THE MALEVOLENCE: THE TORUN CHRONICLES, #2

By Jak Kavan

The passengers and crew of ARK 11 are dying in their cryo caskets. An evil presence is making its way through the ship. The task of rescuing the ship falls on the shoulders of a young cryo nurse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: QBS MEDIA
• Release date: Jul 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386719168

Book preview

A novella

by

JAK KAVAN

First published in 2018 by QBS Media

Copyright © 2018 by Jak Kavan

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2018

Chapter One—

Something is terribly wrong.

Commander Qoine woke feebly, disorientated and distressed. He began to claw at the frost on the inside of the plexiglass shield, leaving streaks down its surface. Motors whirred to life, cracking the shield open, air gasping into his cryo casket. He struggled for breath, his chest involuntarily heaving; he was beginning to convulse.

A tube was forcefully inserted into his mouth that seemed to blow air and vacuum fluids at the same time. He drew a short breath, almost choking before coughing up a chest-full of cryo fluid. Someone quickly vacuumed his nostrils, clearing them of mucus and fluids. He drew heavily on the air, coughing and wheezing like an old smoker. He was aware now, aware that someone was helping him. They were trying to get him to sit up in the casket but he was too weak, too disorientated. Nausea hit him like wave. More fluids ejected from his body. All he could do was to try and breath and that was a struggle and a challenge in itself.

Gradually his senses returned to him, first his vision, though it was blurred, then his hearing after his ears were vacuumed for him, then he felt the cold as his body started to shiver. A thermal blanket was thrown around his naked body, his legs seized by the ankles and turned out of the cryo casket.

Can you stand? she said.

I don’t know. I don’t think so, he replied hoarsely.

I’ll give you a shot of adrenalin. she said. His arm stung a little as she fired the hypodermic gun into his arm.

***

Sitting at the main viewing table or command desk as the crew correctly called it, wrapped in the thermal blanket, Qoine slowly collected his thoughts and memories as the fog of cryo sleep gradually lifted from him.

Are we here, I mean there? he asked the girl, a vague recollection that he was going somewhere. Somewhere important!

No, Commander! I had to wake you early, she said handing him a cup of caffeine and a plate of dried fruit biscuits.

Early? How early? He said, slowly recollecting the mission and the Ark.

I’m not sure. All I know is that something is terribly wrong. My name is Arle Muinter. I am a cryo nurse, grade two. I should not have been woken until we got to solar system 422/68 but the ship’s computer woke me up and won’t tell me why because I don’t have enough clearance and...

Woah! Slow down, said Qoine, raising his hands. I’m trying to process here.

Sorry, said Arle, looking rather embarrassed.

Are we in any immediate danger? Qoine asked slowly as he sipped his cup of caffeine.

I don’t think so but something is terribly wrong, the young cryo nurse insisted. 

Okay, can you give me a few rotations to get my senses together? he said, nibbling a biscuit and making a sour face at the taste of it. Placing his cup on the viewing table, he noticed there were cup ring marks already on the command desk. Summoning some spittle, he licked his finger, he rubbed one of rings; it did not come off easily.

You’re right. I should be doing cognitive tests on you right now but I don’t want to go into the med lab, she said, wide eyed, looking fearfully back down the octagonal passage that ran through the central core of the ship, each module separated by an airlock.

Can you get me my jumpsuit from my casket? Please, said Qoine.

Get it yourself. It must have taken me three global rotations to build up the courage to go down there and thaw you out. Just as well I did or you might have died coming out of hibernation, if you were relying on those automated systems to animate you. You nearly drowned in your own cryo fluids, if it were not for me, she said quite animated.

Qoine blinked in disbelief. His first order post-cryo blankly refused by a mere slip of a girl barely eighteen solar rotations old. In his weakened condition, he decided not to argue, it was too much trouble and energy to do so anyway. He was in a civil coupling once and learned a lot from that experience. Besides, he had a lot to remember and recall yet.

Chapter Two

A body of Evidence

Commander Qoine and Arle stood in the hatchway of the med lab, staring at the decomposing body on the floor beside the operating table. Arle held her hand up to her nose and mouth, filtering the smell through her fingers.

See! I told you something was wrong, she said.

The body was unrecognisable. Its blueish skin was pulled tight over its skeleton. The teeth were bared past dried and curled lips, lifeless eye sockets clouded by decomposition stared at the ceiling. The med lab looked like it had been in use, implements and surgical tools scattered on the tray beside the slab. Qoine inspected the waste bin beside the operating table. The remains of a jumpsuit were crumpled up inside it. Carefully he picked it up with two fingers to examine it.

Del Relland, he said reading the name tag on the breast of the jumpsuit. Flight officer Relland. I remember him. A good officer. What happened here? he said aloud examining the scene around him.

What are you going to do? asked Arle.

Establish the facts, he replied, Qoine more alert now. Let’s get back to the command desk on the flight deck. Maybe we can find out what’s going on here.

Back at the command desk, Qoine activated the screen built into its surface. It blinked to life, first white, then blue, throwing its hue around the flight deck. A computer image of the Ark appeared and rotated on the large octagonal screen. Qoine, now dressed in his uniform and equipped with his PID pen, placed it into a magnetic receptacle on the table. His access codes and biometric readings activated the necessary protocols. He placed his hand on the glass surface and the table scanned his palm print. A keyboard appeared on the screen requesting that he enter a password. He quickly typed it in.

Voice recognition required. State your name, rank, and favourite colour, said the ship’s computer.

Commander Mal Qoine. Mission commander, Ark Eleven. Turqoise.

Welcome back, Commander Qoine, said the computer.

Arle placed another cup of coffee and a plate of biscuits on the command desk beside him. Qoine gathered his thoughts.

"Okay Ark, I