The Void (22 page)

“Captain, are you sure that's a good idea? Those people might need our help.”

Aidan glanced at Rebecca, but she was looking at her feet. Jack had said so little up to this point. Why now?

Ridley coughed out a laugh. “You can't be serious,” he said rather than asked. “You were watching, right? You saw what we found on that ship? There are no people left. And if there are, they're mad. Or worse. No, we should never have stayed here as long as we have.”

“But we don't know what happened,” Jack said. “For all we know, there could be survivors holed up over there somewhere. All I'm saying is that we should give them a chance. Aidan, here, says we've got another twenty-four hours. Why not take one more look? We can arm ourselves. I'll even go with you.”

“Oh, this is insane. Captain, you can't be considering this?”

“I tend to agree with Dr. Ridley,” Aidan said. “I think we've done our duty. Anything more is just risking more innocent lives.”

“I'm sorry, Mr. Crawford. We can't stay.”

Gravely turned back to Aidan while he called up jump routes that would avoid the
Singularity
. Jack Crawford stood in the center of the bridge, his jaw set. He looked over at Rebecca and she knew the question without being asked. She sighed deeply, but nodded once in agreement nevertheless.

“Captain,” Crawford said flatly.

“Mr. Crawford,” Gravely said, not bothering to hide her frustration, “perhaps you and Ms. Kensington would be better served waiting in the passengers' quarters. We can discuss this later.”

“No, Captain, we will discuss it now.”

In that moment, a chill fell over the bridge. Everyone in the room turned and gaped at Jack. He saw the confusion on each of their faces. Fear too. It lasted only a second for Gravely required only a moment for her to realize what was happening. For the first time, she truly took measure of this man before her and cursed herself for her stupidity. She was getting sloppy and she had let him slide right past her without question.

“Who are you, Mr. Crawford? Who are you really?”

“That's not important,” he said. “The only thing that matters is that you understand the situation. I'm not asking.”

“No, I think it does matter. People don't give me orders on my own ship, Mr. Crawford. No matter who they think they are.”

Jack ignored her and turned to Aidan. “Mr. Connor, take the ship back to our previous position above the
Singularity
and reengage the grappling hooks.”

“Captain,” Aidan said quietly, “what is this all about?”

“I believe, Mr. Connor,” she said, never taking her eyes off Jack, “that this is what you might call a mutiny.”

Crawford laughed once. “Not a mutiny, Captain. I outrank you.”

“Oh damn it all,” Ridley said, slumping down into a chair. “You're ISS, aren't you? You knew this would happen, didn't you? You knew about the ship. You knew we'd find it here. You've known all along.”

The Internal Security Service was often whispered of and much feared, but rarely seen in action. Their agents were not to be trifled with, and if Crawford was truly one of them, then the ship that Ridley had hoped to never see again was probably even more terrible than he suspected.

“Look,” Crawford said, “what I knew or didn't know is neither relevant nor important to what we must do here. Nor is my affiliation. All that's important is that we finish this. I gave you an order, Mr. Connor.”

Aidan looked up at Gravely and she nodded. He turned back to Jack and tried to give him the worst look his face could manage.

“I don't take orders from you,” he said.

“That's right, Mr. Connor,” Gravely said. “And, Mr. Crawford, I think you're on the wrong ship. I don't know if you heard, but I'm retired. If you want to file charges against me when we reach Riley, then you feel free. But I'm taking the
Chronos
out of this place and there's not a damn thing you can say to stop me.”

“Enough!” Crawford shouted. He reached behind his back and pulled out a pistol that he pointed directly at Aidan. “Mr. Connor, you will do as I say or I will eliminate you and find someone who will.”

“How did you . . .”

“Please, Captain,” Jack said before she could finish. “I don't know what kind of half-assed operation you think we're running here, but your stubbornness is not going to cost me that ship. Now if you don't mind, please tell your navigator here to do as I say before I have to kill him.”

“Do it, Aidan.”

Aidan looked up at Gravely and she saw the defiance in his eyes. “Do it. Please.”

