Caspian's Fortune

by Eric Warren

  “Oh,” Evie said. Cas had been too lost in the nostalgia of being back on his old ship to notice the massive modifications that had been made to engineering.

  In the middle of the room where the master systems display should have been was a gyroscope, or at least what looked like a gyroscope at first glance. As Cas drew closer he could see while it had the appearance of one, it had to work completely differently. None of the circles was complete, each was missing segments in their rotations and in the center of the device was a golden ball which glowed gold. He could almost feel the energy pulsing off it.

  “Is this the weapon?” Evie asked.

  “Has to be. This is not Coalition tech,” he replied. He had the overwhelming urge to turn it on, just to see what it did, but doing so would register a power spike and they couldn’t risk being caught. “It’s attached to the main weapons array. This must be the primary power source for the weapon’s destructive capability.”

  “Cas.” Evie bent in front of the device. He leaned over to see what she’d found. In front of the base of the device was a pile of black dust, as if something from the device had incinerated and collected on the ground. Now that Cas looked, it was everywhere.

  “This is the same stuff that was on the dry dock,” he said. But there was so much more of it here. “Did they ever identify it on Tempest?”

  “I never saw a report,” Evie said. “But you’re right. It looks exactly the same.”

  Cas went over to one of the main engineering stations and initiated a scan of the room. There was forty-four cubic meters of the dust scattered throughout engineering. But nowhere else on the ship. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would it just be in this room and on the command floor of the dry dock? Why isn’t it anywhere else?”

  “We can figure it out later, right now we have a job to do. I need you to permanently disable it.”

  “Right,” Cas said. The wheels in his mind were turning. He couldn’t stop thinking about that dust. Where would it all have come from? It didn’t make any sense.

  He walked over to the gyroscope and opened the access panels below it, which required pushing small mounds of the dust away. Inside it was a mess. Nothing like he’d ever seen before. The parts had obviously been manufactured by the Coalition, but they’d been assembled in a way that didn’t make sense at all. Is this how Sil technology worked? You just threw a bunch of things together and all of a sudden you had superweapons? He wished he could take some time to study the device, understand how it worked.

  “You’ll need to purge all references of the device in the computer,” Cas said as he examined just how he was going to disable this weapon he knew nothing about.

  “Won’t that show up as a power surge?” Evie asked.

  He shrugged. “You were the one who wanted the assurances. And until this ship is in a billion pieces floating through space, the information is vulnerable.”

  “Damn,” she muttered under her breath. She made her way over to one of the consoles while he continued to examine the device. Probably the best way to disable it would be to take apart as much of the inner-workings as he could. He thought about just shooting the thing but without knowing more about it he didn’t want to risk an overload of some kind.

  “Okay then,” he said. “We’ll do it the hard way.” He got up and jogged to the other side of engineering to grab a maintenance kit from the wall. Inside were all the tools an engineer could ever need: spanners, ratchets, bolt-sealers, fusion guards; etc. He returned to the device and began work on removing its guts, piece by piece.

  After the third panel came off, he stopped cold. “Evie?”

  “Hmm?” she said from the console station.

  “Your people were right about the dust. It’s the crew.”

  34

  “What?” she asked, turning from the active station. He moved to the side to reveal the inside of the gyroscope’s base. “Is that…”

  “A negative-mass interdimensional particle,” Cas finished for her. “I don’t know if it’s what powers the weapon or if it’s a byproduct of it.” When Cas had removed the last panel it had revealed a transparent casing of some kind, and within the casing was a very bright object, almost like a miniature sun. Something that shouldn’t even be able to exist in this dimension.

  “Is it really a one-dimensional object?” she asked, leaning in closer.

  “That’s the theory,” Cas replied. “But somehow this one is stable and large enough to exist in a three-dimensional space.”

  She was getting too close, Cas took her shoulder and pulled her back.

  “What?” she asked.

  “ID particles are theorized to emit a type of thorian radiation,” Cas replied. “It robs molecules of carbon and other proteins. Leaving nothing but inorganic materials behind. If the weapon uses this type of radiation as its power source it would explain all the dust.”

  “They tested the weapon,” Evie said.

  “And it ended up killing them,” Cas added.

  She stepped away from the device. “But if they knew it emitted this kind of radiation, why use it in the first place?”

  Cas shook his head. “I don’t know. Did you find anything in the records?”

  “Not yet. I finally got the system up and running. I had to use my own credentials to get in.”

  Cas took a glance at the computer interface. “It probably won’t even open for a rank less than Lieutenant Commander. I guess it’s a good thing you came along after all.”

  “Can you still disable it?” Evie asked.

  “I don’t want to be anywhere near that thing,” Cas said. “I don’t know enough about it to shut it down without it killing both of us. Our best bet is my original plan: blow up the ship and let it take care of itself.”

  Evie’s eyes fixed on the dust collected all around the gyroscope. “You’re right. But give me a minute to download all the technical specifications. I’m not letting Rutledge get away with this,” she said. “They court-martialed you for twenty-four deaths. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the one responsible for the death of every member of this crew. And the space dock.”

