Goliath, p.31
Goliath, page 31
“He trapped us. He trapped us, the bastard,” Adele mused.
“Great observation, genius. Now get me down.”
“Hang on. That might be just what he expects me to do. He’ll know there’s two of us.”
“Just get me down. Get me down, bitch!”
“Swearing at me isn’t going to make me do it any quicker,” Adele observed coolly, still not looking at her companion.
“I’ll do worse to you if you don’t get me down this instant.”
Adele laughed, suddenly finding her predicament funny. “You don’t understand how to get through to people do you? The more you insult me the longer I’m going to leave you there.”
“The longer you leave me here the worse I’m going to beat your ass. Get me down.”
Adele knelt down so that they were eye to eye. “I might just leave you here, then.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
Sash made a snatch for her, causing Adele to jump back quickly. “You’d better hope I don’t get down on my own.”
“I dunno. That rope looks pretty sturdy.”
“Bitch!”
There was a thump above and an acrid stench washed over them. “What the hell is that?” Adele moved back again, aiming her shotgun upwards.
A barrel had been tipped over against the railing, a noxious fluid gushing out of it and down the rope. Sash screamed as it flooded over her, soaking into her clothes and hair. She twisted desperately, trying to reach her bound ankle.
“Shit. I’d better get you down.” Adele looked around the lobby for something to cut the rope with. There didn’t seem to be anything.
“Get me down! Get me down! Now!”
“Hang on, hang on. Shit.”
Sash gagged as the fluid ran into her throat. It burned as it got into her eyes and ears. “In there! In there!” She pointed towards the first aid room.
Of course. She dashed towards the door.
“Stop!” A figure appeared to her left, a weapon aimed at her. Jeno. “Put that down.”
Adele froze, unsure of what to do. She stared at a crossbow that was aimed directly at her stomach. It wavered slightly, the hand holding it unsteady. She looked down to her own weapon, wondering whether the safety was on, and whether she would be able to bring it up and fire before he did. She didn’t know much about crossbows, but decided against doing anything rash.
“Good, now put the gun down.” Jeno leaned against a chair back for support, his legs looking like they were about to buckle.
“Shoot him! Shoot the bastard!” Sash yelled.
“You just shut up.” Jeno kept the weapon trained on Adele. As he slumped Adele realised how bad he looked. His clothes and hair were matted with dried blood. His already gaunt features were grey and he was shaking uncontrollably. She began reconsidering her position. She might actually be able to beat him after all.
“Kill him. Kill the bastard. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Sash said. She laughed. “Just look at him. You don’t have to shoot him again. I've already done most of the work, just push him over!”
“That was you was it?” Without changing his aim, he fished a lighter from a pocket. His fingers shaking it took him a few goes to conjure a flame.
“Hey! Hey, now! You just quit that!” Sash stared at the flame. She giggled hysterically. “You won’t do that. C’mon. Put that down.”
“You’ll find I can do a great many things.” With that Jeno flicked the lighter in her direction.
Sash squealed as she watched the lighter fly through the air. She twisted, trying to bat it away. With a clunk it fell in the pool of fluid. For a moment nothing happened. Sash cackled, her fingers trying to reach the lighter and push it away. A flame licked over the fluid, almost going out. Then it caught.
With a roar blue flame spread across the floor, leaping up Sash’s outstretched hand to surge up her body. She shrieked, struggling against her bonds in an effort to brush the fire from her body. The attempt was in vain. Her hair and clothes were soon aflame. Her dragon tattoo seemed to snarl as her skin crisped and melted, pulling aside to reveal the gleaming white of her skull. As she drew a breath to scream it coursed into her lungs, sizzling and searing her flesh as it went. Her back arched in agony, muscles popping from the strain.
“Shit. Oh, shit.” Adele stared in horror, dropping the shotgun, completely forgetting about Jeno and his crossbow. “Shit. Sash...”
