Beneath The Darkness Between The Stars

[Veloras Itana 0]

[The following contains mature themes and adult language, reader discretion is advised. If you read further and get offended anyway, kindly remember that you were warned.]

 

Beneath The Darkness

Between The Stars

Pt. XI

"Benjamin Artel"

 

 

"...And the rest is silence" ~Hamlet Act V.

 

When I was a child, my sister and I would spend summer evenings catching what we called "glow bugs" in jars and making "lanterns" out of them. These tiny flying insects with phosphorescent fannies were the closest things we had to toys, growing up under Cardassian rule. I can still remember how much fun Itara and I had racing through the darkness by the light of our bug lamps, shaking them on occasion to make them glow more brightly. I never understood the disdain my mother had for this ritual until I was aboard the Antioch. Her scornful reproaches came back to me with haunting clarity after Elise Mallory had dragged that other man to his death. I became keenly aware of how cruel it was to trap something so much smaller than you, just to see what it did when you shook the jar. I was the insect now and, the Antioch was my jar. Awaiting that next shake became a permeable feeling that was shared by everyone who was left alive.

 

There were only five of us left now. Commander Everett Yung, Ensign Isaojai M'Baru, Lieutenant Junior Grade Benjamin Artel, me and Danella Sil, the Beta Zoid woman we'd "rescued" from the Tobias. She remained unconscious but, stabilized. Efforts to revive her with stimulants and maybe get some answers about what was happening were fruitless. It was as if she was willing herself to remain asleep. Jai could find no physical cause for the unconsciousness. According to him, the instruments he had showed her to be in normal REM sleep. It was strange to us but, we ultimately agreed on the fact that she was probably better off. She'd been exposed to this whatever it was for much longer than any of us had. That had to have taken its toll on her health as well as her sanity.

 

The silence in the aftermath of Brian Mallory's death was suffocating. No one spoke about anything that had happened. No one made eye contact. We mulled about the ship in a daze, bumping into the walls and, occasionally into each other. The only conversation that took place during that time had to do with how we might escape. Each effort seeming more futile than the last. Eye contact and conversation became nothing more than reminders of how hopeless the situation seemed so, they were avoided by everyone. Our only remaining defense against our damnation. I can't be sure but, I believe several days passed before anything else happened. I can remember looking at the chronometer periodically as a frame of reference for how long we'd been there. But, before long, I realized that that too had become pointless. There was one curiosity about that time though, and that was Benjamin Artel.

 

Benjamin Artel had been the bane of our captivity. From the moment this started he'd wavered between belligerence and banality. In the beginning he'd been kept sedated but, we were out of sedatives by this point so, we had resorted to threats against his person as a means of keeping him from ranting like a lunatic whenever he was awake. He remained sullen and silent after that, refusing to come out from under his blanket or help in any way. Which, based solely on his behavior to that point, was just fine with us. He was awake now though. What's more his erratic and unpredictable outbursts seemed to have stopped. He began, quietly at first, asking if there was anything he could do. Something to keep him busy until we figured a way out. He even apologized for his behavior. He seemed sincere enough but, something in his eyes still bothered me. His smile seemed rehearsed and completely in-genuine. Whenever he looked at me I felt very uncomfortable as if there was something lurking beneath his sincere overtures of help. A malignancy that lurked just below the surface of his otherwise innocuous features. The others seemed skeptical of him as well and, I remember his first few suggestions being met with a mixture of annoyance and open patronization. Still, any help was better than none and after those first tenuous hours, he was once again one of the crew.

 

"How is she?" I stepped into the crew quarters quietly causing Jai to jump, spilling a tray of instruments that he had been using to treat her wounds.

 

"Damnit!" Jai whirled in surprise barely catching himself on the edge of the table. His hands were trembling and his face had gone pale. I jumped too, backing into the wall, startled by his anger. Seeing my reaction, he quickly tried to regain his composure. "I'm sorry Tana." He smiled wanly.

 

"It's ok." I smiled back. "Maybe we should all wear a bell around our necks so we stop scaring the pants off each other?" I laughed, coming to his side to check on Danella.

 

"Somehow I get the feeling this isn't the first time in your life you've had to jump at shadows." He replied absently while changing the dressing on the wound on her face.

