by Isaac Hooke
“Rade, do you read me?” Shaw tried.
No answer.
“Unit A, are you picking up Rade out there?” Shaw said. “He should be showing up on your tactical map by now, courtesy of his heat sig.”
“I have him,” Unit A replied. “I’m bringing us in.”
Shaw just hoped there was still time.
twenty-six
Shaw thought of what had happened since Rade left the ship. After he transferred Ms. Bounty to the second shuttle, Unit A had reported the craft accelerating away from the mech. Shaw had immediately suspected foul play, and instructed Unit A to bring the Magnet closer to the returning shuttle.
When Ms. Bounty was in range, Shaw feigned ignorance regarding Rade’s fate, and when the Artificial had lied about the mech’s location, claiming that Electron was still attached to the shuttle but Rade was unconscious due to radiation poisoning, she knew it had to be the King.
She had used Nemesis to push the Phant trap into place, then opened it, keeping the containment field active so that the Queen wouldn’t escape. With TJ’s help she placed the emitters. The two had only just finished setting up in time before the possessed Ms. Bounty opened the airlock and walked into the trap.
Shaw gazed over the white hull of the shuttle she now clung to. The ringed gas giant above seemed bigger somehow, though she knew it was an illusion of the mind—she wasn’t falling that fast. Then again maybe she was.
Those swirling, red and blue clouds would have been beautiful under other circumstances. But not now. All she saw was an ominous, baleful thing.
“We’ve lost contact with the Magnet thanks to the intense radiation the giant is giving off,” Tahoe said.
“We need some proper comm nodes,” Bender said. “Not the tiny things in these mechs.”
“Where’s a telemetry drone when you need one, huh?” Tahoe said.
Shaw glanced at her rear video feed. The Magnet had disappeared into the starscape behind them.
“Rade, do you read me?” Shaw tried again.
Still no answer.
“Unit A, how are we doing for radiation poisoning?” Shaw asked.
“Your battle suit armor should hold up well to these particular wavelengths,” Unit A replied. “Nonetheless, all of you will need treatment, eventually. Certainly when you return to the Argonaut.”
“That could be a few weeks,” Shaw said. “Will we last that long?”
“I believe so.”
In another five hundred meters, a small dot appeared just below the horizon of the giant, roughly a kilometer ahead, and two degrees declination—that much closer to the planet than her group.
Shaw zoomed in: she discerned Electron hanging on to the original shuttle.
“Rade, do you read me?” Shaw transmitted once more.
She received only silence.
“Unit A, tell me we’re not too late,” Shaw said.
“He has passed beyond the point of no return,” Unit A said. “We cannot retrieve him with the motive force available to this shuttle.”
Shaw stared at Rade’s distant mech for long moments.
Past the point of no return...
“We’ve lost him,” Tahoe said. “I can’t believe it.”
“No we haven’t,” Shaw said. She refused to give up so easily. “Unit A, listen to me carefully. I need you to perform a very important calculation. If we fired the jumpjets of our Hoplites, adding our thrust to that of the shuttle you pilot, would we be able to escape the gravity? Include Electron’s motive force in your calculations.”
“Let me access the appropriate subsystems in your mechs for a moment,” the combat robot replied.
Two seconds passed.
“The answer is no,” Unit A said. “It doesn’t matter if we combine our fuel, it still won’t be enough. We’ll simply doom ourselves to the same fate as Rade. It really is too late.”
“What if we had the other two mechs from the Magnet with us?” Shaw asked.
“Even if there was time to return to the Magnet to retrieve them, which there is not, I’m afraid it wouldn’t make a difference. I’m sorry, Shaw. He is lost.”
Shaw slumped.
She couldn’t believe it. Rade really was going to die.
And she was going to watch it.
“I think I’ve found a way to boost our signal,” Unit A said from within the shuttle. “Try reaching him again.”
“Rade, do you read?” Shaw tried.
“Hey, babe,” Rade’s distorted voice returned. He sounded extremely weary. “Guess I’ve gone and done it now, haven’t I? Please don’t be mad at me too much.”
