Pull (Deep Darkness Book 1) (10 page)

I said nothing. I wasn't even sure if I had a soul. I couldn’t stop thinking
about Aira or the other aliens and humans we had left behind. We were so
quick to leave.

As we came over the top of the Aelita it was only then that we could see
the Erebus. The hull was black but there was enough light so we were able to
make out the ship. It had the slight shape of a rectangle with two massive
engines coming out the backside of the ship. One pointed out at one end more
than the other and like the Aelita, the front of it had two, maybe four massive
points. Four massive warp core engines were on the back and a smaller ion
engine was located on the top. Somewhere inside it was the immersion core
(the engine we used to create the tear through the immer an travel through
space). There was a swarm of caretakers surrounding the hangar like
crustaceans on a shark. We were slowly moving closer and closer to the
Erubus. It felt like we were about to be swallowed by a massive beast.

“Nothing to be afraid of. No caretaker has ever killed another human.
It’s the regular humans on board the ship you need to worry about,” the
officer next to me said. I wasn't afraid. On the surface of Errikus I had gone
through hell. Nothing on this ship would scare me.

Our transport set down inside an engine bay near the bottom of the
Erebus. As soon as the bay door opened we could see the room was full of
humans, mostly wounded from exposure to the surface of Errikus. I slowly
unfastened my seat belt and proceed to walk out the hanger door but I was
tired and worn down from the travel. I was over exhausted. The room
immediately began to spin and lights flickered in and out of clear view like
hazard lights on oil rig. Minor radiation damage was starting to take its toll.
The officer I was on the transport ship with had called a doctor for me, telling
them it was urgent. That was the last thing I heard before I passed out. I was
new to space flight and it had arleady begun to take its toll on my bruised
body.

“Lucky to be alive you are,” the man in white said. My eyes followed his
voice. I immediately though he was a Doctor. What kind I did not know. The
room around me slowly began to clear. I was sitting naked on a dark blue
table. I had several tubes filled with fluid running into my wrist and another
running into the back of my neck. I wasn’t in any pain though. I actually felt
euphoric when I woke up. I rubbed my head. I could barely make out the fact
that the man in white was an older gentleman with a bald head with a black
goatee; he seemed to glow like an antique crystal or star.

“My name is Damon, I’ll be monitoring your vitals and helping you
adjust to life on board,” he said. I opened my mouth to respond, then shut it.
“Whats the point of living I would just spend the next fifty to hundred years
of my life in solitude separated from Aira,” I paused. “Why even exist?” “It
doesn’t matter what you’re thinking now... “ he said. “But what right did he
have to invade my mind, my thoughts!” I thought. What right do you have to
know her!” “I know you had an awful experience but soon this will feel like
nothing but a bad dream...” His voice seemed to soften and his expression
seemed to slacken. “I know you had a horrible experience on Erikos,” he
struggled to pronounce the name. How did he not know the planets name?
Were all those tens of thousands of lives lost that meaningless – nothing more
than another stop? “It doesn’t matter now...” he finished. “How long do I
have to have these needles in me?” I asked. “Just long enough for us to cure
you.” I hated the indirect answer. “That’s not an answer, and what so you
mean by cure me?” I said with a sarcastic tone. He gave no replied, by
passing my question. “Do you have somewhere to be Sev? Or is it
Severance? What an awful name,” - “It’s Sev,” I said. Now I really was
starting to feel angry. “Sev like Sever. Who knows. Maybe you’re the one
from the prophecy. Perhaps I should let you die.” The doctor began to laugh.
My first interaction with a human being not from Errikus or from Aelita was
anything but pleasant. I was off to a bad start.

“I’m just kidding... you’ll have to pardon me. I am usually acting as a
medic on the battlefield so when I’m not in stasis I tend to have a rather dark
outlook on things. There have been hundreds over the years named Sev, of
course none of them were the Sev from the prophecy. That would be
ridiculous. Not like anyone knows what that fool Narville was trying to get at
when he carved those three letters in the dirt. People tend to lose their heads
when death approaches, I would know I’m the doctor.”

