“Stephen, what are you doing?” Running back towards the door, Eve begins to panic. Stephen smiles back, “Just desserts for my parents.” Eve spins around to see a large half blue, half human creature walking towards her. It had a metal claw for a hand on one side and two tendrils on the other side. It had scales all over its legs and birdlike feet. It was dark blue with orange eyes, but its face and chest were human. Although now scarred, it used to be a man, but all his hair had been eaten away by something, and bits of flesh hung off its head like leaves on a tree.
Eve hits the creature with the large bone in the face, and although it does some damage to its face, it grabs her with its strong tendrils and tosses her across the room, towards the table. Implements crash to the floor and she quickly grabs a scalpel and gets back to her feet, but the creature has once again grabbed her, but this time it picks her up and slams her onto a table, where it quickly secures her with straps. Eve drops the scalpel on the floor and she is once again defenceless. She cries out to Stephen for help, but to her disbelief, he is now stood behind the creature, looking on.
“Stephen, please help me!”
Stephen leans in and tightens a strap. “This will be painful, very painful. Oh, and I lied. This is my father, and you are our food, and with what’s left we will feed to the dog in the next room, or you could have made a change and become like us, but that is forbidden, as the master told us.” Eve tries to struggle but to no avail. The metal claw on the large creature grabs hold of Eve’s knee and thigh, and tears her leg clean off her body. It is held high in the air and the shoe falls off and lands on the floor. Eve’s eyes widen and the pain is immense, worse than when she lost her hand. She screams out in hope someone will help, and then she passes out on the table in a pool of blood.
A few seconds later, she is awake again. The creature must have been a doctor in his old life, and has brought her back around again. This time she was wearing an oxygen mask and was feeling no pain, and a few tubes were stuck in her now naked chest. She looked down to see that her second leg had also been removed and the creature was cutting off her only good arm. Her heart beat was fast and she could hear the thumping of it in her head. These creatures were like cannibals and were cutting her up for food like she would cut up a cow or pig, but the worst was yet to come. Stephen approached the table with a large glass container with around twenty small parasites in it. He leans over Eve and lifts her oxygen mask up and he prises open her mouth with his two long sharp metal tendrils.
“Open wide, Eve. I know you lied to me about your children. I read everything about you and your life and how great you lived, while we all suffered, but you now will be the host for our children.” Stephen pours the blue parasites into Eve’s mouth. They are like small scaly balls covered with spikes. Their small fibres grip her tongue to help pull themselves down her throat, choking her of air as they fill the void of her windpipe. She shakes her head, struggling for air, thinking that this is her last few moments. Her senses are working overtime, trying to hear out of one ear and see with eyes full of water and grit, unable to wipe them as they stream salty water down her blood stained checks. She remembers the words of Stephen. “… just desserts,” but it was too late to change now. What had been done was done.
Eve began to remember back to her childhood days, small flashes of good and bad memories ran through her mind at lightning speed. She had gotten her own way all her life and was very spoiled. Her father was Prime Gentleman while she grew up, and she remembered going to the end of school party and everyone laughing at the colour of her dress, as it did not match the colour everyone else was wearing. She was beaten up that night, and she went crying to her father, who took the matter further and had everyone involved whipped, twenty lashes for all to see. She knew from then on that she would be able to blackmail people for things she wanted, which made her powerful at a young age. She also began to remember her father carrying her on his shoulders through fields of flowers, and pushing her on a swing. She felt so safe back then. Eve’s eyes close, but her heart is still beating as she lies on the table.
Chapter Eighty-Two
Pace finally reaches the broken Titan ship, outside all around the ship laid thousands of blues and Kalgoray, some still trying to crawl away from death with lines of blood following them to their end. The smell of death surrounds the area and Pace covers his nose as he walks towards an entranceway. Pace moves a pile of dead blues from a hatch and enters the Titan once again. This time there were no guards and nothing stopping him.
