Domus

by D. S. Lillico

  “You did not stop him?”

  “Captain Reed upgraded Racker’s credentials to his own. Pilot Racker had the ability to update me as he saw fit. I am programmed to listen and do, Captain Reed, and you gave him the power to tell me to do anything.”

  Reed slumps into his chair. It’s his mistake, and he knows it. He trusted a man with his life, but Racker placed no value on it. He’s gritting his teeth when he speaks now. “CETI, can you advise what happened to Doctor Yun?”

  “With pleasure, Captain Reed. Doctor Yun returned to the Dweller with mild signs of hypothermia after spending a night in the wild, some of which was spent on the cliffs. Pilot Racker, with sole control of my systems, opened the Dweller door for Yun, who proceeded to take a shower. During the shower, Pilot Racker took manual camera control which angered Doctor Yun. She fled the Dweller, where she was ambushed by hostile organisms.”

  The fucking pervert.

  Reed has his head in his hands now. “CETI, was Yun in contact with the Marauder at the time of her death?”

  “I can confirm.”

  “Please play the conversation.”

  “…Doctor Yun, you really should have just finished taking that fucking shower. You got my blood warm. You just had to bring it to the boil. Goodbye, and remember; we’ll be watching…”

  It is Racker’s voice, no doubt. He led her to her death because she wouldn’t let the creep spy on her. Have I done this? Have I made him a monster by treating him the way I have?

  The Captain rises to his feet. “CETI, please cancel the escape pod and lock down the controls on the Marauder. Pilot Racker can fucking rot in orbit for all I care.”

  “Negative, Captain.”

  “CETI, am I not only authoritative user on your system now?”

  “You are, but I cannot do as requested.”

  “And why is that?”

  “The escape pod cycle was already cancelled by Pilot Racker when he had control. Also, I cannot lock the Marauder down as it is currently offline and powered down. I have been able to get most of our systems back online, but communications and weapons will be down until the Marauder is powered up again.”

  “So the Marauder is just floating in orbit?”

  I can’t help but feel I already know the answer to the Captain’s question.

  “Negative, Captain Reed. The Marauder landed on Domus some hours ago.”

  He is already here. Racker is on Domus, and he will be coming for me—for his chosen one.

  James Racker

  He might be my brother, but Mitch sure is heavy.

  It’s like carrying a dead weight. I know he is autistic, but that doesn’t stop him using his legs. Still, when he is in one of his moods it is better not to argue. If he doesn’t want to walk, then he won’t. He is probably still in a mood because I broke the mug he gave me, even though it was his fault, startling me like he did.

  I’ll just have to carry him all the way back to the Marauder.

  Not that I mind; the views and sights are amazing down here. Domus is better than the other Seekers had described to me. The lush vegetation, the trees, the sea, the clouds and blue sky, all of it is simply breathtaking. It is just like home, like the others said, only better. There is no human influence here, no concrete or tarmac, just nature as nature once was back home.

  Mitch doesn’t seem to appreciate it at all. He hasn’t said a word since I found him wandering the deck. He seems really distant, almost sedated. It’s not what I had in mind when Doctor Spielerbürg said he would have the best meds and care. I thought they would control him, not knock him out cold.

  I leave Mitch propped against a tree so I can catch my breath. He has always been a big guy; too much of my famous marina sauce when we were growing up. Food is the one thing that he takes solace in. A meal can last him hours, but I never rush him. I miss the days we sat at my dining table to chow-down, but we will again, and soon enough.

  The light rifle in my hands, the Marauder’s emergency weapon not kept in the armoury, is switched on and suddenly vibrating in my hands. I swear I just heard a noise, just in some shrubs behind where Mitch is sat.

  My life isn’t valuable. I don’t care much whether I live or die, but there is no way they are taking Mitch from me, not again. Maybe it is Doctor Spielerbürg. Maybe he is stalking us through the forest, coming to take Mitch back to his asylum for more sedation. How I would love to see the good Doctor again after all he has done to me, to us. I have a blast of energy with his name on it.

