The Ares Weapon

by D. M. Pruden

  “Well, thank you for the reassuring words, Captain. I feel better now. Loyalty is so hard to buy these days. There is only one thing I require of you and Miss Limn now.”

  “Yes, Sir. What can we do for you?”

  Dunn released the comm button and stepped over to the emergency air supply. He turned the dial and emptied the contents of the viral cylinder into the sealed off bridge.

  Chapter 41

  Dunn forced me to my feet and made me witness everything unfold on the bridge through the port in the closed access door. Dark crimson blood ran from Garrick’s nose into his moustache. He absently wiped at it and continued talking to Dunn, who was no longer listening and had turned off the comm. I helplessly gazed through the window as realization dawned on him. He stared at his bloody hands and his eyes grew wide in terror. Then, he reacted in a way I never in a million years would have predicted. He wept like a four-year-old child. His shoulders quaked as sobs convulsed him.

  Dunn shook his head in disgust. “Pathetic.”

  Soon blood streamed from both of the Captain’s nostrils and his eyes as evidence of the unbelievable pace of the nano-virus overwhelming his system. Garrick doubled over in pain, clutching at his abdomen. He staggered a couple of steps, then dropped to his knees and vomited a bloody mixture of his stomach’s contents.

  Shigeko Limn overcame her shock and rose from her chair to begin pounding on the door, begging anyone to let her out and away from the dying man.

  Tears ran down my cheeks as I watched the weakened skin on her hands split from their impacts with the door and leave bloody smears across the glass of the portal. Her high-pitched scream of terror mixed with the sound of Garrick’s cries.

  “Enough, Dunn!” I glared at him.

  He smiled at me in his way. “What would you have me do, Melanie?”

  I shook my head, my own vision fogged in tears.

  “End it! I beg you, please!”

  “Really, Doctor, you disappoint me. I expected the scientist in you to want to follow the experiment through to its conclusion.”

  “End it, you sadistic pig! In the name of decency!” My voice cracked with the shriek of my demand.

  Dunn shook his head in disappointment and returned his attention to the slaughter.

  I refused to observe, at first. But eventually, I believed someone needed to bear witness to Dunn’s callous disregard and forced myself to watch every moment of their final agonies. The last of Limn’s sobs died faintly and the bridge became silent. Dunn contemplated the results.

  “I don’t believe we learned anything new at all. I mean, I’m only a layman, but I at least expected some kind of difference between them. Didn’t you?”

  “You’re a monster.” I was hoarse from my screaming.

  “Well, yes. Perhaps I am,” he said with all sincerity and in that moment, I realized nothing I said would affect this man.

  He seized my wounded arm and squeezed until I cried out in pain.

  “Let’s see how our next experiment goes, shall we?” He pulled me roughly to my feet and shoved me down the corridor.

  “What are you trying to prove, Dunn? You’ve got the nano-virus. Why not just abandon us here and be on your way?”

  “Doctor, you surprise me. I would think that you, of all people, would appreciate I wouldn’t depart with any loose threads hanging if I could avoid it. You want me to leave you for that fool, the Terran Captain? You think he’ll spare your life when, in fact, he will do just the opposite.”

  I regarded him narrowly. “What are you talking about?”

  “He thinks he has made an arrangement with me. When he finds this ship abandoned and the bio-weapon missing, he will be most put out. I’m doing you all a favour by killing you before he gets his hands on you.”

  “What deal? You’re working for the Terrans?”

  Dunn laughed heartily, thoroughly enjoying my confusion.

  “I knew that the chances of us making it past their firing solution were slim to none, so I took the liberty of contacting the commander of the Athena and offered him an opportunity.”

  “Why are you doing this? The nano-virus is dangerous. What possible reasons can you have for betraying your employers and pissing off the Terrans? They’ll hunt you down.”

