Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

Haloo returned to watering a row of flowers by her feet. “Have you come to chill out, or do you need something?”

“Just saying hello before everyone else wakes up.”

Haloo didn’t seem impressed. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re here to ask a favor?”

Tripp watched Haloo hose down the soil, wondering how on Earth – or space – she knew his real intentions.

“What makes you say that?”

“Your posture,” she said. “The way you entered the room.”

“That’s creepy.”

“Also, you gave me an answer to a question I never asked.”

“You asked if I was awake?”

Haloo spun the dial on the hose, shutting off the water. She arched her back and smiled at him. “I didn’t ask. I made an observation.”

Tripp chuckled. “Are you always like this?”

“You want me to soak you?” Haloo lifted the nozzle in Tripp’s direction.

“No.”

“Explain this for me,” Haloo said, retrieving a black capsule from her inner thigh pocket. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yes. Standard issue for all galactic exploration.”

“I don’t like it. We’re not in the KGB. We can’t be expected to commit suicide if it all goes wrong.

“You may find you’d reassess that decision if you found yourself in serious trouble. It’s just an insurance policy. Everyone has one.”

A spurious silence fell between the two. She slipped the black capsule back into her pocket with displeasure. “Anything else?”

“Opera Alpha has been found.”

“Katz has told you, then?” Haloo and Tripp stared at each other for two seconds longer than comfort allowed. She finally looked away and rolled up the hose. “Of course I knew. What do you think Katz and I have been doing while you guys have been asleep?”

“Do we know if Botanix on Alpha is operational?”

“We don’t know anything, yet.”

“Because if it is, there’s a good chance Zillah and her crew might still be alive.”

Haloo stopped and turned around, upset. “Don’t you think we already thought of that?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Haloo made her way to the door. “We need to investigate Alpha. Make sure that they’re actually dead …”

The hub served as the crew meeting point in the nucleus of Space Opera Beta – the fixed point of gravity within the ship.

The screen on the wall provided a beautiful view of space and Saturn revolving some hundreds of thousands of miles in the distance.

It had taken the best part of the day to ensure everyone disembarked their hyper-sleep chambers successfully.

Captain Katz stood by the window and caught everyone’s attention. “Beta team, I think we’re ready. We’re just waiting for Wool.”

Haloo and Tripp sat next to each other at the conference table.

Opposite them, Tor Klyce and Baldron Landaker downed their fifth cup of coffee.

Jaycee, decked out in his armor exo-suit, sat with Bonnie at the foot of the table.

The door to the hub slid opened.

Wool ar-Ban walked in and rubbed her hands together. “Sorry I’m late, Daryl.”

“Wool, during debrief I am Captain , if you please.”

“I’m sorry,” Wool took her seat next in between Jaycee and Bonnie.

“It’s nothing personal. It’s more for the minute-taking and data point notes.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Okay,” Katz snapped his fingers, beckoning Manuel over. “Manuel?”

“Yes, Captain,” the holographic book flew over and flipped through its pages. A blank sheet appeared, followed by a hovering transparent pen. “Ready when you are.”

“Don’t minute this part, Manuel.” Katz approached the conference table and pressed his finger on the glass surface. A diagram of Space Opera Alpha appeared in front of the crew.

Manuel’s pen clicked off. The pages flipped shut, forcing the book over to the captain.

“Until twenty-four hours ago, we thought Saturn Cry was transmitting from Enceladus. It wasn’t.”

“No?” Tor took a keen interest in the revelation. “So where is it coming from?”

“Here.” Katz pointed at the radio transmitter on the bridge of Space Opera Alpha. “It seems like Enceladus is using Opera Alpha as a beacon to send the message.”

“Alpha is present?” Bonnie asked.

“Yes, Dr Whitaker. She’s orbiting the dark side of Enceladus.”

“Do we know if the crew are alive?” Baldron asked.

“We don’t know anything, yet. We’ve tried to communicate with Alpha’s Manuel, but to no avail.”

“What are you suggesting, Captain?” Tripp asked, knowing the answer already.

“I am recommending a change of course. We dock with them, establish contact and rescue any souls on board.”

“What if no-one survived?” Haloo asked.

“Then there’s nobody to rescue. We continue our trajectory to Enceladus and conduct our inquiries.”

Tripp stood up and pointed at the holograph of the ship. “It makes sense to investigate. Enceladus itself can’t possibly be sending the signal. It’s just gas and ice. It’s using Opera Alpha’s comms to transmit the signal, that much we do know.”

“Hold on a second,” Bonnie stood up, giving as good as the crew were getting. “Alpha goes off-radar for five years. Missing.”

“Yes.”

“And now it’s suddenly reappeared?”

“Well, I’m not sure if—”

“—And you want us to go and check it out?”

Tripp interrupted the feisty woman. “Let’s review our situation, Dr. Whitaker. Our mission to Enceladus is to investigate the source of Saturn Cry.”

“Right.”

“And we know it’s using Alpha to transmit that signal. I mean, that’s just plain fact, now.”

“How do we know?”

Tripp pressed his finger to the glass. “Manuel?”

The book floated over to the screen and opened up. “Yes, Commander?”

“Configure point A on Opera Alpha radar and broadcast, please.”

“Configuring now.”

Manuel beeped three times and tuned himself into the holograph on the screen. The radio transmitter flashed red, and threw its connection to the speaker on the book.

A hissing noise fired up, followed by three strings of an electric guitar.

“Ugh, we’re fed up with hearing this thing, already,” Tor shook his head and nudged Baldron in the ribs. “We’d rather go back to sleep.”

“Don’t be funny, Tor,” Tripp said, encouraging the crew to listen to the message play out.

Whump-whump-whump… hiss…

“Sounds different?”

“Twelve seconds in,” Tripp held up his hand to halt the chatter. “Shh.”

A warbled thud followed by a high-pitch squeal, like that of an injured lion, streaked across the audio.

“You hear that?”

“Yes,” Jaycee said, “Sounds different to the one we’re used to hearing.”

“We’re closer to the signal, so the quality is better. Pause playback, Manuel.”

“Yes, commander.”

The hissing stopped. Everyone’s attention turned to the diagram of Space Opera Alpha.

Katz walked up to Tripp and addressed the crew. “As far as Commander Healy and I can see, we have two options. One, we establish a Task and Finish protocol to rescue whatever we can of Alpha.”

“What’s the second option?” Bonnie asked.

“We ignore Alpha entirely and continue our course to Enceladus proper.”

“In other words, we do what we’re supposed to?”

Katz sighed. “I need to report back to USARIC and notify them of our unanimous decision to investigate Alpha. For that, we need consent from every soul aboard this ship, as per The Infinity Clause.”