Shen Ark: Departure

by John Hindmarsh

  Freddie withdrew when the discussion started to examine details of which platoon of which battalion had what responsibility. He was accompanied by both sabres, who also seemed relieved to have escaped the detailed operational planning. Rat Catcher was going ahead, it would commence immediately after the meeting concluded, although he thought the degree of detailed planning was borderline obsessive. However, his confidence in the Rats’ success was very high.

  ~~~

  Freddie was reading a Shen technical manual when there was a knock at his cabin door. He stood and opened it. Sabre growled, hairs on the back of his neck rising, his teeth bared. Freddie restrained him by the collar as he recognized Ogden. He tried to hide his surprise as he wondered how the man had avoided Rat security patrols.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?”

  Ogden stepped into the small cabin. He ignored Sabre. “I need to get off this starship, and you’re going to help me,” he snarled.

  “Why? And why should I help you?”

  “Why? Because I need to. With my friends. Why should you help? Well, two reasons. I have an explosive belt which will detonate if I release this trigger.”

  He showed Freddie the small handheld device, and then pulled back his jacket to show the explosives strapped around his waist. The row of small packages had Shen markings; obviously Ogden had discovered some of the starship’s munitions.

  “I have this, as well.” He withdrew a small hand weapon from his other pocket and held it out for Freddie to see. “It is a very effective Shen weapon. I managed to test it a couple of days ago, before this stupid shutdown.” He returned the weapon to his pocket.

  “And this all means—?”

  “That I’m in control. As I said, I want off, with my friends. We’ll use one of your shuttles, since you’ve destroyed ours. One of your Shen friends can pilot us. Otherwise you are dead. With your pet tiger.” Sabre growled again, a rumbling low threat. “No, keep your pet to yourself. You’ll both die if I release my grip. Five pounds of Shen explosive will see to that.”

  “The Eastern Bloc must be paying you well?”

  “No, very little. I’m doing this for Earth. I’m not a traitor, like you and the others. Earth needs Shen technology, it needs a starship.” Perspiration beaded under his temples. “Where’s your computer? Pick it up, we’ll take it with us,” he snarled. He lashed out at Freddie with his free hand. Freddie felt a stinging pain as blood dripped down the side of his face. “Get a move on, we need to get this done, or you’re dead, plus the tiger, and anyone else in range.”

  Freddie picked up his computer, folded it over and slipped it into his jacket pocket. He did not mention the detached hard drive. “Stand back and let me out the door.”

  “Oh no. We stand and walk like this,” directed Ogden. He moved so they were both facing the same direction. He looped his arm around Freddie’s arm, so he could put his hand back in his pocket.

  “Open the door,” he instructed. “And tell your pet to go out first. He can lead the way. We’re going to the communication centre. Tell the guards to stand back.”

  ***

  Chapter 28

  Within seconds of Freddie’s forced exit from his cabin, alarms were bellowing warnings throughout the region of the starship occupied by Rats. Black-uniformed Guards stood powerless in the face of the apparent threat to their Engineer. Zen 33 and the generals arrived at a run, followed quickly by Capin Julio.

  “Stay well back,” Freddie warned. “If Ogden triggers the explosives he has around his waist, it’ll kill you all.” Sabre remained at Freddie’s knee, still growling. Every so often his jaws would open wide and snap closed. It was a challenging, threatening, scary, heart-stopping action. Freddie could hear Felis somewhere behind him, growling even louder.

  “What does he want?” asked Zen, looking at Freddie.

  “You can speak to me, rat,” snarled Ogden. “I want off this starship. With my friends. Of course, also with this so-called engineer.”

  “We can arrange a shuttle to Heathrow for you, leaving tomorrow.”

  “No, today. Now. You heard me, I want off, now. Not to Heathrow, do you think I’m stupid?”

  “It will take a while to arrange. We need to prep the shuttle and carry out pre-flight checks,” commented Capin Julio. “However, your Eastern Bloc friends will attack our shuttle if we try to land in their territory.”

  “I’ll take care of that, later. For now, open a channel on 27.055 MHz,” Ogden instructed. “The message is ‘gateway open’. Just that, nothing else. Repeat until acknowledged. We will wait in the communications centre where I can hear what’s happening.” He half-dragged Freddie along by the arm to the busy centre. Rats scattered out of the way as Ogden pushed through the doors.

  Aspic 5 was on duty. He immediately understood the situation when he saw Ogden forcibly dragging Freddie into the room. Capin Julio and Zen followed Freddie and Ogden.

  “Transmit the message ‘gateway open’ on 27.055 MHz until you get an acknowledgement. Then you can bring my friends here. All you others, leave now,” directed Ogden. No one moved. Ogden continued, “Open your shuttle channel and put it on loudspeaker. I want to hear all the shuttle traffic.” Ogden gestured. “Engineer and I’ll sit over here. No one is to get behind me, understand?”

  Aspic busied himself at a workstation. He recorded the brief message and set it for repeated transmission. Then he adjusted controls and volume levels, and the sounds of shuttle voice transmissions gradually filled the room. No one knew the sound over the speakers was a replay from an audio log of shuttle conversations from a week prior. Aspic had selected a late night segment and hoped the tape did not include any transmissions from the Shen Ark communications centre. He played with the controls, blurring the voices, making it difficult to clearly distinguish the words of each speaker.

