Prologue
"He's gone mad!"
The pinging of meteorites on the steel surface of the ship did nothing to drown out the horrible truth. His mouth set in a grim line, the man at the helm gripped the console a little harder, ignoring the panicked speech from his companion. She hadn't needed to tell him of their crewmate's madness; the proof lay before him, as clear on the computer screen as it was through the bridge's forewindow. The blue surface of the planet beneath was drawing closer with every blast of the sabotaged engines.
"So what we do?"
If it were possible, the captain pressed his lips together even more tightly. They were bloodless now, as was the rest of his face. He spared his companion a glance that chilled her to the bone; it was the look of one who knows there is no hope left. "We save those we can," he said in an undertone. "If he hasn't gotten to them yet."
The ship shuddered violently and spun a little as the planet's gravity began to draw them into its fatal embrace. Steadying herself on the edge of the console, the woman shook her head. "He's disabled the thrusters for all the escape pods we had left." Her lip trembled as she spoke, but she did her best to master it. "If we send the others out now, they won't be able to pull out of the gravity field."
The captain did not respond for a moment. With one eye on the computer screen, he flicked through the ship's security logs. Finding the room he wanted, he enlarged the image. A young girl sat huddled in the middle of a laboratory, cradling the body of an older woman. There was no sound accompanying the log, but from the expression on the girl's face, he could tell that she was weeping. He could also tell that the woman was long dead. Turning his head away from the screen, the captain swore and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the tears flowed freely.
"She's gone." His companion placed a hand on his shoulder, her voice muted. "I'm sorry. He went after her first."
Inhaling sharply, the captain dashed the wetness from his cheeks and stood. If she was truly dead, there remained only one more thing to do. He looked to the woman at his side.
"Where is he now?"
She swallowed. "Headed up this way. He was behind me."
"Does he know you're in here?"
"I don't think so. I heard him, but I didn't see him. I don't think he saw me either."
"And the rest? Do we know where they are?" the captain asked, striding to the panel next to the door. His companion had jammed it shut upon her entrance; now he set to work opening it again.
She ignored his question, the panic rising in her voice once more. "What are you doing?"
"If he wants a fight, he's got one. He's going to have to face me man to man." His grizzled jaw clenched tight as his fingers sped through the disabling codes. "He's got to answer for Regina's death." A warning alarm began dinging throughout the bridge, and the captain spun to face the woman next to him. She was as white as the rumpled lab coat she wore, but she was calm again, her panic resolved. Her mouth was set in an equally grim line and her eyes were clear. "Did he kill any others?" the captain asked again, quietly this time. She shook her head.
"I don't know. I'm sorry."
He closed his eyes. "May their souls find peace." When he opened his eyes, she had taken his hand.
"Doctor…Albert…" For a moment it seemed she didn't know what to say. At last she pulled herself together and looked him in the eye. "What can I do?"
He tightened his grip on her hand. "Find my daughter. Take her to your lab. Use…" his voice trailed off and her eyes widened, knowing what it was that he wanted her to use.
"I have no idea if it works!" she protested. "It could kill her!"
The captain shook his head, impatient. "Listen, please! I know you love my daughter like your own. I'm asking as a father and a friend…please, use it. If there's any chance at all…" A hint of pride crept into his voice, and the hard look around his bespectacled eyes softened for a moment. "She's strong…she's special. She might survive where others wouldn't."
The woman released his hand as a fearful clanging echoed through the empty bridge. It was accompanied by maniacal laughter.
"Doctor, DOCTOR! Someone to SEE you now!" A voice that had once been human shrilled through the solid steel of the bulkhead doors, sending chills into the captain's very bones. It was impossible to tell by the sound if it was male or female, but there was no need to tell. He knew who it was. The insane laughter continued as the captain turned to his companion one last time.
"Celeste, listen. I'm going to open this door in a moment and let him in." He ignored the horrified expression that danced across her face and continued, his voice firm. "Keep listening. You stay as close to the wall as you can get. When I open the door, I'm hoping he'll rush in here." Something like cheerless humor pulled his mouth up in a failed attempt at a smile. "He is so keen on killing me, after all."
