Dead Space: Martyr by Brian Evenson Page A

resist Convergence, Jim.
    “Convergence?”
    “What?” said Dantec, half turning around. “I guess that yes, the molecular beams converge, in a manner of speaking. But why are you so interested?”
    Not to mention the Convergence, said Shane. The last thing you want to do is get that started. He stretched uncomfortably in his chair.
    “Be careful how you move,” said Hennessy to Dantec. “You don’t want to tear Shane apart.”

19
    Oh, shit, thought Dantec. He turned fully around to face Hennessy, who immediately started screaming.
    “Shane!” Hennessy screamed, “ Shane! The blood! The blood! He’s all over everything! He’s all over you!” Making gagging sounds, he started rubbing his hands up and down Dantec’s chest, a terrible expression on his face. “We have to get him off!” he said, and cast Dantec a desperate look. “Can’t you see it?” he asked. “Can’t you see the blood?”
    Dantec slapped him hard enough to knock him down. “Just calm down,” said Dantec. He was shaking. “Just relax.”
    “Easy for you to say,” Hennessy was muttering. “It isn’t your brother who just burst.”
    “Hennessy,” said Dantec, “it wasn’t your brother either. It’s just you and me here.”
    But Hennessy was shaking his head. “I saw him,” he was saying, “I saw him.” His voice was more and more hysterical. “He was here, I swear, right here, right there, where you’re sitting, there.”
    “But that’s me,” said Dantec, starting to get really frightened. “How could he be sitting here if I was here the whole time?”
    “He was,” said Hennessy. “He was halfway inside you. You tore him, and then he burst.”
    Oh, shit, thought Dantec again. “Try to get a hold of yourself, Hennessy,” he said, keeping his voice level. “You’re imagining things.”
    “We have to stop,” said Hennessy. “Shane told me—we have to leave it alone. We have to bury it and get the hell out of here. Stop the core sampler!” He was screaming now. “Put it back!”
    “It’s okay,” said Dantec, “I’ll stop it,” he said. “I’m stopping it now,” he claimed. He reached out for the controls and then hesitated. It was nearly through, the sample nearly extracted. Just a few seconds more and they’d have it, and then they could get the hell out of there.
    “Stop it!” raved Hennessy. “Stop it!”
    “I’m stopping it,” lied Dantec. “Don’t shout, you’re confusing me. It’s almost done, I swear.”
    And it was done, for at that moment the molecular cutters finished and the core sampler began to withdraw with its sample in the extraction cylinder.
    “There, you see?” said Dantec. “Everything’s okay.” He turned around, smiling, just in time to have his jaw broken by a metal bar. He raised his arm, felt the pain as the bar struck him there as well. He half slid, half fell out of the command chair. He saw the bar hit and crumple the armrest just above his head. It was a strut from the oxygen recirculator—he wondered how Hennessy had disassembled it so quickly. He kicked out, watched Hennessy lurch to one side and stumble against the bulkhead. Dantec started to scramble up, but his arm wouldn’t support him. Blood was pouring out of his mouth and down his chest. He managed to heave himself to his feet, but Hennessy had already recovered and was coming at him, bringing the bar down. He raised the broken arm and Hennessy struck it again, the pain this time so intense that his vision faded to a dark blur. Heslipped in his own blood and was down again. And then Hennessy struck him in the head.
    As he lay there, the life leaking out of him, he began to feel people crowding around him. It was impossible. Even though he was dying, he knew it wasn’t possible, it was only he and Hennessy there, and even if it were possible, there were too many people to fit. But even though he was sure it couldn’t be happening, it was unbearable that it was. Particularly when he recognized the