Entry 019: Into the Abyss
Day 109
I feared I would lose my mind.
For a while, everything was a delirious blur. The slightest glimpse of my surroundings terrified me, as I couldn’t fathom what I was seeing. The landscape was a nightmare of lumpy flesh mingled with electronics, draped haphazardly over the surface of whatever horrific world this was.
I still wasn’t thinking straight, and it took a few moments to recover enough to function, but Kyleen managed to coax me back to my senses, and her miserable plight helped. Something was terribly wrong, and she was suffering from injuries that wouldn’t heal. Still a bit unhinged, I wept as I hefted her frail body in my arms, crying out with her when her stabbing pains became too great to bear. There was a dreadful bulge in her stomach that I couldn’t get out of my sight. I was frantic as I lay her down on a patch of actual ground between our Fighters, trying my best to be gentle. If I did nothing, she would die, but I had no idea what to do.
Something was there, and I snapped my pistol out to deal with it, whatever it was, and just managed to stop myself before I shot Sparky. “You… thank God, but what are you doing here!”
It tilted slightly at me in confusion. “Doing… in explanation, this unit - I - linked your vessel with the other, so that it would be translocated with you.” I needed something to bolster my confidence, and seeing Sparky and my ship there was a big help. But then he said something that almost killed it. “Warning… unidentified bio-mechanical entities approaching.”
It was probably a good thing I was too scared to do more than react, or I might have fallen to pieces. Things were creeping towards us, horrible misshapen corruptions of animal life, or at least that’s what my mind made of them, covered with and trailing pieces of electronic components tethered with wires. “Fight them, fight them!” I cried, and fired on the closest ones first. They were tough but they seemed to be killable, and dropped to the ground one by one before they reached us. Sparky was doing his part to stop them, and thank God for that. But how many were there? A whole planet’s worth?
“Nigel… please… help…” Kyleen whimpered, choking back a cry as she curled up on her side. I wanted to scream, was on the verge of tears, but I had to pull myself together for her sake.
“Honey, I’m sorry!” I blurted out as I fell to her side. “I… I… what do I do? Tell me what to do!”
“My ship… a shelter… get it…” she gasped, squealing when pain became too great.
It was incredibly hard to leave her side, but as I set to it, I realized that ATLAS must have done this. We had been on some planet, a sane, sensible world with the usual foliage, fauna and environment. Not a nightmare of living, flatulent, unskinned flesh merged with electronics that spread out and away as far as the eye could see. We hadn’t flown here. There had been some tear in space and time that we fell into, fell through. It sent us to this literal hell of a planet to do away with us. And the only world this could be… Pirellax, it just had to be. Damn it, damn it all to flaming Hell!
I cursed it with every foul slur I could think of as I dug into Kyleen’s ship and managed to find that shelter. I dragged it over and activated a pump which quickly inflated it into a half tube of tough material, mottled with natural colors to match most terrain. As I knelt beside the poor feline, Sparky told me, “Alert, figure approaching.”
“Kill it, kill it—!” I shouted, until I saw that it was a Humanlike form shambling towards us with its hands out, or what were once hands, now covered with circuitry. “Wait!” I cried as Sparky hesitated, which I hoped would work in our favor. My skin crawled as it spoke to us in a voice that was a wretched gurgling corruption of speech.
“You… followed our signal? You should not have… this means your doom.”
That sounded dire, and I raised my pistol at him. “Don’t threaten me, or I’ll kill you!”
He waved an appendage feebly. “No… you misunderstand. This place… overcome by the Artifact. It consumed… everything… consumed our laboratories… consumed us… merged it all. It… will try to… consume you. I tried… to warn you.”
Then it hit me; that dreadful message that had me running for my life at that one Outpost. “You… it was you!”
He shifted around as if he was as amazed as me. “Why… did you… ignore our warning? There is nothing here of value… only… this.” He spread his arms wide to take in the expanse of the ruined world.
“I didn’t! It was ATLAS!” I exclaimed. “It trapped us here!”
