Fic: (NaNo) The Citadel - chapter 5
title: The Citadel - chapter 5
rating: NC-17, PG for this part
summary: Sci-Fi AU: Several decades in the future, Dominic, Billy, and the rest of the guys work and live on an orbiting space station, which gets infected and taken over by an alien force. The boys have to fight the evil stuff and save the day. :)
wordcount total: 29,145
wordcount for this chapter: 1,565
index
Dominic awoke the next morning to Billy low voice, speaking to someone Dominic couldn’t hear. He slowly opened his eyes, shielding them from the bright window with his hand. Billy was no longer lying beside him in the bed.
“Bill?” he rasped. His throat was dry, so he licked his lips. “Billy?”
“Shh,” Billy whispered, petting Dominic’s hair absently as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone.
Dominic stayed silent until Billy finished his conversation and signed off. “What?” he asked softly, his mind still partially asleep.
“That was Elijah,” Billy began quietly. “He said he’s brought up the situation to his team and suggests you do the same with yours. He also said the plant thing has grown again.”
“Oh fuck,” Dominic moaned, rolling over and pressing his face into his pillow. He realized distractedly that he was still wearing yesterday’s clothes.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like crap.”
“I figured as much. Take this.” Billy held out two small, white pills and a short plastic cup of water. Dominic fumbled them into his mouth and swallowed quickly. “I told Elijah you’d be up shortly. He wants you to take another look at the thing.”
“Alright.”
“Can I come and see it, now?”
“Yeah, if you want to. I mean, Elijah’s obviously okay with you knowing about it, so…” Dominic yawned. “I need a shower and clothes. Definitely a shower. Do I have any clean clothes?”
Billy looked around at the floor. “You’ve got a stack here that looks clean.”
“Okay. Have you been up long?”
“About an hour.” Billy sat down next to Dominic again, as he had the night before. “Are you hungry at all?”
Dominic groaned. “Yes, but not really.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Billy replied. “C’mon, you need to wash up and get dressed. Look alive.”
“I don’t feel alive.”
“I know.” Dominic rolled out of bed and Billy ushered him into the bathroom. “C’mon, a shower will wake you up a bit.”
Dominic twisted on the taps and waited for the mirror to fog up until he could no longer stare at his bleary-eyed reflection. He hadn’t slept well the night previous and it showed in his appearance. More than a day’s worth of hunger, very little and very restless sleep, and growing concern about the KD-142 organism had left him looking akin to a zombie. Dominic dreaded to think how he would look after several more days of this.
Dominic breathed in the steam deeply. He could almost taste the added purifying chemicals, could almost feel them on his skin, and he shivered, though the bathroom was hot and stuffy. Dominic wiped a portion of the mirror clear so he could see his eyes staring back at him, then carefully rubbed the dark circles under his eyes.
With a sigh, he opened the glass door and stepped beneath the gentle spray of water. As he scrubbed his hair and skin clean, his brain slowly caught up and he began to think about the repercussions of the organism growing and spreading so fast.
He heard a knock on the door, and then Billy appeared, holding Dominic’s PDA. Dominic wiped a spot on the glass clear with a soapy hand.
“Elijah just called. His team’s been scouring the entire grid, and they’ve already found three more places. Sectors F, H, and J, and the stuff in K is still growing.”
“Sector J?” Dominic repeated. “Where?”
“Not far from here,” Billy answered.
“Shit,” Dominic breathed. He rinsed his hands of the foamy soap and told Billy he’d be finished in a minute. After quickly washing his hair, Dominic turned off the water and slung a sage green towel around his hips.
His hair still dripping onto his bare shoulders, Dominic plucked his PDA from Billy’s outstretched hand and dialed Elijah. His friend picked up immediately and Dominic sat down at his computer.
“Okay, tell me exactly where it is,” Dominic asked without greeting Elijah.
“Are you putting it into a database?”
“A blueprint, but I’ll transfer it to a database in a minute. Tell me where.”
“In K: arm 13-that’s the first one that I noticed a few days ago-and now arms 10 through 12. In F: arm 2 and it’s creeping onto 3; H: arm 9. That one’s still really small, we think it just appeared in the last couple of hours. And in J: arms 3 through 6.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, I know.” Dominic, Billy, and Elijah all lived in arm 8 of sector J. “The guy’s haven’t even finished searching yet,” Elijah added. “Can you see a pattern?”
