E-Day

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  “He’s gone!” Tadhg screamed. “We can’t help him!”

  A few agonizing minutes later, they got up and broke down the hatch, rushing into the bay. The MOTH was already tearing across the darkness, and the massive doors of the spaceport were closing.

  Both pilots were dead on the deck. Next to them, Perez lay on his back, the shield that had saved him so many times just a few feet away. Smoke drifted out of his helmet, from bolts that had come from his own rifle.

  Akira heard Apeiron talking about an evac, but he was hardly listening. He crouched and put a hand on Perez’s chest. Okami nestled up next to him and howled.

  “Apeiron, can you do something?” Akira asked. “Can you…”

  “I’m very sorry about Sergeant First Class Perez,” Apeiron said. “According to his vital readings, he has no brain activity. I fear any chance of mapping even the dead neurons was lost to the bolts that destroyed his brain. There is nothing I can do.”

  Akira bowed his head. There was no coming back from this, no way to bring him back like Ghost or Kichiro.

  “I’m so sorry, brother,” he whispered.

  Ghost and Frost arrived not long after, breathing heavily. They both leaned down and put hands on Perez. The Engines stayed with their dead comrade for a quiet moment, until the rumble of MOTH engines surged outside the sealed spaceport doors.

  They retracted, opening to the sight of a MOTH rising up, all four wings extended like the insect. The thrusters on the scaled wings belched blue flames as it hovered.

  Akira reached down to lift up his comrade and take him to their evac.

  “Let me help you,” Tadhg said.

  Okami howled, and Akira glanced up at the wing-mounted cannons rotating toward them.

  This wasn’t their evac.

  “Run!” Akira screamed. He picked up Perez’s shield and held it up in front of him and Okami. A burst of plasma bolts slammed into the shield, knocking Akira backward and onto the deck.

  Okami bolted away with Akira behind a row of crates. Hunching, Akira stared at the smoking hunks of gore a few feet away. It was all that remained of Perez. But even in death, he had helped save Akira by leaving his shield behind.

  “Apeiron, where’s that evac!” Akira yelled.

  “Four minutes.”

  “We aren’t going to last that long!” Tadhg shouted.

  “Apeiron, get us an exit route out of here on foot,” Akira said.

  Apeiron marked the hatch on their HUDs.

  Akira looked away from Perez and checked the exit route by peering around the crate. It wasn’t going to be easy to reach the opposite side of the sprawling cargo hold.

  Slowly, Akira rose for a view of the bulbous cockpit viewports of the MOTH. In the pilot’s seat was Dr. Cross, his toothless metal jaw set in a wide grin.

  Frost fired six .50-cal rounds into its windshield. Flashes of plasma erupted from the MOTH’s cannons and ripped into her position.

  “Over here, you small dicked Napoleon wannabee!” Tadhg stood and fired his plasma cannon at one of the wings, taking out one of the mounted cannons. He ducked back down, and the MOTH backed away, thrusters firing horizontally.

  Akira considered their two options. Make a run for the hatch and risk getting turned into pulp or jump out of the spaceport and jetpack to a lower sector.

  “We have to jet down to Sector 198,” Akira decided.

  “What?” Tadhg said. “Hell no!”

  Okami barked his agreement.

  “We jump or we die,” Akira said.

  Another flurry of bolts slammed into the deck around them, taking out an entire stack of crates and knocking Frost and Ghost to their backs.

  “I’ll lay down suppressing fire,” Akira said. “The rest of you get to Sector 198 with your packs!”

  He didn’t give them a chance to protest.

  Standing, he selected single-bolt ammo, aimed at the MOTH’s windshield, and fired right at Dr. Cross’s face. The concentrated fire cracked the glass and forced the doctor to jerk back on the controls, giving the team a chance to jump.

  Akira picked up Okami and darted for the edge of the open hangar, holding Perez’s smoking shield up. The MOTH rose back up, turrets raking plasma over the deck. Bolts pounded the shield Akira held out, shattering the curved edges.

