The catch with having so many of the people with the brains we needed was that these were largely men, most of whom were well past their sexual prime. The few women who were counted among Wright’s list were likely well into menopause themselves, or not very well prepared to sustain a pregnancy in space. As tough as ageism was, we needed fertile passengers. I knew that I would probably be called upon to have a child as part of this journey. Thankfully fertility treatments were well advanced and perhaps I could donate my eggs to a surrogate. That was a discussion I had to have with myself at a later time.
The alien with me cleared his throat again. “Forgive my interruption Doctor, I just wanted to know how your work was progressing.” I blinked and felt my cheeks heat in embarrassment. I hadn’t even realized how detached from my environment I was.
“If you’ve heard anything about humans, you’ll understand what I mean when I say it’s going slowly.” He laughed at that. “Truthfully, I’m fighting a losing battle here. There is a great disparity between those who possess the knowledge we need in order to make a successful long-term space flight and their ability to reproduce. I understand your species is able to birth healthy offspring throughout most of your life cycle?” The young alien nodded, turning his head away slightly. I smirked. No matter the species, teenagers didn’t want to talk about sex.
I hastened to move the explanation along to minimize his shame. “Humans can’t. Females are finished with their reproductive years about halfway through their lifespan, and cultural norms strongly discourage mating with our women before they reach young adulthood. Males can technically father children throughout their entire lives, but their genetic material deteriorates as they age. The older the father, the more at risk the baby is for problems as they grow.”
“Hm. I can see how that would be an issue, especially given the limited berths aboard the ship,” he acknowledged. “I sympathize. I am training to be a scientist myself, so that I may provide for our people and for my children someday.”
“A good aspiration,” I said, picking up my tablet again in a polite attempt to indicate that I had to return to the task at hand. Thankfully the young alien understood and returned to his reading. I found myself going over the data again and again. I would have to meet with the President personally to resolve this. If nothing else, we had to split the difference. I would concede some of my list if Wright would concede some of his. As I considered my plan of attack, I heard a loud thump and looked up from my tablet. My alien companion was slumped over in his seat, his eyes wide open.
“Hey, are you all right?” I leapt up and snapped my fingers in front of his face. No response. I slapped his face lightly. His head only lolled, eyes blank and expressionless. I looked around for some kind of first aid and saw a grey mist seeping its way up the floor from a vent near where the alien was collapsed unconscious.
I backpedaled and yanked my shirt over my nose and mouth. Shit! Gas was flooding into the room. Whatever this stuff was it was coming from the vent underneath the unconscious alien. A grey column snaked its way toward the air recycling intake vent. Once it hit that, there would be no escaping. I backed away to the wall and the gas seemed to follow my every step. I could see through the lounge doorway that the gas itself had made its way into the corridor, cutting off my exit. I had to make a break for it. If I could find Jackson or Ka’thak they would be able to help. The room was nearly full of the grey smoke now so I took the deepest breath I could and sprinted from the lounge. The stuff was so thick it was getting hard to see. I tried to quell the panic I felt but the lack of oxygen was making it impossible. I ran as quickly as I could, nearly smacking into the walls of the corridor on more than one occasion. In the haze, I saw the dark shapes of collapsed aliens here and there. Was the gas smoke from some kind of fire? Or some kind of toxic chemical, designed to suffocate? With the gas coming this thick I assumed I would have seen flames by now if it were from a fire. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to take a breath.
The air exploded from my lungs and I gasped, my lungs aching, back heaving as I tried to catch my breath and…nothing happened. Where I expected to feel the cold of unconsciousness seeping into my brain there was nothing. I snorted a huge gulp of air through my nose and inhaled again. Nothing. There was no smell to the gas and I felt as though I was breathing regular air. How was that possible? I pinched myself, half convinced that I had already passed out and was imagining the entire thing. For a few minutes I stood frozen, expecting to slump to the floor. Still nothing. Whatever was going on here didn’t appear to affect humans. Seeing as there were only two of us on the ship, I had to find Jackson. This was no freak accident. The ship was under attack.
10
Jackson
I was still running toward the maintenance teams when one of the canisters I was holding onto let out a hiss. I ripped open my bag and saw that both canisters were spewing some kind of white-grey gas into the air. I ripped the bag off my shoulder reflexively and kicked it away but it was too late. The gas was already so thick I could barely see my hands in front of my face. I didn’t bother holding my breath. I had already gotten a huge dose of whatever the stuff was. If I worked fast enough, I could still have time to warn the captain. I started running and tried to raise Ka’thak on my radio. Initially only static came through but after a couple of tries, I was able to get an answer.
“Sir, it’s Jackson. Sound the alarm and get yourself into a survival suit as fast as you can. There’s some kind of gas leaking from those canisters.”
He didn’t ask questions. You didn’t, in a situation like this. “Understood. Get yourself safe.” He signed off. The nearest survival suits to me were made for aliens. I would have to make it to my room for mine. Thank the gods I was still in good enough shape that I could make it that far, even if I had to hold my breath for most of the way. I felt fine so far, but I didn’t want to chance breathing any more of whatever was flooding the halls than absolutely necessary.
