Definition
1 : to pass or cause to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state
2 : to divert the expression of (an instinctual desire or impulse) from its unacceptable form to one that is considered more socially or culturally acceptable
To sublimate is to change the form, but not the essence. Physically speaking, it means to transform solid to vapor; psychologically, it means changing the outlet, or means, of expression from something base and inappropriate to something more positive or acceptable. The word sublimate comes from the Latin verb sublimare, which means "to lift up" or "to raise" and which is also the ancestor of our sublime. Sublimate itself once meant "to elevate to a place of dignity or honor" or "to give a more elevated character to," but these meanings are now obsolete.
The high powered laser tore through the approaching horde, vaporising them into minuscule flecks of dust. This was the third time the cannon had roared. the air was now so thick with grit that you could be forgiven for thinking you were currently trapped in a desert during a particularly nasty sandstorm.
But we weren't in the desert. We weren't even on the planet. We were currently millions of miles above it,
We had docked at the space port only a few hours before. Sierram the planet below, was famous for it's huge space port - it enclosed the planet below in an unbroken circle - exactly like the rings of Saturn. However, unlike Saturn's rings, this ring was not made of various space debris. This ring was home to some of the most advanced space travel technology. It was home to some of the most talented inventors, engineers, programmers and designers of several generations, Nearly every recent advancement in space technology came from here. The whole ring was a giant shipyard/laboratory. Everyone, from miles over came here to get their space ships fixed or overhauled.
Despite being the best of the best, it wasn't even that harshly priced. The inventors and engineers were more interested in learning more about the universe, encountering problems they hadn't seen before and figuring out new and innovative solutions, than money. The planet below took care of that - which was fortunate otherwise the space station would have bankrupted itself a thousand plus times over by now.
The planet made sure the space station was aptly stocked with accountants, doctors, cleaners, cooks and various merchants in order to keep the visiting space ship's crews happy - and also to ensure that the various scientists, engineers and inventors actually remembered to eat and bathe on a regular schedule.
It truly was an amazing place. Even the basic interior was amazing - usually the walls were covered with various equations and scribbles from various people having had a brilliant idea, right now this second, and having no paper or notebook to hand, had simply scrawled on the wall. I had heard rumours that there was a group of individuals whose sole job was to constantly travel the ring and photograph or otherwise record any such scribbling they came across, before painting the wall, restoring it to its original blank canvas, ready for the next genius to come along with his eureka moment. It was near impossible to steal such ideas and claim them as your own, as the entire ring was filled with comprehensive CCTV which was running 24/7. Everything that happened in the ring was recorded down to the minutest detail and, if you didn't like the idea of being spied on every moment of your day, well, there was the door.
So how someone had managed to sneak in what seemed like an entire planet's worth of weird, seemingly undead, unstoppable monsters, I don't know.
All I knew was, they were here, they didn't care about being hurt and they seemed to want to mow down everyone in their path.
I shook the cannon. It flickered at me dimly and then let out a low wheeze. After three shots it needed to be recharged. I cursed.
Normally, after seeing a slew of people vaporised before your eyes, the rest of the oncoming force at least slowed down a little - or simply, sensibly, ran for their lives. Clearly, the creators of the cannon didn't think anyone would stick around for another shot after seeing the first. What kind of maniac would keep coming after three??
A horde of undead monsters with no regard for their personal safety or the safety of their comrades.
As i watched, one of them running towards me clearly got hungry. He reached out and swiped the head off of his neighbouring companion, chewing on it as someone would on an apple. His dead comrade's headless body fell to the floor, carelessly trampled by the rest of the horde.
Well, at least I now knew that if you took off their head they stopped moving.
I hauled the cannon over my shoulder and set off back to the ship at a dead sprint.
***
We'd docked at the space station for a minor overhaul. After spending a lot of time on a damp planet (in no small thanks to my boss) the water moisture had crept into our internal systems and Vax, our onboard engineer, was concerned that left untreated, it may cause long term damage. So we'd come here.
I'd left Vax and the space station's engineers happily talking about the effect of damp on delicate equipment and why it wasn't taken more seriously - especially since space itself was so cold that any moisture on any exposed part could created a small ice explosion (so glad Vax hadn't bothered me with that particular nightmare on our way here) and trotted off into the depths of the ring to find a decent coffee shot and a much needed caffeine break.
I hadn't even got halfway through my first, long awaited, long denied, sip of halfway decent coffee when the front of the cafe exploded and a swarm of hideous creatures (now, I'm not speciest or anything, you can have as many eyes, limbs, tentacles or ears as you like as long as you treat me and those i care about decent, but dear God, the flesh was literally rotting and falling off the bodies of these creatures. And the smell! Dear God, the smell. They easily caught those nearest to them, simply because the people were too busy gagging to run away.)
