50Chapter 17: Lights by Sleeping at Last
Though your heart is far too young to realize
The unimaginable light you hold inside,
I'll give you everything I have.
I'll teach you everything I know.
I promise I'll do better.
I will always hold you close,
But I will learn to let you go.
I promise I'll do better.
I will rearrange the stars,
Pull 'em down to where you are.
I promise, I'll do better.
With every heartbeat I have left,
I'll defend your every breath.
I promise I'll do better.
I will soften every edge,
Hold the world to its best.
I promise I'll do better.
With every heartbeat I have left,
I'll defend your every breath,
(I'll do better.)
"Ahhhh!"
"And that's not all!"
And Nicole started to push Nicole back with not only her mind but her body. And she was pushing away all the influence from the marker as well though that was going to be a desperate fight in itself.
Flashing yellows lights went on and off in the hanger of the Higan, signaling that there was something coming toward the station. An unknown object.
"What the hell is that?!" many voices shouted at the same time in the hanger.
"Oh god! It's an escape pod!" Jameson shouted, shocked as much as everyone as to why there would be an escape pod in space unless something terrible had happened. "An escape pod from where though!? No way had it come from too far away, the engines are still running so it's not out of fuel." Captain Anastasia Benous shouted and pointed out to the rest of the crew and others who had gathered in the hanger.
"It has writing on the side but it's covered by something a dark rusty color."
"What? Rust you mean?"
"No. It's way darker."
"Could it be…blood?"
Captain Benous turned to her subordinate and gave her an order. "Railya, use the arms to pull the pod in. but careful as to not cause damage to it. Their might be a person in it."
Railya nodded and ran over to the control panel for the hanger, hitting some buttons that caused the ceiling to retract so the arms could pull the escape pod in safely and then typing in an activation code to start the arms up.
"ARMS ACTIVATED. ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED. ARMS ARE READY."
"Arms are up and functional, Captain."
"God now grab it as soon as it gets within range."
Within a few minutes the pod was within reach and Railya carefully secured the arms on it, slowly pulling it in till the arms placed it down in the middle of the hanger.
"Rossi, retract the arms and close up the ceiling. And Mostyn! Get some tools and equipment needed to open one of these."
A tall Chinese man, well over 6 feet went over to the side of the room grabbing what was needed since he was the head technician of the Higan.
A littler boy who was about 6, resembling his father, with the Italian features, deep black hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes. He watched on in amazement, seeing how everyone was working so well together and how he wished he could join in.
"Here Karri, use this to press down riiight….here," Yee said motioning to the top left from the center of the escape pods door.
"Got it Jim."
"And I'll just do this…"
"PPPPSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH"
The sound of releasing air filled the silenced room, causing shouts of shock and surprise from the loud noise.
"What's in it?" "Who is in it?"
Tons of questions erupted from the small crowd as Captain Renous reached into the pod. The little boy ran up to his father, Bob Yee, grabbing his hand, while his little 2 years old sister, Dara hung on to her big brother's hand.
"Dad what is in there?"
"I don't know Justin but we'll know soon."
"Anastasia…who or what is it?" Railya was getting anxious much like the crowd.
"Shh Railya."
"Wha…?" But she stopped before she finished with a shout as soon as she say someone huddled in her arms.
"It's a little girl… and she was so scared when she saw me she passed out."
"Anastasia, my god she is covered in blood!"
Railya looked at her more closely to see that Bob was right, she was covered in blood.
"And what looks to be guts. EWW!" Railya squealed, she wasn't too good with gory stuff.
"Yes but none seems to be her's. I'm going to go take her to the Medical Ward."
Bob felt a small tug at his sleeve and it was obviously Justin.
"What is it Justin?"
"Can I go with? She seems my age. Maybe if when she woke up she say a kid the same age as her so she won't freak out badly."
"Hmm….Hey Anastasia."
"Hmm?"
"Why don't you take Justin with you? He made the point just now that if she saw a kid her age when she wakes up that she wouldn't freak out badly or as bad as all adults."
Captain Renous nodded, "Come on Justin."
"Dr. Pershall, Dr. Schaller, will she be ok? And is she ok?"
"Yeah, the blood certainly isn't her blood, but she has bruises and cuts n a lot of her body."
"Oh my…Dr. Schaller is that all that is wrong with her?"
"Yes. It seems s…"
But Dr. Pershall cut Schaller off. "No. She is mumbling about the Ishimura and how there were monsters killing people on it. She is delusional in her dreams. We need to do a psych test on her as soon as she wakes up."
