by J. N. Chaney
"Oh, you are a captain!" Elise exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Captain Obvious!"
“Okay, I had that coming,” I admitted, not sure why Elise’s jab actually made me chuckle.
"May I interrupt?" Jelly asked.
I knew it was something serious because X-37 also beeped to warn me of his presence. "Of course."
"We are approaching the end of the slip tunnel," Jelly said. "I have double-checked my data with the Lady Faith and our combined level of confidence in this conclusion is extremely high."
"That's great news, Jelly. Elise was starting to get worried,” I said in retaliation to her Captain Obvious comment.
Elise rolled her eyes and laughed. "Whatever."
"All right, let's do this the right way. Full scans the moment we are safely clear of the exit," I said. My Reaper nerve-ware didn't give me precognition. My instincts, however, were on high alert and I felt like the shit was about to hit the rocket intake valves.
The slip tunnel was still narrow, convulsing slightly. Jelly promised me none of the slip tunnels we’d traveled were in real danger of collapsing, but I still didn’t like the look of them. This Union facility was really at the ass end of the universe.
"Talk to me, Jelly," I said. "Are we making progress at least? Our fuel and supplies won’t last forever."
I’d thought about this a lot lately, despite Tom’s insistence we still had several days’ worth of food, water, and fuel. That was fine, if we were getting close to a place we could gather those resources. We would soon approach the point of no return.
"My analysis is limited by lack of input. We will triangulate known astrological features once we emerge from this tunnel and see if anything looks familiar," Jelly said, the words coming slower than normal as though her system was overburdened.
"Just give me some good news, Jelly," I said. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
“You will be the first to know when I’ve discovered our destination,” Jelly promised.
“I have been in constant communication with Jelly,” X-37 said. “The distance we have traveled is concerning but not unexpected.”
“Thanks, X. I think.” My LAI was trying to reassure me.
"Can we look for alternate destinations? A system where we can at least gather raw materials for processing," I asked, feeling my adrenaline rise. Near me, Elise started pacing the small bridge of the Jellybird.
"I make this type of assessment each time we emerge from a slip tunnel. It is standard procedure. When I know, you will know," Jelly said.
“Thanks, Jelly,” I said. “So, all we really need to fear is dying of boredom.”
Elise laughed. Neither Jelly nor X-37 found humor in my statement.
"We're leaving slip space now," Jelly announced.
“Thanks for the warning,” I drawled, not really caring. We’d been through this so many times it was becoming routine. Only the view was exciting.
Images flashed onto the screen. Leaving slip space was always a relief, but this time it felt especially so. I’d been on missions where an opponent left mines for pursuing ships. I'd never been discharged into a debris field.
Until now.
"Jelly, take evasive maneuvers!" I shouted.
"Navigating our way free of the debris field now," Jelly said. “Moving about the cabin should be avoided if possible."
Objects bounced off the hull of the ship. Items that I thought were man-made zipped past us. Speed was relative. We were still moving quick enough that any collision was dangerous.
Something big struck the Jellybird, shaking the deck beneath my feet. A piece of metal—possibly a section of an interior wall—slapped against the camera view, disappearing as rapidly as it bounced away from the impact. The Jellybird’s shields flickered as other bits and pieces of something man made were deflected.
"X, what do you think of that? Is this a shipwreck or the aftermath of a space battle?" I asked.
"That is an excellent observation, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "If this was the result of a major space battle, there would likely be a much greater density of objects. From that brief glimpse of the scene, I believe we are looking at wreckage of some sort. Jelly advises me she does not detect a ship-to-ship conflict at this time."
The Jellybird and the Lady Faith moved cautiously through the area, eventually finding the edge of the debris cloud and standing off at a safe distance.
"Jelly, please complete a scan of the system," I said. The ship AI was already doing that, but I wanted something specific. "X, give Jelly my Reaper base code. See if she can scan for any signals like mine."
"That is an excellent idea," X-37 said. "Two seconds, please."
"There are no functioning Reaper units in the system,” X-37 said after consulting with Jelly. “There are, however, many components and rare minerals that indicate the Union's presence. I have metallurgical profiles of both Union and Sarkonian building materials. They use the same raw materials, but in different ratios. I can say with reasonable confidence this debris was originally constructed by Union engineers. Furthermore, I detected Reaper-like hardware in some of the debris."
"What are you trying to say?" I asked, having my suspicions. “What kind of Reaper-like hardware?”
“Let me show you,” Jelly said, then zoomed in on a cloud of parts floating as they would probably float undisturbed for millennia.
It took me a minute to see what she meant. There was part of a metal arm among the wreckage.
"This was likely the Reaper facility you were seeking," X-37 said. “I may be able to analyze some of this with Jelly’s help, but it won’t tell us much. The basic conclusion is obvious. Someone wanted the Reaper program to end here.”
"Can you determine what caused this?" I imagined two possibilities. One, the Union initiated a self-destruct sequence before leaving the system. Two, they blasted it to smithereens with one of their cruisers.
