by Travis Sande
The crew suddenly felt a sense of extreme violation and exacerbated claustrophobia. Now they were isolated even further, confined to the bridge itself. Everyone took several breaths of the newly filter air and began regaining some semblance of self. Hank was the first to break the silence.
“Sorry, Kim.” Hank attempted to compensate for his lack of judgement while under the effects of the contaminant.
Kim stared directly ahead, ignoring Hank’s attempts. The moment lingered awkwardly before being disrupted by Eilik’s translator. "Speed has been reduced to eighty-five percent of maximum. It appears the rate of deceleration is increasing." Eilik suddenly reminded everyone of the other issue they faced.
"How much time do we have before we reach a potential destination?" Lorn asked.
"If the rate of deceleration doesn't remain constant it will be impossible to tell." Yanna spoke up to answer the commander.
"Give me a ballpark." Lorn fought for an answer from the crew.
"Less than two hours." Eilik estimated.
"We need to prep this bomb, now. Ben, Yanna, I need you to get in suits and move to the aft of the ship. Derrick and Hank, you need to escort them and plant the bomb. Eilik start pulling up blueprints and tell them the best place to put it. Sian, I need you to join them in case there are any other biological attacks waiting back there. Kim, Nik, and Eilik, we need to figure out the extent that this thing has invaded our systems. Let's go." Lorn said.
Derrick, Hank, Yanna, Ben, and Sian all jumped to their feet and started getting into flight-suits. They had no idea what lay beyond the door of the bridge, but they had to hurry.
"The ship will not have power as Eilik has isolated the bridge. Make sure to use your suit lights and stay together." Lorn stood to assist Ben into his suit.
"We know this thing has flooded the decks with a gas, so we need to anticipate further confrontation." Sian moved to a locker on the bridge and grabbed an emergency medical kit.
"Should I make a stop for a rifle on the way?" Hank asked.
Lorn finished helping Ben and turned to address Hank. "No, we don't have time for that. If it's on your way, grab it. If you have to detour too far don't bother."
Derrick recalled that Hank had dropped the rifles to help move Luke in the engineering section. It would be too risky to go back in there to get the rifles.
Hank clearly agreed, "There should be a pistol in the locker outside the rec area. I will use that." he said.
"How long will it take you too to rig up an explosive in the bio lab?" Derrick asked Ben.
"It won't take us long once we are there. How are we detonating it?" Ben was capable of handling the biochemistry of the matter but shied away from the electrical side.
Yanna ran to her station and quickly opened a side panel near it. Grabbing a few pieces of electronics, she returned to the group. "I need Sian to help me in the infirmary. If we remove Luke’s CCD, I can wire it to receive a message from Hank. When the message is received it will detonate." She said.
The grisly nature of Yanna’s words were almost entirely disregarded. Given their dire circumstances, everyone knew that all resources at their disposal would need to be utilized.
"That sounds like a plan to me, is everyone suited up and ready to go?" Hank moved to the door, once again illustrating his new-found apathy.
"We don't know if laughing gas is the extent of this thing’s bio attack. I would recommend everyone get into suits since we will be opening the door. Have Kim run a scan once the bridge is sealed again." Sian suggested. “I don’t know how this thing knows how to target our physiology so accurately.”
“Not entirely accurate in its attempt, the Vryl are immune to the effects of nitrous oxide.” Ben said as he finished climbing into his flight suit.
"Sian’s right, everyone suit up." Lorn moved to the main flight-suit locker onboard the bridge and began handing everyone their emergency suits.
The rest of the crew started preparing for the door of the bridge to be opened. Every crew member was fitted for their main flight-suits that now rest in their quarters. In case of emergency, several access points around the ISO would hold duplicate suits for circumstances such as these. Once the crew was safely behind their face shields, Hank nodded to the commander. Lorn nodded back and Hank approached the door. "We ready?" Hank said as he prepared to open it.
