Article 23 (19 page)

He leaned over and turned on his computer, punching in the bypass codes. Scanning room by room he listened to all that was being said. In some rooms he heard whispers, yet more talk. He let the recorder run. Here will be more proof, for there will be a time when such things will be allowed to be heard. He switched through the lounge, which was empty, and then the galley.

Again that damnable music.
He listened for a moment,
then
continued on.

He looked at the clock in the lower corner of his screen. Two hours to go. At least it would be over with quickly. He had seen enough good men die in vacuum to know it would be fast. For a brief instant the face of
Everett was in his mind. Mouth open, gasping in the nothingness, then the freezing eyes rolling back, features going slack, arms and legs relaxing, limp, slowly curling up into a fetal position.

He hoped the boy wouldn't cry or struggle. At least take it like a man. Not a boy. But then they were deceitful, liars, and he remembered the boarding school so long ago, the taunting because he wasn't of their class, a boy from the east end of London among all that snobbery and wealth.
Never good on the playing fields, called a drone for finding solace in study.
The bully,
Thrackworth
red hair just like this one.
The late night beatings with the others watching, saying nothing, afraid, or, worse yet, laughing.
No one to stand by my side.
Well, it was good training for the long watches alone, always alone.

Sighing, he turned the computer off and waited for the beginning of the morning watch.

"All hands, all hands, report forward to witness punishment."

Justin froze, looking over at O'Brian.

"Go, go! Remember, you got fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. It'll take time for them to line up, go through the reading of the Articles. I'll cover for you when roll is called, say I've confined you and
Leonov
to the galley and
Hemenez
is watching you."

Justin grabbed "Brian's hand, then looked over at
Leonov
and
Hemenez
.

"Let's go," Justin announced.

Crouching, he looked down the narrow ventilation tube set in the aft wall, its cover panel and
filter
unbolted and removed.

He took a deep breath and pushed his way in. Glad to be out of his anti-radiation gear and wearing just a light jumpsuit again, he squirmed into the narrow opening and pushed himself along. Stopping after five meters, he looked back in the darkness and felt a hand touch his bare foot.

"All right?"
Justin whispered.

"Fine, keep moving," Tanya replied, "
Hemenez
is right behind me."

Justin squirmed along, counting the ventilation grills passing beneath him the first one leading to a storage room, the second, then the third. Reaching a barrier, he stopped. He put on a respirator filter, then pulled out the screwdriver and popped the mount off the filter blocking the way. As he pushed the filter aside a light plume of dust swirled up from the baffle and lead shielding. He wondered just how much of a dose he was picking up, glad that the emergency respirator he was wearing, which had been stored in the galley survival gear, would keep the worst of it out of his lungs.

Once clear of the filter shielding he knew they were in the back end of the ship, crawling under the reactor and engine mounts. The only barrier to the raging inferno of the sun was the outer hull surrounding the hydroponics unit, and within minutes he'd pick up a year's worth of radiation. The anti-radiation suits were far too bulky for the narrow ventilation shaft, but if they had simply gone aft through the doorway into the engine room it would have triggered an alarm up in the cockpit.

Finally he hit the fifth ventilation opening, as O'Brian had explained, and stopped. He looked down on the racks of tomato plants four meters below. He went to work on the screening beneath him with a bolt cutter, lopping off the tops of the screws that projected up through the ceiling and held the panel in place. The last of the bolts sheared off; he pushed down and felt the screen detach and float away. He doubled over and went through the opening, turning a somersault before landing on his feet.

Cautiously he looked around. No one was here, and he breathed a sigh of relief. When he had first proposed taking the ship to stop
MacKenzie
he had expected that maybe
Leonov
would go along he wasn't sure about
Hemenez
and O'Brian. But he needed them if there was any hope, for they knew the ins and outs of the ship and what had to be done beyond a vaguely formed plan to "do something to stop
MacKenzie
."