I thought about X-37 and his fate if I didn't find the proper facility. I also wondered what we would've found if this place had still been intact.
"The primary scan of the system has been completed," Jelly advised. "There are two other possible facilities in this region of space."
I didn't bother hiding my interest. "Are these functional facilities? What can you tell me about them?" I asked.
"Neither facility is broadcasting a beacon. To clarify, I'm detecting dark spots in two distant locations. Basically, all I can tell you for certain is that there is an unnatural object in sectors two and seven of this system. Sector two is near a gas giant with a rather dangerous asteroid belt. If either are Union Reaper facilities, they have been abandoned," Jelly said.
“That’s good work, Jelly,” I said. “Keep me updated.” I attempted to hail the Lady Faith. “Cain for Henshaw, do you copy? I could use some help on this one."
Several moments passed. "He does not seem to be answering," Jelly said.
Elise stared at the screen accusingly. "What do you want from him?"
“He knows more about the Reaper Corps than he’s admitted, and I think he knows a lot more about these facilities, too,” I said.
“I say we send him back through a slip tunnel and be done with him,” Elise said. “He can’t be trusted.”
“I agree, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t valuable. We just have to handle him carefully,” I said. “I’ve got my eye on him. And so do you. Think of him as a dangerous weapon we need for a while longer.”
Elise crossed her arms and nodded. “I can live with that. Tom found this place. He should get the credit.”
“I doubt he is looking for credit, especially if this goes bad,” I said. "Jelly and X, run a deeper scan and tell me if this was the result of a battle or something else. Do your best. I understand you can't give me absolutes."
Elise started pacing again. "I know we're not in a hurry. It'll take days to cross the system, am I right? But I just don't like this. Something is definitely wrong. What the hell were they doing out here?"
<
br /> "Good question. X, can you help us out?" I asked.
"We have very little data to work with," X-37 said.
"Fine," I said, then motioned for Elise to follow me. "Let's get some more information."
"And how are we going to do that?" She crossed her arms and refused to budge.
I was pretty sure she knew what I had planned and didn't like the idea. The last several weeks in the slip tunnels had taught me a lot about reading her body language.
"We're gonna go for a walk," I said. "Weren't you the one who told me operating an extra vehicle activity suit didn't seem that hard?"
Color drained from her face as she lowered her arms. "Well, yeah. How hard can it be? If you can do it, I can do it."
"I have Union training,” I reminded her. “Not to mention everything I've done since I joined the Reaper Corps," I said.
"It can't be that hard," she insisted.
Path arrived at the bridge, already wearing EVA gear after I broadcast the alert. "Your ship advised everyone to put on safety equipment. Has that changed?"
"No. But the reason we all need to be in our space suits has changed," I said, then led Elise to the equipment room.
"I can tell you one thing," X-37 promised. "I don't believe there was a battle. All of the wreckage seems to be from one source, which suggests sabotage or a natural disaster—like a meteor storm."
"So which is it?" I asked.
"Insufficient data," X-37 said. "There is, however, a high probability that data recorders can be recovered from the wreckage."
I'd hoped that he was going to talk me out of the spacewalk. But now we had to go.
16
"All I'm saying is we should get more information from Henshaw," Elise said. "We can still go, but the more we know, the safer we’ll be."
"You're not wrong," I said.
"I know I'm not wrong," Elise responded.
She was getting on my nerves again, so I did the only thing I could do. I pulled out the Starbrand cigar.
"I dare you to light that," she challenged.
Even the feel of it was amazing. Just holding one of the most expensive cigars in the galaxy gave me chills. I realized after smoking the first one that I'd stolen from Henshaw's mansion, that all previous Starbrands had been fakes. I’d never had a real one in my life.
There had been something almost spiritual about the aroma and even the way it smoldered. Without thinking about what I was doing, I put it back in the case Tom had made for me and slipped it into my jacket pocket.
Elise snickered. "I knew you couldn't do it. You might as well name that thing. You treat it like it's your child, not just a way to introduce poison into your system and annoy the hell out of everyone.”
We arrived in the equipment room and started unpacking the gear necessary. All of this could be put on rapidly, but since we were performing a recon mission and not in escape or vehicle evacuation, we took our time.
"Jelly, while we're doing this, contact the Lady Faith and see if we can get Henshaw on the line. I really need to talk to him, even if he doesn't want to show his face," I said.
"Making contact now," Jelly said.
"What do you want?" Henshaw asked, his voice even more pretentious than I remembered.
"Are you drunk?" I asked.
"I'm tired, okay. I haven't slept well since we left Roxo III,” Henshaw said. "What do you want from me?"
"I need to know what to expect when we get there," I said.
"Well, I imagine you will find part of a destroyed space station," Henshaw drawled slowly. I couldn't see him, but I thought he was reclining in a virtual reality beach environment sipping an alcoholic beverage.
"I need to know if there's something I can salvage, something to update my Reaper AI or tell me what the ghost images in my mask mean," I said.
