Chapter 8 #3
Riyu shot him a sharp glance but said nothing.
Ishtan continued to eye the mural. “All these ships,” he said.
“So many different stories, yet with always nearly identical outcomes. Who knows what terrible mysteries the Nicaea holds? One thing is certain. Violence has been natural to people from their very beginning, First Earth or otherwise.”
Breathe, the electronic voice repeated.
Can you pull everything you’ve got on generation ship discoveries from your storage? Iris asked.
That will take a lot of energy.
It would. It would attract a lot of attention from whomever was watching them.
Please do it quickly then. Iris motioned for Ishtan and Riyu to follow him.
The faster they left the spot, the more difficult it would be for their watcher, whoever or whatever it was, to pin them down.
That’s what Iris told himself, uncaring of the truth of the sentiment.
There was still the question of food.
A few more turns, like Iris had promised, and they were before a wide set of double doors.
Inside, a nursery sprawled, wild and overgrown, with head-sized leaves and vines sprouting from every possible angle.
Bright purple lights were mounted along the ceiling.
The functioning bulbs flooded patches of the room with faint lilac light.
Iris raised his hand to keep Ishtan and Riyu back and ventured inside, alone.
A thin layer of soil covered the floor, spilled from where the plants had escaped their planters.
It was nowhere near as warm and humid as the orchard, but the floor was more forgiving than the cold, metal surface of the corridor, and Iris’s feet welcomed the change.
I think you’re alone here.
“I think so too.” Yet, his forearm instinctively flexed, readying to launch the pulsar blade from within his robes.
A few more calculated steps to the sound of dripping pipes, nothing more, and Iris allowed himself to relax.
He slowly rolled his shoulders, letting the tension drain.
Only then did he call for Riyu and Ishtan to join him.
There had to be something edible here. The soil was far too rich and the greens too plentiful for it to be nothing, but that was Riyu’s domain.
Like a princess awakened from her slumber, the botanist sprang into action with a newfound resolve and alertness. Within seconds, she was on her knees, hands buried in the soil, rummaging for anything edible. While Riyu applied herself to the task, Iris allowed Ishtan to wander about the perimeter.
Rows upon rows of planters stretched along the length of the space.
Most of the containers were cracked, with wild roots spidering through and dangling towards the floor.
In the violet light, the vegetation looked far more ominous than edible.
With his big toe, Iris dug a small funnel in the soil.
Thousand-year-old dirt gave in easily to the intrusion.
Even this soil would be priceless.
I’ve never seen you get so sentimental about a terrarium.
Iris smiled faintly. Yes. The whole ship was a microcosm not unlike a terrarium, growing, evolving without outside influence. Now, they had popped the lid and disturbed its balance. Consequences were appropriate.
Not ten minutes had passed before Riyu sat up with a victorious aha! and pulled out an orange root from the ground. “Carrot!” she proclaimed and threw it to Iris.
He caught it stiffly with both hands and sniffed it. “And you are certain this is edible?”
“Asks the monk who ate how many apples before I said they were not poisonous?” Riyu replied with a giggle, her mood rising.
“Carrots are hard to contaminate. You don’t need to worry.
” She looked around the nursery. “If I were on a generation ship with no ready resupply of soil, I would worry a lot about acidity and leeching. So, I would also grow a companion plant to avoid those issues. Now, if I were to plant carrots, as I am guessing they did not just evolve of their own volition, I would expect to find …” she trailed off and crawled underneath a planter.
“Squash!” With a loud grunt, Riyu pulled out a yellow spaghetti squash the size of her head.
“I’m not sure how we can cook this, but the engineers will find a way.
” She hopped to her feet and dusted off her trousers, squash neatly tucked underneath her arm.
Satisfied with their finds, Iris was about to call out to Ishtan that they were heading back when his feet sensed a muted pulse through the ground.
I’m receiving a ping, VIFAI whispered. The pulse beneath Iris’s feet grew exponentially, like the rumblings of a deep desert snake as it narrowed in on its kill.