Dominic finished entering in the coordinates of each location and zoomed out on the 3-D map. The locations were marked with red dots, and the one in sector K was slightly larger than the rest. Dominic cocked his head to the side, trying to find a reason in the sudden appearance of the organism. Billy looked over his shoulder, but shook his head when Dominic silently asked his opinion.
“I can’t tell. I’ve got to get dressed and I’ll meet you somewhere, okay? Where are you?”
“I’m in J. I’ll come by and get you; I want to see your computer.”
“Sure. Give me a minute.”
“Alright, see you in a few.”
Dominic’s PDA beeped as he ended the call, signaling another call. He looked at the name flashing on the screen and handed the device back to Billy. Billy glanced at the display and answered the call with an exasperated sigh.
“Andy, hello. Dominic’s getting dressed, actually. Do you need to talk to him right this minute?”
Dominic dropped to his knees beside his bed to search through a pile of clothes for something clean and comfortable. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt, then a sweatshirt with Citadel’s logo over top.
“Yeah, he knows,” Billy said, continuing his conversation with Andy.
“What do I know?”
“That it’s growing very quickly.”
“Right, yeah. Hey, tell him to ring off, I need to talk to Elijah.”
“Hey, Andy, Dominic needs to-”
He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Dominic jumped up to answer it, ruffling his hair with his towel.
“Nevermind, ‘Lij is here,” he said to Billy as he opened the door. Elijah looked frazzled and he was breathing rapidly. Dominic closed the door behind him as he stepped inside.
“Hey, ‘Lijah,” Billy murmured, again listening to Andy.
Dominic motioned for Elijah to join him at his computer. Together they looked at the 3-D blueprint.
“I just heard that the one in K is growing faster now,” Elijah murmured, touching the screen with a bloody fingertip. Dominic grasped his wrist.
“You alright?”
“I bit my nail too short,” Elijah replied off-handedly. “Viggo gave me his plant guys, so I’ve got about twenty people searching the grid. Have you contacted your team yet?”
“Not yet. I only woke up about half an hour ago. It’s like the universe imploded while I was asleep…”
“It kinda has,” Elijah said sadly. “Call your guys. Orlando ordered all the Crawlers that aren’t doing something vitally important back inside. He doesn’t want them getting… infected with this stuff.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Dominic replied softly. “I’ll get my team on it as soon as Billy’s off with Andy.”
“I’m off,” Billy said suddenly. “Andy was just running some more tests on the piece he kept, but he said he hasn’t found anything definitive so far.”
“Of course he hasn’t. The thing’s alien.”
“Elijah…”
“No, Dom, you have to at least consider the possibility now.”
“I am considering the possibility! It just doesn’t seem likely that it would’ve shown up all of the sudden now when the human race has been searching for intelligent life for centuries!”
“Who ever said this shit was intelligent?” Elijah taunted.
“Elijah! Both of you, stop,” Billy interjected, raising a hand in a peacemaking gesture. “Arguing about its origin isn’t going to get you anywhere unless you actually have some information to go on. Dom, call your team and have them start searching the grid.”
Sighing, Dominic took his PDA back from Billy and began typing a message to his colleagues that included a brief-very brief-overview of the situation and Elijah’s phone number. As soon as the message was sent, Elijah’s phone beeped insistently.
“Hello? …Yes, I want everyone to meet in sector K; I’ll direct people from there…. Yeah, exactly. …As many as possible. …No, thank you. I’ll see you shortly.” Elijah clicked off his phone and turned back to Dominic. “I’m sorry I got snippy with you, Dom, I’m just kind of freaking out right now.”
“It’s alright, mate.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you or anything, I just-”
“Elijah, it’s fine.”
“Elijah, you’d better go meet your teams,” Billy said quietly, laying a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Oh, and tell everyone to start measuring the growths,” Dominic added suddenly. “I want to track the rate of expansion, if possible. So, maybe… every hour? Would that work?”
Elijah shrugged and stood up. “Yes, I suppose so. I’ll let everyone know and have them call you with the information, okay?”
Elijah’s phone started beeping again; Elijah answered, but didn’t speak. When he signed off, he sighed deeply and closed his eyes.
