J Mauldin - Final Solution

“So we have to take the bridge back. No option.”

“But how?”

“We have to incapacitate him. Maybe we could…” A thought surfaced in the murky depths of my mind. What would Liberty and I do? What have we done before? “Does Kelly still carry that old tablet?”

“The one with that crappy processor and lithium ion battery? Yeah. I can’t even believe they let him bring it aboard.”

“Where does he carry it most of the time?”

“In the pocket on the left chest of his jumpsuit. Why?”

“I have an idea.” I threw myself down the zero-g tunnel to Crew 1. “Brix,” I called into my watch. “Situation?”

“I’m a little busy.”

“Are you outside the bridge?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything you can do to help?”

“No. I can’t get in. Kelly’s locked the room. He’d been planning this all along.”

“I know. Hold tight till we can move. I think I can free the Captain.”

“Don’t be stupid, Goddard. What are you going to do?”

“When am I ever stupid?”

“I’m not going to answer that.”

“Standby to help if you can.”

Crew 1 was empty, everyone in their safe place or at duty stations. Most of the ship might not have even been aware we were on the edge of a knife with a hostage situation on the Bridge. I found my spare tool belt under the bunk and went to the food dispensing station, tearing away dry hoppers of AFiN slop to get at the heart of the machine. Flakes of white, like freeze dried snow, scattered on the floor.

“What are you doing, sir?”

“Saving our asses.” With the flat end of a screwdriver, I ripped off the back of our microwave and began to disassemble it. Numbers were rushing through my head, trying to work out the glaring issues with my hair brained scheme. I knew it could work, but it had to be quick and this usually wasn’t. I had to run the magnetron beyond its highest settings. “What do I need? Four thousand? No, five thousand watts? Best be safe.”

My watch buzzed. Twenty minutes remained till the Razor could hit us.

The earpiece cut in again. Liberty’s voice. “Kelly, we can work this out. Trust me. I know you want to. I’m sorry you hate us, and I can see how, but we can find a middle ground. There is a diplomatic solution no matter how dire this situation.”

“Hate? I don’t hate you! Fryatt, you’ve been kind to me. But… I have to do this, don’t you see? I’m sorry, so sorry. I can’t let you kill everyone on Europa. I just can’t.”

“We won’t, I promise. This ends today.”

“You’re right, Fryatt, it does. It has to. No more risking. No more risking.”

Liberty kept him busy by talking.

After a couple minutes the microwave was broken down into three parts. “Pass me a spare length of pipe and a three inch, metal insulator sleeve.”

“From where?”

“In that closet on the left.”

My watch buzzed. Fifteen minutes left. Mars’s horizon was the only thing keeping us safe from the Razor . We had to take back the bridge now or we’d be defenseless.

Griffin handed me a length of half inch pipe five feet long. I bound the magnetron—the cylindrical piece of a microwave that emits charged particles to heat food—to the end of the stick with a length of adhesive tape. I then bound its wiring onto the pole, running it back to where the power supply and original housing were located. I thought of looking for an extension cord to supply the power needed, but instead opted for a spare set of combo torch batteries. We had to be mobile, but all we needed was one shot. Those batteries would supply more than the required wattage. The resulting jury-rigged weapon was like a spear wrapped in cables, a loose box on its back end with a copper can on the tip bent to a funnel with a two-inch hole.

“This is gonna be messy,” I said, motioning towards the ceiling with the microwave spear. “Grab the box, I can’t carry it all. We’ll take the spine.” Griffin picked up the back end, helping me get it into the maintenance core.

As we floated towards the bridge’s access hatch, the earpiece hissed and whined. “Why…? I just don’t… Why…? They told me not to get too close. They told me and I didn’t listen. I’m contaminated now. Tainted. Unclean. I can never be part of the collective again. Ascension is beyond me.”

I whispered into the earpiece, hoping Liberty could hear. “Get ready to jump out of the way.”

There was no response.

Griffin keyed into the floating display of the microwave: POWER SETTING-MAX. TIME 1 SECOND. “Tell me when,” she said, finger hovering over start.

I made a mental calculation, taking a guess at where Kelly might be standing, hoping that the archaic tablet was still in his pocket. If he hadn’t locked out other systems in the ship, I might just have been able to access a security camera. I rotated around, putting my belly to the relative floor and extended the microwave spear before me. He should be in front of me. I threw my chin out in Griffin’s direction, and in response she kicked in the emergency release button on the wall beside her.

The hatch flew open, giving me a clear view of Kelly standing beside Liberty’s chair. The nozzle of the plasma torch lay against her neck just below her birthmark. His trigger finger twitched as his already large eyes widened. He took a step back.

“Liberty!” I shouted, hoping Kelly would be slow to respond. “Get back!” I shoved the microwave spear through the opening, brandishing the copper magnetron and aiming it at his left chest. “Start!”

The microwave beeped once as Griffin hit the button. The fans inside the housing, turntable motors and power supply surged with overcharge, flooding the magnetron with more energy than it was designed to channel. The wires beneath my clutched fingers went hot. A stream of invisible, charged particles shot out the end of the insulation sleeve, penetrating Kelly’s jumpsuit to bombard the tablet. As heat rapidly built within the tablet’s lithium ion battery, it expanded, making it grow fat and hot, melting its casing and bulging beneath his clothes. Kelly began to scream, first in shock, then pain, his synthetic jumpsuit melting onto his chest like molten wax.

He stumbled back, letting the torch fall crashing from his limp hands onto the metal floor. I kept the spear aimed in place, not wavering for an instant, watching as his soft eyes glazed over. He fell against a computer console, scrambling to find purchase, diodes and screens and switches turning brighter and brighter as microwaves powered them unto death.

I held the beam in place. Five more seconds to end this. Don’t go soft.

The tablet’s battery flashed and exploded, sending a puff of smoke from out of his chest and into the cabin. The organic electrolytes in the battery ignited, burning Kelly’s skin to a cinder, melting his clothing like plastic. Liberty shielded herself out of reflex, raising her right arm up to her face, but it wasn’t enough. She was within arm’s reach. Superheated bits of metal, plastic and acidic chemicals sprayed across her right cheek and down her neck, settling into her flesh. Liberty screamed in agony.

The microwave’s timer dinged and I let go of the pole, jumping through the open hatch to land flat footed on the bridge. XO rushed over to Kelly, putting out the fire by suffocating it with his uniform’s coat. Kelly didn’t twitch. Liberty slumped back in her chair, lips quivering, breathing shallow.

“Oh, my God. Liberty.”

She reached out and snatched my hand. “It’s okay—David. I’m alive.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know.”