Hailey's Comet Anthology Read online

  “I said compliments!” Kinkade’s voice came through the wall.

  “You’re a stud! So big… and strong. Ow! Please stop, Trip!”

  Hailey crawled across the room as fast as her hands and knees could carry her. She crawled through the opening and curled up into a ball on her cot. The sadness was suffocating. She tried to breathe deeply, but only got little gulps of air into her lungs. Her suit strangled her. She disengaged the locking clasp and flailed around, trying to get out of it. Finally, the suit dropped to the floor with a clunk. Hailey froze, fully expecting to be shot right through the door. Nothing happened.

  “What if he comes back and sees the hole?” Hailey whispered. She paced, staring at the fissure in wall. Suddenly, she had an idea. She extracted her hook knife from the suit and stuck it into the wall above the large cut, making a small hole. Then she searched the room for any small length of metal. “Perfect,” she said quietly, only talking to herself. The lightweight cot was made of strips of iron-wire. With a blade unfolded from the multi-tool, she cut a ten-centimeter length of the wire and bent it into a hook shape. She threaded the wire through the small hole in the wall and let it hang.

  Rounding the end so it wouldn’t puncture her suit, she hung the matte black Chameleon Adaptive Armor suit on the hook, covering the breach. Of course, if Kinkade went next door, he’d see it, but since no one was being held there, she hoped he wouldn’t ever bother opening that door.

  She sat on the cot, breathing harder than she should have been, and looked at her handiwork. She laid herself down, then sat bolt upright. She quickly crossed the room and re-stashed her tools in the suit. Then she returned to the cot and stretched out on it. Breathe. Calm. Think. She began to feel cold without her suit. She wore only the thin, full-body undersuit that protected her skin from the interior of the armor suit. Pulling a thin blanket up from the foot of the cot, she wrapped herself in it and curled up, trying to speed the warming of her body.

  With the immediate problems tackled, her thoughts returned to the assault happening two doors down the hall. She hoped the woman was strong enough to endure it, physically and emotionally. Kinkade is a piece of work, she thought. Her mind went, suddenly, in a completely new and unexpected direction. She thought of Jackson.

  Jackson was kind and good, gentle and caring, and he loved her. She felt her love for him, full force, and it made her sadder than before. I’m sorry, Jax. I don’t know how I’m going to get back to you. The thought overwhelmed her. She broke down and cried.

  A Good Night’s Sleep

  Hailey had fallen asleep with her sorrow. When she woke, she tried to guess how long she had slept. She analyzed her body and felt fairly rested. Six, seven hours? The sleep seemed to have magical powers: she was no longer distraught. Her emotions were controllable, and her mind worked better.

  Sleep had always rested her muscles, but with all the mental enhancements, she never noticed her mind getting tired before. She had always thought of sleep as a body refresher, only. Surprised that her feelings had also rested and were no longer overwhelming, she stretched her limbs and remembered that she needed to keep herself as strong as possible.

  With no food available, she turned to exercise. Push-ups and sit-ups, squats and kicks, followed by yoga and meditation, refreshed her further.

  Breathe. Calm. Think. Hailey took stock of her strengths and weaknesses. She had cataloged her many weaknesses the day before. In the morning, she listed what she did have at her disposal.

  One: a strong body. Her spinal reinforcement was not electronic-based technology, so that had not been taken away. Her muscles were hers: the ones she built and toned and maintained all those years.

  Two: a strong mind. As a child, she had taken care of herself on the streets of Fansha. She was clever and quick. And now she had years of experience to add to her cache of clever ideas.

  Three: a suit. She had a few tools and weapons, and the suit offered some protection. It wouldn’t stop the ACME’s bullets, but it would stop Kinkade from doing anything to her.

  Four: experience. More than a dozen years in the field, hundreds of successful missions, thousands of analyses and decisions, all together made a treasure trove of ideas and tactics to employ.

  She needed to focus. She needed to use her strengths. She needed a plan.

