Novum: Genesis: (Book 1)

by Joseph Rhea

  “Law,” Nia mumbled again. “What does she care about the law?”

  Jake shot Vee a look that said, “Please shut Nia up!” But she didn’t seem to understand his glare. Her blank stare did give him an excuse, though. “I’m testing a new crew,” he said. “They’re pretty green, but then again, they were the best I could get.”

  Steele nodded. “Yes, I understand. I admit that I was surprised when my crew informed me that your ship was out here, Jacob. What with the curse and all. However, that is still not a valid excuse for violating your flight plan.”

  “I know,” he replied calmly, “and I’ll be sure to file the correct paperwork when I get back. Now, if there is nothing else?”

  “Well,” she said, “there is the matter of the stolen items. I’m afraid that I will still need to have my men search your ship. Formalities, you understand.”

  “Formalities, my ass!” Nia mumbled, a bit louder this time.

  “I didn’t get that,” Steele said.

  “You do realize that my ship has no top docking port,” Jake replied.

  “Yes, that’s an annoying feature of Proteus-Class ships,” she said.

  “Which means that you can’t forcibly board us,” Juno said as she stood up for the first time.

  “You look familiar,” Steele said, facing the first mate.

  “Lieutenant Commander Andrea Juno, of the Shippers Guild. I’m assisting Captain Stone with his crew training.”

  “Well, Commander, you are correct, of course, but I’m hoping a forced boarding will not be necessary. If you and your crew have nothing to hide, I think we can settle this matter rather quickly.”

  “Send a shuttle,” Juno said. “They can attach to our lower docking port. We will hold station and await your arrival.” She made a finger-across-her-throat gesture at Vee, who cut off communications. Captain Steele’s hard face vanished.

  Nia came up the stairs. “What are you doing, AJ?” she asked. “We can’t allow them to board this vessel.”

  “We don’t really have a choice,” Juno said. “We’re surrounded.”

  While they discussed their limited options, Jake walked up to the command station viewport and looked out at the darkness. Just like Captain Coal, he thought. Facing the blue.

  “They’re not below us,” Ash said. “This is a deep cargo vessel. We could try to lose them down in the Rift.”

  “They will blast us as soon as we start to descend,” Juno said. “Remember? No witnesses out here.”

  “Then we have to hide the mind ship.” Vee said.

  “How do we hide an object that big?” Ash asked.

  Jake heard all of this, but his thoughts were elsewhere—outside the ship, floating over the Rift and looking down as Stacy’s jumper fell into its depths. Her face was looking up at him, her mouth moving, forming those words. He wondered for the hundredth time if she was saying, “I forgive you.” Did she forgive him for killing her? Could she forgive him?

  “They’re coming,” Juno said, bringing Jake back to the present, back inside the bridge, back inside his own body. He looked out the side viewport and saw a small shuttle being lowered from one of the Guard ships.

  “We’re going to jail,” Vee said.

  “We’ll be lucky if we only end up in jail,” Juno replied.

  “None of that matters,” Nia said. “We absolutely cannot let the Council have that weapon. Do you understand? We’ve all seen what it can do. It has to be destroyed.”

  “By destroyed, you mean destroy our ship. Kill ourselves,” Juno said.

  “How exactly would we do that?” Ash asked.

  “If we attempt the dive you suggested,” Nia said, “I think the Guards would do the job for us.”

  “I can’t believe you’re actually considering this,” Vee whispered.

  Ash looked out the Guard ships and sighed. “Unless someone comes up with a brilliant plan to somehow destroy the object without killing ourselves in the next five minutes, I don’t see any other option.”

  Jake, still staring out at the darkness, smiled. “I think I have that brilliant plan.”

  Chapter 14

  Jake headed for the stairwell. “No time to explain. I need Ash to help me.” Both Nia and Ash ran toward the stairwell. “I only need one of you,” he said as he ran down the stairs.

  “I brought this mess on board,” Nia said. “If there’s a way to fix this, I will be involved.”

