AX50

by Mark Helme

  My mind was racing. The world leader, the commander of the ship and Petra’s mother had just been murdered! Should I arrest Helmut, assuming he was alive? I guessed I was now in command of this ship. Shit! Should I go back to the Moon, carry on to Ganymede or return to Earth?

  Helmut must’ve regained consciousness after he’d crashed into the control room door as he grabbed a handrail as he floated back towards me. He came to a halt. I noted that his laser was still attached to his belt.

  I couldn’t arrest him; he was armed and I was just wearing gym shorts. He was ghostly pale with blood and gore still swirling around him. I guessed the full enormity of what he’d done was now sinking in. He must have acted on the spur of the moment.

  I found myself shouting at him. “What the fuck are we going to do now? You’re a bloody idiot, why didn’t you discuss this with me first? If we continue to Ganymede, we are sure to die. If we return to Earth, we’ll be gaoled for the rest of our miserable lives. Do you know that I’m in love with her daughter? How am I ever going to explain this to Petra? Go and have a shower and get those clothes into some washbags. I’ll clear up here. I’ll come to your room and we’ll make a plan.”

  He still looked dazed and probably hadn’t taken in much of my tirade. He drifted off in the direction of his room, so I assume he must have heard the last bit of my instructions.

  Thankfully, the clones and engineers didn’t appear; I felt it best to clear up on my own. I prised Max’s body off the fire extinguisher nozzle, which had penetrated between her exposed ribs, and wrapped her body in a sheet. With some difficulty, I floated, pushing her ahead of me. We reached the room opposite the gym where a freezer was kept empty in case someone died on a mission. I then went to the corridor control panel and switched on the powerful vacuum pump to extract all the blood and any other floating debris. With the space clear and refilled with oxygen, I took my towel from the gym, cleaned the fire extinguisher and put the towel and my shorts into bags to be jet washed. I was thankful to get into the shower cell to spray my body clean. Having sucked up all the suds with a vacuum tube, I was able to dress and gather my thoughts. I wanted above all else to return to Earth, but I couldn’t think of any way to avoid the inevitable gaol sentence. I was sure they would consider me culpable as I’d cleared up the mess rather than informing the rest of the crew. Then Xanasa surprised me.

  “It’s now up to you and Helmut to save the world. You’ll return as heroes if you can solve the mystery on Ganymede and bring back even a minuscule amount of europa. I’ve told the Board that Commander Spitzen died of a heart attack. I want you and Helmut to dress her in her formal uniform top and trousers so that no injury will show. You’ll bury her on Ganymede with full honours, which will be filmed for future viewing on Earth.”

  I heard a knock.

  “Come in.”

  Helmut swung the door open and his previously dejected face was transformed with an eager smile.

  “Have you heard from Xanasa? She didn’t sound at all angry and even wants to help us. I’ve been thinking about this. Xanasa has told the Commissioners that Spitzen died of a heart attack. If we do as she suggests, we’ll always live in fear as Spitzen will not decompose on Ganymede and at some stage someone will want her remains brought back to Earth. If there’s a post-mortem, or if someone decides they want her body to be embalmed, we’ll be discovered. I suggest that we inform the crew that she died of a heart attack. Then we film the funeral as we say some nice words and jettison her into space through the double sealed hatch. We can then continue the mission as planned and will return as heroes just as Xanasa has predicted.”

  “Let me think about this.”

  I thought it very strange that Helmut should have changed his mind about the danger of the mission. He’d been so scared, just an hour ago, that he’d been willing to kill the most powerful person on Earth to avoid Ganymede. It might be that the realisation of a lifetime’s incarceration had made him throw caution to the wind. Then it dawned on me that Max had also suddenly changed her mind about the wisdom of a manned mission to Ganymede and had had a personality change for her last three days on Earth. Xanasa was now trying to manipulate my thoughts as well. It was crystal clear. Xanasa must be aware that she uses up tremendous quantities of energy cooling her data storage. She must have calculated that the Board would switch her off rather than run the risk of a massive uprising as Earth ran out of energy. She was now manipulating all of us via our Xan-links to save her own life! There was no knowing where this would end. It was obvious to me that she was determined now to use humans for her own purpose. I concluded that I’d no option but to destroy her before she destroyed us all.

