Ariadne Read online

  Xev rubs at his head. “You’re saying that fucking explosion may have just saved our goddamn lives?”

  Hewlis nods. “We blow the mechanism that keeps the legs extended and they should retract automatically, collapsing the hyperspace field. Dropping us back into normal space rather than throwing us out of it—which would be disastrous.”

  “You told us earlier that you only work on the convention sub-light engines,” Klund says. “How can you know this will work?”

  “And you’re just the geek who makes sure the ship’s bio-mechanical connections are in the green,” Hewlis snaps at him. “Do you have a better way out of this mess?”

  Klund is agitated, annoyed. His long, thin head shaking in frustration—I guess he’s a fan of convention, of rules and regulations, of doing things the accepted way. Thinking outside the box is difficult for him. “How do you plan to do it?”

  “It won’t be easy,” says Hewlis, “and I’m not one-hundred percent sure it will work. Someone goes outside the ship, plants an explosive and gets the hell out of there.”

  Xev taps Hewlis on the shoulder. “It sounds to me like you’re that someone.”

  “‘Fraid not,” Hewlis replies stabbing a thick finger at his wafer. “Whoever does this will have to be slim enough to squeeze through these leg stanchions. There’s no way I can do it. It will have to be one of you.”

  “I’ll do it,” says Drex.

  “You sure?” Hewlis replies. “Once the legs are retracted, it’ll be a rough ride back into normal space. You’ll need to anchor yourself to the ship.”

  “Hell, I’m dead already if we don’t do this. We all are. And if I pull it off, it’ll look great on my record, so why not?”

  “Rather you than me, kid,” Xev says. “But good on you.”

  “Before we do anything, we need to find out who this imposter is,” Klund says. “Isn’t that why we are here in my lab? To find out what they know? Maybe Rooba has a way of stopping the ship?”

  “I don’t know anything,” Rooba says quietly. “I’ve been set up.” She darts accusing eyes at Klund. “I’m not the imposter. You’ve all been played.”

  “You all saw me do the tests,” Klund says, raising his hands. “There is no way I could have manipulated the results. You have been caught fair and square young lady.”

  “It seems to me like we have a choice,” Hewlis says. “Interrogate this bitch in the hope she will give us a way out of this mess, that she can somehow command the ship to leave hyperspace, or we take more direct action.”

  “Go with the engineer’s plan,” Rooba says. “I know nothing about the goddamn hyperdrive! I’m a consort. You’ve all been duped. Blowing the array is a better proposal than wasting your valuable time talking to me.”

  Drex roughly kicks Rooba, making her grunt in pain. “I say we off her now. Blast her six tits all over the deck.”

  All eyes turn to me.

  “Time is running out,” I quickly say. “Our best option is action. We go with Hewlis’ plan.”

  “Then we might as well kill it now!” Drex says.

  “Do it!” Rooba replies. “At least you’ll know I’m innocent.”

  “No!” I reply. “No one else is gonna die. Not on my watch. Not unless I deem it’s necessary.”

  Drex is not pleased, but he ain’t the one in charge.

  “Where do we need to go?” I ask Hewlis. “Cos we need to go now.”

  The engineer taps at his schematic. “Not far. Two decks below. Follow me.”

  Hewlis steps towards the open panel and stops in his tracks. From the depths of the ship, comes an inhuman wail, a soulless, terrifying sound, full of ominous tones and primeval threat.

  “What the hell is that?” Hewlis says.

  “I don’t know,” Xev replies. “But it sure sounds pissed off.”

  I make eye contact with my old boss. “You think that sound came from the thing that tore Boyd apart?”

  Xev chuckles darkly. “If we weren’t in enough trouble as it is, something is in the walls and it ain’t happy.” He grabs Rooba and roughly pulls her to her feet. “You’re with me, honey,” he says, dragging her towards the open panel. “If there’s something down there, maybe they’ll go for you first.”

  I glimpse Rooba’s face, the snouted mouth is closed, the eyes unreadable. My estimation is that she’s shut down. Switched off. “Keep a close eye on her,” I say to Xev. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with. She’s dangerous. She may even be in cahoots with that thing down there.”

