Waiting

by Gary Weston

  'But not you. You discovered something?'

  'Yes,' said Loretti. 'Everyone ignored those signals and concentrated on the signals to and from the ship. I did the opposite and concentrated on the interference when I could do so alone. I discovered something I couldn't at first believe. They were not from any human ship in the past.'

  Maxim was stunned. 'Are you saying those strange radio signals were from people from another planet?'

  'I'm saying exactly that, Sol.'

  'Perhaps I should have your morphine drip checked out.'

  'That will not be necessary. Am I rambling? Am I coherent?'

  Maxim admitted she was still lucid. 'Ok. Continue.'

  'I have limited knowledge of radio technology, but eventually I made contact. These people are at least our intellectual equals if not actually superior. They are nothing like humans and can only exist by taking over the body of another species. Any body they take over they control their mind, leaving it with some reasoning ability, but totally subservient. One affect their taking over has on the host is to render it infertile. That is a constant. The bodies they were in were getting old and dying.'

  'They were seeking replacements.'

  'Yes. They had intercepted the communications between Earth and the Goliath the intended settling on Spero.'

  Maxim sighed and nodded. 'All their birthdays had come at once. Tell me. Why did they reveal all this to you, a human? Didn't they think there was at least a possibility you would warn the Goliath, not to mention me?'

  'They made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They realised that their human hosts on Spero would die of old age eventually and they would need to find new hosts. Earth was their next logical choice.'

  'So they cut you a deal. You let them come here and take us all over, you would be left as you are to be ruler of Earth?'

  'Yes. Sol. If I had refused, they would have come here anyway. This way I could salvage something for myself.'

  'I notice you said salvage something for you, not the human race. So now those on the Goliath will be taken over when they land?'

  'Already done, Sol. I found that out while I was in the Base. One of the crew of the Goliath now carries their kind until they are ready to take over the embryos. If you cooperate with them, you can perhaps make the same deal for yourself as I did for me.'

  So many thoughts spun around Maxim's mind he felt dizzy. He was every bit as ambitious as Loretti and the idea of being in charge of Earth sharing control with these aliens had plenty of appeal.

  'What should I do?'

  Loretti was growing weaker and hardly had the strength to talk. 'You must contact the Goliath from the Base. Incubation Technician Sandy Beech is my agent on the ship so to talk to her first. She has the same deal I have to not be taken over as a reward for helping them. Contacting her is the only way.'

  'Gunther and the others have escaped. The Base is empty now.'

  'Escaped? Bridget?'

  Maxim said, 'The report said she was alive when she escaped with Gunther and Salamandra.'

  'Salamandra? Of course. Something you must know. Salamandra knows about the aliens.'

  'Impossible! How the hell would he know?'

  Loretti said, 'Because I told him. If he had joined me with the aliens, it would have ensured the wars would end forever. He refused. You may need to eliminate him.'

  'My pleasure.'

  Plans and plots were forming in Maxim's mind. He needed to get to the Base. Urgently.

  'Trish. You should rest now. Trish? Trish?'

  As he held her hand, she had slipped away.

  Chapter 71

  It was a huge responsibility to shoulder alone. Jacobs found Cormack alone in her room.

  Cormack said, 'Feeling in the mood for some tender loving care?'

  Jacobs stepped inside and kissed Cormack and told her, 'I am. But not quite the way you are thinking.'

  Cormack poured them both a precious glass of red wine and they sat together. 'Anything I can help with?'

  Jacobs savoured the wine, letting it roll around his tongue. 'You know me to be...sane. Medically speaking.'

  'Like everyone else. A little borderline. You are inclined to self-confidence issues, not being comfortable in the leadership position, but other than that you're probably the sanest one I know.'

  Jacobs smiled and said, 'I'll take that as a yes, then. Val. Like I said, this is going to sound more than a little crazy. Best if you just listen and I just tell you all I know and a few things I think I know. Ready?'

