I’m sorry…

  The room was empty. Donovan told the others to wait for him outside. He wanted some alone time with Grigson. The concept of being alone felt foreign to him now, though. He knew the meaning of the word but couldn’t entirely remember the feeling it caused. All he did recall was hating it vehemently.

  Kneeling, he stroked Grigson’s pale, sunken-in cheek. Bodies didn’t usually decompose this fast. Somehow Donovan knew why. It was the stress of her joining. Grigson’s body was a shell of itself, a corpse that had aged tenfold in less than a day.

  Unhinging his jaw, Donovan brought forth his own entity. It snaked its way out of his mouth, exposing three feet of its six-foot length. As it came forth, he stroked it gently, like a dog owner did to his pet.

  Carefully, Donovan ushered it back into Grigson’s mouth and began to pump. The plasma pulsed, some of it seeping through a hole in her neck, though the majority of it entered her body. It was easy to see it do so through her nearly translucent skin.

  Nothing happened.

  Panicking, Donovan sent more and more of it into her body, mentally willing her to wake.

  I give you life.

  Still nothing.

  He forced as much of the plasma from his body as he could. His vision blurred and darkened. It was the closest to death he’d ever felt. His breath caught, and his heart stopped—but he kept going.

  Then, only slightly, Grigson’s body twitched.

  Donovan fell away, quickly started to feel like himself again. His hands shook and looked withered and old. His luminescent blood dimmed some too.

  Grigson’s eyes flickered, and her ashen skin flushed with color. She still looked like death, but his attempt at bringing the dead back to life… It succeeded. Slowly, she picked herself off the floor and stood as upright as possible. Hunched and ghoulish, Grigson turned and faced him with a blank, lost expression. In passing, she didn’t remember him.

  So, Donovan did the only thing he could think of. He closed his eyes and searched his incredibly deep memory bank, picking out everything he had on her. He focused on their relationship the most but also her training as a soldier and an ESD agent. Other, more personal, things like her home life and family before they became connected, he left out. The only family she’d know from now on was Coalesce.

  He opened his eyes and was pleased to find Grigson’s gaunt face attempting to smile. Only half of it succeeded. Excited, he ordered those not stationed outside his door to abandon their hunt for the captain, instead, focusing on something even more prominent. He’d take care of House himself.

  The rest of Coalesce was shouldered with the responsibility of continuing the construction of his army. Everyone that had died, whether at the hands of a failed joining, or not, would get another chance at being a part of something better.

  Spinning on a heel, Donovan laughed aloud. Resurrecting the dead added another dimension to his already out-of-control psychosis. He truly believed himself to be, without a shadow of a doubt, a god.

  “We are better together.” He grinned. “I am better.”

  Grigson shambled along behind him as he sought out his next rejoining. The only other sailor he truly desired to have back in the fold was the largest of them all. With Nova’s life restored, Donovan knew he’d be successful in overtaking the remainder of the Endeavor’s crew. Just seeing the behemoth alive again, and in the same ghastly physical state as Grigson, would be even more terrifying than before.

  Chief Lucas was next, followed closely by Dr. Bowen. He’d also try to bring back Damon Becker if they could even find the man or his body. Donovan would target those closest to House’s people first. Like he did to Buddy, through Frohm, Donovan wanted to tear down the survivor’s lingering emotional barricades.

  28

  “How many?” House asked, exhausted.

  He, Trip, and Sam backtracked up and down the stairs and back and forth from bow to stern more times than he could count. With every sailor found and returned to the launch bay, Gianna called out the number to everyone in their group chat.

  “Nineteen,” she replied after their last time out. “We have nineteen survivors, including ourselves.”

  Out of a possible eighty, House thought, shaking his head. He knew deep down that he and the others had done the same math. If they had decided to just sit tight in the server room and not go out looking for anyone, their numbers would’ve stayed stagnant at four.

