by M. R. Forbes
Soon stood in front of him, shocked into silence for a moment. Then he nodded, clutching the cloth he had picked up tightly in a fist.
"Yes, sir," he said.
"Come on," Donovan said, turning back to where he had left Ehri and Murphy.
He looked just in time to see Ehri running toward him, her mouth opening in a scream, her arms waving at them to get down.
Then the gunfire started, bullets hitting her body and throwing her to the ground. He felt his heart jump again as Murphy fell to the ground behind her, his body riddled with holes, his face vanishing under the barrage.
FORTY-TWO
Donovan hit the ground beside Soon, lying prone as the bullets continued to pass over them for a few more seconds.
Then it stopped as quickly as it had started. The world fell silent again, the smell of blood and metal leaving a thick taste in the air. Donovan looked up, trying to find the attackers and trying to find Ehri. How could he have just lost her like that? She had enhanced senses, and she hadn't heard them coming. He still didn't see anyone in the hallway. Where the hell were they?
"Get up," a voice said. It came from all around them. From the building's comm system.
Donovan remained on the floor. He looked over at Soon. He was unharmed.
"Look in front of you," the voice said.
Donovan did. The red point of a laser was hitting the floor there. He followed it to the source, an opening in the ceiling ductwork that he had failed to notice earlier. The building had been occupied the entire time. They just hadn't known it, and now Murphy and Ehri were dead.
"We could have killed you already if we wanted to, Major," the voice said. "Lucky for you, we have a soft spot for the military. That was a pretty killer pep-talk you were giving, by the way. I couldn't have done it better myself. Oh, and you, Captain. Oh, my. So emotional. So sweet. I cried a little bit." A moment of silence was followed by a sharp command. "Get up."
Donovan pulled himself to his feet, staring up at the laser. Soon stood beside him. "Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Kraeger. Welcome to my honeypot."
"What do you want with us?" Donovan looked over to where Ehri was laying on the ground. She wasn't moving.
"Honeypot, Major. Do you know what that is?"
"A trap," Donovan said.
"Exactly. One that you and your friends walked right into."
"You didn't have to kill them," Soon said.
"That's a matter of opinion," Kraeger replied. "I needed you to know I mean business. Like I said, the only reason I didn't kill you is because I have a soft spot for the resistance. Step forward, to the center of the corridor. Oh, and lose the guns."
Soon looked at Donovan, who nodded. They both dropped their guns and moved to the center of the space.
The laser remained in front of them. Donovan heard footsteps in the building, and a minute later a muscular older man in a white t-shirt and stained jeans appeared, flanked by a dozen other men and women. They were all heavily armed with weapons that looked much more modern than anything Donovan had seen before. Somehow, these jackals were better armed than the resistance.
"Major," the man said, stepping ahead of the others and putting out his hand. "Kraeger."
Donovan didn't take the hand. Kraeger smiled at that.
"I could kill you for being rude."
"You won't," Donovan said. "You want something from me."
"I want a few things from you. Seeing that I've got you by the balls, I think you're going to give them to me, too."
"What makes you say that?"
"Grab him," Kraeger said.
Three of the men broke off from the others, approaching Soon. One took each of his arms, holding him tight. The other produced a knife, moving to Soon's left hand.
"How many fingers will it take, Major?" Kraeger asked. "Two? Three?" He nodded, and the man grabbed Soon's hand.
"Wait," Donovan said. "What do you want from me?"
Kraeger put up his hand. His lackey let go of Soon's.
"I knew you would be reasonable. I don't want to hurt you or the Captain here. What I do want is to know how you managed to capture a Dread transport? That is beyond impressive, Major."
"I took it," Donovan said.
"From the Dread?" one of Kraeger's people said. "Not likely."
"From the Dread," Donovan said. "Look, I don't know you, and you don't know me, but we don't have to be enemies. The Dread can be fought. They can be hurt. They can even be killed."
"With their own weapons. Yes, Major, we intercepted that message."
"What do you mean, intercepted?" Donovan asked.
"We've been tapping into resistance channels for years, Major. Not always from here, we've only been here two or three, but out there. Following the tides, waiting for some kind of hope."
"Then you know there is hope. We've been in contact with the space forces. We got one of the weapons to them, to learn how to defeat their armor. We're working together to stop the Dread. You could have helped us, instead of shooting first."
Kraeger laughed. "Help you? You're lucky I haven't killed you already. Do you know what your little victory did, Major? You haven't been listening to the chatter, so let me tell you. A month ago, there were twenty-two free settlements positioned around North America. These are civilians, regular men, women, and children, not murderous assholes like me and mine. Do you know how many are left?"
Donovan knew what Murphy had told him about Washington. He felt a cold chill settle over him. "No."
"Six," Kraeger said. "Feel proud of yourself? Feel like you're winning?"
"At least I'm trying instead of luring innocent people in and killing them for what they have."
"Careful, Major," Kraeger said. "It is possible for my good will to run out. You don't know enough about what we do here to make statements like that."
"The Dread were coming before I did anything. You know it was only a matter of time."