It was O'Brian who suggested timing it so closely, pointing out that everyone would be heading to the lounge area just prior to the seven o'clock muster and in those precious minutes there would be the chance to maybe pull it off. Between
Hemenez
and O'Brian the two had cooked up the plan of going aft through the ventilation shaft down into the hydroponics room and then forward again to the room where the prisoners were being held.

Justin realized with a cold certainty that the next ten minutes would decide it. Either he'd succeed, and then there would be a whole new crisis to deal with or, most likely, he would be dead, for a genuine mutiny would fully justify
MacKenzie's
actions and the Captain would simply add Justin and his friends to the trip through the airlock.

Leonov
came through the opening, followed seconds later by
Hemenez
.

Hemenez
looked around.

"Good, we're well aft, no one's here."

Justin wondered just how heavy a dose they were receiving dressed only in their light jumpsuits. The thought almost seemed absurd there was a good chance that in fifteen minutes the consequences of absorbing a
rad
or two of radiation would be moot.

Hemenez
motioned them to go forward. Justin pushed off, floating down the length of the hydroponics chamber, weaving his way through the racks of sorghum which helped scrub the CO2 out of the air and the trays containing the spices, tomatoes and lettuce that O'Brian was cultivating.

Reaching the bulkhead door leading forward
Hemenez
stopped, putting her ear to the door, motioning for Justin and Tanya to be quiet.

"There are people in the corridor," she whispered.
"Sounds like they're leading Matt out."

Justin struggled with the urge to simply burst through, waiting patiently as the seconds dragged out. The high temperature in die room made him break into a sweat although he felt cold and clammy with fear.

He looked over at Tanya, who was breathing in short, rapid gasps.

"Remember, we move
quick
,"
Hemenez
announced.

With a flourish she pulled the kitchen knife out of her belt and cupped it in the palm of her hand, concealing the blade with the back of her arm. The gesture made Justin think of pirates about to storm the quarterdeck. He followed her actions, wondering if he could indeed use the blade on the guard who was surely waiting on the other side of the door.

Justin looked over at Tanya, who was holding a knife as well.

"Ready?"

She offered a nervous smile and gulped hard.

Hemenez
grasped the door latch and slowly opened it, peeking out.

She motioned for the two to follow as she pulled the door wide open and started down the corridor. The hallway was darkened. Peeking over her shoulder, Justin saw a lone guard standing by the door into the prison cell, looking squat and distorted with the heavy battle gear donned over the anti-radiation suit. When they were less than three meters away, the guard turned.

"Halt, who goes there?"

Justin, startled by the voice, saw Colson in the shadows. In an instant he understood why the Captain would want his regular enlisted personnel in the lounge in case there was trouble. Also, he wanted Colson out of the way, and down below guarding jailed prisoners was one place he could safeguard him.

"I want to talk to you, Cadet,"
Hemenez
said in a calm yet commanding voice. She drew closer.

"Halt! Halt or I'll shoot!"

"Cadet, I need to talk to you."

Hemenez
pushed forward, arms extended in a friendly gesture. The knife blade was still concealed by the back of her arm. Horrified, Justin wondered if she was simply going to spring forward and slice
Wendells
throat. Somehow when he had dreamed up this plan he had envisioned it as being bloodless. They'd take a guard, break into the weapons locker and arm the other prisoners, then confront the Captain who would be led away in chains while everyone cheered. Now he realized that the mutiny of fantasy was vastly different than reality chances were that people were going to die in the next few minutes, die because of his actions.

"You're a traitor, too. I'll shoot!" Colson
cried,
his voice breaking.

"Come on, cadet, all I want"

Her words were cut short by the crackling burst of a laser pistol. Wordlessly
Hemenez
spun around, clutching her shoulder, smoke and the pungent stench of burnt flesh billowing around Justin.

Justin vaulted from the floor, diving over
Hemenez
. Colson, eyes wide, tried to back up and lost his hold on the floor, feet disconnecting. The gun went off again, the glare blinding Justin for an instant. He felt a stinging burn crease his side. Crashing into Colson, the two tumbled over. Colson tried to knee him in the groin, but the blow simply pushed Justin up towards the ceiling. Turning end-over-end he kicked off the ceiling and came down hard, feet first, slamming back into Colson.

