“Sorry,” I said, “I was dreaming.”
I could see that she had been crying. She hadn’t changed out of her bloody clothes, and I could see that the sponge she held was stained with blood.
“The Captain sedated you. You were pretty out of control.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry if I frightened you.”
“No, I was angry at Mal too. What he said was out of line. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I wanted you to hurt him.” She held her hands together in her lap and bowed her head. I was laying in one of the med lab cots. I could see Crege sitting in the other one, across the compartment from me.
“How are you doing, partner?” I said to him as I sat up.
“Been better.”
“I meant to come down and check on you after, but…”
“No need, friend. Warrior has been wounded in battle. Warrior lives to fight once more.”
“You’re a tough son of a bitch, I’ll give you that.”
I looked down at Zoe, she hadn’t moved much since I’d sat up, except to shuffle down further to give me room. I put my arm around her and gave her a gentle hug.
“What about you, Zoe?”
“He’s dead.”
I blew air out in a great sigh. “There was nothing we could have done. He’d lost too much blood before I got him out. If anything, Mal was right, I was too slow.”
“No. He’d suffered too much trauma to his body, his heart and lungs too damaged to survive. There’s no way you could have saved him either. There were fractures in his skull and his left cheek bone was shattered.” She said all this with clinical dryness.
“I…don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, Zoe.”
“I’ve never lost a patient before.”
“He wasn’t just a patient, he was family. We all are. Even Mal. What you’re feeling, it’s called grief. It’s okay to feel this way. I’m here for you, for anything you need.”
“We both are, little human.” offered Crege. He’d stood up and was using a makeshift crutch to shuffle around the compartment to us. He placed a hand on Zoe’s head and made a kind of clucking sound with his tongue.
After a while, Zoe leaned into me and accepted my hug. She held Crege’s hand then, and I could feel her sobbing gently. It took a few minutes, but she eventually stopped and made sniffling noises. She stood up and started to wash her hands in a metal sink. Crege went back to his bunk after Zoe chided him for walking around. I stood up and gave her another hug.
“I’m okay. Thanks, guys. I mean that.”
“All right, I’m going to find Maxine, but you let me know if you need me, okay?”
“I promise.” She gave me a weak smile and I kissed her before leaving. I headed into the mess deck and looked around. Fel’negr and Denno were at one of the tables talking quietly. They stopped when I entered and Fel asked if I was okay. I nodded that I was and left for the ladder well to Deck 1. As I reached the top I could already hear screaming and yelling coming from Max’s cabin. I almost didn’t open the hatch, but I needed to talk. When I opened it, I could see Max and Artemis standing across from the conference table glaring at each other, both were red faced and there were several mementos scattered over the floor. Artemis had a fat lip and a single drop of blood ran down from her nose to her upper lip. Maxine’s hair was all out of place and her shirt was torn at the collar. They both stopped what they were doing, which appeared to be circling each other, and glared at the intruder.
I held my hands up in surrender.
“I come in peace.”
“I’m going to kill her, Seth.”
“She’s going to try.”
“No one is going to kill anyone. There’s been enough death this last week to last a year.”
“There’s room for one more death. Hers.”
“What would Eric say, if he were here right now?”
“Don’t do that, Donny.” Max looked stricken, almost like I’d slapped her.
“Sorry, but we need clear heads.”
“Control your Captain, Seth. Before I put her down.”
“That goes for you, too.” Artemis turned to look at me, fire in her eyes. “Don’t give me that look. If I didn’t think your dead man switch wouldn’t kill this ship, I’d put a sword through your gut right now and toss you out the ‘lock.”
“You were told! No tampering with the bombs. You did, and you paid the price.” she jabbed a finger at me and Max. I could see Max about to lunge at her so I held up my hand.
“Stop! You really didn’t think we’d try to remove as many as we could? Isn’t that half the reason there are so many?”
She just glared at me furiously.
“Whether we like it or not, we’re already resigned to doing this mission. The difference is, are we going to kill you when we finish or not.” I said.
“You were warned! Eric’s death is on you!” she yelled, pointing at me.
“That may be, but we’ll never forget who put those bombs there in the first place.”
“You can blame whoever you want for putting them there. They wouldn’t have gone off it you hadn’t decided to play mechanic.”
“You tell us, this minute, what we’re doing here.” demanded Max, “Why we’re risking our lives for a bunch of low life criminals. Why Eric threw his life away for you, for this job. Tell me that, bitch, or so help me I will make the rest of you miserable life…”
“Spare me the platitudes, old woman.”
“Art! Tell her! Now!” I held out my arms and angry lightning played about between my hands. She did a double take and recoiled from me.
“Okay! I’ll tell you. It won’t make a difference. It’s an experimental portable Jump Gate.”
“What?” both Max and I said simultaneously.
“You’re doing a gaol break. Get into Ambrose Station, set up the portable Gate and get one individual out.”
“Who?”
“An associate of Benedict.”
“Why? Why all this trouble for one person?”
“They’re important to Benedict’s organisation.”
“Quit fucking around with the half-truths and tell me who?” growled Maxine.
