentation as the base computer's female voice began relaying the information.
"Alaceda Research Facility is located in the northern hemisphere – forty degrees, thirty minutes north latitude by eighty degrees, thirteen minutes west longitude. The facility houses dedicated research projects under the direct supervision of Doctor Helene Tobias, the station's director."
"Computer," Chase said, interrupting the presentation, "what projects are run in Alaceda?"
"The project list is classified and restricted to authorized personnel only," the computer answered flatly.
She was disappointed at the roadblock. "Continue."
"Construction began on August 28, 2131 under the guidance of Doctor Tobias. Initial project schedules focused primarily on cybernetic research. Today, Alaceda carries on this tradition to include interrogation techniques and warfare enhancement."
The computer droned on with more information, giving the dimensions of Alaceda. Most of it was inconsequential construction data. She did catch the fact that she was sitting in a room covered in megatons of dirt and rock. The tightness she felt before returned at the mention of the fact. She pushed it away as best as she could, but it would not cease. She closed her eyes and concentrated on reciting primary numbers until the uneasiness passed a little. The computer continued spewing facts, but none of it registered in her ears. She pushed down a wave of nausea and felt a distinct weariness invade her body.
Jennifer sat up suddenly, the urge to leave the room overwhelming. Reciting primary numbers was not enough. After a glass of water from the faucet to help with her dry throat, she decided to tour the facility on foot in an effort to complete the task assigned to her by Tobias. As she roamed the halls, though, the air got thinner. Her head began to pound like she had never before felt. She made it a point to walk with a stiff back when she passed by human workers, but her shoulders slumped when she was not being observed. Her mouth was dry again, and she began to perspire as though she was in a daily physical fitness class.
She came to a door guarded by mechs. Their visage swam in and out of focus as she neared them. She wanted to tell them that something was wrong but knew they would not understand.
Ten seconds later, it did not matter. Jennifer Chase passed out, hitting the grated floor with a dull thud.
