Waiting (23 page)

Jacobs smiled
and said, 'I'll take that as a yes, then. Val. Like I said, this is
going to sound more than a little crazy. Best if you just listen
and I just tell you all I know and a few things I think I know.
Ready?'

'Only with a
refill. There. Now I'm ready.'

It took ten
minutes to tell what he knew, Cormack resisting the temptation to
intervene. They were on their third glass of wine by the time he
had finished.

'I'm surprised
to hear myself saying this, but I actually believe you. That's only
because it's you telling me. What you are saying is one of us on
the Goliath could already be a host.'

'Yes. But I
don't see how. No alien ship has been seen either in space or on
Spero when we went in the shuttle.'

'Oh, my God.
I've just thought of something. You could be...'

'I could be
what?'

This was
awkward. Cormack had undeniable feelings for Jacobs now, this man
who had shared her bed. But details were dropping into place.

'Come with
me.'

They walked in
silence to the medical centre, Cormack locking the door behind
them. 'I had this cleaned and I repaired it,' she said, finding
Jacobs' spacesuit in a cupboard.

'I clean forgot
I'd left that here,' said Jacobs. He went to take it from her but
she held it back from him. 'I can't have it back?'

'In a moment.
See this?'

'A patch. I
didn't know it had been damaged.'

Cormack said,
'I noticed it when I picked it up when you had left it here. You,
Sam and Anne had just come back in the shuttle.'

'After our trip
to Spero. Yes. What of it?'

'I believe it
happened on Spero. Come here. Turn around.' Cormack pushed the hair
aside at the top of his neck. 'Oh, God. You have two marks that
correspond to the holes in the suit.'

Jacobs said,
'Yeah, those things. Belle mentioned them when she cut my hair.
I've no idea where they came from.'

'Don't you?
They're quite fresh, Jay Jay. Something happened to you on
Spero?'

'I fell.
Tripped over something in that fog.'

Cormack said,
'Do you remember doing that?'

'Not really.
Next thing I knew Anne was helping me into the terraformer. I must
admit things were a little hazy for the rest of that trip. Hey! Now
you just wait a moment. No. I don't think I like where your
thinking is going.'

'Like it or
not, Jay Jay, something pierced your suit and neck while you were
on Spero. You said yourself that something is waiting for us on
Spero. Something that needs a host to survive in. What better way
to enter a human body?'

'Now I'm
getting scarred, Val. If I am the host, I'll throw myself out the
airlock right this minute.'

Cormack
believed he would do just that, rather than put the safety of
everyone in jeopardy. 'I'm pleased to hear you say so.'

Jacobs gasped.
'You want me off the ship?'

'No. But the
fact you said that rather than just try to cover it up with deceit
suggests you don't have anything controlling your mind. Thee must
be a way to verify this once and for all. Of course.'

'Now what?'

'X-ray. If you
are carrying all of another species inside you, something should
show, right?'

'I would have
thought so. Let's do it.'

Jacobs stripped
and Cormack x-rayed every inch of his body.

'Completely
free of aliens. Whatever made those marks and punctured your neck
obviously failed to make you a host.'

'You have no
idea how relieved I am to hear that.

Cormack kissed
him and said, 'Just how I like my man. Totally human.'

Chapter 72

Immediately
after Loretti had died, Maxim left her remains for Doctor Stein to
deal with. He had his pilot take him in his small personal ship to
the Base. He had considered using a battle cruiser filled with
troops, but on this occasion he decided less was indeed more. They
landed in front of the huge Base door which was open, as Gunther
had left it on his hasty retreat. Maxim ordered his pilot to stay
in the ship and to be ready to instantly take off again. He wanted
as few people as possible knowing his business.

Having been on
official visits on several occasions in his capacity of president,
he had a layman's knowledge of the Base and although he was not
technically adept, he was far from being a stupid man. The empty
Base had a haunted feel to it and he felt uncomfortable just being
there. He found the radio room, still lit up. Using his rudimentary
understanding of the radio he endeavoured to coax sense out of it
but all his attempts failed. Then he noticed not all of the control
panel had lit up. Bending down he looked underneath. There was an
inspection panel missing leaving a gaping hole. On his hands and
knees he had a closer and didn't like what he saw. An obvious space
where a significant unit was missing.

