Tantalus (The Hidden Book 1)

by Phil Maxey

  He looked at the frame lying on the desk, flipping it over to see if it had been switched into video mode, but the same static image of his wife was looking back at him.

  “You fought so hard.”

  This time he jolted up in his seat, looking towards the furthest corner which was shrouded in shadow. “Who’s there?” he shouted, feeling the tears already starting to well up at the corner of his eyes.

  “They all need to pay Davin.”

  He jumped up from his seat.

  One of the inmates, must have slipped in when I was asleep.

  “Don’t think I won’t put you back where you belong!”

  He shouted into the far recess, slurring some of his words.

  He moved forward towards the back wall of the room, but it was obvious no one was there. “Lights at seventy percent.” The room lit up causing most of the shadows to dissipate, but the back corner was still stubbornly dark.

  He looked around the room. He was definitely alone. He picked up the bottle and placed it on the desk, then sat heavily.

  Imagined it.

  He never was a big drinker, and looking at the bottle, he had gone through most of it within the last hour. Blinking, he tried to clear his mind and went to get up and move to the side table to get some water, when Joanna’s voice echoed out around his room once more.

  “Davin, don’t let them do this to me.”

  “Do what!” he shouted, knowing he sounded insane the moment the words left his lips. His eyes darted across the walls. “Leave me alone!”

  “I’m in so much pain Davin, I can’t rest with all those sinners walking this ship, you must put a stop to it.”

  He slowly crumpled to the floor, his wife’s voice being too heavy for him to bear. “But I can’t stop them, there’s nothing I can do, I’m sorry.” He sobbed.

  “We can plan Davin, plan it together, you and me, like when we were young and nothing could defeat us, do you remember?”

  “I do.”

  “What was my favorite saying?”

  “If you can’t beat them …” His voice trailed away as he slumped into unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER 18

  Detective Ashley Manning sat on the uncomfortable seat in the large visitor’s room, her feet on the nearby table, with twenty-seven frightened men, women, and children. When the alarms started sounding, the captain’s voice came over the ship’s comms telling them the ship was in lockdown, but that was many hours ago and now her patience was running thin.

  The two IMs stood impassively during the whole ordeal, guarding the only exits.

  A dark-haired woman hugged a baby to her chest trying to stop it from crying.

  “Can’t you shut that thing up?” said a burly looking bearded man. The dark-haired woman ignored him. He got to his feet and walked towards her. “Hey, I’m talking to you, get that kid to be quiet or I will.”

  Ashley looked at the IMs, they weren’t moving, so she took her feet off the table. “Leave her alone,” she said in the man’s direction.

  “No-one’s talking to you short stuff,” said the man, who stood around six-feet two.

  “No-one’s talking to you, Detective. Now are you going to make me come over there and kick your ass?”

  “No, no, I don’t want to cause any trouble, please, he will be quieter,” said Selena. “Shhh Ramon, come on for mama, shhh.”

  The bearded man frowned in Ashley’s direction and walked back to his chair. She got up and joined Selena at her table. “Ignore him. My names Ashley,” she said.

  Selena leaned forward slightly while trying to rock her baby to sleep. “Was you really going to kick his ass?”

  “I reckon I was,” Ashley said smiling. Selena laughed. “Looks like it’s working.” Ashley looked down at Ramon.

  “He goes to sleep eventually. Do you know how much longer we will be here?”

  “No idea.” She pulled out her mobile comms unit and put it on the table in front of her.

  Selena was surprised. “I’ve only seen those in museums!”

  Ashley smiled. “They stopped making them fifty years ago, but they still get better signal when I’m off world than the bio ones. Used to belong to my grandfather. Funny thing is, even this won’t get a signal, it’s like there’s nothing out there.” Selena looked worried. “Oh no, it’s ok, like I said it’s really old, it probably just needs a clean or something,” she said looking at the clear, plastic looking device, then putting it back in her pocket. “Wait here, I’m going to try to get those tin heads to tell us something.”

  Ashley got up and walked towards the closest IM, winking at the bearded man as she walked past him.

  “Scan me,” she said quietly at the IM that towered above her. The machine looked down at her. “I’m Detective Ashley Manning, if you scan me, you’ll know I’m telling the truth, then you’ll be able to tell me why we are still waiting here.” This time her request was not so quiet. The machine looked passively back at her. “Look, I got places to be, your little drama seems to have passed now, I need to be going!”

  “Detective Ashley Manning, your presence here has been noted. You will soon be contacted,” said the IM a bit too loud for Ashley’s liking.

  She looked around and smiled at the people that were looking at her.

  The bearded man got up and started to walk towards her. “You’re really a cop?”

  “Sir, you need to take a seat. I’m trying to find out what’s happening, so we can all leave, okay?” she said as she reached for her firearm, then remembering she handed it over to the IMs when she boarded.

  The man stopped within a few meters of her and the IM. “So, you think you’re tough? I’ll show you how tough you are.” He lunged towards her.

