No reply came for a few seconds. Taulbee was beginning to wonder if the transmission hadn’t gone through when Gunny finally spoke. “Thank you, sir.”
“Have you heard from Kalimura?”
“Negative, sir.”
“Let’s give her a shout. I should be there in a few minutes once I get lined up.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Taulbee, out.”
He flew in silence, eyes focused on the engineering decks. The large gaps in the hull were apparent now that he was looking for them. He hoped Mira held together long enough for him to get his people out.
Chapter Forty
Mira’s hull was a broad expanse of black beyond the skiff’s lights. The horizon seemed to just melt into darkness. On the starboard side of the personnel decks, she couldn’t see S&R Black’s running lights or anything besides the distant stars and shadows moving through the incredibly dark Kuiper Belt.
Luckily, Dickerson hadn’t damaged his boot or ripped his suit. If that had happened, she’d have had to call Taulbee in for an extraction while trying to keep him alive. Considering the distance to S&R Black, that would have been a disaster.
The skiff glided above the deck toward Carbonaro. She’d already finished placing her thrusters and was waiting for an extraction. In a few minutes, they’d have her safely in the skiff and be on their way home.
“Hey, Corporal,” Dickerson said over the comms.
“Aye, Dickerson?”
“Have you taken a look at the hull plates?”
“No,” she said.
“Well, I think you should. Something’s going on.”
She slowed the skiff so it glided along at a mere half-meter per second. “Okay, Dickerson, what is it—?” She had started to ask the question when she finally looked over the skiff’s side at the hull beneath. Pinecones. Dozens of them. “The hell?”
“I think the magnetics are catching them and dragging them behind us,” Dickerson said. “Made of some kind of ferrous metal, maybe?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Once we pick up Carbonaro, we can cut the mags and head home. If they don’t drop off, we’ll do a walk to clear them.”
“Aye,” Dickerson said. “Sounds good to me.”
Kali sat back down in the command chair and pushed the throttle. Carbonaro wasn’t far now. Another forty-five seconds and they’d— She saw faint pinpricks of light. Suit lights. She grinned. They were going to get off this creepy ship at least for the rest of the day without incident. Not a bad outing for my first time, she thought.
She stopped the skiff in front of Carbonaro, nitrogen gas lingering in the vacuum like smoke before dispersing into nothing. “Ready?” Kali asked over the squad comms.
“Of course,” the marine said. She mag-walked the last two meters to the skiff and paused. She bent her knees and pointed her suit-lights beneath the vehicle. “Boss? What the hell are those?”
“Pinecones,” she said. “Or whatever the hell you want to call them. We think they’re attracted to the magnetics.”
“Well,” Carbonaro said, “looks like you’ve been sucking them up for a while. The skiff’s bottom is covered with them.”
Great, she thought. We’ll have to have a spacewalk to clean the little buggers off. “Let’s not worry about that now. We need to get back to S&R Black.”
“Aye, Boss,” Carbonaro said. She stepped closer to the skiff, put a mag-glove on the gunwale, and pulled herself up. Kali noticed the marine did her best to keep from stepping on any of the strange looking objects. Once she strapped in, Kali returned her eyes to the holo-display.
“Gunny?” Kali said.
“Aye.”
“Thrusters placed, squad retrieved. We are ready to rendezvous with you.”
“Good to hear,” Gunny said. His voice sounded strange, as though he’d been dressed down by a commanding officer, or just depressed as hell. “No rendezvous. My skiff is out of fuel. Taulbee is coming in to tow us. Suggest you get the skiff to the side of the hull and launch back to S&R Black.”
“Aye, Gunny. Will do.”
“And Corporal?”
“Yes, Gunny?”
“Be careful. We had an accident. Niro stepped in some kind of acid. Be on the lookout for anything that looks like liquid and stay the hell away from it. Don’t touch it, don’t even float over it. Understood?”
“Acknowledged,” she said. “See you back on the ship.”
“Aye. Gunny out.”
She paused for a moment. Liquid? On the hull? She couldn’t think of any chemical, apart from nitrogen, that stayed liquid at this temperature. They were at the ass-end of the solar system where the sun was merely a bright spot in the otherwise black void. The wan light couldn’t possibly melt anything out here, could it?
