by S D Tanner
Loud hooting echoed across the chamber.
“Come and get it!”
“Hoochie time!”
“Chow down on this!”
Team rabbit were attracting attention. Scrawny transparent bodies were leaping from one pod to the next. Some were the long tentacled jelly type, but too many were shaped like humans. Although the squid variety died easily the humanoid ones could kill them.
“How many?” He asked.
“Hard to say,” Judge replied. “Hundreds or even thousands.”
Hopelessly outnumbered, they were taunting an enemy who could kill them with their spit. Escaping with their lives was going to be hard enough, much less with survivors in tow. They could have left and maybe they should have. Although worrying he’d just done something stupid; he was still slamming down one foot in front of the other. Right or wrong he wasn’t quitting, even if his brain didn’t entirely agree with his decision.
Ahead of him something was emerging from a pod. At first all he could see was a hand. Moments later a bald head appeared, but the person was moving slowly. He wasn't the only one to catch sight of the slight movement. Sliding to a stop at the top of a pod on the next walkway, a flea tilted back its head as if it were sniffing at the air. Seeming to catch the scent of the person emerging from the pod it stood at full height. Stretching so high its head almost touched the walkway above it dropped into a crouch. Springing into the air the limbs and body elongated as if it were made of rubber. When it landed on the walkway where he was standing his trigger finger itched to shoot the damn thing, but an explosion could damage the pods near it.
The person emerging from the pod was followed by another, in the one next to it. He was only forty yards from the pod when the creature sprinted along the walkway toward him. Seeming only to see the emerging sleepers, the flea began a loud, keening wail, which he assumed would attract more of them.
“Shoot it!” Rok shouted from behind him.
“It's too close.”
Without breaking his stride, he slammed into the flea head on. Twisting as it fell from the walkway, it looked up at him with pale eyes as if it was surprised to see him. Tumbling head over foot its wailing had attracted more fleas to their position. At least five more were leaping from one walkway to the next. Seeming oblivious to the four heavily armed men, they were focusing on the people sitting upright inside their pods. Bald and sickly looking he couldn't tell if the survivors were male or female until one fell over the side of the pod. The waxy looking breasts left no doubt as to her gender.
Seemingly aware she was in danger; the woman began crawling across the walkway. He was only twenty yards from her, but the fleas were moving faster than him. A thin and transparent flea was about to land on the woman’s exposed back. Under the bright light the fleas looked far less human. Organs were moving inside their bodies in unnatural ways. Web like veins pulsated under the sheer skin. Although their faces had eyes, nose and a mouth, no one would mistake them for being human.
Hoping to catch the woman before the flea did, he shouted, “Stop moving!”
If she heard him it didn't stop her. Clawing at the metal grill she was almost at the edge of the walkway. As she desperately dug her fingers into the grill, more people fell out of their pods. Copying the woman, they too crawled along the walkway. He had at least four survivors and twice as many fleas closing in on them.
He reached the woman at the exact moment the flea did. For a fraction of a second they stopped mid-flight staring at one another with what appeared to be a shared disbelief. This flea was transparent like the others, but it only had two holes where the nose should have been. Although the eyes appeared human they had no color or iris. The elbow and knee joints looked normal, but he couldn't see any bone underneath the sheer skin. Light was reflecting against its body so that it shimmered slightly. The undulating organs under the skin could have been human. There was a triangular lump that could pass for a heart, and winding coils that looked like intestines, but that was where the resemblance to humanity ended. None of the organs was where they should have been. Twisted coils sat high in the chest cavity. Something shaped like a heart was under the pearly skin over the gut. Wide flaps reminding of him of lungs were situated against each hip. The creature was a jumbled mess designed to have the right parts, but none of the organs would have worked right.
The woman was still crawling along the walkway. She was already half over the edge and if he didn’t do something fast she would fall to her death. He wasn't going to lose her to something he suspected has less brains than an actual flea.
“Screw you!” He shouted.
Bending over and looking up at him, the flea reached a tentacled hand toward the woman. It reminded him of a fistful of boneless fingers, each eagerly stretching to touch her. Skidding onto his hip, he threw his boot forward and cleated the flea in the neck. As his boot connected with what he hoped was its throat, a spray of yellow fluid squirted from its mouth. The head snapped backward and the spray shot at the pods above him. The walkway over them exploded. As he skidded across the floor, overshooting the woman as he did, he threw out a hand hoping to catch any part of her. Something caught his wrist as he gripped around what he hoped was an arm. Although she weighed less than a hundred pounds he wasn't stable. Her weight was enough to change the direction of his skid and he felt himself tipping over the edge of the walkway.
Clutching the rim on the walkway with his left hand he used his right to hold onto the woman. Boots tramped past his fingertips as Judge, Rok and Ash ran to protect the other survivors. A body fell past him. Twisting his head to look to his right he prayed it wasn't one of his men, but all he saw was the white flash of a transparent body falling to its death.
