Escape from Endeavor

by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Mac bumped the power up to sixty percent and called the Bridge to inform Daemon they had enough power for a slow lift. Mac refused to talk to Shektee so everything he said had to pass through Daemon. Mac had programmed and run a very hard set of computer simulations to test Shektee’s piloting ability and had grudgingly accepted that she could pilot the ship. He still considered her no better than a flight school graduate but that was going to have to be good enough.

  Daemon triggered the intercom. “Everyone, it’s time to say goodbye to Endeavor. We lift off in sixty seconds.”

  Angelica and Nelson sat Medical in a pair of acceleration chairs that slid out of the wall and tried to relax. Nelson, like the rest of the crew, was glad to be leaving this cursed planet. Angelica, Mystique, and even Daemon were nervous about leaving the only home they had known for a strange world full of strange people. Mystique only had to remember what her mother had done to her to know that no matter what happened she was better off. Angelica focused on relaxing and tried to meditate. Daemon was too busy double-checking everything Shektee was doing to have time to think much about the future.

  Angelica slipped into a deep meditation, deeper than she’d expected to go. She allowed her mind to drift peacefully, replaying memories in her mind’s eye. She saw her father staring down at her, his face aglow with pride and joy, then her mother’s face appeared, blocking her father’s. She was in her mother’s arms, a newborn baby. Her mother stared down at her with so much love. She missed her mother so badly. The image shifted and this time she was still in her mother’s arms but her mother was scared and she was crying. Her mother was running through the forest and something was chasing them. The image was too much for Angelica. She pushed it away; she didn’t want to remember that horrible day.

  The image went black. Angelica felt like she was floating in black, icy water. She started to worry and then a small speck of light appeared. It was far away but moving closer. She focused on the speck of light and drew herself toward it. She came close enough to recognize it as the ship she was on, then there was another flash of light—this one hurt her eyes. It was an energy beam shot from a building far away but the beam was coming straight for the ship. The ship tried to turn to get away from the beam but it was too late. The beam struck the ship and Angelica came out of her trance, screaming and fighting the restraints.

  Nelson almost screamed himself at Angelica’s sudden hysterics. He unbuckled himself and reached for her arms as he tried to calm her down. Angelica regained control quickly and started yelling at Nelson to stop the lift off. Nelson assumed she’d been dreaming and continued to try to calm her down. She had to fight him to get to the release buckle on her restraints. Nelson was no match for her adrenalin-charged muscles; before he knew what was happening she’d thrown him across the examination table. Angelica was nowhere near as strong as her brother but she was still stronger than most men. She got herself out of the restraints and dove for the intercom as Nelson picked himself up off the floor.

  “STOP, DON’T LIFT OFF!” she screamed as she held the button for the intercom.

  Nelson was sure nobody needed the intercom to hear her, she’d yelled so loudly.

  Daemon tensed on the Bridge, as Angelica’s terror came roaring into his psyche. He had no idea what had scared Angelica so badly but he was going to find out before doing anything else. He told Shektee to stop while he went to Medical. He was running down the corridor when he heard Angelica screaming over the intercom. He stopped and returned to the Bridge where he could use the intercom to find out what was wrong.

  Angelica’s scream had gotten everyone’s attention and they all listened intently as she said, “I just had a vision! There is some kind of building in space that’s going to destroy the ship. We can’t lift off.”

  Mac was the first to understand what she was talking about. He had no idea how she’d known but she had to be talking about the orbital defense platforms. The mention of the platforms reminded him that they needed to transmit a set of codes to the platforms and Stacey and the captain were the only people who knew what they were. Mac triggered the intercom. “There are orbital defense platforms programed to destroy any ship that gets near this planet. The captain and Stacey had the code needed to give us permission to be leave here—without them we aren’t going anywhere.”

  “I have the codes, I have the codes! I didn’t know what they were but Stacey knew they were important so I memorized them,” Shektee said over the intercom.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll be right up to set up the transmitter to loop transmit them every ten seconds. That should take care of the platforms,” Mac told them.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Angelica said to Nelson as she calmed down and saw him bandaging his arm.

  “It’s okay, just a minor cut and some bruises. I forgot about the effects growing up on a high-gravity planet had on your muscles,” Nelson replied as he finished.

  “Do you want me to heal that? It’s the least I can do.”

  “No, it’s fine, maybe it will remind me to exercise more often,” Nelson joked.

