Hideous Faces, Beautiful Skulls: Tales of Horror and the Bizarre

by Mark McLaughlin

  Remson finished his call and then stepped out of the chamber. He walked up to us and said, “I don’t think the calves are going to make it.”

  “Hooray!” Quinn shouted.

  Remson gave her an angry look. “This is serious. I’ll tell you what happened, but you didn’t hear it from me, okay?”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t tell us at all,” I said. “Daniel will hear you telling us.” I looked up at a small black box in the far corner of the ceiling. That box housed Daniel’s eyes, ears and other sensors for that room, as well as his voice.

  Remson smiled. “Daniel sees and hears everything. But so long as no person or property is being injured, and nobody says…” He then mouthed the words ‘Attention, Daniel,’ “…it doesn’t become part of the permanent log. So don’t say—you know what.”

  “Okay already,” Quinn said. “What’s up with the calves?”

  “One wasn’t harnessed right,” Remson said, “and it broke out of the stall just before transport and ran—bang!—right into the side of the chamber in mid-transmission.”

  Quinn laughed. “See? Holsteins are nothing but trouble.”

  The Transport Technician continued. “The other calf and the stall were sent, but—well, they’re lost. Who knows where. Just like Valesko.”

  “Whoa!” I said. “What does that mean—‘just like Velasko’?”

  Remson shrugged. “That’s how he disappeared. No body ever showed up. Didn’t you know that? There was a big court case long ago. Somebody even made a movie out of it—Murder By Crane.”

  “I saw that,” Quinn said. “Velasko’s wife used to help him in the lab, and she had a boyfriend on the side. She wired a chamber so it would switch off in mid-transmission the next time hubby traveled by Crane, leaving him out in…” She gestured vaguely into the air. “Wherever.”

  “Yeah,” Remson said, “and that’s where that calf is right now. Wherever.”

  Suddenly a sequence of beeps issued from the transport chamber. Remson ran back inside and picked up the communicator. He listened for a minute and then said to us over the audio system. “They’ve managed to lock onto the transport coordinates again. They’re going to try and finish the transmission. You two ready?”

  “I don’t like this,” Quinn said.

  I ruffled her hair again. “Oh, give it up, holstein-hater. Yeah, we’re ready!”

  I once read that a long time ago, a fire devastated the city of Chicago after a cow knocked over a lantern. Who’d have thought another rambunctious bovine could kick-start a catastrophe in space? I was there to see the first step.

  And it literally was a step. The metal stall appeared, its pipework structure drenched with blood. But there was no calf to be seen. And something horrible stepped off the platform.

  It was a corpse. A walking corpse with blue skin, streaked with dust and what looked like thick strands of yellowish-green cobwebs. Its eyes were tightly squinted shut. Its face was smeared with blood and strings of meat still hung from its broken teeth.

  “Attention, Daniel!” I screamed. “Daniel, help us! Activate security systems!” None of us had any weapons. There had never been any need for them.

  “Interesting!” the computer said in its higher voice of excitement. “I’ve completed a brain-scan on this being and though the organ is profoundly altered, I can detect familiar patterns. That is my original body.”

  “Don’t just scan that thing!” Remson said as he came out of the chamber. “Activate security systems!”

  “Yes! Look what it did to the calf!” Quinn cried.

  “I detect animal blood, but no animal,” the computer said. “I cannot activate security systems based on an external occurrence.”

  The creature’s eyes slowly opened, revealing twin milky-white orbs. Apparently it had needed some time to get used to the light. It rushed to the door, which slid open, like all work area doors when somebody stepped up to them. The thing then raced down the hall.

  Remson ran into the transport chamber and got on the communicator. Quinn went to the emergency intercom by the fire control equipment and tried to summon a Security Technician.

  I looked around the room for something that might be used as a weapon. I noticed the wall-mounted fire extinguisher—a long metal cylinder. Good enough.

  “Attention, Daniel!” I screamed as I ran out of the chamber, holding the cylinder over my head. I was ready to bring it down on that dead thing’s skull. “Where did the creature go?”

  “Creature?” Daniel said.

  “Your body. Where did it go?”

  “My body is simply moving through the station. It has not injured any person or property.” The computer’s voice was low and steady, as always. “You, however, appear to be acting in an aggressive manner. You are holding that extinguisher in a position that suggests attack.”

  I lowered the extinguisher and cradled it in my arms. “Sorry, Daniel. I just wanted to see if I could lift it over my head.” I hated having to lie, but this was a desperate situation. “Can you tell me where your body went? I want to welcome it onboard and show it how this fire extinguisher works.”

  “It is now leaving elevator 7 on level 3,” Daniel said.

  “Quinn! Remson!” I shouted into the transport chamber. “That thing just got off the elevator by the laundry area. Let Security know!”

  I then hurried to elevator 6, which opened onto the third level near the medical area. I wanted to warn those folks before going to the laundry area, which was probably empty, since most workers were watching the baseball game. The Security Technicians were probably enjoying the game, too. They had communicators, but of course, those only do the job if their users are carrying them. We only had two people in Security, and they also had other duties onboard, since Daniel was fully equipped to take care of most defense issues. They really just served as a backup in case of a computer failure or malfunction.

