Paradise 21

by Aubrie Dionne

  Could he do it? Could he send Drifter into space? Reckon hesitated and Drifter bellowed, raising each laser toward the glass.

  If Drifter fired, he’d kill them all. The sight panel might not be designed to withstand a sustained laser blast. If he penetrated the glass, not only would Reckon be sucked into space, but the others would be left with no way to escape. Reckon hardened his nerves and pressed the panel in. It felt like a mere click of a key but it was way more than that. The corridor flickered out of existence. In one millisecond, Drifter was gone.

  …

  Stalks whipped in Aries’ face as she darted through the cornfields, lunging in the direction of the ridge. Once she heard Striker call out her name, her heart raced on overdrive. Escape wasn’t enough. She needed to be with him.

  Striker must have been taken captive, just as she’d suspected. And he’d escaped his cell, just as she had. There he stood, waving his arms like a beacon in a storm. Take that Dr. Pern. Hallucination, my ass.

  Firing Barliss’ weapon at two white-coated biologists, Aries ducked and ran across three rows of cornstalks. Corn erupted over her head and she lunged and ducked, hiding. The firing continued in a steady stream. Damn it, she’d missed. She beat the ground with her fist in frustration. She was a lousy aim, and they stood between her and the tree line.

  The stalks rustled behind her. She crouched down in the irrigation ditch, aiming her laser. The figure dashed between two rows, revealing a smear of black instead of white. Aries lowered her gun and stumbled forward, feeling a tingle of excitement run down her back. It had to be him.

  “Striker, over here.” She shouted only loud enough that anyone in the ten-foot perimeter could hear. Footsteps crunched the dried stalks on the ground. The husks parted and a person in an officer’s uniform emerged, holding his gun.

  “Langston.” She should have known he’d find her. He’d tested higher in everything than she and Tria combined. Capturing her would be an excellent star on his resume.

  “Hands up.”

  She stared at his perfect square of cut hair, his perfectly creased pants, and the complete control set in his jaw. He was another Barliss, complying with the system, eager to gain power. She hated him for it. If she didn’t put her hands up, he’d shoot, stunning her to the ground.

  Aries’ hands rose slowly as she gauged his reaction time.

  “You always were trouble waiting to happen. Both you and Tria.”

  Langston continued, undeterred, a smile working its way into the corners of his mouth. “I saw that glimmer of rebellion in your eyes, even when you hid it from Trent. I knew the day would come where I could capitalize on your indiscretions.”

  He waved his laser. “Drop the gun.”

  Aries only had one chance. She ducked to the side, bringing her arm down and cocked the gun to fire. As she moved, Langston moved as well, his body fluid. She heard the buzz of laser fire before her finger could get around the trigger.

  She’d lost. Aries glanced down, expecting her body to jerk when the shot hit her, but nothing came. Langston crumpled to the ground instead, and Aries looked up in shock to see Striker standing there, holding a laser with a steaming barrel.

  Relief flowed through her, washing away the anger and hate. Underneath it all lay something much more profound, a reason to push on through all the chaos.

  “Striker.” She relished his name on her tongue. “You’re okay.”

  “Aries.”

  She ran into his arms and squeezed her body against his. She buried her nose in his shoulder, breathing in his scent as her arms wrapped around his neck. He was solid under her touch, his skin burning hot as he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close so they pressed together as one.

  “I thought you were still on Sahara 354. I’ve been trying to get back to you. I didn’t know you were on the New Dawn this whole time.”

  “I wasn’t. I got the ship working. I had to—I had to come for you,” he said.

  She tilted her head back to look into his eyes.

  The gray-green misted over like the bio-dome’s meadow during an artificial rain. “You shouldn’t have given yourself up for me, Aries. Don’t do anything like that again.”

  “I couldn’t stand to see them kill you. Even if I couldn’t be with you, at least I’d know you were safe, you were alive.”

  “I’m alive. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Shots fired around them like fireworks, breaking the stalks in half and sprinkling bits of corn in her hair. Aries didn’t know how long it would take for Barliss to plug himself back into the mainframe.

