Tantalus (The Hidden Book 1)

by Phil Maxey

She panned the view to the left slightly, and moved it further in. A man was slowly walking, his arm missing from below his left elbow, and a large piece of some object protruding from his skull.

  “Zoom in closer,” said Murlock.

  As they both leaned over the table, the view moved closer to whatever the thing was, which then looked up at them. They both stood up. The creature kept staggering forward.

  “Zoom out—”

  Taylor pinched her fingers together and as she did, more slow moving people with various injuries were visible walking alongside the person they just focused on.

  Static burst into Taylor's head again, making her hold her ear. “Captain Taylor, can you hear me? The situation is getting worse. Over.”

  “I couldn’t but now I can. What’s causing this? Is this a kind of disease?”

  “Could—Infection—Dark.”

  The man’s voice and the image on the table both disappeared at the same time.

  “Honer, can you get him back?”

  “Sorry, Captain, but the signal from earth has completely gone.”

  Taylor went to reply when the ship rocked, almost knocking her off her seat, and causing Murlock to grab hold of the table.

  “What the hell was that?” It was an instinctive question from the captain, and was answered by a voice she knew but had been reluctant to engage with.

  “Three fusion reactors have exploded on the surface of the Earth,” said the ship’s AI. Murlock looked at Taylor, wide eyed.

  She jumped to her feet. “Honer, Jones, get me someone at EC, or anyone that can tell me what the hell is going on down there, and move us out of any other blast zones,” she said ignoring the AI.

  She and Murlock ran to the nearest elevator, stepping inside and selecting “Bridge”. Her mind was racing with what could have caused three reactors to explode, while trying to push away the number of casualties there must be.

  “Must be a large-scale syndicate attack, maybe they joined forces?” said Murlock.

  Taylor shook her head even as he was talking. “Three reactors? Even if they joined together, they wouldn’t have the manpower or expertise to take them out, no this is something else. We both saw the—” she hesitated to say zombies “—people in the city. It must be some kind of disease, but I don’t know how that’s connected to the—”

  “Then maybe a biological attack from the syndicate that somehow caused people to go crazy?”

  It was the most sensible idea so far, but it still felt wrong. “I don’t know, maybe.”

  They arrived at the bridge and the door opened. Elisa and Jones were both standing near their seats and consoles. On the large main screen was a live feed of the earth, with three mushroom clouds slowly rising, two over the American federation and one in the central European federation.

  “Ma’am I have moved us two kilometers away from our previous location, but we are still just about in low earth orbit,” said Jones.

  Taylor nodded, and they all stared at the scene in front of them trying to absorb what they were seeing.

  Taylor was the first to break the trance. “Lieutenant Honer, do we have any comms with anyone on the surface?”

  Elisa and Jones sat again. She tapped on her console screen. “None, Ma’am.”

  “But—that makes no sense, how are we not getting any comms from anyone? We are only in low orbit.”

  “I need to check on the inmates,” said Murlock, who moved to the back of the room, and started tapping on a screen at another console.

  “There seems to be … something blocking the signal … not allowing it to escape the surface,” said Elisa her words sticking in her dry throat.

  “What about other ships?”

  Elisa tapped her screen as another mushroom cloud started to rise from the eastern European Federation geological area.

  Taylor staggered backwards feeling for her seat and sat heavily, as she did areas of the globe started to go dark. Municipalities which were home to millions of people simply disappeared into an intense void of uniform darkness, interspersed with points of light.

  “Sca … Scan for any ships leaving the surface,” said the captain.

  Elisa did so. “No ships any closer to the surface than ourselves, Captain.”

  “Show me the surface, Earth Central,” said Taylor.

  Elisa tapped a few times and the large screen showing the Earth zoomed all the way in and a mere second later they were looking down upon the remains of a large impressive building, with fires burning within. There was no movement inside or out.

  “Earth Central was only a few miles from the Parisian reactor, Ma’am,” said Jones.

  “I know, I know, I just … survivors, we can send the IMs down with the RRVs to find people.”

  “No, we can’t do that,” said Murlock.

  Taylor’s head flicked around to look at him. “What are you talking about, there will be survivors and for whatever reason the authority’s resources can’t get to them!” She looked forward. “Lieutenant Honer, ready thirty IMs and RRVs to go to the surface.”

  Elisa hesitated, looking between her captain and the warden. “Umm, Captain, I need permission from the both of you to use the IMs for off ship purposes.”

  Murlock walked forward. “We don’t know what’s down there! What if it is a syndicate attack and we send thirty percent of our forces down there, maybe that’s what their plan is! Maybe they are trying to draw them away to stage an attack to break out their comrades?”

  Taylor wanted to argue, but she could see the logic in the warden’s argument. She had no idea what had happened on the surface.

  The destroyed Earth Central building was still on the large screen.

  “Look!” said Jones who was studying the feed. Some of the pixels changed position. “I think there’s people alive down there.”

  “Zoom in the view, focus on the movement,” said Taylor.

  Soon the image was showing a person without any legs crawling forward.

  Elisa put her hand to mouth in shock, then steadied herself.

  “How is he still alive?” said Jones.

