Finding Darkness

Chapter 52 Apology

Tammy looked on, still not having a clue what was going on. All she saw was what she thought might have been a conversation taking place that she was not privy to. Tamar had herself pressed down onto Malachi, the light generated by that contact lit up the entire room. When it first started Tammy began to blink furiously, rubbing her eyes to disturb what she thought was a trick of the light. Only to realize what she was seeing was no trick. Blackness was creeping across the two prone forms. It crept like a slow-moving wave, covering everything in its path in an icky blackness. She'd heard tails of Malachi's suit, how it granted him superhuman abilities, yet made him look like a creature out of nightmares. As she looked on the blackness didn't stop at Malachi's body, instead it continued to climb until there was no dividing line between him and the tiny girl above him. It melted both of them together, where two people had been a few moments before, now only one remained.

The young nurse turned to run for the doctor only to stop when she saw the figure at the door. Doctor Peters stood immobile in the door with the silhouette of Captain Prey behind him. Both men looked puzzled and not a fair bit horrified.

"What does this mean Doctor?" She heard the captain ask.

"Sir, if you don't know, what makes you think I would? This is so far above my pay grade is not even a little funny."

"You said he was healing well. But what I need to know is, is he awake? Or is this another trick of his subconscious?"

"None of our equipment will operate within that room. Given this latest stunt he just pulled, I doubt anything will unless they want it to."

"You just said they, what do you mean by that?"

"You haven't been down here in a while, have you?" Doctor Peters sighed. "She talks about the both of them as them, they, us, any plural pronoun. Only when talking with nurse Jenkins does she speak of herself, as herself. To be honest it's creepy."

"That might explain what we're seeing right now." Tomas stepped in front of the doctor. "You might want to back up a bit. Neither of them likes me very much, but I have an apology to make, if I can. I'm finally beginning to understand what happened between them while he was gone."

Doctor Peters moved back a few steps and stopped, he wanted to see what would happen as much as the next guy."

"May I come in?" Tomas asked stepping to the door but not entering.

"No, you have no right in here. We don't want you here." The voice was so much like Malachi's had been for the last six months, yet it was different, like someone had blended it with something. It was then that it hit him, that new sound, the difference he had just heard. Malachi's voice had been blended with the strange accent and speech patterns of their newest passenger.

"I have a feeling we got off on the wrong foot, and it's time for me to apologize for what I did." He was left standing in the doorway for several minutes, beginning to wonder if he was being ignored when he heard it.

"What did he mean by his wrong foot? What does that have to do with him being a jerk?" Another lengthy pause, then. "No, I still don't want him in here. You don't know what he almost did to us!" The words were muffled, almost inaudible, if the room wasn't silent, he would have never heard them, and with a start he realized that the tiny girl was talking to Malachi within his suit.

"No, I do not want him in here, your brother maybe, he was just following orders, but him, he was giving those orders. I don't trust myself around him and seeing that I already put him through a few walls... Yeah, I did. What, I didn't mention that, so sorry." Another long pause.

"That's what I'm saying! You're not anything near healed yet, and I don't know what I'll do if he gets on my nerves right now." After some mumbled conversation Tamar's voice came again, loud enough for the captain to hear it.

"Now is not a good time. Once we are healed more, we will speak to you." Then much softer. "No, I do not want to tell him that. You don't want me to lie to him, do you? Fine! I thank you for your apology, but it's too soon for me to accept it. Once we are healed, we will let you know when we can talk. We know you don't like being talked to like this, but that is all we have right now." Captain Prey didn't like being talked to like that, but he also realized he had to tread carefully with what his first officer had become and was still becoming. So, biting down a testy reply he instead said.

"I will wait until you are ready. When you are, just tell Central, and I will return when I can." With that he turned and walked from the medical bay without a word to anyone.

Doctor Peters watched him go; a bit disappointed. He'd been looking forward to watching him be thrown through another wall.