Nan and the kids screamed. Someone was asking Grimes if she could read life signs … maybe Jason and Ricket had phase-shifted out in time. Maybe they were still alive. Bristol, sitting next to Grimes in the cockpit, violently shook his head, “No, no, no! Goddamnit! I would be able to detect them on sensors. Look at the fucking display … you see any new life-icons? No … nothing, nothing, nothing!”
Dira wasn’t listening, not really. She didn’t need to. She already knew he was gone … he wasn’t there. Tears blurred her vision. As the same realization reached her heart she wondered if it would keep beating. Did she want it to? She turned her head and saw Nan holding her baby in her arms. Mollie and Boomer were melded into her … their arms encircling one another. They were all weeping.
Chapter 45
The Minian arrived within the hour. Admiral Reynolds was notified beforehand that The Lilly had been destroyed. Lieutenant Grimes told him that there were no indications that his son Jason, or Ricket, had made it out in time. Grimes, obviously emotional, conveyed her regrets; how she’d loved serving aboard The Lilly … reporting to Captain Reynolds. She would miss him.
The admiral expected to see something … perhaps a scattering of debris floating in space—something tangible. But there was nothing. For four days now, they’d gone through the motions—short- and long-range bio-sensor scans—multiple vessel searches conducted around the clock.
For the admiral, Jason’s loss was immeasurably hard. Why now, when the war was finally over? Why now, when Jason had so much to live for?
The admiral was physically, mentally, and emotionally spent. But he wasn’t given an opportunity to wallow in despair—far too much to do. Maybe that was a blessing. The Minian’s ready room was in a constant flurry of activity. No sooner would one crisis arise, be dealt with, than another would take its place. Currently, he was dealing with tens of thousands of Drac-Vin Craing and other species—alien crewmembers no longer having a home to return to. They were basically refugees. The admiral was finding most of the Allied worlds unreceptive toward their plight; not understanding why they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, just return home to Terplin, or Halimar, or some other Craing world. Some would … others, for one reason or another, could not.
At the moment, Nan Reynolds was sitting across the table from him. She looked tired and, understandably, the usual fire in her eyes was gone. She was signing a stack of virtual memorandums and directives. As the still-acting president of the United States, she needed to return to Earth immediately.
She looked up from her work and offered him a weak smile. “You need to take a break. Get some rest before you fall over, Perry.”
“I will, I promise.”
“I have a favor to ask you.”
“Anything,” the admiral replied.
“I’m taking Mollie back with me today. But Boomer … she says she needs to stay. Won’t leave here … not yet, anyway.”
“That’s understandable, Nan. She’s been through a lot. I think staying here, at least for a while, will allow her to stay connected, somehow, with Jason.”
“Then you’ll let her stay?”
“Of course. In some ways it will make it easier for me, too.”
With that, Nan stood, collected her virtual notebook, and came around the table. She gave the admiral a long hug. He felt raw emotion again pull his heartstrings. She stepped back and looked into his eyes. “What will you do now?”
“There’s an old ’49 F150 I started restoring … I suppose it’s time I finish it.”
Nan smiled. “That sounds like a fine idea. Good for you.” She waved bye and left the ready room.
The admiral didn’t want to spend another second alone in the ready room. He had more goodbyes to say anyway. He left the captain’s quarters and headed down the corridor toward Medical. He’d made this same walk on The Lilly a thousand times. Although the Minian’s proportions were of a far greater scale, the two ships were really quite similar. He’d miss The Lilly; probably more than he could now realize. He’d also miss Ricket. To him, the two were practically the same … inseparable … in his thoughts.
He arrived at Medical as Dira was preparing to leave. She was talking to two other medical techs, probably giving them some last-minute insights on working with the advanced Caldurian medical equipment. The technicians looked overwhelmed.
Dira turned toward the admiral as he approached.
“You heading out soon?” he asked.
“In a few. A part of me wants to stay. Actually, a big part.”
“How you really holding up, Dira. You going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. I miss him. It’s funny … sometimes I think I can hear his voice in my head. Is that weird?”
“No, not at all. What will you do now?”
“With my father gone … I have responsibilities back on Jhardon. My home world is grieving the loss of their king.”
“We’ll miss you … I’ll miss you.”
“Thank you, Admiral. I hope we can keep in contact … would that be okay?”
“I insist on it,” he said, as the two embraced in a final goodbye.
* * *
Boomer’s tears were long since dry. What remained was a combination of resentment and anger. She’d just come from saying goodbye to her mother and Mollie, who were returning to Earth. Her mother had pleaded with her one more time to return home with them. Let her help her through this difficult time. But Boomer didn’t want to be coddled. That was the very last thing she wanted. Now, as she walked the Minian’s corridors alone, she could think, could try to understand what had happened. How long have I been walking? Twenty minutes, a half hour? She stopped at an intersection of two identical-looking corridors. Where the heck am I? As similar as this ship seemed to The Lilly, it was also very, very different. At nearly a mile long, there were sections—complete decks—she was unfamiliar with. Some decks were closed off—no one allowed access to them. Her father reprimanded her once for exploring a closed deck that contained Caldurian laboratories and was some kind of bio-hazard area. A part of Boomer smiled. Exploring was the one thing she enjoyed doing more than anything else. Here on the Minian she’d have weeks, if not months, of exploring ahead of her. And there’d be no off-limits now.
