Starburst

by Logan Levi

  Lacey scowled at him.

  “Just telling you the truth. But continuing on. The supplies that we’re supposed to get are controlled by the overseers and their lackeys. The mining machines either don’t make it to some colonies or are of such poor quality that they constantly break down and manual labor is used instead.

  “And as for the habitats and the terraforming? You have no idea the cancer pandemic that has spread through the colonies because of poor to no radiation shielding. There are so many children who are sick from radiation poisoning, or born with tumorous growths and there’s no hope for them to live a normal life, given that our medical stations are ill-equipped for such a large problem. There are curfews as well, and anyone caught out after a certain time is sent to a hard labor camp. Many who are sent there don’t come home.”

  He looked intensely at her. “I can tell by the look on your face that you don’t believe me?”

  Lacey frowned and shook her head. “If it were the case then the news service would tell us, we’d do everything we could to help.”

  Jonah laughed. “The news service is in cahoots with the government. Who do you think runs the service? The only way I can convince you is to show you.” He shifted back in his seat and walked to the door.

  “Amos, come here!” he called to one of his men. The heavy thud of booted feet approached. Lacey looked up at the large, heavily muscled man who stood beside Jonah.

  “This is Amos, tell her your story,” Jonah said as he sat down and drained his coffee cup with a distasteful grimace.

  “I was promised a place on the colony of Delta Four, as was Jonah here. We were living back on Earth and it was getting really overcrowded in our city. Food riots, rationing curfews, violence, and crime were rampant. You couldn’t even go for a walk with your family without some young punk trying to mug you for what little you had.” He sat down in the chair next to Lacey.

  “We got the call to prepare for colonization, so my wife and two teenage daughters left Earth for what we hoped was a new life, what we were promised was a better life. I just had to work for the mines for two years and my family would be safe, have food to eat, and a home where they wouldn’t be threatened on a daily basis with being mugged, raped, or beaten.” He looked down at his hands clasped on the table and sighed.

  “Things were fine for a week, then they started to go downhill. A food shipment might be late, or supplies would go missing from our home. My wife became pregnant about four months into our new life, and we couldn’t be happier. We were ignoring the little problems here and there, thinking they didn’t concern us in our happy cocoon of life.

  “We couldn’t have been more wrong. My son was born with a large tumor in his little brain. He lived only twenty-six hours, and he wasn’t the only one. Other babies were being born with birth defects and tumors, mothers were dying during labor when previously undetected tumors ruptured and they bled out. The colony hadn’t been properly shielded from the radiation of space.” Amos wiped a stray tear from his eyes as he told the story.

  “Things got worse from there. People began to riot for food and essentials. Violence returned to the hearts of those who escaped it. One of my daughters was offered safety by one of the guards… We found her body a week later. She’d been beaten, and raped multiple times before the bastards killed her. They’d established a curfew by that time, and I went out seeking revenge. I found and gutted the guard who had offered her peace but given her hell before she found it. The other guards found me washing his blood off my hands.” He pulled back a sleeve and showed her the black laser tattoo of a barcode burned into his wrist.

  “You get one of these before you go to the labor camps,” he explained. “I met Jonah there. I was a man destroyed. Jonah brought me back to life, telling me we could fight back but we’d have to go guerrilla about it. We came across a few ex-military boys who had families and were also in similar situations. It hadn’t even occurred to them to rebel against the Coalition, so deep was their training and loyalty. But Jonah soon made them see the light.”

  Lacey looked to Jonah, who had been quietly listening to Amos’s story. “And what about him? What’s his story?” she asked Amos.

  “It’s his to tell, when he’s ready. Anything else that you need, Jonah? I feel the need to be alone for a while.”

  “No, that’s all but thank you, my friend. I know your tale isn’t easy to tell.”

  “Yours is harder,” Amos said, standing and placing a comforting hand on Jonah’s shoulder, then left them in the common room of the habitat section.

