Crossing the Darkness Read online

  Harker stared at her with incomprehension.

  “He’s been altered. Dermal armor of some sort. Bio modifications.”

  Harker switched on his wristcom.

  Faith shook her head. “Don't bother. I told you. Everyone on the bridge is gone. We're all that's left.”

  Faith knew Harker didn’t entirely believe her; she didn’t want to believe it either. A sudden metallic groan drew their attention. The elevator slowed. Something was terribly wrong. As if to confirm her worst fears, the cab ground to a complete stop.

  Faith and Harker waited in hushed silence. A beat later, the elevator hummed back to life. Now moving upwards, floors ascending as it rushed back toward the upper deck where that thing was certainly waiting for them, weapon ready.

  “How is he doing this?” Faith asked.

  “He must be interfaced with the ship’s central computer,” Harker explained.

  The floor numbers on the digital readout kept rising.

  “Any way we can shut down the system?”

  Harker shook his head.

  Faith could feel panic threatening to overwhelm her but she fought the temptation to give up. She hadn’t succumbed to the darkness back on Luna all those years ago, and she wouldn’t allow herself to be victimized now. If her destiny was to perish aboard this ship, she’d make damn sure she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She felt her fear make way for anger and she tapped into this emotion, hoping to use it to her advantage.

  A plan had formed in her mind. “Your pulse gun! Overcharge its power source.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The only way we're going to stop this elevator is if we disrupt its magnetic field. A small explosion should do the trick!”

  Understanding dawned on Harker's face. “If it doesn't kill us first.”

  “You have any better ideas?”

  Harker shook his head. He flipped a switch on the pulse gun and lights flashed on the weapon's chamber. While Harker charged the weapon, Faith studied the elevator roof.

  “I need a lift.”

  Harker understood. He stepped closer to Faith, both suddenly aware of their physical proximity. Lights kept flashing on the gun, a hum building as its power source began to overheat. Harker grabbed her by the waist and gave her a boost. She could feel his head pressing against her belly, the strength of his hands pushing against her legs and waist, and this made her realize she hadn’t felt the touch of another human being in a long time, much less a man’s. She felt a momentary amusement at the strangeness of that thought coming in the face of death.

  Faith’s hands touched the roof of the elevator, gave it a push and succeeded in popping it open. She poked her head through the opening, now looking up at the never-ending tunnel above them. “Hand me the weapon,” she said.

  Harker did as instructed and Faith snatched the vibrating gun from his fingers, placing it on top of the elevator car. Task complete, she quickly sealed the roof hatch. Harker gently lowered her to the elevator floor.

  They withdrew into a corner and crouched down, forming a human ball. Once again Faith was acutely aware of the physical contact: Harker’s graying stubble chafing her skin, the man’s heady scent, his muffled breath. There was nothing erotic about the forced closeness; it was merely an attempt to maximize their chances at survival. Neither of them could predict the extent of the damage once the weapon blew up, so they simply prepared themselves for the imminent blast. There would be shrapnel, but Faith hoped the roof would absorb most of the power of the explosion. She blotted out all other thoughts and shifted her focus to the climbing numbers on the lift’s control panel, counting each deck in her head, realizing that any second now the elevator would reach its dark destination, the doors would part and her world would end in a furious hail of laser fire.

  She suddenly felt like a complete fool. They had sacrificed their only weapon for some half-assed plan that was more liable to get them killed than save them…

  A fearsome explosion tore through the climbing elevator. The blast ripped a hole in the roof and a vortex of withering metal strafed the interior. Pieces of metal punched through the walls and floor. The elevator car groaned and creaked and started to plummet, a dizzying descent that pressed Faith and Harker even harder against each other. Her stomach jumped into her throat, g-forces pinning her to the elevator floor. The explosion had disrupted the mag-lev field and the lift was now plunging down the shaft at breakneck speed. The plan had worked but it was looking like it might end with them dead at the bottom of the shaft, buried beneath a ton of shattered steel.

  Time distended in Faith’s mind as the lift seemed to pick up even more speed in its free fall. She was counting on the emergency brakes to kick in, but maybe that had been wishful thinking on her part. To Faith’s relief, the elevator started to slow as the brakes began to do their job. Then a sudden grinding stop jolted the lift.

  For a moment neither Faith nor Harker stirred, still holding onto each other for dear life and terrified that shifting their weight might send the elevator crashing farther down the shaft. Faith finally moved, groggy, bleeding from numerous small cuts, and caught Harker’s eye. His expression mirrored her own. He couldn’t quite believe that they were still alive.

  Faith stumbled to her feet, shaking off the debris. It appeared the elevator car had stopped between floors. It took another moment to gather the will to move. She knew she couldn’t allow herself to rest. This was just a momentary reprieve. There was no doubt the killer would not be fazed by this slight setback. Chances were that he was already preparing a counter-move. They had to get off this ship before their luck ran out.

  Her gaze traveled to the half-exposed elevator door. She nodded at Harker and he joined her. Together they pried the door open, one strenuous inch at a time.

