The Rhine

by R L Dean

  At the next intersection he almost ran into a worker coming around the corner. The man was talking hurriedly into his handcomm and didn't bother to try and stop Mat or even yell at him. Mat's own handcomm hadn't stopped beeping since the dome was struck.

  He kept running, there was no need to stop and think about where he was. Years of his life were spent down here before the layoffs forced him to take work in the ore processing plants. When one job ran out, he went to another plant, and so on. Then his father's death made it possible for him to get out of Harmony all together. It was soon enough that the plant's gases, fine dust from the refineries, and damage from the lack of sufficient radiation shielding hadn't set in his lungs. Not so for his aunt. It was a common enough story.

  The vibration running through the floor picked up, pipes begin to rattle. He found the hatch he needed. It was close to the tram station, a block away at most. Grabbing the rungs of the metal ladder he hurried up and hit the hatch control pad. It rose all too slowly. When he pulled himself out onto a sidewalk adjacent from the tram station it was to the sight of people running in several directions ... and a long glowing crack across the dome's surface overhead.

  Mat ran across the street, into the crowd pouring out of the tram station, and he was shoved aside— forced against the wall of the entrance. He squeezed in, pressed to the wall.

  "Misaki!" He yelled. "Misaki!"

  Maybe she left, maybe she was out in the street somewhere. He didn't know ... he didn't see her. Pressing through the crowd he looked around. People were pulling themselves up from the tram tracks ... the red emergency lights were flashing, the crowd was shoving and yelling and the klaxon was going off ... then he saw her.

  She was on her hands and knees by the lockers. The look on her face ... it felt like someone ripped his heart out of his chest still beating. Misaki was scared. Her trademark stoic expression was gone and her exotic features etched in fear.

  He shoved his way to her. When he grabbed her arm she finally noticed him. Jerking her to her feet he didn't say anything, and started looking around wildly. The bunkers ... the closest one was back across the street. Could they make it in this crowd? What could he do ... where could they go? Then again, across the tram tracks he saw a blue hatch in the concrete wall. He knew how to get them out.

  Misaki was crying now, trying to say something to him. All he could make out was plant, and he took off toward the tram tracks, pulling her along. He jumped down from the platform to the tram tracks, then reached up to give her a hand. She tripped on the magnetic rails as they crossed, but recovered quickly in the light gravity. He literally picked her up and pushed her onto the concrete ledge that ran along that side, then pulled himself up.

  There was a shudder, and the whole station jerked. Dust fell from the ceiling and the screen above the tracks broke loose on one side. Misaki was almost knocked off the ledge, but he grabbed her and half dragged her to the maintenance hatch. He tried the first code in Coop's repertoire ... no go. The same for the second code ... come on Coop, don't fail me now. Then when the final code he knew didn't work he titled his head back to look at the ceiling, then closed his eyes. The only thing to do was leave the station, and hope they made it to a bunker. He felt Misaki brush by him and opened his eyes. She was hopping back down onto the tram tracks ... she was so scared, she was running. He couldn't let her just run off in no direction. As Mat started to hop down after her he saw what she was really doing. There was an open toolkit against the wall of the ledge, and an access panel pulled aside exposing electrical conduits. Somebody had been working, then left. Misaki upended the little toolkit and grabbed a pair of pliers and a flathead. When she came back, Mat reached down to pull her up. She was saying something but the klaxon made it impossible to hear anything but a couple of words.

  Misaki moved between him and the hatch's control pad. She jabbed the flathead between the pad and the wall, stabbing it three times but it still didn't come loose. Mat took the screwdriver and slammed it down on the metal frame, it popped loose. Misaki ripped the pad out of the way and took the screwdriver from him. She twisted something on the insides, then put the pliers in— it sparked and she dropped the screwdriver and pliers, shaking one hand. She pointed to the hatch, then moved to try and push it open. If it weren't for the klaxon he might have heard the locks pop loose. They shoved and it slid open.

