The Void (17 page)

“I
hope
I'm
not
speaking
out
of
turn
.
.
.”

Everyone
turned
and
looked
at
Jack
Crawford.
He
had
been
silent
up
to
that
point,
but
now
he
stepped
forward,
walking
over
to
where
Aidan
and
Gravely
stood.
Rebecca
watched
him
curiously
as
he
passed.

“But
is
there
any
protocol
for
something
like
this?
Is
there
a
plan
we
are
to
follow?”

Captain
Gravely
looked
at
Aidan
and
frowned.
She
had
not
anticipated
anything
like
this
on
her
first
civilian
run
and
although
she
had
tried
to
prepare
herself,
to
learn
the
rules
and
regulations,
a
situation
like
this
was
so
different
from
what
she
had
experienced
before
that
she
did
not
know
how
to
proceed.

“Well,”
Aidan
said,
glancing
back
at
Gravely
and
seeing
the
gratitude
in
her
eyes,
“if
she's
derelict,
then
we
have
some
decisions
to
make.

“We're
required
to
wait
twenty-four
hours,
unless
there's
some
legitimate
reason
not
to.
Then
we
are
free
to
call
it
in
and
get
out
of
here
if
we
want.
Spacing
regs
say
that
she
is
ours
if
we
salvage
her,
and
looking
at
her,
she'd
fetch
a
high
price
on
the
market.

“We
aren't
required
to
do
anything,
though,
unless
there's
some
threat
to
the
crew
or
passengers
of
the
derelict,
and
only
then
if
we
can
act
without
putting
ourselves
or
the
ship
in
danger.”
Aidan
turned
to
Gravely.
“But being
in
this
area
of
space,
Captain,
I
don't
think
we
can
do
much
of
anything
without
some
danger.”

“I
agree,
Mr.
Connor.
We'll
give
it
twenty-four
hours,
as
required.
In
the
meantime,
I
want
you
to
work
with
Dr.
Kensington
here,
if
she
doesn't
mind,
to
figure
out
exactly
what
we’re
up
against
as
far
as
gravitational
anomalies.
If
there's
a
black
hole
out
there,
I
want
to
know
exactly
where
it
is.
Would
that
be
agreeable,
Dr.
Kensington?
I
know
you're
just
a
passenger
on
this
ship,
but
we
are
down
a
man
and
I
could
use
your
help.”

Rebecca
glanced
surreptitiously
at
Jack
Crawford
who
gave
an
almost
imperceptible
nod.
“Of
course,
Captain,”
she
said,
“I'd
be
happy
to
help.”

“Excellent.
Dr.
Ridley,
keep
me
informed
of
any
changes
with
Cyrus.
If
things
go
badly
with
him,
I
want
to
know
immediately.
I'm
not
risking
his
life,
no
matter
what
is
going
on
with
that
ship.
And,
Aidan,
put
out
a
call
to
Riley
and
let
them
know
that
we're
out
here.
I
know
there
are
no
other
ships
scheduled
to
come
through
this
quadrant,
but
I
don't
want
to
take
any
chances.
But
let's
keep
this
off
the
bands
when
it
comes
to
the
ship.
If
she
is
derelict
and
we
can
claim
her,
I'd
rather
not
have
any
competition.”

“Understood,
Captain.”

“And
let's
hope
nothing
else
goes
wrong.”

Chapter 12

Dr. Ridley sat in his office, staring down at the image of Cyrus's brain on the screen. He glanced up into the cell. Cyrus was mercifully asleep and if Ridley had anything to say about it, he would stay that way until at least Riley and possibly Earth. His brain, however, was as active as ever. Lightning flashed across the screen, the visible representation of the storm of thoughts raging in the man's broken mind. There was simply nothing about Cyrus's mental activity that made sense, nothing that resembled any other brain scan Ridley had seen. Well, he thought to himself, that wasn't quite true.

In his career, he had lost three crew members and one passenger to the dreams. One of those, a ship's engineer from a nothing town in South Dakota whose name had long since fled his memory, had died in his sleep. The other three had lived and their minds wandered in the same incomprehensible manner as Cyrus's. Neurons firing at impossible intervals, waves of thought rolling through the brain in directions and speeds alien to anything he knew, visible evidence of their insanity.

The passenger had been the worst. Not that losing the crew wasn't tragic, but they accepted the dangers, knew what could happen every time they went out. Anna Lane—a name he would never forget—had not. When they came out of warp, she was foaming at the mouth and convulsing, her brain having turned to a sputtering mess.

How do you tell a family waiting at the spaceport that? What do you say to a child who wants to see his mom? How do you tell him that his mother is a drooling zombie, a brainless lunatic likely to rip his face off if she gets within range?

The afflicted were lost and they never came back. They never fixed themselves, and there was nothing in medicine that could reverse the damage, no matter how far the science of the brain had come. Society warehoused them in the last remaining asylums. Most were catatonic. Ridley preferred those.

He had friends who worked at the hospitals, the prisons, where the lost wasted away. They whispered about the other ones, the ones that could speak. Their ramblings had a way of getting in a sane man’s head and making him feel perhaps he was losing his mind. The month Ridley spent amongst them as an intern was enough for a lifetime, and the last three cases he had treated as a ship's doctor had remained sedated for the duration of the trip. He would follow the same course here. He just hoped there weren't any more.

He had spoken to Rebecca after the captain left the bridge. He had called her over before he went to check on Cyrus. There was no one he could trust, not really, but better her than Jack Crawford. Something about that man bothered him, triggered some sense in the back of his mind that told him all was not right.

“You alright?” he had asked her. They were all shaken, but she was the worst.

“Not really,” she said, trying to smile. “No, not really at all.”

“That's natural,” he offered. “Come by later and I'll give you something to help you sleep.”

“No, no drugs. I never liked taking drugs, especially to sleep. I don't like feeling like I can't wake up. I think that's particularly true now.”

“That's understandable.” Ridley wished he had something more, but the fact that he was a psychiatrist didn't mean he was particularly good at comforting people. It was closer to the opposite; he'd become a psychiatrist because he
didn't
understand people. In any event, he thought that perhaps he should leave it at that and say no more. He pushed that thought aside.

“So, Rebecca, I know you've been through a lot, but have you been feeling all right? Any dizziness? Confusion? Hallucinations?” In the end, these questions were too important to leave unasked.

“What? No, nothing like that. Why do you ask?” The puzzled look on her face told Ridley that she was telling the truth.

“I know you've already been through so much, but there's something I need to tell you. The sleep-madness, it sometimes comes in swarms.”

“Swarms?”