PERIL (22 page)

“Yes.”

“Alright let’s go. Get in there,” Bains prods.

A large bulkhead with two windows emerges from the floor and seals off half of the room. Nickolette is now on one side and the rest of the group is on the other.

They use a wall mounted intercom system to communicate with each other. It is a small speaker box with a square red button used for speaking. Nickolette holds down the button to speak to the crew.

“Is this really necessary? I’m fine! How long do I have to stay in here?”

“As long as it takes for us to determine your physical status,” Bains said.

“
M
y
physical statu
s
is fine!”

Pendersen stares at his twin. He is speechless. He can sense a foreign presence within Nickolette.

“Pendersen, tell them, bro, I’m fine!”

Pendersen says nothing; he only shakes his head in disbelief.

Nickolette slams his fist up against the viewport window. Magruder presses down on the talk button.

“You don’t look so fine!” Magruder shrieks.

“HAB, how long?” Bains asks.

“Standby. Commencing bio-scans,” HAB 1 states.

Nickolette presses down on the button again.

“This is, bull! I’m not infected. Next you’ll be telling me you have to leave me behind!”

“He’s right, we gotta leave em’! We can’t take him with us like that,” Magruder complains.

“Fuck that! We’re not leaving him. Not if we can save him!” Pendersen objects.

“HAB, how much longer?” Bains questions urging HAB 1 to hurry.

“Hey! I know what I saw. Look at him he’s already dead! We risk contamination just being around him,” Cruise argues.

Nickolette becomes increasingly agitated. He picks up a chair and throws it up against the bulkhead. Again, he presses the talk button.

“Let me out!” He yells.

His voice sounds demonic.

“Will that room hold him?” Magruder asks nervously.

Cruise looks over the door.

“Yeah it’ll hold,” Cruise responds skeptically.

“Scans complete. Your suspicions are confirmed. Bio-scans indicate a foreign organism,” HAB 1 states.

“No, shit!” Cruise quips.

“Can we reverse it?” Bains asks.

“Negative. I’m afraid his condition is systemic. There are no known medical countermeasures in my data base,” HAB 1 assures.

Bains and Magruder view the holo-monitor that projects Nickolette’s bio-scans.

“What kind of organism is this? It’s like it’s rewriting his DNA,” Magruder states.

Cruise and Pendersen join Bains and Magruder at the monitor. They look on in disbelief at how fast the organism’s cells mutate Nickolette’s cells.

“My scans are having difficulties
distinguishing Lt. Nickolette’s bio-signature from that of the organism’s,” HAB 1informs.

Pendersen walks back over to the viewport.

“I can go in there and do him right now. Quick and painless,” Cruise says as he grips his weapon.

“Hey, where’d he go?” Pendersen yells.

They all run over to the viewport looking for Nickolette.

“I think he ducked down behind the bio-bed,” Cruise states.

Nickolette is on the floor behind the bulkhead beyond their view. He yells out in excruciating pain as his spinal cord doubles in size, slowly splitting his back apart. Mist begins to rise from his body and he stands up. The crew looks on. With one grand explosion, the creature within him burst free sending blood and guts everywhere. The viewport is stained with his innards.

The creature slams against the bulkhead with extreme force denting it. Its screams penetrate the seemingly sound proof room. The group can hear the creature’s heavy footsteps faintly through the bulkhead wall as it marches about the room.

“I told you to let me blast his ass when we had the chance Bains!” Cruise gripes.

The creature slams its heavy tentacles against the viewport glass cracking it. It notices the crack and places its vile head on it. Bains quickly grabs Doctor Pierce’s lab coat that is hanging a hook near the hatch. She anticipates the creature will try to tran
sform into a mist and slip through the crack. Magruder backs away and runs over to the cryo-unit that holds her baby.

Cruise cranks his weapon.

“HAB, you analyzed this thing how do we kill it? Bains asks.

