The Magellan Apocalypse: Map Runners

by Arthur Byrne

  “Do you want some water, Commander?”

  He tried to smile, nodded, and with a weak voice said, “Call me Frank.”

  Her hands trembled a little as she held the bottle.

  He took a sip and said, “Thanks.”

  A tear started down her cheek and dripped onto his bed. She sniffled a little. Though she tried, she couldn’t hold them back, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I didn’t know he would do this to you. It was awful. I wish I could take it all back.”

  She buried her hands in her face and then felt Frank touch her arm.

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  That made it all the worse. “You don’t understand; it was my fault. I saw you and Tempest and I told Nash. I didn’t think he would...”

  “Holly, look at me. It wasn’t your fault.”

  The door opened up, and a somber master-at arms came in with his tablet. “Frank, I need to talk to you about what happened.” Fiel was right behind him, as was the clerk from the armory.

  “A little help, here,” Frank said to Holly, and she put another pillow behind his back so he could sit up.

  “I need to make an official report, and I need you officially to tell me who did this to you.”

  “Nobody. I fell.”

  Fiel said, “What? You didn’t fall...”

  Frank shot her a look, and she stopped talking.

  Tong said, “You fell?”

  “Yes, I fell down. Holly, Fiel, and Marvin will confirm it.”

  Everyone looked shocked, but nobody said otherwise.

  The master-at-arms asked everyone to leave.

  The door closed, and Frank again said, “I fell.”

  “I’ve got it, sir. Anything you want me to do while you’re resting? Anything about Fristion Nash?”

  “Please tell him I’d like to see him.”

  “Yes sir!” he said. He snapped to and gave a crisp salute.

  Frank saluted back.

  Tong left, and a distraught Tempest rushed to Frank’s side. “Oh my god, I just heard what happened. I can’t believe...”

  “I fell.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing happened. I hurt myself in a fall. I’ll be fine...and I sort of had it coming.”

  “Oh, my poor brave soldier. This is my fault. I’m so...”

  “If one more person comes in here crying and taking the blame,” he said and then winced.

  “It’s okay, baby, just lie still. I’ll take care of you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  Nash pretended to sleep until he heard Sasha’s breathing ease into a soft lullaby of a rhythm. He listened to her for three hours and tried to clear his head. He failed.

  When she finally woke up, he said, “I have to tell you something.”

  “I literally just opened my eyes. Is it going to be deep? I’m not ready for deep.”

  “I told you about that commander, the guy who runs Cargo Bay 37.”

  “Yes.”

  “When I got your message, I went a little nuts.”

  “I was in a bind, I needed a little nuts.”

  “It’s just that I used to be dating someone.”

  Sasha’s eyes were now fully open. “Oh?”

  “Her name is Tempest, a singer, and I always suspected she was cheating on me.”

  Sasha’s reaction was so non-existent that it sent a chill down Nash’s spine.

  “The thing is, I didn’t really care if she was or not. She’s not a great person, and I knew it.”

  An eyebrow was raised in Nash’s general direction.

  “When I heard you were in trouble I went to the armory, and Marvin, a little rule-following pissant, wouldn’t let me have the five one four.

  Then Frank came in and said I couldn’t have it. I lost it. I beat him. I really beat him. It wasn’t right.”

  The look in Sasha’s eyes didn’t seem scary anymore. She took his hand and said, “What do you need?”

  “I have to go back. But what if Jeff...”

  “Let’s find you a way.”

  Sasha got up and put on a button-down shirt, one of Nash’s. She went to the main console and brought up a holo-map.

  PJ and Ronnie were still asleep.

  She spun through pages and pages and then stopped. “Here. This is the spot.”

  “What is it?”

  She hit a few buttons and said, “Yep, just like I thought. It’s an elevator, and I can control it.”

  “Where is it?”

  “You basically stay on this floor and take a hall that runs almost parallel with the one on the deck above us. You follow it until you get to the elevator, take it up one floor. It isn’t right below that hall, so you’ll need to turn right out of the elevator and take this hall here,” she said, pointing to a spot on the hologram. I’ll keep the doors closed and locked until you get back.”

  ***

  Nash pounded on the gate door. “It’s Nash, open up.”

  The door opened, and the entire guard stood at the ready.

  “Am I under arrest?”

  “The commander wants to see you.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  The master-at-arms escorted Nash to Frank’s room. Nash knocked and opened the door. Tempest flew out of the chair and swung, but Nash caught her wrist. “Give me a second to talk to your boyfriend, please.”

  Tong said, “Come on, Tempest, let’s give them some privacy.”

  “I’m not leaving him here alone with...”

  “Tempest, please.”

  She looked back at Frank, then gave a scowl to Nash and walked out. Tong followed.

  Nash looked down at his handiwork. He was at a loss for a moment and then said, “I’m sorry, Frank. You didn’t deserve this. Nobody does.”

