S69Q_1

by Aline Riva

  “Adapt and survive!” hissed the maniac Jinx, then the image vanished.

  Jinx could barely stand as he trembled and his now empty stomach turned over again. He clung to a rail set along the wall, gasping for air as his heart raced. He could not block out the horror if he tried now he had learned the truth...

  By the time he emerged from the ship he was still pale and shaken, tears streaked his face and there was a haunted look in his eyes, he half staggered to meet Sin and Neve, then as they looked at him in alarm, all he could manage to do was whisper as shock temporarily stole away his voice:

  “You never told me I used to be a monster...”

  Chapter 6

  As Jinx stood there pale and shocked, Neve and Sin looked back at him, they exchanged a glance and then Sin spoke first.

  “Rik...how the hell could you know any of this?”

  “Because I just accessed ship records. I found recordings of me talking about crashing here, talking about how we all went insane!” His voice was returning now, cracked with emotion as tears filled his eyes.

  “Where's Mack?”

  Sin looked at Neve.

  “Where is he? Where's my best friend?” Jinx yelled as tears spilled down his face.

  “I'll tell him -”

  “Sin, he wanted to forget! Look at him, he's in a mess!”

  “Tell me the fucking truth!” Jinx yelled.

  Neve had no more chances to object as Sin stepped closer to Jinx, unafraid of the wild, brink of insanity expression in his eyes as she silently concluded she had already seen the worst of him, when he had been manipulated by the parasite. This wasn't crazy Jinx. This was Jinx without the madness, devastated at a terrible truth...

  “Cora's father was a wealthy man. He thanked you for saving her by giving you a private planet. You built a home there. You named it after the urban legend of the lost space crew who went insane. When Mack recovered you took him home. He's still there, on your private world, with Jody and Zeke. Mack is back at Shyra-K1.”

  A recollection of the urban myth came to mind, then a misty, vague memory of a mansion house in rolling countryside on a planet with skies that were not quite like earth. Confusion swirled about his mind.

  “They're all infected? Why would I leave them there?”

  “Because you wanted to cure yourself of the parasite and stop the research team from taking the infection back to earth. You realised the parasite had been manipulating you, that's when you fought against it. You travelled across the galaxy to have it removed. You won, Rik. And you're not to blame for anything you did while that thing was inside your head!”

  His eyes were wide and his face was drained and pale as utter shock registered once more in his eyes.

  “But what about Mack and the others?”

  Neve looked away. Sin shook her head.

  “I don't know, Rik. Only you can decide what to do about them. They're more or less stuck where they are for now because you have the only ship. But they have communications that can reach deep space, they can get a ride if they really need one. They need to be stopped.”

  Thoughts of what to do about the others briefly raced through his troubled mind as he grasped at the only hope he had left to save them.

  “We'll deal with the situation here then go back to Shyra-K1, I think they will be hostile when I tell them about the parasite, they'll think I've turned against them – they may not believe me at all. But if I can take them in alive, there's a chance for all of them to make it if you can treat them like you did me, Neve. And wipe their memories of everything that happened after the crash, then they can start again.”

  “Jinx, you were lucky to survive. They still have the parasites inside their heads and they are feeding them every day. I doubt if they will stand a chance of surviving its removal by the time we get to them.”

  “Not we,” Jinx replied, sounding determined now his mind was made up, “Just me. When we go back to Shyra-K1, I'm going in alone. It's too dangerous for either of you to go out there. This is my problem and I'll handle it.”

  Sin felt a flicker of alarm at the thought of Jinx confronting Mack and the others, still with half his memories gone.

  “But you don't remember, Rik! You used to lead these people!

  “Then maybe I can lead them out of this nightmare!”

  “Or maybe they'll see you as the enemy and kill you! I know what you used to be like! You've forgotten how that parasite takes hold of the mind! People change, they stop being who you used to know!”

  So many of his memories were still absent.

  “I'll take that chance,” Jinx replied, then he turned towards the dusty, cracked road that led to greener pastures where the dark treeline in the distance beckoned.

