Divergence

“Then we’ll die,” said Judy simply.

“Don’t be so ridiculous. You have a lot to offer. I give credit, you know. I will sell you food and oxygen. I have done the same for others before you.”

Miss Rose gave a weak whimper and her stomach began to weep blood.

“Kill her,” Saskia whispered.

Judy placed her hands back around the old woman’s neck.

“You’re too late,” Kevin said. “I don’t think it will let you now.”

Miss Rose’s long, misshapen arms reached up and pushed Judy’s hands away.

“Stop it,” Judy shouted. She concentrated, put on the voice. “Stop it,” she repeated.

“I told you, I can’t. If I were you, I’d get away from her. That venumb will want to reproduce. It’s looking at you…”

Screaming in agony again, Miss Rose scrabbled at the plastic interior of the body bag. Silver tentacles sprouted from her fingertips, pushing free her cracked yellow nails to float bloodily inside the bag. Silver tentacles began to rip at the plastic.

“Push her away,” Saskia yelled, seizing the body bag and thrusting it upwards into the weightless center of the Bailero ’s hull. Oh, so slowly, the bag began to move. Judy pushed at it, too, then ducked back to avoid the swipe of a tentacle. The bag gradually drifted upwards and away.

“Good idea,” said Kevin. “But if I were you, I would run. Those VNMs inside her are eating the calcium in her bones and lacing themselves into her nervous system. They are running up her spine to interface with her brain. I have seen this happen before. They always choose a different mode of propulsion. One set, I remember, plumbed themselves straight into a human’s bladder. Used urine as reaction mass for propulsion.”

“That’s sick,” Saskia shrieked. Judy realized Saskia was coming out from under her control. No wonder, when Judy was spreading herself so thin, trying to deal with her, Kevin, and Miss Rose all at the same time.

“Not sick, intelligent design,” said Kevin. “That’s the beauty of the ecosystem that I created inside my hull. Those VNMs evolved their own systems for motion and attack and defense with minimum involvement from myself. Look out, she’s coming for you.”

“Run,” Judy said. Miss Rose had stopped slowly rising and was now coming towards them, still screaming thinly, hands reaching out.

They began to run across the iron interior of the Bailero ’s hull, their feet locking to the surface, their bodies weightless. It was such a dreamlike feeling, like dragging a huge balloon along. Maurice called out to them. “Judy, Saskia, it’s me. Don’t try to run. Cut the attachment to the wall and swim. Use your hands and feet to pull you along!”

“What do you mean?” Judy called.

“Do as he says. Use your hands and feet!”

Saskia went sailing past Judy, floating a meter above the frost-patterned surface. She looked as if she was doing the breaststroke. Judy now understood what Maurice meant and she cut the force holding her down. She reached out with her hands and feet and felt the floor through her active suit’s senses, then began to pull herself along.

“We’re about seven hundred meters away from you both,” said Maurice. “Up and farther around the curve of the Bailero ’s hull. Just follow the signal.”

A yellow path lit up in Judy’s vision.

“Better be fast,” Kevin warned. “Miss Rose is catching up with you.”

“You animal!” Saskia snarled. “Why didn’t you save her?”

“She’s not actually dead yet,” said Kevin. “The VNMs haven’t made it into her brain.”

“I know that,” Judy muttered, halting herself with a wave of her arms and launching herself backwards. For a moment, she could see Miss Rose as a tangle of life: a snake was entwining itself around her dying body, opening its jaws to consume her.

“Would you like to make a deal?” Kevin asked suddenly.