Against Gravity

He saw Veliz peeking out from the door leading into the pressure chamber. One of the turrets whirred and Veliz dodged back out of range. Another volley of bullets spat into the building's interior.

Draeger could be downloading reams of lethal information and transmitting it back down to Earth while they were trapped here. Or else erasing the proof of his guilt for ever.

Kendrick allowed himself no more time to think. He stood and ran out through the shattered window, still cradling his injured left hand against his chest. He headed towards a copse only a few metres distant. His movements were restricted by the suit he was wearing, making him feel clumsy and slow.

The turret whined again and dirt was kicked up in tiny spurts, tracking after Kendrick as he threw himself into the shelter of the trees. Bullets ripped through the branches above him. He shielded his head as leaves and twigs rained down.

The gun whined into silence as its target disappeared from its sensors.

"Kendrick! Are you there?" Buddy again.

"I'm okay," Kendrick shouted back. "I'm outside here. There's a turret just ahead of me."

He heard a muted argument from somewhere inside the building. "Stay where you are," Buddy yelled back.

Then came the sounds of ru

The reality of what he had just done began to hit Kendrick with the force of shock. He could very easily have died. He rolled onto his back and gazed up through the copse's branches.

Buddy called out to him again. "Kendrick, I'm throwing something over."

A small brick-like object landed not too far away, compact enough to fit into the palm of Kendrick's uninjured right hand. The turret whined briefly in response, spitting a few bullets into the air near where the object had landed. Kendrick reached out for it with tentative fingers, ready to snatch them back behind his cover, but the turret didn't respond this time. He picked the object up and recognized it as one of the grenades that Sabak had taken on board the shuttle.

"Do you think you can hit that thing from where you are now?" Buddy yelled.

"I can try – but do we have any more of these if I miss?"

A pause. "Just try and get it first time, okay?"

Great. "How does it work?"

"Touch the screen. Press where it says 'arming'. Got that?"

"Got it."

"When you're ready to throw, press down hard on the plastic button on the reverse side, and then for God's sake just throw the damn thing. You'll have maybe seven seconds before it detonates."

Kendrick nodded. Then he dragged a branch from the soil and tossed it high into the open air. The turret whined, and the chunk of bullet-splintered wood jerked in the air before hitting the ground.

"Listen," said Buddy. "I'm going to draw its fire, then you throw. You got me?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. That thing's got a much faster response rate than-"

Buddy moved in an augmented blur, heading for another tree several metres away from where Kendrick sheltered. The turret whirred in response, tracking Buddy's path with fire as he ran.

Damn. Again there was no time to think. Kendrick pressed down on the grenade's activator and stepped out from behind his own tree, hurling the device as hard as he could in the direction of the turret.

As he'd stood he'd glimpsed Buddy diving towards the meagre shelter of another tree. None of the trees on board the station could possibly be more than nine or ten years old but they were already tall and gnarled, with thick trunks. It occurred to him that they'd have been altered genetically to grow much faster than nature intended. They also, he dimly recalled from some documentary, served a vital function in the station's complex artificial ecology.

Far more importantly, they at least provided more shelter than natural-grown saplings.

Buddy dropped down out of sight again and the turret rapidly swung back towards Kendrick. The grenade had landed just a foot from its base.

Kendrick threw himself back behind the tree and stumbled. As he started to pull himself up, he realized that he was still in the turret's line of sight.

He could see the turret zeroing in on him. Desperately, he reached behind himself for the knapsack in which he had stored his helmet. As he flung it away from him the turret's sensors picked up the sudden movement. Kendrick caught a glimpse of the knapsack dancing in the air, giving him the opportunity to slide rapidly back behind the tree.

A moment later the air was filled by a noise like a giant hammer blow. Dirt and splinters rained down on Kendrick's head. He lay exhausted, trembling from the adrenalin still pumping through his veins.

But the turret was dead.

Over the next several minutes, similar blasts were audible from further along the side of the building as Sabak's men managed to take out the remaining gun turrets. As Kendrick lifted himself up and peered towards the one he'd managed to destroy he half-expected it to spring back to life.

He climbed up on unsteady feet and went to retrieve the knapsack. The helmet, he found, was ruined. If he wanted to escape from the station he'd have to find another.

Buddy looked haggard and pale, and Kendrick assumed that he himself probably looked just as bad. He glanced around at the grass and trees, shimmering here and there with familiar pale silver threads.

Buddy followed the direction of his gaze. "Same as the Maze," he muttered.

"Not quite, no." The flesh of Kendrick's hand was still torn and bleeding. The pain felt even greater now that he was less preoccupied with just staying alive.

Kendrick looked back to the building, where the survivors were only just begi

All around them a war was taking place – in absolute silence.

Fourteen people were dead. They were laid out in rows in the centre of the gallery. All around Kendrick the tiles were red with blood where the victims had been caught in a massacre.

Kendrick spotted Sabak and approached him. "Look, time's ru

Sabak shook his head firmly. "Nobody's going anywhere. None of us are taking any more chances than we have to. So we stay right here. Not one more life is going to be wasted before the wormhole opens."

Kendrick stared at him, his expression revealing his sudden anger. "And Draeger? You're going to let him get away with this?"

Sabak chuckled long and low, glaring back at Kendrick with something like hatred. "You don't get it, do you? You're not in charge of this operation. I know you think we're all crazy. Well then, fuck you. Fuck you and Draeger both."

Kendrick stepped away, appalled. "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're a Labrat, and you-"

"I'm a human being, Mr Gallmon. I want to be able to choose my own destiny – and this is what I choose. I'm not here to be a hero or to save the human race." Sabak jabbed a finger into his own chest. "The human race can take care of itself just fine."

Kendrick licked his lips. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He looked around and saw that other people had been listening. But none of them would meet his gaze.