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We remained cloaked and arrived at the space station an hour later. It was a beauty, eight spokes centering the main station ring. It used to be connected to a more complex string of pedways and other structures, but many of the original plans had been dismantled and repurposed in the aftereffects of the Bhlat invasion. Some of it was actually destroyed in that initial incursion, and now the sole circular station hub was all that remained.
We hovered there, watching it for a good hour, running scans and ensuring there was no one docked along the underside.
“I always get goosebumps seeing Earth from this vantage point,” Magnus said.
“You’ve seen over a hundred worlds from the comfort of your bridge, haven’t you?” I asked.
“Probably, but this is Earth. Our world. No matter the other sights we see, whether gorgeous lush water-covered worlds, or ice planets pristinely devoid of pollution and panic, or gas giants, there’s nothing like witnessing our own planet from above. Don’t you think?”
“Well said, and I totally agree.” I would always remember the first time Magnus and I left in this very ship, seeing Earth then the moon as we flew toward the Kraski mother ship, bringing the Kalentrek with us that would eventually destroy most of their population.
This had a similar feeling to it, for some reason. The circumstances were far different, but the importance of protecting our planet and people was the same.
“Shall we?” Magnus asked.
“Let’s dock,” I said, checking the plans on my armored EVA’s console. I tapped the screen, activating the codes needed to dock safely and gain access to the station, and Magnus moved our ship closer to our destination. The station was slowly rotating, but Magnus deftly controlled the ship past the invisible energy barrier and into a docking bay.
We latched on with a click and a slight shake of the ship, and I breathed deeply in my helmet. “Here we go. Did you scramble the readouts?”
Magnus nodded. “They won’t be able to sense our ship is anywhere near, unless they attempt to dock in the same bay.”
“That’s why we chose the most obscure slot, right?” I asked.
“Right. I doubted anyone analytical would attempt to dock in bay five out of twenty.” Magnus stood, and we walked toward the cargo bay. “It looks like part one of our plan is set. Are we going to be able to spring a trap to catch him?”
“I hope so.”
“We could attack the ship when it arrives,” Magnus told me.
That had been weighing on my mind, but there would be other casualties. I knew Frasier had a few others with him, and the thought of killing him along with Amada, or especially Bonnie, weighed heavily on my conscience.
“I hear you, but we can’t, Mag. If we capture him, we can set this straight. He’s the problem, we’ve learned that,” I told my friend, and he stuck a fist out. I bumped it with my gloved hand.
“Good. He might be coming at any time. We’d better figure this station out.” Magnus hit the ramp release, and soon we were heading off the comfort of our Kraski ship and into the bowels of the vacated space station above Earth.
We were greeted with an open room, walking through the energy field keeping the vacuum of space at bay. I’d docked somewhere near here the first time we’d arrived, after chasing Leslie and Terrance, and the memory suddenly made me miss my old hybrid friend. We’d lost enough of our allies over the years. I wasn’t going to let Frasier do something stupid just because he had ideas and opinions about our colonies.
“Is there air on this thing?” Magnus asked.
“No. That’s why we need to keep our suits on,” I said.
Magnus hopped, landing with a clank of his boots. “But the gravity is working.”
I glanced around, seeking signs of something out of place. “You’re right. But they may have kept the generator running.”
“Doesn’t sound right. It would only take about five minutes to have this baby purring again. Why leave the gravity genie going?” he asked, making a good point.
I crossed the bay, heading to the console on the wall. I went through the programs, choosing the air controls. “Air is on. Set for humans.”
“Why would the air be on? Unless someone’s already on board.”
A nervous jolt ran through me. “Maybe Paul was mistaken about there no longer being anyone stationed up here.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t seem like something he’d be misinformed on.”
I opened the door, which led into a wide and tall corridor. The lights were on, and I reached for my pulse rifle one second too late.
“Drop it, Parker,” Amada said, stepping from around the corner. She wasn’t wearing an EVA, and I was sure I could shoot her before her weapon penetrated my armor.
“She said drop it.” Martina arrived behind us, pointing an old shotgun at us. “How are you alive?”
“Look, you really think…” Magnus began saying when Amada pressed a button on a hand-held device aimed at us. My pulse rifle whined as the energy bars dropped to nothing. My suit failed, the screens on my console and HUD going dark. Suddenly, the lightweight armored EVA felt like a hundred extra pounds of burden.
Amada frowned at me. “What are you asking, Martina? I thought Frasier said to leave these two behind.”
Martina spat on the ground, anger filling her eyes. “I shot them. Frasier didn’t want them alive. Did you hear what this spiky-haired traitor said?”
“How did you know who we were?” Magnus asked, popping his helmet off. I did the same.
“You didn’t have to kill those people at the pub,” I told her. That appeared to startle Amada.
Martina grabbed something from down the corridor, shoving it forward. The spikes were Bonnie’s. Her hands were tied up, and she was sporting a doozy of a black eye.
“I’m sorry. They… they beat it out of me,” she admitted.
“It’s okay, Bonnie. We’re going to get out of this,” I said with bravado I didn’t feel.
“I don’t think so,” Martina spat.
