Outworld Asylum

"I know." Jena said and fought to restrain the anger and disappointment welling up within her.

"The results from the samples you gave me came back," Chubb said absently as he turned and contemplated Huxely in his cell again. "They tested positive as Serenity but with an unidentified, synthetic additive to the formula. Our labs boys call it 'the gatekeeper.'"

"What does it do?" Jena said, interested, as Chubb sat on a nearby bench provided for observers.

"I asked them that and got a thirty minute disertation on Pharmacology," Chubb said and sighed. "I'm going from memory here… forgive me if I'm uncertain about parts."

"You're forgiven," Jena said and smiled as she moved to sit next to him on the bench. "Please continue."

"It boils down to this- Serenity is a narcotic compound used to treat DSA… it acts at a cellular level. Narcotics increase the metabolism of the cell over time so that a larger dose is needed to get the same effect… but this new type of Serenity doesn't do that. Instead the gatekeeper bonds with receptor sites in the cell and blocks the uptake of any similar drug formulated without the gatekeeper included. It's wicked stuff."

"What does this mean?" Jena said and frowned as she tried to wrap her mind around the problem.

"It means that Transterran has just taken a serious step toward protecting its patents," Chubb said and leaned in closer to her. "It means that every dose of generic Serenity produced across the human sphere has just been made useless," His voice took on a grave tone as he shook his head. "Nothing happens unless it's the real stuff from Transterran… no matter how much the user takes. They go into withdrawl… and add that to whatever DSA symptoms they might need to treat. What've you got?"

Jena nodded with understanding and said, "A nightmare."

"It's possible that our friend there might've been suffering from a similar condition… and would still go to SolMax but not to the DeepCore," Chubb said and nodded toward the holding cell. "Unless we can prove that he attacked his shipmates in a premeditated fashion… he'd be judged insane."

"I've got an idea," Jena said and got to her feet. "How far back is the guard station? I need to get in to see him."

Huxely lifted his eyes from their fixation on the floor when the door to his containment cell opened. He smiled when Jena stepped through holding an old fashioned clipboard. She turned to the guards waiting outside.

"This will only take a few minutes." She instructed them, drawing nods from both, who then took up positions outside the door.

"Lieutenant Mitchell, I'm so happy to see you," Huxely said and leered as he stared hard at her. "I wish I had something to offer you. On second thought, I do have something you might enjoy, if I thought you'd take it. You know what they say about all work and no play."

"Thanks, but I already have a date for tonight," Jena said, distracted, as she flipped through the sheets of hardcopy attached to the clipboard. She signed her name on several pages and offered it across to Huxely. "Print your name and sign on the lines I've indicated, please. If you have any comments to make about the way you've been treated in Fleet care, note them on the back."

Huxely frowned as he took the clipboard, briefly fingered through the contents, and said, "What's this?"

"It's a transfer," Jena said and glanced impatiently at her Kronos. "Specifically out of my custody. After tonight you're Customs' problem."

"You mean I'm being released?" Huxely said and brightened as she offered him the ink pen she'd borrowed from the security detail. "Thank God… I've been going crazy in here."

"Not yet," Jena said as he continued to scan through the text on each sheet. It was a proper transfer of custody form. "But now Customs gets to babysit you. That's all I care about right now."

"No need to be impatient, Lieutenant," Huxely said slowly. "How come you're using this old format instead of a datapad?"

"If there were datapads available we'd use them," Jena said with a trace of weariness in her voice. She yawned and pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. "But there aren't… so we have to do it the old-fashioned way."

"There's nothing wrong with doing it the old-fashioned way," Huxely said as he put pen to paper and scratched out his name on all the places Jena had marked with an X. He leered at her. "What about you?"

"Just sign the papers, ass," Jena said and scowled at him. "Citizen ID number, too… if you've got one from Sol system."

Huxely, happy to have provoked a reaction, laughed and said, "Relax, lieutenant… I'm just having some fun. I'm sure that you'll be off heading for the frontier again before long. I can understand how we didn't really hit it off on the ship but I've heard you laugh before. It's really very nice. I think we'd have fun together… once I get out of here, that is."

"Not if the survival of the human species depended on it," Jena said. She shook her head, unable to hide her disgust. "You and I are not friends. I don't like you and I haven't since I met you."

