The Stars Came Back (26 page)

He draws back his hand for a hard slap.

CUT TO

INT - DAY - Officers’ Mess

Helton, Lag, H
arbin, Kaminski, Kat, and Kwon sit around the table. A diagram of the ship is displayed on the table surface. Kwon is pointing to the mid-deck area.

Kwon: If we can open this up, maybe move this door here, to there?

Helton: No, Stenson says we still don’t know what’s in there. It’s sealed up ti-

BLAM! A muffled but disti
nct shot rings out, followed in very rapid succession by BA-BA-BLAM!

Instantly all the Plataeans have guns drawn covering the door (Kaminski and Harbin have the compact rifles they normally carry). Kaminski jumps to one side of the door to cover the hall one way, Harbin jumps to cover it the other, Kat steps back to aim down the middle of the doorway with her pistol, Lag is looking at his forearm
-mounted display and talking fast into it.

L
ag: All units! Flash Status! Unknown shooter A-Deck! Squad up where you are and hold!

INSET - The screen on his forearm shows a simple ship diagram with a bunch of yellow dots representing the locations of people. They rapidly flash from yellow to green as people report their status, and some of the green dots move into defensive clumps where they are. One dot turns red, in the garden room, just down the passageway. No other dots are closer than the people with him.

Lag: One down in the garden, far corner! Cover and bound!

Harbin and Kaminski, intense looks on their faces, go out the door with lightning speed to cover the hall both ways, then Lag (pistol pointed down at low ready
, finger off the trigger) and Helton go out between them, and they hustle as a group down the passageway. Kwon draws a small lock-blade knife and hurries to the side of the door in crouching stance. Kat covers the doorway with her pistol, back from the door, ready.

CUT TO

INT
- DAY - Garden, view of the door

Kaminski and Harbin fly through the garden door like the high-speed pros they are, clearing the room and getting to the back in a flash, covering
both sides while Lag looks forward, heading for the back corner of the garden. As they arrive on the scene, they stop. Allonia stands with a blank expression on her face and Darch’s pistol in her hands, pointing it at him. He’s lying on the floor, partially on a heap of gardening equipment near the side of the workbench. His head, neck, and whole body are at very unnatural angles, armor askew, four bloody holes in a tight group in his chest, the hilt of his fighting knife sticking out the side of his ribs. The Plataeans are unsure who to cover for a brief moment or what to do as they take in the sight.

A
fter a pause that feels like forever but is only a fraction of a second, everyone simultaneously decides on an action and starts moving. Guns are secured, Lag and Kaminski talk into coms, and Harbin does a quick check of the rest of room. Helton steps carefully forward and gently takes the gun from her hands.

Kaminski: Lieutenant Kat needed in the Garden
.

Allonia: (
Sounding flat) He… he was going to… to… he-

Helton: It’s all over Allonia. It’s over. You’re OK.

Helton drops the magazine from Darch’s pistol and clears the chamber, then sets them aside.

Lag: (
Into wrist com) Stand down. All units stand down. Squad leaders, check and clear weapons. Come-as-you-are inspection and announcements in the cargo bay in ten minutes.

Allonia: (
Shock and fear turning to rage) He was, was going to, he… the BASTARD was going to
rape me
. HE WAS GOING TO RAPE ME! YOU, YOU…

Kat comes in
and takes in the situation at a glance, heads over to Allonia. She takes her by the arm and leads her gently away.

Kat: Come on, let’s go outside. It’s over
, it’s OK. You did what you had to do. Not your fault. You’re safe now.

Camera view follows the four men going to look at the body. Kaminski leans in to examine it more closely. The workbench behind Darch is dented and bent, things that had been on it scattered or crushed by his impact.

Kaminski: …Damn.

Lag: …Impressive.

Harbin: …Good group.

Helton: Ah, crap.

Kaminski looks closely at the knife in Darch’s side
. It’s placed in the armpit just above the armor at an angle likely to miss the heart but puncture a lung. The armor is partially pulled aside from his chest, where there are four bloody holes.

Kaminski: Deep and clean.
Sucking chest wound isn’t the quickest way to
stop
a guy, but definitely fatal without a fast medic.

Harbin
eyes the scene critically, like a grudgingly appreciative instructor when an unknown student does very well, looking for minor nits to pick.

Harbin:
Easiest recruit in the lot to kill.

Kaminski
examines things under and around Darch, the bent metal workbench; when he puts some weight on it, it barely flexes at all.

Kaminski: H
it hard. Didn’t secure his armor correctly, or was
un
securing it.

Harbin: (
Sounding increasingly disgusted as he goes on) Alone… and no restraints with him,
major
target selection failure, improperly equipped, poor location, wrong time… bad idea, no planning, pathetically poor execution.

Kaminski: Looks like an unusually
vigorous application of rule number two.

Harbin: Not very efficient. Killed him three times. Four if you consider the two pairs center-mass separate. More than
strictly
necessary-

Kaminski: B
ut for an amateur, any style points she lost in efficiency I think she
more
than made up for in thoroughness and
clarity
of communicating ‘leave me ALONE.’

Harbin grunts grudging agreement

Lag: (To Harbin) Background?

Harbin: Councilman Darch’s second son-

Helton: (Sarcastically, throwing up hands) Great. Wonderful!

Lag: Ah.
That
Darch.

Harbin: (
Dryly) Minor criminal history, but
shockingly
, no convictions.

