Surviving The Theseus (12 page)

Paula and Cindy immediately dropped their
weapons. Brett hesitated.

“Brett!” Mary said.

He dropped his weapon.

Regina walked over to Roy who was groaning in
pain. Through clenched teeth, he said, “You fucking cunt!” Spittle
flew through his teeth, bubbling on his lips.

“By authority bestowed upon me by my superior
at the office of Major Criminal Offense Elimination, I have
exercised my right as a Search Out and Destroy officer in front of
these witnesses.” Regina knelt down beside Roy. “Now, what would
you like to tell me?”

“I’ve nothing to tell you! Nothing!” Roy
reeled with pain.

“I beg to differ, Roy. How many were in your
crew?”

“What crew?”

Regina pulled a knife out of her jacket
pocket, flicked the blade out, and jabbed it into Roy’s left knee
in the bullet’s point of entry. Roy’s pain echoed throughout the
room. “Tell me what happened last night, Roy! Something went wrong,
or I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Roy slapped his hand, hard, on the floor a
few times. “Alright! Alright! I drugged you, okay?”

“I know that. What happened after?”

“When you started to lull, after I spiked
your beer, I came over, took your gun, and was about to escort you
. . . back to my suite, but the bartender interfered. I think he
suspected something was up. He got a friend of his to watch me, and
he must have taken you back to your suite. I had no idea where you
went.”

“God bless him then, Roy. See, there are
decent people in this world. Do you think you’re a decent
person?”

“I’m doing what’s right, what’s
necessary.”

“Don’t tell me you worked alone. I know you
had help. If you lie to me again, I’ll kill you. There was a
distraction, just before you spiked my drink. How many of you are
on this ship?”

Roy didn’t answer right away, Regina figured
because he was weighing his options. Realizing he didn’t have any,
he said, “Four of us, including me. I don’t know where the others
are. Please, it hurts!”

“Not much longer, Roy, and I’ll help you.”
She nodded. “I sincerely mean that.” Regina looked over at the
others watching intently, a look of contempt on Brett’s face, and
Dave looking more nervous than usual. “Do you, or any of your crew,
have anything to do with what is going on, on this ship right
now?”

Roy groaned at even the slightest movement he
made. “No. No, I swear to God we had nothing to do with it. I’m in
the dark as much as you.”

“One more thing, Roy, and then I’ll leave you
alone. You’re the first of your group to ever get caught, and my
people suspect -- let me rephrase that -- know you all have a small
device surgically implanted under the skin. Tell me where you all
have it implanted, and you’re free to go. You’ve been very
cooperative, and I really appreciate it.”

Roy rolled over onto his back, and winced
when he did, tears coming out of his eyes at the fresh pain. The
knife in his knee wobbled. “The back of my left calf. We all had
one installed there.”

“Thank you, Roy.” Regina stood up and shot
Roy in the head. His body twitched violently, twice, and then lay
still. Blood pooled around his head.

“You fucking murderer!” Brett said.

Regina didn’t look at Brett, or anyone. She
had killed before in front of others and the look was always the
same: shock, disgust, and anger all wrapped up in one contemptuous
judgment. Only rarely did she get a “thank you.” It used to bother
her, but she grew to understand how others perceived what she found
an absolute necessity. Some people claim an eye for an eye, but
almost never follow through. What people didn’t get was that Regina
had to follow through or it would eat her alive. To not act would
mess with her mind and send her through round after round with a
psychologist for the rest of her life. But nobody would understand
that, not these people.

“This man has been marked for death. I
exercised my right as a SOAD officer. If you disagree, it is your
right to file a grievance with the office of Major Criminal Offense
Elimination.”

Brett shook his head. “You should be locked
up.”

“That’s enough,” George said.

An orange flash filled the room, all of them
consumed inside it. Regina got the same horrible feeling she had
before and her vision blurred momentarily. The same strange,
burning-like smell permeated her nostrils. She could see it in all
their faces as she looked around.