  “So, do you still want to go back to the Coalition?”

  “Yes. It’s my home,” Lacey said, stubbornly.

  “I’m sorry you think that way. I want you to join us. I just have to convince you it’s the right thing to do.” Jonah sighed. He got up and pulled a pair of cuffs from his pocket.

  Lacey looked up at him in shock.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice showing her panic.

  “Securing you. For your own safety.” He took her wrists and cuffed her before leading her back to the sleeping quarters. Shutting the door, he left Lacey alone.

  Chapter Seven – The Escape Attempt

  Lacey’s fingers had finally found the hidden emergency release catch on the cuffs. Hardly anyone knew about them but she had seen one of the security officers on board the Starbase demonstrate them to another officer. She thought it a simple bit of useless trivia at the time, but now it had saved her bacon so to speak.

  Everything was quiet. She opened a maintenance panel and clambered in, pulling the panel back into place behind her. The maintenance ducts would lead her to the cockpit of the Starburst, where she could get control of the shuttle and make her way back to the Coalition with her prisoners. The dust from years of operation had collected on the rough metal floor of the maintenance duct, covering her hands and knees.

  Lacey fought back the urge to sneeze as she shuffled forward, trying to minimize the noise. She heard muffled conversation as she crawled her way through the ducts, entering the living section. Glancing through a vent, three men sat at the table where she’d heard the story of Amos and his family. The big man sat between the other two, his head in his hands, looking like he was sobbing. Jonah put a comforting hand on his shoulder, murmuring something.

  Lacey knew he’d gone through a terrible ordeal, and she felt for the man. But it wasn’t her fault it had happened. She wanted to find out what, if anything the Coalition was doing about the situation with the colonies, though. She continued on, shuffling through the ducts until she reached the cockpit. It was empty. She frowned, there should be someone in the cockpit at all times. It was standard procedure for all space-going vessels, you never knew when an asteroid might come hurtling toward you. Space was dangerous.

  She did a final quick check to ensure she wasn’t in any danger of being caught, but the cockpit remained void of any rebels. She pushed open the panel, wincing as it hit the floor with a metallic bang! She scrambled out, dusting her hands free of the accumulated dirt before she sat down in the comfort and familiarity of the pilot’s seat. Her hands flew over the controls, her eyes scanning the data available to her. They hadn’t moved far from the asteroid field, but far enough that any stray asteroids might miss them.

  There had been a proximity alarm set up on top of the ship’s automatic one. Lacey smiled, thinking they were being extra cautious. She tapped at the controls but was met with nothing but access denied messages. Someone had locked her out of the ship’s controls.

  She attempted to use the security override but it wasn’t operating either. That was a failsafe in case of ship’s mutiny or capture by pirates, or in this case, rebels.

  Lacey checked over the panels searching for something that might be out of place. She shifted her knees under the console, her right knee bumping painfully against something that wasn’t there before. Curious, she got down onto the floor and looked. There was a black box attached to the u
nderside of the console.

  Lacey slid down onto her back as she examined the black box. It appeared to be an Orbit Lock. A device that interrupted the ships commands to the engines and communications systems, leaving essentials like life support and lighting alone. She reached up to pull the box away, knowing the magnets that secured it to the console were the only things holding it up. It could be easily deactivated as it worked wirelessly. Once she pulled it away from the console, all systems would be restored, and she could take the ship back to the Coalition, locking the men in the other areas of the ship, and away from the engine section.

  Her hands gripped the box and she tugged. She didn’t hear the door open, and didn’t realize she wasn’t alone until a pair of hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled her out from under the console.

  She squeaked as she was hauled to her feet, and strong hands gripped her upper arms as she was brought face-to-face with Jonah.

  “Fancy seeing you here.”

  “I just thought I’d come and admire the view.” Lacey nodded to the vista of stars outside the viewing window.