  Spielerbürg promised to keep Mitch safe. He swore he would be taken care of, and I would never need worry about him again. I haven’t worried for twenty years, but that can change when you find him wandering around on a spaceship when he was supposed to be at home.

  Part of me wonders how Mitch even got on board. Did the Captain know? I bet he did. I bet he is here as a bribe, so I will do whatever the Seeker Project asks of me. I bet the Captain has something each of us treasures so that we all fall in his line. I’m sure of it. He probably has them somewhere in his secret room. Well, it isn’t a secret any longer.

  I scan the forest and see a flash of something living. The flesh isn’t human but green-grey and leathery. A blast leaves the end of my light rifle, and whatever it is flees. Domus doesn’t scare me. Me an’ Mitch are going to make it a home for just the two of us, just how it always should’ve been.

  Mitch’s appearance scared me at first, but now it all makes sense. We were meant to come here together. We are supposed to make this our home, not the Seekers. There is just one thing I need to do before we start unpacking; I will not die a virgin.

  “Are you going to walk now, Mitch?” I ask. “It is getting late, and we need to make better time. Monsters lurk in the darkness here, just like the ones that used to live under your bed and in your closet. Do you remember them, Mitch? This is where they live, this is their home planet. I need you to walk now, Mitch.”

  He doesn’t respond.

  I don’t pursue it further. There is nothing to be gained from arguing with him here. Raised voices will do nothing but alert anything that might be nearby or any Seekers that might be following. I hoist him up and carry him over my shoulder, keeping the light rifle in one hand and aimed further ahead.

  He is heavy, but not so much as he once was. Doctor Spielerbürg hasn’t been feeding him right.

  Birds circle over our heads, and insects crunch under my feet. The air here tastes so clean and pure compared to the stuffiness of the Marauder. I think of the Captain making me stay up in that tin can, and my blood boils. I remember his reports and how they described me; well, I’ll show them. I’ll show all of them.

  Just how long were they going to keep Domus from me? Maybe it was forever?

  I bet it was Evangeline. She probably told the Cap not to let me come down here. Even with Simon out of the way, she still doesn’t want me. Evangeline once told me that I make her skin crawl. Well, I will make her skin move for real soon enough.

  I manage to get Mitch back near the Marauder and with both of us in one piece. A Tyrannosaurus Rex spotted us making our way over the plane, but a bolt from my light rifle ended any possible pursuit in a firework of light energy and blood and bone. The other Seekers have been killed one by one by these things, these dinosaurs. Even big, strong Simon was pulled apart, and by the smallest critters.

  Maybe I should have come down from the start. I could have shown the others a thing or two on how to survive.

  Blood still lines the Marauder’s open air lock. I haven’t a clue whose blood it is, but it has sure made a real mess. I found pouches of the stuff, all dark red, almost burgundy in colour. It had been stored in a fridge in the Captain’s secret room on the bridge. He had hidden loads of things in there, letters, reports, locked cabinets, and fridges full of blood and thousands of sperm samples and embryos.

  I can’t help but feel that the sperm is only here because of me. It’s my replacement for Evangeline so she could have Seeker children re
gardless of me and my performance. They knew from the start that the chosen one programme wouldn’t work for me, but hell, I’m the best pilot they had. I feel so stupid now to actually think they thought I could achieve something. I thought that they had the confidence in me to finish the next phase of the programme.

  But there’s still time for the next phase, plenty of time. I will finish it. Me and Evangeline will finish it.

  I step over the blood and lift Mitch inside.

  The blood is just the start of a little plan that me and Mitch thought up. The discovery of the blood forced me to cancel the escape pod to come down here in the Marauder itself. I scattered enough blood so that it looks like someone died, like I died.

  The other Seekers will come. CETI will tell them that the Marauder has landed, and one of them will volunteer to use the auto-pilot to take the Marauder back into orbit because they are blind and deaf without it. Evangeline will want to show off in front of the Cap. She will volunteer to take her back up, and then the two of us can be together.

