Infinity's End: Books 4-6, page 57
“Set the coolant to negative six. And the auto-wake to active. And that’s it,” Menkel said, opening the last drawer.
“Simple enough.”
“See you in a few weeks. I hope.” He pressed the last sedative to his own neck and laid down. Zenfor closed the drawer and set the parameters as he’d outlined. It was done. They were all asleep. The other eight—including Vrij—were in enviro-suits up on level seven, inspecting and beginning work on the bridge. It would take them at least four days of work up there before they were set to switch out with eight others in stasis. Zenfor would prefer to keep the same eight awake and working, but a difference in specialties would keep them to their schedule. And if there was something she could understand; it was different people having different skills to effect repairs.
Meanwhile, Zenfor and Sesster had their own work to do. Despite the fact no one had ordered her to, she was going to spend some time back on level eleven, repairing the hull and working on the undercurrent drive from there. She didn’t care if it was open to space or not. She was sturdy enough to handle it. And no one could stop her now, because there was no one to stop her. She had free rein on the ship.
Forget about someone? The voice came across her mind like a chuckle. Their bond had grown stronger in recent days. So much so that she could detect his thoughts almost anywhere on the ship, and vice versa.
Of course not, she replied. But I am anxious to begin. No longer am I constrained by Coalition rules. I can remake this ship as I see fit.
He chuckled again, as if the wind could chuckle. As long as it gets us back, I don’t think anyone cares how you do it.
The captain would care, Zenfor said. It’s best she’s not here to watch me undo a hundred years of Coalition regulations.
I think you’d be surprised. The captain has proven…unpredictable in this area. A season ago I would have said you were right; she would never accept anything beyond what the Coalition stipulates as doctrine. But things have changed.
Perhaps. She walked over to the control station for sickbay, shutting down all power to the entire section, while confirming the stasis units were operating independently. She wasn’t sure she agreed with Volf’s decision to stay on the ship but given how little they knew about the planet below, she couldn’t fault the woman for not wanting to follow the others. If something really had happened to the first two waves, they would be hard-pressed to return to Coalition or Sil space, no matter what condition the ship was in.
Sesster, I believe we must face a difficult question. If the rest of the crew is dead and does not return, how will we proceed?
He was silent a few moments as she made her way through the empty corridors until she reached the access hatches. What few crew remained agreed not to use the hypervators anymore and instead take routes through access areas only to save power. She reached the first set of ladders to climb back up to Engineering. I do not know. We can’t take the ship down to find them and we can’t wait here forever.
Zenfor made it back up to level ten faster than any of her human counterparts could have managed. For the first time since leaving Sil space she felt a sense of being able to stretch her limbs, to walk around this ship as if it were her own. And despite the lack of people around, it felt more like home than ever before. This was her ship now. The door to Engineering rolled away, revealing Sesster in his cradle, working on the power systems. She walked over to one of the comm panels. “Zenfor to maintenance team. The rest of the crew are asleep. Report progress.”
“Progress is slow. We’re still tearing out the damaged sections, which will take the better part of the day,” Lieutenant Denna replied. “But I sent Vrij and Jackson down to the bay to start refining the raw materials.”
“Very well, keep me updated.”
They are a good crew. They’ll get this ship repaired.
I don’t dispute it. Though if there were eight more shelves, I wouldn’t hesitate to seal them all up so we could do the job ourselves. It would be much more satisfying that way.
And take longer, Sesster replied. We cannot do everything on our own.
While a younger Zenfor might have agreed with him, even chastised anyone who was unwilling to stay within their given assignment, she’d become enamored with the idea of performing multiple different functions at once. It was as if the world had opened itself to her and she could do whatever she wished, instead of what Sil society said she had been bred to do. Already she was performing many tasks far outside the range of her capabilities, her most recent being the medical care for this crew. Now she was not only leading the charge to repair but could enact those repairs herself, she could even design new systems! Being on this ship had given her more opportunity than a Sil found in a hundred lifetimes. And even though the lure took her further and further away from the sanctity of the Council, she no longer cared. She was free to do as she wished, and she was not about to waste the opportunity.
