The Edge

by Leslie Lee

still struggled to reach down and drag her out.

  She stopped about half way in. "No looking at my ass," she shouted back. There were chuckles and laughs though they could have been sobs. Then she disappeared.

  They all waited. Looking in his direction. A part of him just didn't care any more. What was the point? It was hopeless. But a part said Th'han'dra was on her way to die. The least they could do was live a little while longer.

  "Stations, please," Mak said, his voice sounded ragged to him. "We're going to be moving soon."

  He looked at the knot of hair. It felt strange, not quite like hair. More fine. Like spider silk. It wanted to slip through his fingers. He saw her discarded uniform and picked it up. He started to put the braid into the uniform's pocket but noticed there was something else in there. Some very small personal effects of hers. And two more things. She must have gone into his cubicle. There was the old photograph of his mother and a paper bag. He shoved everything back into the small pocket.

  "Would you like me to take care of that for you, sir?" asked Hasui.

  "Yeah." He handed the uniform to the Soldier. "Thanks."

  "Silver Shark is getting closer," Thurber said as they shoved their way back to the engineering station. "They're going to bust through right here expecting us to be at the rendezvous point."

  Mak nodded. He tried to find a part of him that cared.

  "Maybe that's Blue Box we're hearing," he mumbled.

  "Too close," she whispered. "And getting closer."

  Blue Box and Silver Shark had to stay close to the Express to stay protected. Without comms and sensors, timing was everything. And the Bridge was already late.

  "Thrusters are heating up," one of her techs reported.

  "They'll just have to heat up. Can't shut 'em down now."

  The explosions were getting closer. He wasn't worried. As the others grew agitated, he knew Th'han'dra had made her way through and even now was preparing to free them. And when there was a sudden shudder to the Bridge and then a lurch which knocked some down, he wasn't surprised and didn't need to cheer with the crew. Others were relieved. Not him. Th'han'dra wouldn't let them down. And somewhere, she was pulling the pin on a grenade.

  The Bridge Express was on its way.

  Without comms and sensors, everything was based on trust. And he could tell they were getting close to the rock. The pressure in his head was getting worse. He fought his way back to the command console. Brenn was awake and staring wildly at the ceiling. His teeth were gritted so hard his jaw muscles bulged under the skin. The meds were trying to hold him still but he writhed beneath them.

  The Bridge suddenly shuddered. Silver Shark had clamped on from behind. There was a sudden lurch of speed. They could hear explosions. Blue Box was blasting a way free.

  Suddenly, Brenn leaped to his feet on the table.

  "No!" he bellowed. "You've failed! You've failed!"

  There were sudden screams as people collapsed or grabbed their heads. It was too early but Mak wasn't going to wait. His own head suddenly felt like it was filled with a million clamps trying to squeeze his brain into a gray goo.

  He punched the red button Jamaal had set up. The Security Chief had armed every weapon on the DN he could lay his hands on, then connected them to the self-destruct. It also fired the turrets and the missiles forward to clear a path.

  Brenn fell, grabbing his own head. His eyes rolled up into his skull and blood flecked saliva foamed his mouth.

  "We've got sensors," somebody yelled excitedly.

  "I've got Blue Box on comms. The jamming is diminishing."

  Mak suddenly could see the Bridge's progress through the ship on the screen. They could track Blue Box leading the way and Silver Shark bringing up the rear. Perversely, he could listen to Blue Box but not talk back. What would he say anyway?

  "Has anybody seen Jerry?" Ranger rumbled. He could've been asking about whether he could have more hash browns.

  "Negative, Ranger. Jerry appears to be a tad late to the party," said Dakota. "He must not have made it."

  "I got the rock," Zin Zin snarled. "I'm in the pipe five by five!"

  "I got your six, Zin Zin," said K'hon.

  "Dakota, you're with me, good buddy. Let's do some redecorating."

  "Oh, I think a nice doorway right ahead would be bit of an improvement, wouldn't you agree?"

  "Carve it on out, Dakota."

  "Coming up on separation," Zin Zin screamed, her voice was filled with rage and pain. "I'm going to kill that mother fucking piece of shit."

  "Kill it, Zin Zin. I'm with you!" bellowed K'hon, his voice agonized. "Kill it, kill it, kill it!"

