They ran through the rec area, dodging between the pillars that housed the huge supply chutes. They pelted through the eerily-quiet plaza where a few people moved slowly through the red haze like ghouls, looking hollow-eyed and vacant.
They ran past rows of living quarters, past medical to the stairs. Rachelle was hovering outside medical, talking to Hobbes. Her face was wet with tears. Hobbes tried to snag Halman’s sleeve as he ran past, calling out.
‘Not now, Kenn!’ Halman bellowed, not slowing. He felt Ella’s presence behind him, practically adhered to his heels, keeping easy step with him.
They virtually tumbled down the stairs onto the rimwards-most level, landing in the corridor outside aeroponics. Silence reigned here, silence and weak ruddy light that seeped from doorways as they passed, their footsteps thumping like heartbeats.
When they reached the warehouse they saw that the lights were on in the flight control room — the normal lights. They increased their pace by unspoken consensus.
Suddenly, Liu popped out of the control room in front of them. ‘Come on! I’ve got people looking for you two!’ he shouted, disappearing again from sight.
They burst into the control room, Halman breathing hard and ruing his lapsed standard of physical fitness.
The power was on in here and virtually every piece of equipment seemed to have reset itself. Numerous chimes and warning signals competed for attention like a dawn chorus of computers. The light was almost too bright. Several screens showed spooling POST-readouts that repeated desperately, vying for human input, bemoaning the fact that the system had shut down unexpectedly and now required a full diagnostic start-up.
The main terminal, however, looked like it was working. Liu jumped back into his chair, making it spin around. He corrected it quickly and bent over the terminal’s screen.
‘He’s out there somewhere,’ said Liu, not looking up. ‘Eli. Lina chased him. My people are out looking for you.’
‘Yeah,’ said Halman between gasps, doubled over with his hands on his knees. ‘Fuck, Liu.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Liu, spinning his seat to face outwards over the huge HUD-enabled glasspex panel that formed the control room’s floor, its shiny surface marred by coffee spills. ‘He took the loader for some reason. Overrode the safety system from the deck terminal. I don’t know — wait! Here’s Lina!’ Liu leant forwards in his seat, pointing. ‘Look! She’s coming in!’
Halman straightened and strode into the middle of the great floor screen, casting about for Lina’s tag. ‘Where?’ he demanded. Ella leant back against the door, head back and breathing deeply.
‘She’s dropping in and out of visibility,’ said Liu. ‘All that debris out there acts like chaff, as you know, and most of our sensors are down now. But I saw her. Watch!’
Halman watched for what seemed like a long time but was probably only seconds. An orange icon lit up on the screen between his feet, then quickly vanished again. Just before it flickered out, he had time to read LINA MCLOUGH // K6-12 // 997 M.
‘I see her!’
‘Exactly,’ agreed Liu, smiling his little smile. ‘She’s coming in. The distance is dropping.’
‘And Eli?’ asked Halman, still peering down into the screen.
‘Not yet,’ said Liu. ‘Just her.’ And then he added, a little prissily, Halman thought, ‘She’s going a bit fast, though. Reckless.’
‘But why the fuck is she out there at all, Liu? What was she thinking?’
Liu looked up into Halman’s face. Halman felt the sudden and almost overwhelming urge to jump on Liu and choke him until he stopped fucking smiling. He balled his hands into fists and held them tight against his thighs.
‘I have no idea, but in a minute or two you can ask her.’ Liu’s smile widened further, exposing perfect white teeth. He shrugged cheerfully, and Halman glowered at him.
‘I fucking will, pal,’ agreed Halman darkly.
He forced himself to relax and stalked to the slightly wonky office chair next to Liu’s, where he collapsed with a groan. It looked about a hundred years old and had lost most of its upholstery, but it seemed to bear his weight. He looked up at Ella, who still leant against the door with her eyes shut tight and her head back. Never before had the station’s continued existence seemed so tenuous to him. Murder. Sabotage. And now this jolly little fuckaround. Thank fuck that Lina was coming back.
As for Eli, Halman could barely believe it. His brain felt close to a dangerous overload. Had Eli really tried to kill Marco? It wasn’t possible. . . And yet, somehow he knew that it was true. One of his oldest friends and most trusted section leaders had gone insane, killed a bunch of people and fled into the asteroid belt. And what the hell had Ella said about dragons? Something about dragons. . .
Halman was deeply disappointed with Ella and her team. She should never have left Jayce in charge of Eli. This was supposed to be their area of expertise. And that disappointment made him feel guilty. He didn’t like to think bad of his crew. Now the guilt was turning to anger — an aimless, undirected anger. He tried to calm himself, unclenching his hands and laying them flat on his knees. ‘Oh shit. . .’ he sighed. In Ella’s defence, it had all happened so damn fast, and their manpower was so stretched. . . and now two more people were dead. Hindsight, he supposed was a wonderful thing, but useless in any practical respect.
‘Should I get a couple of my guys in case Eli comes in?’ asked Ella, seemingly emerging from a reverie. She looked desperately eager to please.
‘Yeah,’ said Halman. ‘Get everyone you can.’ She dashed out of the door without another word.
Halman looked out at the hangar, which lay bright and empty and silent behind the transparent wall of the control room, still open to space — a stage waiting for the next act to begin. Ella was right. They should have a team waiting. Then if Eli came in, they would have him. No escape.
‘Still no sign of him?’ Halman asked.
‘No, just her.’ Liu indicated the approaching Lina-icon on the screen beneath their feet. It glowed steadily now, the distance reading dropping rapidly.
‘I want to talk to her,’ said Halman, staring at the orange square.
‘Should be possible now,’ said Liu. ‘Might take a second, as we don’t have main array any more, but. . .’ He trailed off, his attention becoming quickly absorbed by his work. He clipped an earpiece on, dialled a couple of settings into the comm, slid the gains up on the main channel and cleared his throat as if he was about to make a speech at a wedding. ‘Ahem! Lina, this is Base. Copy.’ He glanced over his shoulder at Halman, who had come to stand behind him.
Lina’s voice from the terminal’s speaker, hissing with static and worryingly frantic: ‘Copy! Get me Halman, Liu, get me Halman! I want him there when I come in!’ Even with the background hiss, there was no mistaking the urgency in that voice.
‘Halman’s here, Lina. Take it easy, now, slow down a little. You’re going too fast. I want you to back off and come round again. Over.’
‘Put him on!’ yelled Lina, ignoring Liu’s instructions. Her Kay, visible to the naked eye now, was angling up towards the floor of the control room, approaching the station’s ramp, retro thrusters firing white billows of gas.
‘Lina, please back off and–’ began Liu, but Halman pushed him out of the way and leant over the mic.
‘Lina, this is Dan. What the fuck is going on?’
‘Dan. . .’ said Lina in what sounded like a relieved sigh. There was a pause during which the two men waiting in the control room had time to exchange foreboding glances, then: ‘You’re not gonna believe this, but. . . Eli. . .’ She laughed bitterly, a sound with no real humour in it at all. ‘Eli has the shuttle out there. He’s been screwing with us for some time, I’m afraid.’