by C. Gockel
She looked up at Issk’ath, who still stared at her. She tapped its chassis and then her own chest. “We’re going inside,” she said and pointed to the door again. She saw its wings slide open an inch or two and then sink back. She hoped that meant it agreed. Letting go of the rail, she gave a light push with her toes against the hull and swung out around Issk’ath. It kept hold of the clip and she arced back toward the door, catching the handle before they could both go hurtling off into the dark. She peered through the glass. The lock was clear, the far door tightly closed. She pressed the red panel beside the door to cycle it. It blinked and she waited.
Issk’ath had drifted beside her. It clung to the thin rung beside the door with one pincer, the other held tight to her suit clip. Rebecca pushed against the door. She should have heard the whoosh of the lock by now, but it was silent and the door stayed shut. Maybe I didn’t engage it, she thought and pressed the panel again, watching it to see if it accepted her input. It blinked again, but nothing changed. She tried the door again, but there was nothing except the Wolfinger to push off of in space. No momentum to carry her weight into the door. She pressed the button again, hitting it rapidly over and over. Still, nothing happened. She looked up at Issk’ath. It had access to the Wolfinger, she knew that it did. “Can you open it? She asked pointing to the door. It looked at the door, but made no other movement. She peered through. She could see someone’s arm through the far door window. She couldn’t hear them, but they should be able to hear her. If not her voice, at least her fist. She banged on the door until her hand was sore. She hoped it was loud.
A face appeared in the doorway. Leroux. Rebecca smiled and waved, feeling slightly foolish. “Joan, open the door! The panel’s stuck. Something’s wrong with the feed or my suit or something.” Leroux watched her for a moment and then disappeared. “Finally,” sighed Rebecca. She turned to Issk’ath and tapped it gently on the chassis. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she said. It just stared at her. They waited another several minutes. “Something must have gone wrong with the lock. I’m sure Liu’s working on it.” Issk’ath’s wings slid out again. It was trying to tell her something. She shook her head and tapped the side of her helmet. “I can’t hear, I’m sorry.” She peered into the lock again. There was no face at the far door. She slammed her hand against the door. The reverberations made twinges race through her already sore wrists. “Hey, I’m out here. Someone talk to me. What’s going on?” Her breath was loud and heavy in her suit. Her pulse felt thick and sluggish and hot. She tried to be patient. No one appeared.
She leaned forward and her helmet clinked against the door glass with the tiniest sound. She closed her eyes. “Come on, Beck,” she said, “calm down. It’s just a glitch. Liu’s probably trying to figure it out. Panicking is only going to make your suit work harder. Think. They can’t hear you and as far as you know, you can’t hear them. The feed’s not working. The door’s not working. What would dad say? ‘Everything broken can be fixed. And if it can’t, break it worse so no idiot tries after you.’ That’s what he’d say.” She dissolved into a panicked laugh and wished that she could wipe her nose. Something clicked softly just beyond her face. She opened her eyes and looked up. Alice was just beyond the door.
“Alice! Thank the stars,” cried Rebecca. “The door’s not working. The feed either. Let me in—” Alice slapped a lab pad against the glass. A message was typed out on it.
“I’m sorry, Rebecca. We had to get rid of Issk’ath. It was the only way.”
She read it twice to be certain she wasn’t missing something. She glanced up at the robot. Its mandible opened and shut. Rebecca thought it might be hissing. She wished she knew. The lab pad disappeared. Rebecca shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said.
Alice tapped something into the pad. She held it up again. “It was using us to travel to the Keseburg. The others believe it meant to wipe us all out to prevent settlement. I don’t know, or care, if that is what it wanted. You know what would happen to the planet if we settled there. What would happen to us. I can’t let that happen.”
“What?” asked Rebecca.
The pad disappeared and came back a moment later. “The others want me to tell you that if you can persuade Issk’ath to let go, I can let you in. But I can’t risk it. I was going to trust you. All of you. But Liu convinced me. The Keseburg can never know about the planet. They have to believe if they go there, they die. This is the only way. You need to get rid of the robot. I’ll take care of the others. I know you understand. I’m sorry, Beck. It’s for your dad. And Angie. And all the others.”
