The Aftermath

splashed off the airlock hatch. They’re firing lasers at us! Theo realized.

Theo planted his boots on the airlock deck just as a blast of energy slammed into his back. He staggered into his mother and sister.

“Thee?”

“I’m all right. They hit my backpack.”

“They’ve also hit the hatch control,” said Dorn. “We can’t close the outer hatch.”

“They’re almost here!” Angela said, and Theo saw the scavengers racing toward them, with Valker in the lead, a laser pistol in his hand.

“Fire the engine,” Dorn shouted.

“Firing,” said Elverda.

Hunter shuddered as if it had been hit by a bomb. But it did not move away from the men approaching the airlock.

CARGO SHIP PLEIADES: BRIDGE

Victor was close enough to hear the suit-to-suit chatter from the other ships. He recognized Theo’s voice, and his wife’s. Then there were others, men’s voices, cursing, yelling. It sounded as if some sort of struggle was going on. A fight.

He stared at his main screen as if he could get himself there by sheer willpower. Still fifteen minutes away, he saw from the numbers on the nav program.

What’s happening? he asked himself. What’s going on there?

He could see Syracuse gleaming sharply in sunlight against the starry background of infinity. There was another ship linked to it. And Hunter had arrived and matched their velocity vector.

A burst of flame from Hunter’s main thruster! Victor saw the ship shudder. A half-dozen figures were flitting around the vessel, most of them clustered at the main airlock.

Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds. Victor knew he had to do something. But what?

* * *

Standing in the crowded airlock, pistol in his hand, Valker smiled at his prisoners.

“No sense fighting,” he said amiably. “Your ship is crippled and you’re not going anywhere.”

Theo could see the other scavengers crowding around the airlock hatch. Kirk glowered at him murderously.

“Let’s go inside,” Valker said, motioning with his pistol. “It’s not polite to leave your visitors hanging outside your door.”

Besides, Theo said to himself, the air in your suits must be running low. He saw red lights splashed across the inside of his own bubble helmet. That laser shot’s smashed up my life support pack, he realized.

Dorn said slowly, “You’ve destroyed the control for the outer hatch. If I open the inner hatch the air in this entire section of the ship will blow away into vacuum.”

“Tell whoever’s at your bridge to seal the airtight emergency hatches,” Valker said. “That way only one small section will go to vacuum and you can pump air into it again once the inner airlock hatch is closed again.”

“Yes, that is the answer,” Dorn said. He called Elverda. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” her voice answered. “But the engine … it failed.”

“Our guests,” Dorn’s voice dripped irony, “disabled the thruster.”

“Tell her to close the emergency hatches,” Valker reminded.

“Now,” Kirk stressed.

“Close all the emergency hatches,” Dorn said. “We’re going to use the section next to the main airlock as an extension of the lock.”

“Why…?”

“Please do it,” Dorn urged. “We have visitors among us.”

Within minutes all ten of them were crowded into the locker area, with the inner airlock hatch safely sealed and the section of the ship refilled with air.

“Take off your helmet, lad,” Valker said to Theo. “Let’s see if the air pressure’s okay.”

Burning with anger, Theo lifted his helmet off his head.

“The air’s fine,” he said.

“You two, please,” Valker said to Pauline and Angela, gesturing with his pistol. Turning to Dorn, he added, “And you.”

The two women lifted off their helmets. Dorn deflated the hood of his nanosuit and pulled it back off his head.

Valker peered at him. “You’re the priest?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a cyborg,” Kirk said, as he pulled his own hood off his face. “A fuckin’ freak.”

“Very observant of you,” Dorn replied.

As they all wormed out of their space suits, Elverda’s voice came from the overhead speaker: “We have a message from the approaching vessel.”

“Play it,” Valker commanded.

They heard, “This is Pleiades. Estimate arrival at your position in nine minutes. Will match your velocity vector.”

Standing before the bench in front of the lockers, his bubble helmet in his gloved hands, Theo felt a jolt of electricity surge through him. That’s Dad’s voice! he said to himself. He glanced at his mother; she recognized the voice, too. So did Angie.

Valker grinned his widest. “Here comes our profit, boys,” he said. “Walking right into our laps.”

“If he’s alone on that ship,” Kirk cautioned.

“Even if he isn’t,” said Valker. “I’m going up to the bridge and guide our pigeon to us. You boys stay here by the airlock. When he comes in, you grab him.”

He turned to Dorn. “Come on, cyborg. Lead us to the bridge.”

* * *

Elverda got up from the padded command chair and went to the communications console. She activated the laser comm system, hoping that it would lock onto the optical receiver of the oncoming ship.

As soon as the screen’s ready light flashed green, Elverda said urgently, “Pleiades, this is Hunter. We have been boarded by scavengers who intend to take our ship and yours. We have three people from Syracuse with us. We need help. They’re going to kill us all unless we can find a way to stop them.”

* * *

Victor heard the fear in Elverda’s trembling voice, saw the anxiety in her worn face.

“How many men do the scavengers have?”

“I don’t know. Four or five, I think, maybe more.”

“Where are they?”

“Down at the main airlock, but I think their leader is coming to the bridge.”

Victor thought swiftly. “Do you have an airlock near the bridge?” he asked.

“Yes, immediately adjacent.”