A Pale Light in the Black

by K. B. Wagers

  The competition for the Big Game would take place in a prefabbed room built specifically for whatever scenario the judges chose for the Games and would be integrated into their virtual reality simulators so the teams would move through the space and the crowd could watch it play out in real time.

  All teams were given the basic layout and idea of the Big Game a week before the main Games, but each team would end up with a different objective, given just before the start of their event. So while they could watch the previous teams compete, their task would be unique to their team.

  But there wasn’t room on Jupiter Station for running a full-on practice, so they did the bulk of their training in virtual reality simulators while sitting around their quarters.

  “Hey, the good news is you’re not all dead,” Rosa said.

  “What’s the bad news?” Max asked. Rosa had made her take point on this one under the excuse that there was always a chance she’d end up dead or injured in the Big Game, and while the result hadn’t been a complete disaster, something had felt off.

  “Dread Treasure did this run forty-five seconds faster and without any civilian casualties,” Rosa replied.

  “Where did I mess up?” Max slumped in her chair.

  “Nowhere.” Rosa shook her head. “Everyone did what they were supposed to.”

  “We were just as smooth as a broken gearshift,” Jenks said, making a clicking noise with her tongue. “And that cost us a minute at least, plus three dead civvies.”

  Max blew out a breath. She vaguely remembered the mention of a gearshift in history class when they were talking about gasoline-powered vehicles, but other than that could only guess at the meaning of Jenks’s comment. “I take it that’s not good.”

  Ma wiggled a hand. “It’s bad. Plus it means we’re getting nowhere.”

  “You’re hesitating, Max. You don’t have this problem on our actual runs,” Rosa said. “What’s the deal?”

  “You’re in charge during real runs.”

  Max regretted the words instantly when Rosa’s eyes narrowed. “And what happens if I’m suddenly not in charge in the middle of a real run, Carmichael? You just going to half-ass it and get everyone killed?”

  Max opened her mouth and then snapped it shut again. “No, Commander,” she said finally, straightening her shoulders. “Set it up, let’s run another one.”

  Rosa nodded and Max closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as the room resolved itself around her, the others standing around a narrow white table.

  “Zuma’s Ghost, your task is to navigate your way through this facility to this room and retrieve the data stored there,” Rosa said, and a map with a highlighted area appeared on the table. “You have to do it without being seen. No exceptions. You have twenty minutes.”

  Max stared at the map. “Computer, give me a layout of the hostiles.”

  The map lit up and Ma whistled. “That’s a lot of hostiles to slip by without the time to watch for a pattern.”

  “Ideas, people. Toss them out.” The timer was ticking in the corner of her vision as they burned through several suggestions. Max blew out a frustrated breath and looked at Jenks, but the petty officer wasn’t saying anything; instead she was staring at the ceiling.

  Max followed her gaze. “Jenks, what are you—oh.” She tapped the tabletop. “Computer, give me a schematic of the HVAC.”

  The overlay appeared in green and Jenks leaned forward, tracing a path with her finger, then pointed above them. “This one. It’ll take us all the way through.”

  “I’m not fitting through there,” Ma said.

  “You and Sapphi stay here. Tamago, Jenks, and I will go.” Max rummaged in her pack and pulled out an electro-wrench. “If we stack a chair on the table you can reach the vent. You have two minutes to get those clamps loose. Figure something out.” Max slapped the tool against Jenks’s chest with a grin.

  “To our fearless lieutenant.” There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in Jenks’s voice as she lifted her beer. “Nice job today.”

  Max leaned back in her seat and raised her own water. “Back at you. I’m impressed that you didn’t get us lost.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence and then laughter erupted around the table. Jenks stared at her for a long moment, then chuckled into her beer before taking a drink. “Who told?”

  Sapphi raised her hand and winked.

  “Next time we spar, Zika.” Jenks pointed a finger at her and then settled lower in her own chair with a happy sigh. “Whole day off tomorrow. I am camping in my bunk and binge-watching the new season of The Unreal.”