  Hailey sat on the cot, leaning against the wall, holding the blanket around her body, plotting her escape. With eyes closed and breathing steady, her mind searched the hundreds of missions she had accomplished. She couldn’t remember all the names of places and people, but she remembered what worked and what she might be able to accomplish, sans implants.

  Problem One: layout. She was brought to the shelter on the space rock while unconscious. She never saw what it looked like from above or within, except her room, the adjacent room, and the hall. Hailey guessed that the four women from the yacht were in the four rooms beyond the empty room. She could talk to one through the wall, and pass messages to the others, and get whatever information they possessed.

  Problem Two: ACMEs. Somehow, she had to deactivate the robots and not get shot in the process. They responded to voice commands, probably programmed to obey only Kinkade. She needed to steal Kinkade’s voice. If she had her comm, she could engage him in conversation and record his voice, editing and splicing words together to give the ACMEs a “shut down” command. How to get a comm…

  Problem Three: escape. Even if she subdued the ACMEs and Kinkade, she had no way off the rock… not until the yacht returned. And what about the crew? Were they complicit in the crimes Kinkade was committing? Were they so well paid that they simply turned a blind eye to what he was doing? Did they know that she was a Wraith? Yes, the cargo master knew. Certainly, a Wraith disappearing on an easy mission would get the attention of SWORD. Hailey needed to find a long-range comm so she could contact Laura.

  Problem Four: the other victims of Kinkade’s prison. Hailey needed to protect them from further injury. If she couldn’t do that, there wasn’t much point in being an agent of SWORD.

  Without a knock or any request for permission, Kinkade barged into Hailey’s cell with a tray of food. “Good morning, Hailey,” he said cheerfully. He left the door swung open, which blocked his view of Hailey’s suit covering the hole in the wall.

  Hailey opened her eyes and looked at her captor. She kept her face neutral, though feelings of disgust and revulsion swirled inside her. She had to work the problem… the four problems. This would not be a sprint; it would be more like hurdles. “Good morning,” she forced herself to say.

  “That was civil. Thank you, Hailey.” She cringed at his foul use of the name her mother and father had given her. Only her mother called her Hailey. No one else. This became her first priority.

  “You know, that’s not my real name,” she said. With her suite of implants on the fritz, she found it much easier to tell outright lies. This could work for me. “At SWORD, they just assign you a name. Don’t want you getting all sentimental about private lives that used to be.”

  “Well, that’s kind-of… cold.”

  “Yeah. Didn’t bother me until my implants stopped working. You know, I slept really well. My brain didn’t keep track of things all night. I feel… kinda… free.”

  “I’ll glad you’re feeling better. Would you like some food?”

  “Yes, please.” Hailey accepted the tray and started eating. Kinkade leaned sideways against the adjacent wall. She looked up at him. “Why am I here?” she asked.

  “Tell me your real name.”

  “If I tell you my real name, will you tell me why I’m here?”

  “Sure.”

  She eyed him carefully. “Mariella.”

  “Where’s that from? I never heard that name before.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember any kind of family life. SWORD found me stealing clothes and food on the streets of Mars. I guess they saw potential.” She thought for a second. “When we were playing chess, and you acted all i
gnorant about me being a Wraith, that was acting, right?”

  Kinkade smiled and looked down at his feet. “I knew you were a Wraith.”

  “And you knew what Wraiths are like?”

  “Yeah. I did my research,” he said, looking back up at her. “Still, you surprised me with your gameplay.”

  “You said you like games.”

  “I do. All kinds.”

  “What kind of game are you playing with me? I mean, what do you want from me so much that you trap me on a rock in the middle of nowhere?”

  Kinkade smiled. “We’re not nowhere. We’re in the T’skala Nebula. It’s beautiful outside.”

  “I don’t have a window,” she replied. “I told you my name. You said you’d tell me why I’m here.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t say when I’d tell you.”

  “Damn loophole. I’m such an idiot without my implants,” she muttered.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Mariella. You must be disoriented with such a change in your life.”

  “Can I have more water? I think I’m dehydrated. I have this terrible headache. Can hardly get off the cot without getting all dizzy.”

