silentdescant | Fic: (NaNo) The Citadel

title: The Citadel - chapter 2
rating: NC-17, PG-13 for this part
summary: Sci-Fi AU: Several decades in the future, Dominic, Billy, and the rest of the guys work and live on an orbiting space station, which gets infected and taken over by an alien force. The boys have to fight the evil stuff and save the day. :)
note: Today was quite an adventure. I almost doubled my wordcount, which makes me very happy. :D

wordcount total: 7,766
wordcount for this chapter: 3,656

index

The next morning, Elijah knocked on Billy’s door insistently until Billy rolled out of bed and opened it for him. Dominic was no longer asleep, but he kept his eyes closed while his friends said hello.

“Can you wake Dom up, Billy? Do you mind if I borrow him for a while? I know you guys haven’t seen each other in a long time, but…”

Dominic recognized his cue and pushed himself, blinking sleepily. “No, I’m up, I’m up.” He held the thin sheet around his waist and joined the other two at the doorway. “You’re up bright and early, aren’t you?”

“I was worried,” Elijah replied, shrugging nervously. He glanced back and forth between Billy and Dominic.

Dominic sighed and rested his hand on Billy’s bare shoulder. “I have to go with him, Bill, I’m sorry. There’s something we need to… take care of. Let me just get dressed, ‘Lijah, I’ll be ready in a minute.”

Elijah nodded and leaned awkwardly against the doorjamb. Billy waved Dominic away, murmuring, “It’s fine.”

When Dominic returned from the small en suite bathroom, he saw that neither Billy nor Elijah had moved in his absence. He grabbed one of Billy’s jackets from the open closet and joined them at the door once again.

“I don’t think this will take long, Bill,” Dominic said, watching Elijah, who nodded in agreement, out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll call you when I’m finished and we can go out or something, okay?”

“Sure,” Billy replied, smiling. He stroked Dominic’s arm once and continued, “I think I’ll catch up on my sleep and maybe go up to the control center. I need to talk to a few people about my new duties.”

“Great. I’ll see you in a bit, then.” Dominic kissed Billy’s cheek and stepped out of the room into the hallway. Elijah waved at Billy, then started leading Dominic to the nearest elevator.

“You’re so predictable, Dom,” Elijah said teasingly. “I didn’t even have to look up your tracker to know where you were.”

The trackers, it should be noted, were strictly for personal use, otherwise Citadel’s citizens would be at risk for stalking. Only the higher-clearance employees had access to look up other people in Citadel’s computers, and even then, they had to already know the person’s tracker number. The security station was the only place one could look up names and tracker numbers. Citadel was a highly publicized Orbiton and it boasted the privacy measure it had taken for its citizens.

“Oh, bugger off. Did you talk to Orlando about him taking you on an EVA?” Dominic asked, smoothly changing the subject from his love life to today’s agenda.

“I spoke with him late last night, after you became, er, distracted by a certain Scottish shuttle pilot.”

“Will you shut up?” Dominic groaned, punching Elijah lightly on the shoulder as they walked. “What did Orli say?”

“He said ‘Of course, mate, it’d be my pleasure.’ What else would he say?” Elijah replied, affecting Orlando’s cockney accent. The sound was slightly jarring for Dominic, who always associated Elijah with all things American. “Did you want to come with, or just wait for us inside? It is a bit scary, I must admit.” Elijah said slyly. He knew very well that Dominic didn’t have many good experiences with spacewalks, and Elijah teased him about it at every opportunity.

“I will not dignify that with an answer,” Dominic said. “Now shut up, I have to concentrate.” Dominic’s forehead wrinkled in feigned concentration as he stared down at the number pad by the express elevator, as if he couldn’t remember his ten-digit code.

Elijah scoffed. “You can punch that thing in with your eyes closed. C’mon, hurry up.”

A few minutes later, the two men were turning a corner and entering a large landing bay located on the outskirts of Citadel’s spherical grid. It was very similar to the dock for the larger, commercial passenger and supply shuttles, but the EVA bay had its doors facing the inside of the structure instead of outside so that ships could land. The hangar was filled with one-, two-, and four-person Crawlers, and along one wall were several racks of standard-issue space suits.

