We discovered two humans once we reached the room designated C16; the female scientist and an injured, middle-age male with fair hair and an augmented eye. She had him propped against the wall and drinking from a small water pack she’d had clipped to her belt. With a quick study of his body, I determined the man’s ribs were crushed and his head was mildly bruised. Nothing fatal, of course, but very painful and certainly injuries that would hold you back from opposing a Weraynian.
“He’d just come out of the power stacks when I found him.” the man was saying, hand pressed over his dented ribcage as he croaked the words out. “I tried to stop him, but he dodged each shot I fired and crumpled my gun as if it was paper. He sent me flying down the hall with a few blows and kicked me in here when he passed. I could barely move, the pain was unbearable!” he squeezed his eyes shut and flinched as the memory stirred horrifically in his mind. The female stared down at him sympathetically, as she poured some of the water onto a strip of cloth and pressed it to his forehead. He relaxed a bit. “I was here for so long, I thought I was dead. I heard the announcement though; is it true? Are we causing a war?”
The female’s eyes were watery as she shook her head. “I don’t know. Don’t worry about it. It’ll be alright.”
“I don’t think it will, Heather.” The man replied, pulling himself straight-backed against the wall.
“We still have a chance to stop the Weraynian.” Reeina told him. He turned his head to face her, taking her in. Despite the physical similarities between our species, it was clear from his expression that everything about Reeina screamed ‘ALIEN’ to him; the way she held herself, her eyes, expression, and tone of voice. I wondered vaguely if I seemed alien in the same way. “There is still a slim possibility of success. Don’t give up just yet.”
The man smiled weakly. “I see you Paladanians are nicer than we were told.” He joked, and then he stuck out his hand for Reeina to shake. She obliged. “The name’s Lee, senior technician on the Eridanus II. Not that that means anything anymore.”
I caught Reeina’s eye; she was clearly thinking the same as me – a technician? He should know the command codes!
“Hi Lee.” I butted in quickly, waving my fingers in greeting. “Um, I’m Abigail, and this is Reeina. Pretty important question; would you happen to know the captain’s command and override codes? It could be vital.”
Lee seemed taken aback, but after thinking for a moment he nodded. A rush of excitement coursed through me. “Yes, actually, I do.” He reached his hand gingerly into his coat pocket and extracted a digital badge. “Could you turn it on, Heather?”
The scientist, Heather, took the thin device with Lee’s face and credentials on the front of it and pressed a button on the side. On a sliver of display above the identification, symbols rolled across and Lee reached out, scanning his fingerprint and choosing from options to access the codes. The digits of the command code popped up on the screen and Lee then pressed the device tightly into Heather’s fingers.
“There, those should work.” He said. “What do you need them for?”
“Regaining control of the ship.” I answered shortly, then turned to Heather. “My friend Sophie, not sure if you know her but nonetheless, she is hidden aboard the pilot deck with her scanner connected to the main CPU. She needs those codes to do anything with it though. If you go up there, and knock on the cupboard with the red handle, she’ll probably answer. If not, just read out the codes. It should work. Then just stay with her until she’s done but be on guard for the Weraynian. If you can go by the circuit control room on the fourth floor, and pick up the friction stabiliser, a little rod-shaped device of Sophie’s, that would be great too. Is that okay?”
Heather swallowed, nodding hesitantly. “I’ll take it to her.”
“We’re grateful, Heather, thank you.” Reeina told her with an encouraging smile.
Heather bobbed her head a bit, clutching Lee’s badge in her grip while glancing worriedly at him. “Please take care of him.”
“Of course.” We replied.
“Thank you. Well, good luck.”
“You too.” I said as Heather turned and ran off down the corridor.
Then Reeina and I knelt down either side of Lee and heaved him to his feet, supporting him with his arms draped on our shoulders.
“Where are we going?” he asked immediately.
“Medical bay.” I answered shortly, as we hobbled along the corridor as one. “Reeina, where’s our number one enemy?”
Reeina closed her eyes briefly as we continued to struggle our way along.
“He’s at one of the control rooms around the power stacks, checking everything in his control.” She said once she was done concentrating. “We’re in the clear. Right now he seems to believe we are not any kind of threat.”
