• Seeding A Planet
    by kitty9627

    “In today's news: the first interstellar colony ship will be making it's historic inaugural launch today. Filled with DNA samples from all the variety of life our planet has to offer. This DNA library will accompany the 2,000 colonists in their opportunity to be the first settlers on the newly discovered planet in the 55 Cancri system.”
    “Can-Cri? Canceri? Can-Can? Just how the hell is that supposed to be pronounced?” said the frustrated announcer to the room of people on the other side of the sound booth. The response from the sound techs were head shakes and waves of dismissal.
    The announcer read the copy to himself again. He didn't like the word 'opportunity' either when it came right down to it. The colonists were comprised of the
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    destitute, some partially reformed convicts, and the crew of scientists and engineers. Opportunity indeed. Some were looking for a fresh start, others were looking for an escape from poverty and overpopulation. The former prisoners were low-priority (read: low violence.) offenders. No serial killers to be let loose on the new world, just gangbangers, drug dealers and prostitutes. 'Jesus, this planet ought to be named New Australia.'
    “Let's start over from the top. This has got to go out on the six o'clock news...” said one of the techs over the intercom.
    Ken Nakagouri absently rubbed the cufflink on his sleeve. He nervously stood behind a curtain awaiting the press corps to file in. His assistant stood next to him, brushing off specks of lint from his jacket. “Now remember, keep numbers out of your speech. You'll lose half of your audience every time you mention an equation.” she whispered so only Ken could hear.
    “Once I get started, I'll be fine.” Ken reassured her.
    “But what are you going to say?” She asked. Ken shrugged. He might look confidant, but that's not how he felt. “I've thought of a way to explain how the quantum mechanic engine works.”
    She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “When did you think of this?”
    “Just last night.” Ken replied and promptly walked onstage, knowing she wouldn't follow him.
    The room had not yet filled, but seeing somebody behind the microphone made reporters hurry to get inside. Ken waited patiently and smiled, two things he showed, but didn't feel inside. From the jacket pocket he pulled paper and a pen, setting them on the
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    podium. Many would think they were his prepared notes and breathe a sigh of relief. They would soon find out how wrong they were, but if Ken's plan went off, he might just save his job.
    His daughter had actually given him the idea. Ken would have to take her shopping as his way of saying thanks, but not now. It was time to start his plan. Ken swallowed his fear and cleared his throat. The room fell silent.
    “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This press conference has been called to explain how our colony ship, Arclight, is going to reach the stars.” Ken momentarily paused to make eye contact with a reporter in the front row. “Even if we had the technology to break the speed of light, let alone get near those fantastic speeds, the trip would still take hundreds of years. So how do we do it?” Everyone brought their full attention to the man behind the microphone.
    Ken held his pen up in one hand, allowing everyone to see. In his other hand he held the prepared speech, neatly folded in half. “Say this paper is, for example our normal space and time.” His hand held the sheet of paper closed. “Using quantum mechanics we are able to fold space like so.” His hand then opened, allowing the paper to unfold flat in the palm of his hand. As the paper gently unfolded, he moved the pen from one side of the paper to the other.
    “In this manner, we are able to traverse vast distances in a relatively short time. These 'jumps' will be timed and calculated, allowing the colony ship Arclight to hopscotch across interstellar space to their new home.”
    All the journalists bowed their collective heads to write down what had just occurred. The video explanation of how the propulsion system worked was on the
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    You Tube in mere minutes. 'You don't get any press better than that.' Ken thought as he walked away from the press conference, having saved his career and informed the public what NASA was doing at the same time. Not a bad day.
    The light was blinding despite having your eyes closed. That, and the ferociously intense sound of... nothing. The jumps were taking their toll out of everyone. Having endured three previous jumps, the colonists were showing signs of strain. Everyone's nerves were on edge and several fights had broken out. The last jump was relatively peaceful because several splinter groups of colonists had sequestered themselves in preparation for the jump.
    “Captain Macdonald, please report to the infirmary.” came a voice over the PA.
    Unbuckling himself, Leland MacDonald stood up, taking a short hop over to the access ladder that allowed people to move around. The quantum engine, as it had come to
    be called, ran the entire length of the ship and formed it's core. Like rings of a tree, each deck was built around the central stalk that was the engine. The Arclight was cylindrical, cigar shaped, but stretching over a mile in length. The powerful engine always being above everyone's head. It took a little getting used to having the decks curve slightly, but the optical illusion was a small price to pay for the sensation of gravity. Arclight itself was spinning as it flew through space. This gave everyone a small amount of gravity, but not nearly enough as they would experience on a planet. It would just be a stopgap measure until they disembarked. Everyone just felt light on their feet. A little spring to their step. While the colonists occupied half the ship, the other half was devoted to provisions, water storage and technical. Captain MacDonald made his way down a series of ladders to the medical section.
