by David Bishop
Fincher closed his outstretched hand around the straight razor's handle before smiling at the Judge. "You got that last part wrong, mate." Fincher swept his arm round in an arc. The blade sliced through the sleeve of Dredd's uniform and cut deep into the forearm, right down to the bone. The Judge screamed out in anguish, blood spraying from the wound in a crimson gout as he doubled over. "I like a little pretending," Fincher smirked as he threw a punch into Dredd's throat, sending the lawman backwards into a rockrete wall, gasping for air.
The Brit stood and brushed himself down. "Little trick I learned during a visit to Hondo City when I was a kid. Sumo wrestlers are trained from puberty to retract their meat and two veg into the cavity from where your balls drop as it protects you from low blows. I'm quite a dab hand at it myself now - very useful in a fight, I find."
Dredd was slumped against the wall, still fighting for every breath as Fincher came nearer. The bounty hunter held the straight razor in front of his face and licked blood from the blade. "There's an old saying - the first cut is the deepest. But nothing could be further from the truth."
Scattergood pressed the final charge into position and twisted the dial to clamp it down, but nothing happened. She gave the dial another twist. Still nothing, no reassuring clump to prove the magnetic seal had been made. "Grissom, something's wrong! The last charge isn't magnetising!"
"Have you twisted the dial?"
"Of course I've twisted the drokking dial! It's not clamping to the satellite!"
"Magnets must have been damaged when the charge banged against the exterior. They're very sensitive, prone to breaking. That's why we use them so infrequently, except in emergencies."
"Now he tells me," Scattergood muttered under her breath. "How do I fix it?"
"You can't," Grissom replied. "You could come back for a replacement-"
"By the time I do that Justice Seven will be space debris!" The veteran Judge could feel the spacesuit closing in, her breath coming in ever shorter gasps as her heart rate accelerated from the stress. "I've got five charges in place - will that be enough to destroy the satellite?"
The only reply was a long silence.
"Grissom! Are five charges enough to-"
"No," the PSU analyst said quietly. "Six is the minimum. It should be double that number to be certain. With just six, all of them must be securely fixed to the exterior of the satellite when they blow to be effective."
"Terrif," Scattergood sighed. "How long until Justice Seven is in range of the energy pulse beam?"
"Less than a minute before it can fire."
Now it was Scattergood's turn to fall silent. She twisted round in the spacesuit to see the Earth, the sprawling conurbation of Mega-City One just visible through a gap in the clouds. Grissom's voice interrupted her reverie. "Ma'am, did you hear me? We've got less than a minute."
"I heard you," Scattergood replied. "I'll hold the final device in place while you detonate all six charges, it's the only way to stop this thing."
"But ma'am, if you stay there you'll be-"
"If I don't do this, everyone on board Justice Seven will die. One life versus dozens. You do the math, Grissom."
"But there must be-"
"There isn't and you know it. Detonate the charges, Grissom, while you still have time."
"But-"
"Detonate the charges! That's a direct order!"
"Yes, ma'am."
Scattergood pressed the final charge into place and closed her eyes, remembering the words of a prayer she had learned as a child. The veteran Judge whispered the opening phrase over and over to herself as she waited for the explosion. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of-"
The satellite exploded in the sky above Mega-City One, a fleeting fireball in the night. Fincher saw the blink of light from the corner of his eye and paused to look up. "That's funny. I didn't think the fireworks started until midnight."
"They don't," Dredd replied, "but you won't be alive to see them." He grabbed the bounty hunter's hand clasping the razor and began twisting the blade towards Fincher's neck. The Brit fought back with all his strength, but Dredd had the advantage. "Time to die, punk!" The Judge rammed his fists forward, forcing the razor deep into Fincher's throat before ripping it sideways.
The blade cut through the carotid artery, showering Dredd with the bounty hunter's blood. Fincher clasped both hands over the wound, trying to hold back the inevitable. But Dredd punched the bounty hunter in the face, knocking the Brit backwards to the ground. The Judge crawled away from the dying perp, ignoring the last spasms as death took hold of Fincher.
