by Gary Gibson
Sabak looked at him as though he was about to tell him that he shouldn’t be there. “Hard to say,” he finally said, shrugging. “They’re holding off for now. But it’s not looking good.” He turned to look back out towards the horizon.
Kendrick stepped up beside Sabak. From here he could see across the whole of the ship and a large expanse of the ocean beyond. At first he thought the dark line separating sea and sky was a distant shore. Then he saw that it was in fact another ship, but one that apparently stretched across a daunting expanse of the horizon.
Next he glanced over at the launch platform, a hundred or so metres away. Four helicopters were hovering around the shuttle, keeping their distance but clearly presenting a considerable threat. Kendrick could see the missile tubes bulging from their undercarriages.
“Draeger,” Sabak informed Kendrick sourly.
“How can you be sure?”
Sabak looked over at Arnheim, who nodded to a bank of screens displaying high-res images of the ship on the horizon. Kendrick could see it was an oil tanker, and it didn’t take much to guess that this was where the ’copters had come from.
“We’ve checked the records,” Sabak explained. “The tanker is owned by one of Max Draeger’s subsidiary companies.”
“Okay, so do we know what he wants?”
Buddy stepped up beside Kendrick. “You were the last one to talk to him. If anybody knows the answer to that question, it’s you.”
“I told you, he says he wants us to take him or his men up there with us when we go.”
Arnheim stabbed a finger out at the four aircraft still buzzing around the shuttle. “Or what? He’s going to blow us up? Is that what he wants?”
“He offered us some kind of protection from Los Muertos.”
Arnheim turned to Sabak. “Is it worth considering?”
Kendrick stepped towards Arnheim. “No, it’s not. Not under any circumstances.”
“Sir.” A young man stepped over from a bank of terminals on the far side of the bridge. “We’ve got a message incoming.”
Arnheim turned to him. “Is it from the tanker?”
“Yes, sir, they want to talk to the, uh . . .” He glanced nervously at Kendrick and the other Labrats. “To the passengers.”
“That’s fine, Stan.” Sabak spoke to Arnheim. “Reroute the signal to the back-up comms room and we’ll take it in there.”
Sabak stepped over to join Kendrick, Buddy and Veliz while gesturing towards the exit.
“If you please,” he said quietly. “It’s just on the next deck down. No reason to get the crew or the launch staff any more worried than they need to be.”
A few minutes later they found themselves in a long low-ceilinged room furnished with office chairs and banks of terminals similar to the ones that Kendrick had seen on the bridge itself. A crewman glanced over his shoulder as they entered, his gaze lingering on Kendrick for a little longer than might have been considered polite under normal circumstances. Kendrick watched as the crewman finally remembered how to close his mouth. Sabak dismissed the man and slid into the vacated seat. He began rapidly tapping at a touchscreen.
As Kendrick and the rest stepped up behind him, a variety of views of the surrounding ocean sprang to life on the wall-mounted screens. Kendrick could see that the tanker had drawn nearer, approaching the launch pad at an angle. It had probably been braking for some time.
Another screen sprang to life, fizzing with static before resolving into an image of Max Draeger talking to someone off-camera. He turned, his eyes looking slightly to one side as he focused on the lens of his display screen.
Sabak addressed Draeger’s image. “Mr Draeger, we have you on a secure line. You’re speaking directly to me and some witnesses here aboard the launch-control vessel. I’m a director of the company that owns this facility. Is that approaching tanker yours?”
“Yes, it is.” Draeger’s voice sounded calm. “I have a proposition to make to you.”
“Just a minute,” said Sabak, shooing Buddy away with a wave of his hand as he leant forward to speak. “I have to ask, are those helicopters around our launch pad also yours? Because if they are, you’re currently in violation of enough internationally recognized regulations to bury you in a ton of shit from now till doomsday. Those ’copters are armed, and that in itself is considered an act of piracy.”
