Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Jason sat in the command chair reviewing the crew roster on his virtual tablet. He looked up and saw Orion at her station running battle simulations, while Ensign McBride at his station simply sat holding his head, both elbows resting on the console before him.
Gunny, looking frustrated, turned and addressed Jason. “We have to do something, Captain. I’m not unaccustomed to dealing with pain, pushing my body to its limits. But I’ve reached my limits. God knows how the rest of the crew deals with the pain. If you want my opinion, I say we undergo the procedure.”
McBride, head still in hands, nodded his approval.
Jason had spoken to most of the crewmembers earlier one on one. He wanted it to be an individual choice, but a unanimous decision would make things simpler. From the initial responses he’d received back, there was no question they were more than willing to undergo the procedure—anything was better than living like this. But hadn’t the inhabitants of the Crystal City had the same choice while dealing with the same pain?
Jason closed down his tablet and stood.
“Made a decision, Cap?” Orion asked.
“A partial one. I’ll test it on myself; if I’m found to be medically sound and have no adverse effects, then I’ll let others choose for themselves.”
As Jason headed for the DeckPort he noticed Granger, wearing a standard spacer’s jumpsuit, now walking in stride at his side.
“Where do we set this thing up?” Jason asked.
“I’ve taken the liberty of placing two portals within the ship’s forward hold area.”
“You never had any doubt that I’d acquiesce to this, did you?”
“Not really. When people are given the choice to live or die, most will opt for living. There’s no secret motive or agenda here, Captain. It is a good thing. Nothing more than another tool made available in an extraordinary, technologically-advanced age.”
Jason didn’t respond to that. He then stopped and looked at Granger. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Anything adverse happens to my crew or my family, and I’ll hold you personally responsible. You don’t want me as your enemy. And one more thing—you pop into my ship unannounced again, I’ll shoot you where you stand. Is that clear?”
“Quite clear, Captain,” Granger replied with that same damn smile.
* * *
Both Ricket and Dira were waiting in the forward hold and turned as Jason and Granger entered. No one else had been informed why they’d come. Dira’s eyes brightened as Jason approached and she rushed forward and hugged him.
He felt her arms around his neck pulling him in close, and it felt good. She brought her lips up to his ear and said, “I don’t care if anyone sees us like this or not. I needed to be in your arms, Jason. If this is the last time I have to tell you—”
Jason gently pushed her away and looked into her eyes. “It won’t be, Dira. I promise.”
He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. The last thing Jason wanted was mixed feelings about going ahead. The more he had thought about it, the more nervous he’d become. But no matter how he approached it, he was about to kill himself. The person who would reenter the world would no longer be the same Jason Reynolds who had left it—was he truly prepared for that? And there were other concerns—would he still be able to captain The Lilly effectively? What type of man would he be?
In the middle of the hold were what looked like any two of their seven-foot-high, four-foot-wide DeckPorts, although these two were both framed in a bright glowing gold color.
“Ricket, if something goes wrong, don’t let anyone else try this.”
“Captain, there is something I’d like to show you before you enter the portal.”
“What? Can’t it wait?”
“No, sir. I don’t think it can.” Ricket then walked over to the portal on the left and stepped inside, disappearing from sight.
“Ricket! What the hell did you do?” Jason turned and glared at Granger, then back at the portal. “Well? Where is he?”
“Sometimes it takes a moment,” Granger replied nonchalantly.
Ricket came through the portal on the right. He stopped and turned to look back from where he’d just exited. “Quite amazing, Captain.”
“What happened? Where did you go?” Jason asked, his anger somewhat abated seeing Ricket alive and unhurt.
“I will have to play back the process to analyze things more closely. But I simply walked into one portal and came out the other.”
Dira knelt down at Ricket’s side and held a small scanner to his head.
“Well, your nano-devices seem to be operating nominally. Any pain?” she asked.
“No pain. My own internal sensors tell me everything is as it should be.”
“Do you feel … any different? Do you feel like you?” asked Jason.
“I don’t feel any different. Yes, I feel like me, Captain.”
Jason started to move toward the portal, then stopped and turned toward Granger. “How does it know what to do? How does it know if I want my nano-devices repaired or if I want two heads?”
Granger smiled and shook his head. “How do DeckPorts know which level on the ship you want to travel to?”
Jason didn’t answer.
“Intention,” Granger replied. “Intention is real, quantifiable and measurable. What you’re doing here, what you’re all doing here, is evident. With that said, have a clear intention before you enter the portal.”
Jason stepped up close to the portal and hesitated. He turned and looked back, noting the concern on Dira’s face. He took a breath and stepped through. Like when phase-shifting, he experienced a flash of light and then immediately reentered the hold of the ship. The first thing he noticed was the complete lack of pain in his head. He felt wonderful. As far as he could tell, he was still the same person he had always been. At least he felt he was. Jason looked down at his arms, his legs—nothing seemed out of place.
