DEEP SPACE DEAD
By Edward Chilvers
First published 2015
Edward Chilvers asserts his right to be identified as the author of this work
1
The perimeter had been breached and the corridors rang out with the screams of the desperate, terrified victims. The creatures tore through the length and breadth of the ship, ripping limbs from bodies and crushing skulls with a single, shattering blow. Nothing humankind had yet faced in its eons of history had ever been so fast or so deadly. People barricaded themselves in their quarters, cowered beneath their bunks. It made no difference. The creatures burst through the metal plate walls like they were made of paper and left no one inside alive. The starship that had been the colonists’ home for over a century and a half was now transformed into a butchery. They had travelled here over many light years in order to flourish and multiply. The planet on which they had landed not one month ago had then seemed like a veritable New Eden. Now their survival was a lottery, the odds rapidly decreasing as the seconds passed and more and more of the vile, inhuman creatures poured through the hatches and the smashed in windows.
Xen knew they had been riding their luck these past few days. He was one of the few who truly understood the malevolent nature of this strange new infection. If only the Admiral had listened to him. It had been under a fortnight since the Ranger Brorn had rushed into the medical quarters screaming that he had been burned by a strange noxious gas whilst exploring one of the labyrinthine caves. Brorn had died, of that there could be no doubt. His heart had stopped and all brain activity had ceased. But something in that virus, most likely some sort of unknown alien parasite, had caused him to live again in a new and terrible form and he had risen up to wreak havoc upon the crew of the medical bay. Once bitten there was no way back. You died, turned and became just another creature, another revenant hell bent on consuming the flesh of your fellow colonists and making them just like you.
Xen put his head down and ran and as he did so he saw the revenants tearing huge chunks off their screaming victims before swallowing their bloodied, raw flesh in ravenous gulps. He charged past the bodies of the bitten, some with their throats ripped right out and lying glass eyed and motionless in the temporary state of death, others reaching out their arms or bloodied stumps, pleading in vain for assistance. Here and then Xen would slip and slide over pools of blood which flowed from the ripping wounds of his fellow colonists but he would just have to take the chance of falling, could not afford to slow his pace for a second. Guttural, savage roars mixed with all too human screams.
Xen charged up the steps and into the bridge of the starship, hastily pressing the button to shut the door behind him. The revenants had not made it up here yet. Presumably they were concentrating on the multitude below stairs. The Admiral was nowhere to be seen. Five pilots sat, stunned and bewildered, watching the chaos unfold on the holoscreens. Xen hurried up to the closest. “Take off,” he ordered sharply.
The young pilot turned and regarded him in askance. “But there are people out there,” he protested. “Thousands of people. We’ll doom them all!”
Xen turned to the pilot’s companion sitting on the next pod. “Can you fly this thing?” He demanded sharply.
“Yes but…”
Xen pulled out his pistol and fired into the first pilot’s face, disintegrating his head in an instant. His companion shrank back but Xen was upon him in a moment, his expression one of fury. “Then fly this damned ship!” He screamed frantically.
“There’s nowhere to go,” protested the terrified young pilot, whose name was Raine. “And besides, those things are already on the ship. It’s too late!”
“We can go to the Pole,” said Xen simply. “It’s the most inhospitable part of the planet. Nobody will want to come there.”
“There’s no life for us at the Poles,” said Raine. “You think they won’t find us there? Have you seen them run?”
“They’ll find us eventually,” acknowledged Xen. “But by then I’m hoping we’ll have changed our circumstances somewhat. I have a plan, you see.”
“But they’re on the ship!”
“Close all the doors of this bridge,” ordered Xen. “Depressurise all other areas then take off and head for the Pole in hyper speed.”
“Hyper speed?” Repeated Raine, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing. “Without pressurisation everyone outside this room will be turned to mush!”
“Including all the revenants on this ship,” replied Xen triumphantly.
“But we’ve got fifty-thousand people on this ship,” protested Raine. “You’re going to be sentencing all of them to death.”
“And it’ll be a damned better death than the revenants will give them,” said Xen coldly. “There are ten of us here on this bridge. And where ten survive there’s a chance. Now get this bird into the air, and fast, or I’ll shoot you in the damned legs and leave you downstairs for the revenants to take you at their leisure.”
The twelve great engines of the starship shot out white hot heat as they flared furiously into life. Slowly the vessel rose from the ground, climbing into the sky above before shooting off north where it was gone in the blink of an eye. In an instant the thirty thousand men, women and children who had until then been cowering from the revenants in the starship as best they could were liquidised against the force of the hyper speed. Liquidised too were the five thousand revenants who had already turned. From the ground the remaining colonists watched in horror as their one hope of salvation vanished into the clear blue sky. Within an hour they would all be dead and turned.
From the safety of the bridge Xen peered from the window and looked down at the ravaged settlement that had once been the sum of all their dreams. A thin smile was playing upon his lips. He had never seen such speed, never seen such strength. And to think these creatures were once human, just like him.
