Gord Zajac - Major Karnage

Karnage was about to tell Sydney to take up defensive positions when the screen blinked on and Galt smiled down at them again. He rubbed his hands together. “Okay! That was a real corker of a question. Sorry it took me so long. I’ve done my best to put together a little video compilation that should clear everything up for you. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions when the film is done. So have a seat, relax, and enjoy the show. And, here we go!”

Horns trumpeted loudly as the letters DiN shot across the screen. A lens flare blasted everything out, revealing a newscaster with a striking head of hair sitting at a desk beaming at the screen.

“Welcome back to the Dabney Information Network,” she said. “I’m Angela Lee, and I’m here with Steve Dabney, Chief Operating Officer of the Dabney Corporation.”

The shot changed to show Steve Dabney sitting at the other end of the desk with his hands clasped. He smiled warmly and nodded at the camera.

“Thanks for being with us here today, Steve,” Angela said. “Thanks for having me, Angela.”

Angela picked up a sheet and read from it dramatically. “‘To the moon, Alex.’”

Steve laughed.

Angela put down her sheet and smiled at Steve. “Now that’s a quote from an interview you gave last year to our own Xander Farnsworth.”

Steve nodded. “Yes, I remember that. I’m not sure how serious I was about that at the time.”

“But it turns out you were serious, because here you are, months later, getting ready to launch the first manned flight to the moon.”

“That’s right, Angela. If all goes well with the launch tomorrow, I will be on my way to being the first man to step foot on the moon.”

“Now there are those who would argue that this isn’t the first time we’ve been to the moon. What would you have to say to them?”

Steve smiled bemusedly. “Well, you know, I’ve seen the footage they’re referring to and…” He shrugged.

“And you’re not convinced?”

“Look, I wasn’t there. You weren’t there. Nobody alive today was there. Our experts have looked at this video that supposedly ‘proves’ we landed on the moon, but their findings came back inconclusive.

So I’m not going to comment one way or another. But what I will say, Angela, is this: a Dabney has yet to step foot on the moon. And there’s nothing a Dabney can’t do if he sets his mind to it, and my mind, as you can tell, is pretty much set.”

Angela giggled. “Yes it is. Now, I know you have to go soon, but if I could ask just one more question….”

“Shoot.”

“What does it feel like to be one of the richest men on the planet?”

Steve smiled. “I have to say, Angela, that it feels pretty good.”

Angela giggled again. “Thanks so much for your time, Steve. And good luck with the launch tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Angela.” Steve winked. “It’s been a pleasure.”

The screen changed to show a jet with a smaller bulbous white ship attached to its underbelly. The smaller ship had a Dabney-1 logo printed on its side. A voice crackled over a speaker. “We are in the bin and ready to go. Ten seconds.”

The conjoined ships flew in silence. A sheet of blue clouds drifted by far below.

“Okay, here we go.”

A spurt of blue flame shot out the back of the Dabney-1 .

“There it is. You can see the flame. The flicker of flame. Good old Dabney blue.”

The Dabney-1 separated from the jet and shot forward.

The shot changed to a camera mounted on the Dabney-1 ’s tail, looking up past the cockpit toward the nose at the blue sky.

“Our DiN viewers are enjoying an impressive site here. That’s your downlink camera on the Dabney-1 as it prepares to punch through into geostationary orbit.”

The world started spinning and the camera shook violently. Bursts of snow that reminded Karnage of squiggles shot across the video feed.

“Uh oh. Uh oh.”

The footage evened out, the squiggles dissipated, and the nose of the ship sailed through the black, the curve of the earth glowing just below.

“Wow. Look at that.”

The sun appeared from behind the earth, shining bright and hard against the black.

“He’s made it. He’s made it.”

A thin line of black sliced across the sun’s aura. It grew thicker and thicker, slowly blocking out the sun’s glow. It kept growing until it blocked out the blue of the earth. A dark shadow slowly enveloped the body of the Dabney-1 . Green panels of light flickered across the black. The screen flashed a violent green, then turned to snow.

“Hold on. This is not a scripted manoeuvre. Oh my god. Communications with Dabneyville have been cut off. We’re waiting for confirmation that Steve is okay. That systems are normal. That—”

The screen went black.

The screen cut to black and white security footage of a boardroom. Galt Dabney paced at the end of the table, his face pinched and scowling. A line of executives sat on either side. Their eyes stayed fixed on Galt until he stopped in front of a young executive at the end.

“How long has he been gone for?” Galt asked.

The executive pulled out a tablet. “About two hours.”

“What are the chances he’s still alive?”

The executive shrugged. “They don’t know, Galt.”

“Dammit.” Galt sat at the head of the table. He sighed. “I knew we should have kept this quiet until he returned. What does the press know so far?”

An executive with her hair up in a bun slid a tablet over to Galt. “That he went up, and there’s been a communications problem, and that we expect to hear back from him soon.”

Galt steepled his fingers in front of him. He nodded. “All right. All right. Maybe we can make something positive out of this. Come up with an angle. He gave his life saving the earth.” He looked around at the other executives. “How does that sound? Too over the top?”

“It might be a little, sir,” one of them said.

“Maybe if it was just a continent,” another offered, “instead of the whole planet.”

“Or a city,” someone else said. “He was having trouble on re-entry. Heading for a populated area. Rather than kill innocent people, he sacrificed himself to save their lives.”

Galt nodded. “That’s good. That’s very good. Consult with astrophysics. Make it plausible. Airtight. He had to ‘tech’ the ‘tech’ in order to ‘tech’ the ‘tech.’ Something like that. But good.”

“We could have him save Dabneyville,” someone offered.

Galt shook his head. “No no no. It could look self-serving, like he was saving his own. Make it a small, backwater village somewhere.”

“What about Carpathia?”

Galt scowled. “No good. Too much baggage there. We need someplace else. Somewhere on the southern continent.”

An executive rushed into the room. “They just got word, Galt. He’s all right. They’ve re-established contact.”

“Oh, thank god. Where is he?”

“He’s on his way back to Earth.”

“Back to Earth? Why?”

“He won’t say. He says he needs to talk to you. Privately.”

The security footage changed to a lush office similar in design to the vault Karnage and Sydney stood in. Oak panelling was slathered over everything. Galt Dabney sat behind the desk, holding his head in his hands. Steve sat opposite him in a plush leather armchair, his feet resting casually on a footstool.

“I can’t believe it,” Galt said. “I just can’t believe it.”

“It’s true, Uncle Galt.” Steve leaned forward and slid a tablet across the desk towards the old man. “Astrophysics confirms it.”