"Albert…"
He would not let her finish. The pounding on the door continued. "Listen! As soon as he gets past you, run. Don't stop, don't look back. I'll reseal the doors as soon as you're clear. Then…"
"And then he'll kill you!"
"We're all dead in twenty minutes anyway, Celeste! And this gives you a chance to find my daughter, okay? You're the only chance she has." He sighed deeply. "She should be in Regina's lab. Get her out of there and take her to your lab. Then…well, you know what to do then."
Celeste nodded, tears springing to her eyes as the captain turned to the door panel once again. "I do," she whispered. "I mean, I will. I promise."
The captain readied his hand over the final entry code that would override the door-seal command. He met his companion's eye one last time as she pressed herself against the wall, awaiting the fatal entrance of their former crewmate. He nodded. "Thank you, Celeste. Thank you." He brought his hand closer to the panel. "One more thing…"
She waited.
"Tell my daughter…tell her that I love her."
"I promise."
He pressed the button.
~o~
Celeste had no time to watch the entrance of their enemy; a dark streak rushed past her into the bridge, gibbering its fury in a lunatic tongue. As soon as it was in the room, she bolted.
As the captain had ordered, she did not look back. But she did hear the aching screech of metal sliding shut, followed by the thud of the deadbolts locking into place. The bulkhead was sealed for a second and final time, entombing the best man she had ever known with the worst creature she could ever have imagined. Unabashed tears flowed from her eyes as she ran, tracing the familiar patterns of the passage to Regina's lab. They would kill each other, likely as not, or draw out their struggle until the heat of reentry boiled them alive in the unshielded ship. Or, if their enemy had not managed to disable the heat-shield, until impact.
That would kill them all.
Except her, she chided herself. She will live. She deserves to live. This is going to work.
Without slackening her speed, Celeste charged into the open door of Regina's laboratory…only to stop short at the scene that unfolded before her. The security feed had captured the image, but not a hint of the emotion poured out by the young girl embracing the dead body of her mother. Her heart breaking, Celeste took one step towards the pair, noting the unnatural angle of Regina's head. That animal had snapped her neck.
"Sweetheart?"
The girl looked up, her face surprisingly blank. But it was the fullness of pain that smoothed the contours of her expression rather than the absence of it, as only those who have touched the bottom of despair can understand. "We're going to die, aren't we?" she asked in an undertone.
Celeste knelt beside her acutely aware of the little time they had left. "You have to come with me now, all right?" Sadness flooded through her as she glanced at the broken body of her friend, clutched in the young girl's arms. "Your father needs you to come with me."
"He's still alive?" A hint of hope crept into the girl's voice.
Celeste pressed her lips together and seized her hand. There wasn't time. "Hurry!" she cried, pulling the girl off her feet and wincing at the undignified way Regina's body crumpled to the ground. "I'm not going to let you die!" Surprisingly, the girl gave no resistance, though Celeste knew she could if she wanted. Though no longer a child, Albert and Regina's daughter was certainly stronger than her size belied. Grateful she had chosen to follow without question, Celeste dashed through the halls to her own lab. There…well, there would have to take place a miracle.
They arrived in under a minute. Celeste slammed and sealed the doors, well aware that she would never leave the room alive. Quite to her shock, her mind was clear and sharp; the mathematical precision of the thing she was about to attempt had chased away all unwanted emotion. Panic was gone; duty remained. Duty to her dead friend. Duty to the man that had saved her life—at least temporarily—at the price of his. Duty to save the life of their daughter. She spun to face the girl.
"Sweetheart? You need to listen to me. Don't ask questions, all right?"
She nodded, struck dumb with terror and grief.
"Good." Celeste drew her over to a corner of her lab, towards the ominous glass cubicle she had been working with for nearly three years. Opening the door to the chamber, she placed the young girl on the square of black steel in the very center and told her to hold very still. "It'll be over in a second. I promise."
