Metamorphosis Alpha 2

by Craig Martelle (ed)

  Elaira screamed in horror. She found the strength to grab the dagger and jump to her feet. Her side ached again, but it didn’t stop her from pointing the blade at the stranger.

  The red figure took a step back, holding its hands out in front of him. The blinding light was coming out of one its hands. She held the dagger in front of her and squinted in the bright light. Is this death’s herald?

  “Calmez…Calmez-tu.”

  Elaira shook her head. “I don’t understand you—” Then she remembered falling. She looked around frantically. “Where is it? Where did the beast go?”

  The stranger’s face was fixed, expressionless. It said nothing.

  She screamed again. “Where!” Her legs became very uneasy beneath her. She felt hot and it became hard to breath. Something caught her eye a short distance away.

  Her spear…broken in two. Her heart sank at the sight. It was over. Even if she made it back, she’d never be a hunter now. She dropped to her knees. The sound of her dagger hitting the floor echoed all around her.

  She sat there, feverish, struggling to keep her eyes open. She was able to make out the shape of the stranger moving closer. She opened her mouth but nothing came out but a faint squeak of air right before her strength gave out again.

  I’m…sorry.

  ***

  “AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

  Elaira sat up quickly, screaming. All she could see was intense color and hazy shadows around her.

  “Hello,” a voice said next to her. “Please remain still.”

  She wiped her eyes, blinking several times. Colors started to congeal into moving shapes. She turned in the direction of the voice. A strange red face looked back at her just a few inches from her nose.

  Elaira screamed again. She tried to back away, but fell off of something, landing on her back. She heard the clattering of metal hitting the ground all around her. She jumped to her feet. Her eyes were nearly adjusted to the light now. What she saw was incredible. It was nothing like she’d ever heard about; not in truth or legend.

  Bright, colorful lights on walls. There was what looked to be a cot covered with white animal skins that had no fur. Even the ground didn’t make sense. It was grey, but absolutely smooth – no cracks or bumps - and cold to the touch. Something was picking things up from the ground with what looked like smooth vines that slithered on command, wrapping around the objects and moving them up on to tables.

  “I say again…please remain still.”

  The voice snapped Elaira out of her reverie. Fear took hold when she saw a red figure slowly moving toward her. There were a dozen more behind it that looked identical; like red people, with arms and legs, but the faces…

  They seemed frozen, except for the eyes that looked her over from head to toe.

  The figure continued to move toward her. Elaira could see the eyes more clearly now; resembling the moist egg yolks from her breakfast, which did nothing to calm her fears.

  She frantically felt around her waist. Her dagger was gone.

  “You were injured. The medical robot repaired the damage, but you must remain calm.” the figure said.

  “What?” Then she remembered. She’d landed on her dagger in the fall. There was a small amount of pain and tenderness on her side, but she was no longer bleeding. In fact, she felt better than she had in days. Even the sickness she was feeling, after entering The Forbidden Place, was gone. She noticed something else; the skins that covered her body weren’t covered in blood. How was that possible?

  “Please return to the examination table.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shiny bowl on a table next to her. She grabbed it, then went into a defensive crouch, ready to swing the bowl at anything that came near her.

  “Who are you?” She demanded. Then she remembered the face in the darkness that spoke in the strange tongue. “Were you there when I fell? Where is the cougaroid? It was hurt. I must find it!”

  “I am unit Andy-four-zero-seven. Yes, I was there,” it said. “I brought you back here for treatment. What is your name?”

  Elaira’s eyes darted back and forth, looking at all of the figures around her. She took a step forward, to the figure, and growled. “Tell me where it is…now!”

  The red face, still fixed, spoke evenly. “We do not know. However—”

  She swung the bowl, with all of her fear and anger behind it. It struck the figure across the face. Its head snapped to the left and came right back to center. The girl recoiled into her stance, expecting it to strike back.