“The helicopters are there for your own protection,” Draeger replied. “You have only a few hours left before your launch window closes. I’m offering my own security services as a protection against interference.”
Kendrick bent forward towards the screen. “What do you want now, Draeger?”
Draeger smiled tightly. “Were you aware that a squadron of Los Muertos-piloted fighter jets is currently flying north-west from Panama to blow you out of the water?”
Kendrick blinked. “I don’t have any reason to believe you.”
Draeger shrugged. “In that case, maybe you should wait until they arrive.”
Sabak put a hand on Kendrick’s shoulder but he shrugged it off. “Stop fucking around,” he said to the screen, “and just tell us what you want.”
“If you agree to carry a selection of my own men on board the Archimedes, I will guarantee to use all my available resources to prevent any hostile attacks on your ship and facility during and after the launch itself.”
Sabak motioned silently to Kendrick and they stepped away from the screen.
Sabak spoke in a low voice. “You’re supposed to know the guy inside out. That’s what Buddy told me. Is he telling the truth?”
“Probably, but no guarantees. He’s likely bluffing us at the same time.”
“You’re going to have to explain that to me.”
“I don’t believe for one moment that he’d just stand by and let us be wiped out by those supposed jets if we refused his help. We’re his only ticket on board the Archimedes. If we wait long enough, I’m sure he’ll give us protection regardless of whether or not we accept his offer, even to have the slimmest chance of persuading us to help him get on board.”
“What if we accept his offer anyway?”
“Remember who this is,” Kendrick said. “This is Max Draeger. We don’t have any proof that those fighter jets even exist – or, if they do, that they aren’t his.”
“Shit.” Sabak stared into space, thinking hard, then shook his head. “Look, assuming he’s telling the truth about those fighter jets, then turning him down still means taking an enormous risk, whether or not he’s bluffing. If he really did stand by while we came under attack, then hundreds of lives that myself and Captain Arnheim are supposed to be responsible for would be put at risk. No.” He shook his head again. “I’m not taking any more chances if I can possibly help it.”
Kendrick felt a wave of defeat wash over him. “If we come to any agreement with him, we’re going to be sucked into something we’re going to regret. We’re dealing with the devil here.”
“Look, I need all the advice I can get, I admit. But if there’s any truth in what he’s saying I don’t have any choice but to agree to his terms.”
Kendrick shook his head angrily, fighting to keep his temper. “That’s your decision,” he said tightly. “Just remember, he’s as responsible for Caroline Vincenzo’s death as if he’d put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.”
“I know that,” Sabak said. “Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that I like this any more than you do.”
Sabak stepped back over to the monitor and addressed Draeger. “We’re going to need evidence before we accept anything whatsoever from you. Can you prove any of what you’ve told us?”
An icon flashed on the screen below Draeger’s image. “I’m uploading the information you need right now,” Draeger stated.
Buddy leant over Sabak and tapped the icon. “This is a live satellite feed,” he explained. He nodded at Draeger’s image. “Can he hear us?”
Sabak tapped another icon. “Not now, he can’t.”
“I know about these things just as well as you do,” said Sabak. “They can be faked.”
Buddy shook his head. “No, not these. Look at the satellite ident information. That’s coming straight from pre-war orbital platforms that can’t be hacked into. You’ll never, ever get those idents on any kind of civilian GPS networks. At the most, Draeger might have hacked into a transmission from one of the sats in order to siphon off this information, but it’s legit all the same.”
“So you’re saying we have to take this stuff seriously.”
Buddy nodded emphatically. “I am, yes.”
Numbers scrolled up on the screen as Kendrick watched. Latitudes and longitudes, air speed and distance. Buddy tapped a finger on a series of tabled figures. “And if this is anything to go by, those fighter jets will get here just about the time we’re due to launch.”
Sabak put out a finger, letting it hover over the voice icon for several moments before touching it. “Mr Draeger, you believe that you can’t get on board the Archimedes without us. Correct?”
