by Colin Weldon
“India?” he said moving further into the room.
“Aron?” came India’s voice finally from behind him.
She had been crouching in the corner.
“What are you doing?” Aron said as she got to her feet.
“I heard something and figured it was the best vantage point to mount a surprise attack,” India said, “what the hell is going on?”
Tyrell followed Aron into the room. India regarded him with suspicion, as she normally did with Tyrell.
“I think we’ve got some problems here,” Aron said.
“Like?” India replied.
“Was the transmitter array from Earth One brought aboard?” Aron said.
“Yeah, it’s in the cargo bay, why?” India said.
“You have a transmitter array?” Tyrell replied.
“Yeah, we brought what technology we could on board for planetary settlement. We wanted a way to keep track of our people on the new home world. It was used to monitor incoming transmissions in the hopes of one day getting a signal back from The Agathon,” Aron said.
“We can contact the ship?” Tyrell said.
“If it wasn’t damaged,” Aron replied.
“Do you have time to tell me what the hell is going on?” India asked, “even the short version?”
Aron glanced at her.
“We’re on another ship of bad guys, India, we’re in trouble here, an alien life form has control of Carrie and I don’t think our well-being is high on their priority list,” Aron said.
India paused.
“Right,” she said, “in that case, let me get my gun.”
***
“We need to get off this deck,” said Tyrell as the trio made their way swiftly towards the end of the hallway.
“How?” Aron replied, “if they haven’t noticed we’re gone already, they will as soon if we use the transport pod things, no?”
Tyrell began holding the side of his head.
“You alright?” Aron said.
Tyrell looked back at him and sniffed, wiping his nose.
“Fine, bad headaches, strange memories,” Tyrell replied, “I can cover our tracks, don’t worry about that. Are you sure you can get the transmitter to work?”
Aron glanced at India who had her hand on her side arm, which was now strapped to her hip. She looked pensive.
“We’ll be fine, let’s just get to it,” Aron said.
They continued down the hallway before stopping short of the transporter pod. Tyrell stopped suddenly and swung around in a sharp jerking motion. The movement clearly startled India who whipped out her gun and pointed it in the direction of Tyrell’s gaze. The trio looked down the long and seemingly empty hallway. Aron watched Tyrell carefully. His eyes darted frantically in his head.
“What is it?” Aron said in a demanding whisper.
Tyrell shook his head.
“Nothing,” he replied before turning back and fiddling with what looked like an access panel.
“I don’t like this,” India said, “they rescued us, no? I mean what was the point of that if they don’t give a shit?”
“Carrie,” Tyrell replied, still concentrating on the panel he was working on.
“Why?” India replied.
“You’ve seen what she can do, yes?” Tyrell said.
They all had. Aron was still trying to get it straight in his head.
“Her powers?” India replied, “they want her powers? How do they plan on doing that? And what have we got to do with it?”
“Got it, let’s go,” Tyrell said stepping onto the pad.
“Sir?” India said.
“Let’s talk on the way,” Aron said.
“I was just going to say, you’re not armed,” India said.
Aron suddenly realised that she was right.
“Carrie’s still in there,” Tyrell said, “I don’t think she’ll let it harm us.”
“It being?” India replied.
Tyrell stared into nothing.
“Something truly terrible,” Tyrell replied.
India and Aron stepped on the transport pod.
“I don’t like this, not one bit,” India replied.
Tyrell placed his hand on the smooth surface of the pod and Aron felt a cold air circulate through his body as the world dissolved around him.
A second later, and they were surrounded by cargo containers and storage pods. Tyrell stepped carefully off the pad and began to look around with trepidation, scanning every corner. Aron followed his gaze, the cargo bay appeared to be empty.
“There could be hundreds of those things staring at us right now and we wouldn’t have a clue,” India said from behind Aron.
“That’s a chance we have to take,” Tyrell whispered.
“Over there,” Aron said pointing to a large metal crate stacked neatly on top of another one.
It looked to be just less than five meters in length and had the Red colony markings on its front.
“India, you’re on lookout,” Aron said.
India nodded while Aron and Tyrell walked with purpose across the cargo bay towards the container. Aron scanned his surroundings as he went. The cargo bay was massive with the containers and equipment from the old space stations neatly placed in one curved corner. The rest of the cargo bay was completely empty.
There was something in the air as Aron moved across the room, a smell, like burning. He stopped and looked around. It certainly looked like they were alone. Something clinked against his foot and skittered across the floor. Aron looked down at the small metal fragment, then he saw another. A pile of debris was spread out across the cargo bay.
“Hang on, Tyrell,” Aron said moving to one side.
The debris seemed to go around a corner of highly stacked containers. Aron followed it and then saw the origin. He quickly spun around to make sure they were really alone.
“What the hell?” Aron said.
Scorched metal, clothing, and what looked like machine parts littered the area. Something had exploded them. There was a gaping hole in one of the walls.
