by S D Tanner
Eyeing Judge, he said, “I don’t want to be put back into stasis until we’re in control of Jessica.”
“That makes sense,” Judge replied with a nod. “She’s the central computer. She has to do whatever we tell her to.”
Joker raised his hand. “Leave her to me.”
“What are you going to do?”
Grinning and winking, Joker replied, “I think I might have a way with the mechs.”
If they controlled Jessica then they could tell her when to wake them up and to never reset their protocols. Looking up at the ceiling, he said, “I think we’re being watched.”
Judge nodded. “Jessica said they know where we’re at, which means we’re under surveillance.”
It annoyed him to think they were entertaining unseen observers. Only a coward hid behind a screen. If anyone wanted a piece of him then they should stand up and be counted. He was being defeated by a coward and knowing that only made him angrier. The unseen enemy had already cheated by taking away his memory, leaving him with the skills to kill and no target other than the ones they chose for him. He was being used like a puppet and some invisible asshole was pulling his strings. No one got to make a fool of him this way. Although he couldn’t remember his past he wasn’t the kind of man to suffer assholes, which this enemy most surely was.
Narrowing his eyes at Judge, he replied, “But they’re not here so they can’t do anything to us, at least not in a hurry. We can take control of the ship before they get to us.”
Rok raised his hand extending one finger at the ceiling. “Here’s a message for the assholes out there.”
Although he appreciated the sentiment he wanted to do more than give Lunar the finger. They needed to bleed for what they’d done. “Joker, when you get control of Jessica you need to shut down whatever comms they’re using to spy on us.”
“Roger that, man.”
Six soldiers and two untrained civilians couldn’t mount a decent offense against the fleas. Even if he had more firepower it wouldn’t help. A direct assault was likely to destroy the ship. Joker would need time to crack open Jessica’s metal head, assuming he could. They’d investigated most of the rooms along the arterial corridor and found nothing useful. He could recon the engine room, but he didn’t expect to find anything that would add to his arsenal. They needed to get inside the domes. According to the sales pitch they’d watched on the Bridge, the domes were stocked with everything they needed to colonize a planet, but he suspected that wouldn’t prove true. Nothing else about the ship was straight up, so why would the domes contain what Lunar had promised? If the sleepers were never intended to colonize a planet then what was inside the domes?
“We need to get into the domes.”
“We can only send in one team,” Judge replied. “Joker needs a buddy and that only leaves four of us.”
“Who’s with Joker?”
Flak raised his hand. “I should stay with him. I’ll get a shuttle ready to go.”
“Good plan,” he said with a curt nod.
“What about me?” Lolo asked. “I don’t want to be left here with Bart.” When he gave her a questioning look, she added, “I don’t like him and I can help you identify what’s inside the domes.”
Both were fair points. He didn’t think much of Bart either. Although Lolo had an edge to her, she’d held it together after losing her partner, Mark. A part of him wanted to worry about his own family, but the squad needed him. At some point he’d mourn, just not now. He couldn’t shake the feeling he’d made a mistake and they’d paid the price. If what Lolo said about the virus was true, then he’d left them on Earth when they’d needed him the most. Just thinking about abandoning them turned his stomach, triggering a bleakness he didn’t want to feel. Maybe Jessica and Robert had it easy. They never had to deal with emotions.
He didn’t like to feel anything. There was a darkness in him, something that left his soul in a shadow. Not knowing who he was meant he carried a restlessness he didn’t want to own; taking the time to stop and smell the roses wasn’t his style. He lived life at full tilt, always solving one problem after the next. In many ways, he was the right man for their current situation. Trapped on a ship with less than he should have, was pissing him off. Like a comfortable pair of old boots the anger was helping him focus. Taking his rage and using it to tear apart a problem was something that came easily to him. It wasn’t his nature to be content and happy. He’d come into the world pissed as all hell and had never changed. Rather than tolerating his rage, he welcomed it. It was a part of him and something he’d used to defeat every enemy.
Narrowing his eyes and smirking, he said, “We have a plan. Joker, break open Jessica. I want what she knows. Flak, keep a shuttle at the ready. The rest of us will suit up and head to the domes to scavenge anything useful. Bart, you stay here with Ash. Lolo, stay with Joker. Tell Jessica to put us on screen so you can track us from the Bridge.” He scanned the squad, adding, “Battle rattle. Lock and load.”
Rising to his feet and looking just as amused, Judge asked, “What happens after this?”
“It depends on what we find. You know the drill. Improvise and adapt.”
“And the mission objective?”
His smirk deepened. “We’re not going down again. We either get control of this ship or die trying.”
Looking up at the ceiling at whoever was watching them, Rok gave it the finger again. “Booyah, bitches! We’re coming for ya!”
He might not know where his enemy was or what they were, but he would hunt them down. When he found whoever had done this to them, then he would make them pay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Dead Drop
“Jessica, open the main doors to the dome.”
“You are not authorized to enter the domes.”
