The Comet's Curse

by Dom Testa

  Bauer covered the short distance to the Spider bay doors in seconds. Rushing into the large hangar, he managed to close the door behind him, buying just a few more seconds. By the time the others were able to reach the bay and reopen the door, he had scrambled inside the nearest Spider and sealed the hatch.

  Gap was the first to reach the Spider, but was too late. The hatch was locked. Slamming his hand against the side, Gap screamed through the glass. Fenton Bauer, strapping himself into the restraints, responded with a laugh. Within seconds a flashing strobe light cut across the room, along with a warning siren.

  “C’mon!” Triana shouted. “We’ve got to get into the Control Room before he opens the bay door into space. This room will depressurize in seconds!”

  The five barely made it into the adjoining Control Room before the warning siren intensified and one of the Spider bay’s outer doors began to slowly open. They sealed the Control Room, watching through the large window as stars became visible through the round Spider bay opening. Bauer had control of his vessel and started the conveyor belt that would glide the craft outside Galahad. In thirty seconds the Spider reached the gaping hole. The last thing the Council members saw was Bauer, laughing hysterically as the small ship dropped through the opening and was gone.

  “This is not good,” Lita said. “Now what can we do?”

  “Two things,” Triana said. “First, Gap, get back to the computer access panel and get to work on Roc. I don’t think he’s damaged too badly. There’s a chip that’s been installed. Get it out of him, and get him restarted.”

  Gap shot out the door of the Control Room into the corridor and ran back towards the panel. The moment he was gone Triana turned to Lita.

  “I need you and Channy to get back up to the Conference Room and wake the rest of the crew. Let them know what’s going on, and get them ready for a collision.”

  The two girls took off, leaving Bon and Triana alone in the room. He looked out the window at the hangar just as the bay door closed and the room began pressurizing again. The empty space where Spider #1 had been sitting seemed odd. The other nine Spiders sat gleaming before their own bay doors.

  “Now what?” Bon said.

  “I’m thinking,” Triana said, chewing her lip and looking at the remaining escape ships. Only eight were completely fitted for life support to begin with. Now they had seven for a crew of 251. The two others sat mutely by themselves, their doors draped with multiple warning signs.

  “For now,” Triana said, “go help Gap. I want to get Roc up and running as quickly as possible.”

  Without a word, Bon turned and left.

  Triana flipped on the vidscreen beside her and punched in the tracking program. In a moment the screen converted to a black grid. The large shape of Galahad sat in the middle. To one side Triana could see the flashing blip that represented the missing Spider as it moved away. According to the scale it was already dozens of miles away. But it was slowing. Triana felt her muscles tighten again. This was bad.

  At the access panel on one knee, Gap scoured the inside of the computer’s central control. He had found and removed one chip that certainly didn’t belong, and was looking for others when Bon arrived.

  “Well?” Bon said.

  “I don’t know. I want to make sure I’ve got everything before I try to fire him back up. It’s already going to take a few minutes, and I don’t think we have much more time than that.”

  “What’s this?” Bon said, picking the chip off the floor.

  “The monkey wrench that Bauer tossed into the works. I don’t know what it did to ol’ Roc’s brain, but it sure got his head spinning.”

  Gap paused during his examination of the computer’s interior and looked at Bon. “By the way, you were right about coming down the emergency stairwell. I thought you were nuts, but I’ve got to hand it to you. You surprised the daylights out of Bauer by sneaking up behind him.”

  Bon grunted, seemingly uncomfortable with the compliment. “Is there anything I can do here?”

  “This is a one-person job.” Gap glanced down the hall. “I think you’d better get back to the Spider bay. Don’t let Triana do anything stupid.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like take off after Bauer.” Gap resumed his search, glancing back at Bon briefly to make sure he understood the implications.

  Without another word Bon stood up and sprinted back down the corridor.

  He burst back into the Spider Control Room. It was empty.

  Looking out the large window into the hangar he saw Triana opening the door of one of the remaining Spiders.

