The crew of the Pride elected to remain aboard our ship for most of the trip back to Walker. There extra room allowed the children to burn off a ridiculous amount of energy in the gym and running laps in the cargo bay.
Vera led them in calisthenics and what looked like gymnastics. I recognized it as movements meant to maintain bone and muscle strength exercises for those that spent a lot of time in microgravity. The children seemed to enjoy it, at least.
Doctor Delveccio and Kalinora managed to work out some kind of agreement to pilot the Hog Mauler to ferry the massive ice block to Mars and take on cargo from there out. Assuming, of course, that the military did not shoot her down for being a formerly infested ship.
I was actually able to help Sam and the others with their prototype node sensor, surprising myself. One of the early models seemed like it worked, after a fashion, but tended to stop working the longer it was in use. I found that there were places inside the device where power was bleeding over, causing it to seem to keep working even when the display kept returning random noise.
It turned out to be a failure of design, not components. They took it apart to try and fabricate another one.
Getting a working model took them another week of failures. In between prototyping and testing, they busied themselves getting to all the little details in maintenance that had fallen to the wayside on our trip out.
These were not ship critical issues, but those that went to quality of life and minor technical details. There were gravity plates that were getting worn and needed replacement, thrusters that were operating out of true, plasma conduits that had accrued plaque and needed to be cleaned, and more.
Sam and Vera were constantly identifying new issues that could be improved. Somehow they managed to involve me as a third set of hands more often than not.
I found that working with my hands was somewhat enjoyable. After repairs were done, I could see the result of our work. That was not always the case with nanite therapy or research.
As we neared Earth orbit again the ship needed to be rotated so we could slow down. Doing so with a load like the ice block and the Pride on the other end attached made the maneuver more delicate, so Meita had taken over piloting. She had more experience with big ships and large loads.
Most of the crew gathered on the bridge to watch as we flipped around. Earth was a tiny speck of reflected light in the distance. One of the sensor stations was nearby, so I pulled up the magnification to search for Walker.
What I found once the display cleared was confusing.
“That’s the trash ring,” Ileane commented from over my shoulder. She’d taken to questioning me about what I knew and had theorized about zombies, nanites, and the infection process over the course of the last few days. I itched to get my hands on a few subjects to carry out some proper tests after those discussions.
“I knew that Earth orbit was a mess before. But this is quite a bit more than I expected.”
“Ships that the zombies got to during the collapse. Some fell to Earth, causing more destruction and weather events. Others crashed into each other, scattering a lot of debris that’s still in orbit. It’s a mess.”
“And a wealth of salvageable parts, if we ever get this node detector properly refined,” Vera said from behind us.
“Are any of the ships still operational? Could there be people trapped in stasis pods among them, as there are on Walker?”
“Possibly. Have to scan for heat and power, that’s in the submenu on the top left.”
A moment later, the display shifted to show a few tiny spots of yellow, red, and green against the backdrop of black.
“Looks like there might be a few left, still. I had another question for you, too. Not especially related to ships and possible survivors though,” she said. I turned around to look at her in question.
“These rogue nanites you talked about. Do they congregate in unpowered machinery?”
“Not that I am aware of. But my sample size is still small, so I cannot rule it out completely.”
“I realize that, but I’ve been thinking. Well, I’ve been thinking and talking to Sam and Magnus about this. Fighting zombies is always going to be a risk. They want to get in close and bite you. So every time you can’t shoot them all form a distance they get in close.”
I nodded at this and motioned for her to continue. The risk was less in some ways for me, as I could probably survive a bite if I had to without becoming a zombie. But too many zombies and they’d still tear me apart. They almost had too many times already.
“Well, if we could lure them into traps that could help. I mean purely mechanical traps. No powered circuits. Would that help prevent them from being infected be rogue nanites?”
“Nanites need a direct power source or a power field to operate,” I said, thinking on it. “It takes a lot more power to operate otherwise. If they were able to insert a power node into a mechanical device, that would do it.”
“But they’d have to come into contact with the trap in order for that to happen. Which got me thinking. What if we made single use traps that would explode or something, the kind that go off if you even touch them?”
“You’d still have to lure them in somehow to get them in contact with the trap,” Ileane said, her brow furrowed in thought.
