Earth's Last Angel

by Leon Castle

  After their meeting, once everyone but Dave dispersed Denise felt herself sway. Dave steadies her. ‘Denise, what’s wrong? You haven’t been quite right for a couple of days now.’ He gives her a kindly smile. ‘You know, an old codger like me is pretty good to confide in.’

  Denise laughs but it is a shaky laugh. ‘Oh, Dave, I’m just so scared for Kenny and Bekky.

  They’ve got a killer on the loose.’ She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that, and instantly regrets startling Dave.

  ‘A what?’

  Denise nods and tells him the full story. It’s different from telling Tom, more cathartic, a release of the built up tension that had been with her for weeks. She tells him everything.

  He stares at her and shakes his head. ‘And you kept all this to yourself. Denise? What do you think friends are for? Plus, no one has killed anyone yet!’

  Denise looks at him with tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Dave. I’m just used to dealing with stuff myself.’

  He pats her shoulder. ‘Well, there’s no point in thinking the worst, is there? They are on their way back to the Sobek. There’s nowhere for Enzot or Drummer to run to, and Kenny and Bekky are on guard so they can protect themselves.’

  ‘Yes,’ says Denise, doubtfully, ‘but Ben and Chaze are backing up Enzot and Drummer.’

  Dave is thoughtful. ‘Sounds like they might be planning a mutiny.’

  ‘A mutiny.’ Denise is shocked. She hadn’t thought of that. Of course, it explained Ben asking about the larger asteroids in the hot zone.’

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,’ Dave said.

  ‘I’ve got to warn Kenny,’ she says, panic creeping in to her voice. ‘Oh no, that’s not good at all! I have to tell the captain.’

  ‘Denise, don’t panic. You call Kenny, and I’ll call the Captain.’

  She smiles tightly. ‘Thanks, friend.’ Dave surprises her with a sprightly sprint toward the flight deck. She, too, races away but to her quarters, puffing as she turns on the monitor. But Kenny isn’t in his quarters. ‘Damn,’ she mutters. She checks the registry for Davis’s number and calls it. Helena, looking worn and tired, appears at the monitor. ‘Helena, tell Kenny they are planning a mutiny!’

  Helena gasps. She turns as Kenny enters the room. ‘It’s a mutiny, Kenny.’

  Kenny sits down at the monitor. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘No, but Dave said that everything you’ve said points to it.’

  ‘Dave knows? I thought you weren’t going to tell anyone.’

  She ignores his rebuke. ‘Tom knows, too, and he’s checking Enzot’s records.’

  Kenny is shaking his head. ‘But how can they think they will get away with mutiny?’

  The monitor suddenly blanks out. ‘What the…?’ Kenny tries reconnecting but there is nothing. He looks at Helena and shakes his head.

  She pushes him out of the way. ‘Here let me have a look.’

  After a half an hour of checking the wiring, Helena stands wearily. ‘I don’t know how that could be. There’s no signal at all.’

  Kenny sees the fear in her eyes. ‘I’ll get George to stay with Bekky and Davis and I’ll go with you while you check my monitor and yours.’

  She nods and Kenny dashes off to the flight deck. As he enters, he sees George standing over Ben. George’s voice holds a controlled fury.

  ‘Call them back and change direction,’ He demands.

  Ben puts up his hands. ‘It’s out of my hands, now mate. Talk to Enzot over there.’

  George reaches Enzot in a few steps and grabs him around his throat.

  Kenny fears he was going to snap his neck. ‘George, don’t.’

  George releases him and Enzot grins. ‘He’s right. I have control of the vessel along with my trusted crew here.’ He covers Drummer, Chaze and Ben with a broad sweep of his hand. ‘There’s nothing you can do.’

  Kenny stands between George and Enzot. ‘What’s happening, George?’ Kenny knows it has to be serious for George to lose control.

  ‘These idiots have just told the captain they are going to find ice on a larger asteroid, and then they cut him off.’

  Kenny faces Enzot. ‘Well, that’s stupid. What do you hope to prove by that? You’ll be arrested when you return.’

  ‘Nah, they’ll forget about it when we present them with enough ice to build the city they want. We’ll hold the prize. If you lot would stop being so stupid, you will too.’