People like Orlando, who made Extravehicular Activity excursions multiple times daily had personalized suits, form fitted and unique to their owner, but Elijah would have to use one of the bulkier standard suits.

Dominic stopped in his tracks, awestruck, as he always was when he visited Orlando’s workplace, by the huge, panoramic view of the inner Citadel grid. Elijah smiled at him and tugged him along. He’d spotted Orlando’s dark ponytail and his customary red jumpsuit tied around his waist.

“Orli!” Elijah called, waving as they drew nearer.

Orlando looked up from the instrument panel he was tinkering with and grinned widely. “Hey, guys! It’s been a while, huh? How’ve you been, Dom?”

“I’m fine, I’m good. Billy just got in yesterday,” Dominic added with a blush.

Orlando chuckled. “That’s great, Dom. And you, Elijah? What do you want to go outside for, anyway?”

Elijah’s own smile faltered. “Well, there’s this thing I need to check out. It’s in sector K, on one of the main support beams.”

“We’ll need a Crawler to get all the way to sector K,” Orlando mused. “Dom, did you want to come, or will it just be me and Elijah?”

“Oh, um, I’ll wait here, if you don’t mind. Actually, I could hang out in K and watch you guys from the window.”

“Um, Dominic, could I ask you for a favor? I’m kind of… babysitting today, and… Well, she obviously can’t come. Would you mind keeping an eye on her while ‘Lij and I go out? Since you’re staying here and all?”

Dominic was slightly taken aback by Orlando’s request. His friend, though quite enthusiastic, wasn’t the most responsible person to leave with children, as he often turned into a child himself. Dominic wondered fleetingly how old the girl was.

“Uh, sure,” Dominic agreed uncertainly.

“She’s Sean’s oldest girl. You know Sean, right? He heads up the communications team, and he’s out right now inspecting one of the transmitter towers. Allie!”

A young blonde girl, about ten or eleven years old, spun around at the sound of her name and hurried over to Orlando’s side.

“Dominic, Elijah, this is Alexandra Astin. Allie, this is Dom, and he’s going to stay with you while Elijah and I go outside, okay?”

“Where are you going?” Allie asked curiously, cocking her head. Her long golden curls tumbled over her shoulders with the motion.

“Elijah needs me to take him on an EVA,” Orlando explained, kneeling down look her in the eye. “That means Extravehicular Activity, which is basically just a spacewalk.”

Allie’s eyes brightened and she bounced slightly, sending her hair into a rippling cascade of curls. “Can I come?”

“Uh, no. Your dad made me promise to keep you safe, and it’s dangerous to go out there, okay? Maybe when you’re older, I can take you and your dad out. Does that sound good enough?”

Allie grudgingly agreed.

“Alright, c’mon, Elijah, let’s get you suited up. Allie, you stay here with Dom.”

Elijah, his eyes even wider than usual, turned to Orlando and whispered, “Is it really that dangerous?”

“’Course not,” Orlando murmured back. “I just had to give her a reason.” He smiled winningly at Elijah and led him to the racks of suits.

Dominic crouched down, as Orlando had done, to speak to Allie at her eyelevel.

“So, Allie, how old are you?”

“I just turned eleven a month ago,” she said brightly.

“Wow, you’re getting old! Are you going to grow up and work with your dad in communications?”

Dominic had heard of Sean Astin before, of course, though they’d never met in person. Astin and his ancestors had designed and built the communications system on Citadel, and Sean himself had invented and programmed the tracking system that several Orbitons, including Citadel, used to monitor citizens and supply shipments.

“Maybe. I don’t know yet. I get to go to work with him now, so I’m still learning about what he does.”

Dominic nodded, giving Allie his full attention as she continued to chatter on about her father and the things she’d done with him recently. Astin sounded, from her stories, like a very doting father.

