Under A Winter Sun, page 28
Braden hands me the microphone. We're accelerating hard and the mic is a lot heavier than it should.
I dial Eirik's call sign and hope they didn't take his communicator away.
“Eirik. Are you there?”
There's only silence.
“Pick up, Eirik.”
Nothing.
“Damn you, Eirik. Pick up. I'm here to help you.”
Silence. Then a voice comes over the radio. It's distorted but still recognisable as Eirik's. There are all shades of pain in that voice. It sounds like he has to fight for every syllable.
“Eirik … here.”
“Eirik, this is Perez. We're here to stop Geirmund.”
Nothing.
There's a crackle and Eirik comes back. “How?”
“Let us aboard, and we'll kill the fucker.”
“You … don't … understand.”
“I understand plenty. That old bastard tricked you with those brain control things. Let us in and I will stop him.”
Another lengthy silence. There's only static in the cramped cockpit. Then he comes back.
“You will … fail. But I … will help.”
“Great. Can you override the main airlock?”
More static.
“No.”
Fuck.
“Perhaps … the secondary.”
“Perfect. Where is that?”
Another silence.
“Where is the secondary airlock, Eirik?” Sweat rolls down my back.
More static.
“Starboard side. Beneath the … raven.”
“Get it open and meet us at the drive core. Can you do that?”
“I'll try.”
“Good. Perez, out.”
I hand the mic back to Braden.
“There. Now we must find the raven.”
Braden nudges her joystick again and the Sundowner swings around the stern and up alongside the Naglfar.
“I think we're looking at it.” Jagr points at the viewscreen.
I follow her finger. There's an enormous raven's head protruding from the hull, at least thirty metres long. It's exquisitely carved. Too bad the impact with the Shiloh tore off its beak. The damage from the collision with the Shiloh is terrible. That the ship is still intact and under power makes the importance of our mission clear.
If we fail, humanity is dead.
“There's the airlock.” Jagr points.
Let's hope the airlock machinery didn't get damaged in the collision.
“Braden, take us in.”
“Sure, Mr P.”
Some careful manipulation of her joystick, and she positions the Sundowner outside the airlock.
“How are we doing,” Tyrus calls from the troop bay.
“It's closed,” Jagr replies.
Tyrus laughs. “Did you actually expect him to open it for us, Perez?”
“He'll get it open.”
He'd better. Or I'll be cross. “Come on, Eirik.”
A brief wait, and then the light next to the airlock turns green.
“Told you so. Come on. Let's go.”
“Thanks, B.” I clap Braden on the shoulder before I climb back down the ladder to the airlock to suit up. “We'll be right back.”
She shoots me a quick smile, but there's genuine worry in her hazel eyes. “Be safe, Mr P.”
“I'll try.”
* * *
Since we're under thrust, we stand on the closed door to the cargo bay as Jagr cycles the airlock. The door rolls open without a sound. To avoid having to take in the void unfolding before me, I bend down and check the trusty monomolecular-knife strapped to my leg. Then I stand up straight with my eyes closed. My knuckles grow white around the grip of the Paladin rifle. I hope the others don't see how hard I squeeze it. All that black nothing surrounding us would make the General lose his shit.
“Perez. We don't have all day,” Jagr calls, and I open my eyes.
I swallow hard, run, and take the leap. It's like jumping from a helicopter to a building.
I hit the Naglfar hard and scramble to find something to grab on to. The detailing of the great carvings is ridiculous. My armoured fingers close around something that looks like a human-sized skull. There's a fuckload of skulls on this thing.
I turn around and wave for the others. “Come on.” The others are tethered to a nano filament wire behind me. It would be really silly if someone floated off into space and got lost when we do epic shit like this. Next to jump is Tyrus. He lands like a tiger next to me. After him comes Jagr and Soledad. Then comes the priest.
He fumbles the jump and goes falling down the Naglfar. “Soledad, the priest's going AWOL,” I call.
Soledad loops the cable around her forearms and braces against the hull to catch the priest. He swings into the hull hard enough to bounce.
“Ouch,” is all he says. That must have hurt worse than ouch.
“Sorry,” he says, and climbs up to us.
The light on the airlock is still green, but the door remains closed. There are no external controls. Shit.
“It was a brilliant plan,” Tyrus says. “Too bad it didn't work out.”
I push the comms button on my wrist console. “Eirik. You have to open the airlock from inside.”
There's nothing but static.
I try the communicator again. “Eirik. Open the door.”
Still nothing.
We wait in silence while we cling to the hull outside the door. The ship's architect didn't imagine anyone would join them en route. If he had, there would be external controls for the airlock, and magnetic pads for our suits to attach to.
For a long time, all we hear are the mumbled prayers from Rivera.
“Perez, we …” Tyrus starts.
“Airlock opening,” Aeryn notifies me.
“Here we go.”
There's a slight tremble in the hull and the airlock slides open without a sound. The silence is eerie. I can't count the times I've been in space, but the total silence out here always gets to me. It would have been much less spooky if the opening doors had been accompanied by great rumblings and a scary soundtrack. I bet they will add sound effects when they make a vid feed about this clusterfuck adventure.
