After a moment he held out his hand for the transmitter, and I handed it to him, not without trepidation. It was delicate, and the smallest mistake could render it useless.
But he handled it gently, and lifted it above his head, rather than turning it upside down, to plug the cables into the bottom. After several tensely quiet moments, he handed it back to me. “Should I go ahead and start the generator?”
I nodded, and began turning the rather crude dial to modulate the frequency. I hoped I’d been able to get it precise enough to get to the Alacrity I’'s frequency, which I knew by heart—189.4 gigahertz.
Eduardo had begun turning the crank, and it squeaked at first, making me cringe. The generator began to whine, a low rumbling whine first, slowly getting higher and faster as he turned.
“Got it yet?” I murmured.
He looked at the gauge, sweat already beginning to gather on his forehead. “Not yet,” he grunted.
The steady hum grew as he cranked. I stood there, waiting.
A moment later, he announced, “Now.”
I flipped on the transmitter, looking at the tiny indicator. It said we were at 188.9. I turned it slightly, which brought it to 190.8.
Biting my lip, I laid my finger on the dial and moved it as little as I could. It now read 189.0.
I pressed my finger carefully on the dial, attempting to turn clockwise less than a millimeter. It was raised to 189.5.
Biting harder, I jiggled the transmitter. The indicator slipped to 189.4.
I locked the dial, then pressed the transmission button and slipped my headset on to wait for connection to be established.
“Hurry,” he grunted, still cranking vigorously.
A wave of static came over my headphones, and I began to speak. “Alacrity I, this is Andi Lloyd. Crash, do you read?”
For a second, the only sound that met my ears was sporadic buzzing. But then, a fuzzy voice crackled through.
“Andi, I can barely hear you. This is Prescott Whales.”
“Mr. Whales, our ship has been taken over by Commander Howitz. We are being forced to take him to sector four-thousand.”
“We’ve been... to contact... couldn’t find...”
“Mr. Whales, please help us!”
“Come... sector...”
Static obscured most of his words. Eduardo cranked with all his might, but I was losing the connection.
“Sector four-thousand, Mr. Whales. Commander Howitz is forcing us to travel to sector four-thousand.” I said each word carefully and clearly, hoping desperately that he would be able to understand.
“We’ll try...”
Light appeared under the door, and I dropped the transmitter. Eduardo let go of the crank and jumped out of the way to keep from being hit by its inertial spinning. Grabbing the transmitter, he disconnected it from the cables and shoved it into my arms. As we heard footsteps outside the door, he pushed me to the back of the room and opened a small cabinet door in the darkest corner. “Get in.”
Without stopping to think, I crawled in desperately and he slammed the door shut behind me.
I held my breath, listening anxiously. For a second, I only heard Eduardo’s footsteps as he walked back to the center of the room, then the whir of the generator stopped.
For a fraction of a second there was nothing, and then the sound of the door opening broke the silence.
“What are you doing here?” asked an insisting voice. “Why isn’t snack bar open yet?”
“The ovens weren’t working, sir.” Eduardo’s voice was confident. “I came to check the connections, and see if running the generator would help.”
There was more silence, and then a few more footsteps.
“Have you seen Andi Lloyd anywhere?”
“Yes sir, I saw her this morning.”
My heart rose in my throat, and a scream rose with it. I had to force myself not to clap my hand to my mouth.
“She was just coming out of her room; I think she was going to sickbay.”
My heart settled again.
Another silence. I breathed gently, trying not to make a sound.
“Open the snack bar immediately.”
“Yes sir.”
There was one more brief silence, then the footsteps retreated, and the door slid closed. I waited for a moment, not sure whether it was safe to come out or not. But before much time had elapsed, the cabinet door opened, letting the dim light of the chamber in. Eduardo’s dark, worried face met mine. “Come on,” he whispered, “he’s gone.”
I took his offered hand and he helped me to climb out. “Thank you,” I gasped, trying to get my bearings.
Nodding, he led me through the pantry, flipping on the light as he entered. “You’d better leave right away.”
“Thank you,” I said again as we stepped out into the galley.
“Try not to attract too much attention,” he whispered.
In a sudden motion, I pulled the transmitter out of my bag and handed it to Eduardo, who looked blankly at it. “Crush it and throw it in the recyclator,” I insisted. “I wouldn’t want them to search me and find it.”
Nodding, he took it and carried it over to the other side of the room. I took a deep breath, and then rushed out. I’d have to find someone to help me get the Doctor out of his detention, and then somehow get hold of the deadly machine. How? How could we do those things?
A solitary man sat at the counter as I stepped into the snack bar, and for an instant my heart jumped in fear. Was it the man who had come looking for me? He would know Eduardo had lied!
Then I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Guilders.
“You’re—you’re up so early!” I stammered.
“It is past five,” he said stoically, leaning his folded hands on the counter. “I go on duty in a little over an hour. How are you doing?”
I shook my head. “May I sit here?” I patted the stool next to him.
“Certainly.”
I sat down. “Have you become invisible yet?”
“I think so. My wristcom is still being allowed to transmit.”
