Surviving The Theseus (13 page)

George turned to see Michael had laid the
charges and was on his way back. Four disc-shaped charges, four
inches in diameter and half an inch thick, were spread across the
large window, horizontally, seven feet between each. Hopefully, it
would be enough. They would have to get off the level quickly, even
though there was probably some sort of emergency compression
stabilizer to block what would hopefully be a large hole in the
ship very soon. And then he saw it, a slit in the floor and
ceiling, along the front of the ship. The hole might get sealed
before their enemy got sucked out. No matter, time to go.

John and Paula were through the doors, Mary
following Paula, and Brett behind John. “Meet in the hallway,” Mary
said.

George and Travis brought up the rear, with
Michael and Cindy in front of them, each pair splitting at the
doors, Regina in the middle on John’s side, and Rachel in the
middle on Paula’s side.

As the SPARS members came through the control
room doors, they each opened fire at wherever the SPARS member in
front of them was last firing, keeping the creatures down. Everyone
moved very quickly.

*****

Regina looked at the kicked in Pyramid Staff
Only door as they came out into the hallway, the plate twisted from
the force of whatever kicked it in, the keypad smashed.

The lights emanating from the hallway walls
seemed dimmer than before, like they were turned down to a romantic
mood, but it had the opposite effect and made the ship look more
ominous.

John led them to the right, toward where the
others were coming. He put his hand up in the air to stop them;
Regina heard a voice come through on Michael’s glasses -- behind
her -- telling them to stay away from the door.

John stared forward, towards the door, and
then talked on the still open channel on his glasses. “This is
John, Paula. You’re good to go.”

Bullets pelted through the door and into the
wall in front of it, the shots focusing on the keypad. Regina
assumed the leader, Paula, was firing, and she cut a nice perimeter
around the keypad. It plopped out and onto the floor, and then the
door was kicked open. The door, although metal and heavy, slammed
around into the wall. Paula, Mary, Rachel, Travis, and Cindy came
through the opening.

George looked at Michael. “Against the wall,
everyone,” Michael said, and everyone did as asked, bracing
themselves against the wall, keeping away from the doors.

Michael looked at his left wrist, which
had a small device, like a watch but bigger, with a screen on it.
The device was a millimeter thick, three inches wide, and four
inches long. Part of the screen wrapped a little bit on both sides
of his wrist. He punched in a numbered code that Regina could not
catch, then an icon of a circular object, and then pressed his
index finger on 4 disc shapes displayed on the screen, one after
the other, and said, “Brace for decompression. We will be good at
this distance, but be prepared. And do not hold your breath.
Breathe normal. Again, probably good at this distance, but as a
precaution, pay attention to your breathing.” Michael pressed the
word
Execute
on his
screen.

Without thinking, because she didn’t know
exactly what to expect, Regina almost held her breath, but forced
herself to breathe out and in. Out and in.

The explosion, and the successive three,
shook the wall they were leaning on. Regina felt the air moving,
knowing that the explosions definitely breached the glass to
space.

She waited for the okay to move, and five
seconds later, when she no longer felt air movement, Michael moved
first.

“We’re good,” Michael said.

“John, over with Paula, and take point,”
George said. John went over quickly, and George followed, pointing
at Mary and Cindy to go back with Michael, Brett, and Regina. “Move
quickly. Set up cameras as you go, but don’t stop to do it. First
ones back, prep and ready the ship. Now go.”

There were only three levels to move down,
and they did it quickly, taking the first set of stairs, which
required a long hike down a hallway. Michael took the rear, walking
backward for the most part. Mary was on point. All of them had
their weapons at the ready, including Regina, Mary noticed.

She loved the SOAD, wiping out pieces of shit
in the universe, knocking out the stupid, the cowardly victimizers,
and the weak-minded lowlife murderers. Mary would have preferred a
more disciplined methodology, but she knew the SOAD was a very
effective group, with very solid success rates. They always got
their target.

