A Fury Of Aces: Crystal Venom Part 6

'It does not matter who I am, Colonel. I am considerably more interested in you and this ship. Strip out of your suit. I know its type. Then lie down on the floor, extend your arms, um sorry, your arm, and your legs to their fullest extension.'

The suit peeled off her, leaving her naked. As soon as she was down, he picked up her severed arm and allowed his suit to take a blood and tissue sample. After a few moments it reported that she was one hundred per cent human and not carrying any immediately dangerous pathogens. However, it did identify alien proteins and unidentified material in her nervous system.

'Get up and take me to the Basalt ACEs,' Marko ordered.

'I bet you are a member of Chrysanthemum's crew. You have no jurisdiction here and you should leave immediately.'

'Really!' Marko barked out. 'Try this for an indication of my interest in you.'

As she stood up, he leant across and injected a rather unpleasant drug into her from a tough needle built into the end of his left index finger. Her face went bright red and she started to vomit after a few seconds. He felt a twinge of guilt because he knew there was nothing more debilitating than uncontrollable vomiting, but immediately swept empathy aside, reminding himself that he really did not know what he was dealing with. The colonel proceeded to curse him between heaving and staggering ahead. That little tool had been one of Jan's more interesting contributions to the suit, although there were a number of others as well, all medical, most good, some deeply unpleasant.

A small reception of defence drones waited for them outside the medical suite, but as Marko had fervently hoped they did not react to him. Technology, you have to love it, he mused; remove the communications, and then the ability to self-administrate, and it is stuffed.

Colonel White was leaning against the wall and weakly said, 'I demand to know who you are.'

Marko shrugged. 'You're not in a fit state to demand anything, Colonel. If you do not cooperate, I'll make it worse for you. I shall leave that to your imagination. Open the door.'

The colonel leant against the wall dry-retching, obviously having nothing further to vomit. Marko could see that the severity of her stomach's contractions was starting to break the seal on her stump. He pulled a patch off his suit and slapped it over the b.l.o.o.d.y stump; the material locked down into the colonel's skin, sealing it. As Marko stepped closer to help her up, she lashed out catching him in the upper thigh with her foot.

He grunted, stepped inside the next kick, swept her legs out from under her and kicked her as hard as he could in the crotch, knowing it was not only males who were sensitive in that region. Although he didn't want to, Marko mentally dialled another drug into the hypodermic and slapped it into her neck. She rolled, then fetched up against the wall, moaning loudly with her whole body spasming out of control.

'Now stop p.i.s.sing about, Colonel. I am giving you an antidote which, if I do not boost within three minutes, will make things much much worse for you. Open the door, now!'

He seized her ankle and injected the next drug into her calf muscle. She groaned and as the convulsions stopped, she reached up and keyed in the access code.

The door swung open with the lights coming on, and there were the ACE trio, looking very sorry for themselves. Nail could not lift his head, Flint could not move and Marko's son, Glint, had had both forearms broken and his tail pulped. The poor wretches were extremely pleased to see him, calling their greetings to him once he'd switched back to the secure unit comms.

's.h.i.t, what a mess! I'm here now and we will make you all OK.'

'Is Harry all right, Marko?' asked Flint.

Marko felt great sympathy for the mechanical spider, and also great pride that all Flint worried about was Harry. 'No, Flint, he is very sick and in the chiller.'

The soft voice of Flint sounded anxious. 'But you can fix him, can't you, Marko? You are very good at fixing broken things.'

He seized the colonel by both feet and dragged her across the floor, kicking the door closed behind her.

'Are you responsible for this, Colonel? I have already killed one of you. Your other head is in this container. Explain what has happened here or your current head will be joining it.'

She sobbed. 'I am compromised. The ent.i.ty that you destroyed was grown from me when I first located the Iris-cla.s.s Hauler, Cactus 3. I was ambushed and the ship taken over. There is something in my central nervous system, but it is no longer controlling me. I know that the construct that was made from me must be dead, as I am no longer aware of its presence. Please stop me from being sick, I beg of you. I still don't know who you are.'

She started to weep uncontrollably as her body convulsed even more violently than before with her spine bending at an alarming angle. He remembered the timer on the antidote and injected the booster into her. It took a chunk of willpower not to comfort her, knowing that she had once been a valued member of the Administration and someone dear to Michael Longbow.

