Anchor Leg: A Sci-Fi Mystery Novel

urgent but I can only just hear him over the alarm.
‘By who?’ I ask, as I move closer to Phyleon and the door, to where

the rabble around me is less intrusive.
‘Pirates. They came in through Shuttle Port 2, right next to Tech. It

was the only vacant Port. They must have jammed our sensors because
we never saw them coming, they just flooded in through the hatch and
now a group of them are heading to First.’

‘How many?’
‘Fifteen in transit. I’m watching the feed from outside Port 2 and I
can see a couple more there. Those two have hostages. Petrova’s telling
me that one is the girl who assisted you during the Scylla mission. Was
she working in Tech this late at your request?’
I don’t answer him, they have Abril. I start running. I blast past
Phyleon without saying a word and then I run harder than I’ve ever
run in my life.
Fourth and Third are a blur, I never even break my stride. I get into
Second and head straight for Tech. Just a couple of turns until I reach
the tech labs, one more, and then there are two pirates standing in
front of me. I know they’re pirates because they’re not wearing
jumpsuits, they’re dressed in faded skinsuits decorated with knife
belts, gauntlets and drop shocks. One of them has a pinch rifle.
We stare at each other for a split second and then, in perfect unison,
I dive back around the corner as the pirate with the rifle fires. The
pops are scarily loud but I make it into cover without taking a bullet.
‘Shit,’ one of the pirates exclaims as the weapons fire dies.
‘Want me to get some more ammo?’ the other pirate says, just loud
enough to hear over the alarm.
‘No, let’s have some fun.’ I hear the buzz of two drop shocks
powering up, one after the other.
I’m still holding Bakalar’s hand tablet, and I vaguely remember it
ringing as I ran here, but that doesn’t matter now. I pocket it and pull
out my own drop shock. I twist the control gauge to full, switch it on
and then step around the corner to face the pirates. My corridor was
tight and confined but out here, where the path opens up in front of
the tech labs, there’s more space. And I need space to dance if I’m
going to take on multiple opponents. Just like Hindle taught me.
‘Brazen,’ says the pirate with the rifle slung over his back. He’s older

than the other one, bigger too.
I’m trying not to be distracted by the open door I see behind my

opponents. It’s Tech 3, Abril might well be in there.
The younger pirate steps forwards and raises his drop shock. I tell

myself to focus and then I take three steps to my left, try to force my
opponents in line. If I’m going to take these two out I can’t allow them
both to attack at once.

The younger pirate isn’t deterred by my movement, he continues
towards me and promptly swings out with his drop shock. I don’t
flinch, I know his reach isn’t that good.

The other, older pirate is circling around his buddy, trying to get
behind me. I move the opposite way, making sure not to let him. The
younger pirate is within reach now but he doesn’t swing again, he
seems to have realised I have some training, some strategy. I guess
he’s waiting for me to strike next. I don’t let him down.

I stab at his torso and he raises his free wrist defensively. My drop
shock connects with a sizzle but the pirate doesn’t go down. His
gauntlet, it’s acting as some kind of safeguard. And worse, I’ve done
exactly what he wanted me to do.

My body wide-open, the younger pirate tries a stab of his own. To
avoid it I have no choice but to throw myself to the ground and roll.

I leap up but the older pirate is on me, swinging his drop shock at
my chest. I crane my whole body backwards and his attack all but
scrapes across my torso. The miss leaves him off kilter and badly
twisted so I thrust my drop shock into the small of his back. There’s a
fierce crackle, a groan, and then the big pirate goes down with a thud.

I don’t have time to revel in my victory though. The younger pirate
is charging at me and I’m struggling to regain my balance after my
thrust. I go with it. I let myself fall to the floor and, that low, the
pirate’s jab doesn’t get anywhere near me. I stab at his boot and I
connect, tripping him up. He’s unconscious before he hits the floor.

Scrambling to my feet, I drop my drop shock and dash towards
Tech 3. As soon as I’m through the door I see Abril gagged and bound
against a terminal. I run over, fall to my knees and yank out her gag.

‘I’m so sorry, Abril,’ I say, as I tug on the ties that bind her wrists,
‘everything you said was right, I shouldn’t have—’

‘It’s okay,’ she answers, as the ties come free, ‘it’s okay. I shouldn’t

have stormed off, I’m just so thankful you’re here.’ And then we’re
kissing. A long, passionate kiss that speaks of forgiveness,
reconciliation and a hundred other things.

I pull back, smile, and then there’s a sharp cough. I look to my right.
Arjun is sitting against another terminal. Lucie is lying on the floor
beside him, both are tied and gagged, understandably keen for me to
free them too.

‘What were you doing here?’ I ask Abril moments later, as I’m
working the ties around Arjun’s wrists free.

‘I wanted to try and restore the database entries you said were
deleted,’ Abril answers. ‘Find the missing security footage too.’

The alarm’s still blaring, the ship is infested with pirates, but the
fact that Abril wanted to help me despite everything I said and did
makes my heart swell.

‘Abril asked us to help too,’ Lucie says, as she pulls away her gag.
‘But a load of pirates came through the shuttle port before we could get
anywhere. We fought back but they overpowered us. The main group
moved off but the other two were supposed to stay here, to keep guard
and bring us to the Bridge if we were needed. I don’t know why.’

‘They thought they might need us to get inside,’ Arjun says, flexing
his newly freed wrists. ‘If they couldn’t get the door open they were
going to kill us one by one until the captain let them in. I heard one of
them say so.’

‘I heard them say that too,’ Abril says. ‘I heard them clear their ship
to detach from Port 2 as well. I don’t know why they’d want their ship
to leave them here.’

I’m about to ask them if they heard anything else useful but
Bakalar’s hand tablet rings. This time, I don’t ignore it. I put it on
speaker phone so I can hear above the drone of the alarm.

‘The pirates have First,’ Captain Zuma says. ‘We fought as hard as
we could but we were outgunned, we had no choice but to retreat into
the Bridge.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I reply, ‘Security should have been there. But I had to
take out the pirates in Second, rescue the hostages. Where’s the main
group now?’

‘Outside the Bridge, but the blast doors won’t hold forever. They
have box tablets and they’re trying to get through.’

‘I’ll be there soon,’ I say, heading for Tech 3’s door.
‘Come at them from behind,’ Zuma instructs, ‘and we’ll open the
door and attack from the front.’
‘Got it,’ I reply, choosing not to tell him outright that it’ll just be me.
Outside Tech 3 I kneel beside the fallen pirates. They’re still
unconscious, and they probably will be for hours, but I need their
weapons. I yank a knife belt from the older one and fasten it around
my waist.
‘From what the captain said the pirates know tech,’ I hear Abril say,
a few moments later. ‘I’ve got a box tablet in case they’ve sealed any of
the doors in First.’
I take the empty rifle, raise myself and turn. Abril, Lucie and Arjun
are all standing before me. ‘Those scumbags took me by surprise when
they came through the shuttle port,’ Arjun says, ‘but now I’m ready to
kick some pirate ass.’
Lucie cringes. ‘We should have kept you gagged, Arj.’
‘You can’t come,’ I say, as I try and work out how to pull the empty
clip from the rifle, ‘it’ll be too dangerous.’
‘You have no hope of taking out enough pirates on your own,’ Abril
says, the clip popping out and dropping to the floor, ‘we’re coming. At
least with four of us there’ll be a chance.’
I know she’s right, but I wish I could send Abril back to her cabin,
take on the pirates knowing she was safe. ‘Okay,’ I say, more than a
little reluctantly. I’m about to start looking for the spare rifle ammo I
heard the pirates mention when I hear footsteps. Lots of footsteps.

