by Kal Spriggs
He spun, but not before Andreysiak fired. The TRA Wasp fired twin lasers which cut ionized channels through the air. A millisecond later the Wasp pulsed ten thousand volts at a modulated amperage designed to incapacitate.
Eric let out an involuntary scream as he lost control of his body. The physical pain was raw and intense as his muscles spasmed. It felt like barbed wire being dragged across his entire body. The emotional pain from the knowledge that he had sacrificed his entire team for nothing hurt far worse. He lay on the deck and could do nothing but watch as the hatch closed behind him.
“Should we finish him, sir?” One of the security team asked.
He heard Andreysiak chuckle, “Bag him, waste not, want not, as they say.”
He felt a pair of arms grasp his trembling hands and jerk him up to his knees. Even as he heard the ship’s thrusters fire, he saw Wrobochesky draw a black bag from a pocket. Eric felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead, his childhood memories welled to the front of his mind.
I deserved this, he thought, I failed my squad, I got all of them killed.
* * *
Crowe still waited in the lounge with Elena. “Alright, we’ve delayed long enough,” Eric said as he walked up to the other man. Eric could almost hear the approval of his team as he confronted the other man face to face. Eric had retrieved his TEK-15 and the laser rifle, and had both slung, with the submachine gun on a single point sling from his right shoulder.
“Holy shit, what happened to your face?” Crowe asked.
“Had a meet and greet with Ghost,” Eric said. “I’m pretty sure that whether or not you’re right, Ghost has to be dealt with, which means we need control of the bridge. The damned Wrethe has locked down the other two access hatches, and can do the same with the aft one if it wants. So we need the bridge to override those controls. Which means I need you to hack the bridge controls.”
“Look, Eric,” Crowe said, “I know that this Wrethe may seem like a bad ass…”
“This Wrethe seems like a psycho who will kill us all for kicks,” Eric said. “And you seem way too relaxed for this situation, so I’m going to give you a bit of taste of what my day has felt like.” Eric brought up his TEK-15 with a single smooth motion and aligned the sights with Crowe’s forehead at a range of less than a meter. He saw the other man’s eyes go wide as he thumbed off the electronic safety. “Now, this is how it’s going to go. You are going to come with me to the bridge access stairs. You’ll override the lock-down and get us on the bridge. Since you’re so concerned about Ariadne you can watch her. She’s going in with Rastar, Anubus and I.”
“Eric, put the gun away,” Elena said sharply.
“If you go for your pistol, I’ll put a burst through Crowe’s forehead and then we can see which of us moves faster,” Eric said. “I don’t want to kill either of you. I need him, dammit, we all do.” Eric realized that aiming his weapon had not been the smartest thing to do. But still, he had got his point across at least.
“Eric, you don’t want to do this,” Crowe said. “We are so close to getting the proof that Ariadne is the rogue psychic and finding out why she has manipulated—”
“I don’t care,” Eric said. “Psychic or not, we need the bridge. We’ve delayed that long enough. Your argument would hold a lot more weight if I had not just come from where Run has Pixel on a makeshift surgery table.” Eric pursed his lips. “Do you realize how it feels to see everyone else fully engaged, even the damned Chxor, and here you are relaxed in the lounge? I’m a bit angry, right now, Crowe. And you know I’m impulsive, especially when I’m angry. No where near as bad as Rastar, but do you trust your life to my temper right now, Crowe? Do you?”
Crowe’s face drained of color. “I’ll do it. But I’ll remember this.”
“Please,” Eric said. “Please do, because next time I might just pull the trigger anyway. Remember that you signed Mike’s contract, and that you joined this team. And if you don’t pull your weight, well, then I’ll make sure your dead weight doesn’t drag me down. Now let’s go.”
* * *
”How is Pixel… oh, what happened to your face?” Ariadne asked.
Eric reached up and wiped at the blood. He winced in pain as his fingers brushed wound on his cheek. “Ghost is a real nice fellow. Run has Pixel, he says he’ll be fine.” Eric decided not to mention that Run had two men to hold Pixel down while he worked. “I convinced Crowe to come try a hack on the door controls.”
