Ashfall Prophecy, page 2
Finally, Batzian sat behind the engineering console, running a diagnostic on the Eastwood, the only one of us doing anything truly productive. His ponytail had come undone, white-blue strands of hair loose around his face. It was the most unkempt I’d ever seen him. He broke away from his work to tiptoe over to me, almost like he was afraid to startle any of us.
“What happened down there?” he asked quietly.
I shook my head. “Bad,” I mumbled, my mind elsewhere.
“What are we going to tell—?”
The door to the bridge open, and Batzian’s twin sister, Melian, entered. She gasped at the sight of us, then lunged at her brother, wrapping him in a hug. For once, his sister’s affection didn’t make Batzian bristle with embarrassment.
And then came Hiram. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as his eyes swept across us—his crewmates, or what was left of us after our disastrous journey to Ashfall. As a group, we looked like we’d just escaped from a burning slaughterhouse. In a way, that was pretty accurate.
Not that Hiram looked so hot himself. He moved with a crutch wedged under his arm, and the fresh bio-tape wrapped around his thigh was already soaked through with a concerning amount of blood. When I first met him, I thought Hiram would’ve looked at home on posters, the peak version of a generically good-looking A-list actor. He carried himself that way, too. Tanned, ripped, carefree—that was Hiram. Now his chiseled features were twisted in a way that I’d never seen before, and it took me a second to realize it was pain. Teary-eyed, mouth pinched at the corners—I don’t think Hiram had ever suffered anything worse than a hunger pang in his entire life. But now he had a gaping wound in the front of his thigh, put there by a sniper rifle wielded by my father. Or Ool’Vinn, the Panalax that had taken control of my dad’s corpse to fulfill their self-imposed mandate of protecting Ashfall from outsiders.
Yeah. Not ready to think about that yet.
After he’d been shot, we sent Hiram back to the Eastwood with Melian. They didn’t make it into the temple with the rest of us, which meant they got off easy. The two of them missed out on having their brains violated by a bad vibes ancestor of the Ossho Collective, the one currently sharing an exo-suit with Aela. They didn’t have to witness the unabridged secret history of the universe.
The Origin, as I’d started to think of it.
So Hiram was in the dark. He didn’t know that Reno had gone nuts or that Darcy had felt compelled to side with her for reasons I couldn’t wrap my head around. All he knew was that we’d taken off from Ashfall in a no-seat-belts hurry and that we were now down two crew members.
Melian was as out of the loop as Hiram. But figuring out what to tell her didn’t seem like such a big deal, since she wasn’t capable of murdering everyone on the ship.
“Okay,” Hiram said. “Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on? Where’s the captain? Where’s Darcy?”
Awkward. No one had a response ready, not even my uncle Tycius. As a former Denzan spy who’d spent years on Earth searching for me, I thought he’d be a little quicker on the uptake. He looked at Hiram with glassy eyes, and I realized that whatever instructions my uncle had been attempting to feed into the captain’s console were nonsense—he was basically just opening and closing menus. Back on Ashfall, Reno had squeezed his head until I thought it might pop like a grape. Her fingerprints were probably visible on his scalp beneath his mane of wiggly Denzan hair. Our new captain had a concussion.
So I stepped forward. Someone had to tell Hiram something.
“We—”
And, of course, at that very moment the comm channel crackled to life. Because of our speed, the voice came through tinny and distant, broken apart by bursts of static. But still, it was unmistakably Reno. Because of course it was.
“Hiram—zzt zzt—Hiram—zzt—are you there?”
Hiram’s head cocked, his brow furrowed. I felt my fists clench and forced myself to open them back up. I didn’t want to send Hiram any signals. He was injured, but he was still human. A full human. Which meant he was way stronger than me. He glanced around at us—we dumbly stared back at him—then returned his gaze to the comm.
“They—zzzt—left—zzt zzt! Betray—zzzt! Mutiny!”
Tycius blinked his way to awareness and smashed the button on his console to shut down comms. But it was too late. Hiram had already heard the m-word.