“His name is Osiris Blackburn. He’s a business associate of Benedict, like I said.”
“Osiris fucking Blackburn?” said Max, her mouth agape.
“Who’s that?” I said looking between the two.
“I thought he was dead.”
“Almost was. Got stuck on Ambrose during the Ghantri take over.”
“Who’s Osiris Blackburn?” I repeated
“Why the Jump Gate?”
“You really think the Protectorate blockade inspectors will let you leave the system with him on board?”
“Who the fuck is Osiris Blackburn?!” I shouted.
“Seth!” chided Max, “He’s pretty much the bogey man of the underworld. He ran both the Iloz Cartels and the Acheras Raider Guild for almost a century. That and he was pretty much the overseer of anything illegal in the Eridani System for the thirty years. Right up until he just vanished.”
“I’ve never heard of him…”
“Most people think he’s dead.” explained Artemis, “Rivals who filled the vacuum when he disappeared worked hard to make sure his name was forgotten. But Benedict never forgot.”
“And by busting him out of Gossamer, Jenner expects Osiris will reward him?” asked Max.
“Of course he will. Benedict is his nephew.”
Max threw herself into a chair with a great sigh. She worked a hand through her hair and gestured for me to sit. She took one look at Artemis and simply said “Get out.”
Art obliged, leaving the two of us alone as I sat opposite Maxine.
“I’m sorry about Eric.”
“It wasn’t your fault. I know that. So does Mal. He was just shocked is all.”
“I’m sorry I attacked him. I was out of line.”
“I’m sorry I drugged you.”
“Liar. You might want to ensure we don’t pass each other in the passageways for a few days.”
“I’ll keep him in engineering as often as I can. He’s still on watch with Hergo at the moment.”
I said nothing for a few moments. I could see Max was studying me.
“What happened?” she asked after a time.
“I don’t know. We had the charge out and Eric took it from me. He was putting it in a box to take it out when I turned around to put the tuning rod back in the Davian chamber and next thing I knew I was blasted into the bulkhead.”
“How’s Zoe?”
“She’s shaken up pretty bad. Crege and I showed her some family strength and that seemed to make her better. It’s a hell of a thing for her to go through.”
“It’s a hell of a thing for us all.”
“Yeah, I didn’t mean…”
“I know. Eric was one of my oldest friends.”
“One of mine too.”
“She’s right, though. We brought this on ourselves.”
“Artemis? Hell no. There’s no way we wouldn’t at least try to get these bombs off. This isn’t on you, Max. No way.”
“In a way, it is. It’s okay, I’ll carry that. Burdens of command.”
“Eric knew the risks. We all did. We all knew we had to try. End of story.”
“Well, no more attempts from now on.”
“Okay, that’s your call.”
“It is.”
We were silent again for a few more minutes.
“How are you holding up?” I asked. I got up and moved to a seat next to her and put my hand on her arm.
“Numb. It hasn’t hit me yet.”
“It will.”
“Yeah. I plan on being well and truly drunk when it does.”
“Really? Is that wise? With the Xerxes on our tail like this.”
“Fuck it. I’m too old to worry about death. All I can do is flip it the bird when it brushes against me.”
“How am I supposed to respond to that?” She looked me in the eyes then, and I could see the pain in them.
“I need this. Can you give me one ship day to get over this?”
I held her gaze for a full minute before answering. “Promise me you’ll be okay after? We all need you functional. I need you functional, Max.”
“I promise.” She reached over and gave me a fierce hug, then abruptly pushed away and stood, walking over to a cabinet near her bunk. She drew out two mugs and a decanter of something dark and smoky. “Share the first one with me?”
“Is it going to wipe me out?” I remembered that Max likes her drink strong.
“No, it’ll just put hairs on your chest.”
“Okay, but then I’m out.”
She poured a splash into each mug and we stood in a moment’s silence, saluted with the mugs and then downed them. The liquor was strong, but slightly sweet. It only half stripped the lining of my throat on the way down. I left before Max could see me cough it up.
33.
Right, I said to myself, first order of business – the current crisis. Despite my misgivings I went up to the command module hatch and opened it. Hergo and Mal were at separate consoles, neither saying a word. A far cry from the last time I entered the compartment. Mal looked up as I came in, but went back to his console when he saw it was me. Hergo was sitting at the pilot’s station, keeping an eye on the various sensors and readings, but Mal was flicking through maintenance schedules on Fel’s systems console. I could see purple bruises around Mal’s neck where I’d attacked him.
“Where’s the Blade of Xerxes? Any developments.” I asked.
“Would have told someone if there was.” muttered Mal.
“The Xerxes is nearly eleven hours from the point zero two AU mark. Will get more interesting then.” said Hergo after checking the sensors.
“Good. How long have you two got left on your shift?”
“Forty five minutes.”
“Who’s replacing you?”
“Fel and Denno.”
“How are you two doing?”
Mal looked up at me then, a scowl on his face. He simply glared and then went back to his schedules. Hergo glanced at him.
“We’re as well as can be expected after losing a crew mate.”
“If you need some time off, let me know, I’ll make sure your shifts are covered.”