I gave a harsh laugh. “Well, we’re about to change that, aren’t we?”
“Mmm.” Reeina concluded thoughtfully. She adjusted Lee’s arm that was resting on her shoulder.
“Sorry that I’m a bit of a burden.” Lee said sheepishly.
“It is of no matter.” Reeina assured him. “How far have we got to go, Abigail?”
“It’s only on the next floor down, I think.” I grunted, heaving Lee forward. He tried to take a bit of weight off of me by planting his feet more firmly with each step, but I could see how much pain coursed through his torso every time so I doubled my support and told myself to suck it up.
Slowly but surely, we made our way to an elevator. Little caring whether the Weraynian saw or not, we entered and headed down to the floor the medical bay was on. I was hoping they had one of those medical injectors which the Weraynian used on Sophie, or at least the chemical that had been inside that device; it would make the healing of Lee a lot easier.
We exited the lift and continued our trudging; lift, heave, stomp and repeat with each foot.
Finally, we found ourselves at a door with a green crescent on the door, a symbol for healing I assumed. Releasing Lee for just a moment, I pressed the button to the side of the reinforced slab barring our way and it slid to the left, allowing us admittance.
The medical bay, in comparison to the silver hallways and other flashy rooms of the ship, was all a clean white colour. There were three patient’s benches lined in the centre of the room. Hanging on the wall to the left was medical equipment of various sizes and uses, and underneath them was a bench with a sink, and cupboards beneath. There were other cupboards, all in stark white (though the colour was going on cream), around the room. Folded up to the ceiling were white machines which were controlled by a button-covered panel on the far wall, and were probably very useful in treating the sick and injured.
As we entered, Reeina and I made our way over to the nearest padded bench and lifted Lee onto it. I lifted up his shirt, to see that his skin was a nasty purplish-green colour and the ribs had obviously caved underneath.
I turned to Reeina, eyes wide. “What do I do?”
She shook her head without comprehension. Even the greatest Paladanian minds couldn’t understand alien technology and biology on the spot. I sighed.
“The-there should be… a couple of tubes of So-sollution in that cupboard over there.” Lee managed to gasp out, pointing over to the right.
Following the vector of his finger, my eyes alighted on two narrow double doors with frosted over windows which were firmly locked. I furrowed my eyebrows. If what Lee needed was in there, I’d need to be human to get in.
I crossed over to the door, and stared at it for a second. Suddenly a faint sound reached my ears. Were people…. Whispering in there?
I put one hand on the door handle and tugged it. “Hello?”
“Shhh… shh.” I heard clearly from the other side of the door. With a sudden realisation, I knew who was in there.
“Guys, it’s just me, Abigail.” I rapped my knuckles on the window. “Feel free to open the door.”
There was silence for a moment and then I heard; “On three, one, two, three, YARGH!”
I stumbled back at the last second as the doors slammed open and out barged the human male who’d taken Criken to the sick bay (alongside the Halapatovian), holding a metal bar over his head, and a female human I didn’t know, with bright blue hair and a gun held in her hand pointing straight at me.
“Woah, guys!” I held my hands up defensively as they brandished their weapons at me.
There was silence for a moment as they took me in. It was clear they were expecting an adversary. I stared behind them into the frosted storeroom, where there were shelves holding medicines of all kinds and a much healthier-looking Criken sitting against the wall with the Halapatovian man beside him.
“I tried to tell you she meant no harm.” Criken mumbled, pulling himself to his feet achingly.
The Halapatovian held onto his arm as he did so, and then the two exited the cupboard and stood beside the wild-eyed humans.
The man was the first to drop his weapon, the bar falling limp at his side. The woman with the intriguing hair looked me over first before lowering the small hand gun she held.
“Sorry.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just after barely escaping that Wernian guy I wasn’t taking any chances.”
“So what’s your story?” I inquired.
“My name’s Peg.” The woman told me, curling her lip in a way that made me sure she was used to recounting tales. “I was in one of the control rooms along the hall, fixing the ship up after all those shakes, and then that inhuman monster came and attacked. Once he was done I had just enough strength to crawl myself here and find a way to treat myself. I was here a while and then eventually these three rock up. I nearly shot one of them in the head but luckily I held my fire.” She finished, looking me over once more. “I assume you and the lady over there are the ones with the big plan to beat the bad guys.”
