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Part of her wanted to call Sulat and ask him to accompany her. However, if she did that, not only would she have to wait, but once he arrived there’d be all sorts of awkwardness since she’d been ignoring his attempts to contact her.
No, the best thing to do was to deal with this herself, at least for now. With her decision made, Jody tapped the keypad next to the door, careful to stay as far as possible from the damaged areas and whatever chemical residue might linger on the surface.
Her code activated the usual chime, and the pad flashed to indicate access granted, but the door didn’t move.
She tried again. This time something in the wall made a grinding noise that set her teeth on edge, but nothing else happened.
Dammit. She needed to get in there.
Out of options, Jody pressed the button marked “Emergency.”
“Please state your name and nature of the emergency,” Rae’s voice came through a small speaker Jody hadn’t noticed.
“Rae, it’s Dr. Clark. I need you to open the door.”
A few seconds passed. “I’m sorry, Dr. Clark. The door appears to be malfunctioning. Would you like me to open the emergency exit?”
“Yes, please.” The other door was designed to be opened from inside, which was why she hadn’t tried it first.
Only a handful of beings still loitered in the area. They clustered together, all watching her with wary curiosity as she jogged around to the side.
The door opened before she reached it, and she rushed straight in. “Rae, is the clinic empty?” she asked, only after she was inside. “Damn, I probably should have asked you that before I barreled in here.”
That little voice in the back of her head repeated its desire to have Sulat and even Tariq present right now. She ignored it. It was too late for that, and she was more than capable of dealing with this on her own. This was how she’d managed for years now, alone.
“You are the only occupant, Dr. Clark,” Rae said, the AI’s voice pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Okay, good. Did they get inside? Is anything damaged?”
Rae’s hologram formed a few meters away and fixed Jody with a look of concern. “I don’t understand the question. Who were you expecting? Why would anyone damage the clinic?”
Jody exhaled softly with relief. “I’m happy to hear that. It means everything inside is as it should be.”
Rae cocked her head to one side. “Which implies things outside are not as they should be. What happened?”
“Vandals. They etched the windows and main door with some kind of acid. That’s why the door wouldn’t open. I guess the mechanism was damaged by whatever they used to create the symbols.” She frowned. “Wait. Are you telling me you don’t have any idea what happens beyond the walls of the clinic?”
“I do not. Each of my manifestations is limited to the clinic or med-bay they are assigned to.”
“I understand that, but why don’t you have any way of knowing what happens to the clinic you’re assigned to?”
“My job is to oversee the clinic and aid the healers in their duties. Security was not part of my original program.”
“Remind me to bring that up with someone in security. That seems like a serious oversight.”
“I have checked my files. This is the first time anything like this has happened since I came online. I doubt my creator considered it a possibility.” Rae paused before adding. “I’m not sure who you could discuss this matter with. The colony does not have a designated security force.”
“Right. I should have remembered that. Vardarian society is very different from human in some ways. More civilized, I guess. Vandalizing buildings of any kind is common in human settlements.”
She had few choices available. The rangers were more concerned with areas outside the city, and calling on the palace guards would likely mean dealing with the unpleasant guard captain from the other night. She’d rather not do that, which meant contacting Spymaster Yardan. Given her connection to Phaedra, he’d want to know about this incident, anyway. Not that she thought the two things were related.
“Rae, I know this isn’t part of your usual functions, but could you contact Yardan and invite him to view the damage? Oh, and you should probably tell Healers A’Nir and Vana, too. They’ll want to know.”
“I am messaging the spymaster now. Healer A’Nir has already been informed and will be here shortly.” Rae’s expression softened. “I know you’ve been avoiding him, but he is the senior healer for this colony.”
“I’m not avoiding anyone,” she said defensively. It was a bald-faced lie, and she regretted it immediately, even if the one she lied to was just a complex bit of coding with a face.
“It’s possible I was trying to give him space after an incident that occurred a few days ago, but how did you know that?”
