Aneka Jansen 3: Steel Heart

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Zombies are a myth figure, possibly representing the fear of loss of individuality,’ Al said. ‘They are not real.’

  ‘Funny,’ Aneka said as she pulled Clara free of her holster. ‘I thought they represented the fear of George Romero.’ She opened fire.

  ~~~

  Ella had spent some time considering what to call the creatures, several of which had been trying to open the door of her room for the last couple of hours. ‘Non-sentient Humanoid Life-forms,’ had been a favourite for a while, but she could not work it into a good acronym. ‘Homo Moribundus’ sounded far too erudite. She had eventually settled on ‘Cannibalistic Humanoid Corpses,’ because then she could call them ‘chucks.’ Chuck was not a name you could be afraid of. Except that when they came to her door she found herself sitting against the opposite wall, her hands clutching her laser pistol so hard that they cramped, until the chucks gave up and went away.

  These ones were more persistent than the others had been. Maybe they were hungrier, or not so hungry. She often heard a fight starting when the others had left, and figured they went off to kill one of their party for food. They did not seem to need to feed that often, but with the numbers of them out there, there was always someone hungry.

  She had had plenty of time to study them, if from a distance. They seemed to be more adapted to light than dark, and did not stray far from the lighting around the facility at night. They also did not seem to need sleep. She had seen one of them sitting in the snow, doing nothing, but obviously awake for something like thirty-six hours. As Kottigan had suggested, they would eat their own kind. The single one’s lonely vigil had ended when three others had surrounded it and smashed its brains in with rocks. They had at least that much basic intelligence, and they remembered some of their past life. It was not enough to use anything more than the most basic of tools, however, since she had watched an ex-security guard smashing a fellow chuck’s head against a wall with a laser carbine still slung over his shoulder.

  They knew words rather than speech. She had heard them outside the room a few times, when she had plucked up the courage to move closer to the door. ‘Food’ was the most common thing she had heard, the tones suggesting they knew a little inflection. It tended to be questioning when they came to the door and could not move the wheel. Then it tended to get demanding right before they started fighting.

  She heard something now, just before the door wheel stopped moving. She was not sure what it was, but it did not sound like ‘food.’ Then there was another sound, a dull thud, but drawn out over a couple of seconds. Ella frowned. The sound had had a familiar sort of ring to it, but the heavy metal door had probably distorted it. At least the rattling at the wheel had stopped.

  The wheel jerked violently, jamming against the broomsticks. Ella jumped, letting out a squeak which she suppressed as quickly as she could. Then she heard the voice.

  ‘Ella? Ella, are you in there? It’s Aneka. Open the damn door!’

  Ella’s vision blurred and she blinked away the tears so she could see the broomsticks clearly. Yanking them free took more coordination than she seemed to have.

  ‘Ella?’ Aneka’s voice called out again. ‘Can you hear me?’

  ‘Yes!’ The last broomstick came free and she spun the wheel.

  The door pushed open, Aneka stepping through in one smooth movement before closing it again and spinning the wheel. ‘Lock it,’ she said, her voice firm. Ella just wanted to hug her, but she moved, picking up her wonderful locking mechanism again and jamming the shafts into place. ‘Nice trick,’ Aneka said, then she tossed her guns onto the bed and grabbed Ella, pulling her into a tight embrace.

  ‘I knew you’d come for me,’ Ella whispered.

  ‘Actually, it was kind of a close thing,’ Aneka replied, not letting go. ‘That can wait until we’re out of here.’ She put Ella down on the bed and stepped back. ‘God you’re a sight for sore eyes. Those things are everywhere and I thought… And then Al managed to pick you up on the security sensors, so I came up here… That suit really works for your figure you know?’

  ‘Uh…’ Ella began, a little stunned at the stream of consciousness speech coming out of Aneka.

  ‘I’m sorry, love, I’m a little hyped. I mean I don’t actually have adrenaline in my system anymore, but it feels like it.’ She grabbed one of her pistols and started swapping the magazine. ‘I used practically all of two five hundred round mags getting in here.’ She looked at Ella again. ‘Zombies, Ella! Fucking zombies!’

  ‘Uh… what’s a zombie? I’m calling them chucks.’

  ‘Chucks?’ Aneka stopped looking excited and switched to perplexed.

  ‘Cannibalistic Humanoid Corpses, chucks.’

  ‘Oh, well, zombies are reanimated corpses…’ Ella pouted a little. ‘But I guess we can call them chucks if you want… You cut your hair.’

  Ella reached up a hand to touch her red locks, now several inches shorter than the last time Aneka had seen them. It had been red-orange and fell down around her shoulders, now it was a slightly more vibrant red and came down to her neck. ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘It makes you look a little older. More serious.’ Ella smiled and her face lit up. ‘Yeah,’ Aneka added, ‘I like it. Now we need to get out of here.’

  Ella nodded. ‘I’m, uh… I’m going to complicate things though. We need to go down to the labs. We have to get the data they collected on the thing that’s causing this. It’s a nanovirus derived from Xinti technology. If anyone else gets their hands on it…’

  ‘Ella… I had enough trouble getting in here…’

  ‘This is important,’ Ella replied. ‘I’ve been here for weeks and I want out as much… more than you do, but we need that data.’

  Aneka frowned at her. ‘It’s a good job you’re good in bed, that’s all I’m saying. Get your stuff together.’

