by D. M. Pruden
She shrugged. “Perhaps you are right, but I saw other things while I was pushing them away. I know where the Glenatat wormhole is, and I am the only one who can lead you through it.”
Pavlovich looked at Hayden, and his frown faded until he was chuckling out loud. “She can teach you a thing or two about diplomacy and negotiation, Kaine.” He turned to Stella. “Very well, young lady, I will release your father from the brig, and in return you will guide us to the wormhole and knock on the door.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“However, if you are telling me anything other than the truth, I will put you and your father into suspended animation and keep you there until we arrive at Earth via the closest light-gate. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Captain, I understand you completely,” said Stella.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Goodbye and Thank You
HAYDEN ESCORTED STELLA at her request to the makeshift morgue. He was surprised by her insistence and impressed she managed to keep her composure as they entered the hangar bay.
“You’re sure about this?”
She nodded and walked ahead of him, making them the only two living persons present. Stella resolutely proceeded to the nearest body laid out on the floor. She stood respectfully silent as he kneeled to unzip the body bag. He pulled open the flaps, revealing the serene face of Corporal Ender.
Her face softened as she regarded the corpse, and Hayden was intrigued when she dropped to one knee and touched the young Ranger’s face.
She spoke without looking up. “Did you know him?”
“Yes, for a very brief time. He was a friendly fellow. He served on the team that came across you and your father aboard the Odyssey.”
Stella nodded but remained silent for a long time. A tear trickled down her cheek. “It’s my fault he died.”
“No, it isn’t. You were under sedation in the infirmary when they attacked. There was nothing you could do.”
“I could’ve been somewhere else,” she said, her eyes on the body. “If I wasn’t on your ship, he would not be dead.”
“You can’t say that for sure. He might have been killed when we first encountered them, before we found you. We all could have died that day.”
“But you didn’t.” She looked at him. “Do you believe in fate, Lieutenant?”
He was surprised by the question. “No, I don’t. I think our responses to chance events determine our outcome.”
It was a practiced statement; his personal attempt to rebel against his father, who considered Hayden’s future already determined.
“That is a quaint sentiment,” she said. “I would like to be as confident as you. Perhaps under other circumstances...” She returned her attention to the corpse. “Was he fated to die as a soldier? How did he go on knowing he was to come to that kind of end?”
“You’re assuming he believed in predestination,” said Hayden.
“Do you know he didn’t?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know him well enough to say.”
She nodded and regarded the body again. She kissed his forehead and whispered, “Thank you.”
She repeated the same ritual for each of the fallen in the hangar, making no further conversation until they exited and were walking down the corridor.
“You surprise me, Stella.”
“How so? Because I kept my cool?”
“Well...”
“I am familiar with death, Lieutenant. Many of the people I knew growing up died at the hand of the Malliac.”
When he didn’t respond, she looked up at his face.
“Oh, you meant you were surprised that my empathic ability didn’t kick into overdrive back there, is that it? I found that place to be peaceful—well, except for your emotions.” She regarded him, amused.
“What did you sense from me?”
“Apprehension, mostly. I think you were afraid of how I might react.”
He smiled mischievously. “And what am I feeling now?”
She wrinkled her forehead and concentrated on his face. “Many things. Anxiety and fear? I don’t know, perhaps the strongest emotion is sexual arousal...” She blushed and resumed walking down the corridor.
Hayden hurried to catch up. “Stella, I’m sorry...”
“No, I should apologize, Lieutenant. I sometimes forget people don’t want to share their emotions. Papa tried to teach me about that, but I’m not used to it. It was wrong of me to probe into something that is private.”
He touched her on the shoulder and turned her toward him. “But I asked you, and I’m glad you did. I’m relieved to acknowledge those feelings about you.”
“Are they really about me, or is there somebody else? I remember the same emotions from you on the night I came to your quarters.” Her face was flushed, again.
“There was someone, but I lost her.”
“Did she die?”
“No, but I regret that I hurt her. If I could fix things between us, I would, but it’s too late.”
She put a hand on his, and his nervousness and embarrassment evaporated. “I don’t believe in fate. I think there is a role for us to play. Some of us are cursed with knowing our purpose from an early age. Most can blissfully search for it throughout their lives, making do with what they discover and attributing it to destiny. I think we are given the opportunity to accept what the universe, or God, or some higher power sets before us and make the best of things. Some would call it living in the moment.”
He felt a comfortable warmth rise up his arm from her hand. She stared into his eyes, waiting for his response.
“Do you...” he swallowed hard, “...live by that philosophy?”
“I do, Lieutenant.” She moved closer to him, maintaining eye contact.
He impulsively kissed her. She closed her eyes and returned the kiss.
“It doesn’t bother you that what I am experiencing is basically...lust?”
“If I really intend to be in the now, it shouldn’t.”
She winked and hugged him tightly.
Worried his resolve might fade, he took her by the hand and led her to his quarters.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Surprise Rescue
“TWENTY THOUSAND KILOMETRES to coordinates, Captain,” said Ensign Kwok.
