Star Road

by Matthew Costello

  Whoever’s manning the turret gun is good...

  But the Road Bugs kept swarming toward him from both sides of the Road. Even with the gunner picking them off almost as fast as they appeared, it was only a matter of time until they made their way into the innards of the ship, to him.

  Every blazing flash of his own pulse cannon ignited the Road Bugs, who then exploded in rippling lines of color, leaving behind twisted scraps of metal that other Road Bugs quickly stopped to ingest.

  Now, though, he could hear them working in the back. Soon the SRV’s big guns would be useless.

  No good that close.

  Then they’ll come straight for me.

  His breathing seemed loud inside the EVA helmet. The faceplate fogged around the edges, the compressed air inside not warmed up yet. The fringes of his vision took on the colors of a prism.

  He kept his eyes on the gunner whose pin-point accurate pulses were keeping the Road Bugs in check.

  Still too many, though.

  Adrenaline surged through his system. All he could do was pick off any bug that came into his limited range. That, and wait, sitting there like bait in a trap, waiting to be eaten.

  A vibrating shudder ran through his vehicle, shaking him side to side.

  “You feel that?” The SRV’s captain voice in his ear, crystal clear inside his helmet.

  “Yeah—trouble docking?”

  “That wasn’t us.”

  The Road Bugs. Must be a bunch in the rear now.

  “How long?” Ivan asked.

  “Docking in ... thirty seconds.”

  He took a breath, waiting.

  “On my mark in three ... two ... one ... mark!”

  Another sickening rattle.

  That might not be soon enough.

  In the strange quantum void of the Star Road, he didn’t hear the sound, but something—the Bugs?—was shaking his entire ship. He flipped on his external rearview.

  And saw a Road Bug—bigger than any he’d ever seen—flanked by several others. He watched it take a huge bite out of the rear of his IMT.

  The thing. A monster.

  Responding to the others getting blown away?

  Then: Hurry.

  What little air was left inside the vehicle rushed out...

  He watched the giant Road Bug’s jaws close down from top, bottom, and both sides. The metal of his vehicle simply ... vanishing.

  I’m next.

  ~ * ~

  Ivan turned and looked into the back of the cabin.

  He raised his pulse rifle, but held his fire for a moment and stared into the gullet of the machine—

  Even if it is a machine

  —eating through his SRV.

  The thing seemingly made of metal and who knew what other substances. But then, on the shimmering surface, the way it rippled ... looking organic ... biological...

  No time to study it now, he thought, and fired.

  The stream of light caught the Road Bug full on, blowing it back and away from the ship. Another blast, then another, and it turned into a glowing mass of fragments that flared for a moment and then disappeared when they landed on the Road.

  “You here yet?” Ivan said into his commlink.

  Longest damn thirty seconds he had ever experienced.

  He tried to remain calm.

  More bugs, maybe even bigger ones, would come.

  “We’re gonna have to do this on the fly,” the SRV’s captain said. “If I slow and stop, the bugs will be on me, too.”

  “Right. Got it.”

  The odds ... turning worse.

  Now a side section of his IMT disappeared, ripped away.

  A smaller hole. But metal—if that’s metal—jaws started digesting the skin of his vehicle, chewing from the side, right next to him.

  “Go to your airlock and get ready to evacuate.”

  “Gotcha,” Ivan said as he stood up from the helm.

  A rattling from above.

  Another Road Bug, this one landing on the top. The impact threw Ivan off balance, and he fell to his knees. His EVA helmet rang like a metal gong when it struck the cockpit wall.

  No way, he thought.

  He stood up fast, grabbing at anything for support. The suit—so damned heavy.

  He wasn’t sure if the spiraling pinpoints of light were outside on the Road or inside his head.

  The support beams of the vehicle’s ceiling started sagging inward from the crushing weight. And then a section of the roof three meters wide on each side simply flew away and disappeared inside the Road Bug’s maw.

  Shaking his head to clear it and keeping one hand on the wall to keep himself oriented, he crossed over to the airlock in three long steps.

  “Ready whenever you are,” he said.

  Through the portal on the airlock, he could now see the metal flank of the SRV beside him, moving forward, then back, not daring to actually stop.

  Amazing pilot, that’s for sure.

  Before the SRV captain said anything, he slapped the door control.

  But the door didn’t open.

  A Road Bug must have taken out the electronics.