'Maybe I can help, maybe I can't,' Marko told her. 'It depends if you are being straight with me or not. What else is on this ship? The AI is out of commission, the GB monitors are down, your altered self - apart from the head - dead, if not yet, very soon. My information is that high enough concentrations of oxygen are lethal to anything based on the urchins. I note that your drones are inactive as well, so am I now in control of this ship, Colonel?'

She stood up, staggered across to the wall screen and brought up the schematics of the ship, still dry heaving. She also opened all the files not directly controlled by Crystal, giving him complete access to the ship.

He dialled up another drug in his head which was loaded into the hypodermic. He touched it against her shoulder and a few seconds later she slid down the wall, deeply unconscious. He then gave her something to counter the vomiting drug along with a muscle relaxant.

He stroked Glint, gently lifted and attached Flint to himself as best he could, then picked up Nail and carried him across to the screen. 'Are your electronic and cognitive abilities operative, Nail?'

'Yes, Marko,' said the cat ACE. 'Tell me, how are Stephine and Veg? I know that they're not completely human, but they are family to me and, since you were the one who made me, I would know if they were bad ent.i.ties.'

Marko cradled Nail's head to tell him the bad news. 'I believe you, Nail. They are both very ill. They are chilled down until we can find out what is wrong with them. Now, what are your capabilities at present?'

'I am without control of my body as one of the colonels was very rough in her examination. She wanted information, but really I think that was just an excuse to break us and she was immensely strong; not fast in her actions but very powerful. However, I can access the ship's information and take control. Just push my paw up against the datalinks, please.'

Marko dragged a table across and made Nail as comfortable as possible and the ACE worked on gaining control of the ship. While Marko waited he sat down next to Glint, lifted him into his lap and stroked his beautiful head. 'It will be OK, my son, it will be OK.'

Marko felt Flint struggling to get line-of-sight access to their comms system. He picked him off his shoulder so Flint could see the receiver.

'I am so pleased that you came, Father. I was wondering what death would be like.'

Marko allowed himself a wry smile. 'No death for any of you while I am alive. I am very pleased that you all thought of spreading the relays through the ship. Do you think that they suspected?'

'They suspected that we were trying to contact the Hauler, Chrysanthemum,' Nail replied, 'which we were. That may be why she broke us.'

's.h.i.t! Chrysanthemum ! I'd completely forgotten about him. Nail, can you datadump everything up to him, please?'

'Already done, Father. I'm in contact with him now. He is contacting Patrick, who is recovering. I am getting information that Topaz found the interloper AI and shut it down. Ernst also has a vaccine for you. Asks what your intentions are?'

Marko heaved a sigh of relief. 'Have you complete control of this ship, Nail, and are there any biological contaminants dangerous to us?'

'Yes and yes. I have uploaded all the information to Chrysanthemum, and to Basalt. We are instructed to wait about six hours for decontamination materials to be created and then flushed through this ship. Topaz has dispatched a drone with your vaccine. It will be in airlock nine, which is the closest one to us here, in a few minutes.'

Marko let out a long sigh of relief. 'Good.'

He looked across at the colonel lying curled in a foetal position on the cold floor. He lifted Glint across onto a couch, then picked up the colonel and placed her on one of the beds, activated the medical suite to keep her unconscious and covered her with a blanket. He wondered how she would react when she learnt who it was who had knocked her about so severely. He shrugged, thinking that the problem was a job for the major to sort out.

He walked down to the airlock, letting the medical drone in. It lifted itself up to chest level, queried his suit in regard to his ident.i.ty, and once satisfied presented him with a small medical unit which he plugged into one of the external armoured ports on his right arm.

The message screen on the drone's upper cover lit up. 'May I be of any further a.s.sistance to you?' Marko typed in a negative, which the drone acknowledged: 'Very well. Call me if I am able to do anything. I have tasks to perform for Patrick.' The drone then moved off down the pa.s.sageway towards the bridge. Over the next few hours, Marko slowly started to feel a little better.

'Cargo drones are arriving in a few moments,' Nail reported. 'I've opened the airlocks for them and once they are inside I'll open all the airways and doors throughout the ship. Ernst advises that decontamination will take two hours. A similar process is taking place on Basalt. We will be able to dock in approximately four hours, once both ships have been cleared.'

'Thanks, Nail.'

While they waited he used the suit to start making lists for repairs to the ACEs, then asked them about improvements or augmentations that they could do at the same time. When he finished, he thought of relaxing to some music. He found, to his annoyance, that he had not loaded any music into the suit, in spite of Fritz having made a selection especially for him.

Three.