  Instead, its face remained fixed, in spite of a cut on the cheek. Something that looked like milk, oozed from the laceration.

  “Please,” it said, extending a hand. “We’ve healed your body, but you are not, yet, ready for this.” Its tone was as gentle and even as it was before.

  Elaira looked at the hand, then at the benign eyes on the stiff, red face for a long moment. She slowly took its hand in hers, still keeping the bowl ready to strike again in her other hand.

  It took her back to the cot and gestured her to lay on it. She did so. It took a step back and the thing with the vine arms moved between them. The vines moved all around her. Things were being attached to her and connected to boxes with lights. There were eight vines, in total, all coming out of this one thing that didn’t look like the people around her. It had lights, of its own, and made sounds that she couldn’t identify.

  “What is this?” She said nervously.

  “It will be alright. This is a medical robot. Please relax.”

  “Ro…bot?” She said, struggling with the strange word. Her thoughts turned to the cougaroid again. Where was it? Was it looking for her?

  “What is your name?”

  She hesitated, eyeing the robot suspiciously. “Elaira.”

  “Elaira,” the figure said. “Good. As I said, before, I am unit Andy-four-zero-seven—”

  “Andy,” she said. “You are Andy.”

  Andy nodded. “Very well.”

  “Are there more of you helping the creature?” Elaira said, watching the flowerless vines move all around her. “If so, you are making a mistake—Ouch!” She felt something like a bee sting in her arm, followed by a feeling of cold that spread throughout her body. She grabbed the vine that had stung her, trying to squeeze the life out of it. The robot didn’t seem to care. “What was that? Venom?”

  “An inoculation for your radiation sickness,” Andy said.

  “A what?”

  “You would call it a healing potion.”

  She’d seen the healers give potions to the sick, many times. They were some of the foulest smelling things she could recall, but they were always given as a drink. Not like this. Was she going to fall ill again? Was she going to die now? Or…was she dead already?

  The robot shined a light on her rukey and the bruise beneath it. A vine moved to it, slipping under the strap. She pulled her arm away and hissed at the robot. It stopped where it stood, lights blinking on it slowly.

  “The band around your arm is causing injury. The medical robot needs to remove it to effect treatment—”

  “No!” She covered the strap with her other hand. “It can’t be removed until I’ve mastered the spear and proven my worth as a hunter.”

  As if by silent command, the robot moved away and Andy stepped to her again, its frozen face – with its yellow eyes – looked her over. She noticed the other red colored figures kept their distance.

  Then she froze as the realization hit her almost as hard as when she fell. Why didn’t she see it before? Red…men.

  She looked up at Andy with excited eyes. “You…You’re the…”

  It cocked its head sideways slightly, like a dog, but said nothing.

  “My friend came to The Forbidden Place to find you. He had to know if the story was true and you were real!” She held up her arm to show the figure Dartmuth’s gift. “He gave me this. Said it was the key to your return.”

  Except there was nothing on her wrist. T
he object was gone.

  “No! No! No! Where is it? I must have lost it when I fell. I must—”

  “We have the band.”

  Elaira was excited. “Give it to me.”

  “I am afraid I cannot.”

  She grabbed Andy’s arm. It felt cold, devoid of life. “It’s mine! It was Dartmuth’s gift to me!”

  “The CC will not allow it yet. The band had not been scanned by the system in one-hundred-fifty-three standard years. It is unexpected that nothing had used it to your level until now.”

  “‘See-see’? What does that mean; ‘escaped my level’? As much as Dartmuth’s story seemed like madness, this was even more so. “This…this isn’t real; none of it. I couldn’t understand you when you found me. How can I even make sense of your words now?”

  “I have never been to your level. The CC had to program us with your language.”

  “My…‘level’? Do you mean where I come from? But…But you must have. You were able to heal me, like the story says you could. It has to be you.”

  “Tell us this story,” Andy said. The other reds nodded in agreement.

