Stowaway (Redleg in Space Book 1) Read online

“I would never even try that EPSI. I love Argyle Industries and their products,” Zade said as he leaned down and grabbed the frame.

  This time as Zade pressed the frame into the anchor points there was the satisfying hiss as the anchors engaged. As he removed his hands, the frame stayed firmly in place. Zade walked over to the crates and moved them to the suit one by one. Without opening them, he had a good idea which one had the drill in it as it was the heaviest. He also guessed which had the sensor equipment in it, but the third was a mystery. When he tried to open it to see inside, Zade found that all three crates had been cypher locked and only Samix could open them.

  “EPSI, I want to do a test load of the equipment. If I start putting weight on your back, will you fall over?” Zade asked

  I will adjust my center of gravity as the load is applied to prevent that.

  As Zade loaded the crates, the suit began to lean forward compensating for the weight. Zade knew that look; he had seen it many times before during his army career. It was the look every soldier had when overburdened by equipment. Zade had designed the hooks on the frame so that the crate handles would slip right over the hooks to prevent them from falling off his back as he moved. Satisfied with how the crates sat, Zade began unloading the frame. With the frame empty and the suit standing upright once again, Zade ordered EPSI to release the frame. As the anchors released, the frame dropped straight down the back of the suit and landed standing up. Zade put the frame on a crate that lined up with the anchor points so he could back right up to it when he was in the suit. As he loaded the frame, he kept the sensors on the top, that way when they reached the site Samix could unload the sensors before he dropped the frame, preventing any damage to them.

  Satisfied with his load plan, Zade headed back into his lab to grab a weapon and other parts of his kit. The lesson he had learned from the last encounter with wildlife was that he would never be caught unprepared again. Returning to the suit, Zade laid out the new equipment. He placed the improved railgun, which had new power sources with higher capacity, on to the right of the suit. Three railgun magazines now held small thermobaric rounds and one contained armor piercing rounds. The basic design of the thermobaric rounds allowed them to do, at a minimum, the same amount of damage as regular railgun rounds, but these were packed with explosives. They gave homage to munitions he used on Earth. Zade called them Excaliburs. Small sensors on the outside of the round would trigger the explosion when the round was surrounded by anything other than a gas. As a safety mechanism, Zade programed the rounds to not arm unless they had reached the high velocities achieved by being fired out of the railgun. An additional failsafe ensured that even if the rounds didn’t explode, they would do incredible amounts of damage. When the explosives triggered inside of the threat, they would create a small pocket of extremely high temperature and pressure, which would expand, doing lethal damage. Zade had hoped that just one of these rounds could successfully neutralize a threat.

  Zade had far less confidence in the armor piercing rounds. If armor couldn’t be pierced by a standard railgun round, Zade wasn’t sure anything could, but he decided to try. These rounds differed from standard rounds only in shape and material. Whereas the original rounds for the railgun were tiny pellets, these were mini sabot rounds made out of the hardest material Zade could find in the database. The tips of the rounds were milled to a fine point and coated in diamond. Ideally, all of the force generated by the railgun would be focused on the tiny point of the round, and would push it through any armor.

  The last piece of equipment Zade laid out was his utility belt with new load carrying vest. The vest was a compression sleeve that extended from Zade’s chest to waist and held pouches of grenades, additional ammunition, a knife and anything else Zade felt he would need for the mission. Attached to the bottom side of the belt was a thigh holster for his 1911. The ivory handled 1911 was the same as it had been on Earth, but Zade had created ammunition for it that mimicked the new ammunition he created for the railgun. As he finished inspecting the gear on the load carrying belt, Zade felt the ship start to vibrate as it entered atmosphere.

  I’m headed back to you now. We should be on the ground in five minutes, Samix said through Zade’s interface.

