Space Above and Beyond - #4 The Enemy - Dina Anastasio Read online

  Nathan lowered a finger. Three more seconds to go. The others readied their weapons.

  "Hoo-yah!" the Marine hollered.

  Nathan lowered another finger. Two more seconds to go.

  And then... only one more second.

  What am I doing here? Damphousse thought. The man's name was on his helmet: Brown. He probably had a family somewhere back on Earth. He was a follow Marine, yet she was being ordered to attack him. Problem. Big problem.

  The Marine solved it for her. He swiveled and opened fire. The 58th dove for cover as his bullets ricocheted around them.

  They stayed there, prone, as the Marine continued to fire, over and over, spraying bullets.

  Then, miraculously, his M-590 rifle jammed, and the world grew silent.

  Nathan rose, pointing his weapon at the Marine.

  "U.S. Marines!" Nathan announced. "Drop your weapon! I don't want to kill you!"

  The Marine froze and stared at Nathan, his gaze wild. The others gathered round, watching as his eyes turned gently sad.

  He knows, Damphousse thought. He knows there's something wrong with him.

  "But I want you to kill me." His trembling voice sounded resigned.

  "He said to drop it!" Cooper shouted, raising his weapon and pointing it at the Marine.

  The others moved closer.

  "Pull it together, Marine," Shane said. "We're here to help you."

  The Marine chuckled. "Help me? Help me? You'd better help yourselves. How afraid are you?" he asked, as he raised his gun.

  "There's nothing to be afraid of," Shane said softly.

  The Marine's face contorted in pain. He smiled. Then tears began to trickle down his face.

  "Wait," he whispered. "Just wait. It will find you, too."

  "What will find me?" Shane asked.

  "You'll see. Be ready for it. No, there's no way to prepare. Just wait."

  "But what are you afraid of? What is it?"

  "Myself," the tortured man whispered. "I'm afraid of myself. I'm afraid that I'll kill you. We all are."

  Then he popped a new clip in his rifle and moved backward, firing into the darkness blindly.

  Chapter Four

  Vanessa Damphousse dropped to the ground as bullets tore into the rocks around her. She lay there for a long time, afraid to move, until the Marine hesitated once again.

  As she watched, he began to move backward, faster, then faster still, as if trying to run from himself. His weapon blazed as he retreated. Then he tripped, and a loud click sounded through the shadows.

  He stopped, lowered his weapon, and looked down. His boot was stuck on something. A mine! He jerked his boot away, and two laser beams shot up from the mine and swirled around his body.

  His scream was filled with such terror that it sent shivers through Damphousse's body.

  She closed her eyes, then opened them. Lights shot through the Marine, exposing his skeleton, then tearing him apart. Damphousse saw his blood, then felt it spray her. She looked down at her suit. She was covered with the blood of Sergeant Brown.

  Beside her, the other members of the 58th were rising to their feet.

  "What was that?" cried Nathan.

  "Chigs have wired this area with buzz beams. Whatever it is shot out of those mines." That was Wang's voice, coming from the shadows.

  Shane took command. "Go back!" she ordered. "Hurry up! But be careful. That minefield extends right up to the door of the ship."

  She turned; they followed her. But before they had gone five steps, a loud pop stopped them.

  "What is it?" groaned Damphousse.

  "It sounded like an electronic bomb," Nathan said. "Let's go!"

  But there wasn't time to move. An instant later a bright strobe shot up and spread around them. They froze. All but Cooper. He ducked and crept away, inching back toward the ship.

  The pain from the explosion was searing through Damphousse's body, but she watched Cooper go. She could see his skeleton through his suit. It was as if he were standing in front of an X-ray machine.

  She screamed then, because of the pain, and because of the blood and Cooper. Wang came to her. She could see the bones of his skull as he touched her gently.

  She wondered if she was a skeleton too.

  Shane was calling them, shouting, "Move out! Move out!"

  Damphousse crouched down and followed Shane, avoiding the lights.

  Wang was the last one into the ship. As he slammed and bolted the outside airlock door, Cooper asked, "What happened out there?"