Standing inside the corridor next to the tube leading to the dome, he stared at the closed double doors. Unlike every other door on the ship this one didn’t have a bar across it. With no handle or even a control panel next to it, he assumed only someone with access to the central computer could open it.
“Says who?”
“Ship’s protocol dictates only the Fidelis Servus may enter the domes.”
Although he didn’t know Latin even he could translate the words. “We’re all servants here, Jessica. Every one of us has been played, including you.”
Joker was on the Bridge with Jessica and his voice sounded in his earpiece. “She’s operating to a protocol.”
His patience had frayed until it was threadbare. “You either break her, or I’m busting open this door. One way or another we’re going in.”
“Jessica, what is the protocol for damage to the ship?” Joker asked.
“The ship must be protected.”
“Who protects the ship?” Joker asked.
“The Defensor.”
As the Defensor he would be allowed to do anything he deemed necessary to defend the ship. It was impeccable logic and Joker had surprised him again. Joker sounded far more patient than he was feeling when he asked, “Jessica, who is the Defensor for the Prognatus?”
“Commander Tag is the Defensor.”
Joker had found a sane path through insane logic, so maybe he really did have a way with the mechs. Smiling to himself, he said, “Jessica, I am the Defensor and I need to get inside the domes to protect the ship.”
The doors smoothly slid open and lights flickered to life, revealing a long windowless corridor. The path to the dome was nothing more than a tube. At the other end of the corridor was another set of double doors he assumed opened into the dome.
“Jessica, open any door we approach.”
“Good idea,” Judge said. “I don’t want to be playing open sesame with Jessica. For all we know there are more fleas in there.”
“At least we have gravity,” he replied.
Although the corridor had gravity the domes couldn’t. They weren’t within the large hoops circling the main ship.
Anticipating the problem, they were already wearing space suits they’d taken from one of the shuttles. The suits would provide them with pressure, oxygen and warmth. Wearing the suit came naturally to him, meaning it wasn’t his first time in one. Someone had trained them to use the gear. Now he understood why their rifles had the option for voice control. They were dressed in space suits so their hands were buried under several layers of gloves, making it impossible to pull the trigger on their gun. His rifle hooked to the forearm on his space suit. Targeting was controlled through the hood over his right eye. Knowing he was armed gave him a confidence he shouldn’t have had. Once they were inside the dome there was even less defending them from space, so they would need to be careful about using their heavy weapons.
Lumbering along the corridor, he was grateful they didn’t need food, or appear to have any other normal human functions. At least they hadn’t needed diapers under their suits. His helmet was limiting his view, but it came with lights and a camera, which they might need once they were inside the dome. Attached to his outer suit was a toolkit including several blades. The gloves had hooks and each tool was tethered to his suit so it wouldn’t drift away. Wrapped around his waist was a wide rope with a hook he could use to attach himself to another person.
Suits were never graceful and, even under the wide helmet, he could hear the heavy thudding of their feet. At least the designers had included more spandex than usual, so they had decent mobility. Judge had made them strip down the suit, meaning not only that they didn’t have the absorption layer, he’d ditched the in-suit drinks bag and secondary oxygen pack. Even with a reduced load the suit was easily a hundred and thirty pounds. Where the weight was no problem in zero-g, with gravity he felt like a whale on land. Had he been human he would have been sweating and making good use of the liquid cooling layer. As it was, none of them was feeling the strain.
The door at the end of the corridor opened when he approached it. Behind the door was a small, square room he assumed was an airlock. Along the walls and ceiling were rows of hooks he guessed were handholds. Once the four of them were inside, the door closed and the room moved. A warning light flashed above the next door and then it opened. Just as he had predicted, they were no longer within the gravity zone.
Rok’s feet lifted from the floor and his helmet hit the ceiling. “Crap!”
He floated in the airlock until his helmet tapped against the ceiling. “Quit griping, Rok.”
“I told you Zero-g makes me fart and now I’m stuck in a damned suit.”
Hawk sniggered. “You dealt it so it’s only right you smell it.”
At least the weight of the suit had lifted from his body. Without gravity, he had no sense of what was upright, versus not. Desperate to attach himself to anything solid he grabbed onto a handhold and pulled himself toward the door. The dome opened in front of him and for a moment he couldn’t make sense of it. It was curved the same way inside as it was out. Wide tubes ran from the wall to the center. Where the tubes met in the middle was another round shape. The tubes were transparent and he assumed absorbing light from inside the dome. Each long tube joined the round shape in the middle. Along the surface of the tubes were handholds. Gently pushing himself away from the room he reached for the first handhold.
“Tag, wait for me,” Judge said. “Rok and Hawk, stay inside the corridor.”
Appearing next to him Judge hooked a tether to his suit. He couldn’t feel Judge pat his shoulder, but he watched him move his arm. Clutching onto a handhold, he swung himself around until he was looking inside the clear tube. Thick chunks of gray machinery were held together with huge bolts. The purpose of the heavy-looking machinery wasn’t obvious, but even through his gloves there was the heavy throb of something hard at work inside.
