by Colin Weldon
The alien turned and faced the pair.
“If you would not mind stepping up on the platform,” he said politely, pointing to the raised floor.
Tyrell stepped up on the platform without a moment’s hesitation. Carrie waited and looked at the alien.
“Please, it is perfectly safe, you will not be harmed,” the alien said to Carrie.
She was surprised at his tone. If he did not look so different, you would have thought you were speaking to a human. She let out a breath and stepped up on the platform. The alien turned and placed its hand on the wall again. Carrie heard a low humming sound and suddenly felt cold. The alien removed its hand from the wall and joined them up on the platform. Carrie suddenly saw a bright white light and felt a sharp stabbing sensation in her stomach. The room disappeared and less than a second later was replaced by another room. The humming noise was gone and Carrie looked around at the others. She remained still and watched the alien, who was stepping off the platform.
“This way, please,” the alien said.
Carrie followed the pair as they made their way through a set of interlocking doors, which slid apart gracefully. She stepped through the doors and immediately felt disorientated by her surroundings. At first she thought they had walked into deep space. She was suddenly surrounded by stars on all sides. It was only when she looked down that she saw the ground was solid. The door behind them glided shut and the group came to a stop in the centre of the transparent domed hall. Carrie looked to her left and saw the planet below. They were in orbit. The alien turned around and faced them.
“Well then, let’s begin, shall we?” the alien said.
Carrie took a breath and tried to come to terms with what she was experiencing. She was with one human being, currently occupied by an alien black liquid found on Mars, and with another alien being, on a completely transparent space station orbiting a planet between galaxies. Her head was starting to spin.
“Okay, just hang on,” Carrie said, “enough already. I want to know what the hell is going on. What are you?” she said pointing to the alien, “what the hell is he?” she said pointing to Tyrell, “and what the hell am I? What are we doing here?”
The alien looked at Tyrell who turned to face Carrie.
“He is what we left behind,” the alien said politely, “he is what we always leave behind when we move on from world’s that die. We knew of your species and knew that someday you would reach the stars. We leave, what is it you call it? The Black?”
Carrie nodded looking at Tyrell.
“We leave The Black so that it may bond with species in the hopes that we may reunite. You are the first to arrive,” the alien said, “we were not expecting to see you for millennia, but here you are. I can see why he brought you. You are most definitely an anomaly for your species. I do not think you realise quite fully what you are capable of, or what you will become. But you will. In time.”
Carrie looked at Tyrell.
“So, you are saying that stuff inside Doctor Tyrell was meant to bring us to you? To make contact?” Carrie said.
“Yes,” the alien said.
“It killed people on Mars,” Carrie said, “it killed my mother.”
The alien looked at Tyrell who remained still.
“That is unfortunate. It takes time for it to learn the molecular compatibility with its hosts,” the alien said.
Carrie sighed and looked out at the stars. There was no use anymore. She had to face the fact that it was an accident. She had no more anger left. She was exhausted.
“Is Doctor Tyrell still alive in there?” she asked quietly, already knowing the answer. He was in there somewhere. She had heard him begging for help.
“Unfortunately, the host mind cannot survive a bond for long. I am truly sorry for any loss that you have endured, Carrie,” the alien said sounding truly remorseful.
Carrie found his tone creepy. It was like he was simulating human emotions. Something felt wrong, but she could not put her finger on it.
“What do I call you?” Carrie asked suddenly, realising that the alien had yet to say its name.
“Call me? Oh yes, a name. Well, as I said, your vocal chords are unable to pronounce it,” the alien said.
“Well, I have to call you something or would you rather I just call you alien?” she said.
“What would you like to call me?” the alien said.
Carrie thought about the absurdity of her situation. It was like a surreal dream she used to have as a child. She gave in to the crazy situation and said the first name that came into her head.
“Jack,” she said raising her arms and blowing out her mouth.
The alien tilted his head.
“Jack it is then,” he said taking a step towards her, “let me show you something.”
Jack turned and moved his hand towards an area of open space in the hall. It lit up instantly with colour and light as an image began to form in mid-air. The image was something Carrie was all too familiar with. A large mechanical planet.
“You have seen this, yes?” Jack said.
Carrie looked at the image of the planet that nearly destroyed The Agathon and her father.
“Yes,” she said.
“The Targlagdu,” Jack said, “you defeated it.”
Carrie looked at Tyrell who had not said a word in over an hour.
“We barely escaped that thing,” she said.
“You defeated it,” Jack said.
“What is it?” Carrie asked.
Jack moved his hand again and a fresh image filled the open spaces of the transparent domed hall. It was now a star system filled with mechanical planets, hundreds of them, orbiting a large, red, giant star.
“There are more of those things?” Carrie said open-mouthed.