“Good, now kick it over,” Jeno said calmly, not paying attention to Sash as she writhed in the centre of the pyre. He grimaced as Adele did nothing, her attention consumed by the figure within the conflagration. He heaved himself up to fetch the dropped weapon himself. Once he had it he threw away the crossbow and checked the weapon. The safety had been off after all, he discovered.
“Do something!” Adele hopped from foot to foot. The immense heat of the flames kept her at bay, driving her back.
“Shoot me, will you?” Jeno said, settling himself on a chair arm to watch the fire.
“Oh my... oh my.” Adele sank to the floor, still staring as Sash’s movements slowed. A mewling sound came from the centre of the fire, almost lost in the roar of the flames. The stench of cooking flesh washed over Adele, causing her to double up and vomit. The contents of her stomach splashed over the neat wooden floor.
“Shouldn’t take ‘em long,” Jeno looked towards the glass entrance. “They’ll be here any moment now.”
“You bastard.” Adele wiped her mouth, still staring at the flames. “You bastard.”
Jeno laughed. “Deserves what she gets. All of you do. You should all burn ... for what you did.”
Adele couldn’t find it in herself to question him. He was mad. Utterly insane.
“Come on.” Jeno waved towards her with the shotgun. “Let’s wait outside.” He dismissed the burning woman. She was no longer important.
“What?”
“Get up. We’re going outside.”
“You have to help her.” She knew it was too late. Nothing could be done. The writhing had stopped. Even the fire was dying out, its fuel exhausted.
“If it makes you feel better she died quicker than I hoped. It’s the heat that does the damage. Cooks the brain.” He smiled coldly.
“What?” Adele turned to stare at him dumbly. Tears streaked down her cheeks, cutting through the sooty grime on her skin. “You’re insane.”
He paused to consider it for a moment. “Yes. You’re probably right. Come on.” Without taking care to aim properly he raised the shotgun and fired.
Adele shrieked, crawling away from him on all fours. It took her a moment to realise she wasn’t the target. The blackened corpse twitched, the blast disintegrating what remained of her head.
“Won’t get any memories from that one.” Jeno laughed. He found Adele behind a chair and took her by the arm. With surprising strength he pulled her upright. “Come.”
She followed numbly. Still not quite able to absorb what had happened. It was only a matter of time, she realised, before he killed her too. Her knees quivering she knew she didn’t have the strength to do anything about it.
“Evil. You’re evil.”
“Evil is a matter of perspective. And you don’t have the right to call me it. Not after .... not after what you did.”
“What? What did I do? I don’t know you!”
She saw a look of rage take hold. His face reddened, jaw clenching. “You think you’re innocent do you? Just because you don’t remember. But that doesn’t change anything. I was there ... I saw what you did.”
“What?” Adele couldn’t find it in herself to say anything else. “What?”
“You killed them ... you killed them all.” A sob escaped from his clenched jaw. He tottered slightly, as if suddenly losing strength. “I saw them die,” he whispered.
“You’re mad. I haven’t killed anyone.”
Staggering through the entrance he threw Adele onto the rough gravel. “I should kill you all. I would if I could. I’d burn you. All of you.” She looked up to find him aiming the weapon at her, his expression crazed. A feeling of peace washed through her. Of release. This was it.
But then his expression changed. The madness was still there, but his resolve seemed to firm. “Not yet. Not until they get here.” He lowered the weapon. “They won’t be long.”
They weren't.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It was dark when Ferena woke.
Feeling dizzy he stared at the gloomy ceiling, a sense of nausea flooding through him. He felt like he was strapped down, as if he was a captive – tied to a bed. His left arm itched.
The moment of consciousness was transitory. It faded quickly.
When he woke again the nausea had faded slightly. His eyelids felt gummy, as if they were stuck together. He blinked several times, trying to focus. He couldn’t, it was still too dark.
There were voices coming from somewhere. Like people talking in another room. Unable to form conscious thought for himself he found himself listening, unable to really understand.
