by J. N. Chaney
“Using the cameras in the room, you’re going to see through the turbine to where our cloaked saboteur is hiding,” Iris said.
The view in front of me changed, showing the last turbine on our left as translucent and the outline of a person behind it. The same kind of rippling vibration came from the silhouette of Marcy Knot.
From what I could see, Marcy’s outline was crouched low. If she did have a weapon, I couldn’t see it. I also couldn’t see what she was doing right now.
“Marcy, this is Civil Authority Officer Stacy Wilson,” Stacy said as we made our way forward. “There’s no way this ends well for you. We have tech that allows us to see your every move. You’re already surrounded. Deactivate your cloak and come out with your hands where I can see them. I won’t ask you twice.”
There was no response. The second turbine where Marcy was hidden was still fifty yards from our current position. I could see the form of her turn as she heard her name. Initially, there was no attempt to obey Stacy’s words. Then she shifted, and to my surprise, she stood up, deactivating her cloak like Stacy asked and put her hands in the air.
I traded confused looks with Arun.
I gripped my blaster tighter and made sure to keep my finger off the trigger. I was pointing it at Marcy like everyone else in the room, but I was sure I didn’t need to. There were a dozen barrels pointed at her, and most would be better shots than me.
Marcy was wearing a black cloak just like Maksim’s, and a crimson mask hid the lower half of her face.
“You’re too late,” she shouted over the humming of the turbines. “Do what you will to my body. You are too late to save your precious ship.”
“On your knees!” Arun shouted as we advanced. “On your knees right now!”
Marcy obeyed with her hands still in the air.
“We will all be lost to space, wiping this Eternal experiment off the pages of history.” She was saying all the right Disciple mumbo-jumbo, but her voice was off. It was like she was saying what she knew she should say, without really believing it herself. She was still that nervous, scared woman I had met in Doctor Wong’s office.
I’m not sure what came over me, but I knew Marcy wasn’t the animal Maksim was. I could see it in her body language and hear it in her voice.
“Marcy,” I said, increasing the speed I walked. I came alongside Arun and Stacy in the lead and lowered my weapon. “Marcy, do you remember me? I came in with Stacy to talk with Doctor Wong a few weeks ago.”
“The Eternals must be punished. All who follow them must also suffer. They know—”
“This isn’t you, Marcy,” I said, closing the gap. She was only ten yards in front of me, and she was shaking from fear. Her voice quivered with every false word she spoke.
“What are you doing?” Stacy whispered. “Get back.”
I ignored her.
“I’ve seen killers. I know what people who genuinely want to hurt others look like,” I said as I walked so close to Marcy, I could reach out and touch her. I handed the blaster behind me to Ricky. “That’s not you, Marcy.”
“I-I have to—I have to do this,” Marcy said as tears welled in her eyes, rolling off her cheeks and disappearing into the handkerchief that covered the lower half of her face.
“There’s kids on board,” I said to her, kneeling to look into her eyes. “Little boys and girls who are just happy to sit down at lunch and eat barbeque with their grandma. For whatever sins you think others are committing, don’t punish them.”
I’d spent enough time hurting people. I wasn’t sure if I could get through to Marcy, but I had to try. I knew if the image of that little girl eating her barbeque could get through to me, it could reach anyone.
“You don’t understand. I have to…” Marcy looked up at me, unable to stop the tears. “They have my—my family back on Earth. If I don’t do this, they’ll k-kill them all. I’m so sorry.”
Both of Marcy’s hands were behind her head while she spoke. She lifted her right hand ever so slightly. A small remote with a red button on top was clenched in her fist.
“If you survive this, tell my family I love them, and I did this for them,” Marcy said.
“Marcy, no!” I screamed as I sprang up and tried to reach her before she could hit the detonator.
A suit shouted something out. “We have a bomb next to the turbine. It’s—”
BOOM!
Whatever the suit was about to say was lost in the explosion.
22
The ringing in my ears kept me from hearing anything, but I knew people were screaming. There was a suit on fire, writhing on the ground and trying in vain to put out the flames consuming his body. Others were lying dead, scattered on the ground, too close to the explosion.
Marcy lay in a clump, thrown further than I was, and she wasn’t moving.
Ricky grabbed my arm, trying to get me to my feet. His mouth was forming words I couldn’t hear. He had a panicked look in his eyes. My hearing started coming back as he screamed something at me again. By the tone of his voice, I could tell this wasn’t the first time he had said it.
“We have to go!” Ricky said, dragging me up and shoving me toward the elevator. “The ship’s going down.”
I heard what he said, but it still didn’t register. The Orion was a colony seed ship the size of a small moon. It wasn’t going to go down from an explosion this size.
As if to argue with me, the ship trembled, and I nearly lost my footing.
Arun and Stacy were helping the injured suits make it to the elevator, and I half ran, half stumbled toward the elevators with everyone else. The injured suits were screaming in pain as Stacy and Arun shouted out orders.
“Iris, damage report,” Stacy yelled.
Arun had a red holo card out. She was shouting something to Elon, who piloted the Orion from the ship’s bridge.
