War of the Spheres Read online

  The captain turned his eyes back to me. “As our most dedicated security man aboard,” he said, “where do you think you should be?”

  “You mean in preparation for a ship-to-ship boarding attempt?” I asked.

  Whitman nodded.

  “Major Knox is covering the engine and the main cabin. I’m staying right here where I can keep an eye on things. Notice how I haven’t left the bridge since I got inside?”

  He smiled. “I thought that was because you figured we might lock the door behind you.”

  “Sorry, but you’re stuck with me,” I said with a grin. “If the enemy is going to try to take this ship, as they did that patrol boat, they’ll start right here on the bridge.”

  “Right…” Whitman said, looking uncomfortable. “Are you armed?”

  “Always,” I assured him.

  “Good.”

  The minutes crept by after that conversation. The pursuing ship kept edging closer. We weren’t firing any of our jets now, so it was easy enough for them to gain ground on us. Captain Whitman had timed it so they would be right on top of us just as we zoomed over Maraldi. He’d already reported the situation to the base commander and told him the ship was a pirated vessel.

  That hadn’t gone over well. They’d had trouble believing it at first, as piracy normally only occurred farther out in the Solar System. No rock-rat had ever had the balls, so far, to try pulling a raid inside of the orbit of Mars. The region was too heavily patrolled.

  But when they’d tried and failed to raise the approaching ship, and determined her identity as a vessel that had gone missing from Earth orbit sixteen hours ago, they had to admit piracy was likely.

  Wisely, we’d told them nothing about our theories the ship was piloted by aliens—or worse, that they had the capacity to slip on and off the ship at will. That would have made us sound crazy, and we needed help, not scoffing and arguments.

  Finally, the Moon grew until it filled the bottom half of every screen. A white glare like the brightest snow-capped peaks burned into every vid-feed and porthole. It was more than enough to make us squint until Lieutenant Jensen filtered the images down on the bridge’s front screen, and we could see comfortably again.

  With no atmosphere to protect her, Luna’s surface varied between one hundred degrees Celsius in the day and negative two hundred degrees at night. As we were approaching the sunlit side, the heat was significant.

  “I’m told the largest power drain on Luna Colony’s generators is from having to run air-conditioners non-stop during the day down there,” Captain Whitman said.

  That was the last idle comment any of us had time to make.

  A moment after the captain had spoken these words, a sound caused me to crane my neck around toward the closed door behind me.

  It wasn’t a knock, or the sound of the lock being opened via the combination. Instead, it was an odd, rattling noise. It seemed like someone was wrapping tin foil over the whole thing.

  “What—what was that?” Jensen asked. Her eyes roved the angled metal walls.

  “Captain,” I snapped, unbuckling myself. “Contact the guards in the passageway.”

  He glanced at me with a set jaw. He called for them, three times, but then shook his head. “No response.”

  All of us drew our sidearms. The odd sounds at the door continued.

  Suddenly, the porthole went opaque and reflective. Then, it became very quiet. We were all listening, but except for the whirring of fans and soft tones made by instruments, we heard nothing.

  “I don’t believe this—we must have a stowaway,” Logan said—but I noticed that despite his bravado he was speaking in a whisper.

  We were rats in a trap, I realized that now. They hadn’t attempted to slip aboard the bridge itself. Instead, they’d opted to take the passageway outside.

  Was that tactical genius, or random chance? It was hard to know, as I had little idea how precise their dimensional-slipping accuracy was. Maybe they’d tried to land among us, but missed.

  “Logan, what’s their ship doing now?” I asked, speaking in a hushed tone, as if that would do any good.

  “It’s just pacing us. A few kilometers above—with respect to Luna’s surface. No changes in their course for the last several minutes.”

  “Damn it…” Whitman said. “Maybe I should have been more evasive, making it more difficult to board us.”

  “At least they aren’t firing on us,” the lieutenant added.

  “Captain, you did your best,” I told him, and I reached for the lever that unsealed the door.

