Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Nebula ❯ ch 3 ( Chapter 3 )

The light came over the horizon and the fighters could see what had happened. bodies were strewn across the ground. No one could see the floor for the colourless liquid that still oozed from dozens of the freshly killed corpses. The ground was littered with spent cartridges from assault rifles. Huge craters were filled with bodies that had fallen to their doom as they ran blindly to the battle. Many people had died overnight and the military now had the job of cleaning it up. A craft had malfunctioned and fallen out of the sky. It had smashed through three buildings before slamming into the Els'keth gate, a barrier designed to protect the life forms of the planet Vangelis from the Black Holes. The Kra'zak had decided to protect every natural thing on their world, even the Els'keth. But the creatures were too devastating to be allowed a free run of the planet. As the soldiers could now see.
Prill was vaguely aware of sound around her, but it was muffled. She opened her eyes and saw green. Translucent green. A bumping noise made her look round to see Thardan behind a glass wall. Was she dreaming? No, it was real. But where was she? Thardan held up a piece of paper, on which was scrawled 'You're in a medical cylinder. The water will revive your strength. Don't worry. I love you xxx ' He grinned at her and gave a quick wave before being led away by an impatient medic. Prill smiled to herself and went back to sleep.
Kindreil gritted her teeth as the med-pac's tiny arms zipped up and down her leg, replacing damaged tissue with fresh, microscopically thin flesh that had been cloned from her own body. It was the most unpleasant feeling in the world. Feeling this machine implant new parts of her body didn't seem right. She felt that it would somehow need to relearn everything that she had trained for in combat. And her tail next. She bit down at a major burst of pain. Nothing she could do about it.
Go'mek was furiously tapping away at a computer terminal in his ship. He was trying to hack into a security facility in space. It was supposed to be unhackable but so far it had failed to impress. He gave it another day before it fell. You had to keep practicing to get better.
And Lithen sat in his room in the dark. He silently meditated, trying to suppress the beast inside him. But meditation wouldn't hold it off on its own. He wordlessly reached over to the table next to him and picked up the pressure needle with the gleaming red hyper-stimulant in it.
The next day all the signs of battle had been erased. The fencing was repaired and the Kra'zak had their top scientists attempting to spaceship proof it. The Els'keth that had escaped had only caused minimal casualties beyond that of the military forces, as most of them had been destroyed by the initial attacks at the edge of the Deathside. The armies concern now was to prevent this happening again.
Two Keplon days passed.
Go'mek sat on the entry ramp, typing swiftly on a hand held computer console, when he saw Kindreil strolling towards him.
"Morning." he called. "Ship's all ready to go."
"Excellent timing."
"I was tracking you on the security cameras." he told her.
"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that."
"What exactly was the nature of your question?" he asked, grinning lopsidedly at her.
"How?"
"Oh, easy. I developed a system to fool a computer into thinking that I was military personnel, giving me access to all the entry codes in our city. From those I could determine how to reroute signals to my hand computer without being spotted by a local network."
"Ahhh."
"Didn't get a word of it?"
"Not a one."
Go'mek chuckled to himself. Kindreil gave him a look.
"Anyway, have you seen Thardan and Prill around anywhere?" she asked him.
The Kra'zak held up his console.
"We'll find out, won't we."
He tapped a few keys and stared fixedly at the screen.
They'll be here in about five seconds." he informed Kindreil.
She began to count "One, two, three, four...."
"Hi guys." Thardan shouted from the doorway.
"Five?" supplied Go'mek.
"It would seem so."
Thardan strolled over to them, Grenade launcher over his shoulder. Prill was walking behind him looking her usual, grumpy self.
"Are we all set then?"
"It would seem so." said Go'mek, smirking at Kindreil.
Prill piped up "Kindreil, can I have a word."
"Sure."
They walked around to the other side of the ship, not looking at each other as they went.
"I wanted to make sure that even though you helped save me, I don't like you. We're not going to be happy friends now."
"Whatever you feel comfortable with." Kindreil smiled at her.
"And don't you do that. I'm serious, I don't like you! Understand?"
"Perfectly."
"Good!" she snapped.
They strolled back to the others.
"Hey." Thardan called. "Do you have a kiss for me?"
"No. Why?" snapped Prill.
Thardan chuckled and walked up behind her to give her a hug. He kissed her gently on top of the head. She closed her eyes and leaned back onto him. Thardan rocked her back and forth slowly.
"Are you okay sweetheart?" he whispered softly.
She nodded gently and snuggled up closer to him.
"So are we ready to go?" said Thardan.
"Looks like it." said Go'mek.
"Wait!" came a voice from the corridor. A Terran stepped, briskly into the room. A Terran with a steel face. Go'mek jumped to attention and nearly concussed himself with a hasty salute.
