Read HAB 12 (Scrapyard Ship) for Free Online

Cramer commanded. Her eyes flickered towards Admiral Reynolds and then back to Jason. “Where is The Lilly ?”
    “She’s safe.”
    “Don’t play games with me. I’m the last person you want to fuck around with right now.”
    “Actually, you’d be the last person I’d want to fuck around with—ever, Admiral. Are you sure you want to play things this way?” Jason replied, his own temper rising. “Have you forgotten to whom you report, Admiral?”
    Steely-eyed, she looked at him for a long moment before she signaled her team. “Lock them up.” As quickly as she’d arrived, she was strutting back in the direction she had come.
    “Just so you know … Seven days, Admiral,” Jason yelled after her. She slowed but didn’t stop.
    “Three highly-advanced warships. They make up the new Emperor’s Guard. They’ll be here in seven days,” Jason shouted, wincing as PlastiCuffs were tightly secured around his wrists. He felt a pang of guilt seeing his father, also secured, needlessly shoved towards a row of buildings off to their left. He should have left him working on his old ‘49 pickup or, better yet, remain safely aboard The Lilly. They pushed Jason to follow in the direction of his father.
     
    * * *
     
    They were held several floors underground in a holding cell of sorts. No metal bars, but a cell just the same. Jason and his father sat on a long metal bench that was bolted to the floor. Across the room, three guards stood with M-16 rifles pointed at Jason’s and Admiral Perry’s heads. Jason, getting the younger of the three soldiers’ attention, started to speak. Angered, the soldier flipped his rifle around and jabbed the butt into Jason’s left cheek, sending him sprawling to the floor. He felt the flesh of his cheek hanging loosely beneath his eye. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. Feeling the familiar tingle, the open wound was quickly being repaired by thousands, if not millions, of internal nanites.
    What did this harsh treatment mean? Had Admiral Cramer’s commitment to a separate United Planetary Alliance Outpost on Earth been nothing more than a greedy power play? A ruse to obtain The Lilly ’s advanced technology? Each question triggered a new one. How high up did this go? Jason found it hard to believe that Secretary of Defense Ben Walker, who seemed a man of integrity, would be a part of this. And what about the president? Perhaps Craing hybrids had made new inroads into the government?
    Jason sat quietly on the bench for over an hour. He opened a NanoCom channel to The Lilly . It had taken a while to figure out the advanced options for the NanoCom menu system and the specific area that allowed for nonverbal communications. After mentally scrolling through several sub-menus, he found the option he was looking for: NanoText Off/On. Once activated, the process involved optically selecting letters and whole word suggestions, not so different from cellphone texting—something Jason rarely did. Alphanumeric characters appeared optically, appearing to float in space before his eyes. Characters were in turn selected, simply by placing prolonged attention on them. It took some practice, but he was getting the hang of it. On the positive side, no one other than The Lilly ’s crew and SEAL teams had been configured with these unique internal nano-devices.
    He had just updated Ricket when their cell door clanged open. Still bound with their hands behind their backs, they were not so gently ushered into the hallway and marched back upstairs to a large conference room. Once their restraints were removed, they were told where to sit. The conference table could easily sit twenty people, although a mere handful of officers occupied the other seats. Large flat screen displays were situated on three walls. At the head of the table sat Admiral Cramer. To her left and right were other officers Jason didn’t recognize. Behind Cramer, the stars and stripes hung. Although the rows of fifty stars on the