Fire Fury Frontier

by Amanda Rose

  “They’re breaking their way through the hull,” Zev said.

  “Everyone, we need to fend these things off, they can’t get in the ship. Stab them, shoot them, burn them, do whatever it takes to stave them off! I’m waking the rest of the crew,” Cain instructed and then led the charge out of the room.

  Vex stuck with Zev; he was the only person he trusted. Despite the precarious situation Zev was level headed and focused. They headed down to the engine room together. They could hear the other crew mates fighting off the tendrils, with the clanking of metal echoing through the corridors.

  When they got into the engine room Zev immediately checked the power readings, “61%,” he said, alarmed.

  “It has to be them. Your theory is right,” Vex affirmed.

  Zev nodded, and radioed the captain to let him know about the change, “Another 9 percent down, in less than an hour.”

  “Yena… of course. Alright, we’re doing our best to get them off. Do everything you can to keep them from getting into the engine room! If they get in there, we’re dead in space,” Cain said.

  “Good luck, Captain,” Zev said.

  The realization of dying in the void made Vex involuntarily throw up. He continued to dry heave after. His body trembled, and he felt a heavy dizziness. Zev helped him stabilize on his feet.

  “It’s OK, kid. Common, we need to arm ourselves, just in case,” Zev said and led the way to the locker room and used his key to open up a small weapons locker. He passed Vex a projectile rifle and took another for himself. Most of the weapons they’d brought used energy and plasma, making them utterly useless against these tendrils. He shut the locker and relocked it. They made way to get back to the engine room.

  Once they got back they set themselves up in a defensive position in the engine room, weapons ready. The loud creaking of the ship being pulled open resonated through the walls. Vex shuddered with every sound, dreading the one that would signal the first tendril penetrating into the engine room. He closed his eyes tightly and wished for it to all be a bad dream.

  Just then the hull breach alarm went off and yellow lights began to flash all over the ship. Vex’s eyes shot open and his heart raced.

  “Shit!” Zev yelled above the alarm.

  The engines came back online. Cain’s voice came in over the intercom, “They’re tearing the ship apart! All of you, get in a spacesuit immediately! I’ve resumed our course, full speed, to the Phoenix Galaxy. We’ll get through the hoard then get any of these leftover bastards off of our ship. The…” Cain was cut off as the loudest and eeriest sound of screeching metal came through the ship deafeningly, amplified by the intercom. Cain was sucked out into space through a massive breech. The intense suction from the breech could be felt all over the ship.

  “Hurry!” Zev yelled over the chaotic dissonance.

  As quickly, and carefully, as they could they made their way toward the cryo bay where extra space suits were stored. Once they were there they dressed as fast as they were able. Vex breathed a sigh of relief, surprised he was still alive. The ship shook constantly as they plowed their way through the field of tendrils. Vex looked to Zev, who was securing his helmet, “What now?” Vex asked.

  “Whatever we do we have to act fast, our suit’s oxygen reserves won’t last forever,” Zev said, then took a minute to think. “The captain said he set us on course again… I think our best option is to verify the course is laid in, and to set the computer to wake us up when we arrive.”

  “What about the tendrils?” Vex asked.

  “We can’t do anything about them out here, nothing is working,” Zev said pragmatically.

  “We can’t go into cryo with those things loose on the ship! You said it yourself, they’re consuming the power!” Vex said emphatically.

  “Get it together, kid! We’re in the middle of nowhere with nothing to fend them off with. Even if we cleared a few, we’re flying through an endless sea of them now, it won’t matter. This is our only chance of survival. Those things seem to have some self-awareness, so my guess is that they won’t completely drain the power. If it’s their food source they’ll keep it going,” Zev told him.

  Vex’s head was spinning. How’d this happen? Why did I sign up for this? he asked himself. He looked at Zev with distraught. “OK,” he said, feeling out of body.

  Zev nodded, “Good. I’m going to make sure everything is set with the ship. I need you to round up the crew and get everyone back to the cryo room.”

  The two men parted ways to set out on quickly setting their plan into motion. Vex had this horrible feeling that if he went into cryo sleep he’d never wake up again. He pushed it to the back of his mind; there was no choice after all.

  The ship had become what looked like a scene from a horror movie. Tendrils had burrowed in through the ceiling, walls, and floor. Their black-brown appearance made Vex feel nauseous. This is all your fault… if only you hadn’t ignored the proximity alarm and had looked more closely at the sensors! He felt a deep anguish pull at him.

  He found several crewmen fighting the tendrils to no avail. Zev had been right, they simply had no means onboard the ship to ward off these invaders. He told the men of the plan and they had hurried off to the cryo bay.

  Then the lights went out entirely. It was pitch black and he couldn’t see a thing. Vex stopped in his tracks when it happened, terrified of stepping on a tendril by mistake. He fumbled with his helmet until he got the flashlight working. Vex closed his eyes tight, wishing for it to all be a bad dream, but when he opened them nothing had changed.