“Good,” Ariadne shot both Elena and Crowe a glance. “Elena, I’d like you to back up Simon, Mandy and Miranda. They’re at the forward access hatch for engineering.”
“You do not want me to help with the bridge?”
“No,” Ariadne said. “We’ve got Rastar, Eric and Anubus for that, and I would rather less gunfire that might damage anything essential on the bridge.”
“Very well,” Elena and Crowe shared a glance, “I will assist the others.”
Crowe pulled out his computer and ran a connection cable to the door control. He frowned, “I can do this, but are we sure…”
Eric leaned over Crowe’s shoulder, “Are you dead weight?”
“I said I can do it.” Crowe snapped. “Get out of my personal space.”
“Sure,” Eric turned away. “So what’s the plan?” He asked.
“I will kill Krann,” Rastar said. “She deserves to die for what she has done, both to my people and to us, if she is the rogue psychic,” his hide had gone a deep red color. “I hope you do not feel offended that I wish to take this kill.”
Eric shrugged, “Honestly, no. I said before we should have a one Chxor limit.”
“Right,” Anubus growled. “And we’ve exceeded our one Wrethe aboard policy. Which means I get to kill Ghost. In return for that, I will restrain Mike.”
“Just restrain?” Eric asked.
“If he is mentally controlled, then I will limit myself to restraint. If he has betrayed us, then he deserves to die for his failure,” Anubus growled. “But I will allow Ariadne to judge that.”
“I think he’s under control. I couldn’t feel his mind. I’m not certain it is Krann who is the psychic, but someone has shielded that area. There may be someone else on the bridge, perhaps out of view of the camera,” Ariadne said. “For that matter, without Pixel to access the camera feed, we don’t know what’s going on.”
“Wait, they can shield an area from you?” Eric asked.
“Yes, at least it appears so,” Ariadne shrugged. I can only barely sense around the edges of that barrier, and even that drains me more than it should.”
“We really need a manual on this stuff,” Simon said.
“Yeah,” Eric nodded. They at least need some way to tell when she might be lying in order to manipulate them into… something.
“Maybe when we get time,” Ariadne said.
“I’ve got the hatch controls on this door and the upper one overridden,” Crowe said as he looked up. For a second, he had a look on his face that made Eric want to aim his TEK-15 at him, but the look disappeared before Eric could react. He half thought he might have imagined it.
Or has Ariadne messed with my head, he thought, to put doubts about Crowe in there?
“Open the lower one,” Rastar said as he drew his pair of Ragers and the two riot guns. “Wait for us to get into position before you open the upper hatch.”
“Of course,” Crowe said. The other man stepped out of the way. Rastar led the way up the stairs, followed by Anubus and then Ariadne and Eric. Rastar paused at the upper hatch, and the big Ghornath seemed to gather himself. “Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” Anubus growled.
“Ready,” Ariadne said.
“Let’s kill this bitch,” Eric said.
“Do it Crowe!” Rastar bellowed. A moment later the hatch drew open and Rastar charged forward.
He froze a few steps in the doorway. Eric could see him completely freeze, one leg raised to run forward, arms poised to sweep the room for a tar
get. He heard Ariadne gasp then. “It’s Krann, she’s dominated his mind! I’ll try to free him…”
The air temperature seemed to drop ten degrees in a heartbeat. The lights seemed to dim, then, and Eric felt goosebumps rise on his arms. The very air seemed to hum with energy in a way that just felt alien and wrong.
Eric heard a gunshot then, and saw a splatter of red Ghornath blood spatter Anubus. Shit, Mike has fired, we have to stop him or he will kill Rastar, Eric thought.
Anubus dove under Rastar’s legs and out of sight. Eric ran up the stairs. He saw Anubus tackle Mike. Then Krann stepped out from the side and raised a hand.
Eric brought his submachine gun up, but a wave of force slammed him backwards. He struck the bulkhead hard enough that stars exploded in his vision. At the same time, for a moment, he felt as if someone had pumped ice water directly into his heart.
