James Axler – Parallax Red Parallax Red

“Let’s go!” Grant demanded breathlessly.

Kane joined his companions at the jump chamber. Brigid entered the Cerberus unit’s destination lock on the keypad, adding the encrypted ID number that informed the redoubt’s autosequencing program who was making the transport.

They stepped into the mat-trans chamber, Grant slamming the door behind them. AH of them were gratified when the ceiling and floor disks immediately exuded a glow.

As the mist curled up around their feet, Brigid asked quietly, “Do you think he survived?”

Leaning against the wall, Kane released his breath in a sigh of mingled relief and satisfaction. “Not a hope in hell, Baptiste. Not a hope in hell.”

Epilogue

Brigid took a breath and raised her arms above her head, arching her back to work out the kinks in her shoulder muscles. She tried to keep her mind empty, visualizing nothing but what she had witnessed over the past few days.

They had arrived safely back in the Cerberus redoubt late in the afternoon of the day before. Lakesh had been almost pathetically happy to see them. Domi had tried to kiss Grant even before he had taken off his helmet. Brigid had been grateful that Rouch wasn’t a part of the welcoming committee.

Kane and Grant related a very terse, undetailed overview of the events on Parallax Red and Mars. Lakesh seemed shaken by what they told him, even a little awed. “You three may have saved two worlds from destruction. How does that make you feel?”

Kane had frowned, then said dourly, “I haven’t really thought about it.” Then he left the control complex for his quarters.

As usual, Lakesh put the responsibility for a full report in Brigid’s hands, inasmuch as her eidetic memory left little room for misinterpretation. She had been inputting all the events into the main database for the better part of the past two hours.

As she stretched, Lakesh shuffled into the control center, throwing her a smile as he came and stood be-side her terminal. The smile fled his lips as he scanned the words glowing on the screen.

Brigid peered up at him over the rims of her eyeglasses. “Something wrong with the report?”

Lakesh shook his head. “Aspects of the contents disturb me. How likely is it that when Sindri probed your unconscious minds, he learned the Cerberus destination code and the ED number?”

She shrugged. “He wasn’t interested in information of a technical nature. Besides, he’s floating frozen and dead on the dark side of the Moon. And even if he were alive, the ID encoding is encrypted.”

Lakesh nodded, as if he agreed with her, but did so reluctantly. “Withal, judging by what you said about him, he was a remarkable man. A genius who never arrived”

“He was a warped little man with ambitions to challenge God,” she broke in, more harshly than she intended. “He won’t be missed.”

Lakesh patted her shoulder. “Perhaps not. But as friend Kane can attest, hate is often as strong a bond as love.”

“I didn’t hate him,” Brigid protested. “Despite what he did to me, to all of us.”

“As you said, he bobs for eternity in the infinite cold of space.” Lakesh shivered as if the notion gave him a sudden chill.

Suddenly lights flashed and needles wavered on the consoles. Beyond the anteroom, a humming tone vibrated from the gateway chamber.

She leaped from her chair, and both she and Lakesh gaped at it in astonishment Bright flashes, like strokes of heat lightning, flared on the other side of the brown-tinted armaglass walls. The low-pitched drone climbed to a hurricane wail, then dropped down to silence.

In a stunned whisper, Lakesh stammered, “Somebody jumped here…to Cerberus !”

Eyes wide and wild, he swung around toward the Mercator-relief map, then spun toward a desk, hands fumbling to activate an intercom. Leaning over it, Lakesh shouted stridently, “Armed security detail to the control center! Stat !”

Within half a minute, the big, vaulted room milled with people wielding blasters. Kane was among the first to arrive, hefting his Sin Eater. Rouch was right behind him, shouldering an SA80 subgun. Kane pretended not to notice the slit-eyed stare of suspicion Bri-gid directed toward him.