by K J Heritage
His face droops while he is speaking, deep lines revealed in his cheeks and forehead, the colour in his eyes draining away, like blue water swirling down a plughole.
“My plan was to wait until the supposed Neo-Dawn attack, resulting in the death of Glaxtinian and the other VIPs,” Klund continues. “And then to neutralise Velez and her associates. Neat, clean and easy.”
“But why poison the rest of the ship, why gas everybody?” Hewlis asks, unable to take his eyes off Giri.
“Because the professor messed up,” I say. “It was you, Chandrasekhar, who shot Mandibald Glaxtinian, wasn’t it?”
Klund becomes more stooped, his shoulders shrinking, his clothes baggy, revealing a smaller, but well-defined physique. His skin has reverted to a liver-spotted brown, the short blond hair of his scalp reabsorbed to leave a naked, shiny pate. The man is compact, and despite his great age, he seems to be in good shape. Intense, with no little power. Eric Klund is now gone I realise, fully replaced by Professor Chandrasekhar.
“Mandibald Glaxtinian was a player,” he says. “She not only wanted to take over my project but to undermine me… to rub her victory in my face. We were on the way to the party—before which, I would be unavoidably called away—and she came out with it. Told me there and then to make the most of the event, because as far as she was concerned, it was over for me. Until I produced my trusty buzz-gun.”
Chandrasekhar waves the decorated gun at me, a glint sparking in his now brown, hateful eyes.
“Glaxtinian made a few bleats,” Chandrasekhar continues, a smile flicking across his almost lipless mouth. “You know the kind of thing—the noises made by those egos that can’t believe someone is actually going to shoot them hard in the gut in front of everybody. To be honest, that’s what pushed me to do it. You should’ve seen the look on her surprised face as I disintegrated her stomach. I went back to my cabin and enacted my back-up plan. I sent an encoded, pre-programmed message to rival space, instructed Ariadne to cut all coms, lock the bridge and to jump into hyperspace.”
“But heading towards rival space is a suicidal move,” Xev says. “You’ll never make it.”
The professor lets out a small laugh. “Don’t be a fool. I will order Ariadne to drop out of hyperspace before we reach the border, where…” he pauses, as if to give his next words more import, “we will be met by enemy battleships to escort me the rest of the way to their territory and to destroy any Company ships that might try to stop me!”
Xev laughs dryly. “So, this ship isn’t out of control after all. It’s all part of your fucking escape plan.”
“And everyone else was expendable!” Hewlis spits. “You’re quite the asshole.”
Professor Chandrasekhar shrugs. “The enemy company wants me, my ship and my research. After I shot Glaxtinian, I decided on taking up their generous offer. Only my work matters to me, nothing else. As for prisoners? That would be too messy. I ordered Ariadne to gas the ship. At least the crew died quickly and easily.”
“But not everyone died, did they?” I say.
“That was Ariadne’s doing,” the professor sneers. “She wasn’t happy with the crew being killed. Her friends is what she called them. Her family. Ariadne’s systems pervade this ship… or they did. She rebelled, locking me in Hydroponics and venting the air. But Giri and I don’t die that easily. I was able to override most of her systems, to keep control of the ship, although I later found out she’d cauterised half of her living circuits to stop me gassing anyone else.”
“The burnt flesh of the air-con,” Hewlis says.
I feel an uncommon rage, but this is not my emotion. It’s Ariadne—a spike in her general sense of mania. I now realise why she is so distraught. Not only was she forced to gas the crew, she’d cauterised her own living flesh. No wonder she went insane. The anger might come from the Cereb, but I feel it like my own.
“Ariadne is powerful, but she is still just a child,” Chandrasekhar continues, proudly. “Still learning her place in the world. I made sure to have full control over her mind, no matter how much she tried to resist. I built her so that she would be obedient.”
“Locking you in hydroponics and burning her own systems doesn’t sound like obedience,” I say. “Seems like she was trying to prevent you killing more people.”
