Frontier's Shadow: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 3), page 10
Twenty-Three
Alien Ship
Jason led Aly and Althaus through the zoological bay, getting as far away from the bridge as possible. They ducked and weaved through the drifting animals and continued into a familiar set of corridors which led back to the Julieanne.
No one said a word, but Jason knew they were all thinking the same thing.
What the hell was that creature up there?
And though they hadn’t seen what the being looked like, the force with which it had pounded at an almost impenetrable door sent a shiver down his spine.
And that sound…
“So, what do we think?” Aly asked them, nearly out of breath. “That beast must have been from one of the zoo enclosures, right?”
“I guess so.” Jason led them around a corner. “It would explain what’s happened here.”
“None of the other animals have wounds the crew have, though,” Althaus said.
Jason raised his eyebrows. “It didn’t attack the other animals…”
“Surely if an animal escapes, especially one of such destructive nature, it would strike at anything in its path.”
“What are you saying? That it understands the crew were its captors?”
“Perhaps.”
Jason clenched onto his rifle out of reflex. “If that’s the case, it may be more intelligent than we think.”
“What we saw might explain the debris, too,” Aly added. “If the animal’s strength is anything to go by, it’s reasonable to assume it was the one that swatted the hull and sheared a hole in the side of the vessel.”
Jason nodded. “The exposure to the vacuum of space would’ve blown the ship off course and created all kinds of issues, knocking out the vital systems including gravity, climate control, and life support.”
Althaus stopped at the end of the corridor filled with the massacred crew, which signaled they were close to the Julieanne. “And we know it can live in the vacuum of space…”
Jason sensed an itch on his wrist beneath his suit. The radiation inoculation was wearing off. “Let’s keep going.”
He kept Aly close to him as they proceeded down the gauntlet to the transport pod. At the end, a twisted mess of metal blocked their way. Jason did a double take. “We did come this way, didn’t we?”
Althaus tugged at the debris of broken bulkheads and hard wiring all meshed together in an immovable barrier.
“I can guarantee you of that.” Aly glanced back at the corridor of bodies they’d strolled through.
Jason went to Althaus’s side and helped him in his feeble attempt to unblock their path to freedom. “You don’t suppose the beast did this?”
Althaus eyed him. “It’s the only other thing alive on the ship.”
Jason yanked some metal cable from it and uncoiled it. “It’ll take forever to pull this down.”
Aly pointed to the opposite end of the corridor. “We could go to the deck below and find another way up from there.”
“Sounds like as good a plan as any.” He threw aside a small chunk of debris and led them on their way.
“Do you guys hear that?”
Aly put her hands on the bulkhead. Though it was more of a vibration than a noise. Althaus and Jason looked at her as if she were going crazy. She’d have thought the same if it wasn’t for what she’d seen on the alien ship’s bridge.
Jason motioned for her to keep moving, and they walked into yet another dark corridor. More blood painted the walls, and more body parts bounced around like pinballs against the bulkheads.
I don’t remember signing up for this.
Aly chuckled to herself, realizing she hadn’t signed up to anything. Jason had made the call for all of them. It had been his decision that flung them hundreds of light-years from home. She couldn’t fault him for it. She wanted Tyler back as much as anyone else, but it felt like whenever they got a break, everything went wrong.
Who knew we’d have to contend with monsters in the dark?
A wailing scream echoed around them. The familiar sound of their stalker edged closer, and the deck rumbled with its movements.
“I told you I heard something,” she said to the two men.
“Come on, Althaus,” Jason teased their elder. “Pick up your feet.”
They ran as quickly as they could through a large set of doors. The beast’s screams only got louder. Not only was it strong, but fast as well.
Throughout the room, banks of computers surrounded three spheres hovering at the center of the complex.
“This is the engine room.” Aly moved toward the spheres. She assumed they acted as the vessel’s power core. Along one was a large crack. “Seems we’ve discovered the source of the radiation leak.”
Jason and Althaus were too busy heaving the door closed to care. Neither had any luck budging it. Aly considered the problem more intelligently and peered around the room for a control panel. She found what she was after and pushed at the controls, but nothing worked. She yanked off its casing and checked inside.
“Anything?” Jason asked her.
She plunged her hand back in and fiddled with the green-colored circuitry. Before she could reply, the deck rocked from side to side as the creature closed.
Beyond the door at the end of the corridor, a soft white light emerged.
“Holy crap!” Jason’s jaw dropped.
Aly probed around for a small latching mechanism but found nothing.
From the darkness, the beast prowled toward them. Aly moved her eyes from the panel and stared at the fluid, milky-white shape squeezing its way through the corridor. It had no body; instead, it was a mess of tendrils. And it was huge. She hadn’t seen anything like it. Not even in her worst nightmares.
The creature shrieked again. Its tendrils shook, and the ship shuddered.
“What do you think that is? Some kind of war cry?” Aly wondered.
Jason glared at her. “Aly, that door now, please!”
Even with all her knowledge, the systems of the vessel were so vastly different to anything she’d worked on. And what she’d done to seal the doors on the bridge wasn’t working in the engine room.
