Harbinger

by Stephen Christiansen

  Vincent came back in and landed two blows to Richard’s face. A quick knee lift brought the doctor to a bent position and a fast elbow to his back knocked Richard down. The fight was over before it ever started.

  “I don’t know what you are up to, doc, but I’m not going to let you…”

  Richard’s lunge caught Vincent off guard. There wasn’t enough force behind the attack and it wasn’t going to be a threatening blow. Vincent hadn’t given the attack the attention that it needed. The sharp pain in his thigh was a complete surprise.

  Vincent took several steps back to get away from the pain but the damage had already been done. He could feel the tranquilizer start to make his way through his body. The room spun. Consciousness started to fade. It was only a heartbeat later when Vincent’s body collapsed, unmoving, to the ground.

  Richard wiped away the blood flowing from his nose. This wasn’t how he had planned this encounter. It had been sloppy and he couldn’t guarantee that the tranquilizer had been administered correctly. However, he didn’t want to give Vincent another dosage, too much could wind up killing him.

  Now the question was what to do with him? He couldn’t leave him here in case Eric circled back around and found Vincent passed out in the wrong room. It was probably best to put Vincent back in his own room, at least for now. If his guess was correct, Vincent would have his own cryo chamber and this could be used once he got the correct coordinates loaded into the navigation system. Until then, he would just let Vincent sleep and not drop into cold stasis. Until he was sure that they were underway and didn’t need a security officer any longer, it was best to keep Vincent accessible.

  Richard peeked down the hall. It was as empty as it was when he first came down. Now to find Vincent’s room. At first he didn’t know which way to go, but then he saw it, further down and to his right. There was an open door, a door that hadn’t been open before.

  The doctor reached under Vincent’s arms and started to drag him backwards down the hall. It was only then did Richard realize how heavy Vincent was and was glad that he didn’t have to fight him any longer than he already had. A fight lasting any longer would have resulted in something broken.

  Vincent’s room was similar to the other room that he had left. The most notable exception was the fact that Vincent’s laptop was turned on and attached to the main computer in this room.

  Richard unceremoniously dropped Vincent’s unconscious body upon the floor and went straight to the computer. There, he was able to watch as the monitor went from one view to another, from one camera of the ship to another.

  ‘He’s been spying on us.’

  Richard’s fingers flew across the keyboard and found the various recordings that Vincent had made during his surveillance. One made him stop. There, in the cargo bay, he would find the real answer to Peter’s death.

  A few more keystrokes brought up the files that Vincent was studying. He wasn’t just spying on them; he was looking into their personal records. Vincent had already announced that he had, but Richard hadn’t realized to what extent until now. It looked like the security officer had gone through extensive research for his information, information that shouldn’t have been readily available to just anyone.

  Something was going on here, something more than just a routine delivery of Terraforming scientists. It seemed obvious that Vincent was part of conspiracy, but the question was, did Eric have any idea what was really going on? Perhaps if he could dig deeper into these files, but that would have to wait. His disappearance wouldn’t go unnoticed. Yes, it was time to get to the bottom of everything and fast but first he would have to take care of Eric. A quick look toward the body on the floor told him everything he needed to know about Vincent.

  ‘He’s not going anywhere any time soon. Now, for Eric.’

  Chapter: 38

  “Richard. What happened to you?”

  Richard shook his head at Eric’s question.

  “Never mind that. Take a look at this,” Richard tossed the recordings toward Eric.

  As Eric reached up to catch the recording disk, he pulled out his sonic blaster.

  “What…?”

  “Do you think I’m stupid, doctor? Do you think I’ll just believe one story over another simply because one of you stormed out? Either you or Vincent have been manipulating and perhaps killing us off one by one. Now, imagine my surprise when I found out that the coordinate that you have entered is sending us in the opposite direction needed to get back to Earth. As a matter of fact, we’re heading deeper into this very system. Imagine my further surprise when I found out that you locked out any further attempt to change those coordinates. Where are you taking us...doctor, if that’s what you really are?”

  “Away… away from Earth until I could sort things out. I didn’t know who to trust; so I’ve done some digging in the personal records. It seems that Doctor Cleo Swanson used to work for N.A.S.A., but had quit working there at least six months prior to this mission. It seems that she had moved on to the private sector, one of those mega-corporations that had its fingers in everything, including weapons and bio-weapons.”

  “You mean Cleo was here on a mission to bring back one of the Dagons? Do you think she sabotaged the ship to bring us here so we would be attacked? That doesn’t make sense; she would be in danger as well. And I thought that she was opposed to bringing one back.”