"I'm no monster," Huxely said and turned the first over to the blank side. "I'll even do you a favor…" He read aloud as he scribbled down a note. "Lieutenant Jena Mitchell displayed outstanding courtesy and professionalism while rendering aid to a disabled vessel. She is a credit to her service and to the Northern Combine."

He slapped the pen down onto the clipboard and smiled as he handed it back. "See? I'm really not a bad guy."

"That's for a court to decide." Jena said as she collected the clipboard and turned on her heel. She rapped on the door with clipboard and, when the door opened, stepped past the guards outside without further comment. Later computer analysis of the writing samples taken from Captain Conrad's "confession" and the note Huxely jotted indicated a 98% match.

***

The Harvest House was full but Chubb was as good as his word. The only other revel-house on the planet was located in the Understreets quarter of the prime settlement. The name at the entrance was "Pleasure Dome," for the structure was indeed a dome. Beside the name, also in lights, were the words "PRIVATE." Non-members were admitted on a case by case basis decided by the large, off-world men watching the entrance. The Customs Authority kept several memberships active for the purpose of entertaining important guests. It had been decided that Jena qualified. The line to get in was long but moved quickly.

"Jena! Over here… Jena!" A voice called from behind her. Jena turned as she recognized Tali's voice and did a double-take. Tali was dressed in a minimal outfit of silver mesh with her brown hair sprayed pink. The woman accompanying her looked even more fantastic. Approximately Jena's own height and stature, with dyed orange hair and vacant green eyes, clearly she was local... a Martian. Jena couldn't begin to guess where Tali had found her. Most striking about her was her outfit for the evening's entertainment… black body spray that covered her from head to toe. Phosphorescent beads, laid in intricate patterns that flashed red, green, blue, and yellow when she moved, were adhered to her skin. The woman looked exotic and oddly inhuman.

"Tali? What are you doing?" Jena shouted in shock and amusement. Tali smiled when she and her companion drew up next to them, provoking a burst of outrage from the patrons behind them that Tali ignored.

"Gabrielle, let me introduce you to my friends," Tali said and smiled as she pulled the girl closer. "This is Jena and Captain Chubb of the Customs Authority. Guys, this is Gabrielle. Isn't she great?"

Jena shook her head with disbelief and offered a hand forward. Two strategically place strips of black cloth kept Gabrielle from total indecency but threatened to come lose as the girl lifted a hand to Jena's. Captain Chubb gave the girl a tight smile and bowed slightly.

"Step up please," A doorman called. "How many?"

"Customs Authority… admit two," Chubb said as he removed a membership card from his pocket and swiped it through the reader the doorman offered forward. He saw the crestfallen look on Tali's face when he returned the card to his pocket. After a regretful sigh, he added, "Make that four."

Booths lined the perimeter of the Pleasure Dome. Each one could seat four and were tagged to the membership cards of those present by first-come-first-serve.

"Word of the siezure of the Mordicai somehow got leaked," Chubb said and signaled for service from the Pleasure Dome attendants. "Now the press is all over us. News teams from all over the system are converging on Mars. We've never seen anything like it."

Jena dropped her head into her hands and said, "Christ and Allah."

"They can't help you now." Chubb said and smiled as the server, a compact Honda, pulled up to their table and stopped. Chubb ordered a #1- Triton Tank Swill. Jena looked at the holo-list slowly rolling down one section of the dome and ordered a #7- Ares Lager. Tali ordered for herself and Gabrielle but Jena wasn't listening.

"What's that supposed to mean? Jena said as she lifted her head... suddenly concerned. The look on her face caused Chubb to laugh.

"The first person they began screaming for was the person in command of the Mordicai," Chubb said as the Honda rolled away. "That would be you... sorry."

"Did you hear that?" Tali said from across the table, a broad smile on her face, Gabrielle looked on impassively. "You're famous, Jena!"

"Apparently a few have already researched your background with the Fleet and discovered your previous posting," Chubb said and squinted as he watched the Honda disappear in the direction of the dispensing bar. "They're calling you Constellation Connie. Isn't that lovely?"