"The ideal location for the bomb will be at the aft section of the rec area. There is a lounging area that is immediately above our engines in engineering. That will cause the largest explosion if that is your goal." Eilik had accessed the ship schematic and was relaying information to the rest of the crew from his station.
"The small lounging spot under the canopy of trees at the back? I know where that is." Derrick knew exactly where Eilik was suggesting.
"Good, you can guide me." Hank said. "Let's get this started.”
Hank turned his head to the four crew behind him, they all nodded agreement. They were ready to walk off the bridge and into the unknown. None of them knew what lay beyond as Hank approached the door. His giant frame silhouetted against the ominous door was burned into Derrick's mind.
Chapter 13
Self-Destruct
The doors to the bridge slid open as Hank moved toward them. The corridor was dark, and the galley wasn't quite visible out the far end. Hank pushed through the entrance and beckoned for the rest to join, gesturing over his shoulder. Derrick was the last through the doorway; bringing up the rear as they began moving through the darkness. The ship that was once their home for the last six months felt alien. Empty and dark as the emergency lighting flashed overhead.
"I say we leave our suit lights off for now, don't draw any unneeded attention. The emergency lighting will suffice for our transit to the upper deck." Sian's voice came over the comms within the suits.
"Agreed, keep it stealthy as long as you can back there." Lorn was listening in on their channel.
“We need to stick together, how long do you two need in the infirmary to get Luke’s CCD?” Hank asked as they approached the entrance.
“Not long, I just need it removed, if the body of the device is maintained, I will be able to wire it as a detonator. I just need the CCD connection interface to be intact.” Yanna was quick to respond as Sian opened the door and the two moved inside.
“We will stay in the entrance and wait for you.” Hank took up a position with Derrick and Ben, holding the entrance of the infirmary open. Hank peered outside to ensure nothing was incoming. “Let’s go, it doesn’t have to be pretty.”
Sian quickly moved to a table and grabbed the scalpel Hank used earlier to cut Luke free from his suit. With incredible precision given the circumstances, Sian was able to quickly cut the device free from Luke’s right atm. Handing the blood-soaked device to Yanna before calling out over comms. “We have it.”
Yanna snatched a small cloth from one of the underside compartments of the exam table and immediately started wiping the blood off the device. She wasted no time starting her operation, working on the CCD as they moved back out of the infirmary and toward the galley.
Yellow lights ricocheted off the metal furniture of the vacant dining area. The five of them held a tight formation as they moved through. Hank was the first to reach the upper deck access. With the power off, he would need to do a manual override. Popping the panel open, he began entering his security clearance codes. A second pop signaled the crack of the automated door as the mechanisms holding it in place came loose. Hank moved forward and grabbed the left section of the door. Pushing it slowly to avoid making any sound, he slid it open.
"Let's get upstairs." Hank said as he squeezed through the open section. For everyone else in their party it would be an easy fit. Hank's girth added a bit of challenge when traversing a single side of a double door entry.
Derrick was still bringing up the rear of the group as he could see them starting up the stairwell. Derrick’s gaze lingered in the direction of the engineering section. The
hair on the back of his neck stood as he thought he could make out a feint glow through the seal in the door whenever the emergency lights went dark. He tried to ignore the sight and stay focused on their mission. Whatever was happening beyond that engineering door would be irrelevant if they successfully detonated this bomb. Derrick turned his attention back to the upper deck access and pushed forward. He took one last look behind him into the galley before he ducked into the stairwell; he wanted to make sure nothing was following them.
"Top is clear." Hank said over comms as he reached the top of the stairwell.
"Yanna and I are moving into the bio lab." Ben quickly responded.
Derrick climbed the last few stairs just in time to see Yanna disappear inside the bio lab. Hank and Sian both remained in the corridor ahead. Hank’s large frame was being lit in a strobe-like fashion as Derrick watched him push forward. Moving slowly up the left side pressed tight to the wall, Derrick thought he must have been retrieving the pistol he mentioned earlier.
