Onekka - The Tragedy of Jaqui Fennet Read Online Free PDF

which had previously just been data on
the screen told a story of structures and spaces, walls and floors. As she
flicked between images, a virtual model of Onekka built itself in her mind. She
thought back to her dream, and wondered if this newfound insight was related.
She threw together the atrium, Central Park, and a slew of surrounding research
labs in her mental image, and then found herself reaching the upper levels.

The floors up there - including the floor she'd worked on - were classed as
restricted. For the first time, Jaq understood how her knowledge of that floor,
taken in the context of the rest of the station, helped to build a picture of
the other missing areas. It wasn't long before she'd identified several
anomalies. Smaller spaces existed all over the station exterior without
appearing in the drawings. Without the trigger of suspicion, Jaq had always
assumed these were contingency bulkheads; additional cladding and insulation to
reduce the impact of hull breaches. Now, it seemed mightily odd that they were
not on the official schematics.

Those areas were strange, but the real draw was 'upstairs', and it seemed
pretty damned obvious which door Jaq needed to get through. Sector 5.

To gain access to that door, she needed all manner of things, but chief among
them was a simple key, and she was pretty certain of where to find it. While
she was at it, that board room definitely bore investigating. If the Armcorp
delegation was on this station, she was determined to find them. If they
weren't on the station, nothing she did would be in time.

Jaq glanced at the timepiece clicking away in the corner of her comp screen. If
she was going to do this, the window of opportunity was tight.

She slid her drawer open and pulled out the black oil. Purchasing what she
needed would have set off all sorts of monitor alarms in Mr DePennier's office.
The oil would do the job, and Derek would proclaim innocence if asked. Partly
because he had some semblance of honour, by mostly because he'd do anything to
save his own hide.

She punctured the seal, and squeezed some dark ooze onto her fingers.
     

Chapter 4
     
    The whole of
Onekka was deathly quiet. Home hour was done, evening refs had passed, and
darkness had swept through the corridors. The residents called this the
Witching Hour. It was the gap between the lights being turned off, and the
disabling of other station systems. During the middle of the night, Onekka
drifted without ai gravity, climate control, or internal hydraulic power.
Energy was at a premium, and to keep these services active at night in any but
the residential sleeping zones was seen as a waste. Witching Hour was a safety
margin, giving late revellers a last chance to get to their bunks, and it was
Jaq's only shot at completing her self-appointed mission.

She slunk along the corridors like a panther through shadow. In the half-light
generated by partially active vid screens and system diagnostic LEDs, the faux
office building became a bizarre environment. Sharp edges sluiced across her
vision, strange shapes that looked like a stained glass windows, but stained only
in shades of smoke. Screens which usually displayed space extensions and
supposedly transparent balconies made no visual sense when they lacked power.
Jaq felt like she was trapped in an expressionist art installation, or a
painting of symmetrical nightmares become real.

Her face and hands were entirely black - the oil had done its job. Combined
with her utterly opaque black cat-suit and ultra-soft plimsolls, it made her
invisible as well as silent. With luck, even the continuously operating
security grid would not properly register her. That was the bit Jaq didn't like
so much - the luck factor - but sometimes there's no choice.

Heading across the arboretum at least gave her reprieve from the forest of
clean-cut angles. Amongst the swaying trees and rustling bushes, she felt a
sense of calm. There was no animosity in the plants, and no