Survivor (16 page)

Her head ached, crying out in agony. It all
blended into one. She stumbled away from the tunnel entrance and
into the trees. She clutched her head in her hands; her eyes were
narrowed slits.

Outside, the sounds were worse. A cacophony
beat at her eardrums, a million voices begging to be heard. The
light was just as bad; so many different shades and colours pierced
through her eyeballs. She shut her eyes tight, but the colours were
still there. She stumbled on through the trees until she was far
from the tunnel entrance and out of view of the Ancients.

She leaned against a thick tree and looked
around. There was no one in sight.

"Cal?" she said.

"Nova!" Cal replied, "Where have you been?
What is all that noise? What's going on around you?"

"I don't know," she whispered. She felt like
breaking into tears at the familiar voice. "I don't know what
happened."

"Come back to Crusader. It's not safe for
you to be out there."

"I can't," she said. "I have to see someone.
They're everywhere. There has to be a way to stop it."

"Nova you're not making any sense," Cal
said. "I need to run a full diagnostic."

"No time," she said. "All the time."

"Nova!"

Her mind slipped away from her robot and
floated around the trees. There was so much going on all around
her. Day and night, winter and summer; it was all here. Some of the
trees were covered in snow, while others were in full bloom. Midday
sun lit some branches, whilst others were cast in the blue glow of
the planet's moon.

One thought rung in her head above the cloud
of delusion. She had to get away. She had to find fellow humans.
She had to find something solid. The closest thing she had was
Doctor Codon. His ship was closer than Crusader and he was a
doctor. If anyone could stop the madness inside her, it was
him.

She pushed away from the tree and ran
through the forest. She knew roughly which way to go. There were so
many trees in her way. Some she pushed past, while others
disappeared as soon as she got close. Projections perhaps? Her
rational mind suggested. She shied away from further questions,
like why there would be tree projections in a place like this.

She reached the edge of the trees, some
distance away from the working Ancients. They were bent over their
various machines. There was no sign of an Ancient with yellow eyes.
That had probably been part of her dream.

She kept her head low and ran across the
sandy desert to the nearest fallen ship. From there she darted
between the craft, heading to the outer edge of the fallen fleet,
to where Codon's ship would be.

Running through the desert was like moving
through a land of ghosts. There were people everywhere, just at the
edge of her vision. Some of them were just shadows on the sand. She
daren't talk to the mirages; sure that was the way to madness.

It felt like a lifetime before Codon's ship
came into view. The vessel was still tilted to the side and the
door through which she'd come was metres above her head. There had
to be another way inside.

She ran to the side of the ship that leant
against the sand. It was dented and bent, but there were multiple
doors. She grabbed hold of one and pulled with all her might. It
didn't move.

Nova slammed her palm against her forehead.
She stepped closer to the ship and pressed a small green button to
the side of the door. The metal panel slid open with a smooth hiss
and revealed the ship beyond.

Broken silver pipes hung from the ceiling
and piles of loose equipment were jumbled against the walls. She
had to tiptoe across the mess. Her boots crunched small pieces of
glass. She kept a hand on the wall of the corridor.

At least there were fewer ghosts inside the
ship, less shadows to distract her. She just hoped they didn't
wander in from the desert; best they stayed where they
belonged.

She didn't know the ship very well, but it
didn't take long to find the main entrance foyer and from there,
retrace her footsteps through to the pilot room, where she knew
Codon would be.

"What is it, you damned machine?" he yelled,
slamming his open palm down onto a row of screens.

"Codon?" Nova whispered. She wasn't sure she
could trust her eyes but she had to try.

"What?" he said, whirling around. "I thought
I told you to never show your face here again."

"We have to get off this planet," she said.
Her eyes flickered from side to side.

"I know. I told you that before you stormed
off in a righteous rage, remember?" he frowned hard at her. His
already messy hair flew about his head in loose grey wisps.

"Yes, but I was wrong," she said. She
glanced behind her; she could hear things moving. "We have to get
off the planet and fly as far as we can, out of the known
galaxies."

"Well that's all very well," Codon said and
waved his hand at the screens. "But something's keeping us here and
I've tried everything to get off."

"We have to," she whispered and looked over
her shoulder again.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. His frown
deepened.

"They've got powers," she said. "Too much
power."

She reached a clawed hand up to her head and
grabbed a fistful of hair. She tugged at it and looked over her
shoulder. Searching for the noises.

"What did they do to you?" he asked. "They
carve out your wits or something?"

Nova shrugged. "Maybe."

She did feel crazy. There were so many
sounds and lights. She didn't know how Codon could stand it. But
then, it didn't look like he could hear it.

"My hand disappeared," Nova said, her voice
catching in her throat.

"What?"

"My hand disappeared. One moment it was
there." Nova lifted her right hand up into the air to demonstrate.
"And then it was gone." She covered her right hand with her
left.

Codon stared at her.

"That doesn't make any sense. I'm sorry for
whatever they did to you, but there's nothing I can do to help.
Every second I spend listening to your delusions is another second
that I'm not getting off this planet."

"It happened!" Nova said. Frustration boiled
up inside her.

How was she supposed to find her feet when
everything kept getting thrown off kilter? How dare this
Confederacy pig to dismiss her.

Codon rounded on her, he took three steps so
that his face took up her whole vision. "Look you crazy
bitch--"

Nova's temper snapped. She pulled back her
right fist and slammed it through the air.

Codon was prepared and stepped to his
left.

Her fist whipped past his head and
disappeared.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Her mouth dropped and eyebrows shot up. She kept her arm
outstretched and her fist remained out of sight.

"See?" she whispered. Her body was shaking
again.

Codon looked at her fist. His red face
drained to pale white. He blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes,
then stared again.

