The tower slid down to the priority row. Fenris watched with a grumble, holding onto the electricity until the tower stopped. The creature yanked its hand out of the service panel, hitting the ground on its rear. It floated upwards, hovering just over the surface of the floor. Panting, it held its arm. It smoked and twitched uncontrollably. Tender to the touch. The lights on its armor failed repeatedly, its breath sharpening in a wheeze each time.
Row 32 stabilized. Watcher Corporal Reas Kleinman stimulated.
The designated pod released the air seal. The door pulled upwards. Reas was slow to get up at first, but when she saw the red lights flashing, she ripped the breather off.
"What happened?" She said, clambering out of the pod. She had no idea who else was in the room. One step out and she fell to her knees. She gripped her stomach. Covered her mouth.
Pod 6 damaged. Vitals unknown.
Fenris jumped up at that. It pushed from the floor to fly over to the pod. Sure enough, the door was cracked. The screen on it artifacted. Inside, Fenris could see a wide eyed Jackal gasping for air.
Fenris grabbed the door. Using too much strength, the door crumpled. Ripped from its hinges. The liquid failed to drain completely. Loose from its confines, it bubbled and floated away.
Reas was soon back on her feet, rushing to get all the pods opened. Fenris, meanwhile, focused on Jackal.
It pulled the rebreather from his face, letting him gasp in fresh air. He shivered. Blinking, Jackal looked around hurriedly.
"What's going on?" He barely choked the words out.
"Just breathe." Fenris said it as quietly as it could. As gentle as its raspy voice could manage.
"F-Fenris?" He reached for something to grab.
Fenris took his hand, even though his was like that of a child's in the creature's. He shivered, but squeezed tightly.
"I... I can't see anything." He could feel where Fenris stood. "I...I... where are your... lights?" His breath sharpened. He coughed. His throat tightened as if something was lodged inside it.
"Jackal safe." It looked him over. "Breathe. Slow."
"G-get me out." His voice cracked.
Fenris ripped the straps off him, allowing him to float up out of the pod. A gentle pull brought him safely out of the way. Fenris guided him from the tower to the door of the stasis cell.
It placed his hand onto a rail to hold.
People bustled about. Orders were shouted in the cell, in the hall. Everyone rushed to their posts. Doctors rushed to the med bay for supplies. They carried others out. Pods that did not open remained closed until they released all operational pods.
Fenris decided it needed to help them. Where was Reaper?
Its touch faded from Jackal, which made him grasp at the air.
"You're leaving?"
"Can help."
"What happened?"
Fenris pushed away. Others awaiting medical care lined up at the walls to sit and hold one another. Most were ill with hyperoxia. Other complications arose with shock, heart attacks, and collapsed lungs. The worst of which was death, and none wanted to know the total of that.
Fenris floated by, watching the people gather. The watchers were hard at work getting everyone out of the pods and marking them with any illness from the system malfunctions.
"Fenris!" Reaper called.
The creature pushed into the room, searching for him among the crowd.
Reaper waved his hand as high as he could, calling it over.
"What happened?"
"Fell from warp."
"Did you notice anything?"
"Lost power."
"Can you find Jackal and the others?"
"Jackal... hurt." It did not know a better way to say it.
"Hurt? How?"
Fenris' head lowered.
Reaper pushed himself up. "Take me to him."
A nod of its head and Fenris turned about, leading the way through the crowd.
"Captain!" Sparrow grabbed his shoulder as they floated down the hall. "Do you know what happened?"
"Power failure. Could you find Torch and get him on it?"
"Yes, sir! Ruby is in the medbay. I haven't seen Mjolnir, or Ianisse yet."
"I'll find them."
Sparrow pushed off him to head back down the other way. Reaper and Fenris headed back to Jackal's cell. When they got there, he was already being checked out by a medic.
"What's his condition?" Reaper asked.
"C-Captain?" Jackal's head snapped around.
