The Gate by Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page A

to consider
that he’d been so badly injured that it had required extensive
cybernetics to put him back together that wouldn’t have been a huge
surprise. It required an enormous amount of energy to open the gate
and he’d known he was playing with fire big time. He’d known the
possible consequences—total annihilation—and not just of him. He’d
been using enough to level the entire facility and several miles
around it if there was an accident.
    So who in their right mind would tamper
with something that potentially catastrophic?
    And why?
    Had he been the target? Or one of the
other researchers in the facility? Or the facility
itself?
    Was it something personal—someone
fooling around with the wrong man’s wife? Or was it
political—someone stepping on the toes of a group of
fanatics?
    As insane as the first guess was, the
latter seemed less likely. It was a top security facility. No one
should have had access or knowledge of the projects being developed
there, certainly not some band of zealots.
    Of course fanatics were, by their
nature, a few cards shy of a full deck. If they weren’t completely
irrational, they tended to be the next door to insane on one
particular subject—whatever their particular pet peeve
was.
    Carly ended his internal speculation
when she led him into a small building and they immediately began
to descend a flight of stairs. “This is a moon colony? Earth’s
moon?”
    Carly flicked him a sharp look.
“Yes.”
    Devlin looked around, a little
surprised that he could see as well as he could when he knew the
light was extremely limited inside what appeared to be some sort of
access to mechanical areas—well, he supposed that must be what it
was since it was under the main complex. He’d had trouble with his
night vision before ….
    “Creepy. I never did understand why so
many people would volunteer for the moon colony.”
    Carly uttered a snort that lacked
humor. “Jobs?”
    “The outer colonies aren’t nearly as …
dangerous.”
    Carly sent him a look of surprise. “How
do you figure the moon colony is more dangerous? There’s no air on
any of the others that isn’t manufactured, and they’re a lot
further from help.”
    That was the main reason she’d agreed
to work on the moon. It was at least close to ‘home’—not months or
even years away.
    “The others have some atmosphere,
however, to assist the radiation shielding. And they’re also
further from the sun so they aren’t bombarded with quite the levels
the moon is.” He considered that for a moment. “Well, the moon
colonies of Jupiter are potentially more hazardous in that respect,
I suppose. Why are we here anyway?”
    Carly glanced at him uncomfortably.
“We’re meeting someone,” she muttered and then hurried past him and
finished the descent down the last flight of stairs. The door at
the bottom opened as she reached it. Brenda stood just inside, her
face expressionless, her thoughts carefully masked.
    Neither Carly nor Brenda were prepared
for what happened next, however.
    “Bunny!” Devlin said in a voice that
resonated with gladness and surprise. Pushing past Carly, he
scooped Brenda up in a tight embrace and executed a strange little
jig with her dangling from his arms.
    When he set her down, he held her at
arm’s length, grinning down at her.
    Brenda stared at him wide-eyed.
“Dev?”
    He chuckled, pulling her tightly
against his chest again. “It’s me, Funny Bunny. You’ve forgotten
what your big brother looks like?”
    A smile flickered across her face and
then doubt chased it away and anger took its place. She whirled
away from Devlin and glared at Carly accusingly. “How did you know
that? That’s just plain cruel, Carly!”
    Carly gaped at her. “Know what? What
did I do?”
    Devlin looked confused. He also turned
an accusing look at Carly. “What’s going on?”
    Carly gaped at him, more thoroughly
confused than anyone else. “I don’t know! Why is everybody acting
like I’ve