Project Emergence

by Jamie Zakian

  Soft yet firm fingers clutched her hand once again, and she grinned.

  “I can’t go anywhere. We haven’t officially met yet.”

  Joey settled back, imagining a sexy face to go along with that smooth hand.

  ***

  Gravity kicked Sabrina’s feet to the ground, and her stomach dropped. She looked at Reyes, who reached for the unlock button on his armrest.

  “Can you just do ours?”

  “Sure.” Reyes tapped a small gray button, climbed from his chair, and unfastened Sabrina’s lock.

  When she jumped to her feet, her knees wobbled. A buzz stung her ears, and faces spun. She teetered backward, but didn’t fall. Reyes had gripped onto her waist, his strong hands holding her steady.

  “Inhale slow,” Reyes whispered, his breath prickling her neck. “And exhale. Better?”

  “Yeah.” Her palms fell atop his hands, which tightened their hold. “That was …”

  “Disorienting,” Reyes pitched in. “You’ll have that your first time up. You should be all good now.” He released his grasp, slowly, and she stepped to the middle of the room.

  “All right everybody, quiet down. I need your attention. I’m Captain Sabrina St—”

  “I can’t get out.”

  “Yeah, my lock’s stuck too.”

  “You can’t keep us here like this.”

  “I think I’m gonna puke.”

  Sabrina rubbed the bridge of her nose as if that could somehow quell her tension. She looked at her watch, the numbers ticking away. The squawk of worried voices rose, spiking her already frayed nerves. Her glare drifted to Reyes, seeking a solution, but the man merely shrugged.

  Babbles overshadowed her grumbles and she pulled a thin nightstick from her belt. Its long metal arm extended outward with the twist of her wrist, yet the whiny rubble grew. She banged the baton on a steel beam, a loud clank filling the room.

  “Shut up!”

  The chatter trickled down, and Sabrina smirked, snapping the skinny rod to a close.

  “I’m Captain Stone,” she said, clipping the weapon back onto her U.N.E. issued utility belt. “Everything is fine, and you’ll all be released in a matter of moments. So just hang tight. Please.”

  A stray whisper peeped here and there, and she motioned for Reyes to join her.

  “That was tactful,” Reyes mocked, with a cocky grin slathered on his face.

  She peered up at the man, holding a blank gaze. Her mountains of self-control were fortunate, for him, since the big ones always fall hard. “I want all these kids confined to their rooms immediately, along with unessential crew members. A total ship lockdown.”

  Reyes snickered, glancing at the scores of teenagers crammed into the large room. “That’s gonna be damn hard to do.”

  “No harder than finding a bomb on a four-story spaceship.” A tiny boulder crumbled from the peak of self-control mountain, and she jabbed his chest. “I don’t care what you gotta do. Make up an excuse. Drag their little asses to the sleeping quarters one by one if you have to. Just do it!”

  The thrill of barking orders put a little skip in her step as she walked from the launch bay. “Amateur,” she muttered, hurrying down the hallway.

  ***

  Joey watched the brash woman thrust her finger into a man’s chest. Not just an average man either. This guy’s arms were the largest she’d ever seen, like the bare tree limbs in her old picture books, and almost the same shade of sepia.

  While squeezing Chuck’s hand, Joey whispered, “What’s the deal with the captain lady?”

  “She’s some kinda specialist. Security, I think ‘cause my dad said to do whatever she tells me. No matter what.”

  The woman stormed from the room, leaving the muscleman alone upfront.

  “Ladies and gentleman, there has been a minor malfunction in a few corridors. For your own safety, please report to your assigned rooms until further notice.” He pointed to a camera on the ceiling, his eyes scanning the room. “And remember, we are always watching.”

  After a beep and a click, the thin strap fell from Joey’s hard restraint. She pushed the bar up and climbed from her seat. One glimpse of the sexy voice guy triggered her heart to pound. It was deafening in her own ears. She could only pray the gorgeous boy in front of her couldn’t hear it.

