by J. N. Chaney
“X, turn off the alarm. We’re aware of the problem,” I said.
“Turning off oxygen monitors for Elise’s EVA suit,” X-37 said. “I recommend you inventory your back-up bottles.”
I maneuvered close and saw that she was low on her breathable air mixture. Without hesitation, I connected my backup bottle to her gear. A short time later, Path joined us, pulling himself hand-over-hand along the tether.
He gazed into her visor. "Look at me, Elise. I want you to count with me."
"We don't have time for that," she said, her admirable self-control slipping as panic crept into her voice. Before long, she sounded even younger than she was. “My HUD says your back-up bottle only has thirty minutes. I’m using it faster than that.”
"Elise. I will count. Don't look away from me. Count in your head and relax. It will slow your breathing and you will use less oxygen," Path said.
"Listen to him," I said.
"Okay," she said, already responding to the calming instructions. “I get it. Talking uses air.”
"Path, where's your extra oxygen bottle? Elise is going to need it," I said.
He finished counting and leaned away from Elise to avoid ruining what they just accomplished. Her heart rate was low now and her respiration was minimal.
"Can she hear me right now?" Path asked. "You and I need to have a private conversation."
“Don’t you dare, Cain! I’m right here,” Elise snapped.
"X, take Elise out of this discussion for now, but I want to be able to hear her," I said.
“You’re going to hear me all right!” Elise shouted.
“Stop it, Elise. Trust me,” I said. “Save your breath.”
She gave me the finger but said nothing more. The look in her eyes suggested she would have a lot to say to me when we reached safety.
"I have temporarily blocked her ability to hear your conversation," X-37 said.
"What is it, Path?" I asked, my instincts telling me I wasn't going to like the answer.
"When I saw that she was out of oxygen, I discarded my backup bottle," he said. "You should've done the same."
"Why the fuck would I do that? Why the fuck would you do that?" I said, my anger building.
Path looked at me, his eyes very serious through our visors. "In life, there are very few opportunities to teach perfect lessons. Elise will learn to control herself and master respiration or she will die."
I saw what he was doing. He was taking his mystic mentor thing way too far. "If she dies, you're going to learn a life lesson."
"Not a useful lesson," he said. "I imagine you will kill me. Or perhaps something worse."
"I'm taking Elise back,” I said, detaching the tether from Path. “Finish the salvage operation. We didn't come out here for our health. I need to know why this station blew up and if there's any way to accomplish our mission."
Without waiting for his answer, I took hold of Elise and guided her toward the Jellybird. It was a process that couldn't be rushed and it took all of my self-discipline not to dive through the debris field using myself as a shield to get Elise back to safety.
I towed her and she remained silent to conserve oxygen. I wanted to ask her how she ran out.
"X, can you tell me how she ran out of oxygen?" I asked. “Wait, can she hear me?"
"She cannot hear you, although I recommend that you change that. Too much isolation will cause panic." X-37 made some beeping sounds that I associated with data processing.
"Keep me updated on what Path is doing," I said.
X-37 reestablished my connection with Elise, and I reassured her we were going to make it. She didn't question me either because she had finally developed a blind faith in my ability and judgment, or she was smart enough to save her breath.
I turned around so that I could check on Path and saw him doing nothing. "X, what the hell is he doing?"
"He located a data storage device, not the primary recorder, but something from a system maintenance routine, and is now staring into space. His bio readings indicate he may be meditating or simply enjoying the view," X-37 said.
17
"What are you doing, Path?" I demanded.
"I think there's a better way to help Elise. If you weren’t panicking as much as she is, you would’ve realized that piece of wreckage you’re about to pass has at least one section intact. That will probably contain an oxygen mixture. You need to clear your mind and think," Path said.
I felt myself tense. Who was this guy to tell me I was panicking? Pressure under fire was my entire personality. It was what I was trained for and it was the reason I was still alive when other Reapers were dead.
Elise fluttered her eyelashes, still not daring to speak as her eyes lost focus. Oxygen deprivation was having an effect.
This was going to be my decision. Putting my anger aside for a moment, I examined the debris field. There were a few large items within it. We had passed several during our salvage mission.
It would be difficult to reach the one Path indicated, but it was still closer than the Jellybird.
"X, I need some help on this one," I said.
"Jelly is running scans now. So far, we have been unable to determine if it has viable atmosphere, but it does seem to have a section that is free of damage," X-37 said. “The capsule is closer than the ship by seven hundred and thirty-nine meters."
"I don't think I can make it to the Jellybird with Elise,” I said.
"I will prime the sick bay and encourage the Lady Faith to do the same in the unlikely event she can help,” Jelly said.
"Can you run a scan to find the extra bottle of oxygen that Path discarded?" I asked.
"No. I already tried," Jelly said. “The area around him is clear of anything resembling his back-up canister for a thousand meters.”
"I need some other options," I said.
Tom came on the line. “I’m prepping a shuttle now. Jelly says it can withstand collisions in the debris field but will scatter our search area and make our salvage efforts impossible afterward."
