The Orpheus Plot

by Christopher Swiedler

  Stockton backpedaled and collided with Mai at the control panel. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her up like a sack of potatoes. Jo grabbed his other arm, but Stockton swatted him away. Ignoring Mai’s kicks and screams, Stockton staggered off into the tunnel that the cadets had come through.

  Lucas knelt down by Maria. She grimaced in pain and clutched her knee with one hand. With the other, she pressed Stockton’s mining laser into Lucas’s hand. “I’m fine,” she gasped. “Get him!”

  Lucas sprinted into the tunnel. The emergency lights on the walls were dim, leaving giant pools of blackness everywhere. He looked around, certain that at any moment Stockton was going to spring out from the darkness to attack him. But there was no sign of either Stockton or Mai.

  He heard a muffled cry from up ahead and saw a flicker of movement at the top of a long concrete ramp. Lucas vaulted over a railing onto the ramp and ran upward. He reached the top just in time to see Stockton disappear through a door at the other end of a narrow hall. He raced down the corridor and skidded to a halt in the doorway.

  Stockton was standing on a long catwalk suspended over an enormous storage room. On the floor, ten meters below, old rovers and other bits of machinery had been jammed together and covered with tarps. The only light came from a dusty, flickering light bar in the ceiling. Stockton turned and held Mai in front of him, brandishing a knife in his free hand.

  Lucas raised his arm and pointed the laser at Stockton. “Let her go.”

  Stockton snorted. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me.”

  “Let her go,” Lucas repeated, “and you can walk out of here.”

  “Ten to one you hit her instead,” Stockton said, lifting the girl up a little higher and pressing the knife against her throat.

  Lucas looked levelly back at him. “Try to run, and we’ll find out.”

  Stockton’s eyes narrowed. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he growled.

  In reply, Lucas held the mining laser a little higher, his hands trembling only slightly.

  “You want the kid?” Stockton asked. “Take her!”

  With a grunt, Stockton lifted Mai up over the side of the catwalk. For a moment, the girl was suspended, kicking and flailing her arms. Then, with one last sneering look, Stockton dropped her over the side.

  22

  “NO!” LUCAS SHOUTED.

  Time seemed to stop. For a moment Mai was suspended in midair, an astonished look on her face. She thrashed her legs and reached out for the catwalk railing, missing it by centimeters. With a wordless cry, she disappeared into the shadows.

  Stockton turned and sprinted away down the catwalk. Lucas leaped forward, covering the distance to where Mai had fallen in three giant steps. He bent over the railing and squinted at the darkness.

  Mai was hanging by one hand from a horizontal support that ran along the bottom of the catwalk. She looked up at Lucas with a terrified expression. Lucas gave Stockton one last look, and then shoved the pulse weapon into his belt.

  “Hold on!” he called.

  “Help me!” Mai gasped. “My hand is slipping!”

  Lucas lay on his stomach and reached down. He wrapped the fingers of one hand around her wrist and reached down with the other. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. Grab my hand.”

  Mai reached up with her free hand but couldn’t get it high enough. She grunted and tried again. The effort made her fingers slip free from the catwalk, and Lucas had to grab her wrist with both hands.

  Lucas clenched his jaw and held on as tightly as he could. “One more time!” he said. “I need both your hands to pull you up!”

  Mai swung herself upward, and Lucas managed to snag her free hand. His hands were sweaty and he could feel his grip already starting to give way. He pulled her up a few centimeters at a time. When Mai’s head and shoulders were above the catwalk floor, Lucas heaved with all of his strength. Her legs scrabbled against the corrugated metal for a moment, and then she collapsed on the catwalk floor, panting for air.

  Lucas pushed himself to his feet and helped her up. “Thank you,” she gasped.

  “You were the one who activated the smoke, weren’t you?” Lucas asked.

  “Didn’t seem fair, a bunch of grown-ups with weapons. I figured that might even it out a bit.”

  “Well, I guess now we’re even,” Lucas said, grinning. “Come on. Let’s see if anyone needs our help.”

