Dark Vengeance (18 page)

“I plan on joining you when the time comes, Adrian. You won’t mind the company will you?” he said with a devious smile.

“Are you sure that’s the best plan? From what I was just told we could end up cutting each other.”

“Are you rated with a Sabre, Adrian?”

“Standard training only, with some extra pointers by a friend name of Wilson.”

“I am master’s level with the Sabre and the long sword. Perhaps it is you who should stay behind.”

“I am responsible for all of this. It has to be me, Ian.”

“Well, you seem concerned about our prospects, Adrian, whereas I am not. Ask yourself this; on this ship is there anything else you’d really rather be doing?”

“I might be able to come up with a few things, Ian.”

“Oh come now, Adrian. You would rather be watching someone else in a combat that would decide whether you lived or died?”

“Well, now that you put it that way.”

“We are forced into this battle to the death by Providence, because we are the best suited for it. Can there be a greater honor? If we die, will it not be our epitaph, our finest hour?”

“I’m not quite ready for my epitaph, thank you.”

“I have a feeling we both already know how to move intuitively. I suspect this combat will be one of great merit. I am looking forward to it.”

“Does death have so little meaning to you, Ian?”

“I do not believe in a situation I cannot overcome.”

“You do not believe in a no-win situation?”

“I have never heard it expressed quite that way, but that is correct.”

“My God, Ian. You’re as crazy as I am.”

He let out a guttural laugh as I walked away.

Chapter 11

The second set of pressure barriers for the B-section concourse were halfway closed as I came down the lift. Staff members were scurrying around working toward the full closure. The mass of displaced people and the staff trying to accommodate them was growing by the minute. What was left of the concourse and grand gallery looked like Grand Central Station.

I had never visited Fantasia’s stateroom but suddenly knew it was adjacent to the medical area. There were silver double doors on that side of the gallery alcove I had not previously paid any attention to. As I approached them, they slid open. That had never happened before either.

A new corridor of special staterooms became visible. Her room was the third on the right. The door opened as I neared it. She was inside sitting at a glass table near another imitation window with sunlight. “You skipped breakfast so I’ve made us a large lunch,” she said as I entered.

Her place was a rose garden. There were incredibly colorful, beautiful flowers everywhere, although roses dominated the room. Her furniture was grand and comfortable looking. I could only imagine what the evening interior was like.

“They’re getting ready to close off the B-section.” I said.

“Yes, it’s really foreboding, isn’t it?”

I took a seat at the table and realized I did not recognize a single dish of food on it. There was a glass cup of something hot in front of me. I sipped and found it to be remarkably good.

“You caught me off guard last night,” I said and watched for her change of expression.

She sipped from her cup. “Things began to get ahead of me. I was terribly frightened, more frightened than I’ve ever been. I needed to be close to someone special. And, now that I know you so completely, and I know what you are capable of, I am no longer so afraid. I know there is a chance we will come out of this alive.”

“Just what is it I am so capable of?”

“A refusal to admit defeat. An absolute resolve to protect those around you, even though you often do not realize what you are doing. You believe you stand apart from others and yet you cannot face the prospect of abandoning anyone. I do not know where this ancient place called Rome existed, but in another experience you were a Centurion called Nexus there. You became famous with the battle sword for facing down a criminal much larger than yourself who intended to sack a small village and who threatened to make quick work of you. Throughout your history it has always been that way. You meet your adversaries with a fierceness that can only be summoned by someone unwilling to allow harm to come to those he cares about. ”

“Really, you must be confusing me with someone else.”

She laughed and laughed.

I began taking small samples of food and almost immediately had to check myself from devouring it too quickly.

“I know what’s going on upstairs,” she said.

“Which part?”

“I know when the creature breaks into compartment B they will bombard it with every possible radiation and weapon they have, but already they expect that only one might be effective.”

“You do have a source upstairs, don’t you?”

“I work so closely with the Captain I am kept in the command loop. I also know that if the weapon works, someone will need to go in and slay the creature.”

“Some poor slob.”

“It will be you, of course.”

“Do we really need to discuss this now?”

“Yes, because you need to understand some things.”

“I already know more than I’d like.”

“When you go in to face the creature, I will put myself in a stasis so there are no feelings or emotions from me that might affect you. Afterward, the instant I awake, I will know how you are.”

“It won’t be just me, Fantasia.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wow, there’s actually something you don’t know?”

“What do you mean it won’t be just you?”

“Ambassador Athos seems intent on joining me.”

“Oh, that’s good! What a Noble he really is!”

“Fantasia, what happens to you if we remove the threat, but I do not make it back?”

She abruptly looked down at her food and began to eat too quickly.

“Fantasia?”

“Must we talk about this?”

“Wow, what a turn of the table.”

“You should not be thinking about anything that might affect your decision making or reaction times. I know you love me.”

“What happens to you, Fantasia?”

“If you must know, it is not good. Part of me will be gone. There will either be a long period of partial recovery, or I too will not make it, in which case I would join you in the Greater Life which would probably be for the best.”

We sat in silence staring at each other. For a moment it was as if we were both sitting in the same seat. The chime of my wrist communicator broke the spell.

It was R.J. “Adrian, it’s already happening. The thing has just about broken through to the B-section. The test weapons are all set. They are sealing the pressure doors as we speak.”