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    “What's up Doc?” MacDonald said with a smile upon entering the medical bay.
    Dr. Imbrahm looked up from his paperwork and smiled halfheartedly.
    “No jokes this early please.” he begged. Running a hand through his short gray
    hair, the doctor picked up a clipboard and handed it to MacDonald. On the clipboard was an autopsy report and death certificate.
    “The death appears accidental.” Imbrahm began without preamble. “Several people discovered him before the last jump. I was hoping the strain of the jumps would be minimal but...” MacDonald flipped through the report. “What was he doing out of his harness...” he began, but never got a chance to finish. “He was found in his harness, securely buckled in.” MacDonald turned back to the first page, looking for something. “It says here he was... 27?” Looks passed between the two men. “Physically, he's in great shape. So have you been able to determine the cause of death? I see here you didn't write
    the time of death.”
    “That's because he hasn't died yet.”
    MacDonald's head snapped up upon hearing the words. “Beg pardon?”
    Imbrahm sighed. “He was found catatonic, but with a thready pulse, so he was brought in. There has been no brain wave activity for over half an hour.”
    “I'm sensing a 'but' doctor.”
    “His major organs haven't stopped. Pulse has actually gotten better, respiration continues. If I didn't know he was brain dead, I would expect him to get up and walk off on his own power.” Imbrahm waved his hand toward the door.
    “Can I see the body?” MacDonald said as he put the clipboard back on the desk. Imbrahm nodded. Due to space constraints, the hospital bed was actually an alcove
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    recessed into the wall, much like everyone's sleeping arrangements. A sliding panel
    allowed for a minimum of privacy. The whole door actually flipped down to allow a patient to be placed inside.
    Upon touching the dead man in the hospital alcove, MacDonald made a discovery, the body felt warm. “He's breathing on his own, don't ask me why.” Imbrahm mentioned quietly.
    “This is a first for me.” MacDonald muttered. “Do we jettison the body or have our first burial when we make planetfall?”
    Imbrahm shrugged. “He can stay here right now. I don't see a problem as long as we keep him isolated.”
    “Was he traveling with anybody?”
    Imbrahm consulted his clipboard. “No family. Says here he was part of that prisoner program... What did they call it?”
    “Fresh Start.” MacDonald answered.
    Twitch.
    The body's cheek moved slightly. If MacDonald hadn't been looking directly at it, he would have missed it.
    “Doctor! Did you see...”
    Imbrahm apparently had. He pulled the bed tray out from the alcove to get a closer look, a second later he wished he hadn't.
    The jaw of the body fell open upon being pulled out from the alcove. Sitting on the man's tongue, as if waiting to be let out, was a spider-like creature. Before the men could react, the spider jumped. Imbrahm pushed the bed away, but too late. The creature
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    sank it's clawed legs into the doctor.
    MacDonald fell backwards as Imbrahm tried to swat the creature away. Instinctively, the spider knew where to go. Hooked legs and fangs tore into Imbrahm's
    cheek muscles, quickly inserting it's thorax into the freshly burrowed hole.
    Swiftly, MacDonald batted the spider away from Imbrahm using the clipboard. The doctor lay on the floor, hand to lacerated cheek. Imbrahm looked at his captain with a grave look in his eyes.
    “Quarantine this section. Lockdown.” the doctor had trouble breathing.
    “No doc, we can find this thing and kill it.” MacDonald stammered.
    Imbrahm shook his head. “It's dead.” He pointed a few feet away. The spider lay on it's back, it's thorax shriveled up.
    “It's laid it's egg inside me. I can feel it in my throat! Quarantine me! Now
    dammit!” Imbrahm shouted.
    The bridge crew was shouting to be heard over each other. The medical team insisted no parasite could have made it's way through the screening process. The engineering team was calculating the energy necessary to abort the mission. The navigation team was busy crunching the numbers for the emergency jumps back to Earth. MacDonald was working on a headache to rival an active volcano.
    “BE QUIET!!”
    All the officers fell silent, looking toward their captain.
    “I want a sit/rep by department.” He began.
    “Navigation.” MacDonald pointed to his nav officer.
    Sitting up straight, the officer responded. “We are four jumps away from Earth.
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    Soonest we can get back is forty five days. My team feels we might make it in three jumps. We're calculating the numbers now and we'll have them ready in a few hours.”
    Turning to the officer on his left, MacDonald barked the next department.
    “Engineering.”
    “We don't have enough power to go back. We might manage two jumps, but then we'd be at the mercy of the recharge rate of the engine.”
