“What are we supposed to do with the 200 pounds of tissue we have in storage?” The technician said irritably.
The computer remained silent. After the first year with the technician the computer knew what a rhetorical question sounded like and what the proper response was, silence.
The technician took a deep breath and sighed. “The value is zero if the tissue is damaged. Our cryo-system is leaking and everything is drying out. We have to get this to market within the month or we’ll have to count it as a loss.”
The technician sat at the space stations command desk hovering over the array of monitors, buttons and multicolored lights that freckled the desk. Only his desk and chair occupied the space stations command center.
The technician sat back in his chair, crossed his arms and stared up at the green strip of lights that ran across the top of every room on the station. It was the eyes of the stations computer and he looked into them as if he was looking into the eyes of an old friend.
“Are there anymore subjects alive for testing?” The technician asked. “Maybe we can go back to selling medical research data.” He knew the answer, but wanted to be distracted by conversation.
“All subjects are deceased.” The computer said flatly.
“What about that tall Asian fellow with the Earth accent that flew in here last week?”
“Deceased.”
“And the female that was with him?”
“All subjects are deceased,” the computer said thirty percent faster than its speech algorithm suggested.
“All right, all right,” the technician said, sensing the computers frustration. “Speaking of Earth, we might be able to trade our goods there. Earthies are always in need of retail quality organs. We can trade at a higher price.”
“Being in GDI territory will put you at greater risk,” the computer replied methodically.
The technician knew why he would be at risk, but he needed to keep the conversation going. Sometimes the cold and loneliness of the station crept into his bones and made his body ache. Sometimes, and with sudden onset, the emptiness would overwhelm him causing an excess of water buildup around his eyes, his body to convulse and he would howl uncontrollably for several minutes before the feeling subsided. It was a medical condition the technician was ashamed of and would turn off the computers visual and auditory sensors for the duration of his episodes.
The computer knew what the technician wanted and, afraid of another one of his episodes, continued the conversation before the technician had a chance to speak. “Because I deleted your records from the Global Defense Initiative’s Social Tracking System. You will be arrested for identity loss.”
“The risk is worth it, especially since we don’t have any research to—“. The perimeter alarm went off and the computer’s sensor lights turned red. A second later the power to the space station shut off to minimize its power signature and the backup generators kicked in.
“DRADIS contact,” the computer said calmly.
“I hadn’t noticed,” the technician said sarcastically.
“A one hundred foot vessel is approaching the station,” the computer said, disregarding the technician’s last statement as its speech algorithm defined it as sarcasm, which the computer could appropriately disregard.
“I thought you finally remembered my birthday and this was all prelude to a surprise party,” the technician said as he adjusted the power levels to the station from the computer on his desk and brought sensor systems online.
“Four hundred and thirty kilometers to starboard. Constant bearing. Closing distance.”
“You always forget my birthday.” The technician’s hands flew over the computer keys in front of him with practiced precision and dexterity.
“Two human life-forms detected.”
“I want Earth pizza this time not any of that Toyo purple tomato soup business; that was disgusting.”
“One male, one female in an unregistered vessel.”
“When am I going to have friends over, I never have anyone over anymore.” The technician felt the dim red strip of lights on the ceiling stop and focus on him.
“You don’t have friends,” the computer said sincerely.
The technician was going to reply, but was unsettled by the answer.
“They are hailing us.” the computer said smoothly after a few seconds of silence.
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“We don’t have a choice. We have to dock,” Lucien said. “We took an unlucky hit in that meteor shower. Our air tanks are leaking and our recycling system is working at sixy percent.” He was standing at the controls of his ship with several alarms flashing in his face.
“I don’t like the look of that place.” Maya said, standing behind him looking over his shoulder at the space station looming in the distance. It was the only thing they could see against the deep blackness of space. The space station sat in the middle of a gas cloud that obscured the stars around it and made it seem like it sat in the middle of a black hole.
“Our choice is simple. We either stay out here and die slowly or go there and live. Besides, it looks like it’s running on backup power so it’s probably deserted.”
“It looks like a colony ship,” she said. “How can a colony ship be deserted so far out of GDI space?”
Lucien shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a colony ship. Moving a thing that size would take too much energy, hence money. No one would pay that much money to move people.”
“Then what is it?” Maya asked reluctantly.
“I’m not sure and at this point I don’t really care. We have to go take a look. We might be able to salvage some oxygen tanks. Enough to get us back into GDI space where we can wait for a patrol ship.”
“We should never have left Mac. This whole thing was a bad idea,” Maya said on the verge of tears. Lucien turned around to look at her.
