The Mothership

by Renneberg, Stephen

  Vamp shrugged. “I’m just saying, it looks kind of . . . tough.”

  Dr McInness stared at the hull layers visible through the open hatchway, then motioned towards the empty space around them. “It looks like an empty cargo ship to me. The hull probably gives it structural strength.”

  Vamp ran her eye over the four circular cargo hatches curiously. “Where are the doors?”

  “Could be an iris, like the beetle’s hatch.”

  Timer glanced at his compass, seeking a bearing to follow, but was dismayed to discover the needle spun slowly. “My compass is screwed.”

  “May I?” The scientist asked, holding out his hand.

  Timer handed the compass to Dr McInness, who moved it toward the deck, testing its sensitivity to the metal. The needle continued to spin slowly in the same direction, irrespective of how close it was to the deck. “It’s not the hull. There must be an electromagnetic field inside the ship. Maybe the engines are working?”

  “Holy crap!” Timer exclaimed. “You don’t think it’s getting ready to take off, do you?” A high pitched, animal screech sounded from a long way off. Timer spun around anxiously trying to look in every direction at once.”We’ve definitely got to get off this tub!”

  “Whatever that was, it didn’t sound friendly,” Vamp said, peering into the darkness, finding the few flickering wall lights too weak to illuminate the deck.

  Dr McInness looked confused. “It wasn’t a machine. Perhaps that’s their language.”

  “Man, if that’s what they sound like,” Timer said, “their conversation must be a bitch.”

  Vamp pointed toward a distant wall light. “That way! Go!”

  They started toward the island of light, Timer in front, and Vamp in the rear constantly checking behind them. When they reached the light, they halted and listened. The sound of rapid, scratching footsteps carried to them as something unseen loped across the deck.

  “It’s headed this way!” Timer whispered.

  Vamp produced the crystal ball and set it to several hundred meters. Two small dots appeared at the edge of the display, moving in and out of range. “They’re over that way,” she said pointing towards an area of impenetrable darkness.

  “They?” Timer asked uneasily. “How many?”

  She scrolled the range out a little further, but no more dots came into view. “Two. Let’s keep moving.”

  They hurried along beside the wall, searching for an alcove that might contain an elevator. The walls were cold to the touch and marked with shallow grooves. Dr McInness wondered why the walls contained such etchings, unaware that when energized, they projected stasis fields that secured the cargo in place. They hurried from one flickering island of light to the next, pausing only to listen for the strange clawing footsteps before moving on. When they reached the sixth light, another high pitched screech sounded, this time closer than before.

  “It’s at the cargo hatch,” Vamp whispered, glancing at the crystal ball’s surface. She could see the transport beam projectors, but whatever was investigating the area was hidden in the shadows.

  “It’s picked up our scent,” Timer said.

  Dr McInness peered toward the four cargo hatches thoughtfully. “If it’s using smell to track us, that doesn’t mean it’s an animal, just that this species has a highly developed sense of smell.”

  “Animal or not,” Vamp said, “if it gets too close, the only thing it’ll smell is gunfire.”

  The high pitched screech sounded again from the darkness, followed by a burst of rapid scratching footsteps.

  “That don’t sound like a big nosed alien to me,” Timer muttered. “More like an alien guard dog?”

  Dr McInness looked doubtful. “A guard dog? On a starship?”

  Vamp glanced once more at the crystal ball, then slid it into her pocket so she could hold her rifle with both hands. “Whatever it is, it’s coming for us.”

  They listened as the scratching footsteps approached slowly and began to circle.

  “It knows where we are,” Timer said as he peered into the blackness.

  “If it’s trapped here with no food or water,” Vamp said, “it’s got to be hungry.”

  Dr McInness gave her an anxious look. “You do realize, if it ate us, the microbes in our body would probably be fatal to it?”

  “Doc, I really don’t think it’s worried about microbes.”

  “Hmm. You might be right. Perhaps it would settle for a ration pack?”

  “Not if it likes fresh meat!” Timer said.

