The lieutenant’s attention then turned to his softly beeping phone.
“Don’t miss the transport. It’s the only one,” he called out as he walked back towards the commander’s door not bothering to respond to Jo’s salute.
Chapter 2
Adam dropped his clothes on the floor and stepped into the shower. The water started automatically at its pre-set temperature when he slid the glass door closed behind him. It was only a few degrees above cold.
It suddenly reminded him of the rain on Earth. That was the first time he had seen rain. It was a bit of a novelty at first, though he quickly grew tired of it after being soaked and cold for hours at a time. His mind quickly raced through the events of the past week … Earth … Eddy … and then forward to the distant moon, Calypso. He had to find a way to get there; it would cost thousands if he had to buy a seat on a commercial transport, so that was out of the question.
There were a few cargo ship captains that owed him a favour, so that was a possibility, if any were heading that way. Then he thought there were many more he could threaten to give him passage. He had gathered a lot of information over the years about which crew had been smuggling what on the side, or which ship was using fake registration details to avoid paying docking fees.
He turned so the water was hitting his back. It felt like there was a layer of plastic between him and the water. He could feel a faint sense of pressure on his back, but the normal sensation of water hitting skin wasn’t there. He reached over one shoulder with the opposite hand and ran his fingers over the peaks and ridges of rough, scarred skin. They ran horizontally across his back. From the base of his neck to the top of his legs was a mosaic of scarred and torn flesh. It no longer hurt but, at the same time, it didn’t feel right. There was no sense of touch on the skin, as if part of him was permanently numb.
After drying himself with a towel that had been hanging in the small bathroom, he dressed in an outfit much the same as he had been wearing. Black pants that had several extra pockets down the legs and a dark grey T-shirt with angular red shapes randomly placed across it.
He did his best not to look too shocked when he saw Dabir leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping a takeaway coffee in a tall plastic mug.
“Your door was locked, so I let myself in,” Dabir said, with what was as close to a smile as possible for the stern-looking man.
“I haven’t changed my mind,” Adam replied, not sure if he even believed it himself anymore.
“Just hear me out,” Dabir replied. “This could work out best for both our interests.”
Dabir reached behind and picked up a second coffee from the counter, then handed it to Adam, who cleared off a small area on the side of the round table and perched himself half on it.
Dabir told him about the meeting with Malcolm Kedan and his father and about the surveillance recording showing Selene killing the scientists. Adam sipped his coffee as he listened. It was a little bit sweeter then he would have liked, but it was still drinkable.
“We still have no idea why she did it or what she’s planning next. I get the feeling that the Kedan family don’t care, they just want this cleaned up as quickly and quietly as possible. There are a lot of rumours at the moment that Malcolm is going to run for office in the next election. If word were to get out that his sister is a psychopath, well then he’d be finished, not to mention what it will do to the value of the company.”
“What happened after the research base?” Adam asked, as he realised he was becoming curious about this whole thing.
“For a long time no one was sure, then yesterday her ship docked at Titan Station to refuel. As far as everyone else knew, she was still the billionaire socialite that spent her life cruising in her luxury ship going from one party to the next. There were plenty of people that saw her leave the ship and enter the station, then she just disappeared.”
“Staged kidnapping?” Adam mumbled.
“Most likely, it was only a matter of time before the tabloids started questioning where she was. It’s likely she picked Titan to vanish on because it had no importance to whatever she was planning. Right now, it’s crawling with people trying to find her. Chances are that she somehow slipped off the station moments after she vanished.”
“Do you know which ship or where she plans on going?” Adam asked.
“Not a clue,” Dabir replied. “The station practically went into lockdown straight away, every departing ship was searched, and her own ship is still there.”
“Titan Station is basically one giant gas refinery and has a fairly low population. There’s probably a million places to hide out for as long as you want.”
“Possibly, but it’s more likely that she wouldn’t risk it and had a plan to sneak off right away.”
Adam gave a slight grunt in agreement, took a slow sip from his cup, then finally asked.
“So how does that help me? Last time I checked Calypso orbits Saturn, not Jupiter.”
The old man replied with another question.
“How are you planning to get to Calypso? I doubt you could afford to buy that coffee your drinking.”
Adam didn’t reply, so Dabir continued.
“Go to Titan for me, take a look around, if she’s still there, then the problem’s solved. It’s a big payday for both of us. Then on your way back you can use your new company cash card to take care of your own business.” Dabir took the card from his pocket and placed it on the kitchen counter beside him.
“It could be too late by then. The team that tracked me down at Altir have the same intel that I do.”
“Getting there a few days late is better than not getting there at all.”
Adam didn’t reply. There was sense in what Dabir was saying. He could see that, but there was also that overwhelming desire to track down Till Hindermann and put a bullet in his head.
Dabir reached into his suit pocket once again. This time he took out a folded scrap of paper and placed it underneath the cash card.
