by E. M. Peters
The man shook his head grimly. “I was able to stop the auto-deletion program, but the damage has been done. There is no information for me to access to see what happened. Not without gutting the physical storage and trying to restore it, but I doubt the deletion program would be at surface level only.”
Avery listened and nodded. Eventually, her eyes fell meaningfully on Rockford. “Well, we should find the others,” she said after a pause. “After you,” she gestured to the hatch.
Niko had seen her meaningful look and it seemed to spark a similar idea in him, “Wait a minute…” He ignored her suggestion to find the others and knelt to turn out the late Captain’s pockets until he found Rockford’s personal handheld. “He left us a message before, maybe he did it again.”
Avery nodded reluctantly. She had every intention of searching for his OMNI herself and inspecting it on her own time. She didn’t want Niko knowing more than absolutely necessary but, unfortunately for her – and possibly for him – he was not a dense man.
Niko keyed on the handheld, swiping and tapping the screen until he seemed to find something. From where he knelt, he activated the OMNI’s projection mode and placed the device on the floor. The now disturbingly appropriate ghostly figure of Captain Rockford sprung from the device. Unlike the recording from Colony Beta, the Captain looked frail and thin. Instead of standing in the recording, he sat like perhaps he could not support his own weight. His voice was so difficult to hear, Niko had to turn up the OMNI’s volume to the highest level.
The projection of Captain Rockford stared into the middle distance for what seemed like a painfully long time. Niko and Avery watched and held their breath without realizing it. Only when the late Captain began to speak did they finally breathe out.
“I am recording this message on my OMNI,” he provided in way of preamble, “Because I cannot trust the ship’s computers. I have just found all my previous log entries have been deleted. I do not wish to speculate on why this might be,” he sighed, clearly burdened with other worries.
“We have lost many more passengers.” He started in a haunted voice to match his haunted face. “Some have asked to be euthanized as an alternative to the painful and lengthy death of starvation.” He took another long pause. “I have granted the requests for two reasons. One, I am not certain our quest to find Colony Alpha will be successful. Not… in time. And two…” He swallowed and the effort looked forced. “It will increase the rations and chance of survival for those who want to continue.”
The image of the late Captain blinked rapidly for a moment, his eyes having to work to refocus, “I have not eaten in three days and do not intend to until I absolutely must. Our sensors indicate that Colony Alpha is just two month’s journey from our current position. I have jettisoned every possible unnecessary item on this ship in an attempt to travel at maximum velocity. I hope it is enough,” He added and put his forehead in his hand. In that moment, he was the personification of famish and fatigue.
The message blinked off and Niko bent over the OMNI and keyed on the next entry. The late Captain reappeared looking, somehow, even worse.
“Fighting has begun to spread throughout the ship,” he reported in a hallowed out voice. “I have ordered peace over the audio system but those still with us are insane with hunger.” He paused and a pained expression spread across his face, “I am powerless to stop this,” he spoke the words like each was a dagger in him. “I fear no one but I will be left to run this fool’s errand.” He added bitterly. “I’m so hungry,” his voice twisted into a plea – a plea to no one. He could not control the impulse to say the words aloud. He clutched his stomach and his face screwed up into a picture of pain. “We have forsaken all of the Gods we once knew and so they have forsaken us,” he said in a fit of weakness and anger. “We have reached too far.”
The recoding continued but the late Captain said nothing more. He simply stared into the middle distance with pain frozen in his features. And so it was that Niko and Avery were witness to the final moments of the Captain’s life.
After a time, Niko reached over and deactivated the projection. He tapped the interface and said, “It recorded until it was out of space.”
Avery nodded vacantly. “I’ll take it,” she said, holding out her hand. Niko hesitated, but it was for only a split second before handing the device over like it weighed several hundred kilos. “There’s nothing else we can do here,” she said after she pocketed the device. “We should find the others.”
