“Navsegda’s Lament”

written by Kyle Brady, edited by Taylor Nelson
copyright © 2010 Intuitive Industries LLC
do not reprint, publish, or distribute in other locations, in whole or in part, without permission
also available in PDF format

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The ESDF Navsegda drifted dark through an unknown point in space, engines dead and generators off – a nearby star, Lysstryke, burned bright, providing the powerless ship with its only visible light. Inside, the corridors and cabins flickered occasionally with a burst of violently white light as the emergency batteries temporarily came online, bringing illumination to an otherwise dark vessel laced with shadows. It was during these brief moments of clarity that the state of the ship could be determined: complete chaos, the aftermath of a small apocalypse.

Davies Blau found himself on the cold metallic floor, unsure of how he arrived there or if he was even sleeping. Unable to remember anything but his name, he analyzed his surroundings, finding nothing but an empty corridor in each direction, strewn with assorted detritus. He was wearing what appeared to be a uniform bearing his name, an ESDF Navsegda mission patch, and the rank of Colonel, so he made the assumption that he was on a military ship and held some sort of leadership position – other than that, nothing was certain.

Summer Tyrin woke to the slow drip of water on her forehead, as consciousness slowly returned to the woman with her head inexplicably in a utility sink. Inside what appeared to be a large lockerroom, she realized that the only memories she held were are of her own name and her position as Second Lieutenant on the ESDF Navsegda. The floor of the lockerroom was covered with pools of water and swatches of blood; and two bloated, naked, unrecognizable corpses. This was not how she would have preferred to wake up.

— — — — —

Colonel Blau rose from the floor, straightened his uniform, and strode off cautiously into the near-blackness of the corridor in front of him, hoping to find more information on this mysterious situation. Dark corridor after dark corridor was full of nothing but random trash and materials, with the rare flicker of light illuminating simply an unending, slightly curved, passageway with doors and branching corridors. After an indeterminate amount of time, Davies reached a point where the corridor terminated in a large room.

The large room was partially lit by what appeared to be a nearby star’s visible radiation passing through the viewport that covered almost an entire wall, throwing odd shadows across the floor and walls. Given the amount of computer equipment, user interfaces, holodisplays, and what looked to be navsystems, Davies assumed he found the ship’s bridge. Sitting down in one of the larger swivel chairs facing the viewport, he realized that this may very well have been where he was paid to sit – does a Colonel run the ship?

A loud clanking came from behind, and the only thing visible as he spun to identify its source is a blonde uniformed woman looming large, wielding a length of pipe. Davies ducked, narrowly missing being hit in the head, and screamed “Stop! What are you doing?”

“They’re dead! They’re all dead! What have you done?” she replied, recovering from the missed swing, and spinning to face him again.

She lunged forward, aiming for Davies’ midsection, but he barely avoided the attack by jumping to the left. The woman, apparently knowledgeable with weapons, took this relocation in stride and swung the pipe in an arc to land a solid hit on his thigh. “Who’s dead? What are you talking about?”

“The crew! And you tried to kill me along with the rest!” She slowed the attack to speak and reassess the situation, choosing to stand in a fighting stance just a meter in front of Davies.

“How could I have killed the crew? I barely know who I am, let alone you! My memory only goes back a few minutes to when I was laying on the floor of the corridor – then I came here.” Her eyes opened wide in surprise, and then narrowed almost immediately in disbelief. “Put the pipe down and let’s talk.”

“Lies!” She waved the pipe above her head to strike, and pounced. Davies caught the pipe above his head, just before it hit, and struggled with her to keep it stationary.

“Put – it – down” he managed to say through gritted teeth and rapid breaths. The still-unknown woman stared deeply into his eyes, searching, before letting it drop to the floor. “Who are you?”

“You really don’t know?” she asked, looking crestfallen and confused. “I know who you are.”

“Good for you, it’s on my uniform – yours isn’t.”

“I’m Summer Tyrin, Second Lieutenant. My name patch wasn’t on my uniform when I woke up a bit ago in a room full of dead crewmen.” She snapped to attention. “You, sir, are Colonel Davies Blau.”

“Ok” responded Davies, slightly shocked. “Do you know what’s going on here? And call me Davies.”

“Sir. I only know what I’ve told you, and that I woke up in a lockerroom with two very old corpses floating in a combination of blood and water. In terms of the ship’s situation, I don’t remember anything.”

“So you don’t remember anything helpful either?”

“No.”

“Neither of us have any memories besides who we are, on a nonfunctional ship with a dead crew – lovely.” Summer smirked slightly. “Did you see anyone else alive on your way to murder me?”

“Only empty corridors and disarray, sir.”

“Davies.”

“Right, sir.”

Davies sighed, and looked around the bridge, while Summer began to wander. “All this equipment is dead; if we’re going to find out what’s going on, we need to get some power.”

