The Furnace

by Timothy S. Johnston

  He would have appreciated what was about to happen.

  * * *

  We entered the module and began our search through twisting ducts and apparatuses that stretched up three full levels. The deck wrapped around machinery and piping to allow maintenance access on the three levels. The engineers hadn’t designed this module for convenience or amenities; there was a lot of equipment crammed into an area almost too small to house it all.

  Level one was clean.

  Level two was clean.

  I tightened my grip on the hammer and looked to Manny and Shaheen.

  We moved up to level three.

  * * *

  I was now back in the place where Jimmy had witnessed the attack. As I stepped off the ladder and into the confined enclosure, I wondered idly who it had involved. Brick had been the aggressor; he had left his blood behind as proof. And the person he had infected? Katrina Kyriakis. It couldn’t have been Avery Rickets; he’d already been infected. When Jimmy had tried to report the matter, the first officer had attacked him. Jimmy hadn’t even known what was happening. Yes, it had been Katrina, and she had fooled us all.

  We crept through the level, crouched and ready to swing.

  There was no one there.

  * * *

  Shaheen had a confused look on her face. “But we searched everywhere. I know this station better than anyone else. They couldn’t be in any other—” Her expression grew pale.

  “What?” I asked. “You know where they are?”

  “There is one place left,” she whispered. “I never even considered it.”

  “We ejected six modules,” Manny said. “Maybe they stayed in one of them. They may be dead or dying right now.”

  She shook her head. “No. There is a place left, and it’s here.” She looked at our questioning faces for a beat. Then, “They’re hiding outside.”

  There was a long silence as we absorbed that. She was right. It was the only place they could be, yet we had never expected it. We had just assumed that they would stay inside the station. After all, it was dangerous exposed to Sol; why would anyone hide out there?

  “My God,” Manny muttered. “It makes sense. They were in this module while we searched the others. When we got close, they went out the tunnel that used to lead to Module D.” He looked at us grimly. “They were already in vacsuits, waiting for this.”

  With a tremor, I realized how obvious it was. Brick had planted an explosive on the hull, outside the clinic. He had either stayed there, or he had still been in his vacsuit when we depressurized SOLEX. Now he had vacated the station, and we had to go get him. I swore under my breath. He had the upper hand now—the element of surprise.

  “We have to go out immediately,” I said. “There’s no time to waste. They’re outside and probably have some sort of trap set.” I checked the watch on the suit’s wrist control pad. “There’s only thirty minutes before we reach the deadline. After that, there’s no point in a call for help. A ship wouldn’t reach us. Eight hours later, we die.”

  * * *

  We stalked to the end of the tunnel, and the sun’s enormity filled the view. There was no blackness visible. It was blistering in its intensity, unforgiving. As we stepped into the direct light, the temperature shot up to fifteen hundred Kelvin. My suit’s coolers kicked in quietly and worked to keep the interior environment a cool twenty degrees Celsius.

  “It’s enormous,” I whispered. It was hard to avert my eyes.

  “I know it sounds weird, but you do get used to it,” Shaheen said.

  I grunted and shoved the hammer into a strap on my belt. I had never used such a weapon outside before, but a shattered visor or a torn suit could be just as deadly as a pistol blast. Moreover, being in vacsuits would now offer us some protection against infected blood, should we come into contact with any.

  “Keep an eye on the time,” Manny warned. “We should only stay out for ninety minutes. After that, we risk permanent injury.” He grabbed our arms before we could move out into zero gravity. “Don’t forget to go to the clinic afterward. We need the medicine to counteract the radiation.”

  I didn’t respond because it didn’t matter. In less than an hour, medicine would no longer be of any use.

  We grabbed the rungs attached to the hull and swung out. My stomach lurched; as usual, it felt like a drop down a bottomless pit. I wondered how anyone could grow accustomed to it. I took a moment to gather my senses. Shaheen looked at me.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” I snapped. I noticed her continuing stare. “I’m in security, for Christ’s sake, Shaheen. I don’t often leave my ship to float around like this.”

  “It’s okay,” Manny said. “Take a second and then let’s go.” He gestured around the curve of the cylinder. “They could be right around the corner, though, so don’t take too much time.”

  I exhaled. “Let’s go. I’m fine.”

  He shot me a quick look and saw the determination in my features. He squeezed my shoulder. “Okay. Be careful.”

  I didn’t need advice like that—I just needed to finish this.

  We moved along the exterior of Module A, careful to stay in contact with the station at all times. We had no way to maneuver in open space if we lost our grips. People had died in the past, only two meters from a safety rung or exterior air-lock hatch, unable to reach safety without the ability to propel themselves. I was all too aware of the danger.

  My heart pounded.

  I pictured the sun burning our backs as we crawled over the thin skin of the station. I shook my head inside the helmet and tried to dislodge the sweat that beaded my brow. Damn. It hadn’t been so bad being out with Shaheen earlier; at the time, the harness and the winch had kept me safe. Now I was out in the open, with Sol only five million short kilometers away. I was having a hard time shaking my fear, despite the suit’s cooling unit.