  “I need to catch up on that,” Tamago said. “I’m a season behind you. Don’t wait for me, though, I promised Burns I’d help him tackle the forbidden dungeon he keeps getting killed in.” They waved their hands in the air with a snicker. “Poor Yancy’s Treasure Hunt noobs.”

  “If you’re lost, you’re not the only one,” Ma murmured to Max. “I can’t keep up with the shows and the games and everything else.”

  “That’s because you sleep through your days off and then spend the rest of your time off in the flight simulators.”

  Ma shrugged off the good-natured tease from Jenks. “Prelims are in five weeks, have to stay sharp.”

  “Pfft, I am sharp,” Jenks replied with a grin. “We’re going to whomp everyone in the prelims and we’ll whomp everyone in the Games.” She raised her glass again. “We’re the motherfucking NeoG.”

  The others joined in, even Max, though Jenks noticed she didn’t curse. That couldn’t be an officer thing, because Rosa said “fuck” plenty.

  “Tell me something, Max: Why is it you don’t drink?” Jenks wiggled her own glass. “No pressure, I’m just curious.” She recognized the shrug Max gave, that uncomfortable roll of the shoulders. Jenks did the same thing when faced with a topic she’d rather avoid, and she suddenly regretted the question.

  The alarm blared throughout the station and everyone snapped upright even before the message scrolled into Jenks’s view: All interceptor crews assemble at your ships.

  Jenks bolted from her seat, scrambling for the door with the others on her heels. “Tussin, put it on my tab!”

  The owner tossed her a nod as they ran out the door.

  “We’ll meet you there, Commander,” Max said out loud as she caught up with Jenks.

  “What is it?” Jenks asked.

  “Cargo freighter left here an hour ago with a load of liquid metallic hydrogen farmed off Jupiter. They suffered a massive engine failure and containment might also be failing.”

  “Shit,” Jenks muttered as she launched herself into the low-g tube after Max.

  “How many liters?” Ma asked.

  “A hundred and forty-five thousand.”

  “We do not want that thing to blow with that much LMH on board.” Jenks was already calculating the blast radius in her head. “Station shielding is good, but it will do serious damage.”

  “Admiral is ordering all civilians to their quarters. All military is to proceed to their ships,” Max relayed the information as it scrolled across her feed. She grabbed for the bar and landed on solid ground, taking off running through the growing crowd.

  The NeoG bay was organized chaos and Jenks dodged a group of CHN Marines double-timing it across the floor, pulling Sapphi out of the way. “Focus before you get run over.”

  Sapphi blinked twice. “Sorry, digging up specs. Ship in question is the H3nergy freighter Poseidon’s Fury. She’s an older model with the standard H3 fusion drive.”

  “What year?”

  “Twenty-three seventy-eight,” Sapphi replied.

  Rosa stood by the door of Zuma’s Ghost, and she stepped back as Max scrambled up the stairs. “Ma, ship’s hot and ready to go,” she said.

  “Got it.” He slipped toward the bridge, Sapphi on his heels.

  Rosa looked at Jenks. “You sober?”

  Jenks rolled her eyes. “Barely time to have a beer, Commander, but I’ll take a spray if it
’ll make you feel better.”

  “Do it—we’re getting on that freighter and I need you completely greenlined.”

  Jenks caught the tube Tamago tossed her way and took a hit off the anti-inebriator. “Sapphi already gave me details on the freighter. What happened to the engineering crew?”

  “The engineering chief died in the initial leak, sounds like the coolant vented without warning straight into the core room. Captain Guru said the chief pushed his assistant out the door just before it closed. She’s not injured beyond some bruised ribs, but obviously shaken up.”

  Jenks nodded. “Do we have schematics for this engine? I want to look at it before we get on board.”

  “Up here, Jenks!” Sapphi called.

  Jenks took the stairs two at a time to the bridge, grabbing for the railing as the ship shook underneath her feet on takeoff.

  They made it to Poseidon’s Fury in record time, helmets under their arms as they disembarked through the linked airlocks. Jenks watched as a woman with light blond hair ran up to them.

