by Donald Swan
Argos listened as Arya explained the details of her plan. When she was finished, he stood up to pace the room before finally pausing to stare out of the ready-room window. After a long moment, he turned somberly to Arya. “I don’t see any other choice. Do it.”
“I’ll get right on it, Captain.” Arya spun around and headed to the lift.
Nick felt like a third wheel in all this running around trying to save the galaxy and the crew, and always…always following Arya. Dammit, he was a scientist. Back home, he was considered a genius. He hated feeling like an idiot running after the others and following orders all the time. No one ever asked his opinion. And right now, he had a lot of questions about Arya’s plan. Questions he couldn’t help asking.
As the team made their way through the corridors in the direction of the forward plasma torpedo bay, Nick finally let it out. “How do you know this will work? This could make the monster stronger.”
“It will make it stronger.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Karg blurted out, spraying saliva over the back of Nick’s head.
Nick frowned as he glanced up over his shoulder at Karg. “Hey! Do ya mind?” He reached up and brushed spit from his hair.
Karg shrugged in apology.
Arya stopped so abruptly that Nick almost plowed into the front of her as she spun around to face him. “It will take time for the creature to grow strong enough to break free. We will use that time to destroy it.”
“That’s your plan?” Nick was flabbergasted. He waved a hand near the back of his head as he spoke. Karg was standing so close his breath was tickling Nick’s hair. “That’s all you could come up with?” Scrunching his eyes closed in frustration, he dropped his head back and rubbed his forehead hard with the heel of one hand. “Arya, queen or not, I gotta tell ya’, I’ve heard better plans.” He opened his eyes to find Karg staring down into his face. Nick straightened his neck to face Arya again. She looked annoyed. Or maybe pissed. Hard to say with those cat-like eyes of hers. By a glance at her folded back ears it was clear that it was the latter.
“Well, for now, it’s all we’ve got,” she quipped. “So until you come up with something better, just shut up and follow orders.”
“Right,” Nick replied tightly. “Right. Because I’m just the idiot that destroyed a huge-ass ship that was trying to destroy you. Because I crossed the galaxy and beyond in my little module and broke a code you people can’t break. So, my ideas hold no weight around here.”
Arya glared at him. “We’re wasting time!”
Nick started to say something then stopped himself. Karg nudged him from behind, and the three set off again. “Right. Right. We got a monster to kill. Then we got Mok’tu ass to kick. What’s next?” he muttered. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about the Dragorans.”
Once in the torpedo bay, Nick and Karg worked quickly, following Arya’s directions to prepare their monster trap.
Arya opened the cover of a torpedo that sat ready to be loaded into the launch tube and began the necessary modifications. As she worked, she referenced relevant information about the weapon’s field generators from an online ship’s manual displayed on her personal data unit. After several minutes of reconfiguring the torpedo, she leaned back and smiled in satisfaction. “There, I think that about does it.”
She punched a few more buttons on the torpedo’s keypad and secured the cover. “We’re ready.”
“I hope you’re right about this,” Nick said, staring down at the smooth, charcoal-gray casing of the torpedo.
Arya glanced up and uttered a noticeably uncomfortable “Me too.”
Nick cocked his head as he looked down at her. Her sudden display of doubt concerned him.
After notifying the Captain of their status, the team sat waiting for the ship to move into position. In the silence of the torpedo compartment, Nick’s watch sounded oddly loud as it ticked out each painful second.
Following a long, tense wait, word finally came down from the Captain. The ship had arrived at its destination. And not a moment too soon. The length of the journey had allowed the monster enough time to kill two more crewmembers. The Admiral’s two personal guards.
Arya com-linked up to Argos on the bridge. “Okay I’m powering up. Shut down every system you can spare, Captain.”
“Shutting down all nonessential systems,” Argos replied. “Life support at minimum. It’s going to get cold in here. I hope this thing cooperates, or we may just freeze to death first.”