  "Somebody tripped a mine," said Damphousse. "It looked like some kind of volcanic lightning."

  "I swear I heard a mechanical noise," said Wang. The searing pain Damphousse had felt earlier was subsiding a bit now. She touched a spot behind her ear and cried out. The pain was especially strong there.

  "The lights were so hot!" Nathan said. "I felt them through my suit."

  "My head," Cooper groaned. "It's like a headache at the back of my head."

  "I feel that too," said Shane.

  Nathan came and sat beside Damphousse. When he was settled, he yanked the Velcro strap on his wrist and pulled up his suit sleeve. There was an ugly burn on his arm.

  Damphousse shuddered.

  Shane studied the burn, then pulled up her own sleeve. "I have it too," she whispered. "Get McQueen on the radio, Wang. And tell him to get here now!"

  Wang rushed to the radio and flipped several switches. As he worked, he spat out clipped, frantic pleas for help.

  "Joker to Queen Six! Respond! Request evacuation!"

  Damphousse prayed that McQueen would answer.

  But there was only static.

  Wang reached for another switch. A cockroach scuttled across the back of his hand like an Alien soldier.

  He yanked out his K-bar knife and began to stab at it. Even after it disappeared behind the radio he kept jabbing at it, muttering under his breath.

  As Damphousse watched, horrified, she realized her hand was throbbing with pain.

  She pulled off her glove. A bad burn, raw and ugly, disfigured her hand.

  "Blood!" she screamed. "I'm bleeding!"

  The others turned. "You've never seen your own blood before?" asked Cooper.

  Damphousse's blood was oozing onto the sleeve of her suit. In a moment it would...

  Panicking, she yanked at her suit zipper, yanked again, and found it was stuck.

  She looked around, eyes wide with terror. Nearby, Wang was still stabbing the radio with his knife.

  "Get this thing off me!" she screamed at Wang. "Get it off!" Wang ignored her. "The blood! The blood! Please!" she cried to anyone who would listen.

  "What's your problem?" shouted Nathan.

  "Blood! There's blood on my suit! I hate blood! I hate it!"

  "We're stuck here, lights are turning us into skeletons, and you're afraid of a little blood?" said Cooper.

  "Get it off me!" Damphousse cried. "Please!"

  She yanked her arm free and pulled out her knife. All that blood! She had to get her suit off, now! She raised the knife and attacked her suit, flailing at it, hacking at it.

  Shane tried to hold her still. "Vanessa," she whispered. "Settle down! It's okay. It's okay."

  Shane's voice was calming. Damphousse lowered the knife, but she would not surrender it. Her eyes darted from Marine to Marine as she attempted to understand what was happening to her.

  "What's wrong with me, Shane?" she asked softly.

  "Take it easy," said Nathan. "Wang's calling McQueen. They'll be here soon. It'll all be over."

  Damphousse pointed to Wang. He was at the radio, but he wasn't calling anyone. He was at war. He pulled at wires. He smashed tubes. The static died, and the radio surrendered. But that wasn't enough for him. He yanked at the radio, shook it, and shook it again, unable to stop.

  Cooper got to him first and pinned his arms. "Wang!" he shouted. "Wang! Wang! Stop! What are you doing?"

  Wang spun around and faced Cooper. He gr
inned, and raised his fist in a victory sign.

  "I killed it!" he announced. "It's dead!"

  As the rest of the 58th stood before him, appalled, Wang held out his fist and opened it proudly. A lifeless cockroach lay there on his palm.

  "That bug's not all that's dead," Shane whispered, staring at their radio.

  Chapter Five

  Damphousse moved toward the radio and examined it. Wang had done a good job.

  He had not just killed it. He had pulverized it.

  Damphousse sighed. Wang was watching her fearfully.

  Is he still afraid of cockroaches? she wondered. Or is he afraid of me?

  She smiled at him, and he glanced away. Wang used to be her best friend. Now he wouldn't even look at her.

  Outside, Marines were shooting Marines. Inside, the tension was growing.