“I think we should really be getting a move on,” Tyrell said.
Aron nodded and watched as a few small wisps of smoke rose from inside the scorched metal boxes.
“This was recently done,” Aron said.
“Indeed,” Tyrell replied tapping his shoulder and indicating that they needed to move.
The pair made their way to the container with the communications equipment inside. The access door was sealed with a simple slip bolt. Aron pulled it up and slid open the hinged door. The self-contained beacon was one of the last pieces of equipment to be wrapped up before they transported aboard. Tyrell joined him inside the container and regarded the control panel.
“I just remembered something,” Tyrell said.
“Oh?” Aron said turning on the main power systems. The control panel bleeped to life as an array of blinking lights spread out across the system.
“You’ve survived by yourselves, for all this time, drifting through space. Hundreds of years,” Tyrell replied.
Aron glanced at Tyrell.
“We didn’t know any better,” Aron replied.
“Still, it’s incredible,” Tyrell said.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d lived my life, what they did to us, knowing the things humans could do to each other… incredible isn’t a word I would use,” Aron said.
“I don’t understand,” Tyrell replied.
Aron turned to him.
“You read about us. You know how we survived,” Aron said.
“My memory of things is patchy, like drifting in and out of a dream,” Tyrell replied.
Aron sighed and turned back to calibrating the computer.
“Well suffice to say that i
t sucked,” said Aron
“I see,” Tyrell replied.
“Do you?” Aron said.
“Well, survival turns even the most civilised into something akin to animals. Back a human into a corner and it’s capable of anything,” Tyrell said.
Aron paused and glanced back at him.
“You’re a scientist?” Aron said.
Tyrell nodded slowly.
“I’m not in any way justifying it, but you have survived as a species for all this time. That’s all,” Tyrell said.
“It’s that sort of thinking that took my little girl away. Scientists, making calls that only look to ones and zeros. Better to be destroyed than turn into insects,” Aron said glaring into Tyrell’s eyes.
There was something about him. Something cold that Aron had just seen. He would be keeping a very close eye on this man. A very close eye. Tyrell glanced at the ground before giving Aron a nod.
“I take your point. How’s it going with the transmitter?” Tyrell said.
“It’s online,” Aron said, “we transmit and they’ll be able to detect our signal.”
Tyrell pushed past him and gestured with his hand to give him some space.
“May I?” Tyrell said.
“Sure,” Aron replied looking out at the empty cargo bay.
“Interesting adaptations.”
“In what way?”
“Being able to maintain your technology for all this time, is well, remarkable.”
“What are you doing?” Aron asked.
Tyrell seemed to be adjusting the frequency modulator.
“I’m trying to make it look like the background radiation of the approaching nebulae. That way, they might not notice.”
“Okay, how do you know how to do that?” Aron replied.
“I know more than you think, young man,” Tyrell replied.
“Okay,” Aron said scanning his surroundings.
Aron heard the faint sounds of a tone from the communications beacon and turned to Tyrell.
“Okay, we’re locked, where do I speak?” Tyrell said.
“It transmits data only,” Aron said.
“You’re kidding me,” Tyrell said.
“Nope,” Aron replied.
“Brilliant, well, I’ll have to hope that someone over there will be able to read this then,” Tyrell said as he began entering a sequence into the computer system.
“Well, just make sure that...” Aron started. He heard something moving behind him. There, smiling at him stood Carrie Barrington.
Aron’s heart skipped a beat. He knew it wasn’t her instantly. It was the way she was smiling. Crooked and insincere, bearing teeth as a predator would.
“Carrie?” Aron said.
Carrie tilted her head to look past his right shoulder towards Tyrell. She tilted her head back and moved her bright blue eyes to meet Aron’s. She began to shake her head slowly from left to right.
“Tyrell, I really haven’t given you the credit you deserve. Come out here for a moment, will you?” Carrie said just raising her voice enough to be heard clearly.
Aron heard a clicking sound from behind him and then Tyrell emerged from the cargo container, slowly. The pair stood side by side. Aron tried to catch a glimpse of India lurking in his peripheral vision without moving his eyes to give her away, but there was no sign of her.
“Carrie, what’s going on?” Aron said to her.
Carrie raised her finger to her lips.
“Come now, Aron, we both know she’s not here right now, let’s not play games,” Carrie said.
Aron knew a dangerous mind when he saw one, he’d been ruled by one his whole life. Alien life form or not, danger was danger. This was not Carrie. This was something else. She moved differently. There was an arrogance to it, a smooth confident way in which she held herself, almost looking for a fight. She glanced at Tyrell.
“So, what have you been up to then?” she said.
“Checking equipment,” Tyrell said.