A familiar voice reappeared via Dredd's helmet radio. "Still alive?" Kara asked sarcastically. "Congratulations, Dredd, you've killed four of the finest bounty hunters in the business. But you only have minutes left to reach the Grand Hall, otherwise the weapon that levelled Joe Chill will be turned upon the home of justice. Hurry, Joe, hurry!"
Dredd pulled himself to his feet, fighting back the effects of blood loss and concussion. He staggered towards the Grand Hall, each step sending a shudder of pain through his battered body.
In the Chief Judge's office, Hershey sat behind her desk, waiting for Bludd's call. Niles was with her, pacing restlessly back and forth from the door. The Tri-D screen on Hershey's desk came alive. "Control to Chief Judge, message coming in from Justice Seven for you!"
"Patch it through," Hershey commanded.
A careworn face appeared on the monitor. "PSU analyst Grissom reporting, ma'am. We destroyed the satellite containing the energy pulse beam weapon. It's no longer a threat to the city."
The Chief Judge smiled, happy to get some good news at last. "Congratulations, Grissom. Where's your commander, Judge Scattergood? I'd have thought she would want to tell me this herself."
Sorrow passed across the analyst's face. "We lost her, ma'am. Judge Scattergood sacrificed herself to take out the satellite. She saved us all."
Hershey's happiness faded away. Another death to add to Bludd's toll, another life lost trying to stop this creep. "Thank you, Grissom. Who's the most senior officer on Justice Seven now?"
Grissom turned away from the screen to glance round his colleagues. "I suppose I am, ma'am."
"Very well. As Chief Judge of Mega-City One I hereby promote you to acting commander of Justice Seven until this crisis is averted. Do well and the job can be yours permanently."
"Yes, ma'am. But haven't we averted the crisis already? We stopped the satellite from firing its weapon again."
Hershey grimaced. "Unfortunately, we suspect that satellite may be just the first of a dozen such threats in the sky. You and your team have to stop them all. Stand ready - Bludd isn't finished with us yet. Hershey out." She deactivated the Tri-D monitor. From the antechamber to her office a clock began chiming twelve. Niles stopped his pacing to listen.
"It's midnight."
The Tri-D monitor came back to life, the face of Jesus Bludd appearing on screen. "Good evening, Chief Judge, or should I say good morning. It's deadline time. Which is it to be, the money or your lives?"
Dredd staggered across the skedway in front of the Grand Hall, his legs collapsing as he neared the steps. "Don't give up now, Joe!" Kara's voice goaded him. "I can hear the chimes of midnight, you've got a few seconds left."
"Drokk you," Dredd snarled. He crawled towards the stone stairs, reaching one hand towards them. With one last effort he touched the first step with his fingertips.
"Congratulations, you made it," Kara said via his helmet radio. "The good news is the weapon used to destroy Joe Chill will never be fired upon Mega-City One, just as I promised. The bad news? It seems your Chief Judge is not as cooperative as you, Dredd. Now everyone in Mega-City One shall suffer the consequences!"
ELEVEN
Bludd waggled an admonishing finger at the Chief Judge. "Tut, tut! You have failed to transfer the required payment to my offworld accou
nt, Hershey. Are you ready for the consequences of such disobedience?"
"I don't answer to scum like you," she spat back. "Mega-City One will not be blackmailed. Do your worst Bludd, but heed this: attack my city and its Judges will hunt you down and kill you, no matter where you go and how well you hide. You will never be safe, never know peace again. Your days will be numbered and your life forfeit."
"So be it," Bludd replied. "You might want to look out your windows in the next few minutes, the fireworks are about to start."
Med-Judges swarmed around Dredd's body, trying to staunch the bleeding from his many wounds. Most of the PSU surveillance cameras surrounding the Grand Hall were still offline, so Dredd's approach had gone unnoticed. It was a passing patrol that first saw the Judge's body collapsed on the stairs and reported the emergency. Med-Division was based in another sector of the city, but the Grand Hall did have its own medical bay and staff of physicians.