He heard Ariadne shout something, and the force went away. Eric dropped to his knees, and he shook his head to clear his vision. He felt his heart tremor in shock. He looked over to see Ariadne clutch at her head. “She’s too strong, God, how is she so strong…” Her voice trailed off as she seemed overwhelmed by some sort of mental attack. Eric looked up. Between Rastar’s legs he saw Krann draw her pistol.
Crowe had come up the stairs behind Ariadne. Crowe’s words went through his head, and he wondered at the entire series of events. Had Ariadne controlled Krann all along? Had this all been some elaborate ruse to put her in command? He stared at where Ariadne stood, her face contorted in concentration and pain.
He saw Crowe shake his head, yet then he saw Krann draw her pistol. If Ariadne controlled her, then the way to stop the Chxor from taking shots at Rastar would to kill or injure Ariadne. If Krann were the rogue psychic, then he needed to injure her.
“Eric, please, help me!” Ariadne said.
Her words and tone perfectly matched that of Ivanna. A brief vision of her as she died flashed through his mind. He felt his tension ease as he made the decision, for better or worse.
Eric rolled over to his side and brought his submachine gun up again. He triggered a single burst, afraid he might hit Rastar as he fired between his friend’s four legs. He saw green blood explode out of Krann’s left leg.
Rastar stumbled forward, and brought all four of his weapons to bear on Krann.
The two Rager Twelves fired on full automatic even as Rastar fired the riot guns. Krann’s head and upper torso seemed to explode. Eric glanced back to see Ariadne slump and then catch herself on the stairs. Behind her, Crowe frowned and shook his head.
“I have Mike,” Anubus growled. “I will put him in the closet for the moment.”
“Sounds good, we need to search the bridge, make sure that the threat is over.” Eric said. He frowned then. “Hey, this doesn’t count as mutiny, does it?”
* * *
Ariadne went straight to the navigation console. After a minute’s work, she looked up, “Krann programmed a shadow space jump back to Logan. I don’t know what she intended to do when we got there, but that was the course she had plotted.”
“Guys… you want to see this,” Rastar said from where he stood over Krann’s body.
Eric turned. He stared at the body with a puzzled expression. At first, he just saw green Chxor blood and bloody meat. Then he saw the spreading pool of purple slime that seemed to come from inside. Rastar rolled the body over with his riot guns, and the pool became a tide.
Eric gagged as he saw that most of the Chxor’s head and torso had become an empty cavity, and the lumpy purple ooze seemed to have replaced Krann’s internal organs… to include her brain, or whatever the Chxor equivalent. “What the fuck is this?”
“I have no idea,” Ariadne said. “We need Run up here.”
“I did not think that was normal,” Rastar said. “Normally when I kill Chxor they’re green on the inside. This kind of thing really isn’t right.” Eric saw the Ghornath go to the intercom, “Run, report to the bridge and bring your tools.”
Eric put a hand over his mouth, partially to contain anything that might spew out. “No one touch it, it could be contagious.” He looked up, “Maybe Krann had some kind of disease…”
“One that liquified her internal organs without any outward signs?” Anubus shook his big jackal head. “No. This is something else,” he growled. “Something wore her body like a suit… something psychic.”
“Something much stronger than me,” Ariadne said. “She— it, held Rastar even as it overpowered me and attacked Eric. That takes a serious kind of talent.”
Run hurried up the stairs. “Who is hurt? I have brought my tools, I will need someone to hold down my patients so they can not escape.”
“Krann is dead,” Eric said. “So we don’t need to hold her down. But we need you to tell us what the hell this shit is coming out of her.”
Run walked forward. He stared down at Krann’s corpse. Run immediately pulled his helmet out of his tool bag and sealed it. When he spoke, his voice came muffled, “I recommend we don environmental suits and remove the body from the ship.”
“You know what she is?” Ariadne asked.
“No,” Run said. “However, anything capable of maintaining a living host while replacing brain material is very dangerous. I will take samples, but unless anyone intends to purposely seek infection, I would recommend touching the remains as suboptimal.”
“How do we get it off the bridge?” Eric asked. He gestured at the broad puddle of purple slime. He thought he saw chunks, perhaps organs or something else, within the slime. “For that matter, Rastar’s shots splattered a lot of it across the bulkheads.”
