by Ben Bequer
“Did they tell you what happened on Calypso?”
“Callisto,” Haha corrected.
“Whatever!”
I shook my head. Zundergrub raised an eyebrow, while Haha paused his presentation.
“You guys didn’t tell him?” Cool asked.
“He was alone with his playmate until now,” Zundergrub scoffed.
“Perhaps we should debrief him,” Haha suggested.
“An alien, bro. A fucking bonafide alien,” Cool Hand spat out, unable to control himself. Haha cocked his head, the only clue that the interruption displeased him.
“What?”
“Yeah, and it got pissed and tried to kill us. Killed Knighthawk. It ripped him apart.”
“Perhaps we should tell the story from the beginning,” Mr. Haha interjected, uneasy at Cool Hand’s haphazard style of storytelling.
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re right,” Cool Hand said. “So after we take off, Zee appears here because he has a magical thingie that teleports him or whatever. Then we go to Callisto on the rocket. Took like an hour, ‘because it was fast as shit. Then, BAMMO! An alien tries to kill us. Fucks up the ship, then fucks up some stupid Super that followed us from earth.”
“Knighthawk?”
“Yeah. He’s the guy with the suit. East coast guy, so you probably don’t know him from Elvis. You know, I didn’t know he could fly in space; but whatever, the guy followed us all the way from New York City.”
“Are you guys fucking with me?” I said looking around the table, but I got nothing from Zundergrub, and a shrug from Haha.
“For real,” Cool Hand continued. “It was like a floating flashlight then it came at us, and inside the light, was this thing. I can’t even describe it.”
He paused, motioning to the others to fill in the gap.
“I would say it was similar to Cnidaria with elements of Sepiida,” Haha said.
“My biology and Latin are rusty, Haha. Mind translating that to English?”
“It was a Cnidaria in form, a jellyfish, Blackjack. Closest in appearance, I’d say, to the hydromedusa Aequorea Victoria. It was interesting because it was radiating bioluminescence through photophore structures. The elements of Sepiida, which are cuttlefish, including the chameleonic ability to rapidly change its skin colors at will. Even changing color and light polarity in a form of communication that I have, as of yet, been unable to translate.”
“A jellyfish/cuttlefish alien?” I asked.
“At first, yeah, but then it changed, B. It turned into an angel. A pissed-off angel of destruction. It had wings, a sword, and a sexy toga thing. And she was pretty hot.”
“It wasn’t an illusion,” Haha said, seeing the bemused look on my face. “It was a transformation of some sort.”
“Yeah, she transformed, and went at the Rocket Flyer like an angry ex-girlfriend. We were in real trouble until Knighthawk went at her.”
“I used the moment’s distraction to fire the rockets and leave the area.”
“And Knighthawk?” I asked.
Cool shrugged and we all sat in silence, pondering the possibilities. Why would an alien be on Callisto?
There was nothing there. I was far from a specialist on the moons of Jupiter, but I could recall the flights of Voyager from my youth, the more recent images from the Galileo unmanned spacecraft. There was nothing on Jupiter. In fact, Saturn showed more promise of life with the moon of Titan having signs of water.
“So, the question is; what was it doing there?” I wondered aloud.
Zundergrub cleared his throat, “I believe it watches us.”
***
I came back to my room after the briefing, bringing Apogee a bowl of Cool Hand’s chili, but the only thing on my mind was that alien and what it represented. We had no video as the attack had destroyed most of the surveillance gear. Judging by the serious damage to the ship, the guys were lucky to have escaped at all.
But what was that alien doing there? If Zundergrub was right, it was watching us, but to what end? Why waste time watching a bunch of barely evolved monkeys? From their description, the alien was able to survive in outer space, able to transfigure between different forms and maybe even types of energy, and had enough power to destroy a Class-A super like Knighthawk without much trouble. If this was the case, what could it want with us? The only obvious answer to that was unsettling.
