by Tanya Jolie
Like phantoms, however, her face dissipates like smoke in the wind, leaving me in this nightmarish hell. Alone.
***
I’m still on the floor of my little cell. What’s the point of getting up? The bed is made of the same stuff the floor is, and everything aboard is the same temperature anyway, so I might as well just stay where I am.
Everything seems pointless now. I’m locked in a cell aboard an alien ship, and I don’t know what’s happened to my human companions, Deakins and Nerravin, where we are in the universe, or what kind of place this Intrellia Prime will be like.
A hollow of despair gets carved deeper inside my chest every time I think about Talacanthus. He can’t be gone, I won’t accept it! Yet, even the thought of him in pain or dead brings a deep well of misery. I hope we get to this planet soon, so they can kill me. They’ll be doing me a favor.
God only knows how long I’ve been laying here, wishing I could see him one last time and gradually fading into the edges of a restless sleep, but I jerk up with a scream as something tickles my cheek.
My back hits the wall, but all I can see is some kind of protrusion hanging from the ceiling. I recognize what I think it is. I saw Talacanthus with one of these in his rooms. I think it’s some method of talking directly to the ship. Come to think of it, there were similar things attached to the other aliens on the bridge just after the first explosion, so maybe they’re input devices too.
Standing, I step across to the thing, which is swaying slightly, and reach for it. As warm as the rest of the ship, it’s got a cup on the end, half spherical and filled with what look like billions of hairs. Maybe they’re nerve bundles which would make sense in a living spaceship. Talacanthus had it on his forehead when I saw him but surely his species, Intrellians, are biologically different, and maybe they’ve evolved to be able to interface with this proboscis. Being human, it might cause brain damage or even kill me, so what have I got to lose?
I seat myself on the shelf which serves as a bed and hold the ball shaped end on my forehead, waiting to see what might happen. Nothing seems to for a while and I let go, surprised to see it doesn’t fall off and swing, like a pendulum, in the middle of the room. My fingers search around the edges and find it has solidly attached itself to my head, and I can’t even get a fingernail underneath it. Still the pain in my head has gone, and I feel a little sleepy so I might just have to li...
“You have been misled,” I think. No, wait a minute, someone else thought that. “Talacanthus has not yet passed into the Hereafter.” Whose thoughts are these?
“Hello. Who are you?” I ask the thought. It doesn’t even sound like my thoughts.
“I am Acrulla, one of the oldest Sentient-Ships in existence and you reside within me.” A flood of memories cascade into my mind, and I see the conception of a massive craft. A genius amalgamation of robotic parts and biological tissue, created and grown artificially on a planet I can only assume is Intrellia Prime. An ancient looking Intrellian, wizened and old, shuffles through the passages of the bright, new ship, which pulses with life around him. He makes his slow way to an area, which looks familiar to me and, I know this is where Talacanthus had his quarters. The feeble alien lies down on the floor and the long tube I saw joined to Talacanthus (something like which is also joined to me) droops down to connect with his head. I see all of this in a dream like state, both through the eyes of the alien and externally, so I’m looking up along the length of the proboscis when the sight fades and I become the spaceship.
Intrellians never enslaved a race of peaceful creatures! They never installed a nuclear reactor inside its chest and the sentience which runs it all was a volunteer who actually had the thing built. Talacanthus is free from any blame I might have put on him. He’s...gone, my mind tells me.
“He is not dead yet. There is still time to save him, but, I will need your assistance.”
“Why are you helping us?” I think before I can even begin to hide the thought.
“I joined with Talacanthus both before and after he met you,” Acrulla’s thoughts come to me. “And now with you. Part of what makes me who and what I am is now due to the thoughts, memories and feelings I have taken from you. You and he share a bond which transcends worlds, ignores species and is unbreakable.” Shock jolts me as Acrulla’s feelings for both of us wash through my psyche.
