Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 7: Fears. And a Journey Begins…
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This story inspired by Thomas Perkins' "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers, posted on Deviantart. And, of course, by the master himself, H. P. Lovecraft.
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Chapter 7: Fears. And a Journey Begins….
Two days later, they were informed that Aidoann's people had granted her permission to accompany the trio to the stars. Aidoann could hardly contain her excitement. "D'you know what this means? I'm actually goin' into outer space! Just like the movies!"
"Actually, er, no." Frank had joined them just in time to hear Aidoann's squeal. They were, once again, in their informal conference room in the underground Innsmouth cafeteria. "This won't be a luxury cruise. Closer to camping out than traveling in style. Remember, the Necronauts traverse a universe where the physical laws are very different than here. There, we couldn't last long, unprotected, simply because we'd….well, there's no words to describe it, exactly. We'd just die. So they have to prepare the hold of one their cargo ships with a special shielding that will keep out such anti-life influences. It'll be a rather small chamber, just adequate for our needs. I'm afraid it won't be anything like what you've seen on TV."
"Underspace." Cal mused, trying out the strange word. "What is 'underspace,' anyway, Frank?"
Frank ordered and sipped on a cup of coffee. "A universe where life, as we know it, is simply not possible. But also a, well, a highly compacted space, compared to our own. Move a short distance there, and you can jump back into our universe much, much farther away."
"It all sounds so…I dunno, so makeshift, I guess, is what I'm trying to say," said Kris. "Seems like there's got to be a better way."
"It takes time to develop such, Miss Simone. Time and experimentation. I understand the People have had several demo ships in operation in the past, but they've not been wholly successful." He sipped his coffee. "One, I believe, crashed at Roswell in the fifties. We have to be careful that the technology we develop doesn't fall into the wrong hands, you understand, and any such R & D runs that risk, since we don't have another world where we can experiment without the danger of being observed."
"So…what's the plan? These Necronauts can't just show up here for a pickup, surely."
"No, we'll take a shuttle to the far side of the moon. They've a base there, and that's where we'll rendezvous with them."
"What are these Necronauts like?"
"Pure business beings. Since they've a fairly solid lock on FTL travel, they of course get the lion's share of interstellar commerce…and the profits from such. They, themselves…well, it's hard to describe. But death doesn't seem to be a factor in their strange biology. Think of them as intelligent zombies and you have a fairly accurate picture."
Aidoann shivered. "Zombies. Always hated zombie movies."
"We won't have any more than minimal contact with them, just to be shown to our quarters—which will be Spartan, by the way—and then notified when we've reached our destination. We won't intermingle with the crew. At all."
"How long will this journey take, Frank?"
Frank thought for a moment. "Really not that long. We—or actually, they-will have to make the occasional detour into our space, not only to pick up some cargo for transport, but also to give us a time to relax and readjust to normal conditions. Normal space, in other words. Sort of a rest stop, so to speak."
"Living conditions," mused Kris. "You said it would be more akin to camping out than an actual voyage. What can we expect? I hope they don't use port-a-johns!"
"Nothing quite that primitive. But we will be out of communication with just about everything in our universe, so this might be a good time to take a good book. Or two."
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The "shuttle" Frank mentioned was a streamlined ship with extendable wings, for support in the atmosphere. Once out of the atmosphere, the wings could be retracted, to a degree, thus reducing the craft's cross-section. This, Frank told them, worked better with the reaction drive.
The four of them showed up at the small "airport" a few miles outside of Innsmouth. While they were waiting, Kris noticed Cal's downcast, thoughtful expression. "Penny for 'em," she said, interlacing her fingers with his.
"Not sure they're worth that. Kris, this whole thing, Brother Elder, the People, Great Cthulhu….everything, all started because my mother disappeared. At first I was certain Brother Elder had…had raped her, and I was the result. That wasn't true, of course…the truth was way stranger. But here it is, after all this time…we still haven't found her, and, and Kris? It looks like she may have been raped, or, worse, is in the process of being raped. Or maybe 'inseminated' is a better word. And I'm no closer to finding her than I ever was."
