by M. D. Cooper
“Are you OK?” he asked Jude.
He lifted himself off his son and checked the boy over. He didn’t seem to have been hit. Martin felt warm liquid running down his calf and knew the same could not be said for himself.
Eamon said,
Water had pooled on the submersible’s floor, now red with Martin’s blood, and was quickly rising. Martin looked up through the roof to the surface of the water. They were about ten meters down. If no one reached them before the submersible filled with water, Martin could swim with Jude to the surface without any danger to the boy. The sea was still choppy, but he could tread water for hours if he had to.
The submersible suddenly rocked. It lifted and turned, forced along by an invisible flow of water. Another shockwave had hit the vessel, along with a cloud of sandy water, but where had it come from? And why? This second shockwave had felt much smaller than the first.
The vessel settled again. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t hurt them. Martin wondered if the wave was due to explosives used in a battle over the picotech. But they were some distance from the site.
A dull thunk sounded behind him. Martin turned.
The man who had shot at the them was right outside. He was carrying a knife, and he was trying to get in.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Messene Station
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
MacCarthy and Linch were coordinating the final touches on the space station’s maglev while Erin was stuck writing yet another report.
As Erin spoke, she recalled the early days after Walter had come to be her new AI partner. At the time, he had seemed pushy and annoying, always interfering in parts of her life that weren’t any of his business. She’d doubted that things were going to work out between them. Yet eventually, she’d come to understand that he had her best interests at heart and she’d grown to appreciate him. She’d also discovered they shared a similar sense of humor. She was going to miss him when the time came for them to part ways.
said Walter.
Concentrating on report writing was hard at the best of times, but Erin’s mind was full of the trip to the Island of Aeolia and everything that had happened there. The view from the edge of the island over all of Thrace, and the experience of climbing down into the rainforest that grew in the cave were seared into her memory.
She was also thinking of Martin and their unspoken agreement to put aside their differences and try to get along. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with the truce, but it seemed the best option in the circumstances. It was probably the most she could hope for from him. Continuing their feud would only hurt the people she cared about, so she was willing to compromise for all their sakes, but she would never forget Martin’s abhorrent accusation.
“That’s it,” Linch exclaimed. He high-fived MacCarthy.
“Maglev’s done?” Erin asked.
“Done, dusted, and ready to roll,” Linch said.
“Good work, guys,” said Erin. “This calls for a celebration. Cream sodas all ‘round.”
“I thought you said we did a good job?” MacCarthy asked.
“I did,” replied Erin.
“Then why are you punishing us by making us drink that disgusting beverage?” asked MacCarthy.
“We are talking about the same thing, right?” Erin said. “Cream soda is the nectar of the gods.”
“If you say so,” MacCarthy said. “But I think I’ll have something else.” He took drink orders from the rest of the team and left the control room.
When MacCarthy returned with their drinks, they had a brief toast and then work continued. Unable to avoid it any longer, Erin returned to her report. The next stage of the project would involve building the sanitation plants. Not the most glamorous facility, but necessary.
Erin finally finished off her report and sent copies to Tanis and the relevant departments in Troy’s government and considered taking another tour of the station via pinnace, but knew she would have to run a gauntlet of teasing comments first.
“Hey,” said MacCarthy. “Check the news. There’s a coup happening at Government House. The secessionists are trying to take over Troy.”
“No way,” said Linch in a breathless voice as he shook his head. “Taranian bastards.”
Erin dipped into the news feed. The information was sparse. An armed attempt at taking over the government was taking place. The media anchor said the attack had begun over ten minutes ago, but the report had only just been officially confirmed. Expletives sounded around the control room as the engineers read the news.
Linch said, “I’m not surprised. This has been brewing for a long time.”
Erin pursed her lips. The Taranians had been a pain in the ass back in the Kap, and a few of them had come along to New Canaan. That they could cause so much trouble here made her blood boil.
