Dark Star (33 page)

The plan was simple. Once she was on Dark Star, all she had to do was put on the temple piece and patch into the core operating system. The holo would stream the codes from the implant into the system activating the destruct sequence. But they had to get onto the transmitter first. There was no docking bay for a shuttle on Dark Star and the only way in was by a spacewalk to the airlock with the coded entry. Pip had the code from Riley but then there was also the defence system. Automated drones set at unknown positions in proximity to the transmitter which, on detecting an unauthorised entry, would shoot an electro pulse through Dark Star effectively frying any life form inside, while leaving the shielded transmitter systems working. She had found a way to deactivate them on the implant, but they would have to work fast on that one.

“You ready?” Pip asked as they picked out suits. There were alone in a large locker and down to their underwear, but she didn’t feel exposed or shy. She hardly felt at all.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “It’s time.”

Pip was as solemn as she’d ever seen him. He handed her one of the soft white suits. They dressed in them then clipped the life support belts to their waists and checked the shielding was working.

“Green to go,” Rosie said.

Nerita’s voice came over the ship com. “Approaching now. You two get into position.”

Pip held out his hand, his suit gloves in the other. “Care for a space stroll?”

Hand in hand, they met Sulawayo at the airlock. She checked their suits, sealed on their gloves and helmets and activated the energy shielding to protect them from the vacuum of space.

She looked at Rosie through the panel of the helmet. “Stay sharp.” She spun the lock, opening the inner door, and Pip and Rosie went into the airlock. Sulawayo sealed it behind them.

The sound of her own breathing was loud and Rosie could hear Pip’s, echoing her own through the helmet com.

The airlock was small and all white. Opposite them the door that opened to space had a circular window. Rosie could see Dark Star now, a brightly lit flat-ended orb with the transmitters’ fixed panels extending out from it like arms. Below, the Earth was a massive curve of blue surrounded by a nimbus of atmosphere like a halo.

“Clip your tethers for breach,” Nerita said. “Opening lock in ten, nine …” She continued counting down and Rosie and Pip clipped the safety cables to their belts.

“One.”

Rosie met Pip’s blue eyes, startlingly bright against all the white as the space lock slid open. Gravity disappeared and her pulse pounded as they floated up a short way from the floor, the tethers keeping them in the lock.

Before them was the blackness of space. It was beautiful and endless, with the brightness of the stars ever wheeling.

“Biggest, deadliest playground,” Pip said.

“Dark Star in range in twenty,” Nerita said. “Be ready to step out.”

She began counting down again and Rosie steadied herself, then unclipped her tether, Pip doing the same. She activated the suit’s self-propelling system and they hovered by the door, each with a hand on the frame, watching as Dark Star came closer.

“Together, okay?” Pip said.

“Together.” Rosie tried to breathe normally.

Nerita’s countdown finished. “Launch!” she barked and Rosie and Pip pushed off into space. It was like flying, drifting through the black, then the suits propelled them across the thirty metres of open space to the Dark Star airlock, their velocity increasing as they approached.

“Tight fit,” Pip said and they bumped together against the outside of the airlock. At first Rosie thought she was going to bounce back out into space and had a moment of panic, but then she got hold of the handle beside the door and pulled herself back.

“Careful!” Pip’s voice was strained.

“I’m okay.” She pushed the entry code into the door pad and the lock swept open. They drifted in and Pip bumped the closure button with his elbow. The lock slid shut sealing them in and gravity began to reassemble. They hit the floor at the same time.

“We’re in,” Rosie said to Nerita.

“Received. I’ll circle and swing the ship back around to pick you up. Rotation will take twenty minutes. And kid,” Nerita said, “work fast. I’m picking up something on the sensors. We might have drone company before that. I’m readying the weapons, so get your butts moving.”

“Received,” Rosie said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Pip said.

“No.” Rosie checked a monitor above the inner airlock. “Life support’s on.”

They took off their helmets. The air smelled of chemicals and made her head ache. Pip opened the inner door.

The Dark Star transmitter wasn’t large but the small circular room was lined with tech. Screens, holos, panels and switches surrounded them and in front of a small flat console was a single chair. Ambient light illuminated the gear, most of it coming from the holo screens that swarmed with information she couldn’t understand. Probably readings from the array of satellites it commanded. Directly in front, on the console, was a holo screen flickering blue. She guessed it must be a com device.

“This it?” Pip pulled her towards the right of the console where two shining hand-shaped mats were embedded. “It’s gotta be the bio controls.”

Rosie spotted a headband fitted with thin sensors hanging off the side. It was a lot like Alpha’s manacle. “Yeah, I think that’s it.” She sat in the chair in front of the mats and pulled off her gloves then put on her headpiece and patch and connected to the holo.

Once she touched the mats she should be in sync with the station, everything working together.

“Hit the drones first,” Pip said.

“I know.”

“If anything feels like it’s going wrong, signal me and I’ll pull you out.” He was frowning, worried. “I’ll deactivate the implant if I have to.” He touched the pocket where he’d stashed the vial Riley had given him. It was the fail-safe Riley had made for her to destroy the implant once and for all.

“Only as a last resort.” Rosie flexed her hands. No time for second thoughts.

“Rosie,” Nerita’s voice came from their helmets.

Pip fumbled for his helmet under his arm, pulling out the mike. “What’s the problem?”

“Drones approaching.”

Pip met Rosie’s eyes, his wide with alarm.

“It’s only two. Moving to intercept, but can’t guarantee success. Our course is off. Get the rest offline.”

“Received,” Pip said.

Rosie’s mouth was dry. She placed her hands on the pads.

