We swept through the halls at a brisk pace. They looked identical to the Vantagax ship I’d been on before. It was easier to see without the emergency lighting and fire suppressant foam, but I still had no idea where we were going or an overall layout of the ship. It was like I’d been plopped down in a maze without forewarning. I tried to release some mapping drones, but they were prevented from doing their job as well.
Vantagax crew moved themselves out of the way as we strode past. Some watched with keen observance, sticking their necks out as we went by. Others seemed to pointedly ignore the five of us and kept their head buried in whatever work they were doing. The occasional few pressed themselves against the walls like they were trying to avoid us at all costs. I didn’t know what Braxa had told her crew about me, but I got the distinct impression most thought I was at best a sideshow oddity and at worst some kind of monster. Either way it didn’t seem like I would get much help. The best I could hope for if I stayed in the Vantagax care would be someone like Roile who wanted to keep me comfortable for study.
We turned into a small room. The lighting was dim, and there was no other way out besides the way we’d come into the room. The guards in front of me stopped. The guards behind me stopped. They didn’t make a move one way or the other. My guards stood ramrod straight without wavering or flinching. It was as if they had turned into statues.
Move in front of the guards.
I looked around. Someone had spoken to me, but it wasn’t anyone in the room, and it wasn’t coming in over my radio.
Hurry! Move in front of the guards.
The voice became more insistent. It wasn’t demanding. There wasn’t an order behind its words. It sounded as if it was pleading with me.
“Who is it?” I said, keeping an eye on the guards. They didn’t move when I spoke.
The Hive. Now do as you’re told.
With that knowledge it clicked into place; the voice was in my head. Somehow The Hive communicated with me. Braxa didn’t say anything about members on board, but why would she?
With as much care as possible I moved around the front guards. My heart pounded, and I held my breath. I didn’t want to touch or jostle them in any manner lest I somehow bring them out of their trance. At this distance I would have to do some mind bending acrobatics to avoid the hail of projectiles they could fire at me.
Hold your hands out.
I put my shackled wrists in front of me. The guard closest to me reached out, and I pulled back with a quick jerk. Her hand stopped moving forward. There was no expression on her face or any of the others. They blinked, and they breathed, but it all seemed robotic. I moved my hands back to where they had been, and the guard waved something over them. The shackles around my wrists unlocked and then the one around my ankles followed suit. They dropped to the ground, clattering and clanging on the metal grating. I winced and prepared to run, but the guards didn’t move.
Leave the room, turn right and go down the left corridor.
I moved at a quick walking pace, following The Hive’s directions. It was somewhere between a speed walk and full run. I jogged for a few steps then slowed down and walked a few steps. My HUD showed that my suit powered back up. Whatever had released the shackles had also turned off whatever had been preventing me from using the suit to its full extent.
“Where am I going?” I whispered.
An image of a shuttle bay formed in my mind. At the next intersection take a right.
I stopped at a four way and looked up and down the corridors. There was not one crew member to be seen. I took one last look over my shoulder. No one followed me.
“Where is everybody?” I said, turning down the right hallway.
I have turned everyone away.
“How?” I said. There must have been hundreds if not thousands of potential crewmembers who could be walking these hallways.
I’ve suggested to them that they should take a specific route. If I’ve done it properly no one will know it wasn’t their own decision.
“What about the guards?” I continued to move at a quick pace while trying to be as quiet as possible. Even if The Hive had cleared a way there could have been someone they missed. There were a lot of doors I was passing. Someone could come out of one at any time.
They are in a type of stasis. When they wake up they won’t realize any time has passed.
An image of large, heavy looking doors with the warning lights around the frame and caution labels emblazed across the door panels came to mind. I nodded and then realized The Hive wouldn’t see me making the motions. They’d already know I’d understand though. I felt foolish.
“What about cameras?” I said, trying to change my train of thought.
One of my ships is nearby. I’ve launched a cyber-attack on Braxa’s ship. It is allowing me to go undetected and help you move unseen. They’re seeing what I want them to see.
I came to another intersection and stopped. The hallway split: one corridor went to the left and the other continued forward. I didn’t see the large doors The Hive had shown me. Both paths looked the same as the corridors I’d come down before.
“Which way do I go?” I said.
There was no response. I bit my lip and started to bounce on the balls of my feet. There could be anyone coming at any time, and there’d be no good explanation for why I was there.
“Which way do I go?” I said, trying to send out as much of my thoughts as possible for The Hive to hear.
Straight. Go straight.
The Hive sounded taxed and tired. It had the voice of a person who’d been working all day and needed to collapse in their armchair.
I’m sorry. I have to expend a lot of energy to reach out to you in this way. There are many smaller pieces that if they fall out of place will send everything crashing down.
“How much farther?”
Take the third left and you’ll be there. I have to leave for now, but I’ll know when you’re at the shuttles.
“Okay,” I whispered. I kept my head on a swivel as I continued down the hallway. I froze because I thought I heard a door open, but it might have been the air recyclers kicking into action. When I started moving again the hallway seemed to stretch out ahead of me like it was a reflection in a funhouse mirror. I started to feel a little woozy. My suit felt stuffy and confining, but I continued forward.