Kris squeezed his hand. She'd never had parents, being a former sleeper agent for the Elder things, herself. She could only imagine what Cal was going through. With all his power, the power of the Great Old Ones, of Mighty Cthulhu himself, he couldn't help his own mother. "We'll find her, Cal. That's a promise." She was silent for a minute. "About the other…I spoke with Brother Oberon—well, as much as he speaks to anyone, but you know—and he said, in your case, it wasn't so much like, like, y'know, regular sex as it was a kind of a magical spell. So…maybe…I mean, worst case scenario…" She faltered, hunting for the right words. "I'm putting this badly, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, maybe it's not like she's being, y'know, assaulted. In the usual manner, I mean."
Cal was silent, and Kris hoped she'd put her thoughts into the proper words. She could imagine how Cal would feel, to have his own mother being….
"But they examined that girl, Liz, for signs of sexual assault. Wasn't that the sort of thing they were looking for?"
Kris sighed. "Maybe, maybe not. Girls do get…attacked…for reasons other than insemination, you know. Less purely practical ones, I mean. But…in the case of your mother…they have to be treating her with kid gloves. After all, the theory is they want her to produce another monster like what happened all those years ago, in Dunwich, back in the twenties. So she's gotta be healthy, and, remember, she told us she didn't really remember how you came about, when she was here, back then. So maybe it's like that. She's probably not conscious."
"I hope to Dagon not."
Kris noticed the shift, once again. Cal was changing. He used to be a moderate Methodist, but now? It seemed like all mention of any deity was more in line with the People's, and the Deep Ones. "Kris….I keep having these dreams. Like before, I'm underwater, way underwater, and, and, far from being afraid….I feel like I'm at home."
She put her arm around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Not so long ago they'd just been best friends. Now…. "Well, I can't advise you one way or the other about that. I guess, given all that's happened to you recently, it's probably perfectly natural."
He was silent for a long time. Aidoann was going through her stuff, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything, but she noticed the two sitting on their bags just a few yards away, and went to join them.
"Aidoann. I'm glad you came over." He drew a deep breath. "You see, I've made a decision. It's one we all knew was coming, but I want to make it official." From his pocket he produced the ring Aidoann had found, and that Jaime had sent to her, the one that, by all accounts, had belonged to Cal's mother. "Kris? I'd like you to have this. As a promise. I'll get you a better engagement ring, but for now…" He turned, looking at her full in the face, which had gone pale with surprise. "I love you, Crystal Simone. I want to marry you. I want you in my life, forever. Would you be mine, now and forevermore?" And he held out the ring.
Kris was speechless. True, this came as no real surprise—except it sorta did—she'd known her and Cal's relationship was moving forward…but she'd somehow never pictured this moment. Her hands went to her mouth. "C-Cal? That's your mother's wedding ring! I,I couldn't, I mean…"
"Yes, you can. Please, Kris. Be mine." Again he held out the ring. Again she didn't move.
Aidoann rolled her eyes. "Here. Y'do it like this." And she reached over and guided Kris's arm up to Cal's, then closed Kris's fingers around the proffered ring. "Here. Now jus' take it oot'a his grasp. There. T'is really verra simple."
Seemingly in shock, Kris drew back her arm, with the ring in her hand. "I, I….Cal, I don't know what to say."
"Try saying, 'yes,'" Aidoann prompted. "Just 'yes.' Nuthin' fancy. C'mon, say it."
"Oh, yes, Cal! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" She threw her arms around him, there, seated on their luggage…
Aidoann looked up. The shuttle was beginning its descent. She looked back at the couple, still locked in a mutual embrace. "I hope they have private quarters for us," she muttered. "Seems like a couple of our group are gonna really be needin' some privacy."
To be continued…
