by Andi J Feron
I watched her walk away and thought about how I would love to warm her up right now. Helen went and grabbed one too. I thought it was funny how they found this temperature too cold, but I guessed that when you were used to being warmer, it made a difference. I shouldn’t be too surprised; Seraphine was often cold, even when it was seventy-six. I announced folding and carried it out. One of the controls started beeping, and I slid myself over to see what it was about.
“Damn it!” I yelled. Everyone looked up at me, but I didn’t have time to explain my outburst. I rapidly moved my hands over the controls, trying to compensate for the fact the ship was about to throw us out at an unknown location.
So much for this ship having better folding.
I wasn’t fast enough, and we were violently launched into a far-off sector. The coding sensor defaulted and sent us to a solar system with human-compatible planets. The sensors were fried so I concentrated and went into tracker mode.
We were in Loctorian space, but it would take us a few days in hyperspace to get back. I tried to initiate hyperspace to throw us back on track, but multiple alarms sounded, indicating we were stranded. I threw out a distress signal then explained our predicament to everyone.
“We have enough rations for a month. We should be okay for now,” Elliott informed us.
The screen beeped, indicating our signal had been picked up.
“This is Admiral Fausto. We have picked up your distress signal.”
“This is Commander Talon Cooper. Our folding and hyperspace are offline. We are in good condition but drifting.”
“Understood. Commander, we are the closest to your location and will proceed with rescue. You are in a tricky place to fold to. A lot of distortion. We’ll have to go through hyperspace, which will take about a day. Hold tight.”
“Understood sir.”
“I guess it’s good we all like each other.” Ajax laughed.
Elliott raised an eyebrow. “Who said that’s true?”
“Since we are stuck, I’m wrapping in a blanket.” Seraphine got up to go to our storage bin.
“It’s seventy degrees Seraphine, not fifty,” I told her.
“I agree with Seraphine. It’s freezing in here.” Helen went to join Seraphine on her blanket quest.
“Let’s break out the cards. Not so bad, impromptu game night,” Ajax spoke enthusiastically, as if trying to build our morale that hadn’t yet slipped to that needed level.
“I’m for it if it can be strip poker.” Petra winked at me.
“I will throw this scanner at your head!” Seraphine yelled at Petra.
“How can you even think about clothing removal.” Helen shivered and Elliott got her another blanket.
The girls were kind of right. It was feeling a little chilly. I checked the thermostat, and it read sixty-three. This wasn’t good.
Seraphine pulled her blanket tighter. “Talon, it’s so cold. Come sit with me.”
I tried to adjust the temperature with no luck. When it dropped another two degrees, I informed the others. I scanned for habitable planets and figured we should land just in case. I found one that was a tropical seventy-seven in one hemisphere and landed the ship. I sent Admiral Fausto a message giving him our new location. An alarm sounded.
“Guess it’s good we landed. Life support is failing. Open up the hatch, and we should be fine.” Ajax release the back hatch of the ship.
The door opened to a tropical environment with red sand and tall trees with thin green leaves at the top. There were three large structures, but I hadn’t picked up any life signs.
Ajax read a control panel. “Scans indicate the temps drop pretty significantly at night on this planet. Unless we want to sleep in bio-suits, we might want to check out those buildings.”
“I’ll go,” I volunteered, “I can navigate through them. Elliott, you want to join me since you can let me know if anything weird is inside?” Elliott agreed to go with.
We approached the structure, and it reminded me of the medical base back on Earth, all cement with no windows and a single brown door. I was surprised to find it unlocked. We put on our night vision goggles to see through the long dark hallway. We saw a door propped open to the first room we came to.
The wall closest to us held a large window that gave us a view into an adjoining room. There were chairs toppled over and large metal tables with strange equipment and instruments next to them. The microscopes near the corner made me realize we were in a lab. I reeled back as I noticed a set of tables held a strange decaying scaled species. The bodies didn’t have a smell, which I thought was strange. Elliott would have for sure picked up on a scent if there was one. I scanned them.