Up until now, she’d only considered their disruptions in terms of what that would mean for completing Messene Station. Poor Tanis certainly has her hands full with Troy.
When Isa told her, Erin shouted aloud, “What?!” Then she jumped up and ran out of the control room.
She sped through the corridor to the spaceport. The marine park lay almost directly beneath the space station; the flight would only take a few minutes.
She had reached a pinnace and was climbing inside.
Erin started up the engine and flew out into space.
She searched for and found Martin’s location.
Erin input the co
ordinates.
If she told him, he would only give her grief.
She set the pinnace on automatic and the vessel aligned itself and began to plunge downward. Pushing off from her seat, Erin propelled herself toward the back of the pinnace and the EV suit locker. She took out a suit and began to put it on. The pinnace had moved to a ninety-degree angle with the planet’s surface and was dropping like a stone.
Erin struggled into the suit as acceleration forced her against the bulkhead. She sealed it and pulled herself downward to return to her seat.
She would have to override the pinnace’s safety systems. She didn’t have time to make a smooth landing in the sea. Isa had said someone was shooting at Martin and Jude. A few seconds’ delay could mean the death of either of them.
The blue waters of the Sea of Marmara were speeding up to meet her. Erin gave a solid tug on her harness to make sure it was secure and then went through a mental checklist of what was onboard; all pinnaces were equipped with weapons.
Of course, none of them would work underwater. She wondered what Martin’s assailant was firing.
Erin reached under, and her fingers quickly encountered a knife hilt. She unclipped the weapon and drew it out.
She switched the pinnace’s controls to manual and disabled the safety systems. She knew the vessel’s structural integrity; at her current speed, the force of impact was almost certainly survivable.
Just a few moments longer….
White-tipped waves rushed up. Erin braced, and the pinnace hit.
Even with the a-grav systems dampening the impact, she was thrown forward so hard, her safety harness felt like it was cutting into her, even through her EV suit, and her face collided with her visor. Blood ran from her nose, and for a moment, dull pain radiated, quickly quelled by Walter. Nothing was visible except sand.
The vessel had struck the seabed nose-first. Erin unfastened her harness and climbed up along the pinnace’s overhead, grabbing handholds. Water was flooding in.
When she reached the door, she thumped the manual operator with the fist that held the knife. The device didn’t respond. Erin hit it again, harder, guessing that the water was affecting it.
The door opened, and the rush of water knocked her back, breaking her grip on her handhold. She was thrown to the front of the vessel.
In a moment, the pinnace was entirely waterlogged. Erin swam upward and out of the door. The pinnace’s impact on the seabed had thrown up so much debris, the water was opaque, but her HUD had highlighted Martin’s location. She could also see another figure was approaching him.
Erin’s view from her visor showed nothing but sand and water. Her HUD showed the figure of a man only two meters away. She was glad of the cloudiness of the water—it would disguise her approach. She readied her knife and kicked hard.
At her closer proximity, Erin could finally see the attacker. He had sensed her as well and swung around, showing his face.
“Tony!”
In her surprise, Erin dropped her arm and her jaw. Martin’s attacker was her friend, the planetary engineer—and yet it wasn’t. Tony’s expression looked like it belonged to someone she didn’t know. It was full of malice, resentment, and loathing. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time.
His arm was raised and he swung it down toward her, her eyes catching the silver glint of a knife blade as it moved through the water.
She screamed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
STELLAR DATE: 05.25.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Park, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Martin stared at the man trying to break into the submersible. He looked familiar, but Martin couldn’t place him. Jude was quietly crying. The reddened water had risen to Martin’s knees.
What the hell can he possibly want from us? Our engine’s dead, we can’t stop him! What possible harm does this lunatic think a biologist and a small child can do to him?
Martin looked around his vessel for something he could use as a weapon. The submersible didn’t carry any guns; if he’d been out in the water working by himself, he might have carried a knife, but that kind of implement wasn’t any use inside the small vessel. Manipulators were attached to the outside of the vehicle and operated from within, but without power, they were useless.