It was like being submerged in a sea of energy. She gasped and slammed back against the chair as the transmitter and implant interfaced. Her vision whited out and colours exploded across her sight, followed by a stream of information pouring from the implant to the transmitter core. She struggled to get a hold of it. It felt like a thousand people talking at once, a cacophony of sound and vision. Dimly, Rosie heard a blast of sound and Pip asking her what the hell was going on, as the myriad screens and holos came to life. The implant was streaming information every which way. Rosie fumbled for the holo. She’d forgotten to activate it! As soon as she swiped it on though, the sound and vision cut off and, after a pause, an index of the Dark Star systems began to rotate in the air before her like any ordinary holo. She searched for the shut off system for the drones, using small pushes of fingers in the information to find it.

There.
Security
. She paged through the digital files to their commands and switched them off, one by one. There were fifteen in all. She felt Pip’s tension release as he saw her flicking them off.

After that it was simple to upload the destruct code sequence into the system. The commands streamed from her implant to the core and a countdown appeared in the holo rotating above the display. Fifteen minutes. Enough time for Nerita to bring the ship around and pick them up.

Rosie felt the connection beginning to fade as the implant closed up and the holo instructions completed. She took in a breath and lifted her hands from the pads.

“It’s done,” she said.

They both gazed at the countdown. It felt odd, anticlimactic. It was over; soon Dark Star would be destroyed, ending Jebediah’s plans. Every single satellite linked to the transmitter would selfdestruct.

“We better get ready to get out.” Pip reached for his helmet and spoke into the com. “Nerita, it’s down, self destruct has–” he checked the display, “–less than fourteen minutes. How long till you get here?”

“About ten.” Nerita’s reply was calm. “Good job on the drones – they’ve backed off.”

“Received.” Pip grinned and pulled Rosie up from the chair. “Ready–” He stopped, staring over her shoulder. “Shit.”

Rosie looked around in confusion, then went cold. The selfdestruct was no longer at fourteen minutes. It was now down to five and the countdown was speeding up, the seconds running past faster and faster.

“That’s wrong,” Rosie whispered.

The com on the console flickered into life and Jebediah Curtis’s voice filled the room. “I see you found my destruct codes,” he said. Jebediah was glaring at them from the screen with a hard smile on his lips.

“I’m sorry to say you won’t last long enough to see the effects. It can’t be stopped. So I have sped it up for you. Consider it my parting gift.”

Rosie shivered in disbelief. How could he still be stopping them at every turn? Then she saw something Jebediah couldn’t. The view screen was large enough for her to see most of the room, and behind Jebediah was Dalton, a gun in his hand. He met Rosie’s gaze and her heart wrenched. His eyes blazed with anger.

“Stop it, Dad,” he said.

Jebediah turned.

“Rosie, get your gloves on!” Pip grabbed her hand and shoved it into a glove. It broke her frozen state. In desperation, she pulled it on, then the other. Pip was already pushing her helmet on. She snapped on the gloves then clipped his helmet down while Dalton’s voice filled the small space around them.

“Slow it down,” he said. “Do it now or I will shoot you.”

“You can’t,” Jebediah was sneering.

“Do it!” Dalton shouted and Rosie saw a last glimpse of his face, desperate, before there was the sound of a shot and the screen went black.

“Dalton!” Rosie called out, but there was no reply.

She stared at the countdown. Three minutes to selfdestruct. Were the numbers slowing? The screen flickered back on.

“Rosie, I’m sorry. I slowed it down, but I can’t stop it.” Dalton’s face was a picture of distress. “I’m sorry.”

“Rosie, we’ve got to go!” Pip pulled her back to the airlock. “Nerita,” he shouted at the pilot through his com. “Destruct has gone pear-shaped. We’re jumping!”

They ran back to the airlock as fast as their suits allowed. A siren began to wail through the station and a woman’s voice calmly said, “Thirty seconds to selfdestruct.”

Frantic, they fell through into the outer lock, sealing the door behind them. Gravity disappeared.

Rosie floated swiftly to the outer lock and punched in the code. Nothing happened.

“What is it?” Pip floated next to her.

“I don’t know; it should have worked.” She punched in the numbers again. Still nothing.

“Ten seconds to selfdestruct.” The woman’s calm voice sounded again.

Shaking, Rosie punched it in again, her fingers moving painfully slowly in the gravity-free vacuum.

Finally, the door began to open as the woman counted down from ten. A rumble started beneath their feet.

Rosie knew even if they got out, they were too close to the explosion. Pip was nearest the door, holding his hand for her, waiting, reaching for her. They didn’t both have to be so close. Rosie pushed off the wall and cannoned into him, shoving him out into space ahead of her.

“Rosie!” She heard his fearful shout, but her push had sent him further, tumbling away, and then the destruct sequence began and she couldn’t even scream as the first shock wave hit. The suit gave her some protection but not enough. Her arms wide, she was flung away, a silent fireball at her back, as bomb after bomb exploded. The heat seared her and she screamed at the agony. Behind her, Dark Star base station broke apart.

She heard her own gasping breath and reeled away into the black, stars spinning around her. They were beautiful, but a cold darkness full of pain was reaching for her. She drifted and was stopped by something solid, held tight. It was Pip, his face white with fear behind his helmet. “Rosie?”

She smiled. There he was, more beautiful than the stars.

“Jesus Christ.” His voice choked and she saw tears on his cheeks.

She realised they were floating out in the black on their own. The ship that should get them might not be able to manoeuvre to pick them up, so far off course.

“Sorry,” she said, but Pip shook his head.

“You idiot.” He put his faceplate against hers and it felt like they could be anywhere but here. Somewhere safe. The reflection of the Earth was in his faceplate, and more small flowers of explosions flared as the Dark Star satellites began to explode one by one.

“We did it.” Secure in his arms, she stared at his blue eyes. There was a strange hard numbness across her back.

His smile was sweet and sad. “I love you, Rosie Black.”