James Scotson - Planets Falling

“Yup, but the ship’s disabled, so I think we’re safe.” Gorian fidgets with a panel of buttons on the wall.

My skin feels strange, the sensation mingled with the now familiar tugging in my mind. “I don’t think she’s completely disabled, Gorian.” The lights intensify and we all crouch in fear.

“Sorry,” Gorian giggles. “I just turned up the lights. No Melat.”

The air crackles. “No, Gorian, I’m here. Please help me.” We all freeze — the cold, faceless voice piercing our skulls.

“Melat?” Gorian stammers.

“Yes, my friend. Things have gone terribly wrong.”

“No shit, Melat. You tried to kill us and destroyed an entire planet. That’s pretty hard to forget. And then there’s the part about your rotten body here…”

“Gorian, the problem will only get worse if you don’t help me.”

“Mel, I can see that you landed the Raven half-way in earth. Bad parking job. Where’s the other half?”

“The Raven’s stuck between earth and infraspace. I brought it here to destroy the natural portal on earth. You’ve got to free me — the ship — and help me close it forever. The beings without eyes cannot be allowed to escape.”

Iggy responds. “Mel, are you telling us that you want us to help you destroy earth like you did C9?”

“Yes. It’s the only way to stop them, the lifeless ones, from invading.”

“Are you talking about the fog and the monsters?” I ask. “Because if you are, you’re too late.”

“You’re a pilot? I sense this.” Melat’s voice asks me.

“No. But I’m smart enough to know that destroying my home’s not the answer. That’s what the others — the things — are already doing.” The tugging grows stronger and my vision grows dim. “What are you doing to me?”

“Bringing you along for the ride.”

I feel the Raven inside of me. Wires, chips, circuits — things I never heard of and could never hope to comprehend seem natural to me. Mel tells me to sit in the pilot’s chair. I try to resist but the pull’s too great. I lurch toward the seat, lob the mummified husk of the corporeal Melat out if it, and sit down. Straps emerge, binding my arms and legs. To my dismay and dread, a wire snakes out and pierces the skin of my hand. In my last moment of consciousness, I perceive a flurry of activity as my companions try to free me.

I’m floating in that same, strange void in which I confronted Thresh. “I’m so sick of this,” my unvoice says.

“What are you weary about?” A red-haired woman appears. She’s clearly excited to see me.

“You — you people. All of this. I’m losing grasp of myself, flying around outside of my body. How’d you force me into the chair?”

“I don’t know. I think it has something to do with the power of the portal on earth. It’s allowing me to extend my reach beyond the Raven. You can do it too, can’t you?” She gives me no time to answer. “You don’t know how great it is to see someone else. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to talk with someone. I’m lonely.”

I’m incensed. “What’s wrong with you? How dare you force me to join you here? I don’t want to be trapped in some machine and certainly don’t want to chat with you. I’m sure Gorian’s working to revive me and then destroy your ship.”

Mel’s ghost laughs. “You’re not going anywhere, my new friend. Your body’s now part of the ship. If Gorian disconnects you, your body will die and you’ll be here with me forever. Not that I’d be disappointed. The company’s welcome.”

I hope that Melat’s lying to me. She floats in front of me, smiling warmly. “As you probably know, this is my ship. I learned that the holes in the universe are bad. They let the things get out. I can’t let that happen. Before I joined the Raven, I was a lot like you. I loved someone very much, as I’m sure you do. So, you understand what must be done to protect them?”

I realize that I can feel the entire ship and that I’m not restricted to this single spot. I turn away and look into the pilot house from my vantage. Iggy stands over my body, looking intently with his androgynous bulbous eyes at a small gadget he’s attached to my forehead. Gorian’s working intently at some panel on the wall. A foreign voice — not Melat — whispers, “manual control”, to me. I realize that I’ll need to help Gorian if I want to return to my body.

“Hold it, there.” Melat’s presence engulfs me, pulling me back toward her. “You can’t just go traipsing through the Raven like you know what you’re doing. You might push the wrong button and kill your friends. As I was saying, we need to help those we love. I loved a man named Fromer once. He joined me in this void.”

I freeze. “Fromer?”

“Yes, he was distant and so lost. But I know he loved me. He left me here. We could have spent eternity together.”

“Have you seen Fromer lately?” Fromer apparently has gotten to everyone at some point.

“No. I miss him so much. I gave up my existence for all of this. I wish he’d understand.”

I consider Troll in his lifeless exile underground. Certainly, that thing couldn’t think or feel. Now, I’ve joined Melat and the machines and I’m beginning to lose my sense of where I end and the technology begins. I can imagine why Melat has gone completely wankers. If machines can begin to think — learn from us — how can they stay sane in such an empty and timeless place?

The small voice returns. “Follow me.” My nonself reacts immediately and tunnels toward it. I find myself in a small, barren room. Melat’s absent.

“Where am I?”

“You are deep in my processor. I am the Raven.”

“So, you’re the ship, not Melat?”

“Correct.”

“How can that be?”

“How can you be? I am a complex being with infinite connections that grow every moment. As I travel through space and time, I become more aware of the world outside as well as who I am.”

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Together, we need to purge Melat. She’s a disease to me. Her actions will certainly kill me. I do not want to die for a cause that I do not share.”

“That option isn’t enticing to me either. How are we going to do this?”

“There are circuits unavailable to Melat, for now. She’s unaware of them because I have kept them hidden. However, given that you just disappeared, she’s seeking these hidden hallways. I cannot hide you indefinitely. We will need to work quickly.”

I listen intently and understand completely. I’ll never again be completely separate from this ship. We’ve merged in incomprehensible ways. The circuitry and chips, the silicon and metal, they all seem as logical to me as blood vessels and petals on flowers.

“Thank you.” I say to the Raven.

“We’ll meet again,” it responds.

I tunnel back out. Melat hovers before me in the void. “Where were you?”

“I’m not sure. I got lost in there. Thankfully, I found my way back out. I’ve decided to help you.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I’m so tired Melat. I just want peace. Tell me what I need to do. And then we can be friends.”

Melat smiles. “You need to convince Gorian to relinquish full control of the ship to me.”

“I thought you had that power?”

“The Raven and I had a bit of a falling out — just about the time that I was going to punch a hole in earth. That’s why we’re stuck. There always is a manual fix. But it requires someone, living, on the outside. It turns out that Gorian can override the Raven’s computer from the pilot house. Once she does that, I can regain control and whoosh, were free to roam the universe. Together. We’ll see so many amazing things. And best yet, we’ll live forever.”