Once the woman was inside, the rogues returned to their posts. Mira held her EG-pack tight against her chest. Her mother would have told her to run away. Run to where it was safe. If her mother had been there, Mira would have listened. Instead, Mira ran after the woman.
The inside was a half-circle, shaped like a fat ‘U’, with a machine built into the straight side. The wall had dials and gauges all over, looking like a complicated mess Mira could never figure out even if she had a decade alone with it.
The machine felt wrong. Like it was distorted and obtuse. Mira felt uncomfortable standing so close to it, but the room wasn’t wide enough to distance herself. The heat coming off it was scorching, and the ground vibrated enough that she felt it in her lungs. Along the wall opposite to the machine was racks of ammo, kinetics, EG-packs, and armor. Half were missing, and rogues came and went, swapping their weapons and returning the gear they salvaged from fallen comrades.
Mira walked around the bend to see the woman, along with the two guards and the proper lady, standing and looking the machine over. Mira quickly ducked back, hiding behind the bowl of the ‘U’. She couldn’t see them anymore, but could faintly hear them over the vibrations of the machine.
“Don’t you feel it?” one said, voice sounding soft and feminine. The proper lady.
“I feel something,” the other said. Voice low and throaty. Almost broken. “I don’t know what, but something.”
“It’s working,” the proper lady said.
“I’ll trust that it is,” the woman said. “We only have two of these, and if they fail there’s no one else to make another.” A pause, then some whispers.
Mira couldn’t hear them anymore. She cupped her hand around her ear and listened close, then heard steps turn the corner. Mira looked, and saw the bald woman standing a foot in front of her, looking down with cold green eyes. Mira stumbled back, EG-pack rattling in her hands.
“You look lost,” the woman said. She was taller than Mira, yet looked far more fragile. Voice sounding broken, and her body nothing but skin clinging to bone.
“Sorry,” Mira said, trying not to look at straight at her.
The woman stepped closer. “What are you doing in here?” she said, shortening the distance between them. She didn’t look angry, but that somehow made it worse.
Mira forced a smile, trying to play it off like she was supposed to be there. “I, umm,” she said, “just needed some ammo so I came back in here to get some is all.”
The woman looked at the gun in Mira’s hand. “Ammo for an electric weapon?” she said. “How peculiar.”
Mira tried to speak but her words came out in a stumbling mess. Before she could form a coherent thought, the woman snatched the EG-pack from Mira’s hand quick enough that Mira couldn’t react until the woman already had it in her grasp.
“I haven’t seen a pack like this in all my life,” the woman said. She looked over the EG-pack for a second, then unplugged the cord and threw the gun to the floor. It shattered on impact, the casing cracking and the innards spilling out.
Mira felt a shiver in seeing it break. It angered her, but she was too afraid to show it. The woman’s two guards had kinetics drawn on, but even without them, the woman put Mira on edge.
The woman walked over to the wall of weapons and took an EG-pack from one of the racks. She walked back to Mira and connected the new EG to her battery pack with the existing cord.
“This will work better,” she said. The gun was a sleek white plastic, with red decals on the side. She couldn’t see where one part began and the other ended. A clean, uniform design like it came from a factory. The woman stuck the gun on Mira’s belt, opposite side to the battery pack. “Now you’re ready to defend this place.”
“What is this place?”
The woman glanced back at the proper lady and the guards, then looking once again to Mira. “You’re a curious little rat, aren’t you?” she said. “This place is special. Only two like it in the system. And unless there’s another as crazy as Doctor Remer than I doubt there’ll be another. It warps space-time. Bends a planet’s gravity around until the planet literally destroys itself.”
Mira had trouble catching her breath, and her eyes were wide and unblinking.
That’s impossible, Mira thought.
The woman rolled her eyes and walked away. “Worthless rat. Nothing but useless people I have.” She walked up to her group. “Shoot the controls,” she said. “I know it’s working.”
The guards sprayed the control panel with bullets, breaking it into shrapnel. The proper lady flinched at the sound and held her hand up to keep shards from hitting her face.
Once the controls were gone, the woman and her group walked straight past Mira and out of the room.
Mira broke from her paralysis and ran outside, onto the platform. The shuttle was already off the ground, the hangar door still open and the group stepping. “Got about twenty minutes!” the proper lady said just before the door closed.
The shuttle took off and left atmosphere. Mira stood there, watching it leave and feeling a steady unease flow through her.
The ground shook. Not the platform, but the ground under it. She felt the strange movements in her chest, like gravity was distorted.
“Twenty minutes until the planet starts collapsing,” she said to herself, barely able to believe it.
The ground shook again.
Mira couldn’t control her breath. “I’m not going to die here.”
She looked around, not sure what to do.
Twenty minutes.
The fear started to sink in as she felt the vibrations of the ground beneath her.
Then, the fear melted away. Mira smiled. She wasn’t going to die here, because she had a way out.
Dess had a ship.
Chapter 7
Destroy. What do you suppose that means?
Benith Town had emptied of Union marines, and the civilians retreated to their homes. Kendal walked through the empty street, feeling the ground beneath vibrate and tremble. Something had happened in the distance. The ground jolted like a rug being pulled from under him, and the structures of the town swelled and strained.