  He ran right for the edge of the port and leapt into the dark of space with the damaged shield in one hand, and Okami cupped against his chest with his other.

  As they fell, his body rotated, giving him a view of the MOTH. It ascended, firing missiles into the other sectors. Flames and shrapnel burst outward as entire habitats buckled in the explosions. Dr. Cross kept flying higher, firing plasma and missiles into the sides of the AAS research sites and the E-Vault.

  Akira stared in horror as he realized what was happening.

  The psychotic doctor wasn’t just trying to destroy the work of Dr. Crichton.

  He was trying to bring down the space elevator.

  — 27 —

  The command center of Nova One Station bustled with activity. Jason was in the center of it all, trying to keep his cool as he analyzed the situation at Sector 199. Every eye in the room watched the holo-screen playing the live feed linked to the HUDs from the survivors of Shadow Squad. By some miracle, most had survived the ambush by Dr. Cross, but not all were lucky.

  Sergeant First Class Emilio Perez was dead, along with the guards of Sector 199, and the pilots of the stolen MOTH. The Canebrakes, too, were destroyed by Dr. Cross and the other prisoners.

  “How did they just escape?” Jason asked. “How is that possible?”

  “I’m not sure, Doctor,” General Chase replied. “I’ve pulled an entire squadron away from the asteroid defenses to search for the MOTH.”

  Jason shook his head, incredulous. By now, Dr. Cross could be anywhere. “Find that fucking bastard.”

  He wasn’t proud of the anger in his voice, or cursing, but he was losing his patience.

  “I said I’m working on it, but this wouldn’t have even happened if we had killed Doctor Cross when we had the chance,” Chase said.

  “This would never have happened, General, if you hadn’t left the station completely unguarded.”

  “Doctor Crichton, you know as well as I do that the Coalition has never been a threat in the sky, let alone two hundred miles above the surface. And I will remind you, that we pulled almost our entire force away just in case the Poseidon cannons don’t work to deal with the shards.”

  “I never said to pull all of your fighters away. And let me remind you, we also have the new Praying Mantis fighters to help.”

  Jason took a deep breath to calm down and re-focus.

  “What about the Canebrakes guarding the sector?” Chase said in less aggressive voice.

  The general glanced at the Hummer Droid for a split second, but he didn’t make any accusations. To the people in this room, AI was salvation.

  Still, Jason had the same question, and the General was right. The machines had also failed to protect the station.

  “Apeiron, do you have a theory?” Jason asked.

  “I believe some sort of electrical blast brought them down,” she replied. “However, I am still not certain.”

  Jason turned back to the holo-screens, putting his shaky hands in his pockets to hide his anger, and nerves.

  Sectors 198 and 197 had already been evacuated, their technicians and engineers returning to Earth in escape pods. Hummer Droids fought fires in Sectors 200 through 220, with damage reports continuing to flood in.

  “Sector 200 is compromised,” Apeiron said. “We have Hummer crews working—”

  On the holo-screen, another fiery blast burst from the port at the habitat. Humans flew out into the darkness, cartwheeling away from the flames.

  The room went quiet.

  “Sector 200 is gone,” Apeiron said.

  This won’t affect our defenses against Hros-1, Jason remind
ed himself, going over all of their safeguards in his head.

  The Poseidon cannons that would save Earth were primed and ready to fire. Most of the world’s population was sheltering. One hundred and one Life Arks with twenty thousand people each were secured underground, and one hundred thousand people were now citizens of Kepler Station on the Moon.

  The Nova Alliance Sky and Space Patrol was in position with most of the King Cobra Spaceplane fleet and a hundred new Praying Mantis fighters fresh off the assembly line.

  We’re still in control, Jason thought.

  But once again, Dr. Cross had thrown a wrench into his plans. He always seemed two steps ahead, but how, and what was his next step?

  The attack on Titan seemed to be a distraction… like the attacks at the megacities. All of these attacks were strategically planned when Nova Alliance Strike Forces were pulled away from the Titan Space Elevator to focus on Hros-1.

