SIREN

Chapter Sixteen

The Martini's brilliant green glass dome broke into a million pieces and spilled into the blackness. A brief yellow flare poured out and followed the debris, but it died after a second or two.

The tubes that connected the engines cracked and broke apart, sending gigantic pieces of the Martini sailing into the asteroid belt. The rocks obliterated the burnt cylinders and burst through the pipes that Sam and me had travelled along.

I spied chunks of vegetation and dirt billowing out the dome, floating into the abyss. I watched the soil as it spewed out of the wreckage, leaving a light brown trail as the structure span away. For a moment, I thought I saw the fungus writhing and suffocating as it was ripped from its home, but I shook my head and told myself it wasn't real.

Sam started to clap. He smacked his gloved hands together and grinned. 'Beautiful,' he said, 'absolutely fantastic work.'

I turned my head. Slowly. 'Are you insane? That was an alien ship! We just blew up an extra-terrestrial vessel! What do you think the aliens on the other two ships are going to make of that?'

'Maybe they didn't like the Martini...' Sam shrugged. 'Anyway, how do you know there's anyone on those things? They could be empty.'

'I don't think you realise that the Martini is gone! We blew it up! It is now nothing but shards and clumps of dirt!'

'Oh, I understand plenty, Teabags, but you're missing the bigger picture.'

'Which is what, Sam?' I sat back and watched the splintered remains travel within the belt.

'Remember when we arrived here, we didn't have enough explosives to get through that crap and back home?'

'Yeah?'

Sam pointed at the Martini. 'If that thing keeps on its merry way, it'll clear a space for us to get through.'

'You... You left the rucksack there on purpose!' I shrieked. 'You killed it! You killed all of those plants! You burned a whole ship!'

'Oh, whatever!'

'No, no! No, you don't get to say that!'

'Teabags,' Sam leaned across and tapped me on the shoulder. 'I didn't plan on setting off my pack, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sometimes, things work out for the best. So what that thing died? Piece of—!'

'What the Hell did you two do?' the Captain's unmistakable voice screamed out the speakers, making me recoil in my seat.

'Hello, Capt—'

'Shut up!' Captain Maximova snapped, 'I asked you both a question: what did you do? Jaq just showed me footage of one of those ships being torn apart by an explosion and I know for a fact that I told you to investigate, not demolish. Why didn't you call me earlier? Did you think you were beyond reporting to your captain?'

I swallowed. 'Captain Maximova, we boarded the Martini and found that it contained a large amount of vegetation.'

'Yes? And? That meant you had to kill it all? This is unacceptable behaviour! Absolutely unacceptable! We're not a strike team!'

'Yes, Captain, we understand that, but--!'

'What, Tommy? What did you find there that was so dangerous that you had to destroy an entire ship to get rid of it?'

'We found flowers, trees, moss, that sort of thing and it was beautiful. We had no plans to burn those things, but there was--'

'That doesn't make sense. Why would anyone bring that kind of plant life here?'

'We found something else.'

'Tell me.'

I adjusted my goggles, 'this is going to sound mad, but we found a...' I closed my eyes and sighed, 'Captain, we found a talking alien mushroom.'

Silence reigned.

'Captain?' Sam probed.

'I would prefer the truth,' she said, and I could tell she was grinding her teeth, 'rather than some half-baked lie that you two clowns have made up!'

'It sounds like a lie, I know, but it's true, Captain,' I said, 'we found a fungus that was sentient and it wasn't exactly welcoming.'

Sam snorted. 'Talked a load of crap, that's what it did. Absolute garbage.'

'Did it mention anything about the Poseidon transmission?'

I pressed my finger against a rank of switches on the dashboard. 'I'm going to send all the data our suits automatically collected, but to answer your question, yes and no. It called us conductors but—!'

'But we didn't send the transmission,' the Captain replied.

'Right,' Sam said. 'I don't think it knew that. Actually, it sort of flipped out on us.'

'What does that mean, "flipped out"?'

'It means, Captain, that it tried to kill us. First it talked nonsense, then it wrapped vines around our throats.'

'So, now it's dead?' the Captain sighed in exasperation.

'Unless it can survive in space, then yeah, Captain, it's dead.'

I heard her smack something. 'This is absolutely unacceptable! You could've found something there that might've helped Hoshi! You could've made peace with this mushroom and founded an alliance, but you killed it instead!'

'Yes, Captain,' I felt my stomach sink. The guilt resurfaced.

'The stupidest thing is that I can't recall you back here. You're the only people who can explore the crafts around us. Jaq is still repairing the Pangaea and Doctor White is busy with Hoshi. He's so busy that he told me to get out of his lab.'

I debated moving the Eagle, just so I could busy myself, but I kept my hands on my lap. 'How is Hoshi, Captain?'

'Doctor White won't tell me much, but she's alive.'

'Is that it?' Sam said. 'That's all he told you?'

'Alive is better than dead.'

'And Jaq?' I asked, 'she's okay too?'

'Doing her best, but I can tell she's stressed.'

'Captain, we can go now, if you want?'

'What choice do I have? Get to those other ships and see what you can find. Do not, I repeat, do not destroy them unless it's necessary or unavoidable, do you understand? And please, make friends where you can.'

'Yes, Captain Maximova,' Sam and me said.

'One more thing, if you find something weirder than a giant talking fungus, contact me immediately. No more bravado.'

'Yes, Captain,' I said.

'Good. Maximova out.'