Instead of protesting or pestering her with questions, her subject stood rigid, breaking her silence only to ask what she needed to do.
"I'm going to have to close this door in a minute. You're going to feel something cold coming up around your feet. But I need you to keep your eyes on me, all right? This is important. Don't look down."
"Okay."
At the sight of her calmness, Celeste could not help a few more tears from pooling in the corner of her eyes. It was true when the captain had said she loved this girl like her own daughter, and it struck her to the heart to think how trustingly she went into that glass chamber, awaiting whatever Celeste would bring upon her without blinking an eyelash.
Even if that thing might kill her.
Celeste gritted her teeth as she shut and sealed the door. Backpedaling to her control console, she surveyed the system analysis. Supplied with its own secondary electric circuits, her lab had remained operational in the midst of their crewmate's sabotage. The readings indicated full functionality of the chamber, with activation awaiting the touch of a keypad. Her hand hovered over the control for a moment, and she raised her eyes to the girl's, remembering her promise.
"Can you hear me?" Celeste asked.
She nodded.
Celeste was weeping freely now, her subject's innocent face no more than a salty blur. "Your father…your father said to tell you that he loves you."
And then, with a flick of her finger, the process began.
Icy cold liquid crystal began flowing upwards from the implanted tubes in the base, swirling in sickening eddies as it edged up the girl's leg. She winced and shivered but obeyed Celeste's order. Her eyes showed a multitude of emotions, but she focused on the woman outside the glass chamber. "Good girl, sweetheart. You're doing…" All of a sudden a violent shudder racked the ship from bow to aft, throwing Celeste on the floor and slamming the girl against the glass panels. "Hold still!" Celeste shrieked, pulling herself to her feet. "Don't move!" Her hand descended on the control panel and the speed of the liquid trebled. In a moment it had reached the girl's chest. Celeste took a deep breath and steadied herself for her final instructions. "Okay, love, this is it. In a second it will be over your head, and I'm going to need you to do something really hard."
"What?" Her voice was panicky, though she made no movement to try to escape. Celeste sighed.
"I'm going to need you to take a deep breath when the stuff reaches your nose."
"What?"
A second, even more violent shudder sent the two reeling. Celeste rose from the floor with blood on her forehead, but she continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "You have to breathe!" The liquid was now up to the girl's neck, and she looked terrified. "Trust me, sweetheart, you have to!"
"I can't!"
"You have to!"
"I…" But the clear substance had reached her mouth. Her eyes widened, and Celeste could see she was about to lose control.
"NO! Breathe! Sweetheart, it's the only way you're going to make it out of this!" Still the girl held her breath. As the liquid closed over her head, her hands flew to the glass walls, searching desperately for a way out. "Please!" Celeste begged. "Do it for your parents!"
The girl ceased moving, and for a very few seconds, everything was still.
Then several things happened at once.
A deep and throbbing creak echoed through the entire ship—the death knell of many tons of metal torn to pieces by the furious forces of gravity.
The far wall of Celeste's laboratory exploded inwards as the structural integrity of the ship was compromised. Shrapnel and flames spat themselves into the room like bullets, tearing through Celeste's abdomen as she turned to protect the console.
The girl in the chamber, blinded by the sudden explosion, reached up instinctively to protect her face and chest. Unable to hold her resistance against the sudden shock, she took a deep breath.
Celeste saw that the girl had inhaled at the same time she saw the fatal shard protruding from her side. But there was no pain, at least not yet. There was only the child's survival. With the last of her strength, she entered the code that would complete the process. The calm computer voice that announced the imminent destruction of the ship was drowned out by the roaring of flames, the torquing of metal and the small, satisfied sigh of a dying woman at peace.
She'll live. We are lost, but at least she lives.
~o~
The twisted and burning remains of the once-glorious spacecraft fell, like a smoking star, through heavy atmosphere and roiling clouds, to the cold and uninhabited shores of an abandoned planet.