“This is gonna be messy,” I said, motioning towards the ceiling with the microwave spear. “Grab the box, I can’t carry it all. We’ll take the spine.” Griffin picked up the back end, helping me get it into the maintenance core.
As we floated towards the bridge’s access hatch, the earpiece hissed and whined. “Why…? I just don’t… Why…? They told me not to get too close. They told me and I didn’t listen. I’m contaminated now. Tainted. Unclean. I can never be part of the collective again. Ascension is beyond me.”
I whispered into the earpiece, hoping Liberty could hear. “Get ready to jump out of the way.”
There was no response.
Griffin keyed into the floating display of the microwave: POWER SETTING-MAX. TIME 1 SECOND. “Tell me when,” she said, finger hovering over start.
I made a mental calculation, taking a guess at where Kelly might be standing, hoping that the archaic tablet was still in his pocket. If he hadn’t locked out other systems in the ship, I might just have been able to access a security camera. I rotated around, putting my belly to the relative floor and extended the microwave spear before me. He should be in front of me. I threw my chin out in Griffin’s direction, and in response she kicked in the emergency release button on the wall beside her.
The hatch flew open, giving me a clear view of Kelly standing beside Liberty’s chair. The nozzle of the plasma torch lay against her neck just below her birthmark. His trigger finger twitched as his already large eyes widened. He took a step back.
“Liberty!” I shouted, hoping Kelly would be slow to respond. “Get back!” I shoved the microwave spear through the opening, brandishing the copper magnetron and aiming it at his left chest. “Start!”
The microwave beeped once as Griffin hit the button. The fans inside the housing, turntable motors and power supply surged with overcharge, flooding the magnetron with more energy than it was designed to channel. The wires beneath my clutched fingers went hot. A stream of invisible, charged particles shot out the end of the insulation sleeve, penetrating Kelly’s jumpsuit to bombard the tablet. As heat rapidly built within the tablet’s lithium ion battery, it expanded, making it grow fat and hot, melting its casing and bulging beneath his clothes. Kelly began to scream, first in shock, then pain, his synthetic jumpsuit melting onto his chest like molten wax.
He stumbled back, letting the torch fall crashing from his limp hands onto the metal floor. I kept the spear aimed in place, not wavering for an instant, watching as his soft eyes glazed over. He fell against a computer console, scrambling to find purchase, diodes and screens and switches turning brighter and brighter as microwaves powered them unto death.
I held the beam in place. Five more seconds to end this. Don’t go soft.
The tablet’s battery flashed and exploded, sending a puff of smoke from out of his chest and into the cabin. The organic electrolytes in the battery ignited, burning Kelly’s skin to a cinder, melting his clothing like plastic. Liberty shielded herself out of reflex, raising her right arm up to her face, but it wasn’t enough. She was within arm’s reach. Superheated bits of metal, plastic and acidic chemicals sprayed across her right cheek and down her neck, settling into her flesh. Liberty screamed in agony.
The microwave’s timer dinged and I let go of the pole, jumping through the open hatch to land flat footed on the bridge. XO rushed over to Kelly, putting out the fire by suffocating it with his uniform’s coat. Kelly didn’t twitch. Liberty slumped back in her chair, lips quivering, breathing shallow.
“Oh, my God. Liberty.”
She reached out and snatched my hand. “It’s okay—David. I’m alive.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know.”
“Let’s get Doc.” I waved a hand to call for help.
“No time, we only have ten minutes. Everyone needs to get on their soft suits.”
“I’ll call him anyways. A lot of good you’ll be in a fight hurting like this.” I caressed the skin around her face, careful to avoid the serious burns. Below her dark flesh the skin was already turning pink and ashy, her birthmark having vanished among the various second degree heat and chemical burns. I pressed the medical emergency button on my watch and waited, holding her hand.
“Is he?” Griffin asked the XO.
He nodded gravely. “Looks like Kelly’s skin was cooked away and his heart exploded. He’s dead. Damn it.” The doors finally opened. “Hey, Brix, come get this asshole’s corpse off our bridge.”
Brix shouldered in and dead lifted Kelly’s corpse, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
Rosaleigh spun around in her chair. “Ma’am. They’re about to come around. The Razor will be free in two minutes.”
“Copy that.” Liberty stood in front of her chair, holding my arm to steady herself. “Everyone suit up. We might have had a spy on board, but we stick to the plan. Soft suits and magnet boots. Let’s end this.”
[21]
Mutually assured destruction was a phrase often thrown about in our line of work. Our weapons were so powerful that there were no known materials to protect us from them. Impact, anywhere on the ship, would expose us to the unforgiving void, ushering us forth onto death with all due haste. Despite all our high technology, our engagement had been reduced to a pair of 17th century dandies facing one another broadside with single shot pistols. To win the fight, we merely need shoot the enemy before they shot us. Ships did not pound away at one another for hours, taking dastardly maneuvers or pulling last second cheap tricks. Aim and reflex would win the day, along with a healthy measure of luck and God’s favor. Trial by combat. A duel to the death.
Doc arrived with the Nurse. He put a strip of false skin across Liberty’s fresh burns and gave her an injection to numb the pain. He’d suggested morphine, but she needed her head clear and opted for a local anesthetic instead. From the look of her expression it didn’t appear to be helping.
Smith bristled at me. “Nice job, Goddard. You took out half my controls with that damned contraption. How the hell am I gonna be the Comm now?”
“But I’m still alive,” Liberty said, coming to my defense. “Microwave gun?”
“Microwave gun,” I agreed while cutting Smith a scowl.
“Great for pranks,” the words groaned out of Liberty. “But let’s keep it off the bridge next time.”
After Doc finished she began sliding on her soft suit, one leg at a time along with everyone else. This was my cue to leave.
“David,” Liberty said, a longing in her eyes.
“I know.” I kissed her on the left side of her face, careful not to touch her burns.
The timer on my watch hit zero and a roaring klaxon sounded. The Vindicator flashed red. The fight had begun.
Rosaleigh began her reports, “Range, one point one million kilometers. They’re on our visual scopes. Hell yeah, looks like they’ve taken quite a pounding. Two solid boosters, non-functional. Their secondary reactor is disabled. Auxiliary solar array is ripped up like tissue paper. I can see some damage to their nuclear battery ring as well, but it’s minor.”
Liberty slipped on her fishbowl helmet. “Excellent. Goddard, weapons.” I nodded and ran off as fast as I could.
“General quarters,” XO called over the intercom. “Suit up and report to your stations. Enemy fire will commence momentarily.”
As soon as I’d returned to weapons control I threw on my soft suit. It was heavy, but not anything like a full EVA rig. It was a few sizes larger than a jumpsuit, similarly colored with stiff, grey fabric trimmed in red. Oxygen canisters lined the back of its belt, as did a small power unit that supplied heating, cooling, and gas exchange. I wiggled my fingers into the gloves, stepped side to side, and was relieved that the joints felt loose. It was like wearing an oversized set of coveralls with a weighted belt. I took a deep breath and put on my helmet, fully aware of the tightening space I was being pressed into.