by Greg Remy
Another explosion rocked the failing station and the two quickly got up, knowing that time was short. Darious took the lead, running towards the escape pod with Zoe close behind. He forced his way through a broken door and they entered into the pod bay.
“There!” shouted Zoe, sprinting to the small pod.
As they entered through its circular door, Zoe quickly started the separation sequence and they both strapped in.
Just then, explosions flared all around the pod. From the small aperture, Darious saw flames engulf them. In the next moment, the escape pod shot out into space and away from the exploding wreckage that was once the Galaxy-Class Regency Station. Darious got a good view of the entire station, now cleft in half, with its two sides drifting away from each other. Then, the entire mass exploded into a single expanding inferno. A huge wave of debris accelerated outwards, outmatching the escape pod’s speed.
The little craft shook and rolled. Darious knew that if it wasn’t for the force-bearing dampeners, Zoe and he would be an oscillating mush from floor to ceiling. Zoe reached out her hand and Darious took it; together they endured the silent hurricane in space. Pieces of the station ricocheted off the pod, relentlessly knocking it back and forth. Then, a large metal fragment glanced the craft, knocking it into a spin. This was too much for the dampeners. The forces exuded on Darious and Zoe were extreme. Outside of the tiny escape pod, the universe was deaf to their cries.
Darious’ eyelids kept floating over his pupils as the spinning challenged his lucidity. He continued to hold on to Zoe’s hand through the chaos. He looked at her face, her lips, and the tears on her face. A sudden hard shock knocked her unconscious. Darious never took his eyes off her. As the pod thrashed them about, he remained unmoved from her. He would be with her to the end. A massive pipe came into view from the small porthole, directly lined up to strike the pod like a battering ram.
“Zoe…”
Chapter 42
The Photon, the Glitch, and the Cosmos
Beep. A long silence passed. Beep. On the console, a dim red light pulsed in sync with the droning sound. Beep.
“What? No, no more tea. It’s been a long winter...”
A loud snore drowned out the next beep. The sound changed to a boisterous double tone. The Captain gargled and immediately sat up in his seat coughing. He caught sight of the flashing red light on his console.
“Eh?”
The double beep rang again. He turned off the alert and pulled up the radar log.
“What’s this?” The readout showed a small piece of debris in the shape of a cracked egg. “Rotten space garbage...” He shook his fist at the display. “...wakin’ me up.” The Captain made a mental note to recalibrate the sensors later. “It’s too small to be worth my time ya damn ship. It’s just a...” He trailed off as he read further into the report.
The Captain’s eyes widened. He was instantly fully awake as he realized the object before him was not just irrelevant space trash. He quickly typed on the worn-out keyboard. Then, he forcefully stretched a flex-mic to his face.
“Attention. Attention all personnel. We have a Code S3. Prepare portside Cargo Hold 4 for a heavily damaged life pod. No signs of life—” More lights and sounds activated as the in-depth scan completed. “Change that, Code S4, two souls onboard. Ceaver, grab yer’ medical gear and meet me in Cargo Hold 4. Dock and Eddy, you’re on standby.” He let the mic go and it slinked back into its hole. “Shit.”
Taking in a deep breath, the captain of the space junker flipped several switches and cast off from his seat, using the forward momentum of his bloated belly to continue his motion from the cockpit, oafing down the corridors to the cargo hold.
Within his dreamlike warbling, Darious could hear tinks echoing from somewhere off in the distance. He was lying on the beach with Zoe on her great-uncle’s world. Everything had been so calm when the clouds started thundering. No, not thunder. It was more like the sound of arc welding, although somewhat muffled. Perhaps it was coming from under the water. No, that wasn’t correct either. Where was it coming from? The sparking sounds echoed louder and closer. Something was approaching them. The small cognizant part of Darious uttered a short plea.
A loud metallic cracking shook the walls of Darious’ unconsciousness. There was another loud thump and then silence reined through the land. Darkness was coming. It threatened to overwhelm the beach, the clouds, and Zoe.
