Paphos, p.27
Paphos, page 27
She held her head and then resumed the demanding pace.
“Hey, it’s okay, whatever it is. It’s okay,” he said, hoping to lend some comfort. Still, he ached with worry. Here he was, following his daughter towards an alien ship that no human could pilot, and he suspected that she was going to do exactly that. His little girl wouldn’t know such things. This was a problem, and it had no solution. How would he deal with this, except to do nothing? It was his daughter, after all.
Carolina found the small white train and entered, Austin not far behind. She traced a pattern across the control panel, and the glowing light display blinked green and blue. He stood by, pretending this was all totally normal. From now on, he just had to accept it. This was real; she was different, but it changed nothing. He was her dad, and he would protect her.
Maybe this wasn’t so bad, maybe he was looking at it all wrong. It’s not like he couldn’t use the outside help, seeing as how they were utterly stranded on Paphos. If Carolina knew things that would help them off the planet, then maybe this was a good thing. Without Carolina’s unique insight, weren’t they worse off? Those thoughts did little to help the weight in his chest.
The white cabin doors opened on the monorail, and Carolina boarded without a word, followed by Austin. He watched her, but the whole time, Carolina looked out the window as the system engaged. Finally, he had to say it.
“Are you okay, kiddo?”
She blinked. “Of course, Daddy,” she said and smiled. Austin smiled back, and the monorail sped them both away. Austin nodded his head, trying to accept her answer, wanting to accept it. But he knew she wasn’t okay. He couldn’t avoid this out of fear, even though he wanted to.
“Hey, look at me,” he said after a moment. Carolina’s big brown eyes took him in. “Who are you?” he asked.
He was not staring into the eyes of his daughter. Austin gulped, forcing himself to be calm, waiting for the answer she seemed to be contemplating. He wished he had never asked, because now he was terrified. He was terrified of getting an answer, an answer that never came. The monorail slowed down and docked. Carolina looked away and prepared to disembark. Truthfully, Austin was glad she didn’t answer. In a cowardly way, he needed to go back to pretending for a minute that nothing was wrong.
He adjusted the bandage wrap on his hand, trying not to move his shoulder to do it. Between the cuts, the broken nose, and the rib, Austin wondered how much more he could take.
“We’re gonna’ get out of here, I promise,” he said. It’s just a thing to say, and he was saying it. Carolina stepped off the train, and Austin followed. The hangar dome was smoky, and the air was stiff. Austin looked up at the gap in the dome top where he had escaped, amazed at how he managed to get tangled in that foliage, amazed he was able to climb out. It was another miracle he survived that encounter. Looking around, he saw that most of the hangar was untouched by the blaze, which was hard to believe considering how quickly it spread. Perhaps the facility had some sort of sprinkler system to put out fires, one that he didn’t get a chance to witness.
Carolina stopped suddenly.
“What is it?” Austin asked.
She glared across the hangar section, beneath the dome. Over the dividing walls, they both saw the purple top of the alien ship. Just then, something clattered, and Austin found himself seeking cover, while Carolina did not.
“Hide!” he ordered, waving her over. With a blank look, she turned her head to him and then forward again. Something was over there, but Carolina wasn’t moving. When he took a look for himself, he found Athen. She was pushing a crate towards the ship on a mechanized dolly.
“Athen?” he called. “How did you get here?”
“She already knows we are here.”
He looked at Carolina, as if the silence might elaborate what she meant. Her words made the hair on his neck bristle. It didn’t help that Athen wasn’t limping.
Carolina started shaking, convulsing.
“What is it? Carolina?” he begged, coming to her side.
Athen also cried out in pain, collapsing to her knees, stealing his attention back in time to see her open her mouth. Wispy tentacles stretched out of her mouth and then recessed back in.
“We can’t do that!” Carolina yelled, gripping her hair, eyes shut. Austin didn’t even know who she was yelling at.
“Can’t do what?!”
“Run!” Carolina shrieked.
