The Agathon: Book One (20 page)

“I’m sorry,” she whispered at the image. Carrie’s mind was filled with images of the girl in a hospital bed. Her face had sunken black eyes as the life signs faded on the medical readout above her bed. Her mind became flooded with a multitude of flashing images of the birth, life and death of the little girl.

Carrie withdrew from her mind, unable to stand the onslaught of sadness. She stopped in the courtyard and stared at the faces of The Agathon’s personnel. She felt pain and something else. Something that did not belong. There was little in the minds of The Agathon’s crew to indicate motive for destructive acts. She continued her search through the crowd of minds. Kristina Padrosa, a
thirty
-
four
-
year
-old engineer. Abigail Storer, a
thirty
-
one
-
year
-old engineer. Oliver Alcoverro, a
thirty
-
six
-
year
-old physicist. Harry Featherstone, a
forty
-
one
-
year
-old mathematician. Atanazja Roach, a
twenty
-
eight
-
year
-old FTL technician. Leigh Jordan, a
thirty
-
three
-
year
-old plasma engineer.

Doctor Tyrone Tyrell. “GET THE FUCK OUT!” came the ferocious scream. Carrie was thrown across the courtyard by a blast of energy, as the images of The Agathon’s crew shattered into a thousand pieces.

She covered her ears for fear they would burst. She looked at the broken shards of the people as they began to fall in pieces all around her like snowflakes. The black figure of her dreams stood in the centre of the courtyard. A
man
-sized version of The Black under containment in Tyrell’s lab.

“Insects!” it screamed. It moved forward towards Carrie. She crawled backwards towards the entrance to the castle. It slithered across the courtyard, forming tentacles with its liquid surface. They extended towards her, as she managed to get to her feet and run to the entrance.

“Weapons,” she screamed as the tentacles of the liquid monster reached for her throat. From within the castle walls an arsenal of pulse cannons emerged from the walls and began to fire a ferocious volley of bright energy pulses against the intruder. Carrie closed her eyes as the deep vibrating screams of The Black echoed within the castle walls. It began to change colour and vibrate, as it released its tentacle from around her neck and exploded with a bright white light.

Carrie opened her eyes suddenly. The jolt back into consciousness sent her reeling backwards and into a side table that she had moved.

It smashed under her weight, sending small shards of glass into her skin. She fought to catch her breath as the memory of the unexpected intruder in her mind remained burned into her eyes. She reached down and looked at her cut hands. The injuries were minor. She picked herself off the ground and straightened her hair. Walking over to the washbasin, she steadied her nerves. There was something evil on board this ship. And that something was linked with Tyrone Tyrell. She saw nothing in his mind, but something attacked. Something more powerful telepathically than she was. She turned on the overhead light and looked into the mirror. Her face was slightly cut on one side but nothing a dermal regenerator could not heal. Her eyes caught a glimpse of something standing behind her. A dark figure was behind her. She screamed and turned. The empty room looked back.

She fought to regain control of her exploding heart.

“Easy, Carrie,” she said to herself under a panicked breath.

“All hands, this is the captain,” came her father’s voice. “As some of you may be aware, we have sustained some damage which requires us to land on a nearby planet to repair. As this is something we have not attempted yet with this vessel, I would ask that you begin preparations by securing your quarters and workstations and strapping in while we conduct the manoeuvre. Stand by for atmospheric entry, in
twenty
-three minutes. Barrington out.”

Carrie looked out the large window at the grey planet approaching. The feeling of something in her mind began to scare her. As if something had been left behind during her scans of the crew. She drew water in the basin and threw it onto her face.

“Tyrell to Carrie Barrington,” came the calm voice over her comm panel. She froze.

“Tyrell to Carrie Barrington,” he said again calmly.

“Carrie here, Doctor. Go ahead.”

“Would you mind coming to my lab as soon as possible? I need your assistance securing the equipment before we touch down on the planet.” She looked at her reflection in the mirror and tried to let go of the images.

“Be there in five minutes, Doctor. Carrie out,” she said more abruptly than she had planned to before cutting off the transmission. There was something strange about his tone. She finished cleaning her hands and decided she would make a quick
stop
-off at the medical bay to heal her cuts before going to the lab. She looked under her bed at the container, which held her pulse gun, but let it be. Just checking that it was still there.