  “Commander Martín? Thank you for coming. I’m First Officer Raya Asgrin. The captain is overseeing the evacuation. She asked me to take you to med bay, where our engineering assistant is.”

  “I’m not in med, Raya, I’m right here.” The woman who approached had one hand pressed to her ribs on the right side, and a freshly bandaged wound peeked out from beneath her white bangs.

  “Tiga, you should be in med.”

  “I’m fine, just hit my head when Jim shoved me out the door.”

  Something passed between the women before the first officer finally nodded. “Tiga will take your people to engineering.”

  “It’s this way.” Tiga didn’t wait for them to follow, just took off back down the corridor.

  “Jenks.” Rosa jerked her head toward the retreating woman. “Go. Carmichael, go with Jenks. We’ll facilitate the evac onto the ships.”

  “Yes, Commander.” Max nodded and exchanged a worried glance with Jenks as they caught up with the engineering assistant.

  “A little farther,” Tiga said after introductions had been made, never breaking stride. She winced, unable to hide her pain.

  “You bullshitting your first officer back there?” Jenks asked. She’d had her share of bruised ribs and recognized that familiar attempt to move as gingerly as possible.

  “I’m all right,” Tiga replied, and Jenks let it go, but she made eye contact with Max and knew she had heard the conversation.

  They reached the engineering section, the wide doors illuminated with the pulsing red of a failure warning.

  “Helmets,” Max said as she slipped her own on.

  Tiga winced again and Jenks took her helmet from her. “Here, let me. You really should be lying down.”

  “I need to help,” Tiga said. “Jim saved my life at the cost of his own.”

  “Maybe that means you should evac with the others,” Max said.

  “No.” She smiled. “It means I’ll be damned if I don’t go down swinging just like he did. Come on. Time’s wasting.” She gestured.

  Jenks lowered Tiga’s helmet, sealed it, and put her own on. “Coms up. Everyone read me?”

  Tiga nodded and Max gave her a quick thumbs-up.

  “Here goes nothing.” Tiga punched the access code into the panel by the door.

  The trio crossed into engineering. The only sound in Jenks’s ears was her own breathing until Tiga spoke.

  “Over there,” she said, tapping Jenks on the shoulder and pointing to the bank of consoles circling the massive cylindrical drive in the center of the room.

  The coolant had been pulled into the recycling system, but wisps of it still hung in the air. Jenks spotted the body in the corner and gave Max a quick look, pointing in that direction before she spoke to Tiga. “Run me through what happened.”

  “We get weird spikes on occasion. It happens with these older ships. We didn’t think anything of it when the containment field fluctuated. This old bitch liked to give us readings like that all the time.” Tiga was tapping on the console as she spoke and a series of redlined warnings flashed across the screen. “Then out of nowhere the coolant vented and everything went to hell.” Her breath caught for just a moment before she continued. “Jim pushed me through the door as it closed. I—he was a good guy.”

  Jenks glanced Max’s way, meeting her solemn eyes where she knelt by Jim’s body. The lieutenant shook her head to confirm the man was dead. They’d known it, but it sucked regardless.

  “I’m going to take him to medical. I’ll be right back,” Max said on their private channel, and Jenks nodded. Max hefted Jim’s body up onto her shoulder with an ease that startled the petty officer and headed for the door.

  “Hey, Tiga, look at this.” Jenks put a hand on the engineer’s shoulder, directing her away from the body before she spotted it.

  “This is Lieutenant Carmichael of Zuma’s Ghost to anyone in med bay. Can someone meet me outside with a transport for a body?”

  “Roger that, Lieutenant. I’ll meet you there,” replied an unknown voice.

  Max came around the corner a few minutes later and met a woman with a low-g stretcher. She lowered Jim’s body down and looked up to the pair of brilliant green eyes watching her. They were coated with unshed tears, but the woman’s smile was genuine as she reached out to brush a hand against the man’s cheek.