  “What are you doing?” The sensor op boomed.

  He was on his feet, and he had his gun out. It wasn’t aligned with my body yet, but I could see the intent in his eyes.

  “Logan,” Whitman said, “stand down.”

  “No,” he said nervously. “No, I don’t think so. You know what I think, Captain? I think this guy is working with them. He’s on their side—I’m sure of it. We’re going to stay in here, safe, until the Maraldi base blasts their ship out of the sky as we fly-by.”

  “Logan,” I said gently, “they aren’t aboard that patrol boat any longer. They’re aboard our ship now.”

  “So why would you want to open the damned door?” he demanded.

  “Because they aren’t expecting that. If we wait until they’ve fully prepared, we put ourselves at a terrible disadvantage. But, if we do the unexpected—”

  Logan lunged forward, putting his pistol in my face. I’d half expected this. I’d have to disarm him, or put him down fast. It was too bad, really. I’d rather have had a man of action at my side in the coming minutes. But if he was going to get in my way, Logan had become just another problem that needed to be dealt with.

  “No,” Logan repeated, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t think so, spy. You’re a rock rat, aren’t you? Or maybe your grand dad was. Maybe he left you crying one day and went out to die on some plutonium dig, and you’re still bitter about it. Well, that’s too bad, because—”

  The door, which the sensor op was now standing in front of, clicked and began to open slowly.

  Hearing the hiss of chamber-to-chamber pressures equalizing, he turned in shock.

  There, past Logan, was something out in the passageway. I recognized one of the enemy aliens almost immediately.

  What stood out to me most were long claws and those robes clamped tightly against its weird body—as if they were vacuum sealed under some kind of transparent pressure suit.

  I had mixed feelings about my next move, but I quickly did the math—Logan had to go. I shoved him into the alien. I’m not sure who looked more surprised. It was a mean trick for both of them.

  Logan’s gun went off, but I couldn’t tell if he’d nailed the alien or not. Firing with practiced aim, I placed several shots into our visitor.

  Clacking with emotion and pain, the creature took its natural rage out on Logan. The senor op’s flight suit was tough, but those claws soon tore through it. A moment later, both of them were on the deck.

  There was more movement, farther back in the passage. Something charged at me then, out of the dark.

  A glance down at Logan’s wide-open, staring eyes told me he no longer thought I was a bull-shitter. He was quietly mouthing something—but I didn’t have time to lean down and find out what it was.

  The charging alien gave me no options. I couldn’t allow it to board the bridge—if it beat me, the ship was as good as lost.

  I slammed the door shut and spun the wheel. Putting my shoulder against it, I hung on tightly with both hands.

  On the far side, something tried to open it. The lock seemed to have been disabled.

  The thing outside was strong—but so was I. The contest went on for several long seconds.

  Finally, I turned to those behind me. “One of you get over here and help me hold this thing—or better yet, find something to barricade it with.”

  Lt. Jensen rose out of her seat, looking pale with fear. B
ehind her, the dazzling gray-white surface of Luna was dead ahead, filling the screen.

  “Chief,” she said. “Won’t they just slip from that side of the door to this side? I mean, if they can jump from ship-to-ship—”

  “I don’t know,” I said, “but I’ve never seen them make two jumps in a row. Maybe it takes time to recharge, or something.”

  The captain made his way over and joined me. He locked his hands with mine on the door, and it stopped doing more than giving an occasional shiver.

  Jensen handed me a long lever she had kept next to her seat. “It’s a grab tool—for a weightless environment,” she said.

  I gave a nod to Whitman before I let go of the wheel to test the strength of the tool in my hands.

  “Seems sturdy enough,” I said.

  Nodding, the rattled copilot went back to her panel at the helm. Her hands were shaking.

  “You left Logan out there,” Whitman said bluntly.

  “That’s better than having that thing in here with us, isn’t it?”

  “You shoved him out.”

  I looked Whitman in the eye. “Yes, I did.”