A few minutes later, Elijah and Orlando returned. They walked slowly because of the thick space suits, but the flexible, stretchy material allowed them full range of motion. Elijah was all zipped up inside a white and shiny yellow suit and carrying a fish-bowl type helmet in his gloved hands. He held the thing as if it would break if he handled it wrong.

Orlando, on the other hand, was letting his helmet dangle from his bare fingertips, his own white gloves stuffed inside it. Orlando’s white and red suit had his name printed in block letters across the chest and down his right arm, and it was unzipped to his waist, his black t-shirt still visible underneath.

Orlando led Elijah, Dominic, and Allie towards one of the two-person Crawlers, which were the most efficient mode of external grid transportation. The Crawlers had a single tread on the bottom, which was magnetic enough to stick to the outside of the grid arms and support beams. The cab of the Crawlers was shaped similar to an Earthside helicopter and set on a gyroscopic base, keeping the passengers steady while the tread maneuvered across the metal structure.

Dominic and Allie stood well back while Orlando cracked the transparent bubble and ushered Elijah inside. Orlando rummaged around for a moment then pulled out a helmet communication device, without the helmet. He handed the bundle of wire and transmitter to Dominic.

“Here, so you can communicate with us directly,” he explained. “Alright, Elijah, helmet on.”

Elijah fumbled with his helmet until Orlando took pity on him and latched it securely to the neck of Elijah’s suit. Orlando mouthed ‘Air?’, and Elijah nodded, giving him the thumbs-up.

“Try talking to him, Dom.”

Dominic held the device up to his mouth. “Hey, Elijah, can you hear me?”

“Yeah. Loud and clear.”

“Perfect,” Orlando said, smiling widely. He pulled the zipper up on his suit and put on the gloves, then carefully tucked his hair into the back of his spacesuit so it wouldn’t get caught in the helmet latch. After securing his helmet and the door of the Crawler, Orlando instructed Dominic to move even farther away while he powered up the transport. Dominic quickly backed up, pulling Allie with him by the hand, and watched, amazed, as Orlando steered the Crawler to the rotating airlock.

At any one moment, about half of the fleet of Crawlers were outside, sliding along the grid like little bugs. According to Orlando, Citadel had a fleet of over three hundred Crawlers, the largest Orbiton maintenance fleet in existence.

Citadel really was a record-breaking space station, and if it didn’t have the best, the biggest, or the fastest of something, it at least made the top-5 list. Dominic was extremely proud of it, and he was honored that he had been with the project since before its launch. The grid’s design never ceased to impress him, even after all these years of working and living in it.

After Orlando’s Crawler had exited the bay and set off on its course to sector K, Dominic and Allie walked hand-in-hand to the nearest elevator, hoping to arrive at their destination before Orlando and Elijah. Dominic hooked the microphone of the communication device to his shirt and left it on so that he could participate in his friends’ conversation. He stuck the transmitter and speaker into his pocket, which muffled the sound slightly, but was adequate enough and kept Dominic’s hands free.

The express elevator got Dominic and Allie to sector K in just over a minute. From the chatter Dominic heard in the speaker, the Crawler was moving too slowly for Elijah’s taste and it would still be a few minutes before it arrived. Dominic peered out of the window Elijah had brought him to last night, trying to make out the shape of the unknown substance.

“What’re you looking at?” Allie asked him innocently.

Dominic, smiling again, knelt next to her. “Can you keep a secret, Alexandra Astin?” he asked with an air of gravitas. Allie giggled and nodded eagerly. “Elijah’s gone outside to look at something on that support beam. Let’s see if you have any ideas as to what it could be.”

Dominic lifted Allie to his hip to give her a better view out the window and pointed.

“Y’see that, there? That bumpy thing?”

“Yeah!”

“What do you think it is?”

Allie did the same thing Dominic did the previous night: leaned forward, completely focused, and bumped her nose on the glass.

“It looks like… I’m not sure. It looks like someone stuck silly putty on the beam.”

Dominic chuckled and nodded in agreement. “It does look like that. Hopefully Elijah will be able to tell what it is from outside. For all we know, it could be silly putty!”