Dira stood at the portal smiling. She raised her eyebrows as if to say: well, should I go?
Jason nodded. She stepped inside and was gone. Several moments later she re-emerged. She, too, was smiling and obviously relieved that the pain in her head was gone. She looked at Ricket and Granger, but not at Jason. She let out a deep breath and walked over to her small medical pack and started to place items back into their appropriate compartments.
“How do you feel, are you okay?” Jason asked, kneeling down next to her.
“I feel fine, Captain.”
Jason nodded and smiled.
“If it’s all right, I’ll start moving the crew and your family through the portals right away, sir.”
“That would be fine, Dira.”
As he looked into her beautiful eyes, with their flecks of violet and amber, he realized there was something different in the way she looked back at him.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Traveler entered the camp with his quarry draped over his shoulder. No one was in sight and there was a stillness in the air that raised the small hairs on the back of his thick neck. Up ahead three furry carcasses hung from a low-hanging branch. The tree, similar to a large oak, stood tall and dominated the center point of the rhino encampment. Blood pooled, thick and viscous in the soil. Traveler, tired from a two-day hunt in the forest alone, stood silently before the large tree. As he watched the three magnificent Furlong Bear carcasses sway in the late afternoon breeze, first shame, then guilt, and then anger filled his thoughts.
Eventually, with Captain Reynolds’s blessing, they had been allowed to hunt whatever they needed—with one exception, the Furlong Bear. Why do this now? he wondered. There was plenty of other game. Traveler had given the ultimate oath—one based on his prowess as a male warrior, the Oath of Strength. To deviate from this oath required an offering of something most precious—one of his testicles. Instinctively, he reached down and cupped his maleness in one hand.
He turned and slowly surveye
d his surroundings. Large mud-packed domes encircled the camp. A fire blazed nearby; soon, it would be hot enough to cook the Furlong Bear. Four large rhino-warriors emerged from the largest of the domes, domicile of their leader, the one called Three Horns.
They approached slowly and spread out. Dressed for battle, they wore thick leather breastplates and gripped heavy hammers in their fists. No energy weapons were strapped to their wrists. A large buck was still draped over one of Traveler’s shoulders. He made no effort to move. Three Horns stopped ten feet in front of Traveler; the others also stopped.
“Your hunt was successful, my friend?” Three Horns asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes. Though there already seems to be more than enough meat available here.”
“We now hunt the Furlong Bear, Traveler. For too long we have succumbed to the wishes of the humans.”
“Humans that saved us from the Craing. Humans that gave us a home,” Traveler said.
“And at what price? How many of our kind must die for their cause? Are they so different from the Craing? And now, where we once were thousands, a mere one hundred and seventy of our warriors are left. It is time to go home, return to our mates and offspring. We will leave this habitat and take control of the space vessel. Will you join with us?”
“I will speak with Captain Reynolds.”
“No, you have aligned yourself with the humans. Gone so far as to give an Oath of Strength to those puny beings. I am the leader here, Traveler. For too long I have let you speak for our warriors.”
“No one has stopped you from being a leader—other than yourself, perhaps.”
The breeze stopped, as if on command; smoke from the fire hung thick and dark in the air. Traveler let the carcass around his shoulders fall freely to the ground. Blood stained his broad shoulders and glistened in the afternoon sun. His own heavy hammer still hung from a leather thong at his belt. The four rhino-warriors charged at once.
Two of the rhino-warriors came at him low, heads down, with horns leveled at his lower extremities. The other two charged with hammers held high, going for his head. Behind him, the fire raged, making a retreat backwards impossible. Traveler barely skirted the first of the low-charging beasts, who, unchecked, was carried by his own momentum forward headlong into the fire. Red-hot embers filled the air as the fallen rhino thrashed about, attempting to get back to his feet. Simultaneously, Traveler ducked down as a heavy hammer missed his head by inches. With both hands, Traveler grabbed at a low oncoming horn. With his outstretched arms locked, Traveler turned his body sideways and brought the attacker onto his back. He reached for his own heavy hammer, but felt a crushing blow to his back, delivered by Three Horns. He staggered, but managed to stay on his feet. Traveler pulled his own hammer free, raised it high, and brought it down with all his strength. The rhino at his feet died instantly, his cranium crushed. With one rhino dead and another one still unable to escape from the flames of the cook fire, Traveler was able to move about more easily.
Three Horns and Great Hunter crouched low, poised to attack. The remaining rhino-warriors had come out from their domes and encircled them. But they would not enter this fight.
