The Furnace

by Timothy S. Johnston

“You fucker,” I hissed.

  “It’s you or us,” he said. “I want off this damn station. I’m willing to kill to get away from here.”

  “You already proved that when you killed Grossman.”

  “Hypocrite!” he snarled. “I suppose killing Bram was okay in your book. Or Rickets. Or Katrina.”

  Shaheen looked over her shoulder at me. Her hand slipped down to her thigh, and her fingers opened. She wanted me to throw her the tether.

  “Some things are necessary,” I said to Brick. “Like dying to protect the human race.”

  “Is that what you think you’re doing?” he sneered. “I’m trying to protect a new race!”

  The sun burned like a furnace behind Brick, the solar arrays dark against its intense fury. I snorted. “You represent the end of everything that’s human. Brick Kayle would never have wanted that for himself.”

  “Is what we represent so bad?” Malichauk said.

  “Give me a break. You murdered people to keep your existence hidden. You represent extinction, for fuck’s sake!”

  “You don’t understand,” Brick said. “I’m still human. I have the same feelings I did before. I don’t feel controlled. I am—”

  “Are you still Brick?” I snapped. “Do you still have a desire to gamble? Do you still have free will?”

  He hesitated. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means Brick had all the failings of a normal human being. He had wants, desires. He had flaws. Now he no longer exists. He’s being controlled, by you.”

  I moved the tether to my right hand and made sure the latch would sail toward Shaheen’s fingers when I threw it. We would only have one chance at this; when Brick saw what I was doing, he would attack Shaheen again and never give me another opportunity.

  His eyes flicked down to my right hand. “What are you doing?” he said.

  The tether unfurled as it floated—seemingly in slow motion—toward Shaheen. She spun, grabbed the latch, and gave it a strong tug.

  She wrenched it so hard she almost ripped it from my hand. I hadn’t had a chance to secure the other end to my belt. It ran through my glove and I almost lost it. At the last possible second, I clutched it and felt the pull through my arm and shoulder. I spun toward the hull and grabbed for a safety rung, frantic.

  I regained my grasp on the hull. Sweat was bothering my eyes, and I shook my head to clear my vision. Something appeared in the corner of my view—

  Startled, I spun and brought my club to bear.

  It was Captain Fredericks. “Manny!” I cried.

  He rotated slowly as he floated by. As the left side of his suit came into view, I saw a slash from armpit to knee. Something—someone—had exposed him to space. There was singed bloody flesh where the knife had ripped through the coolant layer and into his skin. The sun had cooked him.

  Brick withdrew a cutting tool from his utility belt, meant to slice people from vacsuits inside the air lock in case of an emergency. He had used it on Manny, out in space.

  “You bastard,” I rasped between clenched teeth.

  “You’d do the same to me,” he replied in a flat voice.

  I stole another look at the corpse as it floated by. Manny’s face was frozen in rictus—a scream that would last for years. He drifted away from the station and SOLEX forever.

  Steam vented from his vacsuit; the sun was still broiling him.

  I jerked my attention back to Brick and Malichauk. “Shaheen,” I growled. “You take Malichauk. I’ve got Brick.”

  She grunted. “Got ya.”

  Malichauk pushed himself back minutely. Brick barked a sharp laugh.

  Here we go.

  Chapter Thirty

  A few thoughts flashed through my mind as I pulled myself toward Brick. If Shaheen and I both died here—right now—then the infection could still conceivably get off the station. The issue of spores frightened me, and I knew at least one of us had to survive this in order to extinguish the threat forever.

  The stakes were huge.

  Brick lifted the blade. “Don’t come too close,” he snarled. “I don’t really want to kill you, Tanner. I just want to infect you and get off the station. I want to send the signal for help. We’re running out of time.”

  “No shit,” I muttered.

  At a meter’s distance from him, I hooked a foot under a rung and straightened. I raised the hammer and turned it to display both sides. He eyed it warily; he had clearly noted the sharp pick on its end. He licked his dry lips and positioned his right boot under a rung.

  He lunged at me, knife outstretched. I swung the hammer and twisted to the side, careful to keep my foot close to the hull. The knife sliced by me harmlessly and my weapon slammed into his helmet. He stumbled to the side, jolted by the blow. I peered at his visor, hoping to see a crack and a stream of vapor. Nothing.

  He withdrew and pulled himself closer to the station.

  I moved my left foot forward and slipped it under the notch of a maintenance hatch set into the hull. Brick slashed at the front of my vacsuit. I tried again with the hammer—this time going for his arm—hoping to dislodge his weapon.

  I missed and his blade scraped by my suit, just millimeters from causing fatal damage. I moved back and gripped the hammer tightly. I turned the shaft in my hands and made sure the pick side aimed forward.

  He noticed. “You mean business, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” I growled. “Don’t you?”

  “Maybe a truce?” he suggested.

  His posture gave him away—he was scared. From his point of view, the danger here was very real, not just for him, but for an entirely new species. If they lost this fight, it was all over for the nanos, period.