  Zade leaned against the protective suit and waited for Samix to arrive in the cargo bay. Zade felt himself getting the pre-mission jitters, a feeling he hadn’t experienced since his first deployment. It felt like an hour, but Samix finally arrived at the cargo bay, sporting her own personal kit for exploration. To Zade’s surprise she was only wearing the winter version of the ship’s uniform and a small sidearm. As she neared, Zade ordered the suit open and began climbing in. As Samix looked at the equipment laid out around the suit.

  “First off, you’re not taking that arsenal with you,” Samix said. “Sidearm only, and I don’t even think we are going to need those. The planet doesn’t have any observable lifeforms. Second, how did you get the suit to accept that backpack, we never…”

  Before she could finish her thought, Zade yanked his leg out of the suit and shot to her side to cover her mouth.

  “I convinced the AI in the suit that it was approved equipment. If you finish what you were saying, we are carrying this stuff by hand,” Zade whispered in her ear as he removed his hand from over her mouth.

  “Since when does an environmental suit have an AI?” She asked.

  “Not sure, the damn thing started talking to me as soon as I finished the familiarization. Said the AI was only accessible to users who finished the program.”

  “You finished the familiarization? I have never met anyone, in my life, who had finished that program. Most just do the motor skills then end it. Is it worth it?”

  “Not sure yet. Haven’t worked with it enough. EPSI, wave to the captain,” Zade ordered.

  On cue, after Zade finished his sentence, the suit turned to Samix and waved. With Samix watching, Zade cleared the railgun and detached the vest from his belt. After carrying them back into his lab where he could secure them, Zade closed the large doors to his lab and started back toward the bay. After arriving, he got back into his suit. As the suit closed, the display lit and EPSI’s voice emanated through the small helmet.

  “Welcome Zade. Thank you for using Argyle Industries…”

  “Stop. When I enter the suit do not start the canned greeting. Just start running a system check.”

  As EPSI worked through the systems check, Zade clipped on his thigh holster and load. Zade ordered EPSI to adjust the suit’s center of gravity so he didn’t feel like he was constantly fighting the weight of the equipment on his back. Confident that he could move comfortably, Zade grabbed his sidearm, curious to see how it felt with the protective gauntlets. The first thing he noticed was how much tactile sensation he had when he picked up his pistol. If he didn’t know he was in a protective suit he wouldn’t have been able to tell that there was a protective layer between his hand and the weapon. As he drew the weapon, Zade could see the small red targeting reticle propagate on his display.

  “EPSI, would information prior to entering a hostile environment help you perform your duties?”

  “I am capable of conducting hundreds of millions of adjustments per second, but if it makes you comfortable, I could use a situation report.”

  “It would make me feel better, so here goes: we are going out to an ice planet with an average surface temperature of -300 degrees. Expecting high winds due to the completely flat topography.”

  “Very well, I will double check the suits temperature regulators, and cleats.”

  Zade felt a slight shift in the ground below him as the ship settled onto its landing feet. After giving her a thumbs up, Samix opened the ramp. The blinding white landscape outside the ship caused the protective suit’s visor to darken. Zade walked to the end of the ramp. Just before stepping onto the planet’s surface, Zade marked the location of the ship on his map. In the event of white out conditions, Zade wanted to be able to make it back. Samix
stepped onto the planet next to him.

  “Pick a direction and start walking,” she ordered.

  Sounds like she’s marching me out into the empty desert to execute me.

  “We can run it,” Zade said. “We should be able to make it to the site in 12 minutes or so. You’ll just have to cut me some slack. I do have a quarter ton on my back.”

  “Sounds good to me. Being able to handle these temperatures doesn’t mean I like them.”

  Zade did a quick turn to survey the area surrounding the ship. Every direction was the same: nothingness as far as the eye could see. Everything was pure white, and with the clouds it was hard to tell where the horizon was. After picking a direction, Zade instructed EPSI to lock onto Samix’s interface signal, and keep it displayed on his map. If she were going to leave him behind, he would know as soon as she set off towards the ship. After ensuring that he could see Samix on his map, Zade set off at a sprint. An odometer in his display was rolling over more quickly than he thought possible. It had been brought up by EPSI, after he explained how the team needed to be five kilometers from the ship. Samix was able to keep pace for the first kilometer or so, but by the third she had fallen behind, far enough that Zade could no longer see her. As he realized this, Zade slowed to a walk and watched his map. Her indicator was stationary, which meant that she was lost, winded, or injured.