"His pod malfunctioned, and the shades shut down." The medic said, forcing Jackal to turn his head back around. "It’s blinded him. I need to get him to the medical bay ASAP."
"I can't see anything?! Is this permanent?!" Jackal shouted.
"It's all right. Let one of the doctors check it out. You'll be fine, Lieutenant."
Reaper grabbed Jackal's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Reynolds will fix you up. You know that."
The medic turned away to shout for an extra hand. When another showed up, they grabbed Jackal to help him across the ship.
"Do you need care, too?" Reaper asked, pointing to Fenris' arm.
"No."
Reaper did not stop pointing. He even noticed the failing lights on its armor. Something happened to it.
"Lost power. No response. Tapped wires…" its voice trailed off. The lights on its armor breathed much slower than normal. Its posture slumped down. It looked ready to fall over.
"Fen?" Reaper reached for the creature.
It snapped back up with a deep guttural growl that silenced the entire room.
"Gave ship power." It said with a hoarse voice.
"You can do that? You're weakened, aren't you…"
"Yes…." It let out a heavy breath.
"All right, you need to go rest." Reaper smiled. "Go check on Jackal. I'll handle everything from here."
"Others?"
"Go rest." His voice was stern.
Fenris gave a nod and turned away. Its stomach tightened. It shouldn't have given so much power away. Already weak from the lack of sustenance, the creature now was overcome with undying hunger. It could feel its sanity slipping. The very reason it was feared. Why it was known as the Devourer. It couldn't stop eating. Now it had been willing itself starved for months. The little snacks it had here and there were just that. Snacks that took the pain away.
As it floated down the hall, it noticed one door to a stasis cell was shut. No one was in there? No...it could smell humans. Dead humans.
It couldn't. It was meant to protect humans, not eat them! Though these were already dead…. It ate its own kind. Would it truly be against its oath, its purpose?
It entered the room, swiping the door shut behind it.
"You are the most lucky, unluckiest person I've met." Reynolds chuckled. "You're always getting hurt!"
I grumbled, head down. All I could see was black. Engulfed in shadows. The world felt so cold. Empty. I felt the doctor's warm, soft fingers brush against the scruff of my chin. She lifted my head up.
"You'll be fine, Liam." She said sweetly. "You always are."
One of her hands slipped away.
"Do you know what happened?"
"Captain said there was a power failure."
"That should not have kicked us off the warp path…." She hummed.
"Doctor Reynolds," another voice. One of the nurses. What was his name? Jarrett? Yeah, it was Jarrett.
"Yes?"
"We're still counting, but it looks like we have around seventy cases of hyperoxia."
"Oh, no…." Her fingers brushed from my face. "Tell me that's the bad news."
"Unfortunately, that's the good news."
I stayed quiet. They probably shouldn't have been talking like that around any patient. I didn't want to hear the bad news, so I tried to pay attention to something else.
The entire bay was filled to the brim with people. Coughing, sniffling, crying. Some people shouted for help. For no one being able to walk,
it was as loud as a concert. I could hear everyone moving around. Doors and drawers opening and closing. Tools clacking.
I rubbed my face. My head. My hair tickled my forehead. That white light…. I remembered it. How beautiful it was. I couldn't stop staring. I should have been asleep. The glass should have been darkened to stop any damage from happening to me. Yet it didn't. I woke up to see the shimmering light. That unseen beauty. Fenris was there. The shadow in the white field. Angry. Talking to someone I couldn't see.
I could barely hear him….
My head throbbed. The surrounding noise turned to static. A thumping heart took over my ear drums. It ached. Ached so bad I thought my head was going to explode.
I pictured myself in that ocean. The roots of darkness digging under my skin. I grabbed the sides of my head and curled onto my knees. Strapped down to the gurney at the waist, I would go nowhere even though I felt like I was floating in the cold endless water.
I tried to imagine something soothing. Kittens. Puppies. Flowers. All I saw was war. Death. Carnage. Then everything went quiet. Real quiet. I could hear my blood flowing through my body. I looked up into the darkness.