A sudden white light filled the landscape. Its pure essence sent tears down Darious’ face. He squinted and held his burned and bleeding arm out to it. He curled his fingers around the ineffable radiance. In his half-conscious state, he rambled—bargaining with the light to take his life and save the one next to him. She deserved to live. Through the piercing illumination, consciousness flickered brighter in his eyes. He became aware of the intense pain all around his body. It was so much, too much to bear. Darious could no longer hold up his arm and darkness began crawling inward from the periphery of his vision. Through his last glimpse of the pure light, a figure floated through it, reaching toward him with an outstretched hand. Darious’ consciousness faded, and blackness consumed everything.
Darious awoke with a sudden spasm.
“Zoe!”
He sat straight up with waxing alertness and stared at his new surroundings. He was within a small white room. Across from him were a mirror and a sink and to his left was a door. He was in a soft bed with white sheets. Darious inspected his hands and then his arms. The burns were very much faded, and his skin felt oily. Then he noticed his clothes. No longer was he wearing his clothes, but a pair of blue slacks and a grey shirt. Where am I? Darious moved his legs from the bed. He surveyed the room with a slower, keener eye. This was a minimal sleeping chamber and thus he was undoubtedly on a ship. Darious slowly got out of bed and stood up with careful movements. There were some vestiges of pain, but overall, he felt surprisingly well. He had evidently been taken care of and healed. Darious spotted his old shoes next to the bed and put them on.
With cautious steps, Darious made his way to the door and put an ear to it. There were no perceivable sounds on the other side. He knocked on it. After waiting for some time, he checked the handle and gave it a light pull. The door opened with ease, but it croaked unapologetically. An unpleasant odor wafted into the room. It smelt faintly of garbage and engine oil. Darious looked around his expanded surroundings. The door led into a broad corridor with ill-fitting panels over the walls. Between them he could see many working conduits. Darious looked up and down the hall and again listened. He was alone. He suddenly remembered the white light and the blackness. He had read about the afterlife; was this it? Then he remembered her.
“Zoe!”
Darious chose the hall direction that was better lit. He walked briskly, all the while assessing his surroundings. This seemed to be an old vessel—a poorly maintained vessel. Corrosion and rust were present everywhere. The slightly misshaped lattice floor reverberated loudly under each step. Upon the corridor’s end, it split horizontally, heading off in both directions. Darious turned left and continued on. He spotted a small porthole and he ran up to it. Space lay just beyond. From this vantage point he could see more of the ship he was now a passenger of. It was bulbous and very clunky looking. Much of the outer paneling was mismatched and seemed to have been hand-welded.
“Interesting,” he said to himself.
Continuing on, Darious every-so-often rapped his knuckles on the metal walls. Some parts were hollow while others resounded with stifled clanks. It was as if the ship was pieced together from the parts of many crafts. He passed by more portholes along the corridor, though all gave a similar view of outer-space.
After some minutes of walking, Darious reached another split. He paused, unsure of which path to take. He could continue along the current corridor, or turn left into the smaller one that seemed to end at a dark room. Darious called out.
“Zoe!”
Suddenly, there were sounds like the dropping of
tools onto the metal floor from the shadowy room. He ran down the hall and paused at the entryway, scanning the darkness. The room seemed to be a small hub for docked spacecrafts.
“Zoe!” he called again.
A door to his left suddenly creaked open, causing him to jump back. Light flooded in from the aperture and there stood Zoe.
“Darious!” she happily chirped and ran to him, giving him a tight hug.
After she released her grasp, he looked over her. She had some bruising and cuts on her arms and face.
“Are you okay?” Darious asked.
“Yes sir.”
She smiled at him and gave him another hug. He could feel many deep aches come to the surface, but he didn’t care. Zoe was okay. She seemed to notice his pain and quickly let go.
“Oh sorry, sorry. How are you?”
“A little sore,” said Darious. “Zoe, where are we?”