  She prepared herself to use the man’s bodyweight against him, when the IM pushed past her grabbing the man and pinning him to the ground. “Mr. Adams, please refrain from further assertions towards others. I will hold you here for sixty seconds, then let you go. Further movement towards Detective Manning, will result in further punishment. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes, let me up!” Adams groaned at the strength of the IM’s restraint technique.

  “It’s okay, you can let him go, he’ll be fine,” said Ashley to the IM. The machine, looked at her, then released its grip.

  Adams got to his feet murmuring to himself, and slowly made his way back to his table.

  Ashley went to walk back to her own table, when the door behind the IM opened, and a man with short dark hair appeared and ran over to Selena. Behind him other inmates flowed into the room and moved quickly to their respective friends and relatives. Finally, the captain appeared.

  Taylor walked forward looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Everyone went quiet. “I’ve got some bad news,” she said.

  * * * * *

  The gray-blue disc of the moon was displayed roughly in the center of the bridges main screen. The surface looking similar to how it did from days of old, hiding the thousands of miles of networked tunnels lying beneath the surface, which made up the Moon colony.

  “Still no reply to our communications?” said Luke standing in for the captain on the bridge.

  “None, sir,” replied Elisa. The fact that a former inmate was now in charge of Tantalus did not sit well with her, even if he was a former star captain of Space Force and Taylor personally gave him his position.

  Luke knew not to ask about energy readings from the colony as the dusty surface usually masked any radiation anyway. “Do we have a list of which ships are docked here?” he said turning to Jones whose job was now tactical officer, and was stationed at a console at the back of the bridge.

  “Yes, sir,” said Jones as a list of ships appeared on the main screen. “Twelve haulers and five Space fleet ships, including two cruisers and three smaller patrol vessels.”

  Elisa preempted her XOs next question. “Most of the ships are still here, with no energy output from any of them, sir.”

&nbs
p; “Which are the ones that are missing?”

  “A hauler and a patrol ship.”

  “Are they on any of the long-range scanners?”

  Jones tapped his screen. “Not that I can see, sir.”

  “What was their destination?”

  “The hauler was on the way to Mars; the Patrol ship was heading towards Europa colony.”

  “So, they might have got away in time, but perhaps were still affected and are adrift out there.”

  “It’s possible, sir.”

  “Have we found any refueling ports yet?”

  “Still looking, sir,” replied Watkins, who was now wearing a navy-blue uniform with an arm patch that read “Navigation,” along with an ensign badge.

  “Honer, put me through to the captain.” Elisa tapped her screen, then gave a nod. “Captain, are you ready? Over.”

  Captain Taylor sat with four others, and three IMs in the shuttle. The humans were in their space suits. “We are. Over.”

  When Taylor had said she was going on this mission to the surface, because she needed to see for herself what was happening, he strongly disagreed with her decision but was powerless to stop her. Her mind was made up, and after that point all he could do was try to keep the ship from being damaged and everyone onboard safe. At least now they had some idea of what they might come up against and were as prepared as they could be, with a newly appointed science officer going with them, although he wasn’t sure Weber wanted the role.

  “Captain, you are free to go. Good luck. Over.”

  “Take care of my ship, Carter. Over.”

  CHAPTER 19

  The shuttle descended slowly, past the hauler docking towers then lower, past the spider web of pipes that brought fuel and supplies from the bowels of the monotone moon to most of the fleet that had once docked there.

  It had been almost three years since Taylor had been on an away mission of any kind, and nerves were making her stomach fizz, but nobody else inside the shuttle would have known.

  She looked at those around her, most of which were former inmates and couldn’t decide if they were the worst people for this kind of mission or the best. Either way they were what she had. She hoped what Luke said was right, that they are just as scared of what’s happened as the people that weren’t incarcerated and that would stop them from doing anything too crazy.

  To her left sat Seth Cohen, who she had learned was second in command at the Phoenix syndicate. It was obvious his first loyalty was to Evgeni, but apart from one of the IMs, he got his people safely back to Tantalus just a few hours earlier so at the very least he was good under pressure. He was also the only one from that mission who was willing to get back into a space suit anytime soon. She told him before boarding that he will take lead when in the moons tunnels. “You’re tactics, I’m strategy, got that?” It appeared he did.

  Arnold Weber sat opposite her, another of the flaming birds and now designated as science officer. There had been no time for a ceremony when he got his commission, nor for any of the other few hundred ex-inmates who now had important roles on the ship. They were handed their insignia, together with their tasks and expected to get on with it. So far that approach seemed to be working, but she knew it was a fragile alliance she was building.

  Sitting next to Weber were two slightly younger individuals, a man and woman. The man stood about six-feet tall, and like most inmates had short cropped hair. The woman had tied back blonde hair, and was around five-foot six.

  The woman was inspecting her gun. “Nice bit of kit. It’s the K12, with rapid rate fire and plasma grenades by the looks of it,” she said.

  “You make sure you keep your safety on, I don’t want you shooting me,” said Weber next to her.

  She frowned. “I ain’t never shot a man—” she said in a southern American federation accent “—that I didn’t want too.”

  Weber frowned. “Oilers, all the same,” he murmured under his breath.