  Ivan took a breath. Then he grabbed the manual override bar and pulled it. Nothing. Then another pull, and it finally moved. The outer airlock door slid open.

  And then, there it was.

  To his left, moving slowly past him—four meters away—the huge flank of the SRV. Leaning out over the Road and looking down the length of the vehicle, he made out the small, dark square of the open airlock hatch.

  A black rectangle in the side of the much larger vehicle.

  “Can you get closer?” he said.

  Road Bugs might get him before he hit the airlock.

  The SRV still sliding past him—slowing down but not stopping.

  Then it started moving back.

  Now or never.

  Ivan placed both hands on the sides of the opened hatch and began shifting back and forth, getting ready, timing his jump as the opening moved steadily closer.

  He would have only one chance at this. He saw bug activity on both sides.

  He was totally exposed here.

  Make it, and he would live.

  Miss it, and he would find out all about the Road Bugs.

  If the fall doesn’t kill me.

  The opening loomed larger as it came closer.

  The SRV moved in tighter, closing the gap. But still several meters away.

  Could he jump that far without a running start?

  He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, flexing... tensing ... getting ready, and then: with the airlock opening still not directly opposite from him, he jumped.

  The instant before his feet left the deck, another Road Bug—maybe more than one—slammed into the sides of his motionless vehicle. The impact threw him off balance. He tried to adjust his jump, but the SRV— needing to keep moving—was already pulling past him.

  His arms flailed wildly as he shot across the gap. Below him was the shimmering surface of the Road.

  The SRV’s airlock opening already looked too far away.

  It had passed him.

  But he twisted and thrashed in midair, legs and arms pinwheeling crazily, and—somehow—he caught the receding edge of the portal. A jolt of pain shot through him when his body slammed against the outer shell of the SRV. Without the EVA suit, he would have been squashed.

  But his grip held.

  Dangling above the Road, grunting loudly, he strained to pull himself up and into the bay. He chanced a quick look over his shoulder.

  The Road Bugs had swarmed over and were busily devouring his vehicle. Another few seconds, and he would have been part of their “clean-up.”

  Ivan swung around and reached up to grab the door frame with his other hand. Then ... slowly ... arms aching from the angle and the weight of the suit, he pulled himself up. He kicked with his legs to get some kind of fo
othold.

  Every muscle in his body felt strained to the breaking point.

  One massive effort, and he managed to hoist himself up waist-high, to the bottom edge of the door.

  He swung his right leg over the metal lip of the door and rolled to safety.

  “Punch it,” he said, breathing hard into his helmet mic.

  The captain responded immediately, and the SRV started moving forward much faster. Ivan was still sitting against the airlock door, catching his breath, when the outer door slid shut, and the lights inside the airlock came on.

  They were pressurizing the airlock and—thankfully—the door would open soon to let him inside.

  And see just how he had rescued him.

  ~ * ~

  “Thanks for picking me up,” he said.

  “Code of the Road,” the SRV captain said. “SOP, as they say.”

  No emotion in her voice.

  Not exactly glad to have me aboard.

  And then: “Scanner indicates you’re packing a sidearm. I expect you’ll take it out and leave it on the airlock floor ... once you can stand up.”

  Drop my weapon?

  Is she kidding?

  He never went anywhere unarmed.

  “I don’t think we should be arguing the point—”

  “We’re not arguing it. Lose the weapon, or you can stay where you are until we get to our first way station, and I’ll let you and the council police work it out.”

  He shook his head, and slowly stood up, using the wall for support. He had no doubt the captain or the gunner—probably both—were watching him on the closed-circuit vid.

  That’s what he’d do.

  So he made a show of drawing his pulse pistol, all nice and out in the open, dangling it from his forefinger, and then knelt down to place it gently onto the floor.

  “I like your manners,” the captain said. “You ready to come aboard now?”

  “It would sure be more comfortable than staying in here.”

  Ivan stood by the interior airlock door. Head bowed. Hands braced on both sides of the doorway. He waited for the pressure in the airlock to equalize so he could enter the passengers’ cabin.

  When the light went green, he took off his helmet and prepared himself.

  ~ * ~

  “You done good,” Annie said, looking over at Jordan on the screen as he unbuckled his harness and then stood up from his station. “As usual.”

  Jordan nodded. He didn’t need to be told.

  But he liked hearing it.

  “That big Road Bug. New to me.”

