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---

“And here we are again, Nor,” Dr. Y said.  “I admit, you had me quite worried when you showed up here bleeding from every orifice.  Yet now you are as healthy as you can be.”  He paused.  “Though I believe it would be healthier if you gained some weight.”

“Do you have to say orifice?” she asked.  “I hate that word.”

“If the name of medical exactitude, it serves a function.  I could use other terms that are more colloquial, but they may be equally objectionable,” Y said.  “Or even list off the . . .  apertures . . . in question.  Nostrils, ears-“

“You know what?” she said.  “Orifice is fine.”

“Excellent,” Dr. Y replied.  “Now, as happy as I always am to see you, I must encourage you to move about your own day.  Unfortunately, I am quite busy.”

Y looked around, then leaned closer and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.  “The medical staff from the Chain are far from healthy!  How absurd – doctors taking poor care of themselves!  They should know better.”

Apollonia smiled and let out a small laugh.  “Well, they’re busy . . . do you take good care of yourself?”

Y paused, studying her.  “I do not have a physical condition to consider, unless you count these bodies, and the automated systems keep them in quite good repair.  Mentally?  Well, I would not say that my kind have a healthy norm, as we are all quite individual and unique.  But . . . to answer the spirit of your question, I believe I do.”

“Keep away from the smoke and the drugs, doctor,” Apollonia said, jumping lightly off the bed.

“That I shall,” he promised.  “Oh, and Nor-“

“Yes?”

“I am glad you have decided to stay on the ship.”

She stared for a moment.  “Thanks,” she said.  “Can I ask you one last thing?”

“Of course,” he replied amiably.  His head continued to face her, but his body turned away, moving with extreme efficiency to disinfect the surfaces she’d just been touching.

“You’ve been busy since we got to the Chain, haven’t you?” she asked.

“Since before, even,” he said.  “I’ve actually been working 24 hours a day since the Craton reached New Vitriol.  There has been much work, and much has been accomplished.  I am pleased.”

“Do you ever get tired?” she asked.

He paused again.  “I do,” he said.  “I have told you I am fallible.  I can suffer from exhaustion, even burnout.  I . . . have before.  You asked me if I was healthy, and well – I do try.  Because in the past I have failed at caring for my own well-being, and it came to the detriment of others as well as myself.”

She nodded soberly.  “I hope you can rest, soon,” she said.

“Thank you, Nor,” he replied.

“When you came to talk to me in place of Dr. Logus, that was a sacrifice for you, wasn’t it?”

“I would not phrase it thusly, but – in a sense, yes, I had to place other tasks aside.”

Apollonia was shocked.  “And you’re not even a psychiatrist, are you?  It’s not part of your duty?”

“No . . .” Y replied.

“Why did you do that for me?”

He hesitated, then turned fully towards her and spread his hands open.

“Because you are my friend, Nor.”

---

Urle came to attention.

“Executive Commander reporting for return to duty, sir,” he said.

“At ease,” Brooks told him.  “It’s good to have you back, Zach.”

“I’m glad that I can do something again,” the man said.  “But . . . I do appreciate the time you gave me, sir.”

Brooks gave his old friend a nod.  “I’ve sent your schedule to your system.  Right now I’ve got you taking second watch and after that you’ll function as liaison with the commander of the emigrants from the Chain.”

Urle nodded.  “All right.  May I ask, Captain – what was it that happened on MS-29?”

Brooks took a breath.  “I am still not at liberty to tell you, Zach, I’m sorry.  I know you’d like to understand more – I would as well.  But we know very little.”

“I know it had to do with things related to zerospace,” Zach said.  “Does Kell know more?  Is he still keeping quiet on all this?  He’s never very up front . . .”

Brooks let out a long breath.  “Ambassador Kell is in much deeper than usual, I’ll say that much.  To be honest . . . I’m not sure what’s going to happen with it.  Director Freeman-“

“I’m sorry, Captain – Freeman was here?”

“Yes,” Brooks told him.  “That part is public record, as he came in Research One.  But I can’t say more than that, save for the fact that he is very displeased with how things went.  Or . . . was.  I feel like there are internal politics games going on here, to be honest.”

A beep alerted him to a message.

