The Road to Hell

Chapter 30

When they safely boarded the Spectral Hawk, now free of the WasteCo barge, they were greeted by... no one. The cargo hold was deserted. David had expected Tanner or one of the others to be here to make a report to him, but all they found was one of the mechs sitting in the middle of the bay.

"Damn, this thing's wrecked," Fisher remarked.

Wendy noticed what was wrong with this picture right away. "The other one is missing," she said.

Rosana went closer to examine the cockpit. "And whoever was in this one lost a whole lot of blood," she said, worry seeping into her voice.

They were interrupted by Billy, who made his presence known with a quiet cough. "Billy, what's going on? Who's hurt?"

"Both Armin and Talon are in med bay right now. Doc Lang's doing what she can, but it doesn't look good."

"What about Fitch?" Rosana asked.

"And Tanner," added David.

Billy shook his head. "Talon said he looked back and saw their mech go down. The station was about to jump... I had to launch without them." He kept his eyes glued to the floor and his hands locked behind his back as he said the words.

David knew what it meant. He couldn't care less about Fitch, but now Tanner was gone, and so was Farid. He probably died thinking he'd stopped David by reporting the bomb threat. A feeling of great dread crept up David's spine and settled on his shoulders, forcing him to his knees. His helmet rolled out of his nerveless grasp and he found himself staring at an ugly, distorted face he used to know so well in the reflective visor. He gathered up all the rage and frustration into a single fist, and with one mighty blow, he cracked the helmet in half.

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. It was Rosana. "I know it hurts. Fitch was like a brother to me."

"You don't know anything." He stood up and shrugged her hand off. "I'm going to the med bay," he said as he stepped out of his power armour.

The others went with him, though Rosana lingered behind to have a moment alone for herself.

Doctor Lang was too busy to allow any interruptions. The bay was sealed off and she was completely absorbed with what she was doing. Through the observation window, David could see Talon inside of an automated medical pod, where several robotic appendages were quickly and efficiently performing surgery on his leg. On the room's operating table lay Armin, who for lack of a better term looked broken. Both Doctor Lang and a robotic assistant were stitching away at the sack of meat and bones that David almost couldn't believe was his friend.

He pressed the room's intercom and said, "Lang, report!"

Lang didn't turn or seem surprised at all by David's voice, but she definitely wasn't pleased by the intrusion. "Sir, when someone is performing surgery, it is generally unwise to startle them. Lucky for Spanner, I don't flinch easy."

"How bad is he?"

"He has numerous bone fractures, lacerations and internal hemorrhaging. The worst of it is a cervical fracture. I can keep him alive, but he's guaranteed to be paralyzed from the neck down until we can get him to a proper medical facility and get him started on stem cell treatments."

"And what about Talon?"

"Crushed leg. Much simpler problem. Left it to the bot. He'll be up and on his feet in a few months."

"Carry on, Doc. I know Spanner's in good hands." David took his thumb off the intercom and turned to Billy. "Set a course to the closest trauma centre."

"Aye aye, sir." He started for the cockpit, but Rosana caught hold of him.

"Scratch that. We're now the most wanted people in Allied space. We can't risk being captured. We need to get back to Federal space. We'll drop him off on Nova Terra on our way back to base."