"Damphousse! Open the door, Damphousse!" Cooper joined her at the locked door. "Open the door, Damphousse!" he shouted. He ripped off his helmet, gasping for air, and banged louder.
Still the door didn't open.
Cooper clawed frantically at the inside airlock door. "I've gotta get out of here!" he screamed. "Let me out! I'll kill you if you don't open this door!" Wang yanked his helmet off and shook it frantically, until the cockroach escaped and fell to the floor.
"Vanessa!" Shane shouted. "Open this door!"
"Listen," Nathan whispered. "Do you hear the cry? Do you hear the girl crying outside? She needs me, Shane. I have to go back out there."
"Dead!" Wang cried, as he stomped on the bug, again and again. "Be dead. Be dead!"
"Open the door, Vanessa!" shouted Cooper. Sweating, his eyes terrified, he turned to the others. When they came closer, he shoved them away, gasping for breath. He seemed to be suffocating. "I know a Chig's weapon is doing this," he said. "And I know we're a team. But I'm sorry. Unless this door is opened now, I'm gonna start throwing out bodies!"
"I can't," a small voice came through the inner door. "I can't open the door."
The voice belonged to Damphousse. She was terrified. They could hear that, even through the airlock. They had to open that door. But how?
The Hearing—Hawkes
"Lieutenant Cooper Hawkes?"
Cooper looked up. His face wore an expression of suspicious caution.
"You are not on trial here, Lieutenant Hawkes," McQueen said.
"I know that, sir."
"We are merely trying to find out what happened out on Tantalus."
"Yes, sir."
"It is difficult to understand how ten well-trained Marines could kill each other, Lieutenant."
Cooper shook his head. "I think there were more than that, sir. We saw hundreds of dead bodies."
"Perhaps you're right. We weren't able to examine the entire planet. But I'll take your word for it. In fact, we are more interested in the actions of Lieutenant Damphousse. She has never disobeyed an order before."
"She has never been up against an enemy like that before."
"Were you present when Lieutenant Damphousse failed to obey the order to repair the radio?"
"I was."
"And do you know why she failed to obey the order?"
"I do."
"She mentioned blood, Lieutenant," said Commodore Ross. "Was a little bit of blood really the reason she failed to obey?"
"She thought that was the reason, sir. But that was not the real reason. The real reason was the light, sir. Or at least that's what we thought was the real reason. Then."
"Explain yourself, Lieutenant," McQueen said.
"I can't do that, sir. I'm not sure I understand exactly what happened, except that the lights from the mines turned us against each other."
"Were you enemies throughout the entire ordeal, Lieutenant Cooper?"
"Not at first. But then the light ate away at our friendship."
"Are you friends now?"
"Yes, sir."
"Are you sure?"
Cooper thought for a moment before he answered that. The panel waited silently, until he was ready.
"I guess we were always friends. We knew that we were a good team, and we knew that we had to hold on to that. If we unraveled... if we lost each other... well, we knew we were finished."
"But we have been told that you were fighting between yourselves," McQueen said.
"Yes, sir. That's correct. But we were also saving each other. We always came back. Always. No matter what happened."
Chapter Ten
"Open the door, Vanessa!" Cooper shouted again.
But she wouldn't open it. She was crazy. Maybe she wouldn't ever open it. Then what would they do?
Cooper swung around and clawed at the outside door. He had to get it open. He had to get out of that suffocating space.
Or he would die.
He got the outside door open somehow and threw himself out into the orange fog, gasping. Then he remembered. His helmet. He needed his helmet. He would die without it.
But he would die if he put it on. He would suffocate.
He would have to go back for it. But the dense fog blinded him, and he lost the ship.
He called for help.
A voice answered. "Cooper! Over here, Cooper!"
It was Shane's voice. She was somewhere to his left. He turned, struggling for breath, and flung himself forward, until she found him and slipped the helmet over his head.
