Target 10 S3.7 The Unknown
A black fluid swirled under the green surface as more and more of him became exposed.
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The urgency in Reby's voice shocked Jemy. She'd been so calm a moment before. He pulled himself away from checking the engine status to watch the video.
Clay was breaking free of the goo.
His right hand was out. A black fluid swirled under the green surface as more and more of him became exposed.
Jemy zoomed in.
Clay's nose and mouth were free, the black fluid peeling the goo away from his face.
"What's going on, Jem? What's happening to him?" Reby's voice sounded distant, on edge.
She was upset. He just couldn't be sure if it was for the same reason he was.
He shut down the pulse mode and launched himself out of the chair. On the way to the ramp, he stopped to grab an e-blaster from storage. Every other type of weapon was still in the lab. He shivered, and tried not to think about Reby and RJ chock full of sentient nanosyms and locked in with an arsenal.
Jumping down the stairs, he opened the door and ran out.
Clay's entire arm and head were now exposed. He clawed at the goo. It didn't come free. Then he pounded on it. It wouldn't break. The fluid still flowed underneath, the goo disappearing as it moved.
"I'm going to kill you!" Clay rasped.
"You won't get the chance." He put the e-blaster into overload mode. It wouldn't last long before it needed to be recharged. That didn't matter. The bigger the damage, the better.
He fired.
The first shot hit Clay square in the face. His head exploded into bits that scattered backwards.
The second shot severed his arm just above the goo line. The momentum carried it a meter or so away. Black fluid oozed out of the cauterized flesh and pooled on the floor.
Where his arm used to be, more of the black fluid fell in long strings to the floor. They stretched like tentacles toward the pool, which had reformed into a thin line heading toward the rest of the body.
"No you don't." Jemy ran to the arm, booted it, then jumped back so none of the black liquid could touch him. It slid across the floor, coming to rest just in front of the teleporter.
Turning toward the ramp, he saw more fluid stretching down Clay's back toward the bits of him that hadn't been vaporized by the blast. He watched it, frozen at the thought that Reby and RJ had that stuff in them, too.
Reby's watching.
And so are they.
He set his jaw and reached for the tool in his belt. It wasn't there. Shit! The parts of Clay still covered in goo seemed to be staying that way. Thin black threads stretched like a web across the floor towards the pieces of Clay. Obi had said the nanosyms rebuilt Clay before. He couldn't even imagine how that worked. He only hoped it took long enough for them to get away before it happened.
The hair on his arm prickled.
A crackling whooshed across the sky. He saw sparks dance down and away from the core of Havenstar, then pass out of sight over the Demption. The ground rumbled and shook.
The floor beneath the Demption cracked.
The rumbling deepened, resonating through his chest.
He bounded for the ramp as the ship dropped, sliding away from him. It came to a sudden stop, his momentum slamming him forward into the stairs. He held onto the railing, scrambling the rest of the way up.
"Captain, the sensors are functioning again. I detect a significant power surge near the center of the structure and the structure appears unstable," Aida said as he topped the stairs.
"Cold launch the engines. Now!" He flew towards the cockpit, bouncing between the walls as the ship jerked and fell.
"Ten, nine, eight, six, five—"
The familiar rumble of the engines vibrated through his feet before he jumped into the pilot's chair. He launched, not waiting for Aida to count to zero and full power.
The Demption burst out of the docking bay. As soon as it cleared the surface, he punched the ship straight away from Havenstar. The external video feed was still on, just a green blur as they raced across the forest. Through the cockpit window, the scene was the same, except for the blue sky above the horizon.
"We've exceeded the safe maximum speed for this altitude, Captain. Would you like me to take over?" Aida asked.
He ignored her, his hands locked on the controls.
The ship shuddered. Metal creaked.
The green ended, giving way to a dark blue mixed with white where the sun glinted off the waters.
The shaking intensified.
A brown, red, and black landmass rushed towards him from the horizon. Collision alarms sounded.