14

A
gathon Bridge

16 days since departure

13:00 Martian Standard

“O
kay everybody, stay alert. Let’s just take this nice and easy and by the numbers. Charly, you have complete abort authority if you don’t like what you see. Just blow the dorsal thrusters and get us up. Clear?” Barrington said to Boyett, as she began easing the ship into the gravitational pull of the planet.

“Got it, sir,” she replied. Her focus on the view screens was
laser
-like.

“Chavel, keep an eye on the terrain gradients.”

“Sir,” he replied, looking over the computer displays of the surface. Jerome Young had joined them and was sitting at one of the stations looking at mappings of the planet. It was desolate. Like a dust cloud had descended on the whole surface from a volcanic eruption. The thin white light of the mother star cast an eerie glow over the peaks and valleys of the scarred world.

“Looks like there were oceans here, sir,” said Chavel.

“Let’s see it,” Barrington answered. Chavel flicked the images of the sea beds onto the far left viewer, to leave the centre viewer clear for Boyett to navigate. Barrington stroked his chin with one of his fingers. Boyett gave the images a quick glance and saw what Chavel was talking about. Huge sea beds regressed from a large central continent, as if they had just emptied themselves into space. What was now a grey desert world looked like it had been sucked dry.

“Amazing,” Barrington said under his breath.

“One hundred and twenty kilometres,” Boyett said, bringing them back into the moment.

“David, let’s get these struts out,” Barrington said calmly.

“Yes, sir, activating landing struts.” He tapped some commands into his panel and waited. He tapped the commands in again.

“Eh, sir, I have a negative response on the landing struts.” Boyett flicked her eyes towards the captain, but maintained her steady approach.

“Barrington to engine room,” he said with a slight urgency in his voice.

“Emerson here, sir. Bear with me two minutes, we’re working on it. One of the outer doors is jammed.” There was silence on the comms as Barrington remained silent.

“Okay, we’re good. Try them now,” Emerson said. Barrington nodded to Chavel who took a small breath and tried the commands again. The console gave a positive sounding little chirp.

“Struts descending,” he said. There was a vibration as the four pylons on the underbelly of the ship emerged and locked into place. The ship descended slowly, as the features of the planet rose in the view screens. Mountaintops rose as the details of the oncoming landscape started to develop. The landing site had been chosen in the northern hemisphere of the largest continent, based on the planet’s angle of rotation, which gave the most light during the
thirty
-
seven
-hour rotation.

“Seventy
-five kilometres,” said Boyett.

“Terrain is looking good. Approach in vector,” Chavel sounded off.

“Okay, Charly, take her down.” Barrington gave her a confident affirmation that locked her focus in on the flight controls. She eased off the power of the dorsal thrusters and let the gravity of the planet grab the huge ship and invite her down. The descent was well controlled, because of the lack of any weather or atmosphere. Boyett thought she could have landed it either way, but was glad there could be no surprises. She hoped.

“Five kilometres,” she finally said.

“All hands, this is the captain. We are about to touch down. Brace yourselves.” He sat back in the centre seat and waited for the worst, already running through evacuation protocols and survival scenarios.

“Five hundred meters,” said Boyett. She gave the dorsal thrusters a burn and countered the gravity. There was a slight shaking of the bridge as the ship made contact with the ground.

“Contact,” she said. “Thrusters at twenty percent.” The vibration stopped as the image of the grey landscape in the central view screen stopped moving.

“Cutting thrusters,” Boyett said. She secured her station and looked at the captain.

“We’re down,” she said, smiling. Barrington smiled back. Chavel stretched his hand out.

“Nice. Gimme some sugar,” he said as Boyett
high
-fived him.

“Well done, Lieutenant,” said Young from his station. He had been quiet through the landing. Boyett nodded.

“Barrington to engine room. Report.”

“Looks good here, bridge. Strut integrity holding ground seems solid. Tell Charly that was a hell of a job.”

“Understood. Get your team ready, Landon. Let’s not be here any longer than we have to.”

