by Saqib Sadiq
People inside were violently thrown about, some suffered minor injuries. The driver wasted no time in getting the vehicle in motion. He reversed gears and sped towards the tunnel openings. The infuriated being pursued its prey. This time a massive jolt was felt from the rear. It was attempting to corner the intruders.
“Watcha got on geo?” the exasperated driver asked his navigator
“Auxiliary tunnel at 2 ‘o clock.” came the tort reply. He gunned the engines and headed for the refuge. At this point making it to the main tunnel opening was too risky. Their best bet was to wait it out in a secluded area.
The speeding vehicle violently swerved to the right as it careened into the narrow opening. The auxiliary tunnel served as a storage depot once it was stripped of its geological treasures. Mining equipment strewn about the tunnel floor was shattered into splinters as the bulky vehicle made its way through. After a short distance the small tunnel ended. The driver hit the brakes hard. The sensor array’s tires locked into position and began to skid. The vehicle refused to stop as its tremendous mass and speed created too much momentum.
The tunnel wall loomed in front of the driver’s eye as it drew closer and closer. He sharply turned the steering wheel to the right. The vehicle grinded against the tunnel’s sides; the added friction helped in slowing down the speeding vehicle. With a softened thud it collided with the tunnel wall.
The bodies inside the mobile sensor array lurched forward as it came to a complete stop. A sudden silence enveloped the interior of the vehicle. The technicians were startled by the abrupt change. Their ears took a while to adjust to the deafening silence. They anxiously listened for any disturbing sounds from the being. They heard nothing except for the unrelenting pounding of their hearts.
CHAPTER
FIVE
The desolate halls of the space station gave Raza an eerie feeling. He was used to having them full of hurried people making their way to important places. Now, as his footsteps echoed off the dimly lit metallic floor, he felt gloomy.
The station had been in lockdown for the past four hours. All nonessential personnel were confined to their quarters. The only reason Raza, a drill operator, was allowed out was because he had religious clearance.
As a Muslim he should perform his five daily prayers in a congregation. Islamic law decreed a congregation to consist of 3 or more worshippers. Since five other Muslim men served at this mining space station they all decided, with the captain’s permission, to designate an unused crew quarter as their Masjid, a Muslim house of worship.
As Raza drew closer to his destination, he saw one of his faithful comrades showing his green clearance pass to one of Yamada’s officers.
“Looks good Ahmed.” Said the officer as he handed the pass back. “Just return to your quarters ASAP.” He said with a smile
“Will do!” the bearded man responded as the officer left to continue his patrol. He then turned to enter the Masjid; just then he caught sight of his Muslim brother. “Assalam-O-Alaikum!” he said heartily.
The gloominess Raza felt was instantly washed away; it was replaced by a warm sense of brotherly love and kinship. “Walaikum-O-Assalam!” he responded. They clasped each other’s hands firmly, smiling ear to ear. “Is the Fiza Al-Farghad out of alignment?!” Raza asked
“May Allah forbid it! I recalibrated it myself just a couple of days ago. I have compensated for the accelerated trajectory detected by C&C. This time, by the will of Allah, we won’t be praying in the direction of Novas Prime!!!” he let out a hearty laugh.
They both removed their footgear and entered the Masjid. Removing bedding and closets, so that a greater number of worshippers could pray in the interstellar Masjid had enlarged the crew quarter’s floor space.
Islam also decreed that while praying a Muslim should be facing the Kabah, the holiest Masjid in the Islamic faith. Back on earth people would use a compass to point them in the direction of the Kabah. In the far reaches of space this was not so easy. There was no convenient magnetic pole to tell you which way north was. And even if you knew which way Earth was you still had to triangulate the position of the Kabah.
When Muslim scientists saw their fellow man venture into space they didn’t want to be left behind, because of a religious technicality. After consulting with their scholars to better understand the subtleties of their problem, they began the task of constructing a device, which would help them locate the holiest house of Allah even in the deepest depths of space. The device they invented was named the Fiza Al-Farghad, meaning space compass.
While Raza and his faithful brothers prayed the other crewmembers whiled away their time in their quarters. Some betted their hard earned salaries, playing gambling games on the station’s public computer network. Others decided to satisfy themselves by watching dancing holo-images of scantily dressed women; while others washed away their boredom by decompressing their favorite alcoholic beverages.
Of course Cruchev had no time for such distractions. He was in his ready room trying to diffuse a diplomatic time bomb. His vid screen was tuned to the offices of Gemcore’s Premier Chairman. “I understand that production needs to start up right away. But-”
“No buts Cruchev. Now! Means, Now!” replied a red faced image of a chubby cheeked man.
Nicolai put on his most diplomatic smile as he faced the vid screen “The safety of our Men has been compromised. We need more time.”
“I decide what you need!!! And you need to send a fully loaded Freighter Craft to my Space-Port, this instance!!!”
Cruchev carefully chose his words “With all due respect Sir, the Men are frightened they don’t want to enter the Mines.”
The Chairman’s face showed disgust “I don’t care! Send them in by gunpoint, God Damn it! Why do you think I gave you a security detail?”
