by Amie Kaufman
Falk sighs. Picks broken glass out of the kid’s hair.
“Director Frobisher ordered me to space you if you flinched once during this mission. She suspected you might have grown too fond of your little Bumblebee. Was she correct?”
The operative known as Rapier manages to shake his head, agonized tears in his eyes.
Falk sighs.
“Mantis showed me some of the correspondence you’ve had with Miss Donnelly in the time you’ve been undercover here. Very touching. Very incriminating. So be grateful I’m shorthanded, thanks to your girl. And that I’m something of a romantic at heart. But understand that this is your first and only warning, young Samuel. Question me again, and I will feed you that bleeding heart of yours, am I understood?”
Rapier shuts his eyes. Nods.
“When your jewels have recovered, waddle up to the bridge and help Mantis on the computer systems, there’s a lad.”
Falk stands, kevlar groaning as he rumbles toward the door. He stops on the threshold. Looks back at the kid. Shakes his head and smiles.
“Young love,” he sighs.
He shuts the light off as he leaves.
Our footage opens in Mess Hall 3, closed for repairs after a brawl involving a dozen ice miners overnighting at Heimdall on their way to Saine. Catering put in a request to upgrade the galley at the same time, and as a result the whole floor is offline. Some of the electrics remain connected, including the cameras—still locked in Ella Malikova’s endless loop. However, cams continued to send their data to the Heimdall black box, which means that although Mantis couldn’t pull it for Falk (she had other priorities, to put it mildly), we have a record of what happened there.
And chum, it’s worth seeing.
Hanna Donnelly stands in the doorway, leaning against the frame and speaking into Nightingale’s headset. This is her conversation with Merrick and Falk.
“Do you…” She gulps a breath. “Have you changed your mind?”
Merrick asks if she’s crying.
She is.
“I don’t know what to do, Jax.”
He reassures her. He says everything’s going to be okay.
She shakes her head, one hand yanking on her half-unfastened braid in agitation. “Nothing’s okay. I don’t know what to do. Should I…?”
“I get what you’re trying to do,” Merrick says in that rich accent of his, just a tremor of his nerves audible. “Honestly. But if they find you out there alone…you’re dead. You’re safer in here with me.” Who knows? Perhaps he even thought that was true when he said it.
“You’re sure?” she asks softly.
But he dodges the question. He apologizes. Apologizes again. He curses. And his prevarication is enough.
“I can’t…,” she says, straightening slowly. And her next words are written all over her face, in the slump of her shoulders, their truth right there to see. “I don’t…Jax, I’m so tired.” Her eyes are closed. “I’m so tired.”
“It’ll be better once you’re in here,” he says. And though he keeps on speaking, it doesn’t seem she hears him. That was his moment, his last chance not to betray her—and she heard what she’d dreaded. Her mouth tightens like she’s taken a blow to the gut—hope dies hard—and then she’s moving, plunging in through the door to leg it across the mess hall. The sensors pick up her motion and flood the place with light. She’s fit enough that even now, hungry and tired, her breath doesn’t catch. Though if it had, they’d probably have taken it for tears.
“I haven’t eaten,” she says, yanking open the fuse box on the far wall, pulling her journal from inside her jumpsuit to consult some hastily scribbled notes. “And I’ve been running. I thought they’d kill me, but they didn’t kill you when they took the bridge, so maybe…” She pulls down a lever, plunging the hall into near darkness. Turning to the environmental controls, she pushes the dial on the oxygen bar up, slowly flooding the hall with pure O2. “I don’t know.”
Merrick speaks again, asks where she is.
She ignores the question. “Is he there, the leader? Can you hear me, Cerberus?”
“I hear you, little Bumblebee. You sound upset.”
He has no idea.
“I’m exhausted,” she replies as she runs toward the galley, vaulting the counter and pulling open cupboards. “I’m outflanked. I lost the only ally I had. I know what happens next.” She finds a sack of sugar, swings it over the serving counter and into the hall proper, then vaults after it. “Do you promise you won’t hurt me if I come in? You won’t hurt Jackson?”
