Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029

by Michel Savage

  We were expecting that Cypher had picked up Serena and the child on route as he had promised, but we were distressed to see Beatrice standing alone before us when the bridge gate door cycled open before us. She had an irritated look fuming in her eyes, as if she was about to lose her temper. This was a confrontation we had readily expected at some point, but weren't quite ready to address at this very moment. Luckily, we still had our firearms to keep the old woman in line.

  A strange noise behind us made us all turn in unison when a hum of gears rotated up a single glowing cylinder from the center of the bay floor. It twisted once, and a smaller robot arm unfolded from the tarmac floor and promptly placed the illuminated rod into a secured hold within the ship.

  "What the hell was that?" Tasha inquired, taking a moment to catch her breath between taking shots and any stray weeper that came within range.

  "That was the primary sample!" Betty snapped in disbelief as she hastily unfurled her sleeve to expose an odd glass wristband identical to the one I was wearing. Her eyes lifted to mine in bleak astonishment when she saw the one strapped to my wrist. It was then that we looked at one another and realized that Cypher had been playing us both.

  "That bastard," I fumed under my breath, though loud enough for everyone to hear. Regardless, the irony of it took but a moment to set in, "...what did he promise you?" I demanded to Betty, as Thorn turned his rifle in her direction.

  "Why is the power to my lab shut down?" she barked back with twice the antagonism I could muster. With a glance to the conduit, it took her a minute to piece together that the coupling beside the hub that fed the Laboratory had been disengaged.

  "Well, that idiot still needs to get to his ship," Thorn noted the obvious, and that we would be there to stop him. It didn't seem like the smartest of all tactics, to betray the both of us and without having clear access to the shuttle after the fact.

  "T-minus twelve minutes till launch. Cargo is secured. All unessential personnel are to clear the area," the computer voice echoed through the dome. We passed a glare at one another in defiance, 'like hell we are.'

  "Why would he put that fragment sample on the ship?" Ava demanded in confusion to what had just transpired.

  "He plans to use it for himself," Tasha finished, having connected the dots of the ruse.

  "Cypher had the sample cleansed and verified for the DNA strain before it was resealed in a containment cylinder and ejected for transfer to that ship," Beatrice related as she pointed at the shuttle. Looking upwards, we noticed that the steel walkway which had led directly to the processing chamber where we had left Betty, had doubled as a personnel ramp down to the launch pad.

  "So, where is this fucktard so we can have a word with him?" Ava offered with a snarky glare, as she turned to take another crack shot, blowing a large hole in the head of a weeper that had clambered up onto the deck just a few yards away. The countdown voice echoed yet again as the green spotlights at ground level turned red while a series of blue rotating strobe lights that lined the top edge of the bay blinked on.

  "T-minus ten minutes until launch. All personnel are to report to their assigned stations," echoed from above. With that, there was an unnerving moment when the entire building creaked as the interlocking bolts on the silo hatch began to cycle, releasing their pins. With a horrible grinding wrench, the enormous bay doors dropped and began to slide open. Sunlight washed in like heavenly light, blinding us and weepers alike as it cut into the dark chamber. A shrill scream arose from the ghouls that were sensitive to the bright light having lived in consuming darkness for so long. Many cowered quickly and slunk away into whatever protective shadow they could find.

  Thought the sunlight was a welcoming sight, it came at a price. The top of the bay doors had not been cleared for the pre-launch, but had been peppered with stray military vehicles, which had been left abandoned during the firefight during the incursion all those years ago. Trucks and jeeps and oil barrels came tumbling several stories down, smashing into machinery, platforms and equipment. Weepers shrieked as they were crushed under tons of steel, spraying their infected organs and blood across the scaffolding. Floodlights exploded upon impact and ruptured tanks caught fire, and thick clouds of soot bloomed with flames rose into the misty morning light.

