Scrapper's Hope

by Timothy Callahan

  The monster smashed through the last of the doors and Smiley had no choice now. She closed the door just as the creature leaped forward. To her horror it managed to grab the door before it closed all the way.

  The people in the lift screamed and backed up toward the wall as the monster ripped the door apart. With a terrifying cry the monster ran into the elevator, its claws swinging savagely.

  Smiley pulled her hand off the terminal unwilling to see the carnage. She heard the wails from the elevator shaft. She grasped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees as she loudly shrieked. The sound of the elevators movement snapped her out of her grief. The monster was coming up to the bridge.

  "It's coming up!" said one of her techs. "We're trapped!"

  Her bridge crew looked to her for guidance. Their faces white with fear. Smiley wiped the tears from her own eyes and stood. She slapped her gloved hand onto the computer interface and shut down the elevator.

  Smiley tried to access the floor plans but found the file empty. Using the scanners and cameras she made a quick mental map of the area and found what she was looking for.

  Disconnecting from the computer she pointed to the wall. "There, that's the emergency exit. Move that computer, come on, we don't have much time!"

  The five techs in the room ran over to a discarded computer and moved it. They opened the door and she ran into the emergency exit. Smiley followed and closed the door behind her. Seconds later she heard the monster bounce into the room. As they descended down the stairs she heard the monster tear the room apart, throwing computers, smashing glass, howling and screaming at the top of its lungs. With all the noise she was confident they could escape unnoticed.

  #

  Sargent Jenkins led them slowly and carefully down the hallways. In his hand he carried a portable scanner even though they both knew the monsters didn't show up on the scanner. The hope was they'd trigger something else that could give them a clue as to where they were.

  "How much further to engineering?" Jenkins asked.

  "Not far," Yelolus replied.

  "And you know how to turn the heat up?"

  "Yes, we'll be sweating before you know it. I hope it flushes them out. The one we fought shrugged off laser blasts, hopefully intense heat will be more uncomfortable."

  "Yelolus!" came a panicked voice on his communicator.

  "Smiley?"

  "We're under attack. One of those things got on our ship and attached us. I think- people are dead! It killed our crew!"

  Yelolus paused briefly as he heard the panicked, hurried voice of his friend. "Where are you now? Are you okay?"

  "We're running, just running, trying to stay away, not sure where to go or what to do. We're not armed, we can't fight that thing."

  Yelolus turned to Jenkins. "I have to go over there to help."

  "No, we need you here."

  "You can't order me to do anything I don't want to do."

  "I know, you can do what you want but we need you here. When we flush the ones here out we'll head over to help your friend. I promise. But right now we have at least two, maybe three to deal with."

  He was right, they had to deal with the trouble at hand. "Smiley, we'll be over as quickly as we can. Go, hide, find some place that monster can't find you."

  "Where!" she yelled, her breath was short and he could hear her running.

  Yelolus thought hard, unable to picture the ship at the moment. "You'll find someplace. Go, survive my friend, we'll be there to save you I promise."

  "We need to hurry," Jenkins said. "Can your friend really survive?"

  "She's smart, she'll find a way but I don't want to leave her alone for too long." Yelolus pointed to a door. "That's where we need to go."

  The group walked into the boiler room. Yelolus placed his rifle next to the computer and stood over it. He started pressing icons on the screen. "I'm going to quickly raise the temperature, make sure they know it'll hurt."

  Jenkins nodded and turned to his men. "All right, spread out and holler when you find a creature."

  Yelolus felt the hot air pump out from the vent. It started cool but quickly warmed with each passing second. Sweat formed on his brow as he grabbed his gun. "I think we should stay here. Scrapper and Doc know the ship and they might think to come here to turn the heat off."

  "Good idea. You two, stay with us."

  Two soldiers stood guard. Their eyes darting back and forth, sweat beads forming on their brows. Yelolus looked into the vent. His shoulder moving slightly reading him for anything. The heat from the vent triggered the fight instinct inside him, a primitive reminder of his long lost planet and its dry, hot weather.