“I’m not mad at you,” Shaw said, struggling to control her quivering chin.
“I often wondered what it would be like to die outside of battle,” Rade said. “I took some comfort in my choice of careers, always expecting that when death finally came, it would be quick. Either instantaneous, or a few moments of excruciating pain numbing to nothingness. But I don’t have that luxury anymore. It’s like I’ve been given a death prognosis by a doctor. Told I have a few hours to live. So before I cease to exist, I have time to sit here and think. A few hours to dwell upon my regrets, and everything I wish I had done.
“I’ve faced death so many times in my life. And I can tell you, it’s much easier when you know the end will come quickly. Not like this. Too much time to focus on my regrets. Before battle, I always tell myself I’m ready to die. I have to. But now, with all this time to think before the end comes, I can actually be honest with myself. I can admit: I’m not ready.
“There’s so much I still want to do. Especially with you. Oh, my Shaw. I held off too long. We were supposed to have children together. And now we never will. I’m sorry. I should have listened to you at the beginning of the mission, when you asked me to consider it. I should have taken you up on the idea. I should have...”
“No,” Shaw said. “None of this is your fault. You couldn’t know this would happen.”
“But I knew we’d face death,” Rade said. “I knew there was a chance I’d never come back. And now it’s happened. I’m not coming back.” He was silent for a time. “Seek out the Mahasattva. We’re at peace with them, last I checked. They made clones of me once, long ago. While I might not live again, in this body, the universe can still have me with their help. You can still have me. Or a version of me, anyway. At least you’ll be able to have the children I deprived you of.”
“I don’t want children with a clone!” Shaw said, unable to help the tears. “I want children with you.”
“I’m sorry Shaw, that’s all I can offer,” Rade said.
“But it won’t be you!” Shaw repeated. “Just stop this talk of clones. I don’t want to hear it. If this is the last time I’m going to ever hear your voice, just let me... just let me...”
But she couldn’t finish. It was too hard. Rade was going to die here on this cold world, crushed as he descended into the atmosphere. A painful, agonizing death.
“I’m sorry,” Rade said. “I’ll give you a moment.”
I don’t want a moment, she wanted to say. I want forever.
And then Ms. Bounty’s voice came over the comm. “Could you use a hand?”
Shaw glanced at the feed from her rear camera. The Magnet had closed to within three hundred meters behind them.
“I thought you couldn’t come this low?” Shaw said.
“I found a way to boost the distance,” Ms. Bounty replied. “Using reserve generators. But this is the final, absolute range. However, I’m setting the ship on autopilot, and personally coming out with a few friends.”
From the hangar, the remaining two Hoplites emerged, piloted by Lui and Manic. Ms. Bounty was in the passenger seat of Lui’s mech.
“Pick them up,” Shaw instructed Unit A.
The shuttle decelerated slightly, allowing the two mechs to close. They latched onto Tahoe and Bender.
“Unit A tells me even with all six mechs, we won’t have enough moti
ve force to retrieve Rade,” Shaw told her.
“Your AI is correct,” Ms. Bounty replied. “But I plan to assume control of the shuttle Rade is hanging on to. I’ve run a few calculations: if we leave now, we should have just enough combined thrust to escape the gravity and return to the Magnet.”
“Then let’s go!” Shaw said. “Unit A, take us in! And thank you, Ms. Bounty, for giving me hope. If we succeed, I’ll owe you for all eternity.”
“You are welcome,” Ms. Bounty said. “But we haven’t rescued him yet.”
Several moments passed as the craft slowly approached Rade’s location.
“What are you doing?” Rade asked.
“Something,” Shaw replied.
“Look, I’ve run the calculations,” Rade said. “Even with all six of us, and the two shuttles, we won’t have enough motive force to escape the gravitational pull. Don’t trap yourself here with me!”
“You’re wrong,” Shaw said. “Do you remember when I was falling into the atmosphere of Guangdong IV not so long ago? Do you remember what you said to me? ‘I’m not leaving you.’ Well, I say that now to you. We’ve switched places. Instead of you rescuing me, it’s my turn to save you.”
