Infinity's End: Books 4-6, page 67
Cas rolled his eyes. He was feeling guilt alright, but not from that. “Is this your way of telling me you’re lonely?”
“It’s not me who has the problem here,” Box replied. “I’m perfectly balanced. It’s you who is suffering from the disease. I suggest some prolonged tests in sickbay.”
Cas almost laughed. “Right. How are your arms?”
“Operating at forty-six percent and dropping. I’ll need repairs soon.”
Cas shone his light all around the corridor. Nothing but stone blocks as far as they could see. “If we can just find the others and this ‘control room’, we might be able to make that happen. We definitely haven’t been this way?”
“No. And if this structure is built the way you say it is, we should be approaching the center of the ‘square’ portion. If my calculations are correct. I’ve been measuring not only the length of each hallway, but also its size in comparison to the pyramid outside, creating a three-dimensional interactive map in my mind. This place isn’t as confusing as it seems, it is only meant to appear that way. But to someone with a superior tracking system and mental capacity—”
“So, you’re saying we’re close, right?”
“Very close. But don’t try to get out of your medical diagnosis. However, if you’d like to broach another subject, I couldn’t help but notice something between you and Captain Jann.”
“So you’ve mentioned,” Cas grumbled.
“But rather than go into the details of that relationship, I’ll offer you some free advice. Have you ever noticed how bad you are at interpersonal relationships?”
“What? I am not, what are you—?”
“Before, when it was just the two of us, I had a limited amount of information. I thought maybe all the net dramas had it wrong, that in the real world everyone acted as you did when they were attracted to someone. But now that I’ve had much more experience I see my frame of reference was much too small. I thought everyone was terrible at them, because you are terrible at them.” He shrugged.
Cas sighed. He wished this tunnel was a lot shorter.
“See, your willingness to accept it only confirms my findings. Your problem is you never initiate. You always wait for someone else to do it for you. Unless you’re paying for it, of course, in which case you don’t even have to do anything but lie there.”
“Box!”
“It’s pretty easy that way, isn’t it? If you don’t take the first step you don’t risk getting hurt.”
Cas cleared his throat. “I really don’t think this is the time—”
“Furthermore, your lack of initiative makes your future partners confused. They aren’t sure if you are attracted to them or not and thus are left in a state of limbo. Again, selfish behavior on your part.”
Cas stared at the robot, exasperated. “What does this have to do with anything? Why are we even talking about this?”
“I thought you could use some pointers. After all, how long has it been?”
Cas shook his head and shoved a finger at Box. “I know what this is, you’re not interested in pointers. You just want me to find someone to shack up with so you can sit there and observe for your little project. Well, guess what? No dice, you’re going to have to make do with all that media you downloaded because there is no way—”
“If I recall, I’m the only one with a map out of here.”
Cas stopped. “Yeah? And if I recall, I’m the one with the gun. I can always build you a new body, all I need to take out of here is your head. And it can function perfectly fine without your body.”
As Box considered it, Cas cocked his head toward a noise further down the corridor. He pulled his boomcannon from its holster, switching it to projectile and feeling a pang in his chest as he did so. The noise had come from behind them. Had the alien finally decided to pursue them? After waiting…for what? Not that it mattered; Cas was going to finish this. For Evie. “Get behind me, go find the others,” Cas said.
“I wonder if it will be susceptible to Doxitroban.” One of Box’s fingers opened to reveal a needle.
“What is Doxitroban?” Cas asked, still pointing his weapon down the empty corridor.
“A mild narcotic. Xax likes to use it for unruly patients. It’s supposed to have a calming effect on humans, but on everyone else…I don’t know.”
Cas’s nostrils flared. “You couldn’t have used that back there? On Evie?”
“I tried!” Box protested. “You saw how fast she was. I couldn’t get an arm in edgewise without her knocking it away.”
Cas’s flashlight caught the glint of something metal in the distance. He held his finger on the trigger. “Get ready,” he said.
Two forms emerged from the shadows. For a second Cas’s brain misfired and he thought he saw Evie and Laura, but it had to be a trick. He gripped the boomcannon harder. “Identify yourselves,” he yelled.
“Boss,” Box whispered behind him. “I think it’s—”
“No,” Cas shouted. “It can’t be because I shot her. It’s an illusion or a trick or something else. But whatever it is, it’s not her.” He turned to Laura. “Lieutenant, get away from her, right now. That’s an order.”
“Cas,” the form of Evie said, causing him to drop his guard upon hearing her voice. “It’s okay. It’s me.”
“That’s not possible,” he replied, and he could feel more tears welling in his eyes. He blinked them away; he couldn’t afford to get distracted, either by emotions or what he thought he saw.
“It is, the alien repaired me,” she replied.
“Yeah, you two are real buddy-buddy now, aren’t you?” She held her unsheathed sword in her hand. A sword that could have only been given to her by Laura. Had the alien done the same thing to her? Turned her into a mindless monster bent on destroying them?
