The Black Planet (28 page)

Chapter 60

Steven dry heaved in to the bowl in the medical lab.  The doctor had tried to keep Buzz and him out but they had insisted.  Buzz had walked out a few minutes before after finishing being sick.  He had simply patted Steven on the shoulder and left.  Most of the soldiers had left with Buzz and he guided them to the ships rest room for visitors.  Only De’ Beer and Sergeant Eddie were left beside the bloodied lump of meat on the table.  The doctor handed him a towel and Steven covered his face with it.

‘Tell me,’ Steven prompted.

Her eyes dropped, ‘I’m sorry Steven, he is so close to death, there is nothing I can do for him but to give him pain killers.’

‘You mean put him out of his misery?’

Her eyes lifted for the briefest of moments, ‘Yes.’

‘What did they do to him?’

‘They cut off his fingers and toes.  Smashed what was left of his hands and feet.  Almost every bone in his body has been broken.  He has five skull fractures, his right eye burned out.’  She shook her head, ‘his body is full of stimulants.  His internal organs aren’t in bad shape considering the rest of him.  Bruised yes, but not badly enough that it would kill him or to stop his organs from working.  A way of keeping him alive longer,’ she explained before he could ask.

‘Why stimulants, what were they for?’

‘To keep him awake, enhance the pain.’

Steven felt tears spring to his eyes, ‘animals.’

‘He is unconscious now, doesn’t feel anything.  The poisons in his blood are beginning to build rapidly.  His organs will begin to fail soon and he will die before he wakens.’

Steven moved over to Charlie’s side.  What was left of his limbs were twisted and mashed.  Sargent Eddie had tears coursing down his face and De’ Beer looked completely lost.

Steven apologised to the two men, ‘I’m sorry for that.’

The two men nodded, ‘can you do anything?’  Steven spoke aloud.  His eyes glanced at his companions, ‘sorry I’m speaking to the ship.’

‘I can try me heart.  He is strong this one.  How can one person do this to another?’

‘I have no idea,’ he replied with his mind.

‘Lay him on the floor my heart.’

‘Help me please, we need to lay him on the floor.’

They gathered round and lifted Charlie in the sheet and laid him on the floor.  The floor began to shimmer and they stepped back.  A strange silver tube with a wicked looking tip appeared from the floor.  It began to weave like a snake and struck as fast.  It pierced Charlie’s femoral artery.

Eddie winched, ‘oh that was bloody close.’  It helped relieve the tension a little.  They watched fascinated as he began to sink into the floor.

‘Don’t worry OK!’  Steven warned them and his friends took a step back. 

For a few seconds after he had completely disappeared the floor continued to shimmer, then it became solid again.  For a moment they weren’t sure whether to move or not.  Steven bade them follow and he took them to where the rest waited.  The soldiers sat slumped in their seats, defeated, fugitives from their own army.

A week later Steven met up with them in the canteen.  He grabbed a coffee and sat down.  ‘I have good news for you and some bad.  The good news is all charges against you have been dropped and the two generals responsible have been arrested and are on their way back to Earth.’  They let out a cheer and Steven lifted a hand.  ‘Unfortunately before they were arrested they changed the order off attack.’  He looked De’ Beer straight in the eye, ‘you have been put in the first wave with me.  I am trying to have that order rescinded.’

‘Why?’  De’ Beer asked.

‘I am supposed to carry Special Forces.  Experts in infiltration and explosives, not infantry.’

‘My men and I would be honoured to stand by your side in the fight to come Steven.’  There was a growl of consent from the jocks.  ‘In fact I insist on it.’

‘Are you sure Bear?’

‘Never been more certain of anything in my life.  Any news of Charlie?’

‘She says be patient and won’t tell me any more than that.’

‘We will be waiting for his return.  In the mean time I think we had better be heading back to the Battalion.  It looks like we have a lot of training to do and very little time to do it.’

Steven sent a silent command to Hailey and the ship turned towards the fleet.

Chapter 61

It was a strange buzzing noise that brought Charlie to his senses.  Like a beehive he thought.  He couldn’t feel anything at all and wondered if he was actually dead.  The buzzing receded a little.  He remembered the torture and the pain, but the pain was gone now.  He remembered their laughter and their evil remarks as though from a film.  They tortured him for the sheer pleasure of it.  There were no questions, just the taunting and the pain.  Maybe he was paralysed and blind.  Was this what life was going to be like from now on, was he no more than a vegetable trapped within his own mind in perpetual darkness.  His acceptance of the situation allowed his mind to relax a little and the buzzing noise came back.

