by Yang, Hao
Second scenario, something went onboard Achilles and it is intelligent. This will be something like close encounters of the third kind. How fucked up is that!
The door at the end of the corridor slides open and I lumber into another corridor. Not far away, Lisa is checking the robot janitor. She throws me a cold glance and goes back to her work.
“How is everything going?” I say as I stand next to her.
“It’s going, but I don’t know where it’s going.” Her voice is cold.
“What do you mean?”
“Look like you are sick and you still don’t want others to share your burden.”
“I’m fine. It’s just head pain. In the past seven days, you notice anything...weird?” That is the best word I can find.
“Weird? What do you mean?”
“You know like something strange, something unusual.” I am hesitating whether to tell her or not.
“Nothing. Just daily stuff.”
“Roy kept you guys busy?” I am joking.
“You should give the access code to him.” Lisa says with her very man voice.
I don’t know why she suddenly said that, but I can tell from her face that she is serious.
“I will think about it.”
I walk away and somehow go back into the kitchen. I pull a chair, sit next to the oval table and rest my head on it.
Let’s prepare for the worst scenario. Something intelligent is onboard Achilles. It is probably not friendly. It took the blackbox, because it did something that it doesn’t want anyone to know, something not good. What is it? What is it?!
I don’t know.
When did it come aboard?
I don’t know.
Where is it?
Hiding somewhere in the ship.
What form is it taking?
It can be anything even one of my crew.
Speaking of my crew, I haven’t seen all of them since I woke up.
But killing my crew and me doesn’t need seven days. I am still human.
Maybe this intelligent thing just wants a lift to Mars. I guess it is too shy to ask us directly.
I sigh and press my head harder and harder against the table, wishing the pain from the outside can kill the pain from inside. Suddenly I smell something. It is such a familiar smell. I sniff around and it comes from under the table.
I take a deep breath. It is the dish cleaner, but why?
I go under the table and locate the exact spot where the smell comes from. It looks like some stain. I take out my flashlight and shine some light on it.
A faded red hand mark with only four fingers and they are way too long for human fingers.
Another round of goose bumps.
The red is blood and someone was trying to wipe it off with dish cleaner. It happened very recently. If not, the smell would be long gone.
That alien, if there is just one, was bleeding and it tried to remove its trace. Or it killed at least one of my crew and tried to cover it.
Think.
First, how do I find out which one is alien?
Check DNA. There are DNA analyzers in medical bay. They look like credit cards and can perform DNA analysis in less than 10 seconds. I do need to figure out a way to let my crew breath in front of it.
Alright. This is priority number one. Before checking their DNA, I can’t trust any of my crew. It could be one of them.
I let out a long sigh. So much surprise for one day and now I am hungry. I take out a quick dinner and press the button on the box. It is hot and steamy in 30 seconds. I enjoy it very much. It is one of the best meals in my life.
Since this alien thing didn’t kill me when I was in coma, it probably doesn’t plan to kill me right away. I guess I still have some time on hand.
Tired and sleepy, I head to my cabin. When I walk past Lily and Lisa’s cabin, I stop and go inside. Lisa is still doing her job, so the cabin is empty. There are two bunker beds stacking along one side of the wall. On the other side, there are one table and two chairs. Lily’s bed is the bottom one. I lay down on her bed
It is so comfy except something pointy is pressing under my right shoulder. I reach over behind my right shoulder and touch on that pointy thing. It feels like a screw and it is big. I sit up and pull off the sheet. There it is. A big screw, the size of my index finger.
“Oh, Lily, I didn’t know you like to sleep with this as well.” I put the screw in my chest pocket.
My head is still hurting, but the leftover scent from Lily’s body calm me down quickly and lead me to dream.
The next day when I open my eyes, it is 10 AM. This is way too late. I am surprised Lisa didn’t wake me up when she saw me. However, I still need my breakfast.
When I get into the kitchen, I see all my crew sitting at the oval table.
“Commander, we have been waiting for you. Come on!” Bertha says happily and waves at me.
I am kind of moved, but I still remember the conclusion I drew last night. Can’t trust any of them!
I squeeze out a reluctant smile and don’t know what to say. My breakfast is waiting at my usual place. For breakfast, we eat what is called synthetic bread that resembles the look and texture of bread but has all vitamins and calories you need before lunch.
“Thank you. That is very nice of all of you. I hope you guys didn’t just wait for me for the past three hours.”
“Not me, I still work on the communication problem,” says Jim.
“So the antenna is working now?” I ask.
“It still needs more work.” Charle says quickly and goes back to his breakfast.
“Like what?”
“Bad shape.” Lisa adds.
“You know we have a backup antenna, right?” I say.
“We have some problem on that one as well.” Jim sighs.
“Do you mind me taking a look?” I am looking at Jim.
“That won’t be necessary. I will take care of it.”
I nod at him and take a bite of the bread in front of me. It tastes like a piece of aluminum covered in corn oil. I cover my mouth with both hands so that I won’t throw it up. After several seconds, I finally swallow it, the metallic taste still lingering in my mouth.
