by Isaac Hooke
There were no breach seals along the way to slow them down, luckily, and the pair made good time to the evac station. Rade was very pale by then, and obviously in great pain.
“Are you all right?” Shaw asked when he stumbled.
He grunted weakly. The pick-me-up was obviously wearing off.
She helped Rade to the closest hatch, peered into the portal, and realized the associated lifepod had already ejected: only empty space awaited beyond. She moved to the next four hatches in turn. All gone.
“This isn’t good...” Shaw said under her breath.
She took Rade to the last hatch and gazed into the portal. She was relieved to find herself staring at the insides of a lifepod.
“Okay, there’s a pod,” Shaw said. She tried the open switch and the hatch readily swung aside. She slid the plasma rifle down from his shoulder, placed it on the deck behind her, and lowered Rade within. He seemed barely cognizant of what was going on. Instead of the usual automated clamps, there were a pair of low-tech straps available to secure a passenger. An old model.
“I have to go, big guy,” Shaw said, tightening the straps. “Thanks for everything. Never forget, I always loved you.”
Rade looked up groggily. “What?”
“There’s only enough room for you,” Shaw said.
“No.” Rade became lucid, and struggled against his binds. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I can, and I will,” she said. “I have to.”
Rade’s face was full of anguish. “No.”
“I’ll be fine, Nemesis is aboard, remember?” Shaw said. “Zhidao was lying. He had to be.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Rade asked.
Shaw stepped back and hovered her hand over the launch switch next to the open hatch. “Then I’m wrong.”
Goodbye, Rade.
Shaw hit the switch.
twenty-eight
Shaw stepped back.
But before the hatch could seal, Rade flung out his good leg, causing the safety mechanism to activate.
“Error,” a computerized voice came from the pod. “Door blockage. Please remove obstacle.”
“Rade, what are you doing?” Shaw said.
Rade had apparently figured out how to open his straps, and he did so in that moment. He drunkenly threw himself forward.
Shaw caught him. “Rade! Get back in there!”
She was about to shove him back inside, but the unobstructed hatch slammed shut behind him.
No…
The pod jettisoned, completing the launch sequence without its passenger.
Shaw stared through the portal and watched the lifepod recede. “What have you done?”
Rade hugged her tightly. “I prefer it this way. Now let’s get to the hangar bay and find Nemesis.”
Assuming we make it before the ship burns up. And assuming Nemesis is actually there.
She was about to look away from the portal when a flash appeared in deep space. The lifepod was gone: it had exploded. If Rade had been aboard…
It had all been a trick on Zhidao’s part. He had ejected most of the pods save one so that Rade and Shaw would have to make a choice over who lived and who died. And then the person who had stayed behind, thinking they had sacrificed themselves for the other, would have to sit back and watch as their loved one died.
Such a terrible, cruel trick.
Just like Zhidao.
“What are you waiting for?” Rade asked, wheezing.
Apparently he hadn’t noticed the explosion. She would tell him later, once they were out of there.
“Nothing.” Shaw retrieved the plasma rifle from the deck and slid it back over Rade’s shoulder. Then, retracing her steps, she helped her limping warrior toward the original hangar bay.
At the breach seals, she had to take Rade through sideways because of the smaller oval shapes her plasma shots formed in the metal, and she wasn’t about to waste time enlarging those holes.
“You did this?” Rade asked at one point, when they stepped over the wreckage of the Centurions.
“Uh huh,” Shaw said.
“That’s my girl.”
When they were three passageways away from the hangar bay, the Hoplite’s indicator suddenly appeared on the overhead map.
“You’re still aboard!” Shaw transmitted.
“Of course,” Nemesis said. “I’ve been in guard mode all this time.”
Sure enough, Zhidao had lied.
Rade was beginning to fade again, and Shaw half dragged, half walked him the rest of the way. Most of his weight was on her shoulder, which was beginning to feel very sore.
Waiting in front of the airlock, just out of the line of sight of Nemesis in the hangar beyond, stood Ms. Bounty. She wasn’t wearing a jumpsuit.
Shaw paused. “Zhidao? Or Surus?”
