by Aaron Bunce
She heard Soraya screaming at the people to move, their terrified responses, and her own beating heart. The floor vibrated with every thunderous step of the approaching monster, the subtle ding of the elevator almost lost in the din.
Anna’s thoughts spun as she searched the walls, the doors, and the ceiling around her. She spun, catching sight of Garrett slowly, painfully crawling away from her, moving towards the ambling monstrosity, moving like a child to its parent.
Her breath caught, and she pushed back into Soraya, but they weren’t moving anymore. The crowd’s energy was toxic, crashing over her like suffocating, urine-tinged waves of dread. She stepped on someone’s ankle and almost fell back, but caught herself.
The creature appeared in another light, as if jumping from shadow to shadow. A crack split the air, and the shadows drew even closer.
Her eyes shot up to the ceiling, catching on a yellow strip of caution paint right above her. It framed in a two-inch strip of metal. Anna’s gaze crawled down the wall, following a track running all the way to the ground. A small service panel sat right next to it.
“It’s a fire door. A fire door,” Anna gasped pushing off and sliding to her knees. It was a fired door, or a pressure door. She couldn’t remember exactly which. All that mattered was that it was designed to close and seal off the passage.
“What…what does that mean?” Soraya asked, still pushing the crowd.
Anna hooked her fingers into the maintenance port, but the cover refused to open. She slid both hands under the lip and pulled, grunting and pulling. Her arms strained, and the metal groaned, but finally popped and swung outward.
She fumbled her code scanner out of her pocket, pulled the plug out, and jammed it into the port. The scanner booted up, the small screen glowing to life as lines of boot code scrolled down over the screen.
Another light cracked, plastic raining down noisily in the hall. Anna couldn’t bear to look up. She could feel the darkness getting closer, the skeletal arms breaking and crushing, the mouths opening and closing…the death.
The scanner menu popped up and Anna fumbled with the cheap buttons on the side. The icon refused to move, so she smashed it in hard. The little square of white moved down once, and then twice.
Anna connected, the door control driver popping up, designated only by a massive string of letters and numbers. It connected right away.
Bang Bang Crash…the darkness drew closer. Anna could smell it – sour, like stomach acid. The ill feeling was back, too, bubbling inside and settling like a greasy film on her skin. She didn’t want to feel the thing, or be anywhere near it for that matter. She wanted to run, but her instincts told her that if she did, they would all die.
“My god, Anna. Move…It’s coming. Move…move!” Soraya screamed. She was further down the passage, moving people.
“I can’t. What if there isn’t another door further down…there will be no…” she yelled back, flipping through the menus one after another, her fingers moving faster than her eyes could track. But she couldn’t finish her sentence…it felt like she would be sick.
“It’s too close…Anna, please move!” Soraya screamed.
Anna shook her head, swallowing hard. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead, saliva filling her mouth. Her mind spun in frantic circles as she flipped through command prompt after command prompt, but she couldn’t find a direct way to just close the damn door. She was running out of time. A foul breeze wafted over her, and she knew it was close, the darkness crawling on the floor just beyond her knees.
Boots stomped onto the floor next to her and she heard Soraya snap the stun batons out to full length. The other woman’s presence sent a jolt of strength charging through her.
“Go, Soraya…please, just go!” Anna gasped, spinning through another dozen menus. Sweat dripped off her face and onto the screen.
“I’m not leaving you,” Soraya snarled, and Anna heard her turn the knobs on the weapons, the electric hum increasing in intensity. They were both going to die because she wasn’t smart enough, not quick enough.
“Just go, you don’t need to…” Anna hiccupped, as she was about to say you don’t need to die, too, but the truth hit her. She didn’t need to command the door to close, it only mattered that it closed. She pushed back through a dozen menus and found the one she was looking for.
{{Root-test_menu}}
Anna opened it, found another prompt, and immediately found what she needed.
{{_menu – scan door for error code(s)}}
[Pressure door test -_]
[open – status_]
[alt-close-test_]
[close]
Bang Bang Crash. The darkness flooded over her and Soraya growled, but Anna screamed, “I got it! I got it!” and smashed the button. She dropped the scanner, and rolled back.
An ear-splitting claxon sounded, a line of yellow lights flashing all the way up the wall. Anna pushed off the ground, hooked an arm around Soraya’s waist, and yanked her back.
The beast was right on top of them. The spidery arms swung in and hit the wall above her code scanner with a sharp crack, punching clear through the ceramic panels. They jumped back as another set of arms crashed down, punching through the textured metal at their feet. They reared back to stab out again, but the door dropped, shiny stainless steel sinking from the ceiling.
Anna shoved back with her hands and feet, Soraya wrenching her body back as the monster’s arms stabbed at them. The door hit the boney arms with a crunch, the hallway filling with a horrible screech.
Something vibrated from inside Soraya’s pocked just as Anna flinched into her. The door groaned, the hydraulics whining loudly. Bones snapped and broke as metal ground against metal. The claxon abruptly stopped wailing, replaced by a slightly less intrusive beeping.
“Anna…Anna, it worked,” Soraya gasped, nudging her.