Elon’s voice came through worried. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”
“I’m patching Elon through now so we can all speak together,” Iris informed everyone in a very calm tone. “We need to exit this level immediately. The next turbine is unstable and will blow any minute. We need to evacuate the ship. We are being pulled out of slipspace. With the Navigation Core damaged, I have no idea where we are or where we will be when we are pulled out.”
“Head for medical,” Stacy told the suits carrying their wounded. “We’ll be in contact as soon as we can.”
The suits nodded and left in the first elevator.
The rest of us got into the second elevator in a hurry.
“Why are you talking about evacuating the ship?” Elon asked Iris though the comm unit.
“Navigation and a single turbine are going to take us down?” Arun asked.
Ricky hit a button on the holographic elevator wall and we were off.
“No, but we could be exiting slipspace anywhere in the known or unknown galaxy,” Iris explained. “We could be headed for a black hole or a sun for all I know. It would be prudent to prepare for evacuation.”
The elevator doors opened, and we walked out into the Assembly Level. People were screaming, looking to one another for direction as we exited, but that was not what caught our eyes.
We looked past the shaking of the floor beneath our feet and the sounds of tearing steel to what lay outside the ship. Slipspace that was usually painted in various shades of green was now turning clear for the first time since we left Earth three weeks ago.
We were drawn toward the glass to see where we had been kicked off course. When the green of slipspace finally evaporated, my heart sank.
We were outside of a massive planet that resembled Earth, in as much as there were large bodies of water and landmasses. The bad news was, we were so close to the planet, its gravitational pull began sucking us in toward it. Slow at first but steadily stronger.
I was no scientist, but I understood a no-win situation when I saw one. Without the turbines giving us power, we weren’t getting out of this gravitational
pull. We were going down.
“Get as many people into escape pods and escape ships as you can, right now,” Arun said in a defeated tone. “Elon, get yourself into a pod—that’s an order. We’re going down.”
“Maybe I can pull us up somehow once we get closer to the ground, maybe—”
A rumbling filled the Orion, along with screams and cries for help. Another explosion went off somewhere, losing the connection with Elon altogether.
“Elon. Elon, can you hear me?” Arun shouted. “Elon, come in!”
Only silence answered her desperate cries.
“I’m going for my brother,” Arun said, taking off at a run. “Get as many people to safety as you can. Go!”
Stacy, Ricky, and I leaped into action, heading for the escape pod level in the middle of the ship. The Orion was equipped with enough pods to house every single person in the Orion, should the need arise.
I was part of the team that installed the escape crafts in place. Thousands of smaller cargo ships lined the perimeter of the Orion in a single ring. Along with these ships were also single and double manned escape pods that were built for a single purpose, surviving a crash.
“Everyone, please make your way to level one hundred and fifty, where the escape pods are located.” Iris’ voice was magnified over the comm system in the Orion. “There is enough room for everyone. Please, in an orderly fashion, make your way to level one hundred and fifty.”
Orderly fashion, my ass, I thought to myself as we ran for it along with everyone else on the level. There’s no way this ends well.
When we reached the elevators, there was already a mass of people cramming into them. We joined them all, squishing ourselves into one.
“I’ll be in contact,” Iris said as the doors closed with her on the other side. “I need to make sure as many people reach the escape pods as possible.”
“Be safe.” Stacy said what I was thinking.
Iris nodded, and the doors closed.
I had no idea what death would be like for a Cognitive. I imagined somewhere on board was a power source that gave her shape and thought. Right now, that didn’t seem important. We were crammed in shoulder to shoulder with a group of people crying, asking what was happening, and angry they didn’t know. I was the last to get into the elevator, so I was pressed up against the closed doors with Ricky’s elbow in my back.
“We’re going to all exit when the elevator doors open and head for an escape ship or an escape pod,” Stacy shouted over the noise in our steel can. “You’re going to be fine.”
“My son!” a man shouted from the back somewhere. “I have to get my son. I’m not leaving without my son.”
More shouts like this filled the elevator.
“Everyone is being instructed to get to the escape bay as soon as possible,” Stacy informed them. “The best bet of finding your loved ones will be there.”
The elevator doors opened, and there were people everywhere, running, shouting, crying, and screaming. We stepped out on the floor as a groan from the Orion reminded us of how dire our situation really was.
The level was wide open with white tile underneath and a large, bright screen overhead. A video played of a smiling woman going through the motions of calmly securing herself into an escape pod. She never stopped smiling and grinning, as if she were about to embark on a vacation instead of trying not to die in a horrible crash.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Ricky said, grabbing both me and Stacy by the arm and running forward.
“I can’t.” Stacy pulled away, going to an elderly woman who had tears in her eyes. The grey-haired woman looked around, confused. “They need our help.”
Ricky looked at me, motioning for me to follow. I glanced around. There were elderly, kids, and even a few adults, who were either held stock still by fear or genuinely didn’t know what to do.
“Dean,” Ricky shouted. “Let’s go!”
