Chapter 2
Darkness falls. Voices rise. Amidst a steady white noise, their calls overcome everything to take precedence. He recognizes their screams, engraved into the back of his mind, forever the same message.
make us whole come back come back come back
The sounds begin to blend into a stream of dialogue, becoming more and more recognizable as a single voice, repeating the same thing, over and over.
come back come back come PNO-9 PNO-9 come back KR-12 come back come in. Come in
Isaac awoke to the sound of Ellie's voice, intermittently repeating over and over. He pushed himself up, and drew a sharp, stinging breath as the pain of his wounds descended upon his outer awareness. He looked around the cockpit with a confused gaze until he saw Ellie at the controls, flipping various channel switches and speaking into the wireless communicator.
"PNO-9, this is KR-12... Come in, PNO-9."
Isaac then became aware of a tight feeling around his left shoulder. He looked at it and saw there was a cloth wrapped around it, fashioned into a tourniquet and beginning to soak through with blood. He then looked at his hand and saw it too was tightly wrapped with gauze in an attempt to stall the bleeding.
"Agh, damnit!"
His eyes shot back to Ellie as she cried out with frustration then thrust herself back into the seat, pressing her hands to her face. He started to move, but the stabbing soreness of his shoulder forced him to immediately stop and release a stifled groan. Ellie froze for a second, then realizing he was awake she straightened her back, composed herself, and tossed a blank look at him.
"Hey. How you doing?"
He nodded sluggishly, and motioned to his shoulder.
"I'm alright. Thanks, by the way."
She returned with a mild smile.
"It was bleeding pretty badly, I had to do something. It won't hold forever, but it'll do until we get there."
Feeling a bit dazed, Isaac just sat there quietly for a moment, processing. He looked at the radio, and he pointed at it.
"Who are you talking to?"
She shook her head and shrugged with a dismal look.
"No one, apparently. I've been trying to get a hold of my contact for about an hour now, but I've got nothing."
Taking notice of the perturbed look on his face, she sought to reassure him.
"Don't worry. I'm using a private channel. We're still out in the sticks, anyway, there's no one around to hear us. But I figured we'd be close enough to get through to him by now."
Still not feeling particularly sold on her idea of involving a third party, he just pressed his hand to his chin and looked nervously about. He then glanced out the window, and saw there were no planetary bodies in sight - just the sun, encompassed within an endless blanket of stars.
"Where are we?"
"Not too far from Earth, now. We passed Mars sector about an hour ago."
As he stared at the stars pulsating in the imperceptible distance, a doubting voice began to speak to him.
come back
Entranced by it, Isaac sat in silence and listened to it as it filled him with an unexplained sense of doubt. Just as he was about to turn to Ellie and voice his lack of confidence in their plan, the radio suddenly lit up with an incoming transmission. The instant she saw it Ellie seized upon it like a hawk, which struck down any hope Isaac may have had that they might just turn around and vanish somewhere without a trace.
"PNO-9? Come in!"
Ellie paused, then broke a large smile as she finally recognized the responding voice.
"This is PNO-9. Nice to hear from you, where've you been?. Go ahead, over."
"I know, it's been a long time. I've been busy. But, good news - you might see me again sooner than you think. Over."
A series of jagged, static rips tore through the transmission as the transponder fought to hone in on the signal.
"Oh... -at right? ... running hot or something? Over."
Making adjustments to boost the signal, Ellie chuckled.
"Ohoh, well I suppose that depends on what your definition of 'hot' is. Over."
"You know what my definition is... Over."
The grin began to fade from her face.
"It's nothing you can't handle. Look, I hate to just come at you like this after all these years, but, I could really use a little help right now."
"Listening."
"We got caught in a bad situation out here, and we're stranded... we had to find a way back. And now, we just have to... unload some stuff, you know what I mean? Hoping you could lend a hand. Over."
A brief silence followed.
"... 'We'?"
Ellie tossed a glance at Isaac, whom she realized had been staring at her the entire time.
"Yeah... I've got someone with me. I hope that won't be a problem. Over."
"... Right. Soooo, how far out are you? Over."
"We're not far now. Probably a couple of hours. Over."
"Alright. Come straight here, take the western side to avoid the main traffic. Buzz me when you're at the gate. Over."
Ellie's face spread with a wide grin of relief.
"Thanks. I really appreciate this, I owe you big time. Over."
"We'll talk about that when you get here."
"Yeah, we will. See you soon. KR-12, Over and out."
Ellie flipped the switch, cutting the transmission and sending the radio into darkness. She leaned back in her seat, her smile growing as she planted her hands behind her head.
"See? We'll be fine."
He tried to relax, and to accept Ellie's confidence in her friend, but in his frenzied state of mind, the idea of coming to any center was beyond impossible for Isaac. Curious, he started probing her.
"So... who is this character, anyway?"
"His name is Alan. He's an old friend of my father's. I used to work for him when I was a kid."
"Oh, yeah? Doing what?"
Ellie shot a quick, tight glance at him, then back to the controls.