“Cas, listen to me. That wasn’t me fighting against you, there’s something else…inside. I don’t quite know how to explain it.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Laura replied. “She already killed the alien.”
Cas didn’t loosen his grip. What if it was a trick? What if it was some alien technology that was just using her body? “But…I shot you. You died.” He spotted the bloodstain on her uniform.
“It turns out I’m not…exactly human,” she said. She sheathed the sword, placing her hands up. “Please. We may not have a lot of time.”
Box leaned in behind him. “If you feel guilty about shooting her once, think about how bad you’d feel about doing it a second time.”
Cas dropped the gun, half expecting to be cut to ribbons with her sword, but she just stood there with her arms still raised. “It’s really you? You survived?”
She stepped forward, her hands still up. “You didn’t shoot me. You shot the other. The thing inhabiting me. And yes, I survived. My…unique physiology helped with that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can believe it.”
She took another step forward. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do to prove it to you, because she had access to all my memories and vice versa. There is no test that you can give me that she couldn’t have passed. You have to be willing to trust me, even if it means putting your life on the line.”
He searched her eyes; there was nothing there that he hadn’t seen a hundred times before. Then again she hadn’t looked any different back in that chamber, either. But she had been different. Speaking in that strange language, murder in her eyes. He no longer saw that same intent. Again, his gaze fell to the bloom of crimson on her uniform. He holstered his weapon.
“Thank you.” She walked closer and Cas grimaced, pulling back before she wrapped him in a hug. “Are you okay? I’m sorry for…all of it.”
“I’m fine.” Cas hugged her back.
“He’s emotionally traumatized,” Box said. “My diagnosis is it will affect his sexual performance for the rest of his life.”
“Box,” Evie chided, letting go of Cas and wrapping her arms around Box next. “I didn’t mean any of it. I was so afraid I permanently damaged you.”
From the way his one eye blinked Cas could tell Box was as surprised as he was. “Damaged yes, permanently, no. Nothing this knucklehead can’t fix.”
She pulled away from him. “Good. I am so, so, sorry. To both of you. Where are the others?”
Cas threw a thumb back behind him. “They went on to find the control room. Martial said it had something to do with the dampeners keeping the power off at the ships.”
“Martial?” Evie screwed up her face. “How does he know about the control room?”
“How do you?” Cas asked.
“Because like I was telling Laura, when that creature came out of me, it came with a lot of information already programmed in. Somehow, I know how to get around this place, kind of like how I knew how to avoid all those mines back at Omicron Terminus.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Laura asked.
“Wait,” Cas said. “This thing, that was inside you…is it gone?”
Evie furrowed her brow. “I don’t think so. She’s still there, but she doesn’t have as much power as she did before. I think Rockron was feeding her somehow, making her stronger. Strong enough to come out on her own. Now she just feels like an old memory, but alive somewhere in the back of my mind.”
“And what happens if she tries to reassert herself?” Cas asked.
“Then you’ll have to make sure she doesn’t get free. The Athru are obsessed with killing the entire human race. If she comes back, her goals will be no different than theirs.”
“I’m not sure I can do that,” Cas replied.
“When the time comes,” Evie said. “You may not have a choice.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
All this new knowledge in Evie's head, frustratingly enough, didn’t seem to be available at her leisure. When she was confronted with an experience that needed more information, such as the correct way through a labyrinth, the path would appear to her. But once she was done it would disappear just as fast, like the outgoing tide. Whatever was in her head was keeping its secrets close to the chest.
She led the four of them through the winding maze of corridors, in the opposite direction Box had been traveling, much to his protestations. Cas had been right, she could feel the others searching for the control room, if they hadn’t already found it. She somehow knew the room she’d been in with Rockron had been some kind of medical facility. Perhaps what the Athru used as a sickbay? But now they were headed for their “bridge” and everything it controlled. And she knew that included the dampening field, as well as the bear-things. He had called them the car’nivacs. Fitting name.
“According to my information, this is not the correct way,” Box said.
“This place is designed to confuse,” Evie replied. “It’s not meant to be logical or easy to navigate.” She turned to Laura. “It was a miracle you found me at all.”
“That was just luck. I’d run into what I thought was a dead-end. But I’d been marking each turn I took, so I knew I wasn’t going in circles.”
“Clever,” Evie said, smiling. She still couldn’t believe Laura had been on this planet over ten weeks in a matter of hours. If they did manage to regain power, they had a pressing problem. It wasn’t as if they could spend decades down on the planet waiting for the ship up above to be repaired. According to Laura, one hour in space was an equivalent to seven-hundred down here. Which meant if it took four weeks to repair the ship, they’d have to spend over forty years on the planet.
“Here, it’s this way.” She turned left and then right again, coming to a dead-end.
“Damn,” Laura said. “Maybe you remembered wrong.”
Evie placed her hand on the wall and an archway glowed blue, before melting away to reveal a large room within. “Nope, just need a key is all,” she replied.
“How did you do that?” Cas asked.
