Space Above and Beyond - #2 Dark Side of the Sun - Dina Anastasio

by Dina Anastasio

  Cooper glanced up and saw her by the door. He summoned the other Marines, and they rose together. They moved quickly and followed the AIs.

  Feliciti OH and the AIs moved faster, down a dark, cold passageway. Then, with a command understood only by AIs, Feliciti OH hustled her followers out of the entrance level. She hesitated, listened, and disappeared into a maze of hallways.

  The Marines had lost them.

  Nathan led them into the maze. If they moved quietly, they might hear the sound of AI footsteps. They turned left, then stopped and listened. The AIs were somewhere in front of them.

  The Marines moved on. The hallways grew darker. They could see nothing as they turned right, then left again.

  Nathan stopped them and listened. The AIs were ahead. How far? They couldn't tell.

  They turned a corner. In front of them was a room. They peered inside. The room was a silent mass of shadows. Ghostly shapes trembled in the gloom. The Marines moved into the doorway and tried to make them out. Machines of all sizes lined the walls.

  They were in the Machine Room.

  To Gordon the eerie room seemed empty. Perhaps the AIs had escaped through that door on the other side. Without thinking, he started to run.

  The Marines reacted and tried to pull him back.

  But he broke free, and raced into the middle of the Machine Room.

  "WAIT!" Nathan cried.

  "Come back, Gordon!" Cooper called.

  Cooper started to follow Gordon, but Nathan held him back.

  "Don't you be stupid," he whispered. "We don't need to lose you both."

  They huddled in the doorway, holding their breath. Gordon was still running. He was almost at the door on the other side of the room. He was going to make it. He—

  A huge flash of light caught him and brought him down. An explosion of immense magnitude shook the factory. Smoke and dust rolled through, choking the lungs of the 58th.

  When the smoke cleared, the Marines saw him there. This time, they did not hesitate. They ran to their friend and knelt beside him.

  He was lying on the floor, quiet and unmoving.

  "He's dead," Nathan whispered.

  "He can't be," Cooper said, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

  Nathan sighed and closed Gordon's eyes. Then he stood and searched the shadows for something to cover the body.

  He moved toward a wall, then turned back and walked in the other direction.

  It was no use. This room was filled with machinery, and that was all. Everything was metal. Everything was cold.

  He was heading back to his friends when the shooting started. The AIs had returned. The gunfire was aimed straight at them.

  Damphousse rose and stepped backward. "I'm out of ammunition," she said, her voice tense.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Behind her was a six-foot-high wall of machinery.

  The others followed and hid there. There was nothing to do but wait. There were more AIs now. They seemed to be coming from everywhere.

  "What the . . .?" Nathan whispered. "I thought we'd gotten rid of these scum."

  But no. More, and then more appeared. They emerged from behind machinery, guns raised. They were heading straight toward the Marines.

  Wang checked his ammo. He had twelve rounds left. That was all. No one had more than that.

  It wasn't nearly enough.

  Wang sighed and slumped down behind the wall. Nathan tried to think of something to say.

  He could say that it would be all right.

  He could say that they'd get out of this alive.

  He could say that there is always an answer.

  But he didn't believe it. He didn't believe any of it.

  They were finished. There was no way out. "Where's Vansen?" Wang whispered to Nathan.

  "I hope she's in a better place than we are," Nathan answered. His voice was shaky and small.

  For the first time he was very, very afraid.

  Chapter 13

  Shane Vansen wasn't in a good place at all. The blackness of the upper level was closing in on her. Tubes, pipes, and wires blocked her way. It seemed like she had been following that AI for miles. She had lost it in a dark passageway. And then she had found it again on a narrow walkway.

  She had pursued it over cables and through narrow tunnels. And she had almost caught it.

  But the AI had escaped again.

  Shane wanted this AI. If she had to chase it for the next year, she would find it.

  It could have been any AI. It didn't matter. She just wanted one of them. Any one of them. There was a question that needed to be answered, and she needed an AI to answer it.

  WHY DID YOU KILL MY PARENTS?

  The answer was in there somewhere. It was hiding in that horrible memory. It had to be.

  Because nothing was forgotten in the terrible world of the AIs.

  Shane moved on. Somewhere in front of her was that creature with the answer. She hurried now, determined to catch it.

  She hesitated and listened. But there was nothing. Nothing but silence.

  Suddenly arms shot out from between a series of tubes and grabbed her. Shane's breath caught, stopping altogether, as she wiggled loose.

  When she was free, she swung around. A shadow shifted and faced her. The crosshair eyes of this enemy glared at her.

  Shane moved closer and grabbed the AI.

  It was her advantage.

  She struggled, then threw the unit against the wall. She found her knife somehow and raised it.

  The unit watched her with wide white eyes. The crosshair eyes did not flicker. They stayed with her, focusing as if she were a target.

  Shane saw the unit's crosshair eyes read the name on her uniform. The eyes took in the word. Vansen. The word was now locked into the AI's binary information forever. Shane wondered if the computer was searching for a match.

  Vansen. Vansen. Vansen.

  Shane moved in with her knife ready. She raised her hand.