“No problem, sir. I could use Boyett down here as soon as she has things locked up.”

“She’s on her way. Barrington out.” He nodded to Boyett, who began running flight shutdown procedures.

“Captain,” said Young suddenly. Barrington turned to him. “I would like to be the first out,” he said. Chavel looked at the Jycorp CEO.

“I’m not happy letting passengers off the ship, Jerome. There could be variables.”

“I understand that, but no human has walked on another world outside our solar system and I would like to be the first. I will stay within the parameter of the ship and you can keep a constant communications lock.” Barrington rubbed his face, then looked at Chavel.

“Okay, but I want David to go with you.” Chavel nodded enthusiastically. Young was about to protest but held it. They both stood and walked to the lift.

“One moment, Mr. Young. Barrington to Doctor Tyrell,” he said, tapping his comms.

“Yes, John,” came the calm reply. “Doctor, Mr Young is going outside the ship. I would like you to go with him and help take some samples, if you are up to it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” came the response.

“Meet the team at the exterior ramp on deck
twenty
-seven.”

“Understood, Captain.” The comms clicked off.

“Two hours please, no more. Any problems, you abort and Chavel has complete command of the team. Agreed?”

Young nodded. “Agreed.”

They left the bridge, leaving Barrington with his support crew now running ship diagnostics. He looked out at the grey dead world and thought about the hole in the side of his ship.

Planet Surface

Tyrell smiled at Young as he made the descent onto the surface. Behind him on the gangway was Emerson’s engineering crew and Boyett leading up the rear. Chavel was waiting at Tyrell’s side, while Young stepped onto the dusty ground. The planet looked like it had been pulverised with meteorites and everything had a silver glow about it. What light there was appeared dim and cast strange shadows on the surface from the various hill formations. Tyrell noticed that some of the shadows looked humanoid. It was an eerie feeling, even for him. He had been on edge since the strange dream he had about Carrie a few nights before. He had decided not to discuss it with her and set her to work on the astronomical phenomena, but the child was digging. Digging in his brain. He knew it.

“To the new world,” said Young, raising both arms in the air. He was now standing on the soil, looking out into the vast wasteland.

“Nice,” said Tosh over the comms. He was tied in with the team from the engine room. Young looked back at the team of people on the gangway.

“Okay, let’s get to it,” said Chavel, slapping Tyrell on the arm, who frowned at the gesture. Tyrell made his way down the sloped gangway and stood by Young, who nodded to him. They wore the
form
-fitting suits needed for both the Phobos and Mars EVAs. He looked up at the hull of The Agathon, which sat majestically against the
star
-filled sky.

“Alpha team on me,” said Boyett. Emerson was helping to carry a gravity lift with Llewellyn, who looked a little nervous. Tyrell watched the engineering team walk under the hull towards the edge of the ship. They had to gain access to the damaged section through the top of the ship, and to do that they needed to lift equipment and themselves using the gravity lift. He turned back to Chavel and Young.

“Well then,” he said through the comm system in his faceplate. “Where are you thinking about having this picnic of yours, Mr. Young?” He was trying to add some joviality into his voice, which was something he was not very good at, having isolated himself in his lab for so many years on Mars.

Young turned to Chavel who gestured control of the decision back to him. “It’s your show, Mr Young. I’m just here to keep everyone safe.”

Young smiled. “Well, Lieutenant, any objection to taking a little stroll over to those hills. My topographic scans show it was once home to a large intersecting array of rivers.” Chavel looked back at the ship and then motioned the Beta team to start walking.

“Lead the way,” he said.

“Chavel to Captain. Comms check.”

“Barrington here. Status,” came the captain’s voice.

“Beta team are going to take a look at some water formations, a kilometre west of current position.”

“Understood, Lieutenant. Observe radiation protocols.”

“Yes, sir, Chavel out.” He closed the comms signal in his faceplate with a flick of his eye movement and began walking.

“What’s in the case, Doc?” he asked Tyrell, looking at the large black case in his hand. Tyrell glanced at it.

“Seismic actuators, soil analysis perpetuators and several astronomical observational scopes,” he said blandly.

