The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera

by Michael Robertson

  “Some reason?”

  “My guess is we’ve passed through a magnetic field that’s messed with it in some way.”

  “Can a magnetic field make Marines disappear?” Hicks said.

  They all knew Hicks well enough to understand he didn’t know how to keep a lid on it, especially when he felt nervous. If he felt something, everyone knew about it. Although the WO threw him a sideways glance, he continued his conversation with Julius. “And you can fix it?”

  “Easily. If everyone pulls together, I’ll do it in one hit rather than separately.”

  When he turned to the Marines, he saw he didn’t need to relay the information. As they clustered together, Julius pulled the warrant officer’s tablet from her back pocket.

  “I thought that thing was useless?” he said.

  “It is if we want to contact any satellites. But I can use it to control anything local, like these headsets.”

  While Julius fixed their radios, Reyes looked past her at the shadows in the room beyond. It looked like it had grown darker than when they were last in there. A cold chill turned through her. She returned her attention to Julius, who typed against the screen of the tablet before delivering a definitive tap. She then pressed her finger against the microphone button on the side of her helmet and said, “Can everyone hear me now?”

  “Loud and clear,” Reyes said, looking around to see all the other Marines nodding along with her.

  Some of the tension Reyes had seen in her dad’s thick frame left him. “Well, that’s that sorted at least. A problem fixed with rationale rather than witchcraft. Now we just need to find out where—”

  The voice cut him off. Childlike in its soft daydream tone, Reyes recognised it as Patel, but not like she’d heard him before. It sounded haunted and delirious, like he was singing in his sleep.

  “Ring-a-ring o’ roses, a pocket full of posies, a-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.”

  While he sang, many of the Marines—including the WO—stood slack jawed and threw glances at those around them. Things lurked in the shadows of this ship. They all knew it, but because they didn’t have anything concrete, they had no proof, so they couldn’t vocalise it. The warrant officer didn’t want to hear about their fears. Not that it stopped Hicks. “What the hell was that?”

  Patel’s voice came through to them again as he continued singing. “Ring-a-ring o’ roses, a pocket full of posies, hush, hush, hush, hush, we’ve all fallen down. We’ve all fallen down. We’ve all fallen down. We’ve all fallen down.”

  Then silence. Even Hicks had nothing this time.

  “Patel?” the WO shouted into his microphone, his finger pressed so hard against the side of his helmet, the tip of it had turned white. “Patel, where are you? What’s going on?”

  His scowl suggested he either wanted someone to blame, or someone to give him an answer. He glared at Hicks but addressed them all. “What was that?”

  Reyes looked at the tight-lipped Marines around her. Why would anyone reply to her father? In his current frame of mind, they’d be walking a tightrope if they even tried to offer him an explanation.

  “Does anyone know what Patel was just singing?”

  Closed mouths and blank stares, Reyes joined many of the others in looking at the floor.

  It took for Julius to turn away from the ship’s computer to break the silence. “It’s a nursery rhyme from Earth.”

  “What?”

  “I studied human history at college. From what I can remember, the song has something to do with a plague in an ancient city called London. The ring of roses was the rash. They thought posies warded off the disease, so they stuffed their pockets with them.”

  The warrant officer drew a breath to respond, but Julius cut him off. “It was a long time ago. The sneezing was a symptom of the plague. For those who got it, which was most people in the city at the time … well, they all fell …” She left it hanging.

  Although Patel’s voice had gone, the echo of we’ve all fallen down, we’ve all fallen down, we’ve all fallen down ran through Reyes’ mind as if he hadn’t.

  Without a word, Chan broke away from the group and walked off towards a corner of the room. Her movements were slightly stilted as if she were driven by a will other than her own.

  Before Reyes could call after her, the WO shouted, “Chan!” The loud syllable snapped through the room. Reyes and many of those around her jumped at the sound of it. But Chan continued to walk over to the corner as if she hadn’t heard him.

