The Navigator, page 38
Quill almost peed herself. She fell out of her cot and scooted on her butt across the floor.
"NO! NOOOO!"
"Please do not be alarmed. You are not in any danger," a cold, soulless voice echoed across the dome.
Quill stayed tense. She peeked up at the hideous wolf creature but it ignored her. It was sniffing the air, trying to disentangle all of her unique body odors. She looked up at the ceiling, and then back down at the hellish wolf. Her heart was still in her throat.
"Where am I? Who are you? Please – please don't hurt me."
"You are not in any danger," the cold voice repeated, reverberating out from the walls. "Please follow Sentry into the adjacent dome."
At the mention of his name, the wolf creature perked up his ears and rose to his feet. A small section of the wall behind him split in two and retracted into the ceiling.
Quill didn't move. Once her terror half-subsided, she crawled across the floor, over to Petal's catatonic body. She put her hand on her chest and rested her ear next to her nose, to check if she was still breathing.
Petal was breathing – barely breathing – but breathing. Her body didn't react as Quill poked her.
"Petal? Petal?" Quill tried to shake her awake. "Wake up! Petal!"
"Grrrrrrrrrrrggggg," Sentry growled from the open doorway. His metallic tail wagged excitedly.
Quill stood up, eyes locked on the beast. The creature walked through the door into the next room. She took a shallow breath and cautiously followed.
The adjacent room wasn't a room. It was a small staging area with another door. Once Quill entered it, the door she had came from snapped shut, and a new door in front of her popped open.
Beyond that little door was the polar plateau. Quill could see the snow, the sky, and the ice stretch out to every horizon. The polar wind didn't seem to be able to pass through the open door, but the cold seeped inside of the room immediately.
Sentry looked up at Quill, licking his purple lips and exposing his hellish fangs. He walked forward onto the snow. The moment his body crossed the doorway, a barrier sprang up all around him.
Quill jumped back. The barrier had made a loud whishing noise when it activated. She collected herself and then inched forward, inspecting the barrier.
The barrier was a long, cylindrical-shaped passageway that linked Quill's dome to another dome that lay one hundred feet away, across the snow. It was translucent blue, segmented every few inches by darker blue bands. The bottom of it hovered a few inches above the ground. The polar wind was blowing snow under and over the barrier but not through it.
The dome at the other end of the barrier hallway was half buried in snow. It was partially invisible, covered in some sort of material that gave it a refractory, bent-light look - like the appearance of a drinking glass full of water.
Sentry turned around once he reached the middle of the barrier hallway. He roared like a lion, frightening Quill forward.
Quill took another step into the barrier hallway. The blue light under her feet felt rock solid. The tubular walls blocked out the snow and the wind, but let in the cold. She shuffled down the hallway as her feet began to grow numb, hovering a few inches above the shifting snowline.
When she and Sentry reached the other end of the barrier hallway, another door popped open.
Sentry darted through it. Quill hesitated, then followed.
The new dome was much larger and very dim. It had a dank interior and gray walls. Quill stepped into the dark dome and waited for her eyes to adjust. Sentry walked up behind her, putting himself between her and the door, blocking the exit.
When Quill's eyes came into focus, she went into shock.
A creature was sitting in front of Quill in a massive copper chair. It was roughly twenty feet tall. Its skin – if it was skin – was jet black and seemed to be seeping the same bluish fluid that dribbled out of Sentry's jaws. Its body was a bulbous cylinder with the appearance of a knotted tree trunk. Its head was a giant oval the size of a truck tire.
Hundreds of dripping tentacles snaked out of the creature's head like a giant squid. More tentacles came out of its body from the bottom of its trunk. Some of the tentacles fed into little ports next to dozens of blank monitors above. Others undulated freely in the air in a sickening, twitching motion.
The creature had no mouth. It had one eye the size of a dinner plate that lay at the center of its head. That cyclops-eye was black like Sentry's – more like a camera lens than a biological eye. Some of the tentacles that waved around the creature had little protrusions on them that looked either like feelers or more quasi-camera eyes. Dozens of those sickening, soulless, tentacle eyes stared down at Quill as she trembled.
Scattered around the dome, above the creature, were giant flat screen monitors. There were rows upon rows of them – over thirty screens – all of which were linked together by thick, silver cables that formed a spider web pattern on the ceiling.
"Do not be afraid," the massive creature hummed. It had no mouth, so it didn't really speak. Its cold voice emanated from speakers built into the monitors.
"What – what – what are you?"
"I am Cynax-8172 – Colonial Scientific Monitoring Station OTSM-5's A.I."
"A.I.?" Quill croaked, staring up at the dripping cables and tentacles that linked the creature to the dome. "You - you're a machine?"
