Chapter 9: Changes

Bower could hardly believe that he was saved and was amazed at how the diminutive Asian man was strong enough to kick the larger hunter over the railing. Now there was an open escape route.

Scarface stared at the stocky newcomer in disbelief. The hatred in its gaze was so heated that Bower half-expected to spontaneously ignite in flames of anger. There was a familiar recognition in Scarface's ruddy eyes as it stared at Mahn. These two combatants had crossed paths before and had a long history together. Bower thought he was going to need a black and white striped shirt to referee the horrendous fight that was seconds from breaking out.

The stocky man gestured to himself with one of the blades and said simply, "Mahn". It was pronounced like khan. Bower couldn't tell if he was talking to him or Scarface.

If looks could kill, Mahn would have died a dozen times by then. Scarface threw its head back and unleashed a deafening shriek. Immediately, Bower could hear more of the hunters responding with calls of their own.

More of them would be there soon.

Mahn said quietly, "Run, my friend."

Bower took a few steps away from Scarface and started up the ladder.

Scarface charged up the stairs, the horrible spear pointed at Mahn.

"Run!" Mahn yelled.

Bower turned to run.

He saw it in slow motion: the awful speed and strength with which Scarface attacked Mahn. Incredibly, Mahn parried the thrust of the spear that was aimed at his heart and spinning, Mahn kicked Scarface in the chest. Once again, the beast was knocked backwards. The brute tumbled down the steps roaring with rage.

Mahn then chased after Bower.

Bower was nearing the bay doors to exit the storage area but he heard Mahn yell to him to go left so he ducked into what appeared to be a narrow hall. Mahn stepped inside and cut the control panel with one of his swords and the door sealed behind them.

Bower felt like dancing... but he restrained himself.

"I'm Corporal Bower. I'm glad to meet you." He realized he was rambling but he couldn't help himself, "Never been so happy to see another human being in all my life. I don't know how I can ever thank you. You saved my ass back there."

"You can thank me by getting us to the bridge." Mahn said softly. He spoke with a thick Vietnamese accent and his voice was subdued. He was wearing light armor fashioned out of recycled pieces of metal but underneath the cloak and armor were remnants of the dark green jumpsuit of the Agriculture Department.

Bower explained, "We can't get to the bridge until we restore the power."

Mahn eyed him, "You know how to restore the power?"

"Yeah."

"Then we can get to the bridge?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Let us go."

Bower said, "Wait. I was on my way to the engine room. We have to reset the reactor in order to restore power."

"Okay. Let us go."

Bower felt like a dick, "Do you know how to get to the engine room?"

Mahn clucked his tongue, "No. Do you?"

Bower shook his head, "Damn. We're back at square one."

"I am an agricultural specialist, a botanist and a professional gardener with experience growing crops in extreme climates. Out in the wild, I can find just about any herb or edible plant we would ever need but on this ship, I have no clue where to find much of anything."

"I was afraid of that. I was headed aft."

Mahn nodded thoughtfully, "That sounds about right, maybe somewhere on the lower levels?"

"Yeah." Bower told him. Seeing him in the black cloak, Bower realized that this man was the one he had seen earlier. The black cloak had made it look like a mere shadow following him up the stairwell. So he hadn't been hallucinating. Mahn had been tailing him this whole time.

With deep regret, Bower realized that he had gotten turned around and wasn't sure which direction the rear of the ship was. They were going to get lost. They needed Payton's guidance or someone who was familiar with that part of the ship to lead them.

Mahn asked him, "What are we waiting for?"

"I've been in contact with my Lieutenant but I lost connection when those fucking things chased me." Bower said, "I think we should keep moving and try to reestablish contact. I don't want to get lost."

"Sounds good to me. If we keep down this hall it will lead us to the second storage bay."

Bower led the way. "So, how long have you been awake?"

"I am not sure. A few years I think."

"Are you shitting me?"

Mahn chuckled. "No, really. At least a couple of years."

"So that's why Scarface recognized you."

Mahn laughed harder. "I like the nickname Scarface. Yes. He and I go way back."

Now Bower laughed too. It felt good to laugh. He had forgotten that. "You must have kicked his ass numerous times over the years to still be alive."

"I am the one that took his nose off."

Jesus!

Bower was once again impressed by his battle hardened companion, "Its unbelievable that you can fight the hunter on such an equal level. I mean, to me they seem so much faster and stronger than I am."

"The change will come in time for you too. Then you will be able to fight them as good."

Bower stopped walking and faced Mahn, "Change? What do you mean?"

"The change, my friend. You will mutate to adapt to your environment here due to the mutagen that were fed to us in our feeding tubes. The mutagen was designed to accelerate evolution so that our bodies could quickly adapt to the unknown living conditions on Pandorum."

"You mean you've adapted to fight these things?"