“Many more,” Jack said, moving his hand again. The holographic image changed as a huge spiral galaxy filled the air. “This is your galaxy. And here is the location of the Targlagdu,” he said, as millions of points of red light began to pinpoint locations within its boundaries. It looked like a swarm of bees around a hive. There were as many points of red light as there were stars. Only a small area remained uninfected by them.
“Here is your solar system. Or rather what was your solar system,” Jack said moving a digit. A bright point of white light highlighted an area of the galaxy clear of the mechanical planets.
“Oh my God!” Carrie said, “Those things are everywhere?”
“The Targlagdu destroyed our galaxy billions of years ago. Our race fled to your galaxy where we lived in peace until they reached it. We learned of their infiltration and left to live here, in the void. This rogue star and its lone planet. Your galaxy will be consumed like the others,” Jack said.
Carrie felt a sudden wave of panic at the horror of what was happening.
“My ship,” she said trembling, “I have to warn them!” she shouted at Jack.
Jack looked at Tyrell.
“The ship is in no immediate danger, Carrie. The planet they are on is in an isolated part of the galaxy. There are greater concerns than The Agathon,” Tyrell finally said.
“Yeah, no shit,” said Carrie looking at the swarm of pinpoints on the holographic map, “what are they?”
“We do not know, they came from another galaxy, and then stormed through ours. The remnants of an ancient civilisation. One of the first to exist. They consume and replicate life, then move on,” said Jack.
“Who are the Signal Makers?” Carrie said suddenly realising that she had forgotten to ask the most important question of all.
“That which destroyed your world?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Carrie responded.
“Do your people still believe in angels?” Jack asked.
Carrie looked at the tall alien confused.
“Angels?” she asked.
“Yes, angels. Guardians, if you will,” Jack said.
“No, I don’t think so,” she answered.
“Ah,” said Jack, “well
then, maybe the metaphor will hold no meaning for you. They are the ones who continue to fight for us.”
“I don’t understand. They destroyed my people’s planet without warning. How is that fighting for us?” Carrie asked.
“I do not know why your planet was destroyed, Carrie,” Jack said, “but the Signal Makers, as you call them, have tried to stem the spread of the Targlagdu. They only target known planets and star systems with Targlagdu vessels.”
“Where are they?” Carrie said.
“They keep their location secret. We don’t even know where they are. They have left markers, but in all our searching, we have been unable to find them.” Jack said.
Carrie let out a sigh and looked away from the floating map of the galaxy and out into the stars overhead. In the distance, through the glass dome, she saw what looked like a small spiral galaxy. It all seemed so hopeless.
“I want to go back to my ship,” she said quietly.
“How did you defeat the Targlagdu?” Jack said to her.
“What?” she asked still looking out into the darkness.
Jack moved his hand again and the images overhead disappeared.
“How did you defeat it?” Jack asked again.
“I don’t know,” Carrie answered, “I’m a freak. I have a mutation and got lucky I guess.”
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at the alien face looking down at her.
“You still do not know what you are, do you?” Jack said.
Carrie began to get angry and shrugged off the alien’s hand.
“No, for the last time, what the hell am I!” she said looking at Tyrell.
“If you will be patient, I will show you,” said Jack.
The Agathon
“We’re clear,” said Boyett from the flight controls.
Barrington looked out at the star field being displayed on the main view screen and let out a breath. They had broken through the ice and made their way back up to the ionosphere of the planet. The shuttle bay had been purged of all water and Doctor Brubaker was taking a half drowned Chavel to the medical bay.
There was a moment of silence on the bridge as Barrington gathered his thoughts. He was engaging repair crews and analysing a flood of data on the ship’s systems. He had lost another man. Not just any man. The man who had built this ship. Who had built Jycorp and been the ruler of what was the human race, before its destruction. He suddenly felt very alone. The world was slipping away from his fingers and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Boyett turned to face him suddenly, as if sensing the pressure and loss that the captain suddenly felt himself under.
“Nicely done, Captain,” she said.
Barrington looked at her, through the fog of the responsibility suddenly thrown on his shoulders. He smiled at her attempt to console him.
“Nicely done, Captain,” Kevin Ferrate emulated from behind him.
Barrington turned to face the young man. He suppressed a wave of emotion that was stirring in his chest. He took their support and cleared his throat nodding to both crewmen. He turned in his seat and took a deep breath.
“Okay, everyone, let’s get to work,” he said, “I want a full damage report.”
He turned to his chair console and tapped in some commands opening a ship wide channel.
“Doctor Chase Meridian to the bridge,” he said.
The data that Jerome Young had sent back needed translating and he needed to talk to Meridian.
“On my way, Captain,” came Meridian’s voice.
