“We need to get out of here,” said the guy near the forward tunnel.
I watched as they tried to, but they drifted all over the place, unable to control themselves in zero-g.
“I’m at the telescope,” I reported, quietly.
“Same,” said Talia.
“Take the aft tunnel then the two guys in the conference room. Patton and the others are mine.”
“Copy, good luck, Dan. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now go kick some ass and help me save the crew.”
I grabbed another grenade, pulled the pin then held it as I did the same to another one with my teeth. I stood and threw one at the mouth of the forward tunnel where the four guys held on. Next, I pushed off the hatch toward the middle dome for cover, lobbing the other grenade inside the staff room from where Patton and his men still struggled to escape. I grabbed onto a fire extinguisher attached to the side of the dome, then crouched, turning toward it. After closing my eyes and covering my ears, four loud flash-bangs went off in quick succession. I grabbed my rifle and took aim at the infrared shapes of the panicking hijackers. As expected, the worst of the smoke hadn’t reached my firing position, and the laser was powerful enough to penetrate with little scatter. The first in my sights were the tunnel guys since the dome was now between Patton and me. Laser light lit up the room from my side and Talia’s as we cracked off a series of shots. Screams filled the room and all four hostiles by the tunnel were down before they could return fire. Patton’s turn was next. I pushed off the dome and gained line-of-sight to the room he and his men were in. One of them had pulled himself out of the door and drifted toward the aft end of the observatory. Unfortunately for him, he was gaining altitude and slow-moving. I fired twice, the second shot quelling his cry. His body carried on drifting and I snapped my aim the other three. Two of them had fixed themselves to the doorframe while another still struggled inside. I couldn’t tell which one was Patton through the infrared.
One of door guys shouted, pointing my way. “There he is!”
He raised his assault rifle one-handed and fired wildly in my direction. Maintaining focus, I returned fire, taking out him and the guy beside with five or six blasts. I continued gliding past the adjacent offices to the staff room where one hostile remained. The cry of a woman pierced the air then fell silent. A lump filled my throat.
“You okay, Talia?” I said, slightly desperately.
“Yeah, tunnel hostiles all down,” she said between heavy breaths. “Two still hiding out in the conference room.”
A burst of auto fire rang out, followed by the sound of glass crumbling to the floor.
“They’re returning fire,” said Talia. “I’m at the rear tunnel entrance taking cover.”
“Okay, stay there,” I said, grabbing onto the door handle and pulling myself toward the next office’s door. “I’ve got one more this side then I’ll try to flank them.”
“Copy.”
I grabbed the door handle and counted two more before I’d reach the staff room with the foe. This was getting dangerous. I’d be up close at the doorway and he’d see me coming through the glass-walled frontage. Talia was pinned down and there were another three enemies unaccounted for. I was under no illusions—if this guy took me out, Talia was alone against six hostiles. She was good but hadn’t had the real-world experience I had. Without the element of surprise, she’d be lucky to survive. So I made a decision. Seconds later, I flew fast past the staff room entrance, catching sight of the hostile inside, throwing in a frag grenade. A burst of auto fire smashed the windows in my wake but missed me. Within moments, the grenade flashed apart sending shrapnel at supersonic speed in the enclosed space. I had no doubt the guy was dead and the blast was well away from the hull so didn’t risk the ship’s integrity. I glided toward the port bulkhead behind the telescope dome on that side.
“That was a confirmed kill, Dan,” said Talia. “I had visual from my position.”
Another burst of gunfire rang out from the direction of the conference room.
“Good. What’s the position of the other two?”
“Still hunkering down in the conference room. That last one was for me—I’m still pinned in the rear tunnel. Can’t get a bead on them, too much cover in there.”
“Okay, I’ll try to get an angle,” I said. “Just hold tight.”
“Copy.”
