Embarkment 2577 Page 17

“What would happen if the black hole was to eat the Bell, and consume our black hole?”

  Adam’s voice seemed much further away than just the other end of the ship.

  “They don’t merge. The forces are so extreme one black hole is thrust away at a speed we can’t even measure. In a fraction of a second, the smaller singularity would get enough of a kick to send it right out of the galaxy. The larger black hole would receive a tremendous amount of energy and the entire area would come ablaze with an X-ray flare that might last for thousands of years.”

  “Can’t we use that energy to push the ship away?”

  He shook his head. “No. The forces are too big.

  Why did I have to ask?

  When I returned to my chair, Anya already worked with the radio. John’s sardonic voice said, “So, Captain Jones has gotten himself into trouble, and you want the person he hates the most to come rescue him?”

  She didn’t have time to answer. The radio crackled to life again and he asked, “Alex and Adam okay?”

  I wasn’t too surprised he asked for us, but Adam lifted an eyebrow and Anya even sounded startled. “They’re fine. They’re here in the shuttle with me.”

  John chuckled, and I wondered just how drunk he was when he suggested, “Why don’t we meet up, baby doll, and you all run away with me?”

  Adam reached out for the com and said in a deceptively even voice, “How about we meet up and you help us rescue a thousand people on the ship. I know the girls like you, so I don’t want to have to break your neck.”

  John laughed even more. “Fair enough.”

  Anya disappeared off to talk to her lover on the radio in private. I squeezed Adam’s shoulder. “I’m impressed.”

  He shrugged. “Make yourself comfortable. If nothing changes we have eighteen hours fifty four minutes to the rendezvous point.”

  I sank down in Anya’s chair and watched him work. “You’re not in love with this plan, are you?”

  “If it works, I guess it’s good.”

  As communicative and emotional as only an android, or possibly a cement slab, could be. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. Whatever had gone wrong between us was still wrong, in spite of my best efforts and impending doom. “Can we talk?”

  “This isn’t a good time, Alex.” He got to his feet and headed out of the tiny cockpit.

  “Why not? You just said we have almost nineteen hours before anything happens. It’s not like you have somewhere to go.”

  “I’m going to go check on the engines. This was a lot of strain on the ship.”

  The explanation sounded feasible, but I didn’t believe him. He was running away from confrontation. “Adam, wait.”

  He paused right inside the door and pressed his fingers towards a portion of the wall. The smooth surface gave way and revealed a hidden hatch. “There’s emergency provisions in here. Should be everything you need.”

  *****

  Those nineteen hours were some of the longest of my life. When we spotted John’s ship, I was so relieved I wanted to cry. It was much bigger than I expected, and our shuttle fit easily in one of his bays.

  The large man swept Anya up in his arms and spun her around. At least some happiness could come out of all this misery… Adam stood next to me, watching with his arms crossed over his chest and a very unimpressed expression on his face.

  John hugged me too, and tried to shake Adam’s hand, but Adam just looked at it. I mouthed, “That’s so rude” and he ignored me. John chuckled and pulled his fingers through his unruly hair. “I guess I deserve that. It’s good to see you all.”

  He led the way through the enormous, deserted ship. Our footsteps echoed between the walls, making it sound like someone followed us. Was he here all alone all the time? No wonder the man drank a lot; a day or two would drive me out of my mind.

  Cargo crates were stacked all over, and Adam muttered, “I wonder where he stole all this.”

  I nudged him. “Be nice.”

  He rolled his eyes and I tucked my hands around his arm. If he shook it off, I would cry. He just glanced into my eyes and mumbled, “Alex…”

  I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek, and a shadow of a smile flew over his face.

  Once we reached the bridge, John sank down in a chair and pulled Anya onto his lap. He reached for a bottle and took a good long swig before holding it out to me. “Want some?”

  Maybe alcohol couldn’t really relieve stress, but at this point in time, I was all for trying. It was strong enough to make me cough, but little details like that didn’t seem important.

  Adam said, “I’ll go take a look at your tractor beam.”

  “My ship is in good shape, but knock yourself out.”

  As soon as Adam left the room, John glanced over at me. “He worries too much.”

  Tell me about it…

  Anya fixed her pale eyes on me. “You know I can’t read him, right? Android thoughts are secrets even to me. You are troubled.”

  “Of course I’m worried. Our home and all our friends are about to be crushed.”

  Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t believe me. John broke the spell through touching her cheek. “Anya, poking around in people’s minds isn’t nice, even when the person doing it is as gorgeous as you. I’ve been cleaning. Come see? Alex won’t mind.”

  I took a seat and pulled my feet up under me. “He’s right. Go on.”

  Sitting alone on a strange bridge with nothing to do but watch space fly by the windows got old quickly. Could I leave? If John was really the only person on the ship, the bridge must be empty a lot of the time. I wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

  My insides crawled with all sorts of fears. I wanted Adam. If he would hug me and tell me everything would be alright, I might get through the next day without going crazy.

  “Computer?”

  No one answered. Maybe it didn’t have a voice interface. Good thing no one heard me; I must seem like an idiot. Glancing at the instrumentation offered no help at all. Touching anything would be inviting disaster.