“Nigel… what is it?” Kyleen moaned, evidently trying to see what was going on. I cringed as I nearly forgot her. There was no time for a lengthy exposition.
“Listen, we need help!” I said to the wretched being. “Can you stop them, those things? Can you help us? My friend, she’s hurt - she could die!”
He wheezed out, “ATLAS… naturally. Death… such a blessing—”
“No! Please! Help us!” I wailed. “Isn’t there some way to… operate? Heal her?”
He seemed to mull this over, then pointed to Sparky. “That… corrupted Sentinel, have it analyze your friend. Pass the data to us… we will try to provide helps. But… lesser entities… they will likely not heed. They have… their own directive. Take care.”
Finally, a thin ray of hope. I shouted, “Sparky! Make a detailed scan of Kyleen!”
I half paid attention to him as he scanned the poor feline from head to foot, keeping one eye on the surroundings where I could see those lesser entities moving around, creeping nearer. He announced, “Feloid entity, suffering massive internal hemorhaging. Blood mass exerting pressure on internal organs.”
I motioned to where the thing was standing, waiting. “Give him the data, please.”
It seems funny now, as when Sparky approached the being, he said to it, “Behave in an honorable, peaceful—”
He was cut short, and I gaped in alarm as the thing snatched the bot out of the air. Sparky gave a squeal of alarm, and sparks showered out of the gap in his shielding as the monstrosity held him fast. I raised my pistol at him, shouting, “What are you doing! Let him go! Or I’ll shoot!”
“Apologies… our directive… difficult to resist,” he replied as he held Sparky fast. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. Right now, he was our only hope to get Kyleen healthy. As I watched, it seemed he was doing something with the little drone, and a few moments later he released Sparky, who swatted the beings hand in outrage. “Some damage… rectified,” he explained. “Data acquired… analyzed. Procedure passed back… to Aeron.”
I cast my gaze to the dreary overcast skies above. This was almost too much for me to take. “Thank you,” I muttered as he began to withdraw.
“I may return… with medicine… but if not… flee, when you are able,” he advised us. “This world… is hungry.”
“Thanks again,” I said to him, watching for a moment as he shambled off. But what he told me… a procedure? Sparky would have to operate? Could he? I dreaded this so bad, I felt nauseous. The bot was already beside Kyleen where she lay on her left side, her legs curled against her torso, whimpering and moaning.
She looked up to me as I came to her, taking her hand. She held it with a quivering grasp that tore at my heart. “What… is happening?”
I only had the smallest of clues, and muttered, “I’m not sure. Sparky, what kind of procedure is it?”
He replied rather bluntly, “Patient must be anesthetized. Insertion made into abdomen to evacuate bloody fluids. Incision made in abdomen. Blood vessels sealed, tissues mended, evacuate remaining fluids, abdominal incision sealed.”
Kyleen looked at me in alarm. “That… thing? Inside me?”
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as awful images forced their way into my mind. Why… why in the name of God was this happening? “Sweetheart… I don’t know what else to do, but I can’t do it.”
She began weeping, and gave an agonized wail. It must be getting worse, and it was painful to watch her suffer. “Why… why! Oh, pain… is this… all?”
I stroked her helmet softly, blubbering, “Honey… I’m afraid so.” We would have to start now, and then I thought of that first item. How in the world would I render her unconscious? The only thing I had was liquor, and told her, “Listen… we’ll have to get you drunk enough to pass out. I doubt it will go well if you’re conscious.”
She blinked at me, whimpering, “Are you crazy? No! I have…” She gave a squeal of agony that hurt in my gut. “My ship… medkit… get it!” she cried, her grip shaking.
“I will, I will!” I said to her, but as I rose, I saw a hoard of those horrible bio-machines creeping up on us. Damn it, I had to get my head on straight so I could deal with more than one thing at a time. “Sparky, protect her!” I shouted, firing on the nearest ones as I went over to check her cockpit. Fortunately, most vessels had a standard layout, and her medical stuff was in the usual compartment. There were three cases so I grabbed them all. I returned and lay them out beside her where she could see, and asked, “What do I use?”
