VII
I simply couldn't understand it. How could Xanthus have killed someone? How could he have even gotten out of his hypersleep booth in the first place? It was firmly sealed; it had been since the moment we'd left the Archimedes. Then again, I did recall Kelvin telling me that the dock crew would have to deactivate the booths to release Xena. Was it possible that they hadn't made sure they were closed again before leaving? I called out for Suzy once again, but there was still no reply. 'Looks like you've got to do this the old-fashioned way, Matthew', I thought to myself. Crouching down on the floor beside the hypersleep booth, being careful to avoid getting a shard of thick glass lodged into my kneecap, I fumbled around the underside of the pod, until my fingers fell upon a row of tiny square buttons. Pushing down one of the buttons caused a singular loud beep to sound through the room. Pushing a couple more buttons gave the same result, and finally, the sound of machinery whirring inside the pod told me that I had been successful.
A few moments later, a small hatch at the foot end of the hypersleep booth opened, and a thin piece of white paper began to work its way out through the slot. As it was pushed along by the printer's internal workings, black ink began to cling to the fragile material. Eventually, a long string of paper had ejected itself from the machine, leaving me to tear it away along the serrated edge. I held the paper up close to my face, struggling to see the tiny writing. For the most part, the data was pretty unremarkable. It simply listed every day that the booth had been in use since leaving the Archimedes, followed by the words 'BOOTH ACTIVE'. However, upon reaching the bottom of the list, the date printed being the 12th of September 2319, the words had changed to 'BOOTH DEACTIVATED'. Indented below this was the exact time that the pods had been opened, followed by the text 'BOOTH AWAITING REACTIVATION…'. So that was that. When the dock staff had come in to let Xena out of her hypersleep booth, they hadn't remembered to reseal them afterwards. Great. Just fucking great.
But that, oh that, was only the half of it. Xanthus was less than a couple of hours old. I knew that Xenomorphs grew quickly, of course, but this was ridiculous. And be that as it may, Xanthus still had the physical form of a human. No human could break through three-inch glass and kill a man in the space of half an hour. I had in the back of my mind the strangest image of some half-human, half-Xenomorph monstrosity prowling the station. The thought of a toddler-sized Xenomorph was certainly a bizarre one, almost to the point of hilarity. But given the fact that somebody had already died at the hands of this creature, I knew that what we were dealing with here was a force to be reckoned with.
"Listen to me," I murmured glumly, thinking aloud. "Creature. Monstrosity." The words stuck in the back of my throat. I'd never even dream of describing Xena using such language. And Xanthus was my son, my flesh and blood. But the sad fact was that if he was nothing more than a mindless killer, then he was no better than your average bloodthirsty Xenomorph.
After several more long moments had passed in silence, I finally decided that it was time to leave the Syracusia. I needed to go to Kelvin, or Ericson, or someone. They had to be warned that Xanthus was loose on the station. I stepped out onto the metal gangway beside the craft and turned to close the door behind me. All the while, though, unnerving thoughts were racing through my head. If I told Kelvin that Xanthus was the one who had killed Professor Oldman, he'd flip his lid. He already knew that Xanthus was my son, and it wouldn't take long for him to put two and two together, figure out that Xena was my partner, and then send the pair of us packing, not to mention hunting down and killing my son. On the other hand, if I didn't warn anyone of the potential havoc that Xanthus would go on to wreak, how could they prepare themselves for what was to come? I didn't want anyone to get hurt, but at the same time, this was my child we were talking about here. How could I value his life with any less regard than that of others because of his basic instincts?
"You in here, Jones?" Kelvin called, suddenly breaking the silence of the room. I turned my head slightly to see that he was stood by the airlock at the far side of the docking area.
"Here, sir." I called back, poking my head around the corner of the Syracusia sheepishly.
"Ah, there you are." He replied, stepping slowly closer to the craft. "Well?"
"Well what?" I asked, confused by the man's quick, one-worded question.
"Is your son alright?" He explained. "Still safe in hypersleep?"
"Oh, right!" I exclaimed, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. I paused for a few seconds, then. This was the deciding moment. Did I tell him or didn't I? It was now or never, and I had to choose: put Xanthus in danger, or the whole crew of this station. 'What to do, Matthew?' I thought silently. "What to do, what to do, what to do…"
"He's fine!" I blurted out, almost shouting the words at Kelvin. "Yeah, h-he's alright."
"Okay…" Kelvin replied slowly. Suddenly, my muscles tensed up. I feared that he would see through my lie, that he'd know something strange was afoot. And if he did, then me, Xena, and any hopes of bringing her back to life were out the window.
"Anyway," He finally continued, a huge feeling of relief washing over me. "I've seen all I need to see down here. We can head back up to your ward whenever you're ready."
"I see." I replied. But one thing was still bugging me, and I had to ask, just to put my mind at rest.
"Sir?" I enquired. "What's going to happen to Professor Oldman?"
"Oh. Well," He began, sighing deeply as he did so. "Unfortunately, we lose patients all the time. It's just a shame that the Professor was only a couple of weeks away from being discharged."
"Patients?" I asked, puzzled. "I was given to understand that he was a doctor here."
"Oh, no." Kelvin explained. "Sadly, Oldman was in no fit state to work as a medical officer. Or indeed, any officer, for that matter. He was one of the greatest minds on the station back in his heyday. Recently, though, he's been fighting a losing battle with dementia. We wrote to what remains of his family on Themisto, told them that we'd look after him until they could come and collect him. They were due to arrive the Tuesday after next. Funny how things work out, isn't it?"
