Chapter Sixteen

Freddy In Space

Talos-16 stood before the lift in the flickering dim red light, his index finger opened, a cord snaked out and connected to the lift's scanner. Within seconds he heard a beep and then the lift came back to life, rising to his level. His finger cord retracted and the lift door opened.

"Thanks, Talos," Nero said. "We are cutting it close!"

"Are we prepped for launch?" Varissa asked.

"Affirmative, Lubdan is finishi—

Talos could not complete his statement as he was interrupted by a blood curdling scream coming from the Nano-Med lab.

"Lubdan!" Talos shouted, louder than he had ever spoken before.

Talos, Nero, and Varissa sprinted to the nano med lab and Talos placed his hand over the scanner and the door whooshed open, the sound of the opening door drowned out by Lubdan Gallagher's final screams as he called out for his friend and partner with his last breath.

The three stood in the doorway of the lab keeping it from closing. In the flickering red light they saw Freddy Krueger. They had succeeded in pulling him from the dream world after all. Currently he had his back to them and he was swinging his blades downwards repeatedly, throwing blood and gore from his blades with each swing. Gore streaked the ceiling, the walls. Some flew across the space between them and splashed across Talos-16's face. It seemed Lubdan's final screams masked the sound of the door opening for Freddy as well as the dream demon in the flesh did not seem aware of their arrival.

Talos felt time stand still as he stared at his friend and companion Lubdan Gallagher on the floor of the lab, blood puddled around his non moving body. Bloody gashes covered his once handsome face as well as his neck, torso, and arms. Talos stared into Lubdan's vacant eyes and they stared back unseeing. No life existed behind them anymore.

Talos caught movement out of the corner of his eye and slowly turned to see Varissa covering her mouth to stifle a scream and Nero brandishing his Plasma Rifle. Talos placed his hand on the gun's barrel and pushed it down. Nero looked quizzically at the android and froze. He had never seen such pain and rage in any face, would have thought Talos incapable of such emotion were he not staring it in the face.

Talos shook his head once and mouthed the words, 'Krueger is mine.' Nero nodded and watched as Talos stalked towards the dream demon.

Freddy still had his back to the three, was still unaware of his audience, still swinging and slashing at Lubdan's corpse and laughing maniacally. Talos lifted his hand in the air and sent out a telepathic command and from Nano-Bed #1 the Gallagher Sphere 2.0 rose into the flickering red light of the nano lab and shot across the room into Talos' hand. It began to morph into a large club the moment it touched his hand, sprouting large spikes several inches long that pulsed with electricity. Talos stepped towards Freddy with an intensity and rage he had never felt before. Freddy, made aware by the sphere flying past his head seconds before, finally noticed he was not alone and stood, still not turning to face the remaining crew of Hawkins Salvage and Recovery.

"Ah, ya got the drop on ole Freddy, huh? Go ahead and shoot me if you want. I am eternal, and I'll be back, I'll find my way to your dreams again and kill you slow. As for you Talos, I told you robo bitch I was gonna make sure you watched me kill your little boy toy! RememAAAAGGG—

Freddy's taunt was cut short as Talos swung the club with the force of a warrior and a large spike hit the back of Freddy's head and burst through his skull and out his right eye. When Talos pulled the club back to take another swing it ripped half of Freddy Krueger's skull off with it. Bits of bone and brain tissue pattered to the floor of the Nano-Med Lab. Talos, Varissa, and Nero watched as Freddy Krueger with only half a head tried to take a step forward but tripped over his latest victim and fell slouched over the control panel of Nano-Bed #1.

"I am so sorry, Talos," Nero said, putting a hand on the android's arm. "Oh, my god, I am so sorry about Lubdan but we have to go."

Talos stood firm, ignoring Nero as he stared at Freddy, making sure he had avenged Lubdan completely, and then Freddy defiantly began to raise his gloved right hand somehow. Talos stepped forward lifted the Nano-Spiked Club over his head and brought it down, a large spike driving right through the middle of Freddy's gloved hand and pinning it down into the control panel of Nano-Bed #1. The spike drove deep into the panel and immediately sparks began to fly out of it and within seconds smoke began to billow. Talos watched defiantly and with purpose as the panel erupted in flames and so did Freddy Krueger. The three watched for several seconds as the fire burned so hot it was melting the glove to Freddy's flesh. Somehow Freddy tried to squirm and move and even tried to scream but all that came out was a throaty gurgle as Freddy was missing the entirety of the right side of his head. Within moments of the hot burning fire he ceased to move anymore. Talos commanded the club to return to a sphere but it did not obey and then he felt a jolt of electricity conduct through the club and he was forced to let go.

"Talos, we are almost out of time," Varissa said. "You got him! You got him good. We need to go now."