She began to reach for a kit, then curled up with a painful cry. “That one… the purple!”
It was a small case and I opened it. Inside were five syringes with colored bands on them, from red to violet. I held the last one in front of her asking, “This one, for sure?”
“Yes. Get me in… my suit off… p-please… don’t hurt me!” she sobbed.
I had enough sense to grasp what she meant and nodded, dreading what we were about to do to her. I reached down to gather her up, saying in as comforting voice as I could, “I’ll try hon, I’ll try my best.”
I sat beside her, holding her hand as she suffered
What awful timing for that memory.
It was a horrible ordeal as she cried out with every move and shift of her body. Her stomach was so swollen, she looked pregnant. I lay her down in the tent and did my best to coax her out of her suit, speaking encouragement to her, but the poor thing had reached her limit, cursing and screaming through every bit of it. How much time did we have before the unthinkable happened? She couldn’t bring herself to uncurl as she cried, though she would have to so Sparky could perform whatever surgical procedure he could. But what could he do? And the anesthetic, at least that’s what I hoped it was, how much did I use on her? I held it before her and asked.
“The entire thing,” she told me. Thank God this was simple. “Nigel… hurry! Please - I don’t want to die!”
That truly hurt, and I cried with her as I stroked her cheek softly. “You won’t… you just won’t, sweetheart. You hold on!” I turned to the bot, pleading, “Sparky, for God’s sake, tell me what to do.”
I was so rattled that I had to be guided through every step, and he seemed to know that, but his steady robotic voice managed to ground me a bit. “Anesthetize the female. Provide a tub to contain lost bood. Start a fire to sterilize these.” He produced his arms, and I saw that there were more than grabbers at the ends. Between them were small tools, and some looked sharp. Tools? The thought made me queasy, but what options did we have?
I began to tug her brief over her rump to give her that injection, but she protested, “What… no! You idiot… my arm! Don’t kill me!”
I felt crushed at her outcry but did as I was told, and had enough sense to sanitize a patch on her shoulder before jabbing the syringe in quickly, carefully working all of the drug into the muscle. I went to my ship and dug out a plastic utility tub which looked big enough to use, and got another bottle of antiseptic to sanitize it. I had the presence of mind to wipe down the area beside her on the tent floor, and this had me worried. What kind of pathogens were on this corrupted world?
There was no wood nearby for a fire, so I used fire fuel units to make one outside for Sparky. He extended all his tools and I couldn’t watch as he held them in the flames. They looked like implements of torture. And then that terrible moment came when we began Kyleen’s ordeal. When I entered with the tub, she looked terrible, her stomach a swollen mass, and she was still in the grip of agony. I worried about how much blood was still in her veins, and there was no way to replenish what would be lost. Would she survive this? I prayed that anesthetic worked quickly. As gently as I could, I urged her legs down, and it took a few moments as the pain was horrible for her. I knelt beside her and gently stroked her cheek as the drug finally began to work, and her agony grew less. I mumbled to her, trying to sound hopeful, “You’re gonna be fine, sweetheart, you’ll see.”
She looked to me, and thank heaven she was doing better now. “I’m afraid… I’m not a very good… patient,” she whimpered in a dreamy, distant voice.
“Oh, well… all things considered,” I told her with a lopsided smile. “It’ll be overwith soon. And listen, could you count from ten to one for me?” I seemed to remember that this was a common technique to hasten the onset of the forced coma.
She shook her head slightly, closing her eyes, and murmured, “Too tired… but, you… so nice to me… thank you.” She added in a soft voice, “I love you…”
I choked back a sob, mumbling, “I love you too, angel.” I wasn’t sure she heard me because she seemed to have drifted off.
Sparky edged closer, informing me, “Female is sufficiently unconscious. I shall begin.”
This was happening too fast for me. He had me sanitize the belly fur on her right side and then remove her lower garment, and I felt wooden as I did because I knew I wouldn’t deal well with what came next. I cried out as he pierced her side and blood gushed out in a stream, dark purple mingled with red, and I nearly lost my hold on the tub. It was almost too small for so much blood, but it managed to contain all of it. At least her tummy looked to be the right size now, and the pressure eased on her, though I worried as she shifted slightly. Was she completely under?
