“Jesus, Harry, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did. Like you, I drugged him but left his helmet on. He died of suffocation when his air ran out. He was asleep the whole time and didn’t feel a thing.”
“I’m sure that’ll ease your conscience. I take it that you have the codes?”
Williams reached into a pocket and pulled out the hard drive. “It was good of the PO to carry them on him. Saved me the effort of having to look for them.”
Sheridan could not believe that the man sitting across from him was the same man he had known at the Academy. He had been made a fool of and people had died because of his inability to see through Williams’ cleverly crafted façade. “Why, Harry? Why did you do it? You owe me that much.”
Williams smiled. “Yes, I suppose I do. You’re the historian. What can you tell me about the deep-space exploration ship Mercury?”
Sheridan thought back to his history lessons on the first contact with the Kurgan Empire. “Let’s see now. Almost one hundred and thirty-three years ago, the Mercury accidentally wandered into Kurgan space and was presumed lost.”
“That was until?” prompted Williams.
“Until six weeks later when she reappeared outside of Kurgan space. The crew had been detained and interviewed by the Kurgans, who let them go with a warning to keep out of their space or face the consequences.”
“Superb, Michael. You do remember all those boring dates and facts. I always preferred astrophysics over history classes.
“Now, take a guess who’s great-great-grandfather was a crewman onboard the Mercury?”
“Surely, you would have been screened by the fleet counterintelligence section after we learned that former colonists had been infiltrating the fleet for years.”
Williams smiled. “Oh, I was. I had several interviews and background checks done on my family and me by the fools in the counterintelligence section, and they naturally found nothing. Because there was nothing to find.”
Sheridan felt good enough to haul himself up into a seat. “You’re losing me, Harry.”
“One day about a two months ago, I received a message from my father. It was all the usual family rubbish about how everyone was doing and how proud they were of me. Well, little did I know, but embedded in the email was a code word that triggered something hidden deep in my subconscious.”
“Harry, are you telling me that you and your whole family are sleeper agents of the Kurgan Empire?”
“We serve the lord,” replied Williams with a little bow.
“Harry, you’re not a Kurgan, you’re an officer in the Marine Corps and a loyal subject of the Federation.”
Williams shook his head. “Not anymore. My eyes have been opened. My heart and soul belong to the lord.”
“That’s the conditioning speaking. Your name is Harry Williams and you are my friend.”
“Not anymore. For the first time in my life, I am free. It was as if I have been living a lie for my entire life. My name is Kahan, like my father and his fathers before him.”
“This can’t be happening,” muttered Sheridan.
“Oh, it most definitely is,” said Williams as he reached down and picked up a portable transmitting device from the floor of the pod and turned it on. “You’ll make a great convert. The son of an admiral fighting for the greater good will inspire millions of Chosen to fight harder to spread the word of the lord across the galaxy.”
“You’re mad.”
Williams shot right out of his seat. He stood glaring down at Sheridan. “You should be grateful to me, Michael. I could have left you like Tartov. Instead, I spared your life to serve a cause greater than you can fully comprehend.”
Sheridan shook his head. He knew that escape pods on Federation vessels were all linked so they could be found if a rescue ship went looking for them. If the Kurgans employed a similar arrangement, there was still hope. He decided to change tact when he saw a light blinking on the wall behind Williams. “How long have we been on the surface, Harry?”
“Just over an hour. Why?”
Sheridan pointed to a panel on the wall of the craft. “My eyes may still be a bit hazy, but if I’m reading that monitor correctly, we’re losing power. By the looks of the light coming through the window, we’re still facing the sun. However, that will soon change and we’re going to die inside this pod without power to keep us warm.”
Williams glanced over his shoulder at the panel and swore. Sheridan was right. The pod must have been damaged on landing. They had less than one hour left before the power drained and the temperature inside the pod dropped to a couple of hundred degrees below zero. He stepped back and picked up a small handheld device. “The other pods are less than five kilometers from here. If we get going right away, we should be able to reach them before we freeze to death.”