“Yeah, boss,” Bender said. “You think we’re going to leave you behind to fall into a gas giant or something, bitch?”
“I’d rather risk death than lose my best friend,” Tahoe said.
“Life wouldn’t be the same without you, boss,” Lui said.
“I’d give up pussy if it meant saving you,” Manic said.
Rade laughed over the line. “You’re all crazy people. But you’re my Argonauts. Mine. And I love you all.” It sounded like he was crying. It must have been Shaw’s imagination.
The mech-laden craft rapidly closed with Rade’s position, and Unit A decelerated to pull along aside Electron and the second alien shuttle.
“Is that a shuttle in your pants or are you just happy to see us?” Bender said.
Come to think of it, the way Rade’s mech was gripping that shuttle did look kind of funny... Shaw burst out in nervous laughter.
“Is that you cackling at my joke, Shaw?” Bender said.
She quickly got a hold of herself. “Nope.” She wished she had a way to wipe the tears from her face.
“Unit A, bring us closer,” Ms. Bounty said. “Lui, extend your right arm toward Rade. Meanwhile, Rade, move more onto the starboard side of your craft, and then extend your left arm toward Lui in turn. Clasp each other, if you can.”
Rade moved into place and then reached toward Lui’s mech, which also extended an arm. Too far.
Lui shifted and tried again. Their steel hands touched and the fingers tightened.
“We have contact,” Lui said.
“I’m going to cross over.” Ms. Bounty clambered down from Lui’s passenger seat and onto the arm of the mech. She pulled herself along the surface, her legs floating behind her, and crossed over to Rade.
“Sheesh,” Bender said. “This is like the second time we’ve retrieved you or Shaw from free fall into an atmosphere, boss.”
“Shaw and I do have penchant for falling into planets, don’t we?” Rade said.
“Gotta be a Guinness Galactic Record or something,” Bender said. “For the number of times plummeting toward an atmosphere without a starship and escaping.”
“We haven’t rescued them yet...” Manic said.
Ms. Bounty finished drawing herself over Electron to the aft portion of the shuttle. The ramp was still open, so she readily pulled herself inside.
“I’m going to need you to shift away from the aft portion a little bit more, Rade,” Ms. Bounty said. “So I can seal the shuttle.”
Rade released Lui, and reached along the starboard side with his free hand. He must have activated the magnetic mounts on that arm, because it attached; meanwhile the magnets securing the rest of his body to the shuttle turned off, allowing him to shift. When he had fully cleared the aft area, he reattached.
“Good,” Ms. Bounty said. The ramp closed, sealing the shuttle. “Shaw and Lui, you’re going to jet across to join Rade. Meanwhile, Tahoe, Bender, and Manic, I’ll need you to reposition on the existing shuttle. I’m highlighting the locations on the hull. Move quickly. Every second we delay is another ten minutes it will take the Magnet to escape the gravitational pull.”
Shaw saw a highlight appear as a three-dimensional curved plane over Rade’s shuttle, indicating where she was to attach.
Lui jetted toward the second shuttle. Shaw waited for Tahoe, Bender and Manic to crawl past her toward their given positions.
“Bender just grabbed my crotch,” Manic said.
“What the eff?” Bender said. “No, I did not.”
“Yeah you did.”
“You should come to Sukupuoli VI with me sometime,” Bender said. “There’s this one street, Katu Cowboy... now there’s some serious crotch-grabbing action for you. Cross that street, and girls are constantly grabbing you in the nether regions. By the time you get to the other side, your balls are so sore you can barely walk. You quickly learn to wear thick pants.”
“That good, huh?” Manic didn’t sound impressed.
“Oh yeah.”
While they were talking, Shaw had jetted across to join Lui and Rade. She attached at the position specified on her aReal.
“Good to go,” Shaw said.
“Now reach out to your counterparts on the opposite shuttle,” Ms. Bounty said. “And join hands.”
Shaw reached toward Tahoe, and intertwined her steel fingers with his. The other four did the same behind her. She was expecting some crude comment about having to hold each other’s hands, but for once the Argonauts remained quiet.
