In my cabin, donning my dress whites and adjusting the black mourning sash over my shoulder, I’d resolved to complete the ritual. My voice would stay level, I wouldn’t tremble. I had already determined that. Now I only had to carry it out.
I began flatly, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... “ Sandy sat in his bunk absolutely still, waiting for Vax to allow him to move. “Man that is born of woman... “ Sandy held his orchestron above Ricky’s reaching hand, grinning.
My voice quavered. I bit off my words. I was as much to blame for Sandy’s death as the wretches in our brig.’ Trusting in the goodness and mercy of Lord God eternal, we commit their bodies to the deep... “
A dozen men in spacesuits, and I’d allowed them aboard? Better I had resigned my commission the day Captain Malstrom died. Sandy’s contorted face stared past me. I felt the scorched fabric of his uniform. I touched the blistered hole in his chest. Only a few more words and it would be done.
Sandy was barely sixteen. Yesterday his whole life had been before him. He’d wolfed down his breakfast in the mess.
He’d sat joking with us at lunch. He washed. He smiled. He stood his watch. Now, because of me, his remains were in a cold metal box. “To await the day of judgment when the souls of man shall be called forth before Almighty Lord God... Amen.”
I had managed to finish the service. I glanced at Vax. His shoulders shook silently, his eyes red from weeping. I smiled bitterly. Vax, who had tormented Sandy in the wardroom, was devastated by his death while I, his protector, had no tears to shed.
“Petty Officer Terrill, open the outer lock, please.” I waited.
“Eject the caskets, Mr. Terrill.” Slowly, the coffins receded into the dark.
Two more chores.
As I trudged to the bridge a figure blocked my path. I looked up. Amanda. ‘ “They say your courage saved the ship.
Thank you... Nicky.”
“They were mistaken,” I said, my voice flat. “Excuse me.”Back on the bridge I issued orders. “Derek, Alexi, plot our course to Hope Nation. Vax, have Mr. Vishinsky bring the prisoners to the bridge, securely cuffed.”
“Aye aye, sir.” My heart pounding, I stared at my screen.
I could hear Alexi and Derek tap at their consoles. Soon. It would be over soon enough.
“Message from Miningcamp, sir. All resistance has ceased.”
“Very well.”
The seven men stood in a line along the bulkhead, hands cuffed behind their backs, their feet chained together. Still, Vax and the master-at-arms carried stunners.
“Darla, record these proceedings.” Her videorecorders lit.
“By authority of the Government of the United Nations I charge you with piracy in that you assaulted U.N.S. Hibernia,a Naval Service vessel lawfully under weigh. I charge you with murder in that you killed nine persons while attempting to board and seize the vessel. I call a court-martial and appoint myself hearing officer. Do you deny the facts charged, or do you admit them with an explanation of your conduct? Speak in turn.”
One by one, mumbling, the captives acknowledged that they had tried to seize the ship. Kerwin Jones, the ringleader, watched me warily.
“If you have any mitigating statements, give them now.”
Their stories came tumbling out. When the supply ships stopped coming their fears had grown rampant. Wild rumors swept the mines. General Kail had done little to reassure them. They had no contact with the civilized world. Under intolerable pressure, they’d panicked.
I listened impassively. When they were done I said, “Having heard the evidence and mitigating statements I find you guilty of piracy and of the murders of a Naval officer, three enlisted men, and five passengers. For these crimes I sentence you to death at the Captain’s convenience. Court adjourned.”
Jones shouted at me, “You promised! You gave your word we wouldn’t be killed!”
“I said no such thing.”
“You swore it!”
“Darla, playback, please.”
A second later my voice sounded on the speaker. “No, we won’t shoot you. Not now, not ever. You have my word.”
“Thank you, Darla. I’ll keep my promise. We won’t shoot you. Mr. Vishinsky, take these men back to the brig, then to the infirmary, one by one. Interrogate them to find who shot Mr. Wilsky.”
Hours passed. Vax tried several times to speak to me; each time I ordered him silent. The Doctor finished her polygraph and drug interrogations. I issued my orders.
The master-at-arms, the Chief, Vax, and several seamen assembled at the plank across the fusion shaft. We faced six bound and gagged prisoners. I dispassionately pulled the dolly aside for each hanging. When the grisly task was done I dismissed the sailors.
One more chore.
“Mr. Holser, take the bridge. Chief, evacuate Level 2, sections six, seven, and eight, and post sentries to bar the corridor hatches to those sections. Mr. Vishinsky, come with me to the brig.”
The seventh prisoner, the man who had lasered Sandy, paced helplessly, his hands bound behind him. “Mr. Vishinsky, wait here.” My voice was dull.
“Aye aye, sir.”
I took the prisoner’s arm, led him out of the brig along the corridor, up the ladder to Level 2. The sentry at section eight saluted and stood aside. I propelled the captive into the deserted section. Then, past the bend in the corridor to the airlock.
I pressed my transmitter to the hatch control. The inner hatch slid open. I took the prisoner into the lock.
“What are you doing?” His face was wild.
I didn’t answer. Holding his shoulder I kicked his leg out from under him. He slipped to the deck. I pushed him into a sitting position. Then I turned to the inner lock.
“No! God, don’t!” He scrambled desperately to his feet.
I stood in the hatchway. He ran at me.
I shoved him violently back; he sprawled on the airlock deck, hands cuffed behind him. I stepped out into the corridor and pressed my transmitter to the inner lock control. The hatch slid shut. In a frenzy, he threw himself against the transplex hatch, rebounding from its unyielding surface.
Again I brought my transmitter to the panel. I pressed the key. The outer lock slid open. I watched the grisly contents of the chamber swirl into space as the chamber decompressed.
After a few moments I walked slowly onto the bridge.
“Fusion coordinates?”
“Here, sir.” Alexi displayed them on his console. He swallowed several times, managed not to catch my eye.
“Darla?”
She flashed her figures. They matched.
“Engine room, prepare to Fuse.”
In a moment, the reply. “Prepared to Fuse, sir. Control passed to bridge.”
I slid my finger up the screen. The simulscreens blanked.
“Mr. Holser, you have the watch.” I slapped open the hatch, left the bridge.
I sealed my cabin hatch behind me. In the dim light I took off my jacket. I sat, my arms resting on the table. I began to tremble. Dispassionately I wondered how quickly I would go insane. Knowing I could not be heard I filled my lungs and screamed at the top of my voice. It left my throat raw.
I looked through the outer bulkhead along the hull. “Come, Mr. Tuak,” I whispered. “I’m ready for you.” I knew that this time he’d bring Sandy with him.
PART II
November 20, in the year of our Lord 2195
21
October came, then November. I spent day after day alone in my cabin. Food was brought. Sometimes I ate it. Occasionally I stood watch; more often I removed myself from the watch roster. From time to time I sat at dinner with the passengers at the dining hall; more often, I couldn’t bear the thought of their conversation and remained in my bunk.
Twice, Mr. Tuak came for me, but even in my dreams I was unafraid. He never pulled me through the bulkhead, and when I tried to follow him he stopped coming.
One day I went to the bridge and found Vax half asleep in his seat. He started when I stood over him, his eyes widening in shock and fear. “I’m sorry, sir,” he stammered, “it’s...