Hell Divers

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  “We’ll find him, Captain.”

  “We’d better,” Ash said. Her eyes flitted from station to station, checking each worried face. “Do we have a damage report from the storm?”

  “Samson’s working on it.”

  “What about the HDs? Do we know how many made it to the surface?”

  Jordan shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we lost contact with them shortly after they dropped.”

  Ash wiped the sweat from her brow. “Lieutenant, is there anything you can tell me?”

  “That’s all I know … Hold on. I’m getting a transmission.” He cupped a hand over his earpiece and listened for several moments.

  When he looked up, his anxious gaze told Ash she was going to have to make another decision.

  “The strike team is asking for orders. Should I give them the green light?”

  “No!” Ash yelled. Several officers looked in her direction. “We can’t risk it, especially if Tin is in there.”

  A few seconds of silence passed before Ash spoke. “How the hell did they get hold of an automatic rifle?”

  “Some of the weapons were never recovered after the riots two years ago,” Jordan said. “They must have had one stashed away.”

  “Tell the strike team to stand down for now. I want to know who these people are and what they want. Don’t they know we don’t have time for this shit?”

  “They certainly knew when to strike,” Jordan said.

  Ash had to temper her fury with the knowledge that her own leniency with the lower-deckers was partly to blame. “Whoever it is, they don’t give a shit about the Hive’s current predicament. Do they realize they could kill us all? Do they even care? We need some answers.”

  A chirp pulled her gaze to the main display at the front of the room. Samson’s strained face emerged on the screen.

  “Captain,” he said, “I just finished running a diagnostic report. I have bad news and good news.”

  “Good news first.”

  The engineer nodded, his pink cheeks jiggling. “The reactor is still online. We didn’t suffer any damage there.”

  “That is good n—” Ash began.

  Samson raised his hand. “But we did lose another internal gas bladder during the attack. That was the last straw. We’re losing altitude—slowly, but the ship is dropping. My crews still haven’t been able to fix the other six bladders we lost two days ago.”

  “Can they fix this one?” Ash asked.

  “Yes, if they could get there. But the access hatch down here was destroyed when the storm ate us two days ago, and the only other entry is through a passage on the farm.”

  “How the hell did this even happen?”

  “I’d guess a stray bullet’s to blame—not a lot of safe places on an airship to go shooting off a rifle. If that’s the case, we can patch it. The other gas bladders were ruptured by the storm. Those’ll take more time.”

  Ash turned back to Jordan. “If we send in the strike team, we risk more damage to the ship, not to mention more casualties if those men decide to fire again. They’ve already proved they don’t mind killing people.”

  “But if we don’t, we won’t be able to fix the bladder,” Jordan argued.

  “He’s right, Captain,” Samson said. “The Hive is struggling to stay in the air. I’ve routed all the power I can to the turbofans, but we’re sinking. We need that bladder!”

  “Can you keep us in the air for twenty-four hours? Long enough for the HDs to get back here?”

  “You aren’t giving me any other option, are you?”

  Ash took one hand off the wheel. “Jordan, take the helm. Samson, prepare an engineering team.”

  Samson frowned. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to negotiate.”

  * * * * *

  Powerful gusts of wind showered the five-person team with ice and grit as they trekked through the derelict city. The intermittent lightning flashes allowed the divers to go without their night-vision optics. X stared out over the ash-colored landscape of Hades. Mother Nature was gradually finishing what the bombs hadn’t quite been able to do. Most of the buildings were gone, buried by God only knew how many feet of snow.

  The remains of Ares rested in a shallow grave in the center of the city. X kept looking in amazement at the three topless buildings. The ship must have sheared them off as it came crashing down. That would have dealt the final blows. He wondered what had gone through Captain Willis’ mind in those final moments.

  “That was Ares?” Magnolia asked, as if reading his thoughts.