“Should we…” Niko started, giving Avery pause. He gestured to the late Captain. “Should we… do something? Lay him down?”
“He died at his post,” Avery said after a moment of consideration, “It’s only right to leave him there.”
Niko found himself hard pressed to disagree with her logic. He reached up and tapped his earpiece, “Niko to Makenna. What’s your location?”
No answer came.
Niko tried again. “Makenna, report your location.”
“Ms. Kranov, report.” Avery tried.
Still nothing. In unison, the pair pulled their goggles over their eyes and scanned the schematic readout to look for the dots that should have indicated where the three others were. “You start on the lower decks, I’ll take the top decks,” Avery advised as each two dimensional map was broken into sections.
“Acknowledged,” Niko said and flicked his eyes to control the goggle glass interface. He looked from icon to icon until he worked out an efficient method to quickly scan through each deck schematic. He was going so fast, he had already accessed the next slide when he had to go back to the previous readout that had the glowing dots displayed. “I’ve got something,” he told Avery. “Engine room.”
“Of course,” Avery groaned. “I wonder what Ms. Krasnov is up to now.”
“The reinforced bulkhead around the engine compartment may be causing our communication issues.” Niko suggested.
“Time to go on a search and rescue mission.”
“Who are we rescuing, and from what?” Niko wanted to know.
“Connolly and Waltham from the tedium of watching Krasnov fondle the hardware.”
Niko made a face that indicated he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cringe. “They covered a lot of ground. We’d better get moving.”
Avery nodded in way of agreement and they both descended the cockpit ladder with ease. They kept a clipped pace on the deck they were on and moved down two when they hit a dead end. Niko alternated pulling his goggles over his eyes to check they were still in the engine room and trying to radio them. So far, they hadn’t moved. He noticed they stayed in a relatively motionless grouping and for some reason, this bothered him. Something about it seemed… off.
He picked up the pace to a jog and heard Avery match his speed behind him.
When they arrived at the entrance of the engine room, they heard Finn’s panicked voice raise up, “Captain? Charlie? Anyone?”
Niko and Avery shared a look before pushing open the engine room door that was already partially open. Niko was first in, so he saw the scene before Avery did. Makenna was collapsed on the floor near a console and Winston was over her, his hands pressed against her abdomen. Finn was pacing around them with her finger pushed into her ear.
“What the hell happened here?” Avery barked. Winston and Finn looked up and tinge of relief flashed over their expressions, but the majority of their demeanors showed alarm and fear.
“There is someone else on this ship,” Finn explained in a rushed tone. “He attacked Makenna and ran off. We found where he was living,” she gestured to further into the engine room. “We tried to talk to him but… he… his eyes…” she shook her head, the memory of the wildness coming to the forefront.
“How badly is she hurt?” Niko asked Winston, who looked somewhat helpless.
Winston shook his head, “She’s been stabbed in the abdomen. The bleeding is bad. I need to figure out if any of her organs have been damaged.”
Fr
om where she lay, Makenna winced and cursed in Russian. Her hands were over Winston’s in an attempt to staunch the blood flow. She began muttering angrily in her native tongue.
“We need to get her back to the ship immediately.” Winston spoke over the woman’s angry monolog.
“Did he say anything?” Avery asked, ignoring the doctor.
Finn shook her head, putting her hand to her forehead in an attempt to focus her thoughts, “He wanted to know where we came from.” She recounted and resumed her nervous pacing, “And where our ship was.”
That made Niko and Avery stiffen. Simultaneously, they gave each other a meaningful look. “Shit!” Avery exclaimed with their shared revelation.
“Charlie. The ship,” Niko elaborated.
“Stay here in case he doubles back.” The Captain told Niko in a rush, “Get her bleeding under control before you move her.” She added and without further explanation, took off in a sprint towards the docking bay and the Hyperion.
