Isolation

Chapter 52

The portion of the screen that wasn't heavily damaged came to life.

"Hello? Captain O'Connor?"

It was an African-American girl. She looked young and acted kind of chirpy. Mark cleared his throat.

"This is Captain O'Connor. Who am I speaking to?"

"Wow, you're cute. Uh, I'm Cassidy Haas, crewmember onboard TransArk 18. Is this Mark?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Mark?"

Mark heard the familiar voice.

"The right side of our screen is damaged," Mark said. "Move to your right."

He saw Tim come into view. He blinked.

"Tim?"

She looked back at Tim.

"Wait. You two know each other?"

"It's a long story," he said. He smiled at Mark's face. "Hello, Mark! Is your father around?"

Gloom encased his face. He looked down.

"He didn't make it."

Tim frowned with pity.

"I'm sorry."

"We have a situation," Cassidy blurted out. "Our captain has been infected by an alien organism. It has taken over her body as a host."

"Let me see," he said.

"Switching to personal comms."

Her wrist lit up with the screen. She held it up and walked to where they were holding it.

"We've had a rough few days," she said. "This is a late development. The creature is using her as a host to communicate."

She walked in. She switched the view to her front. Mark gasped.

"Oh, my god," James said. "That's Sara!"

"Who said that? Show yourself!"

James moved in front of the camera.

"It's me! James Tanner! Sara is our friend!"

"Our close friend," Mark added. "We grew up on the colony together. I can't believe she's alive."

"Depends on your definition," Thelma said.

"Who's that?"

"Thelma Mansell. Psychologist. We've been questioning it, trying to figure out what it wants."

"Okay, hold on a minute," Mark said. "Someone start from the beginning."

"I've got it," Cassidy said. "When we arrived, we found a creature had stowed away on the ship and tried to destroy our life support systems. It's this weird black glob that likes to stick to things. Like a living spider web. It killed Tim's daughter, and now it has taken over Sara."

"Maria is... gone?"

"Aye, lad," Tim said.

"I'm so sorry, Tim."

"What's done is done. Sara is our concern, now."

"It took over her body to gain access to the ship," she said. "Sara got promoted to Captain, which is supposed to be your title, but we didn't know if your legacy survived. We had to assume the worst."

"You followed protocol," he said. "No harm done."

"The creature took over her body and her memories. We can't force it out, or it'll kill her."