Deep Space Dead (22 page)

Arianna looked up and all around her. All she could see was the grey metal of the immediate vicinity. The five of them bunched together so as not to lose one another in the blizzard and began to feel around the vessel for an entrance. Arianna bumped against something solid and when she looked up she could just about see well enough to discern steps. She alerted the others and they began to climb, stopping at a heavy steel door which blocked any further progress. Prima Blak stepped forwards closely followed by Jak who was already taking the laser cutter from his back. The door was made of a heavy thick steel and even with the powerful cutter would take hours to break through and yet no sooner had Prima Blak placed her hands upon the door than it mysteriously swung open as if activated from a switch within, causing the others to leap back in surprise. Arianna and the others shone their flashlight into the dark corridor within, seeing only a network of pipes stretching off into the blackness. “Be careful,” cautioned Dr Palk. “Remember we think the cause of the revenants to be the survivors of the original colonial mission. If this is true then that place marks the epicentre.”

The starship was vast and desolate. It was an eerie feeling Being inside it. Cold steel walls and pipes led off into the distance. Arianna wasn’t sure what she had expected. She wondered whether this was how it had always been or whether the aesthetics had somehow been stripped away at an earlier point in time. Either way it was a veritable dinosaur of a craft, she thought to herself. Even though the ship offered their only hope of salvation her historian’s mind could not help but remark upon its value as an artefact.  The starship was vast, far larger than the Tula IV. “Still too cramped for fifty thousand people,” said Arianna knowledgeably, when they were inside the narrow corridor. “From what I’ve read about those things the journey was pretty hellish; a lot of people even opted to go into stasis for the duration of the voyage.”

“And what about for us?” Asked Jak. “For the five thousand people we have?”

“If it is still intact it’ll be a positive luxury,” said Arianna, unable to suppress a smile.

Hari Shorr moved forwards arrogantly. He wanted to establish himself as a leader although his face and general demeanour gave away his uncertainty and apprehension. Arianna trailed behind, the flashlight lingering over the walls, trying to soak up every detail. It was strangely warm in the craft. Arianna wondered whether this was because it had been so bitterly cold outside, whether this was the way her body adjusted. She almost imagined she could feel the heat coming off the walls.

“It is pristine!” Exclaimed Arianna.

“Too pristine,” replied Prima Blak nervously. “Somebody has been looking after this place.”

“These doors have been patched up, and recently,” said Jak.

“Do you think it might be the revenants?” Asked Prima Blak nervously. “After all, we have barely considered they might be here. Our instruments didn’t detect them when we were coming into land, certainly, but this does not mean they won’t rise up through the bowels of the earth again like when you and Arianna went food hunting the other day.”

“If they are on their way they will take a lot longer to get here from the starship than before,” said Jak, trying to sound reassuring. “The terrain is far rougher and there are no caves located around. I checked it out before we set off. This time we really should have a good few hours before they attack.”

“You’re right,” said Prima Blak, and she sounded more cheerful now. “We should concentrate on exploring this vessel, see what we might find.”

Still keeping close together the group came to a flight of steps leading upwards. Jak led the way, closely followed by the others. Upon stepping out on to the next level a series of lights suddenly flicked on to light up the corridor. Arianna and the others gave a start. “Keep calm,” said Jak when the initial shock had subsided. “It doesn’t mean anything. Most likely an automatic mechanism.”
“Still working after so long though?” Asked Arianna in wonderment.

“I suppose the thing is a virtual fossil,” put in Prima Blak. “Anything would be in such an isolated spot.”

