by E M Gale
‘Of course, not helping him destroyed him as well. Would I have done that if I had known in advance that it would mean his death?’
‘I came across his violent side before. What could I do when he was trying to kill me except defend myself? Maybe I didn’t need to defend the captain. Maybe I could have been a bit slower. He could have killed the captain, but… I didn’t let him do, that did I? I dragged him away, threw him away, to save the bloody captain, and that was what let the marines stake him. And I couldn’t stop them from killing him because of bloody Brannigan.’
I was shaking my head from side to side.
‘If only I could have reasoned with him better, I could have guarded him. I could have gotten the captain to land the ship and kick him off on Excelsis. Or if I let him kill the captain, what would have happened then? Or if I helped him, he would still be alive, but… what about the other people on this ship?’
The captain walked across the room and stood over me. I raised my head and he slapped me across the face. I stopped crying and stared at him in absolute shock.
“You are not responsible for other people’s actions,” he said.
“Don’t you dare slap me ever again,” I said very quietly. I suspected that the major and Cleckley would have had trouble hearing that.
The captain smiled briefly and stepped back to his chair. The stake-launcher was now on the table next to the bed, its tip pointing harmlessly at a corner of the room. I glared at him for good measure and shook my head.
Cleckley cleared his throat. “Now we’ve all calmed down, I’ll carry on, shall I?” No one said anything and he started cleaning the captain’s wound again.
The captain was watching me.
‘I guess I had better find out what sort of monster I saved over Jon.’
“So, are you going to tell me what this ship is up to and why the fuck the UESF slaughtered an entire village of innocents?”
The captain took in a deep slow breath. “Might as well. Hemmingway? Brief her.”
The major frowned at the captain. “They were… infected with a disease.”
I waited.
“The disease was werewolfism.”
‘What? Werewolves?’
‘Is this what I’m supposed to pretend I know about?’
“Yes, I know that.” My lie rang as false as a broken bell, to my ears at least.
“You knew?” said the major.
“I’m not surprised,” said the captain, eyeing me like an opponent in chess. “But when were you planning on letting us in on that fact?”
‘Hmmmm…’
“Well…”
‘Someone moved my garlic trap, someone who worked on the bridge.’
‘Jon managed to miss the bloody captain’s heart.’
‘And the hairy bastard’s always smelt a bit funny…’
“I guess–”
I threw myself across the bed, moving with full vampiric speed to grab for the crossbow. The captain dived out of the chair, his hand brushing my wrist as I got the crossbow–
‘Fast reflexes.’
–and pointed it at the captain’s face.
‘Far faster than a normal human’s, not as fast as a vampire.’
He froze.
‘So he’s not another Founder. Anyway, Price would have noticed.’
The captain drew himself up straighter. His chest was now the target.
‘If I’d had one of these hateful things I could have shot Jon, paralyzed him, got them to land the ship and he’d still be alive.’
The captain smiled. “So I was right to get you to swear.”
‘Maybe I could have reasoned with him, got him to calm down, change his mind.’
“You can’t kill me. You swore not to mutiny.”
I looked at the crossbow.
‘Kill him? Do I want to kill the captain?’
“Technically, she can,” said Cleckley helpfully. “You’ve both been relieved of duty, so you’re not in command. Therefore it wouldn’t be mutiny.”
Hemmingway was eyeing Cleckley. The captain looked horrified.
“If you’d just come down to med bay in the first place and made my job easier, that wouldn’t have happened.”
‘No, I need to know what’s going on here.’
I put the safety on the crossbow and tucked it into the back of my combats.
“Why don’t you tell me why you’re hunting down members of your subspecies, Mr. Werewolf?”
The captain paled.
“No, you can’t be!” said Hemingway, taking a step back.
The captain was staring at me and grinding his teeth.
“Is she telling the truth?”
I frowned at him. ‘Of course, I always do, Hemmingway.’
“Oh, now that is interesting,” muttered Cleckley.
“You’ve said quite enough,” said the captain to Cleckley. The captain glanced at the major. “Hemmingway, I volunteered for a top-secret experiment–”
“That was bloody stupid,” I said.
The captain glared at me. “–I did it for my country, my species–”
I shook my head.
“–and I consider myself a human first and a werewolf second.”
“Huh,” said the major.
“Well, Hemmingway, can you still serve under me?”
The major glanced at me and then said, “Of course.” He looked confused.
“And you, Doctor?”
Cleckley shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me,” he said with a wondering look on his face.
The captain eyed me warily. “So how did you know, Clarke?”
I shrugged.
He frowned.
“So,” I started, “if the UESF is happy for you to still serve”–here the major glanced at the captain–“why are we hunting down the other werewolves and why were Jon’s family slaughtered?”
“The disease has different forms,” said the captain.
Cleckley frowned in confusion.
“My condition is not contagious, but there was an accident and that village was infected with a highly contagious form.” The captain looked at me then. “My orders were to neutralise everyone in that village. Everyone. Him as well, once he said he was from there.”
“But he wasn’t living there, he was off-planet!”
“Do you know that, Clarke? He never went to visit?”
I stared. “He was a vampire,” I said in a small voice. “Not a werewolf.”
“I could not risk the whole of humanity. And he killed one of my crew. You think I’d just let him walk out of there?”
I studied the floor.
“Well, I know you could have taken the ship, Clarke,” said the captain.
I shrugged, still not lifting my head.
“And you fought the vampire I know was your lover–”
‘How the fuck does he know about that?’
“–so thank you. I guess–”
“No, don’t guess, don’t talk anymore. I’ve heard all I need to hear. Get out.”
The captain frowned, but left, followed by the major.
Cleckley paused at the door. “I’m sorry, Clarke,” he said, just before he closed it.
The End
