The 13: Mission's End Book One

by M. M. Perry

  The lift rose to the deck in a matter of seconds.

  “That’s not telling me. That’s still hinting,” Naomi said when the lift doors opened.

  As she stepped out however, she had a feeling she knew where they were headed. There were only two significant locations on the top deck. Observation and the Gardens. Jeremy moved swiftly toward the entrance to the Gardens. As they stepped through the first door, Naomi could feel the air pressure change. Once the first set of doors closed behind them, a second set of doors opened. Naomi’s hair streamed out ahead of her, pulled along into the room.

  “Please move quickly through to the inner room,” a robotic voice said.

  Naomi and Jeremy walked into the Gardens. An attendant, sitting on a stool at her station, greeted them.

  “Hello. It will be ten credits an hour to stay in the Gardens today.”

  “We’d like the day pass,” Jeremy said, holding up his wrist so the attendant could scan him.

  “Wow,” she said, impressed. “You guys have been saving up. I never could. I always want too many extra sweets at the cafeteria.”

  “You work here, so it might not be as compelling,” Naomi said, offering her own arm.

  “People say that, but it’s not the same.”

  She scrunched up her face and leaned in conspiratorially.

  “I’m not allowed to wander. I have to stay here my whole shift.”

  “Ah,” Jeremy said.

  “You know the rules then, or should I go over them for you?”

  “We come here as often as we can,” Naomi said smiling. “Our leisure day used to be on a different cycle. Sara usually greets us.”

  “Right then, I won’t take up any more of your time. Enjoy the Gardens. When your wrist chimes, you have fifteen minutes left. Enjoy!”

  Jeremy and Naomi hurried through the lush greenery. Butterflies flitted all around them, while birds squawked from high above in the trees. Naomi would normally take her time enjoying all the life around her, but Jeremy was in a rush to get to their special spot. He checked to make sure they were alone before lifting the fronds of an extremely leafy plant just off the path. Naomi ducked under and Jeremy followed. They tread carefully through the leaves to find a quiet place near the edge of the dome. They hopped over a small stream, their last obstacle. Before them was the edge of the glass dome. Where the base of the dome met the ship, a lip of white metal protruded out making a shelf wide enough to sit on. Naomi hopped up and Jeremy joined her. From where they were sitting, only someone outside the dome would have been able to see them.

  “I don’t suppose we’re just going to sit here and dangle our toes in the water all day,” Naomi said, leaning against Jeremy.

  “No,” Jeremy said. “We should probably stay alert. Alphea said things would probably get rough, based on what she found in Yvette’s logs.”

  “Yvette’s logs?”

  As if in answer, Alphea’s transmission started. Much like the soldiers in the barracks, they sat transfixed while Yvette calmly described the horrors of the execution Mike had spoken about. Naomi gripped Jeremy’s hand as it went on. When the shot rang out she had to clamp her hand over her mouth to avoid screaming.

  “Jeremy!” she said, unable to breathe.

  Her wrist lit up.

  “We still need to remain calm, Mi. Count the names,” he hushed her.

  Naomi counted while tears streamed down her face. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she could think about anything other than lists of names.

  “We can’t stay here forever,” she said. “The pass is only good for the day. If they start roaming the ship…”

  “Alphea said our best bet was to sit tight. She said if Mike and the others managed it, it would all be over soon. Command would be out and things could go back to normal. Better than normal because this,” he said shaking his wrist, “would go back to being something that told doctors if you were sick instead of reporting you to counselors.”

  Naomi nodded. She watched a frog hop from a rock into the stream to swim away. They sat quietly as the minutes ticked by. When the lights turned off, Naomi, so lost in her thoughts, didn’t notice. It took her a few seconds to register the change. She sat up and looked around the newly dark forest.

  “Jeremy,” she whispered, “I don’t think this is good. How long was our cover supposed to keep?”

  “Alphea said it would be several hours before they thought to check your records for evidence of alteration. Maybe all the power is off though, fighting over who controls the ship,” Jeremy whispered back.

