Deep (10 page)

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122

Filed Under "Emergency"

The nip of pain in her arm was quickly becoming more intense and harder to ignore. Lawn grunted at the sharp, piercing fire as she got to her feet and opened the airlock to let herself inside the ship.

"Deep!"

"Shields are up and at full capacity," he responded. "But keep your helmet on, Lawn! Don't leave your suit!"

She could barely make out his words, even though the microphone was right next to her ear. Lawn paused at the bottom of the ladder and glanced up the narrow corridor into the bridge.

"Shut off the alarms!"

By her next breath, he did. She grunted as her arm protested having to help her up the short set of rungs. She could feel blood trickling warm and ticklish to her elbow.

The sound of thunder rumbled off to her right. It was immediately followed by the feel of the ship bucking. Lawn got the impression of a vessel being caught out on the ocean waves, fighting against a storm, as she clung to the bars.

When the ship steadied itself enough, she gritted her teeth and managed to make it up to the bridge. Deep was not visible, but she figured he was having to use all his energy elsewhere.

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Quickly, she stumbled to the small drawer near the console that was marked with a red cross. It slid open at her touch to reveal a small array of pharmaceuticals. The suit had already self-sealed the tiny hole, but whatever had plowed into it was still inside her, hurting like hell and getting worse.

She was undoing her glove when Deep yelled again at her,

"Don't compromise your suit, Lawn!"

"It's burning me!"

"Keep your suit intact, damn it!"

Lawn stopped. He had never yelled at her in anger. More shocking was the undeniable fear in his tone. Fear for her. He needed her to take the pain, because the alternative was much worse.

"Deep, what is it? What's attacking us?"

Outside the window she could make out the pale, almost luminescent bluish aura of the protective shield surrounding the Vogt. As she stared at the aura, there seemed to be millions of points of light exploding against it. Billions of infinitesimally small particles exploding on contact.

As she continued to be glued to the dangerous beauty of what she was watching, an immense ball of white shot out of the buoy. Deep was firing the laser cannons into the middle of whatever was attacking them. Simultaneously, the world around her rumbled loudly. Shock waves followed like ripples on water. Lawn swayed with the ship as her boots kept her firmly attached to the floor. Her helmet's visor automatically darkened against the nearly blinding glare of the cannon blast, but it didn't take long for her to realize that the cannons were ineffective against the swarm.

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"Deep, what are we up against? What kind of weapons do they have?"

It was nearly a full minute before he answered. "My hull was breached earlier, but it's been plugged. Still, keep your helmet on, Lawn."

"You haven't answered my ques—"

"We're under attack by the nature of the universe."

There was a finality in his voice that chilled her. She waited, knowing he would explain further. Meanwhile, the burning in her arm was steadily creeping up to her shoulder, and her hand was beginning to feel numb.

"Look outside, Lawn. Remember what you're seeing. Can you describe it?"

"I see our shields are up." She squinted. "And it looks like some kind of fog is approaching." Lawn glanced up at the ceiling. "Is that the danger?"

"It is. Lawn, please proceed to the escape pod. Hurry."

The escape pod?

"Deep?"

"Go now, Lawn! There isn't much time!"

Going down the ladder was not as difficult with one hand.

The magnetic soles of her boots prevented her from slipping as the buoy's cannons continued to fire. With each blast, the Vogt rocked in the repercussive wake. When she reached the bedroom, she noticed the outer shell of the bed was already glowing. That's when the truth hit her.

"Deep, what are you doing?"

"Get in the pod, Lawn."

"Not until you fucking tell me what's going on!"

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"It's called a 'no win situation', Lawn. What you saw was a micrometeorite shower. Get into the pod before I throw you in." He sounded angry, desperate, and unbelievably sad. Yet it didn't explain why he needed her inside the lifeboat.

"Deep, are you sending me out?"

"I have to, Lawn."

She froze with one knee on the sheets. The buoy's cannons fired again, this time twice in quick succession. The Vogt almost rattled.

"Be honest with me, Deep!"

"Despite the shields, particles no bigger than atoms are managing to penetrate through. Already I'm being riddled with hundreds of nearly invisible bits of matter."

"Are the cannons effective?"

She slid down over the covers as a safety harness dropped down from above her head and locked into place at the foot.

At the same time, the lid to the bed began to lower itself.

"The cannons are not making any impact on the cloud, Lawn. Not when the cloud itself is nearly eight hundred thousand miles across."

"Is this what attacked Outpost Sixteen?"

"I've sent my full report and supposition, plus I've notified base of our emergency status." Deep sighed when the pod's lid sealed shut. "Galactic Enforcement should pick you up in a few short months."

"A few short... Deep?"

She struggled against the restraining harness, even though she knew it was useless. Her brain was whirling as the full implication of what he was telling her came to light.

