by RJ Johnson
"There were multiple broken ribs, your arm was shattered, and you had suffered a rather bad concussion." Suresh said sympathetically. "In fact, the Autodoc was certain that the anesthesia it applied to you while your internal injuries healed would keep you under until we arrived at Rosetta."
"Have we arrived then?" Meade asked, his mouth was dry and tasted foul.
"From what I understand, from Ms. Hunan, we will be arriving at our destination in a few hours. I was instructed to wake you upon our arrival, but it seems you have beaten me to the punch, as they say in your world." Suresh tittered at the expression.
"What can I say Suresh? I'm a hard man to keep down. You got anything to drink?" He rose from the bed, pain shooting through his ribs. It felt like the nanobots injected from the blaster cast wound tightly around his ribs had not finished repairing all the damage yet. By the feel of things, he figured he had broken at least three ribs in the heavy gravity below deck.
"And some of that Thepazine too. I gotta get me a good supply of that when I get back to Mars. You Consortium folk know your hangover cures, I'll give ya that." Meade sighed. He adjusted the screen beside the bed that was monitoring his vitals and reviewed his chart. The Autodoc installed in the Med Bay had done a lot of surgery to stitch him up. His chart was lengthy, longer than he figured it would be. He had thought he had only been in the plus four gravity for a few minutes, but with this kind of damage, it had clearly been more than his body could handle.
"The autodoc won't dispense any Thepazine with all the anesthesia and nanobots in your system I'm afraid." Suresh said sympathetically handing Meade a glass of water. Meade accepted it gratefully and drank it in one gulp. "You'll have to live with that headache for a little longer."
"S'all right Suresh," Meade replied. He rubbed the blaster cast on his arm and touched it gingerly. "How much longer with the blaster casts? I'll be needing my mobility and the ArmBar to be of any use to Sinjakama."
"The blaster cast should fall off in a day or so, and you'll pass the nanobots in your Urine only a few days later. My friend, you were fortunate that your arm was only broken in three places, from what I understand, your body was put under a great deal of stress below deck."
"Oh? Just how much stress we talking?"
Suresh shrugged, "According to Ms. Hunan's readings of Deck five, there were times when you were in plus seven G. Not something the human body was meant to handle."
Meade rubbed his bruised body and a half smile touched his lips. "I'm liable to agree with ya there. What about my ArmBar?" God his head hurt.
Suresh withdrew something from within his robes and offered it to Meade. "I rescued your ArmBar from below." His tone was apologetic, but hopeful, "I found it completely crushed and unresponsive to boot up commands. Fortunately, I was able to salvage most of your data off the device, and although it needed extensive repairs, I am happy to report it is working good as new. However," he glanced at the ArmBar Meade had liberated from Shane, "even with my upgrades, it does not possess one tenth of the power of your other ArmBar."
Meade smiled, and accepted his father's ArmBar. "Forget it, this was my father's ArmBar, I'm just happy to have it back and in working order." Meade jumped off the bed and grabbed Shane's ArmBar. "Why don't you keep this one? You need one more than I need two of 'em."
"Sir, I appreciate your gesture," Suresh said bowing slightly, "However, as an untouchable, I am not allowed such things."
"Seems to me for someone who's not allowed to have one, you're pretty handy in repairing 'em." Meade asked a smirk forming across his lips.
Suresh raised his head. "I am called upon to repair many things by Master Sinjakama and as such I am expected to be intimately familiar with their operation and repair procedures as Master Sinjakama does break his fairly often."
"You're a problem solver, I'll give ya that Suresh." Meade frowned as he realized the med bay they were in was awfully empty. "Where is everyone? Where's the doctors? The Crew? And why was an autodoc working on me? Not that I don't appreciate getting fixed up, but AI's and me haven't exactly gotten along in the past."
Suresh looked uncomfortable, "The general call to abandon ship was never rescinded and as such, the majority of the crew ejected in their life pods and are currently awaiting pickup by Consortium Search and Rescue."
Meade's eyes widened in surprised. "Sinjakama didn't go back to pick 'em up?"
Suresh looked at Meade, his face inscrutable. "Master Sinjakama deemed them unnecessary for the remainder of the mission."
"What about pilots? What about engineers?" Meade spluttered, "What if we have some other catastrophe?"
"Then I imagine you will be called upon to assist us once again, or we shall die." Sinjakama said ominously from the Med Bay's door.
The door to the Med Bay slid closed and Sinjakama approached Meade as Suresh melted into the shadows moving out of his bosses’ eye line.
"Seems a bit cold blooded to leave them out there in the 'belt without any help." Meade said his voice barely containing the anger he felt. One of his greatest nightmares was to be stranded in space in one of those tin cans.
"They will be seen to by Consortium Search and Rescue soon enough."
"And how long will that take Sinjakama?"
Sinjakama shrugged, "Their emergency beacons were automatically activated when they were ejected and if the stasis pod within their life pod is working properly, they should be able to last for months."
"Until then?" Meade's blood was boiling. What kind of sociopath left his men to die? Consortium Search and Rescue ships weren't the same as the fast and efficient space ship like the Garuda. It could take them weeks to get to the Asteroid belt from their base on Earth.
