“They were all murdered? And my parents, what about them, are they okay?”
“Look in the next cabinet.”
I open the door and almost have a heart attack. I can feel the tears rolling down my cheeks before I have even finished the headline;
Three Dead In House Fire
They killed my parents and my sister. I look at the other piles and fall to my knees. They went after my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, all of them. Why?
“Why, Captain? Who did this?”
“They called themselves the Sympathisers. A religious group that thought the Seeker Project was going against God’s will. They believed we were all meant to die on the planet, just as God intended.
“It happened during the three weeks we were in isolation before launch. They thought that if they killed one family, then the Project would be abandoned, but Doctor Spielerbürg was stubborn. He let them cut through our entire family trees and launched us into space without a word.
“I received them a year in, when he knew we would not turn back.”
“And you were just waiting for the right moment to tell us?”
“When is the right moment to tell something like that to someone?”
“Which one is Racker’s?”
“It’s the cabinet right at the end. They killed his brother. They killed Mitch.”
I move to the final metal cabinet. Something stays my hand, only briefly, and then I open it. A body comes crashing out, a dead body. The smell of rot fills the air, and I stifle my mouth with a hand to stop myself being sick.
The flesh is the colour of custard, and many of the stitches have come undone. His once blonde hair is missing in places, and the whole body is bloated with air and liquid.
Newspapers have scattered all around the body. The headlines read: Autistic man murdered in care home.
“Oh God… oh my fucking God… what the fuck… I’m going to be sick…”
“What is it, Sarah?”
“It’s Simon. He’s been dug up and brought on board the Marauder. He is wearing a jumper with writing done in black marker on it.”
“What does it say?”
“Mitch. It says—”
Cold hands wrap around my mouth.
James Racker
I felt the Marauder jolt into life from the loading bay trench. I knew my trap had been sprung because I had heard Seeker voices above my hole just minutes before. I knew they wouldn’t check down here. You don’t look too well for a dead man.
CETI’s autopilot was a rough take off, but it was quickly followed by the familiar feeling of weightlessness. That is when I made my move, stalking through the Marauder and checking every room to make sure only one Seeker was on board.
And there is only one. They must be on the bridge, the last place for me to look. CETI will not alert them, because I have already broken all of the Camera’s except for the ones on the bridge. And they will not be able to escape in those escape pods either, Mitch saw to that.
All that is left is for me to take my chosen one, to initiate the next phase so I can be free from my contract. And then Domus is left for Mitch and me.
No, this isn’t right. I wanted Evangeline! She was my chosen one, not Sarah.
Evangeline is a delicate beast. She is a small hare that does not want me to pet her. Whenever I have tried to, she runs away. And now the hare has even managed to evade my trap.
But not all is lost. Along came Sarah, the big, bumbling oaf that has disturbed Mitch’s playtime.
She will have to do. I will not die a virgin.
I bring my hands up and over her mouth, almost on my tiptoes because of her height, and the fucking bitch bites right down on my fingers. Something glistens in her hand as she punches right down sideways and into my thigh.
The blow knocks me off my feet, and she is running back to the bridge. She can really hit strong! My leg feels dead, cold… and wet? Blood has soaked through my Seeker uniform and now I can see it, the blade from our kitchen knife. The handle has snapped, but the cold metal is still in my thigh.
I wrench the blade free, and blood spurts from the wound. The fucking bitch will pay for that.
“I’m sorry, Mitch. But I’m going to need that gun I gave you to play with. You can have it back when James is finished with it, okay?”
The rifle is switched on, and it thrums in my hands. I bend down to give Mitch a kiss on his forehead, and I can’t help but smile; newspapers are scattered all around him, and they report the death of Mitchell Racker. Are they blind?! He’s right here!
“Ignore the papers, Mitch, you ain’t dead yet. I won’t let them take you, I promise. I’ll be back soon, you’ll see. And who knows, today might be the day you become a man too. I will ask Sarah once we are done; I’m sure she won’t mind another go.”
I leave the Captain’s secret room, his room of lies. I walk the best I can with my newly acquired limp, courtesy of one slippery bitch who has run down to the living quarters.
The screen in the bridge suddenly illuminates, and I am face to face once more with the Captain. “Racker, it’s me, your friend.”
“Racker doesn’t have any friends, just Mitch.”
“That is not true, Racker. I am your friend, Sarah is your friend, Evangeline and all of the other Seekers are, or were, your friends. More than that, James, we were a family. We grew up together, and we shared.”
“We didn’t share everything though, did we, Cap? We all had our secrets; Doctor Yun and Lawson, Doctor Barros and her bribes, you, especially you, with your reports and secret rooms. I told you everything, Cap, and got nothing back. You all see me as a fucking joke.”
I stick my earpiece in so Sarah can hear me. “Sarah, come to the bridge. Come to the bridge so we can start the next phase. I know you were not my chosen one, but I’m choosing you now. Come to the bridge.”
“Go to fucking hell, you psycho!”
“Sarah, come to the bridge before I use this light rifle to blow a hole right through the Marauder.”