  Dammit! Those two could be right next—

  “There they are!” Shaheen cried.

  I snapped my head up and searched the direction she had indicated. “I don’t see anything,” I hissed.

  “They were right there,” she said, quieter now.

  “What cylinder?” Manny asked.

  “Module C. Just going over the hull and out of sight.”

  They were on the far side of the station.

  Shit. “The clinic is over there,” I said. “They could reenter the station through the rupture in the hull!” And once inside, they could gain access to the control center and do God knew what to the station. I frowned. But what could they do to the station that we hadn’t already done? It was in complete disarray; most of it now orbited the sun in pieces. “Maybe we can trap them in the clinic,” I suggested. “While they’re trying to get back in.”

  We crawled across the hull, along the path of safety rungs on the cylinder’s surface and the exterior of the tunnel that led to Module B. The mass driver was overhead; it blocked the sun, and we passed into the shadow it created.

  Sweat soaked me now, and in frustration, I looked at the suit’s interior temperature gauge. Still a cool twenty degrees Celsius. Damn. I had faced the Torcher without a shred of fear. What was with me lately? Could it just be zero gravity that was doing it? Or was it something more? I had uncovered the infection on SOLEX, but at what cost? The station was practically gone, only three of fifteen people remained alive and uninfected, and it still wasn’t over. What was wrong—

  “What are you thinking?” Shaheen whispered.

  I paused for a moment. “Flemming,” I said finally.

  The surprise in her voice was clear. “Your friend on Mercury? Do you still blame yourself for what happened?”

  “It’s an odd time to be talking about it,” I muttered.

  “It’s an odd time to be think
ing about it too, isn’t it?”

  I sighed. “Couldn’t help it. I feel responsible for all this.”

  “Responsible?” Manny blurted. He had no idea who Flemming was or what I was referring to. He continued, “Tanner, Malichauk is the one who did this. He’s to blame, not you.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t understand, Captain. I’ve never had an investigation turn into something like this. When I got to SOLEX, there were fourteen in your crew. Now there are only two.”

  Another silence descended over us as we pulled ourselves feverishly toward Module C.

  Then, “Don’t you think I could be feeling some guilt too?” he said in a harsh tone. “I’m the captain, after all. Those people were my responsibility. This post was my responsibility. Instead I fucked up when I let Jimmy go out by himself, and now we’ve come to this—trying to kill two of my own!”

  I grunted. “Maybe, but look what came of it. Jimmy died and it exposed the infection. If it gets off SOLEX, the entire human race will be in danger. Instead we have a chance to stop it, right here. They sent me to stop this, for Christ’s sake! So far I’ve failed miserably.”

  “Why don’t you listen to yourself,” Shaheen said. “You should be taking the credit for uncovering this. We have a chance to save humanity. You’ll get a medal for this, Kyle.”

  I absorbed her words, but Flemming remained in my thoughts. I should have been able to see the mystery sooner, before the loss of so many people. I ground my teeth in frustration. It didn’t matter what they said; what I thought was most important, and I was disgusted with myself.

  We emerged from the shadow of the mass driver and approached Module C. “We’ll talk about this later,” she muttered.

  I shook off the conversation, pulled myself to a halt and considered the situation. They might still be in the clinic, trying to enter the station, but the traverse to Module C had taken a fair amount of time—perhaps as long as ten minutes. I tried to peer around the hull, but the gash in the cylinder that exposed the clinic to vacuum was hidden from sight.

  “We should send someone around the other side of the module, in case they try to come up behind us,” I said.

  “Good idea,” Manny said. “I’ll go.”

  “Do they have a pistol?” Shaheen asked.

  I frowned in thought. We had already gone over that, but it was difficult to be sure. “Brick had one when he killed Grossman, but I think he gave it to Bram. It ended up outside after...” I stole a look at the captain, but his features were hidden behind his visor. “After our fight,” I finished.

  Manny sighed. “You don’t have to worry about killing my friend, Tanner,” he said in a soft voice. “Malichauk killed him, not you.” He spun his body ponderously toward us. “I’ll meet you at the clinic. Shaheen, stay with Tanner, and don’t get yourself hurt. And watch your backs.”

  He pulled himself away hand over hand and disappeared from sight around the curve of the cylinder.

  * * *

  The jagged rip in the hull was just ahead. Sharp edges stretched along the four-meter tear. Within it was a black, empty space. The clinic. Were they in there?

  “Manny,” I whispered. “We’re here. Where are you?”

  Shaheen tapped my arm. “Line of sight, Tanner. He’s still on the other side of the hull. Can’t hear us.”

  “Oh.” I looked at our surroundings. The smooth white of the hull ended in the black smear immediately before us. The image of Lingly and Sally as they’d tumbled out through the opening came to me. I shuddered and tried to shove it aside, but it was difficult. The fountain of blood in zero-g, Sally’s severed arm...

  A minute passed. Then another.

  “Where the hell is he?” I muttered.

  “Maybe we should go look for him.”

