Aberrant

Chapter 35

Jinx had to force her feet to stay in the staffroom's doorway. She wanted to follow Kaplan out of the lab, find out what the hell was going on. That look in his eyes... He'd received bad news. But was it what he'd expected or something worse?

She was picking worse.

His warning about things getting "complicated" replayed in her mind, jolting her. Further questions about the barge and her mental competence, she could handle. But a medical intervention?

Her stomach rolled.

Kaplan had her wrong. Yes, she wanted to help, but no way would she volunteer to have her brain messed with—ever.

She looked to the lab's main doors; tried to steady her respiration. The landing bay wasn't that far away. She could leave; she'd just need clearance to get through security. Any interviews regarding the barge could be done over coms. She wouldn't totally desert Kaplan—not until she got a ride off planet.

Her gaze settled on the redheaded med-tech clutching a data pad by the exit. Unlike the lab's humming machines, the doctor had an intimidation grade near zero. Pale and slim, she looked like a wilted lily. Kaplan's abrupt departure seemed to have bewildered her. She didn't know what was going on either.

But she knew something. And she'd have clearance to move about the ship. Access to surface-bound transport.

Jinx shoved back recall of Kaplan's expression, stifling guilt. Propping a shoulder against the staffroom's doorjamb, she forced herself to relax, smile—and start negotiations. "You'll have to excuse Kaplan's manners. I'm sure he meant to say thank you."

The redhead jerked out of her daze. "Oh. Ah, sorry. No, that's quite all right. Senuri Kaplan has important matters on his mind." With an awkward but seemingly genuine smile, the med-tech strode over, data pad in one hand, the other extended. "Sorry. Dr Sarah Channing. We didn't get introduced."

"Jinsin Koel." Senuri Kaplan? Jinx shook the woman's hand. Base ships like the Silver Dawn catered to multiple cultures. Was the doc mixing another language with Standard? If so, it wasn't one of the common alternatives.

"Lovely to meet you, Ms Koel."

"Likewise." Jinx didn't bat an eyelid at the lie. Channing didn't need to know doctors—even the shy, well-meaning ones—gave her hives. "Looks like Kaplan's dumped me on you. Am I interrupting?"

"Oh, not at all." Channing waved a freckled hand. "I'm waiting on some results and could do with a break. In fact, I'm gasping for a cappuccino." Flashing dimples, she slipped past into the staffroom to order up the drink.

Jinx glanced back to the exit. Kaplan's words about lives being at stake, about her potentially helping in a matter vital to Coalition security, replayed, unsettling her gut all over again. Gripping the staffroom's doorframe, she hesitated, the need for answers at war with the need to go.

After a hard heartbeat—and a silent curse—she turned to the doctor, took a seat on the staffroom's fancy couch. She'd stay for two minutes, gossip, make nice—maybe find out what the hell was going on—then the doc was getting her a ride back to the surface.

Channing dropped down on the other end of the couch, frothy drink in hand. Her hazel eyes were as warm as they were curious. "So, you're assisting Senuri Kaplan. That must be so interesting."

Jinx dragged up a noncommittal smile. That word again: senuri. Some kind of title? A sign of respect? She shook off the thought—all curiosity. Bigger issues. Shit-all time. "You work with Kaplan also? On bio-analysis?"

"Not directly." Channing's eyes shied down as she placed her data pad beside her. "I—I mean, not often. You understand. That'd be a little, um, challenging."

"I take it you two have history?"

"Ah ... I suppose. I regularly run diagnostics to monitor his—" The doctor cut off, eyes rounding. "Oh, you meant... Y—you thought..." Now came the expected rush of pink. "Oh, Lord. Ms Koel, there's nothing personal about my association with the senuri! Heavens no."

Jinx winced—on Kaplan's behalf. The woman looked as much horrified as mortified. "Sorry. When you said it was awkward to work with—"

"Oh, no, no." Channing sat back with a jerk. "I—I just have difficulty maintaining mental discipline sometimes around the ones like Senuri Kaplan. That—that can be uncomfortable for all parties."

"The ones like—?" Jinx broke off at the woman's next blush. "Oh, you mean hot and built."

Channing bobbled her coffee. "I—I meant combat trained."

"Sure you did, doc."

"Ms Koel! You can't... You don't go around thinking, thinking about..." Channing fluttered a hand to her throat. "Oh, Lord. How can you work with—?" She cut off, stared. Before Jinx could stop and check herself for alien growths, all tension left the doctor on a breathless laugh. "Oh—oh, of course. You're a new candidate. I do beg your pardon. I just assumed you were some kind of street intelligence asset, given your, um..." She gestured to Jinx's clothes. "But of course you're a candidate. That makes much more sense."

"It does?" Jinx glanced down at her jacket, baggy singlet, and torn jeans. The day-glow bra top under the ensemble would get her a job on a salvage crew quicker than a glowing reference, but clearly, it wasn't on trend for employment—candidates?—on the Silver Dawn.

Channing's smile rebloomed. "The Rha Si are very tolerant toward newly recruited latents. They'll allow you however long you need to learn the discipline required to work with them, unlike us hired talents. Three months to pass the basic exams or 'goodbye'. Unless your research is important." The doctor's cheer faded. She looked down at her drink. "But a candidate. How exciting for you."

Rha Si? Newly recruited latents? Jinx let the doctor's words circle her mind, but none of them settled into place—made any damn sense. Who were these "Rha Si" in relation to the Coalition military? What work did Channing do for them? And how did any of that tie into a threat to Coalition security, one serious enough to have Kaplan leave so abruptly?

Suppressing unease—the sense she was skirting something thorny and above her pay grade—Jinx pasted on another smile. "I'm still getting my head around everything. Any tips or advice for someone starting out in this line of work?"

Channing stilled a beat, cup halfway to her lips, before taking a sip. "Oh—ah, no. I couldn't tell you anything more than what you'd have covered in orientation."

"Yeah, that stuff was—" Jinx mimed it going over her head. "You could probably explain things better. You're smart. A doctor. What was your specialty again?" What kind of information had she just handed Kaplan?

Rather than offering another cheerful, rambling reply, the doctor winced. "Ms Koel, I'm the last person you should ask for advice when it comes to working with individuals such as Senuri Kaplan."

"Why? He wouldn't have come to you for assistance if you weren't capable."

"It's not a matter of professional skill. It's... Oh, you really are new on board if you haven't heard."

"So, fill me in. What am I missing?" Jinx glanced to the door, aware time was ticking. Another sixty seconds then she was bringing up shuttles. Kaplan would just have to answer her remaining questions over coms.

"Oh, it's nothing really." Channing's smile wavered towards a grimace. "I—I just lack the natural talent to work effectively with the Rha Si, that's all. I can't adequately control the top level of my consciousness, even after working with them for over three years. Which is ridiculous—well, mortifying actually. I try to reassure myself that the Rha Si are used to wayward thoughts, that they hardly notice given the volume of psionic signals they have to process, but..." She looked to the lab's exit. "I have a feeling there's a reason many of them avoid me in the corridors."

Wayward what? Psionic signals? Jinx snatched her mind back from Kaplan and transport. It sounded like the doc was talking about—

Recall flickered: conspiracy theories. Psychic soldiers and clandestine, government experiments.

Jinx's breath died. Oh ... no frigging way.