Twenty-five

Around the corner comes a ragtag band of fighters. I clock Phyleon
first, then Artis beside him. Behind them are Yoshida, Edavane and a
handful of others. Everyone is armed with pinch weapons.

‘Temples,’ Phyleon says, as he brings the group to a halt in front of
us, ‘thank Gods you’re okay. After you left, when we found out that
pirates had boarded the ship, I gathered as many people as Security
could arm. I freed Artis to help us fight as well.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Artis chimes in, ‘Phyleon made me promise to be
good.’

Normally, a sprung prisoner holding a pinch rifle would be deeply
concerning. But given the circumstances I’m much more worried
about Yoshida, Edavane and the others. Just minutes ago all of them
were in the bar debating mutiny. Can they be trusted? What made
them team up with Phyleon so readily? I don’t have time to waste
wondering though. ‘Do you have your restraints, Phyleon?’

‘Yes.’
‘These two on the floor, disarm them and shackle them to that
handrail.’ Phyleon pulls out his cuffs and obeys. ‘Listen carefully,’ I
say, to the group at large, ‘the Pirates are in First. They have the
captain cornered in the Bridge and they’re trying to get through the
blast doors with box tablets. We have to get there and stop them.
They’re armed, but we’re armed too. Phyleon, Artis and I are trained in
combat. Follow our lead, listen to our instructions, we can do this.’
‘We’re behind you,’ Edavane says aloud. I note Yoshida and the
others are more subdued around him.
‘Here,’ Artis says, stepping forwards and handing me a rifle
magazine. ‘Shove it in the bottom,’ he adds, quietly enough for the
alarm to stop the crowd from hearing, ‘then pull the charging handle
back. Point it at the bad guys and squeeze the trigger gently.’
‘Thank you,’ I say, grateful for Artis’s discretion. I don’t need the
others knowing they’re following a firearms novice.
As I reload my rifle, Artis and Phyleon arm Abril, Lucie and Arjun
with pinch pistols. Gods, I want to send Abril back now we have other
fighters, but I know she would never go.

‘Stay behind me,’ I say, as I lead our little group away from Tech,
‘yell contact if you see any hostiles. Don’t shoot unless Artis, Phyleon
or I do.’

As soon as we’re out of Tech, I beckon Phyleon to my side at the
head of the pack. ‘How long will it take the pirates to get through the
blast doors?’

His token pause, and then Phyleon answers, ‘I programmed the
Bridge ad-pad myself but no door is unsolvable. Depending on what
tech they have, whether they know what they’re doing, anything from
minutes to an hour.’

I swallow hard. ‘If the pirates are the ones who blew our engines
then they must know what they’re doing.’

‘I doubt these, nor any other pirates for that matter, blew our
engines. Pirate vessels are almost always rundown, dilapidated things.
Not advanced enough to sabotage a ship remotely.’

‘Then what are they doing in the Anchor Leg? Surely they wouldn’t
have travelled to such a remote part of the Relay on the off chance
they’d find a broken-down ship?’

‘I have a theory,’ Phyleon replies. ‘I think that Göhr are in league with
the pirates. It would explain why they’ve gone dark. I think they gave
away our location and status as a venerable ship, probably passed on
information about the Scylla too.’

Plausible I suppose, but we don’t really have time to discuss it
further now. ‘If the pirates get through the blast doors what will they
do?’

‘At best, they will take the flight crew hostage and force the captain
to open the hold so they can plunder it. At worst, they’ll kill everyone
they find on the Bridge and cut the oxygen to the rest of the ship.
They’ll dump the crew and take the entire ship as their prize.’

A horrifying prospect but I need to know more. ‘Abril heard the
pirates clear their ship to detach from Port 2, why would they do that?’

‘Tactically speaking, detachment is typical whilst a team of
marauders attempt to capture a vessel. The ship will reattach once the
marauders achieve their objective.’

‘We better make sure they don’t achieve their objective then,’ I say.
We’re in First now, so I signal for Artis to go ahead. I want someone
who knows what they’re doing to check upcoming corridors and

passages before I lead the group through them.
A few shouts of ‘Clear.’ from Artis and we’re in amongst the science

labs. I can see inside Labs 1 and 2 thanks to glass panels in their
dividing walls. Complicated, bulky machines stare back at me, cabinets
of plastic bottles, test tube racks, the severed arm of a mining mech.
And then a shiny bauble rolls across the corridor in front of me.

‘Grenade!’ I shout, turning and running. Some people freeze, some
people drop to the floor and cover their heads. Arjun pulls Lucie and
Abril through an open doorway. The grenade goes off but there’s no
fiery explosion, only smoke. And there are gunshots too. I hear
shouting, but I can’t see anything. I grasp my rifle tightly and blunder
towards the door I saw Abril vanish through.

Lab 1. Inside, the air is clearer. I see my friends crouched behind a
machine, pirates shooting at them from an overturned table on the
other side of the lab. They’re wearing goggle devices.

‘By the doorway,’ one of them shouts. The other has a rifle, she
turns towards me but I’m already moving. I dive just as she fires, crash
straight into Abril.

‘Are you hit?’ Abril exclaims, over the gunfire and the alarm.
I right myself and shake my head. ‘No, are you all okay?’
‘We’re fine,’ Lucie answers. ‘Lucky to be after Arjun yanked us
straight into the pirates’ ambush though.’
‘There’s one with a rifle,’ Arjun says, ignoring Lucie’s comment,
‘another telling her where to shoot.’
‘A spotter,’ I reply. ‘We need to take them both out. As far as I can
tell we’re the only ones in here.’
‘Is everyone else dead?’ Abril asks in dismay
‘No,’ I answer, ‘listen to all the gunfire. The pirates must be
scattered throughout the labs, but it sounds like plenty of us are alive
and fighting back.’ I just hope Phyleon and Artis are amongst them, we
need their talents if we’re going to get through this.
‘What do we do?’ Abril asks, with renewed determination.
My eyes sting from the smoke as I take in our surroundings, but I
force them to focus. ‘We’re pinned pretty badly behind this machine,’ I
say. ‘Luckily, it’s a big machine.’
‘I think it’s some kind of spectrometer,’ Arjun says.
‘Whatever it is, Arjun,’ I need you to go right to the far edge of it,

pop up over the top and fire a single round with your pinch pistol.
Don’t bother aiming, just fire a shot and drop straight back down. Can
you do that for me?’

‘I dropped my pistol,’ Arjun says, with a flush of red.
‘Gods,’ Lucie groans.
‘It’s okay,’ Abril says, ‘I still have mine.’
My heart flutters in protest but I nod anyway. ‘Pop up, fire, drop
down. Don’t worry about aiming.’
‘Got it,’ she answers, ‘but why don’t I need to aim?’
‘No time to explain, just get over to the far end and wait for my
signal.’
With gunshots ringing from every direction, Abril moves over to
one end of the machine, I inch towards the other. When we’re both in
position I look past Lucie and Arjun, give Abril a nod. Just as I asked,
she stands straight, fires a single pinch round and then drops back
down as rifle fire bombards her end of the spectrometer. With the
pirates distracted I spring upwards, point my rifle and squeeze the
trigger. The rifle kicks back like nothing I’ve ever felt but I’m spraying
so many rounds I manage to send a few bullets in the right direction. I
stay up until both pirates have gone down, until my rifle clicks empty.
‘Did you get them?’ Arjun shouts.
Before I can answer one of the glass panels in the side of the lab
shatters. Two bodies come crashing through, a tangle of arms and legs.
‘It’s Artis,’ Abril exclaims, just as I realise it too.
They’re wrestling on the floor now, Artis on the bottom, a pirate on
top. Their arms lock as they grapple for control of a pinch pistol.
Artis’s rifle is trapped between his back and the floor, useless. I drop
my own rifle and run. I lean into my shoulder and smash straight into
the pirate.
The impact sends both of us flying. I crash into another big
machine, the pirate slides across the floor. He’s up before me, pinch
pistol in hand. I’m scrambling to try and get some purchase, to get
upright when then there’s a pop, blood, and the pirate crumples.
Behind him, Artis lays on the floor with his pinch rifle pointed.
‘Th–thank you,’ I stutter.
Seconds later Abril is at my side, helping me to my feet. ‘That was
so brave,’ she says, ‘are you okay?’