  Joey racked her brain for a witty comment. Empty … except for, dang he’s cute, and that was not flying from her mouth. Thankfully, Jesse started to cart her away. “I’ll catch up with you, Chuck.”

  He waved, and she stumbled, shrugging it off before turning toward Jesse.

  “You move quick,” Jesse taunted.

  “Awesome day!” She shadowed her brother through the flood of people, rode in an elevator, but her mind still lingered in that place where a not-my-sibling boy held her hand. They stepped into the landing of the main level, and she turned right as Jesse veered left.

  “B-wing is this way,” she said, stopping amid the crowd of pushing people.

  “We’re in A-wing,” Jesse said, reaching into the pocket of his jeans.

  “Nope! B-1. See.” Joey shoved her registration sheet into Jesse’s hand. She watched his face drop while studying the two papers.

  “I’m in A-1.”

  “Oh no. There must be a mistake.” Joey turned and grabbed onto the first uniformed man who strolled by. “Sir, there’s been a mix-up. My brother and I are in separate rooms.”

  “Boys and girls don’t bunk together on this bus, miss.”

  “But he’s my brother. We’ve always slept in the same room. Always.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  She turned on a full pout, but the dumb jerk wouldn’t budge.

  Jesse pulled her into the center of the landing. “It’s not that bad.” He pointed to the second corridor. “B-1 is the first door in that hall.” Turning, he gestured the other way. “And A-1 is right there. We’re real close. That’s actually insanely lucky.”

  The crowd thickened, carrying her from Jesse’s side. “Hey! Come find me when we get out.” She bobbed up to see over the many heads only to glimpse more heads. “Jesse?”

  “I will. Joey, I—”

  Joey could no longer hear Jesse’s voice or spot him within the swarm of faces. Her head drooped, and she trudged toward B-wing. She reached for her doorknob, stopping to gawk at a smooth gray slab. No handle, keypad, or buttons. A groan scraped past her throat, her hands hoisting into the air. Not even five minutes on her own, and she’s a bumbling fool.

  “It’s fingerprint activated,” a bubbly girl exclaimed. “Just touch right there.”

  “Thanks! I’m Joey by the way.”

  “I’m Trisha, B-23. You scored B-1, lucky,” she said, moseying backward down the hall. “I heard the first and last units on this bus are extra big. Maybe I can stop by later? Check it out?”

  “Yeah sure. After our mini-incarceration.”

  “Cool.” Trisha waved. “Later!”

  Joey touched her thumb to a nearly invisible square pad, and the door slid open. At first, the soft cushiony bed caught her stare. Then her gaze wandered to gleaming metal furniture before she spotted Kami. “I should’ve known; the coincidences were piling up.”

  “I mean, obviously my brother and I were going to assign ourselves the closest rooms,” Kami said as though every member of the human race should know better. “And after we met you guys, we knew you’d wanna be close too.”

  “Thank you! And apparently this is supposed to be an extra-large room.”

  “It is.” Kami grabbed Joey by the hand and pulled her inside. “This is your bed, plus you have your own desk and dresser.” Her hand swept the air as she presented the area. “This is our own bathroom.” She ripped open a thin door. “With personal shower. Sweet.”

  “I think this room is bigger than the one I had at home.”

  “Really, oh well … I guess you’re moving up in the universe.”

&nb
sp; “Yeah.” Joey snickered. “So what are we gonna do in here for the next few hours?”

  Kami strutted to her bed and sprawled out. She grabbed a small gadget from her pillow, whisking her finger across its screen.

  “What’s that?” Joey asked as she plopped on the edge of Kami’s bed.

  “It’s my handheld. I’m chatting with Rai.” Kami spun toward Joey, rolling onto her knees. “Huh!”

  “What?”

  “You wanna go chill with our brothers?”

  “How’s that gonna work? The door locks are disabled. We’re stuck in here.”

  “Please. I can hack the locks and Rai’s into the camera feed. He says the halls are empty. So … you wanna?”

  “Absolutely!”

  ***

  The lock clinked after Jesse stepped into his room, its green light flashing to red.