She was so giddy she could barely contain herself, but if someone were to see her from the outside all they would notice was the barest hint of a smile. She sat at one of the design consoles and drew up the plans for the ship. Modifications needed to be made.
Chapter Seventeen
If there was one thing Evie couldn’t stand, it was waiting around while others did all the work. She wasn’t the kind of person who could sit back when there were tasks that needed to be done. That had been one of the best parts about being a first officer; you carried out the captain’s orders while they stayed on the ship. It meant she got to take on the important missions, and even be selected for special service, as she had been when Admiral Rutledge had come to her with his proposal to retrieve Cas.
But now that she was captain, it was difficult not to want to lead the charge in every instance. She’d been so used to taking the initiative, she found it difficult to sit back and let someone else do the work for a while. And it wasn’t as if she could tell Cas he was wrong, because wouldn’t she have told Greene the exact same thing? That it wasn’t his place to go out in search of the others when they had no idea what was out there and how dangerous this planet might be. Her place was in the camp, just as his would have been. She knew it down to her bones and yet she disagreed with it. In fact she couldn’t help but keep an eye on Cas as he made his way around the camp, speaking with the individuals he wanted on his team. He’d keep it small, so they’d work as fast as possible, but he’d also pull some good talent. She longed for those days.
As she watched she couldn’t help but notice Martial standing with his back to them, guarding the far side of the camp. He’d taken on two shifts in a row, almost like he was afraid to take a break. She couldn’t quite figure him out; before today she’d had little contact with the man, usually only responding to his requests to retrieve Cas from the bar. She wasn’t even sure where he was from; she hadn’t ever bothered to look in the civilian personnel files. But he didn’t stand like a civilian. He stood like someone who had military training. Upright, tall, with the rifle pressed against his shoulder and the muzzle pointing up; ready to take anything down at the first sign of trouble. Very strange.
“Captain.” Evie turned to see Xax had made her way over from her shuttle. Her face betrayed a concern Evie rarely saw in the doctor’s six eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lieutenant Zaal has just informed me he has a problem. Though I would call it more of an emergency.”
“What problem?” When she’d seen Zaal emerge from the woods he hadn’t seemed like there was anything wrong, but then again he wasn’t looking like his normal self these days.
“His exoskeleton is failing. He tells me it was damaged in the crash. This hyper-oxygenated air isn’t good for his natural form and will kill him. Normally the exoskeleton would prevent this, but the respiratory system has been damaged. As has the primary holding unit.”
“Isn’t there anything he can do to fix it?”
“Not without special equipment and not without power. If I remove Zaal from the exoskeleton I believe he will die within hours. If he stays inside it will buy him some time, but not a lot.” Her two upper hands held each other in front of her.
“So what you’re telling me is we need to get off this planet in the next few hours.” Evie tried to not let her panic show. There was no way they could get off this planet that fast. Not without a miracle. “Why didn’t he tell us this earlier?”
“He says he didn’t want to add to the problems. He also thought he might be able to find a solution for himself,” Xax said. Evie remembered his time in the woods. “I would have kept something like this confidential, but seeing as us leaving will directly affect how long he has to live…”
“And there’s nothing else you can do. No way to slow the process or put him in stasis?” Evie asked.
“If we had power, maybe. But without anything I’m at the mercy of what little I brought in my kits. Remember we thought we’d have access to Tempest’s sickbay in the case of an emergency.”
Evie shook her head. How naïve she’d been. To think they could come and go from the planet as they pleased, as if it were Cypaxia or Earth. She should have known better. And now it was going to cost her the life of her operations officer. “Do what you can for him. How long do you think he can last?”
“A day. Maybe two. If he stays in the apparatus.”