"Do it. We'll find clues at one of the other stations," I said, hoping the other locations had more answers than this one.
"Path, since you're useless, get back to the Jellybird," I said, not waiting for his reply.
I knew the choice I had to make, but I didn't like it. "I'm changing course. Tom, bring the yacht shuttle.”
"Where… are we...?" Elise asked.
"We're gonna take a rest and wait for Tom to pick us up in the shuttle," I said.
"I didn't think... I was breathing hard," Elise apologized.
The realization of what must have happened made me want to kill Path. What made it worse was I couldn't understand the reason why Path would do something like this. His statement about teaching Elise a lesson was off— extreme even for a psychedelic sword mystic.
Maybe he was trying to teach me a lesson. Or maybe he was still being paid by the Union.
"You should monitor your own breathing, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. “At this rate, you will also need to be rescued soon.”
I heeded his advice and concentrated on getting to the wreckage. The closer I came, the more hopeful I was. There was a definite section that had little or no damage. The sections attached to it were nearly destroyed, but at its center, this piece of the space station seemed to be intact. The trick was going to be getting inside without venting too much atmosphere.
“The segment of the destroyed station has no power," X-37 told me, obviously leading up to something. "It seems to be a low security maintenance area. You will be able to force the doors. Steps should be taken to avoid getting blown backward by venting atmosphere."
"Do you have any suggestions on how to do that?" I asked.
"Not a one," X-37 said.
Elise murmured, barely understandable. "We don't have to go in. Only need the oxygen. You can cut a hole... with your Reaper blade... let some air out. So we can breathe it. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Her idea was b
oth brilliant and flawed. I could vent atmosphere, but I couldn't get it into her suit.
Seconds ticked by. I was running out of time. And so was Elise.
My solution was only half formed in my head, but I had to act. The first thing I did was plant my feet and check to make sure they were mag-locked in place. Removing the bottle I had given her, I made sure her suit was still sealed with whatever oxygen was left in it. I quickly extended my blade and made a hole that was slightly smaller than the nozzle on the bottle. A half second later I retracted the blade, gripped the bottle, and pressed it against the hole.
Atmosphere sprayed between the new hole and the edges of the bottle, nearly causing me to lose hold of it. Desperate now, I screwed it in until it was part of the wall using the strength of my augmented left hand. There were several times I almost slipped and sent the bottle shooting through the void.
Elise started to panic, weakly flailing her arms. I removed the bottle and quickly re-affixed it to her suit. There was no atmosphere in the void, so I couldn't hear the screeching metal as I twisted it tight. I zoomed in with my cybernetic eye and sent as much data as I could to X-37.
"Hey, buddy, I need you to confirm that's a tight seal," I said.
X-37's response was almost as calm as I would've expected from the psychedelic sword mystic. Being a machine had its benefits. "It's very crude but may work once or twice. After that, I would suggest finding an alternate plan."
Waiting for the air to reach Elise was physically painful, shooting up my spine as my vision pounded in time with my heart. I wanted to shout for the process to hurry up. Knowing that I was about to become part of the problem, I slowed my heart rate using techniques I learned in the Reaper Corps. Then, despite how angry I was at Path, I used his advanced lessons to lower my heart rate to almost nothing.
Elise came to life when she was able to breathe again. She had calmed herself admirably, but now she started to panic. I held her in place, watching the air vent from the small hole I had created in the wall of the wrecked station pod while I kept the bottle pressed to Elise’s rig. Every second that passed, I felt our chances dwindling.
"How far are you away, Tom?" I asked.
"Five minutes," he answered.
I looked at the hole where atmosphere was leaking while Elise used what was in the bottle. I couldn't tell how full the bottle was from my simplistic effort and I could already see that what was coming from the wreckage was dwindling quickly. This oxygen salvage method was really inefficient.
There hadn't been as much breathable atmosphere inside the closed area as I had hoped, and I was venting the rest of it at an alarming rate.
"You better make it two minutes," I said.
Elise motioned with her hands like she couldn't breathe.
I removed the backup bottle and stuck it back into the hole I'd made in the side of the space wreckage.
"Please!" she begged, skin turning a shade of blue I didn't like.
I waited until I thought the bottle was full, then repeated the procedure. This time, she didn't get much relief.
"Tom! Where the hell are you?" I demanded.
"I'm making my final approach. Very close now," he promised.
Seconds passed. I could feel the presence of the shuttle behind me but could not turn to look at it.
"I'm here and the airlock is open. The rest is up to you," Tom said, not unkindly.
I took hold of Elise, turned around with her in my arms, and put my feet on the wreckage. With no time to make precise calculations, I launched us at the opening.
The distance wasn't far. The ship grew larger as we approached, suddenly seeming like the most important place in the galaxy. We sailed inside the ship, flashing past safety lights and checkered paint that marked the unsafe area near the opening.
Moments ago, it had seemed as if we were moving with agonizing slowness. Now I felt like a bullet striking a target. Everything was a blur and the wall we were careening toward looked hard.
