Absicon Universe: Queen Lucrecia's Shadow Pt4

Good Afternoon!

Wow, another part! So quick! Its only short, but enjoy nonetheless.

Dorian awoke in the Amethystine's infirmary, a tiny area with only three bio-beds. For a moment he couldn't remember what had happened that had put him in there. He felt physically drained, and every so often he felt a muscle twitch. He held a hand up in front of his face, and noticed that the tips of his fingers were pink with newly grown skin caused by the bio-beds dermal regeneration function. He held his other hand up and noticed the same effect. He had begun to wonder how he had gained such injuries when it all came flooding back.
There was something seriously wrong with Dr. Jasmine Grey.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, captain." Doctor Klein, the Amethystine's medic said, leaning over Dorian's body. "How do you feel?"
"Like I've been electrocuted." Dorian said, struggling to sit. "How the hell did we get out? I thought I was going to die in there."
"Somehow Carmichael managed to drag you clear before he passed out from shock." Klein explained. "He didn't get zapped as good as you." His look became concerned. "Captain, what the hell's happening to Doctor Grey?"
Dorian took a few moments to give the question some thought, but he couldn't come up with an answer that satisfied himself.
"I don't know." He finally responded. "But something happened down on that planet – in the temple that she and Carmichael entered. Something happened, and we need to know what it was."
"We may have the beginning of an answer for that, captain." Commander Preston, Dorian's first officer said, striding into the infirmary with Jonas Weir in tow.
"What have you found out?" Dorian asked, impressed that his crew seemed like they were starting to function properly – a little late, maybe but better late than never. There was nothing like a good crisis to bring out the best in a group of people.
"We've managed to find out some of the details about what happened on that planet." Preston said. "It seems as though Dr. Grey used minicams any time she studied artefacts in their natural habitat. We also managed to download a copy of a report she made regarding the planets inhabitants. We couldn't get much more – she shut us out of the xenology data cache pretty quick, and I don't think anybody is going to go down there and ask her for more information."
Dorian followed them to the observation lounge. Weir explained some of the situation to him while they walked.
"The planet's inhabitants were pre-industrial, perhaps something closer to a medieval age." He explained.
"I remember that from Dr. Grey's preliminary report." Dorian said. "They didn't come anywhere near space flight."
"That's right." Weir said. "Part of the reason for that was because they were peaceful. Within our own history, it has always been in pre- and post-war periods when the greatest technological leaps have taken place. The Hirokians had no such incentive."
Dorian remembered Dr. Grey calling the long dead aliens 'Hirokians'.
"I remember that Dr. Grey's report stated that these 'Hirokians' killed themselves off in a war, that the Vendo'Rpah or anyone else didn't have anything to do with it." Dorian said, his confusion growing.
"Yeah, you're right." Weir answered, his excitement growing. "But before that war, there is no evidence that there had ever been one before hand."
"The beginning of the final war seemed to coincide with the arrival of a new leader." Preston said. "A leader that the records seem to indicate was nothing like the rest of the Hirokian people."
"She was called Queen Lucrecia." Weir said.
Dorian stopped in his tracks.
"What did you say?" He asked as if he hadn't heard right.
"Their leader," Weir said, unconcealed confusion growing on his face. "Her name was Queen Lucrecia."
"You've heard it before." Preston intuited.
"Yeah." Dorian said. "It seems as though that's what Doctor Grey is calling herself these days."
Preston shot a concerned glance at Weir.
"That makes sense." She said. She turned to Dorian. "You really need to see the minicam footage, sir."
They hurried to the observation lounge. Once they had arrived, Preston activated a two dimensional monitor and slid a data disc in.
"I think you'll find this... interesting, to say the least captain." She said as the playback began.
The recording began with a close-up of the opened sarcophagus within the temple. The ornamented body lay within, covered by a slightly transparent cloth of some kind. A hand reached in and lifted back the cloth, exposing a decayed body, although it had obviously been embalmed, considering it was thousands of years old. Grey obviously turned away for a moment, as the minicam floated back a bit, so that the doctor came into view as well. She was looking away from the sarcophagus, and as she turned back, the eye sockets of the body began to glow.
"What the..." Dorian began.
As Grey looked back at the body, the eyes began to glow brighter, and suddenly energy of some kind shot out of the sockets, and began streaming into Grey's eyes. Within seconds it was over, and the recording stopped.
"Oh my god." Dorian said, in a stunned tone. "She's been possessed!"
"By what?" Preston asked.
"Well I guess that's the question." Dorian said. "Did the Hirokians have any kind of belief in ghosts or spirits or anything?"
"Well, not that we know of." Weir said. "But our information is far from complete. You... think Dr. Grey's been possessed by... what, a demon or something?"
"I don't know about that." Dorian said. "But she's been possessed by something. Does Grey's report mention how this Queen Lucrecia arrived?"
"Not in detail." Weir said. "It mentioned something about 'ascending from the sky during a thunderstorm' or something."
"Ascending from the sky?" Dorian queried. He looked at Preston.
"An alien?" She asked.
"That's what I'm thinking." Dorian replied. "An alien who seems to be nothing but energy, but with the ability to possess a humanoid being... as though the humanoid were a superconductor."
He looked up at the other two.
"I think I have an idea on how we can free Grey."

The next part will be the climax, and that will be followed by the epilogue. Hopefully it will be done soon, and I'll have a manuscript ready to send to some mags.

See ya