by John Walker
At least we know it’s a possibility. And they’ll be found soon. Gabriel hesitated to give in to a sense of relief about Heat but the possibility that they knew what was wrong with him meant there was hope for recovery. Hang in there man, and wherever you are, I hope you’re with Agent Alexander and the Pahxin guy. If that’s even possible.
***
Dulain watched Commander Bowman leave with the marine captain. He figured their little confab had something to do with security. Perhaps one of the people they brought with them proved to be a traitor after all. Considering all the work Christina and Cassie did, he would’ve been surprised but it wasn’t impossible.
When Bowman came back in and started scanning the technicians for lies, his suspicion was confirmed. Okay then, he’s going to enjoy doing that with me. Dulain couldn’t help but give the man a hard time. He was far too earnest for his own good, too much of a boy scout. The fact Cassie might’ve fallen for it didn’t shock Dulain but it did annoy him.
His agents should’ve been above such things. Unless I was right and she’s just using the hell out of him.
Doctor Harper raised quite the stink about being questioned but she ultimately compiled, albeit with a lot of high minded complaints like this is highly irregular and how dare you question my loyalty. Truth be told, she was in an incredible position to cause trouble and it was a good call to check her.
Bowman approached Dulain and paused a good ten feet away. “Can you come out into the hall with me for a few moments please?”
Perhaps he hopes I’m the traitor so he can do something violent. I wouldn’t be surprised. I probably shouldn’t have given him such a hard time.
“Is there something wrong?” Dulain asked, adopting his best innocent tone. Bowman didn’t speak. They left the room and the door shut behind them. “Really, Commander, we’re in the middle of an experiment. I watched what you did to the others so I’m not entirely sure why I had to be separated from them.”
“Because providing you check out,” Bowman said, “I would like to fill you in on what’s happening. You know, in the spirit of cooperation and the fact that your organization deals with this kind of crap. That is, of course, unless you’d like me to ask you the questions so you can return to sitting on your ass in there. Sir.”
Maybe you’re not the Boy Scout I thought after all. Dulain smiled and nodded. “Understood, Commander. Please, ask your questions.”
“Hand on the scanner, please.” Bowman gave him a moment to comply then launched into the questions. “Are you in any way trying to sabotage the Gnosis?”
“No.”
“Are you committing treason to your country, this ship, humanity and or the commanding officers aboard?”
“I am not.”
“Yes, or no, please,” Bowman said.
“Sorry. No.”
Bowman sighed and repeated the question.
“No.”
“Do you have any intention of delaying this mission or causing it to fail?”
“No.”
Bowman looked ready to ask additional questions but he would be stepping outside the bounds of his authority. “Are we done then?” Dulain prompted. “Are you ready to tell me what’s going on? Bring me up to speed on this little plot we’re worrying about? I’m assuming you’ve already got Christina working on this with you.”
“I don’t know about that,” Bowman said. “But I will tell you what’s going on.” He filled him in on their efforts and what they had discovered that set off the witch hunt.
Dulain let out a sigh. “That means our enemies likely know the coordinates to where we’re going.” He rubbed his eyes. “I hope to God those Pahxin are ready for a fight out there and can hold them off until we arrive … Not that we’ll be a whole lot of help against an armada. If the Tol’An can field such a force, they would be fools not to over this.”
“How many ships did the Pahxin send?”
“I don’t know.” Dulain shrugged. “Everyone was playing things extremely close to the chest, I’m afraid. We know there are ships, we know that the Stalwart is in charge and that they will secure the system but beyond that, we’re in the dark. And of course, we don’t have our own fleet to escort us so …”
“Yeah, I understand your meaning.” Bowman shook his head. “But we can’t do anything about that right now. We have to find this person in case they plan to cause more trouble.”
“If they didn’t already.” Dulain gestured over his shoulder. “Those people in there may have succumbed to something other than the experiment. If our saboteur decided to disrupt the experiment that is.”
“Christ.” Bowman’s eyes widened in alarm. “How do we wake them up? Shouldn’t we try to wake them up?”
“Without knowing why they’re asleep, we’d be doing a lot more harm than good, I’m afraid.” Dulain shook his head. “No, Harper and her people are in control there. We need to focus on this security problem.”
“We don’t know how to scan the Pahxin.”
“What about that Thayne Rindala man? Can we trust him?”
Bowman hesitated. “I want to say yes … but in the case of security, I’m required to be paranoid. I mean, we did rescue him from the Tol’An. It is theoretically possible that he was working with them and has been duping us all along … though I’m guessing the Pahxin vetted him before the mission started.”
“They did. They checked all their people before they boarded but I’m going to tell you, whoever is behind this is unlikely to be a human.”
“Why?” Bowman asked.
“How would they know how to contact the Tol’An? Only your people onboard would have the slightest clue about them and even then, I would hesitate to believe that any member of this crew has their frequency.” Dulain shook his head. “No, this is a Pahxin matter. I’m sure of it.”
“If you’re right, it won’t be hard to narrow down the culprit,” Bowman said. “There aren’t that many on board. If we isolate the ones that aren’t actively busy, we should be good to go.”
