Dust

by Jason Hutt

  “Would you look at her?” Nick said.

  The girl pulled her legs in tighter and was visibly shaking. The girl’s face had turned a pale white.

  “Please don’t make me go back out there,” she whispered.

  “This isn’t happening, Nick. She can’t stay and I’m not debating it,” Max said firmly. He turned to leave and said, “Reggie, do what I asked.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Reggie started toward the little girl. Nick put his hands gently on her shoulders and knelt down in front of her.

  “What happened to your parents? Are they here on the station?”

  “My mom…she’s…she’s dead,” the girl said softly, “Please don’t make me go back out there.”

  Reggie tried to grab the girl’s hand, but she pulled away from him and crawled back.

  “Max, damn it! We can’t just leave her here!” Nick yelled, getting to his feet.

  “I’m not debating this, Nick. End of story. We need to get the hell out of here. If you don’t like it, you can get off too.”

  Max had walked halfway across the hold and didn’t stop to face Nick.

  “Max, how can you possibly turn your back on her? What the hell’s wrong with you?” Nick yelled, “What if this were your daughter? Would you be so willing to throw her life away?”

  At this, Max did stop and slowly turned around. The look on his face was one of pure malice.

  “Don’t you dare say that,” Max growled, stepping closer to Nick, “She’s better off here. She shouldn’t be on this ship!”

  Nick gestured toward the hangar. “Do you remember what’s out there? We can’t just lock her in a room and hope she’ll be okay! Who knows when or if they’ll have this situation under control! Might as well just put her out the airlock!”

  “That’s what you wanted to do two minutes ago, remember? What are we supposed to do with her, huh? You want me to hold her hand and walk her to a security officer? Might as well put the cuffs on myself, because they’re sure as hell not going to let me walk away! If her mother’s dead, then she needs to find her father! Not go tromping around with us.”

  “Max, we need to go to security. Tell them we know who’s behind this; clear this up now. Running just makes it look worse,” Nick said.

  “Do you really think they’re going to stop and ask questions before they lock me away? Do you really think I can say, gee, sorry officer, I didn’t know I was launching an attack on the station? Christ, you’re an idiot.”

  Nick and Max now stood less than a foot apart. Reggie now stood at the doorway of the cold storage room with the girl’s hand firmly in his grasp. The girl had fresh tears in her eyes. Nick looked back at her and his resolve strengthened.

  “The day your daughter died,” Nick said, “Don’t you wish someone had been there to help? Don’t you wish that if someone could have done something to prevent it that they would have? Don’t you have to do the same thing here?”

  The malice on Max’s face quickly shifted to rage and he punched Nick right in the jaw. Nick fell backwards. Max glared at him; his face beet red. Max took a few deep, forceful breaths, his chest noticeably rising and falling, before turning and stomping off.

  “Get them both out of here, Reggie,” Max yelled as he walked out, “Get that piece of shit off of my ship.”

  “Max, you can’t run forever,” Nick said, but Max ignored him and continued walking.

  “Let’s go, sir,” Reggie said.

  “Come on, Reggie,” Nick said, “You can’t let him do this.”

  “I can only follow orders, sir,” Reggie said. Reggie held the girl’s hand and with his other arm, grabbed Nick firmly by the elbow.

  ***

  With the small drone hovering in front of the pilot’s seat, Max plopped into the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit with an annoyed grunt. He looked out the window of the cockpit at the mess of crates, robots, and ships and tried to calm himself. Even after all these years, he could still hear his wife nagging him about walking away from an argument. Max let out a slow breath and focused on the creature that was now bobbing away from the ship.

  They could make it, Max thought. They can easily get to the hangar control room before the creature gets there. Then, they could ride this whole mess out in there until security gets a handle of things. They won’t be in any danger. Then Nick can face his father like he wants to do and move on with his life. It’ll all be good for the kid.

  But Nick will also talk to security about all this. He will tell them where the creatures came from, who delivered them, and who was responsible for all this. He may try to tell them that it wasn’t Max’s fault, but there’s no way they will believe them.