  As it turned out, the cadets and merchants had everything well in hand by the time Lucas and Mai arrived back at the Janusarium. The lights had been turned on, and only a few wispy clouds of smoke hung in the air. Five surly looking miners sat in the center of the amphitheater floor, with a group of the older cadets standing guard. Only five, Lucas realized, which meant that most of the miners had escaped with Stockton. Elena, standing with Britta near a small crowd of cadets and merchants, waved at Lucas as he entered. He jogged over to her and saw Rahul and another cadet being lifted up onto floating stretchers.

  “Are they okay?” Lucas asked, craning his neck to see better. “What happened?”

  Rahul was holding a blood-soaked T-shirt against his arm. The other boy—Samir, Lucas saw—had his eyes closed, and his leg was heavily bandaged. A man was holding a bag of clear fluid over his head. A thin tube led from the bag to the skin under the bandages.

  “They both took a blast at short range,” Elena said. “Rahul’s was a near miss, but Samir took it bad.”

  “We’ve got them now,” the man with the bag said. He was wearing a shiny vest marked with a large red cross over his Vestan robes. “Just have to move them over to the clinic.”

  When he saw Lucas, Rahul sat up. “Did you see?” he asked. “Wasn’t it awesome?” Another paramedic pushed him gently back down onto the stretcher, and they lifted him up the steps toward the exit. Rahul leaned out to one side of the stretcher and waved at Lucas. “It was awesome,” he called.

  “He’s been talking nonstop like that,” Britta said. “I think if he hadn’t been hurt, he’d actually be disappointed.”

  “It was just a little second-degree burn,” Elena said. “There’s nothing heroic about getting hurt.”

  “Well, don’t tell him that,” Britta said. “And he was one of the first ones out of his seat.”

  “I still can’t believe that everyone charged at the miners like that,” Lucas said. “One second they were standing here waving their weapons around, and the next they’re getting swarmed by cadets.”

  “Speaking of which, where were you during all of this?” Elena asked Lucas. “I don’t remember seeing you in the fight.”

  “I was—”

  “There’s no shame in hiding,” she interrupted in a teasing voice. “You were quite the target, standing out there. I suppose not all of us can be heroes.”

  Lucas was opening his mouth to respond when Garth pushed his way through the crowd of cadets, followed close behind by Mai. “This is him, Dad,” Mai said.

  Garth grabbed Lucas’s hand and pumped it up and down like a piston engine. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for rescuing my daughter from that lunatic. You have my full support, no questions asked. Anything I can do, just say the word, understand?”

  “Sure,” Lucas said. “Of course. Thanks.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Garth let go of Lucas’s hand and turned to Britta and Elena. “You should be proud—your friend is quite the hero.”

  “Hero?” Elena repeated, dumbfounded.

  Garth grinned and gave her a broad wink. “Next time you’re downstation, we should have a friendly spar.”

  As Garth led Mai back into one of the tunnels, Lucas gave a long, dramatic stretch of his arms. “Like you said—not all of us can be heroes.”

  “Whatever,” Elena grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just don’t let it go to your head.”

  “What happened to McKinley?” Lucas asked, looking around. “Did he get away?”

  “Smythe and some of the other merchants took
him that way,” Britta said, pointing at a set of stairs that led between two sections of the amphitheater. “They seemed pretty angry.”

  “Come on,” Lucas said, dragging Elena away from the other cadets. “I need to ask him some questions. And I may need your help.”

  He ran up the steps to the very top of the stadium. Behind the last row of seats was a darkened grandstand area with a row of empty concession stands. A thin line of light was visible underneath a door in the back wall marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. Lucas opened the door and stuck his head through. Inside was a small office with a square table and a grimy desk covered with flyers and boxes. A pair of dusty boxing gloves hung from a hook next to a picture of a young man holding an enormous gold belt. In the far corner of the room, McKinley sat on a folding metal chair with a tired expression on his face. Smythe leaned against the wall next to the door with his arms folded.

  “Hey, kid,” Smythe said. “What do you need?”

  “Lucas,” McKinley said eagerly, leaning forward. “Maybe you’d be so kind as to explain to this gentleman how none of this was my fault.”

