by Chris Reher
The door to the control room opened and Ryle burst through it, looking far angrier than Iko had managed. He ducked a flying thread from a Kalon horn. Toji swung a piece of pipe at the Kalon with the weapon, shattering his forehead. Ryle pushed Iko up against the ANN-E console.
“I’m damn tired of your snotguns, Kalon,” he growled and fired his gun into Iko’s chest.
“Ryle, watch out!” Laryn shouted when two more metamorphs crowded the door.
Everyone froze when a deep shudder ran through the floor, feeling a whole lot like the quake they had experienced on Torren.
“Go!” Ryle snapped.
Laryn stooped and snatched another portable tablet from below the console. “This way,” she shouted at Toji who had scooped Azah off the floor. He raced after her, out of the control room, past her earlier hiding place, and up a set of stairs to a catwalk above the air scrubbers. She slowed to tap the tablet in her hands. “Jex! Are you still there?”
“Where is Ryle? Azah is hurt!”
“Yes, listen. Are you still logged into ANN-E?”
“Yes. Don’t turn off your com.”
She skidded to a stop when the Kalon she had seen prowling the catwalks appeared ahead of them. She turned to retreat but Toji was already putting Azah down, as carefully as he could on the metal grating. He rushed past Laryn toward the metamorph in great, loping strides, his shriek of warning as fierce as his opponent’s.
Laryn hesitated, unwilling to leave Azah, when another jolt shook the catwalk.
“Go,” Azah waved her away. “Stop this thing.”
Laryn took a deep breath and climbed over the railing to step out onto a thick set of pipes to get to the next catwalk. A support beam forced her to climb higher. When she reached an impossible gap between the conduits and the next platform, she sat down with a curse. This would have to do. “Get me into ANN-A again. Admin.”
At another time, Jex might have attempted to joke about yet another promotion, but he just followed her order. “What do you need there?”
“Add Ryle to the Security payroll. Level Five clearance.”
“He’s not logged in. In fact, he’s in extreme duress right now. And Azah’s biotelemetry—”
“Never mind that!” she cried. A shudder went through the station and she grasped a metal bracket beside her, nearly shaken from her perch. Was the station reacting to the pull of the Well already? Were the Kalons attacking? She saw Azah still on the walk but she had come to her feet now, cradling her arm. A moment later Toji appeared to prop her up and both of them limped out of sight. She heard Kalon squeals of fury stab into her ear and then someone ran across something metallic. She wondered if it was Ryle or one of the Kalons. “Pretend you’re Ryle,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” Jex said. “I don’t think—”
“Don’t think! Do. That’s an order.” Another shockwave rocked the station. Laryn watched a stack of hexagonal containers below her crash to the floor. Something large fell somewhere nearby. Was it a body that had hit the ground?
“Understood.”
Laryn switched her com back to ANN-E. “Annie, we changed our minds. Abort station disposal. Return the station to optimum trajectory.”
“I’m sorry, Agent Ash. I need Level Five security confirmation to amend the operation.”
“Captain Tanner,” Laryn said, “please confirm disposal protocol termination.” A continuous vibration now shivered along the metal pipes, like a slowly rising hum.
“Termination request approved,” Jex said, using his relay from Ryle’s interlink chip. “Abort station decommission.”
“Confirm original request by voice command,” ANN-E said.
“Abort!” Laryn shouted, starting to slide from her pipe. “Oh, please, just abort already!”
“Decommission Stage Ten terminated.”
Laryn froze and only her eyes moved as she looked around, waiting for the next jolt to rattle the station. Waiting to see if one of the Kalons with the chips had survived to turn the sequence back on. Waiting to be found by another metamorph, snotgun in hand.
A helpless giggle rose in her throat. It felt weirdly hysterical. “Jex!” she called. “Where’s Ryle? Where are the others? Are they all right?” She slid over the pipes toward the catwalk, not quite trusting her limbs to hold her up. How had she found the courage to leave it in the first place? It seemed a long way down. Where was Azah? She flinched when heavy footfalls thundered on the metal walkway, drawing close to where she hid.
