Chapter 3, Seeing Red

Because the Ishimura would often operate between different mining stations as a mobile hospital, the Church of Unitology also paid CEC to reserve spaces onboard for an interplanetary hearse service. The medical deck had an outstanding capacity for bodybags and coffins, but today the crew found it hard to keep track of "flatline intake"s from Aegis VII despite the no-fly order. Ever since the power surge after planet cracking, the light system inside the morgue sections began to malfunction sporadically.

"Dr. Mercer, did you issue any request to make room in the morgue for Aegis? My team is on your assignment to take brain tissue samples, but we can't find the subjects you asked for."

Well, one of the subjects was still there, but it seems he has been haphazardly dissected, missing his spine and lower torso. His head was nowhere to be seen either. The medical professionals were not feeling very enthusiastic about searching for the loose cranium before the lights could be fixed. It was visceral, unsanitary, barely possible to think straight at all.

"It was emptied already? Pardon me, Anne, I must have forgotten. You can come back now, I've asked for security to move them into deep freezer already."

"There's a lot of blood and loose tissue everywhere... Security team, huh. You sure we don't need to decontaminate it first?"

"Altman be praised, there's a time for everything before convergence comes. Just... Tend to subject H for now. None of us wants her to be... Stirred."

As the med techs were about to leave the morgue, the door was opened by security chief Alissa Vincent, a few underlings behind her, guns and security batons all at the ready. She asked: "Anyone saw the escaped prisoner, that miner called Leggio?"

"Escaped? We got no update on him from inpatient." Anne shook her head, "Wait, Dr. Mercer told me someone from security was here to move his samples earlier, they saw nothing? Pretty rough handling though, tell them to decontaminate before leaving."

"Nobody on my end received any call to transport flatlines. Shit, we're getting more and more slip ups."

As if the powers of the universe were listening, there was a clunk somewhere behind wall plates. Everyone listened for further movement, suspecting it could be the criminally insane escapee. They heard no heavy breathing or panicked shuffling through the vents, only some oddly wet flaps and distant scraping noise.

"Our creep could have climbed a vent..." Alissa scanned around the room, and there were more than one ventilation cover missing. She asked: "Hey doc, you got a portable heart rate monitor?"

"Let me check - most of these are with the mine rescue crew. Will send you one in a few minutes." Anne answered, "I'd recommend we just fumigate the whole morgue complex, but sanitation is still busy with clogs."

"Ha! Shit happens." One of the security guys joked as the med techs left, then pointed his gun flashlight into the nearest vent, "You heard us! Either you come out, or we fucking smoke you out!"

"Cut it, Dobbs. If he's in the pipes, schematics say he'll climb out around stasis or inpatient. You and Hanson wait here for the heartbeat monitor, we'll check the other exits."

"As you say, boss. Hey, did someone else see light coming out from there?"

PLOP.

"Are those eyes? Shit, all gone."

////

& 60%

& Datamass energy conversion operational

O& Firmware re-install complete, safe mode engaged

O& OS identity active

By now, Nicole could confidently recognize the existence of an alien tint of red added to the stasis field's familiar blue light. Inside, the eyes of Subject H - Hoshijiro Shizuka, Benisuzume - were glowing red like indicator lights of unknown but complicated machinery. The non-human was floating is stasis energy without a stir or a twitch, still wearing the patients' gown brought to her on the day the pod arrived. The red lights has not flickered once.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"More evidence for theory 4, stronger since the marker have been moved onboard. Better ask Dr. Kyne to patch Nagate over, see if he knows what this meant."

There was an annoying static in the background of her audio recorder; was this also from the same lingering electromagnetic disturbance? What other explanation could it be, except the marker interfering with electricity and radio across the ship? The Unitologists must be even bigger cheapskates than public health if they couldn't put up enough effort to send a hardened ship of their own, instead of borrowing from CEC.

On second thought, the rock worshippers really loved taking over works in progress from other people, always just swooping in for the credit near completion. Mercer rotated Brant Harris off her, and Kyne reassigned Hans Leggio. Which one of them will try to claim Hoshijiro as their own? Jacob "assmunching" Danik himself? Though, Nicole remembered seeing Mercer whispering to Kyne about Gauna being "cosmologically incompatible".

Clang. Bzzzzzzzz.

The noise was hard to locate because of all the regular machinery in operation. Nicole flipped her RIG interface for quickdial. Mercer wasn't picking up, so she settled for voicemail: "Dr. Mercer, it's the stasis room again. Please get engineering to lift the priority here up a tier ASAP! If the circuits get blown, it will be the rest of our osmium down the drain, and everyone have to take turns feeezing subject H manually until we return to Titan. Or, would there be anyone to ask in your worship group?"

THUNK!

A vent flipped - crashed open, and she could smell something far from sterile as anything in the medical deck should be. It was worse than old blood or decayed organic matter alone. She picked up a can of disinfectant spray and searched for the malfunctioning, offending vent.

Zzzzzzzt. Thump.

The whole stasis observation room fell into darkness. Was there a fuse blown nearby? All she could use as a light source was her RIG's projector and Subject H's glowing eyes. Poor thing, now lying on the floor without stasis. The situation was creepy, disheartening, disorienting, but still manageable if she needed to look around for the emergency lights.

