In the Void, Page 2

  A final burst of static filled the speakers and then nothing.

  No sound at all.

  “Shit.” Kendra spoke for all of them. Bianca let out something akin to a squeak and when Sean looked again the screen was filled with sparkling bits of debris tumbling end over end.

  Jenny bowed her head and whispered a prayer.

  “Damn it,” Sam snarled over the intercom. “Any danger to us from the debris?”

  “Not at this time. I will continue to monitor for any possible dangers.”

  “Good. Are there any survivors?”

  The AI paused for a second. “I am detecting a standard-issue life pod among the debris. Other than that there is nothing.”

  “Standard. One person,” Sam muttered. “Ship should have had more. Should have launched more. Belle, intercept and bring on board.”

  “That will not be possible.”

  “Why?” He imagined Sam grinding her teeth together in the cockpit.

  “Mercy ships are only equipped for hatch-to-hatch docking, which is the way we dock with Marshal LeClair’s UNS scout ship. We do not have the robotic arms necessary to retrieve life pods. That is the reason we do not respond to emergency calls.” Belle sounded like she was lecturing the captain. “Standard procedure is to redirect the call to ships carrying the proper equipment.”

  “So what do we do? Sit here and watch her float? Any other ships who can pick up the pod answering the call?”

  “There is no ship within a reasonable distance and time able to respond,” Belle answered. “There are others outside the range. They send their regrets but cannot assist.”

  Jenny put up her hand, forgetting Sam couldn’t see her.

  “Jenny seems to have an idea,” Bianca said.

  “Toss it out.”

  The mechanic spoke with her hands, shifting them back and forth through the empty space as she acted out her words. “We can maneuver the Belle close enough to have the pod come in through the landing bay—it’d be easy to pump the oxygen back in when we’re ready to open the pod. I can run around the edges to check the seals, make sure there’s no chance of an oxygen leak from the bay itself through to the rest of the ship when we vent. There shouldn’t be but I’d like to be extra sure.” Her long slender fingers sketched in the air. “Either open the pod in zero G or drop it to the floor, wouldn’t make much of a difference. But she’ll be in here and better off than floating out there.”

  “What’s the risk to us?”

  “Minimal.” Jenny’s gaze was far away, through the hull and already out in space as the mechanic sketched out her plan. “We won’t lose much atmosphere and if everything’s strapped down tight we should have little damage to the bay itself. She’ll have a bumpy ride in but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Belle, how much oxygen does the pod have?”

  “Approximately an hour’s worth.”

  “How far away is the first ship with proper retrieval equipment?”

  The AI hesitated for a minute. Sean imagined the series of mathematical equations being spun out like an intricately knit sweater.

  “Six hours at maximum speed. That is why they are not altering their course to assist us. They know there is no chance of retrieving a survivor.” Belle paused. “If you would like to arrange for them to pick up the corpse—”

  “Fuck.” There was a hollow sound, flesh hitting metal. “Jenny, work your magic and help Belle pull that pod on board. I won’t stand by and let whoever’s inside die ’cause the Guild’s too cheap to put in what should be standard equipment.”

  April leaned over and said to Kendra in a stage whisper, “We don’t have life pods on the Belle.” This earned her a chuckle from Harry and a roll of the eyes from Bianca.

  Kendra shrugged. “We’re replaceable. Obviously that survivor isn’t.” She nodded at the screen. “Only one living out of ten crew plus whomever they were transporting. Either she got very lucky or they made sure she was going to make it out.”

  “I’m going to go get my kit ready.” Sean couldn’t stay there, couldn’t stare at the screen now littered with the ship’s debris.

  It wouldn’t be long before a body—or body parts—came into view. He didn’t have a weak stomach, not after what he’d seen on Vegas Four, but if he could avoid the sight he would.

  There were worse things to witness.

  Bodies stacked waist-high, waiting for disposal.

  The fire pits.

  Sean felt his chest tighten, the first sign of a panic attack.

  No.

  He had a job to do and he wasn’t going to let Sam down.

  He wasn’t on Vegas Four. He was on the Bonnie Belle and he was the medic, and by God he was going to do his job and do it to the best of his abilities.

  No matter what.

  Sean spun around and headed for his quarters.

  “Jenny, call me when we’re ready to take the pod in. I want everyone in their quarters until then in case something goes wrong,” Sam said from the cockpit. “Lock ’em down, folks.”

  “Nothing’s going to go wrong,” Jenny announced. “Have a little faith in me.”

  “I have faith in you,” Sam muttered over the speakers as Sean swam toward the far hatch. “It’s the rest of the universe I don’t trust.”

  Chapter Two

  “This is insane. And I love it.” Sam put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “You should write this up for one of those engineering ‘zines, Jen.”

  They were floating in the corridor in front of the door leading to the landing bay, all of them crammed into the hallway.

  The mechanic beamed. “Don’t give me all the credit. It took Belle only a few seconds to calculate how to fire the thrusters to back us up into position after venting our atmosphere. No more difficult than trying to maneuver into some of those little docking bays on the smaller mining bases.”

