Nightmare Ship: Space Exploration Thriller

by Scholes, James

  A final jump, and Nolan drifted over the blast-door opening, his tethering gun recoiled. He needed to get inside the ship before he ran out of air. He aimed the tethering gun and fired it again, this time at the gravity-gyroscope that was still hopelessly spinning near the centre of the cavern. Half of the electro-magnets that held the gyroscope in place were missing, but the spinning ball remained in place. Nolan pulled himself towards it, felt the buffeting of air bash him around the massive cavern. The scream of wind as it raced out of the ship was deafening, but there wasn't enough for him to breathe. It was like breathing through a plastic bag. He could feel himself starting to pass out. He would never make it outside of this cavern.

  An explosion of spider-silk sailed past him. Nolan jerked backwards, saw the giant spider in the open blast-door. How was it still alive? Nolan didn't know the answer to that, but it didn't matter—it was alive, and it wanted him. Another jet of spider-silk raced towards him, almost hit him. He twisted, looked for a way out. He was half-way through the massive cavern; there was nowhere else for him to go except forwards.

  But the gravity-gyroscope... Yes, maybe there was a way... Nolan aimed his rifle at the closest electro-magnet and started blasting. The magnet flew away under the onslaught of white-hot blaster fire and the gyroscope wobbled. Nolan's innards spun around as the gyroscope shifted in its housing. The gyroscope was no longer stationary but orbited around its own centre of gravity. There was another electro-magnet to shoot. If Nolan could destroy it... He fired—a direct hit. The electro-magnet fell away and the gyroscope was free.

  With a whoosh the gravity-gyroscope was picked up by the torrent of air and raced outwards towards the open blast-doors. Nolan was dragged towards it, and it was only the tether that held him free.

  The giant hunter wasn't so lucky.

  The gravity-gyroscope exploded into space and the gravity well went with it. The massive hunter didn't have the strength to withstand the sudden change in momentum and it flew outwards, into space. It kicked its legs uselessly, even as it flew out into the void.

  Nolan relaxed, let out a groan. His suit was screaming alerts at him that it was out of air. He could hardly breathe, and he could hardly see—but there was the door that would escape the cavern. Nolan reached upwards, grabbed onto a support. Without gravity it was almost easy to propel himself upwards, towards the door.

  Nolan hit a button and the door opened. He climbed through it, slammed the button on the other side to close the door. He floated in space, still struggling to breathe but less so—there was enough oxygen inside the hull that he could hear and see again. Just.

  “Let's get out of here,” he said to himself.

  22

  Through the ship... Nolan had discarded his helmet as it was easier to breathe this way. He fired down each hallway before he headed through it, just in case there was a hunter waiting for him. Most of the monsters were gone—the ship just felt empty.

  Nolan headed towards the golden spaceship. It was his only hope now: he hoped his would work. At the very least, the ship should have oxygen. Maybe even food. He only had to get to it, and that was a hard ask, considering there was no power and everything was dark. The only light he had was from the lights attached to his suit.

  He headed upwards, downwards, sideways. Everything looked the same, but there were tell-tale signs that he was heading in the right direction. He didn't know which way was up or down anymore, but he pressed on. The ship screamed at him, and he could feel it collapsing within itself. Some sections of corridor were inaccessible: the ship was starting to implode, and their were entire sections of the ship that he couldn't get to.

  Another blast-door. Nolan slapped his palm on the button and nothing happened. Nolan frowned, stared at the door—and then he realised that the ship had no power.

  “Damn,” he said. He looked for another way, saw a gap in the wall where part of the bulkhead had been pulled apart. Nolan climbed into the hole, looked around. Yes, there was a section on the other side where the blast-door had a gap so it could slide open. It was a tiny opening, but it would be big enough for him if he climbed out of his suit.

  Nolan hesitated, but only briefly. He had to get through the door. He hurriedly stripped his suit and drifted back towards the hole. He stuck his head in through the gap, looked for the opening.

  It wasn't there.

  Too late, Nolan saw the hunter lunge for him. He pulled backwards, pushed away from the hole. The hunter exploded out of the gap, legs reaching for him, fangs open and hungry. Nolan cried out, even as its legs wrapped around him.

  His blaster floated down the corridor, out of reach.

  “No!” Nolan shouted, and it was all he could do. “No!”

  The fangs slammed down into his chest. Nolan screamed as they ripped into him, tore him open. Nolan roared, saw his innards getting sucked out into the monster. Nolan's eyes went wide. He was going to die, he was going to die, he was going to—

  —Bamm-Bamm-Bamm!

  The hunter exploded backwards, its fangs still in Nolan's chest. More blaster-fire, and the hunter burst open under the barrage, sprayed grey goo and blood in all directions. Nolan curled into a ball away from the eruption of fluid, then pulled out the fang that was still embedded in him.

