by Magus Tor
Gods, she was tired. Aurelia reached up a hand and brushed the hair out of her eyes. Her face felt gritty. She made her way over to the two security Workers, both of whom had open wounds, though their bleeding had been staunched.
“Not tired?” she asked them, smiling.
“Can't sleep, more like it,” grunted one of them.
Aurelia handed them both a tranquiliser and got them some water. Better to have them out of it than talking, she thought. Especially if neither one of them could keep his mouth shut.
Standing, she stretched, pulling cramps out of the aching muscles in her back, and then yawned. The dark-haired med Worker she'd seen on deck 11 came over to her.
“Exhausting, isn't it?” she asked.
Aurelia nodded.
“Working trauma always is; I think it's because you're on constant high alert,” said the woman. “New at this?”
“Yes,” Aurelia said. “On my way to my first posting.”
“Well, you're performing admirably.” The woman smiled at her. “How about some rest?”
Aurelia's body was yearning to lie down, just for a few minutes. But she knew she had patients. “I don't think we can,” she said.
The woman smiled again. “Sure we can,” she said, soothingly. “Look, it's just you and me on this deck right now, and everyone is stable. Take thirty minutes, grab a cat nap and I'll watch over everyone. When you're done, come get me and we'll switch over, okay?”
It sounded like a plan to Aurelia, so she agreed, thanking the woman profusely. Then she went to find a spare piece of floor space to huddle down on, ending up exactly where she had known she would: in the spare bay next to Jonathon.
He was still sleeping, so she lay down and closed her eyes. But as tired as she was, she couldn't rest. Her mind was running in circles, desperately trying to assimilate all the information that she'd heard and everything that had happened to her that night. Her stomach still ached when she thought of the attack, and she was glad for the work she had to do, because it had taken her mind off things. Now, finally, she had time to think.
Trying to analyse the situation, Aurelia could come up with nothing. She had a scientific mind, part of what made her such a natural med Worker. Now, she went over what she knew. Nicholas was a Clone, and attractive and funny. Jonathon was a politician and, well, attractive and funny. Her shuttle had been attacked, allegedly because it was carrying Jonathon. Nicholas had been on the deck with the security breach, but he had not been killed with everyone else on his floor. He'd been the one to find Jonathon, who had obviously not been on his correct deck, as security had been unable to find him. Nicholas was certainly hiding something, and Jonathon had taken the news of the shuttle attack suspiciously well, as though he had known it might happen.
Her head was aching. What was going on here? The only conclusion that she could come to from what she knew was that Nicholas almost certainly hadn't been on his deck. She sighed and turned over. She could see the female med worker attending to a patient on the other side of the deck. Quietly and carefully, Aurelia got up and headed towards the central column. If the med Worker noticed, hopefully she'd just think that Aurelia was in the bathroom. She was careful to close the toilet door on her way past so it look occupied.
The sec Worker standing by the elevator looked half asleep.
“Just going down to get more tranquilisers from the next deck,” whispered Aurelia, and the guard nodded.
Once in the elevator, she keyed in her number, smiling to herself when she realised that for the first time she'd used her new number correctly and without thinking about it. Then she pressed the button for deck 31. Might as well check out Nicholas's story, she mused.
The elevator slid down the shaft silently, and when the doors opened on deck 31, Aurelia was not surprised to see nobody there. These decks had all been cleared and were damaged; there was no reason for anyone to be down here. Unless they had a suspicious mind, as she did.
Glancing around, Aurelia could see that the damage here was huge. There was already the smell of death in the air, despite the cool, pressurised air of the cabin. Inside the column everything looked relatively normal, but stepping outside onto the deck itself, all she could see was space. Stars floated past her, and everywhere that there should have been hull, there was the thin healing film that held the shuttle together. Only occasionally was there a piece of twisted metal girder holding the ceiling to the floor.
The lights were dimmed, but she could make out the shapes of the dead, lying where they had fallen. There were few recognisable seats, and wiring stuck out at odd angles, fizzing with power. There was no way anyone could have survived here.
Turning around, Aurelia saw that there was no way anyone could have survived in the toilet, either. The outside of the central column had been caved in, hit by something hard by the looks of it. Going into the column, Aurelia tried to open the toilet door but found that she couldn't; it was blocked by the large dent made on the outside wall. There was zero chance that Nicholas could have been in here and survived, because even if he had, he wouldn't have been able to get out. Shit.
The storage cabin inside the column was undamaged, so Aurelia stopped there and picked up the first aid box for the deck. Then she got back inside the elevator and plugged in her number. Without thinking about it too much, because she didn't want to know whether she was doing the right thing or not, she hit the button for deck 93. She hoped that Nicholas had stayed there and not moved up, because she didn't have the time to look any further for him.
With her med Worker uniform and a first aid box in hand, no one stopped her as she got off the elevator. She walked around the deck. The seats had been removed wherever possible, and passengers were either lying or sitting on the floor. It wasn't until Aurelia had nearly completed the circle that she saw Nicholas, his back against the central column but his eyes open.
“Hey!” she said in a loud whisper.