  “I know,” Xev replies. “That’s why I’ve got this antique fucking buzz-gun stuck in her back. She won’t be able to do much anything with a hole blown in her spine.” He jabs the gun at Rooba. “Are you listening, sister?”

  Rooba doesn’t react.

  Xev looks inside the door panel. “Nothing,” he says, pushing Rooba before him.

  Hewlis turns his big mop head toward me and Xev, his wet eyes staring intently from the brown skin of his weary face. “And make sure to have your guns ready, should they be needed. I don’t want to end up like Boyd.”

  “None of us do,” Drex says.

  WE EMERGE into the freezing darkness of two decks below, lit only by the engineer’s wafer, which reveals a cramped corridor, walls the same brass metal as the bridge area, but featureless. The cold leeches into me. I pull back the blood from my extremities, but it doesn’t stop the chill.

  “These are the bulkheads that protect the hyperspace array,” Hewlis says, staring at his wafer, his voice a low rumble. “Impenetrable. But, our plan ain’t to try and break in.”

  “We didn’t search down here,” Drex says. “I didn’t even know it was an actual deck.”

  “It isn’t,” says Hewlis. “This is the cavity that houses the array when it’s retracted.”

  Drex looks startled. “You mean that if the array is closed, we’ll be crushed?”

  “That ain’t gonna happen,” Hewlis replies, “…yet.”

  Xev makes a guttural snort. “You sure know how to pep-talk,” he says. “Maybe you can tell us your thoughts on that thing we heard screaming down here. You think it’s coming to get us?”

  “Shut up, all of you,” I say. “Let’s get a move on before we all freeze to goddamn death.”

  We walk forward in the dark—crazy shadows flicking on walls, floor and ceiling. Xev’s words and the memory of that dreadful scream have me worried. Something is down here with us. But what? I become convinced I can hear the pad of heavy feet somewhere behind.

  I hang back, buzz-gun in hand, the circle of light leaving me as the others keep moving. Without the light, the cold feels suddenly magnified. I concentrate on my ears. On nothing else. A trick I learned a long time ago. Moving my head from side to side. But with the ship vibration and various other mechanical noises coming from behind the bulkheads, I’m hard-pushed to hear anything.

  “Vatic! Where the hell are you?”

  The voice belongs to Xev.

  “Here,” I shout, jogging back to the others.

  “What the fuck were you doing?” he says.

  “Let’s get on,” I reply.

  We arrive at an air-lock area. Hewlis punches a switch and the chamber is flooded with light. An ante-room large enough to house a series of tools, skinsuits and helmets and the six remaining survivors that now occupy it. The door is made of the same thick, brass-like metal as the bulkheads.

  Xev thrusts Rooba onto the floor, keeping the gun pointed at her. Playing the ‘guard’ with aplomb.

  “What do I have to do?” Drex asks, his voice nothing more than a squeak. The kid is afraid, but I give him his dues. What he’s about to do is damn brave.

  “You need to crawl down the outer hull,” Hewlis replies, rooting through tool bins and hatches. “The array field fluctuates, but never touches the ship. To stay safe, you’ll need to keep yourself away from it, otherwise…”

  “Yeah,” Xev says smirking “You don’t want to lose your head like Boyd.�
�

  Drex flashes Xev an angry look.

  “Hey,” Xev replies. “I’m just trying to get you to focus on the job.”

  “What you’re looking for,” Hewlis continues, ignoring the exchange, his eyebrows furrowing over his wafer, “is the control node where the central leg emerges from the fuselage.”

  “That sounds straightforward,” Drex replies.

  “It is, kid. You can’t miss it.” The engineer straightens, his hands grasping a welding torch and a canister of hull sealant. “It’s the next bit that’s tricky.” He hands the torch to Drex who takes it off him, a determined expression on his face. “What do I need this for?”

  “You will have to squeeze through the leg-stanchion to get to the node. Once there, attach yourself securely and burn a hole inside. You’ll see a whole heap of wires. Just keep burning through them. When you’ve made a hole as big as your head, fill it with the hull sealant. Once deployed, it will begin to quickly expand—dangerous stuff in an enclosed environment. Which is your cue to try and get back inside the ship. The node should be ripped apart, forcing the legs to retract.”

