This is something entirely different for me, but something I wanted to try. See what you think.
Dan
Rimshot@planetaccess.com
Panther in the mist 1
Zakery Devin Wilks was startled awake by the ground shaking. On the eve of his seventeenth birthday, he lay in his two-man dome tent a hundred yards from his family's camp. Another quake, like something huge hitting the ground, shook the little tent. Zak's pulse quickened, and he searched his sleeping bag for his boxers, wishing that he hadn't slept in the nude.
A greenish purple light moved slowly across his tent, and Zak frantically pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Strange sounds, like electrical discharges came through the woods. He unzipped the flaps and peered out into the trees, swallowing his fear.
Campers that he didn't know that had been down by the river ran by breathing heavily. Zak called out to them, then ducked and cringed as something struck a tree over head and exploded in sparks. He jumped out of the tent and rolled, narrowly missing the branches as they crushed the ground behind him.
He crawled behind a large pine and leaned out just far enough to look towards his family's camp. There were a lot of sounds coming from that direction, but he couldn't see anything. A glowing purple fog was spreading up the path from the camp, causing him to shake his head in disbelief. "This is shit!" He mumbled to him self. Something large trudged slowly through the fog, and Zak pulled back, pressing himself up against the tree.
It was getting closer. A smell like rotten meat caught his nose, and Zak steadied himself for another look, feeling his heart thundering in his chest. He peaked around the tree and froze. It stood about ten feet tall, greenish purple slime and tendrils covering its body. It was looking around the area where Zak's ten had been.
Zak groaned, causing it to find him. It raised some form of tube towards him, and the tree trunk right over his head exploded in purple sparks. "Jesus!" Zak screamed, rolling onto his back. The mist began to form over his head, and he rolled on to his feet to run. Something struck his shoulder and knocked him down. He spit dirt out of his mouth and tried to roll over, only to find that his right side was going numb.
The giant thing was getting closer, and Zak tried to scream. Only a squeak came out. A huge roaring explosion went off, and Zak closed his eyes, terrified. Sounds like boots crunching in the dirt came towards him, and he opened his eyes. A man not much older than he was stood over it, whatever it was.
He had long brown hair pulled back by a shiny tube, and wore a gray jump suit and black boots. He carried an enormous rifle of some kind, and was talking into a little radio. Zak whimpered, moving his feet, and the man came over and knelt down, running the box like radio over his shoulder.
"Identify." The man said to the radio. It beeped twice before answering.
"Zakery Devin Wilks. No time line." The voice coming out of the radio was deep, rumbling. It sounded like a mixture of static and a whisper. "Recommend retrieval."
"You're lucky day." The man said, then pulled out another box and put it in Zak's hand. "Program." He said, holding Zak's hand closed around it. It vibrated and got warm for a moment. Another explosion went off, and the man covered Zak with his body. "Flash, Panther!" Zak faded from consciousness.
"Hi!"
Zak fought to open his eyes, clawing his way up through the darkness. He couldn't feel his body, and thinking required more effort than he could muster. Slowly, he dragged his eyelids up, blinking in the low light level in the room. Lights twinkled and changed colors, and something smelled like rubbing alcohol and dish soap.
"Are you back among the living?" A guy about Zak's age leaned towards him, and Zak couldn't make out much but his spiky blond hair and a light blue shirt. "Try not to get agitated, Zakster. I have you in a med-tank, and there's a suppresser unit on. You can't move."
Zak felt himself starting to panic and tried to sit up. Something above his head beeped, and the guy touched it. "Please, Zak. You have to relax or I'll sedate you." He touched something over Zak's head, and comforting warmth spread slowly over him. "That's better."
I'm going to bring you to full awareness now. Stay clam, and I promise I'll tell you what's going on, okay?" The man made a few more adjustments, and Zak could move his jaw. He worked it up and down, then watched. The guy pulled out a small radio just like the others and spoke into it. Med to Deck one. He's conscious. You're cleared for B-Drive."
"Got it. Thanks, Tony."
Tony put his comm back on his belt and stood up. "Hang on, man. This is a rush!" The room seamed to contract, then went inside out before settling back to normal. Zak's vision had cleared, and he watched Tony inhale deeply and sigh, a huge smile coming to his face.
"Welcome to the twenty ninth and a half century, Duck Dodgers." He sat down next to Zak, leaning down to look over a readout. Zak felt his eyebrows fly up. Tony's eyes were light purple.
"Whaat the fuuuch.." Zak mumbled, unable to look away from those eyes.
"Bout damn time you talked. I was getting worried." Tony touched another control, and Zak could move his head a little. "I wasn't real sure you were going to make it."
"Why?"
"Tell you what. Let me finish up, and then you can ask all the questions you want, kay?" Tony picked up a comm unit and held it out. "Look familiar?" He then plugged it into the wall over Zak's head. "Panther, adjust program. Zak. Decontaminated. Purge all." Several lights went off, and Zak could turn his head to see a little better now.
"Purge confirmed." The same deep rumbling voice said, sounding like smooth rocks rubbing together. "Zak. Update confirmed. Re-gen complete."
Tingling sensations began to creep up Zak's arms and legs, and Tony reached in and took several metal things off Zak's neck and chest. "The med fluid takes a few minutes to drain, Zakster. I'm gonna put you to sleep for a few hours, then we can talk."
Before Zak could protest, Tony touched a silver cube to his head, and Zak was gone. He dreamt of huge monsters chasing him, and of falling into a pit filled with rotten meat. He saw his parents in the pit, and his sister. Their faces and bodies were decaying. He screamed.
And woke up with a jolt, still screaming. Gentle hands in the darkness pushed his shoulders back until his head hit the pillow. "Easy there, Zak. You'll hurt yourself." Tony touched the wall light above the bunk and brought up the level to a low setting. "How ya doin there, buddy?"