Too late. Athen leapt for them, covering the distance in a single move. By the time Austin responded, she tackled him. They rolled to the floor, and he managed to spin and grab her by the throat. Her neck was incredibly warm, feverish even. Athen was freakishly strong; she easily knocked his hand away. She leaned forward and opened her mouth again, revealing a pair of yellow eyes deep in her throat.
Sheer terror gave him a burst of strength. He pushed and scooted his hips back, creating enough space to kick Athen off of him. He forced himself to his feet. She stood too, but she didn’t give chase this time. Instead, she held her stomach and doubled over, retching and choking for air. Austin stood still. Carolina was well away from both of them, though she wasn’t holding her head in pain anymore. Athen’s coughing became more violent.
“Oh God,” he moaned, totally disgusted. The tendrils reached out of Athen’s mouth. Next came the jellyfish parasite, wriggling out of her body with fleshy goo and mucus. Athen was on her hands and knees when it plopped on the floor in front of her. Austin had actually seen this once before, when the parasite had left Carolina. It was no easier to watch the second time.
Strong, slender tentacles came out of the parasite’s mass, and it stood upright. It looked at Austin and then at Carolina, with yellow eyes that formed at will. It was trying to choose one of them. Like hell, he said, ripping the lid off one of the fuel crates. He knew first-hand how toxic the fumes were. He was ending this.
“Hey!” Austin roared, wielding the crate lid like a shield. The creature raised itself up, quizzically as tall as Austin, which he was not expecting. He readied to swing, but something wrapped around his ankle.
“Daddy!”
The parasite had slid a tentacle low; rising up was just a distraction before it made a move. Hell, he’d just done the same trick to Dmitry. The parasite squeezed, forcing him to the ground in pain. It then lunged, but the lid of the fuel crate blocked its considerable force, and it fell back. No doubt the contact with fumes against its soft flesh helped, which he intended to take full advantage of.
He rose and slammed the lid flat-end over the jellyfish. He felt it splatter beneath the blow. His determination soaring, he raised the lid over his head again. The limbs of the parasite retreated to its body, curling in pain. The only mercy he would show was a swift death.
The parasite was futilely trying to scoot away. No compassion stayed his efforts as he slammed it again. Flesh splattered in chunks as he swung up and down. He pummeled the creature without words, smashing it with the crate lid over and over until chunks and liquids were beyond any recognition. The parasite’s body was not durable; it easily dismembered from the crushing blows. It wasn’t until Austin could barely hold the weapon in his aching hands that he stopped beating the lifeless flesh.
Sweat dripped off his face, landing on the globs that remained of the parasite. He turned to face the others, finding Athen crouched on all fours as Carolina tended to her.
“It’s over,” he said and dropped the lid with a worthless clank. Carolina wouldn’t look at him. Actually, she looked angry and hurt. He wondered why at first, except that maybe part of her was in mourning, the part that was connected to the creature. Or perhaps it was because she was a young, innocent girl, and she wasn’t accustomed to the brutality he’d just exhibited.
Athen was clutching her stomach in pain.
“Are you better?” he asked.
“Yeah… I just… I…,” she stuttered. Athen held her head as nausea took her in and out of consciousness. She held her forehead, blinking away the dizzy spell that had threatened her.
“Thank you, I think I’m okay now,” she said to Carolina. “I remember everything. It’s strange, but I remember it better than any other memory I have. I was fixing its ship… or it was, but through me,” another wave of nausea came over her, and she stopped, forced to hold her head until it went away. “I don’t ever want to feel that again,” she finally said.
Carolina stared at the floor in shame.
Athen’s face did little to hide the turmoil of being possessed by the parasite. And seeing it on her, he could only imagine what this had been like for Carolina. How was his little girl so strong that she could have gone through the same thing? His guilt was worse now than it had been before. How would he make this up to her? Therapy? He feared that it would fall tragically short of what she needed. Would he ever be able to get her help?
“How much of the ship is functional?” Carolina asked.
Athen blinked and wiped her eyes clear. She brushed her hair aside and thought for a moment. “Well… uhm,” she stuttered, struggling to speak. Austin recognized what he was seeing; she was sifting through the creature’s memories. “The fire wasn’t as bad as we thought,” she looked at Carolina with questioning eyes, the moment she said we.
