Karma of Kalpana

by T. L Smith

  Freaking out in the tubes was as dangerous as doing it outside the ship. The first sign of the Slides. I pushed myself back to the central core. Twenty-seven, eight, nine… “SHIT!” No core. How did I miss it? I went to the next two junctions, looking both ways, then back the way I’d come. “No, no, no…” The panic was on me. “Go to the wall. Stay on the wall.”

  I propelled myself down the next junction, banging my arms and knees as I missed rungs and pushed too hard. I couldn’t see clearly from the sweat in my eyes, so I hit my head on the wall when I reached it.

  Circling the wall took forever. My hands and legs cramping painfully. Breathing was hard. Was my air running low too? I was afraid to look. I couldn’t see clearly. Did I miss the hatch? I needed to open my helmet to wipe the sweat away, so I could see. “NO!”

  My hand caught a bar, not a rung. I gripped it with both hands. A lever. The hatch lever? What if it wasn’t? What if it was the hatch to the central core? I’d flood the whole ship with SM. My hand jerked the lever as my brain tried to tell me not to.

  Light! Normal ship’s lights. With everything I had left in me, I thrust myself through the hatch, but missed the external rungs. Low-G propulsion slammed me into the far bulkhead and I ricocheted thirty feet to the engineering floor. Agony exploded in my head. “Carl! Help…”

  A murky gray ocean engulfed me, warm water lapped over my body, a steel gray sky glared down at me. My eyes saw no end to the water, no cloud in the colorless sky, but I had to keep swimming or drown. My arms and legs ached, but I found no land, no place to rest. I pushed on until I could no longer move. Unable to fight anymore, I sank into hot water, feeling it creep over my body, up the sides of my face, until I tasted salt and the sky blurred out completely. What little air left in my tired lungs escaped, but I didn’t have the strength to panic. All I wanted was to rest, once and for all.

  “Kali!” Hands pulled me out of the hot ocean. The gloomy sky turned into the pale gray of the sickbay, Carl’s face formed in front of me. “There you are.” He looked relieved. “The computer says you were in heat stroke. I have IVs running to rehydrate you. Meds to help with the concussion.”

  I remembered falling from the tubes. “Oh.” I closed my eyes from the bright lights. “That explains the headache.”

  “Everything’s going to be all right.” His voice trailed off. “Thanks to those EH genes.”

  “Faster healing.” I tried to sit up, but caught my breath and collapsed back. A deep shot of pain ran through my chest. I clutched at my ribs.

  “Yeah, you busted a couple of those too. I think you fell on your tool bag.”

  “No shit!”

  Carl tapped at the monitor over my head. “A few more meds for swelling and pain, and fluids…” He tilted his eyes down at me as he made the adjustments. “You usually don’t have a problem with the tubes. What happened this time?”

  “I don’t know. The heat just nailed me. I got sloppy, that’s all I can say. So, dehydration, broken ribs, wacked noggin. Anything else?”

  “A bunch of bruises, but the computer says nothing life-threatening.” The computer chirped. “There you go. All done.” He gently pulled the needle from my hand. “For now, you need rest.”

  “Seriously? I’ve gotten beat up worse than this.” I winced as he pressed a bandage to the injection site. “I’ll be fine.”

  “No doubt, but we’re a long way from home and you were out for quite a while. That’s not a good sign, no matter what the computer says.” His hand closed around my elbow as I ignored him and swung my legs over the edge of the table. “I want you to rest.”

  I was glad to have his hand steadying me as I stood up. “I’m too achy to do anything else.” My clothes stuck to my skin and were starting to feel cold, but I shivered with repulsion. “Except a shower. I feel disgusting.”

  Moving made me nauseous and even with his help, I really wanted to go to bed by the time we reached my quarters. I’d managed a shower anyway and climbed into my bunk. With pillows strategically placed, I could lie down. Carl returned with a thick cold drink.

  “A nice frosty shake, your favorite, berries.” He held the straw to my lips like I was helpless. Considering how much effort it was to get in the perfect position, moving would ruin it. I slurped and didn’t ask what he slipped into the drink. It quenched my parched throat.

