by M. R. Forbes
The feeling in his gut that something was off amplified, sending a chill through his body. Would he ever know what had happened here? Did it really matter, considering his mission was to save the colony and get them down to the planet’s surface?
He froze when he heard a noise from further back in the module. It sounded like the exterior hatch sliding open. He turned away from the lab, walking back toward the control room and peeking his head around the corner as the outer door slid closed again. He was ready to repeat his statement to David, but he wasn’t there.
Instead, a pair of Reapers were.
Chapter 28
“Shit.” Caleb cursed under his breath, ducking back around the corner and out of sight. How the hell could there be two Reapers in here? They were all supposed to be dead.
He could hear them moving forward through the control room, their claws clicking on the floor. He didn’t have any armor. He didn’t have any weapons. David wasn’t even here.
Damn it.
He looked over to the hatch leading to the crew quarters. The scientists had guns. He needed one. It wouldn’t do much against the monsters, but it was the only chance he had.
He sprinted across the doorway past the control room, hoping the Reapers wouldn’t notice him. He heard them scream and hiss at one another, and then he heard their feet clattering on the floor, their pace increasing as they rushed after him.
He made it to the door to the crew quarters, getting it open and ducking inside. Through the glass inset, he saw the first Reaper reach the corridor just as the door swept closed.
He didn’t have much time. He turned around, getting a quick look at the area. He was in another short corridor with doors on either side. The individual quarters. He estimated there were two dozen. He was tempted to rush into the closest of one but stopped himself. He needed time. He ran to the back of the space, tapping the control panel on the last door on the left to open the door. He threw himself inside as the hatch at the end of the passage opened, a Reaper right behind it.
Caleb found himself on the floor next to a small bed and in front of a desk with a terminal on it. Clothes were hanging on a rack to his right, mostly standard ship’s crew uniforms. The workout clothes, a red top and a pair of black sweatpants with a red stripe down the side, stood out against the more restrained gray and blue palette of the uniforms. His mind flashed back to the escape from the DHS building on Earth. It was Craft who had been wearing that outfit. This had to be his quarters.
He had chosen well.
Caleb picked himself up, reaching for the pillow on the bed and throwing it aside. A sidearm was resting under it, a standard nine millimeter semi-automatic. It would probably only make the Reapers angrier, but it was better than nothing.
He climbed onto the bed, pressing his ear against the door. He could hear the Reaper’s feet on the floor, moving slowly down the corridor. He couldn’t kill it. Not with the peashooter in his hand. He figured the best he could do would be to wound it and then try to get past it.
He grabbed a few quick breaths to steady himself, and then he moved into position against the door. He reached across it and tapped the controls to open it, immediately crouching low.
He rolled out past the door as it was still sliding open, coming up on one knee and opening fire. He squeezed the trigger over and over, blasting the Reaper in the chest and gut. The Reaper roared in response, trying to back away from the assault and bringing its hand up over its head.
Caleb didn’t wait. He rose and charged the monster, drawing his artificial limb back in preparation to strike. The Reaper saw him coming. It braced itself, ducking away as Caleb’s replacement hand swung past its head and into the wall, leaving a deep dent in the metal. The Reaper grabbed him around the waist, turning him and throwing him sideways into one of the doors. Caleb bounced off, looking for an avenue of escape. Not finding one, he had no choice but to go toe-to-toe with the demon.
He raised his hands and bent his knees in a fighting stance. The Reaper came at him.He dropped away from the creature’s claws, slipping sideways and searching for a way through. The demon screamed, and when Caleb finally got a glimpse past its large form he saw the other monster coming their way. There was no way he could get past two of them.
But he was still going to try.
He still had a few rounds in his pistol. He dropped away from the Reaper, retreating to the rear of the corridor. The creature screamed again, coming at him. He took a blow from its claws on his replacement arm, turning and using the hand to grab the Reaper’s arm. He pressed his pistol against the creature’s chest and pulled the trigger, firing two rounds at point-blank range. The Reaper screamed. So did Caleb. The heat of the muzzle flash washed back over his hand, the gun misfiring and falling from his grip. He used the Reaper’s moment of disorientation to pull it to the side, slamming it into the wall and rushing past it.
The second Reaper was right in front of him. He came to a sudden stop, realizing how badly he had screwed up. He was trapped between two of the monsters with no way out.
But he wasn’t done fighting yet. He shouted as he lunged at the second Reaper. This one was smaller than the first, and when he hit it in the side with his artificial hand it screamed and fell into the wall. He tried to get past it, but the first Reaper grabbed his shoulder from behind, and dragged him to the floor. Landing on his back, he kicked out at the second Reaper as it closed on him. The first bent over him, raising its claws to slash his face.
“Stop!” someone shouted.
A sudden loud buzzing noise filled Caleb’s ears, drowning out all other sounds. He closed his eyes at the instant of intense pain.