He had barely a minute to compose himself when there was a chime from the console.
“Engine room to bridge, we have a situation down here,” Tosh’s voice sounded panicked. Barrington could hear the sounds of frantic screaming in the background.
“Tosh?” Barrington said picking up on his tone.
“Captain, Katrina Padrosa is standing on the FTL drive firing a weapon. I have one dead and it looks like she has just attached an explosive device to the main core of The Betty!”
“What?” Barrington shouted as a new surge of adrenalin rushed through his veins.
“You better get down here, we need help!” Tosh said cutting the communication channel.
Barrington looked around the bridge at the shocked faces. Boyett was already out of her chair. He only had a fraction of a second to think.
The explosion.
They had never found the saboteur on board the ship. Barrington had thought that it must have been Tyrell. Katrina Padrosa had been a relatively quiet member of Tosh’s engineering staff. He had only spoken to her once. His head started to spin. He ran to the rear of the bridge and stopped Boyett in her tracks.
“You have the bridge!” he said to her forcefully.
She was about to object when he stopped her from speaking.
“That’s an order!” he looked at Ferrate. “Kevin, you’re with me.”
Kevin Ferrate snapped into motion following the captain into the lift. As the doors slid shut he looked at Boyett, whose face was manic.
The Agathon
Engine Room
The door to the engine room slid open and Barrington stepped inside followed closely by Kevin Ferrate, who was now armed with a pulse gun. Barrington stopped and took a moment to take in what he was seeing. Tosh was sitting calmly in his wheelchair directly in front of the FTL drive as Katrina Padrosa towered over him perched neatly on a long metal beam. She had a weapon pointed squarely at his head. There were several of the engineering crew scattered in a semi-circle around Tosh. Padrosa was screaming at them. She was a plain looking woman with long brown hair that hung loosely around her shoulders. Barrington stood at the entrance to try and get a handle on the situation before slowly approaching. He flicked his hand towards Ferrate motioning him to give him his weapon. Ferrate slowly handed the captain the pulse gun and moved off to one side, approaching from the right.
“You!” shouted Padrosa pointing her weapon at Barrington.
He stopped dead in his tracks and looked into the woman’s crazed eyes.
“Defying God! Who are you to take us from our maker! You had no right!” yelled Padrosa.
Barrington looked at Tosh, who had looked around to see who she had been talking to.
“Easy, Katrina,” Barrington said raising his hands.
He thought for a moment and flicked his eyes sharply to the left activating his eye implant. He fought a wave of nausea as the heads up display flickered to life. He took a deep breath and resisted the urge to throw up. An array of biographical data spread across his field of vision. Looking up at Katrina, he saw a blue outline surround her body as he focused in on her. A stream of bio data listed life signs on the left-hand side of the virtual screen he was looking at. He looked at her heart rate. It was high. Really high. Her adrenaline was spiked. It looked like she had a foreign substance in her body. The nausea subsided as he continued to monitor her. Her muscles were tense. Something had clearly snapped in the young woman. The full effects of losing a family and a planet must have been too much for some. There simply had not been time to psychologically screen those that had boarded the ship before they departed. This was something else though. He saw a willingness to die in her eyes. He looked down at her feet and saw a long clear tube full of liquid by her feet.
“Listen to me, Katrina, we can help you, you are not alone,” he said taking a small step towards the centre of the engine room.
He caught Tosh’s eye for a moment. They were widening and he seemed to shake his head slightly. Barrington took the signal and stopped moving.
“He wants us all. We must obey his wishes and end this cowardice. He will welcome us, Captain, do not be afraid,” Padrosa said, with the weapon now raised at Barrington’s head.
“We can be saved, Katrina, it’s not too late. I can help you,” Barrington said, stretching out his arms to make himself look less threatening.
There was a moment of silence between the two. He saw no sign that he, or anyone else wa
s going to get through to the young broken woman. He knew it was time to act before anyone else got killed. He was about to raise his weapon and take a shot at her when she smiled. An empty and desperate smile. His display showed a massive spike in her heartrate.
Now what? he thought to himself.
“See you soon, Captain,” she said raising the pulse gun to her temple.
“No!” shouted Barrington.
She pulled the trigger and a bolt of light burst through the side of her head. The force of it knocked her off the ledge and her smouldering body collapsed into a heap on the engine room floor. There was a palpable shock in the engine room. Barrington ran towards the body and knelt by her side. The smell of the burning wound filled the air.
“John, she put an explosive on the core!” Tosh said from behind him.
Barrington looked up at Tosh and then to the engine core. The spinning balls of blue plasma swirled calmly inside it. He stood quickly and ran around to see what Padrosa had placed on The Betty. The long clear tube was actually two separate compartments leading into an empty one.