  “Someone’s firing at the Lifers! Did you bring others?”

  “Pirates. One is dead. The other wants to stay.”

  Aries glanced through the cornstalks. White coats still moved in every direction.

  “He wants to stay?” It was a thought Aries couldn’t comprehend.

  A burst of fire exploded a shed on the far side of the cornfield, and the colonists shouted and raced toward the commotion. Striker brought her head down with his, ducking underneath the shots. “That’s him. He’s buying us time.”

  She knew it was hopeless, but they had to try. “We have to go back for him. He risked his life for me.”

  Striker shook his head and gripped her arm so she couldn’t run. “We can’t. If we go back now, we’ll all be caught. Besides, he doesn’t want to leave her body. He told me to get you out of here.”

  All at once, Aries understood. Two people had given their lives for her. One, a woman, was already dead. As the laser fire ripped through the air, the weight of the knowledge hardened her resolve.

  “Then let’s do what he said. Come on.” Taking Striker’s hand, Aries led him out of the corn crops on the side adjacent to the laboratory. In the sterile room, lab experiments bubbled on metal tabletops and miniature greenhouses protected the most precious of their seeds. Aries sealed the door and locked it.

  “Aries, there’s no way out of here.”

  “We’re going through the ventilator shafts. Come on.”

  She picked up a seedling dispenser and banged on the grating with the handle until the bolts loosened. “Find something to climb on.”

  Striker pushed over a soil container and jumped on top. She leaped up beside him and he hoisted her up. Gripping the metal, she pulled herself up the rest of the way. Once she wiggled herself in, she reached down to help him.

  “It’s a little cramped, don’t you think?” Striker raised an eyebrow.

  Aries gave him an apologetic look. All she ever felt was confined, confined in the cell, confined in the shafts, confined in the New Dawn itself. Striker was the only proof of a world where people were free, but to get back there, she’d need to confine him as well. “Sorry, but this is our only way out.”

  He clasped both her hands in his and squeezed. “I’ll be fine.”

  They crawled on their stomachs past a few junctions and away from the noise of the battle, before Aries felt it was safe to take a break. So far, no one followed. The pirate that had stayed behind had done his job well. Aries gave him a silent thanks, wishing she’d get a chance to meet him, knowing he’d never see the outside of the ship again if they let him live.

  “Ready to move, Striker? The escape pods are down this way.”

  He put a hand on her boot to stop her. “We don’t need them. The alien ship has a version of an escape pod you’re not gonna believe. Take me to the loading dock, the last one on the right side underneath the wing.”

  Aries paused. That’s where they ejected the coffins into space. She cringed, thinking about her nightmare. It was the last place she wanted to visit. It was also the last place the colonists would look for them. By now, guards would be swarming over the escape pods like bees in a honeycomb.

  “It’s not my favorite place, but all right.”

  Striker grabbed her ankle and squeezed. She turned to look at him over her shoulder and he winked. “It will be your favorite place, now.”<
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  Aries climbed through the vents until her sleeves tore and her elbows rubbed raw. Striker kept her spirits up, talking to her the whole way. “I’m going to christen her the SP Nautilus. SP for Space Pirate, and Nautilus, you know, like the shell.”

  “Very clever. Are you taking applications for your crew?”

  “Well, I do need a beautiful biologist.”

  “Beautiful, huh?”

  “That’s one of the prerequisites.”

  Aries wanted to press him further, but the maintenance shaft ended just above a utility room. “This is it.”

  “How do you know someone isn’t down there?”

  “I don’t.” She backed up enough to kick the chrome panel with her heel. It clattered on the floor below them. Aries braced herself for someone to yell for help or reach up and grab her, but nothing happened. She stuck her head down and saw an empty room. “Nobody here. Come on.”

