Entry Twelve

Entry Twelve:

            The carrier stopped briefly aboard a floating station in the middle of the vast Sea of Poseidon eight hours into their flight to refuel. It was an Arms controlled outpost and they were not allowed to disembark while their flight crew was changed. It would be another twelve hours before they would arrive at their destination. Jackie had fallen asleep in her seat with her head resting on Gavin’s shoulder while the Generates remained awake. Since Kylie’s confession, there had been an awkward silence amongst the group. Somewhere before they reached the outpost they had passed the group of islands where Conner was supposedly hiding. The signal, curiously, had not gotten any stronger as they approached, a fact which Goldie and Video had relayed to a representative from the Arms they were in communication with. There were still elite kill teams on foot combing through the islands while they were blockaded by air and by sea. They had reportedly found a number of shelters Conner could possibly have used, but most looked untouched. A fishing boat anchored off the coast of one bay had been confiscated and it’s crew questioned, but they had no information and permission to be in the area. The carrier had given the islands a wide berth in case they were at risk, but there had been no activity as they passed over.

            “What is she to you?” Deborah whispered to Gavin all at once. The others weren’t paying much attention and gave no mind. Kylie was in the bathroom and Deborah had slunk over to take her seat next to Gavin.

            Gavin looked over to see that Jackie was still asleep. “She’s important,” Gavin said at last.

            “Is she important to you?” Deborah pressed.

            “Of course,” Gavin said. “I can’t rightfully say anything beyond that. I’ve only known her for a few days. That goes for the rest of you too. No offence,” he added after a moment. “We’re all friends, of course.”

            “Of course,” Deborah said. “I think even Kylie is warming up to me, and I’ve done nothing but antagonize her.”

            “You think that’s a smart idea?” Gavin nodded to Fredriks as he looked up from his wrist unit, but Fredriks seemed disinterested and only smiled before returning his attention to the video he was watching.

            “I don’t know if I want her as a friend, or an enemy,” Deborah admitted. “She has resources to things I need, but how she’s gotten them makes me uneasy.”

            “It makes everyone a little uneasy,” Gavin said.

            “Back to you and Jackie, though,” Deborah steered the subject, “do you understand what she is?”

            “A Princess? I don’t know what you mean,” Gavin said, confused.

            “She’s half-Generate,” Deborah told him quietly. “Half-Norm. It shouldn’t even be possible, given the discrepancies between our two species and realities. Have you never given a thought to that?”

            “Not really,” Gavin admitted. “Should I have?”

            “Take a look at her bandage,” Deborah prompted.

            “What? Why?” Gavin looked at it.

            “I mean take a look under it,” she nudged him.

            “Why?” Gavin was reluctant.

            “Trust me,” Deborah said into his ear.

            Gavin sighed and slowly reached out and peeled back the edge of the bandage between Jackie’s eyes. She stirred a little, but didn’t really wake up. Gavin was shocked to see nothing but a faint scar and dried blood. He had seen Conner gash her face, and he imagined that the wound would be with her for many days. He carefully replaced it, which caused her to flutter her eyes a little and scratch her nose above where the bandage was placed. She looked up at Gavin quizzically for a second before shutting her eyes again. Gavin waited breathlessly for her to go back to sleep. “She’s healed,” he said at last.

            “Look at yourself now,” Deborah told him. “How’s you ankle?”

            “It’s fine,” Gavin admitted. He’d forgotten about his run-in a few days past.

            “It shouldn’t be,” Deborah shook her head. “If you were a Norm, you’d be crippled. That’s a Generate trait, Gavin. Jackie shares it. She’s not fully human, but she’s not really one of us, either. She ages normally, but heals quickly. She’s an absolute oddity.”

            “Does she know?” Gavin asked her.

            “I don’t think anyone knows,” Deborah admitted. “She’s a link between two species and two universes.”

            “We’re not different species,” Gavin argued.

            “We’re not even supposed to be able to co-produce,” Deborah explained, “as Generate have more chromosomes. That makes us a different species.”

            “Then how did Victor manage it with the Queen?” Gavin wondered.

            “He had a little help from Kylie,” Deborah whispered. “She said she made him have a procedure. Now I don’t know what that was, but if I can get a hold of her D.N.A., I could probably reverse engineer the basics.”

            “Well why don’t you ask her for a sample?” Gavin asked.

            Deborah shook her head. “I’m too nervous.”

