issued one complete environment set. What about the bombers?”
“Looks like two,” Daren said with some relief in his tone. “I can ferry this EVT over.”
“Good plan. What else should we transfer from your ship?” Vincent started looking around him to see what he would require for a second crew member.
“Cryogenics chemicals and computers?” he offered.
Vincent floated back up the length of the corridor to the cockpit and inspected the pilot and navigation seats where the cryogenics materials were stored. “Yes, we’ll need those.”
“I jettisoned the engine and reactor, but still have the solar cells and liquid hydrogen for the gravity and ion drives. We should probably give the fighter a good once over while we’re outside. It wouldn’t be good to fly to the other end of the galaxy, if we decide to finish this mission, only to run out of fuel.”
Vincent mumbled in agreement as he struggled to open the cryogenics chamber for the navigator’s seat. The chamber was not very accessible and progress was difficult in the cramped confines. When the chamber was exposed for the materials Daren would transfer from the bomber, he drifted up over the backs of the seats again to look at the primary display.
“Daren, I’m not getting any reading from my solar cells and my liquid H-two is almost on empty. O-two is about half.”
When Daren responded, Vincent could hear his labored breathing as he struggled with the hatch. “Understood. I’m outside now and am running a tether and the EVT over to you.” His breathing became erradic as he spoke.
“Everything okay?” Vincent asked.
“No,” came a faint reply. He could make out muffled sobs before the transmission cut out.
“What’s the matter?” Vincent sat down in the pilot’s chair and peered through the side window. He could see Daren floating listlessly in space, the EVT attached to his waist and the tether connected to the bomber. “Daren,” he said again.
“It’s the meadow, Vincent. It’s alive out here, calling to me. It wants me.” He sounded troubled and as disorientated as he words implied.
“Don’t give in to it, Daren.” Through the window, he watched Daren begin to move towards the fighter.
“It’s hard not to think about it. It’s everywhere outside as though I wasn’t floating in space but walking through the grass.” The bomber pilot fell silent, though continued to move by sheer will alone. “It’s beautiful,” he added. “I wouldn’t have expected Panthera to add this much detail to something we weren’t suppose to remember.”
“I don’t remember any of the fighting, it’s just this meadow. Try not to think about it. Get that EVT over here and we’ll move what we need together.” Vincent tried to conjure more words of support, but his mind refused to create any. The mere mention of the meadow sent Vincent into another throw of panic and he tried to concentrate on what needed to be done to get back home.
Daren stopped four more times after falling victim to the remnants of the behavioral programming. Vincent tried to get him talking about his life before Panthera, before this war. Other times, he just told him to not think about it. Those were the things that kept Vincent from losing focus, though he couldn’t put a finger on what dampened the artificial behaviors and instincts in him. He mused that it may simply be the strengths of self recognition and humanity overpowering the psychosis. When Daren was several meters from the fighter, Vincent moved back down the corridor to the hatch.
He checked gauges for the pressurized hatch and opened the exterior door once he was satisfied that there were no problems.
The tether was attached to the exterior of the fighter, and a winch picked up the slack between the two ships. It took Daren a full minute to enter the exterior door after securing the tether. After he entered the small pressurization chamber, he sealed the outer door.
When the outer door was closed, Vincent pressurized the chamber and opened the interior door. He moved down the corridor to give Daren room to enter. When Daren removed his helmet, his face ghastly and white, he offered a weak smile. “It’s hell out there.”
Vincent reached out to take the helmet and then shook the other pilot’s hand. “Good to meet you. You want a couple minutes to rest, or are you ready to transfer the rest of the equipment?”
“I’m ready,” came his weak reply.
“Are you sure?”
“Maybe it was just me, but when I entered open space, it was almost impossible not to see the meadow. But this time, I knew what I was doing. Maybe it will be different for you. I hope it is.”
But it wasn’t.
