Deep Space Dead (26 page)

“You are more dangerous,” replied Arianna archly. “At least Jak is still on our side.”

“Nominally at least,” replied Guya. “But it is still not good that you on the
Tula IV
fall out with us, Arianna. We are, after all, the dominant species on this planet and your only hope of a long term solution to the revenant problem.”
“You haven’t exactly done much in the thousands of years you’ve been here,” retorted Arianna.
“This is because there were so few of us,” replied Guya. “This has changed now, but that does not matter for the purposes of our conversation now. Perhaps you are correct, Arianna. I should have explained my plans to you more clearly. I was not entirely honest although at the same time I never sought to deceive you. Allow me to come and visit you on your own starship. There is much I have to explain.”

“You must be joking,” retorted Arianna contemptuously. “You think there is the slightest chance we trust you?”
“It does not matter whether you trust us or not,” said Guya. “You know as well as I do I could come to visit whenever I wanted. Now you’re going to have to live with us Arianna. It would be best you heard what we have to say.”

Arianna looked at Sol nervously. Sol shrugged and nodded. He could see they had no choice. “Very well,” he said firmly, emanating more confidence than he felt. “You may come and visit, Guya. But you shall stay for no longer than one hour. Let it be known too that you are wrong if you think you hold all the cards over us. There is much we could do to make your life difficult, even at the risk of our own destruction.”

“We cannot take this Guya fellow on if he decides to turn on us,” said Sol to Arianna after Guya had gone offline. “We cannot defeat him.”

“So we are at his mercy then,” sighed Arianna. “But I won’t let them do anything to Ambra, do you hear me?”

“Nobody is going to hurt Ambra,” said Sol firmly. “We shall make sure she is well out of sight by the time Guya gets here, and I shall be ready myself. He has the build of one of those things and those creatures die hard, but they do die. I will not leave him long if he decides to cause us trouble.”

The Council told none of the other colonists that Guya would be arriving. They did not wish to cause any undue alarm and so Sol, Arianna, Dr Palk and Barra Herr waited for the humanoid near the landing bay when he arrived in one of the Rovers. The four of them took Guya straight into one of the side rooms without a word. As they walked Guya looked here and there at the makeup of the starship, taking everything in and there was something approaching curiosity in his otherwise dead eyes.

“I have already seen enough of this starship to realise you would not survive long here without tearing one another apart,” said Guya critically when they were alone in the side room. “For the last few years you were kept going by the promise of paradise. Now this hope is gone you remaining people will not be prepared to wait the rest of their lives out between these four metal walls, surrounded by the baying revenants.”

“Enough taunting,” snapped Arianna. She alone of the four of them was not in the slightest bit afraid of Guya. “Just tell us what you have to say and leave us alone.”

“I am here to tell you what you want to know,” said Guya. “You are yearning to know why. I can see it in your eyes. Perhaps I am more perceptive and human than you give me credit for Arianna.”

“Get to the point,” urged Arianna irritably.

“Very well.” Guya looked from one Councillor to the other. Despite their clear hostility each was giving him their full attention. “When a species is threatened it must either adapt or die,” began Guya. “This is the rule of the natural world and it is the rule too for humans. In the thousands of years since we achieved mastery of the galaxy we have forgotten this, for no alien species have some to challenge us. Now this new mutation has developed within our very selves and we either embrace it or we perish. I understand it is a frightening prospect to you. it was frightening to us as well; frightening to me when I was still the science officer Xen, and as human as the four of you.”

“Tell us what happened,” urged Dr Palk. “What was it that caused the infection? Was it some sort of mutation on the ship, or did you discover it when you arrived on Hearthstone? Were the revenants already here?”
Guya shook his head. “The infection is a mutation of the human host,” he replied. “It began when one of the miners became sick; a strange gas of some sort from deep underground, exposed during a drilling operation. The infection emerged suddenly and spread rapidly. Thousands of people became sick and turned. I never had the chance to research the source. It does not really matter anyway. The point is it occurred and needed to be dealt with. As one of the few survivors of the initial pandemic I saw straight away there was no chance of leaving the planet. As a man of science the changes induced by the parasitic infection both impressed and repulsed me. I realised straight away our only chance of survival was to become as one with them. We needed to become more powerful, we needed to become their equals.”

“And so you destroyed yourselves to make yourselves more like them,” finished Arianna. “Deliberately stripped yourselves of your emotions and humanity.”

“We have no emotions left except those we truly need,” replied Guya. “Emotions hold us back, make us weak. The revenants have no such scruples. They are single minded and thus through their strength and remorselessness they come to dominate. If we want any life on this planet we must learn to adapt.”

“You want to breed humans like they are pets,” spat Arianna in disgust.

“There will be no force,” said Guya. “If you do not wish to come to us then that is up to you. Go back to your own ship and survive as best you can. You will soon see that it is futile. The human mind is restless and takes action even when none needs to be taken. It is patience that has sustained us humanoids over the past eon.”

“But why Jak?” Demanded Sol. “Why did he have to be the first?”

“Jak was the first because he was the strongest, the one who impressed us the most,” replied the humanoid. “Has he not shown you how he is now immune to the attentions of the revenants? It would be useful to you, would it not, to be able to walk outside and re-establish your city? You could carry on as you intended, only you would do it better, faster, stronger. You could become almost invincible. You could live forever.”

“You destroyed him.”
“We did not destroy Jak,” said Guya flatly. “We saved him, we improved him. He was a strong specimen and we have not had the opportunity to use our serum on many of those lately. We are most pleased with his development, and you should be pleased too Arianna. In fact you should all join us.”

