Project Emergence

by Jamie Zakian

  “In this box,” Sabrina said, stepping closer to Jesse. “Are you sure that’s what was said?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “This is good, Jesse.” Reyes glanced at Sabrina. Guilt flooded his stare, which he quickly veered back to Jesse. “I’m sorry, but I’m gonna need my handheld back.”

  “No, that’s cool.” Jesse handed the device over, shying away from Sabrina’s dropped jaw.

  “Here.” Reyes pulled another, near identical handheld from his pocket and gave it to Jesse. “Take my spare instead. The CPU’s pretty much fried on it anyway.”

  “Thanks! And good luck,” Jesse called out while backing down the hall.

  Sabrina twisted to face Reyes. Her shoulder crashed against the wall, her arms crossing. “Found your handheld in the room, did ya?”

  Reyes let out a huff. “Would you like to climb down off your high horse now and join me? ‘Cause I know where Winslow is.”

  ***

  Joey dug her head into a soft pillow. A thick layer of fluffy blankets encompassed her in warmth. However not even this cocoon of down and cotton could whisk her into dreamland. A gust of air escaped her lungs loudly, and she rolled onto her side.

  “What’s wrong?” Kami asked from across the dark room.

  Joey sat up in bed, leaning against the cold wall behind her. “When we were back home, and the solar storms kicked up, our roof would make this clinking sound. I was always afraid the wind would rip it off and radiation would boil our skin.”

  A rustle echoed in the darkness, and Kami’s faint outline cut through the shadows.

  “I would get this burn in my stomach, and my body felt like there was needles inside it.” Joey pulled a pillow to her chest, hugged it tight, but fear still twisted in her gut. “I feel like that now.”

  She struggled to see Kami’s face, but in the dim starlight of their tiny window, she could only make out a rough shape.

  “What did you do back home to stop being scared?”

  Joey hugged her pillow tighter, as if that could stop the lump in her throat from rising. “I’d run across the room and jump in Jesse’s bed. He’d put his arm around me, tell me everything would be okay, and I just felt safe.”

  Her eyes must have adjusted to the low light because she swore she saw a soft smile on Kami’s lips.

  “You wanna get in bed with me?” Kami asked, in more of a taunt than a question.

  “Okay!” Joey hopped out of her bed, hurrying across the scratchy carpet. Kami leaned back, and Joey dove under the blankets. A tense body grew even more rigid behind her, but she snuggled against it anyway. Kami flinched, and she peeked over her shoulder. A hand hovered above her, hesitating as it drifted in the air.

  Kami took a deep breath, then wrapped her stiff arm around Joey’s waist. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered, scooting just a tad closer.

  ***

  Jesse strolled down the deserted hallway. The lights had been dimmed for the night, not a soul in view. Rolls of laughter ran overhead, and he stopped short. His gaze drifted up to the vent above his head. A thump echoed from its dark slits, and he dashed across the landing.

  His hallway fell into view, but that didn’t slow his heart’s race. It sounded like footsteps rattled the floor right behind him. He slid to a stop, then whirled around with his fist high. There was nobody chasing him. He was alone in the landing of an empty, creaky spaceship. That’s when an irrational wave of fear washed over him. He hurried to his doorway, tapping his thumb on the keypad.

  The door slid open, and he burst into the room. His gaze shot to Rai’s desk, and he scowled when finding an empty chair. He looked at Rai’s bed and there the guy was, snugged under the blankets while typing on his laptop.

  “Nice to see you’re so concerned.”

  Rai turned his computer, showing a ghostly image of a vacant hall on the screen. “I was watching you the whole time. Saw you freak out and everything.”

  “That’s great.” Jesse fell onto his bed, the tools he left out clinking against his side. “You’re a kinda creepy but comforting person.”

  “Huh,” Rai closed the lid to his laptop, shoving it beneath his spare pillow. “No one’s ever said that about me.”

  “What do people usually say about you?” Jesse glanced over as Rai tucked his hands beneath his head. He’d never noticed, but Rai had some serious muscles running along those arms. It made him kind of glad they hadn’t brawled earlier.

