Fade Away and Radiate (6 page)

The blaster she held in her hands was
forbidden by Federation regs, but her grandmother wasn’t about to
let her go outside of Earth’s orbit without protection. She
convinced him to go away or die, and eventually he saw reason and
left. Clea manually bolted and blocked the door behind
him.

“
Now I’ve done it,” Clea
muttered. “The rest of the crew is going to break down this door,
and then…” she shuddered. The sequence was complete – if anybody
turned on that nav system now the entire ship would explode, nearly
instantly.

She had no time left. The ship was
about to enter Mars’ terraformed atmosphere. It was still much
thinner than Earth’s but they would crash and burn without computer
navigation.

“
Where are the manual
controls on this ship?” she muttered.

She could no longer see the spider, who
had hid when Juaraz had barged in, but she heard her voice, barely
more than a subtle vibration. “None. This is a modern ship, with
the most advanced automated navigation system in the fleet. No
controls necessary.”

Clea sighed with frustration, worked
the top off the command console. Underneath she found a tangle of
copper wire – most old-fashioned. But a lifesaver.

Her grandmother had taught her wiring,
how to hot wire computer-controlled vehicles, override the
automatic systems, and how to drive them away. Long ago, her
grandmother had been known as the Witch of Moon Port 3, the wildest
and most resourceful pirate captain of the Federation.

You don’t get ahead by following rules,
she had tried to teach Clea. By blindly following a leader, or a
mentor. But Clea was too much of a protégée to believe
it.

Until now.

Clea saw where the hydraulics attached
to the digital interface. She improvised a navigation system she
could work manually, with the emergency electricity from the
generator. She made calculations in her head, using the stars as a
guide. And she wove a pathway through the sky, a web of thought and
trajectory.

For the first time in the history of
the Federation mission to Mars, a captain landed a ship herself. By
the time they had landed, the oxygen on board was all but gone, but
it didn’t matter. The port had plenty to spare.

She couldn’t get the door open, so she
waited for the ground crew to pry them out. Clea looked for the
spider, to thank her, to warn her to stay hidden.

But she was already gone. Arachne had
vanished.

Clea assumed with a sigh that the
creature was a figment of her imagination, the voice of her gramma
speaking to her from across the universe as in a dream. But then
she saw it, across the face of the computer monitor.

A single filament of golden
silk.

###

About the Author:

Michele Lang writes supernatural tales:
the stories of witches, lawyers, goddesses, bankers, demons, and
other magical creatures hidden in plain sight. She also writes
tales of the near future, including the science fiction romance,
NETHERWOOD, which will be re-released in late 2013. Author of the
LADY LAZARUS historical fantasy series, Michele's most recent book
in the series, REBEL ANGELS, released March 2013.

Michele is also a lawyer who has
practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both New York and
Connecticut. She returned to her native New York shortly before
9/11, and now lives in a small town on the North Shore of Long
Island with her husband, her sons, and a rotating menagerie of
cats, hermit crabs, and butterflies.

Visit her on the web
at
www.michelelang.com

Visit her on Facebook
at
www.facebook.com/michelelang