“That’s top priority from Earth,” Zach noted, recognizing the tone.

Brooks nodded, his brow furrowing in concern.  “Just text,” he said, bringing it up.

His eyes scanned over it, and then he looked back to Urle, his expression only growing more solemn.

“We’ve been summoned back to the Sol System,” he said.  “Back to Earth.  It seems that Director Freeman has seen fit to charge me with insubordination and dereliction of duty.”

---

< Ep 3 Part 59 | Episode 4 Part 1 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

Standing in the doorway to Jaya’s office, Apollonia knocked on the wall to get her attention.

The commander turned around to face her.

“You know, the system informed me that you were here.  You do not need to knock on my wall.”

“Just habit,” Apollonia replied absently.  “But I came down here to . . . well, to tell you that I’ve decided to accept the offer you guys made.  Well, the Captain, and I guess you.  You guys want me to join up and all that . . .”

Her words tumbled out, and her sentence trailed off.

Jaya arched an eyebrow.  “You seem uncertain, Ms. Nor.”

“No, I’m not!” she said.  “Honestly I feel this is right.  I just . . . Maybe it’s pride.  I feel like I’m giving in or something, by doing this.  But I’ve thought about it a lot – along with a few other things – over the last few days.  I know you wanted an answer more promptly than this, but I do want to have more control over my life.  While I know I’ll be accepting some new restrictions by joining, I also think it will help give me the tools to control myself better.”

Jaya listened, her face passive but attentive, and Apollonia rambled on, not meeting the other woman’s eye.

“I wake up and I don’t know how to take care of myself beyond simply existing.  I grew up with just making it through that day being the goal.  I can’t even keep a steady sleep schedule, I don’t think about trying to be my best.”

She let out a breath, and turned to look Jaya squarely on.  “I need structure.  And help.  But I’m ready to do something, to be part of something.”

Jaya rose slowly to her feet, and held out her hand.

“Welcome to the crew, Apollonia.”

---

Now two days out from the death of Michal Denso, the situation around Medical Station 29 finally seems to be returning to a semblance of normalcy.

After claiming possession of Denso’s body, Director Freeman’s ship departed early in the morning watch.   He left no standing orders or communications with either myself or Admiral-Doctor Urle before doing so, leaving me to wonder just what the long-term repercussions will be.  I am as content with my conduct – and Verena’s conduct – as I can be whenever the issue pertains to Leviathans.

Response Team One’s return only a few hours ago was a relief, and Dr. Logus has reported that his initial talks with Lt. Commander Caraval suggest he has suffered no lasting damage – but that the man should be temporarily removed from command of the team.  I have agreed to this suggestion, and will be giving Caraval at least two weeks of recovery time before we consider his return to duty.

Dr. Logus and I . . .  I have considered that I owe him an apology for my conduct.  I have, at times, viewed him in an adversarial light when I should be better than that.

It is something to think on.

At 0800 we will be leaving the Chain.  Though we came here to bring life and safety to the helpless of New Vitriol, we leave with ten thousand and seven hundred who are seeking better lives.

It is time to bring them home.

---

< Ep 3 Part 58 | Ep 3 Part 60 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

“Verena, thank god you’re okay . . .” Zach said.

His eyes were visible today, and his eyebrows angled inwards in a way that she recognized as being very strong concern.

She wasn’t sure why he was concerned now, though.  It was over, and she had a clean bill of health.

“My condition was never serious, it was only a precaution,” she told him.

“I had no idea what was going on,” Zach said.  “They tell me that you went into a room filled with krahteons and . . . something.  They won’t say what, but then you were unconscious and put in the ICU.”

“It was nothing.  Apollonia’s presence evidently creates an area of safety.  Though I do not know how.”

Zach said nothing for a time, and she was content to let the silence linger.  She was still feeling weak, truth be told, but it was fading and she was going to be discharged in a few hours.

“When you’re up to it, I think we need to talk about the kids,” Zach said, breaking the peace.

Ah, she saw now . . .  this was still weighing heavily on his mind.

And now that he had brought it up, she knew it was important.

For years, as much as she tried, she had wanted to feel that spark, the love for her children that every mother was supposed to have.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love them.  She simply felt nothing.