  “Now what?” questioned Freddie. He scratched Sabre’s ears, trying to quieten the sabre.

  “We wait, fool. My friends should pick up my message and they’ll be waiting for your rats to bring them to me.” He looked up at the Capin. “Capin Julio, your animals are to give my friends safe passage, understand? Pick them up at lock A3Z41. Maybe they can hitch a ride on one of your transport vehicles and get here quicker?”

  “Very well, I’ll give instructions. How many of your friends should we expect?”

  “Five. They’ll have some—ah, souvenirs. You’re not to remove the souvenirs, and my friends are to be unharmed, otherwise our time here will end.”

  “Aspic, please open a channel for me.” Capin Julio picked up a communication helmet. “All Shen Ark forces, this is Capin Julio. I am cancelling the Code 5. Colonel Tro, please take a small force to the intruders. You will meet five men at access lock A3Z41. They may need assistance. Escort them here, to the communications centre, unharmed. Report to me.”

  “Understood, Capin.” Colonel Tro’s reply was terse, without questions. He was in a meeting with the two generals and other officers, and had just been briefed on the situation.

  Capin Julio turned to Ogden. “It’ll take at least thirty minutes for Colonel Tro to get to the rendezvous location and another thirty to return. So it’ll be at least an hour before your friends arrive here.”

  “Very good, Capin. I’m comfortable here.” He turned to Freddie. “Relax, you aren’t going anywhere.”

  The wait seemed interminable. Freddie fidgeted, noisily changing his position every five minutes or so. Aspic stayed at his workstation console, fiddling with keys and controls. Capin Julio sat in an adjacent chair, as did Zen 33; they both stared incessantly at Ogden. Everyone else had left the communications command deck. Ogden was perspiring freely, even in the cool of the starship’s atmosphere; Shen had not yet changed the operational temperature settings.

  “What’s keeping your rats?” he demanded of Capin Julio.

  “Nothing. Your friends responded to the message. Colonel Tro left thirty minutes ago. He should be close to the hatch location. It’ll take h
im another thirty minutes to return.”

  “Bloody inefficient animals,” snarled Ogden. “Couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery.” He subsided back into his chair alongside Freddie. Freddie stirred and changed position again.

  “And keep bloody still, can’t you?” snapped Ogden. “If we didn’t need you, I would off you now.” Sabre growled. “And keep your pet quiet or I’ll shoot it, too.”

  Freddie ignored the man’s ranting and stirred again. Sabre growled, a little softer. Freddie thought he might be communicating with Felis, who was outside the command deck; there seemed to be a pattern in the growls from Sabre and the responses from Felis. He hoped they were not plotting something dangerous to themselves.

  The clock on the wall seemed to slow. Freddie sat up with a jerk. It was slow, he realized. He could estimate elapsed time to the second, and the clock was running at half speed. Someone, and he suspected the someone was Aspic, was manipulating the clock. The first hour had elapsed and they were now well into the second hour. The military must be organizing something, thought Freddie. He hoped they knew he was adjacent to over five pounds of high explosive; it wouldn’t just take off his arm if it detonated, it would likely remove all his limbs and his head as well. He stirred again, moving noisily in his chair.

  The door opened and Felis bounded in, accelerating and then skidding to a stop in front of Freddie, claws screeching across the floor tiles. Ogden leapt up, in a panic; when he saw Felis, he swore, and tried to drag the Shen firearm out of his pocket. Sabre was quicker, closing his jaws firmly on his hand before he could fire. Ogden screamed. In that moment of distraction, a team of Guards rushed in, one carrying a strange device. He levelled it at Ogden; all the while continuing to depress a button on the barrel. To Freddie’s consternation, nothing obvious happened. After a few moments, the Rat lowered the device.

  “He’s disarmed,” affirmed Aspic 5 from his workstation location. “You can have him now, Sabre.”

  Sabre needed no second invitation. He savagely chomped down on Ogden’s hand. The man screamed, even louder than before. He tugged his other hand out of his pocket, repeatedly pressing the detonation button. To Freddie’s relief, nothing happened, the explosives did not detonate. Felis saw her opportunity and chomped her jaws on Ogden’s other hand, trying to outdo Sabre. The man screamed again and fainted. The two sabre tigers released their crunching, vice-like grips and stepped back. More Guards entered the control room, and they quickly cuffed and carried Ogden out.

  “All right,” Freddie glared at Aspic 5. “Were you trying to give me heart failure? What did you do? Why didn’t Ogden succeed in triggering his bomb and blowing me into tiny pieces?”

  “They used a Shen EMP device,” explained Aspic. “It emits short bursts of electromagnetic energy. I used my workstation to communicate with General Mae. She worked with Ser Nish and Zen’s spooks and they adapted a Shen EMP weapon. They tested it on the clock through the wall first, on low power, and the clock slowed. They then focused it on Ogden from the outside, and again when they rushed into the room. As you see, it worked. Fortunately the EMP effect was tightly focused, and all of our equipment should still be functional.”

  “I saw the clock slow down,” affirmed Freddie, mumbling. He was still sitting in the low chair, and somehow he lacked the energy to stand. Everything was fading, colours were leaching out of his vision. He focused on Zen 33 with difficulty, and tried to raise his hand.

