Too Old To Die, page 15
“The injection I gave you,” Keppler replied, “it’s a series of shots not a single dose so…” He shrugged. “The first three need to be delivered in relatively short order. After that, things are a little less intense. Or at least, they should be more forgiving. In theory. You know what I mean, I’m sure.”
“Nope.” Gareth shook his head. “I have absolutely no clue. But I’ll take your damn word for it.”
Another course correction appeared. This one had them climb as their path came to an end. She wants me to try orbit again.
“Who is Zoe?” Keppler asked. “And… whoa, wall! As in you know one’s coming up, right? You’re not going to try to go through that like you did the trees, are you?”
The Veldon blips closed rapidly, coming in from the left and right. Gareth pulled up, gunning the throttle to buy them some quick altitude. The maneuver left their pursuers behind, giving them a solid firing solution on their rear. A quick tap of the console to the right reinforced the rear shields.
Gareth winced as the pain in his gut migrated into his hips. The pain reminded him of gas buildup. He struggled to breathe through it, losing focus on the flying. Volleys from the Veldon cut all around them. A few hit. He performed some minor course adjustments, evasive spinning but they had to achieve orbit.
Then get as far away from the planet as possible. Gareth wondered how much good it would do. Comes down to how many ships they have up there focusing on the planet. Can they spare one to chase us? We’ll see in a minute.
“This thing have weapons?” Gareth asked. Civilian ships weren’t supposed to have much more than some defensive lasers. Enough to deal with some debris or an ambitious upstart pirate. Most often, they were completely useless. He’d seen plenty of stripped vessels that thought they could fight with them.
“A turret,” Keppler said. “Pops out of the bottom.”
“Yeah? What grade?”
“Military,” Keppler’s cheeks darkened, though only for a moment. The climb made him pale. He hadn’t done much flying by the looks of him. “I told you I had some modifications done!”
“You could’ve mentioned this sooner! Get the thing out and shoot at those assholes behind us!”
Keppler grumbled the whole time, working the panel on his right. “This would be much easier if you were leveled out! I hope you realize that!”
“We have some serious communications issues to work out.” Gareth cried out as a wave of nausea rushed gripped his stomach. Vertigo, exacerbated by the climb, fogged his head. He took several deep breaths, gritted his teeth, and stared at the darkening sky above them.
The deck rumbled as the turret unleashed. That alleviated some of the attacking Veldon, forcing them to perform evasive maneuvers of their own. Gareth had to admit some surprise. He figured their pursuers wouldn’t have cared about the weapons until they did some damage. Scans must be working back there.
Doubled shields took a good beating. They went down to forty percent during the climb. Space opened up ahead of them. Sound deadened until it stopped completely. The hum of equipment filled the cabin. Gareth kept the throttle open, driving them away from Earth as quickly as their vessel would move.
He gasped from the sheer number of ships around them, miles away. He couldn’t count them all. They unleashed fury on Earth, constantly battering the surface with heavy cannons. Impact points appeared as red-orange blobs. Like hitting cities with old style nuclear weapons, hammering population centers.
“They’re not invading,” Gareth muttered, “they’re obliterating this place. Leaving here won’t help. Why’d they want you?”
“I don’t know,” Keppler said, “rather, I can’t imagine how they’d know anything about my work. You’re not looking so good. When will we be safe enough to stop for thirty minutes? I need to ensure you’re going to live.”
“Love your enthusiasm,” Gareth said, “but we still have those ships after us.” He checked the scanner to ensure he didn’t lie. And sure enough, all the blips kept after them. “I don’t like Pelland anymore. We need something better. Safer. What course to plot for the FTL drive. Maybe…” He paused. “I think I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Keppler asked. “We have to get somewhere safe soon, Commander. Your life depends on it! And yes, I admit that strange place you mentioned, the free port did not sound good!”
“And while we figure out where that is,” Gareth said, “there’s a place we might lay low. For a short time anyway.” He redirected their course toward the moon. If we can use the FTL buoys, we might have a shot at getting somewhere genuinely safe. With real help. That would be nice.