Gunfire erupted followed by loud explosions. “Cease fire!” He shouted.
His order was ignored and he hoped Judge knew what he was doing. Massive blasts from what he assumed were fleas shuddered along the walkway. Looking down, all he could see was the back of the woman's skull. Her head was hanging forward, stretching her neck so sharply he could see the ridging on her spine. A light fuzz of hair made it look like she was wearing a skull cap. Although she’d caught his wrist her hand was now hanging limply against his arm.
Worried she was unconscious, or even dead, he called to her, “Hang on.”
He realized, groaning inwardly, that was probably the stupidest advice he could have given. His fingers were hooked around the mesh on the metal grill, and he bent his elbow hoping to pull her up by at least a few inches. The muscle in his right bicep bulged and complained. Holding onto the woman's forearm, he pulled her upward. If she were conscious she could have grabbed for edge of the walkway; as it was, she might as well have been dead.
Pale bodies were continuing to tumble from the walkway. Some exploded as they plummeted to the ground, making him worry the woman could be hit by flea shrapnel. Another translucent body hurled to its death and he felt a firm hand grab his forearm. As his body ran along the edge of the walkway another hand grabbed the back of his armor. Once he had one knee over the rim of the walkway the woman’s body weight lifted away.
Rok was pulling her onto the walkway next to him. Looking up, he saw Judge was helping three pale men to their feet. Although skinny, bald and naked they seemed aware of their surroundings.
Rising to his feet, he asked, “Are they clean?”
“What does that mean?” Ash asked.
“He means do they have any sucker marks?” Judge replied. Half turning toward him, he added, “They were fully sealed in their pods and they look clean enough.” Looking him up and down, Judge’s mouth twisted into a cynical smirk. “Nice display of leadership. You just hang around while we do all the work.”
“Embrace the suck. Nice way to disobey orders, by the way.”
The woman had been pulled to her feet by Rok, who was studying her as if she was the first he’d ever seen. When she turned to look at him, he asked, “Do you know whe
re you are?” Her hazel eyes were wide with worry and she shook her head. Nodding brusquely, he added, “Join the club.”
There was no time for niceties, not that he had any to offer. Surrounded by fleas inside the enormous chamber they had to leave. They’d found four survivors and it would have to be enough. To go any deeper into the chamber would be suicidal. Pushing the woman ahead of him, he checked the walkways around them. Perhaps his commonsense had finally awoken with the rest of him. Instead of nagging him to save more people his conscience was mercifully quiet.
As he entered the armory with the four survivors, he asked, “Cognitionis, how do you blow up an Ark?”
“Specify requirement.”
Time was not on their side and they immediately left the armory with the four survivors between them. Three males and one female. Not one had said a word, making him wonder if being in deep stasis had damaged their minds. His brain certainly didn't seem to be working too well.
“Can the ship self-destruct?”
“The Arks are designed to withstand travel in deep space.”
“But what if I want to destroy one?”
While Rok led them toward the docking bay, Judge was behind him covering their six. Without looking in his direction, Judge asked, “What are you doing, Tag?”
“These people are being eaten alive.” The woman gasped, as if stifling a cry. Glancing at her and seeing the shock on her face, he took her by the arm and he pushed her forward. “I'm not leaving them in hell.”
They were moving down the stairs toward the lowest level of the ship. Some of the metal stairs were buckled where they hadn't been before. Team rabbit had run into their own fights with the fleas. They didn’t have the weapons, back up, or number of troops, to deal with living bombs. If team rabbit failed then they were stuck on what Judge had rightly called a death ship. But he hadn’t seen any bodies. The closer he got to the shuttle bay the more optimistic he became.
“I'm waiting for an answer. How do I destroy a ship?”
“There are four methods to destroy an Ark.”
“Which one can I do from space?”
“Order the domes to retract into the main ship and initiate a fire sequence.”
“That oughta do it,” Judge said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Truth be Told
The only good thing to come out of their trip to the other Ark was bringing back two shuttles. Once they were a safe distance from the Animax he’d ordered Jessica to crash the domes into the main ship. After retracting into the ship each dome burned brightly as it exploded. For a moment, he’d wondered if the main ship would survive, but then the huge hoops at each end had bent inward. When they’d dropped onto cylindrical body it had snapped across the middle. Billowing flames had burst from the gaping hole on the ship. The fire had spread to both ends of the ship. Pieces of the hull had broken away until so little of the ship had been left that the rest had shattered apart.
It soothed his conscience to know most of the sleepers were already dead. Many of those left alive were slowly being eaten by the fleas. Seeing their deaths as an act of mercy he didn’t regret what he’d done. His mouth still curled with disgust when he thought about the humanoid fleas. What bothered him were those slumbering, untouched by the cruelty surrounding them. They’d needed his help and the best he could do was kill them. If they’d simply never woken he would have worried less, but he’d ordered Jessica to activate the pods. Had they seen the fleas? Did they know what happened to the other sleepers before they died?