Great Hunter charged, feigned using his hammer, then struck out with an uppercut to Traveler’s jaw. It connected, a blow hard enough to bring Traveler to his knees. Great Hunter pulled back and swung his hammer. Although there had been stories, more like tales or fables, of warriors catching heavy hammers mid-flight, no one there had ever actually seen it done.
Traveler caught the broad head of the hammer in the palm of his outstretched hand and held it there, to Great Hunter’s astonishment. His expression quickly turned to fear as Traveler regained his footing and proceeded to pummel Great Hunter into the ground with his own heavy hammer.
Traveler then turned to face Three Horns, ready for him to make his move. But there was no need for Three Horns to do anything at all. From behind, finally able to extricate himself from the fire, the first of the rhinos to attack Traveler, the one called Black Tooth, connected a solid blow to the back of Traveler’s head. His body fell to the ground. Near death himself, Black Tooth stumbled and fell back into the burning embers.
Three Horns signaled to several nearby onlookers. “You two, throw Traveler’s body on the fire.” Turning to the others, he continued, “We will feast tonight and we will prepare for battle. Tomorrow we leave this habitat.”
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Jason was there when both Mollie and Nan entered the forward hold; both were nervous and held each other’s hand tightly. He still was uncomfortable with either of them going through this life-altering process. They both moved toward Jason. Mollie, hunched over, wiped tears from her cheeks and tried to smile. They looked at Jason but soon their eyes were drawn to the standing portals, like two beckoning monoliths, in the middle of the hold.
Jason’s heart was heavy and he was reluctant to speak, afraid his voice might betray him. In minutes the Mollie he knew and loved would cease to exist. She would be walking to her own death.
Nan scowled. “Oh, for God’s sake, Jason, you seem to have come out of it all right. Pull yourself together. Now, what are we supposed to do here? Enter one of these portals?”
Jason didn’t expect to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. Leave it to Nan to be the eternal pragmatist. She smiled and headed for the two portals. Looking back over her shoulder she pointed to the one on the left, and Jason nodded. She stepped through and disappeared.
Mollie watched with eyes wide open. Jason could tell she was holding her breath. Then, she let it all out as Nan reappeared through the other portal. Nan smiled and held her arms out wide as Mollie ran to her. They embraced. Nan looked up and winked at Jason. She kissed Mollie on the forehead and ushered her over to the left portal. Before stepping through, Mollie gave a little wave toward her father, smiled excitedly, and was gone.
Now it was Jason’s turn to hold his breath. When she reentered through the other portal, Mollie was all smiles and giggles. Jason relaxed his shoulders and smiled. She seemed more than happy to be a little girl again, with nothing all that important to worry about.
Jason turned to see his father, Admiral Reynolds, entering the hold. He, like the other crewmembers, looked ill and tired.
“It seems you’re … you all are … feeling much better?” Admiral Reynolds asked, attempting, and failing, to sound upbeat.
Mollie rushed to give her grandfather a hug and looked up at him.
“Let me tell you how to do this, Grandpa.”
“Okay, what is it I’m supposed to do here, Mollie?”
“You need to think about what you want to happen. It’s called indention.”
“Intention,” Nan said, correcting her.
“Yeah, intention. Anyway, you walk into the portal on the left and you’ll come out of the one on the right feeling a whole lot better.”
The admiral walked to the portal and hesitated. Looking at Jason and then at Granger, he asked, “You sure about this?”
Jason shrugged. “No, not really. But I didn’t see there were any other viable options.”
The admiral stepped through the portal. A moment later Jason saw his father reappear as he stepped through the second portal. Jason asked him how he felt.
“Much better, thank you for asking. I feel like I can actually think clearly again.” The admiral walked over to Granger and held out his hand. Granger shook his hand and they spoke quietly for several minutes. Other than the occasional word here and there, Jason couldn’t make out what was being said.
A line had formed and Ricket and Dira were directing people into the left portal. The relief on their faces when they exited the portal told Jason he’d made the right decision. He felt life could finally get back to normal. The admiral was back at his side and he put a hand on Jason’s shoulder.
“Son, I want to thank you.” He gestured towards the portals. “I’m not so sure I would have lasted much
longer.”
Son? Jason couldn’t remember the last time his father had called him that. “Well, it’s really Granger you want to thank. This setup was his doing.”
“That’s not exactly what he says, but just the same, thank you.” The admiral changed subjects. “We have visitors coming in tomorrow morning. I need you to be at the outpost.”
As Jason left the hold he looked back one more time. Not once since she had come through the second portal had Dira looked his way.
* * *
Jason awoke early the next morning and was again relieved to feel back to normal, and still human. He’d been pinged several times already with reminders that there was a morning meeting at the outpost and not to be late.
Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance Page 3
