by Phil Maxey
“Are you done?”
“Well that depends, are we done here? Can we go back to the bridge and get on with trying to understand this mess?”
“Davin, you saw what we all saw, something or someone attacked Earth, and who knows what’s left of it. Planet wide devastation, then—” her voice cracked slightly “—whatever did that seems to have spread to the other parts of the system, we might be the only EA ship still functioning! There will be people out there that need our help!”
“Tantalus was designed to be controlled by a crew of three people, with one person, a human overseeing the inmates, we don’t need anyone else. We also have the IMs and they can pretty much do anything!”
“What we need Davin, is experience, we need people that know how to get things done. I’m not saying we let loose everyone we have incarcerated that would just lead to chaos, and we would all be dead within the day. I’m saying we select a few who might be useful, and that is going include ex-star captains of Space Force and the people that run the syndicates!”
The warden stood with his arms clenched together, shaking his head.
Taylor stepped closer towards him. “We offer them time off their sentences for cooperation.”
Murlock continued shaking his head. “It’s a risk, what if they turn on us, and try to take the ship?
“Over my dead body. And you know there are protocols in place to stop that from happening.”
“I just hope it’s not over all our dead bodies.” As he finished, a door in the large holding compartment opened and Luke walked in with Evgeni and stood in front of the one-way window. Babel followed, his eyes fixed on the two that entered before who looked at him with equal intensity. Then came a tall man, his jumpsuit covered in patches and motif’s, and a hood over his head which obscured most of his face.
Evgeni swore under his breath.
Finally, another door opened in the opposite wall, and a thickset woman in her fifties entered the well-lit room, followed by a younger woman with jet black tied back hair and a scar on her left cheek.
Taylor looked at Murlock, who sighed then reluctantly walked forward to a console under the window.
He tapped on one of the screens. “My name is—”
“We know your name, Warden,” said the older woman with a strong Texan accent, who sat on the bench in front of her.
“I’m glad you know who I am Belinda, but for those of you who have forgotten, I’m Davin Murlock, the warden of this facility.”
“Oh, Warden, I told you, just call me Bell like my other friends do,” said the older woman.
Murlock tried to continue talking, but the older woman ignored him and looked towards the men. “I heard y’all went a little crazy and tried to get off this boat when the lights went out.” She chuckled.
“We would have left, but we decided to stay,” said Evgeni.
The older woman looked incredulous. “What?”
“Yeah, I didn’t believe it either,” said Babel.
“As I was saying, on this ship, we—”
“You did not see what we saw,” said Evgeni ignoring the warden again.
Taylor moved next to the warden. “Maybe I should do this.”
The warden threw his arms up in the air in frustration. “Sure, be my guest.”
“Ain’t nothing they could show me to stop me from leaving this dump,” said Bell inside the room.
Luke glanced up at the figure in the hood. They weren’t introduced, but they didn’t need to be, he knew they must be the leader of the Archon syndicate.
Taylor tapped the ‘Talk’ option. “My name is Kim Taylor, I am the captain of Tantalus, and I need your help.”
Everyone in the room stopped talking and looked at the large mirrored window in front of them.
“How could we help you?” said Evgeni, genuinely confused.
“Some of you have seen what I’m about to show you, but most of you haven’t. You might want to prepare yourselves.”
The large window that was just a reflection of themselves, now changed to show the devastated Earth and the mushroom clouds slowly rising into the atmosphere. Then the view zoomed in to show the still animated humans walking, and finally the video from the Mars colony.
Bell started laughing. “You expect me to buy any of that?”
“Why would they make that up?” said the young woman.
Before Bell could reply, the tall hooded man spoke. “Humanities obsession with technology has finally brought about its downfall.”
Babel shook his head sarcastically, walking closer to the large video image, “Maybe our crazy friend here is right, maybe he’s not, but let’s say what we just saw is real, no Earth means no authority, meaning—” he stepped close to the window “—you don’t have any reason to hold us anymore.”
“I told you!” said Murlock on the other side of the partition. “They’re not going to want to help us, just themselves!”
Taylor gave the warden an angry look, then looked back to the inmates while hitting the talk option again on the console screen. “As far as we know, there are still Authority stations functioning, so your sentences will still stand, but if you work with us, we will reduce your sentences in half.”
Babel sniggered. “I’m in here for about three hundred years, cutting my sentence in half don’t really mean anything to me, and I doubt it means much to anyone here as well, okay apart from our star captain here,” he said looking at Luke.
Luke ignored Babel and looked at the window. “Why do you need our help? As I understand it this ship is fully automated, and you have the IMs.”
“It is, and we do, but—” Taylor sighed “—millions probably have died on Earth, maybe more and it could be the same at the colonies. Human beings have suddenly become a dwindling resource, and we have a ship full of them. It makes sense to me to use that resource, for us to try to survive against whatever is happening.”
