Free Tekgrrl by A. J. Menden Page B

night.
    A similar experience came over me as I started work on my transporter. Tweaking this, recalibrating that, I worked furiously, in my own little world, my aching head eventually forgotten. The air conditioner turned off and on without me really realizing, and the tick and hum of the machinery around me was nothing but a background. I was alone.
    I see you.
    The voice sounded right behind my shoulder, as if someone was leaning in and whispering. I whirled to look, and a loud clatter sounded as several of my tools appeared out of nowhere and landed on the metal table.
    Heart racing, I looked around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary and no one. “Who’s there?” I called, then winced, realizing how much that sounded like a horror movie cliché. “Hello?” I put a bit more edge to my voice. “You’re so funny, Toby. Knock it off.”
    There was no response. Shivering a bit, I reached for the stunner I kept in my pocket. I edged toward the door, my nerves jangling and my skin prickling. “I’m going to knock your ass out for messing with me, I hope you realize.”
    No one replied. My eyes landed on my “gun,” its guts sprawled across the lab table. It seemed to vibrate, clattering against the table, and then, as if an unseen hand took the weapon up, the barrel whirled to point in my direction.
    “So not cool,” I said.
    “Mindy? Who are you talking to?”
    I jumped again, before turning to see Luke standing in the doorway near the elevator, a quizzical look on his face.
    “I thought there was someone here,” I said, motioning into the room. “I was by myself, working, and I thought I heard someone whisper at me.”
    “You thought you heard someone? You, the same woman who doesn’t hear people calling her while she’s working unless they set off a nuclear explosion?” Luke gave me a teasing grin.
    I grimaced. “Yeah, that’s what made it so freaky! And then my project moved.” I pointed back to where it was sitting, barrel pointed away from us.
    I blinked. “What the…?”
    “What?”
    “I swear it was moved.” I walked over and laid a hesitant hand on the device. “It’s cold.”
    “It’s metal.”
    “It’s extra cold.”
    “What, you think it was a ghost?” Luke asked.
    I shook my head. “There’s no such thing.”
    “Says the coolheaded scientist who was scared out of her mind from talking to herself.”
    “Ha-ha.” I made a face at him. “And I wasn’t scared out of my mind.”
    “You looked pretty panicked.”
    I sighed and rubbed my aching head. “Did you come down here for a reason, or just to torment me?”
    “A reason. The liaison is here to meet with us, and Paul wants everyone there pronto.”
    “Did he say pronto?”
    “He said pronto.”
    “All right, I’m coming.”
    I shrugged out of my lab coat and hung it next to the hook on the door. Absently, I reached for the switch to turn off the lights. They went dark a split second before my finger flipped the switch.
    I moved my hand away fast but didn’t say anything to Luke. I just knew I didn’t want to be in this room for a while.
    Our new liaison was lean and well-dressed in the manner of many politicians, in a way that was polished and studiedly nonthreatening. He had close-cropped sandy brown hair that looked as if it would curl if he let it, though that would probably ruin his image. A goatee was his only rebellion against an overwhelmingly conservative appearance. He also looked a little nervous to be addressing a room full of heroes.
    “Everyone, this is Forrest Ward, whom I met yesterday,” Toby was saying as we all took our seats around the large table in our war room. “Forrest, this is White Heat, Aphrodite, Sensei, Tekgrrl, Phenomenal Girl Five, the Reincarnist, and our newest member, Granite.”
    Forrest nodded. “Nice to meet you all, and thank you for agreeing to see me.” As if it had been his idea and not ours. Such a politician. “Well, as I told Toby—um, the Magnificent—yesterday,