  “Like rats in a cage.”

  Jesse followed the bland voice to see Rai behind a desk, zoned into a laptop. “Awesome. We’re roommates.”

  “It was Kami’s idea,” Rai said, tearing his eyes from his screen. “After we met you guys in line, she wanted me to swap a few things in the manifest.” He shot one of those “sorry, bro” glares, and then sunk back behind his laptop.

  “Wow. You’re pretty quick with that thing. Hey, how’d you get your gear from the locker room and beat me here?”

  “Anyway,” Rai snickered, his face glued to the screen. “I shoved this baby down my shirt before liftoff. Like I’d get caught with my tech down. It’s a good thing too; most of the ship’s electronics are offline. There must’ve been a major malfunction.”

  Jesse dashed behind the desk, hovering over Rai’s shoulder. “Really! Are we in trouble?”

  Rai stopped typing. He cleared his throat, head rotating to the side. “Personal space.”

  Leaning closer, Jesse pointed to a line of letters and numbers. “All electronics are down.”

  “You can read code?” A hint of a grin broke Rai’s glower as he returned to pounding keys. “Yeah, it’s weird. Almost like something’s jamming all high-frequency waves. Space! That’s why I lined my motherboard with lead.” An alert popped onto the screen, and he chuckled. “The girls are coming.”

  “Joey and Kami?”

  “Yep.” Rai hit the Enter key and a small screen with a live camera feed appeared in the corner of his display. “See.”

  Jesse watched his sister and Kami sneak from their room in a near comical attempt at stealth. “You got a visual. How?”

  “I’m diverting power, trying to get the system back up, but it keeps crashing. I can only get …” his voice trailed off, and his fingers flew over the keys “… a few minutes at a time.”

  Their lock clicked, and the door slid open. Joey burst into the room while Kami moseyed in after.

  “Oh my God. My heart’s pounding,” Joey said, clutching onto her chest.

  “You guys are so cookie,” Kami teased, slinking beside her brother.

  “No we’re not.” Joey crossed her arms, inching her way to Rai’s other side. “What’s that mean?”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Rai said. “Kami has verbal diarrhea.” When Joey chuckled, he glanced up from his screen. His hands left the keys, and he turned to smile at her.

  “So, what’s the big emergency?” Kami said, kicking Rai’s foot.

  “This ship’s a piece of junk,” Jesse groaned, hands slapping his sides.

  “Right,” Rai said, still staring at Joey. “No!” He spun back to his laptop, typing as if he never missed a beat. “Somebody’s definitely overriding the system. It’s, like, a total tech blackout.”

  “You got cameras though, right?” Kami asked.

  “Yeah, but only a few minutes in each section.”

  “That’s plenty of time,” Kami said through a smirk. “Start snooping. Let’s see what’s going down.”

  ***

  Sabrina walked to the end of D-wing, stopping at the last entrance. She tapped the keypad, and peeked inside as the door slid open. Steel plated everything, including the bathroom sink. The gleam was enough to ward her away, except the fluffy bed, and its promise of sleep, lured her into the room.

  “Swanky digs.”

  She glided her hand along cool metal as she crept around a small desk. The momentary gawk ended on her personal locker. She rushed forward and flung open its thin door. Her tactical vest, which she had gotten the first day out of officers academy, brought a smile to her lips. She slipped her arms inside and tugged the worn zipper. Thin body armor hugged her chest, providing a safe and snug feeling, like a second skin.

  As she lugged a large metal case to her desk, a knock rattled the door. Beneath a mini stockpile of weapons and gadgets, she found the remote and tapped the door button. Her gaze remained fixed on her case, fingers fumbling with its numeric lock, but she could tell Reyes walked into the room. His clunky steps announced him from a mile away.

  “You’re really going on this wild goose chase, aren’t you?” Reyes said.