But she knew she was supposed to.  She could recall memories of looking at them, that at those times emotions had been so strong in her that she had barely been able to take it.

She looked again, now, hoping for that little spark she had felt earlier of humor.

And she realized she was hoping.

“Verena?” Zach asked, seeing a change come over her face.

It was gone already.  The feeling left as quickly as it had come.  It hadn’t been love, it hadn’t been frustration.  Just a slight, vague sense of hope.

It was . . . something.

“We can talk about it now,” she said to him.

“I . . .  I don’t think we can move onto the station as you wanted,” Zach said.  “I’m sorry, but-“

“It’s all right,” she said, putting a hand up to his face.  His mouth was covered by a triangular plate, and she brushed her fingertips over it.

She hadn’t wanted to hear his reasons.  Even though she knew they’d be correct.

“It isn’t a good idea,” she admitted.  “For many reasons.  For their happiness, for your career, for . . . for my patients,” she said.  It was unusually difficult to speak, and she was not sure why.  Was this a spark of emotion?  On some level?

She didn’t know.  She wasn’t sure she’d even recognize them when they came.  If they kept coming.

“Perhaps one day, it will be different,” she continued softly.

“There may still be options to help you,” Zach said.  “I know you’ve had surgeries and treatments, but artificial emotion chips are becoming better and better-“

“Shh,” she said softly.  “There is . . . a chance they might work, Zach.  But I doubt it . . . and . . . something I’ve realized is that . . .”

She looked up and met Zach’s eyes.  There were tears in them.

“I’ve realized that my condition allows me to do this job,” she said.  “A job that no one else can handle.  Exactly what has broken me as a person allows me to thrive here, and help many, many people.”

She pulled her hand away from his face, looking to her own.  “And as much as I could walk away, how much I might want to, if I felt . . . I’d still remember all that I’ve seen.  And I do not know if I could live with the pain.”

Zach said nothing.  The tears welling in his eyes had broken free, coursing down his face.

Again a silence fell, and Zach wept, shaking for her and himself and their daughters.

Verena did not like it.  But she did not look away, and she knew that he might be somewhat comforted if she put her hand on his.

And after a time, it seemed to have helped, she thought.

“I . . . I should go,” he said, after some time.

She could tell from his face and eyes that he was still overwhelmed.  But he would make it through, she knew.  He was strong enough.

“Goodbye, Zachariah,” she said to him.

“Goodbye, Verena.”

Zach rose and left the room, glancing back at her once, with an expression she could not decipher.

Then he was gone.

It was for the best.

---

< Ep 3 Part 57 | Ep 3 Part 59 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

“This is your failure, Brooks!  I tasked you with keeping Denso alive, and you could not even do that!” Director Freeman all-but screamed.

Brooks said nothing, watching the man with a strange calmness.

At first, when he had arrived, Brooks had felt some measure of guilt.  He had been given orders, and though the orders were wrong, he had failed to carry them out.  It wasn’t that he was a slave to anyone above him who gave a command, but he had, for all of his career, prided himself on being a good officer.

But that feeling had evaporated as Director Freeman went on his warpath.

Since his arrival and learning of Michal Denso’s death, the man had harangued everyone he’d encountered, from the ensign who had brought him to Brooks’s office, to the doctors of MS-29, to Brooks himself.

“I am unable to prevent death, Director,” Brooks said calmly.  “Denso’s condition is one we do not understand.”

“Spare me your excuses,” Freeman sneered.  “I should never have entrusted you with this, Brooks.  You’re as unstable and inconsistent as the day you were first given a command.  I knew then-“

Brooks felt a heat of anger rise through him.  His own career had been a difficult one, and Freeman had been as clear then as he was being now about his view of placing command into Brooks’s hands.  But it still angered him.

Still, he thought, he was glad to take the heat in place of Verena.  After all she had been through, today and in the past, it was all he could do to spare her this.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have bothered her, he thought, entirely tuning out Freeman’s rant.  But it was his penance for failing to protect her when she had been under his command in the past.  A bill he’d never been able to pay.  This wasn’t much, but it was something.