“Where’s Frasier?” Magnus asked.
“That’s none of your concern, is it?” Amada asked. “Martina, bring them.”
We were led at gunpoint, our suits left behind in the hall near the exit. This wasn’t working out as I’d intended.
We passed by countless rooms, and I was impressed at how large the station was from the inside. It was always tough to gauge a structure like this in space, but there were three floors in the circular structure, and each level had somewhere around fifty rooms. From the plans we’d stolen from Alfonsi’s home, I was aware that the guts of the station, the intricate mechanical room and brains, were located on the lower level of the center point.
If we walked the entire way around, we’d end up returning to the docking bays and stumbling across our suits again. We didn’t make it a full circle.
There was little for decoration as we went, but I saw signs labeling sections of the station. The residences were one floor above us from doors one to seventy. The signs indicated the research labs were below us, doors twelve to thirty, with maintenance in rooms thirty-one and thirty-two. I was searching for an opening to retaliate, but these two women were keeping a close eye on us, not making a misstep.
The rooms we walked by here all had closed doors, with no windows and nothing to identify them. I was only trying to mark where we were and where we’d come from, because everything appeared the same on a station like this. If we were looking for a quick escape, I needed to know which way to head.
They turned us right eventually, through one of the spokes, which was one story, all floors leading to the single pedway system.
“You could let us go. Give us a few days to warn the colonies of what’s coming,” I pleaded.
“Not my decision,” Amada said. Bonnie was walking with us, and she stumbled into the wall as her legs gave out. I reached for her, and Martina struck out with her shotgun, bashing me in the forearm with the butt of the
gun.
“Hands off. Bonnie, up.” Bonnie did as she was instructed, looking at the ground as she continued to walk.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” I told the woman. She was one of the good ones, one of the few who’d infiltrated the Restorers. I expected Frasier didn’t take kindly to traitors. I also suspected he wasn’t going to go easy on Magnus and me.
“Not your fault. I knew what I was getting into. We need to make him see this is…” But Martina struck out again, hitting Bonnie on the back of the head with her palm.
“Shut up.” Martina was a tough cookie. Even Amada glared at the abusive woman.
The spoke’s hallway was at least a third of a kilometer long, and any comments Magnus and I offered the women were met with blank stares from Amada and the threat of an assault from Martina behind us. She’d seemed so pleasant near the Leaning Tower. Now she wore a constant frown, her hair falling into her face, her jaw clenched angrily.
Amada stopped as we neared a doorway. It was ten feet tall and almost as wide. This led to the center: the command station of the structure. Amada tapped the console, and the door beeped offensively, the light flashing red.
“What the hell?” Martina said. “Try again.”
Amada pressed the icon again with the same result. “Outta my way.” Martina shouldered past me, banging on the door. “Open the door, Frasier! It’s us.”
No response.
Magnus glanced at me, nodding toward Martina, whose back was turned to us. She was still slapping her palm against the doorway, and I knew this was it. Our one chance before things turned south and more permanently dire for our cause.
I nodded, confirming my comprehension. Magnus bolted forward, shoving Martina into the door, her head cracking against the hard surface. She dropped her shotgun, and it went off, sending the slug behind everyone. Bonnie must have been caught in the aftermath, because she sent off a blood-curdling scream.
Amada attempted to swing her rifle around, but in the close confines, she wasn’t able. I kicked out, sending the barrel of the rifle to the side, and swept her legs. She tumbled onto Martina, who was bleeding from a cut to her scalp. She tried to stand and rush Magnus, but her legs were intertwined with Amada’s. I clutched the fallen shotgun, and Magnus grabbed the rifle, stepping between Bonnie and me and the two Restorers.
“Hands in the air!” I shouted, and they obeyed, lifting their arms.
“I told you we should have tied them up,” Martina said, spitting out blood onto the floor.
I took a second to see if Bonnie was okay and saw her thigh was bleeding. Her bound hands pushed onto it as the door finally opened.
“Dean and Magnus. The Heroes of Earth, returned to aid in its salvation. How nice of you to join and bear witness to the final judgment day on our people.” Frasier stood, arms outstretched and welcoming. He was once again in a leather vest, no shirt beneath, and tanned leather pants. His long hair was tied behind his head, his beard oiled. He gave us friendly smiles, but the permanent frown he wore was stretched over his brow.
My hand twitched on the gun, but I didn’t pull the trigger.
“Do that and you won’t be able to stop what I’ve begun,” Frasier told me, eyeing my shotgun.
“What have you done?” I asked.
“Come inside and see, friends.” He waved us forward. There were other people within: some faces I’d seen at the villa, others at the hovertrain hijacking.
Amada and Martina went inside, and we kept our guns raised, even though none of the others in the room appeared armed. “You can do away with those. Redemption is already here.” Frasier grinned freely.
I tried to take stock of the room. It was massive, at least half a kilometer wide; the ceiling was glass above, as well as the rounded dome floor below. In the center, a platform stretched out, with eight pedways from each spoke meeting the command station. Frasier led us across the pedway and toward his waiting people. When he spoke again, his voice was deep, the cavernous room echoing each syllable.
