Voyage of the Sanguine Shadow 1: Shadow Galactic (19 page)

D’Arro led his team deeper into the heart of the
ruined megastructure.  Emergency lights cast a red glow over battered doors,
broken glass and piles of bones.  In time, they reached a vast, polished
dome-shaped building erected within the core of the ruins.  The pathway the
landing team had been following ended abruptly at a set of vast doors, curved
to match the shape of the embedded structure.  As they stepped close, the
doorway chimed and parted to reveal a miniature city of bubbling tanks and
quicksilver vats.  Appearing exactly as he had in his file photo, the eternally
youthful Benjamin Stone regarded them with a relieved smile.

“You did it,” he said with an unnaturally wide
grin.  “Soon, my people will reboot on their own, and things will return to
normal around here.  While the immediacy of your heroism is largely
self-serving, it doesn’t diminish my gratitude in the slightest.”  His
expression hardened as his eyes befell Fogg.  “That’s unfortunate.  You merged
with the hostile intellect?”

Fogg answered, “I did not do so voluntarily.”

“I will see what can be done to separate you from
this host and restore you to your collective state.”  He looked to the rest of
the landing team.  “But that will take time, and there are more pressing
matters at hand.  If your captain’s initial time assessment was accurate, then
we have 58 minutes left to repair your starship.”

He followed the landing team as they hurried back
along the halls.  Soon, they emerged from the ruined interior.  D’Arro dashed
to the landing platform, struck the base of his signal flare against the
grating, set it down and stepped back.  The canister erupted with plumes of
bright orange smoke.

Within moments, the shuttle glided into view and
touched down.  The boarding ramp descended.  As soon as it came to rest, Stone
and the landing team raced up its length, and Cajun tapped the button to seal
the shuttle.  However, the vessel didn’t take to the air.  Instead, Zerki
called them to the bridge.

“What’s going on?” D’Arro asked as he crossed the
bulkhead.  “Why aren’t we flying?”

Zerki sat sunken into her chair, her hands pressed
together at the fingertips.  “One of those city-ships found us,” she
whispered.  “They boarded the
Shadow
and took Gavin and Valerie.  Collins
and Krane are down, maybe dead, and everyone else has been rounded up and moved
to the forward hold.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Taryn managed,
“What?”

Takeo’s shoulders drooped, and he slid down along
the wall at his back.

“There is no moral
authority like that of sacrifice.” –Nadine Gordimer

Valerie came slowly out of
unconsciousness. 
I’m naked
, she thought. 
What the hell happened
? 
Her vision was fuzzy, her joints ached, and she felt groggy.  With some effort,
she managed to sit up and hunch over folded knees.  To her right, she heard
Gavin sputter and gasp awake.  She stole a glance and saw that he too had been
stripped of his clothes.  Absently smiling as she studied his strong, lean
measure, she traced his bare chest with her eyes, down to his well-defined
abs.  Her gaze lingered awhile.

“What the hell,” he hissed, sitting bolt upright,
and she cleared her throat as she looked away.  “Valerie, is that you?”

She nodded, fighting back a sudden wave of
nausea.  “It’s me.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”  Her heart pounded as she looked
around.  A ceiling, a floor and three walls of black, polished steel enclosed
them, joined with a fourth wall of wavering energy.  Beneath them both were
concave mattresses bound by flared sides with a pair of small tubes mounted to
them.  Something that resembled a head brace served as their pillows, and along
where their backbones had been resting, bright yellow sacs and tissue whirred
and pumped within a series of recesses.

Shuddering, she got immediately to her feet and
urged, “Gavin, get up!”  With growing panic, she probed her back for anything
out of the ordinary.  Gavin stumbled up to stand.  “Is there anything on my
back?  Did they do anything to me?”

He stepped close.  “I can hardly see.”

“Just feel around a little.”  His hands traveled
her back.  “Anything?”

“Not that I can feel,” he reported.

Relieved, Valerie exhaled and sensed her body
relaxing.  “Thanks for checking.”

“No problem.”  His vision started to clear, and he
immediately realized just how close he was to her.  He breathed in, savored the
spicy, earthy smell of her.  His heart pounding, he gazed up along her bare
stomach, her crossed arms as they cradled her full, beautiful breasts.  He
lingered awhile before realizing she was staring right at him.  Clearing his
throat, he tore free his gaze.  “Where, uh, where are we?”

“I’m not sure.  I don’t even remember how we got
here.”  She spotted undergarments and a pair of gowns nearby, made from
reflective ebon fabric.  Crouching low, she scooped them up.  After passing a
pair of undershorts and a gown to Gavin, she slipped carefully into her own
garments.  Her new clothing fit well enough, though she took a moment to tug
and straighten it.  Gavin also donned his dark attire

A sloped pane of smoky glass had been mounted to a
nearby wall, and a large, opaque yellow-glowing membrane occupied the center of
the same wall, set between her bed and the pane of dark glass.  “Captain held
that meeting, and then…  Then I woke up here, with you.”  Cautiously, she approached
and tapped the pane.  Her hand was briefly engulfed in a tiny cloud that
smelled strongly of rubbing alcohol, and she jerked it back.