"Captain Lithen." he spurted "I'm honored that..."
"At ease Go'mek."
"Yes sir."
"And forget the sir."
"Yes sir."
Lithen sighed. It was really, truly annoying. He tried to get them to stop being so formal around him but now even the bloody Kra'zaks were knocking themselves out when he walked in.
"Go'mek."
"Yes sir?"
"Shut up."
"Yes sir."
He spotted Kindreil, moved over to her and extended his hand. She shook it hesitantly.
"Kindreil, was it?"
"Yes."
Ah, good. No sir.
"I was wondering if I might participate in this venture you are undergoing?"
"Certainly. We'd be glad to have you aboard."
"Excellent."
He walked into the ship, leaving behind a curious Chamael and a quivering Kra'zak.
"Go'mek?"
He jumped noticeably.
"Ye..yes. Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"I think I need to sit down somewhere."
Kindreil smirked and looked back towards the entry ramp. There was something strange about that man. She didn't know what it was but she would find out. She followed him into the ship and found him in the cockpit, poking at buttons.
"Lithen."
"Yes?"
"For starters, how do you know what we're doing?"
"Go'mek's not the only hacker around."
"I see. Why do you want to come with us?"
"I understand the importance of what you are doing."
"And what would that be?"
There was no fooling this one, was there.
"Look, I am fully aware that the life out there is dange.... PROBABLY dangerous and I would like to assist you. I thought you would welcome assistance, not question it."
"Right. My final question is, why did you falter?"
"What."
"It's a simple enough question. Why did you almost say it IS dangerous, and then correct yourself?"
"Forget it."
"No I will not forget it. You know something we don't and I think that you should tell us. I don't know what we're walking into but you seem to, so I would appreciate it if you informed us so that we can better prepare."
Lithen and Kindreil gave each other angry stares. Lithen broke first. He sat for a long moment staring at nothing. Then, he spoke.
"I suppose you must know then. I do know that they are hostile. Do you want to know why? If so, prepare yourself."
She nodded. He stood up and took off his armour. He was wearing a cotton shirt. Kindreil braced herself. He lifted his shirt. Kindreil's eyes widened. Fear ran through her entire body. She began to panic. She had to get away. She had to run from it. But she was paralysed. She had never been frozen with fear before and that added to the terror she was feeling. She stumbled, fell, crawled backwards, never taking her eyes away from it. She could feel it reaching into her mind. It was in her god damn mind and she couldn't get it out. It wanted her to come to it . She closed her eyes and shook her head. Kindreil clutched her skull. Come here . Another shake. Tears began to slide from under her closed eyelids. Come to me now . She shook her head more violently this time, shivering uncontrollably. COME HERE NOW! Even with her eyes closed she could see it. It was attacking her. She could smell blood. Things around her were spinning. Even with her eyes tightly closed she could see everything around her. Why could she see everything around her? It was placing images in her head, showing her things. In the middle of the room though, it stood. Not the same as it really was, but its true form. It walked towards her, it's claws clattering with each step. A shapeless limb extended towards her, daggers sliding from under the carapace. I own you. It inserted the words in her head. I own me and I am going to corrupt you as I have him. You will become part of the great organism, the Prime and so become part of me. The voice of the nightmare was a low, burning, evil sound. It's hand reached her and she tried to struggle away. The ship was gone now. Instead, they were on a world that she recognised as a mythological planet. A Terran legend called Marraz. It was a red desert. The intense cold struck her and she fell backwards onto the floor, writhing madly. The demon was still advancing on her. It stopped and for a moment projected an aura of cold smugness. It resumed it's striding on her and extended a number of tentacles. The tips of the tentacles opened up and with a zing, sprouted long, needle like blades, each with a green, pulsating vein running it's length, pumping some alien toxin to the gleaming tip. Again it halted. The demon raised it's head and smelled the frigid air with innumerable damp orifices. Then the world went ever so slightly more fuzzy and just for a second became the ship again. NO! screamed the devil SHE IS MINE NOW! And then she heard a voice, a real voice.
"She is not yours!" said Lithen.
"YOU WILL BOTH BE PRIZES FOR THE PRIME!"
"NO! You will be a prize for me. I shall destroy you and hang your head in my trophy room, you piece of filth!"
The demon fell to it's knees.
"I SHALL KILL YOU AND STEAL YOUR BODIES! SHE IS MINE!"
Now Kindreil could feel the metal of the ship floor and the warmth of the air regulator. Lithen appeared and approached the monster which lashed out at him. But the blows had little effect on Lithen, who stood an inch from the demons snout. It bore rows of dripping teeth at him.
"She is mine!"
