I swept my
hair across my forehead and sighed. I was tired and hungry and it
had been so long since I had had the opportunity to rest properly.
Ahead the arches of the room passed above us as we sidled along
without apparent haste. I was in a world of torment, about us lay
the remains of a perfect world, captured forever in the wasteland
of space, preserved in a cold vacuum.
An impasse lay
ahead. Sean hovered through without apparent concern. I followed a
little more cautiously. The second section of the room was filled
with the gore of the massacre that had happened before. Lights
flickered continuously, casting shadows of beings that never
were.
Just as Sean
had said, the lift appeared before us. I walked towards the door
control and without a word I pushed the button marked
summon
. The door screen flashed an upward facing arrow and
then failed. The screen went blank. Nevertheless after about a
minute the lift doors opened. We entered the confines of the lift
with ease and the doors shut.
‘Please state
your floor’ asked the mechanical voice of the lift.
‘Floor one
hundred and nine,’ Sean stated musically. With that the lift began
its descent. The metrical whooshing of the passing floors had a
soothing effect upon the both of us. The tension between us had
eased.
‘What do you
expect we will find in the detention centre,’ I asked.
‘Who can say?
But it is best to be prepared for what we might find. I suggest...’
He fell silent as the lift suddenly came to a complete stop. My
eyes began to search for the problem, we were definitely not at the
right floor. The door remained tightly closed. Then the room went
dark.
‘Sean,’ I
called out.
‘I’m right
here George,’ he replied cautiously. I armed my lancer just in
case. Raising the rifle to my shoulder I found that the screen was
displaying night vision. I looked into the field of green and then
gasped. One of them was in the lift with us. He was facing towards
Sean, tracking the sound of his voice. The targeting reticule
locked onto the figure who was panting now, ready for the hunt. I
pulled the trigger.
Immediately an
explosion of light flashed out of the muzzle. As if watching in a
slowed state of time, I saw the bolt jump towards the figure. The
figure’s chest burst open. The light from the bolt temporarily lit
the room. Ghastly shadows filled my eyes. Something wet struck my
face. With shock I realised that it was his blood. Focusing back
onto the night vision, I saw that the figure had fallen, but his
stomach continued to move up and down. He was still alive. The
targeting reticule locked back on the fallen figure and I fired
again.
The lights
came back on and the lift began to surge its way upwards. I
wondered what had just happened. It was not as though the lift was
planning our execution. I wondered if there was some hand at work
behind all of this. It was certainly disconcerting to think so. No
being should ever be able to impose this much wrath upon
another.
‘Floor one oh
nine: Mandel Detention Facility, second floor,’ the mechanical
voice sounded and then concluded, ‘doors opening, please mind the
doors.’
The doors slid
open and revealed a small room. The lights in the room were buzzing
and flickering. Ahead was a thick secure looking door. It was
closed. On either side of the room ran two identical counters
protected by seemingly impregnable glass. Part of the right hand
side glass had been badly burnt, presumably by the discharge of a
lancer. I turned to Sean and asked, ‘how do we get in?’
Flitting
towards the door Sean replied, ‘we must gain access to the custardy
vault behind the glass in order to gain entry to the detention
wards.’
‘And how
exactly are we going to do that, I can’t see a way in.’
‘There is a
panel on the glass George, why not take a look?’ I moved towards a
series of white digits seemingly drawn onto the glass. The numbers
ranged from one to nine.
‘The code is
six-nine-nine-seven-three-two.’ I gently tapped on the numbers he
indicated. After each tap the number I had selected made a sound
like a wind chime. At the end of the sequence part of the glass
slid back from the rest of the windowed wall and rose into the
ceiling. I stepped through the narrow glass and got behind the
counter.
‘How did you
know the code,’ I asked. He certainly seemed to know a lot for a
person who protested that he knew very little.
‘My database
contains all of the security codes of the station that was made
available by Blue Dawn in her contract with Eternis Systems.’
