Deep Space Dead

by Chilvers, Edward

  The stadium erupted into jeers and catcalls. Hari Shorr barged to the front of the stage and began to harangue Sol in no uncertain terms. “You dare doubt our integrity after all we have been to?” He cried, attempting to whip the crowd up into a frenzy. “You who just stood and watched when my family – Our families – were torn apart by the dead eyed brutes?”

  “My officers and I risked our lives against those creatures,” declared Sol through gritted teeth. “We guarded the gates. We fought them back when they tried to enter the starship. We stayed on and fired so that the people might safely get though.”

  “And a fat lot of good you did with it all,” replied Hari Shorr. “We all know you closed the doors when there were still people outside who could have been saved. We all know you doomed thousands of people to their deaths so you could save your precious hides.”

  “That’s not the truth,” said Sol, although looking around the angry faces of the colonists he could see his words were in vain.

  “If you won’t distribute the food fairly we must come and take it,” snapped Hari Shorr. “We grew it, you merely talked about and consumed it. Those supplies are ours by right!”

  Sol ducked down as something whizzed through the air, missing his head by an inch. More missiles now followed; shoes, plates, dinner knives, anything the colonists could get their hands on. Sol fired the pistol in the air. The colonists stopped their advance for but a moment. It was enough time for Sol to stagger back out of the stadium, virtually dragging Chairman Bol out with him. Hari Shorr and a few others dived in after him and grappled to the ground. Sol managed to reach for his rifle, spun around and fired blindly. The head of one colonist disintegrated with the impact of his shot, sending an explosion of blood throughout the immediate vicinity. Hari Shorr and his fellows stepped back in horror and this allowed Sol and the Chairman all the time they needed to leap to their feet and flee out of the stadium and into the arboretum. Many other colonists were fleeing as well, unwilling to get caught up in the violence. Sol and the Chairman were grateful to get lost in the crowds and made their way slowly back to the administrative chambers where the rest of the Council, including Arianna and Ambra, were waiting for them. Jak quickly sealed them off from the rest of the starship, effectively trapping them inside. “Close the doors to the arboretum,” ordered Chairman Bol firmly. “Seal them off completely.”

  “But the main body of protesters are already in the corridors,” protested Jak. “Should we not…”

  “Seal off the arboretum,” ordered Bol with rare vehemence. “Do it now and without further questioning.”

  Jak did as he was asked. The majority of those now trapped inside the arboretum were the tail end of the protesters.

  “They’re still angry by the looks of things,” said Barra Herr with concern as he looked into the holoscreens. “They’re ripping that stadium apart. Might be worth giving them some time to cool down before opening the doors.”

  “Open the doors and we’ll have a riot on our hands for sure,” said Col Gayze. “We’ve got them where we want them and they can’t cause any trouble. Best leave them to simmer for a while until they come to accept their rations.”

  “Are all the rangers and police officers out of there?” Asked the Chairman quietly.

  “They are,” replied Sol. “Each man reported in and dealing with the trouble being caused by Shorr and the main vanguard.”

  “How many people are at that protest?” Asked Magnuj Bol.

  “Four thousand,” replied Barra Herr.

  “Four thousand inside the stadium, yes?”

  “That is so,” replied the communications man.

  “Turn on the cameras and put it all on the big screens,” ordered the Chairman. “Interrupt everybody’s feed with a view of what is taking place in the stadium. Then, to everybody’s surprise, Magnuj Bol went into his private office adjoining the meeting room and closed the door behind him. “Apologies,” he said through the intercom a moment later. “There is something I need to do.”

  “What is he playing at?” Demanded Arianna.

  “I don’t know,” replied Jak with concern.