  Once I was on the third level, I ran to the medical area, where a young male nurse named Duane was looking at a magazine centerfold. He blushed when he saw me.

  “Take your porn and get out of here,” I said. “There’s an—an intruder onboard.” I had been about to say “monster,” but I’d figured he wouldn’t believe that.

  “An intruder?” he said. “Attention, Daniel!”

  “Yes?” the computer replied.

  “Is there an intruder onboard?” the nurse asked.

  “No,” Daniel said. “I am familiar with every person currently onboard.”

  The nurse stared curiously at me.

  “Attention, Daniel!” I said. “Is there a person with white eyes, blue skin and blood on his face wandering around on this level?”

  “Yes, there is,” the computer said. “He is now in the laundry area.”

  A scream echoed from down the hall.

  The nurse grabbed his magazine and ran out of the room.

  “Find a Security Technician!” I called after him. Then I ran toward the laundry area. When I got there, I found, slumped in a corner, the body of Kitchen Technician Barnes, a middle-aged, heavyset woman. A strand of that strangely colored cobweb was stuck to one of her legs. Her left hand had turned blue and even as I watched, the color began to creep slowly up her wrist.

  “Attention, Daniel!” I screamed. “Your body has killed Barnes! Activate security systems!”

  “My body took Barnes by the hand.” Daniel’s voice was in the higher, excited mode. “It was interesting! He did not appear to be hurting her, and yet she made a noise of alarm. She then moved to the floor.”

  “She’s dead!” I screamed. “Your body took a living person and made her dead. That is personal harm, Daniel! Activate security systems!”

  “I have scanned Barnes.” The computer’s voice rose yet another note. “I can still detect brai
n-wave patterns. The organ has been altered, but it is still functional. Also, I can still detect cellular activity. Barnes is becoming more like my body.”

  “But that’s bad!” I said.

  “Define ‘bad’ in this instance,” the computer prompted.

  “I give up!” I said. “It’s no use talking to you.”

  “Very well,” he said, back in his lower voice. “See you later, alligator.”

  “No, wait! Attention, Daniel!” I looked down at Barnes. Her arm was now blue from the fingertips to the elbow. “I have a funny question for you. What would you do if I manually activated the lock on the laundry area door?”

  “The manual locks are only for fire or security emergencies during times of computer failure,” Daniel replied. “I’m fully functional, so there’d be no reason to do that. We are not experiencing any emergencies. I would unlock the door.”

  “Can I ask another funny question?”

  “I don’t understand your sense of humor, but sure. Ask.”

  I watched the blue creep slowly up Barnes’ arm, toward the shoulder. “Actually it’s a three-part question. Part one: if you saw anybody hurt someone else, what would you do?”

  “Well, I have defense mechanisms in place throughout the Pangyricon,” he said. “If I detected somebody acting in a violent, aggressive manner, I would incapacitate them.”

  “Part two: what would you do if I bashed in her head with this fire extinguisher?”

  “I would incapacitate you, using one or more of several methods, such as electric shock or sedative gas.”

  “Now for part three: what would you do if your body tried to touch me while I was unconscious?”

  “Nothing. That would not be a problem.”

  “But don’t you see? Your body is carrying some kind of energy force, or plague or pestilence, or…or…”

  “I cannot detect any such radiation or microorganisms,” Daniel said.

  “But it’s something you’ve never encountered before!” I shouted. “Damn you, Daniel! I can’t tell you what’s wrong with your body because I don’t know. But something is very, very wrong! Why can’t you believe me?”

  “I am sorry you’re upset,” the machine said. “But if I believed every single thing any person told me—without the subsequent presentation of supporting data—I would be of no use to the Pangyricon. I require some form of documented verification.”

  I ran out of the laundry room. I didn’t want to be in there when Barnes got up. I had the horrible feeling that she’d want to take me by the hand. “Attention, Daniel. Where is your body now?”

  “In the dining area.” That was at the other end of level 3.

  “Has it touched anybody else?”

  “Yes. It has touched thirty-five crew members. All are currently resting. Now thirty-six. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight.”

  “That’s enough.”

  “See you later, alligator.”

  I decided the only thing to do was escape—to get back to Earth and tell the authorities what was going on. So I took the elevator back down to level 2 and the transport room.

  Remson and Quinn were both in the chamber with its door closed. When they saw me, they came out. “Leon, you’re okay!” Quinn said, rushing up to hug me.

  “What’s happened since I left?” I said.

  “Security isn’t responding and Daniel refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong,” Remson said. “He won’t even let us lock the door of this area because there isn’t a fire. And to make matters worse, the entire Crane system is shut down. Earth has it turned off on their end. Same with the colonies on Mars. So we’re here stuck in the middle. The folks at SpaceTech want to talk to Daniel before they do anything else, but he sees no reason to involve them.”

  “Why is the Crane shut down?” I said.