“Reduce relative velocity to ten thousand KPH and maintain course.” He turned to Ishmael Gabriel. “Any idea how fast we should approach this thing?”
The doctor shook his head. His eyes never left the holographic screen.
Pavlovich mumbled, “I didn’t think so.” He addressed Hayden. “Anything from the forward drones?”
“Nothing on EM bands; graviton sensors show no anomalous mass. There doesn’t appear to be anything there, sir.”
“This isn’t looking very good for either of you, Miss Gabriel,” said Pavlovich.
“It is there. I can feel it,” she said, not trying to hide her annoyance with him.
“Well, I can’t. Neither can any of my crew, nor can our sensors.”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “Did it ever occur to you that it might be as detectable to you as the Malliac? You can’t see them, yet you know them to exist.”
He slumped into his seat. “Well, we’ll be on top of the location in two hours. You’d better figure out some way for us to find it and enter it by then.”
Silence fell for the next hour, punctuated only by the noise of the instruments. Hayden studied Stella and her father. She seemed calm, eyes closed and concentrating on whatever it was she searched for. Her father was pale, and his forehead glistened with nervous perspiration. He nervously peered about the bridge until his eyes locked on Hayden’s. There was panic in them.
Hayden wandered casually over to Stella, seated next to Ensign Kwok. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Your father seems agitated. Is he interfering with you?”
She smiled. “I would be able to feel him from anywhere on the ship. I’m accustomed to him and can tune him out. Only new,
unfamiliar emotions from strangers give me problems.”
“You’ll let me know if you start to experience troubles?”
“What would you do, sedate the person?” A grin spread across her face.
He returned the smile. “I suppose I’ll have to, since we need you awake.”
“I’m fine, Hayden. I’m used to your crew, and they are performing admirably. I’m not getting any interference from...” Her eyes closed, and a look of intense concentration crossed her brow. “We must make a course correction.”
“What?” said Pavlovich, roused from his thoughts.
“The wormhole is no longer in front of us. We’ll miss it.”
The captain nodded his approval, and Stella relayed the new vector to the helmsman.
After proceeding on their adjusted heading for another thirty minutes, Cora called out from her engineering station. “We’ve lost drone six.”
“Has it malfunctioned?” asked Hayden.
“It was working perfectly. It just stopped transmitting and is not registering with any of the other drones. It’s gone.”
“Where was the bug when this happened?”
“Approximately 4,300 kilometres ahead.”
“Did it enter the wormhole?”
“I don’t know, Cap’n. Sensor log shows no anomalous signals of any kind from the drone right up to the time of its loss. No debris spotted by any of the others.”
“Do we have a precise location where it vanished?” said Kaine.
“Only to within plus or minus two hundred metres,” said Cora.
“Doctor, how large is this star-gate?”
“The records are conflicting and not all that specific, Lieutenant. If I were to speculate, I would say big enough for a Glenatat ship to pass through, so perhaps about half a kilometre in diameter, but that’s only a guess.”
“With a target that small, we’re going to need a more precise fix. Cora, send another drone to where the other one disappeared,” said Pavlovich.
“That will be like throwing darts while blindfolded,” said Hayden.
“I’m open to suggestions, XO.”
“You may not like this one, sir.” He turned to Stella. “Do you know how to pilot a ship?”
“Yes, I piloted ours many times.”
“Kaine, what the hell are you thinking? There is no way I am going to turn the helm over to a civilian,” roared the captain.
Hayden continued to address her. “Could you steer Scimitar to the wormhole?”
“Yes, I suppose so, but I’m not familiar with your controls.”
“Lieutenant! I told you...”
“Sir, we’re attempting to thread a needle we can’t see. We could slow down and take pot-shots at it with the drones, but that could take hours, and every minute we spend here makes us vulnerable to the Malliac. I believe letting Stella steer is the fastest way for us to locate it. Besides, it’s not like we’re making a docking manoeuvre.”
Pavlovich ground his teeth, and his meaty hands squeezed the arm of his command chair as he considered Hayden’s argument. “Very well, proceed with your plan. Cora, I want you to continue to use the other drones to nail down the position of the wormhole.”
“Aye-aye, Cap’n.” A big grin spread across her face.
“Helmsman, you will allow Miss Gabriel to pilot the ship, but you will remain alert and be prepared to resume the helm if things go crazy. And Mister Kaine?”
Hayden swallowed nervously. “Yes, Captain?”
“Good thinking.”
He relaxed and nodded his thanks as he turned his attention to help Kwok instruct Stella on the basics of Scimitar’s helm control.
“Cap’n, we might have another problem,” said Cora. “I’m detecting that same static on some of the rearmost drones. I think someone might be on our tail.”
“Shit!” said Pavlovich.
“Stella,” said Hayden, “are you sensing the Malliac?”
“Sort of, but I can’t tell for sure. My head is beginning to ache. I’ve been focused on the wormhole. I can try to find them...”
