Against The Middle

by Caleb Wachter

  “We will speak after this mission,” she promised, trying to convey with her eyes that the matter they were to discuss was of the utmost importance.

  Fei Long nodded, “I would like that very much. Besides,” he said, flashing a subdued version of his trademark, mischievous smile, “we will be reunited ‘before you know it,’ as our crewmates would say.”

  Slightly reassured, Lu Bu decided to keep the all-important matter to herself for the time being as Mr. Strider’s voice crackled over the Mode’s ship-wide intercom, “Touchdown in ten seconds; best be quick about hoppin’ off, too. The exhaust wash be kickin’ up a ruckus on the surrounding dust layer and I don’t wanna get slapped in no gun-sights if I can be helpin’ it, yeah?”

  Seconds later, there was a sharp lurch as the craft’s landing struts—clearly a custom addition made by the previous owner—settled down on the surface of the planetoid. Lu Bu was still amazed that their new craft had slipped in past the Rim Fleet sensor grid, but when it came to moving about undetected, she suspected no one was better at doing so than Mr. Lynch.

  Ed, who would apparently now be known as Hansheng, clomped his way toward the airlock before the cargo ramp and Lu Bu gave Funar a hard look as he approached, now fully-clad in his Storm Drake armor and its attached, dragon-shaped helmet. She tilted her chin toward Fei Long, “Protect him, Private.”

  Funar gave her a lopsided grin which made her want to strangle him, but she managed to keep her cool as he nodded and said, “With my life, ma’am.” She nodded in satisfaction and her Lancer moved to Fei Long’s side. Private Funar gave his blaster rifle a once-over check before shouldering it and falling in between the assault droid and Fei Long.

  Trixie moved to join them, but Lu Bu caught her by the arm and said, “You do not need to go. Doctor Schillinger may not even be here.”

  Trixie beamed at her from within her pressure suit. “Are you kidding?! Where else would she be? Besides, this is the chance of a lifetime! I’m about to set foot on an Ancient world—this will make my entire career!”

  “If you live,” Lu Bu said pointedly.

  Trixie shook her head dismissively as she waved at Hansheng and Funar, “With guys like them around, I’m probably safer here than I am crossing midday traffic on my way to campus to attend a lecture!”

  In spite of herself, Lu Bu found the woman’s positivity somehow invigorating and she sighed. “As you wish…but we will not return until mission is finished.”

  “Fine by me,” Trixie said agreeably. “Sister, you seem to have forgotten,” she said, leaning in and nearly touching Lu Bu’s face with her suit’s transparent visor, “but I was literally locked in a box for the last few months. I was sure I would die there, and now that I’ve been given a second chance—one that could make history!—there is no way I’m backing down. Life’s too short, girlfriend,” she said with finality as she turned and made her way to the airlock, “I’m about to take one small step for mankind…or maybe it’s a giant leap? A medium-sized lope, maybe? Or what about a measured, but significant, vault? Nobody ever vaults anything in literature; they’re always leaping, or hurdling, or jumping, but never vaulting—“

  The airlock doors slid behind her as she continued to ramble, but Lu Bu was no longer paying attention to her as she had focused completely on Fei Long. He met her gaze, and at the same time they mouthed, ‘I love you,’ just as the airlock doors slid shut.

  The Mode lifted off as soon as the team had descended the ramp adjoining the craft’s stern-most airlock. Said ramp lifted back into the closed position as soon as the ship lifted off the surface, leaving the four of them essentially marooned on the surface of the strange world as the deceptively simple-looking vessel sped off into the darkness above.

  “Wow,” Trixie breathed reverently, and Fei Long turned to see the archeologist kneeling in the dust at their feet, “I’ve heard of this type of thing…but never actually seen it.”

  Fei Long looked all around and immediately understood the reason for her awe. For just a fraction of a second, he too was awestruck by what she held in her hand.