Having only been awake for less than a day he’d already added mass murderer to his resume. What if Daisy had been onboard? Had she called for him before the ship exploded? Even when he was only imagining fear in her soft brown eyes it was enough to make his head hurt. To say he felt bad about what happened was an understatement. Not only had he failed to find the missing squads, he’d killed the sleepers he’d meant to save.
They hadn’t found any living quarters or a medical bay on the Prognatus so the survivors were inside the armory. Three pale, lean men were slumped on the benches in the middle of the room. The woman was looking through the window at the chamber filled with pods. After checking every locker Joker had found some spare uniforms. Being severely underweight their heavy canvas pants were tightly belted, and the boots were too wide on their ankles. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen starving people, but he couldn’t remember where the memory had come from.
According to Cogless the domes contained food and other supplies meant for the colonies. If they stayed awake for much longer they would need the gear inside the domes. Mentally adding a trip into the domes to his growing list of things to do, he looked at the men hoping one of them knew more than he did.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a doctor.”
“Do you have a name?”
The skinny, pale man shook his head. “Not one I remember.”
Raising a thin and shaking hand, another man said, “Joe. My name’s Joe.”
“What do you do, Joe?”
“I…I don’t know.”
“Do you remember why you’re on this ship?”
The man who had identified himself as a doctor looked up at him in surprise. “We’re on a ship? A spaceship?”
Speaking for the first time, the third man replied, “We’re on an Ark.”
Zeroing his attention on the man, he asked, “What do you know about the Arks?”
“Arks as in plural?” The doctor asked, still sounding shocked.
Nodding tiredly, the man who knew about the Arks replied, “Yeah, there are three of them. Lunar Horizon built them.”
Walking across the floor until he was standing in front of the man, the rest of the squad also moved closer so they could hear what he had to say. “Do you know why they built them?”
“There was a viral outbreak. Millions died and they couldn’t contain it. Experts said it wouldn’t stop until it wiped out every man, woman and child.” Snorting cynically, the man added, “People will believe anything.”
“Was there a virus?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t going to kill everyone.”
Swamped by her oversized uniform, the woman’s finely featured face appeared almost childlike. Her delicate hands and narrow feet poked out from the thick rolls of fabric, and the pants billowed over her narrow hips. After turning away from the viewing window, she walked across the floor to stand in front of him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Saving my life on the Animax.”
“So, you know where you were?”
Her eyes seemed to darken and she nodded. “We were the pathology team.” When he gave her a confused look, she added, “We study the effect of diseases.” She flicked her chin at the man who’d just told him about the virus. “That’s how we know the virus wasn’t going to kill everyone.” Looking at the doctor, she said, “His name is Bartholomew Beltway. He’s an immunology specialist.”
The sleepers believed they were escaping a fatal virus, but the survivors knew it was a lie. It didn’t make sense. If they’d known the virus wasn’t going to kill everyone, then why had they agreed to board the Ark?
“Why did you leave Earth?”
Snorting, the woman rolled her large hazel eyes. “Nobody wants to stay there.” Turning to look back at the window, she shrugged. “All of those people would have stayed had they known the truth. They were rich. They signed over their entire fortune to Lunar Horizon to escape something that wasn’t even happening.”
Chuckling hoarsely, the man added, “It was a scam. A con. Lunar Horizon were raising capital and taking control of countries. I hate to think what they’ve done since we left.”
The woman nodded. “The people in those pods were some of the most powerful people on Earth. Presidents, Kings, businessmen and spoiled rich kids.” Smiling at him, she added, “When you blew up the Animax you did the universe a favor.” Thrusting ou
t one slim fingered hand, she said, “My name is Melody, but people call me Lolo.”
The other man raised his hand. “I’m Mark.”
Sitting on the bench next to Mark, Lolo looked up at him. “Originally Lunar Horizon built their empire on nuclear power. They designed a new method of splitting the atom that was a lot safer. Rather than share the technology they moved their operation to countries outside of US control. By packaging power into packs, they effectively took over from oil.”
He didn’t remember anything about an alternative to oil, but he could easily imagine the money Lunar Horizon would have made. “What happened after that?”
“You know what they say. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption. What people don’t know is absolute greed is a limitless road. Lunar Horizon began taking control. They took over media and communications. It gave them control over the truth. Then they started telling lies and each one more outrageous than the last. Along the way they bought politicians and governments, but they couldn’t get complete control over the more developed nations.”
“Not until they came up with the brilliant idea to get rid of them,” Mark added.
Glancing at Mark, Lolo nodded. “It was a stroke of genius. Initially they engaged us to investigate whether we could develop viruses to target DNA, but then they decided they only had to make people believe everyone was going to die.”
Frowning at her frankness, he asked, “Did you agree to kill people with a deadly virus?”
