A Robinson Tale

Part III

Tempus Fugit

Chapter 1

You can control this!

Cold sweat pearled on Judy's forehead. A part of her mind, still lucid, tried to resist; the other let the alien sound take her down into oppressive, icy darkness.

"Hey, Jude? Look who's back!"

Will's voice was like an electroshock. She pivoted and screamed: "Tell him to shut down that freaking noise!"

Shaking from head to toe, Judy watched the machine as it walked past her and stopped between the pilot's and copilot's consoles.

Suddenly, two black cables sprung from the grid deck on either side of the robot and rose in the air. More cables came out. The pervasive sound, far from receding, increased while the cables slithered in the air, twisting like snakes around each other each other and formed an arch.

There was nothing she could do to prevent alien tech from taking over the ship. She couldn't even breathe anymore. An invisible weight was compressing her ribcage and her vision was blurring. The feeling of claustrophobia becoming unbearable, she knew she was on the verge of losing consciousness and fought hard to keep her eyes opened but darkness kept on thickening no matter her will. She could only feel the ship vibrating and a roar growing louder, like the earthquake six years ago that had hit Los Angeles in the middle of the night, waking her up from a dreamless, peaceful sleep to throw her in a living nightmare of frames and knic-knacks crashing down on the shaking floor of the bedroom she shared with Penny.

"Dad!"

Her call for help ended in a sob that she couldn't hear above all the uproar.

A blue strike of lightning exploded the darkness around her, revealing the massive silhouette of the robot right above her.

Judy screamed and tried to raise her arms over her face in protection but they were too heavy. She couldn't move! Why couldn't she move?!

Panting, she struggled to break free of that invisible net that was holding her down.

Another blue, irridescent lightning bolt hit the Jupiter's hull. Power surges exploded from all the consoles around them.

"MOM!" she cried as the lights switched off and the ship plummeted into an air pocket.

A violent jolt put an end to their sudden and rapid drop.

Judy tried to catch her breath but the ship swerved to the right and dropped again before resuming its ascent. All of her organs pressed against her spine with each push while with each drop, bile burnt her throat. Her blood drained from her face and rushed back in painful waves, like someone hit her head with a metal bar. The pressure in her ears and in her eyes threatened to turn her deaf and blind. And as suddenly as it had begun, the madness stopped and the ship stabilized.

Panting, Judy opened her tearful eyes and stared at the darkness outside the windshield. They were in space.

Her fingers shaking, she detached her harness. Her legs, too numb to carry her weight, buckled and she crumbled to the deck. As she pushed herself up, she glanced at Will and Penny and Harris. All seemed as conscious as her.

Aching and dizzy, Judy took a moment to get a hold of herself, breathing in and out slowly to slow down her racing heart.

"Now would be a good time to stop your tech from singing," she said to the robot, loud enough to hear her voice above the music in her ears.

The robot turned its shiny silver face toward her and nodded.

Carefully, Judy removed her headphones and let out a deep sigh of relief. But the silence didn't last.

Penny retched behind her.

Switching into doctor's mode, judy staggered toward her sister, glancing at Will who was still strapped in the copilot's seat. Her brother was pale and had dark circles under his eyes.

She put a hand on his knee as he unbuckled his harness. "Keep off your feet for a moment, Will."

"We're in space…" he whispered.

"I know."

While her brother stared incredulously at the darkness beyond the windshield, Judy assessed Harris at a glance. The woman was sitting next to the communication console and stared at the robot. She was paler than usual but was conscious. She didn't seem to need her help. Good.

"Are you okay?" Judy felt compelled to ask her.

"Yes, I am. Thanks for asking."

The woman's stamina was astonishing, Judy thought as she joined her sister at the back of the cockpit. Gently, she held her shoulders, helped her sit down a few feet away, and stroke her back.

"Now I know what happens to clothes during the spin drying cycle," Penny muttered after a moment, leaning back and pressing a hand on her forehead. "My head hurts..."

Judy nodded, reassured to see color coming back to her sister's cheeks. "You're going to be fine. Just take it slow for a few more minutes."

But as she gave her this advice, Penny straightened up fast. "Wait! Where's dad?"

A rush of blood warmed Judy's face. No harness, no earplugs, he was certainly hurt and confused. At once, she grabbed the emergency medkit by the door, and was springing to her feet when Penny's fingers clawed on her arm. "Stay here," she whispered as her brother staggered out of the cockpit.