“Just look at this place,” breathed Dr Palk. He pointed. The corridor stretched off into the distance, its walls and ceilings an endless, almost unbearable white. Here and there were doors to the side. Arianna cautiously stepped forwards and pushed one of them open. The lights automatically flickered on. Inside was a small, neat and perfectly furnished bedroom complete with shower room and bath to the side. The sheets seemed new and fresh and there was not a patch of decay anywhere to be seen. “Absolutely pristine!” Exclaimed Dr Palk, coming to stand in the room beside Arianna. A quick inspection of the other doors soon revealed them to be similarly well furnished bedrooms. “Something is wrong,” said Arianna warily. “Why are all the rooms so clean? Why have they been stripped bare of any personal effects? Why if people had lived her, and left in a hurry would there not still be traces of them somewhere? Personal effects or something like that?”

“Perhaps these were overspill rooms that were never used?” Suggested Jak. “We should keep searching the rest of the ship before making any more snap judgements.”

The group walked to the far end of the corridor and tried the door. It was shut tight. Arianna looked around at Jak. “What should we do now?” She asked him.

“We could try and break through it but I’d be reluctant to do that right now,” replied the ranger. “Not with everything looking as good as it does. Best we turn around, try and find a way around.”

“You mean we leave and try to find another entrance?” Asked Hari Shorr uncertainly. “Back into that blizzard outside?”
“Indeed so,” replied Jak, clearly not relishing the prospect. “This door appears to be the only way through.”

All of a sudden there came a loud crackling noise. It sounded like the static of the radio, was very loud and echoed off the otherwise silent walls of the corridor. The noise caused Arianna and the others to almost fall off their feet with shock. “What the heck was that?” Demanded Hari Shorr fearfully.

“It sounded like a radio,” said Arianna. “Like static. Or it may have been the movement of the snow outside.”
“I felt no movement,” said Dr Palk cautiously. He looked about him. “Up there!” He said at last, pointing to what appeared to be intercom speakers nestled high in the ceiling.

“Most likely nothing,” said Jak, although he sounded less than convinced. “After all, the lights still work so why should the speakers not be going as well? Most likely still on somewhere.”

“But after all this time?” Asked Arianna, for what seemed like the tenth time.

The five of them made their way back the way they had come, to the main door of the starship which led back outside. None of them were relishing the biting cold of the polar winds but in the event this was the least of their worries for the doors to the starship were now closed shut. “What could have happened?” Demanded Jak as he pressed his full weight against the door. “I swear we left them open.”
“Must have pushed shut in the wind,” said Dr Palk, coming up to examine the hinges.

“You mean we’re trapped in here?” Demanded Hari Shorr in alarm.”
“Not quite,” replied Jak. “It will take a while but we should be able to drill our way out of here although I’d rather not. We should try and find another way through.”
They turned to leave but at that moment the intercom above crackled again and a low pitched, guttural voice wavered over the ancient equipment. “There is no other way out,” boomed the voice. “And only one true path left open to you strangers, and that is the path that is lit up. You are perfectly safe. No harm will come to you.”

Arianna and the others spun around, looking this way and that, all too stunned to speak. Dr Palk was the first to regain his composure. “Who are you?” He demanded in a clear voice, talking up at the speakers on the ceilings. “What is the meaning of this?”

There was no reply.

“How can somebody still be alive down here?” Demanded Hari Shorr desperately.

“Perhaps it is the computer system,” suggested Jak. “Perhaps it has somehow kept the ship in working order all these years.”

“Impossible,” said Arianna. “The artificial intelligence was nowhere so advanced five thousand years ago.”

“No use speculating,” said Jak. “If we’re not going to be able to get out of here I don’t see we’ve got much choice other than to do as we’re told.”

“So what are we going to do?” Spluttered Hari Shorr haughtily.

“Not much we can do except to follow the voice as he commands us,” replied Jak stoically.

“And how do we know the voice isn’t just going to lead us straight into a den of revenants?”

“We don’t,” replied Jak. “But the ship is completely closed off to us and by the looks of what we have seen so far whoever that voice belongs to is in complete control.”

“So we’re basically at their mercy?” Asked Arianna.

