The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion (6 page)

“
That is the question, isn
’
t it, Doctor
Tabith?
”
William dropped to his side and rolled over with his back
to Jonathan.

Ralph and Jonathan left the Cargo Hold and
entered the cafeteria. It was late, so there were only about thirty
people eating at the long tables dispersed throughout the
room.

“
Sadly that
’
s more than I got out of him.
”
Ralph
said.

“
He’
ll tell me more. Give
him some time in solitary confinement to
reflect.
”

Three days later, Jonathan returned to the
Lock-up with a tray of food. Corn on the cob and two pieces of
turkey breast. William lay on his side in the same position he had
been in when Jonathan left previously. Jonathan slid the tray to
the back of the table.

William turned over and sat facing
Jonathan.

“
Tell me more.
”
Jonathan said.
“
If you have
information that may prevent a catastrophe, then I want to do
whatever it takes to comply in keeping that from
happening.
”

“
Maybe it
’
s not about preventing a catastrophe, but keeping one
at bay. Suppose society on Earth breaks down and everyone has to
live off the land again, which as you know is no longer possible on
our world, what will inevitably happen to Earth and its primary
race of Homo sapiens?
”

“
We
’
d kill each other.
”
Jonathan answered.

“
And
resort to cannibalism. Humans eating humans, brother eating
brother. Now, what of the universe? What happens if humans, like an
intergalactic disease, spread to other worlds, other solar systems,
taking over whole galaxies? What happens when we
’
ve consumed everything
in the universe?
”

“
By
your logic, we
’
ll eat each other. That
’
s just an assumption.
You
’
re
trying to change a future that has only been conceived within the
confines of your mind.
”

“
We
are the future, Jonathan. We
’
re the
virus.
”

“
So
why protect Earth then? If we
’
re just a plague that
needs to be wiped out, then for what good should we
exist?
”

“
I
already told you: Earth isn
’
t important. Do you
believe humans are the only sentient race in the
universe?
”
William asked.

“
I
deal in things I know and understand, and so far as I know,
human-kind has never come into contact with another race similar to
ours on another planet.
”

“
You
’
re in for a big surprise.
” William
smirked.
“
Good day to you, Doctor
Tabith.
”
He got to his feet, took his tray and sat back down with
his back to the tables.

7

“
He’
s just crazy.
There
’
s no reasoning with him.
”
Elizabeth said at the bar a few hours
later.

“
I
can
’
t
shake the feeling that he knows something important about our
mission.
”
Jonathan sighed, staring at the whiskey in his
glass.

“
Thank you.
”
Elizabeth said to the bartender as she placed a
tequila shot before her.
“
In my experience,
people who think they can change the future aren
’
t really seeing the
whole picture. You don
’
t have that kind of control in life. The idea
that you do is a malfunction in the brain.
”

Jonathan nodded. Elizabeth
’
s brother sat next to
her and they began chatting about their day.

Officer Adams sat on the stool next to Jonathan.
“
Whiskey-sour, please,
”
he said to the bartender and turned
to Jonathan.
“
Fine vessel
you
’
ve
designed; got us through the Oort Cloud with no
problem.
”

“
Thank you.
”
Jonathan said.

“
Let
me cut right to it, Jonathan,
”
said Adams, lowering his
voice.
“
Considering the magnitude of
Mason
’
s actions, a jury of ten has agreed that Mason should be
executed.
”

Jonathan wrinkled his brow.
“
Is there no other
alternative?
”

“
We
can
’
t
afford another event like this to take place. Given a second
opportunity to destroy this vessel, Mason may be smart enough to
keep us from stopping him. Our makeshift brig
isn
’
t
something that can hold him for the duration of the
trip.
”

“
So
arrest him to his quarters.
”

“
You
know that
’
s not going to work. He has advanced level clearance within
the computer that you gave him during the construction of this
ship,
”
said Adams.
“
This has to be done,
Jonathan. We
’
ll do it quietly, poison his food or drink. It will be
humane. He
’
ll go to sleep and won
’
t wake up. Problem
solved for everyone.
”

“
Give me a few days to get some answers out of
him.
”

“
You
have until tomorrow afternoon.
”
Adams smiled when his whiskey-sour
arrived. He took a sip. Jonathan wondered how he could condemn a
man to death and smile so easily. Granted, William had nearly
killed them all, but he was still a man of intelligence and
respect. Jonathan left the bar without saying anything else to
Adams or Elizabeth.

He found himself on the Observation Deck, the
magnificent tunnel of windows that allowed them to witness the
galaxy around them as they traveled. As they started entering the
Interstellar Medium, nebulas of plasma clouds drifted by the
windows. The starlight of the universe gleamed from their lampposts
across the sky beyond the amoebas of radiated clouds that looked
eerily like strings of fungi.

