by Ben Hammott
As it fell its bright red glow highlighted the Insectoids climbing the four sides of the shaft. It was a vision of demons escaping from hell.
“Monsters!” Colbert shouted. He aimed his rifle at the nearest and fired. It screeched and followed the flare to the bottom.
Sullivan and Stedman swapped their assault rifles for alien weapons, switched them on and rushed forward. The balls of light lit up the darkness and picked out the evil faces of the approaching creatures. A light ball punched a neat hole through an Insectoids head before exploding in a bright flash against the shaft wall. The second passed through two creatures before exploding.
Colbert aimed his light up the shaft and focused on the bottom of the elevator and the gap between it and the ladder. He turned to his men. “We're going to climb past the elevator. Ramirez, do you have any explosives left?”
Ramirez nodded. “I kept a little back in case we needed to blast our way through a blockage.”
“Set charges on whatever's holding the elevator in place and get ready to blow it when we're all clear.”
Sullivan raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Are you sure that's wise with the ship being so unstable?”
“I can't see what other choice we have now we've set the explosives back there. If the collapsing ship doesn't kill us, those monsters definitely will.”
Ramirez glanced below as he stepped onto the ladder. The monsters on all four sides of the shaft were a hellish sight. The captain was right; it was worth the risk. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed.
Stedman and Crowe followed him up.
Colbert fired a few shots at the monsters, halting them four levels below, before climbing after Stedman. By pressing their bodies flat against the ladder it was possible for them to squeeze past the elevator.
When Colbert rose above it, he saw his men continuing to climb and Sullivan opening a door a few levels above. He glanced at Ramirez. “All set?”
Ramirez nodded and held up a remote detonator. “Just say the word.”
Screeches from below filled the shaft.
When they had all reached the higher door, Colbert nodded to Ramirez. “Blow it.”
Ramirez peered down at the creatures that squeezed around the edge of the elevator and pressed the button on the remote.
The small explosions echoed up the shaft. The elevator fell. Monsters screeched as they were crushed or knocked back down the shaft.
After Stedman and Crowe had picked off the couple that had climbed past the elevator, the door was forced shut.
Colbert glanced around the stairwell chamber. “Now all we have to do is find our way back to the exit.”
*****
The Russian salvage team had been following the sounds of gunfire when the explosion rumbled through the ship and halted them. All stared along the corridor the sound had originated from.
“It has to be the American salvage team,” realized Nikolay. “It wasn't a big explosion, so it might indicate they have just blown a door open.”
Brusilov glanced at his chief engineer. “Perhaps the door to the armory?”
Nikolay shrugged.
They continued on and after a few turns entered a corridor tainted with the residue of explosives in the air. Alert for danger, they silently moved forward and stopped at the entrance to the armory.
After hearing no sounds of anyone inside, Brusilov stepped nearer while the others guarded the corridor. When Brusilov's eyes swept along the racks of weapons, his smile faded to dismay on seeing the packs of explosives distributed throughout the room. When he followed the yellow cables to the timer readout that had reached fourteen seconds, he rushed from the room shouting, “Explosives, RUN!”
Cargo salvage
WHILE SOME OF his men followed the bulldozer towing the cargo ship through the tunnel, Joe McNally led the others over to the airlock that led to the cargo bay. The constant delay of opening and closing the two airlock doors would drastically slow down the salvaging of the alien stores. He turned to his electrical wizard. “Kirby, do you think it's possible to have both sets of doors open at the same time?”
Kirby, never one to shy away from a challenge, headed for the control panel. “If the aliens' electrical system is based on the same principle as ours, then it should be simple enough to override the safety controls.”
“Okay good, see what you can do. The rest of you come with me.”
The five men passed through the airlock into the cargo bay and wandered over to the nearest stack of cargo containers.