“I have been enlightened, my friends. I went to Old Rome, as you know, to explain my plan, and can you believe the other Restorers rejected me and my ways? They were happy to continue the way they were going, with peace among everyone,” he said.
“What did you do?” This from Amada, surprising me. She clearly was learning something new about her leader.
“I killed them.” Frasier smiled as he said it. “I poisoned them at our dinner and walked away with something far greater than my EMP expander or the petty old dusty nukes from the Middle East.”
A huge projection screen grew visible as we landed on the white-floored main platform, where Frasier’s cronies stood waiting for his return. Numbers counted down on a large orange display. Currently, it showed fifteen minutes and eleven seconds.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This is our salvation. I will wipe the world, cleansing it of humanity. This was specially curated by some friends.” Frasier appeared so calm as he said this.
“Friends? I don’t understand,” I told him.
“It seems there are others out there that find humans irritating as well. They brought this weapon to me, and even the means to distribute it,” he said.
I tensed, peering at Magnus and then Amada, whose face had gone pale. “Who are your friends?”
“Oh, they say hello. They know you, Dean Parker, yes they do. They also know your daughter,” Frasier said, and I flinched.
“Who are they?” I asked, almost biting my tongue.
“Have you heard of PlevaCorp?”
I laughed at the irony.
“What are you laughing at?” he asked, his face calm but appearing genuinely curious.
“You, Frasier.” The numbers continued to count down. “You preach your distaste for our abhorrent technology, claiming it destroyed us, but here you are, partnering with the wealthiest big business corporation in the universe. They have armies of damned robots and specialize in weapons and technology. You’ve made a deal with the devil.”
Frasier’s team looked unsure, a couple of them glancing to the projected countdown nervously.
“Frasier, what the hell are you doing?” Amada asked. “You’ve gone too far.”
“Hold your tongue, woman. You’ve been a good sidekick, but if you want to stay there, you’d better be careful,” Frasier said. “And you… you don’t have the right to tell me about dealing with the devil. The man who handed our planet away in the first place doesn’t have a say.”
I calmed myself, lowering the barrel of the shotgun. My voice was quiet. “You can’t seriously be doing this to our people.”
“I am. In…” He stared at the screen and smiled, baring his white teeth to me. “Thirteen minutes, I will begin the cleansing process.”
I shook my head and pulled the trigger.
Twenty-Three
“I’ll go with her, Slate. Bring everyone to Suma, and come right back. Meet us at the cliff entrance. Lolin will guide you.” Jules heard Dean’s voice but hardly registered his words.
She strode forward with purpose, her feet barely touching the ground as she moved. She’d never felt so much power, never been so unable to control her own mind and actions. Deep within herself, she remembered the story about Papa the first time he’d been directed to a portal on New Spero. It was the same stone he and Slate had eventually traveled through to end up on Sterona, where their paths had intersected with Suma’s.
Suma had been a kid then, around Jules’ age, and she’d found herself trapped on the vacant alien world. It was fate or some other force that had guided Jules’ father that day, changing the course for so many races and worlds. This felt the same.
“Jules? Are you in there?” Dean asked, running beside her to keep up as she bounded across the pathway toward the cliff wall. It rose above a good four hundred feet, and she spoke softly, answering him.
“I am here,” she said, her voice sounding alien to her own ears.
“I’ll be
right beside you. Whatever you need, ask. I won’t let anything happen,” he said.
The coherent part of Jules wanted to stop, to hug the older boy she had a crush on, but she wasn’t able to. She could only move.
They neared the cliff within a few short minutes, Jules not breathing hard at all from the effort, Dean panting and gasping behind her.
Jules’ feet lowered to the ground outside the cliff entrance. It was a crevasse in the stone, a deep rutting cut as if a giant had carved into it with an axe, and she was herself once again. The cloud over her mind was popped, and she turned to Dean.
His hair hung into his eyes, and he brushed it aside. She felt the tugging of the stone within, but it seemed to release her, knowing she was so close.
“I don’t know what I’m going to find in there. You should stay outside,” she warned Dean.
He walked over, setting his hands on her shoulders protectively. “No. I’d never leave your side. If you need to go, I’m coming too.”
She nodded and pressed into the older boy, wrapping her arms around him. He was so warm, and he laughed as he squeezed her in return. “What was that for?” he asked. She lifted onto her toes, the feeling that she might never see him again filling her mind. She kissed him on the cheek, then rushed away before she had to explain herself. He didn’t say a word, following close behind as they entered the cleft.
There were flickering torches along the walls, and she guessed the local Nirzu, who prayed to their god inside, never let the lights go out. There were some clear stones outside along the gravel pathway that Jules suspected also lit up at nighttime, soaking in the dying sunlight to glow when the star descended past the horizon.
There were carvings inside. At first, Jules thought the Nirzu must have done them, then she saw the familiar etchings of the portal symbols in the stone wall. There was something rudimentary and different about them here, as if scrawled by the hand of a child. She walked to one of them, tracing a finger over it. It began to glow bright green at her touch.
Old World (The Survivors Book Eleven) Page 20
