Nova

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. This is true, in that without atmosphere to travel through there is nowhere for the sound waves of the scream to go. In Jessica Malloy’s case, however; she was sat in the cockpit of a shuttle in the shadows of an asteroid mere inches away from the surface. Were she to make contact with the surface the vibrations from the impact could be detected by the patrol that was even now slowly making its way past her hiding point.

Her craft was barely running, all the lights were off, active sensors deactivated, engines on standby. Even life-support was turned off to reduce the potential heat emissions that would give her away just as easily as scraping the rock below (above? To the side?) her. The heat had well and truly gone, she had to clench her teeth to keep them from chattering in the cold, fearing that the sound that she could only barely register inside her own jaw might give her away. She ran a hand through her hair, stopping when she reached the stubble of her shaved side. If her teeth might give her away, might not her fingers running over ginger stubble?

She had been unsure of this job from the beginning, but the pay made it all worth her time. She’d had to leave her own ship, Tempest’s Pride, with her employer. The elderly gentleman had seemed considerate when he had offered her the use of his very own shuttle, specially designed for slipping through the gaps in the Peace-Keepers’ patrol lines. Smuggling drugs was not really her thing, but again, the promised pay made it worth the effort. Alexei Zoroaster Simpfendorfer-Gettysburg was a wealthy enough gentleman to want to get on his good side; there might be more work for a pilot that performed well under pressure.

Snapping back to the present, she brought her engines to life with a low hum. Next came life-support, then the active sensors just as the patrol flew well out of detection range. Jessica Malloy gradually eased her shuttle out of the shadows, out of the asteroid field and into open space. At coasting speeds she’d be landing in a few hours, so she engaged the autopilot and attempted to get a few winks of sleep in the meantime.

Landing presented no issue, the shuttle was registered, her clearance came within seconds. She was brought to the surface safely by her computer systems and stood once the shuttle came to rest and turned itself off. She had been informed that the drugs that she’d been smuggling would be unloaded by Simpfendorfer-Gettysburg’s people once she landed, all she needed to do was walk away from the shuttle and contact her employer.

The minute she stepped out of the shuttle she realised something felt off. There would usually be someone around, dockworkers, mechanics, no matter the hour. Not that it would make any difference, here on Tenebrae, the inhabited sections at least, it was perpetual twilight. A world tidally locked to its star; Tenebrae had humanity’s largest ring-city that encircled the entire planet. A thirty-six-thousand-kilometre-long city, five kilometres tall, it was only two kilometres wide. There were a few operations on the night-side of the planet, mining mostly. Nobody operated on the sunward side. Sometimes people would venture out into the daytime, it was the most common form of suicide on Tenebrae.

She made her way to the elevator, thinking she’d find somewhere to grab a drink before contacting her employer. Her thoughts changed to flight once the elevator doors slid open to reveal a half-dozen goons in black uniforms. A brief command followed by a warning shot that came close to sizzling her ear off stopped her in her tracks. The binders that held her hands shocked her any time they sensed motion. Not enough to damage, but more than enough to irritate, to enrage even. Given how the Tenebrae Guard were manhandling her as they dragged her to the station the binders sensed far more motion than she’d have given left to her own devices and feet.

“So, you got me,” she said when her binders were released. She rubbed her wrists; they were mildly blistered by the electrical discharges. “Congratulations, you’ve just caught a notorious smuggler. A first-time offender, in fact.”

“Your name is Jessica Malloy,” her interrogator began. “You’ve been caught smuggling drugs, but more importantly we found some – interesting samples that you’d hidden amongst the merchandise.” He grinned as he spoke. The expression bore nothing but malice.

As far as Jessica knew she had only been transporting low-grade narcotics, barely even illegal in this system. Her interrogator slid a piece of film towards her. On the film was a moving image, panning over the contents of the shuttle that she’d piloted to the surface. It was a live feed; she was seeing what they found as they discovered it. As she watched the officer searching held up a well-sealed petri dish with what appeared to be some strange glowing yellow goo in the centre. A few moments more revealed another petri dish.

“Do you know what the penalty is for smuggling xenological samples is?” A second individual, until this point a silent, stern looking woman, finally spoke. “It isn’t a trip back to old Earth to sit on a beach for a couple of months. No skiing trip in the Alps. No, you’re going straight to Dusk for this one.”

Dusk. She shuddered upon hearing the name. Nobody escaped from Dusk. Hell, nobody left Dusk. Jessica Malloy was no longer a human being. Jessica Malloy was now a statistic, and an unpleasant, unfortunate one at that. Dusk was a death-sentence in all but name.