Now a phalanx of Med-Judges was crouched on the building's front steps around the dying lawman. Leading the efforts to save Dredd was Callaghan. Only a few hours before she had accused Dredd of going rogue, now she found herself fighting to keep him alive. Much of his body was swaddled in rapi-heal patches but the razor cuts inflicted by Fincher were too deep for such treatment so a staple gun was used, metal bands crudely fastening the gaping wounds back together.
Handheld scanners monitoring Dredd's vital signs began bleeping in distress. "We're losing him!" Callaghan shouted as she examined the readouts. "Looks like a blood clot close to the brain. Get that helmet off him - we've got to relieve the pressure now!"
Another Med-Judge questioned her command. Blum was a stickler for procedure, an attitude that won him credit at the Academy but often proved too rigid in matters of life and death on the streets. "You can't do that procedure out here, the risk of infection is too high. He should be on an operating table, not the front steps of the Grand Hall!"
"He'll be dead before we get him inside. We do this here and now, or we lose him altogether!" Callaghan snarled. "Somebody hand me a laser scalpel."
Grissom stood in front of Scattergood's empty chair. The Chief Judge might have rewarded him with a field promotion to acting commander, but Grissom didn't feel ready to take the dead woman's place yet. She had been a towering presence on Justice Seven, transforming the orbital platform's status from minor outpost to a vital part of the Big Meg's defences.
"Commander," one of the other analysts called out, but got no response from the new boss of Justice Seven. "Grissom!"
"Sorry," he replied. "What is it?"
"One of the dormant satellites with geostationary positioning above the Big Meg is falling out of orbit, sir."
Grissom shrugged. "Not an infrequent occurrence. It's amazing those old tin cans have stayed up this long."
"Yes, but this one fired its retro rockets first. It isn't dormant any longer. Someone has deliberately triggered the descent mechanism."
"Trajectory?"
"Headed straight for the Grand Hall of Justice."
"Terrif," Grissom muttered. "How long for us to intercept that satellite?"
"Seven minutes."
"And how long before it re-enters the atmosphere?"
"Four minutes, sir."
"Stomm," the new commander hissed. "Plot an intercept course and fire all manoeuvring thrusters. We've got to find a way of stopping that satellite!"
Bludd finished tapping instructions into the stolen command and control system. In an era of voice-activated computers and faster-than-thought relays, using such an antiquated device was something of a shock. How did people ever cope with this puny processing power? It was remarkable to think such an arcane mechanism had controlled so many deadly weapons. The command and control system was technologically akin to a bow and arrow, he thought to himself.
Satisfied with his efforts, the crime boss strolled back to the comms centre of his orbiting headquarters. Everything was going according to plan. Now it was time to apply the squeeze. Bludd returned to his wall of Tri-D monitors, Kara vacating his hoverchair to take her own seat. "What's the latest?"
"Dredd's circling the drain," Kara replied. "They might save him but..."
Bludd was disturbed to see static on some of the Tri-D monitors. "And what's causing the interference on these screens?"
"Meds took off Dredd's helmet to treat his head wounds. The relay disc on the side of the helmet is face down. That's interfering with our signal from Control and PSU systems." Kara pointed at the live feed from a spy-in-the-sky camera observing efforts to save Dredd's life. "You can see it there."
Bludd peered at the image. A street Judge called Elson was picking up Dredd's helmet. As he turned the helmet over, the static cleared away from the monitors, the relay signal restored. "That's better," the crime boss said.
"Not for long," Kara noted. She amplified the audio signal.
On screen Elson was staring at the translucent disc on Dredd's helmet, puzzlement evident on the Judge's face. "Anyone know what this is?" he asked. The medics were too busy attending their patient to answer. Elson began picking at the disc, trying to prise it off the helmet.
"No, don't touch that-" Bludd urged.
Suddenly most of the Tri-D monitors went black.
"We've lost our relay signal," Kara said bleakly. "My bluff about the disc containing an explosive charge was only effective while Dredd was conscious."
