Chasing the Stars (36 page)

‘Vee, get over here,’ Doctor Liana called to me. ‘That utility dispenser over there has laced every meal that came out of it with some kind of poison. Everyone who was sitting at my table has fallen ill.’

What on earth . . .?

‘Everyone?’ I frowned.

The doctor nodded.

‘Did everyone eat the same thing?’ I asked.

‘No. We all had different meals.’

‘Which table?’

The doctor pointed to the nearest one. ‘It must’ve been that particular utility dispenser,’ she insisted, pointing at the nearest one.

But there was no way any utility dispenser on board could do that. There were too many checks and balances that had to happen before the food was produced in the first place. And if there was something wrong with the programming of the dispensers, then every dispenser throughout the ship would be affected, not just one. So either one particular utility dispenser had been sabotaged, or there was a much simpler solution.

I ran over to the nearest table and retrieved an empty cup. Hedda sat with her head on the table, lying next to a pool of foul-smelling sick beside her face. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. I used the cup to scrape up some of Hedda’s vomit which was mixed with blood. Hedda’s eyes were beginning to roll back in her head.

‘Doctor, you’re needed over here,’ I called out.

Doctor Liana spoke briefly to Mike before coming over to Hedda. Those present who weren’t ill were helping the sick in any way they could by wiping their faces and trying to make them comfortable. I took the cup containing Hedda’s vomit and ran out of the mess hall to the science lab opposite. The lab was empty, everyone having hurried across the corridor to help out in the mess hall in any way they could.

I needed to hurry, to confirm whether or not my suspicions were correct. Once at the nearest control panel, I placed some of the vomit on one of the specimen plates beneath the panel and pushed it into the elemental spectrograph inlet that was a feature of the panels in the science lab. It provided a fast way to analyse any substance, no matter how minute, which wasn’t exactly the problem here.

‘Aidan, analyse this sample and tell me if it contains any poisons or pathogens that are dangerous to humans,’ I said to the ship’s computer.

The answer came back almost at once. ‘This sample contains Aetonella bacteria, species
A. pentadensis
,’ said Aidan’s voice.

‘Are you sure?’ I said, horrified.

‘Positive. This sample contains five per cent Aetonella bacteria,’ said the computer.

The lethal dose was less than one per cent.

‘Aidan, what’s the treatment for Aetonella bacteria poisoning?’ I asked.

‘It depends on the amount ingested and the time since ingestion. If the amount swallowed is small and recent, an emetic is suggested. Otherwise make the patient comfortable until they die.’

The computer knew nothing of euphemisms or breaking bad news gently.

I ran back to the mess hall. The cries of agony and the sounds of retching hadn’t faded. A couple of bodies lay on the floor. Others at the tables or kneeling on the floor were not in a good way. Aetonella bacteria poisoning was a swift but brutal way to die. I looked around, trying to ascertain the possible source of the poisoning, ’cause it sure as hell wasn’t the utility dispensers. There were jugs of water on each table but the water would’ve come from the same source, unless the bacteria had been introduced into one particular jug. But who would do such a thing – and perhaps more importantly, why?

I ran over to the table where people had got sick. Half-eaten plates of food were at every place setting. And half-full cups of water as well as other drinks like Prop, that nasty purple stuff some of them drank once their shifts were over. There was a tablet next to one place setting and it was showing the film
Dead Poets Society
. I recognized it at once. That had to be where the doctor was sitting. Had she decided to watch the film again after our conversation about it? Her plate contained a half-eaten baked potato with cheese. The glass of water beside her plate was three-quarters full, water stained to the rim. At the next place setting someone had been sick. There were patches of vomit scattered over this one particular table and some on the floor around it.

More people ran into the mess hall, assessing the scene of pandemonium at a glance. Amongst them was Darren, who took a swift look around before his gaze landed on me.