            “She’s not as mean as she looks, Deborah. Just ask her nicely. You’re sitting right next to her, after all. She can probably hear you,” Gavin said, which made Deborah jump a little, but Jackie gave no sign of having heard. Fredriks, however, was watching them with some bemusement. Kylie exited the bathroom, and came back to where her luggage was secured. Deborah smiled and nodded at her blithely as she reached above her head. She found and opened a packet of rations and then took a seat in the far corner five seats down from them to eat. Gavin noted that Kylie made it a point to eat a small meal or snack every four hours, even when she was up late, although she could go far longer without food. Gavin imagined it had to do with the baby.

            Once Deborah was certain that Kylie was more interested in her snack than their conversation, she continued. “I’ll ask later,” Deborah promised. “If we can unlock the secrets of her D.N.A., it might help our species survive on this planet. If we can’t reproduce, our species will go extinct, Gavin, and we don’t have the resources to create our own Generates from scratch. There’s other benefits as well that could directly benefit the humans of New Gaia. We could boost their immunity to disease and find the cures to any number of ailments, including old age. We could make it so a situation like Plague Earth never happens here. With enough time and resources, the possibilities are practically endless and I’m not bound by the Corps rules of non-interference. I’d need your D.N.A. too,” she added, “but I’d have to give you a physical first.”

            “Why’s that?” Gavin asked suspiciously.

            “Kylie said she did something to you before you were born,” Deborah said, “and that you’re fertile. If that’s true, you’re the only one of us besides Kylie that can reproduce.”

            “As long as you’re not going to do anything as invasive as you just did to my privacy,” Gavin muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck where his node was. .

            “It’s a simple procedure I can do with a few accessories and my wrist unit. It’s painless and harmless, I promise you,” she assured him. “Although I’d like to run additional tests on Jackie. I’d be interested to see if Jackie’s healing extends to regeneration.”

            “Regeneration? Isn’t that just the same as healing?” Gavin asked.

            “Generates can regrow lost limbs. Obviously, I wouldn’t go so far as to cut off her hands,” she laughed. “All I’d need would be a small skin sample,” she explained.

            “Wait, we can grow our arms back if we lose them?” Gavin was shocked.

            “Yes. Why do you think they call us, ‘Generates?’ We can regenerate,” Deborah elaborated.

            “Then Jackie’s father…” he realized.

            “He’ll grow his arm back as good as new,” Deborah told him. “It should already be starting to bud. Sometimes they can grow back deformed, though, which would concern me. I hope that he has a good doctor,” Deborah pursed her lips and tapped them thoughtfully

            “Does Jackie know?” Gavin looked down at her.

            “I don’t imagine, although it’s a possibility. They are father and daughter and I’m not privy to what they talk about with each other. It wasn’t covered in his biopic. Victor made no mention of the difference between Norms and Generates. It’s fairly standard with Norms not to brag about our superiority. We wouldn’t want to make them feel inferior, and Victor has his role as King to think about. As far as I can tell from records, no Generate from A-6 has ever checked into a hospital on New Gaia. They’re blissfully ignorant about our genetic abilities,” she said.

            “Conner wouldn’t have known,” Gavin thought to himself. “He cut off his father’s hand not knowing it would grow back.”

            “I don’t understand his actions,” Deborah sighed. “I had always imagined that the family bond was stronger than anything, but I guess I ignored human history.”

            “How do you know so much about all of this?” Gavin thought to ask. “I thought you were a Researcher.”

            “With a specialty in medicine,” Deborah added. “Everyone has a specialty. Video already told you his specialty is communications. Goldie’s an expert hacker. Even Lance has a specialty in military history, making him practically an overgrown Researcher. I couldn’t tell you about Fredriks, or Lara, though. Even you must have some special field beyond piloting.”

            “I wouldn’t know it, along with half of what I’m supposed to know,” Gavin replied. “I’ve grown a little, but I’m still clueless about most everything.”

            “It doesn’t show,” Deborah patted him on the knee.

            Jackie’s hand snaked out and grabbed Deborah by the wrist and held it in a vice-like grip. “Do you care to explain what you’re doing with my future King?” Jackie asked as she rubbed her eye with her free hand.

            Deborah was able to break free with a little difficulty. “Nothing,” she rubbed her sore wrist. Everyone was paying attention now. “I was just complimenting him.”

