John’s SciFi Space Short Story

Possessed

Part 11

Moloch seethed with rage. His helplessness infuriated him. He howled with an intensity the whole institution heard. How did she overcome his power with such ease? No wonder Legion was beyond reach. One thing was certain. They would not trap him here for millennia like his other prison. No jail was impregnable. Moloch would find its weakness. He needed to think. Cain staggered to the bed and flopped on it at Moloch’s command.

Cain moaned in pain. Hunger gnawed at him. He forgot when he had last eaten, but it was at least a day. His stomach grumbled in protest. Thirst parched his lips and his head buzzed from lack of sleep and a growing confusion. “Get out of me!”

“Oh, shut up!” Moloch wished he didn’t have to occupy a body. It was so tiresome. His life would be easier with free rein to move himself. But Cain’s body wasn’t the worst he had overpowered.

Moloch studied his surroundings to find a weakness, any crack in their security to take advantage of for his escape. The cell he/Cain occupied was rectangular and bare, only enough for 10 paces in with and five in-depth. It had a latrine in one corner. The human occupant had to attend to his needs, Malloch surmised. A basin stood in the other corner. A niggling chorus of pleading came through to him from Cain to relieve his thirst. Annoyed, Moloch released his control, allowing Cain to stand and shuffle over to the basin. Cain slurped his fill and returned to the bed, choosing his supine position again.

The ceiling contained a continuous sheet of lighting illuminating the space. Each corner containing a holo-vision camera from which guards spied on the occupant. Moloch made Cain lift his head toward the front of the cell. The wall was solid, comprising the door they had entered and nothing else. A spy hole penetrated the door at head height and a rectangular opening, covered with a gate, pierced it at floor level, for transfer of meals, scraps and waste. Moloch saw no chink in the cell’s security.

A huge banging emanated from outside moments before the gate covering the orifice opened. A tray appeared with food and beverage. The guard pushed it through and re-secured the gate. Cain instantly jumped from the bed, catching Moloch by surprise, but he allowed him to grab the tray and satisfy his hunger. It was his body, too. If Cain died, he would exist in limbo again until he transferred to another unsuspecting host to overpower and control. Besides, he was getting used to Cain and his peculiarities.

Cain ate his meal, sitting on the floor where they had shoved the tray, shoveling the bland tasting solids down his throat.

Moloch concentrated on whether he could use the method of transference of food and waste to his advantage to secure his escape. A plan developed for him, producing a smile on Cain’s face as he munched the rations. Slurped beverage ran in runnels of liquid from his mouth, dribbling from his chin, as if to prove his madness as the plan coalesced.

***

To be continued…