Summer grabbed a fistful of something from the floor, and said “Maybe not, sir. Davies.” She looked up and smiled again. “I found a few printouts from the ship’s audiolog. Made by you.”

Davies made the few steps necessary to take the semi-transparent plasticard printouts from Summer. Quickly scanning them, he noticed that the last printed log entry, from him, was over a week ago. “Apparently we had a problem with the FTL drives…”

Log Entry – Colonel Davies Blau [ESDF Navsegda, 6540134399 01:54]

–BEGIN ENTRY–

Odd things are happening. Dropped out of hyperspace, possible FTL drive problem. Crew scared, cargo missing, strange events – unsure of cause or causes. There’s screaming… what… wait… don’t… no! [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

–END ENTRY–

The two members of the ESDF Navsegda looked at each other, more wary of the situation than before. “Does this mean we’re the only ones left?” asked Summer.

Davies considered the question a moment before answering, “I’m not sure – I’m not even sure what this log says. What I said.” Summer looked at him, lost. “We need to get the power up so we can figure out what’s really going on.” He looked at Summer. “Do you remember where the powercore is?”

“No, and I don’t see any maps here either. I guess we have to hope for signs somewhere in the corridors.”

His face contorted as if he were considering a deep dilemma, and, letting out a sigh, he finally said “Alright, Lieutenant Tyrin, let’s see what we can find – bring your vicious pipe along, until we can find some real weapons.”

The pair left the ship’s bridge through the only entrance, the same way they had both entered, back into the murky, unending corridor, walking side-by-side. Reaching a branch, Davies led them down the unfamiliar path, since he had traveled the corridor for some time before.

The corridor, at first glance, appeared no different than the one before it: dark, long, and empty. Not until a few minutes later, after walking in silence, that Davies and Summer discovered something subtly different. “Colonel? Davies? Do you hear that?” Summer asked, as she paused to listen.

The noise was a faint whisper, as if the ship’s air filters needed cleaning – except without the power on, there could be no such activity. “I think so.” Davies said, pausing to listen. “It’s like a child whispering, but not in any language that I know. Maybe it’s just the air currents through the ship.”

“Maybe.” Summer said, but she truly felt that it was something different. Shrugging slightly, she loped to catch up to Davies, continuing down the corridor. “What did you wake up to?”

“I was on the floor of the corridor we were just in, although I’m not sure if I was really asleep.” Summer waited, as if more was coming. “That’s it – no bodies, no blood, no water.”

“Hm.” As they walked carefully onward, the intensity of the whispers increased, leaving Summer slightly unsettled, but not appearing to affect Davies at all.

“Is that a sign on the wall ahead?” asked Davies, pointing to an off-color spot not far from their current position. As they came closer they saw it was a navplate for the ship, giving the direction of a few important areas, except the powercore. “Bridge, quarters, mess, latrines – nothing about the powercore.”

“We know where the bridge is, and I was in the lockerrooms already – nothing but dead bodies.” said Summer. “Let’s see what mess is like – maybe there’s some food we can eat.” The two continued in the same direction, off into the unknown.

— — — — —

The mess was a large, dark room with many once-shiny utilitarian tables and chairs, but hardly spacious – all available space served a purpose. “It smells like rotten food in here” Davies said, as they entered through the large double-wide doorway, using the dim and sporadic lighting to illuminate their way. “Hopefully there’s some non-perishables somewhere.”

“This is odd – everything is organized and clean.” said Summer, as she moved towards the galley attached to the mess.

“Meaning… what?”

“Like this” Summer said, as she kicked over one of the chairs, disturbing several in the rows surrounding it. “Either someone cleaned up after whatever happened to everybody, or there’s something going on on the Navsegda.”

Davies made a face indicating he didn’t agree. “Maybe the mess was cleaned right before the event that left us alone on the ship?”

“Highly unlikely, sir.” Summer walked around the large cooking surfaces, heading for the back of the galley.

Davies examined the galley’s tools and found many drawers filled with large, very sharp knives. Choosing a few that had protective sleeves, the Colonel inserted them into various places on his uniform, in case he needed a weapon more effective than a piece of pipe. As he wandered around the rest of the galley, it became very clear that things were far too clean and organized to have been this way naturally – it was a military vessel, after all.

A scream came from Summer’s general direction, and Davies sprinted through the galley, upsetting various pots and pans on the way. The walk-in freezer’s door was ajar – Davies didn’t know where Summer was, but he assumed this piece of disorder was her doing, given the otherwise pristine nature of the galley.

Wrenching the door open, Davies saw Summer standing immobile in the distant corner, with her hand to her mouth. “Summer! What’s wrong?” He approached slowly and carefully, holding one of the knives, fighting-style, in his left hand.

“This… this… this…” she said, unable to speak properly. Pointing to the dark corner, she made a small noise in the back of her throat.

Davies moved in front of her toward the identified corner, squinting into the cold darkness. “I don’t see anything, Lieutenant. What am I looking for?”