Freeman was still talking to him, and Brooks occasionally nodded.  While he rarely did anyone the disservice of tuning them out, he’d learned early that he was very good at making people think he was listening to them.

“I think, Director, you had unrealistic expectations,” Brooks said.  “From what I have been told, Michal Denso could not be euthanized by normal means.  How, then, were we to know by what means he could be kept alive if his condition worsened.”

The man scowled, his lips pulling back from his teeth as he prepared another tirade.

His behaviour was uncouth, to say the least.  Shocking in most systems of the Sapient Union, to show this much anger.  But Freeman had always been an odd case, standing out from the others in government.  He was from a colony where emotional outbursts were viewed as much more normal, but even in that light he took it to an extreme.

An alert beeped.

Brooks cleared his throat.  “Ambassador Kell is at the door, Director, requesting to come in.”

“The Ambassador?”  Freeman repeated.  His previous words died on his lips without a second thought.  “Oh, very well . . . let him in.”

He knew that Freeman had a fascination with Shoggoths, though apparently there had been . . . incidents between him and them before that left the man with a dislike of them.  But he often seemed to find an excuse to interact with them anyway, in his interests of advancing his understanding of zerospace.

The door opened and Kell came in.

Something about him seemed diminished, Brooks thought immediately.  Like a man who had been starved and had just started to move about again.  His strength not yet fully recovered.

But Freeman did not seem to have noticed.

“Ah, Ambassador.  To what do we owe the-“

“I understand you are upset over Michal Denso’s death,” Kell interrupted.

Freeman said nothing for a moment, mulling the words over.  “You might say that,” he finally answered.

“Evidently you wished to . . . study him,” Kell continued.

“This is not your concern, Ambassador.  But yes, the man was a potential source of great knowledge-“

“That was foolish,” Kell said.  “You dabble like a child in something you can barely understand.”

“We understand more than you think, Ambassador,” Freeman hissed back.

“No,” Kell corrected.  “You are capable of only barely understanding it, in the theoretical.  Currently, you know nothing about it.  You are a fool, staggering in the dark, and you keep insist on yelling.”  Kell shook his head in the most blatant expression of disgust Brooks had seen him make.  “You make yourselves prey through your actions.  And you wonder why events like Terris happen?”

The last part shocked Brooks as much as Freeman.

“How dare you, Ambassador-“

“I am not finished,” Kell said, his voice booming.  “You have come onto this ship and are blaming Captain Brooks for the death of Denso?  That is absurd.  Brooks could no more have caused the death of the thing you refer to as Michal Denso than he could return to the Earth by walking.”

“Ambassador, this conversation is finished!” Freeman said.

“I killed Michal Denso,” Kell said, meeting Freeman’s eyes with an unblinking stare.  “You may ask Dr. Urle when she awakens.  Or Apollonia Nor.  They will tell you – though I was not present physically, I was there.  And I alone deserve the . . . supposed burden of guilt of saving you from your own stupidity.”

Freeman’s jaw dropped.

“You . . . you what?”

“I killed the thing that had taken over Michal Denso’s body.  It was not that human; he was barely a shadow of his former self.  What you wished to study, and I believe you knew this – was an infant Great One.”

A deathly silence filled the air between the three.  Freeman stared at Kell, only blinking occasionally.  Kell stared back, his eyes never blinking.

“So,” Freeman finally said, his voice a hoarse whisper.  “He was an embrion.”

“You should hope that you never find another,” Kell told him.  “Because next time, I may not be there to prevent you from destroying yourself.  Or I may not care to.”

Freeman turned, slowly, back to Brooks.  “Captain.  Give my regards to Dr. Urle.”

Brooks arched an eyebrow.  “You’re not staying, Director?”

“I must return to Sol,” he said, his voice distracted.  “Once my people have finished packing up Denso’s corpse.”

“If Michal Denso has family,” Brooks said.  “His body should be returned to them.”

Freeman did not spare a glance or reply, as he swept from the room.

Kell did not turn to watch him, only watching Brooks.

When the man was gone, Brooks returned his look.

“Is that true, Ambassador?  You killed Michal Denso?”

Kell turned slowly, moving towards the door.  “Your friend is very loud, Captain.  I should hope he learns to lower his voice.”

