Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 5

“Why am I coming with you again?” Liam asked as he glanced around the heavily guarded space station corridor. They were in orbit around Dartmax where the bio-weapons had been developed and subsequently escaped.

“General Siderus told me that Doctor Monroe is not much of a people person,” Markov explained.

“You warned the crew about that already, but I’m probably just as bad if not worse than this Selandra woman!” Liam had to step lively to avoid being run over by a jogging soldier.

Markov chuckled. “I know, and that’s exactly why you’re here. I think the two of you will get along swimmingly.”

Captain Markov led him into a sterile white laboratory occupied by a single woman in a long lab coat. She was of average height, had her blonde hair pulled back, and her green eyes were hidden behind safety goggles. Doctor Monroe was bent over a microscope, meaning even her bulky lab coat could not conceal the fact that she had a delightfully curvy backside. Markov nudged Liam with his elbow when he caught him staring.

“What?” Liam whispered. Markov just shook his head.

“Captain Markov, I presume,” Selandra said without looking up from her microscope. “The rest of the staff has learned not to enter except by appointment.”

“That’s correct, Doctor Monroe,” the captain answered. “What can you tell us about the situation?”

“Straight to business, perhaps you won’t be a complete waste of time after all. Siderus spoke very highly of you, which is rare for him.” She finally stood and turned to get a look at them. She nodded towards Liam. “A member of your crew?”

“Doctor Liam Lafayette.” Liam inclined his head politely.

“My first officer aboard the Mako Rising. He also served with General Siderus in the AI Wars,” Markov said.

“A reunion, then. Lovely. Well, McDonalds-Wal*Mart made a royal mess out of Dartmax, as you know from the briefing documents. Unfortunately, what is being kept secret is much, much worse.”

“Worse than an escaped bio-weapon that forced the evacuation of an entire planet and killed thousands?” Liam asked skeptically.

“It’s not just a bio-weapon,” Selandra said tersely. “I should know, I helped create it. It’s a plant-based organism designed to seek out and destroy technology, particularly metal. It was developed at the end of the AI Wars as a potential solution should Siderus fail. Obviously he did not and the plants proved unnecessary.”

“But you didn’t destroy them,” Markov observed.

“Of course not! This is a new species! The scientific knowledge we’ve gained from study alone has been invaluable! Besides, what if the AI were to return? The research still exists to recreate them, multiple corporations are known to possess it, so the plants were kept should they become necessary once more.”

“Very well,” Markov allowed grumpily. “Continue.”

“The entire reason Siderus called you and not one of his military flunkies is because of the very confidential information I’m about to share with you. You alone he said he trusted to handle this while he makes preparations for the worst,” Doctor Monroe said ominously.

“Out with it!” Markov growled.

“The plants are sentient.”

*

The crew was gathered around the Mako’s mess room table to hear the news Selandra had for them. They were taking it about as well as Markov had feared.

“You sneaky, sciency bitch!” Ursula shouted. “This is what they do! They poke and they prod until this!” She held out her hands and created a ball of electricity in each palm.

Qadira put a calming hand on Ursula’s shoulder. “Just how sentient are we talking here? Kindergarteners? Teenagers? Wilson after a bottle and a half?”

Doctor Monroe rolled her green eyes at Qadira. “Little girl, don’t ask technical questions that you cannot hope to understand the answers to.”

“Hey! What was that about me?” Wilson lurched to his feet, finally realizing he’d been insulted, but Liam pushed him back down into his seat.

“Little girl?” Qadira asked icily. “Honey, you look like you’re barely in your forties! That means at twenty-three I’m hardly a little girl!”

Markov saw Selandra’s nostrils flare angrily. He knew from General Siderus’ files that she was only twenty-eight. He also knew that Qadira was deliberately lashing out at their newest crew member after Selandra’s snide remark.

“Enough,” Captain Markov cut in. “You two can argue on your own time. How smart are these plants? Dumb it down for us, Doctor Monroe.”

Selandra clenched her teeth irritably. “The plants do not experience life the same way we do. They grow incredibly fast for flora, but that is still a glacial pace compared to how fast animals move about. Initially we had no idea they capable of thinking or feeling.”

“Typical mad scientist bullshit,” Ursula muttered.

Doctor Monroe ignored Ursula’s comment. “It wasn’t until we observed them appearing to utilize strategy to destroy the machines we pitted them against that we – I, really, since none of my colleagues believed me – began to suspect they were more than just mutated blackberry bushes. We had created them to seek out technology and digest it into sustenance, we never dreamed that the primary instinct we instilled in them would evolve and manifest into a nearly religious worldview about maintaining a natural balance in the universe. During our first conversations with them, the plants explained at length how they believed machines to be the root of all evil.”

