Harbinger

by Stephen Christiansen

  Cleo spun back around and fired off a couple more rounds in the other direction. Again the air rippled with raw power. Again the sound reverberated across the metal hall. Again the aliens flew backwards.

  With a second spin back to her original spot she let loose a couple more blasts. The result was the same, with one exception. The creatures were closer than when they had started. She then realized that either she would run out of charges on this sonic blaster or she would run out of time. Either way, the result would be the same. They would all end up like Bruce.

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  Vincent got off a couple more rounds and blew a few more of the squids into oblivion. However, it was no use. He was going to run out of rounds before he ran out of targets and that was if he wasn’t overrun first. If he could only hold out for a moment longer; he needed to buy Eric the time that was needed. But was it going to be enough?

  Chapter: 30

  The hissing sound of acid cut through the air. There was no mistaking the sound. There was no mistaking the horror. One of the space squids must have dropped upon him and started to eat through his skull, there was no other reason why it was so loud. He braced for the pain and agony to kick in as he took a few more shots. He was going to take down as many as he could before he…

  Nothing. There was no pain, no agony. There was screaming and it was coming from him, but it wasn’t out of trauma, it was out of battle rage in an attempt to dull whatever pain he thought that he might feel. However, if the hissing sound of acid wasn’t the result of one of these creatures eating him alive, then where was it coming from? Then he saw it.

  The broken conduits and pipes that ran along this section started to expel its contents at a more rapid rate than it had only a few moments prior. Coolant started to flood the area.

  At first there seemed to be no effect. The space squids kept coming and if Vincent could guess, they came on stronger than before. They had sped up and their bodies started to turn a bright red. Vincent’s heart sank. They had failed. The only reason why the Dagons had moved away from the coolant was, not out of discomfort, but out of a mere coincidence. They had gambled on a theory and they had lost. They were out of options, out of time and ...

  Then, slowly at first, yet noticeable, the alien forms started to change. The deep red color of their bodies started to fade. It dulled to an orange, then yellow, green blue and then finally purple.

  As their coloring shifted hues, there was another change. The space squids started to slow. Their reflexes had dulled and they became easier to hit. Their movements were greatly decreased and they weren’t able to approach as fast. By the time their bodies had turned purple, the aliens had all but come to a complete stop.

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  The corridor started to fill with a hissing sound, a sound that brought terror to Cleo, Tracy and Richard. This was the same sound that they had heard back in the cryo chamber room. This was the sound of acid eating away metal. This was the sound of death approaching. The three of them waited for the scream of pain and anguish that would follow the scream that one of the others were going to give. It never came.

  Instead of a horrible wail of agony, there only came a fog that seemed to come out of nowhere. Then, it was realized that it was coolant from leaking conduit pipes. The ship was losing the precious liquid that would keep it from overheating its systems.

  Tracy screamed in terror. She was sure that ship was now going to blow. The craft had sustained too much damage among everything that had happened. Now it was stressed beyond endurance. Pipes were starting to burst and she was sure that the hull was going to be next.

  As Cleo turned one more time to blast another oncoming wave of the creatures, she ignored the venting of the coolant all around her. Tears of fear ran down her face. They were all going to die, yet she wasn’t going to stop shooting, she was never going to stop shooting.

  Another spin and Cleo came to the realization that the aliens were turning color, becoming darker with each time she turned toward the next group. Not only were they turning a darker hue from bright red to dark blue and then purple but their speed was becoming drastically reduced. Then it dawned on her. Yes, these creatures may be very adaptive but they still needed time to make that adaptation. Currently that adaptation didn’t include the cold.

  “The coolant! It’s slowing down the aliens!”

  The turn of events had brought courage flooding back into the three of them. What had been a hopeless case of certain death was now a time of rally, a call to arms, and a chance for survival that they all heard and all were all going to take.

  Tracy had turned her cries of horror into a battle cry. Her scream of rage was the only warning the Dagons had received that this woman had finally decided that she had enough. Tracy started to kick at anything that moved. Space squids started to fly off in all directions as she gave one kick after another. An octopus climbing on the wall next to her that caught her attention was violently grabbed and tossed down the hall. Another squid went flying in the other direction.

  Richard had followed suit. Although he wasn’t in the same emotional state that Tracy was in, he continued to hit, punch and kick his way through the mass that were not only showing signs of slowing, but seemed to be trying to get away.

  One look toward Tracy and the doctor’s medical evaluation of her had changed. The reason that Tracy wasn’t handling the situation well enough before was because she had gone into flight mode and there was nowhere to run. This was damaging to her psyche. Now she had found her courage. Now she had found her strength. Now, if they survived, Tracy would be able to find the emotional strength to deal with the PTSD that she would have.

