Olympus: The Agency (Book One)

35. The Dreamer's Lie

Phil put her PDA in her pocket, thinking about the new problem that she had. It was extremely easy for her to take over the ship, but she'd likely kill everyone else on board. She needed a way to alert the crew to what she planned to do, or just a way to make them lock up without knowing.

"Belle?" Phil said, choosing her next words carefully. "If I, say, look up... things on my PDA, can you see that? There's... a few things I don't want on file."

"I understand, Miss Faransai. To answer your question, no, I cannot read or access anything on PDAs unless given access. Currently, I cannot access any PDAs."

"Not even Zeus?" Phil asked, feigning interest.

"Currently, no. I lost his signal when he entered atmosphere."

"Any gossip?"

Belle did not answer, so Phil began typing messages to a few people. Specifically to Kailey, Eliza and Marcella.

"Zeus's orders, get everyone locked away safely from the corridors. Do not alert Belle, she is considered an enemy in this situation."

A few seconds later, Phil got an acknowledgment from Kailey and Eliza. Marcella did not respond, but Phil's instruments told her that the crew was beginning to lock themselves away within their rooms.

Phil breathed out heavily, then stood out of her chair, cracking her neck. "Belle, what defenses do we have on the interior of the ship?"

"We currently have Hiroki flame turrets within the corridors, and I can vent the ship to completely destroy the enemy."

"Wouldn't that... kill the crew?" Phil asked apprehensively.

"It would, thus I can only do this with Zeus's authority."

Phil nodded, knowing all she needed. She stopped focusing on maintaining herself, who 'Phil' was. Her eyes began to cloud and change into a harsh yellow. Her skin turned a sickly green, and her fingers began to grow claws.

"Alert. Alert. Klisk lifeform detected." Belle said across the ship.

Now a Klisk Queen, Phil knelt down and began to push biomass out of her back. The cockpit was soon turned into a nesting area that grew Spiders and Spitters that burst into the command room.

"Sorry, Belle," Phil said, her voice distorted. "I have a job to do."

"Philicia Faransai has betrayed the ship," Belle said across the ship. "Klisk hive forming on the command room."

The doors to the corridors exploded as a tidal wave of flesh, teeth and claws flowed through it. The turrets popped out of the walls but were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Klisk Phil had sent their way.

"Phil, please desist. You are going to kill the crew." Belle pleaded.

"Actually, you are. No orders from Zeus, means the only way to stop me is to vent and kill the crew. Do it, Belle!" Phil demanded.

Belle's hologram on the command table visibly glitched as thousands of calculations went through her program. She watched as the Klisk flooded the corridors. The crew appeared to be safe in contained rooms for now, but venting the ship was going to vent every room. The Klisk count went above 100, and Belle's program sparked on the console.

"What's the matter?" Phil taunted, losing herself. "Can't handle me?"

Belle once again didn't answer, and shut herself off to prevent any further breaks to her code. Phil checked the console to verify, then sent a command to the Klisk on the ship.

Return.

Within minutes, the command room was full of writhing and gnashing lifeforms. Phil concentrated and reduced all of them entirely to biomass and attempted to absorb it all.

"Too much..." she grunted.

Phil fell to her knees as her skin returned to its tan colour, and her eyes back to their ocean blue. Once the last of the green liquids entered through her pores, she fell to the ground, breathing raggedly.

"P...D...A..." Phil wheezed. She heard the beep, telling her the voice commands were on. "Done..."

Phil's eyes closed as she passed out.