Siren's Song

The comforting, dazzling light of the nearby star urged Nivana to relax. Her limbs floated weightlessly, buoyed by the expanse of space all around her. Distant planets winked at her and cheerful nebulas bathed their infinite colors over her skin. Only her breathing and the occasional beeping reminder that her suit was in working order broke the silence of the universe.

Once she’d been told that a human could lose themselves in the endless void. It seemed strange when she’d heard it, but now it was all she wanted to do.

All Nivana wanted to do was to forget the luring, deadly song, the screams of her crewmates and the wrenching of metal and wire.

Her brow creased as the familiar music rumbled just on the edge of awareness. She squinted her eyes open, glaring across the black pool.

What was left of her ship was bobbing pathetically, caught in the minor gravity pull of a tiny asteroid. The bits and pieces floated so close but so uselessly. There was no hope of fixing the ship. Not when her chief engineer hung shredded just two meters to her left.

It was surreal and frustrating.

The monster had been the stuff of legends. A creature from the stories that space wives told their children before they shipped out to the stars. Amusing moral tales that kept curious fingers away from life support controls.

The great twisting spirits with stars for eyes and space-frozen claws had been childhood nightmares. They were not supposed to be a reality that could shape her adulthood.

The Captain’s final orders were ringing her ears, a desperate attempt before the madness truly took over and he was lost into the insane grips of the unknown. He’d been a good man. Perhaps nervous and paranoid, but now she couldn’t fault him for that. His skittishness had saved her life, even if she was doomed to hang feet from his grave.

In the center of her back, the pressure of the Doctor’s warm hand lingered. The petite woman had shoved her into the suit and out the airlock with only a glare and a brief, final goodbye. She had always had a terrible fear of space. Despite all her complaints she had never truly believed that a creature from the universe’s depths would take her to the end of her life.

All that remained of her was the imagined touched that kept Nivana’s back warm against the shadows of space.

Very softly, she sighed and closed her eyes again.

There was no fighting the images that plagued her thoughts. The shadows that slithered along the ship, yanking her crew out of portholes. The shrieking laughter that echoed over the anguished screams of her fellow explorers.

At first it had been so quiet. The First Officer had been on the observation deck just watching the space around them. He reported a strange sight, a confusing sound. Then, so quietly, he started to hum a song only he knew. It built into brilliant laughter that could not be stopped.

Before the rest of them could truly understand it, the computers were signaling madly and the main bridge cover had been shattered. The former First Officer was pulled into a cold embrace he didn’t even know existed.

For a moment no one dared to believe it had happened. Not until a young, fresh faced officer had started to hum her own song. She whispered pleasant words that were caught on the ship’s comm system. Quiet praises and one final declaration of love before she was dragged through the flooring, metal shards rending her face into ground meat.

Nivana sucked in a hard breath, forcibly shaking the image from her mind. Her throat clenched, stomach rolling and she shuddered. She stared at the ship again, willing it to be put back together.

The longer she stared the less she was willing to believe it. Her body felt numb but with the encroaching cold or her subconscious acceptance, she would never be able to say. Long fingers twitched in over-sized gloves and she was suddenly reminded that this suit wasn’t supposed to be hers.

It was meant for the security chief, a beast of a man who could cook a mean chicken gumbo and laugh loud enough to rattle the entire ship. He had fought hard, until the cruel power had entered his heart and he gave into the song of space. His mind was lost in seconds and he fell into their waiting arms.

A harsh sob escaped Nivana, choking her and making her chest tight. Her fate, the horrid moment until she too died from air loss, was not what she had signed up for. She had joined the program to reach the stars, go to worlds she couldn’t even imagine. She was training to be a scientist. She wanted to deliver the great unknown on a silver platter to her planet, to her mother.

Pale green eyes flashed in her mind; her mother’s smile crinkling them at the edges. Older, wiser, than her own but never dulled by age. That smile had been the last thing she’d seen on Earth. The woman who had raised her to question everything, to never stop until she got an answer had pushed her to the stars with a nod and a wave.

Her mother would never even know. She would be wondering until the end of her days as to the fate of her daughter. Maybe she would get an impersonal letter, signed by an Admiral Nivana had never met. A quick signature over a pre-recorded message stating she’d died valiantly and proudly for her planet.

But she hadn’t even done that.

She wasn’t dead yet.

Instead she was watching the remains of her ship slowly drift through space and listening to her suit countdown the hours she had left.

She would die painfully and pathetically. Not even a valiant hero's death. Just a lonely, silent, passing second where she would be there and the next simply not.

