Epic of Bee

Chapter 288 Gamble's Gamble

Gamble was trying to do some calculations, but he shifted his weight, and he started to float up with his chair, and the Skunk man cursed as he reactivated his magnetic boots. There was no gravity on the station, and in a normal situation, he would have no problem with this. In fact, he would have gravity on the station and had already thought of six ways to do it, but that was not his focus right now.

"This is frustrating!" Gamble snapped, and Jess looked up from her tablet with a sad expression. She was partially the reason that Gamble was up here getting ready to kill some of his friends and family. They were trying to sabotage the Divinity Spike, but there were many outside factors that they needed to consider.

"I am sorry that you got dragged into this, and I know you are worried about your friends, but you are the smartest person I have ever met! if anyone can figure this out, you can!" Jess said as she came around the desk to rub Gamble's shoulders.

He tensed at her touch but slowly relaxed as her thumbs needed into the muscles that were getting sorer each day that passed on the station. Pixie had told him this was alright, but it was still hard for Gamble to wrap his head around, even with all his mind, but that wasn't what was distracting him right now.

All his mind kept on going back to the video of the demonstration of the Divinity Spike and then the damage it had caused. His friends were down there, and he was basically trying to fix the machine while sabotaging it at the same time under strict watch. This small lab and bunk area was the only place that he seemed not to be watched like a hawk by the Black Claw agents that General Brand had watched him and Jess any time that they stepped out of this area.

"I just wish I could do more," Gamble muttered, and Jess kissed his cheek before going back to her tablet.

"You are doing everything you can, and we will figure this out. I have faith in you," Jess said with a smile, but Gamble just sighed as he leaned back in the chair and rubbed his temples. Gamble pressed his mind to find a solution, but they had people monitoring everything. There were more people watching people work than people actually working, but that was what happened when you had to force everyone to do what you wanted.

"Do you have to report how long that last part is going to take to get up here?" Gamble asked as he glanced down at Jess, finding himself admiring her body in the white skin-tight space suit that she was wearing. More than once, he had his minds considered taking some time with her, but that was just another distraction that he couldn't afford right now.

"I was just getting to that," Jess said as she pulled up a new screen on her tablet, and Gamble winced when he saw the time. He had been so focused on his work that he hadn't realized how much time had passed, and now they only had a few hours before the next phase of their plan was set to begin.

"We need to get started then," Gamble said as he quickly input some more numbers into the tablet before getting up from his chair. Jess nodded as she got up from her chair and grabbed her bag with everything that they would need for this next part of their plan.

The two left the lad, and two guards in black that were waiting outside the door followed them without a word. These were the Black Claw Agents Brand had assigned to them, and they would even follow Gamble into the bathroom. It was a saving grace that they didn't come into the lab, but Gamble was no fool to think that Brand didn't have more listening devices and cameras hidden in the lab.

Jess led the way to a room that was filled with a gigantic generator, and it was one of four that were powering the Track Slider. There was a  computer in the room that was linked up to the generator, and this was what Gamble needed to get into. There were two guards in the room, but they stepped aside when Jess walked up.

"We will be working on the generator for a while," Jess said, and one of the guards nodded before stepping out of the room. The other guard stayed by the door as Gamble went over to look at readouts on one of the screens next to the computer that was hooked up to the generator. Gamble's mind quickly scanned over it before he started typing on the keyboard that brought up a new screen. This would give him the access he needed when the time came, but it would take some time for all his minds to put everything into place without anyone knowing what was going on until it was too late.

"What are you going to do after everything is over?" Jess asked quietly as she cuddled into Gamble so she could talk without the guards noticing. If they noticed, then they would report it to Brand, and he would be even more paranoid than he already was.

"I don't know," Gamble said as his mind thought about what he could do after all this was over. He had given up so much to get to this point, and even if everything went according to plan, there were still people that were going to get hurt. "I just want it all to stop."

"It will," Jess said as she rubbed Gambles back in a soothing manner. "It will all be over soon."

"There is a chance that we are going to be the ones that don't make it. Are you ready for that?" Gamble asked, and Jess gripped him tighter. The two had not gotten more physical than a simple kiss, but both knew how the other felt. Gambles' question was hard for Jess because she had finally found someone, him, and now he was asking if she was prepared to give that all up, but the other option was living with killing tens of thousands of people. It was a lose-lose situation, but Jess had already made her choice when she first came on board the station.

"I am," Jess said as she pulled away from Gamble slightly so she could look into his orange hexagonal eyes that seemed to swirl with galaxies that she could get lost in every time she looked at them. "I want you to know that no matter what happens, I will always love you."

Gamble felt his heart swell with emotions as he stared down at Jess. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words as he leaned down and kissed her gently. It was a soft kiss full of love and promise for a future that they might not have, but at this moment, they were alive and together.

As Jess and Gamble kissed, the guard by the door tensed as he heard a noise coming from outside. He quickly pressed a button on his earpiece to warn the other guards before he stepped out into the hall with his weapon drawn. There was a scuffle going on down the hall, and he could see one of his fellow guards being held up by two people in space suits that were unfamiliar to him.

"Let him go!" The guard shouted as he aimed his weapon at them, but they just ignored him as they continued to drag the unconscious body of their comrade toward one of the airlocks. There were two people in space suits inside of it with tools in hand, and it was obvious that they were trying to rig it open so they could depressurize part of the station.

"Stop right there!" The guard shouted again as he started to fire at them.

They used the unconscious body of their comrades as a shield as they ducked back into one room with tools still in hand, leaving the injured man behind, moaning on the ground clutching a wound on his arm. The Black Claw agent rushed over to help the man, only for alarm klaxons to start going off throughout the ship, followed by red lights flashing, warning everyone about impending danger.

Gamble cursed, and his minds went into overdrive. Threads started to appear, but after a very short moment, he relaxed and turned back to what he was doing. Jess just stared at him in shock.

"What are you doing?! Are you not worried about what is going on?!" Jess asked as Gamble shook his head, working on the code to integrate the new part that was coming in.

"The treads say that they will not succeed, and as long as you stay in the room, no one will bother us. We do not have time for other people's poorly planned attempts. There is a single thread that I am focused on, and in my opinion, the only one that matters," Gamble said as one of his minds watched for changes in the chance that Ashia would make it in time to stop every thing, so people didn't have to die.