Eden (20 page)

Jenny straightened, planting her feet wide, her arms akimbo. “That
’s
enough!” Bodie shouted, veins standing out on his forehead.

Matt and Jenny glared at each other before reluctantly unlocking eye contact.

“We
’re
in deep shit, and fighting is both childish and dangerous - and I’ve had enough! Since we left earth I’ve had snide comments from each of you to the other -” Bodie groaned sharply and clutched his chest.

“What
’s
the matter?” Jenny said, rushing towards him.

“My ribs,” he said, exhaling audibly. He grabbed Jenny
’s
hand. “Matt didn’t mean what he said. We
’re
grateful to Fly, really we are.” He smiled at her. “Just be patient with us, eh? We
’re
finding this difficult.”

Jenny softened immediately to his woeful expression and knelt down by his chair. “I know it
’s
difficult,” she said. “And I
will
be patient.”

As soon as she disappeared over the top of the hill, Matt began to clap his hands slowly. “Well done, Bodie, you could’ve won an Oscar for that performance.”

Bodie
’s
face was tight with hidden rage, and he swung on

Matt.

“You stupid...” he snarled. “What the hell did you have to say that for!”

But Matt was equally angry; more than angry, he was
burning
with fury.

Resentment had festered for a two years since he had seen the evidence of Bodie
’s
preference of Jenny over him. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it had. And it hurt!

“Because it
’s
not the first time she
’s
slept around for
favors
.”

Bodie frowned, his face a clear mixture of scorn and confusion. “What,
on earth,
are you talking about?”

“Don’t even try to deny it; I saw the papers of our appraisals.
Your
appraisal,” he continued with a sneer, “that said I wasn’t ready for this mission. Luckily she wasn’t sleeping with Lichman; else I would’ve been left sweeping floors!”

The full incriminations
colored
Bodie
’s
face. “She
’s
my
niece!”

“So what?”

“It all makes sense now.” Then he rolled back his lip and turned away before Bodie could defend himself.

“Green, get the hell back here!”

“Lick my arse,” was Matt
’s
parting shot before ducking into the spaceship. He stood in the foyer, trying hard to
stabilize
his breathing.

His intense hatred of Jenny all boiled down to one thing - her betrayal.

When she had sheepishly told him that she was the late Zack Bodie
’s
daughter, but preferred to use her mother
’s
maiden name, a heavy bitterness swept away any love and respect he had held for her. He felt he had been made a fool of - helping Jenny
Bodie
- Ha! What a joke.

“And the joke had been on you, pal,” he muttered.

He walked forward fingering the neck of the spacesuit. The warmth wasn’t appreciated.

He shook his head at his own foolishness. He thought he had jumped the divide that separated the hurt and injustices in his life, and moved on. He thought he had forgiven Jenny.

He’d even thought he had a friend in Jim Bodie, another member of her family, whilst he slogged his guts out at the plant before listening to his advice and taking the position nobody wanted on the lunar space station.

Oh, yes he had believed he had moved on. But then, when he returned back to the plant, he’d found
she’d
taken over his old assignment - a position he’d spent years climbing the career ladder to get and had been
advised
to chuck away for the lunar post.

Within months
she’d
come from being a student to sodding moon-walking! And now it looked as if they were destined to spend more time together than he thought he could possibly endure.

She applied, with many others, for the mission: Exploration of Planet Eden. He applied too, and was recommended by his controller, Lichman and mentor Bodie - or so he thought until he saw his failed appraisal with Bodie
’s
signature.

If he hadn’t have appealed, Bodie and Jenny would have probably have gone ahead on this mission with another MS. And so all the old hurt, once under control, had returned. And now it was in danger of
spiraling
, and he knew he had to get a grip.

He limped into their main living quarters, relying on the stick for balance.

Jenny had used her wonderful body to further her career; hadn’t she used it on him? He’d helped her achieve so much until she let slip her real identity. Her other victims were Lichman and Bodie. Both men were besotted with her.

And now she was using her body again, but this time to

guarantee her high positi
on with the alien. It made Matt
sick.

TWENTY-ONE

The rest of the day passed uncomfortably, Fly being the only person not bothered by the lack of communication. The following day wasn’t much better, and neither was the next. And soon the weeks had turned into a month; a month of angry talk, and angry silences.

Jenny grew weary of Bodie continually trying to turn her against Fly, and of Matt
’s
cheap jokes at her expense. She began to spend less time at the spaceship, and more at her home with Fly, going back only to sleep and eat.

Despite all the arguments, Matt was healing well. His injured knee and other wounds were not a problem to his young, healthy body. And as soon as his splint was off he was disappearing on lengthy explorations, and coming back with
colorful
tales to tell the bored, and frustrated, Bodie.

Bodie
’s
upper body had healed, and small tufts of greying hair began to appear, between the scars, on his head. But his legs, swollen and aching, kept him in pain and miserable.

