Ceaseless Dark - Chapter 2

Original Artist: Shawn Poh | https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qdOQL

===

 

The problem, simply, is larger than many people

tend to realize. Space, and space travel, requires all

of the relevant resources to be carried with at all

times; or, at least, some measure of acquiring the

necessary resources. Ask your average layperson and

they will give you the big four: food, water, air, and

fuel. But existence requires more than that.

 

Any tool you will ever have, or the ability to fabricate that

tool, must be brought with you. You must bring clothes,

medicines, recreation...literally anything and everything

you would need to function both mentally and physically;

all of that must be shoved into a cramped, vehicle

with you as you shuttle through the dark. 

 

Imagine being forced to live in an apartment for 

years on end. Every door, window, every crack to the

outside would be sealed and you would have to live in

there without anything but telecommunications to the

outside. No physical, outside assistance of any kind.

 

What would you need to bring with you to survive 

for all of that time? 

 

- Captain Tatiana Botezatu, The Nagato 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

  

    The entire door gave way with a muted thunk that wasn't so much heard as it was felt through the reverberations of the environmental suit. However, thanks to the microgravity, the door didn't fall, but rather just began to drift lazily backwards away from them.

    "After you, little lady." Dunagan said with a wave of his hand.

    "Well, if lady's first, by all means." Colby shot back with a wave of her own hand.

    "Well now, don't mind if I do." he responded with a mock flip of imagined hair.

    The big man pushed off gently from where he rested near the door, floating into the hallway beyond, followed shortly thereafter by Colby. 

    The hall was pretty much what they were used to with these sorts of ships. Cramped with only enough space for the two of them to be side by side, drifting maybe a foot or two off the deck. Sleek, metallic paneling, thick, solid metal doors, big, bulky electronic doorpads and monitors, hardened polyglass lighting across the roof and floor, and clearly marked walkways, doors, and location designations in bright off-white paint that, without the century of exposure to the elements, would have glown in the dark with natural bio-luminescence.

    Everything was sturdy, built to last, and meant to survive and help the passengers survive deep space. No frills. No decoration. Just functionality and rugged durability.

    All about them, things drifted quietly in the dark. Random objects that found no rest due to the microgravity. A pen spinning in a constant, lazy circle. An old tablet that drifted near one corner of the hall. Someone's discarded hat, a UMC private's hat based on the designation on it, hovers just between them as they move. The dented remains of a steel coffee tumbler slowly bounces off one wall.

    "Spooky place." Merrick crackled out over the radio.

    "Eh, it ain't the worst place we've been too." Colby said with a non-committal shrug that the pilot on the other side couldn't see.

    "Still... gives me the creeps." she shot back.

    "And that's why you don't dive." Jameson's voice came through over the static of the radio.

    "Nah. Don't say that, boss." Dunagan replied with a smirk Colby could make out even through his darkened visor. "Give the little girl a chance. Next time, I'll fly and she can go with Colbs."

    "No fuckin' way." Merrick answered quickly.

    Half way down the hall, Dunagan and Colby stopped in front of the next door. Near identical to the one they just cut through, this door was labeled as 'EQUIPMENT STORAGE'. Glancing back the way they came, Colby could just make out 'ALPHA LAB' next to the sizeable hole in the metal that they'd passed through.

    "What? Don't think I'd make a good pilot?" Dunagan chided.

    "Dunagan, I don't think you could fly us a hundred kilometers through open space with the ship on autopilot."

    "Technically, that wouldn't be flying." Huli seemed almost to whisper through the static of the connection.

    "Look, all I need is a fancy hat and to sit in the squishy chair. No muss, no fuss." Dunagan blustered with a gentle wave of one hand. "Best damn pilot y'all have ever seen."

    Colby glanced down the hall to the flotsam floating about. After spotting her target, she hopped along the wall for a moment and snatched the old private's hat before returning and tapping the old piece of headwear against the chest of Dunagan's environmental suit.

    "There ya go, big guy." Colby said. "All your's."

    "Ah!" he almost squeaked with joy, a sound you wouldn't expect out of the wall of muscle that was the big man. "A fancy hat!"

    "And I'm sure we'll find you a squishy chair somewhere in here if we look hard enough." Colby returned as she pulled the plasma torch once again from her belt.

    "But is it Merrick's squishy chair?" he asked.

    "No, I guess not."

    "Well then I don't want that one. I want Merrick's."

    "It's my squishy chair, Dunagan." Merrick hissed out playfully. "All mine. You'll never get it."

    The blue-white flame ignited on the plasma torch, spurting and flickering with little flashes of white and gold trailing off its edges as Colby brought the tool up to the outside edges of the door. Instantly, the metal there began turning to a soft, molten putty beneath the torch's heat.

    "But see, I got the hat, Merrick. And you'll be on a dive with Colbs. There will be no one to stop me!"

    "Buhh." Colby could hear Merrick practically shudder through the radio connection. "No thanks. And, even if I did go on one of those deathwalks with Colby, someone could stop you."

    "No one could!" Dunagan repeated.

    "Huli could."

    "Here I thought you'd say Pascall." Colby commented, her focus on her work in front of her.

    "N-no. She's right. I'd just lock out your access to the command consoles." Huli said, her voice distant as she seemed to be thinking about it. "And probably my door after that. No, definitely after that. But, worst comes to worst, yea, I'd call Pascall."

    "They've got ya beat, Dun." Colby observed.

    "What am I being called for?" Pascall's thick baratone scratched out through the microphone.