“Why there?” Keppler asked. “Isn’t it a bit obvious?”
“Looks like they already obliterated the colony,” Gareth replied. “I stayed there for two months for…” He cleared his throat. “An injury. Got to know the place pretty well. They have an underground area we can access. And since it’s wrecked anyway, we can close the doors behind us.”
“How?”
“Your turret.”
Keppler scoffed. “You’re insane! How will we get out?”
“Like I said, I know the place. When we’re ready to leave, we’ll take the sneaky way out. Until then, our Veldon friends will have to fly around looking. But they won’t find them all. So we’ll be fine. As long as we get there ahead of them.” Gareth dumped more power into the thrusters, taking it away from the turret.
“Will we have enough to blast your… your door?” Keppler shook his head. “I don’t like this plan. Let’s calculate a jump out of here. We can’t be chased that way. It’ll give us plenty of time…”
“That trip,” Gareth said, “needs to have a purpose. We can’t hop to the next system. The Veldon might already be there guarding the border. No. I want to make sure we get somewhere useful. That means trusting my judgment here.” He checked the scanner. The blips were quite a ways behind them, out of attack range. “Besides, I think we finally got lucky.”
“How do you mean?”
“Your turret drove the bastards back. Gave us some room to breathe.” Gareth leaned over the controls as the pain raced into his chest. It ebbed and waned, getting better and worse though each time it flared, he seemed to feel it all over his body. “What the fuck did you give me?”
“We’ll discuss it when we’re safe. It’s too complicated and I don’t want to distract you with the details.”
“But you thought freaking out and yelling the whole time I was evading those bastards was a good idea?” Gareth paused when he noticed one of the larger blips moving in their direction. “Oh, fantastic. I see they were able to spare a bigger ship to bother us.”
Sweat got in his eyes. He wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. This will be a lot more interesting. Let’s hope they don’t bombard the moon over this. Try to obliterate the satellite. But he doubted they wanted to annihilate them. Otherwise, they would’ve been better shots during the chase.
“I have an idea,” Zoe said, “if you’ll break protocol and grant me access to the ship.”
“What’s that entail?” Gareth asked. “Specifically.”
Zoe replied, “Saving our lives. Whatever is wrong with you seems to be spreading. I think I can save us, but the plan requires some timing you won’t be able to pull off. Please. You know I’m not going to do anything insane. Just… let me interface with it. Then the doctor will be able to fix whatever he’s done.”
Gareth coughed several times. The ships closing carried enough firepower to put them down with ease. He glanced at Keppler. Their eyes met. The doctor hadn’t been to space in a while, or if he had, it didn’t suit him. He looked like he might vomit, but at least his eyes were too alert to pass out.”
“Do it.” Gareth let go of the controls. “Whatever you have to do, Zoe.”
“This won’t be pleasant,” Zoe said, “so I apologize in advance.” The ship increased speed, pushing well into the red zone for the thrusters. The increase pressed them both into their chairs as the civilian artificial gravity struggled to keep up. The FTL engine kicked on for half a second.
She’s right, Gareth thought, I couldn’t have pulled off the precision for that. He spoke to ship officer’s who discussed the tactical advantage of micro jumps. None of them tried such things. Combat tended to be far too hectic to risk a military objective over what amounted to a gimmick.
But a straight shot to the moon bought them a lot of time, putting the enemy ships well behind them. If we had a destination, she could’ve gotten us out of here. Though Gareth wasn’t entirely convinced leaving Earth space was the right call. Unless the Veldon plan to occupy the planet, which I don’t think they do.
He wanted to be present to help with the aftermath. Hook up with the military. Find a way to contribute against the enemy for their brazen assault. Much of that would be harder if they had to flee the solar system in hunt for one of their fleets. With all the debris in that sector, he worried there may not be much of a group left.
