The Furnace

by Timothy S. Johnston

  He pondered my response. Then he smiled and handed it to me. “I reckon you’ll tell me when you’re ready and able. For now, you should get some rest.” His mouth twitched. “And perhaps put some clothes on.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered. “Where’s Shaheen?”

  He gestured out the clinic and into the corridor. “Sleeping in a cabin. She was unconscious, but we got to her just in time too. Like you, we gave her radiation-exposure medicine and several doses of priority nanos. They’re repairing internal damage as we speak.” He paused, then, “You both will probably have some permanent injuries from this. You’ll need to see a real physician soon.”

  His mention of nanos startled me for an instant, until I realized he was speaking of the ordinary, medicinal variety. I snorted and lay back on the table. The stark fluorescent lights glared down at me from the ceiling. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had survived. The cold steel on my back comforted me, somehow. After all that heat and fire, it was a pleasant sensation.

  “How did you know where to look for us?” I muttered. “I mean, the vacsuit comms are really weak. I didn’t think I got my transmission anywhere near Mercury.”

  “You didn’t,” the woman said. She was still examining my vitals. “But the life pods did.”

  My face was blank. “What?”

  She frowned at me. “Every life pod emits a powerful transmission that gives its location and vector. We were making a run from Mercury to Venus—crossing damn near the sun on our way—when our alarms started to blare like crazy. We picked up eight signals. We’ve been tracking them down ever since.”

  My mouth hung open. “You have?” That floored me. I hadn’t even considered it.

  The man said, “Sure. It’s law. If I ignored a Mayday, I could lose my merchant’s license. My ship too, probably.”

  A merchant. He had simply been transporting cargo when the life pods I had jettisoned caught his attention. He had hunted each down, and then Shaheen’s plea for help had attracted his notice.

  Shit. I was so damn—

  “Lucky,” the woman said with a shake of her head. “You’re lucky we were here.”

  The man scowled. “What were they doing out here anyway, all empty?” He snarled. “I’ve been plotting new trajectories for almost twenty-four hours now!”

  “They saved my life,” I mumbled.

  He looked at me with an odd expression. “I guess it’s part of the story you might tell when you’re feeling better.”

  I sighed. “I suppose.”

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence as the two of them glanced at each other, then turned their attention back to me. They were waiting for me to say something, but I kept my mouth shut. The woman looked frustrated and opened her mouth, but a glare from the man made her close it. She turned from him and stalked away.

  “Get some rest now,” he said. He handed me a stack of clothes. “Put these on and I’ll show you to a cabin. You can sleep.”

  Sleep. A warm bunk. No one knocking the hatch down trying to kill or infect me. The thought seemed completely alien, but too good to pass up.

  I slipped my legs off the table. It was still difficult to move; I had pins and needles all over. My limbs moved in short jerks, like a newborn baby’s. Eventually I got the clothes on.

  “Where should we take you?” he asked.

  I knitted my brow. “Where are you going?”

  “Venus. We have to deliver some cargo.”

  “And then?”

  “Back to Mercury.”

  I nodded to myself. Mercury sounded just fine.

  * * *

  Seventeen hours later, I stood in the corridor and knocked on Shaheen’s hatch. It slid aside with a rattle and there she stood, bleary-eyed but otherwise no worse for wear.

  “Close your mouth,” she said with a grin. “You look ridiculous.”

  I moved closer and crushed her in my arms. “I can’t believe you made it,” I whispered in her ear.

  “You can’t believe it,” she said as she held tight. “I’m still shocked I let you talk me into it!”

  I pulled back from her. “Hey, it worked.”

  “Yeah, but the acceleration damn near killed me.”

  She led me into the cabin, and my eyes tracked up and down her body. “You actually look pretty good.”

  “Pretty good?” she retorted. “Is that all you can say?”

  “Well—”

  “After just spending two days trying to repair the damage from the meteor shower, thirty hours fighting for my life on SOLEX and fifteen hours in a vacsuit waiting to die—all without sleep, mind you—I think I look slightly better than pretty good.”

  I managed a grin. “You look damn good. Great. Amazing. Fantastic. How’s that?”

  She tossed her hair back. “Better. Maybe I’ll forgive you.”

  I grabbed her shoulders and pressed my lips to hers, hard.

  “That’s even better,” she mumbled when we parted.

  “Hmm.”

  “What?” She eyed me with a curious expression on her face.

  “Nothing.”

  “Seriously, what is it?”

  I sighed. “I guess I realized during this experience what’s been wrong with my life.”

  She looked concerned. “There was something wrong?”

  I lowered myself to the edge of her bunk. “I never thought there was. Until I met you.”

  A smile lit her face again, and her blue eyes sparkled. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “What?”

  “You do have feelings, after all.”

  I grimaced. “Shaheen, I’ve always had feelings. I just...I guess I understand more about what I’ve been missing in life. My priorities have changed.”

  “And I’m to blame?”

  “You’re the cause, but that’s a good thing.”

  She kissed me again. “It is, isn’t it?”

