Faith knew the killer lurked in the dark maze of cryo-tubes. Stalking them, no sound or movement betraying his presence. A ghost. Impatience getting the better of her, Faith poked her head up from behind the hyper-sleep tubes.
Nothing.
A sudden creaking sound above her gave her pause. She tilted her head and spotted movement in the web of catwalks that extended over the main floor of the hyper-stasis chamber like the filaments of a giant metallic net. A monstrous figure loomed on the catwalk. The elevated vantage point gave the killer a perfect overview of the cryo-chamber. Shit! He had the high ground. This was like shooting fish in a barrel!
Then Faith noticed something even more disturbing than the presence of the creature that was hunting them, a surreal sight that defied her immediate understanding. For a brief moment, the killer stopped taking center stage in her mind.
The adjoining row of tubes was identical to all the others except for one crucial difference. These were empty! Hundreds of colonists were missing from the capsules. Faith gasped at the rows upon rows of empty cryo-tubes.
Faith remembered the security feeds back on the bridge, which showed her groups of colonists waking from cryo and facing a crewless vessel. She experienced a pronounced foreboding. If these capsules were empty and the computer wasn’t picking up additional life signs…
Oh, my God! They’re all gone!
The moment of existential horror made way for a whirl of sizzling energy. Hot plasma chopped the floor next to Faith’s feet. She bolted from her hiding place, knowing they’d been made, and dashed toward the nearest exit.
Faith heard more than saw the killer jumping from the catwalk and landing 20 feet below with superhuman grace, his legs smoothly absorbing the impact of the jump. The maneuver would have earned even the most skilled Olympic athlete a broken ankle, but it didn’t even slow the killer down. What were they up against here?
Faith dashed past another row of tubes, Harker at her side, and knifed through a doorway. The hunt was back on.
CHAPTER NINE
THEY WERE ONLY halfway down the corridor when the dark shape of the killer emerged from the hyper-stasis chamber, his bulk filling the hallway behind them. Considering the monster’s biological enhancements, Faith had no doubt it would reach them in no time. Harker saw it, too and opted to try his luck in one of the adjoining chambers that lined the corridor. Faith hesitated, fearing that the room would prove to be a dead end, but she couldn’t face the killer unarmed and alone. She slipped through the door and Harker punched the access panel. The door hissed shut with a deafening clang, sealing them in the chamber.
Faith took in the room. Crates and various cargo containers cluttered the space. “What will stop him from overriding the door’s locking mechanism?” she asked.
A good question, and one that Harker must have already contemplated because he immediately grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and started pounding the control panel until it shattered in a furious rain of sparks. For good measure, he aimed the nozzle at the exposed circuitry and fired off a blast of carbon dioxide. The door’s control panel fizzled out and grew dim.
It was perfect timing. A loud whump sounded as the killer's fist dented the door from the other side. The metal buckled and twisted but held fast. Harker and Faith awaited the killer’s next move with bated breath. As the seconds ticked by, she carefully surveyed the room, hoping it would slow her thudding heartbeat. There were no other exits, not even an air duct. They were trapped in here. Judging from the despondent expression on Harker’s face, he’d come to the same conclusion.
Faith’s gaze traveled to the security cams mounted above the door. If the killer was still interfaced with the system, he was watching them right now. Waiting. Biding his time.
Fury spread over her features and detonated. She snatched the fire extinguisher right out of Harker’s hand and stepped up to the door, eyes locked on the camera mounted above her.
“Fuck off!”
She brought up the extinguisher and shattered the camera.
***
Outside the supply room, the killer stepped away from the dented door. In an upper corner of his field of vision, a small screen showed Faith and Harker inside the storage room. They were breathing hard, eyes filled with terror. Faith seized the fire extinguisher and it filled the creature’s point of view for an instant before there was a loud crack, followed by static and darkness.
New information appeared before his eyes: a 3-D floor plan of the lower decks. The holographic model revolved as the killer zeroed in on the supply room. The chamber was magnified and various tech specs appeared: SUPPLY ROOM 4. LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM STATUS: ACTIVE. The text changed from ACTIVE to DISABLED. Followed by a new message: OXYGEN LEVELS: 100... 99... 98...
***
Harker cast a long look at Faith, who was still facing the security camera, fire extinguisher clutched in her shaking hands. Jaw clenched, breath coming in short bursts.
“What exactly did that accomplish?”
“Makes me feel better.”
Harker’s lips curled into a hint of a smile, conceding her point.
Faith suddenly perked up, her ears having picked up a strange noise.
Harker took note of her changed expression. “What is it?”
Faith’s held up her right hand, motioning Harker to be quiet. She listened intently. Harker followed her example. Faith could tell from the look in Harker’s eyes that he could make out the sound too - a vacuuming noise. They swapped glances.
“Is that what I think it is?” Faith asked.
“The ventilation system...” Harker had barely uttered the words when he lost his balance, legs buckling. Faith caught him before he could hit the floor and grew aware of her own shortness of breath. “He turned off life support… Sucking out all the air…”
Growing dizzy, she leaned against the wall for support and sighed, “Oxygen levels must be already about ten percent. In another minute or two...”
