Shalia's Diary Book 6 (11 page)

The weapons commander heaved in a breath, muttered a curse, and sat up. His arms wrapped around Candy to keep her from falling off of him. Oses eyed Betra. In a raspy voice he said, “Thank you, Imdiko. Are you hurt?”

Betra rubbed his swelling chin. “No permanent damage from what I can tell. What about you?”

“I might drink my next meal. She bruised my throat.”Oses grabbed Candy’s armored arm and held it up, eyeing the strange stone-like covering. “What in the name of the Mother of All is this shit?”

“I don’t know, but I’m calling Medical to come get her.” Betra gave me a look that could have frozen ice water. “And then I’ll want an explanation of why Shalia came after her alone. You can also tell us why you were about to risk yourself and your child to help Oses.”

As he spoke into his com, Oses crooked a brow at me. “Both actions were extremely foolish. I know Candy’s tone made you think she would harm herself if you didn’t come alone, but you should have known better, Shalia.”

All the defense I’d been readying to make faded from my lips. “How do you know how she sounded?”

“Because we’ve been monitoring your com link as well as Katrina’s since Candy disappeared.”

My jaw dropped open. “You’ve been spying on me?”

Betra had finished calling for help. “We figured if Candy didn’t come in on her own, she’d contact one of her closest friends. We tracked your signal once she commed you.”

Oses eyed the insensible woman in his arms. “It’s a good thing. She’s obviously come unhinged. She could have posed a real danger to you, Shalia.”

“Candy would never hurt me.” My protest sounded feeble to my own ears.

“Candy is not herself,” Betra said. He put an arm around me and hugged me close. “Whatever that thing is she’s wearing might have something to do with it. Have you ever seen armor like that, Oses?”

The Nobek shook his head. “No. And these things—” he ran a finger over one of the tubes running the length of Candy’s forearm “—at first I thought they might be carrying hydraulic fluid to the pieces. But this covering isn’t metal. It and the tubes appear to be organic in nature.”

Betra jerked in surprise. “You mean, living tissue of some sort?”

I gasped. “That stuff is alive? Is it in her?”

Before Oses could answer, footsteps echoed in the space. Dr. Tep arrived with two orderlies and a hover stretcher. “I see you found our wandering Matara. You had to sedate her? What is she wearing?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Oses said grimly. “Be careful about removing it, Doctor. It might be attached under the skin. And be aware that whatever that thing is, it makes her stronger than any man I know.”

“Alien fighting technology then. Not any type I’ve come across though, and I’ve been around soldiers for decades.” Tep ran a portable scanner over Candy’s arm and chest. The crease between his eyes deepened. “You’re right about it being under the skin. There’s hardly any Earther cellular structure under this thing.”

“Maybe that’s why she stopped showing up on the sensors,” Betra said.

“She also accessed the ship’s computers, which would have allowed her to cancel out her presence to our programs,” Oses replied. He glared at the nearby computer panel, the lit one I’d passed to get to Candy. His jaw was tight. “To look at her, she’s still mostly human. Yet we picked up nothing. I don’t think she’s gone insane. I think she’s being run by an alien intelligence.”

Tep’s worry was plain to see. “We’ll find out soon enough. Put her on the stretcher and let’s get her to Medical.”

Tep and his staff went to work on Candy right away. Even with all that amazing technology the Kalquorians have at their disposal, it still took a couple of hours before we got the full story of what they’d found.

A bunch of us gathered in a conference room. There was Captain Wotref, his first officer, Ebnad the weapons subcommander currently in charge of ship’s security, Oses, Betra, me, and Katrina, along with Tep. Katrina and I were considered Candy’s next-of-kin, which was why we were invited ... along with the fact that Katrina and Wotref are an item these days.

We were anxious as Tep showed us the scans he’d done of Candy. “I’ve seen organic parasites with intelligence that take over other sentients. I’ve seen self-replicating armor. But I’ve never seen anything that does both. This is what has taken over Matara Candy.”

“Taken over?” I asked, my voice weak.

Tep nodded, his gaze on me compassionate. “For all intents and purposes, yes. It hasn’t completely infected her, but it has gone far enough that it is the entity in control now.”

I fought off tears. I prayed things weren’t as bad as they looked.

Tep brought up a picture of Candy’s armored arm. “As you can see, the armor is something of an exoskeleton. It’s made mostly of calcium. It’s strong as rock, as strong as the toughest metal known. There are even some metallic elements to it like iron, copper ... the things we find naturally occurring in the human body. It’s being reproduced at a significant rate to cover the skin.”

Oses frowned. “Aren’t elements like copper lethal in large doses?”

