by Henry Vogel
I felt as if my heart had burst inside my chest. A red haze fell across everything before me and my vision narrowed until I could see nothing but the closest pirate. From far away, I heard myself vent a howl of inarticulate rage and remorse. Beside me, Martin did the same.
Boost!
The pirate at the end of my tunnel vision was just turning around when my sword cut him in two.
As the pieces of the pirate fell away, another pirate appeared at the end of my red tunnel. His sword came up in slow motion then fell away as I severed his arm at the elbow. Terror etched itself on the man’s face as I drove my sword into his chest, stopping only when the hilt hit his breast bone. With a heave, I flung the body over my head, yanking my sword free as the dying man fell to the corridor behind me.
On the edge of my narrowed vision, I saw a pirate trying to edge around me. My left fist shot out and crushed the man’s throat. The gurgling, gagging man slid down the wall, doomed to a slow death by asphyxiation.
The next pirate tried to back away, both hands held before him imploring me to spare him. Pirates behind him shoved him back toward me. I swung and my sword sliced his throat wide open.
With no hope of escape, two pirates charged at me. I stepped forward to meet them. With a broad sweep of my sword, their heads bounced off the corridor wall.
Finally, I came to the man who had closed the airlock door. The man who had pressed the button and consigned my wife, my reason for life, to the cold void of space. He huddled against the wall, hands raised in supplication. Tears streamed down his face and his mouth moved frantically as he begged for his life.
I was not in a forgiving mood.
Sword raised to give the man a faster death than he deserved, I stepped toward him.
“David! No!”
Oh, God, I could almost hear Callan’s voice calling to me.
“Darling, stop! For me, for us, stop!”
Green eyes appeared at the end of my red tunnel. Soft, loving hands wrapped around my neck and pulled me toward the eyes. I dropped my sword and, not daring to hope, reached toward the vision before me. My hands met warm, live flesh and I pulled Callan into my embrace.
My vision cleared. Hearing returned. I was vaguely aware Martin and Megan were similarly entwined. Covering my wife’s face with kisses, I rejoiced.
Callan was alive!
CHAPTER FIFTY
At last convinced that this wasn’t a dream from which I would awaken, that Callan truly was alive, I stopped smothering her with kisses and simply held her close.
“How?” I asked. “I saw the airlock door close. I saw the pirate cycle the airlock. How did you survive?”
“Ask Private Harris,” Callan said. “He’s the one who saved us.”
Martin and I both turned to the private, who looked uncomfortable under our gazes.
“Go on, Harris,” the sergeant encouraged. “Tell them what you were telling me.”
“Well, sir, I realized we were in an airlock as soon as Her Highness and Miss Megan,” and here Harris turned to Megan, “I’m sorry ma’am, I don’t know your family name.”
“It’s Tuttle, but you’re more than welcome to call me Megan.”
“Like I was saying, I figured out it was an airlock when we ran out of room to retreat. I mean, it would be stupid to make a corridor that didn’t go anywhere! Then when those bast- uh, pirates jumped back, I figured out their plan. I remembered all that spaceship safety training we got from those ladies who used to be prisoners of the pirates, especially how airlock doors won’t open if the other door isn’t fully shut and sealed.”
Harris held up a mangled sword. “I jumped forward and stuck my sword between the door and the wall. The door looked like it shut and it sounded like it shut, but it didn’t shut. Of course, we’d have been in real trouble if you and Captain Bane hadn’t shown up, sir!”
“That was quick thinking, lad!” the sergeant said. Turning to me, he added, “Like I told you, he’s a smart one.”
I grasped Harris’s hand. “Thank you. Those words are inadequate, but they’re all I have.”
Martin followed suit. Then Callan and Megan surrounded Harris. He blushed a deep scarlet when they both hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. Finally, Rupor pumped the private’s hand, offering a hearty, “Good show, lad!”
“I hate to interrupt, sir,” the sergeant said. Pointing at the lone surviving pirate, the one who had tried to cycle the airlock, he added, “But we need to decide what we’re going to do with him and then get out of this corridor before some other pirates trap us down here.”
The pirate sat huddled on the deck, staring at me with wide, wild eyes.
“He’s guilty of the attempted murder of a member of the royal family of Mordan,” I said.
The pirate started shaking his head violently. “I can’t be guilty unless I have a trial! It’s the law! I’ve got to have a trial!”
“What a staunch defender of law and order you are all of a sudden,” I sneered. “What due process did you follow before attempting to murder my wife?”
“I didn’t know who she was!”
“Well, ignorance won’t be a problem for you much longer. There is only one penalty for your crime — death by beheading.”
“You can’t do that! You’re a sworn officer of the Terran Federation! You have to follow the law!”
“Damn me, but the man is right,” I said. “Neither Martin nor I can carry out the sentence.”
“My planet is not a member of this federation,” Rupor said. “Perhaps you would allow me the honor?”
“By all means,” I replied. “Does anyone have anything to say in this pirate’s defense?”
My companions all shook their heads. The marines dragged the pirate to his feet and down the hallway a dozen yards. The man blubbered and pleaded for his life, something I felt certain would draw harsh laughter from the pirate if our positions were reversed. Then Rupor’s sword flashed and pleading stopped.