“Zombies are still based roughly on the human frame, so what would kill one of us would kill them in most cases. They don’t exhibit any pain response, but exsanguination, stopping the heart or destroying the central nervous system would be effective. Burning would not unless they suffocated from the smoke, I believe.”
Meita was still rotating the ship in the background, talking to Doctor Delveccio and Gretchen, one of the other women on board about the process. The kids were back in the gym playing some sort of game, having already seen the rotation dozens of times before.
I remembered the grenades that had punched holes in the horde at the Hospital. Explosive traps could be useful in such situations.
“The main problems in dealing with zombies are the hordes and the possibility of infection. If we can detect the rogue nanites and somehow keep the hordes from overrunning a position, we can deal with them.
“On Walker, not even combat suited security men backed by turrets could hold out. They were swarmed. The ones that got close did that strange cutting thing and sliced right through the armor glass of their visors.”
“I know. We fixed that MHU of yours by the way,” the taller woman said. “It was pretty banged up. Had a bunch of faults in the software and several worn out thrusters, a few overstressed actuators. It should hold atmosphere now, at least.”
“Should?” Ileane asked sharply.
“Most likely. At least 85% sure,” Vera grinned back.
“It’ll hold air. I welded those seams myself,” Sam said from across the bridge.
“Spoilsport.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. Vera stuck her tongue out at him in response, which caused him to laugh.
“Anyway, back to tactics. We’ll be parking the Pride at the dock and filling up the Mauler to get her ready for the trip out to Mars. For those of us that are staying, I think we should start by taking level 5 and sealing it off, then work on getting the substations repaired.
“For that, we’ll probably need parts. That means another trip to storage on the level below to get what we need. From what Doc Z has told us, the horde there clusters around the main shaft and power plant.”
“The problems will be dealing with the horde on Level 5, and securing the route so we can get the parts,” I cautioned. “Outside of the hidden elevator between Security and Headquarters, all the routes are dangerous.”
“First, the horde. Zombies do not just remain in one location, that horde could be bigger or smaller or even not there at all once we get there.”
“That could mean we draw more of them once we start fighting,” Sam said with a frown.
“That is very likely. As long as even one zombie can see us, they can howl and draw others to them. The main elevators and the maintenance shaft are where the reinforcements will come from, as well as any wanderers that are in the halls and open compartments.”
“That sounds like a lot of angles to cover.” Ileane said.
“Too many.”
“Agreed. So we will need to force the engagement to happen in a place that favors us,” I replied. “The turrets at the guard station leading to the labs could help.”
“That leaves us in a box with no way to retreat.”
“But secures our rear so we can’t be attacked from behind like we were when taking this ship,” Doctor Delveccio joined the conversation. It looked like the maneuver was done and we were decelerating now.
“Let’s keep the plan simple. Arm up on the Security level, take the food service elevator down. Either toss a distraction through the cafeteria or blast our way through to the guard station. Then dig in and wear down the horde.”
“Just remember, so long as a single zombie is alive and able to howl, we’ll keep getting attacked. We need to either cut them down quickly or hide until they leave is too large a horde shows up.”
The others nodded seriously. Sam and Doctor Delveccio had already fought zombies before. Anyone else that joined us, it would be their first time.
I found it odd that of all the people that I’d met since coming out of my lab no other person had more experience with fighting zombies. At the same time, they were also risking more by doing so.
“Vera, can you think of any way we could use these traps you’re thinking of to improve our chances?”
“Well, we could scatter some behind us as we make the run for the guard station. If we can decoy the zombies away we could do even more.”
“I can’t believe we’re making IED’s to fight zombies,” Sam said, shaking his head in apparent disbelief.
“Whatever it takes to get the job done,” she replied.
* * *
The next few days we discussed tactics on and off. Vera and Sam started working on traps only to have Magnus take them aside for a few hours. Afterwards, there were blueprints. Sticky bombs with proximity triggers, command detonated mines, and sling bombs were evidently things he had experience in making.
I had more questions than answers about the old man that seemed to only want to tinker with the engines most of the time. These questions were not answered in such an artful way that later I wondered how we’d gotten off track.
Gretchen and two of the younger men left to dock the Maggie’s Pride and retrieve a few last minute items from the other ship once we drew close to the station. Ileane, Vera, Hank, and Quenton decided to stay on Walker with the three of us. The rest would fly the Hog Mauler out to Mars.
“And you’re sure that the military is okay with this?” Doctor Delveccio asked as we prepared to disembark.