The pad sunk down one more time. “No Alice, this is wrong— this is insane,” yelled Rebecca. She pounded on the door. “Don’t do this, let me in! We’ll figure out another way—”
Alice raised the pad again. “I’m sorry. If there’s somewhere after this, I’ll see you there. Wherever your ‘data disperses to’ as Issk’ath says. I’ll be right behind you.” She let the pad go and it floated beside her as she turned away. Rebecca panicked and let go of the door handle, smacking both arms against the door. “Alice!” she screamed, “Come back, Alice! Don’t leave me out here. Alice!” She flailed as she drifted farther from the door. Issk’ath’s pincer shot out and caught her wrist, dragging her back to the door. Its arm bent and caught her between the door and its thorax. Its wings slid out around them, and made a shimmering pyramid that prevented her from sliding out into space. The small antenna unfolded again from its chassis and wavered above her arm hinging down to the panel where her filament fed through the suit. Rebecca opened the port and Issk’ath sparked as it touched. Its metallic voice had never sounded sweeter.
“I cannot hear you Emery, and my knowledge of your facial movements is inexact. Dorothy was not adept at it. But your system is erratic. You are in distress. I understand why our situation is not optimal. Your colleague has deceived the others. And me. She means to harm them. If you cannot calm yourself, however, I fear you will suffer lasting damage. Liu said this suit could sustain you for several hours. You have tools at your disposal and myself. We will find a way to warn your friends. We will find a way back in. Dorothy said you made the space small when she was frightened. And you stayed close. I cannot make the space smaller than this. My body is limited. I hope it is enough.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and focused on drawing deep, slow breaths. “Keep talking, Issk’ath. Please keep talking,” she said though she knew it could not hear her.
Chapter Forty-Three
Alice floated through the lock and opened the far door. Captain Al Jahi was still shouting at Liu and Martham. She slid past the bridge without a word. There was no reason to alert them. This had to be done, but it needn’t cause them anxiety. She made her way into the biology lab. It was untouched, a small bulge in the far wall the only indication of the explosion in her own lab. Alice hovered over the specimen tanks. Spixworth’s bugs skittered through most of them, but Spike had also been brought along. Its corpse was frozen on the dissection board, waiting for Martham. A sudden, painful memory of Spixworth swept her as she looked at it. She shook it off. Everything aboard would be dead in a matter of days anyhow, without Blick to manage feedings. The lids were easily removed. She didn’t wait to watch the insects escape. They’d spread over the Wolfinger in time. She had a half-hope that they’d breed and the Keseburg would find their crew lying under an inch of alien bugs. Rebecca would have hated it. Alice closed her eyes. It’s for the good of all, she told herself again, and pulled the dead rodent from the cryo tray. It took a pair of pliers and several patient minutes to remove a few spines. She placed them in the pocket of her suit and released the small corpse. It floated slowly across the lab and bumped into another tank, its remaining spikes rasping against the glass. Alice ignored it and moved on to Blick’s station. She eyed the seed pods that Issk’ath had identified. What had it called them? Something with a hiss. Or a click. She couldn’t remember. Just that it was supposed to be a deadly neurotoxin
if burst. Blick had put large red warnings on all sides of the tank. She pulled a filtration mask from the wall. Alice unplugged the filters and unsealed the terrariums. A last resort. In case she couldn’t do it painlessly. The pod broke off easily from the stem. Its skin was leathery and dimpled, like an underinflated ball. She slid it gently into the pocket at her knee and continued opening tanks. She wanted the samples to be dead by the time the Wolfinger was found so they wouldn’t tempt the Keseburg to risk another attempt at the planet. Martham’s tool set glittered in tidy lines above her sink. Alice unclipped several dissection probes and stuffed them beside the bony spines in her jacket pocket. They were roughly the correct shape and size to match Issk’ath’s tarsus. Especially if the only thing the Keseburg had to compare it to was feed video of the robot. She wondered if Rebecca had persuaded it to let go yet. One thing at a time, she told herself.
Leroux was checking Dr. Cardiff’s blood toxicity. Blick snored in the bunk above her head. “How is she?” Alice asked. She closed the door behind her and slid closer.