The third left came up much too slow. I knew realistically it hadn’t as the intersections seemed to be evenly spaced. It was my mind slowing everything down, stretching it out. Every knock, every ping, every creak magnified. The subtle flicker of a light or change in air pressure tickled at my lizard brain, warning me of danger.
When I turned the corner and saw the shuttle doors I breathed a sigh of relief to see no one standing there. Time caught back up and the world seemed to come back into focus. The knot in my stomach released and exhaled in relief.
Without my intervention the doors swung open on near silent rollers. The knot tightened, and I inhaled sharply: three Vantagax stood with their backs to me on the other side of the threshold.
Chapter Thirteen
“Shit,” I whispered then flinched and jumped to the side. I pressed myself as hard as I could against the wall wishing myself to be invisible. The guards didn’t move.
Quickly! Past them. My strength is waning.
The Hive in my head felt reassuring, and I pushed myself off the wall. I slipped around the three. They looked just like the previous guards: blank stare straight ahead, ramrod straight, and moving about as much as a statue. Sweat still covered my brow and my heart still pounded. I was glad that I didn’t have any heart issues.
Behind the canisters.
I ducked behind a pallet. The door slid shut, and the guards resumed moving. It was like they had been on pause then unpaused, resuming life without a hitch. The three turned and nodded to each other then separated and continued on to whatever duties they were performing.
I’m struggling to keep everyone away from the other four.
&
nbsp; “Just keep them in their room,” I whispered. My hiding spot seemed to be out of the way of prying eyes. All of the crew members seemed to be going about their normal routines but keeping a wide berth from where I crouched. I wasn’t sure if it was The Hive’s influence, or they just didn’t need to come over here at this time.
I am, but it’s getting dangerously close to taking too long for you and your escorts to get to the holding cell. Braxa is to be called when you’ve arrived to begin your proper interrogation. She’s already sent out some runners trying to find out where you are.
I swore under my breath. If Braxa wasn’t so single minded and fixated on me this would have gone a lot easier. However, if she wasn’t so obsessed I probably wouldn’t have been in this mess to begin with.
“What do I do?” I said.
Get as near to the shuttle bay doors as you can. When they open them up you’re going to jump out.
“What?” I said. I hoped The Hive could pick up on the anger conveyed in my voice. If they couldn’t I was sure they’d pick up on it in my overall thoughts. “Why don’t you just beam me over to your ship?”
You don’t have a beacon.
I swore under my breath at forgetting that little fact.
Besides, even if I could Braxa’s ship would pick up on it. I don’t want to be spotted. Getting shot at is not part of this operation. Now move towards the shuttle bay doors. I’ll try to help you, but it’s going to be mostly up to you now.
Muttering to myself I began slinking along the wall. Shadows concealed most of my movements but every so often I’d freeze. A Vantagax crew member would start to head towards my spot but every time they got within a couple of feet they’d stop, spin on their heel and continue in a different direction. The first time I thought it was coincidence, but when it happened a couple more times with the exact same motions I knew it was The Hive. I wondered if they’d let me buy them a beer when this was all over.
I crouched behind what looked like some kind of large chest bolted to the floor. It had a flip-top locked and secured. Between it and the shuttle bay doors was empty space.
“I can’t get any closer,” I whispered, peeking over the top of the box.
Check to make sure your suit is locked down. You’re going out into the vacuum.
I ran through the diagnostics. “I just came in from the vacuum,” I said. “How many damn times do I have to be sucked into space?”
The atmosphere is going to be vented, and the doors will be opened before a shuttle takes off. Any crew members not in suits will be moved from the space.
“Like jumping out of a moving car,” I said. “Just make sure to hit the ground rolling.”
An image of an empty escape pod firing from Braxa’s ship entered my mind. The pod flung away from the ship before being shot and turned into nothing but slag. The shuttle bay doors opened and I ran out, pushing myself away from the ship. A shuttle then left the bay and examined the small debris cloud while I was brought in from space onto a different ship.
Do you understand the plan?
I nodded. A small vibration rumbled through the floor of the ship: the escape pod. The klaxons sounded and the warning lights flashed as I felt the now familiar tug of atmosphere being pulled out of the room. Crew members streamed from the shuttle bay as a gangway pulled away from one of the shuttles. With the atmosphere gone the shuttle bay doors opened in spine rumbling silence. The blaring klaxons stopped but the warning lights continued.
There was no one on the shuttle bay floor. I was alone with my thoughts at the moment as I wasn’t tuned into the Vantagax radio channel. The doors finished sliding open as I took a quick glance back at the shuttle. It didn’t have any windows, and as far as I could tell there was no activity on board. Hopefully they were going through a pre-flight checklist. Whenever I’d been on the Confederacy shuttles they’d been ready to go as soon as we got on. I didn’t know what went into the pre-flight work.
I turned from the shuttle, trying to push it out of my mind. If they were going to see me they were going to see me. I tried to control my breathing. My hands opened and closed into fists. I leaned forward in a half-hearted attempt at a runner’s stance.