  It was a glittery powder with several pieces as large as his fingernail and, as far as he could tell, it was all diamond! He looked around and saw that the entire surface of the planetoid appeared to be covered in them, and he allowed himself to marvel for a moment at the sheer volume of carbon surrounding them.

  But then his higher brain kicked into gear, and he knew that what they were witnessing was nothing more than an inevitable result of multiple generations of stars forming, fusing elements during their lives, and then exploding violently and casting those elements as far as possible.

  This particular planetoid was composed primarily of carbon, and the geological forces which could compress carbon atoms into natural diamonds on habitable worlds were as nothing when compared to the awesome pressures gravity creates at the center of a burning star.

  Fei Long dearly wanted to see the brown dwarf with his own two eyes, but he knew that the opposite side of the planetoid was bombarded with deadly radiation. Even here on the tidally-locked, dark side of the planetoid, the radiation was severe enough that each member of the team—each human member, anyway—would require an extensive series of treatments to undo the damage their cells would suffer during their exposure. But each of their suits had been specially reinforced with radiation shielding, without which none of them would survive more than a few minutes on the surface of the hostile, utterly alien world.

  “I’m reading trace amounts of atmosphere,” Funar said after sweeping a handheld scanner back and forth before himself, “but nowhere near enough pure oxygen to breathe. It looks like the atmosphere is 98% CO2 and 2% helium.”

  “Helium?” Fei Long mused, briefly wondering at the strange mixture before dismissing it from his mind and refocusing on the task before them. “We must move; the base is this direction, and will require at least three hours’ travel over this terrain. Hansheng,” he said, turning to the assault droid, “can you manage this terrain?”

  “Ambulation protocols operating at suboptimal, but acceptable, capacity,” the assault droid replied, and there was whimpering, canine sound embedded within the annoyed growls. “Probability this unit will maintain formation with biologicals: 93%.”

  “Good,” Fei Long said, tapping Trixie on the shoulder as she made to collect a specimen of the diamond dust. “Miss Serendipity, there is no shortage of this material on hand,” he said wearily.

  “Oh, I know,” she replied cheerfully as she scooped a tiny sample into the metal tube and sealed it shut before placing it in a pouch on her belt, “but you never know what might happen. I’d really hate to lose the opportunity to date this stuff, you know? It might tell us a little bit about when the Ancients came here—assuming the Ancients really are at the heart of all this,” she amended seriously. “I mean, this could all be some elaborate ruse as far as I’m concerned—“

  “Those turbo-lasers were no ruse, Miss Serendipity,” Funar interrupted, his voice tight with a mixture of annoyance and anger. The latter was likely the result of having lost shipmates to the Rim Fleet guns in the last battle with Captain Raubach—and the Pride of Prometheus was almost certainly still under the guns of Captain Raubach’s father, Commodore Raubach.

  She stopped short and actually froze before nodding quickly, “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just that I’m so excited and—“

  “Let’s move out,” Funar said, cutting her off as he waved the barrel of his blaster rifle—a rifle which had been fitted with a longer-than-usual barrel and a scope that was nearly half the size of the weapon itself—in the direction they were to go. He had also brought along a pair of plasma pistols which were strapped to a bandolier across his chest and back.

  “Agreed,” Fei Long said, and the four began their trek toward their ultimate goal.

  He had not taken ten steps before a severe pain gripped his entire body from the neck down, and Fei Long felt himself crash in
to the diamond dust before him even through the all-encompassing pain as his vision went totally white. For a moment he was certain he had lost consciousness, but when he looked up he found his vision was perfectly clear and his companions were looking at him with concern while Trixie, who was nearest, offered him a hand up.

  “Thank you,” Fei Long said, the sudden blast of pain having disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived. He tested his feet beneath himself and found that nothing seemed to be amiss, but he knew the source of the pain had been the steadily-growing nodule on his neck.

  “What happened?” Funar asked, giving Fei Long an appraising look of concern.

  “I tripped,” Fei Long lied, hating more than anything that he could do so—and moreover, hating that he had so quickly taken to doing so. “The gravity is unusual here, and I have never fully acclimated to these pressure suits.”