“Commerce Authority bans personal incorporation; so we can’t get married on Mac or on any of the Disney moons. Earth is our last option and being with you is never a bad idea.” He held her gently so he didn’t disturb any of the bruises on her ribs and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I’ll get us out of here, I promise.”
Maya found comforted in his embrace, but was stricken with a dark and twisting fear when she looked past him toward the space station lurking in the darkness of space.
Lucien turned back to the controls. “I’m not picking up any ambient signals, but I could have sworn their power signature was higher on our approach. Now the scanners are just picking up faint power readings throughout the station.”
“Are you going to hail the station,” Maya said. “Maybe there’s a skeleton crew.”
“I’ve been doing that for the past couple of minutes. So far nothing—Oh wait! I see something now. The lights to the docking bay came on.”
“The lights just came on without anyone saying anything!”
“Calm down. The power to the station is low so they probably don’t have the power to transmit a signal. We’re making our approach. We’ll be there in twenty minutes, why don’t you go and get some supplies ready to trade for those air tanks.”
The ship docked in the bay without a problem. The huge metal docking bay doors slid silently closed behind the ship as it landed.
Lucien lifted the bag of supplies onto his shoulder and walked out onto the walkway with Maya behind him.
No one was around to greet them. The walkway extended out towards the single door that led into the station. The only things in the docking bay besides themselves and the ship were a few grey containers at the far end of the walkway.
“That’s weird.” Lucien said.
“What?” Maya asked.
“I’ve never seen a docking bay with only a single door leading into the station.”
“I have,” Maya said.
“Have you ever seen one only large enough for people to walk through?” Lucien asked. Maya tho
ught about it and shook her head. “Poor planning if you ask me. They’re usually big enough to get large shipments of materials through them. It’s like this docking bay was built just for people.” Lucien said, looking around the large empty docking bay.
“Shipments of people.” Maya said drearily.
“Don’t start Maya, you’re getting yourself worked up for nothing.”
“You said someone turned on the lights to the docking bay. Why isn’t anyone here to meet us?”
“Maybe they have a skeleton crew running the place. On a ship this size they probably don’t have anyone to spare to come and meet us. Come on, let’s get inside and find those air tanks.”
They walked past the bow of their ship and towards the only door in the bay. As they approached the door it slid silently open and closed silently behind them after they walked through.
They entered into a smaller room that was dimly lit by a strip of green lights around the edge of the room. There was a door on each wall of the room. Lucien approached each one, but none of them opened, even the one they just came through.
“Now what?” Maya asked.
“The doors are automatic.” Lucien said. “They should open as we walk up to them. They’re locked.”
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“Let them sweat it out in there for a while,” the technician said. “It’ll give me time to set up. What project is close to completion?”
“The Ra project is in its final testing phase. A single test will complete our redundancy testing and confirm our test data,” the computer replied.
“The Ra project requires the eyes of a bird of prey. Do we have any in stock?”
The computer took a half second longer than it normally needed to query its database. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it, but the technician always noticed the slightest malfunction in the stations equipment.
“We currently have a surplus of Centrax eyes in our inventory,” the computer said in a rush to try and make up for lost time.
“I want to use the eyes of a Bald Eagle this time.”
“No. We need an ocular organ that will fill the entire cavity of the human eye. The visual range of a Centrax is slightly less than that of a Bald Eagle, but it meets our optical test conditions.”
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“Six hours Lucien, we’ve been here for six hours,” Maya said in disgust.
“I don’t need an update Maya,” Lucien said angrily, as he was trying to pry one of the doors open with sweat rolling down his face. “This is an old ship; maybe the door sensors are broken.”
“And the skeleton crew is still too busy to come and get us out of here?” Maya asked mockingly.
Lucien turned to face her with the same look in his eyes that she saw on several nights back on Mac after he had too much to drink. He walked towards her, hunched over, breathing heavily, eyes focused on Maya with nothing but fury behind them.
“Lucien don’t,” she said as she desperately backed into the door behind her. She pressed herself against the door and turned her face, struggling for every inch between her and Lucien. As she tried to back away the door behind her slid open and she fell to the floor.
Lucien was startled and relived to see an exit. He ran to Maya’s side and helped her to her feet.
“Are you alright Maya?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Lucien studied the dark corridor the door revealed. It was a dark corridor lined with metal grating and rusted pipes thick with condensation dripping onto the floor. The only light was from a soft green glow that slowly pulsed at the end of the corridor.
He dug through his supply bag and found a flashlight.
“I can’t wait to get my hands on the guy running this station,” he said with a hungry look in his eyes.
As they walked down the corridor they came across a door every fifty feet; each was locked. They continued to walk for hours towards the green light at the end of the corridor that never seemed to get any closer.