  Rai peeked over at Jesse, then back to the ceiling. “Mostly, people just agree with everything I say, if I bother to say anything at all. Then they tell me how awesome I am, even though they don’t know a thing about me.”

  “Why would people do that?”

  “Cause they want something—a favor, support for some cause, or just their five minutes in our family’s limelight.”

  “So that’s what life in A-Sector is like?”

  “It’s not just in the sector. At school. When I go to the capital for galas. Hell, my whole family is like that.” Rai pulled the blanket over his shoulder, turning onto his side. “It’s just life.”

  Jesse sat up, staring at Rai’s back. The poor guy didn’t even know what real life was about. Love, happiness, family was what made every day worth living. Rai was just as busted as Kami’s handheld, but one was much easier to fix than the other. He started lining his tools back up, his eyes flickering to Rai. “Why’d you pick us?”

  Rai pulled the blanket even higher until only a hint of black hair remained. “It’s a very long and boring story. I’d really like to tell you both together in the morning, if that’s okay.”

  “Yeah, it’s cool.” Jesse took the handheld from his pocket, placing it next to Kami’s dismantled device.

  Rai banged his hand on the nightstand until his fingers found the remote. The door lock clicked open, then closed, bulbs flashed in the bathroom. Finally, the overhead light switched off, leaving only the soft glow of Jesse’s bedside lamp.

  “I was gonna work on Kami’s handheld for a while,” Jesse said, angling the lamp’s flex neck downward. “Will this light bother you?”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  Rai shifted under his barrier of covers, and Jesse grabbed a tiny screwdriver.

  ***

  Reyes followed Sabrina deeper into the cargo bay. Glass dribbled from the smashed light fixtures above, shards crunching beneath his boots. She shoved her stun gun into his hand, then lifted a plasma shooter.

  “You can’t use that up here,” he whispered.

  “It won’t pierce the hull, just people.”

  His thumb clicked a switch on the side of his handheld. A thin beam of light flickered on, illuminating a narrow path in front of them. He swiped the light from side to side, its glare reflecting on stacks of long cargo boxes.

  “I’m gonna try Winslow’s phone.” He scrolled through the contacts of his handheld and hit send.

  A ring echoed from across the room, and Sabrina veered toward it. The high-pitched chime grew louder, a light flashing in the distance.

  They crept toward a handheld resting atop a cargo container. The ringing stopped, hurling them into pitch-black once again. Reyes lifted his light, tracing a smear of red painted along the metal lid.

  “It says something,” he whispered.

  Sabrina grabbed his hand, moving the light back to spread its beam.

  “Gotcha,” she said, her tone raising as the word left her mouth.

  Three loud clicks echoed from the wall beside them, a low rumble vibrating the floor.

  “Watch it,” Reyes yelled as a burst of steam shot straight toward them.

  He dove on top of Sabrina, tackling her to the ground. Fiery gusts of wind ripped along his back. Like red-hot razor blades, the rush of heated air clawed through his shirt and peeled his flesh. Waves of pain pushed a scream to his throat, but his lips clasped down. With his wide arm shielding Sabrina’s head, he buried his face in the crook of
her neck.

  The whistling surge of air trickled down, leaving a hollow stillness. Sabrina grabbed Reyes by the sides, sending ripples of agony into every part of his body. A cry burst from his mouth, faster than his will to hold it back.

  “Oh shit!” She yanked her hands away, but fear lingered in her gaze.

  He strained to lift himself off her and she wriggle away. His muscles gave out, and his chest slammed to the hard ground.

  “Is it bad?” he asked, his voice quavering. “It feels bad.” Shivers invaded his body, beyond any hope of control. His fingers balled into fists, a shockwave of tearing scrapes shadowing every slight movement.

  On the cargo box’s smooth surface, he caught a glimpse of singed clothes melted into chunks of his puffy flesh.

  “Stop moving, stupid.”

  Easier said than done. Once his eyes glimpsed his own blood oozing from cracked broiled lesions on his own skin, he couldn’t look away. Not that it mattered where his stare landed. The ghastly sight reflected off every box around him.