"Goodbye, my friend," Talos said, tilting his head and looking at Lubdan. He then turned on his heels and the three ran for the shuttle bay.

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The fire continued to burn hot and bright. It had completely destroyed most of the right side of Freddy's body from the waist up. His right torso, shoulder, and right arm was a melted gory mess. Karma had burnt the child killer a second time. The glove he wore as his weapon of choice was now fused with his melted right hand in death. The Gallagher Sphere club began to soften and spread. It covered Freddy's arm, shoulder, right torso and then began to creep up to the missing side of his head as the nano-ants that made up the sphere received conflicting commands from the shorted out control panel of Nano-Med Bed #1.

01010#10101Heal01*#011010ReturnToSphere111010#101010Heal01#01010ReturnToSphere010Heal000ReturnToSphere1010Heal01Heal000HealSphereCommandInitiateHealSphereHealSphereHeal1010HealingSphere11101011ProgressComplete11011HealedSphere

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"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Nero yelled when they reached the shuttle bay door.

"Looks like Freddy left us one more fuck you!" Varissa said with defeat.

The three were looking at what used to be the hand scanner for the shuttle bay door but was now a hole in the wall with several ripped wires.

"We have two minutes to depart. Please step aside," Talos-16 said as he began connecting loose wires.

Nero leaned against the shuttle bay door looking down into the eyes of Varissa who stood facing him leaning on the door as well.

"If we survive this, you owe me a lot more than some Noc'Tralian coffee," he said with a grin.

"Be careful, I might hold ya to it," Varissa said with a wink.

Nero stood up straight "You won't hear me complai—

Varissa heard a thwack and then Nero's statement was cut off mid word.

"Nero?"

A thin red ring appeared around his throat, barely visible in the flickering red glow of the Beowulf's emergency lights. She looked at Nero's face, saw his mouth was slack and his eyes empty.

"Oh god, Nero!" she said and reached to touch his cheek. As soon as she touched his face she watched in horror as his head slowly slid forward off of his shoulders and fell to the floor by her feet. His body fell to the floor on it's knees and keeled over. Varissa looked at the shuttle bay door and saw a small round saw blade barely stuck into the door. It was slowly deteriorating before her eyes.

"HEADS UP!" a familiar voice said from down the dim red corridor.

The corridor was then filled with the sound of metal on metal. Varissa turned her head to look and saw sparks flying off the walls coming from the Nano-Med lab. Then she saw what was causing the sparks. It was Freddy but not the Freddy she had fought in the dreamscape. This Freddy's head was half burnt tissue like she was used to but the right side of his entire head was bright metallic silver. The right side of his chest looked like thin sinew that had threaded together to complete the design of his horrible sweater but it too was bright metallic silver and his right arm was completely metallic as well. A pattern of darker and lighter metallic shades ran down the length of his arm imitating the design of his red and green striped sleeve. His hand was currently a large saw that resembled the smaller one that had decapitated Nero and he was coming towards her and Talos, running the blade against the wall as he came. Talos turned to Varissa.

"Do you see these wires?" he asked. She looked down and nodded her head yes. "Good, connect them when I have him distracted. When the door opens get to the shuttle and to the cockpit and press the large red button on the console. Your warp speed trajectory is already set."

"But Talos..." she began.

"I do not wish to exist without Lubdan. No other directive makes sense to me so I will honor Lubdan by holding Freddy off for you as long as I can. It has been an honor working with you, Dr. DeGenarro. Now go!"

Talos turned and began walking towards the new and improved Freddy Krueger.

The Beowulf rocked again as it was drawn ever closer to the devastating destruction of the black hole's event horizon.

"Got to say R2, hitting a man from behind is kind of a bitch move! At least I let your boyfriend face me before I sliced and diced the little bitch. But hey, thanks for the new hardware!" Freddy shouted and laughed, his voice more mechanical than before. It was strange watching half his mouth of flesh and half his mouth of metal opening and closing in unison.

"This stuff is badass! It's like having my dream power in the waking world. You lot have done me so many favors, how can I ever repay you? I know! I'll take your shuttle and spread the word of Freddy to all the known galaxies! I don't even need to know how to fly the fucking thing!" he said and held up his metallic arm. The saw turned back into a hand and then morphed into what looked just like Freddy's glove made of the bright metallic silver metal. The blades slowly extended from it and then from his index finger the nano-sphere material morphed into a snaking cord. "See, it'll do all the learning for me! HAHAHAHAHAHA."

Varissa was twisting the two cords together but nothing was happening. She began stripping them a bit more, removing more of their casing with her teeth and revealing more of the wires inside.

