Chapter 8 Chapter VII
"This is the spacecraft design blueprint I downloaded from the Intrepid database." At lunch, Dahl showed Finn and Duval a typed draft.Then he opened another typed draft, "This one is a drawing I got from the Spaceship Academy Archives. Did you notice anything?"
"No." Finn said after a long pause.
"No." Duval followed up.
Dahl sighed, pointed to the blueprint and said, "Look at the position of the cargo lane. We use the cargo lane to transport cargo on the spacecraft, but people can also pass through it. The maintenance team often uses the cargo lane to reach various systems of the spacecraft." , so that their work will not affect the normal activities of other crew members."
"So you think Jenkins is there?" Duvall said.
"Where else would he be?" Dahl said. "He only appears when the time is right, and he will never be discovered by others at other times. Think about how many people are on this ship. If you want to disappear, you can only hide in a Usually no crew would pass by."
"There's a flaw in this idea. The cargo lane is a passage," Finn said. "Even if there's no one around, the autonomous delivery vehicle is still going through the tunnel. If he stays somewhere for a long time, it will cause traffic jams." , or be flattened directly.”
Dahl shook his index finger. "One thing you're both overlooking, look," he said, pointing to a box in the maze-like diagram of the freight lanes. "When the trucks aren't delivering goods, they have to go somewhere else. They can't be walking anymore." The lanes are opening up all over the place. So they go to a deployment center somewhere. It's roomy enough for a guy lurking there."
"Assuming there's not a whole bunch of vans in there," Duvall said.
"That's true," Dahl said. "Looking at this again, according to the blueprints obtained from our spaceship, there are a total of six truck allocation areas. But the blueprints from the archives show that there are seven in total." He used He tapped his finger on the Seventh Deployment Office and said, "This Deployment Office is far away from the main systems of the spacecraft. In other words, people from the maintenance team will not approach it. This is the most remote corner you can go on the spacecraft. Jenkins There, like a ghost in a machine. We'll find him there."
“I still don’t understand why you didn’t go directly to your superiors and ask about Jenkins,” Duvall said. “You said Jenkins technically still belongs to her.”
"I asked but nothing came up," Dahl said. "Collins eventually told me that Jenkins would only be where he wanted to be, and no one else could do anything about him. He helped them track down the captain." , Kim, and other senior officers. They don't want to offend Jenkins and put their own safety at risk."
"Speaking of someone..." Finn said, pouted in a certain direction.
Dahl looked around and saw Officer Kim walking towards him.He stood up.
Jin motioned him to sit down, "You don't need to be polite, Lieutenant." He saw the blueprint and asked, "Are you studying the spaceship?"
"I want to use this to make my work more efficient." Dahl said.
"I appreciate your initiative," King said. "Lieutenant, we are heading to Eskridge, where a colony has sent a distress signal. Although the information obtained is very brief, I suspect that a creature Spies are involved. So I'm gathering teams from your department to go with me, including you, of course. We'll meet at the shuttle hangar in half an hour."
"Yes, sir," Dahl said.Kim nodded and left.Dahl turned to Duvall and Finn, who were looking at him oddly. "What's wrong?" Darl asked.
"A field team led by King!" said Duvall.
"A sudden field team formed by various weird chances and coincidences led by Jin."
"Don't think about it," Dahl said.
"In a sense, we had a good show," Finn said.
Dahl shoved the blueprint up to Finn: "Finn, find a way to get close to Jenkins without him noticing while I'm away. I'd like to talk to him face to face, though I don't think he's going to do that, aside from that warning." Would love to chat with us, but I don't want to give him the chance to say 'no'."