"Hmm." I nodded, my heart sinking at Kelvin's story. As if I hadn't felt bad enough about my son killing a man before, now I learn that he was an innocent old bloke who probably didn't even know where he was. Despite this, though, I still managed to keep my cool, and refused to allow myself to reveal the truth to Kelvin, at least for the time being. Even so, deep down, I knew that if Xanthus was to strike again, the others would simply have to know about him.
"Well, enough with all the doom and gloom, eh?" Kelvin continued. "After all, it won't happen to us, will it? Once we've finished with your patient, we'll be laughing. Just think: I'll finally be able to get off this godforsaken satellite and retire in peace, to the golden beaches of Spraxico, Europa." A huge grin came across the man's face at this. Although I'd only been on the Constantinople for a short time, I had really come to resent that ginger prick. How could he even think about such things at a time like this? Still, I suppose when you've spent your entire life seeing patients die before your eyes, death eventually loses its sting. That, and the fact that it wasn't his Xenomorph child that had just murdered someone in cold blood.
"Anyway, we'd best be getting back." Kelvin continued, his expression becoming more serious. "Doctor-Professor Hinkonnoshi will have prepared your patient for the operation by now." Despite my glumness, hearing this certainly perked me up. The thought that Xena could soon be back with me once again was enough to lift my spirits sky-high.
A few minutes later, and for the third time that day, Kelvin and I silently made our way through the Constantinople's maze of corridors. The halls were much quieter now, particularly on the lower floors. Bad new travels fast, after all, and nobody wanted to be alone in the corridors when there was a killer on the loose. To be honest, I was pretty amazed that Kelvin hadn't tried to put the blame on me. I mean, he knew as well as I did what Xenomorphs were capable of, yet he hadn't once questioned whether there was some link between my arrival with Xena and the murder of Professor Oldman. Then again, common sense probably told him that a dead Xenomorph couldn't kill somebody. Still, he hadn't suspected that my other passenger might have been at fault, and when I told him that Xanthus was still safe in hypersleep, he hadn't batted an eyelid. I wasn't worried about that right now, though. I was more excited by the fact that within just a few hours, Xena might be alive once again. I could speak to her. I could hold her in my arms. We'd be reunited once again, and I simply couldn't wait!
When we finally reached Xena's ward, Hinkonnoshi was leaning over the medpod wearing a pair of latex gloves and a surgical apron. He turned around when he heard the door open, revealing a long, thin needle that he brandished in his hand.
"Is the patient ready, Yosuke?" Kelvin asked as he made his way over to the medpod.
"Almost, sir." Hinkonnoshi explained. "The scans were pretty hazy: the X-ray was unable to go through the creature's tough exoskeleton. The CT scan was partially successful, though, and I believe that I have located the brain."
"Excellent." Kelvin replied. "And is the ReStim machine ready?"
"It is." He nodded. "It's just over there, if you wouldn't mind setting it up. I'm just about to make the incision now."
"Wait, hold on." I interrupted. "Incision? How are you going to get that needle through her exoskeleton."
"Oh, it's quite simple, Mr Jones." Hinkonnoshi assured me. "There is a soft spot where the patient's eyes should be."
I felt nauseous just hearing him say it. Xena didn't even have eyes, but the thought of a needle being stuck where they should be was dizzying. And the more I thought about it, the more it made me want to throw up. I'd seen some shit, and I mean some really gruesome shit, but I just couldn't stand needles and eyeballs. An unpleasant combination, to say the least.
"I will now insert the needle." Hinkonnoshi announced, as if I really wanted him to talk me through every sickening moment of the procedure. I placed a hand over my eyes as he shoved the pointed rod deep into Xena's eye socket. I was just about to remove it again when I heard him ask Kelvin to "Pass the electrode." I dreaded to think what they were doing to poor Xena.
"You can open your eyes now, Mr Jones." Hinkonnoshi assured me. I did, but the sight before me was simply too horrific to look at. Protruding from Xena's face was a thin wire, which ran from her eye socket to the ReStim machine. I hadn't realised until now that 'Cognitive Re-Stimulation' was actually fancy science talk for 'Brain Electrocution'!
"This isn't going to hurt her, is it?" I asked, then immediately fell silent as I realised my mistake.
"Why should you care if it hurts it or not?" Kelvin asked. "It's just a mindless animal, anyway." His words infuriated me, but I steeled myself. If I showed any kind of sympathy for Xena, any at all, then my cover was blown.
"Just wondering." I mumbled, trying to explain away my recent enquiry. "And how long will it take?"
"Normally, the procedure lasts a few hours." Hinkonnoshi explained. "But it's likely that, given the patient's anatomy, she will be more resilient to electrical stimulus. For this reason, it could potentially take several days."
"Days?!" I exclaimed. But what would I do until then? Where would I sleep? What would I eat? I didn't have any money.
"Relax, Matthew." Kelvin sighed, placing a hand on my shoulder as he spoke. "I'll sort out some accommodation for you."
"Well, that's very kind of you, sir." I replied. "But I can't afford to pay."
"Oh, I shouldn't worry too much about that, Matthew." Kelvin assured me, grinning sinisterly once again. "Something tells me you'll be able to provide recompense soon enough…"