She steps up onto one of the workmen’s ladders scattered through the big hall, lugging the sack onto the top step. She stretches up and pulls the long, rectangular housing off the light fixture above her. Attached by a wire, it dangles from the ceiling.
Falk’s speaking. Telling her he’s not some monster from a fairy tale. She’s unscrewing the globe from inside the light fixture, shoving it into her top pocket. Scooping a handful of sugar from inside her sack, she stretches up to sprinkle the sugar inside the housing, spreading it all the way to the edges. A fine shower of white dusts her shoulders. She repeats the action again, and again. Six handfuls.
“So if you’re out of my way,” Falk promises, “you’re out of my mind.”
Pulling her sleeve over her hand so she doesn’t cut herself, she breaks the globe on the ladder’s edge, exposing the filament. “I want one person to come and get me,” she tells him. “Unarmed.” She screws the globe back in, pushes the housing back into place.
“I’d have to be rather foolish to agree to that, wouldn’t I?” Falk replies. “Given our circumstances?” Right again, chum, and you don’t know the half of it.
She grabs the sack and her ladder, dragging them until she’s underneath the next light fixture. “You’re the one who invaded my home. Killed my family. I want a show of good faith.”
She’s much quicker at doctoring the second light fixture.
One person, she insists. Falk counters with two, fully armed.
She’s even quicker with the third fixture. But Falk’s agreed to her terms, more or less, and time’s closing in on her.
“I…” She drags the sack and ladder until they’re under the fourth fixture, letting the silence make it seem like she’s mulling things over. She’s in a hurry now, but she takes the time for six handfuls of sugar nonetheless. After breaking the globe, she screws it back in, pushes the housing back into place. “Yes,” she says eventually, jumping down to the floor, carrying the sack and ladder to the next row of light fixtures.
“Bliss,” says Falk, and wants to know where she is. So, as she tampers with light fixture number five, she tells him. “Clever girl,” he says, which is one of the most accurate statements he’s made all day. He tells her she has ten minutes. That she should have her hands in the air when his people arrive.
“I understand,” she says. She doesn’t even seem to hear Falk’s closing threat. She’s hurrying on to number six.
It takes her five precious minutes to finish up the remaining half-dozen light fixtures. By the time she’s done, Jackson Merrick—aka Samuel Maginot—is lying crumpled on the floor of her father’s office. She abandons the half-empty sack of sugar, reengages the electrics, and hurries toward the door, closing it behind her with only moments to spare.
The footage now cuts to exterior cams.
Usually Kali would disperse her troops, have them cover all ingress points, but Donnelly was correct when she told them the entrances were sealed during repairs. Kali’s grin says she’s looking forward to taking her time over a very literal interpretation of Falk’s request that she bring him Miss Donnelly’s head. Weapons up and ready, she’s flanked by Alpha Squad—Kim “Poacher” Dan, Deni “Cujo” Moretti and Genji “Sensei” Satou—plus Logistics Officer Marta “Eden” Alievi, and pilot Hans “Ragman” Tahirović, whose broad grin suggests he doesn’t know that (a) his buddy Juggler isn’t responding to comms or (b) his marksmanship was recently ins
ulted.
Leading the way, Kali pushes open the doors and is two steps inside an instant later, swinging her burst rifle around in search of Donnelly. Her team pours in after her.
The motion sensors pick them up and activate the automatic lighting.
Static flickers on the screen. Just a wash of gray snow where my vision of Mess Hall 3 used to be. The last thing I heard on audio was a rush of air and a sudden boom. But with a small pop and crackle, one of the cameras finishes its self-diagnostic and flickers back into life.
The footage is barely legible through the snow and cracked lens. The mess hall is…well, it’s a complete ****ing mess, tbh. Benches and tables overturned, circular burn marks melted into the temperfoam floor underneath each light fixture, scorch marks on the walls.
Someone groans.
“What…the ****…was that?”
The handful of prone figures in BeiTech tactical armor near the entry begin to stir.
“Everyone okay? Sensei?”
“Five by…five.”
“Jesus…my ears are bleeding.”
