Boundary (Field Book 3)

by Simon Winstanley

  And there lay the problem.

  If she opened the hatch, she would expect to see three unoccupied recesses; when she saw four, she’d discover the deception. There was a significantly higher proportion of oxygen present in Module Beta. If she discharged the flare gun in anger then the consequences would be disastrous for everyone in hibernation.

  As the flare gun cleared the top of her pocket, he replied.

  “If he’s going to pay,” he echoed her words without reacting to the gun, “then I know the best way to achieve it.”

  He’d drawn her away from the cupola by suggesting there was something in Module Gamma, but in truth it was simply part of a larger attempt to force her into following a specific route around the Ring.

  “You mean Module Gamma?” she said.

  He nodded to maintain the deception but then saw she was smiling.

  “I didn’t think anyone else knew about it,” she shook her head, “when did you find out about Chen’s little insurance policy?”

  Clearly, Valery knew something that he didn’t, but the situation’s twisted logic wouldn’t allow him to clarify; supposedly he already knew what was within Module Gamma.

  “I found out just before hibernation,” he improvised and began moving around the Ring towards the I.A.3 door.

  With some relief, he saw that she had started to follow him again.

  “Can you believe that son of a bitch?” she spoke freely, but made no attempt to stow the gun, “If Siva was stopped by the lunar debris, he’ll simply finish the job with the nukes…”

  Miles felt the situation fall from his control as Valery continued to vent her frustration.

  “… I bet Fai could easily handle the targeting too…”

  The problem was far larger than a single flare gun.

  “… he’ll just chill for a few thousand years until the fallout clears…”

  From what Miles could now gather, Dr. Chen had nuclear weapons aboard that could obliterate any fledgling civilisation they might discover on their return to Earth.

  “… then all he’ll have to do is fire-up his precious Z-bank and… sorry, but no, he doesn’t get to dominate Earth’s future like that. Between us, we figure out a way to detonate them now…”

  Built on a bedrock of hatred for Dr. Chen, her plan to destroy the ISS was actually intended to spare any Siva survivors the horror of a nuclear death.

  “… We do it while everyone’s asleep,” she concluded, “no more suffering.”

  She had her finger poised on the flare gun’s trigger. Clearly he had to maintain her confidence.

  “No more suffering,” he agreed and opened the door for her. However, Valery now ignored his imitated gallantry.

  “Please, after you,” she waved the gun in his direction, “You make a start opening I.A.4.”

  Clearly she didn’t fully trust him.

  The original intention had been to isolate her within the airlock space between I.A.3 and 4, but this couldn’t happen if she didn’t enter.

  Swiftly he assessed his options.

  He’d disarmed people of their firearms before, but it had always been with the assistance of gravity. On Earth there was no personal consequence if a gun discharged into a wall; here the walls could puncture and the air itself could ignite. Given that she already had her finger on the trigger, he could not risk an attempt to disarm her.

  Conversely, if he delayed entering the airlock now, any possible rapport he’d built with her would vanish; as would all hope of getting her into the airlock.

  Logically, there was only one possible choice he could make. He pretended to ignore the flare gun and calmly replied.

  “Absolutely,” he manoeuvred himself in through the open door, “We ought to hurry though. Our oxygen cylinders have a relatively low operation span.”

  He pushed himself the short distance across the airlock that sat between I.A.3 and 4. With a bittersweet sense of relief he heard her close the door behind them both. This had not been the original plan but at the very least he’d succeeded in getting her into the airlock.

  He started entering the override code for I.A.4. If Mike and Cathy had done their job then the door should now be disabled.

  “Doesn’t any of this conflict with your… conditioning?” she asked.

  “There is no conflict,” he replied truthfully, “What I’m doing now, I do for the good of Mankind.”

  He finished entering the digits and the airlock panel gave a negative-sounding buzz. He only needed to check one more detail.

