Reapers of the Damned

by Saqib Sadiq

  The pilot’s voice sounded strained “The miners are having a tough time loading the freighter. Without the refinery’s ore chute it’s going to be touch and go for awhile.”

  “The colonel’s furious he wants you gone in an hour.”

  “I know but my hands are tied.”

  “Roger that alpha nine, C&C out.” The pilot looked away from the tiny communications panel and sat back in his seat. He surveyed the frenzy of activity surrounding him from the cramped cockpit of his vehicle. He watched as the miners lobbed huge chunks of ore into the shuttle bay. Others would drag the excavated rocks across the shuttle bay to his spacecraft. The toughest part was to get the heavy objects high enough to reach the top of the bulky vehicle.

  They had to use the Medical Center’s elevation apparatus to scale the towering height. The device was designed for patients not well enough to move on their own. It wasn’t meant for such harsh use and quickly began showing signs of damage. Normally they would be concerned however right now they were in a bitter mood. They had been forced to work all night and all morning. All they wanted was to be done with the task at hand as soon as possible.

  “Come on! Get that crap up there, I haven’t got all day.” The pilot cajoled the weary miners. They shot him menacing looks and continued their lethargic pace. Becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress the pilot hollered another scornful remark “Don’t make me fire up with you in front of the furnace shield.” That last remark struck a chord with one of the miners.

  “That’s it space jock, your ass is mine!” He dropped his load of rocks and rushed for the cockpit door. The two men collided with each other and began throwing punches. The rest of the mining crew dropped what they were doing and ran to break up the fight. The brawl could be heard all the way up in C&C over the still active com channel. The operator could have easily dispatched a security detail to apprehend the miscreants but he had bigger problems to contend with.

  “Sir I think you better come see this.”

  “It better be the after burners of that freighter craft.” The colonel responded from his ready room

  “I am afraid not sir.” The hefty commander grimaced as he lifted himself out of his chair. He walked through the ready room’s door and entered the glass dome. He spotted the operator waving to him and made his way over.

  “This better be good,” he grumbled

  “Sir I am picking up strange meteorological readings.”

  “What sort of readings?” The colonel asked in a bemused manner

  “Well it covers a large area, it has a fluidic structure to it.” The man paused a while to study his monitor “I am not certain but I believe a storm front is approaching the space station.”

  “You’re not certain?”

  “Well it’s just that the readings don’t neatly fit in with the meteorological phenomenon found in this part of space.” The colonel didn’t say anything and allowed the man to continue “I targeted the wide range bio scanner to the same coordinates and this is what I got back.” He gestured towards another set of displays. The image the monitors shot back horrified the commander. He had seen that pulsating green cloud before and understood what it meant.

  “What’s the scale of that scan,” he asked nervously.

  “It spans several miles.” Ramsey was shocked by the revelation he stared at the scanned image with utter disbelief. The familiar rippling borders conjured up memories of amoebas under a microscope lens. While being schooled as a young boy, Ramsey would take great pleasure in vaporizing the hapless microorganisms with heavy doses of UV radiation. But this creature was beyond his understanding he did not know how to control it “Sir I recommend canceling the shipment.”

  The colonel broke away from the displays he glanced at the operator as if for the first time and then in a sudden outburst he shouted “Never! I won’t hear any pansy talk.”

  The operator was not deterred by the colonel’s callous remark “Sir, if I may. Gemcore wouldn’t want to endanger their shipment. Surely they will appreciate your wise decision to postpone the shipment just for a few hours until the…uhhh…anomaly moved on.”

  He considered what his unsuspecting subordinate had said. Ramsey had to agree that, it would be unwise to send out a shipment with that thing running loose. Perhaps if they waited the monstrosity would pass them by without incident. “I suppose that is possible.” He paused and thought some more “How long until it passes.”

  The operator consulted the monitor “At its current rate I estimate that it will reach us in about two hours.”

  “Hmmm…don’t tell the mining crew we’re delaying for two hours I wouldn’t want those lame brains taking any longer.”

  “Yes sir.” Ramsey retreated to his ready room. Off to the side a leather sofa had been placed for the comfort of the captain. The colonel took advantage of the rare luxury and hastily plunked down on the supple fabric. Not taking notice of his disheveled uniform the agitated commander reached for a nearby decompressor. He inserted an alcoholic beverage pouch into the device and then powered up the unit. A little while later a thin stream of amber liquid fell into an awaiting glass. The colonel’s meaty hands grabbed the drink and downed it in one swig.

  The deadening effect of alcohol started to kick in with his mind numbed Ramsey’s fright was slightly eased. He could begin to think about other things, like the schedule, he was so behind as it was and the added delay only increased his worries. Needing to relax his tense muscles he sprawled across the cool surface of the sofa. On the other side of the small room an atomic clock tracked each passing moment. As the colonel watched the monotonous LED display change numbers, he realized that the two hours would not pass easily.

  Moments later a slight tug at his shoulder startled him. He tried looking around for the source of the disturbance. His groggy eyes focused on one of the operators. From the looks of it the man had been trying to contact him for some time but when he got no response he entered the ready room to awaken the sleeping commander.