Nicolai remained silent obviously General Walker wasn’t thinking straight, he thought. But the disgruntled man’s next words seemed well calculated.
“I am giving you an Ultimatum.” The portly man said with grim determination “If you don’t have the guts to send your men into harm’s way, I’ll find someone who does.”
Nicolai tensed up “Sir there’s no need for that. Just give me 4 hours top and I’ll have production up right away.”
Walker threw his hands up in the air in utter frustration “Wrong Answer Cruchev!!! I want you to get your sissy ass off of my space station, right this instance!!!”
The captain was stunned; he sat motionless not believing what was just said. Walker pressed on “Are you getting me Cruchev?”
“Yes sir, I am getting you.” he reluctantly answered
The large man was more relaxed now, he sat back in his chair and continued, “I am glad we have an understanding…you know I was expecting something like this would happen. You came across as a bleeding heart when I first saw you; what with your ideas of brotherhood and peace. They seemed out of place in our corporate culture and I thought a yuppie like you wouldn’t be strong enough to make tough decisions. But I assigned you to this post anyway. I figured you, being a hero in the space force, was just the thing we needed.”
Nicolai listened intently as his Premier continued speaking “But I don’t like putting all my credits on one horse, know what I mean?” He said as a cruel sneer crawled across his face. “That’s why as soon as you left for V-323 I started grooming your replacement.” The ruby man was satisfied with the grim expression he saw on his subordinate’s face.
“Colonel Ramsey will be arriving at your coordinates in 12 hours. He can be quite -er…persuasive when it comes to motivating men.” He chuckled cynically “He’ll be arriving with a contingent of well armed security personnel. I expect you to give them your full cooperation.” With that final altercation the vid screen went blank. An instant later the black screen displayed Gemcore’s jewel shaped logo.
Cruchev sat at his desk staring at the screen not believing what had just happened. Was Walker serious? Was he really goin
g to replace him? Nicolai knew a little about Ramsey’s reputation. Since they got the job done the top brass of Gemcore encouraged his ruthless ways.
Cruchev thought back to Jake’s broken body and the fear he saw in his men’s eyes. He was torn with emotion, on the one hand he was trained to follow orders and on the other hand he had a conscience that begged him to do the right thing. The captain leaned back in his chair resting his head on the soft leather. He thought about his next move as he stared at the ready room’s ceiling.
After a long while he leaned forward, the flexible chair straightened itself. He had come to a decision. Now he had only to put things into motion. After reciting a silent prayer he slid his right arm under his desk. His hand followed alongside the inner edge of the table. His fingers groped for the small device. “Ah here it is!” he thought as his fingertips registered a cool metallic touch. He felt for the indentation and placed an index finger in it. The device began scanning his fingerprints. Once the device determined that this was indeed Captain Cruchev’s index finger a soft hissing sound could be heard.
“I didn’t think I would have to open this,” he thought somberly. When the hissing stopped he knew the compartment had fully opened. He let his hand slip into the hollowed space. He felt around for the weapon, instantly his hand wrapped around a metallic object. He clenched it tightly and brought it to the surface of his desk.
His eyes swept across the chrome surface of the gleaming object. There existed only a few dozen of these energy weapons, the one he had been crafted using an experimental prototype. The weapon operated on recently developed technology that allowed you to fire a beam of high intensity light particles. Because of this the weapon was referred to as a Photonic Emitter.
CHAPTER
SIX
The powerful creature pierced through the liquefied rock with its thick pointy legs. Acidic spit, propelled from its mouth, caused more rock to dissolve. After burrowing through the tough material the creature’s stout body emerged into the auxiliary tunnel. If the celestial arachnid could sense acoustic waves it would know that the crew of the mobile sensor array was desperately trying to get out of the tunnel. Grappling hooks had been deployed and their whining gears attempted to pull the sensor array towards the tunnel opening.
The beastly body of the arachnid glistened in the dim light of the tunnel. The first layer of its body was made up of a thick and powerful exoskeleton. It formed a powerful seal over the soft flesh of the arachnid’s inner body. This natural protection allowed the celestial arachnid to survive the harsh vacuum of space.
Space bandits, who chose to cut themselves off of the resources of mainstream society occasionally, had to make use of the arachnid’s flesh. They would organize hunting parties to track down the creatures. Once caught the tough exoskeleton presented a challenge. However a barrage of concentrated heavy weapons fire did the trick. Once the arachnid was split open the tender flesh was theirs for the taking.
“Got something on bio.” The bio tech hesitantly reported
“Here we go again.” Mumbled a disgruntled tech
“Anything on Sonar?” asked another.
“Nothing” said the Sonar operator who had removed his headsets and had routed all auditory outputs to internal audio emitters. His ears were still recovering from the last encounter.
“So it can’t be the entity. Can it?”
The bio tech thought this over “Well these reading are far more condensed then the previous ones.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re dealing with something else.”
“Something else? What do you mean something else?” the tech looked forcefully at his colleague “What else can survive in this God forsaken place?”
“I think I know what it could be.” Said an engrossed tech, who was looking out of the side-viewing portal. They all looked over to the awe struck man. Their curiosity overwhelmed them as they gathered around to find out what was holding the man’s attention so completely. The mobile sensor array’s headlights cast a dim glow in the tunnel. It was enough to make out the steel gray fangs dripping with acidic saliva.
