by Amanda Rose
The man hesitated for a moment, and then slowly nodded his head once. They proceeded to get him dressed. The man was clearly in no condition to move, his body stiff and freezing, so they moved his limbs as was needed. Raiden was amazed at Xan. She had an uncanny ability to instill trust. Just like the first time I heard her voice... he thought, impressed at how this scared man became instantly docile.
After a few minutes they finally had the man fully dressed, and he was beginning to warm up. Xan turned off the energy barrier and placed the hexagon back on her belt. “Where are we?” the crewman asked.
“We’re close to the Bastion,” Xan said.
“What?! Yena, how long have I been asleep?” The man said, fear in his voice.
“’Yena?’” Raiden asked.
“Yena is one of our Goddesses,” Xan told Raiden, then turned to the man, “You left known space nearly 400 years ago.”
The crewman began to tremble; they could see it even through the suit, but neither knew what to say to comfort the man. He tried but couldn’t suppress his sobs. Raiden couldn’t imagine what it would be like waking up hundreds of years in the future.
“What’s your name?” Raiden asked him.
“I, I’m Vex… I’m a scientist, an ecologist, I was supposed to study the planets we’d find and visit once we’d crossed the void,” he said meekly, looking around the room. “Oh hell! Is everyone else dead?”
“I’m afraid so. I’m sorry,” Xan said.
“We don’t have much time,” Raiden said to Xan.
Vex watched them both, “Time? Time for what?”
Xan looked Vex in the eye, “We need your help. The ship’s powered off, everything except for the engines, but we can’t access them through the control panel. We’re headed full speed towards the Bastion, we need to shut this ship’s engines down.”
Vex shook his head, “They won’t let us.”
Raiden and Xan shot a look at each other. Then Raiden looked to Vex, “’They?’”
Vex pointed around at all of the tendrils, “They’re… some sort of conduits. They use electricity, they consume it, re-disperse it, I don’t know…”
“That explains why your suit’s power reserves were completely drained when we tried to use it as a power source,” Xan said to Raiden.
“Shit, we fed it?” Raiden said, alarmed.
“I have a lot more questions, but they’ll have to wait. We have to take this ship out of the sky. We can’t risk it intercepting the Bastion,” Xan said.
“A couple well placed shots to the engine should take it out,” Raiden added.
“That won’t be enough to stop them…” Vex morbidly added.
Xan thought for a moment, “OK, Raiden. We’re going back to our ships, then we’ll reposition and shoot out the engines. We’ll head back up together, then I want you to get Vex onto my ship. I’m going to get the flight record from the cockpit, and then I’ll hurry back to my ship. That’ll give you enough time to get your ship online and to dislodge the docking clamps,” Xan explained her plan.
“The cockpit’s infested, you shouldn’t go alone,” Raiden said, feeling anxious.
“It’s OK, I’ll be careful. We have to hurry, let’s go,” she insisted.
Speedily they made their way back to the access hatch that led up to the main floor. Vex’s body was stiff, but fear was a powerful motivator. Raiden and Xan helped him along the way. Once they were on the main level Raiden and Vex parted ways with Xan.
Xan hustled as quickly as she could to make her way to the cockpit. Another alarm went off, 30 minutes, damn… she hurried even more. On the way, she opened a comm link to her ship, “This is Xan, prepare for takeoff. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Roger,” the pilot responded.
As she approached the cockpit she took special note of the placement of the tendrils and treaded lightly. It was oppressive in the cockpit, lightless, with the dark throbbing tendrils making the small room feel even more confining. Xan took deep steady breaths to calm her nerves.
The flight recorder was lodged in the main hub of the pilots control panel. One large tendril had burrowed its way into the control panel, scarcely missing the flight recorder. Delicately she plied the flight recorder free, making sure not to disturb the tendrils nearby. Once she had it she quickly stored it in a pouch on her suit and turned to leave.
That’s when it dawned on her, The tendrils use and redirect energy. They heavily linked into the engine, and now this one in the main control panel… they’re not just powering the ship, they’re flying the ship! She spun around and stared at the tendril with newfound horror. They’re sentient!
Xan unholstered her gun and aimed it at the tendril in the control panel. She took a deep breath, steadied her aim, and then open fired. The shock as the tendril was shot caused it to veer the ship off course. The gunfire was so concentrated it finally cut the tendril in half. The mutilated tendril flung about in the air wildly, like a fire hose let loose.
Just as Xan was about to leave she suddenly saw the severed tendril’s end light up with electrical current. She could hardly believe her eyes as the tendril began to regenerate. It then plunged itself back into the control panel, sparks flying, and readjusted course for the Bastion.
“Fuck!” Xan yelled, and then turned to run for her ship.
In her haste she misplaced a step, tripping over a tendril, falling to the floor and dropping her riffle. The tendril then grabbed her leg and began to squeeze with intense pressure. Xan clamored with all of her strength to reach her rifle, grabbed it, and then struggled to flip onto her back. She aimed quickly and shot the tendril until it released its grip on her. Without wasting a second Xan got to her feet and fled for her ship without looking back.
