The Agathon: Reign of Arturo (10 page)

“What?” Tosh responded.

Tyrell thought about his phrasing and tried to access the memories of the host body that he had commandeered.

“A shuttle craft,” he said.

The Tosh creature looked at him curiously.

“You know there is, Tyrell, it’s in the main hangar bay on deck twelve. It was probably damaged after the crash, though I don’t think anyone has been down there to check it since we left Mars,” he said.

Tyrell walked away leaving Tosh to mull over the complex math that he had just entered. He walked over to one of the monitoring consoles and looked over the readouts. He had to get everyone out of the room. Just for a few minutes. He looked over the various readouts from the computer screen and honed in on one. He looked around to see if anyone was near. The crew seemed to be buried in their own work. He turned back to the console and typed in an override
command coupled with a long string series of codes to reroute the security protocol. Seconds later, a klaxon sounded and a red overhead light began strobing through the engine room.

“Life support failure. Evacuate. Life support failure. Evacuate,” said the soft female computer voice.

He turned to see the crew looking up shocked. They all turned to Tosh who was looking around dazed. There was a moment of hesitation before Tosh responded. “Everyone out!” he shouted loudly, turning his chair around and making for the exit hatch.

Tyrell could feel the air in the engine room growing stale. Crew members were beginning to cough as the oxygen in the room began to evacuate. He mimicked the reactions of the crew around him to make it look like he was being effected.

“Life support failure. Evacuate,” repeated the female voice.

Tyrell watched closely as the crew flocked to the exit. Taking a step backwards he slid in behind a bulkhead and waited. The last of the crew exited the engine room and the doors sealed shut. He was finally alone. His body could feel the depleted oxygen levels and he began to grow slightly dizzy. He slowed his heart rate to half its normal speed and grabbed a small containment bottle. Making his way up to The Betty he slowly unlocked the clamp holding the metal seal in place and slid the long end of the containment bottle inside the glowing fluid.

Two minutes later he had enough of the material for his purpose and moved to the centre of the engine room. He slowly lay on the ground placing the bottle inside his lab coat. He closed his eyes. And waited.

The Agathon

Bridge

“What the hell happened?” Barrington said to Chavel.

The alarm on Chavel’s console had alerted him to the drop in pressure in the engine room.

“Unknown, sir, it’s back up to normal atmosphere now. For some reason, life support failed in the engine room, but only for a few minutes.”

Carrie looked up from the navigational panel in front of her. She had been assisting Young in processing the astronomical data when the alert had sounded.

“Bridge, this is the engine room,” Tosh’s voice came over the comm system.

“Go engine room,” her father said looking concerned. She could feel him on edge and was getting an all too familiar feeling of alert readiness from him.

“We are back inside and checking all systems. Tyrell didn’t make it out in time, sir. He’s being taken to the medical bay,” he said.

The captain glanced over at Carrie and frowned.

“Is he dead?” he asked.

“Negative, bridge, he seems to be unconscious, but still breathing,” Tosh said.

Barrington scratched the side of the thick stubble that had grown on his face.

“I want a full damage report in fifteen minutes, Doctor,” he said clicking off the comm system.

Carrie turned her attention back to the star charts. She took a slow breath and opened up her mind to the crew. She focused on the thoughts of those around her and began filtering out the ones she did not want to hear.

“Why would life support fail like that in one compartment?” the captain asked Chavel.

The lieutenant shook his head.

“It shouldn’t, sir. The failsafes against that happening make it almost impossible. I don’t understand it,” he replied.

“Run a ship-wide diagnostic again, Lieutenant, the last thing we need is life support randomly going down,” he said.

“Yes, sir, running it now,” Chavel replied.

Carrie tuned the noise of the bridge crew out of her mind and continued her search. She began focusing on the medical bay.

We must leave Carrie. Time grows short
.

