by J. N. Chaney
I looked down at the black radio in my hand, wondering why I had been given this. A moment later, my question was answered when Mr. Harold’s voice boomed over the open channel.
“There he is. You know, you had me going for a moment. Then I watched some old footage of one of your fights. I know exactly who you are, Steel Hands.”
7
I froze, turning down the volume on the radio and looking to make sure no one else had been close enough to hear the words spoken.
My brain was spinning, trying to figure out a response to get out of this. I studied the street around me. How had he known when to talk? How did he know when the boy had given me the radio?
I searched in vain, finding nothing.
“Come on, at least have a conversation with me, Steel Hands. May I call you Steel Hands? That was your nickname in the ring, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know what—”
He cut me off. “Please, we’re past the point of you trying to lie to me. I know who you are. Dean ‘Steel Hands’ Slade. Twenty-seven confirmed knockouts. You left on top as the number one contender for the regional title. Just picked up and retired. Walked away from a fortune, according to the nets. They say you broke your contract and lost everything.”
“I’m not working for you,” I said, realizing there was no point in lying anymore. “I’m done with that life.”
“Well, that life’s not done with you,” Mr. Harold said. “Look over to the front yard gates. To the right of that fence.”
I obeyed. The massive line of Transients boarding the Orion was gone, leaving only well-wishers, the media, and an army of suits maintaining the perimeter. Mr. Harold was easy to pick out in his blue pinstriped coat.
He was too far away to make out any real details, but I could tell he was waving.
“There you go, very nice,” Mr. Harold said. “So this is what’s going to happen. I’m not sure why you want to keep your identity a secret, but if you want it to stay that way, you’re going to come to work for me as my new muscle. To show how grateful I am, I won’t have my man on the ship take out your friend Ricky. I call that a win, win.”
My mouth went dry. I believed him. Men like him didn’t lie.
Arun’s familiar voice sounded over the loudspeakers in the yard. “To all future passengers of the Orion, please ensure you are settled and give us your attention for the onboarding safety protocol.”
I weighed my options, but I knew I only had two. Stay and start working for a crime boss or board this shuttle and head to Orion. I started walking over to the area where Mr. Harold and his group of lackeys waited.
There was a much larger crowd gathered than I had suspected at first. It seemed Transients had come from all around to witness the departure of the first major group of Transients. When I finally made it to Mr. Harold, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“No one is going to mess with the Warlords now,” Mr. Harold said, stepping closer to the gate between us. “Not when they realize who you are.”
I studied the gate. The steel rods were placed wide enough for me to get my hand and maybe my head through.
“This is the beginning of a great partnership—”
I didn’t give him the satisfaction of finishing his sentence. With my right hand, I reached for his collar, grabbing a handful of cloth and jerking him toward the bars. His face contacted the cold steel and, a moment later, I sent the crown of my head into his nose.
Blood spurted down his face and the gate. His lackeys reached for me, but I released my hold and stepped back. I didn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. I turned, running to find Ricky and whatever thug was shadowing him on the ship.
“You’re dead!” Mr. Harold yelled after me. “You and your friend are dead!”
Ignoring the threat, I focused my energy on running while going through a mental checklist of where Ricky would be. He hadn’t said goodbye yet, and knowing Ricky, he wasn’t going to leave without saying his goodbyes. The last time I had seen him on the ship, he was helping load store supplies in the cargo hold.
I raced up one of the wide ramps to the shuttles, only to have a pair of suits stop me. They looked at me suspiciously before turning to their data pad. After the blue light scanned me, they nodded and waved me in.
“Welcome aboard, Mr. Slade,” one of them said with a smile. “Safe travels.”
“No, I’m not—” I started then realized I didn’t have the time. “Thanks.”
I ran inside the shuttle, nearly colliding with Boss Creed.
“Whoa, there,” he said, catching me by my shoulders. “Hey, you decided to come.”
“Have you seen Ricky?” I asked, trying to look around the ship. The shuttles were as large as a three-story house, built to carry several hundred travelers. It would take a while to find my friend if I didn’t know where to look.
“What for?” he asked.
“He’s in trouble,” I said quickly.
Boss Creed searched my eyes then nodded. “He was looking for you in the yard. When he couldn’t find you, he thought you might have changed your mind and went to the lounge area.”
“Thanks,” I said, turning to go.
“I’m coming with you,” Boss Creed said.
I didn’t argue. I just followed the line on the floor that led to the lounge, which was near seating section twelve.
After a quick walk, we ran up a flight of curving stairs and emptied into the assembly level. The place was packed with Transients. There was an excited buzz in the air. A raised second level offered a bridge over the room.
“I’m going to get a better look from up top,” I said.
“I’ll look for him down here, but what kind of trouble is he in?” Boss Creed asked with a raised eyebrow.
“A gang put out a hit for him. Their man is here somewhere, ready to take him out,” I said, deciding to come clean. If Boss Creed was going to stick his neck out to help, he deserved to know the truth.
The old man gave a disturbed look but shook it off quickly. “Got it,” Boss Creed said, moving into the mass of Transients. “Let’s find him.”