  Naomi tapped the window of the dome and Jeremy looked out. All the windows they could see glowed brightly in the dark. He hopped down off the ledge and grabbed a branch near the stream. Naomi leaned over and picked up the stone the frog had so recently occupied. When they heard the scream, they knew something had happened to the attendant. Then the shooting began.

  Sixteen

  Naomi and Jeremy squatted low when bullets started tearing non-stop through the trees. She guessed it had to be rifle fire. She remembered what Mike had said about those guns. They were designed to drive people or suppress them. They were loud, and the idea was to scare Jeremy and Naomi out into the open. She resisted the urge to run from the sound, knowing that was exactly what they wanted. She was acutely aware of what Chef had told her earlier. She touched the folded up piece of paper in her sleeve.

  “What do we do,” Jeremy asked as another round of bullets shredded leaves around them.

  Naomi distinctly heard a few hit the dome. It was a dangerous place to fire, all the curved walls lending themselves to crazily ricocheting bullets.

  “We can’t go out there. They’re here for us. Me probably. Hoping if they have me they can stop Mike.”

  “We can stay here. It would take them a long time to find us,” Jeremy said.

  Naomi considered her options. She looked around the edge of the dome and wondered how far they were from a service hatch.

  “Follow me,” she whispered. “Try not to leave tracks. Stay near the wall.”

  Jeremy followed as she moved slowly through the vegetation. Naomi could hear the soldiers shouting at each other. She was sure they’d fan out just like she’d seen Mike’s group do in training when securing a room. If she could manage to get behind their line, she knew she’d have more time. She was ashamed to find herself hoping there were other people in the Gardens, but she was sure if there were, it would confuse things. She only hoped that if there were others, they wouldn’t get hurt. As they crept, a voice rang out louder and clearer than the rest.

  “Naomi Tesla. We’re looking for Naomi Tesla. We met with her yesterday. We’re trying to get her to safety. If you’re in the Gardens and you’ve seen her, or if you are Naomi, please, we mean you no harm.”

  Naomi didn’t recognize the voice. She was sure she would. Her wrist lit up and Naomi dimmed the screen quickly. A message was there. It was brief and to the point.

  Naomi,

  It’s Mike. I’ve sent men to fetch you from the Gardens. I need to know you’re safe. Please respond.

  Naomi ignored the message. Nothing could be trusted. Jeremy glanced at her wrist and kept moving as he whispered.

  “Alphea, she told me to listen for the code word. Turnip. But, we were alone when she told me, and she said she was the only one who knew it. If she was shot,” he said.

  “Don’t worry about it now,” Naomi said.

  They continued to follow the wall. Naomi stopped and lay flat on the ground. Jeremy did the same. She stilled her breathing, and carefully peered up. A soldier crept through the forest. He was only five feet away when he passed them by.

  “Anything?” she heard a man ask in a low tone so the sound wouldn’t carry.

  “Negative. Keep formation,” came a hushed response.

  Once the soldier was further into the trees, Naomi quietly got to her feet and continued along the edge of the dome. She hoped that was the last in the line of sweepe
rs but she remained cautious, knowing there might be more. She felt a difference in the wall of the dome before she saw it, her eyes trained toward the forest instead of the glass. She looked at the panel near the door to service entrance to the Gardens. Since the power was out, it wasn’t lit up.

  She fiddled with the area under the panel while Jeremy grew increasingly nervous. Naomi managed to pop open the emergency hatch and grabbed the door release inside. As she pulled it, the door slid open silently. She didn’t feel the expected rush of air that accompanied a pressure change. It was clear whoever was leading the search for her didn’t care if the Gardens were permanently damaged in the process. They’d powered down everything: the powerful air filters, the lights, the watering systems, and all the other vital operations the Gardens relied upon. Naomi knew the plants would be okay, but much of the wildlife was more delicate. The butterflies, frogs and small birds would be affected soon by the lack of climate control.