Jenny stoked the barbecue, and sat back down, staring into the flames. Bodie sat in his chair, massaging his thighs gingerly, whilst staring at her rigid back made from an angry silence born out of a huge row.

He was clinging to Jenny like a mould, constantly worrying that soon she would feel forced to choose between them and Fly, and the thought of losing her terrified him.

“I do like Fly, Jenny,
I’m
not taking sides - there aren’t any
sides.”

“Then why are you so quick to assume that
I’m
sleeping with him, merely to safeguard my position here?”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

Jenny looked over her shoulder with such loathing it made Bodie
’s
heart feel as if it would shrivel and die. “Yes,” she said.

He looked away. “I see.”

She rose and stood looking down at him. “No, I don’t think you do see.” She smiled, but there was no kindness in it. “I love him.”

“If you say so, love.”

She turned on him so swiftly he jumped. “Look, as far as
I’m
concerned you left me stranded, and I made the best of a bad situation. But
I’m
glad it happened.
I’m
so bloody glad that I don’t have to put up with people
’s
snobbery and class attitudes anymore! Suffice to say
I’m
not staying around to listen to yours!”

She began to leave, her cheeks blazing, but Bodie lurched forward in his chair and captured her swinging arm.

She swung round, ready to launch into another attack, but stopped as her eyes fell on his crippled legs. Bodie
recognized
the pity in her expression, and shifted uncomfortably as her eyes took in his useless limbs. He knew that she had been made immediately ashamed of their row.

She crouched down by his chair and took his hand in hers. “I can’t stand us fighting. I so want you to like Fly. “

“I do.”

“Don’t
patronize
me, please.”

“Sorry.” He
dropped
his head, hating himself, knowing he would again play on his injuries to keep her by his side. “He threatens us. Sometimes, I fear for our safety.”

“He wouldn’t threaten you! “

“He
’s
good to you, and
I’m
grateful. But he
’s
determined to hang on to you, and he
’s
terribly jealous of our relationship.”

She frowned, clearly distressed. “I know he
’s
jealous... Look, I
’ll
talk to him. Sometimes his correct meaning doesn’t always come across. He isn’t a tyrant, Bodie, he
’s
very gentle and caring.”

A dark shadow fell over them, breaking their conversation. Bodie scowled, wondering whether Fly
’s
interruption had been premeditated.

Fly
’s
hands, clothes, and even his face were smeared with animal
’s
blood. It suited him, thought Bodie sourly. “I see the hunt was a success,” he said with forced brightness towards the man who threatened his well-being; he even managed a smile.

“We have enough food to last us a few days,” Fly replied, but his eyes were for Jenny alone like he couldn’t even be bothered to look Bodie
’s
way.

Jenny went towards him, smiling broadly, Bodie noticed resentfully. “Anything I can do?”

Fly smiled easily back at her. “Much,” he said, and turned to stride up the hill. From the back of the buggy, he took an armful of twine. Coming back down he dropped it at Bodie
’s
chair.

“Much work needs to be done,” Fly said. “That needs to be made into rope. “

“He
’s
making a bridge,” Jenny added proudly.

Bodie forced an interested expression to his face when in reality he wanted to tell Fly to go and hang himself with his rope!

Fly was pointing to the half-made boat. “That needs to be finished. Where is Matt?”

Bodie eyed the craft dubiously, correctly thinking that Fly was conveying his opinion that Matt should complete the work, while he worked at plaiting the twine into rope.

“
I’m
not sure,” Bodie answered.

“The boat will be beneficial to all of us,” said Jenny, clearly reading the look of displeasure on Bodie
’s
face. “Matt
’s
off on one of his jaunts somewhere,” she added to Fly.

Bodie had also wondered where Matt had gone. He’d been missing for several hours, although he’d gone for longer before, Bodie was worried. The younger man was becoming more and more desperate to get rid of Fly.

He wasn’t content to wait until Bodie was well. And his impatience, Bodie knew, would be their downfall.

Matt was silently observing a littered corridor deep inside the spaceship. It was narrow, and the cabin doors in this particular alleyway were open. The interiors were large but fire-ravaged, some had fallen in, and the debris from the upper floors lay broken on the charred ground. Matt carried on, stopping every now and then to poke around. He wished he had a light, but his eyes grew used to the dimness and soon he could see quite well.

He found iron steps leading upwards to another floor and tested their strength by bouncing on the bottom step before beginning to climb.

The upper floor was vast, and had a complex mixture of computer terminals and other strange objects that Matt
recognized
as similar from his own world, yet different; alien and repugnant. He felt incredibly small, like Jack had when he’d climbed the beanstalk; all the technology was completely beyond him.

There was some kind of interconnected device, which Matt crossed to examine. His disrespect deflated as he took it all in. The people from Itor were clearly advanced. Why hadn’t Earth known about them?