Sheridan chuckled. “Harry, the best we can do is a couple of kilometers an hour over uneven terrain. I hate to burst your bubble, but we’re not going to make it to safety.”
“Put your helmet on, Michael,” said Williams, waving his pistol at Sheridan. “We’re going to try for the other pods or die trying.”
“My suit, you punctured it with your needle,” protested Sheridan.
“I sealed up the tiny hole. Wouldn’t want my prize to die before I had a chance to deliver him to my masters, now would I?”
Chapter 37
“Anything new?” Tarina asked Wendy.
“Not a thing. Perhaps we were given the wrong coordinates to search,” replied Wendy.
“With the Lexington Task Force sweeping the inner planets of the Andoron system, we were pushed out to the furthest limit of an escape pods trajectory. After almost six hours sitting out here listening for a signal, I’m beginning to think that we’re going to go back empty-handed.”
Wendy glanced over at the countdown clock. “We’ve still got twenty-three minutes on station. While we still have time, why don’t we widen our search pattern and take a look at the two small planets behind us.”
“Can’t hurt,” replied Tarina. With a flick of her wrist, she turned the nose of their fighter at the two distant planets. She applied power and quickly accelerated. On her monitor, she could see that one was an inhospitable ice planet while the other was a barren rocky planet devoid of any atmosphere. Survival for very long on either was remote.
For almost twenty minutes, Wendy quietly sat with her gaze fixed on the ship’s sensors. She was eerily quiet as if she was in a trance. Wendy unexpectedly smiled and let out a loud whoop that startled Tarina. “I got something. It’s faint, but it’s coming from the equator of the ice planet.”
“Is it a human signal?”
“I don’t think so.”
Tarina tensed. “Kurgan?”
“I wouldn’t know what a Kurgan distress beacon sounded like if I heard it. All I know is that there is an automated signal coming in five seconds burst from the surface of the ice planet.”
“That’s good enough for me.” Tarina switched frequencies and called the Lexington to tell them what they had found.
“I’d love to stick around and see if we’ve found them,” mused Wendy.
“Me too, but we’ve got to head back.”
“I guess we’ll find out later if they found anyone down there.”
“Best start the countdown,” said Tarina. She felt relieved that they had helped find missing personnel. In the back of her mind, she wondered who they were and if they needed help. She didn’t have time to dwell on the issue as she made ready to leave for home. A couple of seconds later, darkness enveloped their ship as they accelerated beyond light speed.
Behind them, the Lexington had acknowledged Tarina’s signal and was speeding to the outer rim of the solar system. It was the only clue anyone had found so far that someone had survived. With time slipping by, the ship raced to save the survivors before it was too late.
Chapter 38
The light from the distant sun shone through the tall spires
of ice that stood erect like a frozen forest blocking their path. It was a remnant from an ancient eruption of scalding hot water that flowed freely under the kilometers thick surface of solid ice.
“Which way do you want to go?” Sheridan asked Williams. “We can’t go through that,” he said pointing at the icy forest.
Williams looked at the tracking device in his hands. “If we go to the left, we should be able to find a way around this.”
Sheridan stood there shaking his head. Williams had bound his hands in front of him before leaving the escape pod. The gravity on the surface was four-fifths of that of Earth. It wasn’t too bad to walk in; it just took a little getting used to.
“Have your friends responded to your call for help?” asked Sheridan sarcastically.
Williams glanced at the transmitter slung over his shoulder. “Not yet, but they will. Have faith, Mike. It’s good for one’s soul.”
“Yours maybe.”
Williams jammed his pistol into Sheridan’s back. “Walk!”
Sheridan picked a flat-looking route around the ice field and began to walk. He did not want to be trapped out in the open when the planet moved behind its twin, a rocky planet that loomed high above them, and lost what little heat it received from the sun. However, he did not want Williams to lead a Kurgan rescue ship to Cole and the rest of the Marines if they were still alive. He brought up his bound hands and looked down at his watch. At the pace they were going, it was going to be close.