She moved slightly closer, and again pointed. “There – on the wall.”

After his eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, Davies noticed some markings on the frosty gunmetal gray wall, apparently made in blood. “Is this human blood?”

“I’m not sure – what other kind would it be?”

Since the Navsegda didn’t hold any live animals on board, a random memory fragment that came to the Colonel, Davies had no appropriate reply. “This is a message. It’s hard to read, but…” he said, as he moved closer to trace the dried blood with his fingers. “It says something about ‘beware the invaders’.” He looked at Summer. “What invaders?”

Summer merely shook her head and walked hurriedly out of the freezer. After staring at the cryptic, degraded message a few moments longer, noticing a partial handprint in blood beneath it, Davies followed.

“Bloody hell, there’s something going on, and you know it” said Summer, as Davies exited the freezer and moved toward her. “Messages in blood don’t appear without reason – especially on an entirely empty ship.”

Davies stared at her solemnly, and decided not to reply. “Let’s move on, we have to find the powercore if we want to figure this out.” Passing through the rest of the unexplored galley, he made sure to pocket a few foodbars neatly stacked in piles on an open-faced shelf. The two officers rejoined the corridor connected to the mess, now armed with both food and better weapons, to wander the ESDF Navsegda in search of their memories and a functional powercore.

— — — — —

Summer and Davies stood completely still, quietly in awe of the massive weaponry stacked inside the weapons storage locker, imagining the many military uses for such firepower. “Here’s the answer to my piece of pipe, then” said Summer, slyly.

“Grab a few weapons, only what won’t weigh you down.” said Davies, as he began strolling the aisles. After selecting his preferred weaponry, all of a small and manageable size, he removed his cutlery from the pockets and places of storage on his uniform, leaving them simply on the floor where he stood. Seeing that Summer had holstered a few handhelds and picked up a rather large, heavy, two-handed pulse weapon that seemed somehow disproportionate, Davies motioned that they should leave the locker and continue pursuing their quest.

They had strode only a few meters down the corridor when Summer suddenly stopped. “What’s wrong?” Davies asked, curious about her odd behavior. Eyes wide, she slowly turned around.

The knives that Davies had left on the floor of the weapons storage locker were now floating menacingly down the corridor, parallel to the walkway, toward the both of them. Their protective sleeves were nowhere in sight, leaving only the sharp gleam of a highly polished edge. Summer and Davies backed slowly down the corridor, away from the gravity-free knives, wishing to be neither stabbed nor chased.

“Summer – any ideas?”

“About what, sir? How the knives are floating? Or do you mean how to leave without being cut to pieces?” Summer replied without looking at Davies. “Because I have a response to both: no.”

A shape began to materialize behind the knives, as the soft sound that had been, until now, but a whisper, became something closer to a wail of anguish. The white vapors coalesced into a vaguely familiar shape in the murky corridor, moving slowly forward in perfect synchronization with the attacking knives.

“That has a face!” said Davies, shocked. The longer he looked at the misty visage, the more it became obvious it was something of a humanoid shape, except out of proportion and with far too much hair. “Do you see this?”

“Yes.” replied Summer. “What do we do?”

“Well, is it real? It looks like it’s made of smoke, which we couldn’t very well shoot.” He fingered the trigger of one of his holstered weapons.

“What do you want?” asked Summer of the semi-transparent figure, attempting to be as calm as possible. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

For a moment, there was no reply. Suddenly, the corridor was filled with a noise so loud, so painful that both Davies and Summer fell to their knees, clasping their ears tightly. As the blood poured out of the sides of their heads and through their fingers, the wispy humanoid opened its large, sharp mouth even wider. The cacophony grew louder and more complex as the two humans added their own screams of pain.

As suddenly as it had begun, the noise stopped, leaving only Davies and Summer screaming, alone and on the floor, in the corridor with blood still seeping from their ears. After realizing that the knives had fallen to the floor, the humanoid had left, and they were no longer under sonic attack, they silently collapsed completely in pain and exhaustion. Darkness consumed them.

— — — — —

Summer opened her eyes in a pool of sticky blood, face down on the cold floor of a corridor, staring at the back of someone’s head. She quickly attempted to stand up, but only succeeded in immediately falling again, even closer to the unidentified person. Rolling over, and away, she managed to stop inhaling blood residue.

Davies awakened with a sticky face, staring at a wall. His eyes opened reluctantly, with a veneer of red overlaid on the world. A noise above caused him to turn, rubbing his eyes free of the dried and unidentified crust, to see the barrel of a large weapon pointed at him by an attractive, angry-looking woman in uniform. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“I’m Summer Tyrin, Second Lieutenant, sir.” she said, still grimly holding the gun. “You want to tell me what we’re doing here, lying in blood?”

Davies recalled his name and rank, but had no memory of the events that led to their current situation. “No, Lieutenant, I don’t know what happened here. And, Summer, call me Davies.”