  Kenny glares at him. ‘There is no way that I would want to be involved with murder.’

  Enzot laughs. ‘What are you talking about? No one’s murdering anyone.’

  ‘So, you’re going to take Davis back first?’

  ‘Of course not. Do you think we’re crazy? They would arrest us and send out a different crew. Probably replace you too, just in case you had something to do with it.’

  Kenny had been about to tell them, the people mattered already knew everything but stopped himself. He looks at George and shakes his head. ‘Might as well go and check on Davis now,’ he tells him.

  George is puzzled for a moment, then Kenny sees George understands. ‘Yeah, Bekky and Helena probably need a break.’

  ‘Got to run back to poor little Davis,’ Enzot giggles sarcastically, as they leave.

  Davis is vomiting again when Kenny and George arrive at his quarters. Bekky, holding the bucket for him, looks up at Kenny, a sense of hopelessness in her eyes. When Davis finishes vomiting, he slumps down again, clutching his stomach, sweat dripping from him. Bekky washes her hands in the bathroom then follows Kenny out while George stays with Davis.

  What happened?’ she asks.

  ‘Our cowboy crew have knocked out communications and are heading for a larger asteroid.’

  ‘But that’s crazy. All the larger asteroids are in the hot zone. We can’t go in there.’

  ‘We have no choice now.’

  Helena comes into the room rubbing her head. ‘I have gone through everything with that monitor. I think I’ll have to check the rest to get a better idea of what the problem is.’

  She stops, seeing the grave expressions on Kenny and Bekky’s faces. ‘What now? she looks toward Davis’s room then moves to go in, but Kenny stops her. ‘Helena. It’s OK. It’s not him.’

  She lets out deep sigh. ‘Oh that is such a relief. From your faces, you’d think he had just died.’ she searches their faces. ‘No-one has yet, have they?’ then she sees George. ‘OK what’s going on, George?’ she asks him

  ‘The rest of them have taken control of the vessel, Helena. They knocked out the communications.’

  ‘But, why? They have to take Davis back.’ She looks thoughtful. ‘They’re not taking him back, are they?’

  George shakes his head. ‘They’re taking the vessel to a larger asteroid.’

  ‘Outside the quad?’

  Kenny answers her first. ‘Yes, but Denise knows what’s going on,’ he reminds her, ‘and she told Tom, so they’ll help us.’

  Kenny knows it is false hope, but it’s better to have that than no hope at all, especially for Helena. She accepts his reassurances, retreating to Davis’s bedside.

  ‘There’s really nothing they can do, is there?’ asks Bekky.

  ‘No, I’m afraid not. They would never risk the safety of another crew to retrieve us from a hot zone, and someone here has enough knowledge of the communications system to disable it so that even Helena can’t fix it. My guess is, they have damaged the system.’

  Helena emerges again. ‘I was thinking. The warning and tracking system is separate from communications, so it’s possible they are still operational.’

  Kenny smiles. ‘Well, there you go. They will at least know where we are and we can be warned of any danger.’

  He sees the doubt on the faces of the two females. ‘Look, we have to stay together and be positive. It’s our strength now, right, George?’

  George nods. ‘I’m going to look for more of those capsules for Davis.’

  Kenny
knows George is only trying to keep busy. It’s unlikely there will be any more capsules. Davis’s prospects of recovery diminish even further with the confirmation of mutiny.

  Kenny can hear his cries of pain again, and Helena and Bekky had gone to help him, Kenny wonders if he should try again to talk sense into the others, but quickly dismisses the idea as futile. It would be better to rustle up some food for the women, they probably haven’t had time to eat, and Helena is unlikely to even think of food. He decides it was best to bring supplies from his quarters. Davis’s food may be contaminated as well.

  He pokes his head in around the door. ‘Going to my place to get food for us. Don’t eat anything from Davis’s kitchen, just in case.’

  They look up and nod, then turn their attention back to Davis as another wave of pain strikes him.

  Chapter 60

  Denise sits, twisting her hands in her lap as she waits for Tom to call. Sofia said she would keep operations going on PV 005 with the help of Dave so Denise could take time out to wait for the call.