Mary had considered the SOAD at one point, as
a career choice, but her parents were both SPARS so she followed
their footsteps. But she would take Regina over Brett any day.
Regina would not crumble under pressure, cower in fear in the face
of evil, or hesitate in the slightest at what she had to do.

As they came into the shuttle bay, they
slowed down. The bay still had pressure. Otherwise, they would not
have been able to open the door. Everything seemed normal, but Mary
knew it was not.

She could hear Brett’s impatience, with his
quick, loud exhales every few seconds, knowing he wanted to run for
their ship and get going, but he was young and stupid and had much
to learn. As much as she knew he hated her, she did not hate Brett.
He needed a lifetime of discipline in a short period of time, and
sometimes she grew tired of his laziness and attitude. His hatred
of her fueled him.

He needed a time out every once in awhile, a
little scare to teach him respect. Putting him in a dark room,
while sounds of his crew members being murdered surrounded him,
would put him in his place. But, even though she suggested it for
basic training, the military would not oblige. Maybe some shock
treatment would teach him manners. No matter, it would just take
longer. She would do it their way, for now.

Mary did not respond to Brett’s impatient
noises. She crept along the inside wall of the shuttle bay at a
safe pace, the smart pace. Pyramid shaped shuttles loomed over
them, sitting on landing platforms designed to slide out on a
track, through a bay door, so the ship could take off. In
emergencies, the platform would drop down and out. Mary took
everyone between the wall with the shuttle bay doors and the
shuttles themselves, sometimes with so little space that they had
to climb over part of a ship or around one of the magnetized
landing spikes that kept the body of the ship off the deck. The
engines sat on the base of the pyramid, and the shuttles were not
upright, but on one side, which is how they flew. All shuttles also
had engines facing the bay doors, so sometimes Mary would bump into
one of the three large cylindrical engines on one of the
shuttles.

The other group kept in contact, but was
slowed by the threat of orange flashing lights in the distance;
they would meet at the ship.

The SPARS ship sat between the two large,
main hangar doors for a quick exit. When they came upon it, nothing
looked out of the ordinary. The hatch was sealed.

As Mary walked up to the hatch, she said,
“Commander Mary Zannur. Open.” The door hissed softly as it pushed
out and up.

*****

Michael stood guard as Mary, Brett, Regina,
and then Cindy entered the ship. Michael followed after them,
slapping a green button, which closed the door. He waited for it to
seal, before turning around to face the others.

Mary stared at them all briefly, and then
pointed at Michael and Cindy, and said, “You know what to do.”

“We’re on it, sir,” Cindy said, cringing
slightly. Michael knew she thought it strange to call a woman sir,
but Mary would have it no other way. Michael wondered sometimes if
Mary was a closet lesbian, but as far as he had witnessed, she had
only been with men.

As Michael followed Cindy, he heard Mary bark
orders at Brett to secure the engine compartment.

Regina said nothing.

Just as Michael reached the hatch to the
cockpit, Cindy said, “Oh my God!” Michael stepped more quickly, but
suspected the worst, and got his wish. Just like the control room
in Pyramid, everything was fried. He could tell without pulling
boards. No power to any of the controls and a slight burning smell
throughout the area, which he knew was the destroyed boards. Even
though the hardware for the ship was securely hidden away, there
was no doubt in his mind it had been compromised. How it was done,
he had no idea.

The bigger question was what the hell was on
the ship, and what did it want? An invisible killing machine? What
was their purpose? Why kill everyone? It made no sense. He had seen
plenty of holographic horror movies of sinister aliens, but it was
just fiction. When you thought of the plots, they made no logical
sense, yet here he was stuck in his own holographic horror movie
that he couldn’t pause or turn off.

“One C,” Michael said loudly so Mary would
hear him.

She was at the hatch moments later, saying
nothing. Michael saw her out of the corner of his eye, while he
watched Cindy unsuccessfully try to restart the ship’s systems.

Michael turned to look at Mary. “We can’t get
the systems up. The ship’s been sabotaged.”

