The Awakening (The Hyperscape Project Book 1) (16 page)

Argos listened
as Arya explained the details of her plan.  When she was finished, he
stood up to pace the room before finally pausing to stare out of the ready-room
window. After a long moment, he turned somberly to Arya. “I don’t see any other
choice. Do it.”

“I’ll get right
on it, Captain.” Arya spun around and headed to the lift.

Nick felt like a
third wheel in all this running around trying to save the galaxy and the crew,
and always…always following Arya. Dammit, he was a scientist. Back home, he was
considered a genius. He hated feeling like an idiot running after the others
and following orders all the time. No one ever asked his opinion. And right
now, he had a lot of questions about Arya’s plan. Questions he couldn’t help
asking.

As the team made
their way through the corridors in the direction of the forward plasma torpedo
bay, Nick finally let it out. “How do you know this will work? This
could
make the monster stronger.”

“It will make it
stronger.”

“What? Are you
crazy?” Karg blurted out, spraying saliva over the back of Nick’s head.

Nick frowned as
he glanced up over his shoulder at Karg. “Hey! Do ya mind?” He reached up and
brushed spit from his hair.

Karg shrugged in
apology. 

Arya stopped so
abruptly that Nick almost plowed into the front of her as she spun around to
face him. “It will take time for the creature to grow strong enough to break
free. We will use that time to destroy it.”

“That’s your
plan?” Nick was flabbergasted. He waved a hand near the back of his head as he
spoke.  Karg was standing so close his breath was tickling Nick’s hair.
“That’s all you could come up with?” Scrunching his eyes closed in frustration,
he dropped his head back and rubbed his forehead hard with the heel of one
hand. “Arya, queen or not, I gotta tell ya’, I’ve heard better plans.” He opened
his eyes to find Karg staring down into his face.  Nick straightened his
neck to face Arya again. She looked annoyed. Or maybe pissed. Hard to say with
those cat-like eyes of hers. By a glance at her folded back ears it was clear
that it was the latter.

“Well, for now,
it’s all we’ve got,” she quipped. “So until you come up with something better,
just shut up and follow orders.”

“Right,” Nick
replied tightly. “Right. Because I’m just the idiot that destroyed a huge-ass
ship that was trying to destroy you. Because I crossed the galaxy and beyond in
my little module and broke a code you people can’t break. So, my ideas hold no
weight around here.”

Arya glared at
him. “We’re wasting time!”

Nick started to
say something then stopped himself. Karg nudged him from behind, and the three
set off again. “Right. Right. We got a monster to kill. Then we got Mok’tu ass
to kick.  What’s next?” he muttered. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about the
Dragorans.”

Once in the
torpedo bay, Nick and Karg worked quickly, following Arya’s directions to
prepare their monster trap.

Arya opened the
cover of a torpedo that sat ready to be loaded into the launch tube and began
the necessary modifications. As she worked, she referenced relevant information
about the weapon’s field generators from an online ship’s manual displayed on
her personal data unit. After several minutes of reconfiguring the torpedo, she
leaned back and smiled in satisfaction. “There, I think that about does it.”

She punched a
few more buttons on the torpedo’s keypad and secured the cover. “We’re ready.”

“I hope you’re
right about this,” Nick said, staring down at the smooth, charcoal-gray casing
of the torpedo.

Arya glanced up
and uttered a noticeably uncomfortable “Me too.”

Nick cocked his
head as he looked down at her.  Her sudden display of doubt concerned him.

After notifying
the Captain of their status, the team sat waiting for the ship to move into
position. In the silence of the torpedo compartment, Nick’s watch sounded oddly
loud as it ticked out each painful second.

Following a
long, tense wait, word finally came down from the Captain. The ship had arrived
at its destination. And not a moment too soon. The length of the journey had
allowed the monster enough time to kill two more crewmembers. The Admiral’s two
personal guards.

Arya com-linked
up to Argos on the bridge. “Okay I’m powering up. Shut down every system you
can spare, Captain.”

“Shutting down
all nonessential systems,” Argos replied. “Life support at minimum. It’s going
to get cold in here. I hope this thing cooperates, or we may just freeze to
death first.”

