by L S Roebuck
She half expected the door to be locked from the outside, but the door came open, and Amberly peered down the central corridor, which ran the length of Firebird. She could see the door to the bridge open at the far end, so she started to make her way along the ship.
Nowhere near as cramped as a corvette, the runabout boasted a luxurious 300 square meters of cabin space over two decks. The top deck had sleeping quarters, galley, navigation and communications centers, and the bridge. The lower deck had engineering, life support resources, a cargo hold, two escape pods, a small lounge, and the airlock for docking with ships that had no hangars. The airlock also could be depressurized to allow direct access to space.
Because Marines could theoretically commandeer this ship, the airlock room had a small armory. It was more of a locked hard case, but when stocked, it could carry enough stun weapons for everyone on board to arm themselves.
Amberly peered through the open hatch onto the bridge. Three small circular windows opened to the bow of the ship, offering a natural view of straight ahead, slightly port, and slightly starboard. Visual confirmation was rarely used however, as the Firebird was mostly piloted by sensors and navigational computers. Three chairs were tightly arranged in a U-shape that put each station roughly in sync with one of the windows. On a minimalist pillar in front of each chair was an interface pad, enabling authorized personnel to pull up the appropriate controls.
When the controls were activated, any number of floating pixels (small, reflective metallic bits) would arrange, directed by a complex magnetic system, into various screens on various planes perpendicular to the physical interface pad. Tiny lasers would be shot from the pad, and then reflected or refracted into visible light by the floating pixels, creating a three-dimensional screen. Motion sensors would then track the user’s hands relative to the floating pixels to register input. A hand inserted though a floating pixel screen would feel little resistance, like pushing hand though dust in the air. When the hand was removed, the magnetic screen controllers would rearrange any pixels in the wrong place in a few milliseconds.
Amberly was not a pilot, but she had been around ships enough with her father to know what the three stations typically were. The navigator was responsible for programming the destination into the ship’s computers and performing traditional, manual piloting when necessary. From the engineering station, all the ships vitals could be maintained, including running the anti-matter reactor, life support and artificial gravity. The captain’s chair on a Valkyrie-class ship would be able to access all the commands of engineering and navigation, in addition to communication (shipwide and ship to ship) and basic weapons systems (if the ship was carrying weapons). The Firebird had no real offensive weapons to speak of. It did have a repulsor beam, which could tap the artificial gravity field generator to push any asteroids or attacking ships off course.
Only Sparks was on the bridge, sitting in the command chair. She turned to look at Amberly. “Hey. Joti let you out of your cell? Pick a seat.”
Amberly sat down in the vacant engineering chair. “So, you’re like Dek. You really believe in the Chasm cause?”
“Sure. Chasm is where the action is. Dek wants to change history. That’s great, I am just jazzed to be here. And believe me, things are about to get exciting.”
“So Dek is in this because he believes he is making better worlds, and you are in this for … an adrenaline rush?”
“People aren’t that simple. We have complex motivations. Joti has his … secrets. And Dek’s mind I can’t figure out. For example, Dek really likes you,” Sparks smiled. “Why is that? He hardly knows you, and he’s never expressed any interest in long-term relationships. What do you think?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Amberly said, looking out a window with the Spencer Belt appearing larger as they sped closer.
“Hmm… you’re not bad to look at,” Sparks thought aloud. “Maybe it’s your hair. Not many redheads on Arara — at least not natural ones. Of course, it could be that he likes you because he’s obsessed with your mother. We all are, to some degree. She … was an incredible woman.”
“She was. Mom was the most important person in my life when she left,” Amberly said in Sparks direction, but not really to Sparks. Amberly peered down at some readouts on the engineering monitor. “We are going to Sonnet?”
“Yep, to Fuente’s Station,” Sparks said.
“Why am I here? You are not going to kill me are you?” Amberly said, nonchalantly considering the topic.
“Kill you?” Sparks seemed tickled at the idea. “She’d be real pissed if we killed you.”
“Who? The … chairman?”
“The Chairman? Don’t have any delusions of grandeur. I doubt she even knows you exist. Besides, I don’t think Dek would let us kill you.”
“But you are going to kill people?” Amberly asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the morbid question.
“Well, I hope not,” Sparks smiled. “But it may be unavoidable. You must understand that freedom from tyranny is worth dying for. And I suppose anything worth dying for is worth killing for. That anything is often a lot of fun, too.”
“Taking life and giving up your own life are not morally equivalent,” Amberly said, sort of taken aback by Sparks’ ethical calculus. “Tell me what you guys are doing — tell me what mom’s mission was — and maybe I’ll understand and maybe I can help.”
“The Magellan mission leader will want to tell you personally. That’s who we are picking up,” Sparks said.
“But Joti said he was the leader of Chasm on Magellan,” Amberly said.
“Joti was the ranking operative on Magellan, but he is not our leader. Speak of the devil —”
Joti and Dek marched onto the bridge. Amberly stood.
Dek was wearing another khaki jumpsuit, slightly darker in color than the one he wore when he and Amberly first met. Joti, on the other hand, had completely transformed himself. He was clean-shaven, with pressed black pants and a white, traditional Zhongshan jacket. His hair was smartly parted; his teeth were freshly whitened.