"Stellar," Jena said without feeling it. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Fleet command should be contacting you sometime soon," Chubb said as the Honda reappeared next to their booth. "In the meantime, I suggest that you refer any news teams to the nearest fleet liaison office, don't tell them anything that your command hasn't authorized."

"I just wanted to see the frontier!" Jena wailed and ran her fingers through her hair. After a moment of silence she smiled again and shook her head. "But… I guess I've got the rest of my life to do that. I don't want to be a hundred and stuck in some nursing home thinking I've missed something in life."

"Brilliant!" Tali cried and sprang from her seat. She led Gabrielle onto the dance floor, beneath the giant hologram of the virtual band "Milo's Mind's-eye," where they began writhing together to the music, arms and legs intertwined, drawing stares from the locals and the military types idling around them. Tali's eyes, when lit by one of the many rotating lights around the dance floor, were fixed on her shipmate.

***

The accommodations provided by the Customs Authority were less grandiose that what Jena was used to… a place on the ground level of a half-finished habitat dome set away from the rest of the colony proper. The sections capable of supporting life were being filled with people. With her travel-bag over her shoulder, she made her way down the hallway toward her dwelling, stepping over or around the people using the narrow passage as a common area. Small cooking pots, called "grub'ins" by the natives, were heated over can-sized electric stoves by parents dressed in baggy/sturdy Martian casual wear. The smell of hot food made her stomach rumble. There was laughter… and the cries of children… and broad smiles from the people sitting along the walls that met her eyes… people from every race born of Earth. The only free space was at the end of the hall in front of the apartment assigned to her.

"Some place," Jena said quietly to herself when the door opened and she saw how small her apartment was. "How do people raise kids in here?"

The door slid closed as she threw her travel-bag onto the single bed. Jena turned as there was a knock and touched the "open" switch. An old woman with a smile on her weather-wrinkled face and Martian garb stood framed in the doorway. She offered forward a steaming bowl filled with what appeared to be stew.

"Take it, sheba-nu," The woman said, her voice rasping, and pushed the bowl into Jena's hands. "This be no easy to be when you come here. Food be strength… yes? You need all you need."

"I don't know what to say," Jena said and looked from the bowl into her eyes. "Thank you."

"You cook on fourth day." The woman said and laughed as she stepped out of the doorway and moved down the hall to the empty spot in front of the grub'in she tended. Jena closed the door and lifted the bowl to her face, drawing in a deep breath, then she smiled and set the bowl aside to let it cool.

"Fourth day…. right." Jena said and wondered what she was supposed to do then. Learn how to work a grub'in, she thought to herself and dropped onto the bed. She laughed as her travel bag was catapulted toward the ceiling.

She rolled over and scanned the room as something inside it began peeping an incessant, electronic tone, her eyes settled on the 4x6 vid-com built into the wall. A red light on the face of it was winking. She sat up and touched the light. The vid-com screen came on displaying a message that her call was being put through. A young man in a white naval uniform appeared.

"Lieutenant Mitchell?" He said after pulling back to allow his face to be framed in her view. "I'm Ensign Devron of Home Fleet. I've been told to contact you regarding new instructions."

"Go ahead." Jena said and patted down her pockets for a tool to write with. Her Sanyo datapad was packed at the bottom of her travel bag along with the SS Mordicai patch she kept as a souvenir.

"Effective immediately, you've been transferred to Home Fleet," Devron said. Her thoughts of being given the name and departure date for the ship that would take her to the frontier were banished in an instant. "Commander in chief, SOL system, is transferring his flag to the Elysium Holdfast near your location. You're expected to sign in there by twelve hundred hours tommorow."

"Acknowledged," Jena said then added, "Who's the new boss?"

"Admiral Kinkaid." The ensign said dryly.

Jena was shocked at the news and knew it showed. "I thought they only thawed him out when there was a war going on?" She said. "How long's it been? Ten years? Since the Procyon crisis at least."

"Given the recent contraband seizures, NorCom has decided that greater efforts must be made to stem the flow. Someone with greater asset management skills was required. Admiral Hagan was relieved of his command and replaced by Admiral Kinkaid as of sixteen hundred hours yesterday."