  ~~~

  Aneka moved down the staircase Al had found on the station’s plans, Bessie in her left hand, Bridget in her right. The stairs were designed as an evacuation route from the underground labs, and the doors at the top and the bottom had been wound open by the station’s computer as soon as Kottigan had declared an emergency. That had primarily helped the chucks who had been given an easy route to the surface.

  ‘According to the plans Al found,’ Aneka said, keeping her voice low, ‘there’s a computer room about fifteen metres left of these stairs. There’s no wireless network, but maybe we can find a terminal.’

  ‘I’ve got it covered,’ Ella replied. She forced her right hand to relax around the grip of her pistol. ‘I’ve got a lot to tell you…’

  ‘It can wait until we’re on the Pegasus,’ Aneka said. ‘I’ve got a lot to tell you as well.’ She checked the corridor at the bottom of the stairs. The lights were still on and the bright illumination seemed wrong for a horror movie. She turned towards the computer room, her location appearing on her in-vision map as she went.

  ‘Not all of it can wait,’ Ella replied. ‘I told you I had new eyes put in, right?’

  ‘Uh-huh, Clarion May Detective models, right?’

  ‘Uh, yeah, that’s right. I also had some other work done.’

  Aneka stopped at a door and kicked it open, leading with her pistols. There were no chucks, but there was no terminal either, just racks of equipment, and nowhere near enough flashing lights. ‘No terminal,’ Aneka said.

  Ella moved quickly into the room and located a switch box, removing her helmet as she went. There were several loose patch cables on top of it and she took one, plugging one end into an empty port. ‘I had a computer put in. Nothing like yours, of course.’ Reaching up, she pulled aside the hair at the back of her neck to reveal two little plastic plugs, similar to the ones Truelove had, at the base of her skull. ‘I don’t have an Al in here with me…’ She pushed the patch cable against one of the plugs and it slipped in, the cover snapping aside. ‘…but I can connect into the computer network here and find the data we need.’

  Aneka loo
ked at her, her mouth hanging open. Then she snapped her jaw shut and turned to the doorway, pistols swinging out to the sides so that she could watch both ways through the sights. ‘Sorry, I was a little surprised. I was that impressive?’

  Ella closed her eyes to concentrate better on the data windows she was opening as her computer negotiated with and connected to the network. ‘I decided… I mean, if people are going to look at me funny for having cybernetic eyes, I might as well have the rest of the package.’ She scanned over the data connections she had. Her ident got her access to some of what she wanted, but not everything. A couple of thoughts and her computer started downloading the files she had been working on. ‘I’m grabbing some of the data, but they had more and I don’t have access.’

  ‘Ask her to open her wireless network,’ Al said.

  ‘Al wants you to open your wireless network,’ Aneka repeated.

  A second later a window appeared in Aneka’s vision field showing the connection through to Ella’s computer. Her voice came along with it. ‘Oh wow! I hadn’t thought we could talk like this. Al’s bridging through me to their network and… Gopi he’s fast!’