“Whoa! Ain’t she a beauty?”
“I’ve never seen one so close up.” Replied another astounded tech.
“Yeah, I thought they were a myth, till now” they all watched as the celestial arachnid crawled near the vehicle.
“The hull plating is still reinforced, right?” the worried tech got a few snickers.
“Don’t worry sweetie I won’t let it get you.” They all let out a hearty laugh.
After such a hazardous ordeal the crew began to relax. A sense of calm was taking over. Things were returning to normal again. “Well I am glad that it was nothing. I never thought something so ugly could bring such comfort.” A few techs smiled contently.
A soft humming sound could be heard inside of the cabin. “Looks like someone is getting into the spirit of things?” they all looked around trying to find who the jolly fellow was. When they couldn’t find the source of the humming they became concerned.
The sonar operator was the first to notice something odd about the sound. He quickly made his way to his station and intently watched his control console. His fingers danced over the console flicking switches and adjusting knobs. The humming turned into a moan. The joy the crew was feeling was instantly sucked out of their spirits. “But that can’t be I am not picking up a second Bio reading” the bio tech had already manned his post. A grim expression formed on his face.
Just then an unworldly scream was heard from the tunneling opening. The bio tech checked his monitor. Sure enough a wispy green cloud had appeared. “Retract Grappling Hooks! Cut the engines!” screamed the com officer to the driver. “We can’t let it know we’re here!” Seconds later the cabin was plunged into darkness. Their anxious faces glowed from the active console monitors.
The terrifying screams continued. Some people began to pray, asking for forgiveness for their sins. Through shallow breaths of air the bio tech watched as the readings drew closer to the sensor array’s position. He wished he had a weapon to use against the entity, something to defend himself against that vicious thing. Alas nothing of the sort existed; helplessness and despair took over the emotions of the science team. They waited for their imminent deaths.
The entity drew closer to the vulnerable vehicle. It retracted its body into a condensed ball of energy. It built up its power so that it could be released with a sudden burst upon its unsuspecting victim. With all its might the entity surged forward. Instantaneously the arachnid was hurled through the air. Apparently the science team was not the target.
The fierce creature skidded across the floor. It immediately spun around and began spraying acid aimlessly around. The entity easily bypassed the toxic sprays and moved in for the kill. The arachnid was thrown up against the wall. This time the enraged being did not release its grip.
Powerful electric pulses hammered the creature’s body. At first the helpless arachnid withstood the ferocious pummeling. But alas the glimmering exoskeleton could not take any more. Small factures formed on the hardened material. They slowly crawled across the surface. The electric pulses repeatedly rammed into the creature, the factures grew into cracks.
Grayish flesh peered out of the wounds and the creature let out piercing cries of anguish as the invading vacuum of space contoured its innards. The entity would not relent. The continued onslaught dislodged the arachnid’s acid sac from its socket. The sac dangled by a few tough tendons. A couple of well placed pulses severed the tough material and the sac fell to the tunnel floor in a gush of acid, as the sac membrane was ripped apart. Any rock that came in contact with the caustic substance dissolved into a bubbling mess.
By this time the hardy creature could not take anymore, its body grew limp it screams faded away. As the being concentrated its energy on the cracks chunks of flesh began dropping from the openings. Soon the entire exoskeleton laid in pieces the arachnid’s innards stre
wn across the rough tunnel floor. Upon realizing that there was nothing left of the celestial arachnid the entity released its grip, a fragmented spinal cord clattered to the ground.
The science team looked on in horror. They could not believe the ferocity of the attack. Some of the technicians were visibly shaken from witnessing the ghastly act. They slowly moved away from the viewing portal, their eyes spoke of the horror they had seen. A few techs lingered on gawking at the manhandled carcass; whispering amongst each other while pointing through the portal.
The atmosphere was tense with emotion. They feared that the entity would turn on them at any moment. The suspense was unnerving they needed answers. “What’s the status of the entity?”
“It’s still out there, hovering over its kill.” Replied the bio tech, his eyes fixated on his glowing console. A few more techs clamored around the console. The familiar green cloud was visible. According to the readings the entity was still taking no interest in the sensor array, which brought some relief to the stranded science team.
“What are these clusters?” an inquisitive tech asked as he pointed to the console. It displayed the familiar pattern of the entity, which resembled a wispy cloud, but this time there were concentrated areas of organic matter. The bio scanner showed them as condensed green lights in the cloud.
“I don’t know I haven’t seen these kind of readings before.” The bio tech consulted some additional information “But from what I can tell it isn’t moving.”
“Good! Hope it stays that way.” The wishful tech spoke to soon; the entity began the next phase of the kill. It allowed itself to gently descend upon its prey, like a silent fog enveloping its domain.
The eerily graceful motion startled the watchful technician “Dear God! It’s moving!” the bio tech exclaimed. The room became silent. Everyone feared the worst.
“Is it heading our way?”
“Not that I can tell.” Suddenly an excited voice came from one of the techs by the viewing portal.