I walked into the room and Apogee was in the shower, which had no door or screen. She made no effort to conceal herself, so I turned away and sat on the bed placing the chili on the desk.
“I’m reduced to washing my hair with soap,” she complained, hearing my ruckus.
“When you go to the moon, you have to make sacrifices.”
“Shampoo is a sacrifice? Moisturizer is a sacrifice? Not to me.”
I ventured a peek as she had her back to me and what a sight, lithe and athletic, but not so much that it made her unfeminine. Apogee’s buttocks were tight and high, toned from years of exercise that had forged her long legs into two powerful pistons of muscle.
“You guys decide what to do with me?” she asked, suddenly facing me, almost taunting me to look at her, but I averted my gaze.
“We didn’t talk about you.”
“Oh?”
“We talked about the alien.”
“An alien. You expect me to take you seriously,” she said, shutting off the water and squeezing the water out of her hair.
“That’s what they’re saying,” I said, not really sure what to believe.
“Mind grabbing the towel for me?”
I picked up the towel, left for some reason on the bed, as far from the small shower in the tiny room as possible, and handed it to her, trying to keep myself from scanning her flawless body but failing miserably. She was smiling. She knew I couldn’t help myself, and I doubt any man alive could.
“Thanks,” she said, wrapping her body with the towel, standing awfully close to me. “So this alien, did it have a name? Alf perhaps? Or ET?”
“I didn’t see it, ok?” I said. “I was stuck with Ms. Needy in the voyage from hell.” I walked away from her, and plopped down on the chair again.
“Why are you angry with me?” she said wringing more water out of her hair into the sink.
“You’re getting the whole floor wet.”
“Is my being nude bothering you? I was taking a shower, you know. You came in without knocking.”
I felt my hand clench on the table, and without realizing it, I twisted the aluminum into a shredded mess.
“Ah, crap,” I said, releasing the mangled metal.
“It really bothers you?” she laughed.
“No, it doesn’t bother me. But you’re flashing your tits in my face, pressing yourself against me earlier. There’s only so much I can take, you know?”
Apogee laughed.
“I’m serious.”
Closing the gap between us, she grabbed my face like a kid, and said, “You big stupid lug.” Apogee held on too long then patted my face. “I’ll try to behave myself.”
“It’s not even that. Hell, that was the best part of my day.”
She laughed again.
“So what is stressing you out? Is it the others?”
“Yes,” I answered after a long pause.
“What did they say?”
“Nothing, like I told you,” I shot back, irritated. “But you know how it is. Us playing house isn’t kosher, you know? Keeping you around is causing problems for me.”
She went to the sink and disentangled her wet hair with the crummy comb from my kit.
“Cool Hand seemed to be ok with it. You think they’ll do something?”
“It’s not him I’m worried about.”
“You can beat Zundergrub,” she scoffed.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you can, or you don’t know if you want to?”
She brought up a valid and interesting point, but she wasn’t thinking this through like a
villain.
“That’s not the point, Apogee. See, if they decide they’ve had it with you, they won’t come after you. They’ll come after me. You’re too valuable as a hostage for them in case things go sour. Me? I’m a guy they can replace with a phone call.”
And once I’m gone, I didn’t bother to add, she’s Dr. Zundergrub’s fun toy. Cool Hand might be a pretty funny guy, with a clever comment or joke about everything, but I doubted he would cross Zundergrub to defend her. And all of Apogee’s speed and power wouldn’t count for much if I wasn’t around to help her. I had to thread this needle carefully.
I shook my head. “I don’t know what to think.”
“At least you’re thinking for once. See? I am doing you some good,” Apogee laughed sitting down on the bed.
“I don’t know what to make of you,” I said. “You’re working me to get to the others, I know that much. But this whole act,” I motioned to her figure. “You keep going back to that, using it as a tool. You’re good, and like a total idiot, I’m falling for it. And what’s worse, the others can tell.”
“You think I would do all of this to manipulate you?”
I shrugged.
“Blackjack, I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “You’re trying too hard.”
