Omnigalactic

  I trudged through the knee-high waves over to Jord, running my hand along the length of the tentacle as I went. “You think it's kind of weird that it's still warm?”

  He picked at it with his metal finger, until a bean-sized hunk of flesh came off. He rolled it between his fingers. “Yeah. It is kind of weird.” He brought the flesh to his face and dabbed at it with his purple tongue. “Hmmmm.”

  I winced, watching him do that. “You have no idea where that's been.”

  He ignored me and shot up. “What if this belongs to our little terror of the deep?”

  “And what if it does?” I asked.

  “We can take it to Ellen's lab in the infirmary,” he said. “She can run some tests on it. Get some kind of clues to help us with the hunt. Maybe develop a scent to attract it — or, better yet… a poison to kill it.”

  I shook my head. “Uh, do you really think she's going to go for that? She had a lot on her plate, last time I checked.”

  He squatted and wrapped his arms around the tentacle thing. “I know that,” he grunted as he lifted. “Grab the other end, would you?”

  As I lifted the smaller, lighter end of the tentacle, I knew, deep down, that Doctor Rupert was going to be pissed at us. She maintained a pleasant demeanor in public, but she was grim and jaded deep down, like she had been the other night. I hoped we wouldn’t catch her at bad time.

  My thighs and lower back burned with exhaustion by the time we reached the infirmary. In the main hallway, we were sternly greeted by the nursing staff. “I’m sorry gentlemen,” one of them said. “Doctor Rupert urged us not to let anyone else into the infirmary, today. The patients have been through a lot and need to rest.”

  “Ladies, please,” Jord said. “Tell Ellen it’s urgent.”

  “You need to leave.”

  He raised his voice. “What part of ‘urgent’ do you not understand? Get her now.”

  The nurse gave him a stern look as she called for Doctor Rupert. I knew this was a bad idea.

  She stormed in from the patient area's automated double-doors. Her worn, black pumps clicked and clacked loudly as she walked toward us. Her lab coat was stained with a smudge of brownish-black goop. I wasn't sure whether it was dried human blood or feces. Either way, she looked like she wasn't having the best of days, and we weren't going to make it any better. I gritted my teeth and shrank a few inches as the clicking of her heels came to a halt in front of us.

  Her lips were pursed tight. She eyed us up and down. “Jord, Mister Cadel, my staff informed me you two were in a hurry to see me. I hope it doesn't involve bringing a potential contagion into my infirmary.”

  Jord chuckled behind me. “Contagion? No, just this.”

  She glanced at the tentacle, then back at me. “And what in the world is that?”

  We locked eyes for a millisecond; then, I looked away. Man, I felt dumb. But, I had to say something. “We think it might have belonged to the creature. We thought maybe you could analyze it for us.”

  “Is this some kind of joke?” she asked. That calm facade she’d always put up started to melt. “You interrupted my work for this? I'll have you know I ha—”

  “It'll help us kill it,” I cut her off. “Think of your patients, Doc.”

  Her tight lips loosened. “You're right.” She sighed. “If this will help my patients, then I'll do what I can. Follow me. I don't want you bringing that into the patient area.”

  I grinned on the inside. That was pretty good. I was feeling like the boss for once.

  We followed her down the hall and into a side door marked “Lab”. My boots powdered the pristinely clean floors. Bright, white lights came to life and revealed an examining table and a couple of sleek-looking science machines. I had no idea what they did, but I wasn't about to guess. I’d failed chemistry.

  Doctor Rupert told us to lay the tentacle on the examining table. My leg and back muscles thanked me for the relief as we hurled it onto the shiny, steel table. The legs squeaked under its sheer bulk. From a drawer, she grabbed a weird, handheld contraption with a sinister needle at the end of it. She jabbed it into the bumpy flesh of the tentacle and pulled the trigger. It whirred, beeped, and chimed as she slid out the needle and set it into a plasteel, triangular machine behind us.

  “What're you doing?” Jord asked. I was glad he’d asked first; that way, I didn't look like a dummy.

  “I'm going to run it through the DNA sequencer,” she said. “While I've predominantly used it to take better care of my patients, the university granted this to the project for the anthropology team. Should take a few minutes for the computer to analyze it.”

  She put on a pair of purple gloves and pulled a tiny syringe from her lab coat. Black ichor oozed into the syringe as she sucked it from the tentacle. Carefully, she squeezed a droplet onto a mini glass slide and put it under a microscope - probably the only machine in the room I recognized.

  “Fascinating,” she said, peering into the lenses. “The cells are still regenerating. Interestingly, however, they do not appear as typical cells.”

  “Huh?” I blurted out. “No way.”

  She waved us over. “Come see for yourself. Amazing.”

  I slid a tiny stool over to the microscope and stood on it to get a peek. Hundreds of gray blobs divided and swam around the dark fluid, stretching out like spindly tendrils, latching onto one another and bonding to form larger, gray, web-like masses. “Kind of reminds me of this movie I saw one time - The Gray Death. Ever seen it?”