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks,” the professor says, glancing at the humanzee. “And besides, no one knew my little friend was aboard. Giri has been with me all his life. But while we were trying to escape… you arrived, Vatic. I must admit, I didn’t expect the Company to react so quickly. And sending in a Skilled was unexpected. But I’m nothing if I can’t improvise. I patched myself into the ship’s coms and cameras and watched you come aboard. Watched when Ariadne let you out of the goddamn airlock before frying the cam-feed and blinding me. I made her pay for that. Put her in excruciating pain.”
“I never guessed Ariadne was helping me. All this time, I assumed she was the enemy.”
“While Ariadne is under my control, she still is your enemy, fool! Although she’s been railing against me ever since the crew died. But Ariadne is not expendable. I was too soft with her. I gave her too much emotion. It made her unstable. Her replacement will have more backbone. I’ll make sure of that from the start.”
“I don’t get it,” says Rooba, squatting on the airlock floor. “If you’re in control of this goddamn ship, why the disguise? Why pretend to be one of the survivors?”
“Vatic getting aboard Ariadne, irked me. A goddamn Skilled! What if Ariadne was somehow able to communicate with him about Chandrasekhar, about me? What if Vatic found out I was still alive and was responsible for what happened on this ship? I wanted to discover what he knew and how much of a threat he represented. I couldn’t possibly confront him as the professor, so I took on the ID of one of my juniors who I knew very well. Eric Klund. He survived due to the air filtration system in his cabin and came to find me. A mistake. I took his identity to get close to Vatic, to blow off one of his legs and incapacitate him. The enemy would be very pleased to get their hands on a Company empath, especially after what Vatic did in the war. An extra bonus. But he took my prized gun before I had a chance to use it and I was forced to join your pathetic little band.”
“And you ordered that vile creature of yours to murder Boyd!” Hewlis says, speaking up.
The professor gives a shrug. “My instructions were for Giri to keep only Vatic alive. The rest of the survivors were fair game… if he should come across any of them unarmed. Giri is a faithful servant but has little in the way of imagination.”
“Masquerading as Klund was a neat disguise,” Xev says. “You fooled us all. Even Vatic. Although that isn’t a first.”
I ignore the dig from my old boss. “You must’ve been desperate to use such a dangerous transformation?”
Chandrasekhar shakes his head. “I invented the procedure for the war. My genius. Since then, I have substantially enhanced the technique. My disguise took a lot of energy—and I will pay for that later. But it’s always worth a little suffering to come out on top, don’t you think? And things worked themselves out in my favour as I knew they would. They always do. Although I was unprepared for Velez’s attack. I was lucky to survive. But luck is one of my greatest allies. It was also luck you came aboard, Vatic. Even if you have been somewhat of a pain. The enemy will be impressed that I’ve brought a Skilled along with my ship. Two prizes for the price of one.” He flicks the gun in my direction. “Give me your wafer.”
I unzip my skinsuit and hand it to him. Chandrasekhar grabs it with a hand of thin, translucent skin covered in liver spots.
I guess he’s had most of his organs regenerated or substituted. There’s no doubt he’s had some work done to keep him alive this long, but I can see no evidence of cosmetic procedures. No, this man wears his age like a badge of honour. I’ve seen the infirmity of geriatrics at first hand. The smell of it. The closeness to death that shines out from behind cloudy eyes, but not so with C
handrasekhar. He is full of life. Despite his looks, his brown eyes sparkle.
He stares at the readout for a second, before addressing us again. “I have eighteen minutes before we reach enemy space, before your friend, Stranng, will open fire,” he says, dropping the wafer onto the floor and crushing it underfoot. “But I will bring the ship out of hyperspace before then. I have a rendezvous to get to, remember?”
“You? You will bring the ship out of hyperspace?” Hewlis says.
Chandrasekhar gives him an angry look. “I control the hyperdrive, remember? Via a direct connection to Ariadne. We arrive shortly. Imagine the shock on your Strategist’s face when he comes up against a phalanx of enemy warships.”
“And what about us, about me?” Rooba says.
“You think it was hard for me to fix that little test back in the lab, implicating you? Child’s play. But let me answer your question. You’re not going to make it. None of you are.”