“Every salvage expedition carried out by myself – or by others – has always ended in disaster. That’s a matter of public record.”
“What makes you so sure that you’ll succeed with our help, then?”
“I know about the Bright, Mr Sabak. Indeed, I know as much about what is happening here as you do, except I haven’t shared the . . . experiences that you and the other Augments have. Besides, once I get on board the station I will require only a limited amount of time to extract the information that interests me. It’s my belief that I have a much greater chance of success if I accompany those with whom the Bright clearly share a powerful affinity.”
“What’s on the Archimedes that you want so badly?”
“I created the Bright, therefore I should be the one to communicate with them. There is certain information on board the station that is wired to my direct command, meaning that it can only be accessed by me in person. I wish to retrieve it.” Draeger paused. “The benefit to humanity of the knowledge harvested by the Bright may be immeasurable. That alone justifies my participation in this expedition.”
Draeger turned his attention to Kendrick next. “Mr Gallmon, do you remember when you left Los Angeles and came under fire? Do you remember the aerial drones that attacked your pursuers?”
“So that was you,” Kendrick heard Buddy behind him.
Draeger nodded. “Think of it as a goodwill gesture. If not for that, neither of you would be here today.”
“Is this true?” asked Sabak, addressing both of them.
“We did come under fire as we left LA,” Buddy confirmed. “Something got in the way of the ’copters chasing us.”
“Remember, without me you won’t get off the ground,” Draeger stated. “Will you accept my offer?”
“We’ll be back in touch,” Sabak replied. Then he looked around at the others. Nobody said anything, so he reached out and touched the screen. Draeger faded to black.
“Now that is one slippery bastard,” said Sabak. But he sounded impressed.
“There’s something about Draeger actually saving our lives that makes me feel ill,” muttered Veliz. “He doesn’t even try to deny he’s manipulating us to get his own way.”
“We don’t have long now before we go up,” Buddy reminded them. “This late in the game, I don’t know if we have any choice but to accept his terms.” Sabak nodded his agreement at this.
Kendrick felt a cold horror creeping into his belly. This was wrong, all wrong. “Don’t ever make the mistake of taking him at his word. Once we’re up there, that’ll be another matter entirely. If he tries anything, it’ll be him against us. But we’re Labrats – We’ll still have that advantage.”
Kendrick found his way to the deck, unable to remain in the comms room while Sabak contacted Draeger to agree to his terms. He wondered if Draeger intended to return to Earth with whatever information he gained. Or was it possible that he believed he could travel through the wormhole to the Omega along with the rest of the Labrats?
Once Kendrick was out in the open the sea air made him feel light-headed. The waters, as expected, were calm: if it had been otherwise the launch would have been disastrously delayed. The sky was cloud-free, the ocean in front of him disappearing into limpid blue depths as clear and smooth as crystal.
He looked over to the tanker, which had now stopped moving. Its upper decks looked as though they had been modelled after an aircraft carrier, and a dozen sleek-looking military-style jump jets stood alongside more missile-carrying armoured helicopters. Dozens of figures, insect-like at that distance, moved across its acres of steel. Kendrick thought again of Angkor Wat and wondered if the huge vessel was some kind of mobile secondary base of operations for Draeger.
He gazed up at the early-evening sky, the first stars revealing themselves as the light began to fade. The Archimedes was orbiting somewhere far above his head, and the reality of his decision to go there was only just beginning to sink in. He turned his attention to the shuttle, sleek and powerful-looking, resting on its launch platform. As he watched, Draeger’s helicopters moved away from the platform, returning to the tanker. Clearly, Sabak had come to an agreement with Draeger.
Buddy came for him a while later, clapping him on the shoulder.
“This is it,” he said. “You ready to go?”
Kendrick turned and looked at his old friend. “Are we really going to do this?”