Justin made a weird face at his back the Dr. Schaller say and quietly chuckled at. He hated Dr. Pershall, he was no fun and always mean and super serious, not like Dr. Schaller.
"Carlos, she's a young girl. Yes she is from the Ishimura and could tell us what happened. But right now she needs to rest."
"Fine. But Anastasia can we talk to you in the hall for a moment?"
"Sure," she looked down at Justin, "Watch after her now you hear?"
Justin nodded and made a saluting position, hand to the forehead.
Once they were out of the room Justin took a good look at the girl laying on the small bed. She was in the Children's Ward recovering since she had no major injuries. But she was still very pale, bruises and cuts did litter her body. Her long brown hair was still matted with what looked like pieces of blood or guts in it.
"Mmmm…"
Justin noticed the girl was starting to open her eyes and wake up. When she first took notice of Justin she sat up quickly and scooted on the bed, back against the wall, till she noticed she was looking at a normal person.
"Hello there."
"H-hi? W-who a-are you? W-w-what are y-you? W-where am I-I-I?"
Her eyes had started to water so he got closer to her without sitting on the bed but leaning against it.
"Hey don't worry your safe. You're on the Higan Station now. And I am Justin. Justin Yee and I am pretty sure I am human."
"N-not a-a m-m-monster human?"
"Monster human?"
"Y-yeah. T-they were c-called n-ne-necrom-morphs. T-that's what I-I-Isaac called e-em."
"Isaac? Well don't worry now. We don't have any necromops…necremorts….eh whatever you called them we have none."
Tht got her to relax and laugh slightly at his bad attempts to say necromorphs.
"Can I sit on the bed with you?"
She nodded at him so he hopped up next to her.
"So what is your name? I told you mine but I never asked yours."
"N-Nicole. N-Nicole L-Layner."
"Well then, welcome to the Higan Nicole. I am sure you'll like it here."
"Yeah…it d-doesn't fly a-a-around space."
Her stuttering had gone down a lot, Justin was glad of that.
"So how did you survive the terrorist attack on the Ishimura?"
"What?"
She was clearly shocked at what he had said. What terrorist attack?
"What you don't know? What happened there was called an act of terrorism."
"No," Nicole said firm with no stuttering, voice firm.
"What?"
"Justin. What happened on there was not terrorist attack. The necromophs caused all of it. Unitology caused it. People were killed because of Unitology. I-I'm not sure how it did exactly but I know it wasn't terrorism. I may be 6 but I am not no dummy. I grew up on the Ishimura, a working ship so I know my stuff."
"Really? They lied…to a lot of people…how?"
"Yes that is alright…" Captain Benous's voice carried into the room as the door opened so Justin couldn't finish talking.
"Captian Benous, she's awake."
"What Justin?" she looked and say the girl sitting up with Justin sitting next to her.
"Oh why hello there. My name is Captain Anastasia Benous and who are you?"
"Nicole Layner."
"Why hello Nicole. These 2 doctors here are Dr. Schaller…"
"The fun one," Justin whispered to her but everyone heard it and Dr. Pershall was not happy.
"Well…anyway the other here is Dr. Pershall. They both will be looking at you but Dr. Pershall is very busy with people in the Adult Medical Ward and Psych Ward here so you'll see Dr. Schaller more."
"Oke."
"Now we shall let her get some rest. All of the other children here are almost ready for night time and you need your sleep ok?"
"Oke Dr…"
"Schaller," he spoke with a smile. She really liked him but Dr. Pershall scared her.
~Two days later~
It was late at night and Justin was just leaving with Dr. Schaller from visiting Nicole that day, the nursery rhymes playing to lull the children to sleep.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!"
Nicole started to twist and turn in her sleep for the first time since she has gotten to the Higan. Something was causing her discomfort…almost like she was in physical pain.
"When the blazing sun is gone,
When the nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night."
As Dr. Schaller and Justin walked further down the hall, the sudden sound of screaming erupted from the Children's Ward.
"What's that?!"
"Dr. Schaller! It sounds like Nicole's voice!"
And they both ran back to the Children's Ward and when they entered they found Nicole in the main lobby of the ward screaming and trying to be held back and calmed but the nurses.
"Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your little spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so."
"Nicole! Nicole please calm down! Listen to my voice, it's me! Dr. Schaller!"
But it was no use, she wasn't listening but she kept screaming things like, "NOO!", "Make it stop!", "Get it out of my head!", and "Please no! Mommy!"
And when Dr. Pershall walked in with a few nurses of his own and some needles filled with a liquid, no one knew what was in it but Dr. Schaller seemed to know.
"Carlos! You can't be intending to sedate her!"
"Yes Vinnie I am. We have no choice. She is going crazy."