He pointed at the control panel. “Why’d you cut her off? What did she mean?”
My uncle stammered, one of his large Denzan eyes drooping half-closed. “I—as second-in-command—am now captain of the Eastwood.”
“My ass,” Hiram replied. “Open that channel back up. I want to talk to the actual captain. And slow the ship down before we’re out of range.” He looked around for support. “Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you guys?”
“I can’t do that, Hiram,” Tycius said, then turned to me. “We—we should probably fly dark. No comms until we figure out . . . where we are going?”
I wasn’t sure he meant to phrase that as a question. Tycius trailed off and sank back into the captain’s chair, rubbing his temples. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“You need to get to the med-bay,” I said.
“No one’s going anywhere until I get answers!” Hiram yelled.
He took a lunging step toward us with enough force that the crutch buckled under his arm and folded over on itself. With his leg unable to support his weight, Hiram sank down to one knee with a pained snarl.
“Hiram, be careful,” Melian gently interjected. “I told you before, the bio-tape isn’t adhering correctly.”
Melian was one of those natural-helper types, the kind of person who back on Earth would’ve missed the school bus because she found a hurt pigeon and needed to take it to the vet. My mom and I never had time for people like that, and we sure didn’t follow their example, but I admired them from afar.
Anyway, she’d been trying to help Hiram since he’d gotten shot, and she was still trying to help him now. While everyone else gawked at Hiram like he was a rabid dog burst free from his cage, Melian hopped to his side and tried to help him up.
Or she would have, if Batzian hadn’t stopped her.
“Don’t go near him!” Batzian shouted and grabbed his sister by the arm, yanking her backward.
“Ow,” Melian yelped. She shook loose from Batzian’s grasp, but the force of the whole exchange sent her off balance and she tripped onto the floor. “By the tides, what are you doing?”
“Damn, Batz,” Hiram said, using the nickname that Batzian absolutely despised. “What’s with the manhandling, bro?”
Batzian stepped protectively in front of his sister. “Stay away from us, you beast.”
I winced at Batzian’s word choice. We were all digesting the Origin differently, but I really wished Batzian’s response wasn’t to trot out the kind of insults that Arkell used when I first joined the crew.
“Beast?” Hiram replied. He picked himself up, a fresh trickle of blood running down the front of his leg. “I’m not the one shoving my sister on the ground, you fucking nerd.”
“I agree with Hiram,” Melian grumbled.
“This could get bad,” H’Jossu whispered.
I jumped. The lumbering Panalax stood right behind me, and I hadn’t even noticed. He nervously rubbed the fresh lattices of mold that covered the fist-size holes in his bearlike underbelly. Much like the bruises on my back, Darcy was responsible for those. From one out-of-control human to the next.
I glanced over my shoulder. “Are you hiding behind me right now?”
“I’m not not hiding behind you,” he said.
Meanwhile, in all the commotion, Zara had slipped around the edge of the room so that she was positioned behind Hiram. She flashed me her teeth over Hiram’s shoulder. Back in the temple, the two of us had taken Darcy down. We made a good team. Such a good team that one day we’d blow up the Earth together.
Right. Something else I was trying not to think about.
Batzian stood his ground in front of Hiram, which I respected even if it would’ve been suicidal if Hiram had actually wanted to attack him. He waved Batzian off, though, and turned back to me and my groggy uncle.
“You’re not answering me, ‘Captain,’” he said, throwing out some superstrong air quotes. “Somebody better explain this shit to me before I run out of patience.”
“You’re losing blood,” Melian said.
“Yeah, so you better talk quick,” Hiram barked.
I could tell by the way Ty’s mouth hung open and how he could barely focus on Hiram that there wasn’t going to be a convincing story coming. After what the knowledge had done to Reno and Darcy, my instinct was to keep the Origin from Hiram. But how could I explain what had happened on Ashfall without getting into the insanity in the temple?
Run, lie, fight.
