by Jeff Carlson
Vonnie nodded slowly. The org chart for the Lewis wasn't all that had changed. Her friend was different, too. In recent days, Vonnie had noticed little things like Ash trying to prolong their call or wanting Vonnie to comment on her affair with Hunt. Now she'd asked to work with Brigit and Angelica. It was a lot to process.
Vonnie shifted her gaze to the sunfish. We should have left more things for them to destroy, she thought. They need more places to hide. Food will help, too.
Maybe the sunfish were her best opportunity with Ash. "Come with me to feed them," she said.
"I will, but I'll wear a pressure suit."
"We'll go barefoot in shorts and tank tops."
"Vonnie, they're sick. They're covered with infections and open wounds."
"You're exaggerating, and they're not contagious -- not to us." She made it a dare. "If you need a pressure suit because there's a little blood, you might as well not go. They'll want to touch and smell us."
"Smell. It's like a toilet in there."
"We'll tell them to clean up."
"They won't. They like it like way."
"Then I'll take Harmeet."
That did it. Ash said, "She's too old. I'll come with you... Why don't you go by yourself?"
"Come on, Ash. Multiples of two. I was able to go into my first meetings with Tom by myself because he also came as a one, a nothing. We formed a pair. Now I'm more to them. Jan was supposed to stay with me, but we're behind schedule. I need you."
"All right."
Vonnie felt a quiet warmth as the two of them walked through camp. She had more she wanted to say, but she would wait. She could see Ash was nervous.
They stopped in Module C. The tube was occupied by Araújo, Gould and Gehb, who were transferring several cases from the labs. The Lewis would carry most of their dead frozen eels. The allies had more than enough tissue samples, which meant the eels' bodies could provide familiar meals for the sunfish.
Ash said, "When we're finished, how are we going to wash up if the showers in hab one are covered in shit and Ribeiro won't let us walk into hab two?"
"We'll modify decon one for personal use."
Ash cut a look at her, almost taunting. "That bleach solution will melt your face."
"We can rig a stall with hot water and soap. It'll take fifteen minutes. We should have done it when we were building the Lewis in the first place."
Ash smiled grudgingly. "Well, we've had other problems."
"Yeah." Vonnie smiled, too, enjoying the banter. Had she and Ash ever been relaxed with each other?
Very briefly, there had been an afternoon when she and Ash played a kissing game with Henri and Ben. She wished it had lasted. Instead, they'd been driven apart.
Maybe it's finally our time, she thought. Peter and I aren't fighting anymore. That's probably why Ash is being so nice... or MI6 told her to ingratiate herself with me like she did with Hunt...
I want to trust her. Can I? I need more friends on the Lewis than Ben and Harmeet.
The men cleared the tube. They'd taken their cases into the sub. In a few minutes, they'd return to camp -- and on a wall display, alerts called for Metzler, Sierzenga, Troutman and Vonderach to board.
Vonnie hadn't said goodbye to Peter. Feeling like a coward, she opened the tube. Ash followed her, which made leaving a bit easier, but Vonnie stopped and turned when Troutman yelled somewhere behind them in Module C. "Enough! Quit chewing that stupid gum and find it!"
Mississippi, she thought. Why was Troutman hollering? "Let's see what's going on," she said.
"Sure." Ash was in no hurry to confront the sunfish.
They went back. Beyond the ready room, inside the module's central corridor, Troutman and Mississippi stood over five weapons cases. He'd separated one from the other four. "I don't need warheads, I need sensor packs," he said. "That's what you were told to get."
"You need 'em both." Mississippi popped a bubble with a rude sound like plap.
"You look like a cow with its mouth full."
"Don't call me names, Trouty."
He stiffened. Byron Troutman was one of NASA's oldest crewmembers at forty-six. Otherwise he was undistinguished with brown hair and brown eyes and another handsome face. Vonnie was grateful for her new eye, but she couldn't condone how he treated Mississippi.
Harmeet said he was religious. Apparently the two of them had discussed their beliefs after the funeral ceremony and over dinner. Harmeet said he was nice. For her sake, Vonnie was willing to concede that Troutman was angry and frightened like all of them. He needed an outlet.
She remembered how he'd treated her after her surgeries. He had been curt, dismissive, superior.