  “The ship should be over this way, we have to find those researchers.”

  Then he walked off, taking the lead as Sin and Neve followed, both worried but saying nothing because it was clear when Jinx had made up his mind, there was no talking him out of his choice, even if it seemed like a suicide mission...

  As they walked under the heat of a bright, high sun, sand blew in to scatter along the barren ground, carried from a distant desert wind. The sand stopped where the shrubbery began, catching at the base of bushes and thick stalks of grass clumped together, slipping down cracks in the earth until moisture thwarted its efforts and the ground became softer and greener. The forest was looming closer now. A way through the trees was visible, a narrow opening that led to a clearing where sunlight escaped in, and through that clearing was something vast and white, its metallic shell catching sunlight. Jinx paused for a moment, the image stirring the memory of another ship on this planet...

  “We found dead bodies...” he murmured, his sights set on the clearing, “And then we were captured by an alien tribe...”

  “What?” said Sin, her eyes clouding with utter confusion, “There's no life here apart from the parasites, they scanned for it before sending the team in! It's protocol, everyone knows that! This planet is uninhabited.”

  Jinx turned from the forest and looked back at her.

  “Then maybe it was some kind of memory that messed up in my head...too much screwing around with taking things out and implanting other stuff... Or maybe it was Mack's dream... maybe Mack dreamed it all and told me about it, that's how I remember being there...”

  “You couldn't have been in someone else's dream,” Sin reminded him, “That's not possible.”

  “Mack dreamed it but I remember it,” Jinx replied, “There was an alien tribe - cannibals... they slaughtered a crew that came here before us -”

  “No one has ever been here apart from your crew who crashed,” Neve added, “This research team are the first to ever arrive here as a planned expedition.”

  “But it happened before,” Jinx insisted, “I remember...”

  He took a couple of paces forward as shards of recollections flew about in pieces in his mind but refused to come together, then he ran his fingers through his hair as the wind ruffled it and he felt that heavy scar that ran across his head and wondered if maybe the surgery had messed up his whole concept of the past before the memory wipe had ever come into play. He looked back at the others.

  “We got captured by an alien tribe. But they were robots! They were put there by the mining company to deter colonies from settling here -”

  “There's no mining on this planet!” Sin exclaimed, “It's deserted!”

  Jinx shook his head.

  “No. I'm telling you,” he pointed towards the trees, “The researchers are all dead. The tribe killed them. We will run into them and they'll imprison us and the women will use me like a sex toy and if you don't join in, they'll kill you too!”

  Neve and Sin exchanged a glance. Neve was lost for words and Sin was sure she only found a reply because of her background in psychology.

  “Rik, listen to me. No robot alien tribe is going to make people sex slaves if they want to scare visitors away! If they tried that, it w
ould be a holiday camp for kinky people by now!”

  Neve laughed and Jinx glared at her.

  “Sorry,” Sin added, “But what you just said IS crazy, as in, it makes no sense at all. There is no mining here. There are no robots. This was Mack's dream?”

  “I remember it. We didn't get out in time, they sent the nukes in and we both... died here?” Jinx stopped right there, realising she was right, this made no sense at all.

  “Mack must have had a crazy dream and told you about it,” Sin explained, “I mean, you couldn't have been there with him inside his dream living his experience, that's not possible. Unless of course it was your dream.”

  He stared at her. Then he looked back at the forest where the hull of the ship caught sunlight gleaming off its white shell. Then he turned back again.

  “These memories must have come from somewhere.”

  “You've had major surgery, you were in a coma. You had memories wiped out and an implant put in your head to save the rest of your memories, the ones you wanted to keep. You've been through a lot, Rik,” Sin told him, “I'm not surprised things don't make sense right now. It was a shock recalling being part of the crew of the Pharaoh. That must have had a heavy impact. Now please, trust me as a psychologist – you didn't live through Mack's experience in his dream. He told you about it and something in your memory got stirred up, it's come out the wrong way because of everything you've been through. This planet is uninhabited. The only threat is from the soil and we are immune to that threat. We are here to warn the researchers and then we are leaving. Please, stay in this moment, don't wander off into confusion.”