“It’s here,” Blair said. His eyes looked sad,
sorrowful, like he just found out his family had been killed.
Regina figured the fear overwhelmed him.

“What?” Mary said. “What’s here?”

“What the hell was that?” Brett said.

Before Blair had a chance to speak again, his
body went rigid, and Regina knew he was dead. Before his corpse hit
the ground, she could see a gray, rubbery-looking substance oozing
from every visible orifice.

Blair’s body hit the ground hard.

Everyone backed away, but not before Dave’s
body also went rigid, the same substance pouring from his eyes,
nose, ears, and mouth, hardening instantly. Dave’s body fell, his
head bashing the side of a console desk, and then he crashed to the
ground, all without a sound from him, death instant.

The SPARS raised their double-barreled
rifles, one barrel above the other, on the ready.

John and Paula were both trying to open each
hatch, but the wheels would not turn. “The doors will not open,
sir,” John said to George. “I think something might be holding them
on the other side.”

Regina followed George’s gaze to the video
screen and saw nothing, which was not a surprise. “Lipstick,”
George said. “Both doors. Now. Get us out of here.”

George pointed at Regina and Rachel. “You
two, in the door alcove.” Rachel moved behind George and the others
inched towards John. Regina didn’t budge. “Mary and Brett, watch
them. Everybody else sweep the room. Go to infrared.”

All the SPARS uttered a voice command to go
to infrared, and all their glasses transformed from clear to a
dark, red color.

Before George, Travis, Michael, and Cindy
started to move, Blair’s body began to dissolve. There was no
sound, just flesh, muscle, blood, bone, everything but his
clothing, dissolved into the floor, leaving no trace he existed,
other than his clothing. It took four seconds.

“Anybody see anything?” George asked.
Everybody shook their heads.

Regina moved towards Dave’s body.

Michael moved towards her, probably an
attempt to intercept her, likely to protect. But she couldn’t be
distracted by chivalry. Before Regina got to Dave, Michael bumped
into something and fell back.

Both Paula and John ran a silver tube, like a
lipstick tube, around the inside of the door. They drew a large
rectangular shape with a black, waxy substance.

As Michael fell back, Regina drew her weapon
and pressed two buttons along the rear handle and fired. Both
barrels fired, almost simultaneously. First, a purplish, gooey
splat hit some unseen thing by Dave’s body, and a fraction of a
second later, a charged, pin-like bullet hit the goo. Tiny little,
spherical explosives inside the goo discharged, sending an echoing
boom through the room. Regina emptied her clips into it, throwing
it backward, and it finally fell, the explosions on its body the
only clue anything was there.

The thud of something falling was distinct,
and they all heard it. Michael got up quickly and waved Regina off,
which she did, but not because he wanted her to.

*****

Michael did not understand Regina. She seemed
so undisciplined, out of control, and set off so easily. But she
finally backed off.

He slowly approached the fallen, invisible
enemy, which his infrared did not pick up. What the hell was this
thing? He could see purple splotches on top of it, where Regina hit
it, some deeper than others where the explosives went off. He was
well aware a SOAD never messed around, and this was why their
weapons were nothing short of overkill. It had to be dead. Didn’t
it?

Looking to his left, Michael saw Regina pull
her knife out of Roy’s knee, flip him over, and then carved into
his left calf, knowing she was looking for some device he probably
did not want to know about.

It was a quick glance, but all he needed to
see. She always seemed to have purpose, reason for what she said
and did. Michael bent down by the invisible intruder.

Cindy, George, and Travis were right behind
him, and he gestured for them to come around. “Get ready to fire,”
Michael said, knowing all three of them would unload their weapons
into the creature if anything out of the ordinary happened. It
occurred to him that none of them would see it move even if it did.
Best to be quick.

Michael looked back at John and Paula, saw
they finished drawing new doors on the metal ones, flipped the
lipstick over, popped the switch, and sent a charge into the
lipstick on the door. It sizzled, like a sparkler, and spread in
both directions, covering the entire rectangle.

“Thirty seconds,” John said.

