by Randy Noble
Rachel hit the thrusters, boosting their speed as much as she could. Pyramid got bigger and bigger in the window.
Rachel screamed, a sustained, horrible scream. Regina jerked from the suddenness of it. Rachel grabbed her head with both hands and then collapsed forward in her seat, the harness stopping her from falling right out.
The shuttle bore down, center mass, toward Pyramid.
"Rachel!" Regina tried to move, forgetting her harness. She slammed the release button and it detached. She turned her seat toward Rachel and put her right hand on Rachel's head. Regina softly pushed Rachel's head up.
Rachel's eyes were open, rolled up, the whites not what Regina expected. She recoiled, not knowing what to do.
An alarm rang out: Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
A computerized, tinny female voice came from the shuttle's speakers. "Proximity alert. Proximity alert. Collision imminent. Ten seconds." The alarm continued, constant, disconcerting.
Regina looked out the window, and Pyramid consumed every part of what she could see through the glass.
"Eight seconds."
The alien ship almost upon them.
Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
"Seven seconds."
Rachel. Poor Rachel. Was she dead? Her head had dropped down again, the whites of her eyes a searing thought in Regina's mind.
"Six seconds."
Regina reached over for the yoke.
Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
Rachel convulsed, violently, foam oozing from her mouth. Regina pulled back.
"Five seconds."
The alien ship was less than one hundred kilometers away.
Rachel shook in her chair, her body twitching and twisting, pressing against the harness. Not a peep came from her mouth.
"Four seconds."
Regina's eyes watered. She couldn't take her eyes off of Rachel. What was happening to her?
No time. Look away. "Look away!" Regina leapt at the yoke, yanking it back with her left hand, pulling back on the throttle with her right hand.
Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
"Three seconds."
Pyramid became a wall through the shuttle window, an impossibly high wall that Regina didn't know if they could climb. Windows buzzed by. There was too much momentum. They were no longer thrusting, but they were not slowing down.
Regina’s eyes darted all over the console, and then she saw it. She yanked back on a lever labeled Reverse Thrusters, right down to Full Stop.
Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
"Two seconds."
Reverse thrusters were firing, but there must have been too much momentum, the reverse thrusters not powerful enough to bring the shuttle to an immediate stop.
If they had more room, the ship could have done a loop up and away, but the upturn was not enough. And left or right was out of the question. They were going to crash.
Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah! Bwah-Bwah!
"One second."
Regina sat down and slammed the harness back on.
The shuttle crashed into the domed top level of Pyramid.
Glass cracked, the ship seeming to skip on what must have been re-enforced glass, like a stone skipping on water, and then the glass gave, shattering.
The ship had slowed too much. It plummeted through the dome, now in a gravity environment, it dropped like a stone, falling backward.
Regina kept her eyes open, as much as she wanted to close them. For the briefest of time, staring up at the gaping hole the shuttle just created, she watched air and debris get whisked through the opening and then it sealed, probably some sort of backup protection, like in the control room.
Nothing for a couple of seconds, and then the shuttle smashed into the tops of pine trees Regina had been walking through not so long ago. Cracks and snaps whisked by her ears, she took a deep breath, her head resting against the headrest, and then she slammed into her seat even further as the shuttle thudded into the ground, the shuttle slowed somewhat by the fall through the trees but the impact didn't seem any lessened as her teeth rattled.
Regina looked over at Rachel who was not moving. Her body lay limp, her head lolling. She looked dead.
Tears streamed from Regina's eyes. She couldn't look away, not even after an orange flash filled the cockpit. She noticed the burning smell, but didn't pay attention to it. "Please, no. Please don't hurt her."
Even as a gray, rubbery substance oozed from every visible orifice of Rachel's body, Regina continued to mutter, and tears continued to stream down her face. She did not move to thwart off any threat. "Please please please leave her be. Please don't take her."
Rachel's body disintegrated into nothing but a pile of clothing, her shirt and jacket on the chair, her pants hanging halfway off the chair.
Regina let it out, let it all out. She sobbed, crying out loud, her body convulsing with every sob.
A brown blob shot out of nowhere, from behind her. She saw it out of the corner of her right eye, a blurred thing coming at her. She didn't move.
Chapter 53
Regina’s hands brushed lush, tall, green grass. Her vision was blurred somewhat, but as far as she could tell she was in a field, near a forest, on the top of a small hill.
A figure approached her, again blurry, but it looked human.
As Regina's vision cleared, she saw she was indeed on the top of a hill in the middle of an open field, looking down at a large deciduous forest, the sky blue, wind lightly blowing through her short hair, relaxing, soothing. Somehow, she couldn’t explain it, she felt good.
Even though Regina's vision no longer blurred, the figure walking up the hill towards her was not complete. The figure looked ghostly, like it wasn't quite there. And then, slowly, the figure became whole, and Regina recognized her immediately.
"Rachel? How? I saw you die."
Rachel walked up and sat down in front of Regina.
"Am I dead?" Regina asked.
"You are not," Rachel spoke softly, like she didn't have a care in the world. "But I am."