‘I’ll be bruised in the morning,’ I answer gingerly, ‘but I’m fine.’
Abril sniggers and I realise that the alarm has stopped. There’s no
gunfire or smoke in the air either. I’m about to ask Artis if we’ve won
when Bakalar’s hand tablet rings.
‘We took out four pirates by the blast doors,’ Captain Zuma says,
once I answer, ‘I can see via my feed that you and your team got the
rest.’
‘So we’re clear?’ I ask, hopeful it’s over.
‘Affirmative. Scanners are showing that the pirate vessel is
retreating, probably because it lost contact with its marauders. We still
need to know if those bastards damaged anything though, so Petrova’s
running a ship-wide diagnostic. I need to assist. Finish up where you
are and then report to the Bridge. Zuma out.’
I pocket Bakalar’s tablet and look around. The lab is in ruins;
broken glass, machines peppered with bullet holes, half-shattered
beakers that Lucie and Arjun take care to avoid as I watch them leave
the spectrometer’s protection. Once I see that they’re unhurt, I step
over to the pirate Artis shot, lean over and take his pinch pistol, just to
be safe.
As I straighten, Phyleon comes in followed by Edavane and three
others. ‘We lost three people,’ Edavane announces, ‘Raji, Cottle and
Yoshida.’
Heads hang, expressions sadden. The deaths are hard to take, even
Yoshida’s. He may have been a thorn in my side but I never wished
him dead.
‘We’ve got a live one,’ Artis calls out, ending the sullen silence.
He’s moved the overturned table the pirates who shot at me were
using as cover. One of them, the spotter, is still alive, a bullet wound to
his shoulder. He’s well out of reach of the dead woman and her rifle,
doesn’t appear to have a drop shock either.
‘Please …’ the pirate splutters, half-dazed. ‘I need … a medic.’ He’s
young, even younger than me.
‘Want me to end him?’ Artis asks, pointing his rifle at the pirate’s
chest. ‘Make him hurt?’
‘No,’ I answer, ‘that’s not who we are. We’re not like them, we don’t
set out to cause suffering. Violence is a choice we make only when
there’s no other option.’

Artis looks at me, nods. I notice Abril is smiling too. That means the
world.

‘Bandage him up,’ I continue, ‘and take him to Medical. Cuff him to
a bed and guard him whilst he’s treated.’ I turn to the rest of the group,
put on my best Bakalar voice. ‘The ship is safe so please hand your
weapons to Phyleon and head back to your quarters until you hear
further instructions from the captain. Phyleon, stow the weapons in
the briefing room and take the two pirates you cuffed in Second to the
cellblock. I’m going to stay here and call someone from Medical to
come and help me deal with the bodies.’

There are no arguments. Phyleon collects the crew and dead pirates’
weapons in a plastic storage box (I keep my pistol just in case there are
any more pirates left alive) and everyone begins to disperse.
Meanwhile, Artis retrieves the lab med kit and binds the young pirate’s
wound. Once he’s done, I help get the pirate to his feet. Artis marches
him out of the lab with his rifle poised.

After they go I realise that there are still three of us left in the lab.
Myself, Abril and Edavane. ‘Someone needs to check the damage to
the lab equipment,’ Edavane says, explaining his presence. Abril
follows up with, ‘And I’m staying with you, Seren.’

I don’t argue with Abril but I do point to Edavane’s bloody hand.
‘You’ve got a cut,’ I say, ‘are you sure you don’t want to go to the Med
Wing?’

Edavane shakes his head, makes for the first aid kit Artis left on a
workbench. ‘Just a little scratch, nothing to worry about. Luckily the
pirate I was tussling with was as feeble as Martian moss.’

‘What did you say?’
‘Oh, it’s just something we used to say back on Mars,’ Edavane
answers, rummaging through the med kit. ‘The moss we bred as part
of the job, it was pathetic stuff.’
‘You used to work for the Martian terraformers?’
‘Yes, before I came here. It was hardly my finest hour though. The
moss I helped breed couldn’t survive even the slightest perturbation.’
My mind is ablaze. Edavane worked on Mars. Worked with moss.
And moss is just another word for lichen, exactly what Galkin said
Flesch was asking her about. Gods, one of my letters, it said a rolling
stone gathers no moss. I had it down as cryptic crap but it must have

been referencing the substandard Martian lichen. Edavane must be
the missing piece of the puzzle, the answer I’ve been grasping for.

I raise my pistol.

Twenty-six

‘It’s you,’ I say, aiming my pinch pistol at Edavane.
‘Seren …’ Abril says tensely.
‘You,’ I repeat, without taking my eye off Edavane, ‘you’re why

Flesch was asking Galkin about lichen and Martian terraforming.
You’re the saboteur.’

Edavane stares straight into my eyes. ‘You got there,’ he says,
‘although it took you long enough.’

Keeping my pistol trained on Edavane, I reach into my pocket and
pull out Bakalar’s hand tablet. I make a call.

‘Zuma,’ the captain answers.
‘I have the saboteur,’ I say, ‘it’s Martin Edavane.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, he’s admitted it.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Lab 1. I have Edavane at gunpoint.’
‘I’ll be right there, we’ll take him down to Security together. Hold
tight, don’t take your eye of him. Zuma out.’
‘Start talking,’ I say to Edavane, after I’ve pocketed Bakalar’s tablet.
‘Why did you do it?’ I want to know everything and I want to know
now.
Edavane squeezes the wound on his hand. ‘Because of the blood,’ he
says, as he watches his blood splatter on the lab floor. ‘Specifically, the
blood in the vial you took from the Scylla .’
‘You wanted the blood?’ I ask, remembering Tak’s inconclusive
analysis results. ‘Why? What’s so special about it?’
‘Oh, so much is special about that blood, Seren. It needs to be
remarkable because the lichen is so unremarkable. But I never
particularly wanted it.’
‘Explain,’ I demand. Edavane is making no sense.
Edavane sighs. ‘I’ll put it in simple terms. The blood in that vial is
human blood, but the human it’s taken from was genetically modified.
Genes from organisms that can live in low-oxygen environments,
genes from creatures that can tolerate high levels of carbon dioxide
and carbon monoxide. All of those genes and more used to modify

people so they can survive on Mars, so they can cope with the pitiful
atmosphere the Martian terraformers and their pitiful lichen are
generating.’

‘That doesn’t make sense,’ I say. ‘The Martian atmosphere isn’t
pitiful, the terraformers are almost ready to settle people.’

‘It’s a lie, Seren. The terraformers never managed to engineer super-
lichen that could transform the Martian atmosphere into something
that mirrored Earth’s. Mars is just too hostile, too dead. So they had to
come at the problem from a different angle. They had to modify
humans to cope with the substandard atmosphere their greenhouse
process and stunted lichen farms were generating. And that approach
proved more successful. Think about the man you encountered aboard
the Scylla , he could breathe in toxic air that would normally kill a
human. He’d altered the atmosphere aboard the Scylla to conserve
oxygen and prolong his life.’