  In the flickering light, Vamp thought she glimpsed a low shape creeping through the shadows, then it vanished. “It’s close.”

  The clawing footsteps stopped as the predator paused to sniff their strange, alien scent. Smell was its weakest sense, but it knew this was meat unlike any it had tasted. Even so, it was starving, and the promise of any kind of food was driving it towards a killing frenzy that would soon outweigh its stalking instincts.

  Ahead was the last island of light before unbroken darkness. If there was no way out, they’d have to go back along the wall in search of an escape route. The sound of claws scratching on metal grew louder as the creature crept towards them, so they ran through the dark toward the final light. Vamp caught a glimpse of a hulking, rounded form prowling at the periphery of the sputtering light. She fired a burst from her M16, illuminating the creature with the muzzle flash. There was a hint of smooth skin and large muscular shoulders, then it leapt with surprising speed into the deep darkness at the sound of gunfire.

  “I saw it!” Timer yelled. “It’s big!”

  “Did you hit it?” Dr McInness asked.

  “No,” she said, staring wide eyed into the darkness. “It doesn’t stand like a man.” She started moving towards the edge of the light. “I hope there’s a door ahead.”

  Timer glanced at her, then looked into the blackness she was about to lead them into. “No way! We can’t leave the light, not with that thing out there!”

  “We can’t stay here.”

  “Yes we can! Wait until it attacks, then smoke its ass.”

  “Wait how long?” she demanded. “An hour? A day? We don’t know how many of those things there are.”

  “It does appear to be an animal,” Dr McInness said. “And you do have weapons.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve got to see it, to kill it,” Timer said, aiming his special into the darkness and touching the firing surface, but nothing happened. “This thing can’t hit shit in the dark!”

  “You have to aim it at a viable target first,” Dr McInness said, “Unless . . . there’s something inside the ship affecting its targeting system?”

  “So I can nuke a freaking tank,” Timer said, “but can’t hit a dog’s ass?”

  “Quiet, both of you!” Vamp snapped. “We’re going! Listen for its footsteps. Timer, if it gets close, start shooting. I can aim by the flash of your special.”

  Not waiting for an argument, she started along the wall toward the endless darkness. They hadn’t gone far when another heavy metallic clang vibrated through the superstructure, reminding them somewhere, repairs were proceeding.

  “Why don’t they turn the freaking lights on?” Timer growled as he strained to penetrate the darkness closing in around them.

  “They’re obviously short of power,” Dr McInness suggested.

  “That’s not all they’re short of,” Vamp said. “This place has been scrubbed clean.”

  “Automated systems probably keep the ship spotless.”

  “God damned obsessive compulsive aliens!” Timer declared.

  Vamp stopped, realizing the unbroken darkness ahead was not a power failure, but a dark wall blocking their path. “It’s a dead end.”

  “Now what are we going to do?” Timer asked uneasily.

  Dr McInness stepped past Vamp and ran his hand over the wall to the floor. “It’s recessed into the deck. I don’t think it’s a wall. It’s more like . . . an air tight door. It seems to run all the
way across to the other side.”

  “I knew it! We’re trapped like rats!”

  “Shh,” Vamp said, listening.

  “Come on you mother!” Timer yelled at the darkness. “Here I am. You want a taste of me, come and get it!” He said aiming his special at shadows, waiting for it to sense a target and fire.

  “Quiet! . . . Listen.”

  In the silence, they heard a barely audible dripping.

  “Water?” Dr McInness said surprised.

  “Even the plumbing leaks on this tub,” Timer said. “No wonder they crashed!”

  “Come on,” Vamp said as she started along the air tight door toward the sound.

  Dr McInness kept close to Vamp while Timer watched for any sign of the creature. Timer kept waving his special at the dark, pressing the firing surface, but with its tracking system unable to find a target, it refused to fire. The sound of dripping water grew as they moved toward the center of the deck, then they became aware of the whisper of rushing water. Soon, they found a large black mass jutting out into the air above their heads. Before Vamp could investigate, a wild screech sounded nearby as the predator’s maddening hunger overpowered its stalking instincts. She turned and tossed her last flare into the darkness, towards the sound of claws scrambling against the metal deck as the creature struggled vainly for grip. On the soft muddy soil bordering the waterways of its homeworld, those claws would have propelled it forward faster than any terrestrial animal. Against hard metal, it slipped and slid partially out of control as it charged towards them.