“And you think what I’m doing is some grand ploy to put a wedge between you and the others so we can defeat your team from the inside or something? You really think I would do that?”
“What’s the other alternative? A woman like you interested in a guy like me? Yeah, right. You’re working an angle here. And don’t think I don’t know that Zundergrub’s spell isn’t working on you. I can tell bad acting when I see it.”
She was suddenly serious, “So why don’t you tell the others?”
I didn’t respond, because the answer was all too obvious.
“Blackjack,” she said in the softest and most measured tone that she had ever used with me, “You’re pretty smart when it comes to your engineering stuff, but when it comes to women, you’re pretty dumb.”
“You’re right,” I said. “I’ve been like a puppy dog all this time. I haven’t seen things for what they are. I’m such a fucking idiot.”
“Can I ask you something?”
I nodded.
“Have I done anything to make you doubt me?” She paused, then added when I was about to answer, “Since we made peace.”
I shrugged, “No.”
“And do you trust them?”
I shook my head.
“Then how about you give me a chance,” she asked, and I found it hard to reject her. “Because if you think that leaving me somewhere and forgetting about me is the solution, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“I doubt I’ll forget the last few days as long as I live,” I said.
“No kidding,” Apogee admitted. “Seems like a lot longer than a few days. So much has changed.”
I was surprised. Was she being genuine, or was this all part of her plan? Then she looked around the room a moment, giving something some thought.
“You know what we need? We need...” Apogee paused, a playful grin spreading across her face as she got up from the bed and came closer.
“My name is Madelyne.”
She reached out her right hand and I didn’t hesitate, taking her hand in mine.
“I’m Dale.”
Chapter 17
Cool Hand, Zundergrub, Apogee and I huddled in the access hatch as Haha maneuvered the ship onto the landing platform on Nostromo’s Moon base. This was one time where I wanted to be on my usual post, watching from the view screen, but for some reason, Cool Hand asked Apogee and I down to the hatch.
I was putting on the spacesuit, when Haha chimed in on the speaker system. “Estimated time to touchdown,” the robot started, “thirty seconds. I’m detecting a mini-atmosphere with near-Earth gravity well. Artificial, of course, but I don’t suppose you’ll need the spacesuits.
“Great timing,” I huffed, throwing off a glove into the locker where the gear was stowed.
Cool Hand was restless, like kid that needed to pee. He kept looking over to Zundergrub, but the doctor had his back to us, his attention out a porthole. Cool said nothing, but there was something about his nervous smile that gave him away.
Then we landed, if you can call it that. It was more like a collision between the landing pad and our ship. We were tossed about the hatch, and I thought we had suffered structural damage.
“What the fuck was that?” Cool Hand yelled into the wall-mounted communications panel as he came to his feet.
“We’ve landed,” Haha announced as if there was a doubt.
I tried to gaze out the access hatch’s narrow window, but my view was obscured by Zundergrub, and the moon dust kicked up by the Rocket Flyer upon landing.
“There’s something we must discuss,” Zundergrub turned and said.
“Yes, I know.”
“She can’t be trusted, Blackjack. She is one of the enemy.”
I said nothing.
“I’m sorry, B. But she’s one of them, you know?” Even Cool Hand was against me.
Apogee was expressionless. She wore her uniform and eye mask, and looked at me passively.
“I’ll stay onboard with her. To keep an eye on her and when we-”
“Unacceptable!” Zundergrub erupted. “She must be dealt with now.”
Haha bounded down to join us, interrupting our proceedings. I noted his positioning in the cramped access hatch, immediately behind me, while Zundergrub and Cool were in front. The rabbit robot did nothing, but the threat was palpable.
“What do you mean ‘deal with now’ Zundergrub? You mean to kill her?”
The doctor smiled, and only then did I realize he was caressing his Yellow imp, which I now understood to be a preparation for when he unleashed it.
“If necessary, my dear Blackjack.”
“You’ll die,” I said. “You understand? I will end you.”