“Fine, sir. Davies.” she said as she dropped the point of the weapon slightly. “I don’t know either – your ears were bleeding.”

“Yours too, Lieutenant. I can see the dried rivers of blood.”

“Well, since you and I both appear to be in the same condition, it’s probably not your fault.” Summer lowered the weapon completely. “Probably.” She extended a hand to help him up from the corridor’s floor.

“What now?”

“Well, sir, I know we’re on a non-functioning ship without a crew, but that’s as much as I can remember.”

“We should find the powercore, then, and get things running again before we make any large decisions”. Summer nodded in agreement. “Let’s head in the direction we woke up facing, since that seems to be where we wanted to go.” He unholstered a handheld, checked that it was activated with the safeguard off, and held it out in a defensive posture. “Ready?” Summer raised her large two-handed weapon and strode down the murky corridor, with Davies at her side.

The corridor whistled with a soft and eerie wind that seemed to almost seemed to speak in an unknown language, but both the Colonel and Second Lieutenant either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

— — — — —

After wandering for what seemed like hours, Summer and Davies had exhausted not only their foodbars, but also their energy, having found no signage related to the location of the powercore. “What now?” asked Summer, looking as tired as Davies felt.

“Let’s rest for awhile, right here, then we’ll make a plan.” Davies slumped against the corridor’s cold, solid wall, while Summer did the same on the opposing wall. Placing his handheld at his side, another action mimicked by Summer, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, dreaming of his subconscious past.

The view of Earth from space is always astounding, Davies thought, as he looked through the ESDF Navsegda’s main viewport on the bridge. Since the ship was docked at an orbital station used for construction and repairs, he was looking straight down on the planet, at least from his inner ear’s perspective, rotating faster than the planet itself – landmasses and oceans whirled slowly beneath.

A light on his Commander console indicated the airlocks were cleared and sealed. “OrbCon Delta, we are prepared for launch. Requesting clearance, authident Gamma Gamma Four Omega Hades One Seven Dash Epsilon Two.”

A pause, then a response. “ESDF Navsegada, this is OrbCon Delta. Colonel Davies, you are clear for launch. Watch over us, keep us safe, and come home.” The ritual greeting was comforting to him.

“Attention crew, prepare for launch. Desynchronization of orbit will be followed by a prolonged FTL jump. StatLevel Green.” He nodded to his navigation crew.

After uncoupling from the station, Earth dropped slowly, beautifully, from view, as if falling beneath the ship. Pulling out of orbit, the Navsegda slowly nosed up and out, respective to the planet, intending a safe distance from the planet before engaging the dangerous FTL drives.

“Rearcams, on screen.” Earth came, once again, into view, but was slowly shrinking into the distance, mutating from a lively planet into an ever-smaller ball of blue-green.

“.1 parsecs from the Moon, sir” came the voice of a Navofficer.

“Increase engine speed to max. Prepare the FTL drives, sync the guidance systems. Engage on my mark.” Using faster-than-light technology while still in the gravity well of a planet could destroy both ship and planet.

An attractive, but young, Second Lieutenant appeared at Davies’ side. “Sir?” He motioned for her to wait.

“Systems?” he asked.

“Prepped and synced, sir.”

“Sir! This is…” she said, but his face indicated her unacceptable breach of military protocol, and she fell silent.

The Moon appeared on the rearcams, which indicated more than enough distance between the Navsegda and Earth. “Engage.” There was a soft bang, a tug at his stomach, and a temporary equilibrium disorientation as the FTL drives became active, turning the viewport into a hypnotizing, swirling blend of colors, shapes, patterns, and shadows. After a moment, his body readjusted to its new dimensional state.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” he asked of the troubled Officer.

“Well, sir, this report just came from Engineering and the R&D Corps.” She handed him a plasticard printout, looking nervous.

As he read the first lines of the report, his stomach jumped into his throat: there was a possible problem with their ship’s first-generation FTL drives.

Davies jerked awake, kicking the feet of Summer in the process and waking her up as well. “Sorry” he said, trying to shake off the remnants of his dream. “Were you asleep too?”

“Sir. How long were we out?”

He looks at his wristchrono, but it was useless. “I’m not sure – this is dependent on the local wireless power” he said, as he shook his wrist slightly. “It doesn’t matter though, since we have no important schedules to keep.” He smiled, stood up while holstering his handheld, and helped Summer up from the floor.

“What woke you up?” asked Summer, as they walked down the corridor, continuing into the unknown.

“I’m not sure. I had a dream – something about a ship and its FTL drives, but I’m not sure.” Davies’ face scrunched into a contemplative frown. “It might have been ours, the Navsegda, but I don’t know for sure.”

“You remember the name of this ship?” Summer looked hopeful.

“No – it’s on our patches.”

“Oh.”

Another navplate was attached to the wall ahead, and they stopped to read it. “We have weapons, and had food, so I’m assuming we’ve been to a weapons locker and a mess – that leaves a latrine and a defpod to visit, no powercore. Thoughts?”