She can feel the glass continuing to crack beneath the lab coat.

“Referencing data, collating,” HAB 1 states.

“Make it quick!” Bains goads.

“Lt. Cruise, if you target the plasma tanks in the containment room there’s a ninety-two percent chance that the explosion will incinerate the creature,” HAB 1 states.

“Wait! An explosion in here?” Magruder questions.

“The bulkhead should be sufficient to withstand the blast. The viewport, however, will not.” HAB 1 adds.

Bains can feel the glass cracking in several places beneath her
fingertips.

“Cruise, can you hit the tanks? We can’t afford to miss!” Bains asks.

Cruise stands at the second viewport. Sweat beads form on his forehead. He wipes his eyes to get a clear view and takes aim. Magruder throws herself over Mya’s cryo-tube. She is face-to-face with the infant and is shocked at what she sees. Mya is covered in welts. Still, she shields the infant’s tube. Cruise cranks up his weapon, takes a deep breath and closes his eyes remembering the location of the tanks. He fires his weapon–––BLAM!

The plasma wave shatters the viewport and hits its target. The resulting blast ruptures the tanks and triggers a massive explosion incinerating the beast. Powerful flames
scorch the walls of the containment room and blast through both viewport windows like fire from a large blowtorch. Cruise and Bains dive to the floor avoiding the wave of fire that jets over their heads. The fiery wave seems to surge on forever.

The wave finally subsides. Pendersen’s right arm and shoulder is on fire. Bains quickly takes the lab coat and smothers the flames. Cruise grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays the burning debris.

Cruise checks the containment room and sees that the creature is dead. All that is left of it is a charred puddle of black goo.

“Cruise, give me a hand here! He’s burned pretty bad,” Bains says.

Cruise rushes over to help Bains. Magruder stands over Mya’s cryo unit coughing from the smoke.

“HAB, open Mya’s unit,” Magruder commands as she continues to clear her air passages.

HAB does as she asked. She picks up the infant and covers it with a blanket hoping the others don’t notice its welt covered body. Some of the baby’s perspiration has seeped into the cryo-tube’s mattress. The alien organism’s cells slowly coalesce within the fibers of the cryo-tube mattress.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cruise and Bains attend to Pendersen’s injuries.

“How bad is it?” Cruise asks.

“It’s bad,” Bains replies.

Bains and Cruise sit Pendersen upright on the floor against one of the consoles. He moans in pain. Magruder holds onto Mya and watches the others. She rocks the infant being careful not to draw attention to it. She refuses to believe that Mya is infected, but she knows in her heart the truth. She also wonders why HAB lied about Mya’s condition and why he doesn’t reveal that information to the crew. The baby whines and cooed as Magruder wrestles with the truth.

“Shh
,
hush little baby don’t you cr
y
…” Magruder sings and hums.

“We gotta get outta here and now. Before more of those things get in,” Bains states.

“Yeah, but we’ve got more pressing problems,” Cruise says bluntly.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t trust any of you! Anyone of you could be infected,” Cruise insists.

Magruder pulls the blanket over the baby’s head.

“Let’s just go for, God’s, sake!” Magruder cries.

Suddenly, an alarm is triggered. The interior lights to the habitat turn a dark shade of red.

“What now?” Cruise asks.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! Loud thuds can be heard echoing throughout the habitat.

“What was that?” Magruder asks.

“I hope that wasn’t what I think it was,” Bains declares.

“That was the maglocks disengaging from the Umbilical,” HAB 1 replies ominously.

“What!” Magruder screeches.

They can feel slight vibrations as the Umbilical retracts back to the Decima.

“Lt.
Cruise is correct. One, if not all of you, has been infected. You pose an extreme risk to Earth. I’m afraid I cannot allow you to leave the habitat. If you try to leave or inhibit my systems, I’ll be forced to shut down the life support systems or cause the main generators to detonate,” HAB 1 states.

