Chapter 57
While Kurt and Joe were trying to come up with a way to get on the Starlifter, Ahab was staring into a mirror and looking at a dying man.
The image told him more than any doctor’s report could.
His condition had worsened. His eyes were yellowing.
His skin was gray and colorless, with a texture like old papier-maché.
His appetite had vanished. He tasted bile in his throat while feeling pain in parts of his body he didn’t know had nerves.
The doctors had warned him it was coming. They’d told him all his major organs had been affected, but the liver, kidneys, and pancreas had absorbed more toxins than they could shed.
The sickness, combined with the rage he felt, produced the look of a madman, a human turning into a creature, a gargoyle.
Good, he thought, accepting his role, they should see me as a monster when I turn their world to ash. They should remember me this way.
With great difficulty he injected a pain-killing cocktail. It was followed by a mix of steroids and adrenaline. These tonics would bring him back to life as they flowed into his system, but the duration was getting shorter with each use.
A knock at the door caused him to cut his eyes toward the hall. “What is it?”
“The flight crews have been briefed,” a voice told him through the door. “Saber One is out of the hangar. It’s fueled and ready to go. Captain Chen is requesting permission to begin the start-up procedure.”
“Is Saber Two ready?”
“It is being towed from the hangar now,” the voice said. “Weapons loading will begin shortly.”
Ahab looked at the clock. They were ahead of schedule. “Tell Saber One to start its engines and have the laser technicians run their systems checks one more time. I’ll meet them shortly.”
After the visitor confirmed the order and departed, Ahab gave himself one more injection.
This one carried a mix of slowly dissolving amphetamines that would give him the strength and energy that his failing body could no longer produce on its own.
He had a few hours of clear-mindedness ahead of him.
It was all he would need.