  I ran my fingers through her thick black hair. She nuzzled my neck and sighed. “I can’t believe what we’ve been through,” she said. “Malichauk, Brick, the nanos.” She snorted. “The mass driver! It’s surreal.”

  I stared at her in silence for a few moments. I didn’t want to ruin her good mood, but there was still more to do. “It’s not over yet,” I said in a soft voice.

  Her jaw dropped. “What?”

  “We have one more place to go.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Please tell me the infection is gone.”

  “I don’t know. I can’t say for sure.”

  Her expression was one of complete shock. “But where else could it be?”

  I chewed my lip. There was a possibility the infection had escaped, and if it had indeed happened, we would be in major, major trouble. But I didn’t want to tell her that yet. There was no need to scare her needlessly. Instead I said, “Mercury, maybe. We have to go to Mercury.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The freighter dropped its cargo at a berth on Venus and started immediately on its way to Mercury. I didn’t complain about the circuitous route back to where this had all begun; after all, I had a nice companion to spend my time with. Shaheen and I locked ourselves in our cabin and emerged only for food and water, and even that was rare.

  Tyler Spree, the owner of the freighter, gave us a knowing smile one evening in the mess.

  “You two act like you’ve been apart for years.”

  “In a way, we have,” I said.

  He grabbed a coffee and sat across from me. Shaheen and I were eating a light salad, shooting flirtatious glances across the table at each other.

  “I can’t take much more of this,” he grumbled. “You two are ridiculous.”

  “Sorry,” I said. “Can’t help myself.”

 
“I can tell.” He took a gulp from his mug and cleared his throat.

  I eyed him. “What is it?”

  He looked down, as if ashamed. “I was hoping you could tell me a bit about how you ended up in space. I promised myself I wouldn’t ask, but...”

  I didn’t know exactly what to say. He had saved our lives after all, and we owed him everything. Still, we couldn’t reveal to just anybody what had happened, especially a civilian.

  “I don’t even know your full name,” he continued. “Only Kyle.”

  I glanced at Shaheen. “I’m not sure what I can tell you,” I said finally. “My name is Lieutenant Kyle Tanner. I’m an investigator in the CCF. Homicide Section.”

  “Homicide,” he repeated, his eyes wide. “Military. I knew it. You have that bearing.” A look of shock crossed his face. “You’re not a Council rep, are you? I mean—”

  I waved the suggestion away. “No, don’t worry. Besides, after saving our lives and giving us a lift back to Mercury, I couldn’t care less what you say or do. We’re grateful.”

  He nodded and looked relieved. “Well? How did you end up out here, in space with no ship, so close to Sol?”

  I had thought about this question for a while. There was really no good answer. Only the truth would make any sense, and even that was too outlandish to be believable. I could, however, reveal a part of it. “I—we—were at an outpost that suffered an accident. We had to launch ourselves using the mass driver.”

  He looked instantly skeptical. “And the empty life pods?”

  I shrugged. “Computer malfunction.”

  He stared at me intently. “And this?” He produced a piece of paper and gingerly set it on the table between us.

  Shaheen gasped. On it were our pictures and a large title that said “Wanted.” Under the photos were our names and descriptions. There was no mention of our CCF ranks or of SOLEX One.

  “My God,” Shaheen said in horror. “They think we’re infected.”

  She was right. It was a natural conclusion, after all. We had called everyone I could think of for help, and if the CCF had gotten around to searching SOLEX, then they would know we were missing. We were still in serious trouble. “Which is one reason I want to go back to Mercury,” I said. No wonder Tyler’s wife had been uncomfortable around us.

  “To prove we’re clean?”

  I paused. “Among other things, yes.”

  Tyler watched us, his eyebrows raised. “Infection?”

  I turned back to him. “Nothing to worry about, Spree,” I said. “A misunderstanding.”

  He frowned. “Right. A misunderstanding so great that they’ve warned every vessel between here and Mercury?”

  That was interesting. I hadn’t known that, but it didn’t surprise me. They would do anything to find us. I looked at Tyler; the concern on his features was clear. I owed him an explanation, and more important, I couldn’t risk getting him in trouble with the CCF.

  I considered for a long moment what to say next. Finally, “They think we’re infected with a dangerous illness. They want us quarantined.”

  Another look of shock. “Should I be worried? Are you—”

  “We’re completely healthy, I promise. On Mercury I plan to prove it to the CCF. Once you get us there, you don’t have to help anymore. I’ll never implicate you in any way. They’ll never know.”

  He grunted and paused for a long moment. “Can’t say I care too much for people telling me what to do. Too many rules as it is.”

  “You would have turned us in on Venus otherwise.” At that moment, in the way he stood staring at me and the way he spoke, I learned a lot. He disliked the CCF and was willing to help someone in trouble and on the run.

  “Perhaps.” He studied me silently before he rose. “Once we get to Mercury, you’re on your own. I’ve helped as much as I can.”

  I nodded. “We appreciate that. Thank you.”

  He marched from the galley.

