Stasis (The Ascendants Book 2)

by V. M. Law

  “If you don’t shut up, I’ll shoot you right fucking now!”

  Jessup kept raging but Caspar paid no attention. The coup de grace waited. “This ship has a warp drive built in. I can operate it.”

  He watched the look of astonishment sprout, thrive and blossom on Jessup’s face as an exhausted smile appeared on his own. The blood from his nose now made it to his shirt and had dried in brownish, cracking riverbeds on his chin. But the feeling of nausea and displacement that followed his nose being smashed in had begun to fade, and Caspar Faulk reclined on the floor of the hallway, still alive, and said, “You have a crew that would mutiny if I died, an army bearing down, and an infestation in the lower holds. You also have a warp drive. You can’t kill me. You can’t.”

  He slipped under.

  Chapter 30

  In Captain Cromwell’s private study, they poured dusty bottles of nondescript liquor into equally dusty glasses, and sat in brooding silence. Kasey began the exchange.

  “Your father. He was not the man he was painted as. I learned.” She felt at a loss for words, unable to come up with anything that would seem meaningful to the man standing before her. He didn’t respond until he had lifted his glass to his nose, sniffed, and downed its entire contents in one smooth motion. Then he coughed, and his heaving became a fit.

  “I wouldn’t know. You probably knew him better.”

  So, Kasey thought, Bad line.

  But she still couldn’t think of what to say, and so sat without saying anything.

  Jakob spoke up. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “It’s okay.”

  The silence persisted despite their attempts to vanquish it, and the burden of trying to find a way to connect with the man began to grow tiring for Kasey, and she thought about dismissing herself when he apologized again.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “You don’t understand what this moment means.”

  She raised her eyebrow and folded her arms together in a gesture that she hoped conveyed her disapproval of his patronization.

  “You were out here, when they came. A shit show, that was.”

  Now he shrugged and spoke in gestures, telling her that she understood far less than he previously implied.

  “The Council was obliterated, and a rush to grab their power ensued. The Annexes held though, for a long time. The Ides ravished resources on the surface, all but extinguished the remaining surface populations, but couldn’t penetrate the Annexes. They were our fortress. Our savior.

  “Madness reigned and supplies began running out and a second Council rose to restore order to the chaos created by them in the first place. Only we didn’t know, then. They blamed the Ides and the Jump and everything on the Ascendancy. ‘An army bigger than any on Earth,’ we were told. Living out in the reaches of the system where the Council couldn’t reach. But you know all of this.”

  “Yes.” She didn’t know what to say, still. She hadn’t yet adjusted to her awakening. Her joints all ached and her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth every time she opened it to speak. And her headache had only grown more intense since waking.

  Still, the story Jakob told—her own, practically, for she too remembered the refugee camps that sprang up when the Ascendancy War began. The ravishing of the planet, it was called. The end of society.

  She remembered, but as if through someone else’s experience. As if she had read about the squalor of the camps and the chaos of the Annexes in a textbook.

  “What you don’t know,” Jakob said, continuing, “is what happened after the Ides came. Repression of the news became a regular thing, until nobody below ground knew anything except what happened in their own units and blocks, and the entirety of what remained had factionalized in the eyes of those partaking, but the new Council still held the reins, pulling the strings and moving the players from a base on the northern pole of Earth.

  “From there, they waged their war for control of the rubble. And from the Annexes, the New Ascendancy continued to resist. But when the news of your escapade, the—the death of my father—reached Earth, the rebellion trebled in ferocity. We couldn’t even control it, try as we did.

  “Horrible things. I have done horrible things.”

  Now Kasey’s turn came to upend her glass and taste the burn of old liquor. “What are you saying?”

  “I am saying that the planet is all but lost. The leaders follow those with no direction and, as far as we know, the only humans remaining are cloistered beneath the Smoky Mountains in North America. Except for the Council, of course. The Ides can’t survive the cold.

  “But this is not what I am talking about. I am talking about you, Kasey. About our future. Because, to us—to me and Jessup and the other Ascendancy men and women, to your grandfather—you mean hope.”

  She jumped from her seat, dropping her glass and paying no mind to the crash of crystal on the floor. “What about him? Corbin?”

  Jakob, seeing that he now had Kasey’s attention, leaned forward and chose his words. “You are the Savior, Kasey. At least in the popular imagination. We have been looking for you for seven years.”

  “Seven years?” She couldn’t believe Corbin was even still alive. Seven years? A long time to be floating, she thought.

  “Seven years. We have been searching for you. And now, you are going home.”

  Before she had a chance to respond, the door hissed and slid open and Jessup flew in, fuming with rage and turning his pale face to them as if they were living corpses. He walked directly to the table they sat at with no words at all, slammed an old, dented SatCom beside the bottle of liquor and turned to Jakob. “I found this on him.” With a shaking hand he grabbed the bottle, brought it to his lips, and turned it over. Kasey watched the liquid inside percolating as gravity sucked it through the spout and into Jessup’s throat.

  “What is this? On Caspar?”

  “On Caspar. The SatCom he used to communicate with MarsForm.”