I made my way to one side of the bridge and ascended the steps. The lounge room was one giant circle. Stores with open bars and coffee counters set into the walls.
The noise level was one you’d expect from a throng of people about to embark into space, excited and nervous chatter coming from every direction.
Arun’s familiar voice sounded over the speakers. “I want to thank everyone for their attention. We are about to embark. Before we do, I wanted to give you some last-minute instructions. Also, it’s time to introduce you to the Cognitive that will be accompanying us on this trip.”
The room quieted down to soft murmurs and low whispering. I shouldered my way through several oblivious onlookers.
What are you doing? I asked myself. If you don’t get off this ship soon, you’re going to be going with the rest of these crazies on a journey through space.
I needed to make some quick and hard decisions before it was too late.
“The ramps and airlocks are closing now,” Arun continued her instruction. “My brother Elon, as well as the Cognitive that runs the Orion, are going through pre-launch checks. When we depart, you will be able to stand and enjoy the scene around you as we depart for our temporary new home. Our inertial dampeners will afford you the ability to move around as if you were in your own home. Remember, once aboard the Orion, the trip to Kronos Five will take six weeks. As you know, the planet has been specifically selected as a prime location to begin a new colony. Both the atmosphere and lush resources will ensure that we have a smooth transition.”
Arun continued speaking, but I was too busy searching the hundreds of gathered Transients for Ricky. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I’d even lost track of Boss Creed. No doubt, he was somewhere below having the same issue.
“Our Cognitive’s name is Iris, and through the miracles of hard light, she is able to appear anyw
here on the ship,” Arun explained, stepping to the side of the raised platform and motioning with an open arm to her left. “Iris, would you like to introduce yourself?”
I looked up for a moment. Even with the ship about to take off and Ricky still lost in the crowd, I didn’t want to miss seeing a real Cognitive in person. It was amazing. Right in front of my eyes, a woman appeared out of thin air. She was tall with short white hair and pale skin. A blue glow shimmered around her. She also wore a grey uniform and held a friendly smile on her lips. For an artificial person, she certainly looked real enough to me.
Everyone was looking in one direction at Arun and Iris. The place was as silent as a tomb. This may be my only shot, I thought.
“Rick! Ricky!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the entire room.
Iris, who had been going over safety procedures, immediately stopped speaking. Every head in the room turned in my direction. I ignored them all.
“Rick!” I said again.
I was starting to get shushed by those around me and receiving plenty of rude stares, but I didn’t care.
“Dean, is that you? What are you doing?” Ricky’s voice came up to me from somewhere to my right.
I followed Ricky’s voice. He was just below the bridge, about thirty yards to my right. I breathed a sigh of relief. That was, until I saw the same thug that had run from me at the end of the alley moving through the crowd. He had a hard stare in his eyes and something shiny in his right hand.
8
It was one of those times where there was nothing else to do but put all your eggs in one basket and go for it. I took off down the bridge. From the corner of my eye, I could see the suits on the ship moving into action, but none of them were close enough to stop me and my insane plan.
The bridge had a chest-high railing on the other side. I pounded down the bridge and climbed over the side, grasping the edge with my hands and vaulting myself over.
I aimed myself at the attacker, managing to crash into him with a heavy thud, feet first.
People were shouting all around me. I didn’t care, not right now. I needed to make sure this man didn’t have the chance to do what he’d come to do.
Other Transients began trying to pull me off him. One guy put me in a headlock.
“Back off!” yelled Ricky, taking a swipe at the guy holding me. He fell off my back a moment later.
The man underneath me wasn’t putting up much of a fight. That snapping noise was his head bouncing off the floor, and I was pretty sure he had a concussion.
For the moment, I remained content to just sit on his chest. In his right hand, he carried a plastic shiv he’d snuck past security.
Moments later, I was surrounded by several suits carrying stun batons. The yard of hard metal crackled blue with a dangerous electric current.
“What are you doing?!” Arun yelled out loudly. I looked up to see her standing alongside the suits.
“He had a weapon and was about to hurt someone,” I said, pointing to the shiv as I raised my hands and backed away.
Arun searched me with her bright blue eyes, like she was trying to decide whether to kill me or thank me.
“He’s telling the truth,” Boss Creed said, panting as he ran up to our group. “He’s telling the truth. He was only trying to save his friend.”
“You saved me?” Ricky asked, swallowing hard as he finally realized what had just happened. “He was going to stab me like a pincushion, and you saved me?”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I muttered.
“Seize the man on the ground and secure him before we depart,” Arun said. “The airlocks have already been sealed, so put him in an isolated area.”
The suit immediately moved to obey, leaving me in a bit of a conundrum. If the doors were sealed, how was I supposed to go back?
“We’ll want a full report from you too,” Arun said, looking at me. “Once we’re on our way, I want to sit and speak with you.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said, still coming to grips that I was on my way to the Orion. “I need to get off this ship, though. I’m not supposed to be here.”
