by Joe Crouch
“Do these seem… weaker to anyone else?” he asked, craning his head around, “They almost seem diseased or something, no way would we have gotten the drop like that on two normal bugs.” Bending down, Fez lifted some of the scales around the creature’s face to reveal a black decay running through its veins.
“Something isn’t right,” Fez said, motioning towards the decay, “I’ve never seen anything like that before, I wonder if there was a disease aboard their ship?”
“Or the long-distance travel didn’t agree with them,” Taris joked.
“You could be onto something,” Fez replied, “It’s possible they underestimated the nutrition requirements for such a journey, it’s not like they operate out in the Outer Rim with any real conviction.”
“Never change,” Taris sighed, patting the captain on the shoulder as she left the medical room. Forming back up, the five of them made their way towards the end of the long, desolate hallway. In front of them stood a heavy, metallic double door that looked as if it had been reinforced to be a stop-gap for any breaches in the hull. It's pitted surface and scrapped off colour from where the door receded showed signs of wear and tear
“Try your hand, Yumie,” Sean said, standing to side allowing him to pass. The Ioution waddled up to the terminal and placed his hand on the smooth surface, the only reaction he received was a low tone which emanated out from the device, signalling to them that what they did was incorrect. “You try, Zarid.” Again, the same response came as the Fre touched his hand against its surface.
Placing his thumb on the terminal a yellow flashing alarm began to beep gently above the frame. The two doors retracted at a snail’s pace as they disappeared back into the walls with an audible scratching noise. Stepping across the large bulkhead the lights overhead snapped into operation, illuminating the long hallway. They made their way through the belly of the ship and found themselves between two marked doors. On their left writing across the entrance was scrawled in blue, and to their right in red. “What do you think this means?” Fez questioned, putting his ear to the right-hand door.
“Nothing good,” Sean exclaimed, “Red is never good.” Shaking her head, Taris pushed the reluctant Human towards the door’s terminal, and with a little coaxing forced him to allow them access. With an aching groan the door slowly receded into the ceiling revealing the dim room beyond. Motioning sarcastically, he allowed the rest of the team through before him, crash, bang, came the sounds as they stumbled around in the dark.
“Get your weird ass in here,” Taris shouted, “Turn the lights on!” Grinning, he complied. As he stepped across the boundary once again the overhead lights clicked, blinking into existence. With a sharp intake of breath, he was stunned at what he saw, he was unable to process the cache they had stumbled upon.
“Oh… my… God,” Sean marvelled as the sides of his mouth turned up slowly, realising what he was looking at, “Is this… is this what I think it is?” Before anyone got a chance to answer he bent over and picked up a small, silver device which he slipped onto his wrist.
“Sean, don’t!” Taris yelled, but it was too late. Reacting to him the device made a loud snapping noise as a barrier of energy pulsated outwards from its surface, it formed into a rectangle with rounded edges as it let off an oscillating humming noise.
“It’s a shield,” he said, bouncing from foot to foot, giddy with what he had found. The face of the device was awash with stunning blues and purples as energy coursed in waves from bottom to top. Almost with a tear in his eye he looked around at the envious, worried looks plastered on his squad's faces, and with one big, smug smile he put the shield out in front of him, pretending to bash an invisible target. “Alright, I’m keeping this,” he rejoiced, “One thing, though… how do I get it off?” Yanking on the device yielded no results so he spat on his arm, much to the disgust of others, and tried to pull once again, all while the energy shield still flailed about with his arm.
“Let me have a go,” Fez said. As soon as he touched the device a violent electric shock zapped through his body, making him recoil with a few nasty words uttered in Ioution. “Fair enough, you’ll have to suffer,” he said, “I’m not going near anything in this room.” With large, puppy dog eyes Sean looked towards Taris who watched on, shaking her head in embarrassment that she chose to be with him out of choice.
“Let me try and find something to pry it off with,” she sighed, she was used to the ridiculous antics the Human always found himself in. Pulling a thin, long tool from a chest across the room she slid the end under the device, with a heave she yanked the improvised crowbar back, but it was no use, the device wasn’t budging.
“What a shame,” Fez smiled, reaching for his bladed weapon, “Looks like we’ll have to cut that hand off and replace it with a new one on the Mar’Ell.”
“No!” Sean screamed, raising the shield up in front of him and with another snapping noise the barrier disappeared, leaving no trace it was ever there. With a confused look he inspected the device closer, he couldn’t find any discernible features other than how incredibly smooth its surface was. Mulling around for a few more minutes, the team continued to sift through the various weapons and strange devices which lined the walls. Everything on the ship appeared to be hostile towards the Ioution presence but welcomed Sean with open arms, what it meant he didn’t know.
“I’m getting some interesting readings a few decks down,” Zarid stated, “I can’t quite tell what they are but there is some crazy thermal build-up down there, we should probably check it out.” Scowling, Fez reluctantly agreed, he took advisement under consideration constantly, but an outsider instructing his crew approached his limits of tolerance.