"No! Do you know how much sedative it would take to sedate her?! Enough to where with her tiny frame she could easily overdose!"
"We will have to take that risk. Now hold her down and sedate her."
"In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky."
Justin was too scared to do really anything but stand there, frozen in his place. Nicole was acting scary but what was making her scared. And he didn't even come out of that trance until guys with needles started to inject her with something that didn't have an effect at first but slowly made her clam down, A LOT!
"Nicole…noo…"
"Finally she has stopped. I told you Vinnie that she was trouble."
"Carlos…you're over reacting. She's a child that just came from the Ishimura…"
"Exactly. And she could be dangerous ad seems to be proving me right. She is a danger to others."
"As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveler in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,"
"Take her to the Psych Ward," Dr. Pershall ordered the medics who had sedated Nicole.
"No!" Justin finally spoke out against the whole situation. "She got scared that's all! She doesn't belong there Doc!" Justin knew she was scared, bad memories after something as traumatic as what happened on the Ishimura were common, he knew that and he wasn't even a doctor. He pulled on Dr. Pershall's arm so hard, trying to make him listen but he pulled his arm out of Justin's grasp so forcefully and fast that poor Justin got flung to the floor.
"No! Now take her to the Psych Ward. She obviously has mental problems and is a danger to herself and others."
And Nicole was whisked off while Justin laid helplessly on the floor watching her limp, sedated body be carried away.
"NO! Let her go! Nicole!" But she was already gone with the men.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star…."
"No! Stop!"
Nicole Brennan was pleading now as she let go of her head and backed away from her. She saw that this want as easy anymore. She needed an idea to stop this girl. What could she show her to stop this?
The marker then started to pulse more violently and glow its evil red glow. Nicole was then crippled again and it felt like she was loading again.
'I'm not gonna lose to the marker or anything or anyone. I need to help Isaac. I need to help Ellie and Justin too. They need me.'
"You think your gonna be able to help em? I can sing twinkle twinkle little star are you go crazy and if your unconscious you can't wake up without help!"
And Nicole caughtNicole off guard by he swinging a large metal pipe at her that appeared from out of nowhere.
Then she started to sing again…
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky…"
Nicole felt herself slowly slipping again, away from reality and she fought. Fought like hell. She wasn't going to be lost. She had to prove she was still a fighter. She tried to ignore her singing. But it brought back another memory from her time on the Ishimura that made everything click with her.
"Mommy, I'm ok really. I swear I didn't get hurt that bad please don't take me to the doctor."
Her mom kept taking her down the halls till they were both standing in front of the infirmary.
"Nicole we are going to go see the doctor, I think you dislocated your wrist and if you did you need to be left where and have it set. Plus you got a pretty nasty gash on your arm."
Nicole looked at the door very apprehensively but went in with her mom. She didn't want to see Dr. Kyne because he wasn't very nice to the kids.
When they walked in they noticed a new doctor there with short blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Oh, hello there, I'm Dr. Nicole Brennan. I just joined the Ishimura, what seems to be the problem?"
'She seems nice but something s kind of creepy about her in a way. I don't know what but she is way better than Dr. Kyne.'
"My daughter is named Nicole. But she fell while playing where she shouldn't have been playing and fell. I think she dislocated her wrist and she is a bad gash on her arm."
"Oh no! Well here come in here and lay down so I can do a scan of you arm and see how badly you cut your arm and if your wrist is dislocated."
So Nicole willingly laid down on the bed and Dr Brennan hit the button to make the bed slide in and start the scan. On the screen Nicole's boy shape appeared and a notification popped up saying how deep the cut was and that the wrist was dislocated.
"Well sweetie it seems like you will have to spend the night here so I can set your wrist back and stitch up that nasty cut. Luckily it isn't as deep as you may think but it's still bad."
"But mom I don't wanna stay here it's scary!"
Little Nicole ran and held onto her mom for dear life afraid to stay here in the infirmary for the night, but Dr. Brennan came over to Nicole and talked to her.
"Hey Nicole would you, after I fix you up, help me out by singing to some of the patients I have staying here before you go to sleep? They all love twinkle twinkle little star, do you know it?"
Nicole nodded and started to release her mom.
"Now will you be ok her my dear?"
Nicole nodded and Dr. Brennan then asked, "Nicole are you ready to get your arm all better? It might hurt some but don't worry it will feel much better after."
Nicole nodded as her mom walked back to their quarters and Dr. Brennan started to set her wrist and stitch her up. Even with the numbing medicine it still hurt and Dr. Brennan started to sing for her.
A song that she once loved but would later in life cause her so much trouble. If only she knew.
