Organism Ch. 04

She frowned up at him worriedly.

"Right now, there are only two people on this whole ship I trust."

--

Chris and Brooke dragged Kevin's body to the medbay where he was placed on a cadaver table. While she attended to the corpse, Chris spoke at length with Jacob about everything they'd discovered.

"You think something got onboard the ship?" the doctor asked.

He shook his head. "I think someone let something onto the ship. We're being set up here, Jacob. I'm sure of it."

Dr. Warren leaned against the glass and scrunched his face in thought, seemingly perplexed by this development. "I don't see how that's possible. As far as we're aware, I was the only one exposed to anything down there."

"There could have been something else in that pyramid," the Captain offered. "Something one of the crew snuck aboard."

"That's an incredibly dangerous accusation to make, Chris," Jacob insisted severely. "Do you have proof?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. But Owen is working on salvaging camera footage from the security room. Whoever's responsible for this won't stay hidden for long."

"I hate to say this, Captain, but it would probably be best if we just suspended quarantine procedures, resumed our journey back to the station, and went back to cryosleep. We don't have the resources to properly deal with this."

Brooke nodded in agreement. "He's right. At this point, it's safe to assume we've all been exposed to whatever the hell was down there. The best option now is..."

"This ship doesn't move until we find the culprit and kill whatever the hell got aboard," Chris stated in a sharp stern voice.

"Captain, think about the safety of the crew," Brooke insisted. "The smart choice now would be to let the IFC handle it."

"Your concern has been noted, Nurse Holloway. But my decision still stands. Now I need solutions for how to kill this thing, Doc. Can you help with that?"

Jacob blew a breath through pursed lips and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm honestly not sure what to tell you, Captain. This is well beyond the scope of my expertise."

"Any suggestions at all would be appreciated at this point," Chris insisted, a hint of desperation in his voice.

The doctor seemed to toss some ideas around before turning to Brooke. "You said this thing popped out of his chest, right?"

"I did."

"Was he alive when it happened?"

She nodded. "Most likely."

He scratched his chin in contemplation. "Then it would have to be a creature small enough to fit in the chest cavity without causing noticeable damage to the heart."

"There was also a hole in one of the ventilation grates where we think it crawled through," Chris added. "Couldn't have been more than six or seven centimeters."

He nodded at that. "Then you're dealing with a creature no more than three inches in diameter and possibly a foot long."

The Captain seemed to perk up at that. "Hey, you're right. Whatever this thing is, it can't be that big. If we trap it in a net or something, we can throw it out the airlock."

Jacob sighed. "That said...we're dealing with an unknown lifeform here, Captain. There's no telling what sort of defense measures it may have at its disposal."

"That's not taking into account what sort of diseases it might be carrying," Brooke added. "Whatever this thing is, if it can't harm us, then our best bet is to just leave it alone for now."

"I'll take that under advisement," Chris insisted before heading for the door. "Brooke, come with me. We're heading to storage."

The door shut behind him, and she sighed in frustration, shaking her head in disappointment at that man.

"It's happening again."

She looked back at Jacob.

"That's what the Captain is thinking right now," he explained in a cautioning voice. "It's happening again, just like with the Chromwell. His ship is falling apart, and he has no idea why."

She took a moment to think on his grave words before following Chris out of the medbay. The moment she was gone, Samantha crawled down from the ceiling, her naked skin shimmering as the mimetic coating revealed her form from behind camouflage. She crawled on all fours to the center of the room, talons unfurled, pointed ears twitching at the faintest of sounds, her long segmented black tail swishing dangerously two and fro.

"Where is your sister?" Jacob inquired.

She turned two yellow reptilian eyes back towards him, her gleaming canines proudly on display. "Still looking for her little one, Master."

He nodded. "The Captain cannot gain access to that security footage. Understood? Not yet."

Her head tilted to the side, and her pointy ears twitched. "Why do we hesitate, Master? I have implanted the remaining female. The humans have no weapons that can harm us, and soon we shall outnumber them hopelessly."

He smirked at her. "Patience, my eager love thing. There is still much left to be done. For now, keep an eye on the engineer."