“Quite certain. Magnus was able to sway one of the factions with the promise that we would not physically be in contact with anyone in the Mars circuit, just drop our cargo and depart. We’ve got the fuel to make a run to the belt, and my contacts there don’t care a whit for the military’s rules so long as we’re not actively infected.”
Kalinora would be the one flying the ship out. Her husband, children, and grandchildren were coming along for the ride.
“We’ll be testing out the node sensors while we’re here, and once we get communications restored, we’ll be in contact anytime you want to call,” Sam assured her.
“Alright, off with you lot. Get me my fuel! And you three, you take care of my girls and don’t let them get killed or infected. Not even if it kills you first, seeing as I like them a whole lot better than you, especially, Mister Gunzmann,” she said, poking Sam in the chest with a finger.
“Me? What about the Doc?”
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“Which one? I trust Doctor Delveccio more than either of you, and Doctor Zolnikov seems to me to be more the type that would rather get himself killed before he lets anyone else have a share of the danger.”
I didn’t need the finger poking me in my ribs to keep my mouth shut, but got it anyway.
“Best we get to it now, boys and girls. We’ll contact you once we’ve got the fuel flowing through the station intercom, Kal.” Doctor Delveccio said with a nod to Kalinora.
The repaired MHU booted up without a single failure. I’d tested it out a few times on the trip, and the increased response time made a difference. During the fight when we’d first boarded the ship there had been an annoying lag at times that I’d put down to excessive safety margins. Sam and Vera had explained that it was just bad software and worn out actuators that were the real problem.
We staged through the airlock in groups. I went last with Doctor Delveccio and Ileane. Between my exosuit and Sam’s combat suit, there wasn’t room for all of us to go through at once.
Earth was in shadow once again as we flew over the hull towards the smaller dock at the top of the station, facing the planet below. This time I caught sight of a tiny speck of light farther towards the horizon.
“What’s that? I thought no one was left on Earth,” Ileane asked over the com. I’d seen something like this once before.
“Forest fire. Every now and then wildfires sweep through parts of the land below. A couple of years ago, one of them spread through Northern California. A few cities were caught up in the blaze. I was watching to see how zombies reacted to it.”
“Did they react? I thought zombies were insensitive to pain signals.”
“Some hordes migrated away. From the look of things, they were chasing the wildlife that were already fleeing the blaze.”
“So did the fire get any of them?” She asked,
“Not many. Those that I could find appeared to succumb to smoke inhalation before the fires even got to them.”
No one spoke much after that.
I led the way once we got to the Headquarters airlock. Seeing as I had no range weapons and the others did, it only made sense to me. They’d argued with me, but in the end acquiesced.
“Welcome to Walker. Keep your heads on a swivel and only fire if Sam or I do,” Doctor Delveccio cautioned the new people in our group. They gave their assent, but kept their hands near their pistols regardless.
The Executive suite was still clean when I entered it. The evidence of the firefight was still present on the walls and the deck of the CEO’s office, but I was used to that.
“What happened here?” Vera asked as she entered behind me.
“A firefight between the executives’ bodyguards and station Security forces. There were zombies involved, too.”
“Why were they fighting?” Sam wanted to know. I’d forgotten to tell this story. They also hadn’t asked before during our frantic rush to rescue the Pride.
“I do not know for certain. But I suspect that when some elements of Security found out that upper management was planning on withdrawing from the station and leaving them behind, they objected.”
“Seems that objection was rather strenuous,” Vera commented, eying the bullet holes in the bulkheads.
“I believe you are correct,” I said. The others hadn’t seen the bodies. The damage told the story well enough, though.
It didn’t take long for Sam to work his way through the dockmaster’s screen on the management terminal and release the hold on the Hog Mauler. Starting the fuel pumps was child’s play after that.
“Walker to Hog Mauler, this is Sam with party of six at the HQ. We’ve got your fuel going and you are pre-approved for undock once your tanks are full.”
“Good to hear, son. Kal will be pleased.” Magnus’ face appeared on the screen. His gray eyes twinkled as he complimented the younger engineer.
“We’ll probably not be near this terminal once you get set sail, so if we don’t speak to you again for a bit, that’ll be why.”
“Roger that, Walker. Thanks for the fuel,”
“And the ship!” came Kalinora’s voice from outside the video pickup.