"Logistics pilot. It's a long story, we can get into it later."
"Can we trust him? What's he gonna do for us?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. We can trust him. And he's a junker."
Isaac paused, and his eyebrows lifted a little as he immediately understood the potential benefit.
"Oh... Yeah, well, that is pretty helpful. So, I take it he does this kind of thing for a living?"
Again she glanced at him, this time for slightly longer and appearing to be running short on patience with his line of questioning.
"No, not really. He owns one of the largest industrial storage lots on Luna. He just... happens to be in a business that... works well for other needs, too. Like, the need for us to get rid of this ship. Put it that way."
Upon the conclusion of her wavering explanation, she nodded affirmatively.
"Seriously, Isaac. Don't worry. We're going to be okay."
He didn't respond but turned his attention back to the window in total silence, burning with Marker passages and pessimistic thoughts in his mind. At first Ellie found the sudden dead silence between them to be rather awkward, considering how open they had been with one another up to this point, but she didn't take it too seriously. She eventually followed Isaac's lead and turned her attention out the window as they made the last stretch of their journey, and after a while, they both came to appreciate the peaceful respite of silence.
Some time later, the navigation system's klaxon call alerted them of their approach at the designated coordinates, finally breaking the trance of silence that had enraptured them both for over an hour. Isaac, who had been resting with eyes closed and his mind turned inward, finally opened his eyes and looked out the window to see that the endless void of space had given way to the floating colony structures and bright lights of New Horizons, hovering just off the glowing white surface of Luna. The expansive space colony, which was more like a bustling, spacebound metropolis, surprised Isaac when he saw it. It had been several years since he had last been to New Horizons, which although had already been established for a long time, didn't appear to be anything like what Isaac had in his memory.
"Damn, this place really exploded, didn't it?"
As Ellie applied pressure to the engines they became a bit louder, and when she didn't answer him he assumed that the rumbling sound had drowned out his voice and caused her to miss the question. Isaac didn't bother asking her again, but turned back to the window and gazed with wonder at the massive, sky-reaching structures and endless interchanges of walkways and traffic lanes flecked with people. The ship finally passed beyond the perimeter of the colony's outer edge and onto the darkened side of Luna away from the sun. Ellie curled the ship about and came to a halt before a gargantuan hangar gate, marred by countless nicks and deep gouges which appeared to be decades old.
Holding their position, Ellie turned on the radio and spoke gently into the receiver.
"PNO-9, this is KR-12. We're in position. Open her up."
"... KR-12, you are clear for entry."
The two of them listened as a gentle electronic ping of the airlock system echoed through the cockpit, and after a few moments the heavy metal gate in front of them began to open. Ellie gripped the controls.
"Here we go."
She initiated the engine and the ship scuttled forward past the open gates, heading toward a small runway surrounded by heaps of discarded intergalactic materials which were locked down into massive bundles readied for transport. At the northern end of the cluttered lot stood a small, nondescript warehouse with several air lock expulsion gates around its perimeter. Isaac took in every detail he could see as the ship landed on an empty landing pad, and once the ship finally settled on its feet and the weary purr of the engines died down, Ellie set the brakes and waited until the giant hangar gates had closed before disengaging the hatch. When the hangar was sealed and the area re-pressurized, she opened the hatch and stood before Isaac, offering him her hand.
"You good to go?"
He nodded, gripped her hand and slowly rose to his feet as she pulled him up. He felt cramped and his wounds were stinging, so he braced his hands against his back and started to stretch as best he could. Just as he glanced out the window, he caught the shadow of someone walking along the dock outside. He stepped backward toward the hatch, and motioned to Ellie.
"Yeah. Let's go."
She led the way out of the ship and they both stepped down onto the dock. The area's flood lights were harsh on Isaac's eyes, forcing him to follow Ellie's shadow down the dock and toward their awaiting company. Through a tight squint Isaac could make out a man standing at the end of the walkway, wrapped in a thermal canvas work cloak. Calmly perched at the man's side was a large, dark dog, maybe a German shepherd mottled with grey hairs, suited in a protective vest and tilting its head inquisitively at them. About halfway down the dock, Ellie slowed her pace until she was walking directly next to him, and whispered to him.
"What's your middle name?"
Isaac shot a side glance at her.
"Why?"
"Just tell me."
Caught unprepared by her request, he stammered.
"It's... It's Paul."
Ellie nodded, and as they came within earshot of their host she stepped forward with a smile on her face, and opened her arms.
"Hey there, you old fool."
The cloaked man smiled and stepped forward, accepting Ellie's embrace. They hugged for a moment, then pulled back to look at each other.
"Damn, it's nice to see you again, Ellie. Where the heck have you been, kid?"
With a large smile, Ellie stooped to her knees and began to give the dog a gentle rub around the ears as it sniffed her excitedly with recognition.
"Oh, you know me. I've been working off shore a lot these days. You look great, and so does Roxy, here. Damn, how old is she now? I can't believe she's still alive."
Alan smiled and stepped back, looking Ellie over as she pet the dog.
