“Sorry, Ryan.” Mike looked away. “We pulled two bodies out. There’s very little left, not enough to identify. Since it was Cedric Miller’s lab, we’re assuming for now that it was him. Along with his grad student. Several witnesses said they usually worked late together.”
“Yes,” was all Ryan could get out. Smoke, the smell of burning plastic and hot wiring, and his emotions worked together to choke off his words.
“This is what I wanted you to see,” Mike said, raising his flashlight to showcase a smoldering black lump of metal and plastic.
He held it there for a few moments before moving it to another unidentifiable mass behind it. Unidentifiable, but Ryan nevertheless knew what he was looking at. Adam and Cedric’s work stations.
“Looks like this is the hotspot. Much more damage to this area of the room than the rest.”
“Do you think you’ll find anything once you’re able to dissect those?” Ryan asked, pointing to the melted monitors and computers that had only a few hours before held the forbidden knowledge of the true state of the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Doubtful. Look.” Mike lowered the flashlight and offered it to Ryan. “I know Cedric was a friend of yours. Why don’t you take a few minutes? Just don’t wander around in there. I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Thanks Mike.”
Mike gave him a quick nod and disappeared back down the hallway.
Looking at the charred remains of his only link to the mystery of the satellite images, Ryan’s mind turned to the cellphone in his pocket. The puzzles, the riddles. Looking at the charred remains of Cedric’s lab, he could no longer pretend those messages from Mel were anything less than warnings.
If she knew something, why didn’t she just come out and say it? The only explanation he could come up with was worse than the destruction in front of him. “What in the hell is going on?”
“Do you really want an answer to that, kid?”
Ryan spun, startled, and barely caught himself before tripping and landing butt first in the soot and ash behind him. Across the hall, leaning on his cane and watching Ryan like a serpent in the darkness, was Marcus.
“You were waiting for me?”
“Mike and I go way back. I was sure you’d come running, so I asked him to bring you up.”
Marcus limped across the hall and Ryan took an involuntary step back. “Did you…”
“What? Did I do this?” Marcus laughed and shook his head. “Of course I did, you fool. Or rather, I gave the order. Getting Cedric to open the door for me was child’s play. The boy didn’t want to show me what you had discovered, but Cedric and I have been friends… well, as long as you and I have.”
“You killed them?”
“Does it matter? How much do you want to know, Ryan? How much are you willing to risk for that knowledge?”
“Will you kill me too? Rig my brakes or burn my house down in the middle of the night?”
“Before you get on your soapbox, you’d best stop and think about that little girl waiting in your office.”
Ryan took another step back. “Don’t you dare touch her,” he hissed.
“I don’t think I have to threaten her, Ryan, because I know who she really is. More importantly, I have kept your secret. Do you really think they would have bought that bullshit message from Mel if I hadn’t convinced them that you really did have an affair? That Mel really did leave you because she hated the child?”
Ryan clenched his fist, working hard to control his anger. Eve came first. Above all else, he had to protect his daughter. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to leave it alone, Ryan. This is no game. The stakes are way too high for that.”
“How much time do we have before this planet is not fit to live on anymore?”
“Long enough for you to watch your daughter grow up.” Marcus’ tone softened and Ryan had to force himself not to flinch away as Marcus put a hand on his shoulder. “There is no stopping this. Getting this information out to the public will do nothing but cause mass hysteria. A complete breakdown in society. Believe it or not, I have protected you. Sheltered you and Eve.”
“By killing a friend? By killing a child?”
“Would you have preferred it to have been you sixteen years ago?” Marcus laughed. “You really have no idea who your wife is, do you? If it got out that Eve was truly Mel’s daughter, they would have killed you and taken her. If you love her, leave this alone. Teach your classes, take your trips to the coast to take your samples. But mind your own business. This is bigger than you. Bigger than me.”
“How? How do I go on like nothing happened? Like I didn’t get these guys killed?”
“One day at a time, my friend. Pretend long enough and you will forget to dwell on it, forget that it is pretense. Your choice, but this will be the last time I interfere to save you.”
