Running With Argentine

by William Lee Gordon

  "I just knew you wouldn't leave without me…"

  Argentine barely heard the small cheer from the bridge crew.

  "Captain!" Barry almost yelled… Platform 12 is… It's coming apart!"

  "No, it's like they said," someone else added. "It's dissolving!"

  Suddenly, three, then four new screens appeared on the dome – all showing bizarre scenes of people in agony and structures collapsing or suddenly venting to space.

  Without hesitation Argentine said, "Pilot, take us out of orbit."

  Sami spun around at her station to stare at Argentine in astonishment…

  "But she's…"

  It was all Argentine could do to nod; he didn't trust his voice.

  From beside him, the chief said aloud, "Everyone man your stations! You have your orders."

  Mandi’s face on the screen had turned sheet white.

  "Sami," Argentine said. "Put me back on with her."

  "Mandi…"

  "I heard, Argentine. You're doing what you have to do. I get it," she said stoically.

  "Mandi, I want you to break orbit and had out system."

  "What? Argentine, this isn't a spaceship; it's an orbital shuttle."

  "For once in your life I want you to just shut up and follow orders," he said with force. "Aim your shuttle out system and give it as much power as you can for as long as you can. When you run out of fuel just coast…

  "Have you got that?"

  "I won't get very far; this ship just isn't that powerful… And you know I'll eventually fall back to the planet and burn up in the atmosphere?"

  "Would you rather dissolve into a screaming death?"

  "Ah, you might have a point there…"

  "Just do it."

  He motioned for Sami to cut the connection.

  "Argentine?" the chief said sternly. "What are you thinking?"

  "Captain!" Barry yelled out. "Some of the ships that we were in orbit with, they're starting to have catastrophic failures! I've got maydays going off all around us!"

  "Our status?"

  "Shields are a full strength and no anomalies detected," he responded.

  "Argentine?" the chief asked insistently.

  "I'm thinking I'm going to need your help to do something… And I have to do it fast…"

  Argentine raced from the bridge and, shaking his head, the chief raced after him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN

  Sacrifice

  In Asperian Space

  "Okay Frank, let me explain one last time why you can't do this…"

  The chief was obviously saying something he felt that he had to say.

  "When those ships and stations start to degrade, eventually something critical deteriorates… And then, boom! And that explosion is sending debris in all directions at incredible speed.

  "I don't know how this damn thing is being spread, but I'm assuming it takes some kind of contact… And that's the only thing I can think of that would explain some of those other ships getting contaminated.

  "Maybe our shields protected us or, hell, maybe the Roosevelt's already contaminated for all I know… But you heading back in-system is suicide!"

  "Well, if it's any consolation chief, we know our shields aren't powerful enough to protect us forever because our level of technology doesn't seem to survive extinction events."

  "Very funny, Frank. That doesn't change the fact that this is a stupid idea."

  "You're not afraid are you, Chief?" he teased.

  The chief's eyes got wide and he muttered something as Argentine turned his back and walked towards the Pelican.

  They'd spent a precious twelve minutes prepping and loading one of the Roosevelt's strange two-person space flitters into the Pelican’s pressurized cargo bay.

  With the chief at the Pelican's controls it only took a couple of minutes more to launch.

  "You've calculated where her shuttle will run out of power and she starts coasting?" Argentine asked.

  "Guessed is more like it."

  "Well, that's a long ways back…"

  The chief just gave him a sardonic look.

  Finally, he said, "You know if our theories right, her shuttle’s infected?"

  "Our theory? I thought it was your theory."

  "It's as good a theory as we've got, and you know it," the chief insisted. "Even if you can make rendezvous with her, how are we supposed to let you back aboard the ship?

  "You really need to rethink this."

  "Believe it or not, I have thought it through. But Chief, listen to me… You're second-in-command. You do what you feel you have to do. Understand?"

  "Damn you Argentine," he muttered under his breath.

  The chief helped him don his suit and then said, "Okay, this is about as far as I can go if I want the Pelican's shuttle to be able to get me back to the Roosevelt."

  Argentine stuck out his hand, "Good luck, Chief."

  He nodded once, and then proceeded to the Shuttle Bay.

  Once the chief was well on his way back to the Roosevelt, Argentine confirmed they were still on an intercept course to Mandi.

  Ready or not, Mandi. Here I come, he thought to himself.

  ΔΔΔ

  Mandi was surrounded by absolute beauty.