  Sean clutched his medical bag tightly, straining to hear the smallest whisper of air escaping. Of all the deaths he’d seen and imagined, dying by suffocation or explosive decompression ranked up at the top.

  “Sort of threading a needle, isn’t it?” Kendra had changed into a dark red track suit and leaned against the wall, floating with her arms crossed. “How are you going to get the pod through the hatch? It’s barely enough for us to get through, and the life pod’s got to be larger than the person it’s carrying, right?”

  Jenny laughed. “Not through the hatch, silly.” She flapped her arms, reminding Sean of a flightless bird attempting takeoff. “There’re larger doors on each side we pop open for delivery of supplies. Bring the skids in piled with whatever you want or need—furniture, mattresses, the bigger items that can’t be broken down. If we had to bring everything through the single door we’d never get loaded in time.” She rapped on the door with her knuckles. “How we doing, Belle?”

  “We have successfully backed up and captured the life pod,” the AI announced. “I am now preparing to seal the bay and restore atmosphere.”

  “Any problems?” Sam swam up and down the short hallway, brushing by the gathered crew with each pass. “Life signs still good?”

  “All is well with the survivor.” A roaring came from beyond the closed hatch, reminding Sean of a vacuum cleaner. “I estimate two minutes before you may retrieve the pod.”

  Sean watched Sam make another circuit before speaking. “She’s got enough oxygen until then, right?” The last thing they needed was to go to all this work and lose the survivor at the last second.

  “Affirmative. The pod is undamaged from the debris field. We have also captured other bits and pieces in the bay from the ship.”

  Jenny rubbed her hands together. “Salvage. I doubt there’ll be much I can use on the Belle but who knows?”

  Sam nodded. “A
bout the debris...Were you able to avoid any biological, Belle?”

  Translation—were they going to open the door to a horror of broken bodies and shredded arms and legs?

  Sean saw April look down and mutter a soft prayer.

  “Yes, Captain. By the time we were able to approach any and all biologicals were at a goodly distance, scattered among the ship’s remains. We captured only the life pod.” A loud pop came from behind the hatch. “Full atmosphere returned. You may enter at your convenience.”

  Jenny twisted the handle and shoved hard on the hatch. It swung open with a whoosh of fresh, cool air, allowing them into the landing bay. She stepped back to give them all a clear view.

  The sixty square feet of empty space in the back of the Belle wasn’t made to do much else than store equipment and serve as a holding pen for waiting customers. Sean used the open area as a jogging track, cycling past the tables and chairs strapped to the walls.

  “Why aren’t we watching via the cameras?” Bianca whispered to him, a tremor underlying her words. “There’s a feed coming through, right? We could be in the galley and far away from this.” She gestured toward Jenny and Sam. “Let them take the risk. They can call you in later.”

  He couldn’t blame Bianca for her caution. She’d lost Halley not so long ago. The last thing she needed was to see more death.

  He had seen enough for both of them.

  “This sort of thing you need to see up close and personal,” Sean replied. “Can’t judge anything through a lens.”

  Sam went through first with Jenny close behind. Sean swam through with the other four courtesans following.

  “Be careful,” Sam warned. “Don’t smack your head on something.”

  Debris floated around them, the largest no more than a fistful. Most of it seemed to be pieces of the hull with the occasional engine piece here and there.

  It smelt too fresh. Belle had overdone the air freshener. There was something wrong about swimming through the remains of someone’s life with the laundry-fresh scent clogging up your lungs.

  The life pod spun end over end in the landing bay. Sean swam over to the cylinder and grabbed one of the handles, steadying the pod. He looked in the viewport.

  A wide-eyed woman stared at him, her mouth open as she screamed something unintelligible.

  Welcome to the Bonnie Belle.

  Sam came up beside him and spotted the survivor. “She’s got enough oxygen, just having a bit of a breakdown. Can’t blame her. I’ve been in one of these things and it’ll make you claustrophobic if you weren’t already.” Sam nudged him. “Hold onto it and keep it upright. I’ll open it. Be ready, she might be injured.” She punched a series of buttons set on the side. “These things were built for one person only. Not made to be comfortable.”

  The entire front of the pod swung up, almost clocking Sean under the chin. He ducked under the lid and moved back in front of the casing.

  The blonde glared at him. Most of her left side was exposed, the burned skin an eerie pink in the fluorescent landing bay lighting. The remains of her dark blue pants and matching blouse hovered around her body, somehow keeping her decently covered. A floating gold locket around her neck caught the light and gleamed in the fluorescent lights above them.

  He forced his attention away from those wide blue eyes and scanned her quickly for any major injuries, any gaping wounds needing immediate attention.

  It looked like the burns were her only injuries. They weren’t life-threatening, but definitely first degree bordering on second.

  When the shock wore off she’d be screaming in pain.

  “Who the hell are you?” she rasped before lapsing into a coughing fit. “Where’s Andy? Where’s Jeff?”

  Smoke clinging to her clothing permeated the landing bay, beating back the air freshener.

  Sean didn’t answer. There was no easy way to say it.

  Sam moved into eyesight beside him and took control. “You’re on the Bonnie Belle. Are you hurt?” She pointed at Sean. “He’s a medic. Are you hurt?” she repeated.