Marcus turned to limp down the hallway and stopped. Looking back over his shoulder, he added, “I truly am sorry, Ryan. If I had suspected they would break the code, I never would have sent the files to you.”
Waiting until the sound of the thumping cane had faded, Ryan walked back to the stairs on automatic pilot. The loss of Cedric and Adam, his guilt over their deaths, was dwarfed by the shadow that had fallen over him. Part of his disengaged brain blamed Mel. Truth be told, a large part blamed her.
As he descended the stairs and turned toward his office, eyes followed him. It seemed like everyone was watching him, scrutinizing him. The pressure of it had to have been imagined, but it made his skin crawl, itch. Briefly, under the white noise of his brain trying to assimilate what had happened, he wondered if this was what Eve felt in large groups of people.
“No wonder she freaks,” he mumbled and another fireman turned to watch his passage.
He hesitated only a moment before stepping into his office. The sight of Eve, turning to him from the big window at the back of the room, the blue and red flashing emergency lights drenching her first in bruises, then in blood, broke him.
Sinking to his knees, his sobs finally broke free. Eve ran to him, threw her arms around his shoulders and lowered head, her tears wetting the skin on the back of his neck. He could only repeat the words that would become his mantra over the next two years.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”
This storm would pass. When it did, he would lie to her. He would lie to himself.
He would lie, but deep in his heart he would be waiting.
Waiting and watching for the storm.
Coming Soon
Flash Point
The EXTINCTION Series: Book Two
By
Miranda Nading
1
“Alpha Station,” The voice nearly exploded from the speakers as Commander Melanie Edwards and Station Engineer Yuri Dmitriev ran through their checklist. Only the muting effect of zero gravity on their bodies kept Melanie from jumping and looking like an idiot in front of the big Russian. “This is Mission Control–Moscow. We have the ball.”
“Understood, Moscow has the ball. Board is green for nadir docking, to Russian Orbital Segment MMR 1 Rassvet.” Melanie thumbed the internal channel as Moscow acknowledged the green for docking. Victory, coming in from below and aft, only gave them a front view. She always thought the Soyuz looked like a backwards bumble bee, clumsy and awkward, but beautiful. It was also the oldest spacecraft still used since it was relatively cheap to maintain and durable as hell. “I thought Kaito wanted to be here for this?”
Yuri laughed out loud. “You know better. He is glued to his console, as far away from this end of the station as possible. Who are these people that they could not wait for storm to pass before boarding station?”
“Maybe that’s why they’re coming in aft the way they are. The extra fuel requirement for that delta-V isn’t worth it, otherwise.” Mel grinned as she looked over her shoulder at Yuri, watching as he tracked the spacecraft’s approach toward the underside of the station, preparing
to dock with the Rassvet module. “You and Kaito are spoiled. Mission Control doesn’t let us play nearly enough. I’d be happy if they let us have control for every maneuver. Two vehicles getting ready to kiss at almost 18,000 miles an hour, what could go wrong?”
“It is not the kiss that gets us into trouble, Commander,” Yuri chuckled. “Spacecraft Victory has extended her ring. Docking vector looks good. Kaito said something about a belly ache.”
After the dinner of reconstituted hamburgers they ate the night before, she didn’t doubt it. “Who doesn’t? I thought we left gut-bombs in the convenience stores back home. You know you’re in space when MRE’s sound yummy.”
“The Sun, not Kaito, has the belly ache. Last maneuver performed, Victory is shutting down propulsion. And I have had your Meals Ready to Eat. Compared to Russian stock, it is you American’s, who are spoiled.”
Mel wanted to turn to see if Yuri was pulling her leg, but it was time to earn her pay. She activated three monitors that would show the coupling of the berthing system, down to the millimeter. Grabbing the stick, she asked, “The sun has a bellyache?”
“It sounded very much like my Uncle Vladimir’s stomach, so perhaps it was hungry.”
