by Z. M. Wilmot
~Michaela Jonson, in a lecture at Murkge University
We fell asleep out in the open. It was a very good thing that none of the big storms started up. Unused to sleeping out in the open after living on a ship for so long, I leapt to my feet the instant I woke up, startled at the unfamiliar situation. Michaela continued to sleep calmly beside me. I glanced down at her, then walked towards what remained of the ship.
It had stopped smoking, and the metal was cool enough to touch – though it was still warm. I ran my fingers along various parts of the hull, wondering where each had come from.
There was a groan from somewhere inside the wreckage.
I started and ran towards the source of the noise, ignoring the scrapes and cuts that the sharp metal gave me. I found the spot I thought it was coming from in less than a minute, and moved a sheet of metal from the ground. It revealed a hole, and in the hole was Adam Sansson, looking none the worse for the wear, and still wearing his sunglasses.
He grinned up at me. “So you lived too, Jak? Good to see that.” He tried to stand, then winced and fell back down. I offered him my hand, and he took with a smile, and allowed me to pull him to his feet. He shakily climbed out of the hole.
“How on earth did you survive?” I asked, amazed.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t remember anything after that bolt hit me…What the hell happened while I was out? The ship was definitely still intact then…”
“I don’t know. Michaela and I ran from the ship – Oldman, Aleks, and Matthias turned into those… things, and we sprinted out the cargo bay door and closed it – we tried to bring you with us, but you got hit by a second bolt and thrown into the ceiling. We thought you were dead.”
He smiled grimly. “Well, I’m not – at least not yet.” A curious look entered his eyes. “How did you survive the beast’s attack?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to tell him about the strange man – he was my secret, and I had a feeling that his existence wasn’t my right to reveal. He probably wouldn’t believe me, anyway. “Mikhail rescued me – he threw some kind of explosive at it.”
Adam chuckled. “So they can die after all – that’s good to know.” He coughed. “Those things… I think they were plants of some kind.”
I blinked. “Plants?” They definitely had looked like animals to me.
He nodded. “Aye. I don’t think they were aliens – I’ve seen something similar before, when I went to Eden for some of my later education. A certain… corporation… on the planet had developed an army of mutated monsters for the government. Some of them resembled those things.”
I could only stare.
“On the last few days we were on the ship, I had noticed a strange scent in the air – you probably didn’t, as your nose hasn’t been trained as mine has – and the skin of some people began to become more purplish, indicative of some kind of infection. It would be very like the Edenites to send some sort of spore onto the ship, have it infect the crew, and then have the infected burst out into some strange killing machine.”
Adam sighed. “Did you know that Lazarus’ body was never moved? And that he had signs of the infection?”
I had not.
“I would bet my lucky sunglasses that the beast they discovered came from him – forced by the priest’s death to emerge from its human host early. We don’t know the circumstances of its discovery, though…” He stared into space for a moment. “You said Michaela survived?” I nodded. “Can I see her? I think she might be able to confirm my theory.”
We walked back to where Michaela was, and Adam gently shook her awake. She was exceedingly happy to see him, and he even got a kiss on the cheek, much to my astonishment.
After the reunion was over, Adam began to ask Michaela questions. “You were there when the alien was discovered, yes?”
Michaela nodded. “Aye – the first group we sent out found it.”
“Where did they find it?”
“Kyle said that it was just lying in the middle of one of the corridors – his group had returned first, and he had found it as he was returning to his room.”
Adam stroked his chin. “Did he report anything unusual about it?”
“There was a trail of blood leading from where he found it to Lazarus’ room – I checked it myself.” She hesitated. “And Lazarus’ body was gone – it had been since shortly after his death. We think the thing ate it. It walked onto the ship a few days ago, hid from us until yesterday, and then ate Lazarus’ corpse.”
“I don’t think it did, Michaela.” She looked at him, questioning. Adam sighed. “You both know, by this point, that I was an Irish spy.” We both nodded. “As part of my training, I was sent to Eden to find out some information about rumored illegal experiments going on there. I succeeded remarkably, and returned back to Ireland with countless files on said experiments. Most of them were involved the development of hideous chemical weapons – and of biological mutants. The Edenites were creating an army of super soldiers, with the intention of breaking off from the Terran Home Rule.” He smiled cynically. “I don’t know what, if anything, was done with the information I gave to the GIPIA on it. I do, however, remember almost everything that was in those notes – we spies need to have good memories. One of the… things being created in the labs there was something very similar to that beast we saw. It was called a ‘Deviant.’ They are parasitic in their juvenile stages – they spread via spores, which are inhaled, and the infected would later have the full-grown things hatch out of them. I was never sure how something like that could fit inside a human, but somehow it could.