It was gone as quickly as it had come, vanishing from his head a moment later. His eyes snapped open, ready to continue the fight.
He froze immediately. The Reapers were gone, replaced by Washington and Sho. The two Marines leaned over him, their expressions equally confused.
“Sarge?” Sho said softly, reaching out and touching his face. “Is that you?”
Washington straightened up. Caleb noticed his SOS was scuffed from the impacts of multiple rounds. There was a chunk out of the armor plate in his chest with a burn mark around it.
Cold realization hit Caleb hard. He had been hallucinating. He had thought Washington and Sho were Reapers. He had shot Washington multiple times. They were both lucky Caleb hadn’t gotten a shot in at Washington’s head.
“Wash,” Caleb said. “Shit. I could have killed you.”
Washington’s face was pale and frightened. He had realized the same thing, and that there was an equal chance he could have killed Caleb.
“Sarge,” Sho said. “I’m sorry. I thought you were David.”
Caleb’s eyes flicked between the two Marines. “Where’s Flores?”
Sho’s eye widened. “Oh no. We saw a Reaper out there. We shot it and ran. Do you think...”
“It was Flores,” Caleb said. “We have to find her.” He held his arm out, and Sho helped pull him to his feet.
“What about David?” she asked.
“He’s not here,” Caleb replied.
“Yes, he is.”
Caleb shifted his attention to the new voice. A man now stood behind Sho, a small, dark metal device in his hand. He was wearing a bodysuit – faded, worn, filthy and lined with what looked like nearly two dozen bullet holes. He had a short, wild beard and deep-set eyes. He couldn’t have been more than twenty years old.
“David Nash?” Caleb said. Sho turned to look.
“Yes,” the man replied. “I’m David Nash.”
Caleb stared at him. This was the man who had killed Riley’s Reapers and created the trife hybrids that roamed the ship? He looked like he had spent the last two hundred years hiding in one of the air vents.
But if David was here and not wearing the Cerebus armor...who was?
Chapter 29
Riley woke up on the bridge. She wasn’t surprised David had brought her here. She knew what he wanted. H
e had made that clear.
He wasn’t going to get it.
She didn’t care what he did to her. No amount of pain could force her to agree to turn over the codes that would help him land the ship. He was too dangerous to let loose.
Especially considering what he knew.
She heard motion on her left and turned toward it. David was there, still wearing the full armor, including the helmet. He was facing away from her, his hands manipulating something she couldn’t see. She closed her eyes as he began to turn, feigning sleep.
“I know you are awake,” David said.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. How did he know? “You injected me with something earlier. What was it?”
“Incentive.”
“What kind of incentive?”
“It matters not. I require the landing codes.”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“I have a singular goal. I approach it singularly.”
She stared at him, still curious about the changes in his speech patterns. It was an unexpected side-effect of his improved intellect.
“Were you here alone this entire time?” she asked.
“Not alone.”
“I mean besides the Reapers.”
“Without companionship? I require it not. Time is subjective. I awaited our arrival. Now, the landing codes.”
“You have no power over me, David. Do you think I’m afraid of you? If you harm me, if you kill me, you’ll never get to the surface.”
“You will give me the landing codes.”
“I won’t.”
“You will become like them.”
A cold chill raced down Riley’s back. “What?”
David turned around to face her. “You will become like them, but not like them. My version is better than yours. My version will bind you to me, and leave the memory of who and what you were intact. That is my gift to you.”
“There’s no cure, David.”
“I can reverse it. Give me the codes.”
Riley stared at David. She didn’t want to turn into a monster. What was the worst that could happen if she let them land? A few colonists would be killed?
Who was she kidding? She knew where they were. She knew why they were here. There might still be time to fix things. To make things right. To undo her many, many mistakes. She had been too enthusiastic in her work. She had made too many errors. In practice. In judgment.
Could anyone blame her? She had spent years studying and training to become an expert in her field, to save the life of the sister she loved. And then what? The damn trife had come and the virus had ended everything. She had a right to her vengeance, and she’d had Command’s approval to mete it out.
“The codes,” David said again.
Riley looked away. She needed to escape from David. To get back to Sergeant Card and his Guardians. She needed to convince him to hunt David down and kill him. He knew too much. Way too much. He had the power to destroy her in a way she wasn’t willing to be destroyed.
“Why do you need to go down there?” she asked. “We’re fifty light-years from Earth. There’s nothing for you there.”
“I will complete the mission.”
“What mission is that, David? To tell Command what I did? To reveal my embarrassment to them? You cared for me once.”
“I care not for you. I will report on my observations.”
“I had their blessing. They approved my research.”
“I care not. My goal is singular. I will complete the mission.”
Riley’s jaw clenched. She was getting frustrated with the nature of his responses. He had told her he loved her once. Why was he so stiff and unemotional? How could he be so distant? She had never meant to lose control. She had never intended for him to be hurt, or to be forced to do the things she had done.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, David,” she said. “I still love you.”