Red lights. Those dotted crimson lights flowing upwards. I could breathe again. As long as I focused on those lights. My chest heaved up as the lights flowed up. Fell as the lights faded.
"Oh, look, Fenris is here!" Reynolds' voice cut through the dark. An angel speaking.
The lights faded from view, but I could still feel Fenris there. Hear his metal hands gently scratching across the metal surfaces to make his way over to me.
He touched my shoulder briefly.
"Are you hurt? Do you need anything?" Concern in her voice.
"Jackal?" Fenris asked hoarsely.
Reynolds was quiet for a good minute.
"Liam is just fine! It's just like when his leg broke!"
Fenris grumbled. His warmth faded slightly.
"Ooh, he's just gonna have to take it easy for a while."
Papers rustled. A prick in the bend of my arm made me retract. Something soft and fluffy pressed firm in the spot.
"What is that stuff over your face?"
I reached for my face to get whatever it was off.
Fenris grumbled again. Metal scratched against metal. I dropped my hand. She hadn't referred to me.
"Here, take this and clean up. Well, go on!" Papers rustled. "Liam, everything is good to go. I'm going to add notes in the system so the Captain will see it. You can look the-- er... I'm going to wrap up your head, do not remove the bandages for any reason. We'll give your eyes some time to heal and see how it is in two weeks."
It sounded like tape being pulled out. Something soft pressed into my eyes. The bandages wrapped around my head tight. It felt like a cast. Reynolds' fingers brushed through my hair, pulling the strands loose.
"Fenris, could you be a dear and watch over him? He'll need time to adjust."
The strap loosened. I floated up. I reached for the gurney to try to stay in place. Instead of grabbing the bar, though, I grabbed something else. Warm metal. A finger?
A gentle tug pulled me through the air. I followed it. Fed up, I pushed ahead to hopefully float down the middle of the hall. I rubbed my face.
People were crying all over. Babies, kids, mothers…. I didn't need to know the numbers. I could hear them.
Incidents like this were rare. Being kicked off the warp drive path was a feat. It took tremendous force. Something intervened. The relays malfunctioned. It did not take power from the ship to travel. All the energy and work came from the relays.
It was simple. The ship connects to one relay. Selects another one to go to. Both fire up and shoot a beam of energy that somehow pierces through the fabric of space and time. They create a wormhole from how I understood it. Then one relay slingshots the ship through the hole, a safe path to travel down. The destination relay catches the ship and stops it. Travel time varies depending on distance. To us, it felt like a brisk nap. In reality, it normally took a day, maybe longer.
I couldn't think of how it happened. The hell did I know about science and physics? I knew enough to know that this was a bullshit situation.
I bumped into something. Whatever it was, didn't seem to have a reaction. I felt a tug at my shirt.
Funny. Without eyes, being in a zero gravity area made it impossible to tell which way was up or down. I was floating aimlessly in a whole lot of nothing. Just a cacophony of sounds that overwhelmed my head.
Eventually, everything quieted down. At least compared to how the medical bay sounded. We must have been in the barracks. It was calmer here. People chatted. Others gave orders. A sense of urgency in the air. I could hear someone crying somewhere.
A rush of cold air flowed over me. A door slid open. I felt a large hand press into my back. I spun around and forward. The smell of the air here was familiar. Whiskey. I had not even thought about it until I smelled it. Now it was all I could think about.
The door shut behind me.
I knew my room. If I could navigate it while black out drunk, I could navigate with my eyes closed.
I pushed towards the kitchen. Found the sink. Grabbed a glass velcroed to the counter. I didn't even bother rinsing it. Pouring a glass without gravity required a special lid. A retractable straw that punctured the lid of the glass, then the cap of the bottle. A simple transfer of air by tilting the two let the whiskey flow into the glass. From there, I could drink it out of the straw, or by using a tiny switch that opened a small hole to be drank from.
I opted for the latter. I was ready for the sweet, smokey flavor and that pleasant burn. Yet all I got was nothing.
