Orbital

by C. W Tickner

  ‘Like I said, we have arranged passage to a safe zone,’ Tess said, ‘but to get down we must burn out the reactor to shift course and fire the cannon opening a pathway for the dropship to land in safety. An Aylen will help us get to the area if we split off in the dropship and use Orbital to clear the way. I admit if we miss the target we’ll be captured and killed but we can't stay up here, you’ll understand when you see the surface Marlin. It’s beautiful.’

  Marlin reddened. ‘Nonsense,’ he said. ’ Blow the reactor? Use the cannon? And if this half baked plan doesn’t work, what then? We’ll be stuck without power in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Harl said. ‘You don’t need the ship down there. There’s a chance to start anew, in safety without the closed system of the ship.’

  ‘No.’ Marlin said, ‘you don’t understand. It’s too late to start over.’ Harl wondered what he meant by too late but Marlin kept up his barrage. ‘We go on with the plan and once this other ship is destroyed or leaves us alone then we’ll decide how to secure our future. Until then there will be no need to talk of going anywhere. We have all we need right here.’

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Harl asked, ‘has the Aylen ship outside fried your brains? You can leave any time you want, with free passage to a safe place on the surface and-’

  Marlin slammed his palm on the table, making them all jump. ‘We stay until we know more about our enemy.’

  ‘You can't use the dropship,’ Kane said, quietly, shaking his head. ‘I will not let you, it is not yours.’

  It sounded weak, even to Harl, like a petulant child attempting to tell it’s parents off.

  Marlin laughed then scowled triumphantly at Kane. ‘It is more mine than yours Mr scientist.’ he said. ‘It belongs to Orbital and as captain of this ship I’ll be the one deciding what to do with it.’

  ‘You’ll strand us here,’ Kane said standing up, ‘I won’t be held prisoner on this forsaken ship.’

  The guards stepped forward as Kane stood, coming away from casual poses. Tess gave a yelp of surprise and Kane backed up from the table as batons appeared from belts and the fresh faced guards waited ready to quell the situation.

  Marlin nodded at one and he moved in on Kane.

  Damen rose, blocking the guard’s progress.

  ‘What is this?’ he said looking passed the guard at Marlin. ‘Why did you have these pathetic excuses for soldiers escort us here like common criminals?’

  ‘Because that what he is himself,’ Gorman said.

  Marlin clenched his fists and scowled at the blind man who sat serenely among the tension like a care-free man in the path of a stampeding herd.

  ‘Aren’t you going to tell them?’ Gorman went on, ‘I can smell the blood on you from here.’

  ‘Shut it old man,’ Marlin said, taking a pace back from his side of the table, ‘you know nothing.’ He looked around at them all in turn, his eyes lingered on Dana. ‘I must keep order on my ship. Order!’ He shouted he last word and slammed his hand again on the table top. ‘When we have freed Orbital then we will decide what to do with you, until then you’ll wait in the brig.’

  Harl wondered how deep this madness had affected everyone on board. Had the Aylen drone done something to those on board? Even with Screw acting weird, Sonora and Gorman were fine. He jut didn’t understand.

  ‘Marlin,’ Tess said softly, ‘you wouldn’t condemn a baby and its mother to such a fate. You’re better than that.’

  Marlin looked put out. His gaze turned vacant for a brief moment and then he sighed.

  ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘but she stays in her quarters with you until we’re free.’

  Once more his eyes focused on Dana and then to a guard. ‘I don’t want that here. Take her to an airlock.’

  Marlin glanced at the two nearest guards but neither young man moved, not fancying their chance against the rough looking group.

  A third guard, more confident and older looking, slipped his truncheon from a loop on his belt and strode around the table to Dana.

  Troy stepped in front of the guard, extending both hands to the man’s chest, preventing him from reaching Dana.

  The guard chuckled and swung the baton attempting to batter Troy’s arms away.

  Troy didn’t flinch as the hard wood struck his arms, unable to force the slender limbs aside. Instead, Troy laughed and thrust a lightning fast hand up at the exposed throat grabbing between the padded armour collar and lifting the man clear off the ground. As the guard dropped the baton, Troy forced him against the wall, feet kicking above the floor. Damen edged around the table, moving to intercept Troy’s victim should he break free.