“Dressed to impress, Joti?” Sparks asked. Joti ignored Sparks, who turned to Dek. “What brings you boys to the bridge?”
“My proximity alarm indicated we were getting close to Sonnet,” Dek said.
“Look outside,” Sparks indicated to Dek. “See for yourself.”
Sonnet loomed larger as the Firebird sped toward the large asteroid.
“You sure you know how to land this thing?” Dek asked.
“Please, I’ve logged, like, 300 hours on the simulator,” Sparks said back to Dek. “I could do it with my eyes closed.”
“I thought Fuente’s Station was abandoned,” Amberly said aloud to no one specifically.
“Oh, officially it is,” Sparks said to Amberly, and then turned to Dek, who was sitting in the navigator’s chair now. “Have you seen the all clear land code?”
Dek was peering through the closest portal to his station, and Amberly moved behind him and looked as well. They were making a pass at Fuente’s Station, but moving way too fast to land.
A quick flash of light came from the station.
“I got her,” Dek responded.
“Magellan chief, this is Dek Tigona,” Dek spoke into his open channel comm. “Please confirm visual signal, over.”
“Wait, I saw the same thing when I was here with North, the same flash,” Amberly said. “Was that a signal?”
“Yes, and because you didn’t know what it was, the commander wasn’t compromised, and could go silent,” Joti offered. “Now that she knows we are friendly, she’ll give the all clear signal.”
Just then from what appeared to be a main window on the station, came a series of three flashes, followed by a single flash.
Dek spoke into his comm unit again. “Confirmed chief. We need to dust off quickly, so no time for a social visit. Also, we don’t know if our automatic docking clamps are working properly, so we are going to recommend a spacewalk
out to us once we touch down. Please double flash for confirmation.”
Two flashes of light quickly followed from the surface.
“Confirmed, chief. Pack your things, it’s time to make history,” Dek replied, and then switched off the comm. “Let’s set her down nice and gentle, okay Sparks?”
“Three hundred hours, moron.”
The final descent was quick, and soon the Firebird was resting on skids and anchored to the surface of Sonnet. Gravity on the asteroid was barely perceivable.
Amberly peered though the center portal and could make out a lone figure in a space suit, low-gravity bouncing towards the Firebird. Dek and Sparks seemed very excited, but Joti was visibly nervous. Sparks noticed his nervousness and sighed aloud.
Amberly moved to be close to Dek.
“What is Joti nervous about?” she said under her breath. “And why did he… clean up?”
“Wow. You asking me that particular question at this particular time has to create some ironic rip in the space/time continuum somewhere,” Dek frowned.
Amberly was genuinely confused, “What?”
“I don’t know how to explain this in a fashion that won’t become profoundly awkward. Let’s just say that Joti was an old boyfriend of the Magellan chief. Well, at least in his mind. I am reasonably sure she just used him. It was a long time ago; long before I knew the Magellan chief.”
Amberly glanced at the suited figure on the surface. She would be at the ship’s airlock in a minute or less.
“Does the chief answer to the Chairman on Arara?” she continued her interrogation of Dek.
“Well, yes. All the Chasm waypoint chiefs report directly to the Chairman,” Dek said. “But of course they have some huge degree of autonomy because of the message lag.”
“Every waypoint has Chasm agents?”
“No, no. Just Gilbert, Magellan, Cortes, and Marquette.”
“Why only those four?”
“We didn’t want to let our eyes get bigger than our stomachs.”
A computer spoke at the engineering station, where Joti was now seated. “Agent Raven One is requesting Airlock access.”
Sparks spoke into her comm unit. “Sparks to Raven One. Confirmation code is: Alpha-Two-Tango-Zeta-Zero-Zero-Beta. Please reply with the response code.”
A female replied, but the signal was practically inaudible because of tremendous amount of static.
“She’s a few meters away,” Dek said. “How come we can’t hear her? What if this is a trap or something?”
“Who the hell else would be out here?” Joti said, the edginess in his voice hanging in the air. “Let her in!”
“Be quiet!” Sparks commanded. She took out a set of headphones and placed them over her ears so she could hear the woman more clearly. “Sparks to Raven One. Can you repeat? There was a lot of static on your last transmission. Please repeat the response code.”
Dek, Joti and Amberly watched Sparks nod her head, but they couldn’t hear what she was hearing. “Yes, I can hear you now. Good. Thanks. Code checks. Welcome back Chief. We have a surprise for you. Opening the airlock now.”
Sparks turned to the engineering station. “Go ahead Joti. Let her in.”
Joti stuck his hands into the engineering holoscreen and inputted the codes to allow ship access. He then stood up and made for the aft ladder to descend to the lower level. Sparks quickly followed Joti. To depressurize the airlock only took a few minutes, and they both wanted to be there to welcome back their chief.
Dek looked like he was going to bolt after his comrades, but instead turned and faced Amberly. She reached out and took his hand.
“Dek, I am frightened. What are you guys doing? Are people going to die? Am I in danger?”
As she finished the last question, Dek’s face of concern turned to one of amusement.
