by Arthur Byrne
“Yep, and he’s going to help me get set up, and you’re going to stay with me, and we’re going to watch each other’s backs.”
“Bloody hell, that’s the dog’s bollocks, mate.”
“Nash has been out here more than anyone I know. If Holly says he has a plan, then I believe him.”
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”
“Here, carry the apples.”
“Gladly.”
On the walk to the duck hole, PJ told him everything he had learned about the wild. When they got to the section with poor air, he double-checked to make sure Ronnie’s suit worked properly.
They arrived about forty-five minutes before Nash.
Both men were much more pleased to meet Nash’s friend than they were happy to see him.
Nash said, “Let me introduce my friend, Sasha. Sasha, this is PJ and Ronnie Hu. Ronnie’s a silver-tongued devil, so you watch him.”
Ronnie said, “It’s a pleasure and don’t you listen to him, but in my defense, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fit bird like you.”
Sasha gave a curtsey.
PJ said, “So, is this what you do when you’re out mapping, chase women?”
Nash looked at Sasha and laughed. “Actually, that’s how we met, and if I hadn’t chased her, I’d probably be dead, but that’s a story for later.”
PJ asked, “What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to find you a place to build a safe house.”
“Like the one I built down there,” he said, pointing down the hole.
“You did a fine job with that one, but it was more of a bunker, and if you recall, was blown up by the Navereen.”
Nash pulled the ladder from his bag, set it up, and said, “Okay, now let’s see what else is down there.”
The readings from the air in the hall were only slightly lower than when he’d last been there, and Nash said, “Okay, first thing we need to do is keep alert. I don’t think there’s trouble down here, but in the wild one never knows.”
Ronnie said, “I ain’t got a gun, mate. What do I do?”
“Stay close to me, and we’ll find you one,” Nash said and then turned to PJ. “I think we can get the air quality up if we do the door thing again. Here, take this.”
“What is it?”
“Just attach it to the control panel port and punch in 318. That will keep the door open. Put one on each of the doors on the other side of the production facility.”
“Are we going to rebuild my camp?”
“Let’s just say it’s my plan B.”
PJ left.
“Sasha, you mind watching the gear for a few minutes while I go prop open a couple more doors and try to find Ronnie something that goes bang?”
“No problem. I may pop up and top off my tank.”
“Sounds good.”
Nash took off his pack and set it next to the bag of apples Ronnie had placed just inside the door of the duck hole room. “Okay, Ronnie, come with me.”
They headed out, turned left, and then left again. Nash drew his weapon, just to be safe, and opened the door. It was all clear. He locked it open and turned back. “There are a couple of halls we haven’t checked. If there is trouble before we find you anything, then you run back to the duck hole, okay?”
“Right, leg it back to the duck room.”
Nash followed the hall to the four-way and turned left. He opened the next door and didn’t get the swoosh of air pressure he had hoped for, but it was only about thirty meters to the next door.
The next door required a security code. Nash tried his pilot code, and the light turned green as the door slid open. It was a control center, and the air was breathable.
A skeleton in a lance corporal uniform was hunched over a tiny terminal off to the side. A service revolver lay by his feet. There weren’t any signs that anyone else had been in the room in some time. Nash picked up the gun and checked. He pulled some extra rounds from the corporal’s belt, replaced the used cartridge, and handed it to Ronnie.
Ronnie crossed himself and said, “Poor bugger, you think he did that during the battle, or was he the only one left here and couldn’t take it?”
“I don’t know, but I think we’ve found plan A.”
Nash knew the layout because it was the same design used for the launch control center: three round decks in a silo, with the middle section missing so one could see through to the main control hub on the second floor. It wasn’t clear to Nash what this center’s function was, but it must have been important because he could only see one way in or out.
The circular decks above were situated with stairs to the right and left of the door, and the second floor tier had a gap above the door, presumably so that defending gunners on the third floor would have a clean shot at the entrance.
“Ronnie, you think you could run back and get the others? Tell them to bring their gear. We’ve found camp.”
Ronnie stood and gave a crisp British salute, turned, and ran down the hall with his gun held out ready for action.
The second floor had six sleeping quarters, a conference room, and a kitchen with a dining area. There were only two tables, which spoke to the size of the crew that had manned this station. The third floor had the commander’s office, one additional berth, for the second-in-charge Nash assumed, and the security office.
It didn’t make sense, though. Why were all the weapons in the racks? Nash wasn’t one to complain; he had just found a survival gold mine, but what had happened to all the people other than the lance corporal? When the attack started and the Navereen boarded, the others should have been locked down. Did everyone, including the commander, abandon their posts?
Ronnie returned with Sasha and PJ. Everyone removed their helmets and set them down. The place was a whirring marvel of technology and looked brand new, aside from the skeleton.
Nash leaned over the rail and yelled, “Come on up to three.”
Ronnie and PJ smiled at each other, and with a wave of their hands let Sasha go head of them on the stairs. Sasha swung her hips a little bit more than she needed, just to show them she cared...and that she knew they were watching.