My eyes landed on an old man who had tripped and fallen. He was being trampled in the rush of people arriving on the elevators to get to pods. A line of blood gushed from the right side of his face.
Oh, here we go again, I said to myself. Are you really going to do this?
“Go!” I shouted to Ricky. “I’ll catch up.”
He started to argue, but I didn’t listen.
I elbowed my way to the old man, shoving people aside and receiving a few shoves myself. I leaned down, grabbing the terrified man by the arms and lifted him up. I directed him over to a ship that was already filling.
“Th-thank you,” he said.
“Get on a ship,” I told him, leading him to the open hatch. “The ship’s autopilot will take you to the planet.”
He nodded numbly, obeying my instructions.
I helped a confused family, then a little boy find his father, and on and on. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ricky helping as well. I would have to give him a hard time about that later if we survived this.
I lost track of time, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes when things turned from bad to worse. Escape ships and pods were beginning to fill up. One by one, they disengaged then broke away from the Orion. Whether it was a malfunction of one of the ships taking off, or something else altogether, I’ll never know. One second, I was leading a family to a waiting escape ship, and the next, a tear the size of a small ship burst through the far side of the escape level.
Cold air acted like a vacuum, sucking people out. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Transients were pulled off their feet and thrown out into the frigid air beyond. Their screams echoed as they were grabbed by the hungry hands of space and ushered to their graves.
The pull took me off my feet like a giant vacuum cleaner. I slid across the tile floor toward my death. My arms flailed widely as I tried to grip anything that would keep me rooted to my spot, but the floor was too slick, and there was nothing to hold on to.
“Got ya!” Ricky said, latching on to my right arm with his own. He anchored his body to an escape pod entrance set into the wall with his left arm and feet. “I wasn’t going to leave you that easily.”
I grabbed on to his arm, pulling myself to the steel rod he used to anchor himself. Looking through the tangled hair that had fallen in my face, I had slid dozens of yards from my previous spot. All around us, people were already in ships or sucked out into the atmosphere.
“We’ve done all we can,” Ricky screamed over the sound of the rushing wind. “It’s time to go!”
I knew he was right, even if I didn’t want him to be. Abandoning the Orion was like admitting defeat. We had worked so hard together to stop the sabotage, but in the end, it didn’t make a difference.
“Dean!” Rick screamed. “It’s time to go! We have to go, now!”
I nodded.
He reached for a lever beside us, opening the two-person escape pod and climbing inside. I joined Ricky, taking a last look at the Orion before I closed the hatch.
The wonders of humankind were truly boundless and so was their hate. It had taken years to build a ship like this and only the anger of a few to bring it down. I slammed the seal shut in front of me before I could get too deep in thought for my own good.
A lever I twisted in place ensured the circular hatch was sealed airtight. The single steel bar was a bear to maneuver, but I put some muscle into it, and it finally agreed to fall into place.
“You ready?” Ricky said as he opened the secure clear glass the disengage button was under. “If we die because we stayed a few minutes longer to help those people inside their own escape pods, I’m blaming you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as the Orion spasmed again. I clipped into the five-point harness, tightening the strap around my waist as well as my shoulder. “Do it!”
“Here we go!” Ricky yelled, slamming his fist onto the button that would separate us from the falling Orion.
23
As soon as Ricky hit the disengage button, we were jettisoned into the air. We didn’t fall awa
y from the Orion— it was more like we were shot out from the ship.
My stomach twisted inside my gut as I held on to the harness at my chest. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back from yelling.
Ricky wasn’t holding back at all. He was calling out for every saint, god, deity, and higher power I had ever heard of.
“Oh, Virgin Mary, save me. Save me!” Ricky was yelling. “I promise I’ll never gamble again if you see me through this.”
The fall felt like an eternity. I focused on what I knew about the escape pods. They were equipped to take a fall like this. They had measures to hit their own thruster once they were a certain distance from land and again to deploy a landing buffer when we were about to make contact with the planet.
This knowledge really didn’t help as we waited for the inevitable end of the fall.
“Help us! I’m sorry, I repent from my evil ways!” Ricky screamed. “Just don’t let me die. Not like this!”
The sphere righted itself, and the thrusters kicked in, slamming my tailbone hard into the seat. The seatbelts pressed against my shoulders, knocking the air out of me.
Glancing out the window to my right, I saw the Orion was still falling. Breaking into multiple pieces, it scattered across the planet like a jigsaw puzzle. While the bulk of the ship headed somewhere to the north, smaller pieces that resembled comets landed haphazardly around.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of escape pods and shuttles made their way down to the alien planet below. Overhead, two strange suns shone brightly. One was almost orange while the other was a bright yellow.
“We-we made it,” Ricky said, breathlessly as we descended to the planet below.
“Not quite yet,” I reminded him as the thrusters slowed our fall. “We have one more—”
A pop sounded from outside the sphere as the landing bags were deployed.
The air was really sucked out of my lungs this time as our pod finally reached the planet’s surface. A violent tremor rocked our ship one last time. Ricky was coughing. He touched himself over his arms and chest.