Did he talk down to all of the Disney girls?
Vonnie inserted herself between them. "I saw the engineers load our armaments," she said. "I thought everything was decided."
Troutman shook his head. "Ribeiro wants more options." "Warheads and dets," Mississippi said. "That's the manifest. Check it."
"You're wrong. I'm getting more sensor packs," Troutman said. Leaving the five cases for Mississippi to carry herself, he walked away.
Vonnie said, "What about camp? You need enough weaponry to protect yourselves."
Mississippi snapped her gum. "We're cool. We've got the Jyväskylä and our mecha including the FNEE gun platform. You're the folks going on vacation."
"Everyone's a comedian," Vonnie said. "I like that."
For an instant, they studied each other, both of them waiting for a signal or an overture. They'd only met a few days ago, but, like Vonnie and Jan, they'd made a connection and they both knew they could die.
They embraced.
Mississippi smelled like candy -- like childhood -- a pleasant and inviting scent.
Vonnie squeezed her, then stepped back.
"Y'all take care of yourselves," Mississippi said. "The killing up here is done. China doesn't have the balls to fire on a defenseless target. I mean they do. Defenseless targets are right up their alley, but with the fleet due in a few days, they'll let you go and they'll leave us alone. No bully likes a fair fight. I guarantee it."
Ash's mouth worked as she resisted a smile. Then she laughed. Vonnie did, too. "You guarantee it?"
"I guarantee it," Mississippi said. "We know what we're up against. You don't. Whatever's down there, you keep your eyes peeled because you're probably going to run into some weird fucking stuff like aliens with fifteen heads."
That was good for another laugh, but there wasn't time for more. They had to go.
"We'll take the cases," Vonnie said. She lifted three. Ash lifted two. Mississippi touched her hand to her brow, sketching out a casual salute.
Vonnie thought, I hope I see her again.
12.
The GPs’ maglocks clamped onto the Lewis’ hull, ringing like dull bells. The sunfish screamed. Vibrations rippled through the sub. The floor swayed as the GPs hoisted it from its cradle. They waddled forward. There were crunching sounds as the GPs marched onto the ice.
--Quakes! Quakes! Tom cried, pulling at Brigit and Angelica as if to move them to safe ground. He strained toward the hatch from hab one into decon one.
The only illumination in the room came from the walls, where their displays had been dimmed.
Vonnie held four bulbs of orange juice. Ash held a mesh bag full of dead eels. Ash threw it at the sunfish. She retreated. The patter of her feet drew Hans. Heeding his own instincts, Hans whipped an arm at her, catching her bare ankle.
She kicked Hans. Then she darted away. Hans and Brigit shrieked, but they did not attack. They feasted upon the eels. Their arms shredded the half-frozen meat. Their beaks darted in like knives.
Vonnie knelt among them in the darkness with her bulbs of orange juice. She opened all four bulbs and set them on the floor as she joined the sunfish, pressing her hands on the quivering muscles of Tom and Brigit's topsides.
As a concession to her, the matriarchs had instructed their males to scrape up most of th
e feces in the room. Now they drizzled blood onto Vonnie's bare feet and legs. Hans spattered juice on her when he seized a bulb and passed it to Angelica, squeezing too hard.
Vonnie ignored the blood and the juice. As she spoke, an AI softly translated her words into sonar from the collar assembly she'd slung around her neck. "We're safe. I told you. Our mecha are carrying the sub."
--Not safe! Tom cried. --Not safe! We'll dig our way out!
"Calmly. Let's eat. Calmly," she said. "Ash, you too. Kneel with me. Kneel with Hans."
Ash stayed back.
Brigit reached for Tom, communicating with him and Vonnie and Angelica, rasping her pedicellaria on their bodies. This journey is inside a metal warrior, Brigit signed. There is no danger. Young Matriarch protects us.
"Yes. Yes. We control the sub and our mecha," Vonnie said. "Everything is fine. Your only job is to eat and sleep, save your energy."
That's good advice. I should follow it myself, she thought, struggling to feel optimistic.
Beneath her, like a ticking clock, was the steady crunch of the GPs marching on the ice. Above her, unseen, was the enemy. By now, she was accustomed this pressure. It made her crazy but not too crazy.
