The Last Horizon

by Anthony Hartig

  Jase was knocked backwards when a round punched through his chest and splattered his face with blood. He slammed against the pavement and rolled face down as the transmitter popped out of his hand and landed a few feet away. The sound of machine gun fire reverberated in his ears…hollow and distant…

  He looked up weakly and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion; muzzle flashes flared as bullet casings suspended themselves in mid-air, faces froze in fear as the chemical fire danced up the walls…

  …his vision blurred as he saw Scott leap onto the Zephyrs retracting cargo ramp…he watched the ship taxi rapidly down the airstrip then blacked-out…

  I could see the swarm of police interceptors from my vantage point as we rolled past them and steered toward the airstrip. I heard some explosions and thought our thrusters were malfunctioning until I saw some squad cars flip over and burst into flames

  Scotty was nowhere in sight, but I had to keep the ship moving. The scanners indicated that someone slipped into the ship through the cargo ramp--Scotty! I sighed with relief and started closing the ramp as we accelerated. I looked over control panel to confirm the navigational and cryogenic systems were go. The AGL’s were also good, and the O2 generators began to prime the ship once the ramp sealed shut and locked-in.

  The bulkhead door for the cockpit hissed open and Scotty staggered into the bridge and collapsed.

  I lifted my visor and looked over my shoulder. “Scotty! Are you okay?” I shouted as I kept an eye on the runway. His filthy clothes were drenched in blood and he was out of breath.

  “Go faster, Nikki,” he said weakly as he looked out the canopy, “get us out of here!”

  “You need to get your suit on, please tell me you didn’t space it in your hotel room.”

  “Nikki, I’m old, not senile.”

  “Don’t be a wiseass. Get your suit on and strap in!” I ordered as we reached the end of the airstrip and I turned the Zephyr a hundred and eighty degrees into the wind.

  Scotty pulled his suit out of his backpack and struggled to get in it.

  “Summer, you need to help him!” I said urgently, we’ve got less than two minutes until we’re powered for lift-off.”

  Summer removed her helmet and ran to Scotty. She helped him get his arms into the gear and I heard Scotty groan in pain.

  “Punch that button on the wall to your left.” I instructed as the engines whined into a high pitch. A jumpseat folded down, and Summer helped Scotty buckle in.

  “That hurts like hell.” Scotty coughed as he leaned back and closed his eyes. “I don’t suppose your ship has a stasis pod?”

  “The e-pod in the cargo bay, but you’ll have to wait ‘til we’re spaceborne.”

  “Summer, get back in your seat. We’re ready to roll.” I looked down the runway and took a deep breath. I gave the consoles another look as the thrusters roared.

  I disengaged the brakes and the Zephyr lurched forward and rapidly accelerated.

  “Next stop, Earth.” I turned and winked at Summer as I held the control yoke. I reached down and pushed the levers on the center console forward as we were pushed into our seats by the g-forces.

  The Zephyr barreled passed the control tower three-quarters of a mile down the strip when I put the thrusters in full afterburn, pulled back on the yoke, and brought her nose up…

  _____________

  Jase opened his eyes and coughed. He felt like he had a tremendous weight on his chest and he had a hard time breathing. His vision was starting to blur and he could hear the sharp pops of gunfire around him.

  He saw the transmitter on the ground just out of reach. He slowly pulled himself across the pavement and groaned as a searing pain consumed his body and made his muscles involuntarily tighten up.

  He coughed and shuddered and felt himself cringe as he noticed he was lying in a growing pool of his own blood. His clothes were soaked with it.

  Jase reached out and grabbed the device. The pain was unbearable. He didn’t know how long he was unconscious and wondered if the Zephyr had made it out yet. He looked up and saw the police advancing on the hanger as they fired their weapons.

  A body fell next to him, eyes glassy and lower jaw missing.

  He heard the sound of thunder and looked up to see the Zephyr speed by and lift off the runway. He watched the ship ascend into the blue sky in a steep climb as the troopers overran the facility.

  “You’re free now, little one.” He whispered and smiled. “We’re both free.”

  Jase pressed the button and the world went silent…

  Chapter 13

  I retracted the landing gear as we climbed away from Cybelle. Suddenly, a jagged white light rippled across the sky and shook the Zephyr as we rose above the mining sites and cleared the mountain ranges.

  We were pushed against our seats as we hit Mach 4 and gained altitude over Nexus.

  “Scotty, how are you doing?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I looked over my shoulder as saw that he had passed out.

  I saw a thick dark cloud in the distance. It was huge and had to be at least fifteen or twenty miles long and a mile high. I looked at the scanner and it was defined as a solid mass moving across the sky.