Trap set, the team waited. The specially tuned energy waves of the generator that Arya had configured inside the torpedo should attract the beast. At least that was the plan.
Nick sat down and turned nervously to Arya. He always had a hard time keeping his mouth shut when he was anxious. “Do you really think putting the crew in suspended animation will protect them?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Pretty sure? Well, I’m glad I still have a fighting chance at least. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a Cryo-unit, unable to move, when that thing came for me. I’m not sure I would have agreed to let you freeze me with such a monster loose onboard.”
Arya looked uncomfortable with the conversation and avoided Nick’s gaze.
“You didn’t tell them, did you?” Nick stared at her, his brow furrowed. He couldn’t believe she would order the crew into Cryo-tubes without telling them about the monster.
Arya stared straight ahead, avoiding Nick’s intent stare. “They understand the risks, and the chain of command. This is just between the Captain and the three of us. No one else needed to know.”
Nick sat speechless. How could she do such a thing? How could she be so cold? Nick stared at the floor for some time, trying to come to terms with this new side of Arya. Eventually, reluctantly, he began to realize she was right. Soldiers were trained to follow orders and respect the chain of command to avoid chaos. Soldiers usually weren’t privy to the details behind the orders they were given. They just needed to have confidence in their leaders and do their job. Argos definitely seemed to have the crew’s confidence and respect.
Nick sniffed. “I guess you’re right. Just hard to swallow.”
“It’s okay. I am pretty certain that while in suspended animation their low energy readings will protect them. Especially in the presence of the strong energy signature the torpedo is pumping out.”
“And what about our energy signatures?” Nick added. Maybe the crewmembers who were stuck in the Cryo-chambers were actually the lucky ones. At least their energy readings weren’t blaring out like a beacon to this thing. A familiar shiver went up his spine. He forced down a swallow and sat up straight, fighting to keep his fear from showing through.
In his peripheral vision, Nick spotted a white foggy cloud forming right beside him. He glanced over at it, and the blood froze in his veins. The small, billowing cloud floated just off his left shoulder. He’d be damned if he was going to be next on the menu!
Nick frantically tried backing away from the mist, falling off his seat and onto the floor in the process. After landing backwards and scrambling across the floor, he realized he had an audience in Karg and Arya. They sat calmly staring at him with grins plastered on their faces.
“Black smoke, remember?” Arya raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
Karg let out a chuckle.
Embarrassed, Nick picked himself up off the cold floor and positioned himself on the bench again, his heart still pounding wildly. “Oh, yeah, right. Black smoke. I knew that.”
What an idiot. In the icy cold of the room, his breath had formed into what looked like a white smoky entity floating nearby. It had scared the living daylights out of him. “Damn breath,” he muttered, trying not to look at his shipmates.
Nick couldn’t seem to get comfortable. It felt like his butt was frozen to the cold, hard metal bench. As he fidgeted, he glanced up at Karg, and his eyes widened in alarm. Unwilling to embarrass himself again, he hesitated to say anything until he was sure of what he was seeing.
But he was seeing…something…black.
Karg noticed the odd look on Nick’s face. “Now what?” he said, rolling his eyes at Nick.
Nick answered as calmly as he could. “It’s here.” He nodded at a point just beyond Karg. “Right there.”
“Yeah, right. I’m not falln’ for that one,” Karg quipped.
Arya spun around to see a black gaseous mass forming in the room, just behind Karg’s right shoulder. When she spoke, her voice was carefully modulated and audibly low. “Karg, move this way. Slowly.” As calm as she seemed, her voice quivered with tension.
Karg’s nostrils flared and his eyes widened in fear. He slid his rear end down the bench toward Arya and away from the creature, keeping his eyes fixed on her the whole time, as if looking at the creature might cause it to attack.
Unfortunately for the big guy, the black cloud-like creature moved with him.
“Okay, wait. Stop moving,” Arya said calmly.
