S69Q_1

by Aline Riva

  "It won't win," he said, tapping the side of his head with his finger, "This thing in my mind, it keeps telling me to kill you and eat you but I'm not listening to it!"

  She looked back at him, still processing what he had just said. It was a constant battle for Jinx, between trying to find himself and giving in to the parasite inside his brain. Tears filled his eyes as he managed to smile all the same.

  "I may not remember this night, but you will. Don't ever forget I love you, Sin."

  He sat down on the bed and rubbed at the side of his head as the ache refused to lift.

  "Are you angry with me? I mean, for marrying you?"

  She sat beside him, looking into his eyes as she caught so much fear there it made her heart ache. She was still seeing the real Rik Jinx, the man held captive by the parasite inside his head that had urged him to kill and eat human flesh. That was how she had come to think of him, a captive of the creature.

  "If you don't want to be my wife, if I did the wrong thing, you've got a month to cancel the marriage, you don't have to -"

  Her kiss silenced him as she held him close, closing her eyes to try and keep her tears back as they stayed locked in an embrace, their kiss deepening as she drew him down to the bed. As they lay there she broke from the kiss first, and as a tear ran from her eye she knew it was too late to hold back on weeping – this probably was his last night alive, removing that creature from his head would most likely kill him and they both knew that...

  "I don't regret marrying you."

  She ran her hand over his hair, trying not to think about the monster inside his head as she looked into his eyes and saw love reflected there. Jinx was in a moment of clarity again, holding back the beast in a last desperate attempt to be the man he used to be, before it all ended tomorrow.

  "Will you still love me when you see me again, after you wake up with half your memory gone?"

  "I may not remember you clearly but I will know I love you and that we married," he replied, "I'll tell her to program the implant to keep all of us in there – just not what happened on Shyra-K1, and you must never remind me. I could lose my mind even without the parasite if memories like that came flooding back!"

  She nodded, knowing he was right – no one could recall a life lived in such horror and depravity for so long, without going crazy...

  Then Jinx held her gently, taking in every detail of her face as he feared for his life and the memories that would soon be erased as he wondered how much would remain – and if the insanity would linger.

  "If I make it through," he said,"If I'm not cured -"

  "But removing the parasite will stop the urges!"

  "No, Sin, hear me out – if it doesn't stop me, if I'm permanently insane, if I try and harm you or anyone else, I want you to kill me."

  He held her in his gaze, intensity burning in his autumn shaded eyes.

  "If I'm still insane, kill me," he repeated, "I need you to make me that promise."

  "I can't do that. I can treat your insanity -"

  "I'd kill you before you had chance to try!"

  Sin looked back at him defiantly.

  "I'm not killing you. I'm in this for the long run. I'm going to help you and when this is over, you'll be fine. Once the parasite is out and the memories have been wiped, you won't recall any of the bad stuff, Rik. You have to believe that."

  Jinx pulled her closer, ran his fingers through her hair and looked intently into her eyes as he started to smile. There was a strangeness about the gleam in his eyes, he was still smiling as something at the back of his mind glittered darkly.

  "I think it's trying to persuade me to cut your throat and drink your blood," he said as amusement crept into his voice, "I'm not sure why I like that idea... maybe I think it might be fun – or I'm laughing because the monster inside me has been found out..."

  As she looked back at him, the thought ran through her mind that she was about to spend the night with a man who would either hold her in his arms until morning or kill her while she slept. She cast aside all she knew that made rational sense and listened insisted to her head and her heart, studying his face and the look in his eyes as she asked herself how well she knew Jinx, and then the answer came to her.

  "You made it all the way to this planet to seek help and you don't have any blood on your hands yet. I think you can last until tomorrow."

  The intensity present in his eyes burned harder, like he was looking right through her but she didn't think about the maniac who had killed the others, she only thought on Ritchie Jinx the flier, the man who had found a moment of clarity to listen to her, to understand the truth about what had really taken hold of his mind, he was still there and very much fighting his way through the fog of insanity...

  "I didn't feel fear while I was surviving after the crash," he told her, "I felt nothing but elation once I realised the way forward was human flesh! It was like I was invincible, the others were invincible too – I even stopped worrying so deeply for Mack even though he was injured. It's like giving into the urges changed everything, it reset the world around me, it reset me."

  "That was the parasite," she reminded him, "It has to function with the host to use persuasion. It causes changes in the brain that seem logical even though they are insane. It ramps up sex drive, it makes the host feel invincible. It's smart. While you were believing everything that happened was down to you simply surviving and changing along the way, it was controlling everything – inside you, Mack and the others."

  He froze for a moment, a thought hitting him as he let go of her, eyes wide as his best friend crossed his mind.

  "Mack was wounded in the crash. He had surgery when we got back to earth. How come they didn't find the parasite?"

  She frowned.

  "I don't know. I'm not a surgeon, I don't know what his head injury was or what kind of surgery he had. Maybe at that time the parasite was too small to be detected. I mean, it couldn't have been the size it is now when it entered your bodies or you all would have known about it when it got inside your heads. Maybe it was microscopic to begin with, perhaps the soil on that planet is full of those things – billions of them, waiting for a live host. It must be very small to start with, to be able to get inside every living species on the planet and encourage each species to eat its own kind. Can the Professor analyse it once its taken out?"