The tube was ten feet in diameter and he continued using the handholds to pull himself along it. As he reached the end of the gray machinery, moisture had formed bubbles inside the glass. Beyond the gray was a tangled mass of greenery. It was growing wildly, the broad leaves of plants weaved together in their cramped habitat. They formed an irregular pattern of dark and light leaves, twisted in an endless embrace.
“Oxygen or food?” He asked.
“Sleepers don’t eat salad so I’m guessing oxygen,” Judge replied.
Pulling himself along the tube by each handhold he reached the round shape in the middle of the dome. It was at least fifty feet in diameter and so hot it warmed his hands through several layers of gloves. A vibration was humming through the palm of his hand and travelling up his arm. He held onto one of the handholds, his feet waved and drifted beneath him. Not that he knew which way was up anymore. Now that he was in the middle of the dome the platform leading back into the ship looked small. From outside the ship, the dome had appeared white, but from the inside it was transparent. Beyond the tiny bubble of life inside the dome was only the darkness of space.
“What’s powering this dome?” He asked.
Judge was hanging onto another handhold, but his feet were above his head. “I don’t know. Nuclear?”
Based on what Lolo had told them Lunar had developed a unique form of nuclear-based energy. She’d said it was safer and maybe it was. He continued to slowly turn. All he could see were more tubes filled with life. Some contained densely packed leaves and others were alive with insects. Insects grew fast and were more resilient in zero gravity. The enormous tubes were literally buzzing with small bodies.
The plants generated oxygen and the insects provided protein. Sleepers wouldn’t need much of either to survive. It was possible the plants and insects crammed inside the tubes served all their needs, particularly now many were dead. What he didn’t understand was how the plants and insects stayed alive. They needed more than light. The moisture inside the tubes proved they had what they needed, but there was no way to collect water in space. Someone had to be supplying the Ark.
“How are they getting water?”
“I was just wondering the same thing,” Judge replied.
Looking across the vast dome, he said, “I don’t think there’s anything we can use here.”
“No, but it raises more questions.”
Yet again all he’d found were more pieces to a puzzle he could never seem to solve. While he made his way back along the tube he stared beyond the dome at the ship. They’d been inside the shuttle bay and there was nothing to indicate another ship had ever docked, but that couldn’t be true. The plants trapped inside the tubes proved someone was keeping them alive. Even if it only met up with them once a year there had to be a supply ship. The Arks weren’t forging through space intending to colonize a new planet. In fact, the sleepers hadn’t been abandoned at all. Someone was watching their every move, making sure they had whatever they needed. The next time the supply ship came anywhere near them he intended to be awake.
Lunging from one handhold to the next, he said, “We’re not alone out here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Lost and Found
Walking along the corridor toward the second dome they each had their helmets tucked under their arms. All the first dome proved was someone was supplying the Arks. Knowing someone was docking onto the ship while everyone slept was unsettling. What else had they been doing while he was in stasis? Lolo’s story about Earth being wiped out by a virus unleashed by Lunar wasn’t adding up. Far from dumping the sleepers into space, Lunar was taking care of them, keeping them sedated in a hostile environment. Lolo believed they had been abandoned, but more likely they were being used in some way.
“How often do you think the ship is being supplied?” He asked Judge.
With his helmet under one arm, Judge’s gun arm was swinging as he walked. “I don’t know, but even recycling the water it would have to be once every five or so years.”
“We could be in for a long wait.”
“Why aren’t you surprised by this?” Judge asked. “I assumed we were alone out here.”
Everything he’d
seen on the ship indicated otherwise. The lockers hadn’t contained enough gear and many were empty. Although there were more robot bodies for Jessica and Robert they could never have supplied enough for such a long trip. With only a token gesture toward living quarters it was obvious no one was meant to live on board. The ship had blown past the original destination and now he wondered if it had been intentional. Maybe the ship wasn’t meant to stop. Now trying to imagine the ship traveling through space to a nonexistent planet he realized that was probably a lie as well.
“Do you think we’re going anywhere?”
“You know we’re not. The original destination wasn’t viable.”
“Maybe we’re not moving at all.”
Screwing up his face, Judge replied, “I suppose we could be on a wide orbit around a planet.”
“Cognitionis, is the ship moving?”
“The ship is in motion.”
“Are we going around in circles?”
“That information is not available.”
Flicking his head at Judge, he said, “A wink is as good as a nod. If Cogless won’t answer the question, then I suspect we’re not going anywhere.”
“It would explain how they’re able to keep the ship supplied.”
“And how they’re watching us.”
Nothing about the ship or its purpose surprised him anymore. Everything on it had been faked, but he still couldn’t work out why. What terrible secret was the ship hiding? Reaching the door to the next dome, Judge stopped. “Is anything about this ship real? I mean, are we even in space?”
They’d traveled through space to reach the Animax and then he’d watched it explode. Something like that wasn’t easy to fake. “I think we’re in space, otherwise how did we get to the Animax.”