The Last Horizon (24 page)

“Can you do it from inside the ship?”

“Yes, but the transmitter has a three hundred meter range…the explosion will probably take out most of the airstrip along with the hangers and control tower. I’ll have to detonate it when we’re almost airborne.” Scott slapped his neck when a round splintered off the pavement and sent fragments into his skin. “With a little luck we’ll be within range to set it off, but you need to get the hell out of here or you’ll get vaped.”

“We don’t have time for luck, Scott. Your plan has too many holes in it.” Jase glowered.

“You got a better idea?”

“Give me the transmitter,” Jase frowned. “I’m afraid it’s going to take time to get my people out of here. I’ll set it off when you’re off the ground.”

Scott
hesitated then handed Jase the device. “It’s your ass, Jase. I hope you know what you’re doing. This thing is going to wipe this place out.”

“Go!” Jase ordered.

Scott lobbed two pyrogen frags with one hand and ducked as they exploded and overturned three squad cars. Chunks of concrete rained everywhere as he got up and ran for the ramp.

“Cover fire!” Jase barked as
he kneeled up and started shooting at the troopers. The rest of his men got up and charged the police line with their guns blazing.

Jase was knocked b
ackwards when a round punched through his chest and splattered his face with blood. He slammed against the pavement and rolled face down as the transmitter popped out of his hand and landed a few feet away. The sound of machine gun fire reverberated in his ears…hollow and distant…

He looked up weakly and
everything seemed to be moving in slow motion; muzzle flashes flared as bullet casings suspended themselves in mid-air, faces froze in fear as the chemical fire danced up the walls…

…his vision blurred as
he saw Scott leap onto the Zephyrs retracting cargo ramp…he watched the ship taxi rapidly down the airstrip then blacked-out…

I
could see the swarm of police interceptors from my vantage point as we rolled past them and steered toward the airstrip. I heard some explosions and thought our thrusters were malfunctioning until I saw some squad cars flip over and burst into flames

Scotty was nowhere in sight, but I had to keep the ship moving.
The scanners indicated that someone slipped into the ship through the cargo ramp--Scotty! I sighed with relief and started closing the ramp as we accelerated. I looked over control panel to confirm the navigational and cryogenic systems were go. The AGL’s were also good, and the O
2
generators began to prime the ship once the ramp sealed shut and locked-in.

The
bulkhead door for the cockpit hissed open and Scotty staggered into the bridge and collapsed.

I lifted my visor and looked over my shoulder.
“Scotty! Are you okay?” I shouted as I kept an eye on the runway. His filthy clothes were drenched in blood and he was out of breath.

“Go faster, Nikki,” he said weakly as he looked out the canopy, “get us out of here!”

“You need to get your suit on, please tell me you didn’t space it in your hotel room.”

“Nikki, I’m old, not senile.”

“Don’t be a wiseass. Get your suit on and strap in!” I ordered as we reached the end of the airstrip and I turned the Zephyr a hundred and eighty degrees into the wind.

Scotty pulled his suit out of his backpack and struggled to get in it.

“Summer, you need to help him!” I said urgently, we’ve got less than two minutes until we’re powered for lift-off.”

Summer removed her helmet and ran to Scotty. She helped him get his arms into the gear and I heard Scotty groan in pain.

“
Punch that button on the wall to your left.” I instructed as the engines whined into a high pitch. A jumpseat folded down, and Summer helped Scotty buckle in.

“That hurts like hell.” Scotty coughed as he leaned back and closed his eyes. “I don’t suppose your ship has a stasis pod?”

“The e-pod in the cargo bay, but you’ll have to wait ‘til we’re spaceborne.”

“Summer, get back in your seat. We’re ready to roll.” I looked down the runway
and took a deep breath. I gave the consoles another look as the thrusters roared.

I disengaged the brakes and the Zephyr lurched forward and rapidly accelerated.

“Next stop, Earth.” I turned and winked at Summer as I held the control yoke. I reached down and pushed the levers on the center console forward as we were pushed into our seats by the g-forces.

The Zephyr
barreled passed the control tower three-quarters of a mile down the strip when I put the thrusters in full afterburn, pulled back on the yoke, and brought her nose up…

_____________

J
ase opened his eyes and coughed. He felt like he had a tremendous weight on his chest and he had a hard time breathing. His vision was starting to blur and he could hear the sharp pops of gunfire around him.

He saw the tr
ansmitter on the ground just out of reach. He slowly pulled himself across the pavement and groaned as a searing pain consumed his body and made his muscles involuntarily tighten up.

He coughed and shuddered and felt himself cringe as he noticed he was lying in a
growing pool of his own blood. His clothes were soaked with it.

Jase reached out and grabbed the device. The pain was unbearable
. He didn’t know how long he was unconscious and wondered if the Zephyr had made it out yet. He looked up and saw the police advancing on the hanger as they fired their weapons.

A body fell next to him, eyes glassy and lower jaw
missing.

He heard the sound of thunder and
looked up to see the Zephyr speed by and lift off the runway. He watched the ship ascend into the blue sky in a steep climb as the troopers overran the facility.

“You’re free now, little one.” He whispered and smiled. “We’re both free.”