One of the figures drags herself up onto all fours, slings off her helmet as she staggers to her feet. Blond hair. Bruised eyes. Nosebleed from the concussion. Glaring around the room, at her slightly barbecued team, at the trap they blundered right into.
Kali doesn’t look happy.
Her voice is a hoarse whisper.
“That little ****ing *****…”
RADIO TRANSMISSION: BEITECH AUDIT TEAM—ALL CHANNELS
PARTICIPANTS:
Travis “Cerberus” Falk, Lieutenant, Team Commander
Hanna Donnelly, Civilian
DATE: 08/16/75
TIMESTAMP: 12:10
CERBERUS: DONNELLY!
CERBERUS: Goddamn it, what game are you playing? You think this is a ****ing joke?
HANNA D: I’m not laughing, Big Bad Wolf.
CERBERUS: That makes three of us.
[CLICK]
CERBERUS: Any parting words for Master Merrick?
HANNA D: Yes, I have a question. Jax, can you hear me?
CERBERUS: He can hear you.
HANNA D: “A whole sky of different stars.” That’s what you told me, Jax. A future together. You made promises.
JACKSON M: Hanna? What the hell are you doing?
HANNA D: I want to ask before he shoots you: Were you working for BeiTech when you came here, or did you sell us out after you arrived?
HANNA D: It’s going to bug me if I don’t know.
JACKSON M: …How did you—
CERBERUS: Enough!
CERBERUS: Enough.
CERBERUS: …Bravo, I suppose, Bumblebee. I expect you’re feeling rather smug.
HANNA D: You murdered my father. Smug’s not the right word.
HANNA D: Did you know their plan, Jax? That they were going to kill us all?
CERBERUS: You’re not talking to him now, little girl. You’re talking to me. The man with master override on life support and airlocks for all sectors of this station.
CERBERUS: There are fifty-seven active PLoBs in the Habitat Sector. Eighty-one in the entertainment complex. Which should I flush first, I wonder?
CERBERUS: Get your *** down here now.
HANNA D: Even if I give myself up, you’ll flush it anyway.
CERBERUS: I told you not to make the mistake of thinking you know me.
HANNA D: The thing about bumblebees, you big bad wolf, is that five hundred years ago they were nearly wiped out. It would have been a catastrophe. But they hung on, and they survived.
HANNA D: Wolves, on the other hand, did not.
CERBERUS: Your life, or fifty-seven innocent people. Your choice.
CERBERUS: Are you coming in? Yes or no?
HANNA D: “After Assault Fleet Kennedy’s safe passage to the Kerenza Sector, your team will liquidate Jump Station Heimdall, with all station personnel aboard.”
HANNA D: Signed “Leanne Frobisher. Executive Director, BeiTech Acquisitions Division.”
HANNA D: I know what you’re here to do. You’re going to kill us all. Whether I come to you or not.
CERBERUS: I’ll take that as a no. On your head be it.
HANNA D: …Please, don’t.
CERBERUS: Please?
HANNA D: None of those people have any idea who you are.
HANNA D: They’re not your enemy.
HANNA D: Please, don’t do this.
CERBERUS: Understand this, Bumblebee.
CERBERUS: I have no enemies on this station. Only obstacles.
CERBERUS: And it’s time I start removing them.
PALMPAD IM: D2D NETWORK
Participants: Hanna Donnelly, Civilian (unregistered)
Ella Malikova, Civilian (unregistered)
Date: 08/16/75
Timestamp: 12:12
Hanna D: ELLA quick he’s going to flush the habitat sector
Hanna D: Do something lock the doors
Pauchok: blondie
Pauchok: what the **** did you say to Nik?
Hanna D: Forget Nik, Falk’s going to flush the habitat sector
Hanna D: LOCK THE DOORS
Pauchok: **** sec
Pauchok: goddamn they iced heavier than a snowman’s junk
Pauchok: no way i’m stealthing this. they gonna ping me for sure
Hanna D: 57 people in there do it anyway
Pauchok: ya on it
Pauchok: ****
Hanna D: No.