  Jakob, judging by the look of puzzlement on his face, did not understand why this information had burrowed so deeply beneath Jessup’s hide. “We knew he sent messages. We are going to—reprimand—him.”

  “It gets worse. He claims the Harbinger is en route, as is Farrow.”

  Jakob pushed his chair back from the table with such force that the legs caught on the carpet and he tumbled backward, breaking the seat back with a curse and struggling to his feet. “The Harbinger? From where?”

  “He claims it was dispatched by Farrow to recover anything of value on the Vulcan. They are ready for a fight.”

  Jakob Hardmason punched the table and Kasey now stood up herself. “Where is he?” the Captain screamed.

  “I locked him in the holding cells, by the hangars.”

  “Do the others know?”

  “No.”

  Kasey interjected now. “Well, inform them! They must know!”

  The two shot glances at her and again she felt the sting of patronization, as if she were their prized goal and she turned out to be defunct when they found her. She felt that way, herself. Jakob pushed his way through Kasey and Jessup and went for the door. Jessup turned to follow, shouting that there was till more information to be revealed, and Kasey followed him, not wanting to be left alone after so much time with no one to converse with but the figures of the dreams lurking beneath her conscious mind.

  “Jakob!” Jessup screamed. “Wait!”

  But Jakob did not heed, and continued to charge through the bridge command deck to the adjoining hallways.

  “He told me something else. Something crucial!”

  Now, Jakob, in fury, reeled and spat at his partner. “Then just fucking say it.”

  Jessup fell silent and placed his finger on his pursed lips. Quiet. He waited for Jakob Hardmason’s breathing to level out before speaking. “He also claims—” the words barely made sense in his own head, Kasey saw as he shuffled through his reveal. “He claims the Vulcan has a warp drive. That MarsForm eng
ineered the technology from the Neptune Station. At the beginning. One hundred and forty four years ago.”

  Jessup waited for the words to sink in, and Jakob waved his hands in disbelief. “That fucking rat would say anything now to survive. He can’t be trusted.” Jakob turned away and continued storming down the hall.

  “I believe him.”

  That did it, Kasey thought as she watched Jakob freeze in place, perfectly still, except for the clenching of his fists. When he turned around for the second time, his face did not seem equitable to the sorrowful youth that she had noticed when they shared drinks. “You believe him?” he questioned.

  “I believe him.” For that matter, Kasey thought, she believed him to. In her mind, it seemed like only six months ago when she boarded her first interplanetary flight. But seven years had past, and a resistance movement had built around her folkloric identity. Why wouldn’t she believe that MarsForm stole war drive technology when the Jump originally opened. When Brysen Lee still worked for them as an engineer. She wondered vaguely if he had anything to do with the project. If he had climbed through the service alleys stretching through this very ship, welding, calibrating, calculating. Remembering. Planning.

  “He has been a ranking member of this crew since the ship left the terrestrial orbit. That was over a decade ago.”

  “And he couldn’t think of that lie in ten years?”

  “Why would he even tell us, if he’s waiting to get pulled?”

  “Because, you idiot, he wants us to stave off our need to kill him long enough for the fucking Harbinger to arrive.”

  “If you don’t believe me, then let us go and talk with him. See what he has to say.” Jessup wouldn’t break eye contact with Jakob. “He’s locked up. He’s not going anywhere.”

  Chapter 31

  After he had confirmed the coordinates sent to him by Managerial, the engineer entered the digits into his terminal and shouted into the apace above him that he had locked onto the location and that the drive was ready.

  He waited for the complimentary shouts from the other vectoring stations. One by one the calls went up.

  “Locked in.”

  “Ready.”

  “We’re live.”

  And so on.

  Until they all confirmed their duties and Friesing shouted from his parapets that the launch of the Harbinger toward the fringes of the system would commence on his countdown. The engineer anxiously awaited the numbers, each one sounding in his ears like the singing of a chorus.

  Four.

  The drive had only been tested under laboratory conditions. He did not know if it would fire, if they would emerge from the other end of the worm hole.

  Three.

  They might open a black hole, with the amount of energy building in the core of the ship as he sat and watched the monitors surge and start ringing. A klaxon sounded and someone over on the Energy side of the bridge screamed a warning.

  Two.

  He couldn’t bear to look, but imagined Friesing standing with his shoulders pushed back and his chin jutting toward the ceiling, like a general about to be executed after losing a battle.

  One.

  Friesing shouted for all engines to fire, and the back ups began firing. Like a beast shouting for freedom from the hold of the ship, the engine’s groan picked up in volume and frequency, and before the engineer had time to regret his decision to join the MarsForm space fleet, the groan had become a whine and he felt his skin as if it were floating in the isle between his desk and his neighbors a few feet away.

  He wanted to scream, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth and he realized that he was not breathing.

  Chapter 32

  Her first thought when she entered the holding cells behind Jakob and Jessup was that Caspar Faulk did not look like the same man who greeted her when she regained consciousness. His battered face resembled a bruised apple and the blood that ran onto his shirt had since turned the blackish color of a polluted estuary. He wheezed with every breath.

  “I am not lying. They will be here any minute. If you want any chance at all, I need to activate our warp drive.”