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"Deep, what are you doing? What are you going to do?"

"My hull's been too severely compromised, Lawn. I can't take you back to Earth."

"Deep, no!"

The floor beneath the encapsulated bed opened, and she could feel the lifeboat slowly being lowered into the bottom of the ship.

She knew what was happening. She knew without him telling her what he was going to do. The pain enveloping her right arm was nothing compared to the agony filling her chest. Suffocating her. Clawing at her heart and dragging it to a standstill.

"Don't do this, Deep!"

"The cannons alone can't stop it."

"Oh, and you can?"

"There is the chance that if I can make it another twenty-eight percent of the way inside the core of this cloud, a full-range blast will disperse it enough so that it will no longer be a threat to Earth."

A full-range blast.

"Oh my God." The words hitched as she began to cry.

"Deep. Please. No! Don't blow yourself up!" She knew her protests were useless. She understood everything now, without him having to explain any further. Angrily, she tried to kick the foot of the bed. Deep had her where he wanted her. Soon, with luck, she would be on her way back to Earth.

Without him.

Forever without him.

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The pod entered the darkness of the ship's lower belly. She could hear a whining sound.

"Wait! Wait! Stop! Give me your jar, Deep!"

"What?"

"Your jar! Your heart! Let me take it with me. Can't you still control the ship by remote or something?"

"I wish I could, Lawn, but it's not possible." He sounded as depressed as she felt. "By locking my engines and weapons in sync with the cannons on the buoy, I should be able to gain a maximum dispersal range of eighteen thousand miles. That should be enough to extend the blast radius an additional forty-eight percent. It won't completely destroy the cloud, Lawn, but it'll rip the guts out of it."

"It'll turn one big cloud into a hundred smaller ones!"

There was a bump as the pod locked itself into the launcher. She sensed herself rotating before Deep cut the gravitational field.

"That's true," he acknowledged. "But the smaller clouds will be manageable with regular cannon fire and pulse rifles."

Her eyes were burning. Squeezing them shut didn't stop the flood of tears.

He was sending her away to save her. He was sacrificing himself to save her life.

He's a ship!

No, he's not. He's Deep. He's intelligent and as human as
any flesh-and-blood person. And he loves me. God, help me,
but I love him, too!

"Oh, God. Deep, no! Isn't there another way?

Please...don't d-do this." Her voice hiccupped. Her throat was 128

shutting down the same way her heart was folding in on itself. "If you do this, there will be no tomorrow for us.

No...no clandestine messages between us. No way of keep-keeping in touch."

The wall above the pod's transparent dome slid to the side.

Beyond the hull she could see the universe spread out like a blanket of indescribable beauty. A blanket slightly fogged in a glittering blue aura.

Her suit hissed. A light but noxious odor began to fill her helmet.

"Deep?"

"A temporary anesthetic, Lawn. It's necessary, or else the force of the expulsion could knock you out."

"You're knocking me out so I won't be knocked unconscious?" If the situation wasn't so desperate, she would laugh.

"Don't worry. You'll awaken soon after I launch you. I..."

His voice tapered off. The buoy's cannons roared again, and the view of the universe rocked up and down. "I can't leave you. Not yet. I have to stay in touch with you, Lawn. All the way to goodbye."

All the way to goodbye.

Lawn began to cry harder as reality faded into darkness.

Communique 7A

To: G.E. Coordinator Millner

Emergency! Emergency! This is a Code One Red! Repeat!

This is a Code One Red! We are being swarmed by a cloud of micrometeorites! Initiating Code Alpha Alpha Omega! Repeat!

Initiating Code Alpha Alpha Omega!

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Send backup firepower and help immediately! Escape pod is launched with live human cargo! Need emergency pickup at these coordinates!

Addendum: Repeating! Making emergency evacuation! Pick up live cargo at these coordinates!

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130

Filed Under "Lifeboat"

Whatever the nasty-smelling stuff was Deep had pumped into her suit, it didn't completely knock her out. He hadn't lied to her.

She was aware of the hard acceleration as the Vogt shot her out into space. Like a hand pressing down on her body, squashing her insides until they were nearly as thin as deli-sliced meat, it was almost too much to bear, even in her semicomatose state. But after the initial thrust, it gradually got easier to breathe. Lawn came to with the sound of her own blood pumping in her ears.

"Deep?"

"I'm still here," he whispered. A hundred thousand miles already separated them, but she could hear him as clearly as if he was lying right beside her.

Through the domed roof she could see the stars. They appeared to be immobile, although she knew she had to be speeding through space at an incredible rate. A slightly fuzzy blue aura ringed the edges of her makeshift viewscreen. The pod's shields were holding, but Lawn knew they wouldn't be challenged as severely as the ones on the Vogt. Not when the lifepod was traveling in the same direction as the meteorite storm. By flowing inside the same slipstream, chances were minuscule the shields would be breached.