  Hearing a pop from the vent he turned. Jenkins looked at it as well and when the two guards turned he pointed them to the hall. "Keep your eyes that way, we'll keep our eyes this way."

  The popping grew louder and more frequent. Jenkins pulled out his communicator. "I think we have a target. Get some men here now."

  The two men in the hall kept their eyes forward but their heads tilted in such a way they could see into the room and the hallway at the same time.

  The popping grew to a crescendo, then stopped. Yelolus held the rifle up to the vent and waited. He looked into the darkness making sure nothing looked back at him. He caught the glint of an eye, then opened fire.

  Jenkins and the two guards ran in and fired at the vent as well. Hundreds of shots from the laser rifles blasted holes in the wall, exposing the vent, destroying it. Shards of metal exploded through the air, hitting Yelolus on his tough skin and bouncing off.

  Jenkins held his hand up. "Hold fire!"

  The deafening laser fire stopped. In the silence Yelolus listened. He walked up to the vent and looked inside. A trail of blood lead down the hot vent. Something had been struck. "It's bleeding, I think we hurt it and if we can hurt it, we can kill it."

  Chapter seventeen

  Too difficult, can't think anymore. Need to get these aliens out of my orbit, need to-

  No, those are my friends. Those are the ones who I want to protect.

  They will destroy us, protect the planet, protect the planet.

  Scrapper felt the metal under him heat up. The air grew hotter and blew harder than before. What is happening? He thought. They're turning the heat up, he answered. Trying to flush me out.

  Stop it, stop this now, the voice said. Stop it. We will not be beaten. Stop it.

  Scrapper moved down the vent, an image of the boiler room in his head. That's where the heat was generated.

  No. No, I will not, I will not hurt my friends.

  Despite his protest his body moved forward, using his own thoughts to guide it to the source of the heat.

  The exit of the vent was in site and he heard voices. Yelolus, he knew that name, knew that voice. The others he didn't know. It didn't matter, they were all dead anyway.

  No, don't kill, don't kill them.

  He reached the end of the vent and looked out. There he was, Yelolus, looking at him, looking at the vent, his rifle at the ready to fire. Scrapper tilted his head to the left to get a better look when everything around him exploded.

  He backed out as pieces of metal lodged into his arms, chest and face. His howls of pain were blocked by the sound of his world falling apart. He moved fast, using his claws to back away quickly. When the firing stopped he continued to move away from the hole and toward the heat.

  He found another vent and looked out. The hallway was clear so he punched the vent out then jumped down.

  A bolt of energy grazed past his ear. He turned to see four guards pointing their rifles at him and firing. A powerful wave of pain racked his body when a bolt hit his back. He turned to face them and rushed forward. They stopped running to get better aim and fired. His skin tightened after the first shot; evolving his hide until it was rock hard. They turned to run away from his charge.

  He turned a corner to find them lying on the ground covering their heads. Rapid bolts of energy came
from the other end of the hallway as six rifles fired at him. He felt each blow, felt each bolt as it hit his hide. He wanted to charge after those who were hurting him but doing so would expose him to more pain so he turned, the fire hitting his back over and over again, as he ran.

  He turned another corner and was met with more fire, more pain, and more anger. Scrapper could not give in, he would not give in so he ran again, ran toward the back of the ship, toward the engine room.

  He heard them follow him, screaming out orders. In the front was Yelolus, was he telling them to stop or to kill? The blood rushing to his ears made it impossible to tell.

  The engine room was in front of him. He ran in and closed the door, then locked and sealed it. Laser bolts blasted the hard metal. They could go through if they tried hard enough, he had to be sure to be out of there before they did.

  He looked at the vents and saw waves of heat coming from them. Going back into the vent would be painful. Going back outside to fight the guards would result in their deaths.