“I think this place is built to respond to the genetic information in the Athru. Since I have some of that in me, it responds,” she replied. Even though she hadn’t quite come to terms with the idea she wasn’t completely human, it didn’t repulse her. Though, had she been given a choice, she would have preferred a less-murderous race of beings to share a heritage with.
“If you’re part alien, why did that never show up on your medical scans?” Box asked as they entered the room.
“I wish I could answer that question. Maybe if we get back Xax can—”
“Stop!” Evie looked up to see Saturina Jann, holding a pulse rifle right in her face, with Martial standing behind her. She was getting used to having guns in her face today.
“Saturina, hang on, it’s me,” she said.
“Nope,” the spacewing pilot replied. “I’m not about to fall for that trap.”
Cas stepped in front of Evie, placing himself between her and the weapon, his hands out. “It’s okay. I thought the same thing too. It’s her. Trust me.”
Jann’s eyes went from him to Evie, to Laura and back again. “But I saw you shoot her, right through the chest. She was—”
“—dead, I know. The alien healed her.”
Jann grimaced. “Are you sure? She hasn’t…invaded your mind or something?”
“I don’t think she would have left us alive. That other her was hell bent on killing us.”
Jann relaxed her grip. “What about the creature?”
“Dead.” Laura beamed with pride. “With one clean slice to the head. How did you get in here?”
Jann lowered the weapon. “Martial. He did something with his hand, and the door sort of—melted. Like we saw back on that ship.” She turned to Cas for confirmation.
“Wait, does that mean he’s—?”
“I’m not one of them.” Martial looked out from behind Jann, but his full attention was on Evie. “It shouldn’t be possible.”
“What, that I’m alive? Whatever medical technology these people have, it’s advanced. At least as advanced as ours; more so as I wasn’t down but for a few minutes.”
Martial shook his head. “No, that you’re…you. Once the other entity took over you shouldn’t have been able to come back.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Cas said, stepping forward. “We’ve got the captain, now I want some goddamn answers. Who the hell are you?”
“Is that really our biggest concern right now?” Laura asked, pushing past Martial and Jann to get to the control panel. “He’s not a threat, otherwise he would have killed Jann while he was alone with her.” She turned to Jann. “No offense.”
Jann worked her jaw. “None taken.”
“But we know next to nothing about where we are,” Laura continued. “We need to disable the field, destroy this place, and get out of here before some trap door opens up and we fall into a pit of spikes or something.”
Martial turned to her. “You can’t just destroy it, you need to shut things down one at a time, or the system will lock, and the field will stay active. It’s a failsafe device.”
“Do you mind guarding the one door we do know about?” Cas asked Jann. She shot another look at Evie then nodded.
“It’s good to have you back,” she said, passing Evie on her way to the door. Evie smiled, but she still wasn’t sure she felt like she was completely back. She certainly didn’t feel like she belonged here, not after what she’d endured. Was she even still worthy of being captain, or should Cas take over? Maybe she didn’t even belong back on Tempest. Not with this thing still inside her.
“Show me what to do,” Laura said, staring at the glowing stone tablets before her. Box approached them as well, studying the images and keeping uncharacteristically quiet.
“It’s a sequence,” Martial explained. “I was just about to begin. Here, we start with this one.”
Cas sidled up beside Evie, watching them work. “How are you feeling?”
She stared straight ahead. “Like an imposter in someone else’s skin.”
He chuckled. “Funny enough, I know just what that feels like. Maybe you’ll feel better once we get back on the ship.”
“I’m not sure I should go back,” she replied. “If that thing inside me comes back, I don’t want to go off on the crew. I could kill all of them.”
He cut his eyes toward the ground. “You don’t think you can control it?” She shook her head. “Well, it may not matter anyway. Without a working ship I don’t see how we’d be leaving anyway. This planet might just be our new home.”
The idea made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to stay on this planet any more than she wanted that thing to come back. She couldn’t imagine only a few weeks passing in the rest of the universe while the rest of them lived and died on this strange world, their days stretched out over long periods. It might just drive her crazier than she already felt.
“What’s this?” Box asked as Martial and Laura worked the controls. He pointed to a bright blue set of runes.
“That’s the temporal actuator,” Martial said. “But don’t—”
“You mean the thing that’s making time go so slowly here?” Box spun on Cas and Evie, his eye blinking wildly. “I found it!” He turned back to controls. “And you are off! Problem solved.”
“No, wait!” Martial yelled as Box tapped the buttons. The part of the tablet he was working on went dark. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Cas asked.
“Nothing, it’s too late now. Let’s just get this thing shut down as fast as possible.” He returned to Laura and hurried his work. “That one, there, and this one next,” he instructed, pointing out different images to tap and turn. “Hold that one down while I complete this sequence here.”
Evie stepped forward. “Martial, what is it? What happened?”
“Without the temporal actuator this planet loses its grip on time. The whole reason these structures exist are to balance the space-time continuum on this planet.”
“Can’t you turn it back on?” Cas asked.
“Not without taking very precise measurements. I don’t have time to explain it right now.” He continued to help Laura shut down the various systems.