Far across from her, the once great ship shifted violently. Suddenly, her mind was blank in fear. She stared, eyes wide as one of the great black figures pulled itself from the paneling.

It would have been beautiful if Nivana did not know of it’s awful violence and cruelty.

Slim and black, the stars glittered over something close to skin. Gentle, teasing nebulas and space storms swirled in a tantalizing beauty. Plumes of waving hair curled over an elegant neck. The hair was wispy strands of prism light that pooled like ink in the surrounding space and looked soft enough to be buried in.

Plump, purple and black tinted lips pulled back to reveal bright, white teeth. They seemed so much brighter against the darkness of the universe.

Sirens were stories, half remembered tales that harkened back to the time when humankind traveled the great oceans of the world. Monsters that lured sailors to their death through sweet words, drowning them in the water that they fought to tame.

The unexplored wonders of the universe promised the same exhilaration that ancient seamen had once searched for. The imagined threats and tales of Sirens had started almost as soon as humans had set foot on the stars.

No matter how many stories her uncle had told her, Sirens were not supposed to exist.

Yet there it was.

The Siren was pulling itself from the ship, turning her head in search of more to eat. There was so little of it so far out in the black. It was a wonder they even survived. Her lips parted and a wailing, morose song spilled forth.

The melody echoed around Nivana, twisting amongst the stars. Space resonated with it. The haunting tune filtered into her helmet, promising sweet rest. It twinkled in her ears like the nebulas that shone in her eyes. Space wanted her to relax, to give in.

It would be easier that way.

Nivana gave a great heaving grunt of anger. She jerked herself around, forcing her body to move. She would rather die, choking on her own spit and wishing for air, than to be found in the tight grasp of one of those things.

The song sharpened, piercing her ears and making her wince. Her eyes watered at the sharp notes.

The oversized gloves clawed uselessly at space, but Nivana fought to pull her body away.

It seemed an impossible task to find purchase in a universe with nothing but ship debris and emptiness, but she was moving. She kicked at metal bits, forcing herself away from the wreckage. With the little pieces floating in her path, she could find enough momentum for the time being. One poorly placed push and she sent herself spinning wildly.

Vaguely she could see the Siren flooding toward her, a great black sparking cloud. She grit her teeth and waved her arms to right herself. Her knuckles knocked against a metal pipe. She scrambled to grab it before it got too far from her.

The song taunted her, ringing in her helmet. It almost threatened to turn her brain into liquid. It hurt to stay focused, it urged her to give up and in. She couldn’t. She wasn’t going to let the Captain’s last order go to waste or taint the Doctor’s sacrifice.

The Siren hurtled at her, claws outstretched and sweet smile moving over an unknown song.

Nivana swung violently, upsetting her position and launching herself to the side. The metal pipe sliced through space, soundless and seemingly worthless.

Then something hard and heavy caught the iron.

It took all her strength to keep the pipe in her hands when the jagged tip cut into the Siren’s side.

The Siren’s song broke in a great, rending screech. The ethereal face scrunched into something monstrous. She twisted away, smoky body squirming as stars and ink flooded from the wound.

Nivana swung again, determined to keep the beast away.

It only served to make the song deafening in her head. Her skull was all but shattering under her skin, threatening to spill out. Tears floated in front of her vision, clouding it. The water slowly started to tint red with the blood leaking from her ears. Every nerve pounded, screaming for peace.

Still the young explorer fought against the Siren, slicing the brutal metal through inky skin and nebulous veins.

The Siren howled at her, no longer a creature of sweet songs. She was a demon hell-bent on ripping Nivana apart. Her eyes glowed like a dying star, body no longer supple but a jagged and living weapon. Claws shot out, shredding Nivana’s suit and threatening to let the cold fingers of space leech in. The suit was too thick and too big for her slight form, it saved her from the unforgiving vacuum.

At least, for the moment.

Nivana’s mind started to waver, blanking out only to return with the Siren inches from victory. For a moment she felt as if she should just give in. Relax, let the song take her away. At least then she wouldn’t be able to feel her body flayed open for all the planets to see.

An inhuman roar tore itself from her throat before she even knew what her muscles were doing. Nivana’s shoulders bunched and she went for one last blow. She kicked off from a metal sheet that had once protected the outside of her ship. She hurtled forward, arms thrown forward and pipe pointing like the holy sword of a knight.

The savage pipe thrust forward, piercing through the center of the Siren.

The song whistled high and loud, shaking the very space apart with its intensity.

