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  Crash and Joel looked at each other, completely lost as to why he was laughing.

  Pieter snorted and Paige looked at him with a confusion that begged him to explain. Feeling the gaze but not wanting to get caught talking in class, he shook his head, rolled his index finger in a circle, and mouthed “Later” to her.

  Paige shook her head and looked back at the General.

  Lance composed himself and continued, “Your mission is to raise one million credits in the next thirty days. You can do this by any means you think is appropriate, using your current team. Can’t hire additional people. No taking out loans or credits.”

  Molly immediately thought of her secret trust fund and wondered if that would count. She dismissed the idea.

  Forgiveness is better than permission, she thought to herself. If they didn’t already know about it, maybe it could be her ace in the hole if she got stuck.

  Lance put the cigar in his mouth and leaned back in his chair. As he moved, the background behind him came into view, recreated by the hologram device. Pieter observed an operations room not dissimilar to the one they had been in before the meeting started.

  Lance drew a breath and took the cigar from his lips. “If you can do this, you will have demonstrated adequate resourcefulness, leadership and team-building capabilities to join our efforts in the Etheric Federation.”

  Joel looked at Molly. There was a determination and power in her eyes he’d never seen in her before.

  She glanced back at him and nodded slightly.

  Joel gently bobbed his head in agreement. Then he looked back at the hologram of the General. Speaking for the first time in the meeting, he asked the question they needed to know as a team. “And if we fail?” His tone was demanding rather than fearful.

  Lance sucked air in through his teeth. “If you fail…” he paused, contemplating the consequences. “If you fail, then you can continue fighting the good fight the way you have been.”

  Joel’s shoulders relaxed a little.

  The general added, ”But we will not be able to support your efforts.” He paused, letting the weight of his words sink into each member of the team.

  He looked back at Molly, his face serious again. “If you do complete the test, you face hard work. There will be times when you question what you are doing, why you are doing it, and why you chose to take on something so big. There will be days when you long for a simple life, a life without the knowledge that you will become privy to. But if you do this, you will be instrumental in the fate of the Sarkian civilization and the whole system. Not just Estaria,” he qualified, “but all the other races and planets around the Sark, and beyond.”

  The General straightened in his seat, hoping his inspirational speech was having the effect he intended. Each member of the team seemed to swell with pride and determination.

  Then he looked at Molly.

  She didn’t look inspired. She looked curious instead, like a child trying to understand why ants follow in a trail. “Why? What’s going on out there? What don’t we know?”

  Lance mentally rolled his eyes and wiped his face with his hand. Couldn’t he inspire her, just for one minute? What about his thunder?

  He sighed. “Something is coming,” he explained, “and we need teams that are going to be ready to face the challenges these changes will create.”

  Molly looked like she had another question, but before she could articulate it, Crash jumped in. Having been a silent observer the entire time, he finally leaned forward and joined the conversation. “So you’re saying that we can’t touch any of that equipment out there until we pass your test?”

  Lance shook his head, smiling. This team was something else. Talk about geeks and tech-heads, he thought to himself. Whatever happened to the guys who wanted to rally and fight the good fight?

  But then, maybe he needed to change tack to deal with this team.

  Lance contemplated the question. “Well, hmm…” He sat back in his chair, then picked up his cigar and sucked on it for a moment.

  “Well, I need to introduce you to ADAM, and I suspect you’ll need some instruction on almost all the equipment. So for the most part, yes, the equipment is all off-limits until you pass the challenge. After that, we will get you up to speed on everything you care to use.”

  Crash slumped back into his chair, resuming his fly-on-the-wall role.

  Joel, feeling his pain, glanced over and jokingly patted his arm, bottom lip stuck out in sympathy.

  Brock chipped in. “Looks like we’re gonna have to make ourselves some money!” He grinned, still feeling the determination that the General had tried to instill in them moments before.

  “So who is this ADAM?” Molly asked.

  A second voice came over the room’s address system, but no one appeared on the holoscreen. “I am.”

  There was a pause as the audio levels adjusted. “Technically my full designation is ADAM II. I’m an AI who is now about a hundred Sark years old. I will be your liaison to General Reynolds. I have no body, so I will not need to travel to reach you. I can connect into the base via a unit in the operations center. I can instruct you on how to use the base and anything else you need to know. Should you be successful in the challenge, then I will also assist in training you to use the equipment you have here.”

  Molly was practically bouncing in her chair, her clenched fists out in front of her, shaking with excitement.

  “I knew it. I fucking knew it!!!” she squealed in excitement. “I knew Bethany Anne had an AI stashed away somewhere.”

  Still sitting, she started drumming her feet on the ground.

  When she finally looked up, the faces in the room were pointed at her like a bunch of flashlights, mouths open, half-amused and half-shocked at her reaction.

  Joel quietly and calmly started to speak to her. “Molly… Molly?” he waited to get her attention. She slid her gaze to him.

  He continued gently but very seriously, as if he were talking to someone who might need to be restrained in a white jacket, “Molly, you have an AI in your head.” He paused, watching her carefully. “He’s named Oz.”

