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Heaven Decays
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image [https://www.ighulme.com/images/chapters/ch-004-01.jpg]
“Hope you’re getting my good side, Pattie,” joked Nicks, as he expertly manipulated the sample claws, picking up a large metal case full of geological equipment.
“I didn’t know you had one,” laughed Pattie, as she methodically scratched away with her stylus. She was getting quite used to the unwieldy medium now; she just wished she wasn’t so handicapped by her gloves.
After a couple of hours she decided to take a break, and plodded down to base camp to see how the others were getting on. The atmospheric analysis was up and running, and hopefully would divulge its results quite soon.
She sat herself down on a pile of boxes between the two tents that made up base camp. They were squat, silver-grey domes, crammed with canisters, and all manner of tools and equipment. Secretly, Pattie thought it ironic that they had already made such a mess out of one corner of paradise.
“Tea break!” shouted Davisson upon seeing Pattie, and sat down next to her.
“How are you getting on?” he asked, as the others took up makeshift seats nearby.
“Oh, I’ve just been doing a few holiday snaps really. I’ve got some geology stuff to do in a while — I thought I’d start with the strata on Palmer’s Point.”
She waved over to the outcrop of rock that rose out of the sea of grass, not far to the south; Grace had named it as a joke, and it had stuck.
“Let’s have a look then,” teased Davisson, and Pattie shyly handed over the engravings of the site she’d been working on.
“Hey, these are great, Pattie,” said Saul, passing them around. Pattie had an exquisitely light touch, and an incredible eye for detail and realism, which suited the fine strokes of the engraving process.
“It’s really hard in these gloves,” she grumbled apologetically, as Davisson went through them.
“Well, I think they’re amazing; better than photos any day.”
“Do I really stoop that badly?” asked Starling.
“Like an old woman,” laughed Nicks. Pattie blushed; she was glad that she was hidden inside her helmet. She fumbled on the side of it for the right button.
“Oh, I hate these things. How does the straw work again?” she cursed to herself. Davisson leaned across and twisted the clip on the side of her helmet. A small tube popped up in front of her mouth, and she took a long sip.
“Mmm, warm dishwater; my favourite.”
The others laughed as they drank their own meagre ration.
“Well, that’s me revived. Off to do some interesting pictures of rocks.”
Pattie hauled herself to her feet with a steadying hand from Saul, and trudged off towards Palmer’s Point, about one hundred yards away.
“Don’t go out of sight, Pattie,” called Davisson after her. “And remember, if you see animal life of any kind — even an ant; let me know okay?”
“Yes, mum,” joked Pattie cheerfully under her breath, as she clumped off towards the lush plain.
She held out her hand, letting it brush the tops of the high grass which reached up to her waist.
After a couple of minutes she arrived, out of breath, at the foot of the rocks — a tumble of large boulders rising into the clear sky. The rock was a deep rich red, heavily lined with black and dark purple striations. Pattie walked around its base, looking for the first place that the geology department had asked her to draw.
“Oh, a tree!” she exclaimed. “Guys, I’ve found a tree!”
Up until now, their short expeditions had found nothing larger than bushes, which was odd, thought Pattie, as they’d been all over this outcrop.
“A tree?” she heard in her earpiece. “Brilliant. Where are you? Oh, I see; funny they missed it... I’ll come over, Pattie, I won’t be a minute.” It was Gary Starling’s voice. She turned and saw him leave one of the others and start his slow walk over.
“Oh, it’s an apple tree,” she smiled as she drew nearer.
The tree was only small, about five feet high, tucked against the side of the rock. Although still only a sapling, a juicy red apple hung from a branch right in front of her.
“It’s beautiful,” she gasped. She couldn’t understand why, but she was struck with an overwhelming sense of euphoria, and without hesitating she reached up and plucked the apple from the branch.
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She stared longingly at the bright red fruit in her hand. It almost glowed.
She absent-mindedly reached up to the side of her helmet and flipped the safety off the locking bolts. Her mouth watered crazily.
Dimly, as if in a dream, she thought she heard voices calling her, but they were distant, as though heard underwater. A funny hooter, like an alarm clock played in her ear.
“Pattie! What are you doing?”
It was Gary, shouting at her. He was charging through the grass as best he could in his bulky suit, frantically waving his arms. Behind him, at the camp, the others were just standing looking at her.
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled again.
She smiled and waved back at them.
“I’ve got an apple!” she beamed cheerfully, and lifted it to her mouth as she flipped open her visor.
image [https://www.ighulme.com/images/chapters/ch-004-03.jpg]
* * *
“Get them back, now!” Grace shouted, as she charged into the control room, making everybody jump in surprise. “I want them all back right this second!”
Jane Honeymon, who had been acting head whilst Grace checked Pattie’s records, bustled up to her.
“Is something wrong, Grace? What’s going on?”
“I want the return beacon sent this instant — Dan, reconfigure the transmitter — where the bloody hell’s Dan gone?” she fumed.
Jane looked around in a fluster.
“He was here a minute ago, he must have gone to the loo. The idiot, he knows he shouldn’t leave without telling someone.”
“Never mind, I’ll do it myself — just send someone to get him.” She strode to Dan’s empty workstation and set to work on the recalibration of the beacon, which had to be sent into the Field to notify the team to prepare for their return.