ɸ ɸ ɸ
“Damn it!” Charlie cursed and slammed his hand down on the console. He had been trying to raise any of the boarding party on their assigned communications channel but no one was answering. He stood and began to pace the bridge – he didn’t like the feeling of helplessness that came along with the silence. He knew what he had already heard – Avery and Niko found the Captain of Colony Two dead, along with, seemingly, everyone else. Then they tried to raise Mak and her team with no luck.
But then everything had gone radio silent. He did not like that one bit.
After a few minutes of pacing, a chime sounded from his console and he rushed over to check it. A light flashed on his interface, indicating that the docking bay hatch had been accessed. He felt instant relief – content to assume that something had gone wrong with their communicators, forcing them to return without reporting in. All that was important was that they were back and this calmed him. He sat back down at his console and tapped the indicator light to dismiss it.
After a few minutes, Charlie heard footsteps, but he didn’t turn immediately – “What happened to your comm?” He asked before swiveling to face the entrance of the bridge.
Charlie felt his breath leave him. Instead of seeing the Captain or any other member of the crew, he was faced with a vision of a nightmare. A man filled the doorway with long, straggly hair and a face caked with dried blood. He was shirtless and Charlie’s eyes widened when, with filthy fingernails, the intruder raised his hands in an aggressive gesture, bared his teeth and snarled at the pilot.
Charlie had only split seconds to take the nightmarish apparition in because the man charged him almost immediately. Charlie instinctively dodged, lunging out of the way by throwing himself to the floor. The man crashed into to console instead of the pilot and there was a distinct sound of glass splintering under the weight and force of the blow. Undeterred by pain or sense, the wild man with wild eyes spun and attacked again.
Charlie rolled away and scrambled to his feet. He took a moment to search the room for anything he might be able to use to defend himself, but the pause was too long. The man tackled him and they hit the floor violently – Charlie’s head taking the brunt of the fall, smacking against the metal surface with a crack. He heard the noise but did not register how it related to him. Adrenaline all but numbed the pain after his vision swam for a fraction of a moment, only to return in sharp, horrifying focus.
Instinctively, Charlie braced his hands on the man’s shoulders and used all his strength to push him away, locking his elbows as he did so. The man snarled and snapped his teeth as he tried to pull off Charlie’s grip.
The pilot struggled and wedged a knee between them and dug the toe of his boot into the man’s stomach. He kicked out and managed to dislodge the man who came back at him with feverish determination.
From where Charlie lay on his back, he timed a powerful kick to the man’s chest that made him fall over on his side. He coughed and sputtered but rolled into a crouch as he did so. Pain affected him, but only to a certain extent. There were other instincts compelling his actions and Charlie knew with sickening certainty it had to do with hunger and an acquired taste for human flesh.
From his crouched position, the shell of a man pulled something from the small of his back. It dripped with fresh blood as he brandished it at Charlie – it was what looked like a cross between a makeshift knife and spearhead.
The man adjusted his grip on it and Charlie watched with horror as every muscle in his body prepared to pounce. The pilot’s adrenaline transitioned into survival level fear that made his mouth taste like acid. Everything around him was bolted to the floor. He had nothing to protect himself. His heart raced so furiously that he almost did not notice the movement behind the crouched man.
The man, too intent on his prey, did not notice at all as Avery strode onto the bridge. She walked right up to the savage so that she was beside him. Only then did he snap his attention over and up at her. It was a split second before she placed the barrel of her pistol squarely between his eyes and pulled the trigger with a steady hand.
The man collapsed instantaneously, his weapon lost from his grasp.
The deafening noise of blood rushing in Charlie’s ears quieted somewhat, replaced by a ringing from the gunshot. He looked from the collapsed wild thing to Avery and back, attempting to regain control over his breathing.
“I bet you’re glad I brought this now,” Avery said and held the gun up.
Charlie nodded numbly.
“You OK Foxtrot?” She asked.
He nodded again.
