by Adair Hart
“Yeah, not sure I would want to have to mess with those in this environment,” said Rakar.
The projection went blank. Evaran tapped at his ARI. “I am checking the other feeds.”
After a few minutes, Evaran’s lips drew flat. “Well, I found the cause of the transformations. This video feed is from around the same time as the last one.”
The projection changed to a view of a large hallway. In the middle of it was a stone structure resembling an obelisk. Red smoke-filled tendrils snaked out from it, and when it touched a Kreagan, they would fall to the ground and roll around for a bit, but then stand up with small physical signs of a transformation. The tendrils looked like they were pumping something into the Kreagans. A steady flow of unwilling Kreagans were brought to the obelisk structure and transformed.
“What the heck is that,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Unknown. If it is still on the ship, we should avoid it. I don’t think it would have survived exposure to deep space, but I cannot confirm that,” said Evaran. The projection changed to the ship’s layout, and a red dot appeared a few rooms over. “I have found where the crystal is stored and unlocked its security container.”
Andia sighed. “Finally. This place is unnatural.”
They exited and headed toward the room the projection showed. Evaran tilted his head when they reached the main hallway. He put his UIC on the panel next to the entryway doors and touched his ARI. The doors sealed shut.
Dr. Snowden’s blood ran cold. “Expecting company?”
“No, but why take a chance. Come,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden’s heart continued to race as he licked his lips. His stomach roiled as he had flashbacks of the draug on the Krotovore ship. After trembling for a moment, he refocused on the task at hand.
They reached the security container room. It was a small room, and a portion of the wall jutted out. The area above it was indented past the sides of the wall. The indentation had black flaps on the sides, with a console on the portion that jutted out.
Evaran walked up to it and placed his UIC on the console. After a moment, he rubbed his chin. “It has already been picked up. Checking the feed for this room.” After a minute, he grabbed his UIC and faced the group. “It appears whoever took this had the appropriate credentials to do so. I suspect they are in the command center, which is farther ahead. Come.”
Dr. Snowden’s heartbeat slowed down as he focused on his suit’s interface on their way to the command control center. He had navigated the various options and pressed the navigation icon and then a map icon. It showed a map on the HUD that was similar to the layouts that Evaran’s ring generated. There were options on the interface to see where they had traveled, with distances and times. The functionality reminded him of a global positioning system with a holographic interface. He also noticed he could set a waypoint, and when he had set one to the command center, he could see a dotted green line on the ground leading to it. Emily had to tap his arm a few times as he lagged behind playing with it. This suit was turning out to be more versatile than he had originally imagined.
The command control center was a large open area. Like the main security control center, it had a command chair surrounded by various workstations. Consoles lined the edges of the room, with smaller rooms hanging off the back. The sides of the room had multiple large screens.
Evaran walked up to the command chair and scanned the corpse sitting in it. He reached into the pocket of the corpse’s uniform and pulled out the crystal. “It appears the captain understood the importance of the crystal.” He placed the crystal in a container that slid out from his belt.
Dr. Snowden noted that Evaran would tap the side of his belt and that portion would slide out. It reminded him of pulling out a drawer on a dresser. The surface area exposed was light blue and rippled. When Evaran had placed the crystal into it, Dr. Snowden expected to see the crystal fall to the ground. Instead, it submerged into the surface and vanished. He understood then that it was using dimensional mechanics. The container surface may have been somewhat small, but what it was a surface to could be much larger. He had looked on his own belt to see if he had one as well, but did not see anything like it.
Evaran walked over to one of the consoles and placed his UIC on it. “I have shut off the emergency help signal that has been broadcasting. There is a visual log here meant to be viewed by whoever reaches this room.” He gestured at one of the large screens. “I am relaying it now, and you should be able to hear it, as I have patched the audio into our communication system.”