Summer considered it a moment, before responding. “Let’s check out the defpod – maybe the weapons systems will have some answers for us.”

Turning the corner, the corridor led toward the exterior of the ship, through increasingly dark spaces. “It looks like there’s even less power here than the rest of the ship – not a good sign” said Davies. Summer had no reply.

— — — — —

The lights flickered to a stronger brightness than before, and a voice materialized. “Warning. Ship – radiation – danger – high. Warning. Ship – radiation – danger – high. Warning. Ship – radiation –”

Summer looked at Davies as the corridor returned to its usual murky darkness. “That sounds like an emergency loop. I wonder why?” Davies shrugged as they continued toward the single entryway in front of them.

Davies passed through to a medium-sized room with a small viewport, a single chair, and a screen. Summer walked to the viewport while Davies sat down in the chair, set in the middle of the room, and found that it automatically swiveled towards the viewport. “Look at this – we’re close to a star” Summer said, staring out through the clearplas. “I wonder why?”

“Maybe it was part of our mission” Davies replied, placing his hands on the unadorned armrests of the spartan chair. The screen near his face activated, displaying a grid overlaid on top of a depiction of what could only be the ship’s current position. Green lines divided the three dimensional rendering into sectors, a red dot was labeled Navsegda, and a blue dot had been adorned as Lysstryke. “I think the star’s named Lysstryke.”

“What?” Summer asked, turning around. “How do you know?”

Davies waved her over and nodded towards the screen. “This turned on when I sat down and placed my hands on the chair’s arms – see how it’s labeled?”

“Interesting” she replied, using her finger, in a moment of curious wonder, to touch the position of the ship. Immediately, a curved, orange dotted-line appeared, emanating from the ship’s dot and curling in a lazy spiral towards the blue one. “Oh. That’s not good.”

“What, Lieutenant?”

“I think the orange line is our path projection – this must be the defpod, and I bet we could fire ship weapons from here.” Summer said, still staring at the screen. “We’d need to know the Navsegda’s heading in battle.”

“And the part that’s not good?”

“Well, sir, Davies, it looks like we’re in a degrading orbit with this star. We’ll end up falling into it permanently if we can’t find a way to leave its gravity well, but this would explain that bit about dangerous radiation levels.”

“Why would the ship be positioned like this?”

“I’m not sure – it may have been a side effect of the powercore’s failure.”

Davies grunted his understanding and continued to stare at the screen, while Summer wandered around the otherwise empty room, looking for more surprises. The more he stared at the spiraling line of their impending death, the more frustrated he became, with the inexplicable feeling that this was all, somehow, his fault. Tearing his eyes from the dim prospects of the Nasvegda, he watched Summer systematically comb the room, feeling all the surfaces with her hands.

“What’re you smiling at?” Summer asked, as she turned from her position, having seen him out of the corner of her eye. “Weren’t we just discussing our dire situation, as if the lack of ship power and memories weren’t enough?” Davies realized he must have let his mind, and emotions, wander for a moment.

“Sorry – I got distracted.” She gave him a quizzical glance, but let the subject drop. “Find anything?”

Summer shook her head. “No – I think we’ve already found what’s important in this room.”

“Let’s go then. There’s more ship to explore, and we still don’t have the power online.” They left the room more sullen than when they entered, searching for more clues to questions they didn’t remember.

— — — — —

Blood dripped slowly down the wall, in an odd pattern, not far from Davies’ face as he lay stunned on the console – there was a lifeless body crumpled directly beneath the splatter. The lights flickered inconsistently, the warning klaxons screamed, a voice looped over the comm, and the floor beneath slithered.

As the haze of the concussion lifted with the passing seconds, Davies realized something was supremely wrong with the Navsegda. Nothing seemed to be working properly, or in its correct place – people included. Grasping the console that his face used to occupy, he managed to stand upright and assess the situation, as much as possible.

The bridge’s viewport was smeared with blood, but it was obscured for a far different reason: there was something out in the vacuum. A milky-white cloud drifted across the visible space, backlit by a bright star looming in the distance. The gaze of the few people left alive on the bridge was fixed on this sight.

Davies tried to ask a question of the others, but heard nothing. Clearing his throat, he tried again – and failed. Frustrated, he attempted to scream an order. “STATUS UPDATE!” He heard the sound, but no-one responded or even looked at him. Moving closer to the viewport, with the help of several semi-stationary pieces of equipment, Davies realized what was so peculiar about the cloud: there were faces.

“Sir! Sir!” Summer screamed at Davies’ epileptic body, face down on the floor of the corridor. “Dav!”

Davies realized he was being shaken and screamed at; his body wasn’t fully cooperating. “What – what did you call me?”

Summer rolled him over, so he wasn’t speaking to the floor. “I’m not sure, sir. You collapsed and started shaking, and all I could think was that you couldn’t die – I can’t figure this out on my own.” She seemed upset and on the verge of a tearful panic.

