by James Palmer
“That ain’t good,” Red replied.
“None of it is,” Mark reaffirmed. “We’re in trouble in that we can’t take a full scale assault back to these guys. Hell, we know so little about them; the first question should be where do we go to find them?”
Dan and Eddie walked up and joined Mark and Red.
“How are you both doing?” Mark asked.
“Alright boss.” Eddie nodded affirmatively.
“The ship all settled in Dan?”
“Yeah boss it is. She’s good.”
“Where’s Ari?” Eddie asked.
“I had her stay aboard with Dr. Troiano looking after her. That salad headed bastard did a number on her. ” He flexed his fists involuntarily as he thought about Ariel’s bloodied and bruised face.
“Nothin’ you can do about it now boss, the guy’s dead. Everyone in that hole in the grounds gotta be after what we put ‘em through.” Dan replied as the men entered a door heading towards the offices within the huge hanger.
“Is security in place around the facility, Red?”
“Yes I questioned the security head before we landed. I wanted to make sure everything was in place and locked down.”
“Good. I was worried about that,” Mark answered.
“Since when do you worry about anything?” Dan asked, wide eyed.
“This adventure taught me a lot, my friends. This universe is a much larger place than we ever realized. We always knew we were not alone, at least for a long time. But whatever evidence we had paled in comparison with the incontrovertible proof we discovered within a few days of leaving Earth.”
Dan shrugged his big shoulders, “Yeah boss, you got that right at least. I don’t think any of us were ready for such a hot reception when we got to that desert planet. Duddas, I think Seventeen called it before the President blew his brains out.”
“Yeah that was a hell of a thing wasn’t it?” Dan remembered.
“This entire mission was a hell of a thing so far,” Eddie replied.
“Ain’t that the truth.” Red answered.
“Boss, do you want us to stay aboard tonight? Just you know, in case?” Dan asked protectively.
“No, you two go home, relax. Tomorrow we have to get the Cag outfitted with the improvements that we want implemented; in fact Dan, you and I have some design work to do ahead of us. I’ve already got a few ideas to boost things up in both shields and solar cannon strength, even beyond what is being mounted in the coming days.”
“Me too, Boss.”
“Okay Dan, get home and get your feet up, relax for tonight I’ll see you in the AM. Try not to be here too late.”
“Ya know boss, I think I’m just gonna stay on board. I can get home tomorrow some time. Tonight, well I got a bad feelin’ about this.”
Red turned towards Dan and grinned wolfishly, “So I’m not the only one eh?”
“You too?” Dan asked grimly.
“Yes, me too. Something is just not right.”
“And I thought it was just me.” Mark confided, “If you two are going to stay on board then let’s get back on there now. I have to see Dr. Troiano about Ariel.”
Eddie shrugged his shoulders, “I might as well stay too then, not like I have anyone waitin’ at home for me.” And then added after a moment, “An Troiano ain’t exactly hard on the eyes.” he added with a grin.
Mark smirked as he began walking up the boarding ramp, “Good let’s get inside and kick back a little while.”
“Good? Whattaya mean good? I ain’t got no life a my own away from this place, you should be feelin’ sorry for me!” Dan’s voice trailed off as they entered the ship.
Eddie replied with a laugh, “Feel sorry for you? Do I feel sorry for the orangutan in the zoo because he’s in a cage?”
“Hey! Watch yer mouth scrawny before I pop yer head off yer shoulders like I was openin’ a Pez dispenser.”
Their voices trailed off within the ship as they disappeared from its entry way.
But unseen by all, near a skid of barrels, something dark and mysterious stirred. It moved cautiously through the darkened hanger bay, a bay designed only for the Cagliostro. It skulked within the shadows awaiting those who still loitered within the cavernous expanse to leave for the evening as technicians finished up their duties on the great ship and began to filter out of the huge building.