"Captain—"
"Take over." He released the controls and pushed himself back.
The Demption slowed as Aida angled them away from the land and into orbit.
His heart raced, his breathing on the edge of hyperventilating, as he realized he almost killed them. Escaping disintegration only to splat on a mountainside. The irony of the situation felt bitter as it mixed with his guilt. He leaned forward, pressing his face into his hands, palms wet with sweat soon joined by tears.
I'm alive.
Jemy wiped his eyes. The trembling that racked his body subsided as the reality of being alive settled in.
The video feed still ran. A thin curve of Haven showed in the bottom right corner. So peaceful.
"Aida, are we clear of the explosion?"
"Yes. Once clear of the structure, there was no danger. It appears there was a controlled implosion rather than an explosion."
The video feed shifted, showing a combination of scanned data and visuals. The golden seven-pointed star had lost all its luster. It was nothing more than a pile of dirt, like RJ thought it was originally, though it retained the outline of the original star. It didn't make sense to him, how it had happened. I'll study it later.
He connected to the lab comm system. "Reby, are you alright?"
After a long pause, Reby said, "I don't know how to answer that. I mean, yes. I think." She paused again. "What was he, Jem?"
He swallowed. His instinct was to run to the lab, hug her and make sure she was ok. Visions of a black, sickly fluid flowing through her stuck him to his seat. "Obi said he was infected by nanosyms, something like our immunity boosters only...." The word 'sentient' wouldn't come out. Not yet. "Older. A precursor, he said."
"Obi? You saw him?"
"No, but he communicated with us after we left the second site." He breathed in. "There's so much you need to know. It won't be easy—"
"RJ and I have that shit in us, too. That's what Clay said. I think. Jem, I'm scared."
She's never scared. He stood up. Whatever else she was, she was still his sister. "I'm coming to the lab."
His heart pounded harder as he approached the door. It didn't unlock when he tried to enter. "Aida, open the lab door."
"Yes, Captain."
The door slid aside.
Reby rushed him.
Raising his hands, he braced himself.
He glimpsed her tear-stained face as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head against his shoulder. He hugged her back, unable to stop his own tears from falling. Caressing her back, he said, "It'll be ok. We'll figure it all out." We have to.
She pulled back and nodded. "I'm sorry. I should've listened to RJ."
"We should have listened to RJ. And if anyone's to blame, it's me. We wouldn't have been here if it weren't for me."
"That's not true. We all agreed to this."
He searched her eyes. All he saw was Reby, a vulnerable version he hadn't seen since he'd rescued her from Igni Prime. That all seemed so long ago. "What about RJ? How is he?"
She glanced over at the autodoc. Her face darkened and her eyes seemed unfocused. When she looked back at him, it was like she didn't see him at first. "He'll be alright, I can feel it. I'm not sure how I know, but I do. Though Aida said I was the same way when you brought me here."
"I'm sure he'll be fine, too."
"Are we though? Are we fine? Just now, it was like I was watching myself from the inside. It's like something is here with me, taking over when it wants to. Like when...Clay showed up. I fought RJ. I hurt him," she wiped her wet cheeks with her sleeve, "but it wasn't me. I couldn't stop."
She's still Reby. "Let's sit and talk." He gestured to the table.
He let her take the chair and pulled another one over for himself. On the table he saw a square object with an odd-shaped hole in it and two other small pieces clearly made by their fabricator. Two mini power packs were also there. "Is this the device Obi asked for?" He picked up the square part and squinted as he looked at the hole.
"I-I don't know. It was here when I got RJ in the autodoc." Reby glanced toward RJ.
"That is correct, Captain," Aida answered.
"What does it do?" Jemy asked.
"It will allow Obi to communicate through the ship's systems. RJ was trying to determine how it worked and if there were any other functions."
"Did he find any?"
"He was still working when Reby woke up. He didn't voice any conclusions."