“Alive,” Jex said and she was sure a sigh of relief colored his voice.
Ryle limped into view, bleeding from a split lip, still out of breath from whatever it had taken to overcome the Kalons in the control room. A broad grin spread over his exhausted face and he raised his arms toward her. “Jex said you were lounging around up here,” he said.
She took his hands and slid off the pipes and into his arms, feeling them close around her as if he’d done that a thousand times before. “I was so worried,” he breathed. “I thought we’d lost you for sure when your com cut out.”
She leaned against his broad chest, reveling in the feel of his arms around her, unwilling to let this moment go by, no matter how many Kalons were converging upon them. She feared nothing right now.
She winced when he released her to scan the catwalk ahead of them. “Azah?” he called. “Toji!”
They appeared around a turn in the walkway, moving slowly. Toji had slung an arm around Azah’s waist to support her and she did not seem to mind that at all. She smiled through her pain when they reached Laryn and Ryle.
Laryn leaned over the railing to see a metamorph crumpled on the ground below the catwalk, possibly the crash she had heard earlier. “Did you make him sleep?”
Toji did not look back. “No. I made him dead.”
Chapter Eighteen - Epilogue
The sound of power tools, accompanied by the rattle of conveyors and the curses of mechanics greeted Laryn before she had even fully entered the outbounder docking bay. She passed technicians working on the hole Nolan had blasted into the wall and wondered if the Nefer’s crew had confessed to the damage. The electrical seemed to be working again but it didn’t look like much effort was being put into making the wall as good as new. Too much of the station was in need of assessment and repair and so this would be just another mismatched patch for the aging station.
The noise in the docks felt wonderfully alive to her after endless days of questions as Pendra’s chiefs and not a few Ministry directors grilled the survivors about what had happened, and why. She had watched hours of footage made by Jex and reviewed statements by other victims to confirm events after the station’s recording systems went down. Among the dead were twenty-three Humans and over fifty Kalons. No one would ever know how many metamorphs had gone down with the Br’ll transport near the Well, or how many had escaped in the second ship. A cruiser sent to Ophet reported the main outpost there deserted and only a few isolated prospecting teams responding to hails.
She continued toward a knot of crew and technicians gathered near the Nefer’s berth. The cargo lift was down and it didn’t take her long to spot the object of their interest.
“Nolie! You didn’t!” she called to the engineer inserted halfway into the back end of a crawler. He had tipped it onto its side and some of its dozen or so legs trailed wires back into its interior.
Some of the others standing around the peculiar vehicle stepped aside when she joined the onlookers. She wore plain black trousers and a short leather vest over her blouse, but the mediary badge at her throat was not missed. A few of the outbounders murmured a respectful greeting and one or two others wandered away.
Nolan emerged to give her a broad grin. “I did. No way was I going to leave that on Torren. I had Azah ride it right onto the cargo lift. Look under here! I’ve installed cameras fore and aft. Mark my words; this is going to come in handy someday.”
“To frighten little children, maybe,” a low voice spoke behin
d her.
She turned to smile up at Ryle. “I see you survived the debrief.”
“More or less.” He glanced at the spectators with a small jerk of his chin. They seemed to understand his request and strolled away to leave them alone with Nolan and his new toy.
“How did it go for you?” she said.
“I have no idea. We told them what happened. They told us nothing. Was mostly Pendra brass, couple of Ministry types. The Br’ll thing is classified.” He smirked. “Again.”
She grinned. “I heard they’re waiving your docking fees for a year, seeing how the outbounders made sure there’s still a station to dock to.”
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “That’s thanks to you, though they didn’t even mention that part to us. I’m happy that the Harla survivors are getting the discovery bonus for Torren, even if Shelody isn’t. What about you?”
