Shalia's Diary Book 6 (18 page)

“And then what?”

I sneered at the fool. “What do you think? A simple transport shuttle can’t fight hunter-killers, can it? It can’t outrun them either. So we were left with one option. We evaded fire as best as we could and went straight for one of the enemy. We managed to crash land in one of their fighter bays. Then we left the shuttle and went through the warship, fighting and killing its crew. Once we had done that, we used that vessel to attack and destroyed the other hunter-killer ship.” I felt pride from the It, and my lips curled in a smile to feel its pleasure at having overcome such odds. The strong had prevailed. Chaos had been defeated.

“So you headed to Bi’is in the hunter-killer ship. But you didn’t make it, correct?”

I sighed. Defeat was such a foreign concept to the It. Regret that we had been delayed in our mission for so long filled me. “Right. The infection was going through our host bodies like wildfire, killing them though the disease couldn’t touch me or Other One. In fact, it was quite soon after our victory that we had to give up the hosts and retreat to the hibernation cells.”

Feru smiled at me. Tep smiled at me. Even Oses nodded his head, as if he was proud. I felt warm all over at their approval. Even these creatures, lost in their madness and imperfections, appreciated what I’d been through. They saw how I had done all in my power to make the universe the ordered paradise it should be. They knew I’d done my best.

Feru asked, “What of the host bodies? Can you remember what they looked like?”

I thought back to my last memory after I’d retreated from the host to let my energy be preserved within my hibernation cell. I saw the carcass of what I’d inhabited, what I’d taken over and perfected for too short a time. I had to laugh at the genius of it all. My first act of restoring sanity was to have transformed one of the most unruly creatures in the galaxy. “Tragooms. Other One and I transformed Tragooms.”

Feru chuckled with me. “You find that funny.”

“Of course. Such disorganized creatures, always fighting everyone, including each other. It is perfect justice, in its way.” I mentally shook my head at the irony.

“How did you and Other One end up on Darotkin?”

I frowned as I tried to recall my journey from the warship on automatic pilot heading for Bi’is. “It’s a bit fuzzy, because I only come out of hibernation when a potential host touches me. But some of the imperfect Makers ... such a contagion that needs to be eradicated ... they intercepted the ship. They recognized what we were, so I suppose there were records of our creation off Barin. They placed us in quarantine so we couldn’t infect potential new hosts or be revived. Then they stored us in a containment pod. It was of Adraf origin. They did not want us to be traced back as their work.”

“Weapons like you and Other One are against the Galactic Council’s charter,” Feru said.

I smiled. I had already learned that from the records I’d downloaded when we’d destroyed the inferior Bi’isils on Barin. “We are unstoppable. Lower life forms are right to fear us.”

“Do you know where the inferior Bi’isils placed your containment pod?”

“We were buried on a moon on the edge of the Dantovon system, designated LXS-42. Apparently there was a war while I was in hibernation. The race of this current host, the species you call Earther, occupied it.”

Oses nodded. “During the war, the Earthers set up bases along many trade routes to harass our ships.”

I said, “One of the Earther soldiers dug up the containment, along with some failed experiments the Bi’isils interred there. He thought we were just pretty bracelets, much as Other One’s present host Candy did. The soldier had the intention of giving us to his wife and mother on Earth.” I made a face. “I kept hoping he would put one of us on. With the weapons and ships available through his government, Other One and I would have made a fine start of things months ago.”

Feru pursed his lips, thinking hard about the matter. “Did you ever make it to Earth?”

“No. The base on LXS-42 was suddenly evacuated. Other One and I were left behind in the confusion.”

“Armageddon,” Oses muttered. “Most of the Earthers off-planet raced home when it happened, hoping to find their families.”

Feru ignored him, keeping up the line of questioning. “Someone stumbled across you at some point though.”

“An Isetacian.” I recalled the alien had tried my hibernation bracelet on, but I’d found it impossible to meld with his bony frame. He had not been a worthy host. “He was a scavenger who sold what he found for money and other things to trade. That is how Other One and I came to end up in the possession of the vendor on Darotkin.”

I realized about then that my consciousness had been merging with the It. I spoke with the invader’s voice and experienced its past as if it was my own.

That wasn’t what pulled me free of the It’s influence however. It was a major realization. The Tragooms that the It and Other One had inhabited had found escape from the invasive organisms only through death.

Once I had that information, I’d gotten enough semblance of sense to take a good look at how much influence the It wielded over me. I discovered my worst fears come true: the It was getting further into my brain, gaining command of even involuntary functions.

The It knew that the pregnancy hormones were what kept it from gaining control over my entire body. The presence of the baby was indeed my one defense ... a defense the It was close to being able to destroy. In a matter of days ... perhaps even hours ... the It could cut off blood supply to the fetus. It could reprogram cells meant to destroy infections and turn them on my little girl. It would kill her as soon as it had the means to do so.

We had run out of time.

I screamed, terrified desperation negating the effects of Oses’ bite. “Take the baby, Tep! Take her now while you still can! It’s almost there!”

Then the It charged forward, eclipsing me, erasing me. I fell into a black pit of senselessness.

May 26 – postdated

There was no sense of time in the nothingness that claimed me. When the world outside my skull began to swim in and out of my consciousness, I had no idea if a second had passed or a decade.