  Beyond was a big tool locker. In one corner of the room an emergency generator sat beyond a metal cage, dust coating its dull green paint. There were tables and cabinets off to one side. He wasn't interested in any of it. Turning back to the hatch he and Misaki pushed is shut, shutting out most of the mind crushing klaxon.

  "Mat ..." Misaki began, but with one hand he motioned for her to go down a corridor between the generator and the tables, and with the other hand he pulled his beeping handcomm out, and followed her.

  "Mat!" Yuri's worried voice came through. "Where have you been? There is a chunk of the plant stuck in the dome ... ten square kilometers flattened ... I do not think ..."

  "Yuri, where are you?"

  "Ahh ... about twelve klicks north of the dome ... altitude ..."

  They walked into another room with vac-suits hanging on hooks from the walls and an airlock. He motioned for Misaki to put one on.

  "Boss, I'm sorry about the tug ..." Haydon said in the background, you could hear the PTSD in his voice. "I mean it's my fault you ..."

  "Haydon, shut up! Yuri, listen. Pull to the northeast side of the dome. There's an external maintenance hatch ... we're coming out. Set down as close as you can and drop the vestibule."

  "Copy that, kep."

  Misaki was hurrying with the suit, a wild look in her eyes.

  "We'll be okay," he told her, trying to sound reassuring. She didn't look like she was buying it. He helped her check the seals, then slapped a helmet over her head. When it clicked in place he grabbed a suit and stepped into it. Now she helped him. When they were both ready they entered the airlock. Power was fluctuating across the dome, but the airlock had a battery for just such emergencies.

  He pressed the button and they could do nothing until it cycled and the light turned color. And as it did there was a groaning sound that could be heard through the helmets, and a rising tremor through the soles of the vac-suit's boots. Mat pressed the button to open the external door and took Misaki's gloved hand.

  A concrete ramp ran a dozen meters between the dome's skirting wall. Beyond was a dust storm against the big black sky. Mat turned the helmet's beacon light on and told Misaki to do the same through the suit's commlink. They headed out into the rolling gray dust.

  Yuri was calling through the handcomm's interface with the suit. He answered it and the Russian's face appeared on his HUD.

  "Kep, we think we see you ... Haydon is a using a scope. Wave your arms."

  He and Misaki waved their arms.

  "We have you. Setting down."

  The Sadie descended on glowing thrusters and a cloud of more dust. As soon as the feet of her struts hit the ground the vestibule dropped and they took off for it. When they reached it, the end of it was sitting on the ground. Mat lifted it and pushed Misaki inside, following her. There was a simple plastic and cable ladder fitted onto one side, for climbing or pulling yourself along when necessary. Misaki begin pulling herself up and as Mat grabbed a rung the whole vestibule shook, as if struck by wind.

  "Mat, hurry. One of the backup reactors just blew ... lit the whole south side of the dome."

  "Almost there," he told Yuri.

  The airlock opened as Misaki reached it and she pulled herself inside. Mat clamored in after her and shut the hatch. Low gravity or not he was winded. The lock cycled and he tore his helmet off, breathing hard. Misaki took her helmet off, and like him she was gasping from the exertion.

  "Come on," he told her, and they hurried to a fold down crash couch. And when he strapped her in she was trembling. He kissed her then. It was sudden, and her lips were hot, and tasted of salt.
When he pulled back she was staring at him wide-eyed. "Stop leaving me," he told her. Then he pulled his own straps on and yelled into the suit's mic, "Yuri, go!"

  The Sadie shuddered and began to lift. On the bulkhead across from them a screen was on and a scope trained on the dome. As the ship pulled away they saw the spider web of cracks in its surface, debris from the plant embedded in it like giant nails in a board. All around it the dust churned, and where the plant used to be was blackened ruins. Part of the five kilometer tunnel was caved in, forming a giant trench in the lunar surface.

