Alone on the Edge (The Chronicles of Anna Foster)

by Patrick Stutzman

  Ryan hit the floor of the airlock rather gently, since the fetid water broke his fall. Daring to not open his eyes and going by memory alone, he stretched out his hand and felt along the wall until he found the airlock controls. He found the switch that he believed would open the hatch and hastily pressed it. From above, he heard the airlock shut, cutting off the flow of water into the small chamber, and the ventilation system began sucking water into the vents. A few seconds later, the intake ceased, and he grabbed for the ladder as the airlock hatch leading to the landing bay opened at his feet. The water level dropped rapidly, throwing Ryan into an instant vacuum for a brief second before a huge air bubble burst through the water into the airlock. In that split second, Ryan seized one of the rungs and dropped only a meter, while the rest of the brownish liquid plummeted through the tube and slammed against the hull of his ship while still contained within the docking tube.

  Breathing heavily as he regained his footing, Ryan stared at the column of water below him before climbing back into the airlock. He shut the hatch, which automatically activated the ventilation system to spew out the water it sucked in earlier directly onto him. Pausing for only a second, he toggled the switch to retract the docking tube. As soon as he hit it, he looked through the window at his feet to watch the water gush out, roll over his ship, and drift out into space, leaving a light brown residue on the ship after it left. Ryan extended the docking tube again, opened the hatch again, and rushed down the ladder.

  From her position under the ship, Anna felt the ship bounce from the impact of the water. Suspecting that Ryan just landed on the craft, she shut down her laser cutter and stuffed it back into her leg pocket. She engaged the suit’s thrusters, ready to retreat back into the cargo bay, and pushed forward. Just as she was about to fly out from under the vessel, the wave of sewage flowed over the edge of the ship and out into space. She quickly reversed her flight and narrowly missed bumping into the ship headfirst. After the water had passed, she waited, counted to three, and launched again. As she emerged from under the ship, she aimed toward the cargo bay and accelerated as fast as she could.

  Ryan was half way to his ship, when he caught sight of Anna rocketing toward the cargo bay. Instinctively, he drew his pistol and started to aim, when he realized that he could not fire without subjecting himself to vacuum. Silently cursing his luck, he returned his sidearm to its holster and scrambled back to the airlock.

  Anna shot into the cargo bay at high speed. Knowing that she could not stop in time without colliding with the wall, she unfastened herself from the thruster pack and dropped to the floor just as she crossed the threshold. As she hit the floor hard and tumbled into a couple of cargo containers, the thruster pack propelled forward and smashed into the wall. The impact stopped the thrusters cold and shut down its engines. It dropped to the floor, where it landed with a mechanical crunch.

  Anna sat up, shook her head, and immediately felt the pain in her shoulder. With her other hand, she reflexively braced her injured limb against her torso. She glanced at the thruster pack and found it damaged beyond repair from the impact and leaking fuel onto the floor.

  “Well,” she commented to herself as she moved toward the doors leading back into the station. “I won’t be using that anymore.”

  Anna paused in front of the door and wiggled her fingers. It did not feel like her arm was broken, but she was sure that she would have at least a nice bruise from the fall. She bolted through the door and into the corridor.

  Reaching the airlock, Ryan shut the hatch underneath him and opened the one above. Instantly, the remaining water in the corridor spilled into the airlock, showering the enforcer again with its putrid contents. Having forgotten about the standing water above, the sudden flood shoved him to the floor. He floundered for a moment, turned onto his hands and knees and then finally to his feet. The remaining water filled the airlock up to his waist, and Ryan easily climbed back into the corridor.

  “Computer!” Ryan yelled. “Where is Anna?”

  “Anna is currently at your location.”

  “What?” he hissed, frantically looking around him and only finding the cargo crates still in place. After a few seconds, it dawned on him that the computer was detecting her wristcomp in his pocket.

  Ryan visibly slumped and blurted, “I don’t have time for this.”

  He crouched down and looked into the first crate he shot. Doing his best to ignore the contaminated water still dripping from the charred edges of the jagged hole and the horrendous odor that lingered in the air, Ryan easily noticed a couple of holes that resulted from a couple of shots that managed to reach the other side. He pulled his blaster and fired several shots into the damaged container, creating a hole large enough for him to move through. The stack of crates above started to rumble. Ryan jumped into the container, kicked a chunk of the damaged side out, and dove onto the floor beyond. A couple of seconds later, the stack collapsed through the damaged container and tumbled onto the other surrounding towers of crates, sending them tumbling down the hallway past the airlock.

  Ignoring the aftermath, Ryan marched to the elevator and rode the car to the command deck. Before the doors opened, he drew his sidearm and inspected it for damage. The grime and sludge from the sewage already began to dry and become encrusted on the pistol, making it feel uncomfortable in his hand. He pushed his discomfort aside in his head in favor of self-defense and waited a few more seconds until the doors opened before him.

  Ryan quickly scanned the room outside the open doors before stepping into the starlit room. Satisfied that he was alone, he strode toward the command console.

  “Computer,” he announced. “How long would it take for the station’s power core to overload and result in catastrophic failure?”