  But it also meant that three-quarters of the crew either turned into monsters or outright died at the hands of those same monsters.

  Sixty-one souls lost in a matter of hours… The death toll was mindboggling. Sixty. One.

  A tear slowly made its way down House’s right cheek. It was the first time he displayed this level of emotion in some time, especially since taking the helm as the Endeavor’s captain. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone within earshot of him—no one close enough to see it. He currently stood alone by the launch pool, staring intensely at the surface-lit Antarctic waters. Everyone else was either resting or getting ready. Their story’s climax was about to come.

  Hopefully, it’ll end better than ‘Where the Red Fern Grows,’ House thought, recalling the tearjerker. He read it back in school, and both hated it and loved it. The demise of both Big Dan and Little Ann hit him hard.

  Typically, the pool was surrounded by all kinds of machinery and other equipment. It had all been moved out of the way while he was gone. Gianna supervised the “redesign,” lining most of it up near the center of the room instead. The hope was for House to lead Donovan into the trap set back at the launch pool.

  “Get him off our boat by any means necessary,” he said earlier, eyeing his daughter. “By any means necessary…” He let the finality of his words linger before turning and heading for the shimmering circle in the floor.

  If this was to go the way he wanted, Donovan needed to be restrained and forced underwater by someone or something.

  Trip suggested tranquilizing Donovan with the same sedative the team used on the octopus. Then, they’d toss him inside the ADS and sink it. While, in a way, it was doable to a normal human being, their enemy wouldn’t be manhandled so easily. No one had seen Donovan in a fight since he transformed into the creature he was now. House doubted he was as feeble as he was before. No, he’d be even more ferocious than his underlings.

  And that scares the hell out of me.

  House wasn’t sure if it was the frigid temperature of the bay or the thought of facing Donovan one on one that made him shiver. He’d foregone adorning a coat before entering the space. So far, since taking a dip with Nova, all he did was sweat. Ducking and dodging Coalesce was tough work. Feeling the brisk air on his skin felt good, reinvigorating him some. It also reminded House of why he was initially out on Antarctica’s sea.

  It reminded him that he was still alive and kicking too.

  The dead don’t feel.

  He was an explorer, not a battle-hardened soldier. Obviously, House could hold his own in a brawl, but that’s not what he wanted to do and it wasn’t who he was. He loved the ocean because of its endless possibilities, it’s infinite escapes and its multitude of wonders.

  Regrettably, it wasn’t this planet’s marvels that caused the mess they were in. It was another world that was at fault. Donovan said as much before House inevitably hung up on him.

  “So, you’re a god now?”

  Donovan laughed. “You tell me? Who decides who lives and who dies? Who came from above, only to unselfishly descend and unite his people? Who holds the power of creation in the palm of their hand? Who—”

  “Call ended,” the automated voice said. House had nearly broken his WiMP’s screen when he jammed his finger down on the ultrasensitive display.

  Who came from above? House thought. Above, in this context, meant Heaven. Space? Maybe…

  The organisms had to come from somewhere. All over the world, new creatures, big and small, were being discovered. House refused to believe that a threat like this was Earth-made. He believed everything Donovan told him so far—but he didn't buy the deity thing. Why would the man lie about any of it? It didn't matter whether Donovan was telling the truth or not. Plus, House kind of figured Donovan loved talking about his new self. He wasn’t exactly a creative person either. There was no way he made everything up just to mess with House.

  Movement to House’s left alerted him to someone’s presence. He didn’t speak to the visitor, however. After what they’d been through, he honestly had nothing else to say to his daughter.

  “The camera down the hall is up and running,” she said, speaking first. “It wasn’t easy, but we’ll be able to see Seth coming a mile away.”

  House glanced at her, happy that she was still with him. Her eyes were also transfixed on the water beneath their feet. He could tell she was getting lost in it, like the effect the glow of a flickering fireplace had on a person. Something about shimmering water could do that to House—Gianna too, apparently. It made the corner of his mouth rise slightly.

