Brainjack Read online

weapon."

  "Wow a new technology! On our station!" Michael exclaimed.

  "We have two dead bodies Mike, this isn't cause for celebration. How goes the search for the attacker?" Jack asked.

  "Deputies are still looking but it looks like he fled to the promenade, there are over two dozen Claxians on board the station and they all dress the same and look the same. Facial recognition software is useless," Mike said.

  "So we have two dead bodies and ten times as many identical suspects. Brilliant. Run a scan here too, make sure we that that biological residue wasn’t a fluke, and get the medics up here for the body. Doc is going to want a look at this one too. I'm going to meet the Claxian representative in the Commander's office." Jack said.

  "Good luck with that." Mike said with a grin.

  "Yeah. Going to need that luck." Jack said, grimacing. Leaving the room, Jack walked down the corridor to the lifts. He noticed a few people peering out of their doors and down the corridor. News of the deaths was travelling fast.

  A few minutes later Jack stepped into the administration center at the core of the station. A large window dominated the front wall of the oval shaped room giving the admin personnel a perfect view of the surface of Mars. Jack could see the sun just beginning to crest the horizon. To the right was the Commander’s office and to the left were several offices and the main communications room. The Commander had an additional communications room of his own as well behind his office for more secure transmissions.

  The dozen people working there all looked up as Jack walked in, no doubt they had heard of the deaths. A woman approached him, Caroline, the chief administrator.

  "Any news Jack? We got the murderer yet?" Caroline asked.

  "Not yet but we know that it is highly likely to involve a Claxian. My boys are out looking, don't worry." Jack said as he walked towards Commander Charles’ office. He could already see the Commander talking to the Claxian representative through the large office window. He was surprised at how calm Charles looked but then remembered how monotonous and emotionless the Claxian voice was, hard to get angry with that.

  Jack nodded farewell to Caroline and entered the Commander's room, bracing himself for the onslaught.

  "Don't you knock, damn you!" the Commander said as Jack entered.

  "Hi Charles, how are you?" Jack replied. "I'm great. Thanks."

  "Don't get smart with me Jack, we have two dead bodies on our hands and apparently the Claxians have something to do with it."

  The Claxian representative spoke up at this. "No evidence of such crime," it said in its monotone.

  Jack sighed and pulled up a chair and turned to the Claxian. "Look, I saw one of your kind fleeing the scene. There was blood on him and he left a body behind. Doesn't get much more clear cut than that."

  "My people incapable of violence. You are wrong," the Claxian replied, vigorously shaking his head.

  Commander Charles scoffed at the creature. "You talk to him Jack. I can't get any sense from him. I'm going to inform Earth of this freaking disaster," Charles said and stormed out of the rear door of his office to his private communications room.

  Jack sighed and turned to the Claxian. "Well I am sure you can gather the Commander's concern. You must understand how bad this looks for you and your people. These deaths could have widespread implications, not just for this station, but for all of your people's relations with humans."

  The Claxian representative said nothing for a few moments, simply inclining its head backwards and staring at the ceiling before looking back at Jack.

  "You speak truth. We will cooperate. Our kind are unable to commit violence against ourselves or others but there is a chance of link disruption," the representative said.

  "Link disruption? I don't understand."

  "Our kind maintain a link with each other. We share our thoughts, our experiences. Some of our kind have experienced disruptions to their thoughts in the past. Unable to share time with others."

  "They can't remember what happened to them?" Jack asked.

  "Your understanding is correct."

  "Right. How many of your kind have experienced these memory lapses on the station?" Jack asked.

  "One. Flox."

  "And where is Flox now?"

  The representative inclined his head at the ceiling again. “Communication not possible. Link disrupted."

  Jack gritted his teeth in frustration. "What does that mean? Is he asleep or what?"

  "We do not sleep. Something wrong. I do not understand disruption," the representative said.

  "Where was he last then?" Jack asked.

  "Quarters. Room 205."

  "Okay I am going to send some guys there now." Jack accessed his com-sleeve and called Mike. "Mike send some deputies to 205, its in the old ring. Tell them to be careful."

  "Yes sir." Mike said. Jack disconnected the call.