Mary stared blankly for a second, glancing
towards Cindy and then back at Michael again. “Keep trying,
Michael. I’ll --“

Just then Michael’s glasses crackled to life
with George’s voice. “We’re in the shuttle bay, and on our way to
you. Hold your fire.”

“Sir,” Mary said. “The ship has been
incapacitated, like Pyramid. We’ll try --“

Mary snapped her fingers and pointed to a
trap door behind the pilot chairs. Michael nodded.

“-- the redundant systems,” Mary
finished.

“E.T.A. two minutes,” George said.

Mary looked at Michael, but spoke to George.
“Watch your back, sir. They may still be around. Comm off.”

Michael turned as he hunched down to lift the
hatch. Mary stared off into space, lost in thought. A small shiver
coursed through his body, which made him twitch slightly, and he
could swear Mary was frightened. It was strange to see, because he
had never seen it before. No time to think about it. Just deal with
the problem at hand.

Michael could see Cindy still trying to
restore power in front of him. He opened the hatch.

*****

Regina sat in the back seat on the right side
of the SPARS holding area, waiting for the inevitable. Doom. She
heard Mary and Michael talking. If something sabotaged the ship,
where did it go? The only thing that made sense to Regina was there
were very few of the creatures, and they could not cover the whole
ship because the ship was too big. That was something. Better than
the nothing she thought they had.

And, even more than the luck of being on a
massive ship, whatever made everyone disappear seemed to be very
disorganized. They lacked training, which made her think it was
some sort of animal or creature. But where the hell did they come
from?

Off the grid and still moving. But where? And
why? So many questions and no answers, but there was at least one
person she hoped was still alive who could shed some light on their
situation.

Regina listened as she heard Michael’s voice,
but she couldn’t make out what he said. Probably telling Mary that
the redundant systems had also been compromised.

Rachel sat in the front right seat of the
holding area, and Regina across from her. The others stood. Michael
and Cindy peeked through from the cockpit. Brett leaned against a
wall opposite from Regina. She could see him staring at her, from
the corner of her eye, but didn’t give him the satisfaction of
acknowledging his attempt at an evil stare.

A snot-nosed punk was not going to dislodge
her better senses. It was obvious to her that he resented her,
probably because either she, or one of her working kin, killed
someone he felt was innocent. She’d seen it before and was used to
the hatred that followed her chosen career path.

Her attentions were directed at Rachel, who
was still being stubborn. Regina kept silent, because she would
only get frustrated otherwise. George was much more patient.

“Rachel,” George said. “We’re stranded on
this ship, which has been catapulted to God knows where. It’s a
flying death trap. Any light you can shed would be greatly
appreciated. I can assure you that nothing you tell us will have
any negative repercussions for yourself.”

Rachel, her head down, pushed her hands
through her long, black hair and looked up. Regina watched her look
everyone over and then over at George’s kind eyes. “It’s not that
simple. There are . . . other parties involved. Powerful. I signed
something. They’ll kill me, and you for just being associated.
Believe me, there will be no hesitation. If they are, in any way,
even mentioned as responsible for any of this, their response will
be swift.”

George did not take his eyes away from
Rachel’s. “Government?”

“Yes. Look, it wasn’t something anybody
expected, or wanted. I can’t even say for sure it’s what we did
that caused . . . this.” Rachel looked over at Regina. “I want a
document drawn up and signed by Regina that I will be protected by
the SOAD. They are the only ones above and beyond any single
government control, and she’s the only one I trust to do the right
thing.”

Regina was taken aback. Trusted her? She was
barking up the wrong tree. “I will not sign anything to protect
someone whom I deem responsible for the deaths of innocents.”

Pleading eyes stared back at Regina. “Look.
I’m a pilot. I flew a mission. That’s all. The details were never
revealed to me. I was contracted to do a job, and only had a small
piece of the puzzle. Blair told me a lot more, and even he was a
pawn. Either you protect me or I say nothing and we let fate decide
what happens to us.”