Chapter 137 - Vance’s Gambit
I didn't answer Hayes immediately. I looked at Clara. The little girl had pulled her knees up to her chest, her chin resting on her hospital gown, her eyes fixed entirely on me. She wasn't crying anymore. The fear in her face had settled into that familiar, quiet stillness that I recognized all too well—the exact numbness that used to settle over me when I heard my father’s heavy footsteps coming down the hall toward my bedroom.
"You're right, Hayes," I said quietly, turning my head toward the Commodore. "She did say that. Every time he broke a bone, every time he threw me against the wall, she stood in the doorway and told me I asked for it."
I took a slow, deliberate step toward the central console. The two guards shifted their weight, their fingers tightening on the triggers of their weapons, but Hayes raised a hand, signaling them to hold.
"And I spent thirty years believing her," I continued, my voice steady, resonant in the humming stillness of the bay. "I thought if I just worked harder, if I paid their mortgages, if I absorbed their debts and cleaned up their blood, they would finally see me as human."
"A common delusion of the lower tier," Hayes said smoothly. "Now, give the order."
"No," I whispered.
At that exact second, the overhead lights flickered violently. A deep, seismic shudder vibrated through the steel deck plates, followed by the deafening shriek of an automated emergency alarm:
*WARNING: CORE COOLANT FLUSH INITIATED IN AUXILIARY COMPARTMENT FOUR. MAIN DRIVE BREACH IMMINENT.*
The holo-projectors on the table hissed and collapsed into static as the ship's primary power grid shorted out. Red emergency beacons bathed the resuscitation suite in bloody, rotating shadows.
Vance. He hadn't been knocked unconscious; he had played dead just long enough for the guards to leave him in the hangar bay. He had found the capsule’s thermal purge line and rerouted it directly into the ship's lower auxiliary sea-valves.
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In the confusion, Hayes reached for his sidearm, but I didn't wait. I threw all of my body weight forward, driving my shoulder directly into his sternum. The impact sent us both crashing against the control bank. The sharp edge of the steel console shattered the plastic zip-tie around my wrists.
My hands were free.