Pauchok: cant stp it
Hanna D: Ella don’t let him do it
Pauchok: cnt gt in
Pauchok: ****
Hanna D: no
Hanna D: oh god
Hanna D: oh god
Hanna D: this is my fault
SYSTEM MESSAGE: HEIMDALL COMMAND & CONTROL
08/16/75 12:13—Syscheck initiated on external doors—Habitat Sector.
08/16/75 12:15—Syscheck complete: Airlock integrity 100%.
08/16/75 12:17—Command override received.
< Commander Donnelly ident confirmed. >
08/16/75 12:18—Override command QD-E-prg-0011 acknowledged.
< PURGING >
< PURGING >
< PURGING >
08/16/75 12:20—Purge complete.
PALMPAD IM: D2D NETWORK
Participants: Hanna Donnelly, Civilian (unregistered)
Ella Malikova, Civilian (unregistered)
Date: 08/16/75
Timestamp: 12:19
Pauchok: ****
Pauchok: that mother******
Hanna D: entertainment complex is next
Pauchok: um
Pauchok: I’m IN the entertainment complex
Hanna D: God
Pauchok: I can’t do it
Pauchok: ice too hardcore on the external portal controls. u got command level protocols AND the **** these ****ers added to stop anyone jumping off station
Pauchok: if I had hours to work it maybe
Pauchok: **** blondie
Pauchok: I got nothing
Hanna D: ella
Pauchok: wut
Hanna D: I got an idea
RADIO TRANSMISSION: BEITECH AUDIT TEAM—ALL CHANNELS
PARTICIPANTS:
Travis “Cerberus” Falk, Lieutenant, Team Commander
Hanna Donnelly, Civilian
DATE: 08/16/75
TIMESTAMP: 12:23
CERBERUS: So. I trust I have your attention now, Bumblebee.
CERBERUS: Eighty-one people in the entertainment complex. Are you coming in?
HANNA D: You mother******.
HANNA D: You ****ing animal.
CERBERUS: You sound upset. Are you crying again?
CERBERUS: This can all end. Quick. Painless. I promise.
HANNA D: I’m not prepared to offer you anything painless. You don’t deserve it.
CERBERUS: Dear girl. Do you not understand? “Deserve” has nothing to do with this.
CERBERUS: Bid adieu to any friends you might have i
n the entertainment complex.
HANNA D: Before you hit that button, there’s something you really need to know.
CERBERUS: Do tell.
HANNA D: Your hacker, very impressive. Really tied up the external doors. I couldn’t stop her from opening them. But she wasn’t paying as much attention to internal seals.
HANNA D: The bulkheads between sectors are closed, sure. But the air vents? They’re all open now. So flush one section, flush them all. Including yours. Hope you’re good at holding your breath.
CERBERUS: Very resourceful. But pray tell, how exactly does this do anything but delay the inevitable?
CERBERUS: We have access to envirosuits, silly girl.
HANNA D: So do the people in the EC. There are emergency lockers all over, in case of hull breach.
CERBERUS: Yes, but why would they be wearing them? They have no idea we’re about to flush their section.
HANNA D: Oh, really.
“Attention, Heimdall residents. Attention, Heimdall residents. This is the Voice of the Resistance. The *******s who’ve taken over this station are looking to X you out. They’ve already flushed the Habitat Sector and plan to space everyone in the Entertainment Sector next.
“We’ve opened the air ducts between sectors to buy you some minutes, so unless you want your baby blues boiling in their sockets, please proceed with all due haste to your nearest emergency locker and suit the **** up. We’ll be sending you more news soon.
“Stay safe, kittens.”
PALMPAD IM: D2D NETWORK
Participants: Ella Malikova, Civilian (unregistered)
Hanna Donnelly, Civilian (unregistered)
Date: 08/16/75
Timestamp: 12:30
Hanna D: “Voice of the Resistance,” huh?
Pauchok: Thought it had a nice ring to it. :P
Pauchok: wow their decker is all UP in my **** now, Blondie.
Pauchok: wut happened? why they flushing sections of the station?
Hanna D: They want me to turn myself in.
Pauchok: sif u gonna do that. they just kill u if u do. and then they “liquidate” the whole station anyways