  “He would have joked about how you could have tossed him like a sack of potatoes. ‘I’m not in it anymore, Lila, there’s no cause for reverence.’ I am grateful that you didn’t. Dr. Lila Dani.” She stuck her hand out. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

  “You’re welcome.” Max shook her hand quickly. “I should get back to engineering. Are you almost done evacuating?”

  “I’ll need to get Jim’s body loaded. It won’t take more than a few minutes.” She smiled again. “Though I’m obviously hoping we can come back.”

  “We’ll do what we can. It was nice to meet you, Doc, circumstances being what they are.”

  “Good luck, Lieutenant.”

  Max jogged back to engineering and slipped through the doors, punching the panel nearby to close them again.

  Jenks and Tiga had their helmets pressed together and the heated discussion burst to life as Max rejoined the com link.

  “Ejecting it is not going to help. The damn thing will still blow too close to the ship and ignite the LMH.” Jenks turned to look at Max, and she gave a little nod in reply to the petty officer’s unasked question.

  “I want to take a look at this from a different angle,” Jenks said, abruptly dropping to the floor and pushing herself under the console with her heels. There was a banging sound and then the panel dropped down next to Max’s feet. “If we’re dealing with two separate failures here then maybe isolating one of them will help us fix the other.”

  “How can I help?” Max asked as Tiga crawled under the console.

  “Keep an eye on that gauge right there,” Jenks said, kicking up with a foot in the general direction of the console she was underneath. “Let me know if it starts moving—up or down. And talk to me about your favorite video game.”

  Max looked down at the flashing yellow bar showing the temperature of the core and the series of numbers flickering back and forth next to it. “That would be hard. I’ve never played a video game.”

  “You’ve what?”

  “How does that happen?”

  Max smiled at the twin responses of confused outrage from the women. “I don’t know. It just does?”

  “You’ll want to go through there,” Tiga said to Jenks. “If you can’t—”

  “Naw, I got it. It was really just a matter of getting past those power wires. But I don’t think that’s as much of an issue as the fact that Lieutenant Carmichael has never played a video game. In her whole life.”

  “Shouldn’t you be focusing?” Max asked.

  “I am focused; talking helps me focus, Lieutenant.”

  “Fine.” Max
leaned on the console. “I’ve never played a video game. My parents didn’t approve. And then when I was fr—an adult—I just had other things to do.”

  “Sometimes I regret not having parents. This is not one of those times.” Jenks chuckled when Max kicked her in the leg. “I cobbled together a system from scraps on the streets, used to charge kids to play Swords and Shields. For a while there I was eating good.”

  “What happened?”

  “Korthan caught wind of it. Head of the local gang. Greedy bastard figured he should get a cut of my take because I was technically in his territory. I had a disagreement with the guys he sent to talk to me. They trashed my shit and I had to get out of town.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Eh, don’t be,” Jenks said. “It’s over and done. Plus it led me to Gran and to Nik. No point in crying over the past. Just be here now. Which—fuck.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t fix this. The containment wires are all melted together.” Jenks slid out from under the console and banged her head on the floor twice in frustration. “Fuck,” she muttered again, and there was just enough worry in her voice to make Max straighten.

  Well, that and the fact that the line had just crawled up into the red zone. “Gauge moved up. Do we need to get out of here?”

  “We don’t. You should, though, Lieutenant.”

  A smile flickered through the tension on Max’s face as she looked down at Jenks. “Pretty sure you don’t get to order me around. I’m not leaving without you.”

  “Pointless sacrifice,” she muttered.

  “We’re not dying today, Petty Officer. I trust you to fix this.”

  “I can’t! It’s completely and utterly fucked. The damn wires are melted. Can’t eject. Can’t—” Jenks narrowly avoided slamming her helmet on the underside of the console as she sat up and grabbed Tiga by the arm. “You said the magnetic containment was fluctuating just before the coolant vented?”

  “Yes, it spiked hard and then dropped back to the green zone. Computer started the normal coolant sequence and that’s when engineering flooded.”