“Does Grant know about this?”

  “No, and we aren’t telling him right now.”

  West looked at Rose. “You touch him again, I’ll break every bone in all of your fingers.”

  Rose flinched a second time, face paling at the thought.

  “What did you learn?” Joseph asked.

  “What?” Rose said, still distracted.

  “C’mon, Doctor,” he growled. ”The sample. What have you learned about it? This is important. One of those things, a bigger one, took control of Guardian Tran. It made him kill people. He tried to kill me. When he died, the thing attacked. I think it wanted to get into another host. And when I shot at it, it ran.”

  “Interesting,” Rose said.

  “That’s not the word I would use, but okay. What can you tell me about it?”

  “Let me show you,” Rose said, guiding them across the lab.

  Joseph’s eyes trailed to the group of trife, occupied again with reproductive ritual. They didn’t seem concerned with him at all this time.

  “They’re calm now,” he said.

  Rose looked over at them. “Yes. You must have had something on you last time, a remnant of something from the membrane they could sense. I told you, they’re harmless in that state.”

  “It’s not my concern right now.”

  His new comm badge beeped. “Prime Cross, this is Captain Grant. Do you copy?”

  Rose looked over at him, suddenly fearful, her expression suggesting he should ignore the ping.

  He tapped on the badge. “Captain Grant, this is Cross. I copy.”

  “Prime, I’m glad you’ve been located. Guardian Hoffman briefed me on the current situation, and Guardian Madani just arrived on the bridge. Do we have a plan of action to deal with the creature?”

  “Yes, sir, I think so, but I’m still putting a strategy together. I’m not ready to share it yet.”

  “I don’t care if you tell me about it at all, as long as you get these damn things off my ship. What happened with Doctor Rose? Research still isn’t networked into the mainframe.”

  “I’m in Research now. I hope you’ll forgive my insubordination, sir, but we’re in the middle of an emergency, and I need to focus my attention and energy on preventing any more deaths. I’ll contact you when I have something more concrete to report. Prime out.”

  He tapped the badge, disconnecting it.

  “Oh no you didn’t,” West said.

  “He’s wasting time we don’t have,” Joseph replied. “He can get mad at me later, but the truth is he needs us more than we need him right now.”

  “I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Rose said. “Come over here.” She picked up the pace, going over to a smaller transparency similar to the one the trife were in.

  “Reminds me of a terrarium I had for my pet turtle,” West said. “His name was Oscar, like the character from Sesame Street. Because he was green.” She looked over at Joseph. “Shut up. Right?”

  There was no turtle in the transparency. Only the small black ooze. It was motionless in the container, pressed flat against the side.

  “We originally developed this containment to study trife fetuses,” she said. “None of the offspring our group produces are ever viable, but they do provide us with valuable insight, especially when they make a potential queen versus another worker. In any case, we have a full suite of tools available to operate on the unit from multiple angles. We already did a DNA scan and a compositional analysis, as well as built a 3D model I planned to use once you came and destroyed my sample.”

  “And?”

  “And I’ve never seen anything like this before. We thought perhaps it was related to the xenotrife, but there’s zero correlation between the two. Not only do they not share a single shred of DNA, but the composition is completely different.”

  “So they’re enemies of the trife,” Joseph said.

  “Not necessarily. I wish I had a sample of the xenosquids so I could better understand how they relate to the membrane.”

  “You’ll have to settle for telling me what the membrane is, and how it can control people’s minds.”

  “I don’t think it’s controlling their minds,” Rose said.

  “Tran attacked me, Doctor. He wouldn’t have done that on his own. I’m sure of it.”

  “Oh, no, I’m not suggesting Guardian Tran was himself, Prime. Let me explain.” She turned to a display next to the enclosure, tapping the control pad to bring up what looked like individual cells moving around in a petri dish. “This is what it looks like inside that black jelly,” she said. “This magnification represents an area on the creature the size of a single human cell.”

  “What?” Joseph said in disbelief. “But those are cells, aren’t they?”

  “Yes. Their cells are approximately a tenth of a nanometer across, and their DNA even smaller. We can’t read it with our current tools, it’s just too tiny. But it gets more interesting than that. I’ve only started digging into the data, but from what I can tell up front it appears that these cells cluster together with small separations between them. Each cluster appears to be a fully self-sufficient unit, but they also act in accordance with one another, meaning they’re communicating to work together.”

  “That doesn’t sound overly unique,” Joseph said.

  “By itself, no. The interesting thing is that I can’t discern a transmission medium.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everything that communicates does so with some kind of transmission medium. Radio signals, disruption of air to produce soundwaves. In molecules, information is shared by chemical reactions and electrical charges. There’s no evidence of any of that in this creature, and yet these clusters are talking to one another.”

  “How?”

  “That’s the question. I don’t know how. But theoretically, if the creature can transmit from one cell cluster to another without passing anything through its soft medium, it could be transmitting from here back to Earth. Or from here to anywhere in the universe.”

  Joseph and Rose stared at one another in silence. He tried to wrap his mind around what she was saying, struggling to succeed but not quite accomplishing it. “You’re telling me that what we have on the ship here could be connected to something larger, let’s say an entire planet of this stuff, somewhere else?”

