He’d had every intention of getting back to it, but by the time he’d made planetside, he wanted to put it all behind him. To live a quiet life away from the war. His wife and child were with him, and that was enough for him to stay hidden.
“Is this worth it? I mean, now that Mae is gone, and the hybrids don’t want to sell us out?” Nick asked us for the tenth time since yesterday.
“If this thing will do what Kareem says it does, then yeah. It could secure our safety from invasion,” Mary said, creeping our ship toward the system. A ringed planet hung in the distance, a gorgeous juxtaposition to the ugliness I was feeling. A large moon was nearby, and just where we were told the station would be, it stayed, orbiting the planet beside the moon, its massive wheel-shaped rim spinning still.
“It might still have gravity,” Clare said, staring at the viewscreen, taking in the amazing piece of technology.
It had to be a hundred times the size of our ship, with no lights of any sort on the outside of it. It looked like what it was: abandoned. I couldn’t take my eyes off the circular space station, rotating so slowly, but that was probably because of the size of it. It was flat dark gray in color, patches of different material on the outside layers. It looked like there was an unfinished section in the center of it, a section probably closed off from the interior.
It gave off a coldness, looking at it. For some reason, the station made me think of visiting my father’s grave after he’d passed away, and I didn’t like the comparison in my mind. Nothing about it should have made me feel that way; nonetheless, it did.
“I have a bad feeling,” Slate said, mirroring my thoughts.
“Me too,” Mary whispered.
We slowed the ship, all silently watching the massive stationary vessel’s turbine slowly rotate.
“No signs of anything nearby?” I asked, knowing there wasn’t, because the map showed no vessels flying out there.
“Nothing within range,” Clare said.
“Okay, let’s do this. We stick to the plan. Clare, you stay here with Nick. Mary, Slate, let’s suit up.” I walked past them, to the hall.
“Dean,” Nick said, “take care, and good luck out there.”
I turned and forced a smile. “Thank you. Should be back in a jiffy. I wouldn’t mind a beer after all of this is over. Can you put some on ice?” I joked.
“We mean it. Be careful,” Clare said.
“We will. We have each other’s back. Right, Slate?” Mary asked, nudging him with her elbow.
“Right,” he said, his face set in grim determination.
With that, we exited the bridge in a line, and made our way past the storage area to the prep room, where our three suits hung on the wall, already prepared over the week. The lapels had the buttons attached to them. I hadn’t green-beamed through any walls for a while, and frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. The last time had been stressful enough. At least this time we were going into an empty ship, and the imminent death of millions of people wasn’t looming over our heads.
Our suits were much like the ones we’d used from the Kraski ship last year, only there were five fingers for the hands, and they fit us since they were custom-built. The material was light and thin, though protective from radiation and, as we’d learned, almost melt-proof. As I slid into the suit, I thought back to when Mae and I had harnessed up and shot toward the vessel heading for the edge of the sun, clipping it and saving countless lives. Why had she done it?
“Ready?” Slate asked. His helmet was clipped in, and he checked ours, ensuring they were sealed properly.
“I think so,” I said.
“You remember all the training we’ve gone over?” he asked us both.
Mary nodded, and he handed her the pulse rifle from the weapons cache. We were strapped with a handgun, and Slate had an arsenal of other weapons: concussion grenades, clubs, knives, and anything else he could carry on his person. He made for quite the imposing soldier.
“Overkill?” Mary asked him. “Expecting company?”
He answered with a toothy smile. “You can never be too prepared.”
I keyed into the storage room computer tablet on the wall, and we watched the viewscreen feed as Clare approached the Deltra vessel. Kareem had told us where the best spot to enter would be, and Clare hovered our ship just above it.
“Love you, Mary,” I said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it for a second.
“Love you too,” she replied.
“What about me? Am I chopped liver?” Slate asked, laughing at his own joke. It was nice to see him cracking a funny one, and suddenly I didn’t miss having Magnus beside me quite as much.