            “I bet,” Jackie said doubtfully as she stretched and yawned. “Looks like we’re here,” she said and nodded to the cockpit, which helped break the tension. Gavin could feel the slight shift as they began their descent. A red light went on by the rear bay, and Gavin could see the ocean subside and the desert begin through the cockpit window. He put his hand over Jackie’s knee in anticipation, which made Jackie smile.

            “This is it, losers,” Kylie said as she dropped her tray of food. She bounded over to her luggage again and drew out a strange weapon that snapped over her wrist unit. It fit around her entire wrist over the unit itself and was banded, with a long stem that extended past her knuckles and formed a barrel. “Time to gear up.”

            “Gear up?” Gavin protested. “We don’t know how any of this stuff works. I don’t think I even know how to use a gun.”

            “Just…” Kylie sighed and put her hand over her face in disappointment. “Just try and look tough, okay? Seriously.” She pulled out a strange looking device that looked like an egg with spider legs and threw it to Fredriks. He caught it, then puzzled over it for several seconds before putting it in his hip satchel. Lance was given a gun that weighed half of what he did, which stretched up his arm to a padded brace that fit over his shoulder. The barrel of the gun itself was wider than his mouth could stretch. There were three magazines inserted into as shielded fitting. The brace had shield that protected the side of his face by his shoulder with a scope that flipped out over his right eye. He had to use both hands to lift it, and still had to struggle. Gavin knew by the look of it that he could barely hope to pick it up.

            “Isn’t this a bit much?” Gavin asked as she gave Lara something that looked like three swords strapped to two shotguns. “Conner’s still at the islands. Plus we’re heading into a military base with more armed men than we have bullets, who probably aren’t too keen on us going in loaded.”

            “That’s a good point,” Lara said as she looked at the weapon. The jagged blades pointed upwards along the barrels and stretched out past the nozzles and were made of a clear blue crystal. The holster stretched from her hip past her knee.

            “We came here to kill a man and claim what’s ours,” Kylie told him. “I brought the weapons to do that with.” She opened a package on the crate and pulled out what looked like a simple pistol. It was no longer than his hand from the heel of his palm to his fingertips and silver. It was little more than a cylinder with handle. She looked it over then looked at him. She put it back in its leather holster and then slowly handed it over to him expectantly.

            “What’s this?” Gavin said as he took it out and looked it over. As he turned it in his hand, Kylie instinctively ducked to the side and put her hands up.

            “Careful with that,” she told him. Her worried look didn’t subside until he put it back in its holster and buckled it to his belt. “These are just precautions. That reminds me,” she dug deeper into the pallet of goods and brought out a wrist unit and tossed it to him, then looked at Jackie for a moment and found another for her. “They’re basic units. Nothing preloaded. You can use them to communicate, though, and to track each other.”

            Jackie strapped hers on then got her pack. She tied it to the back of her hoverbike and donned her black Arms helmet then patted the seat behind her for Gavin. Gavin accepted it after slinging his pack over his back. He could feel the turbulence building up as they drew lower to the ground. They were practically skidding along the sand dunes. He held on tight to Jackie, and she gave a daring look at Deborah, who didn’t know what to make of it. She tried to ignore Jackie as she donned her heavy pack and held onto the top rail for support. Jackie revved up her engine and it filled the interior of the carrier with a humming noise. Gavin strained to look past her shoulders and saw a low built structure in the distance as the carrier slowed down. Jackie flipped down her visor, but kept smiling at Deborah. They cleared a high fence marked by numerous watch towers, that seemed to stretch on forever, then approached an airfield. The carrier positioned itself above a landing pad then touched down gently. The guards at the rear of the carrier waited for confirmation from the pilot to open the hatch.

            They led the way out the back of the carrier as its engines died down and it settled on its props. Jackie started up her hoverbike in earnest and detached the cables holding it down. She slowly backed it out of the carrier and turned it around before dismounting. Gavin was a little disappointed, as he expected a longer ride.

            Outside of the carrier, they were greeted by a group of five soldiers standing at attention with a man in a uniform that was a dark suit with a yellow shirt and a badge pinned to his breast and a black beret. He had a thin-trimmed white beard without a moustache and a stern disposition. He stood with his arms folded behind his back and legs straight and together. Beside him was a man with an unkempt beard and a curly mass of hair. He was rather tall, and wore sandals and slacks with an untucked T-Shirt sporting the name of a band underneath an open long sleeved shirt that billowed in the warm wind coming out of the desert. Kylie saw this man and let out an exclamation of surprise. She bounded down the ramp and squealed in delight as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the bare patch of his cheek. She nestled her head in against his shoulder and hugged him tight.