  “Yes.”

  “Great.”

  “But it can also be talking to any of the other goop on the ship. I still don’t know how it all works.”

  “What does this have to do with Tran?”

  Rose smiled. “Let me show you a video I captured about ten minutes ago.” She tapped on the control pad, opening the file. It showed the containment box with the small blob in the same place it was now, stuck to the side. A small airlock in the side allowed a scientist to stick a mouse into the container without allowing the blob to escape.

  The mouse entered the box, sniffing around. The ooze didn’t move at first, remaining fixed. Nothing obvious was happening on the video, but the mouse suddenly began to chitter and whine, coming to a dead stop in the middle of the cage. The blob detached from the wall, approaching the motionless mouse and sticking a tentacle into its ear. It began to vanish inside the mouse, stopping when it was halfway finished. The mouse started moving again, but it was different now. It examined the container carefully, moving around the cage with part of the blob exposed and part of it inside. It stayed like that for a few minutes before it finally collapsed. The blob withdrew itself and returned to the side of the container.

  “Okay,” Joseph said. “We’re wasting time here. Tell me what we just saw.”

  “A few things,” Rose replied. “We cordoned off the blob and removed the mouse carcass from the container so we could examine it. It had no sign of entry by the alien, despite the fact that the encounter killed it. But as you can see from the video, the alien was clearly in charge.”

  “Right. Controlling its mind.”

  “No. I would venture to guess that it became its mind.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Controlling would suggest a couple of things. One, that the person being controlled is aware of what’s happening and can’t stop it. Two, that the process is reversible. That disconnecting the controller would free the controlled. I don’t believe that’s the case. When the alien left the mouse, the mouse died. It couldn’t survive without it at that point. I’m also guessing the mouse had no idea what was happening.”

  “Ok, so it becomes the mind.”

  “That’s an important distinction to make, Prime. You said you had to shoot Tran, but Tran was already dead. The alien was using his body. You effectively shot the alien.”

  Joseph nodded. “I get what you’re saying, Doctor.”

  “Some, but not all. If you paid attention, you might have noticed that when the alien took the mouse it was a little slow to get moving, and then its movements were simple. Like it was becoming acclimated to the host and its controls. You said the other blob was using Tran to kill people.”

  “And an engineer before that,” West said. “According to Commander Siraj, he had superhuman strength.”

  “Which is possible with enough adrenaline and other hormones pumping into the body,” Rose said. “At least for a short time. Which goes along with my next observation. The creature seems to have a pre-existing aptitude for controlling human bodies.”

  A chill ran down Joseph’s spine. “You’re saying that this entity has controlled humans before.”

  “In some capacity, yes. And maybe not the one that landed on Pioneer. Maybe one back on Earth, communicating with this one. Maybe one somewhere else entirely.”

  “Or waiting for us on Avalon?” West said. “I don’t know about you, Prime, but I can’t process all of this. Intergalactic mind-controlling ooze?”

  “Mind-becoming ooze,” Joseph corrected. “It’s an alien life form. We already learned from the trife that we have no idea what’s waiting for us out here, or how different it can be. We threw ourselves into the stars, and we’re sailing totally blind to the danger.”

  “Agreed,” Rose said. “Which is why I needed the sample in the first place. It’s why I risked my life for it.”

  “Maybe it wouldn’t have gotten on the ship if you hadn’t,” West said.

  “Doctor, that one rode in on your thigh. Why didn’t it try to get inside you?”

  “I think it would have, given more time,” Rose said. “It was trying to remove my helmet, remember? It still needs access to your head.”

  “But when you took off your suit, it stayed on your leg. It didn’t go for your face.”

  “I don’t know. It’s able to survive in a vacuum. I think something about the change either causes it to become lethargic, or it can’t survive in this environment very well. It might need a host to live on this ship. I’m not really sure yet.”

  “Do you have any idea how it was able to read my mind?”

  “No. I’m sorry, Prime. I’ve only had an hour with it. But if this smaller sample could do it, why wouldn’t it?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. It seems like you have that one under control. I think our best option right now is to try to learn as much about it as we can. As for the other one, I need some way to hunt it down. And I need a way to be sure we get all of them off the ship.”

  Rose looked at Joseph. Then her eyes shifted across the room to the cage with the trife. “That’s why you’re really here, isn’t it? You’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

  “Yeah,” Joseph said. “But I wanted to know if there was another way first. One that didn’t involve using xenotrife as bloodhounds.”

  “I don’t think there is,” Rose said. “Not in the short-term. I can keep working on it, but it’ll take time.”

  “We don’t have time. You’ve been studying the trife for a while. How do we control them?”

  “Like you control anything, Prime. You appeal to its most basic nature.”

  57

  Grant

  Pioneer. Bridge. 11.13.2052. 0200 hours.

  “Prime, this idea is dangerous and reckless,” Tyson said, leaning back in the command seat. “I sent you down to Research to kill the trife, not let them run amok on my ship.”

  “They won’t be running amok, sir,” Joseph replied. “We have them under control. Mostly.”

