Chapter Eight
December 31st, 2027
It was nearly midnight on the US east coast and the crew of Hades was having a low key New Year’s celebration, in the ship’s cockpit.
The crew had manned their normal stations and were preparing to pass by the rings of Saturn, at precisely the stroke of midnight. To everyone’s surprise, even Simone appeared to be in pleasant and sociable mood.
“How close are we going to get to the rings?” she asked Callum with a smile.
“Just a few miles,” he answered. He seemed puzzled by her good mood and asked, “What’s got you glowing?”
Simone just shrugged and replied, “I’m not sure. I fell asleep at my work station last night and had the most incredible dream. I’ve been feeling fantastic ever since I woke up.”
“What’d you dream about?” Callum asked.
Simone paused and replied, “You know what? I don’t even remember.”
“Don’t jinx it. Just go with it,” said Jack, from the co-pilot’s chair.
“It’s almost time, guys. Twenty seconds!” Sophia yelled from the back of the room.
Everyone turned their attention to the spectacular and inspiring rings of Saturn, and cnce the ship began to pass by them, Callum cut power to the ship’s engines and allowed the ship to slowly glide below the rings, on its own momentum.
“Happy New Year, everyone.” he said with a smile.
Everyone cheered and applauded Callum’s technique. Even Simone leaned over Callum’s shoulder and whispered, “It’s a miracle. You actually seem to know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, that happens sometimes,” he replied.
Callum allowed the ship to coast along for another hundred miles and then restarted the ship’s engines. He instructed Jack to make the thrusts necessary to put the ship back on course, putting Hades back on its return trajectory.
“Alright everyone, show’s over,” Callum said. “We need to get back to fixing this com system.”
“Yes we do,” said Max. “Seven days and no contact with home. It’s a little nerve racking.”
“Yeah, just a little,” Richard added, sarcastically.
Simone unstrapped herself from her seat and made her way towards the back of the cockpit.
“Where are you going?” Callum asked her.
“Nowhere,” she replied. “I want to take a look at this.”
She made her way to Richard’s console, which displayed nothing but static, each time he switched to a different frequency.
“See? It’s just like I said before,” Richard began.
“There’s nothing. It’s like it’s not even hooked up, but we’ve been over every square inch of cable and inspected every circuit. There’s nothing electronically wrong with our equipment. We just can’t do anything with it.”
“What about a power shortage?” Simone asked.
“No,” Callum interrupted. “All systems show normal output.”
“He’s right,” Jack added. “The only other explanation is that there’s something on this ship, blocking the outgoing and incoming signals.”
“Like what?” Sophia asked.
“Like something we can’t track,” Jack answered.
Callum gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean can’t track?” Callum asked him with a condescending tone.
“No. Let him finish. Go ahead, Jack,” Simone said.
Jack cleared his throat and continued. “All I’m saying is that nothing our systems can detect is interfering with the com system. Just like we can’t find anything wrong connection wise with the naked eye. So the only other option is that it’s something that our systems can’t find and that we also can’t find. Like a ghost program.”
Simone seemed nervous and was beginning to lose patience.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked in a harsh tone.
“Like something your people, no offense, decided not to tell us about,” Jack hesitantly answered.
Simone scoffed, then took a deep breath.
“Jack, think about what you’re saying. Why would Darkside cut off communication with us? That doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
“I don’t know. You tell us,” said Callum.
Simone was becoming extremely angry, and turned her attention to Callum.
“Excuse me?!” she shouted.
“Alright! Alright!” Callum yelled. “That’s enough! This isn’t getting us anywhere!”
Silence fell over the room, as Simone did her best to calmly return to her seat.
Suddenly, the crew heard a large crash over their heads. Everyone looked around the room at one another with bewildered expressions.
“What the fuck?” Richard asked, as his voice trailed off.
Jack turned to Callum with a worried look and said, “That sounded like the upper deck. Right outside the medical station.”
The crew fell silent again. The six of them began pondering the notion that their eight foot tall mystery passenger may have just regained consciousness.
“This isn’t happening,” Simone thought.
Callum’s growing suspicions of her were becoming quite a burden.
“I’m going to check it out,” he said. “Maybe you should come,” he added, insinuatingly.
Simone then appeared more frightened than any of the crew had ever seen her.
“If you have anything you want to tell us, now’s the time,” Callum said sternly.
As she continued to tremble with fear, the only words that could escape her lips were, “We need to go, right now.”
“Fine,” Callum replied with a nod. He then turned to Jack and instructed him to take control of the pilot’s console, while Richard was assigned to be the acting co-pilot, until Callum’s return.
The rest of the crew was ordered to maintain their duties and the tension in the room was very high, as Callum followed Simone out of the cockpit.
“Do you think he’s awake? Should we go and help?” Max asked, nervously.
“Just stay focused on your readings, like they asked,” Sophia scolded.
“I am,” Max replied. “I was just thinking that they shouldn’t go alone. Just in case.”
Sophia was becoming agitated. “No. We were ordered to stay here, so we’re staying here,” she said sternly. “We can’t take any chances. It’s the only way we’re going to make it home.”