            “It’s good to see you,” the man said. “Until Victor called me, I thought we’d never meet again.” The officer in the front of the group looked at them out of the corner of his eye while his posture and expression remained unchanged.

            “It’s good to see you too, Kevin,” she said as she pulled back a little to look him over. “You look terrible. I mean you let yourself go. How did you get fat?”

            “I’m not fat,” Kevin protested, looking down at himself. He didn’t actually look fat to Gavin, but he didn’t have the same perfect physique as the other Generates he’d met. The rest of the crew slowly emerged out the back. There was a transport cart waiting for their luggage. Lance eyed the group of soldiers watching him warily as he emerged with the enormous gun he was carrying. He was very carefully to aim it away from anyone, with the barrel lowered, and he immediately placed it on the cart quite delicately.

            Jackie got off of her hoverbike and walked up to the officer in front. She saluted him sharply as she stood at attention, and Gavin did the same. The officer returned her salute. When she took off her helmet, the group of soldiers standing behind them immediately bowed. “Princess,” the officer said. “To what do I owe this honour?”

            “I’m reactivating myself, sir,” she informed him as she tucked her helmet under her arm.

            “You don’t have the authority to do that, your majesty,” he replied as he pulled a device out of his coat pocket. He tapped at it for a second and then replaced it. “You’re still on medical leave and you don’t have the clearance necessary to make it back into the ranks.”

            “With all due respect, sir, I’m more than capable of serving my country,” Jackie said firmly.

            “At ease, soldier. That goes for the lot of you too,” he snapped back over his shoulder at the men and women still bowing. “This isn’t the palace. I may be short-handed out here, but an injured princess isn’t going to help me win any wars. I’m going to have to waste men guarding you.”

            “I don’t need a guard detail,” Jackie responded, “and I’d like to keep my presence here under wraps. Please sir, I just want to serve.”

            The man laughed. “Impossible. By this time it’s probably already plastered all over the news feeds. No, I can’t force you out of my base with the Presidential clearance you have with you, but you’re not about to serve in my ranks in your condition.”

            Jackie looked a little despondent, but nodded, “Yes, sir.”

            “And which one are you?” his eyes snapped over to Gavin.

            “Gavin Dales, sir,” Gavin held out his hand to shake. The man looked at it and kept his arms behind his back.

            “General Arthur Ford,” the man replied as he surveyed the others. “We’ll take your belongings to the quarters we have set aside for you. I expect you want to see your ship.”

            “Yes, sir,” Gavin replied eagerly. Jackie donned her helmet once more as the general turned and led them across the field. There were a few hangars, a fuelling station, and planes lined up, but Gavin couldn’t see the Aurora. There was one squat building that was connected with a flight tower. General Ford led them to this while their gear was towed to another entrance by one of the soldiers wearing a worker’s variation of the uniform. Two guards let them enter the building and they came into a room that looked like the lobby to an office building. Ford led them to an elevator at the rear of the room while a secretary watched them pass by. Two more guards were stationed outside the elevator. Gavin noted that there were no windows in the room at all and the elevator itself was located behind a thick wall that seemed to serve no purpose other than to place a barrier between the elevator and the front entrance. The elevator itself was oddly placed. From the outside, it looked as though they were on the first and only floor of that level, unless they took the long hall down the right that led to the flight tower. Here, General Ford had to show his clearance badge and sign a register with one of the guards who stood at a podium. Only after was the doors opened, and they climbed onboard. The elevator itself and the door were spacious, allowing all of them inside. The soldiers turned back to the lobby, however, leaving them by themselves with General Ford.

            The elevator descended swiftly. Gavin noticed that the all-steel finish of the elevator had no visible controls. General Ford looked upwards at a camera aimed down at them. After what seemed like an unusually long time, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open, revealing a vast cavern.

