Ellis hesitated outside of briefing, not sure what to expect. Lara had ’commed him in the lab, only saying that he was needed; she’d sounded tense and unhappy, switching off before he could ask why.
He took a deep breath and walked in, greeted by solemn silence as Pop broke off whatever he’d been saying. Lara and the three team members stood around the tabled console, and Ellis saw that plans for the DS Terminal had been called up.
The commander trained his cold gaze on Ellis. “How is Max?”
Ellis glanced around at the others in confusion and then back at Pop. “He’s fine; I mean, basically. I’m—his blood sugar level is up a little, but not too—”
“Good, fine,” said Pop. “DS 949 is now a Max operation, and I want you prepped and ready to go within the hour.”
Ellis felt even more confused. “But I thought the infestation was too big for a single team…”
Pulaski snorted. “Yeah, join the fuckin’ club.”
“Put a cap on that shit, Pulaski,” said Pop quickly. He sighed and looked down at the station plans for a few tense seconds; when he looked up again, his expression had softened. He addressed the ground team in an almost apologetic tone.
“Look, that’s what we all thought, but I don’t have a say in it any more than you do. The Company wants the data log from the ship that brought the bugs on board, and it’s our job to get it. Grigson promised me that you’ll all get high recommendations for immediate parole, provided we pull this off.”
“Freedom don’t mean much if you’re dead,” muttered Pulaski, but he fell silent after a look from Jess.
Pop turned his attention back to Ellis. “The team’s going to be too busy securing a path to the docking bays to deal with Max, and the station has too much shielding to ensure a clear signal… so you’re going to follow them. You’ll fire him directly when they reach the nest.”
Ellis’s stomach knotted, and he looked over at Lara for help; she was busy tapping numbers into her clipboard, frowning at whatever she saw there. No help from the team, either. Both Jess and Pulaski seemed angry, and Teape hadn’t looked up once since he’d walked in.
Jess and the others would be clearing the way, it wasn’t like he’d have to fight—but the thought of actually being in a combat zone was terrifying, secured or not. What if they were killed, or just missed a single drone by mistake—?
What a surprise, his father’s voice whispered hatefully. Afraid of doing your job, even when it’s not your ass on the line…
He met Pop’s steely gaze again and then nodded, feeling stupid and childish for his fear and yet unable to let it go. He swallowed dryly, suddenly fighting an urge to throw up.
The commander seemed to relax slightly. “Go get Max ready. I’ll send Jess down to fill you in on procedure when we’ve finished up here.”
Ellis nodded again, full of a million questions that he couldn’t ask. He stood uncertainly for a moment, then turned to leave, heart already pounding in his chest.
An hour. He had one hour to get Max and himself ready to go aboard an infested station, where the only things alive would be trying to kill them all.
* * *
Lara barely heard Ellis leave as she double-checked her clipboard screen. She had it set to monitor the station’s internal communications, and everything seemed fine, now—but a random radio-wave pulse had just been recorded and she couldn’t pinpoint the source, it was too weak.
Pop was still running over the plans with Jess, his gruff voice giving Lara a headache. He hadn’t said a word about last night, had hardly looked at her since giving the news from Grigson, and that was just fine with her; she had fallen asleep afraid and woke up so angry that it was hard to look at him without wishing him dead.
Lara didn’t think he would harass her during an operation, but she was prepared for the possibility; a loose khaki overshirt covered the bulge in her waistband easily, hiding the pancake holster and the revolver it held. Pop Izzard was not going to have an easy time of it if he decided to bother her again.
She scowled at the clipboard, checking the recorded pulse for a third time. It pissed her off even more that she couldn’t concentrate well, thanks to a restless night because of Pop.
Damn you, Eric. Like a few sexual encounters give you a right to my body whenever you feel like it, in spite of what I want…
“Lara?”
She looked up, vaguely aware that Pop had already called her name at least once.
“What’s the communication outlook?” he asked, still avoiding straight eye contact.
Lara turned to Jess. “We can monitor you visually on the station cameras and use their system to relay audio, but I want you to drop beacons anyway; with only emergency power on board, I don’t want to put too much faith in their setup. Their network seems unstable; I’m picking up a glitch that I can’t track…”
She looked over at Pop, struggling to keep her expression bland. “In fact, I’m thinking that we should postpone for a few hours. It’s probably nothing, but with the extra shielding and this anomaly, I’d like to make sure that everything’s running clean…”
Pop stared directly at her forehead. “We have the helmets in case there’s a problem with the relay, and the sooner we get the log, the sooner we can leave. Do you understand—Lieutenant?”
Lara understood. Waiting would be hard on the team, maybe too hard on someone in Teape’s condition; he hadn’t said a word since he’d walked into briefing and wouldn’t look at any of them for more than a second or two.
Goddamn you too, Grigson, you and the Company. It was a very dangerous situation, and they were all too tense and exhausted to perform in top form; even Pulaski was uncharacteristically subdued.
She stared back down at the steady reads and made the decision, feeling trapped. “Fine, okay.”
Lara looked at the team members and sighed. “I’m sure it’s nothing important, so don’t worry. And other than that—” She frowned, searching for anything she’d left out.
Ellis. God, she’d been so wrapped up in her anger she’d almost forgotten him. She addressed Jess more than the others, knowing that he’d pick up on her intention.
