Blessed are the fools and bad men

McKenzie was proud of what she'd done in the nursery. There wasn't really a lot to work with, but with the help of her industrial torches and a welder, she'd made a pretty decent crib. According to articles she read on the Extranet, babies could suffocate very easily, so she made the floor out of lines of rubber tubing, then ran a couple of her softest sheets over the top. Adam Jr. was going to love his crib. And she couldn't wait to show his daddy either. She reached a hand down to rub the small bulge beneath her navel, Junior was growing so quickly. She'd had to hurry to finish.

The pad on her arm flashed red. It couldn't be. Adam had finally come back. It had been days of agony. In her heart of hearts, McKenzie was was starting to lose hope, at times she felt uncomfortably low, even angry or scared; silly goosehead McKenzie, as if there was anything to be scared of, when you're making a new family! The cold, black lines of the ship seemed to suck in the light of the hangar. McKenzie hoped Adam wouldn't make them wait for dinner. She'd been sooooo hungry these past few days. Hopefully his wife was dead, already. McKenzie didn't want to have to kill her in front of Adam.

The last thing she remembered was anger and fear at the sight of five armored demons, with glowing red eyes descending the ramp. Anger because Adam hadn't come back, and fear, because she knew they had come for her. She couldn't let them have Junior! She didn't even feel the sedative dart. She slept, and when she awoke the real nightmare began.

Everything was going perfectly. Cindi had strutted through the halls like a heavy bomber just waiting to drop off her payload. Halverson even jolted awake when she came up, straightening his tie and brushing off some imaginary dust, she was right over the target, about to release the payload.

"Hiya!" Cindi planted the steaming dish right in front of the poor sap. "My auntie asked me to drop this off. I was mad before but." She giggled for effect and shrugged. "Not I'm glad she did. So are you Private Halverson?"

"Y-y-y-yes, ma'am." Cindi giggled again and reached out as if to touch him, then pulled back at the last second. Girls, Kat rolled her eyes. Always laid it on so thick. Luckily this poor fool was so blind, it didn't matter. "That doesn't look like it fits you, ma'am."

"Can I tell you a secret, Halverson?" Cindi stretched his name on her tongue. "I borrowed them from my cousin. She's gonna be sooooo mad. Now you go."

"Wha-what?"

"Tell me a secret silly. A good one." Cindi leaned forward to let him examine the goods. Time to put phase two into action, Kat rounded the corner in her lab coat, a stolen ID badge tucked into her hand. The key was the walk, keep it slow enough not to attract attention, fast enough that they don't have time to look at you too closely. Naturally she nailed it.

"I- I dunno."

"Oh come on. I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Well, my boyfriend and I are fighting." Kat stopped in her tracks. Not good. She pretended to drop her pad to cover her shock. She studied him closer. Nails had a clear coat, his skin practically glowed, someone used their nightcream. Why did he have to be gay?

Cindi, god bless her, didn't even hesitate. "What are you two fighting about?"

Abort? NO! Rush past and hope for the best. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid Kat.

"Its just been so hard. Long distance. You know."

Who cares? There's a thousand lonely men on this base right here. One of them will let you suck their dick. A mouth's a mouth. They don't care. Was she really going to get this close and then not cross the threshold???

Cindi put a sympathetic arm on his shoulder. She gave him the big eyes. "Sounds like you guys aren't gonna last. He doesn't deserve a sweet guy like you."

Kat knew why Halverson's boyfriend was going to dump him. The man was a fucking tease! Let her through the door!

But Cindi wasn't done. "You need a hug, sweetie."

And he did, bursting into tears, bitch-crying all over Cindi's slutted up clothes. He sobbed. No. Way. When Kat walked by, still stunned at the turn of events, he didn't even look up. Cindi shot her a wink though. A quick BEEP from the security pad- "Welcome Dr. Malcolm Grant." -and she was through.

Time to get to work.

McKenzie awoke to a world of glass walls and blinding lights. Her stomach bulged obscenely. What the hell was going on? Where was she? Men and women in white coats observed her, taking notes and working at strange machines. Was this some kind of hospital? The last clear memory she had was of a ship landing and a pair of smugglers coming aboard. It felt like a lifetime ago, and it must have been some time, she was at least four months pregnant. Her stomach ached, she almost fell getting off the medical cot, unsure how to move with her center of gravity so different.

