III.
Piety awoke with a gasp for air, unable to move her legs. Looking down she found herself covered with the flesh-like substance, wrapping up around her legs and body like a coiling serpent. She cursed as she reached down to pry the tendrils off. Piety dug her fingers into the alien flesh. It felt like pulling off a scab where it touched her skin, a hot stinging pain as she peeled it away. It took all her might, but she managed to pull free from its grasp. “Fuck-fuck-fuck…!” she cursed in rapid succession, staggering away like a newborn calf. Her head swam as dizziness overtook her sense of balance. Piety fell with a harsh thud against a cold metal floor. She was back on the ship.
What had happened? She had been walking down the hall and then… The demon, it had to be. She had strayed too far into its weird-field and got ensnared. Stupid – she should have waited, but the allure of a better tomorrow had been too much to ignore. Piety lurched to her feet, using the wall to steady herself. Where was she? She was on the ship, sure, but no longer in the frigid corridor, but a large open chamber. There was machinery around her, dead consols and alien computers. Was this the bridge? It would figure the demon would make its nest right where she needed to be.
Piety reached for her pistol but found only an empty holster. She must have dropped it in the trance. “Dammit – stupid!” She spat, cursing herself as she looked around the room. The demon’s biomass covered everything, spreading out like veins across man and machine alike. That was to say, she wasn’t alone. There were desiccated corpses hanging limp in fleshy cocoons dotting the walls. Others had fallen victim to the demon’s weird-field, but unlike her, they didn’t have the good fortune to wake up. She hadn’t been the first to fall victim to this place, it seemed, but she was keen on being the last.
Piety took a deep breath and began looking for a way out. She had to escape before the demon returned looking for its newest meal. The door was easy enough to find but prying it open was another matter. This part of the ship still had power and the door was sealed. Piety patted herself down – most of her equipment still remained. She drew her knife and spat a string of curses as she tried to shimmy it between the doors to no avail. “Fuck!” She hissed, pounding a fist on the door. “Okay-okay… Calm down… Lets just take a look around.”
Piety spun around in a circle, taking in her surroundings. There didn’t seem to be any holes or crawl spaces the demon could use to get in, so that meant it had access to the doors somehow. She looked at the consols and went to the one least covered in dust. It lit up at her touch. “Yes-yes-yes, baby we’re in business!” Piety proclaimed as she searched for an NCI port. It was dangerous to plug in carelessly, but she didn’t exactly have much of a choice. From the base of her skull, she pulled down a cord and plugged it in.
Instantly a HUD appeared on her visor. It was corrupted and glitched out, throwing up error codes and warnings about using an outdated system. However, despite the errors, it granted her the access she needed. But then she heard it again, that distant voice. “Help me…” it said so softly she could barely hear it. This time however, she could tell it wasn’t in her head. “Help me… please.”
Piety unplugged and cautiously stepped forward; brows knit as she tried to locate the origin of the voice. “Help… me…” it whispered from within the pulsating biomass. One of the demon’s victims was still alive! “Jesus Christ!” Piety exclaimed, rushing over to the writhing mass. “Hello? Can you hear me? I’m going to try and get you out, okay? I’m going to try…” Try what? The biomass was so heavily wound against them she couldn’t even see them. All Piety could think to do was to start cutting.
Drawing her knife she started in, cutting away the clinging tissue in slick bloody chunks. The tendrils of alien flesh writhed and tightened in defiance but was no match for the blade. Chunk by chunk she pulled it away until a face appeared. It was a woman, barely conscious. Piety dug her knife into the thickest part, trying her best to cut out the shape of her. It was no question the demon might sense her carving through its flesh and come looking. It was a matter of getting out before it returned.
Finally, she cut through the thickest parts. Digging her fingers in she pealed the biomass away like the rind of an orange. The woman fell out with a sickening thud. Piety knelt down beside her and shook her by the shoulder. “Come on, wake up!” she urged. “It’s gonna know we’ve escaped, so we gotta go yesterday!”
The woman struggled to her hands and knees, coughing up a black sick that dribbled down her chin. She was as bald and bare as a newborn child. Piety took her jacket off and offered it to her. “Here, put this on, or you’re likely to freeze to death before we can make our escape.” The woman stared up doe-eyed in silence for a moment before taking the jacket. With Piety’s help she staggered to her feet on uneasy legs. She could barely walk, it was like she had been born anew, cut fresh from the womb. “Thank you…” the woman mouthed, her voice hardly a whisper as she leaned heavily upon the wall of gore for support.
“Thank me later when we get out of here,” Piety said, offering her a hand. The woman took it. “Follow me close, okay?” The woman nodded slowly.