“I – I had a dream – a nightmare – a vision – something. I can’t remember it all, but there were clouds, screaming, blood, and the Navsegda…” said Davies, looking confused. Then, in a single moment, he seemed to make a conscious decision, and immediately returned to his full presence and coherence, lifting himself off the floor. “Let’s get a move on, then. And I’d like to know what you called me, Lieutenant, in case you remember.” The smirk on his face belied the small humor of an otherwise bleak situation.

Summer laughed slightly, as if embarrassed, and then walked along in silence.

— — — — —

“Sir! Davies!” yelled Summer.

“Yes?”

“Over there, down the corridor – it looks like smoke.” With Summer’s clarification, Davies looked toward the specified direction: fingers of mist were crawling, clawing their way down the corridor like ethereal fists. Behind these misty extensions was yet more mist, a body being dragged behind its mobile fingers, vaguely human in shape.

“I see it.” Davies said, trying to remember the clouds from his nightmare. “There’s a side corridor ahead – we don’t need any problems right now. Move!” He pulled out his handheld and pointed it steadily at the foreign mist while Summer broke into a dead run across the intervening space.

“Covered, sir!” Davies looked away, briefly, from the point of his weapon’s focus and saw Summer around the corner, pointing her own large weapon in the same direction. He sprinted to reach the corridor before the mist blocked his path, but as he moved, so too did his adversary – fast.

“Lieutenant, down!” Davies fired into the mist as he executed a forward leap toward, but underneath, it, rolling to one knee as he hit the floor. As he opened a few final rounds into the mist, Davies noticed the bullet-holes in the wall to his right – precisely where Summer had been just moments ago. “Down the corridor, defensive retreat. Go!”

Summer, just a meter behind and to his left, crouched into an aggressive stance, hefted her weapon, and began walking briskly backward down the new corridor. Davies followed suit, carefully watching the mist for its reaction: as he moved farther down the perpendicular corridor, it hesitated at the intersection before quickly vanishing. “Lieutenant, I have a clear – confirm?”

“Clear, sir.”

“Stand down then.” Davies dropped his handheld to his side and stood up, turning toward Summer. “Nice work, Summer – I’m not sure what just happened, but I think we did alright.” Summer nodded in reply as she stood and lowered her own weapon.

“Thank you, sir.” Summer said. After seeing Davies’ face, she countered with “Davies” and a sheepish smile. “Where does this corridor lead?”

“No idea,” Davies said, moving to close the distance between the two of them, “but I don’t think we should be heading back to the other one either. Let’s see where we’re headed – we didn’t exactly have a solid plan anyway.”

As Summer’s face changed from pleasant to ferocious, Davies felt a coldness suddenly behind him. She flung her two-handed weapon around to face him, and, taking a firing stance, nodded down and to her right. Davies saw four events occur at once, unsure of their actual order: a tendril of cloud reaching over his shoulder for his mouth, the pulse bursts from the end of Summer’s weapon, Summer screaming “Dav!”, and himself diving in the direction she had indicated.

Flipping face-up, Davies pulled another handheld from a left-side holster, and raised both weapons in the direction Summer was still firing – but saw nothing. Summer stood tall, above and to his left, panting but immobile. “Thanks. Next time, can you give me a little more warning?”

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t have much choice.”

As Davies lay on the floor recovering, he noticed that the corridor’s walls were smeared with dried blood – as was the floor. Hearing a gasp from Summer, he looked over to her face and saw that she had noticed as well. Carved into the wall in scratchy, shaken lettering were the words FTL Brings Death. “Summer.” Images, half-thoughts, and dream fragments came rushing over him, as if a trigger had been pulled slightly.

“Colonel. Davies.”

“Why would the FTL drives bring death?” he asked, as calmly as possible. “And, more importantly, why would such a message be carved into walls caked in dried blood?”

“No idea, sir.”

“I thought so.” Davies got up from the oddly warm floor and looked at Summer. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll be damned if we let this continue. From what I remember, this is my ship and I’m not about to let some cloud demon kill the people who appear to be the last few survivors on a ship that suffered an unknown disaster.” He squared his shoulders and considered for a moment before speaking. “We need to end this – now. We may not remember what happened, but it’s time to end this. Are you with me, Lieutenant?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” She snapped to attention and saluted, as only someone with significant military training could.

“Let’s move out then, Lieutenant – we have a powercore to find.”

— — — — —

More ship exploration proved fruitless and both Davies and Summer were beginning to get frustrated at their lack of direction. They’d found messages in blood all over the ship, mostly surrounding warnings of the FTL drives, with a few mentions of invaders. As they wandered, the confused duo talked and regained pieces of their prior memories – but nothing important or relevant. Having found a small room with sleeping berths, they had chosen to rest for some time in the comfort of a nonmetal surface.

“What now, Davies?” Summer asked, with more than a hint of frustration in her voice.

