The outer decks were filled with heavy industry. Refineries that, even during an attack from the nightmares, still rumbled and groaned with the imperatives of their operation. Fuel processing stations, where water was cracked into its component elements. Storage units packed to the brim with useful materials. And of course, the vast stacks of zero-g factories, where everything from medicines to machine guns was produced in quantities not only sufficient to satisfy the needs of Orsted’s resident population but also much of the larger UMCN fleet.
Empty as they were, the nether regions of the station gave Kira the creeps. Even there, the alarm sirens still wailed, and glowing arrows (smaller and dimmer than in the main part of the station) pointed the way to the nearest storm shelters. But no shelter could help her now. That much she’d admitted and accepted. The only safety she could count on was the isolation of deep space, and there too, the nightmares or the Jellies might find her.
They moved quickly, and after only a few minutes, Falconi said, “Here,” and pointed at a hallway that led rimward.
Kira recognized it as the same hallway they’d passed through during their arrival at Orsted.
With a sense of growing eagerness, she kicked her way along its crooked length. After everything that had happened on the station, returning to the Wallfish felt like returning home.
The pressure door to the loading dock slid open, and through the airlock at the far side, she saw …
Blackness.
Emptiness.
And perhaps a kilometer in the distance, the Wallfish rapidly shrinking in size, driven by a white plume of RCS thrusters.
7.
Falconi shouted. Not a word or a phrase, just a raw cry of anger and loss. As she heard it, Kira felt herself collapsing inward, surrendering to despair. She allowed the mask to slide off her face.
They’d lost. After all that, they’d—
Falconi jumped toward the airlock. He landed awkwardly and his breath ran out of him with an audible whoof, but he kept hold of the rungs next to the lock. Then he dragged himself across to the window and pressed his face against the sapphire wedge and stared after the Wallfish.
Kira looked away. She couldn’t bear to watch. Seeing him like that embarrassed her, as if she were intruding on something private. His grief was too open, too desperate.
“Ha!” said Falconi. “Gotcha! Oh yeah! Just caught her in time.” He turned and grinned at them with a wicked expression.
“Captain?” said Nielsen, floating over to join him.
He pointed out the window, and to her astonishment, Kira saw the Wallfish slow and reverse its course as it headed back toward the airlock.
“How did you manage that?” rumbled Hwa-jung.
Falconi tapped his blood-smeared temple. “Direct visual signal sent through my overlays. As long as the ship’s passive sensors are working, and as long as they’re in range and there’s a clear line of sight, they can’t be jammed. Not like radios or FTL broadcasts.”
“That is quite a few qualifiers, Captain,” said Vishal.
Falconi chucked. “Yeah, but it worked. I set up an override system just in case anyone tried to steal the Wallfish. Ain’t no one hijacking my ship.”
“And you never told us about this?” said Nielsen. She actually seemed offended. Kira, on the other hand, was impressed.
Falconi’s levity vanished. “You know me, Audrey. Always know where the exits are. Always have an ace up the sleeve.”
“Uh-huh.” She looked unconvinced.
“Here, let me see your hands, please,” said Vishal, moving over to Hwa-jung. She dutifully let him examine her. “Mmm, not too bad,” he said. “Mostly second-degree burns. I will give you a spray to prevent any scarring.”
“And some painkillers, please,” she said.
He laughed softly. “Of course, and painkillers.”
The Wallfish didn’t take long to reach them. As it loomed large in the window, Veera grabbed the handle in the center of the airlock in an attempt to get a better view.
“Ahhh!” Her yell ended in a strangled gurgle. She arched her back nearly in half, and her whole body went rigid, save for small twitches in hands and feet. Her face contorted into a hideous rictus, teeth clenched.
Jorrus matched her yell, although he was nowhere near the airlock, and he likewise contorted.
“Don’t touch her!” Hwa-jung shouted.
Kira didn’t listen; she knew the suit would protect her.
She looped several tentacles around Veera’s waist while, at the same time, attaching herself to the nearest wall. Then she pulled the convulsing Entropist free of the door. It wasn’t easy; Veera’s hand was clamped around the handle with unnatural strength. As the woman’s grip gave way, Kira hoped she hadn’t torn any of the muscles in her hand.
The instant Veera’s fingers lost contact with the door, her body went limp, and Jorrus’s howl ceased, though he retained the expression of a man who had just seen unspeakable horror.
“Someone grab her!” said Nielsen.
Vishal lunged out from the wall and snared Veera by a sleeve of her jacket. He wrapped an arm around the Entropist and, with his free hand, peeled back her eyelids. Then he opened Veera’s mouth and peered down her throat. “She’ll live, but I need to get her to sickbay.”
Jorrus groaned. He had his arms wrapped around his head, and his skin was alarmingly pale.
“How bad is it?” Falconi asked.
The doctor gave him a worried look. “Uncertain, Captain. I will have to keep an eye on her heart. The shock might have burned out her implants. I can’t tell yet. They need a hard reboot.”
Jorrus was muttering to himself now: nothing that Kira could make sense of.
“That was a nasty trick,” said Nielsen.
“They’re panicked,” said Sparrow. “They’re trying anything to stop us.” She raised a middle finger toward the center of the station. “I hope you get your own asses electrified! You hear me?!”
“It’s my fault,” said Kira. She motioned at her face. “I should have kept the mask on. I would have seen the electricity.”
“Not your fault,” said Falconi. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.” He maneuvered over to Jorrus. “Hey. Veera’s going to live, yeah? Relax, it’s alright.”
“You don’t understand,” said Jorrus between hitching breaths.
“Explain.”
“She—Me—Us—” He wrung his hands, which caused him to start floating away. Falconi caught him, stabilized him. “There is no us! No we. No I. All gone. Gone, gone, gone, ahhh!” And his voice dropped into meaningless rambles again.
Falconi shook him. “Pull yourself together! The ship’s almost here.” It made no difference.
“Their hive mind is broken,” said Hwa-jung.
“So? He’s still himself, isn’t he?
“That’s—”
Veera woke with a gasp and a wild start that sent her spinning. An instant later she clutched her temples and began to scream. At the sound, Jorrus curled into a fetal ball and whimpered.
“Great,” said Falconi. “Now we’ve got a pair of crazies to deal with. Just great.”
Soft as a falling feather, the Wallfish slowed to a stop outside the airlock. A series of clanks sounded as the docking clamps activated, securing the nose of the ship.