"See?" she said, her voice more urgent.

"I do," Codon said, his voice just as
strained.

"What is it?" she said. "What does it
mean?"

"I don't know."

"There's something there," she said. She was
on the verge of tears but she'd be damned if she let this
Confederacy man watch her cry.

"What do you mean?"

"I can feel something. My fist is brushing
against something."

"Well then grab it."

Her lip trembled. She forced the fingers of
her missing fist to open and then close around whatever brushed the
top of her hand. It felt rubbery.

It was just like before. Her arm stopped at
her wrist and the rest of her hand was missing.

"What happens if you move forward?" Codon
said. Some of the colour had returned to his face and he stared
between Nova's face and her missing hand. He stepped closer and
tried to peer down her arm. There was nothing there.

"I don't want to move forward," she said. "I
want it to stop."

"We have to understand it," Codon said. "Try
stepping forward."

"No." Her voice grew shakier.

Codon whipped his arm around and pushed Nova
on the small of her back. She wasn't ready and stumbled forward.
The rest of her arm disappeared, all the way to her shoulder. Her
hand brushed past more mysterious rubbery things followed by her
forearm.

She screamed.

Her whole arm was missing. Her shoulder
waved around, attached to nothing.

"Incredible," Codon said. "Just
fascinating."

He stepped closer to Nova and stared with
horrified fascination at her shoulder stump.

"Your whole body is coming to pieces," he
whispered. "It's like your limbs have popped away and are floating
inches away from their sockets."

"What?"

Nova's eyes flew over her body. Aside from
her missing arm, everything looked in place.

"Look!" Codon's voice was shaky as he
snatched a piece of shattered mirror from the floor and held it to
her face.

Nova's eyes bulged.

Her head floated above her neck, an inch of
air separating them. Her features were slipping. It was as if she
was melting. Her mouth drooped down on one side, and her nostril
slid after it. Her right eye dropped lower, tilting down her cheek.
It slithered over her cheekbone like a runny egg.

Codon's arm was shaking as he held the
mirror.

Nova had completely forgotten her missing
arm. A missing limb was nothing compared to the horror she was
watching. Her skin faded in and out of view. One minute it was
there, and the next it was gone, revealing the sinewy muscles and
blood vessels underneath. She could actually see each of her ribs
as they pulsed in time with her panting breath.

She stumbled back, practically running. Her
arm reappeared, followed by her hand. It came back into view as it
had before.

This time, instead of being covered in soot,
she clutched a handful of green leaves that rustled between her
fingers. Her hand popped open of its own accord and the leaves
fluttered to the ground.

She stared between her hand, the leaves, and
the empty piece of air. She breathed hard and her heart raced.

Codon shook his head.

Nova's body had reformed and her face had
snapped back into position. Skin reformed over her ribs, hiding her
organs.

Codon stepped towards the mysterious piece
of air and waved his own hand through it. Nothing happened. He
tried again, but still nothing.

"What happened?" he asked, his mouth
wide.

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Where did those leaves come from?"

"I don't know."

"What did they do to you?"

"They—they shot me with something they
called a time vortex," she said. "I saw the whole universe fly past
me. Then things started happening. I don't know what it means."

"A time vortex?" Codon said. "That doesn't
make any sense."

"That's what they had. It was in a gun and
he shot me. And now this." Nova waved her hand at the scattering of
leaves.

"It's impossible."

"I know."

"It did something to you," Codon said with
certainty. "Somehow it's opened up all of time to you. Think what
we could do with that technology!"

His eyes were bright and smile wide. He
sprung from foot to foot as he stared down at Nova.

"Even if it were true," she said slowly. "I
can't control it, so it's no good."

"Well then, you have to learn to control it.
With that kind of power we may actually have a chance of getting
off this rock. We just have to work out how you did it."

"I was trying to punch you."

"What about before, when you were covered in
soot?"

"I was trying to hit the door," she said,
thinking back.

"Okay, so hitting things makes it happen?"
Codon said. He was leant against the control panels, scratching his
chin.

"Not always," she said. "I hit the door a
few times before that."

"Alright, so it's something linked. Emotions
maybe? What were you feeling at the time?"

"Angry," she said, without hesitation.

"Anger. So when you're angry, you can
somehow reach through time," Codon said. His eyes were wide open
and he stared at Nova, licking his lips.

"Maybe," she mumbled. Her brain ached and
the last thing she felt like doing was puzzling over the greater
mysteries of the universe. The thought of being able to reach
through time was just too much for her to process.

"But don't you see?" Codon said. "This is
fantastic. With your ability, we might be able to stop these
bastards."

"How?"

"I don't know. Reach forward and pull back
some kind of super-technology?"

"I can't control it. I can't just think of
what I want and expect to get it."

"How do you know?" he asked, "You haven't
tried."

"Well I certainly wasn't thinking about soot
or leaves the last two times."

"So if you don't direct it, it takes you
wherever."

"You're just theorising."

"Well, it's a damn sight better than
whatever you're doing. If we're going to survive this thing, you
need to get it under control. Concentrate really hard on something.
Best to start with something simple, and then grab it."

Nova's bones ached. Her eyes kept drooping
shut, threatening to take her off into sleep. Her brain was working
at a quarter of its normal speed, every thought coming only with a
huge effort, like pushing a boulder uphill.

She wanted to lie down on the floor and
sleep. That wasn't too much to ask was it? To rest, just for a
little while.

"Come on, we have no idea how much time we
have left."

She looked up at Codon. There was no sign of
pity or sympathy, just hard determination and rampant curiosity. He
looked down at her, his hands on his hips. She couldn't face
arguing with him, so she did the only thing she could; she stepped
forward with a groan.