  Carl gently stroked my cheek as I let the extra meds kick in. I could feel his touch, his concern. I reached out my hand and easily found his. “Thanks for taking care of me. I almost threw a wrench into whatever your friends have in mind for me.”

  Carl’s smile faded. “They’re not my friends.”

  “I… know.” I hung onto his fingers as the drugs took over.

  From birth my life was not my own. I was an EH girl and everyone had grand plans for me. I was forced into the military, into combat pilot training. I loved to fly, but hated the military. Life in uniform gave me nothing but unhappiness and frustration. It reflected in my performance reports: excellent pilot, bad soldier.

  As soon as I fulfilled my military obligations, I ran, selling my piloting skills to freighter companies. Then a sizable inheritance from my mother’s family let me buy the Tamanni. I felt no fear as space became my home.

  The stars were my lifeblood, as if I lived here forever. I became the stars and watched so many civilizations rise. Many fell, their spark of life snuffed out while only a flicker. I watched others grow quickly, only to be consumed in their own flames. Some worlds came together and thrived. Others matured and became the beings they were meant to be.

  I watched and waited. One day they would come to me again. One day…

  The dream evaporated with pain. I eased myself up, shaking off the odd dream. It wasn’t one of my other lives, but it definitely felt like me. “That was a weird one.”

  I let the strange dream go. Pain was a good diversion as I forced myself out of my bunk. I hoped a few steps would help. They didn’t. I gingerly pulled up my shirt. In the mirror my entire left side was a dark, bloody purple. “Damn, no wonder. Computer, where’s Carl?”

  “Ma’am, Mr. Lambert is in Engineering. Shall I page him?”

  “No. I can do it myself.” I walked to the med lab, each step jarring my body. The computer did a quick scan, then offered the meds I came for. I took the first dose, pocketing the second one. After a few seconds I felt a wave of relief.

  A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. “Carl?”

  “Mr. Lambert is in Engineering, Ma’am. I will alert him of your requ—"

  “No. Just seeing things.” Pain meds were stronger without food.

  The computer went back to standby, making me realize the ship was too silent, so I had the computer put on a track of music. I made it to the galley and grabbed a protein drink. Real food could wait. I stretched out on the lounger, letting drugs tune everything out.

  Everything, but my dreams. A voice came from the shadows of the room. A doubtful whisper. “She is the link?”

  “As prophesied.” Another voice answered. The shadow shifted, breaking into two pools, flowing towards me. “She is of a race to bind, eyes clear in her duty.”

  “How can you know she is the one?”

  What? I didn’t know this dream. I tried to wake up, but a heavy blanket of restraint pressed down on my chest, over my whole body. Nothing moved, except the shadows drifted closer, until they nearly covered me.

  One reached out. “It radiates from her.” The other reached out too, but the first shadow pushed him away. “Her soul grows stronger. She senses us.”

  The shadow sank closer, until I could make out what should be a head. “When the time comes, your path will be clear. You will bind us all before the darkness.”

  A hand touched my leg, but this time I could move, and jerked away. “Let me go!” I crawled backwards off the lounger, grabbing at my side as I fell to the floor.

  Carl stepped back from my scream, then rushed to me again. “What’s wrong?
”

  “They’re here!”

  “Who?” Carl pulled me to my feet. “Kali, no one’s here.”

  I spun around, looking for the shadows. “They were right here.”

  “Computer?”

  “The computer lies! It said no one was here before. They’re back! Huracid is back!”

  “We’re still in FTL.” Carl made me look at him. “It was the drugs and dehydration. You know the symptoms.”

  “Nooo…no, no, no.” The first flush of doubt clawed into my mind. “They were here. He said my path would be clear.” The more I tried to convince him, the more it sounded like my imagination in hyper-drive.

  “The drugs make you susceptible to vivid dreams.” Carl’s arm wrapped around me, comforting me. He eased me back towards my quarters. “You might have a few more nightmares before you’re healed, but if we drop out of light, I’ll be right here with you. I promise!”