Karg paused and peered over his shoulder toward the thing hovering there.
The cloud stopped then moved slightly toward the torpedo lying in the open launch tube. It hovered between Karg and the tube for a moment, almost as if studying the scene.
“Damn thing is thinking it through,” Nick muttered.
“Arya? Do something,” Karg ground out between clenched teeth.
“No one move,” Arya commanded, her stare fixed on the creature. She didn’t even blink while she watched and waited.
Nick’s gaze flitted between Arya and the ominous black mass. Dammit. What the hell was she waiting for? He figured the creature could sense the electrical impulses from his racing heart, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Fear and adrenaline had gotten the best of him. Any minute the monster might find his runaway energy too irresistible and attack. The throbbing in his veins had his ears ringing so loud that the sound drowned out the ever present hum of the ship’s engines. He’d never been so damn scared. Hell, he’d rather face ten mad Rakozians than this thing. The pressure in his head was growing rapidly from the anticipation. If something didn’t happen soon, he was going to bust a damn artery.
The creature moved a few feet in the direction of the torpedo casing then suddenly bolted back toward Karg.
Karg instinctively jerked away.
The creature stopped abruptly, only inches from Karg’s head. The writhing black mass struggled to move forward, desperately trying to attack him, fighting hard against the magnetic containment field that Arya had deployed to ensnare the beast. The creature unleashed a terrifying, deafening scream as it thrashed about, trying to break free of its bonds. Unable to escape, it paused for a second then changed shape. It quickly morphed from a black cloud-like mass into the sinister shape of a hideous, black, multi-limbed monster. Each of the monster’s arms were tipped with six-inch-long, sharp talons that clawed wildly at Karg as it screamed in anger. No question about it, the creature was furious over being trapped.
Nick almost wet himself at the sight of the horrendous beast. The squeezing in his chest was now beginning to concern him. Crap, forget the creature, he was going to have a damn heart attack right there! And all this time he’d thought Karg was the scariest thing he’d ever seen. Now he knew there was something even scarier out there.
Karg was frozen in place, staring into what could only be described as the face of evil. Its talons slashed frighteningly close to his face. But the snarling creature was beginning to lose ground, slowly being drawn backward away from Karg as it thrashed violently.
The team watched the cloud condense down smaller and tighter as the magnetic field drew the thing into the waiting torpedo casing. The monster quickly gained strength from the power generator, and burst out in one final, wild fit of rage before being completely sucked back into the torpedo’s containment chamber.
Nick had been sitting there frozen with fear, unable to breathe the whole time. He finally drew a breath only to be stopped mid-inhale by the sting of icy cold air. He forced another frigid breath into his protesting lungs and peeled his frozen pants off the bench to stand.
Even Karg was huffing as he looked at Arya. “That was close. Did you have to wait so long?”
“I had to make sure it got close enough to the torpedo for the magnetic field to capture it,” Arya said as she too tried to catch her breath.
She hit a button on the console she was manning, and the torpedo slid into the launch tube. The door to the tube slammed shut, sealing the torpedo encased dark entity inside. With a hollow whoosh, the torpedo fired into space. From a nearby targeting display, the team watched the torpedo’s trajectory. It flew straight on course as they held their breath and waited.
“Almost there….” Arya relayed.
Ahead of the torpedo lay a dark region of space surrounded by a bright swirling disc of gas. A black hole. They could only hope the hole’s gravitational pull would ensnare the monster before it escaped the containment vessel. The torpedo flew on, covering the vast distance to the event horizon at blazing speed, assisted by the immense tug of the hole’s gravitational forces. The huge black hole hung there, ominously waiting in the silence of space. One dark monster preparing to swallow another.
The torpedo casing ruptured suddenly, and the sinister black mass erupted from within.
Arya closely watched the readings from the sensor array. “The monster is feeding off the generator’s power. It has increased in size by a power of twelve to the fifth,” she announced with an unusual nervousness in her voice.
