Dust
Page 18
The words hung in the air. Max’s hand curled into a fist; his muscles tensed.
Nick was ready to get punched again. He didn’t agree with Max on this. “The longer we go without reporting what we know the more likely it is that someone else gets hurt.”
Instead of throwing a punch, Max let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his graying hair.
“Sinclair’s been involved in a lot of things that weren’t always within the law,” Max said, “You’ve seen plenty of evidence of that. But he’s done more to help people than I’ve been able to show you, more than I can explain with words. If I ever thought this would happen, I would’ve never worked for him.”
Nick said nothing in response. He looked down at his hands again and then down at the floor.
“Just let me pick up two people and then we’ll send a message to sector security,” Max said, “That should give them enough time to prevent Sinclair from getting any ships out loaded with those things.”
Nick didn’t like it, but Max was right, that should give them enough time. Nick forgot about the cup of coffee in his hand and accidentally spilled a drop. The hot liquid burned his thumb slightly. He took a sip and watched Max out of the corner of his eye. The old man was standing there, staring at some undefined point, thoughts running through his head.
“What is it, Max?” Nick asked, “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing, kid,” Max said. He stood up from the couch, leaving before Nick could press him further.
Nick frowned. “And what about Eleanor? Are we just going to drag her along with us, another member of the crew now?”
“First opportunity, we’ll take her to her father,” Max said, “But that has to be later. Whatever is going to happen on Dust, it’s going to happen fairly quickly and I need to get there first.”
***
The Hannah arrived at the jump beacon late that afternoon but faced a three hour wait due to the number of ships in the queue. Max sat in the pilot’s chair with his feet propped on the console and a toothpick between his lips. He watched as ship after ship jumped to the Dust system. So many ships were on their way, more than Dust had ever seen at one time, but that was not where Max’s mind was.
He could think of almost nothing except Eleanor and the strong hug she gave him that morning. She had felt so small and frail in his arms. He wanted to hug that little girl and protect her from all the evils of the galaxy, to hold on to her until he knew she’d be safe. He wanted to do for her what he failed to do for his own little girl.
Max held his daughter’s broken body in his arms that fateful day. He screamed for help, but there was no one there who could do anything. He had held her fiercely, long past the moment when her life slipped away. His little girl, who looked up to him for everything, who would be by his side at all times, was gone.
He drank that night, drank himself into oblivion, until he passed out on the living room floor of their tiny two-bedroom apartment. It was the only way he could get the tears to stop and the only way he could get rest.
Within a week, the arguments with his wife had started. She wouldn’t come out and say that she blamed him, but it was the moments of silence after certain questions, the sidelong glances during conversations, the terseness of certain responses that told him how she felt. She was as devastated as he had been. Her only daughter, the only child they were allowed to have, had been ripped away.
A month later they applied for a special exemption to have a second child. Their appeal was denied. After the denied appeal came in, he went out to drink again and returned home to find his wife sitting on the couch, waiting for him. She sat there in a nondescript night gown and stared at him with red-rimmed eyes.
“There are other options,” she had said, wiping at the tears with the back of her hand.
He looked at her through a drunken fog, trying to understand what she was saying. He leaned heavily against the doorframe that separated the living room from the kitchen.
“We still have access to her cord blood,” she said, “Margaret told me about someone else who went through this. Said they found a doctor out on the fringe…”
“No,” Max said as understanding dawned on him, “I can’t do it. I couldn’t look at her again.”
“God damn you!” She screamed, “I want my daughter back, you son of a bitch!”
He recoiled; her fury astounded him. She slapped him that night, the first and only time. He had known at that moment that their lives were about to go on separate paths. She just had one condition for the divorce.
Max stirred from his thoughts as Reggie came tromping into the cockpit with Eleanor in tow. She looked up at him warmly. He could tell that sadness lurked just beneath the surface of her emotions, but she was a strong kid and her grief barely showed. It took Max a moment to realize he was staring at her.
“What’s up?” He finally worked up the courage to ask.
“We’ve finished parsing the code from the drone,” Reggie said.
“We?” Max asked.
Eleanor shrugged and said, “Reggie let me help with breaking down some of the lower level algorithms.”
“She’s quite good, sir,” Reggie said.
Max couldn’t help but smile. “Whatever fuels your engines, kid. Anything of interest?”
“Quite a bit,” Reggie continued, “Detailed instructions for the next phases of the plan, contingency instructions if they are intercepted by Republic or Conglomerate forces, and a database of potential targets for future missions. It was ready to receive its next set of instructions once it reached Dust orbit.”
“Christ, you’re killing me with all this, Reggie,” Max said, “I can’t believe this. What the hell is Sinclair thinking?”
“I cannot answer that, sir,” Reggie said.
“Well, did you get anything useful?”