  “They might. By the time they discover I am still alive, it will be too late. They are all only thinking short term. My employer is looking at the virus as political capital. Terra only perceives its potential as a weapon. I don’t care if armies slaughter each other, or even if they kill off significant portions of planetary populations. I only need them to leave enough survivors who want to pay for a cure.”

  “This was all about profiteering?”

  “I would think that with your business activities you would understand opportunistic profit. War is coming Doctor. War is always about profiteering.”

  “But you don’t have any kind of antidote, Dunn.”

  “Sadly, that little gambit didn’t work out as planned. You, my dear, were always a wild card experiment. When I arranged for you to be injected with a second nanite population on Luna, it was my hope that your system would react to the traces that were included. I had some clues as to the nature of the nano-virus and had my people design an adaptive prototype to act against it. Of course, there was no live virus to test it on, until now.”

  We had stopped in front of medical and he keyed the access code and shoved me inside. He directed me towards the isolation chamber with the pistol.

  “So I’ve been nothing more than your guinea pig?”

  “The engineers want to learn how their little pet fares against the actual virus. Observing your response to it will give them data for the next stage of research.”

  He pushed me into the chamber and locked the door behind me.

  Chapter 42

  Dunn watched me through the glass of the isolation chamber like I was a zoo animal. I stood in the centre of the room, clutching my injured arm and stared at him. I did not want to give the bastard the satisfaction of an emotional outburst. He shrugged his shoulders and moved to the containment chamber.

  My heart drummed and I couldn’t stop the cold sweat from beading on my forehead and soaking my armpits. My body might betray my fear, but I would not show him with my eyes and I would never entertain him by begging for mercy.

  He paused over the control panel, considering something. Then that evil smile I hated so much appeared. He wagged his finger at me.

  “I almost forgot something. Please be patient, Doctor. I’ll be right back.” He strode brusquely across the lab and exited the medical centre, leaving me alone with my fears.

  Instinctively I searched for something that I could use to force the lock. My eyes fell on the bio-containment chamber on the other side of the window. Behind the clear, thick, polymer pane lay the metal tube containing the instruments of my death. Billions of them, patiently waiting for human tissue to feed their unstoppable appetite. The transparent walls of this isolation room were all that stood between my agony and Dunn’s sadistic entertainment.

  My imagination fixed on the seals holding the windows in place. Beneath one, hidden from outside view but in plain sight to me was the toolkit I’d used to modify the portable containment unit.

  I dashed across the room and tore open the case, spilling the tools on the desk. I seized a screwdriver and plied it against the connector seal in the glass. I frantically worked the tool back and forth, digging it into the hardened material. A tiny section popped off, followed by several more chunks.

  I laughed out loud that my theory proved correct. The original power loss that marooned Helios exposed the entire ship to the virus. The nanites weakened the normally steel hard seals. Bits of it flaked away like hardened rubber under my determined efforts until I succeeded in poking a small hole through.

  I worked away at it trying to make the breach as large as possible, keeping an anxious eye on the door for Dunn’s return. Suddenly it slid open and I immediately pulled
away from my work and moved back into the middle of the chamber.

  Hodgson staggered into the medical centre. His face was so severely swollen his eyes were barely visible and I could sense his frustration. He limped and his arms were bound behind his back. Dunn followed him with a more than self-satisfied look on his face and kicked him in the backs of his legs to force him to his knees.

  “Why don’t you step inside, Dunn? I’ll give you a farewell blowjob,” I said.

  He laughed. “I’m tempted, Melanie. Really. You were exceptional that night. Worth every credit I paid for you.”

  He moved to the abandoned control and activated the manipulator. He picked up the metal cylinder and awkwardly unscrewed it with the robotic arms, removed the sample cartridge and broke its seal. Seeming to savour the moment, he opened the inside access window and exposed the isolation chamber to the virus.

  Dunn stood behind Hodgson, never taking his eyes off me. Anticipation painted his face as he awaited the first signs of my inevitable response to the nano-virus.

