by Kit Walker
Asha leans a little further out of cover. "I don't have a gun, Adam. I just want to talk."
Then, before she can talk herself out of it, Asha steps through the door.
Adam has his gun trained on her, following her as she walks into the cockpit. His expression is blank.
"You're right," she hears Mike whisper, "this is really stupid."
"Just go with it," Asha whispers back.
It would be best to leave Adam behind, to let him die somewhere out there in deep space. Failing that, she should let Mike shoot him. Either would be an expedient, logical solution.
But it would be wrong.
"I get it, okay?" Asha says. "You're scared. You're angry. This isn't what any of us signed up for."
"Fuck off with the therapy session," Adam growls. "What do you want?"
"I want you to put the gun away and come back to the Wayfarer," Asha says. She tries to mimic the voice her mom used with her patients: soothing, reasonable, a hint of stern reproach. "You're a smart guy, Adam. Smart enough to know that flying into that quarantine is a suicide run. There has to be another solution. We can work it out together."
Adam's hand shakes, the muzzle of the gun wavering. He swallows, and his voice cracks when he says, "I just want to go home."
"I know," Asha says. "Me, too."
Adam lowers the gun.
"Get out of there now."
Asha's hand goes to the comm in her pocket; Adam's gun snaps back up.
Ysal says, "Laela?"
"That second body is in the cockpit with you, right now," Laela says. "Get out."
"Adam," Asha says, trying and failing to get that soothing voice back, "there's something in here with us. We need to go."
Adam scans the room, gun still trained on Asha. "I don't see—"
There's a noise from inside the wall, a scrape of metal on metal.
Adam turns without thinking, puts two shots into the bulkhead. The thing in the wall screeches, a noise like shearing steel, and then everything goes still and quiet.
A second later, the metal of the bulkhead bulges and splits open.
The thing that bursts out of the wall almost looks like a scrap metal sculpture: a haphazard mess of sharp silver shards, fused together into a sleek, predatory shape. It collides with Adam, driving them both to the floor. Long, sharp claws come down and spear through his chest.
Adam tries to scream, but can't get the air. Blood trickles up the creature's claws, soaking into the metal. The creature's absorbing it, feeding. Adam's skin pales, then turns gray.
"Asha!" Mike shouts.
The creature's head—like a skull, an animal skull—whips around on its long, thin neck. Asha can't see its eyes, but she can feel it staring at her.
She stumbles back; she doesn't dare take her eyes off the thing. Ysal reaches through the door and grabs Asha, hauling her out of the cockpit.
Mike hits a button on the control panel. The door slams shut and locks.
•
They're halfway back to the corvus by the time Asha manages to gasp out, "What the shit was that?"
"At a guess?" Ysal says. "The reason for the quarantine around your sector." She stops and turns, looking back the way they came.
It takes Mike and Asha a few seconds to realize Ysal isn't following them. "Keep moving," Mike says. "We need to get off this ship before... that catches up."
Ysal doesn't budge. "That creature cannot be allowed to escape quarantine."
Mike looks at Asha. "What did she say?"
"We are not the only salvage ship to operate in this area," Ysal says. "Many lives will be lost if we do not act."
"Asha—"
"She's saying we need to kill that thing."
Mike looks back in the direction of the cockpit, then down at the rifle in his hands. "How? Shooting it didn't work too well." He turns to Ysal. "I don't suppose you have any explosives handy."
Asha takes stock of where they are. It's a straight shot from here to the generator room. And not much further to the heat diffusion override.
"We could put the heat diffusion system back into lockdown," Asha says. "Overload the generator. That should destroy the... whatever it is."
"And the rest of your ship," Ysal points out.
Almost simultaneously, Mike says, "Wouldn't that blow up Frontier, too?"
Asha looks at Mike. "You okay with that?"
"If it means killing that thing?" Michael says. "I can live with it."
Ysal takes her comm back from Asha and relays the plan to Laela.
Laela says, "You're sure about this?"
"Yes," Asha says firmly.
