The Agathon: Book One (25 page)

19

22:00 Martian Standard

C
arrie screamed and fell to her knees. The last of The Agathon’s passengers and crew were just leaving the ship and staring out at the vistas of the planet. Tyrell had just died. She was sure of it. She felt him scream in agony. It was the first time she had been able to sense anything from him. He was afraid.

“Are you okay?” Chavel said, as he laid his arms across her back and helped her to her feet. They had their breathers off and were taking supplies off the airlock ramp when she suddenly felt the terror of Tyrell’s death.

“We have to go in,” she said to Chavel. “I think he’s dead.”

“Who?” Chavel asked with a look of concern on his face at the sudden outburst from Carrie.

“Tyrell,” she said, righting herself.

“Where is Tyrell?” Chavel looked around at the people surrounding the ship. All faces seemed to be peering into what looked like a blue forest about half a mile south of the landing point. The ship had landed in an opening covered with a mixture of clay and loose bedrock. The landing struts had not deployed and the hull was slightly submerged in soft mud. The airlock ramp had been unable to completely open fully, but it was enough to allow the people and equipment off the downed vessel.

“I haven’t seen him. I thought he was off the ship,” said Chavel. “What’s happening, Carrie, talk to me,” he asked, looking into her eyes.

“I have to go inside,” she said, moving past him up the airlock.

“Okay, hang on there,” he said, grabbing her arm. “The ship isn’t fully ventilated yet, let me get a couple of breathers. I’ll go with you,” he said. She paused, looking into corridors of the ship that had darkened with the power conservation protocols Emerson had enacted following the evacuation. Chavel left her side, jumped off the ramp and grabbed the breathers, which were lying on a medical crate.

Carrie looked deep into the ship. She had heard Tyrell scream. She was sure of it. He was terrified. He was in there somewhere. She felt a pulse of electricity run down her arm. She calmed her breathing and clenched her fists, as she tried to steady herself and get control. Looking around she saw Chavel returning up the gangway and handing her a breather. They placed them over their heads and headed back into the ship. As they entered the corridor, Carrie activated a light, which she had attached to her wrist. She shone it in the direction of the lift at the end of the hall and suddenly jumped at the figure standing just outside it, staring at them.

“Jesus Christ,” shouted Chavel, holding his chest. Tyrell looked back them and tilted his head. Carrie couldn’t believe how easily he had appeared in front of them without her sensing it, but there he was. Chavel looked at Carrie.

“Doctor, are you all right? We thought you might have had an accident.” Carrie looked at Tyrell carefully. She sensed a presence.

“Sorry if I startled you,” Tyrell finally said calmly. “The communications systems are down and I had more to do in the lab than I had originally anticipated.” He picked up some cases that were lying next to him and began walking steadily towards the two. He was calm and fluid in his motions.

“Where is your breather?” asked Chavel.

“No need for it, Lieutenant. Plenty of air in here now, wouldn’t you say?” he said jovially. He looked at Carrie, who took a step backwards.

“Would you mind helping me with this case, Dice?” he asked her.

“What?” she said, still looking into his eyes. She was definitely feeling an emotional presence but she was absolutely certain that whatever was standing in front of her was not the man she had spent all that time with as an apprentice. He had never called her Dice.

“Of course, Doctor,” she replied.

“Excellent. Then let’s proceed,” he said, as the trio turned and headed out of the airlock and onto the planet’s surface. Carrie remained several steps behind. While she knew Chavel was looking at her oddly, she never took her eyes off Tyrell.

“Doctor, what is the status of sample of The Black?” she said suddenly. Tyrell stopped at the base of the airlock and looked up at the greyish sky.

“Look at that,” he said, pausing and taking a large intake of air. He tilted his head and moved forward.

“Doctor?” Carrie repeated. He stopped again and turned to her.

“I’m sorry, Carrie, there was a chemical fire in the lab the entire sample was destroyed.” He shrugged his shoulders and moved outwards, away from the ship.

“Thank God for that. Having that shit on board was freaking me out,” said Chavel. Carrie didn’t answer. She kept her eyes very carefully locked on the doctor.