Kendal spent the first moments of the attack hidden away, but as the battle moved towards the pillar of smoke out of town he felt safe enough to wander the streets.
There was another tremor, more violent than the last. The clatter of gunfire was soft and distant, but it still put him on edge.
He ran down the path, heading towards South Port. Smoke billowed out and mixed with the morning fog, and the steady vibrations in the ground increased. He needed to get off the planet, and the only way was with one of the shuttles.
His hair was flat with sweat. He had unbuttoned the top of his shirt to keep from heating up. Nau Cedik air was humid and low in oxygen. His head spun as he jogged down the path with his kinetic in hand.
During the First War, lieutenants would have seen combat, but not now. Not since the Union took rule of the central planets.
The ground shook hard enough to knock Kendal off balance. He heard a whistling from the sky as a ship crashed between him and South Port. He practically felt the concussive shock coming from it as it destroyed the path. The water of the marsh rushed in to fill the crater, turning it into a lake between him and his goal.
“Shit,” Kendal said and turned back around. Benith Town might have something, he thought, feet kicking up mud as he ran back to the half-ablaze town. Even a short-ranged transport could get me to South Port. As unlikely as finding something in Benith Town was, it was a better chance than trying to walk through the marsh to South Port.
Kendal rushed through the street, passing by debris and bodies. He saw a forest caught on fire, and the occasional marine rushing to battle, but couldn’t spot a ship or any kind of short-ranged transports.
It’s useless, he thought. You’re only kidding yourself thinking there’s something here.
He skidded to a stop. Between a two of the
unmarked houses was a metal framed building labeled ‘storage’. He ran up and aimed his kinetic at the lock, only to find that it had already been busted open.
Inside was dark, with only flickers from the outside flames through the doorway to give light. A short ceiling, and many crates littered the floor, giving the room a maze-like feel. His footsteps echoed, and his breath was loud.
A new sound. The rattling of metal. He spun around and heard the charge of an EG-pack. The crate behind him ignited with a blast, followed by a deafening echo. Kendal raised his kinetic and aimed out into the darkness.
He listened. Light footsteps, circling around him. Trying to get the better of him.
The distant EG-pack rattled again, now only a few feet behind him. He spun and pointed at the assailant.
It was her. The girl from the bar.
“You.” Kendal lowered his gun, but she kept hers aimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Leave,” she said.
“We need off the planet,” Kendal said. “It’s unstable and I think it will—”
“I know,” she said. “I ain’t got time to deal with Union politics. You turn right around and go back to them shuttles of yours. I got to get me a grounder cause some shit stole mine right from my yard.”
Mira put her EG-pack back on her belt and started walking away. Kendal followed after, much to her annoyance.
She walked over to a long row of those teethed bikes he’d seen before. All of them chained up. She knelt down and shot the lock with her EG-pack. It heated and sparked, but didn’t break. She shot it twice more, only managing to warp the metal.
“Here,” Kendal said and pointed his kinetic at the lock. A deafening blast and it broke. Mira rolled her eyes and untethered the chain, freeing one of the bikes. She climbed on and opened up the panel on the front to rewire the lock.
“It’s that friend of yours,” Kendal said. “The one you said you were visiting after I mentioned the ship? He can get you off here, right?”
“He can get me off here, yeah.” She connected two wired and the bike roared to a start.
“The Union’s not going to be letting anyone leave,” he said. “Anyone that’s not Union is going to be a suspect to Nova’s army and you’ll both be questioned. If I’m there I can convince them you’re not with them.”
“I’ll have a hard enough time convincin’ my friend to let me on his ship.” The planet shook harder than ever. The bike tried to fall over, but Kendal caught her and set her back up right.
“You need me,” Kendal said.
She hissed, and looked down at the ground, seemingly lost in a mental struggle. The sudden shakes in the ground were gone, but a constant vibration lingered.
“God dammit!” she said and kicked the ignition, the bike roaring to life. “Get on before I change my mind.”
Kendal didn’t hesitate. He sat behind her, feeling the seat already hot from the engine. He sunk forward, nestling against Mira’s back and getting a face full of her hair.
“Hold on!” she said. The bike lurched forward and he had to wrap his arms around her waist to keep from flying off. Mira maneuvered around boxes and shelves, coming within inches of slamming the sides. He held as tight as he could and had his head resting against the back of her shoulder.
The bike drifted around a bend and she drove straight through the entrance door, barely fitting through as Kendal felt the doorway brush his coat.
The fire had spread, taking the last few buildings and setting the town ablaze. Fractal cracks in the bed of sand opened up as the planet’s crust split apart. The bike drove over these cracks, wobbling and shaking over them until they cleared Benith Town and went straight down the path.
Once past the smoke and fire, Kendal could see the horizon line. Behind them, and approaching Benith Town, was a sinkhole. The crust had split apart and the marsh and the town were slipping to the hole that had formed.
Mira kept hold of the bike as the ground tremored hard enough that Kendal though it would collapse right here, but then the vibrations stopped. The strange influxes of gravity vanished as well, but the ground was still collapsing and breaking towards them.
