Dirty Bird

DATE: Year 308-B, Sol 521

LOCATION: Jupiter Orbit / Ganymede Shadow

The Mighty Sparrow didn't look so mighty anymore.

The hull plating was scorched black from the solar skim. The radiation shielding was holding at twelve percent. The main thruster had a rattle that shook the Phoenix’s armor.

Phoenix sat in the cockpit, bathed in the glow of the emergency lights. He was shivering. The reactor was running so low he had cut the heat to the cabin three days ago.

-Come on, he rasped. Pick up.

He keyed the mic again.

-This is the Mighty Sparrow hailing Sagan City One. I am broadcasting on the EZM-Sagan frequency. Requesting emergency approach vectors.

Static.

Phoenix watched the scope. He was drifting in the magnetic shadow of Ganymede, hiding from the JLF patrols on the other side of the moon. Below him, Jupiter loomed.

-I know you’re down there, Phoenix muttered. Don't ghost me.

He adjusted the frequency. He tried the old codes he’d found in the Marley’s database. Codes that were supposed to be a handshake between the flippers in the EZM and the cloud cities.

-Sagan Control, this is a medical emergency. I have a, I have a citizen of yours on board. He’s sick.

Silence. The scope showed nothing. He didn’t even know if he was in the right spot, or if he was sending a message into lonely clouds.

Phoenix slammed his hand against the console.

-Damn it.

A noise came from behind him. A thump. Then the sound of dragging.

Phoenix spun the chair around.

Himalaya Market was crawling out of the medical bay.

The boy looked skeletal. His skin was grey, and he was shivering violently in the cold air. The IV lines for the chemically-induced coma were trailing behind him like plastic snakes. But his eyes were open.

-Kid, Phoenix said, unbuckling. Get back in the bunk.

-No, Market whispered.

He pulled himself up using the back of the co-pilot’s chair. He stared out the viewport at the clouds.

-They won't answer you, Market said. You’re using old codes.

-Only ones I have.

-Compromised.

Market stumbled toward the comms panel. He leaned heavily on the console, his fingers shaking as he reached for the controls.

-Don't touch the gain, Phoenix warned. We’ll burn out the transmitter.

Market ignored him. He adjusted the carrier wave, narrowing it down until it was a razor-thin needle of static.

Then, he leaned into the microphone.

He whistled. An old jazz standard. Do doo do do di do doo.

Like a bird call.

He waited a second, then whistled it again.

-What is that? Phoenix asked.

-Like a back door, Market whispered.

On the radar scope, a blip, from the clouds below.

-Contact! Phoenix shouted. Something’s coming up the gravity well. Fast.

The ship shuddered. A shadow fell over the cockpit.

Phoenix looked up.

Hovering just above the Sparrow’s nose was a drone.

-Saganite Perimeter Drone, Market said. He slumped into the co-pilot’s chair.

-Do doo do di do di do, the response came over the comms.

Market pushed Phoenix out of the way and typed a few buttons into the controls.

The drone scanned them. It lingered on the leaking thruster, the blackened plates, the radiation scars.

-WELCOME BACK TO THE SAGAN CITIES, CITIZEN HIMALAYA MARKET SON OF VICTORIA, an automated voice came over the comms.

Phoenix exhaled.

-Okay. Open the door. We’re coming in.

-NEGATIVE

Phoenix blinked.

-Don’t say that.

-VESSEL DESIGNATION: HAZARD. HULL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED. RADIATION LEAK DETECTED. BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS DETECTED.

The voice paused.

-YOU ARE A DIRTY SHIP. DOCKING DENIED.

-You can't deny us, Phoenix shouted. -The kid is dying! He needs a surgeon!

-PROTOCOL OVERRIDE, the voice said. -CITIZEN RETRIEVAL AUTHORIZED. VESSEL QUARANTINE MANDATORY.

The drone descended. A magnetic clamp locked onto the Sparrow’s nose.

-PREPARE FOR TOW, the drone announced. DESTINATION: EXTERNAL STRUT 4.

-External? Phoenix looked at Market. What does that mean?

Market closed his eyes. He looked exhausted.

-External, he muttered. Outside the cities.

The drone fired its engines. The Sparrow groaned as it was yanked forward. They were dragged out of the moon’s shadow and pulled down, straight into the orange swirls of the atmosphere.