to die. He got up from his chair and left the command deck, he headed for his room and the items that he had secreted on to the Swiftsure within his own personal belongings, once located he headed for the Swiftsure’s galley.
A person to person message came through on Elvis’s text strip that was encoded into his left eye. The message was from the co-pilot requesting to know Elvis’s location. Elvis replied that he was in the galley. A second message came through requesting that Elvis inspect a suspected cable brakeage probably caused by their last pulse jump in promenade corridor 12, level 6. Elvis knew that the corridor was only a few meters away from where he was located so replied in the affirmative.
The corridor was dark, even after Elvis had entered it through the airlock door. The auto lamps should have activated and lit up the corridor as Elvis approached, but they failed. Elvis wondered if this was a side effect of the damaged cable. He opened the access control panel and checked its status board; it showed one on the conduit cables as defective. He noted the location and keyed it in to the touchpad. Three meters along the corridor a floor bay opened. Elvis closed the access control panel and walked towards the opened floor bay.
Crouching next to the floor bay he rested his arm on his bent knee and peered into the open hatch using his pocket torch to illuminate its interior. A puzzled look spread across his face as he gazed at the cause of the problem. There in front of him was indeed a severed cable, but the cable was not ripped or blown apart it was very neatly cut in two by a pair of heavy duty side cutters. It wasn’t a difficult diagnosis to make as the cutters were left alongside the cable in plain view.
Elvis swallowed hard, and his heartbeat quickened as another person to person message raced across his left eye. The message read - Sorry Captain Lanza, but this opportunity to strike a decisive blow against the Pranteenie family was an invitation that we, the VLA, could not let pass. We apologise to you, but in our struggle against the Pranteenie’s sacrifices must be made. Rest assured that your name will live forever for today we write history, as today is the day that vampires throughout the galaxy finally win their freedom.
Elvis’s eyes widened as he spun around to face the airlock door, just as the lock snapped shut. Using his torch he shone it at the glass panel where he could see the face of his co-pilot staring back at him. The co-pilot raised his hand to salute his Captain and then pointed towards the outer wall of the corridor. Elvis followed the direction of the co-pilots pointing finger. The blast shields that covered the promenade corridor outer skin started to rise, revealing what would have been a scenic glass walkway for paying customers on-board the luxurious CTF Swiftsure to enjoy whatever planet or moon they happened to be cruising alongside.
A look of bewilderment, replaced the shocked expression on Elvis’s face until he realised that the Swiftsure had been manoeuvred to present its broadside to the solar system. Sunlight from ten years distant engulfed the corridor, Elvis raised his arms to shield his eyes from the deadly light, but it was to no avail, the damage was already done. Elvis let out an unheard scream before his whole body crumbled to dust and fell to the floor mixing with his now empty clothes.
The co-pilot flicked the switch on the control console beside the airlock door, the blast shield shuddered to a halt and then slowly started to lower again; darkness once more reclaimed the corridor. The co-pilot turned from the door and made a mental note to repair the damage that he had done to the cable before the next pulse jump was scheduled to take place. He licked his lips, this killing business, he thought, makes for thirsty work. He made his way to the galley to help himself to a cup of synthetic blood.
The blood gulped in to the cup that the co-pilot held under the tap. Once it was full he raised it to his mouth, but then paused. A smile stretched across his face as he raised the cup higher in mock salute, “Elvis has, finally, left the building.” He called out to himself before draining the cup in one shot.
He closed his eyes and felt the tepid thick syrup travel down the back of his throat. He licked his lips and thought about re-filling the cup, but then he coughed and spluttered. He dropped the paper cup and reached for his throat. The pleasant warm feeling that the blood usually gave him had been replaced with an agonising burning sensation. He coughed again, putting his hand over his mouth some of the remnants of the synthetic blood splattered against it. He looked at the few flecks of blood on his hand and became puzzled by the way they started to burn in to his skin. He held his hand up to his nose and inhaled.
Garlic, the blood was laced with garlic. He spun round to face the blood dispenser and swung his arm at the reservoir of blood it held. The reservoir fell from the dispenser and shattered on the floor. The blood that it contained splattered across the galleys floor. The co-pilot let out a cry from his burning mouth as the fumes from the spilt blood filled his nostrils; the whole reservoir had been impregnated with garlic.
Panic raced through the co-pilots mind as he suddenly remembered that he had not yet switched the fridge to off-line. He took a step forward, but the garlic already in his body started to take its toll on him and his leg gave way. The co-pilot fell forward into the pool of spilt blood that coated the galleys floor.
The co-pilot howled in agony and writhed on the floor in pain as more and more of the split blood made contact with his body and soaked in to his clothing. Smoke raised from off his skin as the tainted blood started to burn through its layers to his bones. Blisters formed then burst revealing fresh new flesh to be smeared with the bad blood.
Inch by inch and foot by foot he managed to crawl his way to the command deck, but with each effort he increase his heartrate which caused the contaminated blood to flow even faster through his body. He reached the airlock door to the command deck, but it was only on his third attempt that the voice recognition system allowed the door to respond to his command. The door opened and he slithered on through.
He looked up towards the control console that was a mere ten feet away. He could make out the refrigeration unit’s status key; it was illuminated to show its status as being on-line. He swallowed hard and prepared himself for one more effort to cover the final ten feet, but this single action proved all too much for the co-pilots irrevocable damaged body. He slumped to the floor; the remaining air in his lungs was expelled by the force of his chest collapsing on to them. His body slowly start to disintegrate as the garlic ate through his flesh as acid would to human skin.
Breaking news from Ceti F, with the arrival of the Pranteenie family from Earth a formal announcement was made by the head of the family. Fabrizio Pranteenie XIV read out the statement after his family had recovered from the journey. The statement read as follows; the Pranteenie family is pleased to announce that from this day forth all bounds that have tied the vampire race with that of the Pranteenie family have now been undone. This so called blood oath that has existed between the two factions has no place in the galaxy anymore. Therefore we release the vampires from their oath and welcome their presence to the Commercial Freight Transport board of directors, where we are sure we will appreciate and grow with their valued contribution.
Stop press - The investigation in to the death of the two pilots on board the CTF Swiftsure that transported the Pranteenie’s to Ceti F has been close. The government coroner posted a verdict of murder / suicide.
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