The Kepos Problem (Kepos Chronicles Book 1)

by Erica Rue

  “There should be a flashing panel. Go to it and follow its commands to reinitialize. There shouldn’t be any hiccups.”

  She walked over to the panel. “Except for Zane banging on the door.” A loud thump sounded, right on cue.

  A minute later, she was done.

  “All right, the coordinates are in. Just hit the manual activation,” Lithia said.

  “Here we go,” Dione replied.

  She braced herself for the jump. The tickling sensation began in her extremities and worked its way to her core, followed by tingling, followed by a warm numbness. As the warmth dissipated, she realized she had no idea where they were.

  “You need to see this, Di,” Lithia said. “You’re not gonna believe it.”

  Dione felt uneasy. Where had Lithia taken them? “Sure, how long does the Ven poison take to wear off? Because Zane is still outside, and I’m worried that the Ven isn’t really dead.”

  “I’ll get the stun rifle.”

  10. DIONE

  The cargo bay was not a pretty picture. A few crates and containers that had broken through their restraints littered the paths. Drops and smears of blood were everywhere, and Ven stench had permeated the entire area, despite its size.

  When Lithia opened the door, she had Zane slung awkwardly over her shoulder. Dione offered to help, but Lithia wouldn’t let her.

  “That’s a nasty scratch on your back. And you’re limping. You look like hell,” Lithia said. Then with a smile, “But at least I didn’t have to shoot you.”

  Underneath the bad joke, Dione could see how uneasy Lithia was. “Most of the blood isn’t mine, I don’t think,” Dione said. “How is Bel?”

  “She was waking up when I got there.”

  That was good news at least. When they passed the reeking corpse of the Ven, Dione hesitated.

  “You okay?” Lithia asked.

  “Almost.” Dione bent over the Ven, and without removing the blade that protruded from its back, began sawing through any and all possible neural connections that remained. This Ven would not be coming back to life. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. Still, the sound of ripping flesh and vessels and the feel of elastic membranes giving way filled her with nausea. After she was done, she vomited behind a nearby crate.

  “I see you’ve called dibs on clean-up down here, then,” Lithia said. She laughed, but Dione saw right through it. Lithia’s forehead was creased with thought. And if Lithia, the brave one, was worried, she would probably need to throw up again.

  Getting Zane up the ladder would have proved a massive task, but Dione still had the sense to rig up a pulley system. It did involve retrieving the machete from the Ven in order to cut the rope, but Lithia handled that. With Lithia pulling from above and Dione guiding his ascent from below, they were able to heave him up to the main floor. Thankfully, this was where all of the common areas were, including the infirmary.

  Bel was standing now, though she looked pretty shaken up, like she, too, might vomit.

  Still, the first words out of her mouth were clear and focused. “Is it dead?”

  “Yes. I made sure this time,” Dione said. “Bel, I’m so sorry—"

  Bel cut her off. “Don’t apologize. Just learn for next time. I should have known.”

  “We’ll get this tracer deactivated. There won’t be a next time.”

  “That’s what I thought, but here I am again. Where’s Oberon?”

  Dione looked away. “He didn’t make it,” she replied.

  Lithia had already figured it out, and Bel didn’t seem surprised. An uncomfortable silence settled over the girls.

  Bel wiped her cheek and winced as she wiped away a scab that had begun coagulating there. The wound on her cheek started bleeding again, and Dione gasped when she took a closer look.

  “What?” Lithia said.

  “Bel, your cut. It’s in a spiral. It’s the same shape the Ven in the cargo bay had painted on his face.”

  Bel looked more disgusted than surprised. “It marked me for its house. That way, when the Vens catch us and board us, they will know who gets to kill me.”

  “How do you know—" Lithia began to ask.

  “Now’s not the time,” Dione said. “Bel, the Ven bit Zane, he went berserk, and Lithia stunned him.”

  “Took two hits,” Lithia said.

  “He’ll probably be clear when he wakes up, but let’s restrain him just in case. We need to monitor him, because Ven bites have been known to kill, but usually only in the very young and very old,” Bel said.

  “We need to disable the tracer,” Dione added.

  “Then find us a place to land. I’ll take care of Zane,” Bel said. She didn’t look like she was in good enough shape to take care of herself, let alone Zane, but once Lithia set Zane down on the small couch in the infirmary, there was little choice. They had delayed long enough.

  ***

  Back in the cockpit, there were a number of displays and holograms up. The largest exhibited a beautiful world, azure and emerald, marbled with swirling white clouds. What could the problem possibly be?

  “Is this the planet?” Dione asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then what’s the issue? These readings show it as habitable. Oxygen’s a little high, but not dangerous.”

  “There’s no problem yet. I’m running a few surface scans now. It’s this that I’m worried about.” Lithia swiped her hand through the hologram and a new model took its place. It was a space station. “We need to disable the tracer ASAP, and we have a decision to make about where to do it,” Lithia said.

  “I thought you said this planet was uninhabited?” Panic gripped Dione. How many people were now at risk because of them? “Have you hailed them?”

  “The station is not responding. It’s abandoned. Just look at its energy output. No one’s been on board for decades.”