Iris had felt this quickening before, right as the door Yan was working beneath broke free and almost crushed him.
VIFAI’s searches had drawn their watcher right to them.
Iris snapped towards to Riyu. “Drop everything,” he said, voice low and commanding. “Slowly, walk out of the nursery. When you’re outside, run, run as fast as you can, get the engineers down to our deck. Don’t let them argue. Go.”
Riyu remained glued to the floor, the spaghetti squash wrapped tightly in her arms.
“Now,” Iris hissed.
Eyes transfixed on Iris and unblinking, Riyu retreated cautiously, holding the squash tightly against her chest with both arms. She placed her feet one behind the other, matching her footprints nearly exactly.
When the doors shut behind her, and he heard her footsteps break into a sprint, Iris sprang into action.
He could already tell Ishtan wasn’t inside the nursery.
He crossed the space in a light jog and exited through a matching set of double doors.
More vines and extravagant flowers greeted him on the other end.
You’re not alone anymore, cautioned VIFAI, whispering from the far corner of his mind. Stay alert.
Iris’s hand flicked ever so slightly, and the pulsar blade was at once in his palm, ready to deploy. He moved quickly, bare feet stepping silently through the dirt. Moving a thick vine from his path, Iris ducked underneath it and into the adjoining room.
Ishtan’s slack face was turned on its side.
It peered from below some foliage, a mask of blank resignation.
A thick vine had already made its home around his shoulders, and Iris tenderly unfurled it and placed it aside.
He stowed away the pulsar blade. The archaeologist was lying on his stomach, still alive.
The dark skin of his neck pulsed rhythmically with the beating of his heart.
Iris lowered himself by Ishtan’s ear. “Wake up,” he whispered.
But Ishtan didn’t move. If he had more time, Iris would have been gentler, but he didn’t.
He flipped the archaeologist over and firmly ran the second knuckles of his fingers along Ishtan’s sternum.
That got a reaction. Ishtan flinched, his face animating along the folds of habitual wrinkles.
“Wake up,” Iris whispered again and ran his knuckles over Ishtan’s sternum once more.
Faded eyes met his, then they widened in horror, and Iris slapped his palm against Ishtan’s mouth right before a scream could escape it.
“You’re safe. Please, don’t scream.” Ishtan gave him a weak nod.
“Did you see what knocked you unconscious?”
Ishtan shook his head.
Is it still here? Iris asked, and VIFAI responded with an affirmative ping.
Then, it did something it had never done before.
With a burning shock, Iris’s right arm sprang forwards, above Ishtan’s head.
At once, the pulsar blade was in his hand, throwing out a faint, blue glow.
Before the right side was fully extended, it had already sliced an attacking vine that had been spiraling towards Iris at blinding speed. In the deadly silence, Ishtan cursed.
“We have to go, now.” Iris yanked the swaying Ishtan to his feet and pushed him towards the doors. “Run. I’m right behind you.” His arm moved again on its own, this time the blade slicing a vine on his left that had been poised to puncture Iris’s neck on impact.
VIFAI was silent, but active. It poured itself from Iris’s brain stem, spreading along the nerves of Iris’s arm.
Impossible, Iris knew, but he had no time to ponder it.
His brain stem burned where the implant had been placed.
All he could do was surrender to the ghost animating his body, to surrender to the other being that shared his consciousness.
Ishtan was already through the doors leading to the nursery, and Iris followed closely, slicing three more vines that came at him simultaneously with a quick flick of a wrist. How are you doing this?
Iris called out into the far corner of his mind where VIFAI usually resided.
No response. Something struck him on the left side of his head, and for a moment, everything disappeared into darkness.
Then, he was aware of dirt on his lips; Iris had been momentarily knocked unconscious and fallen to the ground.
Blinded by the hot blood that ran freely from the wound, Iris leapt to his feet, allowing VIFAI to direct him autonomously.
Ishtan turned back, face contorted with horror.