  But she did not lower the knife. She did not kill her attacker. Something froze her there, in that position.

  It was a voice. A voice that she knew better than any other voice in the world.

  "Don't... don't kill us... our children... the voice pleaded. It was coming from the memory of this... this... thing.

  It was the voice of her mother.

  The AI had connected the word Vansen to this far-away memory.

  It had brought up this voice to startle Shane. And it had succeeded.

  Shane shuddered, caught in that long-ago moment.

  "Mother?" she whispered.

  Silence.

  Shane stepped back and waited for her mother to speak again. Tears clouded her eyes.

  No words came to her. The AI's memory was quiet.

  Shane could not move. The AI had the advantage now.

  "On the floor!" it ordered.

  Shane stood frozen. Her mother's frightened cries echoed off the pipes and tubes. As did the sound of those gunshots from that long-ago time.

  Shane trembled, then came to life. She stared at the computer. What was this thing that held her past inside it?

  She wanted to know. She needed the answer. But to get to it, she would have to hear her mother's terror once again.

  The AI began to laugh. Shane shuddered with anger.

  "WHY?" she cried. "I want to know WHY the AIs killed my family!"

  The AI stared at her blankly. Nothing. It gave nothing at all.

  Shane moved the knife closer. "Play it!" she said. "Only then will I let you go!"

  "The odds are low against trusting a human," the AI said mechanically.

  "Take a chance."

  They were the right words, and the AI responded just as Shane hoped it would. It leaned its head backward against the wall. It closed its crosshair eyes. It waited. Then it opened its eyes again.

  The AI stood frozen and unmoving as the memory played through its speaker. Static crackled. The sound of a car followed. Then a flat
AI voice...

  "This is all naval housing," the voice said.

  "Slaughter the pigs in the pen," a cruel voice answered.

  "Which one first?"

  "Who cares?"

  "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter."

  "Stop the car!"

  "Where?"

  "It doesn't matter."

  "Flip a coin. Heads this house. Tails that one."

  "Tails."

  "The Vansen family."

  "Who?"

  "Vansen. Vansen. It doesn't matter."

  "Better luck next time."

  Shane couldn't listen anymore. She felt sick. Sweat poured off her. Anger overwhelmed her. She raised her knife and rushed toward the AI.

  The plastic cracked. Ripped. Came apart. Sparks flew. Oil spattered. Digital distress patterns beeped.

  She could not stop! She could not stop! She could not stop... until the memory faded and the AI was still.

  Shane stood in the silence for a long time. Her breath was quieting now. Slowly.

  A noise shook her. The light click of footsteps brought her back. She tensed and listened. The sound was coming from a nearby elevator shaft.

  She inched closer and looked down. The footsteps belonged to two AI guards. They were four or five levels below.

  It was time to get back to the others. They were down there somewhere. She would have to get past these guards, but how?

  She looked around. There was no way down. She pulled her K-bar from its sheath and moved back. She glanced around and noticed a large spool of tubing.

  It was just the thing. This tubing would take her where she wanted to go. Moving on tiptoe, she looped the tubing around the beam. Then she strapped it around herself and moved toward the shaft.

  She was ready.

  She pushed off and shot through the shaft. The tubing held as she flew downward at an incredible speed.

  The AIs didn't have a chance. Shane had the advantage. The element of surprise was on her side.

  She landed beside them and took them down. First one, and then the other.

  The AIs had forgotten one of the rules of patrol. They had looked to the left. They had looked to the right. They had watched their backs.

  But there was one thing they hadn't done.

  They hadn't looked up.

  Within seconds, the AIs lay silent on the floor.

  And Shane had their weapons.

  Chapter 14

  On the other side of the facility, Feliciti OH was barking orders. The crosshairs in her eyes were focused on the AIs who stood before her.

  "We came here for the helium," she reminded them. "It is time to take it. The Aliens are waiting. You two units start loading the H-three onto the ship. We're dealing the last hand. The rest of us will join you after we kill the Carbonites."

  As the two AIs took off down the hallway, Feliciti OH returned to the Machine Room. Behind her, a line of AIs followed.

  A small barrage of rifle fire greeted them. But Feliciti OH was not bothered. She knew that the remaining members of the 58th were almost out of ammunition.

  The AIs moved closer to the metal wall.

  "They're advancing," Cooper whispered to his comrades. "And I don't have any clips left."

  He could hear the enemy. But he could not see them. The wall blocked his view.

  "I have half a clip," Wang answered.

  Wang stood and moved toward Cooper. Something was wrong. His head felt light. He tried to brace himself on the wall in front of him. But he could not catch his balance.

  Watching him stagger, Nathan knew what was happening.

  "The mine's running out of residual air," he said. "It they don't kill us, C02 poisoning will."

  "There's a convoy on its way," Damphousse said. "Can we hold out till it arrives?"

  Nathan shook his head. He'd almost forgotten about the convoy. He tried to remember when it was due. McQueen had said it would be there in two days. How long had it been? Certainly not anywhere near that long.

  "No good," he said. "It's hours away."

  "Maybe we've just got to make a break for it," Wang suggested.

