Shalia's Diary Book 6 (17 page)

May 25

Today was pure shit. It started when Betra shared the news that Candy’s body stopped fighting the Other One. Whatever it was that I was able to give her in that blood transfusion is done. The organism has sped up its takeover of her body, and she’s showing spikes of near consciousness again. She’s been placed in an armored stasis capsule under full guard. They predict she will be completely transformed within a week. We are losing her.

The second round of bad news: the It is gaining ground in my body. Tep came in to tell me that the latest scans show the invader has entwined its ‘veins’ within my chest, right arm, upper back, and neck. More are feeding into my brain.

“The baby?” I asked, almost too scared to speak.

“The organism continues to avoid your abdomen, including the womb for now. That’s a good sign since its twin invaded Matara Candy throughout her entire body quickly.”

I thought about my suspicion that the pregnancy had something to do with retarding the It’s progress. All at once I felt a grudging agreement elsewhere in my head. Oh shit, my thoughts were leaking into the It’s consciousness. More frightening to me was that it knew the baby was keeping it at bay for the moment. I felt that it saw my unborn child as an enemy.

I went into full panic. “Doc, the It knows something to do with my pregnancy makes it hard to take me over. It wants to destroy her. You’ve got to deliver this child now!”

While Oses growled a warning and Betra stroked my hair and shushed me, Tep slowly shook his head. “It’s true that something to do with the pregnancy appears to be the reason you are still yourself. As it is the only weapon we have at the moment, I can’t take the child. That would erase the one defense you have. We would lose you, Shalia.”

“If you don’t, the baby could die! Oses, make him take her!”

Tep leaned close so that his face filled my vision. “Listen to me, Shalia. We are monitoring you very closely. The instant this thing shows any sign of threatening your child, I will deliver her. But for now, you’re our only hope of finding out how to stop it from destroying you and Candy. If we can save all three of you, we will.”

I sobbed, “But if you can’t—”

“Then I will do what has to be done. I promise you that.”

Feru had come in at some point. “If you can continue to access the It’s memories, we could discover what separated it from its last host. There is still hope. It’s too soon to give up on you.”

I thought I felt a curl of satisfaction from my unwanted interloper. The It was pretty sure what had happened before was of no bearing to the present situation. It was convinced it would not lose.

I glared at Tep through my tears. “You don’t leave my child to one second of chance. Do you hear me? One tiny little hint – just the suggestion of a hint that she is in danger – you get her out. Don’t you dare fuck with me on this, Tep.”

If he was offended by my show of threat, he didn’t give any indication. Instead, Tep told me, “I have already started giving the baby medication to accelerate development of her heart, lungs, and other major organs. She’s now a few weeks advanced of the original due date.” He gripped my shoulder and squeezed. “Do not fear I’ve not made her my main concern, Shalia. I’m giving her all the support I can so that if it comes to an early delivery, she will have the best possible chance of thriving.”

Relief filled me. All this time, Tep had been looking out for my daughter, making her the priority she deserved to be. I realized that in his own way, he was as dedicated to her survival as Oses – even if it meant giving up on me. It was the best I could ask for.

May 26

Another dream. More information from the monstrosity trying to take me over.  As much as I hate seeing into the It’s mind, I admit we need to know as much as possible about it. It is a killer with no remorse and apparently nearly impossible to stop once it has full control of the host body. It’s not just my baby at stake. It’s everyone on this transport ... maybe everyone in the universe. Because if there are more of this thing out there...

There were once many of them, the ones that attacked the peaceful villages of Barinem. After the Its had killed off the Bi’isils that created them, Bi’is sent ships after the organisms. Not to collect them, but to destroy them.

The It remembered detecting something in its body, some infection that spread quickly among the other armored creatures like it. The infection targeted the host bodies that had been overtaken by the It, Other One, and the rest.

I’ll relate the story as the It, because it felt like my own memory. I don’t identify as the It in any way, but it’s easier to tell it this way. This is what I told Tep and Feru:

We had detected the Bi’is hunter-killer crafts in orbit over the planet, hovering in space over the research facility. At first we sent messages of greetings to the Makers, assuring them we stood ready to protect order and purity for the kingdom of Bi’is. When we were met by silence, it puzzled us. Then we began to fall ill, a weakness the flawed original Maker had not accounted for. The hunter-killers left, believing us destined to destruction.

We quickly realized we were under attack by those who had responded to the emergency calls of the research team. Of course they wanted us destroyed ... only flawed beings would come to the rescue of other flawed beings. Knowing they were impure and we were the cure for that, they set out to destroy us.

Other One said it best: “Bi’is is in danger of such creatures destroying its perfect order. We may be all that stands in the way of chaos. We must somehow survive to protect it. These bringers of disarray must be thwarted even as we fall.”

We set about destroying all the records of the Maker’s research. All samples and files were systematically erased or eradicated. If we failed to get off the planet, we could not allow the lesser creatures to have the technology. We figured those Makers not yet damaged on Bi’is could reverse engineer our perfection, to be used to the higher good.

Yet there was another obstacle to our mission, one we hadn’t counted on. The Maker had set up a failsafe device, designed to destroy the facility to keep it from enemy hands. By accessing the files, we set it in motion.