Mahn scratched his chin, "Well to me, they just seem to gradually get slower and weaker over time. But after I thought about it, I realized that I had become stronger and faster. I can see better in the darkness and I heal a lot faster if they manage to wound me."

Bower saw deep, jagged scars on the man's arms, on his chest and one on his face.

"Holy shit." No wonder everyone was so much faster and stronger than he was. Now he didn't feel so embarrassed about getting his ass kicked by a woman. She was practically a super mutant. He also took notice that he didn't need to turn on his flashlight as much. Perhaps his eyes were already adapting to the darkness.

"I am not the only one that has survived around here," Mahn continued in his soft slow voice. "I see a woman but she will not let me approach her and I do not want to find myself at the end of her spear."

Bower continued down the hallway, "Yeah, I ran into her myself."

"I expect that there are other survivors, spread out all over the ship. The hunters are constantly sweeping different areas, which is why we seldom run into them."

Bower thought about what Mahn had just said, "So you think there might be stragglers out there, fighting and killing the hunters like you?"

"This ship housed over sixty-thousand people, most of them civilian specialists from all over the world. Those who manage to escape the hunters, would undoubtedly arm themselves and begin salvaging for supplies in order to survive."

Bower walked on, his mind imagining the rest of the ship as a battlefield, a constant struggle between life and death, good and evil, a dueling dance between discontinuance and survival.

Mahn told him, "You should really wrap up your boots, my friend. The bare soles make too much noise. You need softer, quieter footwear."

"Okay." Bower stopped and stripped the sleeves off his jump suit. He wrapped them around his boots to muffle the sound of his footfalls.

"Throw away your flashlight. The hunters can see the light a mile away."

Bower tossed the flashlight aside. "No problem."

"We need to get you different clothing. The grease will mask your scent better if you were not in coveralls."

"Sure. I don't really see anything around here I can wear."

Mahn assured him, "We will find you something. Also, we need get you a better weapon. We have to kill them, not stun them, you know?"

Bower hung on every word. Since Mahn had survived this long, Bower decided to do everything he said, "Got it."

"Melee weapons are better suited because of the physical enhancements you are going to get from the mutagen, my friend."

"I get that. This was the closest thing handy." The anti-riot nonlethal firearm seemed like a toy now that Bower had seen what an mutagen-fueled person was capable of, "How long will the change take?"

"The full effects take a few months but you will notice slight improvements within a few hours of awakening. I guess you would need fast acting mutation to adapt quickly to the foreign climate, you know?"

"Sure."

The hallway opened up into another huge bay and Bower couldn't help but worry that the hunters had headed them off. The dark peace of the massive area set his mind at ease. It was quiet, yawning in shadowed stillness. The main doors must have been sealed through the power shortage between the massive bays.

There were several white containers on Bower's level close to him that were unlocked. These were housing containers that held the household items, clothing and furniture for colonization on Pandorum. Even though he knew they were most likely ransacked of anything useful, he opened one. Just as he expected, it looked like a rat's nest. There were opened packages, empty water bottles, broken glass, torn fabric, dirty clothing and other trash. Bower rifled around through the debris and only found a candle that was usable but it was nearly spent so he dropped it back onto the pile.

He moved through the container towards the other end and pushed the doors open. It was a drop off. He was startled at how high he was and his surprise nearly caused him to lose his balance. He windmilled his arms so he wouldn't fall, feeling like a complete idiot. He regained his balance and looked back to see if Mahn was laughing at him.

Mahn wasn't there.

What the hell? Where did he go?

Bower hadn't been paying attention to the other man. When had he lost track of him? Had he rummaged through the container alone? How could he have not noticed that Mahn wasn't with him until now? He felt frightened not having Mahn around to protect him.

Bower heard a slight noise from behind him so he turned around to see someone swinging down at him from the top of the opened doors. He tried to duck but got kicked square in the face. When he landed flat on his back, the wind was knocked from his lungs. His attacker let go of the edge and landed deftly on her feet, crouched low to the ground. She pulled a long, fierce spear-weapon from her back and pointed it at him.

It was the woman.

This time she had the spear, the long pole that she had been using as a pry bar. It was a single six foot long piece of rounded one inch steel. The end had been pounded flat, leaving a jagged edge and the spear terminated to a wicked point.

This time, she wasn't running.

Bower froze, knowing that if he made any sudden moves, it could incite an attack and her spear looked really sharp.

She was glaring at him. There was a wild look in her eye. It wasn't anger though. Somehow he sensed it. He felt sheer terror coming from her. Impossibly, she was frightened of him, so terrified that she was willing to kill. He could see the cold emptiness of her visage, devoid of guilt or remorse.

The tip of the spear was inches from his belly.

"Wait," He wheezed, "Listen to me."