"A crude comparison. I am a synthetic, platformed sentience in charge of the operations of Colonial Scientific Monitoring Station OTSM-5."
"What – what is that?"
One of Cynax's long, tentacle arms detached itself from the wall and hovered in the air in front of Quill. It made a sickening squishing noise as a camera eye popped out from the end of it.
"You are currently standing inside of Colonial Scientific Monitoring Station OTSM-5's central mainframe."
Quill stared into the camera eye at the end of the tentacle. The bluish fluid that oozed out from it repulsed her.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"You and the Khoi female Sentry found you with were dying. I commanded Sentry to take you inside of this facility so you would survive."
"Khoi?" Quill peeped, eyes still locked on the tentacle eye. "You mean Petal? Petal is Khoi?"
"The name - Petal - has no meaning to me."
"What is this place? What do you want from me?'
Cynax retracted its tentacle eye from Quill's face and plugged it back into the wall with a pneumatic hiss. It then turned its bulbous head so its one giant eye was no longer facing her.
"I require nothing from you; but I will need to communicate with the Khoi once she regains consciousness."
Quill took a step back from Cynax. Its body was weeping more blue fluid which also seemed to be dripping down from the spider web of cables and oozing across the walls. The dripping noise of the fluid leaking onto the floor was nauseating.
"Are – are you Khoi too?"
"No. I am Cynax-8172."
"Are you an alien?"
"I was not manufactured on this planet."
Quill looked up at the ceiling. She couldn't tell where Cynax ended and the rest of the room began. Its tentacles seamlessly linked into the walls, the floor, the blank monitors, and the web of cables above.
"Where were you manufactured?"
"The name and location of the facility of my manufacture is of no possible relevance or importance to you."
"Was this place built by the Khoi?"
"Yes, with my assistance."
"Are there other Khoi here. . .besides Petal?"
"No."
"Is Petal going to be okay?"
"The Khoi will recover within a few hours. Khoi are adapted to much warmer temperatures than humans. Frigid environments interfere with their circulation, neurotransmission, respiration, and cellular metabolism. Her core body temperature must be raised by several degrees before she can regain consciousness."
Quill glanced back at Sentry. The hellish wolf creature was still sitting on the floor, guarding the doorway like a sphinx.
"What do you want from her?"
Several of Cynax's tentacle arms wriggled their way up to the ceiling.
"I need to communicate with her."
"How can you speak my language if you're an alien?"
"I monitor all high frequency and low frequency radio traffic that emanates from this planet. I have analyzed that chatter - and from it - I was able to master your language."
Quill rubbed her arms, trying to warm up. It was very cold inside the dome – much colder than in the dome she'd woken up in.
"What are you doing here?"
"I operate Colonial Scientific Monitoring Station OTSM-5."
"What does this station monitor?"
"Geotectonic movements. Meteorological phenomena. I have a particularized interest in this planet's sun. Recently, it has been experiencing an unusually high frequency of sun-quakes and generally increased coronal activity."
Quill vacantly nodded. She racked her brain, trying to think of something intelligent to ask the massive, mechanical organism.
"So. . . this station is some kind of Khoi base? A spaceport or something?"
"Negative. This facility is the property of the C.G.G. - the Colonial Galactic Government."
"I thought you said the Khoi built this place."
"The construction of this installation was a precondition the Khoi needed to fulfill to obtain a mining permit for this planet."
"Mine Ea?" Quill frowned. "For what?"
"Petrochemicals, methane, volatile gasses, uranium, thorium, polymetallic nodules - anything that is of value to the Khoi-owned mining Consortium."
"The Khoi are mining Ea?"
"Incorrect." Cynax rapidly rearranged its hundreds of tentacles, removing some from the wall and plugging others in with effortless dexterity. "All mining activity ceased ten years ago following an Aii infestation."
"What?"
"All Khoi mining personnel on this planet are deceased – with the exception of the Khoi you were found with - which is why I need to communicate with her."
"What happened to them? What happened to Petal?"
"It will be more efficient to explain that to both of you at once. Until then, you should rest. You are malnourished and slightly anemic from pregnancy. Sentry will lead you to where you can find some Khoi rations. Your biochemistry is highly similar to the Khoi – you should be able to digest their foodstuffs without difficulty."
"Wait - what? Pregnancy? Whose pregnancy?"
"You are pregnant," Cynax said, emotionless. It studied Quill's body more closely with four tentacle eyes. The small feelers that jutted out from them chemically tasted the air around her. "Judging by your hormone levels and your general physiology - you have been pregnant for a quarter of a solar orbit."
"No. No." Quill shook her head. "I'm not pregnant. That's impossible. I haven't had sex since. . ."
Quill's mind swirled. Her weeks of morning nausea, her swollen breasts, her continual bouts of weepiness – they all came together with a sickening sense of dread and hopelessness.
