Kraken Orbital (10 page)

It should
have filled me with dread. It should have filled me with anger at
myself and it should have made me feel guilty and depressed. I’d
taken a life. But it didn’t. I was glad and that scared me even
more. The last guy stopped dead, afraid of me, and turned to run
away. I threw my axe off the back of his head. It hit his helmet
hard, cracked it through the middle, and the guy fell to the floor
limp. The metal walkwa
y creaked under the
shock of his weight.

I wanted
his
armor. He had a laser weapon on him
too. The axe could go. I tossed it over the side without thinking
twice. I threw off my mining uniform as fast as I could and started
pulling the red armor off the lifeless body. I knew it wasn’t going
to be a snug fit but it seemed to stretch or shrink around the
wearer. Shrink in my case.

No one had
discovered me so I was safe to wander around so long as I got rid
of this body. I lifted the guy slowly over the rail that guarded
the sides of the walkway. He was heavy. I swung his torso over the
rail then lifted his legs so that he was precariously balanced on
the tiny edge of the metal. I shoved him to the floor below. I knew
it would kill him. He opened his eyes as he slumped into the rock.
His look of fear will always be etched onto the back of my
eyes.

I discarded
the helmet. It was cracked so I couldn’t see anything out of it
when I briefly tried it on. I could see a rig connected to the
walkway that didn’t have a guard by the door. I needed to get far
away. The structure was like an oil rig, used in the not too
distant past, in oil rich areas back on Earth. There was a module
welded on the base that would m
ake it
capably of space flight.

It had hyper
drive. A basic one I assumed as I studied it from the ledge and a
deck to the side that would presumably be the cockpit. Pipe lines
traced its every corner and I could make out the drill mechanism
penetrating through the middle of the metal honeycomb
structure.

That was a
good a chance as any. I broke out into a swift jog. My heavy boots
crashed over the metal walkway and the
impact vibrated and echoed throughout the rocky
surroundings. I was still alone for now. I could see, in the
distance, a few guards over on the other walkways to my left. They
were far enough away to remain undisturbed. The sound must not be
carrying that far and their vision, in the long distance, must be
somewhat impaired by the shell of their helmets.

I hit the
door hard with my shoulder to brake it open. It wasn’t too strong
and the weak lock gave way with just one barge. The metal lock fell
to the concrete floor with a dull thud. I brushed my palm over the
but of the laser weapon, and suddenly
realized I had no idea how to use it. I couldn’t see or
hear anyone in the next area.

The next area
served as entrance to the rig. It was honeycombed and I could see
though it past the strong metal beams. It consisted of a long
corridor that led to an open concrete stairway. It reminded me of a
space shuttle entrance. I was always a dreamer. That’s why I came
here. I always wanted to explore space. That kind of thing had
fascinated me as a kid in my history lessons.

I run again, all the way up to the stairs,
and don’t even pause to check that the way was clear like I should
have.

‘Hey!’
Damn it!
There were four of them in the stair way that I hadn’t
seen. They had me pinned from an elevated position and my
adrenaline was starting to fall. My heart started beating harder
and harder and I contemplated, although very briefly, giving
up.

I drew the laser gun and started pulling at
the trigger. I should have been watching where I was pointing it. I
wasn’t expecting it to go off at all. I thought there might have
been a safety mechanism or something. The bolts of laser energy,
red and dazzling, slammed against the concrete and fired dust and
fragments of brick up into the air.

I breathed
in, by mistake, and inhaled a lot of particles. I couldn’t stop
coughing. I could hear them laughing at me.
Mocking me. I guess I deserved it.

‘Come on,
kid, you had a good run!’ One of them jested and was met with
applauding laughter and a few claps and high fives from his dumb
ass buddies. I was, again, filled with rage.

They added
fuel to my burning fire and I was empowered some more to not back
down. I don’t care if I die here like this. I’d rather die than go
back. I raised my gun through the fog of dust and fired as many
times as I could until the weapon stopped. It overheated, burned my
hand right through my
armored glove, and
I dropped it like a rookie on the floor.

The first
body fell down the stairs, parting the wave of dust as it fell, and
slumped at the base with
smoldering holes
in the man’s armor. I flared at the nostrils and my muscles felt
unnaturally tense. I steadied my breath, relaxed my shoulders and
felt my face go numb, not with regret or self hate. But anger and
pride. I start walking up the stairs, passing three more burnt
bodies as I climb and don’t stop to give them the time of day to
even look at them.

I follow the
next areas, corridors and adjacent rooms containing
super
computers and navigational gear
blindly on auto pilot. I feel invincible and above the law. I stuff
my hand into my pocket when it starts throbbing from the pain of
the burn. There is a security card in there. I take hold of it and
a door to my right suddenly sparks into life.

The circular locking mechanism spins into
life and the door thunders open. It reveals a control room, maybe a
bridge, I step in and the door closes.

All at once
the emotion hits me. I feel elated at first. I managed to tear off
the shackles that bound me to this modern day form of slavery. I
managed, all of a sudden, to show my boss just what I thought of
him and beat him down just like he did to us day after day. But I’d
killed. I didn’t know that was in me. I
’d
hoped it wasn’t. My chest tightens and I feel an insurmountable
wave of depression lift over me.

I only notice
my tears as they start rolling down my cheeks and
s
plashing into little puddles across the
matt black floor. I start to shake uncontrollably and I can feel
all the solidity ebb away from me. The resolve I used to beat the
life out of my boss, tear my way out of the mine, kill six guards
on my way to the rig, suddenly but surely ebbs out of me. All the
negativity, pain and self hate rushes through me and fills me with
dread.