“Quite a bit,” Reggie responded, “Instructions to run the reactor at maximum output and shorten the trip back to Dust.”
Max frowned, running the reactor hot would allow them to travel faster but it would put them at greater risk for a core meltdown.
“I want us to blend in Reggie. Run us as close to maximum as we can handle, but prepare to kick in safeguards at a moment’s notice. Anything else?”
“They carried a worm that would wipe the memory banks of the jump beacon.”
“Trying to cover his tracks,” Max said with a wry smile, “Won’t take the Republic too long to reconstruct where they’re headed, but it might buy him a few days.”
“There are some other things, sir,” Reggie continued, “Some commented out code that I don’t understand. It has something to do with the astronavigation algorithms, but its exact purpose is unclear.”
“Keep working on it,” Max said, “Let me know what you figure out.”
***
With a little over an hour to go before the jump, Nick joined Max in the cockpit and started fiddling around with stellar maps on his console. He scrolled and zoomed, panning through star system after star system. His head rested on the palm of his hand as the soft white light from the console gave his face a pale glow.
“I have to admit I underestimated your father,” Max said, “But if I hadn’t been picked up by security, I would have been on that concourse somewhere during that attack. Funny how those things work out.”
“I tried to tell you,” Nick said, “My father’s a pretty relentless man.”
“He could get in a lot of trouble for what he did, lying about you being kidnapped.”
Nick shook his head.
“No, he’ll walk away from that pretty easily,” Nick said, “My father’s been using the Republic to get what he wants for years. He’d find some way to explain it away. He always does.”
“That data you have must be pretty sensitive to pull a stunt like that.”
“I told you I stole his files, everything related to the projects his department was working on. All sorts of internal memos, data sheets, you name it. Do
you have a crystal reader? I’ll show you.”
“No,” Max said, “Though I bet…”
Max stopped and Nick looked up from what he was doing.
“What?”
“I was going to say, I bet Sinclair has one. Doesn’t matter anyhow.”
Max waved his hand for Nick to continue and the young man nodded.
“Well, once we’re done with this run, I’ll drop you wherever you want. Then, if you want to chase your father down, that’s up to you,” Max said.
“He wants that data so bad; I guess I’ll give it back to him,” Nick said with a shrug, “I don’t know what else to do with it. That’s why I let security know I was in the crawlway; I just wanted to get it over with.”
“You’ll feel good when it’s all done, Nick,” Max said, “I-”
Max’s console beeped loudly. He reached over and accepted an incoming transmission.
“Emergency message,” Max said.
“This is Commander Dorn,” a strong female voice erupted from the speaker, “I am commanding officer of the Fifth Fleet of the Republic. I am declaring Martial law in this sector. All ships are ordered to shut down their drives and await inspection by Republic Forces.”
Max turned off the message and checked the position of the fleet on his console.
“They’re a day out,” he said, “But that’s not the real problem. They’re going to lock down the jump beacons.”
“So, now what?”
“This isn’t my first flight, kid,” Max said, “Sit tight.”
Max started furiously accessing command menus on his console. He was drilling down through submenus when his face lit up.
“What is it?”
“Time to declare a medical emergency,” Max said, “How do you feel about having a heart attack?”
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t keep myself in better condition,” Nick quipped.
“Nice. This’ll bump us to the head of the queue. Now, cross your fingers and hope we can get out of here in time.”
Max opened up the intercom.
“Reggie, get Eleanor strapped in. We’re about to jump. Hurry.”
There was no time to wait. The countdown clock on Max’s console jumped from 55 minutes to 20 seconds. This would strain the engines, but Max didn’t have time for a proper spin up. Just before the count expired, Reggie’s voice came over the comm.
“She’s secure.”
The countdown clock on the pilot’s console hit zero, they felt the pull of the jump, and with a flash, they were back in the Dust system. Nick’s face paled after the jump and Max couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh.
“Do you get seasick, Nick?” Max asked, “Maybe you should consider a career on a boat. Might be less nausea inducing for you.”
“You’re not helping. And, no I don’t,” Nick said through gritted teeth.
“Not trying to help,” Max said.
Max’s smile disappeared as his console display suddenly filled with patches of red and an alert tone sounded in the cockpit. Max silenced the alarm and quickly started reviewing the data.
“Crap,” Max said, “Put a little too much strain on the power system with that emergency jump. We just blew out a power distribution unit.”
“How bad is it?”
“Not too bad,” Max said as he scanned the data, “Backup units are on-line. Looks like everything came up fine. Just gives us something to do on the trip to Dust.”
Max reached for the intercom.
“Reggie, I need you to start checking out the primary power string. Find out what box in the line we need to replace.”
“Will do, sir,” Reggie responded.
Max turned his attention to the area of space around them. Intermixed among the sea of stars were the red flashing lights of dozens of other ships, all on the same return trajectory as the Hannah.