He began to concentrate on it and all of a sudden he could make out voices; many voices.  There was one a little louder than the rest.  He concentrated on it and the voice became louder; the others receded into the background.  It was a woman’s voice and very pleasant to listen to.  She seemed to be speaking to many people at the same time.  Charlie relaxed and listened to many things he didn’t understand but found it comforting.  He never really realised he was drifting in and out of sleep, but when he was awake he listened for her voice.  He became very adept at finding her within the noise.  One day she seemed very close.

‘I wish I could talk to you?’

She hesitated, ‘I’m sorry who said that?’

Charlie was shocked, ‘I ah, I think it was me.’

‘Me, who is me?’

It was him she was hearing, Charlie felt emotion for the first time since awakening, ‘my name is Charlie.’

Now he really felt her presence and her voice became louder.  ‘Charlie, Steven’s friend Charlie?’

‘Yes that’s right who are you?’

For a moment he didn’t think she was going to answer, ‘They call me Babes, I am Steven’s ship.’

‘You have a very lovely voice, for a ship,’ he added.

He was sure he actually heard her giggle, ‘how can you hear me Charlie?’

‘I don’t know, where am I?’

‘Ah, that may be a little hard to explain.  You are actually between my decks; within my decks.’

‘Within your decks, that sounds a little strange.’

‘It is but it’s the truth.  I am using my systems to rebuild you.’

‘You mean heal me.’

‘No not really.  I am surprised you are awake and even more surprised you can talk to me.’

‘I think I have been awake off and on for a while now.  I have been listening to you talk to people.’

‘I am sorry, that should not have happened.’

‘No worries, I thought I was dead at first.  I should be you know.’

‘I am surprised you aren’t panicking.’

‘You mean because I can’t breathe, see or hear anything?’

‘Yes, that has been my experience with humans.  At this moment in time I am breathing for you.  Your nervous system has been disengaged from your brain.  You won’t be able to see anything until I release you from between my decks.’

‘Am I going to be a vegetable for the rest of my life?’

It took her a moment to understand his meaning.  ‘We won’t really know until I release you.  You will have to be patient.  Would you like to sleep until then?’

‘How long will it be?’

‘About another week.’

‘Then yes please.’

The darkness came swiftly.

Chapter 62

De Beer and Eddie were both waiting with Steven when the floor began to shiver.  Charlie’s nose appeared first and all three were holding their breath.  The sheet he had been wrapped in now served as a pair of pyjamas.  Charlie’s eyes flicked open and they all sighed with relief together.

Amanda knelt by his side, ‘be careful and don’t try and move to quickly Charlie.’

His eyes flicked to her, ‘aye OK.’

She offered a hand, ‘try and sit up.’

Charlie reached and suddenly snatched back his hand.  ‘How the hell.  I know that was cut off.’

‘The ship rebuilt you.’

‘Aye she did say,’ he reached out and grabbed her hand, she sat him up.

Charlie frowned, he could still hear the buzzing, only it was quite loud.  He switched it off and was greeted by silence.  ‘Now try and stand and get on the bed.’

He was a little wobbly at first as she lay him down.  He smiled at his friends and they looked like they were going to burst with pleasure.  ‘I’m all here then?’

Amanda laughed, ‘it certainly looks like it.  You’re going to be here for a few days so try and relax.  I think the captain wants to talk to you.’

Steven moved to his bedside with a bloody great grin on his face, ‘how are you feeling Charlie?’

‘Bit weird, what did you do Stevie?’ 

‘We rebuilt you, like the six million dollar man.’

‘Whit like Steve Austin?’

Steven laughed, ‘yeah like the six million dollar man.’

‘Aye, only for you it only cost fifty pence,’ Eddie laughed.

They all joined in.  Charlie pinched himself on the arm, ‘this is my skin, I can feel it.  It feels like me but different.’

Stevie sat on the end of the bed, ‘it is your skin and your nervous system has been rebuilt to control everything but underneath you are bionic.  Everything is mechanical including your eye, well both your eyes actually.’

Charlie frowned, ‘I only lost one if I remember right.’

Stevie shrugged, ‘sorry man, something to do with depth perception or something.’

‘So she replace both.’

‘Had too I’m afraid.’

‘Well I can see fine so who cares right.’

‘You will be able to do more than see well Charlie.  In fact I want you to stay here for a week until you get control of your new abilities.’

‘What’s happening in the outside world?’