  I frowned. It would be unwise to leave the clinic unguarded; if they were in there, they could exit and come up behind us. “Let’s check this out first. Then we’ll look for Manny.” I moved closer to the split in the cylinder. “Watch your suit,” I warned her. The twisted hull was now directly beneath us; small segments of the ceramic shield jutted out and posed a very real threat.

  I pushed myself away from the station and drifted out into space. Grabbing the edge of the hole, I poked my head over the breach and scanned the interior. I could see three corpses on the deck—Katrina, Rickets and Grossman—but otherwise the room looked fairly clean. Anything not bolted down had been blown out to space.

  “I don’t see anything. I’m going in.”

  I swung through the opening. The gravity field took hold, and I landed safely on my feet. I stumbled slightly as I hit, but regained my footing quickly. I looked around but saw nothing. The small opening that led to the freezer where Malichauk had stored Jimmy’s body was just beyond the procedures tables.

  Tightening my grip on the hammer, I moved toward the freezer.

  I entered the small space, prepared to see a vacsuited figure in the corner.

  There was no one.

  There were three small hatches a meter above the deck. I had placed Reggie’s and Belinda’s bodies in there, on the cold steel trays. If they were still there, one tray would be unoccupied.

  I grabbed the lever on the first hatch and pulled. The hammer was in my right hand, pick side out, prepared to strike.

  The hatch opened and the first body rolled out on its long shelf. It was Reggie’s headless corpse.

  The second one held Belinda.

  I grabbed the lever on the third hatch. If anyone was hiding, it would be here.

  Pulling savagely, I prepared to deliver a crushing blow.

  It was empty.

  * * *

  Shit! They were like ghosts—they only appeared when it suited them. When you actively looked for them, it was impossible to catch a glimpse except from the corner of your eye, and even then it was just a fleeting image.

  I marched to the hatch that led back into the station. Perhaps Brick and Malichauk had managed to open it after all and were now inside SOLEX, safely away from us.

  It was still sealed and locked.

  At the tear to the outside, a helmet poked into view.

  “Shaheen,” I said.

  “Yes?”

  “They’re not here. They might still be outside. Has Manny showed up yet?”

  “No.”

  I swore under my breath. He might have run into them.

  I carefully stepped to the edge of the gash and reached up to grab Shaheen’s outstretched hand.

  “Watch yourself now,” she said. “Just give a small push out of the gravity well, and I’ll pull you back to the hull.”

  “Don’t let go,” I said.

  “Don’t worry.”

  I stepped off into space and felt her tug my arm reassuringly. My feet pivoted and—

  “Tanner, here they are!” she yelled.

  She let go of my arm, and I started to float away. “Shit!” I yelled as I jerked my head to locate the danger.

  They were five meters behind Shaheen, yanking themselves along the hull toward her. They approached dangerously fast. Shaheen had let go instinctively, knowing that if she didn’t, she would be dead before she could turn to fight.

  Ripping her club from her belt, she spun before they reached her. She hooked a foot under a safety rung.

  I drifted farther from the hull and watched helplessly as she faced her two attackers alone. I had to get back to help, but how? Each second I moved a few more centimeters away. It might not seem like much, but a centimeter in space might as well be a million kilometers.

  Damn!

  I searched the vacsuit pockets frantically. Patch kit, right pocket. Tool kit, left pocket. I scrabbled at the calf pocket, my last chance for life.

  A safety tether!

 
I pulled it out and unraveled it quickly. Each end had a spring-loaded latch on it. Somehow I had to get it hooked to the hull so I could pull myself in. I risked a quick look at Shaheen and saw her take a swing with her club. The larger of the two figures—Brick—ducked and nearly lost his grip on the station. She was managing to keep them at bay, but I had perhaps a few more seconds, at best.

  I pried one of the latches open and bent it backward to keep it from closing. I was about a meter from the hull, and the distance was growing slowly but steadily. The nearest rung was just beside the tear in the clinic’s hull; I took careful aim and tossed the tether at it. The open latch missed by a wide margin. “Shit,” I muttered.

  Shaheen swung again. Malichauk had darted in to try and grab her, and the club hit his left shoulder. The impact pushed him toward the hull; he hit flat on his stomach. The recoil of the swing sent Shaheen away from the station, but her right leg was hooked under a rung and kept her from ending up in the same position as me.

  Brick’s face was visible through his visor. I saw his lips move, his features an angry grimace.

  I switched the communit to the common frequency.

  “—the codes to the FTL and off-station communit!” he was yelling.

  “Come on Shaheen,” Malichauk was trying to reason. “You won’t be hurt. We just need your codes so we can call for help.”

  “Fuck off!” she snapped. She twisted around to look for me and Malichauk made another move.

  “Watch out!” I yelled.

  She turned back and swung her club again. It hit the back of the doctor’s helmet and I heard a strangled gasp.

  “Dammit!” he cried. “You could damage my vacsuit, Shaheen!”

  “That’s the whole point!” she retorted. “Get out of here!”

  “Where’s Manny?” I asked.

  Brick turned to face me. “He won’t be joining us anytime soon.”

  I hesitated as I absorbed that. The look on his face, the anger in his tone...