"Did Damphousse open the door yet?" he asked when he was strong enough to speak again.
"Not yet, Cooper. But it's all right. Come back inside. We'll get it open. I promise. But get inside before you step on a mine, Cooper. Please!"
He pushed her aside and lurched into the fog. He was not going back into that little space. They would close the outside door again, and he would be caught there. He would never get out. Never.
It was better out here. Even the helmet wasn't as suffocating as he had thought it would be. And if he concentrated, he could avoid the mines.
The mines. The lights. He couldn't let the lights find him. The terror would be worse if the lights got him. The suffocation would be constant.
He would choke.
But it was all right here. There was more space here.
He tiptoed through the minefield and hesitated at an open, rocky place.
He'd rest behind that large rock over where the mist wasn't as thick. The air seemed a bit clearer, so he found his way there and slid down beside the rock. He sat there for a long time. Gradually, his breath came more easily, and his terror subsided.
Then something touched his helmet. He reached behind him, but whatever had jabbed him was gone. He turned around and searched the shadows. Nothing.
He took a deep breath and listened.
The next jab found the space between his helmet and his suit. Something cold touched his neck at his most vulnerable spot.
He knew what it was. It was a rifle. And it was aimed straight at his In-Vitro navel.
That navel had kept him alive in the tank. It had nurtured him. It was his source of food and drink and life.
It was just like a baby's navel. Except that Cooper had no mother. All he had was that stifling, suffocating tank.
The navel gave him away as a Tank. It was in his neck. And at that moment, a rifle was pointing right at it.
"Move!" a voice ordered.
Cooper started to turn around, but the rifle dug in deeper.
"I said 'move!' " the voice shouted. "I didn't say to look at me. You're in my space! Get out of my space! This is my home! Mine!"
Cooper stood slowly and started to move away. When he had gone a few yards, he hesitated.
"You're too close," the voice called. "Everyone's too close. Everything's too close. Move! Move!"
Cooper stood his ground. "You're a Tank," he said.
"I'll shoot if you come closer."
"Why? I'm a Tank too. I'm afraid of the little spaces too."
"Don't come any closer, Tank," the voice cried. "I'll kill you if you do. I mean that."
Cooper understood. They were both In-Vitros. They had been raised in the same way, in long, narrow tanks. They were forced to stay in those tiny spaces until they were fully grown, and only then were they released.
There was no way out of those tanks, unless a human set them free.
"We're safe now," Cooper said.
"No. We're never safe. We will never get out. Never!"
Cooper turned away. He was not going back to that tank. Not ever. Not even in his mind.
They were calling his name. He could hear them out there in the thick fog.
"Cooper!" they were shouting. "Where are you?"
Suddenly they were beside him: Wang, Nathan, and Shane. They led him gently back around the mines and into the ship. They closed the outside door.
Cooper tore off his helmet and turned to the inside door. It was st
ill closed. Damphousse still hadn't opened it.
"What the... ?"
"You were more important, Cooper," Shane said. "We needed to find you before we could hot-wire the door."
The Hearing—Damphousse
"Why didn't you open the door, Lieutenant Damphousse?" Commodore Ross asked.
"I couldn't, sir. It was the blood. It was on the floor of the supply room, and I couldn't go through that room to get to the door, sir."
"But you heard them out there, didn't you?"
"Yes. I heard them. I knew they were there, but I couldn't open the door."
"Were you afraid of the others, Vanessa?" asked Captain Saey. "Were you afraid they would hurt you?"
"No, no, not the others. I knew they were my friends. The others were not the enemy."
"Never?"
"Well, yes. Sometimes I was afraid of them. We argued, and the arguing got worse whenever the light found us. But I wasn't really afraid of them, sir."
"What do you mean by arguing? How bad did the arguing get, Lieutenant?"
"It doesn't really matter. How can I make you understand?"
"Did you turn on each other, Lieutenant Damphousse?" Ross asked.