Kaminski: Kid might still be alive if he’d learned crime and stupidity have consequences earlier
. Instead he learned his parents can bail his sorry ass out.

Harbin: (
Giving Kaminski a sharp look for interrupting) So-so shot. Poor self discipline. Marginal physical condition. Chronic poor judgment. About as useful as running out of ammo… Would have been cut in the first round next week on psych.

Lag: Hell… Connected family. Attempted rape. Broken neck. Air conditioned with his own pistol
and
playing scabbard. Cosmically bad execution of an attempted crime. In violation of both direct
and
general orders, as well as common sense and decency…

They all look at Lag, wondering what he’ll decide. Lag takes a hard look at the body, the others standing around. He scratches the back of his neck absently, thinking.

Lag: One of the more
spectacular
training accidents I’ve seen in a long while… Corporal!

CPL Kaminski: (
Looking pained) Ahhhh, shit, sir!

Lag looks and sounds matter
of fact.

Lag: He was in your squad, and you have a way with words. You and your team have the afternoon off to clean up the mess and write up one
of the most
epic
death-by-stupidity reports of all time. I look forward to reading it. On the bright side, it looks like your training program passes inspection, Corporal. Or else you have an extraordinary student. Please see about setting her up with her own gear. Next time her attacker might not be so incompetent. (To Helton) Kat’s a good counselor, as well as a lawyer. She’s helped a lot of people after high-stress encounters and will help her work through it. With the support she’ll get around here, I’m sure she’ll be fine, but it’s always good to be careful for a while.

Harbin grins wickedly at Kaminski’s discomfort
and Lag’s solution. Kaminski’s face dissolves into a resigned expression. Helton lets out a sigh of relief that things look like they’ll get taken care of.

FADE TO BLACK

Liftoff

F
ADE IN

INT - D
AY - Engineering

Stenson is looking at readouts
, while a pulsing hum of machinery fills the background.

Helton: (OC, over the intercom) How’s it look?

Stenson: All in the green, if only barely. Main power is just about ready to kick on. Annnnnd…

There is a powerful, deep change in the background sound, and a slight lurch.

Stenson: -Online! Main power is
live
! Drives arrrrree… Feeling the power. Drives are yellow, rising toward green. Looking like she’s alive again! Three drives nominal. You are now the Captain of a
ship
, not a shop project!

The tone of the background drive noise starts to throb and vary, like God’s own Harley is driving
by, in need of a valve job and new plugs.

CUT TO

INT
- DAY -
Tajemnica
bridge

Cooper
, a dashing-looking young man in a blood-red jacket, sits at the pilot spot. Helton is at command. Kaushik at copilot/navigation, Allonia at sensors/com.

Helton: Captain
. I like the sound of that.

Cooper: I can’t believe you have a
printed
preflight checklist!

Helton: You knew when we hired you this
ship was older than any five of us put together. The AI is quite adamant that we go through it all.

Cooper: You pay the bills, you call the shots. OK, starting at the top! R
amps up?

Kaushik:
Up!

Cooper: Ground feeds, power, disconnected?

Stenson: (OC) Disconnected!

Cooper: Ground feeds,
water, disconnected and secured?

Kwon: (OC) Disconnected, hoses stowed
!

DISSOLVE TO

Bridge, everyone in the same spots. The drive noise has settled down to a
steadier throb.

Cooper:
-annnd, that’s it. All systems nominal or acknowledged noncritical. Are we cleared to lift?

All
onia: The tower says no; they say we have a land-lock.

Cooper: (
Exasperated) You have
got
to be… Why wasn’t I told about that earlier?

Helton: Land-lock?
They never told me about it.

Cooper: You didn’t know?
A giant lock around a landing strut bolting us to the ground, and you didn’t know? We can’t lift.

Helton: Are you sure?

Cooper: (Sarcastic) Who are you paying to be the pilot?

Helton: I don’t remember
the port saying anything about a land-lock. Must be a mistake. Try lifting slowly, just a tad, see what happens.

Cooper: Are you crazy?

Helton: So I’ve been told.

Cooper: You
are
nuts.

Helton: We need to know if we
can
. Try it. Just a little bit. Not really flying, just… sort’a move us up into the air a little bit.

Cooper: OK, but if something breaks, it’s not my fault, right?

Helton: Agreed.

Cooper takes the control yoke in hand and gently twists it. The pitch of the engines changes. It gets deeper, more pulsing, with discordant overtones; God’s Harley apparently needs a timing chain adjustment and better fuel, too. He slides a
power lever up and twists the control yoke a bit more…

CUT TO

EXT -
DAY - Ground-level view of the ship and area

The ship
lifts slowly but unevenly. One corner seems to be held down. There is an earthy rending, ripping sound, and as the ship rises a sizable chunk of dirt and concrete is ripped out of the ground, attached to one landing strut by a large curved metal bar. The ship rises, forty, fifty meters in the air.

CUT TO

INT
- DAY - Bridge

Everyone is smiling, and looking happy.

The pulsing rumble of the drives steadies. Something with a matching beat and rhythm starts playing over the ship intercom and PA system. Music. A catchy Celtic reel. Snappy, happy, full of life and energy, a modern take on a traditional Celtic dance tune, perfectly mixing with the powerful bass roll of the drives. It takes a moment for people to notice it, then look around at each other in confusion.