“Find out who’s missing and track them down.” Dulain shrugged. “If Dawson’s involved, I’m sure that’s what she’s doing. You should find that out first. I’ll communicate with the captain and see if I can’t lend a hand at trying to crack that code. I haven’t done it in a few years, but I still have some tricks up my sleeve.”
“Okay …” Bowman turned to leave and paused. “Thank you, Mister Dulain. I appreciate the help.”
“I bet that hurt to say.”
Bowman lifted a shoulder. “Only a little.”
Dulain watched him go and pulled out his communicator, dialing in the bridge. “Captain Bradford, I believe you might need some help with a coded message. Mind if I hop up there and take a look? I know you’re locked down and all, but I’m unarmed and your Commander Bowman just vetted me.”
“Come on up, Mister Dulain.” He noted the Captain’s brief hesitation to extend the invitation. “I welcome the help at this point.”
Not really you don’t. Dulain smiled. “Very good. Be right there.”
***
Heat fired his weapon, dodging into the hallway as he narrowly avoided a full burst that tapped the metal wall inches from his head. Revel took two shots to the shoulder and had fallen back down the hall. Gorman received a graze but wouldn’t talk about whether it was bad or not.
By contrast, they’d already killed twelve of the opposition guards but there were a lot more waiting for them than they anticipated. Even with grenades, they were in for a bit of a brawl. There wasn’t time for it, hence the risks they took and the men being shot. Plus, there was no way to go around.
This feels wrong … this …Heat closed his eyes. The sound of gunfire deadened, turning almost silent. He felt himself drifting, as if falling unconscious. Have I been hit? Am I dying? But he knew better. Something about the situation suddenly seemed familiar, as if he was experiencing a profound sense of déjà vu.
A man is about to walk around the c
orner. Heat lowered his rifle and drew his pistol, aiming high. Sure enough, one of the soldiers burst through but before he could fire his weapon, Heat pulled the trigger, putting a round through his head. Brain matter splattered the wall and the corpse hit the ground.
How the hell did I know that? Something else struck him. He knew there was a canister of compressed oxygen near a cluster of the guards. In his mind’s eye, he could see it and he somehow recalled being frustrated when they encountered it before. I said it would’ve been useful to know about …
Heat lifted his rifle and popped around the corner, snapping a shot off before sliding back into cover. Gorman shouted at him, asking if he was insane but he didn’t get the question off before the canister exploded. People started screaming as something else blew up. The chain reaction lasted a good thirty seconds before it calmed down.
A few more gunshots went off but not nearly to the extent they dealt with before. Gorman risked a glance, turning to the others. “We’ve got maybe six left down there!”
“I’ve got this!” Revel cried out, moving forward. He was wounded but still maintained excellent accuracy. Moving onto the catwalk, he returned fire on the forces below, blasting away to buy them all a chance to charge. Cover was sparse but Heat remembered where several sturdy terminals were just at the bottom of the stairs.
“Hang a hard right when you get down!” Heat shouted. “Take cover there and finish them off!”
He wanted to join them but he didn’t know if he could. Moving felt strange, thinking in the present became hard. The past continued to plague him and then it dawned on him. Even as he looked around the corner and fired his rifle seemingly in slow motion … as the bullet struck his target and scattered blood all over the wall … he’d lived this before.
I’ve been here before, done all of this before. Heat looked over at Gorman, charging down the stairs with the other. His best friend, a sergeant on the Gnosis. Dead on their last mission. The others, Revel and Anderson were both gone as well, having died in another operation on a different continent.
I’m not here. Heat leaned against the wall and noted that the hallway took on a bright hue as if a powerful spotlight were shining on him. He couldn’t make out any details, just an endless expanse of white. That must be why I’m here. Some kind of interface. That word again. Did I get sucked into the experiment?
Everything washed over him. The Gnosis. The trip through hyperspace. The need to find the other Orbs. All of it hit him like a splash of water right in the face. But what was he supposed to do about it? I’m not a scientist. I don’t know this shit half as well as Agent Alexander. How am I supposed to make this work?
For whatever reason, he was there, reliving an old mission. There had to be a reason, a lesson to be learned or a piece of a puzzle to unravel. He wasn’t the best at these types of things. There was a reason he’d joined the marines and stuck with infantry for so long. He was a fighter, first and foremost.
Hell, to the core. I’m not much of anything else if I’m to be honest. Yet here I am, playing around with alien tech. Captain Gabriel’s going to kill me. Something told him the light held the answers, but he needed the bravery to step inside. Typically, we reserve this analogy for death. I hope the Orb knows what it’s doing. This is straight insane.
Heat took a deep breath and stepped forward.
***
Chapter 8
Desmond hoped that Dulain could truly help them find the traitor but he didn’t have a lot of faith. They had several hours to go before they’d arrive at their destination and that was long enough for the person to cause real trouble if they couldn’t find them. With Dawson and Gabriel on it, he had some faith but the Gnosis was a big ship.
Big enough to get intentionally lost in for a while.
Zach cursed and spun in his seat. “Captain, we have a problem.”
“Must be something big,” Desmond replied. “What’s going on?”