  Max needed time to sort all this out, time without the Republic hunting him down. The only way he could get that time was by keeping the kid from talking to security. He reached over and activated the intercom.

  “Reggie,” Max said, “Change of plans. We’re getting out of here. All of us. Everybody strap in. Reggie, release the encryption and let’s see where this pile of scrap is going to take us.”

  Within seconds, Max could feel that the engines had started the liftoff sequence. Moments later, the Hannah took off with a lurch. The drone applied too much thrust on the port side. Max shook his head in annoyance.

  Max watched his console display with a sense of dread as the drone plotted the ship’s next course. They were headed back to Dust; their course back to the jump beacon was now set. Max fumed. He was angry at the world. He was angry at Nick for so blatantly using his daughter’s memory against him. He was angry at Sinclair. After years of dedicated service, paying off a debt he could never truly repay, Max had been deemed expendable.

  To hell with them, Max thought.

  Max leaned forward in the seat and activated a view of the station from the rear of the ship. Max watched as dozens of random vessels - cargo ships, luxury yachts, construction barges, even a few defense frigates - launched from Nexus Station. Max shook his head in disbelief. How long had Sinclair been planning this?

  The Republic would not stand idly by while Sinclair attacked the innocent civilians on Nexus Station. They would retaliate with full force once they figured out who was responsible for all of this. Bloodshed was coming to Dust.

  Max continued to watch the display as he tried to hail another ship.

  “Beau, this is the Hannah, do you copy?”

  Max waited a moment but received no response.

  “Beau, this is the Hannah. Charlie, are you there?”

  He tapped another spot on the display.

  “Wounded Duck, this is the Hannah. Are you there, Roman?”

  He repeated the calls several times over the next half hour but never received a response. His shoulders slumped and he sat back wearily in the chair. He looked over at the smooth finish of the drone, its single blue-glowing eye focused on the cockpit display. Max hated that robot with every fiber of his being, hated that it was in his chair, hated that it was piloting his ship, and hated that Sinclair thought it would replace him. At that moment, it represented every unholy thing in the known universe.

  Max got up abruptly, his boot clanging loudly off the deck, and headed for the maintenance closet. He rummaged around for a bit and pulled out a socket wrench, hammer, and a cold welder. He then poured himself a cold beer from the galley and chugged it down. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, left the empty beer mug, and stormed off toward the cockpit.

  Chapter 10

  Max’s head bobbed and he jerked himself awake. He had nodded off only briefly; his Captain’s chair wasn’t conducive to anything other than short naps. He looked around at the various pieces of scrap that had been the drone. The floor of the cockpit was now littered with bolts, wires, circuit boards, grease, and all sorts of other components. It would take some time to clean all this up. Max stood up and headed to the galley to get a cup of coffee.

  The little girl was there. She was looking around for something. She found the bowl
s and pulled one out. She turned around and froze when she saw Max. Her hands started to tremble; a look of fear passed over her face. She took a step back towards the cabinet.

  “Please don’t get mad,” she said.

  Max had to blink to keep tears from forming. He reached toward her and she tried to recoil again.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Max said, “I’m sorry for earlier. I’m not mad at you.”

  She stood unmoving, dirt streaked across her cheeks, still wearing the shirt with her mother’s blood. Max offered her a slight smile.

  “Can I help you?”

  “I was starving,” she said, “Just looking for something to eat.”

  Max held his hand out and she tentatively handed him the bowl. He stuck the bowl under the food processor and waited as the gray goop was dispensed.

  “Sorry I don’t have anything better,” Max said, “I used to have real oatmeal, back when…”

  He stopped. Back when my daughter used to come with me, he was about to say. This girl didn’t need to hear that though. Max coughed. He gestured for her to have a seat and set the bowl down in front of her.

  “What’s your name?” He asked.

  “Eleanor.”

  She greedily tore into the paste, too hungry to care about the taste or texture.