Evie took a deep breath. “By Kor. Thanks, Xax.” She nodded and headed back the way she came.
“I guess there’s no time to waste.” Evie turned to see Cas standing off to the side. She hadn’t even heard him approach. She was so used to listening to the footfalls of boots on bulkheads she’d forgotten it was much easier for people to move silently when the ground was soft.
“No,” she replied. “Do you have your team ready?” He nodded. “I need you to be fast but stay safe. Get to the camp, get to the shuttle. See if they have any idea of what is causing this ‘blackout’ problem. Then solve it. Zaal doesn’t have long.”
“Do you have the coordinates?” he asked.
Evie pulled out a scanner Ensign River had programmed. “This has the coordinates for both. And a compass. It should continue to work, but in the case it doesn’t, try to stay on a straight line. She set this up as the crow flies.” He took the scanner, shoving it in one of his pockets. “Who are you taking?”
“Tileah, as you suggested. Stillwater, Jann and Esk. We should be able to cover a lot of ground quickly. Assuming we don’t run into trouble.”
“You armed?”
Cas tapped his weapon under his armpit. “My trusty sidekick and I are ready. And everyone else has their rifles. Jann grabbed two for good measure. We should be okay.” She nodded, not knowing what else to say. He leaned in close. “Don’t worry. We’ll find them and figure out what’s going on. Expect a call from me on that.” He gave her hand a squeeze, indicating her comm unit embedded in the skin below.
“Good luck out there.”
“You too. See you this evening.” He was off. As she watched him gather those who had volunteered to accompany him, Evie hoped she’d made the right decision.
Cas strode toward the four others waiting for him beside the supply crate that held all the weapons. Even though he’d been supportive with Evie, his mind was screaming at him there was no way they would be able to find a way off this planet in time to save Zaal. It just wasn’t possible. They’d be lucky to get back to Tempest, and returning to the Coalition was a pipe dream at this point as far as he was concerned. But he couldn’t let any of that show. If Evie or any of the crew saw his hesitation, everything would fall apart. And as much as he thought it already had, he was not about to be the reason the last leg crumbled. The crew had to have hope, because without it, they’d all be dead in a week.
“Headed out?” Cas jerked his head to the side to see Martial standing off to the side, his rifle slung over his shoulder.
“Yeah. We’re leaving to contact wave one. And to find the shuttle we lost.”
Martial nodded. “Don’t go looking for trouble out there. Stick to your mission. Nothing good will come from going off on a tangent out there.”
“O-kay,” Cas said, wary. What was he talking about? And why was he acting so strange? “Fortunately, that won’t be a problem. We don’t have the luxury of time here.”
That seemed to satisfy him. He nodded, then returned to the edge of the camp, staring out into the darkness. Cas wished he’d waited to come down with wave three. Either planetary life was making Martial a little nuts or it was screwing with Cas more than he thought it would. Either way, he didn’t need the distraction.
“Ready?” Cas asked, approaching the other four. Stillwater had a pack of food and other supplies; Jann had strapped one of the rifles to her back while holding the other in one hand. Tileah also had a rifle, but her gaze was toward the woods, searching. Esk had slung the rifle on his back as well, and with one hand he strapped his flashlight to his forearm while supporting a long, strong branch with the other. Cas thought for a second he might find a walking stick of his own, to stab any giant spiders they might come across on the way.
“How long will this take?” Esk asked, finishing the wrapping on his arm. He was one of the younger security team members, but Cas had heard he was a good shot. Especially in the dark.
“As fast as we can make it. We won’t be slowing down if at all possible. Approximately thirty kilometers, due west. I’m going to estimate ten hours depending on the underbrush. Let’s try to keep to that.”
“Yeah, unless we come across an alien lifeform hellbent on sucking the blood from our veins,” Tileah said, her knuckles white from where she held the rifle’s grip.