Davies had no answer to this, since his only real plan had been to find the powercore either through luck or with the help of navplates. “Let’s…” he said, stopping short as the lights and ship’s air circulation suddenly flickered into life. He quickly sat up, his head narrowly avoiding the crossbeam above.

“The lights!” Summer exclaimed as she jumped from her berth to the floor. “The powercore must have fully engaged – feel the hum under your feet?”

“I do.” Davies said as he swiveled to a seated position, not as happy as Summer. “Why would that happen?”

“Maybe it was caught in a self-analysis loop or was in a maintenance cycle – there could be a number of reasons. The important thing is that we have power now.”

“True.” Davies said reluctantly. “We need to get to the bridge immediately.”

Summer looked thoughtful for a moment, then reached in one of her larger pockets, producing a device. “This will work, now that we have power. Hold on while I plot our course through the ship.” She touched the screen a few times and quickly produced an itemized map. “This way.” she said, pointing in a direction out of the quarters and to the right.

Summer took off at a brisk run, with Davies only a few strides behind.

— — — — —

Davies and Summer entered the navlift that would take them directly to the Navsegda’s bridge. “When we get to the bridge, be prepared to meet that cloud we saw earlier, but I want diagnostic and lifesign scans run immediately. I’ll lock down whatever part of the ship is unsecured. After that, we need to power up the engines and leave the orbit of this star.”

“What star?”

Davies was surprised. “Oh – I remembered that we were in orbit to eventually collide with a nearby star. We learned this earlier, before our memory lapse.”

Summer hid her shock, and said “Yes, sir. I’ll handle the scans. How do you want to address the alien presence if it appears?”

The navlift was slowing in speed as they reached the exit for the bridge. “If it’s not in the bridge, I’ll lock it down and hopefully keep it out – if not, well, I guess we’ll see.” The navlift beeped. “Ready, Lieutenant?” They both grasped their weapons, checking that the safeguards were off, and pointed them at the navlift’s sliding door.

“Ready, Dav.” They both paused a moment to look at each other in curious wonder, before Davies disengaged the door.

Spilling out of the navlift, Summer stalked to the right, Davies to the left, briskly surveying the empty bridge. “Clear!” shouted Summer from next to the large viewport.

“Clear.” Davies returned from the bridge’s entryway. He moved to the central console, without any conscious question of how to accomplish tasks on the bridge, and engaged the entryway’s door, followed by a disabling of the bridge’s navlift. “Bridge secure.”

Summer grunted in assent, fingers flashing across a console closer to the viewport than Davies. “Diagnostic running. Lifesigns running.” She looked up. “This may take some time.”

“Acknowledged, Lieutenant.”

Summer looked out the viewport. “Sir, what’s that cloud?” she said, pointing at a white mist directly outside, clouding a clear view of the nearby star.

“It’s -” Davies recognized it from a dream he had forgotten – a dream that wasn’t a dream. “Lieutenant, can we close the viewport?”

“No, sir. Why?”

“Because that cloud, the one in cold space, is what’s after us. I’ve seen it in a dream, but I think it was a memory.” Summer looked at him slowly, realizing that she recognized it as well. “Do we have shields or anything to strengthen the viewport?”

“The ship has shields, but they’re offline. The powercore hasn’t been up long enough for them to be functional – they need a stored charge.”

“Dammit.” As he watched, the cloud shaped itself into a large, screaming face that was almost human-like, turning to stare directly at Davies. His console beeped and the ship abruptly changed course, throwing both him and Summer to the floor.

“Sir?”

“No idea, Lieutenant.” Davies said, climbing back to a standing position. “It looks like we’re on course for a planet called Earth, engines powered to full – we’ll arrive in approximately two weeks. What’s Earth?”

Summer stared into empty space, thoughtful. “Earth! That’s our home planet, sir. But why did the ship reorient on its own?”

“I don’t think it was the ship, Summer” replied Davies, as he watched the the cloud face ooze through the viewport into the confines of the ship. Summer aimed her weapon. “Hold fire, Lieutenant! I don’t want to risk damaging the viewport.”

The face moved closer to the two officers of the Earth Space Defense Force, forming into a seemingly familiar shape: a wispy, cloud-based, out-of-proportion humanoid with a wealth of hair and a large, sharp mouth. Davies raised his handheld, but did not fire. The ship’s weapons primed themselves with a quiet beep and a flash on the console.

<<We need this ship…>> came a voice into their heads, in what could only be telepathy. <<You are extraneous… Leave or suffer…>> The noise coming from its mouth was loud, slow, sharp, and unpleasant, with an odd manner of pronounciation.

“No. This is our ship, the ESDF Navsegda. You are invaders and will your presence will not be tolerated.” replied Davies.

<<Did you not see you are alone? We – removed – all others…>>

“We’d noticed that you’d committed mass murder, yes. Why leave us?” Summer was motioning for Davies to continue talking while she slowly touched her console.