"Thank you, Ensign Devron, you've been very helpful." Jena said and killed power to the vid-com before Devron could reply. The rudeness of it occurred to her in hindsight, but she had rank. Devron was only an Ensign. She collected her thoughts and dialed a new number into the vid-com. A very sleepy looking Tali appeared on screen.

"Hello?" She mumbled as she ran fingers through her short cropped hair. "This better be smlecking important."

"It's me," Jena said and Tali noticably brightened. She smiled and leaned closer toward the camera on her end, her face filling the screen. "I just wanted to tell you that I've gotten my new orders. I've been reassigned to Home Fleet. I start tomorrow."

"That's wonderful!" Tali said. "I've talked to Kelly and Moralez. They got transferred, too, they're on Tigerwolf. We'll all still be on the same team."

"Did you get your orders yet?" Jena said. Tali sighed and shook her head. "Why not? Have you talked to anybody?"

"You know how the system works," Tali said. "The personnel officers are never around when you need them. I'm sure my orders are in the pipeline somewhere."

An irritated groan came from Tali's end but not from Tali, whose eyes grew wide, her mouth flapped open and shut several times but no noise came out.

"I'm sorry," Jena said and smiled at the look on her friend's face. "I didn't know you were with someone."

"Nice talking with you but I have to go." Tali said and reached forward. The screen went dark as she abruptly severed the connection.

Jena stared at the blank screen for a moment and then let herself fall back onto the small bed, suddenly realizing that in the week it had taken to bring the Mordicai in, she'd gotten only 30 hours of intermittent sleep, she closed her eyes and allowed it to catch up with her.

***

SOL-3/Earth

"Whatever it is, we don't think it's human," Leda said as she looked out of Cutter's office windows at the urban panorama beneath them. "It doesn't feel human. The power we sense out there is something far beyond anything we've encountered before."

"Could it be a machine of some kind?" Cutter said, elbows on his desk, fingers steepled and tapping his chin. "I have to remind you that we've encountered Xenoforms on some colony worlds but no intelligence capable of faster-than-light travel. Hell, everything we've encountered hasn't had more intelligence than the domesticated dog. The one's we haven't enhanced anyway."

"It's not a machine," Leda said and turned away from the window. Cutter's concerned eyes followed her to the plush chair in front of his desk. "Machines don't radiate like this. This is like a supernova going off in my head. I can't even sleep."

"You're not prone to DSA are you?" Cutter said, provoking an angry glare from Leda, who shook her head.

"I've never even been off-planet, much less out-system," Leda said. "And if you're implying that I'm making this up, I'm telling you that everyone I know whose got even a trace of active Psi feels something out there."

"Around Neptune." Cutter stated flatly.

"Neptune or someplace farther out," Leda said and crossed her arms over her chest. "Neptune is being interpreted as some kind of border or boundary."

"Well, you're right there," Cutter said and leaned back in his chair. "The beacon line is as far as Pluto and they're fully automated. Neptune is the last manned outpost in this system… a SOLCorp station, what else?"

"That's all," Leda said and rubbed her eyes. "No. It isn't. As my duty to advise you on matters regarding the security of this company, many of my people are scared."

"Are these people reliable?" Cutter said as he sat up, now intensely interested. "How accurate have they been?"

"They're new… a couple of unregistered talents," Leda said and opened her eyes a second after they'd closed. "Nobody I know personally, so I can't vouch for their accuracy, they might be hoaxers. It's happened before… especially since noone else is getting the same impressions."

"If Ajax were here we could send him out there to take a look," Cutter said, mostly to himself, but looked into her eyes as if searching for guidance. "Damn it! What the hell am I supposed to tell the CEO? That our type-three's have their panties in a bunch of something that I can't directly verify?"

"Even if he were here there isn't much that could be done," Leda said to the clearly exasperated Cutter. "Our competitors are watching us for moves. They have talents under contract just like we do who are telling them the same things. If we moved first it could unleash a wave of scout ships that might do more harm than good."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There are always misunderstandings when we confront the unknown," Leda said quietly. "Who knows what they could lead to."

"Then we'll have to take it slowly," Cutter said and reached for the handset of his antique desk phone. "But the security of this company depends on our ability to analyze potential threat. We need some people on scene."

Leda felt her heart jump as an idea formed in her mind. She leaned forward over Cutter's desk and said, "I'll go."