Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4)

by Mark R. Healy

“Who? Me?”

  “Yeah, you.”

  He began to say something in response, but then stopped. “Uh, I might have to call you back later. Looks like we’re almost there.”

  Talia craned her neck and looked up into the afternoon sky, wondering where Knile might be up there, but there was nothing to see but unending layers of toxic clouds.

  “Okay. Keep in touch.”

  “Will do. Good luck.”

  She hung up, then breathed another sigh of relief, wiping the moisture from the corners of her eyes.

  “Good news?” Norrey said, placing the gadget back in his coat.

  “As good as it gets, I suppose.”

  Norrey nodded. “Glad to hear it.”

  They continued on, and a short time later came to a crossroads at the base of the mountain. An old man appeared on the road from the north, haggard and smeared with grime, hauling a cart loaded with what appeared to be blackened rocks behind him. Toothless and pockmarked, he seemed as colourless and drab as the dirt on which he shuffled; a decrepit personification of the land itself. As they neared, the old man slowed to a halt, then stood waiting for them in the centre of the crossroads.

  “You don’t look like no raiders,” he commented in a nasally voice.

  “We’re not,” Norrey said. “Just travellers making our way.”

  “Then you’d have no cause to kill me and take what’s mine,” the old man said.

  “We’re not here to kill you, old timer,” Talia said.

  “And we don’t want your rocks, either,” Roman added.

  The old man glanced back at his cart. “These ain’t rocks, you blind fool. These here be burnin’ stones.”

  “Burning stones?” Talia said. “What’re they?”

  “Stones that hold a flame. Dug ‘em out of the cave up there on the ridge myself,” he said, waving vaguely to the north. “Takin’ ’em with me on my way home. Keeps me and mine warm in the cold of night.”

  “Do the raiders give you any trouble out here?” Kolos said.

  “Me? What would they want with me? I ain’t nothin’ to nobody.” He glanced about the group. “And what of you? Where you headed, if you ain’t come to kill me?”

  “We’re going up the mountain,” Talia said. She gestured behind the old man, where a sagging chain-link fence topped with barbed wire seemed to encircle the mountain. “Is that the road to the top?”

  The old man turned and waved to where the vague outline of the road disappeared up the mountainside.

  “It’ll take you there, sure thing.” He turned back to them and regarded them solemnly with his watery eyes. “But you don’t wanna go up there.”

  “Why not?” Talia said.

  “Haunted,” the man grunted.

  Norrey arched his eyebrow doubtfully. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean just what I say. The damn place is haunted. You’d be best to stay away.”

  “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Roman said.

  “Believe what you want, kid,” the old man said. “No one goes that way. Not anymore.”

  “Well, thanks for the warning,” Talia said, “but we have to keep moving.”

  “Do what you gotta do,” the old man said, tugging on his cart as he began to shuffle off again. He offered no farewell, heading west along the road in his shambling gait, and soon he became indistinguishable from the land around him once more.

  “A cheery fellow,” Kolos remarked.

  “What do you think he meant?” Roman said. “What’s with the haunted stuff?”

  “Superstitions,” Talia said. “The folk out here aren’t the most educated types. You can’t blame them for believing in spirits and the afterlife.”

  Talia saw something flash across Norrey’s face – indignation? However, it was gone so quickly that she couldn’t tell if she’d imagined it or not. Then he smiled and nodded.

  “Foolishness.” He glanced around. “Shall we continue?”

  They reached the fence around the base of Sunspire Mountain a minute or two later, and the old man’s words suddenly seemed more ominous than before. Hand-painted signs had been thrust into the ground around the gate, stating various warnings with the same general theme: “Keep out”, “No trespassing”. There was also a ghoulish assortment of sun-bleached skeletons that had been strung up on the barbed wire – some human, some animal.

  “Are those real?” Roman said.

  Talia didn’t answer right away. “It doesn’t matter,” she said eventually. “We have to go up there anyway.”

  “Can I ask,” Norrey said politely, “what is your business in this place? Surely there are better places to run to.”

  “We’re meeting friends here,” Talia said. “Up on the mountain.”

  “Strange place for a rendezvous,” Kolos said.

  She shrugged, offering no explanation. “Yeah.” She held out her hand. “I guess this is where we part.”

  Norrey took it and shook it warmly. “Are you certain about this?”

  “Yes, thank you. You’ve done so much for us already.”

  Norrey glanced worriedly at Kolos. “I don’t feel as though we’ve repaid our debt to you. Not until we’ve seen you safely delivered to your companions.”

  “This place doesn’t seem safe,” Kolos agreed.

  Although Talia was appreciative of their concern, she felt it was probably time to part ways with the bodyguards. She wasn’t sure how they would react if they found out she and Roman intended to travel off-world. It could cause complications if they were to react badly to the revelation.

  Better to part ways now and continue on without them.

  “Thanks,” she said, “but–”

  “No, I won’t hear of it,” Norrey said, striding toward the gate. He pushed a broken section aside and held it open for them. “We’ll make sure you reach your destination. Then our debt will be repaid.”