  I remembered how to switch off my Xan-link. Helmut must have thought it most strange as I performed an odd dance movement between my left arm and forehead, but he didn’t comment.

  “I think that’s brilliant, Helmut. Let’s get Spitzen dressed in full uniform and then we’ll tell the space engineers and perform the bit of filmed theatre exactly as you’ve suggested.”

  Helmut’s anxious face relaxed as I spoke. He disappeared to fetch Max’s uniform while I collected a small laser gun and some handcuffs. We met in the freezer room where I had strapped her body to a steel panel.

  “If you unstrap her torso and lift it up, I’ll put her tunic on.”

  As he started to unstrap her, I fired the laser at his left arm.

  He screamed in pain and I took the opportunity to fire shots at his right arm and both legs.

  “You bastard, what the fuck did you do that for?”

  I didn’t answer but quickly had him cuffed and gagged. I taped his legs together and bound the small flesh wounds. Having replaced Max, I floated with Helmut to the armoury where I delivered him to the clones. I indicated that I wanted them to take off their X-talks. I put them in my room and returned.

  “You guys will find this hard to believe, but Helmut has just killed Commander Spitzen. She’s in the freezer cabinet. Xanasa has taken over his mind and I believe she is taking control of all Commissioners one by one.” Helmut was hearing every word and was struggling to get free, clearly furious that he was gagged. “She can’t control me as I’ve deactivated my Xan-link. Lock Helmut up and I’m going to my room to think what we should do now. Please meet me at the control deck in twenty minutes.” I returned their X-talks and left.

  Twenty minutes later, as I walked towards the rendezvous, it occurred to me that Xanasa would have taken control of the space engineers’ minds while I was thinking in my room. I entered the control deck and was relieved to see Gregor, Sandy and Krill standing either side of the engineers, who were cuffed and angry. “My apologies, gentlemen, I will tell you why this is necessary later. Please tape their mouths, Gregor.”

  “You fucking bastard—”

  Thankfully, the tape prevented any further abuse and his colleague submitted silently.

  I said, “Commander Spitzen has died of a heart attack. Helmut is ill and will be out of action for the next few days. I’m now in command of the ship. We’ll return to the Moon so that the Commander’s body can be transported home to be buried with full honours.”

  The engineers were clearly stunned by this news and I allowed their mouths to be freed.

  “Why weren’t we told immediately this happened?”

  “A fair point; she was long dead by the time we found her. I then needed time to consult the Board. Once again, my apologies, but the decision was more complicated than it might seem, as some on the Board wanted us to continue to Ganymede, and others wanted Commander Spitzen’s body returned to Earth. In the end, they left me to decide. The ship has already turned and is under control of the automatic pilot speeding us back to the Moon. When we arrive, we’ll immediately offload her body before relaunching to Ganymede. As engineers, you’re essential to the success of our mission and so with regret I must insist that you are locked in your quar
ters until we leave the Moon. I’m sorry but I can’t risk you jumping ship.”

  With that, I asked Gregor, Sandy and Krill to join me once the engineers were safely locked away. As they floated into my room (which I had checked had no listening bugs), I indicated that they mustn’t speak as I collected their X-talks once more and placed them in the adjacent room. I described my plan.

  “Xanasa will have heard every word of my little masquerade on the control deck. Hopefully, she’ll have believed me. She’ll know that I’ve somehow disconnected my Xan-link as she can no longer access my brain. I’m sure her priority now will be to kill me. She is too clever to put all her eggs in one basket, so I suspect she’ll have a large attack force waiting to meet us on the Moon, but will also have stationed other ships ready to intercept us if we change direction. She can override the automatic pilot at any time and can steer our ship herself. However, I know that she wanted the ships to be safe from hacking by aliens and so the controls are totally isolated from outside interference if they’re switched to manual. Our ship can fly twice as fast as the others and they’ll be at a standing start while we’ll be at full speed. When we are 100,000 kilometres from the Moon, I plan to take manual control and turn the ship for a direct approach to Earth. We will then have ten minutes before we hit the atmosphere. At that point, they’ll only just be reaching their top speed. What do you think?”