Other One and I had been readying the shuttles for our return to Bi’is. We knew someone there would be able to cure this malady the imperfect ones had set loose upon us. Even if our current host bodies succumbed and died due to the illness, we would revert to hibernation state and survive in our small initiating habitats. Once we were on the home world of the Perfect Makers, they would re-establish us on new hosts. Then we would be able to resume our mission to clear all chaos, starting with Bi’is itself.

The shuttle hangar was some distance from the research facility. When the rest of our number triggered the failsafe , Other One and I were the only ones not destroyed when the explosions went off. When the two of us searched through the rubble, all that was left was bits and pieces. No hibernation habitats were left intact that we could find. Meanwhile, Other One and I were becoming sicker all the time. We had to get underway for the homeworld, or Bi’is might very well be lost to the chaos.

It was at that point when the real Shalia woke to tell the others what I’d learned from the It.

Tep and Feru were quiet for a little while, mulling over my tale. Oses came in while they thought it over. Since everything to do with me is recorded these days due to the It’s invasion, he was able to replay my account. Naturally, he was the first one to ask for clarifications.

“You are sure that besides your parasite and the one that took over Candy, all the other organisms were destroyed?”

That was the part that worried me the most too. “The It is almost positive. All that was found were bits and pieces after the explosion. The It and Other One couldn’t make an accurate count of destroyed hibernation bracelets in the debris. They were still certain the research facility was where all the rest of the organisms were when it blew up.”

Tep scowled at nothing. “So whatever species hosted these organisms was blasted into powder too. There was nothing recognizable about the remains?”

“No. Almost all that was left was ash and burnt parts of the building’s structure.” I tried a weak joke. “That’s not how I want to rid myself of the It, Doc.”

“No.” He tried out his own smile and failed. “I would not recommend it.”

Oses made an impatient sound. “We have to find out the last of this thing’s story up until Candy bought it from the vendor. Shalia is running out of time.”

He stopped there, but I had a pretty good idea of what was left unsaid. At the rate I was getting the It’s memories, they would have to take my daughter from me before we got to what we needed to know. Once I was no longer pregnant, the It would have no barrier to taking me over.

“I have an idea,” Feru ventured. He looked extremely uncomfortable and his voice was hesitant.

“Anything and everything is appreciated,” Tep said.

Feru seemed pained as he glanced at me. “We’ll have to keep it from Shalia’s guest.”

“Go,” I said wearily. “Talk amongst yourselves out of the hearing of the enemy.”

They left the room. I lay there, thinking my dark thoughts. It seemed like forever before the three men returned.

I didn’t even get the chance to try to read their expressions. The next thing I knew, Oses’ head pressed against the side of my face and twin darts of pain stabbed my neck. Terror overcame me in an instant. The weapons commander was biting me, filling me with his intoxicating venom. Last time that happened, I’d temporarily lost my identity to the It. I’d been sure if it happened again, I wouldn’t come back.

I shrieked. “No!”

Feru’s voice floated through the room. “The organism is affected by the venom too, Shalia. We may be able to get those answers while it is drugged.”

“But it recovers faster than me,” I sobbed. “I won’t get back my identity this time!”

Oses stroked the other side of my face even as he stripped me of my defenses. The pain of the bite was gone, and the first sweet vapors of euphoria wafted through my skull. The It reacted. I had the sensation of it trying to draw away as we were drugged.

“This is our best shot, Shalia,” Tep said. “Our only chance to find out the truth. I’m sorry.”

I knew he was right. I also felt positive I would be sucked into that darkness as I had before and this time I would stay there. It made me want to resist. If it hadn’t been for the stasis field, I would have fought Oses with everything I had. I couldn’t face losing me.

However, I had no way to avoid it. The It and I succumbed, with me temporarily in power. Oses moved away, licking a drop of my blood from his lips as he drew back to look down on me.

“I am sorry, my love,” he whispered.

Feru leaned over me, to make me focus on his face. “Shalia, are you in command of yourself?”

I floated, tranquility now my friend. I checked on the It, feeling it almost slumbering in a wash of unaccustomed peacefulness. “I got this,” I singsonged. It was nice to feel so good. Terror was long gone.

“Can you access the It’s memories? Can you see in its consciousness at all?”

Armored hands reaching for a Bi’isil, the alien screaming in my head. Ripping. Tearing. Strangely colored fluids spraying. Yuck.

“I don’t like what it sees,” I whined. “I don’t want to look.”

“I know. But we need to know what it did after the research facility exploded. Where did it and Other One go once they realized they were the only two left?”

That memory was much better, less gross. “We got in the shuttle. We headed for Bi’is to protect it.”

“Did you make it there?”

“No.” I pouted, feeling mildly petulant with the It. I fell more and more in sync with its presence, though we were still separate. It was easier to tell the story through its view though. My voice went from dreamy to cold and distant. “Those who had sent the infection had left behind a couple of ships in orbit just in case some of us survived. They’d hidden out of range so we wouldn’t detect them until it was too late. The hunter-killers attacked our shuttle.”