There were another pair of glowing eyes. They were more orange than red.

CLANG!

Then, another pair, on the opposite end of the room. At least one more pair behind it. They began moving, and something sharp dragging on the floor left long trails of sparks.

& Transmission intercepted

& Photoelectric warning: Hostile signal attack order

O& All energy transfer to defense system

Bright red particles began to materialize in the air, gathering into rays and burning white hot, lighting the pitch black room. There was warmth, and the center of it was the humanoid inside the stasis chamber.

Without moving one human muscle, Benisuzume lifted herself into mid air, back where she floated in the tank.

& Beam cannon not ready

& Projectile guidance not ready

& Solid state datamass megastructure creation nominal

O& OFFENSE

The iris of her right eye flashed gold, then split into a scanning array of coordinated dots. Her left eye focused, an aperture of similar golden dots forming then settled into a steady orbit. She locked onto the closest threat, a triangular flying organic un-life form accelerating at her cranium. It would have the least mass out of all the hostiles, and energy stored within could possibly provide more than the amount spent to dismember it.

With a resonating howl of heavy Hyggs particles cutting through displaced air, she directed propulsion behind her diminished physical existence and unleashed the traditional Gauna method of aggression: Overwhelming kinetic energy.

BOOM!

Nicole was half-deaf from the shockwave. Blood rained from where the sound barrier has been broken, while more dancing specks of light danced around. The thing that looked like a little girl was entirely splattered with organic fragments, but the red stains on her were visibly shrinking and reforming.

"Hoshijiro, marking one destruction." The same emotionless voice that called for Nagate chilled Nicole to her bones this time. Marking one destruction? Yes, the half-destroyed Guardian meant they were both child soldiers on Sidonia.

There was now enough light from the Hyggs particle reaction to let Nicole see the entire room. The undead mutants howled, charging in for an attack. They approached, slashing at everything.

A ceramic-like material formed into gauntlets on Benisuzume's arms. She flexed her fingers, all of them coated in heavy armor, their ends sharper than the Slashers' mutated bone blades.

Another circular ring of particles ignited, sending her to meet the nearest hostile. Her speed this time was much slower than supersonic, to save both fuel and her spatial awareness. Ironic, a perfect fighting machine like her was forced to rely on human ears inside this enclosed atmospheric box. She needed to keep taking more energy from the hostile un-life and their wireless source of power to rebuild herself. The broadcasting source kickstarted her energy collection reaction, but it also started directing all its combat forces against her existence.

The edge of a bone blade caught her raised left forearm, giving her an opening to swing the monoatomic claws on her right hand at its torso. The claws cut right through the slasher's mutated yet still human torso, silent and clean, giving Nicole an unwanted opportunity to examine it's still fresh components.

Oh fuck, those things used to be human? The doctor thought with her medical instincts, covering her mouth. Keep calm, your current bloodstained ally in purpose used to be human too. An average child soldier in a galaxy filled with superpredators.

The Slasher's upper torso kept crawling on the floor, settling for Nicole if its knife arms couldn't reach high enough. Then, the claws on Benisuzume's hands extended in a flash of bright red, each finger becoming a scalpel the length of her forearm. In a casual swipe, the bisected inhumanoid was further cut lengthwise from its spine.

"Hoshijiro, marking two destruction."

Spheres of ghostly, almost oily orange energy flew from the glowing eyes into the red ceramic armor. ZZZZING! Another boost, followed by another frictionless swipe at a mutant.

Splotch. The only way for Nicole to recognize a successful dismemberment on the next Slasher was the meaty sound of its armless body dropping to the metal floor. All the killing left to do in the room were well within a fortified, blade-fingered arm's reach.

One thought made her filter out Benisuzume's further killcount reports: What about me? She stuck close to the floor, now coated and plastered with blood, trying her best not to vomit. On all fours, she inched towards the exit hoping not to catch the killing machine's attention.

Her hand touched something jagged and dense, feeling its warmth through her glove. A guttural roar was just above her.

& Beam cannon ready

O& ASSIST

& All energy to beam cannon

SSCHAAAAAAAACK!

Nicole was deafened and blinded by the instantaneous outburst of Hyggs particle beam from Benisuzume's left eye. The circle of rotating dots were speeding into a continuous circle as she fired, then slowed down back into an idle orbit.

When the doctor successfully regained her sense, she saw a partially melted mutant, still standing with its upper torso gasified. It was propped by two displaced human legs on one side, and one freshly rebuilt structure to give it extra stability. She shook her head, these things were getting more and more biologically abominable.

The floating red lights were going out behind her, and she looked at her dreaded savior. Benisuzume's armor was disintegrating into flecks of light just like when they formed, but they weren't all reabsorbed back into herself, many of the particles simply floated off and vanished. The Demi-human had a hard time staying airborne, or even standing.

Her training as a doctor clicked in the back of her head. Nicole stood up and dusted herself off, then took the much smaller girl's arms, now human looking as before, over her shoulders: "Let's go to inpatient. I hope you like glucose and water... Wait, don't tell me you eat power nodes?"