The Unknowing War (Optimum Project sequel)

Chapter 18

Elementary

I decided to poke some fun at everyone since I'm was basically a-okay now, Tom had put the nanites to work, quickly patching up the lethal wounds before going around and fixing the small stuff.

I sat up and looked around, making sure nobody was around I slipped out of bed and modified the EKG machine to register a flatline when I sent the command through Tom. Then I slipped back into bed and waited.

***

When they all finally returned I listened in on their conversations for a little bit before I decided to put my little joke in action.

"Do you remember when I tried introducing the two of you?" Sarah asked Brea,

Brea nodded with a smile, "Yeah, and we decided we were going to act like we don't know each other just to mess with you? That was fun, and it was a longgg time ago."

Sarah sighed, "Yeah, I kinda miss those days."

Peter looked at her, "Why? Here we're making a difference, there all we did was learn to do things by the book."

She smiled sadly, "I don't know, he seemed happier back then and I saw him a lot, now he's more serious and I only catch flashes of him in the halls as he waves."

Brea was staring into space, "We all had lunch with him not that long ago, remember? That was what, three weeks? That's not bad when you take into account he's been in a coma for one of them and the other times we had assignments while he didn't and vice versa."

Sarah nodded, "Guess it's just me then, definitely don't want to be the clingy girlfriend."

I decided against the EKG prank and instead shifted slightly and murmured, "I like clingy."

Immediately everyone was up on their feet, Sarah and Brea to one side, Peter and Pix on the other.

I cracked my eyes open and gave Sarah what felt to me like a calming, soft tenderness kind of look, "Good morning darling."

She giggled, "'Bout time you woke up!" She ran her fingers through my now shaggy and long hair before taking hold of my hand.

I turned to Pix as I sat up, "How did I end up being poisoned?"

Pix shrugged, "There's probably sleeper insurgents we missed when we purged everyone involved, though the fact that they went after you so quickly after their last failure surprised me."

I nodded, "Did the same person bring my IV every day?"

Pix tapped a few things out on his tablet, "Yes... A nurse by the name of Seriena Perdas."

"Start with her and backtrack, if she comes up clean just work through the footage for anything suspicious. You know, someone unauthorized slipping into my room, someone getting bumped and dropping the bag before it's picked up by someone else, that sort of thing."

Pix nodded and I leaned back, letting my pillow absorb me as I began asking questions about anything interesting after I had been KO'd.

"Nope, though I did reach master level in chess." Peter said, puffing his chest.

"Nice dude! Get the holoboard and I'll play you a round." I said

He stood up and left the room, eager to have his regular opponent conscious and ready to decimate me with his awesome chess skill, at least, I let him entertain that idea.

***

I smashed him, crushed him so bad he gave me this look that was part awe and part jealousy, and I hadn't even used Tom.

I stood up and stretched, "so, I heard your cover story on what happened on the bridge, pretty good one. Question is, do you know the real explanation?" I looked him in the eye very carefully.

He looked right back, "no."

"He's lying." Tom informed me

I frowned, dilating time slightly so I would have time to think. "I know, but why would he lie?"

"I do not know, it is possible he is an informant for someone and was notified of your... Formidable enhancements."

"I guess that would explain why he didn't question my miraculous recovery, Do you think we should tell him we know he's lying?"

"... No, perhaps it's better we act as though we don't suspect anything, he'll be less careful to hide his tracks. Then, if it's revealed he's spying on us for the alliance we will confront him."

"And if he's spying for Bastion?"

"Then if you cannot trust him, who could you trust?"

"Let's just hope it doesn't come down to that."

I returned my sense of time back to normal, quickly wiping the frown off my face, "Well, I ended up falling between my bunk and the wall while I slept, and when the mutiny began I guess nobody was very thorough because next thing I know I wake up and discover the ship is 'under new management'."

"And what you were doing on the bridge?" He prompted

I shrugged, "Walked in as they were distracted with seeing you on the cameras and put a gun right to Daisy's head, once I got to the boss most just surrendered."

He nodded, "You really took to your training, I saw the bodies on my way up."

I stopped and looked down, the looks on those people's faces as I killed them one by one... Guess there is a downside to photographic memory. "Yeah... I guess I did."

He slapped his knees and stood up too, giving me a hug. "I'm glad you're okay Noah, honestly."

I smiled, "It's good to be back in the realm of the awake, I'll tell you that much."

With that we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.