“That’s us.” Reeina politely answered for me. “Now if you don’t mind, we’d like to get Lee here healed.”
“Oh of course.” The male human went into the storeroom and grabbed an injector filled with golden liquid to Reeina. “Stick that into the wound and he’ll be cured real quickly.”
“Thank you.” She nodded respectfully and then prepared herself for sticking the needle point into Lee’s torso. He tried to position himself rightly for the injection.
I turned back to the humans. “What is that stuff?”
“It’s called Sollution.” Peg replied, nodding to the cupboard where there was a barrel of the golden chemical. “It’s partly a symbiote imbibed with human DNA and partly this incredible medicine we discovered which speeds up most healing processes. Together they make fixing wounds and the like super easy.”
“Wow.” I said, turning to look at Lee, who’d just recieved his injection and already seemed to be less pale. “You’re right, that is the solution.”
They all smiled with amusement, despite the lameness of my joke.
“As soon as he’s recovered we should prepare to move out.” Reeina reminded me.
“Ah yes, of course.” I remembered, turning around. “So-”
I was cut off by the lights flickering off and on.
We all looked up and around in confusion.
“Is it a power drain?” Reeina directed her question to Lee with a creased forehead.
Lee shook his head. “The lights are designed on a different circuit, along with the automatic systems like air circulation. The only way they would flicker is if someone was playing with the controls.”
Peg gasped, her face pale. “The Wernian?”
“Or Sophie.” I added thoughtfully, hand resting on my chin. “Heather would have definitely gotten her the codes by now. And if she’d unlocked everything from the Weraynian’s control...”
Lee nodded. “Then we can start to fight back.” He gingerly eased himself off the bench, swaying a bit as he righted himself.
He trudged over to the control panel in the wall. Stumbling only a little as he went, Lee made it without help and rested two fingers on the lower edge of the panel.
He trudged over to the control panel in the wall. Stumbling only a little as he went, Lee made it without help and rested two fingers on the lower edge of the panel.
Immediately a slot opened up and out slid a complex swivel-control pad. A flickering blue screen projected over the top of the pad as Lee flicked a switch on the side and started using the controls. He rotated the ball bearing in the center of the control pad, and we all watched as the screen showed data and an overlay of the ship.
Bringing up a keyboard, Lee tested some of the software with expertise beyond even Sophie’s and after a minute turned back to us with a triumphant smirk.
“Yes, she’s definitely unlocked everything.” He said, nodding to me with a grin still plastered on his face. He was excited to stop the Weraynian and I couldn’t blame him; I was too.
We all gave short sighs of relief and exclamations of excitement, and then everyone turned to me.
“So what do we do now?” Criken asked me seriously, his face set in concern.
I bit my lip, once more uncomfortable to be in the spotlight. Did they really think I was that good? Even the leaders I’d looked up to my whole life seemed to believe I held all the answers. I stared awkwardly at the ground, Sophie’s words from before echoing through my mind as I tried to formulate a plan. I weighed up the different variables and values. On the one hand, the Weraynian had the ability to kill us all and if we didn’t find a way to stop him the human fleet would come and start a war. On the other hand, we had now regained control of the ship, and the Weraynian, despite all his advancement, had severely underestimated us all.
So, having reviewed all the data at my disposal, I finally looked up and smiled. “I think I have an idea.”
I turned to Reeina. “Where is the Weraynian currently?”
Inclining her head, she slid her eyes shut and silence fell for a few tense moments as she concentrated. Then her eyes flicked open once more.
“He’s headed back to the observation deck, to get our bearings. Then he would seem to be planning to find and kill us.”
“Ah.” I responded a second later. “That’s… lovely. Now, him finding us depends on us being in the same places as before.” All eyes in the room were riveted on my self as I drew out my plan. “So I propose that we split up, and attack from different vantage points. This is how: Lee, you know how to regain control of all systems from here on out, yes?”