⁞
Raiden had gotten Vex onto Xan’s ship safely, and then hurried to his ship. He had barely turned on his engines before he heard Xan’s voice come in on his head set, “Get in position!” she commanded. He could hear the fear in her voice.
“Just about to disengage my docking clamps from your port, in 3, 2, 1…” he hit the switch and his ship jolted as it came free. “There, I’m loose. Heading into firing position now.”
Raiden flew in an arching circle until he rounded behind the derelict ship. He armed his missiles and waited for Xan’s ship to disengage. He saw the seal break, but when the ship began to pull in the docking bridge it wouldn’t budge.
“What’s happening? You OK over there?” Raiden asked.
There was no reply for several long seconds, and then, “We can’t detach. Can you see if debris is blocking the retraction or hooked onto us?”
“Taking a look,” Raiden said. He pulled up his monitor and zoomed in on the docking bridge. “Son of a bitch!” he exclaimed upon seeing that the tendrils had intertwined on the exterior of Xan’s ship. They were already making their way past the extended docking bridge and onto the main body of the ship. “Xan, the tendrils, they’re making their way across your hull!”
Suddenly Xan’s ship went dark. Raiden held his breath as he waited for an answer. A minute later Xan’s voice came over his headset again, “We’ve lost main power already. Those things don’t waste time. We’re trying to reroute but… it doesn’t look good.”
Raiden’s mind raced. The Bastion was approaching in the foreground faster and faster. “We can’t let those things on the Bastion,” he said.
“I know, if we only had more time…” Xan sighed. “…We’re abandoning ship. We’ve got life pods we’ll eject on. It’s up to you to destroy both ships, Raiden. The escape pods have beacons, so come give us a tow when you’re done. Got it?”
“Understood,” Raiden replied.
Raiden watched and waited until he saw all four life pods launch from Xan’s ship. He then repositioned behind the derelict ship and locked on his missiles. “Here it goes,” he said to himself, then hit the button to launch. The missiles sped towards the back of the derelict ship where the engine propellant cam
e out of. Just as they were about to hit the target the derelict ship swerved, and the missiles hit the far wing of the ship instead.
The explosion sent the ship reeling, but it quickly recovered and resumed course. Raiden’s jaw dropped as he saw it happen. That can’t be! he thought, shocked.
There was static in his ears and then he heard Xan’s voice, “Raiden, it’s alive! I can’t explain it, but those things are aware! You need to swoop in close and take them out!”
“Roger,” Raiden said and shook off the miss. He took in his ship as close as he could while still being able to avoid getting caught up in the blast and then fired again. The derelict ship attempted to swerve but there wasn’t enough time for it to dodge the missile. The engine block erupted in a massive explosion, bringing the speeding ship to a slowing glide.
The drastic change in speed, with Raiden chasing after it full tilt, caused him to narrowly miss colliding into the back of the ship. “Fuck!” he yelled as he yanked the steering as far right as he could. His heart was thumping in his chest like a drum beat.
Raiden peeled back around to take a run at Xan’s ship. While both ships were halted he knew they couldn’t take the risk of the tendrils activating the engines of Xan’s ship. He got a straight shot and fired, taking out the engines on her ship. For the first time in hours he took in a calm breath. Once he was certain both ships had been incapacitated he set his radar to pick up on the escape pod beacons and set course to pick them up.
Chapter 15: The Aftermath
The derelict ship exploding so close to the Bastion was already becoming somewhat of a legend. Countless thousands of Bastion residents, and ships coming and going in the vicinity, had witnessed the heroic display first hand. Since the incident, which had happened 2 days ago, it was all anyone was talking about.
Raiden, Xan’s crew, and Vex, had all been quarantined since arriving back on the station. Given the extreme biomatter they’d encountered, lead scientists and doctors on the Bastion deemed in necessary not to let them out until they were sure they hadn’t any hazardous DNA on them. It had been an arduous 48 hours for them as they waited while test after test, and decontamination after decontamination procedure was executed.
Raiden had used the time to document what had happened on the derelict ship in a report for Saisei’s military command. Xan had followed suit with making her records for the Conclave. Vex remained oddly quiet and reclusive through all of it. Despite the ships being decommissioned away from the Bastion, his fear was palpable, and left the rest of them feeling uneasy.
Dr. Takei waited anxiously in his lab for the team to be released. Word had reached him about the sample that had been taken from the unknown beings, and he was eager to run tests. It had been a long time since he’d been so excited to work on a project.
It had been a long recovery after the terrorist incident with Niko Adai before the doctor had felt safe returning to his lab. He’d developed a sudden fear for crowds of people. He neglected to see any of the psychologists on board about it; he knew his fear was unfounded and was determined to push through it alone. If there was one thing Seto was proud of, it was of the power of his mind.
