“Don’t take it out on yourself Randy, it could have happened to any of us. The main thing is that you are okay. But we must keep moving. We need to find water. A lot of the elderman are weak and compromised. And that’s not including you Randy. You definitely need some water. A wound like that will have taken it out of you. So I say that we get a move on and find a nice resting spot. Once we reach the spot, we can think of a contingency plan,” the lady doctor said, turning toward Timson who was standing next to her.
He nodded in agreement.
“Okay people, you heard the lady, let’s get a move on.”
Randy got to his feet. He felt a little wobbly at first, but his equilibrium soon balanced out. He must’ve looked a state, because April came up to him and checked if he was okay.
“You sure you can move?” She asked.
Randy nodded and gave her a smile. All the smile did was remind him of the dream he’d just had. It was like he could’ve touched Earth and missed out on it. He felt bitter. Bitter that the dream wasn’t real and he was back on Second Earth, underground hiding from the fallout. He didn’t want to be here anymore. There was no here to be on. They couldn’t just live underground like rats for the rest of their lives. They needed air. They needed food. And they needed water. Randy wasn’t that optimistic about finding either of those things underground in the cave systems.
“Yeah, I can move. Don’t worry about me. It was my fault that I hit my head, so I don’t think I deserve any sympathy for it.”
April laughed.
“Well, as long as you are okay. The last thing I want is for you to end up hurt. You’re the only person I care about in here. Without you, I don’t know what I would do. So please, watch where you are going next time, yeah?”
Randy nodded, a playful grin on his face. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as before. In the dream, April wasn’t present. And neither were the rest of the colony. It was just him, him and Planet Earth. In hindsight, that’s not how Randy envisions his life. Yes – he envisions it on Earth, with the people of Earth, finally being home. But the dream was missing an integral part and that integral part was April. He was pretty sure that he loved her. But how does one go about telling a woman that you love her in a cave? So all he did was grin.
“You mean a lot to me too,” Randy said, momentarily brushing his hand on hers.
Their moment of bliss was interrupted by Timson rallying everyone to move on forward. Randy sighed and did as he was told. He followed Timson and the others, April walking beside him, watching his every step. It was nice to see the concern on her face, a concern that Randy felt was mutual. It was also nice to be walking alongside her. Every moment or so when he got the chance, he would sneak a quick peek at her beautiful face as she stared off into the distance.
The cave was dark, but to Randy there was just enough light. Just enough light to make out her features. Just enough light to see where she was heading, just enough light to get them to where they needed to be. And once they reached where they needed to be, then he was certain that there would be plenty of light – plenty of light to land a kiss on her lips.
Chapter Two
Commander Williams was searching for something within the securely locked room he was in. The others watched on as he looked for materials. Materials that he was certain were needed for his escape off the Orion traveller. The other people in the room hadn’t said much to him, bar from their leader. But even he’d grown quiet. Williams wasn’t interested in making friends. He was only interested in getting off the ship. A ship that was being overrun by a black substance. A substance that had grown into something organic. And that organic being was now haunting the corridors of the ship. It was patrolling and searching for survivors. Survivors that it intended to kill. Williams had seen it with his own eyes. One of his troops had been ripped from limb to limb. Decapitated by this thing. And he didn’t want to succumb to the same fate. So he had to act fast and find a way off this floating tin can.
The Commander hadn’t bothered asking the names of the others in the room. For a start, there were far too many of them. Around thirty to forty. He hadn’t counted though. He was tempted to ask their leader for his name, but he didn’t want it to seem like he was attempting to get on good terms with the man. Yes – Williams owed the man his life. But since finding his way inside this room, he’d become privy to the fact that the people in it didn’t want to leave. So he foresaw a confrontation at a later point. A confrontation that he didn’t want any part of. And he’d be damned if he was going to let a bunch of strangers dictate whether he lived or died. Because Williams was certain that if they remained in the room as they were, that thing outside would find a way to get to them and kill them all.
So he continued to search for the materials he would need. He wasn’t an expert or anything on scavenging, so he was just winging it if you will. But he had a faint idea of what he would need. And it became obvious to him that the black thing outside was sensitive to light. He didn’t think that bullets affected it. Because when he was rescued earlier on, it wasn’t the bullets that scared the blackness away, it was the light coming from the rifles muzzle flash. As soon as the light illuminated the room, the thing scattered and scurried away, becoming one with the shadows and disappearing into the air ducts of the ship. So Williams thought that if he was going to be able to get off the Orion Traveller, light was going to be what he needed to accomplish such a feat.
“What are you looking for in there? This is our stuff, not yours, so if you are planning on vacating the room, I suggest that you do it quickly and quietly. Leave us and our supplies alone,” their leader said, approaching him.
Williams didn’t bat an eyelid. He continued to search for his materials. This angered the man greatly. He put one hand on Williams’ shoulder, as if to pull him away from the cache of materials in the far corner of the room. Williams jerked up and turned around to face the man.