“We love you, Slate,” we said in unison, getting a laugh and an eye roll for our trouble.
We strapped the lanyards to the harness clip on our suits’ waists, safety cords should something go wrong between here and there. We had to travel through a few meters of space, and I didn’t want the beam to drop me out there.
“Here goes nothing,” he said, pushing the pinned button on his suit’s collar. Green light enveloped him, and he pushed off the bar as we lowered from the ceiling. He passed through the floor with ease, and we followed.
Mary went next, glancing up at me just as she was leaving through the floor. I couldn’t help but smile at her as I pressed my own pin, green light covering me. It was surreal to be doing this again. I pushed and had the odd sensation of crossing through something solid, as my particles bounced around super-fast.
I closed my eyes briefly to avoid seeing outside the ships. Infinite space and I were still on tumultuous terms after last year. Counting three seconds, I opened them, and pressed my pin again as my feet touched down on the metallic grated floor. I scanned the room, and my brain took a moment to catch up to what I was seeing.
“Mary,” I called into my headset.
“I’m here,” she replied, and I saw a movement to the side of the room.
“What happened?”
“Someone was here waiting. They fired into the room, and Slate went after them,” she said as I approached her.
“You okay?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice.
“Yeah, let’s go back up Slate.”
She raised her pulse rifle, and I followed suit, walking sideways to the doorway. “Slate, come in,” I said into my helmet speaker.
“There were five of them. I took two down so far. I’m coming back.” Slate’s voice was calm and quick in my ear.
We stood in the hall, guns raised in each direction.
The night vision on our display glowed green, showing us a basic hall of metal beams and grates. The place was built for function, not fashion. Something caught my eye to my right and I spun, seeing the bulk of Slate backing toward us.
“You know where you’re going?” he asked.
I tried to get my bearings and nodded. “He said it should be in the anti-grav generator halls. Under the level-three air ducts.” I wished it was closer to our entry point, but Kareem hadn’t counted on us being attacked when we arrived.
“Lead the way. I’ve got your backs,” he said.
We moved down the hall, sweat dripping down my arms as nervous energy raced through me. “What are they?” I asked.
“Big. Bigger than me. Heavy armor. Nothing we’ve seen before, but they may match the Bhlat description we’ve heard. It was hard to tell with them firing at me,” Slate said.
Bhlat. The name sent shivers through my spine; my finger crept closer to the trigger on my weapon. Our footsteps clanged on the floor, echoing down the quiet halls. I kept thinking how they must be hearing it, they would be around the corner; but for that first section, it was all quiet.
The anti-grav wheel spoked out at four points, and the door to the third one was my target. We made it there in peace, and I tested the handle. The electric pocket door hissed open, causing me to jump and almost fire my gun. My nerves were getting the best of me. We’d only been walking on the ship for five minutes and it felt like
an hour to me.
“Go get it, Dean. I’ll watch the door.” Slate slipped inside after us, and the door hissed shut. The room was confined, with a manual hatch leading down the massive wheel spoke, for lack of a better term.
“I wasn’t planning on having the Bhlat here. Kareem said we need their DNA to activate it.” The device was awful in a humanitarian kind of way. The Deltra had built the Shield as a way to keep Kraski away from it, and in a small area, the high-density few-kilometer radius killing them instantly, as I’d seen when we’d destroyed them in their own vessel last year. The image of them melting from their proximity to the Shield still haunted me, and there I was, hunting for another weapon of mass destruction with even more power.
“I’m coming with you, Dean. We can’t get separated. We’ll be stronger together,” Mary said.
Part of me wished she would stay behind and be protected by Slate, and another part was happy to have her by my side. I tried to spin the hatch wheel, grunting at the stubborn thing. Mary joined in, and just when I was about to ask Slate for a hand, it started to move. We spun it open and saw a ladder heading upward.