  When she got there, she shone her torch on the floor. She turned back around to face the others, but Reyes already knew what she’d say, dread plummeting through her at the realisation of it. In spite of the swelling and her face being bathed in the red glow of emergency lighting, the colour had left Chan’s skin. She looked like she couldn’t get her words out. Were Reyes not as knocked over by what she saw too, she might have said it for her.

  Finally, Chan cleared her throat and spoke with a warble in her voice. “Lombardo’s body is gone.”

  Chapter 23

  Even Reyes—who’d known him all her life—hadn’t seen the WO lose his head often. Despite his gruff exterior and curt delivery, he usually either found the solution to a problem, or found the person with the solution. Q328 had been an anomaly. Had she not been his daughter, he would have trusted her sooner than he had. But as she watched him now—his face red and a large vein raised along his neck—she felt the flutter of panic disrupting her breaths. None of the rookies around him had an answer, and he looked like he sure as hell didn’t have one himself. After running his hand over the top of his head, pulling his thick hair back, he let his frame sag with a slump and stared at the floor. When he looked back up again, he had the eyes of a predator and his voice shook. “Now I’m sure I’m being simple, but how can a body just vanish? What were you two doing?”

  A certain confidence that came with her size, Julius pulled her shoulders back and straightened her spine. “I was working on the computer.”

  He spun on Simpson. “So you’re the one to blame?”

  Simpson turned to meet his glare, a deep set to her features. “Nothing came or went while you were gone.”

  The warrant officer’s mouth made a clopping sound as it fell open. He looked from Simpson to Chan in the corner of the room. When he looked back at Simpson, he tilted his head to one side. “So, what? Lombardo just got up and walked out of here?”

  “No!”

  “Well, something’s happened. When we left, you had a corpse in the corner. Now you don’t. It’s quite hard to misplace a body—especially an inanimate one.”

  Not that Simpson would have been able to hear her thoughts, but Reyes silently willed her to keep her mouth shut. Let him vent rather than dig a deeper hole for herself. Thankfully, Simpson read the situation and didn’t reply. Instead, she raised her chin and stared straight ahead like she had when they’d first come into the room. She’d remain at Julius’ side and continue to watch out for her until ordered to do otherwise.

  “And why was the door locked?” he demanded, directing his question at Julius this time.

  The tall Marine remained stoic. For a few more seconds, the two locked stares with one another before Julius finally said, “It’s only a guess, but I reckon me trying to hack into their controls is having some kind of effect on the ship. Probably just a couple of small malfunctions triggering doors to lock.”

  “And interfering with our comms?”

  “Maybe.”

  Although he didn’t look around, he slightly relaxed his stance as if he’d suddenly become aware of the attention on him. Maybe he simply realised he’d gain little from shouting at people. “It doesn’t explain Lombardo though, does it?”

  “Look, WO, I really don’t know what’s happening. What I do know is the sooner I get control of the ship’s computer, the more control I’ll have over the ship itself. I don’t mean to speak out of turn, but Lombardo was dead. We’re still alive. All of us are
getting the jitters and, I think, rather than me trying to speculate on what’s happened to her corpse, I’d be best utilised trying to get a message to the Crimson Destroyer so we can all get the hell out of here.”

  Returning to the man she knew so well, Reyes watched her dad take a few seconds to think. He then nodded. “You’re right. Thank you.”

  Radio static buzzed through Reyes’ ear, making her heart kick. When she looked at the other Marines, she saw her own shock staring back at her in many pairs of wide eyes. Patel sang at them again. “Ring-a-ring o’roses, a pocket full—” The lethargy left his voice and he shouted, “I’m singing! I’m doing what you told me. What more do you—arghhhhhhhh—” The communication cut off mid-scream.

  Reyes looked at Julius to see what she’d done, but she saw the same pallid wash to her face as she saw on the others’. She’d clearly had nothing to do with cutting the comms.