“And how exactly can we help?” said Evgeni.
Before the captain could reply Babel spoke up. “She just wants bodies she can throw at the problem, so her and her crew mates don’t get caught up in it, that is what all this is about, right?”
“You’re wrong—”
The girl with the scar interjected. “What if we are it? What if this ship is the only one left in the system?” she said. Her voice was emotionless.
“I can’t believe any of you are falling for his hogshit,” said Bell. “Can I go back to my cell now?” she said standing.
Babel, Bell, and Evgeni started arguing.
“Enough!” shouted Luke. They all looked at him. “I believe what we saw was real. Something has attacked Earth and it looks like lots of other locations as well and we are out here in space, alone. We don’t know what’s happening, but we are being given a chance to do something about it, or would all of you rather go back and let your lives be in the hands of an almost non-existent crew and machines?”
The room fell quiet, with a mixture of frustration and confusion.
The girl with the scar spoke first. “He’s right—” she steadied herself “—I had a family still on Earth, who knows if they are still alive, maybe some of you had the same. Whatever attacked Earth, attacked all of us, and I want to help fight back.”
Luke looked back at the window. “What happens next?”
“I need people with experience, pilots, engineers, and I need access to syndicate bases and supplies.”
Babel tutted. “Of course she does!”
She continued. “We are intercepting a hauler in about an hour, and I need people with experience ready to board her if it comes to that.”
“Can’t you just send those machine things?” said Bell.
“The IMs are highly trained in lots of tasks, but the unknown is not one of them.”
“And if we give you what you want, what do we get in return, right now? Not in the future but right now?” said Babel.
Silence came through the speaker.
“What do yo
u want?” Taylor finally replied.
“Free range of the ship, we can go wherever you can go.”
On the other side of the window, Murlock shook his head. “No, no, no. They want to destroy us from the inside out.” Taylor put her hand up, then tapped the talk option once more.
“The people that are selected can have access to a large part of the ship, but certain sections will remain off limits, and everyone else, they have to stay in the cell blocks.” She tapped another option on the screen, and the door to the left of the window slid open. Murlock looked shocked, then started to walk backwards towards the elevator entrance.
Everyone in the room looked at each other, unsure of what they should do next. Taylor walked through the door and stood just inside. “We are running out of time, we will shortly be at the haulers location. I’m going to need a small team of around five people, to be ready to board her. These are the people I’ve already selected—” she walked to the window and tapped on it. The screen changed, displaying multiple rows of faces “—for this mission as well as others I think will be useful going forward. Most are from your syndicates, others are independents, either way I’m going to need your help convincing them to come on board with this.”
Babel looked at the list, then walked close to the captain, who straightened her back as he did. For a moment, he just looked at her, then he smiled. “Okay, Captain I’ll play this game of yours and see how it all works out.”
Luke looked at the others; most shrugged in agreement.
CHAPTER 15
“Four thousand meters and closing Ma’am,” said Jones as the main screen on the bridge displayed an image of space with the hauler known as the Hatton in the distance.
“No, you’re approaching from the wrong side!” said a frustrated older man with a white beard, pushing Jones to one side. “Where’s the thrust control on this thing?”
Jones looked back at the captain, who nodded to him. “There and there,” he said pointing to the ship’s navigation controls. The older man looked at Jones with wide eyes. Jones moved out of his seat as the older man sat on it.
“This is a Python class hauler if we come in on the trajectory we are on, there’s a chance we get caught in the ion cloud left by the fusion thrusters, I guess someone of your age—” he looked at Jones, briefly “—wouldn’t know that.”
Jones frowned.
“Meh, sit down to the side and watch and learn.”
Taylor moved and stood behind Elisa being thankful the problem with the inertial dampeners was now fixed. “Lieutenant Honer is there any energy output from the hauler?”
“None that I can detect, Ma’am.”
“Keep trying to reach anyone on the hauler on comms,” Elisa said.
Babel, Evgeni, and Luke entered the bridge escorted by two IMs, joining another two that were already standing at the back of the bridge, which was rapidly become cramped for space.
Babel put his hand on Taylor’s shoulder which she shrugged off. “Wow, when they said the bridge was small, they weren’t joking,” he said smiling. “Ha, I see Oscar is already in control.”
“Mr. Watkins has already proved his worth, what can I do for you Babel?”
“I thought I’d come and see how this little away mission would go, from where all the action takes place.”
As Babel was talking, Luke moved closer to the main screen, focused on the hauler which was now taking up a third of the view. It hung like a forgotten piece of space debris, gently rotating.
Elisa looked at Luke out of the corner of her eye as she was trying to communicate with the hauler. It was strange seeing the face which launched a hundred Space Force marketing campaigns standing close to her, especially in a jumpsuit.
Taylor also noticed Luke. “What do you think?” she said in his direction.
“I’m looking at a dead ship,” Luke said. He looked at Elisa. “There’s really no energy output at all?”