Tyrell’s thoughts suddenly flooded her mind. The Black alien fluid that had commandeered his body resonated in her mind as strongly as if he were sitting next to her. She opened her eyes and looked around the bridge. She caught Young’s eyes who was looking at her curiously. He had been unusually quiet around her, since the discovery of her powers.

“Father, with your permission I would like to go to the medical bay to check on Doctor Tyrell,” Carrie suddenly said.

She quickly realised what an unusual request it must have sounded like.

“If he is conscious I would like to ask his advice about some astronomical computations I am running at the moment. It would help in determining our current position,” she said, wondering if the lie sounded plausible enough.

Her father squinted his good eye and nodded. She knew he didn’t buy a word of it, but wanted someone who was at least able to handle Tyrell’s capabilities in close proximity to him. She stood up slowly and made her way to the lift.

“I’d like to go with you,” Jerome Young suddenly said.

Carrie stopped at the door to the lift and looked at him.

“Of course, Mr Young,” she said reluctantly.

Young moved towards the lift and joined her as the doors slid open. They stepped inside and stood quietly as the doors closed. She could sense what he was about to do, but thought it best if she just let it happen.

“Halt lift,” he said out loud.

The lift came to a sudden stop, making the two passengers shake for a moment. Young turned to Carrie and looked at her. She knew he meant her no harm, but she still felt intimidated by the former CEO of Jycorp. The man had run the planet Earth and all its inhabitants,
both on the former world and the Martian colonies. He regarded her for a moment before turning away from her to face the wall.

“Don’t be afraid, Carrie, I just want to have a quick talk with you. We really haven’t had the chance to get to know one another since we came aboard, have we?” he said still looking away from her.

“No, Mr Young, we have not. What is it you want to know?” she said cutting to the chase.

“I have spent my whole life, or the vast majority of it, looking for answers to the reason behind the signal. It is the reason I appointed the position of an Earth Chancellor in the first place. So that I could continue my research and be as close to the Monolith on Phobos as I possibly could,” he said.

Carrie looked at the man curiously. He was handsome for his age, had thick dark hair and piercing eyes. He didn’t look or act like she had expected at all.

“You know this ship was my idea?” he said, “Well, actually it was Tosh’s idea, but its execution and design was originally mine. I drew a picture of it once on a napkin and showed it to Tosh in a cafe in New York on Earth nearly ten years ago.”

“I did not know that,” Carrie said.

“Yep, your father has done an incredible thing here, completing it in time for us to escape. He really is an amazing man, you should be very proud,” he said, “I know that your mother would have been equally as proud. I was fortunate enough to meet her once on a visit to the Aquaria base. You were only a baby at that stage,” he said pausing, “You look like her.”

Carrie looked at him curiously wondering where all this was going.

“So I’ve been told,” she said beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.

“Carrie, as head of Jycorp I was privy to things in this world that neither you nor your father were aware of. It seems silly now to have those secrets, as we are probably the only humans left alive in the universe,” he said turning to face her.

Carrie waited for him to continue.

“There was a file that I was made aware of by a section of Jycorp, when my father died and I took over the family business as it were,” he said, “The file contained a list of individuals from around the world that had certain …” he paused again “… abilities,” he said.

There was a deathly silence in the lift. The air seemed to be getting thicker.

“These individuals exhibited signs of telepathic and kinetic traits not unlike what you have shown. Though none of them were anywhere near your capabilities,” he said.

“What?” she said flabbergasted, “There are more like me?”

“Well, not exactly,” Young answered, “While the initial tests of these others showed a mild ability to sense emotional states, none of them had any external projections like your electrical discharges. It was postulated by our scientists that it was a next stage in human evolution. The accelerated progression of what you can do could be a mutation of those abilities, caused by some sort of radiation on the Martian surface. You were, after all, the first human child to be born on that planet,” he said.

“My God,” Carrie said staring off into the distance.

There were others.

Her sense of isolation suddenly began to fade.

“And now they’re dead,” she said.

Young raised his eyebrows and nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell my father?” she asked.