“Is he shouting into the dark often, then?” Brooks asked.

Kell stopped, his back to him, and shuddered.  “There is a stink upon him.  He believes he merely inquires, but he is disturbing things that your kind should never disturb.  It will have consequences.  I do not know the timescale, but it will be.”

Brooks steepled his fingers.  “I still regret the last time I shouted into the dark,” he said.

“That is because,” Kell replied, as the door opened and he stepped out.  “You are a wise man, Captain.”

---

< Ep 3 Part 56 | Ep 3 Part 58 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

“Dr. Urle, are you sure . . . ?”

“Open the airlock,” Verena said calmly.

There was a moment of silence, and then the door opened into Michal Denso’s room.

The air itself seemed to shimmer, to shift.  Colors flickered where nothing existed to reflect them; shapes distorted and twisted like mirages, but the room was cold.

Except around Apollonia.  There was an almost visible area around her where the distortions seemed to curl back on themselves, to bend around her presence.

It wasn’t a large area, her island of safety.  But it was enough for Verena to stand next to her.

The doctor scanned the room, her heavy protective suit limiting her ability to turn her head.  Looking down at her belt, at the device there that gave at least a sense of local krahteons, she saw that it registered nothing.

After a moment of consideration, she reached up and took her helmet off.

“Doctor-” came the cry over the comm.

“Apollonia Nor does not require a suit.  I do not believe I will,” Verena replied.

Apollonia said nothing and started to walk forward.

Staying by her side, they came upon the glass room box that surrounded Denso – or once had.

The glass had bloomed like a flower, splitting open in jagged lines like it had shattered apart at its top, but then folded gently towards the floor.

Apollonia stepped onto a folded petal, and though it made a grinding sound, it did not break.

Verena noted that the glass did not seem to have lost any structural integrity, and followed suit.

Denso himself was still.  His eyes were closed.  But there was something about the way he lay there that was different.  At once his face looked withered but his presence was stronger, as if much of him that had once been visible was now unseen, yet it remained in their senses in a way that was ineffable.

“Michal,” Verena said out loud.

The man did not speak, the silence lingering.

But then, his eyes opened.  Slowly, like a man waking from a deep dream.

“It has been a long time since I heard a voice that wasn’t filtered through glass or a mask,” he said softly.

Verena stepped closer, as far forward from Apollonia as she dared.

“Are you there, Michal?”

“The chains are broken,” he replied.  His eyes were focused upward, half-lidded and calm.  “Soon I shall be reborn.”

Verena looked back to Apollonia.  Her face was set in tight lines, the strain and toll visible upon her.

Verena turned back to Denso.  The point where the air seemed to be safe was only a foot from him.  Whatever mysterious power Apollonia possessed, it was strong enough to resist what Michal Denso was becoming.

“Michal, do you know where you are?” Verena asked.

The man blinked slowly, a hint of confusion going over his face.  But it passed.

“I am on Medical Station 29,” he said.

“Then you know that there are many other people here.  People who are sick or injured,” Verena continued.

Denso blinked again, and his answer was slower in coming.  “Yes,” he finally said.

“What are you going to become, Michal?” she asked.

A hint of a smile played at his lips.  “No word is sufficient to describe it,” he said, awe in his voice.  “I wish I could.  I will be . . . greater than anyone who has ever lived.  I will no longer live.  I will no longer die.  I . . . will simply be, in the truest sense.”

“Will you be a Leviathan, Michal?”

He was quiet again.  “Words are useless,” he finally said softly.  “You can’t understand.  You could see, but you do not have eyes.”

His head turned, slowly, his skull scraping loudly along bare metal until he was looking at Verena.  He was smiling broadly now, a joyful smile with a tinge of madness.

“I would help you all gain eyes, if you would let me.”

Verena found herself staring into his eyes, and she felt something curl in her stomach.  A feeling that made her knees weak, made her want to turn and run.

Her hands were shaking, she realized.

Something touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see that Apollonia had stepped forward.  A bead of blood ran from the woman’s nose, just touching her upper lip.

“He doesn’t really understand you,” she said softly.  “He’s lost in his own universe.”