“What have I got to do?” I wonder into the ship’s mind. A flood of information, pictures, thoughts and ideas, slam into me, and I have to take a few seconds to understand what I’m being shown. Dread runs through me as I fully comprehend what this entity wants me of do.
“I can’t.” My thoughts sound pathetic, even to me.
“You must, if you intend to save Talacanthus.” With those final words, the connection is severed, and I open my eyes as the final section of the communication pipe retracts into the ceiling.
It’s a mad plan with little chance of success and quite a high chance of my death. If Talacanthus is alive, though, it’s got to be worth the risk. I strip my coveralls off to stand naked in the small cell wearing just a pair of boots as apparently where I’m going it would be better to be slippery. Then I start taking deep breaths as I watch a hole growing in the corner of the cell, trying to fill my blood stream with oxygen. The hole is like a portal to hell, and I have to force myself to jump in feet first.
***
“Report.” My voice rings out across the command station.
“All essential repairs have been completed, Commander Jonober,” someone tells me as I sit in the command section. It’s about time. I thought I might have to make an example of a few of my new crew. “We can return to our original course and speed at your discretion.”
“Do so,” I tell Talacrus, who does not acknowledge my command but does execute it. I will have to watch him. If he decides to try and avenge his brother, I will have him put down. Lights flicker in the command section, and Acrulla jerks once before falling silent.
“Report!” I yell at the command crew. None of them have the answer, and my rage grows. “Someone aboard this ship is sabotaging my command, and I will not stand for it.” I glare around the room and single out the female, Shaktee. “My quarters. Now.” I command and she shuffles off, the bruises I put on her last time I took her fading a little. “If I return and this situation is not resolved, I will begin executing crew.” I say as I leave.
I stand outside the door and listen to them chuckling before someone, I cannot tell who, says, “We had better get something done fast then. He will not spend too long with Shaktee.” Further laughter follows and my rage boils. Yet a cold satisfaction spreads inside me. We shall see who is laughing when their blood boils in the vacuum of space.
***
My lungs feel ready to burst. There’s pain in my throat, and I’m going to die in the thick walled artery deep inside Acrulla. As soon as I’d jumped, feet first, into the hole he’d opened for me, I was plunged into blackness and being pumped into the bowels of the massive ship along with the dark ichor which is his blood. It’s warm, horribly, and slowly creeping into my nose and ears, insinuating itself into any little hole it can find. And the pressure! It’s like being squeezed from head to foot, making it even harder to hold my breath. I clamped my eyes shut when I jumped in and my mind conjures images of being absorbed into Acrulla’s living hull, in exactly the same way as the Intrellian male who died to bring life to the ship.
Panic is threatening to snap my sanity like a Popsicle stick, and a thousand horrific deaths cross my mind as I contemplate drowning in alien blood. It feels as if I’m being squeezed along by some vile peristalsis which forces even more precious air from my lungs. There’s nothing I can do. I have to breathe and when I do, my lungs are going to fill with Acrulla’s oily blood drowning me.
My mouth opens, and I pull the blood in at the same time as I’m birthed from the thick blood tube like a chubby infant. I cough and retch, gasping air in to my tortured lungs and spitting to clear the vile shit
from my mouth.
Eventually, I look up, taking in my surroundings. This part of Acrulla is coated in a thick layer of dust, unused and abandoned, a fact I’m thankful for as I’m only wearing boots. I scrape as much of the blood off my skin as I can and try to think what the next step of Acrulla’s plan was, the fear and loathing I felt at the first stage nearly blocked it from my mind. From what I could tell of Acrulla’s memories, this is where any personal items from past crew members and their commanders are put. Around me, I can see boxes and cases, bags and even some furniture. The air is warm but not as humid as other places aboard, probably to keep everything from decomposing.
I have to find Talacanthus, and this is where Acrulla’s thoughts said he would be, but it’s another vast chasm of a place piled with containers, which have left narrow alleyways in between. I feel boxed in, almost as confined as when I was inside the artery, and an involuntary shudder runs through me, making my curves wobble. As well as finding my alien, I’ll have to find some kind of clothing, even if it’s just a blanket. Even though there’s nobody else here, I feel more naked than ever before.