  The latter parts were true enough, but Fei Long felt like punching himself in the throat for burying his amid a pair of truths. He had learned to deceive every adult in his life at the age of six, and by the age of nine he had learned how to deceive local law enforcement. By twelve, it had become routine for him to spin webs of deceit and dishonesty which would turn those around him against each other. None of them ever suspected him of having orchestrated the conflicts, and at the time that fact had made the victories seem all the sweeter.

  But now he knew they were not victories at all. With each lie he had told, Fei Long had lost a small part of himself and he knew that he was only a fraction of the man he might have otherwise been as a result. It had been the greatest boon of his young life to be apprehended—an event for which the majority of the credit must be given to his old nemesis, who he could only hope was in the base on the world he now walked—and Fei Long had rediscovered himself, his Ancestors, and his center while locked away in that tiny, cramped, isolated cell following his kill pill’s implantation.

  Clearly convinced by his deception, Funar nodded and gestured with his rifle for Fei Long to take point, “We’ll keep to your pace, then. This is your show after all.”

  “A good idea,” Fei Long agreed, and the quartet once again set off for the base as he tested his control glove and found it to be in working order following his unexpected fall. He knew that Lu Bu would need him at his best if she was going to sneak aboard the enemy freighter, and thankfully it seemed that he would be able to support her as she needed.

  Dark thoughts filled his mind as he wondered at Lu Bu’s fate, and he was unable—or perhaps unwilling—to dismiss those thoughts as they approached the enemy base.

  Chapter XX: Slipping In

  “This looks like the best insertion point, ma’am,” Traian said, pulling up a schematic of the ship’s design from the Mode’s extensive databases. He pointed to a sternward airlock which was labeled as ‘Number Twelve’ on the base schematics, “This one is an emergency exit, used only during escapes from boarding actions or other terrorist activities.”

  “Won’t the security alarms go off all over the ship if we force it open?” Hutch asked warily.

  “Leave alarms to Fei Long,” Lu Bu said shortly, causing Hutch to nod in acquiescence. “When we are on ship, Mr. Strider must move to far side of planet to avoid detection.”

  “No worries there, mom,” he said, shaking his head as though in disbelief. “The Mode’ll be ready to pick you up just as quick as you set that bomb.”

  Lu Bu knew that the former pirate had to be seriously weighing the possibility of abandoning the mission—and them—once they disembarked. The Cutter was a cutting-edge pirate’s dream, and a serious upgrade from his previous vessel. He could easily sneak out of the system and return to a life of crime aboard the Mode, or possibly even use it to settle his debt with Lynch and end up with a lesser ship in the bargain while appeasing the most powerful enemy he had ever made.

  But she knew that this was not the time for doubt, recrimination, or accusations against one’s character. Lu Bu’s top priority was getting aboard the freighter, setting the bomb, and if necessary she would sacrifice her life to accomplish that mission. Whatever secrets and technology their enemies had taken from the planet below would undoubtedly be used against the citizenry of the Spineward Sectors, and Lu Bu found that she actually cared about what happened to those untold billions of people she had never met.

  Besides, if she did somehow survive the mission and he chose to abandon them, Lynch would be the least of Strider’s concerns.

  “Yide,” she said, turning to the adolescent uplift, “can you jump in vacuum?”

  He nodded as he finished cinching his pressure pants. The void of space was cold, but the most dangerous aspect of short-term exposure to the freezing vacuum was actually that the body would rupture at its weak points—points like both ends of the digestive tract. Having no desire to see anyone die in that manner, Lu Bu had been skeptical when Yide had assured her that he had brought along short-term exposure gear.

  That gear consisted of a head bag which had been modified to fit over his hairy head, and what looked like a heavily-reinforced diaper which he was just finishing adjusting.

  “I have used this several times, Corporal,” he assured her. “It will last as long as my oxygen supply does.”