  “What is that?” I asked aloud as I stared at the strange undulating cloud.

  “Butterflies.” Summer said softly as she turned her head and looked at me.

  “What?”

  “Those are butterflies. Every five years they come home to Fluture.”

  “Incredible. Take a good look at them, Summer. They’re the last you’ll see of Nexus.”

  Summer looked on silently as we watched the butterfly migration dancing in the morning light, thousands of fragile wings fluttered blue like brilliant jewels.

  The terrain vanished as we ascended into the high cloud banks. She lowered her head and cried quietly.

  “Thank you, Nikki.”

  I smiled as I tipped the Zephyr’s nose up and the sky darkened as we punched through the ionosphere.

  “We’ll going hypersonic as soon as we clear Nexus’ gravitational pull. Then we’re only six days from Earth.”

  “I didn’t know your planet was that close.”

  “It’s not. Summer, there’s something you need to know about our journey…”

  _____________

  When we stabilized in deep space, I engaged the auto-pilot and Summer helped me tend to Scotty’s injuries with the medi-pac. He had lost a lot of blood from the nasty lacerations, but he seemed alert.

  “We need to get the suit and shirt off, Scotty. Summer, can you grab that bag over there?”

  “Go easy, I think my wounds finally stopped bleeding.”

  “What’s left of your shirt is soaked.” I tossed it aside, took a wet rag, and wiped the dried blood and grime off his upper body as his wounds started bleeding again.

  “Geez, what happened to you?” I gasped as I used some steri-pads to clean his forearm and abdomen. “Any gunshot wounds?”

  “No, I’m not shot. Long story, Nikki.” He grimaced as he bit his lower lip. “Shit that stings!”

  “Sorry about that. I’ve got just what you need, hang on.” I stood up and went to the cargo bay. I opened the container with the whiskey, grabbed a bottle, and brought it back to the bridge.

  “Here, this will take the sting off.” I opened the bottle and handed it to Scotty, “Go ahead, take a slug.”

  Scotty nodded with a smile. “Cheers.” He took a long swig and lay back against the wall.

  “Give me some of that, I could use a drink myself.” I grabbed the bottle and took a shot. “So, you were saying you had a story. Well, I’m all ears.”

  Summer gave me a puzzled look. “All ears?”

  “Just an expression from home.” I grinned. “Who did this to you, Scotty?”

  “I’ll give you the condensed version.” Scotty groaned as he sat up. “I was hunting in the mountains the other day, and on my way back to camp, I was attacked by a Tavara pack. As you can see, the
y tore me up pretty bad. Barely made it out of there in one piece.”

  “Hunting is illegal in Icarus.” Summer gave him a wary look.

  “You went to Nexus to poach?” I asked doubtfully as I took out an injector and popped an anesthelogical cartridge into the casing and began to administer the local painkiller.

  “Can you hand me that?” I asked Summer as I pointed at a stainless steel instrument in the kit.

  “Yeah, I was hunting illegally,” Scotty took a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists as I began to seal the flow of blood with a medical cauterizer, “you might say things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

  “Am I supposed to believe that’s why so many cops were chasing you?”

  “As I told you before, the less you know about me the better off you are.” He coughed as he took another drink. “This is really good hooch.”

  “Uh-huh. Back to working that sorry-ass “mysterious stranger” act again, I see.” I shook my head as I sutured the wounds closed.

  “Have it your way, Scotty.” I winked as I smeared antibiotic ointment around the abrasions, and we bandaged him up.

  “Here, take these for the pain.” I handed him a couple of pills. “They’ll help fight infection and make you sleepy too.”

  “Nice job, Nikki.”

  “What do you want me to do with this?” I held up the weapon he brought onboard with him.

  “Careful with that, it’s a Kirsten Automatic.”

  “Hunting, huh?” I chuckled.

  “Just put it in my pack.” Scotty said thinly.

  “We’re done here.” I exhaled in relief. “Let’s get you into the e-pod, we’ve got a ways to go before we get to the Pipe, and you need the rest.”

  _____________

  Scotty woke up two days later and joined us on the bridge. It was good to see him moving around and he was recovering nicely. He seemed to be in high spirits and his appetite was voracious, unfortunately, he was limited to FFR’s and vitapacks to satisfy his hunger.

  Summer’s mood was also lighter considering she left everything behind in Fluture. It seemed like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that she was starting over with her life.

  I got to know her better as the days passed and she told me the story of her life in Nexus. I was impressed by her ability to adopt and survive a lifetime of abuse and overcome an addiction that brought ruin to so many people.