Aidan glanced back at Jack Crawford and both men were fully aware it was only the latter's gun that kept them apart. But only Jack knew the damage he could do to Aidan with his bare hands.

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Aidan maneuvered the ship back into position over the
Singularity.
He fired the grappling hooks, and the two ships were connected once again.

“Alright, we're here. For now at least,” Aidan said, spinning around in his chair to face Jack. “But you can't watch us twenty-four hours a day.”

“No,” Crawford said, “that's true. I can't.” Crawford smiled over his pistol and for a second, Aidan was afraid he was about to shoot him. “Computer,” Crawford called out, “command protocol Crawford, Jack, 96367.”

“What are you doing?” Aidan gasped.

But he knew, even before Gravely answered, “He's taking control of the ship.”

The computer answered back, “Command protocol Crawford, Jack, activated. Mission parameters require a second authorization before protocol activation.”

“Ha!” Ridley stood up and glared at Jack. “What now?”

Aidan smirked. “Yeah, Jack, now what? You can't seriously think anyone on this ship is going to help you do this.”

When Rebecca spoke, Aidan felt a little bit of something inside of him break, something that to that point had somehow survived everything else he had seen.

“Computer,” she said, “Kensington, Rebecca, authorization 57846.” She faced Aidan and gave him a look that begged, pleaded with him to understand.

“I'm sorry, Aidan. I have my orders too.”

Chapter 17

Aidan sat slumped in a chair on the bridge, staring up at the monitors above him, the room silent except for the roar of the ship's engines. Even they were muffled now, their only job to keep the
Chronos
in stasis above that accursed derelict, the one Aidan wished he had never seen.

He considered turning off the monitors. It was one of the few things left on the
Chronos
 he could control. But no, as long as he could, he wanted to keep an eye on that ship.

It had all happened fast after Rebecca turned on them. Aidan laughed to himself bitterly. She had not turned. She'd never been with them. With the computer under his command, Crawford had locked down the controls. The ship wasn't going anywhere.

“Not until we secure that ship,” he had said. “Then you can have her back.”

Ridley had stormed out of the room without a word. Gravely maintained her dignity, even if Aidan couldn't. Not that he made a scene. He was too angry to move. Too angry to speak. He simply glared at Rebecca, who had long since refused to match his gaze.

“What would you have us do?” Gravely asked.

“We're going back over to the
Singularity
. And when I say we, I mean all of us.”

“Shouldn't someone stay with the ship?”

“Why?”

“It just seems prudent.”

“We don't have time for prudence.”

Crawford walked over to the console, standing uncomfortably close to Aidan. He pointed up to the image of the ship on the screen. “That ship is our number one priority. It's obviously in worse shape than I had hoped and we don't have much time. The faster Dr. Kensington can bring her back online, the faster we will be out of your hair. That's what you want, right?”

Gravely didn't bother to answer.

“Good. You have fifteen minutes to get your minds right. Then we go back and this time we don't leave until we know what happened over there.”

With that, Jack and Rebecca left together. Gravely followed behind them. She had said nothing else to Aidan and he appreciated that. He didn't feel like talking. So he sat there, staring up at the screens, occasionally tapping at the computer to see if he could regain control, the flashing red of an invalid command the only response he received.

The door opened and Rebecca walked in. She stopped just beyond the threshold. Aidan didn't give her the satisfaction of asking her to come any closer. In fact, when he did speak, he didn't even look up at her.

“Another message from your boss?” he said. “What does he want now?”

“Jack's not my boss,” she said, crossing her hands across her chest. “And he didn't send me up here.”

“Oh I see. So you only have yourself to blame.”

“Aidan . . .”

She started to explain herself, to make an argument about why he should forgive her. But there was nothing to say and part of her didn't think she owed him an explanation anyway. She considered turning and leaving, but instead she walked across the bridge and sat down across from him. “Aidan, look at me.”