  Where had he said he was going? Tractor beam? The Bell had all that technical stuff at the bottom. I didn’t have anything better to do, so I could just as well go look. Worst case scenario, I had the better part of a day to find my way back.

  It was a big ship and I walked around for a long time. I found rooms filled with machinery, rooms filled with supplies, and empty crew quarters. No Adam. Where did the elevators go? Someone must have moved them… When I finally made my way back to the starting point more than two hours had passed, and I was afraid to wander anymore. I returned to the still empty bridge and curled up in my chair.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After another endless wait, John and Anya came back. He seemed remarkably sober. “We’re almost there. I’m surprised this happened to Jones. He usually has more sense than messing with black holes.”

  Anya touched some controls, and the Bell appeared on screen. I exhaled with relief. “She’s still there.”

  The doors slid open and Adam entered. “Where have you been? I looked for you for hours.”

  He gave a slight shrug. “They’ve drifted further in. I’ve examined the ship’s systems. I don’t think we’ll be able to hold them long enough for help to arrive.”

  John sighed. “You’re probably right, but we have to try.”

  Why wouldn’t we be able to hold them? I wanted to ask, but bit the words down. Whether we ran out of energy or overheated something was a moot point.

  “I have calculated the coordinates most beneficial for the attempt. Any closer and we’ll be pulled in too.”

  Adam’s calm words made me feel queasy. It wasn’t just fatigue and hunger churning in my stomach; it was fear. Home as I knew it might already be gone, condemned, even though it hadn’t happened yet. How could I watch that and retain my sanity?

  The bridge was very quiet as John manoeuvred his ship into position. A bright light shot out of our ship and my nails dug into my palms when it bent
away from the Bell, towards the singularity. Then, John locked onto the ship. Working together, father and son made it look easy.

  The hull under my feet trembled, but the Bell didn’t move. I turned to Adam, hoping he would have some brilliant solution. He had an absent look on his face, and I would bet anything he ran some calculations in his mind normal people like me would never be able to understand.

  He left the room without making a noise, and both John and Anya glanced over their shoulders when the door closed behind him.

  “Where’s he going?” Anya sounded suspicious.

  “I don’t know, but this isn’t working. We can hold them from being pulled further in for now, but I’m sending too much power to the tractor array. It’ll overheat soon.”

  I got to my feet and left the room, trying not to disturb them. Adam was already at the other end of the corridor and I had to run to catch up with him. “Adam, wait!”

  He slowed his steps but didn’t turn around to face me. “Go back to the bridge.”

  “No. Where are you going?”

  He didn’t answer. “Adam, what are you doing?”

  Glancing back over his shoulder, he looked more serious than ever before. “I’m going to crash our shuttle into the singularity and hope the shockwave from two black holes will be enough to push them away.”

  What? Within seconds I only saw his back disappearing towards the elevator. I ran to catch up and jumped in front of him. “With you in it? Absolutely not. That’s suicide, you can’t do that.”

  He smiled a little, but didn’t look particularly happy. “Yes, I can. I have to. It’s the only way.”

  Pushing me gently to the side, he started to walk again. I jogged to keep up with him. When we reached the lift I was out of breath and panted, “Please don’t do this.”

  He leaned his back against the wall, crossed his arms, and avoided my gaze through staring into the wall. What could I say?

  Adam didn’t speak until the lift slowed at the lowest deck. “It’s logical. If nothing is done, over a thousand people on that ship will die. And if I’m gone, you’re free to do whatever you want.”

  “What?” My feet didn’t move until the doors started to close again. A bizarre picture was finally coming together in my mind. It was absurd, a skewed version of reality, but it was the only explanation.

  I caught up with him in the docking bay. “Tell me you’re not going out there to kill yourself because you’re jealous.”

  He stopped and looked down at the floor for a second. When he turned around to meet my eyes, he lifted both his eyebrows, making the face he always did when trying to convince me some cockamamie logic made sense. “You deserve to be with someone from your own species. John might not have been my first choice for you, but that’s not for me to decide. I’m a machine. Anya is a hologram. You two are human.”

  Oh no, I wasn’t losing my husband over a dumb secret. “It’s not like that.”

  “You have never been as happy as with him. I’ve never seen you laugh so much, or enjoy life so much. I’m sorry I can’t do that for you, but it can be fixed.”

  I took a couple of careful steps forward. “John is your father. He’s the only family either of us has. He just… He doesn’t want you to know. I promised not to tell you.”

  I used his surprise to get a few steps closer. “Not even Anya knows. Think about it. Sober him up, cut his hair a little and shave him. You’ll end up with you. That’s why I like him so much. He reminds me of you.”

  Under our feet, the hull quivered like a nervous horse. “I appreciate you telling me this, but it doesn’t matter. I still have to try to save the Bell.”

  I was close enough. I ran forward and threw my arms around him. My holding him wouldn’t prevent him from going anywhere, but I had to try.

  Crying wasn’t part of my plan, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I sobbed, “Please don’t leave me. There has to be another way. Just, please don’t leave me.”

  It was probably a very egotistical approach. So many lives were at stake, and he had already decided to sacrifice his to save them. I just couldn’t let him do that.