  I turned to see a similar struggle between Shaheen and Malichauk. He would thrust with a knife, she would swing with the club. It looked like an even match. I needed to finish with Brick so I could help her.

  Brick was also watching their struggle. Without a second thought, I placed my foot on the edge of the maintenance hatch and gave a savage push. I rocketed straight for him and barely skimmed the surface of the hull. It was a huge risk.

  I brought my hammer up—

  And caught him completely off guard. He held his hands up to ward me off and—just inches from him now—I aimed for his visor. The pick impacted with a crack—I heard it over the open comm—and a spiderweb snaked out from the center of the blow. He pulled himself back awkwardly. The knife drifted harmlessly away. The collision brought me to a halt and I pushed myself away from him. He recoiled, looking stunned. His head had hit the interior of his helmet like a brain against the inside of a skull. He was probably seeing stars.

  “Tanner!” Shaheen cried.

  Malichauk was on top of her, his knife just inches from her suit. I turned and hauled myself toward the two; Brick was now weaponless with a damaged suit—I could worry about him later. At that moment, Shaheen was more important.

  I approached Malichauk and raised my weapon high overhead. I smashed it down and drove the pick through his suit and into his back. It was a fatal blow, but I didn’t hesitate before I struck. He was the person who had caused the death and destruction on board SOLEX, the person who had refused to help us solve the mystery and defeat the nanos.

  The person who was currently threatening Shaheen.

  He let out a strangled cry and released her. He twisted, frantic now, and tried in vain to reach the pick that I had imbedded three inches in his back. Air and blood vented from the wound, and he flailed for another twenty seconds as he attempted to grab the weapon behind him.

  His struggle finally ceased. He looked up at me, fear and sadness clear in his features. “I don’t want this to die,” he whispered. “We can’t die. We have to spread.”

  “The in
fection is out of control.” My voice was flat. I watched for another few moments; he simply stared at me, his eyes pleading. A sudden look of calmness came over him, and he pushed off the hull and floated out to space.

  I swore as I realized what had just happened.

  “What is it?” Shaheen asked. “You got him.”

  I shook my head. “We needed his body, to make sure the infection dies.”

  She absorbed that. “The suit’s material will give out eventually. The sun will fry him. The nanos should all die.”

  I grunted. I hoped she was right, but there was always a chance...

  Behind me, Brick had disappeared. I glanced at Shaheen. She looked grim. We were now the only humans left on SOLEX.

  * * *

  Back aboard the station, we trudged through the corridors and looked at each other sadly. Only eight hours remained. It would take a ship that much time to travel if we signaled immediately.

  “How about it?” she asked. Her voice was soft in my helmet.

  “What?”

  “Let’s call for help. We have no other choice.”

  It brought me to a sudden halt. I frowned. We had been through this already, and I thought she had understood my motivations. We had taken care of Malichauk, but we weren’t out of the fire yet.

  “We’ll get Brick after we call,” she continued. “He’s the only one left. We can do it, Tanner.”

  I sighed. “I understand why you’re asking, but it’s just too dangerous.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Dammit, just be reasonable for a change! Let’s make the call. We’ve got eight hours to find him. It’s either that or sit here and wait to die!”

  I shook my head, stubborn.

  “Is this still about your friend, Michael Flemming? You think you screwed up here, just like on Mercury? It’s not your fault, Tanner. Why can’t you see that? You said yourself that this was something completely unique. You couldn’t figure things out at first because events were completely outside of your experience.”

  Her words made me wince. “That’s true, but too many people have died. I’m accountable, Shaheen. For Flemming’s death as well.”

  Her nostrils flared, and she threw her arms up. “Don’t you see you’re taking the blame for the shortcomings of a different investigator? It’s not your fault! Now suck it up and move on!”

  I stumbled as though hit by a physical blow. “I could have saved him,” I whispered.

  “Sure, if you were psychic.”

  “He asked for help. I didn’t give it to him.”

  “You got a killer captured. Why isn’t that good enough?”

  “He was the only person I had left in the galaxy,” I muttered. “Don’t you see? I helped kill him.”

  “Quint Sirius killed Flemming,” she cried. “Not you!”

  She was in a rage. I put my hands on her shoulders. “Why are you so upset by this?”

  She spoke in an angry rasp now: “You’d kill us when we can have a future together!”

  My heart nearly exploded. “The infection is too dangerous—” I started. But inside I wavered. The chance of having someone in my life appealed to me. I knew I had been lonely, but until now hadn’t really understood to what extent it affected me.

  “I’m going to make the call,” she snapped. “If you don’t like it, kill me!” She spun and began to march away.

  “Shaheen!” She didn’t stop. I watched as she disappeared up a ladder.

  She didn’t look back.

  * * *

  She had a point, I had to give her that. Surely we could take care of one man in the time that remained. Duty required me to maintain comm silence, but the chances were in our favor now.

  Or was I just trying to rationalize life over death, at the risk of a hundred billion others?

  I thought for another minute about the danger her suggestion involved. To say it was enormous was a colossal understatement. Surely there were options here! What else could we do?