  “What is it this time?” the colonel said with a tired voice

  “We’ve been tracking the anomaly for the past one and a half hour and…”

  The now alert commander stared at his subordinate waiting for him to continue “And?”

  “I don’t know how to explain this you have to see it to believe it.” Ramsey was getting tired of these charades. He swore if the operator recommended another delay he would confine him to his quarters. He picked himself up from the sofa and stormed out of the ready room. He intended to march straight towards the operator’s station; however when he glanced up he stopped dead in his tracks. The star speckled expanse of space, which was normally visible through the transparent ceiling, now had been transformed into a hellish scene.

  The fright he had tried to drive away returned with a vengeance, he stared with awe as dramatic discharges of bioelectricity cast a bluish hue on the horizon. The crackling azure lighting emanated from a milky white streak that had stretched itself across the nightmarish panorama. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, “What is it?” he softly asked

  “As far as we can tell, it’s some sort of bioorganic buildup.”

  Ramsey broke out in cold sweat, “Bioorganic, but how can this be? I thought that the entity lived on the asteroid. How’d it get all the way out there and how’d it get so big?” His mind frantically churned up more questions, he had answers to none of them. Never in his entire military career had he encountered an enemy of this nature. The commander found himself in the unique position of not knowing what to do next.

  “Sir might I add that this buildup poses a threat to the station. The electric discharges could neutralize our electronic systems. Also scans show that the buildup has enough mass to cause decompression.” The colonel breathed a sigh of relief, at last something that his mind could grapple with.

  “Very well raise the containment panels, seal off all sections and deactivate all surveillance equipment.” Tha
t last command surprised the operator

  “But sir that would mean we will not be able to track the freighter craft.”

  “I realize that you insolent fool! We are postponing the shipment until this damn bio gunk passes by. Now get to your station and carry out my orders!” the operator immediately scurried away to do so. Soon afterwards they could all feel soft vibrations coming from beneath the space station. Large metal plates were being hoisted out from there subterranean enclosures. The computer controlled hydraulic system carefully slid the plates into position between the space station’s walls. This way if decompression did occur the effects would be localized to that particular section.

  The miners did not need sophisticated instruments to tell them that something was not right. By now the bioorganic matter had moved in very close to the station. All crewmembers had a clear view of the approaching leviathan. After loading the freighter craft, they had gathered in the mess hall to get some much needed nourishment. However their attention was not on their meals they couldn’t help looking through the mess hall’s viewing portal at the strange phenomenon. With eyes fully transfixed they drank in the vivid scene, not sure what to make of it. One miner decided to break the awe struck silence his friends were in, “I don’t like the looks of that stuff.” He was referring to the increasingly strong pulses of bioelectricity that was coming from the milky white thread. He became worried and suggested leaving the station “We should get out of here, while we can.”

  “Don’t talk like a bleeding heart.” A fearless miner ridiculed, “It’s nothing that stuff will go away on its own.” The miner’s resolve quickly faded when the viewing portal began to rattle. They backed away from the shielded opening not sure if it would hold. The edges of the approaching cloud began to extend outwards, as if two giant arms were reaching for the station. The white fog became luminescent, flickering concentrations of light rumbled inside of the cloud. The miners became evermore fearful; they began to get the feeling that the bioorganic buildup was not as lifeless as they had imagined.

  The edges had extended themselves so that they were just several miles away from the station. The vaporous formation now had a curved appearance. Bioelectricity burst forth from the center of the curve and raced towards the edges. The blue colored energy gathered at the tips and grew more vibrant with each passing second.

  “Every man for himself!” a miner exclaimed as a wall of energy shot forward from the glowing cloud. It hit the station within nanoseconds. The tremendous influx of bioelectricity wreaked havoc with the station’s electrical systems. Power surges were reported on all levels. The flickering lights in the command and control section distracted the operators. They tried assessing the damage from their consoles as best they could. However when numerous power regulators began to malfunction, causing control panels to burst into flames, they had to abandon their workstations.

  Several operators had suffered severe burns; with the Medical Center out of commission they would not be able to get the treatment they needed. However Ramsey did not let that get to him he promptly surveyed the situation and exclaimed “Retreat to the lower levels!” after seeing another console explode he issued another command “Cut off power to this section!” only a few able bodied workers were left to carry out his orders. The wounded had to fend for themselves as they hobbled towards the elevators.

  The colonel stood in the middle of the ensuing pandemonium, he was not pleased with the ways things were going. He had only been in command for a day and already he had missed his quota, half his crew mutinied, his space station was in tatters and now he had to abandon an entire level to some god-forsaken freak of nature. His displeasure turned into anger, he did not like making concessions to his opponents that was not how he engaged the enemy. His anger brewed inside of him turning into rage, which erupted in a loud outburst “No! I will not run!” his dubious cry got him some awkward glances. “I will fight back!” the manic look returned in his eyes they frantically searched the soot covered room for a weapon “I don’t care what they say that thing can be defeated. It can be defeated, I say! I will kill it with my own bare hands if I have to!” his desperate words gave him an idea a manic laugh escaped his lips “Of course the sonic picks! We could set the intensity controls to their highest settings…” Ramsey had regained his composure and began conducting himself in a more orderly manner “Operator!”