  Tyson couldn’t help but laugh. “Mostly? If one of those things gets a whiff of the reactors or the batteries, it won’t give a damn about hunting the other aliens. It’ll disappear into a crevice somewhere and start reproducing.”

  “You need at least two trife for them to reproduce, Captain,” Rose said. “Basic birds and bees still applies, even if their method is a bit different. In any case, I don’t think the reactors will distract them. We took a swab from the sample I captured and put it ten meters from their containment. They became active within a few seconds. Whatever this new alien threat is, these trife want to kill it more than they want to kill humans.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Tyson asked, trying to stay in control of his anger. “I expect you to have trouble following orders, Doctor. You’re a civilian. But you, Prime? If this idea didn’t have the potential to save the ship, I’d be just about ready to set you to swabbing the decks. All thirty-two of them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Joseph replied.

  “I don’t have the energy to really give you hell right now, Prime. I want these things off my ship yesterday. Are your people in position?”

  “Yes, Captain. Morales reprogrammed the Dragonflies in lead mode. They’ll stay a fixed distance away from the trife as the creatures try to catch them. I’ll follow Alpha, West will tail Bravo, Bourne has Charlie, and Alesso is covering Delta. Madani is with you. Sykes is standing by near PAP, just in case. And we’re all carrying plasma rifles. If the trife as much as twitch in the wrong direction, we’ll burn them to ash.”

  All of the Guardian’s camera feeds were up on the primary display, and Tyson shifted his attention there to see the preparations. The four Guardian chasers were assembled in Research with Rose and Morales, all of them dressed in full combat gear and helmets, networked so they could communicate with the bridge and each other. An equal number of Dragonfly drones rested on the floor of the module’s control center, each having been swabbed with material from the captured alien sample. Morales handed a controller to each of the chasers so they could take over if anything went wrong with the drones. Tyson was tense watching it all unfold.

  So much was riding on this plan, and while it seemed solid on the surface, he wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t take a turn south somewhere. He hoped Joseph and his team were ready for that.

  The leader of the Guardians put his Dragonfly in motion, activating the drone so it floated in the air over his shoulder. The others did the same. The hardest part of the entire plan was ensuring each trife chased a different drone, and in reality it would be impossible to make that happen. They had to hope the trife would get the hint, and each would be so desperate to make a kill they would split themselves to claim a victory.

  “Everybody move to the side,” Joseph said, backing to the corner close to the module’s front. “Pietro, when I give the word, you’ll open the enclosure.”

  “Copy that, Prime,” Pietro said. “I’m ready.”

  “Captain Grant, we’re ready down here.”

  “On my mark,” Tyson said. “In three. Two. Hold on.”

  Tyson quieted when he thought he heard something over his head. He waited a second, and then looked up to an exhaust vent over his head. They had found thin aluminum patches in one of the compartments and bolted them around the vents, cutting off circulation but also protecting the bridge from the alien creatures. Now something was hitting against the patch, trying to get in.

  “I’ve got it,” Madani said, moving between the command station and the holotable, rifle pointed at the vent.

  “Captain, what’s happening?” Joseph asked.

  “It’s here,” Tyson replied. “In one of the vents.”

  “Sir, should I fire?” Madani asked.

  “Negative,” Joseph replied. “Only if it looks like it’s going to break through.”

  “Copy that.”

  Tyson stood up, backing away from the command station. The creature pounded the aluminum more forcefully, seemingly eager to get to the people inside.

  “Captain Grant, this is Oslo,” the Chief Engineer said through the comm. “We’ve got a situation here.”

  Grant tapped on the control board. “What’s the problem, Chief?”

  “Sir, there’s something at the vent. Scratch that. There’s something at two of the vents.”

  “What?” Tyson said, heart skipping at the news. “Prime, we’ve got three contacts.” A vent further forward on the bridge started to make noise, something thumping against it. “Four contacts.”

  Commander Siraj stood at her station, bringing up the extra rifle Madani had brought and aiming it at the other vent.

  “Prime, we need to do something,” Tyson said.

  “We can’t do anything until they clear the vents,” Joseph replied. “Stay trained on them. Don’t miss.”

  “Easy for him to say,” Siraj said. “I haven’t fired a rifle in at least ten years.”

  “It’s like riding a bicycle,” Madani said. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Sykes, get to PAP control,” Joseph said.

  “Copy that, Prime,” Sykes replied. “On my way.”

  “Should we scrap the chase?” West asked. “We’ve got too many targets already.”

  “We’re prepped and ready,” Joseph replied. “Madani and Commander Siraj have the bridge covered. Sykes has engineering.”

  “There are two in engineering,” West said. “He can’t take them both himself.”

  “Morales,” Joseph said. “Head to PAP to back up Sykes.”

  “Copy that, Prime.”

  “Sykes, hang tight up there. Morales is on the way.”

  “Copy that.”

  “Captain Grant,” Joseph said. “It’s your call.”

  Tyson watched the feeds on the main display, the Guardians moving into position. They were stretched thin. Maybe too thin. But if he didn’t send the trife out now, would they get another chance?