He turned to look at her.
“Ma'am, what are you doing here?”
A green-uniformed security Worker spoke to her from behind.
Crap. Deep breath.
She turned to face the Worker. “This man was a patient of mine downstairs; I fixed that cut on his face. I just remembered that I forgot to give him the pain meds he needs before I discharged him.” She held out her hand to show the worker the two capsules that she'd taken out of the first aid box in the elevator.
The sec Worker nodded. “Okay,” he said, but he didn't move away. He obviously intended to escort her back to the elevator when she was done.
Aurelia bent next to Nicholas.
“Take one first, then the second after half an hour if the first doesn't control the pain,” she said loudly.
Nicholas looked confused, but he nodded.
“I'll just take his pulse,” said Aurelia to the sec Worker, who looked impatient but said nothing.
As she bent lower over Nicholas, his wrist in her hand, she whispered, “You were in the column but not in the toilet, understand?”
Nicholas's forehead furrowed.
“Not in the toilet,” repeated Aurelia.
Finally, Nicholas nodded his head just once, and Aurelia stood.
“You should be fine now, but I'm down on deck 92 if there are any problems.”
She turned away and, without waiting for her security escort, went directly to the elevator and was already standing inside it when the green uniform caught up with her. Ostentatiously she pressed the button for the next floor down, and she smiled at him as the door closed.
As soon as she exited the column on her deck, she went straight to the female med Worker and offered to switch places. The med Worker was grateful and went to lie down. Aurelia checked all the patients, giving some water to those who wanted it, but she left Jonathon for last.
He was stirring when she got to him, and he opened his eyes when she touched his arm.
“Feeling okay?” she asked.
“Mmm, as good as c
an be expected, I suppose.” But he was smiling.
“Anything I can get you?” Aurelia said, wanting to ask him something else but delaying the moment.
“Nope, I'm all good.”
She took a deep breath. There was no harm in asking, after all, and he might even tell her what she wanted to know. “What happened?” she said.
Jonathon looked at her, studied her, but said nothing.
“Do you know what happened?” she asked.
It felt like his blue eyes were digging deep into her, looking for something. Then he blinked, and Aurelia wasn't sure whether he'd found what he was looking for or not.
“Sometimes,” he said, “I feel it's best to say nothing. If you can't tell the truth, then wherever possible you should not tell a lie.”
The consummate politician. Aurelia could see why he was so good at his job. Well, she had tried. She was about to offer him a tranquiliser so that he could sleep again, but before she could, the announcement system started up again.
“This is a general announcement. Please be aware that mech staff have been working on the ship's systems and that we should be arriving in Lunar City within the next two hours.”
There was subdued cheering from the upper decks. Jonathon struggled to sit upright.
“Don't...” Aurelia began, but she saw that he was determined. She bent to help him so at least he didn't hurt himself.
“I need a favour,” he said, as soon as he was seated against the wall.
“What's that?”
“I need you to find the chief of the sec Workers and bring him here to me.”
Hmmm. Why would he want security? Aurelia wondered if he was about to come clean about what had happened, and whether Nicholas could be in any danger. As if he could read her mind, Jonathon put a hand on her arm.
“It's nothing to worry about; I just need a couple of things taken care of before I can get off the shuttle,” he said. “Politics, you know?”
She didn't know, but he had reassured her. Approaching the sec Worker by the elevator, she informed him that Mr. Hansen had requested the chief come down. Then she returned to Jonathon.
“Nope,” he said as he saw her. “It's probably best for you to disappear for a little while. You don't want to hear anything that might get you into trouble.”
She didn't like this, not at all. But again he smiled at her.
“It's for your own good - trust me,” he said.
And to her surprise, she did. She went to the other side of the deck and busied herself making sure the passengers there would be in good enough shape to disembark from the ship. Then the sec officer came down.
She moved as close as she dared, but she couldn't hear their conversation. She caught only the odd word, not enough to build up a picture of what was going on. Screw it, she thought. This wasn't her mystery to solve. Fine, it had entertained her while she was stuck on the shuttle, but now they were about to dock in Lunar. And then she would have a job to do, and these guys could all sort it out themselves. None of her business.
And yet, if it were none of her business, why had she gone to Nicholas and helped him with his lie? Because it was obviously a lie. He'd said he'd been in the toilet when the attack had happened, but he couldn't have been. So where exactly had he been while the ship was bombarded?
She surveyed the patients, and all looked well, so she got herself a glass of water and took a break. Nicholas had told her that it wasn't possible to change seats on the shuttle, or at least not this time. She'd presumed that was because the Clones were seated apart, but the bodies she'd seen on deck 31 weren't Clones; they were Workers. He'd been uncomfortable too. The steward on her deck had moved her seat easily; it was little fuss, and the shuttle was far from full. She realised that the top decks had all been empty, which was why she'd heard little during the attack itself.
What if Nicholas didn't want them to sit together because he was up to something? That made sense. Had he known that Jonathon was on the ship? If he had, that would explain a lot. Though it didn't explain why the security breach, which she was now almost certain Nicholas had caused, had happened before the attack rather than during it.