I'd managed to just about hold them off with the weapons I had to hand whilst everyone evacuated out the back door and into the employee tunnels (I always carry my weapons. Always. My boss...creates trouble. Whenever and where-ever he is. He just does and most of the time it's not even intentional. After being caught out several times at the beginning of my employment, I have learnt to take weapons with me everywhere i go, because even if my boss isn't in my direct vicinity, somehow he still manages to cause trouble for me. I even take waterproof weapons into the shower with me, after a spectacularly embarrassing situation that ended with me trying to choke my boss's ex-girlfriend with a bar of soap after she had tried to knife me. She's a nice girl. We still meet up for coffee now and again.)
I had been trying to make it back to the ship every since, whilst simultaneously trying to pick up and survivors along the way and herd them into the employee tunnels which, at the moment, still seemed to be secure. Not that I was surprised. The planet viewed the staff of the space station as the most valuable assets the planet had. therefore, they insisted that the space station itself must be made as impenetrable as possible, with various safe rooms and escape pods designed to protect the crew and staff. Even as i dashed along the corridors, i could see hundreds of escape pods glimmering in the starscape outside as they fled planetside. Good, less innocents to distract me with their safety as i worked.
The space dock was just up ahead. I flung myself at the door, slammed my passkey onto the access pad and slid under the rising door, hauling the manual override level down on the other side to prevent the horde coming through.
"Sasarina!" A voice cried out behind me. I looked around to see a large plant man hovering anxiously on the rear ramp of the ship.
"What the hell did you do?" I snarled at my boss.
He blinked, injured. "Nothing."
"There are - and I can't believe these words are actually coming out of my mouth - zombies flooding the halls of a space station. As if an impossible situation like this isn't your fault."
"It really isn't." He protested.
"Zombies! In Space!" I shrieked. "Which woman did you piss off now??!!"
"It really isn't me!" He wailed.
"It really isn't Sass." A calmer voice interjected. Vax strolled down the ramp, holding a diagnostic pad. "A load of the lads and lasses from the engineering department were trapped in here with us, so they've hacked into the security system and looked into the CCTV recordings. Apparently one of the bio-engineers has been a very naughty boy and accepted a very nasty commission from someone they shouldn't have. He was provided with all the..uh," she gave a gentle cough, "materials and seems to have run with the idea. Hence, we now have an undead zombie horde. Luckily, they don't seem to have much intelligence or planning capability without their master to guide them."
"Where's their master?"
"They ate him."
"I see." I blinked. "So what are they going to do about it?"
She grinned. "Well, seems like they've already come up with a sort of antidote/poison. If they can get it into the emergency water sprinklers that go off when there's a fire, it should shut down the zombies without harming any of the remaining living residents."
"That's geniuses for you." I said admiringly. "So how are they going to get it into the water supply."
"They just need someone to take it to the main reservoir and dump it in." She said casually. "Easy as pie."
"I see. Still, it's not going to be easy getting from here to there. I've just had to dash across a whole half loop and i can attest it's a complete ball ache."
"But you made it." She said, grinning at me. "And very admirably managed to save many civilians whilst doing it and avoid the zombie horde. Me and the engineers were very impressed. Very impressed."
"Oh no. No, no. no. no," I said, seeing where this was going. "I just got back - and I didn't even get to drink my coffee!"
"We made you some very lovely toys to take with you." She wheedled. "Very lovely toys designed by the brightest minds of the station." She pressed a button on the pad and a remote controlled trolley wheeled itself down the ramp. It trundled over to me, stopped and unfolded itself like a flower. I stared at the contents.
"That's a lot of big guns." I said in awe. "Like, really big guns."
"They said you could keep them after, you know, if you like them." She said persuasively, smiling like a cat that not only knows it's got the cream, it's also got a fridge full of it back home. It's just smiling cause it loves the fact it's got yours too.
I snatched my bag back from the trolley where it had been unconsciously stroking one of the larger items like a kid my stroke a particularly beloved puppy.
"I still haven't had my coffee." I snapped.
"Save the station and they'll give you unlimited access to every single coffee shop in the place - including that super fancy restaurant where they make it out of monkey shit or whatever."
"Blue moon!" I said, eyes widening in rapture. "They'll let me go to Blue Moon? That place has a waiting list that goes on for years."
"So you'll do it?" Vax asked.
I hefted up the largest gun. I could tell from the plasma pack that this one wouldn't run out after three shots.
I grinned. "Well, it is hard to say no to big guns and coffee."
No comments:
Post a Comment