“Go on,” Carolina said.
Athen nodded reluctantly. “It’s ready to fly. I—I remember adding fuel because the flight home, I mean, not Earth, but…it’s… home was such a long journey,” Athen said. It took her many pauses to get through that.
“So there’s plenty of fuel right now to get us to the Orbiter,” Austin added, taking some pressure off Athen. “So, now what?”
“We fly the ship to the Orbiter, and then we go home,” Carolina said. Austin wished she had said Earth. He hated that he wanted to clarify.
CHAPTER 44
The three of them stood before the alien ship. A burnt air lingered in the hangar; the ship and everything around it were covered in black soot, evidence of the blaze prior. The intense fire had spread quickly, but then disappeared before causing much damage. Carolina turned her attention away from the vessel; she looked as though she were concentrating, but on what Austin didn’t know, or didn’t want to know. He knew what they were about to do, but he had yet to come to terms with it. At last, Carolina approached the alien ship, her image reflected in those few unmarred spots. She walked around it, studying its smooth, featureless shape. It looked like a massive, sideways, purple teardrop, resting on three pegs. Carolina reached up to its belly, then a button panel suddenly started glowing. She pressed it, and on the side of the ship, a door smoothly appeared. It morphed down into a ramp silently, effortlessly.
He groaned. Yes, he was witnessing technology far superior to anything on Earth, but he was increasingly uneasy about this. When it finished, Carolina walked up the ramp and disappeared inside the alien vessel. Athen followed behind her with a limp; the sight of its return had brought him some tiny comfort. She stopped midway up the ramp, feeling a little unsure of the idea.
“You’re worried? What could we possibly have to worry about?” he chided.
He never saw it coming. Something bashed him over the back of the head, and he fell in an unconscious heap.
“There won’t be room for you,” Dmitry snarled. He stepped over Austin’s dazed body, and a weighty pipe that he dropped clanked on the floor.
“Austin!” Athen cried.
“Daddy?”
“Daddy. Daddy,” Dmitry mocked. “I’m so sick of hearing it,” he said, mixing both sarcasm and hate. He was far more disheveled than the last time she saw him, and he moved under clear discomfort.
Athen’s face was ghostly. She stood between Dmitry and Carolina, shielding the child with her body for what it was worth. “Please,” she managed to say. But there was something in his eyes that couldn’t be negotiated with.
“Sorry, ma’am, your ticket has expired,” Dmitry said, grabbing Athen by the hair. He yanked her neck at an angle, pulling sharply, and launched her off the ship’s ramp. She fell almost a meter and landed poorly. She cried out in pain, clutching her wounded leg, unable to stand. Dmitry was also in pain; the effort seemed to hurt him, but he recovered as he gazed up the alien ramp.
Carolina appeared in the doorway.
He considered her posture. “You aren’t planning to cower in fear, are you?”
“My dad comes with us,” she declared.
“So full of surprises, you are. I was certain you would say something else entirely. No matter,” he spat. His warped mind wasn’t asking any questions as to why.
Carolina let him approach, and the nerve of her nearly sent him over the edge. If he could refrain from killing her, he would, because he needed her to fly them to the Orbiter. It was a big if. Just looking at her made his blood boil. Dmitry grabbed her by the hair and forced her inside the ship. The cabin lights came on when they boarded, glowing hazy colors of green against the dark purple walls. The control panels lit up blue and orange, illuminating in unison along what was presumably the cockpit.
Austin opened his eyes, coming to just as Dmitry disappeared inside the ship. His head ached fiercely, but judging by the pipe lying on the ground next to him, Dmitry was weakened, well below full strength. Otherwise, he shouldn’t have been able to wake up.
He touched a wet spot on his skull and sat up, trying to make sense of what was happening. He spotted Athen in pain, on the floor near the ramp. The ship was still here; he could still do something.
He braced his hands and managed to climb to his wobbly feet. Carolina was in trouble. He had to get to her before something happened to his little girl. Austin staggered up the vessel’s loading ramp.
