Hard Vacuum 1 (2 page)

Scrabbling, she grabbed her water bottle from her belt, ripped it free and threw it out into space with suit-boosted power. The bottle shot away from her, and she arced in the other direction. It was going to be close.

The handhold neared. Kyra grabbed for it, catching it with her fingertips and pulling herself to the hull. With her heart in her throat, she wrapped her arms around the bar. "Let's not do that again."

The soft-coupling airlock was smaller than the one in the barracks. She barely fit inside it with her suit. Pulling herself in, she slammed the outer door and pressed the cycle button.

The airlock flashed red, refusing to cycle.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, you hunk of plastic shit?" Kyra slapped the panel with her hand.

The airlock flickered green and cycled, sending air into the compartment.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Kyra said. She pushed the inner door open and moved into the soft coupling.

Kyra struggled along the plastic corridor, back towards Delta Wing. Her feet sank into the flexible surface. It had been designed for zero gravity movement, with plastic rungs extending from every side. After a few exhausting minutes, Kyra reached the airlock for Delta Wing and looked through the small window.

She could see the man from the barracks at the far end of the corridor, her bag over his shoulder, talking to the other men. They pushed a few stragglers through an open door. Kyra accessed her ReadyNet and saw the door led to the canteen.

She waited until they all went in, out of sight, and then opened the heavy door to the corridor. She padded to the first shop nearby and slipped inside.

Racks of dresses and jewellery filled the shop. Nothing she could use. She padded out again and around to the next shop. Inside this store, lurid pink and purple displays contained an assortment of sex toys. Kyra ignored the luminescent vibrators and cling suits, heading for the S&M section near the back.

She scanned the collection of spiked collars and zipped masks, but nothing seemed useful. All of the handcuffs had quick-release catches. They were designed for play, not serious use.

"Has no-one ever wanted to get a little rough around here?" Kyra grumbled, walking for the door. She checked the corridor and stepped out.

Alarms blared all around her.

Kyra spun, searching for the source of the disturbance. She looked down and spotted a small bot clinging to the leg of her suit. The bot was knee-high and had an enormous phallus jutting from its groin. It humped her leg enthusiastically, but the multiple layers and vacuum-proof armour kept her from feeling anything.

Kyra backed into the shop, and the alarms stopped. She ripped the bot from her leg and threw it into a rack of butt plugs, which scattered across the floor like bowling pins with daddy issues. Peeking out, she saw two men emerge from the canteen.

"Ray, go check that out," said one.

The other glanced at the ammo counter on his gun and strode towards the store.

Kyra looked around the shop, searching for somewhere to hide. The only spot was the changing room at the back. She dashed to it and got inside, closing the swing-door behind her. It was little more than a closet. A few PVC outfits were hanging from the hooks on the walls.

"Come on out," the man — Ray — called from the front of the store. "Don't be afraid. The guns are for your own protection. There's been an emergency, and we need to evacuate everyone."

Kyra checked her ReadyNet. The escape pods were in the docking areas, not the canteen.

"We won't hurt you. Come on out," Ray said, moving closer.

Kyra planted her left boot against the back wall of the changing room, crouching down, ready.

"If you don't come out, I have to shoot," Ray said from just outside the swing-door.

Kyra launched herself through it, fists out in front of her. She slammed into Ray's stomach, driving the wind from his lungs.

He stumbled backwards against a shelf of dildos. The dildos wobbled back and forth in disapproval.

Ray brought his gun up, trying to aim.

Kyra grabbed it and threw it aside, her suit's power ripping it from his futile grasp. She pulled Ray up by his cheap leather jacket and flung him headfirst across the store.

He slammed into a display of cling-suits. The arms of the suits reached out to stroke his face.

"Help!" Ray called, scrambling to his feet. He searched around him and found a novelty whip. Rolling it out, he cracked it at Kyra's face. It pinged harmlessly against her faceplate.

She caught it with her right hand, yanking Ray so hard he flew through the air. Kyra's arm lashed out, clotheslining him as he rocketed past.

He struggled to rise.

Kyra grabbed Ray's head and somersaulted over him, wrenching down hard. There was a loud crack and Ray went limp.

"That was a snap," Kyra said.

She heard boots out in the corridor, running for the shop. Kyra bolted for the door and dashed across to the barracks.

"Hey, who are you?" someone called.

Kyra ignored him, sprinting for the airlock. She could hear footsteps close behind her.

"Stop now or we shoot!" someone shouted.

Kyra reached the inner door, opening it and pushing inside. She yanked it closed and pressed the button. The airlock began to cycle.

Kyra looked back through the window to the barracks.

Three men with guns stood staring at her. They all brought their weapons up and fired at the window. A web of cracks spread out. The glass was thick, but not impenetrable. One of the men held his hand up, and the others stopped. He walked over to a comms unit on the wall.

The airlock finished cycling, and Kyra pushed outside, leaving the outer door open. They wouldn't be able to follow her with the door open.

The man at the comms unit smiled and waved at her before turning and walking away. The others trailed after him.

Kyra looked at the airlock display. A blue lock symbol told her she couldn't get in there again. Kyra used her ReadyNet to zoom in on the soft coupling airlock and saw a blue symbol there, too. For a moment, she considered punching in the inner airlock window, but that would kill the dockworkers, and she couldn't fit through it anyway.

She closed the outer door and activated her ReadyNet, searching the station map for any way inside. She could only find one possibility — shipping on the far side had a warehouse open to space. There might be something there to help her get inside the station.

