《The Petbe Gambit》Chapter 58: Extenuating Circumstances

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It had been two days since Alice's 'interview' with Agent Harlow. After that disaster of a conversation a pair of soldiers had escorted Alice to this windowless cell, where she had remained. No one came to talk to her, and no one answered her yells.

Someone slid food through a hole in the door three times a day, which was the only mechanism she had of tracking time. They'd taken her knife, so she couldn't even notch the days in the concrete wall.

Still, other than the looming threat of execution, it almost felt like a vacation. Alice caught up on missed sleep, did lots of yoga, and reflected on the path that brought her to the prison cell.

What had she accomplished in the end? Anything? Lynch had locked himself out of Petbe without Alice's help. Marcos had rescued Julian. All she'd done was get Robert involved, and that hadn't ended well. Maybe she should have just disappeared into the countryside, learned to milk cows or something.

The sound of a key turning in the lock brought Alice's focus back to the present. She could dwell on 'what ifs' later, time to find out what they'd decided to do with her.

The door opened on a pair of unfamiliar cadets, rifles at ready.

"Miss Yang, please come with us."

Alice stood and made to follow.

"Show me your wrists please, ma'am."

Alice held out her hands and waited. They looked at her like a live snake; neither seemed to want the job. Finally the boy that spoke stepped forward and nervously snapped a pair of cuffs on. It was kind of flattering in a way. Two armed men scared of little old Alice.

The soldiers led Alice back through the halls to the interrogation room she'd started in. Agent Harlow was waiting for her. Maybe she should stay quiet this time; nothing good had come from talking before.

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"I apologize for the lack of hospitality Miss Yang, it's been a busy few days around here, what with Armageddon on the horizon."

"More Petbe strikes?" Alice's asked, curiosity already getting the better of her caution.

Harlow raised an eyebrow. "No Miss Yang, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"I wasn't sure. Lynch said he'd pre-programmed targets before getting locked out, I didn't know how long the list was."

Harlow paused, studying Alice's face intently. His posture relaxed and the confrontational edge receded a little. Apparently he'd made up his mind about her.

"I'm going to level with you. The situation has evolved while you've been locked up. We're in need of a Petbe expert."

"And you're coming to me? After you accused me of aiding Lynch in genocide?" Alice couldn't resist needling him. The smug prick.

"Alice, do you know what the difference is between you and everyone else who worked on the Petbe project?"

Alice shook her head.

"You're alive."

Alice swallowed hard. "That's impossible, there were hundreds of Space Core personnel working on Petbe mining, he can't have–"

"Can and did. The day of the first strike, SpaceCore lost a whole branch of its org chart. Most of them were in London when the first rock hit. The rest were rounded up by Blackmountain thugs."

"So it's just me huh?" Alice considered her options. "Then you're out of luck. I'm not helping the US government take over Petbe - I inadvertently enabled a monster once, I won't do it again."

"Your sense of moral duty is touching Miss Yang, but I don't think you understand. Petbe is on a collision course with the Earth. When it hits, that's an extinction event. You can either help us stop it, or everyone will die."

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Alice paled. "That does change things. What do you need from me?"

"I'll let the mission commander answer that. Follow me."

Harlow led Alice to another conference room, opened the door, and motioned for her to enter.

"Hey Sweets, long time no see."

Marcos sat at the conference table wearing a strangely bulky flight suit. He was surrounded by severe looking men wearing dark glasses.

Alice shot daggers at him. "Can you at least get your pals to take these off me?" She held up her cuffs. "I'm not going to pull a runner in the middle of a military base."

Marcos did a double take at Alice's wrists. "What the hell Harlow?"

"Came from the top Marcos, Hausner's orders."

"I told you she wasn't involved in Lynch's bullshit. Take the damn cuffs off of her, she's on our side."

Harlow hesitated. Marcos strode over and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket.

"Cuffs. Off. Anyone has a problem with it, you send them to me."

Harlow slapped Marcos's hands away, but pulled out a ring of keys. "Don't make me regret this Miss Yang."

The cuffs fell away. Alice rubbed her wrists. You'd think they could make a pair of the things that didn't chafe so bad.

"What about our son and his girlfriend? Are they rotting away in a cell too?"

Marcos nodded to Harlow.

"No Miss Yang," Agent Harlow answered. "Our interviews found nothing of concern. We put them up in a hotel outside of the base. Under surveillance, but they're free to move around."

"How kind of you. Now does someone want to fill me in on what's been going on?" Alice said. "I was locked in a cell for two days, and now Petbe's crashing?"

"Our scientists noticed the a chance in Petbe's orbit a few hours ago," Marcos answered. "Dead man's switch, we figure - Lynch's insurance. He didn't warn you?"

"Wei– I mean, we– we shot first. It's complicated."

Marcos gave her a knowing nod. "Well, water under the bridge now. You ready to go to space?"

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