The screen showed a tired Kreagan grimacing in the command chair. His suit was tattered and his face covered in blood and grime. “This is the captain. Although our ship was able to leave Kreagus, a portal stone got on board. We don’t know how it got on board, but it has been activated and is transforming the crew, similar to what those bastards did on Kreagus.” His right eye twitched. “We’re trying to contain it, but the transformed have begun opening the cryopods and transforming out the newly awakened civilians. I’m not sure how they are opening the pods. Roughly a third of our security personnel have gone down. We have sealed off the security and command center.” The captain looked down for a moment, then sighed. “The ship will be decompressed. Many lives will be lost, but this contagion cannot be allowed to spread. We will try to save any who are left, but as of this moment, all cryopods have been opened. The fusion reactor requires a manual restart, and we will attempt it after decompression.” He looked down at the crystal in his right hand. “May the great selector show mercy on us in our time of need.”
The screen went to black. Dr. Snowden rubbed the goose bumps on his arm as he faced Evaran. “You don’t think that portal stone is active now, do you?”
“It is possible.”
Rakar shook his head. “These portal stones were on the ancient home world and caused the mass exodus. I have never seen one until now. No one knows where they came from, just that they did.”
Andia faced Rakar. “Judging by what happened on this ship, it’s no wonder the Kreagans fled. They didn’t stand a chance. At least one of your colony ships made it, though, and your race has flourished since.”
Rakar looked at the ground. “Yeah. Imagine if this one would have survived. We did eventually clear the planet by bombarding it from space several hundred years later and establishing outposts and bases, but we couldn’t locate the other colony ships.” He looked around. “Now I know why.”
Evaran moved his hand across his ARI and pressed a few buttons. Several screens flashed on, and a red line appeared at the bottom of them. It showed a visual feed of various areas on the ship. Transformed were seen roaming around. He glanced at Dr. Snowden. “Interesting. These are live feeds across the ship. It appears your question of whether the portal stone is active or not has been answered, Dr. Snowden. I am unsure of what triggered it, but now know it is not from this universe. Otherwise it would not be able to activate. I suspect it is rehydrating the transformed using exotic matter and energy.”
Emily ran over to Dr. Snowden and death-gripped his right arm with her trembling hands. “I wouldn’t call that interesting.”
Dr. Snowden let out a measured breath as dread pervaded his body. He swallowed hard with wide eyes. “That’s just great.”
Rakar grunted as he flicked several buttons on his weapon. He drew it in front of him in a forceful manner and nodded his head vigorously. “They will taste modern Kreagan weaponry.”
“Oh, great selector,” said Andia as she took a shaky step back.
“Everyone stay calm. We will get through this. V, establish a command link with this ship,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged,” said V over the communications channel. After a few moments, V spoke. “Connection established.”
Evaran grabbed his UIC and put it on his belt. “Let us head to the Torvatta. We will need to be careful.”
“You don’t seem awfully concerned about those things,” said Andia.
&n
bsp; “It appears that they need to drag the preserved bodies to the stone to rehydrate them. That will take time. If we hurry, we can avoid most of them.”
Evaran, Rakar, and Andia headed toward the command center exit. Evaran paused when they reached it and turned around to face a trembling Dr. Snowden and Emily, who were breathing deeply with their eyes closed. They were still standing near the center of the room.
“Dr. Snowden?”
Dr. Snowden opened his eyes and nodded. “Coming.” He tapped Emily’s hand, and they grouped up with the others.
“You okay?” asked Andia as she squeezed Emily’s shoulder.
Emily gulped. “Hope so.”
Dr. Snowden realized that both he and Emily shared a moment of paralyzing fear. His mind had screamed at him to run, even though they were not in any immediate danger. Something was wrong.
They exited the command center and headed to the security center’s main entrance. When they arrived at the sealed doors, Evaran placed his UIC on the panel to the side. He rubbed his chin and, after a moment, extended his hand. A projection shot up from his ring, showing the other side of the doors they stood before. Several transformed were sauntering up and down the ramps. Others were either milling about or crawling on the ground.