Just at this moment, Dr. Akio hands me a cup of water and I quickly empty it, splattering water over myself.
“Excuse me.”
“It’s OK. After brain trauma, things taste differently,” says Dr. Akio with a tone of an expert.
“So you know it tastes like shit.” I say grudgingly.
“Not like shit.” Dr. Akio says seriously as if he knows what shit tastes like.
I drop the fork, stand up and go to the fridge. There I find the quick dinner, the same one I had last night.
“I need to try something different this morning. You guys wouldn’t mind, right?” I press the button on the box before anyone can utter a word.
Once it’s ready, I carefully try a bite. It tastes just like the bread and my face gives me away immediately.
“Told you.” Dr. Akio shows everyone his signature successful smile, the corners of his mouth going up so high that the upper lip is being pulled apart.
“Thank you.”
How come? Last night it was delicious, but now it is like shit.
“Commander, I have a proposition.” says Roy, his beard gone. I just notice that.
“Go ahead.” I am getting myself ready for an adult joke.
“Commander, based on the recent incident, I think you should give the mainframe access code to one of us,” says Roy with a serious face.
I am still waiting for the joke, but then I notice everyone look at me with the same serious face Roy just put on.
“Well, I, I can understand your concern. I will do that at the right moment.”
“May I ask when?” Roy asks politely.
I am waiting there, hoping someone can help me out of this.
“Commander?” Roy again. Now he is descending on me like a bear.
“Yes.”
“When do you plan to hand over the access code?”
Everyone is looking at me. That is stressful. This isn’t our table manner. We set the rule that we don’t talk about business at dinner.
“Commander, I know if Lily is here, you would give her the access code. Unfortunately she is not. We are all very sorry about what happened,” says Bud and continues with his steak.
“Thank you.” I simply don’t know what else to say.
“Commander, I hate to say this, based on your medical condition, you should give the access code to one of us.” Dr. Akio points his fork at himself.
I nod at Dr. Akio and give him an approval smile. Everyone else is showing their own confident look and I lower my head to avoid the gaze.
“Cowboy, what do you think?” I stare at my plate while saying that, hoping Lock can lend me some support.
Silence.
I raise my head and meet Lock’s gaze. He is wearing a steel face.
“You didn’t hear me?”
“Oh, sorry, I agree with Roy. You should give the code to any of us.”
Silence again.
Why everyone is so serious today? I am not dying for God’s sake.
“I see. OK. I promise I will do that sometime soon. Above all, I made the suggestion to change the setting of access code so that when it is necessary someone else can access it.”
Everyone is still waiting.
“But not right now.” I add.
Apparently they are not happy with such an ending, but they are kind enough to leave me alone and we finish the dinner in silence.
I leave the kitchen right after the dinner and go to check on Lily. She is still sleeping like a baby. I can look at her like this all day.
“Lily. Lily.”
No response.
“Lily, I wish you were at the table this morning. At least you will stand by my side. I understand their concern. It’s not personal. It’s a good idea, actually. I have this headache and who knows whether I will forget the code or not.” I let out a long sigh and look out of the window. The white hull is shining like silver with the red planet Mars behind. We are now seven months into the journey, halfway to Jupiter. Soon we are going to pass the asteroid belt.
Who is the alien?
How do I have my crew do the DNA test?
I think hard, but I don’t know. After a while, I decide to change the subject, so I turn my attention to the screw I found on Lily’s bed.
“What are you doing in her bed?” I murmur.
Fortunately for me, everything onboard Achilles, including screws, bolts and nuts, is logged into the inventory system, one of the greatest inventions of NASA. In the old days barcode was attached to each item. Now we just need to touch the item with a pen like equipment named Toucher.
I go to my cabin, find the Toucher and touch on the screw.
It reads, “Screw model: NSW1286231. Serial NO.: 33245988-1. Batch NO.: WER11NHKE. Expiration Date: Feb 2153. Location: Achilles Compartment Seven. Incinerator holder. Position C2.”
I know you are surprised. Yes, we do have an incinerator onboard. It is used for disposing of all types of waste, especially organic waste. I guess the designers are concerned that the future generations would hit on the shit we dump today, so they decided to burn them.
I make my way to compartment seven. It is as large as a master bedroom. Except the incinerator, there are two huge water tanks, one water recycle system, two washers and two drier. The incinerator is rather small. It can barely hold a grown man, if someone determines to get in. I look behind the incinerator and locate the holder. It is a piece of L shape steel attached to the hull.
“Now where is C2?”
There are six screw positions, the top two being A1 and A2 and the bottom two being C1 and C2.
Wait. There is something in that C2 hole. Something shining. I reach over and take it out.
It is the wedding ring!
Hundreds of questions flooding into my head all at once, my brain goes blank for several seconds. I shake it hard and now it is restarting.
First, who would leave it there?
Probably Lily.
Second, why there?