“No, only the original Ms. Bounty,” the Artificial replied. “Zhidao possessed me. Forced me to do evil things. But I’m free now.”
“Then let’s go,” Shaw said. “Nemesis is waiting for us in the hangar bay. You can ride in the passenger seat.”
“Wait,” Rade said. He forced himself to stand straighter, leaning less heavily on her shoulder. The Artificial’s presence had brought him back to Shaw. “How can we be sure it’s really you? That Zhidao hasn’t reprogrammed you, or planted a Trojan?”
Shaw released Rade entirely, letting him lean against the bulkhead for a moment.
“We don’t have time for this,” Shaw said. “The Volare will be hitting the atmosphere any second now. Ms. Bounty, I’m going to fire my stun rifle at you.” Even though the Artificial wasn’t possessed by a Phant, the electromagnetic energy from the rifle would still momentarily stun Ms. Bounty’s AI core. “Then I’m going to shut you off and we’ll load you into Nemesis’ passenger seat.”
Shaw started to raise her weapon.
Ms. Bounty launched at Shaw, moving in a blur across the passageway. But before the Artificial could reach her, Ms. Bounty’s upper body was sent reeling backward. The Artificial landed on its back, a huge gaping hole marring its midsection.
Rade lowered the plasma rifle.
“Well that answers that,” Rade said.
“I thought you didn’t like killing AIs?” Shaw said.
“Hate it,” Rade remarked. “But I hate it even more when an AI tries to touch my girl.”
“You could have waited another second,” Shaw said.
“Nope,” Rade said. “I had to fire when I did.”
Shaw felt a moment of grief for the AI that was once Ms. Bounty, and Shaw regretted that she had not fired her stun rifle before Rade could loose the plasma shot: Ms. Bounty’s AI core was now completely unrecoverable.
But Surus already restored her backups to a new Ms. Bounty.
Restoring a backup to a new Ms. Bounty wasn’t the same as saving the original Ms. Bounty, but unfortunately there was nothing she could do about that.
Shaw helped Rade limp into the hangar bay.
The Hoplite was waiting for her on its knees, its cockpit hatch open and inviting.
“Hey Nemesis,” Shaw said.
“Hello, Shaw,” the big mech said.
Rade glanced at the hangar bay doors as Shaw brought him to the mech. “Why didn’t Zhidao open up the bay doors to space us?” His voice was weak. “Or me, anyway, since I kinda don’t have a suit.”
“He likes to give his playthings a fighting chance.” Shaw helped Rade onto the cockpit hatch. “No sport for him, otherwise.”
“That very well may be the case,” Nemesis said. “But while you were gone I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I used the opportunity to hack into the bay doors. Turns out these Regina Mercante class ships have some unpatched vulnerabilities that allow for local system escalations. I’m in complete control of them, and I made sure the doors remained sealed.”
“Nice, but one question: will you be able to cycle oxygen into the cockpit once Rade is inside, so he has enough to breathe?” Shaw asked as she c
lambered in after her warrior.
“Of course,” the Hoplite said.
The hatch sealed behind her and Rade, draping them in darkness. Shaw activated the headlamp in her suit to provide some illumination.
Around her, the inner actuators didn’t activate—there wasn’t enough room for the cocoon to engage, not while she and Rade were both inside. That meant Shaw couldn’t control the mech—not that it really mattered at the moment. She just wanted to get Rade and herself out of there.
“Take us out whenever you’re ready,” Shaw told the AI. “We have no time to lose.”
She tapped into the mech’s external camera feed and shared it with Rade.
She watched the bay doors open. Air explosively vented past as atmosphere from all the compartments and passageways Shaw had perforated was sucked out. Loose items in the hangar bay smashed into the hull of the mech on the way out.
Nemesis leaped into that gale and fired jumpjets to bring them into the starry void.
She felt a little queasy as the weightlessness hit. The large half-dome of the planet floated just above.
Nemesis continued to jet away from the Volare, but then the mech abruptly cut thrust.
“Like the Volare, we’re on a decaying orbit,” Nemesis said. “I don’t have enough jumpjet fuel to correct that.”
“How long until we burn up?” Shaw asked.