“There’s another one in sector B. Arm 22.”
***
chapter 6
rating: NC-17, PG for this part
summary: Sci-Fi AU: Several decades in the future, Dominic, Billy, and the rest of the guys work and live on an orbiting space station, which gets infected and taken over by an alien force. The boys have to fight the evil stuff and save the day. :)
wordcount total: 29,145
wordcount for this chapter: 1,565
index
Dominic awoke the next morning to Billy low voice, speaking to someone Dominic couldn’t hear. He slowly opened his eyes, shielding them from the bright window with his hand. Billy was no longer lying beside him in the bed.
“Bill?” he rasped. His throat was dry, so he licked his lips. “Billy?”
“Shh,” Billy whispered, petting Dominic’s hair absently as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone.
Dominic stayed silent until Billy finished his conversation and signed off. “What?” he asked softly, his mind still partially asleep.
“That was Elijah,” Billy began quietly. “He said he’s brought up the situation to his team and suggests you do the same with yours. He also said the plant thing has grown again.”
“Oh fuck,” Dominic moaned, rolling over and pressing his face into his pillow. He realized distractedly that he was still wearing yesterday’s clothes.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like crap.”
“I figured as much. Take this.” Billy held out two small, white pills and a short plastic cup of water. Dominic fumbled them into his mouth and swallowed quickly. “I told Elijah you’d be up shortly. He wants you to take another look at the thing.”
“Alright.”
“Can I come and see it, now?”
“Yeah, if you want to. I mean, Elijah’s obviously okay with you knowing about it, so…” Dominic yawned. “I need a shower and clothes. Definitely a shower. Do I have any clean clothes?”
Billy looked around at the floor. “You’ve got a stack here that looks clean.”
“Okay. Have you been up long?”
“About an hour.” Billy sat down next to Dominic again, as he had the night before. “Are you hungry at all?”
Dominic groaned. “Yes, but not really.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Billy replied. “C’mon, you need to wash up and get dressed. Look alive.”
“I don’t feel alive.”
“I know.” Dominic rolled out of bed and Billy ushered him into the bathroom. “C’mon, a shower will wake you up a bit.”
Dominic twisted on the taps and waited for the mirror to fog up until he could no longer stare at his bleary-eyed reflection. He hadn’t slept well the night previous and it showed in his appearance. More than a day’s worth of hunger, very little and very restless sleep, and growing concern about the KD-142 organism had left him looking akin to a zombie. Dominic dreaded to think how he would look after several more days of this.
Dominic breathed in the steam deeply. He could almost taste the added purifying chemicals, could almost feel them on his skin, and he shivered, though the bathroom was hot and stuffy. Dominic wiped a portion of the mirror clear so he could see his eyes staring back at him, then carefully rubbed the dark circles under his eyes.
With a sigh, he opened the glass door and stepped beneath the gentle spray of water. As he scrubbed his hair and skin clean, his brain slowly caught up and he began to think about the repercussions of the organism growing and spreading so fast.
He heard a knock on the door, and then Billy appeared, holding Dominic’s PDA. Dominic wiped a spot on the glass clear with a soapy hand.
“Elijah just called. His team’s been scouring the entire grid, and they’ve already found three more places. Sectors F, H, and J, and the stuff in K is still growing.”
“Sector J?” Dominic repeated. “Where?”
“Not far from here,” Billy answered.
“Shit,” Dominic breathed. He rinsed his hands of the foamy soap and told Billy he’d be finished in a minute. After quickly washing his hair, Dominic turned off the water and slung a sage green towel around his hips.
His hair still dripping onto his bare shoulders, Dominic plucked his PDA from Billy’s outstretched hand and dialed Elijah. His friend picked up immediately and Dominic sat down at his computer.
“Okay, tell me exactly where it is,” Dominic asked without greeting Elijah.
“Are you putting it into a database?”
“A blueprint, but I’ll transfer it to a database in a minute. Tell me where.”
“In K: arm 13-that’s the first one that I noticed a few days ago-and now arms 10 through 12. In F: arm 2 and it’s creeping onto 3; H: arm 9. That one’s still really small, we think it just appeared in the last couple of hours. And in J: arms 3 through 6.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, I know.” Dominic, Billy, and Elijah all lived in arm 8 of sector J. “The guy’s haven’t even finished searching yet,” Elijah added. “Can you see a pattern?”