"It's all your fault, do you understand?" Kesavi whispered to Dahl.Together with Becky and a security guard named Taylor, they formed King's field team.King drove the shuttle to the colony, Taylor sat in the passenger seat, and the three alien biologists sat in the back of the cabin.During most of the time from issuing the expedition instructions to the journey to the extraterrestrial world, Kesaway and Becky have been talking coldly to Dahl without saying a word.The complaint just now was the first conversation they had on the trip. "What's my fault?" Dahl said. "I didn't ask the captain to bring the ship here." "It's all your fault for wanting to hear about Jenkins!" said Kesaway. "You must have pissed him off with your endless questions." "Can't I ask him now?" Dahl said. "Unless those issues don't allow him to come back to us," Becky said. "Shut up, Fiona," Cassaway said, "you've got something to do with it." "Me too?" Becky asked back in surprise, "I'm not asking those idiot questions!" Kesaway pointed to Dahl and said, "You're the one who mentioned Jenkins in front of him, twice!" "It's just a slip of the tongue," Becky said. "The first time I just wanted to find something to talk to him, but the second time he already knew it anyway, so I don't think it matters." "Finally, look where we are, Fiona," Kesaway waved his arm and pointed at the cabin, "That's what you said, it's okay. You might as well report Jenkins' information to Sid Black. " "Sid Black's a jerk," Becky said. "What about this guy?" Kesaway pointed to Dahl again. "I'm still here, guys," Dahl said. "Go away!" Cathaway cursed at Dahl, then at Becky. "To hell with you, Fiona. You could have avoided this." "I... I just... wanted something to say," Becky stammered, covering her face with her hands and burying her head in her lap. Dahl looked at the two of them silently, and then said, "You didn't know Kim was coming, did you. Collins and Trin didn't have time to signal for coffee and hide in the storage room. Sensuality shows up and you're all caught. And then when he tells Collins he needs a team—" "She recommended us to him," Becky said. Kesaway squeezed the words through his teeth: "And you, Jin originally wanted her to go with Ben, but she sold you, and she reminded Jin that you once solved the problem of the Merovian plague , that you're the best xenobiologist she's ever seen. Of course that's bullshit, you're not. But it's worth the lie, so you're on board, not her or Ben." "I understand," Dahl said. "I'm not surprised. After all, I'm new here. I'm at the bottom of the class. I'm the one who gets worn out and replaced in a few months, right? But you two "He nodded slightly at the two of them, "You thought you were sheltered. You survived for a long time, thinking that Collins would not hand you over even if he faced King. He would even sacrifice Ben Trin to protect one of you One, right?" Kesaway looked away, while Becky wiped away tears silently. "It's really shocking when you find out that your status is no more than that," Dahl said. "Shut up, Dahl!" Kesaway said, still not meeting his eyes. So until the spaceship landed, they have been silent.
The team found no colonists, but their mutilated corpses.Of course, there are also large areas of blood. "Pulse gun at full power!" Jin ordered. "Kesaway, Becky, Dahl, I order you to follow the blood trail into the forest. We may find some survivors, or find the body of the culprit who caused all this. I will check the administrative office and see See if there's a possible explanation. Tyler, you're on my way." Then he strode up a wide flagstone path, with Tyler at his heels. "Let's go." Kesavi took Dahl and Becky into the bushes. Within a few hundred meters, the three of them found the remains of a corpse. "Bring the sampler," Dahl said to Becky.Becky removed the sampling device from his shoulder and handed it to him, who knelt down and pushed the sampling needle into the abdominal cavity of the remains. "It will take a while for the analysis results to come out." Dahl said, still staring at the corpse. "The samples need to be compared with the gene pool of all residents in the colonial area. While we are waiting for the results, we must beware of the culprit who caused this situation." The culprit." "Leave it to me," Kesaway said.Dahl went to work again. "The dead man's name was Fuad Ali. He appears to be a doctor in the colony." Dahl stood up, stepped over Ali's body, and walked into the bushes. "The bloodstains continue in this direction. Shall we continue to investigate?" "What do you want?" Dahl heard Becky call. "What's the matter?" Dahl turned around and saw Kesaway pointing a pulse gun at himself, and Becky looked at Kesaway with a puzzled face. Kesaway looked frustrated: "Asshole, Fiona, can't you shut your stinking mouth?" "Like Fiona, I want to know what you want." Dahl tried to straighten himself. "Hold on!" Kesaway yelled, "or I'll shoot!" "Looks like you're trying to kill