20.
Chen's sobbing eventually gave way to silence, which in its own way was even more unsettling. Kel and Lloyd flashed over a couple of messages at each other, but neither could come up with a suggestion, either to help Chen or help all of them. They were stuck on Europa.
Chen's sobbing eventually gave way to silence, which in its own way was even more unsettling. Kel and Lloyd flashed over a couple of messages at each other, but neither could come up with a suggestion, either to help Chen or help all of them. They were stuck on Europa.
Kel's o2
reading was at less than 45 minutes. He wanted to ask Chen about the resupply
he'd been working on, but didn't quite know how to phrase it. Sorry about the horrific torture and all
that, but I'm going to suffocate soon didn't quite sound right. Instead he
wandered over to the collection of scrap that Chen had been working on before
Milton interrupted. Hoping that maybe in that lesson he'd recalled about sound
in a vacuum had also included manufacturing oxygen from a smashed space
probe.
"Don't
touch that" Chen's voice was as icy as the atmosphere.
"S...sorry.
Was just maybe wondering if I c...could help"
"Stay
there" Chen instructed. He got up slowly, like an old man, before moving
towards Kel. The companion had to fight to urge to recoil from Chen, a deep
frown etched across his face. Eyes dark.
"S..sure"
"Hold
this" Chen passed Kel the end of a long thin pipe that had previously been
pulled out of what was left of the ceiling. The scientist turned his back to
Kel while he made some adjustments to the ramshackle equipment. "Ok, give
it me back" Kel did so quickly "When I say, you disconnect the cap to
your suit's connection module. Do it quickly"
Kel nodded
from behind his face plate, hands reaching towards the module. Either by
accident or design, the AI tasked with producing the most VFM vacuum-suits had
located the connector for oxygen and energy top-up approximately where the
belly button would be. When connected, the feed pipe looked like an umbilical
cord.
"Now"
After a brief
fumble with the cap - it was hard in gloved hands - Kel popped it off and was
aware of a distant hissing sensation as Chen attempted to fit his make shift
connector on to the module.
"Give me
your o2 reading"
"Er..."
Kel called back the display with the timer "43 minutes, now 44, 47,
53....it's working!"
"Good"
said Chen simply. Then a few moments later, "Get ready to put the cap
back. I had to break the suit valve to make the connection. Be fast or you will suffocate". Kel did as he was
told, the cap being thankfully easier to put back on than take off. With the
task complete, Chen just nodded, then went and sat back down, head bent.
"My, er,
turn?" asked Lloyd nervously.
"Needs
to build up more pressure" Chen pointed at the equipment, without looking
up. "Wait"
"Ok, er,
dude" replied Lloyd, before pinging Kel I think he's gone doolally
What do we do? Kel sent back.
Can you make an interplanetary shuttle out
of the wreck of the probe?
Nope
Then I'm out of ideas
A little
later Chen stood and beckoned Lloyd over to the makeshift oxygen tank where he
performed the same operation as on Kel. With the task complete, the three
lapsed back into silence.
"I don't
want to go like this" said Lloyd after a while of uncomfortable silence.
Kel looked up
from where he had sat down in amongst the detritus, "What?"
"We've
got just a few hours left and it looks like we're gonna spend it depressed in
here. Yes this is totally fucked up, but things can't end like this" Lloyd
was stood up. Standing at his full height he looked quite imposing.
"So, er,
what shall we do?" asked Kel.
"Well
first of all we get Chen's o2 resupplied" Lloyd went and stood over Chen
"Come on, captain, time to move" he instructed.
"No. I'm
done" Chen still had his head slumped.
"You
think Nita wanted you to go like this?" Kel recoiled slightly at the
directness of Lloyd's question.
"What do
you know about Nita?" Chen had at least looked up.
"I know
she was a tough dude, didn't mess about. Nor did she sit around when shit went
down"
Chen moved
quickly, in what felt like an instant he had Lloyd by the throat, holding him
back against the makeshift equipment.
"Don't
tell me what she would or wouldn't do"
"Ok"
squeaked Lloyd, not quite so dominant in the face of such aggression "But
maybe now we're over here, we could maybe think about getting your o2 topped
up?" he added in a small voice. The two of them remained frozen for a
moment or two, then Chen let go, Lloyd using the opportunity to hastily put
some distance between them.
The three of
them once again lapsed back into an awkward silence, but this time Chen broke
it.
"Pass me
the pipe" he told Lloyd.
"Sure
thing dude"
With Chen
topped up, the scientist had quietly sat back down. But this time he kept his
head up, looking around.
"So what
do you want to do?" has asked the other two.
"I don't
want to stay in here. Seems like a waste" Kel hadn't said much since they
saw the video, but spoke up now. "The view from the top of the probe is
pretty special. I'm going to end it there" and with that he stomped
towards the jagged hold to the outside.
And so, the
three of them sat on the top of the wrecked probe waiting for the end to come.