I cry for what feels like hours, holding an
open palm to my brushed beard, gritting my teeth over the side of
my hand. I bite down hard so that the pain takes my mind away from
what I just did. It isn’t enough. I punch myself hard on the side
of the cheek to try and snap out of it. But I just fall to my
knees. I start hitting my head, over and over again, off the side
of the centre console until I can see nothing but dazzling white in
the backs of my eyes.

I stop just before I pass out and roll back,
slumping to the cold floor, a broken and deflated man.

I must have knocked something. Images and
charts started filling the screen above my head. It was mounted
above the centre console so high that I had not even seen it when I
came in. The centre console allowed full vision through the windows
ahead, but the pilot or captain would have to lift his head to see
any data displayed upon the screen. The pictures showed a luscious
world, filled with greenery, roaring rivers, interesting creatures
and rolling hills.

The charts that occupied the other half of
the screen displayed densities of detected natural gas. The planet
I was looking at was not too dissimilar from Earth long before the
advent of the human race. It’s fossil fuels were rich. The
Morris-Cooper Company must have been planning on flying this hybrid
rig there and mining for the gas deposits.

I decide in
an instant what I’m going to do. I’ve made my choice, I made it
when I first struck my boss with my axe, and there is no turning
back from the things that I have done in the last half hour. I’m
going to steal it. I’m going to fly the damn thing there and
just take my chances. I’m blind to the numbing
sensation of uncertainty. I just don’t care any more. I’ll fly this
thing there and mine for the gas myself or something.

I used to fly
crop sprayers for my Dad. They were equipped with small jet fired
engines, were unstable in flight, needed constant adjustments, and
landed like catapulted cows. Those were more basic than this, this
thing has flight intelligence, probably an auto pilot too, and I’m
confiden
t that I can get it
going.

I peer, through tear filled and glazed eyes,
out of the window ahead. I can see a much larger group of guards
heading my way from over the metal walkways that stretch in every
direction.

It has to be now. I reach for the console.
There is a huge lever and a sequence of buttons. One is clearly
marked “Start”. They might as well have just given me the key and
flown it away for me. I hit the large circular, green and
illuminated button and listen as the belting hyper drive rattles to
life.

The
Morris-Cooper Company aren’t that well off. It must be a second
hand death trap but it seems to fly alright. I must have initiated
a launch sequence because the metal walkways immediately start
tearing away to a burst of exploding bolts. I smile, irresistibly,
as the guards are thrown from the swinging walkways and down to the
rocky floor.

The rapid, vertical, acceleration is
dizzying. I feel like something is pushing down hard on the top of
my skull as the rig begins to climb. A few warning lights begin to
flash but I ignore them. I have no idea what they mean and I
couldn’t care less.

I’m riding on luck though and I know it. I
hope this works. I scream and hold onto the console tight as I’m
propelled into the upper atmosphere. The power of the engine
suddenly lessens as I become weightless. I had forgotten, stupidly,
all about the absence of gravity up in space. I keep tight hold of
the centre console and pull hard to make myself float through the
bridge to the pilots chair ahead.

I enjoy the
sensation of being in zero gravity and I wish I had time to
savor it. I should know that the guards have no
way to follow me but I’m riding the blinding adrenaline of an
escape. I don’t want to just float about amicably in space. I want
to set my course and get away.

I pull myself
down to the cold leather seat and tuck my feet under the dashboard
to hold my
self in place as I pull two
thick straps over each of my shoulders and secure them into their
anchor points at my sides. The warning light that was blaring
before, accompanied with an incessant beep, stops as soon as the
harness clunks into place.

A screen in
front of me flickers to life. My hands don’t know what to do. I
had, rather stupidly, been expecting a steering wheel or joy
stick or something. I got lucky again though.
Because the course had already been lain in. I made one last check
through the onboard systems to confirm that no one had been trapped
on board. I cycled through a few basic screens and found one that
stated, in bold red letters across a blue screen, no personnel on
board.

My stress
level dropped a touch and I cycled through the screens using a
little button to the left of the monito
r,
back to the original display that conveniently asked me in a pop up
window if I would like to begin the course. I tapped it a few times
to no avail. I took off my gloves and that worked. The screen was
skin sensitive. I could hear, rather than feel, the engine flicker
back into life.

A split
second later
and the intense g-force
began to build as the rig built up some inertia. I sighed and lay
back once the course settled. Stars raced past my window in a
dazzling flurry and spectacle. I let myself slip into their
hypnotic trance, then finally closed my eyes to sleep. I hope when
I wake I can start coming to terms with what I did.

Chapter 7

Mountain Pass

I don’t talk to Kolt for a while. I rapidly
came to the conclusion that he is well and truly off his rocker. I
concentrate on the difficulty of the climb to take my mind off some
of the things he had said.

It works. The rock is slippery as the mist
begins to form above the elevated crag we climbed onto to get out
of the way of some dinosaurs. We need to get down soon though. I
can see the base of the mountain ahead, rising up into the sky,
after some rolling foothills.

I keep peering up into the cloud cover to see
if I can catch a glimpse of his Kraken Class warship atop the
mountain. I wonder though, I wonder if he even has a ship at all, I
can’t figure out the reality of the guy. I hope it is a Kraken
though. I’d love to see one.

‘We should camp up here tonight.’ Kolt
finally breaks the awkward silence and stops. He is right. The sun
is dipping into the back of the mountain ahead and sending rays of
dazzling orange light through the methane soaked atmosphere. It
casts a long shadow of the mountain across the darkening jungle
floor.

It would be a literal nightmare getting
through the jungle in this darkness. But it doesn’t stop me wanting
to. I decide to protest. I can’t figure this guy out. One minute I
trust him completely then he drops a bomb like that and my faith in
him fades quickly.