Infinity's End: Books 4-6, page 11
“Supposed to be. I just—after what happened—”
Ryant dropped his gaze. “I get it. Going back out there is the toughest thing you can do. Kor knows I didn’t want to but if you don’t do it now, you’ll never see the inside of a shuttle again, trust me.”
Surprised the man wasn’t more antagonistic toward him, Cas pressed the point. “How do you do it? How can you go back out after something like that?”
Ryant suppressed a laugh. “I keep forgetting you don’t fly. I guess it’s something pilots have in common. It’s the first thing we have to do because it’s what we do. Lecia wouldn’t be able to stand the thought of me never going back out there again. She wouldn’t want that for any of us. And I’m telling you, get back out there before the fear really takes hold. Before it becomes this chain you can’t even lift and you find yourself planetside because you can’t stand being on a starship anymore. It will fuck you up if you let it. The point is, not to.”
A rush of people filed past them into the Bay, each headed in a different direction. “I just don’t know what good it would do. There’s plenty of people to cover the mission.”
“Look, go pick a shuttle. Comm me once you’re on board and I’ll fly with you. Okay?”
“Cas?” He turned to see Evie approaching with another contingent of officers behind her, including Volf.
“See you out there,” Ryant said, throwing up a hand signal Cas didn’t know but assumed it had something to do with the Space Corps.
“What’s wrong, did you get your assignment?” Evie asked as the rest of the officers including Volf rushed past her.
“Yeah, I just…I can’t go back up there, Evie. My head isn’t in the right place. I’d only be a liability.” He hated letting Ryant down, but he knew if he got aboard that shuttle he’d have a meltdown before they got out of the Bay. He’d never had a problem with crowds before but with the amount of people running around and all the noise from the shuttles and equipment being moved around it was as if he couldn’t even think. He needed the serenity of the viewing windows back up on one. This was too chaotic.
Evie furrowed her brow. Her eyes were bloodshot and her normally smooth hair was pulled together loosely. Maybe she shouldn’t go up either. “Fine. Stay here. I’ll reassign your shuttle to someone else.” She pushed past him.
“Evie, I—” He wasn’t sure what to say. She’d given him what he’d wanted hadn’t she? He hated to disappoint her again, after everything at the nebula he’d hoped never to disappoint anyone like that again. But some things just weren’t meant to be.
Cas watched through the large windows on one as the shuttles with their spacewing escorts flew off in different directions surveying the system. It seemed Greene had ordered every support craft onboard Tempest out there to search. While he didn’t think it was a good idea, Cas couldn’t blame him. This was what they’d come here for, after all. If they couldn’t confirm the existence of the threat, heads would roll back at Coalition Central. But even though he was safe behind the main bulkheads of the ship, Cas still felt a pit of unease in his system. Something about all of this was wrong. Hopefully Zenfor could come up with a solution. He hadn’t seen her in the bays, she might still be on board running her tests.
He watched another two shuttles launch, a spacewing on each of their tails. There weren’t enough spacewings to escort every shuttle; maybe they were running drills. Of course, one of the spacewings would be sitting empty in Bay Two at this very moment.
Disgusted, he turned away and almost ran face-first into Box, whom he hadn’t even heard come up behind him.
“Whoa, boss, I know you like things personal, but this is too close even for me,” the robot said.
Cas rolled his eyes. “What are you doing up here? I thought you would be on one of those shuttles, searching the system.”
“I had other duties to attend to,” he replied, turning his gaze to the windows. “The big question is: why aren’t you?”
“I didn’t feel like going, is that a crime? Do I always have to want to be in a shuttle somewhere?” He suppressed a shudder. It was already difficult enough not being able to fly the stupid things, now he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to get back onto one.
“Yes, you do. If you’re not out there it means something is wrong.”
Cas didn’t reply. Instead, he stared back out at the ships and the system beyond as well. Many of them weren’t visible anymore, each heading off for their own small points of light. He needed a graphical overlay so he could see where the planets and other stellar bodies in this planet—
“Ow!” Cas yelled as Box pulled the small device away from his upper arm. “What the hell was that?” He rubbed where Box had held the device, the area was red and inflamed.
“Something to calm you down,” Box replied, depositing the device into one of his storage compartments. “I had hoped to find you at the bar so I could make a pun about shots but alas, the opportunity was missed.”
Panic rose in his voice. “You gave me a shot? Of what? What did you inject into me?”
“Nothing harmful, you big baby. It’s a combination of a sedative and a muscle relaxant. A very mild dose of both. And before you ask,” he stopped Cas’s interjection, “it came from Xax, not me. She’s been worried about you since the accident.”
“Worried about me how? I haven’t even been to see her.”
“She’s been getting regular updates. From me,” he replied, a satisfied blink to his eyes.
Cas pulled his sleeve down to cover the spot. “I thought doctors were supposed to keep information confidential.”
“Not from other doctors!” Box said. “I was as surprised as you are. But no, we can gossip all we wish. You wouldn’t believe some of the ailments on this ship.”
“I bet I wouldn’t,” Cas mumbled, still rubbing his arm. “Don’t you need consent before you go giving someone drugs?”