Jason and Althaus stepped backward and readied their rifles, taking aim at the looming danger.
Aly grabbed hold of a thick cable. It led from behind the panel and through the bulkhead. She followed its likely path around the engine room to another panel.
Jason nodded at Althaus. “Fire!”
They fired a spray of bullets in the beast’s direction. But it only seemed to piss it off. It howled out even louder than before.
“Again!” Jason yelled.
The sound of gunfire echoed around them.
Aly ripped open the other junction box and grabbed at its innards. The thick cable came to an end next to a small mechanism.
“The bullets are passing right through it!” Althaus boomed as he and Jason backed up farther.
Aly grabbed a micro-screwdriver from her belt and used it to press the mechanism in.
Got it!
A tentacle shoved through the hatchway, but a bulkhead rapidly dropped from the ceiling. The creature yanked back its limb just in time.
Jason rushed toward her with relief all over his face. “An emergency bulkhead?”
Aly rubbed her itching hand. “When I realized there was no power to close the door, I found a failsafe mechanism to shut the bulkhead. The bonus is, it’s denser than a normal door.”
The beast screamed from the other side and pounded one of its limbs into the alloy, leaving a healthy indentation.
“That may be so,” Althaus said, joining them, “but it’ll get through eventually. We have to return to the Julieanne.” He showed them the radiation indicator on their suit. They were down to thirty minutes until lethal exposure. “We’re fighting the clock now, too.”
Twenty-Four
Cargo Ship Argo
Kione sat at the operations station getting used to the controls. With three key members of the Argo’s crew on the alien wreck, Kevin Rycroft had drafted him in to the cargo ship’s service. He always relished a new challenge, and while the software was so basic a child could operate it, he enjoyed it, regardless.
What he wasn’t enjoying was the fact his friends hadn’t returned from the downed vessel. As Captain Vorholan had warned, they were now in terrible danger.
While Kevin remained calm, he no doubt had many emotions swirling inside him. Kione could only imagine what he must be feeling with Alyssa over there.
At the systems station, Marissa Caldwell wasn’t hiding her emotions nearly as well. Kione didn’t know what the status of her relationship with Jason was, but she was deeply worried, nonetheless.
He returned his attention to the scanners. Interference from the radiation made it difficult to ascertain anything on the planetoid. However, something did pique his curiosity above it. “I’m picking up a faint blip.”
Kevin jumped from his seat and joined him at the starboard side of the bridge. “Maneuvering the Argo closer to the planetoid seemed to have helped detect moving objects. Can you tell what it is?”
“No.”
“What about its location?”
“It’s heading away from the planetoid.” Kione stroked his chin. “Captain Vorholan’s scanners are better than the Argo’s. Maybe—”
“He can tell us what it is.” Kevin stepped to the captain’s chair and activated a commlink on the command console. “Argo to Captain Vorholan.”
With contact established, the Sansarak’s commander ordered his crew to check their scopes. “We’re reading it as a small craft.”
Marissa stood. “The Julieanne!”
“We can intercept if you’d prefer. We have—”
“Thank you, Captain Vorholan, but we’ll take care of this. Thanks for your help.” Kevin raced back to the helm and set a course.
The Argo pressed closer to the planetoid, and the Julieanne appeared ahead of them.
“That doesn’t look right,” Marissa said of the small transport pod’s course. “It’s drifting.”
“They might’ve taken damage,” Kevin pondered. “Perhaps they’re having issues with their maneuvering thrusters. Can you determine anything on the scanners, Kione?”
He glanced at the readings. “No. Still too much interference, even at this altitude.”
“And communications?”
“Same problem.”
Kevin steered the Argo in closer. “Okay, ready the grapple. We’ll pull them in.” He pressed in the intercom. “Doctor Tai, please report to the cargo bay.”
The doctor met Kevin and Marissa at the central elevator. They rode down to C Deck and hurried to the port-side airlock. Kevin activated the panel and waited for the airlock to pressurize. When the indicator went green, the door whooshed open. He peered through, expecting to see his daughter rush out into his arms, but instead the cool air of the pod’s climate control blew in his face.
“Alyssa?” He stepped inside. “Jason? Althaus?”
Marissa followed him over the threshold. “Anything?”
The cockpit and rear compartment were both empty.
Kevin grabbed the bulkhead and stared in Marissa’s eyes. “There’s no one here.”
Alien Ship
Conrad pushed through the broken floor panel and heaved himself upward. The twisted metal barrier appeared on one side, and the airlock on the other.
He stood, feeling the creak of his old knees and gave Jason a hand up. Alyssa followed, and Conrad moved toward the airlock and peered through the small viewport beside it. The Julieanne was gone. His head fell, and he slammed his fist against the bulkhead.
“Althaus?” Jason approached and looked out the viewport himself. “What the hell?”
Conrad stared up at the ceiling as if hoping some form of divine intervention would help them. He’d never been a religious man, so didn’t count on any help from above.
The blood from Alyssa’s face drained. “Could that creature have done this?”