  Jakob lashed out at him with the backside of his hand and nearly sent him toppling over in the seat he was bound to. “Enough! What else have you told them?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t even tell them about her.”

  “Liar!” Jessup shouted, before Jakob held out his arm to restrain his partner from lunging at the prisoner’s bars.

  “I am not lying. I haven’t told them anything about Kasey Lee and only told you that I did because you were about to kill me.”

  “He admits it!” Jessup screamed.

  “Silence, all of you!” Jakob shouted and when the hush fell over the group, his heavy breathing accentuated the tremors of stress that ran through them all. He began speaking in an unsteady voice, eying Caspar Faulk with a murderous glare and jabbing at him with his finger. “You, Faulk. You will answer for your crimes. You will rot in this cell. We are going to the Saturn station.”

  With the finality of a judge, he announced his sentence on the traitor, who hung his head and said nothing, but Kasey Lee saw in Jakob’s eyes a sorrow that made her doubt his mettle. He wouldn’t do it. She looked at the prisoner herself, wondering if she would. Thinking about the warmth of a trigger and the heat emanating from the barrel when the killing is done. She missed it.

  The three left, and Caspar was again left alone.

  When they congregated in the hall outside of the holding cells, Jessup, who had regained his calm, asked Jakob for guidance. “What now, boss? If he’s right, we need to activate any weapons still in operation on this rig.”

  Jakob shook his head. “You saw them on our approach. The Ides ship is leeching power from our engines and the only crew we have are janitorial staff.”

  He gave Kasey an apologetic glance out of the corner of his eyes before continuing. “We can’t fight. Not here.”

  “Scuttle it? Leave in the trawler.”

  Before the idea even dissipated in the form of an echo, Kasey rose up against Jessup for making the suggestion. “You would do that? Aren’t you supposed to be Ascendancy men? Followers of the hallowed Commoner? Well, with morals like that you’re fitting monuments. He was bat shit crazy, if you didn’t know already.”

  “Then what would you have us do, girl?” Jessup sneered and Jakob stepped between them with conciliatory hands placed on each of their chests.

  “We need to wait,” he advised. “Prepare the survivors for a fight. Find guns. If they show up, we aren’t dying without taking some of them with us.”

  As he issued the statement with grave mien, Anton’s lumbering stride echoed through the halls and they knew by the pacing of his steps that he ran with great speed. Something had happened with the crew. They waited for him to turn the corner, Kasey counting down the seconds as she estimated them, basing her guesses off the increasing pitch of the echoes’ warble. When he turned the corner, his endurance broke and he came up to the three at a trot, screaming even from his great distance that they were needed on the bridge. A message awaited.

  “A message? From who?” Jakob knew the answer before he asked the question but voiced it anyway, to fill the empty silence with something other than the morbid comprehension dawning on all of them that they would not live out the day, without amazing fortune or a miracle.

  Anton’s face was answer enough. “You should see for yourself.” A sickly sweat rose on his forehead and Kasey doubted that it started after his sprint. He was in shape. Despite his ragged breathing, he looked like a man of hard work. No. That sweat arose from something else. Some terror of the near and impending future that can only be processed through the minuscule beads of sweat that form on one’s body when one knows the end approaches.

  ***

  Their faces were distorted into grim masks of determination and reflection. Nobody really met his gaze, as he marched through their ranks headed for the video screen with the cou
ntenance of an old Admiral scowling down. They looked beyond him, Jakob thought. Probably thinking of their chances for survival if they made the right choices at the right moments. A breach of loyalty, sure, but what did these people have to thank them for? Bringing death to their door right as they were saved. Imprisoning their leader for charges that can’t be corroborated.

  No time. He tried to clear his head, but the thoughts and regrets and budding ideas all conflicted with one another and created a great clamor in his mind, so that when he stood before the man who identified himself as Friesing, he could think of nothing to say except to rally against the man and attempt to stir confidence in his outnumbered supporters.

  “You have been given orders to stand down, Captain,” said Friesing, with obvious condescension dripping from the word “captain.” Jakob said nothing. He stared back at the massive screen, the imperceptible glassware that hovered unseen until it jumped to life with a gigantic, angry face beaming down on them.

  “I will not.” He said it low, and the old man had to question the captain and ordered him to speak up. “I will not, I said.” His voice held firm.

  “I will repeat myself. You have been ordered to stand down, Captain. And if you resist, you will be labeled a pirate and be given the full weight of the penalty of law. You should think wisely about the safety of your men.” Friesing let his ominous advice settle before saying with a lightened intonation that perhaps his men should think about their own safety.

  “We have hostages, and the ship is wired. You board at the peril of your men’s lives.” As static overcame the communication system, he threw a nervous glance over to Jessup, who seemed to telepathically read his boss’s order. He dropped away from the crew, and headed back in the direction of the holding cell as Jakob corrected his posture and fixed his device. The static cleared, revealing the Admiral, who hadn’t moved an inch.

  “And who are your hostages?” A smug smile spread across the Admiral’s face and even Kasey felt the sting of humiliation on Jakob’s behalf. A farce, and the man knew it.