Trap set, the
team waited. The specially tuned energy waves of the generator that Arya had
configured inside the torpedo should attract the beast. At least that was the
plan.

Nick sat down
and turned nervously to Arya. He always had a hard time keeping his mouth shut
when he was anxious. “Do you really think putting the crew in suspended
animation will protect them?”

“Pretty sure.”

“
Pretty
sure? Well, I’m glad I still have a fighting chance at least. I wouldn’t want
to be stuck in a Cryo-unit, unable to move, when that thing came for me. I’m
not sure I would have agreed to let you freeze
me
with such a monster
loose onboard.”

Arya looked
uncomfortable with the conversation and avoided Nick’s gaze.

“You didn’t tell
them, did you?” Nick stared at her, his brow furrowed. He couldn’t believe she
would order the crew into Cryo-tubes without telling them about the monster.

Arya stared
straight ahead, avoiding Nick’s intent stare. “They understand the risks, and
the chain of command. This is just between the Captain and the three of us. No
one else needed to know.”

Nick sat
speechless.
How could she do such a thing? How could she be so cold?
Nick stared at the floor for some time, trying to come to terms with this new
side of Arya. Eventually, reluctantly, he began to realize she was right.
Soldiers were trained to follow orders and respect the chain of command to
avoid chaos. Soldiers usually weren’t privy to the details behind the orders
they were given. They just needed to have confidence in their leaders and do
their job. Argos definitely seemed to have the crew’s confidence and respect.

Nick sniffed. “I
guess you’re right. Just hard to swallow.”

“It’s okay. I am
pretty certain that while in suspended animation their low energy readings will
protect them. Especially in the presence of the strong energy signature the
torpedo is pumping out.”

“And what about
our
energy signatures?” Nick added. Maybe the crewmembers who were stuck in the
Cryo-chambers were actually the lucky ones. At least their energy readings
weren’t blaring out like a beacon to this thing. A familiar shiver went up his
spine. He forced down a swallow and sat up straight, fighting to keep his fear
from showing through.

In his
peripheral vision, Nick spotted a white foggy cloud forming right beside him.
He glanced over at it, and the blood froze in his veins. The small, billowing
cloud floated just off his left shoulder. He’d be damned if he was going to be
next on the menu!

Nick frantically
tried backing away from the mist, falling off his seat and onto the floor in
the process. After landing backwards and scrambling across the floor, he
realized he had an audience in Karg and Arya. They sat calmly staring at him
with grins plastered on their faces.  

“
Black
smoke, remember?” Arya raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

Karg let out a
chuckle.

Embarrassed,
Nick picked himself up off the cold floor and positioned himself on the bench
again, his heart still pounding wildly. “Oh, yeah, right.
Black
smoke. I
knew that.”

What an
idiot.
In the icy cold of the room, his breath had formed into what looked
like a white smoky entity floating nearby. It had scared the living daylights
out of him. “Damn breath,” he muttered, trying not to look at his shipmates.

Nick couldn’t
seem to get comfortable. It felt like his butt was frozen to the cold, hard
metal bench. As he fidgeted, he glanced up at Karg, and his eyes widened in
alarm. Unwilling to embarrass himself again, he hesitated to say anything until
he was sure of what he was seeing. But he was seeing…something…black.

Karg noticed the
odd look on Nick’s face. “Now what?” he said, rolling his eyes at Nick.

Nick answered as
calmly as he could. “It’s here.” He nodded at a point just beyond Karg. “Right
there.”

“Yeah, right.
I’m not falln’ for that one,” Karg quipped.

Arya spun around
to see a black gaseous mass forming in the room, just behind Karg’s right
shoulder. When she spoke, her voice was carefully modulated and audibly low.
“Karg, move this way. Slowly.” As calm as she seemed, her voice quivered with
tension. 

Karg’s nostrils
flared and his eyes widened in fear. He slid his rear end down the bench toward
Arya and away from the creature, keeping his eyes fixed on her the whole time,
as if looking at the creature might cause it to attack.

