by Don Chase
The door slid open and Grady floated out into the hall. He looked toward the sealed door leading into the medical section and saw that it was clear. Turning as he floated toward the door he checked the hallway behind him. All seemed clear and he smiled a little. It quickly faded as he heard a buzzing from around the corner. He hit the jets on his belt and blasted toward the sealed medical doors. He turned and saw a huge flying insect buzzing toward him. He reached to grab the gun tucked into the holster at the small of his back and swore when he realized it was underneath the space suit he never took off. He gulped as it hovered a few feet in front of him.
Morris was near the counter outside of the exam rooms searching for Burton when he heard the explosion. He ran back into the lobby and saw a cloud of smoke on the other side of the now scorched plexisteel doors leading into the medical section. He stared in awe as he saw a dark figure float out of the cloud and bump into the sealed doors. He cursed loud when he realized it was Grady and rushed over to the doors. He fumbled at the control pad as he tried desperately to open them. He wasn’t sure if Grady was breathing but he seemed to be unconscious at least.
The door slid open and he scanned the hallway outside with his rifle tightly tucked against his shoulder. He didn’t see any of the beasts, just Grady, smoke and what looked to be remains of something that was now covering the walls and floating down the hallway. He tried to grab at the floating body of Grady but couldn’t reach so he hooked the barrel of his rifle beneath the unconscious man and pulled him closer. As Grady crossed the threshold into the medical center the gravity kicked back in and he came crashing down face first onto the floor. Morris winced. “Sorry.”
He slapped the control panel to close the door and slung his rifle. He grabbed Grady and dragged him out of the way of the door and into the hall leading to the life pod. The unconscious Grady seemed to be in one piece and breathing. Morris grabbed him and tossed him over his shoulder.
The door to the pod opened and Morris stumbled in carrying Grady. He heard gasps and comments but put up a hand to quiet everyone. He carried the older man over to the cushioned bench seat and laid him down on it. “Doc, make sure he’s alive please. I couldn’t find Burton but I did find Grady here and I think he found some of our boarding buddies and blew them up, so if it’s okay with all of you I’d like to get us the hell’s away from here.”
Stella, Marcus and Olivia all looked at each other silently for a moment; Doctor Pek was still preoccupied with checking Grady’s condition. They all began nodding and agreeing that leaving was a good idea as Morris turned and sat at the small pilot control panel. “Hit that release button Marcus,” he said over his shoulder.
“I hope Grady fixed it,” Stella said, sounding worried.
“I hope so too, I really do not want to carry him to another pod, bastard is heavy,” Morris said. He smiled a little as he heard a dull thud as the locks let go after Marcus hit the release. Morris watched as the pod slid away from the side of the station. He began to laugh as the other cheered and hollered when he kicked on the small thrusters of the pod to maneuver the tiny ship to a safer place, any place really that wasn’t the Delarus station.
Burton had ended up hiding in one of the stalls in the back of the medical center restroom. He had been gathering up what supplies he could after his escape from the chair. He was planning on turning the safeties back on for the reactor and making his way to the maintenance tunnels. That was the plan until he heard the large explosion out in the main part of the station. Sitting in the stall with his feet pulled up off the floor was the best place he could find to hide on such short notice.
It had been quiet for a while now, and his feet were starting to go to sleep in the crouched position he was in. He shook each foot, one at a time, trying to get rid of the pins and needles he felt. He wanted to move, needed to move, so that he could put the safeties on before it was too late. He had decided to give it a couple more minutes before he heard the hiss of the restroom door.
He could hear the click of nails on the tiles and snorting. He held his breath and tried not to shake. The clicking continued seemingly forever and grew louder as the hound checked the long room thoroughly. Finally, Burton could see the paws beneath the door and knew that it was right outside. He closed his eyes and started to cry. The door flew open and he screamed. He screamed as loud and as long as he could as the hound tore him to pieces, his screams turning to a gurgle before falling silent.
Chapter 16
Morris sat at the controls of the pod cursing the lack of speed or maneuverability. The thruster controls had two settings, on and off. He missed his fighter desperately as they sluggishly flew away from the station. “How’s everyone doing back there?” he asked over his shoulder.
“So far so good, I found some rations and some water, enough to last us awhile,” Marcus replied.
“I found some dry wash kits here so we don’t kill each other with our stench,” Olivia said.
“Grady is still unconscious and his pulse is unsteady but he’s breathing,” Pek said.
“That doesn’t surprise me doc, he’s old and was blown up by something,” Morris said.
“He has one of the small demolitions we use in maintenance on his belt so maybe he had two,” Olivia said.
“Hmm possibly,” Morris replied.
“This thing has a bathroom almost as nice as the one in my apartment on the station,” Stella said, poking her head through the restroom door.
“They were built by the same company so that doesn’t really surprise me,” Morris said. “And I’m hoping we won’t have to worry about the stench factor, I set off the distress beacon as soon as we launched. There should be ships on their way by now considering how many different ways we’ve called for help.”
