by Nathan Pedde
“Keep going,” Des said.
Elsie’s feet left his as she slid forward down the air vent.
“Left or right?” Elsie asked.
“I have no idea,” Des replied, “Go left.”
“Okay.”
Des put his feet into the right pathway of the air vent. With his body on the right path, he saw Elsie's feet and rear end sliding its way through the air vent in front of him.
“Nice bum,” Des said.
He regretted the words almost as soon as he said them. He had meant to say then in his head.
“What?” Elsie said, “I thought you were going backward?”
“I turned around,” Des said, “It should be easier this way.”
"Well," Elsie said, "keep your eyes to yourself."
Des looked at the metal of the vent. He felt the cheeks of his face turn red.
"Sorry," Des said.
Elsie nodded and continued sliding forward through the air vent.
After a few moments, Elsie stopped.
“There is good news and bad news,” Elsie said.
“Bad news?” Des said.
“We’re at the end of the vent,” Elsie said.
“How’s that bad? And what’s the good news.”
“The good news is we’re at the end of the vent,” Elsie said.
“I’m confused,” Des said.
“The vent is high up on the wall and near the airlock at the end of the hallway,” Elsie said.
"How’s that possible?" Des asked.
"I don't know," Elsie said, "Maybe the corridor isn't level and drops downward. I don't know."
“Crap,” Des said, “If we take the vent off, the noise will alert those three, and we’ll be trapped again.”
“What choices do we have?” Elsie said.
Des was silent for a moment, he hated the options before him. They had no connection to Cooley and Cryslis. They hadn’t sounded any type of alarm to them, which meant they didn’t know they’re in danger.
“Oh shit,” Elsie said.
A loud metal crash echoed through the room from the hallway.
“What was that?” Des asked.
“I only touched the bloody thing,” Elsie said, “The grate just fell off.”
“Go. Get into the hallway,” Des said.
Elsie slid herself out of the air vent and into the hallway before Des knew it. Des followed quickly behind.
Des fell down out of the air vent and landed on his hands and arms. He pulled himself off of the floor and onto his feet.
“Where now?” Elsie asked.
Des looked around at his surroundings. The hallway was narrow and straight, it looked much like the rest of the Undercroft’s corridors in the sector.
“Down this way,” Airnee’s voice echoed from down the hallway, “I told you I wasn’t playing a prank!”
Des looked at Elsie.
“Into the airlock,” Des said.
“That’s a bad idea,” Elsie said, “I don’t want to get spaced.”
“There should be space suits in there right?” Des said.
“For emergency purposes,” Elsie said.
“I think this qualifies,” Des said, “We can beg forgiveness later.”
“Fine.”
Des ran into the airlock pre-chamber and shut the door behind him. He turned to the keypad of the door and started searching through menus. After a few moments, he found the one he was looking for. He locked the door with a couple clicks and then locked the pad behind him.
Elsie went straight to the lockers marked emergency supplies.
“These are adult suits,” Elsie said, “This isn’t going to work for me.”
Des looked at the locker, and the air suit was hung up on the hook.
“They’re model seven’s,” Des said, “They have some auto-fit tech.”
He put on the suit, it was a simple concept with a large zipper and seal down the front. The suite was reasonably large, but it managed to squeeze down to his size.
A loud banging echoed on the other side of the door.
“Come out of there,” Airnee said, “We’ll not hurt you.”
Des ignored them and turned back to Elsie.
“What about the camera?” Elsie said referring to her camera that sat abandoned on a bench.
She was in her suit, but it wasn’t done up yet. The arms hung loosely on her shoulders.
“Stuff it down the front of the suit,” Des said.
“Okay.”
Des put on his helmet, but the suit didn’t pressurize. A digital screen lit up on the helmet's display.
“Emergency suit. Authorized use only,” the suit said in his ears, “Enter authorization code.”
“Des O'Neal. Security agent,” Des said.
“Voice authentication,” the Suit said, “Send a message to the Security office?”
“Negative,” Des said, “Route all messages to secure line zelda alpha niner and hold until told otherwise.”
“Acknowledged,” the Suit said.
Des felt the suit pressurize around him.
“You ready?” Des said to Elsie.
“Yes,” She said, “the suit didn’t want to pressurize, but it works now.”
Des opened the airlock door. The airlock was a small room about the size of a small elevator. It was big enough for only five people in spacesuits to stand in.
Elsie stood next to him as the airlock door slammed shut. Elsie grabbed hold of his hand as they looked out the window back into the station.
“Keep hold of me,” Des said, “Let's not get separated.”
“Is my comm to you good?” Elsie asked.
“Comm's good,” Des said, “We’ll be able to talk to each other at least.”
Elsie nodded.
“I’m scared,” Elsie said, “I’ve never been out in space.”
“Me neither,” Des said, “But each sector’s Undercroft is exactly the same as the one before.”
“Oh,” Elsie said, “So we float in space while the station rotates around and we go into another sector?"
"I hope so," Des said.
