Javier walked over to the systems station and viewed the monitor before him. The rear airlock of the Argo opened, and the decompression blew the tritonium tanks out toward the Seeker ship. While it was Jason Cassidy’s idea to use them as mines, it was his expertise that allowed them to be armed. With a small container of plasma injected into each tank, on contact they would create a mighty detonation.
While the jury-rigged tritonium tanks drifted ever closer to their target, he kept a keen eye on the scanners, hoping they’d be far enough from the shock wave after detonation so it wouldn’t take them up too.
A blinding light lit up the bridge and one after another, the mines made contact with the Seeker ship.
“Now that’s what I call fireworks!” Alyssa said with a smile.
The explosions filled the viewport while the Argo continued to race away. The deck shook beneath them and Javier gripped the console, bracing himself for the worst. He turned to Rycroft who clung to the helm like a man possessed. The ship lurched forward and rumbled.
Soon the shaking subsided, and their ride smoothed out. Javier’s calculations had been correct.
“Did we get them?” Rycroft asked, unlatching himself from the helm.
Javier didn’t answer at first. There was no clear sight because of all the interference from the radiation. Then it cleared.
He didn’t say anything at first, wondering how it was possible.
“Professor?”
“Negative,” he said. “The bogey survived.”
Forty-Four
Seeker Weapon Ship
While the exterior of the sphere appeared cold and sterile, its interior was the complete opposite. Jason stepped inside and gazed around in wonder. The curved lines of its shape were nowhere to be seen, while white vapor floated throughout, creating the illusion it was much larger on the inside than the outside.
Captain Marquez and Tyler strolled in beside him. “Unbelievable!” his brother said.
“It’s as if we’re walking on a cloud.” Jason waved away the surrounding mist. He shifted his head out of the way as a long, silvery tendril whizzed past him from one side to the other to join its many friends that appeared and reappeared around them.
“Is it me, or is this thing breathing?” Tyler asked. “Could it be alive?”
Jason didn’t know how to answer that, but couldn’t help but feel a gentle thrum around them. “Perhaps it’s life, but unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
They walked up what felt like a ramp toward a bright white light, but beneath their feet was nothing but mist. At the center, the trio shielded their eyes from the intense glare.
“What do you think it is?” Marquez said.
Against his better judgment, Jason moved toward it and put out his hand. A white flash surrounded him and everyone around him disappeared.
When his vision adjusted, the inside of the sphere was gone. Instead, he was back on the Argo. B Deck to be precise. But the perspective was all wrong. He stared down at his hands to find they belonged to a child. His clothes had printed patterns of teddy bears on them, which he remembered were his pajamas he wore as a kid.
He hurried to the bathroom and jumped onto the washbasin. In the reflection a two-year-old boy stared back at him.
“Hey, why aren’t you in bed?”
He turned, unable to answer the man by the door.
It’s been so long…
His father, Benjamin Cassidy crossed his arms with a crooked smirk on his face.
“What’s going on?” a woman’s voice echoed from outside the door.
My god…
Jason’s pregnant mother, Janice, walked in and shook her head playfully, with a sparkle in her eye. “Jason Benjamin Cassidy, you should be asleep!”
Another flash surrounded him, and his arm was nearly pulled from its socket. Tyler grabbed him and Jason returned to the familiar interior of the sphere.
“What happened?” Jason asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Tyler said. “One minute you walked toward that light, and the next you froze. You weren’t responsive for several seconds.”
Jason glanced back at the radiance. “I was with Mom and Dad.”
“Huh?”
“We’ve solved the problem!”
They all hurried out of the sphere to the sound of Tai’s voice and down to one of the workstations where she, Althaus and Kione had been going to work. The Marines had untied Nash but kept their weapons trained on him.
“Kione and Mister Althaus have tapped into the ship’s computers. We have a solution to our door issue.” Tai stopped and turned to Marquez. “You may not like it, though. I know I don’t.”
“I’m listening.”
She pointed down at the holographic monitor on the console. “These appear to be airlocks. If we open them all at the same time—”
“What are you suggesting?” Tyler gasped. “Spacing them?”
“The Seekers will stop at nothing until they come in and retake the sphere,” Kione said bluntly. “They’re programmed to obey orders. That includes killing you and anyone who gets in their way.”
“There must be hundreds of them.”
“Thousands actually.”
Jason stepped toward Marquez. “We can’t let this sphere fall back into their hands.”
Marquez’s hardened eyes stared at Althaus. “Do it.”
He nodded, and with Kione’s help they punched in the command. The clanging sounds of airlocks opening and closing were all they had to confirm the deaths of the remaining Seekers on the ship. Jason shuddered at the thought of the people inside those suits. They were just like Nash—there against their will.
“It’s done,” Tai said, as everyone bowed their heads.
Althaus broke up the respectful silence. “I’ve knocked out the jamming field interfering with our communications.”
Tyler activated his commband. “Argo, come in. This is Tyler.”
“This is the Argo,” Kevin replied.
“What’s your situation?”
“Not great. The Seeker ship was on our tail before we detonated the tritonium mines. It slowed them down but we didn’t destroy them.”
“All of that tritonium? That should’ve blown up a small moon.”
“We’ve got away, but they’re back in pursuit.”
Before Tyler could say anything, Jason walked over to Kione. “Is this vessel flight worthy yet?”
“It hasn’t even begun trials,” Nash scoffed.
“Is it?” Jason ignored his friend.
Kione nodded. “I believe so.”
“We need to help the Argo.”
Kione and
