The door opened when Makkon turned toward it. He strode straight for the large glass-walled cubicle. Anise walked to a control panel, and lamps came on in the cubicle, looking like glowing suction cups lining the back side of the shower. Different wavy bulbs shone down from the top.
Anise spent so long typing at the control panel that Tamryn worried the sludge would eat through Makkon’s suit as they watched. He looked down at his foot more than once, probably thinking of tearing off the boot, but then he glanced at the bulbs. Better to face the radiation fully suited up.
“Here.” Anise pointed at the options on the panel. “Press that, then when the cycle is done, press that, and then that. I’ll be back to check on him, but I have to get back to the lab, see about securing that door and trying to destroy that organism before it eats through the entire station.”
“I understand,” Tamryn said. “I will.”
The shower door closed, sealing Makkon inside. He had been regarding his infected foot, but he turned to face her now, his hands pressed against the thick glass panels on either side.
“Ready?” Tamryn pressed the button Anise had indicated. “Decon One.”
Water sprayed from nozzles in the corners, striking his suit and spattering off him and onto the walls. Perhaps not straight water, Tamryn amended, as the grayish liquid dribbled down the glass.
“This isn’t how I imagined it when I pictured us showering,” Makkon said, his voice coming over their private channel. Between the helmet, the glass walls, and the water spraying him, she would not have heard him otherwise.
“When were you doing that?” Tamryn was watching the control panel, hoping something would beep an indication that the process was proving effective.
“On my ship. When we left the station to talk to the Fleet ship that turned out to be infested with pirates. I took the time to shave and shower.”
Yes, she remembered that he’d been spattered with dried blood before then and had come back cleaner. “Were you doing anything naughty? When you were imagining us showering?”
“Just cleaning myself. Vigorously.”
She could barely see his face through the glass and water, but she felt confident he was smiling. She smiled back. “I feel remiss. I haven’t had a chance to do that yet. Shower, that is.”
“You could join me in here.”
“Someone has to push the buttons.” Tamryn tapped another one, and a warning flashed, telling her to step out of the room. That hardly seemed fair, since Makkon couldn’t step out of the room. “All right. I’m not sure, but I think this is whatever radiation blast she programmed in. I’ll be right back.”
“Understood.” His voice sounded grim.
The water turned off, and intense light blazed down onto Makkon as Tamryn stepped into the hallway. The door shut behind her, and she dropped her chin to her fist, hoping Anise hadn’t held anything back. If she walked in and found Makkon crumpled on the floor of the cubicle, or incinerated like a body at a funeral pyre... She gulped, blinking back tears.
Not certain how long she was supposed to wait outside, she turned and tried to go back in. The door did not open. Frowning, she waved at the sensor.
“Decontamination is not complete,” a computerized voice informed her.
“Open up anyway.” Tamryn thumped the side of her fist on the door, then backed up, dropping a hand to her pistol. “I’ll melt my way in if I have to.”
“Decontamination is not complete,” the computer repeated blandly.
Tamryn yanked the pistol out, but before she could do something foolish, the door beeped and slid aside. She ran into the room, almost skidding on the floor as she turned to look at the cubicle. The light had faded, leaving Makkon inside in the dark. He was still standing, but he had slumped against the corner, his chin drooping to his chest. He did not move.
“Makkon?” Tamryn ran to the glass door, pressing her hand against it. “Makkon?”
She tried to open the door, but there was no handle, no way to push her way in except via the control panel. She punched at it, not able to find the commands she wanted, probably because moisture was making her eyes bleary.
“Tamryn,” Makkon whispered over the comm. A patch of static came over it, too, but she hardly cared.
She spun toward him. “Makkon, are you all right?”
His helmet came up, and he met her eyes. “I... think a medical device will have to tell me that.”
Right, radiation wouldn’t necessarily kill him instantly. Tamryn stared at the control panel, wondering if it was equipped to check him.
Anise returned before she figured anything out. She went straight to the panel and punched at the keys. Displays flashed past too quickly for Tamryn to follow.
“It appears to have been effective,” Anise said. “The organism reads as dead.”
“And Makkon?” Tamryn was more worried about him.
“He appears to be fine. The suit protected him, and the blast wasn’t designed to kill humans, regardless.” Anise glanced toward him, but Makkon had slumped against the wall again, his helmet sagging toward his chest. He did not look fine.
“What about his tattoo?” Tamryn asked. “If it’s designed to gather more rays from the sun, would it have taken in more radiation here?”
“The helmet should have protected him from that dose, but if it didn’t...” Anise met Tamryn’s eyes. “I know you won’t want to hear this,” she said, her voice soft, clearly not meant for Makkon’s ears, “but we can microwave him in there, give him a lethal amount of radiation that will go through the suit.”
Tamryn had been terrified they had already been doing that. She glared at Anise. “He’s helping us.”
“For the moment. Until his word to you has been redeemed or, more likely, until that collar has been removed. What happens when we’re on our way back to join the others? He may not want to return to his cell.”
“He’ll have to. Your collar will zap him if he doesn’t.” Tamryn hated to admit that she would have to be the one to press the button that zapped him. She didn’t want to do that, but she would if it was necessary to lock him up again, to keep her people and the station safe.