Michael turned back and reached a hand out to
feel what they were up against. The purple splotches covered a
large area. Whatever it was, it was as big as a man. Bigger. He put
his hand on one of the wounds, a crevice really, and he felt it
healing as soon as he did. The hole was filling in. It didn’t feel
like flesh, but more like a spongy, rubbery shell. Maybe a suit of
some kind. He wasn’t sure.

Michael stood up. “It’s regenerating.” And
then he opened fire, and the others followed. He only fired one
barrel, the one with the armor piercing, explosive tipped bullets.
Not as powerful as Regina’s weapon, not even close, but with four
people firing on it, he hoped it would stay down, hopefully long
enough for them to get out.

Both doors continued to sizzle, the metal
melting away where the lipstick was drawn.

“Ten seconds,” John said.

*****

George stopped firing and looked over at
Michael, but Michael did not notice. “Mike,” George said.
“Mike!”

Michael looked up, taking his finger off the
trigger, the others stopping as well, but only because they were
out of ammunition. They reloaded.

“I want you to set a charge on the main
cockpit window,” George said. “We’ll remote detonate once we’re
out.” The explosion had to be enough to let them escape, and
hopefully suck whatever was in the room out into space. The glass
would be reinforced, meant to take some punishment, probably nine
or ten layers thick. The explosion might not work.

They had all done their training through the
same methods, and all had explosives training, but it was minimal
and none of them had used explosives outside of training. None that
was except George. His youth was not a proud time in his life, but
it did involve some valuable lessons he’d never forget. That
included playing with explosives and always in excess. They used
them many a time to blow a hole in something: a doorway, a window,
and reinforced glass. With the kind of charges the SPARS use, he
knew three would be plenty, but the unknown was the kind of
reinforced glass on Pyramid One. It was a dilemma for him. Too
little and nothing would happen, and too much and they all might be
in trouble. What to do?

Michael was already on his way. “Mike,”
George said, and Michael stopped and looked at George. “Do four and
stagger them.” Michael nodded.

“If you don’t see anything when the doors
drop,” Mary said to John and Paula, “unload your weapons. Bullets
only.”

George was glad she made the command. If
there were any more creatures, the path needed to be cleared, and
fast. No time to spare. What was he missing? There had to be
something, some variable he was missing. He wanted no casualties --
well, no more after Regina’s call to duty.

He had mixed feelings about Regina. Back in
his day, the things he did and the people he hung around, he would
have been a marked target, just like Roy. But that didn’t bother
him, because he hated who he used to be, an undisciplined punk,
angry, hateful, spiteful, and murderous without regard or remorse.
He hated his parents back then, but he loved them now and respected
them very much for not giving up on him and forcing him into
military school. It saved his life. So, it wasn’t the fact that
Regina just killed a man in front of him that bothered him, because
he respected the reason, but her methods came from some deep-seated
anger that reminded him how he used to be. Most SOAD officers have
that same anger, and he concluded that it must be some necessary
emotion to do the things they needed to do. He felt sad for her and
what seemed to him to be a very lonely life.

Everyone was backing away from the doors,
Mary and Brett guarding Rachel. Paula and John kneeled, aiming
their weapons at the doorway.

BOOM! BOOM!

The doors fell inward where John and Paula
were standing previously, crashing to the floor. They opened fire,
stood up, still firing, and then moved forward. The bullets were
hitting some unseen thing on both sides. Little explosions were
occurring just outside the door, and no bullets made it to the
wall.

The explosions started moving backward, the
creatures moving backward, and then they were on the floor, as the
creatures must have fallen down. The fact the creatures didn’t turn
and run worried George, but, at the same time, at least they knew
where two of them were. He thought of them as creatures because
they were an unknown. But it occurred to him that they could just
be men in some special kind of suit, some technology none of them
knew about. Maybe even aliens, but why so brutal, so determined to
wipe out everyone? Even as an angry, young man, the things they did
had purpose, not one many would agree with, but purpose
nonetheless. What was the purpose of these things? That was the
question, other than what the hell were they?