The Catalyst

-Chapter 43-


Even with the work Marvin had already done to gather the pieces and with Welter’s expert piloting, it took us a while to collect everything we could salvage. We picked up every marine, dead or alive, and brought them back aboard for transport home.
All the while we watched space around us carefully for signs of a Macro incursion. We knew about the ring orbiting Helios, and the one further out which connected to the Eden system, but there might be others. For all we knew, the Macros were massing up and planning to come after us in force.
Once I had my factories back from Marvin, I immediately switched them over to producing sensor array units. We needed eyes now more than weapons systems. I tried to keep the cruiser as close to the Helios ring as possible for a quick exit in case the Macros did show up. I also posted men on flying dishes as sentries on the far side of the ring, in the Alpha Centauri system. They were scouts, using instruments to watch our backs. They couldn’t transmit a signal through the ring, so I had them come back through every hour to report. If they saw any ships, they were to return immediately with the news.
Keeping observers in the tri-star system did have one side benefit: we became convinced the tri-star system was indeed comprised of Alpha, Beta and Proxima Centauri. This was somehow comforting to everyone. We weren’t lost in some distant galaxy. We were only four short lightyears away, practically within shouting distance of home. We even grew to feel territorial about the system. After all, it was very close to Earth whether you were using the rings or mundane spaceflight. I’d already decided in the future we would use it as a no-man’s land buffer zone between ourselves and the Worms should both species be lucky enough to survive this war. I could see a trading post out here, maybe we’d be able to talk to them.
I knew what I should be doing next, and it involved cajoling Marvin into helping me communicate with the Worms. This was a critical mission, but I just wasn’t up to it. I had no idea how many hours it had been since I’d had a good rest, but I was sure it had been more than a day. Even with nanites removing the toxins from my blood brought on by fatigue and repairing cells that needed it, I was still coming close to a crash. The human brain needed rest and sleep with dreams to reorganize our thoughts. Without that downtime, anyone would begin to lose effectiveness and eventually go mad. I couldn’t afford to be delusional, so I began looking for a place to sleep. I found the sleeping bricks were full of like-minded marines. Disappointed, I turned around and found Sandra with her arms crossed, half-smiling at me.
I cursed and staggered in surprise. “Didn’t hear you following me,” I said.
“You weren’t supposed to,” she said.
I could tell she was proud of herself.
“How long have you been following me around?”  I asked.
“For quite a while. I finally got bored tracking Marvin. He’s just a floating brain box with one skinny arm now. All he does is look at everything and poke at Macro control systems all over the ship, wherever he finds them.”
I frowned. “Does he make the boards do anything?”
“Not that I’ve noticed. He just taps at them and stares. Sometimes he talks to himself. But I’m not completely taken in by his act. All serial killers seem like harmless eccentrics early on, you know.”
“You do sound like the neighbor after the crime,” I said. “The one who talks about how he always mowed his lawn, kept to himself and waved hello like a normal robot.”
She almost laughed, but not quite. I could tell Ning’s nasty passing was still fresh in her mind. I decided to change the topic. “I’ve been looking for a place to get some sleep,” I said. “Any ideas?”
She gave her head a small tilt to the left, considering it. I’d always liked that affectation. After a short pause, she crooked her finger in my direction. I followed her like a puppy. Despite my fatigue I admired her shapely figure as she walked through the halls. She’d gotten rid of the vacc suit now that most of the ship was pressurized and heated. It was much more comfortable for everyone. Wearing a vacc suit continuously was like living in a sleeping bag with holes cut out for your eyes.
I wanted to reach for her, but stopped myself. I knew that much about make-ups, you had to time things perfectly. She led me to one of the countless chambers on the ship that served no obvious purpose. This one was full of tubes. Metal tubes, fabric tubes, tubes that looked like they were made of rubber or graphite—but weren’t. The trick was, the tubes that ran over the floor and the walls had two wonderful properties: they were soft and slightly warm. I was sure they carried power or data or both. In fact, this looked like the Macro equivalent of a networking data-closet. We spread out some blankets that were kind of like tarps on top of the thick, flexy tubes. With a little rearranging and plumping, they made a firm but livable bed.
“This isn’t bad,” I was saying, admiring our handiwork. I was about to go on, but she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down on top of her. And I do mean pulled. I was yanked off my feet, and forcibly kissed once again.
I turned my head as she began to run her hands over my back.
“What’s wrong?” she growled.
“I didn’t think we’d made up yet,” I said.
“Since when did you care?”
“A man’s got to have some self-respect,” I said, straining away and giving her my best poker-face.
Sandra stared at me for a confused second, and then burst out laughing. I joined in. Both of us knew I had no self-respect what-so-ever when it came to getting into bed with her. She was a weakness of mine—an addiction.
“We haven’t made up,” she said after we were finished.
“Why did we do it then?” I asked.
“I didn’t want you thinking about Jasmine Sarin for one more second,” she said.
I laughed with my eyes closed. “You’re a succubus.”
Overall I’d found her body to be familiar, but more firm and energetic. I didn’t mind the change. The tubes were still soft under me, and I was falling asleep the moment she climbed off me. She’d taken the last ounce of energy out of my tired form.
I passed out for a long time.