After Vincent had attached the EVT, put on the environmental suit and left the ship, he was once more immersed in the meadow. The hallucination, if that’s what it was, was vivid down to every detail and extremely beautiful. The overwhelming beauty was almost erotic and he began to lose himself in it. There was no indication that he was floating in space and he could feel each blade of amber grass as it brushed against his leg.
Daren put a hand on Vincent’s shoulder and spun him about so that the pilots faced each other. “It’s easy to forget who you are and why you’re here.” He raised a lead to the tether so Vincent could see the clasp. “I’m attaching one of these to your suit, and one to mine. They should give us enough room to move around each ship, and keep us from getting lost in the nebula if we happen to lose our cool.”
Vincent nodded and snapped back to reality. “Thanks,” he muttered. After Daren connected the lead to the tether, they began the arduous task of ferrying supplies from the bomber to the fighter. The cryogenics materials and fuel were not altogether difficult, simply awkward. Maneuvering between the two ships was very confusing. It was strange for Vincent to see Daren, completely clad in the environmental suit, float up the side of the bomber, with the meadow and clear blue sky all around. Moving the smaller, lighter equipment was easier, given the environment.
The fission bomb was another matter. They erected a second tether to move the bomb canister between the vessels to keep the canister from moving too far and too fast in the wrong direction. It was a slow and difficult process to move the canister, compounded by the fact that both pilots were subjected to the behavioral programming. As far as their eyes and instincts told them, they were still in lush meadow and nowhere near a nebula.
“It’s in,” Daren said when the canister was finally attached to the fighter.
“The firing system is connected to the computer, and the fighter recognizes it.”
Daren smiled, “Then can we get the hell back inside?”
Vincent nodded. He was concerned that the physical labor was not going to be the difficult part of this mission, but the decision on whether the mission should be completed. The decision to engage in the last battle of a war over genocide was not going to be easy.
When both pilots were aboard, they repaired what systems they could and then secured themselves into their seats. Vincent flew the fighter deeper into the nebula, changed trajectories, and then set a course for the remaining star. He let the fighter coast within the nebula to give them time to decide on a course of action.
Both pilots remained quiet while contemplating their situation.
“Let’s go over our situation and our personal resolutions again,” Daren offered. “It may help.”
“It’s worth trying,” Vincent said. They had already gone over it several times, but to no avail. “You start this time.”
“Okay. Panthera sends a force to completely destroy an unknown enemy. Most of the Panthera fleet have their cognitive abilities altered to improve their abilities to fight.” Daren looked at Vincent.
“The fleet is decimated, save two pilots and the equipment necessary to finish the mission.” Vincent folded his hands and looked at the primary display which outlined the local star systems. “The pilots are faced with a difficult decision.”
“Follow orders, destroy the star, and go home. Or don’t follow ord
ers, leave the enemy alone, and never see Earth again.” Daren pressed his hands into his eyes and rubbed his palms against the bridge of his nose. “All the while constantly impaired with the behavior modification.”
“The only thing we have to do is move within range of the star, release the bomb, and retreat to the nebula.” Vincent followed the path between the nebula and the target star with his finger. “Daren, I don’t want to kill all those people. If there was a good reason, maybe I could rationalize a justification.”
“Yeah,” Daren agreed. “What about meeting the enemy face to face?”
Vincent turned around as best he could to look at Daren. “You’re not serious, are you?”
Daren remained silent.
“You are! We can’t ..”
“Why not?” Daren interjected. “Not literally, anyway. Why don’t we at least see what we’re up against?”
Vincent looked ahead and watched as the fighter slipped out of the nebula again. “I want to know, Daren, but if we raise communications of any kind, they will know we exist and start looking for us.”
Vincent could see Daren shrug in the reflection of the canopy. “That’s a risk I would like to take.”
“I’m accelerating to put us in firing range within an hour. Let me think about it.” He looked at Daren’s reflection. “I don’t want to fire this thing any more than you do.”
“I know,” Daren agreed.
The fighter