    “Operations.” MacDonald continued.
    “Colonists are being kept in their area. We've managed to isolate the medical bay. Doctor Imbrahm has conducted his autopsy of the spider that attacked him. He has his report.
    Turning to the intercom, MacDonald stated; “Medical, report.”
    Imbrahm's voice came from the intercom on the workstation. Apparently, the
    swelling from the initial attack had gone down. He sounded almost normal. “I've analyzed the creature that attacked me and all I can say is that the creature's DNA is identical to the host.”
    MacDonald's eyebrows shot up with surprise. “Come again?”
    “This spider-like creature resembles a prehistoric arachnid, but genetically, it is identical to Samuel Perez, the deceased. Something of else to note: the DNA from Mr. Perez is acting... strangely.”
    “What's strange about it?” MacDonald asked.
    “I can't tell without running some more tests, but there's something altering the chromosomes at the molecular level.”
    “One other thing: I took a sample from myself. My DNA is also undergoing the
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    same process. I think the chromosomes are rearranging themselves somehow.”
    “Into what?”
    A sigh could be heard from the intercom. “I don't know, and that's the truth.”
    MacDonald knew a decision had to be reached and quickly. He looked at all the hopeful faces of his crew. For a moment he wanted to go back to Earth despite the very real risk of being stranded out among the stars. But what about the passengers? They might stand a better chance on a new world.
    “Navigation; we are one jump away from the Cancri system, correct?”
    “Correct sir.”
    “How soon can you get us there?”
    “We can jump in three days to the system liberation point, once there, it would be a matter of charting a course to the planet in system.”
    “Do it. Use what ever computer power you need to initiate auto landing sequences.”
    Imbrahm's voice came through the speaker. “Are you going through with the mission?”
    MacDonald bowed his head for a moment, then stood at his full height and addressed his senior officers, looking everyone in the eye.
    “People, we do not have the supplies or energy for a safe return trip. We stand a better chance of survival once we make planetfall. Let's deal with the immediate problems of food, water, air and power. Once that is dealt with, we can deal with the spiders. Dismissed.”
    Blinding light, searing pain, agonizing silence. MacDonald felt like he was trying
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    to breathe ammonia. His body ached like it was rejecting the last jump, but he, and
    everyone else around him, had to work through it. Siting captain's privilege, MacDonald strapped himself to his sleeping alcove rather than be in command central. He could run
    everything while being enclosed in his harness, besides, he just felt... safer.
    In the day preceding the jump, several colonists had retreated into their alcoves, presumably to feel safer also. MacDonald didn't blame them.
    There was a beeping noise coming from the intercom near his head.
    “This is the captain, go ahead.”
    “Leesshhlannnddd... eeellpp... mmmmeeee.” came the voice from the speaker.
    “Doc, is that you?” MacDonald unstrapped himself and stood up, immediately wishing he hadn't. As soon as MacDonald's feet hit the deck, a burning sensation crept up his legs. The usually dim deck lighting hurt his eyes. Feeling like he had the worst case of
    the flu ever, MacDonald forced one foot in front of the other. Somehow he made it to the deck ladder, despite the waves of heat washing over him. All his joints ached. It felt like there was something crawling under his skin too.
    Each rung was torture, but the fact he was going down one deck made him continue. After he made it to the infirmary, MacDonald would have to rest before going on.
    'Just thirty more feet.' MacDonald said to himself. If his eyes were working normally, he would have seen it sooner. The door to the medical bay was open. Dr. Imbrahm's uniform shirt and coat lay in the threshold. The shirt moved. Something was under it.
    Leaning against the bulkhead, MacDonald's strength failed him. There were...
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    things... crawling out of Imbrahm's arm sleeve. Looking like short stubby worms,
    MacDonald's first thought was 'maggots'. Imbrahm's dead eyes looked straight up. He must have died seconds ago. Something seemed to be pushing the bandage on the doctor's
    cheek. A small spider creature emerged from under the gauze.
    Somehow MacDonald managed to back up, hopefully out of the creature's jumping range. The spider didn't seem interested in attacking though. Instead, it focused on the maggots fleeing on the floor. Pouncing from one little body inching along the floor to the next, but there were too many worms crawling out of sight for the spider to catch them all. It seemed the spider was doing some kind of morbid dance, leaping from place to place, from maggot to maggot. More worms could be seen creeping out from Imbrahm's hair and face. It seemed to MacDonald that the doctor's body was going through some sort of rapid decomposition before his eyes. No, MacDonald thought.
    “The body is turning into the worms.” MacDonald had to get away... anywhere, just so long as it wasn't here.
