Absolute Zero Page 5

  “I didn’t notice any kind of storm.”

  “Look here. See this solid mass? That’s the storm.” He pointed at the center of the radar and swept his finger around a circular image. “It’s encompassing. Sustaining. See how it doesn’t move, but just hovers in the one area? Makes it seem like standard weather. When in fact, that is what blizzards on Neptune look like. Nothing. Normal. Would fool most, even the best meteorologists, unless they knew what to look for. Not to mention, in the last hour or so, the winds had shifted. Moved right over where that Nebula colony is stationed. I’ve been keeping an eye on it. Kind of surprised the Eclipse crew missed it.”

  “You just said even then best meteorologists could have missed it, but you know what to look for?”

  He shrugged, smiled. “I do.”

  “And where’d you get your meteorology degree?”

  “School of hard knocks, sister. School of hard knocks.” He ran fingertips over the center console keyboard. Reaching above his head, he flicked toggles from front to back and back to front. “Can’t pilot a ship if you don’t know how to monitor the weather. There was a time, on Earth, when I navigated the oceans with nothing but the stars to guide me.”

  He rarely talked about his past. The fact he had been the captain of a ship, one that floated on water, did not surprise her. She did not know the background, the details, but she was not at all shocked. She did, however, wonder if he had been a pirate then, too, but did not ask. “Okay. So, what’s the plan?”

  “Same as it was when we lifted off the moon. We’re going in.”

  Erinne’s eyes drifted back to the radar, studying the circular mass. “We’re going to help them?”

  D’Rukker laughed. “Are you trying to be funny?”

  “They could be in trouble, I mean serious trouble.” Erinne knew her argument would be lost on D’Rukker. He practically owned the rights to tunnel vision. Once on target, getting him to see anything peripherally was a battle in and of itself.

  Unless it came to safety. D’Rukker could, and would, protect his ship and crew even if sound asleep. However, when she thought about, security was also a form of his tunnel vision. So, actually, that only solidified her opinion.

  “The Corporations hired us to do a job. Saving those people was not part of it. Nova is not a customer we want to let down, either. They have deep pockets. We stay in their good graces and we get steady paychecks. It’s not like we have to follow a bunch of rules. They know who we are. They know what we do, and how we do it.”

  And there she had it. As expected. “I’m just saying. We can siphon all the diamonds we want and still save the lives of that crew. If we do nothing, any survivors will freeze to death.”

  “What did we count? The life force scan showed what, like nine, ten people? Know how much space they take up? We’re going to fill the hull with diamonds and high-tail it back to the Nova Way Station. Payments for the job aren’t deposited into our accounts until delivery is made. You know this, Erinne.”

  “I know it, but even ten people won’t—”

  “We’re going in fast, grabbing up diamonds, and getting out.” D’Rukker made a face Erinne knew too well. It was his that’s final face. Jaw set, brow furrowed. “The storm is something of a blessing. Caught them off guard. Unlucky for them. Lucky for us. They’re going to be preoccupied a-plenty with repairs to their shuttle, and make heads or tails out of directions, I imagine. Won’t even see us coming, or going. It kind of makes up for the difference in our arrival times. For a while there, I was thinking we were far too late to collect. Now, it’s as if time is on our side … for once.”

  Chapter Ten

  Eclipse Shuttle

  Commander Anara Meyers knew, by all rights, the shuttle alarms should be sounding. Red lights flashing. The situation had escalated. They were in dire straits. The shuttle had cruised through Neptune’s atmosphere and into the heart of a storm. The severe weather damaged the shuttle’s computers. Systems shut down. Nothing worked. They were a free fall and were heartbeats away from crashing into the planet’s unstable surface.

  Captain Danielle Rivers refused giving up. With both hands, she fought for manual control of the shuttle’s rudder, and wing flaps. “I may not be able to stop the fall, but if we can catch the right wind, I might just be able to glide us in for a landing.”

  Lt. Bell said, “I’m attempting a complete system reboot. It could take several minutes. If I can get us back online, that should help.”