“This is the hard part,” Zoe said. They approached the old moon base, going in hot to one of the hangars. She slowed the ship. “Now that we’re in position, the hard part is selling a story. Giving the enemy something to think about before they descend on the moon and bother us. It may only buy an hour. Or thirty minutes.”
Gareth shivered. He felt feverish then struggled to draw a deep breath. “Whatever… it takes…” He turned to Keppler. “What the fuck did you do to me?”
“We’re almost in a position to discuss it but why aren’t we heading in? I thought this was safe! And who is flying? You have to tell me all about this Zoe person. Or whatever.”
“I guess… we’re going…” Gareth swallowed past a dry throat. “We’ll have some… some revelations…” His vision dimmed, darkening on the sides. “Zoe… whatever you’re planning, you might want to make it fast. Because… I don’t know… how much I’ve got… left.”
“They’re almost here,” Zoe replied. “They’re really moving fast. My little jump didn’t put as much distance between us as I would’ve liked.” She paused. “And now.” Weapon fire lit up the sky around them. The ship jumped into motion, heading straight for the hangar. “Come on, hit me!”
What the hell is she up to? Gareth couldn’t fathom her tactic. But his brain barely functioned. Thinking hurt. Right along with his gut and joints. Every muscle burned. He didn’t know if he’d be able to walk. When he coughed again, thick goo came up. He spat it out to the left, away from the doctor. God… I hope that wasn’t blood.
“Here we go!” Zoe cried. The ship descended into the hangar.
An explosion behind them brightened the dark hallway for a moment then settled. Scans showed the doorway had been obliterated. Energy readings from whatever detonated buried the scanner’s meter. She slowed them to a halt a thousand yards from the entrance near the hallway leading out to the opposite side of the complex.
“What did you do?” Gareth whispered.
“Dropped one of the fuel cells,” Zoe said, “just as they fired, I detonated it. The radiation and energy from that will mask our signature. I’ve also shut down everything but non-essential systems. That’s about the extent of what I can do without being installed into the computer though. You’ll probably have to fly us out of here.”
“If I’m alive.” Gareth turned to Keppler. “We’ve got some time. What’s next?”
“You need the second dose.” Keppler threw off his safety belt. “Stay here. You probably can’t move anyway.” He disappeared into the ship.
“I’m not going to survive,” Gareth said, “this… feels… I’ve never felt like this before.”
“You seem to have flu symptoms,” Zoe replied, “but you’re not necessarily feverish. It comes and goes. Hot flashes, I guess. I can’t analyze the compound in your system, but it seems to be struggling with something.”
“Yeah.” Gareth huffed out a laugh. “It’s warring with my immune system.”
“No,” Keppler said, “but that’s a good assessment.” He pressed a hypo against Gareth’s neck on the left side. The device hissed. Cool liquid poured through his veins, moving down to his stomach instantly. Relief came quickly, restoring his vision first followed by feeling to his extremities. “Feeling a little improved?”
“Yes.” Gareth scowled. “So just what did you give me, Doctor? What’s your deal? Who are you?”
“My field of research has always been healing,” Keppler said. “I’d see the injuries soldiers came back with during the war and I was convinced I could compel faster, more complete recovery. And I did. The success of that saved so many lives…” He turned away, eyes narrow. “I’d been hailed as a hero.”
“And then?” Gareth prompted. I don’t have time for you to go down memory lane here.
“I came up with another idea. One I figured people might beg for, but if I made it plentiful enough, it would be available for everyone. A regenerative compound. Something capable of not only healing the body, but restoring some of the vitality lost to us. Through the natural act of aging.”
“Wait, what?” Gareth blinked. He had more questions, but couldn’t talk. His throat seemed to seize. He gasped, throwing his head back in the seat. Pain rushed through him, starting at his heart. Every pump sent tiny needles through his nervous system, cutting into his toes and fingers.
Once again, he found himself standing in the strange field with Zoe.
“You…” Gareth looked her in the eyes. He heard his own screams as if they came from the valley over. “It happened again.”