“You must decide on your course of action.”
“Aren’t you going to suggest something? I thought that was what you did?”
“We make observations ... suggestions. We do not command.”
“So, make a suggestion,” the first voice said after a moment. It sounded like a woman.
“Your options are limited. You can stay here. That will achieve nothing. Alternately, you can contact the new party and leave with them. The man in the adjoining chamber can assist with this. He will know where they are and how to contact them.” He couldn’t place the gender of the second voice. It sounded calm, collected.
“He’s not an engineer. Who is he?”
“I do not have that information. I can only speculate. He may be what you call an overtaker. I believe they visit vessels in this vicinity.”
There was a moment’s silence.
“By the way. He is awake. He listens to us now.”
“Shit.” There were the muffled sounds of movement. Of a chair being drawn over a floor as it was pushed back. “You should have warned me.”
“I just did.”
Ferena heard footsteps moving into the room, breath catching in a throat.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
He blinked, trying to make some sense out of the mass of images before him. The lights were still off. Possibly the woman believed darkness would do him good. He licked his lips and tried to speak. Nothing came out.
“Here.”
A hand cradled his head as another brought a glass to his mouth. He felt cool water against his lips. It was heavenly.
“I’m sure you’ve had quite a shock. That was some fall you had there. Luckily the drop gel caught you. And it’s lucky Jonas told me you were there. If it hadn’t you’d still be there now. It says you can drown in drop gel.” There was a light laugh. “Imagine that. Falling all those kilometres only to drown.”
“What?” Was all he could find to say.
“Drop gel. It’s a safety feature... Jonas tells me. The ship’s designers thought of everything. It was highly unlikely power would ever fail, but they installed it anyway. Multiple redundancy.” She laughed again.
“I’m not dead?”
“Oh, my, no. Although you caught yourself on the way down. Your elbow is a right mess. Jonas found some medical supplies for me ... that seem to help. I didn’t know what to do ... I’m no doctor.”
“Who ... who are you?”
She put the glass down and helped him sit up, puffing pillows behind him until he was more upright. He was on a bed, he realised. “Of course. I’m Sistine. I was stranded here a few weeks back. I lost contact with the others. I think something happened to some of them.” The was a moment of silence. “I don’t think it was nice. Jonas couldn’t give me details.”
Sistine? The name seemed familiar. It was relevant somehow. He lifted a hand—not his injured one—to rub his eyes. That seemed better. He still felt numb. Drugs, possibly. Concentrating he studied her, wondering where he had heard the name before.
She was dark skinned, her hair wiry and platted into dreadlocks that fell to her waist. He couldn’t see many features, it was too dark. She was wearing a light blue jumpsuit of some kind. There was a Confederate symbol on a breast pocket.
“I know you,” he said.
“Well, I don’t know you.” He felt a tug as she removed something from his arm. “It’s OK. It was a drip. Jonas said you’d need feeding, otherwise the ... ah ... I forget what it called them. The medicine needed food to work with. Otherwise it would start eating your muscle mass. Which isn’t good.”
“What?”
“You’re awake now, so you can feed yourself.”
Ferena pushed himself further upright, grimacing as he jostled his injured arm. “Where am I?”
“Ah-ha!” she smiled. “Welcome to the captain’s quarters. I brought you here after I found you. It wasn’t far.” She paused. “Besides, it’s safe here. This is a secure compartment. There’s only one entrance and it’s armoured.”
“Safe from what?”
She looked hesitant, running her fingers through her dreadlocks. “I don’t really know. I don’t really want to talk about it.” She brightened, “do you want to meet Jonas?”
“Who is Jonas?” He didn’t recall the name from the crew manifest.
“Who? You mean what?” She smiled and half turned towards the door. “There is mainframe access in the captain’s quarters. That’s why I came here when I lost the others. They were looking for the bridge.” Her nose wrinkled. “Which is a mess. I've seen it.”