  He thought about that, and he nodded his head. “You played it right. Logan always was impossible. He knew it all—you couldn’t tell him anything.”

  “Let’s just make sure we don’t join him.”

  “We’re approaching the base—fast!” Lt. Jensen announced. “The turrets down on the surface… the cannons are firing!”

  Captain Whitman left me and took his seat once more. I turned my head to watch. Plasma lanced out, almost invisible, but most of the punch from those punishing beams came from beyond the visible spectrum..

  The lieutenant adjusted the various views afforded by our cameras, and the pursuing patrol ship spun into view. It was a tumbling wreck. Without oxygen, the flames that puffed out were short-lived, but they told a tale of thorough destruction.

  The raider ship that had chased us didn’t fall to the Moon, it was going too fast and there was no air to drag it down. Instead, it tumbled on into space with us. The puffs of gas and fire died down, and soon it was a cold, spinning mass of metal. A halo soon grew around it, made up of tiny bits of metal and ash that flew away in an expanding sphere.

  “I hope the crew was all dead before they got hit,” Whitman said. His voice was melancholy, and we turned to look at him.

  “I put in that request for Luna’s help, after all.”

  “Don’t let it haunt you,” I told him. “You did what had to do.”

  “Hey…” Jensen said. “I don’t hear them tugging at the door anymore.”

  “That could mean they’ve recharged,” I said. “Everyone keep your gun out and your eyes open. They might try to jump in here, just like the captain said.”

  We all complied, and a tense ten minutes passed.

  Finally, a tapping sound began at the door. The copilot exchanged glances with me.

  We bunched our muscles, holding onto that wheel for all we were worth.

  “Chief Gray?” a female voice asked in our headsets. “Captain? Are you alive in there?”

  We all smiled in relief. The voice was familiar.

  I spun the door and allowed a confused-looking Colonel Hughes to enter.

  Chapter 16

  It took a full day to turn Quark around and limp back to the Moon. We’d been going so fast, we’d easily broken orbit and shot out into open space. As a result, we were tired, hungry and running out of every kind of supply when we finally made it to our destination,

  By the second dawn ship’s-time, we finally arrived at Luna Station. I could see other lifters splayed like spokes pointing away from the main trunk of the structure like long tongues.

  In addition to these tongues and their sealable locking ports, there were many docking bays open to space, where a ship could be tethered, and its hull more easily accessed by spacers.

  Sticking up like pegs at intervals were short thick towers with clam-shell doors. I knew they concealed defensive laser armament that mirrored the ones that surrounded the mine at Miraldi Crater. Turrets like these had covered our ass when they’d downed any alien bastards left on that patrol boat.

  “We’re in our final approach. I thank you all for suffering this long flight with so few complaints. A friendly warning to first-timers: There’s a mild gravity-field in place here on Luna Station. Watch your step until you’re comfortable with the change.”

  Six minutes later, the lifter shuddered and then stabilized as the docking clamps engaged with an echoing boom.

  “Crew, man your stations. Passengers, we’re locked-on, and you’re free to move about. Be careful as you disembark.”

  I’d been the last man to buckle in, but I was first to unstrap and get to my feet. A light tug of manufactured gravity came from a weird angle due to the direction of our docking spoke. I quickly grabbed my gear and hopped with bouncing steps over to the opening door.

  On the way over, I leaned toward Dr. Brandt and had a quick word.

  “You might want to make some time to talk to Toby about hacking your comm-link.”

  I didn’t meet her eyes or wait for a response, but I heard a growl come from her throat as she figured out what I meant.

  After a blasting hiss of adjusting air pressures, the door swung away, and I started through it.

  The welcoming-committee wasn’t here yet, and I felt relieved about that. I didn’t need to listen to a greeter’s tutorial on functioning in low artificial gravity. I wanted to case the place immediately.

  There were voices nearing so I ducked aside. They passed me by and I heard them welcome the team behind me. I hopped away with long bouncing steps and got some distance in the passageway behind me.