She looked around. “Onboard a salvage ship I presume. I tell you Darious, it’s been one of those days.”
He nodded in agreement. Zoe pulled out her lightcard and handed it to him. “Here, hold this for a moment, will ya?”
He took up the electronic instrument.
“How did we get here?”
“Rescued. By some nice folks.”
“I have not met anyone yet.”
“It’s a big ship and they are a small crew.”
“How do we know we are safe? If they are salvagers, we could be but scrap to them and be sold off, id est—to the CF.”
“Oh, that’s a bunch of baloney. I—”
“Baloney?” asked Darious, not sure if she was making a positive or negative reflection of his comment.
“Oh ermm, it’s a congealed food paste from Earth. It’s uniquely tasty. Anyhow, these are good people. No worries; we’ll survive.” Zoe coughed. “Darious, would ya mind finding something for us to drink? It’s been ages since I had a nice, cold pick-me-up.”
“Certainly, Zoe. Though, I am somewhat lost.”
“Down the hall and to the left. Or maybe two lefts. I’m not sure, but you’ll find it.”
He looked back, not wanting to go. Zoe stepped close to him and gave him another hug. She held him close and looked deep in his eyes.
“I will return shortly,” he said. “If you’re confident the people here are good people, then I am not worried.”
He headed off, striding down the corridor. He was very much relieved to see that Zoe had not only survived their ordeal, but was back in good spirits. He replayed their escape from the Regency Station. They had almost died. She had almost died.
Darious took two lefts and indeed came upon a commissary. There were several sinks with dirty dishes. He opened up three refrigeration drawers before finding a couple of chilled bottles of water. He took them up and just as he turned around, a man entered in. Darious dropped one of the bottles and the man contracted in similar surprise.
“Oy, didn’t think you’d be awake already,” he said.
Darious looked him over, remembering what Zoe had said, but nevertheless remained circumspect. The man was wearing a white cloak blotted with small stains, a sweater and old pants underneath. He had a scraggily beard and was balding on top. He had kind eyes, like Zoe’s.
“Awake already... how long was I asleep?” asked Darious.
“Oh, just a day. Pleased to meet you.” The man held out a hand. “I’m Ceaver, the Chief Medical Doctor onboard.”
Darious slowly shook his hand. “I am Darious.”
“Well, Darious, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been taking care of you since your arrival. You were lucky; we had some Excelerar on hand along with a UV-R regenerator for your burns. You had a few broken bones too, but those were easily taken care of. There was also some internal bleeding. I’d say minimal. All-in-all, I believe you’ll make a one hundred percent recovery in no time at all.”
Darious lowered his guard a bit. “Thank you Mr. Ceaver. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“How was Zoe?”
“Oh, the girl!” Doing just fine! Follow me,” said Ceaver, picking up the bottle from the floor and handing it to Darious.
They left the commissary and headed down the corridor. “The Captain found you two floating in space onboard an escape pod. Life systems were nearly gone, and we weren’t expecting much, but you two made it through.” Ceaver opened both arms as if presenting a work of art. “You’re onboard the Harriet Narne, a reclamation craft.” He smirked. “We find the little treasures others leave behind.”
“I see,” said Darious.
“Come, come.”
They rounded a corner and entered into a brightly illuminated rectangular room with doors on both sides. Ceaver led the way to the nearest one and opened it, ushering Darious in. Zoe was sitting on a similar bed that Darious had found himself in. When she spotted him, she smiled and coughed. He quickly brought her one of the waters.
“Thank you,” she said and took large gulps from it.
Darious sat with her on the bed.
“I’ll let you two be. Call me if ya need anything,” said Ceaver, pointing to a push button speaker on the wall and left.
Zoe put down the bottle and turned toward Darious. “Oh, Darious!” She wrapped her arms around him. A shot of pain from his back made him wince.
“Oh sorry, sorry! I’m still feeling achy myself, but compared to how we were, I’d say Ceaver is pretty good at what he does.”