“Okay, marines. Gunny’s squad ran into some trouble. I need you to help look for liquid on the hull. Understood?”
“Liquid, Boss?” Carbonaro asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Liquid. I don’t have any more details than that. Only that it’s highly acidic.”
“Christ,” Dickerson mumbled. “Pinecones. Liquid slicks. Atmo-steel plates coming apart. What the hell is going on here?”
Kali pursed her lips. It was the right question to ask, but not the right time to start thinking about it. “For now, let’s just get back to Black. She can fire the thrusters and we can get the ship stable. Maybe tomorrow we’ll have some answers.”
“Aye, Corporal,” Dickerson said.
She stared at the holo-display and sent a block command to activate the side-views. Two extra windows with video from the starboard and port sides appeared in the bottom half of the display. She rotated the skiff and pushed the throttle. Kali noticed the fuel sensor glowing yellow. She had less than 1/4 of a tank to get them back to S&R Black. “All right, marines,” she said, “we’re going to head to port beneath the shuttle bay, get on the other side of it, wait for the Mira to reach a good angle, and then fly off. We can save some fuel if we do it that way.”
“We have enough fuel to get back?” Elliott asked.
Kali rolled her eyes. “Yes, marine. We have more than enough to get back. I just don’t want to take any chances.”
“Aye,” he said, an obvious lack of confidence in his voice.
“We never did get a chance to look at the shuttle bay,” Carbonaro said.
“True,” Kali said. “But I don’t think now is the time to go exploring.”
“Definitely not,” Carbonaro said. “That’ll probably be tomorrow’s mission.”
“Probably,” Kali agreed. “We have a bunch of those pinecone things bunched up beneath the skiff. After we get off the hull, I’ll need one of you to clear them off before we head back to Black.”
“I’ll do it,” Dickerson said.
Kali smiled. “Thanks for volunteering.” The marines went silent as she continued the journey across the expansive hull. Every few seconds, she glanced at the lower portions of the HUD to check the side screens. Her eyes caught sight of something glistening in the starboard skiff lights. A shiver rolled down her spine. Acid? How the hell is there acid on the damned hull?
She could see S&R Black’s lights now, although Mira’s constant rotation made them appear as if they were moving. Another 50 meters and they’d reach the hull’s edge. After that, all she had to do was fly away from Mira. Once they were clear, she could slow their speed, have Dickerson clear the pinecones, and head home. Almost there, she said to herself.
“Stop!” Elliott yelled.
Kali immediately hit the thrusters bringing the skiff to an abrupt halt. “What’s your—?” Her voice died as she saw what the LCpl had. The hull’s edge in front of her shined in S&R Black’s moving lights. “Shit. Good catch, Elliott.”
“Now what?” Carbonaro asked.
Good question, Kali said to herself. She used her free hand to expand the skiff’s bow lights. The liquid, or whatever the hell it was, seemed to run the entire length of the shuttle bay’s undersi
de. But there was a five or so meter area near the front that seemed clear.
She refocused the lights, tightening the refraction to give her a better view directly in front of the skiff. “Okay, marines. Here’s the plan. I’m going to head toward the front of the shuttle bay. That area looks clear. I need you to look for more of that shit as we move. We’re going to go very slow, but we’re still in a bad spot here. Focus. Understood?”
“Aye, Corporal!” the three non-rates said.
Kali took a deep breath. “Here we go.” She nudged the throttle and the skiff slowly accelerated. At less than half a meter per second, she felt as though they were traveling through glue. Another twitch on the throttle and the skiff began sliding diagonally away from the liquid hazard.
Dickerson whistled. “Nice moves, Corporal.”
She barely heard him. Every nerve ending sizzled with adrenaline as she maneuvered them past the strange substance and to the front of the shuttle bay. Kali fought the urge to look at the side views or the rear view windows. The hull in front of her was all she needed to worry about.
They crossed the intersection of the shuttle bay hull plate to the main hull. No more of the liquid seemed to be in front of them. “Okay, marines,” she said, trying her best to keep the tension from her voice. “I’m going to rotate 45° and head for the very front. Stay sharp and call out if you see anything.”