Finally, after several more hours of skulking about and keeping to shadows the hanger was mostly empty, at least as empty as the shadowy being deemed it would ever get. Its impatience was beginning to gnaw at it like unto a dog with a bone as it crept stealthily towards the boarding ramp of the Cagliostro, under its gleaming, majestic bow.
The creature crept on all fours, cautiously watching as it swept its shadowy head from side to side. Up the ramp it crawled on all fours, its long, thin tongue slashing forward to test the air ahead of it like a snake.
Suddenly its head snapped around, revealing a serpentine face of absolute blackness as reptilian eyes dilated in surprise as a voice caught its attention entering the hanger.
“Damned keys, where the hell’d I leave them?” The technician muttered with his head down as he made a beeline to his work bench and began rummaging through it frantically. He never saw the night dark thing silently slide up behind him, never felt its presence until its hand was around his neck and then he was dead, his neck snapped like a twig, as the creature now carried the dead tech like a feather. Then cautiously looking about, dumped the man’s body into an empty barrel, before forcing a lid back upon the top, and returning to the ramp, disappearing into the ship with one last surreptitious look around.
Within the ship, Mark stopped in at the sick bay, where Dr. Troiano and her team of doctors were checking up on those on the ship that still needed care. Matt Marek was in a hospital bed in one of the small rooms off of the sick bay scrolling through a video feed. He had broken several ribs when he was shot almost point blank by the mad woman, Reynolds, but his uniform had absorbed not only the energy component of the blast, but much of the impact as well. Mark knocked on the open door as he walked in, “How are you feeling, Mr. Marek?” Mark asked.
“Hey Boss, I was shot, how do you think I feel?” He grinned.
“Ummm probably like you had a bulls-eye on your chest?”
“Haha- oww. Don’t make me laugh, boss. That hurt.” Marek moaned.
Johnson chuckled as he exited the room, “Get some rest, Mr. Marek, I’m sure I’m going to need you soon.”
“I’ll be ready boss.” Matt Marek called after Johnson as Mark walked towards another room on the hospital level. Neither man mentioned the loss of Miles Jefferson, who was the second team commander before Marek, until he perished a short week and a half ago, along with forty other crewmen. But it was on both their minds.
Mark rapped his knuckles on the door of another room and walked in as Dr. Troiano turned at the sound of him entering. In the bed she was attending to was Ariel.
“How is the patient, Doctor?”
“How do you think, Captain? She’s stubborn and rude.”
“I am not!”
“Yes, you are young lady, and it’s not your most endearing quality, let me tell you that much at least.”
“Whoa, what’d I walk in on ladies?” Mark asked with his hands held out before him.
“She’s insisting she wants to go back to her quarters. Now that we’re on the ground I’d like to keep a closer track of her injuries, and she’s fighting me on it. I was trying to…suggest… that she stay here tonight where there will be a Doctor on duty all night, myself actually, so I can make sure she’s not having any repercussions after that beating she took yesterday.”
“Ari, that’s actually a very good idea,” Mark began, before she cut him off with a motion of her hand.
“Like hell it is, Mister! I got a little banged up, that’s it. I feel fine now, you and Dr. Troiano here are making more out of this then it is. You’re like a couple of mother hens.”
<
br /> “C’mon Ariel, you know that’s just not true—” he began, before she cut him off again.
“Mark Johnson, don’t you dare try that condescending crap with me. I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. I want out of here and I want to go back to my own quarters, and you and I have been together long enough that you know I’m going to get my way once I set my mind to it.”
“That may be so, Ari, but I could always have Dr. Troiano deem you unfit for duty, and have you medically confined to this medical bay. How would that make you feel?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she snapped.
“Don’t push me Ariel. I have a lot to consider here, including the wellbeing of the entire planet. We have aliens out there who are gunning for us, the whole Earth, and we don’t even know who they are yet. But they are out there, I have to help outfit the Cag tomorrow with next generation weaponry and shield generators, plus I have a feeling I’m going to hear from the President as well. I don’t need to add you to my concerns.”