  He whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. I love you. You should know that by now.”

  Adam looked around the room and shifted his grip on me to reach the radio. “John, you have an old mining ship down here. Does it run? Does it have a tractor beam?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know if it’s strong enough to make any difference.”

  “We shall see.”

  Their voices sounded so much the same it was a mystery no one heard it.

  Adam brushed his lips over my forehead. “I’ll try to be back. It’s the best I can do, okay.”

  “No. Not okay. I’m going with you.”

  “Alex, no…” He sounded pleading.

  “Yes. It’s not debateable and we don’t have time to argue. I’m going with you.”

  He shook his head, but lifted the radio again. “We’re going out in the miner. Anya, please man the transporter and keep a lock on Alex.”

  The ship was old and rough, and there was too much black space around us. Any stars visible were too far away, and the large ship balancing on the edge of destruction seemed too fragile. My imagination played a nasty sound of hull plating creaking at the strain.

  I reached out to touch Adam’s shoulder. It was hard to believe he would have chosen to fly into the horror that spread out before us. “Do you think this will work?”

  “No. It’s like trying to tow a moon.”

  The little craft we were in seemed like a mosquito compared to the Bell. I couldn’t fathom how it would make any difference at all.

  John’s voice echoed over the radio. “It’s a good little ship. It was used to salvage asteroids.”

  Adam pushed the transmission button. “Well, if I destroy it I guess I owe you one.”

  The remote voice laughed. “You mean besides coming all the way here to pull your butt out of the fire?”

  I expected Adam to say something snarky, but he seemed to have that out of his system. “I’ll make it up to you. Engaging tractor beam. ”

  Something further back in the ship screeched and gave way with a bang that made my ears ring. Warning lights flashed all over the board. John’s voice said, “I’m giving it all I got over here. I think she twitched.”

  Smoke billowed into the cockpit and Adam said, emotionless as ever, “Anya, would you please teleport Alex over. Leave me here for now.”

  I didn’t have time to say anything. The air shimmered around me, and in the next moment, I stared at a white wall in John’s transporter room.

  Anya had an open radio link to the bridge, and John’s voice sounded so much like my husband’s it confused me and made me want to cry. “She’s moving.”

  Adam’s voice was distorted by old equipment, distance, and disturbance from the black hole. “That’s good, because this ship is about done for.”

  In the next moment, a monitor showed the miner turning into a spectacular firework.

  My brain and my eyes weren’t cooperating. The message from the eyes was clear. The screen was filled with flames and debris. My mind said it couldn’t be possible. Adam couldn’t be dead.

  I wanted to scream, but my lungs had no air. The ship my husband was on exploded in front of my eyes. Whether he could survive in the vacuum of space or not was a moot point; nothing could survive a blast like that. I was alone.

  It seemed like such a long time, but it wasn’t even a second. A part of my mind functioned well enough to wonder how there could be flames and smoke in space. Then, darkness finally embraced me.

  Anya’s voice came from a great distance, and the humming of the teleporter was even farther away. Neither made any sense to me. “I’ve got him.”

  The words meant nothing. The ship my husband was on was gone, and I would never see him again. I would never hear his voice, never feel his touch. Alone.
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  Well-known, strong arms caught me just before I hit the floor. They were clearly a hallucination. Adam’s voice said, “Alex.”

  It was insistent, but not really there. The voice came from the darkness, and giving in held much more appeal than staying in a world of light where I would be on my own.

  Anya’s melodic voice drifted across the void. “She thought you died.”

  My husband’s voice sounded worried, “Alex, sweetest, remember to breathe. I’m here, everything’s alright.”

  If he came back as a ghost just to tell me to breathe, it was probably important. Forcing air into my lungs took such a big effort and I had no power left to struggle when the arms hoisted me up in the air, lifted and carried me just like Adam used to do.

  “That’s better. Now, open your eyes, silly.”

  No way. I wanted to tell Adam’s ghost I wasn’t silly, but opening my eyes was out of the question. I peeked out under my lashes and saw a black uniform, exactly like Adam’s. It felt like it against my cheek too.

  Anya’s voice said, “Alex, honey, he’s not dead. I teleported him just in time.”

  Maybe I could open my eyes a little more. She wouldn’t lie to me, not Anya, but she might be mistaken.

  Adam held me, looking at me with a concerned frown. “I promised to try and come back.”

  Anya filled in, “John’s ship needs a lot of repairs, but we did it. The Bell if free.”

  Neither of them made any sense, but it didn’t matter. I hit Adam’s chest with my palm. “I thought you were dead!”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  I hit him again. It was wrong, but it was beyond my abilities to hurt him. “Don’t ever do that again.”

  I loved them both so much it almost hurt. Anya knew. She smiled. “I love you too.”

  Adam and Eve

  Chapter One

  “You look like a scared Ensign right out of the academy. It doesn’t become you. Spill it.”

  My Captain’s eyes looked right through me and could probably see the wall on the other side. Visiting his office all alone wasn’t one of my best ideas. I took a deep breath and plunged in. “You know how John’s ship was almost destroyed when he saved us from the black hole?”