  “I’m sorry, too.”

  Nash just shook his head. “What do you have to be sorry about?”

  “More than you know, but mainly, for Tempest...and for me, and for what I became. I never wanted to be the commander.”

  “It was a crappy job, and you stepped up. Damn, I’m sorry.”

  “I thought I could do a good job.”

  “You did. You built this place.”

  “I didn’t know what it would feel like.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It was like a drug, being in charge. I got addicted and lost myself. I don’t want to be the leader anymore.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I love accounting. I just want to do that.”

  Nash wanted to say something to make it better, to take it all back, but there just weren’t the right words. “I’ve got to go, Frank.”

  “Where?”

  “Back to the wild.”

  “No, you don’t, I told the...”

  “I know, but...”

  “What is it?”

  “What’s your number one problem as our leader?”

  “I said I don’t want to anymore.”

  “I know, but what was it before?”

  “The food. We can only produce so much.”

  “I have to find us a safe place for another farm. I owe you that.”

  Frank stuck out his hand.

  Nash stood and gave him a salute, then shook his hand. “You’re a good man. Tempest will take care of you.”

  Nash left, and Tong and Tempest went back into Frank’s room.

  ***

  Holly was sitting on the bench outside the gate when Nash found her. He sat down.

  “Did you find your friend?”

  “She’s fine.”

  “I’m glad. You didn’t turn on the comm in your helmet.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, you were busy.”

  “No, I mean I’m sorry. I’m sorry I lost my shit, I’m sorry for what I did to Frank, and I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you.”

  “It really scared me.”

  “I know.”

  “I miss my paren
ts.”

  Nash put his arm around her, and they didn’t need to talk anymore.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  Bhat walked around the camp. About eighty rough-looking soldiers hung out in groups of five or six, playing cards and drinking.

  A few were cleaning their weapons, and Bhat made a point to talk to these men. “How’s it been out there, Mac?” he asked a guy cleaning his machine pistols. He called everyone Mac.

  “It’s getting harder ever day, but I’m still here and I ain’t complaining. I got a full belly.”

  Another Mac said, “It’s better since you took over, sir. Now all we got to worry ’bout’s dem knob head aliens and dat damn admiral. Least we ain’t killed each other.”

  “That was only the first step, my brothers. We became a family, and now we must take a home.”

  A few others who were within earshot came over to listen.

  Bhat began rolling a poker chip between his fingers as he spoke. “The Navereen and the admiral are why we are in this mess. Their fight is not our fight.”

  A couple of people said, “Yeah,” and with that the others began to listen.

  “We are not the military-industrial complex. We are better. Do you know why?”

  They all yelled, “Why?!”

  “We are the survivors. We are the colonists who fought back without training or guns. We used knives and took their guns. We used cunning and strategy to take back the food that was ours to begin with.

  “Jose, you worked in the agriculture pod at Jade City. Did they let you in after the attack?”

  “No, my co-workers said there wasn’t enough. They had kilometers of food, but they didn’t want to share. They said it was for the soldiers. Admiral’s orders.”

  “Admiral’s orders! Did you hear that?”

  There were nods and grumblings.

  “They have their land, their line drawn in the sand, and they sit on their fat asses across from the Navereen, too afraid to wipe them out.”

  “We too can make a camp—not this camp—a fortress, where we will draw our own line in the sand, where we will get strong, where we will become an army, where we will take the Magellan for our own and for the future.”

  The men cheered and yelled.

  Bhat said, “We wait for one more day, then stake our claim...for our brothers, for our family!”

  ***

  Nash returned to find Ronnie, PJ, and Sasha playing nost-and-struken, a card game with two decks. He looked down at the score pad and saw that Sasha was ahead by 154 points.

  Ronnie said, “Your girl’s awfully chuffed with the score, but I got a cracking good hand this time, and she better watch out.”

  PJ said, “He’s been talking trash for the last hour, and it’s not working out so well for him.”

  Sasha drew a card and said, “Nost.”

  Ronnie said, “Bloody hell!” and threw his cards down.

  Sasha stood up and said, “Report soldier.”

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “Good. Now I believe there was a side bet on this game, and Ronnie will be making dinner. While he does, why don’t you give me a full report?”

  Sasha and Nash went up to their room. They lay on the bed, and Nash told her how it had gone, and what he wanted to do next.

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “I’ve been thinking about grow lights all day. Those bulbs aren’t the type of thing most scavengers would take, but if the bulbs were in use, the bastards might have broken them for fun.”

  “They’re not the smartest stuck-on-a-busted-up-ship-floating-through-a-billion-kilometers-of-empty-space sort of survivalists, are they?” Nash asked.

  “No, they are not. They like to eat, drink, shoot, and break things. Strategic thinking isn’t on their menu.”

  “Of course, we could still find some in places not yet searched?”

  “Absolutely. I was also thinking that the chances of another hydroponic setup in other cargo bays is probably reasonable,” Sasha remarked.