Leroux frowned. “I think she’s improving, but without the feed— these hand tools are ancient. I’m not even certain they are calibrated correctly. I hope the robot is gone soon and we can—” she stopped, realizing what she’d said. “Flaming Core, Oxwell, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I just— I forgot Emery was out there too.”
Alice sighed and rubbed her eyes with one hand. “I understand. We’re all exhausted. I just— want to put all of this behind us. I want to get home safe. I know I’m in shock. We all are. Eventually, it’ll hit me, who we’ve lost, how much this mission has cost.”
“It seems cold to say, but when Peter Titov and Captain Al Jahi’s kids and all the rest are running around down there, their deaths will be worth it.”
“Yes. Our people’s safety. That’s what this is all for, isn’t it?” Alice palmed one of the dissection probes in her pocket.
Leroux nodded and tapped a number into the lab pad from her tool. She floated over to her medical kit anchored in the corner of the room. “You have anyone waiting for you?” she asked, turning back to Alice, who seized her chance. Alice shoved her feet against the wall behind her and shot across the small space, slamming into Leroux. The medic was flung backward into the wall and Alice grabbed the heating duct beside Leroux’s head, using her momentum to jam her elbow just below Leroux’s chin. Leroux gasped and raked her hands over Alice’s arm, leaving light scratches but doing little to free her. Alice pulled the dissection probe from her pocket with the other hand and reared back. She overshot, accidentally loosening her hold on Leroux. She hadn’t been prepared for the lack of gravity, but Leroux was still in shock and Alice slammed the probe into the center of her forehead before the medic could move. She swore as it sank in half an inch and stopped cold. Leroux was trying to scream, but Alice’s elbow was still thrust against her voicebox. Alice let go of the probe only to slam the heel of her hand against the silver end. She felt it grind and then pop farther in. She let go of Leroux, using both hands to twist the probe. She had to break an artery, Leroux didn’t need to suffer. Leroux grappled with her, trying desperately to push her away, but Alice clung on.
“I’m sorry, Joan,” she grunted, sawing the probe from side to side, “I don’t have your training. Not an easy vessel to—” she broke off and yanked at the probe. Leroux finally managed a halting gasp of air and then shrieked. It didn’t matter. The quarters had all been buffered for sound to help them sleep despite the engine noise. The others would never hear and Dr. Cardiff and Blick were out cold. She managed to work the probe free while Leroux scrabbled and struggled. A thick splash of blood followed the needle and pattered over Alice’s shoulder.
“It’s done Joan,” she said calmly around Leroux’s screams. “It’s for your husband’s sake, you know. He wouldn’t have made it. Or Peter or Dia, or any of the rest. He’s safer up here. The planet’s safer with us up here, too. But Liu was right. I couldn’t trust everyone to keep it a secret. Even if you’d agreed. Close your eyes now. It’ll be done soon.”
Leroux ignored her, swimming down toward her medical kit. She fumbled among the tools. Alice shoved her easily away and a string of blood bubbles slid from Leroux’s forehead. “Sorry, Joan. I can’t let you. I don’t think you’d make it anyway. It’d only make this longer.”
“Traitor,” hissed Leroux. Her eyes drooped. She made another feeble flail at Alice and missed, her body spiraling back into the wall from the momentum. The bubbles of blood splashed over her face and into the wall in large scarlet sunbursts. Leroux’s head clunked. She bounced back toward Alice. She didn’t move again. Alice pushed her out of the way and into the corner. She pulled herself down to Dr. Cardiff’s bunk. An easier one. There was no point in getting complicated. Her blood was already awash in formaldehyde from the methanol. Alice peeled a pillow from its velcro and pressed it firmly over Cardiff’s face. The doctor didn’t even wake.
Alice rose to the top bunk. Blick was stirring, even through the drugs. A blob of Leroux’s cooling blood had splattered over his nose and he was clumsily wiping at it with one hand. His eyes were still closed and he’d made no move to unbuckle from the bunk, but Alice knew she’d have to move fast. The angle was awkward. She’d never get enough leverage to use the probe. Not in the same place Issk’ath had, anyway. Unless — she pushed higher. Blick was blinking now, the damp of the blood making him swipe at his face. Alice pushed back down from the ceiling and settled over Blick’s chest, sliding her feet under the buckle straps that held him in.