“V, nearest exit.”
“Analyzing.” After a moment, V responded. “One level beneath you is the nearest exit. Relaying coordinates.”
The projection from Evaran’s ring showed the ship’s layout. It showed their current location and a path to the exit. They would need to go down the ramps on the right side coming from the door, then along the wall to a hallway that led to an external door similar to the one they came in from.
Dr. Snowden had messed with his interface and was able to see that there was an option to synchronize V’s relayed coordinates into the GPS system. He pressed it and saw the same projection on his HUD that Evaran’s ring had displayed.
Evaran put his hand to the side, which turned off the projection. “The plan is I will draw them to the center of the room outside these doors. Once they are on me, Rakar, lead the others to the ramp. I will join you after dispatching the ones focused on me and then move ahead, clearing a path.”
Rakar nodded. “Got it.”
Evaran looked around at everyone. “Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia, deploy your repulsing weapons and shields.”
Dr. Snowden deployed his repulsor weapon and activated his shield. He flicked his wrist around a bit while pointing at the ground. His heart was racing, and his palms were sweating. Fighting on the ship was not something he had planned on doing. It was getting warm in his helmet, so he adjusted its internal temperature through his interface.
Evaran turned back to the sealed door. “Okay, I am opening the doors now.” He swiped his hand across his ARI, and both the interior and exterior doors slid to the right. He grabbed his UIC and placed it on his belt while pulling off his utility handle. It was fully extended into a staff with glowing orange ends by the time he reached the exterior door. He turned his head halfway. “I am going in.”
Rakar moved forward to the exterior door as Evaran ran out into the open area in front of the security control center. Andia and Emily followed behind him.
The transformed in the area paused as they turned toward Evaran. One rushed from ahead of him. Evaran aimed his staff at it and fired a repulsing beam. The creature flew back as several others advanced. Evaran rushed forward. Another two ran from the ramp toward him. He swept the legs of the first one and pushed the second one to the ground. He stepped back and fired again. The two flew to the opposite ramp that he was trying to secure.
Rakar turned his head halfway to the side and gestured toward the ramp. “Let’s go.” He ran ahead.
Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia followed Rakar.
When they got to the ramp, Evaran had herded the remaining transformed over to the ramp on the other side of the room. He ran over to Rakar and looked at the ramp, then headed down it, knocking a few of the transformed off it. Once it was cleared, he gestured at Rakar to come forward.
Rakar signaled for Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia to follow him as he descended to the landing, where Evaran waited. Dr. Snowden noted there was another ramp they needed to go down. It gave him a view of the next level, however. His mouth dropped at seeing the multiple cryopods arranged like bookshelves. Around them on the floor were hundreds of transformed and corpses in various states. He noticed about half of the corpses were still preserved, and the others were being carted off by the transformed to the portal stone for rehydration. He had activated the directional component of the GPS system and could see a green line running ahead through the mass of transformed. “Umm … how are we going to get through that?”
Evaran pointed down the side wall. “The hallway we need to get to is ahead. Just stay close to the wall, shoot as needed, and we should avoid a majority of them. I am going to head out ahead of the group and grab their attention again. Do not stay too close to me. V is going to bring the ship to the exit we need to get out of and will then join us if needed. Going now.”
Evaran rushed down the ramp and clung to the side of the wall. He occasionally repulsed a few transformed. After a minute, he moved out from the wall a bit, where he got swarmed.
Dr. Snowden could barely see him, but he noticed transformed were flying everywhere.
Rakar nodded and turned toward Dr. Snowden, Emily, and Andia. “Let’s move!”
They proceeded down the ramp. When they reached the bottom, they stayed close to the wall and advanced toward the hallway that would lead to the exit door.
Several creatures ran up behind them, but Dr. Snowden was able to repulse them with his device. He liked how it performed. Just aim and fire, and anything hit by the hollow beam went flying backward. Emily was by his side, shooting toward the middle, and Andia was taking shots to the side and ahead along with Rakar. He did notice he could move faster without any air pressure hindering him.