Dammit. She drained the rest of her water and stood up. This wasn't her problem, and she cursed herself for thinking about it again. Hopefully once they got to Lunar, she'd have no time to ponder all this. She'd have her work. Her heart leaped a little at the thought of arrival, and looking at her time reader, she thought she'd better wake the other med Worker.
She and the female med Worker were making a final check on the patients when the announcement came.
“We will be docking shortly. Due to the circumstances and lack of safety belts, we ask that all passengers and crew get into safety positions for landing.”
The patients were as safe as they could be. The ones who were able got into position; the others were mostly tranquilised anyway, so their lack of muscle resistance should protect them from more harm. Aurelia curled up on the ground next to Jonathon, who was already in position.
“Ready for landing?” he asked her with a smile.
Her return smile must have looked as nervous as she felt, because as the shuttle prepared itself to dock in Lunar City, Jonathon reached out and held Aurelia's hand.
Chapter Six
The shuttle shuddered, and there was the sound of metal screeching, but it came to a halt without the dropping feeling that Aurelia had feared. Then there were mechanical noises, hissing and the hum of hydraulics. Aurelia sat up. They were here.
The announcement system told everyone to stay in place and that they would be evacuated as soon as possible. Aurelia assumed that those on the hospital decks would be amongst the first off the shuttle, so she and the other female med Worker went around to the patients, administering anti-tranquilisers wherever possible so that people would be able to move under their own steam.
It was about half an hour before the hull door on the undamaged side of the ship opened. Suddenly, the deck was full of med Workers and sec staff, lifting patients out or supporting them as they walked. Aurelia waited until almost all the patients were gone, then accepted the offer of a fellow med Worker to see her off the ship.
The transport arm was the same as the one back on Earth: narrow and windowless, so Aurelia could see nothing outside it.
“You'll be taken straight to Lunar City Hospital,” the med Worker told her as they walked. “But you look like you're supposed to be there anyway.”
“I am,” Aurelia said.
“Well, they'll check you over before giving you clearance to go about your business. Normal procedure.”
Aurelia could see the door of the transport arm coming up. She quickened her pace, and the med Worker skipped to keep up with her.
Coming out into the terminal, Aurelia was disappointed to see that she still wasn't going to get a look at Lunar. Once again, there were no windows. It wasn't until she was loaded into a transporter along with three other shuttle passengers that she saw the city.
The transporter hummed and lifted itself off the ground, before turning and pointing its nose towards the city. Then, as it pulled out of the shuttle bay, Aurelia finally got her view.
The first thing she noticed was light. There were lights everywhere, in colours that Aurelia could barely even name. Huge vid screens shimmered and fluttered from the sides of buildings, which were far taller than she was used to. The buildings themselves were the familiar white, soaring up towards the dome. And then, the dome. The feat of engineering that had made Lunar City possible. A huge, arching presence that glowed dully, a pale white-blue colour, and protected the entire population from the atmosphere, or lack thereof, outside.
It was only because of the dome that humans had been able to build a permanent settlement here. The structure was sentient, could heal itself, and changed in both colour and brightness depending on the time of day. Huge machines built at strategic points of the city manufactured the correct composition of gasses to make the air
breathable, and the whole shebang was pressurised as well. Under this dome had risen one of the greatest cities ever built. Thriving, rich and the heart of the Earth Empire, Lunar City was enormous. It supported a population just less than a third of that of Earth, although only a tenth of that was permanent residents. The rest were the Workers who were responsible for the day-to-day running of all the systems that kept Lunar alive.
Aurelia was stunned into silence. As she watched, the transporter dropped a level and began its route to the hospital. The transport lanes here were not only split into floor levels as in City 01, but also into channels, so six craft could share one floor level. Aurelia soon saw that this was very necessary, as there were far more personal transport pods here than she was used to seeing on Earth.
Not only that, but there were people on the streets. It was clearly night time, as the dome had a pale colour and the dome light was dull, but everywhere she looked Aurelia could see people. There were a fair amount of Workers in their familiar uniforms, but there were also Elite, their clothes unique, wearing bright colours and fashionable styles, with hair dyed every shade imaginable.
Aurelia had seen Ruling Class citizens before, but never in such numbers, and never in their natural element. The Ruling Class on Earth tended to be government functionaries and conservative in their dress, or else they toned down their fashion sense for the trip. Here, though, she could see the true freedoms of the Elite.
And she realised why Lunar was bigger, brighter, and more exciting than Earth. Here there were people who had both leisure time and money, and the City had grown to accommodate them. On Earth there was little time for pleasure; life was devoted to work and training, and there was no need for a vibrant, sparkling nightlife. On Lunar, things were different.
Different. That really was the right word. After a lifetime growing up in a city where everything was always so much the same, Lunar was full of differences. And looking around her, Aurelia was torn with emotions. Primarily, she was afraid. This place looked loud, busy and dangerous; she would have no idea how to navigate the city. But she was also jealous. It took her a moment to identify the feeling. But she was envious, envious of these people's freedom, envious of the colours, lights and excitement that she had never had.