"Hello. Are you here to help me?" McKenzie tried to see, but it felt like they shined the lights directly into her eyes. "Can you tell me where I am? Where's my ma?"

The scientists, if they even heard her, had no answer. McKenzie felt her unease give way to abject terror. This wasn't right. This wasn't no hospital. These people weren't here to help her. More than anything she felt like a rat, being toyed with.

"Hey! I know you can hear me!" She shouted, a wave of uneasiness passed over her, one of the monitors just outside her cage began to flash red, the words 'nutrient levels critical' flashed. "What does that mean?" She screamed but there was no answer. She might as well have been on another planet. McKenzie almost fell, she felt weak. She leaned against the wall, exhausted just from standing. Her upper arm felt weird, she felt around there and noticed a plug going in to her shoulder. She tried to pull it out, but the pain made her quit.

McKenzie slumped to the floor and began to cry in frustration and pain. A tray of food slide in from the outside. In truth it looked delicious, and not just because she was starving. Smoked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and a brownie for dessert. There was even a cup of milk beside her glass of water to wash it down. McKenzie threw it at the wall. She wouldn't be their god damn rat!

"Let me fuck out of here!"

Adam and Sam returned home, to an amazing smell and an empty house. Things had rapidly cooled on their walk back, it was as if the brief period of camaraderie was forgotten the moment they crossed the threshold. Sam returned to her work station and prompted ignored him, which left Adam with the first free time he'd had in days, even if it was with a sullen housemate. Adam found himself longing for the holo nights aboard the Invader with Cindi. Actually...

Adam pawed through the old stacks of holos, not much of a selection, but there was a few black and white romances from the revival period of the 2400's, one of which he had even heard of. He figured it might just appeal to the purist in his sister. Next he grabbed some food. Honestly he was

Starving. McKenzie was going mad from hunger. It had been 36 hours and eight trays since she began her defiance. There was no clock, so she'd counted the beeps in her machine. "Beep beep beep beep beep extremely low nutrient levels." Beep beep beep beep beep, extremely low nutrient levels." Each circuit was roughly ten seconds. she'd made etching in the floor for every six, then a circle for every six etches, pretty soon she'd need to make boxes to count the days. Unless she died. Or they erased her numbers when she fell asleep again. McKenzie started laughing, because she knew she was insane. She was every bit as worried over marks on the floor as she was her own life.

Would they send someone in soon? To finish her off? Or just leave her to starve? Just when it seemed like she would give in and crawl over to the food and just eat, just to make it stop when there a voice came in over a hidden speaker."McKenzie, my name is Dr. Murphy. I am so sorry for what has happened to you. May I come in?"

Popcorn was always Cindi's favorite snack growing up. They hadn't had any on the ship, but maybe... yes. Thank you Aunt Kat! Adam threw a ready bag in the omni-cooker. Seconds later, it began to pop within, while Adam found another score, real butter! Well, real synthetic, but a very good quality. As the label said, 'even the cow can't tell the difference'. He found a comfy thick blanket, he knew how much of a cuddler she was, and with this they could curl up nicely. Well, nicely for his sister. Adam would be

Sweating like a pig in the sun. That's what McKenzie felt like most of the time. It had been two days since her pointless little hunger strike had ended. Two days since Dr. Murphy had entered her room and picked her up off the floor. He had kind eyes, that was the first thing she noticed. Just on the far side of middle aged, with a pudgy middle, short beard and nearly white hair, he didn't look so much like a doctor as a stylish Santa Clause. He'd sat with her for an hour the first day, explaining what was happening in that funny way he had of speaking.

McKenzie was sick. She was no fool, she could see that. Her stomach was getting bigger by the minute. Only, the man who done it had known it was gonna happen. Adam Carter was a bad man. He was spreading this sickness. 'Was it contagious?' She'd asked. 'Yes. That is why we had to take you away from the station, for your own protection and your families.' Her family was on their way, he told McKenzie, but for now, he would stay in the room with her and keep her company. Murphy even wheeled in his own cot. And when he offered to share a meal with her, this time McKenzie couldn't stop herself. They ate together, McKenzie made a real pig of herself, bad manners and all that, but Murphy didn't laugh, he just smiled and dug in with his hands too. They laughed together then, all the while, Murphy looked at her with those kind eyes. For the first time in days, McKenzie felt like things were going to be all right.