“Fly safe, Mauler. Walker out.” It was time for us to go below.
The others used their suit jets to descend to the lower level. I simply hopped over the railing and pushed off the ceiling, coming to a rest by the station side exit.
“Showoff,” Sam muttered behind me.
I blinked. The thought that my actions might seem ostentatious had not occurred to me.
“I have not had the opportunity to train with suit jets before. It honestly did not occur to me until after I was already in motion. By that time, using the jets would have been superfluous.”
“Not helping your case, Z.” This time it was Doctor Delveccio.
“Doctor Delveccio, I assure you-”
“He’s just busting your balls. But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong,” she replied.
I decided to let the matter be. Social interaction had never been my strong suit.
The hidden elevator was large enough to take us all at the same time. Which was fortunate, considering the familiar sounding blasts I heard once we reached the Armory.
“Is that?”
“Gunfire. The turrets are firing on a horde in the cafeteria.”
The MHU gauntlets were too large to wield any of the rifles that were racked in the armory. I hurled myself off the elevator, swinging around the corner to see what was happening. Bits of trash and gore splattered over the MHU’s previously clean exterior as I went.
“Move it ladies! Stay behind Sam and Z,” Doctor Delveccio called.
The view from the front desk was chaos. Zombies were thrashing about in the open area beyond the turret line, snatching up bits of food even as bodies and body parts ricocheted into them. The horde was too large to skirt the range where the turrets would fire.
A lone howl greeted my appearance, but it did not stay lonely for long. It was swiftly echoed by at least a dozen others. The horde surged towards me into the gunfire. I jumped forward to meet them.
Two zombies managed to make it through the turret fire. My gauntleted fists were their prize for winning the race. The steady, measured beat of the turrets was soon joined by Sam’s guns. Pistols and rifles joined him soon after.
I tried to use the suit jets to maintain my position, but it soon proved to be impossible. Zombies came at me in groups. I swatted and crushed the ones I could catch, but there were too many.
A particularly fast one managed to get close to my visor. I pulsed the jets to crush him between the MHU and the ceiling, then pulled the corpse off and swung it like a club, swatting two more eager facemunchers away.
“Z, get back! I need more room to use grenades,” Sam called out.
“If I fall back, the horde will surge forward.”
“Do it. We should be able to hold them back with weight of fire.”
There was no disengaging with the horde. I had to just let them push me back and crush the ones that got closest to piercing my visor.
“Okay, I’m opening up. Try and clear up the ones that manage to leak through,” he called out.
The overpressure swatted me like a giant rubber mallet. With zombies so close together where he was firing, the blast had nowhere else to go and I was the closest to it. Outside of the expanding cloud of gore that used to be zombies, that is.
After the double blast, there were only a few zombies left within reach. Those were even clumsier than normal. I dispatched them quickly. Sam opened up another hold a moment later.
A few zombies leaked through on the edges of the blast. Pistol and rifle fire took down the closest ones to my left, but no one fired at the three to my right. I had to mash the jets to get to them in time before they got too close to the front desk that my companions were firing from.
As I went, a pistol bullet ricocheted off my exosuit. It had to have been a pistol, because the force of the bullet did not even alter my trajectory.
“Shit! Sorry, Z!” One of the men said. I couldn’t tell which one was Hank and which was Quenton yet.
“Watch your firing lanes, people! Let the people on the other flank take care of their side!” Sam called out.
Two more waves were smashed apart with grenades and bullets after that. I only had to snag a leaker once during that time. It looked like we were getting a handle on things as the third wave was blunted by explosive fire.
I should have learned by then not to tempt fate.
Two fast moving zombies blurred through the explosions, seeming to flow through the gunfire like it was only rain.
“Incoming left side!”
I hammered the suit jets without waiting for a response even as I shouted the warning. The two quick ones oriented on me as my exosuit entered their trajectory. We crashed into the bulkhead together.
One tried to pry my gauntlet away from my face while the other avoided my attempts to grab it while angling to worm its way towards my visor under my arm. I spun, bouncing off the bulkhead and grabbing for the one prying at my gauntlet. It launched itself away.
This time I was waiting for it.
I latched onto one of its legs as it jumped away. The force of it caused me and my two violent passengers to spin out into the cafeteria.
I only realized this fact when gunfire from the turret slammed through one of the fast zombies and into my exosuit.