Verena wondered what to make of Apollonia’s words, but was disturbed by them.

She could not find words of her own to speak before Apollonia continued.

“Take my hand,” she said.

Verena looked to her hand, feeling afraid to do what the woman said and yet knowing she had to.  She did not know what else to do.

Taking it, Apollonia reached out and touched Michal Denso.  Her touch was gentle, her fingers landing where his collarbone had once been.  If it still existed under the morass of twisted flesh, Verena did not know, but part of her thought that a human form did exist somewhere in there.  It was only hidden.

Apollonia’s hand moved up to touch Denso’s cheek.

His expression had turned to one of surprise, and Verena gained a realization that the man must not have known a gentle touch like this in years.

“Close your eyes,” Apollonia said.

Verena was not sure if the woman meant her or Michal, but she closed her lids nonetheless.

And then she felt a jolt, and found herself standing in an empty room.

The walls were not truly; they were only an impression of surfaces.  The space could have been infinite, even the floor did not seem to exist.

She was not alone here.

Apollonia stood there, her face calm and unfocused, and across from Verena, staring at her with just as much surprise, was a fully-human Michal Denso.

Verena stepped forward.

“Michal,” she said.  “Do you know who I am?”

“You’re . . .  Verena Urle.  The doctor . . . who has taken care of me,” he said softly.  The words struggled to come out.

“There is little of you left, Michal,” Apollonia spoke.  Her voice had an ineffable quality, husky and strong without having changed tones.  A fullness to her voice that soothed out the fear in her heart, even if they left her saddened.

“I’m dying,” Michal said, the realization coming to him.

“You are,” Apollonia said.  “And you’re becoming something else.”

“Yes,” he said earnestly in a whisper.  “I’m becoming something more.”

“And you’re going to hurt people,” Apollonia said.

The man looked stricken.  “No.  I’d never hurt anyone.  I’m an officer of the Sapient Union, I took an oath-“

“You’re going to hurt people if you are reborn,” Apollonia said again.

Pain and fear went over Michal’s face, and Verena felt a terrible sadness strike her.  She stepped forward, her first thought to bring comfort to someone who suffered.

“Michal,” she said gently.  “I’m sorry, but it’s true.  We . . . we can’t move you.  I don’t know if we could even help you die at this point.  But you are becoming something that we cannot withstand.  And even if we wanted to, we could not escape from you in time.”

Anguish went over the man’s face.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said.

“I do,” Apollonia told him.  “You have to let go.  Your continued will to live is the anchor that holds what you are becoming tethered to reality.  Without you . . . it will never be.”

“I . . .  I don’t want to hurt anyone!”

“I know, Michal,” Verena said.  Carefully, she reached out, and put a hand on his shoulder.

The man’s knees seemed to give way, and he fell into Verena.

She caught him, and held him, as his anguish gave way to sobs that wracked his whole body.

Verena put her arms around him.  It was the only thing that she could do.

“Please, how do I stop this?” he asked, “How do I . . . let go?”

Apollonia was silent.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  “But we can figure this out, Denso.  We just have to try . . .”

Her words faded, but she looked uncertain.

“If he wished to die, to prevent this, he would have done so already,” a cold voice spoke.

Verena felt a stab of fear at that voice, looking towards it.  It was not Apollonia, and she, too, spun to see.

There were no longer just they three in the room.  Across the space, near them in spirit if not physically, was Kell.

In this space his body was not right, not human.  His form shifted, changing.  His clothing itself had eyes that opened, peered, and closed, to reappear elsewhere.

His face itself slithered and slid between an open snarl on an oily hide to the calm features he showed to the world.

And a power radiated from the being, a terrifying power that bespoke the deepest time, an age that had seen mountains rise and wither, oceans boil off and return in rains lasting a million years.

Like what Denso wished to be, a thing beyond life and death.

Denso looked at the Shoggoth, and shuddered.

“I hurt you before,” he whispered.

“Because you are not ready to go,” Kell said.

“No,” Denso finally said, his voice the merest sound.  “I’m scared.”

Apollonia seemed to shrink back from Kell, as his presence came closer.  He did not walk, did not move, yet he was nearer all the same.

Verena felt a primordial fear rising in her, but she clung to Michal still.