With the electronics dead, the man was fiddling with one of the emergency mechanical locking mechanisms on the door. Martin guessed he didn’t know how to operate it. As soon as their attacker figured out how to open the vessel, though, they were dead.
Maybe not Jude. What kind of monster would kill a child for no reason?
If Martin could distract the man long enough, Jude could be saved. Eamon had said the emergency services were on their way; they could spot Jude in the water with thermal imaging.
Martin took his son gently by the shoulders. “Jude, please listen to me carefully. You’re going swimming. Would you like that?”
“No, Daddy. I want to stay with you.”
“I know, but you can’t. Very soon, the submersible will open and it’ll fill up with water. When that happens, I want you to swim up to the surface. When you’re up there, swim in circles, OK?”
As he spoke, Martin unfastened Jude’s safety straps and pulled his shirt over his head. His son was already barefoot.
“But I want to stay with you.” Jude began to sob.
“We can’t do that today. I’m sorry. It’s very important that you do what I’m telling you. Carry on swimming in circles for as long as you can. Don’t give up. Promise me you won’t give up. Someone will come and find you.”
The attacker’s knife scraped along the roof as he worked on the lock with his other hand. Jude started and looked up, but Martin caught his face and turned it toward his own.
“Promise me, Jude. Promise Daddy you won’t stop swimming, no matter how tired you get.”
Jude nodded. “I promise.”
Martin hugged him.
“Why are you crying, Daddy?”
Martin tensed with shock. He let go of Jude.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“Daddy,” Jude repeated. “Do I have to go swimming now?”
“No, maybe not. Mommy Erin’s coming.”
“She is?!” Jude jumped up and started looking around wildly. “Where is she?”
He shrank backward into Martin’s arms when he saw the man. Martin realized his young son was about to witness something very unpleasant. He held the boy to his chest.
“Look this way, Jude. Don’t look anywhere else.”
Holding the back of the boy’s head firmly so he couldn’t move it, Martin looked at the man. He wanted to see his face when he died. He wanted to know his son’s attacker was dead. Through the murky water and the distortion of the submersible’s roof, Martin looked the man in the eyes.
But the man turned. He must have had drones deployed to see Erin’s
approach. She swam into view through the opaque water. She was wearing an EV suit and carrying a knife. The man was facing her. But Erin hesitated.
Why isn’t she stabbing him? Why isn’t she killing the bastard?
The man’s knife was high. He brought it down in a savage blow that cleanly sheared off Erin’s arm. Gouts of blood gushed out, bursting into the water.
“Daddy, you’re hurting me!”
Erin’s arm, still clutching her knife, drifted away. She was defenseless, and the attacker was raising his arm for a second blow.
“Jude, you must go swimming now. I’m opening the submersible. Swim straight up and don’t look down.”
Martin flicked the submersible’s locks open.
“Hold your breath.”
Water spurted in. Martin reached for the final lock.
He kissed his son. “I love you.”
He pushed up the roof and held tight to Jude as a wave of incoming water swept them out of their seats. He launched Jude upward with all his strength, and saw the little boy’s legs kicking as he disappeared toward the sky.
Martin swam down, heading for the patch of horribly stained water. The attacker was slashing at Erin as she lay maimed and struggling feebly on the seabed. Her EV suit was cut open, and bloody bubbles were pouring from the gashes. She was reaching, trying to take the knife from her own dead hand.
The man lifted his arm to strike at her again, but then Martin was upon him. He caught the man’s arm on his upstroke and yanked the knife from his grasp. Martin swung the blade at the attacker, slicing into his shoulder at the base of his neck.
The man clutched at his wound and twisted to take a frightened look at Martin. Kicking powerfully and using his remaining good arm, he swam away, leaving a trail of blood.
Martin pulled himself down to her, encircled her arm above the stump, and crushed it to stem the flow of blood.
