Rat Pack, p1

The time has finally come, my friends. The short story we've been working on all month has been completed and sent off to Mavguard Magazine... and it's time for the reveal. 

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

And don't forget, Friday will be the big announcement/reveal for my next book, Cedwig: People in the Vines!

Rat Pack, Part 1 of 2

© RAD Writing, 2015

“Autopilot engaged,” the AI’s voice cut through Humphrey Bogart’s.

My eyes shifted across the helm of the ship toward my commanding officer, to my left. He’d brought me on this mission despite the fact that I had little to no experience in this area. Research was far from being my forte. I’d only been a part of the ISS7 crew for a year and a half, assigned to a short range ship under one of the highest ranking captains in the Earth-Space fleet. Both the Commonwealth back on Earth and Earth-Space itself claimed that they needed me out here, that they needed the best pilot to ever make it through training to assist in the mission of the seventh current International Space Station, orbiting Neptune. So here I was, despite my knowledge gaps and first-timer status. No sooner had I arrived on Seven than Neal, my CO, had adopted me under his wing. That was why I was really here. Captain Cornelius Madhran and I had hit it off from the very beginning, him the only captain in the fleet to refuse a promotion, and me the rookie on her first long-term mission.

“Come on,” Neal said as he turned off the music and got to his feet.

The two of us were alone aboard his ship, Apollo-Negata, carrying out a request for one of the scientists back on Seven. Our latest mission, as provided by Earth-Space, was to explore the Kuiper Belt. Most of our missions were contained to our own solar system, the planets nearby and the few just beyond the reach of our star, but until this point we’d mostly seen the belt as an obstacle to be avoided. Every time we’d had to pass through here, we’d either been melting the ice for long-term missions or blasting a path to the other side. One of our scientist’s aims was to change that, and so Neal and I had been here, aboard the Apollo, gathering samples from the ice. This was our third and final stop. Once we had one more round of samples from one more rock yet to be brought into the loading bay, we would head home.

Harry, the on-ship AI, had now taken over primary controls. All Neal and I needed to do was go to deck two and retrieve the rock.

I stood and left the helm, following a mere minute behind my CO. He’d already made it down to deck two, but protocol mandated I check his flightsuit and he check mine before we vent the atmosphere and open the hatch. Granted, neither of us had bothered to remove so much as our gloves since the last stop, but protocol still stood—unless, as I suspected, Neal was too peeved to go through with it. By the time I sealed off deck one and made my way down the stairwell into deck two, Neal had his hand on the button for the ramp.

From across the deck, I spotted the green light beside his helmet and nodded. Everything was in order, as far as I could see.

“Venting atmosphere,” he said as his hand tensed over the button.

Slowly, the ramp dropped open. Once the atmosphere was sufficiently emptied, it moved faster until it was fully open, enough for us to step outside and gather the final rock.

Today, we were space geologists. I almost smiled at the thought, before I remembered how annoying it had been to get the ship in this position without banging against any of the larger rocks in the belt. Most days our missions involved ferrying people to the other stations or scouting for intel against the Hunters, Earth-Space’s only enemy out here. Those were the missions I’d enjoyed the least. Despite the fact that I would’ve loved to beat the hell out of any Hunter in my path, this was still my first long-term mission. The rookie in me said it was better to hold off, at least for a while. I’d been through military training, I knew what to do in combat situations, but I wasn’t sure now was the time to put myself to the test.

My eyes shifted across the way to Neal as he ensured his tether was properly secured. He’d already lost the coin toss on our way here, making this his turn to go on a spacewalk. If he’d complained, I would’ve taken over for him. We both knew I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty for the job, and that I loved any sense of thrill I could find on a simple scientific expedition. The Kuiper Belt wasn’t exactly the most fantastical of places in the local cluster, but it was better than nothing. Besides, this mission had given me the opportunity to test out some new maneuvering ideas I’d had back in basic.

Once my own tether was in place, I walked across the open ramp to check that of my captain. I tugged on the clasp on his belt and looked up into his eyes, my brow furrowing at the look I saw. Cornelius and I had been friends since I’d begun my first tour away from Earth, but I never thought of him as more than a father figure. Now, he looked at me with fire, a look I was certain I’d never seen before—and certainly a look a father would never give his daughter.

“You’re all set,” I told him, audio confirmation that his tether was secure, for the benefit of the AI. Everything we did had to be clearly stated, so that every detail would be retained by the computer in case things went south. Out here, things could change in an instant. Space didn’t like having people in it, or maybe it was simply that people weren’t built to be in the void. Either way, this was the most dangerous way of life known to mankind. Of course, it had been the only one I was ever interested in pursuing.