“Do as he says, Sarah,” buzzes the Cap, finally realising I am now in charge.
“That’s right, Sarah, come to start the next phase.”
I can hear footsteps on the stairs up to the bridge. Soft, meek footsteps, timid like a field mouse. Come on, Sarah, come to me now. She stands in the doorway now, smiling at me seductively. I can feel the instrument of the next phase press tight against the inner leg of my Seeker uniform.
“I knew you would see sense, Sarah. We need to start the next phase for the sake of all humanity. Mitch has asked if he can try after me; more chance to take seed that way.”
“Sure,” replies Sarah as she starts towards me. She begins to unbutton her Seeker uniform to her waist. She is a broad lady, strong and barrel-chested, but her breasts are full, they are everything I ever wanted.
She stops half way towards me. “No further until you start unbuttoning too.”
“Is this a trick?”
“No. This is ‘I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.’ ”
I place the light rifle on my chair and take a step forward. I undo my top button easily, but have to look down for the next as it seems to be caught. Sarah rushes me in the blink of my eyes. She plunges another kitchen knife, smaller than the first, right into my belly.
She twists the blade. The fucking bitch, she twisted the blade.
I grab the knife handle with my left hand and keep it embedded into my stomach. And then I find a strength I never knew I had. I lash out with my right fist clenched and it smashes into Sarah’s face and spreads her nose. Her eyes roll back, and she collapses to the floor.
“You see, Captain! You see what your secrets have done! This is your fault. All of it, this is all your fault. But I will not die a virgin.”
“Racker, stop, this is madness!”
I use the cable ties I found in the loading bay to tie Sarah’s hands together behind her back and her feet at her ankles. She is naked now, and I’m str
uggling to contain myself until she wakes up. I wipe the blood from her face and hold her nose in place until it starts to set straight. I want my first time to be with a pretty girl, not a bloodied, crooked nosed monster.
“Are you going to watch the next phase, Cap? I don’t remember reading in the contract that the second phase was supervised. Will I be scored? Please, don’t be too harsh on the technique, it’s my first time after all.”
“Racker, please stop.”
Sarah is starting to come around. “This is it, Cap.”
I remove my uniform and climb on. There is an excitement in Sarah’s eyes, a wild excitement for the next phase.
“Racker… come closer,” she asks.
I lean in.
“Closer, I want to whisper something so that the Captain doesn’t hear.”
This is good. I like having secrets from the Captain. It makes it feel even for how many he has kept from me. I lean close so that my ear is next to her lips. I can feel Sarah’s warm breath on my skin.
And then the bitch bites. She bites so hard and tears away that I feel the ear come off my head. She brings her knees up and kicks me in the groin.
The force snaps the cable tie around her ankles and she is running naked down the bridge.
I will not die a virgin.
The light rifle is at my side. I’m losing blood from two wounds now, but I find the energy to pick it up and set it to ‘laser.’ The beam is only effective for a few feet. I take aim, pull the trigger, and cross the stream horizontally over the bridge.
“You fucking monster!” shouts the Captain. “What the fuck have you done, Racker?”
Sarah’s head keeps travelling through the air and out of the room. Her body slumps lifelessly just a few steps from the doorway.
“You have lost your fucking mind!”
“Calm down, Captain. I just need to start the next phase, and I will be free from my contract.”
“Start the next phase? Racker, what the hell are you talking about? Sarah is dead. There is no next phase!”
“Not with that attitude, there isn’t!”
“The Seeker Project is dead, Sarah is dead. Simon, Yun, Barros, Lawson. They are all dead. I relieve you from your contract, Racker. I declare the Seeker Project as finished. There is no need to carry out the next phase.”
Finished? The project has finished? I am free to live with Mitch for the rest of our lives with no obligations? I would believe it if the Captain wasn’t such a liar, “Nice try, Cap. But I will not die a virgin.”
Sarah’s body is easier to drag back towards the main area of the bridge, about a head lighter. Blood marks where I have dragged her naked frame. The Captain is still watching. Let him, I don’t care.
I’m ready. “This is it, Cap, the next phase.”
“Seekers, this is CETI, do you read? We have a code red emergency. I repeat, a code red emergency.”
What now?
“CETI, this is Captain Reed, please advise?”
“With pleasure, Captain. There is an asteroid and meteor shower approaching Domus. My sensors on the Marauder are measuring rocks ranging from a single mile, up to five hundred miles in diameter. There are more and more entering my range every second.”
“Why were we not alerted sooner?”
“Pilot Racker assigned all resources to view Domus.”
“What is the predicted calculation for Domus? What do you predict will happen to this planet?”
“CETI predicts the death of ninety nine per cent of all life on Domus. It will cause planet-wide forest fires, tsunamis several miles high, and an impact winter in which dust will block out the sun for months or even years. Life will be blasted, roasted, and then frozen to death, in that order.”
“Can the Marauder escape it?”
“Negative. By the time the Marauder auto-lands to pick you up, the smallest dust will already be entering the atmosphere. The Marauder’s delicate frame will not withstand this heat nor be able to escape the changes to Domus’ atmosphere and gravitational pull.”