  It struck Jason then, that maybe these attacks were a distraction to keep the cannons from firing. He thought back to what Dr. Cross had said—that they should just let Hros-1 hit.

  “Madness,” he whispered.

  Jason continued to scan the damage reports, infuriated.

  You have to keep it together.

  Jason switched back to the view from Shadow Squad as they took a stairwell to Sector 196. Another explosion ripped through the sector, but he wasn’t worried about the integrity of the space elevator. It would take more than this to down Titan, and even the worst-case scenario wouldn’t affect the response to Hros-1.

  Jason checked the countdown: Sixteen hours, seven minutes, thirty seconds.

  There was still plenty of time before the asteroid, for both the Nova Alliance and for Dr. Cross, if he was planning something else.

  “Doctor, Betsy and your daughters are on a secure line for you,” Apeiron said.

  He cursed again, having forgotten about the call he had promised his family.

  “Put them through to the office,” Jason said.

  Chase glared at him as he left, but Jason didn’t care. He knew the Nova Alliance Strike Force was mostly responsible for letting Dr. Cross escape, not the AAS. And he wasn’t going to ignore his family for their mistake—especially now when they needed him, and he needed them.

  Jason rushed to his office, shut the hatch, and tapped the holo-screen.

  “Daddy!” Nina cried.

  Autumn wedged her way into the frame next to Nina. Betsy stood behind them, a look of worry on her face.

  “How are my two little princesses doing?” Jason asked.

  “I hate it down here,” Nina said. “I miss the sun, the real sun. I want to go home.”

  “Me too,” Autumn said.

  “It’s only for a bit longer,” Jason assured them.

  Betsy put a hand on each of the girls’ shoulder and said, “Let me talk to Daddy.”

  “Bye, girls. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you,” Jason said.

  “Love you,” Nina said.

  “Bye, I love you,” Autumn said.

  Jason massaged one of his temples as the girls walked away.

  Betsy leaned into the camera. “What’s going on out there?” she asked. “I’m worried, Jason. I heard there’s been an attack on the space elevator.”

  “The situation’s under control,” Jason said. “By this time tomorrow this will all be over, and I’m going to take a long vacation with you and the girls. I was thinking Megacity Rome.”

  Betsy bit the side of her lip. “Really? No work at all? Don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

  “I’m not. You have my word.”

  She smiled. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “Go finish this.”

  “I’ll talk to you soon,” Jason said. “Take care of the girls for me.”

  “Be careful.”

  Sighing deeply with relief, he left his office, feeling confident.

  But when he returned to the Command Center, his confidence rushed out of him like air through an open airlock. On the holo-screen, more explosions rocked the upper sectors of the space elevator, one after another, billions of dollars of equipment and droids destroyed before their eyes.

  “Jason,” Apeiron said in a calm voice. “The elevator is compromised.”

  “How many sectors?” he asked.

  “All of them,” Chase said.

  ***

  Emergency alarms blared through the dark passages of Sector 196. The Titan Space Elevator was coming down, and Shadow Squad was trying to find a ride off the doomed station.

  “There’s a MOTH two levels down at Sector 194,” Frost said.

  “Yes, but the pilots are about to take off,” Apeiron said. “I have diverted another MOTH to help evacuate the remaining crews at the hangar, but you will have to hurry.”

  Akira forced his way through a passage, knocking away fallen panels with Perez’s damaged shield he still gripped in his hand. Sparks showered his armor. Okami squeezed under a pile of debris and growl-barked on the other side.

  “No way through,” Akira said.

  “I’ll make one,” Tadhg said.

  He lowered a shoulder, slammed into the heaps of twisted metal, and powered his way through, collapsing to the deck. Ghost and Akira helped the big Irishman up.

  At the end of the passage, a team of black and yellow Hummer Droids battled fires in the next corridor. Smoke drifted toward them. Akira waited until his INVS sight compensated. He found the next hatch Apeiron had marked and scanned for heat on the other side.

  “Clear,” he said.

  The stairwell led to Sector 195. He started down it, moving fast. At the third landing, the hulls groaned.