“I’ll take the lead,” I said, climbing into the tube. It was a few feet wide, but not spacious by any stretch of the imagination. The rungs were metal, coated with small flakes that gave it grip. I raced up the first few; but looking up, I saw it went on for what appeared to be forever, so I slowed, pacing myself for the climb. We passed a small hatch that would exit to level one of the grav-system. Level three was our destination.
Pulse laser fire erupted from below us, and I had the urge to get Mary to pass me so I could get between her and any potential fire. But they could be above us too.
“Just keep moving. Slate’s trained for this,” she said, pushing my foot lightly. I listened without hesitation, adrenaline speeding me up as we made our way past the second hatch.
“Almost there,” I said, straining to hear gunfire below. Nothing. “Slate, come in,” I said. Nothing but static returned. “We’ve lost contact.”
The third hatch was upon us, and my muscles burned as I climbed toward it. This one spun easier than the one below had, and I climbed through the four-foot diameter hole, sticking my hand out to help Mary into the room. It was pitch black, and finally, I could feel the wheel we were in spinning. Our feet were planted on the ground from the gravity it was creating, and while I didn’t quite grasp the science very well, I was happy for it.
“Where is it?” Mary asked.
“He hid it. For good reason, apparently.” The room was bathed in green from my helmet display, and I scanned for the crate Kareem had told me about. It was there, right where he’d said it would be! My heart raced as I ran to it. There was another door to the room, a normal humanoid-sized one, perfect to accommodate the tall, lanky Deltra. As I approached the crate, the door hissed open. Mary was a few feet away, the doorway separating us. We both had our backs pushed against the wall, and I held my breath. Something walked into the room slowly, feet clanking heavily on the metal floors. It was huge: seven or eight feet when it stood straight after bending for the too-small entrance.
Mary didn’t hesitate. She stepped out in front of it and fired. It grunted and pushed back through the doorway, hitting its helmeted head on the way out. Red beams shot from my rifle as well, and it lay there twitching before Mary fired a kill shot at its head. The helmet burst open, exposing a thick-faced monster.
Shots fired in the distance, and Mary stood like a superhero. “Get the device. You have your DNA right here.” She kicked the body and ran down the hall, firing like a commando.
“Don’t leave. You don’t know what’s out there!” I yelled to her, but it was too late. She was long gone.
I stood there like a fool, holding the rifle and staring at the dead Bhlat for at least a minute. “Clare, they’re here. Keep your eyes out for any incoming ships.” I finally had the common sense to tell the ship what was going on.
“Slate told us. We’ve lost contact with him. Is he okay?” Clare’s voice came through, asking a question I couldn’t answer.
“I don’t know. Over.”
The crate was heavy, full of maintenance tools and spare parts for the anti-grav system. I had to empty it before it would even budge from the spot it’d been sitting in all those years. Soon a pile of junk was spread around the room, and the crate finally moved. The whole floor was sections of metal grates, each about three meters square, attached to grooves in T-bar style metal beams that made up the subfloor. I tugged on the corner square, and it lifted easier than expected. Leaning it against the wall, I looked for the device as Kareem had described it. Where the Shield had been large and heavy, this device was made with similar engineering in mind, but a couple hundred years later. It reminded me of cell phone technology in a twenty-year span, going from the clunky brick design to a computer in your pocket.
Empty. There was nothing down there. I ran my hands along the edges, and just as I was about to get up, I felt a slight protrusion. Excitement raced through me. I had to slide my torso into the opening, leaving my legs and back exposed, but I got the device in my grip, unclasping it from its secure hiding spot.
“I got it, Mary,” I said.
“I killed another one. But…” Her voice trailed off, and I could hear blasts echo from my earpiece and inside the ship.
I needed to get this thing going and help them out there. It had a metal case, made of some lightweight but durable black alloy. It unlatched, revealing a circular device the diameter of a coffee cup base. It whirred to life as I touched it with my nano-fingered gloves. Soft yellow light glowed from the edges, and a white screen blinked on the interface of it. Deltra words scrolled across it, and my heads-up display was kind enough to translate them for me. I hadn’t had a chance to test out this technology, so I was thankful for it.