"Understood." He looked at Reby. "Obi told me a little about the nanosyms. Not everything. And I'm not sure I trust him to tell us everything, either. It might be better to hear it from him, though. I still have more questions than answers." I'm not sure I can even say the words, anyway. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Obi's vessel and held it up for Reby to see. "I'm also wondering how much control he'll have once he's plugged in. I'd guess that's what RJ was worried about, too."
Reby eyed the vessel. "Obi's in there?"
"Yes. So he said." He noticed a spark in her eye, the kind she'd get when talking about the latest improvements she'd made to the ship's systems, and Aida in particular. It comforted him to see it.
She reached out for the vessel. Turning it around in her hands, she ran her fingers over the flat surfaces before handing it back.
"We should wait for RJ before plugging him in, don't you think?"
"Yeah." She shifted in her seat. "Can you tell me what happened though, after you landed at the second site? Aida summarized, but I...I need to hear it all from you."
"There isn't much to say about the site itself. Just a circle in the ground we couldn't get to. I scanned it and RJ pointed out some symbols. When I went inside to review it, I passed out. I missed everything that happened to RJ until I woke up in the autodoc." He shuddered. "Turned out he was right about the milip, too. Aida said it was like a Mez crash." He glanced up at her. "Anyway, I got better after a while. I did watch the video of what happened while I was out. None of us would be here if RJ..."
She turned her head away.
"What?"
"The thought of what happened to him, or any of what Aida told me...makes me sick. It all went so wrong!" She rubbed her eyes again. "I can't watch the video. Just tell me what you can."
He summarized RJ's battle with the fuzzy creatures and his takedown of Marisil. She kept her hands clasped in front of her, glancing at him and the autodoc from time to time. When he got to the parts where Obi told them about the nanosyms, he hesitated.
"What is it?"
"Before I left to get his vessel, Obi told us Clay gave you the infection when he, when he..."
Reby nodded.
Thankful he didn't need to say the words, he continued, "And that Clay couldn't be killed. The nanosyms protected him somehow." He looked toward RJ. "There's more he told me after I left. RJ hasn't heard any of that either."
"Don't make me wait, Jem. I'll tell him if you can't say it all again." She reached out for him. "Please. I need to know what's happened to me."
He put his hand on top of hers. "Obi said Clay had been here for over five hundred years."
Her jaw dropped.
"The nanosyms kept him alive, healed him, made him immortal in a way."
She gasped.
"But they needed to...propagate? Reproduce? I'm not sure those are the right words for it. There needed to be some other lifeform for them to inhabit, so Obi helped him make Marisil" This is all sounding worse when I say it out loud. "RJ said there was some kind of an animal inside her and it had black ooze stuff—like Clay after I shot him." He took a deep breath in. "I think he wanted to add you to his group of whatever he was."
She pulled her hand back and shivered.
I can't tell her the rest.
"There must be more to it." She rubbed her forehead. "They controlled me. Even being around Clay before, I felt like something was affecting me. I wasn't myself. What else did Obi say about them?" She sat straight up, her eyes wide.
"I think we should wait for RJ, then plug Obi in. Get the answers right from him."
She raised an eyebrow. "There's something you aren't you telling me."
He looked away. The weight of her stare forced him to continue. "Obi said the nanosyms are sentient and Clay was insane. I, I don't know if the nanosyms made him that way or if he went crazy being here all alone." He regretted the words as soon as he said them.
"No." Her voice shook. "RJ and I are immortal and insane? Or will be from a fucking self-aware infection?" She pressed her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. "I already feel insane, Jem. I'm me, but not just me, like I could lose control again at any moment. That's why I told Aida to revoke my privileges. You can't trust me. I don't trust me."
"You're still you. Whatever's inside you, both of you, we'll figure it out. There must be a cure." Nothing he could say would make her better. A silence settled between them, broken by a low grumble.
She put her hand on her stomach. "I'm hungry," she said with a half frown. "Ravenous actually. RJ said he'd made my favorite breakfast...maybe I can heat it up."
