Red Sky: Chapter 25
Even though there were more people at my table now and I had more friends than ever before, I felt completely alone when I sat down every night.
Max would have loved this attention before the box. All of the newts sitting there to soak up story after story, theory after theory. But, as each day passed, I was less able to reach him. There were many meals where we sat next to each other without saying anything, the conversation swirling around us like a tornado never touching down.
Com tried to help. He offered one of his manuscripts. I took it this time. He also started taking about his past, like Ray used to. It’s hard to believe anybody could feel nostalgia for a time in prison, maybe the three of us were trying to replicate what it was like the previous year before Ray left, before Max and I were put into the box.
“When I was a kid I loved maps. I collected them from all over the world, ancient maps, holo maps, maps of the ocean, maps of the stars. I wanted to captain a ship and sail around the world. I used to look up at night and pretend I was Magellan, do you know him, navigating the world for the first time.” Com looked at Max. There was no response. He was in one of his blank periods that now came too often.
“In a way that’s what I did when I started running Ten to Mars with my brothers.” Com turned to me.
“I would be at the front of the ship in the bridge and fool myself into thinking I was navigating like those sailors of old.”
“What happened to your brothers?” I asked.
“The oldest was killed by a pretty vile gang called the Vatnos. The middle one was killed by the police a year later.”
“That’s a dangerous business.”
“When I was the only one left, I couldn’t fool myself anymore. The first time I smuggled Ten I was fifteen years-old. I never knew anything else.”
Com turned his entire body to me.
“I had a child.”
“I didn’t know you were married.”
“I’m not, I mean, we weren’t. Her name was Elisa, our child’s name was Markis. He was a beautiful child, dark brown hair, a willful personality. He would throw himself on the floor in a tantrum if he didn’t get his way.” Com smiled at the memory.
“Elisa would take away a favorite toy and Markis would flop,” Com made a gesture with his hand. “Smack, his entire body onto the floor.”
“Are they back on Earth now?” I had missed the word ‘was’ earlier.
Com looked into his hands. He opened them as though he were about to read from his palms. He looked back up to me.
“I started bringing them with me on runs. I could handle myself and I knew I would do whatever had to be done to protect them. My brothers were gone, so I was in charge of the operation. For a year everything was fine, then the Federation started a new enforcement campaign. The Interstellar Force was brought in to work with the police.”
“There were patrol ships on our usual course to Mars, so we started taking riskier paths, landing in the forbidden areas. Everything about it was bad. I should have left them at home, but there wasn’t a home to leave them at because we moved around so much.”
“The crackdown had impacted our suppliers. It was a small run, only a few kilos, barely enough for a profit. I decided to go ahead anyway. We had a crew of eight plus Elisa and Markis.”
“Everything went smoothly leaving Earth, usually that’s the most dangerous part. We made it past those first patrols. Normally, we would slingshot out of Earth’s orbit, but because of the extra police I took a slower course by the moon.”
“It’s futile to try to catch a ship in between two planets. We should have been safe. I rested. We all rested for the weeklong journey. We knew the real work would start again when we approached Mars.”
"The Interstellar had a new weapon, the fly catcher, they called it. It was a force field that slowed down ships as they passed through the Orion corridor.”
“Like I said, it’s hard to capture a ship in the middle of space, even with the fly catcher. They would still have to tractor us back to Earth. It’s a lot of trouble and it’s always possible we would slip out of the tractor or that the ships would accidentally collide. But they were willing to take more risks now. The Marshal had made it a priority to stop the Ten trade.
“It was the first time I'd come across the Interstellar and not the police. I thought it would go like normal, but it wasn’t a normal arrest. They were just going to blow us up. That’s what the fly catcher was for, it made it easier to target a ship. They weren’t going to bother with tractoring. Our shields held the initial blasts, but they kept firing.”
“We could try to fight back. Their ship was ten times larger. There’s no way we’d be able to penetrate their shields before they got through ours. We were dead for sure. I looked at Elisa and Markis. I had chosen this, they hadn’t. They were only following me, so we made a decision. The hardest decision of my life. I put them in the escape pod and with a little luck it would be small enough to maneuver through the fly trap and they would float away.”
“That’s of course the most dangerous part, floating away. Who knows if they would get picked up. The pod is meant for atmospheric escape not travelling between planets. But our ship was going to disintegrate, at least in the pod they had a chance.”
“Markis was crying. Each time our ship rocked from a blast, he’d wail. Elisa tried to calm him by singing his favorite nursery rhyme. It was surreal, on one side there was a giant Interstellar ship firing at us, and on the other my child and his mother were singing about little blue birds and worms.”
“I didn’t have time to say a proper goodbye. Elisa agreed it was the right decision. Sometimes I think she was only agreeing with me in the panic of the situation and not agreeing with the decision itself.”
“Then she was gone. The pod was off, their faces floating away, Elisa still singing to Markis, as our ship shook from another blast. They had some food, but it was only enough to survive a week. Without a hyperdrive they could float for years before being found.”
Com looked down and shook his head. “Every night I still see their faces as they float away from me. I reach out for them, but…” Com stopped for a couple of seconds.
“I wish they had killed us. I honestly wish the Fleet killed us that day. Our ship took ten blasts. We wouldn’t have survived ten more. We wouldn’t have survived five more. Five more blasts and I would have been floating like Elisa and Markis, only I would be dead with no chance for survival.”
“They stopped blasting. After two more shots, an overpowering light filled our ship. It blinded me. I couldn’t tell what was happening. We were moving, but not under our own power. They pulled us out of the flytrap and were tractoring us back to Earth. It was ridiculous. Why didn’t they do that to begin with? Why did they bother to start blasting if they weren’t going to finish the job? If they had never fired on us in the first place, Elisa and Markis would still be alive. If they had finished the job, it would have been the right decision to put them in that pod.”
“All through the trial I kept asking if an escape pod had been found. I kept begging for information from my lawyer, the judge, the police, anyone, but I never heard anything. Starving to death out in space is such a horrible way to go. I can’t believe I did that to them. I can’t believe I killed them like that.”
Com’s eyes reddened. He looked away from me.
“You had no choice,” I said.
“We always have a choice,” Com responded as he looked back, staring me in the eyes.
“It’s taken me years to remember all this. Isn’t the space-time jump a cruel thing when it makes you forget what happened to your own child?”
“Maybe it takes a sinner to believe in salvation. I don’t know. I’ve killed others. Ray told you that. It’s true. We blew up a Police Cruiser and I lasered one of the Vatnos in revenge for my brother. When you take a life it stays with you.”
There was a long pause. The newts and others at our table were engaged in animated conversation across from us. Max stayed silent next to Com.
“I wouldn’t do it now,” Com said quietly.
“Of course,” I said.
“No, what I mean is even if they recruit me into the Fleet after this, I wouldn’t do it. Even if it came down to my life versus the one standing across from me, I just wouldn’t do it. I’d let them take me. We always have a choice. And that would be my choice.”