  “Have you been in any?”

  “Nope, I’ve only ever run across 36 and 20,” Sasha said.

  “I’ve tried to find a way into 36 but not even come close,” Nash said.

  “The auto lockdown during the battle has them all tighter than a drum.”

  “So, you’re saying we’re screwed?”

  “I’m saying, there’s treasure out there, and we are probably the only ones looking for it. We just need to make that top priority.”

  “Everyone else wants guns and food,” Nash said.

  “Yep, but we’ve got enough of both.”

  “Then that’s the plan. I like it.”

  “You know what I like?” Sasha asked.

  “Yes, I do,” Nash said with a smile.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  Nash rolled over to give Sasha a peck on the cheek before getting up, but she was gone. He stretched, pulled on his pants, and went to the railing. “Hey, what are you doing up at this hour?”

  “I had an idea.”

  “You are a thinker.”

  “It’s not really related to our finding more grow lights, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.”

  “I wouldn’t want an idea to fester.”

  “Festering thoughts can be trouble.”

  “So, what are you trying to figure out?”

  “I’d like to know if we’re moving, and where we are in relationship to our new home planet.”

  “I gave up on that idea a long time ago.”

  “Quitter.”

  “Okay, Miss Optimistic Pants, so how are you going to figure out if we are moving?”

  “I’m going to use a little friend of mine called math.”

  “How so?”

  “I know where we were ten years ago. I also know exactly how long it took to pulse blast a message to command on Mars and how long it takes them to blast a reply.”

  “How long?”

  “I just brought up my account, and the last message I sent about my work took a total of ten days, five hours, three minutes and twenty seconds between my hitting send and my getting a reply from my boss. It sat in her inbox for six minutes.”

  “So, how are you going to tell if we’ve been moving?”

  “There’s the tricky bit. I need to send a pulse blast, but in ten years I’ve never found any indication that the system is online.”

  “The communications in Bay 37 went offline an hour or so after they went on lockdown. So, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find out where the plasma coil generator for this sector is housed and then try to see if I can get the communications back online.”

  Nash gave her a blank look.

  “It will be fun.”

  “I suspect that if I were to call you wicked smart, I’d be casting aspersions on your intelligence.”

  “I’m a clever girl.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Yes! Go over to that console and bring up a map of the sector and start at the top deck and start looking. You want to find a room similar to this one in shape.”

  “Why don’t any of the maps have labels?”

  “The Magellan has a triple-redundant central core system that talks to all the other systems. Part of the security protocol was to hide the labels and names once the system first detected that we’d been boarded.”

  “Do you think the Navereen can read English?”

  “Well, before the labels were hidden, one could show them in any of 150 languages. On my computer, everything was in French or Vietnamese.”

  “You speak French and Vietnamese?”

  “I speak a lot of languages.”

  “So, the Navereen might have figured out one of our languages?”

  “I think the fear is more that they have artificial intelligence that could quickly learn them.”

  Nash gave her a long kiss and said, “Okay, I’m on it...big room, cylinder.”

  ***

  O
mar Stone dismissed the two scavengers who had reported in and went to find Bhat.

  “Sir, we’ve just had two more report in from Ceramics Town. They’re in pretty good shape: well fed, ready for action.”

  “How long were they there?”

  “They’ve been in the town for close to two months. There’s only one building with good air, but it has two charging stations, and so they’ve been sweeping the town. They didn’t think anyone had been there since the attack.”

  “Oh?”

  “They’re not the brightest of our men, but the way they described the scene with all the rotting bodies and the fact that they still needed to wear their suits inside because of the smell, I’d guess the city air built up carbon dioxide quickly but still kept most of its oxygen. It was enough that most of the town died, but didn’t stop decomposition.”

  Bhat like to pace while he thought. Stone knew that once he’d finished with the report, he was to wait for questions or his next order without interrupting.

  “Not the sort of town that probably had much in the way of weapons, I’d wager.”

  “They’ve not found any, yet.”

  “Probably lots of dry foods and canned goods.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Tell me about the foodstuffs.”

  “They’ve been gathering everything and bringing it to the convention center, the building with the breathable air, and storing it in the main hall. The messengers and the two men loaded up their packs before they made the trek here.”

  “That’s excellent,” he said and went to his trunk. It was an antique from the previous century with a robust lock, and his staff made sure the trunk was always with them wherever they made camp. Bhat removed a silver hand register, typed in a few commands and said, “Go reward them both with 500 credits each. Make a bit of a show and be sure to mention that I appreciate their efficient work.” He handed the register to Stone.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “When you return, I’ll share our next move.”

  ***

  After breakfast, PJ and Ronnie suited up and grabbed a couple of cremation bags. Nash had suggested it might be a good idea to take care of the bodies before they started to smell. As they headed out the door, they both promised Sasha they would be extra careful.