Somehow, he reached the building unscathed and was surprised to find the front door had been left slightly ajar, meaning no fingerprint identification was needed for him to enter. He paused briefly before going in, scanning his surroundings wildly for any sign of the Vacuous or of the others. Seeing nothing, he called out in hopes that someone would hear him.
“Lois! Emily! Will!” he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to project his voice.
“Finley!” Lois’ voice echoed from out of sight.
“Get to safety!” he called back. “I’m going to get Allance!”
Without awaiting a reply, he hurried inside, painfully aware that he had just alerted the Vacuous to both his location and his intentions. He found himself in a small lounge, furnished only by two white armchairs, a coffee table and a large plant. At the back of the room was the lift, and Finley made his way over to it, reading from an inscription of names and numbers on the wall beside it. He scanned down the page, noting the names of “Miss Veronica Fortem, Mr. Albert Mayheim, Ms. Helen Dido and Mr. Kurt Krecher” until eventually he found the Headmaster’s address, written simply as “Admiral Allance- 6A”. He jumped inside the lift and pressed the button for the sixth floor, riding it to the very top of the building while strange elevator music played eerily through the speakers.
He arrived on the correct floor and exited, finding Admiral Allance’s door within seconds, since it was the only one on the entire floor. He hammered on the steel surface, battering his fist red raw in the process. After a few minutes, there was a clicking noise and the door swung open, revealing a confused Admiral Allance on the other side. Despite the late hour, he was dressed in his usual attire, his midnight-blue suit perfectly pressed and his silk, silver tie knotted round his neck.
“Sir,” Finley began before the Admiral could say anything. “I’m sorry. I know it’s late and I’m not supposed to be here, but I really need to speak with you. It’s an emergency.”
“Yes, yes of course,” the Admiral replied, eyeing Finley with concern. “Come in then boy. Finley, is it?”
“Yes, Sir,” Finley nodded, following him inside.
He stepped into Admiral Allance’s lounge, which was shockingly simple and bare. Most of the room had been left empty, with only one reclining black, leather chair and matching foot stall breaking up the view of the cream coloured carpet. Shelves had been installed onto the walls but had been left empty, save for a dead plant in a chipped, magenta vase. There was a desk in the corner with a tablet and various other gadgets slung carelessly upon it, but other than that the room was exceptionally underwhelming. The only part of the entire set-up that mildly resembled what Finley had expected for the Headmaster was the large window on the back wall, which allowed for a spectacular view of almost the entire school and the stars beyond.
“Sit down,” the Admiral instructed him, gesturing towards the leather chair. Finley obeyed and the Admiral locked the door behind them.
“So, Finley, would you like to explain to me what you’re doing knocking on my door in the middle of the night after curfew?” he asked, raising a thick, silvery eyebrow as he stood in front of Finley, his arms folded behind his back in a military stance.
“Yes, Sir,” Finley replied calmly. “I’m here because I’ve witnessed a murder.”
The Admiral blinked, his authoritarian demeanour slipping for a moment as he regarded Finley in shock.
“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “Did you just say that you had seen a murder?”
“Yes, Sir,” Finley nodded. “I saw a murder, and so did my friends, Emily, Will and Lois. We all saw it. It happened on school grounds. It was done by...” he paused for a moment, knowing he was about to share the most unbelievable part of the story. “It was done by an alien, Sir. The most horrific and terrifying alien I’ve ever seen.”
The Admiral rubbed the bridge of his nose and began to pace as he processed what Finley had told him. An expression of acute stress pulled at the edges of his mouth, causing him to frown deeply.
“You saw an alien kill someone?” he repeated.
“Yes,” Finley confirmed.
“And when did this happen?” he asked.
“About thirty-minutes ago.”
“And you say your friends also saw the attack?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And where are your friends now?” the Admiral pressed him, standing still to watch Finley closely for his answer.
