Seeder Saga (17 page)

Dead Man Walking

Molly complied immediately when Crusoe told her to seal
Pod Bay Two. They’d have to deal with her soon too.

Sarah and Jack walked with Crusoe and the
President to the airlock. Crusoe had a pistol in his hand. He opened the inner door and roughly shoved the President inside.

Sarah whispered in his ear, “I’d prefer if you didn’t shoot that gun in here.”

Crusoe nodded grimly and got inside the airlock with the cowering old man. He shut the doors.

Jack and Sarah went back to the command station. They had a lot to think about.

Bargaining Chip

The President got to his feet and said, “Let me live and I’ll tell you what I know about that man Jason Rodriguez.”

Crusoe laughed aloud. “I already know he doesn’t belong here. He’s using your spare pod. I also suspect he rewrote some programs in the
ship’s computer. If you know more than that, I’m all ears.”

The
President looked at his feet. “I didn’t even know that much. I just knew he was a stowaway.”

“Alright then
.” Crusoe raised the gun and pointed it at the President’s heart. “Are you ready?”

Before he got an answer, he hit the button to open the outer doors. He held on
to the button box to make sure he didn’t get sucked out too. The President floated out, a look of shock and outrage on his twisted face. Crusoe aimed the gun at him again and mouthed the word
bang
before closing the doors up tight.

Jason

Crusoe was washed and changed when he came into the command station.

Sarah said, “Thanks for doing that for us. And thanks for saving the ship from the mutineers.”

Crusoe shook his head sadly. “According to the
ship’s database, we’re the mutineers. You and the crew never had any rights to the ship beyond launching it and making the occasional repair. This ship belonged to those troops and the President.”

Jack said, “
Screw ‘em then.”

Sarah asked, “Did the
Prime Minister get woken up, or the French Premier?”

“No. He only woke up the soldiers.”

“Did Jason Rodriguez get woken up with them? If so, I’d like to bring him up to speed with what’s happened so far.”

“No he didn’t
, because he’s not a soldier.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Crusoe looked into her eyes and said, “I don’t think Jason Rodriguez is human.”

Stowaway

Jack smirked. “He sure looks human. You’re the only alien we’ve come across so far. What makes you think he’s extraterrestrial?”

“I don’t know for sure, but he was only added to the
ship’s database after the mission was already underway. He’s taken up residence in your late President’s back-up stasis pod, and he has lied about his role in the mission. Before I put him off the ship, your President assured me that he had not given his back-up pod away to anyone.”

“How could he
have been added after the mission was already launched?”

“Exactly. He somehow came aboard while you guys were all in stasis, accessed the
ship’s computer, learned all he could about you and the mission, and then inserted himself into the database.”

Sarah sighed. “Or it could just be a computer error. Those happen, especially on this stupid ship.”

Crusoe nodded. “That might be true, but we should investigate just in case.”

Sarah said to the
ship’s computer, “Molly, did Jason Rodriguez alter any information in your database?”

“I have no record of that.”

Crusoe said, “If I’m right, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave such an easily discovered trail.”

“Molly, open
Pod Bay Two and wake up Jason Rodriguez.”

“
Yes, Captain.”

Jason

The secret hatch to
Pod Bay Two was already open by the time they got below deck. There was some activity in there as they entered.

The soldiers who had just tried to take over the ship were still milling around, waiting until enough time had passed so they could safely go back into stasis. When they caught sight of Crusoe, they scurried to their respective pods and waited in stunned silence. Crusoe had just killed a number of them in brutal fashion
; the air still stank of their blood; the dismembered soldiers still littered the floor. The stench of their evacuated bowels and their exposed intestines forced Sarah and Jack to cover their noses to avoid gagging.

It was hard to tell
, but there must’ve been two hundred dead men and women in the pod bay, all in pieces.

Crusoe tapped on the glass of several stasis
pods, and when the soldiers fearfully peeked out, he told them to gather the dead bodies into the airlock and evacuate them into space. If they deviated from that simple order for even a second, he’d kill them too. To show them how confident he was, he told them to pass the confiscated weapons back around to their owners.

As the dozen men and women dragged the bodies of their fellow soldiers from the bay, Crusoe led Sarah and Jack to Jason Rodriguez’s pod. He was frozen inside, as human looking as any of them, and quite serene in his frozen state.

Crusoe said, “I altered his DNA when I altered yours. I had no suspicions at the time that he might not be human.”

Jack shrugged. “Even if he’s an enemy of some kind, I bet you can take him out.”

Crusoe said, “I hope so. But that same soup of molecules I added to your DNA that made you faster and stronger could’ve heightened his bastardized DNA in ways I can’t even imagine.”

Sarah said, “We still don’t even know if he’s alien, guys. Molly’s a glitchy bitch.”

Jason’s fingers twitched as the thaw took over. His eyelids fluttered open and then he sat up and started to detach the IV’s in confusion.

He looked at Crusoe and then he yelled angrily, “What the
hell did you put in my IV’s the last time you woke me up?”

Crusoe said, “I added a little mix that should have bolstered your own human DNA. It’s made Sarah and Jack super strong and fast.” He emphasized the word
human
to see if Jason would react, but he didn’t.

Jason said, “You didn’t
! Why would you do that?”

“Because we have a fight ahead of us. There is an alien race near the seed planet and we have evidence they’re warlike.”

Jason paused, confused, and finally said, “So you enhanced us to fight? You could’ve asked us first.”

“You might have said no.”