Reaching out with his left hand he grabbed Colson by his helmet strap. He swung the knife around and brought the blade up to Colson's throat, then pressed it down far enough so the skin was taut. It was a strange sensation, the knowledge that with just the slightest flick of the wrist Colson's life would spill out. He thought of all that Colson had done, the madness he had helped to create, and the temptation was all but overpowering.
And yet, then what?
He eased back slightly.

"Move and I'll kill you," Justin hissed.

Colson looked up at him, goggle-eyed.

"Tanya, get his gun."

Tanya reached past Justin and tore the gun from
Colsons
hand.

"Mr. Colson?"

It was the Captain on Colson's
commlink
!

"Mr. Colson, I heard something, what is going on down there?"

"Tell him the prisoners are acting up," Justin whispered. "If you screw up I'll cut your throat from ear to ear."

Colson reached up to the
commlink
attached to his jacket and fumblingly toggled it on.

Justin pressed the knife down harder so that the skin under the blade was taut once more.

"Sir?'

"What is going on down there?"

"Nothing, sir.
The prisoners are yelling, sir."

The terror in his voice was evident and Justin wondered if the Captain would notice.

"Tell them to shut up, Mr. Colson, or I might change my mind about the number to be executed."

The
commlink
snapped off from tie other end.

Justin leaned forward, his mouth brushing against Colson's ear.

"Off the link," he whispered.

Colson removed his hand.

"
Bell, he'll kill you for this."

"Maybe so.
Just
don't screw
up or you'll go before me."

Behind him he heard Tanya unlocking the door and whispering for everyone to be quiet.

"
Hemenez
?"
Justin called.

"I'll make it. You'll have to go on without me."

Marissa and Madison came out first.

"Get him out of that battle gear," Justin demanded, and he passed the knife to
Madison.

Going over to Tanya he motioned for the pistol, and to his surprise she passed it over without comment. Quickly he went up to the door to the arms room, leveled the pistol, and squeezed. A brilliant glare exploded in the corridor. He pressed the trigger half a dozen times,
then
looked down at the padlock.

"Damn, it's not melting."

"
Plastitungsten
composite,"
Hemenez
groaned, coming up to look at the lock, which was glowing faintly from the heat of the blast. "The pistol doesn't have the energy to cut it. I was afraid of this."

Justin looked at the eight cadets he had just released. Part of his plan had been to seize the weapons locker and arm everyone before going topside in one quick rush. Now all he had was the one pistol, most of its energy drained, and the knives carried by
Hemenez
,
Leonov
and himself. Things were starting to unravel. He looked at his wristwatch. Less than five minutes at most.

"Come on," Justin said, and going up to
Madison he grabbed the helmet and heavy protective battle jacket. "Help me get this on."

"Bell, what are you doing?"
Livollen
asked.

"The Captain accused you of mutiny now let's give him one. We're taking over this ship and stopping the execution. If you're not with me then you better get the hell back in that cell right now and stay low."

A grin broke out on
Madison's face.

"Now you're talking I can't wait to space that bastard."

"No killing' Justin snapped
. "
Unless we're forced to, I want no killing."

"You're taking on the Captain and the guards?" one of the cadets asked.

"That's the plan."

"He'll space all of you," came the reply and the cadet backed into the cell. "Count me
out,
I'll take my chances with the court-martial."

Two more cadets followed the first one back into the cell. Justin looked around at his group while strapping on the helmet and pulling on the heavy battle jacket. He had six now, counting
Leonov
, and just one damned gun. It wasn't looking good. He knew he couldn't hesitate or he might lose more.

"Someone gag Colson," he snapped, "and throw him in the cell."

He hoisted the pistol and grabbed hold of
Madison. "You first,
Madison, I'll have the gun right at your back. Keep your hands behind your back.
Leonov
, bring up the rest of the group. Stay out of sight, but move quick if I holler for you."