  When Tom finally appears on monitor, Denise speaks in a rush. ‘Tom, what is happening? I was talking to Kenny and the monitor went dead. I haven’t been able to get in contact with him since then.’

  ‘We haven’t either, Denise. All communications systems were shut down. I’ve personally done a check on Enzot. You were right. It had to be him. He had been poking his nose in around the system technician’s area, asking questions.’

  ‘And they just gave him answers?’

  ‘Yes, not the right thing to do, but everyone knew him and knew that he was a bit of a jack of all trades, with an interest in everything, so they just put it down to curiosity.’

  ‘So you think he planned all this?’

  ‘No, I think he really was just curious at the time, but something has happened between then and now. Obviously, he wasn’t happy with the quad allocated to PV 013.’

  ‘Tom, no one sets out to murder a crew member and hijack a vessel just because they’re not happy with their allocation. He’s crazy. How could that have not been picked up in his assessment?’

  ‘Because he was probably behaving totally normally at the time. I’m sorry, Denise. I know that doesn’t help, but it’s all I can offer.’

  Denise sighs heavily. ‘I know, thanks for letting me know. I have to go now and check on my crew.’ Denise sits with her head in her hands for a while, her stomach in knots. The news she thought would help has just put her world in a spin.

  Chapter 61

  The flight deck has become too noisy for Drummer. It irritates him that Chaze had preferred Enzot’s company to his. He’s losing his friend and Ben is now louder than ever. Drummer decides to take a break, maybe he should relax in the oasis for a while. As he is about to open the door, Enzot yells. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

  ‘To get some fresh air.’

  ‘No, you stay here. ‘What if they grab you? We’ll be one man less.’

  ‘But what if I need to use the toilet? I can’t stay on the flight deck all the time.’

  ‘Ben can go with you if you need to go. We buddy up. OK?’ Enzot’s voice cracks on the last word, and Drummer takes a closer look at him. Something’s changed. What was it? He jumps when Enzot snaps at him.

  ‘What are you looking at?’

  Drummer looks away quickly. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Oh, so I’m nothing?’ Enzot snarls.

  ‘No, that’s not what I meant.’

  Ben laughs. ‘Hey Enzot, lay off. He’s on our side.’

  ‘Not if they get hold of him, he won’t be. He’s a snake, ready to turn at any time.’

  ‘Whoa, that’s a bit heavy, mate.’

  Drummer becomes alarmed as he saw veins throbbing in Enzot’s neck frill. ‘It’s OK, Ben. I’ll just do as he says and stay here.’

  Enzot gives Drummer a malevolent grin. ‘Wise choice.’

  Drummer retreats to the far side of the room away from the door. Enzot watches him take a seat, then he approaches Chaze. ‘So my mate…how long to go before we land this thing?’

  Chaze glances at one of the instruments. ‘Seventy five minutes, and I’m already exhausted.’

  Enzot slaps him on the shoulder. ‘We can’t have our pilot getting exhausted.’ He looks over at Drummer and Ben. ‘You two, go get Chaze some coffee. We don’t want to end up in another galaxy,’ he laughs. They nod and leave.

  Once outside, Drummer feels a weight lift off him. ‘Have you noticed Enzot is acting weird?’ he asks Ben.

  Ben shrugs. ‘He’s weird anyway, isn’t he? Now he’s just excited because we’re getting closer to the asteroid.’ He looks at Drummer closely. ‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’

  Drummer shakes his head. ‘No, but I don’t like the way Enzot is acting.’

  ‘He is throwing his weight around a bit,’ Ben admits, ‘He’ll be OK when we get there.’

  Drummer isn’t so sure, but he doesn’t want to push it with Ben. He hadn’t been totally honest either. He is having second thoughts. What if there really is danger in the hot zone? He feels as though he’s been lured into a trap.

  Kenny is on his way to his quarters when he sees them. ‘Don’t talk to him,’ Ben instructs.

  But Kenny isn’t going to be put off and heads straight for them. ‘So, when are we landing?’

  Drummer thinks that’s a reasonable question. He ignores Ben’s orders and tells him.

  Ben shoots Drummer a look of disgust after Kenny moves on. ‘Enzot is right. You need watching.’