Jonathan returned to his room and laid down
for awhile. He took off his Manica-Band and placed it in the drawer
of his bed-side table that was bolted to the floor and wall.
Massaging his bare wrist felt good. He drifted in and out of rest,
waking occasionally to drink water or go to the restroom. Elizabeth
arrived in the early morning and fell asleep beside him.

8

He
dreamed of space, the emptiness of it all, how it went on and on
and on and existed for no apparent reason. But within that space,
he saw the glimmer of hope that was the Enigma. His
dream
’
s eye zoomed in on the Enigma, passing through the wall
into the Cargo Hold. William Mason sat cross-legged in the middle
of the Lock-up. The vision zoomed in on Mason
’
s face, centering on his
gray eyes.
“
It
’
s
time.
”
He whispered as the rushing water filled his mind until it
became unbearably loud.

Jonathan woke up drenched in sweat. He went to the bathroom
and took off his shirt. Turning on the faucet, he splashed his face
with water. As the water ran over his hand, Jonathan trickled the
cool down his back, mixing water with his icy sweat. He stared in
the mirror, gazing at the curvatures of his face, listening to the
dead silence around him. Something was wrong. He
didn
’
t
know what it was but something inside him was clawing with
primordial terror.

He turned around, the simple motion taking
significantly longer than it should have. His head felt six times
bigger than normal. He felt drunk as the compression hit him. His
eyes flicked to a glass on the desk in front of the video screen on
the other side of the room. The water inside was slanted against
the wall of the glass.

Jonathan
’
s eyes widened. He dove into the bedroom noiselessly,
weightlessly. The gravity regulator had been neutralized. Jonathan
pushed off the wall and grabbed the bedside cabinet. He yanked open
the drawer and grabbed the Manica-Band. It seemed to take forever
to get it around his wrist and latch it. The moment he did,
everything changed. He was able to breathe and think clearly as it
had it generated own temporary atmosphere. So long as there was
still oxygen in the room, it could promise an additional five
minutes of extended life-support in the event of an
emergency.

He felt the tugging and grabbed the bedside
table. His legs were pulled into the air. Out of his peripheral
vision, Jonathan saw the back wall disintegrate to the blackness. A
distorted and whining roar as deafening as the rush of water from
his nightmare screamed through his mind. The window cracked and
shattered. Elizabeth and the blanket covers were sucked out into
the nothingness of space with inconceivable ease as Jonathan held
on for dear life. The panels of the room door bent towards the
breach behind him. They pulled loose of the frame and narrowly
missed his legs as they fired out into space.

He
had to get out of this room. Jonathan reached up as the oxygen of
the ship was sucked out through the hole behind him. He grabbed
hold of the wall and managed to get his other hand around the door
frame. He pulled himself up into the corridor outside his room.
Explosions rang throughout the ship. The squeal and screech of
torquing metal filled the corridors for what felt like an eternity.
His world, his body
–
his mind
–s
eemed to be compressing like it was all being
pushed through an impossibly tight tube. Jonathan gripped his head
in pain and terror, pressed into the corner of the hall as a river
of air surged out into space above him. He could do
nothing.

All of a sudden, the noises stopped. The
gravity returned, but the air of the ship was still getting sucked
out through the doorway. Jonathan crawled away from the door until
he could get to his feet and made for the Life-Support
Hall.

The doors opened and he was tugged off the
ground. As he flew away, he saw the darkened grove of the
Life-Support Hall getting farther out of his reach. His fingers
grasped for what was not there to keep this treacherous fate from
happening, but there was nothing until he hit the mesh grating that
had once been the roof. It was still connected to the wall.
Jonathan held on as trees and grass rocketed out into space behind
him.

Jonathan reached up and grabbed the grating,
pulling himself toward the lift that led to Engineering. He got his
hand up to the sensor next to the threshold and opened the lift
doors. He was able to grab the inside of the lift doors and pull
himself in. As soon as the doors to the Life-Support Hall closed,
he crashed onto the floor of the lift. He got to his feet as the
elevator descended to Engineering. The doors opened and all he saw
was fire and smoke. People were everywhere, running back and forth,
trying to do whatever they could to fix anything. It was the worst
possible situation imaginable. Smoke billowed through the hall in
dangerous plumes.

Jonathan entered Engineering, seeing everything he had
created going to hell. There were bodies on the floors. Terminals
exploded throughout the room, sending more people to the ground.
More explosions filled the air. He broke into a jog. A terminal
erupted next to him, sending debris and metal everywhere. The
Manica-Band deflected the destruction and glowed in an oval shape
around Jonathan as it absorbed the blasts. There was too much
damage. He would have to separate the back-up reactors from the
primary reactor in the Core Hall: the ship
’
s last resort. The way
to the Core Hall was completely blocked. He would have to go
through the Observation Deck to get to the Bridge, assuming the
Bridge was still intact.