Janet was sitting in her chair crying softly. I heard her mumble something, but I couldn't understand what she said. I shook her a couple of times, but I couldn't get her to respond to anything, no matter how much I shook or how loudly I shouted. I had a headache like no other I've ever had, and my feet and the tips of my fingers felt numb like they were wrapped in great wads of wool. On top of that, now George wasn't responding on the radio. I asked Mother if she knew what was going on and she answered me, but she was acting so wacko I couldn't understand what she was talking about. All I heard was something about programmed limits and emergency procedures. Heck, I was the one executing the emergency procedures and that stupid electronic bitch didn't have a clue what was going on.
Then, even though I felt myself shrouded in a mental mist which made it hard for me to remember my name, I somehow remembered that George was out of the ship in an e-suit trying to do something important. I called again to George, but he still didn't answer me. Why they ever picked that weight-lifting quasi-military fitness nut for this mission, I'll never know. But he was out there, and as far as I was concerned, he better get his rear in gear and answer me. Mother apparently wasn't able to get anything out of George either, so I figured it was going to be up to me.
I stumbled down to the airlock, and somehow found the presence of mind to check the panel display after I had bumped into it with my forehead. The outer door was open, and I could see the emergency cable which was attached to a winch mounted to the inside bulkhead. I was about to winch in the cable, but I couldn't find the stupid button in the dark. Then it hit me that there were two other guys sitting out on that planet. "Shit!" I said. "Come on George. Get those guys!" When George still didn't answer, I knew that I had just gotten a new job to do.
The mate's body floated in the micro-gravity as the tank slowly orbited the asteroid. The explosion had thrown the tank, and what was left of the ship, into a low orbit. Mercifully, the seal on the hatch had held. The Chief slowly came back to consciousness. He wiped moisture from his forehead, and discovered that the moisture was his own blood. His watch told him that he had been unconscious for over twelve hours. He called out into the darkened tank, but all he heard was his own echo, and his own excited breathing.
I tried to open the airlock, but Mother got snooty about not violating protocol. Also she said something about automatic blast off in three minutes, so I told her to shut up in no uncertain terms. This time she simply refused to shut up, insisting I sit in one of those idiotic g seats. I was too friggin' busy to sit in one of those things, I told her, but she ignored me and kept on talking about acceleration limits and then went on again about blood chemistry and emergency procedures. Finally, in desperation, I told her to execute my "Sleepy Time" program.
I had never let anybody know about this special program. Every time I find a smart-aleck computer that thinks it's smarter than I am, I always install a "Sleepy Time" program. Mother clearly struck me as a such a computer, so I gave her this program early in the flight and kept it dormant in case it was needed at a later time. This seemed like such a time. The program basically shuts down the whole darn computer, except for some really low-level kinds of processing functions, and puts it into the computer-equivalent of a deep hypnotic slumber. Finally, with her in La-La Land, she shut up and left me alone to try to figure out how to open the airlock in the dark.
Without Mother as a distraction, I eventually figured out which buttons to press on the control panel. I overrode the lock-outs on the airlock, and opened the inner door. It sure was nice to smell real air again. I realized that I had been in this tin can for an awfully long time. I kind of wished I had brought a picnic lunch, except that it was too darned dark to see whatever it was that I would be eating.
I just about broke my neck falling out of the airlock, since either they moved the ladder or my feet no longer worked properly. I cursed myself for not bringing along a flashlight in the darkness, although something told me that it wouldn't have helped. I think my mind wandered again, because all of a sudden I tripped over the line that George had left behind, and I remembered that I had to find him before I could do anything.
Stumbling along in the dark while I held onto the line, it seemed to take forever before I finally reached George. He had fallen onto one of those off-white patches of vegetation. Just ahead of him, I saw the naked form of Jones lying on the vegetation. Next to him was Sarco. Jesus, that white vegetation looked comfortable.