  X checked his mission clock. The blue numbers were steadily ticking down. “Yep,” he said. “And if we don’t hurry, the Hive is going to look just like that.”

  Magnolia picked up her pace, her boots crunching in the snow behind him. “Think anyone else made it?”

  “Everyone else is dead. If they had survived, we would see their beacons. Keep moving.”

  They didn’t have the luxury of time to mourn their dead. He waved the team forward, breaking into a trot toward a stretch of snow that sloped into a valley. That was where most of the buildings were—and, according to the nav flag on his HUD, also the location of the first crate.

  At the edge of the downslope, he signaled to stop. Tony joined him, crouching by his side. Both pulled out their binos to scan the city.

  “Looks like that bridge leads into the city and the industrial zone,” X said. “The crates should be on the other side.”

  “They never can get them close, can they?” said Katrina, behind them.

  “Looks like there’s a way down over here,” Tony said. He trained his binos on a stretch of highway that curved down into the valley. The wind had cleared the ancient roads, exposing a strange-looking vehicle. X had never seen the like. He zoomed in on the turret that topped the boxy machine. Mounted on it was what appeared to be a cannon of some sort.

  Moving his scope to the left, he saw a half-dozen of the strange machines of war.

  “Let’s go,” X said. He led the team along the edge of the bluff and down a slick, icy hillside to the highway. With his blaster leveled over the street, he ran toward the armored trucks, or whatever they were.

  He slowed as he drew near the massive machines. Icy pieces of the armored shell were scattered around the vehicles. The one good thing about this place, he reflected, was that the freezing temperatures had preserved much of the Old World. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what lay beneath the mounds of snow burying the rest of the city.

  A quick scan of the road showed no immediate threats. X lowered his blaster and brushed the snow off the back of the closest vehicle.

  The comm flared to life. “We should keep moving,” Tony said.

  “Hold up,” X replied. “I just need a second.” Squinting, he read the lettering aloud. “M-three Abrams … built in 2029, in Lima, Ohio.”

  He brushed away more snow.

  “United States Army.”

  X took a step back, remembering the bulkhead on the Hive’s bridge. The same name was engraved in a plaque above the entrance to the room. Like the M3, the Hive had been commissioned for war. He had known it before, but seeing the armored vehicles, and the monster crater a few days before, reminded him that people had done this. Humans had destroyed this world.

  “You good, X?” A hand shook his shoulder gently. It was Katrina, and he could tell by her soft voice she was ready to get moving.

  X nodded, then froze. A new dot was blinking on his HUD—something that should be impossible in this lifeless place.

  “We got a contact,” Tony said.

  “I see it,” X replied. The dot was some sort of beacon, but the signal didn’t match anything from the Hive. Whatever it was, it was moving.

  “What do you make of this, Murph?” X asked.

  The engi
neer trotted up to his location. “It’s not one of ours.”

  “I know that,” X said. “So what do you think it is?”

  Tony stepped forward. “I could give you a theory.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “One of the Sirens took the beacon off a dead Ares diver. Hell, maybe it swallowed it.”

  “Or maybe somebody from Ares survived the dive,” Magnolia said.

  X furrowed his brow. “No way in hell they could last out here this long, though, right? And no way anyone survived that crash.”

  “Right,” Katrina said. “Couldn’t be a survivor.”

  “Has to be something else,” X said. “Let’s find a path around.” He flashed an advance signal, but Katrina grabbed his shoulder a second time.

  “Wait,” she said. “If it’s a Siren, then why does it look like it’s on a direct route to one of our supply crates?”

  X checked the map. She was right. The beacon was moving toward their supplies.

  “I don’t know,” X replied. “But we’re going to find out.”

  * * * * *

  The animal pen stank of manure, but Tin didn’t dare move. He kept his eye up against the fence, peering through an inch-wide gap at the armed men in the distance, trying meanwhile not to breathe in the awful smell.