"You are not going anywhere except into that black hole," Talos-16 said as he stopped walking and stood directly in front of Freddy. He swung his right fist and Freddy turned his head so the blow would land on his right metallic cheek. Talos' hand struck the nano-material side of Freddy's face and passed into it as if the solid looking metal were made of liquid mercury. Freddy instantly willed his cheek to reharden, trapping Talos' fist inside. Talos tried to wrench his fist free and found that he was stuck fast.

Freddy held up his metallic arm and it quickly morphed into a large chainsaw like blade. He held it underneath Talos' stuck wrist and then the blade of the saw began spinning and he lifted and lopped Talos' hand off. The hand was still sticking from Freddy's right cheek. Freddy softened the nano material by will and Talos' hand fell to the floor. Freddy stepped back and his Nano arm instantly morphed again into a large vice and he quickly put it around Talos before the android could move. Freddy willed the two sides of the vice to squeeze. One side was against Talos' right bicep and one was against Talos' left bicep. Freddy willed it to continue squeezing until he heard cracking from somewhere inside the android.

Talos stared into Freddy's eyes defiantly and didn't say a word. He was trying to buy Varissa time to escape and that was all that mattered now.

Freddy willed this vice arm to energize and voltage suddenly erupted into his nano arm and Talos was hit with an overwhelming surge of electricity. Smoke began coming from his ears and nose.

"Well, I'd like to stay and play but I have a flight to catch," Freddy said and suddenly the space between the vice like appendages coming from his nano arm turned into four blades reminiscent of the glove he wore in the dreamscape except now he willed the blades to begin spinning and they obeyed. As he held Talos-16 in the vice the spinning blades came forward from the middle of the nano arm and drove into Talos' stomach. Sparks flew, wires shot out and Talos' began to power down.

"See ya later, Cyber Bitch! Time to put all my problems behind me and embrace the future!" Freddy growled as he lifted his nano arm into the air still holding Talos in a vice and threw him over his head behind him down the corridor. Freddy's nano arm immediately morphed back into what looked like his original arm and gloved hand only metallic and silver. He started heading towards the shuttle bay door and Varissa as the Beowulf rocked harder but Freddy did not lose a step.

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Talos landed on his side facing the now destroyed door of the nano-lab. He still had some functions but was losing power rapidly. He saw Varissa hadn't been able to escape yet but he was not powerful enough to face this new Freddy. Where he lay in the corridor he was looking directly into Lubdan's dead eyes.

Sadness and anger coursed through him. Then something caught his attention and he looked to the left of his dead friend and sawsaw through the smoke, of the now exstinguished fire, the pouch Lubdan had given Varissa five days ago before their ill-fated trip to Old Earth. It lay on the counter on the far side of the nano-lab, Gallagher Sphere 1.0 held inside.

An idea stirred in Talos-16's dying interface. Hold on just a little longer, Varissa, he thought and he began to slowly crawl into the nano lab.

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As Freddy was throwing Talos down the hallway behind him Varissa finally connected the wires correctly and the shuttle bay door whooshed open. She ran down the purple accordion corridor and opened the shuttle door. She paused, realizing she hadn't heard the shuttle bay door close behind her. She turned and saw Freddy standing in the shuttle bay doorway only a few feet away.

"You weren't gonna leave without your old friend Freddy were you?" he growled.

"Fuck you, Freddy! I'll make sure we both go into that black hole if I have to!"

"Oh, don't worry. You'll be going into the black hole but no waking up afterwards this time fucker," Freddy growled as he morphed his nano arm into a snake like appendage. "Look familiar? It pairs nicely with black holes, don't it bitch?" he snarled as the snake appendage shot forward and wrapped around her ankle. She screamed in pain and fury as she grabbed hold of a handle affixed to the accordion hallway.

Freddy looked down at Nero's head and body on the ground behind him, grinning as a wicked idea struck him, "Aw, looks like your boyfriend will never be the HEAD of security again! Did he ever get the chance to slip you some tongue?"

Freddy then opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. Half his tongue was metallic silver and formed from nano material. That half split off from the biological half of his tongue and it stretched out of his mouth and shot down and towards Varissa wrapping around her other ankle. Freddy's snake like arm appendage and his nano tongue yanked in unison and Varissa's hand was ripped free from the handle and she landed on her back with a hard thud, her head bouncing off the floor.

Varissa saw stars. She felt instantly disoriented but knew she had to pull it together because time was running out. The ship rocked again so hard she feared it was going to break apart in the event horizon of the black hole at any second. The entire ship began flashing dim red to complete darkness then back to red. A new alarm began to blare warning that the auxiliary power was about to fail.

She watched in horror as she was slowly dragged towards the changed dream demon, now part machine, part killer, all asshole. He looked so terrifying in the flashing dim red light, like a devil straight from the pits of Hell, and each time the ship went dark she hoped she wouldn't have to look at him again. But he was still there when the light blinked back on.