I clicked the icon that translated to Genetics. The image of a double helix flashed onto the screen, rotating around. Words slid onto the screen, and my HUD translated them to: MISSING DATA.
What had Kareem said? I flipped it around and saw a small button, which I pushed. A small probe extended from it, and bingo, I had it. Now I just needed to get a sample from the huge corpse at my feet, which couldn’t be difficult with all the blood and gore at my disposal. Suddenly, the body seemed repulsive to me, and the power of the device in my hand scared the hell out of every inch of me.
I closed my eyes, seeing the Kraski victims spewing out green bile before crashing to the ground in heaps. Thousands upon thousands of them littered that vessel last year. So much death at my hands. The fact that they were going to kill us didn’t ease my conscience all the time. It was nature. Kill or be killed. Mary was out there somewhere, and she needed me to stop being a baby and get this done. I could think about the moral ramifications later.
The Bhlat’s helmet was half blown off, so that’s where I went, pulling the rest off the corpse’s head. Blood oozed out, red like ours. Its face had a dark pigment; where our noses were, it had three holes on an otherwise flat face, lips thin around a wide mouth, teeth sharp and twice the length of mine. But it was the eyes that threw me off. Swirling green- and blue-speckled eyes stared back at me, and I lifted my rifle for a moment, they looked so full of life. But they weren’t. It was dead.
Cringing, I stuck the probe from the back of the device into the Bhlat’s neck, where a blaster had hit it. The yellow light turned to red and it beeped, transitioning back to yellow. The words GENETICS CONFIRMED appeared on the backlit white screen of the device.
It kicked back to the main menu. ACTIVATE now showed highlighted, and when I hit it, settings appeared. I could adjust the strength, the distance to cover with the pulse, and could rotate through the DNA samples. This scared the hell out of me. With this, I could add human DNA and wipe out our entire race. I almost dropped it right then, but the sounds of battle in the ship through my headset kept me focused.
“Dean, is it working? I’m cornered,” Mary said through my
earpiece. She sounded panicked.
Boots clanked in the hall, moving slowly, and it had to be a Bhlat trying to sneak up on me. How many of them were there? And why were they even here?
The steps got closer, and I stood in the adjacent corner to where the floor was lifted, aiming my pulse rifle forward toward the door. The steps stopped, and I could almost hear the Bhlat breathing from just outside the room. The device was in my palm. One click and I could test it. I just had to press CONFIRM on the activate option.
One more step and a boot poked through. My heart beat heavily against my chest, one finger on the trigger, the other hovered over the device icon. I didn’t get to do either as the ship’s lights came on in a steady hum. My night vision gave way to normal as the levels of light increased in the room.
The Bhlat said something in its language, and suddenly, the wheel we were in stopped spinning, the force throwing me across the room fast enough to see the Bhlat’s eyes widen at the sight of me before it went flying down the hall. Gravity was gone.
TWENTY
I’d hit my head on the wall, and my body expected me to fall onto the pile of tools and parts scattered across the floor. Instead, they floated beside me in the room, with no gravity present to keep us grounded. Someone had powered the ship back up and stopped the spinning wheel we were in from moving, stopping the artificial grav unit from doing its job. Air hissed into the room, the life-support system back up and activated.
As I floated there, contemplating what was happening, I noticed my left hand was empty. I’d dropped the device. Grunting echoed from the hall, and I remembered I wasn’t alone. Scanning the room, I saw the device floating there beside a large wrench and a soldering iron.
I pushed off the wall, arcing toward the device just as the massive Bhlat came flying into the room. Its gun flashed beams at me, narrowly missing and cutting holes into the wall behind me. I fired back but missed as well, hitting the roof instead of the large target. I collided with the far wall, with the Bhlat soldier piling into me with some serious velocity.
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 38