Before I could make it even halfway down the passage, klaxons sounded and I heard Ka’thak announcing a possible decompression alert. The crews were well trained enough that they would get suited up quickly. Whatever the hell was in those canisters didn’t seem to be affecting me too badly. I wasn’t even feeling dizzy. I slowed to take a cautious breath. The gas didn’t have a smell and I felt nothing. I waited a couple of seconds to see if anything changed and nothing happened. Maybe I didn’t have to make it to my room after all.
I turned and ran the other way, down my original path, toward the maintenance crews. As I ran I saw two more canisters, both stuck into or near ventilation intake vents. That would spread the gas through the ship faster than anything else. My worst fears were realized when I came across a group of alien bodies. My mind flashed back to those skewered corpses on Ko’s shuttle and I shuddered. I had seen too many dead already. I decided to slow down to make sure they were still alive. Their eyes were open and fixed, almost like they were anesthetized. They were breathing, but shallowly. Whatever this stuff was it was designed to incapacitate, but not kill. Or so I hoped.
I pressed on and nearly smacked into two people muttering and fussing with a bag of something heavy. I could hear metal clattering around as they moved. I didn’t recognize them at first and assuming they were hostiles, swung at them out of instinct. Two of the engineers who had joined our maintenance teams grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me against the wall of the corridor.
“Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy man! We’re on the same side here. Just relax. We’re here to help you out. We aren’t going to kill them—we aren’t monsters. If you want to help us out, we could really use the extra set of hands.” One of the men took a bundle of what looked like plastic cording from his pocket and shoved some of it into my hands.
I felt along the plastic until I recognized the familiar shape of zip cuffs. Damn it. I really should have learned to have serious skepticism about the United States government by now. Of course, the old white guy with t
he conservative history would pull a stunt like this. The gas was an attack.
“And once you’re done cuffing them, you’re going to…?” I trailed off, inviting whatever bullshit answer they were about to come up with. What I really wanted was for one of them to stop paying attention. So far, no such luck. They had me pinned down hard.
“We’re going to move them somewhere safe. I promise you, they won’t be harmed. You’ll need to tie their arms and legs, though. Those claws look fucking nasty.” One of the men looked at the other and his companion shook his head minutely. The man who had spoken pressed harder against my shoulder and I felt metal studs start to press into my skin.
I bit my tongue to keep from rolling my eyes. I was sure these idiots didn’t believe the crap they were spewing. I was surprised they could say it with a straight face. “You’re not harming them? No, you’re just going to take their ship. What are you going to do, dump them Earthside to die and take off? You’re right. You’re not monsters—you’re cowards. If you wanted their ship you should have stormed the place and fought them like real men.” I pulled my arms up and swung them over the men’s arms, breaking their grip. I managed to land a solid kick to one man’s midsection and feinted out of the way while the other one threw a punch. The man I kicked stumbled back. The opening gave me the chance to rip my gun from its holster and I shot him in the stomach. He screamed and I closed the distance between us to put a shot through his head.
Unfortunately, this meant that I had not been paying attention to his companion for a couple of seconds. I ducked, just barely missing the massive wrench from his bag, swinging a path where my head had been a moment earlier. Wrench boy didn’t time his strike well enough and I managed to land two lightning-fast punches to his side. It was like punching a brick wall. These guys had been hiding some serious muscle underneath the nerd uniform. He dropped his wrench and twisted my wrist to force my hand into the wall. I hissed as I reflexively dropped my gun and my opponent kicked it out of my reach. With his other hand he grabbed me around the neck and brought his knee up. It connected with my nose in a sickening crunch and I felt blood start to flow. I gasped, hot blood trickling into my mouth.
“Fucking lizard lover,” he spat. “How does it feel to side with the enemy?”
I put my arms up to guard my face and kicked forward as hard as I could. I smiled through the copper taste of blood as I heard the air whoosh from his lungs. I took the opportunity to back away as quickly as I could into the fog. The gas was starting to clear a little bit by now but it was still like fighting in the middle of a haze. When Ka’thak had issued the decompression alert the lighting had shut down in favor of emergency lighting to conserve power. I could use the darkness and the smoke to at least confuse him. I slowed my breathing and listened for the engineer. The guy was big enough that I was able to pick up his footsteps easily enough but the camouflage worked both ways. I could barely keep track of where he was. He would undoubtedly be going for another weapon. Whether it was the big wrench or he was trying to find my gun, I had to move quickly. Either of those would do a lot of damage.
I decided to split the difference and ran in the direction where I remembered the gear bag lying. The wrench had to be near there. Its size would be easier to pick up with my eyes than the small shape of the sidearm. If he got to the gun first, well, it would be a short fight, I supposed. As I groped my way through the darkness I heard the man breathing heavily. Good. I had managed to make it hurt.
“Come out, species betrayer!” he called through the fog. “Come out, I want to look you in the eyes when I shoot you. I’ll take your body back to my men as proof that even the aliens’ pet human couldn’t save them. Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he taunted in a singsong voice.
Asshole.