  Richard shook his head. “No. I think she probably just wanted to bring one back to study, but I’m sure that this corporation of hers had other plans. I’m also sure that her warnings of not letting one loose on Earth was genuine, I’m sure she only wanted to study one alive.”

  “So that’s it then? All of this because someone wanted to bring a space squid back to Earth?”

  Again Richard shook his head. “I don’t think she knew how to sabotage the ship, at least not alone unless she had help.”

  “You mean like Vincent?”

  “No, it never seemed to me that Vincent and Cleo were operating together. I think Vincent has Morbi-caelus, or more commonly known as ‘space sickness’. And according to that recording, he might be smuggling something.”

  “From what I can put together,” Richard continued. “Our plight was a series of unfortunate events.”

  “And the sabotage?”

  “I find it difficult at best to believe that anyone is good enough to sabotage the engines to go out at the exact location and time that was needed. With the exception of Denise, I don’t know anyone capable of doing such a thing. It was not only risky and could have blown up the whole ship with the saboteur still on board, but even if it didn’t, we could have drifted past any rendezvous point if that was the intention. At the speed we were traveling, even the slightest error and we would have overshot any destination. That’s why coordinates are preprogrammed and monitored by the computer. Someone would have to know how to shut down the engines shut down singularity containment fields and make sure that the coordinates were correct to this spot.”

  Eric nodded. It was Vincent that said that it was Denise’s evaluation of sabotage, not Denise herself. No one had really heard her say that. Doctor Atkins had a point and he did make sense, Vincent was unaccounted for during many of the “incidents”, but then so was Richard. It was hard to tell if Richard was lying to throw blame on someone else or was telling the truth. There was no way of knowing at this point and he did need Richard’s help if he wanted to get them to safety. However, there was one way to find out. Eric lowered the sonic blaster but kept it near him. He would keep an eye on the doctor.

  “So, what is this ‘space sickness’? I mean how do you catch it and what are the symptoms?”

  “Well, space sickness isn’t caught. It’s a psychological melody that happens one of two ways, perhaps even a third, however these may or may not be connected. We don’t know since there aren’t enough studies.”

  “The first way that it could be brought on is by being in space for too long. The human body needs fresh air and
sunlight. This isn’t just a psychological requirement, but a physiological one as well. Our bodies need the vitamins produced by sunlight and our sleep patterns are regulated by it. It’s similar to catching ‘cabin fever’ only worse.”

  “The second way to have it introduced is through cryo sleep. There have been studies showing that our bodies haven’t truly adapted to cryo sleep yet and it is having adverse effects upon the human mind. Now, not everyone going through a cryo sleep will be affected, but it does seem that the more often an individual is exposed to the procedure the more likely space sickness can set in.”

  “We see the affliction happen more in those that fly through space often and for long periods of time. That’s why these missions are one way; coming back only increases a risk that isn’t necessary.”

  “The third possibility is being in close proximity to Dagons. It is believed that they communicate telepathically and if that is the case then those who are near a Dagon when it communicates may be receiving its telepathic thoughts. Our brains aren’t wired the same as these aliens’ brains and space sickness may be the result of a psychological and physiological overload.”

  “Now the symptoms include paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia and increased aggression. Plainly speaking, a normal individual becomes totally irrational, even to the point of being beyond reason. I’ve seen a few of these cases where an individual recovers, but these people are far and few between. They are the exception, not the rule. Usually we find that those who have been afflicted with space sickness become so deranged that they usually put themselves or others into mortally dangerous situations. Unless treated right away, I would say that the chance of surviving this affliction is small to nil, and not just for the patient, but for all of those in close proximity.”

  “So, where’s Cleo?”

  “Cleo’s dead. It looks like one of the aliens that she tried to capture had escaped and killed her.”

  “You mean there’s a Dagon loose on this ship?”

  Richard nodded. “I’m afraid so. We should either secure the ship or leave as soon as possible.”

  “And what about Vincent?”

  “I’m afraid I had to kill him. He came at me in a manic state. My guess is that he had space sickness. I had to defend myself. Unfortunately I had no other choice.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Richard, I have to ask you something. How did you know how to get the coordinate set? I mean, fixing a few blown circuits like you did is one thing. That was simple. But unless you have some astro-navigations training...”

  Eric didn’t know what he saw or felt. He didn’t seem to register anything. Perhaps the doctor was just a little too tense. Perhaps he, himself, was just a little too jumpy or perhaps a bit paranoid. Perhaps he was too tired; perhaps he had contracted some of this “space sickness” himself. Perhaps it was the small voice screaming in the back of his head that he doubted that the doctor could have overcome the veteran security officer. On top of that, doctors were supposed to have taken an oath to not harm. There just seemed to be something not right here. Either way, he moved the same time that Richard had.

