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LENA THOUGHT THAT MIGHT be the end of the shots and the end to Rowie worrying. It turned out to be neither. The dreams she was having were particularly vivid. The first officer was taking long slow strides through the ship. He was coming. And he was coming for her. Adrenaline flooded her veins. Each dream he got closer.
He got inside her cabin. What was he doing? He unbuttoned his uniform jacket theatrically. Lena’s teeth clenched. Now would be the time to find out if she could wake on her own and how long it would take. She really should have thought of this before. Too late now.
Lazar reached into the pocket of the jacket. There was something in the pocket. He removed it slowly. A hand-sized metal thing that couldn’t seem to make its mind up if it were a gun or a syringe. Now would be a great time to wake up. Lena dragged at her mind to try and control her limbs. She couldn’t even control her eyelids. Everything felt heavy. Except her heart. That was pounding.
She smelled a waft of awful cologne masking sweat. At least her nose was co-operating. Oh God, not a dream. He leaned over her, masking the faint pink light from the walls of her room. Wait, the walls of the ship. Maybe she should ping the ship and ask for help. The ship must know what was going on, but after its previous suggestion of ejecting the marines into space, would there be anything else it could truly do, without there being a death on Lena’s conscience. She didn’t like Fazar, not one bit, but she didn’t wish him dead. If she woke up in a panic and worried the ship, anything might happen. She couldn’t warn Rowie, and she had to calm the hell down or she might eject this guy into space anyway.
In his other hand he had a penlight torch. He skimmed it over her eyes, muttering to himself. Come on Lena, wake up. She tried to open her eyelids, but they were glued at the edges and heavy. She managed a groan. That was a start. Fazar froze, checked his arm pad, then looked over his shoulder. Were there noises in the corridor? He shook his head and took the ‘gun’ carefully, point in the air. It was sharp and the point was the size of a pencil. The end glinted in the pink light. Fazar pulled something back on it and it made a sprung click. Was it cocked? Whatever it was. Was he going to kill her? Drug her? And then do what? That thought was worse. She felt the panic rising in her throat and another groan escaped her before she could stop it. He was staring at her again, then checking behind him, then staring at her face. She shuddered. He put the penlight in his teeth and reached down. He touched her nose with cold, clammy fingers. Then he turned her head away from the wall. Now she felt really exposed. She knew the ship’s awareness would begin to stir towards her. Stay calm Lena. Stay calm Rowie. He ran a finger down her neck. Now Rowie was watching the man for sure. Lena got images of the whole cabin being open to space.
No, Rowie, you’ll hurt both of us. The gun got closer. Oh god oh god oh god. Something scraped her neck. Sharp but not cold. “No don’t.”
There was a sharp stab below her collar bone and click. What had he done? Lena’s pulse hammered and she started to get feeling back in her extremities. Rowie was waking her. Why hadn’t she asked for that before? She went to move but the stab in her neck was excruciating. Fazar was motionless, standing over her, gun still jammed in her neck. She could move her eyelids, her eyes were wet. She opened them, slowly. Everything was blurred. She blinked. Better. She tried to focus. Her eyeballs ached. She forced them over to see what was going on. Fazar hadn’t moved a muscle. He couldn’t. Rowie had done something. That force, whatever it was, that Rowie used to give Lena an affectionate hug, was gripping Fazar, and holding him fast, and whatever he’d stabbed her in the neck with. There was silence outside, not even normal ship background noise. Had Rowie frozen everyone? This was awful.
Rowie, I need you to slowly let him go. She still used her mind to talk. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t slur if she spoke out loud and the less this man knew about what she and the ship could and couldn’t do, the better. There was the faintest of breezes, Fazar moved in slow motion, the noises of the ship built again, with definite noises of alarm closing on her cabin. He pulled the gun from her neck with another scrape. Then the noise outside and the man inside slowed to a stop again. Lena felt warmth on her neck and couldn’t bring an arm up to check what it was. She guessed though. Now what? Her instincts kicked in at the fresh waft of metallic smell and the thud of her pulse, now pumping her blood out of the hole left by the gun. If she did nothing, she’d bleed out. The nearest help was her assailant. The front of her clothes was damp.
Let him go, Rowie. She knew what Fazar was capable of. She’d seen it with her own eyes. This whole thing, whatever it was, had been planned by him, she’d watched him come on board with whatever it was. Men like that had a backup plan. If she ejected him into space, or left him just frozen, he’d have a backup plan. Men like him always did. Rowie, let him go.
Fazar started moving again, taking out a handkerchief and pressing it on Lena’s wound. He no longer had the gun in his hand and seemed to be looking at something on his arm-pad. He certainly wasn’t watching her. Lena was about to change that. “Wha... did you do to ...euh?” She spoke to him as best she could, but the slurring was obvious. He snapped his eyes down to her, then back to his pad. “Wha— did you do?” She managed, much louder a second time.
“Insurance.” He still wouldn’t look her in the eye, but at least she’d got his attention. “Why are you bleeding so much?” But he wasn’t really talking to her. He removed the pad, tutted, and put it back again. “Hold this,” he said, nodding at the cloth.
“Can’t,” Lena said.
“Well then you’ll just have to bleed out then.”
“Can’t. Move.”
He tutted, then lifted Lena’s arm and placed it on top of the cloth. He seemed satisfied enough to leave it like that. Her arm and hand hung like two lumps of meat. She couldn’t press if she’d wanted to. Blood dribbled from under the cloth, down her chest.
“Al call the Caftin,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Ah, but you won’t, you see,” Lazar wore his smug face. “In your shoulder there is a bomb.” He made a boom motion with his hand. “Not a very big bomb, but big enough. And here’s the super clever bit. The switch resets every thirty-six hours, if I inject some of my blood into the port that I’ve put in your shoulder. No blood? Boom. Must be mine and must be fresh. So, if I don’t come and inject it...” Lena’s eyes were wide. Lazar nodded slowly and theatrically.
The mood was broken by noises outside. “Well, must dash,” Lazar said. “Don’t want anyone suspecting, do we?” And with that he left.
She heard him briefly in the corridor talking to the doctor about how he’d just found Lena and one of the ship’s tendrils had become unattached from her and there was blood everywhere. To hurt her? That was insult enough. But then to blame Rowie for it? That made Lena angry.