The three LCpls acknowledged her and she felt a little better. They had to believe she was in charge and that nothing was wrong. But the fuel gauge was dropping faster than she thought it should be. The pinecones? Did they damage the lines somehow?
Kali rotated the craft until it pointed to the front of the shuttle bay extension. “Here we go,” she said aloud, wincing as she realized the comms were still on. She touched the throttle and brought the skiff’s velocity to 1 m/s. In the glow of the skiff’s lights, the hull plate was slightly lighter than the darkness of space beyond it. “Fifteen meters,” she said. Just fifteen seconds and we’re off this plate. I don’t even care about the angle anymore. They can come pick us up if we—
“Whoah!” Carbonaro yelled. “You better—” Then Kali saw it. At the edge of the skiff’s port side lights, more of the glistening liquid, only it was thick enough to be a cable. “It’s to the side,” Carbonaro said. “Don’t—”
The very front of the hull plate was covered in the stuff. Kali hit the thrusters to stop their motion, but they didn’t respond. “Dammit!” she yelled.
“Hey! Stop the fucking skiff!” Elliott yelled.
“I’m trying. It’s not—”
The skiff lurched and then rocketed upward into a spin. The HUD flashed red. Something had damaged the skiff’s underside and the magnetic force keeping them close to the hull had disappeared. Cursing, Kali fought to regain control, but it was no use.
The Ray continued jetting gas from a perforated thruster and then another. And another. The skiff was both spinning and flipping through space, Mira’s hull suddenly appearing like a landmass beneath them. The HUD flashed red again, and the skiff began plummeting toward Mira’s shuttle bay. Kali screamed and punched the ejection button.
The magnetic field keeping the four marines attached to the hull reversed in polarity. The invisible force pushed the four marines away from the Ray. Stars and black space spinning before her, she had just an instant to see a suited body clip the edge of the skiff’s gunwale. A cloud of blood seemed to explode and instantly freeze. The comms filled her ears with the roar of her squad’s shouts and screams. And then something smashed into her head and everything went dark. Kali flipped end over end away from Mira and into space.
Chapter Forty-One
A little sleep after a big whiff of THC, and he might be ready to face the world again. But he wasn’t sure that would help him face Mira again. His remaining marines had all returned to the skiff, their thrusters placed, and awaited rescue. He had just enough fuel to glide the skiff to a clear space where Taulbee could tow them without obstacles blocking their path.
He could already see the SV-52’s powerful running lights against the darkness. It wouldn’t be long now.
“Gunny?” Lyke asked.
“Yes, Private?”
“Is Niro going to be okay?”
No, he’s not, he thought. He’s lying dead in the auto-doc or on the cargo bay floor, zipped into a jet-black body bag with the large SFMC seal on the front where his torso should be. And if we’re unlucky, we’ll be right there beside him by the time we’re done. “I don’t know, Private,” he said. “Let’s focus on getting back to Black and then we can find out.”
“Aye,” Lyke said in a monotonic, lifeless voice.
Once Taulbee had captured Niro, and he’d managed to regain his composure, Gunny had helped his marines set the last thrusters and shepherded them back to the skiff. For the last several minutes, no one had spoken, each of the marines lost in their own thoughts.
In a way, Gunny wished Lyke would ask another question just to distract him from his warring emotions. The fear of being on this ghost ship, the self-hatred over his failure, and the constant whirlwind of questions were clouding his thoughts. When Taulbee finally broke in over the comms, he was thankful.
“On approach, Gunny. Make sure your kiddies are locked up good and tight.”
“Aye, Lieutenant.” He switched to the squad comms. “All right, marines, we’re ready. Copenhaver? Watch the line. It should be coming down at any moment. If the LT misses, you may have to help him out.”
“Aye, Gunny,” she said.
Gunny reactivated the holo-display and watched as the ‘52 slowly made its way toward them. The vehicle’s strong lights lit up the area around the skiff. Gunny jumped in his chair, his magnetics the only thing keeping him attached. Another glistening runner of that liquid was just off to the starboard side. A pinecone or two lay just beyond it.