“There’s a ship leaving tonight. I have organised it to take you to Titan Station. Don’t be late.”
Adam didn’t reply, instead he just looked down at the drops of dry coffee that had formed on the lid of his cup. He stayed that way until the apartment door slammed shut.
“Damn that stubborn old bastard,” he mumbled to himself as he walked over to the kitchen counter and slammed the half-empty cup down next to the cash card and note.
After lighting a cigarette, he picked up the folded in half piece of paper.
3:00 a.m., Dock 337, Captain West. Was scribbled in black ink on three separate lines.
He closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, he wanted to scream in frustration when he finally realised that he had no choice but to do it.
* * *
For the second time in as many days, Adam found himself travelling through the station in the dead of night, only this time he was heading towards the docks instead of away from them.
The small, dark blue bag that contained a few changes of clothes and a couple of other items, slipped off the seat next to him and slid halfway across the floor of the transport capsule as it rapidly slowed.
It stopped by a raised platform at the intersection of several suspended walkways. The capsule doors opened to a deafening blast of noise. A seemingly tangled mess of overhead cranes shifted large shipping containers around, while a swarm of wheeled forklifts shifted small containers below.
There were no booking counters, souvenir kiosks, or coffee shops at this section of the docks, only row upon row of cargo containers.
Adam made his way down a narrow set of steps to what appeared to be the ground level. The floor was a metal grate, through the long rectangular holes he could see more activity below.
He followed a yellow line painted on the floor that ran around the edge of the stacked-up cargo containers. At regular intervals, there were painted numbers marking each dock area. When he reached the barely readable 337, he squeezed through
a narrow gap left by rows of cargo containers.
Sitting on a large hydraulic platform was his home for the next few days. He smiled to himself when he recognised the model of ship. It was an old military cargo transporter.
Although they had been decommissioned nearly fifty years ago, they were still favoured by smugglers and pirates. Its hull was thicker than most civilian ships, so it could withstand a great deal of weapons fire and spare parts were cheap and easy to come by.
This one looked as if it had seen its fair share of combat. The exterior was covered with dents and scorch marks from weapons fire. There were several areas where new patches of thick hull plating had been welded over the top of the old. The patches were all in a line across the middle of the ship, as if it had been strafed by something with a lot of firepower.
The ship itself looked like a half-melted pyramid made from scrap metal. The wide base allowed plenty of room for the cargo. The next level up was the reactor and the engines that powered the four massive thrusters that stuck out from the four corners of the hull on hydraulic arms, they were currently being used as landing legs. Directly above engineering was the crew area, something that any civilian ship builder avoided at all costs. After less than a day of the reactor running, the temperature inside the ship would reach unbearable levels. It was just one more thing he had to look forward to.
The narrowest level at the top was the bridge, though you couldn’t tell from the outside. There were no windows for the pilot to see out of, just the same armour-plated hull as the rest of the ship.
“Can I help you?” the deep voice from behind made him jump slightly, before turning to see who was there.
“Maybe. Who are you?”
“Liam West, captain of this fine ship.” The captain stepped out from the shadows of the containers and stood next to Adam, facing the ship.
Adam took a second to size up the giant of a man standing next to him. He wore a long, dark blue coat that nearly reached the ground, but with the arms cut off, and baggy brown pants that were frayed and ripped and ended just below his knees. His bare chest revealed a long thick scar that zigzagged its way from his right shoulder to his waist. The rest of his dark skin was covered in smaller scars, but none of them looked recent at all.
“Dabir said you were expecting me.”
“Yes, our mystery passenger.” The captain replied, still staring at the ship like he had just seen something amazing for the first time.
The captain’s voice was so deep and gravelly that it almost blended in to the loud drone of machinery in the background, yet he could just make out a slight uncommon accent.
“It’s not every day you meet someone from Horizon,” Adam said, testing his assumption.
“It’s more common than you think, only most of them do a better job of hiding their accent,” West said with a broad smile as he looked back at Adam.
“We should get going,” West added, changing the subject. “I’ll show you to your quarters for now then, after we launch, I’ll give you the tour. If we run out of reserve power before we can get the reactor online we won’t be going anywhere.”
The captain led the way up a short ramp to the cargo bay of his ship. It was packed tight with cargo containers of all different sizes, all lashed together into bundles, and chained to the deck.
Adam struggled to keep up with the big man. He knew just where to step to avoid the hidden straps and chains in the dim light and knew which pieces of deck plating were uneven and stuck up in the corners.
At the back of the cargo bay, they reached a set of steps that climbed steeply before cutting back on themselves and ending with a thick steel hatch. Squealing metal on metal echoed through the ship as the captain pushed it open, then closed it behind Adam and latched it tight. They were in a narrow corridor ending in more stairs. It was lit by two dull lights, one above the door they had just come through and the other above a second door to the right.
“That’s the engines and reactor through there,” Captain West said placing one hand on the solid steel door.