I watched from the top of the ramp while Neal made his way down, trying to wipe the look in his eye from my memory. Our job here was to collect samples, nothing more. Besides, Neal was well aware that I had a husband back on Earth. All he needed to do here was find a rock approximately a meter in diameter and bring it aboard so we could collect the necessary samples. Still, my heart pounded and behind my blinking eyes I saw the fire in his gaze. Something had changed in the few minutes it’d taken us to get off the helm and prepare for the spacewalk.

Keeping my eyes on my captain as he demagnetized his boots and stepped out into open space of the Kuiper Belt, I reached up and turned off my comm. He wouldn’t be able to hear me, especially now that he was outside the ship.

My hand reached out to my right, to the computer panel beside the ramp controls, and I ordered the AI to send all communications data from the last six hours to my personal computer back on the base. Harry didn’t have the authority to so much as question my decision. The task would be completed as soon as he was able. That was the beauty of the AI’s: they had enough intelligence to know how to fly the ship through almost any situation, but they still had to follow our orders to the letter. I couldn’t imagine how anything like that was alive, the way many people on Earth claimed them to be, but they’d always held a special place in my heart. There were certain flying maneuvers that no human would ever be able to complete without help.

Once I’d finished, I turned my communicator back on. If Neal ran into anything out there, I needed to know. But I didn’t need him to know how concerned he’d made me. It wasn’t normal for him to look at anyone like that. As far as I knew, he was devout enough a catholic man to keep himself to himself.

“Tethering the rock,” his voice came chimed inside my helmet. “ETA, two minutes.”

“Copy,” I replied.

With every passing moment, the density of the room increased. Tension surrounded me, all coming from the look in my captain’s eyes and the timbre of his voice. Something was wrong, and for some reason he wasn’t telling me what it was. What’s more, he hadn’t bothered to stay aboard the ship. He’d gone out to collect samples, possibly knowing full well the added danger.

Our intelligence had told us no one would be this close to the Kuiper Belt while we were here, that this place was supposed to be as quiet as a grave. Hunters shouldn’t have been anywhere near—and they were the only thing I could guess that might give Neal pause. He’d been in space long enough to know they weren’t to be trifled with. Meeting them now would be only my third encounter, and during the last two I’d simply outran their best efforts. Apollo was good for that.

“Reel me in,” Neal ordered, his voice sending a chill down my spine. Whatever was going on, it was worse now than it had been when he’d left the ship.

“Sir?” I asked under my breath.

“Reel me in, Specialist,” he commanded. Either he was annoyed with me for taking a break on the job, or there was something he was hiding from me.

Forcing myself to keep my eyes open, I pulled on the end of the tether. The mechanism that was supposed to do this job broke on the first rock we’d brought aboard, so until we got it fixed, whoever was still on solid ground had to do the pulling.

The more I pulled, the more dread piled over me. Something was happening, something Neal had been too nervous to tell me.

“Harry,” I said, forgetting for the moment that my comm was still on. “Short range scanners.”

“Cannot comply,” he immediately replied.

“What?” My hands tensed around the tether cord.

“Unable to comply with specialist request,” he clarified, though I still felt as in the dark as ever.

“What’s going on?” Neal asked, the same resonance in his voice.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “Something’s not right.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He was trying to hide it now, trying to mask his knowledge. “Some systems are bound to glitch this deep in the belt.”

I took a deep breath and tugged on the tether, hand over hand, until the rock and Captain came into view. Almost to my surprise, they were alone. It was only Neal and the rock, which was only barely larger than the man. I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d expected to be there, but this wasn’t it. Something still wasn’t right; but, for now I was willing to stick to the task at hand.

Once Neal’s boots were magnetized to the ramp, the two of us dragged the rock all the way into the loading bay. We’d been through this twice before, and we didn’t bother to close the hatch while we worked. While Neal fastened the icy space fragment to the floor, I retrieved our gear from beside the stairs that led to deck one. Inside were all the tools we needed to drill into the ice and retrieve the scientist’s requested samples.

The sooner we finished, the sooner we could get out of here.

With the gear in my hands, I knelt beside the rock. “Ready?” I asked, glancing up toward my superior officer.

He looked back at me now with such intensity that I shifted my weight so that I squatted on my heels, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Neal had always been the sort of man who spoke and acted with fervor, but not like this. Not in way that almost proved something was wrong.

“What is it?” I asked as I set the gear on the floor. “What’s going on?” I whispered, my eyes wide.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed.

Instantly, red lights flashed and the ship shook beneath us. Neal reached toward me and the mag seal on my boots came free. In the air of the void I floated across the room, my tether the only thing keeping me from leaving the ship entirely.

“Proximity alert,” Harry announced.

But it was more than that, wasn’t it? The rocks in the belt were stationary, for the most part. They weren’t what had hit us. In my training we’d been aboard a ship that was failing, learning tether protocol in the case of emergency.

Someone had just tethered to Apollo. 

To be continued Wednesday, right here on Too Many Books to Count. 

[love]

{Rani D}