by J. N. Chaney
She did, hurrying to snap the buckles in place so she could watch out the window as the tear opened.
I was relieved to find the other side clear.
Z-28K was straight ahead, not far from the tunnel entrance. This was Union space, but given the low asset priority of the moon, I hoped we wouldn’t run into any of theirs. The only ship I wanted to find was our target.
“Wow,” exclaimed Lex, staring at the moon with wide eyes.
“Ever see anything like that before?” I asked her.
“No way,” she said, transfixed.
The traffic around the moon was pretty light as this wasn’t listed as a refueling station. The Union must have decided it wasn’t worth the trouble because there wasn’t even a space station or an orbital docking platform.
The scanner blinked when it found the other Sarkonian ship, which was sweet relief to my eyes.
It was the only ship in the system aside from our own. A deeper scan showed some damage to both the interior as well as the exterior, along with multiple missing escape pods.
I tried sending a hail, but there was no response.
“What happened to it?” asked Lex, staring closely at the holo image.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. I couldn’t imagine Freddie and the others doing this much damage to it.
“Mr. Hughes,” Lex said urgently, pointing outside. “How are we going to get through that?”
She was referring to the moon’s debris field, I guessed.
“Very carefully,” I said, a tight feeling in my chest at the thought of taking Lex with me through that mess. But there was no way I could leave her behind. Not alone.
The Darkstar, small as it was, was too big and slow to navigate the orbital debris, so we’d have to take the shuttle. Its shields weren’t as strong, but that was typical of Sarkonian technology. Still, they’d get the job done so long as I didn’t fly us into one of the larger rocks.
“Looks like we’re going on a trip, Lex,” I said, verifying that the pods had indeed landed on the surface of the moon. Their transponders lit up the holo with eleven green dots.
The girl looked at me, her eyes falling on the place where the bullet had pierced my stomach. “I’m ready if you are, Mr. Hughes.”
“Don’t worry about me, kid,” I told her, getting to my feet. “I ain’t dying just yet.”
10
We were doing well so far, having entered the debris field. I kept the shuttle to the outer perimeter and watched for an opening before taking us into the thick of it.
“This isn’t so bad,” said Lex.
I grunted, not wanting to lose focus as I tilted the controls to the left just a hair. The shuttle slid smoothly between two large rocks. Every move brought us closer to the moon, but navigating the ring was like maneuvering through a minefield. Had we been on a Union ship—hell, even the Renegade Star—our shields would be enough to handle most of the smaller debris, but the lackluster Sarkonian ships and their outdated shield technology had given me a healthy dose of unease. My entire body tensed as we passed one rock after the next, following the holo detection grid and avoiding every piece of debris that registered, whether it was the size of my fist or a class-3 warship.
After almost twenty minutes of painstaking dodging, rolling, and a few rocks that had been far too close for my taste, we were almost out of the thick of it. The shields had done their job with the micro-debris, and the little shuttle handled better than I thought.
“There’s another one, Mr. Hughes!” Lex said, bouncing a little in her seat, pointing to the holo grid. Of course, I saw the stray rock on the scanner and was already moving to correct our course.
The small rock hurtled toward us and I pulled up to avoid it. We watched as it sailed underneath us in a harmless trajectory.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Just about out of it, kid,” I said to Lex, grinning. “You’re right, this isn’t so—”
“Look out!” Lex screamed as another asteroid about half the size of the shuttle came within throwing distance of the hull. It had come from behind another, larger piece, which likely tricked the scanners into thinking there was nothing there. Another fine example of shoddy Sarkonian craftsmanship.
“Hold on!” I bellowed, wrenching the shuttle into a roll. The ship shook as the edge of the rock graced the shield, causing it to flicker in an orange glow. Lex grabbed the side of her chair, pressing her head into the seat. The vibrations rattled through my entire body as the ship settled back into its flight pattern. I began to breathe again.
Almost there. We just had to make it through the—
Another chunk of rock clipped the tail , causing the shields to falter, orange streaks of light scattering in the space around our ship. The impact sent us into a spin.
I tried desperately to correct our path, but the system refused to cooperate, filling the holo with a string of error messages. Another impact caused us to ricochet into the path of additional rocks—small enough that the shield could have stopped them, but not anymore.
Lex clutched her safety harness as we collided with several of the little asteroids. Our thrusters malfunctioned and the energy shield pulsed in response, making our movement more erratic. Our little craft pushed out of the swirling debris and took a nose dive toward the moon’s surface.
There was too much damage to the body of the shuttle for a clean landing, and I had little time to course correct. The signal from the downed pods appeared on the holo, still coming in clear. Using that area as a starting point, I did my best to locate a viable landing zone. All of this in a matter of seconds.
“It’s gonna be a rough landing!” I shouted as the surface rushed to meet us. I steered the little shuttle with everything I had, spitting a stream of curses as we dropped the last few thousand meters.
