by Kate Kyle
"Hold onto the rails," Jax shouted, realizing that once the capsule started moving, their bodies would be pushed backwards.
She grabbed the nearest handrail. SingMa did the same.
A short while later, the capsule stopped.
"Are you still tracking her? I mean my device?" Jax asked, getting ready to step outside.
SingMa's face paled.
"I've disconnected my systems, sorry," he whispered. "Do you want me to?"
"No. Not, if it's dangerous."
"It might be."
They'd already had a problem with one team member. No point adding to the potential risk.
She stepped outside the capsule, happy to feel the heavier gravity, even if only rotational, under her feet.
Her foot bounced off the floor.
The gravity was slightly less then 1G, probably about 0.8, with the spin… somewhere between two-and-a-half and three rotations per minute. She should have asked Rutger for the station parameters. With her training, the reduced G-force was tolerable, but one glance at SingMa told her that it wasn't the case for him.
"You okay?"
"Uhm, just… spinning…" SingMa said, covering his mouth.
"You'll get used to it. I wonder why she's activated the whole station."
"Maybe she just didn't know how to turn certain parts on and went for the complete system activation?" SingMa replied and rushed to the elevator.
They traveled up to the control deck.
Except for the emergency lighting, the deck was dark and cool, but not freezing cold - a sign that the heating on the station was operational everywhere, unlike the lights.
SingMa quickly identified the service control panel and, a few of his magical hand movements later, the room filled with bright light. Jax watched over his shoulders as he stood by the panel, his hand hovering over a button.
"What's that?" Jax asked.
"The station comms," he said and swiped the button on.
"Professor Li. I mean, Professor Zhou,' he said his voice slightly trembling. "It's Manish Sing, I'm an admirer of your work. We exchanged several emails a few years ago, when you still worked on GAI, and I was an engineering student at NewMIT. Can you hear me?"
He swapped the mic mute again.
Silence, and a little bit of static.
That was too long for a message, and he forgot to signal the end of his message. He certainly didn't get the job at Segedunum because of his communication skills.
Jax leant forward to unmute the mic and repeat the call, but SingMa grabbed her wrist.
"If she talks to anyone, it'll be me, sorry," he whispered, releasing her hand.
He was right in that respect though. Jax leant away.
"Just wanted to help," she said. "You need to say something shorter. Tell her we're unarmed. Ask her to react if she can hear you."
SingMa nodded and swiped the microphone on again.
"Professor Li, it's Manish Sing, reply if you can hear me. Please," he added.
A series of short rustling noises burst through the speaker.
"Why, yes. I can hear you loud and clear," a voice replied. "Where are you, Manish?"
"At Vindolanda station, control level."
A short, sharp laugh.
"So, you followed me after all?"
"Yes. Why are you here?"
"Hey, it's my right to know why you followed me," she replied, still a note of amusement in her voice.
"Because… because…" SingMa said and glanced at Jax.
Aha! They should have discussed it.
"We're worried about the welfare of the solar system," Jax mouthed.
Grandiose enough… should be.
SingMa nodded in acknowledgement.
"We're worried," SingMa said into the mic.
"What about?"
"You, the virus, and Segedunum."
"It's not a virus, I've told you. It's a hoax."
"But it's brought down large sections of Segedunum's network."
"Which should be fixable. Don't worry. Let me do my work. Go back."
"But what is it? What are you doing? Why-"
Jax bit her lip and put her hand on SingMa's shoulder. He glanced at her. She made a quick 'zipping' move across her lips.
He must have understood.
"What are you doing here?" he repeated.
"Curious, as always, eh, Manish?"
"Yes, professor."
The little hairs on Jax's neck stood up. There was something strange about the exchange. She might have said it sounded like a little child trying to appease a villain, but that would have sounded too dramatic, and Jax didn't do dramatic.
Except for when she was having stupid arguments defending her own values.
Except for when she was having stupid arguments fighting to stay in her comfort zone.
"I've seen some data," Lulu said. "The guys who worked here were right. It's a swarm. I mean, these little pieces of code are almost certainly the individual components of a swarm. I can see them… it's like they're swimming round and round inside the shattered rock, like fish, getting ready to make a big move."
Jax blinked. It sounded like total nonsense.
"Is this a piece of code, professor? Intelligent? Self-aware?"
Obviously, it made sense to SingMa, but he was getting into his anxiousness again. Jax squeezed his shoulder gently.
"Intelligent for sure. But I think it's missing a few key elements," Lulu replied.
"Can't the existing parts recreate the missing ones?" SingMa carried on.
"No. Not without those key elements. I think some of them may be here." Lulu sounded upbeat, excited.
"You came to identify them?"
"Yes, but I can't seem to access the rest of the specimen. It's somehow locked. Apparently, the piece of rock the researchers inspected didn't reveal any information until they treated it with heat."
"Sounds like you know what to do, Professor."
