*
By now, the guards would be returning to their posts. They’d sealed off the hull breach and figured out that no one boarded the station. They’d reached the command center and discovered that Seth’s call for help was a ruse. Commissar Absalom may have even re-established communications with them and informed them that Seth was the real threat. At best, they would be securing the other parts of the station. At worst, they would be after him en masse.
Seth moved through the hall slowly. He held his pistol in his left hand, extended towards the nearby door. His right hand, wrapped in the kinetic glove, hovered near the barrel of the weapon. He was ready to react at the first sign of trouble, though he wasn’t sure what that would mean.
The guards were just doing their job. They weren’t responsible for any of this. They served the Republic, but that didn’t mean they deserved to die. Seth hoped he wouldn’t have to kill any of them. But if they got in his way, he wouldn’t hesitate to take the necessary measures. The fate of humanity itself was at stake.
Seth was sure he would fail. The repair bay housing the I.S.S. Monitor was too far away. But it didn’t matter any more. Even if he stopped now, he would spend the rest of his life in prison for treason. He had to keep going, even if he was marching to his own death.
A soft swishing noise alerted Seth to a door near the left end of the hall. He turned just in time to see a heavyset man in a dark red uniform step from the adjacent passage. He was carrying a laser rifle. Seth didn’t hesitate. He flung his right arm around and flicked his index finger forward. A blast of energy flew from the kinetic glove and slammed the guard into the wall.
Before the large man could react, Seth rushed forward. He tucked his pistol into his jacket and grabbed the guard’s laser rifle. He swung the weapon around and pointed it at its former owner.
For just a second, he considered killing the guard. It would be easy enough. One blast from the laser rifle would take him out in an instant. He probably wouldn’t even feel any pain, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to do anything to get in Seth’s way again.
Seth couldn’t do it. Not like this. Not with the man staring up at him, defenseless. Seth lowered the rifle and thrust his right palm towards the guard. He triggered the kinetic glove and slammed the guard’s head into the bulkhead behind him.
He’d be knocked unconscious for a few minutes and he might have some minor brain damage, but it was nothing the medics couldn’t fix if they got to him in time. And it was better than the alternative.
Now the clock was really ticking. Once the guard woke up, he’d be able to get to a radio and tell every soldier on the station where Seth was headed. Seth couldn’t waste any more time. He broke into a run towards the repair bay, still clutching the laser rifle against his body with his left arm.
Seth knew every passageway to take and every checkpoint to avoid. As the adrenaline surged in his veins, he could see everything clearly. It was all coming together...just as long as no one got in his way.
Seth turned the corner and looked down the long hallway towards the doors of the repair bay. This was it. All he had to do was make it to the end of the hall. Then the I.S.S. Monitor would be his for the taking.
A door to his left slid open. Seth twisted his arm around and triggered the kinetic glove. Before he even saw the Republic soldier, Seth picked him up off of the ground. He lifted him into the air and pulled him out into the middle of the hall.
The guard froze as he hovered several feet from the floor. He was carrying a laser rifle, too, but was so panicked that he didn’t even try to use it. Instead, he just stared at Seth. He watched and waited for Seth it kill him.
Seth wasn’t going to do it. He was just going to throw him against the bulkhead like the last guard, knock him out, buy a little time... But then the repair bay doors started to slide open. His instincts kicked in. Seth raised his laser rifle at the levitating guard and pulled the trigger.
The corridor lit up as a flash of red energy flew from the tip of the weapon and struck the man in the chest. Almost immediately, Seth pulled back his right hand, disengaging the kinetic glove. The guard fell to the ground in a heap, dead.
“Hey!” The doors to the repair bay were almost completely open. Two more Republic soldiers were looking at Seth, but they weren’t moving to stop him. At least not yet. Even after they saw him kill one of their comrades, they were still paralyzed.
There wasn’t any more time for mercy. Seth raised the rifle and peered down the sight. Before they could even move, Seth squeezed off two more shots.
Once again, the elite soldiers of the Republic were undone by their training. They saw Seth, still dressed in his military uniform, attacking a fellow serviceman. This wasn’t something they trained for. Republic soldiers did not turn on each other. They couldn’t react. They couldn’t even fight back.
Seth lowered the rifle and charged forward. His mind was spinning, trying to rationalize what he’d just done. A few months ago, he’d killed two of the attackers just outside the Mid-Canada zone. Seth didn’t feel anything then. The doctors and psychologists told him that he should feel remorseful or depressed, anxious and traumatized. It just didn’t happen. After all, he had been defending himself. It was him or the men trying to kill him.
