The Black Seas of Infinity by Dan Henk Read Free Book Online Page A

we assumed was the ship’s lab.
    I let go of the suit and took a couple of
deep breaths, gulping the air into my heaving lungs. Pulling out my
Maglite, I looked around. Everything appeared the same as when I
left years ago…an oval room that more closely resembled a beehive
than an earthly cubicle. A large semicircular pedestal, the surface
dotted with holes and studs, rose up in the middle. We had decided
that was the instrument panel. The floors surrounding it were
narrow and roughly textured in a strange ocher pattern that
resembled diamond plate more than anything else. The walls were
grids, smooth expanses of dirty yellow broken up by ridges into
rough squares. Two upright capsule-shaped chambers, immediately in
front of the semi-circular control panel, were half-embedded
in—they looked melted into—the wall. This was it. The room I found
on that fateful first day. A decade of study and three years of
planning, but if it paid off, it was more than worth it.
    To open one of the capsules and complete this
procedure, I would have to turn the power on. That would probably
alert staff, so timing was critical. I had studied this backward
and forward. I knew how to open the capsules, what controls started
the procedure, how to hook up the suit in its capsule. Hopefully
the other one was meant for a live body. There was a short delay in
the closing of the capsule I would be stepping into, which I
assumed accounted for entry time. It would take them at least five
minutes, running balls out, to get down here. I had time
enough.
    I walked to the middle of the lab and
depressed a button on the floor with my foot. As if it were built
yesterday, the whole place lit up. The light was searing. I
sprinted across the floor and opened the first capsule. The form I
intended to put in there had no openings except the eyes, which
were closed, and the ear holes, but the placement of the connecting
cords and their length suggested they should be attached to the
head. I ran back to the suit, tucked my arms under, and in a
stumbling lunge fell backwards into the capsule. My gasps for air
were now full on grunts. My muscles felt like they were going to
explode. My heart was racing in my chest, my movements loose and
sloppy. I heard something snap, some nerve or tendon that I had
strained past its breaking point. My back felt like it was being
stabbed by a red-hot poker, and pain shot down my leg. Little
matter now, I was so close.
    Grunting and panting, and now with a plaguing
pain, I bent over and pushed the body upright, slowly, until its
head smacked against the back of the capsule. My back seemed to
crack and radiate stabs of agony with every upward inch. The hoses
dangling from the top had suction pads at the ends, and I stuck
these to the head. I climbed out, shut the capsule lid, and ran to
the console in the middle of the room. The pain in my leg
alternated between jolts of torment and, even scarier, numbness. I
dug my hands into the central hole, pressed what I assumed were the
right protrusions, and ran to the other capsule. My scalp was
pounding with the rush of blood, my heart hammering violently,
about to explode. This had to work. I climbed inside, pulled off my
cloth army hat, stuck the cable suckers to my shaved head, nestled
into a snug repose, and waited. Time slowed to a crawl, my breath
escaping in shallow bursts of exasperation. A muskiness that
mingled rubber and grease pressed in on me, choking the air.
    Nothing seemed to be happening. Deep down, I
had known this wouldn’t work. I’m truly fucked now!
    Minutes passed, though it seemed like an
eternity. After a time I could make out sounds, probably from
approaching security. The noises grew louder. They were definitely
manmade. I could hear talking. The capsule door finally started to
close. Slowly. I had no doubt it was a Special Forces squad. They
probably had found the bodies and would shoot first, especially if
they recognized me.
    The lid sealed with a slight pop.