Bludd shrugged. "It was good while it lasted. The pieces are in place. We can glean all the information we need from other sources now."
Justice Seven was moving faster than it had since being launched into orbit eight years previously. The platform was thundering across the sky, firing all its thrusters and manoeuvring rockets in a vain attempt to intercept the satellite tumbling out of orbit. Inside, Grissom was barking orders to his crew, trying to find some way of achieving the impossible.
"How long to intercept now?"
In front of Grissom sat another PSU analyst, Rayner. She scanned the readings on her computer screen before answering. "Three minutes, sir"
"And until that thing re-enters the atmosphere?"
"Eighty seconds."
On the large view screen in the command centre, the satellite was clearly visible ahead of Justice Seven, a black hulk given shape by the curve of Earth below it. Already the bottom of the satellite was beginning to glow red as its temperature rose, warmed by the friction of the approaching atmosphere.
"Drokk it, there must be something we can do!" Grissom protested.
Rayner looked over her shoulder at the new commander. "Even if we could reach the satellite, how would we stop it?"
"We'd find a way," Grissom replied. "Scattergood would've managed it."
"Less than a minute to re-entry."
Callaghan crouched above Dredd's head, the laser scalpel clenched tightly in her hand. "I'm going in," she announced. The Med-Judge began pressing the end of the cutting tool against the lawman's scalp. It sizzled through the skin, cauterising the blood vessels directly beneath before cutting into the skull.
"Getting some resistance. Gonna press harder," Callaghan said, all too aware of how dangerous this procedure was. Go too far and she would plunge the laser scalpel directly into Dredd's brain, performing a crude lobotomy. Hold back too much and he would be dead of a brain seizure within minutes.
Suddenly the scalpel was through the bone of Dredd's skull. Blood surged out the hole, boiling as it passed the intense heat of the laser, cooking in the air with a sickening smell of metal burning. Callaghan held her hands steady. "Withdrawing the laser scalpel. We'll let the blood clot drain out, then seal the vent. Everybody ready?"
The Med-Judge pulled the scalpel away and blood spouted from the circular hole in Dredd's skull. Once the flow had subsided Callaghan took a rapi-heal patch from one of her colleagues and positioned it over the void, while another medic secured it in place. "Vital signs?"
"Stabilising," someone nearby replied.
"Once the hover-stretcher gets here we can move him inside." Callaghan sat back on her haunches and took a deep breath, her face flooded with perspiration and relief. "We did it."
The satellite was re-entering the atmosphere, surrounded by blazing white light as it burnt up. Justice Seven plunged after it, Grissom determined to keep going until the last possible moment. Already the temperature inside the orbital platform was past all recommended safety limits and still rising.
"Sir, if we don't alter course soon, we'll burn up too!" Rayner protested.
"Not yet," Grissom snapped. "I want to be certain that thing doesn't reach the Big Meg. Do we know what the satellite's payload is yet?"
"Manifest is encrypted but I've transmitted it to Tek-Division for breakdown and analysis. Not sure if the message got through. This close to re-entry all radio signals start to degrade."
On the view screen the satellite abruptly exploded into a hail of green and yellow fragments, each burning brightly as it fell to Earth. "That's done it!" Grissom shouted in triumph. "Pull us away - now!"
"I'm not sure I can," Rayner said. "We used too much fuel getting here. There's nothing left to fire the manoeuvring thrusters!"
"Retro rockets then!"
"Gone as well, sir!" Rayner screamed as her computer exploded in a shower of sparks and flame. That set off a chain reaction as other systems began succumbing to the temperature.
Grissom sank back down into the commander's chair. "Get a message through to Control. We have tried to-"
Justice Seven exploded.
The sky above Mega-City One offers many exciting opportunities for the amateur astronomer. Powerful telescopes like the Home Hubble 3000 enabled ordinary citizens to observe a range of heavenly bodies. Twenty-second century fireworks were dazzling and undeniably exciting. But few pyrotechnic displays over the Big Meg could hope to match the astounding light show that began dancing overhead just after midnight.
