Rachel got to her feet, even though she wasn't sure why. She stood in the middle of her bunk room, clutching her stomach. Cramps tightened around her waist as she doubled over, drowning in an ocean of pain. Her mouth opened and she felt as though she might empty her stomach onto the floor, but somehow she held it back, clinging onto the hope that the feeling would pass. After a few seconds, the nausea subsided. Rachel slumped down onto her bunk, holding her head in her hands. Every part of her body ached at once. She had an overwhelming feeling that something was very, very wrong. She shook her head and climbed back to her feet before staggering into the living room. Were the walls shrinking in on her? No. Her imagination was running wild. A hot flush filled her face, and suddenly she had the feeling that someone was standing outside her door.
Rachel stared at the wall console. Its display was blank. Hadn't it been turned on when she had first entered the room? Her eyes focussed on the door and the grey composite material began to ripple in her mind. A shadow appeared across its surface, resolving into the shape of a man crouching down in the hallway outside. She didn't understand what she was seeing. A memory stirred. She recalled the man that she had seen behind a wall in the Mekinet News building. He had been standing behind a wall and yet she had been able to see his silhouette through the stone. Was the same thing happening to her again? She shook her head and the door became solid once more.
Her stomach cramps receded but she could still feel a wrongness in the air. Her skin itched as though she was covered in crawling insects. She stumbled across to the wall console and turned it on. An image appeared of the empty corridor outside. In one corner she could see a man's forearm reaching down past a large black boot. The boot slid out of view, taking the elbow with it, but a shadow remained across the floor. Did they know that she had turned the wall console back on? It wasn't possible, but then why had they stepped out of view?
'Who's there?' Rachel said through the console.
The shadow moved away without answering. Rachel rushed into her bunk room and grabbed the impact pistol from her bunk. She returned to the living room at a sprint and released the door locking mechanism. Slapping the same button again with the palm of her hand, she urged the door to open more quickly, but it felt like forever before it finally slid up into the ceiling. Why the hell was it so slow?
Rachel heard the sound of heavy boots receding into the distance. She stuck her head out through the doorway and glanced in both directions. To the right there was nothing, but when she looked down the corridor to her left she saw an arm and a leg disappearing around the corner. Before she could see anything else, the figure was gone.
'Hey!' she called after them. 'Who's there?' There was no reply.
It had been a man. She was sure of that. She remembered seeing the back part of his head as he had disappeared around the corner, but it had all happened so fast. She was about to run after him, when she felt the stomach cramps returning again, much worse than before. Tears stung her eyes as she struggled to propel her feet forwards. She tried to chase after the man who had been crouching outside her door, but her feet refused to move. Every time she tried to lift her boot, it felt heavier than before. Rachel held onto her fear, her face contorted in pain. She looked down at her feet, wondering what the hell was wrong with them. Had she stepped on something? Her boots looked the same as they had always been but when she looked at the floor in the corridor, the cramps returned worse than ever. Rachel held onto her ribs. She couldn't see anything that was obviously wrong.
'Can I help, Commander? Are you not well?'
Rachel turned her head. A trooper was standing on the opposite side of the corridor. She had seen him once before, when she had fought the Scorpion droid in the Old Quarter. He had been the man who had asked if she was okay when she had hidden in the outbuilding. He was young for a trooper, and more polite than most. Rachel searched her memory, trying to remember his name. There were so many new troopers. She hadn't yet learnt all their names.
'What's your name?' she said, trying not to frighten him with her pained expression.
'Trooper Paul Morrang,' he said, nodding his head. 'Should I bring a medical droid?'
'No. I'm okay.' Rachel hoped that the pain would pass as quickly as it had begun. 'How long have you been standing there?'
'Not long, Commander Henson. I just arrived on the Air Route. I'm trying to find Commander Penning. I was asked to help her with the pattern matchers. Apparently there's a backlog of work piling up. I couldn't find her in the Satellite Control Room. Harris said she may be in here quarters.'
