Well of Souls

“Still got time,” said Halak. He checked his automatic distress beacon, but the readout was blurry and he had to shake his head to clear it. “Maybe the Barker…”

“They’ll never hear it.” Strong spoke in a hopeless monotone. “Too far away.”

They hung in space, neither one of them speaking. Then Halak stirred. “Have to,” he worked at forming the words, “have to ask you something.”

Strong’s eyes had been closed, but now he pulled them open. “Chest hurts.”

“Carbon dioxide, and…and you’re scared. But, listen,”said Halak. He moved, too abruptly, and had to fight back a wave of nausea. No, no, please, God.When the urge to vomit passed, he said, “Thex said there was a signal. Said it was coming from us. ’Member?”

Strong grunted. Halak took that as assent. “Why did you fire?”

“Told you. I thought they were pow…powering up…”

“No, no, the two readings, they’re not even close.” Halak had to stop a moment and gulp air. “You can’t mistake them.”

Then he said, without knowing that this is what he thought until the words were out of his mouth, “You’re with the Syndicate.”

“ ’S crazy,” Strong moved his head back and forth. “ ’S crazy.”

“No, no.” Halak was so dizzy that Strong’s face swam in his vision. “Those were Syndicate ships, not…not Ryn scouts. You led them to us with a homing beacon…that signal, that signal Thex saw.”

“S’crazy…”

“Stop.” Halak grabbed at Strong’s shoulders. Strong’s hands scrabbled at Halak’s, but Halak hung on and gave him a weak shake. “Stop, we’re going to die out here…”

“Get away.” Strong batted at Halak’s helmet, tried pushing him away, although the irony of it was, they were tethered together. “Get away.”

“No, no. I have to know…I have to know wh… why.”Then Halak ran out of breath, and he felt himself sinking under a wave of dizziness. “Coward,” he gasped, releasing Strong, “you…you’re a coward.You’ve killed us, and you don’t have the guts…the guts to own up…up to what you’ve done.”

He heard Strong’s rasping breaths over his comcha

He fumbled at his comcha

Halak stopped, his fingers frozen above his comcontrols. “What?”

“I said yes. Yes, what you said. I…did that. I did it.”

“Why?” Halak was too astonished now to feel anger. “Why, in God’s name?”

“Wasn’t the plan to… killanybody. Plan was to capture the shuttle.”

“Capture the shuttle?” Halak said. “That…that was all?”

“Embarrass Starfleet.” Strong licked his lips, took a deep gulp of air. “But then…they started firing and, see, I knew…I knew they were going to kill us.”

“Because the results,” Halak panted, “they’d be the…the same.”

“Same questions, if we’re dead as if we’re alive. Only killing us, no witnesses.”

“No you.”Halak dragged in air. “You were the…dangerous one. Loose…loose ca

“Backfired, huh?” Strong doubled over in a coughing fit.

Halak made no move to help. When Strong had caught his breath, Halak said, “Why?”

“Do it?” Strong rasped. “I don’t know. Stupid reasons. I wanted to be in charge…charge of something. Turned down on promotion last month, so I knew it was a matter of time before I’d get the boot, probably leave Starfleet…” Then, in a pitiful whine: “I…I never meant for anyone to get hurt.”

At that moment, Halak felt the dam of his self-control break. Not get hurt, not gethurt! A hundred awful scenarios crowded his vision: cracking Strong’s helmet, venting the man’s air, ripping open his suit…

“Didn’t meanit?” Halak rasped, choked with rage and lack of air. “Thex is dead!You killed the men…the men in those ships! And us, you’ve…you’ve killed…you’ve killed…”

Shaking with fury and dizziness, Halak spun away, not trusting himself any longer. Since they were weightless, the movement propelled him out in a whirling pirouette until his tether ran out and the line went taut. They hung there, twirling through space—Halak, Strong, and the lifeless Thex—each at the end of a tether, the grotesque points of a fractured star.

There was a sound then. At first, Halak thought that Strong was starting to cry; he heard the wheeze of air, a hitch in Strong’s breathing. Then the tether around Halak’s waist went limp and he turned in time to see Strong’s body hurtling toward him. For an instant, Halak was frozen in place. Then he threw up his hands to ward off the blow he thought inevitable, when he realized that Strong was coming at him much too fast, faster than he could possibly have managed by pulling on the tether and letting momentum do the rest.

That hissing sound. Halak’s eyes widened. Strong was purging his air.

“No,” Halak said. “Strong, stop!”

Too late, he saw the white jet of Strong’s air shooting out to hang in a fog of frozen water and gas, like a veil. Strong plowed into him, and then Halak saw Strong fumbling with the seals on his helmet.

“No, stop! Why are you doing this?” Halak shouted, knowing that the other man wouldn’t be able to hear in another moment because there would be no air to carry the sound of his voice, no air for him to breathe. Knowing what Strong’s face would look like in less than three seconds because that’s all the time it would take for Strong to pop his helmet. Watching as the seals opened, and Strong yanked off his helmet.

“Why?” Halak shouted, watching as the horror unfolded. “Why?”

He never got an answer.

Garrett let the silence go for a long moment. “Why do you think?”

Halak turned from his vision of the memory. “Captain, I’ve asked myself that every day since it happened. He could’ve killed me, but he didn’t, and I don’t know why. I guess Strong figured he was dead either way, or maybe there was some last vestige of pride in there, his wanting to make things right, I don’t know. Anyway, he knew that either we ran out of air, or the Barkergot there, and I turned him in. Because I would’veturned him in.”

“Why didn’t you tell the truth?”

“Orders, those damn orders. I wasn’t supposed to be making contact with the Syndicate, remember? SI played that line, hard. No matter who asks, or what happens, stick to the official story. So I did, figuring that SI would watch my ass. That’s why I didn’t say anything when Burke…when Talma was here. I couldn’t, and I didn’t know what she knew, or how this would play out. And then there was Strong, his family. When all was said and done, I couldn’t see how the truth helped. What was the point? The man was already dead. So I let it go.”

Garrett nodded, and they fell into a silence that Halak broke.

“What will happen now?”

“I have to remand you back to Starfleet Command,” said Garrett, as evenly as she could. She kept her gaze fixed on some distant point in space. “There’s the issue about your lying about your past, and your initial report on Batra. You’ll have to answer for all that. At best, you’ll get off with a reprimand, maybe another transfer. At worst…”

“I’ll be court-martialed.”

“Yes.”

“And what do you want, Captain?”

“I don’t know,” Garrett said truthfully. She looked over at Halak. Reached out and clapped a hand on his arm. “Let’s just see what happens, Commander. What is it Glemoor says? One step by one step.”