  ***

  On the upper deck, the silent behemoth who had once been the captain of the Orion waited for the elevator to arrive. The gore-streaked shiver blade in his hand vibrated in hungry anticipation.

  When the lights stopped climbing on the elevator’s control panel, the killer interfaced with the ship’s security system. The data-stream from over 200 onboard cameras filled his field of vision. He flipped through this visual barrage with speed and precision, freezing the stream of images when he caught his first glimpse of Faith. A security cam showed her wriggling her way out of the half-open elevator door. Only a third of the lift was aligned with the floor, providing a small space to slip through.

  Data slashed over the killer’s enhanced field of vision, identifying the floor as one of the lower decks. His inhuman features registered no emotion as he turned and resumed the hunt.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  FAITH ANGLED HER way through the aperture to escape the elevator and survey the adjoining corridor, a barren, metallic passage. She was back on one of the Orion’s lower decks where the hyper-stasis chambers were located. Her hands were still quivering and she couldn’t quite believe the plan had worked. Harker appeared behind her.

  “Do you believe me now when I tell you I had nothing to do with this?”

  Harker nodded, seeing Faith in a new light. “That was some quick thinking back there.”

  “Ten years in the slammer teaches you a trick or two.”

  “No shit.”

  “What are we up against here? Where are the others?”

  Harker didn’t answer but the haunted 1000-yard stare told Faith everything she needed to know. He wasn’t ready to talk about what happened, at least not yet. And truth be told, Faith wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear this story. The bottom line: no one was left from the group of colonists that had woken from cryo.

  Fueled by soaring adrenaline, Faith stepped up to the elevator's control panel. She felt like a machine driven by one objective — survival.

  “Computer, how do I reach the nearest lifeboat area?”

  3-D schematics of the ship appeared on the elevator’s control panel. A red light indicated Faith’s current whereabouts
and a phosphorescent green area represented the LIFE POD BAY. A red line began to plot the fastest route.

  “What are you doing?” Harker asked.

  “What does it look like? I'm getting the hell off this ship.”

  Harker stared at her with disbelief. “You're going to leave 4,000 colonists at the mercy of this monster?”

  “An hour ago you wanted to lock me up, now you're asking me to play hero?”

  “A lot has happened since then.”

  “No offense, but we don’t stand a chance against that monster. Our best is to get off this ship and radio for help.”

  “We're all that stands between that construct and everyone else aboard the Orion. We can't abandon these people.”

  “Watch me.”

  Faith wasn’t heartless but, damn it, getting herself killed wouldn’t save these colonists. Their only option was to send a distress signal and hope someone would pick it up in time. If Harker wanted to go down with the ship, so be it. She wasn’t a hero. Far from it. In the end, she was just another colonist who happened to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to make the best of it. They had gotten lucky in the elevator and she doubted that their string of good fortune would continue for much longer. She hadn’t survived the lunar penal colony to end up a victim on a colony junker. Her odds of rescue in a life pod might not be great either, but it beat waiting to meet a grisly end aboard this ship of horrors.

  Faith turned away from Harker. She barely managed to take a few steps before he caught up with her and grabbed her arm, slamming her against the wall. She glared at Harker, the force behind the man’s grip making her bristle. This was a different kind of physical proximity and Faith had zero tolerance for it.

  “Let go of me.”

  Harker backed off, responding to her sharp tone of voice and the silent threat it carried. His features grew cold in response. “I should've known not to expect anything from you.”

  “You don't know anything about me. So back the fuck off.”

  Harker pulled away and Faith relaxed slightly, the tension draining from her body. She bristled at the idea of fighting it out with Harker, but she wouldn’t shy away from it if push came to shove.

  “I'm getting off this ship. And if you're smarter than you look, you'll do the same.”

  “How do you expect to leave when there are no lifeboats?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Harker turned to the nearest comm panel. “Computer, what is the status of the lifeboats aboard the Orion?”

  “All lifeboats were launched four years ago.”

  “Please provide a visual.”

  A holo-image of the empty lifeboat bay appeared. All boats were indeed gone.

  What now? All of a sudden Faith craved a cigarette, just one hit to set her mind straight.

  “If you still don’t believe me, you can check for yourself. But you better move fast. If the killer can interface with the elevators, chances are he has access to all the security feeds. He knows where we are. That thing is probably on its way to the lower decks as we speak.”

  Harker took a step closer. “You say you want to start over? Put your past behind you? Then do it.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You can't change your past but you can change who you are right now. Help these people. ”

  “I have nothing to prove to you.”

  “What about to yourself? We can't keep running because there's no place to run to. We're stuck aboard this ship and that means we have to confront this son of a bitch.”

  “I already did. Only reason I'm standing here is because I got real lucky.”

  “You're not alone this time.”

  The words reached Faith and stirred a thought. Harker had inadvertently given her an idea. There was another way to improve their odds. After a beat, she said, “You got that right.”

  ***

  Here we are again, Faith thought. She was back inside the vast, cavernous hyper-sleep chamber. Checking the time, Faith couldn’t believe that only hours had passed since she awoke from cryo-sleep. It felt more like days since her peaceful slumber was interrupted and replaced with a reality that had ceased making sense a long time ago.