  “Fine,” Jake said, not wanting to waste a second arguing the point. He jumped off the last step to C-deck and ran toward the diver locker on his right. As Ash and Nia came in, he pointed to the four hardsuits hanging on the back wall. “Put those on as fast as you can,” he said.

  “Are we going for a swim?” Ash asked as he headed for the suit on the left side. Jake pulled the one on the right side off its hook, and it dropped to the floor, smashing his toes. “Drown it!” he yelled. “I forgot how heavy these things are.”

  Ash and Nia were nearly suited up by the time Jake figured out how to open the armored pressure suit and crawl into it. He shoved his head into the transparent headpiece and then remembered that he needed to seal the back first. He was about to swear again, but Ash was suddenly there, helping him close it up. “They’re much lighter underwater,” Ash said through the suit’s intercom. He hit the final closure, and Jake took a deep breath of cold filtered air as it began filling his suit.

  “Unfortunately, we won’t be going into the water,” Jake said into his intercom.

  Nia had just finished putting on her suit, as well. “What? I assumed we were going outside to disable the docking port, or at least try to attack that shuttle when it arrives,” she said.

  Jake waddled toward the door, the heavy suit slowing his progress. “That wouldn’t get us out of this situation.” He exited the locker and turned left, toward the lift. After wasting several seconds removing the lockout device that the Range brothers had attached to the lift controls, Nia and Ash followed him inside, and he closed the door and pressed the descend button. He listened to the sound of his own heavy breathing as they dropped. Apparently, the others had given up guessing his plan.

  When the door opened, Jake moved as quickly as he could toward the mind ship, walking straight across the sealed drop door instead of skirting it, as he would normally have done. When Nia stepped onto the drop door behind him, she gasped. “You just figured it out, didn’t you,” he said into his intercom.

  “What?” Ash asked.

  “We’re going to dump it,” she replied. “We’re going to dump it in the Rift.”

  Jake had reached the mind ship by now. Luckily, it was still on the sled, so it wouldn’t be too hard to move. “Can’t think of a better place to lose something forever,” he replied as he got behind the object and began to push. “And from where the Guard ships are located, there will be nothing they can do about it.”

  “Put the bodies inside,” Nia said. Both Jake and Ash looked at her. “The Range brothers,” she said. “Put them inside the mind ship. We’ll unload three problems at once.”

  He reluctantly helped Ash and Nia shove the two men into the seat he had occupied with Jane a short time ago. Then they sealed it up and managed to push the sled right on top of the drop door. Jake circled it as Ash went to the control panel and pointed to the big door hanging above them. “Seal us in now?” he asked.

  “Do it,” Nia said.

  Ash hit the switch, and the large wall-sized door slid down from its perch on the ceiling and rotated into place, separating the small drop bay from the cargo bay. When it clanked into place, Ash began filling the room with air to match the outside water pressure.

  Jake finished surveying the placement of the mind ship, and Nia tapped him on the shoulder. “Tell me it fits,” she said.

  Jake held out his hands, showing a spacing of a few centimeters. “It’s going to be close, but we don’t have any choice.” He looked at the object. “It would fit a lot better if we could cut off those damn antennas.�
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  The pressure was so high that his suit began to creak when he moved. Something popped loudly, and all three of them looked around and at each other. “Have these hardsuits been maintained at all?” Ash asked.

  “You’re just asking that now?” Nia asked and then began to laugh in spite of herself. They all three began to laugh.

  “Something funny down there?” Juno’s voice asked through Jake’s internal speaker, which killed the moment.

  “What’s happening?” Nia asked, all humor gone from her voice.

  “I was about to ask you that,” Juno replied. “The Guard’s shuttle is almost here, so whatever it is you’re planning to do, now would be a good time to do it.”

  “We need more time,” Nia said. “You have to stall them.”

  “How exactly do I do that?” Juno asked.