“Wait, you can talk to them?” Liam asked.

“Of course. Once I noticed their development of strategy, I isolated those root clusters that showed the most promise and bred them extensively, providing a generous helping of genetic modification along the way, of course. You see, my early sentient plants were much, much more effective in combat tests than their regular counterparts. As such, I was given free rein to enhance them to their fullest potential,” Selandra explained.

Ursula popped her knuckles savagely at the mention of “potential.” Markov put a hand on her shoulder to let her know it would not be appropriate to kill Doctor Monroe just for using the same language as the men and machines that had experimented on her. She relaxed, at least as much as Ursula ever relaxes in the company of a scientist.

“And then they escaped and killed thousands?” Qadira asked snarkily.

Selandra glared at her. “Eventually, yes. But that was after I left the project. McDonalds-Wal*Mart disliked the fact that I created a communication device for the plants. Well, device isn’t really the word. I modified a species of parrot that the plants can use as a mouthpiece via a rather grisly process.”

Qadira arched an eyebrow. “You think the process is grisly. You?”

“I admit, it was not my proudest moment, but it was the only way I could find to communicate with the plants without subjecting a human to the process. Regardless, the higher-ups in the corporation didn’t like the idea of their weapons talking back or thinking for themselves so after all of my incredible results I was fired. I have no idea what happened after that, but within two months the incident occurred that led to the plants’ complete overrunning of Dartmax. Captain Markov likely has more details on the incident, as the plants’ creator I am viewed somewhat suspiciously by the military commander of this operation.”

“The plants started attacking the labs they were held in,” Markov told them. “They were designed to overwhelm any kind of technology that might be used against them, so it was quicker than you’d think. Fire, cold, explosives, everything they did on Dartmax only drove the plants deeper into the ground where their roots could spread further and pop up in a completely new area. There are varieties that spew acid, strangle people in their sleep like a python, and some are giant Venus flytraps. All of them have thorns and are difficult if not impossible to kill.”

“So what’s our first move?” Qadira asked.

“We go down and have a chat.”

Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 4

“Wilson! Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the captain bellowed at his drunk mechanic.

“These particalizers are in piss-poor shape. They need to be replaced. And that was just a heinous job somebody did on your alignment tubes. What evil genius swindled you out of your money for those shitty excuses for repair work?” Wilson stumbled and nearly fell over as he reached for his bottle of booze and missed.

“I did all that,” Markov growled.

“Ha!” Wilson let out a loud bark of laughter. “Oh Jesus, you’re serious? I’m surprised the Mako is still flying with you mucking about back here!” He successfully grabbed his bottle of bourbon and took a long swig.

“The Mako is one of the best ships ever built and I know how to take care of her, goddammit,” the captain said.

“Then why is the Yarkov Coil out of balance?” Wilson bellowed.

“What?” Markov stared at the area of the engine Wilson was gesturing wildly towards.

Wilson rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “This!” He attacked the coil with a wrench. “See?”

The intercom clicked on and Qadira’s voice came through. “What the hell did you just do back there? The Mako is purring like a kitten all of the sudden, it’s fantastic!”

“I fixed the Yarkov Coil!” Wilson shouted back smugly as he handed the wrench to Andrew and took another swig from his bottle.

“Alright, good work. Keep it up, just don’t let it go to your head.” Markov turned to leave.

“Too late!” Wilson shouted after him. “I’m a God-damned genius!”

*

Ursula sat on top of the bar with her combat boots resting on the stool in front of her. She took a sip of her drink, which was a locally brewed liquor that could also function as jet fuel if one found oneself in a bind. No one said shit to her for sitting on the bar and ever since she rescued the owner’s daughter from that serial killer she drank for free here. It was one of the main reasons she came to look for work on Vertraxin so often.

“I love your tats,” a drunken local leered at Ursula’s tits. In his defense, there were tattoos there, but it wasn’t a good enough excuse for her.

Ursula smiled. This was going to be fun. “Smell this.” She held her glass under the young man’s nose.

He took a whiff and whistled. “Honey, you’ve got horrible taste in booze! Let me buy you something nice.” He put his beefy hand on her knee and waved to the bartender.

Ursula threw her drink in this face.

“What the hell, bitch!” he shouted.

Sparks zipped back and forth between the fingers of Ursula’s right hand while her left held the man’s collar so he couldn’t escape. “What did you call me?” Ursula asked quietly.