Jase pressed the button and the world went silent…

Chapter 13

I
retracted the landing gear as we climbed away from Cybelle. Suddenly, a jagged white light rippled across the sky and shook the Zephyr as we rose above the mining sites and cleared the mountain ranges.

We were
pushed against our seats as we hit Mach 4 and gained altitude over Nexus.

“Scotty, how are you doing?” I asked. When he didn’t answer, I looked over my shoulder as saw that he had passed out.

I saw a thick dark cloud in the distance. It was huge and had to be at least fifteen or twenty miles long and a mile high. I looked at the scanner and it was defined as a solid mass moving across the sky.

“What is that?” I asked aloud as I stared
at the strange undulating cloud.

“Butterflies.” Summer said softly as she turned her head and looked at me.

“What?”

“
Those are butterflies. Every five years they come home to Fluture.”

“Incredible. Take a good look at them, Summer. They’re the last
you’ll see of Nexus.”

Summer looked on sil
ently as we watched the butterfly migration dancing in the morning light, thousands of fragile wings fluttered blue like brilliant jewels.

T
he terrain vanished as we ascended into the high cloud banks. She lowered her head and cried quietly.

“Thank you, Nikki.”

I smiled as I tipped the Zephyr’s nose up and the sky darkened as we punched through the ionosphere.

“We’
ll going hypersonic as soon as we clear Nexus’ gravitational pull. Then we’re only six days from Earth.”

“I didn’t know your planet was that close.”

“It’s not. Summer, there’s something you need to know about our journey…”

_____________

W
hen we stabilized in deep space, I engaged the auto-pilot and Summer helped me tend to Scotty’s injuries with the medi-pac. He had lost a lot of blood from the nasty lacerations, but he seemed alert.

“We need to get the suit and shirt off, Scotty
. Summer, can you grab that bag over there?”

“Go easy, I think my wounds finally stopped bleeding.”

“What’s left of your shirt is soaked.” I tossed it aside, took a wet rag, and wiped the dried blood and grime off his upper body as his wounds started bleeding again.

“Geez,
what happened to you?” I gasped as I used some steri-pads to clean his forearm and abdomen. “Any gunshot wounds?”

“
No, I’m not shot. Long story, Nikki.” He grimaced as he bit his lower lip. “Shit that stings!”

“Sorry about that. I’ve got just what you need, hang on.” I stood
up and went to the cargo bay. I opened the container with the whiskey, grabbed a bottle, and brought it back to the bridge.

“Here,
this will take the sting off.” I opened the bottle and handed it to Scotty, “Go ahead, take a slug.”

Scotty nodded with a smile. “Cheers.”
He took a long swig and lay back against the wall.

“
Give me some of that, I could use a drink myself.” I grabbed the bottle and took a shot. “So, you were saying you had a story. Well, I’m all ears.”

Summer gave me a puzzled look. “All ears?”

“Just an expression from home.” I grinned. “Who did this to you, Scotty?”

“
I’ll give you the condensed version.” Scotty groaned as he sat up. “I was hunting in the mountains the other day, and on my way back to camp, I was attacked by a Tavara pack. As you can see, they tore me up pretty bad. Barely made it out of there in one piece.”

“Hunting is illegal in Icarus.” Summer
gave him a wary look.

“You went to Nexus to poach?” I asked doubtfully
as I took out an injector and popped an anesthelogical cartridge into the casing and began to administer the local painkiller.

“Can you hand me that?” I asked Summer as I pointed at a
stainless steel instrument in the kit.

“Yeah,
I was hunting illegally,” Scotty took a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists as I began to seal the flow of blood with a medical cauterizer, “you might say things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

“Am I supposed to believe that’s why so many cops were chasing you?”

“As I told you before, the less you know about me the better off you are.” He coughed as he took another drink. “This is really good hooch.”

“
Uh-huh. Back to working that sorry-ass “mysterious stranger” act again, I see.” I shook my head as I sutured the wounds closed.

“Have it your way, Scotty.” I winked as I smeared antibiotic ointment around the abrasions, and we bandaged him up.

“Here, take these for the pain.” I handed him a couple of pills. “They’ll h
elp fight infection and make you sleepy too.”

“
Nice job, Nikki.”

“What do you want me to do with this?” I held up the weapon he brought onboard with him.

“Careful with that, it’s a Kirsten Automatic.”

“Hunting, huh?” I chuckled.

“Just put it in my pack.” Scotty said thinly.

“
We’re done here.” I exhaled in relief. “Let’s get you into the e-pod, we’ve got a ways to go before we get to the Pipe, and you need the rest.”

_____________

S
cotty woke up two days later and joined us on the bridge. It was good to see him moving around and he was recovering nicely. He seemed to be in high spirits and his appetite was voracious, unfortunately, he was limited to FFR’s and vitapacks to satisfy his hunger.

Summer’s mood was also lighter considering she left everything behind in Fluture.
It seemed like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that she was starting over with her life.

I got to kno
w her better as the days passed and she told me the story of her life in Nexus. I was impressed by her ability to adopt and survive a lifetime of abuse and overcome an addiction that brought ruin to so many people.