“You’re gonna kill us in cold blood like you did Mandibald Glaxtinian?” Rooba says with incredulity. The Jen are an arrogant breed. I guess this isn’t a possibility she’d ever considered.
Chandrasekhar nods, taking a deep breath. “I’m afraid everyone is going to have to die, apart from Vatic and myself.”
“Everyone?” I say, flicking my eyes at the blood-covered humanzee. “What about your pet?”
“I’m afraid he’s not coming with me. Giri has been a faithful servant but his usefulness is now at an end. He’s getting old and, besides, the enemy company have promised me the ways and means to create superior pets. And out in the open, not secretly behind closed doors like I have to do with the Company. As such… he will regrettably have to be sacrificed.” Chandrasekhar stands back and waves the gun at Giri. “Join the others!”
Giri remains motionless, its primitive mind slowly working out the intention of its master. The humanzee’s face goes from confusion, to horror, to rage.
“Get back, Giri,” Chandrasekhar says calmly, but the creature ignores him.
I can’t empathically read the humanzee, yet I can easily see the turmoil creasing its tortured face. The creature makes a series of low hooting noises, its head shaking from side to side, its massive hands bunching into twin, agitated fists.
“You’ve served me well, Giri, but everything has to come to an end,” the professor says with a hint of sadness.
Giri opens its powerful maw, revealing terrifying fanged teeth, and growls with primordial threat.
“Don’t come any closer!” Chandrasekhar warns, taking a few steps backwards and pointing his buzz-gun at the creature’s head.
The humanzee follows him, thumping its chest.
“Giri! I’m warning you!”
The creature lurches forward.
Chandrasekhar pulls the trigger, but there is no resounding crack and bang of a buzz-gun. The professor pulls the trigger a second and a third time. He fumbles with the other gun stuck in his belt, pulling it out just as Giri shrieks and leaps onto him, plunging his teeth into the professor’s neck, fangs cutting easily and deeply into the ancient, sallow flesh. With a wrench of his head, Giri rips out Chandrasekhar’s throat.
The professor grabs at his neck, blood pumping from ripped arteries, an incredulous look on his face, before falling dead onto the airlock floor.
Giri turns back to us, its chest and body stained with thick, fresh blood, its fists curling again in anger. Hooting and wailing. I also feel a jolt from Ariadne. I push her back from my mind.
“Don’t do it, Giri,” I say, forcing command into my tone. “You’re like me. A product of the same genetic interference that birthed my breed. Hell, it’s possible that the same DNA running through the human part of you is the same as mine!”
The humanzee pauses for a second, as it considers my words, and I glimpse the human within the animal.
“You are as much a victim of the professor as Ariadne, as are all of us,” I say, raising my voice. “Stand down!”
Giri shakes its head, grunting and hooting, and beating at its chest again.
From out the corner of my eye I see a darting movement. Rooba throws herself against the creature’s legs, barrelling into them.
The humanzee is sturdy enough to keep its feet. Feet that stamp down on the Jen, who dodges impossibly quickly.
I use this opportunity to roll to the floor towards the rack of supply bins, and grab at the first thing that comes to hand. A can of hull sealant.
Hewlis raises his right hand, his fingers tapping nervously together, his face covered in sweat. Standing his ground in front of this monster.
I have to act now, before it’s too late…
Giri kicks Rooba aside, slamming the Jen into the airlock wall with enough force to render her unconscious. The creature screams, raising itself onto large, flattened feet, beating its chest and throwing back its head, screeching and howling like some weird primeval demon. I jump to my feet and, in the same movement, throw myself at the creature, wrapping one arm around its mammoth head, and stabbing the can of hull sealant into its wide maw.
Giri instinctively bites down. The can explodes, filling the creature’s mouth with a thick, grey foam that quickly expands, pouring out of its mouth and nostrils. It gurgles and rasps in pain before its head finally bursts open with a crack and the spray of blood and brains. The humanzee falls dead to the airlock floor, twitching and shaking.
“HOW IS Rooba?” I say to a shocked Hewlis and Xev. The Jen lies on the floor, groaning.
“I’m okay,” she croaks, coming around. “Just a little stunned.” She sits up and baulks at the dead bodies of Chandrasekhar and his unfortunate humanzee, Giri.