“We’ll deal with that if we run into it. But Zaal spent almost six hours out there and saw nothing but a peaceful lifeform. Anything we come across that isn’t threatening we leave alone. We’re not here to upset the balance of this planet’s ecosystem.”
“Except spiders,” Jann said, suppressing a grin.
“That’s right, spiders we blow to hell. I don’t care if they’re essential to the natural biome of the entire planet. Light them up anyway.”
Stillwater and Esk exchanged looks. Cas pulled out the scanner Evie had given him. It indicated they head out of the other side of the camp. He motioned for them to follow him as he fished his own light out of his pocket and strapped it to his wrist. He’d prefer not to use it at all if he could help it, but the woods would be too dark to see and he had to know where he was stepping. Especially if they wanted to keep that pace. He waved one last time to Evie over by the command shuttle as they passed by the crewmen standing watch at the west side of the camp. She gave him a curt wave back.
They were on their own.
Chapter Eighteen
Evie walked into Xax’s shuttle. It had been nearly three hours since Cas and the others had left. And it was still twilight outside, which she realized was slowly driving her mad. If she didn’t see something other than the haze filling the sky, she was gonna lose it. Even on the ship they had a day/night cycle which most sapients needed. Without it, the constant monotony could drain a crew faster than not eating for a week. But this…state of being frozen was the worst. She wanted to scream at the planet’s star to set already but that probably wouldn’t be great for morale. Instead, she’d kept herself busy; helping to unload supply crates, checking up on the remaining engineers still working on the power problem, rotating out the perimeter guards as well as helping two different teams consolidate supplies from the command shuttle. The fact was the command shuttle wouldn’t be usable in its current condition and so she’d decided to transfer her command post to the Calypso, despite it being on the small side. Not that it mattered. She was so tired of not being able to do anything. It’s like the entire world was frozen and they were stuck on the surface, destined to live out this purgatory until they either starved or died of boredom.
“How’s he doing?” she asked, approaching Xax standing beside the series of alcoves she’d turned into medbeds. Zaal was the only occupant and since his holographic face was no longer working, Evie had no clue how he was feeling. The only light this deep into the shuttle was a small flashlight Xax had hung by one of the alcoves. The air inside was stifling; they needed to find a way to get a breeze inside.
“As well as can be expected. I gave him some painkillers. And something to help him breathe a little easier. It’s amazing to think an overabundance of what keeps most of us alive is fatal for him.”
Evie should have known better. He was a member of her crew and she should have known Untuburu don’t function well in high-oxygen environments. They had managed to take a visual measurement of the atmosphere from Tempest, and determined the air was breathable. But she hadn’t considered Zaal’s suit could be damaged, and the extra oxygen might be detrimental for him. She had assumed he’d be fine because she’d been too preoccupied with getting the crew off the ship. She’d been so desperate she would have taken any outcome. And now one of her crew might die because of her carelessness.
Disgusted with herself, she returned to the evening air. A humidity had settled on the camp which hadn’t been there before. And while not as sweltering as inside the shuttle, it was uncomfortable. Beads of sweat ran down her back. There was probably a nice diagonal stain right where her sword lay against her uniform. When she’d put the uniform on she hadn’t guessed it might be the last one she might wear. And at the time she hadn’t been alone.
She’d done everything she could to keep her mind off Laura, but this was becoming a problem. As captain, she shouldn’t be so distracted, and this uncertainty about what might have happened to her wore at her like a river carving a valley over eons. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Had she still been first officer they might have been able to make it work, because Evie wouldn’t have had the ultimate responsibility for everyone else on the crew. But she did, and she wasn’t sure she could juggle both responsibilities. How could she focus on the needs of her crew if she was worried about her girlfriend all the time? She thought by sending her down on wave one she was proving something to herself; that she could make the hard call and still maintain their relationship. But when they’d lost contact all of that had gone out the airlock. She’d opened herself up to Laura, and in doing so made herself vulnerable. And she wasn’t sure anymore that had been the right decision.
