by GB Weber
Using the drone, Colonel Walter tracks the sub with the infrared camera.
"Be alert to any sign of marine life forms," says the German to the team, while watching the monitors.
Meanwhile in the Nautilus, the pilots are searching for Shunli's body when they notice something strange:
"Attention Base. I'm picking up water streams that move quickly. These are currents usually found in a river, not in a closed environment," says John. "There must be an underground channel that connects to a tributary. We will look on the lake bed walls, over."
As the group of explorers watches the aerial images transmitted by the small craft, the first drops of rain begin to fall again over the Colony Base.
Back in the submersible, John finds a large and deep underwater cavern and reports it.
"Attention base, attention base. We have found a cavity in the Northeast wall. It appears to be a very long cave. We will go in to explore, over".
"Understood Nautilus. Please proceed with caution," says Walter over the radio.
"It seems to have kilometers of extension," says Wang contemplating the reflections of the lights illuminating the tunnel walls.
"Maybe it connects with other lagoons," says John.
"The strange thing is that we haven't seen any aquatic creature yet."
In the base, Tanja observes the pouring rain through a tiny window, when a radio message from the submersible vehicle is received.
"Attention base. Have you found any sign of animal life yet?" says John through the comm.
"Negativ… one moment!" Walter says, startled. "We are detecting something in the area of Lake Fang."
"Can you identify it?" asks the American over the comm.
"Negative. But whatever that is, it's much bigger than a haochi... Now it's moving to the Southwest coast... It's gone!" exclaims the Colonel.
"It has entered the cave from the other side! It's advancing towards you! Get out of there!" Mary cries desperately.
The tension is rising. The two men in the Nautilus look to the front, but they only see the strong lights reflecting the tunnel walls.
"We don't see anything," says Arlen.
"Watch out!" Wang shouts.
The submarine is violently shaken by a strong underwater current wave.
"Something crossed beneath us at great speed," says the pilot, alarmed.
"It's dodging the light," says Tanja.
"Turn Around! It will come back!" cries Mary.
The ship starts to spin, hoping to scare that shadow with its powerful spotlights.
"Hurry up!" she yells.
"Almost..." says John, distressed.
"Get oooout!" shouts Boris.
At the precise moment the Nautilus is about to complete the turn, the light bulbs illuminate a sea monster similar to a giant Oniscidea, with multiple red eyes and long sharp fangs that pounces on the mini submarine, attacking it savagely.
Screams are heard over the comm, and then the explosion of the glass dome. The Colonel tries to make contact, but only receives static noise.
Desperation takes over the group. The cries of the women are heard, along with the griefs of men who do not understand how this tragedy could have happened. Ulrich hides his face in his arms over the control panel. The drone, located in automatic mode above the disaster zone, struggles to survive the fierce winds. When the moans diminish, the German looks up again and observes the infrared aerial image on the screen. Suddenly, his sad face changes to panic. Hundreds of these tenebrous creatures begin to invade Hope Lake through the underground tunnel. Colonel Walter sounds the General Alarm.
"Evacuate the base now!" he yells with all his might "Quickly!"
The mission members start running desperately to the Challenger, located 150 meters from there. Meanwhile, from the choppy waters of the lagoon emerge the giant carnivorous insects and the human hunting begins.
"Aaaaahhhh!" Augusta howls when she is caught running for evacuation. The Colonel tries to protect her by shooting the monster, but its sharp fangs have pierced the skull of the woman, falling dead along with the beast.
"To the shuttle! Nooow!" cries Ulrich desperately, after observing what was happening. With his photon gun tries to open a safe path to the ship. Others do the same, but despite the slaughter, the number of aliens continues to increase. Soon, the base is surrounded on all sides.
Shin prepares to pilot the spacecraft from the Humanitas. He turns the engines on and opens the loading door for easy access to the desperate astronauts who try to save themselves from the claws of the enormous bugs.
"Where have they come from?" Tanja asks amid gunfire and roars of hideous creatures mortally wounded by photon rays.