“What the hell do you think you are doing? Don’t put your hands on a soldier! Especially one that is trying to get you and your people off this rust bucket alive! So step down and get out of my way or suffer the consequences!” Williams said, balling his fist up, ready to strike the belligerent man.
The leader nodded calmly at Williams and took two to three steps back from the Commander. He turned around abruptly and slowly walked toward his people who all seemed to be cowering away in the corner, looking on as if they were spectators at a boxing match. But this boxing match was being stopped before it even started if Williams had any say in it.
“If any of you want to live, then help me search for flammable materials. I can assure you that we will get off this ship. You have my word. All you need to do is help me assemble some makeshift torches,” Williams said, turning back around and diving back into the material pile, pulling bits and pieces out, sorting the flammable materials in one pile and non-flammable materials in another.
“Flammable materials? Don’t you think that is a little unsafe? I mean, call me stupid, but running around a derelict and disabled ship holding torches doesn’t seem like a good idea. If one of the torches falls to the floor, then the ship becomes an oven. An oven that we are trapped in. Haven’t you read the safety procedures when it comes to ships in space? The whole idea of those procedures is to prevent a fire, not start one. So good luck trying to find something to ignite a flame. You’ll be here all day,” the leader of the group said, still hanging back with his crewmates, watching from afar as Williams waded through the various materials in front of him.
“Ship safety isn’t our number one concern here, people. I don’t see how a naked flame or torch is more dangerous than that freakish alien creature outside. I don’t know if you are aware of this Captain, but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. And let’s not forget, you were the one who decided to open fire on the creature, making it angry. But also, I don’t think bullet holes are healthy for a ship either. So let’s not be pedantic here. I’m trying to save our skin, while you’re trying t
o hold me back. As I said before, any attempt at stopping me from doing what needs to be done here will result in your ass being firmly kicked,” William said, continuing to wade through the materials. He heard a snicker from some of the crewmembers who were watching him. They seemed to be amused by the back and forth between him and the apparent ship’s Captain.
“Do what you want, I won’t stand in your way. But let me tell you this; once you go through that door, you won’t be allowed back in. So make sure you’ve got everything you need. I wouldn’t want you to fall short out there, and look like a fool, dying in the dark corridor, screaming for help whilst we listen from the inside, safe in this room.”
Commander Williams began to laugh. He stopped searching for the materials, and turned his head toward the Captain, whose expression changed from a grin to a worried look. It was obvious to Williams that the Captain was intimidated by him. And he had every reason to be. Williams was much bigger and he was much smarter. But, Williams hadn’t forgotten that if it wasn’t for this particular man, even if he was a belligerent asshole, he wouldn’t be alive right now. So he owed him. And he wanted to make sure that the Captain was aware of his gratitude.
“Look, I’m grateful for what you did. You didn’t need to rescue me, so I thank you for that. I’m afraid that is where my gratitude ends. I don't owe you anything. But, seeing that you helped me, the least I could do is help you. So I won’t ask you again, please, come with me. Don’t let you and your people die on this ship. Earth isn’t coming back for us. Trust me. I’d put my house on it. We’re doomed if we stay in here. I don’t want to die on a derelict and abandoned ship floating in space, millions of light-years from civilisation. I want to see my family again. I want to kiss my kids again and hug my wife. I don’t want to die here. And I don’t want either of you to die in here, alone, while I fight my way off this ship. Believe me, I’ll do this alone. But no one deserves to be alone… or die alone. So please, come with me.”
Williams locked eyes with the Captain. He could see that he’d managed to get through to him. Even if just a little bit. A slight glint was present in the man’s eyes. A sheen of moisture over his iris’s. But, the man’s face was no different than before. It was still stern and unmoving. Unsure and untrusting. And whilst his crewmates looked at him for his response, Williams knew deep down that the answer would be no. So he turned back around and continued to look for what he needed. He wasn’t going to waste valuable time on an already lost cause. Williams wasn’t stupid. He knew when to save his breath, and considering what he had planned, he was going to need as much of it as possible.
The man didn’t say much else. He remained silent and watched as Williams made two piles on the floor. By now, Williams had gathered enough flammable material. He then began to fashion torches out of those materials. Obviously not all of them looked alike, seeing that they were made out of different things. Some of them were made using pipes and clothing wrapped around them. Others were made from electrical equipment, but they were all working torches. All they needed was a flame. And Williams knew how to get that flame. It was simple really. He was never one for following the rules. And even though he was informed of certain protocols when it came to avoiding fires in space, he’d never paid much attention to them.
And unbeknownst to the people on Earth, the people that paid his wages, he always carried a zippo lighter. It was a relic from the past, but something that he always thought would come in handy one day. After all, Mankind was built on the ability to light a fire. Without fire, man becomes cold. And Williams never saw himself as a cold man. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the lighter. A gasp fell across the room as the men and women watching realised what he had in his hands. He may have just as well pulled out a radioactive bomb of some sorts, because they all seemed to scarper into the far corners of the room, hiding from the tool in is hand.