“Rebecca,” he said, slamming his computer down on the console and looking up at her, “I'm not exactly sure why you think I want to talk to you or why you think I care about anything you have to say. Yeah, I liked you, and I thought maybe there was something there between us, but whatever it was, whatever it might have been, it's gone. I don't even know why you're here. You don't owe me anything, right? I get it. You have your orders. You are doing what you have to do. That's great. But you've put this ship in danger. You lied to me, and you lied to Captain Gravely. Honestly, I don't care about your reasons. I don't care about your excuses. You made your choice. Now we all have to live with it.”

Rebecca took a deep breath and sighed. She had expected this, even if she hoped things would be different.

“I know you're upset. I would be. But you need to understand something. I didn't know you or anything about you when I came on board. But I did know about the
Singularity
. I did know what it meant and I knew how important it was that we recover her if we could. You can judge me if you want to. You can sit here and pout about it. And you can be so pissed off at me that you won't even talk to me. Or you can help me finish what we started and get the hell out of here as soon as we can. That's your choice.”

Aidan frowned and shook his head. When he looked up at her, she knew he was listening.

“And when this is all over,” she continued, “you can be mad at me then. Or maybe you can think about forgiving me. All I'm asking is that we put that aside for now, if you can.”

The two of them sat there, heads bent, both wondering how Aidan would react. Rebecca hadn't known him long enough to be sure, and in truth, Aidan had no idea himself. Finally, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled deeply. As he did, Aidan felt the anger and the frustration melt away. He looked over at Rebecca and suddenly knew that she was going to win this battle in the end. Letting his temper get the best of him would accomplish nothing.

“Who are you, Rebecca? Who are you really?” he asked. The exhaustion in his voice seemed almost desperate and she felt the regret she had tried to keep buried suddenly resurface.

She tried to smile. “I'm exactly who I said I was, Aidan. I'm a warp physicist, who always wanted to go to space. I work for the ISS, or I have, at least, for the last few years. But this is my last assignment. I don't want to do this, not anymore.”

“Sounds like you are about to be unemployed,” Aidan said flatly. Rebecca laughed.

“Yeah, I guess that's true.”

“Well, you can sleep on my couch.”

Rebecca grinned slyly. “I was hoping for better than that.” It felt like a thousand pounds vanished from her shoulders when Aidan reached for her.

*  *  *

Ridley hadn't waited for Jack to finish giving orders before he stormed off the bridge. He had left the government to get away from people like Jack Crawford. Now here he was, once again under their thumb.

The
Chronos
was back in orbit above that accursed ship. He'd be going back. He knew that now. Crawford would require it and there was no denying a man like that. Ridley was angry—so angry that, as he walked into the infirmary, he almost didn't notice Cyrus. Almost.

The door to the infirmary opened and Ridley stumbled to a dead stop. Cyrus was standing at the edge of his cell, his nose so close to the force field containing him that it crackled under his breath. He was staring at Ridley, if it was possible for him to stare. And he was smiling. Between that smile and his eyeless gaze, Ridley couldn't say which was worse.

“How did you . . .”

Cyrus couldn't be awake. Ridley had pumped him so full of tranquilizers that he should be dead asleep. In fact, Ridley's only concern had been that he would accidentally kill him. Then Cyrus spoke and something deep within Ridley, something that defined him, something that kept him sane, snapped. And that's when Ridley truly knew fear.

“Hello, David,” Cyrus said, almost lovingly. It was not his voice. It was higher than it should be, with an accent that was not and had never been Cyrus's. Ridley knew that voice. He knew it, even if it wasn't a perfect copy, even with a tinge of the gruffness and timbre that had been Cyrus's.

“No one calls me that,” he whispered, swallowing deeply despite the dryness of his mouth. “No one, for a long time.”

“I do. I always did.”

To the world, his name was Malcolm Ridley. But his first name was David. He had hated it all his life. Most people had respected his request to be called Malcolm. But there was always one person who refused, one person who insisted on calling him by the name he was given at birth. Ridley had not heard her voice for a very, very long time. Not until now.

“Come here, David. Come closer so I can see you better.”

Cyrus smiled and a mixture of pus and blood and black ichor pooled in the pits of his eyes. Ridley found himself pulled toward the cell, inexorably and involuntarily, as if he had no choice but to follow the commands of the voice.