  He looked at his own body to see red welts where the shots hit. He touched one, the sensitivity made the wounds painful.

  Once again Yelolus yelled and he saw through the small window that he was blocking the door. Scrapper hide behind a computer when the door opened and Yelolus, unarmed with his ungainly hands up in the air, walked in. "Scrapper, I know it's you."

  Scrapper pushed the alien down, pushed it down inside him as he stepped out from behind the computer. "Yelolus?"

  "Yeah, it's me."

  "Help me,” Scrapper said. "It's trying to take over."

  "What is?"

  "The alien from the gas giant." The words came out with great difficulty as he tried to form them into sentences.

  "The ones the Professor found?"

  Scrapper shook his head yes. "I'm fighting them."

  "I know. I saw you avoid killing those men. This room is safe for now; can you stay here? Will you leave?"

  Scrapper nodded a no and pointed to the vent. "Too hot."

  "What do you know of the others?"

  Scrapper shook his head. "Don't know, don't want to associate with them. Think they've teamed up."

  "For what?"

  Scrapper shook his head again. "Don't know."

  Yelolus placed his hand on Scrapper's shoulder. A human and reassuring gesture. "Stay here. I think I can convince Jenkins to post a few guards outside to make sure you don't leave. I'm betting the lives of everyone that you won't succumb to the alien before we can figure out how to cure you. I trust you Scrapper, of all the humans I know you're the one I trust the most."

  Scrapper nodded his head and said, "I'll be good."

  From outside Yelolus heard some yelling, not screaming, just someone yelling angrily. "I have to go," he said and ran to the door.

  When he opened it Scrapper could hear the endings of a conversation. "What do you mean the shuttle's gone? What happened to it? It's heading where? Well, who's piloting it?"

  The door closed and Scrapper could no longer hear the answer.

  #

  Trang dug the last piece of the communicator out of her pocket and threw it into the pile she had collected. No need to keep carrying that around, it got smashed when Naomi grabbed her and drug her into the room. Her head cleared remarkably fast, another gift from her Echolite genes.

  Not knowing drove her mad. She couldn't stay here much longer, especially after she heard the screams coming through the vents. People were dying out there, her friends, people she loved, and she was trapped in a safe spot. That would not do at all.

  Steam from the busted pipe caused the sweat to drip onto the floor. Her hair was a mess, her clothes stuck to her skin. She guessed this might be a utility closet. There had to be a way out. She placed her hands on the wall and pushed. Nothing happened. In her mind she pictured the ship and where she was in relation to the hallways or another room. After turning 180 degrees she stepped forward and pushed on the wall. She heard a click and when she let go the door popped open. The seal was nearly invisible on both ends, she guessed for aesthetics reasons.

  She stepped into a darkened room. The lights turned on when it sensed her and she found herself in a tool closet of some sort. This is promising, she thought as the door behind her closed. The coolness of the room chilled her sweaty body to the bone.

  On the shelves she found the tools needed to run a ship. Laser torches lined one wall. Rivet guns hung from another, under those were tanks of explosive gases, the stuff used to fuel welding equipment.

  Most of the tools in the room was also too big for her to carry and involved getting really close the monster to kill it. She wasn't a warrior. If she could give the tools to Yelolus she was sure he’d have fun using them.

  An empty tool belt hung from a shelf. She grabbed it and placed it on. The next few minutes she spent gathering anything she could use as a weapon and placed it on her belt. From hammers to nail guns to a small torch gun, each piece of equipment might save her in ways she could only imagine.

  With a very loud clanking from all her tools she stepped out into the hallway and started walking. She had no idea where to go, Naomi could be around any corner, could attack her at any time. Going to the Jolly was a bad idea, there were three monsters lose over there, they didn't have a shuttle so heading to the UC ship was impossible. The bridge seemed to be the only place she could think of to go.