"They are unnecessary for the remainder of our mission Mr. Meade." Sinjakama's voice was cold, "I regret losing my crew, but I've been assured by Ms. Hunan that thanks to your assistance the Garuda is running smoothly. As it happens, we will be arriving at Rosetta within the hour, so your concerns of another ship wide emergency become less and less likely the closer we get to Rosetta. There, I will instruct Mr. Koschei to repair the Garuda and he will provide me with a skeleton crew for our return AFTER you find out what happened to my father."
Meade didn't say anything, he just stared into Sinjakama's cold eyes. The man was driven and without mercy. He'd do well to remember that the only thing Sinjakama cared about was himself and finding his father's murderer.
"It's your ship." Meade said shaking his head. "But, I'm gonna be pissed if we get to Rosetta and Koschei won't give you a skeleton crew to get us home."
"Mr. Koschei is not my concern Mr. Meade. Because of my connections in the Consortium, he will do everything that I ask of him and more as it is his duty as a loyal citizen to follow orders from a member of a higher caste than him." Sinjakama snapped his fingers and Suresh appeared next to him holding a glass of amber liquid. Sinjakama drank the liquor quickly and dropped the glass without concern. Suresh caught it quickly, and melted back into the shadows. Meade was impressed, if only by Suresh's quick reflexes and his apparent telepathy to Sinjakama's wants and desires.
"He may not be your concern Sinjakama, but I'm not convinced he didn't kill your father yet. Far as I can figure, he's my prime suspect." Meade glanced around the med bay, "I wouldn't be so sure he's the lapdog you think he is."
Sinjakama stiffened, "Koschei wouldn't dream of killing a prominent man like my father. My father was the lead engineer who built the Consortium's Luna base in the 40's. Koschei knows if he murdered my father, everything he is working to put together on Rosetta would be destroyed in an instant."
Sinjakama walked to the edge of the room and opened up a drawer containing several dangerous looking instruments. "The Consortium does not allow citizens to be insubordinate against someone of my caste. Observe." He choose a laser scalpel and turned it on, the high pitched whine filling the medical bay as a bright blue light emerged from the scalpel.
Sinjakama snapped his fingers once again
and Suresh appeared next to him his head bowed low. He handed the scalpel to Suresh.
"Suresh, I want you to cut your pinky finger off right now."
Suresh lowered the cutting instrument to his right hand. Meade didn't even think before he picked up a tray next to his bed and tossed it like a Frisbee across the room knocking the scalpel out of the servant's hand. Suresh was taken aback, but then bent down towards the scalpel to pick it back up.
"Stop!" Meade shouted to Suresh. Suresh stopped, his head now filled with two conflicting orders. "Suresh, don't be an idiot." Meade whirled back to Sinjakama immediately regretting the torque he had just placed on his body.
"You see Mr. Meade?" Sinjakama said gently walking towards Suresh and picking the scalpel off the floor, "Even after you stopped him from initially cutting his pinky off, he was still willing to do so, because on my orders, I commanded him to. This is the sort of loyalty installed in a Consortium citizen from birth. They listen and obey their betters, which is why the Coalition has never been able to defeat them in one on one combat. You cannot defeat a man who is unafraid to die. This is how I can guarantee Koschei will listen to me and was not responsible for my father's death."
"I..." Meade wasn't sure what to say. He had heard stories of Consortium fanaticism before, hell their compliance chips installed in every Consortium citizen was the stuff of legend, but he'd never seen it in action like this. "If you say Koschei isn't the one whodunnit, I'll take you at your word, but for me, I'm not as likely to trust a man who hasn't been around Consortium higher ups like you in a long time. Could be he got his little kingdom going on Rosetta and liked that better than the idea of cutting his pinky off just cause your father gave the say so.
"Besides," Meade added, "what if it was an accident like the reports say it was? What then?"
Sinjakama's eyes flashed in anger and he approached Meade and stood closer than he liked. "My father was murdered. I know this because my father is not a thickheaded mole who would willingly hang out in a pit mining ORI. He was there to develop the station into a paradise for Consortium betters. He was killed, Mr. Meade, of that I have no doubt." Sinjakama stepped away from Meade and sniffed the air. "If you do not find my father's murderer I will be extraordinarily disappointed and as I believe has already been made clear, when I am disappointed in someone, I leave them behind."
Meade swallowed. The man's meaning was clear, Meade would be set up for a permanent stay on Rosetta if he didn't find someone to pin Sinjakama Sr.'s murder on.
"I'm just trying to keep your mind open to other options is all Sinjakama." Meade said, his eyes narrowing, "Besides, I think you'll find me a much more agreeable type of worker without the threats."
Sinjakama smirked, "Threats? You are too sensitive. I hired you for your independence, but make no mistake, you are working for me and when I say you WILL find my father's murderer, I meant it."
Sinjakama turned on his heel and began to exit the Med Bay. Before leaving, he turned speaking over his shoulder. "I would ask you to join us on the bridge when you are dressed. We will be arriving at our destination in forty-five minutes."
