Epsilon IX: Signs of the Fifth

Chapter one: Adrift

In that same single moment, everything else ceased to matter. Only the ringing and the sharp headache was important.

Colin Bedford regained his consciousness, but his memory failed him. Even his own name was a mystery. He could remember only one thing; the danger of some desperately serious crisis, and, of course, the running; running from that danger; escaping desperately from the monstrous threat. And now he was in this cold, dark, and unaccountable place where he lay helplessly.

He found himself totally blind. This place was dark; indeed almost pitch black. And Colin couldn't help thinking to himself that the quiet, soundless atmosphere was discomforting; even sinister.

He did not what to stand up on his feet, nor to remain huddled on the ground powerless and unprotected. He began to shiver, his eyes still closed tight. But not from the cold.

Very slowly, and he found with great difficulty, he pulled his eyes open, focusing only on the thick, icy clouds that arose from his breath. And then, he dared to look ahead. He found himself staring straight down the dark, somber passage of some metallic hallway, as it retreated into the distance growing darker, darker, darker...

It seemed as though an icy hand took a firm grip of his heart.

The thing that stood a the end of the end of the passage did not seem to move. But rather it was only staring at him. A bone-white splotch, blurred in an unearthly apparitional fashion, stood dead-still at the end of the hallway.

He did not know how long he lay staring at it, but the tension had not allowed him to exhale a single breath. He let out another icy cloud to relieve himself. And then the place was not so soundless anymore...

He flinched in horror at the noise. Something else was coming. Perhaps not for him, but it was coming this way, and running; stampeding so violently that he could hear it walloping itself against the walls.

He did not see it yet, but he was unconscious of everything except his fear. A monster, he thought (it must have been) was coming; frantically throwing itself against the walls with a clang that grew louder and louder. Still he did not move. He couldn't stand. He was paralysed, and could only watch...

He knew at once what it was when he saw it. At the end of the dark passage, the man showed himself.

A man?

Yes. Without a doubt.

All of his fears melted out of him as he realised this. The monster approaching him was simply another human being, just like himself. But it was dark, and Colin could not yet see his face, but it was clear: the stranger was in pain; limping and clutching his stomach.

And then, little more than five metres away, he came into view. "Who are you?" Colin thought to himself. "Well, I might have expected it. Hello, good friend."

With less fear, he rose to his knees, and now his friend - John Barclay - came so close that he collapsed; straight into Colin's arms.

"What's going on?" Colin could think of nothing else to say.

John opened his mouth with pain and said breathlessly "Listen to me..."

"Answer me dammit!" Colin shook him violently. "What the hell is this place? Wh...what's the matter with you?"

"Listen!" John shouted so loudly that the word echoed down the hallway. It took a second or two for him to get his breath back. "Colin, you must...find Virgil..."

"Virg...Is Virgil here too?"

"You must give this to him..." John pulled a small object out of his pocket the same size and shape as a pen. It soon became obvious that it was a needle; filled with John's own blood. "He'll know what to do with it."

"John, where..." Colin took the bloody needle in his hand absent-mindedly. "Where is this..."

"Colin, you must..."

"Tell me!" Colin yelled in his face. "What's happened?"

John looked at him with a weak smile. "You don't remember?"

"Please I..." He paused for a few breaths of sheer panic. "I don't even know how I got to this place."

John wheezed in one last painful breath. "You know more than you think. Just try to remember."

Colin shook him once again. "Remember what?"

But then, once more, the place was silent.

Slowly, Colin reached out a trembling hand and closed his friend's eyes.

There was a scarcity of will, but he knew it had to be done. The passage was laid out ahead, almost totally dark. And of course, there, straight ahead, was the luminous haze of bone-white staring back at him.

But there was only one way to go from here. And somewhere, Virgil was out there.

More cautiously, he rose to his two feet. When he did, he felt an unearthly lightness of body. For the first time, he had the suspicion that he was already dead. Was this the feeling of being a ghost? If so, just what was that light at the end of the hallway?

His slow strides brought him closer and closer, yet the light remained still and silent, until finally, the thing came into focus.

Nothing special. It was only a white screen-display spanning the height of the wall. But its purpose was even more clear now, for written up in dark letters was an unclear message that immediately haunted him.

EPSILON IX

BUILT IN TERMINAL ONE

YEAR 2775

A few seconds gone by, there was that headache again. The letters began to blur into a solid haze, growing darker and darker. And then, annoyingly, he started falling backwards, into enormous depths. And he knew nothing more.