The thousands of storage pods stacked in neat rows were all exactly the same size, seven-foot-seven-inch cube whose sides slotted into each other to form a strong rigid structure. Each was labeled with alien text and color-coded with a stripe along each surface and all pods of the same color were grouped together. Access to the contents was via double-doors fastened by a hexagon catch that turned to release the lock.
McNally opened the first one he came to, which was marked with a green stripe. Inside was a neatly folded bundle of some kind of tough plastic similar to Mylar.
“It's a temporary shelter,” stated Jason Kendrick.
McNally turned to the man who had spoken. “How could you possibly know that?”
Kendrick pointed at the diagram fixed to the inside of the open door. “That was the clue.”
The men examined the small poster. Though the alien text was illegible, the image of a large oblong habitat with rounded edges, an arched roof and what seemed to be solar panels distributed across its surface was understood by all.
Larry Schaefer, the NASA technician assigned to appraise the alien artifacts and assign their salvage priority, pointed at the two labeled storage crate diagrams beside the habitat image.
“It seems three crates are needed to complete a single habitat. Apart from living accommodations, they probably include workshops, science labs and much more―in fact everything the alien crew needed to set up a temporary base until more permanent structures could be built.”
Thinking the design might be adaptable to use as their own temporary habitats on far-flung planets they might explore, Schaefer stepped back and ran his eyes over the symbols marking the nearby containers and pointed some out. “We'll take these nine for starters.”
While the others moved on down the row, McNally turned to the waiting forklift drivers and pointed out the selected crates. The three forklifts moved towards the indicated crates and started lifting them free.
McNally rejoined his men, who had opened one of the yellow-striped containers.
Schaefer pulled out one of the smaller boxes formed from a rigid type of plastic that filled the internal space snugly. Inside were neatly folded pieces of linen. They opened a selection of the smaller boxes and found items that seemed to be general everyday wares the crew would need to cook, clothe and exist on a strange new world. Though it wasn't the technology they looked for, Schaefer selected six at random to be salvaged and moved on.
McNally sprayed a red circle on the six selected crates and pointed them out to one of the forklift drivers before moving on.
Schaefer gazed at the rows of containers. It would take weeks to search through them all. They had a few hours, a day or two at the most if they were lucky.
As if reading his mind, McNally suggested they split up and each choose a different coloured crate to examine until they found what they searched for―advanced alien technology. Schaefer agreed and the men spread out.
“I think I found what we're looking for,” called out Juan Quintero a few moments later.
McNally and Schaefer crossed to the open container marked with a black stripe where Quintero waited and looked into the smaller box he had opened. Set in a foam-type lining were pieces of machinery of various shapes that hinted they might fit together to make a single piece.
Inspired by the find, Schaefer selected another box that was heavier than he expected. He glanced at Quintero. “Give me a hand.”
They lifted out the box, laid
it on the floor and opened it. Inside were rows of strange tubes dotted with chunky protrusions and what seemed to be a line of lights along the top.
Schaefer resealed the crate. “It's definitely alien technology. We'll concentrate our efforts on salvaging the black containers first and if we get time, a random selection of the rest.”
“I'll go inform the forklift drivers.” As McNally headed across the room and felt the the increased movements of the iceberg that had him worried, he wondered how long they had before they were forced to evacuate.
After he had informed the drivers to start shifting the black storage pods, McNally crossed to the airlock and noticed both the cargo bay and hangar doors were open. Molten metal sparks sprayed from the portable welder Kirby was using to fix the doors in place.
“Good job, Kirby,” praised McNally, avoiding staring directly at the intense arc light.
Kirby stood from his crouch and pushed the dark welding visor over his head. “That's the last one. I welded all the doors open so if any safety feature kicks in they won't be able to close on us.”
“Good idea. With both doors open it'll speed up the salvaging process.”
He glanced over at the two forklifts heading back from depositing their loads outside. Ricky Cassidy stood on the step plate of the lead one. Cassidy jumped off before the forklift drove through the airlock and joined McNally. “There are two high cube containers outside waiting to be filled.”