  Elena pushed past Lucas. “Not your fault? Of course it’s—”

  “Hold on,” Lucas said, putting his hand on Elena’s shoulder. “I want to hear this.”

  McKinley leaned back and spread his hands wide. “Sure, I went along with their plans. Didn’t have much choice, did I? Would have gotten my throat slit and my body tossed out the airlock if I didn’t.”

  He pulled his finger across his neck dramatically. “It was all Stockton and Willis. The whole thing. They’re the real scoundrels. Right, Lucas? Tell them.”

  “They couldn’t have taken over the Orpheus without your help,” Elena countered.

  “Probably not,” McKinley said. He raised his eyebrow and looked at Lucas. “But I wasn’t the only one. Stockton and Willis needed someone with access to the bridge.”

  “You mean the girl?” Smythe asked. “Tali?”

  “She didn’t know what she was doing,” Lucas protested. “And you blackmailed her!”

  “I wouldn’t call it blackmail,” McKinley said mildly. “Just an agreement. Quid pro quo.”

  “Where is she now?” Lucas asked. “Locked up in the naval base?”

  McKinley laughed. “Locked up? No, sir. Willis and Stockton offered her a deal. A spot on their crew, so to speak. She’s going to help them fly the Orpheus.”

  Lucas blinked in surprise. Tali helping them? After everything that had happened? It wasn’t possible. “You’re lying!”

  “Why would I lie?” McKinley asked, holding out his hands. “It doesn’t buy me anything.”

  “If she’s up on the Orpheus, then she’s a hostage or a prisoner,” Lucas insisted, turning to Elena. “Just like the officers. We have to rescue them and take back the ship.”

  “Well, maybe I can help you out with that,” McKinley said breezily. “Give me a ship and I’ll fly you right up to the Orpheus. Stockton and Willis will let me dock, no questions asked. Of course, rehijacking your hijacked ship will be your problem, not mine.”

  “And what do you get out of that deal?” Elena asked. “Because I don’t get the impression you’re going to do it out of the goodness of your heart.”

  McKinley smiled. “Well, certainly, miss, I’d expect to be compensated for my trouble. Meaning that after I get you to the Orpheus, you let me go my own way.”

  “Go free?” Elena said with a snort. “After everything you’ve done?”

  “It’s up to you. You can have me, or the Orpheus. Can’t have both, I’m afraid.”

  There was a moment of silence. “It’s a deal,” a voice said from behind them.

  Everyone turned to see Maria, who was standing in the doorway with her arms folded. Her face was tight with fury. “If you help us get our ship back, you can go. Though I can’t promise we won’t be chasing after you as soon as we get things settled here.”

  “I’ll take my chances there,” McKinley said. “The solar system is a big place.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Elena asked. “Fly up there, board the ship. Then what?”

  “Then we fight to get it back,” Maria said. “Free the officers, take over the bridge. It’s a big ship, and they’ll be spread thin.”

  “It’s going to be dangerous,” Elena pointed out. “We can’t force cadets to come.”

  Maria shook her head. “Volunteers only. But after what I just saw in that fight out there, I don’t think that will be a problem.”

  Maria was right—once she presented her plan to the other cadets, virtually every one of them volunteered to go. The stirring speech she gave while standing on the floor of the Janusarium, with wisps of smoke still floating around her, certainly didn’t hurt. Thinking back to his own attempts to instill confidence when they were locked up in the rec room, Lucas decided that there was clearly still a lot for him to learn about leadership.

  The miners had raided or stolen almost every ship on Vesta to supplement their fleet, and the only ship left in the hangar that was big enough to carry everyone was an old ore hauler. Hanako and some of the cadets with engineering training worked to make sure the ship was ready to fly, while the others collected enough working suits for all the cadets. When they were nearly finished, McKinley grabbed Lucas and pulled him aside.

  “Are you really sure you want to go through with this?” he asked in a low voice. “Think about what you’re risking your neck for. Is it really worth all this to take back a Navy ship?”