“This is odd. The computer insists they’re human, but there’s no way. They have scales. They don’t look human.” I rechecked my findings as I talked to Elliott.
“Scanner probably doesn’t know. There are most likely similarities, and the decay is throwing it off.”
“Yeah, must be it.”
“You want to open that fridge door or is this screaming sci-fi horror movie to you?” Elliott asked.
“Yeah, I’m thinking we don’t explore more than we have to.”
We left the room to find somewhere more suitable to stay in. Sleeping with alien bodies close by was not a venture I thought any of us would want to partake in. I was hoping we could find somewhere to sleep for the night. A couple rooms with some bunks looked promising. I turned to sit on the bed to see how comfortable they were as Elliott opened a cabinet. He began screaming.
I whirled around and saw a metal rod was stuck into his chest. I ran over as it was attempting to pull him into a chamber. I pulled him back and saw a large needle slide out of his chest. He dropped to the ground.
Before I could attend to Elliott, another large rod stabbed me in the arm with a large needle. I jerked my arm away, and it felt heavy. I pulled a very still Elliott out of the room using only one arm.
“Elliott, can you hear me?” I asked him once we were out in the hall.
“Yeah.” He coughed.
“Can you walk?”
“I think so. My chest is just heavy.”
I helped him up. “Here, I’ll steady you.” I held him upright as he hobbled with me, the two of us making it out of the building. We limped to the ship, and I pulled out one of the medical beds and helped him on it.
“Elliott! What happened?” Helen ran over to him. She gasped at the blood that was covering his uniform.
“Just a small wound. Don’t worry.” Elliott grabbed her hand.
Helen unbuttoned his shirt and healed the dime-sized wound. “You okay?”
Elliott hugged her. “I’m fine now. Thanks honey.”
“What’s wrong with your arm?” Seraphine asked me.
My left arm was hanging limp at my side. “Nothing serious. A little poke is all.”
“Move it.”
I gave it a try and was unable to. “I guess it’s numb.”
“Shirt off.” She gave me a stern look.
I began unbuttoning it with my working hand, and Seraphine finished for me.
“It looks pretty swollen. Helen, do you have enough energy to make an attempt?” Seraphine asked.
Helen looked it over. “Yeah, looks minor.”
She concentrated on the hole and sealed it up. I tried to move it and failed.
“Must be a numbing agent. It’ll probably wear off in a couple hours,” I said. Seraphine looked at me, and I knew that look. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
“Now that the crisis is averted, what happened in there?” Fayard asked.
I told them the entire story of the lab.
“Yeah, I think the sooner we get off this planet, the better. We’re going to be one of those crews that mysteriously goes missing, and the next team that comes looking for us finds all of us killed in horrible ways.” Elliott was still stuck on the sci-fi horror movie concept.
“Good news. I’ve fixed the life support.” Petra
popped her head out from underneath the console.
Ajax scrunched his nose. “You fixed it?”
“Yes, I’m more than a pretty face.”
“Who said we thought you had a pretty face?” Ajax grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes.
“Let’s close up the ship as a precaution. As long as things stay stable, we can sleep here tonight.” I shut the back hatch.
My arm was starting to burn, but I didn’t say anything. It would worry Seraphine, and I was pretty sure nothing could be done until we got back to see Jasper. I went into the bathroom and looked it over in the mirror; it was noticeably more swollen. If there was much more swelling I wouldn’t be able to wear my shirt. The redness also appeared to be spreading. When we first looked at it, it was from the midpoint of my upper arm to my shoulder. Now it reached my neck on one end and my elbow on the other. I scanned myself, but it said nothing was wrong. I would think that I was imagining things, but Helen and Seraphine saw it earlier too. I put my shirt back on and struggled to get it over my arm. I went out and saw Seraphine sitting up in bed, reading. I was hoping that she would be settled in already.