  The commander knew several minutes was not something they had. The reboot might work, but it would never work in time.

  The ground rushed up at them.

  All the commander saw was blue. Snow. Ice. And opaque blue liquid. The rolling waves of the water-ammonia ocean pushed jigsaw piece icebergs around. The storm raged blowing in from all directions. The edges of icebergs smashed into one another, ends crumbled.

  The ocean would swallow the shuttle completely if the captain could not set them down somewhere on frozen ground. Being jolted about inside the cockpit, Commander Meyers couldn’t see clearly enough to locate any stationary piece of land. Everything looked as if it were moving about beneath them.

  Lt. Bell’s jaw dropped open. His eyes went wide as he pointed. “Geyser!”

  They headed directly toward a sudden gushing spray of ammonia water. It erupted from out of a crater and shot straight into the sky.

  Captain Rivers yanked back hard on the yoke. Her head lifted up and tipped back as muscles in her neck went taut through to her shoulders. Thick, they protruded and pulsed. She strained, gasping and groaning, as she fought for control of the shuttle. Hopefully, the flaps on the wings responded, but the commander couldn’t differentiate River’s manipulation from the gale force winds tossing them about.

  Rivers gave a yell as she leaned all of her weight into the turn. The shuttle tipped, and nearly skirted past the expanse of the geyser. Before anyone could exhale in relief, spray clipped the end of the left wing and the solid impact sent the shuttle into a roll.

  The commander reached out with both arms; right palm flattened against a wall. Her left hand latched onto the back of the jump seat headrest. The shuttle shuttered, metal moaned. It sounded as if the vessel might crumble—the extreme cold, the ice, the wind—might be more than the design specs allowed.

  Rivers, despite the roll, never let go of the yoke, never stopped her fight for control; Bell’s hands flew across the dark panel, toggled switches, and pressed buttons.

  “Captain?” Anara Meyers wanted an update.

  Lights inside the cabin flickered on, some of the ship’s power restored.

  “We’re going down, Commander. Fast,” Rivers said. “Lieutenant, transfer ninety-percent of whatever life support energy we have to the thrusters.”

  “Captain?” The commander heard the clear warning in Lt. Bell’s voice, apparently not thrilled with River’s plan. Leaving only ten percent of life support in place sounded risky. If they could not stop the ship from crashing, all the life support in the world wouldn’t make a difference. The commander agreed with the captain’s call, and believed she would have made the same decision if she sat in the captain’s chair.

  “Do it!” Rivers barked.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  The shuttle whined as wind rushed wild against the hull. It sounded as if the shuttle were screaming aware of its inevitable demise.

  They plummeted toward the planet’s surface.

  Bell said, “Eighty-percent. Eighty-five…”

  They were not going to have time. They would crash before life support was fully converted.

  “Punch it now,” Rivers ordered. “Now, Bell!”

  The commander watched Lt. Bell depress buttons and toggle switches. She heard the fire ignite and the thrusters engage in a whoosh.

  “We have power, Captain.”

  Rivers slammed feet on foot pedals, twisted the yoke left and right, and then eased it between her thighs as she regained control of her ship.r />
  They would run out of oxygen soon, true enough, but they needn’t worry about suffocation. If they did not find somewhere safe to land, they would freeze to death long before the breathable air depleted.

  Chapter Eleven

  Beta Squad

  Captain Adam Stanton opened his eyes. His vision was blurred, and so he blinked a few times hoping it would clear, that things might come into focus. He ran an arm across his forehead. He suspected beads of sweat mopped away, but it turned out to be streaks of blood on his sleeve. His hands touched his face. There was a gash above his right eye. The blood dripped into his eyes, hence the blurred vision. He blinked several times in an attempt to rid his eyeballs of the blood.

  He smelled smoke. He knew he had crashed the starfighter. There was no telling where on the planet he had ended up. He thought about unfastening his seatbelt and getting out of the fighter, but gave pause.

  There seemed little point.

  He would die if exposed for too long outside in the elements. The sub-zero temperatures and heavy winds would kill him in minutes.