B
ase Camp

Twenty
-two days since Departure

07.33 Martian Standard

They had slept in emergency pop tents overnight. The temperature had dropped to well below freezing, as they huddled around The Agathon. There had been a light breeze and, apart from the occasional rustling of leaves from the forest, there had been very little disturbance. In the morning the nearby star flooded the flat plain they had landed on with thick and warm light. Barrington had had very little sleep and had awoken several times with some strange noises that sounded like animal calls in the distance. He awoke to find Charly Boyett working on the exterior hull of The Agathon. He walked over to her and nodded a greeting.

“Report,” Barrington said, placing his hand on Boyett’s shoulder. She had her hand on the hull of the ship and was running a scanner over its surface. She turned and faced the captain.

“Good morning, sir,” she said politely. Barrington nodded.

“I think we’ll have life support back up by tomorrow. Emerson has found the damaged relay and is heading in with a team in a couple of hours. He’s over there with Tosh at the moment, running a full damage report assessment. I’m conducting some stress tests here, seeing how badly the impact affected the hull integrity.”

“And,” Barrington pressed.

“And it looks like the old girl can take a beating all right. I think we can get her off no problem, once we figure out what the hell brought us down.” Barrington nodded, looking off in the direction of the nearby forest.

“Okay, Charly, once you’re done here, turn your attention to the propulsion systems. I want to be able to make a quick exit,” he said. She raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, sir,” she said, nodding in agreement.

“Captain,” came a voice behind them. Jerome Young was making his way over to them.

“Mr Young. How’s the head?” Barrington asked.

“Built like a rock, John. How’s my ship?” he said smiling.

“No permanent damage,” he said, smiling. “Sorry about the scratches, you can take it out of my pay cheque. Any word on the tech that brought us down?” he asked.

“Let’s walk and talk,” said Young. They headed out around the parameter of the ship. Barrington noted how hard the ground felt underfoot. He wondered if Young’s new leg implant was sending him the same information.

“How’s the leg?” he asked as they circled underneath the FTL ring.

“Odd sensation, to be honest, but it works very well, thank you,” he replied. He paused under The Agathon’s hull. “Captain, I would like to take a small team into that nearby forest. If you can call it that. There’s electromagnetic activity coming from inside it and it may be linked to whatever made the ship loose main power before we came down,” he said. The two men stared into the distance. The open plain the ship had landed on was broken in parts by a small collection of green mounds that lay dotted around the surface like miniature mountains.

“Are you getting any other readings from out there?” asked Barrington.

“You mean little green men?” asked Young, smiling.

“Something like that,” replied the captain.

“No is the short answer, although judging by the tech that’s in orbit we can hardly rule it out. If you’re asking if an alien civilisation was responsible for crashing the ship, I don’t have an answer for you.” Barrington remained passive as he looked on into the distance.

“Captain, this is what we came here to do. By the looks of things this planet seems to be an excellent candidate for settlement. It may have merely been a solar or planetary magnetic field event, that we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Young looked away from Barrington. “I’m asking as a courtesy, John.” The tone of the conversation shifted as Barrington met Young’s gaze and glared at him. Young raised his hands.

“You command the ship and I have no problem with that, but you need to let the rest of us do what we’re here to do.”

“All right, Mr Young. Take who you need, but leave Emerson and Boyett. I need them fixing OUR ship.” Young smiled.

“Of course, Captain,” he replied. Young moved away, leaving Barrington watch him leave.

“Suits,” he whispered.

“Captain!” came a shout from behind him. Chase Meridian was walking towards him with Doctor Brubaker. She was waving frantically at him, trying to get his attention.

“Doctors.” He waved back. “Michelle, how are the wounded?” he asked as they approached.

“A few broken bones. We lost one in the engine room,” she said sombrely. Emerson had already told him about the young engineer who had been trapped when the plasma flow regulator had leaked. What was left of the body would have needed a cellular identification scan, had they not already known who it was. A young man by the name of Chris Haddington.

“Yes, Doctor, I was made aware,” he said.