Carrie frowned. She took a step towards Tyrell and whipped her hands out, grabbing his throat. Tyrell responded by reflexively gagging and grabbing her arms with both his hands. Aron made a move for her and grabbed her left arm. Carrie removed her left hand from Tyrell’s throat and slammed it into Aron’s chest lifting him cleanly off his feet and sending him shooting backwards onto his side. The force of the punch was unnatural. Aron, now winded and gasping for breath, looked back at Carrie with shocked eyes. He was about to get up when he heard a high-pitched zapping noise followed by a snapping sound. He saw Carrie spin to her right and drop to the ground releasing Tyrell as she went. She had been hit by something.
India.
Tyrell crumpled to his knees, his hands firmly wrapped around his neck as he gasped for breath.
Aron got to his feet and massaged his rib cage. Movement to his right caught his attention as India crept towards him, weapon drawn and still firmly pointed at the downed Carrie Barrington. She looked at him and gave him a brief nod. He mouthed thanks back to her.
“You all right?” he said to Tyrell as he took his arm and helped him up.
Tyrell just nodded, coughing at the same time, clearly needing a minute or two to get himself together. Aron looked to Carrie, now lying unconscious on the ground. Her suit was still intact but there was a definite smell of burning flesh, she’d been wounded. India approached and pointed the gun at her head. Aron raised his hand to her.
“What?” India said.
“Hang on,” Aron said looking at Tyrell, “what can we do here?”
Tyrell took several long breaths and looked at Carrie.
“You should kill her, believe me, you’d be doing her a favour.”
23
Carrie screamed in pain. She was in a lightning storm, floating and spinning through a nightmare, surrounded by powerful bursts of electricity. Each one hitting her repeatedly like the lashings of a whip. She howled in agony, crying as she drifted through a void of endless torture. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. She had crawled through the sea of black. Having fallen into nothing, she became surrounded by light. She had no control. It was like drifting through a thunderstorm in space. Pain cut through her chest and she bellowed in agony again. She felt like dying, wondered if she even could, in here, in the darkest recesses of her mutated mind. She grabbed her stomach with her arms and rolled herself into a ball.
“Help,” she screamed through a clenched jaw, “please stop.”
The lightning bursts continued their relentless assault for another second before quietly subsiding. There was silence in the void. The pain ceased. The lightning no longer struck her body. She drifted quietly, while in the distance, only the occasional flickering of light cut through the sky. Carrie tried to steady herself. She was shaking. The memory of the pain still fresh on her skin. She took what felt like a breath. She was weak, exhausted. She looked through teary eyes and tried to get a grasp of where she was and what to do.
“Try and relax, Carrie,” came Jennifer’s voice from the blackness.
“Mother?” Carrie said.
“It doesn’t know you’re here yet. Your body has been damaged, Carrie, we need to hurry.”
“What’s happened?” Carrie said turning her head to look in all directions.
“You’ve been shot.”
“I’ve been what? Who did that?”
“Open your mind, Carrie, you can view the outside world here, same as before.”
“And where is here?” Carrie said.
“You can think of it as a gateway to the synapses. There isn’t exactly a physical location per se. Suffice to say that this is where we get the demon out,” Jennifer said.
“Why can’t I see you?” Carrie said.
“I’m not strong enough to be where you are. It’s safer for you if you just hea
r my voice,” Jennifer said.
“Right.”
“Now concentrate, open your mind to the outside world again, let’s see where we are.”
Carrie took a breath and closed her eyes. Or rather closed the eyes of whatever this manifestation of her body was. It was a strange thing to think about. Being a thought within a thought. The darkness began to give way as an image began to form. This time from all around her. It was like being in one of those reality simulators they had back on Earth. Except in this one, she had no control, she was just a passenger. The blackness grew bright as an image of Tyrell, Aron, and India came into focus. The trio was standing in a row looking down at her. Carrie felt something on her back. A dull ache that sprang from out of nowhere. The ache grew to a piercing pain. She grabbed her shoulder and felt something wet. She pulled her hand back and looked at the blood.
“What the hell?” Carrie said.
“You’ve been injured,” Jennifer’s voice said.
“Out there? Why am I bleeding if it’s in my mind?” Carrie said trying to block out the excruciating pain from the wound on her back.
“It’s still your mind, Carrie, you’re still very much connected to it,” Jennifer said.
“What’s happening out there?” Carrie said.
“They think they have the upper hand. They’re about to be proven wrong. You’re going to have to be strong, Carrie, we have work to do and no matter what happens you must focus on yourself. It’s the only way you’ll be able to get it out,” Jennifer said.
Carrie looked out at the outside world, she looked at Aron. A dread began to creep into her.
“What’s about to happen?” Carrie asked softly.
Jennifer did not answer.
***
Aron watched closely as Carrie opened her eyes and looked up at him. She turned her head slowly and looked down at the wound under her right shoulder. She looked back up at Aron and smiled. Her arms were tied neatly behind her back with thin cabling and then attached to a bolt onto the container. She was secured. He hoped.