“Amberly, I promise I will not let any harm come to you,” Dek said. “And I suspect that the chief will work twice as hard as I would to keep you safe.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Come down and meet her. She’ll answer all your questions.”
“I’ve heard that before, but so far you have been just leading me on,” Amberly said, frustrated. “I don’t know who taught you progressive values, but my mother clearly indicated that honesty was near the top of the list.”
“Funny you should mention that. No, Amberly, by bringing you down here I am fulfilling a promise to you, and to her.”
“A promise to my mother?” Amberly asked, the pronoun reference unclear.
“To the Magellan chief,” Dek corrected.
She followed Dek back down the upper level access hall to the aft access port to the lower level. The port in the deck floor was round and had a hinged door attached. The door was entirely mechanical and could only be opened manually. It could be sealed from the top with a latch lock, but otherwise could be opened from both sides.
This was Amberly’s first time on the lower deck. A hall parallel to the one on the top floor ran the length of the ship. In the bow, situated immediately below the bridge was the airlock. Amberly and Dek walked that way, and Amberly could see the chief — Raven One – was talking with Joti. Her back was facing Amberly, as was Sparks. Joti’s face she could see, and he was clearly crying.
Raven One was still in her space suit, though she had already removed her helmet and gloves. Amberly noticed she had in her hand one of the little code breaker key boxes like the one Dek had used the night Amberly met him.
Amberly stopped two meters short of the group, not wanting to interrupt what was clearly a private and awkward conversation. Dek also stopped, a pace behind Amberly.
“If she is onboard, he definitely cannot stay with us,” Raven One said, pointing a finger at Joti. “And she is here?”
That voice, that voice, Amberly thought, and shook her head, as if to clear it.
“She’s here,” Sparks said.
“Joti, fetch me a gun,” Raven One said, pointing at the armory locker in the airlock room.
“Are you going to shoot me?” Joti said, his voice trembling.
“Joti, Joti,” Raven One said, sweetly and condescendingly at the same time. “I am not going shoot you. Why would I do that? And if I was going shoot you, why would you even hand me a gun?”
It’s her voice. Amberly’s heart started beating rapidly, and she stood watching the scene unfold, paralyzed.
The muscles in Sparks arms and legs tensed, like a predator about to pounce on her prey.
“You know why. I’d give you the gun because I love you. I’d do anything for you,” Joti said, through blubbering tears.
“Then get me the gun,” Raven One said, calmly and coolly.
“The armory is locked,” Joti said, looking though the open interior airlock door at the metallic box inside.
“I’ll unlock it for you,” Raven One sighed, and punched some code in her key box, which then transmitted a signal to unlock the armory.
“Just do it Joti,” Sparks said. “There are probably no guns in there anyway. I don’t think the Marines keep it stocked.”
“Go to hell!” Joti said to Sparks, and he stepped into the airlock and reached for the unlocked armory door.
Dek quietly stepped behind the speechless Amberly and embraced her, putting his arms around her and locking his hands together at mid-torso. She was so entranced by what was going on, she didn’t notice Dek securing her.
Joti’s back was to Raven One and Sparks now, and Raven One lifted her hacking device again and punched in another code.
At the same time, Joti opened the armory door to reveal that Sparks was indeed right; no weapons were to be had in the locker. Just as he turned around to show the empty container to the women standing just outside the airlock, the interior airlock door slid shut.
Joti’s eyes became wide and he immediately started pounding on the window of the closed door. Raven One just shook her head as the airlock computer started the normal airlock safety count down.<
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“Confirm initiate ten seconds until chamber decompression,” the computer spoke.
“No! Don’t start it!” Joti screamed.
Raven One typed some commands into her box again, and the computer ignored Joti.
“Ten…”
“But Raven One, I love you…”
“Eight”
“And you said you loved me…”
“Six”
“I don’t love you, you moron,” Raven One said, spittle from her mouth spraying on the airlock window. “I never loved you. You are now and always were a tool. Now die miserably. You failed me, so you failed Chasm.”
“Two”
“No. No. No.” Joti banged the window desperately. “I love you Kimberly! I love you! I —”
A klaxon sounded. The atmosphere, far too valuable to be vented, was sucked into vacuum canisters, a process which took about 10 seconds.
Amberly screamed. “No! Why would you kill someone?!” She started to thrash, but Dek restrained her.
Raven One swung around. “Amberly!” she shouted. “Oh my…”
Amberly looked at Raven One and the asphyxiating Joti, floating in clear view in the window behind her.
Raven One was Kimberly Macready, her mother.
“Mom. But... I thought you were… you were … dead.”
Kimberly Macready grew flush with anger and glared at Sparks, then at Dek.
“Mom… he’s dying!” Amberly pointed to the airlock.
Dek whispered in Amberly’s ear, “He’s been a dead man walking for years.”
“Dek, go lock her in a sleeping room or an escape pod. Do it now! I can’t deal with this,” Kimberly barked at the man restraining her younger daughter.
Dek responded by pulling Amberly, who was now crying and thrashing, away from Kimberly. Amberly was strong, but Dek managed to drag her away with some exertion.