Something must have worked, because the thrusters came back online long enough to slow the shuttle, followed by the shields at 30% power. I felt the jerk beneath us as the engine reignited and our momentum slowed, but it was hardly enough to stop the inevitable.
“Hold on!” I shouted, looking at Lex for a brief second.
She closed her eyes and scrunched her lips, anticipation building through each moment.
As my eyes flicked from the instrument panel to the rapidly approaching terrain ahead, I gripped the control stick and pulled back as much as I—
We hit the dirt hard enough that the shields broke for the second time. The base of our hull skidded along the ground, shaking the shuttle violently as the nose dipped forward, digging into the earth.
Lex screamed as the glass beside her cracked. We rose slightly off the ground a few meters, only to finally sink back and slam down again. The thud was enough to knock my head sideways and make it hit the window beside me.
I opened my eyes to find Lex staring at me. “Mr. Hughes?” she said in a soft tone.
I groaned, shifting in my seat as I searched for the harness lock. My head hurt worse than a whiskey hangover.
“You were asleep,” said the girl.
“Must’ve . . . must’ve blacked out,” I said, licking my lips and finally finding the lock. The harness detached from the bottom of the seat and pulled apart, freeing my chest.
Lex offered me a rag. I took it but gave her a questioning look, then her eyes drifted to my forehead.
I wiped with the cloth and found a decent amount of blood when I pulled it away. “Oh,” I said, staring at it.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, forcing myself to my feet. It might’ve been a lie, but I didn’t have time to worry about another scrape. My head pounded from the crash, but it wasn’t a concussion. At least, I hoped it wasn’t.
Both Lex and I just sat there for a minute, gripping various parts of the pod with our chests heaving.
My own legs were a little unsteady, so I took it a little slower. There was enough discomfort in my side to be a bother but not enough that I felt the need to patch the wo
und again or take another pain blocker. I’d probably have some bruising tomorrow.
The hatch popped open and I went first, revolver drawn in case of an ambush.
The field was largely empty, no sign of any human activity. The mining colony wasn’t far from here, but further than the other pods would be.
Lex stood inside the ship, hugging the side of the entryway. I waved her outside when I was certain there was no one around. I withdrew a pad, which tied directly into the shuttle’s scanner and internal communication system. “Most of the pods landed in that direction,” I told her, pointing toward the rising sun. I guessed it was nearing midday, but I had no way of knowing the exact local time. “Crash site seems to be about a forty-five minute walk.”
“Okay,” said Lex, taking my hand. “Ready.”
“Did you get the food pack?” I asked.
She nodded, lifting a satchel to show me. “And the medicine stuff.”
“Good girl,” I said, nodding for her to follow. “Let’s get to walking.”
11
The land was barren here, largely dirt and stone. From what I’d read on the galnet, the moon was habitable insomuch as you could breathe the air, but good luck finding any water. Most of that had been forced underground into natural caves and tunnels, few of which ever surfaced. Only a handful of lifeforms made their home on the topsoil, while most stayed where the water flowed, surviving off the moon’s internal heat. Algae and some mild terraforming made the air breathable, but prolonged exposure to the air could cause long-term problems. I didn’t plan on staying here long enough for that to happen, though. Two large domes rose out of the ground to tower like mountains in the distance, the only colony on the entire planetoid.
“Look at that,” I said to Lex, pointing at the buildings.
Her gaze followed my finger to the horizon, and she gasped. “They’re even bigger than the ones on Earth,” she said in awe.
“That’s because people live in one and work in the other,” I explained. “They need a lot of space.”
“Why did they make them?” she asked.
I motioned to the orbital debris field, some of which could be seen all the way from the surface. “In case any of that falls down. Those domes protect them.”
“What about us?” asked Lex.
“Those rocks don’t fall very often,” I said. “Maybe once a year at the most.”
She nodded, seemingly relieved.
I didn’t bother mentioning that our arrival, along with the other Sarkonian pods, had likely de-orbited some of the debris. There was nothing we could do about that and I didn’t feel the need to worry her.
Broken pieces of the escape pods littered the ground. The crash site looked empty, with no sign of anyone, Sarkonian or otherwise. Exactly five pods had fallen in the same general place, footsteps in the sand.
“Stay behind me,” I whispered, moving closer to the wreckage. Most of the pods lay in various forms of disarray, windows shattered, and their top hatches open. All except one, which remained closed.
I approached it cautiously, clutching my revolver and slowly peering into the pod’s window.
I saw the helmet first, dropped forward on the man’s chest. A piece of metal protruded through his neck from behind, wet blood still lingering on it.
No coming back from that, I thought.
The symbol on his arm—Sarkonian military, three stripes and a blue circle. At least it wasn’t one of ours.
“What is it, Mr. Hughes?” asked Lex from behind me.
“Nothing, kid,” I said, turning around and taking her hand. “Let’s check the next one.”
“Where is everyone?” Lex asked.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. I tried to think of what Freddie and Bolin might do. There didn’t seem to be anything to indicate a firefight here, which probably meant Bolin, Freddie, and Petra were somewhere else.
