by Kit Walker
A horrible thought creeps into the back of Laela's mind.
"I want to see this salvage," she says.
•
Supply Depot 1356 resembles nothing so much as an interstellar truck stop.
Ysal leads them out of the docking ring and into the central hub, overrun with vendors selling either kitschy novelty goods or food of questionable quality, or both. The lights vary wildly between eye-searing neon or dim yellow-orange, the floor is suspiciously sticky, and there's enough of a crowd that Asha figures it's best to stick close to Ysal.
Vaz has the same idea, but Kadar trails behind, wading through the crowd rather than following in Ysal's wake.
Eventually, they reach a dark, narrow side staircase. It leads up to a restaurant hovering at the line between 'charming' and 'seedy,' with a balcony that overlooks the market.
Ysal heads right for a specific table. Asha ends up sitting across from Kadar, who produces an almost impossible number of credit chits from his pockets.
Vaz settles in next to him. "Do I want to know where you got those?"
"I love crowds," Kadar replies. He begins the process of draining each credit chit and transferring the funds to his own. Asha looks away, to maintain plausible deniability more than anything else, and starts poking at the menu console set into the center of the table.
"Laela and I came here frequently," Ysal says. "This was our table."
Asha scrolls through the menu; everything has either been fried into a greasy mess or left on a rotisserie for an indeterminate amount of time. "How did you not die?"
"The sivari digestive system is incredibly robust."
"This might be kind of personal," Vaz says, "but what was that whole thing with Eirik?"
"When Laela bought her own ship, she asked me to come with her. There appears to be some lingering hostility over this arrangement."
Kadar looks up from his work, mouth open to say something, but as he looks over Asha's shoulder, his eyes go wide and he emits a quiet 'eep' instead. He shoves all the illicit credit chits over to Vaz's side of the table; Vaz rolls his eyes and shoves them back.
Asha turns to look.
A Sentinel has just entered the restaurant. A real Sentinel, in full uniform: bronze armor and a long, black coat. She has the same piercing gaze and assured posture that Kadar imitated when he first met them, but this time it isn't an act.
The Sentinel looks around the restaurant, spots the crew's table, and begins making her way across the room.
Kadar quickly pockets the chits.
The Sentinel stops in front of the table. "Hello," she says to Kadar. "Are you the owner of the Wayfarer?"
"No," Ysal says. "Our captain is occupied elsewhere. Is there a problem?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." The Sentinel turns slightly to address Ysal, instead. "I'm Commander Faiza, of the Pathfinder Suraya. I was just curious about your ship. I haven't seen anything like it outside of a museum."
"Wayfarer is old, but well-maintained," Ysal says. "If you would like, I will pass any inquiries you have along to our captain."
Faiza looks over the balcony; one of her eyebrows goes up. "Are you aware there's a very small telian down there trying to get your attention?"
All eyes turn to the market below, where Laela's waving frantically at the balcony.
•
"Laela, 'there's something you need to see' is not sufficient reason to drag everyone down to the goddamn cargo bay." Asha looks around at the stacks of supplies, parts, fuel, and salvage and adds, "Are we even allowed down here?"
"Probably not." Laela stops in front of a pile of scrap metal and points. Near the top of the pile is a scorched piece of starship hull, about the size of a truck.
In stunned silence, Asha reads the words written there:
CSV Frontier
"What?" Kadar asks. "What's so important about a piece of garbage?"
"This is a piece of Asha's ship," Ysal says.
Asha continues to stare. It doesn't seem real. Maybe she's still dreaming. "... How?"
"Scavengers," Laela says. "They were trawling the edge of the quarantine and found what was left of your ship. Then they sold it to Eirik."
"We need to warn them."
"Sorry, I'm lost," Vaz says. "What's the problem? Is this stuff contaminated?"
"Maybe," Asha says. "Something got on board, some kind of machine. It ate people, like it was consuming them to reproduce, or ..." She trails off. "It survived in space, it survived in the vents — we don't know for sure that we killed it—"
"This thing sounds a lot like the killbots from that Sentinel report," Kadar points out. "The ones that took over your planet."