“Lucien, I have to stop,” Maya said as she fell to her knees; sweat rolling down her face and neck and matting locks of her hair.
“We have to keep moving,” Lucien said forcefully.
Maya shook her head. “I can’t.”
Lucien grabbed her by the arm and viciously yanked her to her feet. “Move!” he shouted in her face. Maya pulled herself away and threw the flashlight at him. It bounced off his chest, hit the floor and rolled to the wall shining its light down the dark corridor.
Lucien chuckled wickedly. “You’re getting brave woman,” he said.
A spike of fear pierced through Maya’s heart. She cringed as she saw the outline of his shadow walking towards her; each heavy step reminding her of the brutal nights back on Mac when he would stalk towards her in the same way. She looked away towards the only other thing she could see, the flashlight at the wall.
She noticed something.
“Lucien look!” she said enthusiastically pointing towards the flashlight. Lucien stopped and looked back at the light.
“The wall is curving,” she said. “That’s why we’ve been walking and getting nowhere. We’re walking in circles.”
Lucien studied the light continuing on into darkness and the wall gradually curving away.
“Who knows how many times we’ve circled this place,” Lucien said. “Maybe a dozen times. We have to get one of these doors open.”
They walked to the next door and tried to force it open, but after a few minutes of pushing and pulling they gave up and sat with their backs against the door as they caught their breath.
“What are we going to do Lucien?” Maya asked feebly.
Lucien shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“Maybe we should try to go back to the ship and get somebody on the radio.”
“We don’t even know where we are. We could walk back for hours and just find more locked doors.”
“I’m scared Lucien,” Maya whispered.
“Don’t worry I’m going to get you out of this.” He put an arm around her and Maya leaned into his embrace.
The lights in the hallway turned on blinding and disorienting them with an intense bright light. They stood up, shielding their eyes from the light.
“What’s happening?” Maya asked.
Maya looked down the corridor to try to get a good picture of it just in case the lights turned off again. Her vision was still blurry, but she could see...
Her scream echoed down the hallway.
The lights went out again.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lucien asked as he rubbed his eyes.
“I saw someone,” she said.
“What did he look like?”
“Lucien, I think we should get out of here.”
“Where did you see him?” Lucien asked.
“Down the hall in the direction we were heading.”
“What was he doing?”
“I don’t know. Lucien, let’s go back please,” Maya begged desperately.
“We don’t know where we are. It’ll be best if we just keep going.” He stood up and lifted the bag of supplies onto his shoulder. “And please stop screaming.”
The door behind Maya slid open silently and four sets of long thin milk-white arms with dry scaly skin flew out of the darkness and grabbed Maya and pulled her inside the door. Lucien tried to reach for her, but the door slid shut before he could reach her. He banged on the door and tried to pull it open as he cursed and hollered. “Give her back!” he growled.
Frustrated with the door, he ran down the hallway in the direction they were heading. He couldn’t see where he was going but he kept running and screaming for Maya.
He tripped and fell and didn’t have time to put his hands out in front of him and his face hit the steel grate floor leaving the taste of blood in his mouth.
He tried to pick himself up off the floor, but was st
ruck with a nauseas feeling that overwhelmed him, leaving the taste of vomit in the back of his throat. His head started to spin so violently that he decided to lie back down and get his bearings on the world again before he tried again.
He could feel the presence of someone standing next to him. He looked up and saw the green light that he was walking toward for the past few hours directly above him. An ice cold shiver ran down his spine starting at the base of his neck. Unlike his other sensations this one was wholly unnatural. He knew that it had come from some external force, but he didn’t care. The corridor was so hot and humid that he began to find comfort in the cold creeping through his body.
He was on the edge of sleep, listening to the static of emptiness when a hand reached down and thrust Lucien’s neck into the ground smashing his windpipe and cutting off his oxygen. Lucien struggled to breath, fruitlessly squirming until he felt a sharp sting of pain in the back of his neck.
It was a needle being shoved into his neck and scraping against his spine.
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Maya was screaming, but her scream was muffled by long thin bony fingers wrapped around her mouth. The fingers were coarse, dry and flaking. She finally stopped screaming and the fingers slowly slid off of her mouth. She could feel every inch of the dehydrated appendages as they moved across her lips. The middle finger lingered a moment longer to caress her lower lip before the hand moved away from her mouth.
All the hands that were holding her down released her all at once and Maya felt like she could breathe again. She backed into a corner and clutched her flashlight, but the light was off. She reached for the switch and the light shined up into the ceiling. Before she could bring it down and see the people that grabbed her one of them slithered forward and grabbed the flashlight and held it up towards the ceiling.