  “Make something up,” Jake interjected. “Just keep that shuttle away from the bottom of this ship for a few more minutes.”

  Ash yelled, “We’re at full pressure.”

  “Everybody back,” Jake said as he backed up to the wall. There was only a meter-wide walkway on all sides where a person could stand when the drop door was open. “I wish we could have rigged up the lifting cable to hold that thing in place, but no time.” He looked at Ash and Nia. “When the door starts to open, this thing could get off balance. Just stay away from it as best you can. Don’t want anyone getting impaled by those spikes.”

  Jake hit the switch to open the drop door and a series of alarms went off. Before he could wonder why, the floor in front of him began to lower, and a geyser shot up and drenched everyone, making it difficult to see what was happening.

  “What’s going on?” Ash yelled. “Didn’t I put enough air in the room?”

  “We must be descending,” Jake yelled back. “Pressure on the outside is increasing, pushing more water inside.”

  “AJ,” Nia yelled, “whatever you’re doing, you must stop it. We need to maintain this depth. AJ, can you hear me?”

  The swirling water was up to Jake’s knees now, and the mind ship began to lean to one side. The drop door must be half open by now, he thought. “We have to abort this!” he yelled. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “I’ll close the door,” Ash said.

  “Do not abort!” Nia yelled. “We can do this. There’s no other option.”

  Suddenly, the whole mind ship flipped onto its side and then dropped into the swirling water, sending out a wave that knocked Jake backward.

  “Nia!” Ash screamed.

  Jake got to his feet and saw that only Ash was standing next to him. “Where is she?” he asked.

  Ash pointed to the middle of the empty room. “She got pulled down with it,” he mumbled. “I think an antenna caught her suit.”

  “Nia!” Jake yelled into his microphone. “Nia, can you hear me?”

  He heard her voice in his ear as if she was standing next to him, but she wasn’t. She was far below him and falling fast—just like Stacy. “Take care of the crew, Jake,” Nia said in a voice too soft for the tough woman she seemed to be. “You… you have the bridge now.” Then she was gone.

  Chapter 15

  “Close the door,” Jake said.

  Ash just stood there, staring at the swirling water in the middle of the drop bay. “But she’s still out there,” he said.

  “She’s not coming back,” Jake said as he went to the controls and increased the internal air pressure to force the seawater back through the opening in the floor. When it was mostly out, he hit the button to close the door. When it was sealed, and the air pressure began to return to normal, the drop bay looked as if nothing had happened there.

  But something had happened. He had lost another person to the Rift, the second in six months. The weight of the hardsuit was suddenly unbearable, and he dropped to his knees. Then his air supply began to fail, and he started gasping for breath. He flailed his arms, hoping Ash would notice, but the navigator was still motionless, staring at the floor where Nia had once stood.

  “Help!” Jake managed to say before he fell forward onto his chest. Just when he thought he was going to black out, he felt Ash rolling him onto his back.

  “What’s wrong?” Ash asked.

  “Air supply,” he tried to say, but his throat felt dried out. Ash nodded and then left him there. “Come back!” he tried to yell but couldn’t get the words out.

  A few moments later, Ash reappeared above him, but this time, he wasn’t wearing his pressure suit. He hit the release valves on the suit, and Jake sucked in a lungful of fresh air. With the navigator’s help, he climbed out of his suit and then crawled on his hands and knees over to the wall and sat down.

  Ash walked over a few seconds later. “There’s nothing wrong with your hardsuit,” he said.

  “Out of air,” Jake whispered, still relieved to be breathing again.

  “No, I mean there’s nothing wrong with your air supply.” He squatted and looked at Jake. “I don’t mean to be rude, Jake, but I think you were just hyperventilating.”

  Jake shook his head, trying to deny what he knew was probably true. “It felt real,” he whispered.

  “AJ told me you had something similar happen with the daughter of this ship’s former captain,” Ash said as he looked back at the empty room. “I’ve only been with this crew for a few weeks, and I didn’t really get a chance to know Nia all that well, but I’m having difficulty believing she’s gone.” He looked back at Jake. “I can’t even imagine how I would feel if a woman I really cared about died that way.”