  The percussion shook the launch pad as the shuttle swayed within the iron clamps. For a brief moment, the construction cranes had frozen in place; this led us to assume that Cypher was no longer at the controls in his glass box but on his way down to the ship. From the causeway were Beatrice had arrived, we heard Serena yelling, limping towards us in exhaustion, a look of despair shrouding her face. We could barely make out what she was shouting over the noise of bursting pipes and crashing equipment raining upon us; "The boy, he has the boy..."

  While she was stumbling halfway along the catwalk, we peered up just as a large shadow momentarily blocked the glare of sunlight while the bay doors above opened ever wider. A large tanker truck had tipped over the edge directly above her position, the supporting flooring beneath it now removed. At first, the engine carriage dangled and swayed precariously as we called out to Serena who was unable to hear us over the grinding metal and noise. In desperation, I dropped my gun to run to her aid, seeing the danger looming above.

  A strong arm yanked me back. I turned to see Thorn had grabbed my shoulder to stop me. My blue eyes looked into his, colored with confusion. The feeling of betrayal melted into dread that felt like my blood in my veins had turned to lead. Time seemed to slow as the tanker slipped over the edge with a shriek of metal and crushed the walkway were Serena had stood. After the impact, there was nothing left but smoke and twisted metal where she had been, the center of the bridge had buckled into a tangle of scrap steel and roaring flames.

  Thorn clung onto my shoulder as tears welled in my eyes. She was gone. Serena had been alone on the bridge, yelling something about the child. Had he died too?

  Upon the tarmac floor, a central ring in front of the ship lit up, expanding like a capsule from a shell layered within. In a flurry of thick steam, Cypher stepped out of the luminous tube. We should have guessed that the executive floor would have its own private elevator passage to the launch floor. He took a step to one side, dragging the small boy out in front of him by the scruff of his ragged collar, with a gun in his other hand pointed to the child's head.

  "Stay back, and he won't get hurt," Cypher warned as he tapped an electronic pad strapped to his cuff. When he did so the giant robotic cranes once again came to attention, their enormous claws poised threateningly as Cypher inched his way towards the shuttle door before him.

  Even now, Cypher's germaphobe fears were apparent as he shuffled warily towards the boarding hatch while wearing a clumsy biohazard suit. A shot rang out from across the bay as the report struck the ship’s hull next to his head. Shocked by how close the sniper round had been, Cypher lost composure and turned towards the direction where the shot had come from. He immediately eyed Kel who was steadying herself for another shot; cursing herself under her breath for having missed her first crack at him through the smoke and shadows of busted steel from across the bay.

  With the touch of a button on his wrist, a robotic arm obeyed his command and twisted with haunting stealth towards Kel, snapping its giant claws at her angrily as its finite grasp was but a few yards out of reach. With a growl, Cypher tapped again at the controller on his wrist as the crane arm reacted and snatched a nearby pressure tank in its claws, ripping it up from its bolts. In one smooth motion, it launched the canister towards Kel who was perched precariously up in her snipers nest on top of the construction platform. She raised her arms defensively in vain, as if that would save her; only to breathe a sigh of relief as the heavy tank fell short.

  It was a grim moment of tension as the pressure tank slammed into the ground at the base of the platform. With a hiss, it exploded. The percussion blew Kel high into the air and down onto the jagged supports, skewering her through. Her first breath was a c
ough of blood as she struggled to get to her feet.

  Looking down, she touched the restraints of twisted metal spikes that had pierced through her body, gripping them in disbelief. Her eyes glazed over as she looked up through the black smoke that wisped gently into the cloudy sky above. The bay doors snapped and locked into place as the computer came over the speaker system and a siren horn signaled.

  "T-minus five minutes until launch. Bay doors are clear for lift off. Shuttle gate will lock in two minutes," its warning hail rang through the thick air.

  Ava didn't waste the opportunity to raise her weapon while Cypher was distracted controlling the crane arm during his assault on Kel. Dropping to one knee, she brought up the scope of her rifle to be sure of her shot and not harm the child. Adjusting to aim high, she had his head in her crosshairs when she felt something suddenly yank her feet out from underneath her from behind, and she landed hard on her face. Nose bloodied, she reached for her rifle that lay on the bay floor, now just inches beyond her grasp.

