PERIL (19 page)

“What in the world!” Reed says.

“What happened here?” Pendersen asks in disbelief.

“I say we get out of here and figure it out later,” Cruise snaps.

Cruise’s suit interrupts the gory scene.

“Warning! Lt. Cruise you have
forty-five minutes to evacuate this suit.”

“That’s my cue. I’m outta here!” Cruise states.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute! We gotta figure out what happened here,” Reed asserts.

“It looks obvious to me. They killed each other! Right now I couldn’t give a damn, my suit’s on countdown!” Cruise exclaims.

Reed quickly wanders over to an examination table that is covered in blood. There are a few clear opened specimen containers on the floor. One of the containers is unopened and filled with a gelatinous grayish fluid. Reed picks up the container and puts it in a bag attached to his suit.

“Alright, we’re leaving, but first, Pendersen, download their data base. Maybe it can shed some light on this,” Reed directs.

“I’m on it!”

Pendersen rushes over to a console and places his scanning device on
top of it. The device quickly begins downloading information.

“C’mon, Pendersen, make it quick,” Cruise prods.

Pendersen finishes the download and the three men rush back to Habitat 1. Cruise’s suit continues its countdown. They know that they are cutting it close. Cruise’s consciousness will be lost if they don’t make it back to his body in time.

Chapter Twenty

Magruder and Neil finally arrive at the dig site where the fortress is located. They notice that a large area surrounding the fortress is impassable. The ground beneath the floating orb is gone; a deep ravine has replaced it. Magruder and Neil exit the Gambit and walks around the front of the vehicle to the gorge. Magruder initiates her scans trying to determine how it formed. She is careful not to get too close to the cliff’s edge. Neil ventures closer to the edge to look down the narrow fissure.

“Hey, Neil, come look at this. I’m getting some weird readings here.” Magruder says bewildered.

“What kind of readings?”

“Come see for yourself. It’s down there and it looks like mist, but it reads organic. I don’t know what to make of it.”

Neil turns towards Magruder and some of cliff’s edge gives way. He almost falls into the ravine.

“Careful, Neil! That’s a long way down.”

Cruise, Reed and Pendersen arrive at the Habitat.

“Lt. Cruise, you now have seven minutes to evacuate this suit!” the suit’s computer warns.

The men rush into the airlock.

“HAB we’re in the airlock, let us in,” Reed requests.

“Scanning for contaminants standby. Commander Reed, I am unable to identify the substance in the container you’re carrying,” HAB 1 states.

“HAB just open the hatch! Lt. Cruise’s, DCU is about to shut down!” Reed commands.

“Unable to comply. The substance could pose an unacceptable risk to the station,” HAB 1 points out.

“Open the damn hatch, HAB!” Pendersen screams.

“Negative. That would be a violation of quarantine protocol. I’m sorry.”

Cruise finally looses it and begins to pound on the hatch door causing significant damage.

“Open up or I’ll break down this damn door!” Cruise shouts.

“Cruise, stand down that’s an order! Pendersen can you trip the system?” Reed inquires.

“I think so.”

“Then do it!” Reed orders.

Pendersen connects his scanning device to the control pad and it cycles through opening the inner hatch. The men race through the corridor. Cruise’s suit is slow and he is panicked. He crashes into the corridor wall and he accidentally knocks Reed to the floor.

The container Reed is carrying falls out of the bag and rolls next to Cruise unnoticed. Reed and Pendersen remove their helmets. They help Cruise to his feet. Cruise unknowingly steps on the container cracking it open. None of them notice the grayish fluid that slowly leaks from the container.

“C’mon, buddy, keep it together we’re almost there. Bains what’s your twenty?” Reed asks over the radio.

“Med Lab.”

“Is the doc with you?”

“Yes.”

“Good, Cruise, doesn’t have much time left were almost there.”

As they make their way down the corridor, the grayish fluid transforms into a gaseous mist and enters into a ventilation duct.

Dr. Pierce, Nickolette and Bains scrambled to prep the DCU for Cruise’s transfer back into his body. Cruise, Reed and Pendersen rushed in. Cruise backed his robotic suit into the awaiting knife-like conduit. He stared helplessly at his sleeping body in the cryo-tube. Suddenly, Pierce noticed a problem with the DCU.

“What the hell?” Doctor Pierce says.

“What is it? Not another malfunction?” Bains inquires.

“This unit is not registering, Cruise’s, vitals!” Doctor Pierce explains.

Doctor Pierce taps aimlessly on the display console button marked, “LT. CRUISE’S UNIT: LOCKED.” The console then reads, “UNABLE TO TRANSFER.” Magruder’s unit reads, “LT. MAGRUDER’S UNIT: UNLOCKED.” With each subsequent attempt to access Cruise’s unit the panel responds, “INPUT FAILURE.”

“HAB, are you getting this?” Pierce inquires.

“Affirmative, attempting to bypass…No affect.”

Reed notices the timer on Cruise’s suit.

“Hey, he’s only got six minutes left in this thing!” Reed informs.

“Do something, man!” Pendersen yells to Doctor Pierce.

“Attempting a second bypass,” HAB 1 states.

Suddenly, some of the lights on the cryo-unit and the consoles shut off.

“Oh shit! HAB what just happened?” Doctor Pierce asks.

“Several relays are failing doctor. Scans indicate that, Lt. Magruder’s, cells are reanimatin
g and premature labor is imminent,” HAB 1 informs.

“Oh my, God!” Doctor Pierce utters as he frantically taps on various buttons.

Bains rushes over to the status units and tries to force them open with a lab tool.