‘How do you know about him? Have you been aboard the Scylla ?’
Edavane laughs. ‘No, Seren, I was watching your helmet camera
feeds when you boarded her. I’ve been watching you and your team
closely for weeks now.’
That’s hard to stomach but I press on. ‘How could the terraformers
possibly be doing everything you say without Earth finding out?’
A knowing smile. ‘Earthling governments and investors are funding
the GM projects. In fact, all of the senior terraformers are from Earth.
Earth needs Mars, the earthling population is so very swollen. They’re
running out of room, resources. It’s the Great World Famine all over
again. You of all people should know that.’
‘So the terraformers are planning on genetically modifying everyone
who has a place on Mars?’
‘No, Seren, those places are a lie too. Only the richest and most
influential earthling families will have access to Martian land. Once
the terraforming is complete the need for expensive GM therapy will
price spacers out of the Martian colonies. The terraformers will say it
was a realisation that came late in the day, but they’ve known for
years. And, more to the point, they don’t care. Think. Do you really
believe that earthlings would ever share something as precious as
Mars with spacers? The colony places are a farce designed to keep
spacer scum blissfully ignorant whilst the terraformers finish the

process.’
Abril flinches at that, but I’m determined to carry on, to know

everything. ‘Why was the blood vial aboard the Scylla ? What was the
Scylla doing out here in the Anchor Leg?’

‘The Scylla is an earth envoy ship. Earthling VIPs were visiting Mars
to see what the terraformers had achieved first hand, to collect a blood
sample and take it home to show and satisfy investors. But there were
spacers aboard the ship, amongst the basic crew. They found out what
was happening on Mars and mutinied. They attempted to fly to Göhr –
a space station with practically no earthling presence – so they could
reveal the truth to the Relay. But the captive earthlings fought back
and the ship was badly damaged in the firefight. Only the man you
encountered survived, an earthling who had undergone the GM
therapy.’

‘And how do you know all of this?’
‘The terraformers contacted me via an encrypted data packet sent
directly to my personal handle. Very expensive, very difficult to do.
The earthling that survived, he was able to get the Scylla into orbit
around Skoll before the EN Drive completely gave out. Then he
managed to contact Mars. He explained what had happened and asked
for rescue. In turn, the terraformers contacted me. I used to work on
the terraforming project and the Charybdis was on course to pass near
Skoll.
‘I must admit I was surprised to hear from them after I left the
project in such bad circumstances, but they were desperate. Anyway,
places on Mars were offered if word of the terraformers’ activities was
kept from getting out. Large amounts of tender too. I couldn’t do it
alone though, and so I asked Sydney Temples, a computer scientist
who had apprenticed for me back on Mars, to help. She agreed but we
needed the Charybdis ’s access codes to move forwards. Luckily, we
knew a craft engineer with substantial gambling debts, debts that were
going to be called in once we arrived at Göhr . For the right price he
gave us the codes we needed.’
‘Name?’ I demand.
‘George Trou. We never told him our ultimate intentions, but
enough tender always bought his help and discretion.’
Gods, we interviewed Trou, Bakalar trusted him to help her. I need

to make sure he pays for letting her down.
‘The terraformers,’ Edavane continues, apparently in full flow,

‘wanted us to redirect the Charybdis , for us to get to Skoll so we could
blow up the Scylla and destroy the evidence. There was nothing there
that the terraformers wanted, they didn’t care about retrieving the
survivor or the blood vial. It was all just a loose end that needed tying
up. They need the Martian terraforming process to be complete and
irreversible before the Relay finds out about the necessity of GM
treatment.

‘Using Trou’s codes we were simultaneously able to fool the auto-
pilot, re-task the receivers and redirect the Charybdis to get just within
range of the Scylla ’s automated distress signal. We messed up a few
systems in the process but it couldn’t be helped.

‘However, once we got to Skoll, things didn’t go as planned. Your
team went over to the Scylla and bought the blood vial back before we
could figure out how to set off the ship’s self-destruct remotely. In fact,
we never figured how to start the self-destruct process, the Scylla ’s
systems were too badly damaged. Luckily, we had this.’ Edavane
reaches into his pocket.

‘Stop,’ I say, pointing my pistol at his head.
‘Don’t you want to see my toy?’ Edavane asks.
‘I want you to surrender it. Slowly. Any fast movement and I’ll pull
the trigger.’
Gradually, Edavane pulls a hand tablet from his pocket.
‘Slide it along the work bench,’ I order. He does, so I send Abril over
to retrieve it.
‘Sydney programmed it with the help of Trou’s codes,’ Edavane says,
as Abril returns to my side. ‘A hand tablet patched into a good
proportion of the Charybdis ’s systems. We used it to blow the EN
Drive. That meant the captain couldn’t fly the ship away before we’d
finished with the Scylla and worked out what to do about the blood.
We’d bought ourselves more time to deal with the situation at hand.
But then Sydney was killed, an unfortunate turn of events.’
‘Who killed her?’ I ask. I’m also wondering why the captain isn’t
here yet. Best to keep Edavane talking whilst he’s so freely confessing
though.
‘I suspected Maria Flesch had killed Sydney as soon as I found her

dead in her cabin. Sydney had reported Flesch taking an unusual
interest in her, she said she thought that Flesch had even
photographed her at one point.

‘To confirm my suspicions, I watched Flesch through the security
archives and discovered that she was spending a lot of time in Lab 9.
She was cutting the cameras in an attempt to keep her activities secret,
but Trou’s codes allowed me to see what she was doing on the
terminals. She was investigating Sydney through the security archives,
hacking her personal handle to read her messages. She was doing the
same to me as well. I realised Flesch must have gone to Sydney’s cabin
to confront her. I expect an argument or fight broke out and Sydney
was killed. I knew I had to kill Flesch before she could reveal what she
knew, so that’s what I did.’

I don’t say it aloud, but I see now that my photograph and
threatening letters must have been from Flesch. I guess Flesch went to
Sydney Temples’ cabin to make her demands in person when Sydney
didn’t turn up for the meeting the final letter set up.

‘My next step,’ Edavane continues, ‘was to cause a riot. With more
assistance from Trou, I incited half the basic crew to riot at the terrible
state of the ship. But they backpedalled when Zuma made his little
speech. That was, once again, unfortunate. I needed Zuma to report
the uprising or broadcast an emergency transmission. That would
cover my tracks when I escaped on a shuttle. I couldn’t figure out how
to self-destruct the Scylla , but the device Sydney left behind would
allow me to explode the Charybdis . And the Charybdis is much larger
than the Scylla , exploding it would create a far bigger blast than self-
destructing the Scylla . I was planning to take out the Scylla by blowing
up our ship . ’

‘Blow up our ship …’ I mutter. I can hardly believe what I’m
hearing, Edavane is insane.

‘When I’d made my escape,’ Edavane says, like he’s describing what
he had for breakfast, ‘I planned to blame the explosion on the rioters,
evading all suspicion. But Zuma never declared an emergency, with
your help he suppressed the riots. I needed something bigger,
something he couldn’t quell. When I found out that Yoshida was
complaining of Security threatening him with torture, I knew I had my
opportunity. A scientist revolt led by Yoshida.

‘Scientists are so much more competent than basic crew. I hoped
Zuma would be afraid of their superior ability to take over the ship.
Our noble captain would then have no choice but to make an
emergency broadcast and I’d have my cover. Then I could make my
escape and blow up the Charybdis using my little device. But the
pirates’ arrival thwarted me just as the revolt was beginning. There’d
be no chance of escaping in a shuttle if a pirate vessel was around so I
had to convince Yoshida and his friends to assist in fending them off.
And I suppose all that is what led me here.’

I can’t believe how nonchalant Edavane is about all of this. He
hardly seems to care that his plan has failed, or about how many
people he would have killed if it hadn’t. And all the spacers that are
being screwed over by the terraformers, how can he be okay with that?