“They ran off. When we were on our way to find you, we saw the alien again. It’s still out there. It chased the others away,” Finley explained, hoping the wealth of questions he was being asked meant that the Admiral was taking him seriously.
“I see,” the Admiral replied bluntly. “And the victim of this crime… was it a student?”
“I don’t know, we couldn’t see properly. It didn’t look like a student, though. It looked like it was an adult man,” Finley answered, a lump growing in his throat as he recalled the horrific moment.
“Well, naturally this is very concerning,” the Admiral replied. “If one of Mr. Krecher’s aliens has escaped confinement and committed such an atrocity, then there will be severe consequences for both himself and the specimen involved. I’ll contact him now to discuss the matter. Perhaps he can help us track down the creature before it hurts anyone else.”
“I don’t think it’s one of Mr. Krecher’s aliens, Sir,” Finley interjected, stopping the Admiral from tapping on his Personal Device.
“What makes you say that?”
Finley hesitated. He desperately wanted to explain everything, but feared confessing he had witnessed the Vacuous on Earth through a magic mirror would earn him a one-way trip to the Psychiatric Ward on the Mayfly. Besides this, the full version of the truth was lengthy and launching into it would be a waste of precious time when Lois, Will and Emily were potentially still in danger.
“It doesn’t look like a creature anyone would want a study, or one that would allow itself to be kept in confinement. It’s intelligent and it knows what it’s doing. I don’t think Mr. Krecher has anything to do with it. What I do know, though, is that it’s still out there and something needs to be done immediately to stop it,” he said firmly.
“Yes, of course,” the Admiral concurred, beginning to sound flustered. “I will alert the other teachers immediately and we’ll form a search party. I’ll make sure you’re escorted safely back to your dormitory in the meantime. I’ll send a group out to the lake as well to see if we can retrieve any evidence. Does that satisfy you?”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you, I-”. Finley stopped dead mid-sentence, an unsettling realisation coming over him.
“What is it?” the Admiral asked impatiently.
“I didn’t mention the lake, Sir,” Finley replied slowly, his legs beginning to lose their feeling.
“What?” the Admiral responded, waving his hand dismissively. “You must have done. How else would I know that’s where the crime took place? And anyway, all the bedrooms on the top floor of first-year dormitories have a view of the lake- it’s part of their design.”
“But, my bedroom isn’t on the top floor, Sir. Lois’ is. It was her room I was in tonight when I saw the murder happen. But how could you know that? Unless… you were there,” Finley looked up at him darkly. The Admiral sighed.
“Oh, foolish boy, if only you had just left it alone,” he replied, strolling over to his desk and removing a thick rope from the inside.
“I don’t understand,” Finley jumped to his feet in panic. “How could you have been there? There was nobody else around.”
The Admiral laughed mirthlessly, positioning himself between Finley and the door to block any chance of escape.
“You still haven’t worked it out?” he mocked. “Oh dear, child, and to think, I went to all the trouble of holding a special assembly to deter you after you saw me in the dormitories that night. I needn’t have bothered. You and your little friends aren’t as clever as I gave you credit for.”
“Saw you in the hallway? You mean… you’re the …” Finley trailed off, the end of the sentence too horrific to utter out loud.
“I’m the terrifying alien, yes,” the Admiral replied bluntly. “At least, that is my true form in all its glory.”
“But…how?” Finley said pathetically, completely lost for words.
“How? You really want me to detail the extremely complicated process my species undertook to be able to emulate the DNA of human beings? Because I can assure you, it’s extremely boring, and in any case, I need to be getting on with your disposal,” the Admiral answered, approaching him with the rope in hand.