Nash showed them the weapons and then said, “PJ and Ronnie will bunk on two, and Sasha and I will take the rooms up here.”
Ronnie said, “I couldn’t help but notice the rooms up here are a fair bit nicer than the peasant quarters on two. Why do you get to stay on the third floor?”
Nash looked Ronnie square in the eye. “The baddest, fiercest, deadliest, in-your-face, ruin-your-day, ass-kicking motherfucker always takes the top floor.” Nash jerked his finger at Sasha and added, “And I’m with her. You got any problems, you take it up with the boss.”
Sasha didn’t miss a beat. She drew her sword and weapon so quickly it was a blur and asked, “Any questions?”
Ronnie said, “I’ll just go unpack my bags...and change my drawers.”
PJ laughed, saluted, and went to find a room.
Sasha waited until they were gone and said, “As my first lieutenant, I’m going to need you to stay close by my side at night, so I’m going to need to order you to share my quarters.”
Nash napped off a crisp salute and then gave her a kiss. “I wasn’t kidding about being a bad ass.”
“I know.”
“You’ve been out here, and I’m not afraid to admit you know the wild and how to survive better than anyone in Bay 37.”
“So none of that macho bullshit?”
“Oh, I have my moments, but I save those for when I’m drunk and trying to out bullshit my pilot buddies,” he said, smiled, and then looked glum. “Damn, for a moment, standing here, giving orders, it was like I was back with the squadron.”
“You’ve got a new command now. Suck it up, soldier,” Sasha said with a look that showed she knew where he was coming from.
Everyone started to unpack his gear. PJ gathered up all their foodstuffs and put them in the kitchen. Sasha inventoried
the weapons, ammo, and plasma charges.
Nash’s earpiece beeped, and Holly said, “Nash, you there?”
“I wish you wouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”
“How do you want me to call you, with a soft lullaby?”
“Yes, I think I’d prefer that.”
“Did you find PJ and Ronnie?”
“Roger, but keep that quiet.”
“I understand. Are you still going to do the mapping Frank wanted?”
“Just a second,” Nash said and then went and found Sasha and asked, “How well do you know the area around The Satin Club?”
“I know it like the that ticklish spot in your lower back.”
“Yes, I’ll get the mapping done.”
“Are you aware there’s a mute function for your microphone?”
“No, really?”
“I’m just saying, you don’t need to let me in on your make-out sessions.”
“I’ll be back in seven more days with plenty of intel to make Frank happy. How are the natives?”
“Nobody’s happy about Ronnie and PJ being sent out, but it definitely put a damper on the enthusiasm for elections. All the posters are gone, and nobody’s really talking about it much.”
“Any runners going out in the next few days?”
“I don’t know, but I can find out.”
“You’re a doll. Thanks, Holly.”
Nash asked, “What do you think they did here?”
“Maybe long-range tracking, could be a control for the automated mining ships. I’ve seen one of those, and they looked similar, but they were always near a mining pod. Maybe there’s one nearby we haven’t found?”
“You mind taking a look at the command desk and seeing if you can figure it out?”
“I’m on it.”
Nash returned to the commander’s quarters to see if he could find anything useful. The computer was locked. The bar was empty. There was an interesting-looking monitor on one wall, but it seemed to be tied to the computer. It wasn’t as nice as Sasha’s place behind the gunnery bay, but it was better than his hiding place by a long shot.
PJ knocked on the door. “Ronnie and I are set, what’s next?”
“Where’s Ronnie?”
“He’s with Sasha,” he said and pointed.
Nash looked over the rail and said, “Ronnie, you know anything about tech?”
“About as much as the next bloke, but I’m a quick learner.”
“Oh, and so nobody gets locked out, my code is 318. It will get you in the door and a lot of other places, too.”
Sasha said, “I think I’ve figured it out.”
Nash and PJ hustled down the stairs.
Sasha said, “It looks like this is an environmental control station. Look here, this is where we’re at, and it’s green, the halls outside are red, but the readings for each section match up with what we saw when we came down.”
PJ asked, “So can we fix the halls?”
“I don’t think they’re broken.” Sasha hit a few buttons and a bunch of data came up on the holoscreen. “Look at the time stamps. The production floor and all the halls were shut down at the same time. It was during the attack.” She hit a few more buttons and the scrubbers kicked on. The levels started to rise.
Ronnie asked, “Why would they turn off life support?”
“I can’t say for sure, though there is probably a log somewhere, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was a defensive protocol.”
“Defensive, how?”
“Okay, this hall on the other side of the four-way intersection leads to another hall, and then at the end of it opens to a bank of lifts.” She swiped the map up to the holoscreen. “This level is almost dead center of the decks on this section of the ship. The control center powers life support for 2.5 kilometers in every direction, fore and aft and top to bottom and from here to the tunnel in the center of the ship. See shaft ten?”
Everyone nodded.
“Notice anything interesting about it?”
Ronnie said, “It goes all the way to the top and bottom decks, but it doesn’t look like there are any stops in between.”
Nash asked, “Are you saying those are launch decks?”