me anyway," Dahl said, "but I don't know why." "One of us has to die anyway," Kesaway said. "That's always been the case with field teams. As long as it's a Gold Belt team, someone's going to die. Someone's going to die. But as soon as someone dies, the remaining Those who leave are safe. It has always been like this!" "The person who made this statement to me before has been chopped into pieces, even though someone died before him," Dahl said. "I think your understanding is wrong." "Shut up!" Kethaway said. "As long as you're dead, Fiona and I don't have to die. You're the sacrifice alone. Just make the sacrifice and everyone else is safe! We'll be all right !" "That's not how it works," Dahl said. "When was the last time you were on a field team, Jack? I was on one a few weeks ago, and that's not how it works. You've left out a lot of details. Killing me won't Keep you safe, Fiona." Dahl glanced at Becky, trying to explain to her, but she was slowly reaching for her pulse gun. "Calm down, guys," Dahl said, "I can't save a life from two pulsed particles." "Set your gun to low power," Kesaway said to Becky, "and aim for the center of the body. As soon as he's down, we cut him into pieces and he'll be all right. As for the stained Bloodstains, which we can interpret as an attempt to resuscitate—" He was cut off as something leaped from the top of the tree and threw him and Betsy. Both fell to the ground, crying out in despair, struggling with the creatures that were tearing at their flesh.Dahl watched helplessly, and then suddenly ran towards the colony, unable to believe that his hidden actions allowed him to escape the doom that fell from the sky. Dahl walked through the trees, screaming Kim and Tyler's names.While wondering if he was running in the right direction, he wondered why he didn't use the communicator to contact Jin.There is still some reason to remind him that he still has a pulse gun in his hand, which may be able to kill the monsters that are eating Kesavi and Bech. The rest of the thinking ability in his mind told him that at this moment, you should run away and scream. He decided to act on this last thought. He looked through the gaps in the trees and saw the corridors of the colonial area in the distance and the figures of Jin and Taylor.Dahl yelled at them as hard as he could and ran right up to them, waving his hands to get their attention.He saw their figures in the distance shake, as if he heard his own shout. Then something tripped him and he fell. The thing immediately jumped on his body and began to bite him violently.Dahl screamed and tried to push it away.In utter horror, he saw what appeared to be an eye and thrust his finger into it.The thing jumped back with a growl.Dahl tried to run away, but the thing pounced on him again, and he felt a searing pain in his shoulder, realizing that the creature that bit him was also venomous.Dahl looked for the eye thing again, and poked it there again, forcing the monster to jump away again, but Dahl felt dizzy and nauseous again, and couldn't move anymore. One dies and the others are safe, fuck that shit, he thought.He lost consciousness as he saw a shocking row of teeth gnawing down on his head.
Dahl awoke to find his companions surrounding him. "Ah." He made a sound. "Finn, get him some water," Duval said.Finn took a small bottle, took a straw from the shelf beside the hospital bed, put it in the bottle, and brought it to Dahl's mouth.Dahl sucked in the water cautiously. "I'm not dead." He said softly. "No," said Duvall, "but it's about the same. Your body was almost dead when they brought it back to the ship. Dr. Hartnell said it's lucky that Kim and Taylor got there in time, otherwise you will be swallowed alive by that monster." Those last few words seemed to hit Dahl's memory. "Kesaway, and Becky," he murmured. "They're all dead," Hansen said, "not even a whole body." "You're the only surviving member of the field team," Hurst said, "besides Kim." "Taylor?" Dahl said with difficulty. "He was bitten," Duval said, understanding what he wanted to ask. "That thing contained venom. It wasn't lethal, but it was insane. He went mad and even shot at the spaceship. He killed three people before he was subdued." .” "They think that's what happened in the colony," Finn said. "The doctor's records said that a hunting party was attacked by these monsters and returned to the colony and started shooting everywhere. Then the monsters broke into the colony." , and gnawed out the living and the dead." "Kim was bitten too, but Captain Abernathy put him in isolation until an antivenom was developed," Hansen said. "It was separated from your blood," Hearst said. "You were unconscious at the time, so you didn't go crazy, so your body had time to metabolize and neutralize the toxin." "It's a good thing you survived, so he got his life back," Duval said. "No, that's not it." Dahl said, pointing to himself, "Fortunately he needs me, so I can survive."
