Flight of the Magnus

by L S Roebuck

  “No way. You guys are not from Marquette,” Meliana said. “Are you from Arara? Has Chasm taken over there, too?”

  “No, we are not from Arara,” North said, looking deep into Meliana’s eyes. “I’m North, from the Magellan Marines. We beat Chasm there, and now we’re bringing the fight to Chasm.”

  “I guess we just went straight to full trust then,” Ryder disapproved. “This woman could be a Chasm spy for all we know.”

  “Ryder, you could be Chasm spy for all we know,” North tossed back as Sparks suppressed a guffaw into a condensed snort. “Trust has to start somewhere.”

  “Fine, with your carelessness, just don’t count on me to pull the knife out of your back when the time comes,” Ryder chastised the XO.

  That’s because you’ll be the one putting it in, Sparks thought. She made a mental note to double her already diligent watch on Ryder. She had grown lax over the last year; Ryder played the innocent survivor well.

  North waved off Ryder, and knelt in front of Meliana. He withdrew his combat knife and showed its seriated edge to the woman. “I do not abide traitors. Even those I love.” North’s thoughts lingered on Amberly as the bittersweet memory of the woman he loved enveloped him.

  “Um… like, weird. We just met,” Meliana said.

  North shook his head to clear it. “Sorry, right.” Then he took his knife and cut the zip cuffs off of Meliana.

  “Do you have a medkit?” Meliana asked. Goldsmith produced the red box from his pack and offered it to North.

  “Ugh… please, man,” Meliana snatched the kit and opened it up. She clearly knew her way around the medkit and found the wound-care foam. “Give me your hand, okay?”

  North gave her his bitten hand she began to care for the wound.

  “How sweet,” Ryder said. Sparks had been checking in with Advika down the hall, and turned back to see what she thought a little too tender of a moment. Meliana was gently holding North’s hand, applying foam, but she was looking him in the eye.

  “No ring,” Meliana said, looking down at the hand she was massaging. “That’s good for you, North.”

  “How is that good for North?” Sparks jumped in, almost a little too quickly.

  “You know, Chasm’s revolution is ugly,” Meliana said as she held up her smooth, small left hand and displayed an emerald ring. “When you love someone, you have so much more to lose.”

  Mateo thought about his new fiancé, a sanitation worker back on the Magnus. “What happened?”

  “Like, they put him and our son out the airlock,” Meliana said, suddenly somber. “For the greater good.”

  “Don’t cry to us. We’ve all lost something,” Ryder said. “My home, Waypoint Cortez, is gone. The whole freaking waypoint.”

  “Hevi. It’s true then,” Meliana looked at Ryder. “We heard rumors, but Chasm has all communications locked down. I’m, like, sorry. So sorry.”

  “Enough talk, we’re here for payback. We are going to send Chasm to hell,” Goldsmith said. “We need to take this waypoint back for Earth.”

  “Earth? Earth? Earth is a dream. Do they care? They left us out here. We are alone,” Meliana said.

  “Sister, I came all the way from Earth to fight Chasm,” Goldsmith said. “We are not alone. We’re packing some real firepower.”

  “Extra Hevi,” Meliana’s eyes lit up like a supernova. “You have been to Earth?”

  Goldsmith’s face lit up with pride. “I was born there.”

  “And now you are here, to rescue Marquette from these monsters. With a… ship?”

  “The Cavalry is here, sweetheart,” Sparks said.

  “That’s good, because it’s going to take more than the six of you to take back this station,” Meliana said.

  “You are probably right,” North said, “but don’t underestimate us.” North winked at Meliana.

  “Listen Meliana, we need you to give us a sitrep,” Ryder implored. “Are we secure here? What can you tell us about the composition of the Chasm forces?”

  “Say what?” Meliana said. “A sit-what?”

  “Situation report,” North explained. “It’s a military term. Bottom line is we have about 30 hours before our battleship arrives, and we need to get this place ready for its liberation.”

  “Chasm controls everything,” Meliana said. “It’s like the whole place is a machine, and the people are just parts of the machine. Strict curfew. Long work assignments. No freedom of movement. All the bars are closed. And the churches.”