    Pain shot from every muscle. It was agony to move, let alone close his hand on the ladder rung. How did he get here? MacDonald had no memory of making the trip down the hall. He had to go... where? Up was the only answer that made sense. Casting his failing gaze up, he didn't relish the idea, but he had to get off this deck. A pained sigh coming from his mouth, he put his foot on the first rung.
    MacDonald didn't know how long he had been climbing or how much progress he had made. Time seemed immaterial. Hours? Minutes? He was vaguely aware of resting several times before continuing his journey. Barely able to see what was in front of his face, he simply climbed, one rung at a time. Suddenly he became aware of something
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    next to his head. Was that a floor? Tentatively reaching out, he felt the hard deck flooring, cool to the touch. With arms feeling like they were asleep. MacDonald forcefully crawled onto the deck. The light seemed less intense, less painful, which was a
    good thing.
    “Is somebody here?” Came a voice not too far off.
    “It's me, the captain.”
    From the shadows emerged one of his engineers. MacDonald couldn't recall her name at the moment. He had such a good memory, was there something wrong with the way he was thinking? The bars on her shoulder told him she was a lieutenant. That made her one of the chief's assistants.
    “Where's chief?” MacDonald said with a croak.
    The lieutenant looked horror stricken. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed and
    told him all at once. “Right after the jump, the chief went directly to the engine to check on it.” She seemed to pale before continuing. “He reached up and touched the engine housing and then it happened.”
    “What happened?”
    The look of horror on the lieutenant's face told him it wasn't something MacDonald was prepared for.
    “The chief's hand changed, thousands of crabs sir, all at once, it was awful! Sir, I think it's the engine that's making everyone sick. It's changing us! People started getting sicker and sicker after each jump.”
    The Arclight suddenly lurched to one side. Vibrations rocked the entire ship and MacDonald felt heavier. Both he and the lieutenant fell to the deck, crushed by the newly
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    discovered sensation of gravity. Were they falling? MacDonald thought he felt the
    sensation of free fall, but with the ship violently shaking, he couldn't be sure. There was definitely too much going on. He closed his eyes, only for a moment but he wasn't sure.
    Objects flying about. Pieces of things breaking off. Glass shattering, metal creaking. In all the violence going on around them, MacDonald somehow managed to grasp the lieutenant's arm. Instinctively, they held one another's hand, trying to stay close in their last few moments.
    'So we're crash landing.' MacDonald thought. 'Would we hit water? Land? Did it matter?' After an undetermined amount of time, he couldn't feel anything. MacDonald might have even lost consciousness. What brought MacDonald up from the depths of his fever dream was that there was silence all around him. Not only that, but he actually felt relaxed, calm. The ship had stopped shaking. Nothing was crashing about. Emergency
    lights were flickering. The occasional spark spit out of the darkness.
    'We must have crashed while I was out of it.' thought MacDonald. The lieutenant was nestled under his arm. She was apparently still unconscious. Something was touching his feet. Cool and soothing, lapping, wet even.
    Realization struck him. 'Water?'
    Rising water. It licked his knees and slowly rose. Propping himself up, it was all MacDonald could do to crawl backward. The lieutenant didn't move or respond to his nudging. The fire inside him seemed to intensify and that unshakable feeling of something crawling just under his skin just wouldn't go away.
    “Wake up lieutenant. Let's get out of here.”
    The lieutenant moved, or rather, something moved under her jumpsuit. By instinct
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    alone, MacDonald backed up on his elbows. Her arm fell into the slowly rising water and
    whatever was in the sleeve started to make it's way out. MacDonald saw some antennae and a shell before it disappeared into the black water quickly followed by another... and
    another. Only one word came to mind: trilobite!
    Before he knew it, he was on his feet. How he was even standing was beyond MacDonald. Running through the darkness, pain in every step. Where was he? The sharp pain of a barked shin and he went tumbling swiftly to the floor. What ever he had tripped over, it hissed. Another sharp pain to his leg and MacDonald rolled instinctively, he had just been bitten! Knowing he was bleeding, the only instinct was to get out, so he stumbled and limped onward.
    “Lord, let me die in the sunlight.” MacDonald said, limping on. Very soon, it seemed his prayers were answered. A section of the hull had been sheared off in the
    crash. Blue sky and a shoreline could clearly be seen through the hole. MacDonald didn't bother to wonder why he had no trouble breathing. Gentle winds touching his face felt good. Sounds of the waves hitting the beach was at that moment the best sound in the world. The light hurt his eyes. MacDonald was only able to keep them open for a second or two at a time before they started to tear. Standing at the hole in the side of the savaged ship, MacDonald's legs failed him. The very last thing he saw after hitting the sand, was thousands upon thousands of tiny creatures coming out of his fingertips.
    Damn ants.