by John Coon
“I became determined to get back inside that casino when I turned 21,” Sam said, wrapping up his story. “Learned every poker trick and strategy I could find, so I’d break the house and stick it to them.”
“I’d say your research is paying off,” Norah replied. “You’re cleaning us out without breaking a sweat.”
A knock interrupted their conversation. Sam glanced up. Rudra stood inside the doorway.
“So, what’s the word? What did the scans reveal?”
Rudra peeked over his shoulder at the short tunnel leading back to the laboratory door. He faced Sam again and shook his head. His frown spoke volumes.
The scans did not turn up welcome news.
“Our thermal imaging scan detected body heat and an active heartbeat,” Rudra said. “The alien is alive.”
Sam dropped his cards on the table and rose from his chair. He silently hoped the alien would turn out to be dead. The scan’s findings troubled him. Some unknown party made a special effort to keep this strange-looking humanoid alien alive—and hidden. Why? What purpose did it serve to conceal it on Mars?
All eyes in the room settled on Sam. He pinched his eyelids shut and bowed his head while weighing the options before him. Leaving this alien here on Mars was out of the question. Finding and ending threats to Earth functioned as the Earth Defense Bureau’s primary mission. Sam’s instincts told him this alien fit those threat parameters to a tee. Bringing it back to a secure bureau facility stood out as the only practical alternative.
“Only one thing left to do now.” Sam opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Rudra. “We need to load the alien tank into the climber and prepare to transport the alien back to Earth.”
Norah gave both men a sideways glance.
“Are we sure that’s a wise idea? I understand Earth Defense Bureau protocol. But I also think taking this alien creature off Mars is risky.”
“Risky?” Sam repeated. He snapped his head in her direction. “How is it risky?”
“What if it wakes up from stasis?”
Sam’s throat tightened while he contemplated her question. What if this alien indeed did awaken during the long return flight to Earth? He had no clue how to combat a potentially hostile alien in tight quarters while millions of miles away from civilization. No one living in the tiny Martian colony had the right training to deal with such a frightening scenario either.
“We’ll need to rig up something to keep that object sealed during the trip home,” Sam said. “I’ll see what Cliff and I can figure out after I return to the Phobos Station.”
At once, an alarm sounded through the habitat unit. Sam glanced over at the wall and spotted a flashing red light. Norah’s eyes grew as wide as plates. She sprang up from her chair.
‘That’s not good,” Sergei said.
He rose from his chair and simultaneously sprinted through the open doorway with Rudra. Sam and Norah followed hot on their heels. They arrived in the laboratory a few seconds apart.
Mei stood back against the opposite wall from the object holding the alien. Lights flashed more rapidly than before along the sides. Air hissed from a growing crack as a door in the device began to open.
“What did you do?” Rudra shouted.
Mei shot him an icy stare.
“Nothing,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. One of us must have triggered a fail-safe while cleaning the device.”
The door lifted away from the rest of the device. A loud gasp followed. The humanoid creature’s eyes cracked open. Sam gulped. They looked startlingly like human eyes, only with more vibrant blues in the iris. Strange clothing made from metallic fabric adorned the alien’s body. It resembled a uniform.
A cold sweat formed on Sam’s brow. He licked his lips and backed up a few steps. The alien’s eyes narrowed, and a puzzled expression washed over its face. It stepped down on the floor and turned its head while taking in new surroundings.
“The alien seems disoriented,” Sergei said. “Maybe if we show we are not a threat, everything will be fine.”
He took a few deliberate steps forward and offered his hand to the strange-looking alien. Sam felt his throat tighten anew. His legs grew as rigid as tree trunks. What was Sergei doing? They needed to seal off this room and quarantine the lab, not try to make new friends.
“We aren’t here to hurt you.” Sergei adopted a soothing tone as he held his hand out toward the alien. “We want to be friends.”
The alien stared at Sergei’s hand. Both eyes narrowed and it uttered a guttural growl. At once, the alien seized his wrist.
A sickening crack followed.
Sergei screamed. Other screams from other voices inside the room joined his pained cry. His wrist dangled like a cooked noodle at an odd angle. The alien snapped both bones into two separate pieces.
“Oh God!” the Russian shouted. “Seal off the lab!”
The alien grabbed him by his throat with its other clawed hand and wrenched him off the ground using only one arm. Sergei kicked at the alien’s shins in a futile effort to free himself. Each claw pressed harder against Sergei’s flesh until blood spurted out from around the alien’s fingers. It flung Sergei against a wall like a limp stuffed animal. The cosmonaut left behind a jagged trail of blood as he slid down to the floor.
Sam pressed his hand against his mouth to keep from vomiting. He scrambled toward the exit. One fact became clear above any other consideration.
They could not let this murderous alien escape from the lab at any cost.
10
Sam glanced over his shoulder as he sprinted toward the door connecting the underground tunnel with the habitat units. The alien charged after him and the other fleeing colonists. Norah backed against a table and threw a microscope right at the creature’s head. It ducked and directed a hissing growl at her.
“Get to the door!” Sam shouted. “Hurry!”