McNally nodded. “Did the cargo shuttle make it aboard the ship safely?”
“Yeah, the wind blew it about a bit, but other than that no problem. The others are just tidying up outside and then they'll come and help.”
“We could have done with a few more forklifts. There are so many crates we'll never salvage them all.”
“Now the two smaller spaceships are safely onboard the ship, everything else is a bonus,” said Cassidy.
“I know, but we'll never get this opportunity again and to not be able to save everything, well…you know…”
“Yeah, I know.” Cassidy started heading towards the airlock. “But saving as much as we can is all we can do.” He entered the cargo bay.
As McNally walked over to the ice tunnel, he glanced at the remaining cargo shuttles. It was a shame they didn't have time to save another one, but those with a higher pay grade than him thought they only needed one and with the time constraint thrust upon them it was thought any other alien technology they could salvage would prove just as important. He pulled out his radio and made his report to the command ship.
Alone Again
RICHARD'S GAZE FOLLOWED the flashlight beam Talbot swept around the dark chamber. Powerless screens atop the many workstations positioned around the room where some of the crew once carried out their allotted tasks had not seen any activity for thousands of years. It was though, surprisingly clean and almost dust free, hinting the air pumped into the room might pass through a filtering process. Strange pieces of machinery that hung from the ceiling with drooping cables attached were as dormant as every other object in the room.
Set around the walls were tall transparent cylinders. Though most were empty, a few contained a fluid that reacted with a blue glow when Talbot's light fell on them, highlighting the hazy shapes of the nightmarish creatures imprisoned inside.
“Another laboratory,” stated Talbot as he walked across the room.
Richard glanced back at the door the Insectoids scratched at. Though he believed they were safe he wasn't about to take any chances and had little interest in the room's function. “We need to find an exit.”
Talbot had already noticed one and aimed his light at the door on the far side of the room. “Will that one do?”
“Believe me, I'm not fussy.” Richard headed for the exit. He pressed the door control and took a few steps back, leaving Talbot alone to face any danger that might present itself.
Talbot shook his head at Richard and stepped through the opening into a small room with walls covered in what seemed to be electrical apparatus of some kind. Levers, yellow coils, cables and tubes covered every surface except the floor.
“Is it safe?” asked Richard, poking his head nervously around the edge of the frame.
“If by safe you mean is it free of monsters, then yes.” Talbot took a few steps farther into the room and shone the weapon light along the offshoot of the L-shaped room. A metal ladder led down to a lower level and another ladder on the far wall reached up to a small platform and a door.
“Is that the only exit?”
Talbot, who hadn't heard Richard approach, was surprised he was so close. “I think so.”
Richard reached out and pushed the rifle barrel down so the light pierced the darkness of the lower level. “It doesn't look very inviting down there.”
Talbot snatched the rifle from Richard's grasp. “Then it matches the rest of this hellish spaceship. If you want you can go back and look for another route, but I'm taking that one.”
Going alone wasn't something Richard was going to do without a weapon or a flashlight, so he followed the owner of both down the first ladder.
A quick sweep of the lower level by Talbot who moved towards the far ladder revealed nothing but inanimate pipes and cables. Just as he stepped on the ladder, the ship trembled and rocked slightly. Something metallic clattered to the floor loudly on the upper level behind him. Talbot almost stumbled to the ground when Richard barged him aside and spurted up the ladder.
Talbot shook his head in dismay. If Richard was ever on a sinking ship he would totally ignore the rule of women and children first and probably grab the best lifeboat for himself and leave the others to their doom. Talbot climbed. When he stepped onto the platform he noticed Richard standing by the door with a hand hovering by the control.
“You ready?” Richard asked.
Talbot aimed the weapon loosely at the door and nodded.
Remaining safely to one side, Richard stared at the door that rasped open with a hesitant grind of metal.