“Right,” Fez huffed, “I suppose we make our way down there and check it out, and Sean…”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t touch anything,” the captain sighed as he stepped out from the armoury. Sean followed the team outside as they made their way towards the end of the hallway. They stood in front of two rounded doors, with a touch of the terminal, they cracked open to reveal a circular pad with bright lights underneath its translucent, cloudy surface. Huddling around inside the tight space, he inspected the terminal which sat flush against the white wall, on its back-lit screen were a set of buttons aligned vertically which he assumed were the different decks aboard the ship.
“What is this?” Taris asked.
“Some form of elevator?” Sean replied.
“It looks like a transportation device, yes,” Fez said.
“Well then, take a guess,” Sean said, “I suppose the one in red is where we currently are, how many levels do you think we should descend?”
“Three?” he replied, “I dunno, man, just try it.” Shrugging, Sean placed his thumb over the odd symbol three lower than the lit one, he expected the elevator to begin moving, pulling them downwards towards their goal. Instead, a wall closed around them and a flash of striking white light engulfed the room, blinding all who didn’t cover their eyes in time. A warm breeze felt as if it wrapped around his body, then without warning his spine was jolted with a shock. Within moments the light show abated, allowing the squad to see clearly once more. With a hiss, the transporter doors split open to reveal a large room, portions of the chamber were gradually being lit as different sets of lights flickered on overhead.
“We’ve got to get one of those,” Sean exclaimed, “Just imagine the… ugh, what the hell is that damn smell.” Wafting through the vast, open space, the smell of decay hit them strong as they exited the transporter and stepped with a clank onto the cobalt blue grated floor.
Four large cylindrical pillars rose out from beneath the floor connecting to the ceiling as support. Around the base of these pillars sat curved tables which housed free-standing monitors connected to a central computer which sat under the desks. In unison their screens flicked on displaying a type of login screen, awaiting commands from the crew. Scrawled across the flat walls were murals of various cities, unknown
species, and animals all interacting in a common biosphere. The wall to his right was much of the same, instead it displayed rows upon rows of an unknown species stood motionless with the front row holding long pikes, their tips painted an illustrious purple.
“Incredible,” Taris admired, “The artwork paints a picture showing two different sides to the race, their compassionate, ecological side as well as their militaristic side.” Sean wandered about the room searching for any clue to what previously lived here as large spores hung in the thick air as if it were pollen. After a brief inspection of the technology, they decided to leave. The squad formed up and made their way towards the room’s exit, to their surprise it was already open, held in place with a beam of metal.
“Wacky,” Zarid said, “I wonder who… or what did that?” It was a legitimate question, one that they inevitably got the answer to as three Xuron jumped over girder.
“Positions!” shouted Fez. In a flash of motion the team scattered, each found their own cubby hole to take shelter from the plasma bolts which sparked overhead. Shrieking, the aliens let out a deafening cry altering nearby groups that they had intruders, it was something Sean had seen before. Pulling out his carbine he poked around the corner, watching as the enemy swayed from side to side as if they were drunk. One collapsed to the floor with a loud crunch, nothing had struck it, instead, it fell under its own weight and began convulsing with its limbs flailing wildly. Right on cue, two more Xuron slipped under the beam and took up position behind a long desk.
Exchanging fire, the two sides decimated almost everything in the room as monitors exploded outwards, raining sharp glass down on them all. The aliens fell easily, taking aim Sean looked down the optical scope of his weapon and aligned it with the plagued, ruptured face of his enemy. With a single pull of the trigger, his target was no more as a red bolt split its skull in two.
Five more Xuron piled into the room, taking up position on top of their decimated comrades. Plasma fire tore a hole through the cover Sean found himself behind, throwing splinters of wood that disappeared down through the grated floor. In a panic, he searched the room for someplace else to take shelter, but it was no use, he watched on as two of his assailants took the opportunity to aim at the exposed Human. Time seemed to move in slow motion as the duo spurt off two rounds of superheated plasma in his direction, as if using some deep-seated instinct, he threw his arm up, and as he did the energy shield sparked into life. With what felt like two sledgehammers slamming into his barrier, the shield dissipated the shots of plasma with ease as whiffs of a green gas spiralled up into the atmosphere.
“Holy fuck,” Sean shouted, excited at what his new equipment had just achieved, I wish I had picked up some of those weapons he thought. He looked up to see what he could only imagine was the look of bewilderment across the Xuron faces, it was as if they had seen a ghost. But he wasted no time, instead, he took the opportunity of an opening and rolled out from his splintered cover, crouched down and advanced towards the enemy. The shield resonated as it covered his entire body, while the aliens were concentrating on his advance the team behind him opened fire with everything they had. One by one the Xuron dropped to the floor in crumpled piles, falling atop their previously fallen kin, stacking up into a neat mound for disposal later.
Hurdling over the adversary’s barricade, he landed face-to-face with a single opponent, shrieking loudly the being charged him down smashing him onto the debris-covered ground. Hit after hit slammed into his protective shielding, every strike caused a ripple to spread out along its bright surface. Sean struggled against the beast but managed to grab its arm and pushed up with all of his might in an attempt to free himself from its grasp. Through gritted teeth, his whole body began to shake as he attempted to impart enough force to shift the bulky being, and with one final thrust, he freed himself.