If only she did here that voice and song right before her mother turned into a necromorph and tried to kill her.
"Twinkle twinkle little star…"
Now everything made sense! She knew Nicole Brennan on the Ishimura when she got hurt. She looked down at her right fore arm and a tiny bit of the scar from that time was still present. She wasn't haunted by that song just because of the one time herring it. It was in some of her memories from the Ishimura that she had suppressed and now she knew why. It was the doctor haunting her, just like she haunted Isaac. The marker used that weakness to affect Isaac and give him dementia, and it was trying to do something similar to her.
"Just give up Nicole. Your body will be mine, I will make you lose it and surrender tho us!"
So she kept singing.
"When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night."
"No!"
And Nicole caught against the doctor. She new, she was able to stop this she knew it. She had to do it so this would stop happening to the people she loved.
'My father was killed in a mine collapse because of the first planet crack on Aegis VII all because they found the marker there and unitology wanted it. My mom was infected and killed by a necromorph and then was turned into one of them and tried to kill me before Isaac come and helped me but even then I thought that Isaac may have died on the Ishimura. Then I got to the Higan and meet Justin and Beth and their families. Justin then lost his father and Beth's family moved moved to the area for unitologist, who were probably dead by now. Then I lost Beth in a plane explosion because people were idiots and did fully check anything. Ive lost so many people because of unitology and this marker and I'm fucking sick of it!'
"Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
He could not see where to go,
If you did not twinkle so."
"Stop! I am done! Nicole you need to get out of my head and leave me alone. I don't need anyone to save me because I can save myself so I can save people this time. So I can save Ellie and Justin with the help of Isaac. Hell I'll even sacrifice myself to make sure Isaac gets off this so he can keep helping if outbreaks happen. He's the one who can stop this! And I will stop you!"
Nicole pushes with her mind and Nicole takes a step back from the crippling pain she was feeling.
"How can you do that here? You have no power here!"
"That's where you're wrong," Nicole took a step forward and Nicole Brennan fell to her knees in pain and was starting to turn transparent, "no one has control over me. Isaac helped me out before but guess what? Now I'm in charge. You ghosted him into think he might have saved the wrong Nicole but how could he when you killed yourself before he could even land the Kellion, you had killed your self with an empty syringe causing an air embolism. You didn't give Isaac a chance or tried to fight. You gave up! I kept fighting even when my own mother was trying to kill me, I still fought like hell and it paid off."
Nicole was still in immense pain and she finally opened her eyes and saw she was becoming transparent but what scared her even more was that her fingers were slowly fading away into dust. Soon she wouldn't be nothing but a pile of ashes, if she didn't blow away.
"No! I can't disappear! The marker is mine and I am apart of it. You can't get rid of me!"
Nicole walked closer to the disappearing Nicole and she backed away afraid of hat. This girl could do to her. Touch her and she would be gone for good?
"Look at that now, your afraid of me now aren't you? I would be to cause you're the one haunting our consciousness and for me I didn't even remember meeting you so thank you for helping me remember. But it isn't you in control, the marker is just using our weaknesses and guilt to control us and make us hallucinate and you aren't really here. And I know you aren't this evil but your guilt and regret you have from all your actions from the Ishimura. Isaac came for you but you just gave up. And on Titan, Ellie didn't, she fought like hell, just to get to where she meet Isaac. You think your one with the marker and your not, you a hallucination meant to torture Isaac and I in hopes we would give up because we are a threat to it. Not even Ellie and Justin aren't a threat."
All of Nicole was almost gone but he head.
"You were used by the marker. And this time, we'll destroy this one and anymore from then on."
And with that, Nicole Brennan was gone and the marker stopped pulsing and the room slowly started to go back to normal. Nicole finally took a breath and sunk to her knees on the hard ground. She then turned to look at the marker and this feeling of infant hatred and dread came over her.
How could this cause so many issues to so many people and planets? How did they acquire one when the Higan didn't let them go in our out of their area?
'Probably the same way is as they us this secret area that's not on anyone's map or anything. They are all just assholes who trick people and then cause mass chaos and destruction of whole planets.'
"Well that's over for now… now I need to get the fuck out of here and let everyone know what happened and that I'm alive."
a.n. ok so see I updated quickly and with 3 chapters non the less! But these were all supposed to be 1 chapter but typed up it was a total of 27 full pages so that's to long for ya guys so I broke it up. The song parts follow after one and another in the song so I hope you enjoy and something similar to this will be on all 3 love ya and review more please now that im back. And again: I know a lot of this is flashbacks from my previous chapters but I hope you can see how it works as a whle together.