  “Oh, and I thought you’d come here to sabotage us and take us back to the Coalition.” He sighed but didn’t release her.

  “I’m sorry, but until you accept my offer, this ship isn’t going anywhere,” he said, leaning in toward her. His voice was soft and his eyes bore into hers. Excitement tingled down her spine, as his hands loosened their grip and gently caressed her arms. His lips parted and suddenly they were upon hers. The scent of him sent shivers down her spine as his tongue traced her lips. She wiggled a little but found herself responding to him as eagerly as he was to her.

  The only thing that separated them, apart from clothes, was the black box. The door opened and he pulled away quickly, leaving her panting slightly from the exhilaration of their kiss.

  “Jonah, the pilot…she’s…”

  “Here, I have her,” Jonah said, looking from Samuel, and back to Lacey. “I have her,” he repeated softly. The door closed as Samuel left them alone.

  Lacey pulled herself away from his embrace, feeling confused about the new emotions that raced through her body. The kiss had ignited feelings she thought were long lost. She turned away and looked at the console.

  “Join us, Lacey, you can do so much good for the people. The Coalition is nothing but a tyrant that bleeds its people dry,” he pleaded.

  “I want to see the conditions for myself, before I make my decision,” she said.

  “Of course.” Jonah leaned forward and tapped a few coordinates in. He locked them in and gestured to the pilot’s seat.

  “The coordinates are locked; all you have to do is fly us there,” he said, before he took the co-pilot’s seat. Lacey nodded and slid into the left hand seat, her face still flushed from their amorous encounter. The engines engaged and they accelerated toward their destination.

  Chapter Eight – The Colony

  The hull of the shuttle glowed as it broke through the thin atmosphere of the terraformed planetoid. Far below on the dirt-brown surface, a scattering of buildings and heavy mining equipment grew in size as they descended.

  “This is Theta Three, a mining colony. They mine titanium and iron ore,” Jonah explained as they touched down. The settlement looked deserted through the viewport. “Let’s go,” Jonah said as he stood up from the co-pilot’s seat.

  Lacey followed him silently as he checked his sidearm. He nodded to his men to cycle the airlock, the last place she’d seen Maelstrom and the guards before they’d been sent out to a violent death in the cold, fatal environment of space.

  The ramp descended, the titanium hitting the dark brown dirt. The air reeked of a mixture of unwashed human, metal, and something else rotten.

  “Sulphur,” Jonah explained, noticing her nose wrinkling, “There are many natural sulphur deposits around here. This world is still volcanically active.”

  “Hands where we can see them, state your business!” a voice shouted from behind the cover of a cargo pod, browned with streaks of rust.

  “Jonah Sparks.”

  “They said you were captured and executed,” a man said as he revealed himself, his weapon still drawn and aimed at them.

  “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I see you’ve finally thrown off the yoke of the Coalition, Rodgers, and it’s about damned time too!”

  Jonah smiled as he stepped down into the dirt. Rodgers came up and clasped his hand in a strong shake. “Good to see you again, how have you been holding up?” Jonah asked.

  “Okay, but still struggling. We’re working the mines but still trying to get an independent buyer for the ore is a pain in the ass. We’re barely scraping by, but doing better than when the Coalition was in charge.”

  “What happened to the overseer?” Jonah asked.

  “A group of wily young boys decided that a change in management was needed. Many of them were killed in the uprising, but they struggled through, the last one standing was wise despite his youth. He asked me to take lead of the colony, knowing I had previous military experience in command.” Rodgers looked around at the people. “No one here denied that I was going to be a good leader, so they all voted, and I got the job unanimously. Not that I really wanted it but no one else put up a hand for it.”

  “It’s not easy being responsible for so many lives,” Jonah said.

  Rodgers nodded in agreement. “So what’s this pretty shiny new bird you’ve got here? Starburst, eh?”

  “This was supposed to be my ride to the penal colony where I probably would have become a martyr in death.”