  A man, hunched over exposed power nodes, immediately stood up “Yes sir?”

  “I want a team of our finest sonic pick marksmen on the other side of that door.” He said while pointing to the entrance of the glass dome “You and your people are to switch power off to this section and evacuate immediately.”

  “Right away sir!” he hurried off to inform the others. The colonel stood erect hands on his waists “Now I will show that thing what I am made of.” He said with great pride. He strolled amongst the burn out workstations stumbling every now and then under the lingering effects of the consumed alcohol. The damaged equipment fired off an occasional flying spark, not the least bit deterred the battle hardened commander continued on at a leisurely pace. Oddly enough the wide range bio scanner was still functioning. Over come with curiosity the hefty man decided to have one last look. The familiar green cloud that indicated the entity’s presence had now been replaced with a frightful new image.

  Ramsey looked on with horror at the crescent shaped edge funneling into a narrow silo. He knew that only a single shockwave, from that acoustically sound formation, was needed to devastate the station. Indeed the legendary apocalyptic horn, hailing from the end of times, was aimed at V-323.

  *****

  After firing its initial salvo the super entity charged forward. It could have easily obliterated its target however a sudden and instant death was too good for the killer prey; they had to be taught a lesson. The crescent shaped edge drew closer to the station’s dome. The two protruding tips formed a vice like grip around the spherical object. Concentrating its energy into the vice the super entity began to break through the space worthy structure. At first the thick glass withstood the tremendous pressure being exerted on it. However the constant and increasingly intense force began to weaken it. Small fracture lines ran along its curved surface darting to and fro following the natural crevices of the thick glass.

  The fractures became more pronounced compromising the insulating environmental seal. The super entity knew decompression was imminent and so condensed itself further concentrating more energy into its suffocating grip. Then with a satisfying burst the dome caved in on itself. Thick shards of glass rained down on the burnt out console. The makeshift projectiles sliced through the instruments erasing any hope of them ever becoming operational again.

  A white rectangular column of light appeared on the floor of the devastated room. It quickly grew bigger and then abruptly stopped. The sliding doors to C&C stood ajar creating a small rectangular opening. Through it power pack fueled emergency floodlights emitted a harsh glare. The still compressed corridor had its atmosphere sucked out through the gaping hole made by the pulverized dome. Cautiously three dark silhouettes rose from the bottom of the opening. Each arm hefted a large cylindrical object and then aimed them skywards. A high-pitched whirling sound could be heard coming from the instruments. Without warning sound waves traveling at three times their normal speed shot upwards creating a sonic boom that was silenced by the suffocating vacuum of space.

  The figures, anchored to the deck plating by magnetized boots, cocked their heads in the direction of the speeding projectiles. The visible waves of sound had vanished into the swirling white mist. The blackened silhouettes blankly stared at the cloudy formation, not knowing what effect they had on it. The white cloud continued hovering over the exposed room. Thick strands of mist swirled inside of it carelessly darting to and fro. It was almost as if a quiet truce had fell between the two opponents.

  A deep reverberating moan blasted out from the super entity shaking the space station to its founda
tions. The ground buckled underneath the frightened sonic pick marksmen. The eerie sound was unlike anything they had ever heard before; their hearts were struck with sheer terror. Overcome with fright they collapsed on to the floor, their pitiful weapons clattering alongside them.

  The super entity began to descend. It devised a smaller vice that neatly fit the downed miner’s space suits. Within seconds the suits began venting atmosphere the miner’s bodies were ravaged by the invading vacuum. Concentrated shocks of energy tore the unconscious men’s throats open. The super entity knew it wouldn’t be long before the infected bodies would come under its control. In the meantime it had more killer prey to hunt.

  The air circulation vents provided easy access to all areas of the space station. The collective of gas creatures dispersed itself through the narrow passageways. Thick strands of white mist coursed into all four corners of the station. With its heightened senses the vengeful entity easily detected crewmen cowering in their quarters. Since they were not wearing space suits the massive creature made quick work of the frail human beings. The super entity knew that it was not enough to simply kill the loathsome humans. If it wanted to rid itself of the killer prey and their vile ways it had to destroy their home.

  With its body spread throughout the space station its tactile senses could feel the entire structure at once. Its primitive mind detected huge power fluctuations coming from the eastern end. It quickly dispatched a large segment of itself to investigate that area. Ghostly mist swept into the vaulting silo that made up the two levels of the quasar cannon. It gathered on the lower level slowly shoring its energy. Barely visible in the dark silo, it began to rise from the cool surface of the metal floor. It headed for an opening in the ceiling that was the cause of the power fluctuations.

  Bolts of electricity lit up the darkened enclosure, while giving off a pulsating flow of heat. As the segment of entity drew closer its gaseous body involuntary expanded from the high temperatures.

  At last we have found thief home heart.

  The entwined beings learned the discovery made by this segment of super entity the instant response was unanimous