“I think we can come to some arrangement that will allow everyone to save face,” Haha interjected.
Cool looked nervous. His loyalties might have been divided between his budding friendship with me and his sense of duty to the mission, but for now he was going with the flow, letting Zundergrub and Haha take control of the situation.
For her part, Apogee was more concerned with my nervous frustration than anything Zundergrub or the others had to say. Her eyes never wavered from me and there was a moment where I caught myself staring at her, not listening to the others.
“Say that again, Haha,” I said, tensing up as I realized the final moment was almost upon us.
“We will let Zundergrub mind control her further,” he repeated for my benefit. “He will clean her mind of all her recent memories, and place her under your control and responsibility, Blackjack, so she can help us on this mission. When we return to earth, we will release her somewhere remote. It’s agreed, though, if we meet her again, we will not be so benevolent.”
“There’s no need for that,” I shouted, echoing through the access hatch. “I have her under control.”
“We can’t take the risk,” Haha said.
“She’s still under the effects of his mind control,” I lied. “Apogee had plenty chances to turn me in, or to escape and she didn’t.”
“I don’t care about her ulterior motives,” Zundergrub said. “And further, I don’t care about your reasons for keeping her alive. We have decided, and that decision is final.”
“You do anything to her-“ I started but Apogee interrupted me, placing her soft hand on my shoulder. Her touch was kind and he serene expression put me at ease that very second.
Our eyes still locked, she eased me aside, her hand slid across my chest and settled on my heart. I wanted to kiss her there, fight the others, save her from Zundergrub’s horror, but her eyes told me all I needed to know. The last few days, our bond, it meant something to her, and she wasn’t going to let me die tryin
g to save her. Madelyne knew I understood and smiled to me before she turned to Zundergrub.
The doctor did a terrible job of hiding his disappointment. He wanted a fight, underneath all his super villain etiquette; he wanted a go at me.
“Go ahead, doctor,” she told him, and Zundergrub looked through her at me. Somewhat shaken, he quickly recovered and began his awful process, his eyes becoming balls of angry darkness coruscating as he tore into her psyche.
Apogee was in his thrall and she could not look away, despite the anguish. Her body clenched and her muscles fought, as Zundergrub unleashed his abilities to their fullest. He spent time working his tenebrous power and as he did, his face became a twisted mask, as if the dark forces he wielded were causing a terrible toll on him as well.
She shrieked and I panicked. I rushed at Zundergrub but Cool Hand and Haha were ready. Cool used his temporal powers, partially paralyzing my right side, while Haha spread biotech tendrils through the room, becoming an anchor between my body and the walls of the Rocket Flyer. While their efforts slowed me, they were inadequate to contain me and I ripped through the metal webbing, and shrugged off Cool’s temporal bubble.
“Stop!” Haha yelled.
“It’s for her own good,” Cool Hand shouted in my ear, struggling as his power was not enough to prevent me from advancing.
Zundergrub continued and she cried out, her eyes never wavering from the doctor’s nebulous orbs. Shadowy tendrils fired from his eyes into hers, wrapping around her head and upper torso, dropping her to her knees in torturous misery.
As Cool’s power seemed unable to constrain me, Mr. Haha doubled his efforts, wrapping me many times over, borrowing materials from the vessel so that I was encapsulated from shoulder to toe with swathes of steel girders, floor panels and metal deck plating.
But I refused to be held
I bent Haha’s construct forward, ripping through the strands and howling like a mad man. The metal gave, even as the robot continued his efforts to hold me.
The doctor couldn’t help but notice that I was about to reach him and he stopped the ritual, releasing Apogee. He was furious that I had interrupted the process, but I also saw fear dawn in those power tainted eyes. Apogee collapsed onto the floor, as I reached out and almost grabbed him. He recoiled against the hatch, but with his escape routes evaporating, he desperately tried his power against me. I expected, in the back of my mind, for this to be the end for me. I had been the subject of his horrible power not so long ago, and it had turned me into his helpless plaything.