  Taylor could feel Murlock looking at her but chose to ignore it. “Zoom in closer, I want to see his face.”

  The view changed accordingly, but it was hard to get an unobstructed view of the persons face due to the angle.

  “He should be—” The person crawling looked upwards for a second then back down. They all froze not knowing what they saw.

  “Ship, replay the last few seconds, twenty-five percent speed,” said Taylor.

  A smaller screen overlaid the larger view showing what they just saw, but running slowly. When the person looked up Taylor shouted “Stop!”

  The creature’s eyes were gone, as well as most of the lower half of its face.

  “It can’t be—he should be dead with that amount of injury,” said Jones.

  “We saw others like him, in one of the cities,” said Taylor. “It must be some kind of disease, which causes the dead to keep moving, like they are alive or something—” She was making it up as she went but hoped that suggesting something gave her some authority in this insane situation.

  “We should leave,” said Murlock.

  “We can’t just leave! There might be people still alive down there!” said Taylor while images of her brother jumped into her mind. “Unlike you, some of us have family still on Earth.” She turned back to Elisa. “Honer, scan for heat and—” The lights on the bridge dimmed and went back up.

  “What was that?” said Murlock grabbing a nearby guardrail.

  Elisa looked at her console screen. “There’s a form of unknown radiation hitting our hull, so far—” The lights completely dimmed to black, then came back on. An alarm started sounding across the bridge.

  “Jones, get us out of here, now!” said the captain, not understanding how the devastation on Earth could be connected to what was happening with her ship, but her instincts told her they were.

  Murlock ran for
ward to the side Elisa. “The cells, do we still have integrity?” he shouted.

  She went to tap her screen, but it blanked out then after a second came back on. She quickly brought up a view of the male cellblock, inmates were opening their cell doors and moving out onto the gantries.

  He turned to Taylor. “It won’t matter what we choose to do if the prisoners have free access to the rest of the ship.” He tapped the back of his wrist. “All IMs are to report to the cellblocks—” Before he could finish, the bridge tilted a few degrees to one side, causing everyone to secure their footing.

  “What’s happening, someone talk to me,” said Taylor.

  Elisa and Jones both tapped away at their screens. Our inertial dampeners are malfunctioning, Captain, it may be linked to the unknown radiation, but—I don’t see how,” said Jones who was now holding on to the sides of his console.

  “Just do what you can to move us away from the planet!” shouted Taylor as the tilt of the floor became even greater. She realized something. “The civilians, did they leave the ship?” She wasn’t sure if she wanted a yes or no as an answer.

  “One shuttle left for the surface about forty minutes ago, but two are still here, they were due to leave in about twenty minutes.” Shouted Jones trying to be heard over the alarm.

  CHAPTER 11

  Luke was playing cards with Yegor, who he and Thiago had chosen to call Big Y, when the lights in their cell dimmed. Ten or so minutes prior the whole room shook, but not so much that any of Luke’s cards flipped showing the other two that he had a bad hand. Although having a bad hand hadn’t already stopped him from winning a weeks’ worth of crater juice. Several inmates ran past outside.

  Luke looked up from his cards.

  “Meh, ignore it, just crazies running around.”

  More people ran past, and this time Thiago looked up too.

  Luke was about to get to his feet when the whole cell tilted to one side, causing their cards to slide across the smooth surface. They all spread their arms to steady themselves.

  Evgeni appeared outside their open door, holding onto the guardrail, with two large men behind him. “You three, there is something you need to know.” He walked quickly into their cell. The lights dulled to nothing leaving them all standing and sitting in the dark for a few seconds before they came back on.

  Evgeni moved closer to them. “There has been an attack on the earth.”

  He went to continue when Luke stood. “Attack? Who?”

  “We do not know, but—there has been much devastation, I lost communication with my contacts shortly before I came in here, at least three fusion reactors have exploded.”

  “What?” said Thiago incredulously.

  Yegor started to gather up his cards.

  “But that’s—who could get to the reactors? They are the most secure facilities on the planet!” said Luke.

  “Like I say, I do not know, but we had nothing to do with it,” said Evgeni his voice tinged with anger.

  “Archon, those crazy fucks,” said Thiago standing uneasily.

  “No, I do not think this is them,” said Evgeni.

  The lights dimmed once more, and when they came back up, Evan was standing outside their cell.

  Luke beckoned him inside. “Do you know anything about the attack?”

  Evan looked puzzled. “What attack?”

  “I thought that’s what you came in here about?”

  “Attack? The ship’s being attacked? No, these power shortages, they shouldn’t be happening, unless the central anti-matter drive was having issues, it could mean—” the lights dimmed, but he continued “—that all the secure doors, are no longer secure.”

  “You are saying, we can go where we want on this ship?” said Evgeni.

  The lights came back on. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, at least, when the lights drop, the doors should open.”

  “Then we should leave here,” said Evgeni.

  “And go where? Even if we made it past the IMs, how we going to get off the ship?” said Thiago.

  “No, you don’t understand, the IMs have internal anti-matter power sources that’s true, but their link to the ship’s AI will be affected, making them well, confused, but only when the lights are dimmed.”