"From the ocean located beneath the Siberian ice layer," responds Boris. "Those thousands of spots we saw in the pictures captured by the probe. Somehow, this species has built huge tunnels between the dark area and the lakes to find food. They probably have extinguished all animal life in the water and that's the reason why they need to emerge to the surface to hunt haochis, mainly when it rains and the sky is in darkness. But now they have found us."
Blasts continue the killing of insects, but they are still surrounding the humans. The ship is closer, but so are the 14 feet grotesque beings. One of the vermin approaches Mary without been noticed.
"Look out!" shouts Ulrich, "behind you!"
The woman has no time to turn around and defend herself from the attack. Her body is pierced by the sharp teeth of the beast, while other bugs join the bloodshed to tear it apart. The Russian couple and the German are the only ones left alive. Finally, the three cosmonauts reach the rescue vessel ready to lift off. Tanja access the loading ramp and gets into the Challenger quickly. Boris and Ulrich follow her closely, jumping to the rocket just when it begins to lift up, being left hanging from the ramp door. The two men are trying to hold on to something knowing that they must get inside the ship before Shin closes the hatch. The pilot droid notices extra weight in the space vehicle. He doesn't realize two critters have climbed the shuttle's retractable legs.
"Watch out!" Tanja shouts when finds one.
"Shoot it!" the German man orders.
Just as she points her gun, the carnivorous brute hangs from Boris' lower limbs, which does not support the enormous weight and falls down along with the alien monster.
"Noooooooo!" the woman screams while observing him falling over a swarm of insects.
In his attempt to hold on, Colonel Walter loses his pistol, but finally manages to crawl inside the craft. Immediately he contacts Shin, whereas Tanja cries inconsolably huddled on the floor.
The ramp door begins to close, and when both believe they are safe at last, the other exterminator access the ship just before the door is closed. Terror seizes the woman as she begins to cry desperately.
"Quickly!" "Shoot it!" shouts the man standing in front of the beast, but the woman, frozen in panic and unable to move, still cries in a corner. "Shoot! shoot! Haggggggg!" The predator attacks the man stabbing him with its pointed fangs. While still alive, the butcher rips his flesh and begins to devour it. Tanja realizes she has only one chance and moves her hand rapidly, trying to grab the weapon. In that instant, the evil creature jumps over her.
From the Humanitas, Shin has observed what happened on the monitors. There's nothing more he can do now. But if he brings the shuttle back, the biological entity will destroy the interstellar spacecraft and its last occupants. Then, he turns off the propulsion engines and a few moments later, the Challenger falls down over the dark hemisphere of Nova Terra. In the cockpit, the last humanoid survivor of the interplanetary mission starts making calculations, helped by the other artificial brain.
"Going back to Earth is the only option we have," says Shin, as he selects the space coordinates.
"I'm afraid that will be impossible," says Humy.
"Explain yourself."
"During the hibernation period, a message from Earth was received".
"Why h
asn't it been transmitted to the crew? Shin asks.
"Because of its content, it has been decided to keep it secret until the time was right. It was not convenient to worry the members of the mission during the colonization process," explains Humy.
"Who gave that order?" asks the droid.
"It was Humy's decision," confesses the onboard computer.
"Well, it no longer has any importance," says Shin "Show it to me."
The message appears on all cockpit screens:
URGENT:
World powers have declared war. Mighty Armed Forces combat each other by sea, land, and air. The new leader of the Joint Armies of Russia and Belarus had promised the destruction of the United States and its European allies. And today, he will fulfill his threat: a few minutes ago, 500 nuclear missiles have been fired from Russian bases, warships, planes and submarines. United States and NATO are counterattacking with an equally destructive arsenal. Doomsday has begun with a thermonuclear global exchange. We expect the impact in Texas in any moment. You are the last humans originally from Earth. Don't permit our extinction to take place. You are our last hope.
Last message sent by the Unified Space Center, Houston.
September 1st, 2095.
As the last living beings die in a land poisoned by radiation, two survivor machines of another extinction search for signs of intelligent life in the planetary systems of the galaxies. Their new mission is to reach the far limits of the Universe, spreading the legacy of a modern civilization that has decided to conclude its existence through self-destruction.