  If the starfighter caught fire, he would die inside the cockpit.

  Stanton’s eyes roamed over the control displays. Lights were on. Flickering, but on. Systems were up. Running. He did not think the ship would fly again. It looked as if he had buried the craft in a snowbank. Without a tow, he could not figure out how he would free a two-ton ship. At least there was life support. Air.

  He depressed his comlink. “Captain Stanton. Beta Squad Leader. Eclipse, come in. Eclipse?”

  Static. Then nothing.

  He tried again. “This is Captain Stanton to the Eclipse. Eclipse, come in?”

  “Beta Leader to Red One. Red One?”

  Nothing.

  “Beta Leader to Red Two. Red Two?”

  Static.

  “Beta Leader to Red Three? Red Four? Beta Leader to the Eclipse Shuttle? Someone? Is anyone there? Anyone?”

  Nothing, and then static, and then nothing again.

  The wind howled outside. The hail pelleted his ship. He no longer smelled smoke. Maybe the starfighter wouldn’t go up in flames. That might not be a good thing. Although the thought of burning alive sounded beyond horrible, suffocating inside the ship would take longer. It would be a slower death.

  He thumbed the distress beacon.

  A light just outside the cockpit came on. Red and flashing.

  The signal would travel hundreds of miles. If anyone else was out there, they’d have the ability to lock onto it. The call was transmitted on any and all open frequencies. Worse case, the colonists might be in a position to pinpoint his location if, in fact, there was anyone still alive inside the colony.

  “Beta Leader to Red Two. Red Two?”

  There was no reply. No static.

  Just nothing.

  _____

  Eclipse Shuttle

  Commander Anara Meyers knew she was screaming. The ship dropped fast, and it felt as if her stomach launched up into her throat.

  They all screamed. The shuttle toppled end over end now. Restraints bit into the commander’s shoulders and her chest ached. She wanted to press her hands to the sides of her head. It felt like her brain had jarred loose and slammed around inside her skull.

  “Brace yourselves!” Captain Danielle Rivers shouted over the terrified cries.

  Meyers could not see clearly. She did her best to look out the front window porthole. There was blue and white. And it spun beyond the thick glass. Everything appeared to spin out of control. There was no differentiating up from down, down from up.

  Her stomach rolled.

  Rivers let out a cry, defiant, and brave, determined even, but a cry nonetheless.

  Meyers saw her father.

  The admiral.

  He was in the path of her mind’s eye. He stood in front of her. Dressed in his military uniform, he wore a scowl and shook his head. The disappointment in his expression was clear. He never wanted her working for the private sector. This accident was a direct result of her leaving the NAAA. That was what his expression said. She left the NAAA, so she had this coming.

  The shuttle slammed into something.

  Meyers’ head snapped back. It felt as if her loose brain crashed against the front of her skull, where shots of sharp pain raced for her temples.

  When everything went black, when all of the whining engines and signaling alarms were silenced, Meyers felt no shame in quietly welcoming death.

  Chapter Twelve

  Eclipse Shuttle

  Commander Anara Meyers opened her eyes. She expected white lights. Harp playing angels. Trumpets. A stairway into the heavens.

  Instead, red lights flashed. A siren squawked. Her ears throbbed in beat with the wail.

  “Commander. Commander?”

  Captain Rivers stood over her. She had a gash on the bridge of her nose. Blood dripped off her chin. “Are you okay?”

  Meyers let her hands roam over her chest. It felt as if every rib were broken. When she coughed, she winced. “I’ll be fine.”

  Rivers helped her with the safety restraints. “Take a minute before getting up. Okay? Let your body get a hold of the situation. It needs time to adjust, just like your mind.” Rivers looked around. “Bell, how are we doing?”

  “Switching what I can back to life support,” he said, but did not sound at all hopeful.

  Meyers moved, shifted her weight and rose out of the jump seat.

  Rivers had her by the arms. Steadied her. Meyers was thankful for the support, and tried smiling in a way that expressed her gratitude. “Nice and easy, Commander.”