She glanced at me. “Can you move it yet?”
“No, but I’m sure I will by morning.” I kissed her good night and saw everyone was in bed. Helen and Elliott were snuggled together even though their bed was technically only made for one. They seemed to make it work. “Everyone ready for lights?” I called out.
Everyone agreed they were and I flipped a switch before climbing into my sleeping cove. I couldn’t get to sleep because the burning in my arm was getting worse, the intensity almost too much. I could feel it in my hand now. I wondered if Elliott felt it too. I had the curtain pulled and turned my com device lighting down.
I texted Elliott.
Me: You feeling okay?’
Elliott: No, chest is on fire. You?’
Me: Arm is the same as your chest. Scanner insists nothing is wrong.
Elliott: Mine says the same thing. Should we tell the others?’
Me: Don’t think there’s much they can do. We wake up our women and no one is getting any sleep.
Elliott: That’s true.
When morning arrived, I felt the burning on my entire left side. I turned on my sleeping cove light. I used the camera part of my com device to look at myself and knew I couldn’t hide it anymore. The left side of my face was red and swollen. I couldn’t open my left eye. I looked like I had been stung by a dozen bees and had an allergic reaction.
“You want breakfast?” Seraphine said from the other side of my curtain.
“No, not hungry.” I apparently sounded exactly how I looked. I opened my mouth to find a swollen tongue.
Seraphine threw open the curtain. “Talon!”
“I’m okay.” I knew my mumbled voice wouldn’t convince her, but I gave it a try.
She grabbed her scanner. “It says nothing is wrong. I think mine is broken, hand me yours.”
“Mine says the same thing.” I sounded utterly ridiculous.
“Elliott!” I heard Helen scream. She jumped out of bed, and I could see Elliott looked about the same as me except he had swelling on both sides. He was able to open both eyes slightly. The rest of our team was gawking at us.
“Benadryl and epinephrine,” Petra said.
Fayard grabbed the med kit. “Worth a shot.”
Neither of us could swallow the Benadryl. He used epipens on both of us, but after an hour, it was clear it was having no effect. I could still breathe fine, and Elliott said the same.
“Let’s give Admiral Fausto a call and see if they can speed up their arrival any.” Ajax went to the console, and when the Admiral picked up, Ajax told him our status. The Admiral said that they would push their speed a bit. Seraphine sat next to me and held my hand. I couldn’t really talk, so I texted her.
I sent the text. Me: Quit worrying about me, babe. I’ll be fine.
Seraphine: You don’t know that.
I pulled her back against me. A couple more hours and our rescue arrived. They towed our ship and we could ride in theirs. They had a doctor on board who would be able to look at us. We were led to their ship sickbay and Helen and Seraphine went with us. The biofilters hadn’t been alerted, so they didn’t think there was a contaminant.
The doctor walked up to give us his report on our condition, “I’m Dr. Carpenter. I’ve analyzed the data you took from the facility. It appears to be an old Loctorian laboratory. There were many set up in the past where they attempted to cure the virus. My scanners keep telling me nothing is wrong with either of you, but this is clearly not the case. I’m going to be brainstorming with the Saturn base doctor. He’s one of the best we have and, from what I understand, he knows both of you quite well.”
I felt tired and assumed it was from not sleeping. I woke up and could finally open my left eye again, and the burning was gone. I guessed this meant the reaction stopped. I saw Seraphine next to me, and her face was puffy. She had been crying.
“What are you crying about? I’m better now.” My voice sounded normal again.
“No, Talon. Look at your arm.”
I looked down to see my arm covered in dark red scales. Some were loose and falling off revealing gelled blue skin beneath. I gasped and looked at Elliott. He had them all over his face and down both his arms.
Elliott glanced at his arms. “We’re becoming those bodies.”
“What bodies?” Seraphine looked at me.