  Lithia was right. The station was clearly not in use. This whole situation was bizarre. No one poured this kind of money into a station only to abandon it.

  “Who built it?” Dione wondered out loud. “Why did they abandon it?”

  “I don’t know,” Lithia said, “but we can either make the repairs up here on the station or land on the planet. I vote the planet. This ghost station gives me the creeps.”

  Dione disagreed. “We don’t know what it’s like on the planet, and the station is closer. The station makes more sense. We can get to work on the tracer right away.”

  “I still don’t like it. What if there was a plague?” Lithia said.

  “The ship will automatically search for any contagions. Wear a suit if you’re worried. I would love to figure out why it was abandoned. Just look at the design of this place. It’s classic pre-Alliance architecture. That means it’s at least sixty years old. Probably closer to a hundred.”

  “Is that why it’s so ugly?” Lithia asked. It was true. It didn’t have the sleek gleam that modern ships and stations had, but it was sturdy.

  “I kind of like it,” Dione said. “It’s like something out of an old vid. The Alliance added a lot of regulations banning this type of wheel structure. It’s supposed to have a minimum of six spokes, but it’s only got four. I doubt it has all the safety features required by modern facilities.” The Alliance liked redundant safety features.

  “So you’re acknowledging it’s a death trap,” Lithia said.

  “Everything’s a death trap in space.”

  Their manumeds buzzed, interrupting their argument. It was Bel. “The med scanner is broken.”

  “How did that happen?” Dione said.

  “The restraints were old. They must have broken when you blew the stabilizers and our ship was rocking. The scanner and some other stuff got banged up or knocked over.”

  “Is there anything else you can use?” Dione asked.

  “I don’t think so. Zane’s breathing is getting ragged. Lithia, do you think it was because you had to stun him twice?”

  “I don’t know. One shot should have
worked, though I can’t say I’ve ever used a stun rifle on a person before. They’re supposed to be able to take out jungle cats. Glad we packed one, though.”

  “I don’t know if it’s the Ven saliva or the effects of the rifle, but I can’t monitor his vitals.”

  “Bel, there’s a space station here, orbiting the planet Lithia jumped us to. It’s abandoned, but it might still have medical equipment,” Dione said.

  “It’s worth a try,” Bel said. “You’ll have to explain what a station’s doing here later.”

  She ended the call. Lithia rolled her eyes in frustration, but apparently it wasn’t worth the fight.

  “Sending a wake-up call now,” Lithia said.

  “A what?” Dione said.

  “Just letting the station know we’re on our way,” Lithia explained. “It should start heating things up a bit. Absence protocols are usually set to lower temperatures than we would find comfortable.” She set a course for the station.

  How did Lithia find this place? Why hadn’t the station been taken over by smugglers? Smugglers would leave some sort of trail, even if they were a small operation, and there was no sign of life at all coming from that station.

  “Lithia, how’d you find this planet?”

  “I need to concentrate on flying.” Lithia was deflecting.

  That was a lie. Lithia could dock this ship in her sleep. Dione persisted. “Where are we?” She scanned all of the readouts. A string of numbers spelled out their coordinates, and Dione puzzled over them. They were off.

  She went cold as the void when the realization dawned on her.

  “Why are we outside of the Bubble?”

  Lithia didn’t reply.

  “Answer me, Lithia. Why are we outside of the Bubble?”

  “Because the only place left to go was out. The only other habitable planet in range was Bithon. It’s a farming colony, and I wasn’t about to risk them with the tracer. I tried to ask Oberon, ask you, but you told me it was fine.”

  “But all of those coordinates are classified! There is no way the professor had illegal coordinates programmed into the database.”

  Lithia winced. “It’s a long story,” she said.

  “What if this planet is inhabited?”

  “It’s not. The chances of that were small, and I’m not getting any readings to indicate otherwise.”

  Dione was having trouble breathing. “You jumped us outside of the Bubble. The Alliance will never come outside that protected space. It’s in the treaty. They’ll never answer our emergency beacon once we send it out.” They were all going to die out here without the charging matrix. The Bubble was the only chance they had for rescue.

  “We will find a way back. Calm down.”

  “How could you do this?” Dione clenched her fists. They were trapped outside the Bubble with no jump drive. No way back in.

  “Well, maybe if Oberon were still around, he’d be able to tell us how he planned to get us home,” Lithia said.

  “Are you blaming me?”

  Lithia said nothing. Dione’s eyes watered, and she blinked back tears. The guilt welled up inside her. No matter how logical her decision had been, Lithia’s scorn was well-placed. She should have done something to save him.

  Lithia backed down, but hot anger still flushed her face. She said something else, but Dione didn’t hear her. She was thinking about the beacon again. That’s when she realized it. Their beacon was equipped with a jump drive of its own that would be able to carry it on a series of preprogrammed jumps back to wherever one needed to send a message. It was the fastest way to send an emergency signal.

  “That’s why the professor blew up the charging matrix. There’s one in the beacon,” Dione said.

  Lithia had been speaking, but now she stopped. “It can’t… its size…” She kept pausing. “It would take forever to charge, at least a week. It doesn’t have the same specifications.”