"Let's get inside the bio lab entry, this corridor feels exposed." Derrick said as he moved into the corridor behind them.
"You two get inside, I will meet you there." Hank said as he opened the locker and retrieved the pistol.
Derrick and Sian ducked inside the bio lab decontamination room. Derrick could see Ben and Yanna working inside through the transparent walls. Derrick was grateful for the lack of main power to the section. After his experience earlier with the decontamination mist and giant shadow, he didn’t want to relive anything like that. Looking back inside he noticed Yanna was stationary at the workstation as Ben frantically searched for ingredients.
"Derrick, where is the surplus fertilizer?" Ben came in over comms.
"It's at the rear of the garden, there's an automated distributer that you can access with your bio lab code. Just open it up." Derrick responded quickly.
"How long?" Hank asked as he backed into the decon section with Sian and Derrick. His eyes were wide as he continued to survey the corridor.
"Not long, just setting it up now, as soon as Ben brings the fertilizer we should be good. I am programming this to your CCD Hank. It will be a single button activation under the heading 'Bomb'. Be careful, once you have access, any message you send to it will detonate the bomb so please, like I said, be careful." Yanna moved quickly, adjusting several pieces of electronics. Derrick couldn’t make out exactly what she was doing.
"I got it." Hank looked at his CCD screen and noticed the addition of the contact named bomb. "I see it."
"Good." Yanna looked up from her task, searching for Ben.
Derrick could see Ben returning from within the greenhouse, he must have retrieved the necessary materials. Ben’s struggle to remember the location of greenhouse supplies was a clear indicator of just how much control Derrick had overtaken in regard to the garden.
"This should be enough." Ben said as he reached Yanna at the table.
"That's more than enough, this thing isn't the real bomb. The real explosion will be the engines below us. This thing is just going to be our ignition switch." Yanna said. "I am good to finish in here, you can join them outside."
Ben exited into the decon area and moved past Derrick to gain Hank’s side. The two of them poked their heads out into the corridor and looked back and forth a few times.
"See anything?" Derrick whispered.
"Still clear. What is this thing waiting for?" Ben was referring to the entity attached to the ship, nerves must have been getting to him.
"I don't know, but let's not wait to find out." Yanna said as she entered the decon area and handed the bomb to Hank.
"Ok, Derrick, show me where to put this thing." Hank grabbed the makeshift device from Yanna and prepared to move out.
Derrick nodded and exited into the corridor. Hank followed him closely as they left the rest behind in the bio lab entrance. Hank arrived at the rec area door and input his security clearance once more. The doors popped, and Hank pushed the left door to the side.
"You guys can head back to the bridge." Hank turned to say to the other three waiting in the bio lab entrance.
"We need to prep for the explosion. Ben, Sian, and Yanna, grab some rations from the galley on your way through. There should be an emergency release container at the bottom of each dispenser." Lorn's voice returned to the conversation. "Kim and Nik are both working on medical supplies from the infirmary as we speak."
"We’re almost done" Kim's voice came over the comms.
"Yes sir, be safe you two." Ben replied to the commander's orders.
"We will see you down there." Derrick responded to the comm activity as he allowed Hank to move ahead of him, leading the way with his pistol drawn.
The rec area was dark, strobing yellow light pulsed to reveal Hank moving away in increments. Complete darkness saturated Derrick's surroundings between pulses. It was a very unsettling experience to be moving through the room at nearly a jog to keep pace with Hank. Absolute darkness engulfing him every other second with only flashes of light to guide his path. Derrick did his best to keep up with Hank and soon they were near their destination. They approached the canopy section Eilik had marked for the bomb. Lighting went out and with the next strobe Hank was stopped and facing Derrick.
"Jesus!" Derrick exclaimed as the sudden change startled him.
"Sorry, where are we putting it?" Hank was whispering now.
"It should be right over here. I will light it for you." Derrick turned his light on the dimmest setting and illuminated the lounging chair.
