Boots

  Zara pushed the buggy as fast as she dared. She still had to handle cooling manually — the earlier trip had pushed it hard. But it was the fastest way to the other ship, and the only way for her.

  Her implants were back online, but even in top form she wouldn’t be able to traverse the terrain. She was far from her best. She tried to vary the path she took the first time. She had listened to the crew enough times about ambushes. She might not have their training, but she wouldn’t let that stop her.

  She was halfway when she heard the crack of a railcannon. She looked up and saw the fiery streak across the sky, saw the dropship start its erratic dance, then withdraw. That was not good.

  Locking the cooling system to full, she pushed the buggy faster. She could hear the buzzing of Zev’s rifle — a sound she had heard a thousand times before. If he was putting out that much fire, things had gone wrong.

  She didn’t consider going back. That might have been the smart thing, but her brother and Roger might need her. While she wasn’t as good in a fight, she might be able to unlock the ship. That would give them an edge.

  Flying over the forest floor, dodging trees, Zara hated to admit it — but she was having fun. Terrified, but still having fun. Zev’s rifle fire died off. Not knowing what had happened, she pushed past the safety limits.

  Smoke started to billow from the back, but she pressed on. She could see the ship between the trees. The buggy’s engine protested loudly.

  When she burst from the treeline, she was startled by another crack of Zev’s railcannon — this one much louder than before. The sound wave hit her like a wall. It threatened to knock the buggy off course.

  Fighting the controls, she managed to gently slam the buggy’s side into the ship. Hopefully not enough to damage it. She really did need a lecture from Zev about safe driving.

  Pulling around to the lowered ramp, she looked for what Zev had shot at. She didn’t see anything.

  Powering down, she climbed out. She walked around, checking the damage. The panel on the driver’s side was slightly bent, but nothing anyone would notice. She then checked the power cell.

  It was dangerously hot — she needed to cool it right away. As Annalynn had said earlier, an overheated power cell would start a fire, then explode… or just explode. Definitely not something she wanted to explain. She redirected the cooling loop away from the grav plates.

  The plates would overheat in time, but the buggy was on the ground. The extra cooling had the effect she was hoping for. The power cell stopped glowing red — now just an angry heat. Less risk of explosion.

  She was so focused on not having a runaway nuclear fission event she didn’t notice Zev dropping down. A heavy thud made her spin, and she turned to find the towering form of her brother.

  She nearly leapt a foot off the ground, fumbling to pump more coolant. She felt the ground shift as he stepped closer. Reaching past her, Zev flicked a switch on the power cell, forcing it into emergency shutdown — the one thing she’d been trying to avoid.

  Restarting the cell wouldn’t be easy or fast. “What did you do that for?” Zara glared at him. “I had it under control.”

  Zev scooped her up effortlessly. She flailed at first, but his grip was solid.

  “Zara, we don’t have time. We’ll talk in the ship,” he said softly. He jogged up the ramp much faster than she could have managed on her own.

  He set her down gently — almost tenderly, something he never did. She felt the tension in his arms. Something had gone really wrong. He didn’t seem angry. Her big brother seemed scared.

  That scared her. Zev was only afraid of two things: Sarsha, and bad pizza. Sarsha was back on the Wrath, and there was no pizza in sight.

  “This ship is bait. It’s rigged with at least one trap, maybe more. Roger found some friends to play with, and I just shot down a military-grade dropship.” The words tumbled out of him — fast for his normal way of speaking. He even dropped his uneducated mannerisms.

  Zara looked around the loading bay. It was empty. The inner airlock door had been knocked off its frame, the twisted panel still lying in the hallway.

  “Is it safe to be in here?” she whispered.

  “Safer than outside. I’ve been thinking about this ship. It had a crew. They wouldn’t have set a trap themselves. Someone did this after Roger found the ship. Everything I’ve seen tells me they’re after him. Poor bastards.”

  “Can you get me to a computer?” Zara tried to take a step and collapsed into Zev’s hands.

