PERIL (21 page)

“Can you translate?” Bains asks.

“Ah yeah, something about, Captain Yuri, and his team being infected. Uh, he goes on to say, we asked for technology to give us an advantage over our adversaries back on our home planet; instead you sent us this plague. Ok now, Commander Yamaguchi indicates that there is no response. Satoh orders her to shut down the device. Now they’re arguing about whether or not they should open the door. Yamaguchi, warns against it and, Satoh, isn’t so sure,” Pendersen translates.

“Well that means they knew how to open it. Thank God, they didn’t. Access this file here,” Bains says pointing at the monitor.

Pendersen scrolls down and plays the file. It is another
video, but this time it is a recording of Captain Yuri’s Med Lab. In the video, Captain Yuri is strapped to a bio bed, screaming in pain, and there are technicians seated at an examination station in front of a holographic magnifying glass. They have a few containers filled with the gelatinous grayish fluid and take samples from them.  They place several droplets of the fluid under the holographic magnifying glass and begin to speak in Russian.

“Can you speak Russian too?” Bains asks.

“I am a linguist. I wouldn’t be any good if I couldn’t,” Pendersen jests.

Bains smiles.

“He says it’s unlike any known substance. The other tech is asking if they can reverse its effect to save Yuri…”

Cruise sits at the table across the room jerry-rigging so
me of the equipment. He can hear Yuri’s screams getting loader on the video, which motivates him to work faster.

“…Ok now this guy over here looking through the scope says wait a minute there’s movement––– OH MY, GOD!” Pendersen says startled.

They watch the video in horror as Yuri’s body liquefies and tentacles emerge from his caucus grabbing one of the technicians. The fluid under the scope solidifies and another creature emerges from it and from the opened containers. Bains and the crew watch the video in shock. Cruise gets up and goes over to see the spectacle. He carries one of the devices he is working on with him.

“Shut it off! Those bastards knew about those things and they didn’t even warn us. Why didn’t they warn us?” Magruder whines.

“I think its clear. They contacted those beings on the other side of that wall in hopes of obtaining technology and instead they brought back death,” Bains says.

Bains notices the object Cruise is holding.

“What’s that?” she asks.

“This is what’s going get us outta here alive,” Cruise replies holding up the device.

“What does it do?” Pendersen inquires.

“Watch and learn,” Cruise says confidently.

Cruise lifts the awkward device and holds it like a rifle. He aims it at a wall and cranks a lever on it. The device whines as it amps up. Cruise braces himself and when it appears to fully charge he pulls a trigger on it. Nothing happens.

“That’s it? You rigged us a noise maker?” Nickolette asks.

Just as Cruise let his guard down to give Nickolette a witty response the device discharges an electric-blue plasma wave of destruction. It strikes a wall with an intense force blasting a hole in it. BLAM! The sound startles Magruder’s baby and she lets out a wail.

“That’s one hell of a noisemaker!” Pendersen says as he examines the hole in the wall.

“Yeah, but will kill that thing?” Bains asks.

“I rigged two more, but they’re hand-held. Not enough parts to replicate this beauty, but they’ll get the job done.”

Cruise walks the group over to the other two weapons he’s jerry-rigged. Magruder tries to quiet her baby as she watches.

“Ok while these use the scalpel lasers as a power source. Their charge is produced by the batteries from the APC units we use for the digs, which means firepower will be limited. Not bad, Cruise,” Pendersen explains as he examines the units closely.

“It’ll take a minute after each shot to recharge. So be sure you can hit the son of a, bitch, before you fire,” Cruise instructs in his usual gruff manner.

The baby continues to cry. Magruder feels her forehead.

“She’s running a temperature.”

“Bring her here,” Bains says.

Bains waves a scanning device over the infant’s body. The scanner display reads, “101 DEGREES.” Bains has Magruder place the baby in the cryo-tube.

“HAB, can you reduce her temperature?” Bains asks.

“Yes. But I would advise determining the cause of her fever. I’ll need to run a full bio-scan,” HAB 1 advises.

The stasis unit’s lid closes slowly. Once the lid is closes it reflects a holographic map of the infant’s body and some related data while HAB 1 searches for answers. Bains and Magruder stand over the cryo-tube and watch the infant.

“I’m going to name her, Mya, after Pierce’s mother. It only seems right. At least she’ll have something of father’s.”

“Mya, is a beautiful name,” Bains says.

“Do you have any children?” Magruder asks.

Bains is reluctant to answer. It only reminds her of the abortion she had.

“I had a daughter. Well, that is, I opted to terminate the pregnancy. If only I could go back and…Well, let’s just say I’d do a lot of things differently,” Bains laments.

An alarm sounds off at the console. Pendersen runs over to check it out.

“We have company,” Pendersen says.

“The outer hatch has been breached,” HAB 1 states.

“Those things?” Bains asks.

“It could be a survivor from the other teams,” Nickolette says.

“HAB?” Bains inquires.

“Relays are still fused and my video strip in the airlock is off line. I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“It ain’t a survivor. We check the other habitats. I don’t see how anyone could’ve made it out alive,” Cruise insists.

“HAB, the airlock hatch?” Bains inquires.

“For the moment it’s still secured.” HAB 1 assures.

“Alright, we can’t afford to let more of those things in here and we need time to get to the Decima. Cruise, Nickolette you
’re with me. Pendersen stay here with Magruder and remote access the ship. Start her up!” Bains orders.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bains, Cruise and Nickolette arm themselves and enter the corridor outside of Med Lab. The corridor is misty and the walls are dripping with a jelly like solution, evidence that the creature that had attacked them earlier is nearby. The lights flicker as they make their way to the forward airlock.

