Scrapper's Hope

by Timothy Callahan

  "But we need you."

  Scrapper turned and ran into the elevator car. Yelolus wanted to follow but the low growl from Scrapper told him to stay. "We'll help you, Scrapper, we'll help you."

  The elevator door closed and Scrapper let out a loud howl, a release for the blood lust running through his veins.

  Yelolus tried to concentrate on the scans. He pulled out his communicator. "Sergeant Jenkins, Scrapper left the bridge."

  "Why?"

  "He can't control what's controlling him. I don't know what he'll do if you sees you. He did, however, give me chance to find the explosives." He paused as a map of the ship showed a blinking red light. "Found them. In Scrapper's room."

  "Go get them," Jenkins said. "I can't spare anyone so, good luck."

  Yelolus ran to the elevator and called it up. When it arrived he found Scrapper still there, hunched in a corner, ready to pounce. His fighting instinct took over and Yelolus crouched as well, knowing what he looked at was no longer the Scrapper he knew.

  Scrapper leapt forward and swiped with his claws. The claws raked across Yelolus’s chest as he jumped back. His own tough skin protected him from the blow but it still drew blood. Three track marks ran across his chest. His shoulder slumped down and he charged forward ducking under a swipe, throwing his entire body weight with all his strength into Scrapper, driving him into the closing elevator door.

  Scrapper pounded the back of Yelolus who did not give up his grip. He wrapped his arms around Scrapper's waist and squeezed with all his strength. Everything that made him a warrior fueled his muscled giving him the strength of ten men.

  A normal man's back would have broken by now. Yelolus tried to squeeze harder but found no more strength, nothing left and he weakened.

  Scrapper took advantage of the lull and punched Yelolus in his head. Stunned, Yelolus lost his grip and staggered back. Scrapper punched him again in the face, shattering Yelolus' already flattened nose. Stepping back Yelolus hit a computer, his vision blurred, his mind cloudy. He still had enough awareness to move when Scrapper charged him, his claws swiping as he ran. The computer crumbed as Scrapper slammed into it. Yelolus shook his head, trying to clear it, trying to figure out his next move.

  Scrapper once again moved like lightning. Yelolus ducked under the lunge, placed his hands under Scrapper's belly, grabbed a handful of shirt, lifted and tossed him into the wall where Scrapper hit head first. There was a loud snap of something breaking, his head split open and blood gushed out. Scrapper lay on the ground motionless, his broken neck vertebrae poking through his skin, blood pooling under his head. His eyes looked forward with no life left in them. Yelolus fell to his knees as the moment sunk in.

  As he sat staring at the floor some motion caught his eye. Scrapper's arm moved, the palm placed on the ground. It lifted the body up, his head hung down touching the shoulder in a way human heads never did. Yelolus stood with him, watching in fascination as the obvious dead body moved oddly, as if the thing controlling it had no idea how to puppet it. "You're the thing that took Scrapper over."

  The mouth moved and words slowly came out. "Yes."

  "Leave the body, let Scrapper go."

  "Nowhere to go."

  "You're not dead, but Scrapper is so you can't control him like you did. You're trapped in there."

  "Yes."

  "And you still want us all dead."

  "Yes."

  Yelolus looked at the body of Scrapper, the alien unable to keep it up and balanced. It staggered to the left, its feet trying awkwardly to keep the body standing. It was like watching a human baby learn to walk. Without Scrapper's help controlling things this monster was nothing. However, he knew it could adapt quickly. How long before it figured out how to use the body to kill again? Yelolus didn't know and wasn't going to take the chance.

  He ran over to the body and grabbed an arm. With all his might he pulled, ripping the arm from the shoulder, sending it across the room. The Scrapper monster hardly flinched. Good, Yelolus thought, he didn't want Scrapper to be in any more pain while he finished the ghastly task of taking this thing that used to be his friend apart limb by limb.

  #

  The news of losing his ship, of all his friends dying, of all the destruction over the past few hours, had to be ignored for now. They had to kill these monsters, not just for revenge but so they don't kill anyone else.

  He heard something, a movement from around the corner. He bent down in front of the door with his rifle in the ready. The ten guards around him did the same. Sweat threatened to get into his eye, the heat from the vents still going strong. He relaxed when a bloody and battered Yelolus turned the corner, behind him he drug a box with the explosive warning label all over it. "Found them," he said tossing the box in front of the Sargent. "Let's put this to good use. I sacrificed a lot to get it."

  "Scrapper?"

  "Dead," Yelolus replied. "No longer a threat."

  "I'm sorry. I know you tried."

  Yelolus' shoulders lifted a bit before lowering again. "He was a good friend. Now, we need to figure out what to do with these explosives."

  Sargent Jenkins waved to his men and they opened the box. "You know, I was thinking, why don't we go the other ship and throw this one into the planet."

  "Smiley informed me that to kill Naomi they needed to jettison the engine."

  "This ship is our only hope to get away from the planet?"