  Suddenly the starship’s holoscreens flickered into life as one. The chairman’s face appared before them. “I want all of you to know that I do this completely of my own volition and without the prior knowledge of the Council,” began Magnuj Bol. “We have thus-far survived through a mix of sheer luck and unity. Indeed it is my belief that unity is what will get us through this crisis. Now, however, there is unrest amongst us here on the ship. I do not blame those causing the unrest and I recognise the hardships we have all experienced this past week. We came here, to Hearthstone, hoping to find a new Utopia. Instead we have found only hell. Unspeakable creatures attack us from without and from within we now fight amongst ourselves. Such a situation, although not unique in the annuls of human history, has nonetheless not taken place for many thousands of years. As the head of the Council, and as your leader, it is not up to me to take the difficult decisions needed in order to maximise the chances of survival of what is left of us.”

  From the control panel at the back of the room there came a series of long beeps. “What is it?” Demanded Jak.

  “Bol has locked the computer mainframe,” replied Barra Herr with concern. “Why he has sealed off the entire corridor of the arboretum leading to the fifth exit.”

  “What on earth is he playing at?” Demanded Sol. “Why surely he can’t be…”

  “Look!” Exclaimed Arianna, pointing to one of the holoscreens. “The doors to the arboretum are being opened.”

  “And they’re not the only doors being opened!” Cried Barra Herr, his voice rising to a high pitched crescendo. “Look! Bol is opening the fifth exit as well. The creatures! They are inside the ship!”

  Inside the arboretum the remaining colonists realised at once what was about to happen to them. Anguished screams filled the air. They climbed over one another in a bid to get away and the spontaneous stampede crushed hundreds in a matter of seconds. The colonists rushed up to the closed off doors, prising at their hinges and desperately hammering, desperately begging for mercy. But Chairman Bol was prepared to offer them none and the revenants even less. Gyrating bodies, some of them cleaved clean in half, were tossed up into the air. With a single movement the revenants tore off faces and limbs. Massive hands reached down and squeezed the colonists heads to a pulp as though they were made of fresh grapes. Soon the screams gave way to baying, unhuman howls. The revenants settled down. There was nobody left alive to attack. Multiple hungry jaws moved in unison, the sound of the terrible feast carried through the speakers of the ship, the terrible sight broadcast for all the remaining survivors to see.

  “Do you think this will solve anything?” Said Jak desperately through the intercom, addressing Chairman Bol. The rest of the Council were white faced and stunned. Col Gayze had thrown up on the floor.

  “No,” replied Magnuj Bol. “As a matter of fact I believe I have started a war. But when that war is won, by whichever side, there will be even less of you and it will be very much a case of survival of the fittest. There is now enough food, on starvation rations, for another fortnight. Let this be my final gift to you. I wish you all well.” Magnuj Bol picked up a pistol and raised it to his head. There came a loud crack as he fired the gun followed by a splash of blood as the Chairman’s brains splattered on to the camera, drenching everybody’s screens in a hideous scarlet hue. Arianna collapsed to the floor. Col Gayze, the man who had previous advocated an even larger genocide, fell to his knees and vomited all over the carpet once more. Sol and Jak just looked on stunned. At that moment the doors to the office swung open. The lockdown was switched off. Sol hurried into the room and crouched down over the Chairman’s body. He already knew the man was beyond help.

  But there were more immediate concerns to be taken care of. Jak rushed into the office, closely followed by Barra Herr. “Close off the doors to the outside,” ordered Jak urgently. “
At least stop any more from getting inside.”

  “They may be trapped inside with us but they’re far too close for comfort. For crying out loud they’re actually inside the ship!” Wailed Col Gayze piteously.

  “They cannot get through,” said Barra Herr as he took charge of the control panel. “Bol turned the emergency shields on. We’re just as safe.”

  “That’s not the point,” muttered Jak bitterly. “Thanks to Bol’s little stunt we’ve lost an entire section of the ship as well as thousands of good people.” He swallowed hard as the enormity of what had just taken place finally hit him.

  “What Bol has done cannot be forgiven,” said Dr Palk darkly.