The nano snake arm and nano tongue unraveled from her ankles as she reached him and Freddy's nano arm returned to it's original form of a metallic arm and hand with a matching nano bladed glove and the bastard's half a nano tongue returned to his mouth and he smiled.

Seeing half his face still covered in the wet burns and half made up of the nano material from the Gallagher Sphere chilled Varissa. The nano half of his face still took on the appearance of being covered in burn tissue but it was metallic which made Freddy appear even more menacing, especially when he would smile that wicked smile and she'd see half his teeth yellow and black and the other half razor sharp and metallic. Varissa laid prone on the floor at his feet, the fall had almost knocked her out but she willed herself to stay awake, to find a way into that shuttle.

"Hope you had a nice trip! Time's a wasting, got places to be and I don't have time to enjoy this like I've fantasized about, bitch! I gotta fly so when ya get to hell tell Alice and all your friends Freddy SAID HELLO!" he yelled and laughed over the wailing alarm as he raised his nano arm and blades into the air. The blades extended even further with a metallic ssshinnnnk and Varissa closed her eyes as he brought the blades down. She didn't feel them connect and then heard a metallic clank hit the floor near her. She opened one eye and saw Freddy standing before her, his nano arm no longer a part of his body. She looked to her side and saw it laying on the floor at Freddy's feet.

Varissa leaned to her side and looked behind Freddy to see what had granted her clemency from Freddy's blades and in the flashing red light she could see Talos at the far end of the hall. He was severely damaged, his abdomen a mess of wires and sparks, and he looked as if he was using every bit of his will to stay standing. He had opened the inner airlock door and was standing in front of the outer airlock door. He was holding out his right arm and in place of his missing hand was a metallic silver blade in the process of shrinking back to him and morphing back into a sphere.

Freddy glanced over his shoulder and saw Talos standing in the corridor holding out a retracting blade made of the same material as his own new arm. Freddy raised what at one point in his life had been an eyebrow as he turned back to face Varissa on the ground. It looked strange and unnatural being made of metallic nano-material. "So, your robo friend has a little fight left, oh well..." Freddy shouted as he looked to his right shoulder in the slowly flashing dim red light. The nano tech making up much of his right torso and shoulder began morphing into tiny tendrils of nano material that snaked out quickly towards his nano-arm on the ground.

"I'll just kill him again after these little babies reconnect my ahhhhrrrrgggghhh," Freddy began to say arm but his word was stopped by a large metallic spike erupting through the back of his head and out the front of his mouth.

His eyes grew wide in shock and disbelief as another spike burst through his back and out his chest. Varissa looked past Freddy again and saw that now the outer airlock door was opening behind Talos-16. She smiled and turned her attention back to the finally silenced Freddy Krueger and watched with fascinated glee as the spikes that protruded from his chest and mouth morphed into grapple hooks. She looked past Freddy one final time to the end of the corridor at Talos-16 as he jerked his arm back and the grapples dug into Freddy's chest and face. Talos willed the nano material to rapidly pull Freddy from the shuttle bay doorway and through the corridor so fast that he wouldn't have the chance to reconnect his arm or think fast enough to morph the remaining nano material of his face or torso.

He collided with Talos' chest and the android draped his left arm around the front of Freddy and gripped the dream demon's right nano shoulder. Talos willed the nano material that had reeled Freddy in to then morph and spread, cocooning the android and Freddy together. As the nano material obeyed, Talos nodded towards Varissa in the flashing auxiliary light. She nodded back with gratitude and sadness as the airlock fully opened and Talos-16 and Freddy Krueger were sucked out into space, flipping backwards over and over, heading into the black hole.

Varissa acted fast. She was down to mere seconds to launch the shuttle and the vacuum of space was beginning to suck the air from the Beowulf. She watched with joy as the detached nano arm of Freddy Krueger was pulled from the shuttle bay hall doorway and sucked down the corridor and out into space following it's owner into oblivion as the now un obstructed shuttle bay door closed behind it protecting her from a similar fate.

She jumped to her feet and ran back down the accordion hallway and into the shuttle. The Beowulf shook worse than ever before as she rushed inside. She ran directly to the cockpit hearing the door close behind her. Varissa DeGenarro strapped herself into the pilot seat and hit the large red button on the control panel. The shuttle roared to life and detached from the Beowulf. Lubdan's final act before being slain by Freddy was routing a safe trip for the shuttle. The shuttle detached from the Beowulf and as the ship slowly turned, in the moments before warp speed transformed the world outside the cockpit window into tiny dots in blackness, Varissa could see the Beowulf being broken apart and exploding as it entered the event horizon of the black hole. She hoped Freddy suffered the same fate as the ship and hoped in his final moments he felt fear and confusion. Varissa mourned for the crew.

"Thank you, Talos," she said as the shuttle took her far away from the death and destruction that had been the last five days.

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