Remnants 13 - Survival (9 page)

Billy’s fingers pulsed and reached higher, higher. Slowly his feet left the ground and he began to shift into a horizontal position. He was floating, engulfed in the familiar golden glow.

Mother had taken him. Billy was no more.

<>

Tate woke too suddenly. She was disoriented, her dream more real to her than reality. Billy was much more real than Charlie — wait, why was Charlie calling her a
lump
?

<now!>>
Charlie’s voice was shrill with panic.

Tate began to get her bearings. She was lying on the floor of the computer pit. Charlie, Yago, Amelia, one of them — or all of them — was/were madly jerking her arms and legs. Her eyes flicked open, open, open.

“Quit it!” Tate snapped. “I’m awake and I’m in control. If any of you so much as wiggles my nose, I’ll make you sorry, I swear it.”

<> Yago ordered quickly. <

We could smell him while you were sleeping but we couldn’t see — we got your eyes open but your head wouldn’t turn — >>

Tate sat up, her skin tingling with panic, her heart rate surging with an adrenaline burst.

This was it.

Duncan was attacking.

One of them was about to die.

“GET RID OF ME AND YOU’LL BE ALL ALONE.”

Tate scanned the space — up, down, left, right. There! Duncan was about fifty feet away. A glaze of slime on the ceiling.

<> Amelia said quickly. <>

“I see him,” Tate grumbled. She didn’t bother to point out that Amelia couldn’t have seen him unless
Tate
had looked at him. If Amelia insisted on pointing out the obvious, fine.

Whatever

Tate scrambled to her feet — and cursed as pain shot through her foot and traveled up her leg. She stumbled, but managed to reach the chair and fling herself in.

“How may I serve you?” Daughter asked in her unctuous tone.

<> Charlie demanded.

“Saving our butts,” Tate muttered.

<> Yago commented coolly.

<>

Tate disagreed. She’d noticed that Duncan — the snot creature — whoever/whatever —

looked a bit dull. The sheen had gone off his/its surface.

<> Amelia said tensely.

Duncan had already gotten over his hesitation. He was coming at them like an animated oil slick.

“Oh, great,” Tate muttered. She’d hoped for more time.

<> Charlie yelled. He was the newbie now. This was his first slime-creature attack. He got to be the hysterical one.

<> Charlie’s voice was shaking. <>

<> Amelia snapped. <> Charlie roared back at her — roared like a cornered lion. The sound was completely inhuman and completely chilling.

“How may I serve you?” Daughter repeated patiently. Tate felt an echo but her dream was already hazy, indistinct. She forced herself to focus on the computer and ignore the bickering in her head.

“Locate and isolate the snot creature on the ceiling of the basement,” Tate said crisply. She closed her eyes against the pain in her foot.
This will be over soon,
she promised herself.
One
way or the other.

“I cannot process that request,” Daughter replied.

“Now what?” Tate murmured. Her eyes moved upward. Duncan was directly above them.

<> Yago said. <> Tate cringed, waiting for the attack. Would Duncan drip down on her like rain? Envelop her all at once? She longed to move, run, flee. But she knew her best chance at survival was in that chair. Maybe the lowered oxygen levels were slowing him down. Something seemed to be. He hadn’t attacked yet… .

“Isolate the snot creature!” Tate snapped again.

“I cannot —”

<> Amelia interrupted.

<> Charlie asked. <> The hot, burning smell coming from above was enough to panic Tate. Her twitchy nerves made it hard to concentrate. She pounded her fist against her forehead. “Think, think, think

—” she murmured.

They didn’t know for sure that Duncan had programmed Daughter to protect himself. So why else wouldn’t she obey the command? A more sophisticated machine would explain …

“Daughter,” Tate said. “Why can’t you obey?” “I do not understand ‘snot creature,’” Daughter replied.

“Oh — okay —the creature directly above the computer pit I’m sitting in,” Tate rambled. “It has no bones, no exoskeleton, only an amorphous body—”

<> Charlie yelled. <>

“A FLUID body!” Tate yelled. “Liquid. Like water. Can you identify it now?”

“Isolation completed,” Daughter said smoothly. Tate could hardly hear her over the shouting in her head. Amelia, Yago, and Charlie were all making noisy suggestions of how she should cope with the computer

“She said isolation completed!” Tate shouted. “Now could you all please shut up!”

The voices died down into a sullen silence.

Tate stared doubtfully up at the ceiling. Duncan was still there. He wasn’t surrounded by any barrier she could see. On the other hand, he wasn’t moving any closer.

Now might be a good time to move,
Tate told herself. She began to ease out of the chair. Then —

A glistening drop split from Duncan’s body. It fell toward Tate’s face on a collision course with her eyes — and stopped in midair just above her head.

“Ha,” Tate breathed in relief. She laughed softly.

“Way to go, Daughter,” she whispered.

<> Yago asked quietly. <>

“We’re just getting started,” Tate told him. She licked her chapped lips nervously and slid slowly back into the chair. The problem was she didn’t trust Daughter any more than she’d trusted Mother. Duncan could have programmed in all sorts of booby traps. Insurance to protect himself from some inevitable confrontation with Amelia or Charlie.

Even if Duncan’s programming was clean, it seemed his virus was too strong. Tate had never worked with such a primitive machine. She had to be careful. If Daughter misunderstood her… “I want you —” Tate began carefully. Then she heard a voice that wasn’t in her head. A human voice. “Okay, you win,” the voice said with a disarming chuckle. “I give up.”