Unfortunately
for the big guy, the black cloud-like creature moved with him.

“Okay, wait.
Stop moving,” Arya said calmly.

Karg paused and
peered over his shoulder toward the thing hovering there.

The cloud
stopped then moved slightly toward the torpedo lying in the open launch tube.
It hovered between Karg and the tube for a moment, almost as if studying the
scene.

“Damn thing is
thinking it through,” Nick muttered.

“Arya? Do
something,” Karg ground out between clenched teeth.

“No one move,”
Arya commanded, her stare fixed on the creature. She didn’t even blink while
she watched and waited.

Nick’s gaze
flitted between Arya and the ominous black mass.
Dammit.
What the
hell was she waiting for?
He figured the creature could sense the
electrical impulses from his racing heart, but there was nothing he could do to
stop it. Fear and adrenaline had gotten the best of him. Any minute the monster
might find his runaway energy too irresistible and attack. The throbbing in his
veins had his ears ringing so loud that the sound drowned out the ever present
hum of the ship’s engines. He’d never been so damn scared. Hell, he’d rather
face ten mad Rakozians than
this
thing. The pressure in his head was
growing rapidly from the anticipation. If something didn’t happen soon, he was
going to bust a damn artery.

The creature
moved a few feet in the direction of the torpedo casing then suddenly bolted
back toward Karg.

Karg
instinctively jerked away.

The creature
stopped abruptly, only inches from Karg’s head. The writhing black mass
struggled to move forward, desperately trying to attack him, fighting hard
against the magnetic containment field that Arya had deployed to ensnare the
beast. The creature unleashed a terrifying, deafening scream as it thrashed
about, trying to break free of its bonds. Unable to escape, it paused for a
second then changed shape. It quickly morphed from a black cloud-like mass into
the sinister shape of a hideous, black, multi-limbed monster. Each of the monster’s
arms were tipped with six-inch-long, sharp talons that clawed wildly at Karg as
it screamed in anger. No question about it, the creature was furious over being
trapped.

Nick almost wet
himself at the sight of the horrendous beast. The squeezing in his chest was
now beginning to concern him.
Crap, forget the creature, he was going to
have a damn heart attack right there!
And all this time he’d thought Karg
was the scariest thing he’d ever seen. Now he knew there was something even
scarier out there.

Karg was frozen
in place, staring into what could only be described as the face of evil. Its
talons slashed frighteningly close to his face. But the snarling creature was
beginning to lose ground, slowly being drawn backward away from Karg as it
thrashed violently.

The team watched
the cloud condense down smaller and tighter as the magnetic field drew the
thing into the waiting torpedo casing. The monster quickly gained strength from
the power generator, and burst out in one final, wild fit of rage before being
completely sucked back into the torpedo’s containment chamber.

Nick had been
sitting there frozen with fear, unable to breathe the whole time. He finally
drew a breath only to be stopped mid-inhale by the sting of icy cold air. He
forced another frigid breath into his protesting lungs and peeled his frozen
pants off the bench to stand.

Even Karg was
huffing as he looked at Arya. “That was close. Did you have to wait so long?”

“I had to make
sure it got close enough to the torpedo for the magnetic field to capture it,”
Arya said as she too tried to catch her breath.

She hit a button
on the console she was manning, and the torpedo slid into the launch tube. The
door to the tube slammed shut, sealing the torpedo encased dark entity inside.
With a hollow whoosh, the torpedo fired into space. From a nearby targeting
display, the team watched the torpedo’s trajectory. It flew straight on course
as they held their breath and waited.

“Almost there….”
Arya relayed.

Ahead of the
torpedo lay a dark region of space surrounded by a bright swirling disc of gas.
A black hole. They could only hope the hole’s gravitational pull would ensnare
the monster before it escaped the containment vessel. The torpedo flew on,
covering the vast distance to the event horizon at blazing speed, assisted by
the immense tug of the hole’s gravitational forces. The huge black hole hung
there, ominously waiting in the silence of space. One dark monster preparing to
swallow another.

The torpedo
casing ruptured suddenly, and the sinister black mass erupted from within.