Her first consideration was a drunk leftover from the previous night’s festivities had stumbled into the wrong quarters.
In fear, her heart skipped a beat. Maybe she was in the wrong quarters. She assumed they all looked the same, but how would my hand open the door?
She carried no weapons, and by design, there was nothing at hand to brain the stranger with. Lea knew the skills to defend herself.
Mumbled words reached her ears. “Once strangers meet…” she recognized Reo’s voice, haunting—he was not himself.
Anger overrode her concern for his well-being. “What the hell are you doing here?” In her small room, she reached him in a step. Rather than punch the man, she slapped him on the shoulder before cuffing the side of his head. “Lights,” she commanded, and a low glow filled the room. The level she’d set it at when she woke earlier.
The assault didn’t budge the body.
Grabbing his shoulder and rolling him on his back, Lea’s next words of anger stuck in her throat when she caught the sight of his eyes in the dim light.
For some reason, they were wide open, but only the whites showed. Foam poured from the man’s mouth. He tried to speak, but no words came, only a wet gurgle.
Lea stepped back. Out of reflex, she covered her face with her right hand. What is wrong with him? She wasn’t any sort of medical doctor, but she’d read enough to know of the multitude of sicknesses that ravaged the Earth. Whatever was wrong with the company man, Lea could only guess at how contagious he might be. His germs were filling her quarters with a soup of sickness.
Her door opened for a quick escape, she keyed in the intercom. “Someone, please help! I’ve got a medical emergency here!” The adrenaline filled her body, ready to run away.
“Can you be more specific?” a voice came back quicker than Lea thought possible.
What the hell was she supposed to say to the disembodied voice? “No… Please just hurry… Reo is having some sort of seizure… It looks bad.” She was fairly certain the man wasn’t possessed, but if she had to guess, that was what she would have thought.
“With limited crew available, we will send help shortly.” The voice cut off too quickly.
Lea shouted at the now lifeless intercom, “What the fuck does that mean?”
She received no reply.
Reo gurgled, “Once strangers meet…”
Her steps much smaller, Lea inched her way to the man’s side. In his grip, she spotted what looked like an EpiPen, but she had seen the silver liquid once before.
Some of the less sane people she worked with had wild ideas about the human condition and the cause of all Earth’s woes. In her experience, humans had a greater capacity for creating conspiracy theories than those in power had the ability to carry out the plots.
The net was filled with crazies. Flat-Earthers, Anti-vaxxers, Draconian believers, even people claiming a secret army of telepaths used mind-control drugs to brainwash the general population into willing sheeple. All manner of crazy ideas refused to die after repeatedly being disproven.
Lea knew better. Most people didn’t want to think for themselves, they wanted to be told what to do and what to think. No drugs were needed to control the populace. One of the videos she found produced a pen with a silver drug like the one clutched in Reo’s hand.
Rather than leave the unused evidence, she tore the pen from Reo’s clutched hand and placed it safely between her breasts. If there was a whiff of conspiracy, Lea needed leverage to learn more.
“What did you do to him?” Doctor Mindy was the first to reach her stateroom.
“What did…” Rather than finish her sentence, Lea dropped the attack. She had no reason to be defensive. “I returned here and found him like this. He couldn’t have been here long.” Better to shift the subject. “What is wrong with him… Can you fix him?”
Mindy shook her head. “I’m not that kind of doctor…”
Lea bit her tongue. The time for throwing accusations came later.
Mindy worked in vain to wake the unresponsive Reo.
Lea stepped out of her quarters and into the hall. A flurry of activity swirled around her as nameless company personnel came and carted Reo off in a Stokes basket. In the lead was a tall, gray-haired man with an impeccable British accent. White coat over orange coveralls marked him as a company doctor. He barked orders to those in attendance.
The only person Lea knew was Mindy. Tian never showed. With little choice, Lea followed at a discreet distance.