"I'm so sorry." Regina teared up again. "I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you. I'm so so sorry."
"Don't," Rachel said, reaching out to grab Regina's hands with hers. "You did everything you could have, and none of it mattered, Regina. The end result would have been the same."
Regina couldn't help herself. "I'm sorry."
"I think I understand you now, Regina. You can't help who you are. When I first met you, you seemed emotionless, like a robot with the kill switch thrown. But now I know that to be the complete opposite. You have to find a way, Regina, to let me go."
"You know I can't do that."
"The events on Pyramid were not caused by a person you can hunt down and kill, Regina. It's bigger than that. So much bigger."
Regina looked around again, taking in the beautiful surroundings. "How did I get here? Is this Earth?"
"No, it’s not. It’s the planet the Theseus never escaped from. And you are not actually here. You are back in the shuttle, on Pyramid, encased in a protective shell."
"Protective? Protective against what?"
"Against what's coming. Relax, Regina. All will be explained." Strangely, Regina was relaxed, against her better judgment. This couldn’t be real. Recently dead Rachel couldn’t be talking to her, especially with knowledge of what happened on Pyramid.
A low rumble sounded from the sky above. Regina looked up and saw a white trail of smoke, but not what was creating it. She had to turn and look behind her to see it. As it got closer, the rumble louder and louder, she knew it was a ship.
It flew over her head, toward the forest. All she could make out was the underside of a small ship, gray and oblong, like the alien ship that just pursued Rachel and Regina, but smaller.
The ship rocketed towards the forest at suicidal speed, out of control. It scraped the tops of trees, snapping and cracking them as if they were matchsticks, and then a loud thud, followed by a brief scraping of metal
against dirt and rock, and silence.
In the blink of an eye, Regina appeared at the top of a cliff edge above the massive city they had seen in the video footage. It bustled. She could see the indigenous life forms moving about in the city below and behind her in the field. They were almost identical to what she had seen on the video, but they were not featureless: most were very tall, maybe eight feet, skeleton thin, their knees bent both ways, long legs, long arms, large heads, with a tuft of black hair twirled up -- what looked like a carrot to her before. The clothing was sparse, just some cloth covering what she assumed must have been genitalia. Their feet were large, hairy, and hard looking, like they were covered with a green protective skin, darker than the light green skin of the rest of their body. Other aliens moved about the larger ones, smaller by a couple of feet, which she assumed were children.
Rachel stood beside Regina, watching her. "This was a thriving planet before that ship crashed here. It didn't take long before every living thing on the planet was dead, everything but the vegetation."
As Regina watched, the creatures before her fell to the ground, some of them twitching and convulsing, foaming at the mouths, a dark, purple fluid coming out of every visible orifice, what must have been blood. She watched a sped up version of their deaths, what would have happened to everyone on Pyramid. But why?
Rachel looked at her. "The ship that crashed brought an infection of the likes none of us have ever seen. A virus that multiplies as it feeds on you, eating you from the inside out, slowly at first and then within hours, multiplying to such an extent, always feeding, that the body's systems break down, and everything shuts down. Depending where the virus spreads first is how you react to it. From first infection, I was dead not twenty-four hours later. Others go quicker and some longer, but once infected, it's only a matter of time. When they don't have anything to feed on, they feed on one another, ten more for every one killed."
The sky, a beautiful blue, suddenly filled with a snowy-like substance so thick it was like being in a blizzard. It consumed everything that Regina could see.
"This is them, at one million times magnification. At present time, they infest this whole planet and almost every nook and cranny. They are everywhere."
"Jesus!" Regina said, closing her eyes as if they would get inside. Her skin crawled, and she had a strong urge to scratch every inch of her body.
And then they were gone, the sky clear.
"When we came here,” Rachel said, “the military were infected immediately and brought it back onto the shuttle. Blair and I didn't have a chance.”
Rachel looked sad to Regina, like she was about to burst into tears.
Rachel continued. “The virus has some intelligence as they did not all invade our bodies. Most of them waited, seeming to know somehow that there would be more to feed on. They got their wish. They spread throughout Pyramid, getting a majority of the people on board. The advantage to Pyramid is the size so it was not like Theseus. Some people made it, like yourself. Once infected, the virus remains in the chosen body until it is wholly consumed. Even though you were surrounded by the infected, you would have been safe until they broke free from the inside out, which almost happened on the shuttle, before you were protected."
Regina, who had been looking around, looked at Rachel. "Yeah, please explain that to me. What were those creatures chasing us?"
"The ship that brought the virus also brought a savior, of sorts. Before the indigenous life forms of this planet perished, they found a silver case in the cockpit of the crashed ship. They found it empty upon opening it. But it wasn't empty. They just couldn't see what was in it. The spirits of those that died could see: twenty suits and a ship were in that case, a case that measured three feet by two feet. The alien spirits from this planet, and some of the spirits from Theseus, were on Pyramid in those suits, which by thought could shrink or grow to any size they wanted. That's why they seemed to disappear at times, or how they could get through very small areas, like through the opening of landing gear in a ship. Had there been more of the suits, they would have better protected Pyramid, but as it was, they could only do so much and were not very organized. The ship from the case was the same way, controllable size powered by thought.”