“Don't die in there, Perez.” There's concern in Aeryn's voice.
“Can't promise anything.”
“Be careful.”
“Got you.”
Tyrus points a gloved finger at me. “You got lucky, Perez.”
“The harder you try, the luckier you are.”
“Shut it, boys,” Jagr interrupts. “Let's move.”
I peer into the opening. The airlock interior is lit by a myriad blue pinprick lights, like a starlit sky. My heart makes a somersault when I take them to be centipedes, but they are only regular lights set in the walls, floor, and ceiling. I climb around the door frame and collapse into the airlock. “I'm in.”
When the others are all inside, I hail Eirik again.
“Eirik. We're in. Cycle us through.”
Static is my only reply.
“Eirik? Are you there?”
More static, then Eirik's voice. “Still … here. Cycling.”
The outer door slides shut, mercifully blotting out the cold uncaring stars, and we're locked inside. Then the inner door cycles open, and we all raise our rifles at it.
There's nothing there.
According to the suit, the ship has only a primitive atmosphere. We could never breathe without our suits.
“Where are you now, Eirik?”
“I'm at … the Core.”
“Good. Stay there. We're coming for you.”
“Hurry. Don't know … how long before … Geirmund finds out.”
“We're coming, Eirik. There's something else you should know. Finn is already on board. He's coming for you.”
There's another voice in the background, roaring expletives.
“He … found me.”
The link cuts out.
Shit. If Finn kills Eirik, we're stranded here. If Eirik kills Finn, I have no friends left in the world.
We must get to them before they kill each other.
* * *
“Are we close?” Tyrus scans the passage through the scope on his rifle.
The detector Soledad rigged gives off a faint green light when I point it toward the core. The closer we get, the brighter the glow. Simple but effective. Handy little gadget.
We stand in an empty passageway inside the airlock. The blue pinprick lights in the walls, floors and ceiling provide adequate light, but I switch on the image intensifier of my visor just in case.
“This way.” I point to an elevator door.
Tyrus presses the button to call it. To my surprise, there's a chime, and an indicator next to the door counts down. Judging by the display, we're roughly one quarter up the ship.
Jagr turns to me. “What do we do if we're spotted?”
I shrug. “We kill them.”
“Hey, that's my plan,” Tyrus says without humour.
The elevator arrives.
Tyrus and I level our rifles at the door while Jagr and Soledad take up positions flanking the door with their machetes raised. Rivera stands well to the side.
The door hisses open on an empty car and I let out my breath. The elevator is a simple metal cage, open to the sides. There's a mess of sharp girders and cables and shit running up and down the shaft. If you lean out at the wrong moment, it will take your head.
“It's empty,” Soledad says.
I grind my teeth. “Fucking stop that, Soledad.”
“Stop what?”
“Stating the obvious. It's fucking irritating.”
“I'm not stating the obvious. I'm just saying it's empty.” She sounds pissed.
“We can see that.”
“Cut it out,” Jagr says. “Perez, not now. Soledad, he's right. Now shut the fuck up, both of you, and focus on the job.”
Soledad shoots me a murderous glare. I return it in kind.
We pile into the cage and I scan the controls. There's a runic dial for selecting the floor and a large button for going there. I dial in something in the mid range of the floors and hit the button.
The elevator is swift. The floors flash by, and I take great care to not get too close to the walls rushing past.
Ten seconds later we slow down with stomach-churning speed. My feet rise a fraction off the floor before the thing comes to a halt. There's a retching sound from Rivera.
The door slides open on another passageway.
And there they are.
Two Goliaths stand outside the door waiting for their ride. The second they take to react is all we need.
Soledad swings her machete and decapitates the zombie giant on the left, and Jagr takes the head of the one on the right.
They must have cut the connection to the centipedes because the bodies drop to the deck, almost in perfect sync, where they stay, unmoving. The heads bounce off the floor and I kick them into the elevator.
I scan the passage. It's empty. A glance at the scanner tells me the reactor is somewhere to our right.
The priest points at the decapitated bodies. “Shouldn't we hide them?” He's beginning to think like a pro.
“There's no point,” Soledad replies. “They are all connected, aren't they?”
She kicks one of the bodies. “We just blew our cover.”
As if to confirm her words, a wild electronic shriek echoes down the passageway from somewhere far off. It reminds me of Mimr back on the Galahad.
“She's right. We need to move. This way.” I jog down the passage to the right. The light on the scanner grows brighter with every step. We're right on track. The others fall in behind me. A short sprint and we reach a T-junction. The device shines like a beacon. We're here.
There's an immense door to our left. It's open, and we inch inside, weapons at the ready.
It's the largest room I've ever seen on a starship. The chamber is unbelievably tall, but the thing that catches my eye is the light. It comes from a glaring pillar of raging blue fire that arcs up and down the chamber with the sound of constant thunder. The pillar is ten metres wide, and it disappears down into the floor and continues up to a vast contraption at the top of the chamber. That should be the drive core.