“Warning,” he announced, “threats approaching nearby.”
It was almost a relief to have Sparky shoo me off to empty the tub and stand guard over our little camp, protecting it from the monstrosities outside, and they were much too close to the tent. I used the Scatter Blaster to pulverize those nearby, and then longer range weapons to pick off those further out. It was good to have something to take my mind off of what was going on inside our makeshift operating room. Between doing away with the bio-mechanical horrors, I said prayers for them, and the girl I wanted desperately to save. She had to be alright, she just had to. If she didn’t survive, I knew I would fall to pieces.
Hours seemed to pass, then a day… it seemed endless as I scanned over the area, taking shots at anything that moved within range. Whatever had happened to the living things on this world, thank God it hindered their movement. Out of the blue, I heard Sparky call to me, “The operation is complete. Come, my limb units must be cleaned.”
I tried to steel myself, but when I entered and saw them, I choked back a cry. Sparky’s limb units were bloodstained, and I could see bits of her flesh in the tools. And Kyleen looked terrible, looked… dead, her stomach splattered with blood, her mouth open and tongue lolling to one side.
I helped him, gasping in dread as he worked the bits of her tissues from his implements, and washed them down in the tub. I was shaking afterward, still not dealing well with the tension and worry. “Dispose of that, tend to the female’s needs, and rest. I will maintain watch over the area.” It was irritating how I needed to be walked through every step of this ordeal like a child, but I was near my wits end.
I knelt beside her, unsure of what to do, and tried to nudge her tongue back into her mouth, but she gave a choking snort, then lay there wheezing quietly. I wasn’t trained to be a nurse, and had no real idea what to do for her. But I wanted to, and stroked her cheek softly as I gazed her over. She still bore an expression of pain which I tried to ignore, but stripped to her underwear top, she was a pretty girl with light tawny-gray fur and darker mottling on her flanks and legs, with a snow white torso. It was a shame that Sparky had to operate, making an incision in her tummy, and blood stained her abdomen. But at least she was better now, as far as I could tell, and was sleeping peacefully. Sparky would surely have told me if her vital signs were too far off, though I worried about her blood pressure. Was she really out of the woods?
I used antiseptic to clean up the blood on her and the floor of the tent. She began shivering, and it hadn’t occurred to me that the liquid was very cold as it evaporated. She was also lying almost naked on a bare tent floor, and that couldn’t be comfortable either. I grabbed her sleeping bag as Sparky fended off distant threats. His blaster fire had escaped my notice, but now I heard every shot. Lord, how was I ever going to sleep? I wish I was, so this nightmare could end.
I lay the bedding out beside her and then eased her into it, doing my best to be gentle, but she still gave little moans as I moved her limp body around, and every whimper made me cringe. She was still shivering as I sat beside her, and her blood loss didn’t help. And… well, I could stand some rest myself. Maybe my body heat would be enough to make her comfortable. Stripping out of my suit and uniform, I slid into the bedding beside her and settled against her as delicately as I could. After a while, she stopped shivering and nestled against me, breathing softly.
It was a little strange, lying with the girl like this, someone I had no relationship with, and I found myself missing Yila, and then Seri. That caused some very mixed feelings to well up in my heart. I found myself missing my ex-wife, and Adjaha, like a typical Nigel. It was so irritating, but if they came back, wouldn’t that be a good thing? If they never did, was that for the best? Didn’t I really want Yila? I had to admit I wasn’t entirely sure. Did the thefts matter that much? No, not really, and I left it to Providence to work all that out for us. Despite all that happened, I still wanted them to be happy. The freak jobs. But, freak jobs I drove to do what they did.
Sparky’s defensive blaster fire bothered me, and I fretted that I wouldn’t be able to sleep - who could on a world like this, after a day like today? But Kyleen’s aroma was pleasant, and her fur felt nice against me, and warm… and… hadn’t it been two days since I last slept…?