  "She can slice it up and try and find something it reacts to – but I'm worried about us going back there, Sin. If there's no way to protect from infection I don't even want to warn them from the ground! I don't want to land there. This is why I want to stop the survey before they begin it, that's almost four months away... that's also how long I have to get treated, get over this and help the Professor research the parasite. She will want payment, but there's also a reward for red flag warnings about discovering alien threats to human life – I'll let her take the credit for it, she'll be gifted billions. I don't need the money, after Cora's father died he left everything to Cora and she gave it all to us – me and the rest of our group. I control the finances, I'm a wealthy man."

  “Then that's what we have to hope for,” Sin told him as they lay together, and she wanted to kiss him to silence him, but he was right that this could be his last night alive and so much needed to be said.

  “You'll be okay, even if I don't make it,” Jinx told her, “You'll have the ship and access to my wealth. I've laid out instructions in case I don't make it, all you have to do is access the main screen and run program Jinx – Legacy.”

  As they lay there and beyond the window the artificial dusk began to fade to night, she held him gently and smiled as she gave her reply.

  “And all this will most likely be a waste of time, because you're going to make it, Rik.”

  She smiled but he did not.

  “No. I think you'll be a widow this time tomorrow. At least you wont have time to regret marrying me.”

  She covered his mouth with a kiss that silenced him, then as his gaze stayed l
ocked on hers, Jinx reached down and opened his belt and tugged at his zip, as she opened up her flight suit and began to take it off. She got half way and he did the rest for her, then he took her in his arms, leaving their clothing in a heap on the floor next to the bed.

  “I'll try not to touch the zestion,” he whispered, “I don't want to put you at risk.”

  “No,” she told him as arousal coursed through her body and the ring suddenly felt heavier, “We don't know if that metal can be removed successfully. At least if this is my last time, my last orgasm will be with you.”

  He replied with a kiss and then took her with passion, making love to her with urgency, needing to satisfy both of them yet wanting to hold back, to make it last as the ring of alien metal gleamed between her open legs, the sight of it set into swollen flesh was enough to push him over the edge, but he waited, holding back until she could hold back no more, then as he moved against her and slid his hand downwards, over the cold, heavy ring and started to roughly stimulate her, Sin could take no more. She screamed and cried out as her whole body was taken over by the pleasure that was too much to take, she was gasping and weak and slumped to the bed as he thrust against her one last time, his own pleasure spent in a flood of bliss that shattered the world around him and left them both sweating, breathless and locked in an embrace that would last until morning.

  Morning seemed to come around too soon, Sin was woken by a kiss and Jinx was standing over her. As he looked down at her, whilst still waking, she blinked rapidly to try and brush off the veil of tiredness that lingered as she looked up, wondering what look she would see in his eyes – one of love or one of murder...Instead she saw a flicker of nervousness in his eyes. He was standing there in his black clothing, his jeans hugging slender hips, his leather boots catching the sunlight off their polished surface as the artificial light shone through the window, his dark shirt was buttoned halfway, his hair was neatly combed and the look on his face said he was resigned to his fate now.

  “Get dressed, Sin,” he said quietly, “Can't wait any longer, time's up. We need to go and see Professor Neve.”

  Chapter 2

  The Professor's place was at the end of the street, around a corner where beyond, the artificial sky glowed with an artificial rising sun coloured deep yellow as its rays shone over the rough and grimy streets below. Where the buildings tapered off, the fields stretched on towards dark woods that seemed plunged in gloom despite the light overhead.

  Jinx paused for a moment, standing beside a low wall at the edge of the street, looking across the field, his slender frame in shadow as the sun rose lazily. He turned his head as sadness shaded his hazel eyes.

  “I would really hate to die here, in an artificial world below ground. It looks so real, the sky and sunlight – but it's all fake. It makes me feel buried alive.”

  Sin took hold of his hand, then for a moment they stood together, watching as the sunlight covered the underground world.

  “We should go,” Jinx told her, then they turned away from the field and walked back towards the unremarkable house that stood at the end of a terraced row, it was larger than the rest but still in the same distinctive design of early twentieth century earth. White nets hung thick and starched stiff at the windows, and when he went up to the front door and rang the bell, Sin looked at him and saw that same calm, determined expression on his face. His eyes reflected fear, she could see it if she looked long enough, but he was determined to see this through – whatever suggestions the parasite was making in his mind, he was fighting it and the creature, weakened by his resistance to its cravings, was losing the fight.

  The door opened and a woman with long dark hair tied back stood there in a lab coat and smiled, faint lines showed on her face as her dark eyes sparkled as she smiled.

  “Captain Jinx!” she said warmly as she opened up the door to invite them inside, “What is it this time? Putting some work my way or did you want more of that liquid stamina compound I sold you last time? Is it gone already? How much sexual stimulant can one man take?” she laughed as she glanced at Sin, “If he's been keeping you up all night on that I'm surprised you can stand, let alone walk!”