 

"No, it isn't." I hadn't thought about it like that before but, he was right. I'd spent a good portion of my life ducking shadows. The time I spent in the caves of the Kohlar mountains came vividly to mind. I had been thirteen years old then and responsible for half a dozen wounded and injured Bajoran villagers, staying one step ahead of Cardassian patrols. "I don't think I've ever been this scared though. Cardassians I could see. I knew who my enemy was then. But this..."

 

Jai took my hand and pulled me into his arms. I felt comforted and safe for the first time since leaving Deep Space Nine and, I can clearly remember never wanting to let go. We held the embrace for a long time each taking the only comfort left to us from the other.

 

"When this is over, I want to show you San Francisco." He whispered into my ear, smiling down at me, gently brushing my lips with his. "The unofficial tour." He smiled thoughtfully for a moment. "God did that sound like a line." He laughed.

 

"Well, line or not," I chuckled. "It worked and, you're on."

 

As if on cue the tenderness of that moment was cut short by something I am certain was no more than hallucination. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement from the direction of the doorway. I turned to look but, there was nothing there.

 

"Did you see that?" Jai asked and, I nodded to him rather surprised that he'd seen it too.

 

We stepped to the doorway, looking in both directions. There was nothing there. "Artel and Everett were down below last time I saw them." I said with the slight hint of panic welling in my voice. "There's no one up here but us."

 

Jai looked back over his shoulder toward the motionless form of Danella Sil on the bunk. His lips pursed and there was a hint of dread in his otherwise piercing green eyes. By the Prophets he had beautiful eyes. I shook my head snapping back myself out of it. There was no time for that now. That would come later, in San Francisco, when I held him to his promise to show me the city.

 

"Ok," He said breaking the silence. "I guess we have no choice." He added with mock sarcasm. "Let's go see what that was." He took two phasers from the small locker on the far wall and handed one to me.

 

We walked carefully toward the hatch that led below, to the engine room. There was no sign of Everett or Benjamin Artel anywhere. We called to them several times but got no response as we climbed the ladder into the core room. It was dark in there. Someone had cut the lights and we found ourselves, fumbling in the dark, guided only by the pulsating light from the engine's main reactor. I indicated the opposite side of the core to Jai then pointed to myself and pointed to the right. He shook his head vehemently in objection. Honestly, I couldn't have agreed more. I didn't want to split up either but, something was going on and, from a tactical standpoint (yes *I* said tactical) it made more sense to come at the rear of the room, behind the core, from both sides. Reluctantly, he nodded agreement and slowly moved from sight.

 

Now, don't get me wrong. I do know more than someone my age should about covert reconnaissance missions and guerrilla tactics but, when it came to putting that knowledge to practical use I am, for all intents and purposes, a big sissy. I hate violence. I hate phasers and I hated making my way along that wall alone, holding the phaser out in front of me more as a talisman to ward off evil than as a weapon intended to defend my life. I'm sure I looked twice as ridiculous as I felt. But, growing up on a planet like Bajor during the war, the overwhelming pull of the fight aspect of 'fight or flight' usually takes over and the survival instinct becomes second nature. It's a trait many of my people have adopted as a way of life and, I guess, I am no different.

 

Anyway, I crept along the wall, moving toward the rear of the engine core. A small alcove housed the equipment locker and, I strained my eyes to see inside. Fumbling around in the dark, I managed to find a small hand-held beacon and quickly scooped it up. Even the small amount of light it provided was a great comfort. Anything beat the complete darkness. I shined the light toward the corner of the room where Jai should have been coming from but, he wasn't there.

 

Huddled in the corner with an eery, uncomfortable half-mad grin on his face was Benjamin Artel. His eyes never met mine as he started to speak. He slid up the wall like a serpent and with lightning rapidity quickly pressed me into the wall. He had something in his hand, I couldn't see what it was. He quickly tucked the hand behind his back, pressing me into the wall with the weight of his body. His free hand squeezed my wrist, forcing the phaser free and I remember wincing as it clattered to the floor, struggling to break free and retrieve it.