  “And the schools?” Ryder asked.

  Meliana’s eyes grew wide. “The schools are all run by Chasm teachers, indoctrinating the children. They took them all from us. Once they had control, it was the first thing they did, they took the children from the parents. My man wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t let them take little Barack from us. So, they took them both from me.”

  “I’m sorry, Meliana,” North said. “What can you tell us that will help make this right?”

  “Join up with the Underground,” Meliana said. “And kill Queenie.”

  “We’re not assassins,” North said. “But… who’s Queenie.”

  “Queenie is an overseer,” Meliana answered. “He’s the one who killed Ehud and Barack.”

  “An overseer?” Mateo asked.

  “That’s what we call the Judas scum who sold us out Chasm,” Meliana said, her eyes growing large with rage. “You see, there weren’t enough Chasm to effectively manage their new slave population. So, the cowards and the greedy of those once loyal to Marquette were, like, recruited to oversee the rest of us. You want to help? Kill Queenie. Or, like, maybe give me a gun and let me pop him myself. You’ll have to show me how to use it.”

  “That’s not helpful,” Ryder said growing impatient. “Tell me about this resistance, this Underground. Do they stand a chance? Could they help us catch Chasm off guard?”

  “I don’t care about the f’en Underground,” Meliana swore. “Ehud wanted to join them. He had heard they had managed to make a secret base somewhere in the Africa quadrant. He said he knew where it was, but he didn’t want to tell me, just in case he was found out.”

  “True love,” Sparks said, sarcastically.

  “You know what? Queenie found out Ehud knew something, and they tortured the humanity out of him, but my Ehud, heck, he was stubborn as ever. So, like, they came and took Barack and put our boy in the airlock. In the airlock.”

  “Chasm bastards had no regard for children when they lit up Cortes,” North said, his anger starting to match Meliana’s.

  “Ehud, he still wouldn’t talk, so they threatened to put my boy, my precious baby, out into space. Oh, God, I can still hear him crying for me,” Meliana was crying now as the fresh, painful memory flooded her brain. “Ehud thought they were bluffing. Like, bluffing. And then Barack was gone. Snap.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Sparks put her arm around Meliana.

  “Ehud lost it; he was red, red mad. I know he couldn’t bear to look at me. He went to kill Queenie with his bare hands, but Chasm had a bullet for my love. Oh, God. Oh, God. Ehud, I can’t go on.”

  Sparks awkwardly patted Meliana’s back.

  “Oh Gawds, I ran and never looked back. I should have taken my chance then. Like, I should have died with them.”

  “But you didn’t,” North said. “And now you can help us get revenge on Chasm.”

  “I’ve been hiding down here for days, praying that God would, like, give me a weapon of revenge. Now here you are. An answer to my prayer. Go kill Queenie.”

  “Help us find the Underground resistance, and I promise you, I will find and kill Queenie myself,” North said as he clenched his fist. “I will help you, Meliana. For Ehud and Barack.”

  “But where could they hide on a waypoint?” Goldsmith asked. “Someplace that people wouldn’t think to look.”

  “And someplace where heat signatures couldn’t be easily detected,” Sparks said. “I can’t imagine Chasm not at least using heat detector
s if they believed that there was a hidden resistance base on a waypoint they controlled.”

  “Let’s see if we can find them first,” Ryder said.

  Noisy steps caught everyone’s attention. North grabbed his rifle and aimed down the hall that led back to the runabout. He used his left hand to instruct his squad to be silent, then he brought his rifle into assault position.

  A shadow moved around the corner. North’s finger glided over the rifle trigger.

  A loud clank followed by a familiar-voiced “owww” sounded up the hallway.

  “Rhodes?” North said, putting his gun down. “What are you doing?”

  “Hitting my heads on water pipes, apparently, sir,” the young ensign said.

  “Why are you here?” North said. “You were supposed to remain on the Prime.”

  “I couldn’t wait, not knowing if you would ever come back. Sparks, North, all of you are my family. I have decided if you die, I want to die with you,” Rhodes said, looking at her fellow Marines. “Besides, I was literally born for this fight. Let me come with you.”