It was cool inside and dark, but Pace could remember his way to the bridge with no real problems, apart from having to move bodies in awkward places to get by. Pace continued to walk towards the bridge, unaware that something was following him. It went unnoticed in the dark, skulking behind objects when it could and blending into the shadows as if it were mist. Pace turned around a few times to see something move, but thought it was just his imagination, or his eyes adjusting from the light to the dark.
Upon reaching the bridge, Pace notices some of the power going to life support was still working, but to get the comms up he would have to patch the power conduit from one terminal to the other and the align the dish, before he could even try to signal anyone, and then it would be down to how strong the signal would be and if anyone was close enough to hear it. But he had time on his hands and nowhere to go and all seemed quiet now.
Then realisation hit home. He was sat half-naked on the floor, with a turbo tool in his hand and no suit, which meant no gauntlet, which also meant that all of the files he had downloaded at Eve’s mansion were still on his gauntlet, now destroyed in the blast at Eve’s mansion. Shaking his head to himself, Pace carries on to undo the consoles bolts and then work his way through the mass of wires that seemed never ending. Systems come on and off and the doors opened and closed, and lights flickered on and off, until the comms console began to power up. The sound of buzzing was music to Pace’s ears.
He stands back up and walks up to the console. The dish was pointing in the wrong way and releasing the clamps that held it steady, the dish began to find a new direction. This was going to take a short amount of time and then Pace could hopefully send a message out, so Pace took the time to rewire other systems to increase the power output of the dish when it was aligned. Pace shrugged his shoulders. It felt as though someone was watching him. The hair on the back of his neck stood to attention, as if in a military parade and he knew something was behind him, somewhere lurking in the shadows. Normally this would frighten Pace somewhat, but now he just did not care.
Speaking in a loud voice and peering over his right shoulder, looking down the corridor, Pace waits to see if anything moved. “I know you are there and I’m not scared in the slightest. Why don’t you come out and stop wasting my time, eh?” The air around Pace begins to feel heavy and a green mist begins to form in front of Pace’s eyes, and Pace stumbles backwards, expecting a blue to come running at him, but the green mist is somewhat different to the usual green gas that he has seen before. The green mist begins to take form, at first a face of a Gulmed and then a body, and although it is still in mist form, it can move like a normal Gulmed.
“Do not fear me. I have been sent to protect you. You have been attacked by the blues’ nanites, which appeared to you as a red mist. They drain the life force from others to make you strong, they were engineered that way. However, we were engineered a different way. We can still heal you but not at the cost of other life forms. We can help you to rest and offer a force-field so that you can walk free of spacesuits and still breathe at the same time, and if you wish it, we can cure the blue parasites in your body returning your body to human again. This will take time and we would need to re-enter your body, and that is where we will stay, until you are well and we can return to our master.”
Pace is gob smacked and relieved at the same time. No longer will he have to look like a freak and no longer worry about becoming totally blue, as the parasite was still spreading
slowly.
“Ok, a mist thingy is talking to me and telling me what I want to hear. I must have some sort of sickness again, damn parasites.” Pace shakes his head and closes his eyes, but the Gulmed mist is still there in front of him when he opens them again. “You are real then? Can you really fix me up, and what about the red nanites still in my body? Some of them still must be in me if what you say is true.”
“We would overpower the red nanites and destroy them. This would be quite painful. It will be like having a war inside of your body, but we will win, I assure you of it.” The green mist Gulmed walks slowly up to Pace. “Do you trust us?”
Pace smiles and raises his eyebrows, “Not much to lose really, go for it. The dish will be online in around half an hour. I don’t suppose you have a mist ship out there, that we could fly off in, do you?” Pace laughs at such a thought. The green mist enters his body, in and out, knocking him to the floor. Spasms jolt every muscle in his body and the pain is like having cramp all over at once. He can’t even speak, it is so painful.