I pushed off the bulkhead, angling my flight toward the high ceiling sixty feet above. Looking below, the ghostly outlines of telescope domes and roofs of the various rooms grew smaller as I climbed. Only the sound of the ship’s systems filled my ears. Whoever was left in the conference room was keeping quiet. The observatory roof accelerated toward me and I cushioned my contact with the flat white expanse. Trying hard to maintain my stealth, I grabbed a light fitting to maintain station then hailed Talia on the headset.
“I’m on the roof,” I whispered. “You should be able to see me.”
“Confirmed,” she said quietly.
“I’m gonna push off and head onto the conference room in a second. When I give the word distract them with a few shots but stay behind cover.”
“Copy.”
I pointed myself at the conference room then thrust off with my legs, propelling my body through the gloom. Seconds later, I cushioned my landing on the flat conference room roof. I couldn’t gauge the hostiles’ exact position, the IR unable to penetrate the roof. I hovered there, holding onto a round conduit.
“In a moment I want you to take a peek and look for two things,” I said to Talia in a low voice. “First, my position, then the hostiles’ relative to me.”
“Okay.”
“Report their location, then count ten seconds and open fire—just enough to keep them focused on you.”
“Got it. Taking a peek now.”
There was a pause and the hushed voices of two men from below.
Talia let out a breath, then gave me their locations. They were at the starboard end of the long conference table, which dominated the long room. They’d anchored themselves below the fixed table with a bunch of chairs floating around the space. Each one represented an obstacle, cover, a wildcard in a gunfight. The only door was at the other end—the end nearest to Talia’s position. It was a standoff and these guys weren’t going to move until getting the all-clear. They might have had time to wait it out, but the crew in Module 1 did not. I pulled my way along the roof to the starboard side of the meeting room. This was the short, glass-sided wall behind the bad guys who faced the other way. Once I rounded the roof and sent myself downward, there’d be no cover, no concealment. If they turned around and saw me first they’d probably have an unimpeded shot. I pushed off the roof and floated toward the desks in the open area behind the conference room—the ones where Prof. Heinz had laid out his maps. I knew they were fixed to the deck, so I grabbed onto a leg with confidence. After orienting myself below the large desk, I saw the human outlines of the hostiles in crouched positions inside the room. The infrared ghosts were just fifteen feet away through the glass. I focused on them as I reached for my 9mm, flicked off the safety, then quietly chambered a round.
“Taking the shot,” I whispered.
Then I squeezed off two double taps hitting both men in the back. They let go of their anchors and floated away from one another with whatever their final muscle reactions were.
“All hostiles down,” I said with relief.
Talia said nothing.
“Talia, you there?” I said, with growing concern.
Still no reply.
I urgently made my way to the aft link tunnel entrance where she’d been sheltering, pushing through the smashed glass wall of the conference room. I navigated past the two bodies and floating chairs, pulling myself along the long table to the door. I reoriented myself and flew with my 9mm out front heading at the well-lit tunnel entrance. The tunnel itself came into view. Except for the two recently dead hostiles there, it was empty and the blast door to Module 4 was
closed. Where had she gone? I hit the side wall and pulled myself past the halfway point to Module 4 where gravity sent me to the deck. After holstering my piece and switching to normal vision, I tried again. The bodies of the cooling enemy changed from light gray to their human form, blood pooling around them near the observatory end of the tunnel. But there was still no sign of Talia.
“Talia, do your read me?”
Nothing.
I tried Tiro again. “Tiro, this is Captain Luker, are you back—”
“Captain! Yes, I’ve been having some success, I have—”
“Look, we don’t have time. Restore life support to Module 1, switch on gravity in Module 3 and open the blast doors.”
“Yes, Captain.”
A series of crashing and slumping sounds came from the observatory as objects and bodies hit the deck. The tenuous haze left over from the grenades scattered the low-energy lighting. I ran inside the observatory, taking cover as the blast doors to Module 4 whirred open. The lights were on in the space behind the link tunnel but was as empty as the tunnel itself.