  She started bouncing a little in her seat again. “I know. I know. How fucking awesome is this? I’ve always wanted to know what would happen if you put two AIs together. I mean, what would they talk about?” she exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch and volume until she was practically squeaking.

  Her excitement was making her cheeks flush, and her ears had gone red.

  Lance managed to get everyone’s attention back after a few minutes by coughing to remind them he was there.

  He had actually lit his cigar while the shenanigans were going on, Molly noticed.

  “Ok,” he said, examining the lit end of the cigar as a halo of smoke dispersed around him. “Looks like you could do with some time to absorb this and make sure you’re all on board. How about if Molly,” he glanced beyond his cigar at her, “liaise with ADAM in the next few hours to let us know how you’d like to proceed?

  Molly nodded. “Yes sir,” she replied, managing to compose herself and look more soldierly. She paused. “How do we contact ADAM?”

  ADAM spoke over the PA system again. “Operations room. Red button labeled ADAM. There’s one on each of the primary control consoles. Hit it, and I’ll know you want to speak to me. I’ll answer as soon as I’m able.”

  Molly looked over at Joel making sure he was taking this in too.

  ADAM continued. “Response time depends on what else is going on over here.”

  The General took over. “ADAM will be there to help you. Eventually, if you’re successful, Sean Royale, whom you have already met, will show you how to use the Pods.”

  Molly’s eyes flew wide. “Wait. What?” She cocked her head, now frowning in the direction of the General’s hologram. “Sean works for you?”

  Joel’s face crumpled. Dick, he thought, reliving the image of Sean tackling him, then asking all those questions about Molly. And dating. He growled u
nder his breath. Crash noticed and glanced at him. Joel ignored it and redirected his attention to the holo of the General.

  Lance enjoyed her reaction every time he revealed something else. She was like a little kitten, and he controlled the ball of string. He continued, “Yes, and has for quite some time.” He smiled, deliberately stirring the pot.

  Molly noticed that Lance’s statement felt weighted, but there was too much information flying around to press further. She filed it in her mental notes to revisit later.

  Son of a bitch!

  You’re not kidding, Oz.

  “Ok, let me know in the next few hours if you are all on board. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

  And with that, the General clicked out of the call and the screen spun, decreasing in size and then appeared to whip itself back into the table it had originally emanated from.”

  Gaitune-67, Safe House, Molly’s Conference Room

  The team, still stunned, traipsed back up to the safe house, chattering and processing everything that had just happened.

  Joel took command of the logistics. “Ok, everyone into the conference room—” Joel stopped, thinking for a second. “Molly’s conference room,” he corrected himself. “Not the base one.” He shook his head. “Obviously,” he added.

  Molly glanced over at him as they finished climbing the basement stairs. “You don’t think he has bugs in there too?”

  Joel shook his head. “I think it’s safe to assume he has eyes and ears everywhere.”

  Brock gasped from behind him. “And in the rest room?” he asked, his voice higher than normal.

  Molly sucked her lip between her teeth. “I suspect that’s the least of our concerns.” She tried to think back over everything they had planned and talked about since they had gotten here. She couldn’t think of anything that could come back to bite them, but then…

  The group filed into the conference room, and took their seats. They were distracted; there wasn’t any of the usual banter over who was going to take which identical chair.

  Molly stood in front of her team, the enormity of what she was about to ask them evident in her tense expression.

  “Ok,” she started. “You heard what the General told us down there. I know we all have a shit-ton of questions. I certainly do. And there probably isn’t much point in speculating at this juncture.”

  She paused, noticing that the last comment seemed to hit home for Brock and Pieter. Joel also relaxed a little, and sat back in his chair.

  Ah, now I know where my conspiracy theorists are, she mused to herself, smiling at their reactions.

  “We do need to make our first decision. We’ve been offered a chance to step into a bigger game. To play on a bigger, badder field. To make a difference beyond what we could ever have dreamed in our lives. The question is, do we want to take this opportunity?”

  Joel was nodding. Brock and Crash started nodding. Molly held up her hand.

  “Don’t answer yet,” she told them. “You need to consider a few things. If we take this challenge, our lives will change considerably. We will have put our fate into the hands of someone else; someone we don’t know yet. Now, granted, we will get to know them, and we will come to understand what their true agenda is on the galactic scale. And we can always make a different decision if that doesn’t jibe with our ethics and ideals. But at this point, we need to consider that taking on this challenge is going to be dangerous. We are going to have to up our game a thousand percent. Military and operational training will be mandatory for everyone.”

  She looked pointedly at Pieter and Paige, before continuing, “It will be hard.”

  She glanced in Joel’s direction, indicating him with an open palm. “No more gentle jogs and staying healthy. Joel will be putting us all through intense combat training. Combat training that will rival whatever these guys have gone through. Why? Because that becomes the new bar.”

  Joel sat more squarely. Molly could have sworn he twitched one of his arm muscles to bulge them a little.

  She continued, looking around the room to include everyone, “We may not survive. This is serious shit now. No more games.” Her face was intense. Her inner leader had just stepped up to the plate, as if she were speaking to warn herself as well as the team.

