I found nothing I could realistically use in there, so I continued down the hall. I approached one of the doors and the components hissed as the door slid to the side, opening quickly. The lights came on softly as I stepped into the room. I smiled as I saw the suits hanging in what could only be called a locker room. There was unintelligible script above each of the three suits; their names, I figured. I checked the cubbies and found what appeared to be a winch-style rope, made of a linked metal. The links were tiny and heavily interwoven together. I tugged at it and wondered how much weight it could handle. There were also hand-held thrusters, and ones you strapped to yourself. Most likely this was all for space walks, for repairs, or for getting to other vessels.
I moved on to the main cargo room we’d entered in. Carey followed beside me and barked when he saw my pack sitting there. I rummaged through it and found some food tucked away, apples and granola bars. My stomach almost ached as much from worry and stress as from hunger at this point. Ripping open a bar wrapper, I told Carey to sit and gave him a piece off it, checking first that there was no chocolate in the ingredients. I thought about his owner, Susan, and wondered what she’d think of her little buddy trekking around trying to save the Earth. I took a bite and gave him another piece.
A couple of water bottles sat there, and I opened one. With nothing else to pour it in, I took a deep drink and let him drink from the bottle top. Dog germs were the least of my concern. We sat there, my back against the shiny metal wall, him right beside me. I gave him some much needed attention and just talked to him for a bit. I knew if this ever ended and we succeeded, that it was going to be hard for me to give Carey back to Susan. But I would. At least I could see him all the time; I did live next door to them.
Would I really stay there, though? After all of this – the house I lived in with Janine? I doubted it. A fresh start would do me good. And then there was Mary. Maybe there was a future there.
Thinking of her, I realized they must be starving too.
“Come on, buddy,” I said as I got to my feet, “let’s go share our plunder.” He followed me, happily wagging his tail.
“I found some Kraski space suits down there. There are a few weapons, and some lanyards and rope for safety. Never go on a space walk without one. How’s progress?” I asked.
Magnus was walking around the room and accepted a granola bar that I handed to him.
“We’re going along quite fast. I’m using the hyperdrive, or whatever you want to call it, for periods of thirty seconds now. Our scanners seem to be aware of any space debris at a range of twenty thousand miles, so as long as I have my hands on the controls, I have enough time to react. So far, I’ve only had to stop and move around some floating rock twice. At thirty seconds, with full speed, we’re travelling fifty thousand miles.” Mary took the water bottle I handed out and took a deep drink.
I did the math in my head. “From what I know from school, we’re almost one hundred million miles from the sun. At that speed, we should be there in seventeen hours.”
Magnus piped up. “If the sensors are telling us of danger ahead, can’t we just stop skipping and keep going at full hyperdrive?”
Mary took a moment with this. “Nat, what do you think?”
A voice spoke back from the ship following behind us. “Da, that should be safe. I think we’ll actually go faster that way too. The ship appears to hit maximum performance at around twenty seconds, and we’re only doing top speed for ten each hop.”
I thought about this and the math gave me hope we might reach them in time. “If that’s true, we’ll most likely be there two-thirds faster! We might be able to save them!”
“Let’s give it a try. I’m not sure if I have seven hours left in me with no sleep. I honestly don’t know the last time I closed my eyes for more than a second,” Mary said.
We were all feeling the events of the past week on us, and the severe lack of sleep wasn’t helping the pressure we were under. Magnus sat down beside Mary and watched what she was doing closely.
“I can fly this thing, I think. Just tell me everything. I’ve pretty much driven any kind of vehicle out there. Nat did all the flying when we needed it, though. Isn’t that right, my little Russian princess?”
Laughter came through the speakers. “There was that one time you took over the helicopter, remember? I’d been shot through the glass and was bleeding all over the seats. You told me to be careful because it was a rental.”
I didn’t know what had changed in Natalia to make her talk, but I was glad for it. Her past had obviously caused her a lot of trauma and pain, but I was glad she was with us, even if it was in another ship. I could also tell Magnus thought of her as more than his little sister, judging by the way his eyes lit up every time she spoke. He was laughing now at their little shared memory, and I thought I saw a tear roll down his cheek before he wiped it away.
“Okay, Mary. Teach me everything I need to know so you two can go get some rest before whatever it is we’re heading into.”
TWENTY-FIVE
The bunks were long and narrow, to accommodate the Kraskis’ bodies. What I really needed was some sleep, but lying in the small room with Mary on the bed a few feet away made me realize I probably needed a shower just as badly.
Carey was on the floor beside me on his side, snoring away lightly. Mary’s eyes were closed, but I didn’t think she was out yet. “Do you think they knew about the Kraskis’ plan to kill everyone?” she asked, eyes still closed.
“Janine and Bob were born out of test tubes and brainwashed by the Kraski to do their bidding. I think all they knew was there was a device on Earth that would stop their parents, or whatever they thought of them as, from coming and finding a safe home to live. Even if they knew that humans were going to be destroyed, could you really blame them anyway?”
She opened her eyes and looked across the small room at me. “I don’t think so, but it’s just hard to think of Bob without being angry, and a little sad for him at the same time.”
“I know what you mean. Janine had evidently changed sides and worked with the Deltra. I like to think she had a soft spot and that they swayed her with stories of Kraski killing whole species and invading other worlds. It also makes me wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t turned, if she hadn’t met me, if she’d gone on that first date all those years ago in the Boathouse with that Army guy. Would the Kraski be on Earth right now? Would the Deltra? It almost gives me hope that we’ve twisted destiny and that everything will somehow all work out because of it.”
“It’s impossible to know. For all we know, her choosing you has set us on a path to the destruction of the human race. Maybe the other man would have foiled the whole plan and stopped them from coming in the first place.” She said this with a straight face, and for a moment, I didn’t know if she was playing or being serious, until she gave me an ear-to-ear grin. “You know there’s no way some guy could have stopped them from beaming everyone up, right?”
“Yes, I know. I just think I’m glad that I’m out here and not in a massive storage container heading to the sun. Then again, we have no idea if we’ll get there in time, or how to stop them from burning up if we do.” Carey was snoring heavily now, and his breaths were lulling my eyes closed. I don’t know if Mary was falling asleep, because in moments, I had drifted off.