“No, I have a better idea. What we need is to give them a bit of a scare so they broadcast themselves,” said the captain. “Gunney, can you lay out a spread with our remaining aft rail gun?”
“What am I supposed to shoot at?”
“Target behind us. I don’t care if we hit anything, I just want to shake them up.”
“Well, I bloody well want to hurt them,” mumbled the cyborg as he laid in the coordinates.
“Cora, feed tactical the location of the drones that are registering the static. We may as well try our best to accommodate Gunney,” said Pavlovich, smiling at him. The cyborg nodded back emotionlessly.
Within a few seconds, the familiar rumble of the floor plating announced the firing of the rail gun array.
Hayden held his breath in anticipation.
With no warning, Stella pitched forward and gripped her head with both hands. “Oh, my, that certainly got a reaction out of them,” she said as she straightened up in her seat.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded and resumed her efforts at the helm.
“Negative impacts,” said Gunney.
Hayden kept his attention glued to Stella, concerned she might be overcome by the approaching aliens. She appeared to struggle guiding the ship but showed none of the distress she had displayed during previous attacks. He wondered if she was getting used to the Malliac.
“I bloody well wish there was a way to tell how far behind us they are,” said Pavlovich.
Hayden recalled his experience when she collapsed into his arms. His finger touched the back of her exposed neck. At first, all he noted was the warmth of her skin and her slight relaxation at his touch. Then, suddenly, his mind was filled with the same images of the aliens he’d seen before. This time, however, there was much more than the vision of their ship. He could almost understand what the creatures saw and felt, but it was experienced through a thick, obscuring blanket that limited his ability to confidently interpret. Disconnected snippets flashed before him, and gradually, he thought he understood their meaning.
“They are accelerating toward us. Time to intercept, seven minutes.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Kaine?”
Hayden broke his contact with Stella, and the images faded. He struggled to recall details, but they evaporated like an interrupted dream.
“I just shared Stella’s link with the Malliac. I got bits of technical detail: velocity, trajectory...intent...” He shook his head to clear it. “They mean to capture us before we reach the star-gate. I got the distinct sense that they cannot cross into it.”
“They are afraid of it...of what lies beyond it,” said Stella, her attention still directed at the helm.
Pavlovich raised one eyebrow skeptically. “You got that from touching her?”
“We need to increase our speed and get through the wormhole before they reach us,” said Hayden.
The captain ordered Kwok to resume control and accelerate. Hayden worried that they would be travelling too fast to make any small course corrections required to pass enter the narrow portal, if that was what Stella actually led them toward. With the aliens in pursuit, he knew there was little other choice. They would get one shot at this, if they weren’t disabled or destroyed by the aliens’ weaponry. Their odds of success were depressingly small.
She appeared to struggle as the gap closed between the vessels. Hayden returned his hand to the skin of her neck, and her distress lessened while his anxiety increased. The longer he maintained physical contact with her, the more he was able to separate the jumble of images and emotions flooding into him. The Malliac were present, distinct and foreign, overpowering everything. He sensed their malice, fear, and xenophobic hatred of humanity and was almost overwhelmed by the intensity of it all.
Struggling beneath, he discerned something familiar. Fragile and fighting to remain separate from them, he recognized
it as human and realized it was Stella. She did not resist the alien presence, as he fought to do. She focused most of her strength on something weaker. It too was strange and nothing like he had ever experienced, but without the malevolence or emotion of their pursuers. It seemed like a weak lamp seen through a thick fog. He thought it was a manifestation of the Glenatat wormhole she had been leading them to.
Scimitar shook, and he was thrown to the deck. Stella screamed and held her head, eyes wide in terror. Hayden struggled to his feet, and his footing jerked under him a second time. The gravity plating wavered, and he grabbed hold of something to keep from floating off the floor.
Cora shouted above the din of alarms. “Our engines are offline, and the remaining rail gun is inoperative.”
“Do we have enough momentum to make the wormhole?” Fear was in Pavlovich’s voice for the first time in Hayden’s experience.
“Negative,” said Kwok. “We’ve been knocked off course.”
They were struck a third time, and the lights and gravity went out. Hayden floated, blind, bumping into loose items and other crewmen. He pushed himself in the direction he knew he would find Stella. Someone latched on to him and pulled him close. The smell of Stella’s hair filled his nostrils, and he gathered her into his arms. She shivered, though he didn’t know if it was due to her own fear or the collective emotions of the entire crew.
“They’re coming,” she cried and buried her head into his shoulder. He touched her exposed neck once more and reconnected with her empathic link.
Everything was chaos. He experienced with her the panic and terror of everyone on Scimitar and felt himself being overwhelmed. How did she cope with this? He thought it a miracle she had retained her sanity.
Beneath the churning foam of human distress, Hayden sensed a lurking alien presence. He watched her struggle, but the more intense suffering of the people around her wrapped about her like weeds ensnaring a struggling swimmer.
“You have to push them away,” he told her.
“I’ll harm everyone else. I don’t know if they can take it.”
“You must risk it, or we will all die.”