“She's a God damned experiment! Her and about three hundred others. For a thousand years, more maybe, we've been tweaking genetics, making this one a little blonder, most of us immune to diseases we just couldn't cure any other way, and so on and so on. Her generation was made from scratch! She's the product of the first materializer capable of producing living matter from energy, the core of this framework crap that's about to change the galaxy. It failed for most, but the advancements they made regardless are beyond what anyone imagined. By the time I turned you in, Vindyne already had that intel somehow, and all they wanted was you and Alice, the next big things because she had managed to make the jump between machine to man. God damned software making history, who the hell cares right?”
The medical team, led by Grace, entered in a rush.
Wheeler coughed suddenly, spraying his hand and the transparesteel in front of him with blood. He stared at it and started to laugh. “Hang on to something folks, I think I'm about to blow!”
Grace started to scan him as a security officer rushed in and opened his cell. She immediately stepped back. “He reads like he's made of Rexmet, pure explosive and he's heating up.”
“No shit! I'm taking my ship with me?” Wheeler said as he laughed and wiped blood from his nose. “I couldn't think of a better way-” Blood started running from his eyes and he collapsed into violent convulsions.
“Open the door! Open it!” Jonas shouted. He ran in once there was enough room for him to squeeze inside and picked up Wheeler's twitching body. He was out of the cell and running for the door the next second. “Get me to the nearest airlock!” He yelled at the guard nearest to the door. “Bridge, get us out of hyperspace. I have to throw live explosives out the nearest airlock.” Jonas said through his communicator.
The guard and Jonas ran as fast as they could down one hall and around a corner. Four escape shuttles flanking an airlock came into sight and he could see that the ship was just decelerating out of hyperspace. The guard rushed so hard towards the inner door that she collided with it and unlocked it as fast as she could.
Jonas dropped Wheeler inside and slammed the hatch door. Luscious' pores were seeping with fluid that no longer resembled anything human. He pressed the button to open the outer lock door and the decompression cycle started. “How do you skip it? We need him away from the ship and the air rushing out with him might do it.”
The guard looked at the electronic door panel then back at him helplessly.
Taking a guess he accessed the environment control sub-menu and found what he was looking for. He deactivated the safety system and opened the outer door. Wheeler's body was flushed out of the airlock by the rush of the remaining air. He turned and ran away from the hatch. “I don't know how much time was left. He didn't come with a counter,” he shouted over his shoulder.
The guard was right beside him, running wild eyed as they rounded the corner. The Triton rocked slightly, and they slowed to a stop. Grace and her medical team caught up to them. “Good work sir. That was close,” she congratulated.
Jonas struggled to catch his breath, leaning down with his hands on his knees. “Just lucky you scanned him,” he wiped some of Wheeler's residue from his neck and jaw with his hand, still trying to catch his breath. “Guess I should take up jogging again.”
“Looks like. You really moved though,” Grace said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder. “I think you just scored a few points with the crew.”
“I'm not your Captain, just his slower brother,” Jonas said, looking up with a smile. The hallway spun, and he lost his footing and fell to the deck.
“Whoa there,” Grace said as she and another medical technician knelt down. “Just rest here while-” She stopped as she started scanning him. Her fingers worked on her wrist unit quickly as she scanned through the readings.
“What, what is it?”
“You have implants in both your femurs. I'm seeing the same chemical process that started with Wheeler in you.”
Jonas shivered and his eyes went wide. “Oh that can't be good.”
“Come on, let's get you into stasis,” Grace instructed, helping him up.
“How far is it?” he asked.
“Four decks down.”
“Too far, besides, even in stasis, if this is a chemical reaction there's no telling for sure that you could slow it down enough.” He felt his heart beating so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
Jonas tried to stand but Grace caught his elbow. “Come with us sir. In deep stasis there's no movement.”
He twitched his sidearm out of it's holster and levelled it at her. “I'll pull the trigger to save the crew,” Jonas said hurriedly.
She let him go.
He got to his feet and with all his strength he ran around the corner and down the hall, dropping his sidearm, taking off his gun belt and long coat. “Bridge, Jonas here.” He said as he opened the inner airlock door.
“Nice save, we didn't take any damage, but if Wheeler had gone off in the brig it would have killed everyone in the upper berthing,” Stephanie congratulated.
“Oh, we're not out of the woods yet,” Jonas said as he sealed his vacsuit and closed the hatch behind him. “Is Alice there?”
“She's just going over the bridge systems with me. This girl's a natural.”
“Hi Jonas,” she chimed in, he could hear her smile.
Grace and her medical team caught up to him and stopped to watch him hit the quick release on the outer door. He was thrust out into space along with the air filling the freshly pressurized airlock. Jonas took a breath and let himself tumble away. “Ignore everything else and listen to me, okay?”
“Okaaay.” she said slowly, warily.
He was relieved that no one on the bridge realized he had ejected himself in nothing but his vacsuit. “I need to know that no matter what happens you understand that you've been my best friend. I couldn't have dreamt of anyone else I would want to share all the little details with.”
“Jonas? They say you're outside the ship, that-” there was panic in her voice.
“Never mind that. If you need anything, someone to trust, someone to walk you through this, just look to Jake. He doesn't care what you are, where you come from, I can tell, just from the time I spent with him, I can tell that he's as much me as he needs to be and is capable of so much more. I told him how you were born and he didn't so much as flinch.”
“Jonas, tell me this isn't happening, please?” she said through tears.
“It's okay, just tell Ayan she kept me warm while I was all bottled up. She was there, the whole time. They couldn't get their way because she was there.” His body began to twitch as he rotated slowly. The Triton came into view. “Make sure she knows, Alice.”
“I will,” she promised.
He could feel his heart beating spastically, his arms and legs curled inwards. “That's a beautiful ship, if I had just a bit more time I'd make the galaxy free again.” A massive twitch sent his body into a painful spasm. It subsided after a moment and he tried to catch his breath. “Do everything I couldn't Jake.” Pressure built in his head, he squeezed his eyes shut and saw red. “I'm so proud of you both,” he managed as he forced himself to exhale. When he opened his eyes it was to complete blackness. Then he was gone.
Solace and Icons
The bottle was half empty. The amber liquid wet the sides as he leaned it one way then the other and back in the dim light. I didn't know him for an hour but I feel like I've lost the only friend I've ever had. Jake thought to himself. The only lights on were the muted white and yellow spots in the middle of the tables and the ones running behind the bar and where the floor met the wall. Just enough to see your way around the tables and chairs.
He had reviewed the footage from the brig after leading Alice to the bed in his ready room. She insisted he just leave her alone to rest. He left her alone for a few minutes and when he quietly checked on her she was asleep. The strangest reaction to grief he'd seen, but he would be there for her, regardless of how she