  What was happening to them?

  She turned and waited for Nathan and Shane to come out of their huddle.

  Their voices were tense and hesitant. Their eyes kept moving between Wang and herself.

  They were afraid of her. How strange!

  "That Marine was outside," Shane was saying. "Whatever's affecting us comes from out there."

  "The lights? The lights that came from the mines?" Nathan whispered. He was talking to Shane, but his eyes were glued to Wang.

  Shane nodded, watching Damphousse.

  "How bad is the radio?" Shane asked.

  "The control board's cracked," said Damphousse. "Without it, the beacon can't go out. And without the beacon they can't hear us."

  Wang groaned and sat down beside her. He was shivering. Damphousse put her hand on his shoulder to calm him, but he jerked away.

  "They'll never be able to find us," he said. "We'll never get out of here."

  "Thanks to you!" They had all been thinking it. But it was Cooper who said the words.

  "If I could get another uplink prom," Damphousse went on, "I could jerry-rig it enough to restore communication."

  "Wait a minute," Nathan said. "That dead Marine on the other side of the minefield? He had a radio on his field pack."

  Damphousse jumped to her feet. "That's right!" she said. "He was carrying a T-1540 Los Satellite. There should be a cluster of uplink proms in the compartment at the bottom of the dish. We only need one."

  Nathan looked at Shane. "We have to go back out. "

  Shane nodded and moved toward the airlock door. "Let's do it," she said.

  "Wait!" cried Damphousse.

  She extracted an uplink prom from the radio's broken control board and handed it to Nathan.

  "The cluster looks like this," she said. "Check for green wires where they cross with the red."

  "Why are you tellin' me?" asked Nathan.

  Damphousse sat down. "Because I'm not going out there," she said. "There's blood out there. Marine blood. Everywhere."

  Cooper stared at her. "What?" he shouted.

  Nathan held him back. "If one goes, we all go, Vanessa," he said.

  "Look," she whispered. "My suit's ripped. There's no way I can repair it in time. I need to fix it before we're evacuated."

  The others stared at her, then looked at each other. They hated her. She could see that. And it frightened her. But it didn't frighten her as much as the blood did.

  "I can handle it," Wang said calmly. He seemed to understand why Vanessa couldn't leave the ship.

  Shane nodded. "Okay, let's go," she said.

  Damphousse folded her arms, hugging her body close, and watched them get ready. Maybe it would be all right. Maybe they would forgive her someday.

  Across the room, Shane put on her atmospheric helmet. Then she reached for her gloves and slipped her hand inside.

  She looked down at the glove and shook it. Something was in there. She wiggled her fingers. She yanked off the glove and studied the intruder.

  A cockroach.

  She let it drop, then turned to see if Wang had been watching. No. She stomped on the insect until it was dead.

  Nathan and Wang strapped on their helmets and moved toward the door. Shane joined them.

  But something was wrong with Cooper. He stood by the door, but he wasn't wearing his helmet.

  "Hawkes, where's your helmet?" Nathan asked.

  "It's harder to breathe with it on," Cooper explained.

  "The atmosphere's eighty percent sulfur dioxide, Cooper," Wang reminded him.

  "You'd be dead in thirty seconds," Shane added.

  Cooper's body went rigid. "No!" he whispered. "I'm not putting that thing on!"

  "Don't be silly," Nathan said. "You have to! Otherwise you'll die."

  Cooper glared at them like a stubborn child. But in the end he put the helmet on. When it was in place, Nathan opened the airlock door.

  "Look Nathan," Shane said. "It's nightfall. It's getting darker."

  She clicked on a halogen light by the door.

  "Kill that light!" Nathan whispered. "They'll see us! You're making us a target!"

  Shane wasn't listening. She continued on, then turned back when Cooper clicked the light off.

  She glared at him and clicked it on again.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Her voice was tight with fury.

  "I'm turning off the light so that they don't kill us." Cooper's voice was so cold and angry that the others stepped back.

  For a moment, no one moved. Shane and Cooper faced each other, holding their ground, until Cooper reached out and smashed the light. The glass shattered, and the silence was broken.

