The Agathon: Reign of Arturo by Colin Weldon

soil. She felt her bones crack under the pressure and released a last scream as she was swallowed up and eaten.

    She awoke on the bio bed screaming. Her hands outstretched. Smoke filled the medical bay as she tried to catch her breath. She could feel her wet hair clinging to her face, as sweat and tears poured down. She looked around trying to get control of her panic. Meridian and Brubaker were on the ground covering their heads. She suddenly realised that her nightmare had triggered her to release an electrical charge from her fingertips and she snapped her arms back towards her chest folding her arms.
    “Chase?” she said suddenly concerned that she had caused someone injury.
    There was silence in the medical bay as the smoke from a nearby console rose slowly from its surface. Meridian and Brubaker rose slowly from the floor and approached her.
    “I’m okay, Dice, looks like you had a nightmare,” Meridian said looking around at the console.
    “My God, I am so sorry. Did I hurt anyone?” Carrie said.
    Brubaker blew a breath out and shook her head.
    “Everyone is fine, Carrie, just lay back and relax for a moment,” she said.
    Carrie did as she was asked and placed her hands on her face. She suddenly felt like she was a danger to everyone on board.
    “That was some nightmare,” Meridian said, “Remind me not to invite you for a sleep over,” she said smiling and pushing wet hair away from Carrie’s face.
    “I’m sorry,” Carrie said.
    “Don’t worry about it, Dice, it keeps us all on our toes. You should really say sorry to Brubaker, you broke her computer,” she said laughing.
    “Don’t worry, the bloody thing hasn’t worked properly since it was installed, you actually did me a favour,” Brubaker replied.
    The three women began to laugh as they looked around the medical bay.
    “I think we should revisit the superhero hypothesis,” she added, “I know an ex-husband I’d like to do that to.”
    Carrie smiled lightly before thinking back to the dream, if it was a dream.
    “Chase,” she said.
    Meridian paused.
    “Yes, Carrie,” she replied.
    “I think that machine planet knows where we are. I think it’s coming for us,” she replied.
    Meridian’s face suddenly turned pale.
    “I think it wants me,” she said to her.
    Meridian didn’t answer.

7
    The Unity
    T he last three days had been relatively uneventful. Aron volunteered for the night shift so that he could be alone. The tension between India and Stanley was making the task of deploying the buoys a little more tiresome than expected and he needed some time off from it. He figured if they were going to kill each other, then it was probably better to sleep through it and see who wins. Vishal had provided them with thirteen long range communications satellites. They had been largely experimental and largely believed to have been a waste of colonial resources, but Arturo had pressed for the project to be developed many years earlier. Aron had to hand it to the chancellor. Whatever you said about the conditions he kept the colonists in, he had to admit that at least they were all still alive.
    Aron listened to the sub light engines as they pushed the ship through the vacuum of space. The gentle vibrations reverberated through the cockpit. He looked out at the stars as they streaked by the windows and wondered if there was anyone really out there. He had thought about just taking the ship and leaving on many occasions. Just setting a course for the nearest star and letting her rip. The thought never lasted long though and he couldn’t have lived with himselfknowing the suffering he would leave behind. They had laid out three of the satellite buoys. One every twenty-four hours or so over the last three days and all seemed to be working well. According to Vishal, the relay would need the full thirteen activated before a signal could be transmitted successfully across the distance to The Agathon. Aron had poured himself a coffee and was