  Cleo turned and took another shot. She hadn’t noticed how deep purple these creatures were turning until now. Now, they were almost black.

  As the shockwave of the sound blast traveled through the hall, the air rippled with its raw power, as it always had. The burst of sound slammed into the octopi; however this time it had a different result. Instead of simply pushing the pseudo pods with incredible force and having them bounce off of the walls with their rubbery bodies, the effects were now devastating. The aliens’ forms were now hard and brittle due to the extreme cold and as such they no longer had the ability to absorb or redirect the shockwave.

  Space squids shattered and exploded into shards of frozen alien body parts. Like broken glass, the frozen body parts were expelled in all directions leaving nothing but small fragments scattered across the hall. With a smile on her face, Cleo turned her blaster on every Dagon she could find.

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  Vincent gave a kick at another frozen squid. The Dagon exploded into a shower of small ice that sent pieces everywhere. This was probably the most satisfying experience that he had ever had with these squids and he was looking forward to scouring the ship in search of more just to continue.

  Vincent had stopped shooting the intruders as soon as he saw that these things stopped moving under the cold, venting coolant. There was no need to use up what few rounds he had left; who knew when he might need them again.

  The security officer was about to give another swift kick at yet another frozen space squid when a sudden and unexpected noise came from down the hall and around the bend. Vincent’s body went tense with anticipation. Before he even realized that he reacted, his muscle memory had brought up his plasma rifle and his stance had changed. Whatever was coming around the corner was going to be shot with extreme prejudice.

  ‘Damn,’ Vincent thought to himself.

  He knew that he had been so caught up in destroying this frozen alien octopi that the sound had caught him off guard. He also knew that he had just been lucky enough to get his weapon into the ready position, one more moment and the thing would have gotten the bes
t of him.

  “Vincent! Vincent! Hold your fire!”

  The familiar sound of Doctor Richard Atkins’s voice and his sudden appearance that he had made as he came around the corner was a relief. Vincent let out a huge sigh. The doctor would never know just how close he got from being shot.

  “I thought I told the three of you to stay here and guard this room. As it was, it ended up being critical to our survival. I didn’t sit here and tell you to do something just so I could listen to my own voice and I didn’t tell you just so that you could go wandering off on your own. You have no military training and this is an active combat zone. We’ve been boarded by an alien species that wants to kill us. Not only could these creatures have gotten to you, but you could have been caught in crossfire. Why in the world did you leave your post?”

  “It’s...it’s complicated,” Richard started. He was about to explain the sudden turn of events, but he wasn’t sure if Vincent would take it as an excuse or would even believe him at all. Hell, he didn’t even believe it himself

  Tracy started to tear up. She had found her strength against the Dagons once they had become helpless and could no longer pose a threat to her. However, that strength was now shattered by Vincent’s tirade. There was no defense against this man and she really didn’t know how to deal with him.

  However, it was more than just his aggressive vocalization. Tracy felt guilt over the fact that something had come over her, something had taken over her emotions and had her chasing Cleo all over the ship. It was partly her fault that they had left the control room.

  Cleo took one look at Vincent who didn’t know what to say and another at Tracy who was too emotionally distraught to say anything. She knew and understood what they were feeling; she had felt it as well. It was guilt that came over her, shame that she couldn’t control her own body and this had led to potential disaster to the ship and what was left of the crew as a whole and a tragedy to Bruce as an individual. However, as much as she didn’t want to admit the lack of control aloud, she simply couldn’t stand by and watch as Vincent walked all over everyone when it wasn’t deserved.

  “It was my fault,” Cleo started. “Well, all of our faults. It was like someone had gotten into my head and scrambled my mind. It’s hard to describe, but…”

  Vincent put his hand up in the air as a sign for her to stop talking. At first she thought that he was going to be his usual horrible self and start to berate everyone again. Then he spoke and when he did it seemed to be more out of understanding although not necessarily out of compassion.

  “The Dagons have been known to have an adverse affect upon those that have gone against. It takes a great deal of emotional willpower to not succumb to them.”

  Cleo wasn’t certain if she had been given empathy or had been insulted. Perhaps Vincent simply didn’t know how to be sensitive; perhaps he simply didn’t know how to be a human being. Still, she wished that he would be a little less crass.

  “Were you able to find Bruce or is he still missing?”

  “Bruce found us,” Richard started. “He…”

  “He’s dead,” Cleo finished. She had felt it appropriate to mention his demise since she was the one who had found him. “Bruce sacrificed his life so that the three of us could escape.”