  “Sorry, Ensign,” North said feeling protective of his protege. She wasn’t the 16-year-old girl North first met and trained as part of the youth officers’ program. In the two years since they had departed Magellan, Rhodes had become an attractive 18-year-old woman, with dark hair and a sharp wit, and also, North thought, a heart of gold. “This is not your day to die, Rhodes. You have got to live. Who else is going to be captain of the Magnus when Obadiah kicks the bucket? Besides, this is no suicide mission.”

  “I want to be at your side,” Rhodes persisted. “I can do this.” Rhodes hoisted her gun.

  “Listen to old man North, kid,” Sparks smiled. “He knows what’s best.”

  “I’m not an old man!” North protested. “I’m only 32.”

  “Please. I want to stay,” Rhodes said, about to tear up.

  “Sorry, Ensign,” North said with an air of finality. “Back to the Prime. That’s an order. But since you are here, go ahead and send this message encoded to Magnus once you are back. Report that Chasm has control of Marquette, and we are attempting to contact an underground resistance. Also let them know that Marquette has been modified, added to in some way. Let them know about that tower monstrosity grafted on the back of this beautiful city.”

  “But…” Rhodes fought tears for a second time in as many hours.

  “Go. Now. Godspeed, Rhodes.”

  The ensign stood smartly and gave a sharp salute, turned and was gone. North had grown fond of Rhodes, and thought he would have liked to have her with them, but she was too young to die. The risk was too high.

  “What is that thing that is strapped to the back of this waypoint?” North turned to Meliana.

  “It’s called Utopia. It came from Arara seven months ago. It was a supposed to be some sort of all-purpose vessel. Like a waypoint, but with mobility of a deep space ship. I’ve never cared much for ship stuff, but my Ehud, he was fascinated when it arrived.”

  “Let me guess,” Sparks said. “It wasn’t long after it arrived that Chasm took over.”

  “Did you know about this Utopia?” North asked Sparks. Sparks eyed Ryder nervously.

  “I had heard rumors before I left Arara of a secret project, a plan to defend the space around the planet should Earth send a space attack,” Sparks said. “What good would it do for Chasm to take over the surface of the planet if Earth loyalists could just bombard them from space?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Mateo demanded.

  “I mean, they were just rumors,” Sparks said defensively, pulling at her hair nervously.

  “So, the Chairman figured something could be coming, something that could effectively control Arara from space, like the Magnus,” Ryder said. “She guessed, no she anticipated, the Magnus?”

  “Maybe,” North said. “Maybe not. Let’s get moving and see if we establish contact with this ‘Underground.’ We can do some reconnaissance and figure out what this Utopia is capable of and why did they graft it to Marquette. Then let’s get ready to make some noise for when Magnus pulls around.”

  North pulled out his infopad and looked at a schematic of the waypoint. “Condi, can you figure out a path to the Africa Quadrant that is most likely to avoid populated areas of Marquette?”

  “If you follow this network of capillary corridors just beneath the main tube system, you should be able to move mostly undetected,” Condi said. “To get to the Africa Commons, I recommend this path. Total distance is six kilometers.”

  “This place is a lot bigger than Magellan,” Mateo sighed. “Looks like a hike.”

  “I’m worried about being discovered before we make it to the Tube,” Spark said. Each waypoint utilized a pneumatic tube system as a mass transport known casually as the Tube. While Magellan’s Tube was simply a concentric ring with roughly half the radius of the disc-shaped waypoint, Marquette’s system was more sophisticated. Besides the ring, it had tubes spurs that moved people out toward Marquette’s rim.

  “Pass out the ponchos,” North looked to Advika. The Marnie pulled out the dark green, lightweight cover garments out of her pack and handed one to Goldsmith, North and Sparks. She then offered one to Ryder.

  “Sorry, that’s not my style,” the she-spy refused the robe. “Besides, we’ll look just as conspicuous wearing ponchos then in our normal garb.”

  “Maybe,” North said, “But at least with these ponchos, we can keep our armor and weapons easily concealed. Which might buy us a little time that we need to talk ourselves out of a situation. I think that katana strapped to your back will make the locals suspicious and nervous.”

  “Fine, I’ll cover up,” Ryder sighed.