“Keith, go and find Dan Earl — he’s probably in the toilet,” snapped Jane, and turned back to Grace. “What’s happened?” she whispered.
Grace looked up, and glanced around the busy room, making sure that nobody else could hear her.
“I’ve just had word that there might be a threat here, on this facility,” she said conspiratorially.
“A threat? What sort of threat?” asked Jane in a shocked voice.
“Some sort of terrorist attack,” replied Grace vaguely.
“But we’re so close to conclusively testing the atmosphere. Surely that’s not reason enough to abort the expedition? Unless there’s something else you’re not telling me?” Jane looked hard at Grace, who turned away guiltily.
“I also found something in Pattie’s medical tests; I checked her out. She seemed to be acting strange today — and after Sally Aimes...” she trailed off, unable to hold Jane’s gaze.
“What did you find?”
“Traces of Scopolamine in her system,” whispered Grace.
“Scopolamine? What’s that? I’ve never heard of it.”
“I hadn’t either. But I checked upstairs.” She nodded her head upwards with a look of disdain to indicate the military base above them. “Apparently it’s some sort of truth drug.” Grace looked half-fevered in the glare of the monitor screen before her.
“A truth drug? Just what on earth is going on?” asked Jane, a hysterical edge creeping into her voice.
“They said it’s used to interrogate people, or to plant subliminal messages — like brain-washing, amongst other things,” said Grace quietly.
“Oh my god. But, Pattie? Why Pattie? Could there be a mistake? Perhaps it wasn’t —”
“Let’s just get them back, and then ask questions,” interrupted Grace, turning back to the terminal. She tapped away manically at the keyboard, and then suddenly banged her hand down on the desk in frustration.
“Damn! I can’t be doing all this on my own. Where the bloody hell’s Dan got to?”
image [https://www.ighulme.com/images/chapters/ch-004-02.jpg]
* * *
Dan’s hand trembled as he twisted the wires of the final device together. He paused for a second, looking up anxiously through the jumble of pipes, as high up on a gantry, a technician clumped past. Dan sighed a little in relief, though he felt sick to his stomach. The noise down here in the sub-system array was deafening, and it was as hot as hell. He knew he had to work quickly; someone would miss him soon.
* * *
Starling screamed at Pattie, but he was still too far away to reach her in time. The apple reached her mouth, then she stopped dead, her look of joy turning into realisation and disbelief. She let the apple fall through her limp fingers, staring aghast at Starling, who still stumbled his way through the grass towards her.
“What have I done?” she gasped in a terrified voice. “What have I done?” Her eyes were wide with fear, and she held up her hands in front of her face. She could hear four voices screaming in her earpiece, yelling at her to close her visor, but she couldn’t respond.
“Get them off me,” she whispered, in rising panic, and then screamed:
“THEY’RE ALL OVER ME! GET THEM OFF ME!”
Starling reached her just as she swayed and started to tumble backwards. He managed to lower her to the floor.
“GET THEM OFF ME!” she screamed again, through clenched teeth. She was rigid, and shaking uncontrollably — wide eyes feverishly darting around in their sockets.
“Pattie! Pattie, can you hear me? Don’t worry it’ll be alright, let me close your visor,” gasped Starling. He was attempting to get a hold on her helmet, but she twisted and turned violently. In the melee, he noticed a strange red dust, like rust, forming all over her suit.
“NO! THEY’RE IN MY SUIT! GET THEM OUT OF ME!” she screamed, but she was growing weaker. “Oh, please, Gary. Please! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!” She was sobbing now, her speech beginning to slur.
“You’re not going to die!” he soothed through gritted teeth as he wrestled with her contorting body. He managed to get his weight on her, pinning her down, and grabbed the top of her visor with both hands. His face was a few inches from hers, and he looked into her open helmet.
“Oh dear god!” he hissed, and recoiled backwards.
Pattie’s face looked like a mummified corpse. The skin was desiccated and pulled tight over her bones, and already it had started to tear over her cheeks. But something moved underneath. Small lumps darted to and fro, as though creatures burrowed under her flesh.
“Get them off me,” she whispered almost inaudibly through cracked lips, then lay still.
Starling cried out, then grabbed her visor and pulled. It didn’t move. He stared in disbelief at her helmet. It was covered in a thick layer of corrosion, as though it had just been brought up from the bottom of the sea.
“What in hell’s going on?”
It was Saul Davisson. He was stumbling towards them, out of breath, Nicks and O’Keefe close behind.
Starling turned as they approached.
“Oh sweet Jesus!” he gasped.
He stared beyond the three men, getting slowly to his feet as he looked about in disbelief.
“She’s dead,” he heard himself whisper.
“Just what’s going on?” gasped Davisson as he pushed past him to get to Pattie’s body.
He stopped in horror, then looked up, following Starling’s gaze. They all watched incredulously as the scene unfolded about them.
In an ever-expanding circle from where Pattie lay, the tall lush grass was turning yellow, then black, withering before their eyes. The sky was visibly darkening, and on the horizon, a mass of black cloud had obscured the mountains. Starling held up a handful of grass and watched as it rotted before his eyes.
“What in hell's happening?”
image [https://www.ighulme.com/images/chapters/ch-004-04.jpg]