  “We have a problem,” he turned to face her, keeping his expression completely neutral, “My manual override isn’t working. Check your door.”

  Valery prodded at the number pad, but kept a tight grip on the flare gun’s trigger; Miles still couldn’t risk an attempt to disarm her.

  Finally, a negative buzz came from her panel.

  Valery swore and began jabbing at the buttons again. At that point Miles knew the objective had been achieved; she was contained. It was just unfortunate that he would now have to go through the uncomfortable experience ahead. In a few minutes, their O2 cylinders would become depleted and they would lose consciousness. At that point Cathy and Mike could regain entry to the airlock, reviving and detaining as appropriate.

  Valery now appeared to change her approach to accessing the panel. She held down two numbers simultaneously and the panel emitted a double beep.

  “Ha!” she smiled and began discharging Cathy’s O2 cylinder into the confined space, “We need to convince the sensors that a breathable atmosphere exists inside the airlock. The failsafe within the door will then release us.”

  He had no idea if Mike’s external deactivations would prevent this from happening, but it was possible that Valery was about to escape. There would be no second chance.

  Until now, he’d managed to avoid speaking one specific word in front of Valery. A control word that would resume two-way electronic communication.

  “Fai,” he spoke to the air.

  “Yes, Mr. Benton,” Fai’s voice sounded through the airlock’s panels.

  Valery’s eyes widened and the O2 cylinder dropped from her grip, spiralling around the small space under the force of the escaping oxygen.

  Miles pulled off his oxygen mask so that Fai could hear him clearly.

  “Can you override the internal airlock sensor?”

  “No,” came Fai’s reply.

  “But…” Valery tried to grasp the situation.

  The airlock was continuing to fill with oxygen. He needed a way to reduce it quickly. The combination of adrenaline and metathene suddenly gave him the answer; albeit an unconventional one.

  “Fai, do you still have control of the external airlock door?”

  “Yes.”

  “Vent the atmosphere until we pass out,” Miles instructed her.

  “External Variables thirteen and fifteen have insufficient protection from the -”

  “It’s the only way to save the other… variables!” he interrupted.

  Valery, who had listened to the rapid exchange in a state of utter confusion, suddenly raised the flare gun in his direction.

  “Variables? What the hell are -”

  “Context, Fai!” Miles shouted over Valery, “Do you understand?”

  For a moment, all that could be heard was the hissing of the oxygen cylinder, but then Fai replied:

  “I understand and comply.”

  He saw Valery’s mental state tip.

  “Fai!” she tore off her mask, “You get this internal door open! Now!”

  There was a low, motorised noise from within the external door. He had to hope that Cathy would still follow the original plan and bring oxygen when she reopened the airlock. As the external airlock started to hiss, Valery levelled the flare gun at his face.

  “For the good of Mankind,” she attempted to use the redundant control phrase, “Tell her to get this internal door open!”

  He needed just a few more seconds.


  “Fai,” he spoke and could hear a light ringing in his ears.

  The gun wavered slightly; Valery was either trying to see his face more clearly, or hypoxia was beginning to affect her too.

  “Yes, Mr. Benton?” Fai replied.

  “For the good of Mankind…” he paused as the edges of his vision began to fall into shadow, “… Assist Anna.”

  Fighting unconsciousness, the ego-morph within him saw the thought cross Valery’s mind; the micro-muscular reactions that were the precursor to a defiant action.

  Her furious scream sounded watery and muted as she swung the flare gun away and tried to aim for the slowly spiralling oxygen cylinder.

  He knew what would follow.

  •

  From the corner of his vision, Mike saw a pulsing warning light on the external airlock at the side of him. He saw thin filaments of oxygen escaping from around the perimeter of the airlock door.

  “What the hell…?” he began.

  In perfect silence, he saw the oxygen ignite and, amid a seething mass of orange fire, the airlock disintegrated into a twisted mess of jagged metal and magnesium white sparks.