There's no way I messed up. I tried again. When I lowered the glass, something chilled plopped into my face. It rolled like slime across my nose.
"Damn it." I sighed. I reached for the blob. Sucked it up. I hit my head against the counter.
"Fine! I don't need a glass, anyway!" I snapped. I let go of the glass to let it float around the room.
I was already going stir crazy. I just recovered from the broken leg! Just got back into action. Now I'm more than worthless. At least I could still help in training with a bad leg. What could I do while blinded?
It trapped me in my room for about five days. Any time I tried to leave, Fenris was magically there, stopping me from even opening the door. Apparently, he never left. Not even once. He was awkwardly quiet. Honestly forgot he was even there most of the time.
Reaper stopped by one day to update me on the news.
"Torch says the damage is reminiscent of a solar flare." He said.
"Makes sense with the power failures, but what about the jump?"
"He's not sure how that could happen. Threw out a bunch of words I don't even know." He chuckled. "He says he can get everything back up in a few days once he gathers everything he needs."
"Good. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Reaper sighed. "Doctor wants you on bed rest. It'll help you heal faster." He paused. "You ain't the only one. If that helps. There's ten other cases of blindness. One of which is healing spectacularly according to Reynolds."
"Wish it was me…."
"You will heal!" He patted my back. "For now, why not relax and enjoy a vacation? And slow down on the alcohol. I haven't seen this many empty bottles since boot camp."
"There's only two. Relax."
He sighed again.
"There's ten, Jack. Ten. In four days." I could feel the disappointment radiating from him. "Maybe this down time will be good for you. Give you time to think. Reevaluate some choices and figure out where you want to go. You can't keep living like we're still in the war."
"Shut up. That shit is behind me."
Of course, I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't even want to think about it!
"You know, you could help me out." He piped up.
"Huh?"
"There's been odd rumors circling around. Some of the...dead from the power surge have disappeared. Ju
st a smear of blood left in and around the pods. Witnesses say they saw Fenris leaving the scene."
"What? There's no way. A hundred fucking reasons why hell no. Fenris has been with me ever since."
"Are you sure?"
"You really suspect it was him?"
"I didn't say that. I don't want to believe he would do it. Then again, he isn't human. The dead to him may be treated differently."
"What would he do with the dead, anyway?"
"Rumors say they were eaten. Hence there being no trace."
"But he doesn't eat! Do you?" I turned to look at Fenris, though I couldn't see him.
No answer, like always.
I couldn't believe Fenris would do anything of the sort. I mean, he wasn't an angel, and he gave us no real reason to trust him. It was just a gut feeling. I had faith in him like I had in no other. I don't know the words to explain it any better. I knew deep down that Fenris, despite how he appeared, was genuinely good. He didn't trust us. How could he? Everyone seemed to be out to get him. Strangers at Empyree talked about him like he was some sort of god demanding sacrifices.
I think they misunderstood him.
"Well, nothing is ruled out. It could be anything. We did fall out of a tunnel through space and time. It could just be an anomaly." Reaper gave me a pat on the back. "Just keep an eye on him-- erm…"
"I don't think he'll leave even if I asked him, too."
"Hey, maybe you two could bond! The first human and valkyrie friendship!" I could hear his smile.
"Yeah, probably not. You know I don’t do friends."
A brief gust of wind brushed over my arm. I could feel the weight on the couch alter.
"I need to go check on the others. I'll come by later." His voice was further away now. "And slow down on the booze! I don't wanna catch you drunk and naked again!"
"Always something happening…" I sighed. "Honestly fucking wish I was still in a war. So much easier. Simpler. No time to think. Just survive."
"Surviving easy." Fenris' voice came in almost like a howl. "Primal instincts... easy fall on."
I perked up, scratching my chin. "I guess. What do you know about it?"
"Much."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Fenris understand not."
I paused. What did he mean by that? How could he not understand the question? Maybe he didn't know the word. His English was poor, after all.
The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Page 14