  “There were a hundred and seventy-one people on this ship,” Cas said. He couldn’t believe this was all that remained of his former crewmates. If he hadn’t been kicked off the ship he would have ended up just like them.

  “Can you set up the self-destruct from here?” Evie asked, returning to the computer.

  “Probably,” he replied. “Assuming my codes still work. The captain may have changed them or they could still be in the system, I won’t know until I try.”

  “Get on it, I want to get this done and out of here as fast as we can.”

  “Boss?” Box’s voice came through his communicator.

  Cas pulled it from his pocket. “Yeah?”

  “You’ve got company. Fifteen non-friendlies headed your way.”

  Cas bared his teeth and surveyed the room again. They were out in the open here. “Where did they come from?”

  “I don’t know, I picked up their life signs three decks above you. They’re on their way down in the hypervator now,” he replied.

  “Scan for a shuttle. Or anything,” Cas yelled.

  “There’s a small shuttle docked at the top of the ship,” he replied. “It probably dropped down from the dreadnought. You better get back here.”

  Cas glanced at Evie who was working the controls at the station. “I’ve only got about half of it,” she said.

  “Leave it, fifteen to two aren’t good odds.” He grabbed her arm.

  She wrenched it away, staring daggers at him. “What about the self-destruct?”

  “There’s no time. It would take me at least five minutes to set it up, and we’ll be lucky if we have thirty seconds. Accessing the computer must have tipped them off after all.”

  “I’ll draw them off.” She pulled her weapon from its holster. “You finish downloading the logs and set up the self-destruct.”

  “Dr
aw them off where? You don’t know anything about this ship,” he replied. “You’re just as bound to get lost and lead them right back here as you are to get away.”

  Her face was a mix of fury and indignation. “It’s a standard Constellation class ship, Mr. Robeaux. I think I know how to get around. And I don’t need you reminding me what I can and can’t do.”

  He put his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. But you drawing them off is just going to get you or me cornered somewhere. We need to go. Figure out another plan.”

  She winced, her eyes darting between him and the console. “Fine,” she said, pulling her uplink from the computer and replacing it in her belt.

  Cas drew his weapon. “Box, which way are they coming in?”

  “Access E-2 and E-6,” Box replied.

  Both sides of engineering. They meant to box them in. “We’ll have to go back the way we came.” Cas indicated the access door to the side.

  “That will take too long,” she replied. “Talk about making for easy targets.”

  “Then what do you suggest?” he asked.

  The main engineering door rolled away, revealing eight of the soldiers behind him. Evie raised her weapon. “A frontal assault.” She fired as Cas ducked, spinning around and using his own weapon on the men scattering away from the opening.

  Blasts of plasma flew past them as they got into cover behind one of the consoles. “If they hit that gyroscope…” Cas said.

  “I guess we won’t have to worry about blowing up the ship then, will we?” Evie smirked. She jumped out of cover again and fired three more times. Behind them the E-6 doors opened on the upper level and six more soldiers emerged, taking stock of the scene before them.

  “Oh shit, time to move,” Cas said, pulling Evie back as a blast of plasma hit the ground where she’d been standing only a moment ago. “I bet you wish you had your sword right now, could be really handy.” He took a few shots at the men on the upper balcony, but they all managed to duck the blasts. They couldn’t keep this up for much longer otherwise they’d be completely pinned in.

  The main door was still open, all they needed to do was get through it and they could sprint the hallways to the closest hypervator, which was hypervator three if Cas remembered correctly. That would take them directly back to the ship. But there was so much fire coming from that direction it would be nearly impossible to get over there.

  “It’s too much,” he yelled over the blasts, still holding Evie’s uniform as she laid down some fire of her own. They were obscured from the view of the upper level but the soldiers only had to move a few more meters to the right and they’d be in their crosshairs again.

  “I can do this!” Evie yelled back. “Just give me some cover!”

  Cas let go of her uniform and put both hands on the boomcannon, pointing it at the upper level where the men would come around. The first one popped his head out and Cas squeezed the trigger, sending the blast sailing up and smashing into the bulkhead where the man’s head had been only a second before. The man jumped out again and Cas fired three more times, one of the blasts catching him in the chest and sending him back to the wall. Evie continued to fire at the group in the front but Veena’s soldiers wouldn’t stay put. They’d find a way to make their way around the stations to ambush them.

  “Ah, damn!” Evie drew back. One of the blasts had caught her in the arm which was now missing a significant chunk from the upper part. She fell back to his side, her hand over the wound. “Lucky bastard, that was a one-in-a-thousand shot,” she said through gritted teeth.

  That was it. She was injured and they were still pinned down. And they’d only taken out maybe two or three of the soldiers. Cas glanced over to the access corridor exit. They didn’t have another choice but could Evie even crawl now with an injured and bloody arm? He should have just made her go.

  “Aaaaaaggggghhhhh!”

  Cas exchanged looks with Evie and they both peeked over the wall to see Box running in through the main door, an old chair in his hands swinging it wildly back and forth. The soldiers in cover turned to fire on him but he was quicker than they could anticipate and one-by-one he smacked them with the metal chair, sending their weapons, equipment, and sometimes teeth in all directions. He was like a robot possessed. Cas had never seen him so enraged.