  “Triana!” he yelled, then raced into the bay, reaching her as she stepped inside the Spider.

  “What are you doing?” he said, grabbing her hand. “Get out of there.”

  “Let go of me, Bon,” she said. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “I know what you’re doing, too. Now get out of there.”

  Triana took one look at his hand on hers, then back at his face. Her heart began beating a little bit faster.

  “Tree,” he said, a look of pleading on his face. Triana knew that it was the first time he had ever used the nickname that everyone else seemed to use. After a moment she reached over with her other hand and placed it on his. She felt him get tense.

  “Listen to me,” she said, her voice soft. “It’s not what you think. Just let me go for a minute, okay? We don’t have much time.”

  After another few seconds of hesitation, he allowed her to lift his hand off hers. Before letting it go, she gave his hand a squeeze. Then she was gone.

  He watched her through the window of the Spider, climbing into the pilot’s seat and evidently starting some sort of prelaunch activities. A minute later she was clambering back out, then sealing the hatch. She could see the confusion on Bon’s face as she grabbed his hand and quickly pulled him back towards the Control Room.

  “You wanna let me in on this?” he said.

  They entered the Control Room and sealed the door. Triana sat at the console and began to make adjustments.

  “They weren’t able to finish all of the Spiders before we left. Two of them were really just put aboard for spare parts. But they still fly.”

  Bon looked out the window at the Spider she had been in. It had the warning signs posted on the door. A look of realization crossed his face. “You’re going to fly it by remote control.”

  “That’s right,” Tree said. “It can’t support life inside, but it will work just fine as a robot ship.”

  Bon looked at the vidscreen showing Bauer’s craft. The distance between the scientist and Galahad was now closing.

  Triana noticed the look of alarm on his face and nodded. “Yeah, he’s started on a collision course. Since he couldn’t finish the job from the inside, he’s gonna try it from the outside. He’ll ram us and that will be the end of it. This ship might be big, but it’s a little too delicate to handle that.”

  Suddenly a tone sounded. It was Dr. Bauer, calling from the rapidly approaching Spider. Triana wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk with him, but then realized that it might keep him occupied for the brief time she needed. She punched the intercom.

  “Hello, kids,” Dr. Bauer said. His voice sounded strained and high-pitched. Triana realized that the last of his control had withered away. He was now completely insane.

  “Just wanted to say good-bye … again,” Bauer said, adding the laugh that had already chilled Triana a few times. “According to my calculations—rough calculations, of course—you have about three minutes left. That’s not much time, is it?”

  Triana listened to the words but blocked out the message. She needed all of her concentration as she worked the computer controls in front of her. Bon stood beside her, quiet but attentive. He shifted his eyes back and forth between the vidscreen that was tracking Bauer and Triana’s efforts. In a flash of realization he understood exactly why she had been selected as the Council leader. This was undoubtedly the most stressf
ul, fearsome moment of their lives, and she was working with utter calm and determination.

  Dr. Bauer’s voice drifted out of the speaker again. “Nothing to say?”

  “I’m sorry for you,” was all that Triana said in reply.

  “Sorry for me? You’re sorry for me? I am doing exactly what I set out to do. Maybe not the way I planned it, but it doesn’t matter. This ship should never have left Earth.”

  He continued to babble, but by now neither Triana nor Bon was really listening. With the final calculation complete, Triana engaged the firing sequence. The two Council members looked up through the window to watch the outer bay door swing open in front of the empty Spider. A wash of starlight seeped in, then was blocked momentarily as the escape craft taxied out the opening. In seconds it was away, leaving the doors to close slowly behind it.

  Looking back at the vidscreen, Triana and Bon were able to track both of the Spiders. Dr. Bauer continued to hurtle towards Galahad, but now their robot craft began to accelerate on its own collision course. Triana kept her gaze on the converging blips, Dr. Bauer’s hurtling along at a blazing speed, her own robot challenger barely beginning to gallop. With one hand she made a barely perceptible adjustment to the robot Spider’s course, while the other goosed the throttle on its rocket power. She knew she had to be perfect; she had one shot, and one shot only. A miss meant the end.

