The Dark Ship

by Phillip P. Peterson

  Green laughed. “What did you think? That billions of passengers were bought on board with ferries? That would have taken decades. No, the individuals were captured on their respective planets, teleported, and immediately rematerialized in the cryopods.”

  Jeff shuddered.

  One moment you might be walking down the street, the next moment you would be in this simulation of hell on the black ship. No wonder the people thought they had been killed in a surprise attack.

  “Why didn’t you beam us straight into the cryopods when we turned up?”

  Green shrugged. “I happened to be busy with a—shall we say, interesting—game in hell, and only noticed your presence rather late. What’s more, the teleportation process is rather time-consuming; the field projectors have to be prepared first.”

  “You could have teleported us straight from our cabin to those pods.”

  Green laughed. “You’re right, that would have been very convenient. But no. Because of the large projector surfaces, matter can only be brought aboard from a certain distance. There’s no other way, unfortunately.”

  Jeff took a deep breath. “And what do you want from me now?”

  “I want to show you something. Come with me.”

  The demon turned around and strutted across the room toward a console. Jeff followed him at a distance of several feet.

  When Green reached the console, he flipped a switch and a small door slid opened. Behind it was a compartment the size of a microwave oven, illuminated by a yellow light. “This is a universal analyzer. It scans everything you present it with, atom by atom, and transfers it as a model to the computer.”

  Jeff was confused. “And?”

  The demon grinned again. He seemed to be enjoying giving Jeff the runaround. Then he stretched out his right hand.

  “What?” Jeff asked.

  “Major Irons’ handheld, please.”

  Jeff was frozen to the spot. Suddenly he understood what the demon was planning.

  “No.”

  The demon nodded. “Yes. I have already tried approaching your central worlds. But they are too well protected. But with the access code, I’ll have free rein, and once the people realize what’s happening, it will be too late.” He chuckled. “My first stop: Earth. How many inhabitants does it have again?”

  “Ten billion,” Jeff croaked automatically.

  Green clapped his hands. “And I have just about that many empty cryopods on board. What a wonderful coincidence. My, we’re going to have a lot of fun together!”

  Jeff closed his eyes. He should have deleted the data long ago. Why hadn’t he? At the latest after they had encountered the light aliens—that would have been the time to do it. But perhaps it wasn’t too late. Very slowly, he reached down to his belt pouch, where Irons’ handheld was tucked in next to his own.

  But before he could take it out, Green punched him in the stomach. Jeff dropped to his knees with a groan. He had to support himself with both hands and was only half aware of Green taking Irons’ handheld out of his pouch.

  “I’d rather take no chances. I wouldn’t want you to do something stupid.”

  The pain gradually subsided. At least he could lift his head again. He looked up just in time to see the demon close the door of the compartment and press a button.

  “It should be quick,” Green said, rubbing his hands as he watched the hologram that had appeared in front of him, and which displayed symbols in the aliens’ language. “Yes, the analysis is starting. Ah, I see!”

  He turned around and grinned. “It was a good idea to bring you here.”

  Then the demon lunged at Jeff.

  What the …?

  Jeff tried to push Green away from him. He didn’t succeed. Then Green’s knee rammed into his stomach and he collapsed to the ground. Jeff felt his hand being tugged at. He tried desperately to pull it away, but it was useless.

  Green’s head jerked forward. His bit into Jeff’s index finger, and Jeff felt his hand explode with pain. He screamed, and tears filled his eyes. He almost lost consciousness.

  Then the searing pain suddenly stopped. Jeff groaned. Green let him go and fell to the ground. He blinked, and struggled to regain his vision. He propped himself up on his left elbow and looked at his right hand.

  My finger!

  His finger was missing. A small piece of white bone protruded from the wound. Blood was pulsing down his hand and dripping onto the floor in a steady stream.

  Jeff looked up. Green’s chin was bloody. He reached into his mouth and pulled out Jeff’s finger.

  He had bitten it off!

  “Thank you for your fingerprint,” the demon said, licking his bloody lips. Then he placed the finger next to the handheld in the analyzer. “I really appreciate your sacrifice.”

  It beeped, and then he reached into the device and pulled the handheld back out.

  Jeff looked at his hand, which was still bleeding heavily.

  My finger!

  Gradually a dull ache spread through the remainder of his finger and hand, and grew stronger.

  He had to get to Joanne, who was still carrying the medical kit on her back, and treat his wound.

  “Yes, that’s better,” Green said. He had pushed the handheld back into the machine.

  “Aha. Interesting. Well, most of the data on here is unimportant. But there it is: general and specific access codes. Oh … password protected. I thought so.” He turned to Jeff. “The password please!”

  Jeff was trying to stem the flow of blood with his left hand and stood up with difficulty. He wanted to look the demon in the eye when he said what he had to say. “I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. I don’t know it. Irons didn’t tell me.” He laughed bitterly. “Even if you torture me for a thousand years. I really don’t know it.”

  Green cocked his head. “Well that is a shame.”

  Jeff wondered why Irons had given him the code to the handheld but not the password. Had he forgotten it? But that wasn’t like him. Or had he assumed Jeff knew it? And suddenly Jeff did know. It could only be the name of his dead son. Jack!