“Oh?” Olivia said as she walked up behind the pilot to look out the front windshield.
“We sent one before the ship docked, we sent pilots to Denbarton, I’m sure that any other pods that launched, set off their beacon as well and now us. That’s a pretty loud cry for help,” Morris said with a smile.
“Hopefully some other people got out,” Olivia said a she stared out at the depths of space. She had been aboard the Delarus for few cycles and had forgotten how breathtaking the view could be. It made her think back to the shuttle flight to the station. It had only been her second time off world and the first had been a practice flight to prepare her, and the other new hires, for life in space on a station.
“Oh I know some of them did,” she heard Morris say, bringing her out of her reverie. “I put them in the pods myself. It’ll take us a bit to catch up to them, but if you look over there you can see the lights blinking.”
“Oh yeah, okay good,” she said as she looked in the direction he was pointing. “Looks like a good amount got out.”
“Whoever is directing them was smart enough to not only get away from the station but try and keep the station between them and the ship docked on the far side. I’d like to say it’s probably Commander Rihn’s idea but I’d put money it was Graunt or someone else.”
“I don’t care whose idea it was, as long as it works. Do these things have communications?”
“Just short range but yeah,” he said. He tapped the side of his headset, “Delarus life pods, this is Captain Morris looking to join your merry band of displaced travelers.”
There was a pause and then Morris heard a voice he knew. “Well hello there Captain, good of you to finally join us. I take it you’re behind us. I do hope you and Commander Jax found your way off alright?”
Instantly there was a lump in the pilot’s throat. He had to swallow hard before he replied. “Negative that Chief Graunt. We are behind you but Jax didn’t make it out. I did meet some friends along the way, so I do have company,” Morris said. They weren’t safe yet. There’d be time for mourning once they were far away from Delarus station.
“I’m sorry to hear that. He was a good man. We’ll slow down and let you catch up to us and by slo
w down I mean turn off the thrusters.”
Morris chuckled, “Copy that sir. We’ll be along as fast as we can.” He fidgeted with the small control panel hoping to find a way to increase the thrusters and sighed when he did not. He cocked an eyebrow as something popped into his head and he tapped the headset again. “Sir, I notice that you don’t have a shuttle escort.”
“That is correct, we do not.”
“I’m sure that we loaded several of them earlier.”
“Yes, yes you did. I sent them on without us. They were very crowded and we didn’t want to take a chance of losing any others. I told them to make towards Denbarton.”
“Wait, you lost one? What happened?”
“Well, I think we may have lost two but only one that I can verify. If you look around you should find the lights off in the distance. I’m pretty sure one of those… things was on board and tore everyone apart. That’s what happened with us. That’s why I’m talking to you and not Commander Rihn.”
“What happened to the other one?”
“Not really sure, we lost contact and then it jumped off by itself. No idea where it went.”
“Well that’s not good at all if it had some of them on it.”
“Exactly, by the way, everyone in your pod is healthy right?” Graunt asked sounding very solemn.
“As far as I know we are. Terrified, tired and I have one that’s unconscious and a bit beat up but he seems okay,” Morris said as he looked over his shoulder at Grady lying on the bench that he had put him down on. As he started to look away he noticed Grady stirring.
“Okay good, just be careful, hopefully help will be along soon.”
“Aye sir,” Morris said before tapping his headset. “Hey Doc I think he’s awake.”
Doctor Pek looked up from his compad and went to check on Grady who was now struggling to sit up. “No, no lay down you need to rest,” Pek said.
“Must get away, must get away,” Grady said sounding hoarse.
“We did get away, you’re alright now. Do you remember what happened?” Pek asked.
“Boom,” Grady said looking confused.
Pek chuckled, “Yes you were in an explosion. That’s why you need to rest. We’ll talk more when you’re feeling better.”
Grady grunted and rolled onto his side looking around the pod suspiciously. “He seems okay but shaken up,” Pek said as he went back to looking at his compad.
“Good to hear,” Morris said.
“Yes, what might not be so good to hear are these scans we got from that patient who was infected,” Pek said still studying his compad.
“Did you find something?” Morris asked.
“Well according to the scans, the reason he was sweating so profusely was that his body was working overtime creating more cells, he was changing at a very rapid rate.”
“That doesn’t explain the turning grey part though does it?” Morris asked.
“No it doesn’t. The strange part is that the activity in his frontal lobe, and some parts of the deep brain that have very little activity normally, were extraordinarily high for a man lying prone on an examination table.” Pek said.
“And that means?” Morris asked
“I’m not really sure yet. The frontal lobe controls things like problem solving, memory, language, and judgment among other things.”
“So the infection was changing him but also affecting the way he thought?”
“It appears so. The brain is not my area of expertise. I think someone more qualified than me should take a look at these scans.”