  North looked hard into Meliana’s bright eyes. “If you come with us, you must agree to follow my commands. Do you understand?”

  “What if I don’t come with you?” Meliana asked.

  “Then we’ll have to tie you up. We can’t have you letting anyone else know we are here. I suspect you’ve never been tortured,” Sparks replied. “We’ll come back for you. If we survive.”

  Meliana looked at North, her eyes asking him if she was serious.

  North nodded.

  “Let’s go then,” Meliana said.

  “Sparks, take point,” North said. “I’ll cover the flank. Ryder, protect Meliana. She’s your charge.”

  Sparks took a quick glance at North’s infopad to get her bearings and then headed toward an opening at the far side of the corridor. “Finally, action.”

  Thirty minutes later, Sparks was looking at a common area that served as an intersection hub for the Cook Manufacturing District, when most of the prefabrication of durable goods happened on Marquette. In order to get to the sub-tube service corridors recommended by Condi, North’s party had to sneak through the district. Restaurants on the perimeter of the hub were closed and looked like they had been for some time. Large greenhouse planters were placed near each corner of the commons. The planters had a sickly-sweet smell, with lush green and white vegetation growing in the humid boxes. Condensation caused drops of water to form on the inside of the greenhouse’s translucent surface.

  Sparks quietly rolled from the corridor to behind the closest planter. She poked her head around the corner and saw a teenage boy, carrying a box of what she assumed were manufacturing supplies. He set the box down in the deserted commons, and took a seat on bench next to an eating table, and pulled a flask from his pocket and lifted it to his lips.

  Sparks threw up a fist, and the rest of the party halted. North moved to the front to confer with Sparks.

  “It’s just a boy taking a break. Must be a courier or something. Probably taking raw polycarbonate for manufacturing,” Sparks said. “Let’s test our disguises and see if they alarm him. Maybe he’ll just ignore us.”

  “No, let’s give him some time to clear out,” North said. “I’d rather not risk it.”

  “What if he comes this way?” Sparks asked.


  “Oh, you’ll figure something out,” North whispered. “Keep an eye on him, but stay out of sight.”

  “No problem.”

  North leaned against the cold corridor wall, and signaled to the others that they might not be moving for a while.

  “North, look,” Spark’s hissed.

  A tall man carrying stun gun and an assault rifle had entered clearing, and moved to confront the teen. North hand signaled silence to his squad.

  “Who said you can take a break?” the man said to the boy. His tone wasn’t threatening, Sparks thought. Instead, the man sounded amused. “I’ll take that,” the man said, pointing toward the flask.

  “Chasm trooper,” Sparks mouthed to North. Sparks recognized the Arara-made armor he wore as standard-issue for Chasm muscle.

  The boy, about 10 meters away from corridor opening where Sparks and North were spying from, stood up. He didn’t look afraid. He took a defiant posture.

  “I’ll get this to weapons auxiliary before my deadline,” the boy said. “I just was taking a breather. And you can go airlock yourself if you think I’m going to give you my hootch. I don’t think Chasm is letting us make any more of this stuff. It’s not for the greater good.”

  “Fine, fine. But you know there is a toll for passing through the Orchid Hub. How many credits do you have? I’m feeling nice today; transfer… half of them to me.”

  “I thought you Chasm people didn’t care about money,” the teen said, getting steamed.

  “Yeah, money is meaningless, so go ahead and give me yours,” the Chasm trooper said, pulling out his stun gun.

  “I don’t think so,” the boy said. “Look, I’m not causing any trouble.”

  “Like I care if you are,” the man said, growing agitated. “Just pull out your infopad and authorize a transfer of some credits.”

  “Go ahead and stun me,” the teen said. “If you do, you still won’t get any credits, because last I checked, an unconscious person can’t authorize a credit transfer.”

  “Ugh, you’re right,” the Chasm trooper said. He pulled the trigger on his stun gun, and the boy fell to the floor, and began to flop around, as if having a seizure. Then the boy grew still, barely breathing. The trooper grabbed the boy’s infopad and pulled out what North thought looked like a hacking device not dissimilar from the ones Kimberly Macready had distributed to her allies on Magellan. Sparks figured he would get the credits.