  “Uh, no,” she said behind me. She gently tugged me away from the microscope. The DNA sequencer squawked, and a red prompt appeared on a nearby monitor. “‘Error’,” she read the prompt aloud. “‘Please insert specimen before initiating.’ That can't be right. I'll run it again.”

  She engaged the sequencer again, then turned to us and pointed at the massive hulk of flesh on the table. “Where did you find this? This could be a tremendous discovery.”

  “Found it washed up on the beach,” Jord answered, slapping it. “We got into a scuffle with the creature this morning. I gave it a good hurting. So, when we saw it, I figured the creature was the only thing big enough for the tentacle to belong to.”

  “That's a bit of an assumption, but I can understand your reasoning,” she said. “Most organisms - that we know of - around Melville are nowhere near this size. Although, there is a very large species of crustaceans that live near the ocean floor. But, they're endangered. We don't see them often.”

  I shot up straight and glanced at Jord. If I was psychic, I'd guess that he shared my opinion that we shouldn’t bring up our crab encounter. He glanced over at me, then back at her. “Interesting,” he said. I could tell by his tone that he was trying to dodge any further conversation about the endangered crabs. Wise idea.

  She rubbed a gloved hand against the tentacle. “It's still warm. How is that possible? Perhaps it is some kind of gigantic marine worm? But how could the dead tissue regenerate? Unless it's in the genetic coding?”

  Another squawk from the sequencer halted her speculation. She stepped over the stool to check on it. I peered over her shoulder to see another flashing, red prompt on the monitor. It read: “Error. Data insufficient. Specimen unknown.”

  “I hate to tell you this, Doc,” I said. “You might have some faulty equipment there.”

  She groaned and stomped a foot. “The Provost insisted this was top-of-the-line. Ugh, I knew I should have taken the job on Koris.” She sighed hard and turned around. “I apologize, gentlemen. Nothing seems to be going right today.”

  The table legs squeaked and rattled against the plasteel flooring. I turned to look as the noise intensified, and the tentacle twitched and trembled. My throat knotted as I forced down a swallow.

  “Uh, Doc?” I asked. “What's happening?”

  She backed away. “Don't ask me!”

  The tentacle lashed out at us, smashing the lab equipment into mounds of stringy wir
ing and shattered machinery. Doctor Rupert screamed as it swatted at her. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jord reach into his long coat and whip out his Tresedi hunting knife. He leapt over to the tentacle, stabbing and slashing like a crazed serial killer. Black goo sprayed from the tentacle. A fleck flew into my eye, but I was too scared to wipe it away.

  At last, the tentacle stopped. Jord stood over his kill, covered in black goo, panting from the exertion. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

  Doctor Rupert came out from behind the busted-up DNA sequencer, her mouth agape. “My lab…”

  “Death throes?” I threw out there.

  “Ha!” Jord laughed. “If those are death throes, then I'm a pacifist.”

  “How do you think this is funny?” Doctor Rupert asked him. “My lab is completely destroyed, the number of infirm grows by the day, and they're continuing to decline. You two have made our situation worse since you've arrived. And, you!” she said, swatting me on the chest. “You said you handled these kinds of contracts all the time. Well, it appears to me that you two are complete amateurs.”

  I held up my hands in defense. “Listen, as we've all just witnessed, this is somewhat of a foreign situation. This is a little different than what we're used to.”

  “Mister Cadel, you are the biggest bullshitter I've ever met,” she snapped.

  Jord came to my aid. “Ellen, what he's trying to say is that this is just a minor setback. We'll get the job done.”

  Her lips tightened into that scary look again. “This was a mistake. I want you two out of my lab and off Harland tomorrow morning. And take your carcass with you.”

  Before either of us could protest, a nurse stormed into the lab, her chest heaving. “Doctor Rupert! Please help. Bed 30 is out of control.”

  “So, sedate him,” Doctor Rupert said. “Increase the dosage if you have to. But not enough that we'd have to intubate him. We're out of ventilators.”

  “Ma'am, we already tried that. He's ripped himself free of his restraints.”

  She followed the nurse out of the lab and flashed me a look of murderous warning. I couldn’t say I didn't blame her. We had just trashed all her super-pricey lab equipment. Well, we hadn’t done it ourselves, at least. The tentacle had started it.

  Jord walked over, gave me a pat on the back, and sighed. “Forget about what she said, bud. Don't take it to heart.”

  I scoffed. “You heard what she said. We're fired. We're out. Our first big contract, down the toilet. I knew this was a stupid idea.”

  “Pfft, don't worry about it. We'll find this thing, kill it, get paid, and get off this dump. She's just stressed out from wiping asses all day.”

  I held my hand out. “Wait a second. Did that nurse say, ‘Bed 30’?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That was the crazy guy who nearly ripped my jacket,” I said. “He was one of the survivors.”

  “Want to go look?” Jord asked.

  We looked at each other for a second, then moved toward the door in unison. Together, we stepped out into the hall. We heard screams coming from the infirmary. I picked up the pace, then jogged down the long hallway and through the automated doors. They hissed open. Doctor Rupert and three nurses struggled to grapple Bed 30, who tore his hairy arms away from their hands.