  “It’s my ship,” Lucas said. “It’s my fault it was hijacked in the first place. And even if I didn’t care about any of that, my sister is still on board.”

  “Your sister,” McKinley said, and sighed. “You might not want to get your hopes up about that.”

  In response, Lucas just stared at him silently.

  “All right,” McKinley said, holding up his hands. “Just be careful. Stockton is dangerous. Willis and Jonah and the others are only fighting because they want independence. Stockton wants a war, and he’ll do anything to start one.”

  Lucas nodded. “Thanks.”

  As he headed back to the other cadets, Elena cocked her head to one side. “What was that about?”

  Lucas looked back at McKinley. “I’ll tell you later. Are we all ready?”

  “Almost!” Rahul said, jogging up to them. “Just need to put on a suit.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Elena said. “You should be in medbay.”

  “I’m totally fine!” In demonstration, he flexed his right arm, which was wrapped in a gauzy white bandage. He winced. “Well . . . almost fine.”

  “Rahul, this is idiotic,” Elena said.

  “I’m not missing out on this,” he insisted. “Don’t even try to stop me.”

  Maria ushered them into the cargo hold of the ship along with all the other cadets, ignoring Elena’s protests that Rahul should stay behind. “We need anyone who can move,” she said, sliding the doors closed.

  They found a spot near the back wall and sat down. The light bars in the ceiling turned off, leaving them in darkness except for the glow of their helmet lights.

  “What do you think our chances of pulling this off are?” Willem asked.

  “I’d guess one in ten,” Elena said.

  “That’s reassuring,” Willem said, leaning his head back. “I was beginning to think this was a bad idea.”

  23

  “ORPHEUS, THIS IS Abbott McKinley. Requesting permission to land.”

  McKinley’s voice, scratchy and far-off, came in through a speaker somewhere in the ceiling of the cargo hold. Lucas, floating gently against his harness, looked upward and listened carefully.

  “Abbott? What happened to you?” Stockton asked over the radio link.

  “Took me a little while to get away from the brats. My thanks for leaving me a ship. Now, can you please open the hangar doors?”

  “Don’t thank me,” Stockton replied. “If we’d had more time we would have taken all of them
.”

  “They don’t trust him,” Rahul whispered.

  “I don’t blame them,” Elena said.

  “You’re welcome to join the fleet,” Stockton went on. “Until we get some reinforcements, everything but the flagship is on autopilot. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your request to board the Liberty. Especially since you can’t seem to remember that it isn’t a Navy ship anymore.”

  Lucas winced. “Come on, McKinley, don’t screw it up,” Rahul muttered.

  “I just need to meet with you for a few—”

  “By all means, keep coming closer,” Stockton interrupted. “In a few minutes we’ll have control of our weapon systems, and we’ll need something to test them on. I’ll leave it entirely up to you. Liberty out.”

  McKinley held his course for a few more seconds and then slowed down, forcing the cadets to grab on to whatever they could to keep from drifting into the wall. The cargo bay doors opened up, revealing the gray surface of Vesta and a bright swath of stars. The glowing circle of the bazaar dome was already far off, barely visible at the edge of the horizon. The Orpheus itself was at least a kilometer away, possibly more, with a dozen ships spread out around her in a broad cluster.

  “Looks like this is as close as I can get you,” McKinley said from the cockpit.

  “How are we supposed to get there?” Katya asked.

  “We’ll have to fly,” Maria said. “Everyone remember their thruster-belt training?”

  Rahul groaned. “I was worried you were going to say that.”

  “They’ll see us coming if we try to do it in one jump. We’ll have to make three separate hops.” With her finger, Maria traced an imaginary line that connected two of the closer ships and ended with the Orpheus. “Buddy up with your bunkroom and stay in formation with the flight leaders I assigned. Once we get there, each team will carry out its part of the plan. Transponders off and short-range comms only. Any questions?”

  The cadets gathered into twelve groups, one for each bunkroom. Maria pushed off from the cargo hold and led a ragged formation of the older kids toward a nearby mining skiff. Everyone else watched silently as the first wave landed on the hull of the Belter ship and then flew off on the next hop.