Into the Void (Beyond Humanity Book 1)

by Kellie Sheridan

  "Actually," Oliver said, tensing his shoulders as though preparing for impact, "I was hoping we could talk for a minute."

  Sprocket shrugged and stepped out of the kitchen. The man was nearly a half-foot taller than Oliver, which made him look almost as slender as his wife even though his body housed a layer of lean muscle crafted from always being on the go. His skin was only a few shades lighter than his inky black hair, but his eyes were a warm brown and always shining with enthusiasm about whatever was going on around him.

  Feeling a sudden shift of tension in the air, Oliver's gaze jumped from Sprocket to Elise. Her smile had faded so a hard expression could take over her mouth and the set of her jaw. She knew what was coming even if her husband didn't realize it yet.

  "Nope," she said, reaching over to lay a hand on Sprocket's forearm. "Whatever it is, it can wait. You don’t get to put James on jobs that have him away from home for days and then not give him any time to himself while he's here. Especially now." Her eyes purposefully dropped from Oliver's face to her own stomach. The woman knew how to play the guilt card, he had to give her that much.

  Holding up his hands in surrender, Oliver grimaced and hoped he looked apologetic. "I haven't agreed to anything," he said. "But we have an incredible opportunity, and I wanted to run it by Sprocket. By both of you."

  Elise's eyes narrowed, unconvinced. They'd had opportunities before, and this wouldn't be the first time Oliver had asked his engineer and best friend to jump on a last-minute job. Still, the contract was unsigned, and the ship wasn't going anywhere without Sprocket. Even if someone could find a temporary mechanic for this job, Oliver wasn't sure he'd trust anyone else with his ship.

  Which was a problem he was going to have to deal with sooner rather than later since once the baby was born everything would change.

  But the money Oliver would make from this deal might be enough to bring in some help without having to sacrifice some of Sprocket's paycheck in the process.

  When Oliver explained the meeting he'd just had, he didn't try to downplay his excitement. And he may have left out a few of the sketchier details. He wanted to let his sincerity shine through as he ran over the details with his friends. How far out they'd get to go, how easy the job could be—it was just flying out and then back again—how well they'd be paid, plus the bonus they'd all split simply for agreeing to go quickly. A chance like this one didn't come along every day, and ten minutes later he knew both Sprocket and Elise could see that too. But it still didn’t sit well with Elise.

  "You're not even sure how long this job will take," she said. It was a fair point.

  "We'll know more once we sign the contract." At least, he hoped they would. "We've never made a trip this far, so we're not totally sure what kind of time the Lexiconis can make." Oliver risked one meaningful glance at his friend, knowing he'd be just as excited about the idea of getting to see the far reaches of the system for himself. "And maybe I can convince her to double the bonus she's offering for leaving with such short notice."

  He hadn't planned it, but Oliver would be happy to offer up his own portion of the bonus to the Walkers as further incentive. And nobody would ever need to know. Sprocket had never cared much about the financial side of the job as long as he got paid when he was supposed to and there was enough money in the ship's account to keep things running.

  "You'll have a solid nest egg to help get organized for the baby while we're gone." What Oliver didn't say but everyone probably heard was that they needed the money. Elise was a fitness instructor but hadn't been working for months since getting laid off because of her pregnancy.

  "Can we at least have some time to discuss this?" Elise asked, eyes already watering, leaving Oliver feeling like a monster.

  "Of course. But not long. I promised I'd have an answer within the hour. I'll go wait outside and give you some time to digest this and figure out what the best move is for your family."

  He left without saying anything else, knowing he had done all he could. The fact that Elise hadn't said no outright was a minor miracle. Now all that was left was waiting, pacing down the hall as he tried not to annoy Sprocket's neighbors.

  This would either happen or it wouldn't. It was out of his hands. And still, he couldn't help but picture the images he'd seen of Neptune from ships that had been lucky enough to go out that far, just because they could.

  It was a rank of explorers he desperately wanted to join.

  The door opened, and Sprocket ducked his head before stepping out into the hall. "She has conditions," he said, raising his eyebrows in amusement. Oliver's heart leapt right up to his throat. "As soon as we get back, we start looking into hiring a competent assistant for me. Someone who can keep things running when I can't be there. And then for the next six months, I don't take on any jobs that will last more than three days."

  "But we can go?" Oliver said, not daring to believe it.

  Sprocket grinned before extending his hand toward Oliver. Oliver clasped his own hand around it and shook enthusiastically. "We can go."

  Chapter Two – Evie

  After downing her third drink of the day, Evie set her empty glass down on the bar with a little too much enthusiasm before paying cash and disappearing before the bartender noticed she was due for a refill.

  The Lexiconis would take the job! She’d be off this station in just a few hours. The situation wasn’t ideal. She’d have been gone first thing that morning if she’d had her way. But she hadn’t wanted to look too desperate, or to draw the wrong kind of attention, so she’d gone for the first ship that had been recommended to her.

  And they were in. Which meant Evie couldn't wait any longer. If she was going to be away from home for two weeks or more, she was going to need some of her own things.

