Nicholas Smith - Hell Divers

“I thought all four divers made it back,” Ash said, keeping her voice low. Ryan and Hunt looked in their direction but didn’t speak.

Jordan shook his head. “I’m afraid Sam Baker was killed, but we did manage to recover his body.”

Ash allowed herself one final look at the sun before turning away. “I’m going down to the HD facility.”

“Wait, Captain,” Jordan said. “Samson also sent a message. His team managed to get one of the reactors up and running. It buys us a bit more time.”

“How much time?”

“Not much, but enough to give Raptor a breather.”

Ash looked at her watch. It was almost noon. Raptor had been gone only a few hours. She considered sending Apollo and Angel to Hades now but didn’t want to risk maneuvering into the storm twice. “Send out the message. All three teams dive at four o’clock p.m.”

Ash was already moving up the stairs before Jordan could reply. Her escorts waited outside the bridge, though she wasn’t sure she needed them, considering how empty the corridors were on the way to the HD facility.

The other teams were already at the launch bay when Ash arrived. Word of Sam’s death had traveled fast. The divers had crowded around the plastic dome of the recovery room, eager for any tidbit of news.

A heavy cloud filled the dome as the surviving members of Team Raptor held out their arms and turned slowly under the cleansing misters. Below them, a body lay on the floor, as inert as the deflated balloons around it.

Ash moved past Cruise and his team and stood on the redline border surrounding the dome.

A remotely operated chain with a grappling hook dropped from the ceiling and latched on to the top of the dome. Sharp clicks rang out as the locking mechanisms unlatched.

“Back up!” Ty shouted, waving the crowd of divers and technicians away.

Ash followed them back to a safe distance. For a moment, she didn’t feel much like a ship’s captain, because there wasn’t much she could do right now to help.

A subtle shift in the Hive ’s course rumbled through the launch bay. Ty waited for the turbulence to pass before giving the all clear. The grappling hook lifted the dome into the air, spilling mist from beneath it, which the floor vents sucked away.

X was first to stumble out. His dented black armor, spotless from the rigorous reentry cleanse, sparkled under the bright LEDs. He took a moment to scan the room, found Ash. He pulled off his helmet, set it gently on the floor, and came over to her.

“We didn’t find any fuel cells or valves,” X said. “But we did find this.” From his vest, he pulled out two laminated pieces of paper—maps, by the look of them. One was covered in drying blood. He handed her both of them. “At least we’ll know where we’re heading when you send us to Hades.”

“Thank you,” Ash said. “I’ll get these to Samson immediately for review.” X ran a hand through his sweaty salt-and-pepper hair. He muttered something under his breath, then said, “When do we dive again?”

“Samson was able to get one of the reactors back online,” Ash said. “Bought us some time, but not much.” She turned to face the divers who had huddled around. “Go and rest; spend some time with your families. Meet back here at three o’clock. You all dive at four.”

Teams Apollo and Angel left the launch bay in relative silence, but Ash could hear their silent protests in her mind. She was about to send them to an almost certain death. Cruise stopped in the doorway to stare at Sam’s body, glared at Ash, and stalked out of the launch bay.

“Promise me something, Captain,” X said.

Ash turned back to X and the remaining members of Raptor. Heartsick already at having lost a diver, now she was about to lose many more. Under the glow of the LEDs, X looked twenty years older. He had wrinkles she never noticed before, and a streak of gray that the light seemed to accentuate.

“Sure, Commander,” she said. “What is it?”

“Promise me someone will look after Tin when I’m gone.”

“I promise. I’ll send someone to your room as soon as you dive.”

X shook his head. “No, Captain. I mean when I’m gone for good. Promise me Tin will be taken care of if anything happens to me.”

She put her hand on his shoulder. He seemed to sink under the weight of her touch. “I promise you, Tin will be taken care of.”

X turned to look at Sam’s broken body. Magnolia was sobbing, and Murph put an arm around her. No others words needed to be spoken. Like Cruise, everyone on Team Raptor knew they were likely to join their comrade soon enough.

X wandered the halls on his way back to his apartment. The ship was on lockdown and eerily quiet. He walked with his flashlight shining down the dark, empty corridors. An odd feeling that he couldn’t place came over him. He breathed in the cold air and studied the paintings on the next bulkhead. The longer he looked at them, the stronger the feeling grew. Sam was dead, but X had never felt more alive.

And he hadn’t even had a drink.

Seeing the newfound strength in Tin had inspired something inside him that he hadn’t even known still existed. For the longest time, the guilt over not being able to save those he loved most had haunted him, leaving a scar that only he could see. So he had poisoned his body with ’shine, wishing deep down that his luck would finally run out on a dive. Now he had a chance to redeem himself. If he could save the Hive, he could save Tin and fulfill his promise to Aaron.

When X arrived at his apartment, he knocked hard and twisted the knob. The door creaked open to the flickering of a candle near the end of its wick. His eyes gravitated to the curled-up silhouette of Tin on the living room floor.

“Hey,” Tin whispered. He rubbed his face and took a seat on the couch. A mess of mechanical parts from some new project littered the floor.

“Are you okay?” Tin asked, looking him up and down.

“Yeah,” X lied as cheerfully as he knew how. “You hungry?”

“Kinda.”

“Should still be leftovers,” X said, grabbing a bowl of apples and a bottle of water from the kitchen and returning to the living room. He set the bowl on the table in front of Tin. The boy’s eyes searched the fruit, but instead of grabbing an apple, he stood and wrapped his arms around X.

“Thanks,” Tin said. “For looking after me.”

Not knowing what to say, X patted the boy’s back. In that second, time seemed to slow. His senses picked up every detail around him: the sounds of the rattling ceiling fan and the cough of the wall heater. He saw the wax crawling down the stump of gray candle as it hardened into a puddle on the table. He caught the sour whiff of his own sweat, and the sweetness of the apples. He wanted to remember it all exactly this way. It was the moment that he realized he loved the boy as he would love his own son. He had always known that he would gladly give his life to keep Tin safe, but now he felt it in his bones.

Instead of filling him with despair, it made him smile. He flicked the tip of Tin’s foil hat, and they both grinned.

They ate in silence for several minutes. X felt every second, each one bringing him closer to the dive that would take him to Hades. He hadn’t even told Tin he was going yet. On his walk from the launch bay, he had reflected on the things he would tell Tin, knowing that whatever he said would likely stick with the boy for the rest of his life. But now, with the shadows closing in around the faltering candlelight, X didn’t know what to say.

“X?” Tin whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry. Just…” He shook his head and sat forward on the edge of his seat. It was time to tell the boy the truth.