  The flare soon revealed a dark mass racing toward them. Vamp had an impression of shark’s teeth, sharp and triangular, jutting from dark red gums, framed by a streamlined snout and thin lips that were pulled back in a ferocious snarl. Above the overly wide mouth were two almond shaped black eyes and tough scaly skin polished smooth for speed through the water. Behind the head, thickly muscled shoulders curved down to powerful forelegs and webbed feet, each foot sprouting a single, yellow claw as thick as a knife blade. Behind the mighty forelegs, the body sloped back to a short tail and two thin, weak looking hind legs. She knew at a glance the creature’s strength was concentrated in its massive shoulders, and its killing power in its claws and teeth. The forelegs could lock onto its prey with their hook claws, while the teeth ripped its victim apart.

  Timer pointed his arm at the creature, finally giving his midget a recognizable target. The special’s plasma bolts sliced through the creature’s enormous shoulders like butter, while Vamp’s burst from her M16 drilled three neat holes through its thick skull. Its forelegs folded beneath it as it split in two, sliced in half by Timer’s special. Dead before it hit the deck, both pieces slid toward them, narrowly missing Vamp before slamming into the massive door behind her.

  “Man, that’s one freaking ugly space dog!” Timer declared.

  “Amphibian,” Dr McInness corrected. “Webbed feet.”

  He stepped forward to examine the animal’s head, but Vamp caught his shoulder and pulled him back. “No way, Doc.”

  “But this is a creature from another world.”

  She stepped toward it cautiously, aiming her rifle at its head. “I don’t care if it’s the creature from the black lagoon, it just tried to eat us.” She jabbed the point of her gun into the side of its jaw, triggering an automatic nervous response that caused its jaws to slam shut. “Even dead, it’s dangerous. You’re not touching it.”

  Dr McInness looked at the creature’s teeth with renewed respect. “OK. No touching.”

  “No touching?” Timer repeated thoughtfully. “Reminds me of my first date with Betty Sue.”

  Dr McInness ignored him, studying the creature from a safe distance. “It’s not a tool user. Its head is mostly bone, very little intelligence, but a highly evolved predator. It’s probably deadly in or near water.”

  “It’s pretty freaking deadly on land,” Timer said.

  Dr McInness brightened. “Their homeworld must have a lot of water to produce a species like this!”

  “So what’s this ugly son of a frog doing here?” Timer asked, feeling better now that he’d shown it who was boss.

  “I can’t believe it’s a guard dog. That makes no sense.”

  “Worry about it later, Doc,” Vamp said. “Let’s get out of here. There’s at least one more of those things out there somewhere.”

  She led them towards the dark mass that loomed above their heads. The fading flicker of the flare illuminated a large black vehicle, pinned between two blast doors which had slammed shut from either wall. The vehicle must have been airborne when the doors hit it, suspending it above the deck. It was over twenty meters long, ten across, ovoid in shape with a streamlined hull. It showed no windows or hatches, while mounted on the gently sloping bubble that filled its upper side were two bulbous turrets sitting side by side. Each turret mounted a stubby, forward facing cylindrical shape. Incredibly, the two massive doors had not crushed the vehicle.

  “If that’s not a tank,” Vamp said suspiciously, “I’ll eat broken glass.”

  “Looks bad ass to me.” Timer agreed as he lifted his special and fired at the bottom of the vehicle. The plasma blast struck its hull harmlessly, then he stepped forward and felt it. “Not a scratch.”

