Nathan Hystad: The Event

“Mae, come in. Get inside!” Mary yelled into the comm. There was no reply, and I figured the suit’s comm-system had worn down from the heat. I held my breath as we watched her, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.

Mae’s small form floated away from the cube, and for a moment, I thought it was over. She was dead. Then she started to glow green and thrust at the wall. She passed through it.

“Everything good?” Magnus’ voice came through the speaker.

“We think so. We’ll have to see if Mae got to that thruster. If so, we might have a convoy,” Mary replied. “How are things with the rest of the containers?”

“They seem to be receptive to keeping our people alive. There are a couple of the Kraski hybrids that seem to know what they’re doing – doing the air, food, water, and triage business like we set up with the first one we crossed. I think this might have worked.” Magnus paused, and I was sure he was thinking about how many people would be dead in these things, and how many we’d seen die in their crashes with the sun.

“It’s okay, Magnus. We did everything we could. Now we just have to make sure we get them home.” Then I thought of something that apparently had slipped our minds up to that point. “We have, in these things, the whole world’s population. Scientists, engineers, astrophysicists… all of NASA. I mean, we can get some help now. It isn’t all on our shoulders any longer.” As I said the words, I felt some of the pressure lessen, and I also felt every minute of the past week hit me. I needed sleep. We all did.

“Come in, Mary,” a familiar voice came through the speaker, though there were many of the clones that sounded the same. I could only hope she had made it.

“Mae?” Mary asked tentatively.

“Yes, it’s me. You guys better get over here. Bring weapons!” The transmission cut off.

“Carey, stay here. We’ll be right back,” I said, knowing he would be safer on board than whatever we were heading into. He looked at me, probably doubting my words, but slumped down to the ground, head between his outstretched paws.

Mary and I both had suits on as a precaution, and we exited the ship into a massive cargo bay. Mae had told us where the dock would be, but she wasn’t sure if the wall was breached or if it would be safe to breathe there or not. The room was empty and just a couple of lights were on, giving the room a quiet, eerie feel to it. It was much the same as the Kraski mother ship, which really didn’t surprise me.

We made our way to the far wall, where I guessed there would be a hall leading to the middle of the container. My guess paid off, and I was glad they’d kept some of the same plans as their own large vessel.

“We should be able to get to the heart of the ship from here. Magnus and I didn’t even think of this when we visited the first one we found stranded a way back. Now we know better. It sounded like Mae needs our help, and quickly.” I led the way, gun unslung from my shoulder and firmly in my grip. Mary followed suit, looking much more at home with a gun in her hands than I did.

“I’m guessing the hybrids weren’t too happy about us blowing out their thrusters. They were ready to run into the sun – the ultimate sacrifice to a race that never really cared about them. Mae might be in over her head. She didn’t even have a gun,” Mary said, hurrying down the hall. The floors were the same metal grating from the Kraski ship; our runners made almost no noise on it.

We kept moving until I saw a symbol I recognized from when Drendon had brought us to that central bridge room.

“This way,” I called, and we exited to a set of stairs. Doors slid aside for us and I almost retched at what we found. Bodies were piled high in the large room. There must have been thousands of dead just in this room alone.

“Over here!” we heard someone call. “It’s me, Mae.”

Mary’s jaw was set firmly, obviously affected by all the death surrounding us. We walked over, guns raised at the hybrid. She looked worse for wear, hair partly singed and skin a shade of black.

“Mae, what’s going on here?” I asked, voice thick.

“Since we stopped the crew from running into the sun, they’re moving room to room, killing everyone still alive. I’ve been hiding but made it to a comm-station so I could reach you,” she explained.

Hitting some triggers on my suit, I moved my suit’s comm to Natalia’s ship.

I explained the situation to her and Magnus, and when Magnus said he was coming to back us up, I had to calm him down. “Listen, buddy, you’re the only two out there who know what the hell happened and how to get us back now. We’ll try to contain things down here, and we’ll see you soon. I’ll keep you posted. Get every one of those damned containers some sense of stability. When we’re done here, we’ll want to start moving everyone away from the sun, before it does long-term damage to these hulls.”

“Never thought I’d be taking orders from some bean counter, but here we are. You better keep me posted. See you on the other side. Over,” Magnus replied.

Mae was unarmed, and we kept her behind us.

“How many are there? Same as the other ship?” I asked, sure there were about a dozen. I could see their lifeless bodies when I closed my eyes for a deep breath. We were about to do it again, but this time, their threat was more than imminent.

Mae urged us forward, pointing down the hall. The hallway had no air flowing down it, and it smelled stale, and I could have sworn there was blood in the air. In a few minutes, we could hear screaming. Mary dashed ahead of us, gun raised. She looked like a superhero from the comics I’d read as a kid as she ran for the doorway and opened fire. I caught up and saw that she’d caught the hybrids unaware and from behind. Shooting someone in the back wasn’t the most glorious way to do it, but every second saved a few more of our people. They were huddled in the back of the dim room; the dead were spread across the floor. I wondered how many rooms were full of bodies thanks to these monsters. Then I fired.

I shot at them as they turned to see what was happening. Five were down before they could get a shot off, but red beams blazed at us moments later. The doorway crumbled from the impact, and Mae and Mary ducked back the way we’d come. I dove and hit the ground on the other side of the entrance. Beams bore down on the hallway walls as the last couple still standing tried to clear the way.

We held our fire for a brief time, waiting to see what was coming. Our positioning was poor, as we would be in each other’s crossfire. Not sure what the best move was, I decided to slink down to the ground some way, and fire to the right side should they come out. My mask was still on, and my heavy breathing was beginning to fog it up. I wanted to take the damn thing off, but every moment was precious here.

I could hear groans from the room, but they had ceased firing, at least. Mary looked at me, worry etched in her eyes. Her mask was off, and her gaze at me was only for a few seconds. It hit my gut like a ton of bricks. She started to walk into the doorway, gun aimed forward. She paused, jaw hanging down. “Bob?” I heard her whisper.

There was no way I was going to lose her. I ran for her as the first red beam flew from her gun. A volley of shots came from inside the room as I tackled her down, sending my gun flying down the hall. We hit the ground hard, and something didn’t feel quite right on my back. I could hear footsteps clanking down towards us.

“Not going to happen today!” I heard someone yell, then more fire sprouted around us. Mary was beside me, shooting at them. I felt her get up to her feet, but I was still face down on the ground. I couldn’t seem to move for some reason. Mary was screaming now, a primal shout I hadn’t known was possible from her.