  ‘Thank you, Ella,’ Al replied. ‘I am streaming the data you have collected to my storage. Yours is more limited and you may wish to remove the files later.’

  ‘Thank you, Al. You know, this is going to make that session with Cassandra so much more fun.’

  ‘This thing’s linked into your mind?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘Full sensory connection,’ Ella replied. ‘He’s through their firewalls and into the data files… Those ones, Al. The Tilton files. Grab everything you can.’

  There was a loud crack and then an explosion as Aneka fired Bessie. ‘Put a rush on that, please. We have company.’

  ‘Downloaded to Ella’s local storage,’ Al said. ‘I can continue streaming the files to us while we make our escape.’

  Aneka fired twice more, and two more zombie heads were blasted into bloody pulp. ‘We’re moving. Nothing between us and the stairs, yet. Ella, you lead. Let me know if anything shows up.’

  Ella pulled the cable out from under her hair and started for the door. She glanced left and saw a dozen or so chucks walking down the corridor towards them. Aneka fired again, a head vanished, and the detonation of antimatter against matter hit the ones around it, pushing some back and others against the wall. Ella turned and moved towards the stairs at as fast a walk as she could manage. Behind her there was another pulse and explosion, and she pushed harder.

  Something appeared from the stairway as she approached and Ella raised her pistol, sighting crosshairs appearing on her target’s head. She was about to say something to Aneka when she recognised the chuck coming towards her. Nayland had looked a lot better; his skin was grey, his hair was a lot thinner than it had been, and the keen intelligence was gone from his eyes. ‘Bastard,’ Ella said, and then she pulled the trigger. The air exploded in front of her as the bright white beam lanced out, burning into Nayland’s face until he fell to the floor, smoke rising from what was left of his head.

  ‘Any more of them?’ Aneka asked after the briefest of pauses.

  ‘Not yet,’ Ella said as she stepped over Nayland’s corpse, swinging her pistol around to look up the staircase. ‘Nothing up here either.’

  Aneka’s blaster spoke again, three times, and then Aneka was at her shoulder. ‘That was almost professional. Keep moving.’

  Ella reached down and plucked something from her belt, handing it to Aneka. ‘Maybe this’ll help?’

  Aneka grinned at her and took the grenade. ‘You always know what to give me.’ Twisting the cap off, she set the primer button on the body and dropped it at their feet. ‘Run.’

  Ella took the stairs three at a time, glad of the training she had done over the summer. Aneka was right behind her, and she waited until they got to the top of the stairs and had rounded a corner before she hit the firing stud. A dull thud sounded below them, followed by a rush of hot air. The two women kept moving, Ella struggling to get her helmet back in place as she went.

  It was as they were opening the outer door of the facility that three of the things fell on them. Ella found herself facing flailing limbs and stepped back away from the one trying to grab her; Aneka ducked under one arm, jammed Bridget into the creature’s chest, and pulled the trigger. Fire burned through the back of the creature and it started to fall almost instantly. Her left hand swung up, still holding Bessie, and slammed the heavy weapon into the second chuck’s face. There was the crunch of splintering bone and dark blood spattered across Aneka’s arm, and the creature stumbled backwards as Aneka swung Bridget around. Still a little shocked, Ella backed up another step as her chuck followed her in, arms reaching out to grab her, and then pure survival cut in and she fired. The beam burned through the man’s leg and he fell at Ella’s feet, still reaching for her. That was when Aneka grabbed her wrist, pulling her through the door and over the chuck lying on the floor.

  ‘When did you turn into Miss Marine Five-Twenty-Six?’ Aneka asked, grinning at her.

  Her heart pounding, Ella managed a giggle. She knew Aneka was trying to keep her confidence up, but right now she was willing to go with it. ‘I’m so not… but I am doing better than I thought I would.’

  ‘You’re kicking arse, girl, and don’t you let anyone tell you different.’ Silently, she added, ‘Al, when you can contact the ship, check the surrounding area on the sensors.’

  ‘The Pegasus is showing five of the creatures on the landing pad,’ Al replied. ‘You should be able to see them soon.’