"Yes."
"And your team unraveled?"
"No. Not really. We tried to keep it together."
"And were you successful?"
"No, sir. Not all the time. But now I understand that the fear had nothing to do with them. Our anger at each other was merely the result of a long string of things."
"Then what were you afraid of, Lieutenant Damphousse? Was it the light?"
"It wasn't really the light. It was the blood."
"Do you mean to tell us that a little blood was responsible for your not letting your fellow Marines into the ship?"
"That's right, sir. I was afraid of the blood."
"And Wang was afraid of the cockroaches," McQueen said. "Cooper was afraid of his helmet. West was afraid of a girl's cry. And Shane was afraid of the dark. Is that right, Lieutenant Damphousse?"
"Yes, sir."
"And those fears were more important than saving your fellow Marines?"
"Well, it wasn't really those fears. It was more than that. It was much more than that, sir. It was what they represented. It was the deeper fears, sir. The ones that had been with us forever."
Chapter Eleven
The Marines outside the airlock door understood about the light and the fear now. But Damphousse didn't. She was still caught in it.
She heard them out there, banging and shouting. But she couldn't help them. It was impossible. Because of the blood.
Inside the spaceship, an eerie red light cast shadows into the corners. Damphousse was huddled in one of them on her bunk. The radio was in the room between herself and the door they wanted her to open. The bullet-ridden supply crates were in that room too.
But, most important of all, the blood was in that room.
A repair kit rested on the bunk beside her, as she worked on her flight suit. No rips or holes would remain. Not one. Not the tiniest tear. Nothing would enter that suit.
Before the banging, there had been a dripping sound. Drip, drip, drip. It had kept getting louder and louder, as if it were moving closer.
Blood, she thought. Endless drops of blood.
Damphousse sewed faster. The blood must not enter the suit.
Drip, drip, drip. She swung around, terrified.
A bullet must have pierced the blood cooler, for scarlet blood was seeping through the hole.
She froze in horror. Then she looked down and saw that she was in it. She was standing in a pool of deep red blood.
Damphousse went into the other room and huddled on her bunk in the dark. She stayed for a long time, shivering, alone.
She heard them banging out there. She heard them call her name, over and over. She could tell they were frantic. Cooper especially.
How could she go into that room? The pool of blood was in there. It was impossible.
And then she heard the clicks coming from the other side of the airlock door.
She knew what they were doing. They were hotwiring the inside door. They were coming in. They were going to make her go back in that room with the blood and fix the radio.
She eased off the bunk, her eyes on the door, and grabbed her rifle. They were coming now. The door was opening, and they were coming in.
She raised her rifle and aimed.
"Don't make me go in that room!" she pleaded.
"Don't send me in there again!"
They moved away, searching for cover. When they were hidden, they called out to her.
"Vanessa!" Nathan said. "Put your rifle down!"
"Put it down, Damphousse!" Shane shouted.
Damphousse raised her rifle higher. "I'm not going in there!" she told them.
"This isn't really you," Wang said. "This isn't really us!"
"It's some kind of mysterious weapon, Damphousse. It's the light. The light is playing with the fears that are stored in your memory bank." Nathan was trying to sound gentle. But his voice was tense. "Remember the headaches?"
"We've found the part, Vanessa." Shane held up the uplink prom so that she could see it. "We need you to fix the radio. Then we can get out of here. We can get away from all this."
Damphousse lowered her weapon a fraction. "There's blood on the floor," she whispered. "Blood."
"Fix the radio!" shouted Cooper.
The intensity in his voice made Damphousse tense again. She raised her rifle and stepped forward.
"Listen," she said, "and try to understand. Please! I love you all, but if you make me go in there, I'll have to kill you. I mean it. I am not going into that room."
"Fix the radio or there'll be blood on the floor where you're standing," yelled Cooper.
"Stop this!" Wang shouted. "This is not how we behave!"