“So it would seem,” sighed Jak. “But on the plus side they haven’t killed us yet.”
“Who are they?” Demanded Hari Shorr. “Why they can only be colonists, survivors of the attack on Griumium who somehow made their way here and sought sanctuary in the ship.”

“Very doubtful,” remarked Arianna. “Most likely they are the survivors of the first expedition; descendants of the original occupants of this very starship.”
“Whatever they are they have boxed us into a corner,” said Dr Palk warily. “And now we are their prisoners. I suppose it is all we can do to follow the path they have lain out for us and see what exactly they have store.”

As they walked doors opened before them. They climbed several staircases and came out into a larger, more spacious corridor not dissimilar to the main street on the
Tula IV.
For Arianna it was like stepping into an ancient crypt. The walls appeared so much more jagged and brutal but in other ways nothing had changed. They rounded the corner, stopped and gasped. Before them stood a jungle in the middle of the spaceship, a veritable tangle of over a hundred acres of foliage and plant life; gnarled bark and twisted trees left to grow wild and stretching all the way to the ceiling of the great glass dome before them. “The arboretum!” Exclaimed Arianna in wonderment.

“Why it is huge!” Said Dr Palk. “And almost completely intact as well. I cannot believe the starship has maintained its atmosphere for so long.”

“But does it save us?” Demanded Hari Shorr impatiently.

“It more than saves us,” said Prima Blak, unable to take her eyes off the wonder before her. “It allows us to thrive! Why we could build a town within this very arboretum even without the fully intact dormitory rooms below. We are saved!”
“Let us not get too ahead of ourselves,” said Jak cautiously. “We still have the voice on the ship to contend with.”
“That is true,” replied Dr Palk. “And I am concerned we have not seen any other sign of life on this ship. It looks as though the arboretum has been left to grow wild and there does not appear to be even the slightest trace of personal effect anywhere throughout this craft. If humankind have survived they do not appear to have done so in any great numbers.”

They climbed another flight of steps, high towards the top of the starship. Arianna looked and saw the wall to the right was glass and gave out to a view of the arboretum. She peered at the thick trees, weeds and knotted vines and tried to imagine the lush artificial pastureland it must once have given out to. They reached the top of the steps and turned right. “I have a feeling we have not far to go now,” said Dr Palk warily. “We are near the top of the craft.”

Sure enough they rounded another corner to find a door wide open ahead of them. The room was dark and dim but from it there came a buzzing sound. Arianna was aware of flashing lights and for some reason felt a presence within. She held her breath and stepped forwards through the doorway.

18

Arianna gasped and instinctively stepped back, her hand reaching for the pistol by her side for she stood starring into the glassy eyes of a revenant. And yet the creature made no move to attack her and there was a strange familiarity in its otherwise indistinguishable features. Perhaps it was a statue, for it made no move towards her. No, it was most certainly alive. There was no doubting that. Arianna cautiously looked around and saw that the creature was not alone. There were ten of them  in all. It was impossible to distinguish their sex. The other humans also gasped when they entered into the room and all were rooted to the spot. When the chief of the revenants, for this is surely what they were, finally spoke up its voice was low and monotone; completely without emotion. “Call me Guya,” said the creature, without preamble.

The group of humans just stood there gaping. Prima Blak was the first to break the silence. “Are you… an alien?” She asked cautiously.

Guya shook his head, neither amused nor offended at the question. “It is as your comrade Arianna said,” it said flatly. “We are all that is left of the first colonists of this planet, the original pioneers of the
Suki II
.”

“You mean you have evolved to this?” Asked Dr Palk in astonishment.

“Not evolved,” replied Guya. “Modified. Genetically modified. Once I was the leading scientist aboard the
Suki II.
I was called Xen. We arrived her the same as you, filled with hope and optimism and the promise of a new life in paradise. But what we found was a strange new disease the like of which humankind had never seen before. I spent many days trapped inside this very office searching desperately for a cure as thousands died all around me. The closest I could find made us the creatures you see before us today.”