The Gambit with Perfection (The Phantom of the Earth Book 2) by Raeden Zen Page B

differed from Janzer visors. They were designed by the Mosaic Consortium, equipped with synisms that separated carbon from oxygen and fostered a closed atmosphere suitable for transhumans.
    A different Janzer escorted the team into Mission Control. Behind a thick layer of graphene sat the space engineers. Fabian Mariner, the Beimeni Commonwealth space general, rambled around the spherical aisles. He spewed orders, and his engineers telepathically adjusted the controls within the holograms above their workstations.
    “Welcome, Captain,” Mariner said.
    “Pleasure, General.” Brody bowed slightly, as did Nero and Verena. The Cassiopeia , its sharp edges, its dark skin made of carbyne, stood on the other side of a glass enclosure, its nose pointed toward the airlock.
    The space engineers, arranged in concentric layers, one higher than the next, shouted commands, and the Cassiopeia materialized over a holographic pad at the bottommost layer. The engineers sent signals to the pad, and depending on the system checked, a different part of the ship lit up. Then the hologram transformed into the silo above the shuttle, leading to the surface.
    A doorway cleared.
    Heywood entered. He shook Nero’s and Brody’s hands, but when he extended for Verena’s, she didn’t accept. “Something I did?” Heywood said.
    Verena cocked her fist. Brody slid between them. “We’re good,” he said, “ready to make history.”
    Verena leaned on her left leg to get a better view of Heywood. “Why send us away now?”
    Heywood crossed his arms and pressed his lips together tightly. “To explore an exoplanet that might prove habitable and research a new species that might aid your captain in his fight against Reassortment—”
    “I think you’re lying.” Verena brushed Brody to the side with her hip and clutched Heywood’s transparent lab coat. She pulled his face to hers. “What did they tell you about this mission?”
    Mariner hand-signaled a pair of Janzers to restrain her. Nero grabbed one by the arm, flipped him, and elbowed the other, shattering his visor. Two more divisions burst into Mission Control and surrounded the team, Reassortment batons and pulse weapons at the ready.
    Blue light emitted by the Janzer weaponry engulfed Brody’s team.
    Mariner’s lip was bleeding.
    Medical bots cleaned Mariner’s face and injected him with uficilin. “I’ll ignore your violation of the chancellor’s precepts this day,” he said to Verena, “if your captain assures me this tantrum won’t prevent significant conversion on Vigna.” He glared at Brody.
    “We will not be treated like tenehounds,” Brody said. “Call off these Janzers.”
    Mariner hand-signaled the Janzers, then nodded toward the exit. They disengaged from Brody’s strike team.
    The engineers peeked around their workstations.
    Brody kept a hand on Verena’s shoulder. “You’re sending us forty thousand light years from Earth in a weaponless shuttle to retrieve a liquid sample we don’t understand, under duress from a Warning we didn’t deserve—”
    “This is where you’re mistaken,” Heywood said. “We’re sending a powerful weapon to Vigna.” He shook his head. “Yes! You’ve only forgotten your strength—”
    “I have not, and neither has my team.”
    Brody eyed Heywood warily. He would never forget the scientists frozen near absolute zero, killed by him and Damy for relying too much on his skill with the ZPF, and Heywood knew it. He had been there that day. So were Antosha and Haleya. After a failed terrorist attack, they’d executed the Regenesis procedure to awaken one of the scientists. Brody thought they’d all learned a lesson in humility after the research team failed to plan for or react properly to malfunctions in the stasis tanks. Now he wasn’t so sure.
    “Unlike so many decisions in scientific research,” Heywood said, “the choice here is simple. If you don’t achieve significant conversion on this mission, I shudder to think