Electric binders were deemed not enough to safely secure a prisoner on her way to Dusk, so out came the shackles and chains. Jessica felt that it was overkill, though she was grateful to not be constantly shocked by her bonds. The older style of restraints felt oddly, soothingly cool on her blistered wrists. Her guards treated her differently now, too, though they were the same individuals that had dragged her to holding and interrogation. Instead, they now followed behind her at a respectful distance, allowing her to move at her own pace.

Beaches. Heh. Alps. Fucking joker that woman had been, Jessica mused as she slowly walked along the only corridor available to her. The beaches of old Earth were toxic, death was about as certain as wandering out into Tenebrae’s sunside. As for the Alps, they hadn’t seen snow in nearly a century. Nobody went skiing anymore, not on old Earth.

As Jessica ducked her head to get through the door of the hopper that was to take her to Dusk, she spied a familiar figure striding towards her. What was Alexei Zoroaster Simpfendorfer-Gettysburg doing here? Was he acting as her benefactor? He strode up to her with purpose and a smirk, speaking directly to her guards.

“Ahh you have her, excellent.” He grinned and turned his attention to Jessica. “Terribly sorry it came to this, but you see I needed those samples, and nobody was willing to do the job. It was either this,” he gestured around vaguely “or I was going to have to wait until another suitable candidate came along. You don’t have to worry, though, I’ll take good care of your ship. Well, my ship now, yes?”

The older gentleman chuckled to himself and waved his commlink over that of the lead guard. The guard nodded to his companion who slipped a dozen sealed petri dishes out of his pocket and wordlessly handed them over.

“There’s your payment. Be as kind to her as you would be to…” He trailed off, glancing at her. Jessica’s normally green eyes burned with a fire that threatened to vaporise the older man. “You know what? Don’t bother. Throw her in the deepest pit for all I care.” She spat in his face and was pushed in the centre of her back to force her into the hopper.

An hour later she was going through processing, stripped naked, her head shaved completely, washed with a high-pressure hose. Fortunately, the water was of a relatively pleasant temperature. Unfortunately, the pressure was enough to burst the blisters on her wrists. She was given a dirty-brown pair of pants and shirt and told to wear them. She did so, as her own clothes and possessions had been incinerated. Through all of this she saw not one person. Sure, she heard their voices, directing her to strip, telling her where to stand. She held up her wrists high, showing the blood to whoever might be watching.

“Can I get this seen to?” Jessica asked nobody, receiving no response. “That’s what I thought.”

She moved along through prisoner processing, one door opening only to slam shut behind her as she moved through and the next door to open, which again slammed shut as she passed through. Dusk appeared to be more automated than she had imagined. Eventually she was allowed to enter an infirmary of sorts, where she finally saw her first human.

Shaven headed like her, he had an enormous blonde beard that split as he grinned. He wore the grimy rags of a fellow prisoner.

“Welcome to Dusk!” He sounded as if welcoming her to a resort hotel. “Always good to see a new face down here. I’m Graham.” He held out a hand. Clean, with well-trimmed nails. Frowning, she took it gingerly.

“Jess.” She didn’t feel the need to give him her full name, especially if he wasn’t giving his.

“I can see to these, if you like,” He motioned to her wrists, carefully not touching them. “Those electric binders are nasty buggers, aren’t they?” She nodded permission and he began slathering a cream on them. Initial pain became soothing coolness that went to just numb over the course of a few seconds. She thanked him. “No worries, Jess! Hope to not see you in here too often. Now you need to go.” He gestured to a door that had just opened in the wall behind him.

“Thanks again, Graham,” She grinned at him. “I’ll try and not make a habit of dropping in unannounced!” She was in the shit, true enough, but it was the same shit that Graham had been in. There was absolutely no point in her venting her rage upon him, especially after he’d helped her.

The door led to a lengthy corridor that opened up onto a vast cavern containing cells stacked dozens high, hundreds perhaps, extending into the blackness above and beneath her. Taunts and threats were hurled at her from every angle, with the occasional friendly welcome thrown in. The friendlier people concerned her more. A line of blue light with her name in red led along the floor before her. This led her up some stairs, down a ramp and along a wall of cells before it abruptly turned right to an open cell with a single bed and toilet both emblazoned with her name in glowing red letters.

She sat on the bed allocated her and the bars of her cell reconfigured themselves, locking her in and freeing another individual.

“Jessica Malloy?” A familiar voice came from an equally familiar face, one that she didn’t think she’d ever see again. Her old friend Agnes Bolton grinned at her. “Finally some decent company in this Hellhole!”