  Naomi stepped into the maintenance area, Jeremy close behind. She frantically looked for the emergency panel inside, hoping to close the door before anyone noticed. A red light glowed from the ceiling of the maintenance room, and she knew that could be seen easily by anyone looking their direction with the power off.

  She felt relief as her hand found the emergency door control. With each crank to close it, she imagined hands jamming in through the tightening gap. When Naomi finished closing the hatch she scanned the maintenance room. She found a wrench and jammed it into the door controls. She wasn’t sure it would work, but she couldn’t spare the time to rig something more effective.

  “Let’s see where this goes,” Naomi said, grabbing another heavy wrench.

  They moved down the dim hallway, lit only by the emergency light. Seedlings lined the shelves along the hallway. Rows of unpowered lights hovered above the tiny plants. They reached the end of the maintenance room to find it sealed by another door.

  “You think it’s safe?” Jeremy asked.

  “I can’t say for sure. I don’t know enough about this deck. We can’t go back though, and we shouldn’t stay. They’re sure to start checking those doors once they figure out we’re gone.”

  She used the emergency controls to open the door. The hallway beyond was quiet and dim. Emergency lighting reflected off the shiny orange floors. Naomi closed the door after Jeremy came through. Naomi noticed a small group of civilians further down the hall looking toward the Gardens whispering to each other. She grabbed Jeremy’s arm and pulled him after her, quickly following the curve of the wall away from the onlookers.

  “You think they’re dangerous?”

  “They wouldn’t try to be,” Naomi said, walking briskly. “But right now we don’t want anyone to see us. If a bridge officer or soldier asked them about us, they’d answer without understanding why it was bad. The safest thing is to keep them in the dark. They won’t become targets then.”

  They slowed as they approached a lift. They stepped on and it automatically sank to the next deck. They stepped off and waited as their eyes adjusted to the light. Everybody was walking around normally, unaware what was going on one deck above them. Naomi tucked the wrench under her arm, holding it with her armpit against the length of her arm so as not to be noticed. She tried not to swing her arm too much as she walked.

  “We can’t go anywhere where we’ll be logged in,” she said. “That must be how they found us in the Gardens.”

  “Well,” Jeremy said as he walked, smiling at people who passed, “we’re doctors. I didn’t think of it until now, but that gives us access to almost anywhere.”

  “The emergency medical override,” Naomi said as it came to her. “I wonder if that’s why Alphea picked these identities.”

  “Could be.”

  Naomi mulled over their options.

  “Where can doctors go that no one else can? And somewhere that doesn’t monitor traffic.”

  “The only place I can think of is the morgue. Doctors take the bodies down there and drop them off. No one works there, everything is automated, so the ship might not log us in. I can’t say for sure. There are also the cafeterias. We could sit there, but…”

  “Someone might see us,” Naomi finished his thought.

  “Yeah. And there is this,” Jeremy said, holding up his wrist.

  An alert was there with Naomi’s name, big and bold, at the top next to her picture. Naomi looked at her own wrist and noticed it was there as well.

  “I guess it’s the morgue then, whether or not they log in visitors. Either way, it’ll keep us on the move. We should go through sections of the ship we don’t normally.”

  “We could go to the barracks,” Jeremy offered.

  Naomi shook her head.

  “I have no idea if Mike managed to convince the soldiers to follow him. That log was pretty damning, but I just can’t know for sure.”

  “Morgue it is. Let’s go.”

  They hurried through the ship, ducking around corners and looking out windows whenever they needed to face away from someone they thought they recognized.

  Jeremy suddenly crushed Naomi against the wall. He kissed her awkwardly as he positioned himself between her and an onlooker.

  “You two should find a room. Leisure is just down the hall,” an elderly man said as he passed.

  Naomi thought she recognized him from their weekly fitness sessions.

  “That was close,” she said as they continued.

  “Hopefully it will get a little quieter. It’s lights out down here right now.”