“We’ll hand them over to the GF when they get here so they can have their people take a look,” Morris said.
Pek nodded and returned his attention to the scans.
It took Morris’ pod a long while to catch up to the others and they slowly inched their way further from Delarus station. He looked behind him and saw that Olivia and Marcus were looking out the small windows in the side of the pod toward the station as if they were expecting pursuit. “We should be okay as long as that ship is still docked at the station,” he said.
“It is, but if it’s all the same to you I think I’ll keep watching,” Marcus said.
“Actually, after the day we’ve had, that’s probably a good idea,” Morris agreed.
Security Chief Graunt sat on the bench as the life pod floated along. He was lost in thought wondering whether they were truly safe even now when he heard Talis talking up front. He stepped up behind the man sitting at the small command chair and put his hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on now?” he asked.
Talis held up a finger to tell Graunt to hold on and continued his conversation. “Yes sir, yes sir, thank you so much sir. I’ll let them know.”
Talis tapped his headset and let out a whoop as he stood to face Graunt. “They found us, they’ll be here soon. They have us on scanners and want us to power down our thrusters!”
“Well you’d better let the others know,” Graunt said with a smile.
“Oh they should all have heard it. It was broadcast on the emergency channel.”
“Good, then you should probably shut down the thrusters. Oh and get back on that channel and tell them that I need to see their captain as soon as we get on board.”
“Yes sir.”
Aboard the Galactic Federation battleship, the Barstow, Captain Morandez sat in his chair on the bridge as his pilot brought the ship closer to the life pods that had escaped from Delarus station and were now within visual range. “Sir, we are close enough to send out the retrieval teams,” the pilot said.
“Launch the retrieval teams,” Captain Morandez said. “And can we take a closer look at that station please? Maybe we can find out why all these people abandoned ship?”
“Aye sir,” someone answered.
It took a bit, but eventually all the pods were towed into one of the four landing bays of the Barstow. “Sir, the last of the pods is safely on board and again the security chief of the station is requesting to talk to you,” the communications officer relayed.
“Fine, have him escorted up.”
The hangar deck of the battleship Barstow was huge. Marcus stared in wonder as he and the others came out of their rescued life pod. Two men in blue GF jumpsuits hurried toward them. “Do you have any injured?” one of the men asked.
“We have one that was shaken up but he can get checked out later, the rest of us are fine,” Morris answered. “I need to find Security Chief Graunt.”
“I’m not sure who that is sir, but if he’s from the station he should be around here,” the other man answered as they hurried off to check on one of the other pods.
“C’mon let’s find Graunt,” Morris said as he looked around the hangar.
“Should they really be letting us just roam around like this?” Marcus asked.
“Probably not,” Morris said. “They’ll round us up soon enough I’m sure.”
Morris jogged off toward one of the other pods and stopped short when he saw a group of Delarus residents he didn’t recognize wander around in front of it. He cut sharply and moved off toward the pod that had been parked across the hangar from his. He nodded to himself when he saw Graunt standing next to another man in a blue GF jumpsuit and picked up his pace. The others jogged slowly behind him. Grady more lumbered than jogged at the tail end of the small group.
“Found you quicker than I thought I would,” Morris said as he pulled up in front of the security chief.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Graunt said clapping the pilot on the shoulder. “I’m just waiting for clearance to go see the captain.”
“Good, I should probably go with you. I found some of the maintenance crew and they should probably talk to the captain about the reactor core going boom.”
“Good idea,” Graunt said.
The crewman in blue nodded and tapped his earpiece. “The captain can see you now.”
“Thank you, let’s go everyone.”
“No sir, just you.”
“Son, I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation here and I don’t really have time to explain it all. Trust me when I say that the captain is going to want to talk to these people as well.”
“That may be the case sir, but I need to clear it first.”
“Can you do that while we’re on our way up there?” Morris asked.
“I can,” the crewman said with a nod.
“Good, lead the way.” Graunt said.
“C’mon everyone, we have a meeting to go to,” Morris said waving the others on.
Chapter 17
On the bridge of the Barstow Captain Morandez listened as one of his crew gave his report. “Sir, there are signs of life on the station.”
“Can you tell how many people are still there?” Morandez asked.
“That’s the thing sir, there are bio signs but they don’t seem to be human.”
“What are they then?”
“Not sure sir, they seem to be a mix of things. They seem to be moving toward the ship that is docked alongside the station.”
“There’s a ship docked at the station?”
“Yes sir.”
“Does this ship have any identification?”
“No sir, none that I can find.”
“Get a squad of fighters prepped and let’s go take a look.”
“Yes sir,” the crewman said before tapping his headset and relaying the captain’s orders.
The door to the bridge slid open and Graunt and the others entered with their escort. “Sir this is Security Chief Graunt and some of the crew of the Delarus,” he announced.
“Welcome aboard chief,” Morandez said as he stood and shook the taller man’s hand.