There were numerous bodies. Almost
unrecognizable
as human-like, the corpses were so disfigured by decay. Many had limbs missing, and some had even been decapitated. But strangely, there was no sign of fire, and little structural damage.

Matt chose a corridor leading away from the amazing room of terminals. The passage was merely a narrow walkway between two connecting offices, which even now, gave the impression of a
capacity for methodical
organization
.

Coming to a dead end, Matt turned and discovered yet more of the metal steps, and again tested his weight before moving up them. The entrance to the next room had been sealed, but the environment had rotted the ship to an extent where Matt was able to break the seal and climb through.

In this new room, the floor had
shriveled
, as if melted by some powerful heat source and left to set hard again. A small hole was neatly made in the wall of the spaceship, and many cracks branched off, zigzagging in all directions.

Particles of non-indigenous stone littered the floor and, curious, Matt stepped forward. Something snapped loudly underfoot. He withdrew rapidly, one hand groping the metal stairs, his body ready to swing himself backwards should the floor give way.

From the safety of the stairs, Matt looked back. So, this is where the asteroid had came in, he thought. He remembered why the ship had crashed, and how the asteroids had claimed Taurus as well. The stone looked like varnished coal, and fragments of it littered the floor.

Matt frowned, then looked back at the entrance and its destroyed seal.

“Ah! The asteroids
weren’t
your shuttle
’s
entire downfall as you have led us to believe, were they, alien. “

The part of the ship where he stood had been automatically sealed after impact, a mechanism that had contained the damage and automatically protected the spaceship and its crew from possible further bombardment.

Matt
’s
expression was one of respect. “It
’s
clever, very clever, alien man, and it saved your ship from being totally destroyed. “

As he stared at the broken sealed door, he was more than certain that it had been a safety precaution, and had closed the instant the asteroid made contact preventing the complete destruction of the ship. But the ship had crashed despite the foresight - why?

Crossing the rickety floor to the next set of steps looked too dangerous, so fighting disappointment Matt climbed back down. He rested at the bottom, his old injury beginning to ache, before limping back through the room of terminals.

His eyes fell on the steps he had ignored before, and he headed for them and began to climb. He stood at the top, head and shoulders into the new room, and looked around.

Narrow doors, some open, some closed, stood side by side with the same plaques that were on the cabin doors several floors below. Matt counted, but the doors faded out of view along the steel- floored corridor. He clambered to his feet and stood for a moment looking around.

Moving forward he inspected the plaques but couldn’t even begin to decipher the strange lettering. Matt began walking towards a door that stood open.

The smell that came from the room hit him in a rancid and stomach-churning surge. The fetid air stank of stale sweat, urine and excrement. Matt gagged and turned away, but not before noticing the floor was awash with alien filth. The cabins were minute, empty, and menial. They were nothing but cells.

Covering his mouth and nose, he entered. The ceiling was low, and he couldn’t stand straight, and if he’d wanted to lie down he wouldn’t have been able to lie straight, either. The walls were black steel, and not charred as he had first thought. He was about to leave when something caught his attention; embedded in the wall was a thick chain. He followed it with his eyes, and lying in the squalor at the end of the solid chain was an ankle cuff.

Matt backed out. This wasn’t an ordinary space journey exploring an unknown planet - this craft had carried prisoners of some kind.

Glancing in the other cabins Matt saw exactly the same thing. Some chains had been broken away from the wall, whereas others had been neatly cut. Matt, his stomach heaving, headed back towards the steps when he noticed something inside an opened cell.

Covering his nose and mouth with his hand he looked inside. Curled in a
fetal
position was a humanoid naked body. Its rotting leg was twisted grotesquely, and attached to it was an ankle cuff. Matt pushed the body with his toe, and as the body moved a fresh smell of wasted flesh filled the tiny cabin. Matt backed away suppressing an urge to throw up, but not before noticing how this deceased Itor man had died - his throat hung open as if frenzied claws had gorged it out.

Matt inched slowly along the dark corridor. His journey took him downward towards the lower region of the spacecraft. He crawled beneath the hefty door at the end, and physically recoiled as the fetid stink, the same as in the cells, swamped him.

He stood, holding his breath, and waited until his eyes adapted to the gloom. When they had, he saw that the room had been wrecked, not by the crash but by flesh-and-blood hands. The air it contained was heavy with the stench of putrid flesh and, although he knew it was his over-active imagination, Matt felt he could taste the anger and violence that this room had witnessed.

Matt looked silently around. Metal chains, like the ones he had discovered before, had been torn from the wall with such force that the steel that held it was puckered. There were steel rods that reminded Matt of electric cattle prods. A lone knife lay on the floor, its blade
colored
by what looked like rust, but when Matt held it up to take a closer look his suspicions were confirmed: the rust was ingrained blood.

He turned, feeling sickened, wondering if he had discovered a place of torture, when something caught his horrified eye. A perverse need drove him to investigate, and he walked over.