XXV
Nobody needed to be told twice at this point. Davison immediately burst through the door, hot on Kelvin's heels, as did Penistone. I was the last one out of the room, but there was no time to close the door behind me. The Xenomorphs were already in hot pursuit. As if one of them hadn't been bad enough, we were now being chased down by an entire pack. I soon caught up with Penistone, who was still a short way behind Davison. Kelvin was still way ahead, though. I'd never seen anyone run so fast. He could've tried out for the Ganymede 2320 Summer Olympics with a run like his. Then again, you tend to find you have a lot more adrenaline when you're running from something.
"Where are we going, Kelvin?" I yelled from far behind the streak of ginger-haired lightning in front as he bolted round a corner.
"Wherever they aren't!" He replied between laboured breaths. "We need to get as far away from them as possible. Then we can come up with a plan!"
Peering over my shoulder gingerly, I now saw that two of the Xenomorphs were gaining on us. Not only that, but the two at the back had now been joined by a fifth. So now we were outnumbered. 'Splendid,' I thought to myself, looking forwards once again. 'Splen-fucking-did.' I was now fast approaching the same corner that Kelvin and Davison had just disappeared around. Penistone dashed around the bend just two seconds before myself, and now the four of us were running along another long, straight corridor. Thankfully, this one had several open doors along each side. All we had to do was pick a door, jump through it, and shut it behind us as quickly as possible. Kelvin was already on the case. Without warning, he suddenly lurched to the left, diving through one of the open doors. Davison quickly followed, leaving just Penistone and I to catch up. Finally, we jumped through the doorway in unison, both of us collapsing to the floor on top of one another. Kelvin immediately slammed the control panel on the wall, and the door closed with a thud.
Penistone and I struggled frantically on the floor as we pushed ourselves away from one another. As I gathered my bearings, I got to my feet, and held out a hand to help her up.
"Alright?" I asked as she took my hand. I leaned backwards slightly, pulling her up onto her feet.
"Mmm-hmm." She mumbled, nodding awkwardly. "Thanks." I smiled reassuringly in response. But suddenly, the sound of five Xenomorphs barreling down against the door outside echoed through the room. They refused to relent, constantly forcing themselves against the door. But it wouldn't budge. For now, we were safe. Ish. I looked around the room to make sure that everyone was still here. There was me, Davison, Penistone, and… Kelvin? Where was he? I squinted in the darkness of the room, trying to find him hiding in the shadows, but saw nobody.
"Kelvin?" I called out quietly, wandering slowly across the room as I did so.
"Over here." He replied. I looked over into the far corner of the room, and saw Kelvin standing beside another door. I gestured to the others to come over, and the three of us went to join Kelvin, who was fiddling around in his backpack yet again.
"This door leads into another corridor." He explained, tapping the side of the door gently with his knuckle. "It's not directly connected to any of the other corridors on this deck, so we should be able to make our way back upstairs through here."
"And then what?" I asked. "What are we supposed to about-" I was interrupted once again by the Xenomorphs banging loudly against the far door.
"That?" I finished. "There could be more than a dozen of them down here, and there are enough eggs to make hundreds more."
"You're quite right, Jones." Kelvin sighed. "There's only one thing for it…"
"Hold on, sir." Davison said worriedly, a concerned expression on his face. "You don't mean…"
"The Constantinople's not safe anymore, Davison." Kelvin replied solemnly. "We could've dealt with one of these things, perhaps. But fifteen of them? And then there's the eggs. Far too many of them to be destroyed one by one."
"Wait a minute…" I began, suddenly realising Kelvin's intentions. "You're not suggesting that we destroy the station?"
"It's the only way, Matthew." He said sternly. "You'd need a security team five times what we've got here to stand any chance against these things." His point was only illustrated by the repeated sound of the Xenomorphs outside constantly charging at the thick, metal door. But there were thousands of people aboard the Constantinople, most of whom were bed-ridden. How could they possibly evacuate everyone in time?
A few moments later, Kelvin had managed to find a spare walkie-talkie in his backpack. The first one was still on the floor back at the Xenomorph nest, courtesy of yours truly. Thankfully, Kelvin's reserve receiver was ready to run (sorry, that sentence was far more alliterative than it needed to be). He flicked a switch on the side of the device and it whirred to life with the all-too familiar sound of radio static.
"Ericson?" He called out, his tone both hushed but urgent at the same time. "Ericson, this is Kelvin. Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you, Kelvin." Ericson replied loudly. "For a moment, I thought something terrible had happened."
"Oh, it has, believe me." Kelvin replied bluntly. "Listen, Ericson, their numbers are overwhelming. We have to call an evacuation order now."
"Are you out of your mind, Andrew?" He gasped, clearly as astonished as I was at the very premise of such a large-scale evacuation.
"Not at all, James." Kelvin replied coldly. Clearly, he didn't appreciate people calling him by his first name. "The way I see it, there are two options here: Either we evacuate the station now, and risk losing half of our staff and patients, or we stay here like sitting ducks, and risk losing all of them." There was a long pause from Ericson at this. I had to admit, Kelvin was right. Yes, it was a huge risk to undertake a mass evacuation of the station, but it was nowhere near the risk posed to us all if we stayed. Whichever option posed the least overall risk was the one we had to take.
