Breaking Through Limits (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 22

Harry was jerked out of sleep by an ear-splitting shriek.

"What the hell?" He sat straight up in bed, his heart hammering in his chest. All the lights were on and a blinding flashing was coming from somewhere high on the wall. Squinting his eyes, Harry managed to see that the pulsing light was coming from the small silver disk he'd noticed on his first day in their quarters, so many months ago.

"Up, get up!" Tomlinson was suddenly dragging him to his feet.

"What? Why? What's happening?" In his confusion Harry thought that someone must have set off the O2 alarm again, as he had the night Burns had attacked him in the shower room. But this alarm sounded different —it was shriller and more urgent. What could be more urgent than the space station leaking atmosphere?

"It's the Lobsters. They're back." Tomlinson's voice was calm but intense. "The Saudeber ship cluster has been sighted," he explained, obviously seeing the confusion on Harry's face. "Come on —this isn't a drill. We have to go."

"But... but... we're naked." Harry fumbled around for his uniform before remembering that he had put it in the laundry chute as he did every night and he wasn't due to get another one until the  morning. What time was it anyway? He felt like he'd only been asleep for a few hours.

"We'd be taking off our clothes to fly the Needle anyway," Tomlinson pointed out. "Besides, there isn't time to get dressed. We have to go now!" He grabbed Harry by the hand and pulled him out into the darkened corridor. From the corner of his eye Harry saw several other naked Needlers flash by and then his partner was cramming them both into the emergency tube they'd been using for moths to get to the docking bay. There was a soft swooshing sound in his ears and the feeling of falling downward through a cushion of air.

The minute their feet hit the cold metal floor they were running. Harry had caught the feeling of urgency from his partner but he felt a sense of unreality too as they passed the small dressing room where they usually took off their uniforms before a flight. Could it really be possible that the Saudebers were back in Earth's solar system? For months he had been discounting Tomlinson's blind devotion to the idea that mankind's old enemy would return. And now that it appeared to have actually happened, he felt as though something he feared as a child but didn't believe in as an adult had suddenly proved to be a reality. It was as though the boogeyman he'd been certain lived in his closet when he was six years old had suddenly stepped through his front door and threatened him. It was unbelievable. Preposterous.

And yet, even as those thoughts flitted through his head, he was climbing into the sleek silver Needle that had been designated as his and Tomlinson's months before. All around them the other pilot and gunner teams were doing the same. There was some nervous chatter but for the most part the Needlers were quiet as they took their places.

Suddenly there was a booming echo throughout the docking bay and then a deep voice was speaking over the PA system.

"Needlers," it said and Harry recognized it as the voice of Colonel Marten, the teacher who had put him and Tomlinson together as a team in the first place. "The Saudeber ship cluster has been sighted coming in fast from the far side of the lunar surface." Marten's voice was tense. "The Fleet Needlers are coming in from Mars but it will take them awhile to get here. In the meantime, it is your honor and duty to defend the Earth." He coughed, a dry hacking sound that echoed in the cavernous space. "No heroics, gentlemen. The queen ship is well-guarded and none of you have the experience to take it out. We simply expect you to deflect the first wave of ships until the Fleet can get here. So go out there and do you damnedest. Godspeed." With a final crackle, the PA system went dead.