  “Velasko wasn’t the only one to get lost in the Crane over the years,” he said. “There have been about nine or ten others. We should never have told them what happened. Now they’re afraid those other zombies will escape from whatever void they’re been in all this time.”

  “Zombies?” The term, at that time, didn’t mean much to me. I thought it meant somebody who was extremely stupid, or just walking around in a daze. “Who’s calling them that?”

  Remson nodded toward Quinn.

  “I collect old horror films,” she said. “Some of those movies had zombies in them.”

  “Well, I don’t watch scary movies,” I said. “What are zombies?”

  “Zombies are dead bodies that have come back to life,” she said. “They eat the flesh of the living, and if they bite somebody, that person turns into a zombie, too.”

  I looked at the dried blood on pipes of the metal stall. “Why didn’t the zombie go after any of us when it got here?”

  “It wanted to get the Hell out of here,” Remson said. “Away from this equipment.” He nodded toward the transport platform. “That’s the only thing that can send it back to the void. Not that the machine can do us any good now.”

  “Maybe those movie zombies eat people, but this one hasn’t bitten anybody.” I then told them about Barnes and my frustrating conversation with Daniel.

  “Perhaps it doesn’t eat humans,” Quinn said. “I think it just wants to convert them. Maybe they hunt down their food in packs. I wonder what kind of animals live in that void of theirs…?” She picked up a length of cobweb draped over the edge of the platform. “Look how fat this strand is. If this is from some kind of spider, it must be as big as a horse.” She flicked the sticky thing off her fingers. “That zombie wouldn’t need much help to hunt here on the station. All the animals are in pens. Completely helpless. I hope it hasn’t found the livestock yet.”

  “Attention, Daniel!” I said. “Is your body still in the station’s central hub?”

  “Yes. In the main leisure area.”

  Quinn’s eyes went wide with horror. “Oh my God!”

  I dreaded asking the next question. “How many people has it touched?”

  “Three-hundred and thirty-six.”

  Remson rushed to the transport chamber. Quinn and I followed him. “Attention, Daniel,” he said. “Bring up the leisure area on my main monitor.”

  “Sure thing,” the computer said.

  The image sprang into view on the screen, along with a chorus of echoing screams. The zombie simply wandered through the auditorium, which was filled with people running and shouting. Every now and then it would place its hand on someone. That person would instantly stop moving and slowly sink to the floor, as though suddenly very tired. There was nothing violent or aggressive in anything the creature did.

  “Are any of the people who have been touched by your body moving around now?” Remson asked. “And if so, how many?”

  “Yes,” Daniel said. “Seventy-three. Now seventy-four. Seventy-five.”

  “Shut up,” the Transport Technician said.

  “See you later, alligator,” the computer replied.

  “Well, isn’t that great,” Remson said. “While we’re having ourselves a nice cozy chat, that monster is turning this space station into zombie-land. People are probably wondering why the Hell nobody’s helping them. And Daniel’s just sitting back, watching the whole damned freak show. He won’t even let us fight back.”

  “Because he hasn’t got a clue,” Quinn said. “Follow me!” So saying, she left the chamber and ran out of the room.

  Remson and I ran after her. “Wait up!” I called to her. “What’s going on?”

  “I know what I’m doing,” she yelled. “Just follow me!”

  So we did. What else could we do?

  As we ran, we passed an empty meeting room that had recently been used for a retirement dinner. I noticed a pile of soiled tablecloths on one of the chairs
. “Wait a second!” I shouted. I ran in and grabbed the whole stack.

  “Put one of these around you,” I said, handing out tablecloths. “That way a zombie can’t touch your bare skin.”

  “Great idea,” Quinn said. “Now let’s get going.”

  There were two left over, so I decided to carry them in case one of us lost our covering. We followed her down the hall, and I soon realized we were heading toward the workers’ living quarters. Just as we reached an intersection with another hallway, a group appeared directly in front of us.

  A group of zombies, with the Velasko creature leading the pack.

  Daniel Velasko’s ghastly head tilted slightly to one side. The corners of his mouth drew back in what might have been a smile. The rest turned their staring white eyes toward us, and reached out with writhing hands. The group included several Care Technicians and both Security Technicians. Barnes was there, too, her face as blue as a summer sky.

  I ran ahead of Quinn and flung a tablecloth over them. One of the creatures reached out for my shoulder, but it only grabbed a handful of linen.

  We went around them and continued down the hall. The creatures simply followed us, and the only sound they made was the brisk shuffle of their feet moving down the hall.

  At another hall intersection I saw another group coming our way. “I hope you know where we’re going, Quinn,” I said.

  “Through here.” She gestured toward a small game room. After we entered, she closed the door behind us. Then we cut across the room to a door leading into another hallway, which was clear.

  She pointed two doors down. “There. My room.”

  “Your room?” Now I was completely confused. “What’s in there?”

  “Please, don’t ask questions,” Quinn said with a tight, almost grim smile. She opened her door and we followed her in. Then she locked up behind us. We piled the tablecloths by the wall.

  She opened the door of a closet and pulled out a wheeled cart with an old-fashioned movie projector on top. She plugged it into an outlet with a special adapter.