Samantha nodded in understanding. "Yes, Master."

She stood up on her hind legs, her claws retracting, canines shortening, and black tail receding into the small of her back. Her ears lost their sharp edge, and her eyes reverted back to their natural color. Samantha's body became covered in a black mass of biomatter which quickly weaved together like threads, forming cloth and fiber, taking the form of a skimpy jumpsuit.

Now back in her human form, she casually strutted out of the medbay.

--

The ventilation ducts were spacious and dark, plenty of places to hide, plenty of places for her baby to go. Jess knew; she knew because her instincts told her. Instincts she was once blind to but which now formed the basis of her entire existence. Instincts which made her strong. Instincts which made her a survivor.

All she had to do was reach out and feel for him in her mind, and he would call to her.

She picked up the pace, crawling along the wall of the metal labyrinth with greater haste. Jess could sense her baby near. The mother always knew when her little one was close. That was one of the first things Master taught her. Her intuition was strong, he said. She only had to trust in her instincts. Jess was Master's love thing. She was bred for this exact purpose.

The sound of a tiny mouth clicking for her caught her pointed ears. Her reptilian eyes snapped sharply toward the source of the sound. It was coming from above. Jess darted up an access tunnel, zipping from wall to wall like a blur of speed and motion. Again, she heard the tiny mouth crying out, willing her to move faster. Her baby needed her. He needed his momma.

Jess came to a stop in the middle of a circular room with a fan. On the ground was a layer of shed skin, slightly tan in color. He was somewhere in here. Looking around, she could see water dripping down from above, likely coming from one of the ship's coolant pipes. What a smart little rascal he was, Jess thought to herself. He found somewhere nice and moist to shed his larval form.

She heard a click. Jess turned her head around. Something had burrowed its way through the metal and made a nest. On all fours, she gingerly approached the small opening and lowered herself down, smiling at the pair of beady little yellow eyes staring back at her.

"There you are, my little darling," she cooed lovingly to him. "Come on out. It's safe, I promise."

Slowly, the small creature emerged. Her heart melted. He was even more beautiful than she had imagined. A beautiful being with sharp needle-like teeth, yellow eyes, and a long whiplike tail. His body took the form of a chitinous layer of ghostly white exoskeleton with red markings, and his skull was elongated. He walked on two muscly hind legs and had two stubby little arms.

"I found you, you little stinker," she giggled at him before sitting up and opening her arms wide. "Now come here. Come to momma."

He clicked and chirped happily before darting towards his mother and skittering up her leg, spiraling around her body before wrapping around her neck and nuzzling her cheek with his snout.

"I'm so proud of you, my sweet," she praised him affectionately. "You found this place all on your own. Momma gave birth to such a smart little devil."

The little creature flecked at her face with his long prehensile tongue, causing her to giggle happily.

"Are you hungry?"

He chirped insistently.

"Alright. Alright. Come here, my darling."

Jess cradled him in his arms whereupon he started to nurse, the tip of his tongue forming a small suction cup that latched onto her nipple. She'd always been told breastfeeding would hurt, but her little angel was being so gentle. Staring into his beady yellow eyes, instincts to nurture and protect overwhelmed her senses. She loved him, she loved her baby with all her heart.

"That's it," she encouraged lovingly. "Grow big and strong, my precious boy. Grow into the big fearsome predator we both know you are."

As he fed, he began to grow in her arms. Very soon, her pride and joy would be fully formed. Jess used to be so lonely. In her former life, she had nothing. No friends. No family. No one to love. Now? Now she had a wonderful Master, a beautiful sister, and a precious baby boy to love and adore. Finally, she had the loving family she always wanted.

Whatever inconsequential life she may have had before was nothing compared to the sense of purpose her new form gave her. She'd killed any trace of that pathetic manthing she used to be. No longer would she meander through a hollow, meaningless existence, searching for some form of higher purpose. The directive was all that mattered now. Once he was inside her, once his tendrils had latched onto her mind, her life became blissfully simple.

She was a hivemother now. A being created to breed and raise hunters for the brood. Nothing else mattered in all the galaxy but this.