“Only if the person holding the control is quick with the button.” Anise raised her eyebrows, her expression frank.
“I will be.”
“This could be easier.” She spread a hand toward the control panel.
Tamryn shifted her weight to deny access to it. “We’re not killing someone in cold blood.”
“That’s exactly what Fleet will do when they arrive. Execute them all. If they’re allowed to fight, more people will be hurt, killed. This would be easier.”
Tamryn hated that she was right. Fleet would organize a firing squad or some other deadly equivalent. She would never have a chance to see what interesting things she and Makkon could do in a shower. Or anywhere else.
“Captain Porter,” Tamryn said, making her voice hard, but still keeping it soft, not wanting Makkon to hear this discussion. “I suggest you worry about that organism in your lab. I’ll worry about getting Makkon back into his cell. What Fleet decides, it decides, but neither you nor I have anything to do with the judicial system. We’re not deciding who lives and dies here.”
Anise gave her a sad smile. “I’m sure Fleet won’t be bringing along the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.” But she didn’t argue further for Makkon’s death. She nodded toward a green light on the panel. “It’s clearing him. I’ll get the readout and see if we can duplicate this in my lab.”
As she walked out, studying the information she had grabbed with her tablet, Tamryn found the control to unlock and open the cubicle door, something that was easier now that she wasn’t terrified that Makkon was dying in there. His head came up, and he stepped out as soon as he could. Tamryn looked at his heel and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see any sign of the sludge on it.
“It looks like you live another day,” she said.
“Good.” Makkon
stepped close and placed a hand on her shoulder, his armored chest touching her side.
He gazed at her through the droplets of water that lingered on his faceplate. His eyes were intense, almost smoldering. The look made her believe he was thinking of showering with her right now. Given the layers of armor between them, that wouldn’t be a particularly thrilling experience. Still, his expression heated her from the inside, making her think of the vault, his tongue running expertly over her body.
“You all right?” she asked. It seemed a stupid thing to say, but it was all that came to mind.
“Yes. Feeling appreciative after not being microwaved.”
“Oh.” Tamryn had thought that, even with his keen hearing, he wouldn’t have heard their conversation through the glass and water. He had barely appeared conscious. She tried to remember her half of it, whether she had said anything he might consider a betrayal. But no, that look he was giving her suggested she hadn’t.
“When we can get out of these suits—” Makkon lowered his hand to her back and patted her, though she could barely feel the reverberations through the armor, “—I will show you how appreciative.”
As he headed for the door, Tamryn’s body heated further at the images that flashed through her mind. But sorrow soon replaced the tingle of anticipation. Unless someone locked her back into that vault with him again, they wouldn’t get a chance to appreciate anything together. Fleet would come, and that would be the end of it all.
Chapter 20
As Makkon followed Tamryn and the soldier Cox to the lift, he fingered the first of two items he had stolen while investigating Porter’s lab. It was the device that had been left on the table, the device that may or may not be storing all of the captain’s notes on alien linguistics and FTL engines. He didn’t hold much hope that the pirates had gotten anything useful, especially since they had forgotten it on the table when they had left. Yes, they had come back, but he didn’t know if that had been for the device or because they had wanted a sample of that organism.
The three of them stepped into the lift—the access to Sub-Level Five had been restored. Makkon removed his hands from the external pocket in the armor, though not before confirming that the second item he had stolen remained there. As he and Tamryn had been heading for the decontamination shower, he had slipped the fob for his collar out of Tamryn’s pocket. She hadn’t noticed yet, but she would soon. When they were heading back to the refrigerator vaults, she would worry that he would fight her, try to keep from being put back in there. And she was right.
He had given his word to help with the pirates and the contamination problem, and he had. He assumed that Porter could kill the rest of the infestation using a method similar to what she had used on his armor. That meant that Makkon had to shift his priority back to his mission. All of these distractions had taken up time and had kept his people from hearing the government response to their message, if there had been a response. He hoped terraforming supplies were on the way, but he had to assume a fleet of warships was incoming. Being a prisoner when they arrived would not be good.
The comm inside of his helmet clicked on. “Lieutenant Pavlenko?” Static sounded in Makkon’s ears, as well as words, and he couldn’t tell who was speaking. “Do you read me?” the speaker asked.
Cox looked to Tamryn. Everyone wearing the suits must have heard the message.
“Yes,” Tamryn said. “Is that Powell?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m up in Comm and Control and thought you and the captain should know. Fleet ships have just come within range of our sensors. They should be here in a few hours.”
Makkon tensed. They had expected this, but he and Brax had assumed it would take a couple more days before Fleet could get out here. Ships, the soldier had said. That didn’t imply that their demand for a single ship full of terraforming equipment had been met. He let his head fall back against the inside of the helmet. Did he have time to attempt to rescue the others? Likely not. He had a Plan B—or maybe he was on Plan C or D by now—but to have a chance at enacting it, he would have to take the mining ship and leave immediately. If he waited for the Fleet craft to fly into weapons range, he would simply be fired upon and disabled, no matter who he had with him.