An hour later, Sheridan stopped in his tracks and looked out over what he took to be a vast frozen lake.
“Why did you stop?” Williams asked.
“Look at your feet,” responded Sheridan.
Spread out as far as the ice could see were thousands of slender cracks in the ice.
“So what?” said Williams, dismissing Sheridan’s concern.
“Harry, you’re the one who loved to study planets at the Academy, not me. The ice here looks unstable. I’m willing to bet that there’s a vent somewhere nearby that regularly spews water out into space. That’s why the surface is so cracked.”
“Please, Mike, the last time it could have erupted was ten thousand years ago and you know it. Quit stalling and start walking.”
“It’s your life,” said Sheridan as he picked a path and began to walk.
They were almost across the open ground when the ice beneath their feet began to vibrate. At first it was a small vibration that they felt through their boots. Both men stopped and looked around as if expecting to see something happen. The trembling seemed to grow by the second. Behind them, the ice started to heave and buckle as if something was trying to claw its way to the surface.
“Run!” yelled Sheridan.
With the ice moving beneath their feet, Sheridan and Williams slipped with every step that they took. It was as if they were getting nowhere.
Sheridan could feel the vibrations shaking his body inside his suit. He had to clench his jaw shut to stop his teeth from vibrating.
“Mike, help,” screamed Williams as he fell to the ground. Fear filled his voice.
Sheridan turned around and saw the man he once considered his closest friend lying on his back with the ice around him buckling, threatening to swallow him whole. He did not hesitate, he ran as best he could to William’s side and helped him to his feet. Together the two men took a couple of steps and then slid the rest of the way as the ice shattered right behind them.
Sheridan pulled Williams off the lake and onto an icy outcropping just as the ice finally burst wide open and a geyser of hot water shot up toward the heavens. Less than ten seconds later, the plume was already a kilometer from the surface of the planet. It quickly froze and was swept away into space.
Williams reached over and patted Sheridan on the arm. His breathing was heavy and ragged. “Thanks for saving my life, Mike. I wasn’t sure you’d come back for me.”
“If I had been thinking straight, I would have left you to die,” replied Sheridan. His words were as cutting and cold as the planet they were on. The truth was he needed the hard drive Williams was carrying on him. If the deaths on this mission were to have any purpose, he had to get the information stored in the drive back to the fleet.
“Which way now?” asked Sheridan.
“That way,” said Williams, pointing off to their left.
Sheridan wearily got off the outcropping and looked for a way around a couple of large slabs of ice jutting out of the surface. He began to walk with his head slightly down as if he were tiring. In reality, he was looking for something heavy he could use as a weapon.
They soon found themselves entering a long canal cut through the ice. Sheridan stopped and looked back at Williams. “Are you sure this is the way? I’d hate for us to get trapped down here when the sun vanishes from the sky.”
“According to my tracking device, there should be a pod less than a kilometer straight ahead.”
“If you say so.”
“I do,” snapped Williams. His conciliatory tone at being rescued had vanished.
Sheridan could tell that his friend was becoming scared. He did not want to die either. As they had not heard a word from the Kurgans, their only salvation remaining was to find one of the escape pods.
With long dark shadows beginning to creep down the walls of the passage they were walking through, the already cold temperature started to drop. Their survival suits were designed to keep the body warm down to one hundred degrees below freezing, but the temperature on the planet would soon be well below that.
Sheridan tried to keep in the light, but that soon faded. He picked up his pace, hoping that they could reach safety in the next few minutes. His hopes were crushed when they turned a corner and saw a crevasse splitting the passageway in two. Sheridan walked to the edge of the chasm and looked down. He could not see the bottom. It seemed to go on forever. The gap, however, appeared to be no more than ten meters across.