Rachel nodded. 'Did you see anything just now? Was anyone standing near my door?'
'No, Commander. I didn't see anyone. Were you expecting someone?'
Rachel shook her head. 'I'm not expecting...' She paused, holding onto the pain in her stomach.
'Should I call somebody?' Morrang said. 'Maybe you should lie down for a while. You don't look well.'
Rachel took a couple of slow, deep breaths before letting go of her cramping stomach long enough to stand upright. She shouldn't be showing such weakness in front of the troopers. She had to set an example. The recruits needed commanders that they could look up to, people that they could respect and depend upon.
'I'm fine,' she said. 'You go ahead. Give Commander Penning my regards.'
Morrang didn't look convinced but he nodded and stepped forwards. As he walked in front of Rachel's door, he cried out.
Rachel stared at him with confusion. 'What is it?' she said. Something clicked in the back of her mind and she realised her mistake at once. The cramps in her stomach hadn't gone. She had suppressed them, but they were still there. There was something wrong with the floor in the corridor. Why hadn't she seen it before?
Morrang turned to face her, his mouth hanging open. He stared down at his feet and moved his lower arms in a series of helpless flapping motions that Rachel couldn't understand. His mouth worked through several unspoken syllables, and an awful gurgling sound started in the back of his throat. Rachel followed Morrang's terrified gaze. Ripples ran across the floor around his feet. It looked as though he was standing in a shallow pool of black water. She stepped back, holding her impact pistol in her hand. This time her feet moved at her command, but only backwards.
Morrang was sinking into the floor. His boots, ankles, and knees slid into the blackness as he stared up at her with frightened, pleading eyes. He looked so young, barely into his twenties, as he reached one hand towards her. His body rocked in violent swirling motions, and his hips traversed a circle as his head and shoulders thrashed in a spiral path that descended towards the floor.
Rachel felt a sudden urge to reach out and grab his hands. She had to pull him out, to help him get away from the foul black liquid that threatened to devour him. A distant memory warned her not to do it. The blackness wasn't going to let him go, however hard she pulled. She knew somehow that if she grabbed his hands, the blackness would take her too. She had no idea where the memory came from, but her instincts made her take another step back, putting herself out of range for Morrang's desperate, clutching hands. She hated herself for doing it, and yet she knew that she had no other choice. He tried to grab her legs but she was too far away now.
Rachel almost gagged as an acrid stench rose from the floor. Morrang had become silent now. Rachel's voice had deserted her too. She stared at the black rippling stench and pushed away unwanted memories of having seen it before. That was another time, and another place, and she didn't want to think about it again. Those weren't her memories. She hadn't asked for them and she didn't want to remember them now.
Morrang continued his unnatural descent. He had now sunk as far as his chest. He flung his arms outwards, trying to grab hold of the floor on each side of him. His face had become red and flustered, sweat covering his forehead. Black fluid poured from his nose and eye sockets. Rachel tried to turn away, but she couldn't tear herself away from his incredible pain. He was choking on the thick black fluid. His head thrashed back and forth as though shaken by unseen hands.
Rachel felt tears burning her eyes. She tapped the collar of her jacket, opening a broadcast channel to all commanders at once. 'Man down,' she said. 'Officer's accommodation. Fless nanopatch deployed.'
When she heard her own words, she wondered what she had just said. Even the tone of her voice had been different, deeper than her usual tone. She didn't know what was happening to her.
Morrang's head sank into the black pool, his short brown hair slipping out of sight. Within a few seconds, all trace of him was gone. The rippling black sludge quivered, and then stiffened as the floor became solid once more. Its dark stained surface faded to the normal colour of brown marble, taking its awful secrets with it.
Rachel rubbed a hand across her forehead, breathing heavily. The floor had reverted to its original appearance. She could no longer see the join between the old and the new. Morrang was gone. He had been so young, so innocent. He hadn't deserved what had happened to him. Rachel buried her face in her hands and started to cry.