“Are you lost?”
Boomer spun around to see the odd Caldurian man standing off to her right.
“Hello, Granger. No, I’m not lost. Not exactly. I just haven’t been in this particular part of the ship before.”
“I see.” Granger continued to stare at Boomer, then gave her a warm smile. “You know, there are sections on this amazing vessel I think you’d be interested in seeing. I could show you—”
“I … um … prefer to be alone. But thank you anyway.”
“I understand. There are areas that are unsafe for a little girl. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt. May I make some suggestions?”
She thought about that for a moment. She was kinda lost. A few suggestions couldn’t hurt. “Okay, can you show me, after all?”
Granger smiled and looked upward, as if he were thinking. “Let me see … You’ve already, of course, visited Medical, the bridge, the armory, and firing range … probably the habitats—”
“What?”
“The armory, the firing range—”
“No! You said something about … habitats?”
“Yes. Like on The Lilly … but far larger; a much more comprehensive collection of habitats. There is a habitat that has Magnasium Cluk-Cluks you will love. And, of course, all the HABs you were familiar with on The Lilly are here—”
“Just take me … Now!”
Chapter 46
Four days, seven hours, and ten minutes earlier.
Jason’s multi-gun died, its power pack completely drained. In the distance, on the looming battle droid’s far side, Jason saw his pack lying on the deck. Somehow he’d dropped it. Fortunately, the droid was no longer firing back at him. Its turret head was blackened from countless plasma str
ikes, but the droid’s ability to move seemed unaffected. It was now coming directly for him. Jason, limping, turned and ran as best he could down Deck 3’s long corridor. Where the hell is Ricket? At this point, there was only one place he could possibly escape to—right there, on the left up ahead … the Zoo.
Jason turned left at the entrance to the Zoo and saw it was completely trashed. Obviously, the battle droid had already been here, prior to finding them in Engineering. Damn! He’d stopped paying attention to the droid’s whereabouts on his HUD when he was turning those damn knobs.
The Zoo was practically unrecognizable. The habitat portals—windows to other places, other worlds—were gone … destroyed. Large sections of shredded bulkhead material were strewn around the deck—blocking his progression further into the Zoo.
Jason manhandled a large piece of metal out of his way, off to the side; then, he crawled under another section. Lighting fixtures above him hung precariously down from the ceiling, swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
“I’m here, Captain.”
Jason followed the sound of Ricket’s voice. Behind him, he heard the battle droid entering the Zoo.
Ricket was standing at an access panel, located on the side of a habitat portal window that, it seemed, was unaffected. It was HAB 12. “It occurred to me, Captain, we did have one option. A way out of here without the battle droid following us.”
“So, out of all the habitats … this is the only one? The only one still intact?”
Ricket, busy entering digits, looked relieved, hearing the familiar three consecutive beeps. “We must hurry, Captain. I fear The Lilly is on the verge of—”
The battle droid was crashing through the debris on the deck. Jason could see it quickly approaching, looking as if nothing could stop it.
Jason grabbed Ricket by the collar and pulled him into the portal of HAB 12.
The battle droid followed in their direction and abruptly stopped. It stood there, mere feet away from them, looming. Why was it just standing there? Did it not see them … was it confused? Jason tried to remember how long the portal window would remain open before automatically closing. Then he noticed Ricket still had a multi-gun hanging from a strap on his shoulder. Should I move? He had to chance it. Jason dove for Ricket’s weapon, yanked it free from his shoulder, sending Ricket sprawling to the ground. Still in the air, he leveled the weapon on the battle droid and pulled the trigger.
The battle droid moved forward, pushing against continuous plasma strikes. One mechanical leg managed to step over into HAB 12. As it moved again, ready to completely cross over, the portal suddenly closed—slicing off the appendage within the blink of an eye. It stayed there propped up against the portal window … as if waiting to be reunited—to be made whole again. Now, through a distorted portal window, Jason watched as the one-legged battle droid lost its balance and toppled backwards to the deck.
Ricket got to his feet and joined Jason at his side. Ten seconds later, they saw a bright white, then blue, flash and the portal disappeared.
They stood together for some time. Neither spoke.
Startled, Jason heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, somewhere behind them. Well aware this was a dangerous place—he was fully prepared to see one or more Serapins ready to attack them from behind. What he wasn’t prepared for was Jack, standing there in his green coveralls. Jack stepped down from the open doorway of an old Craing utility craft—the same one left abandoned months ago.
“Captain?”
“Um … Jack. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. But it was Bristol … I caught him bringing his brother weapons, and one of those new-fangled SuitPac things.”
Jason and Ricket exchanged glances.
“Where’s Stalls?” Jason asked, suddenly aware this place was even more dangerous than he first thought.
Jack slowly turned, stared off into the distance, and pointed. “He’s up there … somewhere on that cliff, that little rock outcropping. You see it?”