“Do you not finding yourself admiring them?” Asked Xen wistfully, more to himself than to anyone else.
“Admiring them?” Raine raised his head and looked at the scientist in shock. “Haven’t you seen what they’ve done to everybody?”
It’s terrible,” said Xen. “But what makes it terrible is that it’s uncontrolled. Imagine if we could somehow tame those powers, imagine if we could take that strength and speed and use it to our own ends. It would come in useful, don’t you think?”
“But those things are emotionless killing machines,” protested Raine. “How could you possibly want to emulate them?”
“We may have no choice,” mused Xen thoughtfully. “It looks as though these things are to be our neighbours for quite some time.”
“We can send back to the Confederation for help?”
“No,” said Xen firmly. “We do not need their help. Let them come when they don’t hear from us but we shall not solicit their assistance, not whilst my mind positively bubbles over with the possibilities.”
“Possibilities?” Repeated Raine. “For crying out loud man there are only ten of us left! What possibilities are there open to us except to hide in the snow and hope they never find us?”
“We still have the ship,” said Xen, his tone matter of fact. “And I still have my research. Like I said Mr Raine, these are fascinating creatures, and I look forward to exploring the possibilities with which this quite unique discovery might provide us. You see, Mr Raine, I have a plan.”
2
Ten thousand years after humankind first landed on its moon and began the great adventure that would lead them to the furthest stars of the galaxy, the planet Earth was a museum, a relic to the old times and a prime tourist destination to the legions of wealthy looking to get sentimental and wallow in the culture of those times when humans had defi
ned themselves by their nationhood. It was eight thousand years since the last war. Since that time humankind had been united as one, regardless of race or creed; religion and mysticism were disregarded and forgotten.
For thousands of years an entirely benevolent Confederation had ruled over a peaceful empire of over a trillion people from its base on Jupiter, that planet having been terraformed some seven thousand years previously. Where once the goal of humankind had been conquest and war, now it was peaceful colonisation and expansion. Each year the Confederation sent out ships containing thousands of people, their mission to travel to the furthest reaches of the galaxy and from there colonise inhabitable planets, mine their resources and send the fruits back home. These legions of colonists had found the galaxy to be vast, fruitful and almost completely devoid of any sort of sentient life whatsoever. The planets gave up exotic plants aplenty and occasionally new types of bacteria and amoeba were found but the numerous radio signals and pods hopefully sent out during those early pioneering times to seek out alien life had come back with nothing. There was nothing out there except humans. The galaxy was theirs for the taking.
The Tula IV had been travelling for eight years now, not as long as some of the other starships, many of which were generational, but still a long time for people to be cooped up in a relatively small space. It was a Class Two starship, which meant it was set to travel a medium distance across the galaxy, and like all starships it was one way. It had been constructed to the typical specifications of most of the Confederation starships in that it was a doughnut shaped tube with huge passageways leading off to what was called the Arboretum at the centre of the doughnut hole. The arboretum was where the gardens and pastureland was located, and also the parks and recreational areas, the hologram and concert halls. Naturally enough with all the plant life growing up it was also vital to the ship’s oxygen supply. The arboretum alone occupied a space of three square miles, with some of the crop fields being stacked one on top of the other up to a height of a thousand feet. The doughnut was five hundred metres in width with up to eight storeys. Below the doughnut were the engines, storerooms and mechanics. The doughnut was built a certain way so that once the atmosphere of its destination planet was breached certain sections would split off to start forming the initial town from which the great expansion would be made. Ten thousand people had set off on the Tula IV on that fine Jupitarian day and in that time the numbers had swelled to just over eleven thousand what with childbirth, something the Confederation anticipated but did not altogether encourage whilst travelling.
Arianna Carso was a native Jupitarian. Her family could trace their lineage back to the first colonisers and had always enjoyed a certain amount of influence amongst Confederation society. Arianna had been born to a large family, which were encouraged by the Confederation as a means of expanding human influence throughout space, and was the second youngest of seven children. Her father had used his influence to get her enrolled in an administrative school from the age of five. He had wanted her to become a librarian, one who catalogued and analysed interstellar transmissions both past and present as well as assisting with the general research of the ship’s specialists, and this is exactly what Arianna had become. Arianna was twenty five now, had been sixteen when she had said goodbye to her parents and embarked upon what her father had promised would be the adventure of a lifetime. So far there was little sign of that but she knew that would all change once they landed. ‘Let the journey end and the adventure begin;’ so went the rallying cry of the colonial recruiters. Arianna was tall and slim with naturally blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a slightly triangular chin that appeared more so when she smiled. Her nose was slightly upturned, her lips thin and her cheekbones high. She knew that some of her colleagues had muttered jealously about her having been genetically modified due to her good looks, but her parents had consistently denied that this had been the case and Arianna had had no cause to doubt them, for they were always up-front and honest with her. Even though some envied her she was generally popular amongst her colleagues; she was polite, well-spoken and made an effort to get along with everyone. She was diligent and precise about her work as well and it was for all of these reasons that she had been elected to represent the librarians on the Council, the meetings of which were usually held weekly but had been increasing in frequency lately as the arrival date drew ever closer.