  Talia was about to argue, but realised she wasn’t going to get anywhere. Norrey was adamant about this; she could see it in his face. It would be easier to simply let them fulfil their sense of obligation than to stand here arguing about it.

  “All right,” she said wearily. “Let’s go.”

  She wrapped an arm around Roman’s shoulder, and together they stepped through the gate and began the ascent along the road that led up to the peak of the mountain.

  33

  Knile eased the acceleration of the handcar and their momentum began to slow.

  Not far ahead was a door unlike any they had seen in the Skywalk so far.

  “Is that it?” Ursie said breathlessly as she made her way forward to stand next to him. “Is that Sunspire?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But we’re about to find out.”

  They came to a halt not far from the door and dismounted, then stood staring up at it. Unlike the previous doors, which had been comprised of grey and silver interlocking panels, this one was a striking, deep orange colour, like a tropical sunset. It also appeared to be one solid piece of steel, accentuated by a series of grooves and notches that might have served no purpose other than decoration.

  “Fancy,” Ursie said.

  “Looks like the access panel is over here,” Tobias said, wandering over to a console on the wall. He tapped a button and the terminal began to glow. “Well, that’s somethin’ at least.” He took out his swipe card and badged the sensor, but the console turned red and the door remained firmly in place. “Ah, bugger. Worth a try.”

  Knile took out his holophone and a cable from his backpack. “Give me a shot.” He gave the old man a quirky grin. “I’ve opened a few doors in my time. Why not one last time?”

  Knile connected up his gear, and Tobias loomed over his shoulder sceptically. “You might’ve opened a few doors down where you’re from, but this here’s a whole new kettle of fish. You can’t just walk in here and–”

  The orange door made a creaking sound and then began to rise slowly. “Done,” Knile said nonchalantly. “Sam
e operating system as half the doors in the Reach. Same exploit.”

  Tobias grinned at him. “Well, ain’t you a bag of tricks?”

  They stood back as the door began to rise, slowly but surely revealing what lay beyond. As it reached head height, Knile ducked through and took a few steps forward. The others followed.

  Whatever the place was, it was far larger than the way stations. Once again they found themselves in a loading dock, but this one was more expansive than the ones they had seen previously. The walls curved outward in both directions, and the ceiling stretched upward in a broad arc. Knile’s eyes followed it upward, and then he noticed thin, transparent strips set into the roof, and beyond it the glowing orb of Earth.

  In addition, he could also see a dark shape slanting away from them in the direction of the planet.

  “Look,” he said excitedly. “It’s another Wire.”

  Tobias squinted. “I’d say you’re right, fella. Another space elevator.”

  “So this has to be Sunspire,” Ursie said, her eyes lighting up.

  “Yeah,” Knile said, satisfaction in his voice. “We made it.”

  They progressed further, through another empty and derelict habitat that had obviously not seen activity in a very long time. As the auto-lights clicked on, it became evident that the place was smaller than Habitat Thirty-One and less impressive visually, but Knile figured that perhaps that was partly due to the fact it had been stripped of its valuables a long time ago and left to rot. In the end, he didn’t much care how it looked, only that it was capable of doing what they needed it to do.

  Thankfully, there was one aspect of Sunspire that was still intact: its signage. There were clear directions to all of the most important features of the habitat – Spaceport. Living Quarters. Administration. Security. Recreation. It was all spelled out.

  “There,” Tobias said at one point, jabbing his finger at a sign. “Earthside Transit Control. That’s what we’re after.”

  They followed the directions and soon arrived at the transit control doors, where Knile once again bypassed security. Inside they found a control room that featured a broad console set before a bay window, which in turn looked out upon the space elevator itself.

  Mounted on the elevator was a craft that looked not unlike the railcar from the Reach.

  “There she is,” Tobias said excitedly. “Your ticket back home.”

  “But is the craft functional?” Lazarus said.

  “Cross your fingers,” Knile muttered. He strode over to the console and activated the nearest terminal, wiping away a layer of dust so that he could see it more clearly. “Okay, the system is powering up, running through some diagnostics.”

  He took out the longwave and initiated a call while he watched the boot procedure progress.

  “What are you doing?” Ursie said.

  “Seeing what’s happening with Talia,” he said. A few moments later he heard the call connecting through.

  “Knile?”

  “Talia, good news. We’re here. We made it to Sunspire.”

  She sighed with relief. “That’s great news.”

  “We’re booting the system now. Hopefully we can get it working. I wanted to check with you about the cruiser that’s going to meet us here. How long do we have?”

  There was a scratching noise as Talia manipulated her holophone. “About fourteen hours from now, I think. Give or take. The captain said he wasn’t going to wait around, Knile. We have to do this on schedule or we’ll miss out.”

  “Okay, we’ll take that into account.” Knile tapped a button as the console prompted to continue booting after a failed power check. “How did you go? Did you reach the bottom end yet?”

  “Not yet. Still climbing the mountain.” She sounded puffed.

  “Okay, keep at it. I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay.”

  As Knile hung up, a pleasant female voice flooded the control room.

  “Warning, power supply critically low. Solar cell backup has been utilised.”

  “We’re on reserve power,” Knile said. “The main conduit failed the diagnostics. No surprises there.”