"I know," Asha snaps.
"Laela?" Kadar asks. "How long has Eirik had this stuff?"
"Maybe a week," Laela replies.
"Then it's probably fine," Kadar says with a shrug. "If a literal killing machine had been on board this station for a week, don't you think somebody would have noticed by now?"
•
It's a long way down to the power core, but Teka has checked every major junction in the station and come up with nothing. Whatever's causing the power fluctuations, it must be in or around the core.
Teka ruffles her feathers and grumbles on her way through the maze of maintenance shafts. She hates it down here, but the only other diagnostic technician is on leave and won't be back for another week. And if Eirik has to endure another week of random power outages, he'll make sure everyone on the station suffers for it.
She's not far from the core, and it's warmer than usual down here. Might be related to the problem.
As she gets closer, faint clicking and chattering noises echo down the tunnel. Teka cocks her head to the side. That is definitely not expected behavior.
Teka reaches the door to the power core and taps the console. It slides open with a loud thunk, and she pokes her head through the doorway.
It's dark. Too dark, actually; the core throws off a lot of waste light. Teka can't even see it, and it takes her a second or two to realize why.
The core has been wrapped in a house-sized tangle of thick metallic strands that shift and pulse at a regular rate, almost like a heartbeat. Teka looks closer and spots small, dark reptilian shapes scuttling along the strands, and across the walls, and hanging from the ceiling. Dozens of them.
A small, slender head pops into view. Teka startles and leaps back as the head is followed by a thin, almost skeletal body. The creature crawls through the doorway and into the maintenance shaft, studying Teka intently.
Teka grabs the plasma cutter on her tool belt. It doesn't have much range, but it can carve through a titanium bulkhead if necessary.
She levels the cutter at the creature and aims carefully.
A long-fingered, clawed, metal hand snakes out of her blind spot and grabs the plasma cutter. It squeezes, and the tool crumples into a useless ball.
Teka freezes, turning her head slowly.
From inches away, a long, skeletal face glares at her with empty eye sockets.
•
"How long until we can leave?" Laela asks on their way back to the ship.
"It will take at least two hours to resupply," Ysal says.
"Not fast enough. We need to be off this station as soon as possible."
"And that will be in two hours."
Asha interrupts with, "Shouldn't we tell someone about this?"
"Yes," Laela replies. "Anonymously, from a distance. The last thing we need is any more attention from that Sentinel commander."
"I still think you're overreacting," Kadar says.
There's a faint noise in the distance that quickly resolves into a bloodcurdling scream. A hirovan in uniform coveralls bursts out of a nearby side passage and collides with the crew, nearly bowling Laela over.
Ysal quickly separates Laela and the hirovan and sets the both of them back on their feet. The hirovan is gasping and babbling:
"Help me, help — the power core — they're
everywhere—"
"I had to open my goddamn mouth," Kadar mutters.
Traffic in the corridor has come to a standstill, as everyone slows down or stops to watch what the weird yelling hirovan will do next. A voice bellows, "What's going on here?"
The crowd parts, and Commander Faiza comes striding through.
The hirovan immediately bolts to Faiza's side. "There's something in the power core, machines, they're alive, they tried to kill me, dozens of them, they—"
Faiza's demeanor changes. Asha can't really describe how, but in less than a second, Faiza goes from 'friendly mediator' to 'terrifying drill sergeant.' She pulls her comm out of her pocket. "Faiza to Suraya. Have a team meet me at the entrance to Maintenance Shaft E. Make sure they're armed."
"Yes, Commander."
Faiza looks down at the hirovan. "What's your name?"
The hirovan manages to get ahold of herself long enough to say, "Teka, ma'am."
"Teka," Faiza says intently. "I need you to lead me and my team to the power core."
"No," Teka replies, shaking her head emphatically. "No, no, no. I'm not going back down there. I barely escaped—"
"We need a guide, Teka."