‘Good for
you,’ I muttered. I scanned my eyes about the counter but all I
could see were screens. On the screens were the live feeds from
each of the cells. Empty cell after empty cell passed through my
vision. I began to lose hope that she would be here, but then, out
of the corner of my eyes, I spotted her.
‘Sean, look at
this! She is here! She’s alive.’ I jumped into the air with relief.
Tapping the vocal button on the screen I stated ‘open cell
414-B.’
I heard a
klaxon sound and the systems stated the words: ‘access to
cell-blocks approved, first tier security for cell block
four-one-four-B disabled.’ With no more ceremony than this the
security door flashed from red to green and opened, splitting apart
in several places and rotating away. We walked through.
We entered on
the gallery level above the cell blocks which occupied a small
strip hanging over the centre of the detention ward. In the square
below several cells occupied the corners, in the centre sat Aeniah.
She was staring calmly at us. As my eyes connected with hers, she
arched an eyebrow. With a start I realised that she was naked. I
averted my gaze, too late not to take in her well formed, perhaps
too toned body. Then my eyes were drawn back towards her, for
behind her stood another woman. This woman was impossibly
beautiful, tall, with long silky brown hair folding to her
shoulders. She was clothed in an odd dress, like those in history
books where women were forced to wear skirts. Around the collar of
her suit top were two blue strips of light. But it was her eyes
that set her apart. Deep black eyes ringed by a halo of blue light.
No woman had ever lived and been so beautiful, even in her strange
attire.
With a soft
sound the glass separating the four of us slid away. The woman
behind Aeniah stepped through and Aeniah followed with her head
held high.
‘You dumb
fucking idiots.’ This appeared to be Aeniah’s way of greeting us.
‘I fly you dumb bastards all the way to this station and you walk
right into a trap.’
I looked at
her in confusion. Was there a trap? I couldn’t see one. The
beautiful lady smiled a wicked smile. She turned to Aeniah and
stated, ‘I don’t suppose they know who I am, do they?’ She turned
grinning back towards us. ‘Well we have met before, don’t you
recognise my voice?’
It hit me
then, that graceful voice, that powerful mesmerising harmony. It
was Blue Dawn.
‘But how?’ I
stammered, ‘you’re a machine, you’re not a person.’
‘And you would
be quite right. Your rather banal contribution to proceedings,
whilst unimportant, perhaps requires an explanation.’ I stared
towards her intently waiting upon her next words. ‘What you are
looking at is a genetically engineered host body, of which I have
several. Inside this body is a receiver through which I am able to
inhabit. I exist in all the bodies and in the station at the same
time, but separately.’
‘But that’s
not possible, is it?’ I asked.
‘If it was
not, then I would not be speaking to you right now, would I?’ She
sighed impatiently.
‘Fine, okay.
Why are you here, what do you want with us and why did you place us
in quarantine?’
‘It was for
your safety of course. As my sensors came online I found that there
were still many infected who remained alive. Despite my best
efforts, I appear unable to kill them all. They survive oxygen
deprivation and extreme changes in temperature. Beyond locking down
the facility there is little that I can do. You were placed
separately in biological quarantine in order to keep you safe, not
only from the hordes, but also from each other.’ Folding her arms
Blue Dawn appeared satisfied with her response.
‘Well then
what about the rest of our crew? Where are they?’ I returned.
‘They have
been sealed in the docks and are not permitted to leave. Unlike
Aeniah, Sean and yourself I have not permitted anyone else further
access to Ascension.’
Aeniah scowled
at her with utter contempt. Practically spitting her words out she
turned to Blue Dawn and said, ‘then I suppose you won’t mind if I
contact my crew then?’
‘Very well
Aeniah, a comm-link has been established to the vessel docked in
Ascension’s tertiary structure.’
In a moment a
black square bearing Ascension’s insignia appeared in between us. A
series of dots were tracing their way along the screen when all of
a sudden an image of First Officer Knightly appeared in the
centre.
‘Aeniah, is
that really you?’ Knightly shouted in a hoarse voice. Something
clearly was not right. His eyes had a wild property to them, glazed
and unfocused.