  As Yuri kicked in the main thruster and the gravity began to press them down, the dome popped like a bubble, blowing broken slabs of the dome itself, people, and entire buildings out into space. My God, was all Mat could think. Beside him, Misaki closed her eyes and tears streamed down her cheeks. It was unbearable for him to see her so traumatized. He wanted to put his arm around her and pull her close, but Yuri wasn't letting up on the thrust, pinning them to the couch, and pushing the Sadie harder and faster away from the growing cloud of death and destruction that chased them.

  Epilogue

  They are like children, was all Greg could think.

  Alexandria was seated at the head of the conference room table. He stood behind her, watching Rathbone, Catskill, and the perpetually sour Rashingner. All three watched the giant screen on the wall at the other end of the room with varying expressions of perplexity and disbelief. Like children they simply could not understand what was happening— the adults were doing some ... but what?

  "... unprecedented disaster on the surface of the Moon. Satellite footage shows that the Apex Mining plant exploded, subsequently damaging the dome. Right now the theory is that the dome experienced sudden depressurization, from that catastrophic damage. There are no details on how this happened, and Apex officials have been unavailable for comment."

  The newscaster went on as the screen showed the blackened ruins of the plant and the broken eggshell of Harmony dome. It looked like a bomb went off, leveling everything within ten kilometers of the plant. There were reports of debris— furniture, bodies, and parts of the dome itself— found near Osaka dome, almost fifty kilometers away.

  The screen cut to a news anchor.

  "Susan, what are they saying about the number of lives lost?"

  "UN officials have not provided an estimate as of yet, but last year's census put the dome's resident population at over twelve thousand. Considering business travelers ..."

  "Stop," Rathbone said, and the screen froze.

  Three heads turned to look at Alexandria.

  Rathbone put both hands on the table, holding them like he intended to pray. "Alexandria, are you saying that you did this?"

  "Yes, Charles."

  Alexandria could be subtle when she wanted, but never in here. Greg preferred that directness, it left no room for doubt or misunderstanding. Yet, Rathbone's eyebrows furrowed.

  "What do you mean," he asked.

  From this angle Greg couldn't see her face, but he could imagine Alexandria frowning, her own eyebrows bending down slightly as she explained.

  "I'm not sure how much more simple I can make it. I blew up the plant, and consequently the dome. Though, the last was unforeseen."

  "That is to say, you arranged for it to happen."

  "Well, yes. I made arrangements for it to happen. My schedule doesn't allow for as much hands-on attention to detail that I might like, so I have to rely on others to handle those details in my stead."

  The sarcasm was a sure sign that she was losing her patience. All of this had been explained in two short sentences when she walked into the conference room and turned the screen on.

  They stared in silence. Rathbone— the personification of all things media— for once didn't have anything to say. Rashingner was blinking more than normal, his face screwed up. It was Catskill that broke the silence, curiosity getting the better of her.

  "But why?"

  Before Alexandria could answer, Rashingner blurted out, "Who cares why, you've ruined us. That plant was the only thing keeping us going! We should call the police!"

  Alexandria's head turned slightly to look at the old man, then to Catskill.

  "To answer your question, Martha. You told me, all of you have been telling me for months, to find a way to sell to Mars. That they were the future. I did that, I found a way. The investigation will find that this is an act of sabotage, committed by malcontent workers and we will take the insurance money from ... this tragedy ... and build a plant on Deimos, and make five times the pay out in a year selling to the Martians. Just like you wanted."

  "You're crazy girl." Rashingner's voice had gone up an octave. "A plant blowing up doesn't change the laws. The UN embargoes won't go away!"

  "The Business Safety and Safe Environment Laws," Rathbone suddenly said, realization dawning on his face. "Because of the sabotage the Moon will be deemed unsafe, and they won't let us build plants on Earth ... leaving Deimos or Phobos as the only reasonable locations in-system to rebuild the plant. They can't legally stop us from rebuilding ... they'll have to lift the embargo or make a deal with the Martians."

  "Governor Shultz will want ore from any such deal, and Apex will be right on his door step," Alexandria finished for him.