 

He was drooling, obviously insane and there was a smell coming off him that I couldn't identify. Was it alcohol? No. I'm not sure. All I know was that the look in his eyes was so crazed that it seemed as if he were staring at me from within the bowels of hell. He was no longer a file clerk. He was a demonic presence with an evil lascivious sneer permanently etched into his skin and burned into his eyes.

 

"You want him." He spat in my face. "They told me. Morton and the others." His voice was high pitched, almost shrieking. A lunatic's rant that assailed my ears and bore into my mind with such force it didn't seem to come from him at all but, from all around me. I tried to cover my ears or scream or something but, the weight of his body held me in place and the stark terror I felt as his eyes burned through me prevented my voice from ever reaching my lips. All I could do was stand there and listen to him continue his disgusting, insane diatribe.

 

"They told me you want him and I have to stop you. Your heart is strong, strong enough for what they want. You will be a doorway." His eyes narrowed and his voice grew quiet. "They think you might survive." He smiled at me as a thin stream of fresh drool breached his lip and ran down his chin. "They'll let me live if I keep him from you."

 

"You need help, Benjamin." I pleaded with him meekly but, there was no sign of humanity left in the man. It was as if he were possessed. "Please, let me get Jai or Everett..."

 

"NO!" He howled and forced me harder into the wall. "I will be free. All I have to do is give them you... unspoiled. Alone and afraid." His free hand came up my arm in a nauseating caress and he leaned in close, trying to press his lips into mine. That was all it took. I screamed with every ounce of strength I had and bucked my body outward, slamming my forehead across the bridge of his nose.

 

"Don't you ever touch me again!" I howled wildly bring my fist, still holding the hand-held, across his jaw so hard I felt one of my knuckles snap under the pressure of the impact. "EVER!"

 

He lunged at me, the hand that he'd carefully kept behind his back, falling to his side. That was when I saw the welder come to life. A thin stream of plasma flared at its tip. He dove into my midsection, pinning me to the floor, holding the welder inches from my cheek. "Not good enough for you am I?" He drooled again, turning my stomach. "You're all the same. Snotty bitches. You'll learn. I'll teach you."

 

He started moving the welder closer to my face . I heard a stomach churning crack from somewhere behind him but couldn't see over the glare of the welder near my eye. I could feel the heat from it burn my skin and, something else...something warm and wet. More drool? No. Blood. There was blood pouring off his face as he slumped over my shoulder, dropping the welder, still alight, by my side. I screamed hysterically, wiping at my face, trying to get him off of me. I continued to scream as I saw Everett, standing over me with a section of conduit in his hand. The conduit had strands of hair mixed with blood still clinging to the curved edge of it. He saw my face as I looked from the bloody piping back to him and quickly dropped it, sending it noisily to the floor. Jai came running from the opposite direction, leveling the phaser on Everett.

 

"Get away from her you son-of-a-bitch!" He shouted, pointing the phaser squarely at Everett's head. "Move away now or so help me you're a dead man!"

 

All I could do was scream as I looked to the cavernous hole in the back of Benjamin Artel's head. Instinctively, I rolled him over. He made a strange burbling noise as foam poured from his lips. A cracked harsh sputter sent spittle and blood into the air like a sickly fountain. He convulsed several times until there was nothing but a slight twitch in his legs and then, he was dead. I looked up at Everett, who I could now see was bleeding from the lip and cheek himself.

 

"It's all right Jai." I said almost absently. "Everett just saved my life." The fact that he had saved my life was almost an after thought. I couldn't seem to get past what Artel had said to me. It played over and over in my mind. What had he meant? A "doorway?" What the hell was that?

 

"I'm sorry." Everett said, helping me to my feet. "I don't know what happened. One minute we were working on trying to get the internal sensors to try and give us some kind of readings from the outer hull and, the next..." His voice trailed off as he stared down at the body. "I have never killed anyone before in my entire life."

 

No one spoke after that. The deafening silence returned and, would stay for almost two days. Jai helped me back to the main cabin to lie across the seats. He helped Everett move Artel's body in with the other corpses in the cargo hold and then he brought me water and a clean towel so that I could wash the stench of Artel away. But, after that point, I don't think I ever felt clean again. Not until long after my rescue.

 

...To Be Continued