Lee nodded quickly. “Of course, now Sophie’s put in the codes it should be a simple process to get everything back in our power. She’s done the software part, all that’s left is aligning the hardware.”
“Good.” I replied, nodding appreciatively, consulting the plan in my head as I did so. “You and Reeina should go to the power stacks, drain the power from the weapons system and start to get everything back in place. And you! Mister Halapatovian-whose-name-I-do-not-know, it’d be good if you went up to the pilot deck and found Heather and Sophie. Once you’ve got them, send Sophie on first and then head up to the observation deck with any kind of weapon you can salvage.”
The Halapatovian nodded. The male human spoke up. “What do you want me to do?”
I smiled, as inspiration struck. “Yes, you and Criken need to get off the ship and inform those outside the ship of the pan. Then bring back a force to help mobilise the Weraynian. We’ll need them. I myself will basically make my way up to the observations deck and hopefully salvage a weapon along the way to fight with. We’ll all meet there in about ten minutes, clear?”
They all nodded. “Clear.”
“Okay, let’s go. Before the Weraynian gets here.”
Immediately everyone disembarked. To be honest, I felt quite proud of the way they all trusted my judgement enough to act on it instantly. Once everyone was gone, I waited a few moments before heading off myself. If all went as I believed it would, the Weraynian would single me out to find first, which meant I would get a good chance of stalling him while the rest of my scheme played out.
I’d worked it out, you see. Pushing past the tricks the smoke had played on my mind and powers, I’d realised the Weraynian’s one fatal flaw; arrogance. Because he was having so much fun exerting his control over us, he never stopped to consider the consequences of his actions, and let a few important details slip under his nose. One, Sophie was the one holding us all together, really. Without her help, I would have never been able to believe in myself enough to escape and do all I had done. But the Weraynian had wanted to gloat, so he healed her wound, one which would have eventually killed her. In any case, if he hadn’t fixed her up, he would have won without any contest from us. The second thing he didn’t realise was the extent of my power. Despite the fact that he’d clearly been observing me and knew that I was further advanced than Paladanians beforehand, all he’d done was tie me down, and because he believed the Weraynians were so superior and all that he expected me to stay there. Thirdly, the Weraynian seemed to think that his measly control of the system was anything against human technology and ingenuity. Oh, he stood next to no chance now.
That’s why I knew he’d come after me, too. He knew it was me that had caused most of the current problems, and so he would be seeking revenge before doing anything logical, like protecting the observation deck. Thankfully, this worked to our advantage.
I gave a small smile as I strode down the hallway, my unnaturally shoe-laden feet clacking loudly on the gleaming floor. As I went, I tried to formulate a way to build some sort of weapon to oppose the Weraynian with.
Weraynian skin was thick and they were fast, so a sharp, penetrating weapon would be useless. I didn’t have the materials to make anything more advanced…. What could I do?
Electricity.
The thought jumped out at me. I stopped and thought for a moment. That could actually work.
I’d need to make a circuit with a strong conductor. Easily thinking of a place where I could pick up the materials, I quickened my pace, traversed through some doors, climbed a service ladder, and found myself outside the control hub; a cluster of control rooms around the central power stacks.
I entered one which had cables running along the walls towards a large switch box. Staring at the layering on one of the cables, I began to scrupulously ease one off of another. Once I had a fair length of thick insulated wire, I moved over, opened up the switch box, pulled the cover off of the controls, and smiled at the sight of the wired power source within; a backup power generator.
Disconnecting the receptors on every side, I pulled the metal coated battery, which glowed blue within, out of its resting place. Checking the storage and voltage on the side, I felt another rush of triumph and quickly bundled it with the wire and slung my items all over my shoulder.
I didn’t have much time left, so I instantly exited the room.
What happened next happened very quickly. As I extracted myself from the doorway, something in the back of my mind alerted me to a presence behind me and I leapt a metre ahead, swinging round to see the Weraynian fuming from my escape from his grasp.
We stared each other down for a moment and then I turned and sprinted away, thinking to myself as I did that Lee had better fix the systems soon, so I’d know when to lead the Weraynian up to where Sophie should be waiting.