Despite Reo’s seemingly critical condition, Lea couldn’t help but think about how she needed to know where the medical spaces were and the chances she could get something for her headache once things calmed down with the bonkers company man.
For being what Lea assumed was unfamiliar territory, the gray-haired doctor seemed to know his shit. Lea and the rest were forced to watch the treatments outside the space. The medical team dressed out in full infectious personnel protective equipment.
Lea was unsure what she witnessed, but it took nearly thirty minutes before the doctor working on Reo spoke to the crowd of heavy gravity watchers. “Who traveled with this man?”
Lea spoke up sheepishly, afraid she might be locked behind the glass with Reo. “I did…”
From behind several taller watchers, Tian sounded off as well. “Me too.”
“Did he show any indications of sickness?”
Lea glanced at Tian, their eyes meeting around the bodies that separated them. Tian nodded before Lea spoke. “As far as we know, only some space sickness.”
“This is no space sickness… Doctor Abe, I need to speak with you in private. Everyone else. You can go on about your business, there is nothing to see here.” Before Lea escaped, the man continued. “You two stay… I need more information.”
The crowd remained unfazed by the older man’s command.
Tian cleared zer throat. “There was that time he passed out… As we approached Ceres, he had a thing…”
Lea remembered and filled in some more. “We had been together for weeks. He didn’t eat, never mingled much. Complained of diarrhea and passed out. They took him to the med bay and sent him back shortly.”
“Did his eyes.” The doctor motioned with his hands toward Reo. “Flip back to the whites?”
“Hell, no.” Lea cringed at the memory of his face staring up from her rack.
“Not that I saw. I think I would have remembered something so dramatic,” Tian added.
“Look… he was in my room. If he is contagious… I want checked out.” Lea’s concern grew as the man who should have all the answers kept asking the wrong questions. “Please, Doctor…” Lea let the last word hang. “What should we call you?”
“I am Doctor Patel…” The man paused for several seconds in thought. His eyes drifted over the people who watched from the far side of the glass. “I don’t think that is needed… Come see me if your eyes roll into the back of your skull.” The doctor’s bedside manner sucked.
“But…” Lea looked at the others. If it was a virus or some other contagion, they were all screwed.
“Listen, he had no sickness I’ve seen before. The chances he is contagious… are remote.” Doctor Patel stepped away from the partition.
“Is he in a coma?” Mindy called out.
The old man shook his head. “Yes and no. He remains unresponsive, but his brain activity is off the chart, like he’s wide awake. The med computer can’t explain it. We need to observe him.”
Lea was surprised the man didn’t add “and see what happens.” Damned doctors.
<=OO=>
AD 2100 Inner Belt – Frazier
“Do we have any way to know if the signal is strong enough… or if anyone has picked it up?” Ava drifted behind Jacob.
He fought the urge to scratch. Many of his blisters had healed, but his dry skin still sloughed off in places. He knew it wasn’t spiders crawling over his body, but his mind still cringed at the feeling.
The steady
light of the transmit indicator glowed, letting anyone who chose to look know the recorded distress call was still sending. Ava had a habit of asking questions even if she already knew the answer.
He’d taken to sleeping at the com’s controls. Just in case anyone reached out to them. Despite the speakers blasting throughout the ship, filling the habitable area with static, Jacob wanted to be ready if a reply came.
“Sorry… no way of knowing.” Days had passed since the spider attack, without another sign of the creepy crawlies. The lack of sightings didn’t do Jacob’s fragile grip on sanity any good. As far as he was concerned, the creatures were out there, just out of sight, waiting to attack.
Weeks of surviving, trapped alone with the two women, began to wear on his normally levelheaded temperament. The women showed more signs of stress. Cabin fever might kill them before space did.
Ava pulled herself closer. Her breasts brushed against the back of his head. He forced himself to not think about it or complain as she invaded his limited personal space. She scanned the board too close for comfort right now. “I know you will let us know…”
Jacob changed the subject. “Any luck with the drives?”