  “Oh… shit,” Akira muttered.

  “Captain, wait—” Apeiron started to shout.

  The voice was drowned out by an explosion. The hatch and hull burst outward. Air and debris vented out all around his armored frame as Akira activated the magnets on his boots to keep him from joining the pieces of habitat.

  He picked up Okami and secured the wolfdog to his chest rig.

  “Got ya,” Akira said.

  Metal ripped past them and into the jagged window blown out of the habitat. Below, they had a perfect view of the cold darkness and Earth.

  Heart thumping, Akira slowly back-pedaled into the stairwell with the rest of the squad.

  At the next landing, Tadhg opened the hatch. They passed through and Akira slammed it shut, muffling the distant explosions. In the quiet, he picked up the sound of screaming.

  The crews stationed here had mostly bailed already, but a quick scan revealed five of the escape pods had been damaged.

  Another rumble rocked the elevator. The spin-gravity was still active, but for how long, Akira wasn’t sure. The integrity of the station was compromised.

  They had to hurry.

  “Let’s go!” he yelled.

  The next passage was blocked by rubble. Trapped under a jagged flap of metal was a body. Tadhg hefted it off a man in a vacuum-rated suit.

  “I’ve got ya, mate,” Tadhg said. He threw the man over a shoulder.

  They found another injured technician not far away. Ghost picked her up, cradling the woman like a child in his grip.

  The emergency lights flickered off from a violent quake. Their faceplates activated, and their INVS eyes adjusted to the black.

  Akira followed a new route from Apeiron on his HUD. Another team of Hummer Droids clanked down the deck at an intersection ahead. They stopped to let the squad through.

  Two more intersections and three hatches got them to the final stairwell that led to Sector 194. Akira loped down and then jumped to the bottom landing.

  A roar like an approaching train came from the other side of the hatch, followed by a guttural crunching that shook the enclosed stairs. Tadhg twisted the hatch handle and opened it above the hangar.

  The noise they had just heard was a piec
e of another habitat slamming into the open deck below. Hunks of metal the size of houses battered the deck. A group of rescue workers ran toward the MOTH starting to take off from the center of the spaceport.

  Akira tried to scream a warning, but they never heard his voice. A hunk of cartwheeling debris slammed into the deck, carving through the metal. He ducked down in the stairwell with the shield to take cover as the entire spaceport groaned under the stress of the destruction.

  When Akira got back up, the deck was gone and with it, the MOTH. Only a streak of red remained where the rescue workers had been.

  Two hundred miles below the missing deck was the dark surface of Earth.

  “Oh, that’s just fucking great,” Tadhg said. “What the hell do we do now?”

  “The final MOTH is ten sectors below,” Apeiron said. “You will have to get to that if you want off the station.”

  Akira saw its thrusters firing in the darkness. “That MOTH is moving.”

  “Yes,” Apeiron confirmed.

  “So send it up here!” Tadhg shouted.

  “It is too dangerous with all the debris,” Apeiron said. “You will have to jump.”

  “You want us to jump on a moving MOTH?” Tadhg roared.

  “If we miss, we’re going to turn into corn dogs on reentry,” Frost said.

  “Don’t miss,” Ghost said. He waddled up next to Akira, gripping the technician. “Hold on tight! AYYYYYY-ohhhhhhhhhh!”

  Frost shrugged, saying nothing, and jumped. Tadhg hesitated with the technician still draped over his shoulder. Akira could see that he wasn’t going willingly. He took one hand off Okami and grabbed Tadhg by the arm with the other, yanking him out before he could protest.

  “You asshole!” Tadhg screamed.

  The squad plummeted into the darkness. They had trained in high altitudes, but landing on a moving MOTH at this height, with injured people and a droid wasn’t part of it.

  Akira speared through the air toward the black Earth, debris hurtling around him with Okami secured to his chest and Perez’s shield secured to his back.

  “The pilots have your positions and are going to pick you up one at a time,” Apeiron said. “Stay calm and remember your training.”

  “They better be damn good!” Ghost said.