  “Ya. Someone did a bad reroute of power. I didn’t notice it at first. Neither did Roger.”

  Zara struggled to stand. Sweat broke across her forehead. The damn room wouldn’t stay still. Slowly, she forced her breathing steady — in for three, out for two — until the spinning eased.

  “This is recent. Roger would have noticed this much interference.” She shook her head. Someone was trying to hide something on this ship. She needed to get to the core.

  “Take me there. We need to kill all outside communication.” She looked at Zev with reluctance. She hated being carried, but it was the only way.

  He nodded, lifted her onto his back, and she wrapped her hands around his neck. His arms stayed free, and she could drop if needed.

  The ship’s hallways were still dark, but Zev didn’t waste time. The faster they countered whatever this was, the faster they’d get answers.

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  Zara guided him as best she could. Her implants reacted to strong EM fields — the kind a computer core would give off. Sometimes even the worst things had their uses, her dad used to say.

  The shadows seemed thicker here. In Zev’s light, they shifted and stretched as if moving on their own. More than once, Zara could swear she heard footsteps behind them. Once, even Zev turned to check.

  The deeper they went, the more oppressive the ship felt. Power fields buzzed at the edge of her senses, static prickling under her skin. She dialed her implants down — it steadied the spinning, but left her weaker.

  The closer they got, the more wrong details stood out. Doors that should have been open were sealed. A bathroom door gaped wide, the lid halfway up. Lights flickered around corners, then died the moment they arrived.

  Her legs started to jerk — small twitches at first, then harder, more violent. Fire raced up her spine; her implants felt like molten metal. She tried to cry out but couldn’t breathe. Her arms locked tight around Zev’s neck.

  “Ease up there, Sparky.” His tone was light, but when she didn’t answer, he shifted. He tried to swing her around, but her grip held fast. He had to set his rifle down to get her arms free. Even then, her fingers dug into his throat with mechanical strength.

  Zev pried her loose and lowered her to the floor. “Zara, you have to breathe. Come on, breathe.” His eyes flicked between her and the shadows.

  She clawed for control, forcing a breath. It came in ragged gasps, but air filled her lungs. The lights flickered. Behind Zev, something moved.

  The shadow lunged. Zara tried to warn him, but all she could do was point.

  Something shiny and sharp slashed toward her — a figure clawed from hell, dragging itself into the light. A bloody arm, pants soaked red, a blade where a hand should be.

  She didn’t dare close her eyes. Panic locked her chest, every breath a choking struggle.

  A sharp stab in her leg — and the world faded.

  When her vision cleared, Roger was there, standing just behind Zev, eyes scanning the hallway.

  When had Roger gotten here?

  Her leg throbbed, but her back didn’t ache. The pain was sharp at the front of her thigh — like someone had injected her with something.

  If Roger was here… and she wasn’t hurting anymore…

  The pain blocker. The one Sarsha had sent.

  Her head started to clear, the blinding pain gone. She saw that they were outside where the main computer core should be. The hallways were still dark, but didn’t look haunted. Her implants were getting a lot of EM interference. Something she should have expected, her implants were overly sensitive to it. Ships computer cores used a lot of power.

  That would explain why even Zev seemed on edge. EM interference could cause all sorts of issues even with healthy individuals. Roger wouldn’t be affected, his upgrades where hardened against such things. His nanits would just keep on doing there thing, closing wounds, rebuilding muscles, keeping him going when he should be dead.

  Looking at Roger- jealous about his nanitets- her breath came in a sharp gasp. What the hell happened to him? Her nightmare vision was actually standing in front of her. What remained of his clothing was torn and blood soaked. His right arm had a hole in it.

  Zev’s voice broke her thoughts, “Man you look horrible, do you need to sit down?” He was looking Roger up and down. Concern written on his face. They all knew Roger was tough, if he wasn’t dead his upgrades would keep him alive.

  “What I need is to get us off this blasted rock!” Rogers voice shook, with that Roger punched the closed door in front of him. The thwack echoed through the empty hallways. The door yielded and fell inward.