“Right,” Chavel answered. Tyrell looked at the ground when he walked. It was soft underfoot. It felt cold. The suits controlled temperature very efficiently, but there was a deathly feeling that crept through the soles of his feet.

“So, Lieutenant, the captain tells me you won a Daedalus medal. Is that true?”

“That was a long time ago,” Chavel said. Tyrell secretly rolled his eyes at Chavel’s humility.

“Well, far be it for me to interrupt the beautiful sounds of my own breath in this faceplate with conversation, but I for one would love to hear about it. How about you, Tyrell?” said Young.

“Yes please, Lieutenant. Do enlighten us.” Tyrell knew the story only too well, but it diverted a need for him to make idle chitchat with the pair and so encouraged it. They continued across the grey wasteland with relative ease. After a moment’s hesitation, Chavel began the story.

“Well, there’s not much to tell, to be honest. I think it was a lot of fuss over nothing.”

“Didn’t you die?” Young asked. Chavel laughed.

“That much is true, yes.
Twenty
-one minutes, thirteen seconds. I was toast,” he said.

“What did you see, Lieutenant?” Tyrell asked with genuine interest.

“See, Doctor?” said Chavel.

“Yes, see. What did you see? Lights, tunnels that sort of thing,” said Tyrell.

“No, nothing like that, I’m afraid. I do remember seeing my dead body on the transport ship. I remember the faces of the passengers as they huddled for warmth in the sealed compartment. I remember trying to talk to them. Trying to tell them everything would be all right and that help had arrived.” Young stopped and turned to Chavel.

“You telling me you had an out of body experience?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It could have been. It could have been a crazy dream, but when I woke up there were details I knew about the readings on the flight panel and the stuff the rescue team were talking about to each other that I couldn’t have known.” He continued walking and looked at the stars.

“It was peaceful,” he continued. “I remember that there was no fear. I find that comforting,” he said.

“That we float around outside our dead bodies like ghosts?” Tyrell said, waving his arms in the air.

“No, Doctor, that there is no fear. I know that all those people on Earth are at peace wherever they are now. And I find great peace with that.”

Young was silent as they continued their journey.
Ludicrous
, thought Tyrell.

The Lake

They stopped on the edge of a sheer drop which cut away from the ground. The vista was spectacular. In the distance the glow of the home star cast a cutting morning light over everything. Something in the soil ahead made it sparkle, making it look like it was reflecting the stars that could be seen so clearly overhead. An advantage to not having an atmosphere, Young had noted on the way over. The trio fell silent and even Tyrell seemed to be taken in by the view.

“There is something protruding from the riverbed down there,” said Chavel, looking through a pair of
hand
-held magniscopes. Young was looking at the stars at the time and moved his head down to see what Chavel was talking about.

“Here.” Chavel handed Young the image magnifying device.

“Probably a rock. That’s all there seems to be on this planet,” Tyrell said.

“Probably,” said Young, “odd shape though. Let’s take a look.”

“Hang on there, Mr Young, this is a pretty steep decline,” said Chavel.

“The suits have grapplers, no?” said Young. Chavel nodded in concession. He activated his comms with a flick of his eye.

“Chavel to Agathon.”

“Agathon here, go ahead, Lieutenant,” Barrington said. “We’re heading to the bed of what looks like a river, to check out a rock formation.”

“Okay, you have one hour. We’re almost ready to lock up over here and lift off,” Barrington said.

“Understood,” Chavel said, clicking off his comms.

“I really think we should be heading back to the ship, gentlemen. It’s just a rock,” said Tyrell. Young and Chavel looked at him.

“Come on, Doc,” said Chavel. “You haven’t even opened your case. It would be a shame to come all this way and not do some experiments, no?” he said.

“Hmm,” said Tyrell. Young began to untether his grappler, which was attached to a small box that sat snugly on the belt of all the suits. He lined up the metallic anchor and pressed the
self
-guiding actuator at its tip. He lined it up with what looked like solid ground and let it fly. The anchor flew into the ground with precision. The other two members of Beta team followed suit. Tyrell attached his case to his belt with a hook and swung his legs around to begin the repel down.