‘Of course
it’s fucking me, you dumb bastard. What on Earth have you been
doing. I’m sitting here having tea with a murderous bloody machine
and your there scratching your ass,’ Aeniah replied in a less than
offended tone.
‘We tried
everything we could Sir, I’m sorry Sir, there was no means to find
you, no means of opening the security cordon’ stammered
Knightly.
‘I have heard
enough of this Knightly. Status report. Now!’
‘Um, well, it
has been a while since we heard anything from you. We assumed you
had died. We...we stopped looking. I had ordered the ship to
prepare to make haste for the colonies, to try and see if we would
have better luck there. The crew is restless, they want to move.
Some have even gotten violent. The cells are full...’
She swiftly
cut Knightly off with a slight raise of her palm. ‘You mean to tell
me that I am gone for a couple of hours and you let
my
ship
turn to anarchy and then plan to leave us here. This
stinks of mutiny officer.’
‘A couple of
hours Sir,’ Knightly asserted timidly, ‘you have been away for
days.’
‘Days!’ Aeniah
screamed whirling to face Blue Dawn.
‘The mass
transport process is very temperamental, the systems were damaged,
you both suffered from some neurological problems. It took several
days to stabilise the both of you.’ Blue Dawn seemed worried now.
It appeared that Aeniah could put anybody on the back foot. Before
Aeniah could become angered further a loud bang was heard coming
from the screen.
‘Sit rep’
shouted Aeniah towards Knightly. ‘Come on man, pull yourself
together. What is going on over there?’
‘Sir, there
has been an explosion. Safeties were lifted from the reactor.’
Gunfire was audible from across the comm-link. ‘Shit, there are
people trying to reach the CIC.’ A detonation sounded. ‘Keep them
clear Lieutenant. Marshall, get guardsmen to the CIC-control now!’
More gunfire could be heard in the transmission. Aeniah looked
distinctly grey now.
‘What’s
happening Simon? Knightly! What is going on?’
There was no
response for a while, merely the sound of muffled orders being
given. Then his voice returned over the comm-link. ‘Aeniah. Sir. A
group of rebels have managed to get some guns and explosives. They
are trying to take the ship. They have killed most of the people
outside the CIC and have messed with the surveillance systems so we
can’t see them. The Marshall can’t raise the guardsmen. I don’t
think that the rebels have the firepower to get through the doors
for the moment. We can’t seem to get a response from outside CIC. I
have locked down the ship. What are you orders Sir?’
‘Hold the CIC
at
all
costs Simon. If they get to the CIC all is lost. We
are coming to get you. You have your orders officer and I expect
you to follow them. Hold them off at all costs. I don’t care if
they are your friends among the rebels. I still expect you to kill
them. Aeniah out.’ The screen dissolved, darkening the room
slightly. ‘Sean how far is the dock from here?’ she asked.
‘Around a six
hour walk, that is if we don’t meet any obstructions along the way’
he replied calmly.
‘Obstructions?’
‘George and I
have had several problems with the former inhabitants of the
station. I believe that we are unlikely to be able to travel to
dock A-44-C from here. Considering the trouble that we have had
travelling the small distance to you I do not believe it wise to
undertake a journey of that length. Furthermore much of Ascension’s
transport infrastructure, such as lifts and highways, appear
offline or damaged. Therefore there is little opportunity for a
short cut.’
There was a
pause which was broken by the sweet and commanding voice of Blue
Dawn. ‘I agree. The odds of reaching the docks are unlikely given
the size of your team and the size of your undertaking. There is of
course a solution, but for this you will require my
assistance.’
‘No way, I
don’t even trust you enough to boil an egg. For all I know, this is
your doing’ Aeniah contested angrily.
‘Wait, I think
we should hear what she has to say,’ I interjected.
Aeniah was
silent and Blue Dawn continued, ‘my help does however come at a
price. I need you to re-instate my full control over Ascension.
Many elements including the Equinox project remain outside of my
full control. I would also ask that you assist me in resolving the
problem of the Artefact and continue with your present mission
objectives. Does this sound so unreasonable?’