  “Chief Gray—?” Hughes called after me. “Follow me please.”

  She ended a call on her comm-link and waited for me.

  Reluctantly, I returned to the docking bay. I’d been planning on a quick tour of the Luna Station’s showers, restaurant and bar in that order.

  “Let’s not get off task here. We have people to talk to.”

  Her tone was stern, but I didn’t let that bother me. She hadn’t been happy with me since she’d noticed I was involved with Dr. Brandt.

  “Sure thing, boss,” I said, and I bounced after her.

  Without giving me much of a hint concerning what was to come, she walked me to the station’s commander’s office, General Niederman.

  He was an old guy, quite fat, but he carried it well on Luna Station. Maybe that’s why he’d taken the job, I mused. A four hundred pounder could move like a ballerina out here.

  “So,” Niederman said, eyeing us both with a tight smile. His accent was German, but not overpoweringly so. “This must be the infamous Mr. Gray.”

  “Chief Gray, yes sir,” I said.

  “Chief? Ah, yes. So I see,” he said as he eyed a small hand-held screen.

  “I’m impressed with your laser armament,” I told him. “We were able to get a close-up demonstration a few days back down at the mining colony on Luna.”

  “Yes, we have big guns and we know how to use them,” he said sternly, and he stared at me in a way that felt awkward.

  I got the feeling he wanted to aim his big guns at me.

  “Uhh—thank goodness,” I said, wondering why he was acting like a dick.

  “I see you have some kind of service record, but it’s quite sketchy. Can you fill me in further, Chief Gray? At what post did you last serve?”

  “No, sir. Can’t do that.”

  His face relaxed. “No? You refuse to answer my questions? May I remind you that I am in charge here? This isn’t Earth. I am in high command on Luna, and—”

  “Sorry sir,” I said. “It’s classified.”

  “Classified? Everything? Even the location of your last post? The name of your last commander?”

  “All of it.”

  He nodded slowly and set down a computer tablet. He cleared his throat, and he looked at Colonel Hu
ghes.

  “I’m quite disappointed in this sequence of events,” he said. “As I’ve told you, I’m the responsible party for anything that happens out here.”

  The Colonel affirmed his words with a nod.

  “We’ve lost nearly twenty personnel, and a local patrol boat. You do realize spacecraft cost a lot of money, yes?”

  “I don’t see what I had to do with it—and Chief Gray was just doing his job. We were boarded by intruders.”

  Niederman lifted a finger and pointed at me, as if he’d found a witch in desperate need of burning.

  “Ah…” he said. “But Chief ‘Classified’ here is under your command, true?”

  Hughes shrugged. “On Earth, maybe. Once we boarded that transport, the captain was—”

  “Ah-ha! Of course!” Niederman said. “Dodge and weave! Pass the buck! A game as old as the hills of this rock down below us! Please, tell me who else would you like to blame for this disaster?”

  Colonel Hughes didn’t even flinch. “I’m not dodging anything. I didn’t request Gray’s help. I was provided with it mandatorily. Anything he’s done since we left Earth is his own mess.”

  There it was. I’d been ditched. This is how things usually ended up. The mysterious new guy was a natural scapegoat. It might as well be in the damned job description.

  I also found myself marveling at the speed with which people could jump to self-preservation. Why was everyone so ready to sell out the next guy to make their own lives slightly easier?

  Clearing my throat, I got their attention. “Are there misconduct charges coming my way? Something that the Ministry of Control needs to hear about?”

  They both frowned at the mention of the Ministry. No one in their right minds wanted to tangle with that institution.

  Hughes shrugged. “There are no complaints from me. You got my cargo here in one piece. It might not have been an optimal trip, but it was a success.”

  “From your point of view, perhaps!” Niederman corrected. “I’m missing a patrol boat, more than a dozen crewmen, and many explanations.”

  “I’m sorry sir,” I said. “I’m a security man. I prevent disasters as best I can. Are you asking me to conduct an investigation of this entire—”