Rachel paused, maybe letting Regina take it all in. Rachel seemed to have all the answers, and in a very short period of time. The dead must travel fast.
Rachel continued. “The alien spirits still don't know where this virus originated, but something knew about it and tried to stop it. Whatever created those suits and ship, found in the case, knew enough to develop suits that could only be controlled by spirits. As far as the remaining spirits know, no living creature or spirit occupied that ship when it crashed. The crashed ship's origin is as unknown as whatever flew it."
Regina sighed. All she had wanted to do was kill the creatures, or what she thought were creatures, and all the creatures wanted to do was help. "So the orange light, I assume, let them see who was infected and who was not?"
"Yes," Rachel said. "And the brown gooey stuff protected those not infected, and allowed the dead to communicate with the living as I am doing with you now. If they found the infected, they would solidify the person with some sort of gray resin, freezing any virus activity, and then disintegrate the body, and the virus, to nothing, destroying any trace of it, other than some carbon residue and any clothing the person was wearing."
"Jesus, Rachel! Why couldn't they just tell us, tell us what was going on?"
"They wanted to, but there was no way other than through the protective covering. They know no other way. Only when you are protected can they communicate."
"So, the others, Michael, are they okay?"
"Yes, all of the SPARS are alive and well, protected like you. None were infected."
So now she knew. And now she knew why none of the members on Theseus made it. A smaller ship back then, for sure, and the dead would have no problem covering a small ship. Also to their detriment, because the small ship ensured everyone on Theseus was infected, none left alive to tell the tale.
Rachel grabbed Regina's hands. "Pyramid has to be destroyed. The aliens knew it before they started saving as many as they could. It's on a collision course with a nearby system's sun. There is too much area to cover to ensure they have gotten all of the infected and any free-floating virus. It's a miracle you survived, Regina. It's a miracle any one did."
Regina teared up, wiping her eyes with her right hand. "I've always been so sure about what I've been hunting, but this, I had no idea. I should have left well enough alone."
"But you didn't know, Regina. You couldn't have. You did what you always do: you looked out for everyone's best interest. Nobody did any different."
"I envy you in a way. You're free from the endless mind fuck we play on ourselves."
"If it makes you feel any better, Regina, I don't disagree with what you do. Some people are just born or raised wrong and they offer nothing to society but misery and grief. Some people don't deserve the air they breathe, and need to be wiped from existence. You're not a cold-blooded killer. You see something that bothers you to your core and instinct kicks in. It's not something you can do anything about. You've always been that way, even before your mother's death. Maybe not to the degree you react now, but it was always there. You are what you are."
"Maybe," Regina said. "Maybe I need to do something else, get away from all this. Have a relationship, a family."
"Nobody is saying you can't do those things, only you. You are what you are. Just live, Regina. We'll see each other again. Tell my mother I love her. All I ever wanted was to make her proud."
Regina hugged Rachel. "I will." And she meant it.
Chapter 54
Regina opened her eyes, groggy as if she had been asleep for hours. She lay on hard metal flooring, Michael staring down at her.
"It's okay, Regina," Michael said. "Give it a few seconds and you'll feel better."
Her hair was soaked to her
head, her clothing damp and sticky. Michael didn't look any better. She sat up and looked around, not recognizing her environment. "Where --"
"We're with them, the dead, in their ship. Everyone they saved from Pyramid. Three hundred and forty seven survived, out of over ten thousand. Maybe more are uninfected, but they were running out of time. They saved as many as they could."
Regina thought about that. As many as they could? Jesus! How many, sitting in a corner of the ship somewhere, shivering in fear, flying to their death? But she understood it. They did what they could. Pyramid Cruise Lines was not going to be happy and this would probably shatter the company, but it had to be done, the risk too great otherwise. She never thought she would ever see the day that the dead protected the living, never a thought in her mind that the dead could do anything. The dead were always the dead to her, darkness, nothingness. A sense of hope flared up in her that she might some day see her mother again, hug her, tell her how much she loved her, and never let go again.
Regina took in more of the room she was in, a circular room, with nothing in it but a metal floor, metal wall, and lots of people. It looked very sterile, like a hospital operating room empty of everything but people.
Closer to her were the ones she knew: Michael staring at her; Brett listening intently to something Travis was saying; George and Mary speaking quietly to one another; Paula and John also listening to Travis; and Cindy, staring at Michael, not saying a word. Regina respected them all, even Brett, for doing what they did, risking their lives. She was glad all of them made it.
Looking around at the other faces, she saw a spectrum of emotions. People hugging, laughing, crying, arguing, smiling, and frowning. Most looked happy, relieved, probably just to be alive. She wondered if all of them were told the same things, about Rachel, Blair, and the men who went down to the planet. And, if they did know all that, were their lives in danger? She made a mental note to herself that she would follow up with her superiors, get a list of everyone who survived, and make sure nothing untoward happened to any of them.