Far Horizon (Juggernaut #4)

Forty One

The journey to asteroid B4C took a little over thirty minutes. Tila avoided conversation and eye contact as much as possible. It seemed that the mission crew of twenty was drawn from a range of specialists which made blending in easy. All she had to do was avoid the real data technician, while still trying to see the data for herself. The journey itself was uneventful. It was a zero g flight, so any loose items were secured in pockets or held tightly under webbing attached to the seats and hull.

With nothing to do, Tila pretended to sleep, or watched their escort fighters on their parallel course. The fighters turned back half way. There was nothing out here, and mission protocol only extended the umbrella by thirty thousand kilometres when there was no identifiable threat.

Tila watched her new friend, Anwir, but she spent her time reviewing files on a datapad. They didn't speak again until the transport was approaching the dock.

"Wake up." Anwir pushed Tila's ankle with her foot. "Time to work."

The crew stayed in their seats as the pilots lined up a docking tube with the asteroid. When the seal was secure the door opened, and the passengers floated through it to the rock. The asteroid itself was big enough to generate a noticeable gravitational pull, but not enough to walk. The initial rescue team had dropped in place portable low power gravity generators to assist their evacuation, so once the passengers were safely through the docking tube, they could manoeuvre into position with grab handles, and gently sink to the floor at point eight g.

The crew dispersed into dark tunnels lit with emergency lighting. The harsh white light made daggers out of shadows, and turned the rough walls into an abstract patchwork of black and grey.

Anwir disappeared into the tunnel with the others, leaving Tila alone. Internal doors had been installed, a basic precaution, but each one needed security clearance. Even trapped on an asteroid in deep space, the people here had still been kept in cells. The doors were still closed for safety, but the security systems had been removed by the rescue team.

Tila opened and closed the first internal door and began her search. She had no idea where the computer systems were, so she would have to explore room by room.

Tila navigated by flash light, using her softer beam to fill in the missing details hidden by the stark white lights overhead. The place had a musty smell of sweat and tears and nightmares. She found rooms where clothes and tools had been abandoned in the rescue; where people had made scratches in the rock to count the passing of time and hope; and shallow graves in dark corners, where they slept, at last, without fear.

Some were the size of full-grown adults. Some were smaller.

Tila wiped her sleeve across her face and moved on.

She heard the chatter of workers in adjacent caves, and followed silver trunking which snaked along the walls to rooms of machinery. These were atmosphere processors, or water recyclers. The bare minimum needed to support life here. She moved on, passing through another bulkhead, underneath trunking which had been passed though holes drilled through the rock and sealed air tight behind them. This room was bigger, with smaller caves hollowed out around the edges. Multiple light panels here balanced each other and filled in the shadows. The floor was uneven, with nothing apart from the gravity panels to cover it. Cables, pipes and trunking flowed from one perimeter cave to another. Tila spotted a twisted bundle data cables through breaks in the trunking, and followed them.

They led her to the back of the room, through a short passage and then a ninety degree turn left. Another room had been hollowed out here. The bulkhead was already open, and against one wall was a terminal. A technician crouched at the side of the terminal. Her short dark hair protruded from under her tan cap.

A body lay on the floor beside her.

Tila stopped. The woman turned. She stood up.

"Anwir?" Tila took a step backward and raised her tool kit like a shield.

"Ellie Chambers, not the real data technician, I think." She stepped over the body. "You're here for the data?"

Tila took another step backwards. What was happening?

"I was. I am." She stopped. "Who are you?"

Anwir raised a small controller and thumbed a button. Behind her, the data terminal burst into white flames as the small thermite charge she had planted exploded.

"No!" shouted Tila. "I need that!" She rushed forward and threw her toolbox at the other woman. Anwir sidestepped the missile and stood in Tila's way, the heel of her palm on Tila's chest.

Tila went to grab her wrist but snatched empty air. Anwir's hand twisted around Tila's attempt to grapple her, and took her by the collar. She kicked Tila's feet out from under her, dropped her to the ground, and knelt on her neck. Tila scrabbled for leverage as hard rock pressed against her skull, and the blood and oxygen to to her brain slowed.

"And I know that's not your real name, either, Tila Vasquez." She lifted her chronometer to count off the seconds. "In earth-normal conditions, hypoxia should set in within about ten seconds. Here, I would expect it to be faster."

Tila squirmed, she scratched and punched and kicked out with her legs, but there was no leverage.

"Tick. Tick. Tick."

Tila felt light headed and darkness vignetted her vision. There was a sound. A voice. Her eyes closed.

Her eyes fluttered and opened. Dark shapes struggled next to her. She gasped for air. There was a crunch, and a crack, and someone fell next to her.

"Alert, we have an intruder on board. Security to—" The sentence never ended. Another body fell, and a communicator landed on Tila's body.

Tila looked up, struggled to rise, and fell back.

The woman pulled off her cap and threw it to the floor. She noticed Tila was awake and looking back at her.

"Tell your mother, Jade says goodbye," she said, and vanished.

Tila coughed and pulled herself up. Two men lay on the floor next to her. Both were unconscious. One had a clearly broken arm. She stepped to the door. Her legs wobbled. She steadied herself, and ran after the woman. Her legs felt weak, and she couldn't go more than a few steps without steadying herself on the walls.

She gave chase anyway. She followed the sounds of fighting back to the transport. She found more unconscious and wounded crew as she ran. She reached the docking tunnel in time to see it be pulled shut, sealing them all inside the asteroid.

Through the small window in the door, she watched the transport pull away, ripping the docking tunnel free to hang limp in zero gravity.

Tila banged on the door and screamed.