Jason knew exactly where Jack was pointing. There were few, if any, locations as safe as that one. Twice he’d camped there.
“He surprised me … thought I’d be left here to die. But twice, he’s dropped off cooked meat and water. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.”
“He’s a psychopathic killer. Why he brings you food, keeps you alive … I have no idea. But I guarantee it is for his own needs, not yours. Maybe it’s to show he’s a changed man … not the same ruthless killer we’ve all come to know. I’m sure he thinks the day will eventually come when we’d let him out of here.”
Ricket looked around, then back up at Jason. “We could be here a long time, perhaps indefinitely. I do not believe we can survive both the Serapins, and the pirate, Captain Stalls.”
“I’m with you on that, Ricket. How ’bout you let me borrow that battle suit of yours? The one I’m wearing is useless. I’m going to pay a little visit to our pirate friend on the cliff.”
* * *
Jason left the multi-gun with Ricket, telling them to stay put until he returned. He used the battle suit’s phase-shift capabilities to get to the base of the towering, five-hundred-foot-high cliff. Halfway up the rocky surface he saw the flat outcropping. He also saw another life-icon on his HUD. If Stalls was wearing his battle suit, Jason knew that he, too, appeared on Stalls’ HUD.
He observed Stalls’ specific location and decided to phase-shift to the other side of the little plateau area. He set the coordinates, phase-shifted, and appeared near the edge, closer than he planned to be. He looked behind him and saw nothing but sky and several hundred feet of vertical rock surface leading far down to the ground below.
In front of him, a line of trees obstructed his view to the rest of the plateau. Doing his best to stay quiet, he crouched low and winced, still sore where the battle droid’s plasma fire penetrated his battle suit. His internal nanites would be working overtime for a while yet. He stopped and took cover within the tree line. Up ahead, he saw the distinct outline of an RCM. The tent-like structure sat in the middle of the overhang. Stalls’ life-icon didn’t correspond to the location of the RCM … Good, Stalls wasn’t home.
Jason moved out of the trees and slowly approached the RCM—using it as cover as he moved into the open. There were only so many places to go. Peering around the corner of the RCM, he saw a campfire and some kind of animal cooking on a spit.
Jason knew exactly where Stalls would be, the only other place he could be. He double-checked his coordinates and phase-shifted there.
The sound of water gently cascading into the natural pond brought back fond memories of when he and Dira swam together here. Swam … other things, too.
Stalls, in the water, floated on his back, his head positioned beneath the waterfall. It looked relaxing. Jason figured there were worse places to be stranded. The pirate was naked and he was singing.
Stalls’ multi-gun and a pile of clothes lay on a nearby rock. On top of them rested a small metallic box, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. Jason casually walked over to the clothes and picked up the SuitPac device. He found a nice rock to use as a seat and waited.
Five minutes later, Captain Stalls floated out from the cascading water and stood up in the pool. His eyes locked on to Jason.
“That looked quite relaxing, Captain Stalls.”
He looked to the pile of clothes. “You can’t. Without that … I’m dead.”
“That’s not a very positive attitude, Stalls. I’ve learned to never underestimate your resourcefulness. With that said, you still have much to account for. You’re a shit, Stalls; luckily, I’ve decided to let you live. With that said, I’ll let you keep the multi-gun … but I’ll be taking the SuitPac, and these too.” Jason leaned over, picked up Stalls’ clothes, and, smiling, phase-shifted away.
* * *
Boomer ran into the Minain’s Zoo and abruptly came to a stop. This wasn’t like The Lilly’s Zoo at all. She was s
tanding at a wide, circular entrance, where four separate corridors fanned out before her. Each one, she could already see, had dozens and dozens of habitat windows. It was magnificent … it was huge!
Granger was back at her side. He returned her smile. “I thought you’d like this.”
“It’s amazing. But I need to find the same habitats that were on The Lilly. Take me to them, please!”
“I’m sorry, Boomer. But they’re interspersed all over … you’ll just have to look for them.”
Starting with the corridor at her far left, she ran. As she moved past the habitat windows, her head spinning left and right, she saw amazing, crazy-looking creatures. A dinosaur in one, a walking fish in another. She stopped and took three quick steps backward. It was HAB 4! Alice, her drog, was in here … somewhere. She continued on, slower now, conscious she could easily pass by other Lilly habitats. She saw the water habitat, where the Drapple swam. She ran on and on. One window after another, she passed in front of some familiar habitats. Familiar, but not exactly the same: The portals, too, were in slightly different locations—close, but not quite the same.
She walked fast now—a perspiration sheen on her forehead—her hair damp. She just finished the second corridor, and was entering the third, when she stopped and screamed out loud.
Granger came running up, his face full of worry. “What! What is it, Boomer?” She was wide-eyed—her arm outstretched and finger pointing. She screamed again.
Granger looked into the portal window, into the habitat. Dusk was falling on a desert scene: A campfire blazed next to an old, beat-up spacecraft, and three individuals were laughing, looking no worse for wear. “That’s my dad … Oh my god … that’s my dad!”
Scrapyard Ship 7: Call to Battle Page 24