Laying there defeated, almost as if it were a weak, whimpering dog, the Xuron looked up with cold, dead eyes almost willing Sean on. With a smile, he raised the shield above his head and slammed the bottom edge through the Xuron’s skull, splitting it cleanly in two. Pools of decaying black mucus pooled out from the body he stood over, something was wrong with them but as long as whatever it was made them weaker and not stronger, he wasn’t too bothered.
Everything seemed calm now that the last wave of Xuron had been dispatched, Sean leant up against the wall, breathing heavily as the rest of the team gathered around. “Wow, good job champ,” Zarid admired, kicking the deceased which were underfoot, “You cut that thing’s face right in two.”
“I did, didn’t I,” he smiled, looking down at his dirty work.
“Those readings aren’t far from here,” Zarid said, “In fact, they’re just beyond that set of doors down there,” he pointed down the straight, uninspired corridor. With an exhausted breath, Sean pushed himself off the wall and made his way through the opening. As if reading the situation had calmed, the device on his arm powered down to allow him freer movement. With his protection gone he almost felt naked, exposed to the world, it was funny how quickly he had grown attached to it.
Stood beside two towering metallic doors they searched for a panel he could interact with, but there was nothing obvious, at least on the surface. Instinctively he laid his hands on the smooth door panels, as they glided over a bump a faint click came from beyond. The small inlaid device began to emanate a soft light and within moments they began to split apart. A rush of freezing cold air escaped out from the crack as a light mist took hold all around them. Beyond, the lights which hung down from the ceiling began snapping on within the long, tall room which was revealed.
An extensive multi-tiered gangway system ran along walls of the concave-shaped room. Tall, ovoid pods were stacked atop one another along the walkways, they were jammed in tightly along the walls and connected to the ceiling through a system of thick cables and tubes.
“Wow, what is this place,” Taris marvelled, her head darting about trying to absorb as much information as she could.
“I dunno,” Sean admitted, “Are they weapons of some kind? Escape pods?”
“Neither,” Fez said glumly, “Come look at this.” Gathered around the captain they looked on, partly frightened and partly amazed at what they saw. Inside the pod was a desiccated body, its skin was a light grey and tight to the being’s skeleton.
“That looks like you,” Taris said.
“Oh shut up,” Sean scoffed.
“No, I’m serious,” she demanded, “Look at its bone structure, its facial structure, everything about it screams Human.”
“Ioutions are hardly that different from us,” he moaned, “Different coloured skin, a bit lankier, hands like sandpaper, that sorta thing.” With a push from Taris he went back to looking over the corpse, inspecting it closer, “Although I think you’re right, there’s just something about it, what do you think, Zarid?”
“Hm?” the Fre vocalised, looking up at them, broken from his chain of deep thought, “I have my theories,” he winked.
“Sean, come take a look at this,” Yumie shouted. A flat terminal sat against the wall, it appeared to be unlocked and displaying vital signs of some kind.
“Whose vitals are these?” Sean asked.
“Maybe the deceased crew?” Taris replied. Flicking through the menus revealed a depressing scenario, the entire crew within the pods seemed to be dead, and dead a long time before they arrived.
“Wait!” Taris yelled, “Go back, what was that?” Swiping in reverse to a previous screen a faint beep came from the console in time with a rise on the otherwise flat-lined graph, “It’s a heart rate monitor!”
“Oh shit,” Sean said as his eyes widened, “Chamber… something-something, I can’t read this.” In anger, he slapped his hand down on the console, the screen changed to a long, undecipherable message, “Uh oh.” Within moments a loud hiss came from above, a thick fog rolled out from one of the pods that opened. Rushing up the stairs the group hung back as he approached the ovoid object with trep
idation, almost tiptoeing towards the out swung door. “OH MY GOD,” he screamed at the top of his lungs in his squeakiest voice as a female face appeared at the rounded porthole on the door, “What… what the hell are you?”
The Human-like alien tilted its head, staring blankly towards him. Its skin was smooth, gleaming in the hot light as its diluted red colour gave off a wicked shine. Everything outside the skin colour made them appear, Human, two eyes, two hands, a perfect bipedal gait, even the cropped hair on its head was eerily similar. Shocked and unable to move any of his limbs, he could only watch as the being approached him, walking timidly as if she was learning for the first time. Collapsing sideways, hanging on the railings for support he rushed forwards, slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around the naked female tightly. Confused, the alien looked up at him with a stern brow, seemingly unhappy to be awake.
“Hello,” she spoke…
Chapter 10
His mouth agape, Sean stared at the female which stood in front of him completely naked apart from the thin jacket he had wrapped around her. The serious tone of her voice, as well as her furrowed brow, told him she was not to be played with. Opening his mouth to speak produced little more than basic grunts as he tried to compose himself.
“H… Hi…” he squirmed, “Hungry?” he asked, pulling a cereal bar out from his tactical belt he held it out in front of him. She snatched the food from his weak grasp and tore the wrappings away, consuming the bland snack at a pace he had never witnessed before. Holding out another she repeated the process, crumbs flew from her mouth as she gnawed on the crunchy bar. “You must be starving,” he laughed nervously, “What’s your name?”