“Maybe… Maybe a giant alien came and stuck it on!”

Dominic gasped. “Maybe you’re right! Have you seen any aliens around lately?”

“Maybe they’re from the moon! They must be hiding out, because I haven’t seen them!”

“What’s that about giant aliens?” Elijah’s wavering voice crackled over the speaker. Dominic laughed and didn’t answer.

Allie giggled and said loudly, leaning in towards the microphone, “Giant aliens from the moon came and stuck silly putty on the Citadel!”

Orlando picked up the conversation, exclaiming, “Oh no! I only hope the aliens are nice and won’t eat all of us! Oh, Dom, we’re coming up on sector K. Let me know when you can see us.”

Dominic let Allie slide down off his hip and pushed his face against the window, trying to see as far sideways as he could.

“I see you. Does Elijah know where he is?”

“I’m not sure which junction it is from out here,” Elijah replied. The Crawler crept along the grid-arm parallel to the one Dominic was in, slowing down significantly.

“Okay, it’s to your left, on the underside of the two supports there. I’m in the arm across from you.”

Orlando steered the craft onto one of the support beams and stopped as he drew level with the junction. “Do you see it, ‘Lij?” he asked.

“Yeah, there.” Dominic could see Elijah’s hand move inside the Crawler’s transparent cab; he was pointing the thing out to Orlando.

“Well, what is it?” Dominic asked impatiently.

“I don’t… I don’t know. I don’t recognize… Orli?”

Orlando made a sound that was between a question and a scoff. “I have no idea.”

“Can I get a sample?”

“It’ll take a minute to get you all hooked up, but sure.”

Dominic watched, rapt, as Orlando and Elijah maneuvered around inside the cab. Orlando pulled out safety belts and air hoses and a tool kit, among other things, while Elijah just tried to stay out of his way. After several minutes, Orlando proclaimed Elijah “hooked in”, and opened the door of the Crawler.

Elijah’s magnetic boots enabled him to walk easily along the metal support beam, but his hands never unclenched from the cable that tied him to Orlando’s vehicle. Orlando quietly encouraged Elijah on, but Dominic was speechless, his heart pounding in his throat. Even Allie was on her toes, staring intently out of the window.

Orlando talked Elijah through taking a sample of the thing, to which Elijah replied testily, “I know how to take a fucking test sample.”

“Elijah said a naughty word,” Allie murmured, causing the glass by her mouth to fog up.

“He did, didn’t he? Elijah, calm down, please. If you get frustrated, you’ll just get careless,” Dominic said softly into his microphone. On the other end, Elijah took a deep breath. “What’s it like, anyway?”

“Um… It’s tough, but pliable. Kind of like a piece of partially-thawed meat back home. The tube isn’t working; should I just cut a larger sample?”

“Is it alive?” Dominic and Orlando chorused.

“I… don’t know. It’s not moving, at least not that I can tell. I’m pretty sure it is organic, though. Maybe some kind of plant. Which begs the question, how is it surviving without atmosphere?”

Neither Dominic nor Orlando had an answer for him. Elijah finished collecting the sample, sealing it tightly in the box Orlando had equipped him with, and began to slowly inch his way back to the Crawler. Orlando took the tools and the sample from him and helped him to climb inside the cab. Elijah breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Dominic breathed one only slightly less heavy.

“Meet us back at the bay,” Orlando said to Dominic, resealing the craft and heading back along the grid arms.

***

While Dominic and Allie waited for Orlando and Elijah to return, Sean appeared. Allie ran up to him and hugged his legs, asking politely what he did on his excursion. Sean picked her up and began a story about the four-person crawler, walking over to Dominic.

“Where’s Orlando?” he asked, kissing Allie’s cheek and setting her down.

“He had to take my friend on an EVA. They’ll be back any minute.”

“Daddy, this is Dominic. He took me to sector K,” Allie interrupted happily.