  “C’mon!” Box yelled after he’d hit the last one. A blast hit him in the side but he paid it no attention. Cas glanced up to the upper level where the soldiers were still in position and were now taking shots at Box.

  Cas pushed Evie forward as Box hurled his blood-soaked chair at the closest soldier on the upper level who tried to scream and run but only succeeded in making a brief noise before the chair smashed into him, sending him sprawling. Box stood by the door ushering them forward as more shots peppered the ground around them. Cas pushed Evie forward, praying to Kor he could get her out before any other hits landed.

  They reached the door and Box hit the panel beside it, rolling the massive door closed again. “Hurry, there’s another ship approaching,” Box said, grabbing Evie and hoisting her under his arm as he took off in a sprint for the hypervator. Cas took off after them, checking behind them every few seconds to see if the other soldiers were still in pursuit.

  “I can run on my own, I’m not an invalid!” Evie yelled.

  “What are you doing up here?” Cas called as they made their way down the hall.

  “Making sure I get my room!” Box yelled back.

  “Yeah? I thought you wanted the whole ship. All you had to do was leave us and it could have been yours,” he replied, checking behind him again. Still no pursuit.

  Box turned to him just as they reached the hypervator. “It’s more of a long-term plan. I can start small.”

  “I’ve never seen you so…enthusiastic,” Cas said.

  “I was re-enacting Lady Regina Thornhouse’s reaction to finding out Lord Thornhouse cheated on her with the chambermaid.”

  “She beat people with a chair?”

  “A wooden one.”

  Cas nodded in approval. “Good call then.”

  The doors opened and Cas followed them in just as a blast ricocheted off the side of the door. Cas fired back as the doors closed. “Shuttle Bay,” Box announced and the hypervator began dropping. He set Evie down on the ground, inspecting her wound. “You’ve lost four percent of your upper arm mass.”

  She pulled her hand away to reveal a deep gash. Box was right, part of her arm had been torn away by the Sargan’s’ weapon. Evie sucked in a breath as she saw all the blood.

  “It’s probably not as bad as it looks,” Cas said. “Can you still feel your fingers?”

  She wiggled them. “Yeah, but it hurts. I would have much rather been shot by whatever hit you,” she replied.

  Cas couldn’t disagree. Dealing with temporary numbness had to beat getting half your arm ripped away anyday.

  “We have to stem the flow of blood!” Box announced and grabbed Cas’s shirt underneath his jacket, ripping a perfect strip all the way down the center of Cas’s chest.

  “Box! You did not—”

  “Would you rather her bleed out?” he asked, applying the makeshift bandage on the wound, tying it tight.

  “Aaaa!” Evie grimaced as Box cinched the wound.

  The doors opened to the Bay access and Box picked Evie up again against her protestations while Cas ran ahead to make sure the area was clear. No sign of anyone. “Let’s move, we got lucky,” he yelled as Box bolted past him, up the ramp of the Excuse and through the locks. Cas took one last look around and followed.

  Inside Box deposited Evie in the kitchen then went to the cockpit to confirm the startup sequence. “Fast as you can, Box!” Cas yelled. He went over to check on Evie. “Are you okay? Can you make it another few minutes to the rendezvous?”

  She squinted, still holding the wound and nodded. “Go. Get us out of here.”

  He hated to leave her, but she’d be okay for a few minutes. Cas m
ade his way to the cockpit just as Box had fired the engines. “Punch it,” he said and the ship lurched forward, bursting out of the hangar bay into open space. “Somehow I didn’t think we would make it,” Cas added, scanning the surrounding space. The only other ship in the area was the dreadnought which quickly fell behind them.

  One of the indicators beside Box began blinking. “Uhh, boss?”

  Cas glanced over. “Is that the Tempest?”

  Box shook his head.

  “Caspian!” Veena’s voice boomed through the internal speakers. “How nice of you to visit.”

  35

  “Veena,” Cas said as her image appeared on the screen in front of him. “I hoped I’d never have to see you again.”

  “Now that’s not a very nice thing to say, you hurt my feelings,” Veena replied in that sickeningly insincere voice of hers.

  “Two of her ships have changed course and are on our tail,” Box said, pushing the engines even harder.

  “What do you want?” Cas asked, readying the undercurrent drive. Even if they couldn’t outrun Veena’s ships they could at least keep pace in the undercurrent. But he’d have to lead them away from Tempest.

  “Why, you, of course. You’re my key to a unique and special lock,” Veena said. “The prize is no good without someone who knows how it works. And based on what I’ve learned you are the perfect person to help me operate it.”

  “I just got a pretty good look at your superweapon down there—sorry about your men by the way—I can tell you one thing: it’s pretty much useless.”

  Veena waved her hand in front of the screen dismissively. “Somehow I doubt that. The Coalition wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to build such a weapon if it didn’t work. Even if it doesn’t; the information itself it worth more than its weight in kassope. Just imagine what the Claxians will do once they find out humans from their precious Coalition have conspired to build a superweapon based on Sil technology.”