D A Novel (George Right) - By George Right Page 0,133

judging by the schematics, exactly in the middle of the ship? Something concerning genetics? (He felt again an attack of irrational fear at this thought.) Well, no. "Gen" is, probably, a generator. The Kalkrin generator, the engine of "Hyperion." On spacecrafts of the past the engines were situated at the aft end, but a dark starship had other means of movement. She travels by means of the field of dark energy shrouding the ship.

Adam casted almost a mechanical look at the headless body on the couch, then, stumbling on an idea, approached closer. He tried to bring together the edges of her peeled flesh and disemboweled stomach, and then put the "drawing" in from above. Yes, skin was definitely cut off from here. If this woman was lucky, by that time she was already dead.

Why, by the way, is the drawing turned upside down? Was she hung legs up?

Adam decided not to take this dismal picture with him (That guy kept it in his pocket... yeah, and now he is dead, his brains scooped out by a table-spoon.) Eventually, the schematic was simple enough to remember–provided he does not lose memory again.

He quickly examined the infirmary in search for scalpels or something similar, something capable of serving as a better weapon than a sharp piece of occipital bone. But alas it seemed that the majority of medical tools had also been destroyed by the vandals who were smashing the ship–or at least they were carried away somewhere. The saw with which the skulls had been cut open obviously did not suit for a fast effective blow. With a sigh he again took his bone tool, though he did not know whether he still believed there were murderers wandering the ship.

If only Eve were not succumbing to madness. Yet, it seems she is not so far from it.

He went out to the ring corridor, then beyond to the lift, and loudly called her several times. The silence of the dead ship was the only answer he received.

It was, however, not completely dead. The engine obviously was still working. And illumination–it was undoubtedly becoming brighter.

He reached the lift, almost running. Eve was not there. So where should he search for her now? All over the ship? "Eve!" he hopelessly shouted–with the same result.

He bypassed the lift shaft and glanced in the opposite corridor, which now shone from end to end. The dead man with ripped up stomach lay in his former place, and, as Adam could judge from such distance, in the same pose. The annulated creature, of course, had crept away long ago. He was curious about where it might have crept to now because it would be undesirable to step on such a thing unexpectedly.

"If I were a woman, flooded with despair and fear, would I run towards a corpse?" Adam asked himself and answered: "No. Then, all the same to the staircase."

From an exit to staircase he called his companion again and had a depressing thought that if there were still someone else onboard, the two of them were doing everything to facilitate the enemy's goal. Well, upward or downwards? She had unlikely decided to hide in the control room–though who knows what she can do in such a condition. After waiting a few more seconds, he moved downwards, without having the slightest idea what to do beyond that. Eve could have gone to any of compartments, in any of the premises.

He decided at first to pass all the staircases down to the end, continuing to call her. Then if that didn’t help, he would have to examine each level systematically. At the same time he would also learn what was going in places where he had not yet explored. However, he had no doubt any more that anything good was going on there.

He found Eve almost at the very bottom, near the entrance to the terrible level where the woman-hive hung on wires. Eve lay on steps, twisted in an unnatural pose, with her head down, as a person would never lie down of his own volition. The picture became clear to Adam at first glance: She had run, being beside herself, had stumbled on the steps, and had broken her neck.

Or maybe someone had helped her. Though if so, she had gotten off lightly, considering the condition of the other victims.

Anyhow, Adam was again alone. Face to face with this awful ship, and this thought filled him with such desperate anxiety that he might as well plunge