Dominic bit his lip. “Yeah, we, uh… I mean. Um, I’m Dominic Monaghan, in programming and life-support,” he said nervously, eyeing the blonde child.

“Dominic,” Sean repeated, shaking Dominic’s outstretched hand. “Why were you in sector K?”

“Um…”

Dominic was saved from answering by Orlando, who quickly shut off and jumped out of the Crawler, leaving Elijah to fend for himself inside the transparent bubble.

“Sean!”

“Orlando Bloom, what is going on?” Sean asked. The adults picked up on his stern undertone, but Sean kept his voice pleasant for Allie’s sake.

“I’m sorry, mate, I should’ve told you. Elijah here had to—Elijah!”

As quick as he’d come, Orlando disappeared, darting back to help Elijah extricate himself from the Crawler. He disconnected the various life-support lines and unlocked Elijah’s helmet, then dragged him back to the other three.

“Anyway, this is Elijah. He had to go inspect something over at sector K, so I left Dominic in charge of Allie. He’s an old friend, very responsible, great with kids.”

“Orlando…” Dominic interjected quietly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I thought we’d be back before you,” Orlando continued, as if he hadn’t heard Dominic speak.

“Allie, did you have fun with Dominic?” Sean asked, lifting his daughter up again.

“Yeah! I think there’s aliens hiding out on the moon!”

“Really? We’ll have to investigate that further, then, don’t you think?” Sean put Allie back on her feet and nodded at the three men. “Don’t make a habit of it, Orlando,” he said sternly, and then led Allie away.

“Sorry ‘bout that, Dom.”

“It’s fine. Do you watch Allie often?”

“Every now and then, if Sean’s especially busy. He’ll usually leave me in charge if he has to go outside for an inspection.”

“Can we take a closer look at that sample now?” Elijah interrupted exasperatedly. “I still have some other work to do today and I really want to know what the hell this shit is.”

Dominic nodded and pulled out his PDA. “I’ll call the lab and see if they’ll take us today, but we probably won’t get a chance until tomorrow. This is pretty short notice.” He scrolled through various names on his contact list and sent a quick voice message to his friend Andy.

“Hey, Andy, it’s Dom. Listen, I have a favor to ask of you. Elijah and I have this sample that we want to examine as soon as possible, so if you have any time today, could you message me back and let me know? Thanks, Andy. I’ll see you soon.”

Dominic hit the end message button with a sigh. “And so ends today’s adventure,” he said gravely, shrugging at his friends, who immediately began quibbling over Elijah’s EVA.

“There’s nothing dangerous about it, mate,” Orlando scoffed, obviously continuing a conversation he and Elijah had been having earlier.

“There’s all kinds of danger out there! And on top of that, I was nervous. I’ve only been outside once before.”

“You should’ve just let me go, then. I do this shit all the time.”

“It’s my project!”

“Hey, Elijah?” Dominic asked quickly, before their conversation escalated into an argument. “You did fine, alright? And I would’ve been worse for the job. But anyway, I’m going to meet Billy somewhere, do you want to come? Same goes for you, Orli.”

“Nah, I have some Crawlers to fix,” Orlando said with a wave of his hand.

Elijah thought for a moment, but shook his head. “I really do have some more official work to do, and you and Billy should probably be alone, right? Message me if Andy calls you back, okay?”

“Will do. I’ll see you both later.”

With a final wave, Dominic turned away from his friends and pulled out his PDA again, typing in a number he knew by heart. Billy answered on the first ring.

“Billy, I’m finished for the moment. Did you still want to meet up somewhere?”

“Yeah, that’d be great, Dom. I just got back from my meeting with the higher-ups; you have perfect timing.”

Dominic grinned. “So, The Sugar Beat? Or somewhere that doesn’t know me by name?”

“That’s fine. We can make an early night of it, if you’ve got nothing else to do today.”

“No, my schedule’s clear unless Andy calls back today, which he probably won’t.”

“I’ll meet you there, then!” Billy said cheerfully, and then disconnected. Dominic turned down a corridor to the nearest express elevator.

***

chapter 3