Talbot, also focused on the steadily widening gap, peered at the darkness it opened onto and raised the light. He was about to step nearer when a sound halted him; distant thuds on metal at first hardly distinguishable above the constant groaning of the ship.
When Richard noticed Talbot's concerned expression, he whispered, “What is it?”
Talbot took a step nearer the door. The thuds, louder now, came from along the corridor the door opened onto. When something entered the flashlight beam, he raised the weapon to his shoulder and fired. Four shots rang out before the gun emptied.
“Shit!” Talbot cursed. He looked at Richard with fear in his eyes. “Close the damn door.”
Dread greeted Richard again as his hand punched the button, but it was too late.
Something leaped through the closing door at Talbot and swiped claws savagely across the man's chest. Talbot screamed. The monster crashed into him and sent them both to the floor. Richard looked on in horror as the monster took a bite out of Talbot's arm that had lashed out in an attempt to knock his attacker off.
Blotting out the man's pain-wracked screams while he took stock of the situation, Richard froze and watched the monster that had its back to him. For the moment, it hadn't noticed him, but it would if he opened the door. He glanced at the weapon that had dropped from Talbot's grasp and lay on the floor on the far side of the monster. Though it was now useless, the flashlight attached to it wasn't. Hardly daring to breathe lest the monster detect the sound, Richard took a cautious step nearer. He would get only one chance. If his hastily concocted plan failed, the monster would soon be enjoying a second course of human flesh.
Timing his footsteps with the grisly sounds of flesh being ripped and devoured and Talbot's pain-filled screams, Richard approached from behind the feeding monster. He froze when the monster stopped chewing and cocked an ear. It raised its head slightly and sniffed the air. As its head turned, Richard rushed forward and lashed out a foot savagely. The blow landed on the mons
ter's back with enough force to send it toppling down to the lower level. It screeched when it fell and thudded onto the floor below.
Surprised his plan had worked so well, Richard scooped up the weapon.
“Help me.”
Richard glanced at Talbot and saw the pain etched on the man's face and the pleading look in his eyes. It was obvious from the man's wounds he was seriously injured and without medical attention wouldn't last long. Richard wasn't prepared to risk his life helping someone who had nothing to offer and stood little chance of surviving.
Richard shook his head. “Sorry, Talbot, dragging you through the ship will slow down my escape.”
Richard peered over the edge as the monster struggled to its feet. It looked up at him, howled a chilling rumbling growl and jumped onto the ladder. As it climbed, Richard rushed for the door, opened it and slipped through. He punched the button and stared at the monster that appeared at the top of the ladder. Richard gripped the door and tried to slide it shut faster when the monster rushed at him. When its clawed hand poked through the gap, Richard slammed the butt of the rifle down on it. Bone cracked. The monster shrieked and withdrew its claw. The edge of the door slid into its frame.
Though he believed the monster would finish feeding on Talbot before giving chase, buying him some precious time, he wasn't certain. Worried it might open the door and come after him, Richard fled along the corridor. He was on his own again, which came as no surprise. Though he would have preferred Talbot not to have been killed, he wasn't going to waste time mourning the man. Richard had more important things to worry about: his own survival and escape from the ship.
*****
EV1L drifted into the ghostly blue-lit corridor and stared after the distant slaps of the fleeing two-legs' feet on the floor. Whatever it was it moved faster than EV1L could in its current weakened state. It turned its attention briefly to other matters. The spaceship it was trapped within was moving, but the gentle throb of the engine that normally travelled through the superstructure was strangely absent. The constant agonized sounds the ship emitted were a good indication it was under stress. Though EV1L had no idea of the cause, it sensed the ship was dying and it would be advantageous to its continued existence if it wasn't still aboard when the vessel uttered its final death rattle. But first it had to eat. It concentrated its hearing in the opposite direction of the two-legs' flight, but heard nothing to alert him to any nearby prey. He gazed back along the corridor when the two-legs' running footsteps stopped and went to investigate.