Des smiled and pushed a button. A red light flashed as the airlock de-pressurized.
“Step out in three, two, one,” Des said.
The door flashed open as Des stepped out of the airlock. Elsie followed with, her arms wrapped around him.
The airlock flew away from Des as he floated in space with Elsie.
Des turned his head, and Jupiter lit his helmet’s visor. The yellows and reds of the clouds of Jupiter made his jaw drop.
“Elsie,” Des said, “Open your eyes and look at the view.”
“Holy crap,” Elsie said, “That’s beautiful.”
“Des!” A Cryslis’s voice screamed in his head from the Neuronet.
“Ahh,” Des screamed as he flinched.
“What?” Elsie said.
Des turned to Elsie, “It’s Cryslis on the Net.”
Elsie nodded.
“Oh thank Jupiter,” Cryslis said, “You’re safe. You went dark, and we have been trying to find you. Cooley is on his way to the Undercroft. Where are you?”
“Umm…” Des said, “About that-”
“I’ll use the tracking to find you,” Cryslis said, then a moment later, “This system is screwed. It says you’re outside the station.”
“We’re outside the station,” Des said.
“What,” Cryslis screamed.
“Wait until I tell you what we found out,” Des said.
“We have it,” Cryslis said, “Elsie sent us an encryption package about three minutes ago.”
“Really?” Des said, “Elsie, how did you send the data?”
“I tried to send it before I suited up, but it failed. I set up a repeat. Just in case,” Elsie said.
“Good thinking,” Des said.
Des tried to move, but he couldn’t.
“Well,” Cryslis said over the Net, “get back into the station before Station Security
finds out. I don’t want to have to explain this mess.”
“Cryslis, we do have a problem,” Des said.
“Did you remember the jetpacks?” Cryslis asked.
“They’re still in the airlock,” Des said, “But that’s only our temporary problem. Our main problem is that the mysterious man almost had us.”
“That's not good," Cryslis said, "But I’ll do what I can. It might take a bit.”
“Des,” Elsie said, “Please tell Cryslis to hurry. I really need to pee.”
***
Des and Elsie had waited an hour before a security ship came by and picked them up.
In that time, Des had floated a ways away from the station. Elsie still had clawed onto his suit to stay with him. He enjoyed the experience, the sights he could see was amazing.
Elsie looked like she didn’t like the experience.
When Des had first stepped out of the airlock, he could see only the metal of the hull rushing by. By the time he spotted the station security ship moving towards him, the station had shrunk into the distance. He could see the entirety of the outside of the station with Jupiter in the background. In the distance were two of the terraformed moons. Des wasn’t sure which two, but the entire sight was breathtaking.
The security ship opened up and a half squad of security personnel opened up the back. They were dressed in armored security suites equipped with jetpacks. Two floated over with tethers in their hands.
They grabbed Des and Elsie and pulled them in. The entire operation took them forty minutes to when Des and Elsie floated in a corner in the security bay in the Station spindle.
The station spindle was the central column ran down the length of the colony station. It was where the hangers, security, administration, and the station control center were located. The entire spindle didn’t have any gravity due to the spindles location in the center of the station and the fact the station got its gravity due to centrifugal force.
Des and Elsie weren’t in a cell, but it was apparent to Des that Station security wasn’t happy with them. Two guards stood watch at the door to their security room. They managed to stand on the floor, but not Des and Elsie. He couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he tried.
They waited a half hour before Cryslis and Captain Kusheeno entered the room. Neither of them looked happy. Captain Kusheeno excused the two guards from the room.
Once they had left, he pulled a device out of his pocket. He turned it on, and it started to buzz.
“You two have some explaining to do,” Captain Kusheeno said.
Des and Elsie told Captain Kusheeno about the reason why they were down there and about the only lead they had. Des also told the captain they were caught by Airnee and Fred, but had managed to escape.
“Did you see the mysterious man?” Captain Kusheeno said.
“No,” Des said, “Our concern was getting the information we had gathered out to Cryslis before they covered up the prints.”
“When you were in the air ducts, didn’t you think to just wait?” Cryslis said, “We were enroute to help?”
“Yes,” Des said, “But we had given no indication we were in trouble and had no idea that you knew where we were. So we took our own safety into consideration.”
“Granted,” Cryslis said, “Cooley saw the two enter via a live feed from the construction companies video cameras. When you didn’t respond, we scrambled.”
“That all is mute,” Captain Kusheeno said, “Why did you forget the jetpacks?”
“Oversight and lack of training,” Elsie said.
Cryslis and Captain Kusheeno were silent for a moment and paced around the room.
“How are you walking and I’m not?” Des asked.
“Special shoes,” Captain Kusheeno said, “But don’t change the subject. What are we going to do with you two?”
“Let us go?” Des said, “So we can catch the bugger.”
“I’m not going to make any note of this in any record, but the classified one,” Captain Kusheeno said, “Please stop doing crazy things. You’re supposed to make my life easier, not give me more gray hair.”
Des and Elsie nodded.