  “Are you sure it will work?” says Klund, looking a deathly shade of blue in the cold.

  The engineer’s breath freezes upon the air. “Nothing is sure, but it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

  “Yeah,” Xev says. “Shut the fuck up and let the kid get on with it.”

  “I find the node,” Drex repeats, focusing in on his task. “Burn a hole in it. Fill it with sealant… And head back to the airlock, right? And if I can’t make it in time, to tether myself to the fuselage.”

  “Yeah. That’s the plan,” the burly engineer replies. “Talk to me over the two-way, relay to me what you see. But what we’re attempting is straightforward, just unpredictable and a tad dangerous.”

  “Right,” says Drex, who looks even smaller as he quickly undresses down to his boxers, his short, stocky limbs covered in goose bumps. He pulls on a skinsuit, tweaking its environment controls before grabbing at a helmet and entering the airlock. “Wish me luck.”

  Hewlis pushes the door shut and recycles the air. The outer-lock opens and we’re bathed in the flashing lights of hyperspace.

  “It sure is pretty,” Drex says over the com.

  “Focus on the job. You see the central leg?” Hewlis says.

  “Yeah,” Drex answers.

  “Good. Make sure you stay away from the hyperspace field, or you’ll be ripped apart.”

  “I don’t need telling that.”

  “Be careful and you’ll be home dry.”

  “I see the legs. I’ll have to clamber over the hull to get to the node.”

  “You’re doing good kid.”

  “Shit!”

  “What is it?” Hewlis asks, his large brown eyes staring at us.

  “Some kind of gas emission, it nearly blew me into space.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Something vented from the ship.”

  “That can’t be right,” Hewlis says, bringing up his schematic. “There’s a series of small ports and ducts all over the fuselage. There’s no reason why any of them should be expelling gas.”

  “Could it be Velez’s goddamn explosion?” Xev asks.

  “No. The hull systems are isolated. I haven’t a clue what that was. Drex… you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Took me by surprise.”

  “Just watch your step.”

  “I’m fine, I’m nearly there. Just a few more—aaargh! Fuck!”

  “Drex what is it.”

  “Something hit me. Debris.”

  “Drex, anchor yourself to the ship now!”

  “Where the hell would debris come from?” I ask.

  “It’s Ariadne,” Klund says. “I knew it! She does not want us to succeed.”

  “What the hell do you mean by that?”

  “I told you… she has gone insane.”

  “I’m gonna anchor myself… I can’t take the chance that—”

  “Drex?” Hewlis shouts down the com.

  Static.

  “Drex! Come in.”

  “I’m loose. I’m gonna hit the hyperspace field. I’m gonna—”

  “Drex!” Hewlis repeats. “Drex!”

  No reply other than the repeated crackle of the com.

  Xev hunches his shoulders and shrugs. “Drex is dust,” he says. “Goddamn it!”

  I turn to Hewlis, who’s face is a pallid blank. “What the hell did he do wrong?”

  “Nothing,” the engineer replies, his eyes on the outer-lock door.

  “It was Ariadne,” Klund rasps. “She did it.”

  “But how?” Xev asks.

  Hewlis pulls one enormous hand through his curly grey hair and grimaces. “Like I said, I’m just a regular engineer. I don’t know how Ariadne’s systems interact with the ship.”

  “She could do it any number of ways,” Klund says. “Vent a port, super-warm or super-cool the outer hull to interfere with a skinsuit, blow an inspection hatch.”

  “Then why didn’t you warn Drex before?” Xev asks in exasperation. “We just sent that kid to his death.”

  Klund shrugs. “I did not realise how much the ship wanted to kill us.”

  “Well guess what,” I say. “Seeing as you know all about it, you’re up next. Get suited.”

  Klund is motionless.

  “You deaf?” I reply. “Maybe Ariadne won’t want to kill you as much.”

  “But I’m not trained in evac,” he bleats. “And besides, this is a stupid plan.”

  I turn to Hewlis. “Basic Training is still Basic Training, isn’t it?”

  The engineer nods. “Company policy. Has been since the war.”