  A haunted look in his eyes, the WO said, “Julius is right about Lombardo: she’s already dead. It’s not that I don’t care, but rescuing a corpse is less important than getting to Patel. Julius, give me a time. How long do you need?”

  “Another ten minutes.”

  “Another ten?”

  Julius shrugged.

  “Right.” While holding his wrist up, the warrant officer pressed his watch, the screen lighting up. “All of you set ten-minute timers. We’re going to search this ship for Patel. Whatever happens, I want everyone back here in ten—with Patel or not. I don’t trust our comms will remain online, so make sure you’re all keeping an eye on your watches. No excuses for being late. Reyes?”

  Reyes set her watch—an awareness of the others doing the same around her—before she flicked her head up to look at him. “Sir?”

  “Take your team down the same corridor you were in. We’re going to search the rooms in this main section.”

  “But that will take longer than ten minutes.”

  “Not if we split up. Make sure no one’s on their own, but if we enter each room from either side in teams of two or more, we should be able to check out all of the rooms and be back in time.”

  While trying to hide her slight tremble, her gut tightening, Reyes nodded at her dad. They had to find Patel—whatever it took—and with ten minutes to kill, it seemed like a productive use of their time. Despite her reservations, staying in the control room while Julius hacked the ship’s computer wouldn’t help anyone.

  To the rest of the Marines, he said, “Unless anyone else has something they want to add, we need to move out. Let’s find our brother, get back here, contact the Crimson Destroyer, and then get the hell off this damned ship.”

  He made it sound so simple.

  Chapter 24

  Back in the corridor they’d lost Patel in, Reyes called back to the four Marines behind her, Chan by her side again. “Stay in pairs and keep an eye on your partner. Remember what the WO said: we come back in ten minutes, and we all return—no matter what. We don’t need heroes today.”

  “That’s a shame,” Chan said as she brought her torch up and shone it in Reyes’ face, “especially when we have a bona fide one leading us. What are we going to do with all that hero power?”

  “And there’s me thinking you’d grown up. That you’d realised our safety was more important than your petty grudges.”

  Although Chan smiled, the red emergency lighting and the swelling on her face did their best to dilute the effect. She looked part gargoyle. “Looks like I’ve found a way to do both.”

  A shake of her head, Reyes pointed her gun—and torch by extension—out in front of her and set off down the gloomy and red-lit corridor. The wet shine of the metal glinted as if the ship perspired. The last time she’d walked this way, she’d spent most of her effort trying to see all the way to the end. It had been a fruitless task, so this time she looked at her immediate surroundings, doing her best to ignore Chan’s smug face in her peripheral vision.

  “So when will you admit you’re a fake, Reyes?”

  “What’s with you? When are you going to let this nonsense drop? I’m not bragging about Q328. You heard what happened, and a lot of good Marines died. Who’d come back from that feeling like a hero?”

  “It’s not Q328 I’m talking about.”

  Reyes stopped and shone her torch—and gun by extension—in Chan’s face. “So enlighten me.”

  All the mirth had abandoned Chan, her eyes narrowing as her voice dropped. “I think you know.”

  “Look, whatever petty argument you have in mind, drop it, yeah? This isn’t about you right now. I’m trying to find any clue as to where Patel has gone. My main focus is finding him.”

  “Don’t question my professionalism.”

  “You make it hard not to.”

  This time, Chan chose to keep quiet. In the silence, the memory of Patel’s voice haunted Reyes’ every step. His eerie and childlike singing sounded nothing like the man she knew. What was happening to him?

  They reached the doors to the library without incident. When Reyes hit the button for them, they opened immediately. Were she next to anyone but Chan, she might have made a comment about it. Instead, she pressed the mic on the side of her helmet. “WO, are you there?”

  “I’m here, Reyes. What’s up?”

  The door still opened wide in front of her, the room seemed darker than before. The same tall shelves dominated the space, creating what looked like an organic maze of twisted metal, but the shadows seemed heavier somehow, the emergency lighting duller. Probably just her imagination. “We’re at the library. Where are you?”