  ~~~

  Realization dawned on Zen’s face. “Aspic, call the medics. Freddie has been poisoned. Ogden somehow got to him. Check the sabre tigers, as well. Capin, we need to get Freddie to a hospital in London as quickly as possible. Authorize a shuttle, I suggest a fighter shuttle, with the best pilots.” Zen’s sense of urgency communicated itself to everyone and their reactions were remarkably swift.

  Freddie was barely conscious as they loaded his stretcher into the shuttle. The medics had responded rapidly, and now an IV tube threaded from a container above his head to a vein on the back of his hand. They were feeding him with vitamins and monitoring his vital signs as they settled the stretcher and strapped it and Freddie into position. Sabre and Felis were on board, and a Rat medic squad was continually checking their condition in case their attack on Ogden had provided a vector for transfer of poison to them, as well. So far all signs were negative. The pilot, Colonel Thè, launched the shuttle immediately Freddie and his passengers were strapped in. He set a new record for the transit to Heathrow, where a helicopter was warmed up and waiting to ferry Freddie to the Institute building.

  Rats searched Ogden and found his ring; it was loaded with an unknown substance, and the shape of the setting matched the scratch across Freddie’s face. Ogden initially refused to provide any details, and in response, the Rat medics stopped their treatment of his crushed hands. They halted all medical support, unhooked the intravenous painkillers, and ceased their surgical care.

  Eventually Ogden, pain-ridden and almost crying in agony, identified the poison; it was a sarin-based nerve agent provided by Eastern Bloc agents, and he claimed he had not intended to poison Freddie. He admitted striking him, and had observed the cut across Freddie’s face. He claimed release of the poison was accidental. When questioned, he admitted the poison was to be used to secure his release if possible, and if not, in case the explosives failed to detonate and he needed to commit suicide.