  I’d expected an immediate answer from Gregor.

  Eventually, he gave his verdict. “That would work fine if Xanasa reacted as you’ve predicted. If, however, she is fighting for her life, as you suspect, she might have ships stationed over CRC. I have worked out a plan to lure them away from there. She can calculate down to the last millisecond, and if I’m right, she’ll have concluded that if we land on Guam – the ships’ normal dock on Earth –, her ships would be able to hit us before we get away as we’ll be slowed by our full fuel tanks. She will constantly be checking that we haven’t jettisoned any fuel. If ships are guarding CRC, may I suggest that we land on Guam? The instant they leave their station we jettison our surplus fuel and simultaneously lift off, accelerating at maximum thrust. We will then reach CRC before they’ve been able to react and change direction.”

  Not for the first time I was thankful to have Gregor look after me.

  I couldn’t sleep, fearing what might go wrong. Even if we were successful and managed to destroy Xanasa, how was I going to prove that Helmut had killed Max? How was I going to be able to explain to the Board and judges why I’d had to eliminate the brain that had kept the world peaceful and prosperous for over half a century? Was I certain that Xanasa had turned rogue? Would I be vilified for all time because I’d killed this fount of wisdom and knowledge? On the other hand, if I was right, Xanasa must be killed, as if she was prepared to sacrifice Max, who for all intents and purposes was her mother, then clearly she would be prepared to do anything to ensure her own survival. If Xanasa was dead, then my only hope was that her smaller sister, Xancled, who lived on the Moon, might be able to read my brain scan after I’d taken veritax, but I’d never heard of her being used in this way.

  I must have fallen asleep, as I woke screaming and covered in sweat. In my all-too-real dream I’d been captured and the judge had ordered my execution. I was being pushed over a ledge; down beneath me was a pool full of writhing crocodiles, I was falling, my arms flailing as I tumbled towards their gaping mouths.

  I arrived at the control deck feeling hungover. The clones were buzzing with anticipation, like teenagers playing a war game.

  “Two minutes to manual, sir. We’ve counted six ships near the Moon, and four ready to intercept an approach to Earth. That leaves four unaccounted for.”

  “Thanks, Gregor, I’ll just finish my coffee. Please count me down, as the timing is absolutely crucial. If those four ships are guarding CRC as you suspect, Gregor, then we will land on Guam. When I’m blasting off from Guam, I would like Sandy to be responsible for jettisoning the fuel tanks. Krill, please be ready to deploy our laser shields just before any ship gets within striking range. Gregor, standby in case we need to make any adjustments. Remember, the future of humanity depends on our success today.”

  “Three, two, one.”

  “Manual applied.”

  I plotted the coordinates of Guam and then had to wait nine minutes before we hit Earth’s atmosphere.

  Gregor announced in his calm, clear voice, “The four intercepting ships are all accelerating at maximum thrust to cut us off. Three ships have also left the moon-welcoming party. I calculate that we should reach the atmosphere two minutes ahead of the nearest ship.”

  My headache was forgotten as my whole body fizzed with energy. It dawned on me that we might not survive as we hit the atmosphere at this velocity.

  “Will our heat shields cope with re-entry?”

  “Good point, sir. We are going at twice the allowed speed. If we deploy our laser shields as we hit the outer atmosphere, it might slow us enough, but they must be fully retracted after ten seconds or they’ll completely melt.”

  “Krill, please follow that to the letter.”

  “Twenty seconds to re-entry.”

  A terrible vibration and juddering shook us as Krill deployed the shields.

  “I’m off by two degrees. Shit, I can’t fly this ship manually now that I’ve cut my Xan-link.”

  “No problem, sir. Let me take over.” Gregor grabbed the controls.

