Chapter 14: Floating Death

I’ve had my hands full treating the injured staff members. Unfortunately, having them all silenced is not an option. But not to worry. According to my findings, they shouldn’t suffer any terminal ailments. Just a mild rash that they complain about incessantly. I keep telling them that the brainwaves of sentient lifeforms are too complex for my creations to infect. Although, to call these bumbling morons ‘sentient’ seems a stretch.

“What the heck does that racket mean?!” asked Ryan in surprise. One second, everything was fine, the next, North started emitting this terrible whining noise as the walls started flashing red.

Éclair grimaced as she studied the readout. The 3-D projection showed a white orb with the ship at the center. North Star could detect practically anything within ten lightyears of their position. The alarm meant that there was a vessel, or at least something mobile, closing in on them. Éclair observed several red dots directly ahead of their course. Judging from the energy signatures, the objects were most likely starships.

“There’s something out there. I can’t get a proper read, but they are definitely not asteroids.”

“Could it be Fire Ministry ships?”

Éclair shook her head. “The energy signature is all wrong. Whoever or whatever they are, I highly doubt they are anything friendly. We’ll have to shut down any nonessential systems. Even when we’re cloaked, they might still be able to detect us with the proper equipment. We’ll also have to shrink the cockpit back to its normal size. It’ll be best to keep North as small and nimble as possible.”

As if responding to Éclair’s command, the large room that they had both become accustomed to over the last few weeks contracted until it was no larger than a broom closet, even bringing Éclair’s and Ryan’s chairs closer together. Just like last time, the sound of clicking filled the air as the ship changed. Ryan only reacted slightly to the change in room size, having grown accustomed to North Star’s peculiar abilities. A dim, red light took the place of the comfortable yellow one that Éclair found herself missing almost immediately. All went quiet, save for Ryan’s intense breathing, and Éclair’s own rapid heartbeat.

“Do you think we should at least find out who they are first?” Ryan asked.

“Ryan,” said Éclair, trying not to let annoyance show in her voice. “With everything that has happened to us on this mission, do you honestly think we can take that chance?”

It didn’t take Ryan long to come to a decision. Anything that could jeopardize their safety should be considered a threat, unknown or not. “No, you’re right. Zand told us to maintain the cloak until we were safely out of range of Black Star, and that is exactly what we should do.”

Éclair gave Ryan a comforting pat on his shoulder as she tinkered a bit at the controls, making slight flight adjustments so as not to fly too close to any of the incoming bogies. She would’ve liked to avoid getting near them altogether, but found it impossible as more and more objects were being detected by the sensors. If Éclair didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that they were being surrounded.

Could someone really have detected our presence, even with the cloak on? Éclair considered. Or is this some kind of standing patrol within the Black Star territory?

Éclair felt her uneasiness grow, her muscles going taut from the tension. Sweat beaded her brow as they drew closer and closer to the energy signatures. Éclair heard a beep of warning from North Star, giving updates on the projected time to intercept.

“North says they will be within visual range within two minutes,” whispered Éclair.

“Why are we whispering?” asked Ryan. “There’s no sound in space.”

“That may be, but there is sound in here,” said Éclair, continuing to whisper. “And sound gives off vibrations, vibrations that can be detected with certain equipment and Elemental techniques. It is unlikely, but the less noise we make, the better. Why else would they build silent engines into stealth ships like North Star?”

“Oh,” said Ryan, at least having the presence of mind to keep whispering. “Good point.”

North gave another quiet beep of warning.

“Thirty seconds and counting,” translated Éclair.

A display monitor suddenly appeared in front of them. At first, Éclair could see nothing but the darkness of space. But all too soon, she began to perceive spherical shapes coming closer into view. It took a moment for Éclair to recognize the shapes as the rocky formations of brown and gray asteroids.

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. “So it was just an asteroid field.”

Éclair shook her head in disbelief. “That simply cannot be. I detected energy signatures from these objects. Our sensors showed signs of propulsion from engines of some kind. These can’t be simple asteroids.”

“If they’re not asteroids, then what could they...”

Ryan’s voice trailed off as something caught his attention. Éclair soon found the source of his distraction as she took a closer look at the so-called ‘asteroids’. The rocks were moving. The surface of each asteroid was wiggling around as if it were alive. In horror, Éclair realized what was causing the movement. Though the objects were indeed asteroids, each rock had thousands of Parasites crawling on its surface. The beasts were using the space debris as lifeboats of a kind. Éclair then saw a burst of light from one of the asteroids, drawing her attention. She saw the lump of rock being propelled forward with a great amount of speed by several sparks of red energy that originated from a pack of several hundred Parasites with strange tubes on their backs. The pipe-like tubes of the Parasites glowed with a bright light as beams of green energy shot out and pushed the asteroids forward like jet engines. Each Parasite that controlled the propulsion of the asteroid was half submerged into the stone itself as if it were growing from inside, like a vile pink plant. Éclair couldn’t fathom how the Parasites possessed enough energy to accelerate such a massive object so efficiently, nor could she understand how the creatures attained the intellect required for such an undertaking.

Her dread deepening as she observed the awful sight, Éclair was even more horrified when she realized the sheer number of asteroids before them. Though the asteroids varied in size, the smallest ones were at least the size of North, and the larger ones were bigger than capital ships, and each one crawling with Parasites both on the surface and no doubt submerged under it. There were thousands upon thousands of asteroids in front of them, stretching out over the entirety of the holographic display.

“I can hardly believe it. I knew that Parasites had mastered space travel, but I never heard of anything like this. There must be millions of them out there. An entire invasion force.”

“And that’s not all,” said Ryan in a grim voice, his red eyes blazing with that familiar light which had sustained him through the horrors of the pit. “I recognize some old friends of ours.”

It took Éclair a few moments to realize what Ryan was referring to, that is until she saw the dark silhouette of the thing with bat wings. They were nearly humanoid in shape save for the leathery wings on each limb. Each had an array of long spikes covering its back, giving them an almost pincushion kind of look. Éclair only mildly realized that the spikes sticking out of their backs didn’t seem to be a part of their bodies, almost like they had been impaled somehow with different shards of metal. Their skin was black and looked almost liquid. Their pupilless, glowing red eyes were large, covering most of their heads. Long, curved claws hung from their hands and feet, angled in such a way to resemble hooks. The creatures had writhing black tentacles around a mouth full of needle-like teeth, making it appear that they had octopi on their heads. So, these were the Cthulhu that had destroyed the Commandment. They were just as foreboding as Ryan had described them. Indeed, each of them did look strong enough to tear through the hull of any vessel with ease, even that of the North Star.

“These are the creatures that killed Captain Freed and the others?” asked Éclair.

Ryan nodded. “I think Zand called them Cthulhu. Ugly looking bastards.”

The Cthulhu were flying leisurely around the Parasite-infested asteroids. There were not nearly as many Cthulhu as there were Parasites, but there were enough of them to give Eclair pause. At least one for every larger asteroid. The Parasites paid no attention to the Cthulhu as they busied themselves with their work of propelling the asteroids forward. Éclair was horrified to see many of the Parasites feeding off Infected humanoid species that they held onto with their tentacles. Food for the journey, apparently.

Éclair curled up her nose in disgust, turning to Ryan as her alarm intensified. “Could this mean there’s some kind of alliance between the two species?”

“Don’t know. Have you ever heard of anything like this?”

“No! Of course not! This is unprecedented behavior for Parasites. They always attack any species they do not recognize as their own. No one has ever been able to reason with them or control them in any way.”

“Well, someone’s apparently found a way.”

Their vessel was now passing between the Parasite infected asteroids. They looked so close now that it almost seemed she could reach out and touch them. All of a sudden, Éclair felt like she was back in the pits, thousands of blood-crazed Parasites bearing down on her and Ryan. Their slimy skin and rancid breath pouring over every pore and feeling every sensation. Éclair found her heartbeat quicken and her breathing grow shallow as a slight panic attack took hold of her.

But before her fear could take its course, Ryan took hold of her hand and held it tightly. Éclair turned towards Ryan, expecting to find his face impassioned and full of strength, but soon discovered something else entirely. Ryan seemed just as terrified as Éclair as his own breathing came out haggard.

He turned to Éclair slowly, managing a weak smile through his pale expression. “I can get through this. We can get through this ... together.”

Éclair nodded, feeling a bit of his strength return to his voice, giving her courage. “Just stay close to me, and we will.”

Ryan nodded and concentrated on the viewing screen as they continued their trek through the hellish asteroid field. Both Ryan and Éclair winced a few times as they saw Winged Parasites or Cthulhu fly from meteor to meteor. It was like their worst nightmare come true yet again. They were literally in the heart of darkness as North Star traveled deeper and deeper into the fleet. So far, the cloak seemed to be holding true, or at the very least, the monsters took no notice of them as they continued their seemingly aimless sojourn through space.

However, despite avoiding detection, the situation seemed to be ever more grim as the asteroid field became denser and denser. The breathing space afforded by the larger asteroids was becoming rarer as they drew towards a cluster of smaller asteroids. Though the smaller asteroids had only a handful of Parasites crawling around on them, there were a lot more of them, and they were much more difficult to avoid as North Star had to make course corrections every few seconds just to keep from making a collision.

North Star suddenly spoke directly into Éclair’s mind. My lady. At the increased density of the asteroids, I predict a 91.97% chance of collision within the next five minutes.

Éclair stifled a gasp so as not to alarm Ryan any further. He looked like he might pass out as things stood, and so might she for that matter. Is there anything we can do to increase our chances of navigating this asteroid field safely without detection? Éclair asked North mentally, still hoping to keep Ryan’s worries to a minimum.

North Star processed Éclair’s request with a slight whirring noise before responding. My lady, if you were to commune with me and add your sensory abilities to my radar systems, we could greatly increase our response time to the shifting objects. We would have a 52.41% chance of success.

That’s better than 9%.

9.03%, to be exact, corrected North Star, always a stickler for precision. Éclair might have rolled her eyes if not for what North said next. The attempt will require a degree of manual input. And there is a certain amount of risk as your psyche will integrate with my systems, making you more sensitive to the goings on around the vessel, which could lead to sensory overload.

Éclair gave a jerky nod, knowing full well how difficult such an undertaking would be. Understood.

Ryan was unaware of this internal conversation between Éclair and the vessel as he continued holding her hand tightly. Éclair felt grateful for his touch. Being this close to the creatures that almost destroyed them ... it was beginning to wear on her mental fortitude.

Knowing that she could no longer hide their predicament from Ryan, Éclair turned to him, attempting to keep her voice as even and calm as possible. “Ryan. I’m going to have to commune with North in order to integrate my sensory abilities with her systems.”

Ryan floundered as his eyes widened in fright. “What? Why?’

Éclair swallowed, more terrified by the prospect with each passing moment. “She says it’s the only way of increasing our chances of avoiding a collision. I’ll still be here, but a part of me will be inside the ship, enhancing our response time to incoming projectiles.”

Ryan gulped, concern peppering his features. “Is that safe?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” said Éclair, maintaining her grip on Ryan’s hand as she closed her eyes in concentration.

Unfortunately, as Éclair started putting more and more of her psyche into the vessel’s systems, she found it difficult to completely commune without an anchor of some kind. Éclair’s mind was becoming a part of the ship’s systems itself. No one said it was going to be an easy undertaking. More than once, Éclair lost her concentration, forcing North Star to take the controls. It got so bad that they brushed the side of an asteroid. Luckily, they only skimmed the surface, but it did cause a great deal of shaking in the ship that almost threw Éclair and Ryan from their seats. The screeching noise of the rock’s surface scratching against the North Star’s hull turned deafening. Though there were relatively few Parasites on the asteroid in question, they did take notice of the impact as they pranced around vigorously, their eyeless heads swiveling around in alarm.

Realizing that they might be discovered if they continued further, Éclair put the ship in a dead stop. “We’ve put them on guard. Deactivate all engines, North. They may be able to sense the energy field.”

If the Parasites were looking for something, there was little doubt they would find it, void of space or not. It was more than a sense of smell that guided them to their prey. Some had theorized that they could sniff out a person’s very soul, track their internal essence. Whatever the case might have been, Éclair was in no mood to put such a hypothesis to the test by inviting the Parasites’ ire any further. As the asteroid floated away, Éclair’s tension grew less pronounced. The horde did not swarm around them, the Cthulhu did not stir. Éclair began to reason that they were safe.

“That was too close,” gasped Ryan, letting out a breath that he had been holding for the past few minutes.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Éclair forebodingly, knowing what needed to be done, but afraid to risk it all the same. “We can’t continue like this. One bump they can ignore, but two or more and they’ll be swarming all around us. With numbers like these, they’ll find us in no time.”

Not to mention, the cloaking shield cannot take another impact like that. One more miscalculation, and they will see us, interjected North.

“Thank you, North, that’s most helpful,” muttered Éclair under her breath.

“What?” asked Ryan.

“Nothing,” she replied, taking in a long breath and letting it out very slowly as she contemplated what needed to be done next. “I can’t navigate the ship like this. I need all my senses attuned, that includes line of sight.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I’ll need a 360° view of our surroundings. I need to see what’s going on all around us, not just what’s in front. Below, above, and sideways.”

Ryan seemed to pale slightly as he understood what that would mean for them.

Determined on what needed doing, Éclair addressed North yet again. “North, can you see it done?”

North Star buzzed softly in reply as she set Éclair’s plan into motion. Éclair gasped slightly at what they saw next. The walls around them became transparent, resembling crystal glass as everything that surrounded the ship was laid to bear. The ceiling and the floors shifted as well, revealing the nightmares that floated above their heads and below their feet. Only their chairs and the control console remained solid white. Éclair almost squirmed out of her seat at what transpired just a few feet from where she sat.

The Parasites’ numbers were even more dense than Éclair had imagined, even with all the sensors notifying her of their positions relative to the ship’s. Hundreds of thousands of them floated right beneath her boots, and some of them were close enough to touch the vessel’s hull if they stretched out their tentacles only slightly. Not all of them were on asteroids. Some of the Winged Parasites buzzed from planetoid to planetoid, their ghastly tentacles writhing like icky organs that had been dissected. There were Parasites above her, Parasites below her, and Parasites on the left and right. Éclair already knew they were surrounded, but knowing and seeing were two entirely different things.

Making matters even worse was the added Colossal Parasite that would occasionally slither past them, making the North Star seem tiny in comparison. It wouldn’t take much for one of the bigger beasts to lean forward ever so slightly and swallow their ship whole in their massive jaws. But that was not the most gruesome aspect of their newfound clarity. Éclair could see in great detail as hundreds of Parasites feasted on the rotting tissue of corpses that they dragged behind them with their tentacles. Everywhere Éclair looked, the bodies of men, women, and even children of various humanoid species were being torn apart, their innards sucked up like spaghetti by the greedy beasts. Éclair had heard the stories of Parasites devouring their own infected slaves whole when there was nothing else to eat, but she couldn’t have imagined the gory efficiency of it all until now. She even saw one Parasite gnawing on the arm of a young boy who couldn’t have been more than ten. The lad must have been a colonist from one of the outlying systems surrounding Black Star. Judging from his simple overalls and boots, he was a farm boy. The infection didn’t spread so far that his face was unrecognizable. Only his hands showed signs of the Parasite’s blight. He had not even been fully Zombified before they had started eating him. A hole was opened in his chest, exposing his ribs and his liver. His little face was bare. He had blond hair and blue eyes. Éclair could see virtually everything about the child with her enhanced eyes. She thought she could even hear the crack of his bones as the Parasite ripped one of his arms off and swallowed it whole. The Parasite then let the boy’s corpse hang lazily in its tentacles, saving the rest for later.