--

Chris called for a crew meeting in the mess hall after moving several items they would need out of storage with some help from Brooke. While they waited on the others to show up, the Captain went over the gameplan with her and Owen.

"This is your standard stun rod," Chris explained while holding up the long metal prod with an electric fork on the end. "Used for security and riot control aboard larger ships. It puts out about fifty-thousand volts, so it won't kill the little bastard. But it should put it down long enough for us to snare it."

"How are we even going to find this thing?" Owen asked.

"With this," Chris explained while holding up a small portable device. "It detects micro-changes in air density in a three hundred and sixty-degree spread. We'll split the crew up into two teams. Half will search the lower decks, while the other half searches the upper decks. Once we find it, we snare the fucker and toss it out the airlock."

Brooke took a deep breath before finally saying her piece. "Chris, do you have any earthly idea how many hiding spots there are on this ship? By the time we find this thing, we could be at Haldron Station."

"I already made my stance clear," he insisted sternly. "The ship isn't moving until we catch it."

She was about to keep arguing when Samantha entered the mess hall.

"Where's Jess and Rebecca?" Chris asked impatiently.

She shrugged apathetically. "Can't find them."

He gawked at her incredulously. "What do you mean you can't find them?"

"I mean, I can't find them," she insisted, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I've looked all over the crew deck, they're not here."

A wave of dread washed over them.

"Mira, page out Jess and Rebecca," Chris commanded.

"Yes, Captain. One moment."

While they waited for a response, the Captain took a seat and started rubbing his temples vigorously. Brooke hated seeing him this way. Her boyfriend looked like he was at his wit's end.

"Chris, maybe we should call off the search for now. If Rebecca and Jess are both missing, then..."

"They're not missing," he insisted.

She frowned at him. "But if they are...I don't think wandering around through the ship aimlessly is necessarily a good idea."

His knee started to bounce anxiously.

"Chris, consider the safety of the crew."

"The crew?!" He shot up from his seat. "Brooke, half the crew is gone. And for all we know, that thing is responsible. We owe it to Jayson and the others to track this thing down and kill it."

At first, Brooke didn't say anything. She simply folded her arms and glared up at him with a raised brow.

"Don't you mean 'Kevin' and the others?"

As it slowly set in as to what he just said, Chris quietly sat back down, staring off into space. Soon after, Mira spoke up again.

"Captain, I've attempted to page out our wayward crew members multiple times, but they are not acknowledging."

No one said a word as the full gravity of their situation began to sink in. The Captain silently stood up from his seat and grabbed the stun prod.

"New plan. Owen, you focus on getting us that camera footage."

He nodded in understanding. "Got it."

"Samantha, you and I are going to look for Jess and Rebecca."

She smirked at that. "Aye, aye, Captain."

"What about me?" Brooke asked.

"You stay with the doctor," he insisted.

That was it. She was officially putting her foot down.

"No. No, you're not doing this again, Chris. I'm sick of you trying to protect me like I can't..."

"That wasn't a request, Nurse Holloway."

Brooke was completely taken aback by his tone of voice. She watched as he left, mouth agape in appalled silence before flaring angrily and storming off towards the medbay.

If that asshole wanted to be alone, he could be alone.

--

It was 19:20 ship time, and Chris was still looking for the missing members of his crew. Brooke maintained contact with him through Mira to check and make sure he was alive, but beyond that, she wanted nothing to do with him right now. Instead, she decided to focus her attention on Kevin's autopsy.

"Subject is a fifty-four-year-old male," she spoke aloud, recording her findings for posterity as she worked on the cadaver in front of her. "Time of death is placed sometime roughly sixteen hours ago given levels of rigor and dependent lividity."

She picked up a set of surgical scissors and began cutting through the abdomen.

"Cause of death was arterial bleeding due to major trauma of the internal anatomy. Given the level of damage, there appears to be to vital structures, it's likely death occurred shortly before the chest cavity erupted. I'm attempting to locate where the foreign body may have erupted from now. There appears to be extensive damage to the stomach lining and lower GI tract. However, I'm not...seeing..."