Since Naris. . .OH MY GOD. . .Naris!
"No. No. No. No. That's not true – you're lying! You're lying!"
Sentry picked up his head and pulled back his ears. He then dragged his steel claws across the hard floor, snarling.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr."
Quill darted away from the ugly beast.
"Please calm yourself," Cynax crackled. "Your behavior is agitating Sentry."
"I cannot be pregnant! I – I can't. No! That's not fair!"
"You are pregnant."
Quill didn't have a response. No words could express what she was feeling.
Cynax withdrew all of its tentacles from her airspace and plugged them back into the walls. It sent an electronic message to Sentry.
Sentry barked once and snapped to attention.
"You need to eat and rest to keep yourself and your fetus healthy. Please follow Sentry across the skywalk to the mess dome. When the Khoi wakes, I will notify you immediately."
- 64-
Quill scanned the large, domed room. Every dome in Colonial Monitoring Station OTSM-5 looked roughly the same to her except for Cynax's mainframe. This particular dome was the mess dome. Across the center of it were three long tables lined with white benches. The benches were covered in white foam - the same shade of white as the walls and the floor and the ceiling.
Everything inside of Colonial Monitoring Station OTSM-5 was that same dreary, snow-blind white that Quill had woken up to. The bleached color burned her eyes and made all of her surroundings bleed together.
Sentry was standing behind Quill, inside of another long, blue barrier hallway that linked the mess dome to Cynax's mainframe. The giant wolf creature had to escort her across the station because she couldn't open the doors herself. They had strange, gray access pads next to them which she couldn't activate.
Quill walked over to the opposite side of the dome, while Sentry retreated back down the barrier hallway. She watched as the door whooshed shut behind him, and then approached a row of recesses on the dome's inner wall that looked like the outlines of little lockers. She touched the face of one of the little lockers. When she put a bit of pressure on it, it popped open.
Inside of the locker were several multi-colored cans. Quill grabbed one and examined it. The can was silver and completely featureless except for a little copper protrusion on its top that looked like a pull tab. The face of the can was bisected by a green label covered in indecipherable hieroglyphs and a drawing of a hairy, brown creature that looked like a fusion of a praying mantis and a wolf spider.
Quill pulled back the copper tab and peeled off the lid. Inside was a pinkish goo, dotted with little chunks of a gray solid. She sniffed the mixture, expecting it to smell horrendous. Instead, it smelled like soy sauce and citrus.
Quill was starving. She hadn't eaten in over a day. Against her instincts, she sat down on a bench and went to taste the alien goop. She swirled her finger in the pink goo and picked up a little clump of the gray solid that was floating in it. She hesitated, wondering if this was actually Khoi food, or Khoi cat food. She held the gray blob in front of her lips and took a nibble.
Shockingly, the gray glob didn't have an appalling taste. It wasn't particularly appetizing either. It was acidic and aromatic; an incredibly pungent combination of lemon, cardamom, and nondescript fish. The mixture of flavors were so strange, her tongue barely recognized them as edible.
Quill ate the little gray glob and then stared down at the rest of the can. Her stomach gurgled, apparently ready for more. She put her hand on her belly. Somewhere inside of it, a baby was growing. It was probably no more than a few inches long and looked like a fish or a newt – but it was a baby nonetheless.
Naris's baby. . . .
Quill pushed the thought down and slurped up a mouthful of the pink goo. Its consistency made her gag. It felt like runny eggs mixed with snot. She forced down a few swallows and then put the can down, resting her elbows on the table.
What am I going to do? I can't have a baby – I don't want a baby – especially Naris's baby! This is hell! What did I do to deserve this!
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She rubbed them off and grit her teeth, sick of continually crying.
Where the hell am I? What is this place? How does all of this SHIT always wind up happening to me!
Quill looked down at her glop and then at her belly. She lifted up her shirt and put her hand across her navel, trying to see if she could feel a second, faint heartbeat. As she rubbed her skin, the door behind her whooshed open and Sentry walked in. His entrance was accompanied by a droning announcement from Cynax that reverberated throughout the dome.
"The Khoi has awoken. Please follow Sentry and escort her to my mainframe."
***
Petal stood before the giant, mechanical monster, mouth agape, eyes wide open. She'd woken up less than ten minutes ago, and Quill and Sentry quickly ushered her into Cynax's dark mainframe. The giant tree-squid creature in front of her was horrifying. She examined Cynax for several minutes, studying its massive, undulating body with a completely dumbfounded expression of disgust and awe.
Quill was standing next to Petal, equally silent. She tried to ignore Cynax's sickening presence, instead focusing on her own body which now, too, seemed rather alien. She rubbed her belly up and down under her shirt, trying to mentally picture what was growing inside her.