  “One minute, kids,” Dr. Bauer said.

  As he was saying this, Gap entered from the corridor and stood in the doorway to the Spider control room, listening. Neither Triana nor Bon sensed his presence, and their backs were to him. Gap started to speak, but wondered if it would disrupt whatever Triana was working on. He held his tongue, his hands opening and closing into fists, sweat beginning to trickle down his forehead. He heard Bon say something softly to Triana, something that sounded like “Has he noticed?”

  Triana flipped off the intercom and answered clearly. “No, I don’t think so. He hasn’t adjusted his course at all.” She made one final course correction, then let go of the controls.

  With that, Gap figured out what was happening. He held his ground in the doorway, awaiting the outcome.

  A moment later he watched Bon’s hand slowly reach out and take Triana’s. She held on to it firmly. Gap’s mouth dropped open silently.

  “Twenty seconds to collision,” Triana said. “He’s bound to discover it any moment now.” She flipped the intercom back on. “Oh, Dr. Bauer?”

  “Yes,” he said, his voice even more sinister. “This is … wait. What—?”

  He had finally discovered the oncoming Spider. But by now it was too late. Triana and Bon, their hands clasped even tighter, watched his incoming craft suddenly begin to veer to one side, but it wasn’t able to maneuver that sharply. On the vidscreen they saw the two points of light clip each other, then branch off at severe angles. Apparently the impact had not been dead-on, but rather a glancing blow. Would it be enough to send Bauer’s ship skidding past Galahad?

  The intercom gurgled, cutting in and out, the connection damaged. Triana thought she could hear Dr. Bauer coughing, then silence. A moment later came what sounded like a sharp cry, then silence again.

  Seconds later the blip of Bauer’s Spider careened past Galahad. Bon would later estimate that it had likely missed their ship by no more than fifty feet. It spun wildly, damaged beyond control, and shot away into the void of outer space. For a few seconds the radio connection became clear again, and in that brief moment both Triana and Bon were sure of what they heard. It was Dr. Fenton Bauer, laughing. It was enough to chill their blood. Then his voice, now much lower and heavier, broke through.

  “You won’t make it, kids,” he said. “It’s a long way to Eos. You don’t have what it takes to make it. You never had it.” The signal broke up again, sputtered back to life briefly, then faded. The last thing they heard was Dr. Bauer repeating, “You won’t make it. Just wait. You won’t make—”

  Then he was gone.

  Triana and Bon relaxed their grips, then turned and looked at each other. Simultaneously they reached out for each other and hugged, pulling themselves into a tight embrace. They remained that way for a long time.

  By the time they parted, Gap had quietly slipped out of the doorway. He began to trudge back down the corridor, past the open computer access panel and on to the lift.

  38

  A thunderstorm crackled overhead. The wind had picked up with the storm, whipping the trees and slamming the rain into the side of the house and the windows. The power had gone off almost ten minutes earlier, and Dr. Zimmer wasn’t hopeful that it would be restored anytime soon. He wasn’t even sure that anyone would bother to find the problem. It might be the next morning before his lights came on again. Which was fine with him.

  It was close to midnight and why did he need a light anyway? He lay still in his bed, an empty bottle of cough suppressant on the nightstand. He had drained the last third of it in three large gulps, knowing full well that it was dangerous to down that much of the strong medicine in one sitting. But he just didn’t care anymore.

  His conversation with Tyler Scofield had sapped whatever passion remained in his life. He felt defeated, betrayed and helpless. Another call to Sharee Bauer had depressed him further. But he had decided to not confess his suspicions to her. Why burden the sweet woman with the guilt when she had no control over the situation? Instead he had consoled her as best he could over her missing husband, and had promised to stay in touch.

  He wouldn’t be staying in touch, of course, and they both knew it. Yet it had seemed the proper thing to say. Sharee had smiled at him, one tear tracing down her cheek with many more ready to follow, as her image faded away on his vidscreen.