<<It was not murder… It was a feast…>> Davies felt his anger rise quickly. <<We need you to help communicate with your planet… We need Earth and you could be helpful…>>

“Why Earth, besides for food? You could go elsewhere for that.”

<<Perhaps… Earth is bountiful… Many races… Many species… Many flavors… And ships to leave with…>>

“So you want to steal our ship, takeover Earth, feast on our race, and move to another food source – all with our help. Even after murdering our brethren?”

<<Yes…>>

Davies laughed. “Why the ship? You can survive space.”

<<Too distant for travel…>>

Davies could think of nothing else to say, but Summer was still quietly busy. “Who are you?”

<<An ancient people… Evolved and hungry…>>

“How many of you?” Summer looked at him – she was done.

<<Unimaginable masses…>>

Davies nodded almost imperceptibly at Summer as the humanoid moved slowly ever closer to him. A loud noise sounded from the bridge’s ceiling as she touched the console once more – lights rained down from the ceiling in an encompassing pattern around the misty alien as it audibly screamed, causing yet more pain and blood for Davies and Summer.

The lights became solid, bright red beams that spanned the distance from the ceiling to the floor, forming into a shape reminiscent of a pentagram. As Davies watched from underneath his console, clutching his bleeding ears, the alien writhed and dissipated into cloud form, but the lasers thickened and began spinning, effectively building a cage around its fury. The lasers rotated so quickly that they were no longer individual beams, but one large blur of transparent red.

Another high-pitched sound, different than the painful screaming that had yet to stop, debuted within the bridge, having no effect on the two humans. The alien, however, seemed to be forced into a loose and unformed shape by it, as the pentagrammatical ring of lasers drew tighter around it. Seconds later, as the intensity of the screaming increased, a different, white, light appeared above the ring that was now no larger than a half-meter in diameter.

All at once, the sentient cloud vapor disappeared in a flash of bright, almost blinding, light with the immediate arrival of safe silence. Davies looked over at Summer, who was also laying curled under her console, making eye contact with a small smile.

“That won’t keep it away for long, sir.”

“What’d you do?” Davies asked as he stood and wiped the blood from his ears.

“I trapped it in a laser field, generated a dissipation wavelength I thought might fight such a transient solidity, and then used the intraship nonhuman transport system to beam it to a shielded cargo hold.”

“I see.” Davies said slowly, even though he didn’t understand.

“We only have a few minutes, sir.”

Davies nodded, and sat in the command chair as he returned his handheld to its holster, considering their marked lack of options. Their weapons were largely ineffective and physical barriers meant nothing to their foe – Davies had no good choices. Sighing resignedly, he began inputting commands and values into the console without looking or speaking to Summer.

“Sir?” asked Summer, but Davies did not reply. “Davies?” Again, he did not reply. She walked the short distance to stand in front of his console. “Dav?” He raised his eyes to her, with a strange look on his face.

“Why did you call me that?” he asked quietly, in a tone that Summer had never heard before.

“I’m – I’m not sure, sir.”

“We’re just people now, Summer. Two people on a doomed ship – no need for titles or formality.”

“What are you talking about, sir?” Summer was getting worried. “Davies, what have you done?” She felt the ship move at full speed underneath her, once again reorienting itself.

Davies rose, sighed, and walked around the console to stand directly in front of Summer. “What was necessary, Summer – we had no other choice.” Summer’s face still indicated her obvious confusion and worry as Davies guided her to the viewport.

Summer gasped. “The star.” Davies nodded. A familiar and eerie scream echoed far in the distance. “How long do we have?”

“Only minutes.” Davies said, staring into her eyes. “They wanted the ship to invade our planet – the planet we’re apparently supposed to protect, and I can’t let them do that. We can’t let them do that, Summer.”

“I understand” replied Summer, softly. “And without shields, the star will take quickly take care of both the ship and the invaders.”

“Exactly.”

Warning klaxons sounded throughout the bridge as red lights flashed. “Warning: dangerous radiation levels – climbing” looped over the comm. Summer moved to her console and silenced both the comm and the klaxons.

Returning to the viewport, she said “There’s nothing I can do about the lights.”

“It’s ok – they seem fitting for our inauspicious end.” The star grew larger in their viewport and the edges of the ship began to visibly glow orange.

“This is it, Dav.” Summer grasped Davies’ hand as they stood facing each other, the radiation levels quickly climbing.

Davies looked meaningfully into her eyes, and said “I know now why you call me Dav, Summer. I know.”

“Me too.”

They embraced, acknowledged a lost but deep and abiding love remembered, as the ship hurtled directly into Lysstryke. The ship, its crew, and its passengers disintegrated into oblivion as the star’s power proved too great for the integrity of far lesser matter.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

written by Kyle Brady, edited by Taylor Nelson
copyright © 2010 Intuitive Industries LLC
do not reprint, publish, or distribute in other locations, in whole or in part, without permission
also available in PDF format