Jax cringed. SingMa's last comment didn't sound right to her. Was he advising the villain how to … yeah, do what?
Jax poked SingMa in the back and leaned forward to mute the mic.
"What are you doing?" he whispered, glaring at her.
"Yeah, my question exactly," she replied, returning the glare.
"Talking to her, tryi- shush…" SingMa put a finger on his lips and turned away, presumably to hear Lulu better.
As if the direction his head was in mattered to the sound delivered all around them…
"Sure, but I can't turn on the lasers in the lab. I'd have to shift it physically, and it's just too heavy."
Heavy? In 0.8 G? Jax noticed a row of numbers shining at the top of the service board.
What was the rock made of?
"Maybe we can help you," SingMa said.
"We?" Lulu's voice took on a cautious note. "Who's with you? That pilot girl?"
Now, Jax felt invited to speak. She leant over the part of the panel where the mic icon shone.
"Yes, Ms. Zhou. Or whatever your real name is. Your admiring student can't fly."
"I told you I'll return-"
"I'm here to help my… friends," Jax hesitated but the word rolled off her tongue easier than she thought it might. "And that's a big mission. The network in Segedunum and on board my ship-"
"Do you think your ship had problems because of that?" Now Lulu's voice took on a new note. Anxiety?
"Yes. We saw the girl with the balloon," Jax replied. A thought crossed her mind: did Lulu know what happened on board TransNeptunian Sleeper Service at the time it happened?
"Ah… In that case…" Lulu's voice trailed off.
"What in that case?" Jax urged her.
SingMa gave her a nudge in her side, but she barely felt it. Thank goodness for the suit.
"In that case, it may be later than I thought…" Lulu said quietly. "It might have arrived from another source."
"What are you talking about. What arrived from another source? What's the source?" SingMa r
attled off.
Jax returned the nudge - in the arm.
He must have felt the strike, because he wheezed in a breath, grabbed his arm and started massaging it.
"The swarm elements. They may have come from outside this system and…" she paused. "And connecting in… swarming…"
Silence.
Jax swallowed. She wished Rutger was here to explain to her what this nonsense actually meant.
"Is that bad, SingMa?" Jax asked quietly.
He looked at her. His brown eyes filled with uncertainty.
"I think the professor seems worried," he said. "Are you, Professor?" he asked louder, turning towards the mic.
"What? Yes, it's worrying. I'd say it is-"
The room wobbled, throwing Jax towards the counter. She landed on the balls of her hands, hitting right under the main controls.
SingMa, who was sitting, managed to prevent his head from hitting the panel.
"What was that?" Lulu's voice took on a high pitch note.
"No idea," SingMa said. "But I hope it doesn't happen a-"
Another wobble. A pointy one, Jax would say. A single hit.
"Bring up the view of the outside," Jax ordered.
SingMa complied, his fingers shaking, his buzz-cut head glistening.
Jax scanned the feeds from the external cameras, likely the observational one around the labs.
Nothing there.
"Show me the other parts. Start with the barrel."
A few second later she stared at views of the docking hangar. There was only one shuttle in there.
Which one?
"Keep scrolling," she whispered, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth.
Unless the shuttles could automatically initiate autopilot departure, there was only one explanation for the missing shuttle.
SingMa's hands where shaking. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek, and was followed by its younger brother.
"Show me further afield."
SingMa fiddled with the switches, clearly having issues identifying what worked with what. But a radar popped up, with a single dot flashing not too far away.
"It's Rutger," SingMa said. "He's flying away?"
Jax pushed SingMa aside and enlarged the radar. She found the infrared view.
She watched the screen for a few seconds.
"Why is he flying away? No, look. He's coming back towards the station," SingMa said.
Jax heart stopped for a moment and then broke into a gallop.
"He's not flying away," she said, not able to peel her eyes off the screen. "He's flipped the shuttle and is revving up. He'll use the exhaust to fire on us. Run!"
She yelled into the mic.
"Run?"
Jax pulled SingMa out of the chair.
"Lulu," she screamed, "get to your shuttle. We've got to evacuate. Now."
18
Rutger
Rutger's head swirled and jumped. His body must have followed, as the whole cabin readjusted after the flip.
Or was his head now detached from his body?
Body? Was it even still in existence? It didn't matter. What mattered was to…
Fire… fire… fire….
He curled up in the pilot seat. This was his first time in the real seat. No, the seat was real, but the control panel was a simulation.
No, that was long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
That was a quote. From somewhere else. Not his training.
What training was that? Ah, the girl with the balloon. The reason he was here.
Here, in the pilot seat. He had a job to do. An important one. Save… humanity?
Eh…
His back ached form being pushed into the seat. Something cold and sticky rolled down his cheeks and the side of his neck.
He shivered.
He lifted his hand to wipe the sweat, but his hand hit his shoulder instead.
Rutger inhaled, but it was too painful. His chest was too tight. His head was in the wrong place.
He closed his eyes.