Harker didn’t need to finish the thought. They had to get out of this death trap!
Faith staggered toward the warped door, all movement growing more strenuous, each breath becoming coarse and labored. She studied the door and its shattered control panel, trying to determine if there was another way she could possibly open it.
“It's useless. I fried the control system. It would take hours to get it back up and running.”
“What are we going to do?”
We could lie down and die, Faith thought for a second before she fought back her despair. Rage overcame her growing sense of helplessness. She couldn’t give up without a fight. Never. She would resist until the last breath, in this case literally. There had to be another way. Her gaze combed the supply room and locked on the cargo crates. Driven by the germ of an idea, Faith scrambled toward them.
“What are you looking for?”
Faith didn’t answer. Instead, she tore open one crate after another, fighting her way through a mountain of mining equipment. A woman on a mission.
Harker grabbed her shoulder. “Faith, talk to me so I can help.”
Faith peered up from an open crate and flashed Harker a triumphant smile as she held a plasma cutter aloft. “We're going to burn our way out of here!”
Faith pointed at the open crate. A series of identical laser cutters were stacked on top of each other. Within seconds, they were both holding a torch against the wall. Their breath came in wheezing drags, lungs working hard to gulp down the final wisps of breathable air. It took everything they had to stay on their feet and not pass out.
Sweat stung their eyes, their features bathed red in the laser torches' fiery halo. The sizzle of melting iron filled the supply room as they proceeded in focused silence, working as a team. If it weren’t for their grim circumstances, it might have been a nice bonding moment.
Weakness spread through Faith’s body, her concentration slipping as the low oxygen levels took their toll. Nevertheless, she forged on, fighting to maintain her fo
cus on the sizzling plasma flame as she sliced a deep gash into the wall. Faith’s resolve had been molded by her years on the rough streets of New Cairo and perfected in the penal institution. She wouldn’t perish today. She wouldn’t allow it.
As the plasma cutter’s heat singed her face, her mind turned back to her first few months in the prison. She had faced violence and darkness all her life, but the penitentiary had a reputation that was borne out within a week of her arrival on Luna. The inmates were bad, but the guards were even worse. They wielded their power with abandon and saw the female population as their personal harem. Only one rule applied to any female inmate who was halfway attractive. You had to put out if you didn’t want to be taken out. You refused a guard’s advances at your own risk.
Naturally, Faith rejected Redman, the head guard, on the first day. He didn’t take it well. A week later, Redman and four of his lackeys paid her a visit in the shower. As soon as the massive, baton-wielding guards arrived, the shower area cleared out. Everyone knew the fresh meat was about to be taught a lesson. Armed with sizzling electro-batons, they closed in on Faith, eager to assert their authority.
Faith regarded the rape squad, her fear held in check. She smiled at the crew and her eyes narrowed seductively. They were brutes who expected to find a terrified, cowering female. Instead, Faith advanced toward Redman, her breasts swaying hypnotically, her taut, long-legged, olive-skinned body weaving a seductive spell.
“So which of you boys wants to go first?”
She asked the question in such a nonchalant, confident tone that doubt spread over the guards’ faces. Redman glared at her, aware that his men were distracted by Faith’s fierce sensuality. A brutal rape scenario had turned into something different.
“How come you didn’t play nice before?” Redman inquired.
Faith stepped up to him, her wet breasts brushing against his uniform. He lowered the baton in his hand, still taken aback by Faith’s calm, seductive approach. She touched the raised tip of the baton, her fingers brushing and massaging it suggestively.
“I was still getting used to my new home. Now I understand how things work around here. How can I make it up to you fellas?”
As if to confirm her desire to please, Faith leaned into Redman, her other hand finding his crotch, massaging his stiffening member. She could feel Redman fighting back a low moan, could hear him gasp with the first traces of pleasure. The other guards gawked wide-eyed at this naked nymph, unable to hold back their own growing excitement, both envious and filled with hungry anticipation.
For a moment, all were lulled into her seductive spell. So Faith made her move. Her left hand squeezed with all her might, crushing Redman’s balls. His expression of pleasure transformed into one of agony. At the same time, she grabbed the baton now that he had loosened his grip on it. Unarmed, she didn’t stand a chance, despite considerable fighting skills honed by a youth misspent on the crime-riddled streets of New Cairo. But now she had the baton, still terrible odds, but at least it gave her a fighting chance.
Faith didn’t expect to win, but she expected to send a message. One that would spread through Luna colony and be received loud and clear by any future suitors, guard or inmate, who planned to pursue her. Fucking with Faith Cadena would come at a price.
Baton in hand, Faith focused on her two objectives: one, confront each guard one on one, and two, make sure each blow left a mark that would take time to heal. She wanted to leave scars, visible reminders of what went down this day. She hoped that every time one of the guards passed a mirror, her name would slip from their lips in a hushed whisper.