  "I assume you will not object to this?" Jack asked the Claxian representative.

  "No objection. I wish to meet with my comrade in 205. Physical touch helps link."

  "Okay we'll head there right now too." Jack said, "Follow me."

  Jack left the office with the representative in tow behind. He shook his head at Caroline as she began walking towards him with a questioning look. Jack and his companion entered the lift and headed towards the old habitation ring.

  As the elevator began moving Jack turned to the Claxian. “What’s your name anyway?”

  “Twix.” Twix replied.

  "Okay then Twix, another question. How fast can your people run?"

  "Our people have a comparative physical ability to humans," Twix replied.

  "The Claxian I ran into earlier seemed to be able to move a hell of a lot faster than the average human." Jack mused.

  Twix said nothing.

  Reaching the floor the two companions left the elevator on the main deck and walked through the promenade towards room 205. As the two were almost at Flox’s quarters, Jack heard a shout and another Claxian charged down the corridor towards him with Mike and another deputy in pursuit.

  Jack froze in shock for a second and initially reached for his stun pistol before remembering how useless the weapon had been last time. Deciding to take an old fashioned approach Jack swung his right arm out and clotheslined the creature, catching him solid in the chest and flipping him onto his back. Jack's arm flared in agony at the force of the blow but he ignored the pain and tried to pin the Claxian on the ground with his knee. The alien pushed Jack to the side and staggered to his feet, Jack swung his fist again at the back of the fleeing Claxian’s head, dropping it to its knees. By this time Mike and the deputy had caught up and both took an arm each while Jack handcuffed the Claxian’s hands together.

  "Good work guys." Jack said, catching his breath and shaking his arm, trying to get feeling back into it.

  The captured Claxian sank to the floor and stared at the wall, not saying a word.

  Twix stood over his comrade, with his hand on its head.

  "This is Flox. Flox is wrong. I cannot link. He is wrong," the representative said.

  "We'll figure out what happened later, for now you two take him to the brig. I'll call the Commander and tell him we caught the guy."

  "Yes sir, better get that arm checked out." Mike said.

  "No time today. Be careful." Jack said before turning to the Twix. “We will head to the brig soon so you can talk to your guy, find out what’s wrong."

  Twix nodded soundlessly and followed Jack to the lift. "Flox is wrong." Twix said, sounding sad, the first time Jack had noticed an emotion in one of the creature's voices.

  Jack stood in front of the cell with Twix beside him and watched the Claxian, Flox, through the steel bars. The Claxian just stood there, staring at the wall.

  "You been able to get anything out of him with your...." Jack gestured at Twix's head, indicating the race's apparent telepathy.

  "Cannot link. Do not understand." Twix said.

  Jack nodded his hea
d. "Well hopefully this is just some random one off event. The Commander is in a conference call with some of the bigwigs from Earth at the moment. With your cooperation and assistance in apprehending this guy there shouldn't be any repercussions for your people.”

  "He is no longer Claxian. No link. He is lost. No longer Claxian." Twix said.

  The two said nothing for a few moments and just stared at the motionless alien inside the cell.

  “Any idea what has made him go crazy?” Jack asked finally.

  “No. Link disruption abnormal but has happened in past. This.. violence... has not.” Twix said.

  “No chance of a disease or something causing this?” Jack asked.

  “We do not suffer disease.” Twix replied.

  "Okay, maybe think about the idea though. Something is going wrong with you guys. Maybe there is some chemical or pathogen that could be doing this. Maybe it cut Flox here off your group mind thing and sent him crazy." Jack said.

  "Perhaps you speak truth. I consult with Claxians." Twix said and walked out of the room without saying farewell.

  Jack watched Flox for a couple more minutes, waiting to see if Twix's departure made a difference to his behaviour but Flox still stood there staring at the wall. Jack shook his head and left the room, making his way towards the lifts.

  Stepping back out into the expansion wing, Jack retraced his footsteps towards the medical bay. Jack saw the door to the murdered woman's apartment was still open as he walked past, Mike was inside and looked like he was running another scan. Jack nodded at him as he walked by but didn't stop. Mike knew what needed to be done.

  Finally reaching the medical bay Jack walked straight in, smiling