  She must’ve noticed the attention. “What’s that look for?” she asked, left eyebrow high.

  He shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

  Gianna snorted out a laugh. “Don’t get too cheery, yet. We aren’t out of the woods by a long shot.”

  His smirk grew to a broad, beaming smile. He was proud of the woman his little girl has grown into. But it was time to get down to business. Narrowing his eyes, House turned away from the pool and faced her, placing a firm hand on her jacketed shoulder. The pleasantries they were exchanging were wonderful. He wished they could last all night long.

  “Look, G… If anything happens to me, I—”

  “Don’t!” she growled, stepping away from him. “Don’t you start with that shit.” She hurriedly stepped back up to him and slid into his arms. “I’m not getting off of this boat without you.”

  Releasing her father, she tried to step around him, but House grabbed her arm and pulled her in. Only this time, he didn’t hug her.

  “If anything happens to me, I need you to look after everyone. They’ll be in some serious need of leadership, and I need you to step up and take my place.”

  Teary-eyed, she laughed. “You’re kidding me, right?” She motioned at the room. “There are plenty of better candidates than me—Sam for one. Buddy too.”

  “No.” House shook his head. “It has to be you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because…” he said, crying now, “if you’re leading them, then that means you’re safe. It means you’ve survived.”

  Gianna started to cry too. “If I’m leading the crew, then it means you’re dead, and you won’t know if I’m alive or not.”

  House smiled softly. “I’ll know.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll know…”

  “How—how will you know?” Gianna shouted, her voice echoing.

  Not wanting to get into a theological debate, House stepped away and got back to his captain duties. “Are we ready?” he asked, yelling the question as loud as he could. He got a mixture of “yes, sirs” and “aye-ayes” in return and went and checked on everyone else that was involved.

  Five of the nineteen survivors they’d found were unfit for battle, suffering a variety of debilitating injuries—both physically and mentally. The stuff they had all seen was enough to freak anyone out. No one aboard this boat had signed up for open conflict, war or otherwise. It was a research vessel, and it was staffed accordingly.

  That left him with only fourteen able-bodied men and women. Trip volunteered to look after the wounded. House quickly shot the proposal down, though.

  “No, I need you on the frontlines with me.” He lowered his voice. “Look… I trust you, Trip. I need people I can trust to watch my back if anything bad happens.”

  “Like what?”

  House unclipped the sheath from his hip and handed it and the combat knife to Trip. The message was loud and clear. If House became one of the monsters, Trip was ordered to put him down.

  “I will not be one of them,” House said, ending the discussion.

  That left him with the fire axe, which Trip handed over with a curt nod. Gianna still had the gun holstered on her belt, but was, so far, unwilling to draw it since she shot Nova in the head.

  Per Gianna’s instructions, Sam had disabled both entrances’ keypads. No one would be entering or leaving via the upstairs hatch or the elevator without Gianna’s assistance. House’s eyes flicked toward the pool again. Once Donovan was inside, the master of Coalesce wouldn’t be leaving in any conventional method.

  * * *

  The trauma Donovan sustained while resurrecting Grigson forced his body into another evolutionary modification. When he stepped out of the ESD office, four of the ten joined accompanying him detonated in a quartet of fiery blue explosions. For his part, Donovan collapsed and blacked out.

  In his vulnerable, motionless state, he heard the cries of everyone he amalgamated with. Each of his victims screamed, echoing with both pain and fear, and all of them were ricocheting around inside his head like a game of Pong on fast-forward.

  “Help!” Dr. Bowen shrieked. “Please, God, help me!”

  “What…” Chief Lucas asked, cowering in the corner of a room that didn’t exist, “What’s going on? Sam, are you there?”

  “Hello?” Grigson asked, her voice resonating as if she was standing at the bottom of a deep, rocky chasm. “Is there anyone there?”

  “Jennifer?” Donovan asked.