Go! Hurry!
I took off at a sprint. My suit’s motors whined and whirred as I moved. The edge came closer and closer. I pumped my arms as fast as I could. I willed my feet to dig into the metal as much as they could for maximum traction. The stars and the blackness loomed into view and like a missile I launched myself into the vacuum.
I tried not to think about leaping from a ship going who knows how fast and attempting to land on another. I didn’t even know where The Hive was. I assumed they were close, and I assumed I wouldn’t have to wait very long, but as this point I started to regret not asking them.
My suit’s cameras focused on Braxa’s shuttle. The grainy feed enhanced and displayed the small ship. The shuttle ran out to the debris field of the escape pod circled a few times and headed back into Braxa’s ship. The shuttle bay doors closed and then the ship was gone. One second it was there. The next it disappeared. I gasped, never having seen anything enter FTL.
I continued with my arms as my sides, feet out behind me. My destination was unknown, but it felt right to stay in my current position. Something about it screamed special agent. I suppose I’d watched one too many movies as a kid.
A proximity alarm went off in my suit. The cameras panned and fixated on something being destroyed. A brief flash of light tore through it, and the object burst into a multitude of little pieces.
Don’t be alarmed. That was me. Braxa left some traps behind.
I let out a sigh of relief. “You’re still around.”
Yes. Another proximity warning went off. I’m going to bring my ship around. An image of me gliding through open cargo doors scanned through my mind.
“Fine,” I sighed. My suit pinned The Hive’s ship as ahead of me and highlighted it on my HUD. I flipped myself around so that my feet would enter first.
Braxa left behind some sensors. It appears that while she is anxious to find Kaur she is still covering her bases regarding you.
The ship grew larger in my screen, and I realized that the image was zoomed. I walked the image out and saw how small The Hive’s vessel was. My suit told me it was about half the length of the Omanix and had about half the crew. With the height and size of each of The Hive’s members I guessed it was going to be a tight fit onboard.
“Is there room for me?” I was worried I’d have to crawl on my hands and knees or be hunched over the entire time.
The Hive sent an image of me sitting against a wall. The ceilings were fairly tall. Cargo storage crates were stacked around the room. A bed hung from one of the walls. A member of The Hive came through a door with a tray of food that it handed to me.
“So I’m going to have to stay in the cargo hold?” I said.
Yes. Sorry. I specifically designed the ship for myself. If other beings are going to be on board regularly I tend to use retrofitted ships that will accommodate them.
I sighed and watched the ship grow closer. Hopefully there would be some kind of entertainment on board. Who knows how long I would be stuck on it. Who knows where we were going. I became aware of the fact at that moment I wasn’t sure why The Hive had helped me escape. As far as I knew The Hive weren’t involved in the Confederacy and Vantagax war.
“Why are you doing this?” I said. I knew The Hive would understand what I meant.
An image of Mars appeared. A small shuttle took off from the planet’s surface. A large skyscraper appeared in orbit and shot the shuttle. Its wreckage spiraled back down through the thin atmosphere towards the surface. Another ship, one that looked almost identical to the one I now found myself heading towards, attempted to break orbit but was destroyed itself a few minutes later.
“Braxa,” I said.
Correct. I stayed behind to collect more data after the Omanix had left. Braxa has been nipping at your heels almost the
entire time.
The Hive’s ship loomed close. Its cargo doors were open like a gaping maw. I saw small figures scurrying around inside the cargo area. They were moving crates and containers out of the way. Flood lights flashed on and illuminated the inside. My visor darkened in response to myself being illuminated.
Don’t move. Just continue as you are. I saw myself land in a large net with members of The Hive untangling me as the doors closed.
It happened just as The Hive showed me.
“Thank you,” I said to the nearest member. Its antennae wiggled around, but it didn’t respond. I shrugged and looked around.
Members of The Hive scurried around the room. They were punching away at things on screens set in the walls or checking harnesses on the cargo crates or a multitude of other, individual tasks. I stared in wonder at how one mind could control what happened here and on who knows how many other places around the galaxy. The only way I could rationalize it was that each member was like an organ. I didn’t have to tell my heart to beat or my lungs to take in air. I also didn’t ask them pilot a starship.
“Are we going back to The Confederacy?” I said.
The member I thanked had gone off on its own, entering something into a hand terminal as it stood near the cargo doors. Another walked up and stood in front of me. “No,” it said. “We’re going after Braxa.”
I almost choked in surprise. After all I’d just been through getting away from Braxa, and The Hive was taking me right back. “Why?”
“I, and by proxy The Confederacy, need to see if the heavy particle theory is correct in predicting the appearance of the Terran colonial fleet,” said the member. “Braxa being there is an unfortunate happenstance, and while I am pleased we were able to save you from her grasp, we have fallen far behind her.”
I sighed. It shouldn’t have surprised me we’d continue after Kaur. It seemed like every space faring species or group had the single minded goal of finding the Terran colonists.
“Okay,” I said to no one in particular because the member I had been speaking with had gone off somewhere, “I’m on board.”
The Terran Representative Page 9