  But Nathan knew that wouldn't work either. They were surrounded. One step out, and they'd be instant history.

  They were trapped.

  The four Marines were huddled close together on the floor now. Their backs were pushed to the wall, and there was no way out. The Machine Room seemed eerily silent.

  "What are they doing?" Wang whispered.

  "They aren't making a sound," Damphousse said. "Why not?"

  "Maybe they've gone," Wang muttered sarcastically. "Maybe it's lunchtime."

  "This quiet is worse than the gunfire," whispered Damphousse.

  "They're getting ready for the next push," Nathan said.

  When they spoke, their breath came in short, jerky gasps. They would have to conserve whatever air there was left. It was time for silence.

  They sat there for a long time, together and afraid.

  Nathan's mind shifted to Shane. Where was she? Was she alive? Or had they gotten her, too?

  He peered through the shadows at the others. These Marines weren't just Shane's family now. They were his family too.

  He relaxed then. Just for a moment. Then the sound of gunfire shook him.

  Nathan sighed and rose to his feet. This was it. And there was nothing that they could do about it. Oddly, he wasn't frightened. Just resigned.

  The other Marines struggled to their feet also. They didn't seem frightened either. Nathan could see that they were exhausted. He could see that they were discouraged.

  But most of all, he could see that they knew it was over. And that they had accepted it.

  "Ready?" he whispered.

  They nodded, too weak to speak.

  "Don't fire till they come over the wall."

  The weapon fire grew louder. Above the wall, lights flashed and the world exploded.

  The four Marines huddled together. All they could do was wait.

  They could hear footsteps approaching.

  And then... a voice.

  "Bulldog," it said.

  Their eyes widened as they glanced at each other.

  "Chesty," Nathan answered.

  "Affirmative!" the voice said.

  It was Shane.

  They couldn't believe it! They were going to stay alive! They jumped to their feet and raced around the wall. When they saw Shane, they laughed out loud and cheered.

  But Shane did not cheer back. Sweat and oil covered her face, and behind it was only pain.

  "They're loading the helium," she said. "Let's go after them."

  "We don't have enough air for combat." Nathan gasped. "And we're out of ammo. But if we get to the ISSCV, we can radio the convoy. They're in position to intercept the AI transport. They can retrieve the ore without any damage to... "

  But Shane wasn't listening. "They killed my family because a coin came up tails," she said. "They tossed a coin. Heads they die. Tails the other ones die. The coin came up tails. Vansen. That's why they did it."

  Nobody spoke. Nobody knew what to say.

  "They don't leave this rock!" Shane told the 58th slowly and deliberately. "I'm going to finish them off. Once and for all."

  Nathan grabbed her arm and held her there. "Shane," he said softly, "you finally got your answer. Now you know why. But revenge isn't going to end it. There's thousands of AIs out there in space. You can't kill them all. You have to move on, or your biggest fear will come true. They'll kill you without ever lifting a weapon."

  Shane yanked her arm away.

  "What about the helium, Shane?" asked Damphousse.

  "We've got to stop them," Wang added. "They'll give that stuff to the Aliens, and we'll have no fuel."

  Shane winced and stormed out of the room, stepping over the AIs that she had just done away with.

  She raced down the hallway. Faster. Then faster still.

  When the facility rumbled, Shane hesitated. A spaceship was
taking off. A spaceship filled with helium 3. She raced into the airlock room, grabbed a helmet and a rebreather pack, and moved back into the hallway at a run.

  The others followed. They knew what she was planning to do, and they were frightened.

  "Vansen!" Wang shouted from the other end of the hall. "You can't shoot them down. You'll destroy the H-three!"

  Shane did not turn. Only when the door slammed behind her did she hesitate.

  She was outside now. She slipped her helmet onto her head and looked around her. An orange glow lit up the sky.

  She closed her eyes. For an instant, she was in the attic. Below, her mother was pleading. The sun was exploding. Her sisters were crying.

  She would destroy this memory forever. Never again would she dream this dream.

  She knelt down and pulled a missile launcher from her pack. Then, as the rumbling grew louder, she loaded the launcher with a small missile.

  She waited. Suddenly, the AI transport roared over the rocks and took off into the sky.

  When it was directly overhead, Shane fired. A rocket jetted from the tube in her launcher.

  It was right on target. It hit the ship dead center.

  Above her, the night exploded. She closed her eyes again and saw the sun. Orange. Glowing in the blackness.

  She waited, knowing what would happen. The sun would explode into an avalanche of brilliant colors, just like it always did.

  She opened her eyes and watched the debris from the spaceship rain down.

  It was gray and cold.

  It was not the sun at all.

  She shuddered and glanced away.

  When she looked again, the world was dark.

  And she was alone.

  Chapter 15

  Shane stood there for a long time. She did not move. She did not turn when footsteps approached.

  Nathan came and stood beside her.

  "You've destroyed them," he said, after a while.

  "Some of them," Shane said. "But there will be more."

  She turned then and studied him in the darkness. "I'm afraid I've destroyed the helium three," she whispered.

  "There will be more. It's a big mine."

  He touched her arm and led her through the darkness. When they reached the cargo ship, they stopped and looked up at the stars.