  Zin Zin just shrieked and kept on shrieking, a non stop incoherent scream of fury. But her flying was straight and true. Her weapons blasted through the bulkheads, out of the tunnel, streaking towards the rock. K'hon's pod fired around her demolishing any obstacle. They smashed into the cargo bay where the rock was suddenly visible, bigger and glowing. Both pods unleashed everything they had. Then the two pods smashed into the huge explosion. As the shockwave destroyed the sensors, some of the people on the bridge screamed. They'd been taken, and then they were galvanized into action. Fights and gun fire suddenly broke out. Somebody tried to stab Brenn. Both a med and Mak leaped to intercept. The med took the knife in the throat. Mak smashed the assassin in the face until he fell. Brenn collapsed onto his knees his body vibrating like string stretched to its maximum limit.

  The remaining Blue Box pods were blasting the end of the Bridge tunnel. They were slowing and the Bridge was gaining. It didn't look as if Silver Shark knew Blue Box hadn't blasted out an opening. Three of Silver Shark pods that were not clamped on were dancing. Mak could tell, the pilots were in trouble trying to maintain control. Then the three crashed against each other and were gone. The others were all clamped onto the Bridge. And they were moving very fast.

  They weren't going to make it. They were going too fast. There wasn't enough time. The Bridge Express smashed into the two Blue Box pods and flattened them against the insides of the X. Bodies flew through the air, projectiles pulping themselves into a bloody mess. The bones in Mak's arms broke. His fingers tore loose from the railing he'd braced himself against. The screams of the people around him joined the tearing of the metal. He windmilled through the air in mere milliseconds to slam against the crushed bodies. More bodies slammed onto him. They were dying. They were all dying.

  He forced his eyes open. Gasping, he struggled to focus back on to this reality. That was not the way it'd happened. Breathe, he thought, come on breathe. His heart thudded trying to claw out from under the nightmare. Finally, he shoved the dream away by remembering the cruelty of what really happened back then.

  Blue Box had finally blasted an opening, firing until the exit was almost big enough.

  The Bridge caught up with them and still the pods fired. Then they smashed through the front of the X. Mak couldn't tell whether the two Blue Box pods had survived. Hull breaches sucked precious air away. They crew patched them as best they could.

  They were heading away from the X. And despite the path blown clear by the X's weapons, straight at a Hammer. The Bridge lurched as the Silver Shark pods tried to correct their course. And also to increase speed. Silver Shark had to notice they had triggered the self destruct count down already. The goal was to make it to the far side of one of the moons of the planet. There was another sudden surge of speed.

  Thurber staggered next to him. Blood seeped from her mouth, as she clutched her sides.

  "You didn't think that an engineer would let a bunch of pod jockeys design the Bridge Express did you? We added a bunch more thrusters, and I mean a bunch more. If they can guide us, heck, we'll make it all the way home."

  He gave her a careful hug which almost knocked her over. Her insides were broken up.

  He turned the sensors back to the X and displayed it on the few screens still left. People watched in silence as the cluster of ships shrunk.

  M
ak touched Brenn who was sprawled on the table. He gently turned him over. The Isolate was dead.

  A flash on the screen caught his eye. Then a much bigger flash which exploded into a small sun. They could see the shockwave heading their way before the moon cut off their view. The moon's edges glowed brightly as the shockwave leaked around the perimeter and the Bridge Express shuddered. The moon started to shrink as they sped away. The explosion was blasting rocks off the satellite. It was disintegrating. But in the shadow, they managed to survive.

  He looked around trying to root himself back into the here and now. This hearing, one of so many, had taken so long to get started he'd managed to doze off. Some gave him a few looks probably wondering why he was breathing so hard. He didn't care. At least he hadn't jerked awake. He tried to tell himself that somewhere inside of him, he was still a pilot.

  "So you bet all these people's lives that the M'hin'rah would still be watching?" the investigating officer said.

  Mak slumped quietly at the steel table in the bare room, still trying to grip this reality. The room was considerably bigger than his cell at least. His heavy manacles kept him at the table.

  "Yes."

  "And killed thousands, tens of thousands, to save yourself?"

  "Yes." Weariness clogged every inch of his body.

  Three officers sat opposite him, their uniforms crisp and clean. Another officer sat next to him. The woman, Eckstein, was his advocate. Her back was stiff and straight, her hands folded in front of