  “You already have become one,” Rodgers said. “The Coalition said you’d been executed a day ago. We rioted, the young bucks took over the overseer’s habitat and we took control of the colony, like a lot of other colonies we’re in communication with. When we saw your bird landing, we thought it was a Coalition force coming to take back the mine. We’re ready to die for our freedom from their tyranny.” He held his laser rifle, stolen from the Coalition Armory in the guard’s compound, a look of determination in his eyes.

  Jonah nodded. “Well the rebellion is still as alive as I am.” He nodded back to the ship where Lacey was waiting. “I want to show someone around, so she can see what the conditions are like—under the Coalition’s steady hand.”

  “Sure, if it helps the cause, I’m all for it,” Rodgers said.

  Lacey stepped down onto the solid earth beneath her feet, Jonah reached out and grabbed her hand, gently tugging her along behind him as he walked through to the main living areas of the colony.

  Rust-covered habitats surrounded them as they walked through tiny alleyways and walkways. The smell of unwashed bodies made her nose wrinkle and her eyes water. Filthy water and sewage lined the path and she had to dodge more than one pile of waste that could have been human or from the many dogs that seemed to be running around the place.

  Children cried in their mother’s arms, whimpering for food for their little distended tummies. Their bodies thin with obvious malnourishment.

  “Why don’t they get medical attention? More food?” Lacey asked as she ducked underneath a low-hanging sheet that was stained with brown splotches. She couldn’t figure out if it was old blood or something else as she bobbed to avoid contact.

  “The Coalition promised them all that and more when they signed up for the colony, but all they ever got was minimal rations and minimum health care. The Coalition instead upped their quota for the ore, forcing the miners to work long hours in the mines. We’re going there next,” Jonah said as they left the living area behind and headed out over a dry expanse of ground where the brittle remnants of an attempted produce garden once lay. It was now fallow, the earth hard-packed and unyielding for any crops it might once have tried to host.

  The mine entrance loomed like a big ugly scar in the rock face of a large cliff that towered above them. The ground beneath them trembled and there was a loud bone-shaking rumble. Lacey lost her balance and
fell against Jonah, his hands went reflexively around her body, holding her tightly against him as the earth quaked beneath their feet.

  “What was that?” she asked, as a huge puff of gray and brown dust ejected from the mouth of the mine.

  “Cave in!” screamed a man as he came running out. “We’ve got men trapped down there!”

  Jonah looked at Lacey, “Come on, let’s do what we can to help.” He sprinted toward the cave where dust and smoke still billowed from the opening.

  Others came rushing out from the living area of the colony. Screams and cries for help were heard from the cavernous mine mouth. Lacey’s heart thundered in her chest as she ran hard toward the chaos. Men with bloody heads and broken bodies were being brought out, two dying as they came into the fresh air. Their eyes staring lifelessly to the heavens as the world around them dimmed and they gave up their lives.

  Lacey helped to pull the broken bodies of the survivors out. Jonah was working at the face of the cave in, and others were waiting for aftershocks that were sure to come from the last quake.

  They’d managed to rescue seventeen miners, with another thirty unaccounted for, trapped beyond the rock fall and most likely dead, crushed beyond recognition by tons of rock and ore.

  Lacey finally collapsed onto a bed in a borrowed habitat when there was nothing more for her to do to help. She was covered in dirt, dust, and blood. She fell into a fitful sleep, filled with visions and dreams of the dead and dying men she’d helped to pull from a rocky grave.

  She awoke a few hours later to find her clothes had been removed and she lay in her underwear. Her skin was damp and it felt like a cloth was being run over her stomach. Opening her eyes, she saw Jonah gently bathing her, his body still covered in dust and blood, just like hers had been.

  She sat up, taking the cloth from his hands and dipped it in the bowl of water he’d been using to cleanse her body with. Lacey began to clear the muck from his face, her eyes on his lips, then flicking up to meet his gaze.