The chamber is otherwise empty, apart from Finn and Eirik, locked in mortal combat before the column of fire. They swing heavy swords and the noise of steel on steel echoes around the chamber. The clangs are audible even through the deafening bass rumble of the drive. Windsong has better reach, but Eirik's blade is heavier.
True to Goliath health and safety regulations, there's not a barricade in sight. Any second, one of them could fall over the edge and down into whatever radiation hell lies beneath.
Tyrus closes the door, locking us in.
Eirik is covered in blood and sweat, and the gore on the floor betrays they have used the whole chamber for their duel. Finn's armour is chipped and dented from Eirik's attacks. His face is cut in several places and his beard is matted with blood.
“Finn,” I call.
Too late, I realise my mistake.
Finn looks up, letting Eirik out of his sight for a fraction of a second, and that is all his brother needs. A quick kick from Eirik brings Finn to the floor. He lifts his sword and swings it to end his brother's life. Finn gets Windsong up just in time to deflect the blow, and their swords lock together. Eirik presses down and Finn does his best to hold him off. The younger brother has the upper hand, and it's only a matter of seconds before he pushes the tip of his blade through Finn's throat.
“Eirik. Let Finn go. We're here to help you.”
A moment's hesitation and Finn breaks off.
“Piss off, Perez.” Finn spits blood on the floor. Not the heartfelt thanks I was hoping for. “He's mine.”
They start to circle.
Then the giants run at each other like bull carnosaurs, howling a lifetime of jealousy at each other.
They collide with the horrible sound of sweaty bone on hypercarbon, each with a hand around his opponent's sword arm. They grunt with pain and effort. I watch, helpless, as my best friend fights his brother to the death, and I can't interfere. This is his fight.
It's a fight for all he believes in.
He fights for his father's honour. For his people. For himself.
At times like this I wish I had a god to call upon.
Jagr grabs my shoulder. “We must help him.”
“We can't. Finn will kill us if we interfere. This is something they have to settle themselves.”
“So, we just watch?”
“I'm afraid so.”
Fear for my only friend tears my heart, but this is out of my hands now. Fuck the Goliaths and their rules and sense of honour.
The battle rages across the grand chamber. First one brother gets the upper hand, then the other. They slip and stumble in the blood, and more than once they drop to their knees. Their blows grow weaker, their holds feebler. At one point, Eirik wrenches the black sword from Finn's fingers and tosses it aside. It goes skidding across the floor and clangs into the wall. Too far away for me to reach it in time to get it to Finn. Finn grabs a chain hanging from the wall and wraps it around his armoured forearm and uses it to parry Eirik's blows.
Rivera claws his face. “Asher, you must do something.”
“Sorry, priest. No can do.”
“But they will kill each other.”
“I know.”
Eirik gets behind Finn and catches his older brother in a perfect chokehold. Finn grabs the wrist of Eirik's sword arm to hold the blade from his neck, but it's no use. He is too weak, even with the servos of his armour. There's no way Finn can get out of that hold before Eirik plunges the steel into his neck. Finn's face grows a darker shade of red as he desperately fights the chokehold.
I look away.
“Do something, Asher.”
I shake my head and a tear rolls down my cheek.
There's a sudden motion at the corner of my eye.
The little priest rushes forward and jumps on Eirik's back.
“Rivera. No.” But it's too late.
The little man digs the fingers of his armoured fist down around the centipede and pulls with all his might. He gets one of the horrible spikes out, and Eirik howls in pain and rage. He lets go of Finn, who slumps to the floor.
Eirik grabs Rivera's wrists in his enormous hands. He pulls them off, fighting the servos of the priest's power armour, and the little man howls in frustration.
In an incredible show of strength, Finn's little brother swings Rivera in his power armour over his shoulder and drives him headfirst into the floor. The little man's shriek is cut short as his neck snaps under the weight of the armour, and Eirik tosses him aside, casually.
The priest slides like a rag doll across the chamber and crashes into the wall next to Windsong.
“Shit.” I rush to Rivera's side. He is still alive, but I can tell it won't be long, and I pull his head up on my lap.
Soledad joins me and puts her hand on my arm. “Don't touch him. You'll kill him. His neck is broken.”
I give her a look. He will die, no matter what we do. All we can do is give the man some love for his last journey.
Finn struggles to his knees and Eirik towers above him. He shows off the blade in his hand to Finn and says something I can't hear over the rumble from the engine. I put a hand on Rivera's cheek to comfort him and hide the sight of Finn's death. I don't want the little man to see that his sacrifice was in vain. He has lived his entire life believing in miracles. Let him die believing he performed one.
“You fool, Rivera.” He is so light in my arms. “That was an idiotic thing to do. And very brave.”
“Brave?”
He coughs blood. “You think so?”
“Yes, I do. That took some serious guts, Rivera. You are a brave man. Braver than me.”
“Brave …” He smiles through the blood and dies.
See You In Valhalla
Rivera was brave, but also an idiot.
What did he think he could do against a Goliath?
Finn kneels panting on the floor before Eirik's blade. Blood froths through his broken nose with every breath. He's done. He grunts, accepting his fate.