'Gunther!'

Maxim's dilemma
was to figure out what Gunther had done with the unit. The major
had escaped in a hurry with the others. He wanted to prevent or at
least slow down anyone's attempt to call the Goliath. With precious
little time Gunther would not have been able to hide it in the
Base.

'Damn you,
Gunther. You took it with you.'

Too much
depended on contacting the Goliath and for that he needed that
unit. To do that he had to track down Gunther. He needed a tight,
elite guard to go with him, find Gunther and return with the unit.
With that daunting task ahead he ran outside, jumped into his ship
and they were in the air in seconds, heading back to the
headquarters.

Chapter 73

Jacobs had just
three days to go before his return to his pod to sleep away another
two weeks. In a way he welcomed that as a respite from all that
turmoil. One thing about their time in the pods was that it came
with untroubled sleep. Dreams were lighter and nightmares unheard
of. He always felt completely refreshed and healthy as the support
systems purged his systems of toxins. Although he welcomed his next
stint, new thoughts filled his waking moments. He would miss the
tender caresses he shared with Val. Now this new threat hung over
all their heads. Aliens.

As he lay on
his bed, outwardly calm and still, inwardly his mind raced at a
hundred miles per hour. He had been declared alien free thanks to
the x-rays. Were they to x-ray everyone on the ship to ascertain if
they were also alien free? It was an option though not one he had
suggested to Val. Yet.

Something he
couldn't nail down still tormented him. Facts and parts of facts
chased each other going round and round in ever decreasing circles.
He pursued these imaginary dogs but somehow couldn't pin them down.
What was it that nagged away at the back of his mind? He suspected
that it was actually something simple could he just identify
it.

It was, he
felt, stemming from when he was with Val and what they had said.
The two holes in his suit and the corresponding marks on the back
of his neck were proof positive that while he had been on Spero, an
attempt had been made to use him as their next host. That's what
plagued his mind. He had not been alone. Anne Lee and Sam Clifton
had been with him down there.

Anne? Of course
possible. But he had been with her all the time. All the time? No.
The couple of minutes he had been unconscious couldn't count. And
obviously whatever had tried to infest him was close enough to get
to Anne. Yes, possible. But instinct told him no. Not because it
wasn't possible, because it clearly was, but because there was
still another piece of the puzzle he was trying to grasp.

Sam Clifton.
For over ten hours he had been alone fixing the first terraformer.
Ample time to be made into a host. It was something Sam had said,
or more specifically, not said to him. He had taken the first call
from Gunther and had not told his captain. Oh there was the
seemingly reasonable excuse that somebody, a human not a host, was
working against the humans worst interests.

Jacobs sat up
as the stark realisation hit him. 'Sam Clifton. You didn't tell me
because you are the host.'

Every fibre of
his being now screamed this out loud as a certain fact and it was
easy to prove. X-rays. Both Anne and Sam would have their necks
examined for puncture marks and have x-rays taken. Refusal would be
evidence of guilt.

Chapter 74

Spider class
ships were formidable. The Venom was something else. It had been
developed in the final year of the war but that war had ended
before being used in battle. It was the first battle cruiser with
its own forcefield. Tried before but never previously successful.
With this ship Maxim could rain terror on the enemy without as much
as getting its dull black paint-job scratched.

'This thing
ready?' was all the president wanted to know.

'Yes, sir,'
said head of weapons development, Paula Rickley. 'That she's just
sitting here untested in battle saddens me.'

'Yes, yes,'
said Maxim. 'Your dedication...etcetera etcetera. Commendable and
all that. She has a pilot?'

'Del Nolan.
Young. Not a Sparrow, may she rest in peace, but keen and top
scoring in her theory.'

Maxim said,
'Theory. Right. Any battle experience?'

'A couple of
sorties. She is still only nineteen.'

'Any notches on
her belt?'

Rickley said,
'Accounted well for herself, I understand. Cool under fire. Sir. Is
this conversation going anywhere?'