  “It’s … it’s not that bad,” Sabrina said. Her hand fell atop his, a shudder in her fingertips.

  “Liar,” he said, attempting a chuckle, but ending in a groan.

  Sabrina crawled toward the glow of his fallen handheld, scooping it up. “I’m calling for backup. What’s your first in command’s name?”

  Reyes turned his head toward Sabrina’s voice. A slow drip from the cargo box behind her entranced his stare. The thick dark droplets, which seemed to trickle in slow motion, lulled his eyes closed every time they splashed the ground, but a scorching throb kept his mind turned on.

  “Sabrina.” When she looked up from the handheld, he raised a trembling arm to point.

  She slid closer to his side, following his line of direction. Light shined on a lake of blood, which seeped from the container with a misshapen handheld fused to its lid.

  Sabrina climbed to her feet. Reyes tried to warn her about the hot steel she was about to grab with bare hands, but his brain was too slow and her legs too damn fast. She clutched onto the latch of the cargo box. A sizzle filled the air before her angered yelp bounced from the walls. She jumped back and shook her hands, muttering a few choice words. Without thinking twice, she pulled off her tank top, wrapped it around her hand, and went right back for the latch.

  Reyes rolled onto his side, ignoring the spikes of blistery pain. “Oh damn,” he gasped. Staring up at Sabrina in only her bra and cargo pants loaded with gadgets at the belt seemed to soothe the fires ravaging his back, so he kept gawking. “I’m glad I saved that skin.”

  A smirk lifted the corner of Sabrina’s lips. “Pervert,” she teased, using her covered hand to unlock the hot metal clasps of the box. She flung open the lid, recoiling. “It’s Winslow. He’s been stabbed, beaten.” She reached inside then jerked her arm back. “There’s a pulse, barely.”

  Reyes crawled to his handheld. He sent out an alert, pinning his location, then collapsed to the floor. His gaze traced the cut of Sabrina’s stomach as she pulled her shirt back on before a gray haze swept in to cloud his view.

  Chapter Seventeen

  A chuckle escaped his lips and he quickly wound down his glee. Pride is a sin. He scurried through the vents, traversing a maze of shiny tunnels. Eyes everywhere, prying and spying. I know how to elude you.

  The tight vent ended in a long drop. “Gravity,” he muttered, maneuvering down the narrow shaft feet first. “God wanted gravity back, and now I know why. So I could roast two piggies alive. Oh … I wish I could’ve seen it, their faces boiling. Smell the burned flesh.”

  Sweat rolled from his brow to his cheek, then dripped off his pointy chin as he squirmed down the airshaft. “No time. Now’s the time. Must hurry.” His foot slipped, and he plummeted downward. He pawed the smooth surface as he fell, the rubber of his boots squeaking against metal.

  He landed on the steel grate below with a thud, a snap of his ankle echoing down the corridor. “Ah! God, why would you—”

  The floor vibrated beneath him, a distant thump of footsteps drawing near. He leaped to his feet, then crumbled when his ankle popped and grinded.

  “Forsaken,” he whispered.

  His hand slapped the wall, skin squealing as he pulled himself off the floor. “No. Another test of devotion.” He scoured the corridor around him, looking for any place to hide.

  “It came from this way,” a man called out, and he hobbled away from the deep voice.

  Determination shrouded the throb that ran through his leg. He limped faster as the shuffle of footsteps clanked louder. I know this ship. I know where to go.

  He hopped on one foot, swiveled to the side, and slipped in between two pipes. As he peeked out, two men stopped short in the very spot he had landed. His breath flowed softer than he thought possible. The men edged closer to him, and he backed against the wall.

  “What do you think?” the one closest to him said.

  “We should—” A loud beep flooded the corridor, and both men pulled out their handhelds. “There’s been an incident in the cargo bay.”

  “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Once the men hurried from sight, he wormed his way out from the pipes. “That was quick. I hope I got at least one heathen,” he grumbled beneath his breath. “Besides Winslow.” He staggered along the corridor, wide eyes constantly checking his back. “It’s time. I can’t let the voice of God down. I can’t let God down.”

