Jupiter's Halo Book Two: The Fall

Chapter 14

Maccy’s hands hadn’t moved. He felt the sweat beading on his forehead, rolling down the length of his nose to drip onto his upper lip.

Both Jinsin and Holden seemed locked in place too. All three of them waited like silent statues, everyone expecting another to say something that would make the whole situation suddenly alright.

No one spoke. No one moved.

The warnings continued to flash on his console screens. The lab level was in full quarantine lockdown. Every door had sealed, every point of entry and exit was closed air-tight. No one was getting in and no one was getting out.

“What did she mean about being exposed?” Jinsin broke the silence, her voice hoarse and brittle.

Maccy didn’t know the answer. Or more accurately, he knew something truly terrible had been released into the station, but he didn’t know what it was.

“We’re safe here right?” Holden put in.

The pleading in his voice was evident. He wanted them to tell him it was all okay. Maccy looked again at the dead men on the bridge floor. It was most definitely not all okay.

“I think we’re… “ He looked at the screens again. Everything seemed to be contained to one level. The bridge was safe.

“There’s something, something bad. Really bad.” He heard Holden suck in a nervous breath. “But it’s contained. The labs are in quarantine.” He added hastily in an attempt to calm his friend.

Holden was a good guy, a solid wingman and a friend enough not to judge him for his morally flexible ways. But he wasn't strong in a crisis. Even in the simulators, he buckled under the pretence of stress. Maccy had often wondered how he’d even landed this gig.

“So we’re safe?” Jinsin sounded hopeful, but there was an edge of doubt in her voice.

The commander’s words had clearly shaken her as much as they had Maccy.

“I think so,” he said slowly. “Everything I can see says the labs are the only affected area. If we stay here and call for evac we should be fine.”

Holden let out a deep sigh, bending forward over his desk and clasping his head in both hands.

“But she said no one would rescue us.”

Maccy thought for a moment.

“We’re believing her then?” It was a logical question.

The woman was obviously deadly, but the more he thought about her actions, the more he came to think she was just as obviously unhinged. She’d killed her own team members for faith’s sake.

“She said no one would rescue us if we were exposed. But up here we’re fine. She’s crazy. So crazy. She killed them for nothing,” he gestured to the bodies of the Blacks. “And if you were her would you want witnesses calling for help and telling the authorities what she did, or would you want them to think there was no chance and they should just give up and die?”

He felt more confident in his appraisal as he spoke. Clearly, the commander, whatever her real designation was, was too far past this side of sanity to think like a normal human being.

“But she sounded so sure,” Jinsin argued.

“Have you ever met an indecisive crazy person?” Maccy laughed at his own words.

It was a stupid thing to say. He'd never met anyone with mental deficiencies and he doubted his crewmates were any different. But saying it made him feel better as if it was some kind of rationalization. Laughing made it seem less real and that made him feel better again.

Jinsin still seemed unconvinced.

“So what do we do now?” She asked.

Maccy shrugged. He didn’t have the faintest idea. Holden lifted his head from his desk and spoke without turning.

"For a start, we lock that bloody door." Maccy swivelled to look at the link-stair.

Holden was right. She might be crazy, maybe, but she was definitely dangerous and he didn’t much like the thought of her paying them another visit.

“And call it in. We have to call this in,” Jinsin added, taking a step away from the wall towards the central lowered tier.

Maccy nodded, but as his head tipped down he saw another alert that made no sense.

“What is it?”

He looked back up to Jinsin, seeing the fear still in her eyes. He had to glance down again to be sure of what he was seeing.

"The halon system is firing in the labs." He heard the dullness of his voice, the dead sounding tones of someone who'd already reached the final conclusion.

“So?” Holden asked. “If there’s a fire that’s good right? It’ll burn up whatever’s down there.” He looked from Maccy to Jinsin and back. “Right?”

Jinsin was staring directly into Maccy’s eyes. She’d seen where the trail from those few simple words led.

“There’s no fire is there, Maccy?”

He shook his head, his eyes dropping to the button on the right of his desk. The case was still open, the protocol it triggered, whatever that was, still primed and ready for action.

“No. There’s no fire.”

Holden still hadn’t caught up with them.

"So what? So there's a malfunction in the system. A few scientists will die if they're not dead already. But we're still okay. Right?"

Jinsin took another step forward, reaching the edge of the central tier but not stepping down. She teetered there, her eyes still on Maccy.

“The system replaces the air in the section with gas.”

“So?”

Jinsin sighed at the effort of explaining their fate.

"So the air has to go somewhere. The gas pushes it out, takes up all the space and the air is channelled away so any fire is starved and dies."

Holden threw up his hands.

"I still don't see the problem." He sounded exasperated, the searing charge of emotions from the last few minutes having taken a toll on him.

“This is a station, Hold,” Maccy added. “There’s nowhere for the air to go. Venting it into space is a waste, so it gets… recycled.“

There was a moment of silence while they waited for Holden to process this information.

“We’re not safe are we?” He said quietly.

“No, buddy. No one breathing the air outside a bio-suit is.”

Maccy kept his eyes on Jinsin. She returned a look of sympathy as if she were somehow removed from the situation. Or maybe it was the acceptance of what they both knew he had to do. Without him needing to phrase the question, she gave a slow, gentle nod.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her, seeing she understood the depth of meaning behind those two simple words.

Maccy didn’t wait for Holden to weigh in. His hand came down hard on the button. For a second nothing happened. It lasted just long enough for him to let out the held breath that burned in his chest. Jinsin seemed to do the same, offering him an embarrassed smile.

“Well,” Maccy started. “That was an anti-c****x-”

A sound drew his attention. On the far side of the bridge, directly opposite the entrance to the trans-terminal, the previously silent robot had made a series of beeps.

Maccy’s eyes turned to it, the strangled cry of Holden’s renewed panic falling away into the background as the huge, black body rose and dark red lights came on where he couldn’t help but think it should have eyes.

Maccy swallowed. It would be quick, she’d said. He felt warmth coarse down his thigh as his bladder emptied.

"I'm sor—" He managed before the great, black shape engulfed him and the world went dark.