After a few days in hospice I was let go. They told me to report to
someone named Balkava. They were going to be my mentor. The day couldn’t
come quick enough, I was glad to be far away from that doctor. I couldn't
believe it had already been almost a few days since I left Errikus. Finally I
could take a look around the ship. There would be plenty of time to explore. I
had the rest of my life. I’m sure by the time I was old and gray I would know
every inch of this place. I began to make my way out of the hangar away from
the room I had been locked inside. Balkava was described to me as a young
soldier who had been in several fights and in and out of stasis several times.
Balkava would have short hair and a scar running down the side of their face.

The scar was rumored to have been from a shipwreck. Apparently there
was a dogfight over some inhospitable planet a few years ago between a
group of Skrav warships and the Erebus fleet. We had won but lost half our
fighters. Many, like Balkava defended the planet which they now called
‘Furors’. Balkava was the only one who had not died in the battle. Balkava
had in fact led a suicide squad inside a Skrav warship, a battle which helped
us escape. Balkava survived by finding an intact Skrav fighter, figured out its
mapping configurations and navigational intelligence, figured out how to fly
that god-forsaken thing and escaped. Balkava was almost shot down by allied
forces but the commander in charge recognized the flying pattern and let
them land. It was a huge chance. It would not have been the first time the
Skrav used kamikaze fighters but Balkava's quick thinking and insane flight
patterns showed them that the aircraft was not hostile. Balkava became a
hero that day and was immediately promoted to fleet commander. Due to
their ingenuity and extreme heroics we were also able to refit that Skrav
fighter as a weapon of our own, helping to turn the tides of the war. Balkava
was respected just as much as an elder after that. The next run in we had with
the Skrav also involved Balkava. This time they had to fly in close dropping
several explosives onto the Skrav. These explosive would upon destination
eat up the Skrav hull literally imploding it into itself. After sneaking behind
their defense Balkava put the explosive in place. After clearing the blast zone
radius detonated the charger. The deep dark universe exploded into a cascade
of fire and searing heat and Balkava along with the rest of the fleet watched
as the Skrav dagger fell into the atmosphere of a gas giant. It was one of the
easiest victories we had ever had. They named Balkava’s ship ‘the Trojan
Horse’ after that, it seemed the Skrav couldn’t tell it apart from any of their
own.

One of the many ways the Erebus is able to power itself is through
radiation from gas giants. Errikus existed in a small planetary system. There
was Errikus and two massive gas giants close by (they would have dwarfed
anything in the Sol System). The star that shined on Errikus was just like Sol,
the sun of Earth. Hell, the reason why we stayed on Errikus so long was a
half-assed attempt at remembering Earth. The elders thought it would make
the visions the ‘users’ would see inside the nexus easier to handle once that
time had come. Whole generations of ‘users’ had gone insane or had to be
kept medicated because they couldn’t accept the visions that had been
granted to them. They weren’t able to accept living onboard a starship. The
drastic change in stimulation and environment was too much for many. To a
certain extent, I understood. If you spent every day watching someone else
live in the same world kept in by the same walls, the outside held in by a
cocoon of darkness how would you deal? Whether they were happy, sad,
content, they were all still trapped in deep darkness, and to know that is the
reality of your life? I understand how some can’t accept that type of reality.

For years being a ‘user’ was more of a burden then anything. No one
ever really saw anything that great happen. It was just routine. Imagine all
the people that have ever lived and stuck somewhere in that mass of people
are one individual. Imagine how impossible it would be to find that person,
something you’re searching for. It would be like looing for the top of a pin on
the surface of the sun.