“The truth is I was going to, but we really haven’t had the time. There are more pressing things at hand at the moment and I wanted you to know first,” he said, “I know what it feels like to be an outsider, Carrie. I know that you are probably feeling alone and isolated from the rest of the crew on this ship and I wanted you to know that you are not alone,” he said placing a hand on her shoulder.

He was not what she was expecting at all. There were deep secrets in his mind, but there was also a sincerity to the man that she had only known from a few.

“If we are to meet the Signal Makers, I believe that you are the most important person on this ship to help us do that,” he paused for a moment “Lift resume,” he said out loud turning to face the door.

“Doctor Tyrell is not human,” she said without thinking, “The Black entered his body when we crashed on the mechanical planet and it is now in complete control of his body,” she said.

“Lift halt,” Young said again.

The lift once again ground to a stop.

“I’m sorry, what?” he said genuinely shocked.

She didn’t know why she said it, but there it was.

“He does not mean to harm the crew in any way, Mr Young. If anything, he has knowledge about the Signal Makers. It is a sentient life form. From an ancient race of beings that habituated the Martian surface for millennia. I do not know why it was left behind, but it saved my life and that of my father on the planet surface,” she said.

Young looked truly amazed.

“I thought it liquefied organic material on contact?” Young said.

“As it turns out, it was trying to bond with members of our colony, my mother included. For some reason it found a compatibility with Tyrell’s body and was able to integrate itself inside him,” she said laying out the facts.

Young seemed to be taking it quite well. As if he had suspected it.

“Is Doctor Tyrell dead?” he asked.

“Apparently not, but his subconscious has been suppressed. I would say it is akin to being in a coma. I doubt very much that he is aware of anything or in any pain,” she said.

“Who else knows about this?” Young asked.

“My father and that’s about it currently. The crew is under enough pressure without having what has been proven to be a lethal alien species running around the ship. There was a genuine fear of reprisals for the deaths on Mars should it be made public knowledge,” she said.

Carrie suddenly felt her mind being probed by Tyrell’s, by The Black’s mind. It was reaching out for her. Trying to find out where
she was. Young was silent for a moment before turning to the door and facing away from her once again.

“Lift resume,” he said quietly, “Well, this should be interesting.”

Carrie let her information sink in before something suddenly struck her.

“Mr Young. Are you absolutely sure that there are no others like myself on board this ship, or left on the space stations, should they have survived all this time?” she said.

Young didn’t answer straight away. He turned his head and met her eyes softly.

“I honestly don’t know, Carrie,” he said.

The doors to the lift sprung open. She waited for a moment trying to sense if he was lying or not. As far as she could tell, he was not.

8

The Agathon

Medical Bay

C
arrie stepped through the doors of the medical and waited with Young by the large tissue regenerator. The frosted glass of the domed chamber made it difficult to see through, but it looked empty. The room was relatively quiet with just the sounds of the bleeping bio beds echoing around the walls. Doctor Brubaker saw her come in. She smiled at her and nodded, walking over to the pair. Her hair was tangled up into a knot tied at the back and she looked tired. Then again, they all looked tired. Tyrell was lying unconscious in a corner bed with his arms folded neatly on either side of him.

“Hello Carrie,” she paused and looked at Young, “Mr Young,” she said nodding politely at the pair, “What brings you down here?” she said.

Carrie smiled at her and still couldn’t figure out why her father had rebuffed the doctor’s advances. They would have made a great pair and at least he would have been happy.

“I wanted to check in on Tyrone, Michelle, we could use his help when he wakes up. How is he?” she asked.

Brubaker turned to look at Tyrell.

“Can’t find a damn thing wrong with him to be honest,” she said, “Other than oxygen deprivation, he should wake up any time. I was
going to let him rest rather than give him a stimulant to give his body time to recover naturally.”

Brubaker looked at Young.

“I just needed to get away from the bridge for a while, stretch the legs,” he said.