“They- they just executed him! Chopped off his head!” The voice came from down the corridor.
Pirates crowded into the corridor from the same air duct we’d come through moments earlier.
Just as the sergeant feared, we were trapped!
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The pirates continued to pile into the corridor fifty yards away. Silence fell over them as each pirate took in the scene before the airlock. Bodies and pieces of bodies lay scattered around us, with splashes of crimson breaking the monotonous gray of the rock from which the pirate base had been carved. One of the pirates said something to his fellows. The distance reduced his words to an indistinct murmur, but his fellow pirates heard him clearly enough — including the one in charge.
“Shut yer trap, Benson,” Quint ordered. “This ain’t no ball, crimson or t’otherwise. Now git down there and take ‘em, men!”
“Martin,” I asked, “any bright ideas?”
“Actually, yes. See if you can delay them for a minute or two.”
Turning my attention back to the pirates, who started a slow shuffle in our direction, I called, “Hey, Quint, if you want someone to ‘git’ us, why don’t you step to the front and lead by example. Bring my old pal Chapman with you.” I held up my blood-stained sword. “I’ve got a few pointed remarks to make to him!”
Some of the pirates laughed.
“Stop yer laughin’ and git moving!” Quint bellowed.
Once again, a few pirates took a few steps in my direction.
“I’ve got to say, Quint, you do seem to have a way with commanding men,” I yelled. “How do you manage to get them to go to their deaths while you stay in the rear, ready to run if the battle goes against you?”
The pirates who had shuffled forward stopped and looked behind them.
“Did Quint tell you what he did just a few minutes ago, when we met in a different corridor?”
“Pay him no never mind and charge!” Quint commanded.
“Maybe you could ask Chapman about i
t. He was right by Quint’s side throughout the fight.” All the pirates looked back at the pirate captain, uncertainty written on their faces. “Quint, they all know Chapman for the coward he is. What does it say about you that you’ve been shoulder to shoulder with him every time we’ve met in battle?”
Quint’s face went so brightly red I thought he might pop an artery. Grabbing Chapman by the arm, he dragged the hapless turncoat through the crowd to the front.
“Ain’t nobody gonna git away with callin’ me no coward, Rice!” he yelled. Turning back to his men, he shouted, “Like I said, let’s git ‘em!”
Sword in one hand and dragging Chapman with the other, Quint led the charge. Their faith in Captain Quint restored, the pirates roared and charged after him.
“Martin, how’s that idea coming?”
“Surprisingly well, David,” he said. “You did such a good job distracting them, I don’t think any of the pirates noticed me rummaging around in the storage locker at the end of the corridor. It held more vacuum harnesses than we need. Once you put on your harness, we can get out of here!”
I sprinted back to the airlock. Martin tossed a harness to me and started closing the airlock door to the corridor. I slipped into the harness quickly and was ready by the time the door closed. As the door cut off the pirates’ shouts, I grabbed the safety strap looped along the wall and wrapped an arm around Callan.
“Ready!”
Martin pressed the emergency release. There was a brief rush of air escaping as the outer door opened. Then I led the way out onto the airless surface of the pirate’s asteroid base.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Callan glowed in the nimbus of the air-preserving forcefield her vacuum harness projected around her body. I would have loved nothing more than to admire her heavenly form, but we had to get away from the horde of pirates bearing down on our position. Martin finished showing the others how to activate their comm units, so I stepped through the base’s gravity field and into the almost-nonexistent gravity on the surface of the asteroid.
“Keep your movements controlled and gentle after coming through the gravity field,” I warned. “One wrong step could send you spinning off into the asteroid field. In fact, it’s best if we all clasp hands. It will slow our progress but we will all be anchored to each other.”
Taking my hand, Callan grinned with excitement and stepped through the gravity field. Her grin faded and she turned a slight green.
“Oh, I feel like I’m going to hurl!” she moaned. “What’s wrong with me?”
“It’s just a touch of space sickness,” I explained. “Most people suffer from it the first time they experience low or no gravity.”
And, indeed, the rest of the Aashlanders also suffered from it, though none quite so badly as my wife.
“You usually look lovely in green, my dear,” I said, trying for a light tone, “but that shade just doesn’t suit you.”
“Ha, ha. Maybe I’ll throw up on you and see if green suits you.”
“Perhaps a change of subject is in order.”
“Good idea, husband.” Callan still looked sick, but at least there was a bit of humor reflected in her eyes.
“Martin, how many harnesses are left in the locker outside the airlock?” I asked. “We need to prepare for pursuit.”
“No pursuit is coming from that airlock, David,” Martin replied.
“Our good Captain Bane had each of us grab extra harnesses,” Rupor said. “We piled then next to the airlock exit and they blew into space when the air rushed out.”
I gave Martin a thumbs up. “Very clever!”
“I think ‘very obvious’ is the more appropriate phrase — at least to anyone familiar with vacuum and pirates,” Martin said.