“Yes,” Sasha replied, “but I don’t know if they are military or not. What I think happened is the Navereen may have boarded on one of those decks, so control evacuated all the areas around this station and shut down life support.”
PJ said, “But the Navereen don’t seem to need oxygen. When they attacked me, none of them had suits on.”
“They need it, but not as much as us. I’ve seen them in sections with less than eight percent O2, though it did slow them down. And unlike us, where too much carbon dioxide is deadly even with enough oxygen, ten percent CO2 doesn’t seem to affect them. Of course, we knew little about them when they attacked, so shutting off the CO2 scrubbers seemed like a reasonable defense.”
Ronnie said, “Like building a bleeding moat.”
“Exactly,” Sasha said.
Nash asked, “How much of this section can you get on your map?”
“All of it. I can tell you what everyone did here. There’s a medical facility 43 decks below us, an impressive accounting area that takes up ten decks, and at least forty production facilities, with everything from raw materials for repair robots to textiles and a printing press for paper manuals that are required for all essential systems. I think that’s what the floor back there did.”
“Well, you’ve certainly been productive. I managed to determine that the commander didn’t use one two three four five six for his password. What did you do, PJ?”
“I put away my extra pair of socks.”
Sasha said, “I’m a bit of an overachiever.”
Nash said, “So, who’s up for some treasure hunting? And by treasure I mean food.”
Sasha hit some keys and pointed to the screen. “Here are the six closest kitchens. This one is in an area that is nearly impossible to get to because it’s behind this door here, which requires a security code.”
Nash started to pace.
Everyone could almost hear the wheels turning in his head, so they just watched.
“I wonder...”
It seemed he was talking to himself, so nobody answered.
“We’ve got life support all the way between here and that secure kitchen?”
“Yes.”
“What’s this section, here, the big one?” Nash pointed to the screen.
“It’s a gym—two basketball courts, treadmills, locker rooms—and it looks like there’s an upper observation deck.”
“And this area here is another kitchen?”
“Yes. It’s quite a bit larger judging by the size of the cafeteria.”
“Is this an MHST platform next to it?”
“It is, yes.”
Nash began to pace some more. “Are you able to see when the last time a door was opened?”
“Probably, give me a second.” Sasha zoomed in on the door and typed a bit, swore, then typed some more. “Okay, here it is, it was last opened the day of the attack.”
“What about this door here?”
“That’s another secure door, and it hasn’t been used in ten years either.”
“What are you thinking about?” PJ asked.
“I’m thinking that rats like cheese, and we need to do some recon before we go for the food.”
Ronnie said, “You think there are space rats or something? Cause I don’t like the sound of that.”
Sasha said, “I think he was being metaphorical, and he’s right. The gym is a perfect place for scavengers or aliens to set up camp. Both the halls behind them have secure doors that never get used, so they only have to defend the front, and they’ve got lots of space, an elevated position for defense, and most importantly a massive kitchen that probably had enough food to feed a thousand people for a month.” Sasha zoomed in on the kitchen area and said, “See this area behind the kitchen? It says dry goods.”
Nash said, “The train tubes are an easy way to move through large tracts of the ship. It’s a fairly remote location, and—as Sasha said—defensible.”
“Should we just avoid it?” Ronnie asked.
“That’s a lot of potential cheese, but let’s find out if we’re the first to find it.”
Ronnie said, “Now just to be clear, we’re not talking about real giant space rats? ‘Cause I don’t like rats.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
After an hour of planning and a recon mission between their camp and the first security door, the group stood geared up and ready.
Nash said, “Okay, we’ve got Ronnie up to speed on his plasma rifle and side arm. He’s not going to sweep anyone’s head, is he?”
“Nope. Like I said, I’m a quick study.”
“Good man. Now, our goal is this kitchen, here, and our secondary goal is the one behind the secure door, there. Any questions?”
Ronnie raised his hand and said, “I’ve just got one.”
“Fire away.”
“I’m pretty new to this military survival strategy war games stuff, and I appreciate the weapons training Sasha gave me, but what I don’t understand is why we aren’t going to check these other four kitchens first? Don’t they call those soft targets?”
There was a long silence. Nash looked at Sasha, who looked back with a shrug. Nash looked at the map and said, “As I was saying, before we go for the primary and secondary targets we’ll be running four practice missions: here, here, here, and here.” Nash pointed to the kitchens.
PJ laughed. “Good question, Ronnie.”
Nash continued, “Sasha will be on point. Let’s move out.”
The next four hours were spent checking out the first kitchen. It hadn’t been touched. The four filled up their bags with food, returned, and then went back for a second and third trip to clean it out.
Their camp kitchen was full with enough food to last PJ and Ronnie until the end of their sentence. The rest of the targets suddenly seemed frivolous. Nash didn’t want to abandon them completely, as there were only so many untouched food sources on the ship. If someone else got there first, it was an opportunity lost.
PJ asked, “What’s our plan for tomorrow?”
Nash said, “I think we should do a thorough sweep through the other kitchens and the rest of the immediate area and clean it out of anything useful.”