“Moscow, this is Commander Edwards, berthing arm in position, vector looks good, soft dock in five,” Mel reported, then to Yuri, “I think Kaito spends too much time—”
Mel was cut off as the internal com erupted. Science Officer Kaito Takenaka’s English had improved a great deal during his ten month stay on the station. The litany coming through her headset, however, was rapid fire Japanese, peppered with American curse words. She tried several times to speak over him before she lost patience. “Dammit, Kaito! If you’re going to cuss me out, do it in English!”
There was a moment of silence before Kaito came back on the line, his English clouded by panic, made worse by the static filling the com system. Mel cut him off. “I can’t understand you, Kaito. You have got to calm down.”
Yuri took over the com. “Kaito, the Commander needs to focus, what is wrong?”
Realizing her attention had wandered from the screen, she looked up to find the Soyuz spacecraft coming in fast. The drop and drogue arm was two meters off-target. If Victory hit it, and Mel wasn’t ready, it would wreck the arm and crater the Rassvet module. Taking the controls, she moved the berthing arm over, simultaneously pulling it back to get ahead of the ring. “Moscow, we have soft capture. Proceeding to guide Victory to Rassvet.”
Two seconds after her report, she made it the truth and began guiding the ship to the pressurized docking mechanism. As the clamps slid into place, an alarm peeled through the station. Her hands flew off the controls and her eyes went to the monitors. “What the hell?”
“Kaito reports significant coronal mass ejection, solar storm heading our way.” Yuri’s voice was calm, but he was turned towards Mel, his eyes wide.
Mel thumbed the com, “Kaito, the solar storm is already here. That’s why I got to play space jockey. What’s the problem?”
“Commander, I have had the sensors trained on a large group of sunspots, there are three CMEs moving our way, the sensors are overwhelmed, but the largest is moving faster than anything I have ever seen. We expected several more flares, but the pressure released all at once. At least 3,000 kilometers per second.
“This is going to make the Carrington Event look like a low budget Fourth of July fireworks display.” Mel’s hand hovered over the switch that would give the green light to the Victory to begin cycling into the station. “Geomagnetic storm?”
“At least an X7, probably stronger. We are going to take a hit.”
“Alpha Station this is Mission Control Moscow.”
“Kaito, are you sure about this?”
“Alpha Station, we are waiting for hard-lock confirmation.”
“Kaito!” she yelled. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Mel! Dear God, yes!”
Mel’s hand moved three inches to the left, slamming down the seal lock for Rassvet, effectively making the crew of Victory prisoners in their own ship. With that done, she punched in the commands to lockout Mission Control’s active access. “Moscow, we have a problem. CME X7, in the kill zone. Can you confirm?”
“Alpha Station, we are reading a lock on Rassvet and active access severed. Explain.”
“Moscow, can you confirm CME X7 in the kill zone?”
Silence filled her headset.
“Moscow, please confirm CME X7. Attitude is YVV, repeat: Y-axis in the velocity vector. Moscow, this thing is going to hit us broadside. I need confirmation.”
“Alpha Station, this is Mission Control–Houston, CME X15 confirmed by Heliophysics. Release Rassvet seal and bring the crew on board.”
Moscow and Houston began squabbling over Houston’s interference. With a Soyuz berthing, it was Moscow’s wheelhouse, and Houston’s insubordinate Commander. Mel barely heard them. Her brain was racing with the implications of an X15 aimed directly at earth during solar maxima.
A shaky breath filled the line; Kaito’s stunned voice filled the silence. “Mel, the systems max out at X15, this thing is going to peel the earth’s magnetic field like an onion. We are in serious trouble.”
“How did we not see this coming?” Mel finally let go of the breath she had been holding, they needed to show the storm their thinnest profile, where it would do the least amount of damage. “We need to turn around.”
The pissing contest between Mission Control Centers exploded in multilingual chaos. Yuri closed the channel. “Mel, even if we had time, the station’s attitude hasn’t changed since the primary array was installed in 2023. We have no idea what the move will do to them.” Yuri had unsnapped his belt and pushed toward her, grabbing the rail to stop his forward motion. Reaching out, he turned her to face him. “It could tear them apart.”
