Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

Kareem claimed he’d abandoned the station over fifty Earth years ago. The translation wasn’t clear, but it made sense with how long he’d been on that planet. They’d been fleeing a Bhlat sentry ship, which apparently caught on that the Deltra were in possession of some new weapon. He didn’t know if the station still existed, but they wouldn’t have the code to start the engines.

He’d had every intention of getting back to it, but by the time he’d made planetside, he wanted to put it all behind him. To live a quiet life away from the war. His wife and child were with him, and that was enough for him to stay hidden.

“Is this worth it? I mean, now that Mae is gone, and the hybrids don’t want to sell us out?” Nick asked us for the tenth time since yesterday.

“If this thing will do what Kareem says it does, then yeah. It could secure our safety from invasion,” Mary said, creeping our ship toward the system. A ringed planet hung in the distance, a gorgeous juxtaposition to the ugliness I was feeling. A large moon was nearby, and just where we were told the station would be, it stayed, orbiting the planet beside the moon, its massive wheel-shaped rim spinning still.

“It might still have gravity,” Clare said, staring at the viewscreen, taking in the amazing piece of technology.

It had to be a hundred times the size of our ship, with no lights of any sort on the outside of it. It looked like what it was: abandoned. I couldn’t take my eyes off the circular space station, rotating so slowly, but that was probably because of the size of it. It was flat dark gray in color, patches of different material on the outside layers. It looked like there was an unfinished section in the center of it, a section probably closed off from the interior.

It gave off a coldness, looking at it. For some reason, the station made me think of visiting my father’s grave after he’d passed away, and I didn’t like the comparison in my mind. Nothing about it should have made me feel that way; nonetheless, it did.

“I have a bad feeling,” Slate said, mirroring my thoughts.

“Me too,” Mary whispered.

We slowed the ship, all silently watching the massive stationary vessel’s turbine slowly rotate.

“No signs of anything nearby?” I asked, knowing there wasn’t, because the map showed no vessels flying out there.

“Nothing within range,” Clare said.

“Okay, let’s do this. We stick to the plan. Clare, you stay here with Nick. Mary, Slate, let’s suit up.” I walked past them, to the hall.

“Dean,” Nick said, “take care, and good luck out there.”

I turned and forced a smile. “Thank you. Should be back in a jiffy. I wouldn’t mind a beer after all of this is over. Can you put some on ice?” I joked.

“We mean it. Be careful,” Clare said.

“We will. We have each other’s back. Right, Slate?” Mary asked, nudging him with her elbow.

“Right,” he said, his face set in grim determination.

With that, we exited the bridge in a line, and made our way past the storage area to the prep room, where our three suits hung on the wall, already prepared over the week. The lapels had the buttons attached to them. I hadn’t green-beamed through any walls for a while, and frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. The last time had been stressful enough. At least this time we were going into an empty ship, and the imminent death of millions of people wasn’t looming over our heads.

Our suits were much like the ones we’d used from the Kraski ship last year, only there were five fingers for the hands, and they fit us since they were custom-built. The material was light and thin, though protective from radiation and, as we’d learned, almost melt-proof. As I slid into the suit, I thought back to when Mae and I had harnessed up and shot toward the vessel heading for the edge of the sun, clipping it and saving countless lives. Why had she done it?

“Ready?” Slate asked. His helmet was clipped in, and he checked ours, ensuring they were sealed properly.

“I think so,” I said.

“You remember all the training we’ve gone over?” he asked us both.

Mary nodded, and he handed her the pulse rifle from the weapons cache. We were strapped with a handgun, and Slate had an arsenal of other weapons: concussion grenades, clubs, knives, and anything else he could carry on his person. He made for quite the imposing soldier.

“Overkill?” Mary asked him. “Expecting company?”

He answered with a toothy smile. “You can never be too prepared.”

I keyed into the storage room computer tablet on the wall, and we watched the viewscreen feed as Clare approached the Deltra vessel. Kareem had told us where the best spot to enter would be, and Clare hovered our ship just above it.

“Love you, Mary,” I said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it for a second.

“Love you too,” she replied.

“What about me? Am I chopped liver?” Slate asked, laughing at his own joke. It was nice to see him cracking a funny one, and suddenly I didn’t miss having Magnus beside me quite as much.

“We love you, Slate,” we said in unison, getting a laugh and an eye roll for our trouble.

We strapped the lanyards to the harness clip on our suits’ waists, safety cords should something go wrong between here and there. We had to travel through a few meters of space, and I didn’t want the beam to drop me out there.

“Here goes nothing,” he said, pushing the pinned button on his suit’s collar. Green light enveloped him, and he pushed off the bar as we lowered from the ceiling. He passed through the floor with ease, and we followed.

Mary went next, glancing up at me just as she was leaving through the floor. I couldn’t help but smile at her as I pressed my own pin, green light covering me. It was surreal to be doing this again. I pushed and had the odd sensation of crossing through something solid, as my particles bounced around super-fast.

I closed my eyes briefly to avoid seeing outside the ships. Infinite space and I were still on tumultuous terms after last year. Counting three seconds, I opened them, and pressed my pin again as my feet touched down on the metallic grated floor. I scanned the room, and my brain took a moment to catch up to what I was seeing.

“Mary,” I called into my headset.

“I’m here,” she replied, and I saw a movement to the side of the room.

“What happened?”

“Someone was here waiting. They fired into the room, and Slate went after them,” she said as I approached her.

“You okay?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice.

“Yeah, let’s go back up Slate.”

She raised her pulse rifle, and I followed suit, walking sideways to the doorway. “Slate, come in,” I said into my helmet speaker.

“There were five of them. I took two down so far. I’m coming back.” Slate’s voice was calm and quick in my ear.

We stood in the hall, guns raised in each direction.

The night vision on our display glowed green, showing us a basic hall of metal beams and grates. The place was built for function, not fashion. Something caught my eye to my right and I spun, seeing the bulk of Slate backing toward us.

“You know where you’re going?” he asked.

I tried to get my bearings and nodded. “He said it should be in the anti-grav generator halls. Under the level-three air ducts.” I wished it was closer to our entry point, but Kareem hadn’t counted on us being attacked when we arrived.

“Lead the way. I’ve got your backs,” he said.

We moved down the hall, sweat dripping down my arms as nervous energy raced through me. “What are they?” I asked.

“Big. Bigger than me. Heavy armor. Nothing we’ve seen before, but they may match the Bhlat description we’ve heard. It was hard to tell with them firing at me,” Slate said.