Portrum
Chapter 1: Stronger
“I told you it be bad to heal him.” Jack said.
“How could I have known?” the Ariadne responded. She was Lonin Paine’s spaceship. She was alive, had many abilities, and was in love with Jarek’s demon, Jack.
“I tell you, you no listen. You get as bad as them.” Jack was talking about Jarek and Lonin. Jarek hadn’t listened to his demon for decades, Lonin only listened to him occasionally. Now his love, the Ariadne, wasn’t listening. He was getting very frustrated.
“I’m sorry Jack. I will listen to you next time and take more precautions.” The Ariadne said. Jack snorted.
“Do you have plan?” Jack asked. He was an internal demon of Jarek Johar. Zandaran demons were not like the demons portrayed on Earth, a demon is the driving force for its host. They are responsible for their overactive sex drive, pushing them to succeed, strengthening them in battle, and helping them to hold onto life when they are near death.
Jarek became severely injured while rescuing a group of Brondan soldiers from a Reptaran raid on a military base. He was shot in the chest by a blaster burst. If it wasn’t for the quick actions of the Ariadne putting Jarek in a stasis tube, he would have certainly died. A dead man’s heart and lungs were transplanted into Jarek, saving his life. After the transplant, the Ariadne healed Jarek. That gave Elish Torpoon’s demon strength to possess Jarek’s body. Jack fled to the Ariadne instead of being pushed down, like Jarek’s life force was being concealed. Elish Torpoon was a man who claimed to be in love with Lonin. He was trying to murder Jarek when Lonin almost sliced him in two. When Torpoon died, the medical team put his body in stasis. Somehow Torpoon’s demon stayed intact, even after his death. His demon was then able to transfer into Jarek.
“We can’t let that demon find out what we are going to do. We’ll completely disconnect from Lonin and Jarek. That way he won’t know what we are doing until it’s too late.” The Ariadne explained.
“And then what we do?” Jack asked.
“Then you get to have some fun.” The Ariadne stated.
“Oh, me like fun!” Jack squealed.
“When that other demon tries to overpower or kill Lonin, I will turn you from an ethereal being to a solid mass. Then you knock Jarek’s body unconscious. Don’t hurt him too bad, we will need him to recover. Then I will make sure, if that demon in Jarek’s body regains consciousness, he won’t be able to move. I will not be able to hold him for very long, he is very strong.” The Ariadne described.
“I know he strong. That why I come to you.” Jack admitted.
“We’ll get Lonin to bring a doctor. He will be needed to keep Jarek’s body alive after Lonin sucks out his life force and the demon with it. You jump into Lonin and grab Jarek’s life force and hold on. Lonin will then expel the demon into that slug you sent her to retrieve from the mining asteroid. Leaving only, you and Jarek to get back in his body. He will be very weak, so you will have to stay with him.” The Ariadne continued.
“Lonin got lots of other beings in her. I think they can help us hold on to big man.” Jack added.
“We will need all the help we can get. I will guide Lonin to breathe Jarek’s life back into him. Giving him back his chest scar.” Ariadne said.
“Oh, Lonin like that.” Jack smiled.
“Then we will make him better. You’ll have to stay with Jarek to find any residue of that demon. Basically, you have to find any atom of that demon and I’ll eject it into a sewage holding tank until it’s burnt.”
“Me like plan. We do good. Then we fuck.” Jack stated.
“When Jarek is out of danger, I may even bring you back into a solid form. You would be able to feel sex a totally different way.” The Ariadne cooed.
“Ohhhh, me like, me like!”
Lonin was in Doctor Pedor Zondran’s office. His grandfather, Doctor Bondra Zondran was on the communications console. “Whose organs did you use? Who did they come from?” Lonin was enraged.
“I don’t know, but I can look up the name.” Pedor was obviously frightened.
“What is happening Lonin?” Bondra Zondran asked. “What happened to your cheek?”
Lonin had a large bite mark on her cheek that Jarek’s body gave her. She didn’t answer the question, “Someone has taken over Jarek’s body. The Ariadne, Jarek’s demon and I have him clamped to the Med bed.”
Pedor looked up, “Here it is. He was an unclaimed body. No relatives, no friends found in the data bases.”
“What was his name?” Lonin asked sharply.
Pedor read the report, “He was a crewman fourth class on the warship Mastema, recently demoted. Suicide. His name was Elish Torpoon.”