Tep nodded. “Normally, yes, but since it’s generating as a covering rather than within the body, it’s not toxic to her. These tube-like structures are actually large veins feeding nutrients and circulating waste from the exoskeleton. Interior scans of the armor plating—” he brought up a shot of something that looked like a cross-section of an ant colony “—show smaller arteries and veins also at work.”

“Organic armor,” Ebnad breathed. “How impervious is it to attack?”

I glared at him. “Attack? Candy is a victim, not an enemy.”

“Easy, Shalia,” Oses soothed me. “We need to know how to best protect her as well as ourselves.”

I subsided, but I still gave the weapons subcommander mean eyes.

Tep said, “It’s a good defense, superior to almost anything else I’ve seen. We estimate it could withstand a nearly point-blank percussion blaster hit set at narrow stream.”

There was an audible intake of breath from everyone in the room. Candy’s armored arm was damned near impervious to a conventional weapon.

“Multiple simultaneous hits?” Oses asked.

Tep nodded. “That’s what it would take.”

Wotref rubbed his chin. “Can you get it off her?”

Tep blew out a breath and brought up the vid of a full interior body scan. It showed a human form with all its pink innards, white bone, and gray brain. It showed something else too. More of those green arteries snaked all through the body. Most of them concentrated in one arm and the upper chest, but more spread like streams to the brain. A few ventured into the other arm and legs. I saw only a couple of thin ones in her lower abdomen.

This was Candy’s body. That thing was all inside her, all over the place.

Katrina folded her arms on the table top, lay her head down, and softly wept. I was too shocked to cry. All I could do was stare at those terrible trails of alien organism eating into my friend.

Tep’s voice sounded like it came from the other end of the universe. “As you can see, she’s infected throughout. The exoskeleton is a part of her now. It would be impossible to surgically remove the armor. Even taking her arm off would not help at this point.”

Betra blinked as if he was trying to wake from a nightmare. “Can you give her something that would kill it off and yet not harm her? There must be something ... right?”

Tep nodded. “We’re trying several different medications, along with nanite antibodies programmed to fight off infections. It’s going to take time to see if anything works. Our analysis tell us this is completely alien to us, something we’ve never come across. There are even synthetic markers, suggesting it may not be a naturally occurring life form.”

“A bio weapon?” Oses leaned forward. “Something developed in a lab?”

“Impossible to say right now. We need time to research the organism, to discover all its components, cellular structure, what it needs to survive – everything.”

Wotref speared Tep with his intent gaze. “But do you have that kind of time? How fast is this thing transforming Matara Candy’s body?”

The doctor licked his lips. “Fast. Plus it’s resistant to stasis, which I put her in immediately. The one good thing is that her body’s natural resistance to infection seems to be slowing it down. It’s trying to change her entire body’s makeup, but it hasn’t gotten much beyond the exoskeleton. That’s why I have hopes that the nanites might have some effect.”

Betra took my hand before asking the million dollar question. “How long before she’s lost to us?”

Tep drew a deep breath. “If her body continues to fight, two or three weeks. Maybe even a month. But this thing is reaching into her brain and taking over a piece at a time. If it possesses intelligence – and there is evidence to that notion – once it finds the part in charge of her natural defenses, it could turn them off. Then it will spread like wildfire, completely transforming her in a matter of days.”

“Either way, there is not much time,” the first officer said worriedly. “Not when you’re talking about all that research you need to do.”

Oses shot me a warning look before asking his next question. “Doctor, if it succeeds in absorbing Matara Candy entirely – how dangerous is its potential?”

Tep shuddered. “From what we’ve seen of the little it can do now? Impenetrable armor, advanced intelligence ... don’t forget that it accessed the ship’s computer without being detected and used the programs to its own advantage. That means it understands our language, our coding, and has infiltrated our security protocols. That might be the scariest thing of all.”

Oses sat back in his chair, his expression thunderous. “It would be nearly impossible to stop. Best case scenario is severe loss of life on this ship if it gets loose.”

Wotref’s face was a careful blank, not giving a clue as to his feelings. He asked Tep, “Where did this organism come from? How did it infect Matara Candy?”

The doctor shook his head. “I have no idea. We should probably look at that last shore leave. Run tests on everyone who went down on Darotkin to make sure no one else has been affected.”

“Do it. Send word to the destroyers that their crews must also be tested.”

The first officer pointed out, “Bio sensors picked up nothing when everyone returned to the ship from shore leave. But you say this is a biological entity.”

Tep shrugged. “Maybe it was dormant until it found the right host. Full stasis can fool bio sensors. Maybe this thing was in a kind of stasis.” He shook his head. “It’s completely alien to our medical library. Who knows how it got through? All I can do is guess at this point, and my best guess is it got here from Darotkin.”