"Okay. I'll prep Wayfarer for departure. Good luck."
•
"You need to hurry. I'm detecting movement, approaching your position."
Asha slides the rest of the way down the ladder, into the ventilation hub. "Ysal, I need your help with the override. Mike, that thing is on its way here!"
Mike looks over the edge of the uppermost platform. "I'll stay up here," he says, hefting the rifle. "You guys need covering fire."
"Shooting it doesn't work."
"I don't know. This is a really big gun." Mike grins down at her. "Get cracking. I'll be okay."
Asha lets out an exasperated breath and joins Ysal in front of the override.
Ysal pushes against the lever, and it slides halfway into position before it swings back. She blinks at it, surprised. "This is more difficult than I anticipated."
"Can you do it?"
There's a shout from above them, and a burst of gunfire. Asha spots movement overhead, flashes of silver in the dark.
Ysal throws her entire body weight against the lever, toes flexing against the metal floor, tail thrashing. Asha darts forward and grabs the handle with both hands, pushing as hard as she can.
With a groan, the override slams shut. A clang echoes somewhere below them, and the air stills.
Another burst of gunfire shatters their brief moment of triumph. Ysal clambers up the ladder. Asha isn't far behind.
The bullet-riddled creature drops down from the ceiling, landing on Mike and knocking him to the floor. It smacks the rifle out of his hands, apparently unaffected by its injuries. Mike punches it in the face and scrambles back. The creature recovers quickly and lunges, grabbing Mike's leg with one long-fingered hand, its claws gouging deep furrows into his calf; Mike kicks desperately with his free leg, trying to break its grip.
Ysal leaps up onto the platform, wrenches Mike's leg free, grabs the creature by the neck, and heaves it over the edge and into the darkness below.
"I doubt that will harm it much," she says conversationally.
Asha pulls herself up onto the platform. Mike tries to stand, but his bleeding leg crumples under him. She helps him up, letting him lean on her. "You okay?"
"No," Mike gasps. "You done?"
"Yeah. Come on."
It's slow going, with Mike limping and Asha holding him up. Ysal follows along behind, keeping watch for the creature.
It must be following them. There's no way it isn't. Sometimes Asha thinks she hears the quiet metallic scrape as it moves, but nothing comes bursting out of the ceiling or charging down the hall.
Why isn't it—?
And then Mike collapses.
They're about ten yards from the corvus. Asha can't support Mike's full weight and has to drop him. His skin has gone pale, his breathing labored. There's something in the wound on his leg, like fine silver dust, only it's moving—
Ysal reaches out to him, as if to help him up. Mike screams "Don't!" but his hand lashes out, metal claws erupting from his fingertips, slashing Ysal's arm open. She reels back.
Mike's whole body twists, changes, consumed by that writhing silver dust.
"Run!"
Asha's legs are moving, even as her mind screams no, no, don't leave him, don't—
She turns back, but Ysal shoves her through the corvus' hatch.
Asha looks down. "Ysal, your ar
m—"
The silver dust is eating away at Ysal's flesh. The veins around the wound turn black, the infection creeping up her arm.
With absolutely no hesitation, Ysal sticks her hand through the open hatch and hits the control panel. The hatch slams shut, shearing her arm off above the elbow.
Ysal lets out a small, hurt noise and stumbles back. "Laela. We're inside. Go."
There's a rumble through the floor as the corvus withdraws into Wayfarer's belly, and a disorienting rush as the ship pulls away.
•
"I am unharmed," Ysal insists.
Asha steers her into the medbay. "You cut your own arm off."
"It will grow back."
"It—what?"
The door on the other side of the medbay slides open.
"Laela," Ysal says. "I see you elected to leave the command deck."
Laela is a little under five feet tall, skinny and vaguely human-shaped, but with a flat nose and large, catlike eyes. Her skin is covered in short blond fur. She moves stiffly, gingerly; some kind of metal harness is occasionally visible underneath her clothes.
