Stealing Icarus - Chapter 9

 

Chapter 9: 

         Nate's POV: 

    The screen turns red and says, ‘Call Not Connected.’ I frown and wonder why Gamma ship isn’t picking up. Could something have happened? The probable situation was that Finn, their leader, was too distracted to notice the call. I sigh and call Martha, the Beta leader. 

The screen flickered back and forth until it finally connected. The call was accepted and we were greeted with Martha’s smiling face. 

‘Nate! About time you called! I was beginning to think that you forgot about me!’ 

I laughed and said, ‘Never,’ I gestured to the others to pay attention to the screen, ‘Martha, these are my teammates and this is my former roommate and captain of the Beta ship.’ Martha takes a little bow after my introduction and I smile. 

‘Nate, can I hope that you are calling with good news?’ I open my mouth and shake my head to say no. Martha sighs exasperatedly and says, 

‘Go on. Tell me what happened.’ 

‘You have to be more specific, A lot happened.’ Martha groans and says, 

‘Tell me what caused you to call me,’ 

‘Actually, I called Finn first, but he didn’t pick up. It said no connection. Have you heard from him recently?’ Martha frowns and says no. 

‘Anyways, we um sort of lost two tanks of fuel.’ I say awkwardly. Martha spits out the water she was drinking and glares at me.

‘What? How? Actually, I don’t want to know.’ She massages her temple and says, 

‘We have a few extra, I can send you a location where you can meet me and I’ll give you some.’ 

I beamed and exclaimed, ‘Thanks, Martha! You’re the best!’ She grumbles and cuts the call. 

…………………………………………………………………………

‘Are we there yet?’ Jay asks. 

‘No, we are not there yet, so stop asking.’ Nithya says and turns off her comms. Shravya sighs and checks the map again. She turns a handle and Nithya leans back in her chair, letting Shravya direct the plane. 

Martha sent us the location a few minutes ago, and we started the engines. I looked up and saw the fuel wheel that was now hanging up in the cockpit. 

Nithya breaks the silence and asks, ‘Who are we sending out to go get the tanks?’ 

‘I’ll go,’ I volunteer, and with that, there are no more questions. Shravya checks the map again and her eyes widen. She mutters something to Nithya who shoots straight up in her chair and looks over to the map. I follow their gaze and see that the blue dot, on the map, is our destination but there is something between it. It looks fine to me, but I don’t know how this works. 

I nudge Shravya’s shoulder and ask, ‘What? What happened?’ 

Nithya answers, ‘We’re detecting a stationary vehicle.’ 

I frown, ‘What ship could possibly not be moving?’

‘Should we check the ship out or should we go directly to Martha?’

‘Check the ship out, I’ll call Martha.’ Nithya starts to reroute the ship and Shravya pulls a lever and changes some of the handles that I cannot identify and we start moving in the opposite direction. 

I call Martha and fill her in on the situation. She replies and tells us to check out the ship and then come to the location. She said she’ll be waiting. 

I turn my comms on and tell the others what happened. Then suddenly, I hear a gasp on the comms and Shravya tells us all urgently to come to the cockpit. 

I turn around and see the others coming out of their dorms. We run to the cockpit and find Shravya and Nithya staring out the window.

Nithya whispers, ‘The stationary vehicle? That’s Gamma ship.’ 

‘What?’ I say, breathlessly. Neither, Shravya or Nithya answer me, and they pull away from the window, allowing the rest of us to see.

I race up to the glass and peer through it. Indeed it was the Gamma ship, with its golden lettering on the side of the ship and the universally known, Magellan Academy logo. 

‘What does this mean? Why is the ship stationary?’ I demand. Nithya shuffles and shoves her hands in her pockets. I remember faintly that her roommate, along with mine, is on Gamma ship. 

Shravya clears her throat and says, hesitantly, ‘I’m not sure. You see, the engines are on, but we detect no activity on the inside. Also, all the radio waves and signals are cut off, meaning that nothing is running in the ship. It should have plummeted to the ground, but it somehow remains floating.’ 

The ship stays silent for a few seconds, while we process the puzzling information that was just delivered to us. This was utterly ridiculous! How could the ship be upright, and not have anything running inside? The silence is suddenly broken by a confused blur of voices. 

‘That makes no sense!’ Rani argues. 

Shravya shrugs, ‘I’m only saying what I can see. We’ll have to go inside the ship.’ 

I nod, ‘Everyone, go get your gear on, we’ll be spacewalking.’ An excited murmur went through the team and then they dispersed to their respective dorm rooms. 

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. Honestly, this was going so fast. It felt like we had just boarded the ship when in reality it had been over a week. It was insane to think that all this mayhem and chaos had only happened over the course of a week. 

The thrum of the ship becomes soothing and it suddenly jerks me back into the present. What am I doing? I’m here moping like I came out of a Shakesperian tragedy, while I have no idea how one of my best friends is faring on his own ship. What happened to him? Why isn’t his ship moving? Why am I still not in gear? 

I groan and race off to the boy's dorm room. 

…………………………………………………………………………

I twist unnaturally and buckle a strap on the side of my shoulder. I can’t believe that astronauts long ago wore those bulky white suits with that heavy tank. Technology has advanced so much since then. Instead of the large, uncomfortable suit that they had to wear, we now have a skintight sleek black suit that fits like a second skin. It allows us to move like fluid in space. The design of the helmet hasn’t changed much, but it’s now completely black to attract as much heat as possible. The oxygen tank has been replaced by a thin wire connected to the ship, pumping oxygen to us. 