  She put her hands on her hips. “And that’s just this initial challenge to get into the game. Who knows how tough it’s going to be as Etheric Empire bitches. But if we do this, we can affect the fate of the galaxy. We can make a difference. Not just one sad-ass kneecap at a time, but one planet, one civilization at a time.”

  She paused, looking at each team member in turn. Everyone was now wide-eyed and sitting bolt upright, chests a little more puffed out than before.

  “So I need to know: Is this something you’re willing to risk?” She quickly followed her question with an out. “And it’s ok to say no. Anyone who isn’t up for it will be well compensated and taken back to Estaria—”

  Molly was interrupted.

  Joel stood up from his seat, the chair clattering backwards. He walked around the table and took his place by her side. “I’d follow you anywhere. I’m in,” he told her firmly.

  Brock got up quickly too, and walked over to her other side. “Lady-Boss, I’m sooooo in I’ve got goosebumps.”

  Paige was more serious than Molly had ever seen her. She stood. “As a sacred duty, I accept the challenge. I’m in.”

  Crash stumbled trying to get to his feet fast enough. “Hellz yeah, I’m in,” he confirmed.

  Pieter stood up, shyly but with determination emanating from his eyes. “I’m in,” he said looking at her, and then at his team mates, hoping they would accept the new guy into their mission.

  Neechie had followed the group into the room, and now jumped on the table near Joel. He walked as close to Molly as he could get, sat down, and meowed once, loudly, his eyes fixed on her.

  Everyone looked at him.

  Joel’s expression changed from determination to shock. “Shit, I didn’t know he could make that sound!”

  Paige laughed. “I take it even Neechie is in, then,” she confirmed.

  Molly looked around at her team, chest filling with emotion. “Ok,” she said, nodding seriously. “Looks like we’re doing this.”

  The room went up in a cheer. High-fives and hugs coupled with general chatter and emotion for several minutes.

  Eventually Molly sat down and everyone else settled, following her lead.

  “Ok, here’s what we’re going to need to do…” she began.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Gaitune-67, Safe House, Molly’s Conference Room

  Molly and Joel remained behind in the conference room. Everyone else had been dismissed to get on with their various tasks.

  Joel had gone back to the side of the table where he’d been sitting before his pledge. He was pulling up a screen when Molly made her way round and perched her bum on the edge of the desk.

  She looked at him. “You think there are going to be enough jobs that pay well enough to be able to make a million credits?”

  Joel nodded. “Pretty sure. The problem is that they tend to be higher risk jobs.”

  Joel pulled up CaseHUB and started flicking through different search criteria.

  He looked like a kid in a candy store. A kid who was already high on sugar. “This,” he waved his hands at nothing in particular, “this is potentially the mission of a lifetime. Heck, it’s a calling,” he gushed enthusiastically.

  Molly perched on the desk next to him, thinking. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she agreed. Her enthusiasm seemed curtailed.

  Joel looked up at her. “You ok?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, It’s just all sinking in. The enormity of it.”

  Joel was still high. “Yeah, but think of the difference we can make. This is what you’ve been talking about since we started on this track. It was never about just surviving for you.”

  Molly nodded.

  Joel continued.
“And sure, getting to play with those toys is going to be schweeet, but we both know it’s about more than that.”

  Something shifted in Molly’s eyes. “Yes. You’re right.” She folded her arms in determination. “It is. So let’s make sure we rise to his fucking challenge and mission our asses off. One million credits in thirty days. That’s a lot of missions.”

  Joel went back to flicking through screens. “Yeah… I think we may be ok though,” he muttered under his breath, his attention on CaseHUB.

  She edged off the desk a little to see what he was looking at.

  He explained, “I’m looking at the ones that have bonuses for successful completion. Stretch goals is another feature we can filter for. Things like, save the hostages and maintain the integrity of the building and you get a bonus, for instance.”

  Molly shook her head in amazement. “I guess that makes sense for them to do…” she responded. “How much of a difference do the bonuses make?” she asked.

  Joel shook his head. “Depends on the case. Maybe double or a two hundred and fifty percent of the original pay.”

  Molly whistled. “So we could do this with a just handful of missions, then?”

  “Maybe.” Joel closed a couple of screens, and pulled up another search. “Ok, lemme check into the details and see which ones work for us. I’ll get the recommendations over to you.”

  Molly looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Is that something Oz could help with?” she asked, careful not to step on his toes.

  Joel looked up. “Yeah. Probably. I just don’t often interface with Oz.”

  Interface!

  Molly smiled at how he had automatically picked up tech-speak. Be still my beating heart, she thought to herself.

  She spoke out loud for Joel’s benefit. “Oz, can you talk to Joel through his holo and implant the same way you talk to me?”

  Yes, I see no reason why not.

  “He says yes,” she told Joel, and then looked down at him, seeing a look of surprise in his face.

  Joel’s eyes had lit up. “Yeah, I heard that! He just said he sees no reason he can’t, as long as we’re in the building with EtherTRAK.” He was nodding enthusiastically.