  I don’t know what I expected. My skin crawled, but I knew that was from my anxiety and not from any infection. Based on what I observed of Garrick and Limn, I supposed the initial symptom would be irritation of the eyes and nasal passages, but I felt perfectly normal. By the time I had been exposed to the contagion for more than three times as long as the others, he started to appear worried. I decided to try something.

  “Is something wrong? Why are you pulling my chain? Release the fucking virus and finish this.”

  He attempted to smile, but it faded from his face as fast as the doubt grew. A frown creased his brow as he returned to the manipulator’s arm. He picked up the viral container and re-examined it through the window.

  “What have you done? Did you swap containers out?” he asked.

  I said nothing. I needed him to spend as much time close to the hole I’d opened as possible. I prayed that whatever kept the virus in check inside of me would last long enough for my plan to work. I wanted to see the shock on his face when he realized what I had done to him.

  My nose began to run and I hesitantly reached up to wipe it, revealing only clear mucous on the back of my hand.

  “Are you sure you opened it, Dunn? Maybe you should bring it inside here yourself?”

  “You obviously have developed some resistance, after all.” He didn’t sound convinced, still searching the container for some sign that he botched his moment.

  A bloody metallic tang appeared in the back of my mouth. The mucous running from my nostril was faintly pink. The nano-virus was making headway. I hoped it was working as determinedly at the opening I poked in the seal.

  Dunn blinked his eyes like he had something in them. He rubbed them and then staggered back in horror when his hand came away covered in blood.

  “No!”

  He brushed at his now bloody running nose and flapped his hands uselessly around in front of him in panic.

  “No, no, no! This isn’t possible.”

  He glared at me and screamed, “What have you done?”

  “I’m pretty sure I just killed you.” It was good to say those words.

  “You bitch!” He flew into a rage, flailing his arms and knocking anything loose from the counter and around the lab. He pounded on the window with his fists, leaving the same kind of smeared, bloody trails that Shigeko Limn did on the bridge door. Shocked by the sight of the blood on the glass, he examined his bleeding hands.

  “I’m not going to let the bugs have time to kill you!” He removed the pistol from his waistband and advanced towards the locked door. Revenge his only thought, he pulled the door open, no longer concerned about releasing the virus. Neither had he any concern for Dylan Hodgson.

  Hodgson leapt to his feet and collided into Dunn’s back. The momentum sent the two of them sprawling to the floor beside me. Dunn’s pistol flew from his hand across the room. He lay winded and disoriented. Hodgson, hands bound behind him, struggled to stand.

  I kicked Dunn in the head pitching him on his back, a spray of blood arching from his mouth. I grabbed Hodgson by the shoulders and shoved him out of the room with more strength than I ever realized I possessed. I secured the door behind me, leaving Dunn alone inside.

  Blood dripping from his eye sockets, he blindly groped in search of this pistol. By some miracle, he found it and stood, waving it about the chamber. Though he couldn’t see, he emptied the entire clip randomly about the room, each bullet disintegrating against the impenetrable glass.

  “You’re dead! I’ve killed you both!” he gurgled as he dropped to his knees, bloody sockets where his eyes should have been.

  I wanted to say something dramatic and final; to make the last words he ever heard a taunting reminder of his defeat. Instead, I hugged Dylan Hodgson and buried my face in his shoulder, not caring to watch Dunn’s last agonizing moments.

  Chapter 43

  “He’s right, you know,” said Hodgson as I cut the plastic ties around his wrists. “We’re both dead, along with anyone else who ever comes aboard this ship.”

  I held his face and examined it. His eyes were bloodshot and his face, swollen and bloody, though most of that the result of the beating.

  “Your face is a mess. I can’t tell if... How are you feeling?”

  “Like shit. My nanites will fight the weapon as long as they can, but they can’t win. I don’t understand why you’re not more affected, though.”

  I stared in the mirror. My face was a bit puffy, and I noted light bruises along my jaw. I opened my mouth to see my gums starting to bleed, but that was the extent of the damage. I had been exposed for longer than anyone. I turned to say something to Hodgson and noticed blood trickling from his nose. I grabbed his hands and compared his fingernails to my own. His were bleeding around the cuticles while mine appeared relatively normal. He was losing the battle.