  “Sure, Mariella.”

  “But you didn’t say when you’d get me more water,” she said quietly.

  Kinkade laughed. “You’re smart, Mariella. I’ll be right back.” He left the room and strolled down the hall. He didn’t bother to close the door; there was no way for his prisoner to get out with a dozen ACMEs standing guard.

  Hailey took the opportunity to study the sentries. They were human-shaped robots, with arms that could function in front or behind the body. On top, a sphere with a thirty-two-lens camera watched in all directions at once. Every one of the sentries held a high-power rifle in its hands.

  Each ACME had an identification number stamped on it: A-1 through A-12. “A-one,” she tried. The robot did not light its blue “I’m listening” light. “A-two,” Hailey said. That robot, too, ignored her. Yep. Programmed only to hear Kinkade. Speak of the devil… Kinkade appeared at the end of the hall with a pitcher of water.

  “They won’t respond to you,” he said as he approached her door.

  “I wanted to tell ‘em not to shoot me so I can go to the washroom.”

  “Ah.” He looked at her carefully, then decided something. “You want to take a shower or just piss?”

  “Both.”

  “Well, finish up your breakfast. I’ll go get you a towel and soap.” He left again. Hailey cheered herself. She would see at least part of the layout of the habitat.

  When Kinkade returned with a towel, he was not alone. A different kind of robot followed him, carrying a bucket. “Here’s everything you’ll need. Use the clean water however you wish, then use the bucket for a toilet. MUPA, here, will take it away when you’re finished.”

  “MUPA?” Hailey asked, with an arched eyebrow.

  “Multi-Use Programmable Attendant. A butler, if you will.” The new robot was cylindrical in shape and rolled along the smooth floor. It had a camera-rich head, like the ACME. But instead of two arms, it had many extremities extendable from all levels of the canister part which held the electronic guts of the ‘bot. It could stick out two bars to carry a tray or use one of its gripper arms to pick things up. Hailey could only wonder at all the things the robot could do. How lazy can you get? Hailey silently asked.

  “Will the butler listen to me?”

  “Hmm, what would you want to tell it to do?”

  “I don’t know, give me a massage?” Hailey said sarcastically.

  Kinkade chuckled. “I’d be happy to give you a massage, Mariella.”

  “I was kidding. I mean, things like, get me some clean clothes, or make me an omelet.”

  “If you need something, just tell me. I’m at your service. I only brought MUPA in because I figured you wouldn’t want me watching you bathe.”

  “With all those cameras on its head, I’m sure you’ll be watching me bathe.”

  Kinkade chuckled again. He was in a good mood. Hailey’s apparent submission seemed to please him. He took the bucket and towel from MUPA and ordered the butler to wait outside the door. “MUPA, when the human opens the door, retrieve the bathing supplies and return to station.” A green light blinked on, then off, as Kinkade left Hailey alone in her cell.

  Damn.

  Hailey washed her hair with the soap and water, spilling as little as possible outside the bucket. Then she washed her skin from head to toe, shivering even after she dried herself with the towel. Keeping the towel wrapped around as much of her body as she could cover, she washed her undersuit in the bucket and wrung it out. She had a good opportunity to clean her black suit, as well. Putting the towel on the hook and the undersuit over it, she hoped it would dry in the chilly room. She retrieved the thin blanket from the cot and wrapped herself again, then laid out her suit and began wiping the inside, then the outside, with a damp washcloth. She left it open to dry and returned to the bucket, now only half-full of dirty water. She squatted over it and relieved herself, then opened the door so the MUPA could take the bucket away.

  It rolled inside and extended a grabber. “Wanna get me a robe? Clothes, maybe?” she asked the butler robot. Without a green light to acknowledge her request, and with the bucket in its grasp, it rolled out of the cell, down the hall, and out of sight.

  “Nice to see you guys again,” she said to the ACMEs. There was absolutely no reaction to her statement. She closed the door.