  He made his way carefully through the ship and sent everyone back that he could find. He found a couple more crewmen who had been crushed to death and he cringed when he saw them. I’m so sorry, he thought as he looked upon them.

  Vex turned the corner in the hall to get to the last few rooms of the ship only to find one of the crewmen had been ripped to pieces by the tendrils. His legs, torso, arms, and head, all held by tendrils spread across the hall. Vex was paralyzed by the sight. There was blood everywhere. Bits of brain, intestines, and organs were floating in the zero-gravity environmemt, the blood droplets cascading in an arc; like a macabre art exhibit. His fear got the better of him and he turned and fled.

  Tunnel vision set in, and all Vex could think about was getting to the cryo room and getting into his pod as fast as possible. In his haste he missed his footing and tripped over a tendril on the floor. Vex screamed, imagining the torn apart man, and fearing the worst would befall him. He kicked the tendril on the floor with all the force he could muster before it could grab him, then scrambled to his feet and continued running without looking back.

  When Vex made it into the cryo room he was heaving to catch his breath. A cold sweat had broken out all over his body. He looked around and saw that most of the crew had gotten back safely and were getting into their pods. Zev was checking everyone’s pods to make sure there wasn’t any damage when Vex walked in.

  “Good to see you made it back safely. You checked everywhere?” Zev asked.

  “Yes,” Vex lied, unable to bring himself to tell Zev about the horror he’d uncovered and how he’d been too scared to check those last few rooms. “Did you find the captain upstairs?”

  “No, he’s gone. The breech, it was massive…” Zev sighed. “Alright, we shouldn’t waste time. Quickly get your suit off and into your pod. Remember we’re badly breeched, so exhale entirely before you take your suit off and then and quickly get into the pod. I’ll do the rest,” Zev told him.

  “Right,” Vex said. Just as he was about to take off his suit they heard the loud clank, clank, clank! of heavy footsteps from down the hall. Vex and Zev both looked to the door.

  “I thought it was all clear?” Zev questioned.

  “I, yes…” Vex felt caught but didn’t know what to say.

  The crewman’s footsteps got louder and were awkwardly spaced out. When the man arrived in the doorway they saw his helmet was broken, the faceplate sha
ttered, and rushed over to him. “It’s OK, we’ve got you,” Zev said, grabbing the man’s arm to help stabilize him. That’s when Zev saw the man’s face was devoid of color; the once blue skin was now a pure white, and his eyes were entirely black. Zev let go of the man and backed away, pushing Vex back too.

  “What’s wrong?” Vex asked.

  “I don’t know,” Zev said.

  Then it happened. Like a thousand needles pricking into their brains, images flashed in their minds. A deep guttural sound accompanied the images; whether it was a scream, or a war cry they couldn’t tell. The images appeared so fast they couldn’t make sense of them. The only thing they knew with any certainty was that the feeling behind them unmistakable; it was pure hatred.

  “Make it stop!” Vex yelled, the experience excruciating.

  Zev pushed through the pain in his head and ran full speed at the crewman and tackled him to the ground. Instantly the images and the sound ended. Zev tried to pull the man’s helmet off, but it was stuck. He turned the man’s head to the side and saw a tendril had burrowed through the helmet directly into the man’s brain. Instinct kicked in, and Zev used all of his strength to bash the back of the man’s head, and the tendril in it, onto the floor until the tendril had been emulsified. Then he pulled off the helmet, revealing the pure white skin.

  “What in Yena’s name?” Vex said when he saw the man.

  The back of the man’s head had been hollowed out by the tendril. “It was using him like… like some kind of puppet,” Zev said, disgusted.

  Vex rested his hands on his helmet, wishing he could put them on his forehead for relief, “My head is killing me,” he cringed.

  “Could you make sense of what you saw?” Zev asked.

  “No… just, it was bad. All of it. Death, pain…” Vex said trying to remember.

  “Yeah…” Zev said, perturbed. “Alright, common, time to get into cryo.”

  Vex undressed and got into his cryo pod. When the door sealed he breathed deeply. He stared out the plexiglass opening at Zev who was setting up the sequence on the control panel. Zev looked up at Vex before he turned it on, “See you on the other side, kid.”

  “See you there,” Vex said, wondering if they’d ever make it. Just then from the corner of his eye he saw the man with the white skin’s foot tremor. “Zev, look!” he called out, afraid.

  Zev turned around to see the body convulsing. Zev was starting to walk over to it when the dead man suddenly stood up and lunged toward Zev. “Fuck!” Zev yelled, narrowly dodging the man’s attack. Zev spun around and ran for his rifle which he’d set down across the room.

  Vex watched in horror, banging on the glass, feeling trapped. Zev grabbed the riffle and turned around to take aim, but the white man was too close. Vex could see another tendril sticking out of the crewman’s skull. They’re unstoppable!

  Zev wrestled with the crewman who seemed unnaturally strong. After an intense struggle he managed to kick the man back and fired a concentrated volley of bullets into his head, ripping his face to shreds. The man stumbled back and fell to the floor.