Meade's eyes narrowed and he spoke in a low tone. "I'll be there." He didn't like being threatened.
Sinjakama nodded curtly and whisked his way out of the Med Bay. As the door slide shut behind him Meade muttered under his breathe "you crazy fuck."
Meade turned to Suresh who looked dejected. "Master Meade, I apologize, I am instructed to do as he asks, when he asks at all times. I have no choice but to follow orders."
Meade waved him off. "Save it Suresh. Think you can help me find my clothes? This dressing gown ain't helping my self-esteem and I doubt I'll get much investigatin' done on Rosetta with my ass hanging out."
With Suresh's help, Meade dressed in the clothing he had packed. Feeling more like a human being in his cotton button down, khakis, and long leather duster jacket, he looked in the mirror and realized what was missing. Behind him, Suresh grinned, holding his father's black hat with the braid hanging down. Once he put the hat on, Meade knew he was ready.
The bridge was on the other side of the ship and after moving around a bit, his ribs and arm did not hurt as much. Meade chalked that up to the knowledge that he would be on safe ground in less than a half hour. Despite the hiccups during their travel, space hadn't turned out to be as bad as he thought it would be. Having already faced death once and avoided breathing vacuum, Meade was almost sorry they would be landing. Turns out, all it took to face his fears was a good ol' fashion fight for survival, though working with someone as crazy as Sinjakama, he had a sneaking suspicion that his battle to survive this job was only just beginning.
Chapter Eight
Suresh escorted Meade to the bridge where he found Emeline sitting at the controls, her unblinking eyes staring into the monitors as if they were a thousand yards away. She didn't move when he entered. Meade approached her and she waved him off without a word. Emeline was entranced by her heads up display linked to her ArmBar. Meade doubted even an explosion would've roused her attention.
"She hasn't moved in two days sir," a soft voice said to his left. Meade looked down to where the voice came from and saw Amla had appeared next to him. "She has not left the controls since you went below deck to save the ship."
"She the only one piloting this bucket?" Meade asked worriedly.
"She is." Amla looked up at him with her large brown eyes, "I've begged her to take a rest and let the autopilot take over some duties, but she insists she cannot trust the AI."
Meade smiled and nodded, "That's Em all right." He approached his childhood friend and tapped her on the shoulder. She ignored him and continued to check the gauges and monitor the engines.
"You all right?" She asked in a flat monotone refusing to take her eyes off the heads-up display.
"I'm a little worse for wear, but nothing the AutoDoc couldn't take care of. Takes more than an over G environment to keep me down." Meade sat next to her in the co-pilot's chair. "What about you? I hear you haven't rested since you took over."
"I'm fine." she snapped, "I'm the only one on board who's able to fly this damn thing since everyone else is gone."
"No autopilot?" Meade asked, "I'd think you'd trust the computer at least long enough to catch a nap."
"The cheap piece of shit AI that Sinjakama installed on this stupid ship already failed once and nearly killed you. I'm not trusting any circuit boards until we're safely landed on Rosetta and Sinjakama can get the Garuda inspected and fully repaired." She exhaled and tapped quickly on the heads up display in front of her and enlarged a portion of space directly in front of them. A large asteroid appeared on screen and filled their view. Meade marveled at its size. Listed as one of the largest asteroids in the 'belt, the colony was the largest and furthest away from the Homeworld that Humans had ever accomplished. Squinting, Meade could make out the blinking lights that lit the entryway to the colony.
"Fortunately, we're only a few minutes away from Rosetta as it is, I'll get to sleep soon enough, until then," She waved towards Amla who approached her quickly, "I've made do with Amphetimax and copious amounts of coffee. Speaking of, you need to try their coffee it's the real deal and tastes incredible."
Meade's eyebrows raised, he hadn't had a good cup of coffee in what felt like ages. He was concerned with her use of the Amphetimax. That stuff could fry a person's nervous system in no time. Two straight days using it wouldn't kill her, but he knew his friend was probably beginning to feel some of its nastier side effects. Hallucinations, and a spacey mindset. Not something he was comfortable while she was supposed to be taking them in for a landing.
"You raise Rosetta on comm yet?" Meade connected his Armbar to console next to him and began to interface with the Garuda's navigational software.
"Not yet."
"Strange, you'd think they'd have responded by now." Meade said bringing up the comm on his heads up display. He was pleased to see how quickly Shane's Armbar responded to t
he Consortium equipment. He almost felt bad using it, as if he was cheating on the one his father had left him, though, technology has to progress, even at the expense of nostalgia.
"Wait..." Emeline began typing quickly and a display came up in front of them that showed the gravity well of Rosetta beginning to match up with The Garuda's. "They've activated their Higgs field for landing craft, so obviously someone knows we're coming."
"Why don't they answer the comm then?" Meade wondered out loud.
Emeline shrugged. "Don't know. Must be a problem on their end though."
"Do we need 'em?" Meade asked worried. He didn't like the idea of landing in the dark.
"Not necessarily. Only thing is, I don't know the rotation rate of their asteroid. The Higgs field generators do all the work guiding our craft in, but if I don't have the right rotation speed, we could end up upside down inside their cargo bay and that would not be good."
