Back in the computer access room, Wilks began playing with the internal video cams. They weren’t much, basic and cheap bottom-of-the-line Cambodian units. Terran regulations required such equipment, even on robot ships, and for once, Wilks was glad to see union politics doing something useful. No motion sensors or infrared, but something was better than nothing.
Bueller sat cradled in the operations chair. His reflexes were faster and he knew the systems better.
“We figure there are two of them left,” Billie said. She leaned against the back of Wilks’s chair, watching the monitors as Wilks brought up the various views.
Nothing in the main corridor.
“How did they get on board?”
Wilks said, “Somebody had four demi-stiffs in chambers in the aft cargo hold. Infected.”
The midline cargo bay was clear.
“Why would anybody do that?”
“Good question. Fuck if I know.” He winced. “Ah, shit.”
“You okay?” Billie asked.
“Muscle spasm in my back. I’m not going to be running the marathon for a few days.” He looked at Bueller. “Billie hadn’t stopped it, the pressure hatch would have made me into your twin brother.”
No monsters in the makeshift head.
Wilks brought up another view, this time of the kitchen they’d rigged. Nobody home.
“That’s it,” Wilks said. “Cheap bastards put in the minimum required, we’re blind everywhere else. Damn.”
Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Then: “I can maybe give us some more eyes,” Bueller said.
Wilks turned. Pain shot down his spine, hurt all the way to his goddamn feet. He bit his lip. “What are you talking about? You aren’t going anywhere.”
“No, that wouldn’t be very efficient in my present condition. But there are a couple of mobile cleaners, battery-operated dumbots. If we can rig a cam to one, we can program it to do a search.”
Wilks managed a smile. “That’s good, Bueller. And here I thought your brains were in your ass. Let’s do it.”
It took a couple of hours for Mitch to wire the things, but when he was done, they had a portable camera. Billie didn’t know what they could do about it if they found the aliens, but she figured it was better to know where they were. They still had four shots left in the carbine.
The dumbot and camera were together as big as a medium-size dog. The unit rolled on six fat little silicone wheels and should be able to go anywhere a person could walk.
“Okay, puppy” Wilks said, “go find us the nasty monsters.”
* * * * *
It took them nearly two hours to spot the aliens. They were on the ceiling of the corridor just outside the midline cargo section. If Wilks hadn’t known they could do that, latch themselves to the ceiling, he wouldn’t have had the camera doing full pans, but he’d seen the things come off the walls and ceilings of their nests. They weren’t moving and if he hadn’t known better, they looked like some kind of sculpture hung by a modern artist.
“There they are,” Wilks said.
Billie leaned forward for a better look. “Now what?”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“I could take the carbine,” Mitch began. “If I can get close enough before they move—”
“No,” Billie said. “Can you make the robot make noise?”
Wilks and Mitch looked at her.
“Put it into the midline lock,” she said. “If we can lure them into the lock …”
“Yeah,” Wilks said. “We could blow them out into vac. Maybe.”
“Better ideas?” Billie said.
Wilks and Mitch looked at each other. Shook their heads.
“Let’s do it.”
Bueller was good at taking over the dumbot with the remote. He got it through the inner hatch to the lock and started running it into the walls. They didn’t have a sound pickup, but it must be thumping pretty good.
“Move it next to the outer hatch,” Billie suggested.
Bueller did so. He trained the cam on the inner portal. Less than a minute later, the two aliens moved into view.
“Let’s give them something to chase,” Wilks said.
The dumbot moved back and forth in front of the outer hatch, Bueller had it going in jerky stops and starts.
“They probably know they can’t eat it,” Wilks said.
“They’re both inside,” Billie said.
“Shut the fucking hatch,” Wilks said.
Bueller abandoned the controls to the dumbot and slapped the override button for the hatch. Before the aliens could react, he grabbed the controls to the mobile unit again and sent it at the aliens. The little machine crashed into one of the aliens” legs.
The picture canted wildly as the alien kicked the robot.
“Grab hold of something, I’m shutting the gravity off!”
Wilks felt that familiar pit-of-the-stomach lurch as his body told his brain he was falling and would soon be smashed flat.
“Blow the outer hatch!”
Bueller hit the control. The ship wobbled.
“Can we get the camera?” Billie asked.
Bueller’s hands did their dance, fingers wiggling impossibly fast. The picture spun. “It’s outside the ship,” he said. “Tumbling—there, there’s one of them!” He froze the picture. One of the aliens floated past, its horrible expression made more so by the realization it was leaving the only sanctuary for millions of klicks. Or maybe that was just Wilks’s imagination.
“Where is the other one?”
“I don’t see it,” Bueller said. “But I’ve got a shot of the inside of the lock.” He pulled up another image.
The lock was empty.
“All right!” Wilks said. “Hasta la vista, fuckheads!” He turned to look at Billie. “Score another one for the good guys, kid.”
Her hair floated up around her head in the zero gee. She closed her eyes and nodded.
Bueller turned the gravity back on and Billie settled into herself—
Then something started banging on the hull.
4
The pounding that vibrated through the ship changed to a scraping noise, like giant claws scratching on metal.