  “Who’s there?” she replied, shrinking away from his nonmaterial presence.

  “It’s Seth,” he explained. “Don’t you remember me—remember us?

  “Seth?” she asked. “There is no ‘us’ you creep! What have you done to me? Why can’t I feel my body? Why won’t I wake up from this terrible nightmare?”

  Grigson’s lack of understanding confused Donovan. He’d spoken with her several times about his goals, and she’d been nothing but supportive. She wanted the same as him. She wanted knowledge and partnership. She didn’t want to be alone.

  “I saved you, Jennifer,” he said, keeping his voice calm.

  “Saved me?” she looked appalled. “Saved me from what?”

  “From life,” Donovan replied. “You are with me now. You are better, Jennifer. You are free.”

  Her hands went to her mouth and tears flowed. “You… No… You killed me? But—but why am I here? Why is it so dark and cold? Why!”

  Donovan was disturbed by this revelation. Were the voices in his head still alive or was it just his overstimulated mind playing tricks on him while he recovered, attempting to decipher what was real and what was, as Grigson put it, a nightmare?

  Back outside the ESD office, Grigson’s shell stepped up behind Donovan’s inert body and looked down at him, giving Donovan a view of his physical form’s current self. In response to the episode, he unknowingly tucked himself into a ball. There, he shook uncontrollably with his knees tucked into his chest. Whatever was happening to him, it was so painful that it sent him into a comatose state.

  He could also see the results of what had happened to the four joined that were involved in the explosion. They were all missing their heads. Each one of them was missing their heads. Their necks, and the entity within them, were obliterated. Witnessing the discharge himself, Donovan compared it to an energy surge. Their remains were a horrible sight to behold. His severe reaction triggered something within them—something incredibly violent. As the center of Coalesce, it saddened him, but as a scientist, it intrigued him.

  They’re weapons? he thought, reaching out to the others.

  He was stunned to discover that five more shared the fate of the four here. One painted the chart table up in Navigation with a cobalt smear. Another, the wall just outside the launch bay, where he was set to meet, and overrun, Captain House. Yet, another was one of two pilots up in Command. She’d only recently replaced Bill Johnston.

  Faster, he told the remaining pilot. Go faster!

  Instantaneously, the man “floored” the Endeavor, no doubt setting off some sort of alarm at McMurdo. The station would no doubt be tracking the ship’s every move. Their sudden change in velocity wouldn’t go unnoticed.

  No matter. Plans change all the time. Now, he hoped they could reach McMurdo quicker than the station could be ready to receive them. Coalesce had shrunk significantly. The smaller force would have to storm the base before anyone knew what hit them.

  Not that he was going to tell House that.

  Regardless, nine more of his brethren were dead in the blink of an eye. Taking his mind off the carnage, Donovan turned Grigson’s attention back to his physical form and she—he—studied his newest changes.

  Slowly, and with every thump of his still-beating heart, Donovan’s skin became more translucent until he could barely detect his own flesh. It was exactly how a vast populace of deep-sea wildlife looked. His innards were easy to spot. Everything was blue too—organs, muscles, tendons—and they pulsed with energy, all in different shades and rhythms. It was quite beautiful.

  “Seth!”

  He woke and shot straight to his feet. Not Coalesce, but the minds inside his own head shouted his name. It was enough of a jolt to startle him awake. All of them were full of vengeance.

  Catching his breath, he fell into a nearby wall, eyes wide and in shock. The six survivors collectively gazed at him with blank, unmoving expressions. He was out of sorts, which meant that they were too.

  “I’m…” he said, putting a hand to his forehead, “I’m fine.”

  “We are fine,” they replied, standing at attention.

  “Yes,” he said, reaffirming himself, staggering off, “we are fine.”

  He didn’t believe his own words. He was anything but fine. Even now, back in his body, he could still hear the cries of everyone that had been assimilated into Coalesce. No matter how hard he tried to quiet them, it didn’t work.