  It was time to go home.

  The private elevator moved quickly toward the top of Centuri Station, where her family kept a vast apartment. Technically speaking, their main home was on the surface of Mars, but since her father and brother kept their main offices here on the station, it had become most of the family's home away from home. There were only two other condos on the top level, but few families in the system had as much money as Evie's. It was a privilege Evie had enjoyed her entire life, and soon it would all come crumbling down.

  And in a very real way, it would be her fault.

  But she couldn't think about that yet. First, she had to see for herself what her family was working so hard to keep from her.

  No. First, she needed to get some clothes. Jeans, underwear. A toothbrush. Her personal portascreen so she'd have something to do on the journey besides stress and overthink every possible outcome.

  The main entryway to the apartment let her in automatically after sensing everything from her height to her eyes to her heart rate. The front hall opened into an extensively decorated living room, which her mother had poured countless hours and credits into making absolutely perfect. To Evie, it felt more like a staged show house than a place where real people lived, at least in the public rooms. This was where her father frequently brought potential business partners or simply people he wanted to impress—which was usually everyone. Evie’s life had been a near constant parade of business meetings, vacations with fellow CEOs’ families and interacting with countless other people who had a very specific idea of how members of her family should behave.

  So little of her home actually felt like somewhere Evie belonged. Everything from the hardwood flooring to the soft cream color on the walls to the vintage furniture spoke of Earth at the dawn of modern technology, an era her grandfather had helped bring to life. Her grandfather had loved everything about old Earth, so the motif had become part of the family’s image—merging the innovative attitude of years gone by with technologies that met the needs of today’s modern worlds.

  "Hello?" Evie yelled as she made her way between the living and dining areas. "Puck, is anyone else home?" she asked the home computer.

  "Negative. Mason left two hours ag
o. Your father hasn't been in since six in the morning. Louisa is scheduled to arrive within the hour," the computer said, mentioning the family cleaning lady.

  Evie's room was much more cluttered and felt more lived-in than the rest of the residence, even though she was usually only there a few days out of every month. Until recently, she'd been in school at Cambridge on Earth.

  It didn't take long for Evie to find an old backpack under her bed, something she hadn't used since high school but hadn't been able to bring herself to throw out. Both of her parents were always obsessing over the newest of everything, but Evie still loved the same things she'd loved when she'd been younger. The longer she had something, the more its value increased to her.

  Too quickly, she had everything she needed. Hopefully, the Lexiconis would have a clothing sanitization system, but even if not, she'd make do. Always traveling back and forth between Earth and Mars had made her an expert in packing lightly and efficiently.

  In the end, she only needed one extra-large handbag for bathroom essentials and things to keep her entertained. Her portascreen wouldn’t be connected to the Martian network once they were out of range, but she would still have all of her personal files, including countless hours of programs and over a thousand books. On a whim, she downloaded a few games and grabbed a couple pieces of entertainment tech, including her classic television collection, cautiously optimistic that she could encourage some of the Lexiconis' crew to keep her company when they weren't working.

  Finally, as quickly as she'd come, Evie fled the home she'd known her entire life, willing herself not to look back to take it all in. She'd be home again soon enough, and then she could decide what to do from there.

  This wasn't goodbye, merely an attempt to find the truth.

  It was easy to get lost in the crowd on the dock levels since everyone who visited the Martian section of the system stopped here first. That is, unless they had a private vessel that could take them right down to the surface. Usually, Evie found herself in the more exclusive area of the docks where the high-efficiency shuttle ran down to the capital city of Mars every half hour.

  Evie allowed herself a moment to stand back, pressing herself against the metal siding to take in everything going on around her. She was early and could spare a few minutes to catch her breath. Around her, everyone from large, impressively muscled men to young families hurried about their business. No one wanted to spend any more time than they had to in a place where someone could grab your wallet or identification and be on a ship to anywhere moments later. Some were dressed much like Evie as if they were heading to the office or a formal family dinner. Others wore outfits stained with grease, or government uniforms, commuting from different parts of the Earth-Mars divide.

  As the technology that allowed people to move between Earth and Mars increased in speed, more people were choosing to work in one area and live in another. They reaped the benefits of both the lower housing prices on Mars and the amenities of Earth. Not everyone could afford to travel as much as Evie did, but most of the population now had the freedom and accessibility to move through the system if they needed to.

  Evie's feet started moving again. Even when she wanted to dawdle, her body wanted to keep moving to get things done. She'd already memorized the information that Captain Briggs had sent over, showing where the Lexiconis was docked, and she knew the station well enough to find her way almost on autopilot.

  The outer wall of the docks held a large rounded window that looked out to the stars and the various ports and ships nearby. Evie had never been all that fascinated with the various makes and models of spacecraft available both commercially and privately, but it was hard not to marvel at the sheer variety of vessels. Most were smaller and streamlined, but others were as big as palaces, meant to ferry massive amounts of people between major hotspots in the system or to take them on extended cruises to the farthest reaches of space touched by humanity. One such ship looked to be at least thirty stories tall but sat in total darkness. Those types of trips had only just begun to go out of fashion as people started to covet vacations on Earth's surface to visit the few still standing relics of eras gone by.