“It’s just a lighter, and it’s our way out of here. I’m telling you, that thing out there is allergic to light. Shine a lit torch on its face, and it won’t go anywhere near us. My ship is docked in the yard, it’s only down the hallway through the atrium. We manage to get there and we get out of here. Simple as that. And then we use the Jump Gate to get back to Earth.”
The Captain looked at Williams and nodded his head.
“Okay, fine, have it your way. But let it be known that if a single drop of my men’s blood is spilt, it will be on your hands and not mine.”
Williams smiled, flipped the lid off his zippo and lit the first torch. A silent hush fell over the room. He turned toward the others and held the torch up into the air. Ash and flame particles gently glided off the torch, falling to the floor. By the time they reached the floor, they were extinguished. Some of the others were transfixed by the light coming from the torch. While others were still listening out for the sound of the approaching blackness that was patrolling the outside corridors.
Every now and then they could hear the slight murmur of its growl as it floated past the room. They had grown accustomed to that murmur. It was how they identified whether the creature was outside or not. They had been in that room for a very long time. A couple of days at least. And within those two days, all they had done was listen to the blackness outside. Listened to how it crawled and floated past the doors. Listened to how it scraped against the metal. It was as if the creature was trying to coax them out of their hole and pounce on them for trying to be brave.
But neither of them had attempted to be brave. All of them had decided to seek refuge in the room, their only source of company was a stack of bottled water. The bottled water would keep them alive for a while. That’s if they didn’t become insane. Because that’s what it was like, staying in that room, and waiting to die. It was insanity. The only reason that their Captain had left the room in the first place, was because he had heard the screams of others. At first he thought that one of his men had been left behind. But then he realised that maybe it was a rescue team. He had to act. That is why he saved Commander Williams. And that is why he was about to trust him to save his very own people.
“I don’t know if I’m going to have enough torches for everybody. But, I’ll try my best. Once all the torches are lit, we will get into a single file. And once we’re in a single file, we will leave the room and make our way back toward my ship. I came with a number of men, men that I am leaving behind. Not because I’m afraid of fighting the creature outside, but because I know that they are surely dead.
“When we get back to Earth, I’ll make sure that a team is sent down here to deal with this thing on the ship. And hopefully then I will be able to recover their bodies. Every Marine deserves a burial. And that is what I am going to give my men. I don’t ask a lot of you, but I do ask this; if any of you are familiar with communications on board a shuttle, I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me fix the comms unit on board my ship. It is because of that comms unit being down that we decided to board the Orion Traveller in the first place. We weren’t actually sent here to rescue you. We were sent here to rescue the pod ship that came from your ship and crash-landed on the planet below.”
The Captain frowned. He seemed confused. He walked toward Commander Williams and shrugged his shoulders.
“What pod ship? What are you on about?” He asked, his face lost within a thousand thoughts.
“The ship you guys sent down to the planet below. Remember? We received a last hail transmission from the ship as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. They said that they were sent by the Orion Traveller to do a biological scan over the planet, but got distracted by the apparent presence of lifeforms below. Before they could pull the ship back up, they fell into the atmosphere. They breached it and apparently crash-landed onto the planet’s surface. We don’t know much else besides from that. But I assumed that you at least would know something.”
The Captain shook his head.
“No, I don’t know what you’re on about. We didn’t sanction any ships to scan the planet below.
We were on a delivery mission. That thing out there is the result of that delivery mission. It’s a resource. A resource that Earth has been using to make technological leaps and bounds. But the resource is unsteady and volatile. We didn’t know it, but after a certain amount of time, the resource binds together and forms a cohesive bond. That bond then takes shape. And after a few hours, the creature is born. I have no idea how the people back on Earth plan on keeping this particular resource stabilised. But our job was to bring the resource back home. We didn’t know anything about the planet. It just so happens that our ship stopped working once we reached this particular point in the Andromeda Galaxy.
“It’s just plain luck that we happen to be above this planet that you are so interested in. But I can assure you Commander Williams that we have no stake in that planet. We did not send any men or women onto that planet. Each one of my men and women are accounted for. And the ship isn’t fitted with rescue pods. So I’m afraid I can’t help you. As far as I’m concerned, that planet has nothing to do with us.”
Williams stood there dumbfounded. If the pod ship didn’t emanate from the Orion Traveller, then where did it come from? Williams struggled to come to terms with the new revelations that were being dumped on him. There was no way that he could communicate with Earth, or the people in the crashed ship on the planet below. So there was actually nothing he could do. All he could do was get off the Orion Traveller and get back home. Once he was home, then he could begin to ask questions. But questions weren’t what he needed right then. He needed answers. Answers to a simple question.
How in the hell was he going to get these people off this ship? And more importantly, how was he going to get all these people on board the escape craft? The craft was only so big. It was a tight squeeze as it was with just five men. But this many people was going to be a struggle. A struggle that the Commander knew would cost lives. But it was the only way that any of them were going to get off this ship at all.
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