Jennifer Wells - Beyond the Stars - At Galaxy's Edge

“Figure they’ve landed by now?” Trudi Miller asked, leaning on her diggerbot, her helmet’s face mask covered with fine dust.

“Probably.” Liza slid a load of rock into the cart. More dust rose, glittering in the harsh artificial lights. “It’s only four hours down to the surface.”

Before she’d run away, she had never thought about the kind of menial work people all over the Empire performed‌—‌or if she had, she’d assumed that mechanicals did most of it.

But mechanicals were expensive, and the mining dust damaged their circuitry. Human labor was cheaper, and easier to replace.

“Hope we can ping chat down to Doralfi after shift,” Trudi said. “I miss my boy already.”

Trudi and her son had been working the asteroid mines for four years, and Rand looked forward to his yearly vacations on Raldoon. He and Selina had been on the same shuttle down, leaving Trudi and Liza to wave them off from the docking bay.

Trudi preferred to spend her vacation time relaxing in her room, devouring vids and screenbooks.

“I’m too old for that kind of fun,” she’d said when Liza asked. “And I always have been, even when I was young. Dancing and carousing and holo-games‌—‌the thought wearies me to the bone. I like my pleasures on the quieter side. Though I do enjoy the tales Rand brings back.”

Liza spent the rest of her shift wondering what Selina was doing. She could hardly wait for the moment she was planetside, holding her girlfriend in her arms. With the added bonus of being able to wash the miner’s dust off her skin without it settling right back on again.

Before dinner, she got a quick chat in with Selina, whose smile was brighter than ever.

“I wish you were here, love‌—‌there’s a sunset dinner and, oh, the water is so warm. I’m going dancing later, in my new dress.” She twirled, the pale fabric swirling about her, contrasting with her dark skin. “Like it?”

“You look beautiful,” Liza swallowed the lump in her throat. “When I get down there, I’ll buy you a necklace to match. Something shiny.”

“I’d love that. But I love you more.” Selina blew her a kiss. “This cheapass handheld is almost out of credits. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, love.”

Selina smiled, her image dissolving into the blank screen of Liza’s handheld. Communications planetside were horribly expensive, for both the sender and receiver, but the minute of conversation and the sight of her girlfriend’s smile had been worth it.

A grief-stricken cry woke Liza. She sat up, blinking, then fumbled for her handheld. It was almost three in the morning. Was someone having night terrors?

The cry came again, floating down the corridor, and Liza heard someone yell to shut up.

She pulled on her thin robe and went to the door, sliding it open to reveal the gray walls of the sleeping area hallway. Someone was sobbing‌—‌Liza could hear it through the closed plasmetal doors, and it didn’t sound like the aftermath of a nightmare.

Bare feet cold over the floor, she went down the hall, counting doors. The crying was coming from the fourth one on the left. Trudi’s room.

Heart squeezing with sudden apprehension, Liza tapped on the door.

“Trudi? What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Nooo,” it was a moan of pain.

“I’ll call emergency,” Liza said, whirling.

Trudi’s door whooshed open to reveal the older woman, the screen of her handheld illuminating the tears flowing down her lined cheeks.

“It’s Rand,” she whispered. “My baby.” She stood there, rocking back and forth.

Liza stepped inside, closed the door, and led Trudi to the disheveled bed.

“Sit down, and tell me.”

Trudi sank down on the bed, then held out her device. As Liza read the scrolling communications, her blood went cold.

Rand: Mami I love you.

Rand: Someone here with D-ray. Shooting.

Trudi: Are you ok?

Rand: Trapped.

Gods, no. Liza sucked in her breath. D-rays were banned on all the civilized words. They could kill dozens of people with one sweep. And Rand was down there in Raldoon, trapped by some madman with a death machine. Her legs suddenly weak, she sat heavily on the bed beside Trudi.

Her blood went to ice. What if Selina was there, too?

“Where is he? What’s happening?”

Trudi drew in a gasping breath. “A dance club.”

Selina had planned to go dancing. A wave of nausea swept over Liza as she glanced back at the conversation preserved on the screen.

Rand: Call for help.

Rand: I’m going to die.

Trudi: I called. Help coming. Is anyone hurt?

Rand: Yes. Lots.

Trudi: Stay safe. Please.

“Has security come?” Liza asked. The handheld trembled in her grip. This could not be happening. Not to Rand.

Trudi nodded. “Been almost an hour. Some vid coverage. Shooter is barricaded in the building. With my boy. I haven’t heard from him in over twenty minutes.”

She covered her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with desperation. Tears blurring her vision, Liza kept reading.

Rand: Still in building. He has us. Need help. Call them, Mami.

Trudi: Guards are there. Tell me you see them.

Rand: Hurry.

Rand: He’s here.

Trudi: Stay down.

Trudi: Are you hurt?

Trudi: Rand! Baby, are you ok?

Trudi: I love you.

Trudi: Talk to me.

Trudi: Baby?

Trudi: Rand?

Trudi: I love you.

It was the last thing on the screen. Liza checked the time of the last communication, and felt like a black hole opened in her chest.

Over half an hour since Rand had responded.

She set the unanswered handheld down and put her arms around Trudi. She had the terrible conviction that Rand was dead. Help hadn’t come in time. It was hard to breathe past the vacuum surrounding her heart, dragging all the light from her body.

What about Selina?

“I have to get down there,” Trudi said. “My boy.”

“The shuttle won’t leave before eight,” Liza said, cursing the fact they were stuck up in the belt. It was impossible to get to their loved ones.

“I don’t have enough credits.” Trudi’s voice broke, and she bent over, her chest pressed to her knees.

For a moment, Liza almost offered Trudi her ticket down‌—‌but no. She had to get down there, too. Had to make sure Selina was safe.

“Ask the company to send you,” Liza said.

If they wouldn’t, she’d help take up a collection.

Trudi sat up, and gave a single nod. “They should. They should help.”

“Let me get my handheld,” Liza said. “Then I’ll come stay with you until it’s time.”

She ran back to her room, heart pounding. Please, let there be a message from Selina that she was safe. That she’d gone to bed early. That she could hardly wait for Liza to arrive.

The screen was blank. No messages.

Liza flipped to the news, then stumbled to her chair as she read the headlines streaming past.

“Devastation at Raldoon Dance Club.”

“Dozens Dead in Wake of D-beam Madman.”

“Security Finally Takes Down Shooter in Club Massacre.”

Why? She knotted her robe in her fingers. How could such a thing happen? And where was Selina?

She stabbed at the device, trying again and again to reach Selina, each time hearing her girlfriend’s laughing, recorded voice telling her to try again later.

Grief knifed through Liza. Would there be a later, or had the bright spark of Selina’s life been erased from the galaxy?

Numbly, Liza pulled on her clothing, then grabbed her handheld and went to sit with Trudi through the long, excruciating hours until morning.

The next morning, the miners were given the first three shifts off, and it was announced that all traffic to Raldoon was being restricted. Only relatives of those affected were allowed to travel to the surface. The eight am shuttle left, taking Trudi.