  ‘Stop them,’ Marlin called, startling the two young guards into action.

  Together they barged passed Kane, knocking the slim man hard against the wall. Even above the man’s yell Harl heard Damen sigh and watched him leap up on the table. He roared and threw himself over into the two guards. He caught one in either arm, barrelling them into the wall in a tangle of limbs.

  The door flew open and three guards pushed in the room, batons gripped in hands, ready for action. Harl slipped his foot out, tripping the first, sending him sprawling. The guard behind saw him and swung his baton at head height.

  Harl ducked, the weapon swept over him and caught Tess in the shoulder.

  Kane howled as Tess stumbled against Sonora, shielding Elo in the corner. He drew his stun device and rushed the man.

  ‘No weapons,’ Harl cried, but the air was knocked out of him as a truncheon sunk into his belly, doubling him over.

  A man screamed and Harl peered up to see Kane standing over a twitching guard on the floor.

  Damen pounded both his men in turn, deftly avoiding the baton swipes as a more men piled into the room.

  A nervous guard bustled in, glanced down at the man shaking on the floor and raised a rifle. He pointed it at Kane and pulled the trigger.

  An arm whipped out forcing the shot high. Gorman, seated below the shooter had reacted just in time.

  The room froze as the sound and light rippled in the suddenly smoky confines. As it cleared Harl saw Gorman had disarmed the man and stood over the prone guard, head cocked down, listening. The gun was pointed at Marlin.

  Marlin, in the panic had snuck around and was aiming a pistol point blank at Sonora as Tess looked on in horror at the man’s actions.

  Harl’s heart skipped a beat as he saw the weapon was not aimed at Sonora but at the crying baby in her arms.

  Chapter 31

  All the habitation modules have been built and linked together. The farmers guild has begun development of fields and their machinery has been unpacked. The giant visits us daily and I have been given the task of obtaining a skin sample for DNA testing.

  ‘Please,’ Harl said putting both hands up. He looked at the others imploring them to do the same. Sonora was clearly in shock. She did not meet Marlin’s gaze and instead cooed the child to distraction although whether she was distracting herself or the baby, he didn’t know.

  The guards took advantage of the pause to bring their weapons up and regain control of the situation.

  To Harl’s relief, no one resisted. Kane was disarmed and the electrified man stood, flexed his fingers before thumping Kane in the chest, doubling the smaller man over.

  Damen and Troy had let go of their quarries who stood massaging necks while Tess backed against the wall her eyes flicking between the pistol and the baby it was pointed at.

  Only Gorman still held a weapon, aimed steady at Marlin.

  ‘Put it down old man,’ Marlin said, ‘or you’ll no longer be a great grandpa.’

  Gorman lowered the pistol, shaking his head.

  ‘Your already a murderer,’ he said. ‘Another mother and child wouldn’t bother you.’

  Marlin looked at Troy, ignoring Gorman. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘Huh?’ Troy said, clearly stunned at being addressed.

  ‘The Hoarder bitch. Whe
re is she?’ Troy shrugged and glanced around. Marlin turned to a guard. ‘You, check under the table.’

  The man hunched over and looked up puzzled.

  ‘She ain’t there captain.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She’s not there.’

  Marlin kept the pistol pointed at Sonora and crouched.

  ‘Idiot.’ he said. ‘She’s in the air duct.’

  The vent at the base of the wall was lying bent on the floor, revealing the narrow gap that Dana had escaped through. ‘Well what are you waiting for,’ he screamed. ‘Find her!’

  ‘Typical,’ Damen said. ‘Always running away.’

  The guards hesitated, unsure whether to stay or to leave Marlin alone while they searched.

  ‘Fools,’ Marlin said, and when none moved he snatched a radio from the nearest man’s belt. ‘She’s in the air ducts. The Hoarder is in the air ducts. Shoot to kill.’ He grabbed the nearest guard before he could leave. ‘Take these to the cells if your able to do even that.’ He looked at Sonora then Tess. ‘All of them.’