“Why didn’t Chandrasekhar’s gun work?” Hewlis asks, unable to keep his eyes off Giri’s sealant and blood-covered corpse.
“You think I’d be dumb enough to give a charged weapon to Xev? I’m a Skilled, remember, I ain’t stupid.”
“And neither am I,” Xev replies. “I knew my gun didn’t have a charge.”
“But why?” Rooba asks.
“He wanted to flush out the bad guy,” Xev answers.
“That’s right,” I say. “Look at Xev. He’s old, past it and half-drunk. I figured if someone wanted a gun bad enough, they might try and take it off him.”
Xev pulls a pained expression. “Thanks. But it’s what I also figured. Even if the gun was loaded, I didn’t stand a chance against that Giri creature. Shit! He came out of nowhere!”
“Yeah, I didn’t know what was following us until it was too goddamn late. The thing went straight for my gun. It may not have been intelligent, but it worked out who was the biggest threat.”
A white-faced Hewlis crouches over the body of the professor and peers closely into the gaping wound in his ripped throat. “I’m no medic,” he says, “but there’s something in here that looks like a bio-implant powered by his nervous system.” He pokes at the mangled flesh with a large stubby finger. “I think it’s a communication device, but unlike anything I’ve seen before.”
“It must be how the professor was controlling Ariadne,” I say, making the obvious connection. “By direct thought command.”
“That’s a sick idea,” Hewlis says, his voice shaking. “Ariadne is a human mind. No one should be allowed to control someone else like that.”
“She’s a prototype Cereb,” I reply. “Ariadne’s mind was unstable. And we know that Chandrasekhar was a controller.”
“My guess is that he made her too human,” Hewlis says. “That’s why she fought back against him. Rebelled after he killed the crew by frying her own systems and releasing you from the airlock, and by trying to lock the professor in hydroponics.”
“To be forced to kill her friends… that would send anyone insane,” Rooba says, pushing herself onto long slender legs to stand towering above me, blood matting the fur on her brow in a darker shade of crimson.
“Yeah,” Xev spits, releasing the Jen from her bonds. “Chandrasekhar held all the cards. He must’ve c
ommanded Ariadne to try and kill Drex to prevent the ship exiting hyperspace too early. Drex was going to his death and he let it happen.”
Hewlis wipes his bloody finger on his overalls. “And with the professor dead, there’s no way for him to order Ariadne to drop out of hyperspace. Which means…”
“Which means someone else has to go out the airlock to disable the Snag Drive array,” I say, finishing his sentence. “I’ll do the job myself. With time running out, I have to do it now.”
Hewlis nods, his mop of grey curls sticking to the sweat of his face. “Do you think the professor’s orders still stand? Do you think Ariadne will also try and kill you?”
“There’s one way to find out.”
The burly engineer takes a deep breath. “You know what you’ve got to do?”
I nod. “Find the node, burn a hole in it. Fill it with sealant… and retire to a safe distance. And I’m done, right?”
Hewlis nods in return.
I grab a helmet and enter the airlock. Rooba comes up to me, her big eyes full of pride. “Good luck,” she says.
“I’m Vatic, luck doesn’t come into it,” I reply, pushing her away. “And stop trying to play me, it won’t work.”
“I mean it,” she replies. “I want to live. You’re my only chance.”
I grab another can of sealant and a burn-torch and strap them to my belt. The airlock closes behind me. A hiss of air, the tightening of my skin-suit, and the outer door slides open.
I’M HIT by the dazzling spectacle of hyperspace. Blobs of light streak past me, some the size of specks of dust, others as big as the stars themselves, each trailing light as twisting, iridescent gossamer tails. There’s no substance to these apparitions, or that’s what the scientists say. No reason for this lightshow that they can base in physics. Maybe they’re the universe’s thoughts, sparking and flashing as the great entity ponders? There have been many explanations for what I’m seeing first-hand. But they have never concerned me. I’m practical, I live in the moment. It’s a pretty distraction and that is all. Thousands of years of study has not revealed what the universe is or why we are here.