I walked down the dark corridor, past two Drok soldiers. They were
holding laser carbines, federate issue 44962. Erebus was never short on
weapons and had plenty of choices. The only thing that bothered me was that
they felt the need to hold weapons at all on the ship. It seemed unnecessary.
“What threat is there here?” I made a mental note to ask Balkava about that.
Balkava was my mentor after all. It was going to be Balkava’s job to teach me
everything I need to know about being both a ‘user’ and a soldier. That was
the other unfrotunate part of being who I am. Being a ‘user’ meant you were
also a soldier and that you would be the first on the frontline, the first into
combat to defend the ship. There were other ‘users’ (aside from Aira I didn’t
know any - yet) and plenty of soldier that didn’t have the ‘gift’ (mainly
volunteers tired of sleeping in stasis). Some just wanted to fight. I just
accepted it as it was. I could only guess as to what the battles would be like…
but I figured that would be something Balkava would teach me about as well.
I had already fought for my life on Errikus, if that had not prepared me for
war I’m not sure what would.

I took a left at a medical station. It was welded to the wall. I asked an
older woman exactly what it was and she told me it was alien tech. A gift
from the Arr7. If the Skrav, Trepp, or any other hostile species ever boarded
and we needed a quick fix of adrenaline or someone needed a way to stop
from bleeding they just stick their hand inside. Four needles would inject
your body with parasites. They would act the way blood cells do against
disease, only better, stronger. They would mend wounds quicker clotting
them instantly. The parasites would speed up your heartbeat and give you a
boost when fighting; that is unless you die of a heart attack during the
process. Few like to test it. “After about a day or so the parasites die off, come
out in the bath I heard,” she said brushing her hair from her eyes. She went
on to tell me about a few rare cases they lay eggs and hatch and kill the host
in a slow agonizing death. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to frighten me or if
that was just the dark truth. Everyone on the Erbeus seemed a bit morbid.

I had
finally arrived at Balkava’s door. It was an office that doubled as a
command’s quarters. When I opened the panel I felt something bite me. I was
injected with something and the room quickly began to spin. It was like I was
being lifted up into the air and off my feet. My insides began to turn and my
chest tightened. My arms and legs became numb and the next thing I knew I
was in and out of consciousness inside a white room. Balkava sat next to me
in a cair.

“I’m sorry,” Balkava said. I wasn’t sure what the apology had been for I
was too distracted by how sick my body felt. All of a sudden the vision from
right to left faded black. I could only see still images ahead of me.
Tunnel
vision.

I was drowning, or at the very least I felt like I was drowning. I felt as if
my body was completely submerged in water. My vision came back but it was
all a blur. My lungs felt like they were filling with fluid and then there was
nothing. I couldn’t feel. It was dark and I could no longer feel myself
breathing. No longer could I feel my heart beating. My senses had abandoned
me. ‘I’m dead,’ I thought. All that running on Errikus and killed by my own
kind. ‘That bastard Balkava killed me’. I was still able to think, still forming
words and sentences in my head. Was this hell? Purgatory? I was alone in the
abyss with nothing but my own mortal thoughts to give me solace.

A few minutes of darkness passed. I kept thinking over and over, ‘I’m in
hell.’ I opened my eyes. I was lying with my head back on a pillow. I could
see sunlight shining through a window. I still couldn’t move my body. My
eyelids blinked without my command. Once. Then twice. I had no control. It
felt like I was waking up but I was still paralyzed. Then my body moved
without my consent. A hand that was no my own reached up and touched my
face brushing away the sleep. The sunlight hit my eyes, blinding me. I wanted
to shut them but I couldn’t. My body lifted under the sheet and more of it
shined through. The next thing I knew I was standing up. It wasn’t my body.

The room was white and the walls barren aside form a few paintings.
There was a desk sitting in the corner holding nothing but a small square
screen. I walked towards a door and watched helpless as I began to undress. I
couldn’t believe it. I was watching myself undress but it wasn’t me. I couldn’t
move, I couldn’t command my body, this body, my hosts body to do anything.
I was trapped in someone else. I could feel everything they felt but they had
no idea I was there at all. I was screaming in my head but no one could hear
me. I was alone in my thoughts watching through someone else’s eyes and
then the darkness returned.

Sparks of sensation
flashed in. For a moment I thought I could feel my
‘real’ body shake as if I was having a seizure. I felt my arms tense for a
moment. The moment passed and I was back in the flood. My lungs began to
breathe again and then they stopped. I was drowning faster then before.