  Naomi could see Jeremy was right. As they passed intersections she saw that the lights in the secondary corridors were at their dimmest setting. She stopped at one of the windows into space. They were still passing Badb, just as they had been not a week ago when she looked out a similar window across to the Tereshkova, only now she could see more of the planet bathed in the light of the two suns, making its colors so brilliant they were unreal.

  This was the first time she’d been able to look out a window facing Badb since she sent the Tereshkova plummeting to its death. She thought she could see a faint trail across the planet’s surface, terminating at a discoloration that she didn’t remember being there before. She shook her head, realizing she was being silly. There was no way she’d memorized the thousands of swirls and ribbons of color when she’d looked at it before in the observatory. She looked again, placing her hand on the glass as she had before. The dark smudge on the planet bothered her.

  Jeremy joined her at the window.

  “Do you think that spot is from the Tereshkova?” he asked.

  “You see it too?”

  “Yeah. It’s weird-looking compared to the rest. I could just be imagining it. Knowing the Tereshkova crashed and all. They are big ships, the colony ships. So maybe. I’m not a science-type though.”

  “Do you think they felt very much pain? Falling into that planet?”

  “No idea. I heard one of the guys saying they probably were crushed to death pretty fast. The gravity there is enormous. That is if they didn’t burn up first going down. They’ve never tested the ships going into an atmosphere like that, how they’d hold up I mean. I know they flew a test one by, uh, Jupiter, the planet that was near ancestral Earth? Anyway, they did a bunch of tests with that to see how much it would affect the flight path. Maybe they crashed one, or even put it into orbit, just to see. I don’t remember that part so well. But I could tell you all the specifics of how to get it out of a standard orbit.”

  He gave Naomi a few more seconds to stare out the window before he gently put his arm around her waist.

  “We should go though. Just because it’s quiet, doesn’t mean no one is awake here.”

  Naomi nodded and they continued on. They took a few wrong turns as they got closer to the morgue, neither familiar with that part of the ship. When they eventually found it, Jeremy used his arm monitor to open the door.

  “My name wasn’t on the message, so hopefully they aren’t looking for me,
too.”

  As soon as the door slid open, Naomi walked into the murky room. She stepped cautiously, trying not to bump into anything she couldn’t see.

  “They keep it dark in here,” Naomi said, feeling around for a light panel.

  “And cold,” Jeremy said, rubbing his arms.

  Naomi began to untuck her wrench, ready to put it down and stretch out her arm which was cramping from the funny way she had to hold it to keep the wrench hidden. Her eyes were finally adjusting to the gloom and she stopped as she noticed a figure in the back of the room.

  “Mi,” Jeremy said, his voice strained.

  Lights flipped on overhead and Naomi could see the figure clearly. An older woman with white hair tied back stood there, steely gray eyes flashing as she pointed a gun at Naomi. She took a few steps forward, her gun never wavering from Naomi.

  “When I found your new name, I thought it curious Alphea had decided to make you a doctor. If anyone asked you anything about your work, you’d be unable to lie effectively. I wondered what benefit there might be to someone running around as a doctor on the ship. It had to be the morgue. We don’t bother to check people in because no one wants to be here, and no one has to be here. I figured Alphea must have told you to hide. I didn’t count on you having a doctor friend.”

  Naomi stepped back, bumping into Jeremy. He tried to step around in front of her but she held him back.

  “She needs me. She doesn’t need you,” Naomi said.

  “She’s right, my dear. But, I don’t think I’ll shoot your tall, dark and handsome friend just yet. I suspect keeping him alive will keep you more cooperative, just like I’m hoping having you will make Eagle Eye more cooperative.”

  “I don’t know why you’d think that. He likes me. But he’s a soldier.”

  Naomi hoped this line of thinking would work better now than it had with Chef.

  “Do you know who I am?” the woman asked.

  Naomi shook her head. She had a guess, but she hoped stalling would give her time to think.