Betra whispered to me, “Thank the Mother of All you and Oses didn’t go on shore leave.”

“But you did,” I whispered back. “So did Katrina, the captain ... most of the people on this ship and all three of the destroyers.”

Holy shit. If more people are infected, we are screwed. But for now, fear for Candy remains uppermost on my mind. All I can do now is hope Tep finds an answer fast.

He has promised me and Katrina that he will not stop looking for answers until Candy is cured ... but there is a look in Tep’s eyes that tells me he’s as scared for her as I am, that he is afraid this is beyond him.

May 19, early

Very little rest last night. The nightmares were awful. I dreamed about the armored creatures again and that I was one of them. Now I know why the exoskeleton on Candy’s arm and chest looked so familiar ... it’s the same armor from my dream.

Which begs the question: how did I dream this armor before I ever saw it on Candy? Is the organism that infected her telepathic? I think that might be the case, because during the dream, I could hear orders in an alien language in my head.

That brings up so many worries I can’t even see straight. Like, did Candy have dreams before the organism took her over? Is this the first sign of infection? But I didn’t go down to the planet where they think she picked this up. Is it airborne then? Does it start off microscopic in size, attach itself to a host, and then grow quickly?

If it is telepathic, why didn’t Candy sense Betra and Oses coming to get her before they were there? Or is the telepathy only between those of the same species? Was Candy able to read my thoughts, or do I have to be infected too? That would make me feel a little better if that is the case ... Candy didn’t seem to read my mind, so maybe that means I’m not infected.

I’ve got a checkup scheduled with Tep this afternoon. I’m going to insist he tests me for this thing even though I didn’t go on shore leave. Sure, I’m probably jumping at shadows, but at least my mind will be settled on this one thing.

I wouldn’t be so panicked except for that damned nightmare. I was still hunting Barinem. In the dream this time, I caught some. I killed them. I felt a savage delight as I sent bodies flying, as blood flowed, as the screams of the dying filled my head. Feeling triumph as I killed others, the pure cold thrill of it all, was the absolute worst part of the dream. How could I be joyful in wreaking such devastation? I felt as if it was what I’d been made for, this monstrous destruction of my weaker enemies, young and old alike.

No mercy. No conscience. Just the need to kill and kill and keep killing until nothing was left. I would have made a lake of the Barinem’s blood and called it wonderful. I have never known anything like this need to murder. It felt exhilarating during the dream. When I woke up, I ran to my bathroom and puked.

I don’t want to be one of those monsters. It was the most inhuman feeling I’ve ever had, completely alien to me.

When Betra stopped by, I didn’t mention the nightmare. He’s got enough to fret about. We worried over Candy, who is showing no change for the better. Tep is knocking himself out to find some way of fighting off the organism. Oses is attending meetings with the ship’s executive and security staff despite being on leave.

“He’s staying informed though not actively involved in working on the issue,” Betra told me. “I think he’s enjoying being back at work in this limited capacity.”

“What does Feru say about it?” I asked.

“After talking to Oses about the matter, Feru is fine with it as things stands. Oses feels useful, he’s not obsessing over you for a change, and they’ve set up a daily check-in to evaluate how he’s coping with the situation on an ongoing basis.” Betra laughed, a small and unhappy sound. “At least something good is coming out of this.”

“Yeah,” I said. “We’ll take what we can get, I suppose.”

“How do you feel about getting together with Oses later? The three of us can have dinner and each other.”

I wasn’t sure how sexy I felt about stuff. In fact, my libido was pretty quiet for a change. Stress over Candy was putting a big damper on things. Still, I thought it would be nice to be with my fellas for a few worry-free hours. Knowing my sex drive, I’d be much more enthusiastic by the time evening rolled around.

“Sure, that sounds great,” I said. “Let’s do that.”

May 20

I have spent the last 24 hours in hell. I am in terror for myself, for my child, for Oses, for Betra ... for all of us.

I am not myself anymore.

The last thing I remember after Betra left my room was choosing an outfit for my appointment with Dr. Tep. I thought of how I would have myself tested for the alien organism that was taking over Candy.

I don’t recall a blank period. It was as if one moment I was pulling a dress out of my closet, and the next, I was back in the bulkhead area where I’d gone to Candy.

I blinked at my surroundings. The area had seemed much darker only the day before, when I had strained to see Candy in the shadows. It was much better lit this time around. There was no way I could have been so certain, but I somehow knew I was in the same exact place as before.