  Without a word, Sabrina walked across the room, handed Reyes a thick file, then returned to her desk. She loaded the pockets of her tactical vest, waiting for snarky comments. They never came. Against her better judgment, she looked up from her desk. The papers shook in Reyes’ hand. He stood frozen in the doorway, his face twisted in shock. Her gaze sank back to the tech strewn across her desk. The man needed a reality check; his badgering verged obstruction. Though in hindsight, she could have been gentler.

  “They never made it,” he said in a quaver. “The ships never got to Mars.” His hand dropped to his side, the papers crinkling within his clutch. “My brother was on that last vessel.”

  A long rush of air streamed from Sabrina’s lips. Fatalities were just numbers to her. Years of wading through sun-scorched bodies in the streets of burned cities had veiled the fact that statistics were actually people with actual loved ones.

  “I’m sorry, Reyes. I didn’t know that.” She fastened a stun gun to her belt and walked toward the shaken man. “But we don’t have to die up here too. If you help me and we stop this attack, then we’ve beaten those Earth-heads for good.”

  “They may have already won.” Reyes slumped against the doorframe, taking a quick swipe at his glossy eyes. “Mars is empty. Nobody’s been there to monitor and control the rate of terra formation. Anything could be happening on that planet right now. Even if we do survive this flight, we could be landing in a deathtrap.”

  “Whoa, man. One problem at a time.” Sabrina doubled back to her desk and grabbed a tablet from her case. “I gotta find a bomb.” She squeezed past Reyes, their eyes connecting for a brief second. Once inside the quiet hall, where intense leers didn’t fly her way, she switched on her lead-encased tablet.

  “I’m coming with you,” Reyes said, jogging to her side.

  So much for the peace and quiet of an explosives hunt. “Fine. Just don’t get in my way.”

  Chapter Four

  His vision blurred. A throb pulsated from his temples, hit his spine, and ricocheted into every nerve ending.

  “What … did I get knocked out?” he muttered. A sticky warmth matted his hair. He grabbed his head, his grip sliding atop slick skin. “What is this?” He lifted his hand in front of his eyes, straining to see.

  “Bloody fingertips. Bumpy takeoff.”

  Beyond his hand, a flash of light caught his eye. His sight cleared, metal grate filtered in, and … “My bomb,” he yelled. “I have to go now. Before we get too far away.”

  He squirmed beneath the floor, wrangling a handheld from his pocket. “No juice. Not possible!” He wacked the screen then tapped the power button in a frenzy. “I’ll do it by hand then. It’s more fitting. I am the hand of God.”

  ***

  Sabrina stopped in front of a door marked A-1. “Huh, that’s strange. I was picking up a slight amount of interference from this room, but it’s gone now. Must’ve been a glitch.” S
he scanned the map on her screen again, and still nothing. Only forty-five minutes left on the jammer; they might not make it. Though it wasn’t easy, she ignored the dread that wormed its way into her gut and headed for the elevator. “We’ll have to literally run through each level, search by eye.”

  “Wait!” Reyes gripped her shoulder, and she latched onto his wrist. She could flip this man onto his back in a heartbeat. It sure would surprise the hell out of Reyes and fully entertain her. As much as she wanted to, there was no time for fun. She released her clutch on Reyes and walked away, leaving the man flustered in the center of the hallway.

  The floor shook as Reyes hurried to Sabrina’s side. He glanced at her then darted his stare away, opening the top button of his shirt. “Our foreign matter sensors really do work. I ran a scan, personally, while you talked with the pilot, and all these decks were clear.”

  “It has to be somewhere.”

  “The only area without sensors is the lower level. It’s all maintenance tunnels and heavy machinery.”

  Sabrina folded her thin tablet and shoved it into the side pocket of her vest. “Perfect. Let’s go.”

  ***

  Joey pressed her ear against a cold metal door, listening to a jumble of muffled voices on the other side. After a moment of silence, she spun to face the room. Everybody crowded around Rai’s desk, staring at her, and she shrank back. “I could barely hear.”

  “You didn’t hear anything?” Kami asked.

  “It sounded like they were looking for something.”

  Rai stole quick glances at Joey as he typed on his laptop, hurling little smiles her way. “Did they say where they were going?”