Then, I suddenly felt more tired than I ever have ever felt in my entire life. The broad patches of leaves, or whatever they were on that patch of off-white vegetation, looked very inviting. Now I knew why the cows like them so much. If I hadn't stumbled over George, I probably would have forgotten myself and taken a nap, but the sight of George in the armored e-suit made me remember what I was trying to do. It took every gram of my concentration to continue, but I took the grappling hook from George's belt and looped the line from it around Jones' left ankle. Moving was hard because my feet felt like they were hip deep in thick mud, but I was able to take the end of the grappling hook and attach it to one of Sarco's belt loops. I tried to pry Sarco loose from the vegetation, but he was entangled in it, and I was just too weak to budge him.
"Mother," I called on the emergency comm channel. No answer. "Mother, Respond!" I said again. Mother still said nothing. "Mother!" I called again. Was she mad at me? I knew she could get snotty, but I figured she'd always answer me when I called. Then my brain fell back into gear; I had forgotten that I had shut her off! "Mother," I called again. "Wake Up. Authorization: 'Mechanical Bitch'."
Mother quickly came back on line. Immediately she started to talk about "emergency procedures" and "automatic this" and "automatic that" and "ninety seconds left," so I had to shout her down. "Reel the friggin' thing in!" I ordered. She was confused and didn't understand, so I lost my temper for the 72nd time that day. "Wind in the winch wire!" I shouted. Apparently she finally got it, because the line got taught, and George, Sarco, and Jones all started to move.
Then that wonderful, nice, comfortable patch of vegetation that had looked so inviting suddenly changed.
The mate continued to float gently near one wall of the tank. The smell of cauterized flesh filled the entire tank and mixed with the odor of sweat, urine, and feces. The Chief gingerly poked at the mate, who softly protested the intrusion, assessing the extent of his injuries. There appeared to be no serious broken bones, and the little bit of blood which oozed out of the gash above the man's eyebrow was dark and well coagulated. The Chief made a slight sigh of relief; the mate would survive. This thought was quickly extinguished however, when he gently pulled open the rip in the mate's space fatigues near his waist. The mate's skin was completely obscured by a large pool of blood that floated in the micro-gravity, right next to his body
Over the next fourteen days, the mate twitched and moaned periodically as he drifted into and out of consciousness before death finally claimed him. The Chief could do nothing but watch in the damp silence, his hunger growing by the day.
The appearance of the off-white patch of vegetation changed. Don't ask me exactly how it changed, since I can't explain it in anything close to words. It reminded me of Morgan's scream that I had heard on that recording. It was like I had seen with my eyes the scream that I had previously heard with my ears. I suddenly knew what it was that made her scream. I felt the same terror deep in my bones that Morgan had felt. The vegetation was not some nice simple plant, it was a monster. Although it had no teeth, it had fangs. It had no intelligence, but it had an evil genius. It was light in color, but it was darkness incarnate. It was animal, not vegetable. It was cognitive, not inanimate. It was not a plant, it was a carnivore. And it was hungry!
I think I must have passed out for a while, because the next thing I knew I had been knocked over by Jones' body being pulled back by the winch line. Luckily, I fell on him, and I think that I got dragged a few meters by the winch. My head seemed to clear a little, and I heard Mother say something about thirty seconds until lift off.
I don't believe in divine inspiration, or cosmic enlightenment, and any of those other major revelations that seem to come at regular intervals to the people on video talk shows. Because of this, I can't explain how it is that I gained the knowledge that suddenly popped into my head. But in a flash of insight, I knew where I was, what I was, and I understood the horrible secret of Harvey's World. I knew why the Explorer had been destroyed, and I knew why all the lights had gone dark. I also knew why I was having so much trouble concentrating, and I knew with absolute certainty that I had practically no chance of surviving and rescuing my diaspora-mates.
"Mother," I called. "Hold auto return!"
"Acknowledged," she replied in a strangely emotional voice. Did she somehow understand also?