Frost began to accumulate in Sheridan’s helmet. He turned to face Williams. “We can’t go back; we’ll never make it before we freeze to death.”
Williams held up his tracking device. “There’s a pod no more than one hundred meters from here. We have to go forward.”
Sheridan held up his arms. “Cut me free. I’ll never make it if I try to jump with my hands tied.”
Williams hesitated, unsure if he could trust his old friend.
“Damn it, Harry, cut the rope!” yelled Sheridan.
With a quick nod, Williams cut the cord and stepped back. He pointed his pistol at Sheridan. “We’ll jump together. Don’t try anything foolish, Mike, or I will kill you.”
“If the cold doesn’t first,” replied Sheridan. His core temperature was dropping fast. Hypothermia was only minutes away.
Sheridan took a few steps back from the crevasse. “On three.”
Both men counted down. When they hit one, like sprinters hearing the starter’s pistol, they ran straight at the abyss. With a grunt on his lips, Sheridan leaped for all he was worth. The lighter gravity on the planet aided both men. They landed on the far side with a couple of meters to spare.
Before Williams could regain his balance, Sheridan struck. He threw himself into his friend’s midsection, tackling him to the ground. Williams landed hard, his pistol was knocked from his hand and sent sliding down the icy path. Sheridan hurried to get up on his knees. He reached for the knife on his opponent’s belt. Williams had anticipated the move. Both men’s hands wrapped around the hilt of the blade.
The knife slowly slid out of its sheath.
“Don’t be a fool, Harry,” said Sheridan through gritted teeth. “I’m stronger than you are. Let go of the knife.”
Williams let a cry and tried to pull the knife from Sheridan’s grip. It was no good. He lacked the strength. Desperate to escape, he tried to wiggle free from under Sheridan. In seconds, he gave up, gasping for air. His frost-covered faceplate was becoming hard to see out of.
“You win,” said Williams, lett
ing go of the knife. “I surrender.”
Sheridan took hold of the blade and wearily stood up. “On your feet, Harry.”
Williams struggled to roll over and climb up to his feet. He looked over at Sheridan and held out the tracking remote. “Here, you’ll need this.”
Sheridan reached over to take the device. In a flash, Williams pulled another knife from behind his back and thrust it at Sheridan’s outstretched arm, trying to cut his suit open.
With reflexes honed in combat, Sheridan pulled his arm back just as the blade swung down. He had underestimated his adversary, and it had nearly cost him his life. Sheridan shot out his left hand and took hold of Williams’ arm. With his right foot, he swept his opponent’s feet out from underneath him.
Williams let out a surprised yelp as he tumbled to the icy ground. Sheridan went with him and dropped to one knee. Even if it was Harry Williams lying at his feet, Sheridan knew that he had to end the struggle. Closing his eyes, Sheridan thrust his knife into Williams’ chest. He pulled it out and then jammed it home into his friend’s heart. The only sound Williams made was a surprised gasp before he died.
Guilt and shame consumed Sheridan, gnawing at his soul. His hands were shaking like a leaf. He reached over and wrapped his arms around Williams and pulled him close to his body. Tears began to fill his eyes. “Why, Harry? Why did it have to be you?”
For close to a minute, he held Williams in his arms, unwilling to let him go. A cold shudder rippled up Sheridan’s back. He turned his head and saw that the sun had completely vanished from view. The world around him quickly became dark.
He had to find shelter or die. Sheridan checked the tracking device and saw the signal coming from the nearby pod. Before standing up, he opened up a pocket on Williams’ suit and grabbed the hard drive. He tucked it away in pouch on his belt and began to jog as best he could over the ice. In less than a minute, he could not see out of his helmet. Sheridan was soon shivering so bad that he couldn’t control his muscles. His feet buckled underneath him when he went to take his next step. Unable to fight off the bitter cold, he pulled himself into the fetal position and waited the inevitable. Seconds later, he lost the battle to stay awake and blacked out.
Colossus (The Kurgan War Book 2) Page 16