A clue for something?
I look hard into the screw hole using a flashlight. Maybe it is deep inside? I force my pinky finger deep into the hole inch by inch. It hurts. When the pain reaches my threshold, my finger touches something. It is like a needle lying inside the hole. I get a splinter forceps, grasp the needle and drag it out slowly.
It is a short needle, the flash drive for our watch. Lily likes to use her watch to record messages.
“Lily, you are a genius.” I sigh happily.
Holding the flash drive, I suddenly become hesitated. On one hand, I can’t wait to see what is on the flash drive. On the other hand, I have a bad feeling and I want to postpone it as late as I can.
“You have to see the content one way or another. Besides, Lily wants me to see it. OK. OK.”
Finally, I insert the flash drive into my watch and here comes her voice.
“Jason, I don’t have much time. An alien ship docked with Achilles six days ago. Aliens came aboard before their ship disintegrated. After learning we couldn’t help them, they started to kill us and assimilate us. I don’t know how many of us have been killed. Don’t trust anyone. It seems they have to occupy the body in order to copy it. They won’t get my body. I am sorry I can’t be with you. I love you. Listen they need…”
That is all.
I am somehow not so surprised that there are aliens. What I have seen in the past two days prepared me for this. However...
“They won’t get my body.”
What does she mean?
Then the body in the medical bay?
If those aliens stopped her and assimilated her, why that alien just lies on the bed? That doesn’t make any sense.
If she stopped recording herself, then did what?
“They won’t get my body.”
How is she going to do that?
The incinerator!
A shockwave ripples through my body and I can’t help but start shaking.
We can use our watch to control most of equipment onboard and the incinerator is one of them. If she locked herself in it, she can still activate it.
It suddenly gets so cold here that I feel my lung freezes. I can’t breathe and collapse on the floor. I struggle to take several deep breaths and hold myself tight, shaking out of control.
After several minutes, I finally catch my breath.
“It can’t be. It can’t be. Her, her, her body is still in the medical bay.” I splatter.
There is still one more thing I can check.
I calm down, get up from the floor, move over to the control panel and check the incinerator operation log. We always use it once per day, but on 09/12/2055 there were two runs. One of them was activated by Lily.
“It can’t be. It can’t be.” I repeat it again and again, while pacing back and forth in the compartment.
It won’t hurt just to check. I know it is her. It must be her. OK?
OK! I sigh with no relief and head to medical bay.
I try to walk but I am running.
It’s OK. It’s OK.
It will be fine. It will be alright.
I know her and that is her.
I will just take a close look at her and that is it.
Not a big deal.
Take it easy.
You are the commander. Act like it.
Take it easy.
When I get there, I am soaked in sweat, out of breath. Holding on to the door, I peek around to make sure no one is in there. On my toes, I quietly tip to Lily, clasping my shaking hands. I stop at the bed, hold my breath and lean forward as much as possible, almost touching her face. Looking at her at such a close distance, I find her even more beautiful than usual. Her shining skin, her cute nose and her tasty lips are just the way they should be. I can’t hold my breath any longer, so I t
ake a deep breath to savor her scent.
Then it hits me like a stone dropping in a perfectly smooth lake.
Something from my memory starts to surface. I stand there still, letting it make its way up.
Her scent.
That is not her scent!
I shiver for several seconds, take a another deep breath and digest it.
No. This is not her scent.
How come?
Hold on. Hold on.
Let’s check one more thing.
Just be sure. Let’s check one more thing.
I yank off the sheet, unbutton her clothes and pull down her underwear.
The birthmark on her left breast?
Where is it?
I look so hard that my eyes hurt. It is not there.
“NOOOOO.” I scream and collapse on the floor.
This is not her!
Tears running out of control, I feel my heart breaking into pieces, each piece pulling me apart. Everything is covered in black veils. I try to stand up, but I can’t. I give up and just sit there, my brain blank. The headache is still there, but it doesn’t matter anymore.
She is dead.
She is dead.
After a long while, I don’t know how long, my brain starts to function again. I button up the clothes this thing is wearing and pull over the sheet. I make it look like nothing happened.
Just to double check, I take a DNA analyzer, from a nearby cabinet and run a test on her. It beeps and says, “Lily Huber, crew member of Achilles mission. DNA results match the record.”
How come? This is impossible!
While thinking about it, I hear light footstep coming at my direction. I turn off the DNA analyzer and stuff it in my pocket.
“Commander?” Akio asks.
“Yes.”
“I heard scream. Is that you?”
“Oh, yes, I was upset.”
“I see. I understand. Lily will be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I am a doctor,” Akio says with a confident smile, exposing his small teeth.
“Of course you are. One question, you maintain all the equipment in this medical area, right?”
“Yes.”
“And they are all working?”
“Yes. Every equipment, large or small, is working just fine. I guarantee you that.”
“Good to know. I better go back to work.”
I leave the medical bay. Now I know what I am going to do. If there is only one alien on board Achilles, I know who the alien is.