  Tasha turned to see her friend lying flat on her stomach and in the claws of a raging weeper that was dragging her backwards off the platform edge. She dropped one pistol to grab Ava's hand, straining to hold her back as the infected creature growled in defiance. Thorn and I turned to see what had happened. and Thorn lunged for Tasha to anchor her from being pulled over the threshold and into the grasping arms of several weepers that had seized Ava's legs. I was torn, not knowing what to do; caught in the middle of having to choose to save the boy or my friends?

  Beatrice had no ethical margins to weigh her down, and snatched up my rifle which I had discarded just before Thorn had held me fast during my futile attempt to save Serena. All too eager to exact her revenge, the old woman barely bothered to take aim. Having never fired a rifle, she pulled the trigger and lurched back, knocked off balance by the recoil. The shot passed inches from the little boy’s face, grazing Cypher's wrist and the electronic band he wore.

  She regained her poise again to pull the trigger, just as Cypher turned towards her, his eyes grew wide in fear from behind the faceplate of his protective suit; now fogged by the moisture of his nervous breath. His grip loosened on the child who jerked himself free from his grasp and dove into the protection of the open hatch of the shuttle. A sour 'click' met Betty's ears as she squeezed the trigger again and again, while a grimace fell across her lips as she realize it was out of ammo. Glancing down at the punctured suit and his own hot blood dripping to the tarmac floor, Cypher dissolved into hysterics.

  He was just as quickly silenced by a rifle butt to the side of the head that cracked open his faceplate and popped it from its bindings. Beatrice was on him like a wildcat as he fell back onto the hard floor while she ripped the hood from his bio suit; screaming like a banshee. Cypher was in a frenzy as he tried to fend her off, but was no match for her unbridled fury. He shrieked and wailed at her to stop. In her rage, she reached out to grasp a dismembered arm from a weeper lying within reach that had been flung there from and encounter with a robotic crane; and she began to mercilessly beat him in the face with its stump, dark blood mashing everywhere.

  I was so aghast at her savage attack and that she would risk infecting herself without restraint. It was without merit, I agreed that Cypher got what he deserved; but I was still stunned by the method of his punishment. I rushed past her as she was beating our host senseless, and dove into the ship to find the child. Seconds dragged on as I searched for the boy within the cramped vessel.

  The carnage outside seemed muffled and distant from within the confines of the insulated shuttle. Wiggling past a bulkhead, I finally found a pair of small feet tucked within a cramped compartment. I leaned over and looked into the boy’s eyes the very first time, which were a vibrant mixture of grey and green. They were large and glassy, and I read a great deal of his past within them in that still moment.

  "We have to go, we can't stay here..." I started to comfort him, but still apprehensive to force him from his hiding spot. He just looked back at me in confusion, as if to ask 'where else can we possibly go?' His apprehension caught me off guard. The initial plan was to depart by this shuttle and head for the coast to drop off the three girls, while Thorn and I decided what we were going to do. The boy had always dreamed about going to go to the stars, which is why he, subconsciously or not, chose to vault into the ship for protection. We never heard the ringing of the final hail from the loudspeaker outside.

  "Shuttle doors sealed, T-minus three minutes until lift off. All personnel are to clear the launch pad."

  I had managed to lift the child off his feet by his willingness to take my hand and we made our way back to the hatch in haste, only to rush my last steps towards the door as it cycled shut on us with a hiss. Through the portal window, I could see Beatrice. She stood up slowly over the Cypher's semi-limp body, his legs still twitching in spasms. She dropped the severed arm she had used to club him to death, and looked up into the sky as she heard the words of the computer sound through the bay of the impending launch.

  She turned towards me just as the hatch pins locked; an odd look of surrender and satisfaction damp within her eyes, dripping with infected blood that was splattered across her face. Her body suddenly jerked back; the shot that took her down muffled from the shielded walls of the ship. A moment later Thorn was there, his hand upon the window as the energy coils began to whir and the shuttle entered into automatic pilot sequence. I stood there looking into Thorn’s dark eyes on the far side of the thick glass of the portal, an ache growing within me that widened beyond what I had ever felt possible.