They turned and looked at him. And their eyes were filled with mistrust.
"If we do this to each other, the Chigs will win," cried Wang. "They've turned us against each other. But we can beat them. Let's put down our guns. Everyone, all at the same time."
No one moved. No one lowered a weapon.
"Vanessa, what if we clean the blood up?" asked Wang.
Vanessa watched him, considering. Then she shook her head.
"No. I'll know it had been there. I won't go in. But I'll talk Shane through fixing the radio."
"Okay, okay," sighed Wang. "Then put down your gun."
"I'll put it down when McQueen evacuates us."
"If McQueen evacuates us," amended Cooper.
"Shane?" asked Wang.
"I can't fix the radio if I can't see it," Shane told him.
"I'll turn the lights on," said Wang. "Put down your gun."
"You've got to be kidding!" Shane cried. "I'm not handing over my weapon as long as there's one aimed at me."
"Me neither," Nathan added.
"Not only am I not giving it up," Cooper said, "but if anybody crosses this line, he, or she, is dead!"
Slowly, he reached out his boot and drew an imaginary line.
"So much for working together," said Nathan.
"Go to the radio, Shane," Damphousse said.
Watching her fellow Marines suspiciously, Shane moved toward the radio.
"The lights, Wang," she said.
Wang moved to a box on the wall, but when he was almost there he hesitated.
"West, could you do it?"
"But you're right there, Paul," said Nathan.
Wang shook his head and took a step backward. "That's a great spot for roaches to hide."
Nathan took Wang's place and hit the switches, bathing the room in a glow of light.
Shane glanced over at Damphousse.
"There's a blue plastic chip... in the upper-left-hand corner," Damphousse said from the doorway.
Shane searched the panel and nodded.
"That's the frequency converter," Damphousse continued. "Beneath it is the uplink
prom. Replace it and increase the frequency range to 52.1 gigahertz."
Shane did as she was told, and an eerie blast of static filled the room. She grabbed the microphone and screamed into it.
"This is Wild Card to Queen Six! Come in, Queen Six!"
Static answered her.
"Turn on the beacon," Nathan cried. "They can't pick us up without the beacon!"
Shane leaned over and threw some more switches.
"Wild Card to Queen Six. Request immediate evacuation!"
But she heard nothing. Nothing but that awful, constant static. No one moved. They were all watching her with their weapons raised as she stood and backed away from the radio.
"What's the matter?" Nathan asked. "Get back to the radio! Is anyone responding?"
"The sound ..." Shane whispered. Her voice shook. "It's like an AI transmission. It's just like the sound that Artificial Intelligence beings make."
"Don't be silly, Shane," Nathan said. "It's just static. There aren't any AIs around here."
But Shane wasn't listening. She was staring off into a monstrous, dark memory.
"It's not just static!" she whispered. "I've heard it before. The night they killed my family. It was dark. So dark, that night. My mother took me to the attic and hid me there, and then she went away. It was dark in the attic. I lay there for a long time, and then I crawled over and looked through the vent. I saw them there. They were terrible. Those horrible computer beings. AIs. All over the place. Aiming at my mother and father. They cocked their weapons. They shot my parents. It was so dark in there. That transmission, they've come back. I can't listen! I CAN'T! I CAN'T! I CAN'T!"
Nathan grabbed her by the arm. "Vansen!" he shouted. "There's nothing there! NOTHING! It's just static!"
"Don't tell me there's nothing there! If I hear it, it's there! Who are you to talk, West? I mean, you're hearing your dead girlfriend's voice—"
Nathan's face contorted when he heard the word dead. He glared at Shane, and then he charged her and shoved her back into a supply crate.
"Dead? Did you say dead? She's alive! Do you understand that? Alive! I know she's alive! And I'm going to find her!"
Chapter Twelve
Space Above and Beyond - #4 The Enemy - Dina Anastasio Page 4