  “Nonetheless we somehow need to move on from it,” said Jak. “And we need control of the arboretum back as well. Turn off the airlocks and let the creatures suffocate. And if there are any people still alive down there I daresay they will be in enough of a state to welcome death with open arms.”

  Throughout the rest of the ship the scenes on the holoscreens had sent the colonists into a blind panic. Many of them took their families and rushed back to their quarters, locking the doors behind them lest the vengeful Council allowed the creatures into their section as well. But a hard core, led by Hari Shorr and others who felt themselves with nothing left to lose, were filled with more outrage than before and resolved to tear the ship apart in a bid to wreak a final vengeance on the murderous Council. Meanwhile in the arboretum the creatures twisted and retched in final desperate grimaces as they suffocated. Under normal circumstances it would have been a satisfying sight to the colonists, but only the Council were watching the holoscreens now.

  14

  “Rioting throughout the ship,” said Barra Herr with alarm as he looked into the holoscreens.

  “We need to lock the doors,” said Col Gayze. “We need to get ourselves to the arboretum. The revenants are all dead now. We can hold out there for as long as we need and use what food there is as a bargaining chip.”

  “They’re already inside the arboretum!” Exclaimed Barra Herr with horror. “Somebody must have accessed the western control room and opened the doors. See how they flood back in, led by that accursed Hari Shorr.”

  “What of the revenants?” Demanded Col Gayze in a panic.”

  “The revenants are all dead,” replied Jak. “And Shorr is smart enough to take the risk. He knows holding the arboretum is the key to controlling the ship. He knows even if we were of a mind to wipe them all out we could not seal off the arboretum with creatures indefinitely.”

  “In the meantime three of the rangers have deserted plus seven of the officers,” said Ramp Profut gravely. “Or at least I have picked them up amongst the throng of protesters.”

  “Ten armed men to join the massed ranks of the colonists,” muttered Sol. “Bol knew this would happen. He has sold us all out.”

  “They still need us,” said Prima Blak. “We’re the experts. I’ve worked with some of these colonists for years.”

  “They won’t be considering that right now,” muttered Jak. “Their anger is too strong.”

  “We need to compromise,” said Sol. “I’ve had enough of bloodshed.”

  “We need to have another plan,” said Banda Ure.

  “They won’t listen to any plans,” muttered Sol. “They want action and they want it now.”

  The holoscreens flashed to the arboretum. Gan Cuk looked on in askance as he saw people hurrying up to the half grown crops and ripping them from the soil. “If they eat that they’re going to have stomach cramps for the rest of the week,” said Dr Palk.

  “They’re desperate,” replied Sol. “They’ve got no reason left after what Bol has done to them.”

  People were chanting and shouting. Arianna saw Hari Shorr gesticulating with his fists. Every face in the crowd was fixed in anger as they stood over the bodies of their fallen, ripped up comrades. There were no tears now, just defiance.

  “Let me do the talking,” said Sol, going over to the intercom. “We’ve got all the administrative instruments here. From here we control the ship. How much food do we have in here? Come on, don’t act coy. I know some of you are stockpiling.”

  “Enough to keep one person fed for a month,” said Barra Herr, swallowing hard.

  “Then you stay here,” Sol told him. “Without this room they cannot control the ship. Lock yourself in and stay there no matter what. The rest of us will go down to meet the representatives.”

  “They’ll rip us apart,” protested Col Gayze, and his tone was hysterical. “They won’t care about this room; all they want is vengeance for their fallen comrades.”

  “They’ll listen to us,” said Sol. “Just stick with me. I have an idea.”

  Arianna and the others started to make their way towards the arboretum. Those officers who had stayed loyal formed a protective cordon around the Council. Evidently somebody had made the protesters aware of the imminent arrival for a small crowd now thronged to meet them and had to be repelled by shots fired in the air.

  “Sol has certainly stepped up to take the lead,” said Jak wryly as they walked.

  “It isn’t as though anybody else wants to take charge,” replied Arianna.