"What the—" there's an untranslatable noise, like a disgusted caterwaul, "—did you do?" Laela hurries to Ysal's side and fusses briefly over the stump of her severed arm before yanking a cabinet open and rummaging through it.
"It will grow back," Ysal repeats.
"Only if it doesn't get infected," Laela snarls back. She grabs a small tool with a bright violet light on the end and shines it over the stump.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Asha asks. She needs to be helping. If she doesn't do something, she'll start thinking about—
"Your ship is going to blow up within the hour," Laela says, without looking up from her task. "I've pulled Wayfarer back to a safe distance." She pauses, looking around the medbay. "Where's the other one?"
"Dead," Asha says. She feels like she should say something else, something meaningful, but all that comes out is, "He's dead."
Laela avoids eye contact and looks back down at Ysal's arm. "I see."
•
A bright light explodes in Frontier's heart. Jets of air burst from multiple hull breaches. The entire ship crumples, like an aluminum can, and implodes.
Laela, Ysal, and Asha watch in silence from Wayfarer's starboard observation deck.
Asha is tired. Too tired to cry. Too tired to feel anything.
She's the only one left.
When Frontier is nothing but a field of glittering wreckage, Laela clears her throat. "So. We'll just drop you off at our next stop, then."
Ysal looks down at Laela and gives her a patient, reptilian stare. Laela makes a valiant attempt to ignore her, but eventually gives up.
"We could use an extra hand," Laela mutters. "At least until Ysal's grows back. You can stay aboard, if you want."
Asha considers it, although it doesn't take much consideration. It's not like she has anywhere else to go. "Thanks. I think I'll do that."
Laela nods, turns, and heads back to the command deck.
Ysal says, "Have you eaten?"
It's such a mundane question that Asha is confused for a moment. "Uh... no."
Ysal's head bobs. "I will show you to the crew quarters, and then we can visit the mess hall." She turns to leave, gesturing for Asha to follow her.
"That thing," Asha blurts out. "The thing that killed Adam and Mike. Do you think there's more of them?"
Ysal's tail twitches. "I assume so."
"What if they found Earth? What if they're killing people on my planet, right now?"
"It is possible."
"I need to know for sure."
"We can find out," Ysal says. "But first, food."
Ysal nudges Asha out of the room and closes the door. The lights dim.
In the empty darkness, a tiny shape scurries across the floor.
Episode 2: Outland
The headache is a constant companion.
It's there when Asha wakes up every morning. It's there while she works to earn her keep aboard the Wayfarer: moving cargo, monitoring the ship's numerous automated maintenance tasks, and holding tools while the captain conducts repairs. And it's there every night, when she drops into her tiny, uncomfortable bunk and falls asleep.
It's a dull throb right behind her temple, just mild enough to leave her functional, but just painful enough to make her constantly miserable.
Wayfarer's automated wake-up call is a friendly, pleasant-sounding chime that Asha has come to hate with a burning intensity. A few minutes after it echoes through the ship, Asha emerges from her quarters and shuffles down the corridor. She's still half-asleep, which is why she doesn't notice the shouting until she enters the mess hall.
"There! It's over there!"
Asha blinks and takes in the scene. Ysal sai-Vysri (eight feet tall, reptilian, nearly indestructible) sits perched atop one of the tables, eyes sweeping the floor with suspicion and mild terror. Laela (tiny, feline, ship's captain) has managed, despite her limited mobility, to crawl up onto Ysal's shoulders and cling to the back of her neck while yelling excitedly.
"Asha!" Ysal chirps. "Beware! There is a rodent!"
Asha blinks again. "Is this really happening?"
A tiny shape scurries out from under a table. Laela shrieks.
The rodent sprints for the door; it doesn't seem to have noticed that Asha's standing in the way. Asha lifts her foot and, when the creature passes under it, gently brings the toe of her boot down on its tail. The rodent jolts to a halt, trapped, its tiny claws scrabbling against the floor.
"Did you get it?" Laela leans as far forward as she can without falling off Ysal's shoulders. "What is it?"
"It's a rat," Asha says.