Admiral Cornet, Colonel Ribeiro and Captain Leber had advised the PSSC of their impending maneuvers. The PSSC major said under no circumstances would the Dongfangzhixing stand idle as the Jyväskylä launched devices of any kind. In response, Leber had transmitted schematics of his ice busters. "These aren't weapons, they're specialized tools," he'd said.
Next, Ribeiro publicly announced the sub's crew and emphasized the names of their engineering and science teams. Vonnie, Ben, Harmeet, Dawson and even Wester were among the most renowned experts in the solar system. Ribeiro also shared a schematic of the Lewis along with lists of its mecha and ordnance. Compared to fighters, they were lightly armed. "We are not a warship," he'd said, and, as a spokesperson, Ribeiro provided authenticity that a civilian leader might not. The PSSC had no regard for Western diplomats or the EUSD, but they'd served alongside the FNEE.
"We're going to make it," Vonnie said, talking to herself as much as the sunfish.
Tom was drawn by her conviction. He laid two arms on her and two on Angelica, blotting them with sticky juice and gore.
Hans wasn't mollified. He inhaled deeply from the air in Ash's direction, scenting her adrenaline. He rasped his armtips on the bloody floor.
"Come here," Vonnie said. "Ash, come here. You represent our crew. Don't be weak."
"I'm not," Ash snarled. "I don't want to get hurt. Us against them isn't fair if I can't have my axe." She stepped closer and said, "You could have brought Ben if you just wanted some dumbass to take abuse."
Vonnie pretended not to listen. Ben would do almost anything for her, but he wasn't a stooge and she should have known Ash would deflect attention from herself. Ash didn't want her superiors to think she was afraid of anything.
In fact, Vonnie was proud of Ash for entering hab one. "I picked you for a reason," she said.
Ash crouched beside her. They took each other's hand. Hans reached for Ash's foot again, and she tensed, yet she allowed herself to become a part of the group.
Vonnie said, "We can't seal the sunfish in here until we need them, then expect cooperation. We have to act like they're people, too. We have to show them respect."
Brigit signed, Yes. Yes.
"Be yourself," Vonnie said. "They like Biting Female -- but if you bite, they'll bite. If you panic, they'll panic."
"I didn't panic. Hans snapped at me." Ash pinched Hans, sinking her nails into his arm.
They're still too alien for her, Vonnie thought. She said, "Look at it this way. Dealing with the sunfish is like being in a funhouse. You see what's inside yourself, only it's distorted and amplified. We have to keep our composure."
"Yeah." Ash caused an undulation among the sunfish by whacking Hans and Angelica. Cruelly, she struck Hans where he was suffering from a fungal infection on his topside. Her blows were full strength. She treated them as roughly as a farmer with a team of oxen, and they accepted her roughness.
They viewed it as an intimacy.
"Goddamn monsters," Ash said. "Jesus, you stink. I'm not riding with you all the way, but I bet the men will take turns if Vonnie and I bat our eyes and say please. Are you watching this, Hunt?"
She looked at the data/comm array in the ceiling. It was smeared with gel, which barely affected the cameras and couldn't interfere with IR or neutrino pulse.
From a display, David Hunt said, "Are you all right?"
"I'm gonna need a shower." Ash's tone was playful. Vonnie realized she'd never heard her friend flirt before, not even with Henri. What was different about her relationship with Hunt? The sunfish were curious, too. They coiled restlessly.
"I can't be a hero and trade places with you. I'm piloting the sub," Hunt said.
"I can pilot," Ash said. "So can Von."
"I'm better."
"You know that's not true."
"It's definitely true." Hunt smiled. Vonnie's impression had been of a strict man, but he was easy-going and attentive with Ash. They were affectionate with each other.
"Ash, you can go," Vonnie said. She wanted Ash to stay. She didn't think she could wait alone with the sunfish because every meter the Lewis advanced was like walking the plank. The PSSC could kill them at any instant, yet she deceived herself -- blindfolded herself -- by covering her stress with generosity and friendship.
The matriarchs rustled again, reading Ash, reading her.
"You'll be okay?" Ash said.