“What are we doing with the data?” Des asked.
“Cooley is running it right now,” Cryslis said, “As soon as we know anything, we can start moving.”
Chapter 30
The next day went by as usual. Des’s school day went by at a snail's pace, as usual. His grades were posted as well as everyone else, which had improved somewhat. They were listed at seventy-five percent, up from seventy-two.
“Looks like things are turning around,” Alix said from beside him.
“It looks like it,” Des said, “I’m glad this might get my brother and my uncle off of my back.”
“Family, am I right?” Alix said.
Des chuckled.
“What are you doing after class?” Alix asked.
“Studying,” Des said.
“But we have no tests for two weeks,” Alix said.
“That’s why I almost failed my previous tests,” Des said, “I better study now while I’ve the time. Before things come up later.”
Des left the grades board and walked down the hallway. He kept looking for Elsie to talk to her about the night before, but she didn’t show up to class. She also didn’t answer her phone. She did respond on the Neuronet. But it was a short blurb.
“I can’t talk now,” Elsie said, “Later.”
She went silent a moment later.
After class, Des had headed home and settled into his room to start studying. Des didn’t have to work today, after jumping out of an airlock and into space, Cryslis had given him a day off from working at Courier One.
Des hadn’t seen Sheemo at home. He knew Sheemo was in the warehouse helping Cooley work on the shoe prints and the scanners. Des didn’t understand everything involved in what they were doing. He was biding his time until he got orders to run into danger.
After a few hours of trying to study, he heard Elsie’s voice over the Neuronet.
“You busy?” Elsie said over the net.
“Studying,” Des said.
“I’ll be by in a couple minutes,” Elsie said, “Get ready, you’re taking me out for ice cream.”
“Ice cream?”
“Yes. It’s what normal boys and girls do together. Silly.”
“Are you asking me out on a date?”
“Call it whatever,” Elsie said, “We have a job to do.”
“Right,” Des said.
For a moment, Des had thought Elsie had been trying to ask him out on a real date. But it wasn’t so. Des was disappointed for some reason. He forced those thoughts down for the moment.
Des changed his shirt into something out of the clean pile and washed his face, even though it was a non-date, he still wanted to look decent.
He left his uncles house and waited outside. Walking up the road was Elsie. She was wearing a skirt and a simple shirt. Slung over her shoulder was a simple purse. She looked relaxed. When she got closer, Des noticed her shirt hid a large bruise on her arm.
“Sweet Jupiter,” Des said when she got to him, “was that from those ro-”
“Yes,” Elsie said, “But I’m fine.”
“What’s the plan?” Des said.
“Let's walk to the station,” Elsie said, “Your brother and Cooley have managed to get the scanner to work.”
“Finally,” Des said.
“The boots from the safehouse and the Undercroft are a match,” Elsie said.
“It can tell that?” Des asked.
“It matches tread wear,” Elsie said, “The wear matches to ninety-three percent. Considering the age between the two samples, I’d say it’s a match.”
“Do we know who the boots belong to?” Des asked.
“Not a single clue,” Elsie said, "It's not like there is a database for every pair of shoes people own."
Des walked beside Elsie as the reached the elevated train stat
ion. The station was empty as they scanned their cards and entered the train. The train was mostly devoid of people. Des looked over at the other track and saw most of the people were traveling the other way.
“But you were right,” Elsie said.
“Right about what?”
“The person is a kid, and he goes to our school,” Elsie said.
“How?”
“Sheemo used his scanner to crack another layer of the scrambled signal,” Elsie said, “We also managed to filter out all the signals, but one. We now know where he was at each attack. He has been hidden for so long, he has gotten lazy.”
“How do we know it’s a he?” Des asked.
Elsie reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She pressed a button, and the screen flashed on. A picture of a pair of flashy sneakers appeared on the phone.
“These are the shoes,” Elsie said, “They’re a boys brand. No girl would want to wear this.”
“No boy either,” Des said, “Those are way to flashy for me.”
“Do you know anyone who owns these?” Elsie said.
“I’ve seen them before,” Des said.
“So have I,” Elsie said, "And I don't like it one bit."
The train screeched to a halt, and more people got on the train. Soon they were crowded in the train, and Des didn’t feel like risking talking about sensitive topics in a crowded train.
Des soon reached the Old Market Stop. Elsie motioned for them to get off.
They exited the station and entered the market. The market spread out around the station in the space of a few football fields. The market consisted of a few hundred small stalls with merchants selling various different items. From Station souvenirs to a recruiter for the Marines.
Des saw a booth selling different colored dyed shirts as well as one sold plastic clothing.
Elsie grabbed hold of Des’s hand and pulled it to a different booth.
“Buy me ice cream,” Elsie said.
Des shrugged his shoulders and did so.
They sat at a table near the edge of the patio. Des watched people walk by the table. He tried to imagine their stories on what they were going through. Were they as stressed as he was to succeed? Or had they given up?
Elsie pulled out an ugly plastic device. She handed it to him.