“Not if I determine they are in the patient’s best interest and the patient is combative. Which you are. You don’t deal with stress well and this shuttle business has you all screwed up in the head. Here.” Box produced a small container from another compartment, handing it to Cas.
“What’s this?”
“Same thing, just in a pill form. For you to take when you feel anxious.”
His face turned red. “You mean to tell me I could have taken a pill instead of having you shoot me up like some science experiment? You know I don’t like shots.”
“Oh! Here’s my chance. You don’t like one kind of shot. You love the other.” He tapped his faceplate as if contemplating. “Hmm. Didn’t come out quite right. Let me try again. When you said you wanted to go out for shots this isn’t what you meant?” His eyes blinked rapidly. “Still not getting it. Give me a minute, I can come up—”
“Box!”
“What?”
“Just stop.” He closed his eyes and leaned against the bulkhead, his forehead pressed up against the glass. Why did this have to be so hard?
“Oh, they’re kicking in,” Box said. “You might want to go take a nap. Or at least lie down for a few hours. Or just do something relaxing like read a book. I haven’t had time to keep up with the net dramas but I’m sure there’s something good on one of the feeds.”
“Maybe that’s a good idea.” Cas opened his eyes again and pulled himself away from the wall. He did feel more relaxed and less stressed. He pocketed the container of pills. “Thanks, I guess.”
“You’re welcome,” Box replied in a very satisfied tone. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your care today. If you’d like to rate my performance, please do so on a scale from one to ten, with one being least favorable and ten being the best care you could have possibly received.”
“Two,” Cas said, turning away from him.
He was silent a minute, though Cas did hear an audible click from somewhere deep inside him. “I’m sorry, your feedback form has been lost. Would you like to try again?”
Cas stifled a laugh as he made his way down the corridor with Box close behind. It was the first time he’d smiled in days.
Chapter Eighteen
“Everything alright, Commander?”
The words came through the shuttle’s comm pulling Evie from someplace she hadn’t even realized she’d been. It was as if she’d been caught up in some thought that wouldn’t reveal itself to her. She noticed her vector had drifted by three degrees. She made the adjustment on the shuttle’s heading and tapped the comm. “Sorry about that, Captain Wilmoth,” she replied, flashing the spacewing pilot a smile out the window to the ship on her left. The captain didn’t reply, only gave a sharp wave of her hand and fell back into formation off Evie’s left flank.
“We okay?” Volf asked from the back compartment of the small shuttle.
“Yeah, just…got distracted for a second. Sorry,” Evie replied. She was happy Volf had volunteered to join her as it gave Evie the opportunity to size up the engineer’s capabilities. She hadn’t had much time to go over her service record since she’d come on board and this would be the perfect opportunity to see the Lieutenant Commander in action.
“I’m always up for a good distraction, as long as it’s off duty hours,” Volf said with a smile in her voice.
“Are you getting anything yet?” Evie asked.
“Nothing yet, but we’ll need to get closer to our target before I can be sure. If something is hiding in the gravity well, we’ll practically have to be on top of it before we can see it.”
Great. If there was an enemy armada out here they could just be waiting, practically invisible and ready to pounce. Evie hadn’t felt great about this from the start, but she hadn’t had a better idea to try and reveal their locations. If they were even out here.
Evie took a deep breath. There was no sense in getting worked up until they had something solid. And she didn’t need to speculate on something she had no knowledge about yet. This was a wait-and-see situation. And due to the size of the system, it would take them another fifteen to twenty minutes before reaching their destination: a pair of moons orbiting one of the smaller planetoids.
“Did you spend a lot of time on Cypaxia?” Evie asked, needing to fill the silence with something.
“Yeah, I’ve been down there for about a season now. Came off my last posting on the Hiawatha and needed some time off. Seven years in space will do that to a person, and Cypaxia seemed like the best spot. I still had another half a season for shore leave built up but when you guys arrived I couldn’t skip the opportunity.”
“It looks like the weather down there suited you,” Evie said. Volf’s skin was a deep shade of copper and even through her uniform Evie could tell she was muscular. Whether that was from Cypaxia or the commander was just built that way, she didn’t know. But it reminded Evie she’d let her own physical training lapse. Ever since she’d used the sword to kill that Sargan she’d stayed out of the gym and she was starting to feel the effects.
“Oh yeah,” Volf said. “I don’t know if you’ve been, but they’ve got everything you could want. Hiking, biking, swimming, water sports. All to keep the body healthy and happy.”
“I’ve been, but not for very long. I need to get back to our gym soon.” Evie tried not to think about the encounter again.
“Well, hey, if you’re looking for a sparring partner, look no further. You guys have decent facilities for a smaller ship. Better than the Hiawatha had anyway. Let’s get something on the schedule.”
“I’d like that,” Evie replied. She didn’t necessarily need to train with the sword to get back in the gym. She could shift over to body contact, or work with a different type of weapon. Maybe it would be better to expand her skills anyway.
“Cool.” Volf plopped down into the seat beside her, one leg hooked over the arm of the seat as she stared out at the system before them. “How much longer?”