  “I don’t want to sleep right now.” I resisted him guiding me to my bunk and eased into the curve of the portal ledge, staring out at blurred space. We were still in FTL. “It felt so real.”

  “Well, from experience, you know we couldn’t do anything if he was here.” Carl sat in the portal with me. “What did he say?”

  I replayed the moment, remembering the sensations of the encounter. “He said I was ‘a race that binds’… no… he said that when the time comes my path will be clear. That I will bind us all before the darkness. You talked of paths too.”

  A shiver gripped me. “What do they want? That other part of you should know.”

  Carl dropped his head. “I honestly don’t know.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  By the time we reached our drop point, my injuries were healed, but the ghostly illusions continued and my dreams grew stranger. They felt oddly familiar, like Déjà vu, but left me with splitting headaches. All these affects only solidified my plans to escape this fate, as soon as this last drop hit dirt.

  Today I glanced tensely at Carl as I stood at the cargo port. “Lay that shipment down and get back here. Then we’ll get back in-system.” By instinct I glanced around for my ghosts.

  “I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Carl pulled me into his arms. “Just have our course set.”

  “Then go.” It was hard to say that. I didn’t want to be alone on the ship. I pushed him through the portal, watching the doors cycle closed between us. The apprehension clung to me as I watched his cargo carrier descend towards the surface. In only a few minutes he was lost in the planet’s atmosphere. I rubbed at my neck, so tense and stiff, I felt sick.

  * * * * *

  Carl saw the ghosts in Kali’s eyes as he closed the hatch on the cargo carrier. She was so anxious. No matter the cuts he made, the drop would take at least five hours. Five hours, barring delays from the colonists. On the last delivery he waited two hours and they never showed.

  He homed in on the landing field beacon, broadcasting throughout approach, getting pissed every minute he heard no response. “Damn them.” Kali promised to do a welfare check if they didn’t answer this time. That would add at least an hour to the trip.

  He decelerated towards the drop zone, lining up for a landing. “Ceris Median this is your second contract infract...what the hell?” Crates blocked the landing field. He pulled up, but recognized the shipper tags. Tamanni. His tags from the last delivery. Right where he left them.

  Carl struggled to regain altitude, then quickly dropped his cargo on the other end of the field. He lifted off again and moved the carrier to hover over a bank of trees. He kept low to avoid visual and radar detection. Zooming in on the old containers. The locks still in place. He pulled up the coordinates of the colony, about two kilometers to the east.

  He considered hailing Kali, but thought twice. Someone could be monitoring the planet. If they didn’t know he was here already, he didn’t want to give Kali’s location away. He set course to the colony, sticking close to the trees until he reached the forest edge. He had a visual on the valley, the colony on the far side. He saw no movement at all. Not in the fields. Not around the structures. He dropped further into the valley, staying only a meter above the ground.

  The fields were wet from recent rain. He followed the beginnings of a road. Still nothing more than a well-worn path leading through fields. Wild fields. They were grown over. At the other end of the road stood a cluster of prefab buildings and cargo containers repurposed to create utilitarian shelters. Doors stood open, tatters of clothing hung from drooping lines and the corrals were empty.

  The old Carl burned to land, to investigate, to search for survivors, but he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk leaving Kali alone. Carl threw the engines into full throttle. Blue skies turned darker by the second and stars glowed hotter as space opened up. As soon as he had a visual of the Tamanni, he opened a com line. “Kali, prepare for departure.”

  When she didn’t answer, his blood pressure doubled, throbbing into his head. “Kali, respond. Kali!” Sheer panic gripped him, but he forced himself to remain calm so he didn’t crash. Stick to the book, decelerate, match orbital, activate automated docking procedures. The second the shuttle settled into the locks, he squeezed through the ship’s airlock doors before they were barely open.

  “Kali!” He ran through the corridors. “Computer, where’s Kali? Is she all right?”

  “The captain is in the cockpit.” The computer hesitated for a moment. “Breathing is shallow and she is not responding to auditory stimuli.”