  "Correct." Yelolus said.

  "What's our plan?"

  "We need to lure that thing somewhere we can set off the explosives without badly damaging the ship."

  "If he wants to take us both out the best place to be would the Particle Room, but since we don't have Strangelets bullets he would have to start the accelerator himself. I'm not sure he knows how to do that."

  "Let's assume he did," Jenkins replied. "Where would he have to go?"

  "Inside that room, but we have it well guarded. The only other place would be the bridge, but that computer's been destroyed."

  Jenkins thought a bit. "So, he can't create a strangelet with the ship, but does he know that?"

  Yelolus shook his head and raised his shoulders. "I don't think so. The bridge would be a good place to go then. To get to the bridge he'd need to use the lift. We can set the explosives outside the lift and when he gets in we'll set them off."

  "That's taking a big risk," Jenkins said. "What if he doesn't go into the lift? Are you sure there's no other way onto the bridge? Can we set the explosives on the bridge?"

  "The explosives aren't powerful enough in a space that wide open. That box is all we have so we need to get him in a closed space, like a lift."

  "No other place?"

  "None that I think we can lure him to, no."

  "How many men do you need to rig the explosives?"

  "Five who aren't afraid of heights or closed spaces."

  "Me, and four others," Jenkins replied, pointing to the four men looking through the explosives. "Come on guys, we have work to do."

  Chapter twenty

  Jenkins and the crew picked up on the feeling of acceleration. The ships were falling into the planet. Jenkins noted this and said, "We don't have much time, do we?"

  "No," Yelolus replied as the crew walked into the elevator. "Lift me up please, I'm too short to reach the latch."

  Jenkins knelt down and placed his hands on the ground in a cup. Yelolus stepped into the hands and was lifted to the ceiling. He pushed the panel away then climbed onto the top of the elevator.

  He passed Yelolus the bag then, with the help of another guard, was lifted as well. Between the two of them they managed to get all four guards onto the roof. Yelolus handed them each some explosives. "I guess we'll just placed this all around the side and on top of the elevator. When it explodes it needs to explode from every angle. If he does somehow managed to survive he'll fall down the shaft. It's not too far a fall, only about twenty feet, but it should at least hurt him enough for us to tear him apart."

/>   "Tear him apart?"

  "Yes, tear him apart. It's the only way to kill whatever this thing is. It's how I killed Scrapper."

  "Right," Sergeant Jenkins said, not wanting to push the conversation any further. "I used to climb mountains so I'll climb down to under the elevator and place the bombs there. You four take the side, Yelolus you want to take the top?"

  "Seems to be the only thing left." Yelolus said, taking his bag then pulling the explosives out. "The chip frequency is set to this receiver," he held a small black box up. "This will be able to set them off anywhere on the ship. The range is very good."

  Jenkins used the rail which the elevator rode to climb past the shaft and to the bottom of the elevator. The others used small ledges build into the side of the lift to move down the side. Yelolus placed his explosives on the roof of the shaft, arming each one as he went.

  Jenkins, from the bottom of the shaft whispered loudly, "Quiet, quiet, I hear something."

  Yelolus stopped and listened. He heard it too, the sound of heavy footsteps walking toward the elevator. Everyone stopped moving, stopped breathing, when they heard the familiar grunts the monsters made when they walked. The Professor was right there, outside the door of the elevator. The elevator shifted as he walked in. Yelolus looked down into the shaft from the panel he removed and saw a shadow move across the wall. He dare not move for fear any movement would alert the monster he was there.

  He looked at the remote in his hands and the explosives he put out. He could set them off now, set off all the bombs and have the shaft fall to the ground with the Professor inside. It would kill everyone but at least Smiley and rest of the Jolly would survive. Then he remembered ripping Scrapper apart, he would not sacrifice his life so quickly after killing his friend. He needed the penance of life to get over that, death was too easy for his crimes.

  The Professor walked off the elevator and away, the sound of his heavy feet disappearing down the hall, his heavy grunting silenced. Yelolus looked over the edge at the men below him and nodded. One of them knocked on the elevator lightly and they continued rigging the elevator in silence.

  When finished each one slowly, carefully, walked off the elevator and into the hallway. "That was close," Yelolus said as Jenkins stepped out.

  "We need to be more careful," Jenkins replied. "He probably heard us talking."

  From behind Jenkins Yelolus saw a blur. It moved so quickly no one reacted in time. Three claws jutted out from Jenkins's chest holding the Sargent’s spasming heart. His face looked oddly serene. He never knew what happened. Never had the chance to figure out what killed him. The Professor tossed the bloody body aside and threw the heart away.

  It took a full second for everyone to react, one second too late. The Professor ran toward Yelolus who managed to punch the monster in the throat. The four guards pulled out their guns and opened fire, annoying the Professor enough he ignored Yelolus and he went after the guards.