  Casey went to reply when the captain interjected. “Burnett and Casey, right?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” said Burnett, his words coming out fast and breathlessly, while Casey smiled reluctantly, continuing to inspect her rifle.

  “What were you both before?” Taylor knew the answer already, but wanted the conversation.

  “I worked for my dad, on his farm,” said Casey.

  “Bar work mostly, and … other stuff on the side,” replied Burnett.

  Taylor smiled, wondering if going along with Luke on these two being on this mission was the right decision, but he said that Burnett was, fit, strong and had done well at college football before his drug habit cost him four years, and Casey spent most of her time when not working either hiking or helping at the local community center. That was until her temper got the better of her when her friend started to be roughed up by some guys who were passing through her town. She put two in the hospital, where one of them died. Unfortunately for her, they were both well placed in the EA. She had already served two of her five-year sentence when the ‘hidden’ as some on the newly formed crew were calling it, had devastated the Earth. Taylor hoped Luke was right about these two. If any of the former inmates were injured while she was on this mission, it wouldn’t look good to the rest.

  Seth looked at Weber. “You need to figure out what the hell that black fog is, if we see it again.”

  Weber held up his left arm. “I got enough sensors in this suit to tell me what you just had for lunch. Together with my three PHDs I think we’ll learn something,” he said, almost sarcastically.

  “Yeah, well that’s fine, but when you see it for the first time it’s pretty freaky.” Seth glanced at the captain. He had a new ‘boss’ and wasn’t too sure how he felt about it. Evgeni had told him to take his orders from the captain, unless he told him otherwise, but even that level of subservience to anyone from the EA felt off to him. The EA and the Phoenix syndicate had been at ‘war’ for decades and part of him couldn’t help but feel like he was betraying his comrades that had fallen. But he had no idea what they saw on the hauler, or what had happened to millions on Earth, so if taking orders from Taylor meant he could find out more, it was fine by him.

  The shuttle shuddered and Casey held up her rifle, looking down the sight.

  “Ten seconds before we dock, Captain.” An IM’s voice came across their comms.

  Seth leaned forward. “Remember it’s going to be real dark when we get outside. The illumination on your suits has been modified to be stronger, so that will help, but whatever this thing is, it eats the light, so if something looks screwy with your lights or the shadows you get the hell out of there. Everyone got it? Our objective is to help Weber get readings and—” he looked at the captain “—rescue any survivors. If we see any of the hidden before the reactor and Weber does his thing, then we will not bother with going to the reactor.” The captain and everyone else nodded.

  “Docking complete. We are at docking port five. Quadrant twelve, level eight,” said the IM over the comms.

  “Everyone check the layout of the base,” said Taylor, bringing up a map on her HUD, while the others did the same. “Living quarters are four levels down, and the reactor is twenty levels down. IM 026 will take point, while the other two will have our six. Let’s go.” Everyone stood and IM 026 walked to the hatch, tapping the open button. It quickly slid upwards, revealing a small airlock. The robot moved swiftly to the end, opening the door manually. Beyond the door, the IM’s lights illuminated a wall opposite. The IM walked forward through the open doorway and stood, quickly looking both ways.

  “All clear,” said the IM while also beckoning them forward.

  Seth walked through the airlock first, followed by Burnett and Casey, the captain, Weber, and the remaining IMs.

  Taylor caught sight of her heart rate monitor on her HUD, then quickly turned it off with a few taps on her wrist screen.

  The Moon colony was one of the EA’s bases that she hadn’t visited much in her career. The place mostly
served as a refueling post for most ships, and wasn’t exactly ‘picturesque’ compared to lots of other locations in the system. It was also where most of the EA’s ships were built, including her own. It was though a hive of syndicate activity, mostly through the unions that built everything including the colony itself over a hundred years ago.

  Standing in the cramped corridor, she could understand why many didn’t come here for fun. Grease and other unknown stains covered the walls, together with frequent drops of water creating small pools of moisture across the plated floor.

  The IM led them along a number of corridors until they came to “Hall 05.” A large open area where workers would spend their time off shift.

  Taylor noticed a new indicator on her HUD, just as one of the IMs confirmed it.

  “This location contains breathable air,” said IM 021.

  “Cool, I’ve been waiting to get this helmet off,” said Casey.

  “Keep it on, we don’t know how the life form infects people,” said Weber.

  The IMs swept their beams around multiple stories of shops and bars, their previously bright signs devoid of life.

  “How far for the—” Burnett stopped mid-sentence as all three of the IMs pointed their rifles in the same direction.

  “What is it?” whispered Taylor, doing the same.

  “There was a noise from the second floor. From inside the dance and alcohol social location,” said IM 026.

  “I think it means a nightclub,” said Casey.

  “Okay, go with Seth and investigate, the rest of us, will slowly explore these other places,” said Taylor.

  Seth nodded and he and the IM, started ascending some nearby stairs. Seth was impressed with how the other IMs on his previous mission functioned, but he still wasn’t willing to put his life in one of their hands, so he double checked every direction the large machine in front of him looked after it did so.

  Soon they were kneeling in front of a large glass front, which allowed a direct view onto empty comfortable looking chairs with tables close by. Beyond was only darkness.