‘What about your lab tech?’ I say, struggling to believe what a
monster Edavane is. ‘What about Loic Buhari? You were his superior,
you were responsible for him. He said that he and his family had a
place on Mars, didn’t you care that he was being lied to?’

‘I’m afraid Buhari is naive,’ Edavane answers with a sigh.
‘Spaceroaches. That’s what your people call us, Seren. They’re going to
take Mars for themselves, they’re going to leave the spacer populace to
rot in their giant metal coffins.’ He smiles a cruel smile. ‘But I say if
you can’t beat them, join them.’

Movement to my left, it’s Petrova. She throws an arm around Abril’s
neck, raises a pinch pistol to her temple. Her face is covered in blood.

‘So good to see you, darling,’ Edavane says pleasantly.

Twenty-seven

‘Petrova,’ I splutter, ‘what are you doing?’
‘Drop it,’ she says, ‘or I’ll blow Antonio’s brains out.’
‘I’d do what Natalia says,’ Edavane advises, ‘she’s really quite

ruthless. Just one of the many things I love about her.’
I can’t risk Abril’s life so I drop my pistol to the floor.
‘And your knife belt,’ Edavane says.
Obediently, I unfasten the belt and let it fall.
‘Now, please, kick them over to me.’
I do that too, the pistol first, then the belt. Edavane reaches down

and picks up the pistol, doesn’t bother with the belt. ‘Natalia, dear,’ he
says, ‘your new friend has Sydney’s tablet device.’

‘Hand it over,’ Petrova growls in Abril’s ear.
Abril looks at me, I nod. Abril slips a hand into her pocket and pulls
out the hand tablet. Petrova reaches for it greedily.
‘I’m ever so sorry I left Natalia out of my little story,’ Edavane
apologises, once Petrova has the tablet. ‘She was such an important
part of it as well. I especially like how she convinced the captain to
install an inept teenage apprentice as Acting Head of Security. I
suppose I should give you some credit though, you did catch me out
eventually.’
I could scream. Petrova has been one of the saboteurs all this time,
working against Security and the captain for Gods know how long.
And Edavane confessing so freely, it was all a distraction, he was
biding his time until Petrova could arrive and get the drop on us.
‘I take it the captain is dead?’ Edavane asks Petrova.
Petrova is beaming. ‘Yes. As soon as Zuma announced Temples had
you, I took out everyone on the Bridge.’
I grit my teeth. Murderous traitors, the pair of them.
‘Did the captain send some kind of distress signal before he died?’
Edavane asks.
‘He sent an emergency broadcast when the pirates attacked. The
pirate vessel is long gone as—’
Abril smashes an elbow into Petrova’s face before she can finish her
sentence. Petrova’s drops her pistol, but doesn’t go down. I rocket

forwards as Edavane raises his weapon. I plough into both Abril and
Petrova as he fires. The three of us hit the deck hard. Somehow, I
haven’t taken a bullet. I realise there’s a workbench between us and
Edavane, it means a few precious seconds of protection. Scrambling on
my hands and knees, I yank Abril around the corner and along the
length of the bench. Petrova goes the other way, back out into the
open.

Then bullets rain against the bench. ‘Leave them,’ I hear Edavane
shout, ‘we have what we need. They’ll die with the rest.’

I’m up in time to see them flee through the lab door. ‘We have to
chase after them,’ I say to Abril.

‘But they have pinch pistols,’ Abril answers, ‘and we have nothing.’
And then I see my knife belt lying on the lab floor, Edavane never
picked it up. I leap over the bench and an instant later I’m fastening it
around my waist. ‘Come on,’ I shout, as I start running towards the
door.
In the corridor outside Lab 1 I realise I have no idea what direction
Edavane and Petrova went. ‘Damn it,’ I exclaim, as I look from left to
right.
‘I didn’t see them run past any of the glass panels in the Lab,’ Abril
says, ‘they must have run that way.’ She points to the only pathway
that runs away from Lab 1 and not alongside it.
‘That leads to Shuttle Port 1. They’re leaving the ship.’ I start
running before I finish my sentence, Abril follows after me.
A few seconds of sprinting and a siren blares through the intercom.
Warning, reactor in meltdown. All crew, prepare to evacuate.
Proceed to the Fourth Quarter and the escape pods immediately.
Warning, reactor …
‘It’s them,’ I shout, over the alarm. ‘They have the tablet device,
they’re going to blow up the ship.’
‘We have to get to them,’ Abril shouts back. ‘If we can get the tablet
back we might be able to stop the meltdown.’
We keep running, around corner after corner. But I never see
Edavane or Petrova. I never see anyone. ‘There,’ I shout, as the shuttle
port comes in to view. I slam into the airlock door and shoot a finger at
the ad-pad. A flash of red, the door doesn’t open. I try again. Still, no
green light.

‘They’ve locked us out,’ Abril says, reaching for her holstered box
tablet. ‘I’ll try and solve it.’

‘No,’ I say, looking through the tiny window in the airlock door.
There’s a red light by the hatchway on the other side. ‘Their shuttle has
already detached, damn it.’ I thump the door with my fist. ‘This must
be the real reason Edavane wanted to stay in Lab 1. So he was close to
Shuttle Port 1, close enough to make his escape with Petrova.’

‘Where are they going?’ Abril says. ‘Our shuttles are low-range.
There’s no way they can get to a space station from here.’

‘The Scylla ,’ I say, as it clicks. ‘Captain Zuma said the shuttle
attached to the Scylla has an EN Drive. They must be planning to attach
to the Scylla and transfer into the ship’s long-range shuttle. We can still
stop them.’

‘By flying to the Scylla ?’
‘Yes, but we need to be quick.’ I grab Abril’s hand and start running
back the way we came. ‘There’s no shuttle attached to Shuttle Port 2,’ I
think aloud, ‘we’ll have to go to Third and fly from the port there. We’ll
grab a pair of skinsuits from Security on the way.’
With Abril at my side I sprint as hard as I possibly can. Edavane and
Petrova probably won’t spend long aboard the Scylla , not with the
Charybdis so close to exploding. We only have a small window and it’s
closing by the second.
We cross into Second and, suddenly, there are people. Panicked
engineers no doubt trying to stop the reactor from blowing. I don’t
think they’ll have much luck, I expect Edavane has locked them out of
the controls.
When we get to Third and the briefing room door, I send Abril
onwards. ‘Go to Shuttle Port 3,’ I say, over the blare of the alarm, ‘the
airlock ad-pad might be locked out. Solve it, and I’ll meet you there
with the others.’ A nod and Abril’s gone.
Inside the briefing room there’s no sign of Phyleon or Artis. Maybe
they’re in Fourth trying to keep everyone calm. I can still call Phyleon
though. I pull Bakalar’s hand tablet from my pocket and realise it’s
smashed. Shit. It must have broken when I hit the floor in Lab 1.
There’s no time to dwell on it. I drop to my knees by the storage
lockers, punch in the key code and jerk open the doors, one after the
other. I take the two smallest skinsuits and drape them over my

shoulders. I pick up a pinch rifle, load it, strap that around me as well.
Then I take two helmets, one under each arm. I kick the lockers closed
and I’m running.

As I tear through Third I must look absurd, like a crazy woman
taking two goldfish bowls for a jog. But no one seems to care, everyone
I pass is far too rattled to take any notice of me.

Luckily, Shuttle Port 3 isn’t far. I arrive to find Abril in front of the
airlock door, her box tablet attached to the ad-pad. ‘You were right,’
she says, ‘the door’s sealed up pretty tightly. But I’ve almost … there.’

A loud mechanical jolt, a green flash and Abril pulls her tablet and
pads away. ‘Inside,’ I say, ‘they have a big head start on us.’