  "If you turn it on again, I'll smash your head!" he muttered viciously.

  Damphousse watched him and understood. He was overreacting, but so was everybody. This craziness was becoming normal.

  The doors were open now. Outside, artillery fire lit up the sky. Outside, cries and moans echoed through the dark canyons of the angry planet.

  It was better to be inside.

  The Hearing—Wang

  "Lieutenant Paul Wang?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "It has come to our attention that you destroyed the radio," Commodore Ross said.

  "Yes, sir. I did that, sir."

  Captain Saey leaned forward and peered down at Wang.

  "But why, Lieutenant?"

  Wang shrugged and studied his hands. He couldn't look at them. It was all too crazy, and there were no words to explain it.

  "Please, Paul," McQueen said. "Try to help us understand."

  Wang decided to say the one thing that he knew to be true, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

  "I'm afraid of cockroaches, sir."

  He did not look up. He could tell from the silence that they were appalled.

  Finally McQueen spoke.

  He didn't sound angry. He sounded confused.

  "You destroyed a radio because of a cockroach, Lieutenant?"

  "That's right."

  "You cut off your only way out of Tantalus because you're afraid of cockroaches?"

  Wang nodded. This was embarrassing.

  "I don't understand, Lieutenant Wang," Captain Saey said softly.

  "Neither do I, Captain. Neither do I."

  The Hearing—West

  "Lieutenant Nathan West?"

  "Yes, sir."

  Commodore Ross read from his electronic clipboard. "Lieutenant Damphousse has been charged with dereliction in the performance of duty. Such dereliction is grounds for court martial. This panel is attempting to understand her actions, and we are hoping that you will help us."

  He looked up at Nathan. "Do you understand, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Then perhaps you can tell us what happened out there. Lieutenant Damphousse was the communications officer. Isn't that right?"

  "That's correct, sir."

  "And as the communications officer in charge, wasn't she responsible for the operation and repair of the radio?"

  "Yes, sir," said Nathan. "That is correct."

  "And did she refuse to go outside of the ship to fa
cilitate the repair of the radio?"

  Nathan did not answer.

  Commodore Ross sighed. "All right," he said. "Then tell me this. Does what I have said accurately describe her actions?"

  "It describes her actions, sir," said Nathan. "But it does not describe her. She was not herself at that time, sir."

  Commodore Ross looked at the other members of the panel.

  "Then who was she?" McQueen asked.

  "She was someone else, sir. We all were. It was the light."

  Chapter Six

  Shane led them through the minefield safely and into the canyon beyond. Nathan was right behind her, but the mist was so thick that he lost her again and again.

  "There he is!" she said.

  Nathan turned and found her beside him. She was pointing to something that was partially hidden behind a rock.

  It was the dead Marine.

  He was lying where they had left him a short time before. The field pack remained strapped to his back, undisturbed.

  "I'll get it," Wang said. He tiptoed toward the corpse.

  Nathan followed. Wang seemed lost in the eerie, dark haze. It was quiet, except for that occasional artillery fire.

  Wang leaned closer to the body.

  "I'll have to turn it over to get to the field pack," Wang said. "I'll have to touch it."

  He shivered and did nothing.

  "Turn it, Wang," Nathan said, as gently as possible.

  Wang glanced to his left. Cooper hovered nearby.

  "Come on, Wang," said Cooper. "Hurry up, will ya? It's getting tough to breathe out here."

  Wang managed to push the body away from the radio. "Just give me a minute," he said, removing the back of the field pack.

  "We don't have a minute, bug man!"

  "Shut up, Cooper!" said Shane angrily. "He can't see. He needs a light. No one can function in this darkness. But you broke the light, Cooper. You! And now it's dark, and we can't see anything!"

  "You've got a flashlight," Cooper reminded her.

  Nathan moved closer to Shane. Not her, too! Please, don't let this be happening to Shane, too! he thought.

  "Shane?" he whispered. "Are you all right?"

  "Dark!" she cried. "Too dark!"