She spoke through gritted teeth, "Shut your fucking mouth."

"Look," Bower slowly pulled the anti riot gun from his arm and set it on the floor, "No weapons, I don't want to fight." He raised his arms in surrender and coughed on the blood trickling down his throat from his busted nose. "I just wanna talk."

"I said, shut up!"

"We're all in this together, we all want to live through this. I won't hurt you."

"You're a fucking liar!" She lunged forward and he heard a metallic clang as Mahn came out of nowhere and kicked the spear out of her grip. The little man set his feet and kicked at her head. She ducked under the kick and tackled him around the waist. As they went crashing to the floor locked together, Mahn managed got both feet against her abdomen and as they fell, he used the momentum to lift her up with his legs and tossed her over his head. Normally, she should have face-planted into the deck but she did a handstand and nimbly flipped onto her feet.

Bower remained on the floor motionless like a possum playing dead.

The two warriors faced each other again. She withdrew a long knife-weapon from her waist band and Mahn drew his swords. There wasn't a lot of room in the container but neither of them seemed hindered by the tightness of space.

Fearlessly, she came forward and stabbed at Mahn but he parried it with one sword and sliced at her head with the other. She ducked under it. Their speed and strength was unbelievable. Moving low, she threw a kick at his ankles with the heel of her foot but Mahn sprang backwards avoiding the attack. It had been a feign because as Mahn withdrew, she dropped the knife and took up her spear again.

Mahn cursed her angrily in Vietnamese. Although Bower couldn't understand what he said, universal wisdom and the tone of which Mahn spit it out told him it was something vile.

She rapidly cursed Mahn in German and what she had to say didn't sound very nice either.

They locked together in close quarter melee each attacking and expertly parrying. The clanging of the metal weapons was deafening in the tight container.

Bower stood up and fired the anti riot weapon at the ceiling. The whole thing teetered dangerously and lighting panels fell down on them. Mahn and the woman both covered their heads from the debris. "I understand you not trusting me," Bower told her calmly, "I really do. I understand that it has felt like every man for himself up until now but if we're going to get out of this, a little fucking solidarity could go a long way." He stood behind Mahn who still had his swords trained on her.

"I do not think she cares, my friend. I think she is too far gone. Feral."

"We all want to survive, right?" Bower asked to her softly. " I lost contact with my CO. So, I need someone to tell me how to get to the reactor. If I don't manually reset it, this entire ship is going to be blown to bits."

Her expression soften slightly.

"Do you know how to get to the reactor?" Bower asked.

Her eyes were wide from fright but her attention and her spear were still directed at Mahn, "Yes."

"That's great," Bower said, "We can all work together."

"We should find it ourselves. Leave her here." Mahn voice was uncharacteristically flat.

Bower disagreed, "It could take us weeks to find it on our own."

Tat, tat, tat, tat, tat!

"We need to get going." Mahn seemed more concerned with the woman than the approaching hunters.

"Aw great."

Shrieking.

Bower pointed to the other end of the storage room, "I think aft is that way."

He didn't want to leave her but obviously she didn't need his help since she had survived this long on her own. "Let's go." Mahn lead the way so Bower lingered behind for a few moments watching her. She didn't move and didn't say anything. Oh well.

Bower hurried after Mahn.

The two men went into another network of narrow hallways, the main one terminated into a heavy door. It was closed by twin panels that fitted together in the center. This type of door was much easier to pry open than the single panel bottom fitted doors.

"She was tough." Mahn said softly.

"Yeah."

Bower checked to see if the door had power but, of course, it didn't.

"When she tackled me, I think she bruised my ribs."

"Yeah well, no sympathy here, pal. She left me with a few sore spots too."

Mahn was wedging one of his swords into the jam to pry the door opened and Bower got ready to pull on the the other side, when they heard a voice-

"Why the hell should I trust you?"

-and both of them spun towards it defensively. It was her. She had put her weapons away.

Bower wanted to get going, "Listen, Lady, we don't want any-"

She interrupted him, "Are you really part of the flight crew?"

"I'm Corporal Bower, one of the Elysium's mechanical engineers."

"I'm Nadia." She moved closer. Again, he was taken in by her beauty even with the filthy clothes and grimy skin and hair. She was staring so intently into his eyes, he was tempted to look away like he had back in grade school when pretty girls made him feel conscientious. She spoke softer to him sounding relieved, "I didn't think there was any flight crew left. What's happened to us?"

"A malfunction of some sort. I'm not sure."

She continued watching him closely. Her tone was cold again, "What's your plan?"

Bower shrugged, "Fire up the reactor. Go from there."

"Did you just wake up?"

He nodded, "Yep, just joined the party."

Nadia's tone was impassive, "You're never going to make it to the reactor."

"Why's that?"

"You're going in the wrong direction," she said.