“He is my patient,” she snapped.  “You can’t take him!”

Kell stopped, and his face calmed, settling in his human shape.  A hint of regret went across it.

“There is no other choice.”

Apollonia screamed, and dove onto Verena.  Denso was pulled like he was on chains, his voice breaking as he was brought closer to Kell.

And the Shoggoth’s human form began to leave it.

Verena saw only a glimpse of something massive, a heaving shape of muscle with a surface that glistened like oil, before Apollonia covered her eyes.

“You shouldn’t see this,” the woman whispered fiercely.

And Verena did not struggle as she heard Michal Denso let out a final, protracted scream, accompanied by the sounds of death.

---

< Ep 3 Part 54 | Ep 3 Part 56 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

Fifteen minutes ago, Brooks had been informed, Apollonia Nor had crossed onto MS-29.

His countdown for the arrival of Director Freeman said there was just over two hours left.  Once the man arrived, it was all out of their hands.

And he had a sickening feeling that it was going to go even more disastrously than he feared.

He was tempted to order the Craton to leave.  At least save his ship.  But he could not simply run and abandon the hundreds of millions on the medical station, and he had orders that kept him here.

He could only wait.

An alert startled him.  There was a call incoming, from Director Freeman.

Had the man arrived already?

He answered.  “Brooks here.”

There was no visual, and the audio was odd; distorted and low-quality, but his system confirmed an audio match for the director.

“Good,” the man said.  “Captain, I will arrive shortly.  I would like you to begin to prepare Michal Denso for transport.  I have specific instructions for this task I will send at the end of this message.”

“Are you messaging me while in transit, sir?” Brooks asked.

“Yes,” Freeman confirmed, but offered no more elaboration.

Brooks had never even heard of that ability, though judging from the quality of the transmission he could understand why it was not in wide use.

“Sending instructions now,” Freeman continued.  “And Brooks?”

“Yes?”

“I am counting on you.  Your success or failure in this will be remembered by myself and the rest of the Directorate.”

Brooks said nothing as the connection was cut, and the data stream began.

He reviewed the instructions Freeman had sent.  They were rigorous, and he could see that it would take several hours; Freeman had anticipated this and noted that that they were unlikely to be finished by the time of his arrival.

But he expected them to be well along.

Given what Brooks knew about the current state of Denso, this did not seem safe for his crew.  But Freeman had even anticipated that.

“Risks to crew considered acceptable under circumstances.  This is a matter of Union security.”

Brooks was duty-bound to order his crew to begin preparing for this.

Instead, he asked his system; “Where is Ambassador Kell?”

The device took a moment, longer than it should have, for such a simple question.

“Ambassador Kell’s location is currently unknown.”

“Did he leave the ship?”

“Unknown.”

Brooks closed his eyes for a moment.  He had a feeling where Kell was.

“Put out a call for volunteers from our available Response officers and medical staff,” he ordered.  “Matching the parameters of this document.  I want this team assembled in twenty minutes.”

---

< Ep 3 Part 53 | Ep 3 Part 55 >

New to Other-Terrestrial? Check here! Or if you need to, jump to the beginning of the episode here!

---

“It’s been a few days longer than I expected,” Jaya Yaepanaya said to Apollonia.

The latter was standing at the door to her office, watching silently.

The brighter lights of the room shed light on just how unhealthy the young woman looked, Jaya thought.  Her eyes had dark bags under them, and she looked so thin under her clothes that her bones might have stood out.

But there was a glint in her eyes that burned brightly.

“I’m ready to go,” Apollonia said.

Jaya studied her a moment longer, then nodded and rose.  Apollonia did not need to ask for her to come, and the Commander walked alongside her as they went to the airlock that connected the Craton to the Chain.

Apollonia came to a stop at the gate, staring across.

Jaya watched her.  She would cross over with the woman if she wanted her to, but it felt hollow to her.  It would not be a field of bayonets for her, just a walkway.

---

Apollonia stared across an abyss.  The ship had fallen away, though she was still aware of the bulkheads and decks.  She saw beyond.

It was a cesspit, a black hole, everything terrible at once across there.