Rudra made a mad dash for the door while Mei tossed an empty beaker at the alien. The beaker bounced off the creature’s shin and shattered. Multiple shards scattered across the floor. The alien caught up to Mei and Norah just as they reached the door. A long bony stinger shot out from a small hole at the left wrist. The alien grabbed Mei by her shoulder and yanked her backward.
“It’s got me!” she screamed. “Get it –”
A violent cough choked out her words. Mei spit out blood a second later. The stinger’s pointed end burst through her left breast. Norah cried out and reached her hand toward Mei. Rudra grabbed her by the other arm and pulled Norah back. The alien drew out its stinger and then rammed the same arm forward once again. This time, the stinger burst through Mei’s ribs on the right side of her chest.
She fell to the floor after the creature retracted its stinger a second time. Mei’s empty eyes and gaping mouth remained frozen in a permanent state of terror.
“Hurry!” Sam urged them forward with his hand. “We need to seal off the room!”
Rudra pulled Norah backward into the tunnel just as the alien reached the doorway. Sam pushed a steel door toward the creature. It thrust an arm between the edge of the door and the jamb. Sam dug his shoulder into the door and gave a shout as he pressed forward.
“Help me seal this thing inside!”
Norah and Rudra rushed forward and joined Sam at the door. The alien jabbed its stinger into Norah. She cried out and fell backward, cradling her wrist. Blood seeped between her fingers from a fresh puncture wound. Sam and Rudra gave the door one final hard push and crunched steel against the alien’s arm. It grunted in pain and wrenched the arm backward. Rudra slammed the door shut and spun a wheel embedded in the middle, locking the door in place.
Sam heard a groan behind him. He wheeled around and spotted Norah sitting on the tunnel floor with her back pressed against the wall. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Norah clenched her teeth. Her left hand clutched her righ
t wrist where the stinger penetrated flesh. Blood oozed out from under her palm.
“I think it went clean through my wrist.” Her tear-flooded eyes darted upward and fixed on Sam and Rudra. “Oh God, I haven’t felt this much pain since I tore my ACL while skiing in Colorado.”
Sam knelt in front of Norah. He gently pried away her hand. A nickel-sized puncture wound adorned her wrist. Surrounding tissue took on a purplish hue and had become swollen around the wound. Rudra hunched over to also get a closer look at her wrist. He shook his head when he surveyed the damage the alien creature inflicted on Norah.
“I think that alien released some venom into your body,” Sam said. “Your wrist is quite swollen.”
Norah sniffed back a few tears. Her arms trembled when she stared down at the wound.
“Will I die?”
Rudra stared wide-eyed at Norah for a moment. A resolute frown finally graced his lips.
“Not if we can help it,” he said. “We’ll find a way to extract that venom.”
Sam rose to his feet. He clasped Norah’s uninjured wrist and helped her stand again.
“We better track down a first aid kit and patch you up,” he said. “The sooner we disinfect and close up your wound, the better.”
Violent pounding on metal greeted their ears a second later. A low sustained growl soon followed. The door did not budge from its hinges, but everyone inside the tunnel backpedaled a few steps anyway. Sam scoured both tunnel walls, hoping to spot a control switch or button capable of drawing out the lab’s remaining oxygen once activated. He did not want to find out how long the door would stay sealed under the alien’s continued assault. If it broke down the door and entered the tunnel, they faced bleak odds for outrunning the feral creature and reaching the next habitat unit alive.
“Can we vent the oxygen from the room?” Sam turned and glanced at Rudra. “Expose the laboratory to Martian atmosphere?”
Rudra shook his head. He cast a worried glance over his shoulder at the sealed door.
“We designed these units to be airtight. Those walls and windows are thick and durable. It would take considerable force to breach one.”
Sam furrowed his brow and glanced at Norah again. Her breaths came in shallow bursts, and she clenched her teeth while cradling her injured wrist. His eyes widened and he jerked his head back in Rudra’s direction.
“Do you have a mining vehicle equipped with a drill designed to bore through the rock?”
“Of course.” Rudra answered him with a quick nod. “We used it to mine and collect regolith for the walls.”
“I’ll take care of Norah,” Sam replied. “You better track down the mining vehicle and drill through the outside wall. Let’s make sure this alien doesn’t make it out of that lab alive.”
Rudra nodded again and darted ahead into the neighboring habitat unit. Sam clasped Norah’s uninjured arm above the elbow, and they sprinted behind him. None of the group dared look back even as growls, shouts, and banging emanated from the lab at a higher volume. Sam and Norah slipped past a now-open second steel door and Rudra sealed it behind them once both were safely inside. He spun the wheel, locking it in place.
“That should buy us a little time while I bring back the mining vehicle,” he said. Rudra spun around and faced Norah and Sam. “I’m really hoping that thing isn’t strong enough to break down two of these doors.”
Norah pinched her eyelids shut again and let out a whimpering groan. Sam’s eyes darted to her wrist and back to Rudra. They needed to do something fast to dull Norah’s pain, draw out any lingering venom, and stitch up the oozing puncture wound in her wrist.
“Where are your medical supplies?” Sam asked.