“Pretty much the same. We can probably expect some commendation for keeping the station out of the Well. Pendra claims to have had no idea that the Kalons are actually Br’ll. Blamed the Bio Division for not catching that. Some people got fired. I wasn’t asked if I believed them. Or to give an opinion. But I did anyway.”
“Oh?” he said expectantly.
“I told them what Toji said about the Br’ll. The ones still on their homeworld. That they might not all be hostile.”
“You think they might go after them?” Nolan said. “Make war or something?”
Ryle shook his head. “They just need to guard the filament to Kalon. And to Earth, I guess.”
“And they will,” Laryn said. “That second Kalon ship could be anywhere. They downloaded everything in reach from ANN-E. Files on the station, our ships, the transporter, you name it. Pendra’s requested higher security for the station. Military grade security with ships and cannons. On top of the troops that just got here.”
Nolan sat on a toolbox to sort through his tangles of wire. “That’s what we need. More people watching us.”
Ryle looked over Laryn’s head as if to make sure no one heard. “Did they ask about… about us? About your assignment, I mean?”
“You mean did I tell them about Jex? About your database? Nah, they’ll have to pay more for that than some vague promise of a job on the research fleet.”
“I see we’ve been a bad influence on you,” he said with a smile.
“I’m just rather fond of Jex, I think.”
“And I thought maybe you’re trying to keep me out of jail. I’m disappointed.”
They looked up when the passenger lift came down from the Nefer, bringing with it Azah who, as usual, leaped from it before it reached the ground despite the brace on her forearm.
“Hey,” Nolan protested. “Watch the crawler.”
She bent to ruffle his hair and then nodded to Laryn. “Hello, Agent. My father’s very happy about the intel on Torren. Did you get grilled by Pendra, too?”
“Yeah,” Laryn said. “And properly gagged.”
“Like a right proper mediary. Ever consider quitting that gig?”
“Daily.”
“Wait a sec,” Nolan said. He looked to Ryle. “Why don’t we keep her on? As crew, I mean. She’s wasted on Pendra.”
Ryle tilted his head, looking thoughtful.
“I’m sincere,” Nolan said, warming to his own idea. “She’s been darn useful. And she’s kinda likable, don’t you think?”
Laryn smiled. “Thanks.”
Azah scrubbed her blood-red nails over the side of her head. “Hmm, she can handle herself. We saw that.”
Laryn gasped, surprised to find the woman in favor of Nolan’s idea.
“What do you think of that, Laryn?” Nolan said, nudging her. “Ready to punt Pendra now that you’ve seen their pretty side? Trade your cozy crib for a metal bunk and crappy food?”
“Well, that does sound tempting,” she said.
“No.”
They all looked to Ryle in surprise.
“Eh?” Nolan said. “Why not? We need a sci tech. And she’s a medic with better bedside manners than Jex.”
Ryle shook his head. “She’s a mediary. If I hire her they’ll assign another one. I like this one better.” He turned to her. “It’ll get tougher for us to do business here on the station if they’re beefing up security. They’re only going to display their gratitude to the outbounders for as long as this thing with the Kalons is fresh in people’s minds. Having someone on the inside…” he trailed off, leaving her to decide what he meant.
She raised an eyebrow. He was right, of course. She had access to the Ministry as well as Pendra, even if just in her capacity as mediary. The title also unlocked doors on Earth and on Terrica. And, with her recent promotion to engineer, she now literally had access to every locked door on Pendra Station, which might not be discovered for a while. CogSys would give her anything but the most highly classified information. She had to admit that keeping her aboard as their mandated mediary was of far greater value to the crew and probably to Corlan Shelody as well.
But was she ready to turn on her employers in this way? The company that had given her so much? These past few days had shown her the truth of the accusations that had been hurled at the Consortium for as long as she could remember. She could no longer pretend that Pendra didn’t sacrifice lives over profits and power. Did she really owe them as much as she thought, or were her loyalties as misplaced as she now suspected?
