Ghost of Mind Episode One

by Odette C. Bell

  Chapter 23

  Alice

  She had been crawling along, her mind ringing and blaring with the certainty that soon she would be near an omidium source. Soon she would be able to collapse and succumb to the darkness trying to grab at her, without the fear that she would be discovered and with the sure knowledge the omidium would heal her broken body.

  Then the cold had set in. At first she hadn't noticed it; her hands were already scratched and cut enough for the pain rippling through them to override anything as banal as a change in temperature.

  Then she'd looked down to see the white ice picking up over the service duct.

  The cold hit her in a blast, along with a fell draft that began to whip down the shaft.

  She brought a hand up, protecting her eyes. They filled with tears at the brunt of the wind.

  ‘What the,’ she began. Then she stopped. Because she realized what must have happened. With the weather fields shut down, sections of Block Alpha this high up must have succumb to the violent winds. As Alice pressed herself forward and around a bend in the tunnel, her suspicion was confirmed.

  The service duct before her had suddenly come to a jagged and dangerous end; chunks of the metal had been ripped right out of the wall, and a ferocious wind was whistling through it. It was so loud that Alice groaned as she clamped her hands over her ears.

  She stared past her arms at the hole in the metal before her. The jagged edges of the metal were completely covered in ice, and as she sat there and watched, it seemed to be getting thicker by the second.

  ‘Oh god,’ she managed through a cough. She slammed her hand over her mouth as she did. When she pulled it back, she saw the white and blue blood just before it evaporated.

  She coughed again, the movements pulling her down until she clamped her hands over her knees, her head rocking back and forth.

  More blood flecked over her chest, hands, and lips.

  Alice was running out of time. The effort of pushing herself to safety was taking its toll; she likely had minutes.

  But she was not safe yet.

  Gaze hollow, she pushed herself forward until the service duct underneath her began to groan. It gave her a view of what was below. A room, possibly a hangar bay that had seen one of its walls ripped clean off.

  Ice covered the walls of the hangar bay, and the floor had a steady wind shifting over it that puffed and buffeted at the errant salt crystals that had made their way this far up in the atmosphere.

  It was a stilling sight.

  But Alice was not stilled for long.

  ‘Vessel carrying omidium power source approximately 10 meters to your left and 50 meters down,’ the computer suddenly sounded. She only just heard it over the sound of the wind.

  It was below her.

  The end was in sight.

  As Alice managed a smile, fresh blood pushed its way from the deepening cracks in her lips.

  She had minutes left.

  She shifted forward.

  And that would be when the section of service tunnel she was in gave way. At first it rattled, then it groaned, then it dropped out from underneath her. She didn't have the time to scream.

  As it dropped it yanked a bank of wires from the wall and there was a hail of sparks and thick black smoke.

  It served to cover her descent as she hurtled down to the hangar bay floor below.

  She struck the floor just as the metal sheeting of the service tunnel did. As it rang out with an ear-splitting bang, she screamed. The clang of the metal hid just how loud and shaking her cry was.

  She'd landed on her side.

  Her hip was broken. Her ribs were smashed. Her body that had once been lightly covered by blood was now soaked in it. It was coming so thick and fast that it did not have time to evaporate properly.

  It covered the remains of her tunic and pants, filtered out from under her unmarked and undamaged hood.

  Because through it all, no matter what had happened to Alice, her hood had been fine. Resolutely stuck in place over her eyes, it had done its job.

  ‘What the hell was that? Get a team over to the service duct to ensure no more of it is going to fall. And for the love of god, get the security field in place over that damaged door; I won't to get out of this armor already.’ Someone shouted form far behind Alice.

  Blinking her eyes open, fighting through the pain, Alice latched onto the voice. She used it to tug her out of her last slip into unconsciousness.

  Come on, you can do this, she begged herself.

  She pushed herself up. At first her hand slipped and crunched underneath her weight. The bone was broken.

  She landed back on her face, her chin and jaw jolting, more blood pouring from her mouth and lips.

  She forced herself up again. This time she managed it.

  Then Alice turned.

  There was a large vessel just behind her, she could see it through the swirling smoke that was being pushed against her. The smoke was issuing thick and fast from some kind of conduit at her feet. Apparently the service tunnel had sliced through it when it had fallen.

  It was likely the only thing keeping her hidden.

  She stared through it at the vessel.

  ‘Omidium,’ she parted her lips to say one word.

  Survival. Her last chance.

  Alice closed her eyes. She logged onto the ICN, told the computer to reply only through thoughts. Then she requested, no she begged, to gain access to the vessel's security scanners.

  It took the last of her. As she sat there, body broken underneath her as her blood soaked through her skin and evaporated in the frozen wind, Alice did whatever she could to gain access to the ship's systems.

  If she had not been an Old One, she would never have managed it. If the ship itself had not been momentarily linked to the ICN, it would have been impossible. And just maybe, if Alice had not been so desperate, she would never have dared. But somehow she did it.

  ‘Computer,’ she whispered so low that no one could hear her, ‘overload conduit directly underneath my position.’

  ‘In doing so, 1000 liters of patrosium gas will erupt into the hangar bay. Without environmental controls operational, it will fill the space within seconds.’ the computer replied right into her mind.

  That was the point.

  ‘Just do it,’ she said with her last breath.

  It did.

  There was an explosion as a whole bank of conduits under the floor suddenly bucked and exploded, sending a cloud of that thick, opaque, black gas billowing out in every direction.

  It gave Alice the distraction she needed. It also gave her the cover she required.

  With the last of her energy she stole aboard the vessel, entering through the open hangar bay door. It too quickly filled with gas, and before it could be pumped away or the door closed, Alice found another access panel. She pried it back with her fingers, managed to hack into the system, and then Alice crawled inside.

  Blood covering her, head lolled between her shoulders, she forced herself forward.

  Omidium. The single word kept her going. It pushed past the black that had built up at the edges of her vision. It saw Alice hack through whatever panels she required then finally, finally she reached it.

  The core of the ship. The engineering bay.

  The pulsing, glowing red, orange, and blue lights of an omidium-powered engine.

  The core was an enormous glowing chamber lit up with the most incredible light you could imagine. It pulsed and hummed. Right at the center of the engineering bay, it was sunk deep into the floor - the rest of the bay high above. It was separated by a high, sturdy railing and the best force fields the universe could muster.

  Because the sheer power of the core would kill anything it touched.

  Anything but an Old One.

  Clambering through the service ducts, faster now, her hands numb, her body done for, Alice got as close to the core as she could. Close enough that she could see the light of it permeating through
the service tunnel she was in.

  Then she collapsed.

  The lights went out.

  Her body fell out from underneath her.

  She slammed against the service tunnel.

  Her body shut down.