THE AURELIUS

'We need to establish contact with the company! We should never have gone on board on in the first place! We have fractured wrists, one cracked rib, one walking psychopath and as for that thing – I really don't even know where to begin with that!' said Barnaby as he whisked his surgical mask off his face and flung it into a corner.

The three men, Barnaby, Reuban and Lexington stood inside the large med room wearing their lab coats. Lexington held X Rays and CAT scans in his hands, seemingly oblivious to the rising tensions in the room.

Reuban held up his hands in an attempt to placate his colleague. 'We can't. You know as much as I do that if we contact the company, they're going to send a retrieval team down here faster than light.'

'SO? So what? We need retrieval, Reuban! This mission has been a complete failure!' He stopped momentarily, trying to catch his breath.

Reuban stepped forward in concern, placing a tentative hand on the other man's shoulder only to have it brushed away in anger. 'Just stay away from me, you got that? You're trying to get us all killed!'

Reuban bit his lip in frustration trying to suppress his rapidly mounting anger. He felt as if all his misgivings and warnings against the mission went unheeded, and now, now that things hadn't gone to plan – somehow he was to blame. If he wanted to become a bloody diplomat, he would've joined the U.N. But as it was, that role had been thrown to him like a stale piece of bread. And he ate it because it was his duty. On top of all the animosity amongst the crew, two hours ago he'd found out that Jarreck was being "contained" in a room for reasons not quite clear to him. Amidst the frenzy of dealing with the injured, Yuya had mentioned something about Jarreck taking up his old hobbies, and by that he meant the deaths aboard the Romulus.

Reuban shook his head repeatedly. Simplify. Everything's complicated, so simplify. He breathed in deeply and tried speaking calmly. His voice, however, did not seem to carry the intended emotion.

'Retrieval, Barnaby...retrieval would mean thousands of questions. Now, I'm willing to admit that disconnection from the main network was solely my decision. And Jarreck's condition? Alright, I'll take responsibility for that too. But the egg? No. Not just because it's an issue of who to point the finger at – it's bigger than that. We don't know what the hell is developing inside that thing. If they find out that we've got a live, multicellular organism on board, their first priority will be to bring it back to earth. Regardless of the consequences. I'm not willing to take that kind of risk.'

'This pathetic excuse of the bleeding martyr really breaks my heart, you know?' mocked Barnaby. 'At least I have the guts to tell like it is, instead of resorting to wimpy excuses. When the Company finds out what you've been doing behind their back, your job? Gone. Your prestigious position? Gone. Frankly, I don't care. Why? I don't care because I don't want to die here on account of someone's wrong priorities.'

'Nobody's going to die.' said Lexington suddenly, putting down the scans he held on a side table. 'No one is seriously injured. And as for the broken bones we have – I'm sorry, gentleman, but it could've been much worse than that. We just need a couple cc's of the calcium sealant to repair our fractures. As for Jarreck, the worst case scenario I can see is sedation for the trip back home. The egg itself can be frozen, while we take a sample of the amniotic fluid – or whatever's in that thing – for further analysis.'

'Yeah?' piped up Barnaby, still unconvinced. 'Tell that to Omitsu. She's not taking samples, she's speeding up its metabolic rate. She's practically sitting on that thing waiting for it to hatch.'

'SHE'S WHAT???' said Reuban suddenly.

Jarreck kicked his legs against the locker cabinet. He'd been doing the same thing for a good three hours now. That, and thinking. Oh, he had plenty of time to think alright. By now, he'd figured out that his brilliant idea to make some crude weaponry plus his past reputation had blended together to land him in this fix. He tightly shut his eyes and chastised himself – wasn't this always the case? You spend so much time convincing yourself that something isn't going to fail, when circumstances conspire against you to make the opposite happen. Murphy's Law in full swing.

Jarreck stopped kicking the cabinet, and brought his knees close up to his chest. He felt so confused at the moment. He wasn't sure whether Yuya had made a serious mistake in doing what he did. What if he were right? What if Jarreck was truly on the brink of snapping? Of doing something dangerous? He would have killed Reuban, oh God...he would have killed the little girl. He shook his head. No! He wasn't capable of that. He was as normal as the rest of them. Rationality suddenly became apparent. As of right now, he realized, there was nothing he could do except sit tight and wait. Flinging himself angrily in denial wouldn't exactly endear himself to everyone else or improve his already damaged reputation.

He stood up, stretching his legs and walked up to the comm panel inside the room. Right then, anything was better than subjecting himself to these tumultuous thoughts. Even talking with his "captors". He paused for an instant, thinking. What exactly would he say into the damned speaker? No doubt everyone at the receiving end would be all ears. Perhaps he could start with a cordial greeting, "Hello all, this is your local homicidal maniac calling, I trust everyone is feeling comfortable this evening?" Jarreck chuckled to himself, grateful for the respite of humor.

He heard a tap on the door, soft enough to be inconspicuous yet loud enough to be heard through the thick door.

'Jarreck?' came a small voice.

Helen! 'Yeah?' said Jarreck, a little less enthusiastic than he intended it to be. But it was so good to hear someone speaking to him.

'You alright? I mean, you need food or anything? I can tell my uncle to get you some.'

'No...I need to know... Helen, I need to know whether everyone's subscribing to this homicidal maniac theory,' he asked with a certain degree of caution.

'Your fan club isn't real big at the moment...' said Helen with an equal amount of trepidation, 'But if it's any consolation, I don't think you had anything like that planned.'