She opened her eyes, lowering her hands from her face. The shiny, partitioned door was closed...most of the way. The creature’s long arm lay on the ground before them, trapped and broken under the door’s bulk, like the twisted branches of some long-dead tree.
Her code scanner beeped, a message flashing on the screen. Anna scuttled over on her hands and knees and scooped the small device off the ground.
[Error-door closure failure_]
[-Test failed-00001432-]
[-Open door to service_]
[Open]
The error button continued to flash, the device prompting her to open the door again and again. Anna carefully set the code scanner down and backed away. She didn’t dare unplug it – what if the door opened automatically if she did? What if it would time out and open again anyways?
“Anna,” Soraya whispered behind her.
She looked from the code scanner to the door, and over to the horrible arms. The creature was moving on the other side of the door. She could see it in the small gap between the bottom and the floor. Something heavy and hard struck the door, the shiny metal shaking in the light.
0600 Hours
Jacoby picked up the data point off the table, the screen coming alive in the underwhelming glow of the single, small overhead light. The home screen was fairly similar to his, although the network i.d. was different.
He opened the network directory, a flashing microphone icon appeared, and said “Anna Vullinova.” The network icon spun and a weighted moment later, her name appeared on the screen.
Jacoby clicked on her name and the icon spun for another long moment. A message popped up.
[Hidden Network] Network cannot find device—device not online or transponder is powered off. Error in connection.
“Damnit!” Jacoby cursed, and tried again. The network searched again, but popped up the same error. He slapped the data point against his leg.
Stop thinking, and start feeling. You can feel the truth, the voice chimed in his head suddenly.
“What in the hell does that mean?” he growled irritably.
She is okay. If something had h
appened to her, we would have felt it. But perhaps something did happen to her data point. If you cannot connect with her, try connecting with someone that might be close by.
“That makes sense,” Jacoby muttered, and thought for a moment. Anna didn’t socialize with many of their neighbors, except Soraya. After their strange run in, he decided opening that particular can might not be the best idea. What if Soraya told Preston?
The voice laughed quietly somewhere in his mind after his imagination turned dark, an image of his imposing neighbor punching his teeth in filling his head.
But he didn’t know his neighbors that well, at least not well enough to randomly connect with and ask to run down his friend. Realizing he didn’t have any other options, Jacoby pushed the microphone icon and said “Soraya Graeves”.
The network id spun for a moment, before a message popped up, the text flashing green.
[Hidden Network] Transponder SG45021 located. DP device on primary station server – error – device network not responding. Do you wish to migrate device to {Administrative / Hidden Network}?_
A separate dialogue box appeared with a yes and no button flashing below. Jacoby pressed yes. The network i.d. spun and then flashed green.
[Hidden Network] Transponder SG45021 successfully migrated onto network.
Jacoby almost dropped the data point as he fumbled back to the home screen and pushed video call. It rang for several moments, before returning a no response icon.
He pressed audio message, and the microphone icon reappeared.
“Soraya it’s…Jacoby,” he stammered, before swallowing, sucking in a breath, and continuing. “Soraya, I was wondering if you’ve seen or talked to Anna. I am stuck in a, well, it’s a lab somewhere on A ring, I think. I was in the hospital block, but then they moved me. I just want to make sure everything is okay. You can contact me on this data point. Thanks, bye. Oh, hey, if you see Anna or know where she is please let her know that I’m okay and that…well, have her contact me if she can. Bad things are happening on the station and I want to make sure she’s okay.” He hit end and watched the file zoom away as it was sent.
So eloquent.
“Shut up,” Jacoby muttered, and set the data point down.
She came onto us. We shouldn’t feel awkward about the fact that she couldn’t control herself.
“But why?” Jacoby asked picking up a flashlight off a shelf to his left. He walked wearily out of the storage room, his eyes naturally gravitating towards the dark corners. He pushed through into a locker room, the open cubbies so unrealistically clean and organized.
Do you really want to know why? Some questions are better left unasked – some secrets left buried. Trust…us.
He walked down the row to his left. White coats and scrubs hung in the open spaces, while digital photo frames, personal hygiene products, and even a few paperback books filled the shelves above.
“Trust is a thing one earns, and after all I’ve seen recently, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do it again…”
The glass double doors to the showers opened as he approached, automatic lights blinking on in the space beyond. Jacoby walked slowly into the showers, letting the flashlight play over both walls all the way to the back.
The space was oblong, forming a figure-8 rimmed by smooth, tiled benches. Two towers sat equidistant in the middle of the space, like silver Christmas trees covered in shower nozzles.
Nonsense. You feel it when you’re around people. We can feel…them. It is growing, deepening. Soon we will be able to tear away their defenses and see all of their secrets.
“That sounds horrible. I don’t like my own thoughts sometimes, let alone everyone else’s…if you know what is happening to us, tell me and stop being so cryptic.”
He let the light play over the ceiling, taking a small bit of comfort in the lack of ventilation ducts. Jacoby stepped fully into the showers and reached behind him, struggling to untie the hospital gown’s drawstring. After a moment of struggling, he pulled it up over his head and threw it to the far side.