After a few minutes, the spasms become less and less. The green mist had won and although very dizzy, Pace is able to sit up slowly, although his stomach muscles feel like he has done a few hundred sit ups. Now it is just a question of time and he would be better again. The Gulmeds are so advanced, to have designed such things, he thought as he typed away on the console once more.
A second screen popped up and Pace could see that thousands of blues were now approaching the Titan once again. They must have known the red nanites were gone and Pace was fair game food again. Pace was quick to work this out, and finding a gauntlet on a dead guard, he slid it onto his arm, where it began to adjust to his body system and power up. At least he had a blaster this time, and a new green glow about him in the way of a force field. It would be interesting to see how well it did against a blue, or what now seemed to be an army of them, all marching on his location. He just needed a bit more time for the dish to align and then he could send a message for help from his gauntlet, in theory anyway.
Pace manages to get some of the broken turret guns back online, in a feat of engineering his parents would have been proud of, and with sweat pouring from his brow, he closes the hatch doors and begins to vent oxygen into the ship, the air ducts now blowing cool air into his face and he pauses for a moments rest.
The peace is broken by turret fire, and Pace wonders if he will get a chance to sleep after all this is done, but he is feeling remarkably well for the state he is in. It must be the nanites working their magic, he thinks. A message flashes up on the console screen telling him that the dish had finished moving, and the clamps were engaged once more and Pace stands in front of the screen, ready to send his mayday message. Explosions rocked the ship, but the turrets blew apart many of the blues that were brave enough to get close, and none of the blues had gotten onto the Titan yet.
“Mayday, mayday! This is Captain Pace of the Invictus. I am marooned on Foloss. Can anyone hear me? Over?” Pace looks at a blank, fuzzy, grey screen. “I say again, mayday, mayday. This is Captain Pace of the …”
He is interrupted by the face of a man on the screen, smiling back at him. “We read you Captain. This is Acting Captain Kaylen of the mining ship, Malachite. By the looks of things, you need an urgent pick up. Get on top of the ship and we will swing by for you.”
Pace is amazed that the signal was picked up by someone, but then remembered that Cassy’s husband and Lily were on board a mining ship, heading towards the rendezvous point, so they could be on board this ship with any luck.
“Great to hear your voice, Captain, but you better get your skates on, I don’t have much time.”
Kaylen nods and is gone, and Pace begins to travel upwards through the decks to the outer hatch, on the top of the Titan, where he opens it and climbs out, closely followed by a blue, which attacks him on his back, but is repelled by the force-field generator. It was already burnt and bleeding on the floor, when Pace realises he was attacked. He slams the hatch shut and notices a dozen blues, scurrying along one side of the ship, where the turrets had gone silent. He readies himself for combat, blasting the first one that shows its face, and it falls off the side of the ship in a blue and purple splash of colour. Pace can see a fast shuttle ship appear in the clouds, and the ship cuts two lines of pain through the ranks of the massing blues, and then hovering just feet from Pace, Kaylen offers a hand to Pace, which Pace grips it with all his life and Kaylen pulls Pace’s heavy body on board the ramp of the ship, blasting a leaping blue at the same time. The blue falls to its doom. A second one makes the jump from the Titan onto the ramp, where Pace punches it to one side of the ship, and Kaylen and another man jump on it and hold it down, while they use their suits’ mining drills to drill deep into it. They crack it open like they would a gold vein, but this time only blood runs free, and the blue is defeated. However, this blue begins to regenerate slowly, and so they push it of the ramp, as they did not want to fight it twice. It falls like a paper plane in a circle, to the dusty planet below.
“Thanks! Thought that was it for me for some time, I must say.” Pace stands up, brushing himself off. “I know I’m blue, but I’m being healed as we speak. It’s a long story, that I will fill you in on later.” Kaylen pushes the close button to the ramp, and it rises up and seals for space flight.
“I know all about you, Captain. I’m Cassy’s husband, Kaylen. That makes you my brother in my book. Let’s get you some food and a shower on my ship.” Pace is pleased that Cassy married such a hero of a man; he would look after her no doubt.