  Carl rushed into the cockpit, focused on Kali. He shook her, but she didn’t wake up. As much as he wanted to grab her and run for the med lab, he wanted to put distance between them and this planet. He could see the next Sync already programmed. “Computer, initiate FTL program. Now!”

  The computer issued a ship-wide warning and Carl closed his eyes against the disorientation, clinging to Kali’s chair until the sensations eased. Keeping his eyes off the portal, he lifted Kali into his arms. “I’ve got you now. Just hang on.”

  Carl carried Kali to the med lab and laid her motionless body on the exam table. “Computer, full scan. Advise on treatment.” With her breaths so shallow, Carl went ahead and put her on oxygen, watching as it puffed into her lungs.

  “Mr. Lambert.” He jumped when the computer finally spoke to him. “The Tamanni doesn’t have the resources necessary to heal Capt. Ghiya. Recommend full stasis.”

  The computer repeated the recommendation at least four times. Despite repeated scans after her fall, a cerebral embolism had developed. Unlike his head injury, this was too deep for shipboard treatment. He should have known from her headaches.

  He should have known. It was his job to protect her. Carl turned to look around him, his arms thrust up into air. “This isn’t destiny. Whatever you want, I can’t do anything to save her.” Carl clutched his temples, trying to remember the secrets needed to save Kali.

  He shouted for intervention, but only have the computer repeat itself. “Mr. Lambert. We don’t have the resources aboard—"

  “Shut up, damn it!” Carl leaned over Kali again. “Give me options.”

  “Mr. Lambert, immediate surgery is required, but beyond the capacity of the ship’s computer and supplies. Stasis will slow brain damage.”

  “But not stop it.” Carl couldn’t take his eyes off Kali’s pale motionless face. Not even the flutter of an eyelash.

  “Without stasis, the captain requires immediate surgery to relieve pressure on her brain. I have sent a request for a medical evacuation ship to meet us en-route, but at top FTL...”

  “…they can’t make it in time. Stasis may slow the process, but damage will continue.” Carl crumbled under the hopeless report. He raised his eyes to the ceiling again. She believed Huracid was still with them, watching. He had nothing to lose. “Huracid! If you’re here, do something! Anything! Kali is dying. Huracid!”

  A long moment passed and Carl felt the last ounce of hope draining away. Then a shadow moved out from th
e corner, darkened and then took shape. “Mr. Lambert!”

  The sound of his name jarred Carl and shock froze him in place as a monstrous form towered over him. “YOU! You are here.”

  “Kalpana needs help we can provide.” Huracid reached a hand out and held it over Kali, close to her skin, but not touching.

  Carl resisted the instinct to push him away. “What can you do?”

  “Computer, can you supervise our doctors in relieving pressure on her brain?” Huracid removed his hand as a small figure materialized beside him.

  Carl tightened his hold on the edge of the table. The computer answered. “If done properly, reparative surgery may delay irreversible brain damage forty to sixty hours.”

  “That doesn’t help. We’re still nearly two weeks from any medical station. The best they can knock off is a few days from the other direction, if a med-evac ship is even available.”

  Huracid spoke words the computer didn’t translate and in mid-turn the second alien disappeared. Huracid reached for Kali again. “Don’t touch her!” This time Carl tried to push the alien hand away, only to nearly fall over Kali.

  They weren’t solid. They were holograms. Huracid took no notice to Carl’s attempt. “Computer, calculate rendezvous point from their location at their top speed.”

  “Rendezvous in forty-eight hours.”

  “Prepare to be boarded. Our medical crew will take over her care.”

  Carl glared at Huracid, giving orders to their computer, but logic told him he had no alternatives. “This is insane. We can’t make it in forty-eight hours. This can’t be what they intend for her. Where are they?”

  Huracid turned his head slightly. “They? You asked for assistance. We are here.”

  “I’d beg the devil if I had to, so did they send you? What do they want?”

  “They?” Huracid’s face couldn’t be seen, but his head jerked upwards. “The answer is not revealed to me.”

  His response made no sense to Carl, but before he could ask anything else, he felt the ship drop out of FTL. “Wait! We can’t stop. We’re over a week away, at best.”