  She was an incredible and courageous girl, proud and strong, and I was glad our lives crossed paths.

  She was moving on, and so was I. Behind the innocence of her youth was the heart of a warrior; a girl that wouldn’t give up hope, and a girl that would fight to keep her dreams alive. We decided to stick together for a while when we got back to Earth. We would help each other put the pieces of our lives back together.

  Our friendship is just one of those things that I’ve come to consider a gift from fate. She and I came from such different upbringings but somehow a thread had pulled us together. It’s like we were meant to be friends, and even the light years couldn’t put the distance between us.

  Scotty remained a mystery to me. There was still a side of his personality that remained hidden and dark, but all I had to do was look into his eyes and the whole story was right there. I managed to get one look in when we were in Cybelle, and it was like looking at the floor of an ocean; shadowy, unpredictable, and desolate.

  We braced ourselves as I ramped the drives to full capacity and headed into the void of the Event Horizon. We were going home at last…

  Epilogue

  Suspected Crimelord Found Dead

  By Jacob Frye | The Metropolitan June 29, 2408

  NEXUS (The Metro) – Robert Charon, age 54, of New Detroit, Earth was found dead in his country home on Sertina’s Pass on Nexus yesterday morning at approximately 7:30am. Local law enforcement officials suspect Charon’s death was the result of a power struggle within the infrastructure of the crime family that Charon allegedly led.

  In a similar incident, twelve police troopers and fifty-eight people were killed in Cybelle the same morning during a violent stand-off with organized crime bosses believed to be linked with Charon.

  The conflict resulted in a massive explosion that rocked the mining colony and injured over two hundred people and caused an estimated 18 million credits in damage to the colony’s Inter-port and support buildings.

  Emergency Response and HAZMAT Teams were onsite fighting a chemical fire caused by the explosion, and injured colonists were evacuated by air to Fluture General for treatment.

  Police believe that Charon’s killer is still at large, and detectives are still looking for leads.

  Kurlie stood up and polished-off his drink. It was late, and the club was finally quiet. He looked across the dance floor as he put on his jacket and dashed the ashes of his cigar into the tray. He could hear the faint clatter of rain outside, and he put on his trench coat and checked the Gemini 9mm in his shoulder holster.

  “Get the counts right, Charlie,” he nodded at the bartender as he puffed on his stogie, “and lock up for the night.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  “Alright, then,” Kurlie winked, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He motioned at the two bodyguards that stood at the door waiting, and the three men went out the rear exit into the alley behind the tavern.

  The driver had his car idling in the rain and he turned to one of his men as he opened the back door of the sedan. “Stay here and help Charlie close.”

  The henchman looked at Kurlie vacantly and coughed a thick glut of blood before he collapsed.

  “Jesus!”

  Kurlie looked up and saw his other guard sprawled on the pavement. The silhouette of well-dressed figure holding a weapon with a sound suppressor stepped out of the shadows and stood quietly in the falling rain in front of him.

  “YOU!”

  “It’s nice to be remembered. Good evening, Mr. Montrell.”

  “How the hell did you slip by my men at the Inter-port?”

  “It’s nice to see you again.”

  “Okay, let’s get this over with.” Kurlie growled as he pulled the Gemini out and pointed it at the man.

  Scott pulled the trigger of the Raven and blew the 9mm out of Montrell’s hand.

  Kurlie turned to run when Scott fired two rounds into Montrell’s legs and dropped him to the ground. Kurlie panted as he pulled himself across the asphalt.

  He looked up and Scott stood less than three feet away…his eyes gleamed in the darkness, and his face was expressionless as he glared at Montrell.

  “Who are you, you son-of-a-bitch!” Kurlie screamed as he shivered in the downpour.

  “Holly.” Scott pointed the Raven at Montrell’s head and put two bullets between his eyes.

  The rain fell harder as the man vanished into the haze.

  Acknowledgements

  A special thanks and shout-out across the pond to the following ladies for contributing their talents and beauty to the cover art, and giving a face to Nikki Wells:

  Photography by Kate Monica for the image “pale”:

  http://fiery-sky.deviantart.com/

  Vicky (model):

  http://notwhatyouwanted.deviantart.com/

  Other works by Anthony Hartig:

  ebooks/Kindle:

  100 Days From Home Book 1: Hard Rain

  100 Days From Home Book 2: The Fall of Because

  Hard Copy:

  100 Days From Home 3rd Edition (Complete work with 1 Bonus chapter)

  http://100daysfromhome.co.nr/

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements />