Shalia's Diary Book 6 (14 page)

“Fuck!” Ebnad swore before using his security pass to take the whole system, minus the stasis fields, offline. Fortunately for us all, none of the patients in Medical were in life-threatening situations. I didn’t have Ebnad’s security codes, so I couldn’t disable the stasis field holding me prisoner. That had been my primary objective.

Oses stepped forward, looking down at me gravely. “How much of the ship’s systems has the It gained access to?” he asked me. “Whose codes, what departments’ access?”

At his question, my unwanted guest drew its consciousness back, trying to shield itself from me. However, it had been so intent in gaining control over Medical and stopping Tep from his tests that the It had left itself wide open. I caught the answer before it slammed the door shut on me.

“Nearly everything except bridge and most security functions,” I answered. “It got into some lower-risk security accesses, which is how it got the shuttle bay doors open during yesterday’s attack. But it hasn’t yet gotten into weapons, navigation, power, or life support. It has every intention of getting hold of those codes as soon as it can, however.”

“Damnation,” Ebnad growled. He looked to Oses. “I’d like to reset everything, from food services right up to the captain’s codes.”

“Agreed. Once you wipe the system and input new accesses, the invaders’ that have taken over Mataras Shalia and Candy will have to start over again from scratch – if they somehow manage to escape stasis.” Oses’ tone said he was pretty confident that wouldn’t happen.

I hated to rain on his parade, but I remembered one small nugget that had crossed the It’s mind during our battle. “It thought of Candy’s confinement as temporary. It is confident that you can’t keep either of us locked down forever.”

The weapons commander’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You’re sure of that? I don’t know of any creature capable of escaping stasis.”

“The It has no doubt it will get free,” I reiterated. “It is only a matter of time.”

Feru blew out a heavy breath. “Tep, were you able to get all your samples?”

The head medic shook his head. “Not one bit of tissue before everything shut down. Subcommander, I know you have a full plate, but I need my department back up and running as soon as possible in case there’s an emergency.”

“Of course. We’ll get to that immediately. Let me get to my console on the bridge. I’ll have everything back up with temporary codes within fifteen minutes.” Ebnad glanced at the rest of the squad. “Stay here and keep an eye on things.” His glare in my direction was decidedly unfriendly.

Betra’s face was lined with worry. “Now what?”

Tep was on his handheld, tapping on it at lightning speed. “Once Medical’s systems are restored, I’ll put Shalia under heavy sedation. I’ll get those samples, whether that damned thing in her wants me to or not.”

May 22

I wish I could report the sedation Tep used on me yesterday to finish getting his samples made things better. It did not.

I woke from the testing to find myself under heavy guard. That sent off warning bells. “Fuck. What happened?”

Feru’s strained face hinted at hope. “Is that you, Shalia?”

“Last time I checked.” I looked around to see his relief echoed in the expressions of Oses, Betra, and Tep. The Nobek security squad continued to look mean.

“Thank the Mother of All,” Betra breathed. “We were afraid we wouldn’t get you back.”

“Get me back from where?” I looked at the expert of the group, Tep. “Doc?”

He came close to pat me on the shoulder. “The sedation put you out, but the invading organism was able to activate areas of your brain for its use. It took complete control over you.”

Terror filled me. “How am I here now?”

Tep shrugged helplessly. “My best guess is that when you are conscious, you can fight back and keep it at bay, at least to a point. We’ve seen you do it.”

“I had no control when it opened those bay doors,” I reminded him. As I spoke, I searched my head for any stray alien thoughts. I detected a surliness in there, a small mote of tension. Nothing else.

“You weren’t aware you’d been infiltrated at the time,” Oses said. “Now that you know about the entity, you’re on alert. It hasn’t taken you over enough to overrule you yet.”

Yet. That one little word rang out like a death knell.

“What about Candy?” I mused. “She’s been out for a couple of days now.”

“Sedated and in full stasis,” Tep said. “The combination seems to be holding her for now.”

“You don’t think it will continue to?”

He rubbed his eyes tiredly. “The other It continues to invade her body, transforming it more and more. Your version has already hinted that stasis won’t hold her forever.”

Oses said, “It’s the perfect weapon, made to overcome all barriers. That’s what I believe.”

Despite the anger in his face, he almost sounded as if he admired it. That’s a warrior for you. If the It hadn’t set up shop inside Yours Truly, he might have looked forward to fighting it.

“So now what?” I asked.

Tep straightened. “I got the first round of samples for testing despite it fighting to get free. We’ve put a rush on the lab, so we’ll be ready for more tests tomorrow. This time, you’ll be conscious in the hopes you can keep a rein on that thing. Plus I have a few other tricks I’d like to try to make sure the organism can’t take you over again.”

I almost asked what those tricks were. Good sense showed up for a change before I could open my mouth. The It was no doubt listening to everything. Not that they would have told me what they were up to ... they know talking to me is the same as talking to the enemy.

So until tomorrow. Why do I feel like a train is speeding straight for me and I can’t get off the tracks?

May 23

It was a busy day for a gal who is immobilized in bed. First, the nightmare.

It was the worst yet. I was the It again, fully armored and back on Barin, hunting and killing the Barinem. This time it was just me and one other monstrosity doing the attacking. I think the other It was the thing that is now taking over Candy.

Even though it was just the two of us, we could not be stopped by the small village we attacked. Dear prophets, we killed and we killed and we killed ... the bloodshed felt neverending. The Barinem weapons, crude things that they were, didn’t faze us. When they stopped fighting and started running, we followed them. We hunted them down and kept killing ... hand to hand when possible. Elder, adult, or child, it made no matter. We were there to cleanse the planet of lesser creatures.

In the dream, I was once more invigorated by my murderous rampage. At least I was to a certain point. This time a bit of the real Shalia was separate, watching the horror and screaming in my head. That part of me tried to wake up. I fought to escape the carnage. I failed. I was forced to not just watch but to feel every emotion as I broke bones, ripped out hearts, and eagerly slaughtered.

I woke sobbing. The monitors had already alerted Feru, and the psychologist was at my bedside seconds after my eyes opened. It was good to see a kind, caring face, particularly after what I’d dreamed I’d done.

“I’m dreaming the Its memories again,” I wept as he blotted my tears with a soft cloth. “It takes so much pleasure in killing others. It’s almost like a religious ecstasy. How can any thinking, feeling creature get joy out of doing these things?”

“Tep is pretty sure it was created in a lab,” Feru said. “It’s makers programmed it to be a certain way, to be a weapon of no conscience. There may be a silver lining to this, however.”

I gave him a disbelieving look. “You must be joking.”

“Not at all. Based on what you’re telling me, I’m wondering if this creature sleeps when you do. If it is dreaming because you dream.”

I saw a problem with his theory. “It didn’t sleep when I was sedated.”

Feru considered. “It knew it was in danger. It has some control over your brain, so it activated what it could ... or just what it needed ... in the attempt to defend itself. We’re supposing that as long as the It doesn’t feel threatened, it lets your body heed all its natural functions.” He glanced at the guards that stood at my room’s door and lowered his voice. “Monitors show Matara Candy’s brain is having some spikes of activity. She’s experiencing brief periods during which she is close to waking up.”

My eyes widened. “So the It was right. She can get past the full stasis.”

“Maybe. Right now, it’s the sedation that she’s overcoming. However, it does bode badly for keeping the organisms contained. These things are nothing like we’ve ever seen before. Staying ahead of them is going to take tremendous effort.”

“You still haven’t explained how my dreams of this thing’s probable past have a silver lining.”

Feru’s eyes filled with optimism. “I know security is checking into your story about the destruction of a Barinem village from those first nightmares you reported. Once it has been confirmed that such a thing happened, we’ll know for sure the nightmares are this organism’s memories. We can gather information about its weaknesses through your dreams.”

The little bit of hope I’d felt died. “It has no weaknesses, Dr. Feru. None. It is the perfect killing machine.”

“Maybe not. You remember it as a fully armored creature, which tells me it took over another person at some point. Something happened to make it revert to what you saw as a bracelet, probably the state it takes on when not in use ... perhaps that is a form of stasis or hibernation when it has no host.”

I saw what he was getting at. “What made it give up its host then? Was it defeated or damaged somehow?”

Feru nodded. “My questions exactly. This thing doesn’t seem to me to be a weapon that quietly waits to be used if it has a choice. Not if it’s as enthralled by killing as you say.”

I frowned. “You know the It hears everything I do. It knows your theory now. If you’re right, what’s to keep it from blocking me from sleeping and dreaming?”

“It doesn’t have control of all your brain. The overwhelming majority of you is still Shalia.” I could see Feru was excited about his theory. “You as a human require sleep. Tep says the part of your brain that governs normal sleep, as well as the part that controls dreaming, are not yet invaded. We think the It can’t control that part of you yet.”

It was a bit of hope, all right – but only a small mote of it. “I have to hope it shows me that part of its background in order to discover what could destroy it. Or at least get it off of me.”

“Fortunately, this thing is like a computer program despite its organic nature. It has its steps that it takes in order, a start to an end. It could be that it will continue to dream a sequence of events as they happened.”

“Dreams are almost never so literal though,” I groused. “It hasn’t shown me itself running around naked in front of an assembly or showing up to class unprepared for the final exam yet. That’s usually the way dreams go.”

Feru had an answer for that too. “It’s biological, but it’s still a machine. This is not something that possesses creativity. It exists to fulfill a mission, nothing more. I have hopes it will keep giving you factual data.”

Feru’s theory is pretty slim shit to hang hopes on, if you ask me. Outside of Tep’s tests yielding answers, playing spy to this thing’s dreams is pretty much all I have. I pray he’s got this right.

The next phase of fighting the It rolled around. Tep was determined to run his tests. I was determined to help him do so.

Tep decided to perform a little experiment first, though he wouldn’t tell me – and therefore the It – what he was up to. We knew sedation was out when it came to dealing with my changing body. Another way had to be found to keep the It at bay.