  Now he listened to the storm, his house and the rest of the neighborhood swallowed up in the darkness. The brief flashes of lightning illuminated his room through the windows, allowing him to see a framed photograph on the opposite wall. In it, a smiling Wallace Zimmer sat on the front row of the bleachers at the Galahad training facility. Around him were gathered the 251 pilgrims selected to journey forth amid the stars. A look of pride, mixed with sincere love and affection, beamed from his face. And there was another look, as well. It was a look of gratitude. For this group of kids had given him—for two years, anyway—a family.

  As he closed his eyes, he realized that the pain was subsiding. The already dark room began to recede further into inky blackness, and the sound of the storm gradually faded away. With one last breath, he prayed that his family was okay.

  39

  Twelve hours had passed since the encounter with Dr. Bauer. The weary Council members sat slouched in their chairs in the Conference Room. Each had spent a couple of sleepless hours in their rooms, their adrenaline keeping them charged throughout the rest of the night. By morning they had managed to doze for an hour at most, then awakened and cleaned up enough to stagger into a Council meeting.

  Triana was at the head of the table, looking around, a faint smile on her lips. Lita returned it with her own grin and reached out to squeeze Triana’s hand. Tears returned to Channy’s eyes, the emotion of the incident still evident on her face. Bon fiddled with his cup of water, occasionally throwing a knowing glance at Triana, but for the most part maintaining his standard scowl. Gap sat still at the far end of the table, his hands clasped, unable to keep eye contact with Triana for more than a second or two.

  “Roc?” Triana said.

  “Present,” came the familiar voice of Roy Orzini.

  “It’s good to have you back.”

  “Good to be here. And look, I missed all of the excitement.”

  “Do you really think we’ll ever let you forget about that?” Channy said, wiping her eyes and managing a laugh. “In our greatest time of need, Roc takes a nap.”

  Lita and Triana joined her in laughing. Bon smiled faintly. Gap remained still.

  “Want to know the worst part?” the computer said. “Waking up and the first face I see is Gap’s. H
olding a screwdriver. Please, Triana, do me a favor, and see if he messed around with my Masego game programming. He could have done anything to me while I was out. Oh,” he added, “and while you’re at it, check around and make sure there aren’t any more quarters on the ship.”

  “We took Dr. Bauer’s quarter, and his wicked little computer chip, and dumped them,” Lita said. “And the door he used to get into the Storage areas is sealed again. I was tempted, you know—”

  “Yes, I know,” Triana said. “I think we all wanted to take a peek inside there. But it’s better to seal it off and leave Dr. Zimmer’s plan alone. He didn’t want us in there, so we’ll keep our noses out until we reach Eos.”

  “I’m also a little worried about a couple of other things, though,” Lita said. “What Dr. Bauer said at the end. ‘Just wait.’ Doesn’t that sound like he’s done something else to the ship?”

  The Council was silent while they thought about that. Finally Tree spoke up.

  “Well, we’ve checked everything that we can. Roc has run through every test he can. Nothing has come up. So, if Bauer did do something, I suppose we’ll have to worry about it when—and if—it happens. It won’t do us any good to stress out now.”

  Channy said, “Plus, the man was so far gone, he might have just been trying to scare us again. He might not have done anything.”

  “Yeah,” Tree said. “That’s a possibility.” She turned to Lita. “What’s the other thing you’re concerned about?”

  “Well,” Lita said, “at some point we need to talk about the Spiders.”

  “Yeah,” Tree said. “We’re down to eight now, and just seven that will support us.” She sighed, looking at the others. “Well, I guess we have five years to figure that out.”

  Bon spoke up. “That’s the kind of stuff we can overcome. I’m not concerned with the Spider situation. But there is something else.”

  He made eye contact with the Council. “That crazy scientist who almost killed us threw out a pretty good challenge, didn’t he? Remember what his last words were? ‘You won’t make it.’”