The image of the girl floated in front of his eyes. The balloon waved back and forth.
It was never a war. No aliens. Just a friendly visit.
There should have been a welcome party. Fireworks and balloons.
Rutgers eyes burned. His brain was telling him to move his hands, hover them above the steering panel and fire off the exhaust. Fire at the station, right into the part where the labs were.
No, no… into the fusion engine. Boom-boom…
But his eyelids were heavy as two bucketsful. Uranium… Neptunium… Plutonium…
He pushed his arms forward, hit the edge of the pilot counter and grabbed it.
It felt good. Grounding.
Grounding… ground… grind… reduce to tiny particles to free them up.
Release the artifact… Release the balloons.
One hundred balloons, out on the horizon.
Fire… fire…
99…
98…
Rutger opened his eyes. His hands crawled onto the control panel.
95…
Fire…
Jax
Jax's t-shirt was drenched. Even the smart, sweat-wicking material of the suit couldn't cope with her body's response to the situation.
Yeah, that was the longest eighty-five seconds of her life. Longer than waiting for the result of the pregnancy test two weeks' ago.
Only two weeks ago her life had been so much less complicated.
And going so much faster than this little capsule.
But at least she was in the capsule, together with SingMa, whose tall and slender body was propped against the wall. His eyes were closed, but the suit didn't beep out a warning - a sure sign her teammate was still alive.
The capsule started to slow. Jax lunged toward SingMa.
"Hey, get up," she slipped her arm under his.
"Get out. To the shuttle," she yelled by his ear. He had his helmet on, but likely unclipped.
SingMa shifted in his position, pushing himself off the floor with one arm. Jax pulled him up by the other.
A floppy body was heavy… Even in a reduced g-force environment.
With some wobbling, pulling and pushing, SingMa finally regained an upright position.
Jax put her arm around his waist and wrapped his, still somewhat floppy arm, around her shoulders. She leant carefully against the door.
Stupid idea, but this was the closest surface, and she needed to stabilize them both.
The capsule shuddered to a stop. The light above the door flashed.
"Move away. Door opening," the machine announced.
Jax balanced herself on the balls of her feet, pulling SingMa's body just a few fingers away from the door and held him there.
The door opened.
"Move, move," she barked, stepping gently over the edge of the capsule and pulling him with her.
"You're alive, still, right?' she grumbled.
For goodness' sake, pull yourself together man. Nothing happened to you.
Not yet…
"Move your feet," she instructed. "Hurry, hurry," she added, glad to see he was still able to walk.
Was there no physical education in RR? No sport? Did the infamous utopian country care more about their residents' brains than their physical well-being?
Crazy.
"Can you walk faster?" Jax asked.
"Uhm," SingMa replied, his voice weak. "Just… stressed."
She helped him to the shuttle airlock. The only shuttle in the dock.
The one, in which Lulu had arrived.
But she was nowhere to be seen. The craft was dark and cold.
Crap.
"Where is she?" SingMa asked, in the airlock.
"Hopefully on her way," Jax replied.
Just as she was stepping into the airlock, something flickered in the distance.
Another capsule. Carrying Lulu.
Thank goodness!
Jax logged into the system,
with her usual credentials. She ordered SingMa to fasten his harness. Just in case.
Ha, she never thought she'd be happy that Lulu had stolen her device and used her piloting token. No hacking into the system required.
Jax fired up the shuttle.
The airlock signaled a person standing by.
Lulu!
Jax let her in, cycled the airlock and as soon as Lulu was in the cabin, she yelled.
"Get into the harness. Now."
She blasted off the moment she heard the first click of Lulu's harness.
She pressed on with acceleration as much as the shuttle could take.
Screw the comfort. Screw the safety.
Survival was the key.
The shuttle darted out of the hangar and soared away from the station.
Jax's back flattened against the back of the seat. Her chest tightened like an iron corset compressing her, squashing the air out of her lungs. Her face felt as if someone was pushing an anvil against it. But she kept her fingers on the acceleration controls counting the seconds under her breath.
She let it go at three.
At four, she hit 'slow down'.
At six, a flash of light crossed the screen, hitting the rotating arm of the station at about seven o'clock.
She could probably have taken more G and for a little longer. But her passengers had certainly blacked out.
And they were far enough away from the station for safety.
She hoped…
One of the station's rotating arms exploded.
It took her a few more seconds to realize that Rutger was still in the shuttle, somewhere out there. Probably even more exposed to danger than they were.
Given his crazy behavior, certainly more exposed.
Crap.
She couldn't leave him out there like that.
The shuttles had the radio, the distance between them was close enough to try to connect.
She turned the shuttle around to approach the station again but kept well away from the pieces of the arm flying off, and avoiding any debris.
She found the radio comms option and opened the channel.
"Rutger, it's Jax. Can you hear me? Over," she said as calmly as she could.
She repeated the message constantly, while navigating towards the small, green spot on her radar.