  “Stacy didn’t die that way.”

  “What do you mean?” Ash asked.

  “I mean it wasn’t an accident,” he said. He didn’t know why he was admitting this. Maybe this navigator didn’t need to hear it, but Jake needed to say it. He needed to admit his sins. “I killed her.”

  “You what?”

  “Coal and his crew were trying to salvage a wreck from a small ledge inside the Rift,” he began as the images reappeared in his mind. “It was late at night. I was on day watch and was sound asleep in my bunk when they got into trouble. Stacy was in a jumper, trying to untangle the lift cables.” He fought back a sudden need to scream. “The ledge gave way, and the wreck began to slide down, pulling the jumper with it. Her father started reeling in the safety line they had attached to the jumper, but then we started going down, too.”

  “What happened?”

  “We were already near crush depth,” Jake said. “Captain had a clear choice. Cut the line and lose his daughter or die with her.”

  “So he cut the line?”

  Jake looked up at him with rage blurring his vision. “No. He turned around and walked off the bridge. Not a word. Then his crew followed him out.”

  Ash shook his head. “What kind of a captain would sacrifice his entire crew for one life?”

  “It was his daughter,” Jake said. “His only child.”

  “Then I don’t get it. How did you all… oh crap! You cut the line?”

  Jake nodded. “I don’t actually remember doing it. I guess I blacked out and only came to when we were pulling back into dock.” He looked back down at the floor. “The Council called me a ‘hero’ when we returned to dock, but none of the crew would talk to me. The captain? Well, he called me a coward.”

  “A coward? For doing his job?”

  “He also called me a murderer.”

  “You saved his ship and his crew, Jake,” Ash said. “I think you just shamed him for making an impossible decision in a critical moment.” He paused then asked, “Speaking of Coal, Nia said he died right after that, committed suicide. So how the hell did you end up owning his ship?”

  “That’s a really good question,” Jake said as he stood up. “Someone delivered a package to me the day after he killed himself.” He looked up and touched the wall of the drop bay. “He actually left me this ship in his will. The man who killed his daughter. He even had it renamed Rogue Wave because that’s what he called m
e when he thought I couldn’t hear.”

  “The Colonial Guard actually allowed that? A former crewman inheriting an entire ship?”

  “One person fought it,” Jake said, “actually accused me of forging the will. When the document was verified, she was pretty angry and said she would be watching me.”

  “Captain Steele,” Ash guessed.

  Jake shrugged. “I guess she’s keeping her promise.”

  “Is Nia really gone?” Vee asked from the overhead speaker.

  “Yeah, Vee,” Ash said. “I’m afraid she is.”

  “Is it done?” another voice asked. This time, it was Juno.

  “The object is gone,” Jake said. “Other than a wet drop bay, there is no sign that it was ever on the ship.”

  “Good,” Juno said, “because we’re about to have company.”

  Chapter 16

  Jake tried to pull himself together and helped Ash put away the two hardsuits. Then they joined Juno at the main lockout door and awaited the arrival of the Colonial Guards. “Where is everyone else?” Jake asked.

  Juno, who was standing at attention, answered without moving. “Doing their jobs. Remember what Nia said. We have done nothing wrong here. We are training a new crew, nothing more.”

  Ash grimaced. “You mean I have to pretend to be green?”

  She looked at him. “Kid, compared to me, you are green.”

  That got a brief smile out of Ash. “Kid, huh?”

  Their banter was halted by the sound of the inner hatch opening inside the lockout room. A few seconds later, the main door slid open, and five Guards stepped out, with weapons raised.

  “Whoa,” Jake said as he cautiously raised his arms. “No need for guns here.”

  Lieutenant Winnick stepped through from the back and addressed Jake. “Captain Steele said we should expect resistance. Especially with that stunt you pulled.”