  “Thank you,” Green said suddenly. “That’s all I wanted to know. Excellent. It accepted the password.”

  Oh Jesus, no! He had made a dreadful mistake.

  “Correct, Jeff. I am telepathic. Unfortunately, I have not been able to sabotage your deflective shield and therefore cannot possess you completely, but if I concentrate very hard, I can read your mind.” He laughed a dirty laugh. “And with that you have fulfilled your purpose. But I would like to thank you. In fact, I have made special plans for you.”

  Jeff backed away along the row of consoles. He didn’t want to know.

  “I will make you my chief assistant. You will become my inquisitor and foreman. We will let the people of Earth torture each other over millennia in the cavitys.” The demon chuckled gleefully. “And when the time is ripe to destroy them for good, you will take over the job and deliver the final death blow. Bit by bit, you will destroy the soul of every single human being. Is that not an honor? A privilege?”

  The room had started to spin, and Jeff was afraid he would pass out at any moment. Irons had entrusted him with the codes and warned him to destroy it sooner rather than later. He had failed. He had delivered humanity into the hands of this demon.

  “You can begin by practicing on your father,” the demon said. “We have plenty of time before we reach Earth.”

  Jeff backed away slowly from Green along the wall of consoles. But Green followed him so that they remained the same distance apart.

  Suddenly, Green stopped and took a long, thick cylinder from a bracket on one of the consoles.

  Jeff swallowed as he continued sidling backward.

  The demon pressed a button on the underside of the cylinder and the tip lit up blue. It emitted an electric crackling noise.

  “I’m afraid I am going to have to stun you,” Green explained, moving closer. “So that I can put you in a cryopod. I have had a sp
ecial avatar made for you that will do justice to your new role. It is almost ten feet tall, has hooves, a whip-like tail, very sharp teeth, and two long horns. How do you like the sound of that?” He chuckled again. “We’ll meet again in the cavitys. You’ll get to see Joanne and your father again. You can celebrate with a nice threesome—I’ve already thought up some nice games for you to play!”

  This couldn’t be happening. He must be dreaming. He should have shot himself while he still had the chance. He had failed spectacularly. It was all over. Now all that remained was never-ending horror.

  The demon aimed the cylinder at Jeff.

  A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he had to support himself on a console to stop himself from falling.

  “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt,” Green grinned. “At least not when I stun you. The pain comes later.”

  Right next to his hand Jeff saw something yellow. A logo. The logo! A yellow circle with a black sun!

  It was his last chance!

  He took his hand off the console and immediately lost his balance. At the same moment the demon fired his weapon. Jeff collapsed onto the console and a blue ray of light flashed past his shoulder. Before he crashed to the ground, Jeff managed to jab his elbow into the switch. It made a loud clicking noise and flashed brightly.

  Green’s smiled faded. “What was that? What did you do?” Then he closed his eyes, as if to listen to an inner voice.

  Jeff struggled to his feet. His legs were like jelly and he had to support himself on the console. Nothing appeared to have changed. Only the glow of the switch indicated that something was in progress.

  Complete silence reigned. Trembling, Jeff looked at the demon in Green’s body. He understood that a battle had commenced deep in the bowels of the ship. A battle between the commands given by the demon and the computer routines programmed millennia ago. And it was not clear which would win.

  Minutes passed. To Jeff they felt like years.

  Then suddenly a metallic sound echoed through the room. So loud that Jeff thought his eardrums would burst—as if gigantic hammers were striking planetary-sized anvils. The acoustic inferno lasted only a few seconds, then all was quiet again except for a reverberating echo.

  The demon ripped his eyes open. All color had drained from his face. He didn’t even seem to notice as the stun gun fell from his hands and clattered to the ground.

  “What did you do?” Green croaked. “What did you do!” He stood there motionless, staring at Jeff with undisguised hatred. Any moment, and he would lunge at Jeff and kill him with his bare hands.

  Jeff stumbled backward and braced himself for the moment when the demon would pounce.

  But it didn’t happen. Green turned toward the door. “No!” he screamed in desperation.

  The door opened.

  Light aliens floated into the room. One after another and incredibly fast. Faster than Jeff could run, they moved toward the demon in Green.

  The light aliens had changed. They were considerably smaller and came up only as far as Jeff’s chest. They were no longer fully transparent and had discernible shapes. For the first time he could see eyes and a mouth. And their luminosity had diminished, too.

  Two of the beings had already reached Green. They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him to the middle of the room, while the others began to busy themselves at the man-high pillar.

  “No, don’t do it!” Green screamed. Then suddenly he began to rave in an alien language.

  Jeff walked around the pillar so he could see what the creatures were doing. About two dozen of them were gathered around the column, blocking Jeff’s view.

  Suddenly, a gray box slid noiselessly out of the post. Now Jeff understood what was happening. It must be the demon’s cryopod. Two of the light aliens began tapping on one of the consoles.

  Green screamed in terror. Then all of a sudden he fell silent and his eyes glazed over. As the light aliens released him, he collapsed on the floor like a rag doll.