  “Enough of this, we need to go now.” Evgeni turned and walked towards his two men, while Yegor stood as well.

  Luke, Thiago, and Evan looked at each other. Luke shook his head, then he and Evan followed Evgeni onto the gantry. Thiago walked against the slope to the wall, and opened his storage compartment, revealing a brown bag that he quickly pulled out and slung over his shoulder, he then joined the others. Shouts and the roar of criminals without their usual confines filled the large hall around them.

  “This way,” said Evgeni when a voice from below rose above the others.

  “Ah, and where would you be sneaking off to like a rat?” shouted Babel surrounded by at least a hundred men. Luke, Evan, and Thiago stopped and looked down, while Evgeni stayed looking in the same direction, then sighed.

  He turned to face Babel three floors below. “Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Babel?”

  The lights in the hall all dimmed, plunging everyone into darkness while the tilt became more pronounced. Below came the sound of scuffling.

  “You have something that belongs to me Evgeni, send him down, or we will have to come and take him.” Babel’s voice thundered out penetrating the gloom around them.

  Luke heard Evgeni whisper something to some of his men.

  “We do not have time for these games Babel, you do what you want, but I have things to do.” Evgeni shouted back as the lights came back up. Babel was now standing with far less men.

  Evgeni turned and looked at Luke. A few seconds passed while Evgeni pondered what to do. He nodded to himself. “I hope the face of Space Force knows how to use his fists.”

  Luke looked to his right, three determined looking men were walking towards them. He looked the other way, at least five were closing in from that direction as well.

  Evgeni pointed to his right, the two men who were with him stormed off in that direction, he then turned back to Luke and the others. “We need to get to the docking bay, follow me.” He said something in Russian to Yegor who moved towards the five men.

  They all followed the two men that were fighting viciously with three of Babel’s men. Luke quickly glanced around at Yegor who was throwing a man off the gantry, while another was trying to wrestle him to the ground. He started to move in Yegor’ s direction, when Evgeni held him back. “Yegor can take care of himself, we need to move quickly.”

  The lights dimmed once more, just as Luke looked over the gantry to see a scene of chaos below. Legs, arms, and hands were flying between inmates, while others were cowering against walls.

  One of Evgeni’s two men was limping, but they were both still standing, unlike the three of Babel’s men. They all pushed past the bodies on the floor and ran along the gantry in the almost complete darkness, trying to avoid being knocked off course by other inmates emerging from cells. The lights came back up and Luke realized they were now standing on a landing area that stretched across to the gantry on the opposite side of the hall. Ahead of them to the right was an entrance to another elevator. The sound of upheaval and anger from fighting and distraught men was almost deafening all around them.

  “How we going to use the elevator?” asked Luke.

  A wiry aged man with several purple veins branching out across his skull, walked forward. He had joined their group without Luke even realizing.

  Evgeni smiled. “This is Mr. Weber, he is like the boy you have, very clever with technology.”

  Evan smiled awkwardly. “I’m actually twenty-seven,” he said under his breath, then followed Weber over to the elevator. He wasn’t sure if the others had, but he recognized the signs of illegal neuro-enhancement on Weber’s skull.

  Another group of seven men approached from the opposite gantry, Luke changed his
posture.

  “Calm yourselves, these are my people,” said Evgeni.

  A muscular man with a closely shaved head who looked to be in his early forties approached Evgeni and spoke quietly to him.

  “We do not have long; the IMs are on their way.” Evgeni looked at Weber who had produced a cable of some sort that linked his hand to the inside of an exposed panel next to the elevators touch pad. “How long?”

  “A few minutes still,” said Weber with a hint of a German accent.

  Yegor appeared walking along the gantry, his jumpsuit covered in smears of blood.

  The lights dimmed, and Weber swore.

  Thiago took his best guess and walked to where Weber was. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small plastic tube. “I have a flashlight.”

  “Good, point it into the panel,” said Weber which Thiago did.

  “I can’t let you leave Evgeni, not until you give me your new pet.” Babel’s voice was uncomfortably close, Luke thought perhaps a floor below them. The sound of feet shuffling came from all around, as the lights came back up. Evgeni’s men were now three rows deep in a semi-circle around him, Luke, Thiago, and those working near the elevator.

  “Babel, the IMs will be here soon, and we will all be punished, why cause any more problems?” shouted Evgeni, not being sure where Babel was.

  The blue neon glow of a plasma bolt fizzled through the dark and hit the wall above the elevator.

  “The IMs are here!” said Evan ducking with everyone else.

  “No, not IMs, well not yet, just a little toy I had tucked away for occasions such as these.” Babel’s voice was now just ten or so meters away.

  Luke could hear Evgeni angrily talking to himself, or perhaps to someone close by, he wasn’t sure in the dark.

  “Now, I can cut down most of your men and you will give me Carter, or you can just give me Carter, you have oh no seconds to decide, send him over to me now.”

  The elevator door slid open as the lights came back on.

  “Now! Get inside!” shouted Evgeni, and he, along with Weber, Evan, Luke, Thiago and Yegor all fell into the large space inside the elevator as Babel kept good on his promise and plasma bolts started making holes in the rows of men in front of him.