  He dragged his foot as he rode the wall, the whirl of machinery growing louder.

  ***

  Sabrina stepped off the elevator. In the seconds she wasn’t scanning faces for guilt, her eyes stuck to Reyes. His charred arm had flopped over the side of a stretcher before his men carried him down the hall. She grabbed a young man by his lapel, the officer’s pin digging into her palm. “Has a medical team been dispatched?”

  “Y-Yes, ma’am,” he stammered.

  With a shove, she released the crimpled shirt in her grasp. “Don’t call me ma’am.”

  A scowl hung on her lips as she pushed past groups of concerned officers, pursuing the stretchers into medical. She spotted the doctor from earlier except now, the woman’s shoulders sagged and her perfect hair straggled from its bun.

  Sabrina cut through the growing crowd, stepping beside Sally as she inserted a needle into Winslow’s arm.

  “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here, Ms. Stone.” Sally hurried to her tray of instruments, bumping into two large men along the way. “You have to get these apes outta here.” Her frazzled eyes darted around the crammed space before she dashed to Reyes’ side, a much larger syringe in hand. “A girl really needs to shake a tail feather at times like these,” Sally said, jabbing Reyes, multiple times, along the edges of his seared back.

  It took Sabrina a moment to tear her gaze from the pus-filled boils of the man’s once creamy brown skin.

  “Right.” She turned, finding a sea of worried faces and lifted her hands high. “Hey! Listen up.”

  Chatter filtered to a hush. The officers who sardined into the room veered their anxious eyes to her. It felt like old times, except they weren’t on Earth, these weren’t her men, and her mind focused on Reyes instead of the mission. “Reyes and Winslow will be fine, but the person who did this to them is still out there.”

  The mood in the room shifted. Tension flowed in waves, encircling her in a layer of heavy wrath. It was the perfect time to assign tasks since riled minds don’t think to ask questions.

  “I need you all to scour this ship quietly. Check every place a person could hide, every container in that cargo bay. I want two teams of two guarding the engineering deck at all times. And someone comb through the video feeds.”

  As the room cleared, Sabrina turned to the unconscious men behind her. “Anything at all, report to me. I’ll be here,” she said. A few nods and yes, ma’ams were slung her way before the room emptied.

  She stood, silent, watching a tall man in
a lab coat rub a translucent pink goo over Reyes’ exposed body. Her stare dropped to the floor. It didn’t feel right to look at him like this, stripped naked and vulnerable.

  Her gaze drifted to Winslow. A slight hint of color had returned to the man’s cheeks, even though the blood stain on the sheet beneath him grew wider. She stepped beside Sally, who ran a scanner along the length of Winslow’s body. “Is um … is Winslow gonna make it?”

  Sally looked at Sabrina, then to Reyes, and back at Sabrina with a smirk. “Reyes will be fine. A few hours with that stem cell serum and his soft skin will be good as new. A little better actually. But Winslow …” She stared at the LCD screen of her scanner, a frown fixed on her lips. “He has severe internal injuries. We’re not equipped for major surgery.” She tapped her chin with her gloved finger, eyes scrunching. “I’ll have to use nanobots to repair the damage.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?” Sabrina leaned closer to see a fleshy gash from Winslow’s waist to his midsection. The shards of meat flapped from a slow dribble of blood, which showed no signs of slowing.

  “Well, yeah,” Sally said with a hint of irritation in her voice. “So is doing nothing. Once the bots mend the wounds, I’ll administer a low dose of electricity to stun the little bastards. Then I can flush his system. That way, he won’t turn into a cyborg.”

  Sabrina lurched back from Winslow’s bedside, her eyes growing wide. “Is that even possible?”

  “I was kidding,” Sally said. Her grin broke, along with her hasty steps toward her desk. “However, in theory, the nanobots could alter thought patterns if they entered the brainstem. While he’d remain wholly organic, his mind would be … more mechanical.” After a smile and a wave of her hand, Sally rolled her chair closer to Winslow’s bed. “But I won’t let that happen. It would take days, maybe even weeks, and I only need a few hours.”