"No!"
Ysal looks at Laela. Laela catches her eye and subtly shakes her head. Ysal stares at her for a long moment, then says, softly, "I will go with you."
"You can't," Laela replies. "The maintenance shafts are barely big enough for the Sentinels. There's no way you'll fit." She sighs heavily and steps forward. "I can do it."
Faiza's attention zeroes in on her. "Excuse me?"
"I used to work here," Laela says. "I know my way around the maintenance tunnels. I can lead you to the power core."
"I'm coming, too," Asha adds.
Laela gives her a perplexed look. "What?"
"Someone needs to watch your back," Asha says. "You're the only one who knows how to fly the ship."
•
It isn't long before half a dozen Sentinels arrive at the entrance to the maintenance shaft. One of them passes a handgun to Faiza, who holsters it on her belt.
Faiza takes point as they make their way through the tunnels, with Laela and Asha close behind and the Sentinels guarding the rear.
Laela doesn't speak much, except to provide Faiza with directions through the labyrinth of tunnels.
"It's dark down here," Asha mutters. She can only see a few feet ahead of her.
"I wanted to install safety lights in the maintenance shafts," Laela replies, seething with old anger. "Eirik said no. Apparently they cost too much."
Another ten minutes or so pass in relative silence, until Asha clears her throat. "Commander? I have a question."
In a distracted tone, Faiza replies, "Yes?"
Asha does her best to imitate a curious bystander. "Do you have any idea what's actually down there?"
"I have a suspicion," Faiza says. "I hope I'm wrong."
"And what if you're right?"
Faiza doesn't answer.
They reach the entrance to the power core. The door closed automatically after Teka ran away; Laela enters the command to open it again.
Gun drawn, Faiza peers through the doorway. Asha peeks over her shoulder, and a shiver runs down her spine.
There's so many of them, and they all look exactly like the thing that attacked them aboard Frontier: vaguely humanoid bodies, but inhumanly thin, with long limbs, metallic exoskeletons, and faces like animal skulls. They don't appear to have noticed the Sentinels' presence.
"What are they doing to the core?" Faiza asks.
"If I had to guess," Laela says, "I'd say they're siphoning off some of the power." She shuffles back a little. "So what's the plan, here? Shoot them?"
Faiza shakes her head. "There's too many." She looks around the room. "Would it be possible to eject and detonate the core?"
"Yeah," Laela says. "There are three locks you need to disable first, though." She points down the tunnel to the right. "This shaft circles the core. The locks are spaced every hundred feet or so."
Faiza nods at her team, and the Sentinels march off down the tunnels. She turns back to Laela. "And then?"
Laela backs off down the tunnel they came through and opens a control panel set into the wall. "This is the master ejection switch," she says. "From here, we can open the last lock and eject the core."
There are three lights next to the switch. The bottom one comes on first, and the other two light up in quick succession.
"Ready," Laela says.
Faiza nods. "Do it."
Laela throws the switch.
The door to the power core slams shut. There's a grinding noise, metal sliding against metal, and a faint shudder runs through the floor.
"Did it work?" Asha asks.
A red light begins flashing on the console. "Take a wild guess," Laela says. "They must have overridden the ejection system—"
A dark shape drops from the ceiling.
Laela lets loose a surprised string of expletives; Asha yells and backs away. Faiza raises her gun and puts two rounds into the creature's chest. It shrieks an alarm and scuttles away down the tunnel.
A series of chittering noises emit from the inside of the core, growing louder.
Faiza grabs her comm. "All officers, fall back! They know we're here!" She looks at Laela. "Can we seal them in?"
"There's an emergency door—"
"I'll meet you there," Faiza says. "Go!"
Asha and Laela hurry back the way they came, until they reach another panel. Laela's hand hovers nervously over the switch.
Faiza's team comes charging back down the tunnel, with Faiza bringing up the rear. She turns and fires into the darkness. "Now!"