No, no, no, no! Judy freed herself from her sister's grasp and rushed after Will in the corridor. "Will, stop!"

Why did nobody ever listen to her? She wasn't trying to be bossy. The alien frequency had wrecked their father completely the first time, making him discharge a gun between the fuel tanks. And after he'd almost killed Harris, mistaking her for an enemy soldier from a vivid nightmare, she didn't want anybody to drop on him if he wasn't in his right mind.

Will opened the door and burst into the suite. "Dad?"

Judy stopped him just a few steps away from the master bedroom door, but Penny passed by her and switched on the lights. "Are you crazy? Turn them off immediately!" she said, making an effort to keep her voice down.

"He's not there," Penny said as Judy quickly dimmed the lights.

"You sure?" she whispered while Penny tip-toed into the bedroom, checked around the bed and the office nook. "All clear."

Judy let out a sigh of relief. "He must have wandered off in all the confusion."

"Wandered off?" Will repeated with a cringe. "You make him sound like he's crazy. Dad's not crazy."

"No, of course not. What I said–"

"You think he has PTSD," Penny interrupted. "And that the alien sound could have triggered a violent crisis. That he's mentally unstable and unsafe to be around."

Judy exhaled deeply. She had warned her sister not to read soldiers memoirs or tales of war. "Dad's been cleared by a whole team of psychologists, like the rest of us. He's fine."

"Harris has been cleared too and, no offense, but she is nuts."

Hearing Will's feeble apology, Judy realized that Harris had joined them in the room. Now she was glad her father wasn't here to see that them whispering and bickering at each others.

"None taken," the woman replied. "Judy? May I have a word with you. It's important."

Judy frowned when she saw Harris insistent gaze and the silent plea in them not to let her siblings hear what she had to say. "Now is not the time."

"Now is the only time," Harris replied quickly.

"We're wasting time," Penny growled. "He might be hurt. I'm going to check the basement."

"Coming with you," Will said, turning away when the bathroom door slid open.

Their father froze on the doorstep, surprised to see them. "What are you all doing here?"

"Thank god, you're alright!" Will said, throwing himself into his arms

"Why wouldn't I be?"

His smirk failed to reassure Judy. She was beginning to see how he and Don operated and dismissed his bravado. His eyes were red and puffy and he was too pale. Exhaustion. Dehydration. Fever? She needed her med pad to get a clearer picture.

While Will rapidly described everything that had happened since he'd lied down for his nap, she looked at his left hand, wrapped in a thick gauze to the wrist. A sprain?

"I think it's his way of communicating with the ship," Will concluded his theory about the alien melody.

Blood oozed and trickling down his fingers. Not just a sprain."Guys? Could you give us a minute?" Judy asked.

"We don't have a minute," he replied, gently pushing Will aside before striding out of the suite.

Judy cursed to herself as she ran after him, torn between relief at seeing him alert and fear of an imminent collapse. Why did nobody listen to her? But as she entered the cockpit, a rush of adrenaline straightened her whole body. The robot was gone!

Her father leaped into the pilot's seat and she went for the co-pilot's to assist him. Landing back on the planet was the new priority. But he'd barely grabbed the power throttle that a powerful, dissonant shriek burst out.

Judy's eyes went wide with terror as the oppressive weight in her chest returned, even stronger than before.

Black cables sprang from beneath their consoles and crept up along their legs. In a matter of seconds, they tightened around their chests, arms, and necks while the robot's heavy footsteps reverberated in the corridor. The massive, dark silhouette stopped between her and her father. Red and silver dots cascaded fast in his face.

Tears ran down Judy's cheeks as she struggled to free herself. But the alien screech pierced her ears and sent her head spinning.

"Hey! My wife's still on the planet. I don't know about your world, but in mine, we never leave people behind!"

Fighting to stay conscious, Judy tried to turn her head toward her father but weakly dropped her chin to her chest. She could barely hear her dad's raging voice anymore.

"I'm talking to you! You took us hostage by bringing us here. That gives you a responsibility for our lives. Take us back to the planet."

"Dad..." Judy whispered as her field of vision grew dim and contracted to a smaller and smaller circle in front of her. The last thing she heard before passing out was the furious beating of her heart in the darkness.