“Reno went crazy,” I said, edging forward to block Hiram’s path to the captain’s chair. “Darcy, too.”
Hiram sized me up. “They went crazy,” he repeated.
“They turned on us,” I said. “Attacked us.”
“And you survived?” Hiram snorted. “Captain Marie fucking Reno, hero of the Etherazi invasion, attacked you six with Darcy as her tag-team partner, and you made it back to the Eastwood in one piece? Man, Syd, you always have a story, don’t you? Shit, it’s one of your stories that got us out here in the first place.”
“We used the Vulpin mercenaries as a distraction,” I said. “Also, I’m kind of a bad-ass.”
“And I’m not in one piece anymore,” H’Jossu volunteered, gesturing at his new holes.
“And there was also my dad,” I added. I was trying to stick as close to the actual truth as possible; that always made a lie more effective. “He was there, too.”
Hiram raised his eyebrows. “You found him?”
“What was left of him,” I said. “He’s the one who shot you. He’s dead now. Reno killed him.”
“Oh.” Hiram rubbed the back of his neck and I was surprised to see actual sympathy in his eyes. “Sorry, Syd.”
“Yeah,” I replied, swallowing. “Thanks.”
Hiram was calmer now, the flush of anger drained from his cheeks. Although that could’ve just been the blood loss. “What happened, though? Why’d they go nuts?”
“It was some kind of infection,” I said. “An airborne toxin or something. I think my dad might have unleashed it.”
“A rage virus, if you will,” H’Jossu said to Hiram, then whispered to me, “28 Days Later.”
“Not the time,” I whispered back.
Hiram nodded slowly, as if my improvised BS actually made sense. “Damn,” he said. “A rage virus. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to back you guys up.”
“But wait,” Melian piped in. “If they’re sick on Ashfall, why are we flying away? Shouldn’t we stand by in orbit and signal for help?”
Goddamn it, Melian.
“We aren’t even supposed to be out here, remember?” I said. “We need to—”
“Hold up,” Hiram said. “This dude Batzian just called me a beast, your uncle is napping, Aela looks weird, you’re being squirrelly as shit, Syd, and this whole time Zara’s been lurking behind me like she’s going to try to jump me at any second . . .”
A low growl rumbled from Zara’s throat, like she was mad at herself for being spotted. Hiram didn’t even turn to look at her. His eyes widened, and he pointed at me.
“Oh man,” he said. “You’re the ones who are sick with some kind of brain parasite or something.”
“Hiram, no, we are not—”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s exactly what you’d say if you were being mind-controlled,” Hiram said. He started forward, dragging his wounded leg with him. “I’m turning us around. We’re going to get Captain Reno and figure this out.”
Run, lie, fight.
I put myself in his way, my palm on his chest. “That’s not happening.”
Hiram swatted my hand away easily. I hooked my leg behind his good one and grabbed the front of his uniform with both hands, trying to trip him. He grabbed my wrists and squeezed hard enough that my bones creaked.
“Come on, Syd,” he said gently. “I don’t want to hurt you. Snap out of it.”
Zara tiptoed closer. Her hand slipped into the shelf of fur that ran across her shoulders and returned with the same blade that she’d used on Reno, the one that had been dipped in the oil-like substance that could penetrate human flesh.
“Hiram, you have no idea what you’re doing,” I said.
“I’m saving you,” he responded. “Let me go, Syd. Last warning.”
“This is unproductive.”
Both our heads turned as Aela spoke for the first time since Hiram had entered the bridge. The systems in Aela’s exo-suit hadn’t been altered by their exposure on Ashfall, yet somehow their robotic voice seemed to lack its usual verve.
“Do you want to know what happened on Ashfall, Hiram?” Aela asked. “What really happened?”
“Yeah,” Hiram replied. “I mean, I’d settle for knowing anything at this point. Like what the hell is going—”
Before he could finish that sentence, the faceplate of Aela’s exo-suit had popped open and a lightning-streaked magenta blur had flowed forth into Hiram’s open mouth and nostrils. He managed one gasping hiccup before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed into my arms.