“I…I…” Words proved too much for him. His eyes grew wider and wider as he stared at Ursula’s electricity filled hand.

“Do you know what will happen to your face if just one of these sparks touches it?” Ursula asked just as calmly as before.

He shook his head fearfully.

Ursula’s grin widened substantially. “You’ll burn.”

“Enough of that shit,” Markov’s rough voice cut in as he grabbed the soda dispenser and doused the lad’s face.

“You could have taken it off of the cola setting, bro!” The local wiped his eyes and blinked rapidly. Ursula let him go.

“Yeah, but you probably deserved some of that. Beat it.” Markov jerked his thumb over his shoulder. The kid didn’t have to be told twice.

“I been waiting for you.” Ursula grinned at the captain and swung her knees back and forth idly.

“That should probably worry me, but come here and give me a hug any way.” Markov wrapped his long arms around Ursula for a quick hug. “How’ve you been? Killed anyone?”

“Yes, but they were all bad!” Ursula laughed. “Now come on, let’s blow this popsicle stand, I’m bored!” She grabbed the sleeve of Markov’s jacket and towed him out of the bar.

*

“Uncle, are you sure this is a good idea?” Andrew asked nervously as he peered over his Uncle Wilson’s shoulder.

“How could it not be? I’m utilizing the engine extracts from the Mako, that will make her run more efficiently, and I get an unlimited supply of free booze! Win-win!” Wilson chortled.

“But your…um…still, as it were, doesn’t seem structurally sound,” Andrew noted cautiously.

“Nonsense, boy! I once built an entire space shuttle out of scraps I found in the trash.” Wilson banged his newest addition to the engine room with the heavy wrench in his hand and the whole thing crumbled and began spewing chemicals all over the floor. Wilson frowned at the flailing hoses. “Clean that up,” he told Andrew dismissively before reaching for his whiskey.

Andrew rolled his eyes and did as he was told. He closed all the valves Wilson had connected to the still first so that it was stop spraying him, but he was still covered from head to toe in a variety of substances that one should never be covered in.

And then he saw her.

Andrew had never seen a girl like her. Not when he lived on Blue Cardiff with Uncle Wilson and certainly not when he lived with the Galactic Missionaries of the Light where all the women dressed in long, bulky dresses. She was tall to begin with, but the heavy combat boots she wore made her stand nearly at eye level with him. The fact that she shaved her head bald should have been disgusting, but instead it made her seem exotic and alien in a way that Andrew never suspected he would be attracted to. She had bright blue eyes and a plethora of tattoos. Andrew felt himself immediately become ensorcelled.

“H-h-h-hi!” Andrew stammered and then finally got the word out at an excessively loud volume.

The girl stopped and turned on her heel. She looked Andrew up and down, wordlessly crossed the engine room, snatched Wilson’s bottle of whiskey out of his hand, and then walked out taking a long pull straight from the bottle.

“Who was that?” Andrew asked his uncle. He was so enamored that he almost forgot to be flabbergasted that someone had taken alcohol from Wilson without him putting up a fight.

“Ursula.” Wilson said it like a curse. “I need a drink.” He disappeared into his liquor cabinet.

Shrugging, Andrew decided to follow Ursula. The Mako Rising was the largest ship Andrew had ever been on, but that wasn’t saying all that much and it still felt cramped compared to the sprawling compound of the Galactic Missionaries of the Light. Ursula was busy picking the lock of one of the sleeping quarters and didn’t seem to notice Andrew’s approach.

“Uh, I think that one’s locked,” Andrew told her. “I’ve never seen anyone use that one.”

“’Course not, it’s my room,” Ursula told him matter-of-factly as she continued picking the lock. It looked like a complicated process with lots of wires and little hooked pins. “Nobody goes in my room.”

“I…see?” Andrew tried to nod like he knew what she was talking about.

“No you don’t, you probably don’t even use the piece of shit lock they have on your quarters. You look like the trusting sort, you’ll probably die soon so don’t bother telling me your name.” Ursula finished whatever she had been doing and her door slid open. She grinned, it was an enthusiastic, nearly feral looking grin.

“Oh, how rude of me! I’m Andrew, Wilson’s nephew.” He held out his hand.

“Don’t let her touch you and don’t do anything she says,” Doctor Liam warned as he passed them in the corridor. He continued on his way without stopping.

Andrew glanced down at his outstretched hand, but could not think of a graceful way to retract it. He decided the doctor was just having some fun with him, Liam seemed to have an odd sense of humor. He smiled at Ursula, but she didn’t shake his hand.