'No. But this
ship is. I want her ready to go in one hour. Two top shooters and
as many troops as she can carry.'

Rickley said,
'With respect, sir. That requires a military directive, not
civilian.'

'Is that so?
And this would usually be authorised by Commander General
Loretti?'

'Yes, sir. Or
of course General Kane.'

'But as she is
dead, not likely?'

Rickley
actually blushed. 'Unfortunate. Oh. And of course, sad. But General
Loretti should...'

'Dead.'

The look of
shock on Rickley's face told Maxim that the news of Loretti's
demise hadn't yet become common knowledge.

'I was with her
to the very end. You know what her last words were?'

'I wasn't
there.'

'No, she didn't
say that. What she said with her dying breath was, "Go see Chief
Rickley. Tell her I think she is brilliant.'' She said that on her
death bed.'

Rickley said,
'She did?'

'I'm your
president. Would I lie?'

'Well,...'

'Exactly. But
that wasn't all she said. Her fingernails dug so deep in my arm
they drew blood. She said, "Take the ship Chief Rickley built and
go wipe out the enemy." And that is why I'm here. To honour our
greatest warrior's dying wish. Now. Do you really need a piece of
paper?'

'I'll have the
Venom ready to go in one hour, sir.'

'Excellent,'
said Maxim.

Chapter 75

This should not
be happening. It wasn't the first time he had experienced this, but
this time the pain was acute.

'Too early. Too
soon. We...are...not...ready.'

The host body
had experienced pain before, but not this severe. He was down on
the floor rolling around in agony. He clasped his hands on his
belly and that is when panic turned to terror. They had moved.
Whatever
should
be happening nature had other plans. He
hauled himself up to his knees then onto legs hardly strong enough
to hold him up. The mirror told him the truth. The light in the
eyes was the final sign. They had to come out fast otherwise this
host was going to die in spectacular fashion and his kind would be
no more. He called Beech.

'It's time. I
will meet you in the incubation section.'

'On my
way.'

He went out
into the corridor and staggered towards the incubation section. The
pain was almost unbearable, when he almost collided into Anne
Lee.

'Sam. You look
awful.'

'I'm... on my
way to sickbay.'

'Here. Lean on
me. I'll help you.'

He pushed Lee
away. 'I don't need your help. Leave me alone.'

'Hmm. Excuse me
for caring.'

'Sorry. I
didn't mean...I'll be ok.' He limped on, holding his belly.

Lee said,
'Sam.'

'Not now,
Anne.'

'But the
sickbay is the other way.'

He ignored Lee
and with a head swimming with pain he reached the elevator, hit the
sensor to open the door and stepped inside. The door pinged open
again and he was staggering along the last corridor towards the
incubation section, relieved to see Beech waiting outside.

He said,
'Inside. Quick.'

He stepped
inside and Beech closed and locked the door. His legs folded and
Beech grabbed him, almost going over with him.

'Are you ok? Is
this...normal?'

'Too...soon.
Must come out now or we die.'

'Got that. Time
to go into the embryos. What do we do?'

He writhed and
gyrated in a peculiar way, and the lights in his eyes stared at
Beech without seeing.

'Not me,' said
Beech. 'That's what we agreed. I'll help but don't use me.'

He started to
cough, then wretch. His shining eyes bulged as did his belly, then
his throat. His mouth stretched open so far Beech thought his jaw
would dislocate. Something was in his mouth. She gaped transfixed
as it wriggled along his tongue and paused blindly, its own mouth
wide open. At the side of its head were two independently waving
tentacles, seeking its host.

'Put us into
the incubation chambers,' he said. 'One of us for each embryo.'

Beech said,
'But there are hundreds of them.'

'The chambers.
Open them all. Hurry. Do it now.'

Beech had been
promised a life of luxury; all she could dream of and more. To do
this all she had to do was to help them. She ran to the emergency
switch on the wall which opened all the incubation chambers
simultaneously should there be a fire or some other emergency and
the embryos had to be rescued. The combined hiss of hundreds of
chambers opening together made the sound of a monstrous serpent,
which echoed throughout the vast room.