•
There are piles of miscellaneous equipment in the medbay's storage closet. Asha manages to dig up a large glass specimen tank, lines it with some synthetic moss-stuff that Laela assures her is non-toxic, and carefully deposits the rat inside.
It's a little white rat, not much older than a weanling.
"She must have been in one of the cryo pods," Asha muses, breaking off a piece of her protein bar and dropping it into the tank. "Got thawed out when I did."
Laela passes a handheld medical scanner over the tank, pauses, switches to a different setting, and scans the rat again. "'She'?"
"I think it's a she," Asha says. "I have ... had a friend who worked with lab rats."
The rat picks up the chunk of protein bar and starts nibbling on it.
Laela puts the scanner away. "It seems clean," she says. "What should we do with it?"
"I was thinking I'd keep her," Asha says.
"What, as a pet? Why?"
"Why not?"
Laela shakes her head. "You are deeply weird."
The bright lights of the medbay are starting to aggravate the headache. Asha grumbles and rubs her temple, but it doesn't help.
Laela's eyes track the motion. "Something wrong?"
"Head hurts," Asha mumbles. "It's not a big deal."
"How long has it been hurting?"
Asha shrugs. "Since I came out of cryo, so ... a week?"
Laela lets out a series of untranslatable noises; judging by the look on her face, they're expletives. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was waiting for it to go away on its own," Asha says. "I'm fine, really, don't worry about it."
"Persistent headache is a sign that you're rejecting your translator implant," Laela snaps.
"Oh," Asha says. Right. The translator implant Laela installed before bringing Asha out of cryo. The implant in her brain. "Shit. Can you fix it?"
"I only have basic first aid training—"
"You performed brain surgery on me with only basic first aid training?!"
"It was an emergency!" Laela insists. "I followed the instructions! But ... we need to find an actual doctor, I think."
"And that's ... difficult?"
"Out here, yes." Laela turns and heads for the door. "We're stop
ping off at Dagrun for a pick-up. I should be able to find a doctor there. Don't panic."
"Thanks, Ford," Asha replies dryly.
"No, seriously, do not panic. A panic response might make the rejection worse. I'll be on the command deck." Laela pauses in the doorway. "Wait, 'Ford'?"
"It was a joke."
"... So weird," Laela mutters, as the door closes between them.
Asha looks at the rat. "Tell me you got it, at least."
The rat ignores her and keeps chewing on the protein bar.
•
Dagrun is a rock with aspirations of being a planet.
It has just enough daylight and atmosphere to be considered habitable. There's no greenery whatsoever; just sand and stone. Enormous rifts scar the surface, too numerous and neatly-cut to be natural.
Dagrun's most impressive feature, by far, is the massive elevator running from the docking platform in orbit all the way down to the only visible settlement on the planet's surface.
Shortly after Wayfarer docks at the platform, Laela leads Asha off the ship and through a maze of gates and walkways that, eventually, will take them to the concourse.
Laela's gait is stilted and fairly slow, so Asha checks her pace, trailing along behind. "Ysal's not coming?"
"She's staying with the ship," Laela replies. "I'm not leaving Wayfarer unattended, especially not here." She glances over her shoulder. "Relax. Last I saw, Ysal was downloading seventy-six episodes of Shadow Games onto the ship's entertainment drive. She'll be fine."
They pass through a set of transparent sliding doors, and Asha gets her first real look at alien civilization.
The concourse is not unlike the many, many airports Asha's seen in her life. It isn't crowded, but a wide variety of aliens mill around the space: creatures of all sizes, with feathers and fur and spines and one that appears to be a giant cephalopod in an aquarium on wheels. Asha probably looks like the most clueless tourist in the galaxy, but she doesn't care.
The aliens aren't looking at her, though.
"Laela," Asha says, low enough that only the two of them can hear, "they're all staring at you."
"It happens," Laela replies. "Ignore them. Keep walking."
The space elevator turns out to be several elevators, arriving and departing on a strict, automated schedule. As they wait for the next cab down to the surface, Asha says, "I thought they'd be staring at me."