John Karr - Detonation Event

“It’s Devans.”

“Okay.”

“Ever heard a pistol shot in real life?”

“They’re whiny. Not super loud. Daddy took me to the gun range.”

“Yeah? How many plasma bullets in a six-shooter?”

“Enough to drop an EFFer.”

Devans cracked a half smile. EFFer. He liked it.

“Was your dad in the military?”

“No. But he said we had a right to protect ourselves from bad people.”

Devans frowned. She was young for gun-toting, but also for having a murdered family. Didn’t she have a right to protect herself? He held the pistol up and into a shaft of light coming through a gap in the trees. “Safety on or off?”

She reached and thumbed it down. “Now it’s off.”

Devans thumbed it back up. “We don’t need it going off if we trip or something, right?” He pulled at his jaw. The stars and darkened woods held no answer for Devans’ questing gaze. “Just so we’re clear, our goal is not to kill the EFF. It’s to get to one of the Earth shuttles and fly to Lunar One. From there to one of the Mars orbiters.”

“Okay.”

Not a lot of commitment there, he decided. But his general plan wasn’t all that compelling, and her animosity could come in handy. He handed her the smaller of the pistols, with a seven-round magazine. “It’s not big but it’ll kick, so use both hands. Don’t raise it unless you’re serious about pulling the trigger. Don’t bother with the white dot at the end of the barrel—this isn’t target practice. Point the muzzle at the middle of the bad guy or girl’s chest and pull the trigger. Keep both eyes open, always looking for threats.”

The small weapon still looked big in her hands.

They started through the woods. The first chain-link fence marking the perimeter grounds of the airport had a gap at a creek bed. They crawled through and did a similar move for the next fence. Flickering light drew them as the woods thinned into a field of darkness. Beyond it shone the lights of the hangars, parking lots, decks, and terminals of the airport. Normally the entire area would have been glaringly bright, but now only these sporadic check lights gave any indication of the runways. Devans peered around the last of the trees, searching for signs of guards or movement.

The quiet also made him wary. There should have been roaring planes coming and going at all hours of the night. Instead, just a few crickets that had survived the first frosts chirped in a slow cadence, as if mourning both their own lives and those of the EFF victims.

“We’re just going to walk up to the Earth shuttles and pick one?” Scarlet said, hurrying to walk beside Devans as they crossed the wide runway.

“The hover radar didn’t show any shuttles near the gates, so they must be in the hangars.”

“Hangars?”

“Big buildings on the outer areas of the airport. I used to fly the ES class to the moon before going to Mars.”

“So, they’re in garages?”

“Only a lot bigger. More like a warehouse for warehouses. They turned off the runway lights but there’s still plenty of light from the airport buildings. We’ve already set off the infrared scanners, by the way.”

“So they know we’re here?”

“Yeah, but nobody’s come out yet.”

“We should run anyway.”

“Agreed.”

They ran for the hangar that held the Earth shuttles, well beyond the runway, shoes slapping the pavement as they crossed.

“Faster!” Devans said.

Gasping, they pulled up at the personnel access door of hangar ESH-1. Devans took out his wallet and placed his pilot card on the reader. He entered the last code he’d used here, at least three years prior. A thin laser scanned it.

The display screen corresponded with a bot voice.

ACCESS EXPIRED.

“So much for the subtle approach,” he murmured, tapping at the keypad of his arm computer while heading away from the door. He pulled his young companion firmly by the arm. “This way.”

“But the shuttle’s in there. Why are we leaving?” she said, legs working hard to keep pace with him.

“Need a little distance.”

Devans stopped after several paces.

Bright lights cut through darkness at both ends of the hangar and from above. Devans figured two land vehicles and a hover.

“They’re here!” Scarlet said, raising her gun and taking the safety off.

“So’s our locksmith.”

A dark shadow detached from the woods buffer and raced toward the hangar. Devans decreased its altitude with slight downward pulls on the sensor pane of his arm computer. The normal whir of the hovercraft turned into a missile-like rush as it passed by. Then came a crash of metal and shattered glass as it demolished the entrance door.

Shots sounded and whizzed past. Asphalt blobs kicked up around them. Voices ordered them to drop their weapons and lie down.

“Let’s go!” Devans said.

The hover lay dormant in the hole it had punched through in the hangar door. There was just enough room for Devans and Scarlet to slide past and into a dimly lit expanse that harbored three of the world’s fastest shuttles, used to transport people and supplies to and from the moon.

Inside, their rapid footsteps echoed and their breathing was magnified. The man-made cavern was dimly lit by auxiliary lights that kicked on when the main power supply went offline. Like the smaller planetary shuttles, these Earth shuttles were shaped like triangles. The entire underbelly was coated in heat shields, and the passenger decks sat above the reinforced cargo decks to minimize any ill effects of re-entry. Two of the spacecraft were in a row toward the rear of the hangar. Their outermost angles, what would constitute wings on passenger jets, almost touched. A third bird was close to the hangar door.

“Which one?” Scarlet said.

Devans didn’t answer. Instead he took her arm, and together they ran for the third shuttle.

Something was different. It was lower than it should be. A glance beneath revealed why.

The wheels had been removed. The spacecraft balanced on its landing gear struts. Devans swore at the sight but then veered toward the office. Locked. A robot inquired as to his identity and wanted to do a retinal scan. Devans shot the lock, then kicked the door open. The access cards were in the same place as before, and the combination was taped beneath the desk in the same manner.

Plasma bullets screamed by in flashes of light. Liquefied splotches of hangar wall appeared, along with the stench of burnt metal.

“They’re getting close!” Scarlet said. “Should I shoot now?”

Devans glanced outside the office. “Not yet.”

“Who are those people?”

She pointed her gun in the direction of several bodies, sprawled in death’s repose on the concrete floor.

“Probably died defending the shuttles. I don’t see any weapons. Maybe they were just fighting intruders, or maybe they wanted to keep space as an option for humans and died for the cause.”

Devans chastised himself for wasting thought energy.

He grabbed Scarlet’s arm and they ran for the first shuttle’s blunted tip. More gunfire opened up and whined toward them. Lead bullets mixed with the plasma ones. Metal pinged off metal. Flashes of light and heat grazed them. Smoke. Splatters of bright neon.

Angry shouts carried their way, mixed with laughter.

“You have nowhere to go!” one of them declared.

Devans and Scarlet slowed at the nose of the first shuttle, just inside the massive hangar door. Devans squinted in the dim light, reached up to feel along the cold, smooth panels.

Scarlet bent and gasped for breath. After a moment she straightened, gun raised. “I see their shadows.”

“Here it is!” He found the finger indentations and unhooked the latch of a sub-panel. He pulled down and raised the access card. A net of glowing laser beams crosshatched the card and Devans’ forearm. A deep mechanical noise came from the next steel panel. The panel detached and descended, unfolding a column of steps along its underside.