  The woman took a ragged breath. “My leg, my arm—” She brought her right hand up over her mouth and made a retching sound. “Oh my God.”

  “Don’t make any sudden movements,” Sean said. “If you’re not used to zero gravity you could hurt yourself getting out of that thing.”

  Jenny swam between Sam and Sean and held out a plastic bag. Standard issue for clients not used to zero gravity.

  No one wanted to clean up someone else’s floating vomit.

  He took the bag and placed it in the woman’s right hand. “Here. Take slow deep breaths. That’ll help settle your stomach.”

  She nodded and put the bag close to her mouth.

  Kendra moved closer, studying the woman. “Belle, please activate full gravity in the landing bay and through the entire ship. Go slow, please.” She smiled at the stranger. “We don’t want to jar her out of the pod.”

  Sam shot the head courtesan a warning look.

  Full gravity cost credits and someone had to pay.

  “Beginning activation. The name of the client to be billed is—” Even Belle knew the Guild needed someone to tag for the fees. This wasn’t going to be cheap.

  “Global Transport.” Kendra watched as the pod slowly settled upright. “This is Catherine Rogers, Vice President of Operations.”

  The woman eyed her warily, her right hand crushing the disposal bag. For a second Sean thought she was about to reach up and pull the door shut again, sealing her back into the life pod.

  Around them pieces of warped metal slowly settled onto the ground turning the landing bay into a jagged minefield. Bianca let out a curse as she sidestepped a short, circular chunk of metal.

  Sam looked at Kendra, forehead furrowed. “The what of who?”

  Kendra’s lips twisted up into a smile, a touch of humor in her eyes. This was an area the good captain didn’t know much, if anything, about and Kendra was about to score big points.

  He resisted the urge to knock the two women’s heads together to speed up the interaction. This wasn’t going to get the injured woman out and cared for.

  Sean could see the shock in her eyes, the concentrated effort to stay in control showing on her face. Add in the injuries, and he was surprised she wasn’t screaming her head off.

  “Here. You won’t need that now.” He carefully dislodged the crushed bag from her hand. “But you do need to come out here so I can help you with those burns. They’ve got to hurt and I’ve got a cream to take the pain away.” He smiled, lowering his voice to a smooth whisper. “You’ve got to be uncomfortable. There’s much more room out here.” He tilted his head. “Please?”

  She studied him for a minute before taking hold of his hand and stepping out in bare feet onto the cold floor. A shiver ran through her body; her fingers trembled in his grip.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. “And yes, I am Catherine Rogers. How did you know?”

  Kendra smiled, showing ivory-white teeth. “I read the business papers.” She turned to Sam. “I expect Ms. Rogers, being an executive, isn’t used to being in zero gravity for any extended length of time, much less floating in space trapped in a life pod. Thus the necessity to turn the gravity on for the entire ship for the duration of her stay.” She clicked perfectly manicured nails together. “I believe it falls under giving aid and comfort.”

  Sean hadn’t released her hand, keeping her cold hand in his. He stared at her, taking in her shell-shocked expression. Whatever Catherine Rogers had done in the past, it hadn’t prepared her to be shot out of her own ship in a life pod and rescued by a Mercy ship.

  Catherine’s attention moved off of the immediate area and the crew babbling around her. She looked around the landing bay, taking it all in.

  “Ooh. We can use th
is.” Jenny, standing a few feet away, held up a twisted piece of metal in both hands. “A gyro thruster casing. A little work with a hammer to put her back into shape and we can store it as a spare.” The enthusiasm didn’t dim as she scanned the rest of the debris field around them. “Plenty of possibilities here.”

  “Those are—” Catherine wavered, her fingers tight around Sean’s. “From my ship. From—” She cut herself off. “Where are the others?”

  Sam winced and shook her head.

  Sean saw the pain in the captain’s face, the familiar fear of delivering bad news.

  He knew that look intimately.

  Sam cleared her throat. “There were no other pods. You were the only one who escaped.”

  “But—” Catherine turned toward Sean, still gripping his hand. “There were ten of us. We had enough life pods. We had enough pods for everyone,” she repeated, her voice rising.

  Bianca and Harry exchanged glances and stepped back, breaking the circle around Catherine. Bianca bit down on her lower lip as Harry put his arm around her and mumbled something. The specter of death was still fresh on the Belle from the events of six weeks ago.

  April muttered another prayer under her breath, faint but discernable to Sean.

  Jenny walked to the far end of the landing bay and nudged a large piece of shattered metal with her foot.

  Catherine looked at Jenny. Her grip was starting to cut off circulation in his fingers.

  “We’re going to head to the galley and take care of these burns,” Sean said.

  Sam nodded. “Good idea. Let us clean up things here and I’ll be by in a bit to get some more details and figure out who to call. There’s going to be some people happy to hear you’re alive and well.”

  “Yes.” A strange look came over Catherine’s face. “Some people.”

  “Get her out of here,” Sam murmured to Sean. “She doesn’t need to see us clean this up.”

  A gentle tug on the slender fingers had Catherine walking alongside him as he headed for the door.