I stayed low, crouching as close to the ground as I could while I searched for the wrench. My fingers brushed the handle of it and I picked it up. It was huge. Definitely capable of crushing a man’s skull in if I managed to hit him properly. The problem was that if I missed, that was it. I wouldn’t get a second chance. Perhaps it wasn’t the best option for a weapon after all. But it might serve as a suitable distraction.
I could hear the man’s heavy footsteps as he stepped cautiously through the passageway. I heard the click of metal against metal. He must have found my gun. My window of opportunity for a surprise attack was slipping away. I hefted the wrench over my shoulder and threw it as hard as I could into the passageway. It made a massive clang as it ricocheted against the metal and the man yelled.
“I’m going to kill you, you fucking traitor! Come and face me like a man!”
That’s right, go after me. The engineer stomped toward the noise and I crept after him until I could see the white of his shirt through the fog. I pulled my combat knife from my belt as quietly as I could but he heard the click and whirled. I was ready and thrust the knife forward. It sunk into his stomach and I pulled the knife horizontally. A blossom of red spread across his shirt and the man clutched his stomach. I pulled the knife from his gut and backed away. He raised the gun and trained it at my chest. His hands were shaking. I smacked the gun out of his hand and sunk my knife into his neck this time. He fell to the floor, a pink froth spewing from his lips as he drowned in his own blood. I cleaned my knife on his shirt and jogged down the passage that would lead me to the bridge.
11
Alexandra
The bridge. I had to get to the bridge. I kept repeating those two sentences over and over. As I ran I saw more and more bodies laying on the floor. I stopped to examine them. The gas had affected every alien—adults and children alike. Their bodies littered the floor. Their eyes were open like they were dead, but they were breathing, if a bit shallowly. That reassured me, if only a little. If they were still living there might be a chance to revive them. Still, the way they stared forward...it gave me the creeps. I stooped to pick up a gun from a fallen soldier. Fat lot of good it might do me but the heft of the weapon made me feel better.
If I could make it to the bridge, there must be some way for me to call for aid. Maybe I could call someone on Earth and have them send reinforcements. By the looks of things, I didn’t think that the aliens were going to wake up anytime soon. I couldn’t help but wonder if we had lost control of the government again. The ease with which this strike had been carried out made me worry. If the United States government had fallen the cause was lost. My mind flashed back to Ted Cady’s cold, calculated killing of three innocent Secret Service agents and President Lee’s body as she bled to death on an identical floor to the one I was standing on. The memory jerked me back to the present and I continued on.
I heard the echoing of footsteps and ran faster. When I reached the command center of the ship I found that the gas hadn’t yet cleared the space. The fog was so thick that I could scarcely see a foot ahead of me. I inched along the walls until I came upon a large dark shape. I jumped back and yelped as I clocked my elbow against a terminal. The shape turned and I saw the rough outline of an alien standing there. It wasn’t until I heard the whine of a beam weapon powering up that I thought to yell.
“Hey, hold up! It’s me! It’s Alex! Don’t shoot!” I ran forward with my hands up.
“Alex?” A mechanical voice came from the shape.
“Ka’thak?” I approached more slowly now. The shape was too big to be Ka’thak, but the voice was unmistakably his. It sounded like he was speaking through a radio or an intercom.
“It’s me, Alex. It’s all right. Gods, I thought you were going to shoot me.” I was surprised to hear fear in the alien commander’s voice. I had heard concern in his voice before, even worry, but I had never heard fear. As I got closer I saw that Ka’thak was in some kind of armor. It looked a bit like an extravehicular suit that human astronauts used but it was clearly designed for combat. It reminded me a little bit of the space marine suits in the books I used to read as a teenager. The suit was covered in armored plating with a visor that highlighted a heads
up display, feeding the wearer data. There were two arm-mounted guns and undoubtedly more weapons I couldn’t see. Impressive stuff.
“What the heck are you wearing?” I asked.
“Combat armor,” he said, gesturing to the armored plating covering his body. “Have you seen David?”
“No, not since I left him to work in the lounge. What the hell is going on, Ka’thak? How are you awake while the rest of your people are paralyzed?”
“I got lucky,” he stated. “Some of my officers forced me into the suit before I could inhale too much of the gas. Thank Jackson for the warning. I had an extra minute to get to safety where others did not. I have not heard from him since he called.” He gestured toward the officers laying on the floor. “They’re not dead? I’ve been loath to get too close to them.”
“I stopped to check on a few of your people. They’re breathing. I don’t know if they’ll stay that way.” I turned the heads of a couple of the officers laying on the ground. Still non-responsive. As we talked, I saw more shapes emerge from the fog—soldiers. Four of them. They were clad in different suits than the captain—these bore more of a resemblance to scuba suits. Their heads were encased in a black and green helmet similar to Ka’thak’s. Small black metal cylinders rode on their backs. An air supply.
“Unfortunately not everyone gets the cool armor,” Ka’thak joked. “The same people who got this for me were able to get themselves into emergency suits. Not much in the way of protection, but at least they’re not knocked out cold.” He prodded one alien’s figure with a foot and flinched at the lifelessness of the body. We turned at the sound of boots thundering down the hallway and Ka’thak powered up his gun again.
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