There was a silence as I swallowed and licked my lips. Then, “I need your help.”
He looked at me expectantly. “Oh?”
“Yes.” Looking down, I twisted a corner of my jacket. “We have to free the Doctor, and then get the machine out of Commander Howitz’s quarters.”
“That memory eradicator that Lieutenant Howitz told us about?”
“Yes. I’m going to convince August to work it. But first I have to get the Doctor out, and get the machine.” I lowered my voice. “I already contacted the Alacrity I.”
He was silent for a moment, then he shifted on the stool. “Do you know where Gerard is?”
“Yes,” I said eagerly, looking up to meet his calm eyes. “I saw him early this morning. He’s in Ensign Shelhammer’s quarters, guarded by two men. He’s—” I choked a little. “He’s so broken down. He’s losing everything.”
Again, he didn’t speak for a moment. But he furrowed his bushy gray eyebrows far more than usual, so I could see that he was deep in thought.
“Do you know how to work the security systems?” he asked at last.
I shook my head.
Another moment of thinking, then he flattened his hands on the counter and looked at me. “Ralston would know, and I’d trust him. If you and he can manage to get to the central security chamber, then I have an idea. But once you did that, you’d have to get Gerard out quickly before Commander Howitz realized what had happened. How many hours left?”
“Just about five.” I bit my lip, my heart beginning to speed up again.
He nodded. “All right. Are you willing to take risks?”
I didn’t hesitate for a moment. “Yes.”
“All right. I’ll send Ralston here, and then here’s what you’ll have to do...”
XXII
Mr. Ralston and I crept through the dark storage chamber above B-Deck, not daring to speak. Crates and dormant
machinery lay on all sides of the vast space, neatly separated, numbered and stacked. At the far end of the room were the security panels, where a lone technician worked in silence.
Not letting our boots make a sound against the hard floor, we slipped closer and closer, until we were right behind the crewman. Then in a sudden motion, Mr. Ralston reached out and gripped the man around the neck with one arm, using his other hand to cover the unfortunate worker’s mouth. With equal speed, I pulled a full hypo from my bag and injected the man with a sedative.
For another moment Mr. Ralston continued gripping him, then he went limp, and the data controller laid him carefully down.
“Isn’t that against the Hippocratic oath?” he asked, his thin lips giving a slight smile as he turned to the panel.
I shrugged as I put the hypo back in the bag. “I’ve never taken it.”
“How long will he be out?”
“Maybe half an hour.”
“That should be plenty of time,” Ralston observed, and began to scan through the security subsystems. I watched, even though I was unable to follow what he was doing.
He found the cabin security section and murmured, “What’s the cabin number?”
I blushed as I realized I’d forgotten to find out. “I’m—I’m not sure. I think about... it’s halfway down the hall on C-Deck, I think if you’re coming from the lounge, it’s on your right somewhere.”
Nodding, he navigated through the system then stood up straight and spoke quietly. “Got it. To be unlocked only with clearance from the man himself.” He turned to look at me, his eyes looking wide in his thin face. “If this doesn’t work?”
I shrugged, trying to hide my trembling. “We’ll get out of here before he realizes what happened. He won’t know we were the ones who tried it.” I wasn’t convincing myself, and I doubted I was convincing him either.
Clenching my teeth, I took the last step to the console. Ralston pressed a button, lighting up a small green panel. “Ready for clearance scan,” a computerized voice said, making me cringe. I hesitated for a moment, then laid my hand on the little panel.
I watched as a green bar of light moved over the panel, slowly moving from my wrist to the tips of my fingers. It gave off just enough heat for me to feel it as it passed, and I forced myself to stop trembling.
The light finished scanning and seemed to hesitate. I stiffened. If this didn’t work, an alarm would be set off throughout the ship, and despite my assurances to Ralston, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to escape detection.
Then, a clear, ringing beep sounded. “DNA—Howitz, Erasmus; Commander. Security cleared.” Then there was a clicking sound, and the panel turned off.
I pulled my hand away, letting my breath come quickly. It had worked! Guilders hadn’t been positive that it would interpret my DNA as his, but it had. Now we could just walk into his room.
After stepping backwards for a few steps, I turned to face Mr. Ralston. “Tell Guilders it worked.”
He nodded and started back towards the elevator. I let him use it first, as we were going opposite directions—he up to the bridge to tell Guilders and send August to sickbay, I down to sickbay to wait for my brother.
My mind turned back to the Doctor as I waited for the elevator to come back down. We had just four hours to save him! My stomach began churning as I waited—and waited. I began picking at my jacket button and scraping my boots along the floor. We had to save him.
What if I have another plan? A voice whispered. I slammed the door on the voice; feeling my heart scream, Don’t say that, God! You wouldn’t do that, I know you wouldn’t.
At last the smooth doors in front of me slid open, and I jumped in, not even waiting for them to finish sliding. “B-Deck!” I snapped, feeling somehow as though the elevator were to blame for my disturbing thoughts.
Who knew how long it would take Guilders to get August down to sickbay? He’d said it could be awhile. By that time, the security guard might wake up, and warn Commander Howitz. Then the Commander would lock his quarters again, and we wouldn’t have another chance.