“Okay, since you insist we’ll go with ‘very obviously clever,’” I said. “The upshot is the pirates have to find another airlock before they can come out here after us. With luck, we’ll reach another airlock or the docking bay before they find us.”
“Sir?” Harris asked. “How do you know where to go without a sun to guide your direction?”
“My implant has a fairly accurate idea of where we are in relation to the docking bay. I’m just following the map it has constructed of the asteroid — both inside and out.”
“So our lives are in the hands — figuratively speaking — of that tiny machine you tell us is in your head?” Rupor asked.
“Welcome to my world, Rupor,” Callan said.
I recognized Rupor’s and Callan’s words for what they were — banter meant to keep everyone’s minds off their roiling stomachs. I was about to answer in kind when a bright light flashed across my vision. Looking to my left, I spied a squad of pirates about a hundred yard away. They moved with easy familiarity on the surface of the asteroid. Far worse, they all carried laser pistols!
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
“We’ve got to get under cover before their aim improves!” I shouted.
“David, let’s split into two groups,” Martin called. “Once everyone else is under cover, we can figure out what to do.”
Doubling the potential targets while making those targets half the size struck me as a very good idea. “Sergeant, Rupor, let go of each other!”
Our low gravity conga line broke in two, leaving me with Callan, Harris, Megan, and Rupor. Fortunately, the asteroid was pockmarked with craters and rubble from countless collisions with smaller asteroids. It should only take a few seconds to get under cover.
Bright light flashed at my feet and another light blazed past Harris’s head, reminding me that we might not have a few seconds! The pirates were getting the range and it was only a matter of time — a very short time — before they scored a hit. I had to put rock between us and the pirates now.
I was leading my group toward a very low ridge only a few feet away. Our slow pace meant it would take too long to get us all behind the ridge. Then I had an idea.
Wedging my foot under a tiny outcropping, I said, “All of you, hold onto each other as tight as possible. Those of you at the end of the line brace yourselves!”
Wrapping both hands around Callan’s wrist, I pulled her up and over my head. In the light gravity, five full grown adults had a combined weight less than a child’s weight in normal gravity. Callan arched up and over me with the other three trailing like a whip cord. My foot pressed against the underside of the outcropping as the line of men and women pivoted about that one spot. My wife came down on the uncovered side of the ridge, but the rest came down just over the crest.
Slipping my foot free, I said, “Harris, pull us over with you!”
The young guard’s hard yank brought Callan and me barreling into him. The three of us flew past Rupor and Megan. I feared we might spin off the surface of the asteroid and out into space when, with a hard jerk, we came to a stop and slammed down onto the rocky surface. Glancing to the other end of our line, I saw Rupor hugging a small spire like a lover.
Next to me, Callan’s weak stomach gave way and she retched miserably. Megan reeled Callan in, wrapped my poor wife in a sisterly hug, and tried to comfort her. I longed to do the same but our lives were at stake.
“Martin?” I called over the comm.
“That was quite a show you put on over there,” he replied. “Is everyone okay?”
“Scrapes and scratches, but we’ll live. Do you think we have piratical eavesdroppers?”
“There’s no doubt about it. All the harnesses were set to the same channel.” Martin was silent for a couple of seconds. “Were the seniors still playing the search and rescue prank on plebes when you were at the academy?”
“Of course they were. Traditions die hard at the academy! Switch now.”
Every plebe in the Scout academy spent one night in a two man ship, monitoring channel five sixteen for orders to move in on a pirate ring. It was the space-based equivalent of a snipe hunt. I changed my channel, showing the others how to do it at the same time.
“Do you read me, Martin
?”
“Loud and clear. Now that we can have a private conversation, have you had any bright ideas?”
“Yes. I think you and I ought to go for a swim!”
Megan asked the question which was on the mind of every Aashlander. “How are you going swimming when there’s no water? Is this some kind of Scout thing?”
“Asteroid miners developed it and named it, but they do teach it in the Scout Academy,” I answered. “It’s a fast way of moving across uneven surfaces in very low gravity. You lay down and pull yourself along with your hands and feet, pushing off the surface just enough to stay a few inches above it. The miners called it swimming because it looks more like someone swimming underwater.”
“So we’re all going for a swim?” Callan asked.
“More or less. Martin and I are going to use it to get close enough to attack the pirates,” I said. “The rest of you will use it as best you can to get closer to the docking bay.”
“David, what makes you think your fellow fighting men would not follow you into battle?” Rupor asked, bristling just a bit. “Leave a man or two to guard the women, of course, but do not presume that we are unworthy to join you!”
“Rupor, would you take an untrained soldier into battle? One who had listened to a very brief description of the principles of swordsmanship but had never held a sword?”
“Of course not, but swordsmanship is a complex science while this swimming you describe sounds quite simple!”
I pointed to a high outcropping about twenty yards away. “Tell you what, Rupor, if any of you reach that rock before Martin and I reach the pirates, I’ll withdraw my objections and you’re welcome to join us fighting the pirates.”
Rupor nodded, both satisfied and more thoughtful.
Callan kissed my lips. “Don’t get yourself killed.”
Megan scooted up next to me and kissed my cheek. “Don’t let Martin get himself killed.”