Waves of hair and flesh curled in on itself, the Siren screaming continuously. She writhed around the pipe, edges flaring like the Earth’s sun. Her eyes locked onto Nivana’s filled with a ferocious anger and lust. The monstrous woman wanted to pull the young scientist into death with her. Claws like ice shot out for one last try.

A brilliant flash blinded Nivana.

When space settled around her, the Siren was gone leaving only a dull aching head. She felt dizzy and sick. Briefly her mind compared it to the feeling of hitting 3g speed, the fastest her ship could go before people threatened to shake apart. The memory of her former home focused her thoughts. She shifted and willed aching, burning eyes into looking around. The ship had disappeared, none of it’s torn parts floating aimlessly around.

Even the stars looked different.

“Because they are different, ki’na,” a voice of summer honey slid into her abused ears.

Nivana blinked, turning as much as she could to find the source. She jerked back when she found it, hands struggling to find her weapon.

Out of one Siren’s grasp and into another’s, she thought miserably.

The new monster’s face shifted into a sadness that only rejection could bring. She reached out a delicate hand to steady Nivana.

“Don’t touch me!” She gasped out, finding words for the first time.

Silence dropped over them, more deafening than ever before. But it gave Nivana a chance to really look at the creature.

The newest Siren to show itself shone like a newborn star, soft but with a power that radiated somewhere in unknown depths. She was golden and silvery with shards of glorious reds and oranges weaving through her hair and skin. Her pale pink lips were smiling, softening eyes like that shone suns.

The Siren was different and that only made Nivana more afraid.

The unknown had hurt her once before and she did not doubt that it would do so again.

“Oh sweet, child,” the Siren murmured, a gentle melody flowing behind her words. “I will not hurt you. I have brought you somewhere safe.”

One elegant golden claw pointed and Nivana looked.

Not too far away a station lay waiting for her. It’s red beacon lights are more a welcome sight than anything she had seen in her entire life. The thick glass of observation decks glinted cheerfully at her. She knew entire labs, man-made forests and restaurants lay hidden behind the thick panes.

Tiny ships slowly became bigger as they flew toward the station, their crews most likely preparing for a well deserved break.

Nivana’s heart jumped into her throat.

Station Haven was instantly recognizable for it’s oddly bright, colorful paint job. It was one of the few stations that had lasted on the edge of known space and it was fast becoming a popular stop for tourists and Sol Union workers alike. It was the same place her ship was going to dock.

That had been the plan, anyway.

Their last mission was a short study of an asteroid belt. At the time it had seemed so easy. Everyone was planning for their week off while they worked, everyone chatting happily about their plans. No one had any idea they would never make it. Least of all Nivana. She had even made spa reservations for herself and the botanist with the penchant for uniquely dyed hair.

Nivana moaned, body curling toward her refuge. Her mouth watered just thinking about the fresh laddu she always bought from the vendor in Block C. It would taste like Heaven.

“You brought me here?” She breathed, dimly aware that her helmet wasn’t beeping at her anymore.

The new Siren nodded, soft hands resting on Nivana’s shoulders and pushing her toward safety.

“Yes,” she whispered, a hum echoing in the space around her. “Relax. I am taking you home.”

Nivana’s heart fluttered, her mind fuzzy with relief. Her lungs struggled to pull in a proper breath, she was so close to weeping again.

The song returned, much sweeter and far more welcome this time. The Siren sang in her ear, leading her toward the station. The music swam through space, enveloping Nivana. She would reach the station, she would be rescued. She would be going home.

“Relax,” the Siren urged.

Nivana nodded. She looked to the nebulas and stars that beckoned her to rest. They sang with the Siren’s song, promising warmth and protection. Her limbs floated bonelessly, but she didn’t need them. Not with the station so close.

Faraway suns winked and glittered at her, cheering her on. She had made it off of the ship, defeated a space monster and found her way home.

The Siren hummed pleased, “yes, relax. Rest, I will take you home.”

Nivana closed her eyes, the song melting her abused muscles and the station rumbling comfort to her tortured nerves. She could forget all the horror and pain of the last few hours because she had made it.

Behind her, the Siren shifted.

Nivana pulled her eyes open unwillingly. She didn’t even remember closing them. Her gaze was caught by the gold glow of the Siren’s. Without thinking a smile lifted her features. A soft, contented sigh left her lips.

The claws shot out before Nivana was aware anything had moved. The golden crystals shattered the glass of her helmet and sank deep into her neck. The Siren rose up, towering over her. The sweet face was marred by a dark, malicious grin. White teeth sharpened into razors.

“Relax,” the Siren whispered.

Haven winked out, overtaken by a darkness even space could not produce.