Piety quickly made her way to the previously sealed doors; it was time to see if her interface with the computer panned out. “Open,” she said with a wave of her hand. The doors opened. Piety let out a sigh of relief as she pulled the woman along through the doorway. The doors led to a set of curving stairs, into a sort of antechamber beyond. “Watch your step,” Piety cautioned as she tiptoed down the stairs, “there’s that crap everywhere.”
This room she couldn’t place. It was a large white chamber, empty besides quivering biomass and a single pillar in the center of the room. It was a curious structure, no doubt of some importance, but Piety wasn’t about to stop to ponder it. No, she rushed past to the next doorway. “Open,” she demanded with another wave of her hand. The doors opened with a hiss. Piety poked her head through. This doorway opened into a deep shaft. “Looks like we found the tram system,” Piety commented, more to herself than her new companion. “But the lift doesn’t seem to be operational. We’re going to have to hoof it.”
Piety made to let go of the woman’s hand, but she held on tight. “It’s okay,” Piety said with a warm smile, “I’m not going anywhere without you.” The woman’s grip loosened, and she let go. Piety lowered herself down into the shaft before reaching out for the woman again. She took her hands and hopped down beside her. “There we go,” Piety told her before looking down at the darkness of the shaft. She turned her flashlight on and sighed, wondering how long she had been out under the demon’s spell. It felt like mere moments to her, but it had to be quite a while to cover such a distance.
Piety looked to her feet. All they could do was follow the track and see where it led them. Each footstep echoed, sounding out like a drum beat as they made their way down the shaft. That wasn’t optimal, hiding from their captor as they were, but speed outweighed stealth, Piety thought to herself. If they could stay ahead of the demon, they could make their escape.
“So, what’s your name?” Piety asked softly. “My name is Piety.”
“Piety…” the woman repeated, letting the name stew in thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t remember… There’s so many in my head, I don’t know which is mine.”
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“That’s fine,” Piety told her. “You’ve been through something traumatic, but things will come back to you. I can’t keep thinking of you as ‘woman’ however, so let’s think… How about Sophia? It means wisdom.”
“I don’t feel very wise,” the woman said with a little laugh, the first sign of emotion Piety had seen from her.
“Well, wisdom comes from learning from our mistakes,” Piety offered. “Let’s learn from this one, and not follow demons into the mouth of Hell. I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna get an earful when we get out of here. How did you get captured anyways? Do you remember? What crew are you with?”
“Crew?” Sophia said with a squeeze of her hand. “I… I don’t know. No, the First-Seeds… I was part of the First-Seeds.”
The First-Seeds? Piety’s mind went back to the picture in the domicile welcoming First-Seeds generation two. It would seem she was part of the original crew, probably the last member. “What else do you remember?” Piety asked, giving her hand a squeeze back. Sophia thought on it for a moment, then said with a shiver, “Warmth… Being warm. It was never so cold before.”
“Yeah, that’s the demon’s doing,” Piety answered, feeling bad she couldn’t offer her more than her coat. “They absorb heat from the air to feed on when food is scarce – or something of the sort. I’m no demonologist.”
“Demon… The ship was attacked,” Sophia said softly. “We lost control of our systems – had to land, escape before it took total control.”
“See? Memory’s coming back already,” Piety assured with a smile. “It’ll all come back to you eventually. I don’t suppose you remember where this leads?”
Sophia shook her head no, before saying, “It leads to everywhere.”
“A ship-wide transport system, cool,” Piety said flatly with no small hint of sarcasm. “We could be walking the whole length of the ship. BD-1, BD-1, BD-1…” Piety chanted as if repeating it would make it appear. “That’s where it grabbed me. I know the exit from there.”
They passed their first doorway: AD-1. “I knew it was too good to be true,” Piety said softly. “But, at least we’re on the right track.”
“Gardens are on A-deck,” Sophia announced as they passed it by. “Strawberries, apples, oranges. We have a harvest festival every year.”
“Apples?” Piety echoed with a huff. “I’ve only heard of those. Are they as good as they say?” Sophia nodded. “Then we’ll have to see about getting some when my crew gets in here.”
“Your crew?” Sophia asked. “Are you from another ship?”
“No, salvage,” Piety answered truthfully. “Your ship has been dead for four years at least, or so everyone thinks.”
“Oh – I don’t remember…” her new companion would say sorrowfully.
“It’s okay – don’t push it,” replied Piety. “The demon had you in some kind of stasis for god knows how long, probably since you guys crashed.”
“So, everyone is gone?” Sophia asked.
“As far as I can tell,” Piety told her. “Everyone on the outside thinks so at least. I was more than a little bit surprised when I heard your voice… It woke me up, pulled me out of the demon’s trance.”
“If they’re gone,” Sophia began with a soft smile, “that means they’re safe, that they escaped.”
