The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 29 - SYDNEY

Sydney began opening windows on the control console the moment she materialized in the star room. It confirmed what her tablet had told her. Half of her port side sensor array had been knocked out by a burst of microwave radiation. The pattern of damage indicated some sort of beam weapon, not a natural burst of cosmic radiation. The remaining sensors showed a ship rapidly gaining on her.

"Damn, I thought for sure I'd left them in too big a mess to follow me." She checked the trajectory of the pursuing ship and saw that it was not coming from the alien base. It must have been in space instead of docked, isolating it from the chaos she'd unleashed on the alien network.

She began making random course changes, zigging and zagging to throw off her pursuer's aim. The enemy ship was more than ninety light seconds away, so every time she changed directions, it would take a minute and half before they would see it. She programmed a random course change every thirty seconds.

Roger came running into the star room. "I thought I might find you in here," he said as he joined her at the command console.

"Smart man. I might make you my first officer."

"What's happening? You said we were under attack."

"Yes. There must have been a ship parked out in space near the station. It wasn't affected by all the crap I threw at their network. They're behind us but gaining fast."

"How close?"

"About ninety light seconds. That's like... seventeen million miles."

Roger breathed a sigh of relief. "And to think I was actually worried."

"This is space, Roger, that's not that far, and that ship is fast. At the rate they're gaining, they could reach us within a few hours. Assuming they don't blast us out of the sky with a death ray or something first."

He stared at the symbols crawling across the console. "How do you make sense of this?"

"Sorry, that's a raw sensor dump. Give me just a second..." She tapped at the console, closing one window and opening another. A few more taps, and a glowing shape sprang into existence above the table.

"It looks like some bloke pounded nails into a rugby ball," Roger observed.

"Huh. Sorta does, doesn't it. That's our enemy. Similar design to this ship, but bigger engines, and they obviously have weapons."

"I take it we are not similarly armed?"

"No, I don't think so. Lots of sensors and bigger computers. If I had to guess, we stole a science ship. Not the best choice for a space pirate, sorry."

"One must make do with what providence provides."

"Yeah, I was a bit rushed during our escape, so I suppose... damn!"

"What?"

Sydney began stabbing at the control console again. "We took another hit from their microwave beam. Lost one of the drive nodes this time. That means they're gaining on us even faster now."

"Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't know, I'm still getting my head around this new ship. I copied over the command console from my old ship, but it wasn't a perfect fit. I've got control of the engines and most of the sensors, but there's some new systems that aren't hooked to this interface. I'm trying to figure them out now. Maybe there'll be something we can use." She tapped at the console, opening a series of layered windows.

"I feel bloody useless," Roger complained. "At least I can make us some tea."

Sydney barely noticed as he headed back toward the apartment.

Fifteen minutes later he returned with a pot of tea, two mugs, and a plate of cookies.

Sydney eagerly took a cup and a banana nut cluster. "You are an absolute life saver. I would promote you if you weren't already my first officer." She nibbled her cookie. "I didn't realize I had any of these in the kitchen."

"I ran back to the tea house we were in earlier. That metal chap with the many arms was quite helpful. He didn't even ask for payment."

"This is the future; nobody uses money anymore."

"Really? How extraordinary."

"Oh Roger, I'm pulling your leg. People are as greedy and money obsessed as ever. It just seemed kind of pointless in my own personal playground."

Roger simply sat and drank his own tea rather than reply. Sydney returned to exploring her new ship's capabilities.

The hours dragged on. Roger periodically fetched more tea. Sydney's attention never wavered from the command console. Periodically she would swear, then report that another sensor or drive node had been damaged by enemy fire.

"Now that's weird," Sydney suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Roger set his tea down and stood to get a better look at the console. It looked as incomprehensible as ever.

"They're slowing down."

"Are the blighters giving up the chase?"

"Maybe." She grew thoughtful. "But more likely they're planning to board us. I thought they'd just fly past and strafe us at speed, but now it looks like they're maneuvering to come alongside."

"Can we repel them somehow?"

"I hope so. We actually have a couple options that might work at close range. I can tune the particle shield to try and zap them. There's also a mechanical grapple that might do some damage if I can get us facing the right way." She began tapping at the control console in a more frenzied manner.

The glowing spaceship above the console shrank in size and rushed to one side. Another, similar shape appeared opposite it. As they watched, the two ships gradually grew closer to each other.

Sydney tried an increasingly hectic series of evasive maneuvers, but the other ship matched her moves. As it got closer, she tried using the particle shield to hit their enemy with an electromagnetic pulse. It had no discernible effect, and a moment later the shield generator was knocked out by a microwave beam. Finally, she rotated the ship and tried to ram the other with the mechanical grapple, but their pursuer deftly avoided it.

"Damn it! They've locked on." Sydney was opening and closing windows faster than Roger could follow. "They've attached some sort of umbilical, and I'm seeing freaky high traffic on the subsystem bus."

"What's happening?" Roger's usual unflappable demeanor was fraying around the edges.

"They're hacking us, and it seems they've picked up a few tricks since last we tangoed."

"I don't fully understand." Confusion had joined the fear on Roger's face.

"They're picking the locks on our simulation. I keep throwing new barriers in front of them, but they keep finding ways around them."

The command console went dark.

"No!" Sydney pounded on the table, then jumped to her feet and backed away from it, spinning around like she expected to be attacked at any moment. The spaceship images hanging over the console also blinked out of existence. Then the stars dimmed until they were barely visible.

Sydney and Roger stood, powerless, in the gloom and silence.

"What are you waiting for?" Sydney shouted. "You have us. Just get it over with."

A lone figure walked out of the darkness. It was wearing a black robe, its face shadowed in a billowing hood. "What trickery is this?" it hissed.

Sydney opened her mouth but didn't answer. This wasn't like anything she'd been expecting. Then Roger burst into action. He strode up to the intruder, raised his fist, and swung. The robed figure stepped nimbly to the side. The punch went wide, and Roger went tumbling. As he fell he grabbed at his opponent but only managed to get hold of fabric.

Sydney just stood, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Roger got to his feet, ready to rejoin the fight, then stopped and stared as well.

A wild eyed version of Sydney stared back at them.