  They exchanged knowing looks, then Vamp slipped beneath the tank, between the air tight doors. They were more than two meters thick and weighed thousands of tons, yet they’d been unable to crush the vehicle. On the other side, she found a metal bulkhead had fallen from the ceiling, and now rested against the rear of the tank and the deck, leaving only a narrow passage between the bulkhead and the blast doors. She inched her way between the two, toward a sliver of light which marked the way ahead. Dr McInness and Timer edged after her, with Timer keeping careful watch to ensure the second amphibian predator didn’t take them by surprise. The closer to the sliver of light she got, the louder the sound of rushing water became. She realized the acrid atmosphere they’d been breathing since the cave-in had become humid, less irritating, with a hint of eucalyptus.

  When she reached the sliver of light bordered by the jagged edge of the fallen deck, she paused cautiously. A large condensation droplet splashed down near her boot, drawing her gaze upwards to a vast tunnel of destruction blasted through dozens of decks above. The wrecked decks were blacked out, except for a few flickering lights and sparks from short circuiting power conduits. The edges of the decks were charred and ringed with silver stalactites formed from molten metal which had run like water down shredded bulkheads before cooling. Crowning the carnage was the exit hole high above. Sunlight filtered by the shield dome poured through the hole, illuminating a tiny maintenance drone feebly attempting to make repairs. The drone had a pole-like body topped by a conical coolie hat and four tentacled arms located a third of the way down the pole. The brim of the coolie hat glowed from the propulsion field that kept the machine aloft. Its slender shape allowed it access to any space in the ship while its flexible arms could operate a vast array of machines. Two of the drone’s arms held cutting torches whose tips burned a dazzling white, while the other arms secured the twisted metal it worked on. As the torches sliced through ruined decking, streams of white sparks rained down onto the shattered decks below.

  Just one repair unit? Vamp wondered, shocked by the scale of the disaster and the pitifully small repair effort. To have any chance of dealing with so much damage, swarms of repair drones would be needed.

  Vamp moved towards the sliver of light, about to step out from behind the fallen deck when a high pitched amphibian screech sounded close by. She froze as a frenzy of shrieks erupted in reply, then she threw a look back at Timer and Dr McInness, commanding silence. When the bout of screeching died down, she inched forward for a better look, being careful not to reveal herself.

  A wisp of fresh air washed over her face as she caught a glimpse of a yawning chasm beyond the fallen bulkhead. Just a step away, the deck ended above a jagged hole in the triple armored hull. S
itting on the far side of the hole were five of the amphibian predators. Vamp leaned forward until she could see down into the hole. It was filled with gray, ash-choked water that slowly swirled in a vast whirlpool fed by the river outside. Metal shards speared into the gray waters while on the far side, a charred tree trunk lay pinned against tangled metal. Many more amphibians swam in the pool, some diving into the depths, others splashing on the surface. Occasionally, one creature would pass too close to another and be greeted with an angry screech of warning. If the warning was ignored, the threatened creature would surge up out of the water and swipe one of its clawed forelegs at the other, forcing it to dart out of reach or fight for its life. The warning shriek would start the others screaming briefly, then after a while, the ruckus would die down.

  One of the creatures surfaced with the rotting corpse of a crocodile in its mouth. It sped across the water to the fallen bulkhead Vamp cowered behind, surged out of the water and began tearing at the crocodile’s stomach. Immediately, other creatures swarmed toward the carcass, knocking each other aside to get at the rotting meat. One of the creatures was clawed in the scramble, and once bleeding, was set upon by the others, now in the grip of a wild feeding frenzy. In moments, the rotting crocodile and the bleeding creature were stripped to the bone.

  Vamp crept back behind the bulkhead and whispered to her two companions, “There’s a hole in the ship. It’s full of water and dozens of those creatures. All starving!”

  Timer gulped. “Can we get through?”

  She shook her head. “There’s too many to fight. They’re so hungry, they’re eating each other. If they saw us, we’d be dead.” She pointed to the fallen bulkhead they hid behind. “They’re using this deck like a ladder into the pool.”

  “That explains why the cargo hold is empty.” Dr McInness whispered “Explosive decompression. The air tight doors closed when the hull was breached.”

  “We’ll have to go back,” Vamp said.

  Timer looked incredulous. “Are you crazy? At least there’s light out here. Who knows how many of those things are back there in the dark.”