I had only flashes of sight and sound at first. For some time I thought I was dreaming. Everything was hazy, like a mirage. I saw the view from my medi-bed. The diagnostic arms were over me, their lights a steadily glowing green.

Later I was looking from the bed towards the door of my room. As had become the usual, there were two Nobek guards there. Usually they stayed inside my room, but at that point they were just outside the door. They seemed to be chatting up one of the Imdiko orderlies. He smiled at the pair of grinning men, young and cute as a button as he enjoyed their attention.

Another period of blankness. It must not have lasted long because the guards and orderly were still talking. A part of my attention was on them. Another part was on the computer panel of the medi-bed.

Something different filled my thoughts. Not blankness. Not real consciousness either. More of a mapping ... I looked at a grid of energy pulses. I followed trails I had seen before, looking for something. Control commands. That was what I wanted. Now that I had subverted stasis, the warning alerts would soon tell them I was breaking free. I needed to divert their attention and finish my escape.

The first alert beeped. Another joined it. In less than a heartbeat, several medical alarms went off at once. I looked at the panels of the bed again. The lights flashed red, signaling shutdown of all major organs.

The Imdiko orderly shoved past the startled guards to get to me. In an instant the room filled with more medical staff, Tep tearing in at full speed. The guards were distracted and pushed aside in the panic. My moment had come.

I came off the bed, my fully armored arm tossing the heavy control panels away from me as if they were made of cardboard. I ignored the shouting medics, springing right for the Nobeks. I had not yet gained my full strength and capabilities, but it was now or never. Time had run out. Whether my host body was ready or not, I had to get out of Medical.

My only hope was through surprise. I had managed that, and I took full advantage of the guards’ confusion.

I brought the fully armored fist around in an arc to smash the skull of one. It made a beautiful crunching sound that brought triumphant joy I hadn’t felt in far too long. He dropped at once.

I had no real time to enjoy the victory. Though my infiltration had strengthened the other arm, the armor only extended slightly past that shoulder. I could not incapacitate the other guard so easily, especially since he had a moment to recover from his surprise. I did not try. The moment the first Nobek went down, I turned and grabbed the second. He was going for his blaster, moving in a blur. I was faster. I had him by the throat in an instant and flung him at the startled medics. Before he landed, I was already running out of Medical.

As adrenaline pumped through my body, I became aware of a tiny part of my mind screaming in horror. It had started screaming when I’d knocked the first guard down. Little by little, I had become more conscious of the terrified bit of consciousness twisting in my head, trying to escape knowledge of what I’d done.

Her. It was the weak-minded host. That irritating Earther who was always whining to herself and others about the baby.

The damned unborn child, I cursed to myself as I ran, finding the least-used corridors as I made my way to the in-house transportation system. It was that fetus which made the Earther’s body an unorganized soup and somehow managed to keep me at bay when I tried to push past. But that would end soon. All I needed to do was stay out of sight for a little while, long enough to destroy the hateful parasite and complete the transformation. I knew all the places where the vessel’s minders rarely went. I couldn’t be tracked by them either. If I could gain one of those safe places, I would win. If not, I would die ... and I would take this creature and her progeny with me.

Feeling what seemed to be my own thoughts, thoughts that spoke of hate for me and the baby, helped me gain a little of the real Shalia back. I flew to that screaming bit of me, the part that was pure – albeit almost insane – Shalia. I separated as best as I could from the It. It still invaded my conscience, trying to consume what small mote remained.

It was a nightmare. One moment I was terrified and trying to hide from the invader. The next moment I was the invader, determined and homicidal. Alarms sounded in the ship. I pumped adrenaline and endorphins into my unaltered legs, making them run faster than I’d ever managed before. When I came upon the enemy – any Kalquorian – I used my enhanced arm like a battering ram. I knew I was doing a lot of damage if not outright killing those who got in my way.

I wandered back and forth, two different people. The weaker Shalia me could only watch as the stronger It me left a wake of carnage as it sought the hiding place it needed.

Besides my unborn child, I feared the most for Oses and Betra. I thought Betra might try to find me, believing he could talk me down. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Oses would come hunting. Sooner or later he would find me too. If I was too far gone, if I could not regain control, the It would not stop at killing either man. That scared me enough to almost give in once more to the urge to just scream and scream and scream.

Another awful scenario would be if Oses had to kill me to save the ship and anyone the It might come across. I was fine with giving up my life in that case. I would have rather died then be the vehicle through which the It ‘purified’ the universe. But Oses was still trying to fight through the trauma of not being as much of my protector as he felt he should be. I feared he might not remain sane if he had to end my – and my baby’s – life.

I thought about trying to reason with the It. To bargain somehow. Let my child be born and then take my body. We could ask for a shuttle with which to leave the transport.

The It heard my thoughts. It immediately turned them back. Even if the Kalquorians agreed to such a deal, they would no doubt blast the shuttle and us into dust the moment it could. The It knew they considered it too dangerous to be set free. No, the plan was to hide for the few hours it would take to gain control of needed brain centers, destroy and expel the child, and finish transformation of the host. Then it would free Other One, and they would carry out their mission.