"It's all your fault, do you understand?" Kesavi whispered to Dahl.Together with Becky and a security guard named Taylor, they formed King's field team.King drove the shuttle to the colony, Taylor sat in the passenger seat, and the three alien biologists sat in the back of the cabin.During most of the time from issuing the expedition instructions to the journey to the extraterrestrial world, Kesaway and Becky have been talking coldly to Dahl without saying a word.The complaint just now was the first conversation they had on the trip. "What's my fault?" Dahl said. "I didn't ask the captain to bring the ship here." "It's all your fault for wanting to hear about Jenkins!" said Kesaway. "You must have pissed him off with your endless questions." "Can't I ask him now?" Dahl said. "Unless those issues don't allow him to come back to us," Becky said. "Shut up, Fiona," Cassaway said, "you've got something to do with it." "Me too?" Becky asked back in surprise, "I'm not asking those idiot questions!" Kesaway pointed to Dahl and said, "You're the one who mentioned Jenkins in front of him, twice!" "It's just a slip of the tongue," Becky said. "The first time I just wanted to find something to talk to him, but the second time he already knew it anyway, so I don't think it matters." "Finally, look where we are, Fiona," Kesaway waved his arm and pointed at the cabin, "That's what you said, it's okay. You might as well report Jenkins' information to Sid Black. " "Sid Black's a jerk," Becky said. "What about this guy?" Kesaway pointed to Dahl again. "I'm still here, guys," Dahl said. "Go away!" Cathaway cursed at Dahl, then at Becky. "To hell with you, Fiona. You could have avoided this." "I... I just... wanted something to say," Becky stammered, covering her face with her hands and burying her head in her lap. Dahl looked at the two of them silently, and then said, "You didn't know Kim was coming, did you. Collins and Trin didn't have time to signal for coffee and hide in the storage room. Sensuality shows up and you're all caught. And then when he tells Collins he needs a team—" "She recommended us to him," Becky said. Kesaway squeezed the words through his teeth: "And you, Jin originally wanted her to go with Ben, but she sold you, and she reminded Jin that you once solved the problem of the Merovian plague , that you're the best xenobiologist she's ever seen. Of course that's bullshit, you're not. But it's worth the lie, so you're on board, not her or Ben." "I understand," Dahl said. "I'm not surprised. After all, I'm new here. I'm at the bottom of the class. I'm the one who gets worn out and replaced in a few months, right? But you two "He nodded slightly at the two of them, "You thought you were sheltered. You survived for a long time, thinking that Collins would not hand you over even if he faced King. He would even sacrifice Ben Trin to protect one of you One, right?" Kesaway looked away, while Becky wiped away tears silently. "It's really shocking when you find out that your status is no more than that," Dahl said. "Shut up, Dahl!" Kesaway said, still not meeting his eyes. So until the spaceship landed, they have been silent.
The team found no colonists, but their mutilated corpses.Of course, there are also large areas of blood. "Pulse gun at full power!" Jin ordered. "Kesaway, Becky, Dahl, I order you to follow the blood trail into the forest. We may find some survivors, or find the body of the culprit who caused all this. I will check the administrative office and see See if there's a possible explanation. Tyler, you're on my way." Then he strode up a wide flagstone path, with Tyler at his heels. "Let's go." Kesavi took Dahl and Becky into the bushes. Within a few hundred meters, the three of them found the remains of a corpse. "Bring the sampler," Dahl said to Becky.Becky removed the sampling device from his shoulder and handed it to him, who knelt down and pushed the sampling needle into the abdominal cavity of the remains. "It will take a while for the analysis results to come out." Dahl said, still staring at the corpse. "The samples need to be compared with the gene pool of all residents in the colonial area. While we are waiting for the results, we must beware of the culprit who caused this situation." The culprit." "Leave it to me," Kesaway said.Dahl went to work again. "The dead man's name was Fuad Ali. He appears to be a doctor in the colony." Dahl stood up, stepped over Ali's body, and walked into the bushes. "The bloodstains continue in this direction. Shall we continue to investigate?" "What do you want?" Dahl heard Becky call. "What's the matter?" Dahl turned around and saw Kesaway pointing a pulse gun at himself, and Becky looked at Kesaway with a puzzled face. Kesaway looked frustrated: "Asshole, Fiona, can't you shut your stinking mouth?" "Like Fiona, I want to know what you want." Dahl tried to straighten himself. "Hold on!" Kesaway yelled, "or I'll shoot!" "Looks like you're trying to