‘We are on our way to intercept the city chip now.  The attack is planned for a month from tomorrow.’

De’ Beer stepped forward, ‘we are going in with Captain Gordon in the first wave.  You will take command of your own platoon Charlie and we are going to assault with Captain Gordon and his men.’

Charlie was shocked, ‘why the hell are we going in first?’

‘A little favour done for us by those two Generals that had you arrested and executed.  I will tell you when you get back.  In the meantime it’s good to see you whole again.’

‘Thank you sir.’

Amanda stepped forward, ‘OK gentlemen I am going to have to ask you to leave, I have a lot of tests to do.’

‘Catch you later mucker,’ Eddie punched him on the shoulder.  ‘The fifty p man.’

They all left laughing. 

Amanda was smiling as she went to get some of her instruments.  Charlie watched her with interest.  When she bent down his interest soared but not only his interest.  His eyes suddenly zoomed in.  Then her cloths began to change colour.  Charlie realised he was seeing heat; a few seconds later it wasn’t the only thing he was seeing.  He felt a reaction; shocked he pulled his pyjamas open to reveal his biggest shock of the day.

‘Wow.’

‘What is it?’ Amanda asked standing.

Charlie hid is embarrassment and looked away, ‘oh nothing.’

‘I hope he wasn’t looking at my ass.’  It was Amanda’s voice but it came from inside his own head.  Then came another voice, ‘can you still hear me Charlie?’

‘Is that you Babes; yes I can?’

‘Yes it’s me Charlie.’

‘Thing is Babes you’re not the only one I can hear.’

Chapter 63

Charlie and Steven lay side by side in his room on the floor.  The huge city ship swung into sight.  In the days since Charlie had woken up he had learned to harness his new ability’s.

‘This is weird Stevie.’

Steven grinned, ‘it’s a bit like floating in space isn’t it?’

‘Totally, but it’s no just that.  How many times when we were kids did we lie on the floor next to one another, playing games or watching TV?’

Steven laughed, ‘yeah you’re right it is a bit weird.’

‘I’m a bit scared, you know that.’

‘Why Charlie?’

‘Stevie I can run at about sixty miles an hour.  I can zoom in on a bloody fly a hundred meters away and can read minds from miles away.  It’s bloody scary.’

‘It is a little I suppose, but you will get used to it.  You can tune people out.’

‘Aye I know.  Some days I just don’t feel like I’m me.  Even Babes is freeked out.’

Steven gave a slight shrug, ‘not really, she likes you a lot, she just isn’t used to people been able to hear her unless they are connected to her.  Ico freeked out though.’  The two men laughed. ‘I suppose it just proves they are living entities,’ Steven sighed.

‘Aye they are that.’

‘You sure you can do this Charlie?’

‘I can try Stevie.  It was a great idea testing out on that Orlath guy.’

‘I wanted to know for sure if he was genuine or not.’

‘Well he was.  He was also surprised the Universal foreign office, what ever it is, granted him Earth citizenship.  You were really pleased about that.’

‘It gives humanity a foot in the door Charlie.  No meat eaters have ever been granted entry into that universal club.’

‘We don’t just eat meat Stevie, I like my fruit and veg as well and not every human eats meat.’

‘That’s a good point Charlie.’  Stevie pointed towards the city ship.  ‘Do you see those central structures with the bubbles on top?’

‘Yup.’

‘According to our information, that is the central hub of the city and where their command centre is.’

‘Get us as close as you can.’

Babes swung as close to their shields as she could without being detected.  Charlie crossed his eyes and concentrated hard.  Eventually he opened them again.  ‘There’s nothing there Stevie.  Not a thing.’

‘You sure?’ 

‘I can hear millions of voices Stevie but none are coming from those towers.’  He had an idea, ‘Babes can you project a holographic image of the city right here that I can manipulate?’

‘Yes of course Charlie.’

The city appeared by his side and Charlie played with it a while.  He found by touching areas in the holograph he could concentrate more easily on an area within the city.  ‘I got something Stevie, this area here is a bio-weapons plant.’  He concentrated hard, ‘oh dear?’

‘What?’

‘It’s no wonder those towers aren’t manned Stevie, they are a trap.  They are full of a biological agent.  We are supposed to absorb it into our bodies and when we get home to Earth it will activate.’

‘Shit!  What kind of agent?’

‘Not sure Stevie, but it will be activated by some kind of environmental trigger.   Mark those towers for sanitation.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Blow the buggers up Stevie?’