“Life support has been restored in Module 1. Module 3 gravity is switched on and all blast doors to Module 3 are now open,” reported Tiro, dispassionately.
“Can you locate Commander Zoska?”
“Her intercom badge is located in Module 4, sixty feet aft of your position. It is stationary.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said, before running through the link tunnel into the Module 4 corridor. There on the deck ahead lay the small, round intercom badge.
“Damn it,” I muttered. “Where the hell are you, Talia?”
“What about her Marine-issue helmet? Can you track that, Tiro?”
“It was not registered, Captain, but I may be able to trace it if she uses the headset radio. Let—”
“Not helpful, Tiro,” I said, frustrated. “If she can use the helmet headset she’ll be able to tell me where she is, won’t she now?”
“Yes, I suppose you have a point.”
“I’m going to check something out. Keep watch on the camera feeds—if you see her, tell me straight away.”
I jogged back into the observatory unmasking each dead hijacker in turn. I reached the staff room where Patton had been hiding. Three of the four were not him, leaving the fourth—a large guy, slumped onto the floor next to the couch. He wore a black ski mask showing only his closed eyes. I squatted down and pulled off the mask expecting to see Patton. But it wasn’t him, it was another guy I’d never seen before.
“Tiro, can you locate Patton?”
“I have his intercom badge details, but it is offline. I have not detected him on camera. Would you like me to search for him?”
“Hell yeah—you find out where that snake is,” I said. “He may have Talia.”
I tried to hail her. Hope rose in my core when the headset beep announced a response. But my heart sank moments later.
“Talia huh? Not commander?” said the familiar gloating voice of Patton.
A chill ran up my spine.
He is still alive, but where?
“Well, I suppose she is your girlfriend isn’t she, Luker?” he said, chortling.
“Let me speak to her!” I demanded.
“There’s a time and place for everything,” he said, his tone turning hard. “You and this bitch have killed a lot of loyal people, Luker. It wasn’t enough for you to take away our people and our hard-won resources. No, you had to go and start killing us.”
Like you were killing the crew, I thought.
As he carried on his rant and I muted my helmet mic.
“Tiro, locate the signal.”
“I already have, Captain—it’s coming from Module 5, somewhere between Levels 17 and 20. I can’t tell where exactly.”
I started running.
“Tiro, connect me to the bridge.”
“Captain Luker?” said Sirtis.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said between breaths. “Patton’s got Talia. I’m going after him. They’re in Stasis, Level 20. Tiro will guide you there. Send an armed squad. There’s Patton and two more hostiles.”
“Rules of engagement?”
“Shoot to kill, rescue Talia, and avoid taking risks with the stasis pods if you can.”
“Okay, captain, we’re on our way.”
I switched back to the connection with Patton and continued racing through the deserted corridors of Module 4.
“You still there, Luker?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Just tired of your bullshit,” I said, trying to keep my labored breathing out of my voice. The longer I could keep him talking, the better.
“I can hear you running, Luker,” he said. “Coming to save your little traitor girlfriend?”
“Look, let me speak to her and this can all end peacefully,”
“Peacefully? You kidding?” he said, laughing humorlessly. “I’m saving the people you’ve deceived. Don’t you see? You’re all gonna die and you’re gonna take priceless technology and resources with you, you idiot! It’s our future on this ship, Luker.”
His blinkered nonsense had angered me enough. What was wrong with this guy?
“No, we’ve got our future, you’ve got yours,” I said. “It’s called self-determination and we Leavers have that right. Neither you nor anyone else can take that away. Back in the twenty-first century the world was full of people like you trying to force others to stomach what they thought was best. Five years ago, we had a fair vote, now give it up Patton.”
“The ship’s climbing, away from Earth,” he said. “You turn this thing around and cede control to me and my men or I’ll take it out on your girlfriend.”
I laughed at his delusion.