  The chickens were crowding the enclosure around him, pecking at morsels in the dirt and generally doing whatever chickens did. Gently, to avoid causing a ruckus among the hens, Tin scooted away from them and caught a glimpse of Silver, in the next pen. Watching the men outside the plastic clean room, the dog let out a low growl. Lilly went over to him, her ears perked. Heartened that the dogs were keeping watch, too, Tim squirmed back to the fence for a better look.

  The two men walked away from the plastic vestibule—the same room Tin had visited two days ago. The man with the black dreadlocks turned to another guy, who wore a scarf over his face.

  “I told you not to shoot anyone, Alex!”

  “Sorry, Trav, but the guard aimed his gun at—”

  The one named Travis snatched the rifle from Alex and backhanded him. The blow knocked away Alex’s scarf, exposing tight, scarred flesh on his right cheek. A fresh bandage covered his chin. He didn’t bother pulling the scarf back up.

  The two men glared at each other, and the intense silent moment lingered between them until the door to the clean room unzipped. A big, thickset man shuffled out. Tin had seen him before, too. He recognized the bald head and full red beard from the trading post.

  “The Militia’s surrounded the first-deck entrance,” he said. “We’re trapped in here.”

  “How many, Brad?” Travis asked.

  Brad ran a nervous hand over his shiny pate. “A dozen at least, all armed to the teeth.”

  “This changes nothing,” Travis said. “Our demands are still the same.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and said, “Ren, get those farmers over here.” His deep voice carried the length of the huge enclosed field.

  Tin wiggled flat against the dirt for a better view through the mesh wire fence, keeping his head low to the ground, careful not to be seen. The fourth man, Ren, had a group of six farmers herded together. He wielded a long, rusted blade that looked like a butcher’s knife. Ren pushed the hostages along a path between a plot of green beans and another of tall corn.

  “You need to think about what you’re doing,” one of the farmers was saying. “The Militia will kill all of you, and for what?”

  Ren pushed the man to the dirt and kicked him in the ribs.

  “Leave him alone!” a woman cried. She dropped to the injured farmer’s side.

  “That’s enough, Ren,” Travis said.

  Together, Alex and Ren corralled the group and ordered them to sit in the dirt in front of the clean room, where Brad cuffed their hands behind them with plastic ties.

  “Anyone see where that kid went?” Travis asked, scanning the room.

  Tin scooted lower, pressing his face into the dirt and chicken droppings. Realizing he had lost his hat, he felt a wave of anxiety. Without the hat, he felt exposed, naked.

  “See if you can find him,” Travis said.

  Tin listened to boots squelching over the moist ground, coming closer. He closed his eyes and imagined he was back in his old apartment with his dad and X. The squishy footsteps continued toward him, then were suddenly drowned out by the crackle of static over the PA system.

  “To whoever has taken over the farm, this is Captain Maria Ash. I would like to speak to the man who decided to fire a gun inside my ship.”

  Tin peeked through the fence as Travis hurried over to a control panel on the port side of the plastic room and punched the comm button. “This is Travis Eddie. Son of dead Hell Diver Ron Eddie and brother of prisoner Raphael Eddie.”

  White noise hissed through the speakers. The captain didn’t immediately respond.

  Tin wiggled away from a chicken that pecked at his sleeve.

  “Travis,” Captain Ash said. She hesitated for a brief second before continuing. “I’m truly sorry for your suffering. You have experienced much hardship, like most of us on the Hive—”

  Travis punched the comm link again. “You don’t know anything about hardship, Captain. Or what it’s like to live on the lower decks. The cancer. The starvation. The disease. When’s the last time you were down there?”

  There was another pause. “I was supposed to visit very recently,” Ash replied. “But obviously, something came up. For what it’s worth, I can relate to your suffering. I have cancer myself.”

  Tin watched Travis glance over at his men.