kill me anyway," Dahl said, "but I don't know why." "One of us has to die anyway," Kesaway said. "That's always been the case with field teams. As long as it's a Gold Belt team, someone's going to die. Someone's going to die. But as soon as someone dies, the remaining Those who leave are safe. It has always been like this!" "The person who made this statement to me before has been chopped into pieces, even though someone died before him," Dahl said. "I think your understanding is wrong." "Shut up!" Kethaway said. "As long as you're dead, Fiona and I don't have to die. You're the sacrifice alone. Just make the sacrifice and everyone else is safe! We'll be all right !" "That's not how it works," Dahl said. "When was the last time you were on a field team, Jack? I was on one a few weeks ago, and that's not how it works. You've left out a lot of details. Killing me won't Keep you safe, Fiona." Dahl glanced at Becky, trying to explain to her, but she was slowly reaching for her pulse gun. "Calm down, guys," Dahl said, "I can't save a life from two pulsed particles." "Set your gun to low power," Kesaway said to Becky, "and aim for the center of the body. As soon as he's down, we cut him into pieces and he'll be all right. As for the stained Bloodstains, which we can interpret as an attempt to resuscitate—" He was cut off as something leaped from the top of the tree and threw him and Betsy. Both fell to the ground, crying out in despair, struggling with the creatures that were tearing at their flesh.Dahl watched helplessly, and then suddenly ran towards the colony, unable to believe that his hidden actions allowed him to escape the doom that fell from the sky. Dahl walked through the trees, screaming Kim and Tyler's names.While wondering if he was running in the right direction, he wondered why he didn't use the communicator to contact Jin.There is still some reason to remind him that he still has a pulse gun in his hand, which may be able to kill the monsters that are eating Kesavi and Bech. The rest of the thinking ability in his mind told him that at this moment, you should run away and scream. He decided to act on this last thought. He looked through the gaps in the trees and saw the corridors of the colonial area in the distance and the figures of Jin and Taylor.Dahl yelled at them as hard as he could and ran right up to them, waving his hands to get their attention.He saw their figures in the distance shake, as if he heard his own shout. Then something tripped him and he fell. The thing immediately jumped on his body and began to bite him violently.Dahl screamed and tried to push it away.In utter horror, he saw what appeared to be an eye and thrust his finger into it.The thing jumped back with a growl.Dahl tried to run away, but the thing pounced on him again, and he felt a searing pain in his shoulder, realizing that the creature that bit him was also venomous.Dahl looked for the eye thing again, and poked it there again, forcing the monster to jump away again, but Dahl felt dizzy and nauseous again, and couldn't move anymore. One dies and the others are safe, fuck that shit, he thought.He lost consciousness as he saw a shocking row of teeth gnawing down on his head.
Dahl awoke to find his companions surrounding him. "Ah." He made a sound. "Finn, get him some water," Duval said.Finn took a small bottle, took a straw from the shelf beside the hospital bed, put it in the bottle, and brought it to Dahl's mouth.Dahl sucked in the water cautiously. "I'm not dead." He said softly. "No," said Duvall, "but it's about the same. Your body was almost dead when they brought it back to the ship. Dr. Hartnell said it's lucky that Kim and Taylor got there in time, otherwise you will be swallowed alive by that monster." Those last few words seemed to hit Dahl's memory. "Kesaway, and Becky," he murmured. "They're all dead," Hansen said, "not even a whole body." "You're the only surviving member of the field team," Hurst said, "besides Kim." "Taylor?" Dahl said with difficulty. "He was bitten," Duval said, understanding what he wanted to ask. "That thing contained venom. It wasn't lethal, but it was insane. He went mad and even shot at the spaceship. He killed three people before he was subdued." .” "They think that's what happened in the colony," Finn said. "The doctor's records said that a hunting party was attacked by these monsters and returned to the colony and started shooting everywhere. Then the monsters broke into the colony." , and gnawed out the living and the dead." "Kim was bitten too, but Captain Abernathy put him in isolation until an antivenom was developed," Hansen said. "It was separated from your blood," Hearst said. "You were unconscious at the time, so you didn't go crazy, so your body had time to metabolize and neutralize the toxin." "It's a good thing you survived, so he got his life back," Duval said. "No, that's not it." Dahl said, pointing to himself, "Fortunately he needs me, so I can survive."