"Keep your light on it." Hank said as he moved into position.
Derrick couldn't help but notice that they were planting the explosives right beneath the chair he napped in on day zero. In some twisted way it was as if things had come full circle.
Hank knelt down, laying the device underneath the chair. "It's set, let's get out of here." Hank moved past Derrick and started on the way out. "Stay behind me."
Derrick turned off his light and once again followed in pursuit of Hank as they made their way through the darkened rec area. The entrance slowly came into view and they exited back into the upper corridor. The other three had already left for the lower deck.
Hank moved past the bio lab entrance and immediately started down the stairs. Derrick was following closely behind. The final few steps of stairs were a relief to Derrick as they had returned to the main level of the ship. Only the galley separated them from the safety of the bridge.
“Keep your eyes peeled on the port side of the galley." Hank said. "Stick to the starboard wall and let's work our way back to the bridge corridor."
Derrick was in silent compliance as he followed Hank's lead through the area. The strobing had turned any large open area into the thing of nightmares. Under normal conditions, the emergency power would keep dull lighting on in between the strobes of the battery backup lighting. With Eilik isolating the bridge entirely it had eliminated that luxury and left the gaps in total darkness.
"Guys!" Derrick caught a glimpse of three figures near the gel dispensers. It must have been the other three working on emergency rations.
"We are almost done." Sian's voice whispered over comms.
"We should stick together, get over to them." Hank said as he put his hand on Derrick's shoulder and directed him forward into the galley.
With the engineering corridor immediately adjacent to the galley, Derrick felt unease about their delay. He could still see the glow emitting through the broken seal of the engineering access door. “There’s something going on in the engineering corridor, I can see an amber glow when the lights go out. We need to get out of here.” Derrick informed everyone of what he was seeing.
“Get out of there now!” Lorn reacted almost instantly to Derrick’s report.
Ben turned in the darkness to face the door as he was the nearest to it. “I don’t see anything.” Ben turned back around to continue working on the gel dispenser. “Almost got it.”
“Move!
” Lorn wasn’t taking any chances.
"Got em!" Ben said as he lifted a case of gel into his grasp. "Let's go."
Sian was carrying another emergency case behind Ben, and Derrick ran to take it from her. The weight of it was noticeably heavier than Derrick had anticipated. Turning to face the bridge, he felt Hank move in behind him.
"The corridor is ahead, stay close. We are approaching commander, be ready to open the door." Hank said, still whispering as he did in the rec area.
Yanna led the way back into the bridge corridor as Hank fell to the rear in an attempt to protect against any pursuing presence. They quickly made their way down the corridor, moving as fast as the weight of the emergency rations would let them. Halfway down the length of the corridor Hank came over comms. "We are here." He said.
Just as he finished his sentence, the doors to the bridge slid open. Hank and the others stepped back inside, and the doors sealed behind them. Out of habit, Sian immediately rushed to her console to do a medical sweep.
"It's clean, just trace amounts of Nitrous." Sian said. "Why didn't it try to stop us?"
"It's possible that we are overestimating its abilities, just as we underestimated them before." Yanna spoke as she attempted to regain her breath. The trip wasn’t physically demanding but the stress of it had taken a toll on all of them.
“Maybe it didn’t detect us.” Ben suggested.
“Or, whatever it was doing in the engineering section causing that glow was occupying its full attention.” Derrick speculated, certain he had seen the amber glow emanating from the engineering corridor.
"We don’t need to waste time examining that now, is it ready to go?" Lorn asked.
"Armed and ready, just give me the word, I have the detonator right here." Hank held up his arm and CCD.
"What's our speed?" Derrick rushed back to his navigation panel.
"Twenty-four percent of previous maximum. The intervals have narrowed." Eilik once again reported their status.
"Yanna, you and Eilik need to assess and decide at what speed it will be safe for us to detonate the ship and release the stored RIP energy." Lorn pushed on. “If we detonate before then, the ship will be torn apart, so try to be accurate.”