Steven laughed, ‘no need for such drastic action Charlie, opening them up to space will kill anything inside.’

‘I hope your right.’  Charlie shook his head, ‘I’m getting nothing more but the thoughts of terrified people.  Let’s try somewhere else.’

It wasn’t until they flew under the great ship that Charlie detected something else, ‘bingo.’

‘What?’

‘Give me a second Stevie.’  He already had the city upside down and expanded it.  ‘This area here, quite deep, some kind of auxiliary control room.  That’s where they have their HQ.’

‘How deep?’

‘Very, right in the heart of the place.  We need schematics.’

‘We don’t have any.’

‘Then we had better bloody get some Stevie.’

’Do you think there will be some on one of those ships we destroyed?’

‘I would say on the command vessels.’

‘There isn’t much left of them Charlie.’

‘I think we had better go look.’

Steven ordered Babes to turn round and head back at full speed.  Once they reached Saturn the hunt for the city schematics began.  Ico joined them and both crews spent a whole day sifting through the wreckage of the command carrier.  It was Cookie and Lewis that found it but it took another three days for Babes and Ico to get the computer working again and break the encryption.

It was while working on this that Charlie and Cookie had a very interesting conversation.  Charlie was taking a meal alone in the cookhouse when Cookie slid into the seat opposite with two cups of coffee.

‘How you doing Charlie, still two sugars and milk?’

‘Aye, Cookie, been a long time man.’

‘Seven years Charlie, how are the boys?’

‘Still missing you, still talking about you.’

Cookie grinned, ‘nice to hear.’

‘How’s the SAS, or should I say how was it?’

‘It was great Charlie, you should have joined us.’

Charlie shook his head, ‘it wasn’t for me Cookie.’

‘Bollocks, it was because of that hot chick you were banging back then.  You had visons of settling down and all that crap.  Did you marry her?’

‘No, turns out I was the bit of rough on the side mate.’

Cookie was surprised, ‘she was married?’

‘Oh hell no, she was seeing some banker type online, going away for the weekend, that kind of thing.’

‘How did you find out?’

‘She told me.’

‘You mean you figured it out and challenged her.’

‘I figured it out all right, but no, she beat me too it.  He decided to get serious when she fell pregnant.  They moved in together.  She told me straight.’

Cookies jaw dropped, ‘holy shit.  Whose kid was it?’

Charlie shrugged, ‘no idea, I just walked out and never looked back Cookie.’

‘Man that’s harsh Charlie.’

Charlie shrugged, ‘the way it goes Cookie.  I’ve never heard from her since.  So what about you and this chick over here?’

‘Who, Mya?’

‘Aye.’

Cookie shrugged, ‘don’t know.’

‘Bollocks Cookie, you’re in love with her and she is in love with you.  If you want the knickers off her you’re going to have to marry her first though.’

‘Jesus Christ Charlie, you were bad enough before, but now you can here peoples thoughts?’

‘Afraid so.  You’re shitting yourself because you respect her and are afraid she will reject you.  She’s afraid that you aren’t attracted to her and just want to have sex with her.  You find the fact that she is still a virgin intimidating, because you don’t really know how to handle the situation.’

‘Enough Charlie.  Get out of my head man.’

‘I’m not in your head Cookie your firing off these thoughts like artillery shells man, both of you are, because you are both anxious.’

‘Help.’

‘OK.’

‘OK what?’

‘I’ll help.’

‘I never asked for your help Charlie?’

‘You just screamed help.’

‘In my head man.’

‘Aye OK.’  Charlie turned, ‘Mya can you come over here for a moment please.’

‘Yes OK.’

‘For god’s sake man no.’

‘Shut it Cookie.’

Cookie paled, ‘naw man, I can dee it myself.’

Mya arrived at the table, ‘what is it?’  Her eyes kept flicking towards Cookie.

‘Do you know who I am Mya?’

‘Yes you’re Charlie, Cookie has often spoke about you and your friendship.  You are friends with the captain too.  Now you are something called Bionic and can read minds.’  She smiled, ‘is that right?’

‘That’s right Mya and I have been reading both your minds, you and Cookies, you are both in love with each other.’  Charlie stood, ‘so stop pissing around.’  He lifted a cup, ‘thanks for the coffee Cookie.’

Cookie had hid his face in his hands, ‘bugger off Charlie.’

Charlie left with a grin.

Cookie was finally able to lift his face from his hands.  Mya looked like a bird that was about to take flight.  ‘Hi.’  Cookie managed and was rewarded by a huge smile.