Piety didn’t know about that. Things off the ship were just as dangerous, if not more so. But she wouldn’t tell her that. She would find out soon enough after they escaped, everyone did. “So, what were you guys? Some kind of ark?” Piety began, but the echo of a loud banging sound stopped her dead in her tracks. It was the sound of machinery coming to life. Either the lift was activating, or they were no longer alone in the shaft – neither of which was good. They had to get to their door quick.
Piety stepped up the pace, pushing forward with quick purposeful steps. There was no telling how far the next door was. “Faster, we gotta go faster,” Piety urged as the woman struggled to keep up. “It’s coming!” The sound grew louder as if some great engine was starting up. “Fuck-fuck-fuck!” A light blossomed in the distance, hellfire at the end of the tunnel. Piety ran, dragging her companion behind her. Some small vicious part of her wanted to let go, to make the sprint herself, but when the urge came, she held her hand tighter. “We’re close,” Sophia would say, “I can feel it. There! Ahead of us!”
BD-1, there it was. Piety made for it, drawing her knife to pry open the doors. The light was getting closer by the second, like a locomotive charging right at them. She dug the blade between the doors and pushed, prying them apart. “Come on!” She shouted, pulling the woman between them into the room beyond. Just as she did, the tram sped passed them at blinding speeds.
The wind from it was enough to throw them both off their feet. Piety just sat there heaving, contemplating how very close to death they had been. “Are you alright?” Sophia asked, pushing herself to her knees.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” Piety said in reply, patting herself down. “I feel okay… Ten fingers, ten toes. You?” Sophia nodded surely and pushed herself up to her feet.
“Ten fingers, ten toes,” she repeated with a smile. She had a warm smile, one that made Piety smile in return, even laugh at their situation. Whoever Sophia truly was, she liked her. Sophia reached out, offering her hand. Piety took it and was quickly pulled to her feet. She was stronger than she looked, taking Piety by surprise. Sophia just smiled sweetly, thinking nothing of it.
Piety looked around them, then back to the open doorway. Poking her head in she didn’t see the light, but it was only a matter of time before the demon was on their trail. Piety sighed and looked back over her shoulder. BD-1 was a library of sorts, or maybe a rec room in general. There were a number of tables in the middle, all surrounded by walls of books. It would have been cozy if it wasn’t for the cold.
Sophia walked out into the middle of the room, seemingly drawn by something. There were still books on the tables, games that would never be finished. “Each habitation block has their own rec room,” Sophia said, idly pushing some papers around. “Every Saturday was game night. We had so much fun here.”
“Sounds nice,” Piety said. “Homey.”
Piety missed the feeling of home. Up until the end, she had thought of her life in the cult as normal. Sure they had rituals, but what religion doesn’t? She never expected to become one. Up until that moment when they were going to take their lives, her parents had been supportive, loving. Then everything changed, and they became nothing but cattle raised for the slaughter. Damn them. Damn them all for what they took from her and her brother, for what they wanted to take still.
Suddenly her radio burst to life, drawing her attention. “Piety…” a voice said through a wall of static. “Come in… Piety…” Piety couldn’t tell whether it was Reverence or another trick of the demon’s weird-field. She prodded at her radio and asked, “Did you hear that?”
“Your name, someone said it,” Sophia answered. Piety quickly grabbed her radio and held it up above her head. “Rev? Rev is that you? Come in, Rev,” she said, pacing back and forth. “Reverence, can you hear me?”
“Ah – Piety, there… are…” he replied, voice broken up by the static. “Haven’t heard… all morning… What’s your status?”
Piety couldn’t put into words how happy she was to hear his voice. “Ran into our demon friend,” she answered truthfully. “Got nabbed, but we’re free – we being me and another survivor. We’re almost to the exit.”
“Wait… Don’t…” Reverence attempted to say, but his voice broke against the static wall. “I repeat… Don’t…”
“What was that, Reverence?” Piety exclaimed. “Don’t what? Repeat!” There was no reply.
For a moment, Piety stood there thumbing the button on her radio trying to piece together her brother’s cautionary words but couldn’t for the life of her. Don’t what? Don’t go to the exit? Well, she couldn’t damn well stay there with a demon on their heels! Whatever lied ahead couldn’t be as bad as what lied behind them, she decided. They would go forward. Piety motioned to her companion. “Okay, let’s go. We’re near the elevator,” she informed. “It’s a quick drop from there to the residential deck I came in in.”
“Okay,” Sophia said, holding out her hand. Piety smiled and took it. A warmth surged through her at the touch. It was strange, foreign, but oh so welcome in the frigid place. She had known her for hardly an hour or two, and already she felt as if she could fall for her – for that warm smile and big brown eyes. Piety caught herself slipping and steeled herself, stamping down the alien feeling. This was neither the time nor place for it, and besides, she hardly knew her – and she hardly knew herself. Still, she held her hand tight as they pressed forward.