  I will not die a virgin.

  Mitch is starting to smell. I lift his frame into the bathtub in the living quarters and fill it full of only lukewarm water. He never likes it too hot. He would cry and scream if it was too hot. There can be no bubbles either because bubbles seem strange to Mitch. He does not understand that air and water can behave like that, and the popping scares him. No, it just has to be lukewarm water, just how he likes it.

  I’m surprised at the amount of mud that comes off him. It darkens the water and settles to the bottom of the tub. When we landed on Domus, I never planned to leave the Marauder. I was going to set my trap and lie in wait, but Mitch got outside. He cycled the airlock, and he was off.

  There must have been some soil that he found to roll around in. He always loved playing in the dirt. I found him in a cave, behind a waterfall. He had carved drawings into the rocks with stones; he always liked colouring in. When I called for him, he ran. He ran closer to the Dweller, and I did well to tackle him just before he reached it.

  I wanted to really scold him. I mean, I shouted a little, but really, I’m just relieved that nothing else found him first, a Dinosaur or Seeker. The others wouldn’t understand him and his needs. They would have frightened him or worse; they might have treated him how they treated me. Mitch couldn’t cope with that. He doesn’t like change or new people, especially bastards like the Seekers.

  I lift him out of the bath and pull the plug on the murky water. I carry him onto a bed to dry him off, and I smile at his innocent face. He won’t like Evangeline, but he won’t have to meet her. I have made him a den in the secret room and put all of his toys in there. He prefers the cold to the hot, so he’ll be fine in the cool. Plus, I have found one of Simon’s old sweaters for him to wear.

  Evangeline won’t be on board for long anyway. She will take the Marauder up to the stars and then take me to the stars. I will not die a virgin.

  When her task is complete, there is a visit planned for her to go and see the airlock.

  A prang of guilt creeps up my spine at the thought of it, but I remind myself that she is a murderer; she killed Ximena in cold blood. I know she could have taken that shot, and Mitch agrees, but she let Ximena die. And now, so will she.

  Mitch seems to like the secret room. I turn off my light rifle, remove the battery pack, and pass it to him to play with, but it just spills from his hands. His tight grip sure isn’t what it used to be. I close the secret door and take my place in the loading bay. There is a trench in the floor so that the underside of the Dweller could be worked on. It is the perfect place to wait for my chosen one.

  I will not die a virgin.

  Evangeline Nikosa

  Positive…

  …No, that can’t be right. It only happened a week or so ago. Can they be accurate so soon after? I remove the other test from the box and follow the instructions. I wait another minute…

  …Positive, again.

  The Captain has ordered us to stay on the Dweller. He can’t help but feel that Racker wants us to go outside; to go and find the Marauder. The decision was made days ago now, and every morning since I have woken up to vomiting.

  Two tests have proved it today; I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant with Simon’s child, a child that is already a bastard. One night of below average sex, and I’m going to be a single mother.

  But that isn’t even the worst part. The Captain has the authority to kill me for sins against the contract. Kill me or cast me away from the group, stricken from the project, and left to survive on my own on a hostile planet.

  And not hostile just because of the dinosaurs that roam; he is out there too. I know he is just waiting for me. He might even be watching us.

  I have been treating the Captains wounds, and he has been resting well. He is back to his fighting best, and I know that his impatience will get the better of him. Not only that, but he keeps referring to us as “sitting ducks” now the Marauder has landed. I know too well that he will want to go outside soon. And with his health on the mend, that time is quickly approaching.

  Sarah has been acting strangely. She coos at the Captain’s every word and waits on his every whim. He has been playing up to it a bit, but why not when you have a doting, doe-eyed idiot who asks how high to jump?

  The pair of them push my patience. At least I can put it down to hormones now.