“Pierce, do something!” Bains yells.

“Right! Pendersen, get, Magruder, back here ASAP! Cruise, you’re not gonna like this, but I gotta download you into, Magruder’s body!”

“What? Oh hell no doc! No fucking way!” Cruise objects.

“While she’s in labor? Can you do that?” Bains asks.

“This can’t be happening!” Nickolette says in disbelief.

“It’s either that or death! I can transfer you back into your own body after we get the units fully operational, but right now–––this is what I got!” Doctor Pierce insists.

Pendersen rushes over to the communication’s console and tries to reach Magruder and Neil.

Out at the site, Magruder and Neil are still trying to scan the region to figure out what caused the deep fissure beneath the fortress.

Magruder’s scanner chimes steadily as it picks up
random interference. The device’s display goes snowy then it clears up for a moment and then goes snowy again. Magruder shakes the device in frustration trying to obtain an accurate reading. Pendersen’s hails finally reach her.

“Habitat 1, to, Magruder and Neil, come in!” Pendersen says urgently over the radio.

“This is, Magruder, go ahead.”

“Uh, what’s your twenty?” Pendersen says trying to calm his voice.

“We’re still at the site. As far as we can tell none of the other teams are here and there’s a large ravine directly beneath the fortress.”

Magruder can hear Doctor Pierce ordering HAB 1, to administer drugs into her body to slow down her body’s contractions. She then hears him say, “Prepping for conscious download.”

“Hey what’s going on over there?” Magruder asks confused.

“Ah, you need to get back here, double-time!” Pendersen instructs.

“Are they reanimating my body without me?”

“Repeat, get back here now!”

“Bitch, get your ass back here quick! Your baby is on its way and I’m about to deliver it!” Cruise yells, patching into the radio transmission.

“Shut his mike off!” Pierce orders.

Magruder drops the scanning device and rushes over to the Gambit. Still standing in front of the ravine, Neil tries to remote start the vehicle with his wristband.

“Wait, something’s wrong!” Neil remarks.

“Just move your, ass!” Magruder blasts as she approaches the Gambit.

Unexpectedly, the Gambit’s engine starts and its holographic console activates. It reads, “OVERRIDE IN
PROGRESS” and then, “DRIVE FORWARD.” The Gambit lunges forward slamming into Neil. The vehicle and Neil plunge into the ravine while Magruder watches helplessly.

“NEIL!” Magruder screams.

Magruder looks down into the ravine and can see nothing but mist. Seconds later, she sees a faint explosion. Neil and the Gambit had fallen miles into the abyss and crashed.

She knows she has a trek ahead of her back to the habitat and wonders if she can make it before her suit powers down. It is night as she travels the dark misty landscape with only her suit and the planet’s moons as a source of light. She is not alone. Lurking in the mist are several vicious life forms breeding and continuing to
multiply.

Back at the Habitat, Bains and the others rush to save Cruise, Magruder and her baby.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just do a C-section.” Bains states.

“Two minutes and, Cruise, is dead, doc!” Reed
insists.

“A C-section is inadvisable immediately after reanimation. We could end up losing all three of them. HAB, initiate transfer!” Doctor Pierce orders.

“Acknowledged. Transfer in progress.”

“OH SHIT!” Cruise screams.

The neon blue dome emerges from the mechanical suit’s helmet and the projection of Cruise’s face disappears from its visor.

Pendersen, Nickolette and Reed race over to join Bains and Pierce at the stasis units. Cruise regains consciousness inside Magruder’s body. Magruder’s unit opens and the group tries to subdue her body, which is now inhabited by Cruise’s consciousness.

Cruise feels sharp pains of contractions as the baby tries to make its way into the world. He screams in agony.

“Ok, Cruise, the sharp pains you
’re feeling are contractions. You’re going to have to bear down and push,” Pierce instructs.

“Take short quick breaths, Cruise,” Bains instructs.

“Are you fucking crazy? Give me something for this pain!”

“Negative. Magruder requested no drugs for the delivery–––now keep pushing!” Doctor Pierce orders.

Doctor Pierce feels inside of Magruder’s body and finds a problem.

“Are you kidding me? Cruise stop pushing!”

“Doctor Pierce, I’m detecting a malfunction with the power distribution in the Med Lab relay network. Power failure is in progress,” HAB 1 indicates.

Doctor Pierce looks at Bains panicked.

“I got a problem here too,” Doctor Pierce says.

“What?” Bains asks nervously.

Suddenly––the lights goes out and the crew is in complete darkness.

“The baby is in a breached position!” Doctor Pierce explains.

The crew gasps in shock.

“Get this fucking thing outta me!” Cruise weeps.

Med Lab is pitch black and only Cruise’s cries fill the air.

Chapter Twenty-One

Magruder continues to make her way back the habitat. The terrain is rough and the environment is windy, misty and dark. She can see the planet’s rings and moons above her. She uses the moons’ position to judge her position. 

In the distance, she sees the habitat’s exterior lights flickering.

“Warning! Lt. Magruder, you have
forty minutes to evacuate this suit,” the suit’s computer warns.

“Oh God, I’m coming! Magruder, to, Habitat 1! Come in––Pendersen, do you copy?”

No one can hear her hails. The crew is still in complete darkness. Cruise’s wails subside to moans.

“Nobody move! Pierce status?” Bains asks.

“The baby is still breached. I’m trying to turn it. He’s struggling––––Cruise, keep still! Hold him down!”

The sounds of Cruise
’s struggling can be heard in the dark Med Lab.

“I got em’!” Bains says.