The Sentinels pass them, and Laela throws the switch. An alarm sounds as the emergency door prepares to descend.
A hand darts out of the dark and grabs Asha around the ankle. Her stomach lurches as it yanks her off her feet and drags her down the tunnel.
She hears Laela shout her name, right before the door slams down between them.
•
The Sentinels have to physically drag Laela back up to the mouth of the maintenance shaft.
Eirik's here now, because of course he fucking is. As soon as he sees the Sentinels, he shouts, "What the fuck is going on?"
Faiza ignores him. To the other Sentinels, she says, "Return to the ship. Prepare to initiate containment and eradication protocols."
The Sentinel team departs, and Faiza picks up her comm, barking orders to whoever's on the other end. Laela pushes away from Faiza and rejoins the crew, waiting at the edge of the crowd.
"What happened?" Vaz whispers. "Where's Asha?"
"They took her."
"What?"
"Those things took Asha and the Sentinels won't do anything about it!"
Faiza puts her comm away and finally turns her attention to Eirik. "You're in charge, here?"
Eirik says, "Yes, and—"
"The Sentinels hereby order an immediate evacuation of Supply Depot 1356," Faiza continues, bulldozing over anything Eirik tries to say. "You will be compensated for any loss of property or income."
"Wait, 'loss'?" Eirik says. "What kind of 'loss' are we talking about?"
"This station has been contaminated by a dangerous, virulent alien life form," Faiza says. "Thousands of lives are at risk. Millions, if the contamination manages to escape this station. It must be destroyed before that happens."
"You are not blowing up my depot!"
"This is not negotiable," Faiza says. "Evacuate the station. Now."
•
Asha wakes up in darkness.
Quiet clicking and chattering noises echo around her, creating the impression of a large chamber. As her eyes adjust to the trace amounts of light filtering into the room, Asha realizes that the vague, huddled shape in the corner is watching her.
Asha stifles a scream and pushes herself away. The shape moves slightly forward.
She recognizes it now
. It's the thing that grabbed her. One of the creatures infesting the power core.
Asha gropes around for anything she could use as a weapon, but finds nothing. The creature isn't close enough to hit with her hands or feet, and she doesn't dare get any closer.
She edges a little further back. The creature edges forward, maintaining a precise distance.
Asha's eyes continue to adjust, and she spots movement in the creature's throat. Small, sharp metal shapes converge and rearrange themselves, pause, then repeat the process in a different configuration.
The creature emits a shrieking burst of static. Asha jumps, but the creature doesn't move. There's another burst of static, and this time it almost sounds like actual words.
The parts in the creature's throat reconfigure and slot into place one last time. It pauses.
Then, in a tinny, metallic version of Mike Sutherland's voice, it says, "Hello, Asha."
•
"You can't just blow up the station," Laela insists, following Faiza around as best she can.
"Official Sentinel protocol says otherwise," Faiza replies.
The depot is in chaos, as everyone aboard rushes to get packed up and out of range before the station explodes. Faiza is making the rounds, coordinating as best she can, which has been especially difficult since Eirik took the first and fastest ship out of here.
"Asha might still be alive," Laela says. "You should be down there looking for her."
"There are more than a thousand people aboard this station. I will not risk their lives on the off chance of saving one."
"Asha went down there to help you," Laela snarls. "You don't get to abandon her like this."
Faiza stops dead in her tracks. Laela crosses her arms and stands her ground.
"You and your crewmate volunteered to come with us," Faiza says evenly. "I assumed you knew the risks." She pauses. "If you want to search for her, I won't stop you. But this station will be destroyed in one hour. I recommend that you not be aboard when that happens."
Faiza strides away; Laela swears and makes her way back to where Wayfarer is docked.
"Well?" Vaz asks, as soon as Laela's close enough to hear him.
Laela points at Kadar. "You have an hour to learn how to fly this ship. If I'm not back by then, take her out of here."
Kadar blinks. "You're going to look for Asha?"