  'Only with a refill. There. Now I'm ready.'

  It took ten minutes to tell what he knew, Cormack resisting the temptation to intervene. They were on their third glass of wine by the time he had finished.

  'I'm surprised to hear myself saying this, but I actually believe you. That's only because it's you telling me. What you are saying is one of us on the Goliath could already be a host.'

  'Yes. But I don't see how. No alien ship has been seen either in space or on Spero when we went in the shuttle.'

  'Oh, my God. I've just thought of something. You could be...'

  'I could be what?'

  This was awkward. Cormack had undeniable feelings for Jacobs now, this man who had shared her bed. But details were dropping into place.

  'Come with me.'

  They walked in silence to the medical centre, Cormack locking the door behind them. 'I had this cleaned and I repaired it,' she said, finding Jacobs' spacesuit in a cupboard.

  'I clean forgot I'd left that here,' said Jacobs. He went to take it from her but she held it back from him. 'I can't have it back?'

  'In a moment. See this?'

  'A patch. I didn't know it had been damaged.'

  Cormack said, 'I noticed it when I picked it up when you had left it here. You, Sam and Anne had just come back in the shuttle.'

  'After our trip to Spero. Yes. What of it?'

  'I believe it happened on Spero. Come here. Turn around.' Cormack pushed the hair aside at the top of his neck. 'Oh, God. You have two marks that correspond to the holes in the suit.'

  Jacobs said, 'Yeah, those things. Belle mentioned them when she cut my hair. I've no idea where they came from.'

  'Don't you? They're quite fresh, Jay Jay. Something happened to you on Spero?'

  'I fell. Tripped over something in that fog.'

  Cormack said, 'Do you remember doing that?'

  'Not really. Next thing I knew Anne was helping me into the terraformer. I must admit things were a little hazy for the rest of that trip. Hey! Now you just wait a moment. No. I don't think I like where your thinking is going.'

  'Like it or not, Jay Jay, something pierced your suit and neck while you were on Spero. You said yourself that something is waiting for us on Spero. Something that needs a host to survive in. What better way to enter a human body?'

  'Now I'm getting scarred, Val. If I am the host, I'll throw myself out the airlock right this minute.'

  Cormack believed he would do just that, rather than put the safety of everyone in jeopardy. 'I'm pleased to hear you say so.'

  Jacobs gasped. 'You want me off the ship?'

  'No. But the fact you said that rather than just try to cover it up with deceit suggests you don't have anything controlling your mind. Thee must be a way to verify this once and for all. Of course.'

  'Now what?'

  'X-ray. If you are carrying all of another species inside you, something should show, right?'

  'I would have thought so. Let's do it.'

  Jacobs stripped and Cormack x-rayed every inch of his body.

  'Completely free of aliens. Whatever made those marks and punctured your neck obviously failed to make you a host.'

  'You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.

  Cormack kissed him and said, 'Just how I like my man. Totally human.'

  Chapter 72

  Immediately after Loretti had died, Maxim left her remains for Doctor Stein to deal with. He had his pilot take him in his small
personal ship to the Base. He had considered using a battle cruiser filled with troops, but on this occasion he decided less was indeed more. They landed in front of the huge Base door which was open, as Gunther had left it on his hasty retreat. Maxim ordered his pilot to stay in the ship and to be ready to instantly take off again. He wanted as few people as possible knowing his business.

  Having been on official visits on several occasions in his capacity of president, he had a layman's knowledge of the Base and although he was not technically adept, he was far from being a stupid man. The empty Base had a haunted feel to it and he felt uncomfortable just being there. He found the radio room, still lit up. Using his rudimentary understanding of the radio he endeavoured to coax sense out of it but all his attempts failed. Then he noticed not all of the control panel had lit up. Bending down he looked underneath. There was an inspection panel missing leaving a gaping hole. On his hands and knees he had a closer and didn't like what he saw. An obvious space where a significant unit was missing.

  'Gunther!'