  First sleep, then getting clean – it made her feel better. She was surprised at how much help the little things could be to a regular human. With her chores completed, she returned to her meditation. Problem One was still a problem. Her attempt to get out to use the wash room thwarted, she reverted to her original plan. She would talk to the woman closest to her. She waited until her undersuit and suit were dry. After that much time, she hoped Kinkade had delivered breakfast to everyone and was not in the hall.

  Dressed, once again, like a Wraith, and feeling comfortably warm and protected, Hailey squeezed through the hole in the wall and went across the empty room to the opposite wall. She tapped lightly on it with her finger, then put her ear against the wall. Rustling on the other side was all she could hear. She tapped again, three quick taps. More rustling, then three taps in reply. Hailey sighed. “Can you hear me?” she spoke quietly at the wall, keeping her ear against it.

  “Yeah. Who are you?”

  “Agent Ramirez.”

  “Agent Ramir—… the business agent?”

  “Yes. Are you Mandy?” Hailey asked.

  “Yes. Can you get me out of here?”

  “I’m also captive, but I’m a SWORD agent, so we’re gonna get out of here. Understand?”

  “But how?”

  “There were three other guests on the ship. I believe they are in adjacent rooms. Have you heard anything from the room on the other side?”

  “Yeah. This morning. Trip was in there f—… I mean, forcing himself on someone. Agent Ramirez, last night…”

  “I know Mandy. He attacked you, too. I promise, we’re gonna get out of here and Kinkade is gonna get what he deserves. But we all have to work together. Can you do that? Can you help me?”

  “Yes. What do you want me to do?”

  “How did you get in there? Did you see any of the habitat when you were brought in?”

  “Yeah. Trip was all ‘your suite is right this way’ and he opens the door to this cracker box and shoves me inside. He locked the door from the outside. And he’s got robots with guns.”

  “I’ve seen them. Tell me about the layout. How big is this place?”

  “Well, we came in from the airlock and there was a living room type of place. It had windows, but there was nothing to see outside. It was all desolate, like a giant rock.”

  “Good. Tell me more.”

  “We walked past a galley where some kind of robot was rollin’ around with pans and spoons. Trip said his robotic chef was gonna coo
k us some fantastic suppers. There was a dining room. Just a table, really. And then we went down this hall and here I am.”

  “Was the hall ninety degrees off the main space?”

  “No. It was like a U-turn. This big wall separates our hall from the rest of the prefab.”

  “So, it’s a rectangle, and we’re on one side of the divide and he’s on the other.”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Mandy confirmed.

  “Where does Kinkade sleep?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s great work, Mandy. Can you go speak to the next woman, if Kinkade is gone. Ask her if there’s someone next to her. And ask them for anything they remember about coming through the building from the airlock. Any detail that adds to what you just told me will help. Can you do that Mandy?”

  “Yes, Agent. I’ll do my best.” She paused. “You got a first name?”

  Hailey’s heart went out to the frightened woman in the next cell. She was just a server in a club on Ganymede. She was hurt, scared, alone. “Hailey,” she replied. “Don’t tell Kinkade you talked to me, or to the others, OK?”

  “OK, Hailey.”

  “Stay strong.”

  “OK.” Mandy moved away from the wall and Hailey returned to her cell in case Kinkade returned. Solution to Problem One: in progress.

  Problem Number Two

  Hailey needed to control the ACMEs. She concentrated on the idea of getting her hands on a comm. As much as she hated it, she was dependent on Kinkade for everything. And what did he want from her? Whatever it was, even if he got it, he was not going to release her. He couldn’t ever release her. He was either planning to hold her permanently, or kill her, for if she returned to SWORD, he would be tracked down and arrested and put in prison for the rest of his life.

  So, what would persuade him to give her a comm? She planned several courses of conversation that might lead him to hand over the device she desired. With a plan, but no power to activate it until Kinkade decided to visit her again, she turned her attention to Problem Four: keeping the other prisoners safe. He had already turned romantic-type relationships into abusive ones with two of the four women. Hailey assumed the others were on a similar path, if not already converted. She couldn’t stop him physically; she couldn’t get out of her cell without being shot twelve times over.