Jemy smiled. "He'd hate to find out it went to waste."
***
Reby tossed the bits of egg, tortt, sata and pata into the trash chute for recycling. "Such a waste."
They'd found the plates and the food scattered around the common room floor. Usually, the grav generators and inertial controls kept the interior stable. They didn't kick in until Jemy started the engines, though, resulting in a mess that would have broken RJ's heart. It broke hers, too. I wish we'd been arguing over whether sata or pata was better, and not fighting some freaking infection.
"Here you go. A fresh automeal. I think it's supposed to be some kind of meat and vegetables?" Jemy grimaced as he placed the plate on the counter for Reby. "Sorry I couldn't do better."
She sat on the stool. "You already did your job. Getting us out of there."
From his silence, she knew he wanted to argue. He'll always blame himself. She pushed her own thoughts about blame down. Much of the night spent with Clay was a blur, one she compartmentalized with other similar ones from Igni Prime. It didn't help her feel better.
Her appetite disappeared, though her stomach growled again. She scooped up the tiniest nibble, then devoured the rest.
"Remember to breathe between bites!" Jemy chided her.
She wiped her mouth and smirked at him. "I feel like I haven't eaten for a week. And that was surprisingly good."
"Feeling more like yourself again?"
I did until you asked. "Yes, and no. When I think about it, I don't." She looked into his eyes and saw the hope and love he'd always given her. "Maybe I just need more data. There's so much I don't know."
Jemy patted her hand. "We'll learn everything we need to in time."
I can't just wait around. "Can you ask Aida to send all my medical data to the lab? Searchable and read only. All other systems should stay locked from me."
"This is going to get tiresome fast. You need to do your work without needing me to give instructions. Can't—"
"No. Until I understand how they take control—and why—I can't have access to anything. Even then, how can we tell what they want? Are they intelligent or just instinctual? I won't risk it. Speaking of risk, tell Aida to remove all of RJ's access, too."
Jemy frowned at her and ran his hands through his hair. "I suppose you're right," he said, then gave Aida her instructions. "While you're perusing your medical records, I'm going to clean up a bit. Starting with putting all the weapons away."
She stood up and headed for the lab. "Yeah, I was wondering why they were all out. Were you expecting a full assault?"
He shrugged. "We figured more was better than less?"
"Right." Once inside, she checked on RJ, then she sat at the table. The display provided all of her medical data, not just since she'd returned to the Demption. Good for comparison, I guess.
While she worked, Jemy moved in and out of the lab, returning the weapons and supplies back to their appropriate, locked, storage containers. Then he set about wiping every surface until it gleamed.
"You're distracting me. Can you scrub somewhere else?" she asked.
"This is my lab, remember?"
"It's also the medical facility, with a patient in need of peace and quiet."
His eyes darted to RJ, then back to her. "Ok. I get it back as soon as we know he's ok."
I was talking about me. "Lock us in. Just in case something changes when he wakes up."
Jemy hesitated on his way out. "I...ok."
After he left, a beep-beep sounded as the door locked. She settled into the chair, scrolling through data she was determined to understand.
***
RJ woke with a start as the autodoc dome receded. He lay there, taking a quick inventory of the wounds he remembered. No pain. The autodoc saves me again. There was something, though, like the hairs standing up on his neck, like someone was watching him.
He sat up.
Reby was at the table, fast asleep, her head resting on her arms.
He choked back tears as he slid out of the autodoc. Standing next to her, he couldn't bring himself to wake her.
She opened her eyes.
Recognition flushed through him and something shifted, settled inside him. It passed so fast he wasn't sure it even happened.
He knelt down.
Reby threw her arms around him.
"I thought I'd lost you," he said as he squeezed her.
"I almost lost you." She tightened her embrace.
"I'm so sorry for leaving you—"
"Stop," she said and leaned back, looking down into his eyes. "We should have listened to you. You were right about everything." Her eyes watered, a tentative smile forming on her face.