“The ones I saw on Eden many years ago were much more primitive than the ones we saw on the ship, but have the same basic form and function. One sign of infection by a Deviant, which the biologists could never get rid of, was a purplish tinge to the skin, especially around the neck. I had noticed this on many crewmembers since we left Carib.”
Michaela narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you report this?”
Adam shrugged. “I wasn’t sure it meant anything. The thought had occurred to me, but lots of things cause purplish necks, not just Deviant infection. Once I noticed it, I was more wary of Fetherkap, but I never caught him doing anything. Besides, even though he was an Edenite, he had no links I could find to any isolationist terrorist groups.”
I spoke up. “Vincent said he had been tampering with the engine.”
He looked at me. “Tampering with the engine?” He was silent for a few moments. “It’s possible… the engine does overheat, and the heated air is shunted through various filters and used to provide heat to the rest of the ship. He could have planted the spores in there, and have them spread throughout the ship that way…”
“Why didn’t he just use the filters in the ECU’s?” Michaela asked.
“The ECU’s require more maintenance – it was more likely he would be caught there. Plus, he was an engineer – he had a legitimate reason to be in the engine rooms.”
Michaela clenched her hands. “So you’re saying that all of this needless death is the result of Edenite fanaticism?”
Adam nodded. “It would appear so – but there’s no point in brooding on it. We might as well try to survive. Speaking of survival – if I managed to survive, others may have as well.”
We decided then to scour the nearby area for any other survivors, who may have been thrown out of the ship when it exploded and miraculously survived the shock, or perhaps had escaped via other entrances before the ship was destroyed.
The first survivor we found was sprawled at the base of one of the nearby trees. I noticed a root nearby was poking out of the ground. I squinted at it, and noticed it moving almost imperceptibly towards the man. Focusing on the man, I realized that I knew him – it was Stephen Krafting, the EO. I Michaela knelt down next to him and placed her head on his chest. After a few moments, she raised her head. “He’s alive, but unconscious.” She bit her lip. “We’re going to need water.”
; As if on cue, it began to rain lightly. I looked up at the sky and saw grey clouds, much like rainclouds on Earth, below the higher green ones. I opened my mouth, letting the rain flow down my throat. I blinked. “What on earth…?”
Michaela hit my leg gently. “Don’t question it! Someone up there must finally be looking favorably on us. Find something to collect it in!” I looked around, and found some pieces of metal from the ship. We took several of them, bent them into the shapes of cups and bowls, and caught as much water as we could. I brought one over to Michaela, and she poured a little onto Stephen’s face. He spluttered and opened his eyes. Michaela poured the rest of the water down his throat, and he drank it all greedily.
“How… how did I survive?” He looked at us all with questions in his eyes.
All of us shrugged. “We don’t know. Just be thankful that you did. Now rest.” He nodded and closed his eyes. Michaela stood and turned to us. “It’s good to see that someone else survived. Adam, stay with him, will you?”
Adam saluted and sat down beside him. “Aye aye, captain.” He tipped an imaginary hat at her. Michaela gave him a tiny smile, and the two of us set off again to go search for any other survivors.
I noticed that my stomach was rumbling a few minutes into our search. We needed food if we were to survive. I said as much to Michaela, and she nodded in agreement.
“I’m don’t know where we’d get any, though. I guess we should just keep an eye out for anything edible.” Somehow, I didn’t think we’d find anything edible on this planet – although it was raining, so maybe there was hope.
The rain stopped. I looked up to find that the grey clouds were gone. When I returned my attention to the ground in front of me, I saw a pile of what looked to be potatoes. I blinked. They hadn’t been there before. “Michaela?” She had gone on ahead of me.
She turned around and looked at me. “What?”
I gestured towards the potato-things at my feet. “Think these look edible?”
Her mouth dropped open. She walked back to me and dropped to her knees. She picked up one and inspected it carefully, looking at it from all sides. She half-smiled. “There’s only one way to know for sure.” She took a breath and, before I could stop her, took a bite. She chewed carefully and swallowed, then looked up and grinned at me. “It’s a potato. I have no idea how they got here, but they can’t be anything else.” She offered me the one she had sampled. “Try it.”
I did, and it was, unmistakably, a potato. I grinned. I wasn’t going to question this miracle. “Come on,” Michaela said. “Let’s take these to Adam and Stephen. They can guard them.”