  In the vacuum, the explosion had created no air displacement to push him away, but several pieces of debris hit the side of his helmet and spacesuit. By the time he’d recovered his senses and turned to face the gaping wound in the Ring, the fire was already out.

  “Cathy!” he yelled into the open comm.

  “I see it!” she shouted, “Shit! Is that…?”

  Receding from him among the expanding debris, Mike could see Miles; horribly burned and in the final stages of asphyxiation. Without thinking twice, he unclipped his tether.

  “Cathy!” he shouted, launching himself after Miles, “Find me an open door!”

  “I’m on it!”

  He pulled in the loose end of the tether and, still keeping track of where Miles was, began forming a rough loop of cord. As he closed in on Miles, he continued to sweep jagged pieces of debris aside to clear a path.

  Miles’ arms and legs had stopped moving.

  He knew he couldn’t risk throwing the loop around Miles; that might put himself into an uncontrolled spin. He’d have to wait until their relative speeds allowed him to slowly place the loop.

  Miles’ ankle was almost in range so Mike reached out with his looped cord.

  “Come on…” he muttered and stretched his arm out further.

  His spacesuit master alarm sounded. The tone told him that it was an environment breach. Evidently shrapnel had caused damage to the suit; damage that had only been exacerbated by him pushing the suit’s joint limit.

  “Cathy?” he called, still with his arm outstretched, “New problem.”

  Miles’ foot passed through the loop and Mike pulled the cord tightly closed. He began to haul in his catch until he could get a more secure grip.

  “Axial airlock two,” Cathy came back, “It’ll be the closest to you by the time you reach the other end of the central axis. I’m on my way. What new problem?”

  “Suit breach, hurry.”

  As their combined momentum carried them onward, they turned about their common centre of gravity. The twisted aftermath rotated into view.

  The once perfect Ring was broken in one jagged place by the absence of the airlock.

  “Fai, give me a pressure check on the Ring at I.A.3 and 4.”

  It was difficult to tell, but it appeared that the internal airlock doors had survived.

  “Pressure nominal,” she replied.

  The central axis swept into view and he thrust out his gloved hand, looking for any form of grip. Their momentum carried them, roughly scraping along the central axis modules, until the tether snagged on a protruding section and jarred them to a halt, still several feet away from their destination. Wasting no time, Mike wrapped some of the tether around his wrist and freed the rest of it from the protrusion, then began using handholds on the modules to pull himself along the surface, dragging Miles behind him.

  “Airlock open!” Cathy’s voice crackled through the persistent master alarm.

  When there were only a few feet to go, he stopped and hauled hard on the cord, sending Miles accelerating ahead of him.

  “Close it!” he shouted.

  As Miles sailed in through the open doorway, Mike saw the door begin to close. With a last push, he aimed himself in the direction of the airlock. The tether tying the two of them together snapped taught and Mike received a jolt of acceleration, whilst at the other end Miles was brought to a sudden stop inside the airlock.

  As the alarm continued to explain the obvious to him, he forced his hand out to meet the edge of the closing door. His gloved fingers connected with the metalwork and Mike pulled himself inside. There followed a painful few seconds of waiting while the door continued to slowly close.

  Above the incessant whine of the suit alarm, he heard Cathy telling him that the airlock was cycling and to hold on. When he looked at Miles though, he feared they may already be too late.

  •

  At the centre of Module Alpha, the three fabricator machines completed the task that Fai had set before their journey had begun. It had been several hours since the airlock event, so she opened the communication channel again.

  “My apologies for the interruption at this time.”

  “Go ahead, Fai,” Cathy replied.

  “Number4 is ready.”

  MARKED

  DAY28 : 09APR2107

  Cassidy exited the spiral stairs at floor Sub-13. So far below the Node’s ground level, the small radius of the floor meant it was impractical to further divide the space into segments. Sub-13 was a complete circle and similar in size to Gail Armstrong’s observatory at the Node’s summit.