  Maxim's dilemma was to figure out what Gunther had done with the unit. The major had escaped in a hurry with the others. He wanted to prevent or at least slow down anyone's attempt to call the Goliath. With precious little time Gunther would not have been able to hide it in the Base.

  'Damn you, Gunther. You took it with you.'

  Too much depended on contacting the Goliath and for that he needed that unit. To do that he had to track down Gunther. He needed a tight, elite guard to go with him, find Gunther and return with the unit. With that daunting task ahead he ran outside, jumped into his ship and they were in the air in seconds, heading back to the headquarters.

  Chapter 73

  Jacobs had just three days to go before his return to his pod to sleep away another two weeks. In a way he welcomed that as a respite from all that turmoil. One thing about their time in the pods was that it came with untroubled sleep. Dreams were lighter and nightmares unheard of. He always felt completely refreshed and healthy as the support systems purged his systems of toxins. Although he welcomed his next stint, new thoughts filled his waking moments. He would miss the tender caresses he shared with Val. Now this new threat hung over all their heads. Aliens.

  As he lay on his bed, outwardly calm and still, inwardly his mind raced at a hundred miles per hour. He had been declared alien free thanks to the x-rays. Were they to x-ray everyone on the ship to ascertain if they were also alien free? It was an option though not one he had suggested to Val. Yet.

  Something he couldn't nail down still tormented him. Facts and parts of facts chased each other going round and round in ever decreasing circles. He pursued these imaginary dogs but somehow couldn't pin them down. What was it that nagged away at the back of his mind? He suspected that it was actually something simple could he just identify it.

  It was, he felt, stemming from when he was with Val and what they had said. The two holes in his suit and the corresponding marks on the back of his neck were proof positive that while he had been on Spero, an attempt had been made to use him as their next host. That's what plagued his mind. He had not been alone. Anne Lee and Sam Clifton had been with him down there.

  Anne? Of course possible. But he had been with her all the time. All the time? No. The couple of minutes he had been unconscious couldn't count. And obviously whatever had tried to infest him was close enough to get to Anne. Yes, possible. But instinct told him no. Not because it wasn't possible, because it clearly was, but because there was still another piece of the puzzle he was trying to grasp.

  Sam Clifton. For over ten hours he had been alone fixing the first terraformer. Ample time to be made into a host. It was something Sam had said, or more specifically, not said to him. He had taken the first call from Gunther and had not told his captain. Oh there was the seemingly reasonable excuse that somebody, a human not a host, was working against the humans worst interests.

  Jacobs sat up as the stark realisation hit him. 'Sam Clifton. You didn't tell me because you are the host.'

  Every fibre of his being now screamed this out loud as a certain fact and it was easy to prove. X-rays. Both Anne and Sam would have their necks examined for puncture marks and have x-rays taken. Refusal would be evidence of guilt.

  Chapter 74

  Spider class ships were formidable. The Venom was something else. It had been developed in the final year of the war but that war had ended before being used in battle. It was the first battle cruiser with its own forcefield. Tried before but never previously successful. With this ship Maxim could rain terror on the enemy without as much as getting its dull black paint-job scratched.

  'This thing ready?' was all the president wanted to know.

  'Yes, sir,' said head of weapons development, Paula Rickley. 'That she's just sitting here untested in battle saddens me.'

  'Yes, yes,' said Maxim. 'Your dedication...etcetera etcetera. Commendable and all that. She has a pilot?'

  'Del Nolan. Young. Not a Sparrow, may she rest in peace, but keen and top scoring in her theory.'

  Maxim said, 'Theory. Right. Any battle experience?'

  'A couple of sorties. She is still only nineteen.'

  'Any notches on her belt?'

  Rickley said, 'Accounted well for herself, I understand. Cool under fire. Sir. Is this conversation going anywhere?'

  'No. But this ship is. I want her ready to go in one hour. Two top shooters and as many troops as she can carry.'