Max scoffed and replied, “Oh, so I suppose you sneaking out of your rack with Richard to fuck in the back closet, was you staying focused on the mission?”
Richard quickly turned around in his seat and gave Max a hostile glare. Sophia was enraged.
“What the fuck did you just say you little shit?” Richard yelled back at him.
“Knock it off!” Jack yelled.
At that moment, another loud crash was heard from the upper deck. Silence once again fell over the room.
Moments later, Simone and Callum were huddled quietly inside the tunnel passage, which led to the medical station. After the second loud crash, they could clearly hear tapping sounds on the wall over their heads. The sound was getting louder and louder, indicating that someone was in fact moving towards them, from along the wall.
Callum peeked over the top of the passage way, to see pieces of Drellic’s heart monitor, floating through the corridor. He quickly retreated back towards Simone.
“What is it?” she whispered. “He’s up there. There’s debris from his bedside, everywhere,” he quietly answered.
Simone seemed to turn to stone. She violently grabbed Callum and stared into his eyes.
“You have to listen to me,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with. We need to abandon this ship.”
Callum’s eyes widened and his pulse quickened. He knew all along that Simone was guarding secrets, but at that moment, he realized that she had always known what was waiting for them on Charon.
“What the fuck is this?” he asked in
a quiet, disheartened tone. “Simone, what the hell have you done?”
Before she could answer, her face turned pale, as she screamed with terror. Callum looked up, to see Drellic standing over him on the upper deck. Drellic then reached down and effortlessly pulled Callum towards him by his hair.
Callum struggled to escape, but it was no use. Simone reached for his legs, but was unable to get a hold of him. Drellic then quickly manhandled Callum into the medical station and sealed the hatch behind them.
Simone waited several seconds and then made her way to the top of the tunnel to investigate. “Help!” she called down to the others. “We need help! Get up here, now!”
The crew promptly left their stations and headed off in the direction of Simone’s screams. Meanwhile, inside the medical station, Drellic was holding Callum against the wall by his throat, with one arm.
“You are their leader, are you not?” Drellic asked.
He spoke slowly and with little confidence, as he was not fluent in English, but had spent the last three months using the Starblood to gather information about the crew.
Callum struggled to respond, but could not utter a single word, due to Drellic’s tight grip around his neck. Drellic then slowly released Callum and allowed him to drift down towards the floor.
“You will answer,” Drellic commanded.
“Yes. Yes I am their leader,” Callum stuttered.
Drellic then smiled and replied, “Not anymore.”
“Who are you?” Callum asked.
Drellic then appeared baffled and offended by the question.
“You don’t know who I am?” Drellic asked with confusion. “You’ve never seen my face?”
“No. I haven’t. I’ve never seen you before,” Callum nervously answered.
In a moment of rage, Drellic slammed his fists into a metal cabinet, causing more metal debris to float throughout the room. He then revealed a book from Simone’s work station and opened it to a picture of the earth.
He pointed to it and said, “This is my home. I am the leader of this world. We’re getting closer. I can feel it.”
Callum’s mind was racing. “What are you talking about?” he asked Drellic. “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but this is my ship, OK? You’re very confused right now. You’ve just been through a horrible ordeal. You need to lie down and relax. Alright? We can work it all out when we get home.”
Drellic paused for a moment and then roared with anger. He grabbed Callum by this shoulders and threw him across the room. Callum flew into the opposite wall and then floated back towards Drellic.
Drellic then grabbed him by his throat again and pressed him against to the ceiling; using the Starblood to slowly drain Callum of his life energy. Callum became disoriented and began losing feeling throughout his body.
“Do you still doubt me?” Drellic asked him. “Or can you now feel my power?”
After a few more seconds, Drellic released him. Callum got a hold of the hatch and gazed back into Drellic’s cold eyes.
“Do I now have your attention?” Drellic asked.
“Yes,” Callum whispered, as he struggled to catch his breath.
“Good. Now, as I was saying. This is my ship now. You will take me to Siren.”
Callum decided that it might be best to humor Drellic, rather than to further antagonize him.
“Siren. Yes,” Callum said. “We’re going to take you to Siren.”
“Good,” replied Drellic. “I must speak with my people before it’s too late. I refuse to waste any more time with you children.”
“You’re right,” said Callum. “We’ve already wasted enough of your time. Your people are anxious to see you.”
Drellic was then beginning to appear eager and optimistic, as he asked, “So there were other survivors?”
“Yes, of course,” Callum stuttered. “There were many survivors. I’m sure they can’t wait to see you.”
Drellic became overjoyed and teary eyed. “Good,” he said. “Now return to your friends. Return to your friends and tell them that they have the honor of seeing Drellic returned to his nation.”
Callum did his best to seem believable and replied, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure they know how important this is.”
He then cautiously opened the hatch and left the medical station.
“Close it behind you,” Drellic ordered. “Leave me in peace.”
“Yes, sir,” Callum awkwardly replied. He sealed the hatch behind him and saw the rest of the crew staring at him with worried expressions, from inside the passage way.
“What happened?” Simone asked. “Are you alright? What did he say to you?”
Callum then approached Simone in a hostile manner and sternly replied, “We need to talk.”
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 10