“Forty-five minutes, at current speed and trajectory,” Nemesis replied.
Well that was a relief. Somewhat.
“Conserve what fuel you have,” Shaw ordered. “We’ll need it to link up with the rescue shuttle.”
“How do you know there’s going to be a rescue shuttle?” Rade said. “Nemesis, are you able to reach the Motley Brown?”
“Now that we’ve departed the Volare, I have a weak signal, yes,” Nemesis said. “Not real-time.”
“Good, tell Snakeoil to send in a shuttle then.” Rade lay back, resting his head against the cockpit wall.
Nemesis replied ten seconds later. “He says a Dragonfly is already on the way. But speaking of shuttles… I’ve picked up the retreating craft Zhidao is using. Apparently, his shuttle left the Volare a little late. He’s still firing engines, trying to achieve escape velocity, and therefore his thermal emissions are showing up, at least from here—the signature is very weak, however. Definitely some sort of stealth tech involved. I’m not sure the Motley Brown will detect it at their range.”
“Relay the coordinates to Snakeoil,” Rade said tiredly. “Along with the acceleration and trajectory. Tell him to shoot down that shuttle.”
Nemesis once again took some time to reply: “Snakeoil tells me the asteroid is currently occluding the shuttle. But the craft’s trajectory will bring it past the edge in approximately twenty seconds, allowing a firing solution. I’ll retransmit updated coordinates then.”
“Nemesis, rotate the external camera toward Zhidao’s shuttle,” Shaw said. “And zoom in. I’d like to watch him go down.”
Shaw’s video feed updated so that she was staring at the small shuttle craft from the Volare. It was accelerating away from the planet.
Twenty seconds later several small dark spots appeared on the shuttle as the Vipers from the Motley Brown disabled the engines. A moment later explosive slugs chucked from the Motley Brown’s mag-rails tore into the craft, tearing it apart.
“Did Zhidao achieve escape velocity before we destroyed the shuttle?” Shaw asked.
“No,” Nemesis said.
“How long until the debris reaches the atmosphere?” Shaw asked. “Are we talking weeks, or days?”
“Hours, now,” Nemesis said. “The mag rail explosions shifted the trajectory. The remains of the shuttle will burn up in roughly three hours.”
“But Zhidao will survive…” Shaw said. She glanced at Rade. “Is it worth trying to retrieve the Purple?”
Rade shook his head. “He’ll be in mist form out there in the void, but still capable of locomotion. His acceleration will be slow, not enough to achieve escape velocity, but definitely enough to separate himself from the debris. If we go to the wreckage, he’ll be anywhere within a kilometer radius by the time we arrive. Or larger. In fact, he’s probably fighting his momentum, slowing himself down, so that he falls to the surface even faster. That would be the most logical way to escape.”
“We won’t find him, you’re saying,” Shaw said.
“We won’t find him,” Rade agreed.
“Maybe when our rescue shuttle arrives we could use it as a lure?” Shaw said. “Tempt Zhidao into boarding the AI?”
“I somehow doubt he’ll take the bait,” Rade said weakly. “Especially considering he won’t be able to achieve the higher orbits necessary to reach the shuttle, once we arrive. And even if he did, he’d play it smart, and seep into the hull of our shuttle. And the moment we docked, he’d secretly flow into the deck of the hangar bay. You really want a rogue Phant hidden somewhere aboard the Motley Brown? After everything we’ve been through? Let him fall to the planet surface, I say. We’ll have Surus track him down afterward.”
Shaw shook her head. “I’m not sure she’ll find him. He might get smart, and hide in the planet’s crust this time.”
“That’s fine, too,” Rade said. “Let him stay trapped on this planet forever.”
“But the aliens here are mid Tech Class I already,” Shaw said. “They have some machines. Zhidao could conquer them, and eventually build himself a starship.”
“Actually, he can’t,” Rade said. “Those machines the aliens have? They aren’t anywhere close to an AI. Zhidao needs a neural network. He can’t possess an ordinary machine. As such, there’s no way he’ll be able to conquer these aliens, nor teach them how to build a starship. Oh sure, he can incinerate them all he wants, but it won’t help. There probably won’t be any AI equivalents developed here for at least two hundred years or longer. So we won’t find him. Not in our lifetimes, anyway. And you’re right, when he reaches the surface, he’ll probably seep into the mantle and hibernate for the next century or so. That’s what I would do if I was the Phant. But we’ll send Surus out to look for him anyway. You never know, she might get lucky.”