  Shaheen turned to me. “We could just pretend to be dead, you know. The CCF might even believe it.”

  “You’re right. They might be looking for us just to be sure.”

  “So why turn yourself in to them?”

  I stared at her. “Come on, Shaheen. Neither of us can live like that. On the run, constantly hiding...”

  She scrutinized me for a moment. Then she smiled. “Okay. I trust you.” She grabbed my hand. “Now, what do you want to do? We still have a day before we get there...”

  The look on her face was unmistakable.

  * * *

  After landing the ship on Mercury, Tyler and his wife, Gloria, escorted us to the air lock and out the hatch. A few muted goodbyes later, Shaheen and I marched through the tunnels of the city. It seemed like years since I had been there. It wasn’t an especially enjoyable place, but after SOLEX, it felt like coming home.

  Thirty minutes passed in silence. I let the sights and sounds of the cramped and crowded tunnels wash over me. It was hard to believe that I had ever hated this place. I wondered absently about the Gates of Hell. Had the bartender had his knee repaired? Had Quint Sirius—

  Shaheen spoke. “When are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  I stopped and gestured up a set of rock stairs toward the city’s largest hospital. “I have to check something before we turn ourselves in.”

  We had decided to present ourselves to the authorities on Mercury, provide them with our information regarding SOLEX and the test for the nano, and prove we weren’t infected. Despite the test, however, the thought had occurred to me that they might just execute us to give them a nice, tidy end to the whole matter. What we had planned was incredibly dangerous, but Shaheen agreed with me. We needed our lives in the CCF.

  Before we did that, however, there was someone I had to question.

  “What exactly are we doing?” she pressed.

  “Dr. Higby treated Jarvis Riddel when he arrived here from SOLEX.”

  Her eyes widened. “You think he was infected?”

  I nodded. “There’s a chance. I just want to give him the test and make sure the infection’s really gone.”

  Her face was pale, but she let me tug her through a wide opening, up the steps and into the hospital. I quickly located Higby’s name on the register. “Fifteen levels down,” I said.

  We boarded the lift and spoke the necessary command. Minutes later, the elderly Dr. Higby stared at me, his mouth agape. His fingers were white on the clipboard at his waist.

  “Lieutenant Tanner?” he said. “Is this about your investigation?”

  “Yes.”

  “More questions about Jarvis Riddel?” He shook his head. “I swear, that patient has caused more uproar here than any we’ve ever had.”

  He motioned for us to follow him as he marched down the hall.

  “What do you mean?” I asked as I trailed him. My hand strayed to my side.

  “Why, first those thugs from Earth took Riddel away, then you call regarding him—more than once, mind you—then a CCF security team arrives to give everyone mysterious blood tests!”

  My jaw hit the deck. “Blood tests? When?”

  “Just yesterday.”

  Shaheen clutched my arm. “What happened?”

  We entered his office and sat before him. He placed his hands on his desk and leaned forward. “They checked everyone in the entire hospital. It was quite disruptive, you know.”

  “What did they find?” I asked. My heart pounded.

  “I still don’t know why they were testing everyone. Can you tell me?”

  I winced. “I don’t—”

  He snorted. “I see. More military bullshit. Top secret and all that. I tried to get it out of them, but they wouldn’t say either.”

  “What did they find?”
I snapped.

  He frowned. “I’m not sure. They separated thirteen people.”

  I bolted to my feet. “Thirteen!”

  “Yes. And they tested more outside of here. Family members, friends, acquaintances.”

  Sweat beaded on my forehead. I couldn’t believe what he had said. People were infected, after all.

  The infection had spread.

  “It’s got everyone talking,” he continued. Then he paused. A peculiar look crossed his face. “But you know what?”

  “What?” I muttered as I pondered the development.

  “It never made the news. Papers. The Net. Nothing. Your friends kept it completely silent.” He grunted. “I guess it’s not hard in our society. Still, I am a little surprised by it.”

  Shaheen said, “What happened to the thirteen?”

  He turned to her. “Taken away. They notified families that their loved ones were sick and might not return.” He exhaled. “Really, if you know where they are, you should tell me. I thought I was pretty honest and forthright with you, and I would appreciate the same in return.” He sat back and waited.

  I reached again to my side. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but I can’t say more than this: it was a bacterial infection, and it seems that those infected have been quarantined for everyone’s safety.” I hesitated, then, “And now I’m afraid you have to do something for me.”

  He stared at the pistol that I was aiming at his head. Tyler had been kind enough to give it to me. It was an unregistered black-market variety.

  “What the hell is this?” Higby grated.

  “Sorry, Doctor, but I’m not a hundred percent certain that you’re clean.”

  “What do you mean?” His face was white.

  “I have to ask you to take us to your nearest lab. I want to test you.”

  He eyed me for a minute; he didn’t understand. “I’m sorry?”

  I gestured with the pistol. “I’m afraid I have to insist.”

  * * *

  The nearest lab turned out to be directly adjacent to his office. He led us there and we stood next to the procedures table and watched each other silently.

  “What now?” he asked finally.