by Jake Bible
“Hello!” a voice called over the comm. “This is Captain Deena Valencio calling for Major Bartram North! Hello! Come in, Major!”
“Valencio?” North replied.
“Major North? Is that you?” Valencio asked.
“It’s me,” North said. “How the hell did you reach me?”
“Warrant Officer London has a way with the comm system,” Valencio said. “He went through my interface for your personal signal then sent out a comm blast.”
“It was nothing,” London said. “Rudimentary—”
“London, can it,” Valencio barked. “Listen, Major, we heard the broadcast. It made it to us before it cut off. It was…confusing.”
“No shit,” North said. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“London was able to capture it, and the background data stream that was with it,” Valencio said. “We need to know what to do with this.”
“Background data stream?” North asked.
“All kinds of charts and reports. Vid logs, troop and command interviews,” London said. “There is stuff in there going back over a thousand years. It’ll take a lifetime to sift through it all.”
“If you heard it then you know you may not be able to trust me,” North said. “And I can’t trust you.”
“I know,” Valencio sighed. “But…but we don’t have much choice. We’re on a Mars platform and London is fairly certain the structure was damaged by the Estelian armada. Or sabotaged by the crew. We can’t tell which.”
“By the crew?” North asked. “Jesus, did they go insane too? Are there pharma injectors everywhere?”
“Yes,” Valencio said. “They’re all dead here.”
“Same with the Perpetuity,” North said. “Listen, Valencio, I’m in a cargo skiff and about to punch—”
The Perpetuity went up like a super nova behind the skiff. North and Wendt found themselves tumbling end over end as the blast rolled through the vacuum. The major struggled to get control of the cargo skiff, but he couldn’t get the thrusters to respond. The tumbling continued and North thought it wouldn’t stop.
Then the debris from the Perpetuity began to pelt the skiff, knocking it this way and that. The tumbling turned into rolling, turned into shaking, to shuddering, turned into crumbling. North screamed as the cockpit broke apart around him, sending him and Wendt out into the deadly chaos of the vacuum, only their flight suits to protect them from instant death.
North reached out and grabbed a chunk of paneling from the skiff that was still bolted to a heavy strut. He locked one glove in place then reached for Wendt. The sergeant stretched out his hands, trying to grab for North’s hand, but a hunk of metal slammed against his legs and sent him flying away.
“Wendt!” North yelled. “Try to grab ahold of something!”
“Good idea, Major!” Wendt said as he scrambled about, his hands flailing as he tried to find something his gloves would stick to. But everything moved too fast, racing past him at deadly velocities. “I’m really trying here, I promise!”
Then a sheet of metal cut through Wendt’s legs, slicing them off below the knees. North’s comm was filled with the man’s screams.
“Wendt! Oh, shit! Wendt!” North yelled, watching helplessly as the man’s blood floated out into the vacuum in undulating globs. “Wendt!”
North tried to reach for him, but Wendt was tumbling away, farther and farther, headed straight for the cruiser. The good thing was North could see Wendt’s suit sealing up and blood was no longer pouring out of the man’s severed legs. The bad thing was, as he watched Wendt tumble off, he saw a cargo skiff launch from the cruiser, aimed right for him.
“Valencio? Valencio, can you hear me?” North called out. “I have no idea if you can hear me, but you need to take that message, take that data, and go. Get out into the galaxy, go to other systems. Spread the word. Don’t trust anyone. Never stay in one place for too long. Get that message out then go. They will hunt you, they will find you eventually, so you have to act fast. Do whatever you can to tell humanity the truth.”
North’s comm crackled in his ear and he had no idea if his transmission made it to Valencio or not. He hoped it did. He hoped she and London could get on some ship and go. But, he was afraid they couldn’t go anywhere or she would have never reached out to him.
North had to let it all go. He had to just have faith that someone, somewhere, whether it was Valencio or maybe some brave soul down on Earth, someone would carry the information, the truth, to the people. That hope echoed in his head as he watched the cargo skiff spin about and the back hatch open to catch Wendt inside perfectly.
“Someone knows how to fly,” North said to himself as the hatch closed and the skiff changed directions.
North braced himself for whatever was next as the skiff came closer and closer to him.
Sixty-Two
Valencio hurried around the flight deck, yanking off parts from other skiffs as London called out their names.
“Coolant coupling!” London yelled. “This one is shot! Also a single pronged pressure valve! External! An internal one will rupture the second we hit the vacuum!”
“All I see are tri-pronged!” Valencio yelled, her hands working a driver as she took a coolant coupling off a cargo skiff. “These cargo skiffs are ancient!”
“The CSC wasn’t interested in upgrading,” London said. “There was a memo that only military vehicles would receive upgrades.”
“Are you kidding?” Valencio cried as she got the coolant coupling free and jumped down from the skiff. She ran it over to London, who was strapped to the side of their cargo skiff, a tool pouch at his hip and grease coating his flight suit. “All vehicles are military vehicles! This is fucking war!”
“Apparently, it’s not,” London said. He took the coupling from Valencio and placed it against the skiff. “Thanks. You hear anything from North?”