3
“Why did they do that?” Melian exclaimed, staring at the opening in Aela’s exo-suit. “This isn’t a sterile environment. Aela could have gotten contaminated.”
“Bit late to worry about that,” Zara muttered. She slid her dagger back in her fur and watched me with her hands on her hips.
I swung Hiram’s limp body around like we were slow dancing until I was able to plunk him down in an empty seat. His eyes were closed, but the lids fluttered spastically like he was having some really vivid dreams. There was no telling what Aela was showing him. Would they actually fill his mind with the same visions we’d all experienced on Ashfall? Aela was acting unpredictably. Either way, they’d bought us some time.
“Was any of that true?” Melian asked me, brushing by her brother. “An infection? Reno and Darcy?”
“Kind of,” I replied. “I mean, it’s one interpretation of what happened.”
Melian narrowed her eyes. “Hiram was right. You are all acting strangely.”
H’Jossu bunched his wide shoulders in a shrug. “I thought I was handling it pretty well, honestly.”
“It’s with good reason, sister, I swear,” Batzian said, putting a gentler hand on Melian’s shoulder than when he’d grabbed her moments ago. “I’m sorry about before. I overreacted.”
“I’ll forgive you once you tell me what’s happening,” she said.
Batzian looked to me, and I stared back unhelpfully. This was something we hadn’t had a chance to discuss. What were we supposed to do with the Origin, with the universe-upending knowledge we’d stumbled into on Ashfall? Could we possibly hope to keep it a secret? Did we even want to? My dad had given his life to prevent the history of humanity from ever escaping Ashfall, but I wasn’t sure that was the right decision. Letting the secret fester out there just made things worse in the long run. Although, if Reno was our test case for how humans took the news, maybe my dad had saved lives by stranding himself.
“You don’t want to know,” Batzian told Melian after it became clear I was too in my own head to answer.
“I do want to know, though,” Melian replied. “Whatever you’re keeping from me, whatever we’re running from—I’m already a part of it.”
At that moment, my uncle stirred. He groaned, holding the sides of his head, and leaned forward in his seat like he might throw up.
“Syd?” he asked. “I think I’ve got a concussion.”
“No shit,” I said. Seeing a way to stall this conversation until we could get our stories straight, I turned to Melian. “I’m sorry. I know we owe you an explanation. But can you take him to the med-bay? The last thing we need is a comatose captain.”
“You know, I’m not the only one with medical training on this ship,” Melian said sharply. “Zara was in that class too, and you’re not constantly asking her to play nurse.”
“I only took that class to work on my surgical skills,” Zara replied with a toss of her head. “Always lecturing me about bedside manner. Big waste of time.”
“Please, Melian,” I said, ignoring Zara. “Help my uncle down to the med-bay while I bring Hiram to Aela’s room. At least we can have a clean environment for when they emerge. After that, I promise, we’ll explain everything.”
Melian stalled for a moment, squaring her broad shoulders. The twins were the children of mushroom farmers in Denza’s northern reaches. Batzian tried to hide their upbringing with all his propriety and snobbery, but not Melian. She was kind, and no-nonsense, and could be annoyingly stubborn. Still, I knew Melian’s heart was too pure to hold out for long and, sure enough, she was soon helping my uncle to his feet.
“Come on, ah, Captain,” she said. “Let’s get your brain scanned.”
With a glance in my direction, Batzian looped around to Ty’s other side and helped Melian lead him out of the room.
“I’ll tell you what I can, sister,” I overheard Batzian say as the three Denzans left the bridge. “But you might wish that I hadn’t.”
As soon as the door hissed shut behind them, Zara sauntered forward to where H’Jossu and I stood over Hiram’s unconscious body. She had her dagger out again, balancing the narrow blade across her knuckles, the sharp edge making an almost soothing scraping sound across her furry knuckles.
“Good thinking to get rid of the Denzans,” she said, nodding to me. “They don’t have the stomach for this.”