Dominic finished entering in the coordinates of each location and zoomed out on the 3-D map. The locations were marked with red dots, and the one in sector K was slightly larger than the rest. Dominic cocked his head to the side, trying to find a reason in the sudden appearance of the organism. Billy looked over his shoulder, but shook his head when Dominic silently asked his opinion.
“I can’t tell. I’ve got to get dressed and I’ll meet you somewhere, okay? Where are you?”
“I’m in J. I’ll come by and get you; I want to see your computer.”
“Sure. Give me a minute.”
“Alright, see you in a few.”
Dominic’s PDA beeped as he ended the call, signaling another call. He looked at the name flashing on the screen and handed the device back to Billy. Billy glanced at the display and answered the call with an exasperated sigh.
“Andy, hello. Dominic’s getting dressed, actually. Do you need to talk to him right this minute?”
Dominic dropped to his knees beside his bed to search through a pile of clothes for something clean and comfortable. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt, then a sweatshirt with Citadel’s logo over top.
“Yeah, he knows,” Billy said, continuing his conversation with Andy.
“What do I know?”
“That it’s growing very quickly.”
“Right, yeah. Hey, tell him to ring off, I need to talk to Elijah.”
“Hey, Andy, Dominic needs to-”
He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Dominic jumped up to answer it, ruffling his hair with his towel.
“Nevermind, ‘Lij is here,” he said to Billy as he opened the door. Elijah looked frazzled and he was breathing rapidly. Dominic closed the door behind him as he stepped inside.
“Hey, ‘Lijah,” Billy murmured, again listening to Andy.
Dominic motioned for Elijah to join him at his computer. Together they looked at the 3-D blueprint.
“I just heard that the one in K is growing faster now,” Elijah murmured, touching the screen with a bloody fingertip. Dominic grasped his wrist.
“You alright?”
“I bit my nail too short,” Elijah replied off-handedly. “Viggo gave me his plant guys, so I’ve got about twenty people searching the grid. Have you contacted your team yet?”
“Not yet. I only woke up about half an hour ago. It’s like the universe imploded while I was asleep…”
“It kinda has,” Elijah said sadly. “Call your guys. Orlando ordered all the Crawlers that aren’t doing something vitally important back inside. He doesn’t want them getting… infected with this stuff.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Dominic replied softly. “I’ll get my team on it as soon as Billy’s off with Andy.”
“I’m off,” Billy said suddenly. “Andy was just running some more tests on the piece he kept, but he said he hasn’t found anything definitive so far.”
“Of course he hasn’t. The thing’s alien.”
“Elijah…”
“No, Dom, you have to at least consider the possibility now.”
“I am considering the possibility! It just doesn’t seem likely that it would’ve shown up all of the sudden now when the human race has been searching for intelligent life for centuries!”
“Who ever said this shit was intelligent?” Elijah taunted.
“Elijah! Both of you, stop,” Billy interjected, raising a hand in a peacemaking gesture. “Arguing about its origin isn’t going to get you anywhere unless you actually have some information to go on. Dom, call your team and have them start searching the grid.”
Sighing, Dominic took his PDA back from Billy and began typing a message to his colleagues that included a brief-very brief-overview of the situation and Elijah’s phone number. As soon as the message was sent, Elijah’s phone beeped insistently.
“Hello? …Yes, I want everyone to meet in sector K; I’ll direct people from there…. Yeah, exactly. …As many as possible. …No, thank you. I’ll see you shortly.” Elijah clicked off his phone and turned back to Dominic. “I’m sorry I got snippy with you, Dom, I’m just kind of freaking out right now.”
“It’s alright, mate.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you or anything, I just-”
“Elijah, it’s fine.”
“Elijah, you’d better go meet your teams,” Billy said quietly, laying a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Oh, and tell everyone to start measuring the growths,” Dominic added suddenly. “I want to track the rate of expansion, if possible. So, maybe… every hour? Would that work?”
Elijah shrugged and stood up. “Yes, I suppose so. I’ll let everyone know and have them call you with the information, okay?”
Elijah’s phone started beeping again; Elijah answered, but didn’t speak. When he signed off, he sighed deeply and closed his eyes.
“There’s another one in sector B. Arm 22.”
***
chapter 6