Still packed like a mule, I follow Abril through the airlock. ‘I
couldn’t find the others,’ I say, as Abril closes the door after me,
silencing the alarm. ‘You’re going to have to fly us over.’

‘I’d guessed,’ she replies. ‘Heck of a time for my maiden flight.’
Inside the shuttle, Abril wastes no time in dashing to the cockpit as
I seal the hatch. ‘Can you fly it?’ I ask, as I start to strip.
Abril has already strapped herself into the pilot seat, I can see her
pressing buttons on the dashboard too. ‘I hope so.’
I’m just pulling the skinsuit up my bare legs when the whole shuttle
shakes violently. ‘We’ve detached,’ Abril calls.
Now I’m floating upwards, watching my helmet do the same. ‘Step
on it,’ I shout, as I slip my arms through my skinsuit’s sleeves and set
my comms panel, ‘there’s no time for caution.’
I hear a fierce fizz and I know Abril is doing just that. I pull on my
helmet and strap my rifle over my shoulder. The second helmet and
suit are drifting away from me so I reach out, grab them and kick off
towards Abril.
I bump against the second cockpit seat, right myself and look out of
the window. Abril already has the shuttle pointed at the Scylla , the
ship and its debris cloud are getting bigger by the second. ‘You need to
change into your suit,’ I shout, so Abril can hear me through my
helmet, ‘we need to be ready for the Scylla ’s toxic air.’
‘Okay,’ she answers, ‘you’ll have to hold her steady. Sit down and
take the control stick.’
I let the second suit go and fumble into the free seat. As soon as I’ve
strapped myself in and placed two hands around the bulbous control

stick, Abril unfastens her belt. Her acrobatics put me to shame. In one
movement, she spins out of her seat, floats upwards and collects her
suit and helmet.

Abril’s grace in zero-G is mesmerising but I make myself
concentrate on flying. Even the tiniest hand movement seems to move
the Scylla from the centre of the window; I constantly have to readjust.
It’s lucky I don’t need to be working anything on the dashboard at the
same time. At least I don’t think I need to be.

– Almost there, – I hear through my helmet headset, – just
holstering my box tablet. –

– Make sure your comms panel is set to Beta frequency and closed,
– I send back. – If we broadcast to each other through the open
channel, Edavane and Petrova might hear us coming. –

– Got it, – Abril replies.
Much to my relief, Abril is back in her seat well before we hit the
debris cloud. – Taking back the controls, – she sends. – You did really
well. – I let go of the control stick, clutch my rifle instead.
The Scylla is close now, a giant, broken husk hanging over Skoll. In
truth, it’s horrifying to be going back, but I can’t let what happened
there get to me. I must stay strong.
– Look, – I send, as I clock a shuttle clinging to Port 2, – they’ve
already attached. And the shuttle attached to Port 1 hasn’t left yet,
Edavane and Petrova must still be aboard. –
There’s debris in our flight path now. But Abril isn’t avoiding it like
Bakalar and Hindle did on my last transit, she’s ploughing straight
through it. Every impact is a terrifying thump to our shuttle. Abril only
changes course for the very largest shrapnel; sharp, metallic debris
that could probably rip our hull in half.
– Gods, – I send, as I come to a realisation, – there are only two
ports aboard the Scylla , how are we going to attach? –
– I’ve thought of that, – Abril replies. – All shuttles have two
hatches, one in the rear and one in the floor. We can attach to the back
of the shuttle Edavane and Petrova took over and get into the Scylla
like that. The rear hatch will be locked to outsiders, but Bakalar made
sure we’d never forget the key code. –
– one-nine-seven-seven, – I send. Bakalar drilled it into our heads
whilst we prepped for our first Scylla mission. I say a silent thank you.

Abril keeps the shuttle moving at a frightening pace, right until
we’re on top of Port 2 and the other shuttle. With a massive jolt she
reverses the thrusters and spins our shuttle upside down. She makes a
couple of adjustments but, before long, there’s a rumble and a green
light pops up on the dashboard. – Attached, – she sends.

My belt is undone in an instant. I float upwards and then kick off
towards the hatch in the bottom of our shuttle. I grab for the lever, halt
myself, cock the charging handle on my rifle. Then I look to Abril.
She’s attached herself to a rail with her foot and she’s tying my knife
belt around her waist. I’d forgotten about the belt, I let it go when I
changed out of my jumpsuit.

– Opening the hatch, – I send. I punch in the code and pull the
lever, holding tight as a small blast of air passes over me.

My heart racing, I pass through into the back of the other shuttle.
It’s empty, so I make for the floor hatch.

I switch on my helmet torch, yank the lever and then I’m through,
into the Scylla ’s gloomy airlock. Again, it’s empty, so I push off from
the floor and glide over to the airlock door. – Seal the hatch, – I send
to Abril, once she’s through too.

As soon as Abril’s done just that, I pull the airlock lever. A powerful
rush of air and we finally have access to the Scylla .

I push through the door, sending myself gliding into the same
scorched corridor I first led Beta Team through. Before I can halt
myself against the wall, I smash straight into a person.

Twenty-eight

I lash out, sending my attacker slamming against the wall. The body
doesn’t kick off and fight back though, it just hangs there, limp.

– It’s Petrova, – Abril sends, – she’s dead. –
I manage to re-orientate myself against the wall and see that Abril is
right. Petrova’s face is visible through her visor, but it’s pale and
contorted. There’s a bloody opening in her skinsuit too, right in the
middle of her chest.
– Did Edavane kill her? – Abril sends, as she seals the airlock. –
Maybe Petrova had second thoughts and tried to stop him? –
I reach out and grab Petrova’s arm, pull her towards me and pat her
down. There’s no sign of the tablet device.
– Edavane must have the tablet, – I send, abandoning Petrova and
kicking off. – Follow me. –
I fly forwards, through the dusty air and towards the front of the
ship. What I wouldn’t give for a map like the one I was using the last
time I was here. Even though the Scylla is a lot smaller than the
Charybdis , finding Port 1 is going to be guesswork without a route
map through First.
At the end of the corridor, a scarred hatchway leads us into an area
that looks totally different to the back end of the ship. Lacquered doors
line a wide corridor, each one marked by a smart nameplate and its
own framed ad-pad. There’s a lot less floating junk than I remember
from the Second Half too. Although that might be a result of the boys’
recovery mission.
– Hello? – A crackly voice says through my headset. It’s not Abril. –
Hello? Do you read me? –
Abril gives me a tense look through her visor. The voice isn’t
Edavane though, I think I recognise it from my first visit to the
Charybdis ’s Bridge. – Clyne? – I send. – Clyne? Is that you? –
– Affirmative, – Clyne answers, through a fuzz of static, – I’m
reading two comms signals originating from the Scylla . Who am I
talking to?’
– This is Temples, Acting Head of Security. You’re broadcasting to
Abril Antonio as well. Where are you, Clyne? –

– I’m on the Charybdis ’s Bridge. I came to see if I could help stop
the meltdown, but the captain’s dead, everyone here is dead. –