“So it’s over then,” Shaw said.
“It is,” Rade said. “At least for us.”
Shaw nodded. “The asteroid is still out there. Nemesis, can you ask Snakeoil for an update?”
Nemesis replied a few seconds later. “He says they’ll be able to move the asteroid in time. The Hoplites were able to successfully defend the grappler site. When your team went into the tunnels, you drew most of the crabs and slugs with you. The surface team only had to move the grappler two more times.”
“And how is my team doing?” Shaw asked.
“Snakeoil tells me they’re leading the crabs and slugs on a wild goose chase through the tunnels,” Nemesis said. “Keeping them occupied away from the surface. They plan to leave the asteroid behind as soon as we’ve veered it out of the way.”
“Any losses?” Rade said.
“According to Snakeoil, no losses on our side,” Nemesis said. “Unless you count the original Hoplites. The team has terminated them all.”
“I’m not sure whether to feel relief, or sadness,” Shaw said. “Or both.”
She turned to Rade and hugged her big warrior. He grunted softly, and she remembered his broken ribs.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling away.
He nodded, and said between gritted teeth: “Worth it.”
Shaw smiled at her sweet man, and then retrieved the medkit from the cargo pocket of her jumpsuit. She sonic-injected a painkiller into Rade’s hand. He sighed blissfully and closed his eyes.
She listened to his breathing until Nemesis announced: “The Rescue Dragonfly is approaching. Snakeoil tells me to prepare for grappling hook impact.”
“Snakeoil is the pilot?” Shaw asked.
“He is,” Nemesis answered.
That was comforting, somehow. Someone else who cared about Ra
de was piloting.
Shaw wrapped her arms carefully around his waist. “All right, we’re prepared.”
The cockpit jerked about violently for a few moments, and Shaw felt particularly nauseous. But then it settled.
“Snakeoil is reeling us in,” Nemesis said.
The cockpit shuddered a minute later.
“We’ve reached the outer fuselage,” Nemesis said. “I’m attaching via magnetic mounts.”
“Sounds good,” Shaw said. The big mech would never be able to squeeze into the shuttle’s cabin.
“You okay, boss?” Snakeoil’s voice came over the comm. “Boss?”
“He’s sleeping now,” Shaw said.
Rade opened one eye. “Never better, Snakeoil.”
“You’re not coming aboard?” Snakeoil said.
“Nope,” Rade said. “No jumpsuit. I can’t spacewalk. Who’s up there with you?”
“Just me,” Snakeoil said. “Everyone else is still involved with the asteroid.”
“Well, it’s good to see you,” Rade said dreamily. “Or hear you, anyway.” He closed his eyes once more.
There was silence on the comm for a moment, and then Snakeoil’s voice came on. “How ‘bout you, Shaw, you all right?”
“So so,” Shaw said.
“Bender wanted me to a relay a message to you,” Snakeoil transmitted. “He said he’s pissed that you didn’t wait for the rest of them. Or at least him, cuz you know, he’s the best bug hunter around. His words.”
Shaw couldn’t help but smile. “What’s the ETA?”
“We should be docked with the Motley Brown in three hours,” Snakeoil said.
“Three hours?” Shaw said. “But you got here so fast.”
“I was able to use the momentum of the Motley Brown to get here quickly,” Snakeoil said. “Unfortunately, I had to slow right down to grab you, and we have to accelerate away from the atmosphere and achieve escape velocity all over again. The Motley Brown will have finished redirecting the asteroid by then, and they’ll meet us in high orbit.”
A short time later Snakeoil piped in the feed from the external shuttle cam, and Shaw watched the Volare burn up.
“So Zhidao’s ship joins him in exile,” Shaw said. She had removed her helmet, and Rade had allowed her to rest her head on his chest. He promised her that it didn’t hurt his ribs, but she wasn’t entirely sure.