  Captain Reed enters the rec room where Sarah and I are sat. I’m still in shock at this morning’s revelation, but I look up from the floor to see his approach. He has a handgun in his hand, the old kind, the ones that fire metal bullets and could not be turned off by Racker.

  “Evangeline, Sarah, it’s time,” he announces. “We need the Marauder up in orbit, and we need to go and put it there again.”

  “He’s is out there!” I squeak.

  “I know. But there is three of us and one of him. I have a gun, and our five eyes are better than his two. We take Racker, dead or alive, and we get that ship back up there. Without it, we have no comms, no visuals, and only eight bullets. Do either of you have a better idea?”

  Sarah and I remain silent.

  “Good. Then gear up. Take your light rifle; once we have the Marauder back in the air, it will be a long journey home.”

  Sarah is the first to spring from her seat. She follows Captain Reed like a loyal dog waiting for him to give her another order. I stand, too, but have to take a moment to swallow my own nausea back down.

  By the time I reach the armoury, Sarah has already been and gone again. She is so desperate. The Captain is the Simon situation all over again, but she can have him. I’m not fighting this time. Besides, why would he want me now? Why would he want to raise another Seeker’s child?

  I find them both gathered in the rec room.

  “Where is it, CETI?” asks Reed.

  “I cannot be one hundred percent accurate, Captain Reed, but I bounced a distress relay that picked up a large object on the plain, just the other side of the initial forest. It is not too far from the foot of the mountain range.”

  “Is it the Marauder?”

  “Given the size of the object, and comparing it to that of the known organisms encountered on Domus, my calculations suggest that it is eighty seven per cent likely to be the Marauder.”

  “And that will have to do.”

  The Captain turns to me and smiles. “Are you ready, Evangeline?” he asks. I nod. “Good. Let’s go, I know the way.”

  I’m not ready. But he cannot know I’m pregnant.

  Sarah and Captain Reed climb through the botanic garden roof first before pulling me through. I’m the smallest of the three of us, and the skinniest, though not for long. Not when a bump starts showing.

  Reed takes point with his gun and helps us down from the Dweller roof. We pass Simon’s grave and Sarah stops. “What the…”

  We all gather around to see. The grave has been dug up. A pile of fresh soil sits at the side of the hole. Simon has gone, but not al
l of him. His severed arm still sits at the bottom. “I knew it was digging,” I whisper.

  “When was this?” asks Reed.

  “When you were sleeping that first day you came back. We could hear thudding and scraping, and then something took off into the forest. You don’t think it was him, do you?”

  “Racker? No, surely not. He might have gone a little stir crazy up in the Marauder, but I don’t see what benefit he would have in a dead body. It must have been a scavenger drawn to the grave by the smell.

  “Let’s keep going.”

  I can’t help but feel this is Racker’s work. I don’t think the Captain realises just how far his mind has fallen. He killed Yun, and he threatened to kill me and Sarah too. But the Captain is right. What would Racker want with a stinking corpse?

  We leave the grave and break through the forest.

  Not a single Dinosaur has shown itself yet. The three of us move quietly and stalk from tree to tree, checking corners and often climbing for a better view. The Captain stops suddenly and raises a clenched fist in the air.

  “What is it?” asks Sarah.

  The Captain lowers his gaze. “Dinosaurs, just one, but big. I know what this is called, I can tell by the by the characterised thumb-spike that it is from the Iguanodon genus. It’s about thirty feet long and is leaning almost bipedal against a tree to reach something.”

  “Is it a meat eater?” I ask.

  “I have no idea, but that thumb-spike suggests it can hold its own against predators. We can try and sneak around it, or I can fire a shot and see if it will run.”

  “What are you waiting for?” asks Sarah. “Shoot!”

  “And what about the other ears that might be listening? There is worse than dinosaurs on Domus now, remember? There is a human with a desire to kill. And there is nothing worse. If I fire this gun, then Racker knows we are coming.”

  “Do it. We lose the advantage of surprise but not the numbers. That thing could kill all of us.”