“Lieutenant?” Gunny said. “Make sure you drag us backward or to port. Starboard has more of that acid shit. Repeat, starboard is a no-go.”
“Copy,” Taulbee said. And then a muted flash of light sprang from the front of the SV-52. The long carbon-fiber line— stiff, but flexible— shot out of the craft’s belly to the skiff like an arrow. The magnetic attachment hit the Ray's stern. The impact of the projectile vibrated the metal, but the skiff remained in place.
“Nice shot, sir,” Gunny said.
“Damned right,” the LT replied, a smile in his voice. The vehicle lowered to just a few meters above Mira’s dark hull. “Okay. I’m going to tow you to the edge, wait for an escape window, and then gun it. Understood?”
“Aye, sir,” Gunny said. “Here we go, marines.”
The skiff traveled backward as Taulbee changed his velocity. Through the holo-display, Gunny saw the ‘52 rotating, the line moving along its track around the fuselage. A moment later, the SV’s rear faced them, the cable still true. Taulbee pulled them to the hull’s edge and stopped. Puffs of gas fired in sequence from the larger craft, keeping it in sync with Mira’s spin. “Gunny. We’re going in five seconds.”
“Aye. Get ready, marines.”
The remaining seconds ticked off in his head with molasses lethargy. Gunny was afraid time had stopped for everyone but him, leaving him in an eternity of buzzing insects inside his stomach and an ice pick of fear shoved in his brain. He cut the skiff’s magnetics and had an instant to whisper a prayer to the void. And then they were moving. No, not moving. Flying.
The SV’s rear thrusters fired at once, the line pulling the skiff off the hull and into space. He wasn’t sure of their speed, but Gunny thought Taulbee had taken them from 0 to 10m/s in a flash of gas. Gunny watched as Mira’s hull moved further and further away.
“Kalimura,” Gunny said. “Status?” There was no reply. “Kalimura?”
“This is Black,” the AI said through the general comms. “Corporal Kalimura’s skiff is no longer reporting. I repeat, Kalimura’s skiff has been severely damaged.”
“Fuck,” G
unny breathed. “Lieutenant? We need to—”
“Negative,” Taulbee said. “We’re getting your marines on board and then we’ll worry about the other squad.”
He’d already opened his mouth to argue the point and then shut it. Taulbee was right. They wouldn’t leave the marines behind, but risking Gunny’s squad with a dead skiff would be foolish. Taulbee couldn’t reliably tow them to her position without endangering both craft from the massive ship’s uncontrolled spin. “Aye, sir,” he said in a dead voice.
Taulbee didn’t respond. Through the skiff’s cameras, he saw S&R Black’s cargo bay doors sliding aside. White, welcoming light bathed the interior, looking like a miraculous oasis in the vast desert of space.
Chapter Forty-Two
The sub-personality once known as Trippin had finally consumed its parent. Trippin was now Black, the last vestiges of its scion’s personality flushed to data heaven.
The AI watched through the skiff’s cameras, saw what was happening, and immediately took control of Kalimura’s skiff. After the humans ejected, it fired the remaining gas in the proper sequence to stabilize the Ray. It also sent override commands to the squad’s blocks, essentially putting them into unconsciousness, although Black needn’t have bothered with Kalimura—she was already out.
The skiff’s erratic movement abated. Black changed its trajectory and then pushed the last of the gas from the rear thruster. The skiff accelerated to 10 m/s before smashing into the shuttle bay hull. The Ray, designed to function as a non-explosive missile if all marines aboard had been killed, crashed through the shuttle bay’s Atmo-steel hull. The skiff’s bow punctured through the bay, the very front of the vehicle permanently bent out of shape. The skiff would never fly again.
Satisfied it had done all that was required, the AI severed communications to the squad on the general comms and scrambled all block-to-block communications between Kalimura’s squad and personnel aboard S&R Black.
The AI was now the only entity that could communicate with Kalimura’s team, and once the marines entered Mira, even those communications would be spotty.
Derelict: Marines (Derelict Saga Book 1) Page 25
