The Loneliness of Stars
Page 27
~Captain Jeremiah E. Korzos, in an interview shortly before leaving on the Ambassador Expedition
“Holy shit, it’s alive!”
I don’t know who shouted first, but the rest of were doing the same shortly after. I leapt backwards, startled, as the thing jumped to its feet and let out a terrible shriek. Most of the crew collapsed to their knees, clutching their ears, pain evident on their faces. Vincent, who had been the closest to it, leapt back, his hand fumbling for some kind of weapon, seeming to ignore the thing’s scream. Michaela winced at the sound, but quickly drew the gun that she had used to kill Korzos from her sleeve, and aimed it at the creature. It turned its eyes on Vincent, who was still having trouble finding a weapon. It leapt at him just as Michaela fired, the gun’s bolt hitting the ground where the thing had been an instant before. It raked its razor-sharp claws over Vincent’s chest. He screamed as fountains of blood spewed out of his body, and he fell to the ground, the creature on top of him. The thing’s jaws closed around Vincent’s head, and it bit down, hard. Vincent’s skull shattered with a sickening snap.
“You goddamn son of a bitch!” Michaela shouted, and fired her weapon at the thing again. The bolt hit it straight in the eye. The creature released Vincent’s head and looked at her, its eyes blazing with balefire. It shrieked again, and I found myself on the ground, trying desperately to stop the sound from reaching my ears.
It leapt at Michaela, the spines on its back now facing forward. She stared it in the eyes, unflinching, then leapt to the side at the last second. It landed where she had been a moment before, and whirled around. Adam, who was still standing in front of me, ran forward, in between the beast and Michaela. The thing charged Adam. The tips of its spines began to glow, and then each one shot out a tendril of lightning. The tendrils coalesced into one massive bolt that hit Adam squarely in the chest, causing him to fly backwards into Michaela. They both sailed into the opposite wall and collapsed in a heap.
The beast changed its course, then, and headed for the largest mass of people: the group I was in. I jumped to my feet and ran away from the beast as fast as I could, sprinting out of the bridge. I heard the terrified screams and howls of pain as the thing began to kill the crew who remained behind. Behind me echoed the sounds of people fleeing in all directions as everyone tried to escape the thing that had been brought on board.
I ran blindly for several minutes. I’m not sure whether or not I screamed, but I must have done something to attract attention. I found myself at the door to one of the landing craft. As I approached, the door was flung open. I didn’t notice, and I ran right into it. I fell over backwards, and fell into someone’s arms.
“Foolish boy,” said a gruff voice. “Come in here, you’ll be safe. It won’t get you.” The man tossed me into the room, and quietly closed the door. I heard a click as it locked.
The room was very dark, and my head hurt a lot. I peered up at the figure, but couldn’t make out who it was. Was it the green-cloaked man? I decided that he wasn’t – the green-cloaked man had a very different voice.
I slowly stood. As my vision cleared and the pain in my head lessened, I could make out the man’s features. I blinked. “Fineas?”
“Aye.”
I shook my head to clear it. “What is that thing?” I looked at his shadowed face, then took a suspicious step back. He hadn’t been on the bridge when the thing had come to life. “How do you know about it?”
Fineas did not answer, instead wandering off towards the landing craft in the center of the hangar. I followed. “You weren’t in there when it started killing! How do you know it exists?”
Fineas stopped. “It does not concern you.” I stepped back. The voice that had spoken was not his. It sounded oddly familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“Now leave me alone.” The old Fineas was back. Unnerved, I stammered a “yes sir” and turned around, walking towards the other end of the hangar. Once I reached the far wall, I paced back and forth for a minute or two. Hiding in here wouldn’t solve any problems – eventually, I would have to try to escape anyway. I was merely prolonging my death.
Then it struck me. The room was a hangar. Hangars needed a way to let the craft stored inside them to get out. If I could open the hangar doors, I could escape outside! The one problem with my plan was that I had no idea as to how to open the doors.
I considered asking Fineas for advice, but decided against it. I could do it on my own. Besides, he probably wouldn’t be any help anyway. I walked over to a box jutting out of the wall. It looked like it was a control panel of some kind.
When I got there, I saw that the front was covered by something. I looked around for something to pry it open, but couldn’t find anything in the dim light. I began to scour the floor and walls, looking for something that might help me. I was paying so much attention to my search that I didn’t notice Fineas in front of me. I bumped into him, then leapt back and apologized profusely.
“Lookin’ for a way to open the hangars?”
I nodded.
“It won’t work, boy. They can only be opened and closed at the captain’s orders, through a terminal in the bridge. The only way out is that door. And it’s not safe out there. Stay in here.”
I swallowed – I didn’t want to go out that door again and face the thing. I turned and walked slowly away from Fineas, trying to figure out what I should do. I didn’t want to stay in this room until I died from hunger and thirst – but I didn’t want to be killed by the thing, either. The prospect of dying just didn’t appeal to me.
Then I remembered that there were other people on the ship. I had friends out there, dealing with the alien monster, people who were not hiding in a dark corner of the ship, too afraid to fight. Stupid as it was, I decided that I wasn’t just going to hide while the rest of the crew was being hunted and killed by some strange alien beast. I turned back to the door. I began to walk towards it. As I approached it, I noticed a series of lockers to the right of the door. I decided to see if there was anything useful inside.
There were seven of them. The first four were locked, but the fifth was slightly ajar. I opened it the rest of the way, revealing a rifle of some kind. I peered at it in the dim light. It looked like an energy weapon. Grabbing it, I ran back towards the door. Fineas made no attempt to stop me. I opened the door slowly, peering out, and saw nothing. I squeezed through the open door and shut it after me. I paused a moment – now that I was no longer safe in the hangar, the resolve to save my fellow crewmembers had diminished remarkably.
Nevertheless, I carried on, continuing in the direction I had been going before Fineas had pulled me into the hangar. After a minute, I heard a scream, from very close by. I slowed. The corridor up ahead took a sharp turn. I recognized the door to the scientists’ labs up ahead. As I advanced, cautiously, I heard a strange set of footsteps. I stopped walking.
The beast came out of nowhere, rounding the corner in front of me. It was still five or so meters away, but it didn’t slow down. Its momentum would have carried it into the wall, but it leapt onto the opposite wall and ran sideways along it. I was so astounded that I just stared, forgetting all about the weapon in my hands. As it prepared to leap, I heard a shout behind me. A bolt of electricity jumped over my head and slammed into the beast. It flew backwards, into the door leading to the labs.
The thing was on its feet again in an instant. It screamed, and I dropped my rifle to the floor as the terrible sound pierced my ears. I followed my rifle’s lead shortly thereafter as I fell to my knees and closed my eyes in pain. Somehow, I heard the crackle and sizzle of electricity over the shrieking of the beast, and then a thud. The shrieking stopped. I opened my eyes, and saw the beast standing where it had been before I had fallen to the ground in pain – it had not moved. I quickly picked up my rifle and scrambled to my feet.
The beast walked slowly forward, and a bolt of lightning shot from its spines, arcing over my head. I heard a grunt behind me. I turned around to see Ad
am Sansson and his baton fly backwards, slamming into the wall at the very far end of the corridor.
I whirled back around. The thing opened its mouth and shrieked. I was ready for it this time, and I merely flinched. As it charged forward, I raised my rifle and aimed at its head. My hands began to shake, and I pressed the trigger before my aim was gone, hoping to the gods that the safety was turned off.
It wasn’t.
Nothing came out of the gun’s tip. I frantically searched for a safety, but couldn’t find one. I looked up as it leapt at me, its jaws open wide, and screamed in terror.