'Does your uncle? Does he believe I was going to do it?' Right then, it wasn't just the case of having the head of the team on his side. After Reuban had walked through the fire for him two years ago, they had developed a close relationship – something almost familial. Knowing what the man truly believed, whether his instinct contradicted his logical judgment – that seemed more important to Jarreck.

'There's a lot of confusion going on right now. So much stuff's been happening, y'know?'

'But from what you see – how do you read him?'

'Um...I don't think he really took well to this whole idea of you being locked up. He isn't too pleased with Yuya about it either. But right now – we've got some injuries to deal with and Dr. Omitsu's egg and –'

'-I'm sorry, Dr. Omitsu's-what??' interrupted Jarreck, incredulous.

'They brought back this thing, an egg I think...is that bad?' asked Helen.

'I don't know.' Jarreck looked down at shoes. So much was happening! 'I don't know...'

'Listen Jarreck, I gotta go. Are you sure there's nothing you need?'

'No. I'm sure Reuban will bring me down some food later. I'll be fine.'

'I uh...think you should know that Dr. Barnaby dismantled your weapons,' Helen continued, despite hearing silence at Jarreck's end. 'But I managed to sneak away the laser thing you and I made. It's hiding under my bunk. Just thought you should know.'

Jarreck smiled to himself. 'Thanks, Helen. I mean it. Thanks for your trust. But I don't think you ought to break me out of jail just yet,' he jested.

He heard Helen let out a slight chuckle of her own. 'Don't worry... I don't even know how to use the damned thing. I gotta run – take care, okay?'

'Will do.'

Regan walked down the narrow corridor, massaging his healing wrist. Barnaby had just given him a painful injection of the calcium sealant – a deceptive name in itself because it actually consisted of an organic glue that helped seal the fracture, not solidify or seal the bone itself. He gently thumped the door lock to open with his good wrist and stepped into the large laboratory. He looked around for his companion, Omitsu, and saw her stooped over a large glass container holding the anomalous egg, hooked up to gas cylinders and instrument panels.

He approached her from behind and spoke. 'Has the interplanetary Tyrannosaurus Rex hatched as yet?'

She stood up and walked over to the instruments murmuring to herself. 'I can't duplicate the exact conditions of the hatchery. The carbon dioxide concentration is too low, humidity content seems fine...perhaps it needs something else? Water's the solvent, okay… So what's reacting in this thing?' She paused momentarily as a printout slid out of the panel. 'Amino acid structure looks somewhat abnormal...'

Regan ignored her mutterings, he was disinterested in a biological discussion at the moment. Instead he walked towards the container and peered through the glass. He squinted. 'Something's moving in there...'

Omitsu turned her attention to him, still holding the printouts. 'I know!' she said with excitement. 'It wasn't even like this an hour ago!' Then she frowned. 'But the problem is, it isn't coming out. We don't know what stimulates its hatching. Frankly, we don't know what compounds make up the shell. I haven't had enough time to even analyze its plasmatic fluid.'

'Then where did those results you're holding come from?' nodded Regan towards her sheets.

'Excretive gas emission. I don't know if I'm exactly into sticking a needle into its epidermal layer.'

'You want me to do it?' he offered, looking at the egg. He'd operated on several species that would have made many physicians of his status squeamish – he didn't mind the gore.

Omitsu considered the offer. 'Maybe not. Opening its container...exposure to our atmosphere might suspend its processes. We don't want that.'

'Oh come on. Just a few seconds, right? Just enough to get a sample that could answer all your questions. Sure beats this slow run-around method you're employing.'

Omitsu relented. 'Right...okay. But wear the longer gloves. Just in case you touch it. And I'm only going to open the lid for approximately five seconds – that enough?'

'Just dandy.'

She opened a drawer and pulled out a large hypodermic needle. She pointed to the marked cylinder, 'Just up to here, alright? That'll probably be all I need. Thanks, Regan.'

'No problem.'

'I'm going to be over here, to watch the readings. Just in case sudden exposure causes any adverse effects...'

'Right.'

Omitsu turned her back to him, watching the internal atmospheric meter change as the lid of the container slid open. She held her breath as the carbon dioxide content started to fall sharply. Five seconds only, she kept telling herself. Please don't let all their efforts be wasted...

Regan spoke to reassure her, knowing that she would be worried. 'You know, all this –'

Omitsu, spun around as she heard a slight cry – like a whimper – and several thuds. She stood still in shock, as she watched Regan flail around, clasping a tube that got pulled out of one of the gas cylinders. She watched in slow motion as she saw what she thought was Regan's own hand – distorted in proportion, his fingers abnormally long – extend over his face. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't his hand, it was something alive, an arachnid attack? Then as quick as it had happened, everything was still and silent, save for the steady hiss of gas that escaped readily from its cylinder. Seconds later, and with great effort, she moved a step forward. Omitsu whimpered at what she saw before her. The creature had wrapped its appendages around Regan's head in a deathly embrace. Her eyes moved slowly to the glass container. The egg – the top of the egg – had folded open. It had opened.

Suddenly it all made sense.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Anise!!! I'm VERY sorry for taking so long to produce this chapter. Lots of things have been going on and I've been feeling rather unproductive (in the creative sector) until recently. Just finished making some corrections that you pointed out (about the light year errors), but am not sure if I got 'em all. Do let me know if there are any more, and thanks a ton for spotting them.

Katimnai: muchos gracias por pensar en mi...and for your reviews! I shall also be working on my X Men story as well. Hasta luego, amigo mio!

P.S. Brasil won the Copa America! Forza Brasil!!!