“The cost is too high,” declared Arianna. “There is no way.”
“Do as you wish,” said Guya. “Nobody will force you to come. It simply means certain death if you refuse to do so.”

“It is blackmail,” spat Arianna.

“It is not,” replied Guya. “It makes no difference to me whether you come. We have more than enough people on board our ship already to meet our needs. You cannot challenge us, you cannot defeat us. All you can do is close yourself off in this smaller ship of yours and hope your arboretum holds out to save you. In a few years time you will either all have died off or your numbers will have swollen to the extent that the arboretum is unable to sustain you. Meanwhile the revenants will remain as numerous as they were before, perhaps more so. Still, perhaps your end will come sooner than that. The human mind is inherently curious, inherently hopeful. No doubt you will try and think of ways to eliminate the revenant threat once and for all. Instead you will fail miserably, destroying yourselves in the process. You also wish to kill me. I can see it in all your eyes. It is your choice. There are nine more to take my place and now we have your colonists our numbers will soon be legion. Rest assured, however, you cannot count on neutral relations without me. If you become a threat to us we will soon retaliate in kind and your elimination will come all the sooner.”

21

Guya left without trouble and Arianna and the rest of the Council were most relieved about this. Still, the humanoid’s words had chilled them all to the bone and each was adamant there could be no more departures from the
Tula IV
. Later that evening the remainder of the Council was summoned to the administrative chamber. “There will be no more departures,” said Sol without preamble. “I am sorry to tell you we have been deceived and that, far from being our saviours the humanoids have instead taken to vile experimentation upon our people.” And with that he outlined the events of the past few days and the transformation that had taken place on Jak. The Council listened to his words in stunned silence.

“So you are saying we are doomed?” Said Col Gayze quietly after Sol had finished.
“Not at all,” replied Sol, sounding more confident than he felt. “Now that numbers have slimmed down we stand as good a chance as any of surviving in the arboretum.”
“I wonder if Gan Cuk would agree,” replied Col Gayze. “From what I can see the arboretum on this ship has been left to rot in anticipation of the transfer. Even if it could be restored I doubt very much whether there is enough food to sustain all of us.”

“Nonetheless,” replied Sol, his voice strained. “At present it would seem there is no alternative. Unless of course you would prefer to go over and become as one of the revenants.”

“You mean the humanoids,” put in Col Gayze. “There is a very distinct difference. And Jak does not seem that much different to me. A little quieter perhaps, but far, far stronger. It is as Guya said. His new situation gives him many distinct advantages.”

“You can’t seriously be suggesting going over there anyway?” Asked Arianna in astonishment. “When you know what they are going to do to you?”

“It is still far preferable to what the revenants would do to us outside,” retorted Col Gayze.

“I suppose I can see your point,” sighed Barra Herr. “This whole situation is a disaster from start to finish. I can see how you might consider becoming a humanoid to be the least worst option.”
“What are you saying?” Asked Arianna uncertainly.
“I’m saying we should let people make up their own minds,” replied Barra Herr, his tone considered and measured. “It is true to say we face a stark choice: stay here and starve or go and risk becoming humanoids like Guya. Of course there is always the chance we will not starve here just as there is always the chance Guya will not turn many more of our people into humanoids. It is a choice we must be free to make.”
“Exactly,” said Col Gayze with smug satisfaction. “And I for one am prepared to take my chances on the
Suki II.
”

Arianna wanted to argue some more. She thought it unbelievable that Col Gayze was prepared to risk his humanity in this matter and yet both Barra Herr and Sol cut her down and supported Col’s argument. “It is for the best,” said Barra Herr after the meeting was over. “The more people go the more people will be thinned down from the
Tula IV
and the better chance we who remain will have of surviving.”

“Until Guya comes back for us,” muttered Arianna bitterly.

“He could come back for us any time he wanted,” said Sol warily. “He hasn’t done so yet. We have an advantage in that he is unable to use his emotions. It means he doesn’t care about us for as long as we don’t get in the way of his plans. Were he human he might become angry and bitter, try and wipe us to cover all his bases.”

Arianna watched sadly as the first colonists boarded the rover bound for the
Suki II
. Col Gayze was amongst them. A general announcement had been made that the colonists could travel at their own risk and to her amazement over two thirds of those remaining had elected to take their chances. It was a gut wrenching feeling knowing they were going willingly to have their humanity stripped away from them, to become no better than the very creatures who had tormented them all this time. “I cannot believe they would do this to themselves,” said Arianna. “And to their children as well.”

“I suppose they do not feel they have been given the choice,” said Sol glumly. “Most would gladly be numbed after all the horrors they have had to face.”

There were still too many colonists on board the
Tula IV
. As the days passed this became increasing apparent as the food stocks continued to dwindle and the arboretum was unable to keep up. Perhaps if more farmers and agricultural officials had remained it would have been different, but most of these had gone over to the other starship to make ready the arboretum over there. The transportation of emigrants was agonisingly slow and as the weeks went past more and more changed their minds and decided that they would, after all, brave the uncertain regime of Guya and his humanoids rather than risk starvation on the
Tula IV.

“Most of them have gone,” said the doctor. “But a hardcore of a thousand have remained for now.”

“When the next crops come up in a month we’ll be set for life,” said Dr Palk as he analysed the data in the Council chambers.

“Not much good when we only have enough food to last a week,” muttered Arianna.
“We shall have to get by somehow,” said Sol. “There must be some food leftover in the abandoned apartments. I know for a fact some colonists were hoarding food when we were short. And if the worst comes to the worst…” His voice trailed off.