This time was different, but Seth didn’t feel any of the things the experts talked about. Instead, he was angry. All of this felt so pointless. None of it had to happen. No one had to die. If only the Republic had acted reasonably, if only they hadn’t forced Seth to do all of this, then they would still be alive. For that matter, so would the attackers in the Mid-Canada zone.
They wouldn’t be the only ones who would die. The casualties of the Fall were just beginning. The trade routes were critically important to the survival of several colonized worlds. Many of them didn’t produce enough food to support their population and relied upon interplanetary imports. The relocation didn’t redistribute the population across the galaxy enough to solve this problem.
Seth’s fury propelled him into the repair bay. He’d already killed the two guards stationed near the I.S.S. Monitor. The only people left in the bay were the workers. As soon as they saw Seth, they immediately put their hands up and surrendered. Unlike the guards, they were not trained to fight for the Republic. They weren’t going to lay down their lives to protect the starship. That wasn’t their job.
None of that was important. If Seth had to, he would have killed the workers too. It wasn’t their fault. They didn’t deserve it. But it was necessary. It had to be done. The ship was what was mattered. It had to survive. If he failed now, everything would be for naught.
As Seth looked up at the I.S.S. Monitor, he felt his heart jump. It was a small ship, but there was something nevertheless majestic about it. The chassis was thin, barely reinforced, and there were no weapon systems or shields to speak of. But it also was devoid of Republic regalia. Even the tell-tale red flag near the aft of the ship was rather small. All of this was overwhelmed by the throbbing purple glow of the Heilmann Drive.
The ship was still in working order. The workmen hadn’t even started stripping the bulkhead panels. It was ready to fly off of the station. This should have felt like victory for Seth. But it wasn’t enough.
No matter what Seth did, even if he was successful in saving this last ship, he could not prevent the coming starvation. He could not stop the upheaval. One starship, especially a small one, was not enough to save all the people who would suffer from the thoughtless and cowardly decision by the Republic to abandon faster-than-light travel. All he could do was save the engine and hope to rebuild the great society that they dismantled.
Thinking about this just made Seth even angrier. He flung his right arm around and pointed his palm at one of the workmen.
“Extend the docking tunnel,” Seth growled. He flicked his little
finger just enough so that the man would feel the pulse of the kinetic glove against his skin. “And don’t make me ask you twice.”
The worker didn’t need to be told twice. He hurried over to the console near the back of the repair bay and started typing in commands.
A door on the edge of the room slid open. A long jetway emerged from the door and snaked up towards the airlock on the side of the I.S.S. Monitor.
“Start disengaging the docking clamps,” Seth shouted at the other worker, pointing the laser rifle at his chest. The nervous-looking man glanced towards the dead bodies near the entrance to the repair bay. That was all the convincing he needed. He ran towards the moorings that secured the Monitor and began to dismantle them.
When he finished with the first clamp, the worker looked back at Seth. “What do you think you’re going to do? Do you really think you can get away with this?”
“I don’t have a choice,” Seth replied. “This is the last Heilmann Drive. They can’t build any more. If I let you take this apart, we may never travel the stars again.”
The worker froze. He looked right at Seth, examining him closely for the first time. “Wait... Aren’t you the one who was telling us this would all be fine? Week after week, you appeared on those awful broadcasts and said that the Fall was for the best, and that it wasn’t permanent.”
Seth gritted his teeth. “I lied. Hurry up.”
“But wasn’t your job to protect us? You said they can’t build another starship. Weren’t you supposed to prevent that from happening?”
“That’s what I’m doing right now.” Seth shook the laser rifle at the worker. “And I need you to quit talking because I don’t have much time.”
The covered jetway reached the starship’s airlock and connected with a loud thunk! The man operating the docking controls sighed. “If the guards aren’t here, it means they’re just waiting to shoot you out of the sky.”
Seth felt his stomach lurch. He was probably right. The Republic had three squadrons of low-atmosphere fighters at Europa station. A few laser blasts or a single missile would be enough to bring down the Monitor. It didn’t have any shields. It was barely armored.
“Then they will shoot me out of the sky,” Seth said, swallowing his fear. “So what? Would that be any worse than what will happen to this ship if I do nothing?”
He started to walk towards the jetway, and the two workers just watched him. Seth lowered the laser rifle and started to take the kinetic glove off of his right hand. They weren’t going to try and stop him. They were on his side.
Seth ran up the jetway towards the airlock. Before he was even there, the workers opened the door for him. Just like the citizens in the dance hall, they wanted to see him succeed. They were on his side.
Faster Than Light: Babel Among the Stars Page 21