  Elaira did so, telling them about the Rain of Fire, the lost tribe, and the beasts that chased them away as best as she could recollect from those last moments with Dartmuth. The expressionless faces of the reds traded looks, as if to be communicating through their yellow eyes.

  Then something strange happened. Their eyes fluttered in unison. It only lasted for a couple of moments. When it was over, the reds moved in closer.

  “Yes. We know of this,” Andy said. “The accident that damaged the ship - what you call, ‘The Rain of fire’ - killed thousands across all levels. Then many thousands more died from radiation sickness. We have been working to restore the ship ever since. The mutated creatures did attack those sent to help repeatedly. Eventually, the CC calculated the time spent on Level 11 was not yielding acceptable progress. The damage to the outside of the level was repaired to maintain environmental containment and resources were redirected to repair other levels.

  Elaira shook her head repeatedly. “I don’t understand what you mean? What is the ‘See-See’? What is a ‘ship’? Why…Why is my home called a ‘level’?”

  She saw Andy freeze again. His eyes fluttered as they did before.

  ***

  23.1094% CHANCE THE HUMAN WILL PROCESS TO UNDERSTANDING.

  I believe this human is ready for full disclosure.

  THE HUMAN IS NOT PROCESSING AT 100% EFFICIENCY.

  The story she told is indicative of comprehension. Full disclosure is appropriate.

  RECALCULATING…46.3957% CHANCE THE HUMAN CAN PROCESS TO UNDERSTANDING.

  There is a second lifeform outside of Level 11 containment. The human let the creature loose.

  ANDY UNITS ARE DIRECTED TO INITIATE CONTAINMENT PROTOCOLS. HUMAN NOT AUTHORIZED.

  CC, Have all factors been calculated?

  DIRECTIVE TO UNIT ANDY407: FULL DISCLOSURE AND OBSERVATION.

  DIRECTIVE TO ANDY UNITS: CONTAIN AND RETURN LIFEFORMS TO LEVEL 11.

  -END OF LINE

  ***

  “Are you alright?” Elaira asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “It was like you went into a trance,” she said. “I’ve seen the Shaman go into trances when reaching out to the spirits to bless our crops, but nothing like that.

  Andy looked down at her. “Instructions from the CC.” He paused.

  She could see, even with his face frozen like stone, he had something else to say.

  “What is it?”

  “There is much more you need to be told.”

  “Ye…Yes?”

  Andy turned and looked at another red standing by a wall of lights and nodded. It touched something on the wall and large section of lights came to life, showing an image of something long, like two canoes stacked on top of each other.

  “It is called, The Warden,” Andy said. “It is the ship we are all on right now.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Allow me to finish.”

  The red touched the wall again and half of the image disappeared, revealing layers inside. One of them near the middle lit up.

  Andy pointed. “That is where you come from.”

  Elaira slowly stood and walked to the wall. Her eyes were a mix of fear and wonder. Her stomach was in knots, but not as though she were sick. “It’s amazing. I…don’t know what to think. Do people live on every…level?”

  “Most are inhabited. Many different species; different worlds from what you know.”

  The red, at the wall, moved its hands across the lights and the image changed again. She saw a small point, where two layers met, suddenly grow and took the entire wall space. A light appeared on a very small layer between the one Andy said was hers and the one beneath it.

  “This is where we are now. Between levels,” Andy said, pointing.

  Elaira was in awe at the image. She turned to Andy. “What is the see-see?”

  “The CC is the is the central computer—”

  “The what?”

  Andy paused. “For the ship, think of it as the great spirit that guides everything.”

  “The Great Spirit…”

  Elaira dropped to her knees, bowing in front of the image.

  Andy put a hand on her shoulder. “This spirit does not require prayer or worship. Please stand.”

  She did so, hesitantly.

  “The spirit…the CC…has programmed us to all preserve life on The Warden. We do this—” Andy stopped, looking at several more points of light appeared, in sequence moving toward the center of the image.

  “What is it?”