  They jumped down. Striker gently slid his fingers in between hers as she pressed the touchscreen and the chrome dematerialized. Red warning lights flashed, but the corridor lay empty. Perhaps the Lifers had been told to stay in their rooms until the guards found her. She laughed at the thought: crazy Aries Ryder, running around with a laser like a madwoman. She’d be the next bedtime story before the moms tucked their little ones into their sleep pods. She only hoped it had a happy ending.

  “Over here.” Aries led him to an elevator and pressed the touchscreen. They waited anxiously as the elevator rose and the chrome dematerialized. They stepped in it and relief spread through her as the chrome materialized. The elevator descended swiftly, but slowed three decks down.

  “Oh no, someone’s getting on.”

  Striker winked at her. “Leave this to me.”

  The elevator door dematerialized, and a boy holding his mother’s hand appeared. Striker waved at him, but when the child saw their lasers, he dropped a small toy ship, a miniature of the New Dawn, and little figures tumbled out. His mother pulled him against her and backed away.

  “Sorry, ma’am. This one’s taken.” Striker gave her his most enchanting smile and pressed the touchscreen for the door to close. Mother and child stared with slackened faces as the metal re-materialized.

  Aries let go of her breath. “Do you think they’ll alert the authorities?” Her anxiety piled up miles high like the garbage dumps on old Earth.

  “Doesn’t matter. Just a few more floors and we’ll be outta here.”

  Aries hoped he was right. Every floor they passed made her heart beat faster. All it took was one stray laser, and Striker would be taken away from her again.

  They reached the bottom floor and the door opened to an empty loading dock. Aries tried not to look at the coffins stacked up in rows against the wall, or the giant machines that reached up to pull them down. A memory of a New Dawn flag folded onto her grandfather’s coffin came back to her, but she pushed it away. She wouldn’t suffer the same fate. In moments she’d be free.

  Striker ran across the loading dock to the exterior door. “Let’s see how Reckon’s doing.”

  The air lock opened and Aries shouted in protest, expecting the vacuum of space to suck all the air out, and her along with it. She grabbed the nearest metal railing and braced herself, but nothing happened.

  “The old man’s done good.” Striker looked back. Shouts echoed down the corridors and he winced. “Come on. The first step is a doozy.”

  Taking his hand, Aries followed Striker onto the walkway in space. He let go of her hand almost immediately to turn back to the ship. The guards had been close. Striker quickly entered the code to close the door. “It won’t keep them out for long. Let’s go!”

  They ran across the black void of space, stars streaking by. Aries recognized the white hull of the alien ship as it coasted behind the New Dawn.

  As they neared the alien ship, the hatch opened as if someone had been waiting for them. Aries and Striker jumped onto the platform. The moment the hatch closed, Striker shouted, “We’re in! Close the corridor. Now.”

  Aries heard a scratchy old voice talk back through the intercom. “What about the others?”

  “Tiff is dead, and Loot wanted to stay.”

  Silence on the other end. Striker sprinted ahead and Aries followed. When she reached the main control room, she saw a grizzled old man sitting in the pilot’s chair. “Where’s Drifter?” Striker asked him.

  The old man pointed to a bloody cut on his forehead. “Mutiny. I trapped him in the corridor and—” The old man could barely say the next words. “And sent him off into space.”

  Striker put a hand on his shoulder. “You did the right thing. Now, let’s go.”

  “You got it.” The old man scratched a shape in the panel, and the corridor disappeared. Striker took the main control seat and the old man grasped Aries’ hand, leading her to the indents in the coral in the back of the room.

  Striker gave her a reassuring smile before turning back to the controls. “Hold on. I’m dropping speed.”

  In an instant, the New Dawn was gone.

  Aries stared at the main sight panel, disbelieving. Had she truly escaped this time? So many emotions whirled around in her head. She thought of Barliss lying on the floor, the wire sticking out of his neck, of Trent running on the treadmill, of her parents sitting in their congregation pew. She’d never see any of them again. She could only stare speechlessly at the clear space on the main sight panel.

  The old man held out his hand. “You must be Aries. Now I know why Striker went back for you.” He chuckled under his breath. “I’m Reckon.”