“Be very careful with that,” the person said. Maya noticed from the voice that it was a woman. Her words crept out of her mouth with a sigh as every word seemed to be a struggle.
Maya was having a hard time finding her own voice. She swallowed hard and managed to get a word out. “Who?” After the first word she found it easier to talk. “Who are you?”
She could hear the woman breathing heavily and swallowing hard mucus filled gulps of air. “We are sisters.” The woman said. She breathed in heavily and exhaled as she spoke. “The four of us. No room for a fifth.”
“I don’t want to stay,” Maya said.
She could only see the outline of the thin frail body of the woman against the ambient glow of the flashlight. The woman bobbed her head gently forward into the light until Maya could see her face.
The woman’s face was ghostly white except the corners of her mouth which were chapped, cracked and bleeding. The woman’s lips were two dried, shriveled little lines
The woman stared up into the light as if she was bathing in it. Her pupils never adjusted to the light. She had no iris, just two wide dilated pupils.
“It’s so brilliant,” she whispered as the corners of her withered lips jerked upward, each on their own, until they formed into a ghastly resemblance of a smile. “There is never any light in here,” the woman croaked. Maya could hear a small flutter of laughter come from the far end of the room where the three other sisters were, but when she looked, she only saw blackness. The only thing she saw was the gaunt white face of the woman in front of her bobbing between the dark and light.
The woman took a few quick sniffs of the air around Maya and said, “You can stay with us.” She let go of Maya’s hand and sat hunched over on the floor with her head hanging between her knees.
“I can’t!” Maya squealed. The woman shot a finger up to her mouth signaling Maya to be quiet.
“Calm yourself,” the woman whispered. “The computer can see your heart. You must calm yourself, slow your heart, or you will be found.”
“Found by who?”
“The technician,” the woman said in a voice so low Maya could barely hear her.
“Who is he?”
The woman shook her head and turned away from her. She shambled to her feet and disappeared into the darkness. “Come away from the door.” The woman whispered. “Come with us,” a different voice said. Maya stood up and kept the light trained on the ceiling. The ambient light was enough to see only the faded outlines of the objects around her and the four skeleton figures walking on the fringe of the light, appearing and disappearing seemingly at will. It was only now that Maya noticed that the women were completely naked, and their skin was like burlap, dry and cracking at the sharpest edges of their bones.
They led her into another room. The ground beneath Maya’s feet was soft and cushioned. Strips of clothing, bedding and other soft materials were torn up and strewn about the floor.
“We must rest. Rest yourself. We must slow our hearts,” the woman said. “We must prepare for what’s to come.” Maya could see them all curling up next to each other in a catlike ball in the farthest corner of the room.
She sat against the first wall that she found and held the flashlight to her chest. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the four ghostly figures lying on the floor at the edge of the light and she knew that sleep was going to be impossible.
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Lucien awoke with his eyes taped shut. He was lying on the floor with a nauseating headache. He got to his knees and reached up to feel the tape over his eyes. His fingers slid across the tape searching for the edge. He pulled on the edge of the tape and his skin burned as he slowly peeled the tape off. He threw the tape to the floor and opened his eyes, but the lights were on and it was too bright to keep them open. The light hurt his eyes and the pain echoed in his head.
He closed his eyes and waited for his head to stop spinning. He reached up to rub his eyes and felt small strands of wire forming a jagged line from the edge of his eyes to his temples.
Stitches.
He pulled himself up on unsteady feet and shielded his eyes from the light with his hand. He opened his eyes and was staring at his hand. He could see the tiny grooves of skin that swirled around his fingertips. He could see the dirt and grit that was caught in the middle of those grooves. He couldn’t remember ever having such a distinct view of his hand.
His eyes began to adjust to the light. He looked down the corridor and saw an open door in front of him. He reached out to lean on the door frame, but missed it and fell to the floor. He got back to his knees and looked down the corridor. The door now seemed a hundred yards away.
He rubbed his eyes again and looked at the floor to get his feet under him and he could see the deep rigid grooves of the metal floor. He looked away quickly in a mix of confusion and fear. Looking up at the ceiling he could see tiny particles of dust floating through the air. He captured every dust particle one at a time in his vision and was nauseated by the abundance of dust in the air.
He stood and started to walk again towards the door. He could see the door perfectly. He reached out again for the door frame, but couldn’t reach it.
He tripped again and fell.
He was too afraid to open his eyes and see what he tripped over. Instead he closed his eyes and searched with his hands.
It was a bar sticking up from the ground about one foot high. He looked down along the floor of the corridor and saw several boxes and bars scattered along the hallway as if it was a maze that he was supposed to walk through.