Ava shook her head. Her short hair tickled his ear. “Na… they’re fucked. We’re fucked, the Frazier is—”
He cut her off. “Fucked? You know I can’t believe that.”
“Think what you want. Won’t change the facts…” Ava pushed off.
His turn to shake his head. He wanted to give up, but it wasn’t in his DNA. Besides, if they gave up, what would they do, curl up and die? Wasn’t going to happen.
The background static changed for the briefest of moments. Jacob pulled himself up in the chair. A quick turn of a knob and the volume increased. Something had changed.
“Guys… you need to come in here.” He wanted to control the sound of his voice, to bury the excitement, but he knew his failure as soon as he spoke.
Before the signal changed again, Ava pulled herself up behind him.
Sweets arrived shortly after. “Yeah?”
“You hear that?” Jacob strained to hear a human’s voice filter through the static.
“Sorry, no.” From his right, Ava grumbled. “Now you’re hearing things.”
“I’m not making this up. I think I hear a voice.” The signal was too degraded, but there were words to the choppy change in static. He was certain. “Sweets?”
The security woman shook her head. “I’m sorry… but I can’t hear it. Maybe it’s the strain. You need some rest.”
Jacob gritted his teeth rather than lose his temper. It took three deep breaths to control his emotions. “Look… for a moment, let’s assume I’m not insane… If someone is out there, what can we do to help them find us?”
Sweets had moved to his left side, too close for comfort. “Simple, power up everything we can. Increase our heat signature.”
Jacob clapped his hands together. “Then let’s do it. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Ava groaned, “I wish you’d stop saying that.”
Sweets spoke in her normal matter-of-fact voice. “We could burn out the few systems we’ve repaired, but it would increase our heat signature. Might help someone looking for us find our location.”
“Then I say it’s worth the risk.” Jacob feigned excitement. He needed something to help keep his spirits high.
Ava shook her head. “I don’t.”
Sweets paused only for the briefest of moments. “I must agree with him… the idea isn’t all bad.”
“You’re not crew… Who said you get a vote?” Ava asked.
“She is crew now. She fixed most of the systems. I should think that qualifies her as crew…” Jacob waited for Ava to complain. When she didn’t, he pressed on. “If you have any better suggestions, I’m sure Margaret is willing to listen to them, as am I.”
Ava’s answer came swifter than he expected. “Fuck it.” She pushed off his seat. “If we’re goin’ ta die, might as well be in a blaze of glory.”
Not the most inspiring words he ever heard, but he’d take them.
Chapter 19:
AD 2100 Inner Belt – Virgil
Reo’s once black and spotless robes had become soiled and ragged from the weeks of travel. Maybe it was weeks, it might have been minutes. He had no way to measure time in this make-believe land. Enough time had passed to tarnish the archaic metallic symbols that covered his clothing. Even in his dream world, nothing remained perfect or happened fast, and traveling any distance was the worst. In his made-up medieval fantasy world, life sucked nearly as much as his normal reality. He found no escape in this dream.
Despite living in this bizarre world for weeks, he was no closer to understanding the meaning of the damned vision. If it was a vision at all. There was always the chance he suffered a psychotic break with reality and this was his mind working on a way to deal with the results. He might be hidden in some Party black site, drooling on himself in a wheelchair. Fun thoughts he buried deep and tried to lock away.
Much to his chagrin, his three traveling companions had become fast friends, spending the entirety of the journey denigrating Reo and his life choices. Like three nagging mothers, he was never going to be good enough for them. He was certain many psychiatrists would have a field day with his delusions and their meaning.
Rather than fight back against the abuse and add fuel to their chattering, he’d segregated himself to the lead. As far ahead as possible, only coming together each night to sleep. Oddly, he didn’t remember any dreams during his dream sleep. He stopped that line of thought quickly before he spiraled down some dark rabbit hole of dreams within a dream.