  They both chuckled at that and went back to their chairs but this time Angelica didn’t fully strap in. “What did you mean by the effect of growing up on a high-gravity planet?” she asked, trying to keep her mind off the launch.

  “Oh, ah, the gravity field of this planet is higher than Earth standard, which would make you stronger than anyone raised in a normal gravity field. It would also make your bones denser and thicker at the wrists and ankles. There are other less obvious changes, but those are the most noticeable,” Nelson said, glad to have a distraction he understood.

  A few minutes later Mac’s voice came over the intercom to inform everyone the transmitter was all set and they were ready to lift again. Shektee slowly increased the power to the anti-grav drives and lifted the ship steadily into the air. She’d decided not to do anything fancy so she methodically raised the ship higher and higher. Sara activated the deck gravity plates to maintain a constant one standard gravity throughout the ship.

  A green light came on in the fire control portion of the co-pilot’s panel, startling Daemon. He started to read the tag under the light when another light flicked on and a clock at the top of the section started a countdown. He only had five seconds before the clock ran out. Daemon’s mind went blank: He had no idea what to do or what was about to happen and then the clock reached zero.

  The underbelly turret swiveled around to lock on target and fired. Two seconds later it fired again, sending a second missile streaking toward the same target. The targeting screen on Daemon’s control panel came to life as it displayed the view from the nose of the first missile. Daemon watched in amazement as the missile flew straight toward the ground only to turn sharply at the last second and skim over the treetops. The missile never went more than ten feet above the trees as it maneuvered toward its target.

  Daemon recognized the town of Exile just seconds before the missiles hit. Exile was erased from the surface of the planet as the explosions from the two missiles combined to shatter every building in town. The fireball from the explosion lit up the sky. Daemon sat and stared at the blank screen, knowing he should feel remorse or pity for the townsfolk who had just died… but he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but satisfaction, knowing that the people who had killed his father were now dead.

  Angelica’s voice came over the intercom, “What was that? Daemon, what’s wrong?”

  “Two missiles just fired by themselves and destroyed Exile,” Daemon replied in a cold voice, devoid of emotion.

  “Yay! I got those bastards.” Mac’s exuberant voice came over the intercom.

  Angelica walked back to her seat and sat down, stunned at the news. Nelson reached over and strapped her in as she just sat staring into space. Her home and everyone she’d known were truly gone. The faces of every person Angelica had met in town slowly paraded through her mind. She’d known she would never see
them again but to know they were all dead was almost too much for her.

  “Orbit in two minutes,” Daemon said over the intercom. His voice sounded mechanical.

  Shektee spared a second to glance at him: What she saw reminded her of her kind and she wondered if the ancient was controlling him.

  Daemon had shut down his emotions: If he couldn’t feel grief for the dead, he wasn’t going to allow himself to feel pleasure. Angelica had taught him never to feel pleasure at the death of another, not even an enemy and he could feel what this was doing to her. He would not allow his pleasure to travel across their link to her.

  Everyone forgot about Mystique, the only surviving resident of Exile.

  36

  Shektee had plotted a straight course away from the planet. Mac had been able to rig a very close-range sensor array. It would give her only a few minutes’ warning if there was debris in their path. She focused on watching for any signs of trouble. Daemon was supposed to be trying to locate landmarks to verify where they were in relation to the jump point. Instead, he had left the Bridge; his sister needed him and he’d gone to her.

  “You can breathe easy; by my calculations we are now out of range of the defense platforms. All we have to do now is find the jump point and we are out of here,” Mac told everyone.

  “Mac, could you come to Medical for a few minutes?” Nelson requested over the intercom.

  “Sure, I’ll be right there,” Mac sounded happier than he had since they’d landed, which annoyed Nelson.

  Mystique could feel the depression and sorrow as she walked up to the hatch to Medical. She stopped to think for a few seconds before cycling the hatch open. Inside, Angelica was sitting with Daemon, who was cradling her head to his chest. She could hear Angelica’s sobs and realized just how badly the destruction of Exile had hurt her. Mystique understood her pain and even felt some herself, but not to the level Angelica was feeling it.

  Nelson was pacing the room, trying to find something to do to occupy himself while he waited for Mac to arrive. He looked up expectantly when the hatch cycled open, ready to confront Mac for what he’d done. When Mystique stepped in he turned away; she didn’t deserve his anger. Nelson felt a hand grab his shoulder, which practically threw him through the hatch. Nelson brought his fists up, ready to fight but when he saw his attacker he froze. Mystique had her finger to her lips, making the symbol for him to be quiet and then she pointed down the corridor. Mystique stepped into the corridor with him and herded him down toward Engineering.