  I turned and rushed for the cockpit door to stop the launch, only to beat helplessly upon the locked hatch as I punched it with my fists. Blue letters blinking across the panel 'Security access not recognized.' The chip I needed to access the cockpit was embedded within Betty's hand, laying just feet outside the sealed portal. There was nothing I could do.

  The coils powered up to a high pitch as I jumped back to the porthole window, Thorn and Tasha were standing farther away, shielding their eyes as the thrusters under the ship kicked in. Blast shields rose around the ship, directing the force into exhaust tubes; which explained the purpose of the massive heatsinks we had discovered lining the rail depot. There was no sign of Ava, her body had been drawn over the verge of the platform, and the weepers had taken her. Tasha had put a merciful bullet to her head as Ava had begged in her last moments before being torn apart. I stood there at the window and cried, helpless and afraid. I couldn't tell if Thorn could read my lips as I tried to find something ...anything to say.

  "Don't forget me..."

  The clamps that restrained the ship unbuckled as the leveling thrusters initiated and we felt the ship rise. It hovered for a moment as a soft female voice began to count down thirty seconds. The little boy grabbed my shirt, tugging at me; but I didn't know what he wanted. He finally gave up and crawled past the bulkhead to where he had sat hidden before, tucking himself in the crawlspace.

  There were no seats in the hold, and it finally dawned on me it had all been an act; Cypher had thoroughly lied about loading the shuttle with supplies and being able to transport us as passengers. He had no intention of taking us along when he escaped the lab, we were to be left behind.

  Neon biohazard signs lined the walls along with numerous warning tags within the small cabin. This had never been a prototype model; the sole function of this ship had been to deliver the secured pathogen up to the space station. It was the designated transit vehicle to bring the original microbe to the orbiting station without risking the key personnel, who were supposed to have arrived in the first shuttle launch, which Cypher had scuttled.

  The view outside the small window became fogged as a white mist enveloped the ship. Tasha and Thorn made a run for cover from the blast as the robotic crane arms lowered in unison while thick steel barriers folded out from the edge of the platform and locked into place. With an audible metal 'pop' the power cable detached and with a h
orrendous scream the engine coils ignited. I felt the unyielding pull of gravity wrench me off my feet as a steel pipe raced up to greet me, and everything went black.

  My head ached terribly and I could feel the sore knot on my head when I awoke. I almost passed out again when I tried to stand, noting that I felt lighter once I had finally gotten on my own two feet. I was still lingering in a state of shock as I called out for the boy; not finding him back in his hiding place. My back throbbed with pain as I stumbled out of the open hatch into a brightly lit corridor.

  It was a strange change to be in a structure that was so sterile with walls covered in glossed metal and clean white panels. Still in a daze, I still did not quite know where I was until I passed by a thick paned window that enveloped the night sky. It was strange, I thought, as it had mid morning when the shuttle launched, just now noting as my vision cleared how the blackness beyond was speckled with countless stars. I made my way through another doorway noting the air had a strange taste to it.

  I found a ladder that took me to what looked like the main bridge of a ship. It wasn't the active panes or blinking lights nor displays quietly graphing data that caught my attention, but the glare of the crescent Earth that glared in through the port windows that left me mesmerized. I was on the Mirage Space Station gently gliding in silent orbit. From here, the world looked calm, quiet and content. I knew it was a facade of course; our planet was not at peace.

  I didn't know if I should laugh or cry in that frozen moment, only realizing how easy it is to feel so detached when you've distance yourself from the truth. The boy strode into the room, distracted by something he was carrying in his tiny hands. He found me standing there alone on the bridge and took my hand, placing in my palm a small white flower with its lush green leaves intact. I gazed at it for a moment in respite, then placed the tiny flower gently on the console and looked down at the display. Though Cypher had cleansed the space station of its active personnel, it had remained fully operational all this time. The air here was filtered and reprocessed by a self-sustaining terrarium, which recycled the limited water; the reclamation systems had been already placed on full automation.