"Maybe." Kraeger shrugged. "It doesn't matter now, does it. The resistance is falling apart, Major. You've seen it yourself. It's too little, too late, which means it's more important than ever for those of us who want to survive to do whatever it takes. Whatever. It. Takes. Do you hear me?"
Donovan glanced over at Soon. "Yes, sir," he said.
"Sir?" Kraeger replied, laughing. "I like that. We've been watching you since your rig got stuck outside. I know you have people and equipment inside that transport. I want it."
"The equipment?"
"And the people."
"What for?"
"They managed to create that monster out there. It looks like they got the Dread power source hooked up to the tractor's battery. We need people with skills like that. The ones who don't have any? We'll find a use for them, too."
"I can't turn them over to you."
"Yes, Major. You can. And why not? We don't have to be enemies. I'd be happy to bring you and the Captain on. Like I said, I need people with skills."
"How do you know you can trust us?"
"Because you have morals. You won't say yes unless you mean it. You'd rather die."
"I'd say yes to keep you from torturing my friend."
"Fair enough. I'll tell you what. I'm going to take torture off the table. Let him go."
The men dropped Soon's arms and backed off.
"There. You see? We can be civilized. The Dread are coming for us, Major. They want to wipe humankind off the Earth. I'm not like the other assholes out there. I know what's going down. The difference is, I want to save what I can, and I have a plan to do it."
"Which is?"
"I've been here for almost three years. The Dread have been in this building four times already, searching. They haven't found us yet. Do you know why not?"
"You hide?"
"Yes, we hide. But the answer isn't that we hide. It's how we hide. It's where we hide."
"And where is that?"
"I want to show you, Major. I do. I can't unless you join up."
"You killed my people."
Kraeger sighed in frustration. "Yes, I killed two of your people. We kill people all the time. So do the Dread. That's the way the world works now. You give something to get something. In this case, your people gave up two of their own in exchange for a chance at something better. I'm not saying it will be an easy life for them, but at least they'll be alive and contributing, and who knows? If the space forces do come back, maybe we'll all survive."
"Have all the people who came here gotten this offer?" Donovan asked.
"Not even half," Kraeger said. "We take people who can help us. We kill the ones who can't. We can't risk word of our community getting out. We can't take the chance that the Dread will discover us."
"What are the Dread going to think when they find our rig right outside your front door?" Donovan said.
"They'll search the building again. They'll find nothing, again. No bodies, no blood. We've been doing this long enough to get it right."
"And if I say no, you kill me?"
"And everyone with you."
"You can't get into the transport."
"Then the Dread will kill them when they show up. How did you make it this far without them stopping you, anyway, Major?"
"I got into an Honor Fight with one of them. I won three days of peace."
"Well hell, I'm even more impressed. You should join up, Major. I know it wasn't the plan when you showed up here, but I think you'll be glad you did. A guy like you can get ahead in a hurry."
"I'm with the resistance," Donovan said. "I want to stay with the resistance. What if I give you the others and walk away?"
Kraeger laughed. "See? That's what I mean. We get to talking, and things change. But what if I had talked first, instead of killing your friends? You wouldn't be taking me seriously right now. You wouldn't be so willing to negotiate. I can't let you walk, Major. You know we're here, and I don't take risks."
"No exceptions? I promise I won't talk."
"Sorry, Major. No exceptions."
Donovan glanced over at Soon, and then back to Kraeger. He wasn't ready to give up his mission to reach Austin, but what choice did he have? The man had him by the throat and was offering him and the scavengers a chance to live. It was more than most got.
He glanced over Kraeger's shoulder again, to where Ehri had fallen. He had murdered her in cold blood to make a statement. Could he live with a man like that? Could he turn the scavengers over to a man like that? It didn't matter what his reasons were. The fact that he was even capable of the act spoke volumes.
He bit his lip, casting his eyes to the ground and putting his hand to his head like he was considering. He fought to keep himself calm and not give anything away.
Ehri was gone.
FORTY-THREE
"Anything new to report?" Theodore asked, rolling smoothly onto the bridge.
Colonel Choi stood as he entered. "General on the bridge," she said.
The rest of the crew stood to face him.
"At ease," Theodore said.
The crew returned to their positions, Gabriel included. He had spent the last forty-eight hours splitting time between resting in the cockpit of his starfighter, running through the corridors of the Magellan with Wallace and Miranda in an effort to get some exercise, and manning the pilot station on the bridge. He wasn't required to be there, and Maggie could handle the flying duties while they continued on their course along the edge of the star system, but he didn't want to miss anything.
"Colonel, what's the status of the Dread fortress?" Theodore asked.
"They're remaining in position behind us, General," Choi replied. "I don't think they're near full thrust."
"Me neither. It's been a couple of days, which means if Guy was right about them being slipsick, all but the weakest will be recovering, and the rest will be dead." Theodore looked over at where Sarah Larone was sitting by herself. "Mrs. Larone, why are you on the bridge?"
She stood and faced him. "Sir, Guy and Reza asked me to be here to liaise with you."
Theodore's brow creased. "How do you mean?"
She smiled. "They're onto something sir, the two of them. They have a new theory regarding slipspace, based on the ideas we've come up with on the Dread technology. They asked me to be here when you arrived, to keep you updated on their progress."