  “The library.”

  While looking at the two Marines directly behind her, she said, “I’m going to send Austin and Hunt in.”

  “Okay.” Reyes then listened to him take over the main channel. “Hicks, Platt, I need you two to go in here. Austin and Hunt are coming in from the other side. I need you to meet them in the middle. Search the place together and make sure Patel isn’t in there. If we lose contact, I want you back in the control room in ten minutes. No excuses. And make sure all four of you return.”

  Someone snorted a cynical laugh.

  “Do you have a problem, Hicks?” the warrant officer said.

  “I’d say we all have a problem, sir.”

  “So stop making it worse.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  While Hicks and the WO were talking to one another, Reyes watched Austin pull in a deep breath. A normally upbeat person with a quick wit and good sense of humour, she saw none of that in him at that moment. As he walked past her into the library, she patted him on the back. Hunt followed behind him. “We’ll be off this ship in no time,” she called into the room after them. Even her echo struggled to penetrate the shadows, the sound of her voice dying in the darkness. Neither Marine replied. Not that she could blame them. They’d all been in the library. It could well be the worst room on the ship, and she’d chosen not to go in herself. But better the devil they knew; at least they’d seen the inside of it. The stars only knew what waited for them in the other rooms.

  Chapter 25

  After the doors to the library had closed, Reyes shut her eyes for a second as if the action would somehow offer her a moment of respite. When she opened them again, she found Chan standing directly in front of her. While maintaining eye contact, Reyes pressed the mic on the side of her helmet. “Are you ready to move on, sir?”

  “We’re already moving. We have less than nine minutes left.”

  Farther into the ship than they’d been before, Reyes pushed on. The corridor looked no different. The same hellish twist that resembled burned reptilian flesh. The same shimmer from the glossy surface. The same turn and roll to her steps. It felt like the deeper they ventured down the corridor, the farther it stretched. Almost as if the ship wanted to prevent them from reaching the end of it.

  Chan still at her side, Reyes didn’t even want to look at her when they arrived at the dry food stores. She pressed the button, and the doors opened as easi
ly as they had for the library. Although Reyes shone her torch inside, it did little because the same crimson-tinged darkness occupied the room. She could see just about far enough to catch a glimpse of the shelving. The space appeared to be much more conventional than the library. It looked more like a warehouse than a Gothic storage space for arcane literature. “I’m going to go to the end with Chan,” Reyes said while staring into the dark, her finger pressed against the microphone button on the side of her helmet.

  “Okay,” the warrant officer’s gruff voice rumbled in her ear. “I’m going to go into this one, then. I’ll take Holmes and Niamura in with me. We’ll do this room and the briefing room because they’re smaller.”

  “I’m going to send Singh and Jacobs in.”

  “Have they set their timers?”

  When Reyes looked back at the two soldiers, they both nodded. “Yep. See you back in the control room. Take care.”

  “You too, you’ll have Crouch and Grady with you at the end.”

  A sudden swell of panic caught in Reyes’ throat, clamping it tight. She didn’t need the responsibility for the Marines on the other side. After coughing, she found her breath again and said, “Roger that. Take care.”

  Muscles of lead, Reyes pushed on down the corridor. The bounce in Chan’s step beside her suggested she didn’t feel the same burden. And why should she? She hadn’t been given any responsibility.

  Reyes and Chan said nothing to one another as they walked past the briefing room. The doors to the sports hall came into sight a few steps later. But before they got to them, the end of the corridor appeared from the shadows, stopping Reyes dead. It might have been irrational, but she hadn’t believed it would happen. She let her tense frame relax a little. Of course the corridor had an end. It was exactly why her dad had urged them to only deal with evidence. At no point did she have any proof that the corridor went on forever. If she continued to let panic dictate her thoughts though, she’d get someone killed.