  We rushed in to help. I dove at his legs and tugged, hoping he'd fall over. With his bare, cracked feet, he kicked me off him, the heel of his foot landing squarely on my jaw. My teeth chattered from the impact as I crashed to the cold floor.

  I cursed and rubbed my chin. That would bruise, for sure. I looked up to see that Bed 30 had freed himself completely. Doctor Rupert, Jord, and the others had all been tossed to the floor. He limped over to another patient — a young, Human female with both arms in casts. She looked on in horror as he neared her, screaming so loud, my head rattled.

  “Pray for the eye!” he shouted and wrapped his meaty hands around her throat. She tried to ward him away with her legs, but he was relentless.

  I leapt up. I had to help. But how? He would have just swatted me aside like an insect. My eyes darted around the infirmary. There had to be something, somewhere, that would be an equalizer. Sweat beads slid down my forehead and into my eyes. I rubbed away the sting and quickly focused on something I could use - an IV pole.

  I rushed for it and snatched it up, ripping the IV out of another patient's arm. Bitter, liquid medications sprayed into my face and mouth. I spat them out and readied the pole for a swing. Bed 30 slammed against the female patient again and again, his hands still gripped around her neck. “Pray for the eye!” he kept yelling. Tears streaked down her purple face as she screamed silent, breathless cries of terror.

  “Let go of her!” I shouted and swung the IV pole as hard as I could. The pole cracked against the back of his head. A loud thwack filled my ears, and he collapsed to the floor. I raised the pole over my head, ready to smash his face in. But as soon as I tried to land the blow, I was stopped.

  “Sai!” Jord said. “It's over. You got him.”

  He tossed the pole away. The metal rod clanged as it struck the floor. Doctor Rupert and the nurses hurried to assess the Human female and Bed 30. They shouted a bunch of medical nonsense I didn't understand.

  I looked over at the Human female. “Thank you, thank you,” she whispered, a nasty bruise forming around her neck.

  My stomach churned, and my head lightened. I didn't know what to do. I felt sick, but in a way I'd never experienced before. My legs started to quiver, and I didn't know why. My knees weakened, and I collapsed to the floor. Shapes hovered over me, murmuring words, but I couldn't understand them. A bright light blinded me. I clamped my eyes shut and drifted away.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Shadow of a Beast

  The savory scent of fried algae patties and rehydrated fish woke me. I could tell by the crackling of hot oil that they were being fried instead of steamed. (Always go fried over steamed.) I opened my crust-filled eyes to see Jord cooking on the kitchenette stovetop. He was humming randomly, like an improvisational musician. He glanced back and saw that I was awake.

  “Hey, champ,” he sang. “Just in time. Got some breakfast here for you.”

  He sprinkled some rudimentary seasonings into the pan, flipped the patties, then served them on a plate at the shoddy table. He cocked his head for me to join him. I slid out of bed and sat at the table. Crispy, green algae and flaky fish graced my mouth and entered my gut. I washed it down with a mouthful of water.

  “You going to eat, too?” I asked.

  “Nah, I'm still full from a week ago. You go ahead. Big hero like you needs to eat.”

  “What do you mean? What happened?”

  He leaned back in his chair. The old wooden legs squeaked from the strain. “Ellen said you might forget. You fell asleep after you saved that patient from getting strangled to death. I guess you accidentally ingested some of the medications that got in your mouth.”

  Although I didn't remember, I was glad to have at least saved somebody. It actually felt kind of good, considering my crap luck. “We have to get going today, right?”

  “I worked some of my magic on the boss lady,” Jord said. “She's willing to give us one more shot.”

  A loud, droning horn blared from outside our room. I opened the window, and the sound doubled in decibels. The sun peeked over the oceanic horizon and blinded my still-sensitive eyes. If I’d only had another set of arms, like a Celyrian, then I could have shielded both my eyes and ear-holes from the intense stimuli. I peered out the window to look around. People shouted and ran about with urgency and distress. A Human female yelled that someone had been killed by the creature.

  Jord rose from his chair, cursing the noise. He took a look out the window. “Speaking of one more shot; looks like our friend decided to show up,” he said, shutting the window.

  “What's the plan?” I asked.

  “Same as last time - we take the old girl.
Blow this thing out of the water, now that he's on our turf. Can't hide in the shadows this time.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense. What if he gets away? Then, that's it. We're fired.”

  “Do you get tired of worrying so much?” he asked. “You're going to die of a heart attack. Believe in yourself for once. Now, let's make some money.”

  We dressed and sprinted for the ship. It was time to meet that thing firsthand. I ignited the engines, flew out, and hovered a few feet above the chop. I took a deep breath, engaged the floodlights, and plunged the ship into the bluish-green of the ocean.

  Strange, exotic fish and sea life darted away like miniature torpedoes. Thousands of tiny, luminescent baitfish traveled as a giant swarm, radiating green-and-pink brilliance. To our right was a massive, clear dome, hundreds of feet around and almost fifty feet at its apex. I could see some sort of old, sandstone structures inside, but nothing else.