IX
I followed Kelvin out of the room in total silence. I didn't dare ask him where he was taking me, but I could only assume that it was somewhere bad. Had another patient been found dead? Had Kelvin realised that it was a Xenomorph behind the original killing, and subsequently placed the blame squarely on me? Or perhaps he'd figured out that I wasn't planning on taking Xena back to Weyland-Yutani after she'd been revived, in which case he'd call off her treatment immediately. Soon enough, I'd know. Our journey, thankfully, was much shorter this time. We stayed on the same floor, in fact, although it was still a lengthy walk along several corridors. Eventually, we reached a corridor which was packed tightly with small doors on both sides. The doors were numbered as 'S2-Q-1**', and most of the numbers were in the 140-150 range. The door that we finally stopped outside was labeled 'S2-Q-169'. No sooner than we had stopped before the tiny door, Kelvin turned to me, still silent, and thrust a small, laminated keycard into my hand.
"What's this?" I asked, rather foolishly, as I stared down at the rectangular piece of coloured plastic.
"This is your living quarters." Kelvin replied, nodding towards the door.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, a wave of relief washing over me. That was a lot of build up for not much payoff. Kelvin took the card back out of my hand, tapped it against a small panel on the front of the door, and returned it back to me without a word. The door swung open, revealing a laughably small bedroom, complete with single bed, computer monitor, and… well, that was about it. The room was much smaller than my quarters aboard the Archimedes had been, with barely enough room to swing a cat, as they say. Still, I wasn't one to complain. So long as I had somewhere to rest my head for the night, I was satisfied.
"Now, as these are public living quarters, there are a couple of rules in place." Kelvin explained. "The usual stuff applies: No loud music, lights out by 2300 hours, and if you find any discarded property in the corridor, please return it to Lost and Found. Downstairs, second corridor to the left, first door on the right."
"Got it." I nodded. I stepped into the room, feeling like a bull in a china shop as I immediately tripped against the foot of the bed. In all honesty, the word 'room' was used questionably in this scenario. I think 'walk-in cupboard' would probably have been more appropriate. When I finally got back to my feet, the bed covers were strewn across the floor, with both pillows standing at Kelvin's feet out in the corridor. Sheepishly, I picked them up and placed them back on the bed.
"Now," Kelvin continued, ignoring the pathetic display of clumsiness before him. "There are roughly two dozen civilians residing temporarily on this corridor. I'm sure you don't need to be told that you do not speak to anyone about the nature of your patient. Understand?"
"Yes, sir." I nodded. As if I was going to run up and down the corridor screaming 'Look at me, I'm in love with a dead Xenomorph who's in a ward three corridors down!' I wasn't stupid, and I think I'd learned by now that most people just weren't ready to accept someone like Xena as the norm.
"Right, well I think that's everything." Kelvin told me. "I'll leave you to get some rest. Doctor-Professor Hinkonnoshi'll let you know if there's any progress with your patient." And with that, he simply disappeared down the corridor, bringing our conversation to an abrupt end. The door slowly shut itself behind him, and soon I sat alone in complete silence. Seeing as though there was nothing better to do, and I hadn't slept since I came out of hypersleep, I decided to get some shut-eye. I rolled over to face the white wall behind the bed, and pulled the covers over myself.
"Oh, one more thing…" A voice suddenly called from outside. I sat up hastily, and saw that Kelvin was back in the doorway once again. He had in his hand a rolled up wad of tattered, yellowed paper.
"I thought you might like to give this a read." He continued, holding the paper out towards me.
"What is it?" I asked, taking the paper from him and unrolling it carefully.
"I've had a few people go through Professor Oldman's possessions, so that we could decide what to get rid of and what to send back to his family on Themisto." Kelvin explained. "They found this in one of his desk drawers." I looked at the handwritten title on the cover of the paper. It read 'Hyper Light-Speed Travel: A Brief Explanation'.