  “Travis, if you truly care about the well-being of everyone on this ship, then you will let one of my engineers into the farm. That gun you fired tore a hole in gas bladder twenty-one. We’re losing altitude. If we don’t fix it, then everyone is going to die.”

  “She’s bluffing,” Alex said. “I bet she’s lying about having cancer, too.”

  “Yeah,” Ren added. “And that ‘engineer’ she wants to send is more likely a soldier in coveralls.”

  Turning back to the panel, Travis said, “Why can’t you fix the bladder through engineering? I know there’s access hatches down there.”

  “Because the access tunnel was destroyed in the electrical storm two weeks ago,” Ash replied.

  Tin couldn’t believe his ears. If what the captain said was true, the only way to reach the bladder was through the farm. He rolled to his side and looked around for the hatches. A metal ladder led up to a catwalk that ran along the starboard side of the ship, where several elliptical hatches lined the wall.

  Without considering the repercussions, Tin stood up and shouted, “You have to let them in!”

  Ten faces turned in his direction. Travis quickly nodded at Alex, who ran toward Tin.

  “Come on, kid,” he said. “Get over here with the others.”

  Tin backed away. “No, the captain isn’t lying! Those are access points.” He pointed to the hatches along the catwalk on the starboard side.

  Alex didn’t bother to look.

  “Please, Travis, just let one of my engineers in,” Ash pleaded over the comms. “We’ll figure this all out after he’s done fixing the bladder.”

  Travis punched the button. “That’s not going to happen until you meet our demands. First, you’re going to turn the lights and the heat back on in the so-called noncritical facilities. Then you’ll double food rations for everyone belowdecks. I want equal health care provided to everyone on this ship. And finally, I want my brother released from jail.”

  “You and I both know that I can’t meet all those demands,” said Ash. “We’re in no position to turn any lights or heat back on right now. We need that power for the turbofans and generators. For God’s sake, Travis, think about what you’re doing!”

  “I’m not sure yo
u understand, Captain, but this isn’t up for negotiation. You either meet our demands or you don’t get anything. No access to the farm, no hostages released, nothing. When you change your mind, I’ll be right here.” He shut off the system and faced his men.

  “Ship’s always in trouble, Trav,” Brad said. “This is just another one of Captain Ash’s lies. I wouldn’t trust her for a second.”

  Travis’ eyes flitted to Tin. There was a fleeting moment where Tin thought that maybe the man was going to listen to him. But then Travis raised the muzzle of the gun from the ground and pointed it at the farmers.

  “I don’t believe her, either, and I’m not letting an engineer inside,” Travis said. “Now, get that kid over here.”

  “No!” Tin shouted. “You have to listen to the captain. She’s not lying.”

  Grinning, Alex jumped over the fence, grabbed Tin, and yanked him across the dirt.

  Struggling to free himself from Alex’s grip, Tin pulled away and kicked him in the shin as hard as he could.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” Alex snarled. Before Tin could move, a fist caught him in the side of the head, knocking him to the dirt. Silver and Lilly growled and threw themselves at the gate.

  Tears welled in Tin’s eyes. He blinked and tried to get up but fell back to his stomach. Silver snarled as Alex bent down.

  Tin tried to scoot away, but his body felt weak and disconnected from his mind. He could hardly move his arms—hardly move anything at all. He blinked several times, but a dark red shadow encroached around the edges of his vision. The last thing Tin saw was Lilly and Silver, barking and snarling at Alex and jumping at the fence.

  NINETEEN

  A dark sky churned above Hades, and lightning slanted down through one of the skeletal high-rises ahead. Battling fierce winds, the divers had crossed the highway to the edge of the city. X stood on the roof of a half-buried vehicle, with his blaster leveled at the closest building.

  He shielded his visor from the relentless blasts of windblown grit. He was anxious to be out of the open, but the city streets could harbor worse threats than the wind. The road led through the heart of the ancient metropolis, to the industrial zone where the Ares team had encountered Sirens.