“Come on, Doctor. I need you on your feet.”
Bradigan opened his eyes and blinked. The siren still blared down the corridor and his head was screaming along with it. When his eyes adjusted, he found the forms of Valeria and Thorne kneeling over him.
In his stupor Bradigan spoke, “Locke. Locke escaped.”
“We know, Doctor,” Thorne replied, helping him to his feet. “Thanks for the advanced notice with those alarms. We’re still trying to determine how he got around our security.”
“The guard,” Bradigan answered. “The guard was on his side.”
“Ms. Davis filled me in already. Just focus on staying upright for now, Doctor.”
“What do you need from us?” Valeria asked.
“In a situation like this,” Thorne began. “The prime directive is to return you to your time by any means necessary. If we lose you, or this station, the beta timeline can’t be reverted.”
Valeria understood immediately. “And August and the others will be dead forever.”
Thorne nodded.
The thought sobered Bradigan. “So we need to get to the bridge,” he said.
“Right,” Thorne answered. “Commander Hoban and a team of security personnel are already dug in and Hughes and Muñez are rerouting command of essential systems.”
“We’ll let’s move,” Valeria urged.
Thorne and Bradigan nodded and Thorne took point as they made their way into the hallway. Here and there were the bodies of dead guards, lying where they’d made their stand against Locke and his monster, Fender. The scene was gruesome but Bradigan held his calm in their midst. His work research had often led him to scenes of the atrocities one human had committed against another so he had a thicker skin than one might expect. As they approached the more populated parts of the station however, his eyes fell upon a scene that caused him to gag uncontrollably.
“Hang in there, Doctor.” Thorne said.
Even Valeria had to cover her mouth and look away.
“What happened to them?” Bradigan asked after regaining control of his reflexes.
Thorne knelt down and covered the victim with a piece of discarded clothing. “It’s part of Fender’s…programming,” he said. “His body is in overdrive and in order to maintain it, he has to eat almost constantly. Because of that, these genetically augmented brutes are trained to feed on their victims.”
“Dead God,” Bradigan said.
Valeria moved around and held his arm, resting against him. Their fate could have been the same.
“We kept him alive, in suspended animation, with the aim of finding a way to revert his transformation. Those who were put through it were rarely willing participants,” Thorne said, standing back up. “It’s from a time in our history I hope you never have to experience. Come on. Mourning will have to wait.”
They nodded and continued through the corridors until they were stopped by a gate. Thorne eyed the obstruction warily.
“What’s wrong?” Valeria asked.
“This gate,” he replied. “It shouldn’t be closed.” He moved close to the wall and opened a panel which revealed a control pad. “Locke must be trying to reroute us for some reason. I’ll try to override the lock out.”
“It won’t work.” Locke was standing on the other side of the gate holding a tablet.
“Locke,” Thorne said calmly. He looked at his old friend with sorrow in his eyes and drew his pistol. “Open this gate, Charles.”
“I can’t, Will. The program has been completely deleted,” he said, poking at his tablet. “It won’t open again until it’s been reprogrammed.”
“Then reprogram it, Charles,” Thorne responded. “I know it would only take you a moment. You were always good with computer systems.”
“Let’s not beat around the bush, Will,” Locke began, but Thorne interrupted him.
“I said open this gate, Charles.” He lifted his pistol.
“Or what, you’ll kill me?” Locke laughed openly. “Go ahead, I’m waiting.” He put the tablet at his side and offered Thorne a clear shot at his chest.
“Killing you now wouldn’t solve anything…”
“But killing me then would have solved everything,” Locke interrupted.
Thorne’s eyes grew large and his grip on his pistol loosened slightly. He quickly regained his focus and tightened his fingers around the trigger.
“That’s right. If you had killed me back then, then none of this would have happened today.” Locke laughed. “But you let sentimentality get in the way of duty, didn’t you?”
“You were my friend,” Thorne said, “I did it for you.”
Locke smiled. “Yes, your friend. That’s why you wouldn’t kill me back then, and why you won’t kill me now.”
Suddenly a shot rang out. Thorne lifted his pistol, unaware he’d even pulled the trigger, but it wasn’t his gun that was smoking. Locke staggered and fell against the wall as Captain Heidler stepped around the corner, pistol pointing square at him.
“He won’t, but I will,” he said. He pulled the trigger again but the gun simply clicked in response. “Damn, empty.” He holstered the firearm and drew his knife as Locke picked himself up, bleeding from the bullet wound in his side.
“Captain Heidler,” he said, almost hissing. “So glad to have finally found Hoban’s dog. I’ve been looking forward to putting you down.”
Heidler ignored him. “You’re wasting your time here, Thorne,” he said. “Complete your mission. I’ll handle Locke.”
Those words snapped Thorne back to reality. “Thank you, Heidler.” he said.
“And be careful. Locke’s sympathizers are more than we expected, trust no one.”
“I refuse to die until I see this whole station reduced to a burning heap of rubble!” Locke shouted. He pulled a knife from behind his back and pounced on Heidler, throwing both men out of sight of the others.
“Follow me,” Thorne ordered, wasting no time.
Bradigan and Valeria followed closely behind as he led them along the detour. There was less carnage here, undoubtedly because Fender hadn’t come through. As they made their way into a maintenance room, a figure suddenly leapt from the dark and slammed into Thorne, hurling him into a tool shelf against the wall. Thorne struggled against the unknown assailant, littering the floor with more tools and mechanical parts, until he was finally able to separate himself from his attacker. The man stood up opposite them, gun in hand. It was then Thorne noticed he’d been disarmed.
“Jormunssen you snake!” Thorne shouted. “Why did you abandon your duty?”
Jormunssen laughed. “Locke offered me something I just couldn’t turn down,” he said, raising the pistol. “A chance to kill you.”
Writer by Grace 