  “Reserve power,” Ursie said. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Yeah. Who knows how far that’s going to get us. But it’s not like we have a choice.”

  The system completed its boot sequence, and then a dazzling array of parameters lit up the terminal. Values fluctuated and labels flashed across the screen, none of which meant anything to Knile.

  “Hope you can figure out all that gobbledygook,” Tobias said.

  “Not sure if I can,” Knile said distractedly. “Give me a minute with it.”

  He began to dig through the menus, taking the system back to the root, and then began searching through each item in turn for ideas. After several attempts that led nowhere, he found an item called Documentation and selected it, then activated the first entry.

  A video filled the terminal, depicting a smartly-dressed man in a business suit strolling across a platform with a glinting cityscape as a backdrop.

  “In the last two decades, off-world transit has become the largest industry on Earth,” the man said as he walked. “With the rise in popularity of the off-world colonies and the continued decline of conditions here on Earth, it’s no wonder.”

  “What is this?” Knile said, baffled.

  “Looks like an old commercial of some sort,” Tobias said. “Haven’t seen one like it in many a year.”

  “Sunspire Incorporated is on the cutting edge of transit technologies,” the man went on. “Our blend of highly skilled technicians and the newest hardware will continue to ensure that Sunspire remains the most affordable solution for all of your off-world transit needs, both in today’s world and tomorrow’s.”

  “Garbage,” Knile muttered, shutting off the video feed, unable to look at the man’s vapid smile any longer. He’d obviously moved so far back in the menu system that he’d hit material that did not pertain to the transit system. “That’s not what we’re looking for.”

  He kept searching, and in another subfolder he found something that sounded more useful.

  “‘Training Materials’. What’s that?” Ursie said.

  He selected the entry and delved through the contents. Once again, many of the labels sounded unconnected to what they needed, but there was one in particular that caught his eye.

  “‘Technical Reference’,” he said. “This could be it.”

  The female voice sounded across the room once again. “Welcome to Sunspire Incorporated Training Services. Sunspire – the most affordable solution for all of your off-world transit needs.”

  Much of the material seemed inconsequential once again – health and safety training, fire hazard training, manual handling certification. Deeper down, however, things became more specific.

  “Here!” he said, jabbing his finger at the terminal. “‘Trainee checklist for transit control’.”

  He pored over the instructions for several procedures, and a few minutes later began to tentatively make selections on the production system.

  “Transit system diagnostics initiated,” the announcer said. “Estimated duration of journey is six hours.”

  “Six hours down, six hours back,” Knile said. “That’s a twelve-hour round trip.”

  “Cutting it fine,” Ursie said.

  “Yeah. We have to get this thing figured out and get moving. No time to sit around.”

  Urise stared at the console thoughtfully. “When I linked minds with Heketoro back at the habitat, I could see the things he knew. In a way, I learned things from him, about how to operate the railcar. But I have no clue how to use this. It looks totally different.”

  “The company that ran Sunspire is different to the one over at the Reach,” Knile said. “Probably different hardware, different operating system. Your knowledge won’t help much here.”

  She gave an apologetic twist of her mouth. “Sorry.”

  “Don�
��t sweat it. The first thing–”

  There was a warning horn, and then a depiction of the railcar appeared on the screen.

  “Alert. Locking mechanism unresponsive. Repeat, locking mechanism unresponsive. A work request has been lodged with the maintenance crew. Ticket identification number is three-zero-one-five-two.”

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Ursie said.

  Knile examined the screen, where a wedge of metal above the railcar had been highlighted in flashing red.

  “Looks like the gizmo that holds the railcar in the dock has seized up.” He glanced out through the bay window, where the railcar sat exposed in the vacuum of space. “Let’s see how we can fix that.”

  He tapped on the console again, searching for more information.

  “In the event of locking release failure, the manual override must be engaged here.”

  The image zoomed in to the housing of the mechanism itself, demonstrating with a graphic overlay how to activate the release.

  “Simple,” he said. “We just have to pull that lever.”

  “Well, heck. That thing is outside the habitat,” Tobias said. “You’ll die if you try goin’ out.”

  “Did you not hear the woman’s voice?” Lazarus said. “A maintenance crew will handle this problem.”

  They stared at him blankly, and Knile exchanged a worried look with Ursie. “Uh, Lazarus, I don’t think there’s a maintenance crew–”

  “An attempt at humour,” Lazarus said, spreading his hands in a kind of shrug. He inclined his head. “My apologies.”

  “Wow,” Ursie said, bewildered. “He made a joke. That might be the weirdest thing I’ve heard today. And that’s saying something.”

  Knile stepped away from the terminal, suppressing an eruption of maniacal laughter. He felt as though he were teetering on the edges of his own sanity.

  Composing himself, he glanced around at each of them in turn.

  “So this is what it comes down to – the railcar isn’t going anywhere unless we activate that release. Someone’s going to have to go out there.”

  34

  The shuttle glided smoothly through the dark tunnel, its solitary headlight stabbing into the gloom. Duran stooped forward, his hand resting on the dashboard as he stared ahead, watching as the dilapidated maglev track disappeared beneath them.