  Immediately, we were back on track.

  “How the hell?”

  “When you took a nap when out on a training exercise leaving me in control, I practised some manual manoeuvres for fun.”

  Sandy interrupted. “Shut up with your yapper. We may’ve beaten the others through the atmosphere, but there’s only three ships protecting Xanasa at CRC; the fourth is hovering over Guam.”

  “Okay, I’m going to try to drag those ships away from CRC. Krill, please be ready with the shields.” Gregor was back on full concentration. We were dodging their lasers, which were ineffectual as they were firing at their maximum range. We flew north up the east coast of Costa Rica. Then with an almighty surge of power, we were speeding over the Caribbean and away from CRC.

  “Only one has taken the bait,” Sandy reported. “Fuck, the seven ships from the Moon have broken through Earth’s atmosphere and are coming at us from all directions.”

  “Krill, they are still a few kilometres high. I want the shields in ‘turtle’ mode and I’m going to Mach 6, aiming for the Grand Canyon.” Gregor clearly loved this.

  As we accelerated, I could hardly breathe, felt faint and nauseous. I recovered to find the ship being thrown around as multiple lasers hit our shields. We were skimming a lake then apparently falling down the face of a huge dam wall, swooping under a bridge. I was horrified as a multi-coloured cliff was racing toward us at an alarming speed. We swerved at the last second and entered a deep canyon. I could see a raging brown torrent just below.

  “I think you have the better of them, Gregor. Do you think you might slow down a little now?” I timidly suggested.

  Gregor ignored me, leant back and seemed to totally relax as he gave us the most astonishing ride through the rest of the canyon. A silent flash lit up the sky behind us.

  “How the hell did you do that?” I asked as we were spat out over the Sonoran Desert.

  “I used to paraglide here back at the time of the last American election. I know every twist and turn of that little beauty.”

  Sandy interrupted. “Two of the ships that were guarding Xanasa are over Mexico City and approaching at Mach 5.”

  “Okay, hold tight, we are moving to Mach 4 and will head into the Copper Canyon. I don’t know this place, so wish me luck.”

  Five minutes later, we slowed, twisting and turning deep within a heavily forested canyon. Suddenly we were knocked sideways by a laser hit.

  “Nothin
g to worry about, sir. They were going so fast they’ve overshot us. Prepare for full thrust.”

  I fainted, and came to as we were approaching CRC and slowed until we were hovering.

  “There is still one ship blocking our way, sir. Would you like me to blast it out of the sky? Their puny shields will quickly melt if I use our laser at full power.”

  “No, Gregor, I don’t want to kill innocent bystanders. Isn’t there some way you could lure them away?”

  “I’m sure they’ve strict orders to stay put, sir. They didn’t leave when the last ships left to attack us. I’ve something which might fool them. Sandy, pass me that recording I made.”

  I watched as he called the commander of the ship.

  “Captain Neilson, I am Captain Gregor. I have Commander Spitzen for you.”

  “That’s not possible! Don’t mess with me; you’re an imposter. However, I know Commander Spitzen well. If she’s really there, I’ll recognise her voice. Put her on.”

  Then as clear as if she was sitting next to me, Max’s voice: “Oscar, thank you for your diligence. I don’t know who’s given you this order, but kindly allow me to land at CRC.”

  “Of course, Max, my humble apologies. We were wrongly informed that you had died.”

  With that, his ship turned and headed for the landing bay.

  We suddenly burst forward and before I could blink, we were positioned directly over CRC.

  “Sir, where is Xanasa exactly?”

  “Ah, there’s the problem; there are no maps and I don’t know for sure where she lives.”

  A look of complete disbelief spread over Gregor’s face. “Are you telling me we’ve done all this for nothing, sir?”

  “I hope not, but I only have a hunch as to where she might be. I was in Commander Spitzen’s room and heard a humming at the same frequency as I’d heard when standing by Xanasa. I hope there is a direct link between her room and Xanasa. Our only hope is to fire a laser through her windows and hope to hit that shaft.”