She visibly deflated. “All right, I’m sorry I was acting like an idiot.”
Johnson eyed her, and he realized he really was annoyed with her at the moment. He turned back to Dr. Troiano and asked, “What do you think? She already sat on the command deck through all of that and helped out there, and she slept in her bed last night. Is she okay?”
“I’m sure she is Mark, but I’d really like to just get one night of observation in on her.”
“I really do feel okay.” Ariel reiterated, this time a lot more docilely.
“Look, let’s just let her stay in her room tonight and tomorrow I may have to fly to Washington, at least that’s what I’m assuming is going to happen. If I do, I’ll take the Stargrazer while the Cag gets refitted. She will report back here at 0900 tomorrow, guaranteed. Whoever is on can watch over her then. Is that okay with you?”
Troiano sighed and shook her head, “All right. Take her. But if she exhibits any signs of trauma or anything else that you would consider odd, you call me and I’ll get her back in here on an anti-grav gurney faster than you could say ‘admitted’.”
Mark nodded grimly, “Absolutely.” he agreed with Dr. Troiano.
“Good, now go, both of you. Get out of my medical bay, and nothing strenuous. You both know what I mean,” she called after them as they exited the medical bay and entered the maglovator.
“That wasn’t fun,” Ariel murmured.
“No it wasn’t, and that wasn’t the Doctor’s fault. What’s the matter with you? She just wanted to look after you for a night to make sure you didn’t have a concussion or something she missed the first time around.”
“I-I know, but you know how I hate hospitals.”
“Ari, this is not exactly ‘Mercy General’. This is a small ship, with a finite number of crew and medical staff. It wouldn’t have hurt you to stay a night under the Doctor’s care.”
She put her arms around his neck and looked up at him with her big blue eyes, “Aww but I wanted to stay with my Captain tonight,” she answered playfully.
She leaned upwards and kissed him, and he returned her kiss.
“This doesn’t excuse you from spending tomorrow with Troiano. I want her to look after you,” he admonished sternly.
They exited the maglovator and headed towards his quarters.
“Stay in my quarters tonight, I want to be near you.”
She shook her head and immediately had a disgusted look on her face, “Seriously Mark, all kidding aside, you really are mother henning me you know.”
“Go on get inside, and get ready to go to sleep.” He grunted as he opened the double door with a wave of his hand in front of the palm reader on the door’s edge.
The instant they entered the darkened room, Ariel knew immediately that something was wrong.
“Mark!” She turned and shouted as a dark figure that blended in perfectly with the pitch black of the room tackled Johnson and sent him sprawling into the darkness.
Chapter 24
Ariel screamed as Mark rolled away with whatever was atop him in the dark room. She hit the wall panel repeatedly for the ship wide communication web as well as the lighting control, but nothing worked.
Meanwhile Mark rolled to avoid getting clawed by his adversary, who hissed and spit repeatedly at him. Claws raked his shoulder and he let out a grunt before he finally unfolded a right cross to where the things head should have been. He impacted with…something. It felt like some kind of jaw, but definitely not human.
He began hitting it repeatedly as Ariel stood just within the doorway, unsure of what to do. She placed her hands upon the sides of her head and began to concentrate, but what her mind felt when it reached out and touched the thing that was trying to kill her lover was a mind of something other than human. It was almost all predator and it was thrilled with the hunt. The battle it now fought seemed to bring the vile thing glee.
Ariel tried to invade its mind, to hurt it psychically, but to no avail. It ignored her, as if its brain was not evolved enough to notice what she was doing to it. She reached for her blaster, which hung by her belt, but was afraid to use it for fear of hitting Mark.
Meanwhile the man so much hope and need rested upon continued to fight for his life. The beast slashed towards his throat, but somehow, his vision adjusting to the dark, Mark saw it coming as he swung his upper body away from his attacker, who merely scratched the floor. Mark swung a quick right cross to the side of its jaw and spun it sideways, then he hit it again, and twisted its body off of him as he did.