The nearby computer console had a vid floating before it, as if it had recently been in use. I’ve learned a decent amount of conversational Kalquorian and even how to read a few words. All I saw that looked familiar on the screen was a series of blinking numbers. They appeared to be counting.

I barely paid attention to them. My heart was hammering with the knowledge that I had lost time. There had been no hallucinations as when I’d returned from being a captive on Finiuld’s ship. Yet there was no denying I had lost conscious knowledge of what I was doing. I knew I must be missing at least twenty minutes, the time it took to get from my quarters to the bulkhead area.

My first thought was that I was having another breakdown. Yet except for worrying over Oses and then Candy, I hadn’t been under a whole lot of stress ... at least not the kind of stress that has become almost commonplace simply because I’m Shalia Monroe and trouble loves me.

Thoughts of Candy reminded me of my nightmares and the concern that I might be infected as she was. That sent a stab of terror through me that had me running to get out of the bulkhead area in a hurry.

I thought of going straight to Medical, but instead my feet carried me back to my quarters. I had a bad scare in the shuttle area when I was almost discovered by the men working in there. Now I wish I had been caught. It would have raised questions and perhaps saved some lives. Lives that I took, as it turned out.

I entered my suite, out of breath, with my heart hammering a million miles an hour. I stood in my sitting room, kind of at a loss as to what I would do next. I couldn’t think straight.

My gaze fell on my room’s com unit, which flashed a notice that messages were waiting. I patted my pockets to discover I hadn’t taken my portable with me.

“Play messages,” I ordered the com.

The first was from Dr. Tep. “Shalia, you have an appointment with me as of fifteen minutes ago,” he said, sounding exhausted and a bit temperamental. “Please get here as soon as possible.”

I checked the chronometer. Holy shit, I should have been in Medical an hour and a half ago. What the hell had I been doing in that bulkhead for all that time?

The second message was from Betra. His voice was almost screamy from worry. “Shalia, where are you? You didn’t make your appointment with Tep. Com me back immediately, or I’ll have Oses track you down.”

His message had been left 45 minutes ago. Surely he’d put the weapons commander on my trail well before now. Why hadn’t they found me?

I realized they hadn’t been able to find Candy either, not until they tracked her when she contacted me. Even I’m not so slow as to not figure out what was going on.

I was turning for the door, ready to run my infected ass straight to Medical before I could lose my mind as Candy had, when the floor beneath me shook. Screams and then warning claxons erupted in the corridor outside my door.

The message over the transport’s announce system came seconds later. “All Mataras, please go to your quarters immediately. Your section of the ship is not in danger. I repeat, Mataras, please go to your quarters and await instructions from your liaisons.”

I had no idea what was going on. However, I knew I had something to do with it. I thought about the computer in the bulkhead, the vid showing numbers changing. Perhaps counting down?

The order had been to stay in quarters. Screw that. I needed to be in Medical, maybe even in stasis. I ran out of my room ... and straight into Betra.

The Imdiko grabbed me, his eyes wide. “Shalia, thank the ancestors! Where have you been?”

I didn’t answer him. “What happened? What was that big jerk I felt?”

He shoved me back into my quarters. “One of the shuttle bays suffered explosive decompression when the door to space opened without warning.”

I got a really sick feeling in my gut. “How many, Betra? How many were killed?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m a liaison, so I wouldn’t have that information right away. No doubt at least a dozen or so men were working in there. Probably more. I doubt they all got away in time.”

At least a dozen lives lost. Men doing their jobs, not harming anyone. Why?

“Is the ship in danger?” I asked.

Betra sighed with obvious relief. “An emergency containment field went up seconds after the doors opened. The ship is fine. Hopefully, that also means a lot of the crew got away unscathed.”

He hugged me tight against his body, but my thoughts were riveted by what he’d said. An emergency containment field? Damn it, there had been no indication of any such thing, but I should have known there would be something like that in place in case of a rupture. I had been dormant for far too long, and this body was putting up too much of a fight for me to function at capacity.

Rage suffused me. I was too angry at my failure to even realize I wasn’t hiding my thoughts from the host anymore.

Wait a minute. I meant to write, I was so focused on the otherness inside me to realize it wasn’t me...Shalia me...thinking and furious with the invader’s failure.

I remember everything as if it was my own actions causing them. At that moment, the other was in my head, running my body, and using me. But it didn’t feel separate from me at all. It felt like it all came from me.

That scares me more than anything else. I couldn’t separate it from me at all in that moment.

Lost in the parasite’s will, I turned the rage against Betra. I yanked free of him and shoved him away. He went down, arms and legs flailing, his mouth a perfect ‘O’ of surprise. He didn’t let go of me right away, and the sound of fabric tearing was almost as loud as his surprised yelp.