She kissed him.
He pulled her in close, soaking up the affection he'd longed for since the day she'd run away from him.
"Ah, am I interrupting?" Jemy asked from the doorway.
Their kiss ended, but he didn't let go of her. "Actually..."
"Sorry about that." Jemy walked to the table. "Aida told me you were awake and we need to make some decisions."
He frowned. "I think we need a vacation before the next target, don't you? How about—"
"I guess you didn't tell him anything yet?" Jemy tilted his head toward Reby.
"We hadn't got that far," Reby said and sat back, leaving RJ kneeling on the floor.
RJ stood, glancing between the two of them. "Tell me what? Is the fucker not dead?"
"Oh, he's dead, disintegrated, or buried. He's not the one we need to talk about. Here," Jemy said and pointed to the second chair before grabbing a third one for himself.
RJ sat. "What's this about then? We won, didn't we?" I don't like this.
Jemy looked across the table to Reby, clasping and unclasping his hands.
Reby twisted in her seat to face RJ, her face softening. "We're both infected. Whatever Clay had inside him, it's in us now."
He thought back to the encounter in the docking bay, how Reby fought him and Clay pummeled him. "You bit me. That's how I got it."
Reby's face dropped. "I'm sorry. It wasn't me. I couldn't control myself."
He reached out for her. "It's ok. None of this is your fault."
"If you hadn't done that, Reb," Jemy said, "this all would have ended differently. Clay would have killed him before I got there."
Yeah. He would have. "But he didn't so let's stay on the bright side. He's gone. Now we can get the hell away and find a cure. Somehow." The fabricator pieces caught his eye. "Did you get him, Jemy? Our alien friend not-friend?"
Jemy reached into his pocket and pulled out the vessel. "This is it."
"Let me see." RJ took it, holding it up and turning it around. "So small. A perfect match for the base." He plopped it into the hole.
"Wait!"
"Relax. I haven't powered him up yet." He leaned forward and grabbed the two mini power packs. "I just wanted to check the fit."
Jemy shook his head and exhaled. "Aida said you were analyzing the design to see what kind of control it would give him over our systems."
"Yeah. Didn't find anything, really. There's a comm link which was easy to spot, but the rest...no idea what it does. I think we have to assume, though, that he'll have as much access to our systems as he did from Havenstar."
"I don't like that," Reby said. "I mean, if I don't trust us with access, why give it to a complete unknown?"
"Wait, what? Why don't you trust us?"
Jemy looked at Reby. "You said you'd tell him everything."
"Right," she said and took a deep breath before launching into an explanation of what she experienced during their fight, the stuff leaking out of Clay. The fact the nanosyms were sentient.
The story brought back an image of the creature he'd shot inside Marisil. He fought back the urge to vomit. Be strong. For her. He drew himself up. "I'm not happy about it, but I see your point." He jabbed Jemy on the arm. "I guess you're captain and crew, at least for a while."
Jemy pulled away in mock pain. "I'm not happy about it either. We need to find something that will lead us to a cure." He sighed.
We will. "What are the odds we'd find a fucked up human living on an alien structure, get infected by him, then escape with an alien consciousness in your pocket? Anyone with luck like that shouldn't have any trouble finding a cure, don't you think?" He winked at Reby.
A slight smile crossed her face.
"We have to start with Obi." Jemy said. "Plugging him in is a risk, but I don't think he meant to harm us—intentionally. He followed his own logic, though, which wasn't always in our best interest."
That's one way to put it. "Ok. So we turn him on and demand he tell us about a cure. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Reby and Jemy said.
"Then let's do it." RJ assembled the power packs onto the base. The vessel glowed blue.
That’s the end of Target 10 the serial. I hope you enjoyed it even with the cliffhanger. I promise, their story will be finished. The novel version (with extra content) is coming out in 2025 and book 2 will follow (date TBD).
Share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to know what you thought of Reby, Jemy, and RJ!