“Fucking Elish Torpoon. I killed you once, why didn’t you stay dead?” Lonin raged.
“If Elish Torpoon’s demon is in Jarek, that would mean the demon is attached to the heart. That could be the reason Zandarans don’t live long after a transplant.” Pedor said aloud as he was thinking.
“I don’t give a damn right now about other Zandarans. I do, however, give a damn about my Zandaran. I need to do something that will bring him to the edge of death. We’ve done this before. Jarek was strong back then, now he is weak. I don’t know how long it will be before I can give his life force back to him. I NEED you to keep him alive!” Lonin explained.
“Pedor, GO, help them.” Bondra said to his grandson.
Pedor rushed with Lonin from the office, “I need to get a temporary stasis device. It will keep his brain functioning and blood circulating for a few minutes. We may need to put him back in a stasis pod.” He stopped at a storage room and pushed a large machine down the hall to another storage room, “I’ll need you to push this medcart to Jarek’s room.” He told Lonin. She nodded. The two of them made it to Jarek’s room with the equipment.
Jarek was growling, “You bitch, I should have killed you when I had the chance.” He was fighting against the restraints. More restraints and bigger restraints appeared during his struggle. Doctor Pedor Zondran set up the equipment and prepared to put Jarek in temporary stasis. “Try to put me in stasis, it won’t help. I am Jarek Johar now. There is nothing you can do!” He laughed a deep sinister laugh.
“We’ll see.” Lonin said as she crawled up on him and put her hands on his shoulders.
“The time for fucking me is over, bitch. I will get free, and I will kill you.” His eyes started to flame.
Lonin got close to his face and breathed in. Pedor stood back watching the silver, gold, and orange mist being pulled from his body. Then a large thick lump of black and grey mist was drawn out. Lonin jumped off Jarek. She was weaving and trying to keep control of herself. She jerked like another being was invading her body. “Keep…him…alive.” Lonin ordered Pedor. He nodded and went to work. He attached sensors and rolled the temporary stasis machine close to Jarek. He prepared a tray of injector sprays of adrenaline, the emergency defibrillator, a dialysis machine, and an electrical brain stimulator. Jarek’s vitals were falling. Pedor hooked all the equipment to Jarek and switched everything on. He started working on the temporary stasis if they needed it. The sounds of machines again were supporting Jarek’s body to live.
Lonin stumbled over to the stasis pod containing the slug. The Ariadne opened the pod. Lonin was fighting to keep control. Torpoon’s demon was fighting her, Jack, and other beings inside of her. She was struggling to breathe. Pedor looked from the monitors to Lonin. He saw her face turn dark. She had bruises appearing on her face and places on her body that weren’t covered in clothing. She opened her mouth, and the large thick lump of black and grey mist exited her body and landed in the slug. The slug screamed a high-pitched wail as is slithered and twitched. It’s body shriveling as the screaming became higher. The body of the slug became small and black when the stasis pod closed.
Lonin stumbled back across the room to Jarek’s body. He was very close to death. She crawled back up on him and released his life force back into him. Her circular mark on her chest burned as a new mark on Jarek’s chest formed. His vitals were coming back up. She climbed back off him and fainted, collapsing to the floor.
Pedor quickly checked Jarek’s vitals. They were growing stronger. He grabbed a scanner and ran around to Lonin. She was now in a hospital gown. She was breathing. Her blood pressure was low, but not dangerously so. He called for a medical emergency and for them to bring another med bed. Moments passed and a medtech team was there with another bed. They lifted Lonin onto the bed. “Keep an eye on his stats.” Pedor ordered one of the medtechs, who nodded.
Another Medtech brought over an injector spray, “Adrenaline?” He asked. Pedor nodded. The medtech injected the adrenaline.
“I think we need some booster spray too.” Pedor stated. The same medtech went to the medcart and prepared an injector spray. He ran back around to Lonin and injected her.
“What, what is happening?” Jarek asked.
“Stay still, we have this under control.” The medtech who was monitoring him answered.
Jarek was still clamped to the table. He couldn’t turn his head. He could just move his eyes to glance at the medical staff working on Lonin. “Will she be alright?” Jarek yelled trying to get loose from the restraints. Suddenly a swirl of energy wrapped around Lonin and she disappeared.
“What the fuck?” One of the medtechs said.
“It’s alright.” Pedor said and then he turned to Jarek, “She’ll be alright.”