Aneka Jansen 7: Hope Read Online Free Page A

exert yourself. At least a full helmet was not required for short-term exposure.
    Ian appeared at her side as she walked and her spirits sank. It was stupid, and annoying. A few weeks earlier she had felt exhilarated whenever she saw him, attracted. He was easily fifty years her junior, handsome, with a full head of blue-black hair and piercing, blue eyes. His body was firmly muscled and he was tall, and lying in his arms had been a thrill. He had been so… enthusiastic. He had been something fresh and new, and…
    ‘I was wondering whether we could have a drink tonight and talk–’
    ‘No,’ Ella interrupted him.
    ‘You haven’t even heard what I want to talk about.’ And there was the thing which had convinced her she was right to break off their relationship. He sounded like a sulking child. There was a whining quality, a hint of recrimination; he was a teenager given the codes to a fast grav-speeder who considers it unfair when they are taken away again. He had been so attentive on the planning mission, but when she had started up with him again after Aneka had left… It was a lot like he had decided he had got the prize and did not need to put in the effort any more.
    ‘I know exactly what you want to talk about, and you already know what my answer will be. Now pull yourself together or I’ll be requesting a new lead facilitator on the next check-in call.’
    He stopped and she kept on walking, trying not to hunch her shoulders or show too much tension. She was still not sure she could do that to him. This was his first big operation as leader and sending him back early would break him, but she had a feeling Bash’s evaluation of his work would not exactly include glowing praise… Then again, she had been the one pushing for him to run the mission. She had seen him and wanted him to be there, and she had ignored his lack of experience for the opportunity of a fling. Stupid, stupid… Aneka had never liked the man, and Ella had the horrible feeling that part of the reason he had been so keen on the affair was a desire to hurt Aneka.
    The lab’s airlock finished its cycle and Ella stepped through into the room. Lena Freemont was there, peering through a binocular microscope and chewing on the end of a stylus. She liked writing notes by hand for some reason rather than using a neural transcriber or dictation. Ella allowed her the eccentricity since her work was excellent and the computers still managed to decipher the scratchings Lena made.
    ‘Anything new and exciting?’ Ella asked.
    Lena lifted her head, blinked and then smiled. ‘Nothing really… Oh! Well, there was one thing. A bit strange and not exactly new, more like ancient.’
    ‘You’re being more than usually opaque, Lena.’
    ‘I’ve been running the protein sequences through the databases, yes?’
    Ella nodded. ‘You sequenced the proteins used to construct the viral machines and you were having the computer see if it could find anything similar in the biological databases.’
    ‘Uh-huh. You were paying attention. I wondered as you looked distracted when I told you.’
    ‘Yes, well, that’s in the past, and I assume you’ve got a result.’
    ‘Several, but most of them I discounted.’
    ‘Because?’
    ‘Fragmentary elements of much larger structures. Only one protein matched when the virus has several structures. But two of the matches came back with wider similarities. One is the nanovirus you encountered on Eshebbon. As I indicated earlier. I now have a more thorough analysis. The two share about sixty per cent of their functional proteins.’
    Ella’s face straightened and she pushed back an urge to evacuate the planet immediately. ‘The other one?’
    ‘That’s the really weird one. It’s a seventy-two per cent match… to the virus which the Xinti fell victim to. I need to run more tests, but I’d put money on this place being the original home of the virus that forced the Xinti into artificial bodies.’
    ‘Gopi! Are we