John Karr - Detonation Event

“Devans, they’re coming quick!”

“Let ’em know we’ve got teeth.” He raised his gun and squeezed off three rapid shots in their direction.

Scarlet did likewise.

“Up, let’s go!” Devans said, hooking Scarlet around the waist and tossing her onto the steps.

Return fire exploded and melted steel and concrete where they had stood. They scrambled higher onto the flight deck ladder. Devans slammed his hand on a knob, and the opening below sealed shut. He urged her to the top of the ladder. Another lever allowed them entrance into the flight pit.

“Now what?” she said.

“Strap in,” Devans replied, sliding into the pilot seat and hitting switch after switch. “Let’s hope there’s still fire in the belly of this thing. And that we can turn get out and veer away before the goons fire plasma rounds into our engine reactor.”

The shuttle responded like it had been waiting for him. Flight deck lights came on, illuminating them in white and blue. The nuclear engine, initially purring in slumber, now rumbled as he rushed the build. The vessel shook with raw power. He lowered the shields over the flight deck windows.

“We can’t see!” the girl said, buckling into the copilot seat.

“Don’t need to. Cover your ears.”

Devans jammed the throttle forward. The pressurized seats pressed hard against them as the shuttle rushed forward. Below, the naked struts screamed in protest of the missing tires, and a glance at the undercarriage video feed revealed showering sparks as they dragged along the concrete floor. The sound was horrific, even inside the protected hull. Then came an even louder crash, followed by a brief shriek as the steel hangar door tore apart like flypaper. The shuttle hurtled forward, crossed onto the runway and climbed, trailing showers of sparks from the remnants of the red-hot struts.

Alarms sounded and were squelched by Devans.

The ping and patter of plasma and lead bullets deflecting off the heat shields was carried through the hull sensors, then was gone as they climbed sharply.

A holo of the outside region showed the airport, dotted with fires in the main terminals, becoming smaller and smaller.

“You really can fly this thing,” Scarlet said matter-of-factly.

“If you doubted, why did you come?” he said, scanning the radar and setting alerts.

The girl shrugged, placed the barrel of her gun in a cup holder at the edge of the control panel. “You were going somewhere in our hover, and my family was dead. Plus, I saw you on the galaxynet several times. Mom and Dad liked you, and you’re not friends with the EFF.”

They flew a few more minutes in silence.

Devans scrutinized the radar. They’d be coming. The question was when.

Scarlet unbuckled and wearily pulled herself to the edge of the seat. She grasped the side of the control console and pulled. After two tries she stood, wobbling, though the flight deck was balanced to minimize even this steep of an ascent angle.

“Hard to get up,” she murmured.

“Best to avoid it. What do you need?”

“Bathroom. I don’t feel so good, and there’s all this.” She pulled the hem of her bloodstained dress. “Mom’s blood. Are there clothes somewhere?”

Devans noted how drawn her face appeared, but before he had attributed it to tragedy and stress. Now he realized she probably was suffering the effects of the microbe. “There’s a small closet at the rear here. Should have a couple jumpsuits. There’s also flight attendant stations with wardrobe closets in the main cabin, before and after the passenger rows. Maybe one of them was petite. There’s probably some water and caffeine and food in the panel holds of this flight deck. Do it quick.”

“Why? We got away, right?”

Devans’ face was grim in the light of the holo. He pulled back on the control stick for an even steeper angle and could hear the whine of protest from the ship’s hull. “From the ground, yeah. Now the air race is on.”

“Against who?”

“Fighter jets.” A couple touches on the holo increased the radar range. So far, no pursuit. “But maybe the EFF hasn’t taken full control of the military yet. The first bathroom is behind the communication station, back wall here on the flight deck. Hustle.”

While she was gone Devans plotted a general course for the moon, though he didn’t adjust their steep ascent. Right now he just wanted to punch a hole out of Earth’s atmosphere as soon as possible. They could angle for Lunar One once they were beyond range of chemical engines, even supersonic ones.

The radar blipped, and then twice more.

Three tiny images appeared at the farthest grid. A dotted projection path had them on an interception course with the shuttle.

Devans swore as his stomach clenched. One fighter jet would have been cause enough for alarm, but three?

He throttled higher. The ship shuddered continuously now.

A hand struck the side of the copilot seat and held it. Wearing a fresh blue jumpsuit that was only a little baggy on her, Scarlet slid into the copilot seat, face washed and hair pulled into a braid. “Do we have weapons?”

“Just a few countermeasures against missiles.”

“That sounds like no.”

“Strap in. We’re gonna test this bird in a major way.”

Devans had three holos at work above the control console. The radar holo showed the three dart-like jets heading for them, closing the distance. The next was a multi-window feed from the ship’s cameras, which were embedded in the hull and covered in acrylic and a retractable shield. He activated them. At first they showed a blanket of hazy darkness, then the moon and stars shone as they pierced the clouds. Devans could now see forward, aft, above and below, as well out to the sides on the wings.

The final holo was a satellite image of Lunar One. To his dismay, buildings were in ruin, and huge sections of the protective domes were missing. Sections of flight vehicles and overturned moon buggies lay strewn on the surface, as well as bodies, both with and without space suits.

“God,” Devans said.

“That’s where we’re going?” Scarlet said.

Devans glanced at the three jets closing in on them on the radar. “You know how to work images on holos?”

“Since I was four, yeah.”

“Add another holo. Use that computer keyboard and mouse in front of you and link to MOS-1. You know it?”

“Yeah, I’m getting it… getting it… there. Done.”

Devans glanced. The image of MOS-1 slowly spun like a planet with surface lights. “You’re good with that. Zoom in. Look at the landing bays. Give me the distance from Earth, too.”

A voice cut in over the speakers.

“This is United States Air Force jet fighter Alpha Tango 549 to Earth Shuttle. Respond.”

The shuttle’s warning system rang out, and red lights glowed on and off throughout the bridge. Devans turned the sound down. The fighter jets were also discernible via the ship’s cameras. One was positioned beyond each wing and the third to the rear. It was the rear one that would engage the missile.

He frowned at them and turned again to Scarlet, as if they were merely out for a weekend hover through the countryside. “Do you know how to broadcast live feeds over galaxynet?”

“Yeah, but the EFF stole my arm computer.”

“The touch pad and keyboard there will do the same thing on that side screen. Just focus on the browser icons, okay?”

“Alpha Tango 549 to Earth Shuttle. Respond or we will fire upon you.”

Scarlet’s bloodshot eyes moved back and forth. “Gonna answer him?”

“In a minute. Do your thing.”

She clicked intermittently, and her thin finger skated on the touch pad. “Okay, got some links.” The monitor light reflected in her weary eyes. “A lot of the public broadcast links are down. The sites are crawling with EFF messages.”