“Good. Thanks for not dying. Now get up because we’ve got another problem.” She said as she holstered her side arm.
Charlie gripped his console chair and pulled himself up – or tried. His first attempt failed as his vision swam at the motion. He collapsed back to the floor in a graceless heap, his hand moving to the back of his head that suddenly throbbed angrily.
“Well, shit,” Avery said – his condition did not escape her. “New plan. Don’t move much.” She left the bridge and came back with relative quickness wielding a bio-freeze pack. She snapped the activator in it and put it in Charlie’s hand. “I’ll get the doc to give you some really good pain killer when he’s done stitching up our favorite engineer.” She said and Charlie’s shock made him recoil, then wince in pain. He applied the bio-freeze back to the back of his head and looked at the makeshift weapon the man had dropped.
“That’s her blood?” he asked with alarm in his voice.
“Unfortunately,” Avery confirmed. “Stay here. I’ve got a stretcher to find.” She instructed and left without further niceties.
Charlie’s eyes focused and unfocused and he settled on just closing them in an attempt to avoid the nausea that was building. His decision was also heavily influenced by not wanting to look at the haunting image of a dead cannibal and Niko’s now blood-spattered console.
ɸ ɸ ɸ
Margret Avery was, without question, one of the most clear headed people under pressure Niko had ever witnessed. He was certain that, without her, their group may have lost their collective composure and unraveled with the recent crisis into which they had been propelled. He considered himself to be a levelheaded person, but even this tested him.
She had returned in short order with a lightweight stretcher retrieved from the Hyperion’s small medical bay. She informed them without fanfare that the threat had been neutralized and that they could focus on getting Makenna safely back to the ship. She and Niko did most of the heavy lifting while Winston walked along side to monitor the engineer. He had used the time Avery was away to fashion a bandage from his medical kit, though it was soaked and Makenna had lost consciousness.
Finn jogged ahead of them, making sure the way was clear and calling lifts as much in advance as possible so they could travel between decks without too much delay.
When they boarded the Hyperion, they made a direct line to the medical bay. The Captain left them to work with Ch
arlie to detach from Colony Two – just in case there had been more than one… survivor aboard the colony ship.
Niko and Finn stayed with Winston, making the medical bay feel cramped and smaller than it was. They watched as he began to cut Makenna’s shirt off to clear the wounded area. His hands shook as he did and he looked alarmingly nervous.
When he had the shirt completely removed, he pulled away the soaked bandage and tossed it into a bio-bin.
“She’s still bleeding,” Finn said with distress as she looked from the wound to Winston expectantly.
“Yes,” Winston agreed and stared at the wound.
Niko was shocked by his inaction, “Why aren’t you doing anything?” The slow pooling of blood made him uneasy for Makenna. He wasn’t sure how much she had lost, but even astronomers knew pools of blood were bad.
Winston wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. He had begun sweating and color had drained from his face. “Well,” he said, leaning down to look at the wound from a different angle. “I am trying to… determine how to…” he trailed off.
“Damn it, Doctor, she’s going to bleed out!” Niko snapped and gnashed his teeth together in frustration and helplessness.
Finn put weight on one foot, then the other as she anxiously watched the doctor do nothing.
“I have not technically done this on a person before,” Winston blurted out.
“What?!” Finn and Niko exclaimed in unison.
“I, I, I… I am technically what you would call an accredited non-practicing medical scholar with a specialization in veterinary medicine.” Winston confessed all in one breath.
Though she knew it would accomplish nothing, Finn felt anger flair up in her – even more than shock. “Most animals on Earth are extinct!” She yelled. “It is not even a profession anymore!”
“Well, it was more of a theoretical study…”
“Theoretically figure this out!” Niko shouted. “Anatomy is anatomy.” He skipped the obvious question of why they were sent on a mission with a theoretical veterinarian masquerading as a practicing medical doctor because there was exactly nothing they could do about it in that moment.