‘This is your doing,’ he shouted, pointing straight at me. ‘You won’t be satisfied until you kill every last one of us. Well, I’m not going to stand around waiting for you to decide when it’s my turn to die.’ He turned to those around him. ‘It’s too late for Max and Dooli – look, everyone, look at their bodies! And it’s
her
fault. She needs to be put in one of the detention cells and to stay there until we get to Mendela Prime or none of us will get there alive.’

If Darren had come at me by himself, I could’ve kicked his arse. Three or four of them against me would’ve been a fair fight. But suddenly I was surrounded. Where was Nathan? My instinct was to search for him in this sea of hostile faces but I couldn’t see him. Four of them came at me at once. A roundhouse kick sent Harrison spinning, as did an upward palm to Maria’s chin. I punched and kicked as more piled in. If I was going down, then these bastards would know they’d been in a fight. I held them off for as long as I could but I was simply outnumbered. It didn’t take them long at all to get the upper hand, but get it they did. My limbs were grabbed and I was being held by at least three of them.

‘Let go of me!’ I shouted. ‘Have you lost your minds? Let me go at once!’

It was no use. Though I bucked and heaved and kicked out, I was carried like a rabid dog to one of the four detention cells down on the starboard side of the cargo hold. Darren held my arms, smirking down viciously at me, whilst Maria and Harrison held onto my legs. I was gratified to see that Maria’s nose had been bleeding and Harrison already had a huge lump on his forehead and his eye was swelling shut. They must all have had glue on their hands though because I couldn’t get out of their grip no matter how much I writhed.

When we reached the cargo hold, I was not placed but thrown onto the floor of the detention cell, before those carrying me legged it out of the room. Darren activated the nano-field as I jumped to my feet, my blood racing. In a number of the old films I’d watched, steel bars, thick walls and reinforced doors were used to keep people locked up. Now my way was barred with an adapted nano-field which gave out a non-lethal but still significant plasma shock. I wiped the back of my hand across my bottom lip. Blood.

I was bleeding.

They’d pay for that!

‘Let me out of here,’ I demanded.

‘You’ve been indulged for long enough,’ said Darren. ‘You can stay in here until you rot. At least this way, we’ll know where you are at all times. You won’t be picking off any more of us.’

‘You’ve been patiently waiting for this moment, haven’t you, Darren? Any excuse to get rid of me,’ I said with contempt. ‘You know as well as I do that all these incidents around the ship have absolutely nothing to do with me.’

‘There were no unexplained deaths until we came on board this damned ship. Now we’re dropping like zapped flies. You do the maths,’ Darren replied icily.

The cargo bay doors hissed open and Nathan came running in. I hadn’t seen him since we both entered the mess hall. He stopped abruptly when he saw where I was, only to then sprint across the hold to the cells. He made for the panel in the wall beside my cell, reaching out to tap on the command to drop the nano-field and release me.

Darren pushed him aside to stand in his way. ‘What d’you think you’re doing?’

‘What does it look like?’ Nathan tried to push past him again, but Darren shoved him back. ‘Listen, Darren, no way am I going to let Vee spend another moment in there,’ Nathan insisted. ‘Move.’

‘She’s in there and that’s where she’ll stay until the commander says otherwise,’ said Darren. ‘We’re all in danger with her on the loose. You did see what just happened in the mess hall, didn’t you?’

‘This was my mum’s idea?’ Nathan said, shocked. ‘I don’t believe it.’

‘The commander knows how dangerous Vee is, and like the rest of us she’s had just about enough of this one and her brother,’ said Darren. ‘That girl will stay in there until we decide what to do with her.’

More proof – if any were required – that Aidan had been right about them all along.

‘This is all kinds of wrong,’ Nathan insisted. ‘You have no proof that Vee had anything to do with what just happened – or any of the accidents on board this ship.’

‘Accidents, my arse,’ Darren scoffed. ‘Someone is deliberately and systematically trying to wipe us out.’

‘Someone. Not Vee,’ Nathan insisted.