“This can’t be good,” Cruise says.

Nickolette runs his hand across the slimy walls.

“What kind of substance is this? Some type of condensation?” Nickolette utters.

“Well don’t touch it!” Bains snaps.

They have five sections of corridors to traverse before reaching the Launch Bay airlock.

Meanwhile, in the Launch Bay the creatures are unable to override the keypad to the inner hatch. HAB 1 has successfully disabled it.

Bains and the others make it to the corridor that leads to the forward airlock.

“The airlock is just up ahead,” Cruise warns.

They approach it slowly. Bains hand signals for Cruise to move in on her left as she creeps up on the hatch.

“HAB, still no sensors?” Bains whispers.

There is no answer.

“HAB?”

“Forget it. He’s offline down here,” Cruise whispers to Bains.

“Alright, we do this the hard way. Manual override, stay sharp,” Bains declares.

Bains punches in a code on the keypad next to the hatch, which activates it. She gives a nod to the others then she hit the tab marked “Open Airlock.” Cruise and Pendersen brace themselves and aims their weapons at the hatch. The hatch slides open and they see a thick cloud of mist in the airlock. The corridor begins to depressurize. They immediately back away struggling against the rushing wind. Incredibly, the mist holds its form. They strain their eyes to see into the mist.

Bains starts towards the mist and cranks her weapon. The mist appears to back away from her. It swirls and moves as if it is reacting to her every move. Then some of it begins to bellow into the corridor.

“Close it!” Cruise yells.

Before Bains can close the hatch a large tentacle looms out of the cloudy mass knocking her across the corridor. Nickolette fumbles with his weapon trying to crank it up. Cruise fires a blast into the mist. It blows a hole through the creature.

Several creatures advance on the open hatch from the other side. One of them lunges towards the hatch and Bains fires her weapon knocking it back. Bains slams her fist on the keypad and the hatch starts to close, but not before a small
amount of mist comes through. It enters into Nickolette’s nostrils and mouth. 

“This place is infested with those things!” Bains yells.

Bains turns to face Cruise and Nickolette. Cruise is on the floor looking up at Nickolette fearfully.

“What is it?” She asks.

Cruise points at Nickolette.

“Some of that misty, shit, got in his mouth!” Cruise declares.

Nickolette moves toward Cruise to help him up. Cruise quickly cranks his weapon.

“What are you talking about? Nothing got in my mouth!”

“Stay back man or I swear I’ll blast a hole right through you! We saw what happened to Yuri once he got infected with those things!” Cruise states.

Bains steps away from Nickolette slowly and stands next to Cruise. She gently pushes down on Cruise’s weapon getting him to lower it. She then reaches over and slowly takes Nickolette’s weapon from him.

“Ok let’s all stay calm. We’ll go back to Med Lab and…”

“Are you crazy Bains? One of those things is inside of him!” Cruise warns.

“Man, you’re being paranoid! It’s me remember? We’ve been on how many missions together?” Nickolette asks.

“BULLSHIT! I know what I saw!” Cruise blasts.

“We can check him out at the lab. HAB can run a bio-scan on him. Now let’s go!” Bains insists.

Cruise raises his weapon at Nickolette again.

“Fine! You stay in front where I can see you. Don’t make me blast your ass.”

Nickolette begins to perspire as they walk. The further they go the worse he gets. By the time they reach the second corridor he is sweating profusely and welts visibly form over his face and arms.

Back in Med Lab, Magruder and Pendersen try to access ISIS’s systems on the Decima, but they can’t reach her. HAB is blocking their attempts and they don’t know it. The baby is asleep in the cryo-tube. Magruder tries to focus on getting through to the Decima with Pendersen. Their backs are turned away from the cryo-units as they work at the consoles.

“HAB, how’s, Mya, doing?” Magruder asks.

“The infant is doing well. I’m still running scans and monitoring her progress.”

“And her temperature?”

“Normal, she’ll need to remain in the cryo-unit a bit longer while I continue to run scans.”

HAB 1 lies. Mya’s temperature never changed and she is sweating profusely. Tiny welts form over her body.

“Hang in there sweetie momma’s here. I’m just getting our ride home ready.”

Magruder glances back at the unit, however she is too far away to actually see the baby lying in the cry-tube.

“Uh, try re-routing the signal on a narrower bandwidth,” Pendersen advises.

“Still nothing. I don’t get it, ISIS, doesn’t work on the relay network. She should be picking up our signal. You don’t think her systems were compromised do you?” Magruder asks.

“Let’s hope not,” Pendersen replies.

“Just keep trying,” Magruder says anxiously.

Bains, Cruise and Nickolette arrive outside Med Lab. Cruise bangs on the hatch signaling Margruder and Pendersen to open it. Cruise still has his weapon trained on Nickolette.

“Hey it’s us open the hatch!” Cruise yells.

Magruder runs over to the hatch and opens it. Nickolette walks in first. His face looks awful. Large welts and sores cover his cheeks and forehead. Magruder notices the weapon Cruise has aimed at him.

“Hey what’s going on? My God–––what happened to your face!” Magruder asks.

“Would you believe allergies?” Nickolette jokes.

“Stay away from him. Some of that mist went into his mouth. He’s infected!” Cruise declares.

“HAB, were gonna need you to run a full bio-scan on him. Maybe it’s reversible” Bains says.

“Acknowledged. Nickolette please get into cryo- unit three.”

HAB opens the cryo-unit.

“No! I don’t want him near the baby,” Magruder states.

“HAB can you run a scan on him from the containment room?” Bains asks.