“You don’t have red hair, so I suppose you’re fair game,” Ursula said cryptically. Andrew had no time to ask what she meant, she threw herself at him and kissed him violently on the mouth. Before he knew it, he was being dragged into Ursula’s room and slammed up against the wall as she continued kissing him, biting his lip, and digging her fingernails into his neck.

She kept on kissing and biting him, down to his chin, and along his jaw until she reached his ear. Then an unexpected shock zapped Andrew right on the ear where Ursula had been kissing him. “Ow!” he screamed. “What was that?”

Ursula only grinned and kissed his forehead. Another shock bit into his neck. Andrew wondered if his second scream was a bit more of squeal than a scream, but hoped it hadn’t been.

“What’s happening?” Andrew demanded. “Is there a damaged circuit in here?”

That made Ursula chuckle for some reason. “Something like that.” She put her hand on his thigh and that was when Andrew saw the bolt of lightning come zipping out of her palm and burn a hole in his pants.

Andrew screamed.

*

Qadira glanced down at her stopwatch. “Pay up.”

Liam grumbled to himself. “What kind of idiot lets himself get drawn in by Ursula that quickly?” He transferred twenty credits to Qadira’s account.

“Double or nothing that he runs screaming out of her room with his clothes on fire?” Qadira offered.

“No bet,” Liam answered.

Ursula’s door slammed open and Andrew bolted from the room trailing smoke from at least half a dozen spots on his clothing.

“Smart man.” Qadira chuckled.

“Qadira!” Ursula stuck her head out into the corridor. As always, Qadira broke out in a minor sweat when Ursula hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, but just like every time before nothing bad happened. Ursula liked Qadira for some unfathomable reason. “And Liam.” Ursula favored Liam with a sloppy salute.

“Good to see you, Ursula.” Liam returned the salute, but much more cleanly executed. “How have you been?”

“Out of my mind, as always. Want a drink?” She held up a bottle of what looked like Wilson’s favorite whiskey.

“Of course,” Liam answered.

“I’ll abstain, but I would love to keep the two of you company.” Qadira followed Liam into Ursula’s sparsely decorated quarters.

Her rock-hard bed took up one wall and a small table with four stools were the only furniture she had. Qadira was fairly certain Ursula had secret compartments all around her room, but it was best not to pry into the things Ursula decided to keep secret.

“I thought you might say that.” From a blank looking spot on the wall Ursula produced two glasses, an exquisitely carved pipe that looked like a dragon, and a bag of hashish. She set everything down on the table and poured generous helpings for herself and Liam.

Qadira filled the pipe and held it out for Ursula to light with her special gift. “Thank you, my dear. So, did the captain tell you what kind of suicidal venture we’re on this time?”

“Killer shrubs or something.” Ursula shrugged. “Irene is involved so I’m sure it will be exciting.”

“Have you seen Irene lately?” Liam asked.

“No. And it hurts my feeling that you would ask me that.” She pouted at him.

Qadira grinned and laughed right alongside Ursula at the frightened look on Liam’s face. “She gets you every time!”

“Well she usually kills the people who offend her!” Liam grumbled. “I always wonder if today’s my day.” He shivered and took an extra-long drink.

“Oh Liam.” Ursula refilled the doctor’s glass before topping off her own. “You’re so delightfully dreary. That’s why I almost like you!”

Qadira snorted back a laugh. “So close.” She held her index finger a hair’s width from her thumb.

“And yet you treat our little pilot here like your long lost sister, why is that?” Liam asked.

Ursula leaned back on her stool. “You’re a doctor so I can’t be a hundred percent sure you haven’t been doing experiments on me the whole time I’ve known you. That means I might have to kill you one day and I really, really hate killing the people I like. Plus, Qadira is so much more fun that you! She buys me boots and looks so damn hot in a little black dress!”

“Well, how can I compete with that?” Liam clinked his glass against Ursula’s and the two of them drank.

“What the hell are you three doing?” Markov growled from the doorway. He was waving his hand in front of his face to clear away the smoke from Qadira’s pipe.

“It’s my welcome home, come join us!” Ursula announced happily.

“Absolutely not. Liam, are you letting our pilot get high?” the captain asked disapprovingly.

Liam gave Qadira a considering look. “Letting is a strong word when it comes to Qadira. I’ll admit to being present while it happened. Is happening, if you will.”

“I expect this kind of behavior from the two of them, but I’m disappointed in you,” Markov told Liam as he left.

“No you’re not! You’ve known me too long for that to be true!” Liam shouted after him.