Austin made it to the top and clutched the porthole for support. Inside, the cabin was spacious, with dark purple walls bathed in green light. He found Carolina. Dmitry had her by the hair. She spun and bit Dmitry’s hand.
He screamed in pain, furious, and backhanded her. She collapsed from the strike.
Austin clenched his fists and prepared to kill this bastard once and for all. “Don’t you touch her!” he screamed. Rage guided his unsteady feet as he charged.
Dmitry lunged at Carolina as she lay there, unconscious, unmoving. Austin was too far away to do anything about it.
“Stop!” he screamed, his soul coming through in the desperation only a helpless father knows. 7
Dmitry lunged, ready to stomp on her, defenseless.
Austin charged but never got within reach before Dmitry froze. Or rather, something stopped him. Dmitry’s muscles twitched, his hands extended. He stumbled on his feet.
Something had happened, and Austin was still trying to figure out what. He covered his mouth in disbelief. “Oh no, please no,” he begged.
Carolina’s eyes were closed, but something was sticking out of her mouth. There was a long, organic limb that had shot out and impaled him in the chest. Blood dripped down it along the course of gravity, impaled directly in his heart. He was gasping at the red, quickly spreading across his white shirt. He was unable to do more than look; he could not even scream, though he tried. Then the tentacle ripped free of his chest and disappeared back inside her throat. Dmitry’s knees gave out, and he fell, dead.
Her eyes remained closed. She looked just like a sleeping girl again.
Austin saw it, knowing he’d failed her. His girl was infected; she had something inside her. When they returned, she’d be gone forever, and he would be forced to explain it to her mother. Carolina would be quarantined, studied, ripped away from him, and endlessly examined. He knew the scientific community, and he knew he would never see her again if they ever found out. Athen!
She didn’t see it, she couldn’t find out.
Austin grabbed Dmitry and dragged his body as Athen stumbled up the ramp.
“What happened?” Athen asked. Blood painted the floor as he dragged Dmitry; the hole in his chest was the size of a thumb.
“I killed him,” Austin said. How could he explain this? He needed to think, and fast.
“You killed him?”
“Yes, he was trying to hurt Carolina, so I killed him,” he said curtly, dragging Dmitry around her. He positioned the lifeless body at the top and pushed it off. “Let’s get going,” he said. Athen watched Dmitry collapse on the floor outside the ship, nursing her leg to stand.
“How did you kill him?” she asked, studying the trail of blood.
“What?”
“I said, How did you kill him?”
“I… stabbed him. Hurry and get on board.”
She seemed to accept his answer. Why not? Carolina was asleep as far as she knew. The girl couldn’t possibly have done anything; it would be ridiculous unless you were the one who saw it. Athen carefully stepped over the blood and chose a seat, more from exhaustion than by choice. Her leg stuck out, unable to bend.
“Hey, kiddo, time to wake up,” he said, kneeling next to Carolina. He couldn’t help but be wary of her mouth as he tried to coach her awake. He moved slowly and announced himself, hoping to lend all certainty that he was not a threat. Whatever was protecting her had acted to stop the threat, to stop Dmitry. He carefully lifted her head and called her name again. “Wake up, kiddo, hey, wake up,” he kept trying. Finally, she opened her eyes.
“Daddy?” she asked. He brushed her hair back and fought against the fear of being close to her. Her eyes were innocent.
“I’m here,” he said, pulling her close to his chest. He held her there, feeling unsafe. Dmitry was dead because Carolina defended herself. Rather, it defended her. This changed everything, but only Austin knew it. What was he going to do?
She hugged him back.
How was he going to tell her?
He wouldn’t.
Could he still get her home, like this?
That one, he still didn’t know. But he would find a way; he would smuggle her in his luggage if he had to. As he thought that, he knew it wouldn’t work. There were protocols and long debriefing sessions that his sponsoring company would put them through, and that was on a normal expedition. This expedition was anything but normal, and by the time he uttered the words life form, the debriefing session would become exponentially longer.