  Drummer shakes his head. ‘No, I don’t. They have to know so they have time to strap Davis in.’

  In Ben’s quarters, the room is silent apart from the noise of the coffee cup clinking. ‘We should make a thermal pot of it while we’re here,’ says Drummer, mostly to break the silence.

  Ben nods and brings out the pot, then he puts on more water.

  ‘Ben?’

  Ben looks at him. ‘Huh?

  ‘What if Davis dies?’

  ‘Don’t be stupid. He’s just got the shits.’

  ‘He’s got more than the shits and if he dies, we’re not going to be getting any bonuses even if we find a whole asteroid of ice. We’ll end up on the long end of a short rope!’

  Ben looks at him for a long moment. ‘I think we should get back to the flight deck.’

  Drummer’s spirits sink. Ben’s not listening to him. For a wild moment he thinks of breaking away and uniting with Kenny and the others, but they would never trust him now anyway, and seeing Davis would just bring back his feelings of guilt. Resigned, and carrying the pot of coffee, he follows Ben.

  There is a stale smell of vomit and something else Kenny can’t pin down when he returned with the food. He realizes it was probably there before, but he only noticed after he had been out in fresh air, which was a stark contrast to the sickly atmosphere in Davis’s quarters.

  ‘Come on,’ he calls, to the two females. ‘time to eat.’

  Bekky gratefully sits at the table where he has spread a variety of sandwiches he brought from his cooler. He thinks it’s extravagant since they may have to ration food later, but doesn’t care. It’s a morale booster, he thinks, and bit into a tuna sandwich as he watches Bekky wolf hers down.

  She notices him watching her and flushes with embarrassment. ‘Oh I’m sorry, I’m just so famished.’

  He smiles. ‘That’s what it’s for, eat all you like,’ he laughs. ‘Just leave some for Helena and George.’

  Bekky stops eating and looks at him. ‘George has gone to the flight deck.’

  ‘What for?’

  She shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

  Helena comes in, saying: ‘I asked him to check something for me. Because he is so tall, he would be able see the wires at the top of the monitor.

  I wanted to see if they were just disconnected or damaged. I was going to go with him, distract them, but he said that would look too obvious.’

  Kenny nods. ‘I ag
ree. They will be looking out for something like that.’ Kenny hopes George’s temper doesn’t get the better of him. He gestures to the food. ‘Grab something to eat, Helena. We will have to all go up to the flight deck soon to strap in.’

  She shakes her head. ‘No, I’m not hungry.’

  ‘You’re not going to be any good to Davis if you starve yourself.’

  She looks at the sandwiches, hovering a moment, uncertain, and then picks up the ham and salad roll. She waves it at him. ‘Thanks,’ and she sits on the lounge.

  The flight deck is much quieter when George enters, his arrival is largely ignored, for which he is grateful. He quickly assesses the situation. Drummer sits in the far corner, sullenly silent, Ben is passing a coffee to Chaze, and Enzot stands, at the front of it all, clearly the master of his domain, and clearly enjoying it. He must have felt George’s stare, and returned it with a piercing one of his own. George feels chilled. As Enzot turns back to Chaze to say something to him, George tries to catch a glimpse of the wiring. He doesn’t want to get too close in case they become aware of what he is doing so he moves on an angle to it. The wires, he sees with relief, were intact, unless they’re damaged elsewhere. He wants to tell Helena at once but knows that leaving the flight deck so quickly would look suspicious.

  ‘So when are we going to land?’ he asks.

  ‘Kenny asked that question,’ Ben replies. ‘Didn’t he tell you?’

  ‘I haven’t seen Kenny.’

  ‘Well, if they don’t get here soon, it might be too late.’

  ‘You can’t land while…’

  The flight deck door opens and Kenny wheels Davis in on his stretcher, followed by Helena and Bekky. He glances at George. ‘Everything OK?’

  George nods. There is no point in escalating tensions any further by mentioning what Enzot had said.

  As George helps Kenny with strapping in Davis, Helena moves in closer. ‘So?’ she asks him.

  George checks no one was listening, the mutineers already seated up front. ‘It’s OK,’ he murmurs.

  She straps herself in her seat without a word. There will be time later.’