“That will not be necessary, First Mate.”
I nodded to Hergo and left, heading aft to my cabin. About five metres from my hatch was where the vent had dumped me and Eric, and I could still see some blood left over from the incident. I was wearing a med lab jump suit, which was too tight, Zoe or someone must have cut me out of my blood soaked, tattered suit from before. I went into my cabin and changed into another jump suit and grabbed a bucket and rags from a cleaning gear locker in the passage way. I spent the next twenty minutes cleaning the rest of the blood from the deck and bulkheads. I packed up and then showered.
After I was clean again, I headed down to Deck 2 where Fel and Denno were still sitting at a table. I grabbed a bowl of black meal and joined them.
“Seth.” said Fel’negr in greeting.
I shovelled a heathy spoonful into my mouth and nodded.
“Do humans always eat like herd animals?” asked Denno.
“I believe they do, although this one shows particular adherence to the stereotype.”
“Mime might ere.” I said, losing half a mouthful of cereal in the process.
“I see. Am I in any danger of losing fingers if I point at it?”
“Perhaps. You can always regrow them if you did.” That set the pair off chuffing at their own jokes.
“Argen can regrow fingers?” I asked, intrigued.
“Pretty much anything non-fatal will grow back, given time.” said Denno.
“Have you ever seen an Argen with a cybernetic limb?” asked Fel.
“No, although my exposure to the Argen has been limited.”
“There are a few of my kind who take to augmentation,” explained Denno, “But we tend to favour the biological kind over cybernetic. Easier to integrate into our physiology.”
“You have interface overlays, though, right?”
“Hergo and I do, although many do not. They’re not a prevalent in our culture as Inner System worlds or you frontiersmen.”
“Where did you guys get your proto-chips?”
“We were both asteroid farmers out at the Kersios Ring before this. Worked together for nearly seven years now. We both got our implants at roughly the same time, most of the mining crews won’t hire unless you have one so it made sense.”
“What was it like? I was too young when I got mine, and if it was anything like the nano-proliferation proto-chip…well.”
“Rather uneventful, I’ll say. A slight headache, and six months later we had computers in our brains. We had to get accelerated grown chips, or they’d take years to mature. A little bit more expensive but we figured it was a worthwhile investment.”
“We’ve done a few jobs out by the Kersios Ring. That’s some rough territory.”
“I know, we were picked up by Max there, remember?”
“That’s right, you two joined us right before we took that bounty job on…what’s his name?”
“Ched Arnott’s gang.” Offered Fel.
“We needed two guys familiar with asteroid mining to cut a hole into their base.”
“We both though you were crazy to get in that way. But pay was pay. Haven’t regretted accepting the Captain’s offer to stay on as deck hands since.”
“And now?”
“It’s a dangerous job, I know. But not one of the Captain’s choosing. We do not hold her responsible for our current predicament.”
“How is Captain Cooper?” asked Fel.
“She’s…taking thirty hours off to sort some stuff out. She’ll be with us and ship shape after that.”
“I see.”
“Since you’re in charge then, have you given
any thought to Eric’s sending off?”
“A funeral?”
“Yes. He would have wanted to go out into space, of that I am sure.”
“Where are we keeping his body?”
“Forward cargo hold.”
“We can hold it in the aft hold, I suppose. We all get suited up in light duties suits and say a few fair wells. Then we open the stern cargo ramp and push him out.”
“That would suffice. You should hold his eulogy.”
“Shouldn’t Max do that?”
“She is a strong woman, but that man was her oldest friend. You would do her much honour by sharing that burden for her, and allow her to grieve.”
“Of course, we should hold it soon after she…comes out of her exile.”
“That would be wise.”
“Okay, I’m going to check on the armoury. Zoe and I will relieve you two in about eight hours, but can you close up on station when the Xerxes reaches the point zero two AU mark from the Jump Station?”
“Of course. How are you handling all this?”
“I…I’m not sure, to be honest. I flipped out right after he died, I almost killed Mal.”
“I was there. Do not hold yourself accountable, we were all in shock.”
“Fair enough, but since then it’s like I’m just keeping busy. I haven’t had time to process it all.”
“Make sure when you do, that you have one of us nearby, should you need to talk.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks, Fel. You too, Hergo. First port of call after this, drinks are on me.”
He made a hissing sound that I took for laughter. “Argen cannot stomach most alcohols. We prefer fermented beverages high in lactose for our intoxicants.”
“Yeah that would look a little strange, sharing a lumpy milk with you.”
“I highly recommend it.”
“I’ll stick to my regular beers, thanks.”
I got up to leave, dumping my bowl in the dishwasher. I headed down to the med lab and checked in on Crege. Zoe wasn’t in the compartment, Crege said she went to sleep before taking a shift today. I asked him about his injuries, he gave me some line about a lucky stab. I could tell that I wasn’t going to get anything more from him about it. I made a mental note to ask Zoe later when we were on shift. I left and headed down to the forward hold to get to the armoury. I still had work to do there after the mercenaries boarded us. Batteries to charge, guns to clean, armour to check.
Dreaming of Atmosphere Page 27