  Zade turned and headed back to her location to make sure everything was alright. As he got closer, he saw her. Blurry at first, the image cleared to reveal that she was sitting on the icy ground holding her left leg. As soon as he realized she might be hurt, Zade hustled toward her, covering the last bit of distance in seconds.

  “Shit, what happened? Are you ok?”

  “I’ll be fine. I stepped on a chunk of ice and rolled my ankle. My nanites should have it fixed in a couple of minutes,” she answered.

  “Do you have a first aid kit?” Zade asked.

  “Why would I? I’m not medical.”

  The Unity focused so heavily on position specialization that no role in the Unity military or exploration corps cross-trained on any different role. Even though Samix was the captain of an exploration ship that spent most of its time outside of settled space, no one on the ship was versed in first aid. After taking a knee, Zade propped Samix’s foot up on his thigh and took off her boot to examine the damage. Without the nanites, Zade would have left the boot on and just cinched it tight, to prevent swelling. With the nanites, Zade knew he would have to tape Samix up. The nanites would take care of any physical damage, but the newly repaired tendons would be weak, and without extra support Samix would just continue to roll the ankle again and again.

  Zade had taken some basic supplies from the medical bay to make himself a first aid kit, one of which was athletic tape for just such injuries. To keep the pack light, Zade didn’t carry enough to spat a boot, meaning that he would have to tape the ankle directly. As he worked on Samix, Zade explained that during a ruck march for training, he had rolled an ankle. Since he didn’t want to fall behind by stopping to take care of the injury, by the end of the march, every time he put weight on the foot, the ankle would roll increasing the damage to the joint. Confident that the tape would hold until the end of the mission, Zade had Samix put her boot back on, instructing her to tie it as tight as she could stand.

  “Thank you. How did you know what to do?” Samix asked, as she stood to test the newly supported joint.

  “In my military everyone has to have basic first aid training. I’ve had to do everything from applying a tourniquet on an amputation to fixing a collapsed lung while in combat.”

  “That’s a more practical approach than what the Unity does. Only the medical officer on a ship has medical training.”

  “Sounds inefficient, causing more casualties then necessary. Let’s get to the site. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get off this ball of ice.”

  The two walked the last two kilometers in silence. The limp Samix started with had almost completely disappeared by the time they got to the site. As the pair closed with their objective, Samix unloaded the crate of sensors before Zade dropped the backpack frame. After lining up the crates, Samix used her interface to unlock them. While assembling the ice drill, she instructed Zade to start constructing the small shelter which would provide some protection from the elements. The shelter was small. It was no larger than an ice fishing shack back on Earth. Made from a lightweight plastic, it was easy to assemble, and Zade had it constructed just as Samix started drilling the ice cores. Perched on the now empty crates inside the shelter, the two sat silently and watched the drill work. Samix was the first to break the silence.

  “What’s your real story, Zade? At first, I thought you were going to be some useless lower lifeform. After the repair stop, I read through your files and realized that you would probably be a good trooper; now, I don’t know what to think.”

  Zade thought for a while before starting in on the canned speech he gave while in the isolation chamber. After a few sentences Samix realized that it was the same story she had already heard and cut him off.

  “Look, I know about your skills and training already. I want to know what kind of person I brought onto my crew.”

  After weighing his options, and the effects of opening up to Samix, Zade began.