“Maybe we shouldn’t touch anything,” Gavin
cautioned.

Crouching before the yellow membrane, Valerie
reached out for it.  She hadn’t yet touched its surface when it loosed a golden
blob of molten plastic that flowed and cooled to form something resembling a
lacrosse stick directly under her.  She stumbled back and away, and the membranous
blob returned to its original state.  “Good idea,” she muttered.  “I’m not
touching anything else.”

With a determined expression, she faced the wall
of wavering force and peered into the shadowy chamber beyond, squinting as she
studied it.  The room was circular, with a single steel door, and it was
connected to seven other holding cells.  At its center, a large conical post stood,
crowned by a flattened cap.  A metallic arm extended from its base and
supported a small bench of black steel.  Periodically, holographic characters
flitted between the bench and the cone.

Gavin stepped close.  “Must be the brig.”  He
probed the force wall, found it to be hard as the physical walls next to it. 
“That’s cool.  Actual force fields.”

“Yeah, really cool, Gavin,” she chided him, and
she regarded him wryly.

“Well, they are!”  He poked the field again.  “Of
course, it sucks that we’re stuck here.”

Valerie pursed her lips.  “I can’t hear any
thoughts but yours, but I know there are other people nearby.”  She shivered. 
“It’s that strange hollow feeling again.”  Cupping her hands around her mouth,
she called out, “Hello?  Is anyone there?”

“What are you doing?” Gavin hissed.

She glared.  “I want out of here!”

A tiny bolt of lightning snaked through the air,
and an individual appeared within the central chamber.  She and Gavin stepped away
from the force wall as the figure stepped close.  Enclosed within a suit of
lustrous black armor, none of its flesh was visible.  It was tall and lean, and
the back of its helmet swooped away at a steep angle.  With a gruff tone, it
issued a series of orders.

Valerie leaned toward Gavin and whispered, “Is
that German?”

He shook his head.  “The sounds are similar, but
it’s not German.”

“I’m sorry,” she said to the armored warden, “we
don’t understand what you’re saying.”

It muttered something to itself and leveled a silver
pistol.  The barrel glowed faintly blue, and several power meters lit up along
its side.  They raised their hands, and the force wall vanished.  Impatiently,
the guardsman entered and touched the side of Valerie’s head, placing something
miniscule against her scalp, and he did the same to Gavin.  An instant later,
the tiny devices stung like red-hot embers, and both Gavin and Valerie winced
in pain.  The air smelled strongly of burnt hair.

The ache soon faded, leaving Valerie woozy.  “Asshole,”
she snapped with tears in her eyes, and she slapped the warden’s armored face. 
It backed away and waved its gun threateningly.  Gavin stepped protectively
between her and the warden, though he stumbled as he moved.

“I’d hate to have to shoot you,” said the guard.

Valerie’s mouth fell open.  “You speak English?”

“Not a word.  You’ve been given a language chip. 
All initiates are given one.  I’m speaking Ithiral, but you’re both hearing English. 
Don’t worry, we’ll eventually teach you how to speak proper Ithiral, but it’s
best if we start your conditioning with at least some basic ability to communicate.”

“That’s so cool,” whispered Gavin.  He touched the
side of his head, and several singed strands of hair drifted to the ground. 
After a moment of probing, he found a pebble-sized welt of scar tissue.  “If
we’re both initiates, why imprison us?” 

“Your advocates will release you after we’re done
assessing your companions.”  Regarding Gavin with undisguised awe, he added, “You’re
very special,
Qetz’ak Arana
.  You’ve already been assigned to Tirian’on,
one of our most prestigious advocates.  What glory awaits you!  Most of your
companions have been deemed unworthy and will shortly be disposed of.”  He holstered
his gun.  “Don’t give much thought to these things.  Soon, it won’t matter to
you.”

“My friends will always matter to me.”

The warden quietly laughed.  “Your fate lies
beyond friends and earthly concerns.”

Valerie said, “Excuse me, but we’re hungry and
very thirsty.”

“I will return with food and beverages,” replied
the warden, and he stepped out, reactivating the force wall. 

She noticed their keeper tap the forearm portion
of his armor.  It glowed brightly the instant before he vanished within a jag of
blinding electricity.  “Interesting,” she said quietly to herself, and she
smiled slightly as she settled down cross-legged on the floor.

“What’s up?” asked Gavin as he sat down beside
her.

“When he comes back, follow my lead.”

·· • ··

Aboard the cargo shuttle, Zerki and her companions
discussed a daring plan to retake the hauler.  “I am able to communicate with
Filan directly through radio exchange,” said Fogg.  “She is interfacing with
the
Sanguine Shadow
, although she does not know how much time she has
before she is discovered.”  His shoulders hunched.  “She assures me it is
likely she will be terminated if she is discovered.”

Takeo squared his jaw.  “Then we had best act
quickly.”