Cindi loved straws, Adam knew. Once as children, when their parents were working long hours, Adam had taken a handful of straws and pushed them together to make one enormous superstraw, nearly as long as her. The thing leaked terribly and had created an awful mess for him to clean up, but Cindy smiled for the first time all night when he'd given it to her at dinner. Years later he'd seen it tucked away safely in her room, a sacred treasure from her childhood. Adam decided to make another one old times sake, just a mini one though, three straws long. He smiled. Maybe she'd keep this one for years too.

"Doctor Murphy?""Yes, my dear?"

"What's happening to me?"

Murphy had been reading a flimsy on historical medicine. Ever since he exposed himself to her, he couldn't leave the quarantine either. He liked to kill time with reading. Sometimes he even read to her, which she found soothing. He set it down now. Took his glasses off and rubbed the lenses on his shirt.

"You have a parasite."

"You already told me that."

"It is very difficult to remove."

"You told me that, too."

He stopped and fixed her with a sharp look. McKenzie realized how awful she sounded. Dr. Murphy had come in here to save her when he didn't have to. "Sorry. I'm just going crazy in here."

"The team is prepping the surgery ward, we have nearly located the parasites and we can extract them in just a few days. In the mean time, if you do not keep your strength up, you could-"

"Die from the procedure. I'm just...just...just...."

"Scared." Doctor Murphy put his hand on her arm. It was the only human contact she'd had, and she cherished it. Those awful scientists and doctors still just stood around and watched her without saying anything, all hours of the day and night. He was the only one who cared. The only one who bothered to even make her feel safe. "You do trust me, do you not?"

McKenzie nodded. "You're the only one who came in to be with me. You risked everything for me."

Murphy smiled back at this, a kind, gentle thing. "You're my patient. There is nothing I would not do for a patient." He stopped and put a hand on her belly for the first time. McKenzie could swear they could feel it inside, because they seemed to calm and go still. "Keep eating, and resting. I promise you that in a few days time, everything will be just as it should be."

Cindi was delighted when she came back. The smile nearly split her face in two. Sam on the other hand, grunted about keeping the noise down while she worked. It didn't matter though. When Adam produced the bowl of popcorn and turned on the holo with a flourish, he thought she was nearly buzzing with excitement.

"I really enjoyed watching holos with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, its like my favorite thing and-"

Cindi practically lept into her brother's arms when he said this. However she contented herself with a simple hug after a glace back at Sam. She did however feel like a quick cupping of Adam's butt was perfectly appropriate. The popcorn was gone before even the halfway point and Adam went to refill the bowl.

Pop pop popopopopop POP!

POP! POP! POP!

McKenzie was screaming in agony. Her bones felt like they were going to burst through her skin, her belly rippled before her very eyes! She had to get these things out!

Doctor Murphy was frantically yelling to the scientists and aides, something about 'harvest protocol'. He turned to once again tell her everything was fine.

She reached for the metal fork from last night's dinner, it had to come out or she was going to die. She knew it in her bones if she didn't do something, she was going to die.

"Wait!" Murphy cried. "You will hurt yourself!"

McKenzie was mad with the pain, mad with the waiting, she was just mad. Days of isolation and eating and growing and pain had broken her mind.

"You must trust me. Wait!" He held up a hand, the desperation and fear plain on his face. She did trust him. She was his patient and he was going to save her. It took every ounce of willpower to unclench her hand and drop the fork, but she did.

She didnt' fight when the orderlies gently lifted her to the table, nor when they strapped her down to keep her from thrashing from the pain. Not that she could do much, those popping sounds had been her hips leaving their sockets. She smiled up at Doctor Murphy, only he didn't smile back anymore, he barely even seemed like he saw her. Instead he looked down at her without expression. A nurse got his attention for a moment, and he replied without looking away from McKenzie's face.

"General anesthetic is harmful for the sample. The host is prepped and rupture point is nearly here. We will proceed with harvest operations."

It didn't make sense. "Sam-ple? Harvest?" Host? Wasn't she the host? The pain had become numbing at this point, her belly writhed beneath the flesh of her stomach. She opened her mouth to speak, only to gag as a dead eyed nurse intubated her. Not that she could scream, but those things inside of her- she could almost feel their hunger -had torn through her diaphragm.