Tate froze.

<> Yago said coldly.

<> Charlie still sounded afraid. <>

<> Amelia interrupted. <>

“We don’t have to rush,” Tate said to steady herself. “He’s trapped. We have all the time we need to think.”

<> Yago said. <>

<> Amelia said, low, urgently. <

He’s unpredictable and completely self-absorbed.>>

<> Yago began.

“You don’t really want to get rid of me,” Duncan said. “Think about it — only two life-forms left from all of the creepy crawlies that once prowled Earth. It wouldn’t be moral, wouldn’t be right.”

Goose bumps rose on Tate’s arm. This was the exact thought she’d been avoiding.

<> Amelia said.

<> Charlie said. <>

<> Yago said, <>

<> Amelia snapped. <>

“Get rid of me and you’ll be all alone,” Duncan said oilily.

That snapped Tate out of it. Duncan had suddenly reminded her of a salesman who pushed too hard. Besides, she had more than enough company. She didn’t need Duncan. Duncan was the last thing she needed.

“You know, I’m sorry we never got to know each other better,” Duncan said.

Now he was starting to nauseate her.

“Can you block communication from within the barrier?” Tate asked Daughter.

“Yes,” Daughter said.

“Do it,” Tate said crisply. “Please.”

“I know we could ha —” Duncan’s voice was cut off in the middle of a word.

<> Yago filled in, <

you’d be justified killing him just for his annoying lack of originality.>>

“I want you to change the atmosphere within the barrier,” Tate carefully told Daughter.

“Within the isolated area only — not in the ship as a whole — change the atmosphere to one hundred percent ozone. Leave the atmosphere in the rest of the ship alone.”

“Change completed,” Daughter said.

Tate took in a cautious breath through her nose. She could still breathe. Okay, that was good news at least.

Slowly, Tate looked up.

Duncan was still there. He’d stretched himself out as far as the barrier would allow. He was now a thin oval pool trapped in an invisible cage. He was clearly losing his sheen now. He resembled old putty. Did that mean he was sick?

Tate cracked her jaw nervously, trying to ignore the regret ballooning up in her chest.

Duncan was a monster. But who was she to judge? She was a murderer. The worst Duncan had done was kidnap Mother. She had turned into an enormous Mouth and swallowed her victims whole like some sort of human python.

<> Yago said.

<> Amelia said.

<> Charlie said.

They sounded gleeful.

Tate felt only guilt. And relief. And fear. The game wasn’t over yet.

“Daughter,” Tate said cautiously. “Increase the atmospheric pressure within the barrier to —

um, a hundred times whatever it is now.”

“Atmospheric pressure increased,” Daughter said.

As Tate watched — as they all watched through Tate’s eyes — a small Duncan-chunk shattered off the rest, leaving behind a jagged edge. For a beat, Duncan looked like a mirror with a chip taken out of one side. Then, with violent speed, the cracks spread out from the chipped edge. Duncan hung there for a breathless moment, a billion pieces suspended. Then

—

The pieces began to fall.

“Agghhh!” Tate slid off the chair and cowered beneath it.

A billion Duncan-shards silently bounced off the invisible barrier above her head. The barrier held. It was a strange sight — like looking up at a pile of dull jewels.

“I wonder if he said anything before dying,” Tate whispered. “We wouldn’t have been able to hear him.”

<> Amelia asked coldly. <>

<> Charlie asked fearfully.

<> Amelia suggested. <>

Tate drew her eyes away from the sight of the broken Duncan. She half-expected to see him reforming, the shattered pieces merging. She couldn’t let herself believe the danger was past.

“Daughter, keep the pieces contained and dispose of them off the ship.”

<> Yago yelled.

<> Amelia said.

“Shut up,” Tate said angrily.

They watched in silence as the Duncan-pieces danced across the basement as if caught up in an invisible tornado. The pieces disappeared some distance away, apparently sucked down one of the EVA holes.

“Disposal complete,” Daughter said, her tone as neutral as ever

<> Amelia said smugly.

<> Yago whispered, barely audibly.

Charlie made a strange strangled sound of surprise. Yago’d said thanks. Another minor miracle.

Tate sat breathlessly for a long time, waiting for — something. The next attack, the next unexpected threat. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt safe. She’d forgotten how to relax. Her heart was beating too fast. Her ears strained for any sound. The ship was completely silent.

<> Charlie said. He was talking too fast.

<>

“Daughter,” Tate said wearily. “Is there anything left in the EVA chute?”

“The chute is clean,” Daughter replied. Charlie was mollified for only a moment. <> he asked nervously. <>

Tate closed her eyes. “Daughter, is there anything living stuck to the hull of the ship?”

“The ship’s hull is clean and intact,” Daughter said.

Charlie was quiet for longer this time. <> he said hesitantly. <

can anything live in space?>>

<> Yago asked derisively. <>

Amelia sounded almost sweet by comparison. <> she said. <>

Duncan is gone,
Tate thought. Gone. He wouldn’t be bothering her anymore.

All of the slime creatures were gone.

All of the Riders and Meanies were gone.

Jobs, Mo’Steel, 2Face, Violet, Edward, and the others — all gone.

Tate was alone with the voices in her head.