  Hari Shorr stopped speaking in mid flow when he noticed the Council converged at the front of the arboretum and seemed about to order the crowd to tear them apart. Then he saw the guns being held by the rangers and police officers and held back. He was not about to instigate yet another massacre of his people.

  “Magnuj Bol acted on his own,” said Sol, stepping forward and speaking without preamble. “He locked himself in the control room and there was nothing we could do to stop him. You saw how he blew his own head off afterwards. He was unhinged.”

  “You acted as one as well you know,” spat Hari Shorr. “Bol was set up. You have betrayed us and will do so again.”

  “We cannot betray you,” said Sol. “You have the arboretum whilst we have the engine room.”

  Hari Shorr may have been a rabble rouser driven mad with grief but he was canny enough to realise that without the control room the revolt was nothing. He knew too that Barra Herr could open the doors of the starship and let the revenants is at any time. It was the ultimate doomsday scenario.

  “Are you in charge?” asked Hari Storr, his tone softening slightly.

  “Not entirely,” replied Sol, knowing he was acting without the authority of the Council. “All I am asking for is a chance. We got all those things out there trying to rip us apart. Let’s not do their job for them, huh?”

  Hari Shorr thought for a moment. “Very well,” he said at last, a thin smile playing about his lips. “We will give you two days to prove yourselves, and I would estimate we have around four days of food left. After two days the action will become more drastic. It so happens we have arranged a little collateral of our own.” Hari Shorr looked down from the stairs and beckoned. To Arianna’s horror Jen Henna came up the steps holding a weeping Ambra by the hand. “Your daughter, Chief Sol,” said Hari Shorr, his tone taunting. “I notice she was not amongst the protesters butchered by the revenants earlier. I notice she has been kept safe from us paupers in the luxury of the administrative quarters. Until now that is.”

  “Ambra!” Cried Arianna, surging forwards. But the crowd surged forwards to hold her back. Jak came forwards and detached her, half dragging her away as Jen Henna pushed her way through and glared accusing at Sol. “You let them die,” said Jen Henna, tears flowing from her eyes. “My husband was among those protesters who were ripped apart. You let him die!”

  “It was not us!” Cried Sol, struggling to control his emotions, hand tight upon the handle of his pistol. “And this has nothing to do with Ambra. If you will not let her go for me do it for Arianna. What kind of people rip a mother from her only daughter?”

  “What kind of leader would betray their own people to monsters?” Retorted Hari Shorr.

  “Nobody is going to sell anybody out,” replied Sol. “This is com
pletely unnecessary.”

  “Would you like to watch whilst we feed your daughter to the revenants?” Taunted Hari Shorr. “Shall we sacrifice her like you sacrificed all those thousands of people?”

  “No!” Cried Arianna. She made to rush forward to seize her daughter back was prevented from doing so by Jak who held her back.

  “We will take the rover out,” said Jak desperately. “If you force us into it then this is the only thing we can do.”

  “We will go,” said Arianna desperately. “We will go now if you like. We will risk the revenants and we will come back with food. Why I would walk out there myself, unguarded and unarmed and face the revenants alone for my daughter.”

  “Many of us, myself included, did exactly that the other day,” replied Hari Shorr darkly, a pained expression upon his face.

  “Look Hari,” said Sol desperately. “I’m sorry for what happened to your family but this is no reason to…”

  “Two days,” interrupted Hari Storr, his expression steely. “And if you think things are bad now they will be as nothing compared to if you come back empty handed.”

  “They’re going to kill her,” sobbed Arianna hysterically after Sol and Jak had all but dragged her back to the Council chambers.

  “If they harm so much as a hair on her head I swear I’ll open every door in this starship and damn us all to the revenants,” vowed Sol darkly.

  “They know that and that’s why they won’t hurt Ambra,” said Col Gayze. “They can’t control us.”

  “No but they can starve us out,” said Jak. “And that isn’t something any of us want. Even after all that’s happened I still want to save as many people from this mess as we can.”