Mark scuttled away, getting to his feet quickly as the seemingly feral creature leaped at him again. This time, Johnson was ready; he sidestepped and parried the beast’s outstretched hands, shoving it off balance as it passed by him so it landed in a heap against the wall.
Almost instantly the thing was on its feet again, as the room suddenly blazed to fully lit from complete darkness. The creature was horrific, a true unearthly beast. It was jet black and shiny, with skin like armor. Long talons and slavering reptilian jaws along with a jagged bone-like tail completed the picture.
Standing in the doorway now was not just Ariel, but Dan, Red and Eddie. The beast saw them and hissed loudly as it bent closer to the floor. Then it quickly leaped toward Mark once again, claws outstretched, but before it could cover the few feet between them blaster bolts rang out from the opened doorway. Three in total, Eddie fired first then Red and finally Dan. Each shot was close upon the other and all three hit their mark. The monstrosity fell to the carpet, and lay there steaming through three holes in its chest.
“What the hell is that thing?” Eddie shouted.
“Eddie, I have no idea. I want to know how it got in here in the first place though.”
Red and Dan walked over to the creature and poked it with their feet, while they held their guns upon it.
“Well it’s dead now, whatever it was,” Red confirmed.
“Yeah, I kinda got that.” Mark replied sarcastically as Ari moved to help him wipe up his blood from his shoulder wound and the scratches he had suffered at the beast’s claws.
Ari then tapped her right sleeve and spoke, “Medical emergency, Mark Johnson’s quarters.”
Troiano’s voice replied, “On my way.”
“Hey boss,” Dan suddenly spoke, alarm weaving its way into his voice, “you better take a look at this.”
Mark moved past Ariel, who followed him back to the side of the room where the creature lie, and he stopped short, his eyes now as wide as Dan and Red’s. Eddie still stood by the door, guarding in case the creature had a partner.
As the three men and Ariel looked on, the creatures form began to shimmer and almost melt before their eyes. Jaws dropped in unison as it began to shift into a familiar form.
“General Abruzzi?” Mark exclaimed in surprise. But then its flesh flowed once again, back into the nightmare creature it was, before finally melting into a puddle of gelatinous goo at their feet.
“
Well I guess you two ain’t stayin’ in here tonight,” Eddie murmured.
“Now we know what happened to the General’s imposter. It was never a clone at all; it was a shape shifter of some kind.”
“Whatever it was that thing stinks.” Red complained as he covered his face and backed away from the still quivering puddle.
“Ugghh, it smells terrible.” Ariel agreed as they all moved into the hallway.
Mark touched his sleeve, “I need a security team, life sciences in hazmat gear, as well as maintenance, to my quarters immediately.”
Dan looked into the room and shook his head, “It’s gonna be a long night. You shoulda told those guys to bring clothes pins for their noses too.”
Twelve hours later, the Stargrazer landed in Washington, D.C. Mark, Dan and General Abruzzi exited the ship and were hustled off to a meeting in the Pentagon, one that was being broadcast to every civilized nation on Earth.
Mark, Dan and the General entered the meeting chamber, a circular room with a matching meeting table at its center. Already seated were the President and Vice President, along with certain congressmen, senators, generals and other high-ranking officials.
“Mr. President, senior staff members.” Mark began, nodding as he entered the room with Dan and Abruzzi a half step behind him. Abruzzi saluted.
“General, Captain Johnson, Mr. Sledge.” the President answered.
Mark paused a moment then began to speak, “You have all been briefed, so I won’t waste any of your time recounting my mission to a galaxy an almost incalculable distance away from here. But the fact stands that not only did we find General Abruzzi there, the real General Abruzzi, we also found a shape shifting…thing had taken his place and then tried to murder me aboard my own ship last evening. The real General was held captive as I’m sure you all know by now, for at least several months, to as many as three years. Now since neither he nor I have slept much in the last forty eight hours we both need to make our points and do so quickly.”