“Hmm?” he muttered, fully waking. “What’s going on?” He looked at the hand that he had wiped his face with and recoiled at the sight of blood. He squinted up at her. “Oxwell? What’s happened? Who’s—”
Alice had panicked, grabbing the spines from her pocket instead of the probe in her haste. She raised them over her head and arced down toward Blick’s throat. There was a loud ripping sound as his sleeve jerked away from the velcro and he grabbed her hand. The drugs had been less effective than she’d believed. Perhaps Leroux had skimped because of the short supply. Blick yelled and twisted her wrist. The bony spines missed his neck and plunged into the meat of his shoulder. He roared and shoved at her. She groped in her pocket for the dissection probe and he clicked the harness loose, wriggling out from beneath her.
“What are you doing?” he cried, trying to wrench the spines from his shoulder.
Her hand closed around the probe. It tore her pocket as she yanked it free. Blick had pulled free of the bunk and caught sight of Leroux’s slumped corpse as it hovered near the wall.
“Leroux!” he shouted, “Help, Oxwell’s snapped. I need the— I need the—” He shook Leroux’s shoulder and her head rolled slightly, popping out another string of blood bubbles. “Galactic Void, Joan, are you all—” he tilted her head gently with his hand and backed away with a cry as the puncture wound in her forehead glistened in the harsh electric light. Alice lunged from the bunk, but her aim was still off. The probe hit the back of his head with a thick crunch. They tumbled through the air. Blick reached back and wrenched the probe from his skull with a groan. He kicked Alice away as his shoulder slammed into the closed door. He caught sight of Dr. Cardiff and reached out to shake her foot. “Cardiff,” he yelled, “Cardiff, wake up!”
Alice twisted around, searching for another weapon. She dove for the medical bag, ignoring Blick’s frantic effort to wake Cardiff’s corpse.
“Flaming Core, Phyllis, wake up and help me!” Blick yanked on her leg, but Dr. Cardiff didn’t move. His head throbbed and the spikes in his shoulder were beginning to burn his skin. He gave up on Cardiff. She was too drugged or something. He needed help. Whatever had happened to Alice, she wasn’t calming down. He tapped his feed. It buzzed at him. He hit it again. Nothing. He slapped the door console above him and it slid open. “Liu!” he shouted, “Liu, Martham—” he shoved himself out into the hall. A sudden tug on his ankle dragged him backward and he caught himself o
n the doorframe. “Help! Emery, Liu, I need help!”
Something light slithered over the back of his neck. Blick panicked and let go of the door. He twisted around and the thing wrapped around him. It was the strap from Leroux’s medical bag. Alice twisted it to tighten, but Blick managed to get his fingers under the strap in time. She grunted and twisted harder. There were shouts in the hall. Alice jerked away, launching herself over Blick and out into the hallway. She retreated farther into the Wolfinger.
“She’s mad,” gasped Blick, fumbling with the strap. Liu helped him.
“Stars, Blick, what happened?” gasped Martham. “Let me— Leroux, hand me your tweezers we have to get these—”
Blick shook his head and Martham glanced over at Leroux’s slumped form. “She’s dead,” he wheezed. “I think Oxwell killed her. She attacked me in my sleep. Check Cardiff.”
Liu slid by them toward the bunk.
“Where’s Captain Al Jahi? Emery? Are they still outside?”
Martham exchanged a troubled glance with Liu. “Captain Al Jahi is safe. She’s on the bridge. Let’s get these spikes out of you and find Oxwell before she hurts someone else.”
“Dr. Cardiff’s dead too,” said Liu. “Did she— say anything, Lionel? Why did she do this?”
Blick shook his head. “Not a word. She just— stabbed .”
“There’s another emergency kit on the bridge. Let’s get him there, before Oxwell comes back.”
Martham nodded, gripping Blick around the waist. Liu followed them out into the hall, trying to guard their back.