The creature continued to grow rapidly larger in the display until it was a million times its previous mass.
“We’re freked!” Karg blurted.
The monster looked furious. It swirled violently in the blackness of space, only visible against the dark center of the black hole due to the enhanced sensor display.
Arya hit her com-badge. “Captain?”
“I see it. Moving us to a safer distance now,” Argos replied.
Enormous black tentacles lashed out at the ship, only to be pulled back by intense gravity. The creature was now beyond the point of no return, slowly being swept backwards into the gaping mouth of the black hole. Despite the beast’s struggles, it would eventually slip beyond the event horizon into its ultimate demise in the crushing gravity of the singularity.
“That’s it then,” Arya said. “There’s no way it can get out of that. It’s effectively dead.”
Arya com-linked up to the bridge. “Captain, I suggest we get the hetek out of here, Sir.”
“Agreed. Setting course. The three of you make a good team. Well done. Go get some rest, you earned it. That is, after you wake the rest of the crew from their nap.”
Arya sighed. “You know how long it’s going to take to bring them out of Cryo?” She looked at Karg and Nick. “Well, you heard the Captain. We make a good team, so come on you two, we better get to it.”
“I feel like we’re in Cryo. It’s dran cold in here,” Karg complained as he brushed ice crystals from the edges of his nose.
“Yeah, sure…. Explore the creepy planet, get attacked by Dragorans, kill the monster hitch-hiker, wake the frozen crew…. Just your average day in space.” Nick waved his arms and talked to no one in particular. “I mean, can’t I have just one day where something’s not trying to kill me? Is that too much to ask?” In an attempt to brush off the shivers, he raked his hands down his goose bump covered arms. “Just one day on the beach of some nice, warm planet, with no gun fire, no schematics, no….” An odd feeling of being in a vacuum made Nick pause and glance around. He was the only one left in the room. “Of course I’m the only one here. No one ever listens to me. Hey!” he shouted. “Wait up.”
“I hate it when you do that,” he muttered as he jogged toward the door. Rounding the doorway into the corridor, Nick stopped. He expected to be on the heels of Karg when he hit the corridor, but the dark hallway was empty and eerily quiet. The light from the room filtered through a puff of breath as it left his mouth. He sta
red through the small cloud of frigid crystals and down the long black passage, listening. Nothing but absolute silence. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, but the reaction wasn’t from the frigid temperature. He suddenly felt apprehensive and downright spooked.
Puzzled by the silence, he turned cautiously to look in the other direction.
Loud, deep snarls met him as he turned.
Nick lurched in fright as he saw a massive black shadow looming behind him in the darkness. “Ahhh!” He turned screaming and headed down the corridor as fast as his legs could carry him. “Karg! It’s back! The creature is back!” he yelled. “Arya!”
His screams were silenced by the sound of laughter coming from behind him. It’s laughing? That doesn’t sound…. “Wait a minute.” Nick’s feet hit the floor with an ever slowing pace. He stopped and turned to look back down the gloomy hallway. Karg and Arya laughed hysterically as they rolled on the floor.
“Did you see him run?” Arya squeaked out between laughs.
Karg snickered and looked down the corridor at Nick. “EEEK! Save me!” Karg screeched. “I’ve seen Echoc children who are braver than you, Bannon.”
Nick bent over and held his pounding chest, trying desperately to catch his breath. “I swear, if the monsters don’t kill me, the two of you will!” he huffed. “You guys really need to come over to my house for Halloween.” Nick had been itching for a way to get back at his neighbor Joe for scaring him so bad last year. Karg would be perfect. The big hulk would make Joe crap his pants.
Nick plopped down and leaned back against the cold metal wall of the corridor, waiting for his heart to calm down.
Karg puzzled over Nick’s statement. “What is Hal Owene? Is that some kind of human food?”