  She wasn't entirely sure, but she couldn’t remember another time when her surroundings had been so beautiful, so quiet, and… So lonely.

  She was setting in the pilot's seat looking out of the front windows (yes, in this small a craft they were real windows). She'd run out of fuel a few moments before… So there wasn't even the sound of the engines to keep her company.

  It was times like this when a woman could get real reflective, she realized.

  It's not like she had major regrets… She was more or less proud of what she'd managed to accomplish, and it's not like she had much of a choice about her career path.

  But still, it's natural for a person to wonder, she rationalized.

  She knew she'd played the game well. She'd played the cards that had been dealt her and bluffed, called, and raised the stakes insanely high when she'd needed to.

  It was certainly a good thing that her family had no history of stress related heart problems…

  Her animus towards the Asperian military had been earned honestly. Well, most of it anyway.

  It had started back in her father's days with the cartel. The local police always gave them a hard time, but at least you knew the score. With the military, though, you never knew what was going to happen. Many of their commanders served the highest bidder and that could easily be an opposing cartel or even an ambitious underling.

  She'd learned that the hard way when a military patrol showed up out of nowhere and scooped her up. Her treatment had been less than kind but mercifully short; someone with the power to override the commander had come to her rescue.

  But that rescue ended up having a price…

  They never really did come out and admit to who they were. She never really met any of them in person, but she came to realize that they must be a Secret Society.

  At first, that thought absolutely terrified her. But with more time she came to realize that, at least with this particular Secret Society, hers and their interests were aligned.

  This group was exactly the opposite of everything that was common knowledge about the Secret Societies. They’d explained that the military needed to be kept in check…

  They’d needed an agent, a foil… And she’d been happy to oblige.

  Like everything in her life, she’d done it on her own terms. She was her own woman and had even arbitrarily turned down assignments just to prove it.

  They'd never pushed her beyond that.

  Whether that meant she had true autonomy or whether it was simply evidence of their skill with pulling her strings, she didn't dwell on.

  Her notorious reputation in the Asperian sphere as a genius hacker was real. Although she was quick to take advantage of any connections or backdoors her secret friends might offe
r.

  Over the years, those connections had provided her with contacts into many organizations, including a number of Open Societies.

  She didn't think of herself as cynical. But as the years went by the disdain she’d felt for the common Asperian citizen had started changing. The fact that they constantly allowed themselves to be manipulated by their government, in all its forms, was exasperating, but...

  Now, mostly, she just felt sadness. Most citizens, she realized, simply wanted the kind of life that she'd only recently started valuing… They just wanted to be left alone to raise a family and follow their desires.

  What she used to see as simpleminded, she now… envied?

  Well, she used to envy it. Now it was all gone, for everyone. The extinction event was abruptly ending everyone's dreams… Even hers.

  She had no illusions. She understood the score. In the way that only women can, she knew that Argentine was still attracted to her, but…

  But he had responsibilities. It'd taken her a long time to realize that he was a pretty good Captain. Certainly not in the same mold of any other Captain she'd ever met, but probably better for it.

  It was his job to put the safety of his ship, his crew, (and now) his thousand plus passengers first. And Mandi knew that this was a man that took his responsibilities seriously.

  Everything in the Asperian system, including her, was dying. She truly hoped the Roosevelt had made it out in time, and she'd come to peace with the fact that they'd had to leave her behind…

  That's probably why she barked out a short laugh or cough when the object appeared through her window. She had to wipe her eyes so she could see clearly, but yes… That was one of the Roosevelt's funny flitters.

  ΔΔΔ

  "Are you receiving this, Mandi? Can you hear me?"

  "Argentine? Yes… Yes, Captain. I can hear you. So you just couldn't stay away, huh?"

  "I told you, you’ve got some explaining to do. I'm not going to let you off the hook just because your star system is dying."

  For the next few moments the comm was silent.

  Finally, "So, are you going to come get me, or what?"

  "Mandi, I'm afraid it's not that simple…"

  Argentine went on to explain about the contamination fears.

  "So… You really are here just to… talk?" she said bravely.

  "Oh hell no," he responded. "But this is going to be a lot harder than you might think and… It may not work."

  "You mean I might not survive."

  "Yeah, but look… I'm not going to let that happen. I'll walk you through this step by step and you need to do exactly what I tell you."