  “After we disable the tracer, we can use the charging matrix to get back inside the Bubble to a colony, reinstall it into the beacon, then send for help. The Vens were inside the Bubble when they attacked, so the Alliance will have to send someone.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Lithia said. She seemed calmer now that there was hope for the jump drive.

  Dione needed to take a few deep breaths and process everything that was happening. She leaned back in her chair, and immediately regretted it. She gasped at the pain. The scratch on her back from her narrow escape at the airlock stung under the pressure.

  “What is it?”

  Dione turned to reveal her back. “I’m going to get this cleaned up and see if Bel needs help,” Dione said, getting up to leave.

  “Okay,” Lithia said dispassionately. She turned away from Dione to watch the monitors.

  She was glad to have an excuse to leave. Lithia was slipping into one of her moods and would be better off left alone.

  11. DIONE

  When Dione exited the Calypso and boarded the ghost station, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Then she realized that the station had lighter gravity, just by a little. Bel had cleaned and bandaged her wounds, and fortunately, they were shallow. They already felt better.

  All of the lights had come on when they docked. The station’s absence protocols, which took care of regular maintenance and cleaning, had done a good job. There wasn’t much dust lying around. The air tasted stale, though the oxygen here was slightly higher as well, just like the planet.

  Bel swept past her. She was dragging Zane down the ramp on a blanket, though even that effort looked like it would be too much.

  “Do you need help?” Dione asked.

  “No, I’ll find the med bay. You and Lithia need to get that tracer out of the hull.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. Look it up. The Vens send out seeker drones to pick up any signals. The drones jump back to the ship and relay any info. It’s a shot in the dark, but enough shots and eventually they’ll hit something. The longer the tracer is working, the bigger a target we are,” Bel said.

  The green blur Dione and the professor had seen on the Calypso, before the attack, must have been one of these drones. Dione didn’t know how Bel kept everything together, but she was impressed.

  Dione watched her enter the station itself, and the lights turned on ahead of her as soon as she entered. The station was waking up. Bel was heading into that space station alone, and there was no doubt in Dione’s mind that she would find the med bay and help Zane.

  The air smelled artificially clean, but already Dione could hear machinery whirring to life in the presence of humans. No one had been here in decades. The hangar bay had high ceilings and gray walls, and four rows of shuttles. There were a few empty spaces where shuttles were missing, but no signs of active use.

  She was sure this station had been built before even her father was born. He had been a kid when the Vens arrived and the Alliance was formed to keep the threat in check. The Alliance drew an imaginary line in space, a boundary it could protect, and everything on the other side was on its own. The Vens hunted outside this boundary. Plenty of people decided to stay outside the Bubble, for better or worse. She wondered if the owners of this station had been angry that it was not included, or if that was even the reason it had been abandoned.

  Lithia was already inspecting the hull damage, looking for the tracer. It wasn’t hard to find. It was about the size of a volleyball, metallic and smooth, protruding like a tumor from the hull, right at eye level. It was partially stuck in the hull, no doubt clamped on by some stubborn mechanism.

  “Any ideas?” Lithia asked. Dione ignored her annoyed tone.

  “I’m checking my manumed,” she replied. After several minutes of skimming, Dione found a few suggestions. “There’s not much here. It says you can shoot them off but that doesn’t work if—”

  “If you don’t have conventional guns, like us,” Lithia said.

  “Auto-sledge? Do we have anything l
ike that?”

  “How about that giant textbook Bel lugged on board?”

  Dione laughed. This was how their conversations were supposed to go, but even her smile of relief faded quickly. “I don’t think we have anything that can penetrate its exterior.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do?”

  Dione examined it closely. “Could we disrupt its signal or something?”

  “Zane probably could, but I have no idea how.”

  “I think there’s just enough of a gap here that we could pry it out. Once it’s detached, it will be a lot easier to destroy it.”

  The girls retrieved some metal support poles from the cargo bay. Dione was careful to avoid the Ven except to make sure he was still there, dead. Once the tracer was taken care of, they would remove the body.

  “All right, I’ll go from underneath first, then you—" Lithia never finished that sentence, because at the exact moment she positioned the pole at the base of the tracer, it came to life. It closed the already small gap between the hull and what now appeared to be its mouth, which it was using to grind a way through the ship’s exterior.

  “Shit, Di. What’s going on?”

  But Dione was already reading. “Apparently some models are burrowers. Metallovores. They eat their way in, slip between the hull layers, and you can never find them again.”

  “Well that would have been useful to know earlier. Could an electric pulse fry it?”

  “If it’s strong enough, I guess,” Dione said.

  Lithia ran into the ship, but Dione didn’t bother asking. She knew she was going for the stun rifle. Dione didn’t think it would work, but that had been before. Now they only had minutes to stop this thing.

  Dione stood by, useless, watching the mechanical tick scrape through the Calypso’s outer hull. She had to do something. She reached out and did her best to grab its smooth round surface. She leaned back with all of her weight, attempting to pull on it. Her fingers cramped with the effort, but she was convinced it was helping, even if the grinding continued on.

  In almost no time, Lithia was back with the stun rifle.

  “Look out,” she said.