“We need to get some of them back into the medical bay, John,” she insisted.

“We’re working on it. We should have life support restored in
twenty
-four hours.”

“Have you spoken to Tyrell?” Meridian said.

“Not this morning no. Why?” he said.

“Did you know The Black was destroyed in a chemical fire when the ship crashed?” That caught Barrington’s attention.

“Completely?” he said, lowering his voice.

“Completely, Carrie told me this morning,” she said.

“Where’s Tyrell now?” he asked frowning.

“I haven’t seen him,” she said. Barrington opened his mind and looked around for Carrie. He couldn’t see her.

“Have you seen...” he began.

“Carrie went into the ship this morning,” she said.

“Okay, Michelle, keep me posted on the medical status of the crew. We’ll hold a short memorial service for Haddington for anyone who wishes to attend at the airlock on deck
twenty
-four this evening. Chase, if you could spread the word on that?” Meridian nodded.

“Our Jycorp CEO is leading a team into the forest to find out what’s out there. We need to get communication bands distributed. Chase, I would like you on that team.”

“Wonderful,” she replied, raising her eyebrows. Barrington raised an eyebrow.

“Is this the new Earth?” she added, looking around.

“Maybe,” said Barrington. He knew in his gut that it wasn’t. He made his way past the two doctors.

“Where are you going?” asked Meridian.

“Need a word with Carrie. See you later,” he said as he made his way to the main airlock.

Tyrell’s Lab

The lab was practically destroyed and the container which had held The Black was definitely empty and in pieces on the floor. Carrie stared at it and pointed her wrist light around the surrounding corners of the darkened room. The room was still. There was a piece of torn clothing dangling from the corner of one of the tables next to the broken container. Carrie picked it up and examined it. The Black wasn’t dead. She knew that. She would have felt it die. It was not on the ship either. Something very bad had happened in this room.

“Dice?” came her father’s voice from behind her. She was startled. The breather made her father’s face look distorted in the darkened room.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, catching her breath.

“I think the question is what are YOU doing here?” he asked.

“Tyrell said it was destroyed. I wanted to be sure,” she said, looking at the container.

“And?” he asked.

“And I’m not so sure,” she said. She could see her father’s nervous look around the lab. His wrist light was pointing in all the dark crevices of the lab.

“It’s not in here and we don’t know for certain that an exothermal chemical reaction would have any effect on it, so I can’t tell you with one hundred percent certainty that it’s gone,” she said.

“Why would Tyrell make something like that up if it wasn’t possible?” he said, looking at her. She didn’t answer. She suddenly felt an anger rising from her father. It was a feeling she had not felt from him in a long time. She
pre
-empted it by speaking first.

“Look, there’s more going on here than just a professional concern for Doctor Tyrell’s
work
—” she said. Her father didn’t let her finish.

She thought about it for a moment then decided to tell him.

“Father, I felt him die, yesterday. I know it,” she said.

“Felt who die?” he responded.

Carrie took a breath.

“Tyrell,” she said.

“Carrie, Tyrell is alive, now I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know it right now. You’re lying to me about something. Something so big it has practically made you a stranger to me on this ship. You don’t open your mind to me anymore and when you do I know you’re holding back. This Black crap killed your mother. My wife. As far as I’m concerned it can go fuck itself. The universe is a better place without it. But if it’s not then you need to tell me right now that it isn’t, because it could kill every soul on board this ship. And in case you hadn’t noticed, there aren’t that many of us left. I’m tired of tiptoeing around you and what may or may not be the next evolution in our race. You have an ability, damn it, and we don’t have time any more to fuck about trying to let you discover it.”

Carrie admired her father’s ability to maintain coherent and articulate arguments while his blood boiled inside. She sensed the intensity of his anger, but what it triggered was not the measured response she was expecting. She felt overwhelmed by his internal outburst and she suddenly felt suffocated by it. A rage erupted from within her, as she felt a bolt of energy rise from the base of her spine and travel down her arms, following the path of least resistance. Her fingertips exploded into a burst of white electrical energy and hit the wall, as she stared down at her father and screamed at him.