“We’re almost there.” Evie checked the reports from half a dozen of the other shuttles. Some had reached their destinations, but nothing had been found yet. “This may all turn out to be nothing.” As she stared at her console, one of the indicators lit up and she glanced up, not sure what it was picking up.
“What’s up?” Volf asked.
“I don’t know, I thought I had something, but I don’t see it.”
Volf leaned around her. “Was it a malfunction? Sometimes the intense gravity of a place like this might cause false positives.”
“That might have been it,” Evie replied, though for a second she’d thought she caught something in the distance. She shook her head. “Two minutes until we reach the moons.” They were a curious phenomenon, like everything in this system. Two moons, each of them held the other in place as they orbited their own planet, which in turn was one of the six concentrated around the Class F White Star in the system. And that star and its entire system of planets formed an even larger orbit around the two giants, which also had their own planetoids. It was one of the most complex and diverse planetary alignments Evie had ever seen and it reminded her of an old nesting doll. There was always another layer to uncover.
As they approached the two moons Evie could barely believe her eyes, though all the indicators on her board were silent. They should be lighting up like crazy. “I can’t believe it,” she said, staring at the moons. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before.
“What?” Volf looked out the window.
“The arch! It’s huge! It must be a hundred kilometers tall,” Evie replied. Before her was what could only be described as an archway made of what looked to be stone, though she couldn’t understand how stone blocks that large could ever have been carved. Each block was roughly the size of…there was no comparison. It was the largest structure she’d ever seen. The largest in existence probably, and it was just sitting there, spanning the distance from one moon to the other. Because both were tidally locked they didn’t rotate themselves, only around their common point. And some civilization had carved massive enough stones to build an arch between them. It seemed to serve no purpose other than to act as a massive doorway. “It’s impossible,” Evie said. “Have you ever seen anything like it? What would it take to build something like that?”
Volf stared out the window, then pulled back. “Sorry, Commander, what?”
“The arch! Imagine the Engineering knowhow to design and build something like that! I’m sure you can appreciate it,” Evie replied. Cas was going to be so upset he’d missed this.
“Commander, I don’t see an arch. All I see is the two moons.”
Evie whipped her head to her. She must be messing with her. Some kind of hazing for her new commander. “C’mon.” She smiled. “This may be what we’re looking for.” Evie turned back to the arch. “But I don’t see any signs of inhabitants on either of the moons. And no ships patrolling the area. Someone was or is definitely here though.”
“Commander,” Volf said, her voice measured. “There is no arch.”
Okay, enough was enough. It was time to get serious. This could have something to do with the alien armada. They needed to get the other shuttles over here to start studying it immediately. “Funny.” Evie tapped her comm. “All units converge on my position. We’ve found what seems to be a giant archway in space. We’re going in for a closer look.”
Volf put her hand out, pointing to Evie’s instrument board. “Commander, there’s nothing out there. The sensors aren’t picking up whatever you think you’re seeing.” Evie furrowed her brow and glanced down. That wasn’t possible. It was right there in front of them. “I’ve noticed you’ve been looking a bit tired lately,” Volf continued. “I recognize that look because I used to see it in the mirror after sixteen hours of survey work. And trust me, the stims only make things worse.”
Evie whipped her head to the engineer. “What are you talking about?”
Volf pursed her lips. “You probably haven’t noticed yet, but you’ve got tiny blue lines across your irises. That’s a result of taking too many stims. Keep going and it’ll only get worse.”
Evie turned away from her, shutting her eyes for a moment and mad she’d let herself react so easily to being called out. “Commander, can you verify, did you say a giant archway?” Wilmoth said from the spacewing right behind her. “Because I’m not seeing it.”
She looked back up at the archway taking up most of her view. Its height was immense. She wasn’t tired or crazy or anything else. This thing was here, and she needed to prove it.
Volf touched her own personal comm. “Sorry, Captain, but I think we’ve had a false alarm, but—” she said. Evie glanced over while the engineer was distracted and entered her own code to lock out the computer. It cut Volf off mid-sentence. “Commander?” she asked, trepidation in her voice. “What are you doing?”
“Whether you can see it or not that archway is real. And we’re going to get a good, close look if I have to do it myself. This could be the clue that leads us to the armada.”
“Commander Volf, can you say again? You cut out,” Wilmoth said. Other comm indicators were coming in from the other shuttles. Evie ignored them. She was obviously the only one who could see this thing. But they’d be singing a different tune when she landed on it.
“I’m taking us in,” she said. “Just sit back.”
“Taking us in where?” Volf asked.
“I want to get a sample from that archway. We’re going to land on it and then get some physical samples.”
“Commander, there is no archway,” Volf said, more forcefully this time. She stood. “Please unlock the computer. This is dangerous.”
Evie ignored her, pushing the throttle forward toward the archway. “Commander, what’s going on?” Wilmoth said through the comm. “Is everything okay?” Evie would answer her once they’d landed. It should only take a few minutes.
“We’re coming within the gravitational pull of the moon.” Volf glanced at the instrument panel. “If you cut the engines while we’re dead in space we’ll come crashing down to the surface.”