"I see. In that case, Mrs. Larone, update me."
"Yes, sir. Can we go to the conference room? I have a sim I can show you."
"Of course. "Major St. Martin, can you please attend? You too, Colonel. Sergeant Abdullah, you have the bridge. Don't let Maggie do anything I wouldn't do."
"Yes, sir," Abdullah said, standing to take the command chair.
Gabriel retreated to the rear of the bridge to stand beside Theodore as he swung himself easily into his chair. He was still amazed at how much stronger and healthier his father looked, though he did notice a wince as Theodore settled himself in his seat. How much pain was the General masking?
They crossed the corridor into the conference room, the four of them sitting in a semi-circle around the end. Sarah withdrew her tablet and placed it on the table. It projected the Dread rifle in front of them.
"As you know, we had to bring the rifle back down to the lab after Reza began disassembling it. Once we started opening it up, we realized what a poor job our scanners did in picking up some of the components."
"Because they're organic in nature," Theodore said.
Sarah seemed surprised. "You spoke to Guy already?"
"Yesterday. It seems like you have more for me today."
"Yes, sir. As you said, we discovered that some of the internals are made of organic compounds. Some further studies I've done have proven that these compounds are basic in nature, but by our standards, they can be considered living organisms."
"You're saying the gun is alive?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes, Major. In a sense. The organisms are fueled by the same electrical supply that powers the weapon. They take the energy and excrete trace elements of waste that we believe get burned off when the weapon is fired. That's not too important in itself. We believe the Dread have found a way to use organic compounds to replace common minerals used by humans. Copper, for example. It is likely they didn't have these minerals on their homeworld, and so their technology emerged differently than ours."
"But it isn't related to how the weapon functions overall?" Choi asked.
"We don't believe so."
"How does the weapon work, Mrs. Larone?" Theodore asked.
She waved her hand over the projection, pulling it apart the way Reza had done earlier. Except now there were at least three dozen more parts.
"There are two parts to this equation, General," Sarah said. "The first is the weapon itself, able to pierce the Dread armor. The second is the armor, able to deflect pretty much anything without taking noticeable damage."
"Sounds about right."
Sarah manipulated the weapon, turning it so that the center was right in front of them. She pushed the rest of it aside, leaving what appeared to be a simple, rippled ring in the view.
"We're calling this a phase modulator. This is the visible part of it, but once we took the weapon part we were able to examine it under magnification." She reached for a piece of the image and blew it up, expanding it until a web of circuitry became visible. "Everything here is nano-scale. There are almost two billion of what we're calling 'phase points' embedded into the ring. Each phase point is connected to a small node that we think is a controller that manages the point."
"I'm an old gator, Mrs. Larone," Theodore said. "Keep the next part simple for me."
"Essentially, when the weapon is triggered and the phase modulator is engaged, it puts whatever passes through it into what Guy is calling a quantum vortex." She paused, the excitement of her next statement clear on her face. "His new theory is that it phases the plasma through another dimension of spacetime. One that humankind hasn't discovered yet."
"A th
ird dimension?" Choi said.
"Yes," she replied, almost giggling. "One with properties we don't completely understand. What we do know is that it allows the plasma to pass through the enemies' shielding. We believe that the enemy shields may also be utilizing this dark energy as part of their function. Guy and Reza are exploring that concept right now."
"How is that possible?" Gabriel said. "I mean, slipspace is composed of ripples in space and time. This other dimension is composed of what?"
"Matter and energy. Like realspace, but different. Reza thinks this new dimension may be the source of dark matter. In fact, he's taken to calling it darkspace. His idea is that it leaks through into our space because darkspace is so dense that it can't contain it."
"The majority of the universe is made up of dark matter," Choi said.
"Yes, Colonel. If he's right, we may have found a clue to the origin of our universe itself."
"For all we know, the Dread already understand the origin of the universe," Gabriel said.
"It is possible," Sarah agreed.
"You got all that from looking at the gun under a microscope?" Theodore asked.
"No, sir. To be honest, it's all theoretical, based on one observable calculation. Reza isolated one of the phase points and was able to trigger it. It broke our sensors, but not before he was able to take measurements."
"What do you mean, broke?"
"They were too close to it, I guess. Without being inside the weapon's shielding, it caused a small electromagnetic pulse that killed the equipment."
Theodore smiled. "You're saying you could have shorted out the entire ship and killed every last one of us?"
Sarah's face turned red. "Uh. I suppose I am, sir."
"Ha! Wouldn't that have been a real kick in the pants?"
"I don't understand," Gabriel said. "If this isn't related to slipspace, why are the Dread ships vulnerable in slipspace dead zones?"
"It is related to slipspace," Sarah said. "Directly related. Think of it like a ligament holding muscle to bone. Darkspace is a thin layer that sits between realspace and slipspace. In fact, it's quite possible that we pass through it every time we slip, it's just that it's so narrow that our equipment can't detect it. In fact, we think the slipspace dead zones aren't caused by a lack of waves, but a detachment between darkspace and slipspace within them."