The airlock door snapped shut behind us. We hit the wall and plunged to the floor in a tangle of EVA covered limbs and the salvage tools attached to our kit. With no gravity to keep us in place, we rose up from the impact, each pointed in a random direction now. I twisted to face her, something that wasn’t easy to do. My first several attempts made it look like I was having a fit, but eventually I was able to generate momentum in the right places and swing my arms hard enough to have an effect against my own mass.
Elise tried to remove her helmet but couldn't. She fell back to the deck as soon as the ship's artificial gravity seized her. I went down on my face shield but scrambled to my feet with a grunt of pain.
“You have to wait for the airlock to cycle,” I warned.
She mumbled something and nodded but was till fumbling with the latches around her neck plate like she would remove the helmet if she could.
I held her hands until it was safe, then quickly pulled off the helmet and cast it aside.
Elise gasped for air, making horrible, desperate sounds.
"Is there a medical bay on this shuttle?” I asked.
The interior door to the airlock opened and Tom rushed in. "You are going to be okay, Elise.”
"X, where's Path?" I asked.
"He is staring into the star field again,” X-37 advised. “My readings show that he is in no danger of asphyxia."
"Tell him to get back to the Jellybird," I said. I didn't trust myself to confront the man.
Part of my fury was that I didn’t understand why he had done this. Human motivation wasn't that complicated. I usually knew why I had been betrayed and it was almost always greed or self-preservation on the other person's part. Path had never shown he was sympathetic to the Union, in need of money, or in fear for his own welfare.
I couldn't see the mechanism for his recruitment and eventual payment, but him working for the Union was the only thing that made sense. Trying to kill Elise had to be the reason he’d done this, no matter what he said about teaching her some kind of mystic lesson.
I tried to make Elise stay on the Lady Faith because her medical bay was state-of-the-art. No expense had been spared. There was every creature comfort a person recovering from near death could possibly need.
She wasn't having it. As soon as she was able, she made the transfer back to the Jellybird, her hands shaking as she put on the EVA suit to do the short walk through the void. Tom returned with us, leaving Henshaw to his own devices. I doubted he would go it alone in this uncharted region of space. Like or not, we were all in this together now.
Before long, we were in Tom’s workshop on the Jellybird examining bits of debris we’d managed to collect through various means. Service drones and magnetic sweeps weren’t precise, but they were safe. None of us wanted to risk another EVA mission.
Path remained locked in his quarters voluntarily. I busied myself with more important matters and tried to decide what to do with the man. I’d grown to like him, but now he’d done something inexcusable.
“I am surprised you haven’t confronted Path. He performed poorly and Elise suffered for it,” X-37 said.
I hadn’t told X my suspicions, hoping he would arrive at the same conclusion I had by his own means.
“This section of the lost station shows clear evidence of an explosion. The structure lines show that the force was directed outward,” X-37 said as I turned the piece for him to examine. Jelly was running her own analysis as well. Jelly wasn’t as limited as X-37.
“So, it was sabotage,” I said.
“An explosion from within. I cannot state with confidence it was intentional,” X-37 clarified.
“That could be good news,” I said.
“Again with a human logic,” X-37 said. “We’ve lost all chance for upgrades and repairs, not to mention any critical intelligence we might have gathered on our enemies. We can’t use the destroyed station as a refuge, and it was likely an enormous loss of human life when it blew up. How is that good news?”
; “There haven’t been any Union rescue parties or attempts to gather up this mess,” I said. “Which might mean the other two stations are abandoned and ripe for the plucking.”
“Or they’ve been rigged with booby-traps that will kill us all the moment you try to rush in there,” X-37 said.
“Think positive, X,” I said, rebounding from my recent trials and travails.
“You’re right, it’s far more likely that the Union is sending a recovery team that will arrive moments after we send you into the next station. It will probably only be a couple of warships and their fighters. Maybe even spec ops teams and some regular assault troops,” X-37 said.
I chewed on an unlit cigar as I headed into the hallway. I didn’t know why my mood had suddenly improved, but I was feeling good. “You could be right. But before any of that can happen, there’s something I have to do.”
“Of course,” X-37 said. “You’re the boss.”
“Damn straight,” I said.
18
"Where is he?" I asked.
"I assume you are referring to Grigori ‘Path’ Paavo?" X-37 responded.
Silence followed the question. My LAI could be professional and polite, sarcastic and sharp-tongued, or vague and douche-baggish.
"You want me to actually answer that? I thought that was a rhetorical question. Of course I'm looking for Path," I said, stalking the short, narrow halls of the Jellybird. Nearly killing the young woman I had taken under my protection wasn’t enough. Now we had to play hide and seek.
"He's in the storage area you converted to a training room," X-37 said.
"Of course," I said, knowing I should've just gone there first. The man was playing games. If he thought I was up for the wise mentor routine, he was fooling himself.
The door to the converted storage room opened as I approached, but not fast enough. I grabbed the edge with my augmented arm and slammed it the rest of the way open, nearly knocking it off its precision tracks.
