Space Sharks by Ian Thomas Healy

Author:Ian Thomas Healy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, science fiction, androids, sharks, space action adventure, sharknado
Publisher: Local Hero Press, LLC

Chapter Eight

Interstellar Transport Baldwin

T-Minus six hours to Poseidon

The autodoc gaped wide open, and there was no sign of Dr. Henriksen. His clothes were still lying in a pile at the foot of the autodoc. On top of them was an open case that must have held the half-dozen empty hypo-injectors she found scattered around the autodoc. What were those? She wondered if they were some kind of drugs. If she’d had time, she would have tried to have the Baldwin’s computer run an analysis of the hypos to see what they’d contained, but she had an emergency to deal with and so that would have to wait. Tina made a quick search of Medical. Nothing seemed out of place, but then she wasn’t so sure about all the inventory in the suite anyway; she wasn’t a doctor, she was a ship captain.

Where had Henriksen gone? And how was he getting around on half a leg, anyway? There weren’t any bloody footprints—or stump prints—on the decking. The autodoc had taken care of that much, at least. Henriksen should have been stoned out of his head on a cocktail of anti-shock drugs and painkillers. He might even have been in an induced coma to prevent him from slipping into a morass of shock and depression over his injury. He shouldn’t have been able to move, and yet he was gone. Maybe those hypos had been responsible, but she couldn’t imagine what would require six of them.

She found the first evidence of him in the refresher station in the corridor outside Medical. A diamondoid file with a triangular cross section had been discarded on the floor. Streaks of pinkish paste sat in the grooves, and although Tina didn’t know what it was, it made her feel like Antarean spiders were crawling across her neck. Why had he taken a tool from storage, and what had he done with it? And where was he, anyway?

“Dr. Henriksen?” called Tina. “Are you around here somewhere? Hello?”

The only reply was the creaking of the Baldwin’s hull as the ship’s temperature changed on approach toward Poseidon and the sloshing of water from somewhere belowdecks. Tina imagined that she could hear the heavy, smooth bodies of the sharks as they pushed their way through maintenance tunnels and hatches, seeking out the fresh, still-living meat only a few inches away and yet tantalizingly out of reach.

“Think, Tina. You’re all gimpy because a shark bit off your leg, and your brain’s been turned to guacamole on all those drugs. What do you do?”

She hadn’t seen Henriksen on her way to Medical, which meant he’d left from the other direction. That would take him toward the bridge. What could he be doing there?

Escaping, thought Tina. “Henriksen!” she shouted, and ran up the sloped corridor to the bridge.

She found him with his naked ass sitting in her captain’s chair, his injured leg wrapped in a smooth metallic sleeve, and a section of pipe that he must have used as a crutch beside him. He stared through the forward windows at the bright blue dot in the black sky that was Poseidon.

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