It was then that Doctor Murphy smiled again, but not at her, and this time it didn't look like Santa Clause at all. "The host has reached inflection point. Patients are fully gestated." There was a tense nervous energy in the air. Several of the orderlies even had weapons. Through the brain fog. McKenzie realized what he'd said. Patients. S. She was bleeding now and her mind was barely even conscious from the pain, but if it had been it would have frozen with horror, when she realized she'd never been the patient, she was just the box it grew in.

Dr Murphy looked at her one last time, mask obscuring everything below his eyes. There was so much blood, some of it even spattered on him. "You did so well McKenzie. I am very proud of you."

His eyes didn't look so kind anymore.

Cindi glanced around, Sam had already left for bed and Kat was still out, she planted a hot open mouth kiss on Adam to thank him for the holo night. She could sense he wanted more, she did too, but it would have to wait. One more peck and she dashed off to Sam's room to crash after a rather exhausting twenty four hours. When she got to the dark room she nearly tripped over her cousin who was laying on the floor with backpack for a pillow and a coat thrown over her shoulders.

"Sam." Cindi hissed.

"What?" Sam groaned.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

"Because you snored like a bandsaw when you were eight and I doubt your grew out of it."

She did not snore! Did she? She'd have to ask Adam. Cindi laid down on top of the covers, her mind still racing from the day. If she did snore, it was cute, damnit! Why did Sam always have to be like this to her? Minutes ticked by, and she still couldn't let things go. The future seemed so uncertain, so hard to direct. But it was the past really troubled her. She and Sam had had their issues long before the family broke apart. Sam had basically grown up with them since birth. Her parents had spent at least as much time raising her as they had their own kids. Sam was almost a sister to her, rather than a cousin.

They had to share their parent's attention. Share clothes, hell they even shared a room for a bit, later on, they'd both been competing for time with Adam. Cindi had carried a grudge for a long time at Sam for dominating so much time with her brother. At least they didn't have to deal with that anymore. A thought occurred to her. Sam could have easily slept on the bed and made Cindi camp out on the floor. It really was very nice. They'd basically showed up here and taken over Sam's house.

"Hey Sam." Cindi whispered. "Thanks for letting us stay here. And for letting me sleep in your bed."

Sam grunted.

"I'm sorry if we made you're life harder by coming here. We didn't have anywhere else to go."

Silence.

Cindi thought back to her childhood, the days when they'd shared a room, their family hadn't had much money back then. They'd called it sleepovers, the two of them sharing one small bed. They even had special names for each other, she recalled with a smile, Big Sam and 'lil Cin. How sweet and simple those times had been. How ugly and complicated they had become.

"I miss my family, Sam. Adam, Mom, Dad- her breath hitched for a moment -you and Aunt Kat. Do you remember when we were kids and we all lived together?"

No response.

"I used to call you 'Big Sam'. You were sooo tall. even taller than Adam back then. I thought your dad was a giant...."

The silence seemed to take on a painful note and Cindi realized her mistake.

"Sorry. I'm babbling. I do that. Its just with everything that's happened I kind of starting thinking about my whole life. 'My whole life'. I'm eighteen and I almost died last week! That's crazy right?" Cindi realized she put her put in her mouth again. "I guess not for you. Sorry again. This stuff with Adam scares me. It's like, he's my brother, but sometimes he's not. And what he does when he's not is... its just... I dunno. Not him, I guess. You know what I mean?"

Cindi was almost sure Sam had rolled on her back, but she still didn't say a word.

"Keith tried to kill me. He wanted to-" Cindi shuddered but kept going. "I can't believe he'd do that. I always thought he was this harmless old perv. He had me on the ground though, and he just kicked me, and he just kept kicking and kicking until I thought he would never stop."

"You did a good job taking him out like that." Sam's voice drifted up from the floor. "It was very brave, Cindi."

"I didn't feel brave. I felt like I was going to die. If Adam hadn't been there and been shot, I'm sure I would have just curled up in a little ball and let him kill me. I wish I was like you Sam, I wish I wasn't so scared."

"....I could teach you." Sam offered.

"To be brave?"

