Traveler in the Dark

33

Al Jahi paced beside the Wolfinger, kicking up plumes of loose dust around the ladder. It coated her in a dull coppery crust, catching in the creases of her suit. She frowned at her shoes. No matter. It'll come off in decontamination, she thought. She could hear the buggy but not see it yet. Oxwell was coming down the nearby rise into the small bowl where the Wolfinger sat. Al Jahi shaded her eyes with her hand, peering behind Oxwell. A second, five seconds, two minutes. Oxwell reached her. "Where are Spixworth and Emery?" asked Al Jahi.

"They aren't coming."

"What do you mean 'they aren't coming'? What happened? Are they injured?"

Alice shook her head. "They've gone native. Chosen Issk'ath over us. Over the Keseburg." Her feet made a slight ringing as she climbed the Wolfinger's ladder. Al Jahi followed her.

"What are you talking about?" Al Jahi picked up a helmet from the nearby locker and twisted it on. Alice pressed the large button on the wall. The decontamination chemicals splashed them with a sudden hiss and liquid hazed Al Jahi's helmet.

"The robot shut down, and Rebecca refused to leave it. She said it was cruel and unfair to leave it alone when it was vulnerable," Alice shouted over the roar of the dryer. "I tried to tell her that it was us or that thing, but she wouldn't listen. And Spixworth—"

"Spixworth what?"

"He was a coward. He said he wasn't going to risk it reactivating during takeoff and causing us to crash. He staying in an effort to make the rest of us comply. He said we wouldn't leave them behind."

"He's right," said Al Jahi.

Alice twisted off her helmet. "This is our chance, Captain. Probably the only one we're going to get. Our plan to take Issk'ath and hope that the Keseburg's security can disable it was not a good one. But it was our only one. Now, it isn't. It won't stay that way though. We have to move quickly or it'll be too late. I understand why Rebecca and Nicholas feel as they do, but they're holding us hostage, just as much as Issk'ath was. Not just us, they're holding our families hostage. Dia and Noura and Andrei's son and my parents and Liu's husband and all the rest. We have to get back to the Keseburg without bringing that thing back to hurt them. We don't know what it intends, we don't know what it is actually capable of, and we don't know what it will take to disable it. Do you really want to chance it?"

Someone rapped on the door. Al Jahi tapped her feed. "One moment, just exiting decontamination," she said.

An image of Blick gave her the thumbs up. She and Alice pulled off their suits and exited the equipment lock. "What's your team's status?" Al Jahi asked as the interior door slid closed.

"Samples are loaded in the cargo lock," said Blick as he climbed inside. "Titov and Martham are securing the buggy."

Alice looked at her expectantly. "Everyone else is ready," she said. "They aren't coming."

Al Jahi scrubbed her face. She hadn't volunteered for this. She hadn't wanted to make decisions like these. Communications, that was it. A jumble of voices and electrical impulses that worked or it didn't. And when it didn't, she knew why. And she knew how to fix it. Better than almost anyone. But this— she wanted to help her kids. She wanted to help Andrei's kids. She didn't want to decide if people starved to death on a strange planet. This hadn't been part of the plan.

The equipment lock opened. Blick, Martham, and Titov piled out around her. "Well, Captain Al Jahi? Us or them?" asked Alice.

"Liu," called Al Jahi. He appeared in the doorway frantically tapping commands into the feed. "How's the preflight coming?"

He raked a hand through his hair, the sweat making it stay stuck in odd angles. "Ten minutes."

Al Jahi nodded. "Then we have ten minutes to reach Emery and Spixworth and talk some sense into them. The rest of you, secure your labs for flight. Leroux and Dr. Cardiff have already secured the infirmary and are available to help. Get it done."

They dispersed and Al Jahi began attempting to reach her missing people.