  “Where are you from, Eleanor?” Max asked as he grabbed a cup of coffee.

  “Roosevelt,” she said.

  Max had to laugh. “Were your parents historians?”

  She nodded. “My dad is. Why?”

  “No reason,” he said, shaking his head, “What were you…uh…doing out here?”

  “Going to a robotics fare,” she said, “My mom was…”

  Max could easily see the fright on the little girl’s face. She stopped eating for a minute and looked up at Max. He could see the tears starting to fall.

  “When she fell, when she hit the ground because one of those bird-things got her, I just turned and ran. It felt like they were right there, right behind me. I could hear their claws scraping against the floor as they followed me. I just wanted to find a place to hide.”

  Looking her in the eye was heartbreaking, so Max wandered over to the sink behind her and fiddled with some of the dirty dishes.

  “I wasn’t angry at you, Eleanor. I promise,” Max said.

  “I was so scared,” Eleanor said through a veil of tears. Max stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her shake with every sob. The horror and terror of the day before came pouring out of this scared, little girl as she sobbed, gasped, and shook.

  “My mom,” she said with a heartbreaking whine. Then she turned toward Max and before he could stop her, she hugged him fiercely.

  For the first time in over ten years, Max held a little girl in his arms and he nearly lost himself. The feeling of protectiveness that flooded back to him was overwhelming. He found himself pulling Eleanor in tightly, wrapping his arms around her to protect her from the harsh reality of the world.

  Nothing he could do would change what had happened and they both knew it. Eleanor stood there in his embrace and cried for her lost mother until there was nothing left to come out of her. Max would’ve stood there for as long as she needed, holding her tight to let her know that she was not alone in this world. He would do whatever he had to do to return this little girl to what remained of her family.

  “Let’s send a message to your father. Let him know you’re all right,” Max said, and the two of them went to his quarters. Max sat Eleanor at the small desk in his room and activated the video recorder that he seldom used to record his personal logs.

  “Go ahead,” Max said.

  Eleanor nodded, sniffed, and wiped tears from her eyes. She tried to compose herself as best she could. Max could see the strength in her, the resiliency, and a feeling of pride welled up inside him. Eleanor reminded him so much of his own daughter and once again tears threatened to overwhelm him.

  “Hi, Daddy,” Eleanor began, her voice trembling slightly, “I don’t know if you’ve heard about what happened, but if you have, I just wanted you to know I’m all right. I’m on a ship. But mom, mom didn’t…”

  She tried to continue, but couldn’t. Max slid into view behind Eleanor, crouching down so that his head was roughly level with hers. Suddenly, Max realized that he hadn’t trimmed his beard in several days, hadn’t showered, hadn’t slept, and looked generally unpleasant.

  “Uh, sir,” Max began and then turned to Eleanor and asked, “What’s your Dad’s name?”

  “John,” she said.

  “Uh, John, my name is Maxime Cabot. I am a freighter pilot who picked up your daughter during the incident at Nexus. Your daughter is safe aboard our ship and we’ll get her back to you as soon as we can. I have to take one short trip before we can bring her back to Roosevelt.

  “I have to go get my own daughter, first.”

  ***

  Nick awoke screaming, covered in sweat. Images from the day before were burned into his mind - the blood, the bodies, the dismembered body parts, and the awful visage of those creatures. He rubbed his eyes and then his temples trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. His hands trembled slightly.

  The sides of his chest itched slightly from where one of the creatures had dug its talons into his side. Though the muscle and tissue had been rebuilt and repaired, the area was still tender and sore to the touch. His jaw also ached from Max’s punch; he slowly worked it back and forth to try and clear some of the stiffness and pain.

  Max came in and sat on the couch opposite him. Max had heavy bags under his eyes, the left was bloodshot and the right seemed to be twitching slightly. His hands and clothes were covered in bluish grease which he was slowly wiping off on a rag. Nick noted a streak of red on the rag as well. Max had gashed the palm of his right hand on something. A fresh scar was visible where the meds had closed the wound.