And now Ryle had asked her to become an agent for the outbounders, people about whom she still knew so little. Did Pendra suspect him of harboring an illegal AI, as she assumed, or was he and his crew, perhaps others among the outbounders, part of something much larger? Clearly their goals were not the same as Pendra’s. Was this the path for her?
She looked up at the Nefer’s lock, the door to the Out There she had looked for since she had learned about the Hub. A bit more dangerous than leisurely jaunts aboard the comfortable research vessel, she had to admit. And so very much more exhilarating.
Her eyes returned to search Ryle’s face, wishing he had not made this offer. She wished he had taken Nolan’s suggestion and hired her for the job because she earned it, not because of what she might add to his assets. And, perhaps more importantly, because he wanted her aboard.
She dropped her eyes and forced a smile. “I’m in,” she said. “I’ve had it with Pendra, but if I quit, I can wave any future research assignment goodbye. And my pretty suite.”
Did she imagine a quick wince on Ryle’s face when she said that? Was that disappointment she read there, or was that just her own wishful thinking?
“Good then,” he said as he turned away. “Do you need a hand with this monstrosity, Nolie? Tell me you’re adding ventilation.”
“Hey, Tanner!”
They all turned when Ben Colsan’s rough voice echoed through the bay. He had exited his ship and strode toward the ramp to the lower hangar.
“You want to see this, Tanner,” he hollered. “They’re getting ready to kick the mummies off the station. Dumping the lot on Ophet. Ivan said they don’t look happy about it.”
Ryle frowned. “All of them?” he said to Laryn. “We made sure they knew the difference between Toji’s group and the later generation.”
“So did I,” she said, puzzled.
“Where is Toji?” Azah said.
“I thought he’d be here with Nolan,” Laryn said, pointing to the cybernetic contraption sprawled on the floor. “I was told they finished talking to them long before I left Security.”
Nolan jumped to his feet. “Hell no!” he cried and sprinted away, toward the ramp.
Ryle and Laryn followed and caught up with him at the entrance to the lower level. Some station crew members loitered nearby, kept to the side by Pendra’s security force.
“Do you see him?” Nolan said, craning his neck to search through the Kalons corralled near the locks to the Ophet transport ships. “Is that’s all that’s left of them?”
The guards had divided the Kalo
ns into two groups and it was easy to distinguish one from the other now. Nine of them, either bound at the wrists or too injured to escape, glowered sullenly at the guards who now ringed them with weapons not only in hand but aimed at their heads. Huddled to the side and less tightly guarded stood the Kalons of Toji’s generation, only six now, appearing unharmed but frightened. All of them were shorter than the newcomers and their skin showed a more pronounced greenish-bronze blaze from forehead to nape.
No one had to guess at the content of dozens of long cloth bags being stowed into the transporter ahead of the captives. These were the type of bag that decomposed as quickly as its contents.
“There he is!” Nolan said. “On the left!” He rushed past Colsan only to get shoved back by one of the guards.
Laryn wasn’t about to let that stop her. She strode past the guard, daring him to push her back as well. Perhaps it was her glare or perhaps it was the mediary badge, but he allowed her to pass, even if only grudgingly. She hurried to Toji who stood, looking a little lost, among his people.
“Toji!” she called. “You don’t belong here.”
He shook his head and she made out a few high-pitched chirps but someone had taken his modulator. None of the Kalons carried their units.
A metamorph standing with the other group had heard his reply and snarled something in response. Toji flinched, as if struck.
“This is absurd!” Laryn said when a security captain arrived to escort her away from the aliens.
“Please step back, Agent,” he said. “This isn’t safe.”
“Don’t tell me about safe,” she hissed. “These Kalons did not take part of the attack. And especially not this one.”
The captain only stared at her, perhaps wondering if that was supposed to mean something to him.
Laryn looked past him to a group of Pendra administrators near the transporter hatch. Her own supervisor, Joel Mitcher, stood among them. “Excuse me,” she said to the captain, in a tone that allowed no argument.