'Marko, wake up, please.'

He jolted awake; he must have nodded off, which was unusual for him. 'Glint. What's happening?'

'We are about to dock with Basalt. Chrysanthemum is sending over two of his crew who hold a wonderful amount of data that he believes will a.s.sist us. We, together with Basalt's AIs, have been holding a very high-speed conversation with Chrysanthemum. It would appear that Stephine is in very grave danger of dying. She is human, but of a type which is extremely rare and precious. We must help her and Veg very quickly. We are also mostly decontaminated. We can move about freely. Patrick has initiated the waking up of the crew but it will be some days before they'll be available to a.s.sist. Ernst will test them all. It is up to you, Marko, but we now understand a great deal of what is happening around us.'

He nodded. 'Right then. Feed me the files.'

The information was staggering in its detail and in the consequences for them all. He also suspected that he was allowed to see only a small percentage of it.

As soon as they were hard docked, he scooped up the ACEs and ran through the lock to the engineering deck. He ran up the spiral stairway, placed the ACEs with Topaz, who was waiting outside the medical suite, and then carried on running into the cryno unit. Time was at a premium, so Patrick had overridden the locks and slightly opened the units.

Marko fully opened Stephine's cryno pod and was shocked to see that she had shrunk, even in a chilled state; she looked ancient and withered. Patrick then fully opened Veg's unit as Marko gently took the naked Stephine from her unit and placed her on Veg as the information package had instructed him to do. As he watched, her whole body convulsed, which it should not have been able to do, and appeared to fuse with Veg's chest. Marko found himself shaking in shock and confusion at what was happening before his eyes; he could now see that Stephine, who was his friend and who he feared and respected equally, and loved dearly, was in a symbiotic relationship with her mate. As he was closing the casket, Veg's eyes opened and he looked at Marko and faintly smiled, something he most certainly should not have been able to do either. Marko could only give him a thumbs up and slowly and carefully close the pod, allowing Patrick to remotely seal it as he was still shaking.

He walked slowly back to the medical suite feeling very hungry and very thirsty. He opened the faceplate for the first time in what seemed like an age, when Ernst, followed by two of the most exotically beautiful women Marko had ever seen, arrived. He looked at them feeling very tired, thinking that the human mind could only handle so much in a day as the two ent.i.ties were utterly breathtaking.

One extended her hand to shake his. 'h.e.l.lo, Marko. I am Jasmine.'

The second did the same. 'And I am Lilly. We are crew constructs of Chrysanthemum and we're sure that you have knowledge of our type. Thanks to you, Marko, a most concerning situation has been revealed. I am sorry to have to do this, but we must prevent you from ever revealing what you now know to anyone else.'

Marko started swearing and had the suit seal itself up. 'I don't want to die today. I will fight you.'

The woman both gently smiled. 'There is no need,' Lilly said. 'We have already infected you with a rather exotic virus. It will sit in your augmented central nervous system and simply not allow you to communicate any information you possess about Stephine and Veg. Do not worry, it is otherwise completely harmless. Rather clever in that it will allow you to discuss the Angel, who you know as Stephine, with your ACEs, your AIs and us, but no one else. Certain restrictions have and will be imposed on them as well.'

Marko swore again feeling angry and manipulated. 'I have no choice in any of this, do I? Too many b.l.o.o.d.y secrets once again. OK. I need to check on the ACEs, please. Topaz, what have you got for me?'

The AI answered immediately. 'All three are tanked. They are now comfortable, and no longer in pain. We are building a specific diamond nanote which, once deployed into their systems, will mend the breakages. You can thank Jasmine for the basic information concerning them. In some twenty-seven hours they will be fully functional again.'

Marko felt confused, angry, relieved and pleased all at the same time. He allowed himself a few moments to regain his composure before replying. 'Thanks to you all. I was really worried that we would have to dismantle them and replace the broken bones with complete new ones. I am very hungry and extremely thirsty, as we have not fitted the next level of technology - fluids and nutrients - to this suit. If you want to talk, follow me to the galley.'

Patrick joined the conversation. 'Sorry, Marko, you will have to remain hungry for a little while longer. All the food and drink must be tested. I shall expedite the clearance of a selection for you.'

Marko shook his head. 'b.l.o.o.d.y typical. Patrick, tell me as soon as something is available. I suppose that I am not allowed a shower, either?'

'That is correct.'

's.h.i.t!'