“You’ll have to explain yourself.” Ferena gingerly lifted the sheet that covered him, relieved to find he was fully clothed. Not the same clothing he had arrived in, he realised. It was a simple blue jumpsuit, similar to the one Sistine was wearing.
Noticing his expression she smiled. “Your clothes were covered in gel. I had to change you. Don’t worry, your dignity is intact.” With that she turned and left the compartment, calling over her shoulder as she went. “Come out when you’re ready.”
“Shit.” Ferena sat up straight carefully, fighting off a wave of dizziness. He felt weak, although he suspected that was because he had been unconscious so long. He felt like he had just weathered a fever. At least he was alive, he considered. This was certainly not what he had expected as he was plummeting into darkness. After that, anything was an improvement. He wedged his feet under him and hauled himself to his feet, a steadying hand on the mattress. The manoeuvre went remarkably well.
“I’m sorry, I really don’t have that much time to chat,” Sistine continued. “I'm a bit busy at the moment. Things have changed a bit since your arrival.”
Testing his balance he walked carefully to the door. What he saw when he arrived at it surprised him even more than waking up alive had. “What the fuck?”
Sistine chuckled, not looking up from her work. “Takes some getting used to. This one?”
“Yes, please,” the cool voice of Jonas said.
“What the fuck?” Ferena said again, not even noticing what Sistine was doing for the moment.
The compartment he had woken in, he realised, was a glass covered sitting room of some description. The glass had been opaqued and a bed pulled into it to suit its temporary occupant. It opened out onto a tiled veranda, wicker furniture scattered over it, walled by planters sporting a colourful assortments of flowers. To his left was a complex of whitewashed buildings. He saw swimming pools and gardens on lower levels, partially obscured by tiled roofs and walkways. To his right was nothing. Empty space. That was what drew his attention as he stepped into bright sunlight.
“They were pretty extravagant,” Sistine said absently.
Barely hearing her Ferena stepped up to a planter and looked over. “Shit.” He gripped the warm brick in alarm.
There was a ground, but it was a very long way down. He got the impression of movement in the distance, like looking down onto a busy cosmopolitan street. It was too far to make out any detail. Scattered before him, and stretching as far as he could see, were buildings. Colossal skyscrapers of every conceivable shape and design. Each towering into the azure sky, their impossible shapes totally oblivious to the exigencies of gravity.
The sun cast summer’s warmth over all of this. Interrupted only as the odd aircraft sailed overhead, the silent vehicles seeming to drift on invisible currents of air. Some swooped down to disappear amongst the buildings, as others rose up to join the ranks overhead. There were hundreds of them. Thousands.
“What the hell is this? Where are we?”
“Oh, it’s not real,” Sistine said absently. She squinted at the sun before scooping a wide brimmed hat from a nearby table and perching it on her head. “Jonas likes it so I left it running.”
“What?”
“It’s a hologram. A very good one.” She glanced back at him. “A simulation. I believe this is supposed to be Reaos ... obviously before the Eaters arrived.”
“Shit. This is... was a real place?”
“Yeah. The captain’s quarters are made up like a penthouse in Reaos Central. Jonas tells me there are a few compartments like this aboard. The Goliath has the space and spare power to run just about anything.” She wiped her hands on a rag and surveyed her work critically. “The roof is only a few metres overhead. You can’t see it of course. I had Jonas switch the simulation off once, and I guarantee you, this is better. All you can see is armour. Jonas tells me it’s about twelve metres thick. Which is why I said this is one of the most secure compartments aboard. You’d have to virtually destroy the ship to get at anyone sheltering in here.”
“Shit.” Ferena looked away and eased his weight onto a creaking wicker chair.
“Like I said, takes some getting used to. Try not looking at it if it bothers you.” She returned to her work.
“Er ... Sistine ...” He finally noticed what she was working on.
“That’s my name.”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
She paused, frowning. “Ah, yes.”