  Knowing that to be no more than thirty minutes, Lu Bu also knew that would be more than enough time for them to get aboard the vessel. The real danger was that Yide not touch any part of the freighter with his bare skin, since doing so would likely cause him to flash-freeze to it. To account for this, he zipped up a simple body glove—also modified to fit his decidedly nonhuman frame—which he had used as a work suit back on the Pride of Prometheus. He had boots and gloves attached, which would keep his body from directly contacting the hull of the target vessel.

  “Ok,” she said, as satisfied as she was likely to get that he was prepared for the jump, “we must jump from this ship over to freighter. We hold onto each other like this,” she gripped Traian’s left forearm in her right hand while gripping Hutch’s right forearm in her left hand, “and create human ring.”

  “Human?” Yide bristled, and for a moment Lu Bu did not understand the source of his discontent. But then, just as she understood his objection, his lips peeled back in a Sundered’s version of a toothy grin—a decidedly unpleasant expression, as far as she was concerned.

  Hutch and Traian chuckled, prompting Lu Bu to do likewise as she snapped, “Laugh it up, fuzz-ball!”

  Her cohorts’ laughter only increased, and even Yide—who initially bristled with genuine anger—barked harsh laughter for several seconds, and Lu Bu knew they were as ready as they would ever be.

  “In position in two minutes, mom,” Strider reported, having made no attempt to join in the pre-mission camaraderie.

  “I am not your mom,” she growled with genuine irritation, causing her teammates to laugh even hard. She gave Hutch a harsh look and demanded, “What is funny?!”

  “It’s just his accent, ma’am,” Hutch said, wiping tears from his eyes brought on by too much laughter, “I didn’t want to say anything…it was just so funny watching you snap at him every time.”

  “Besides,” Traian quipped, “there’s no way you’d make a kid even half as ugly as him, Corporal.”

  Stiffening at the unexpected turn in the conversation, Lu Bu decided the time for mirth was at an end. “Enough,” she barked, “helmets on; we go to stern airlock.”

  Her team obliged, and less than a minute later they were at the stern airlock with the bomb held between Yide’s and Hutch’s hands as it, rather than a person, completed their human—or, rather, great ape—ring.

  “I be poppin’ the outer doors as soon as we be in position,” Strider said over the intercom. “The gases will give y’all a gentle nudge toward the freighter; my calculations say you should reach it in four minutes.”

  “Understood,” Lu Bu said after doing a last-minute check of her teams’ survival gear and finding everything was good to go.

  “Doors
opening in ten…nine…eight…seven…six,” Strider began, and Lu Bu’s team gripped each other’s arms tightly as they tensed in preparation for the relatively soft launch—soft compared to Lu Bu’s previous ship-to-ship jumps, anyway. “Five…four…three…two…one…you’re away!”

  The doors snapped open and the outgassing launched the team out of the Mode’s stern airlock. The freighter loomed large in their view—much larger than Lu Bu had expected it to loom—and the group found themselves tumbling head-over-feet toward the massive vessel.

  Thankfully, Hutch and Yide maintained their grips on the fusion warhead but for some reason Lu Bu became nauseous after only the third somersault-like move. Traian had fitted an air canister to his back, and he began to fire short bursts from its nozzle by using voice commands. They had connected the canister’s valve regulator to his helmet’s control systems, and Strider had put the finishing touches on the mechanism—he had also somewhat surprisingly suggested he had done something similar once while boarding a passing merchantman.

  After a dozen bursts from the canister which saw their ring tumble even more chaotically, Lu Bu finally lost control of her stomach and very nearly emptied its meager contents into her helmet. If she had eaten a regular meal in the previous six hours or so, she most certainly would have filled her helmet with the remains of said meal, but she was able to keep almost all of it inside her mouth as she fought against the surprising bout of emesis.

  When Traian finally managed to control their tumbling until they were only rotating like a disc, they were very nearly to the freighter’s hull. She gripped the arms of the Lancers to either side of her as tightly as she could in the moment before they landed on the hull.