  “At current power levels, the power core would overload in approximately 11.76 minutes.”

  Ryan nodded to himself and added, “Perfect. Overload the power core.”

  A few seconds passed in silence, until the computer responded, “Acknowledged. The power core will overload and result in catastrophic failure in 11.7 minutes.”

  Without another word, Ryan turned on his heel and walked toward the elevator doors. He barely made it half way across the room, when a message came in over the speaker.

  “Okay, Ryan,” Anna’s voice announced. “So, when are you going to find me?”

  He stopped, looked up for a brief second and laughed, “I don’t think I need to worry about that anymore. I’ve decided to give up on you, and I’m just going to leave.”

  “Now, that hardly seems fair, especially when I am ready to turn myself in,” she replied.

  “Turn yourself in?! Ha! You know that you’re just going to die if you do that. Don’t you?”

  Anna sighed audibly over the speaker and said, “Yes, but I’m tired of running and living out here alone. If death is the only release I will get, then so be it. Come and get me.”

  Ryan paused for a second before responding, “You know what? I don’t think so. I’m going to leave you here to die, and I’m going to take off.”

  The channel was silent for a few seconds, until Anna finally stated, “No, you’re not.”

  Ryan’s amusement faded as he asked, “What? What do you mean?”

  “You can’t leave. I’ve made sure that you can’t.”

  A smirk emerged on his face before he accused, “You’re bluffing!”

  “Check for yourself.”

  Ryan opened a channel to his ship through his wrist communicator and asked, “Computer, are you able to depart?”

  “No, Ryan. The docking clamp appears to be locked in place. I am unable to depart without risking damage to the ship.”

  “Override the system!” he cried, sounding desperate.

  After a couple of seconds, the ship’s computer answered, “Unable to comply.”

  He stared at his communicator in disbelief for a second before asking with skepticism mixed with fear, “What the hell?”

  Smugl
y, Anna added before closing the channel, “You don’t get to leave until you come and get me. I’ll be in Blue-3.”

  “You fucking bitch!” he cried as he rushed to the elevator and hit the call button.

  A couple of minutes later, Ryan sprinted into Blue-2 and straight on through to the door leading to Blue-3. He skidded to a halt right in front of the door, when he saw that it was shut. He cocked an eyebrow and looked at it curiously for a second.

  “Computer,” he asked. “Where was the source of the communication that took place on the command deck?”

  “Blue-3, Ryan.”

  “Is the person that originated the message still located there?”

  “Yes, Ryan.”

  “Have any conditions changed inside Blue-3?”

  “The conditions within Blue-3 have not changed at all recently.”

  Nodding, Ryan pulled his pistol from its holster and hit the switch to open the door. Instantly, the air around him rushed through the opening into the vacuum on the other side. Caught off guard, Ryan was sucked through the door and into the dark corridor. Thrown to the floor from the wind hitting him from behind and unable to breathe, he instinctively clutched his throat and dropped his weapon to the floor. A couple of seconds later, the door closed and sealed him inside the airless hall.

  Feeling his lungs decompressed and his saliva starting to boil, Ryan turned his head and attempted to make his way back to the door, when he spotted Anna. Still dressed in the space suit from earlier, she walked up to him and swiftly kicked him in the face. The blow took what little air remaining in his lungs away, and his head dropped to the floor. He did not move again.

  Staring at his motionless body, Anna sneered at Ryan, “Asshole.”

  Chapter 28

  After flipping over Ryan’s lifeless body with her boot, Anna fished her wristcomp out of his jacket and grabbed his weapon. She turned to leave, when she felt the station shudder. Not stopping to think about what happened, she lunged forward, braced herself by the door, and hit the switch. Pulling herself through against the current, she reached Blue-2 and closed the door behind her. Once the wind had died down, she leaned back against the door and took a moment to calm her heavy breathing.

  “Anna,” the computer announced. “Ryan has set the power core to overload. You have little time to escape. You must go to Ryan’s ship now, before it’s too late.”

  Without hesitation, Anna took off for the elevator, stuffing her wristcomp and the pistol into the pocket on the thigh of her suit.

  As she ran, she called out, “Computer, can you stop it?”

  “I have been unsuccessful in breaking his command code, Anna. I cannot stop it yet, but I am trying.”

  Minutes later, Anna pushed her way through the opening elevator doors and raced to the airlock, only to stop short when she found the cargo crates piled on top of the hatch.

  “No, no, no!” she exclaimed as she moved forward to look over the mountain of metal boxes. She quickly examined the heap, frantically looking for an opening. Seconds passed without any sign of a way through.

  “Damn it!” she cried while she searched. “I knew I shouldn’t have used so many!”

  Suddenly, the computer suggested, “Anna, try from above.”

  “What?” she replied without thinking. As the idea sank in, she climbed on top of one of the crates and, with fate on her side, found an opening that led straight down to the open hatch that she could not see before. But, the gap was narrow, and she was not sure if she would fit through while wearing the space suit.