  The medic team on board Shen Ark had taken samples from Freddie and conducted analytic tests while the shuttle was in transit. Their results were transmitted to waiting diagnosticians in the Institute, and details of the sarin-derived nerve agent were communicated to poison experts in London. By the time the helicopter had delivered Freddie to the Institute, a comprehensive care programme had been worked up and approved by all the specialists consulted by the Institute.

  ~~~

  Freddie, unconscious, was delivered to an intensive care unit on the fifth floor of the Institute building. Teams of nurses and doctors worked through the night to ensure his recovery. When the first response team retired, exhausted, as dawn was breaking, the second response team took over. They were all Institute staff.

  Dr. Krowe and Fern entered the intensive care unit once the first response team had retired. Dr. Krowe reviewed the diagnostics and treatment already carried out and proposed for the next few hours. He reviewed the prognosis agreed by the first team and shared the details with Fern. He waited patiently while she read through the reports.

  “Not very good,” she commented, handing the reports back to Dr. Simeon, the second response team lead.

  “We need to act now,” affirmed Dr. Krowe. “Otherwise the results will be irreparable. We cannot afford to lose this young man. Simeon, we need to add total nanite immersion to his treatment. Fern will organize the immersion room facilities. You and your team will prepare Dr. Jones. Remove treatment IVs, monitoring attachments, all his clothing, ensure he is wearing nothing at all. When he is ready, let Fern know. All right?”

  “Yes, Dr. Krowe. I agree with your suggestion, and my team will have Engineer prepped in fifteen minutes. We will assist Fern.”

  “Good. Fern—questions?”

  “No, sir. I’ll be ready. Dr. Simeon, please load Freddie onto the smaller gurney and bring him to the immersion room as soon as you can. I’ll be waiting.”

  ***

  Chapter 29

  Freddie tried to open his eyes. He closed them and tried again. It did not seem to make any difference. He was surrounded by a silver light which seemed to exist whether his eyes were open or closed. He raised a hand to rub his eyes, to wipe his face. He was restrained by a soft, firm grip.

  “Now, Freddie, don’t move. You’re not ready yet. No, don’t struggle, don’t try to speak. Do as I say and I’ll guarantee your recovery. Just relax. Trust me.”

  “Fern,” breathed Freddie. He relaxed and stopped trying to open his eyes. He listened to his body breathing, he monitored the motion of his lungs, he traced the air flowing in
and then flowing out of his body. As far as he could determine the flow was constant, effective, uninterrupted. He slept.

  Fern relaxed. Freddie was coated in nanites, and they were still working at their repairs. She was also covered in nanites, and their silver threads reached across the gap between their two bodies. She closed her eyes and allowed the nanites to cover her face. She could hear the faint whisper of their group communications, she could understand their data exchanges and knew they were in tune. Freddie would recover.

  Stray beams of morning sunshine penetrated the half-drawn curtains and gradually made their way to Freddie’s face, increasing in intensity as the sun moved on. He blinked and turned his head away, to hide his face from the glare. As he moved, he bumped into another head. His eyes flashed open. His last memory was of Fern telling him not to move, that he would recover. He turned his head. Fern was beside him on the bed, sound asleep. Startled, he explored further. Fern was cuddling him spoon-fashion and they both were naked. He did not notice the tiny thread of sliver that fell from his hand as he reached over and touched Fern’s shoulder.

  “Fern,” he breathed, strangely reluctant to break into her sound sleep. She opened her eyes. A smile lightened her face.

  “Freddie,” she replied. “Darn. I was supposed to be awake and out of here before you woke.” She snuggled up closer. “It was so relaxing. You should be feeling a lot better this morning.”

  “I’m not sure this is relaxing, at least for me,” he said. “Although I do feel better. What was the problem? And what was the treatment?”

  “Ogden accidentally scraped you with a sarin-based nerve poison. I’ll explain the treatment in detail, later.” She yawned. “I suppose I should get out of bed. You, my friend, will not get out of bed, other than to use the shower and other facilities. You need to rest, otherwise I would not be leaving so willingly. Now look the other way, there’s a good boy.”