"Same old, here. I see you haven't changed much - Roxy has no trouble remembering you."
The man smiled with what Isaac perceived to be a hint of parental affection as he looked at Ellie, who after incurring a few licks of fondness from the dog, rose again to embrace the man a second time. As they hugged, the man's eyes finally met with Isaac's over her shoulder, and he released his embrace from her to pull down the scarf-like collar of his cloak from around his face and introduce himself.
"Hi there, you must be Ellie's tag-along. Name's Alan."
Isaac looked him over as the man smiled with puffy, chaffed lips and held out his hand. He was much older than Isaac was, with a rather frail and unassuming stature, not too tall or large. He had a sparse, peppered grey beard, pink, spider-veined skin stretching across his face and cheeks, and a pair of piercing blue eyes that stuck out like pinpoints from beneath the rolled up brim of his knit wool cap. Isaac finally took the man's hand to return the handshake, but before he could say anything, Ellie cut in.
"Alan, this is Paul. He's a co-worker of mine."
Upon Ellie's interjection Isaac shot her a glance, impressed with her preemptive thinking.
So that's why she wanted to know... Smart girl.
Alan began to nod with amusement in response.
"Oh, welcome to the jungle, son. You look like you seen a deployment or two. Where you hail from?"
Isaac was hesitant about revealing any details about himself, but he wasn't feeling well enough to come up with something on the fly, and he didn't want to appear to be rude.
"Uhh, Earth. Northeastern seaboard, near New York."
Alan nodded thoughtfully, then tucked his hands into his pockets
"Ah, yeah. Nice, when it isn't winter time. From Chesapeake, myself. 'Course, it don't exist no more."
Alan finally shot an inquisitive glance at the gunship sitting behind them on the landing pad.
"I suppose this is what you need help with."
Ellie nodded.
"Yeah, this is it."
Though he had immediately noticed their condition the moment he first laid eyes upon them, Alan finally ditched the formalities and brought the issue to light. He eyed them both up and down, taking a serious interest in Ellie's patched eye, and Isaac's bloodied shoulder.
"Can't help but notice you two... what the hell happened out there?"
Ellie cleared her throat.
"It was an accident. We got caught up in an explosion."
Alan's grey, tufted eyebrows raised with concern.
"An explosion? Hmm."
His eyes turned to Isaac.
"How about you, Paul? Looks like you got hit pretty bad."
Feeling weak and not sure how to respond, Isaac just shook his head.
"... Ellie can tell you all about it."
He looked down and saw that Roxy had made her way over and was now sitting at his feet, panting and looking into his eyes with friendly curiosity. Taking the opportunity to withdraw from the conversation, Isaac went down on one knee and began petting the dog, who responded with friendly licks at his hands. Realizing Isaac was secretly deferring Alan to her, Ellie drew the old man's attention back.
"Alan, we just need to dump this thing, get cleaned up and get our shit together. Think you can help us with that?"
Alan slowly nodded with a smile crimping his beard, and he took a few steps down the dock toward the gunship.
"Sure, no problem. Looks like a Mark VI Interstellar, and it's got Big Brother written all over it. This one would catch someone's eye for sure, I can see why you were worried. Won't be a problem after today, though."
He glanced down the side of the ship again, eying the weathered, fading EarthGov insignia etched into its flank. He turned back to Ellie.
"Don't suppose I should ask how you got your hands on it?"
Ellie and Isaac met eye contact for a moment, then she drew a long, deep sigh.
"Well, the truth is... we had to steal it. Paul and I were on a job, working a transport line when one of the fuel lines along the station ruptured. We had to eject, and this ship was the closest thing we could find to get out of there."
She looked up at Alan with concern in her eyes.
"Have you... heard anything recently? About what happened?"
Ellie had deliberately omitted mentioning the name of Titan Station, curious to see if news of their doings had already spread beyond Saturn. To her surprise - and to Isaac's dismay - the old man raised his eyebrows and solemnly shook his head.
"Oh... no. My god. You talking about Titan Station? Yeah, just heard about it in the reports today... you were there?"
Again, Isaac and Ellie nervously side glanced one other.
"Yeah. Some shrapnel from the explosion sent us off course and damn near tore through the freighter we were working on. Tossed us all over the place."
Alan just shook his head, somewhat sadly.
"Geez, tough break. Glad to see you made it out, though."
He looked down to see Roxy was whimpering like an impatient child at his heels, so he motioned with a wave of his hand and the dog broke into an excited gallop back toward the complex. Alan then turned to Ellie and Isaac.
"C'mon, let's get you folks cleaned up. Ya'll hungry? Got plenty to eat, if you are."
The three of them headed down the dock, Alan and Ellie side by side making small talk, as Isaac trailed quietly just behind them. As he silently pondered their situation, he kept glancing uneasily back at the gunship perched on the dock.
"Hey Alan, the ship gonna be okay back there? No one can see it, right?"
He heard Alan chuckle ahead of him.
"Don't worry. In thirty minutes, no one will ever know it even existed."