“Sounds like the cat wants in,” Wilks says. “I’ll get it.”
He tried to stand. An invisible karate expert slammed a steely fist into Wilks’s lower back. The spasm and pain nailed him into stillness. Any movement was too much. He collapsed back into the chair, and that hurt, too.
“Or maybe not,” he managed through tight lips. “He probably hasn’t had time to pee yet and we don’t have a litter box.”
“Ill go,” Bueller said.
“Wait a second,” Billie said. “Why does anybody have to do anything? It’s outside. It doesn’t have any air, it will freeze, it will die!”
Wilks shook his head. Damned if that didn’t hurt, too. “It’s not human, Billie. We don’t know what kind of oxygen or energy reserves it has tucked away. It might survive a long time. Any of us would already be history out there.”
“So? Fuck it, let it croak slowly.”
Bueller picked it up. “This isn’t a combat ship, Billie. No armor. There are things it could damage out there. Heat tiles and hydraulic sheathing will protect against atmospheric burns and space dust, but not against what that creature can do.”
“What are you saying?”
“It jabs a finger in the wrong spot, bends the wrong flange crooked, rips the wrong hose, it might wreck the ship,” Wilks added.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Trust me here, kid. A human in a suit with a half-kilogram reactionless hammer could do it. If it knew where to hit us, that thing could blow us to eternity and it wouldn’t even work up a sweat.”
Billie shook her head. “Great. Just fucking great.”
“We have a couple of inspection suits,” Bueller said. “Umbilicals. I’ll see if I can rig one to fit me.”
Billie stared at him. She took a d
eep breath.
Wilks saw it coming.
“No,” she said. “Ill go.”
“Billie—” Bueller began.
“A spacesuit has magnetic boots,” she said. She stared at Bueller. “Is that right?”
“Yes, but—”
“So how are you going to move around and carry a carbine, Mitch? Hold the gun in your teeth while you clump around with boots on your hands? Wilks can’t, you aren’t in any shape to do it. That leaves me.”
Wilks and Bueller exchanged looks. “She’s right,” Wilks said. “I hate that, but she’s right.”
Billie stripped to her undershirt and panties. The lock was chilly, the suit stiff and bulky as she stepped into the bottom half and worked it up her legs. Chill bumps frosted her skin; her belly felt as if it had been flash frozen from the inside out. Wilks had drilled her half a dozen times in how to put the suit on, how to test the seals, make sure everything was in working order. If he could have moved, he would have been here checking it. Of course, if he could have moved, he would have gone himself.
The suit had a voxcom; Wilks’s voice came over it as Billie lowered the hard plastic helmet into place.
“Listen, kid, we can’t be of much help in here. The internal cameras would freeze outside and this piece of shit isn’t equipped with hull scanners. I might be able to rotate one of the long-distance sensors, but even so, it’d be fairly myopic.”
“You want to watch it eat me?”
Mitch came on the com. “Billie…”
“Just a joke, Mitch. Don’t worry. I’ll find the damned thing and shoot it. I’ve got four shots left, that should be plenty.”
She wished she felt as brave as she tried to sound. The odds were in her favor. She knew what she was dealing with, she had a gun that could kill it, she was brighter. The drones were like big ants or bees, they were nasty and deadly, but stupid.
That’s what everybody said. Relentless, yes; smart, no. Faux grav was confined to the inside surfaces of the ship. Outside, the thing would float away if it wasn’t very careful. Billie could walk on the hull with her boots; the alien would have to have something to hold on to. And it wasn’t going to be her.
“Okay, I’m in the suit. The air is coming through, the heaters and valves and all are green, according to the little panel under my chin. I’m going to close the inner hatch and depressurize the lock.”
“You sure?” Wilks said.
“Yes, Mother.”
“Billie. Be careful.” That from Mitch.
She could hear the love in his voice. She thought. She nodded, realized he couldn’t see it. “Don’t worry. I’m going to be real careful.”
The pumps cycled online. The heavy suit expanded as the pressure dropped in the lock. God, she felt as if she were in a thick balloon. She could bend her arms and legs, but it was not easy. The carbine had been built with combat gauntlets in mind so she could reach the trigger okay in the suit’s gloves. She made sure the fire selector was in single-shot mode. The LED number 4 on the magazine readout gleamed redly at her. Four shots should be enough. Should be plenty.
Another red light went on, this one a bar showing the lock’s air pressure was effectively zero. Billie swallowed, her throat dry. “I’m going to open the outer door,” she said.
“Copy. Go.”
The hatch slid up. The stars were hard pinpricks against the dead black curtain of space. The local sun was shining, but on the opposite side of the ship. Billie moved to the entrance. Leaned out and looked to the sides. The ship had running lights and the faint glow was enough for her to see the immediate area was clear. A faint dusting of dreg-air blew out, becoming visible as it froze.
“Nobody in sight. I’m going out.”
“Don’t forget, your boot controls are on your hips, they’re toggles. Put one foot out and light the magnetics on that side first.”
“I remember.”
Billie put her right foot outside the ship, lifted the protective cover over the button on her hip, pressed the control. The boot stuck to the ship’s side without sound.