  A dozen guards escorted them to the brig tucked deep in the bottom of the ship just above the water decks. They walked in single file through the increasingly rusty tunnels as people stopped to watch them. Some showed sympathy but most kept their heads down and scurried passed. Harl caught the eyes of one or two Deltans and hoped they would pass the news on that they had been captured.

  Soft pipelines trailed a course along the tunnels and Harl assumed they had been used to empty the dropship of it’s precious water, delivering it to the water decks.

  ‘Here,’ a guard said as a door slid aside to reveal a damp stretch of rusted cells to either side of a foul, grime coated walkway.

  The door stopped half open as the lights flickered and for a moment the room was plunged into the red haze of emergency lighting. A stillness spread through the tunnel as the airflow stopped and the constant background of whirring died to nothing.

  ‘Dana?’ Harl asked, wondering if she would sabotage the ship by risking the lives of everyone on board. Probably, he thought.

  ‘No,’ Kane said stepping into their large cell, encouraged by a prod in the back with a rifle from the guard he’d stunned. ‘My guess is the reactor is giving up.’

  ‘A year ago,’ Tess said, ‘it was only slight flickers, barely noticeable, but it has been getting exponentially worse.’

  Harl helped Sonora settle Elo in a bundle of their excess clothing on a rusted bench that stretched along the far wall.

  ‘What happens when it goes for good?’ Harl asked.

  ‘Best case scenario,’ Kane said, ‘the ship dies and once emergency lighting and water pumps draw the last of the battery power, everyone dies.’

  ‘And worst?’

  ‘It explodes,’ Tess put in, crouching beside Sonora and pressing a finger tip to her neck to check her pulse. Her nails were faded and scratched as if she had been clawing through dirt.

  ‘I guess the ship can't take an explosion of that size?’ Troy said.

  Tess smiled at Sonora then stood. She plucked her comb out from a pocket and began another battle with the red curls. ‘We always thought there was a chance of it just blowing up the rear of the ship, something we might live through. It would kill the Hoarders but if we secured the fore half of orbital and at least make it air tight, we might stand a chance.’

  Gorman shook his head, ‘Now there’s no chance.’ He shuffled over to the rusted steel bench, as far from the group as the cell allowed.

  Harl had rarely seen the man so put out by a situation. Even in the midst of their most hopeless moments he was a bastion of confidence. He stroked Elo’s face, her gaze fixed on him as he strolled over and sank onto the creaky bench beside the old man.

  ‘I think, my lad,’ Gorman said, somehow sensing it was him, ‘that Elo will find a place.’

  Harl smiled at how similar their thoughts were. How many times had he wondered whether he could find a place to live away from war, and constant danger?

  ‘I hope so,’ he said.

  ‘These Aylen,’ Gorman said, ‘the Compassionates? They will help us, my lad. We have to get to them, no matter the cost.’

  ‘What happened while we were down there?’

  Gorman sighed. ‘I’d gone for a walk through the ship, admittedly it was dangerous so far from the main levels, but I’d often head to the water decks, the constant drips are soothing. Even if it was only a trickle. I’d always bring water back, a little each time, for Sonora and the baby. I knew it wouldn’t last forever so I took precautions.’ He shifted on the bench, ‘after a few days they began rationing all fluid and the next time I went for a stroll they had secured access.

  ‘How?’ Harl said watching as a young guard brought in a series of battered meal trays.

  ‘When people began to understand the situation,’ Gorman said, ‘panic spread and they posted extra guards at lifts to stop more people heading off in search of water.’

  ‘Extra?’ Harl asked.

  ‘After that hole you put in the water tank, Marlin had a constant detail put there in case of Hoarders. The guards got used to an old man and his walks, well they did after I’d threatened to teach them a lesson. Things hit their worst when violence broke out within the main decks as people became desperate. Screw helped me whisk Sonora away to a safe spot. While he was with her I took the risk and went to check the tanks to see if I could find the little one something to replenish her tears.’