  "So, that's why you're worried…"

  "Yeah, you don't exactly have a good track record of following orders."

  She finally laughed like her old self…

  "Okay, you win Argentine. My life is in your hands. Tell me what to do…"

  ΔΔΔ

  "You want me to do what?"

  Mandi was standing in the pressurized airlock of her shuttle.

  "Nothing from your ship can come aboard this one," he said. "That includes your comm unit, your jewelry, and your clothing."

  "Nothing except little old me," she muttered.

  "Try to store everything you’re removing and tie it down somehow. The less I have to dodge when we blow the airlock the better…"

  Argentine had fastened his own helmet, vented his atmosphere, and opened the canopy of his flitter. Now, attached only by a lifeline, he was floating more or less opposite of her shuttle's hatch.

  "Walk me through again how we’re going to do this?" she asked for the third time.

  "Your part is real simple," he started. "When the hatch blows you need to curl into a fetal ball and start letting that deep breath you're going to take out a little at a time."

  "Like a swimmer," she said.

  "Just like a swimmer," he agreed. "And don't be sightseeing. You need to keep your eyes closed every single moment."

  "And you're going to catch me?"

  "That's right. I've got a space ball here. It's a single occupant emergency habitat, usually used on orbital construction projects. It has its own heat and oxygen and it uses a leaded thread to give you at least some protection from cosmic radiation."

  "And you're going to catch me and stuff me in that thing before I freeze, or run out of breath, or my eyeballs burst, or…"

  "Yeah," Argentine said with a laugh. "I'm going to do exactly that. When the hatch blows everything inside the airlock, including you, is going to explosively vent to space. Just remember, no matter what happens keep your eyes closed and stay in that fetal position."

  Argentine didn't bother to share with her his own worries. How fast would she be coming at him? If she didn't stay fetal it was going to be almost impossible to stuff her into the ball. If he missed, if his suit couldn't maneuver fast enough…

  "Are you ready?" he asked.

  She was terrified. She could admit it to herself. And to have to do it with her eyes closed? She'd have absolutely no control… She'd have to totally trust Argentine…

  And she realized she did.

  "I'm blowing the hatch!" she yelled.

  ΔΔΔ

  Argentine almost panicked.

  When the hatch blew, it didn't separate cleanly.

  He thought he'd been safely aside of what its trajectory would be, but it was coming straight at him.

  Without hesitation he maneuvered his backpack's controls and avoided a collision.

  But then he had to immediately reverse thrust to put himself back in position to catch Mandi. But there was another problem…

  She wasn't moving nearly as fast as he'd calculated. He was pretty sure he had enough tether to go get her, but it was going to cost several precious extra seconds…

  As her balled up body slowly rotated towards him, his subconscious registered a surreal visage…

  The stars gave dark elimination to her form, with her red hair splayed out, the sparkling ice crystals from her exhaled breath forming around her face and knees… Her slow-motion tumble in stark contrast to his acceleration towards her…

  He opened the emergency habitat ball wide. The inertia from catching her had been impossible to predict and put them both into a tumble.

  The star scape was gyrating wildly through his faceplate. He focused only on the ball in front of him, slapping the controls for emergency inflation and seal.

  Once he'd tethered it to his suit, only then did he look up to get his bearings… And he was heading straight towards Mandi's shuttle.

  He regained control of his tumble and with full thrust from his backpack came harrowingly close to another collision – which really would've ruined the whole point of the Let's try to avoid contamination by pulling off an insane spacewalk exercise.

  Once back at his own flitter he deflated the ball and stuffed the whole package into the right-hand seat. While simultaneously lowering himself into the left-hand seat he hit the Canopy Close button and slapped the Cabin Pressurization switch.

  It was a very small cabin and only took a minute to re-pressurize. Which was about the same amount of time it took him to remove his own helmet and gloves…

  "Mandi? Mandi can you hear me?" he asked as he gently tried to feel around the bag for its opening.

  He thought he heard a muffled response about the same time he realized that she was upside down.

  They were in a zero gravity environment but the cabin was small; it took him a lot longer than he would've thought to get her sitting right side up.

  He opened the seal wide enough to pull the bag down around her shoulders. Her eyes were still closed and she… She didn't look good.

  He made sure she was still breathing and then got the flitter pointed back towards the Pelican. It would take them a good forty minutes to get back to her and there wasn't a whole lot more Argentine could do until they did.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

  Being Grateful