“No,” Valencio said. “His comm went dead. It’s just us.”
“Not for long if we don’t get this skiff up and out of here,” London said. “Life support is almost depleted and the bottom discs are already beginning to separate from the platform. Each level will automatically seal itself off as it is compromised, but the platform can only take so much before it rips apart. There’s just too much junk out there colliding with us.”
“If we get this skiff up and running, how will we get through the junk?” Valencio asked. “We won’t have enough space to punch out.”
“We’re probably going to die,” London said. “But at least we won’t do it sitting on our asses.”
“North was counting on us,” Valencio said. “Humanity is counting on us.”
“I’m guessing you aren’t as used to disappointing people like I am,” London said. “Karma really is a bitch if this is the lesson you learn before you kick it.”
“We aren’t going to kick it,” Valencio said. “We have more than enough fuel cells loaded onto the skiff. We’ll just boost the thrusters so we can get clear of the debris field and then punch all the way out of the system. We are going to live.”
“I like your optimism,” London said.
“It’s not optimism,” Valencio snapped. “It’s a plan.”
“Well, do you plan on finding me a single-pronged pressure valve any time soon?” London asked. “Because optimism or not, this skiff isn’t going anywhere without that valve.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll find you one,” Valencio said. Her interface beeped and she stopped, pulling up an image on her wrist. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit!”
“What is it?” London asked.
“Proximity warning,” Valencio said. “One of the armada’s cruisers just punched into the space around us.”
“That was a dumb thing to do,” London said. “The wreckage out there will tear it apart.”
Valencio studied the image and shook her head. “It’s moving outside the debris field.” Another beep and Valencio growled. “It just launched a skiff.”
“Fighte
r?” London asked, stopping his work to look at the captain. “One missile and we are dead.”
“Cargo,” Valencio said. “It’s making its way slowly through the wreckage and coming right for this flight deck.”
London looked around at the cannibalized skiffs on the deck. “I could set half of these to blow. Take out our visitors as soon as they get here.”
“That would take us out too,” Valencio said. “No. I say we hide and wait. See what they want. If we get lucky, we can hijack their working skiff and get the hell out of here.”
“Good thinking. That’s why you’re the boss. Better grab the data case,” London said, nodding towards a small black box that sat atop a pile of supplies next to the back hatch of the cargo skiff. “If we bring anything with us, it’s that.”
Valencio hurried over to the case and tossed it into a pack then strapped it to her back. London hopped down from where he was working and picked up two scorchers, tossing one to Valencio.
“We wait over there,” Valencio said, pointing her scorcher at a stack of crates up against the wall. “Let them come to us. If we can, we’ll avoid them all together and just steal the skiff. If we can’t then we kill them where they stand and steal the skiff.”
“Steal the skiff,” London said. “Kill them or don’t. Got it.”
Claxons rang out and large red lights started to spin above them.
“They’re here,” Valencio said as she jogged over to the crates, activating her flight suit’s boots so that they magnetized to the deck. “Ready?”
London came up next to her and secured his own boots then looked at the captain.
“No. Not at all,” London said. “But not like I have a choice.”
Sixty-Three
The flight deck doors pulled apart and various parts of cargo skiffs came floating out.
“Jesus,” Garcia said as she angled the skiff and reduced thruster power to avoid the majority of the parts. “Someone did not pick up after themselves.”
She piloted the cargo skiff into the flight deck, let it hover for a second then landed it perfectly so North only felt the slightest bump.
“Nice landing,” North said then pointed out of the cockpit view window at a rough looking cargo skiff a few meters away. “There. That skiff’s from the Perpetuity. This is the platform. They have to be here.”
“Try your comm now,” Garcia said. “It should patch in with the platform’s system and transmit. You find your people and I’ll try to find as many supplies as possible.”
“Sounds good,” North said as he unstrapped his harness and pulled open the hatch to the cockpit. “Be careful. We don’t really know if Valencio is to be trusted.”
“I don’t really know if you are to be trusted,” Garcia said. “And you don’t really know if I am either. But there’s nothing we can do about it. All I know is I want to live and get the truth out to the rest of the systems. You seem like that’s your plan too.”
“It is,” North said as he activated the back hatch. “But we have a lot of work before we can do any of that. Let’s focus on the living part first.”
The hatch opened and North stepped out. He looked about the flight deck, watching as stray skiff parts continued to float out into the vacuum. His eyes were too busy watching the debris field that swirled about between the platform and the far off cruiser to notice the movement on his right.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” he said to himself then activated his comm. “Valencio? This is Major North. Do you read me?”
North finally caught the movement and spun about, but realized he didn’t have a weapon on him, not even a stun baton. He was suddenly facing two scorcher barrels and feeling way more exposed by them than by the open flight deck.
“North?” Valencio asked. “Is that you?”
“Oh, thank the Makers,” North sighed. “I thought for a second I had made it all this way to die because I left my pistol in the skiff. It’s been a really fucking long day.”