Zerki nodded.  “Everyone strap in.”  The shuttle
lifted off and rocketed through the air.  She spotted the hauler in the
distance, and paled as she saw a tiny speck tumble from the front of her
starship.  “What are they doing?  Fogg, ask Filan what they’re doing!”

Tears came freely to the AI’s ebon eyes.  “Captain,
they’ve started killing the crew.  They’re pushing them out the forward
hangar.”  Another speck tumbled from the front of the
Sanguine Shadow
.

“God
dammit
!” she shrieked, her eyes fierce
and welling with tears.  She struck the console with her fist.  Collecting
herself, she forced her breathing to steady.  With her mouth frozen slightly
open, she whispered, “Let’s make it count, guys.  Fogg, ask Filan to open the
main hangar.  Stone, are you still up for this?”

“Without reservation,” he assured her.

The shuttle swooped up from under the hauler as
the aft bay doors swung wide.  Zerki touched down, and she joined her
companions as they rushed for the lift.  D’Arro caught two armored figures by
surprise.  They hardly had time to raise their guns before he had broken their
necks.  They dropped to the deck, and a helmet tumbled free from one of the
corpses.  The soldier’s skin was pale beige, covered in a mix of red and purple
spots.  It looked human, except for the lack of hair and four thick bone stalks
that jutted out from the back of its head.

D’Arro took its gun and tossed the other pistol to
Taryn.  Both barrels emitted a soft blue glow.  “Only take the shot if you’re
sure you’ve got it,” he warned.  “We don’t know what their weapons can do.”  Zerki
retrieved her plasma pistol. 

The lift arrived, and they boarded.  Moments
later, doors opened to the observation deck and two startled guards.  D’Arro
and Taryn attacked viciously, clawing, pulling and tearing.  Taryn pressed the
silver pistol against the head of the guard she had been fighting.  “Let’s find
out what this does,” she snarled, and she pulled the trigger.  A quiet pop
sounded at the instant a blue bolt lit up the inside of the helmet.  The
guard’s body went limp, twitching in her grip, and a massive hole burned
through the top of the helmet.  It released a column of sticky ash and revealed
the husk of the guard’s skull.

D’Arro broke the other guard over his knee and
snapped his neck.  “It kills them.  Good,” he said and nodded toward Taryn. 
“Let’s go.”

Stone bid the others farewell and bolted for the
engine room.

The rest of the team raced through the hall,
heading for the cargo junction.  Moments later, they sailed across the null
gravity field and landed, one at a time, on the forward half of the passage. 
Racing to the bulkhead, they gathered at the heavy door, and Zerki asked,
“Everyone know what to do?”

Her companions confirmed their tasks, and she
opened the door.  For a moment, she looked upon the bridge lift, and she found
her courage.  Echoing faintly from below, she winced as she heard one of her
crew pleading, followed by a fading scream.  She fought back the tears,
clenching her teeth.

D’Arro turned to face Takeo.  He pressed his gun
into Takeo’s hands and said, “Get the bridge back.”  He faced Zerki.  “It’s
been an honor, Captain.”  His gaze was savage.  “I call my debt paid.”  Without
another word, D’Arro bolted for the lift that led to the forward hold and
lunged inside.

“D’Arro,
no
!” Taryn cried, and she sprang
after as the lift doors began to close.  She was shocked to find she had been
stopped short by Fogg’s iron grip.  “
Let go
!” she screamed and pummeled
her friend’s chest.  When the doors were sealed, he released his hold on her.

Her breathing ragged, Zerki said, “We’re retaking
the bridge.”

Below them, the lift doors opened, and D’Arro
stormed into the forward hold.  Caught by surprise, it took the invaders a
moment to register the ospyrean giant.  He had dispatched three before they
began to return fire.  Emboldened by D’Arro’s arrival, the crew rallied and
swept into the guards.

·· • ··

Within their cell, Gavin and Valerie awaited their
warden’s return.  It wasn’t long before the steel door opened.  The armored man
stepped through carrying two trays and two canisters.  Upon the trays were
quadrants of what looked like colorful, stewed lentils releasing wisps of
steam.  Florescent pink and yellow characters dressed the canisters, surrounding
a comically rendered bald woman who looked very surprised.  “A full course of
goddess beans for each of you, and a can of Frooti Gulp.”  With a smile, he
lowered the shield and passed Gavin and Valerie their food and drink.  As if
dazed, the guard shook his head.  “Wait… what just happened?”

“Take off your helmet,” Valerie suggested.

“Of course,” said the warden, and he freed the
neck seal, lifting away his helmet.  His face was handsome, light beige in
color and outlined with orange and yellow spots.  His eyes were ruby red, and
four boney stalks jutted from the back of his head, where hair would be on a
human.  Again, as if coming out of a stupor, he shook his head and looked very
confused.  “What’s going on?”  His mouth movements didn’t match his words.

“Step back and hold out your hand,” she
continued.  “When you turn the force field back on, it should pass through your
elbow.  With your arm outstretched, I want you to imagine the most amazing
thing you’ve ever experienced.  Just keep imagining it until I tell you to
stop.”