  Guilt rushed through Harl. The thought of his daughter dying of thirst while he enjoyed the thrill of riding the drones, drove into him. He felt sick.

  ‘There was no guard at the door this time and as I stepped from the lift into the usually damp humid deck I could feel the air was dry and lacking the constant drip from the ceiling. When I had made it halfway across the tank I heard the lift open behind me followed by heavy footfalls. I slipped into an alcove as dozens of men trudged passed. I knew they were guards as their equipment clattered, they were ready for action. At first I thought it was a random patrol until I heard Marlin’s sharp voice bellowing orders to round them up and find their water.’

  ‘The Hoarders?’ Harl said.

  Gorman nodded. ‘I crept closer to the hole and heard men on the far side shouting for them to just give him the water. They must have set up camp on the far side of the hole, maybe in hopes we’d refill the tanks. My guess is they probably had less than we did. But Marlin didn’t care. Perhaps he knew but wanted to believe he was doing the right thing for those he was in charge of. He threatened to kill their families if they refused anymore shouting at them to show him where they kept their water. He got very angry, calling for someone to stand up and come to him. I heard a girl scream. Maybe he’d grabbed her to emphasize his threat, I don’t know, but understandably they didn’t take too kindly to his actions. Men were shouting at him calling him a coward, a monster, then a gun went off. Perhaps it was a nervous guard but that was the last straw. The guards opened fire on a screaming crowd of innocent people. The firing only ceased when their was no more screaming and silence descended beyond the hole. He ordered them all killed, Harl. Men, women and children, they didn’t stand a chance against a heavily armed force, especially when the guards were probably as desperate themselves to find something. I imagine Marlin told them of the water the Hoarders kept before they came down. I had to listen, as Marlin and the excuse for human beings that were guards slaughtered dozens of innocents and I could do nothing to help.’ He shrugged, ‘If I went in then I would be the enemy of both groups and if I died who would look after Sonora and the little one?’

  Harl shook his head, unable to comprehend such violence and sad that Gorman would live with the shame of not being able to help. For someone who prided themselves on protecting others that would hit him hardest.

  ‘I don’t blame Turpin for leaving when he got the chance,’ Gorman said, ‘better than being tied to a murderer. I know most of the guards were killed when only a few m
arched back passed. He’s found young ones to replace them though.’

  ‘How long after was it the water came?’ Harl asked.

  ‘I found out later that it arrived as he was busy rounding them up. If he’d waited a short while there would have been no need to kill them. Not that there was to begin with.’

  The others in the cell had gravitated towards them as Gorman’s disgust made his voice louder, carrying across the hollow space. Even the guard had stopped to listen beyond the bars. Sonora stayed with Elo, probably having already heard the tale.

  Tess stood still, hand on her mouth as tears streaked her pale skin.

  ‘Bastard,’ Damen said.

  ‘Indeed,’ Kane agreed, ‘does Screw know?’

  ‘That’s the strange thing,’ Gorman said, ‘before I left the water deck I wanted to avoid Marlin, I assumed he would want to wash the blood off his hands and while I was waiting in the alcove I heard Screw come rushing passed.’

  ‘If he ran passed,’ Troy said suspiciously, ‘how did you know it was Screw?’

  Gorman frowned up at him, making Troy shrug and look away under the penetrating blank stare.

  ‘Lad,’ he said, ‘if you’ve only got your hearing to figure things out, you make connections very fast. Screw was easy to connect, the jingle of tools strapped all over him makes that obvious even to someone as obtuse as yourself.’

  Troy hung his head.

  The guard headed for the door to the jail block.

  ‘Tell the others,’ Gorman said, raising his voice as the guard closed it behind him. ‘Now, where was I?’ Gorman asked.

  ‘Screw,’ Tess said.

  ‘Yes, he ran passed as I hid and right up until I left I heard the sound.’

  ‘Sound?’ Harl asked wondering what Screw could have to do with it all.

  ‘Crying, screaming and eventually sobbing.’

  ‘I guess he didn’t expect it from Marlin,’ Damen said, scratching the scar under his beard. ‘he was decent enough at first.’