  She held his gnarled fingers in her own. “Thank you for saving me, Reckon. I’m sorry about your friends.”

  His eyes flickered at the mention of the other pirates, and he dropped his head. Aries could tell Striker overheard their conversation because his head tilted sideways and his profile showed rigid and dark.

  Reckon’s voice was almost a whimper, “What will happen to Loot?”

  Aries shook her head and squeezed his hand. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  A New Life

  Tiff floated, white wisps of clouds swirling around her, dissipating at her touch. A gust whipped her up and she soared above a vast, white-crested ocean, riding the currents of a purposeful wind. Greenery sprawled on the horizon in a lush green thicket, bringing tears to her eyes. The waves broke against rock-strewn shores and beaches of golden sand. She twirled, reaching for the tree tops. Her fingers closed on air.

  Was this the afterlife? Tiff called out for her brother, grandmother and Loot, but no one answered her pleas. She was the only soul in a vast, timeless place, full of beauty, but empty at its core. Finally looking at paradise, she’d never felt so alone.

  Moments in her life flitted through her mind: her mother sitting at her ridiculous crystal ball, telling a fortune that would never come true; her brother banging a metal plate on his ship, glancing up and sticking out his tongue; the first time she saw Loot, sleeping in a ball in the heat compressor above their ship; Striker running a hand through his jet black hair as he studied a particular code late at night. It had been such a tormented life, full of suffering and want, but with moments of kindness and love sprinkled throughout. Despite all of the pain, she didn’t want it to end.

  The sun peeked out behind a cloud and she turned herself over to find warmth in the rays. The light was so bright it seared her vision, blotting out the other colors of the paradise world. She shut her eyes, but the light penetrated through her lids, beckoning her closer. Tiff struggled against it, squeezing her eyes shut and clawing at the sky, but the light only grew stronger, blocking out every memory she conjured, every thought she grasped.

  Tiff gasped in a long breath of sterilized air and woke up. A heart monitor beeped by her side. She lay in a real bed with sheets as white and thin as paper. Tubes stuck out of her arms. Panic sent a jolt through her. She tugged on the IVs, but each intravenous tube was taped with thick white bandag
ing to her skin.

  “Ma’am, you need to calm down.” An older woman with red-rimmed glasses and puffy hair walked to her bedside.

  She shot up, feeling pain jolt up her back. “Where am I? Where’s Loot?”

  “The boy is fine. He’s resting in an adjoining room. You need to lie down.” The woman pushed her back onto the pillows. “You were hit with a laser in the back.”

  The searing pain of her skin burning and melding to her cotton sweatshirt came back to her and she wilted inside. She could still see Striker’s eyes, full of sadness and pity, but no hint of love.

  “I should be dead.”

  “Yes. If you were anywhere else in the universe, then you would be.” The woman pointed her nose in the air. “I’ve applied advanced techniques of skin regeneration and restarted your heart. Believe me, it was easy. I’ve had a lot of practice keeping a 356-year-old man alive.”

  Her bragging was all gibberish to Tiff. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  “My dear, I’m Dr. Pern. You’re my patient on the New Dawn.”

  …

  Aries placed her hands against the frosty glass and wiped away the glimmering dust. The egg sat upright, a speckled specimen of a unique alien form of life. She wished she could extract it from the container, but she feared the being inside would die before they reached Refuge. No, it was better to leave it and take it out when the environment was more stable. If only she had something, anything to do other than wait.

  “Pretty neat, huh?”

  Aries pulled away as if caught stealing a look at the secret digital archives on the New Dawn. Reckon ambled down the row of egg containers, a ragtag fogey in an ethereal hatchery of blue light. “I could hardly believe it when I first saw them, too.”

  “It’s funny. I always wanted to be a biologist, and now here I am, carrying the last hope of an entire species with me.” She shook her head. “I have a hard time believing it’s true.”

  “Does Striker know you like biology?”

  With the mention of Striker, Aries’ mouth slammed shut. She took a long breath. “I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him these days.”