In many ways, the three who dogged his steps remained an enigma. He assumed they were subsets of his subconscious mind, what some people might call the id. Why they worked so hard to destroy his ego, his self-respect, the reason behind it all was beyond him. Best guess, the three represented his regrets in life, or possibly his negative qualities. The meaning behind it all didn’t matter. They all could stop, and he wouldn’t complain in the slightest.
It truly sucked not knowing more about his own fragmented mind. He didn’t want to admit any of his flaws the others gleefully pointed out. Reo was, after all, only human, with all the frailties of any man. It was easier to make excuses than face the truth. Easier to walk faster and increase the distance when scathing words hit too close to home.
The constant scorn became his new normal. The longer he stayed in this dream state, the more he questioned which world was real. God, I hope I wake up soon.
Once free of the stone room, they traveled a great distance, what seemed like many days, through swamp and forest. Until they reached where they now walked, the worst place in a long series of worse places. The locations had all the hallmarks of a grand adventure. The only thing missing was a series of increasingly hard creatures to defeat on the way to some ultimate goal—after defeating the boss monster.
Surrounded by black crags blasted bare of all vegetation, Reo instinctively knew they approached the end of the quest. The problem was he didn’t know what the final goal was meant to be. He only followed the track as it was laid out before him. There were no branches to take, no choices to make, as if his path was predestined.
A quick glance of the sky proved what he already knew. Daylight ended soon. If they didn’t find shelter, it meant another night sleeping under the alien stars, the light of two moons offering little light to see by. With the others complaining until they drifted off to sleep. Everything about this space was alien.
“The big bad should show up soon,” Mindy’s voice called from behind.
“Yeah, I know… now shut up.” He knew there was no use arguing with the woman. He was never able to win in real life, why would his dreams be any different?
“Ooh,” Lea jeered. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the brain…”
Reo kept walking, forcing himself to ignore the three imaginary women behind him.<
br />
Rounding the next corner, Reo stopped. The way was blocked by a huge stone curtain wall. Made of cut black stone, it was too smooth and high to climb. On either side of a massive gate stood twin towers. He stared up at the dark arrow slits. There was no cover along the track leading to the gate. A menacing dread filled Reo’s heart, and the barrier projected an ominous feeling of death. The progress to the end was blocked.
“What now?” Tian asked.
“Open the gate?” Reo mumbled.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Lea joked.
“Is it funny, I was going to say, Einstein?” Mindy snorted.
Tian giggled, “You both beat me to it.”
Reo searched the darkening sky and pleaded, “Lord, please kill me now.” He wasn’t sure if it was good news or bad when, seconds later, he remained standing in the same place, the huge gate looming before him.
One step at a time, he gingerly crept to the gate and his impending doom. Eyes shifting from the path to the slits, he waited for his death with every step.
<=OO=>
AD 2100 Inner Belt – Virgil
Lea floated her way into the galley area. Three days ago, the ship had come out of acceleration and was now heading farther away from civilization, faster than she wanted to think about. Once the engines stopped pushing the Virgil ahead at a faster pace, the perceived gravity disappeared. The ship was large, but not large enough to support a centrifugal torus to provide fake gravity. For now, Lea needed to maintain her space-legs and float everywhere.
Free from the pull of gravity, the Virgil’s crew was up and around. They worked around the clock, divided into three shifts. Someone was always awake, ready to take action if it was needed.
The doubi Reo wasn’t. He remained in some sort of state Doctor Patel failed to fully explain, or Lea understand.
Given she had no skills needed on a modern spaceship, the fixer had been stuck helping DiSanto, which was fine, except he only wanted to talk about Tian and how wonderful she was. Seems Lea was wrong, Tian wasn’t a boy hidden under the layer of androgynous clothing, but a girl, and she liked men, after all. Stranger things in life had come her way. She just couldn’t name them at the moment.
Belters Page 20