A knock sounds on the bathroom door and I yell, ‘Coming!’ I connect a few wires from my suit to my helmet and unlock the door. Jay stands on the other side of the door, with an excited expression. We had all gone through the simulations of spacewalking and we had all passed. It was necessary if we wanted to be drafted. However, that was a simulation, this was real. Our hard work was paying off and they would be spacewalking in a few minutes. 

Jay had his helmet in his hands and he gestured for us to go to the cockpit. I followed him while fiddling with the controls on my suit. I realized, dimly, that our footsteps were barely making any noise, thanks to the shoes that made me feel like I could jump off the walls. 

Jay pushed the cockpit door open to reveal all the girls chatting amiably with a hint of nerves. I noticed that Scarlet looked a bit green. She was probably nervous, but it wouldn’t do her any good if she threw up. Right before I was going to comfort her, I heard my name. 

‘Nate!’ Nithya called. I turned my head around to see Nithya crouching down near a small white robot, that I recognized as our tether. I walked over and asked, 

‘Is everything set?’ 

‘Yup,’ Nithya said cheerfully, ‘We’re just waiting for Jerry to come back with the wiring. Once we hook it up to suits, we’ll be good to go.’ Just as Nithya said,

Jerry barreled into the room, holding a toolbox with a few stray wires, escaping the orange box. 

He bent down with Nithya and they started to connect the wires. One by one, Jerry called the group members to hook the oxygen tubes onto their backs and go to their mouth through a thin wire that hid under the helmet. 

Once we all were hooked up, Jerry checked everyone’s oxygen levels and gave instructions to the robot. Once we were done, we had to pull our wire four times, and the robot would reel us back in. 

I looked at everyone and cleared my throat. At once, the titters and murmurs ceased and all of their eyes were on their captain. 

‘I remember when we did our simulation and we all passed with flying colors. We’ll do great. Once we go inside the ship, we need to locate all the members and then find the cause of the problem. Any questions?’ The room cheers and there are no questions. I give a thumbs up and Jerry pushes a button on his remote and the door in front of us opens, revealing a dark night sky. I felt a bit sick looking at the endless, vast space devoid of glimmering stars. Jerry counts us down, ‘3...2...1!’ At once, we all step off the ledge. 

The feeling is something otherworldly, the air rushes up to my ears and my heart feels like a battering ram in my chest, trying to leap free. A mix of exhilaration and adrenaline courses through my veins and I give a gasp of surprise. I feel weightless. I feel free. 

I look around and see the others, floating awkwardly with bewildered expressions on their faces. Even without the stars, the night is beautiful. Then suddenly, we all realize what we were here for. We start to walk, our training kicking in, and I feel the oxygen running through the tube and into my mouth. I breathe deeply for a second and look out of the secluded view of my helmet. 

I see the others beside me, and Gamma ship is slowly coming into view. We start to walk faster, anxious to see what had happened inside the ship. To see what had happened to our friends. 

    We near the ship and I fumble blindly for the door handle. I finally locate it and get the key from my pocket. I insert the key and twist it until I hear a satisfying click. 

I look behind me to see the others curiously staring at the ship. I turn the knob and open the door. 

We step inside the ship and take our helmets off. Jerry instructs us on how to turn our oxygen machine off and we do as he says. I shake my head and tuck the helmet to my side. Then, finally, I look down the corridor of the ship. 

The first thing I notice is that the ship is eerily quiet, with no thrum of engines or banter of teammates. The second thing is that no one is here. I exchange confused glances with the rest of the team and we start to walk down the corridor, with puzzled expressions. 

The corridor leads to a large room, which contents knock the breath out of me. 

All the Gamma members lay unconscious on the floor as if sleeping. Gasps sound from behind me, but I’m too shocked to make a sound. I drop to the floor and examine the body closest to me. I’m no scientist or coroner, but even I know that the girl beside me is dead. 

My thoughts are all over the place, and meaningless theories echo inside my brain. Somehow, I pick up on the most important word to me. Finn. I jerk up and look around for my friend. I see him near a door, his head drooped to the side and a hand over his stomach. 

I scramble and run towards him, stumbling over bodies, and crashing into my teammates. I drop to my knees in vain and rapidly check his pulse. I don’t feel anything. The steady pulse that I hoped for wasn’t there. 

Something inside me breaks and sorrow becomes a monster, strangling my windpipe and making it impossible for me to breathe. I want to scream so loud so that Finn can hear me. I plead and beg for him to wake up, but I know he’s gone. My shoulder slump and I look down at him. They say people look like they are sleeping, and that it's peaceful. But it doesn’t. He just looks dead, a spark extinguished. 

Suddenly, I’m flooded with memories. Memories of Finn, laughing with me and Martha. Of him throwing pillows at my forehead. Of him with a mischievous smile and shining eyes. My lower lip wobbles and a sob slips out. Hot tears start to leak from my eye, like a dam that’s been suppressed. Heavy sobs wreak my body as I wonder at the back of my head, about how I’m going to break the news to Martha. 

A hand settles on my shoulder and I feel the echo of it. Like I was a ghost and was feeling everything at a distance. I knew it was there, but I couldn’t quite feel its presence. 

I wipe my tears and take a strangled gasp of air. I need water. It feels like I’m suffocating. I gulp and turn my head around. Rani peers back at me, with sympathy in her eyes. I don’t want sympathy. I want my best friend back. 

Rani swallows and says, ‘We found one alive. He’s breathing but is still unconscious. The rest are…’ She doesn’t need to continue. 

‘We’ll take him back to the ship. Lucia will take care of him in the infirmary and she’ll figure out what happened here.’ I nod dimly and Rani helps me up.

I see Jerry and Jay pull their helmets over their heads and heft the survivor over their shoulder. I should help them, but I can’t. I slowly pull the helmet over my head and I tug the wire, one, two, three, and four times. We’re going back to the Alpha.