When they were halfway there, Dr. Snowden jumped as he heard Rakar scream. He turned to see Rakar being pulled into a side room. He rushed to the doorway and saw four transformed holding Rakar down and trying to bite and claw him. He stepped into the room.
Two of the transformed looked up and then peeled off toward Dr. Snowden. He fired at them, and they slammed into the other side of the room.
“Emily!” said Andia.
Dr. Snowden stepped out of the room and watched as Emily booked it along the wall toward the exit. What was she doing? He faced Andia and gestured at Emily. “Protect her!”
“What about you two?”
“We’ll be fine. Go!”
Andia nodded as she fired into the growing crowd of transformed outside the room. She took off down the side.
Dr. Snowden ran over to Rakar, who had managed to get one of the transformed off him. The two that Dr. Snowden had knocked to the other side of the room were back up and approaching Rakar. Dr. Snowden fired at them again, sending them back against the wall. He grabbed the shoulder of one that was still on Rakar and pointed his repulsing device next to the creature’s temple. He fired, sending chunks of the transformed into the air. The other one Rakar had gotten off focused on Dr. Snowden, who angled himself and lined up his shot. He fired at the creature, sending it back into the other two he had shot earlier.
Rakar flipped over and tried to stand up. He fell back down. “Feeling weak. Having trouble seeing.”
Dr. Snowden grabbed Rakar’s arm and stood him up. He saw blood dripping out of a gash on Rakar’s arm. He wondered how tough the claws must have been to puncture the light armor. He shook his head and put Rakar’s arm around his shoulder. “Keep focused. We’re almost there!” He turned his head to check on the ones that were blasted back. They were getting up and headed over to him. He hustled as fast as he could to the doorway, with Rakar limping along. His heart sank and his breathing went ragged as he saw three more rushing toward the door. He stepped out of the room and shot back at the t
hree in the room, sending them sprawling.
He turned toward the crowd of transformed rushing him outside the room. He raised his arm to fire, but Rakar going completely limp dragged him down. He swung his right arm around wildly while death-gripping the repulsor weapon handle. The transformed had adapted and were actively dodging it. He calculated he only had a few moments before he would be swarmed. Where was Emily? Did she make it?
A large transformed standing around ten feet tall charged toward them. It had bits and pieces of other transformed across its body. It roared as it shoved other transformed out of the way.
Dr. Snowden drew his lips flat as a chill ran through his body. He called out to Evaran to no avail. He shot at the creature, who shrugged off his repulsing blast. He trembled as he braced himself. He was not going to survive this. The thought had never crossed his mind until now. At least Emily was safe. At least he thought she was. Time slowed down as the transformed monstrosity hurtled toward him. He could feel the vibrations of every step it made. He drew his lips down and closed his eyes, but they popped open when he heard V.
“Defensive mode engaged,” said V in full body mode. The large transformed focused on V and slammed its hand down on top of him. He emerged through the topside of the hand. The creature howled as V pulled himself out of the hand and ran up the arm. He placed both legs around the neck and began tearing out chunks on the back of the creature’s head. After a moment, the creature slumped to the ground.
The other transformed swarmed on V. He grabbed the nearest transformed by the neck and lifted it off the ground, then tossed it away. He kicked the legs off another. Then put a hole in another’s chest. Then ripped the head off another.
Dr. Snowden exhaled sharply. “V!”
V approached him with arms out. “I will carry Rakar. Get to the hallway. Evaran is holding them off there.”
Dr. Snowden stood as V picked up Rakar. He glanced over at the cryopods and saw the obelisk-like portal stone. Red tendrils reached out from it and caressed the bodies being brought to it. The tendrils were pumping exotic matter into corpses and, after a few moments, would move to another corpse brought to it. He shuddered and swallowed hard. Once V had Rakar in his arms, he took off along the side with V behind him.