The Weraynian was right on my heels as I ran up and down hallways, desperately trying to avoid him; he would surely kill me if he caught me.
Suddenly his leg shot forward, and I tumbled head over toes, tangling in the equipment I carried.
Looking up from the floor, I flinched and rolled, meaning that the Weraynians foot failed to come down on and crush my skull where it had previously been.
I rolled and crawled, and eventually stumbled back to my feet. With a rush of adrenaline, I realised something important; the use of my powers had helped me overcome the effects of the Weraynian drug that had been messing with my head and now I was more alert than ever, and ready for anything this madman cared to throw at me.
Our battle went for a few minutes, and honestly, I don’t like to recall most of it. There were feints, long sprints down hallways and multiple dodgings done on my behalf, while the Weraynian tried to land a blow, any blow, on me.
Finally, sweating heavily and exhausted, a few floors above the beginning of the fight, I found myself cornered with no escape but a grating which led into the ship’s ventilation system. Not wanting to give up even now, I swivelled round to face, as hardy as I could, the oncoming Weraynian. I held my head high, and as he came at me, I dodged once more, but this time…. It wasn’t enough. His hand hit me in the side and I flew against the wall, gasping in pain.
Face set cold and hateful, the Weraynian came to stand above me, and stared down at me. His lips curved into a cruel smile of triumph.
“You have evaded me for the last time, mind-messer!” he spat at me, and raised his foot to prepare to crush my skull once more. “I shall enjoy your death so very much.”
Mentally anticipating the blow, I gulped and stared up, ashen faced. Somehow, and vaguely reminiscent of Sophie, I managed a sense of bravado, and curved my own lips into a carefree smirk. “I don’t think you will.”
As a flicker of confusion crossed the Weraynian’s face, and just before his foot came down on my head, I rolled under his legs, pulled myself to my feet and dove for the vent set in the wall. I used the velocity of my fall to propel myself right through the soft metal of the grating and, victoriously, made it. I gave a sigh of relief and allowed myself a moment to recover as the Weraynian screamed in outrage.
“Rule one of fighting a Paladanian,” I called to him from inside the cool, small, square vent. “They will always, and I mean always, have one last trick up their sleeve. It’s been nice fighting with you, but sadly I have to go now. See ya!” I crawled away through the silver vent, hauling the bulky cable and battery with me.
As I went, I tried to ignore the hammering of the Weraynian behind me as he plunged his hand again and again into the wall to try and locate my position. I laughed a little to myself. Gone was the quick-witted, logical Weraynian from our first meeting; the new Weraynian was quick-tempered and stupid instead, and honestly, so much easier to fight.
Soon the thumping of the Weraynian faded away, and I continued crawling, trying to reach the communications deck from inside the ventilation.
Suddenly, without warning, I felt a ripple of energy shudder through the entire ship, and my head spun wildly. In that moment of intense confounder, I lost control of my powers and, seeing as I had my hands resting on the metal panel beneath me, it slid apart to reveal a drop through the ventilation tunnels. Helpless, I fell, and screamed as I did so, down to the next level, and landed with a painful crunch in a heap at the bottom.
“Ow.” I mumbled weakly, lifting myself gingerly and crying out with a sharp intake of breath as the bones surrounding my ankle rubbed achingly together.
Get it together, I urged myself, teeth gritted, and with a lot of effort struggled over to the nearest grate opening in the vent. I elbowed it, since I think kicking it would have incapacitated me, and after a moment it gave way, and I heaved myself through. I landed in a mess in an unknown room, cable and battery digging into my back. Steadying myself as I went, I pulled myself upright with the wall as my aid. The lights were out. Before the weirdness of that last point could get to me, I trudged across the room and waved my hand over the door’s opening mechanism. When it didn’t work, I stared curiously around the room, realization suddenly hitting me. The lights were out. In fact, all the mechanisms had ceased to function. I placed my hand on the wall, feeling instantly the drained circuits beneath, and discovered that this whole section of the ship was out of power.