"Where am I? What the hell happened? Where's my mom and dad? Why are you eyes purple." Zak felt his heart hammering and tried to sit up. Tony eased him back down, a look of remorse on his face.
"Zak, your family is gone. I'm sorry."
"What do you mean, gone?" Zak croaked, fighting against the answer. It wasn't a dream. Whatever had happened really had. "This isn't possible. This is bullshit!"
"Zak, I can answer your questions, but you have to stay with me. If you psyche on me, you're gone too. Now relax, and I'll tell you, okay?" Zak nodded, dropping back onto the pillow. "What happened was that a Jur'kaalchik raiding party dropped on your camp. That means nothing to you, right?"
"Well, what it means is that these Jur'kaalchik were breeding. You see, they put bacteria into other beings that more or less makes them one of them. That's what that purple haze was." Tony sat down on a stool near the bed and took Zak's wrist in his hand.
"The bacteria eat the flesh of whatever they meet up with, leaving a waste product that the Jur'kaalchik use to build their own bodies out of." Tony pointed at his eyes. "These were blue before I got infected, and yeah, I was quite a knock out."
Zak blushed and smiled, realizing that Tony was attractive. Zak had spent most of his time alone because of fears that he might be gay, avoiding all sports except weight lifting because of the showers. "Did I get exposed or infected, whatever?" Zak whispered, already knowing the truth.
"Yeah, you did, and yeah, your eyes are purple."
Zak swallowed, fighting tears. As big and tough as he thought of himself, he was feeling like a break down. "Where am I now?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
"You're on the Panther, an attach and rescue ship." Tony leaned back and stretched, feeling the stress of the last few hours start to fall away. "We follow signature lines and drop in on Jur'kaalchik raiding parties. They usually aren't brave enough to attack Terra, but this time they used a jump. So did we."
"A jump?"
"Through time. We use the Bercolli Drive to bend gravity and follow their focused time waves. Most of the time we stop them." Tony shook his head sadly. "I really am sorry, Zak. We almost got there in time."
"You mean we're not in 2000 anymore?" Zak asked, suddenly putting all of the parts together.
"No. We're in 2614.."
"This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?" Zak rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "This being the future and all, are we still allowed to drink fluids, or is that done some other way now?"
Tony laughed and stood up. "What would you like?"
"A Coke, or do we still have that?" Zak bantered sarcastically. He rotated to a sitting position, then touched his head, waiting for a little dizziness to go away. He looked down and realized that he was naked except for a light translucent covering that didn't cover very much.
"I think I can arrange that." Tony turned to a little cabinet and touched the keys. A light came on, and he handed a silver cup to Zak. Zak sipped it, then took a swallow, feeling the carbonation burn his throat just like it should. "If we're in the future, why do you still have Coke?"
"I snagged a six pack about four years ago and synthesized the formula with Panther's help." He shrugged and leaned against a desk in the corner. "I gotta have a coke, man. I'd go nuts."
"How did you learn about it?" Zak was confused. "How would you know it even existed if you're from the future?"
"Well, that's because I'm not from the future. I was born in 1972."
"I fucking knew it!" Zak crowed triumphantly. This had to be a sham!
"I was rescued in 1980."
"Oh." Zak took another swallow of the Coke. "What happened?"
"Same shit, Zakster. Different state. We got you out of Montana, right?" He continued after Zak nodded. "Baaca got me out of Idaho. I was fishing with my dad when the Jur'kaalchik hit us. That was ten years ago my time, and 634 years ago galactic time."
"Whose Baaca?"
Tony smiled and ran his hand through his hair. "Let's get you dressed, and you can meet him for yourself." He pulled what looked like a blue leotard out of the cabinet near the door and tossed it to Zak. "That's really stretchy. Put on foot in through the neck, then the other, then pull it up to your chest." He helped Zak into the Ship-Skin suit, adjusting the fit.
Zak put his hands into the sleeves, amazed at the feel of the clothes. It was like they weren't there, but they were warm. There was a high collar, which fastened itself when Tony held the sides together, and the suit fitted itself to his every contour. It was great!.
Tony held out a small silver belt and showed him how to fasten it, then how to attach his comm to it. "Look, Zak. You have to have that comm with you at all times, otherwise the computer and the self defense systems won't know you, got it?"
"I guess." He took a pair of gray boots from Tony and pulled them on, expecting them to feel bulky and heavy. Instead, they immediately conformed to his feet, and weighed almost nothing. They were incredibly flexible, and came up almost to his knees. He looked in the mirror and had to admit, the look was pretty damned cool. He ran his hand through his hair, admiring how the blue looked with the blond streaks in his light brown locks.
"Takes a little getting used to, doesn't it?" Tony said with a smirk. "I popped a boner almost every time I looked a someone for the first week I was here." At the look of alarm on Zak's face he chuckled. "Don't worry," Tony indicated the reflection of Zak's crotch. "If that wakes up, you press the red button on your belt buckle. It suppresses the nerves in you little buddy there for about an hour." He turned and pulled a dark blue jacket out of the cabinet and held it out, then pulled on his own. "I went over your psyche profile while you were out. There's only the three of us humans on board, but I warn you, Baaca's nice to look at."
"Are you.gay?" Zak asked, hoping he wasn't being insulting. He couldn't help but notice Tony's body in the skin suit, and how revealing the crotch area was. It would be a bitch if he couldn't get used to it, or get to the red switch in time. He tested it, satisfied with the instant semi-numbness that filled the suit below his waist.
"I don't know. I personally think sex is sex, Zak. It feels pretty good, doesn't it?" He gestured to the door. "Let's go meet the Captain, Zak. You're gonna love this..."