“Link your jumpjets to me,” Ms. Bounty said. “I’ll need absolute firing control. Unit A, establish a root connection with my AI core. We’ll have to coordinate our movements very closely.”
Shaw and the others gave up control of their jumpjets, and Unit A linked with Ms. Bounty.
“Engaging engines,” Ms. Bounty said. “I’m turning us around. I should probably mention, the return voyage is going to be far worse than the relatively easy journey we took here. And far longer. We’ll be fighting the planet’s gravity the whole way. In preparation for full burn, I suggest you switch control of your mechs over to either myself or Unit A. Hoplites don’t have very powerful inertial dampeners. And while I won’t be accelerating as nearly as fast as a starship could, I suspect most of you will black out.”
“What, you suggesting we’re weak?” Bender said.
“Not at all,” Ms. Bounty replied. “It just a precaution.”
“Precaution,” Bender said. “I don’t need no precaution. I’m just switching over control to you because I want to catch a few VR experiences while you do the busywork. That’s all.”
“Fine,” Ms. Bounty said. “I would also recommend you apply the necessary injections to help mediate the effects of the Gs. I do promise not to splatter you against the insides of your suits, though.”
“Aww, thanks, that’s sweet,” Bender said. “By the way, when we’re back on the Magnet, I’m free later if you wanted to, you know, do something.”
Ms. Bounty didn’t answer, unsurprisingly.
“Unit A, I’m handing over control of my mech to you,” Shaw told the robot. “Prepare to receive remote access codes. Everyone else, I suggest you follow Ms. Bounty’s suggestion, and do the same.”
“Access codes received,” Unit A said.
Shaw felt a soft sting on the upper portion of her hand.
“Wha—” Shaw said.
“I’ve taken the liberty of sonic-injecting the usual cocktail of G force counter-agents, as per Ms. Bounty’s suggestion,” Unit A said. “The journey won’t be pleasant, but you should remain conscious.”
“Maybe it would have been better if I blacked out,” Shaw said.
“Too late now,” Unit A replied.
“We’re positioned,” Ms. Bounty said. “Prepare
for full burn.”
“You’ve been awfully quiet, Rade,” Shaw said. “Are you ready for this?”
“More than ever,” Rade said. “Ms. Bounty, take us the hell out of here please.”
“Happy to oblige,” Ms. Bounty said. “Firing in three. Two. One.”
Shaw felt the change in G forces immediately. The jumpjet symbol highlighted in the lower left of her HUD, indicating which jets were firing. But she hardly noticed. Her vision had narrowed to a black tunnel. The only sound she heard was that of her pulse, a distant thudding in her ears. It definitely felt like she was going to black out. If Unit A hadn’t been in control of her mech, she would have released Tahoe’s hand, because she relaxed her arm muscles entirely.
Long moments passed. She must have blacked out, because she found herself blinking several times, with no memory of the past few moments, and feeling extremely groggy. The jumpjet indicators had shut off, meaning likely all six Hoplites had exhausted their fuel. The Gs were supposed to have let up slightly at that point, but it still seemed bad, this invisible force pressing down all over her. The dark tunnel of her vision was only marginally wider.
Ms. Bounty said something, but Shaw didn’t understand. Unit A addressed her a moment later, something about the circulation to her extremities, but Shaw had no comprehension capacity at the moment. She felt another vague sting on the venous network of her right hand.
The return voyage proved far slower and more brutal, as Ms. Bounty had warned. Over the span of the next three hours, Shaw fell in and out of consciousness repeatedly.
It seemed an eternity, but finally the Magnet came into view.
The two shuttles and the mechs that joined them passed through into the hangar bay, and the artificial gravity took hold immediately, pulling them to the deck. The forward Gs vanished completely, and Shaw’s tunnel vision became whole again.
“Oh inertial dampeners, I want to marry you,” Lui said, releasing Electron and the shuttle to collapse onto the deck. The arms of his mech were spread wide, as if he were hugging the floor.
“Wow, what a ride,” Manic said. “What did you think of that, huh Bender? Bender?”
Bender didn’t reply. Shaw checked his vitals. He was out cold.