With nothing else to go on, I take one of the alleyways and try to make my way towards where I think the exit might be, even though I don’t want to leave. Exhaustion threatens to drag me to the floor after all I’ve been through, but the overpowering need to find Talacanthus, to make sure he’s alive and safe, drives me on. I trip over something in the semi-darkness and fall hard on my hands and knees, jarring my shoulders.
“Talacanthus!” I yell desperately, not hearing my words echo as the sounds are absorbed by Acrulla’s live walls. I get no response and struggle to get back to my feet, stumbling on towards some unknown destination. I can see lights up ahead, brighter and glowing with warmth and a spike of hope stabs through me, spurring me on. Maybe Acrulla is trying to help me by showing me the way.
I trip again and stumble forwards into the brighter area, looking up to see even more storage boxes and assorted junk. Dragging myself to my weary feet again, I scan around in the poor light, catching sight of an area where the wall of boxes has been bowed as if something heavy has plowed into it hard. Scrabbling across the top of all this crap isn’t easy, but I’m determined to make it over to see what’s made the mess.
Peering down from the top of a large, green, storage box, with the metal edges digging into my naked thighs, my eyes catch sight of a broken looking body which has been dumped at the bottom of a chute. It’s got to be Talacanthus. It’s got to be. Dropping down beside the corpse-like body, I flinch back as my leg hits the arm of this individual and feel the ice cold coming from it. Whoever this is, they must be dead to feel as cold as that.
It’s far too heavy for me to move, so I have to crawl over to the other side as it’s facing away from me. Sickness crawls over my skin wherever it comes into contact with the body, and when I finally see it is Talacanthus, my heart snaps, and I hear a keening wail coming from somewhere. I grasp his oddly thumb-less hand and clutch it to my naked chest, howling my loss and despair, when the fingers twitch. It must be the shock of feeling it which makes me press my fingers against his neck. Panic hits me again when I realize I can’t feel his pulse. Sense takes over when I remember his physiology must be completely different to mine.
“Talacanthus,” I call, slapping the side of his face. “Wake up or at least don’t die.” Scrabbling about, I start to clear some space around his body and look through some of the boxes and chests around us. There are a few items of clothing and some things that look like blankets which I use to cover him, hoping the warmth from Acrulla will help to revive him.
***
I feel somewhat better after having my way with Shaktee. Unfortunately, she submitted quite easily to my demands, maybe I can teach her to be a little more aggressive in future. I shall leave her for now, huddled in the corner where she can lick her wounds and contemplate how to please me better.
“Report!” I bellow as soon as I enter the command section. “Are we to resume course?” A pointed silence follows, and I can feel the tension in the air around us. “So you have failed,” I spit at them with contempt. “Supposedly, you’re the finest crew Intrellia Prime has ever assembled, and you cannot determine what is wrong with this ancient beast?” I scan them all, and not one will meet my gaze. Although...Talacrus is looking at me. “Well?” I demand.
“Commander,” he begins with less deference than I would like, “we have determined what ails Acrulla,”
“And?”
“He does not accept your command, Commander.” Talacrus tells me with obvious pleasure, and I feel rage burn through me. I manage to control it, however, and hone it into a cold determination, and a plan comes to my thought center.
“He does not accept my command,” I repeat Talacrus’ words coldly. “Then maybe I can alter his thought processes somewhat.” I stare into Talacrus’ dark gray eyes for a few moments. “Maybe he will begin to respect me if I cut out one of his hearts.” The shock they all feel at my words is obvious and gratifying. They probably believe I am insane, which merely increases my hold over all of them. “To your stations,” I order. “I shall return a little later.” With those final words, I turn and leave the command section, heading for the reactor chamber.
