Fear the Abyss: 22 Terrifying Tales of Cosmic Horror (17 page)

There was another person on the ship, and he was probably bored and lonely, too. Lucas grabbed his chess set and went to find Captain Argus.

*****

A week later, when he came in to relieve Olympia, she was clicking at the screen.

The Queen clicked back. Olympia grinned.

She was learning the Queen's language. Lucas knew he should have been proud. Olympia was the first human to speak a truly alien tongue. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was happening beneath the surface.

He was probably just being jealous. Of a huge bug. That his wife cared about more than him. He sighed.

"Hey," he said.

Olympia switched the translator back on. "Hey. Is it that time already?"

Lucas's shifts dragged. He nodded.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Guess I should get some sleep."

"Can she hear us?" Lucas whispered.

"Oh! Right, I forgot to tell you. The Queen would like to learn our language, so I enabled the audio feed. She's doing quite well, considering the physical limitations." She turned to the screen. "Say hello to Lucas."

The Queen tried to say hello. It was two differently pitched clicks that trailed off into a whistle.

But Lucas could almost understand.

*****

"You know, a whole race of organized, intelligent sociopaths isn't what I'd call a good thing," the Captain said, sliding a pawn forward a square.

Lucas considered the board. "They're not sociopaths. You can't judge them by our standards. They're aliens."

"Do we really know anything about them? You and your wife have been talking with the thing for months. What have you learned? It doesn't seem like it's been a fair exchange."

Lucas didn't want to tell him that Olympia was learning their language. He didn't think it would help his case. "It would be good to know more about them," he said.

"Well maybe someone should try and get some answers out of the spider. They scare me."

Lucas rubbed his forehead. "They scare me, too." 

*****

"Are you the only Queen?" Lucas asked.

"No. We are eight." The Queen's voice still sent shivers under Lucas's skin.

"And each of you has an--an army of... minions?"

"We each have a family," the Queen said.

"How big are your families?" he asked.

"I do not have the numbers to tell you. How big are your families?"

*****

"Are you getting any information out of it?" the Captain asked.

Lucas shook his head. "But she's not being evasive--there are language issues."

The Captain took a deep breath. "Do you know if we can kill them?"

Lucas glared at him. "I have no idea. Murdering each other hasn't come up."

"I know that you're capable of figuring something out. Just in case."

"Figuring something out?"

"Some kind of poison or bioweapon. I've seen them--I doubt even a rocket could dent those exoskeletons."

"Our guns wouldn't work in their atmosphere anyway."

"So you'll think about it? Maybe come up with a few ideas?"

Lucas shook his head. "Olympia would never forgive me," he said.

"She doesn't have to know. And we'll probably never need it. But if something happens and we have to fight them, I doubt they'd have any trouble killing us. Shouldn't we have an ace up our sleeves?"

Lucas sighed. His jealousy, fear, and scientific integrity all fought for the upper hand. "I'll think about it."

*****

"How old are you?" Lucas asked.

"I don't have numbers to tell you. My kind do not fall apart with time as you do."

"You don't age?"

"It seems wasteful. So much wisdom lost. I remember the taste of all the creatures that once roamed this world. We were not wise then. We were wasteful and destructive, and now all are gone. We have wisdom now. We know how to husband our resources."

Lucas thought of the gray, empty surface and shuddered.

"I am tired of hunger," the Queen said.

That night, he started working on a bioweapon.

*****

The Captain brought a six pack of beer into the common room just as Lucas finished setting up the chess board. "We've been orbiting around this rock for four months." He handed Lucas a beer. "Merry Christmas."

"Thanks," Lucas said.

"I got orders today. Your wife isn't gonna like them." He sighed. "Frankly, I don't like them, either."

Hope stirred in Lucas's heart. Maybe they were being called home. He took a long drink. "What are they?"

"We go in and start setting up collectors."

Lucas gaped at him. "But that could throw off their whole ecosystem!"

Captain Argus shrugged. "What ecosystem? There's nothing alive down there but those--things. What do they eat, anyway?"

Lucas didn't know. He wondered if Olympia did.

They didn't talk much anymore.

"They didn't tell anyone we'd found intelligent life here, did they?" Lucas asked.

Captain Argus shook his head. "There's too much money at stake."

"Why even wake us up, then?"

The Captain shrugged. "Maybe we can work out some kind of trade agreement."

"Oh yeah. I'm sure the Queen is going to be happy to let you rape her world."

"Why not? She already did."

Lucas had never felt more powerless and used. But at least he could delete the formula--take away the Captain's ace-in-the-hole. "Do you want me to tell Olympia?" Lucas asked.

The captain's relief was obvious. "Would you?"

Lucas nodded, and finished his beer. What the hell. At least she'd have to pay attention to him for a few minutes.

*****

"We need to talk," Lucas said. "Come to the room."

Olympia sighed. "Lucas, I'm working."

"This is important."

She rolled her eyes as she stood. "Fine."

It was strange being in their room together. "The captain got his orders," Lucas said.

But Olympia wasn't listening. She was staring at Lucas's computer. At the bioweapon formula on the screen.

"What's this?" she asked.