The problem was getting there. It was two kilometres away, and there weren't any handholds. Kyra scanned the area nearby and spotted a communications dish fifty metres above her. A plan formed, and her mind immediately screamed a thousand reasons it was crazy.

"Well, Kyra, you could sit here all day with your thumb up your ass or you could go kill these motherfuckers," she growled. She thought about the grin on the merc's face as he'd walked away, and the choice was simple. She launched herself at the dish.

SHIPPING

K
yra left a wake of broken dishes, solar panels and support struts behind her as she launched and vaulted across the surface of the station. At least her ReadyNet told her that she had plenty of oxygen and power.

After a tense hour of jumping, she paused by a control box on the top of Bravo Wing. Kyra could see a large, streamlined ship locked onto the docking port. The light from a small cockpit shone out against the terrible black of space.

Kyra adjusted her grip on the delicate control box and moved down to the top edge of a massive opening in the side of the station. Inside, she could see countless shelves crammed with crates. She knew they would be filled with water rations and metal parts, anything that didn't require heat and air to store it.

She got to the lip and climbed down, holding the edge until she reached the floor. With a small push, Kyra jumped inside. She thumped down on the deck as gravity reasserted itself.

Robots glided around the warehouse, ignoring her as they arranged the crates in ever more efficient patterns.

Kyra slunk past them to an airlock door on the other side. The door was large enough to allow the shipping containers through and had a manual crank wheel in the centre.

Kyra moved to a small window set in the door and looked inside. The airlock was empty. She spun the wheel until the door hung free, and then pulled it up. Ducking under the door, Kyra yanked it shut again and locked it.

Bright light shone through the window in the inner door. Kyra crept to it and looked inside to a corridor. Just as she reached the window, two men turned the far corner with guns raised. Kyra ducked out of sight and waited.

After a moment, she took another look and saw the men had gone. She double-checked the corridor was empty, and then keyed the controls and filled the airlock. The electronic display flashed green, and the inner door swung open.

She hurried inside and closed the door behind her. Scanning the corridor, she spotted a metal door nearby. She slipped inside to find a large warehouse filled with whizzing bots.

Kyra activated her ReadyNet and called Manik Dada, her WeaverCorp liaison.

He answered after a moment, looking harried. "Hello?"

"This is Kyra Sarin. Listen, armed men have captured the station. They've been rounding up the crew and taking them to the canteen."

"What?" Manik appeared confused. "Kyra Sarin the soldier?"

"You need to tell someone to send help," Kyra said. "I'm not sure what they want, but it can't be good."

"You escaped these men?"

Kyra nodded. "I don't think they know where I am, so I should be safe for a while."

Above her, a speaker crackled, and a voice spoke. "Hello, everyone. This is Baltasar Kemke. We are representatives from WikiDeath, the freedom movement. My agents are rounding up people for their own safety. It is vital that you all hand yourselves in to the nearest agent. Otherwise, the consequences could be fatal."

The voice paused for a moment, and then began speaking Mandarin.

"Did you hear that?" Kyra asked.

Manik nodded. "We've had trouble with WikiDeath before. They don't approve of our war against the Xenomigrants. They never do anything violent, though."

"Well, this seems pretty fucking violent."

The voice on the speaker finished speaking Mandarin and switched back to English. "There's a soldier loose in shipping warehouse B. Rainor and Stein, go and take care of her."

"Shit, I'd better go." Kyra closed her connection to Manik.

She scanned the room, looking for a way out. Long shipping containers sat atop the deep shelves to leave gaps between them. She might be able to hide in the shadows there for a while, but not forever. Six shelves stretched a hundred metres above Kyra to the ceiling at the top of the station. Each of the shelves was broad enough to almost be a floor onto itself. Robots adjusted the crates a millimetre at a time until they considered them perfect and moved on.

Kyra walked further into the warehouse, slipping between the crates that hadn't been stacked away yet. She spotted metal stairs and padded to them, trying to stay quiet. She heard the door opening and ducked behind a crate, out of sight.

Two muscular men in turtleneck shirts walked in, their guns raised, scanning the room.

Kyra crouched low and made for the stairs, keeping an eye on the men.

"Back there," one of the men shouted.

Kyra abandoned her efforts to stay quiet and sprang up the stairs. Flak fire hit the metal around her, ricocheting off the stairs and her suit. Her ReadyNet flashed at her with each glancing impact and her suit power plummeted.

She reached the top of the stairs and ducked onto the shelf, out of sight. She pushed her way between two containers as flak fire hit the roof above her. Staying low, Kyra waited for the gunshots to die down.

"Rainor, go up and get her," a voice called from below.

Kyra inched out and peeked down the stairs.

A burly blonde man was climbing towards her.

Kyra backed away on the shelf, glancing around her and staying back from the edge. She couldn't find any cover. Neatly packed shipping containers filled the shelves, each holding dozens of precisely arranged crates. Kyra grabbed a crate and heaved, throwing it out between her and Rainor.

From below her, flak crackled, punching into the side of the crate. Kyra scrambled away from the bouncing flak.

A loud beeping behind her startled Kyra. She turned and saw a robot weaving backwards and forwards. Kyra stepped aside, and the robot dashed to the crate, picking it up and moving it back into place.

"You tidy little beauty," Kyra said. She grabbed another crate and threw it out onto the shelf. She kept flinging crates until a jumble cluttered the edge of the shelf. A crate fell off the end, and Kyra heard a shout below.

"Come on out, girl," Rainor called from the other side of the mess of crates. Kyra could see him straining to spot her.

A robot darted up the steps behind Rainor and beeped at him. Rainor turned, his gun raised and blew the bot's face off.