I tried to school my features as I watched the performance going on before me. Nathan really was a fine actor. I mean, he was right up there with some of my favourites.

Was I supposed to be taken in by this show of him suddenly being on my side? Was I supposed to be so moved that I’d give up the last of the
Aidan
’s secrets – like the command code to take over the ship?

‘Nathan, you’re skating on very thin ice,’ Darren warned. ‘It’s time for you to pick a side. Either you’re with us or you’re against us. Which is it?’

‘Why don’t you just kill me and have done with it?’ I hissed at Darren.

‘Not until we have full control of this ship. And mark me, we will get it – no matter what it takes,’ Darren shot back, confirming my suspicions. He returned to Nathan. ‘Which is it? Do you choose to live with us – or die with that whore?’

‘Screw you!’ I replied.

Nathan gave me a long look before turning back to Darren. He shrugged and said, ‘I choose to live.’

I gasped. I couldn’t help it. Nathan had finally stopped pretending. I wrapped my arms tightly around my waist. So stupid to hurt like this.

I turned away before the sting in my eyes became apparent to all present, especially him. I wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction. It took a couple of deep breaths and immense force of will to control myself before I could turn around to face them. But as I turned, Nathan launched himself at Darren. Harrison rushed to help his leader whilst Maria grabbed a pulser rifle off the wall and pointed it at Nathan. Nathan had Darren on the floor and was about to punch him for a third time when Maria fired a warning shot which only just missed Nathan’s head. He froze. Darren kicked him away and leaped to his feet. Nathan stood up, glaring at Darren with loathing.

‘This is your choice? To betray your own kind?’ Darren spat blood out of his mouth.

‘I choose to be with my wife. So if she’s in the brig, then that’s where I need to be too,’ said Nathan quietly.

‘You’re a fool, Nathan.’

‘You’re not the first to tell me that.’

‘You want to die with her?’

‘I’d rather live, but whatever I do it’ll be at Vee’s side,’ Nathan replied.

Tears streamed down my face and I didn’t even attempt to hide them. Nathan sounded so sincere and I so desperately wanted to believe him, but how could I? With narrow-eyed contempt, Darren nodded to his cronies. Harrison pointed a newly acquired pulser at me, Maria pointed hers at Nathan. Darren used the control panel to drop the nano-field. Maria dug her gun into Nathan’s stomach, urging him to turn and step into the same cell as me. Giving his colleagues a look of dripping contempt, Nathan walked into my cell. The nano-field sprung up again behind him. Now we were both being held captive. Nathan spun to glare at his so-called friends.

‘When you finally decide where your loyalties lie, we’ll let you out,’ Darren told him.

‘Darren, you, the rest of your mob and my mother can all go to hell,’ Nathan said.

Darren and Nathan scowled at each other, no love lost between them.

‘You are making a huge mistake,’ I told Darren. ‘You need to let me out of here before Aidan wakes up.’

‘The moment your brother emerges from his quarters, he’ll be joining both of you,’ Darren replied.

I shook my head. ‘Darren, you don’t know what you’re doing. If Aidan wakes up and discovers you’ve locked me in here—’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Darren dismissed. ‘The day I can’t handle a teenage boy is the day I retire.’

I looked Darren in the eye. I had to make him believe what I was about to say next. ‘Today is not the day you retire, Darren, it’s the day you die. If you don’t let me out of here by the time Aidan wakes up, you will be responsible for the deaths of everyone on this ship.’

Maria was left outside our cell to guard us. I knew from my time on Callisto that there’d be no reasoning with her. Darren had told her to guard us and that was exactly what she’d do until hell froze over or until she was officially relieved of duty – whichever came first. I raised a tentative finger to the nano-field.

‘Ow!’

Well, that bloody hurt! I wouldn’t be doing that twice. I drew back my finger and cradled it in my other hand. Vee gave me a pitying look as I sat down beside her on the bed in the cell.

‘You’re brave, but you’re not very bright, are you?’ she said.