“NO, NO, NO! HAB PLEASE! Just let us leave,” Magruder pleads.

HAB 1 doesn’t respond. Bains leans against the console and lowers her head into her hands. She recalls the “Emergency Fail-Safe Mission Directive” outlined on the octagon shaped disc, labeled “MV5 Mining Initiative” that the Ares Corp. Executive gave to her.

“HAB!” Magruder yells.

“He won’t respond. He’s programmed to send out a distress transmission and wait for a response,” Bain informs.

“A RESPONSE, FROM WHERE? EARTH? We’re halfway across the fucking galaxy! We’ll be dead before help arrives!” Magruder raves.

“Bains, is right, Magruder, it’s in the contract. We all signed it,” Pendersen moans.

“I don’t remember anything about being left here stranded!” Magruger argues.

“Section 8-D: 9-11, In the event of any contamination exposure that may adversely affect, cause or contribute to human casualties we scrub the mission or risk permanent quarantine,” Bains clarifies.

“Yeah, HAB and ISIS, are programmed to
enforce it,” Pendersen adds.

“Well, fuck that! I’m not dying here! YOU HEAR ME HAB? I’M NOT DYING HERE!” Cruise blasts.

Bains gets up from the console and stands in the middle of the group.

“Look, we’re not going to die here. Seeyer, Aaron Enterprises and Apollo Corp. all had secret agendas to obtain knowledge about that fortress,” Bains says.

“Your point?” Cruise asks.

“My point is that, Nyna, Satoh and Yuri, all needed an exit strategy, right? HAB was programmed before the discovery of the fortress. ISIS was not. The Decima was, Nyna’s, only way back home. That’s why, HAB, blew the Umbilical. We just need to get to the Decima” Bains adds.

“You’re right, Captain. I have considered the possibility that, ISIS, was reprogrammed to allow a departure, which is why I had to take measures to prevent such an occurrence,” HAB states.

“He speaks,” Cruise interjects.

“That explains why we couldn’t remote start the ship or activate, ISIS. He blocked our transmissions,” Pendersen states.

At that moment, Bains remembers something that Nyna said when they left the Decima about ISIS’s systems. Bains has also memorized the sc
hematics of HAB’s systems. She knows that his network mainframe connects to Med Lab and Main Ops via the video strips along the ceiling. It runs directly to his CPU. A surge from their plasma weapons would overload the system. But it would take both she and Cruise’s weapons to generate that kind of disruption. 

“Cruise, you are the resident Engineer right?” Bains asks cryptically.

“Yeah,” Cruise responds as he slowly catches Bains’ drift.

“So I’m guessing you know where HAB 1’s Mainframe network is located,” Bains adds.

“I sure do,” Cruise replies realizing Bains’ objective.

They both crank their weapons and the plasma guns ramp-up. 

“Captain, if you to disrupt my network you’ll be committing suicide. I am keeping life support functioning,” HAB 1 points out.

“Here’s a revelation for you, HAB. ISIS, is programmed to remote uplink to the habitat once you’re offline. She’ll keep life support going.”

Bains and Cruise turn their weapons on HAB 1’s video strips and fires. The blast sends a surge directly to HAB 1’s CPU. The lights flicker for a moment and then they shut off. The ambient hum from the generators goes silent indicating that they too have shut down.

“I hope you didn’t just sign our death warrant, Captain!” Magruder yells in the dark.

“Give it a moment!” Bains responds.

HAB 1 is slowly going off offline. His tries to relay a command to overload the generators, but his circuits fail. ISIS’s systems onboard the Decima detect the disruption. Her systems immediately boot up and the Decima’s power comes on. ISIS then remote uplinks herself to the habitat’s CPU. She detects a redundancy; she and HAB are occupying the same system. She then deletes HAB 1’ program.

The generator, life-support, lights and the rest of the habitat’s systems reactivate. In Med Lab, ISIS communicates to the crew through one of the consoles.