Why was the difference so stark?  From their ship to the other, an arbitrary boundary.

It was just in her head, she realized.  The darkness from what lay on the Chain had sunk deep, but it was not the station.  It was something on it, and it bled onto the Craton, infused all of this sector of space.

She didn’t have to cross a field, she was already in it.

In which case, it was hardly any different to be on that side, was it?

She walked across.

The shock when she’d first arrived had not been from the station itself, it was her system reacting to that presence.  It had already surrounded her, though, it had since they’d arrived.

New layers opened to her.  She couldn’t understand them, not really, but she could see enough.

Jaya walked with her, and once they were on the other side, Apollonia spoke.

“Let’s go see that doctor.”

Jaya messaged ahead, and a drone met them as a guide.

Through tunnels and corridors, down elevators, deeper into the station.  The presence of foulness grew more intense, it burned, itched, hurt, in ways, made her feel like she was being watched.  Her stomach churned, but it did not touch her in the same way it had the first time she’d come aboard.

They finally were brought to an office.  It was cold, austere, and Verena Urle came out to meet them.

“Commander Yaepanaya, Ms. Nor.  What brings you here?” she asked.

“I’m here to help,” Apollonia said.

Verena studied her for a moment before replying.  “To be honest, Ms. Nor, I do not know what it is you think you can do.  The situation has changed drastically, and-“

“I know,” Apollonia said.  “I’ve been seeing it . . . feeling it, since we got here.  I know I’m late, but I think we need to go in there and talk to Michal Denso.”

Jaya looked to her sharply.  She did not think anyone had ever even told Apollonia the man’s name.

Verena caught that as well.  “It seems you are well-informed.  I have the feeling that this is not simply Commander Yaepanaya’s doing.  You have your own ways of knowing.”

Apollonia nodded.

“In which case,” Verena continued.  “Would you mind telling me just what your plan is?  I assume you understand that the conditions in the room with Denso are not safe for anyone.”

“I think that it’ll be safe for me and whoever is with me,” Apollonia said.

“You think?” Verena asked.

“We can only try it and find out.”

“This is far too large a risk to take, just on your feelings.  I have seen for myself many strange things, especially recently, but I am not yet ready to risk my life on these feelings you have.”

“Suit yourself.  I’d still like to go in,” Apollonia said.  “Because the alternative is a lot worse.”

Lines creased on Verena’s face, and a tense silence filled the air between them.

“What will happen?” Verena finally asked.

“Denso is becoming something else.  He’s going to be reborn as something that I don’t think we can contain or deal with.  We’ve got to act now, before that happens.”

Verena visibly reacted as Apollonia spoke.

“The last time I was in there, Denso talked to me.  They were the most coherent words I had ever heard him speak,” she said softly.

“What did he say?” Jaya asked.

“That he had no more chains,” Verena replied.  “And that is not all . . . an expedition to the Terris system encountered on our monitoring station there an unknown individual, whose appearance matches that of Denso.”

“And he’s dead, isn’t he?” Apollonia asked.  She could not say how she knew, but there was a logic here.

“Yes,” Verena replied, her brows furrowing in confusion.

“I think that whatever contact Denso had at Terris was not like that of others,” Apollonia said.  “It was something special.  I don’t know why him, out of all the people there.  Perhaps there isn’t a reason, or it’s one we can’t understand.  What affected him was so powerful it broke him as a being like we know it.  He existed in his body, but also elsewhere.  Some kind of . . . shade of him.  For all we know, there might be more of them out there.  But something has been growing inside this man here.  And as he died, it grew stronger.”

“I disconnected the life support for him earlier,” Verena said.  “It was . . .  perhaps an overdue mercy.  But I cannot do any more.  I already violated specific orders to do that much – and it did nothing.  There is little else I can justify doing.”

“Will it violate your orders if I go talk to him?”

Verena shook her head.  “You truly think it will help?”

“I think I have to do something.  And yeah, maybe.  Maybe there’s something of Denso still in there that can listen to me.”

“Unless you can convince it to cease existing, I do not know what,” Verena said.

“Perhaps I can do that,” Apollonia replied.  “But no promises.”

---

< Ep 3 Part 52 | Ep 3 Part 54 >