  As I considered the situation, however, other things churned through my mind.

  Shaheen and I, together...

  A life of loneliness, gone forever...

  Happiness, after all this time...

  “Shit,” I muttered. I had known what I wanted all along—in fact, ever since I’d first laid eyes on her. I knew I needed her.

  And she needed me.

  She was now just beyond the top of the ladder; I approached her rapidly and grabbed her shoulders. A look of shock appeared on her features as I spun her around, but bewilderment soon replaced it. Her eyes were red and puffy.

  “All right,” I said finally. “We’ll make the call.”

  The corners of her lips tugged upward. “You mean it?”

  I nodded. “But if we haven’t taken care of Brick when help arrives, we don’t get on that jumpship. We warn them off and tell them everything. Agreed?”

  She pondered that, but only for a second. “All right. Let’s do it.”

  I looked into her eyes for another moment, then began to stalk away to get it done. There was no time to waste.

  I didn’t get far; she brought me to an abrupt halt with a tug on my arm. “What?” I asked.

  She hesitated. “What about the other stuff I said?”

  I frowned. “I—I think it sounds great.” I stumbled slightly as the words came out. “But why do you want me?”

  “I...” Her breath caught in her throat. “I’ve never had a hard time finding men. They always seem to be the wrong ones, though, because they’ve never had a hard time finding women. Does that make sense? They just take me for granted, and move on afterward. But you...”

  “Damaged goods?”

  “No. But you might...you might appreciate me more, for what I have to offer.”

  “I think I do. I will, I mean.”

  She squinted. “You don’t sound too convinced.”

  I put a hand on either side of her helmet. “Don’t get me wrong. I can’t wait to be with you when all this is done. But we still have to make that call, and we’re running out of time. We may be too late as it is. And we still have to worry about Brick. This is a huge risk we’re taking. If we can’t kill him, we have to make sure at least one of us is alive when the transport gets here.”

  She smiled. “That’s it?”

  “No, it’s not.” I pulled her into my arms and squeezed her hard against me. It was a difficult thing to do in a vacsuit, but we tried our best. I withdrew after a long moment. The smile was still on her face, and I put a hand to the side of her helmet. “Now let’s go make the call,” I whispered.

  * * *

  “Are you sure you’re not still interested in Jase Lassiter?” I asked her. I was angry at that man; he had refused us any help, and he had most likely sent me into this with full knowledge of the danger it involved.

  We now sat in the command center as we prepared to make our final plea for help.

  “That asshole?” Shaheen replied. She glanced at me. “I have even more reason to detest him now, after what he did to you. He played a part in the deception.”

  I watched her carefully. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

  “With Lassiter. You’re sure you don’t—”

  She punched me in the arm. “Shut up.”

  I offered a sly expression, and she reached out to touch my hand. Then she turned back to the console, entered her security code and reactivated the comm. It took only a few moments. I punched in the call destination from memory and grimaced at what I was about to attempt.

  Battery power was already low; this had to be short.

  Lassiter’s grainy image appeared on the screen. He was at SOLEX
CG on Mercury. “Tanner!” he exclaimed. “You’re still there!”

  I clenched my fists. “Obviously.”

  A look of suspicion came over his features. “What happened?” He glanced away for an instant, then back again.

  Lying went against everything I stood for. Nevertheless, I said, “We took care of the infection. You have to send a ship to get us, immediately. We have only a few hours of battery power left.”

  He looked skeptical. “How do you know the infection is gone?”

  “Everyone’s dead but Shaheen and me.” It was true, more or less. Brick had died, after all—just not the controlled host.

  A look of shock. “What do you mean? The captain? The scientists?”

  I shook my head. “All dead. We’ve had a terrible time here.” I was making it sound bad, but even so, it had been far worse than I was letting on.

  His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized me. “How do I know you don’t have this mystery illness?”

  “We’ve developed a test for it. I can send you the details. You can check us yourself when we get back.”

  “Tell me about the test.”

  Shaheen spoke. “The infection is caused by a bacteria that uses two proteins to cross the blood-brain barrier. All you have to do is check the blood for those proteins. It’s quite effective. We exposed three people that way.”

  “Who?”

  “Dr. Malichauk, Katrina Kyriakis and Avery Rickets.”

  “Where are those three now?”

  I shifted in my chair. “I told you, they’re dead.”

  “You killed them?”

  I sighed. “There was no choice, Lassiter.”

  He looked uncomfortable. “Look, my orders came from CCF HQ on Earth. I’m not to let anyone off the station.”

  “But the infection is gone!” Shaheen cried. “Look, Jase, don’t do this to us, please.”

  “I have no choice in the matter,” he said, eyes narrowed.

  I put a hand on her arm. “Listen, send the details of the test to your superiors. They’ll know it works. Promise me you’ll do that, at the very least.”

  He thought for a second. “Sure, I can do that. What are the two proteins?” He wrote them down as I told him. “Good luck,” he murmured. “And for what it’s worth, I’m—”