Up the next lot of stairs, they reached another thick door. This one was held open by some electrical wire wrapped around the handle and tied to the wall.
“Watch your step here,” the captain announced pointing to something on the floor that Adam couldn’t see in the darkness.
Adam took a long stride to miss whatever was there, and then continued following the captain through the twists and turns of the corridor, until he finally stopped once again.
“These are your quarters,” he announced, pounding his fist against the metal hatch.
“I’m going to have to leave you for now. The old ship doesn’t last as long on reserve power as she used to. If we can’t get the minimum distance required from the station to fire up the reactor core we’ll be dead in space, and no dock tug is going to tow my ship,” he said defiantly.
Without waiting for a reply, the captain disappeared down the dark corridor at a brisk rate, the sound of heavy boots on the metal floor echoing long after he was out of sight leaving Adam alone in the dark, cramped corridor.
With his free hand, he reached for the door release latch, instantly noticing his hand was shaking uncontrollably. He stood there motionless for a second, as a cold wave washed over his whole body. It felt like someone had just thrown a bucket of ice water over him. Breathing in deeply and slowly exhaling, he tried to clear his mind and imagine that he wasn’t alone in a cramped dark ship, again. Finally, he found the strength to move. With one big lunge forward, he slammed the latch across and shoved the door open with far more strength than was necessary, causing a loud crash of solid metal colliding to echo throughout the ship.
A dull light flickered on just above the door as he stepped in. There was just enough light to make out some of the larger shapes in the room. There were two single beds, one on each side of the room, with a small cupboard in between on the end wall. To the right, there was a narrow doorway that led to a tiny bathroom, mostly in darkness.
Adam dropped his bag on the floor then sat down on the end of the bed on the left. The solid foam mattress was hard and barely moved beneath him. It was covered by a grey sheet with a second sheet, a thin blanket, and a pillow folded up neatly in the middle of the bed. In the dim light, they all looked the same bland grey colour.
A loud crackle of static blasted out of an unseen speaker from somewhere in the room, followed by a slightly rushed female voice.
“All passengers prepare for zero-g. We’re undocking shortly!”
The warning gave him a new task to focus his mind on, he kicked his bag into the small gap under the opposite bed, pushed the blanket and pillow to the top of the bed, and rested his head on it as he lay out flat.
He closed his eyes and listened to the muffled sounds of the ship and station: the whine of hydraulics, the gentle vibrations of the platform the ship was sitting on lifting into position; and the hiss of air being sucked from the airlock into storage tanks; then silence.
With the ship free from the station’s influence, his body weight dropped to nothing. At the same time, a feeling of calm washed over him. He couldn’t explain why it happened, whether it was a physical reaction to being in zero gravity, or if it was something psychological. Maybe it was that he had passed the point of no return and there was no way off the ship. He had to continue the mission no matter what. Whatever had caused it, it didn’t really matter in the end. He was just glad it happened.
By the time the ship reached the required distance from the station to restart the core, the light above the door had dimmed so much that it was the only visible thing in the room. It looked as if it was only seconds away from disappearing completely when the room and corridor outside filled with bright light.
Adam slowly opened his eyes, gradually letting them adjust to the light. When they finally focused, he realised that he was within arm’s reach of the ceiling. After quickly checking that the bed was still beneath him, he gently pushed off the cei
ling with his fingertips and slowly floated down until he came to rest on the hard mattress below.
His body barely creased the sheet at first, then very slowly he could feel himself getting heavier until he returned to normal weight, or possibly a bit more.
The now visible speaker mounted in the left side corner of the front wall gave a loud crackle before the captain’s deep, commanding voice filled the air.
“We are now underway and accelerating at a little over one-g, it may take some of you a little while to get used to the extra gravity.”
Adam sat upright on the bed. It took more effort than it normally would and the rush of blood from his head made him feel light headed. This is more than a little over one-g he thought as he braced himself against the side wall, while trying to stand.
By the time the captain had returned to Adam’s quarters, he was almost accustomed to the small amount of extra gravity.
“You look a bit pale,” West said, poking his grinning face into the room.
“Just a bit tired,” Adam replied, then yawned uncontrollably.
“This would be the best time for you to get some sleep. Once the core starts heating the ship up, it gets unbearable if you’re not used to it.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Adam replied, fighting off another yawn.
Chapter 3
Adam woke drenched in sweat. For once, it wasn’t because of the bad dreams and memories. He had actually slept quite well. This time it was because of the heat. It felt like it was at least forty degrees. There was a small vent in the wall behind his head blowing out cold air, but it did little to cool the room. He placed one hand on the bare metal of the wall beside him. It was hot, not enough to cause any pain, but it was unpleasant.
A cold shower brought temporary relief to the heat, but an automatic timer had cut the water off after just a couple of minutes. A small sign on the wall indicated that the shower wouldn’t be available again for another twelve hours.
Broken Hero: Part 2 (Broken Hero Series) Page 2