  Her legs worked. Her arms moved. Meyers’ internal assessment revealed little more than a sore chest. She might bruise some, but would otherwise survive. Realizing the people in the shuttle cockpit were okay, she asked, “The others? The crew?”

  “Haven’t gone back there yet.” Rivers kept a hand under the commander’s arm.

  Meyers mentally braced for the worst. The fact the three of them were alive, and for what seemed like the most part, unbroken, was a miracle. Rivers’ piloting had saved their lives. No doubt about that. The woman was highly skilled at the controls. “I’m fine. We should check on them.”

  “Aye, Commander.”

  Captain Rivers tried the door separating the flight deck from the rear of the shuttle. It would not budge.

  “Captain?” Meyers said.

  “It’s stuck.”

  Bell, draped over the instrument panel, sat up straight. “It’s done. Wasn’t easy. I managed to convert every last bit of energy I could, and re-routed it all to life support.”

  Rivers nodded. “How long do we have?”

  “Twelve, fifteen hours tops.”

  Commander Meyers knew even twenty-hours of air would not be enough. They were stranded on an alien planet. God only knew how far away they were from the colony. They would use up fifteen hours of air just brainstorming an escape plan. First things first. “Let’s get this door open, and check on the rest of the crew.”

  Lieutenant Bell fidgeted with the door’s control panel. He opened the cover, disconnected wires, rubbed bare ends together trying to spark life into the ends. With the power re-routed, it took several attempts. “This might not work.”

  The door swished open.

  Bell stepped back, eyes wide. “Well, what do you know?”

  Amber lights lit the short passageway. There were sparks in the left corner. Live, exposed wires. Captain Rivers pushed forward, and retrieved the extinguisher from where it hung mounted on the wall. She pulled the pin, aimed the nozzle, and squeezed the handle. CO2 doused the area in a plume. The immediate threat diffused. Danielle tossed the spent canister aside. With a wave of her hand, she stepped past the cloud and into the back half of the shuttle. “O’Hearn? Weber?”

  “Captain?” It was Lt. Marshall Weber. The field medic. “We’re good. O’Hearn broke his nose.”

  O’Hearn sat restrained in a seat. He wore a goofy grin. Pressi
ng a blood-soaked cloth over his face, he said, “I’m all good, Captain. Not as pretty as I was an hour ago, but all good.”

  Commander Meyers let relief wash over her. Her crew was what was most important. Above all else, she was in charge of their safety. “Glad you guys are okay.”

  Weber asked, “What happened up there?”

  “A storm came up out of nowhere. Knocked out our systems,” Bell said. “We were snow-blind. Did all we could to steer the ship. The captain landed us best she could.”

  “Crashed us,” Rivers said.

  “Hardly,” Meyers said. “Could have been a lot worse. By all rights, we should be dead. You piloted this box of a ship with amazing skill. Design engineers could never have fitted the shuttle with the ability to move the way you handled her. Well done.”

  “Thank you, Commander.”

  A short silence cascaded over the group before Anara Meyers cleared her throat. “We’re in a bad situation. I think that much is obvious.” Her first officer was on the Eclipse with a basic skeleton crew. They could not hold their breath and expect a miracle rescue from space. Survival came down to how they handled the situation. Their chances were slim. Anorexic. If they did not device a plan soon, then they were as good as dead. “We have to figure out where on the planet we’ve landed, and how far off course we are from the colony. Getting from the shuttle to their commune is not just our best chance at getting through this. It is our only chance.”

  “Before transferring complete power to life support,” Bell said, “I was able to lock in on the colony. We most certainly overshot the compound. I was able to pin down our crash site, excuse me, Commander, our landing, and quickly map a course back toward the colony. I downloaded the coordinates onto my pad.”

  “Wonderful. How far away are we?” Commander Meyers remained as hopefully optimistic as possible. There was little left for them to hold onto. Bell’s bit of good news was a spark she did not want diminished. The distance between the shuttle and the colony, however, would determine how optimistic things looked overall.