  Before the Field had been engaged, the Node and the surrounding base had drawn their power from geothermal energy. Sub-13 was the lowest floor directly accessible via the staircase and was filled with geothermal exchange equipment. Cassidy picked her way between the upper workings of the heat exchange rods that were currently retracted from the Icelandic landscape.

  This far down, there was only maintenance lighting and personnel traffic was almost non-existent; several days ago, it had been the perfect place for Cassidy, Tyler, and Danny to first meet Kate.

  Behind an inactive geothermal monitoring station, Cassidy could see the bluish glow of a laptop screen casting its pale light onto the wall.

  “Over here,” came Kate’s voice.

  “Ty gave me your message,” Cassidy walked between the bulky machinery, “Surprised you’d want to meet down here.”

  “No surveillance,” Kate briefly smiled and closed her laptop, “human or otherwise. Thanks for coming down.”

  “Where’s your shadow?” Cassidy sarcastically referred to Scott Dexter.

  Kate gave a smile but it was only fleeting, “Any news about Danny?”

  Cassidy shook her head and sat down next to her on an uncomfortable chair.

  “It’s been five days, Kate. No word at all. Ty’s seen meals being delivered to the infirmary, so I reckon Danny’s gotta be alive.”

  “Oh, I’m sure of that,” said Kate, “Barnes needs to look above reproach. I guess Tyler’s not seen him?”

  “Nah, Barnes is still hiding in his quarters,” Cassidy said, “How about you? Did you manage to come up with anything we can use?”

  Kate shook her head and turned to face her.

  “We can’t just ‘bust him out’. There’s nowhere to run,” Kate shrugged, “Any solution is likely to be, er… political. I’m finding it difficult to focus at the moment… I’ve been…”

  Kate turned away again, looking at her closed laptop. Cassidy could tell she was probably thinking about her father’s DRB message again; the hundreds of images and equations that had saved the Node, but had failed to save him.

  “I’m sorry, Kate,” she consoled.

  “Eh?” Kate looked momentarily confused but then recovered, “Yeah. My dad’s slate messag
e. At least he got to say goodbye.”

  “Did they ever work out what the ones and zeros were for?”

  “I don’t know,” Kate replied, “But I think I’ve worked something out.”

  “What do they mean?” Cassidy leaned closer.

  “Sorry, Cassy,” she replied, “I was talking about, er… something completely different. I’m afraid my mind isn’t what it used to be…”

  Cassidy knew this was true; Kate’s health had rapidly deteriorated recently. Sometimes even simple words would apparently escape her.

  “Barnes had everyone’s blood checked for a reason,” said Kate, “I think he’s looking for markers.”

  “Genetic markers? Like your metathene, cortical receptor, thing? Oh shit!” Cassidy realised, “Danny’ll have the same markers as you!”

  “Maybe not exactly the same markers, but Barnes will be looking for, er… anomalies, certainly,” Kate stared at her crutches leaning against the monitoring station, “Being hit by a dose of his metathene didn’t work out too well for me. But I’m thinking it might work out better for others.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Cassidy suddenly stood and kicked the metal panelling, “Barnes is trying to find out if anyone else has got the cortical marker! He doesn’t know how many, so he’s testing everyone!”

  “Yes,” Kate nodded, “You’ve heard his speeches? He’s all about protecting the human evolutionary chain. Remaining strong. Weakest links. If there are people inside the Node with, er, genetic differences or augmentations, he’ll see it as a threat.”

  Cassidy realised something and sat back down heavily.

  “The bloodwork was completed ages ago. They must already have a list by now.”

  Kate sighed and rubbed at the centre of her forehead before speaking.

  “I think Danny was picked to deliver a message to Colonel Beck because he had the right markers, genetically and, well, facially. Barnes’ next move will be to publicly link Exordi Nova and the presence of the genetic marker.”

  “But that’s bullshit!” Cassidy scoffed at the thought, “He can’t do that!”