Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

W hite light. That was what I saw first. For a brief moment, I thought that was it for me, that I’d passed to the other side, and a small part of me was ready for it.

“Dean, can you hear me?” a familiar voice asked. That wasn’t unusual. Theologians had speculated for years that we might be ushered into heaven by an old friend or loved one. “Dean, you’re back on our ship. Your wound was substantial, but I’ve managed to stop the bleeding and patch you up.”

So much for heaven. I was still in a trip to hell onboard a small spacecraft in the middle of some unknown galaxy.

My bleary eyes cleared and I could finally make out where I was. The bunks were stripped of any clutter, and a form lay on the one across the room from me.

“The medic bay wasn’t big enough for both of you, and I assumed you would both prefer to be in the same room, so we made do with the spare bunk room. Hope you don’t mind,” Doctor Nick said.

The both of us? It all came flooding back. The device, the massive Bhlat soldiers. Mary’s limp body floating there, blood hovering around her.

“Mary!” I tried to sit up, but the pain in my stomach stopped me from lifting more than a couple inches before falling down on my back.

“Dean, you have to calm down. You’ve been through a lot, but you’re healing faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

The hybrid blood in me helped with the healing process. Mae’s blood.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked, seeing her chest rise and fall slowly. That was a good sign.

Nick stood between us, looking every bit the part of the doctor for the first time since I’d met him. He was a natural.

“She’s sustained a lot of wounds, but none in themselves are life-threatening. She was shot in the legs and the left shoulder. The suits are made to prevent the serious burning from the beams, but flesh and veins were still seriously damaged. She’ll be fine, but I have her sedated for the time being, while the grafting heals.”

“Are you telling me you have the ability to graft new skin on this ship?” I asked, dumbfounded.

He nodded, smiling widely. “We do. It’s amazing what we learned from the Kraski databases. I don’t think we’ve even begun to scratch the surface. Give us another ten years to analyze and decipher it all, and we could be living in a world with no illness, disease, or famine for that matter.”

The idea was a lofty one, but admirable. Earth needed hope now more than ever.

“Where’s Slate?” I asked, feeling foolish for not having asked after him yet.

“I’m right here, boss,” the big man said, stepping in from the hallway. “I wanted to give you some privacy while you woke up.” His arm was in a sling. He saw me looking at it. “It’s just sprained. I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Slate’s being humble. He dragged you two onto the ship and hasn’t left your side since,” Nick said. “I’m going to go grab some sleep, if you don’t mind. Dean, I left some painkillers beside you. If it gets to be too much, take one and rest.” With that, he left the room, leaving me alone with Slate and my unconscious fiancée.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, sliding a chair up beside my twin bed.

“Do you mind passing me another pillow?” I asked, and he even stuffed it under my head. I cringed at the movement in my gut, but propped up, I could speak to him properly, instead of staring at the ceiling.

“I’m not sure how I’m feeling. We got the device, met the Bhlat, and survived.” I looked over to Mary, hoping to God she was going to be all right. She should have stayed with me. She was always trying to protect others first, and it nearly got her killed.

“That we did.”

“How many did you take on out there?” I asked.

“Killed five of them. By all accounts, there were about twelve or so on board – that we saw. There could have been more hiding out.”

“What were they doing there? If they knew there was a device with the capability to destroy them, why not destroy the station and leave it at that?” I asked, stumped.

He passed me a bottle of water from beside the bed, helping himself to one as well.

“I’m not sure. That’s above my pay grade.”

“Take a stab at it,” I coaxed.

He stared at the wall for a minute. Slate was a trained soldier, but from my experience with him, he was a lot smarter than even he gave himself credit for.

“Kareem said they were chased away, forced to leave the device hidden because they didn’t have their DNA yet. The Bhlat are a big force, we can assume, so maybe they left soldiers here in the off chance the Deltra came back. They pretended it was dead, in hopes of luring them back. Or they’re no better than space pirates, trying to get someone to board, and then stealing their ships. Either way, I doubt they knew about the hidden killing machine Kareem left behind,” Slate said, impressing me with his speculation.

“But fifty years? It doesn’t add up. Unless Mae was able to communicate to them?”

“There was no ship there. They had to have been dropped off some time ago.”

“What happened with the grav-system out there?” I looked to the ceiling, even though I had no idea what direction the Deltra ship stood.

He smiled at this. “We were losing, and I wanted something to turn the tides.”

“Thank God you did, because I was about to get shot.”

“And how did that work out for you?” He nodded at my stomach.

“I got shot,” I said, laughing along with him. “Stop, it hurts.” My hand settled on my wound, which was extremely tender to the touch.

“Sorry, boss. No more jokes.”

“Are we still at the station?” I asked.

“We moved away a few thousand kilometers.” He crossed the room and picked up a tablet. “See?” He showed me the image from the viewscreen on the bridge. The ship lingered there, just in orbit of a gorgeous, lifeless world, particles, water, and ice creating a visually stunning ring around the planet.

“I can’t believe something so beautiful can be so treacherous at the same time,” I said, still staring at the planet on the tablet.

“I had a girlfriend like that in high school,” Slate said, straight-faced at first. Soon we were laughing, and I was literally busting a gut. The pills beside my bed were starting to call for me.

“You guys are going to want to see this.” Clare’s voice came through the room’s speakers. Slate’s tablet switched to the map mode; Clare was pushing through. A small icon blinked once again on it. “Mae’s ship is back and moving fast.”

“M ae’s ship?” I blurted, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. “How is that possible?”.

“We don’t know. She’s heading out from the asteroid field we passed just now. Maybe she found a way to hide from our sensors inside it.” Clare slapped her palm to her forehead. “We should have gone back and checked. Sit a ship on a large enough hunk of rock, with just the right amount of radioactive metals inside it, and it would probably jam our sensors.”

I nearly smiled at Mae’s move. She’d hidden from us on an asteroid and was now getting away.

“Follow her,” I said.

Three heads turned to look at me, propped up in the captain’s chair wearing a cheap med-suit, and solemnly nodded.

“What choice do we have? If we want to keep the Bhlat from knowing we were here, she’s the last moving piece,” Clare said.

“She has to be exterminated.” Slate stood tall, staring forward toward the map on the viewscreen. His words bothered me, but I knew they shouldn’t. He was right.