With this in mind, the baton came up and targeted Redman’s pearly whites. Broken bones could heal, but teeth were harder to replace. Tapping into all her rage and self-hatred, she swung the baton into the Redman’s jaw and enamel shattered in a spray of red. He staggered back and Faith spun toward the phalanx of stunned guards. She lashed out from multiple angles, the baton connecting again and again until they were all exhaling teeth. Looming at the center of the circle of downed, moaning men, she cut the figure of a nude, scarlet-flecked warrior princess, the streaming water turning crimson around her feet.
That day cemented her reputation and none of the guards ever bothered Faith again. She had even avoided solitary, the men too embarrassed to file an official report. The gaps in their mouths sent a clear signal to the inmate population. Faith attained a near-mythical status among the prison population and her captors were smart enough to keep their distance.
Faith had no illusion that the ceasefire would be permanent. In time, they’d make another go at her, but she’d be ready for whatever came her way. She didn’t fear death in those days, but giving birth changed her. The life that had grown inside her over the course of her first nine months on Luna had given her something she had never before possessed: a reason to live.
The thought of never being reunited with her daughter brought Faith back to reality. She attacked the wall with even greater urgency. The laser cutters had almost finished slicing a man-sized hole into the wall. The cutters' flames were smaller now, lower oxygen levels having an effect.
Harker switched off his laser torch and backed away from the wall, using a nearby crate as support. His tank was empty, drained of strength, lacking the fuel to keep his blood oxygenated. Faith grabbed Harker's hand. She was fighting back her own growing exhaustion, still unwilling to succumb to this death trap. She wasn’t going to die like this. Surrounded by cargo crates, gasping for her last choked breath.
“Goddammit, Harker! Pull yourself together! You can't give up now!”
Harker eyed Faith for a second, his gaze clearing, regaining some of his focus. He managed to fire up the cutter again and somehow found the strength to continue with the task at hand. Faith shut out everything else, her world reduced to the hungry flame of the plasma cutter and the stench of melting iron. She was driven by only one impulse – survival.
Moments later, their torches met – they had managed to burn a circle into the wall. Too weak to do the honors, Harker nodded at Faith. Tapping into her last reserve of strength, she brought up her leg and kicked the weakened steel. The hot metal gave out and clattered to the floor, opening up a sharp-edged wound in the wall through which they both could fit. Faith probed the yawning darkness beyond and nodded at Harker.
“Go!”
Harker stumbled through the jagged hole. Seconds later, Faith followed his example.
CHAPTER TEN
FAITH AND HARKER found themselves inside the walls of the ship, navigating a cramped tunnel-like space barely wider than the width of their shoulders. Harker pushed ahead and Faith brought up the rear as they slithered forward on their bellies, one strenuous inch at a time.
Faith wiped off beads of perspiration from her face, disturbed by how the narrow tunnel amplified her breathing. She greedily gulped down oxygen, strength returning to her body with each inhalation. Faith would’ve never believed that the simple act of breathing could feel so good. The stale air tasted of metal, wiring and synthetics, but it felt delicious to her starved lungs.
They wormed their way through the guts of the vessel, movement severely restricted as they traversed a mass of wires, cables and pipes. Humming machinery and intermittent waves of red-azure light defined their surroundings, enveloping them in an eerie halo. Faith fought back a growing sense of claustrophobia; with all those tons of steel weighing down on her, she felt as if she’d been swallowed whole by some monstrous beast. Their enemy knew as well as they did that they wouldn’t last long down here. Once hunger or thirst got the better of them, they’d have to surface and odds were good the killer would be waiting.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached a small, square-shaped room dominated by more pulsating machinery and flashing conduit boards. Harker’s voice broke the silence. “Looks like we're safe for the moment.”
Faith remained skeptical. She didn’t feel safe. “As long as that monster remains interfaced w
ith the security system, we’re far from safe.”
“Security cams are concentrated in the parts of the ship that can be reached by the crew or passengers. We should be good.”
Faith hoped Harker was right but remained unconvinced. Paranoia had become a sixth sense over the years.
“You never let your guard down, do you?” Harker said. “Is that how you got through prison for all those years?”
“No. I just slept with all the guards.”
This elicited a smile from Harker, and all of a sudden he didn’t look so bad. When he smiled, Faith could see the young man he’d once been, an idealist who hoped to make a difference.
“You're a piece of work, Faith,” Harker said.
“You're starting to sound a lot like my parole officer.”
Harker's expression grew serious. “The little girl in the hologram...”
Faith hesitated a moment before she answered. “My daughter. I gave birth to her while incarcerated.”
“I'm sorry.”
“No one to blame but myself. Didn’t have to get myself knocked up and thrown in jail all in the same month. It was my fuck-up.”
“The father?”
“Out of the picture.”
Faith's gaze grew distant. “I was a real mess back on Luna, acting up, causing trouble. Five years into my sentence, the shrink pulled some strings with the adoptive parents. Got me a little present.”
“That was nice of him.”
“I guess he figured it would help me get my shit together. If I saw what I lost, I would make sure it wouldn’t happen again.”
“Did it work?”
“I guess. I stopped obsessing about the past and started focusing on the future. Focusing on seeing my daughter again someday.”
Harker had an epiphany. “That’s why you're out here?”
“Her adoptive parents are stationed near the rings of Saturn. I wanted to be... close. She’s the only family I have left.”
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