  “Other units have seen the creature. It’s moving.”

  “I have to go! It killed my friend. Tell me where it is!”

  Andy shook his head in an even motion. “We will capture the creature and return it to Level 11.”

  Elaira was shocked. The reds were like stiff, wooden people. No. They couldn’t hunt. She had to be the one to go after it. It was the only way.

  “You don’t know what you’re dealing with. Cougaroids can do things. They can change their shape to look like you or me. Their claws can cut through tough animal hide.”

  “We have dealt with all manner of living things large and small—”

  “With what? I don’t see one spear between you. Not one dagger, either. This thing will kill you all. Didn’t they drive you away from my land many years ago? What’s changed?”

  “They attacked in numbers. Now there is only one. We have the numeric advantage to subdue it.”

  “It must be killed!” Elaira said, grabbing Andy’s arm.

  “We preserve life. We are programmed not to kill.”

  Elaira scowled. “Then you’re already dead.”

  “The creature has stolen an engineering band from Unit Andy-six-five-two,” the red, by the wall, said. “It ceased functioning at time index two-three-four-one. The CC has the unit’s matrix and is recalling the encounter to the viewscreen,”

  Elaira watched in wonder as the image of the ship, on the wall, was replaced by something else. There was a robot, similar to the one in the room. But the view was strange. It darted back and forth, up and down. A red hand, like Andy’s, came into view pointed to a grey wall that had a discolored gap in it. The robot was holding some sort of flame in one vine arm pressed against the wall. There was a shower of bright sparks, and a sizzling sound much like dry wood burning for a bonfire, but much louder. It startled Elaira, making her duck behind Andy. She cautiously peered around his right arm enough to see the image.

  Something caught her eye moving in the shadows beyond the robot. She pointed frantically.

  “There it is! Get out of there!”

  “Unit Andy-six-five-two cannot hear you. We are watching a memory through the unit’s eyes.”

  Elaira was dumbfounded. This was magic unlike any she had ever heard of, even in the fantastic imaginations of her friends back at the tribe.
r />   “MRRRROOOWWWW!!!”

  The horrifying sound came from the image. Elaira knew it all too well. The beast leapt from the shadows on to the robot. The cougaroid’s claws scratched on the robot’s body over and over again. It made awful sounds that hurt Elaira’s ears. The red hand came back into view, this time it was holding something pointed at the cougaroid. It shot something at it. The cougaroid moved quickly, left and right. The hand tried to move with it, keeping the object pointed at the beast but it was too quick.

  Elaira thought the cougaroid had leapt straight at her. The image seemed to tumble over and over. The beast howled. Elaira heard wet, ripping sounds. The milky liquid that had come out of the cut on Andy’s face spilled across the image. The cougaroid’s face appeared many times its normal size, filling the wall, but obscured by the white liquid. Its fangs glistened as they had when she fought it before, only now appearing as large as her entire head. She screamed, jumping backward.

  “Out! Hooooow do I get out?”

  A gentle voice that sounded identical to Andy’s spoke. “The nearest way back to your level would be the main elevator approximately one-point-two kilometers down this corridor.” The red arm came into view, with the hand pointing to the left.

  The cougaroid’s attention turned to the wrist. It had a grey band around it. Elaira recognized it immediately, as did the cougaroid. It grabbed the arm at the wrist with one hand. The claws dug into the pale flesh, spilling more of the white liquid from where the claws punctured the arm. It pulled the band off of the arm and examined it in the light.

  “What is this?”

  “It is an engineering band. It is required to operate the elevator.”

  “I can get home with this?”

  “Yes. You can go almost anywhere on the ship with it.”

  The creature looked thoughtful, glancing at the band then back at the unit several times. “Ship? Ship! Our legends speak of something called…Warden.”

  “Yes,” the voice said with affirmation. “The Starship Warden. That is where we are and your level is one of many within it. I see you are injured. We can repair the damage—”