“The magnets are stronger under the arch of your foot, weaker at the ball and heel,” Wilks said. “Walk as normally as you can and the boot will peel up and replant okay. It’ll feel like you’re stepping on something real sticky. Just take it slow, keep one foot down at all times.”
“Wilks, you already said that. It wasn’t that long ago; my brain hasn’t gone dead yet.”
Billie moved her other leg outside of the ship, triggered the magnetics on the left boot. Felt a sudden dizziness as she stood “up,” extending from the side of the ship like a thorn stuck into it. She attached the magnetic ball of the umbilical to the ship as a backup.
“You’ll probably feel like you’re falling,” Wilks said. “That’s okay, don’t let that bother you, you’ll adjust in a little while.”
Billie looked around. God, it was so big! Despite the fear she felt, a sense of wonder flowed into her. There was a kind of razor-edge beauty to it. The suit’s heaters were on, she was comfortable enough, but the cold was so deep she could almost hear it sing. She sighed. It was a rush, being out here in the middle of nowhere, millions of Wicks away from anything. It made her realize how small she really was, compared to the vastness of the cosmos.
“It’s a real E-ticket ride out here.”
“Ain’t it, though,” Wilks said. “You never forget your first EVA.”
“Assuming you survive it,” Billie said.
Walking was, as Wilks said, not too hard. A little awkward, but not bad once you got used to it. There was a little light on top of her helmet, and she switched it on. She felt as if she were the only person in the entire universe.
Wake up, Billie, she told herself. Don’t forget why you’re out here.
“I’m by the big dish-shaped thing,” she said.
“The main antenna,” Wilks said. “See anything?”
“Nope. I’m going to walk toward the back of the ship. I’ll stay near the right edge so I can look down the side.”
“Copy.”
Billie started moving. She held the carbine ready to fire, her finger on the trigger. You weren’t supposed to do that, you weren’t supposed to touch the trigger until you were ready to fire the weapon, but she wasn’t going to risk fumbling in the damned gloves when she couldn’t feel anything through them. She’d heard the scientists were working on nanopuke suits that were thinner than paint and stronger than spider silk, you could see right through them, but the alien infestation no doubt put a stop to that fast enough.
She passed the parabolic dish, a couple of meters away on her left, glanced over to make sure nothing was crouched down behind it. The umbilical ball rolled soundlessly along behind her. She started to turn back and peer over the side of the ship when she caught a glimpse of movement in her peripheral vision.
Billie twisted back toward the dish, pivoting slowly on the balls of her feet. Her left boot peeled up from the deck.
The alien flew toward her like some malignant retro-bird, arms extended, taloned hands spread wide to catch her. It must have been flattened against the back of the dish, she thought. She should have looked higher. Bad mistake—
She screamed, something wordless and primal, and snapped the carbine up. Her vision tunneled, and she was vaguely aware of her yell echoing in the suit, of Wilks rattling something incomprehensible at her through the com. A single heartbeat later even those sounds vanished as all her attention focused on the black death sailing toward her. The distant sun glittered on the thing’s armor, cast a long shadow over her, as it loomed, a living eclipse. Nothing existed for Billie in that moment save the thing’s teeth, frozen spittle and slime crusting them as they came for her. She had the carbine up now, no time to aim, just point it and shoot—!
The recoil from the first shot peeled the other boot free of the ship. She couldn’t tell if she hit the alien or not. The second shot’s recoil spun her backward in a flip, her lower body and feet blocked h
er view of the onrushing monster. The umbilical created drag; the magnetic ball held. Instead of finishing the flip or sailing straight back, she arced downward toward the ship. Went over the side, still connected to the hull.
The alien flew at her, a meter away, but rising. One of her shots must have hit it, a stream of liquid sprayed from the top of its head, the fluid glittering and freezing into crystals as it spewed forth. The impact of the bullet had spun the monster slightly, but the spray of its blood coming out under pressure seemed to be pushing it back the other way. Toward her—
Billie fired the carbine again and again. She couldn’t hear it, but she could feel the electronic click under her gloves as the weapon cycled empty. It was all so deathly silent—
Both rounds missed, as far as she could tell, but the recoil drove her away from the flying monster. It soared past her, missing by a good half meter. It did not go easily into the void. It twisted, tail lashing, inner jaws shooting out and snapping in what she thought must be rage. The thing turned slowly and continued onward into the vast emptiness.
Billie managed to tug on the umbilical and keep herself mostly facing the alien as it moved off. It was only when the thing was the size of an ant, a real ant, that she became aware of the com blasting at her again.
“Billie, goddammit, answer me!”
“Okay, okay. It’s all right.”
“What happened?”
“I found the cat,” she said. “It didn’t want to come in after all. It wanted to go prowl the neighborhood.”
“Buddha. And Jesus, too.”
“It may run into Them where it’s going.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on in.”
“Yeah. I hear that.”
She hauled herself up the umbilical until she could stick her boots to the hull again. Oh, man.
As she was heading toward the hatch, she saw something glittering in the sunlight. The angle was just right, anywhere else she probably would have missed it. “Hello?”
“Billie?”
[Aliens 02] - Nightmare Asylum Page 3