“The agony,” Zoe replied. “I had to protect you from it. But I think your body would have recovered. I just didn’t see any reason for you to suffer through it consciously.”
“Do you have any clue what he’s talking about? Can you analyze this compound?”
“I’m not a biologist,” Zoe said. “Never did very well with those classes. So I’m afraid not.” She sighed. “But he’s right about the function. Already, your nerves are much improved. Your joints aren’t blocked up. Scar tissue on some of your muscles is gone. Some of this pain is from toxins leaving your organs.”
“How is that possible?”
“How is any scientific advancement possible? He found a way to convince the body to regenerate from wounds. It’s not a leap to think he found a way to reverse aging damage. My question is why he researched it in the middle of the mountains rather than a military sponsored lab. With assistants rather than all by himself.”
“Yeah, that’s a good one.” Gareth struggled to form thoughts. “I’m… having a hard time…”
“Just because you don’t think you’re in pain, doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing the agony. It’ll make things harder for a time. I think we’re coming to the end of it right now.”
Gareth sat forward in his seat with a gasp. He turned to Keppler, grabbing him by the shirt. “That’s twice now!”
“And you survived,” Keppler muttered. He patted Gareth’s hand until he let go. “Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable.”
“So others haven’t?”
“My simulations have failed,” Keppler said. “Every single one of them looked promising, but I’ve never had a success. But then, I used to administer it as a single dose. Breaking it up has given the body a chance to acclimate. As I expected. If those fools back at Earth Defense would have listened to me, they’d have this right now.”
“You’d be dead,” Gareth replied. “Any of their facilities were likely hit first by the Veldon. So count your blessings you got exiled. For what, by the way? Specifically. How many people died in illegal experiments?”
Keppler’s cheeks burned. “Six. All volunteers.”
“Doesn’t matter so much when you’re not supposed to be putting shit in people’s veins without proper…” Gareth rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to lecture you about this. I hope you know it was wrong at least.”
“The method,” Keppler replied, “not the intention. I wanted to help all of mankind. And bureaucrats weren’t going to let me.”
Flu-like symptoms. Gareth scowled. “What about Franklyn? Your neighbor. Did you experiment on him? He had an injury. An actual injection point. You didn’t do that to him, did you?”
“Ah, him.” Keppler rolled his eyes. “The man found out who I was. Technical bastard. Got a photo of me then ran it through some database. A friend of his told him why I didn’t work at Earth Defense. He swore he didn’t tell the man he’d seen me, but I doubted his story. He came to blackmail me.”
“For what?” Gareth asked. “Not money.”
“No. When he found out what I was working on, he wanted in. Naturally, I needed to maintain my low profile. I refused to administer the serum to him. He insisted. So I mixed a cocktail that would give him a terrible week. Buy myself some time to figure out what to do about him.”
“So he was going to live?”
“Of course. He didn’t even experience the pain you did. I gave him a modified version of the medication you soldiers get. Focused on the skin primarily while adding those symptoms. Should’ve taught him a real lesson.”
Gareth sighed. “That man was in seriously bad shape!”
“What can I say?” Keppler asked. “Don’t blackmail a man then ask him to inject a toxin into your body. I’m sure we have more important things to discuss with our brief reprieve. I’ll start with Zoe. What is it?” He paused. “Is that the implant in your head? A Neural Link? Those are military issue only, aren’t they?”
“Even then,” Gareth muttered, “they aren’t common.”
“No, I should say they aren’t. How do you still have it if you’re retired? I thought they’d remove such a device. Clean it off, give it to the next man.”
“They aren’t standard issue,” Gareth replied. “And they don’t just hand them out. I received mine as part of an experiment. My wife designed the architecture. Developed the technology. Working closely with neurologists, they created an implant capable of… well… real artificial intelligence.”
“That’s not entirely legal,” Keppler said, “considering the loud voices of puritanical groups. They protested my efforts as well, when they knew about them. I’d see them picketing. Men and women using their devices to capture video of their accomplishments. Wearing eyeglasses… even the clothes on their backs.”