  Shakily Zev made his way back over to Vex. “Are you alright?” Vex asked, seeing how out of sorts Zev looked.

  “I’m… alive. Let’s put it that way,” Zev said, intending a joke to break the tension, but it fell flat.

  Zev was inputting the last few keystrokes on the computer and Vex’s pod was beginning to fill with cool air. Condensation started to form like a mist on the window. Just as Zev was finishing the sequence the crewman’s body began to move again, crawling along the floor. Vex could no longer see clearly through the window and didn’t notice anything was wrong until he heard the thud! when Zev had been pulled to the floor.

  “Zev?” Vex called out.

  There was no response, but he heard the fighting and the riffle go off again. Vex began panting heavily, What’s happening?! Vex could faintly see the shadowy outline of Zev’s hand reaching up to tap the panel one last time. The sequence was completed, and the pod was set into the final stages of initiating cyro sleep. Then the darkness overcame him, and he drifted into a sleep that would last hundreds of years…

  Chapter 17: Aftermath

  Vex stood before the Conclave stoically. A silence had befallen the room as he finished recounting the events from his expedition. Xan and Raiden had stood by Vex’s side throughout, listening as he told the tale. It wasn’t what anyone had expected and had left them all feeling chilled.

  “Thank you, Vex. That was quite the ordeal you lived through,” Zar said compassionately.

  Vex nodded, tears streaming down his face, “Yes… thank you. Whatever happened to the other ships?”

  “They’d been recalled,” Saaya told him. “It was deemed too risky to make such an extensive voyage until we’d improved on our technology. Captain Cain ignored the order.”

  Vex nodded to indicate he understood. The Speakers reviewed their notes from the events Vex had described. Raiden placed his hand on Vex’s shoulder while they all waited, and whispered, “Good job.” The touch of another being felt so foreign to Vex which made him cry even more, he was grateful to finally be home.

  “Now, Vex, you mentioned that engineer Zev was plotting the course to continue across to the Phoenix Galaxy, correct?” Ent queried.

  “Yes,” Vex said.

  “When our rescue team discovered your ship, it was locked on course for the Bastion. Did you actually see the coordinates entered?” Ent continued.

  “No, Zev and I went separate ways to prepare for the voyage. But Zev had told me when we met up again that the course had been input for our continued journey,” Vex explained.

  “When people fear death they always think of getting home to safety,” Zar said. “He was probably just embarrassed to tell you that he changed course for the Bastion.”

  “No, Zev wouldn’t do that! We saw how fast those things took apart our ship, we’d never risk bringing them back! Never! Especially not Zev,” Vex said with conviction.

  “Yet here you are,” Ouct said snidely. “You admittedly lied to a superior before. What’s to say you both didn’t agree to set course for the Bastion once you knew the captain had died? And reanimated corpses? The story is preposterous.”

  I sensed no deception from him, Ecoatay communicated.

  “Vex is right,” Raiden interjected, “when I shot at the ship it course-corrected. Those tendrils were flying the ship.”

  “How would they possibly know where the Bastion is? And why would they come here?” Ouct argued.

  “If I may,” Xan started, “those things have rooted themselves into all of the ships main systems. They may not appear dynamic, but they are sentient. The way they conduct energy, and react, I have no doubt they accessed the computer data in some way. As for coming here, I can only speculate that if they consume energy, and we have it in abundance at the Bastion, it was to seek out a substantial food source.”

  “That seems to line up with our knowledge so far. The scientists should have more information for us as they study them,” Zar said.

  A surge of panic swept through Vex, “Study them?! You didn’t destroy them all?”

  “It’s alright, calm down. The ships and debris from the explosion have been contained in a force field. We have brought back a few specimens to better understand these creatures,” Saaya informed him.

  “Didn’t you hear a word I said?! Those things will kill us all! They need to be incinerated immediately!” Vex yelled, outraged.

  “We’ve taken all necessary safety precautions,” Ent tried to explain.

  “It won’t matter! Oh Yena, not again,” Vex fell to his knees and sobbed. He was a broken man, plagued with fear and regret.

  “It’s been a long day. Vex, get some rest. Thank you,” Saaya said, excusing him. The attendant came in and escorted Vex out. Uneasiness set in on the room. “Xan and Raiden, as Zar mentioned before, we’ve read your reports. They seem to be congruent with Vex’s story.”

 
“If you want to know if he’s telling the truth, then yes. I believe everything he told us is what really happened out there,” Raiden said.

  A disturbing conclusion, but I agree, Ecoatay transmitted.

  “Suggestions?” Zar asked.

  “Well,” Xan began. “I think Vex may be right about incinerating the remaining tendrils, to prevent any mishaps. However, knowledge is our greatest strength. So, with extreme care, if our scientists can gather as much information as possible, and if we tractor out the debris further from the station for the time being, I think that’s our best option.”

  “Raiden?” Zar inquired.

  “I’d feel safer knowing they were all dead. But Xan is right, if we can understand them better we may have a defense against them if we need it in the future,” Raiden concurred.