The voice laughed suddenly, its mirth making him unintentionally chuckle out loud.
“Okay, that’s creepy,” he whispered.
I know what you know, nothing else. But perhaps I can feel it better than you – the strength, the wonderful power growing and making us more…perfect.
Jacoby pulled the grip socks off, tossed them by the gown and moved over to the far showers. The water turned on, the drenching spray almost immediately hot. He stepped under the water, letting it wet his hair and cascade down his back.
He rubbed his face, scrubbing the dried blood free from around his nose, mouth, and eye. He bent over, wiping the steam from the mirror sticking out between nozzles, turning his face one direction and then the other.
“Broken nose, eye socket, and severe concussion,” he said, quietly, remembering what doctor Misra told him after waking. He pushed on his face, but nothing hurt. Hell, not even his nose, and it looked straighter than ever.
He lifted his hands, letting the water run over the burn marks snaking over his hands and around both wrists. His mind wandered over everything that had happened over the last few tumultuous days, settling on the moment he decided to ignore the void warning and crack that rock.
Yes, that changed life for both of us, the voice chimed in suddenly.
“But how? That is what I want to know. I can hear and feel you. My heart beats six times faster than it is supposed to, and I’m healing in almost no time. That arc flash from that baton should have killed me. Is this some kind of side effect of the tumor growing in my brain?” Jacoby whispered, rubbing the burn marks on his wrists. The blackened skin broke loose, exposing fresh, pink skin underneath.
You only call it that because that is what the doctor called it. What if the thing growing in our brain is something else…a blessing and not a deathly curse? Look at the burned skin peeling off our hands, the broken bones magically pulled back together and healed.
“Do you know something?” Jacoby repeated the question, his quiet voice echoing in the voluminous shower. There was something it knew and wasn’t sharing, he just had a feeling.
We see with the same eyes, and hear with the same ears. I know only that my voice was lost to you until the other day, when you cracked that rock.
“This is impossible. Are you me?” Jacoby groaned and lathered up his hair with shampoo.
A part of you, perhaps. Perhaps you were whole once, in the beginning, and when mother left and father’s drinking and anger turned to you, things changed. Perhaps I am a splinter, a sliver broken away from the larger piece. I am the suppressed anger and unrealized lust of an abused boy. I’ve been here through it all, you just didn’t realize it. The part of you not content with absorbing a broken man’s rage. Now I can speak in more than whispers, help you outside of your dreams. Whatever was in that rock changed us both, made you better, and gave me a louder voice. I know you can feel it – the strength in your heart and muscles, the power in your lungs. Just look at us, the voice said.
Jacoby finished scrubbing his hair and rinsed, the remaining dead skin falling away and washing down the drain in the process. Besides the pink flesh, there was no evidence that he’d been hit with over ten thousand volts of scorching electricity.
He looked down. The muscles in his arms and chest were thicker, but he’d always been strong. His midsection showed the most change, however, as the plush padding that formerly covered his stomach was gone. His skin was tight, following the lines of his pelvis, forming a V right down to his privates.
Jacoby worked a hand down his stomach, following the well-defined, almost chiseled lines. He stopped on the old scar by his beltline, and moved down to find another on his thigh, both born from his father’s impatience and inflexibility.
A fuzzy sensation crawled up his back. A heartbeat later, the doors opened. Jacoby didn’t need to turn to know who walked in behind him. He could feel, smell, and taste her.
He
pumped some soap into his hand and started to scrub his body, fighting the almost undeniable desire to turn to her…to let her see him. Jacoby heard Lex undo a zipper and his heart started to race.
Mind your own business, he thought, but felt the other part of him laugh at the notion. It didn’t have to speak for him to know what it wanted. Intense warmth spread to his groin and the air around him filled with his peculiar musk, like fragrant flowers and baking bread. The scent cut through the soap and water, filling the showers like invisible steam.
He heard her approach, the pad of bare feet on the tiled floor barely perceptible over the raging cadence of his beating heart. The showerhead next to his turned on. He saw her feet and ankles, and was very aware of the blood flowing into his groin, but it’s not like he could turn away and hide it now, so he continued his shower.
“I’m not going to pretend for a moment that I know what’s going on,” Lex said, her voice cutting the silence between them.
Jacoby lifted his eyes, letting his gaze crawl deliberately up her calves to her thighs, hips, and to her slim, muscular stomach. A large scar ran from just beneath her belly button, and around her side, before disappearing to her back. His gaze crawled up to her large, full breasts, where another, smaller scar overlapped her right collarbone and ran up and over her arm. Her mouth pulled into a crooked smile, her green eyes sparkling.
Lex took a deep breath, her breasts heaving, and moved towards him, the water from his shower nozzle now falling over them both.
“I’ve seen bad shit, the worst of people, and come through all of it, because I keep my head and stay in control. But I need to be straight with you. That back there, with that woman. I don’t know what that was…or what is happening to those people. I only know that it scares me. I also saw you lift a man half again your weight off the ground with a single arm and smack him against the wall,” she said, sniffling and reaching up to pull her red hair out of her face. Then she moved a little closer, her feet right next to his.