“Sure we are. Still full of misgivings, aren’t you?”
Kendrick looked back over the sea. “Can you really leave all this behind?”
“I probably wouldn’t survive more than another few years here before my augments killed me,” Buddy said calmly. “You seem different – care to share?”
“I experienced something like a vision, Buddy. I think it was what you saw. As though I was taken on a carnival ride through the history of the universe.”
“All the way?”
Kendrick nodded. “All the way.”
Buddy cocked his head at him. “But you still don’t really believe it, do you?”
Kendrick sighed and turned away from looking at the launch platform. He remembered his conversation with McCowan. “Not like you do: no revelation, no firm sense that this is absolutely the right thing to do.”
“Kendrick, for most of the people going with us there is no other way. Even if they felt they were just taking a chance they’d still take it. It’s either that or stay here on Earth, hated and despised, and wait for a long and lingering death. It’s not much of a choice. Remember, I hate Draeger just as much as you do. I want you to find the proof you’re looking for. I just don’t like the thought of staying here and dying slowly, maybe locked up in a secure ward somewhere.”
Kendrick shook his head. “Look, the one thing I know about Draeger is that he doesn’t lie. He could stab you in the back, but he’s too proud of his achievements to ever make claims that are unsupportable.”
“You’re talking about that cure he offered you, right?”
“I met someone out at Angkor Wat who assured me that his rogue augments had been stabilized by Draeger’s treatments. The same treatments that I was receiving from Hardenbrooke.”
Buddy regarded him sceptically. “So you’re saying that you’ll return from the Archimedes with evidence to incriminate Draeger, but then you’ll still take his cure?”
“If Draeger’s really found a way to control the Labrat augments, then other people can develop the same techniques. But even if there were no cure yet, I’d still want to come back. There’s always hope.”
“Maybe for you, Kendrick, if you want to take that chance.” Buddy shook his head. “But I already told you, I’ve got more faith in the Bright than I have in any number of spurious claims about curing something that I don’t belie
ve can be cured.”
The funeral service never happened, because Doctor Numark had felt constrained to incinerate Caroline’s remains immediately as a precautionary measure. Kendrick felt his temper rise when she told him that he couldn’t even keep the ashes for a ceremony later as she wanted to keep them isolated. To Kendrick, the need to mark Caroline’s passing in some way felt vital, necessary.
It was in case, Doctor Numark argued, there was even a slight chance of a containment breach. Kendrick almost laughed in her face, insisting that since he himself constituted a walking containment breach it wasn’t likely to make much difference to him. She replied stonily that unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about him.
In the end, he dragged Buddy back out onto the deck, since he was the only other Labrat still alive who had really known Caroline. They took sips from a bottle of whisky that Buddy had acquired from a crewman and stared silently out to sea. There really wasn’t much either of them could bring themselves to say.
Within the hour they were ferried by boat to the launch platform and each of them was given a lightweight spacesuit to wear, marked with the colourful logo of Sabak’s private launch company. A hundred or so Labrats trooped onto the platform, looking not so different from the kind of rich tourists who’d spend an afternoon orbiting the Earth as an alternative to skiing in the Alps.
Kendrick soon found himself inside a steel-walled hut set high up in the gantry, from where he and the rest could look down the length of the shuttle, to its engines far below.
27 October 2096
Cocha Canyon offshore launch platform
The evening skies above them were still clear, the sea still calm. Ancillary launch technicians wearing jumpsuits and hard hats carefully inspected each of the space-suits three times. Kendrick could hear continuous, incessant systems checks crackling over a nearby intercom.
Just as the checking procedures were completed, the attack finally came.
First, there were dark spots on the horizon. Then, just as Kendrick and the rest were being guided through the gantry and along an elevated platform towards a door set in the side of the shuttle, three sleek silver shapes rocketed past the platform, moving over Draeger’s ship in a flash and continuing onwards in a long, curving trajectory.