And with that he punched it. The monster exploded leaving behind a transparent spirit in the form of it's old body. The ghostly creature lost it's features and then it's shape as it spasmed erratically. The demon was now a blob with a pair of luminous eyes, staring at them. It gave a final screech of rage before being sucked into Lithen's body. He howled at the pain of it entering and when it had finished being absorbed he fell to his knees on the cockpit floor. They remained still as they panted and sweated in pain. Kindreil made a last valiant effort to stand before everything went dark.
She tried to open her eyes. Something sticky was glueing them shut, but after a few minutes she had worked them open. And saw darkness. As her eyes adjusted, Kindreil could make out the thousands of tiny white flecks in the blackness. She was staring out at space. When she tried to move she discovered she could not. When she tried to speak she found that she had been silenced. Kindreil struggled until suddenly, she was released with a mechanical hiss. She rolled over and struck a cold, hard floor. Kindreil lifted her head to peer up at the person looking down at her from a bench. A person with a steel face.
"Lithen?"
He stood up shakily and stumbled over to her. They got her to her feet and sat down next to each other on the bench.
"What...... happened?"
"It hurt you didn't it. I'm sorry but, like you said, you needed to know and wouldn't have understood fully without experiencing it."
She managed a weak chuckle
"Lets not repeat the experience."
"I can live with that." he told her.
Lithen reached over to a section of the wall near him and pushed it in. When he let go, it sprang outwards revealing a small control panel. He held a button.
"Go'mek."
A voice came from the wall.
"Yes, captain?"
"Just call me Lithen, Go'mek."
"Yes, captain. Is there anything else, captain?"
"Ms Kindreil is awake. Please send someone down to check her over."
"I'll send Thardan, captain. He will be down shortly."
"And Go'mek."
"Yes, captain?"
"Tell him to bring a bag of stims, okay."
"Understood, captain."
The wall went silent. Lithen closed the panel and sighed. He really was a stupid Kra'zak. That had to be a first. Lithen sat quietly for a while before Kindreil spoke to him.
"So what is it?"
"An infection. A monstrous disease that is always trying to take hold of me."
"But how did you come to have it?"
Another sigh.
"I was on a scouting mission to the outer worlds. I had reached a small moon and noticed that it had a miniscule blemish that had not been sighted by the Kra'zak telescopes. As you are aware, Kra'zak telescopes don't fail to sight things. So I came to the conclusion that it was relatively new. As I came in to land, the ground appeared to be moving. I scanned for life signs and detected either a very large but very faint life form, or millions of inferior life forms. They were so faint that you would need to be in the atmosphere to get a reading from them. I pulled the ship out of it's landing course and flew just above the shimmering mass. As I approached the middle of the blemish the land began to rise higher and higher, and I saw that in the very center, was a black spire. When I saw it my ship rang with an alert. It had detected a powerful life form somewhere on the spire. I pulled up a 2D life map and coloured all the aliens red and myself yellow. The map had a small yellow dot over a pink haze. But what was scariest was that the creature my scans had detected showed black. And it began approaching. I swung the ship around and blasted for space. I cranked up the rear view imager, and stared at it trying to find the creature that was catching up with a Kra'zak scout ship. I couldn't see it but my life form map told me it was there. I turned on every sensor from radio to gamma to sonar. It still wasn't visible. But the life form map said it was still coming. I watched in horror as the black dot merged with that of my yellow dot and my craft jerked sideways. I vented engine plasma and braked hard, engulfing my craft in a super heated cloud that should have incinerated the attacker but instead it moved off, swooped around and struck again. My only consolation was that the reading had become an incredibly dark red. I had at least hurt it, but that didn't save me from it's onslaught. So I decided to divert all available electricity to a single energy node. I heard the boom as the node ruptured and a hideous scream of rage. The blip became ever so less dark. And now my imager was picking up a signal in the X-ray. I switched off all but the X-ray imager and saw it. It was standing on the shield projector. I threw full power to the shields, blasting the monster from the hull. Quickly, I rerouted it to the miniguns and took aim. And fired. I must have struck it thirty or forty times before it smashed into my craft a third time. A greenish blood splashed across the view port as the creature impacted. It apparently decided it wasn't going far this time because a bunch of tentacles penetrated the hull. One struck me and the galvanised tip pierced my flesh like butter. The vein along it's surface contracted as it secreted something into me. I pulled out an enchanted Chamael sword and sliced off the tentacle, which spewed acidic blood across the floor, burning more holes through the hull, and withdrew from the craft. The monster tried to leave the ship again but I had slammed on the emergency shielding which encased the fighter, sealing the holes and trapping the remaining tentacles in the ship. I felt my head beginning to spin and, with the last of my strength, activated the superdrive. The superdrive can only function when all other systems are offline, so my targeting and defenses went down as I passed out. When I awoke the first