  “I'm not bloody confused!” he said angrily.

  “There are no robots.” Sin repeated, “And this planet had never been used for mining.”

  “What did you think they mined here?” asked Neve.

  Sin gave a sigh.

  “Don't feed his delusion.”

  “I'm not delusional!” Jinx said angrily, “Gold, they mined gold here.”

  Sin shook her head.

  “There are no gold mines on this planet.”

  His anger was fading out now as he tried to make sense of the mess of confusion inside his mind.

  “It seems so real! I remember every moment.”

  “Mack most likely had a nightmare and told you every detail. Coming here has sparked off a fragment of the memory and it's got confused and turned into something else because your mind doesn't know how to process it,” Sin told him. Then she stepped closer, the breeze shifted her fair hair, the sun making it look like spun gold and in that moment she reminded him of Cora, then the moment was gone.

  “Didn't you say Mack was in a coma for a while after the crash?”

  “He was drifting in and out of consciousness, had a bad head injury and needed surgery when we got back to earth. He was unconscious for a long time.”

  “Because he was poisoned by the gold?”

  Jinx stared at Sin.

  “What?”

  “You said something about alien metal being dangerous.”

  “Alien robots!”

  “So what happened with the gold?”

  Jinx was still staring at her.

  “Haven't you listened to anything I just said?”

  Sin glanced at Neve, who shrugged and looked away.

  “Sin?”

  She turned back to Jinx.

  “It's all confusing. I'm confused. Let's just forget about Mack's nightmare, shall we?”

  “That makes sense, “ Jinx replied, “There's no point trying to explain – I know how I feel about it, I know what I believe I remember. Now I just want to find the research team. Stay behind me and let me do the talking. We need to speak with them and assess this situation. I think I'll know if any of them are showing signs of being infected, I should do because it happened to me. Now I'm wishing I remembered more because I don't want to make a mistake with this.”

  He started to walk towards the forest. As Sin and Neve walked behind him, Sin drew out her gun and switched it on. Neve did the same, handling the small blaster awkwardly.

  “Don't worry, it's set to stun,” Sin told her, “Jinx taught me that – if you don't know about guns, don't have them on kill mode in case you shoot yourself by mistake.”

  “Thanks for putting that worry in my mind,” Neve replied nervously.

  “You're welcome,” Sin told her, worry now creeping into her own thoughts as Jinx went into the woodland and headed for the clearing and she followed, clutching the gun tightly as she looked about, ready for sudden movements in the gloom.

  As he led the way into the clearing, the sight of the white vessel with steps leading to a wide open doorway made him feel sick all over again. He recalled a bloody pit of body parts, blood running along the ground from freshly slaughtered prey – there was no sign of it now. Perhaps there never had been, maybe Mack had told him about that when describing his dream... But it all seemed so vivid to his confused mind.

  He looked about again, the trees were still and only the sound of the wind passing through now changing direction and heading for the rocky wasteland cut through the silence as leaves briefly shuddered. No birds sang, no other life was present...

  Had it been like this before? The remains of memories seemed caught between part faded out and part shattered and all mixed together, making no sense. But Sin had made no sense when she had said about Mack being poisoned by alien metal. Sin had been in danger from the alien body piercing. Mack had never come into contact with gold on this planet, that was down in the mines... but apparently there had never been mining on this planet... He shook his head, wishing it could be as simple to re arrange his thoughts into some kind of order that made sense, at least to him even if no one else understood.

  The ship towered over him, reminding him strangely of that same ship they had encountered on landing on this planet before. He was expecting blood and body parts, but saw none. Then a woman in a black flight suit came down the steps, she was pretty and her suit clung to her curves as her dark wavy hair fell to her shoulders. She gave Jinx a radiant smile as her blue eyes sparkled.