I reluctantly told her, “When we were in the facility there were some bodies that had scales like this. Our scanners said they were human, but they didn’t look it. There was no smell, either.”
“You are just now mentioning it?” Seraphine frowned at me.
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
She turned around and walked over to me. “I’m scared Talon.”
“The doctors will figure this out. I’ll be back to myself in no time.”
Truth was I was pretty sure I was going to die, but I wasn’t ready to let her know that yet.
“I’m going to go tell the doctor about the bodies you failed to mention.” She left and I watched her go. I wished she wasn’t so scared.
Admiral Fausto let us know that we needed to get out of the distortion first then we could fold, which meant we would have a day in hyperspace. By the next morning, both Elliott and I were covered in the red scales. I woke up with my arm around Seraphine. My state hadn’t scared her away, and she was asleep next to me. Helen was sleeping in the chair next to Elliott, and they were holding hands.
The doctor walked in. “Dr. Monroe has a theory, and he’s working on locating a Loctorian who is the leading expert in genetics. He believes you two were injected with some type of RNA-editing compound. The Loctorians were attempting experiments with this to try and cure Dissipation.”
“They were using humans as lab rats?” Seraphine yawned.
“It appears to be that way. He thinks that the Loctorians may have a way to reverse this.”
Seraphine squeezed my hand. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” was the short version I gave her. I didn’t want her scared, but I knew there were some things I should have told her a long time ago but never got around to. The more time passed, the more I figured Elliott and I would have the same ending as the laboratory cadavers.
I mustered the courage to tell her, “Seraphine, I think we need to talk about if things go bad.”
“No, we aren’t doing that.” A small quiver edged out in her voice.
“I’m getting pretty tired. We need to before I can’t stay awake any longer.”
“Talon, I don’t want to.”
“I’ve been needing to tell you something. On Earth, in my hometown at the bank, the one that’s by the town square, I have a safety deposit box. The key for that is in a small box in our safe in the closet. It has the number on it. Inside are two jump drives; one is for Allie, and the other is for you. They are videos. I’ll let you watch
yours. Allie’s tells her everything and tells her how to protect herself in my absence. If you have to give her that video, I want you to have each other. You’ll need each other. I also have an account set up there. It should take care of both of you for the rest of your lives, since some of my investments have done well. My lawyer Higgins will help you with everything.”
She stared at me, as though trying to take in everything I told her. Finally, she said, “We’re not going to worry about it because you’re going to be fine.”
I was getting too tired and drifted off to sleep again.
“Yes, I have both their DNA on file.” Jasper was talking to a Loctorian.
The Loctorian was wearing a dark green robe, and he had his hood down. “Good, that will work nicely.”
“He’s awake,” Seraphine jumped up and grabbed my hand. I was still a red lizard creature.
Jasper walked over to talk to me. “Talon, we have a way to reverse the process and change your RNA back. Once that is in place, as your cells replicate you should start to return to normal. This is Tocric. He’s the leading virologist and geneticist for the Loctorians. He’s going to create the cocktail that will fix this.”
A couple hours passed, and a nurse carried a tray and injected something into my IV. I was still exhausted and fell back asleep. When I woke up, I looked down at my hand and saw it was normal again.
Seraphine smiled. “Looks like I’m not married to the Thing anymore.”
“I bet you’re pretty disappointed. That would have been kind of cool.”
“Yeah, I was looking forward to winning a most unique couple award.”
“Obviously we can still win that.”
Jasper told me I was no longer a mutated version of myself and sent me home. When inquired about the facility, the Loctorians claimed all subjects were voluntary. However, no one could seem to show any records to indicate what took place, or if all subjects were aware of the risks. The Loctorians had very little accountability to anyone. They controlled so much of the galaxy, and their power was immense. If there were restitution to be paid for the damage done, it would have to be enforced by an outside entity.
Chapter Twenty-One
