Jessica woke suddenly with a startled intake of breath. She blinked. Her face bore a look of confusion, as if she had been roused from reality into a dream. The medical station’s white walls surrounded her. The instrument tray was on its side. The bed sheets in shambles. Signs of a struggle. The medic’s lifeless body.
Realization hit. Her hand darted to her throat. She scrambled to her feet. A wave of dizziness overtook her, and she stumbled toward the wall.
“Alexandra!” she gasped.
As if on cue, the station’s door slid open to reveal the bounty hunter. She leveled her pistol at Jessica. “Come with me.” When Jessica bristled, Alexandra turned her other hand over to reveal the silver, baseball-sized sphere. The spider nuke. “Do what I say or you’re all dead. Got it?”
Alexandra tucked the nuke into her backpack and grabbed Jessica by the shoulder. She pushed her out into the corridor and held the gun to her head.
“Enter the access code,” Alexandra instructed, handing Jessica’s datapad back to her.
Jessica glanced at the DNA match report still on the front screen. “Did you-”
“Enter the access code!”
Jessica hesitated. Giving Alexandra access could be disastrous. Something about the bounty hunters’ desperation, though, seemed to make Jessica relent. She entered the code, closed her eyes in a silent prayer, and handed the datapad back to Alexandra.
“Take me to the transfer room.”
Alexandra shoved Jessica forward and engaged the datapad’s communicator. Someone on the other line answered. “I need you to perform an analysis for me. I’m forwarding you two DNA samples. Test the relationship between them.” A brief pause. “Yes. Call me back on this line, and hurry!”
Jessica led them down the corridor toward the transfer room. “I ran those myself. They’re accurate-”
“Shut up!”
They reached the transfer room. Jessica took a deep breath. The fate of the Subdivision hung in the balance. If she gave Alexandra admittance into the transfer chamber, they could all die.
The datapad chirped. Alexandra answered. As she listened to the caller her features grew hard and dark. Some inner fury threatened to explode. She turned to Jessica, “Open the door.”