“You’ve three guys and Tiro’s regained control. No one else has to die today. Come on, let me talk to her.”
“Go on, talk to your big bad hero, sweetheart,” said Patton roughly.
“Dan, I’m okay,” she said. Then she spoke rapidly, “There are more here—they’ve been hiding in the stasis po—”
I heard a slap, a scream, and an angry voice shouting, “Bitch!”
Then Patton came back on.
“Maybe it’s you that’s outnumbered wise guy,” he said. “You’ve got five minutes to surrender before I put a bullet in her.”
The connection went offline.
“Damn it!” I said, reaching the elevator still in Module 4.
I pressed the call button and hailed Tiro.
“Have you got a visual yet?”
“No, captain. I am still having trouble gaining access to the cameras. I suspect the Forever World hostiles are—”
“Freeze the damned Forever World,” I ordered. “We need those cameras and we need full control of the ship—so shut the damn thing down.”
The elevator came and I got in, pressing 20 for the top level.
“But captain, for the millions inside the World it will be most distressing.”
“Yeah, but it won’t kill them and there’s too much at stake. We’ll deal with the consequences later. No more discussion—shut down the system it runs on. Now.”
“Yes, captain.”
The elevator continued its rapid ascent and I wondered how far Sirtis and his squad had gotten. And how many hostiles did Patton really have? Or was he bluffing? And would he really kill Talia? Too many unknowns and only four minutes left. I didn’t think I could face losing Talia the way I’d lost Juliet. It was only the adrenaline and time pressure that had kept these thoughts at bay. But the thirty seconds in the elevator had allowed long-suppressed nightmares to surface.
“The Forever World has been suspended,” said Tiro efficiently. “We’ll have some explaining to do when we restart it.”
“Never mind. Now go locate Patton and Talia on visual. Try for a precise location of all hostiles. We don’t have long.”
The doors slid open on Level 20 of Module 4 and I sidestepped out covering both directions with my laser rifle. The corridor was empty. To the right was the up
per link tunnel to the dimly lit stasis module. The near and far blast doors were open. It seemed an ominous invitation, but one I couldn’t avoid.
I called Sirtis as I started running, covering my advance with the laser rifle.
“Lieutenant, where are you,” I said quietly.
“Just entering Module 4,” he reported. “Gonna take the elevator—”
“No, I’m up top. You enter from the bottom link tunnel. I wanna close in from both sides.”
I quickly explained about the time limit and Patton’s threat then clicked off. Before entering the link tunnel, Tiro’s synthetic voice made me stop. I took cover to the side of the entrance while I listened.
“Captain, good news—I’ve located them.”
“Where?”
“Level 19, one floor below you. I can see them on camera.”
“How many of them?”
“Five hostiles plus Commander Zoska. One of the hostiles has a gun to her head.”
I clenched my jaw, restraining myself from my desire to go in guns blazing. But this needed thought and measured aggression, not a wild assault.
“…There are a further sixteen hostiles across the other levels below—many of them hidden in stasis pods. There may be more that I have been unable to detect.”
“Sixteen? Jesus.”
Time was running out and it seemed Patton wasn’t bluffing.
“Tiro, let Sirtis know about the hostiles in the pods,” I said quickly.
“Yes captain, doing it now.”
“Right, now I’m gonna go in there and surrender to Patton. When I say the duress word, Aura, here’s what I want you to do…”
And I told him the plan. He didn’t question it—there wasn’t time.
There were ninety seconds left when I stepped into the gloom of Stasis, my laser rifle held above my head.
“That you, Luker?” called Patton from below.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I called back, continuing to walk toward the stairs. “I’m surrendering. There’s no need for violence.”
I started descending the metal steps, my footfalls making sonorous noises above the background hum.
“Keep your hands where we can see them!” called Patton, anxiously as he came into view behind Talia, his human shield.
Home Planet: Arcadia (Part 3) Page 17