            “Welcome to Sub-Sector,” Kevin waved his hand. The cavern was lit by numerous suspended lights along a steel grate walkway. To the one side of this walkway were workstations and offices cut out of the red-hued rock. To the opposite side was a vast chasm that. Water flowed from a hydro-electric dam on the far end of the chasm and descended into absolute darkness. The roar of the water made it quite deafening. Opposite the dam was a rail station leading upwards out of sight at a steep angle. Over the chasm itself were three steel platforms forming a bridge over nothing. On the middle platform there was the Aurora. Above it was a large crane that could swing to reach the damn and the rail station. “This is a natural cave system, with all the fresh water you could want. The Arms have been building it up as their base for nearly a hundred years since it was discovered during a survey. We’re deep enough in here that no bombs could ever reach us. The dam over their powers everything and the rail station leads up to the surface. The car’s wide enough to carry entire tanks up and down. Further up the rail there’s apartments and storerooms. We have enough supplies to last us a ten-year siege if we have to. Just don’t fall off the side. Seriously, it’s happened. They didn’t spare much to make the rails,” Kevin warned. “I conduct most of my research here.”

            “Have you cracked her open yet?” Kylie didn’t seem particularly impressed by the set-up, while Lance gawked around.

            Kevin shrugged. “It would have been a matter of time,” he said. “I couldn’t lock down the passcode, but I have my system working on it. Frankly, I have better things to occupy my time than to play around with your old clunker.”

            “My clunker?” Kylie snapped. “Do you know how much work I’ve had done on her?”

            “A lot, I remember,” Kevin said dismissively. “I also remember that she was never anything to crow about back on Last Point. Maybe that’s why nobody ever took a good look at her hull. Anyway, why are you Pilots always so defensive about your ships? Is it because you’re not allowed to have babies of your own?”

            “Do you want me to mock your research projects?” Kylie snapped back irritably.

            “My research projects are above reproach,” Kevin replied. “I’d have a prize by now if these philistines believed in rewarding earnest scientific endeavours.”

            “If you two are done, and believe me when I say you are, I want this bird opened up so my men can make use of it,” General Ford said.

            “So we can make use of it,” Kylie corrected him. His expression went immediately darker.

            “Yes, I’m aware of what the President offered you in exchange for your services,” General Ford said after a moment. “Make no mistake that this bird is staying where it is, though, and when you’re done with your business it will belong to me.”

            “Like you’d even know what to do with her,” Kylie scoffed.

            “Kylie, please, it wouldn’t do to make the General upset,” Kevin warned. “Although it happens quite often. Here,” Kevin flashed his badge at the guards posted by the bridge over to the platform. As they walked over the expanse, Gavin couldn’t help but look down. Deborah, walking beside him and Jackie, followed his gaze, and immediately grew queasy. She reached out to steady herself against Gavin’s arm, and Jackie laughed at her. Deborah retracted her hand once more and cleared her throat before moving on.

            Kylie shooed away one of the workers milling about the Aurora before surveying her. “There’s not a scratch on her, not that we could,” Kevin assured her as she went around once. Kylie mainly ignored him as she continued her search. Satisfied, she stopped by the rear foot and entered her command into her wrist unit. The doors opened and the platform descended. “Hurrah,” Kevin said somewhat sarcastically. “I suppose now I can stop running my hacking program.”

            Kylie walked up the ramp into the hull and breathed deeply, as though it were fresh air. “I’ve got my baby back,” she said mostly to herself.

            Gavin looked around suspiciously, as if expecting to find something hiding in the corners. “I’ve had them start work on a fuelling charger. Should be complete in a couple or years or more,” Kevin said. “I assume you already know about the situation with the reality barrier? Even with more fuel, this thing isn’t going anywhere fast.”

            “I know why we can’t get back to our universe,” Gavin said, “but did you try breaking through into another?”

            Kevin shook his head. “Didn’t work either. It’s like someone locked all the realities. I’ve gone over countless theories and the only thing that ever made sense was direct interference. Someone is doing this on purpose and the resources they have must be literally infinite. Once I realized that, I stopped working on the problem.”

            “You gave up so easily?” Deborah was a little disappointed.

            “Not because the problem was difficult. It was. I stopped because I knew that if I were successful in breaching the barrier, then whoever’s doing this would turn their eye on me and this world, and that’s bad news for everyone. I can’t create a defence unless I know what we’re up against, and I won’t know that until they’re already set upon us. They could wipe out our plane of existence without batting an eye, for all I know,” he gave a little shudder.

            “I’m going to boost our scanner with the ship’s systems,” Goldie said as she went over a console in the Navigator’s seat. Lara went with her to help her access the controls.

            “So where’s the loot?” Gavin asked as they crowded around the ship.