– Can you stop it? Have you tried? –
– I’ve tried, but the fusion reactor’s cooling system has been turned
off and I’m locked out of the controls. It’ll blow in minutes. I don’t
understand what’s happening, the ship’s systems have gone haywire. I
can’t even access your helmet cam feeds. –
– Listen to me, – I send, – a scientist, Martin Edavane, he’s the
saboteur. He has a tablet that can control the Charybdis and probably
stop the meltdown. He’s aboard the Scylla and he’s trying to get to Port
1 so he can escape. –
– I’m not reading any other signals, – Clyne sends. – Edavane must
have shut down his transmitter completely. –
– Whatever he’s done, we need you to help us before you get to an
escape pod. –
– I’m not going to an escape pod, – Clyne responds, – there’s no
point. If the fusion reactor goes, the combined force of the Scylla and
Charybdis exploding will wipe out all our pods before they drift clear.
–
– In that case, you need to direct us to Port 1. We need to get to
Edavane. The Scylla ’s schematics are on the ship’s database. Can you
pull them and help us? –
– Stand by. – There’s an excruciatingly long pause and then, – Got
them. Applying your comms signal. Okay, you need to get to the very
end of the corridor you’re in now. –
I kick off and shoot forwards. Abril chases after me and, before
long, we reach a large door at the corridor’s end. – Here, – I send.
– Go through the door, – Clyne instructs, – once you’re through,
take the first left. –
We follow Clyne’s instructions, along a scorched corridor, through
some sort of ballroom, along another corridor full of dust and soot. I
keep my rifle poised but we never see any trace of Edavane.
– This corridor, – Clyne sends, after we pass through an ornate
hatchway, – there’s a sharp bend and then Port 1 is beyond that. –
– Copy that, – I send. I turn to face Abril. – Stay behind me, – I
instruct. She nods.
I push off and float forwards, my senses on high alert. Edavane is

down here somewhere, unless he’s already escaped of course. I pray
that that isn’t the case.

As I pull up to the bend in the corridor, I hear a noise ahead.
There’s light too. Abril drifts up to my side, uses my arm as an anchor
to stop herself. – It’s him, – she sends.

– Has to be, – I agree. – Lights off. – We kill our helmet torches and
then I float around the corner with my pinch rifle ready. Beyond the
turning, the corridor runs into some kind of presentation space. It’s
skirted by lavish seats and, in the near corner, a speaker’s podium
draped in a Martian flag.

At the back of the space is an airlock door, partially blocked from
view by several floating trolleys strapped up with boxes, crates, gas
bottles and other equipment. Every trolley has a lantern attached to it.
Supplies. By the looks of it, enough for a long journey.

And then I see him. Edavane is wearing a skinsuit and double
holster, and he’s pulling along three boxes crudely lashed together as
he rides through the air. He’s nearly at the airlock door. I don’t have a
brace but I can’t let him go through. I aim my rifle and squeeze the
trigger. The rifle recoils, sending me hurtling into the wall.

I right myself and see that Edavane has disappeared amongst the
trolleys. His three boxes are spinning freely, casting long, warped
shadows in the lantern light.

Our position is obvious. Abril has joined me against the wall and
we’re badly exposed. I kick off and fly towards the podium,
outstretching a hand to stop myself against it. A second later and Abril
is by my side. Where is he? I see her mouth through her visor.

Before I can answer a new voice sounds through my headset. –
Temples, I presume. And your charming associate. – Edavane has
turned on his comms and is broadcasting through the open channel. I
don’t switch my comms to open, I have nothing to say back to him.

– I expect you’re wondering why I killed Natalia, – Edavane sends,
– especially after I was declaring my love for her so very recently. –

There’s a pause in Edavane’s transmission so I sneak my helmet
around the podium and peer towards the airlock. I have a decent view
but I can’t see him, he must still be hiding behind a trolley.

– I’m sorry to report, – Edavane resumes, – that there was only ever
one Martian place on offer from the terraformers. I’d always planned

to kill Natalia and, as soon as we boarded the Scylla , her usefulness
was at its end. A relief really, she was so very whiney. – He puts on a
mocking voice. – “ Space is so lonely. I feel so lost.” It was pathetic. As
soon as she thought somebody loved her she was putty in my hands.
She’d have done anything for me, died for me. And she did. –

Suddenly, the trolley nearest to the podium comes rocketing
towards us. To avoid being battered by flying equipment, Abril dives
one way and I go the other. There’s the pop of a pinch pistol and I see
sparks fly. I fire rifle rounds in the direction the trolley came from and
I see Edavane retreat. As I ride the recoil backwards, he disappears
amongst the remaining trolleys.

– Cover me, – Abril sends, as I crunch against a seat. Abril is sailing
towards the airlock door, pulling her box tablet from her holster as she
goes.

– No, – I send. But I know she won’t be stopped, she’s going to try
and lock Edavane out of the airlock. I fire a few rounds towards the
trolleys, hoping to pin Edavane behind them. But I don’t know exactly
which one he’s hiding behind, and I probably don’t have much ammo
left anyway.

Abril reaches the airlock door, and then attaches her box tablet’s
suction cups to the ad-pad. She’s completely exposed and I have no
idea where Edavane is. Panic is coursing through my veins, I can’t let
Edavane get to her. I kick off and launch myself upwards, towards the
roof. From the roof I’ll have a better view, I can wedge myself against
the ceiling and shoot down at him.

I turn in the air and let my suit pack slam into the roof to stop me.
The impact is painful but now I can see everything below me. Edavane
is behind one of the nearest trolleys, looking up at me. I aim my rifle as
he grabs a metallic crate lid and pulls it over his head like a shield. I
fire until I’m empty but the lid is moving in Abril’s direction and my
bullets have done nothing.

The world descends into slow motion. – Abril! – I scream. She pulls
her box tablet from the ad-pad just as it flashes red. But Edavane has
reached her. He seems to know that I’m out of ammo because he’s
thrown aside his crate lid and raised his pinch pistol. He fires into
Abril’s chest until the pistol clicks empty. The shots send Abril
crashing against the airlock door, Edavane rides the recoil in the

opposite direction.
– Abril! – I shout, kicking off.
– I’m coming, – I send, as I hit the airlock door and scramble

towards her. I grab Abril with one hand and try to cover the openings
in her suit with the other. My glove is stained red in seconds.

– I’m going to get you help, – I send, – you’ll be okay. –
Abril’s lips tremble as I look through her visor, blood runs out from
her mouth. She’s trying to speak.
– Don’t talk, – I send, – save your breath. –
– This, – she whimpers, as I hold her tight, – this should have been
forever. –
– It still can be, – I send. – It still can be. – One last tiny gasp and
then Abril is gone. Gone forever.
Clyne says something through my headset as I toss my empty rifle
aside and pull a knife from Abril’s belt. But I neither hear nor care
what he’s saying. I don’t care about anything that’s ever been said by
anyone, all I care about is killing Edavane.
I switch my helmet torch on, kick off and fly back into the corridor. I
know exactly where Edavane is going. If he can’t get into the Scylla ’s
shuttle through the airlock, he’s going to have to get to it from the
outside.
I arrive at Port 2 in a haze of fury. As I reach for the airlock lever I
see that it’s covered in blood and some kind of sticky blue gel. Maybe I
hit Edavane with my rifle after all.
I’m through the airlock in a flash. Likewise, shuttle hatches and
seals are all dealt with at lightning speed.
As I crawl out into space, I feel the fibres in my suit constrict as they
apply mechanical pressure to my skin. I hear the unit in my suit pack
whir as it starts to pump out more heat. But all that’s only the slightest
distraction as I push off from the edge of the shuttle and grasp onto
the Scylla ’s carousel.
I’ve never spacewalked before. The endless, silent expanse of starry
black would probably be terrifying if it wasn’t for what I’m focusing on
instead. Along the length of the battered ship, maybe a third of the way
towards the shuttle, is Edavane. He’s struggling. The left leg of his suit
is stained red, and his movement along the carousel is clumsy. Just
like me, he’s untethered.

Clutching my knife, I keep low and move forwards. But it’s no good,
without both of my hands free my progress is even slower than
Edavane’s. I toss my knife out into space. It doesn’t matter, I’ll kill him
with my bare hands.