'Yes, you are able to do that. The toilets are all functioning. Just don't come in contact with the water.' Patrick laughed, then continued. 'Jasmine is going to inspect the ship, Crystal. We note you chopped a Games Board monitor to pieces; the other one you disabled and it would appear that it has self-destructed. She will see if any information is accessible from the remains. She will secure the head in storage, and also the human Colonel White. Chrysanthemum is currently constructing an investigative unit to gather information. In particular, he will examine the engine room, which is still showing pressurised ninety per cent oxygen - impressive, an inspired solution on your part as the alien Colonel White would have eventually killed you. Once the investigation is complete, a decision will be made concerning the colonel. All possible information will be gleaned from the hybrid head, then it and the unit will be destroyed. We also have disposable cleanup drones en route to the engine room of Crystal to ensure it is secured.'

Marko had a sudden horrible thought. 'Major Longbow slept with the colonel! He is probably carrying something as well.'

'I am afraid that is correct,' Patrick said. 'She slept with other members of our crew as well. They have all been sampled and are carrying alien proteins in their systems. In fact, the only uninfected are Jan, Julie Mapp and Major van Beere.'

'Busy!'

'So it would seem. One of the reasons we are taking the risk seriously is we do not, in fact, know how everyone was infected. Certainly having s.e.x and pa.s.sing the pathogen on venereally is the most likely. However, how did she infect Stephine and Veg with another illness, that is the question. Looking at the personnel movement logs, it is logical to a.s.sume that the urchin-based colonel and the controlled-human colonel switched on occasion. The urchin one may have carried any number of biological weapons. Certainly, the datadumps from the ACEs show that the urchin colonel was very determined to gain control of Stephine.'

Jasmine suddenly interrupted the conversation. 'The logical answer may be that this entire operation was to obtain Stephine for an unknown purpose. Now we have to make some decisions, Marko. Chrysanthemum needs to leave very soon and he needs to alert the Haulers' Collective to what has occurred. You need to get word back to your command as well as, unfortunately, Chrysanthemum will be unable to inform your people himself in a timely manner. We will remain and a.s.sist you. We have been seconded to you personally by Chrysanthemum, who thinks very highly of you.'

At any other time, Marko would have been overwhelmed by the compliment but he was just too tired. 'Right. Patrick, please start waking Jan, Julie Mapp and Major van Beere. Please pa.s.s our thanks and debt to Chrysanthemum, Jasmine.'

She smiled at him. 'Done. He pa.s.ses on his best wishes and wants to meet you in person someday soon. He is leaving now. He also pa.s.ses on his thanks for a dog you made for him a long time ago. It is his constant companion. He regrets that he altered part of its programming so that it no longer reports back to you.'

'Ha,' Marko exclaimed. 'Always wondered what happened to that one.'

Patrick then spoke. 'The unit manufactured for the testing of the remains of the urchin colonel will dock in twelve minutes. I have instructed it to dock with the ship Crystal. Your requirements, please, Marko?'

Marko sighed, then quietly said, 'Patrick, how soon before I can have something to eat? I really need sustenance. What about the emergency rations?'

'Fruit and nuts are the best we can do, Marko. A drone is en route with a fresh selection from the garden deck. That entire deck is free of any contamination, which is something I find most curious and worthy of my investigation. Maybe the colonel wanted it for herself?'

Marko immediately felt a little better. 'Fruit! Excellent. Right now I will take anything, thanks.'

The drone arrived a few moments later and gave Marko a basket piled with fruit and nuts.

'Right, Lilly, your first job for me, and yes it's rude of me to ask, is to slice and dice and open these nuts, please.'

She merely smiled, nodded, and started preparing the pineapple since it was the juiciest of the lot. As he munched his way through a large plate of fruit and nuts, he had to laugh at his situation. Nuts! Berries, apples, oranges, the weird but delicious feijoas, and he was still in a prototype suit talking to a drop-dead gorgeous construct of a Hauler who was feeding him like some emperor of old. The Universe was definitely quite mad, but he now felt that he might actually survive the day.

'OK, fellow sentients,' he said. 'Please forgive me as I munch and discuss what we need to do at the same time. Patrick, your priority is to decontaminate both ships. If you are not doing so already, use every resource available including all the spare drones. Lilly and Jasmine: learn as much as possible of what we are dealing with here. Catalogue and cross-reference everything. Break it down so that my feeble brain can a.s.similate it. Once finished, gather any contaminated material and use a Compressor on it. Topaz, Ernst: first find a cure for Stephine and Veg, then find out if we can extract the alien material from our fellow crew members and sort the ACEs.'