We should have gotten August down first. I knew why Guilders had decided not to do that—he worried that if Commander Howitz did realize what we’d done, it would be worse for August if he were found missing from his post. We had to make sure it would work first.
Maybe I could go in and find the machine without August.
I didn’t know what it looked like—but how hard could it be to find it? It was a machine—surely I could figure it out. It would probably have some kind of identifying mark on it.
No. I shouldn’t. Guilders knew we were in a hurry; he’d get August down right away. He’d find some way to do it, I knew he would. I would just have to trust him.
The elevator stopped on B-Deck, and the doors opened. I lifted one foot to step out, to walk down the hall to sickbay, to wait for August’s help.
Then I put my foot down again, stood up straight, and said, “C-Deck.”
The doors closed again, and I was moved down. I couldn’t do it. I had to get down there now and get that machine, before it was too late.
I wouldn’t let the Doctor go crazy—or die.
When it stopped, I leapt out into the corridor, afraid that if I hesitated I’d change my mind.
It was easy to find his cabin, and when I had, I stopped in front of it and took a deep breath. Then I jammed my thumb recklessly on the open button to the right of the door.
For a crazed half-second, nothing happened. Then the door slid open welcomingly, without letting off so much as a squeak.
It had worked! Everything would be all right!
Jubilant, I slipped into the room and looked around. It was a duplicate of every other officer’s cabin, except for a row of large, somewhat frightening devices on a metal chest on the far side of the room.
I walked towards them, not allowing myself to give in to the urge to tip-toe. I had to figure out which one was the right one, and figure it out quickly.
There were five items on the chest, neatly lined up in a row. All five were of different shapes and sizes, though they were all varying shades of gray and black. My heart sank a little when I saw that none of them bore any characters of any kind—neither letters nor numbers indicated the type of device.
Still. I was good at inventions and mechanics, I could figure it out. August had mentioned x-rays—so which one of these could produce x-rays? It would have to be capable of extreme precision to lock onto specific sections of the brain, so I instantly ruled out the simple apparatus on the far left. The controls on the center machine didn’t look complex enough either...
“You do me credit, my dear.”
My blood froze as my heart stopped beating. The voice was a low, gravelly one that I knew well.
I hadn’t heard the door open, but the sound of boots stalking towards me was all too clear. I swallowed, feeling somehow that if I just kept still and didn’t turn around, I wouldn’t have to deal with the situation, and everything would be all right.
“I’d hardly hoped that even with my genes you could have become so inventive,” he continued. “Unfortunately, you picked the wrong moment to enter. I happened to have this hall’s security camera on the screen.”
Dull pain engulfed my heart. The wrong moment. Yes, it had been the wrong moment. A few minutes later, and we would have succeeded.
Andi, you fool!
“I had hoped that you would trust me,” he went on, and his strong hands gripped both my arms in a hold that made me wince. “But I’m going to have that metal one way or another.”
With a forcefulness that didn’t match his calm, calculated words, he pulled me back. I grunted and struggled to pull away, knowing all the while that it was useless.
My efforts only made him clutch me tighter, and I felt my lower arms begin to tingle with constricted blood flow. I couldn’t call for help—I couldn’t fight him. Could I reason with him?
“Father,” I begged. “Please! I just wa
nted the Doctor back...”
Without even acknowledging that I’d spoken, he turned and began pushing me towards a metal closet on the other side of the room. Taking one hand off of me, he pushed a button to open the door. I took the opportunity to pull against him and try to wrench his hold off with my free hand, but once again it did me no good. I twisted around and tried blindly to kick him in the shin, but he gripped my other arm again and held me at arm’s length, facing him.
I stopped struggling and stared into his eyes, which were a warring combination of hatred, hunger, despair and triumph. The triumph I understood, but the rest left me confused.
After ten seconds of silence, he spoke. “Genevieve Lavinia Sandison. You were named after her. Her! You bear her name, her face—her determined...” he choked, and the other emotions were swallowed up by loathing.
Understanding flashed upon me. He’d told me that Langham’s Disease could only be contracted by babies—and by pregnant women.
He heaved me into the closet, and my head hit the hard, metal back. I was dazed, but before he closed the door I addressed him once again. “She had the disease, didn’t she?”
He stopped his hand midway to the button and stared at me, his small pupils constricting more than ever.
I sat up straight and looked him straight in the eyes.
“My mother,” I went on. “She had Langham’s Disease, didn’t she?”
The hate stared out of his eyes, but I was unabashed.
“You didn’t get enough of the cure before the mine was destroyed,” I said slowly, figuring it out as I went along. “You only got enough for me.”
“We didn’t know!” he almost screamed, clapping his palms on both sides of the door and leaning inward.
I didn’t shrink back. “So you wanted to take my radialloy and give it to her. You wanted to sacrifice my life for hers.”
“I loved her!” he cried. “You can’t even begin to understand how much I loved her! I wanted to save her!”
“By killing me?” I cried.
Firmament: Radialloy Page 14