“We have a small medical station above us on the next level,” Rudra replied. “There should be enough surgical equipment, medicine, and bandages to care for Norah short-term.”
Norah opened her eyes again. Fresh tears coursed down each cheek. She bit down on her lower lip for a moment and stared up at Sam.
“Hurry! I don’t know if I can handle this pain for much longer.”
Sam gave her a sympathetic nod. He waved at Rudra.
“Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.”
They parted ways and Sam led Norah to a covered staircase by the exterior wall. The staircase wound along the wall like a giant snake. It led into rooms corresponding with each story of the habitat unit. Their destination occupied a compact second level room. Essential equipment common to a typical medical clinic on Earth packed the small medical station.
Sam directed Norah to a nearby bed. She sat on the edge, still clasping her injured wrist. He slapped on a pair of sterile surgical gloves and scoured nearby cabinets and drawers for supplies and equipment. Sam eventually filled a tray with a scalpel, sutures, gauze, bandages, ointment, and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol. He set it on the bed next to Norah.
“This may sting quite a bit.” Sam unscrewed the cap from the rubbing alcohol bottle. “I’m sorry.”
Norah nodded and bit down on her lower lip. She pulled away her hand and exposed the wrist. It had grown more swollen and discolored since he first examined her wounded limb in the tunnel. Sam shook his head.
This was not a good sign at all.
He hunched over the wrist, tilted the bottle, and splashed a few drops of alcohol directly on the wound. Norah unleashed an ear-piercing scream. At once, she swung her right forearm and belted him in the abdomen. Sam gasped. He doubled over and staggered backward. The bottle slipped from his hand and crashed on the floor. Alcohol sprayed across the tile, leaving a fresh shallow puddle near the bottle’s landing spot.
“Holy shit!” He snapped, glaring at Norah. “What are you trying to do to me? I know your wrist must hurt like hell, but I can’t help you if you attack me while I’m treating your wound.”
A definite anger burned in her steely eyes as Norah stared him down. Her chest heaved up and down while hard, angry breaths escaped her lips. Then, within a few seconds, her breathing slowed to normal, and her expression softened.
Norah glanced down at her wrist, then back at Sam. She swallowed hard. An apologetic frown washed over her lips.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I felt this animalistic rage once the alcohol touched my wrist. It was the weirdest thing.”
Sam pressed his hand against his stomach and drew in a deep breath. He nodded and approached the bed a second time.
“Luckily, you only knocked the wind out of me for a moment. I’m fine now. I hope you’re better too.”
Sam threaded sutures through the broken skin and closed the now sterilized puncture wound. Once he finished stitching up Norah’s wrist, he opened a small tube of ichthammol ointment. Sam smeared the pungent black goo over swollen tissues around the sealed puncture wound. He wrapped gauze bandages around the wrist and taped the gauze firmly in place.
“That should offer a quick fix for the moment,” Sam said. “I’ll consult with our medical officials back on Earth, once I check in with the bureau, and see what else needs to be done for your wrist.”
Norah stared at him wide-eyed. She gently rubbed her bandaged wrist, trying to massage away pain from that injured limb.
“Is the ointment going to work? Will it draw out whatever is infecting my wrist?”
Those same questions rolled through Sam’s mind. No satisfying answer materialized for either one.
“I hope so.”
Norah cast her eyes at a circular window above their heads on the opposite wall. Polycarbonate glass let in some natural light while also blocking tons of dangerous UV radiation from entering the structure. The window itself occupied a spot high enough on the wall to prevent anyone from seeing much of anything other than a narrow patch of dusky Martian sky.
“Cliff will freak out when he hears what happened to us down here.”
Cli
ff.
Sam forgot entirely to alert Cliff and the others still on Phobos Station concerning their situation down here. He needed to warn them to not travel to the Martian surface under any circumstances. Mars must remain off-limits until Rudra neutralized the confined alien.
11
Each time she gazed upon the portrait, the image before her eyes offered a painful reminder of everything Calandra lost.
She perched on a stool before a broad canvas woven from dried kerval skin fibers. Sky blue paint dripped from the end of her brush. A drop splashed on the canvas, landing on a pair of billowing white clouds. Calandra took brief note of the errant paint and laid the brush down on a narrow rectangular table flanking her stool. Her eyes drifted back to the opposite wall. She raised her chin as they settled again on the portrait hanging before her.
Xttra’s dark blue eyes seemed so warm and real. As though he were standing inside the cozy studio with her, watching Calandra add another painting to her growing collection. She released a deep sigh and fresh tears rolled down both cheeks.
It almost seemed like a lifetime ago when Calandra hesitated to share her talent with Xttra. A small smile graced her lips when she recalled how he learned about her artistic side. Xttra only became aware her painting of him existed following a slip of the tongue from Alayna.
Calandra introduced him to Alayna three weeks after she began dating Xttra. Her best friend flashed a warm smile upon meeting him for the first time inside Calandra’s apartment. She clasped his wrist in traditional Ra’ahm fashion.
“You’re right. He is cute.” She cast her eyes over at Calandra. “I approve.”