“Not more pirates, I hope?” Tamryn replied.
“Not unless they’ve taken over a lot of ships, ma’am.” The soldier sounded quite pleased. And why not? From his point of view, the cavalry was coming.
“Finally, some good news. Maybe they’ll have some experts on sludge.”
“On what, ma’am?”
“Never mind,” Tamryn said. “You don’t want to know.”
The lift door opened on Sub-Level Five. Cox stepped out, but immediately turned, pointing his rifle at Makkon. “Come on, big man. You first. We’re not taking any chances.”
He glanced at Tamryn, probably to see if she would object. She didn’t.
“Hold for a moment.” Makkon stayed in the lift after the other two were out and popped the helmet of his armor. “I don’t completely trust that shower, and I don’t want to be stuck in a vault with any remnants of that organism.”
Cox frowned at him, his finger tightening on the trigger. Tamryn’s expression was hard to read through her faceplate, but she looked suspicious.
“The gas is gone, isn’t it?” Makkon asked, more to buy time than because he didn’t know the answer to the question. “And we’re several floors above those labs. I shouldn’t need a self-contained unit anymore, right?” Without waiting for permission, he popped the chest plate of the armor, then proceeded to remove the other pieces.
Cox lowered the rifle, perhaps liking the idea of Makkon being more exposed, but that didn’t keep him from protesting. “You’re going to get undressed here in the lift? Who’s going to put that away? We’re not going to the armory with you.”
“No need. I’ll carry it wherever you wish.” So long as he wasn’t wearing it anymore, and Tamryn couldn’t cause the suit to jam drugs into him or make him walk into walls.
“Makkon.” Tamryn lifted her own rifle, her eyes hardening. Maybe she had figured out why he was undressing.
He shucked off the boots and was only wearing the suit’s bottoms when she seemed to remember about the remote for his collar. Her hand dipped toward her pocket.
Makkon bent toward the floor, as if to pick up the boots and helmet. Instead, he leaped out of the lift, lunging low and ramming into their thighs. Laser fire went off, but he’d bumped their rifles upward as he knocked into them, and the blast struck the back wall of the lift. Smashing into their hard, armored legs with his shoulders didn’t feel good, but with his momentum, he bowled them off their feet, regardless. Rifles whipped toward him, but he grabbed both, tearing them from their owners’ hands before they could fire again. He flung them into the lift, out of reach.
Though he had greater speed than either of his opponents, he couldn’t punch them effectively or knock them out while they were encased in those hard shells. He got behind Cox and wrapped his arms around the man’s torso, using him as a shield to keep Tamryn from firing. She had already jumped to her feet and yanked out her pistol. After all they had shared together, he hoped she wouldn’t shoot to kill, but he couldn’t count on that, especially if he threatened Cox. Makkon didn’t try. He pulled the soldier off his feet and hurled the man several feet down the corridor. He smashed into the wall helmet-first, the noise like that of a ship crashing into a station.
Since he had lost his shield, Makkon turned his attention to Tamryn before Cox even landed. He jumped to the side, in case she fired, and she did, a laser beam painting the wall where he had been standing. With her aim, he couldn’t take a chance and let her shoot again. Besides, Cox was already struggling to his feet.
Makkon lunged in low again, trying to grab her around the legs this time instead of knocking her over. She saw him coming and almost got out of the way quickly enough, but he was too fast for her. He caught her, straightened his legs, and raced into the li
ft with her over his shoulder. With the armor, she weighed at least fifty pounds more than normal, but she wasn’t that heavy to start with, and he had no trouble carrying her.
“LT!” Cox shouted as the lift doors closed.
Laser fire screeched, striking those doors, but it was too late. Makkon had already hit the button for the engineering level, and the lift surged upward.
Tamryn bucked on his shoulder, striking him with a hard, armored knee. She was trying to find a position that would let her shoot him from atop his shoulder. That wouldn’t be easy, but he twisted and caught her pistol by the barrel. She held on with impressive strength when he tried to tear it away from her, but in the end, he disarmed her. She grunted with pain at having it wrenched away, and a surge of remorse went through him.
“I’m sorry, Tamryn,” he said, not certain if she would hear him over her struggles. “But if everyone on my team is imprisoned when your Fleet shows up, we get shot, and our mission fails. I can’t let that happen.”
“Whether you’re imprisoned or not when they show up, you’re never going to walk away from this alive.” As the lift doors opened, she slammed her fists down against his lower back, trying again to wrest herself free.
With the metal gloves on, her punches were effective. But Makkon gritted his teeth and accepted the pain. He tightened his grip around her waist and strode out of the lift. “I never expected I would.”
Part 5: Glaciem
Chapter 21
As Tamryn sat in a passenger seat, her wrists cuffed to the armrest and her ankles tied together, she glowered at the back of Makkon’s head. Actually, she glowered at the back of his neck. As soon as they had boarded, he had figured out how to remove his collar, and she lamented that she had been so reluctant to use the fob on him that it had ended up being a worthless tool. She should have kept the fob in her hand the whole time they had been in that lab.
Frost Station Alpha 1-6: The Complete Series Page 25