'Marko, I have decontaminated a few hundred litres of water,' Patrick reported. 'You can shower if you wish. Your cabin has been checked and is also free of any contamination. I would prefer that your current suit be thoroughly cleaned before you walk around the ship any more. Strip and leave it where you are. I have had one piece of soap manufactured for your use. Do not be concerned if you feel a slight burning sensation when you use it. We start with you and clean everything. There is also a drink waiting for you in your cabin. Please consume it immediately. Ernst manufactured it for you.'

He walked naked up the few decks to the accommodation area, padded into his cabin and straight into the coral-lined shower. Just as he was about to turn it on he remembered the drink. It looked like a banana milkshake and tasted like one too. He climbed into the shower and scrubbed himself with the harsh medical soap that seemed to be peeling an entire layer of skin off him, because he was stinging all over. Scrubbing the area where the octopoid had touched him all those years earlier, he could just make out the five tiny marks. He wondered whether he should tell anyone about them, but decided that it was nice to have a little secret of his own considering the great number of them already on the ship.

He had the sudden urge to p.i.s.s so did it right there in the shower, looking down and noting a very dark urine stream. This seemed unusual and he hoped the AIs were actually looking after him and that the whole performance was not some horrible trick on their part. Then he considered that if they had wanted him out of the picture they could have had him on ice a hundred times already. He dried off using the long soft fibrous towel which was growing from the wall, fully intending to climb into a ship suit and get back to work, but his bed suddenly looked hugely inviting.

'Patrick, crew, I need sleep. Wake me in six hours, please.'

'Yes, Marko,' Patrick replied. 'In fact, we shall wake you in ten hours. We are going to UV irradiate the ship. Your cabin has already been done. Sleep well.'

As sleep reached for him, he thought: The b.u.g.g.e.rs wanted me out of the way, anyway.

He awoke to the extraordinary naked vision of Lilly standing beside his bed, slowly lifting one leg to rest on the mattress, opening herself up to him. Her body scent was simply superb.

'h.e.l.lo, Marko. Do you find me desirable?'

He decided that he was in a dream, thought 'what the h.e.l.l!' and he pulled aside the silken living duvet for her to join him.

He awoke at the ship time of 7.00 a.m., remembering every detail of what he could only think was the most vividly erotic dream he had ever had because he could not detect any of Lilly's delicious scent on him. As he showered, he put it down to a side effect of the previous days and possibly the drink that Ernst had made for him. He opened the wardrobe to find his suit folded and waiting with his favourite padded helm on top of it and decided that a housekeeping drone must have been in the room as everything was neat and tidied away. He picked up the suit, draped it around his shoulders. It activated, slid down and around him, sealing as it went, plugging into all his shunts, and as he lifted each foot in turn, the sleek boots formed over his feet. He slid his helm over his head as it too activated, contouring perfectly to his head, then when he thought the instruction it peeled back to roll down against his neck. He patted the suit, feeling the best he had in a long time.

Marko tapped the main wall screen. 'h.e.l.lo, Patrick. What is our status, please?'

'Both ships are decontaminated. They are as clean as they have ever been. Jan, Julie and Jonathan will be fully functional in thirty-two hours. Food supplies are sufficient for the foreseeable future. All stored food is being reprocessed. Twenty per cent of water reserves have been processed and are now available. The information concerning the urchins, the cargo of the Hauler, Cactus 3, the escaped scientists and their probable location, is available to you. We have determined that the sick crew members can be cured of the urchin-based infections. It is a violent pathogen which ultimately takes over the host, creating a creature similar to the urchin colonel you killed.'

Marko stood very still, thinking about what the octopoids had given him years before, and that it was extraordinarily fortunate that he should have it, as Patrick continued. 'We are still unable to determine why the real Colonel White is relatively intact. She is, however, compromised, and it is probably beyond the facilities we have here to clear her of her condition. We have started the warm-ups of the remaining crew and without waking them fully will place them in the tanks. We have initiated the growth of a new set of medical nanotes which we will inject into the crew members once they are supported by the fluid in the tanks and all their physical needs are taken care of. The nanotes will expedite the removal of the pathogen and then the healing of each member of the crew. The first ones will be members of the salvage crew; they will be cured in twenty-one standard days. Sergeant van Vinken and Warrant Officer Stevens will follow at twenty-four days. The major will not be rejoining us for twenty-nine days.'

Marko allowed himself a little smile.