Conrad knew it in his bones that it had. And, right on cue, its horrific scream resonated from the deck below them. “It’s broken through the engine room bulkhead.”
“Without the Julieanne—”
“There’s no hope of escape.”
“Let’s just calm down,” Jason said. “Kevin and the others will figure out a way to get us back.”
“By then we’ll be fried by the radiation.” Conrad checked his rifle. “That’s if that thing doesn’t get us first. Without any ammo…”
“It won’t do much good, anyway.” Jason turned to Aly. “Any suggestions?”
Alyssa pondered while Conrad studied the airlock.
He put his hand on the panel and an epiphany washed over him. “I have an idea. But it’ll mean going back to the bridge.”
Twenty-Five
The trio returned to the bridge, and Jason ensured his boots were securely magnetized to the deck. He braced himself against a workstation while Aly and Althaus did the same.
It was all or nothing. If their plan didn’t work, they were likely dead. He glanced over to Althaus who tapped away at the small handheld device in his palm. “Are you ready?” he asked him.
Althaus didn’t answer, and Jason peered at the detonator they’d planted on the viewport at the bow of the bridge. “Althaus?”
“Ready.”
Now it was just a matter of time. If the rest of the day was anything to go by, the beast would be upon them in moments. Jason checked the smaller hatch they’d taken the last time they’d fled the bridge. He hoped they wouldn’t need to use it again.
“Do you hear that?” Aly said.
Jason eyed the emergency bulkhead she’d sealed over the main hatchway. “No.”
“Exactly. That thing wasn’t that far behind us. It should be here by now.”
“With the emergency bulkhead active, it must realize we’ve holed ourselves up in here. I doubt it stopped for ice cream along the way.” Jason demagnetized his boots and walked toward it, putting his hand on the metallic surface.
Then the deck beneath him shuddered, and the scream of the creature wailed out from beyond. But it didn’t come from where he expected.
They all glanced at the other exit and their only avenue of escape. One of the creature’s lengthy white tendrils burst onto the bridge. Followed by another. It squeezed its entire mass through the tight space and revealed itself in all its ghastly stature.
The beast howled out, jangling every bone in Jason’s body.
Oh crap…
He clutched his weapon while magnetizing his boots back to the deck. The animal moved slower than it had earlier, as if boasting at its prey before launching its final attack.
Jason darted his eyes toward Althaus who took out his handheld. “Do it!” he barked at him.
The tendril lunged toward Jason, coming within centimeters of his helmet. With the click of the button, the detonator activated, and the viewport exploded into a smattering of tiny glass shards. The oxygen atmosphere of the bridge blew the creature outward, along with anything that wasn’t nailed down. Its limbs flailed in the air like an octopus being thrown in a pot of hot water.
But just as it seemed they’d seen the last of the alien, a tentacle straightened and gripped the side of the wrecked viewport. It fought the forces of the depressurization and held on for dear life.
No…
Another tendril took hold, followed by a third. Jason knew there’d only be seconds until the bridge’s interior atmosphere was exhausted.
He gazed across at Aly, whose stare told him all he needed to know.
We’re boned.
The oxygen finally dissipated, and the beast climbed back onto the bridge, roaring at the top of its lungs.
“Well, we’ve pissed it off now!” Althaus grabbed Aly by the arm, and they crept their way to the rear of the command center, trying not to make too many sudden moves.
Jason demagnetized his boots and carefully stepped toward the door panel. The plan would need reworking if they wanted to extend their life by even a few minutes.
With the tug of a wire, the emergency bulkhead zoomed upward.
“Now!” Jason yelled.
The trio threw themselves out the hatchway into the corridor, and the emergency bulkhead came down, trapping the beast on the bridge.
“The thing just doesn’t give up,” Aly lamented.
“We can’t either.” Jason heaved the two of them from the deck. “Let’s keep going.”
He led them down the corridor, and they backtracked to the zoological enclosure. They weaved in and out of the gauntlet of dead animals, and at the end of the walkway, Jason stopped. “What the hell?”
An emergency bulkhead was down and locked in place. Aly got to work ripping open the panel and examining inside.
She instantly drew back her hand. “Crap!” The micro-screwdriver disintegrated in her hands, and she threw what remained of it onto the deck. “The junction’s been booby-trapped. I can’t open this bulkhead!”
“Damn that thing…” Jason wondered if it could be defeated at all.
Behind them at the other end of the walkway, the beast appeared. It batted one of the dead animals aside and prowled toward them.
The three backed up against the emergency bulkhead, and Jason frowned. “Well, guys, it’s been a blast.”
Twenty-Six
Jason went against all his better instincts and kept his eyes open. If he was going to die, he’d at least do it with some dignity.
The beast approached him first and lashed out with a tendril. But it didn’t strike him. Instead, it hovered in front of his face.
Jason’s heart skipped a beat. “I—”
“What’s it doing!” Aly mumbled beside him.
“How am I supposed to know?” Jason replied, waiting for the blood to pump back in his chest.
The creature’s focus continued onto Aly and then to Althaus. Its scream was replaced with a soft thrumming sound, which completely betrayed its monstrous appearance.