  “I was born and bred in a small town. Bored with the small-town culture and people, I decided when I was very young that I wanted more than my town could offer me. I excelled in school, graduated early, and went to college to study engineering and physics, thinking maybe I could work for a space program. Before graduation, I got bored, and figured I needed some excitement and a background that would get me into a space program, so I transferred myself to the Military Academy. I never had any ambition to become an officer; I just wanted the excitement that came with combat. As I got older, I realized that I had the capacity to be a good leader and felt that if I could, it was my responsibility to lead troops. As I left for my country’s prestigious military academy, I still just wanted to be in the infantry but, as luck would have it, I was sent to be an artillery officer. One day, after I graduated my officer specialty school, I was on a plane to Iraq. Like everyone going on their first deployment, I was scared as hell. After a couple of weeks in country, the fear subsided, and I found myself trying to go out on every dangerous mission I could. I was again searching for the excitement that had eluded me my whole life.

  “My second deployment came shortly after I returned from the first. The operation tempo was incredible, even for seasoned warriors. This deployment was spent seeking out the enemy and destroying them with air support. Unlike my first deployment, I felt no fear, only excitement. Like my first, the excitement soon faded to boredom, and I began hunting for the elusive adrenaline rushes again. Number two was both better and worse than the first. It was better because every day was a new adventure. Worse because I got to see into the black abyss that was man’s cruelty. It never ceases to amaze me how creative man was when finding new ways to hurt each other.

  “During a particularly nasty firefight on the second deployment, I realized that I had never been happier than I was at that moment, with enemy rounds flying over my head. I knew then that I no longer fought because I was told to. I fought because I wanted to, because I needed to. I needed to fight to prove that I was the best that ever lived. After the fight, I realized that I needed to establish a personal code to salvage what was left of my humanity. I would always fight, but never against the innocent. Although I enjoyed besting an opponent, to kill innocents would make me nothing more than an animal.

  “After number two, I came home both bored with life, and disgusted with my fellow man. I was disgusted at the cruelty of their actions, and disgusted at my country’s citizenry for their apathy and ignorance of such cruelties. As soon as I got back, I petitioned my commanders for another deployment; I had to get back to combat where I felt at home. Initially, they said it was unhealthy to spend so much time in combat,
but after some mental testing to show I was not psychologically imbalanced, I pulled orders for a third deployment. The wars were closing down and I knew that this deployment would be my last. Mankind never stays at peace long. Peace lasts just long enough for the willing warriors seasoned in previous combat to age and never again be called up to fight.

  “Knowing this, I spent the last deployment pushing myself. I had to find my limit. I had to know just how good of a warrior I was. I spent the deployment putting myself into harder and harder situations to see at which point I would fail. Up until I came aboard your ship, I was undefeated back home. It was a bittersweet feeling; I was happy that I was the best, but sad that I still had not found my limit. To be honest, I don’t know what I would have done if you guys didn’t pick me up. The only regret I have from this adventure, is that I will never again see my family, my dog, or my cars again.

  “I could have stayed in the military or become a civilian. The military was full of bureaucracy and leaders who only cared about their next promotion. If I didn’t hook up with you, the society I would have been thrust back into wasn’t any better; it could never truly be home. The people in my country either viewed me with fear, thinking I was an animal who enjoyed combat and the act of killing, or they viewed me with pity, as a broken man forever haunted by actions he was forced to commit. The first is probably closer to the truth, but it’s the worse of the two,” Zade trailed off, hunched over, stared at his feet.

  Samix sat quietly looking at Zade, completely absorbed in his story. Mistaking her silent admiration for the pity and fear he had hoped to escape, Zade hung his head and waited. Just as the silence in the shack became unbearable, the drill began beeping to signal that it had drilled through the ice and completed its analysis of the core. Stirred from her thoughts, Samix began disassembling the drilling rig. As she put the drill back in its case, Zade began removing the 300-foot-long core from the hole. As he pulled it out, Zade broke off chunks and threw them outside the shack. It had no scientific significance. It only needed removed to provide access for the sensors. Samix assembled the sensors that would be lowered into the ice to scan the ecosystem of the ocean below.