  One of the light aliens took a small box from a console on the wall and approached Jeff. He stopped right in front of him. Now he looked like the picture Jeff had seen on the projection.

  “Jerry?” Jeff asked.

  The creature nodded like a human.

  “Yes,” came a synthetic voice from the little box.

  “Is it over?” Jeff wanted to know.

  The creature nodded again.

  “The demon is dead.”

  34.

  “Can you hear me?” Jeff asked. Joanne did not react. Her lids were half open, her eyes glazed. But she was still feeling the effect of the strong tranquilizers. Jeff hoped she would recover quickly once the medication wore off. She had only been under the demon’s influence a short time, and he was sure she would be able to make a full recovery. Or would she?

  Jeff tugged at the bandage he had wrapped around his finger, got up and turned to the aliens. Jerry had remained by his side. “What happens now?”

  “I will take you to a rescue pod that was intended for the ship’s controllers. It will take you to the next inhabited star system.”

  Jeff sighed deeply. He and Joanne were the only ones left. Two out of the original ten. And he couldn’t stop thinking about his father, and all the other people still trapped in cryopods. “Do you have access to the cavitys again? And the avatar controls?”

  Jeff looked around. The aliens had spread out around the room. They were standing at the consoles, which were flashing back to life one by one.

  “Yes,” Jerry said. “The avatars have been deactivated and the cavitys are no longer in use.”

  Finally there was an end to all the suffering.

  “Good,” Jeff said shortly. He wondered what the safest way would be of transporting all the people to the next world?

  “I suggest I take you and your shipmate to the escape pod now.”

  Jeff shook his head. “No, thank you. We won’t leave our fellow humans alone here. We will stay until we’ve reached the next star system and disembark together.”

  The alien shook his head. “I’m terribly sorry. But we can’t help the other members of your species.”

  Can’t help them?

  “Why not?”

  “Because the ship will self-destruct in … forty minutes.”

  Jeff couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was impossible. It couldn’t be. “What did you say?”

  “I’m sorry. The ship will be destroyed in forty minutes.”

  “But why?”

  “It was the only way of stopping the demon. The button you pressed ejected the refrigerant used for the reactors. It was the only way to activate emergency access to the central area. Without sending the coolant into space, we couldn’t have come in here.”

  “And what will happen to all those people?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Can’t we distribute them among the emergency escape pods?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Or rescue them some other way?”

  “I’m very sorry.”

  Jeff cupped his head in his hands. He had thought they could save those poor people. Now they had been freed from their nightmare but he had sentenced them to death.

  His father! He had to at least save his father!

  “I met my father in the cavitys. I won’t leave the ship without him,” he said firmly.

  “I’m not sure there is enough time.”

  “I won’t go without him.”

  “Follow me,” Jerry ordered.

  Jeff followed him to one of the consoles. Jerry fiddled around at the controls and several screens lit up.

  “You met him? In the cavity? Did you talk to him?”

  Jeff nodded.

  Most of the screens were covered in symbols. It took several long seconds, and Jeff hopped nervously from one foot to the other. Finally a fuzzy image of his father appeared on the screen. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep. The background was black. “That’s him!” Jeff cried.
>
  Suddenly the screen went blank and Jerry turned around. “Follow me.”

  Jeff followed Jerry to the exit and through the big antechamber. They turned into one of the dark corridors and after a few minutes’ walk reached an elevator. Jeff wasn’t sure if Jerry was taking him up or down. When the doors reopened, they stepped into the big warehouse with the countless cryogenic pods.

  Hurriedly, Jerry led him past the endless rows of shelves, through which a reddish mist wafted. Finally, they stopped in front of one. Jerry punched something into a control panel and a few seconds later a small platform descended from above. On it was a cryopod. The platform with the coffin-like container made of black metal stopped directly at his feet.

  Jerry punched several buttons on the console on the side of the container. First came the faint humming of a pump, then a metallic sound of latches snapping back. At last, the lid hissed open. Jeff’s heart was pounding.

  He leaned forward. The container was filled with a greenish liquid, but it quickly receded. Floating in the liquid was an emaciated body, which bore little resemblance to his father’s formerly muscular physique.

  “Oh my God!” Jeff whispered.

  The person in the container turned his head slightly in Jeff’s direction and moaned softly. Then he opened his eyes and Jeff recognized their deep blue color.

  “Jeff,” his father said in a weak voice and stretched out a hand.

  “Dad!” Jeff sobbed, lifting out the bizarrely light body. Carefully he laid him on the metal floor and held him tight.

  His father no longer had any hair. His skin was pale, almost transparent. His bones stuck out of parchment-like skin, beneath which there was no sign of fat or muscle.

  “What happened to him?” Jeff asked, stroking his father’s cheek.

  Jerry was still fiddling around with the console, on which a small screen displayed changing symbols.

  “The demon,” Jerry said. “He changed the nutrient supply in the chambers. He must have wanted to ensure the bodies would no longer be viable outside of the cryopods.”

  “You mean, my father is dying?” Jeff asked.

  “His muscles have completely atrophied. His body can no longer function on its own. I fear the answer to your question is: yes. The man is dying.”