  Richard acted with a sudden explosion of movement. His right hand came up and toward Eric. The tranquilizer, clutched tightly in his hand, came at his new target.

  Eric brought his left arm up and forward. His forearm hit the doctor’s arm and the object in the doctor’s hand flew from his grasp. He gave a quick shove with his left hand and pushed the doctor backwards; he needed a little room.

  As Richard flew backwards, Eric reached for his sonic blaster. In the sudden flurry of movements, the blaster had moved and Eric’s hand fumbled with the handle. By the time he caught hold of the weapon and turned it on Richard, the doctor had started to move. Two blasts went wild behind the doctor, blasting pieces of machinery all over the place.

  Richard took the opportunity of the missed shots and bolted for the door. He kept low and ran as quickly as he could. In the frenzy, he had to leave his bag behind. This meant that he would have to simply run for his life. He twisted and turned and ducked around the first corner in hopes that Eric hadn’t been on his tail.

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  Vincent moaned with grogginess. Whatever the doctor had hit him with, it had hit hard. However, he doubted that it was to its fullest effect. It didn’t seem to have been a long time. Perhaps Richard hadn’t been able to put enough of the injection into him; however, it was still going to take some doing to come to his full senses.

  It was when Vincent started to pull himself up did he hear it. It was a slight popping noise, as if some suction cups were being pulled from the walls. That sound could only mean one thing. The dripping of ooze onto his forehead only confirmed his suspicions and when he opened his eyes, he wasn’t surprised to see the Xenoamorphopseudopod start to drop from the ceiling.

  Chapter: 39

  Eric let the doctor run for his life. He would have to deal with him later. Right now he had another problem on his hand, one that required his immediate attention.

  “Warming...Fatal current trajectory. Destruction imminent.”

  Whatever coordinates the doctor had put into the computer had put them on a crash course toward an upcoming star system. They could end up slamming into one of the planets or being caught in the gravitational well of the star.

  Eric tried one more time to unlock the controls. It was no use. What he needed was the doctor to come back and unlock the controls, but since he seemed to be under the influence of the very space sickness that he had diagnosed everyone else having, it didn’t seem that he was going to get anything from him any time soon if at all.

  He let his hands fly through another set of commands on a different monitor. There, the fourth from the sun was a habitable planet. If he could get one of the landing crafts to it then he stood a chance of survival. With this in mind, Eric grabbed his sonic blaster and headed down the hall.

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  Richard rounded one corner and then another. He had run out of ideas of what to do next. He didn’t know who to trust, either one of these two could be murderers. If he could reach one of the landing crafts then maybe he would be able to get the hell off of this death trap of a ship. He was the only sane person aboard and it was time to leave everyone else behind and take his chances adrift in space. At least then he would have a better chance of survival.

  As he rounded another corner his world seemed to explode. His eyes saw nothing but stars for a moment. Consciousness started to fade, his knees started to buckle and it was everything that he could do to remain on his feet. Something or someone had hit him hard.

  “Next time you put someone down, doc, make sure they stay down. Especially me.”

  The voice was familiar and the reference was on the tip of his tongue. He was sure that it would have immediately come to him, except for the fact that the punch to his face had confused him. Then, as his sight started to refocus he was able to see the source of the voice. Unfortunately it came with another fist to his face.

  “You should have put me down when you had the chance, doc. This time, I’m going to put you down, and good.”

  Vincent’s warning came as his blows came down upon Richard, one right after another. Richard attempted to block the blow and desperately tried to at least soften them. But it was to no avail. He had been taken by surprise and was relentlessly being beaten. There was only one thing left to do.

  Richard turned, pivoted, and brought his left arm up and around. As he did, he blocked the next blow and got the surprise from Vincent that he had expected.

  Vincent yelped in pain as his arm came down upon something solid, something metal. He was sure that nothing was broken, only badly bruised. However he was sure that he would be badly bruised. On top of that the pain that shot through his arm was enough to throw off his attack. His conce
ntration had been broken. Now it was the doctor that went on the offensive.

  “Oh yes. I’m sure you now can understand your predicament a little better. I got this from the Los Angeles riots.”

  Richard’s left hand came across and struck Vincent in the chest. As Vincent doubled over another strike came across his back. A third brought Vincent to his knees.

  “It’s amazing what advances in science we have in the medical field. Now, take my arm for instance. I had just about lost it back in L.A. Its cybernetic replacement is far superior. Don’t you think?”

  The short boasting from the doctor was all the time that Vincent needed. Vincent sprang up like a shot and, ignoring the pain, rushed Richard. He pushed the doctor’s body back far enough to strike him against the wall. The blow had been powerful enough to knock his breath out.