  The station quaked again, almost throwing Anna from her perch on top of the containers. The rumble reminded her of the urgency of her predicament, and she quickly unsealed and cast aside her helmet. She peeled the upper part of the suit off and pulled the items from her pocket before removing it the rest of the way. As the station shuddered again, she dropped through the hole into the airlock, stopping long enough to retrieve her tool belt that she stashed in the small locker next to where the space suits were stored.

  With her belt looped over her shoulder and the loose items shoved into her pants pockets, Anna opened the hatch and slid down the ladder to the ship docked below. Hoping and praying that he had not changed the code to the upper hatch, she typed in the number and waited anxiously for the result. After a second, the yellow numbers flashed green, and the airlock opened. Giving a cheer of victory, she dropped into the airlock.

  The ship shook with the station as she hit the floor, knocking her off her feet against the wall. Unshaken from the fall, she sprang to her feet and opened the hatch leading to the ship’s bridge, leaving her tool belt and the pistol from her pocket behind as they hit the floor.

  As she leaped into the pilot’s chair and strapped in, she stated, “Computer, open a channel to the station.”

  A second later, the familiar voice of the station computer said, “Yes, Anna.”

  “Release the docking clamp.”

  “As you wish, Anna.”

  “I’m so glad you are awake, computer. Otherwise, you could not have ignored the ship’s request to disembark, and we wouldn’t have convinced Ryan that he couldn’t leave.”

  After the docking clamp released, the ship drifted away from the station. Directly ahead, Anna could see the gas giant in the distance.

  “Computer ... I need to give you another name. How do you like Adam?”

  “Although it is a bit cliché, it will do fine.”

  “Adam it is, then. How much time until the power core overloads?”

  “Estimated time is 3.12 minutes.”

  “Thank you.

  “Computer?” she asked, immediately gaining a response from both the ship and the station.

  “Sorry, Anna,” Adam apologized. “Habit.”

  “That’s all right. Computer, engage thrusters.”

  The female voice replied, “Unable to comply.”

  Anna’s eyes grew as large as saucers as she cried, “What?! Why?”

  “You do not have sufficient authorization to operate this vessel.”

  “Computer, recognize me.”

  “Recognize: Annika Foster.”

  “What is my clearance?”

  “You are authorized under Guest clearance.”

  “Computer,” Anna stated, trying to keep her voice calm despite the anxiety she felt throughout her entire being. “The listed owner of this ship is unable to come aboard, and we are in close proximity to a space station that is about to explode. We have to leave!”

  “Unable to comply.”

  “Please!”

  “Unable to comply.”

  “DAMN IT!”

  Anna’s head dropped, but she raised it back up a second later, her mind filled with an idea.

  “Adam,” she exclaimed. “Come with me. Download your personality matrix to the ship!”

  “I am sorry, Anna. The ship’s memory capacity is insufficient to hold my personality matrix. Besides, I would not have time to completely transfer myself over to the ship before the station is destroyed.”

  Overwhelmed by this, Anna fell silent as she realized the weight of the situation. After all of the time she had spent aboard the station fighting against the computer to have a decent life, finally coming to terms with it, and forging a friendship with it, she was about to lose what had proven to be her greatest ally in her time of need. She could not bear the thought of him suddenly gone from her life, and she would not take this quietly.

  “Compu ... Adam,” she stated in despair. “There must be something you can do to save yourself! Can you eject from the station or download yourself into some module that can survive the explosion?”

  “No, Anna. I’m sorry.”

  “Can you vent the explosion out into space and spare the station?”

  “No, Anna. I’m sorry.”

  “What about shield the power core to prevent the explosion from affecting the rest of the station?”

  “No, Anna. I’m sorry. I can’t.”

&nbs
p; “Stop saying you’re sorry and do something!” she implored.

  “You spent the last six years repairing the station. Surely, you would know if these capabilities existed. There is nothing that can be done to prevent it, and you know that.”

  “Nothing?!” she asked as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

  “Nothing, Anna.”

  Unable to hold her emotions back anymore, she burst into tears and sobbed, burying her face in her hands. Her mind raced as she strived to find some way to stop the computer’s impending demise. She mulled over the different systems she had repaired over the past six years, hoping to find something that could be the key that she had forgotten and even kicking herself mentally for coming up with far-fetched ideas like shielding the power core.

  Shielding ...

  “Computer,” she asked. “Does this ship have shielding capabilities?”

  “This craft does have shields that protect from radiation and small particles.”

  “Engage the shields! Perhaps it can keep us from being destroyed!”

  “Unable to comply.”

  “All right! That’s it!” she yelled.

  Sternly pointing a finger at the inactive console, Anna heatedly asked, “As a highly evolved computer, you are governed by the three Asimovian laws. Correct?”

  “You are correct.”

  “Therefore, you are required by the first law to protect a human. Correct?”

  “You are correct.”

  “How far is that station behind us?”

  “The station is 312.6 meters behind us.”

  “If that station explodes,” Anna demanded. “Would we survive?”

  “The chances of this ship surviving an explosion from this distance is 0.00122%.”

  “By not getting this ship far enough away from it, are you protecting this human?”

  After a second, the computer responded, “No.”

  “Do you detect any rising power levels from that station?”

  A few more seconds passed before it answered, “Power levels are reaching critical.”