I heaved the door open manually, and stumbled out into a hallway on the outer edge of the ship, ignoring the dull pain in my ankle. I moved over to the window, and looked out to see the gathering of Paladanian soldiers down below in the field, and a distant trail of retreating civilians. Hopefully my parents were with that group; I really hoped they hadn’t stayed behind. Surveying the layout of the soldiers, and the small group of leaders, I easily worked out their reasoning. They knew that the Weraynian had control of the ship, and that if they launched an attack he would destroy the communications unit and therefore all hope for the system. So they had lined up and gathered weapons in preparation for a last ditch attempt at salvaging the situation; if there was no other hope, they would attack. They were just waiting for the final decision.
Placing my hand on this wall too, as it gave me access to the outer layer of the ship’s mechanics (including external weapons, shielding and back-up controls), I focused on the power drain and found it originated from the power stacks; where Lee had gone.
He’d ceased the function of the external weapons system, meaning that the Weraynian had one less hold over us. This was fantastic news! Now, all we had to do was stop the Weraynian himself.
With that thought in mind, I headed down the corridor, determined to get to where Sophie would be waiting on the top floor, and where the Weraynian would head once he'd decided I wasn't worth pursuing; the communications and observations deck.
I stumbled through hallways, feeling more than a little tired by now of all the running backwards and forwards through the ship, and it was made even worse by the continued pain in my ankle. Nonetheless I managed the trip, finally emerging on the top floor by means of a service ladder. I hurried towards the room that held the communications unit, still hauling the cable and battery with me. I stopped for a minute in the hallway beside it, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes, feeling exhausted. Thankfully the Weraynian wasn’t there, yet, but he soon would be. So I took the time to catch my breath. I barely had any time to catch my breath, though, before a familiar voice caused my eyes to snap open.
“Abigail!” Sophie called, and I stood bolt upright, a smile etching its way onto my face as I turned to face her. It may not have been for long, but I had definitely missed her company. I saw my elation reflected back at me on Sophie’s face.
She was standing a few metres from the doorway to the observation deck, opposing me. Her scanner had been hastily stuffed into her pocket, so I assumed she’d been working on it when Lee had shut down the systems, possibly checking the status of the integration of the backup communications coding. That was how Sophie knew to come here. We both knew the fight wouldn’t be over until the Weraynian was taken out, and that final showdown would happen here.
Pulling the cable tighter over my shoulder, I moved towards Sophie at the same time she strode towards me, smile wide. She ran and I tried to, but it was a bit more of a hobble than anything. Sophie and I almost crashed into each other but she gripped my shoulders and laughed.
“You okay?” she asked, as she grabbed at the battery to stop my wobbling under the weight and I fixed the cable more securely. Sophie glanced down at my leg, which I couldn’t help but hold awkwardly. Her eyes met mine with concern. “What happened?”
I waved off her worry dismissively. “I just fell and damaged my ankle a bit. Doesn’t matter, never mind.”
Sophie raised an eyebrow. “You’re supposed to be the smart one.” she said accusingly.
“I’m fine.” I shook my head and smiled. “How did you guys go in the pilot deck?”
“Oh, yeah, that.” She shrugged. “That girl, Heather or something, brought me the codes and I punched ‘em in. Then we waited. Finally we got access and we backed up the stuff and fiddled with some other stuff. But still, maybe we should do something about your ankle.”
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. “I’ve told you, never mind it. We have to get in there and get ready to face the Weraynian. He’ll be here any second.”
Sophie hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Yeah.” She pulled me into the observation deck quickly, and standing in the dim light of the phosphorescent walls she eased the cable away from me, observed it and swiftly cobbled it with the battery.
I stood anxiously, glancing over my shoulder every now and then as she worked on making a weapon. I was worried the Weraynian would turn up and attack before we were ready. I closed my eyes for a moment to remind myself of some basic hope, Criken is bringing backup. They’ll apprehend the Weraynian, and then they’ll send a message to stop the human forces. Everything will turn out fine.
Suddenly my head snapped up at a sound at the end of the hallway. Sophie glanced momentarily at me, taking in my reaction before handing me the readied device, shoving me in a cupboard and slamming the door. How rude, but it’s not like I was complaining. As I heard the Weraynian take measured steps outside in the hall, I hoped that I was right in my hope. We really needed things to turn out fine.