"I still don't understand," I told Kelvin, confused. "I thought Professor Oldman was a medical officer?"
"He was." Kelvin assured me. "He majored in medical science at the Royal Twine-Doppler University of Kallichore. He'd previously considered a course in astrophysics, though, and he had a fairly decent grasp on it. He wrote this thesis a couple of years ago. Sent a copy back to the university, of course, but they never published it."
"What's it about, then?" I asked, skimming briefly across the pages of Oldman's paper.
"Take a guess." Kelvin replied bluntly. "Bloke thought he could completely re-define light-speed travel. According to him, his new principles could lay the groundwork for ships that could manage speeds in excess of Light-50."
"Light-50?" I gasped, astonished. "Modern military ships can barely break Light-16."
"Like I said, he never went through with the astrophysics course." Kelvin repeated. "Anyway, you're a navigational officer, this sort of stuff should be right up your alley. Give you something to occupy your time, at least."
"Well, thanks, I suppose." I muttered, although astrophysics was probably the last thing on my mind right now. Kelvin seemed slightly annoyed by my lack of gratitude, but declined to take the conversation any further, anyway. He left the room in silence, once again leaving me to my thoughts. And Professor Oldman's paper. I didn't want to read it right now, though. All I wanted was some time to think. To try and make sense of this whole sorry affair in my mind. I mean, there was Xena to consider, for a start. Lying dead in a medpod, hooked up to what was essentially a giant electrocution machine. After all I'd done to protect her back on the Archimedes, along came Ryan and shot her dead. Then there was Xanthus. For all I knew, he could be out hunting for his next victim right now. Crawling around the vents, waiting to strike on whoever crossed his path. Yes, it was not a brilliant situation to be in right now. But things were only going to get worse if I didn't let the truth out. On the other hand, if I did let the truth out… well, that wouldn't exactly give a desirable outcome, either.
As the analogue clock above the door ticked away slowly, I thought about how different things could have been if Xena had never been shot. If Ryan hadn't lost his mind and just accepted her for what she was. She might've been alive and well right now. We could've been on our way to some remote colony in the outer Solar System, where we could have lived in peace, without risk of persecution. And, while I hated to admit it, we might not have been burdened with a son who was just as murderous as every other Xenomorph that had come before him. It sounded so horrible of me, just to think something like that. But it was true. If Xena hadn't been shot, she wouldn't have impregnated me with Xanthus, and he'd never have been born. Then perhaps we wouldn't have had to deal with the problems that we now faced.
Perhaps, though, it was just the way things were meant to be. I often considered whether it was fate that had brought me and Xena together, that had made the Archimedes run into the wreck of the XH-12 in the first place. Now I wondered whether it was fate that had driven us apart, that had killed her and given me a son who was a killer. But fate wasn't something I believed in. We control what happens in our lives. And I was the one who had allowed myself to become close to Xena. Still, what's done was done, and that's that. Fate, free will, it made no odds to me. What mattered now was how I dealt with the consequences. I had to make sure now that, whatever happened, we ended with the best possible outcome for everyone. Xena would be alive, Xanthus would be brought under control, and the people of the Constantinople would live on in safety.
About half an hour later, I was laid in bed, half-asleep, when I heard a knock at the door. I sat up, rubbing my eyes gently, and went to see who it was. As I slapped my card against the reader beside the door, it slowly opened, revealing Doctor-Professor Hinkonnoshi standing in the corridor. I remembered what Kelvin had said. That Hinkonnoshi would come and let me know if there was any development with Xena. Could it be? Was she awake, had he revived her? I felt the excitement building up inside me. I simply had to know immediately.
"Yosuke?" I asked, both excited and concerned. "What is it, what's happened to her?"
"I'm afraid it's nothing to do with your patient, sir." He replied sternly. "Mr Kelvin wanted me to inform you that another person has been found dead in one of the lower corridors."