  Once upon a time, Evie had thought working on a cruise vessel was damn close to her dream job. Something that would let her interact with people from all over the system and stretch her linguistic legs. But her father had long since insisted that catering to tourists was a job far below her potential.

  For three generations now, her family had been some of the most prolific inventors, creating game-changing tech that affected nearly every human in the system. Even her brother, who didn't have a talent for much more than schmoozing and drinking, had taken up the call and followed in his father's footsteps, even though Evie had never known him to create anything more imaginative than a sandwich. A fact that made up a significant part of the puzzle she was now trying to get to the bottom of.

  Before she could worry about that though, she was going to need to find Captain Briggs' ship. She was looking for dock forty-four-A. And the closer she got, as the numbers on the wall around her trekked upward, the faster her heart began to race.

  Thirty-seven-C. Evie forced herself to slow, just a little. She had time. And she'd be better prepared if she gave herself time to calm down. To brace herself.

  Thirty-nine-A. Or maybe she should double back upstairs and grab something for dinner first. She hadn't thought to ask about the food situation on board but had to hope that Captain Briggs would be more prepared than she was.

  Nope. No turning back now. Forty-two-C. She was getting on this ship as soon as possible and wouldn't be getting off until she found the answers she was looking for.

  Forty-three-B. Even better, she would find nothing at all. Evie wished for nothing more than to learn that all of her suspicions were unfounded.

  Forty-four-A. There it was. Dock forty-four, along with the S.S. Lexiconis.

  The ship she'd hired was long and elegant, with a sleek silver sheen that covered most of its birdlike hull. A few sections were painted a bold blue that reminded Evie of the evening sky back on Earth. It was bigger than she imagined for a ship crewed by only five people, but at least that meant the quarters wouldn’t be too cramped. It looked like it could sleep at least a dozen people, even with space left over for cargo.

  There was no sign of the captain or anyone else near the entrance to the dock, and a sealed security door marked the passage to the loading area. Evie probably should have taken the time to clarify what would be involved in getting on board. Now, all she could do was approach the door and hope for the best.

  Like most other doors on Centuri, this one would be pre-programmed with a very specific list of which individuals could pass through. Maybe in the past few hours someone had already thought to grant her access permissions.

  Once Evie was within two feet of the threshold the thin, electronically-lit border shifted from white to red. Access denied. A moment later, a short beep came from the screen embedded in the wall closest to her.

  "Presence detected. Someone will be with you shortly."

  Less than a minute later the door slid open, revealing Captain Briggs, who stood a few inches taller than Evie with light-brown skin and hair the color of wet sand. He had taken the time to shave away the few days' worth of reddish stubble he'd worn when they first met.

  "Captain Briggs," Evie said in greeting, her expression shifting automatically toward a smile. After a lifetime in front of cameras, it was practically habit.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to keep you waiting. And please call me Oliver. Not even my crew calls me Captain and they actually work for me."

  Evie shrugged, not sure how to respond. Through her family she'd met more well-off people than she could keep track of and absolutely everyone who owned a ship insisted on being called Captain as a point of pride. But looking at Captain Briggs' gray t-shirt and thoroughly worn out jeans, maybe this guy really wasn't that kind of captain.

  For a moment, the two
of them stood there, Evie shying away from the press of the dock's crowds while Captain Briggs stayed tucked into the quiet hallway that led to his ship. Eventually, the silence grew too heavy and he ushered her to follow him inside. It wasn't like Evie had expected a formal reception but she was starting to suspect this was going to be a quiet and potentially awkward trip.

  The hall extended for several dozen feet, but Captain Briggs stopped almost immediately at the door on the right. Another ship shared the same corridor, but its entrance was on the end and to the left.

  "This is cargo-deck-two," the captain said, waving his hand in explanation as they walked through a large empty room that stood two stories tall. It could have easily fit a small shuttle craft but held little more than a few crates.

  They exited into a narrow pathway that extended down what Evie guessed was the entire length of the Lexiconis. "The engine room is down here too, and a bit of storage space, but nothing you need to worry about."

  Rather than heading up in an elevator into the belly of the ship, Evie found herself following Captain Briggs up a stairwell. "The third level is mostly empty quarters, a couple offices and random things that we keep telling ourselves we'll find uses for, and the main computer system for the ship. Second level is where my office is, the gym, Gwynn's quarters." The captain paused, took a breath, and opened the door in front of him. "And this is our stop. Level one." Yet another hallway stood in front of Evie and her host. At least the layout of the Lexiconis would be easy to remember. "Most of us sleep here but there are still a few empty rooms. There's a bathroom on either side of the hall. You'll be sharing one with Safa on the right side. Showers, toilets. Everything else you'll need will be in your quarters. Our water system is pretty good, so long as you aren't spending whole days in the shower you should be fine on timing."