  “So, you’re all trained-up, Klund. What are you waiting for?”

  The geek says nothing.

  “Speak!” I shout at him.

  A deafening scream from the corridor outside the airlock and a massive, muscled silver-haired, blood-splattered creature careens into the room, crashing into me.

  THE CREATURE knocks me to the floor—the wind blasted from my lungs—and a rough, powerful hand wrenches the buzz-gun from my belt.

  The thing shrieks loudly, and I see the monster for what it is. A humanzee. Half-man, half-chimp. The old-faced boy Pirella was so insistent she’d seen. The monster that ripped Boyd apart and that had been following us ever since Klund joined our little band.

  Xev raises his gun, but is too slow, the creature knocks it from his hand. It clatters along the floor towards Klund.

  The geek scrabbles at the gun with long fingers, scooping it up.

  “Shoot!” Xev shouts, but the geek does nothing. “Klund! What the hell are you waiting for? Blow it away!”

  A sly smile appears on Klund’s lips. “Stand down, Giri,” he says to the humanzee, his voice full of sudden authority. “And give me that bastard’s gun.”

  The creature called Giri comes back to itself, the anger and threat leaving its face, unable to resist the words of who I now know is its master. It turns on enormous, flattened, naked feet and hands my gun to Klund.

  “Thanks,” the geek says, with a pleased grin, stuffing the weapon into his belt and raising the other against me, its decorated exterior flashing in the harsh light of the airlock chamber. “Get up, Vatic and meet Giri. My faithful companion for many years.” He turns to the humanzee and smiles. “You did well, my friend.”

  Giri sidles up to Klund and takes position at his side. It wears a one-piece bloodied smock that fits tightly over its stocky, overtly-muscled frame. I remember Boyd’s ripped limbs and shudder. This creature must have the same strength as a chimpanzee—but he’s twice the size.

  “I could’ve saved myself a lot of trouble if I’d instructed Giri to kill you,” Klund says to me. “But I told him to keep the Skilled alive. That was my first mistake.”

  I stand up and glare at the geek. “So, what’s your next move… Professor Chandrasekhar?”

  “What?” says Hewlis.
/>
  “Oh well done, Professor!” Xev says, clapping his hands, keeping one eye on the humanzee. “I knew you were a smart cookie. But this is off the chart.”

  Professor Chandrasekhar, aka Eric Klund, smiles. “This was my show from the start,” he begins, a practiced sneer crossing his youthful, elongated face. “My ship. My project. All mine. And the Company wanted to take it away from me, didn’t they? To give it to my supposed successor, Mandibald Glaxtinian. They should’ve realised who they were dealing with. I knew Glaxtinian was up to something when I found out her son, Murton Boyd, was aboard gathering intel to try and bring me down. Me! You think I haven’t survived similar coups?”

  He produces a small punch-syringe and jabs it into his neck. Almost instantly, the geek’s facial muscles begin to twitch, accompanied by a growing darkness to his skin.

  “I’m one-hundred and sixty-two years old,” Klund continues. “How do you think I got to this great age whilst keeping my vaulted position in the Company? By sitting back? By letting the ambitious walk all over me? By letting them steal my work?” His face puckers into an old man’s scowl. “No. I’ve survived many Company coups in my time and this one is no different. Sure, it’s messier than I would’ve liked, but the Company will get the message that I’m not so easily replaced. Nor underestimated.”

  “So, what exactly went down here?” I ask. “About Glaxtinian, Neo-Dawn and this goddamn gassed ship?”

  Klund takes a step back and smiles. “My plan was simple if not audacious. I organised the party under the guise of presenting Ariadne to the Company, knowing that Glaxtinian was going to use this event as an opportunity to take control. But the jumped-up arbiter underestimated me, as many have done before… all to their disadvantage. Yes, it was I who contacted Velez and gave her the idea and the means to blow Glaxtinian and all those other self-important grandees into space. The ship’s strategist, a career-minded girl who had gotten too big for her boots and who was beginning to undermine my authority, was to take the blame—after myself and Ariadne saved the day by killing Velez and her associates of course. Increasing my personal stock with the Company whilst getting back full control of my project.”