  “You better hurry. If he can interface with the elevator systems, he won’t have a problem accessing the ship’s security feed. I’m pretty sure he knows we’re here.”

  “Just relax. I’m working as fast as I can.”

  Harker accessed a control board near the chamber’s entrance and a pale fluorescent light burst to life, revealing hundreds of cryo-cylinders. Faith once again took in the sleeping colonists, all of them blissfully unaware of what had transpired aboard the ship that was supposed to safely transport them to the main belt. Her eyes locked on a tube that held the body of a little girl. Faith speculated that she must be the daughter of one of the colonists. The sight of the child made her breath hitch, reminding her of the little girl in the treasured hologram. Faith touched the surface of the glass cylinder, her gaze lingering on the little girl's peaceful expression. She was dreaming dreams unencumbered by the horror Faith had just experienced.

  Faith addressed the whole room of colonists as she spoke. “What does he want from you?”

  The question hung in the air, echoing in the vast chamber. Harker didn’t offer up a theory or try to present her with some half-assed answer. Instead, he kept manipulating the terminal, remaining focused on the task at hand. “Waking up a couple hundred colonists should change the odds,” Harker said. “I just hope we're not going to get a bunch of innocent people killed here.”

  The same thought had crossed Faith's mind when she proposed the plan, but she couldn't allow doubt to take hold. They weren’t going to wake up everyone, just enough people to even the odds. A trained killer could easily pick off eight colonists. He might find it harder going up against a hundred.

  Harker leaned over the hyper-sleep control system and tapped a few keys. Lights flashed and the names of the colonists scrolled down a holo-terminal. As Harker went about his task, he shot Faith a sideways glance. “So how did you manage to get out of that holding cell?”

  Faith didn’t answer.

  “Let me guess. Another trick you picked while doing hard time.”

  “Prison does teach you to improvise.”

  “I bet.”

  “To be honest, I can’t take credit for the Houdini act. Someone decided to let me out of the cell.”

  The explanation earned a puzzled frown from Harker.

  “I assumed at first that someone on the bridge overrode the locking mechanism once the killer attacked…”

  “But now you’re not so sure.”

  “He seems to be interfaced with most of the ship. I think he knew I was in the cell, and for some reason he let me out.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  Faith couldn’t argue with the sentiment. Nothing was making sense right now. Harker tapped a few more buttons and the screen filled with the life signs of the various colonists. As his hands moved back and forth, navigating the various menus of the floating holo-screens before him, he asked a question Faith had heard almost on a daily basis since she wrapped up her stint on the penal colony.

  “So what were you in for? Who did you screw with?”

  “You mean, who didn’t I screw?

  Her response earned a grin from Harker, but Faith wasn’t amused. She had hoped that out here among the stars she could escape the woman she’d once been and concentrate on the person she wanted to become. Funny how the past had a way of catching up with you no matter where you went. From the way Harker studied her, Faith could tell he wanted to hear more but was smart enough to know he wouldn’t be getting the full story.

  Harker thumbed another button. A new wave of text appeared on the holo-terminal. INITIATING HYPER-SLEEP WAKE-UP SEQUENCE. A satisfied smile played across Harker's face as he took in the multitude of hyper-stasis capsules. “Here we go… Rise and shine.�
��

  He made another hand gesture and tapped the floating holo-screen. Lights flashed and a new message replaced the various readings. WAKE-UP SEQUENCE ABORTED.

  Faith shot Harker a querying glance. “What's the problem?”

  Harker didn’t answer but instead opted for another approach. His fingers tapped more keys. His efforts were rewarded with the same message.

  “Come on, come on...”

  Still no response.

  “Fuck!” Harker took a step back from the terminal, grudging respect mixing with an air of defeat.

  Understanding dawned on Faith. “He overrode the hyper-stasis system.”

  “This bastard's not leaving anything up to chance,” Harker said.

  The same thought had crossed Faith’s mind.

  A sudden sound made them both whirl. Faith and Harker exchanged a brief glance, sensing that they might not be alone any longer. Their eyes penetrated the shadow-cloaked chamber, scoping. Waiting for the sound to repeat itself.

  “He’s here,” Faith said.

  As if to confirm her words, a laser bullet slammed into the hyper-sleep tube right next to her in an explosion of glass and blood. The helpless colonist inside the tube spasmed and twitched, his body going into shock. Faith stared, shaken by the sight of the dying man and the horror of his predicament. Mercifully, his body slumped forward without regaining consciousness.

  Without having to exchange any further words, Faith and Harker burst into motion and darted into the maze of glass cylinders. Two more hungry pulse blasts rippled through the chamber, slamming into glass and the warm, dormant flesh it held. Another hyper-stasis chamber shattered and a body thumped to the ground in a rain of crimson cryo-fluids.

  Faith averted her gaze; she didn’t want to know more about the latest innocent casualty, didn’t want their faces burnt into her memory for all time. Moving, moving, they zig-zagged through the labyrinth of sleeping colonists. Faith and Harker dipped behind another tube, seeking cover from an enemy they couldn’t even see. They listened while holding their collective breath.

  Seconds stretched.