Something foul hit Brooke's nostrils at that moment. She must have accidentally nicked the colon. The moment that ungodly smell filled her nose, the nurse turned green as a wave of nausea hit her. Quickly doing away with her gloves, Brooke clasped a hand over her mouth and darted over to the nearby waste bin, where she vomited up everything she'd just eaten for dinner.

"A nurse with a weak stomach?" Jacob observed in a curious tone of voice. "Bit of a contradiction there, wouldn't you say?"

She groaned miserably and lurched her face up out of the can. "Yeah, well...the last few days haven't exactly...been..."

It hit her.

"Listen, I'm just gonna...there's something I need to do real fast," Brooke insisted, suddenly all business.

He nodded in understanding. "I'll be here, as usual."

The nurse scrambled to her feet and ran to the medical supply cabinet, where she began frantically digging around in its contents, looking for something.

"Come on, I know you're in here," she murmured frantically.

Upon finding the correct item, she pulled it out of the protective plastic and darted for the bathroom. Jacob waited patiently with a crooked smile on his face. A few minutes later, she returned, pale in the face, eyes sunken in.

"Something wrong?" Jacob asked.

Brooke gazed down at the white test strip in her hand again, then off into nothing, her mouth slightly ajar in numb disbelief.

"I'm pregnant..."

He said nothing. As the reality of her predicament slowly began to catch up to her, Brooke dropped the strip on the ground and lumbered over to the quarantine unit, pressing her back against the glass and slowly sliding down into a seated position.

"What am I gonna do, Jacob?" she asked as if not really expecting him to have an answer. "This can't happen right now. Not with everything that's going on."

He sat up off his bed and approached her, kneeling down next to the nurse while she stared off into nothing.

"Seems to me like Chris doesn't have a choice now. He needs to listen to you, considering what we both know."

She gently placed a hand on her belly, considering his words. Would Chris listen? If she told him what it was she just discovered, would he stop obsessing over this vendetta and do the right thing?

"Unless..."

The nurse slowly crooked her head over her shoulder and peered back at him.

"...you had some reason why you wouldn't want him to know."

Brooke turned away and bit her knuckle in nervous thought. Was she really about to do this? It would break every bond of trust she'd formed with Chris. But knowing what she did now, was she really comfortable telling him she was having his baby? When there was every possibility he might be...

"I have to go," she insisted before shooting up off the floor and briskly making her way out of the medbay.

Just a little peek. That's what Brooke decided. She would just take a little peek at his personal messages, just so she could have that peace of mind the nurse was so desperate for right now. This was Chris they were talking about. The man for whom she saw nothing but a house and kids and the next sixty years of her life. She was the barycenter around which his galaxy orbited.

There was no way in hell she was going to find anything on this computer...right?

Brooke entered the Captain's quarters. It was there in the corner, open as always. Why Chris never felt the need to close out his inbox when he was done was beyond her. But if anything, that alone should have been proof of his trust in her. Was she really about to break that?

Given whose child she was now carrying? Absolutely.

She sat down at his desk and opened up his inbox, scanning through messages, looking for any trace of unfaithfulness. Yet much to her relief, she couldn't find anything. It was mostly just work-related correspondences, a few personal messages to his mother, things of that nature.

The weight lifted from her shoulders. Brooke would apologize to him for this later. All that mattered was she now had the peace of mind she needed. Chris wasn't a cheater. He was an honest man.

"But what about his deleted messages?" Came the nagging voice in the back of her mind.

And just like that, the nervous doubt returned all over again. Deleted messages weren't actually destroyed while on the ship. They were transferred to a separate harddrive for cache dumping once the vessel was dry-docked. The metaphorical waste bin that needed to be changed out the moment they had access to an FTL comm relay.

Picking up those discarded messages from the bin was as easy as inputting the correct console command.

But surely that was unnecessary, right? Chris trusted her enough to know not to go snooping through his computer. If there was something to hide, it would be here, is what she told herself.

"Who are you fooling?" came the voice in her head. With trembling hands, Brooke entered the console command, returning all deleted messages to the inbox.

Her heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. He'd been lying. All this time, the man she loved had been lying to her face.