“I will perform complete decontamination,” Run said. “I do not trust humans to be as thorough as you should to remove contagions. This will require approximately twelve hours.”
“We need access to the ship’s systems,” Ariadne said. “And for that matter, this thing only affected a Chxor, so aren’t you at the greatest risk?”
“This is true,” Run moved well back. “I will supervise removal. I require ten personnel—”
Eric rubbed at his face. “Alright, so one threat solved to leave us with, well, whatever the heck this is.” He looked over at Ariadne, “Can you see what that bitch did to Mike?”
Ariadne looked down, “I can, but I’m not very good with this sort of thing. Even if I can figure out what she did, I’m not sure I can undo it, not without doing some damage.” She looked tired and worried, and almost as if she’d aged ten years in the past few minutes. This whole psychic battle thing really took it out of her, Eric realized.
“We need to see the extent of his damage,” Anubus growled. “If he will be permanently damaged from what Krann did, we should kill him.”
“Hey man, I think that might be harsh,” Rastar said. “But we do need to know how bad she messed with Mike. If only to determine if we need to select a new Captain.”
“Because that went just swell before,” Crowe said.
Ariadne gave a sigh, “Rastar, I’ll need you to hold him still.”
“Not me?” Anubus growled, but Eric thought he heard a note of humor in the Wrethe’s voice.
“He’ll fight,” Ariadne said. “I can feel that from here. I don’t trust you not to lose your temper and… hurt him.”
“Ripping his arms off would probably hurt,” Anubus nodded. “I’ll get the hatch. Rastar, you grab him.”
Eric saw Crowe signal him to watch Ariadne, but Eric shook his head. The other man’s suspicions seemed too far-fetched now, after what they had discovered about Krann. Something had replaced the Chxor’s insides. Who knew what capabilities a creature like that might have?
Anubus activated the closet hatch and Mike leapt out with a shout. He had a knife in hand, though Eric had no idea where it had come from. Rastar stepped forward into the attack and swept the man up in a four-armed bear hug. Mike struggled, but he almost disappeared in Rastar’s arms.
Rastar turned to face Ariadne, “Alright, Aria
dne.” Eric saw that Mike’s knife had stuck in Rastar’s side, but the Ghornath didn’t seem to react to the wound.
“Let go of me, you traitor!” Mike shouted. “I’m the Captain! You all betrayed me!”
Eric shook his head at those words. Yet even as he did, Crowe’s warning came back to mind.
Ariadne walked forward and rested her hands on either side of Mike’s head. “Shhhh, it’ll be alright Mike, just let me see what that bitch did to you.”
“She didn’t do anything!” Mike shouted. “She warned me before Anubus led this mutiny,” Mike growled. “What did he offer you to betray me, Ariadne? Did…” Mike’s voice trailed off.
Ariadne closed her eyes, and Eric watched with unease as Mike’s eyes rolled back in his head. After a long moment, Ariadne spoke, “I found it, she’s put a series of suggestions in his head. The main one is that Anubus allied with this other Wrethe and that they turned the rest of us to seize the ship. She played off his fears and doubts…” Ariadne opened her eyes, “I’m not sure I can undo all of it.”
“Clever plan,” Anubus growled. “Make it seem we betrayed him. I’ll have to remember that.”
Eric chewed at his lip, “What if we leave him be, will it fade?”
“I don’t know,” Ariadne said. “He’s firmly tied everything that happened in with what Krann, or whatever pretended to be Krann, planted in his mind. He might pull himself out, but he might not.”
Eric looked at the others. No matter what, he could not see a right answer. Worse, the one person in charge, the person Mike had selected, seemed unable to make a decision about what to do. For that matter, everything Ariadne had said sounded far too close to what Crowe had suggested. Could they be the ones who had their minds messed with? What if Mike lay in the right, what if Anubus had made his bid for control, and somehow turned Ariadne?
“Guys, we can’t leave him like this,” Rastar said. “What happens if you try to undo what she did?”
“I don’t know,” Ariadne said, her voice nervous. “I’ve… had bad things happen before when I tried to modify memories in someone. It could unbalance him or even shatter his mind.”