***
My eyes flicker open, but it takes my brain a few seconds to catch up, and a confusion creeps through my mind. I finally remember where I am and how I got here then turn my attention to Talacanthus. It’s really hard to tell whether he’s any better or not. The penetrating wound I found in his chest would probably kill a human, but I lay my ear on his gently moving chest, and I hear a weird thumping as if he’s got horrific arrhythmia.
My whole body aches from being squeezed through the ship, searching for my alien, and I could really use something to eat and drink, but I don’t think I’ll find much down here. I sit up, wriggling out from under the covers I shared with Talacanthus, and decide to start a more detailed search of the packed boxes around us.
A few hours pass while I manage to fashion myself a reasonable outfit comprising of a pair of leather leggings, which feel as soft as silk against my skin, and an off-white shirt that feels like it’s made from cotton. Both garments are way too big for me, being from members of the Intrellian crew, but I manage to find a couple of belts, which hold it to my ample curves.
Without searching every box, bag and case, I can’t be sure if there’s a goldmine of weapons hidden here, but I do manage to find a pair of nasty looking daggers. One is of a smooth, reflective metal and the other looks to be made from bone, but it’s the hardest bone I have ever handled and razor sharp. I tuck the knives in the belt at my waist and decide to check on my patient.
Scrabbling back over to where I left him, a thrill crashes through me as I see his eyes are open, and I pick up speed, tripping and stumbling over the cargo in my need to get back to his side.
Kneeling beside him, I whisper, “Talacanthus?” I abandoned the translator along with my clothes, so he won’t be able to understand me, but I hope the sound of my voice will be enough to make him fight for life. I watch, eagerly, for any signs of life, but my chest constricts when I don’t see anything. I decide to lie down beside him and sleep. What’s going to happen if he dies? I’ll be left here alone, to either starve or get found by that new commander and slaughtered. I can feel the fright trying to creep into my brain and clamp a door shut on it all. I doubt Talacanthus felt fear when he fought the nightmarish beast from the lake, so I won’t dismiss him now. He will get better and we will be together.
***
Word must have spread before me as there is a small gathering in the reactor chamber, the presence of which amuses me greatly. I stride forward and attempt to skirt round the edge of the few who are there.
“Commander,” this comes from Talacrus, “I must advise against this course of action. If you destroy one of Acrulla’s hearts, it will endanger the lives of us all.”
I turn to face him. “I am
fully aware of that fact,” I tell him icily. “I was Chief Engineer aboard this old beast for more cycles than I care to recall, and I will bend it to my will or I will kill it.” I turn my head left and right. “And us all.”
“No,” he states flatly. “You will not.” The action is so fast I almost miss it but manage to dance backwards, barely avoiding a slashing cut which would have spilled my innards to the floor. Talacrus’ blow missing me sends him slightly off balance, and I throw my weight against his shoulder, pushing him further so I can draw my own knife.
I drop into a crouch and lunge forward, trying to stab him in the back as he spins and lashes out at me again. The other Intrellians around us back off and form a circle around us, a ring for us to fight to the death inside. Talacrus will die today, to join his bastard brother in the Hereafter. His reactions, style, even the amount of strength he can bring to bear are all far below mine, and we all know it.
“You are not your brother,” I taunt him. “I had to shoot him from afar, in this very room.” Talacrus leaps forward, his rage forcing him into making a rash decision, and I catch his wrist, using his own momentum to drive his body onto my blade. I watch as his eyes widen in agony, his breath coming in tiny gasps as I twist my dagger inside his body, tearing and cutting. His fingers loosen around his own knife, and it falls, the handle hitting my shoulder as it passes. His arm goes slack next, and then his knees buckle as he falls to the ground, crumpling into a heap of dead flesh on Acrulla’s floor.
“ACRULLA!” I scream into the room. “You will do as I command or share the fate of this weakling.” I clean Talacrus’ blood from my blade on his clothing and stand back up. “If I return to this room, I will spill your blood!”