  Rashingner yelled. "This is insane, I never said blow up the plant! Your father would never have done something so risky!"

  Alexandria sighed. What she said next sounded like she was teaching a child that fire was hot or that ice was cold. "Edgar, there comes a time in everyone's life when they have to cross the Rhine to effect change. The UN Council has a strangle hold on our business because they want to keep Mars under their thumb. Now, do you want to break the status quo and make money, or are you going to turn me in to the police?"

  Rashingner started cussing, using Alexandria's name a lot. But Rathbone and Catskill were silent. Considering their options, Greg thought. Catskill was the first to turn to Rashingner and try to calm him. She was Apex's chief financial officer, and long suspected of embezzlement, so he thought it only natural that she would be the first to see the benefits of this sudden turn of events.

  Rathbone was only a moment behind Catskill. "Edgar, think about this for a moment. There's no reason to do anything rash."

  Greg watched them. Rashingner's voice trailed off into silence, greed working its magic. All as expected.

  "Well," Alexandria said, and Greg helped turn her chair as she stood. "Now that the issue of Mars is out of the way I can focus on greater things. Martha, get with legal and file the insurance claim before the end of the day. It'll be weeks, if not months, before they agree to a pay out."

  Catskill nodded silently.

  "Charles," Alexandria continued. "Work your magic ... this is a tragedy, horrible, we grieve with the families here on Earth that had relatives in Harmony. I want your voice just as loud as the major news networks."

  She turned to Rashingner. "Edgar." He was looking at the table, his head titled up in her direction. "We still have a few haulers on schedule, get your people on rerouting them to the tank farm at Autolycus. We can't afford to turn even one away. Get with our consortium partners, let's sell what comes in to them for refinement."

  Without waiting for Rashingner to respond, Alexandria turned and walked to the side door that led to her office. Greg followed like the loyal hound he was.

  As they stepped into the office and the door closed behind them he said, "Well, I would say you just crossed into German territory."

  Alexandria stopped and turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised. "Oh my dear Greg, you're on the wrong side of the river. Pastor Allen says that the UN is biblical Rome. That makes us the barbarians."

  Greg felt his brow crease. "I thought you said there was a war hero in your ancestry?"

  Alexandria gave him a small smile and replied, "There is. His name was Attila."

  Greg Stockerman was not a weak man. He had done things for old Ignatius Koch, for Alexandria,
that was treacherous for his soul. As of a hour ago he was culpable in the death of thousands, perhaps even a mass murderer by proxy. Yet, he felt his face go pale and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

  "You should drive me home, Greg," Alexandria was saying, the corner of her mouth turned up. "Have dinner with us. Adam could use another Saints fan at the table, after that beating they took last Sunday."

  Notes

  The following items are in the public domain because of age or by permission of the author or artist.

  In chapter 17 Mat sings a verse from John Newton's Amazing Grace, 1779.

  In chapter 28 Pastor Allen quotes Colossians 1:21 from the King James Version of the bible.

  About the Author

  As a native Texan in the early 90s R.L. Dean created door programs for bulletin board software. In 1998 R.L. became a Christian and has taught expositional Sunday School at his local church for eight years. He currently resides in southeast Texas with his wife of twenty years, ten cats, and two stray dogs. He works in the IT industry as a technician for a large restaurant chain, but his dream is to work professionally creating novels, television shows, and films.

  Acknowledgments

  Something that all writers acknowledge is that it takes a lot of people to realize their work. This is never more apparent than when publishing your first works. There are so many people to thank; J. N. McLaughlin, proofreader extraordinaire. Beta reader Michael Holtz. Dusty Crosley, who agreed to provide the cover art to a poor man. W. R. Prince for his amazing political cartoon. My coworkers who support me (my first book signing was at work!) All of which give their time and talent over to me so that I can pursue my dream. None of this would be possible without good friends.

  And, of course, my wife. She's put up with a starving artist for too long.

  I thank God for all these.