“I think perhaps the question you meant to ask me was “why” not “how”. Why am I here? What do I want? Why was I in your dormitories in the middle of the night and who did I kill beside the lake? These are all fascinating questions with equally enthralling answers,” he continued as he began to wind the rope around a petrified Finley’s limbs. “The fact you’re wrapped up in this – both the situation and the rope- is a terrible mistake. It’s my fault, really. After that idiot Mayheim knocked the cameras out with his failed experiment, I couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to roam the grounds as my real self, free from the limitations of this human disguise. The first few times were glorious. I remained completely undiscovered, but alas, the night you saw me I was drawn to your dormitories by a big surge of pathetic human emotion. I forgot you see, about all the raging hormones and complicated feelings adolescent humans have. I was like a moth to a flame. Your feelings, particularly despair and sadness, they are like a sort of drug to our kind.”
The Admiral paused, tying the ropes around Finley’s legs and arms and pushing him back down onto the leather sofa.
“It’s a shame that I have to do this, Finley. I don’t like to kill, unless it’s necessary. Killing a student will be particularly messy. I’ll have to do well to cover this one up. Taking you to a nearby planet and leaving you there is out of the question, considering our current position in the galaxy. I’m sure I can come up with a believable story, though. Maybe one of your peers took revenge on you being at the Academy, despite your low status, and finished the job Josie Jones tried to start at the beginning of the year. Or maybe the condescending looks and harsh judgements finally got too much for you and you flung yourself into the abyss of Space, unable to bare the pain any longer,” the Admiral smiled. “Did you know I have my own private launch bay? It leads straight from my apartment into Space. I think you and I should go on a little rocket trip, don’t you?”
“It won’t work,” Finley challenged him, the prospect of impending death inspiring him with a new courage. “Lois, Will and Emily know I’m here. They’ve seen everything I’ve seen. If I go missing now, they’ll know it was you. They’ll figure it out. Would you really risk murdering the Captain’s daughter? You’d be found out in seconds.”
The Admiral faltered, his face falling slightly as he digested this information.
“Very well,” he said after a moment. “In that case there will be a different narrative.”
He began twitching his hand, Finley watching with horror as it transformed from the human hand of Admiral Allance into the gnarled claw of the Vacuous. Allance strolled over to the window and smashed it, shattering the glass into hundreds of razor-sharp pieces without flinching. He then took the claw and tore at his own clothes, slashing his suit and undershirt and grazing the skin underneath just enough that it drew blood. After that, he morphed his hand back to normal and returned to his position above Finley.
“The vicious alien burst in, attacked me and then snatched you, fleeing into Space before I could do anything to stop it. It must have known you had witnessed its crimes and kidnapped you as a result. How unfortunate it will be for your family knowing you are lost forever but never truly understanding why,” he feigned a sad expression. “How does that work for you?”
Finley fell silent, his body slumping with defeat. The cover-up was perfect, all angles had been considered. Even Lois, Emily and Will would believe it. It was over. This was how it would end.
Admiral Allance grabbed the rope that was tied around Finley and pulled it so that he fell off the chair, hitting the ground with a sickening thump. He began dragging him across the floor, painfully bumping his head on the doorway as they moved from lounge to a long hallway that ran through his apartment. The light was dingy, but Finley could still make out the strong muscles of the Admiral’s back as he hauled his body forwards. Even in his human form, there was no way Finley would be able to fight him off.
They reached a metal door at the end of the hall with a ‘caution’ sign drilled into its front. Finley knew without having to look that this was the entrance to the launch bay. The Admiral used his fingerprint to access the room and bumped Finley across the threshold, wincing as the cold steel of the floor rubbed against the carpet burn that had spread across his back. From his position on the ground, he could see several small spacecrafts - each only big enough to carry two or three people - all parked in a steel hangar. At the end of the room was a tunnel, not dissimilar to the one he had flown down during his eventful first Rocket Control lesson.
It pained him now to think of that day. He had been strangely grateful to Josie for doing what she had done, for it had indirectly brought him to Will, Emily and eventually Lois, who were the only real friends he’d ever had. His heart hurt as he imagined them grieving for him after his disappearance with no idea what had really happened. They’d continue their life at the school, completely unaware of the danger they faced daily simply by being there, under the rule of a murderous alien disguised as the Headmaster.