Conversation was generally muted, aside from the occasional curse from Lloyd
that he wished that he'd brought some of his special stock down with him. Chen
sat quietly thinking, although the angry seething that had radiated from him
before has dissipated somewhat. Kel, meanwhile, carefully cradled the leaf
specimen while looking at the sky. They were in a sort of twilight as Europa
began its orbit back around Jupiter and so the side they were on headed away
from the sun (Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter so the same side always faces
outwards). As a result Kel could see some stars emerging. Like most people
equipped with the basic iris enhancement, he had a few novelty augments, one of
which was a star chart. He was using it to try and work out where the star was
from which the leaf sample had been taken. He wasn't having that much success,
though, and was starting to think that maybe the augment was designed to be
used away from Earth. Normally he'd have asked Chen, but was still wary of the
grim scientist. However, after a while, he did spot something in the stars that
encouraging him to speak out.
"Wow, a
shooting star" he pointed where he was looking. A bright dot was tracing a
fiery line across the horizon.
“Cool, man.
Epic way to finish things. Like the universe is waving goodbye" Lloyd was
in a profound mood as his o2 timer ticked ever lower.
Chen just
stared upwards. Then stood up, squinting.
"That
isn't a meteoroid" he said after a short pause.
"No,
it's a shooting star" replied Kel, wondering what Chen was on about.
They're the same thing, dude Lloyd
pinged over, to save Kel making any more stupid statements.
"Then
what is it?" Lloyd asked out loud.
Chen had
moved a few further along the hull of the probe, trying to get a better view,
iris magnification straining at its upper limit.
"It's a
drop ship"
"What?
Woah, really?!" Lloyd was up on his feet and bounding over to Chen, the
hull flexing as he made each long step in the low g. "Maybe a rescue party
from the loop?"
"I don't
think so. Looks like conglom issue to me" as the drop ship came closer,
Chen's magnification could make out more detail.
"You
think they want their probe back?" asked Kel, joining the other two in
staring up at the bright shape slowly getting larger as it came towards them
from orbit.
"I would
think so" replied Chen.
"Are
they gonna be pissed at us?" asked Lloyd.
"I would
think so" repeated Chen.
"At
least it’s a way out" Kel reasoned "Sure, we're going to find it hard
to explain all of, well, this" he indicated the path of destruction behind
the probe "but it's got to beat suffocating, surely?"
“That is a
piece of luck, alright" mused Chen, still concentrating on the drop ship,
before turning back to Lloyd and Kel "Improbable even, a statistician
might argue"
"How do
you, er, mean?" said Kel, nervously shifting weight from one foot to the
other.
"A
conglom intervention ship just happens to be within a couple of hours of Europa
when the probe goes down? Odd" Chen asserted.
"Maybe
they were already on their way to meet it?" suggested Lloyd.
"Possible.
Just funny that they happen to converge here, right when the AI on the probe
flips out"
"I don't
understand" Kel wasn't afraid to admit.
"Me neither,
but something isn't right here" Chen turned back to the approaching ship
"Lloyd, can you work on establishing a coms link with whoever is coming to
meet us. Explain how we're friendly and looking for a lift out of here"
"Will
do, captain"
"Don't call me captain" Chen slumped
a little, as if recalling recent events "I don't have a ship to
captain" he muttered.
"One
step at a time, Chen" Kel risked putting a hand on the other man's
shoulder; they needed the pirate scientist to be fully functional if this
meeting with the conglom was going to get them safe. "First we get off
this ice-ball, then we get your ship back"
Chen quickly
turned to face Kel, who thought for a second he was about to get punched.
Instead Chen stared at him for a little while, then slowly nodded behind the
face plate, a grim look on his face.
"Nah,
shit it, man, whoever it is, they running a fuck tonne of security
protocol" Lloyd broke the moment between the two other men. However, Chen
at least stood to his full height as he turned back round.
That's positive, just keep him functional thought Kel.
"Marine"
said Chen simply.
"What?"
Lloyd turned to look at the cryptic Chen.
"High
security protocols on an incoming drop ship? That's a marine" Chen didn't
break his gaze with the approaching visitor to look back at Lloyd.
"That
bad?" Lloyd pushed.
"Depends
on what the tender was for"
"Tender?"
asked Lloyd.
"Yup. If
they tendered to give us a comfy ride back to Earth, then we're good. They
tender to wipe us off the face of Europa, then suffocation starts to look more
attractive" Chen explained.
"And
which is the more likely?" Kel almost daren't ask.
"Guess"
Chen replied "Although we do have one hope"
"Which
is? Geez dude, could you quit it with the moody replies?" Lloyd was
getting frustrated again.
"The
marine in that drop ship is the cheapest damn marine the AI could chuck at
us" Chen glanced at the other two "They all tender low, so we're not
going to be facing the latest military hardware. That is where our chance
is"
"Unless
they tender a couple of broken pipes and some snowballs, they're still gonna be
better equipped than us, man"
"For
sure. We just need to buy time"
"For
what?" Lloyd huffed.
"For you
to break the latest conglom military grade communications technology" Chen
looked at Lloyd, something approaching a manic grin across his face.
"There's an intervention ship up there somewhere" he pointed at the
sky, "you get through to them, plead our case. Otherwise...." he
paused, looking back up at the drop ship, identifiable with the naked eye
now.
"Otherwise
what?" Kel squeaked.
Chen picked
up a nearby pipe that lay on top of the wrecked probe. Took a practise swing
with it.
"Otherwise
we go down fighting the fucking congloms"
The manic
grin intensified.
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