The Confederation had christened the planet Hearthstone, after a name given to the Nebula by one of the tribes of ancient Earth and it was situated at the tail end of the Orion Nebula, orbiting the star known as Columbae. Some planets were too cold or hot and the colonisers faced a permanent battle to survive. Some of the mining planets were especially notorious for this but Hearthstone, as far as the scientists and probes could tell, was perfect. There was just one small problem: humans had tried to settle Hearthstone once before.
Five thousand years ago the starship Suki II had set out with fifty-thousand colonists and a view to claim this supposed paradise for the human tribe. These were the days before the development of Tachyon Speed and the colonists had been placed into stasis for one hundred and forty-five years before finally emerging. Once there they had sent back numerous messages to the Confederation relating how well things had been going, right up until the start of the second month when all contact had abruptly ceased. Surprisingly few people knew about the disappearance of the first mission, for the Confederation did not publicise its failures. Arianna was one of those who did know, and whilst she had known about it before she had boarded the Tula IV and it was not sufficiently enough to deter her from joining the expedition, now the arrival date got closer she found herself mulling the matter over more and more.
The ceilings of the library were high, in common with most of the rooms on the starship, and gave out a bright light that simulated daylight before dimming for twelve hours to give the impression of dusk, although in the privacy of their apartments the colonists were able to turn the lighting up and down as they pleased. Herein the library was contained the entire knowledge of the Confederation, every book and text ever written. Arianna’s job was to pinpoint it and, if necessary, analyse it for the good of the ship. For the most part she was kept busy with mundane engineering matters but occasionally she was required to research politics and history, with history being the main passion of her life aside from her daughter.
It was five in the evening and time for the next shift to take over. Arianna stayed a while and chatted with her successor, Jen Henna, who also babysat for her occasionally, then checked the time once more. It was ninety minutes before she had to be anywhere and she didn’t much relish going back to an empty apartment. Instead she went into one of the back rooms where the ceilings were low and dark, taking with her the memory card that related to the previous expedition. She knew she had an unhealthy interest in the disappearance of the Suki II, which was why she conducted her investigations in private and had told nobody, not even her boyfriend, what she was doing.
Arianna opened up the computer and slipped the memory card inside it. The holoscreen flashed up in 3D and Arianna pointed at the files with her finger. Herein were held all the transmissions relating to the expedition of the Suki II from all those years ago. Arianna decided to start from the very beginning, although she had heard it all before.
“Admiral Heth Stune. Transmission number one thousand seven hundred and forty seven. Conditions appear fair, designated landing site is clear. Situation is as stated by the Pioneer Probes. Hearthstone is a terrestrial planet with ice at either of the Poles, water filled oceans and a single massive continent containing mountains and plains. The planet is orbited by a single, small moon incompatible with the natural sustainment of human life. Initial reports indicate no sign of extra-terrestrial activity. No bacterium or single cell organisms are thus-far detected. The landing site we have chosen is situated on a great plain beside a free running river. Grassland and forest are abundant.”
Arianna couldn’t help no
ticing how excited the Admiral appeared at the impending arrival. There was good reason for this, because upon disembarkation at the destination it was Confederation policy for the Admirals to retire on a generous pension in one of the finest habitation pods. Arianna continued to the next message.
“Disembarkation a cause for great celebration. I took with me the four hundred children born on the starship who had never before experienced hard earth. These were the first to set foot on our new home. Conditions here on Hearthstone are even better than we imagined. The climate is warm and it appears to be the height of summer, although this evening we experienced a slight shower of healthy, natural rain. The pods disengaged as they were supposed to and we are already unloading our supplies. Tomorrow we will send out rovers to further explore this planet and expect to have a detailed map within eight weeks of our arrival.”
The next message was similarly filled with hope and optimism.
“We have set out the boundaries of our new city, which we have christened Horta in honour of the President of the Confederation. Our lumberjacks have been dispatched to set up a station in the forests and the construction of the reservoir and sewage systems are well underway. We have collected some of the flora and fauna and are hopeful that we might find a new, edible crop. The arboretum is gradually being dissimulated to form a ceremonial garden and the crops that earlier disassembled from it are growing nicely. Our engineers have set about laying streets and plans for freely built houses are already in place. In all we seem to have a perfect little paradise down here on Hearthstone.”
Arianna paused to think. A lot had changed in the past five thousand years but the initial actions of the pioneers of the Suki II were not untypical to what those on the Tula IV would be doing once they arrived on Hearthstone. Arianna and her companions would also be disembarking with great ceremony, would also lay out the foundations for a city they would name after the President, would also go off looking for supplies and natural resources which they could exploit. Only the Suki II and her fifty thousand pioneers were never heard from again. The more she listened to the recordings the more intrigued she became.
Deep Space Dead Page 1