Nicholas Smith - Hell Divers

Ash blinked, taking it all in. The damage was beyond comprehension. Her effort to save Ares may well have doomed her own ship.

“My God,” she murmured.

“No,” Samson muttered. “Not even God can save us if we don’t get the reactors back online. Until then, I’m requesting we shut down every noncritical system on the ship and divert that power to the turbofans, the farm, and the water treatment plant. It’s time to get out the candles.”

“Are you sure that’s the only way? There’s been increasing unrest lately. A blackout will only make things worse. We could face another—”

“Damn it, Captain, we need to shut down the power to the lower decks. Every dwelling, every store— everything that’s nonessential. The mechanical threats are worse than any human threat on board.”

Ash took a few seconds to consider the ramifications of Samson’s request, then nodded. “I’ll have Jordan put out the order to increase security on the ship. Every Militia soldier will be put on patrol and sentry duty.”

“Good,” Samson said. He pulled a folded piece of paper from his coveralls. “I’ve put together a list of what I need to get the reactors back online. In the meantime, the remaining gas bladders will keep us in the air—as long as we don’t lose another one. We can only run on backup power for about forty-eight hours.”

Ash took the list and turned away from the railing. “I’ll tell Jordan to plot us a course to the closest location for the items on your list.”

He held up his hand. “We won’t make it far. The turbofans and rudders will drain the backup power faster if we try.” He paused and gave her a meaningful look. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m afraid our only option is a dive into Hades.”

The lesion in Ash’s throat burned, and her gut ached. Resisting the urge to put her hand to her stomach, she clenched her jaw and looked out over the compartment. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. Ares was gone. The Hive was dying, and she was going to have to do exactly what Captain Willis had been forced to do. She finally understood. Willis hadn’t been crazy, or even foolhardy—just desperate. They had all just been trying to survive—like her, trying to save their people.

“How long can you hold off on diverting energy from the noncritical functions?” Ash asked.

“I’d like to do it ASAP,” Samson said. “But if you need time…” He glanced down at his watch. “I’d say you have nine hours, tops.”

“I’ll make an announcement tomorrow morning, first thing. You stay close to the damn radio, Samson. We may be forced to turn those reactors back on. You got it?”

The engineer nodded again, his dewlaps jiggling. “I’ll keep things running the best I can until then.” He pushed off the railing. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get down there with my crew.”

Taking his place at the railing, she gripped the warm metal and stared at the hatch that led down to the reactors. The injured engineer was slipping his helmet back on and preparing to reenter the tunnel. They all had jobs to do, and like the engineers below, Captain Maria Ash had to get on with hers. She had a ship to command, a riot to forestall, and over five hundred souls to protect.

X breathed hard on his way to the bridge. The slow flow of foot traffic was giving him ample time to regret the advice he had given Captain Ash about the journey to Hades. Regret was something he had lived with his entire life, but this time he feared he had helped drive the final nail into Homo sapiens’ coffin.

That was the thing about extinction: every move became a life-or-death decision, with the fate of entire species on the line.

Emergency sirens blared from the wall-mounted speakers. Ignoring the sounds was impossible, and X didn’t want to look like some milquetoast by cupping his hands over his ears. So he worked his way stoically through the crowd.

Red light bathed the frightened faces around him. He pushed through a knot of lower-deckers who had gathered outside the bridge. They yelled in their twangy accent at a pair of Militia soldiers wearing riot gear and shoving the swelling crowd back.

“Ya can’t do this!” an emaciated man yelled. “We got a right to eat!”

Jordan, standing behind the soldiers, raised a hand and shouted, “Rations will be handed out in a few hours!”

No sooner had the words left the lieutenant’s mouth than the furious crowd surged forward. Angry screams broke out over the sirens.

X waited for the guards to push the lower-deckers back. He scanned the faces, stopping on a man who hung back in the shadows. Even in the muted red glow, he could see the bruised face. It was Travis, the man he’d had the run-in with at the Wingman three nights ago. He had three others with him, each with a hard and hungry look on his face. A man wearing a scarf pulled up to his nose stared back at X with crazed eyes. He remembered that one, too, from the encounter in the hallway yesterday. These were the same two who had mouthed off to the Militia soldiers.

“Xavier, let’s go!” Jordan shouted.

X looked Travis up and down one last time before pushing his way through the crowd. That hothead was trouble. He’d have to warn Ash to keep an eye out.

Even with the emergency lights, it was dark inside the bridge—darker still when one of the guards sealed the doors behind X. He hurried across the top landing and followed Jordan to the conference room.

The other Hell Diver team leads were already waiting inside. Ash sat at the head of the table with a disconcerting look on her face. All eyes gravitated to X as he entered. He had forgotten about the bloodstains on his uniform.

“Listen up, everyone,” Ash said. She waited for silence, then said, “ Ares is gone and the Hive is in critical shape.” Her voice had a mournful tone. X imagined he would have sounded about the same.

No one replied for several seconds.

Jordan was first to speak. “Samson has shut down all the reactors, and we’re running on backup power. We also lost six of the gas bladders. He’s got his crews working on everything, but it’s not looking good.”

“What?” Tony asked. “How the hell…?”

Ash silenced him with a raised hand. “Doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that we get more fuel cells and pressure valves.”

“Or what?” Cruise asked.

“Or we join Ares on the surface,” Ash replied. “Lieutenant, fill everyone in on our current location.”

Jordan activated the console in front of him. A holographic map stretched over the table. “There are several known locations of fuel cells in the zone to the east. Unfortunately, they’re all too far away. It would take us too long to get there, expending power we don’t have. As I said, we’re running on battery power. A journey to any of these possible locations would drain the system.”

“We’re out of options,” Ash said. “We have to send you to the surface.”

Cruise slammed the table with his fist. “I told you this was a bad fucking idea! Now you expect us to give our lives for your mistake?”

X understood Cruise’s anger. What he couldn’t excuse, though, was his utter lack of empathy. He gave him a hard look that did little to change his tone.

“Since when did you start forgetting your duty, Commander?” Ash replied.

“Excuse me?” Cruise said. “I’ve never forgotten my duty to the Hive .”

“I’m talking about your duty to humankind,” Ash said.

Cruise stared at her with the resentful eyes of a man who had argued himself into a corner. “Last I checked, we’re all that’s left of humanity now. ”