  Mystique stopped him about fifteen feet down the corridor to talk. “What are you thinking, having Mac come to Medical? Isn’t Angelica in enough pain without having to watch her brother dismember him in front of her?” Mystique demanded in exasperation.

  “What? What are you talking about? I was just going to ask him what the hell he was thinking shooting missiles at the town.”

  “And what? You thought Daemon was going to just sit there when the man that hurt his sister was standing right next to him? If Daemon stops comforting Angelica and starts killing, we’re all in trouble.” Mystique pressed her face to his, making sure he understood. “Now go find Mac and keep him away from those two,” Mystique told him as she pushed him down the corridor.

  Mystique walked back to Medical and stood guard at the hatch. She was frustrated at not being able to confront Mac herself but now was not the time. Angelica needed to be given the time to grieve and come to terms with her pain. She didn’t need anyone adding to them and Mystique was going to do her best to make sure nobody did.

  Mystique waited for close to twenty minutes before Nelson returned. He was cradling his arm and looked like he’d been in a fight. Mystique just stood and watched him shuffle toward her. When he got close she hit the button to cycle the hatch open and moved aside. Nelson thanked her as he stepped inside and Mystique stepped in after him. Angelica and Daemon looked up as they entered. Angelica was the first to stand up, she could sense the pain Nelson was feeling and knew he was injured.

  “What happened?” Angelica asked as Daemon stood up behind her.

  “Mac and I had a disagreement, and I fell,” Nelson replied not realizing he was a terrible liar.

  “That’s it!” Daemon stated as he stepped past Angelica, headed for the hatch.

  Mystique stood her ground in front of the hatch and when Daemon reached her, she put her hand on his chest. “No, you are going to stay right here and take care of your sister.”

  Daemon stopped. He didn’t want to hurt Mystique but he really wanted to hurt Mac and she was stopping him.

  Mystique removed her hand from his chest and pointed at Angelica. “She needs you here and calm. She doesn’t need to feel the horror of you killing Mac. You know better than I do that she will feel every second of his death through the link you two have. Now get control of yourself. I will take care of Mac.”

  “No, No more killing, please,” Nelson pleaded. “There has been enough killing.”

  “Just one more. Exile was my home; those were people I grow up with. Some of them may have deserved to die, but not all of them. There were some decent people that were just trying to survive. Mac is going to pay for those deaths and it’s my right to collect.” Mystique was so passionate about her claim to revenge that even Daemon ceded to her.

  “All right, he’s yours to deal with,” Daemon told her as he turned to Angelica. “Sorry.”

  Angelica gave him a small smile and a nod, knowing how badly he wanted to kill Mac but he wasn’t going to for her.

  Nelson opened his mouth to protest but Angelica put her finger to his lips and shook her head slightly. He got the message and closed his mouth. Angelica may not be a killer, but Daemon and Mystique were, and to them what Mac had done demanded blood. Nelson would only get hurt if he tried to interfere. Angelica guided him to his chair and helped him sit down.

  She took his hands and focused on healing him. It felt good to heal another human being. Angelica felt better knowing she was using her ability to help someone in need. She was able to stop thinking about all the dead and focus on the living. Angelica lost track of what she was doing and allowed her mind to drift.

  Nelson felt warmth spreading through his hands and up his arms. It was a relaxing warmth that seemed to melt away all the aches and pains that had developed over the last few years.

  Daemon watched as a soft glow grew stronger around first his sister and then Nelson. The glow never grew as intense as it had when she healed Stacey but it lasted almost a full five minutes before Angelica finally let go of Nelson’s hands.

  Angelica was tired and wanted Daemon to take her to her cabin. He cycled the hatch open and asked her if she wanted him to carry her. She refused with a glare which also told Daemon she was feeling better. Daemon followed her into the corridor. He would see her to her cabin and then head to Engineering.

  Nelson felt better than he had in years. He hadn’t realized how many small aches he’d developed and gotten used to until now. He removed the bandage from his hand, knowing that Angelica had healed it while she’d been healing everything else. He stepped to the sink to wash his hands and as he looked in the mirror he almost fell over in shock. The man in the mirror was twenty years younger. Nelson couldn’t believe what he was seeing until he’d examined his hands and his reflection a dozen times. Finally he sat down in his chair in shock at what Angelica had done to him.