“On my way.”

Fantasia bit down on a slice of fruit and tried to look supportive. I grabbed a cloth napkin, wiped my mouth, and stood. No words were necessary. I had to force myself not to look back as I left.

To my surprise, the grand gallery and last remaining section of concourse were suddenly nearly deserted except for the engineers working on the partially opened final set of A section pressure doors. It was so quiet it forced me out of my mental haze. What had been a congregated gathering area was now a portion of ghost ship. Somehow they had all found places to hide. The creature’s invasion of the B section would mean it was just beyond the last open concourse section. Word of that had spread like wildfire and with engineers now working on the last set of pressure barriers the foremost goal of passengers and crew was to be as far forward as possible.

Back at the top of the lift, I passed by the ready room. The atmosphere was still intense as Captain Mars waited there, hoping to enter a flight deck guaranteed to be infected with death. Beyond that desperate atmosphere, the newly formed operations room in the former officer’s lounge was one of dead silence as engineers stared apprehensively at monitors showing the closed off B section. At any moment the creature would translate through into the nest of weapons set up to greet it. R.J. stood among them staring up at the main display, and wearing a headset.

I worked my way beside him. He reluctantly looked away from the monitors. “Hey! You’re in time. There’s been tentacles poking through the wall near the floor. It should come through any time now and then all hell will break loose.”

“What happens first?”

“We’ll just hit it with everything we’ve got and hope it doesn’t like some of it. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“And this beam weapon you mentioned?”

“We’ve stretched a sample of the composite beam across the concourse so we can’t miss the thing. But, when you stretch that kind of beam emission that much it drops the power level down to less than one tenth of what we think we need. Still, all we need to know is that it doesn’t like it. Then we’ll be sure the full strength 37-inch version will damage the thing.”

“It seems like it comes through much more quickly each time. That means it probably will break through to the A section even faster.”

R.J. nodded. “You’re right. And the A section is our last defense. After that, it’s strictly the Alamo.”

“When’s the last time you slept?”

“Don’t remember. I’m using the Captain’s stay-awake pills. Doesn’t really matter much, does it?”

“Not unless you collapse.”

“Well, in that case they can drag me off.”

“We no longer have staterooms.”

“Of course not.”

“Where you going to hole up? I’ve heard a rumor Elachia would enjoy your company.”

R.J. glanced back at me for just a second. “Yes, she made me an offer most men couldn’t refuse, but I know the score. I begged off. I’ve got an invitation to sack out with an engineer and his family in the Enuro section. I think I’d like that. That’s if any of us get any sack time at all, you understand. What about you? You ready to face off with that thing out there?”

“Will the weapons be ready?”

“They’re already under construction on the assumption they’ll prove effective. We’ll have at least two, maybe three ready in time. If I’m sounding a little callous about all this just remember, we are all going in there with you, one way or another.”

“Well, I will have company.”

“Yes, Ian Athos. That guy’s really something, isn’t he? I hear he’s off somewhere doing forms with a makeshift sword, and meditating.”

“So are you giving odds?”

“That’s not funny, Adrian. Am I worried? Damn right! Your biggest problem is going to be its speed. Gravity has no effect on the thing at all. We’ve watched it go from dead stop to high speed so fast it just disappeared right in front of the camera. I’m worried about how the two of you will defend against it.”

“I have some thoughts about that.”

“Like what?”

“Most of the staterooms are set up using holomatter, right?”

“Right.”

“The guests can change the configuration and so can the staff. So could we have a team set up to modify the layout of the staterooms to give us the most advantageous field of battle, plenty of blinds and escape routes, and places to hide. And couldn’t that team monitor the fight on the video system and change things to help us as it progressed?”

R.J.’s eyes lit up. “How could I have not thought of that!?”

“You’ve been busy.”

“It’s genius! I’ll have them get on it right away!”

R.J. began looking around for the right person but was abruptly interrupted by moans and low expressions of alarm. On the main overhead monitor a set of tentacles had emerged from a lower portion of the pressure wall and were wiggling around in the B section as though testing or searching the area. As we watched, the body of the thing slid out of the wall and hurried around the B-section like a busy mosquito looking for blood. When no immediate prey was found, it paused and the little blue eyes looked intently around for the next best option.

One of the engineers called out, “Engage!”

A second engineer responded, “Target acquired.”

“Firing sequence!”

R.J. and I stood by silently as barrage after barrage from every conventional weapon on hand was remotely fired at the creature with no effect. The bombardment was nearly continuous, but because the creature was indifferent to the attacks it made no effort to depart the area, instead choosing to map its surroundings in hopes of finding a quick way out.

When all but one of the test beds had been fired, the beam that was our best hope was energized. It produced an orange glow that seemed to drip beads of fire down onto the floor. It arched from one side of the concourse to the other and could not be redirected so that we had to wait for the creature to happen upon it.

The wait was short. The Gaglion finally drifted backward into it and stopped short causing a gasp among the engineers. It turned to face the beam and reached out with one tentacle to test it. There was a long exchange of touching and testing of this strange new oddity. The creature was clearly able to withstand the discomfort caused, but was decidedly displeased about it. After a long visual inspection from one end of the beam to the other, it shrugged off the displeasing ribbon of fire and went back to searching.