“We gotta do what we gotta do,” he said. “If they take Jess into the ship hospital, she’ll end up in SBS, and then we’re all in a big-time jam.”
“You’re going to look stupid in that suit.”
“Me? Seriously? I don’t think so.”
* * *
The Hit Man’s suit was made of clothlike disposable paper. There were four suits on the mop cart, not the two that Storey had predicted. Paper hoods and heavy-duty gloves as well. Only a single set of goggles. The suits closed up the back with Velcro: they were one-size-fits-all. While Storey was off attempting to collect additional goggles, Charlene and Maybeck arrived at the Deck 4 promenade in the ill-fitting suits.
“Finn,” Charlene said excitedly. “Willa!”
The spare protein spill suit went to Jess’s hologram. The group collected around her as a visual barrier while Amanda and Willa helped her into it.
“She can hang on to the cart,” Maybeck suggested.
“We’ll get her to one of the empty rooms,” Philby said, “and treat her there.”
Maybeck worked the gloves awkwardly to get a spray bottle and cloth from the cart. “I’m going after the other wounded.”
“Someone else was bitten?” Finn said.
Philby answered. “Maybeck hit a hyena with a javelin. Stuck him pretty good. Left a trail.” He pointed toward the bow.
“I’m with you,” Finn said, claiming the fourth suit.
“Then you’ll man the defibrillator,” Maybeck said, indicating the emergency box mounted to the ship’s wall.
Finn, already on the bench struggling into the last suit, looked puzzled. The girls almost had Jess into hers.
“We need some kind of weapon,” Maybeck said. “I’m taking the shuffleboard spear, but a homemade Taser wouldn’t hurt.”
“I’m supposed to paddle them?” Finn said.
“You’re supposed to shock the one that stole the Return.”
“It’s not the Return,” Finn said. “It’s a thumb drive from the Overtakers’ server.”
“Their hologram data,” Philby said as all eyes turned to him for an explanation. “If we can get that drive back, even if the OTs launch another server, I can write a search-and-replace program that will effectively shut down their DHIs. Each time they try to cross over, the network will reject the data. They’ll never get projected.”
Finn glanced over at the defibrillator. “Philby, you’re going to have to tell me how to work that thing.”
* * *
Dressed in the white paper coveralls, hood, and rubber gloves, Finn carried the defib kit with the red broken heart on the side. Maybeck held a spray bottle, rag, and the blood-tipped shuffleboard cue handle. At each spot of spilled blood they paused to spray disinfectant and wipe the area clean. They quickly approached the bow, where the promenade entered a metal tunnel and continued to port, creating a jogging loop used by runners and walkers.
They worked quickly, not wanting to lose the trail. But at the same time, they had to look the part. They couldn’t pass up blood spills.
As they entered the tunnel, Finn felt a shiver.
“You smell that?” he said.
* * *
Greg Luowski had done as he’d been told. As the biggest boy in his class since second grade, Greg didn’t take orders easily. They were to him as vinegar was to oil, or water to fire. To say Greg challenged authority was to give him too much credit. He was more of a bumper car at an amusement park; he went in the direction he was pushed, crashing and forcing his way, rarely mindful of the consequences. He’d been recruited by the Overtakers through a YouTube video someone had e-mailed him. He didn’t remember clearly what had happened after that, but his eyes were green now—not that his mother noticed; she didn’t notice anything about her son—and instead of being told not to make trouble for other kids, he was encouraged to do so.
Ordered, if he was honest about it—which he was not.
He got cool stuff in return, like a Disney cruise. Even if he’d sneaked aboard and was currently a stowaway. So what? He was still on the ship, wasn’t he?
So when the order came to stop the hyena, when he was authorized to use the Taser he’d been given, Greg jumped at the opportunity. How cool to shoot off a stun gun! He’d only seen it done once, in the back of a ceramics shop. This big lady had fallen to the floor like the stuffing had come out of her.
Greg knew there’d be nothing to it. Aim. Fire. Big deal.
But then things changed. Then this new world of his began to fray at the edges. There were limits, even for Greg Luowski.
And what these people were asking him—ordering him to do…