CHAPTER 15
Whatever has gone wrong inside,
the automated system still works.
As we glide toward
the bay doors, the sensors detect us, and Emry opens up. I try to
squelch the mental image of the docking mechanism as a gigantic maw
waiting to devour us. Comm silence has become eerie.
By now someone should
have come on, asking about the nature of our emergency. Instead the
station AI coordinates our arrival in mechanized silence. Through
the view screen, I watch as the inner doors seal. They won’t reopen
until the outer doors close, and this area regains sufficient
pressure and oxygen levels to support human life. Typically that
takes about two minutes.
Emry is an ugly
station, designed with function in mind: two circular decks that
rotate slowly in counterpoint to create artificial gravity. I wait
until the docking procedure completes and then swing out of the nav
chair. March follows me down through the hub, all the way to the
hatch.
“Who’s going with
us?”
“Kora and Dina need
to stay with the ship,” he says at once.
That must be because
he wants one of our people making sure Surge and Jael don’t fuel up
and repo this thing, leaving us stranded. March grins and offers an
infinitesimal nod. I guess he doesn’t trust Vel completely yet, for
all the guy saved my ass a few weeks ago. I can’t blame March; he
takes a while to warm up to people.
“I’ll go,” Vel says
quietly.
I’m not entirely sure
that’s a good idea. We might need him on the ship to help Dina, if
our passengers get any bold ideas. That is, until Jael adds, “Me,
too.”
I relax a little.
Dina can handle herself against Surge. Kora should be too busy
looking after Sirina to start anything. Plus if Dina is really her
baby’s godmother, there should be some Rodeisian rule against
attacking her.
“Let’s gear up
then.”
What gear? I’ve been
a galactic vagabond since the Sargasso ,
owning little more than a change of clothes. I’m not sure what he
means, unless the Luck has a hidden cache.
Over the last two weeks I’ve been over this junk-bucket starboard
to stern and didn’t find anything. Then again, maybe I just didn’t
know where to look.
March heads for the
maintenance closet. I watch as he keys open a smuggler’s cupboard,
where they’ve hidden a supply of shocksticks and a disruptor. He
takes the latter and shoves it through his belt. With a shudder I
remember how the thing mangled his arm, how I used it on other
human beings. I’ll never be able to use one again: Sometimes in my
sleep I still hear their screams. Before DuPont Station, I’d never
killed anyone.
I don’t know how much
use I’ll be in a fight, but I take a baton nonetheless. Jael
follows suit, but Vel just shakes his head and turns toward the
exit.
Since I’ve seen him
fight bare-handed, I know he doesn’t need a weapon. He’ll have to
slip his human skin, though. Jael will probably piss himself if
that happens.
“Leave the light on
for us,” I call to Dina.
She grins. “Try not
to get yourself killed, dumb-ass.”
“It’s a tough job,
but someone’s got to do it.”
March pauses and then
says to Surge, “See if you can get the fueling system to engage,
but do not leave the docking bay.”
I’m not sure if the
guy’s dumb enough to venture out alone. I tend to say no—he was
smart enough to get off planet when he didn’t have enough creds to
provision his ship. I think they’ll be okay. Plus he’s got a wife
and kid to think about, so Surge won’t do anything stupid. He’s not
the one we need to worry about cowboying all over the place. I
glance at Jael and sigh.
March is the first
one out. He skins down the ladder with a grace I can’t help but
admire. Or maybe it’s his ass. Anyway, I go next, hitting the
ground with an extra bounce that tells me we’re in light G. The
station’s crew probably take supplements to prevent suffering
long-term physiological damage.
Vel lands lightly
beside me, and Jael doesn’t bother with the ladder, just leaps.
Despite my best intentions, his recklessness appeals to me on a
visceral level. In another time, before the Sargasso, I suspect I would’ve found him
irresistible.
March cuts me a look,
but thankfully he doesn’t say anything, at least not about that.
I’m glad he has some common sense. From the look of the docking
bay, we might be the last humans left in this sector. Sputtering
lights hint at some unknown electrical problem, and my sense of
foreboding doubles.
“You think it’s safe
to go on?” I hesitate, looking at the far doors, which lead into
the station proper.
“Probably not.” March
flashes me a smile. “You still in?”
“Yeah.” It goes
unspoken that I was ready to die at his side weeks ago. That hasn’t
changed.
“We work in pairs
then. Vel, you’re with Jax. Jael, you come with me.”
Falling in with Vel,
I can’t help but raise my brows. I didn’t expect we’d split up.
“You sure this is a good idea?”
“We’re sticking
together, Jax. I’m not stupid. But you never know what might happen
inside, so it’s best if you have someone designated to watch your
back.”
That makes sense.
“Okay, I’m guarding Vel.”
More like the other
way around, but the bounty hunter is kind enough not to say it
aloud. The automated system has opened the doors into the station
for us, but I can’t see beyond a turn in the dark corridor. A wisp
of something brushes my face, like a spiderweb, but when I turn I
can’t see anything. Maybe it’s nerves.
Nobody speaks as we
push onward. All my aches and pains fade to a low hum. The
instincts that have kept me alive for thirty-three years kick to
the fore, leaving me clearheaded and alert. I feel Vel at my back,
like he’s my mantid guardian. Shit, he might be for all I
know.
In my right hand, I
feel sweat forming around the shockstick. The air doesn’t smell
right as we move deeper, following the external corridors toward
the inner reaches of the station. The security doors are all stuck
wide open.
Yeah, something’s
definitely wrong.
As we come into the
commissary, I see the place has been ransacked. Crates and barrels
torn open, but the supplies have been left behind. What the hell
were they looking for? Chem? Contraband? Anyone with half a brain
knows you aren’t going to find that on an emergency station.
Smugglers avoid these places like the plague.
Here, you can fuel up
and buy paste, maybe some organic for the kitchen-mate if they’ve
stocked up recently. You can also find basic medical assistance.
And that’s all a station like this offers.
Sweet. Something
smells sweet and raw. Almost like a butcher shop gone bad.
Overhead, the lights
flicker and go out.
Wordlessly, Vel
produces a torch-tube from his pack. Ever prepared, he is. When he
bends it, the chemicals mix and emit an eerie yellow-green glow.
The silence is starting to get to me. I can hear the hum of distant
machinery, but no human movements, no voices echoing.
Just silence.
Darkness.
Vel raises his light
just as I step into a puddle of something dark and sticky. Blood.
Oh Mary, it’s like being trapped on the Sargasso, but without the overlying stench of burnt
meat.
I feel March curl his
hand around my shoulder, reassuring me. “Did anyone else bring
light?”
Like a stupid newb, I
have to shake my head. Apart from the shockstick I didn’t bring a
damn thing. Sweat rolls down my spine, pools in the small of my
back. My jumpsuit sticks to me, and I’m sure I stink of
fear.
You’ll be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to
you. His presence fills my head, pushes back the panic. Maybe
they’re empty promises, but March has never let me down.
Jael has been oddly
silent, so he startles me when he finally speaks. “I’ve been
through something like this before,” he says, as if he doesn’t want
his voice to carry.
I still don’t hear
anything. It’s as if we’re being hunted, unseen predators creeping
closer while we wheel blindly in the dark. At this moment I’d sell
my soul for a pair of night-vision goggles.
“What happened?”
March asks. “Where?”
The guy just shakes
his head. “I don’t want to upset anyone.” I glare, not that he can
see me. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he means me. Before
I can tell him off, he continues, “If I’m wrong, then there’s no
need for me to talk about it.” His voice grows taut. “And if I’m
right, then Mary help us all.”