"Alright." Ericson finally replied. "I'll give the order. And I suppose you want me to disconnect the Byzantium, as well?"
"Yes." Kelvin whispered hesitantly. I didn't even know what the Byzantium was, but it sounded quite ominous.
"I'm on it." Ericson assured us. "Initiating separation sequence now." And with that, the radio fell silent. A few seconds later, the silence in the room was broken by the sound of a siren piercing through the still air. It rang through the room deafeningly, and was accompanied by a series of flashing lights, which seemed to have appeared from nowhere on the ceiling and walls.
"May I have your attention, please?" A voice suddenly boomed through a speaker in the centre of the room. It was Colonial Marshall Ericson.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Constantinople must be evacuated." He continued. "Please make your way to the nearest docking area, where ships will be ready and waiting to escort passengers to an assembly point on 954-ABD."
"Where's 954-ABD?" I asked, shouting over the sound of sirens blaring through the room.
"It's a dwarf planet nearby." Kelvin explained. "There's a temporary base there for just such instances as this."
"And what's the Byzantium?" I continued. Fair enough, we probably had to get moving as quickly as possible, but I needed answers first.
"It's the Constantinople's battery ship." He sighed. "And it's going to disconnect itself from the station in about three quarters of an hour. Now can we please get moving?" He pressed a button on the control panel beside the door, and it flung open. Light poured in from the brightly lit corridor outside, and without hesitation, the four of us darted through the doorway and ran.
As we hurried along, I continued to process the events that had just unfolded in my head. So the Constantinople had a battery ship? That was an outdated system if I'd ever seen one, especially for a company as technologically advanced as the Montreal Technical Association. I should probably explain at this point what a battery ship actually is. Back in the late twenty-second century, most large space stations couldn't generate their own electricity. So they used ships which were essentially giant batteries. Typically, the ships had two or three decks, which were entirely filled with engines and generators. They could connect to a station and provide it with power. Obviously, the idea never really caught on, and by the early twenty-third century, most companies were building self-powered space stations. The point was, once the Byzantium had separated itself from the Constantinople, power to the station would be lost. And after that, it was only a matter of time before the station's 'self-defence' mechanism kicked in. In other words, the Constantinople would blow itself up. Hence, we were currently running for our lives. No change there, then.
A few moments later, we reached a stairwell. We dashed to the top of the stairs and found a junction.
"Which way do we go?" I asked, looking down each corridor in confusion. They both looked exactly the same.
"The starboard docks are that way." Davison told us, pointing down the rightward branch. "We can get on a passenger liner. They'll be the first ships to leave the station."
"Let's go." Kelvin agreed, following Davison as he began to head down the corridor. I simply stood there, awestruck by this pitiful display of selfishness.
"So that's it?" I called after them. "Save yourselves, never mind anyone else?" The two men both stopped and turned to face me reluctantly.
"Matthew, there isn't time!" Kelvin shouted. "There are enough doctors and attendants on the station to get everyone out without our help!"
"Not if they've all had the same idea as you!" I snapped at him. "There are pensioners and children on this station, Kelvin! And you're just going to leave? And what about Xena?"
"Somebody else will help her, Matthew!" Kelvin replied. "You'll be able to regroup with her on 954-ABD!" But I couldn't accept that. Xena wasn't even human, the dock staff wouldn't just let her onto a passenger liner, no questions asked. I had to find her, and help her escape the station.
"I'm going back for her." I said adamantly. "I can't let her die. If she does… then there's no point in me escaping, anyway."
"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought!" He shouted back. "Come on, Davison. Let's get moving."
"I'll be with you in a minute, sir." Davison told Kelvin. But Kelvin had already disappeared around a corner at the end of the corridor.
"Listen, Matthew…" Davison continued, coming back over to me slowly. "I know we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. The truth is, when I first saw that… your partner, I thought it… she, I mean, was… unnatural. Abnormal. But if you're willing to risk your life to save her… then I can see you truly do love each other." He smiled apologetically as he spoke.
"Thank you." I told him sincerely. "We do."
Stepping closer still, Davison continued to speak.
"I won't leave the station with Kelvin." He explained. "I'm going to stay behind with the dock staff and help all of the patients board first."
"That's very noble of you, Davison." I assured him. "Good luck."
"You too, sir." He smiled, reaching out a hand to shake my own. I took it gladly, and shook his hand with confidence. I felt oddly… proud of him. Davison was yet further proof that anyone could change. Well, almost anyone.
"Goodbye, Matthew." He said quietly. "You to, Penistone." And with that, he took off down the corridor after Kelvin. Then there were two.
"And what about you, Penistone?" I asked, turning to the female security operative behind me. "Are you leaving?"
"Oh, I don't think so, sir." She replied warmly. "Your girlfriend needs us."
"Don't call her my girlfriend." I said, blushing awkwardly. "'Partner' works just fine."
"She still needs us." Penistone continued, grinning slightly. "You know, sir, when I was first transferred to the Constantinople, I was given a duty of care over every one of it's residents. I see no reason why things should change today." She smiled reassuringly. I was grateful for Penistone's help. As we'd just seen, not a lot of people were willing to risk their lives for someone they barely even knew.
"Well, then." I shrugged, slowly making my way over to the left branch of the corridor. "Let's go!" Penistone immediately sprang into action, and the two of us ran off down the corridor together. All that mattered right now was finding Xena.