  I lunged across the lab to the supply cabinet and found a syringe. After a couple of tries, I located a vein in my arm and extracted a blood sample. Hodgson coughed and a spray of bloody sputum covered his chin. I had no time to check. No time to test. He would be dead by the time I confirmed my theory.

  I pulled up his sleeve and searched for a spot not bruised or bleeding. Locating a usable vein, I jammed the needle in and injected my blood into him in desperation. I just wanted to get my nanite population into the fight.

  He faded quickly, his own nanites overrun by the invading phage. I sniffed back the tears and guided him to the nearest bed. I could do nothing but try to make him comfortable.

  I absently wiped at my dripping nose with the back of my hand. The fluid was clear. While Hodgson lay dying before me, my own freakish stew of nanites somehow continued holding off the advance. If only I’d gotten them into him sooner, he might have had a chance, if one even existed. I had no way to know how long I would last before succumbing as well. At the very least, we would enjoy a few more minutes together.

  I stood next to him and held his hand. His breathing rattled from his fluid filled lungs. He had already lasted ten times longer than Dunn. His soldiers had put up a good fight. I patted his hand and looked at his face, but he was unconscious. I sighed, relieved he would not experience any pain.

  I sat with him for an hour, listening to every laboured breath, dreading each one taken would not be followed by another.

  At some point, unnoticed by me, his breaths became regular, and no longer gurgled. I released his hand and fetched a stethoscope to confirm my hope. Some fluid remained in his lungs, but not as much as before. His own nanites were now at work repairing his damaged body. I did a quick examination of his eyes, nose, mouth and fingers. All were clotted with dried blood but showed no active bleeding. My desperate bid actually worked.

  I rested my head on his chest and listened to his regular breath and the strong steady beat of his heart. There is something primordial about a heartbeat. I’m at peace when I hear one. Maybe my subconscious remembers being in the womb. Who knows? If we survived
this, we could survive anything and perhaps in Hodgson I found someone to invest some of my soul in.

  Then a wave of terror washed over me, unbidden. Images of missiles rocketing towards us boiled up in my mind and I knew with Dunn dead, we would not be able to contact Fortuna and were about to be robbed of any time we had remaining.

  Resigned to my fate, I buried my face in Hodgson’s chest. I spent time cataloguing every distinct smell of his I could; his soap, his cologne, his sweat, his blood. It started as a mixed bouquet and lingered until my grieving brain pulled every odour out and owned it individually. I’ve no idea how long I dwelt in my own little surrender ritual, but I was coaxed from my trance by a gentle hand caressing my hair. I lifted my head to the sight of Dylan Hodgson’s bloodshot eyes staring back at me.

  “Hi.” His voice was a heavy box being pulled along a concrete floor.

  I blinked the remaining tears from my sore eyes and appreciated him with a part of my heart that hadn’t been open for many years.

  “You’re alive.” I didn’t care how stupidly obvious that sounded. I just needed to say it to convince myself I wasn’t dreaming.

  “I don’t feel alive, but I suppose the fact everything I own hurts means I am.” He tried to smile, but just came off looking goofy, and despite our recent horrors, I burst out laughing.

  I didn’t want to break the spell. I didn’t want to curse his relief with the burdensome knowledge of how little time remained for us. I lay my head back on his chest and closed my eyes, drinking in his steady heartbeat. One that strong didn’t deserve to be cheated out of a long life.

  I accessed my implant to determine how much time was left. I clung tighter to him and fought back the tears, desperate for the peace his beating heart had given me earlier. Now it only marked time like a clock ticking down our final minutes.

  It wasn’t fair he should survive the virus only to have his heartbeat snuffed out shortly after. His heart should be permitted to beat until it wore itself out many long years from now. I was frantic for him to live and my brain searched for a solution, no matter how impossible.