  “Actually I'm in trouble,” Jinx told her, “I need your help, Mari. I'll die if you can't help me.”

  Her expression changed at once as she felt stunned to see Rik Jinx looking afraid. He had never struck her as the kind of man to fear anything.

  “Come with me,” she told him, “And tell me exactly what's wrong.”

  Jinx talked at length about the parasite. He talked of the crash and the urges and the insanity, as Sin looked on horrified as she imagined Professor Mari Neve running from the room in horror, alerting the authorities – then as Mari left the room and Jinx caught the worried look in her eyes, he spoke in a low voice, cancelling out her fears.

  “She knows it's alien, that it's a threat. There's a reward for protecting humanity against hostile non human life forms. I mentioned a generous bonus for her help. She knows the score, she can see this through and buy a ship as big as mine and do what ever she pleases for the rest of her days.”

  “But what if she backs out?”

  Something dark and horribly familiar flickered in his gaze.

  “If she did that I'd have to kill her,” he replied, “But I still need this thing taken out of my head, so let's hope she doesn't make the wrong choice.”

  When Neve had returned, they had talked some more – she had asked him more about the parasite and then said treatment options would depend on where in the brain it was situated and how it was attached. Then as she added she was glad he had come to her, knowing she would want to claim the reward for identifying a hostile life form, Sin had breathed a relived sigh.

  “With a bonus in there for you too Jinx,” she added, “Assuming you live through me taking this thing out of you – I won't be able to destroy it chemically because it would destroy surrounding tissue. Also of course my reward money is gone. No one counts liquefied goo mixed with liquefied human brain cells as a threat to human life.”

  “I'm guessing it will have to be cut out,” he replied, “I'm not under any illusions about the risk. And I want to be given a shot of Paromycin – assuming I live – I want to lose at least fifteen to twenty years of memory. Give me a selective memory itemisation implant. I'll give a you a list of what needs to go on it."

  She had been listening to Jinx whilst accessing a disc with information on known parasites, and she looked up from the screen as she replied.

  "I've found fourteen known parasites that can attach to human tissue – none of them live in brain tissue. Thirteen burrow under the skin and are easily destroyed with antibiotics and the fourteenth is a worm that lives in the gut and there's meds to expel it and all the other worms it has spawned whilst inside and with the right meds it will expel and the host will think they've shit spaghetti - but there's nothing here like what you've described. Removing it will be difficult and it could be impossible to implant a memory boosting chip into traumatised brain tissue – again, it depends where the creature is located. I need to scan you and take a look at that thing."

  A short while later, Jinx was on a table as a glow above him was dim and painless as a screen illuminated on equipment nearby and Neve took a first look at the squirming, worm-like creature inside his head. Sin sat on a seat on the other side of the room, trying to hide her fears for Jinx as he lay there, still talking to Neve.

  "What do you think?" he asked her, "I'm hoping you've never seen anything like it before because the reward money is a huge incentive to treat me – but I'm also hoping you'll say it's easy to remove. Maybe there's something you can flush through that won't damage tissue...I'm thinking a tiny hole in my head and carefully extract it, I might have a small scar but it won't show...no brain damage...I mean, it got in there without causing physical harm, I saw it on the monitor back on the ship, it just sort of sits in there, fits to the tissue -"

  "Jinx..."

  "
Either you're judging me on everything I've done whilst under its influence or you have some bad news, which is it, Neve?"

  She was still looking at the image on the monitor, watching as the long, thing creature shone silver and squirmed.

  "It's deep in brain tissue. I'm guessing it was microscopic when it went in and its grown since, but due to its shape and size you haven't noticed any effect – except for the chemical reactions that prompt the cannibal urges. It would have massively increased sex drive, sense of reason, prompted you to kill without remorse. It seems agitated, what did you do to affect it?"

  "I stopped eating."

  She looked from the monitor.

  "Stopped eating everything? You starved yourself?"

  "I stopped eating human flesh. I'm craving it now, but as long as I don't give in I can push the thoughts away."

  "It's not just agitated, Jinx. It's attached to brain tissue and it's starting to squeeze, basically taking a chunk out of you because you won't feed it. If this goes on, it will bite down and kill you instantly. You'll be dead in a matter of days unless I take it out."

  She turned off the scanner and Jinx got up from the table. As he stood up again Sin got up and went over to Join him, her heart was hammering as she tried not to think about how bad this could get. She had not wanted her theory to be right, but now it seemed the news regarding the parasite was getting worse – this was something he might not get through, not with the parasite so deeply embedded.

  "What are my chances?" he asked.

  Neve paused for thought.

  "I'll have to open your head up and use a laser to cut through brain tissue, the entire creature will have to be exposed and then I have to detach it and hope for minimal damage. You will have bleeding, it's just a question of how much and trying to avoid potentially lethal incisions and disastrous bleeds. If I can get the creature out, assuming you make it through the procedure, all I can do then is close you up and put you on life support and hope you wake again. You could be deeply unconscious for a long time."