“I … I’m not entirely sure how to explain this … or how it’s even possible. But we’re much closer to our destination than we should be.” Zach looked back at his terminal. “I was just doing my time check and instead of having seventeen hours before we arrive, we’re down to only two.”
“Um … That’s not good.” Desmond stepped closer to look at the report, as if he could see something Zach didn’t. He confirmed the numbers and shook his head. “I don’t know if we’re going to have enough time for the experiment to conclude if that’s true. Salina? Do you have any idea what happened?”
Salina checked something on her terminal and shook her head. “I believe someone optimized our course prior to engaging the hyperdrive. They ensured we would not be under for as long as we intended to be.”
“That’s how they sabotaged us.” Desmond ran his hand through his hair. “I wonder if the Stalwart will even be there when we arrive. There’s a chance they won’t be. We could be running headlong into a trap all by ourselves. And if that’s the case … Jesus.”
Dulain stepped onto the bridge. Both marines aimed their weapons at him. “Whoa there, gentlemen. I’m here to help.”
“Lower your weapons,” Desmond said. “Dulain, we’re in trouble.” He explained the situation and the AIA director smirked.
“They made a clever play. I have to give them that. But I think we’re going to be fine. They didn’t count on us successfully putting someone in contact with the Orb so quickly. Now that we’re engaged with the thing, it’s just a matter of time before we have the data we need. However, it is troubling to think that the Pahxin fleet won’t be in position.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Zach said. “They optimized the hell out of their course before they left. They should’ve arrived in a couple hours. I got a look at how they do calculations and it’s intense. We shouldn’t be alone … We’ll just surprise everyone when we pop up so soon.”
“Indeed.” Dulain joined Salina. “Shall we look at that code?”
Desmond sat back at his station and contacted Gabriel to give him the news. The marine accepted the news with his usual stoic grunt and went on with his assignment. Maybe it’s not so urgent to find this traitor now. Or at least, we have less time for him to cause us trouble while we’re in hyperspace. Small favors? Probably not.
***
“Quinda!” Gil shouted his name. “Get in here!”
The man ran into the room, face contorted in fury. “What are you thinking, Vaedra? Do you want to get us all killed? You can’t be shouting in a place like this! It carries who knows how deep? Those monsters might actually be down below us, sleeping … waiting for a fool to wake them up!”
“First off, I know for a fact my voice didn’t carry that far,” Gil replied. “Second, if they were down there asleep, your destruction of their door would’ve brought them running. Third, I needed you and I didn’t feel like going all the way to the exit just to come all the way back. And finally, I need your two idiots who were trying to get in here before.”
“Why?” Quinda scowled. “I thought you said they were useless.”
“They were, but now I need assistance and they seem to be your own technical experts. Are there others?” A wicked thought crossed Gil’s mind and he smiled. “Would you like to assist me? I wouldn’t mind. I’m sure I could even show you what I need if you’re worried you won’t have the ability to do so.”
“No, I’ll get them.” Quinda shook his head as he walked away. “Just give them a few moments. They were on the perimeter watching out for problems.”
“Do hurry.” Gil turned back to the terminal and began typing on his tablet, effectively locking them out permanently. If they got hold of his computer and knew how to get into it, they might break the code but otherwise, the power formula was safe. That part of the problem is solved. Now to get out of here.
Heavy footsteps sounded from near the entrance and the two Kalrawv men came trundling along. Gil almost felt bad about what he needed to do but they’d probably done worse.
Considering the way their company oppressed whole populations, none of them were entirely innocent.
Gil wondered about something he thought of earlier. If this whole situation was a memory, something conjured up by his subconscious, then nothing he did there mattered anyway. Killing those men or letting them live, it was just a variation on what could have happened.
But if I am just remembering something, then what happened to my body? Where is it?
“A problem to be solved later,” Gil muttered. He smiled at the two men. “I’ve gained access to the terminal but I’m afraid that the code is challenging enough that I’ll need your help to break into it.”
“What do we have to do?” The one on the left seemed particularly earnest. He stepped forward and peered at the terminal. “Hey, he did get in! Look at the screen!”
His companion joined him, and Gil stepped behind them both. “Just perform a scan of the data for me. I’ll give you a moment to get used to the protocols.”
They both buried themselves into their computers and Gil had to wonder why they were so trusting. Neither of them knew him and furthermore, they’d seen Quinda treat him terribly. Yet each of them indulged a little naivety while believing he truly required their assistance to break into the data.
Poor fools. Gil lashed out and snapped the one on his right’s neck. The body hit the ground before his friend even realized what was happening. The survivor looked down then started to turn a shocked gaze at Gil, mouth open in an unasked question. A quick jab to the man’s throat sent him back against the terminal.
Gil kicked his knee out from under him so he went down. Picking up the man’s pistol, Gil executed him with a shot to the back of the head then started toward the exit.
The structure rumbled like a true seismic event. Gil placed a hand on the wall to maintain his balance and kept moving. Screams drifted on the air, horrifying noises like an animal or deranged madman. The locals. They were up and about, possibly sent into a frenzy by the oncoming storm.