As Admiral Allance loaded him into a small red rocket, a single tear slid down his face. He longed to reach his Personal Device so he could send a message to his mother, telling her that he loved her and that he was sorry. He wished now more than ever that he had listened to his brother and not insisted on taking the entrance exams for the Academy. He should have stayed at home and gone to one of the training bureaus on the Mayfly like the rest of his family. If he had, he wouldn’t now be on the brink of death and his mother wouldn’t have to experience the agony of losing a child, which he was certain would destroy her.
“Stop!”
The voice echoed across the launch bay, resounding from every wall. At first, Finley thought he had imagined it. Surely, it couldn’t be real. From his current position, all he could see was the interior of the rocket, but he held his breath nonetheless, praying for the voice to speak again and prove that its owner was really there.
“What are you doing to him?!”
“Let him go!”
Finley’s whole body lit up with euphoria. It was Will, Lois and Emily. They had come to save him.
“He’s the Vacuous!” Finley called out to warn them. “It’s him! It’s Allance!”
There was a loud crashing sound, followed by the loud purr of an engine starting up as the Admiral made his escape.
“He’s getting away!”
Finley watched as a pair of feet, which turned out to belong to Will, swung into the rocket he was lying in. He began tapping his fingers across the control panel at expert pace, Finley once again feeling exceedingly grateful for the amount of attention Will paid in Rocket Control. Seconds later, Emily and Lois jumped in, Lois rushing to untie Finley the moment she entered. The engine hummed into life and they began ascending slowly into the air, heading towards the tunnel that would carry them into Space.
“Wait!” Finley called to Will. “We haven’t got gear on!”
“Emergency seal, remember?” Will said with a wink, pressing the button that caused a glass dome to protectively seal over the top of their heads.
“How many minutes of oxygen did Mr. Zeppler say this would give us?” Finley asked dubiously as they raced through the tunnel.
“About fifteen! No time to lose,” Will replied.
They flew through the tunnel in seconds, Will guiding them with expert
precision into Space. Their rocket soared through the stars at breakneck speed as they pursed Allance, who was only a few metres ahead of them
“How are we going to stop him?” Finley shouted to Will. “We haven’t got much time!”
“Leave it to me!” Will shouted.
“Finley,” Lois addressed him, her voice thick with worry. “Are you alright? What happened in there?”
“Allance told me he’s the Vacuous,” he replied darkly. “I saw him transform his hand into a claw right in front of my eyes. Once he knew his secret was out, he tried to kill me. He was going to take me into Space and make it look like an accident- or suicide.”
“Thank the Universe +we showed up,” Lois gasped.
“I didn’t think anyone was coming,” Finley admitted. “I thought I was dead.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way we would have left you on your own out there!” she exclaimed.
Finley smiled at her thankfully and she smiled back, the two of them forgetting for a moment that they were currently wrapped up in a rocket chase, pursuing an incredibly dangerous alien.
“I don’t mean to spoil your moment, guys, but I think you might want to see this,” Will shouted from behind the steering wheel.
Finley scrambled to his feet, hurrying to the front of the rocket with Lois and Emily by his side. Looking out, they watched curiously as Allance stopped his spacecraft mid-flight, turning it around slowly to face their own.
“What’s he doing?” Will muttered to himself, bringing their own rocket to a halt.
They waited in silence, holding their breath collectively as the Admiral smiled at them through his front window. Suddenly, a pair of bulky cannons sprung from each side of his rocket, making his deadly intentions painfully apparent.
“He’s going to shoot!” Finley yelled.
Two pale blue balls of fire sprung from the canons, hurtling towards them at top speed. Will grabbed the steering wheel, veering sharply to the left. The rocket tipped and the four of them smashed hard into the steel wall, Finley winded by the sheer impact of the fall. As they rotated through the air, one of Allance’s fireballs clipped their wing, sending them into a sickening spin. They tumbled over one another, hitting against each other’s bodies as the rocket lost control, rolling chaotically through the depths of Space.
The Split Page 22