  The room’s emergency lighting was active. Grateful for small favors Zara moved into the room. There wasn’t much to see. A large computer core, a towering black cylinder thirty feet high, cooling lines and an interface console. The floor was a rubber-like matting, designed to absorb vibrations.

  “Roger, if you can please don’t shoot anything.” Zara said, her voice light, “Zev find the main power line.” With that she walked over to the console.

  The screen was blank, the console apread to be unpowered. The keyboard was close to a standard layout, but without power she wouldn’t know. Many modern interface’s could change their input keys on the fly to suit a user. It was a big galaxy. Some people still used archaic languages—or at least ones Zara didn’t know. Which, to her, was the same thing

  “Roger, be ready — once we reset power, any nasty surprises will introduce themselves,” Zara said, voice tight.

  “Zara, I’ve got the main power switch. Doesn’t look tampered with,” Zev said.

  Its wear matched the rest of the room: not freshly replaced, not scarred as if it had been messed with.

  “All right. Zev, reset the power,” she said, fingers hovering over the keys. When the lights came back she’d have only a few seconds to reach the root menus and widen her access — one of those annoyingly elegant weaknesses programmers never quite solved. During a reboot the machine had to reload, and for that sliver of time it was exposed.

  She heard the click, the screen and keyboard flared to life. She attack the keyboard the instant it was on. Her hands dancing, moving of their own accord.

  While recovering from the accident that left her paralyzed, Zara had poured her free time into computers. With computers her injuries didn’t matter, she almost felt like her old self. Now all those hours were being put to use.

  The screen flashed by, faster than she could read it. Trusting to memory she had to beat the security program. If it loaded before she gained control she would be locked out. If she got locked out that would be it. No second chance, the system would go into a protection mode and keep all input devices off.

  Almost there, security boot at 56%. She had to get deeper. Menu’s flew by. 64%. She wasn’t going fast enough.

  Her legs started to tremble. She narrowed her focus, keeping her hands steady. Nothing mattered but keeping her hands moving. 79%, she wasn’t going to make it.

  Desperate times call for chicken nuggets, her dad would say to make her laugh and relax. Pulling a deep breath, she held it for a three count than let it out. 89% time for chicken nuggets.

  She stepped back from the computer pulled out her sidearm and fired. She held the pistol one handed, her hand slightly crooked. Her shot hit the network junction, it sparked angry.

  The security program stalled at 93%. Hands back to the frantic dance, she sliced her way in. The computer was hers.

  “What the hell?” Roger yelled. “You told me not to shoot anything and here you go firing one handed. Your lucky you hit it.” His face morphed into a scowl.

  Zara figured he was more mad at the poor shooting form than not getting to shoot something. Had there been time she would have told him to do it. But she didn’t have to time to explain, she just acted.

  “It worked didn’t it?” Zara said back. Her voice louder than she intended.

  “Roger you can teach her to shoot later, Lord know she needs it.” Zev cut in. “But for now can we please just figure out who is trying to kill you?”

  “I vote for finding out.” Zara piped up. “If they keep trying they might get Zev. That would make me sad.” She continued to type away. Most of the ships systems were encrypted. Not much of a surprise but annoying.

  “Roger I might need you help” Zara said. “These encryptions look familiar. Do you still have your code breaker software?”

  Part of Rogers upgrades was software he could inject into a computer. It was out of date, and very illegal on most worlds.

  “I can’t interface right now.” Roger said, his voice tired.

  Zara looked at him. He did look like the walking dead. “I don’t need you to interface, I just want you to look at this.” she said pointing a finger at the screen.

  Roger moved over to stand behind Zara and looked at the code. “Yes that is an old Baroven encryption. How would these guys get something like that?”

  “Someone put it here, and recently.” Zara said as she finished typing. The screen flickered then reapeared. The text was clear, she had broken the encryption.

  “Why do my boots feel heavy?” Zev asked, staring at Zara.