“No,” said Elisa, not being sure whether to put a ‘sir’ on the end of her sentence.
Evgeni, stood behind Luke. “This is very strange, even with the reactor down, there should still be internal sources of power that would be detected by the sensors on a ship such as this.” He looked around the bridge.
Another overlaid image appeared on the main screen. The man with a shaved head that approached Evgeni in the cellblock hours earlier was inside a shuttle, with three others and two IMs behind him. All the humans were in space suits, and all had plasma rifles.
“We are ready to leave, boss,” said the man.
“Seth, please from now on, address the captain,” said Evgeni. Seth nodded.
Taylor looked at Jones, who leaned over Oscar and tapped the screen. “Shuttle cleared for takeoff, Captain.”
“You know I could have done that right?” said Oscar looking up at Jones.
Another smaller image opened up on the main screen showing an external view of the docking clamps releasing the shuttle and it rising smoothly upwards. It quickly moved between the large open docking bay doors and swiftly forward into space towards the hauler.
“Umm, two thousand meters and closing, Captain,” said Oscar before Jones could open his mouth.
Taylor couldn’t help but smile. “Are we close enough to do a deep scan?” she said to Elisa.
“Not yet, we need to be within a thousand meters.”
Evgeni looked at Taylor then Luke. “What is this deep scan?”
“You have deep scanning capabilities?” said Luke slightly surprised.
“Yes, the authority is … umm were trying out a number of experimental technologies on Tantalus before putting them on other ships,” said Taylor
Evgeni looked exasperated. “What is this?”
Elisa spoke up. “We can scan the quantum fluctuations if we are close enough to a ship, meaning we can see everything inside it, to a one centimeter resolution. It works through most ship armor configurations as well, but it takes about ten minutes to complete the scan, so it’s not in real time.”
“So, let’s do this deep scan, maybe we can find out what has happened on that ship without the men having to board it?” said Evgeni.
Taylor went to reply, but Luke beat her to it. “We don’t know what’s happened to the hauler, or maybe there’s nothing wrong with it and whoever’s on that ship wants to draw us close. It’s a common tactic the Grain syndicate uses.”
Babel smirked while Taylor smiled, it was the perfect explanation. “Keep our distance Mr. Watkins,” she said.
* * * * *
Seth looked around at the two men and one woman in their EA space suits, ignoring the two IMs that sat passively like statues. Damon Jackson, and Lori Dower he knew, but the other guy was an unknown, evidently one of the Grainers. “Listen up, two of you know me, but you don’t.” He looked at the Grainer. “We stay together unless I say otherwise. We go to the bridge then we go to the reactor, that’s it. We kill whatever looks wrong to us. We all got that?” They all nodded. “What’s your name?” Seth said to the Grainer.
“Leon Sykes” said the dark-haired man.
“Follow my lead and all will be fine.”
Seth’s parents knew Evgeni when he was a child, so when they died in the Retrenium leakage of eighty-two, Evgeni stepped up and took him in. For most of his years the boss as he called him, kept him out of any of the syndicates business and was happy for him to join Space Force as a marine, but after seven years of service he was ready to move onto something new. The boss offered him a lowly position in the organization, but slowly he worked his way up to being Evgeni’s second in command. He wasn’t sure if Evgeni looked upon him as a son, but he couldn’t help but think of him as his father.
A third IM piloted the shuttle perfectly to one of the hauler’s docking ports, it’s clamps pulling it snug against the larger ship’s hull with a ringing clang.
Seth got to his feet and walked to the hatch, a light changed from red to green above it, and the hatch slid upwards. A rush of ai
r hit them trying to escape the dark airlock beyond.
He stepped forward into the confined space, and switched on the lights on his forearms. Together with the helmet external lights they pushed the darkness all the way to the haulers hatch on the other side of the airlock. “Okay, let’s move out,” he said looking back.
As they approached the other hatch, an IM pushed past, pulling the panel off and manually opening the door. Within a few seconds the door was open, revealing nothing but blackness on the other side.
“This is going to be real fun,” said Dower her Phoenix tattoo clearly visible on the right side of her face.
IM 075 stepped forward illuminating a small junction, with doors to their left and right. “This way,” said the robot, moving to the right and repeating the same procedure, opening the next door.
“Hey, slow down, we don’t know what’s ahead of us,” said Seth running to keep up. He had worked alongside a few early IM prototypes on covert missions, but none as advanced as these he was standing next to now. Some of these could be useful in the flaming birds.
Their lights illuminated a large open space, with a ceiling so high they couldn’t see it.
“Cargo hold I’m guessing,” said Jackson.
The second IM, number 036 walked closely behind him, watching the way they came. “Cargo hold, section 2A,” said the machine while not looking at Jackson.
Seth put his hand to his helmet as static combined with words, played out of his comms.
“Tantalus, come in, I can’t read you. Over.”