“—other than that, keep an eye out for Ellis, would you?”
Jess nodded slowly, his dark eyes sharp and comprehending. Lara had just asked him to take care of the neophyte technician, and Jess had agreed; Ellis wouldn’t be left to figure out everything by himself.
“That’s it, then. Let’s get moving, people,” said Pop, and Lara felt a wave of disgust crash over her; she’d let him inside of her, this bluff and false shell of a man who respected her even less than he respected his “boys.”
The team started out of briefing, and although she usually stayed behind to confer with the commander, Lara followed them. She was going to have to spend at least an hour or two alone with Pop when the shuttle departed for the station, but she’d avoid it as long as possible.
As the team split up to go to their tasks, Lara thought about telling Jess the situation but decided against it. He’d have enough on his mind without hearing about Pop’s instability; she’d tell him when they returned.
If they returned. Lara hurried to ops, hoping that the growing knot in her belly was from simple lack of sleep but knowing better.
* * *
Teape was afraid, but not of death. The Voice had been at him for too long to be scared of the Big Sleep—at least there wouldn’t be any dreams, and that wasn’t so bad. It was the dying that worried him, the fear that it would be a face-hugger that took him out; endless days of pain and terror, webbed into hell, only the sounds of the insane to keep him company…
He sat in the open doorway of the drop-ship, watching Ellis and Jess load up the Max. The soft echoes of metal against metal in the cold dock were somehow soothing, calling up faint memories of his childhood—dozing on his mother’s bed when she’d have a party, the distant sounds of laughter and conversation lulling him safely into deeper sleep.
A heavy hand fell across his back and then Pulaski was sitting beside him, chewing something that smelled like sweetened coconut.
“How ya doin’, Teepee?” Pulaski swallowed, his voice sticky and garbled through his sugarcoated throat. Strangely enough, he wasn’t smiling, his broad face unusually somber.
“Okay, Candyman. It’s not such a bad day to die, I guess.”
He expected the giant to argue with him, but Pulaski didn’t say anything. He started rummaging through his belt and came up with two wrapped bars, offering one to Teape.
“Here,” he said, “’s your favorite. Almond.”
Teape took the gift, oddly touched that his big, dumb friend had remembered. “Thanks.”
They both unwrapped the brightly colored wrappers and ate silently as Jess and Ellis finished with Max. Jess was talking to the nervous-looking tech now, his voice low and soothing in contrast to Ellis’s anxious stammer. The almond bar tasted sweet and fine, and Teape was again reminded of his youth, long days of summer when he and his friends would pool their money to splurge on junk food. They’d hike to the small store a klick from his mother’s house, arriving home sunburned and sticky with chocolate…
He thought about the Voice that had haunted him for so long, gone since Pop had given them the news. Not silent, gone; he wasn’t insane, or at least he didn’t think so—which could only mean that this was it, the day when Wesley Teape ceased to exist. The Voice had fled like a rat deserting a sinking ship, and for that, Teape was grateful.
“You’re a smart guy, Teepee. Like really smart, right?”
Teape shrugged. “Maybe not. I signed up for this job.”
Pulaski continued as if he hadn’t heard. “So whatdaya think happens after you die?”
Teape looked over at Pulaski, surprised, but the big man was watching Jess and Ellis intently; and although his tone was light, Teape could see that the answer mattered to him. He chose his words carefully.
“I don’t really know, Candyman. I think it’s probably different for different people. For me, I think it’s gonna be a long, long sleep. Peaceful.”
Pulaski finally looked at him, frowning, and Teape saw something like desperation in his eyes. “What about for a guy like me?”
Teape smiled. “You ever hear of Vikings?”
Pulaski shook his head.
“An ancient culture on Earth, long time ago. They were like you, big warriors, loved to fight. They believed that when a man died, he got to go to this huge battle in the afterlife—he’d get to fight and kill his opponents all day long, real bloody. And at night, everyone got up, totally healed, and went to a big hall where they’d have a big feast and get drunk, and tell stories about kicking ass. Next day, same thing. Every day, forever.”
Pulaski was grinning, and Teape could see that he’d said the right thing. “No shit?”
“No shit.”
“That’s—that’s fuckin’ right on,” Pulaski blurted, and then stuffed the last bite of candy in his mouth, chewing enthusiastically, nodding.
Teape would have laughed if he hadn’t been so tired, and he was suddenly aware that some of his fear was gone. They were all going to die, ripped to shreds by a nightmare breed on a stinking-dead terminal in deep space—
—but at least we have somewhere to go when it’s over…
Teape finished his own candy, smiling, deciding that maybe he was crazy after all.
Jess and Ellis walked over, the team leader looking between the two grinning men uncertainly. “You boys ready to get this over with?”
Pulaski stood up and slapped the young tech on the arm, hard enough to make Ellis stumble. “Gonna do it to it!”
Teape got up also, his good humor fading a little as he realized it was time. Jess studied his face, and Teape could see concern and regard in his dark features.
“You with us, Teape?”
“Nowhere else to be,” he replied, sorry that Jess was going to die, too; he hoped that their leader would be ready when the darkness welcomed them all.
Jess smiled and they all climbed aboard, waiting for Pop to send them into the heat.