  Aneka glanced back. There was nothing following immediately. She held out Bessie to Ella; Bridget was already holstered. ‘Take this, point it back the way we came. Anything appears, shoot it. Shouldn’t be any harder than the laser and it’s got more punch.’

  Ella took the big gun gingerly. ‘Uh… why?’

  Aneka unslung her rifle and pointed it towards the landing pads. ‘Unwelcome guests,’ she said. Compared to the shot she had pulled off to kill Ardus Quint, two hundred metres was almost nothing. The rifle fired off again and again, three quick shots, change target, three more. A few seconds later Aneka shouldered her rifle and looked back towards Ella and the research station.

  ‘We can’t let those things get off-world can we?’

  Ella shook her head. ‘No way. We’re going to have to make sure we’re decontaminated when we get out of here. It can’t affect you, and apparently I’m immune, but those nanomachines could linger on our skin… There’s no telling how long they can survive without a host.’ She looked up. ‘More coming.’

  ‘Al, unlock the ship.’ Aloud she added, ‘Let’s get aboard. We can give them a warm goodbye on the way out.’

  Ella hurried on, slowing a little as she got a good look at the gleaming hull of the Pegasus. ‘Wow, that’s what you flew in on? Hey, wait. You can fly that thing?’

  ‘Learned on the Brigantia. Didn’t think I’d need the new skill quite so quickly…’

  The hatch opened and the stairs dropped down as they approached, and Ella ran on ahead of Aneka. Al started the air cycle as soon as Aneka was in. ‘I’m going to suck it down to vacuum,’ he said, ‘and pump the air out through the external vents. That should cut down on the chances of us having uninvited guests.’

  ‘Ella,’ Aneka said, ‘keep your helmet on. Al’s going to pump the air out.’

  Being in vacuum without a suit never felt great, but really she needed one for the temperature rather than the pressure. Space was cold, far too cold for her body to operate normally. Short exposures she could handle, but nothing extended. This was easy; she just had to remember not to try to breathe, because that was really uncomfortable.

  ‘The cabin’s aft,’ Aneka said over the wireless connection they still had up. ‘That’s right as we come out of the airlock. When the door opens, you go that way, I’ll get us airborne.’ Ella nodded a reply. ‘Once we’re in orbit and I’ve contacted the frigate that’s up
there, I’ll come back. The cabin’s not much, but there’s a shower if you want to use it.’

  ‘I’ve barely been out of this suit for days,’ Ella replied. ‘I think a shower would be a really good idea.’

  Aneka grinned at her. She could feel the air pressure rising again. ‘Should be soon. Al, can you run internal scans, see if anything’s showing as foreign matter?’

  ‘I can,’ Al replied, ‘but decontamination would still be a wise idea. The sensor systems on this vessel are not designed to detect nanomachines and may miss something.’

  ‘I’ll put it in the message to Winter before we warp out.’

  The inner door of the airlock slid upwards and Aneka stepped through, unloading weapons and taking off her gun belt to leave them in the small interconnecting corridor. Ella gave her a quick smile and then headed to the right through the cabin door. Aneka went left, dropping into the pilot’s seat and hitting the button that slid it forward.

  ‘Al, what’s the zombie situation?’

  A window opened on one of the flight displays showing an external view. There were a dozen or so of the creatures milling around the airlock hatch and Aneka could see more walking down from the facility over the nose of the ship. Her hands shifted over the controls and the craft began to hum with power. Anti-gravity systems engaged and the internal gravity field started up. She pressed a stud on the left-hand joystick, pulled it back, and the thrusters lifted one hundred tonnes of spacecraft into the air as though it were a feather. At thirty metres off the ground she gave a short breaking burst and let the ship hover.

  ‘Aneka?’ Al asked.

  ‘I said I’d give them a warm goodbye.’ She pulled back on the right-hand joystick and watched the horizon change. The artificial gravity made it feel as though they were still level with the ground, but a second later they were pointing almost vertically up at the stars. ‘Bye, chucks,’ she said. Her thumb closed on a second button on the left stick and she slammed it forward. Two antimatter engines burst into life driving the ship upwards on twin jets of superheated, radioactive plasma.