"Yes. Thank you for helping me. It was important to be with the sunfish when we left camp. I'll stay until we're in the chimney, maybe longer." But her facade cracked. She let her anxiety show. "Colonel, have we seen any activity from Captain Leber?"
"He's launched his lead device," Ribeiro said, patching his radar into one of her displays. The first of the Jyväskylä's ice busters was speeding down from orbit.
"How long?" she asked.
"Three minutes to impact."
"What about the PSSC?"
"We have shut off all communications," Ribeiro said. "We are dark except for radar. Even if they wanted to speak with us, we are not listening."
Deaf and mute, the Lewis was far less likely to attract SCPs. Silencing themselves also meant that no one could threaten or negotiate with them. Per orders, Ribeiro intended to push into the chimney and keep going -- but it wasn't necessary for the PSSC to hit the Lewis directly. HKs or kinetic strikes could rupture the ice, stranding them on the surface.
Tom mewled. He felt Vonnie's apprehension. All four of the sunfish bunched closer.
Ash clucked her tongue at them and whacked Hans again, accepting their weight and the uncomfortable prodding of the blunt spikes on their topsides. "This is what it'd be like if you had kids," she told Vonnie. Her voice wasn't mean. She still sounded playful. Caught in this awful waiting game, supporting each other was important to her.
Vonnie liked the new Ash. She had always been valiant. Now she'd revealed a little personality, too.
Everyone's a comedian, Vonnie had told Mississippi, and laughing together was precious, so she said, "You're thinking you'll settle down, get married, have a baby?"
"Whoa," Ash said. "These are your kids. I'm just the nice lady next door who babysits."
"Hear that, Hunt? She's ready to settle down."
Hunt laughed. "We're not adopting," he said.
The sunfish chirped, twining their arms around Ash and Vonnie, physically binding them.
"I have a question," Ben said from the group feed. As usual, Ben needed to horn in, stealing the spotlight, and Vonnie was glad to play this game with him.
She made an exasperated sound, Hmpf, but she welcomed any excuse to forget the PSSC.
Ben said, "Who the heck is Lewis?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Lewis. The sub. Who did we name it for?"
"Meriwether Lewis was
an American pioneer, you boob. He led a group of--"
"Impact in thirty seconds," DeBrun said. His words slashed through their chatter like a guillotine. "PSSC HKs are chasing the Jyväskylä's lead device. Radar shows kinetic weapons and at least one hit from a beam."
"Is it going to make it?" Ash called.
"It's deployed flares," Troutman said.
"Can we assist?"
"Negative. Save our ordnance," Ribeiro said.
"It reached the surface," DeBrun said. "It was on the mark. It appeared to be functional when it struck the ice."
"Shockwave approaching," Troutman said.
"A small quake will jostle our submarine," Vonnie warned the sunfish as Brigit cried to Tom and Hans.
--We are safe with Young Matriarch! Brigit screeched.
Ash smacked her fist on Hans again. Matching her, Angelica thumped her arms against both males. Ash raised her fist to smack Angelica, too, then reconsidered. Instead, Ash brushed her palm over Angelica's topside.
The sunfish did not scream when the Lewis shuddered. They clenched their arms. They listened to the ice crackling outside, and they listened to Vonnie.
"Colonel, tell us what you see!" she shouted at Ribeiro. "Is our doppelgänger reporting?"
"Affirmative."
The Lewis had maintained contact with their doppelgänger at the top of the chimney. As the first ice buster dropped out of orbit, the doppelgänger had scurried away, although it stayed within range of the site, scanning with all sensors.
Troutman posted more sims on the group feed. A lukewarm squall of poisonous gas had burst up through the surface when their buster crashed into the chimney.
"We had an opening, but the ice collapsed on itself," Troutman said. "Two more busters are on their way. Radar shows fragments of what may have been another. Enemy missiles are trying to intercept."
Vonnie held onto Ash and the sunfish. She wished she was with Ben, and she felt the sunfish feel her wish, but they weren't offended. They were never offended. They were fascinated by the human/mecha combat.
She tried to convey what was happening to them. "Listen," she said, using words and gestures.
The Jyväskylä's ice busters were like giant artillery rounds -- car-sized darts with complex second stages behind the shock- and heat-absorbing nose cones.