  As she considered her options she heard some yelling, someone encouraging others to get moving, to go faster. Smiley, it was her voice. Trang followed the voices and was nearly bowled over by the group.

  "Trang!"

  "Smiley!"

  "Follow me, we're being chased."

  "Where are we going?"

  "To the engine room, that might be our only safe place."

  Trang followed, her belt attracting the attention of those running with her. She knew what they were thinking, that noise is going to attract the monster. Guess they didn't know how loud they were running down the hall.

  The engine room door was closed when Smiley arrived. She placed her interface glove on the panel. Seconds later the door opened and the crew ran in. Smiley closed the door then looked at Trang's belt. "Is that a laser torch?"

  "Yeah."

  "Know how to use it?"

  "Yeah. I’ll seal the door."

  Trang pulled the laser torch out, pressed a button on the side to turn it on, and slowly moved the superheated tip up the door's seam. Smiley knelt down next to her and grabbed two more torches from her own belt. She tossed it to two random crewmembers. "Seal those vents, we know this thing likes to travel through them."

  They ran off and started to weld the vents closed.

  "It won't stop her," Trang said.

  "I know, but it might slow her down. That thing, its Naomi, right?"

  Trang nodded her head yes. "She didn't kill me."

  "Cause she loves you, or at least is infatuated by you. There might be a small part of Naomi left."

  "I'm hoping a big part."

  "You better hope not," Smiley said. "She killed about a dozen of our crew. Just be sure you kill her if you get the chance. No hesitation."

  Trang stopped welding but didn't turn to face Smiley. She had nothing to say, those were her friends, there was no way they could not kill Naomi now. "I won't."

  It was unusual for Smiley to be like this. The events of the past few hours changed her, they might have to change her nickname.

  Trang looked around the engine room. They were in a large room that overlooked the back of the ship. Computers were scattered about. Pipes and neatly bundled wires led to the very large engine that dominated the next room. A small ladder led from where they were to the floor below. "We could use this," she said.

  "What?"

  "We could use this area to set a trap. We're the last of the Jolly's crew, Naomi's looking for us, won't take her long to find us here and we've discovered walls and vents only slow her down, right?"

  Smiley nod
ded and in a low, sad voice said, "I tried to stop her by lowering all the blast doors, she ripped through them like paper, it wasn't enough to stop her and-"

  Trang shook Smiley hard, "Hey, stay with me Smiley, stay with me, I need your help. If we're going to get out of this alive I need you to stay focused. It's hard, I know, but you need to okay?"

  Smiley nodded and looked at the floor below. "Set a trap. Got it. What do you have in mind?"

  Chapter eighteen

  "Captain," her second said to Captain Forrester as she took a seat in her command chair. "Sargent Jenkins just reported the shuttle's missing."

  "Missing?"

  "Yes, he said it's not in the docking bay anymore."

  "Can you find it?" she asked her sensor office.

  "It's landing in the docking bay now. I'm not reading any life forms on it though."

  "What does that mean? Did the computer recall it?" She asked.

  "Not that I can see," her second said.

  "Let's go meet it," the Captain replied. "Those monsters can't fly shuttles, can they?"

  Her second shrugged. "Sergeant, can those things fly shuttles?"

  "I don't know," Sergeant Jenkins replied. "Yelolus, what do you think?""

  "They do retain the intelligence of those whose body they possess. I don't know if the Professor can fly a shuttle, but Doc was a pilot for the UC before his regeneration."

  "Sargent, keep looking for the monsters over there, I'm going to see what's in that shuttle." She stepped down from her chair. "I want the rest of the crew down there armed."

  "We missed our chance to blast it," her second said.

  "We don't know if anything’s in there. I don't want to lose our only shuttle if it can be avoided. We won't go into the hanger, just into the control room and wait to see what happens. If there is a monster in there I'll open the shuttle bay door and we'll suffocate it. I don't care how strong it is, it still needs to breathe. And, if it manages to escape that, well that's what the rest of the troops are for."