“Hey, Major,” London said as he came up next to Valencio. He reached out and lowered her scorcher. “Chill, boss. It’s time to go.”
“Can we trust you?” Valencio asked.
“You’ll have to,” Garcia said from the hatch, both her and North’s pistols in hand. “We all have to.”
“That was a lot of crazy shit in that broadcast,” Valencio said. “You sure it’s real?”
“It’s real,” North said. “When you get to the cruiser, you’ll see how we know. Someone told me that the only way to convince folks will be to show them proof. Solid, tangible proof. That cruiser out there is the proof. We just have to take it to folks.”
Garcia holstered her pistol and then walked out of the skiff and handed North his. He holstered it and pointed at the pile of supplies by the Perpetuity cargo skiff. “That all you could find?”
“All we could gather in the time we had,” London said. “Which is almost out. When you opened the flight deck, you just shortened the life of this platform. The change in pressure means we have maybe fifteen minutes.”
“Then lets load that shit up,” North said. “It’s time to get moving.”
Sixty-Four
Valencio sat in the mess hall, an untouched tray of food in front of her as North finished telling her what he had learned from Garcia.
“The CSC was sending its own ships to attack Earth?” Valencio asked. “That’s crazy.”
“Everything is crazy,” North said, his arms folded across his chest. “But, in the CSC’s defense, I don’t think they expected the armada to make it past Titan Base. Pluto and Neptune were sacrifices necessary to maintain the rouse, but the point was to scare Earth and get even more support for the ramp up in troop deployment. They needed as many bodies as possible to fill the fake Estelian side of the battle. Easiest way to get folks to sign on is to scare the living shit out of them.”
“You’re telling me that all of those warships my cadets died fighting were on auto and manned by corpses.” Valencio laughed. It was a hollow, bitter laugh. “They died fighting fucking simulation programs?”
“Yeah,” North said. “The CSC filled the warships and quads with corpses; casualties they had on hand. That way when the ships were destroyed, there’d be plenty of bodies to float around in the vacuum and make it all look real. If the data is correct then this is not the first time the CSC has done that.”
“Hey,” London said as he walked into the mess hall. “We’re entering the first system. You guys ready?”
“We’ve already punched through?” Valencio asked.
“Yeah,” London nodded. “Wendt may not have any legs, but his hands work just fine. He got the drive working perfectly. Probably better than before Garcia nearly destroyed it punching that destroyer along with her. No more shimmies, no more shakes.”
“Then let’s get to the bridge,” North said. “Time to get to work.”
North and Valencio followed London out of the mess and to the main lift. They rode in silence as the lift rose up and opened out onto the bridge corridor. The hatch to the bridge was wide open and North could see Garcia at the helm.
He walked in and sat down at the command chair then stood up and moved over to the navigation console.
“Major?” Valencio asked. “Everything alright? You are the ranking officer, you should have the command.”
“No one should,” Major said. “If this war is bullshit then so is our ranks. We’re just people now. People trying to help other people.”
Valencio nodded and sat down at the weapons console, bringing up the interface just in case. London took his seat at the communications console and checked the interface, making sure the broadcast was ready to go.
“It’s safe?” North asked, looking over at London. “Sending the broadcast directly to folks’ interface chips? It won’t fry their brains?”
“What we’re about to tell them might fry their brains, yes,” London replied. “But the tech won’t. We’re using the same system the CSC
uses to switch people from believing they are fighting Estelians in the colonies to believing the colonies are the ones fighting Estelians. I modified it so people wouldn’t end up losing their own will. They get to freely believe what they hear or disbelieve. All that matters is they get the choice.”
“Then let’s make this happen,” North said. “I have the next punch plotted in case we have to make a run for it. Valencio?”
“Weapons system up,” Valencio said. “Scanners are clear though. No one is coming to greet us yet.”
“Garcia?” North asked.
“Cruiser is steady and holding its position,” Garcia said. “All thrusters are operational and can get us to a safe punch point in seconds.”
“Excellent,” North said then looked around. “Where’s Wendt?”
“Sleeping,” London said. “He said he’d catch the highlights later. He can work, but it takes a lot out of him.”
“Understood,” North nodded then looked out the view window at the planet far below the cruiser. “Time to send a message. London? Hit it.”
London swiped at the communications interface and unleashed the truth.
Sixty-Five
LeAnne Stussi looked into the night sky, marveling at the vast, twinkling depth. A firefly sped past her and, like all six year olds, she instantly shifted her focus and chased after the luminescent insect.
“LeAnne! Time for your bath, sweetie,” her mother called from the porch.
LeAnne slumped her shoulders in disappointment, but knew not to argue or there wouldn’t be stories before bed. She used to get to watch vids, but those days were gone.
It had been a year since the broadcast had stunned the planet, had sent everyone panicking. LeAnne hadn’t understood any of what had been said, all she understood was that the CSC had taken all vids, all communications offline after the broadcast.
The planet had grown so quiet.
Her daddy had said the CSC tried to suppress the communication grid so people couldn’t talk and discuss the broadcast. He’d said they wanted everyone in the dark like always.