Jason stood up and started to dress. Then he noticed the carnage around him for the first time. “What have you done? Who’s responsible for this?”

Jack said, “The
President woke his troops and tried to take over the ship. Suffice it to say, Crusoe made quick work of them. We jettisoned the President. It was pretty funny. It turned out that he was a bit of a stinking coward.”

“So why the hell did you wake me up? It looks like the situation is already fully handled.” He looked at each of them in turn as they stared at him expectantly
. Then he suddenly seemed to come to a conclusion and said, “Ah shit.”

Crusoe said to Sarah, “I told you so.” Then he said to the
ship’s computer: “Jason Rodriguez is no longer considered a passenger on the
Seeder
. He is not to maintain his rank or privileges. Do you understand?”

Molly’s sultry voice issued from the loudspeakers
. “Understood, Crusoe.”

“You have some explaining to do, Mr. Rodriguez.”

Jason chuckled. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“Trust me
, you’ll talk. If you’re lucky, the captain will kill you instead of letting me do it.”

“You don’t scare me
, you freak. I’ve seen and done things you can’t possibly imagine.”

“And you can’t possibly imagine the things you’re about to go through. I hope you’re ready.”

“You fool. You have no idea what’s coming for you.”

The Enemy

Jason sat in the
captain’s chair in the command station. They’d used it for interrogations so many times they might as well rename it “the hot seat.” He said, “Do your worst.” He no longer had that same air of calm confidence. He was angry and agitated, with wild eyes. He looked like he’d like to crawl right out of his skin.

Crusoe walked over to him and pinched a piece of skin away from his forearm. Then, before Jason could react, he dabbed his finger in the fresh wound.

He said, “I’m going to test his DNA. Molly, if he stands up from that seat, alert me right away so I can kill him.”

He then walked from the room just as Molly said, “Understood
, Crusoe.”

Sarah couldn’t be sure
, but she thought she saw Crusoe put the little bit of pinched-off skin in his mouth. She didn’t know enough about him to doubt it. Maybe that was how he tested DNA?

She was nervous of Jason now that Crusoe had walked off
, but she put her fears aside. She stood in front of Jason and said, “When did you come aboard this vessel?”

“
We’ve been watching the Earth for a long time. I was ready and waiting when humans decided to set up a colony. I broke into this ship a hundred Earth years after it launched. I manipulated the computer so that you’d believe I was always here. This ship hid a lot of secrets, so adding another one was no problem.”

“Why are you here?”

“Because I wanted to study your people and your tech.”

Then he smiled sadistically and said, “I can’t say I’m impressed by either.”

Jack asked him, “Why did you convince us to let Crusoe come aboard?”

“Well
, now I know what a mistake that was, being that he just outed me for what I really am. But I was intrigued by the guy. I thought we’d wiped his shithole planet out a long time ago. I couldn’t believe he was still around after two million years.”

Sarah said, “Are you saying you killed his people?”

“Not me personally, dipshit. I’m not two million years old, although I’m much older than any of you humans. My people used a series of instantaneous self collapsing gravity wells to tow his planet away from its sun. It’s an old trick. We didn’t know his people were industrious enough to seed another planet though. We thought we’d killed them all.”

“Yeah, they seeded
Earth. You wiped out our ancient cousins.”

Jason shrugged. “My ancestors had good intentions
, but they sucked at follow-through. Who would’ve guessed Crusoe’s people would’ve been able to adapt to the Earth? I guess my ancestors didn’t think it was possible at the time. Nowadays, we’d leave a spotter to ensure no one got away alive. We’re much more efficient at genocide today.”

Jack laughed. “You know he’s going to tear you limb from limb when he finds out you killed his people, right?”

“It’s redundant. My survival is pointless to the mission, because my mission was just a failsafe. You’re all doomed no matter how this turns out.”

Devoted Saboteur

Sarah wondered why Jason had warned her about the
President and his troops if he wanted their mission to fail. The President was supposed to have come out of stasis with his soldiers and then kill the crew after they reached the seed planet. But then she realized Jason’s ruse had worked. Had she not been tipped off, two hundred soldiers, killed by Crusoe, would still be alive. Now the ship carried a smaller number of defenders.

She asked him, “Why didn’t you just kill us all off while we were in stasis?”

“Where’s the fun in that? We have a warship waiting to intercept you whether I’m successful at crippling this ship or not.”

“You did fail, dumbass.”

“Yes I did. But the mission has an inevitable outcome. It ends with you screaming.”

Crusoe walked in and stood before Jason. He said, “You’ve already adopted some human DNA into your own, haven’t you?”

“Yes sir. That’s why when you injected me with that genetic cocktail, I didn’t die immediately. In my true form, it would have been poisonous. I’m afraid I’m now more human than anything else. It’s kind of disgusting, but I wouldn’t expect you primitives to understand.”

Sarah said, “Did you splice your genes to look like us?”

“Bingo. You get the cookie, smart girl. I took a piece off a colonist called Paul Rodriguez. I borrowed his surname too. I hope he doesn’t mind. I wouldn’t even be able to speak in your guttural tongue had I not altered my very nature. Shit, I’m almost as dumb as you primitive pukes now.”

Crusoe smiled sadistically. “So since you’re mostly human now, I don’t need to experiment to find out what brings you pain. I already know human weaknesses.”

Jason’s smirk faltered. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll tell you what: why don’t we just skip the torture and I’ll tell you everything. None of it will help you avoid your inevitable demise anyway.”

“That’s a good boy.”