            “Right under our feet,” Kylie explained. “Here,” she tapped her wrist unit once more and the floor began to slide away. Gavin was a little surprised. He could not even see the seams before they opened. He had to quickly hop out of the way as the floor beneath him disappeared. Deborah was likewise caught and nearly fell into the opening, but Gavin caught her by the arm and pulled her back. Jackie frowned at the two of them as they regained their balance.

            The opening ran the expanse under where the two cargo pallets were placed. Inside, as Gavin peered, he saw an area that filled the entire foot of the ship.

            “To think this is all undetectable,” Kevin said as he admired the cargo. Most was secured under netting, but there were a few loose items. “This is what I’m interested in,” Kevin said as he dropped down the short ladder. He crouched down in the shallow chamber and scuttled up to a box. The chamber itself was teardrop shaped and the box was fixed in the corner. “I couldn’t believe it the first time you showed me this,” Kevin said as he opened up the top panel. He removed a tablet device and held it over the controls inside. “This scrambler is probably worth more than all the weapons you have in here. I should thank you, Kylie. I based most of my scrambling tech on this and now it’s used across New Gaia. It’s made me a rich man.”

            “Scrambling tech?” Deborah asked. “Are you the reason why we can’t get a signal of this area?”

            “I had a hunch you were the one responsible,” Kylie said. “These cave men don’t have the know how to make that kind of tech on their own. My scrambler is a hand-me-down from another dimension. It’s specifically designed to jam scanners like the ones we use in the Corps. It’s what makes my secret stash invisible, but it can also be used to play hell with GPS, satellites and other communication systems. I’m surprised you were able to find a way to copy it.”

            “I was only partially successful,” Kevin admitted. “After all, I only had that one opportunity on Plague Earth to really get a good look at it. The system I came up with takes an incredible amount of power, unlike yours, which runs on batteries. If I can take a closer look, I could miniaturize my tech so that the average soldier could carry it with him.”

            “Knock yourself out,” Kylie shrugged. “There’s no use in hiding it anymore. Did you mention you were rich?” she added with some interest.

            “Very much so,” Kevin admitted, “but I spend most of it developing new projects. Since the Arms are my biggest buyers, they let me use their resources to cut down on costs and in exchange they get first pick. Too much of what I developed in the past seemed to make it into Rebel hands, like my scramblers. Everyone out here in the desert has scramblers, so everyone’s pretty much blind.”

            “You’re saying that all this world’s scrambling technology came from you?” Deborah asked with some curiosity.

            “You’re welcome,” Kevin said as a reply without looking up

            “I only ask because Prince Conner apparently has possession of scrambling technology far in advance of what you have on market,” Deborah said. “That would mean he either expanded on your tech and made his own upgrades, or he had help.”

            “Well he didn’t have any help from me, that’s for sure,” Kevin looked up. “I ran through the videos they sent over of the attack, but I can’t make heads or tails of it. The only thing I’m clear on is that there’s a sudden tech gap, and I intend to bridge it, starting with this scrambler.”

            “Where’s your wrist unit?” Gavin said as he noticed Kevin didn’t wear one.

            “I reversed engineered it out of existence,” Kevin said as he pulled a small tool out of his shirt pocket. “I used it in different inventions, and never really saw the need to put it back together or market it. Wearable gadgets had already gone out as a fad here on New Gaia.”

            “Guys,” Lance said to them and motioned towards the cockpit.

            Gavin wandered over with Jackie and Deborah. The rest of his crew had squeezed themselves into the small cockpit, with everyone crowded around Goldie and Video. Goldie pointed at her monitor. “Now, I’m getting a lot of interference here with the scramblers, but I’ve started to isolate the signal by overriding military satellites.”

            “You might not want to mention that so loudly,” Gavin cast a glance back at General Ford, who was trying to make sense of the ship. He had brought in two researchers to scan the interior.

            “I’ve definitely pinpointed the location of your wrist unit, and it’s on those islands. Once I narrow it down, I can give the exact coordinates to…” Goldie stopped as something on the screen began to bother her.

            “Let me try,” Video offered as he leaned in and adjusted the image. “The satellite imagery is sharp enough to pick up individual people. We can keep track of everyone on the islands.”

            “Except this is where your unit it,” Goldie focused on a point. “I think I can almost see it.” She was showing him the image of a sandy beach. She kept zooming in until the camera picked up a faint glint. “I think that’s it. It’s just… lying there in the sand.”

            “He left it,” Jackie said breathlessly.

            “I did,” a voice said. Gavin looked past his shoulder as Conner poked his helmet around the pilot’s seat and smiled at them.