  “Oh gosh we have guests!” she exclaimed, “I didn't know another party was due to arrive – something happened to the communication system, I'm waiting for a colleague to fix it... most of my lot are out taking samples, it's important we take it all back to earth. I'm Captain Jackie Todd, nice to meet you.”

  She held out her hand as she reached the bottom of the steps.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr...”

  “Jinx, Captain Rik Jinx,” he replied, cautiously shaking her hand.

  She glanced to the women stood beside him and smiled warmly.

  “Is it just the three of you, then?”

  As Neve and Sin began to introduce themselves, Jinx looked to the darkened doorway of the ship. It was a wide hatch, completely open yet it looked as if the ship was powered down to minimum – unusual for a research party, who would be using power to run the lab, to store samples, it just seemed too dark in there...

  “Come inside,” Jackie said warmly, “I've got a well stocked kitchen and I bet you'd love a cup of tea.”

  She turned for the steps, made it halfway up and looked down at the hesitant trio.

  “I don't bite!” she said with a laugh, and then Jinx flashed her a smile as he eyed her thoughtfully, then went up the steps.

  The others cautiously followed, with Sin and Neve exchanging a glance as they wondered exactly when Jinx would be bringing up the subject of the parasite risk, because the captain seemed normal enough, but all the same, there still seemed something not quite right about her – unless it was just this planet with its area of forest and no bird song, that was enough to make everything here seem somewhat off centre...

  Jackie led them along a corridor where lighting flickered.

  “Sorry about the lights, we've had more important things to do than fix a minor wiring problem...you see, if this colony goes ahead, I'm going to be in charg
e of running things – me and my crew. It's a huge responsibility but a fantastic opportunity at the same time.”

  She opened up a door that led to a wide room with padded seating and clean tables where Jinx observed there was nothing out of place. But it still did nothing to set his mind at ease. There was a creeping feeling here, like something was very amiss, but he couldn't work out what it was just yet...

  “Sit down,” Jackie said, indicating to a large row of seats that were opposite a wide window that looked out over a dense forest, “The kitchen's through here, I'll just put the kettle on and then you can tell me all about why they sent me extra crew.”

  As Sin and Neve took a seat, Jinx was still standing there watching as she gave the door a push and went into the vast kitchen beyond. As the door swung open then closed, his eyes widened and he glanced to the seated women.

  “Stay there. Hold on to those guns.”

  “What's wrong?” Sin asked in a low voice.

  He shook his head, unable to say aloud what he had just seen in the moment the kitchen door had swung open and then shut.

  “Just stay here. Trust me, we're not safe. Shoot anyone who comes through that door,” he indicated to the other door that led to the walkway, then as Sin asked again what was wrong he said nothing, instead following Jackie into the kitchen.

  As the door closed behind him Jinx stood there, his boots avoiding a pool of blood that shone stark against the white polished surface of the kitchen floor. There was a severed hand on a work surface next to a bloody knife and a chopping board pooled with blood. The door to the deep freeze was open and a young man was hanging a headless female corpse from a hook. He paused to watch as the body hung there, then he picked up the severed head by the hair, freed his erection from his flight suit and stood with his back to them as the icy air swirled about him, his body jerking with force as he humped the mouth of the detached head.

  These horrors were not new. Nothing about the gore and the terrible scenes of body parts and the blood and depravity were a shock. Something at the back of his mind registered to Jinx that he had lived through the parasite infection and known this darkness before...It was enough to hold him steady, to fight off the nausea and the urge to react with horror. He made a mental note of where the knife was on the chopping block and decided the easiest way to deal with the guy he had come to think of as head fucker would be to lock him in the deep freeze. Neither of these thoughts seemed impossible to carry out, as Jinx the lunatic he had killed for fun - now, he would do it to save his own life and Sin and Neve. He also had to make sure none of the crew ever returned to earth with that contaminated soil...It had to be done, he had to kill but this time, for the right reasons...