  Vincent let out a sigh. Bruce wasn’t a coward after all. However Bruce’s death was just one more person that wasn’t coming home on this trip. He wasn’t going to let any more of them die, not on his shift, unless he needed to pull the trigger himself.

  “Eric and I will sweep the ship and make sure that all of the bugs are taken care of before we tend to their ship still being attached to ours. I need the three of you to stay here and guard this room and this time I need you to stay.”

  Vincent didn’t just want to make sure that they didn’t have any stragglers still left, but he wanted to check up on his cargo and make sure that it was still intact. He would only give a brief look at the container while making sure that Eric was otherwise busy. From there he would decide what to do next and where the Harbinger should go.

  Chapter: 31

  “We have an intruder.”

  All eyes looked upon Vincent as if he were insane. They had already come to the conclusion that he was a difficult individual to reason with but now they were positive that he had gone off the deep end. There was no one here besides them.

  “If you are referring to the ‘space squids’,” Eric stated. “We already know about them and have dealt with them. You and I have swept this ship from top to bottom and I didn’t see anything else besides frozen aliens. Unless there’s…”

  Vincent put his hand up to stop Eric from interrupting him. Eric’s evaluation of the invading aliens was correct; those that they had found were still frozen and were dealt with immediately. However, Eric really had no idea what he was talking about. This had nothing to do with the Dagons.

  “I’ve had an opportunity to look over everyone’s personal charts.”

  “Hey! You have no right…” Cleo announced.

  “I’m chief of security and the only member of this ship’s crew still alive. That makes ME captain and that gives ME every right. Do I make myself clear?”

  Vincent’s voice had increased in power and volume. His tone became pointed. He had crossed the distance between himself and Doctor Swanson and had gotten into her face.

  Cleo was almost in tears but was too afraid to cry in front of this man. She was sure that he would find it a show of weakness and an insult. She was already stressed beyond anything she had ever known and had ever prepared herself for with the invasion of the creatures and the several deaths that have happened. Now Vincent was pushing her to the breaking point. Her body started to quiver and she was sure that she was going to lose it right then and there.

  “Vincent!”

  Eric’s voice cut through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

  “Leave her alone. If you have something to say, then say it.”

  “Fine! I’ll tell everyone here what I found. I found out that one of us isn’t who we are supposed to be. Isn’t that right Doctor Leach? Or should I say Ms. Carter?”

  “Wait…” Richard stopped the conversation before it went any further. “As in Tracy Carter? Daughter of Senator Carter?”

  “The one and the same, daughter of Dagon loving scumbag that’s sitting in his senate office right now,” Vincent answered for the woman, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

  Everyone turned to Vincent for clarification.

  “Senator Carter believes that we can have peace with the Dagons, and that they are just misunderstood and once we find a way to communicate with them then the attacks will stop. Well, frankly I don’t care what that S.O.B. says, I’ve lost a lot of good buddies to those space squids. There’s nothing that anyone can say or do to make me believe that the Dagons are anything but worthless, poor excuses of life forms that need to be squashed out of existence.”

  “Anyway, that explains why she can’t hold it together. She never did her psych exam.”

  “What psych exam?” Tracy asked with trepidation.

  “The one we all take before a mission like this to make sure that we are up to it. THAT psych exam. The one that would have weeded you out of our mission, the one that...” Vincent’s accusation was now proven to be accurate.

  “Tracy...is this true?” Richard had turned to the woman and wanted to hear it from her before completely believing what was being put forth.

  Tracy was caught between her emotions of being scared and embarrassed. She didn’t know what to say or do.

  “How could you?” Doctor Atkins shouted toward Tracy. “You’re not even a real doctor are you? I’ve spent years in medical training and have gone through countless physical and psychological training sessions to prepare myself for this mission, we all have, and you simply use your political connections to bypass everything? Tell me I’m wrong!”

  Tracy’s silence only seemed to confirm the accusation that was toss
ed at her.

  “Why?” Cleo screamed at Tracy. “Why would you do this? Why would you…?”

  “You’ve seen what Earth is like!” Tracy’s voice was filled with anger as tears were rolling down her eyes. “The pollution, the violence, the corruption! Earth is falling apart. I can’t live there anymore. No one can. I want off.”

  “That’s why we are sent on these missions,” Richard blurted out. “We were sent to find planets to make them more habitable for people so we can move there. You don’t get to jump to the head of the line and leave Earth before everyone else does simply because your father is a rich senator.”

  “Our team was specially designed and handpicked,” Cleo added. “We needed a meteorologist to understand the weather patterns and design weather changing machines to help make the atmosphere breathable, or tone the winds down, or whatever our meteorologist did. Now, we don’t have one. You’ve screwed this mission up with your selfishness.”