They reached the crater that had blocked Kendal and she drove off the path and into the marsh to get around it. The teeth on the bike started digging and chewing at the mud, water and moss kicking up and soaking them.
They circled the crater, and the bike stabilized once they were back on the path.
“How do you know he hasn’t taken off?” Kendal yelled as they approached South Port. The destruction had slowed, but not stopped entirely.
“Sound don’t get into the ship awful well,” Mira said. “Unless he’s been watching the feeds, he won’t even know what’s happening!”
She slowed down once in South Port, and he loosened his grip on her waist. There was a strange emptiness to the streets. Kendal wasn’t sure where everyone had gone. He knew the marines had all been in Benith Town.
The ship was still there. An older class monstrosity with an engine bigger than the rest of it. Mira stopped the bike and climbed off first. Kendal let the bike topple over and crash in the dirt. He looked over to Mira, but she was already running for the ship.
“Keep up!” Mira yelled as he trailed behind.
The entry was a ledge on the second level of the ship with a ladder hanging to the ground. A design that would never be on ships made in the last decade.
Mira seemed to hesitate before climbing up the ladder. She was already on the ledge when Kendal started up.
“C’mon, Dess,” she muttered and knocked on the door hard enough that she was practically punching the metal.
Kendal hoisted himself onto the ledge, straining his arms and bumping his ribs and knees on the metal corner.
She kept knocking until the door opened. Standing inside was the man Mira called, ‘Dess.’ Tall and intimidating, yet he had a hunch to his stance and looked as old as Kendal and Mira combined. He had brown hair, cut short, but it was starting to hang in his eyes. He wore beige clothes with a belt and a long coat overtop that hung past his knees.
“Mira?” Dess asked. “What are y—”
Mira pushed her way inside, putting her hand to his chest and shoving him back. “We need to take off.”
“Mir,” Dess said, “I been over this many times. Union’s shut down travel an—”
She drew the EG-pack and put it to Dess’s neck. “Walk.”
“Mir,” Dess said. “Think ‘bout this.”
“All I’ve thought is that this planet’s goin’ soon and I don’t want us on it.”
The entry door shut behind them, and the room was now silent. The sounds of crumbling ground, and wind, and rain, were all gone. Even the rumble of the collapsing planet was mute. Just the sounds of breathing and the rattle of the EG-pack in Mira’s trembling hands.
Dess looked at Mira, almost as if he was waiting for her to change her mind.
A second passed, then he cursed under his breath and headed down the narrow hallway to their right.
Kendal followed, keeping his distance. Mira might have been trying to save his life, but that didn’t mean she didn’t terrify him.
Dess led them up a shallow staircase and into the ship’s command room. A compact and square room, with a roof that angled down near the front above the console. Every surface was made from metal panels, and the lights overhead were too dim for Kendal’s liking. It was dark, rustic, and he felt uncomfortable the second he stepped in.
Dess sat in front of the console. The chair looked like it was from an old land-transport. Soft cushion with a beige-leather skin that was well-worn and peeling at the seams. It swiveled on a stand and had tape holding it together.
“Systems take a second or two to boot up,” Dess said, flicking switches on the machine.
Indicators and lights turned on and the ship’s engine rumbled. The three monitors on the wall sparked to life. The center one showed a window feed of outside, letting them see the hor
izon. The crater had stopped just short of South Port, and water poured down into the hole in torrents. Rocks caved in on themselves as they slid down towards the center. Across the landscape, holes and valleys settled and the marsh thinned and pooled into lakes and rivers. The ship had slanted, sinking into the muddy sand bed of South Port, now sinking into the marsh.
“How does something like this happen?” Dess said, staring at the monitors in disbelief.
“A woman named Nova got really pissed at the Union,” Kendal said, getting Dess to turn in his chair to look right at him.
“Who’s he?” Dess asked.
“Kendal,” Mira said. “He’s a Union officer.”
“I’m a lieutenant,” Kendal corrected.
“Ain’t that just great,” Dess said and cursed under his breath. He spun around and switched the two side monitors to display code and indicators that Kendal couldn’t comprehend.
“I’m going to get in shit for this,” Dess said, still starting up the system.
“I’m sure the Union will let the ‘no passengers’ thing slip right by, seeing as how the planet we were on is about to collapse.”
“What ‘no passengers’ thing?” Kendal asked.
“Dess can’t have passengers cause of his transport license,” Mira said.
“What?” Kendal said. “There’s no law that prohibits ships from carrying passengers.”
Mira looked at Dess, but didn’t get an answer from him. Dess flicked the a few switches on the panel and the engine roared to life. The ground vibrated and everything loose rattled.
“I’d tell you to strap in,” Dess said, “but we only got one chair so you’d best hold on to somethin’.”
Kendal looked around and couldn’t find anything to hold onto. The control room had grooved panels, but no latches or levers of any sort. Kendal felt the first surge of gravity, and huddled down on the floor, knees down and arms over his head to keep from being thrown around. Standard takeoff safety that all officers are taught.
Cast of Nova Page 6