  Yelolus jumped up and grabbed the Professor in a bear hug, holding the incredibly strong man down. "Run!" he yelled, "Get the others! Go! Run!"

  The Professor struggled. Yelolus used the last of his strength to lift the monster off the ground. Both screamed a battle cry as Yelolus walked into the elevator. He dropped the Professor, turned, and ran out as quickly as he could.

  The Professor spun around to face the Ulliam. Yelolus held up the detonator. He pressed the button then dove to the right.

  A fireball engulfed the monster when the elevator exploded. A ball of flaming monster fell down the shaft, howling, followed by burning debris. Everything landed with a loud crash on the ground below.

  Yelolus ran over to the elevator and looked down. The burning debris trapped the screaming monster. Flesh from his body melted away as it burned. His body jerked, and thrashed as it tried to get the thousand pound elevator off. The thrashing slowed, the howling grew silent, the elevator collapsed the Professors ribs, flattening him into the floor. Flames shot from the Professor's mouth, his eyes, and his ears. Yelolus watched as he burned to ash.

  Yelolus pulled out his communicator. "Smiley."

  "Yes, I'm here."

  "Get to the docking tube, it's over."

  #

  Smiley and her crew stood by the docking bay door and waited. Exhaustion threatened to overcome her but every time she closed her eyes she saw Naomi and Trang being blasted out into space. It was as if the movie had been tattooed to the inside of her eyelids. She might never sleep again and, when she did, she feared she'd dream about the moment forever.

  She looked through the docking tube and saw Yelolus appear. His bloody body told of a fight any Ulliam warrior would cherish. He nodded at her, his shoulders lifting up in delight, and opened the docking tube. Behind him stood a group looking similarly tired and thankful it was over.

  Yelolus walked over to her tube and opened it. The Ulliam didn't like hugs but she felt she had to do it, so she wrapped her arms around his oddly shaped body and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug. "I never understood the appeal of this until now."

  "We'll make you a human yet,” Smiley said. She looked at the survivors. The ship shook once more, a reminder of the next problem. "We're going to have to disconnect from the science ship, it'll drag us down to the planet if we don't."

  Yelolus sighed and rose his shoulders. "I know but we don't have enough equipment to make this worth all the lives lost."

  She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Nothing we do will be enough for that. What we have we can use. Maybe even sell the Jolly. I don't know about you, but I'm done with this life for now."

  "I agree."

  Yelolus walked over to the control panel and pressed several buttons. "Retracting docking tube." He said.

  The tube popped off the Science ship exposing the hull they had to cut through. Air escaped into space in a cloud of white gas. Debris not tied down silently left the ship and tumbled as the ship slowly descended into the gas giant. The Jolly pulled away from the gravity of the planet, with it no longer tethered to the science ship it was able to leave the orbit without much effort.

  They watched the gas giant absorbed the ship, washing it away. It didn't take long for there to be no trace of the ship except for a small black dot. The winds of the planet would wash that away within hours.

  Yelolus said, "I understand why the aliens of the planet did what they did."

  "Why?"

  "They were protecting their planet. As someone who lost their home I can understand. We Ulliam would have done anything to protect Ulliam had we known it was in such danger."

  "But we weren't a threat."

  "We see it that way, but they don't."

  "We need to go to the bridge."

  "The bridge is not a nice place to be right now, plus the elevator has been destroyed."

  "We can find a way up there, we always do,” Smiley said and folded her arms across her chest. "But first, we need to rest. We need to eat. We need to do everything we can to move forward and away from this mess."

  "First thing we need to do is clean up the bodies, then we can rest." Yelolus turned to the survivors. "Come, the first person we deal with is Jenkins, then we clean up the Professor's body, and then we clean the bridge. Smiley, if you need to rest go rest, my job here is not done. My job here will never be done."

  Smiley looked in the direction of her room before following Yelolus down the hallway and toward the bridge.

  #

  The Science Ship broke apart in the atmosphere of the gas giant. Pieces of it swirled around in the dancing storms. Debris floated in the thick air for hours as it slowly worked its way down to the turbulent storms below.

  The snake, the thing that had evolved from the single cells, fell out and into the storm. Its skin broke apart, merging with the other cells in the clouds. The snake knew intelligence now. It absorbed all the thoughts and memories of those in its pack. It knew what it took to be human. Knew what it meant to feel, to think, to observe,
to experiment. It understood the meaning of intelligence.

  That knowledge passed itself down to the lower organism and, as they evolved, it grew with them. A generation for this creature could be as short as a day. Most of the time it was less than that and, within several generations, the collective idea of thought passed across the planet, deep into the clouds, toward the core where most lived.

  By the time the bright wormhole faded from the sky and the Jolly went home the planet itself was on its way to awareness. Soon it would be alive, soon it would figure out how to send messages into space, how to attract other intellect. Not long after that it would figure out how to put itself out into space to visit other planets, to gain even more knowledge than before.

  Soon it would arrive at the planet Earth to thank the human’s for the gift of sentience.