“If that storm hits us broadside, we’ll lose them anyway.” She pushed away from him and hit the coms before running through the ignition sequence for the thrusters attached to the Zvezda service module. She said a small prayer as she ran through the checklist; the engines had not been test fired in over ten years. “Moscow, going for reboost. Feeding attitude correction into Control Momentum Gyroscopes, redirect to attitude XPH.”
“Alpha Station, you are not authorized for reboost or attitude change—”
“I’m not asking permission, Moscow. ISS has the ball,” Mel felt sorry for the flight director even as she locked her channel open to keep him from distracting her. Nothing like having the commander of a space station going bat-crap crazy to ruin a guy’s day.
“Mel, you’re not talking about a simple orbit boost, you’ll never get her turned in time.” Yuri spoke slow and low, as if he were talking to a small child whom he really wanted to yank up and throttle. “This is a very big deal. It will ruin the experiments, we haven’t checked the flight path for debris, and if you’re wrong, we are all going to take the fall for this.”
Mel twisted in her seat and grabbed Yuri’s hand, “You’re right, I know. And I hope like hell I’m wrong and they throw us under Fort Leavenworth. But what if I’m right? I can’t do this without you.”
Yuri’s eyes narrowed to slits. “What are you talking about?”
“The old Progress service vehicle on the Zvezda cargo module. If we can fire her thrusters, she might just give the gyroscopes the muscle they need to turn us faster.”
“We haven’t used them since the C.O.R.E refit. I don’t even know if she has fuel—”
Mel turned back to the console and started running calculations for additional thrust. “There’s only one way to find out, Yuri. I trust Kaito. We’ve never been hit head-on by a geomagnetic storm this big. I’m responsible for the safety of this station and her crew, and I need your help.”
“We’ll lose our primary power source when we change attitude. The panels will go dark.”
“We have to shut everything down. Emergency power only. It’s the only way to protect the systems and
have any chance of firing them back up on stored power.”
“What about the Vasmir plasma thrusters?”
“Wrong angle. The Station wasn’t really meant to spin the way I’m going to spin her.”
“Mel,” Kaito sounded as if he were ready to jump out of a view port and go home without them. “Whatever you are going to do, please do it now. The leading edge is almost here.”
“What do you want me to do?” Yuri questioned.
Mel let out a breath and nodded. “Get over to Zvezda. Seal the hatches as you go. Get Progress ready to rock.”
He held her eyes for another heartbeat before pushing off, sailing above her head and out of the Zarya command module, toward the port end of the station. Mel was sure the Russian muttering that followed him had something to do with her mental stability.
“Kaito, seal the Destiny, Columbus and Kibo labs. Seal yourself in the Harmony Node.” She flipped the coms to contact Victory. “Russian Spaceship Victory, continue powering down all non-essential systems and hold on to your ass.”
“Mission Control–Moscow, this is Commander Melanie Edwards. We are turning this boat with or without your help, but it sure would make me feel better if you double checked the yaw and roll calculations.”
“Commander Edwards you are ordered to stand down—”
“Mission Control–Houston. Commander, this is FLIGHT, we’re watching that storm; attitude and reboost are approved. ADCO is running your numbers now. Standby.”
“Oh, Tom. Thank God.” Mel raised a hand to her face to wipe away a tear and realized it was shaking. She clenched her fist to force it to stop, took a deep breath and began taking systems offline.
“I’m a little closer than God, Mel. You’re a real pain in my ass, but I trust your instincts. ADCO confirms, recommends thirteen hundred twenty-six point four seconds of burn from Progress. Burn from Zvezda at one hundred thirty-four point two, twenty-two second duration. TOPO is feeding your course corrections now.”
“Reading course corrections, FLIGHT. Programming CMG now,” Mel switched to internal com. “Yuri, how’s it looking?”
Genesis (Extinction Book 1) Page 14