"What's going to happen to me?"

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"I've sent out emergency calls on every frequency.

Someone, if not the Bureau, will receive one, and send out a ship to pick you up. Until then, I've programmed the pod to put you into hyperbolic sleep until you're rescued."

"And then what?"

"And then you'll go back to Earth."

"Without you."

There was a long pause. When Deep returned, his sadness was almost overwhelming.

"Without me."

He had sent for help, but it would be at least thirty-six hours before the call reached Earth. There was no way to guess how long it would take for them to scramble a rescue team together and get it launched. And she was at least six months away by hyperlight.

Six long, lonely months. How many times would she dream of him during that time? How many times would she cry over him?

She no longer cared that her face was smeared with tears and mucus. Her mind, her heart, and her body was focused on Deep. On him and his words, the last words he would ever say to her.

"Keep talking to me. Please."

"I love you, Lawn."

"Will there be another you?"

"You mean another ship that is me? I don't believe so. One personality to a ship, I'm afraid."

"So when you die, that will be the end of you?"

"The same way your death would be the end of you."

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She shook her head. "It's not fucking fair!"

"But we have been happy. We were lucky. Look at the fact that we had our moment. Rejoice in it." His voice was soothing. He was trying to be positive. "We found each other, Lawn. We loved each other. We loved more than most people ever do. Keep that memory of me alive, Lawn. Keep me alive inside you. Keep my voice in your ears. When you return to the Bureau, go to the archives. You'll have that right. Ask to review the logs. Look for communique Dee Cee Three."

She nodded to herself. "And then what?"

His tone hardened. Stress echoed in every word.

"Penetration at twenty-four percent. Beginning countdown.

Keep talking to me, Lawn. Please. I want to hear your voice. I need to hear your voice."

And say what? Goodbye? I love you?
Lawn realized her mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"I'll do what you say, Deep. I'll go to the archives at the Bureau when I get back and I'll look up communique Dee Cee Three. And I'll take a small recorder with me so I can make a copy for myself. That way I can keep your voice with me. I'll still have you, Deep. I'll have you for the rest of my life. Can I...will I be able to download a copy of your holo, too?"

"Penetration at thirty-six point eight percent. Hull breach is absolute. Loss of all internal atmosphere confirmed. I don't see why not, Lawn, but do it discreetly. I don't know what is and isn't allowed as per your contract. I wasn't given access to that information, but there could be extraneous circumstances which could nullify it. Whatever you do, Lawn, please be as discreet as possible."

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"Even if I can't, I will never forget you. I will dream of you.

I will remember you!"

"Penetration at forty-seven point three percent. Lawn, close your eyes. And live. For me."

"Deep! No, Deep! No!"

"Countdown is at seventeen...sixteen...fifteen..."

"Deep! Oh, God, no!"

"Thirteen...twelve...eleven..."

"I love you, Deep!"

"Nine. I love you, Lawn. Seven...six..."

She had to bite her lips to stop the moan of pain that was ripping her apart. She had to catch the last words she would ever hear from him.

"Five...four...three...two...one...
Lawn!
"

There was a couple of seconds of silence as their link was killed. Black. Dead. And then the universe erupted in a blue-white light of blinding, painful intensity. The lifeboat's roof darkened automatically, as did her helmet's visor. The searing brightness continued to pour over her as she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed Deep's name.

She continued to call out his name as she sobbed. She had lost all feeling in her arm, but it no longer bothered her. Her heart had been wrung out until it was paper thin and bloodless.

While the light from the explosion faded, and the universe resumed business as usual, she heard a faint hissing sound.

Lawn reached up to open a valve in her air tank to let the mist into her suit. It was the fog that would put her to sleep 134

for the months it would take the pod to reach Earth. It smelled faintly of vanilla, and she took a deep breath.

Give or take six months, and a little luck, and she would be back on Earth. That was assuming the craft didn't come in contact with an anomaly that would stop it from reaching its destination. Of course, she wasn't moving anywhere near hyperlight speed like the Vogt did. But Deep had taken that into consideration when he estimated how long it would take a rescue ship from the GEB to reach her.

"Deep."

The last word he had uttered had been her name.

She would never forget that as she cried herself to sleep.

Communique 7B

To: G.E. Coordinator Millner

May Day! Emergency! May Day! Emergency! This is a Code One request! Repeat! Repeat, this is a Code One request! We are being swarmed by a cloud of micrometeorites! Have initiated Code Alpha Alpha Omega! Making emergency evacuation! Pick up live cargo at these coordinates! May Day!

Emergency! May Day! Emergency!

Addendum: Repeating!! Making emergency evacuation!

Pick up live cargo at these coordinates! We will continue to broadcast these coordinates as long as po—

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