“How long do we have?”
“Less than two Domus days.”
“Thank you, CETI. I am reading that the sperm has now been delivered into landing pod A. I know that there is no oxygen for a person to survive, but they should make the journey okay. Set the coordinates for the Dweller, and fire the escape pod.”
“Confirmed, Captain Reed.”
“Thank you, CETI. Captain Reed, out.”
“WAIT!” I scream at the monitor. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes. “You can’t just leave me up here! I’m sorry for everything, Cap. I never meant to hurt anybody. I just wanted to be someone! I wanted to be like you, Cap! A good person, and a good person can’t leave someone to die.”
“I can, and that is exactly what I am going to do. I will leave you recording so I can hear you scream when you start to cook alive. I might even watch for as long as I can, watch as the skin starts melting from your bones. I will welcome my own death, do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I will have seen and heard yours first.”
The screen fades to black.
“CETI, please initiate auto-land.”
“Negative, Pilot Racker.”
“Then pass me the manual fucking controls, will you?”
“Negative, Captain Racker. You user credentials have been revoked.”
This is it then. This is the end for me and Mitch. I came all this way just to die in space.
I stroke Sarah’s cold arm. I will not die a virgin.
Captain Reed
It’s time for me to accept that the Seeker Project is over. We are all dead, or as good as.
I switch off the monitor and move away from the terminal in my quarters. I can’t bear to see anymore of Racker and what he has done. He can stay up there and watch the meteorites tear the Marauder to shreds.
Knowing my fate is the worst part of this. At least it was a surprise or relatively quick for the others. I have to wait two days knowing that the skin is going to be blasted from my bones before I freeze to death. I know I am going to die, and there is nothing I can do but hope it is quick.
Evangeline is still asleep on the sofa in the rec room. She doesn’t know what Racker has done, what has happened to Sarah, or what is going to happen to us. I run a hand over her soft cheek and brush her curly brown hair from off her face. I should be angry at her for her sins, but I’m not. I pity her. I will only lose my own life, but she will lose two.
I have to tell her.
“Evangeline,” I whisper, and stroke her chin. She wakes with blinking blue eyes. She is an attractive woman, with soft features and a melting stare.
“What is it, Captain?”
“It is Sarah… she’s… she’s…”
Evangeline close her eyes and nods her head. I don’t need to tell her. “Was it him?”
“Yes. He set a trap, Evangeline. That blood was from the Marauder’s medical supplies, and he put it down there to make it look like he had been killed.”
“Did he… did Racker and Sarah… did he…” She doesn’t need to tell me.
“No, he did not. He killed her quickly, and that was it. But there is something else I need to tell you, something even worse than Racker.”
“What is it?”
“Racker had set all of the Marauder’s sensors and recourses to focus on Domus. It allowed him to see the planet better and helped us survive that bit longer. Only those sensors had an important purpose, Evangeline. They were meant to be looking around Domus, not on it.”
“So we missed something before we landed?”
“Not quite. All was fine when we landed, but things are approaching Domus now, and these things are only two days away.” I run my fingers through her hair.
“What is it? More ships? More people from back home? Aliens?”
“I wish it was any of those things, but it isn’t. It is an asteroid shower, Evangeline. Rocks big enough to punch through Domus an
d kill all life on it.”
“Then we have to escape! We need to get on the Marauder, kill Racker, and get the hell out of here.”
“It is too late, I’m sorry. CETI has ran the calculations, and it is too late for Racker and for us.”
“Then get her to run something else! There has got to be something!”
“There is nothing, Evangeline. I’m sorry. If you want the gun, you can. There is enough bullets. You just let me know if you want it and you can. And if you can’t, I can, if you want me to.”
She doesn’t respond. It is harder for her than me. I would only be taking my own life, and she will be taking hers and her unborn child’s. I told her I could do it if she wanted me to, but I’m not sure I can if she asks.
I return to my quarters and light a cigarette. “CETI, disengage the smoke alarms.”
“With pleasure, Captain Reed. It may also please you to learn that the escape pod arrived through the atmosphere safely, and the specimens inside are intact. The pod is just outside of the Dweller.”
“Did Racker try and get inside the thing?”
“Negative, Captain. CETI witnessed Racker attempting the initiate phase two with Sarah Moore.”
“He killed her CETI, keep up.”
“CETI witnessed this after Sarah Moore’s status was logged as deceased.”
That sick fuck! That no good piece of fucking shit animal! I knew he was unhinged, I knew he had issues from day one of the project, but this? What the hell is wrong with people? Is this what we had come all this way to preserve?
“Will Captain Reed be going outside to collect the samples? They will only survive twenty four hours if they are not kept frozen.”
And I only have forty eight hours.
“I will, CETI, soon.”
The smoke helps sooth. I open the drawer on my desk and remove the newspaper from inside. It takes a while for my one eye to focus, and I read the headline first;
Six Massacred In Holiday Villa
Residents in the quiet French town of Morzine, a popular holiday resort for skiers. French Police have reported that a maid arrived to clean a Villa on Bordeaux Street when she discovered six bodies of the Reed family.
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