  He lay there, floating in space and gasping. He saw something coming towards him: two shapes—Jakool and Neema.

  “Godsmith,” Jakool said, and the small man took Nolan and carried him through the gap in the bulkhead, then out the other side. Nolan coughed, spat out blood. He wondered how much the hunter had sucked out of him. Could he still live? His left arm started to spasm.

  “The... The spaceship,” Nolan said.

  “Father,” Jakool said, understanding.

  “Yes,” Nolan nodded. “Take me to Father.”

  The three of them—Jakool, Nolan and Neema floated down the corridors. Nolan drifted in and out of consciousness, but he awoke to find himself staring down through the stark brightness of the airlock, and the golden ship beyond.

  “Inside...” Nolan said, his voice barely more than a whisper. Jakool lowered him through the opening. Gravity took him, slapped him in the face. Nolan looked up, saw that he was lying on the carpet. It was no longer golden but deep red from his blood.

  He stood, his legs unsteady. He approached the corpse of Doctor Webber; the hunter had sucked out most of what remained, so only an empty shell remained. Nolan kicked the corpse free, collapsed into the chair.

  Behind him, he saw Jakool and Neema enter the ship.

  “Shut the door,” Nolan said, or tried to say. His voice was slurred, barely recognisable. Jakool understood, however, and he sealed the airlock shut.

  Sweet, cool air flooded into the cabin. Nolan took in a deep breath, felt instantly better. He looked down at his chest; a savage wound that dripped blood profusely. He would need an anti-bac chamber. He wondered if there was one aboard; no, if Doctor Webber had one of the life-giving chambers, he would not have died.

  Nolan would have to get to a planet, and fast. He grinned at the thought: if the ship did have a jump-drive, then fast was not a problem.

  Nolan grabbed the controls. The ship came to life at his touch. It was like an extension of him, not a machine. When Nolan pulled on the stick, the ship pulled away from the hull effortlessly. Through the plexi-glass shield, Nolan could see his ship disappearing. He moaned as he saw it breaking apart inside itself: entire sections had collapsed, and debris floated in space, ejected from within.

  “The good doctor said we can go anywhere except the fourth planet,” Nolan said to Jakool and Neema, and he thought back to the spiders that had only so recently been a giant part of his life and shuddered. “So... Any place but there.”

  “We will go where you go, Godsmith,” Jakool said.

  Nolan went to respond when something struck them.

  “Huh?” Nolan frowned, looked down at the console. Red lights screamed at him. “We're held fast.”

  He looked
up, saw a familiar, evil face staring up at him from the remnants of his ship. The giant hunter had survived; the broken ship it stood on was covered in its own webbing, and strands of the stuff floated in space from where it had pulled its massive bulk to safety.

  And now it was pulling them towards it.

  “You have to be kidding,” Nolan said, and the pain in his chest grew tight. He looked around for a way to blast free. He saw a button that made him smile.

  The button read: cannons.

  Nolan looked up, saw the evil mouth, the evil eyes, the hideously hairy body and he flicked the button, grabbed onto the control stick and the triggers on the end.

  He laughed and screamed at the same time as he opened fire. Giant blasts of energy exploded out from the sides of his smaller craft. The massive hunter had no way to ward off the blows and it collapsed under the barrage. Nolan was still screaming, even as the spider had turned into a blackened, charred hulk.

  It was dead.

  With a quick burn of the thrusters, the ship pulled free and flew backwards. Nolan watched as the last internal support collapsed inside his old ship and the length of metal imploded inwards. Shards of shrapnel exploded in all directions, some bounced harmlessly off his own hull.

  His ship was just as dead as the giant hunter, now.

  Nolan sagged, held a hand against his throbbing wound. He turned to Jakool and Neema, who were watching him with expectant eyes.

  “So... The only co-ordinates I know are to one planet; it is where I was headed all along. If this ship jumps the way I hope it will, we should get there two hundred years ahead of schedule. What do you think?”

  The two humanoids blinked at him, blankly. Jakool spoke for both of them.

  “We will follow you, Godsmith,” he said.

  “Nolan,” Nolan said with a sigh, and a smile. He typed in the co-ordinates that he knew from memory, then hit the button marked: jump. His smile grew as the void turned to white and the ship lurched through space. He looked at Jakool and shook his head fondly.

  “It's just Nolan.”

  The End

  Also by the same author:

  Origin: Unknown

  A Man of Evil

  The Challenger

  Servitude

  Moral Code

  The Good Terrorist

  The Albatross in the Desert

  Preacher Man

  The Last Mammoth

  Centurion Blood

  Terraformer

  Exiled

  Lost Fortune

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the express written permission from the author or publisher.

  Table of Contents

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