"To fight."

"Easy for you to say, people like you and Adam aren't afraid of anything." Cindi could almost make out her cousin's eyes in the dark, they stared off into the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Adam maybe, but not me. I'm plenty afraid, Cindi."

"Then how do you do it. I just freeze up, you, you don't even blink."

"'Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision'." Sam recited. "You have to choose to keep pushing, even though you're so scared, your body wants to quit. That's courage Cindi. You have it in you too. Keith would have killed you if you didn't."

Cindi had slid to the edge of the bed to stare down at Sam. She realized that in the past week with Adam, she'd never slept better. She really liked having a familiar weight in the bed with her.

"When we were kids, I always thought you were the bravest person in the whole galaxy! Even braver that Adam."

"Really?"

"Oh course, you were the only one who was brave enough to stand on top of the monkey bars."

Sam laughed out loud at that. "Thanks, Cindi."

"I used to pretend you were my big sister. I wore your clothes. Repeated anything you said. I even put polish in my hair to turn it brown." Cindi traced her blonde curls, as if just the words might turn them darker.

"I remember." Her smiled widened, thinking back.

"Will you come up here and sleep with me? I promise not to snore."

Sam sighed and climbed up to a cooing Cindi where assumed the little spoon position. Sam didn't lock in however. Cindi tried to scoot back, only to feel Sam keep her at arm's length.

"No." Sam said, although Cindi was sure she could hear her still smiling. Instead, Cindi grabbed her cousin's hand and put it just under her armpit, where it stayed, even after she let go. Baby steps.

"Sleep tight, Big Sam.".

Nearly a minute later, Sam finally called back. "Don't let the bedbugs bite, lil' Cin."

The records room was efficient, she would give them that. Millions of reams of information all collated and organized on a dozens of server walls, laid out in two columns. Not terribly secure, but that wasn't her problem.

Kat found this whole debacle rather thrilling, for a university professor, breaking in to a secure room to steal classified data was a rather rare treat. She felt twenty years old again, it was terrifying and exhilarating and even a little exhausting. A big part of her, preferred to be at home, grading papers over a bowl of authentic Chinese ice cream, still, she couldn't let this go until she at least understood what was happening. Best not to dilly dally.

Syncing with her pad, Kat had the system search for any records pertaining to my mycoviruses. She nearly jumped when the overhead lights dimmed for a moment. Apparently the servers drew so much power they nearly overwhelmed the local grid. The military had all this money for guns and power armor and they hadn't sprung for a decent computer? Didn't they know knowledge was weapon too?

The results of her search were unhelpful. Thiidian was littered with fungi, mycoviruses were as common as candles on a cake. Kat tightened the field, to include anything with viral symbiosis; sighing with frustration as the lights dimmed yet again. It was a start, but still thousands of data entries. Intrigued, Kat clicked on one titled, Harmonious relationship between Xenocalvatia gigantea and Thiidian's atmospheric pressure- nope. She clicked another, it was about beneficial spores on trees near the south pole. Kat knew she was doing this wrong. What was she missing? Missing. Classified. Redacted. Kat reordered the results to display by word count and set the lowest word counts at the top.

This first result was nearly black with missing words, overwritten by government censors. Still, she saw, mycovirus, and subsurface quite a bit. As well as references to an abandoned lab with missing coordinates. The next file was even less helpful, it mere described a a type of local flora, a fungal spore that fed on radiation and was fairly common in the tunnels below the surface. Why was that classified? Apparently Kat was wrong about a lot of things these days. Halverson was going to sting her pride for a while, too. The third entry she struck gold, someone had made a mistake in the redaction process, merely layering a black bar over the writing, not fully obliterating it. Kat destroyed the first few bars and began to read.

Alliance Intelligence memo re: Project Adonis

The discovery of the underground facility has yielded considerable information regarding Venix and their genetic research program, codenamed 'Adonis'. The baseline for this research is believed to be a surviving [undecipherable] located on Thiidian. Venix officially denies all wrongdoing and any knowledge of genetic engineering technology. However numerous samples of mycovirus were discovered in the aforementioned lab during a raid on [undecipherable]. Mycovirus forms one half of the component biology of the [undecipherable] species. It is therefore advisable to assume [undecipherable] [undecipherable].