“H-hey, don’t listen to him,” Ricky said quickly. “He’s just dazed from the fight. He’s on the list and everything.”
He gave me a suggestive look.
I didn’t really know how to feel.
Part of me knew I wanted to be here, escaping the planet in a metal box aimed at the stars. The other part was wondering if I could get off right now, even if it meant jettisoning myself through an airlock.
The crowd in the room relaxed as the concussed man was lifted by the suits and taken away. Ricky apologized to the man who had grabbed me by the neck.
“Sorry—sorry, no hard feelings, right? You were attacking my friend and I had to stop you,” Ricky said, offering the man a hand. “Okay?”
The tall Russian looked Ricky up and down before accepting. He looked at me for a moment. “No hard feelings. I didn’t let go because you hit me. I let go because I slipped. Your hit felt like a slap from a small child.”
Ricky’s mouth fell open. He looked like he was about to lay into the guy.
“Easy,” I chided him. “We’ve been through enough drama for one day. Let it go.”
“Some people,” Ricky said, shaking his head.
All attention turned back to the podium as Arun rejoined Iris.
I followed Ricky to look out the two-story window as Elon’s voice sounded over the speakers. “We are cleared for departure. Here we go.”
“No getting off now,” Ricky said to me as we both stared outside.
That wasn’t true, of course. I could leave as soon as we reached the colony ship, but the farther we flew from the surface—from the city I’d called my home—the more I realized how little I cared. I had nothing in that place, no reason to get up in the morning, aside from going to work.
I thought about Stacy and what she’d told me before. She’d mentioned opportunity—getting the chance to expand our horizons and find something better in this life. She had told me, in kinder words than I could ever give, that my life was meaningless, and that if I didn’t leave, I’d spend the rest of it in the same job I had right now, doing the same task every day. At the time, I’d told myself that was good. It was the life I’d wanted, but standing here in this place, next to the friend I thought I’d lost, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, I thought. Maybe leaving would be better than staying. Make things easier.
I couldn’t say for sure. I didn’t know the future or how I’d feel tomorrow. All I knew was where I’d been, and it wasn’t a place I wanted to return. Maybe if I moved on and left this planet, the dreams would finally stop.
Maybe it was time to find out.
The Orion trembled the slightest bit as the thrusters powered on. Like a colossal moon, the colony ship departed the space station near Mars, preparing for the journey ahead.
Ricky and I found a place where we could lean against the cold glass and watch the Martian world fade away. In under two minutes, the red orb drifted far into the darkness, becoming nothing more than another light among the stars.
I was leaving everything I knew behind, but I no longer cared. It had taken a last-minute rescue attempt to convince me of that, but standing here on the landing deck, it felt like the right thing.
Elon’s voice spoke through the speakers, giving us updates on our position. It was all white noise in light of the wonder I felt at traveling through the solar system.
“There are so many of them out there,” Ricky said in awe, speaking of the stars. “So much to explore. I bet we’ll never know exactly how many there are.”
“I’m not going to bet you anything,” I breathed, unwilling to take my eyes off the scene in front of us. “I’m not going to enable your gambling addiction.”
Elon continued, finally mentioning something I’d only heard about on the news. “In a few short moments, we will enter something known as slipsp
ace. This will allow us to make the trip to Kronos Five in a fraction of the time it would have taken using relativistic speed. Rather than a generation, we will instead be able to make the journey in six weeks. Be aware that you will see a bright variety of colors upon entering the tunnel, but this is all very normal. Enjoy the ride.”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” asked a woman from my left.
I turned to see Stacy smiling at Ricky and me.
“Yes, it is,” I agreed.
“I’m happy you decided to come,” she said, cheerily joining us. “This ship is destined for great things.”
I nodded, turning back to the forward window. I didn’t want to miss a second of the tunnel. I’d seen the green rifts in holos, but never in person. I wagered not many Transients had before now. They never let people like us pilot starships. We were nobodies, born to serve.
True to Elon’s words, a humming came from the thrusters along with another tremble. Slowly at first, then growing in intensity, a strange light formed in the darkness of space, sliding down like a splitting curtain, and then it came apart. We drew closer to it, and the rift widened and revealed a beautiful storm of emerald lightning.
The three of us stood there, speechless, not knowing how to process what we were seeing. How in the world did something like this exist? It was incredible.
“Welcome to slipspace,” Ricky breathed.
Stacy chuckled. “Welcome to the new world, gentlemen.”
“We’re in it now,” said Ricky.
9
Life on the Orion was strangely normal. I shared a small square room with Ricky that was barely large enough to hold our bunks and a bathroom. It wasn’t much different from my old apartment, honestly, although I did miss the solitude. Much as I liked Ricky, he did wear on me after a few hours.
During the day, I worked as a mechanic and reported to Boss Creed, the same as I always had. He doled out tasks that needed doing around the ship, just like he would at the yard. The difference was that instead of building all of this from the ground up, we were fixing it, and since the ship had launched a little prematurely, it meant there was more than enough work to go around. Several of the systems were barely functional, and I guessed the Eternals had expected that.