It still felt odd that X-37 hadn't commented on our conversations about his possible demise, even though I knew the reason.
Henshaw had described what the mask could do for me but had omitted any clarification about the ghost images. He'd already made it clear that he didn’t believe I could see them. Supposedly, that took special instruments.
I still had mixed feelings about the mask. It basically amplified what X-37 already did. If it was so great, why had I emerged victorious over two consecutive mask-wearing adversaries?
All I wanted from it were answers. And to not have it dissolve my face or cause me to jump out of an airlock without an EVA suit.
"Since when do sword mystics become experts in extra vehicle activity suits?" I asked.
Path responded as calmly as ever, despite the tone I had used to bait him. "I told you I did service with the Union."
"What does that mean, a familiarization course and maybe one practice run?"
"I was like a pathfinder, sent out to scout new worlds and damaged ships. Basically, the exact mission you are embarking on now," he said.
"Sounds like he knows what he's doing," Elise said.
“He does,” I said, reconsidering my decision to bring Elise. “So it’s your lucky day. No space walk for you.”
"You're not leaving me behind."
“You’re going to drive me crazy, kid. You know you don’t want to go. It’s better this way. Path and I can handle it. You’ll stay here and keep the airlock ready for us,” I said, realizing I’d made a mistake. She was already glaring at me like I’d gone out of my way to insult her abilities.
I could see she was terrified of going into the darkness with nothing but a spacesuit to keep her alive. She had asked dozens of questions about the maneuvering systems, double and triple checking she understood how everything worked.
And then, because I’m an asshole, I pulled her from the mission. If I was her, I’d be punching something right now. From the look of her, she wasn’t far from doing the same thing. She was like a younger version of myself.
“Are you sure, Elise? You don’t have to do this. I’m not doubting you. There will be plenty of other opportunities to do it. Probably on this mission even,” I said.
“I have to do it now or I will lose my nerve,” she said with striking honesty.
“Okay. I understand that. Let's do a final buddy check and then get started. We don't know how long this is going to take or if we are on any type of time restriction," I said.
I checked Elise, then Path. He checked Elise and then me. Elise checked me and then Path. When we were done, both X-37 and Jelly also gave the thumbs-up that all of our safety equipment was set up properly and functioning well. Oxygen lines were fastened securely, back-up bottles clipped in place, comms functioning, and mag boots ready to be activated if we found a piece big enough to stand on.
“X-37 is our controller on this mission. Jelly will maintain communications with our suits,” I said.
Path and Elise each gave me a thumbs up.
“You should have an icon—a green diamond—in the heads-up display of your helmets,” I continued.
They both acknowledged they saw the icon.
“That’s what we think is the primary data recorder for the station,” X-37 said. “Jelly is tracking it. The closer you move toward it, the more accurate our estimation of its location will be.”
“We’re going out there based on the estimated location of a what is possibly the device we need?” Elise asked.
“Yes,” X-37 said.
“Well, why,” Elise said, her apprehension evident.
I knew how she felt but wasn’t going to admit I was scared. That wouldn’t help her or Path.
With our suits sealed, we exited the airlock and drifted toward the debris field. The Jellybird could enter the junk cluster, but her shields would bump things out of the way and we would never find what we were looking for. What we were doing was infinitely more dangerous, but it was the only way to find valuable salvage in a cloud of such small pieces.
"Remember, it's better to use too little thrust than too much," I said. “We don’t want to go spiraling into a c
loud of space dust. Or get tangled up in the tether. Don’t rely on it too much. If you go out of control into the void, the only thing the tether is going to do is drag me and Path with you.”
Elise nodded vigorously, something I was only able to see because we were still relatively near each other. Her helmet didn't move. She twisted within her oversized head gear that had a wide visor for maximum visibility. I checked my HUD and oriented my EVA suit toward our objective. Elise and Path did the same.
We steered into the field single file with a carbon fiber tether connecting us. The first ten minutes were spent navigating through obvious trash.
"What if we can’t reach the primary recording device?" Path asked.
"We take what we can get," I said. “Every part of the destroyed facility is a potential clue to what happened.”
We moved through the void in silence before Path responded, "It’s a big risk for information we’ll likely find on one of the other stations."
"We don't know if either of those facilities will have it when needed or if they’re even intact," I said.
Progress was slow. We spent almost an hour of the three hours of air supply we had just getting close enough to do something. Maneuvering through items that were big enough to enter or even large enough to house just a data recorder or other clues took time. Distances were difficult to judge, even with the laser and radar guidance systems Jelly used to assist us. The first large object we reached, I sent spinning away to the void when I attempted to grab hold of it.
A poorly timed touch had severe consequences in this environment.
"Two things," Elise said after a while. Something about her tone caught my attention. "One, I found something, and two, either my gauges are malfunctioning or I'm leaking oxygen," Elise said.
The warning alarm sounded in all of our helmets, drawing my eyes to my HUD to see whose it was even though I already knew. Some reactions were instinctive and automatic. Others were trained, like my immediate reaction to check my own levels and Path’s.