Two sources responsible for alerting the Alliance to the existence of 'Project Adonis', have since disappeared. It is the stated position of the author, [undecipherable] [undecipherable], that Venix may be responsible for their demise. Possible internal security breaches within Alliance Personnel suspected.

Further inquiries are recommended.

'Project Adonis', an underground lab, component biology that involved mycoviruses. Kat scrolled back up to the blacked out fungi, it definitely seemed more suspicious looking back. Kat was just rolling down to the next few search results when the AI in her pad began to screech an alarm.

"Trace program detected." Kat read out loud. Did someone have this information tracked? A cold sensation swept over her. 'Possible internal security breaches with Alliance Personnel'. Someone on base was helping keep this quiet. Kat hurriedly set the remaining secured files to download onto her pad, it would take about five minutes. She ran to the door just in time for her heart to stop.

Peeking through the small glass window, she watched Halverson salute an unknown figure with his back to her, then march away, somehow both dejected and stiff all at once. He was going to pay for eating that lasagna, it seemed. The other man turned drew his service laspistol and started to turn around. Kat dropped. At least four minutes left on the download. She was connected wirelessly, so she just had to stay close enough. Only that wasn't the problem. The problem was she had nowhere to hide. Kat ran to the emergency escape. It refused to budge. She slammed into it with her shoulder.

"That door's been stuck for years." Kat recognized the voice of Colonel Agnetti. The man had been briefly introduced to her weeks ago during the welcome tour. She froze. No! Got to keep moving, hun, he knows where you are!

There were two different rows of two meter tall servers Agnetti in front of her. Agnetti was coming down either the one to her left or right. Kat felt her brain slip into analysis mode. A trickier man would have gone farther toward the door first, the path on the right, sure it left open an avenue of escape toward the main entrance, but most people would try and put some distance between them and a pursuer. Therefor it increased the chances of running straight into her. Then again a practical man would simply keep walking down the left to keep his quarry boxed in. Left or Right? Every second brought him closer. Arrrrrrgggg, Game theory was just philosophy, and philosophy was just more liberal arts! Go right!

Kat tiptoed up the right path, crossing as many server racks as she dared before pressing her back against one and praying Agnetti couldn't see her. She couldn't even peek to check if he was just around the corner without risking being seen. The room was so quiet, she could hear her own breathing. Agnetti made no attempt to mask his footsteps. Psychological warfare. He was trying to scare her into revealing herself. She covered her mouth to keep quiet; waiting her him to appear. He didn't.

"I'm going to find you, you know. And you won't like what happens when I do. If you get down on your knees and surrender I can make certain nobody gets hurt." Should she? No. That was fear talking. Unless she wanted to be 'disappeared' like those whistleblowers, she needed to get out of here. Two minutes. Agnetti still hadn't come around the corner, he was waiting somewhere for her to make a mistake. Not so simple a man after all.

Kat had one tool he might not expect. But it would only work once. If she set the servers to run multiple complex searches at the same time, if should darken the room for a time, maybe even overload the grid and stay that way.

"I know you're a woman, that's surprising. Sexist of me to say that I suppose, but well, stereotypes exist" Kat dared to risk a peak around the corner. There he was, standing along the far wall, blocking access to the doors; like a spider perched on its web. His stare had her dead. He'd known where she was this whole time. Kat took off. Running past rack after rack, she skidded to a halt just before she reached the main console where she'd been working. Agnetti was coming again,

"What I'm curious about is why break into records at all? We both know the only data worth having is down in the lab." His voice boomed over the low hum of the servers. More mind games. What lab were they all referencing?

Two minutes on the data. Kat couldn't wait. She had to get out now! She was going to kill the lights and run for it. Only which way to go? The last row of servers straddled the exit, either path could take her there, but he'd be guarding one. Did she double back and hide, waiting for him to move past? Or keep it simple, get as far as possible and try and slip by him in the dark? Was she one step ahead of him or playing checkers while he played chess? Agnetti had proven frustratingly adept at guessing her next move.

Kat tried to reach her daughter on the comms, no answer. She tried again- nothing. Maybe she should have told Sam she was going to do something dangerous. Only that wasn't what good mother's did, was it? They bailed out their daughters not the other way around.

"I think its time we had our conversation face to face."

It was now or never!