“Nice to finally meet you, Kaylen. Can you get word to the Invictus for me, and tell them I’m ok.” Pace follows Kaylen to a seat, where he sits down and looks at the pilot, as Kaylen instructs him to contact the Invictus.
The screen comes to life on Nova’s seat in front of her.
“Invictus, this is Captain Kaylen of the Malachite. We have Captain Pace aboard. He is alive and well, and we will bring him to the meeting point with us. Over and out.” Nova shouts with joy, as she was just about to contact Cassy to tell her that Pace was dead. She did not care about how he was alive, but was just relieved that he was.
“Pace is alive, everyone. All is well and we are all safe. There is no sign on my scanners of any blue ships in the area, so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.” Nova is dancing in her chair and can’t wait to get to the meeting point to hug Pace again.
Kaylen’s ship floats up out of the atmosphere without a trouble, and glides through space, before docking with the Malachite. It was an old ship but a solid one. It had many mining blasters pointing down and was a deep red in colour. The ship could hold a few hundred people, but was carrying almost a thousand, so every corridor and every room was crammed with people fleeing for their lives.
“Sorry about space on board, Captain. We saved as many as we could. We have a second vessel some distance behind, which is full too, but we are alive and free. Come with me, you can share my quarters. You heard that you have a niece, then?” Pace squeezes past a group of people, and follows Kaylen to his room near the bridge.
“I would love to meet Lily.” Opening the sliding door to his room, Kaylen is greeted by a small girl, dressed in a pretty little dress.
“Daddy, Daddy!” She runs from her nanny into Kaylen’s arms. “Hey Lily, this is your uncle Pace, say hello, Lily.” but Lily slides out of Kaylen’s arms and hides around the back of his legs.
“It’s ok, Kaylen. I must frighten her, the way I look. I’ll come back when I’m better and then she can see the real me. I’ll bunk up somewhere else, it’s no problem.” Pace shakes Kaylen’s hand. Lily is still clutching his leg and peeping at Pace every now and then. Pace leaves the room and grabs a blanket and sits in a corner of the canteen, where he drifts slowly off to sleep, warm and safe for the first time in ages. It was so good to hear other people laugh and sing once again.
Chapter Eighty-Three
Eve’s eyes open and she can bre
athe again for a moment. She thinks to herself that it was all just a bad dream, but as she tries to lift herself up, she feels the restraints again. She steadies herself with her stumpy arm, which is the only limb she has left, and looks down at her belly. It has grown so much that the skin has stretch marks all over it, and her belly is moving around. She feels sick and her skin is pale white. She can see clumps of her hair on the floor, which had just fallen out, She can hear other people screaming and crying out, but no one is there to save them either. Her stomach begins to convulse over and over again. No one is there to comfort her or help her, and as she wails out in pain, she spits blood across the room, almost choking on it. The things in her stomach were eating her insides now, to help themselves grow, and she drifted in and out of consciousness several times before she began to realise that they were trying to eat their way out through her swollen belly.
Stephen and his father returned to the room with a large transparent container on wheels. They pushed it along-side Eve and opened the door, and she could see where her legs and arm lay in the bottom of the container, acting as bait for the young ones when they hatched out. Stephen’s father leaned in once again, bones sticking out of his face from the blow Eve had made. He grabbed around her neck with his clawed hand, gripping just tight enough so as to not cut her air off, and then small sharp teeth began to eat their way out of Eve’s belly, tearing her flesh, wasting none of it in an eating frenzy, their teeth sharp like a piranhas, breaking out of her skin.
The pain was now over and Eve gave out her final scream of terror that echoed all around the ship. The alien younglings dashed across her broken body into the container, to feast on her limbs, and were secured inside by the lockable door. Stephen dragged Eve’s torn body, still on the table, into the dark room next door. The giant dog-like creature could not miss the bloody smell and warm flesh, and devoured his meal quickly, as it had not eaten in some time.
Titan Fleet: The Invictus Page 26