  Rickley said, 'With respect, sir. That requires a military directive, not civilian.'

  'Is that so? And this would usually be authorised by Commander General Loretti?'

  'Yes, sir. Or of course General Kane.'

  'But as she is dead, not likely?'

  Rickley actually blushed. 'Unfortunate. Oh. And of course, sad. But General Loretti should...'

  'Dead.'

  The look of shock on Rickley's face told Maxim that the news of Loretti's demise hadn't yet become common knowledge.

  'I was with her to the very end. You know what her last words were?'

  'I wasn't there.'

  'No, she didn't say that. What she said with her dying breath was, "Go see Chief Rickley. Tell her I think she is brilliant.'' She said that on her death bed.'

  Rickley said, 'She did?'

  'I'm your president. Would I lie?'

  'Well,...'

  'Exactly. But that wasn't all she said. Her fingernails dug so deep in my arm they drew blood. She said, "Take the ship Chief Rickley built and go wipe out the enemy." And that is why I'm here. To honour our greatest warrior's dying wish. Now. Do you really need a piece of paper?'

  'I'll have the Venom ready to go in one hour, sir.'

  'Excellent,' said Maxim.

  Chapter 75

  This should not be happening. It wasn't the first time he had experienced this, but this time the pain was acute.

  'Too early. Too soon. We...are...not...ready.'

  The host body had experienced pain before, but not this severe. He was down on the floor rolling around in agony. He clasped his hands on his belly and that is when panic turned to terror. They had moved. Whatever should be happening nature had other plans. He hauled himself up to his knees then onto legs hardly strong enough to hold him up. The mirror told him the truth. The light in the eyes was the final sign. They had to come out fast otherwise this host was going to die in spectacular fashion and his kind would be no more. He called Beech.

  'It's time. I will meet you in the incubation section.'

  'On my way.'

  He went out into the corridor and staggered towards the incubation section. The pain was almost unbearable, when he almost collided into Anne Lee.

  'Sam. You look awful.'

  'I'm... on my way to sickbay.'

  'Here. Lean on me. I'll help you.'

  He pushed Lee away. 'I don't need your help. Leave me alone.'

  'Hmm. Excuse me for caring.'

  'Sorry. I didn't mean...I'll be ok.' He limped on, holding
his belly.

  Lee said, 'Sam.'

  'Not now, Anne.'

  'But the sickbay is the other way.'

  He ignored Lee and with a head swimming with pain he reached the elevator, hit the sensor to open the door and stepped inside. The door pinged open again and he was staggering along the last corridor towards the incubation section, relieved to see Beech waiting outside.

  He said, 'Inside. Quick.'

  He stepped inside and Beech closed and locked the door. His legs folded and Beech grabbed him, almost going over with him.

  'Are you ok? Is this...normal?'

  'Too...soon. Must come out now or we die.'

  'Got that. Time to go into the embryos. What do we do?'

  He writhed and gyrated in a peculiar way, and the lights in his eyes stared at Beech without seeing.

  'Not me,' said Beech. 'That's what we agreed. I'll help but don't use me.'

  He started to cough, then wretch. His shining eyes bulged as did his belly, then his throat. His mouth stretched open so far Beech thought his jaw would dislocate. Something was in his mouth. She gaped transfixed as it wriggled along his tongue and paused blindly, its own mouth wide open. At the side of its head were two independently waving tentacles, seeking its host.

  'Put us into the incubation chambers,' he said. 'One of us for each embryo.'

  Beech said, 'But there are hundreds of them.'

  'The chambers. Open them all. Hurry. Do it now.'

  Beech had been promised a life of luxury; all she could dream of and more. To do this all she had to do was to help them. She ran to the emergency switch on the wall which opened all the incubation chambers simultaneously should there be a fire or some other emergency and the embryos had to be rescued. The combined hiss of hundreds of chambers opening together made the sound of a monstrous serpent, which echoed throughout the vast room.