It took us two trips each to bring all of the potatoes to the pair of them. They were as astonished as we were at the sight of them (or Adam was, rather – Stephen was asleep). After depositing the potatoes, Michaela and I set out again to search for survivors.
After half an hour of searching, we heard uneven footsteps nearby, coming from somewhere in the dense clusters of trees. Michaela and I glanced at each other, then ran towards the footsteps. As we struggled through the stifling foliage, the footsteps grew louder. The treeline ended suddenly, revealing a small clearing in front of us. In the center of it was Mikhail, stumbling around blindly. When Michaela spotted him, she called to him. “Mikhail! Over here!”
He stopped, and looked at us, squinting greatly. “Who’s that?”
“Michaela! And Jak!” He straightened up and staggered over to us. We jogged towards him. He almost fell as we reached him, but I caught him in my arms. His breathing was uneven. The two of us dragged him back to Adam and Stephen, who promised to take care of him while we left again to search for any more survivors.
We found no one for the rest of the day. When we returned to Adam, Stephen, and Mikhail, everyone was up and walking around. We were both impressed with Adam’s nursing skills, and Michaela even offered him words of praise.
He grinned in response. “What can I say? I was just born to help people!”
We decided, after a small amount of discussion, that we needed a shelter. Michaela had lost her beam pistol in the flight from the beasts, and neither Mikhail nor Stephen had been issued one. They didn’t even think of me – but I had never owned more than a few knives.
Fortunately for us, Adam had one. I wondered why neither he nor Michaela had used it to break through the outer hull of the ship in our escape. Maybe it wasn’t powerful enough.
Adam used his gun to fell several nearby trees and carve them up into chunks that we could use to build a shelter. We all did so, Michaela and I (being strongest) doing most of the work. The trees oozed a thick sap-like substance that we were careful not to touch. Within an hour or two, we had built an improvised shelter, somewhere between a lean-to and a small cabin. It was rather impressive, considering what we had available as tools.
By that time, it was late in our day-cycle (or at least it felt like it was – none of us had chronometers, so we couldn’t really tell), and we all settled down to sleep. Before we fell asleep, Adam checked all of our necks and skin, to make sure that none of were exhibiting signs of Deviant infection. We were all safe. Once Adam finished checking us (and explaining the Deviants to Stephen and Mikhail), we posted a watch. Michaela took the first shift. I would be second, then Mikhail, Adam, and then finally Stephen. Despite being uncomfortable sleeping beneath a roof made from the cannibalistic trees, I fell asleep almost as soon as I closed my eyes, and I dreamed.
“Come to us, Jakken. We need you, as much as you need us. We were meant for each other, destined to be partners and companions from the beginning of creation! Join us!”
I fell again, down towards the stars waiting eagerly for me below. I looked around me as I fell, but the green-cloaked man was not there to stop me. I smiled blissfully and focused again on the stars, who still called to me and beckoned for me to come and join them. They were beautiful… I was closer to them than I ever had been before. I laughed in joy and pleasure, and opened my arms, admiring their purity and brilliance.
The stars began to move closer together. I watched, wondering what they were doing. They coalesced, merged, and then expanded again, into the outline of a giant, translucent, blue slug. It glowed with the light of the stars, and its head turned to look at me. “Stay with us forever, Jak.” I was terrified – what was this thing that my loving stars had become?
I woke up before I reached the embrace of the slug. I heard a sad hiss as I awoke, leaving the slug behind in my dream, and the sound stayed in my ears for several minutes afterwards. Michaela was shaking me. I sat up.
“Your turn, Jak. Have fun.” She smiled tiredly and lay down. I yawned and stood up, stretching. I walked over to the one open area of our shelter, and stood in the doorway, staring outside. It was still light out – I again wondered if there was even night here. Someone had mentioned that the planet did rotate, so I suppose it did – unless it was like the moon, and rotated at just the right speed to always have one side facing the star.
I did not think much on the dream after spending a few minutes wondering where the strange figure had been. I was used to the dreams by this point, and had stopped questioning them. I was certain that their purpose would eventually be revealed.
Nothing happened on my watch, and when I estimated it was time for Mikhail to watch (having no chronometer, this was hard, and I think I stayed up too long), I woke him and went back to sleep. This time, I did not dream.
27
“My mommy told me to never talk to strangers. They’re dangerous and they want to do bad things to me – like kill me or do sex to me or eat me or something. You shouldn’t ever trust them, Mister. They’re bad news.”