Edavane has noticed I’m coming after him now, I can sense panic in
his jerky movements. There are handrails along the length of the Scylla
, but there are plenty of warped metal protrusions as well. Battle scars
from all the Scylla has been through. A misplaced hand and I could
easily rip open a glove, I have no intention of being careful though.

It’s not long until I’ve caught up with him. From close by I can see
that Edavane’s left leg is totally useless, there’s a crude blue suit seal
below his knee too. As soon as I’m near enough I leap and wrap my
arms and legs around his body.

The impact is severe but Edavane manages to keep one hand
attached to a handrail. With his free arm, he elbows me in the torso
repeatedly. The blows are immense, but I don’t care. I kick hard at his
injured leg. As soon as he stalls, I reach out and grab the next
handhold along, detach from his body. And then I’m kicking wildly,
punching with my free hand, screaming Abril’s name.

Edavane’s grip fails, but I’m not done with him. Before he can drift
off I grab him and pull him back, slam his helmet into the Scylla . He
makes a fist and punches out at me but I’m so full of adrenaline and
hate that his blow is meaningless. I kick him in his injured leg again
and our visors are close enough for me to see him scream in agony. I
loop my foot through a rail and then I reach down to his belt, pull the
tablet device from one of his holsters. Then I smash a fist square into
his chest.

This time, I don’t pull him back.

Twenty-nine

Clyne signals the end of the service and everyone rises. He did well
today, as he has done every day since he was installed as Acting
Captain. Not that there was much choice, he was the only flight
crewmember left alive after the massacre on the Bridge.

When it’s our turn to leave, everyone from my row of seats shuffles
towards the gym door, hardly a word being spoken. It’s been four days
since the meltdown was averted but the mood across the ship remains
sombre. The EN Drive is repaired and working, the rest of the ship’s
systems are back to normal too. But it’s not enough. I think the
problem is Mars. Mars was what these spacers saw as their future, and
not just the ones with places in the colonies. Mars was supposed to be
the Relay’s great salvation, its best chance of having a home planet, a
motherland. But that’s gone now. Clyne let everyone know everything.
And rightly so.

‘I have to head off,’ I say to Lucie and Arjun, as we leave the gym.
‘You’re not coming to the bar?’ Lucie asks.
‘No, I have somewhere else to be.’
‘IM us later,’ Arjun says, as I walk away.
It might be considered bad form for the Acting Head of Security not
to show up at the bar after a memorial service, but I know Artis and
Phyleon will be there to represent me. They said so when I spoke to
them earlier, before Artis went to sit with Marissa Chafik and Phyleon
accompanied him.
After everything that happened it didn’t seem right to throw Artis
back in a cell with Trou and the pirates. Despite being an idiot, Artis
acted bravely during the pirate attack. That doesn’t mean he won’t
have to face sentencing for what he did, but maybe his valour will hold
him in good stead with the regulators.
As for Phyleon, he’s been picking up my considerable slack ever
since I got back from the Scylla . Apparently, one of the pirates
confirmed his Göhr theory in the interview room. The pirate in
question explained how his captain had a murky deal with the high-
ranking officials aboard Göhr. They were feeding the pirate vessel
information about vulnerable ships throughout the Anchor Leg in

return for a cut of the plunder. Göhr can’t be trusted, so we’re heading
to Bakre to reveal the truth about Mars. Who knows what will happen
when we do.

It doesn’t take me long to get to where I’m going, the corridors
beyond Fourth are virtually deserted. I head into Medical and walk
past everyone I see without saying a word. The High Dependency
Ward only has one patient now, the coolant pipe victim died two days
ago. I suspect the pipe that blew was Edavane’s fault as well, it was his
actions that screwed up so many of the ship’s systems after all.

‘Seren,’ Bakalar says, as I enter her room, ‘thank you for coming.’
Bakalar is propped up in her bed, a single electrode attached to her
stubbly head. I notice she has a new hand tablet too.

‘I should have come sooner,’ I answer, ‘as soon as they told me
you’d woken up.’

Bakalar shakes her head. ‘You’re here now, take a seat.’
There’s a chair at the side of Bakalar’s bed so I do as she asks.
‘You did well,’ Bakalar says, ‘Phyleon told me everything. You really
came through for me.’
Silently, I disagree. If I’d have worked everything out sooner, got to
Edavane and Petrova, Abril might still be alive.
‘I’m so sorry about Antonio,’ Bakalar says, as if reading my mind.
‘She was incredibly brave. As were Hindle and all the others who died
fighting for us.’
The best I can do is nod; every time someone says Abril’s name a
chasm opens in my chest. It hurts more than I can bear.
‘You know, Seren,’ Bakalar says, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever told you why
I picked you as my apprentice.’
I look Bakalar in the eye, curious despite myself.
She smiles. ‘I picked you because, when I watched your application
video, you reminded me of me at your age. You were far from the best
qualified applicant; you’d never even been into space. But I recognised
your determination, your grit. It’s what I have, what has saved me
countless times in all sorts of different situations.
‘The only difference is that you probably have more of that stuff
than I do, and you’re a lot smarter than me as well. All you did whilst I
was sleeping, it’s beyond what I could ever have imagined you were
capable of.’

‘Thank you,’ I say, although it doesn’t come out as particularly
sincere.

After my visit with Bakalar, my feet take me all the way to Abril’s cabin
in Fourth. It’s happened a lot over the last few days, my brain just sort
of disengages and my body takes me places without me asking it to. I
snap back to reality having no real idea how I got to where I am. I
don’t turn back though, I touch a finger to Abril’s ad-pad. I still have
my open access so her door slides open.

Inside, Abril’s room is just as it was the last time I saw it. The slip
dress Lucie tried on is hanging in the same place, the floor is still
covered with crumpled jumpsuits.

Unsure of exactly why I’m here, I sit myself on Abril’s unmade bed.
I look at her framed picture of Mars and my eyes begin to sting. I think
I loved Abril. She saw that I was turning into what I was running away
from, showed me that I had the capacity to stop running and be happy.
Because I was happy with her. Even if it was only in brief flashes over
the course of just a few days, I was happy with Abril.

And I think I made Abril happy too. During my whole life, even if I
live to be one hundred years old, I don’t think I will ever do anything
more important than that.

A Note from the Author

Thank you so much for reading Anchor Leg . Writing and sharing this
book has been a real pleasure, one of the best things I have ever done
with my life. It is important to note, however, that this is a story and,
in stories, story takes precedence. Whilst I tried to make the science in
this novel as accurate and as up to date as possible, concessions had to
be made. Where the science needed to bend to the plot’s will I allowed
it to. As a result some scientific description present is simplified or
flawed. I am a trained environmental scientist, I understand the value
of accurate science communication. But here I have attempted to
communicate a story, as well as my general passion for science and
space. If you wish to discover more about the scientific concepts
present in this book after reading then I have done my job. And,
remember, there are plenty of incredible factual books out there to
help you do so.

Finally, if you enjoyed Anchor Leg , I would be ever so grateful if you
would consider leaving a quick review. Reader reviews help so much
with getting books noticed and I would love to read your thoughts on
Seren and her story as well. Once again, thank you so much for
reading.

Also by the Author

Wye

In an England full of zombies something much worse rises
from the death and decay. And it's hunting a teenage girl.

Through the remembered lessons of her favourite writers, sixteen-
year-old Wye has been trying to make sense of a cruel new world. But

it’s not working. Wherever she turns there are monsters and
memories, both of them poised to devour her if she can’t find a way to
live with herself. What follows is Wye’s last chance at salvation, what

follows is her journal.

Click here to view Wye on Amazon UK
Click here to view Wye on Amazon US

Jack Croxall’s Amazon UK Page
Jack Croxall’s Amazon US Page