thing I saw was a tentacle, writhing in front of me. I quickly cut off the end and shuffled into a corner of the craft watching for movement. Another of them whirred over my head and I swung madly at it until it ceased its movement and lay still. As I glanced around, I saw that the rest were either not moving or gently twitching on the floor. I tried to stand up but a flame of pain flashed up my body and I fell to the ground. Now I could feel the surges, emanating from the sting. I lifted up my shirt, felt it peel away from the damp flesh. A small tendril whipped from under the fabric and lashed itself to my arm. And it spoke to me. The tendril had pressed a small pad onto me and it seemed that that was where the voice was coming from. It told me what it was. The creature outside was dead. The coldness of space and lack of pressure and oxygen finally killed it after about three hours of struggling to free itself. The thing it had secreted however was not dead. The infection was not something in its own right but it wasn't me either. It told me I was a host. It told me I was an experiment. It told me of its history. The monster I had killed was one of thirteen. The thirteen were under the control of a single entity. Both the thirteen and the entity were in control of a hive, destined to consume all life in the universe. They could assume the genetics of a victim and then the leading creature, the 'Prime' as it seems to be called, could breed the acquired traits into its hive and the thirteen could grow them directly into their own body. But for all their power the so called 'Alpha's' could not create new life. They could control their bodies and their hive, but they required hive queens to breed hive creatures and therefore there could only be thirteen. But this one had experimented. It could not create life. It knew that and knew it couldn't overcome that. But could it corrupt life? Could it change something into a twisted shadow of itself? It was attempting to assimilate the outer worlds and something came its way. So it tried. And it had worked. Now it was dead the rest of the species would not know how but it had worked and as soon as the infection had completely consumed me, it would return and reveal its secret. Now it is powerful enough to communicate psychically with life forms nearby. So now I am being corrupted and will slowly recede as the monster assumes control of my body."
Kindreil looked darkly at the floor.
"Is there any way to remove it?"
"If there was it would be gone. There probably is but no one can concentrate long enough to operate on it. It knocked you clean out."
"What about magic?"
"It takes all their magic merely to suppress its mind. It has become immensely powerful. I've tried to commit suicide but it attacks my mind. I think the strength of its attack severely hurts it as well, otherwise it would have taken my body already."
He winced slightly.
"It's hurting me now actually." he bit out.
Kindreil put her arm round him.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a worried voice.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Lithen yelled at the top of his voice.
Kindreil fell backwards and stared in horror as the side of Lithen's shirt began to writhe madly. It suddenly shredded as half a dozen tendrils exploded outwards frantically. Some of them wrapped themselves around Lithen's body and a number of small claws dug into his clothes, now dripping blood. The door opened and the Terrans ran in. Thardan grabbed a pair of tendrils and opened a control panel. He jammed the tendrils into the panel, slammed the door and fired a pair of shots into it. Prill was blowing the ends of tendrils getting too close and Kindreil grabbed one that had wrapped itself around Lithen's neck. She heaved at it and then pulled out a blade and cut it off. Green blood splashed out of the severed end and poured down her arm. Lithen's eyes had turned up in his head and he was unconscious on the bench with the tendrils flailing around above his body. Occasionally, another tendril erupted from the torn shirt. One of them seized Kindreil and flung her against the wall. She hacked wildly at it as the others were slowly overpowered by the monstrous appendages. It began to squeeze the life from her. She looked up to see green smoke float from a vent in the ceiling. Now she could see purple spots in front of her. She was thrown back by a wild mental scream in her head. The tendrils began to slacken and released their grip on her. She fell to the ground and threw up on the deck as hands pulled her to her feet. Thardan jabbed a pressure needle into her arm and she straightened up as the stims rushed through her. Prill threw Kindreil's shock rifle to her and she caught it as one of the manic tendrils thrashed towards her. She blew it apart as Go'mek walked in the door.
"Keep those things away from me." he told them whilst strolling towards Lithen. He pulled out an odd device from a backpack he was carrying. It was a small orb with numerous, tubular projections with small, glowing lights on the ends. He placed the tubes on to Lithen's forehead and they instantly came to life, attaching themselves to different parts of his face. Suddenly, the tendrils shot up in the air, frantically shuddering. Go'mek yanked out a full medical kit and extracted from it an isolation ring which he placed around the bulging infection. It opened a spiky rimmed eye and glared at him. Go'mek unthinkingly sprayed something in it and it slammed closed with a horrible squealing noise. He slapped three auto-med's onto Lithen and they began to hum and whirr as they assessed the situation of their unconscious patient. They should be able to keep him alive during the procedure. He drew out a surgical circular saw and flipped it on.