Lucas cursed himself for ten kinds of idiot. But he couldn't lie to her. "It's a weapon. I was working on it just in case we need one. But I'm going to delete it."

Olympia stared at him. "You created a bioweapon? I don't even know who you are anymore. How--how could you do this?"

"They scare me, Olympia."

"I expected better of you."

The silence stretched. "The Captain's been ordered to get the collectors set up and started."

"Before or after you commit xenocide?"

"I told you that I'm going to delete it! No one's committing xenocide!"

"You're right. I won't let you. I'll destroy this whole damn ship if I have to."

Lucas gaped at her. "You can't mean that."

"We can't declare war on the first alien race we meet! This has been going so well--I've learned so much--"

"Have you? You haven't been very good about sharing, then. There's almost nothing in your reports, and you sure as hell haven't been telling me anything!"

A look or horror crossed her face. "Lucas, please tell me that you're not just doing this because you're not happy with our relationship."

"Do we even have a relationship anymore?"

Olympia sighed. "You can't think this is a good idea. The man I married would never condone creating a weapon targeted against a friendly species."

"The Captain asked me to make the bioweapon as insurance. I never intended anyone to use it."

"I wish I could believe that."

Lucas rubbed his temples. "The Captain wants you to see if you can convince her to let his people go down and work. The collectors might not have any affect on the atmosphere in the caves."

"The atmosphere in the caves is the same as the atmosphere anywhere else, Lucas."

"Well, there's not exactly a fragile ecosystem down there," Lucas snapped. "Just the Queens, their families, and some lichens. What do they eat, anyway?"

Olympia sighed. "What do you think they eat? The smallest ones eat lichens, and the bigger ones eat the smaller ones."

Lucas's stomach twisted. "They're cannibals?"

"You can't judge them by our standards!"

"They hunted every other life form on the planet to extinction, then started eating each other! That's evil, I don't care what your standards are!"

"You've been spending too much time with the Captain. You've lost your scientific perspective."

"You've been spending too much time with that monster. You're losing your soul."

"I'm losing
my
soul? You're the one enabling
xenocide
!" Olympia screamed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "She was right. She knew you were afraid of her. And she knew you'd hate her if you learned too much."

"She doesn't understand emotions." Lucas said.

"Fine.
I
was right," Olympia snapped. "I was right not to trust you. But it doesn't matter. I love you, but I can't let you do this." She pulled a taser out from the one of her drawers.

Lucas backed away, hands out. "Where did you get that?"

"I packed it. For protection--I'm the only woman out here, remember."

"This is a bad idea. Think it through, Olympia. Is she really more important to you than I am?"

"She's more important to the future."

Painful surges of electricity pulsed through his body, and he blacked out.

*****

Captain Argus shook Lucas awake. Blood seeped from a gash above the Captain's eyebrow, and from abrasions on his knuckles. "She tried to destroy the ship," he said.

"Is she okay?"

The Captain shrugged. "She's as crazy as a snake on an escalator, but she's alive and conscious. I've got her locked up."

"What are you going to do with her?"

The Captain arched an eyebrow. "I figured I'd let you decide."

Lucas felt sick. "That's not fair."

"I've got half a mind to space her."

"No!" Lucas sat up, and the world swam in front of his eyes.

"Then you'd better think of a better option."

"We could put her in cold sleep and haul her home," Lucas said.

The Captain shook his head. "No, there's no going home for her. The company doesn't want her spreading stories about what happened here."

Lucas felt sick. They were silencing her. And he was helping them. "Then what can we do with her?"

The Captain shrugged. "Think of something."

*****

She was in a holding cell, sitting on her hands. A dark bruise spread along her hairline. She glared at him as he entered.

He leaned against the wall and stared at her. He felt like he was looking at a stranger. He wanted to ask her what she'd done with his wife. "I'm supposed to figure out what to do with you."

"I want to go home."

"That's not possible."

She barked a laugh. "Of course not." She stared at him for a long moment. "You're the only one who can stop them, now."

"You're wrong."

"Are the suits ready?" she asked.

Lucas nodded.

"Then I guess going to the planet is my best option." 

He felt like his heart was shattering into a thousand pieces in his chest.

He told himself it was just the aftereffects of the taser. "Fine."

*****

He fitted her suit. It was strange to be touching her, now. Her skin, her curves, her smell--it was all the same.

"I'm going to do all I can to help the Queens," she said.

He couldn't see how. "They're just going to go set up collectors."

Olympia smiled gently. "I don't think that's going to work out for them."

He thought of the Queen's spear-like pincers, and started planning on adding more armor to the suits. "I never thought we'd be on different sides."

Olympia shrugged. "We both chose." She took his hands. "Promise me you won't use your bioweapon. No matter what happens. Promise me."

Lucas squeezed her fingers. "I promise." He'd delete it as soon as he got back to their--his--room. He checked her suit one last time. "You're ready."

"Yes. I am."

*****

He watched her pod fall to the surface. He took control of the rover's camera so he could watch her enter the Queen's cave. She was tiny next to the Queen's bulk, and unfamiliar in the compression suit and helmet.

She clicked at the Queen, and the translator gave its flat voice to her words. He could almost forget who she was. "They are coming. I cannot stop them. They will change the air."