“You do not understand the concept. You use words as weapons. Your kind is duplicitous as a species. You are a prime specimen of the behavior.”
“My kind? What the hell are you talking about? We’re both humans. Just because the genetic editing made you smarter, just because it made you immortal, that doesn’t make you better than me.”
“I am superior. You will give me the codes, or you will become like them.”
Riley’s heart was racing. She knew what the change entailed. It looked more painful than anything else she had ever witnessed. The idea of it terrified her.
Where the hell was Sergeant Card? Hadn’t he seen David chasing her? Why hadn’t he come to rescue her?
She tried to calm her thoughts. They were becoming irrational. Disjointed. She had to focus. She had to think. If Card were still alive, he wouldn’t abandon her. Even if he hated her, he was too good a Marine to leave her behind.
But he wouldn’t look for her on the bridge. He wouldn’t think of that. She had told him David was hiding out in Research. That’s where he would go. But would he head there right away, or would he try to kill more of the Reapers first? How long had she been unconscious?
A plan began to solidify in her mind. David already knew how comfortable she was with lying. Would she be able to fool him one last time?
“I’ll enter the codes,” she said. “I need to access the primary terminal.”
David stepped aside, pointing to the terminal. The command station was directly behind him, waiting for use.
Riley stood up on shaky legs, taking the few steps across the floor to the station. David didn’t make any effort to help her. He remained standing beside the station, watching.
She sat down, activating the control surface. She navigated to the guidance systems, which responded by throwing an error attached to an input field. She confidently ran her fingers across the surface, typing in her code.
ACCESS DENIED.
She typed it again.
ACCESS DENIED.
She erased the whole thing and entered the code a third time.
ACCESS DENIED.
“Shit,” she said. “My code isn’t working.”
“I care not for games and lies,” David replied.
“David, this isn’t a game,” she said. “I swear, my code isn’t taking. Harry must have changed it on me. Maybe he didn’t trust me either.”
“I do not believe you.”
“I care not if you believe me,” Riley said, mimicking his speech pattern. “It is what it is. I can’t get into the landing sequence.”
“You claimed you did not have the codes when you did. Now you claim you can not enter the subroutine when you can.”
“I can’t. I swear. Harry changed something. You have read-only access. You can check it yourself.”
She expected David to move her out of the way so he could verify her words. Instead, he became very still, remaining that way for so long she was tempted to try to make a run for the exit.
“Data was passed to the hibernation pods,” David said. “It has secondary encryption I have not yet broken. I require the data sent to the pod.”
“I know what happened to the data,” Riley said. “Some of the Guardians woke with me. The diminishing power levels triggered the system.”
“I have not yet reviewed the power levels. I will review the levels.”
David grew still again before Riley could say another word. She had no idea why, but he seemed to snap back a minute later. “Power levels are critical. I have taken all non-essential systems offline. I do not believe there is enough energy to land. I require the quantum energy unit.”
“Quantum energy unit?” Riley said.
“Yes. It is in Research. I require it.”
Was he talking about the alien spaceship’s power source? She hadn’t brought anything called a quantum energy unit onto the Deliverance. And what did he mean by non-essential systems? Had he done anything to harm the colonists in Metro? She already knew he wouldn’t care if he had.
“What happened to the data sent to the po
d?” David asked, his tone becoming more stiff and impatient.
“Displayed for the occupant and then deleted,” Riley replied, putting on her best poker face. Would David realize she was lying again? “That’s how Harry would have done it.”
“I registered the presence of other humans when I located you. Which one of them has the codes?”
“I don’t know.”
“You are being untruthful.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’ll stay together. Do you have access to the ship’s sensors, or did you shut them all down?”
“The terminal is active. Standby.”
Riley watched as the terminal began operating seemingly of its own accord. The primary display shifted until the schematic of the Deliverance was on it. Many of the sensors had gone offline over the years, leaving dark patches in the network. There was no sign of the Guardians on the grid. Even more surprisingly, there was no sign of Reapers, either. Even so, the three-dimensional view zoomed in on the lower aft portion of the ship and came to a stop.
She glanced over at David. “Research?”
“The door controls have recently activated. There are two distinct entries. The human who has the code is most likely in this area. I require the landing code. I require the energy unit. We will go to Research.”
The display shut off, and David reached out to take her arm. Riley looked up at the expressionless face of the helmet. If they went to Research now, if they caught the Guardians off-guard, it might be the end of everything.
“David, wait,” she said.
“We will go to Research,” he replied.
“No. There’s no reason to go to Research. It might be a trap.”
“I care not.”
“Are you sure? The Cerebus armor is strong, but even it can’t survive four concurrent plasma streams. Neither can you.”
David hesitated. “I require the energy unit. I require the landing codes.”
“I told you I would give you the codes in exchange for the antidote. I have an idea.”
“I trust not your idea.”
“You don’t have to trust it. There’s no harm in – ”