“That little trick to get out of the system was interesting,” Nick said, “You’re quite the smuggler.”
“Thanks,” Max said. It took him a minute to realize that may not be a compliment. “I’ve smuggled some people in before.”
Nick nodded but didn’t respond.
“Like Lonnie and her two kids,” Max said, “But I swear that’s it.”
“Doesn’t matter, Max. Let’s just do what we need to do.”
“Sounds good to me,” Max said. He stood up and stretched; his muscles and mind were weary from the physical and emotional drain of the day. The energy pill he had taken a few hours ago was rapidly wearing off and the fact that he hadn’t slept much over the last two days hit him like a brick wall.
“Holy crap, I’m tired.”
Nick shot him a knowing smile.
“Get some rest,” Nick said.
“You look like you could use some, too,” Max said. Nick’s eyes were puffed with dark circles underneath them.
“Yeah,” Nick said, “I’m having trouble sleeping without having nightmares.”
“Well, feel free to have a few beers. Always helps me sleep when I’ve got too much on my mind.”
Max didn’t stick around to hear Nick’s reply. He went to his quarters, closed the door, and fell asleep in his coveralls.
Chapter 11
Nick awoke again in a puddle of sweat as the images from Nexus Station continued to haunt his dreams. He sat upright and rested his head in his hands. He glanced at his wrist computer; it was still early. The ship was hauntingly quiet as everyone else still slept.
Should’ve taken Max’s advice, he thought. But Nick had never taken a drink alone in his life and wasn’t about to start now. Besides, Max’s advice may not be all it was cracked up to be. Max was holding something back; that much was clear. And his admission to smuggling and the subsequent defensiveness made Nick question how much Max really knew about what was going on here.
Nick needed to clear his head. He walked, barefoot, down the corridor, trying to make as little noise as possible. Even Reggie was offline, plugged into his recharging station that was nestled into the side of the corridor just before the entrance to the cargo hold.
Nick kept quiet as he entered the vast, empty hold. The room was dark, save for emergency lighting placed at regular intervals around the hold. Nick kept the lights off and paced around the hold. He wasn’t sure what he was searching for, just a spot that felt right. He finally squatted down in a spot in the middle of the hold.
After the events of the past few days, Nick’s nerves were raw. He couldn’t relax; he kept expecting something to jump out at him from the shadows. He knew that was ridiculous, but it didn’t stop him from feeling like something was about to get him.
Nick kneeled on the unforgiving metal floor, the grating digging into his knee. He prayed for the first time in days. He whispered the words he knew by heart as he recited the Lord’s Prayer. He then recited the Apostle’s Creed, then a Hail Mary, and he methodically went through every prayer he could remember.
When his memory was exhausted, he found silence in his mind. He found calm. He prayed for guidance, for evidence that Max wasn’t leading them down the wrong path. He needed to see something from his captain, something that could reassure him that Max knew what he was doing. Max hadn’t been the same since they had found Eleanor in this very room.
Nick could see the sorrow and pain in the old man’s face every time he looked at the girl. Old wounds had opened up for him. He couldn’t help but wonder if Max was leading them the wrong way.
“Please, Lord,” Nick said, “Help me find strength and courage.”
***
Nick eventually made his way back to the lounge and tried to watch John Doe, a movie about a man trying to rediscover his lost memories. It was billed as a hilarious comedy about a man rediscovering his sense of self. It was awful. Nick gave up on the movie and turned on the latest news recording. This was just more of the same - riots, starvation, colonies struggling to survive, but hey Conglomerate stock was up. Nick got sick of it all and turned off the screen.
It was heartwarming to watch the little girl play, but Eleanor’s constant refinement of her toy’s decision making algorithms was a little too tedious for Nick’s taste. Eleanor was clearly a bright little girl and Nick envisioned she would have quite the future in robotics, computer science, or something similar if she stuck with her current passion.
Nick eventually left the two of them in the hold and decided to return to the cockpit. As Nick made his way forward, he caught a glimpse of Max working intently at the console in his room. From the corridor, Nick couldn’t see the images on the shiny glass surface; he could merely see Max tapping things here and there, dragging something across the surface, and finally zooming in to check some details.
“What’s going on?” Nick asked.
Max was massaging the temple of his forehead with his left hand while he worked with the right. The puffy, dark circles underneath the older man’s eyes had faded somewhat after his long rest last night. Nick was relieved to see Max looking a little better. Max stared blankly at Nick for a moment.
“Just trying to iron out the plan is all,” Max said. He turned his attention back to the console.
Nick could now see a picture of Dust on the screen. The planet slowly rotated on the display while yellow lines representing the Hannah’s trajectory were superimposed around the planet. Nick watched as Max jabbed at a triangle that represented the ship’s insertion point into Dust orbit and dragged the triangle to a point on Dust’s night side.