Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(65)
Mason, E, LT 2nd: screaming
ByteMe: ok. if i can get up close, maybe i can program the doors in person, shut some off, make a safe way out.
ByteMe: the whole system’s crumbling piece by piece, sections keep going out. can’t do it from here, but maybe if i can plug in directly
ByteMe: where r u?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: i made it to one fo the servers rooms, like u said
Mason, E, LT 2nd: there’s computer shit everywhere. big server banks. cables all over. i can see serial numbers. hang on.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: CR-0778. CR-0779. they all liek that
ByteMe: ok those are core servers
ByteMe: thats good, some of those u can get to straight from the outside. and u should have power
Mason, E, LT 2nd: yeah, power is up. everything is still lit. gravity is iffy tho
ByteMe: stay locked down
ByteMe: tell me if u move
ByteMe: let’s get this done, so we can get moving and kick some BeiTech ass from here to Central and back again
Mason, E, LT 2nd: there are a lot of them, Kady.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: like, more than there could have ever been on those shuttles
Mason, E, LT 2nd: so please be careful
ByteMe: i’ll be careful
ByteMe: and sad
ByteMe: and f*cking furious
ByteMe: and i’ll be there soon
Surveillance footage summary,
prepared by Illuminae Group Analyst ID 7213-0089-DN
Cams were still out in Hangar Bay 4, so the first we see of Grant after her initial incursion is when she emerges from the bay into its main airlocks. The whole ship is lit by emergency lighting at this stage, so my visuals aren’t great, but I’ll do what I can. Audio is a mix of bass from the engines and a few distant screams. Even though life support’s down, this place sure as shit ain’t lacking for atmosphere.
Grant is dressed in a bright green hazmat suit, portable console in a pack on her back. She strides through Airlock 1, out into Airlock 2. She looks pissed—jaw clenched, hands in fists. She gets about ten feet past the threshold before he stops her.
Dead in her tracks.
He sits facing the abandoned hangar bay she’s just entered from, rifle in his lap. Jaw hanging loose. Eyes wide open. In her After Action Report, First Lieutenant Winifred McCall talked about how blue they were. “Pretty as oceans,” she said. But when his bullet blew out the back of his skull, the concussive force burst Sergeant James McNulty’s retinas, filling his corneas with blood. So now his eyes are black.
And they’re staring right at her.
She’s read McCall’s AAR. Knows who he is right away. It’s funny, but you can almost see the rage evaporate as she kneels beside him, reaching out with shaking hands to press those black eyes closed. Her gaze flickers over the scene, like she’s trying to burn it into her mind. And finally, she notices the small military-issue datapad lying on the ground beside him.
It’s spattered in red. Tiny letters on the faintly glowing screen.
Recording complete. memory full. Playback?
Grant pauses a minute to gather herself. You can see it on her face as she plucks the datapad from the blood. She knows this is gonna cost her—some small part of herself she’ll never get back. Just like the airlock to Hangar Bay 4, this door can’t ever be closed again.
But after one last deep breath, she presses play.
A voice crackles from the small speaker, a faint tremor at its edge.
The voice of a dead man.
“This is the last will and testament of James McNulty.”
Grant sits cross-legged, device cupped in her palm. The volume’s turned down to a whisper, but in that tiny bloodstained room, I swear it’s loud as thunder.
“I don’t know if anyone will get this. Don’t know if anyone will care. I don’t feel right. I’m shaking so b-bad I can hardly breathe. And that’s got me thinking Phobos has stuck me, and that if I don’t do something about it soon, I’m not going to be m-me anymore.
“I don’t want that. Don’t want to end up like those poor bastards in Bay Four. I don’t want to hurt anyone. When I die, I want to be me. So I guess I die today.”
A sigh.
“Figures. I was just starting to enjoy myself.
“I don’t have much stuff. Um. I guess give it all to my dad; he’ll know what to do with it. Except give my signed Artie Corso v-vidcard to my cousin Dex, haha … he was always talking about that f*cking thing. Oh. And my medals. I wanna give those to Ezra Mason. He can melt ’em down—there should be enough gold in ’em to make a ring for Astro-Princess. I think I’d like that better than having them hanging on a wall somewhere. Yeah. Yeah, that’d be good.
“Dad … if you get this, tell Mom I’m sorry I didn’t make it back for her birthday. U-um, and give Amber a kiss from her big brother. Tell her it’s g-going to be all right. I hope you understand. Me going out like this. It’s not that I’m scared. I’m n-not scared, Dad. I just want to be me at the end, you know?
“Um, it’s getting kinda bad again. My hands are shaking, so I think I’m gonna go now. I don’t want to wait too long and not be able to pull the t-trigger.”
Metallic sounds from the speaker. Anyone who knows guns, knows them.
Checking clip. Checking breach. Safety off.
“I can’t think of anything to say.”