Every time he tried to focus on an obstacle he could see the grooves and deep cracks of metal boxes and the bumpy surface of the metal bars. Staring at the floor or the walls was equally disturbing.
Caught between frustration and annoyance he fell to his knees and tried to cry, but nothing came out and the effort made a searing pain build up at the edges of his eyes. His inability to do something as primitive as cry filled him with wild frustration. He pulled at his stitches at the edge of his eyes until blood ran down h
is cheeks. When the stitches were out he slid his index fingers behind his eyes, got a good grip, and began to pull.
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Maya woke up alarmed that she had fallen asleep. She looked around for the four women, but couldn’t find them.
The flashlight was still pointing up into the ceiling so she decided to bring it down to have a better look at the room, but before she was able to her hand was caught again by the woman.
“We were watching you sleep,” the woman said as if it was completely normal to watch someone sleep.
Maya shrugged the chills out of her body. “I have to leave,” she pleaded. “I have to get back to my ship. I want to go home.”
“You can’t leave,” the woman said. Maya could hear the thick spit in the woman’s mouth crackle and bubble as she spoke.
“Why?” Maya asked hesitantly.
The woman motioned for Maya to come closer. Maya leaned cautiously towards her. The woman placed her hand on Maya’s shoulder and leaned in towards her ear. “We haven’t eaten yet.” She bit down into Maya’s neck.
Maya screamed until the energy drained out of her body as cold rough hands pulled at her limbs as if she was a doll being fought over by children.
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“I would call that a success,” the technician said.
“The patient was unable to control his eyesight,” The computer responded bluntly.
“Yes, but the eyes were implanted without any major damage or loss of function. The patient simply couldn’t see the gift that was given to him.” The technician stifled a laugh “No pun intended,” he said with a smirk.
The computer remained silent.
The technician knew what different types of silence meant since silence was the only emotion the computer could show without seeming too emotionally adept.
He began to wonder if maybe he was just placing his own emotions into the computer, but if that was true then that would mean that he was crazy and he most certainly was not, so he pushed the thought away.
“Did you find the girl?” the technician asked.
“I tracked her into sector seven,” the computer said. “Many of my sensors are down in that area, but I was able to track her heart beat. Unfortunately I lost her signal an hour ago.”
The technician shivered. “Sector seven? That place gives me the creeps, nothing but filthy medical rejects frolicking about down there. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. The surgical data from her companion will be enough. The data from the operation will bring in enough money to keep us afloat a little while longer.”
The technician turned away from the green strip of lights on the ceiling and towards his computer. He tried to think of a statement that would professionally summarize his hypothesis for this experiment. He thought for a moment and then began typing, but was distracted by an emptiness growing deep inside him. His mouth began to water and he was suddenly struck with an overwhelming craving for pizza.
Get the author’s debut novel Code Name Atlas available on any eBook reader.
Code Name Atlas
By Tony Evans
Atlas is a war hero caught between his wife's love and saving the survivors of Earth which has been destroyed by unknown forces leaving it in ruins. The closest thing to organized leadership is the packs of scavengers that take what they want. To keep his wife safe he builds an army. To give her the life she wants he fights. To win back their home he must go to war. But, she doesn't believe that his sacrifice is for her and his selflessness is driving them apart. As he struggles for his wife's devotion he is caught in a war with a tyrannical dictator. To win the war and his wife safety he must give her up and fight a war where defeat is expected. To fight a dictator he must become a warlord.
Hovering over everything is the threat of an alien invasion which Atlas slowly pieces together through unreliable stories told by the survivors. He soon learns that his fight is only a small part in a war that has been raging for hundreds of years and reaches throughout the galaxy.
A gritty and realistic feel blends with minimal use of science fiction elements to create a rich, believable contemporary story of one soldier's heart-wrenching post-apocalyptic journey to keep his family alive.
"A very accomplished, spirited novel of depth and intelligence.” – SFBook.com
“A lucky find, a diamond in the rough and great fun to read.” – Speculative Book Review
“Tony Evans has mastered the transportation of the mind into another reality.” – Tome Tender
“I hope there’s a sequel.” – Golden Crusade
Authors Note:
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. I wrote the short stories in this collection in 2010 and have been writing flash through the years. The ideas came in bursts of inspiration and the writing was fast and furious. Choosing the title for this collection was the hardest part. The title ran the gamut from serious too complex to silly before ending up at Divergent Dreams. I think I even tried, My Noggin be Dreamin’ before my wife shook her head, gave me the look, and I quietly changed it.
Don’t forget to write a review. I greatly appreciate your feedback.
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