  For a moment, Max sat there and just stared at him.

  “Nightmares?” Max asked as he slowly, hypnotically wiped the rag back and forth across his hands. With each swipe, the fabric picked up globs of goop from his hands and ultimately, left them spotless.

  Nick nodded. “Can’t get the images of those people out of my head.”

  “I doubt you ever will, Nick. Seeing something like that can scar a man for a long time.”

  “I take it you didn’t sleep at all,” Nick said with a bit of a yawn.

  Max nodded again and threw the rag on the table between them. “Did a lot of thinking last night. Trying to figure out what to do.”

  “Thinking and tinkering, again?” Nick asked with a slight smile.

  Max gave a little chuckle as he inspected his hands for any leftover grease. “I took that bastard drone apart bolt by bolt. I gave the central processor to Reggie; see if he can decode its programming, find any other surprises. I think I’ll give the rest of the parts to the little girl as a present.”

  “Eleanor,” Nick said, “How’s she doing this morning?”

  Just after takeoff, Nick and Reggie had set Eleanor up in his quarters for the night. They gave her Nick’s bed and the girl passed out by the time her head hit the pillow.

  “Okay,” Max said, “For a kid who watched her mother get slaughtered right before her eyes yesterday.”

  Nick shook his head in sorrow and disbelief.

  “Where is she now?”

  “Playing around with Reggie,” Max said, “She seems to have a thing for robots. I warned Reggie to make sure she doesn’t come at him with a screwdriver.”

  Nick smiled halfheartedly and the two men sat in silence for a moment. Nick got up and walked over to a dispenser on the wall behind him. He tapped a command into the control pad and seconds later a cup of coffee was in his hands.

  “So, what now?” Nick asked.

  “Don’t ever use my daughter’s memory against me again,” Max said, “If you do, you can get off the ship wherever we are and I never want to see you again. Do you understand?” />
  Nick nodded.

  Max sighed and looked at Nick hesitantly. Nick could almost hear the wheels of thought turning in Max’s head. Nick took a sip of the coffee. He wasn’t fond of the taste but the warmth that trickled down his throat and then filled his stomach calmed him made him feel more at home.

  “We’re going back to Dust,” Max finally said.

  Nick’s eyes went wide. He slowly lowered the cup and said, “Are you crazy? We can’t go back there! What the hell are you thinking?”

  Max looked at him sternly.

  “Nick, the second we tell sector security who is behind this, they will descend upon Dust in droves. The lives the people on that colony have lived will be over. That whole place is going to be locked down and torn apart as they get to the bottom of what’s going on there.

  “I need to get some things and get out of there. Disappear for a while. Maybe the Republic will think I died on the station and not coming looking for me. Once I’ve got what and who I need, I’ll drop you and Eleanor off and you can contact whoever.”

  “Let’s just fire off a warning message to your friends and be done with it,” Nick said, “No need to go back there in person and risk being food for one of Sinclair’s pets.”

  “Nick, I need to go there. I want to pick up my ex-wife and…and someone else,” Max said. He looked down at his clean hands and the fresh scar on his palm.

  “This is about more than just your family, Max. What happens if Sinclair launches another attack while we’re busy taking care of the one or two people you’ve deemed worthy of saving?” Nick asked angrily. “How many more people have to die before we go to sector security and explain-”

  “Explain what, exactly? That we unwittingly unleashed a terrorist attack on that space station? I’m sure they will be understanding and not hold us accountable for that in any way.”

  Another spark of anger flashed in Nick. “I guess it would be difficult to explain how someone who worked for Sinclair for ten years didn’t see this coming.”

  “What are you saying, Nick? Think I had something to do with this?”

  “I just find it hard to believe that someone you trusted so much could do something like this without you having any idea what was going on,” Nick said, “I mean, it’s not like he did this on a whim. You don’t create those things, create those weapons, and unleash them without a lot of planning. Without help.”