He’d never particularly enjoyed being around other people to begin with. Interruptions were always the bane of any intellectual endeavor. But after seeing the politicians that were crushed to death like cattle in a pen, his discomfort grew.
While Dr. Takei waited for the specimen, unsure of how many more hours or days it would take for a sample to arrive, he focused on xenobiology. It had been a main focus of his ever since they had come to the Bastion and were given access to swaths of information. There were many technological advances as well, but Dr. Takei was a methodical man, and intended to make his way through one of the sciences at a time.
Seto studied each species with great interest. He found himself very curious about these Ethlana and their unusually long-life spans. It got him to wonder if there was a way to instill that kind of DNA coding into humans. What I could do with hundreds of years… he thought, imagining it. As a human a meager 70, 80, maybe 100 years if I’m lucky, it’s not enough to scratch the surface of science. Great minds need time.
As he continued to look into the matter he found a lot of the subspecies on the Ethlana home world also lived much longer by comparison to other planet’s subspecies. Both flora and fauna thrived. And it was apparent that even though many of the Ethlana people lived off world, some never even setting foot on their home world in their entire life cycle, they still retained their extended life.
It may have origins on their home planet, but its biological now, hereditary. Fastidiously he took notes and submitted a proposal request for several DNA samples from various beings from their planet. The digital documents were thorough, but there was nothing like seeing with ones’ own eyes to shed new light and perspectives on learning how things worked.
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Freya had holed herself up in her quarters for the past 2 days. She’d heard about the emergency expedition Raiden had gone on not long before the massive explosion had happened. She hadn’t seen it, but she’d felt the shockwave.
After the intel had come in that he had survived, and the initial relief she felt had faded, anger overcame her. She wanted to know why he didn’t tell her he was leaving, not even over the comms, which he could have done if he had to leave in a hurry. They were supposed to tell each other everything. Is he mad about me and Koji? And why is it always that Raiden gets picked for the best missions? She was mad at him, and mad at the system, and at General Yamamoto. I’m JUST as good as Raiden… No, I’m BETTER than Raiden… the thoughts raged in her mind.
She took out her aggression through exercise; the pent-up energy needed an outlet. She did pushups despite the stinging sensation of her healing arm until she couldn’t feel anything but the burn of lactic acid in her chest, then did sit ups until she couldn’t breathe. The pain helped to clear her busy mind.
Koji had come by to check on her the day before. She let him in, grasping for him, and saying nothing. They had had rough, passionate sex, and then she had kicked him out of her room. The sexual release had been relieving, but all too soon her troubled thoughts bubbled back to the surface.
After 2 long days she finally found a sense of calm. She knew what she had to do. No more petty rivalry, no more outbursts, no more fucking up opportunities, she told herself. I am the best pilot, and I’m going to prove it.
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Hiroshi had just excused class for the day, and the students were filing out the door while he packed up his briefcase. Suki pushed her way past the steady stream of students to walk into the classroom to see Hiroshi.
“Hey,” she said as she approached his desk.
“Oh, Suki,” he said, surprised to see her as he looked up. “I haven’t seen you in a while, how are you?”
“Good, thanks for asking, Mr. Kasai,” she said, and held out her hand with 3 data pads, “I just came to return these to the school.”
Hiroshi took hold of the data pads and set them on his desk, “You know, just because you’ve graduated doesn’t mean you can’t come by for continued learning.”
Suki nodded, “I know, and thank you, but I can’t. I just enrolled as a pilot in the military.”
Hiroshi looked at her with a stunned expression on his face for a moment before he replied, “I, I have to say, I’m surprised. You’re such a smart young woman.”
“You can’t be smart in the military?” she said, on the defensive.
“No, not at all. It’s just, you’ve always excelled at book learning. I guess I always imagined you’d have been much more interested in science, or even history,” he shrugged.
Suki felt bad for her anger. She loved literature, and reading, and learning, and she knew he was right. But she’d made her decision, “It’s a new kind of learning,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as him, “You’d be surprised how hard flying is.”
Hiroshi smiled, “I don’t doubt it.
Good luck.”
Suki smiled back, happy to have his support, and then turned around and walked out of the room. She meandered slowly through the corridors. Tomorrow was her first official day of training in the military academy. She had studied the manuals front to back 3 times over. She knew she was ready, it was just a matter of diving into the actual work.
The last few days she’d managed to pack up all of her belongings. She was to be assigned a bunk in the military district, and no longer needed the full residence. It would be provided to another family in need of bigger housing. She felt good about getting out of there, her home had too many memories in it now.
She decided to head for the concourse. It would be her last free day in a long time; new recruits were locked into a 6 month training regiment, and free time would be next to none. She entered the concourse, and it was bustling as usual. It was a major hub for all of the visiting aliens coming over from the Bastion. I guess they all must want souvenirs to take back home… makes sense. I used to ask dad to bring me back rocks from the planets he got to visit… she had to stop her train of thought before she got teary eyed.