Darious looked over Zoe once more. They had come so close to destruction. She stared back at him and put an arm delicately on his shoulder and then felt across his chin.
“Oh, here I have this.”
Darious pulled out the lightcard from his pocket.
Zoe took it up with a smile. “Thank you for looking after it.”
She put it away and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. She then rested her head on his shoulder. Though Darious knew their journey was far from over, for the moment he felt calm and relaxed. All that running, all those that may be chasing them, none of it mattered in this moment.
A few minutes later, a stout man entered into the room, prompting Darious to raise his head. He had the air of one who had spent a lifetime traveling amongst the stars. The whiskers on his face parted and a large smile showed through them.
“Ah, you two are awake. How do ya feel?”
“Quite well,” said Zoe, looking at him from an angle over Darious’ shoulder.
“I am Captain Robert,” he stated and offered them a pudgy hand.
Darious was first to reach for it. “We owe you our lives, Captain.”
The Captain heartily shook his hand. Darious immediately realized that the Captain hadn’t been taken aback by the clone hand he had been offered. Good people, Darious thought.
“Thank you, Sir,” said Zoe, likewise shaking his hand.
“No trouble whatsoever. Almost didn’t see ya out there. You two are very lucky, ya know. Now understand, we don’t ask many questions around here. We’re just glad to see you two are okay.”
Zoe sat straight. “Thank you. I am Zoe, and this is Darious.”
“A pleasure,” he replied.
“Captain,” said Zoe, “you’ve done so much for us. Can I ask you for just one more favor?”
“What is it, ma’am?”
“Do you have a phone we may use?”
He thought for a moment and then pulled out an oval device from his trouser pocket.
“Here ye’ are. I’ll give ya some privacy and check back on you later.”
Zoe and Darious again thanked him and they were once more alone.
“Darious, please close the door.” He complied and sat back down with her. “We need to make contact with Kappa, but before we do, I have some apologizing to do.” She held his hands in her own and solemnly looked at him. “Back on the Regency Station... I... I gave up. And in doing so, I put us in a worse situation then we already were. Darious, never again. I will never again give up, not as long as you�
��re by my side.” She then added lightheartedly, “it was sure looking grim.”
Darious smiled and laughed. “It most certainly was.”
Zoe turned her attention back to the Captain’s communicator. She synced her lightcard to it and enabled the speakerphone. The device crackled in her hand.
“I’ve set it to pass through an encrypted signal. We can’t be too careful.”
The call rang with a distorted tone. Then a familiar voice picked up.
“Ah, I know of only one person who could send an encoded polyharmonic call like that!” exclaimed Kappa.
“Hello sir!” said Zoe.
“Hello, ma’am. How did ya’ll fare? I hope you’re okay. Is Darious alright?”
“We are fine. A little battered.” Zoe lowered her voice. “Are you alone?”
“Yes, ma’am. Go ahead.”
“The mission was a success,” she said. “The program has been sent out and is charting the galaxy as we speak. We almost made it out of there, but things went awry. They found us out. Kappa, they self-destructed the entire station, with us still in it.”
“Ah, so that’s what happened” Kappa said. “I’ve been monitoring CF communications. The chatter has been a bit chaotic, but it sure sounded like there was one hell of a fireworks show out there. I knew ya’ll were alive because they’re still looking for you. You guys are numero uno on the CF’s list.”
“Damn,” said Zoe turning to Darious.
“Well, despite that little glitch, I was able to sink the CF cruiser and hotfoot it out of there. I can see from your communication telemetry you’re onboard a large ship.”
“A junker picked us up,” said Zoe. “I don’t know how I’m going to get back to my ship, especially with the CF surely on our trail.”
“No worries. I’m towing it right now. Tell ya what, I’ll meet ya at Port Jidus. It looks like the junker is headed in that direction.”
“Towing it?”
“Yup. I’ve got a gravity-line attached to it. I can be at Jidus in... twenty-five minutes.”