  Drawing his pistol, he walked over to the cabin door, unlocked it, and went down the short flight of steps to the passengers’ cabin.

  “That was muy intensivo,” the Chippie said as he walked past her to get to the airlock. “I got most of it chipped ... right up until when that guy jumped. Then he was too close to the ship. Would have been so freakin’ real!”

  “Good for you,” Jordan said.

  When he got to the door, he checked the readouts, made sure the pressure inside and outside the airlock had equalized. Then he punched the button.

  As the door slid open, he stepped back to take a quick measure of the man standing there.

  Slightly built but strong looking. Wiry ... dark, intense blue-green eyes.

  Eyes that said he’d seen and done things.

  Calm ... self-assured, especially considering the nightmare he’d just escaped.

  He was sure the man was quickly assessing him as well.

  “Welcome aboard,” Jordan said as he stepped past him and into the airlock to retrieve the man’s pistol—an Armstrong 49.

  Nice piece of weaponry. Lot of kick. And not cheap.

  “You the gunner?”

  Jordan nodded.

  “That was some fine work you did just now.”

  Jordan nodded again. Then: “Your name again?”

  “Ahh, Gage ... Gage Mitchell.”

  Why the hesitation? Jordan wondered.

  “And you are ... ?”

  “Jordan.”

  When they shook hands, Jordan became aware that this new passenger, Gage Mitchell, was still taking his measure.

  Guy thinks he’s tough ... and maybe he is.

  And: What’s he doing out here, roading solo?

  “Thanks again for stopping,” Gage said. “That was a little closer than I cared for.”

  “Good thing you jumped when you did. You hurt?”

  Gage smiled. “A few aches. Bruises. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Good. Captain’ll be down in a bit to talk to you. In the meantime”—he nodded toward the lavatory at the back of the vehicle—”you might want to get out of that suit and clean yourself up before you settle in. Close quarters here.”

  “Sounds good, thanks,” he said.

  Jordan watched Gage as he started down the aisle, ignoring the other passengers until...

  The Chippie reached up and grabbed Gage’s arm at the elbow.

  “There’s an empty seat across from me. I’d like to ... get to know you better.”

  But the new arrival shook her off, ignoring her—and all the others staring at him—as he entered the lavatory and closed the door.

  ~ * ~

  Back in the cockpit, Jordan sat down in his seat and strapped himself in.

  “So ... what’ve we got?” Annie asked.

  Her fingers played across the controls, making adjustments as the SRV resumed its normal speed.

  “Beats me,” Jordan replied.

  “Anyone get roadsick back there when we decelerated?”

  “Not that I could smell.”

  Annie nodded. “Good. I’ll go back and have a little chat with him in a bit.”

  ~ * ~

  “Excuse me.”

  Ruth leaned over and touched the arm of the man they just rescued, sitting across from her.

  “This might sound, I don’t know, strange. But don’t you think it’s wrong to kill those Road Bugs?”

  The man glanced at her and shrugged. She could see that he saw her for what—not who—she was, a Seeker, and dismissed her.

  “I mean, the Builders made them to protect the Road—”

  Ruth was aware the Chippie was watching them both, always recording ... even this simple question.

  “Builders, hmm?” Gage said. “Never met one. And those things? No different from shooting a sonic cleaner or a blender.”

  Exactly the answer she expected.

  So ignorant, she thought.

  Still, the man, his voice, the way his eyes caught the light—he had charisma, no doubt about that.

  Which is probably why the Chippie kept turning around and looking at him.

  “That’s funny,” the Chippie said. “Blender ...”

  “Still,” Ruth said, “if the Builders made them, we should treat them with the utmost respect. This is their Road.”

  “The only thing that gets respect—especially as far out as I’m going—is a gun and someone, like that Jordan guy, who knows how to use it.”

  Ruth lowered her head.

  Pointless.

  This guy was just another arrogant jerk who had bullied his way through life, taking what he wanted and damn everyone else.

  Still, she had to try.

  “Respect isn’t something you get,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “It’s something you earn.”

  Then he turned to her.

  “Is this a church or an SRV?” Gage sniffed with laughter at that and then, leaning closer and eyeing her steadily: “You keep on believing that, Sister. Live and let live. Me? I’ll use the Road for anything and everything I can get from it.”

  Ruth thought, Right... an arrogant jerk.

  She turned away from him just as the cockpit door opened, and the captain came down the flight of stairs.