I checked the pad. Another set of pods had dropped closer to the domes. Right outside, in fact. “Looks like this one was a bust. Ready to keep moving?” I asked Lex.
The girl let go of my hand and walked a few meters away. I kept my eyes on her in case she decided to sneak a peek inside that other pod.
I wondered how Freddie and the others were doing. They likely needed food and water, and probably would go looking for a way to reach the rest of us. Their crash site was on the other side of the dome, so I’d have to go through it to reach them. Maybe we’d get lucky and meet in the—
“Mr. Hughes?” called Lex.
I popped my eyes up. “What is it?”
“There are footprints leaving and going this way,” she said, pointing in the direction of the town.
I walked closer to her, finding some prints. More than one, by the look of it.
“You know how to track, Lex?” I said, impressed.
She shrugged, her cheeks going slightly pink. “Dr. Hitchens is teaching us how to recognize different animals and learn how they travel. We’re supposed to talk about camping and cooking next. He says this stuff is important sometimes.”
I crouched down to study the footprints. “So, it is.”
When we arrived at the dome, I was surprised by the total lack of security around the gate. Lex and I were able to walk straight through and into the dome without so much as a “hello there.” The landing platforms were set up along the western side of the shield, and I guessed most folks made their landings there instead of the wasteland surrounding this place.
The outpost was every bit as big as Taurus Station, and judging by the activity in the street, just as busy. People were out in droves, some shopping, others having a bite to eat. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry, except for a pack of kids running through the streets whooping and tossing some kind of ball around.
Lex held my hand as we went. I decided this was a good thing, since she was watching everything else around her except where she was going. I could hardly blame her, there were so many buildings and people.
I didn’t see how we were going to find Freddie and the rest of them in all of this commotion though.
The first place that caught my eye was a small bar in the back alley of a nearby street. It was seedy-looking place but might do well to ask around about outsiders. Locales like this were always a good start for getting information.
Walking in, the smell of whiskey touched my nose and sent a flush down my face, watering my mouth. This was the kind of establishment I’d have stopped for a drink at after completing a job in my former life. I looked at the bottles of cheap liquor behind the bar. It occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring Lex in here. A quick glance told me she was in the process of taking in her new surroundings with a keen and avid interest. Abigail was going to kill me.
“Stay close to me,” I told Lex, taking her hand and threading through the crowd of patrons. An older woman was tending the bar and I pulled out my personal pad, bringing up a handful of images, including one of Bolin. “Have you seen this guy around?” I asked, showing her the picture. “He and a few others arrived here sometime today but we haven’t been able to find them.”
She only stared at me.
“So?” I asked, leaning on the bartop.
“Sorry,” she said. “But I’ve heard there are some new people in town. Sarkonians, I think,” she said.
“Don’t like the type?” I asked.
She barked out a laugh. “That some kind of joke?”
“More of a Union gal?” I asked.
She laughed again. “They don’t do anything for us. Once they realized it would be more work for them to maintain this colony, they packed their people and left. Now they barely come to pick up the stuff we mine.”
I nodded. “The man in the picture,” I continued. “He ain’t Sarkonian or Union. He’s a former scrapper. Picked him up in a town just like this one.”
“That so?” she asked, cracking a wry grin. “Handsome fella, too, by the look of him.”
“I’ll pass that along,” I
said.
“Here,” she said, taking the pad from me and typing something into it. “Go here and ask for Angus. If anyone knows where your friends are, it’s him. You can say Talia sent you.”
Talia winked and started picking up a few glasses, then shining them with a dirty rag.
“You take care now,” I said, turning away and heading to the door.
I turned to Lex, who’d been quiet, and found her watching that damn Earthers show again. “Let’s go, kid.”
She jammed the pad in her pack and hopped down from the stool with an eager look.
“Do we know where they are now?” she asked as we neared the door.
Her enthusiasm made me chuckle. “Not yet, kid. Got a lead though.”
“A . . . lead?” Lex repeated the word slowly, testing it out as we exited onto the street.
“Yeah,” I said, following the street and looking for the building the woman had given me. It was at the corner of 12th and Mark’s, wherever that was. “It means a piece of information that will lead me to what I’m looking for, which is Freddie and the others. It’s like a puzzle, and we just have to follow the clues.”
Her brow furrowed and she whipped her pad out again, typing rapidly.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Dr. Hitchens says if we learn something new that we should write it down so we remember it for later.” She finished her notes, then put the pad away again, looking at me for direction.
“That’s smart, Lex. Real smart,” I said, giving her an encouraging smile.
She grinned up at me and took my hand again.
12
The streets were no quieter than when we’d entered the bar.
“You there!” a voice called out.
Three Sarkonians in field gear were elbowing through the crowd, causing a stir as they began to approach us.
“Let’s go,” I said to Lex, walking faster and tugging her behind me. I pulled her pack open and put my pad inside it. “If something happens, get to Angus. Remember, tell him Talia sent you. No matter what, get to Freddie and Bolin, okay?”