    "It's nothing, Pascall." Merrick replied. "Just threatening Dun."

    "Dunagan?" Pascall asked, just the slightest hint of threat in his tone.

    "Alright, alright." Dunagan said, holding up his hands in defeat, though only Colby could see it. "I'll be good. But I'm keeping the hat!" he quickly added.

    "Love ya, Dun." Merrick chided.

    "Yea, yea. Say that all you want but you cheated bringing Pascall into this."

    "What can I say? I'm just a fan of the man with the high power sedatives."

    There were a few scattered chuckles throughout the radio feed, though, unsurprisingly, not from the doctor himself. Pascall was almost certainly more focused on some other project more interesting to him unless something drastic happened and the team had need of his services.

    "Got it!" Colby said as she finished cutting through the metal around the door.

    She stepped aside and, gingerly, Dunagan drew the slab of metal that was the door back out into the hall with them and set it to drift away down the hall to join the rest of the detritus. It was always easier to bring the doors to them versus trying to shove them into potentially small spaces like an unknown room. In this instance, it was definitely the right choice.

    Beyond, they found themselves in what seemed to be some sort of large, walk-in freezer. The walls were a thick, textured metal and several large vents could be seen overtop of three heavy-looking, industrial shelving units packed to the brim with assorted items.

    It's probably colder now then it ever was when the power was on. Colby mused.

    "What've got, guys? Can't quite make it out." Jameson asked through the static.

    Dunagan and Colby both drifted carefully into the room and started going through the stuff on the shelves. Plenty of it was basic lab equipment. Beakers, vials, metallic and plastic hand tools of every, shape, size, and level of precision. Cleaning supplies for every state of matter be it solid, liquid, or gas. Nothing more than they might find on in their own ship's haul.

    "Nothing interesting here." Colby announced.

    "Sucks to suck." Dunagan commented, causing her to glance over his shoulder, though the only thing she could make out were some sort of darkened polyglass jars.

    "Got something?" she asked.

    "Hey, Jameson." Dunagan asked, ignoring Colby's question. "What's the rule about pets on board, again?"

    "Only Sir Fredrickson the Third is allowed on board and only because he is fluffy and delightful." the captain replied in his normal, strict monotone despite the ludicrousness of the statement.

    "So if I told you I found something slimy and disgusting?" Dunagan asked while proffering up the jar he was holding to Colby, who took it gingerly.

    "I'd say you should probably clean your sheets." Merrick offered.

    Colby stared down at the jar in her hands, trying to understand what she was looking at. The jar seemed almost perfectly sealed, as though it were never meant to be opened somehow, though, how whatever was inside actually got inside was beyond her. Smooth polyglass in a perfect cylinder, maybe some 30 centimeters tall and 13 centimeters wide. No openings, tabs, or any obvious means of getting into it short of sawing the thing open.

    Whatever was inside the jar was a lot harder to make out, however.

    The majority of the inside was stained a deep ombre green with scattered batches of brown, black, and deep violet purple. Those patches that she could see through, Colby could make out some sort of thick mold or growth coating the inside of the cylinder that appeared almost furry or fuzzy in appearance. Tiny tendrils of some sort of plant or something grew out from the fuzz and drifted listlessly about like it was in a fluid.

    Colby gently shook the cylinder in her hand and, confirming, saw things drift about thickly as though in a soup. She couldn't make out any liquid actually sloshing, and concluded that it must be vacuumed sealed.

    Then, as she watched, something small and with far too manly limbs moved swiftly from one of the patches of mold to another. Disappearing just as quickly as it appeared.

    "Guhhh." Colby exclaimed.

    "Wow." Huli proclaimed. "I think something's moving in that, Colby."

    "Definitely is." she confirmed.

    "And we got more!" Dunagan declared excitedly before motioning to the several shelves of similar containers, probably at least two dozen in total.

    "The hell is this thing?" Colby asked as she held it up closer to look, once again seeing something small and slimy dart from mold patch to mold patch.

    "Whatever it is somehow hasn't frozen in deep space and still has shit living in it, so that's good enough for me." Jameson declared matter of factly.

    "These things are gonna sell for a pretty penny." Dunagan declared happily and Colby felt her own excitement growing.

    "Let's get them back to the ship." Colby said, brief thoughts of what something like this could be worth flashing through her mind.

    "Negative." Jameson said. "I'll mark it and you can pick them up on your return sweep."

    "But Boss..." Dunagan began.

    "What if something happens to them?" Colby finished.

    "If a century in space hasn't done it yet then I hardly think another thirty minutes or so is going to matter. Besides, you're going to follow quarantine procedure and put those things in DeCon tanks. This isn't the family station wagon."

    Colby and Dunagan stared at each other through their visors, looking at the jar in his hand and the ones on the shelving, but it seemed like the matter was already settled on the other end.

    "What is a station wagon?" Merrick asked.

    "Th-they were a type of old fossil fuel vehicle." Huli answered.

    "Huh. Weird."

    "Boss..." Colby began again.

    "No. Now hurry up. You're burning air." Jameson said flatly, shutting down any further discussion with that simple fact.

    She stared at the jar, a bubble of worry starting to creep into her stomach.

    "Come on." Dunagan said with a gentle pat on her shoulder as he took the jar, placing it back on the shelf where he found it. "We'll grab em on the way out."

    Colby stared after the jar for a few seconds longer, watching as something dark and slimy flitted from once side of it to the other, appearing only long enough to disappear into the mold on the opposing end and wondered at how anything could be living in there and not be frozen solid.

    "Yea. I guess you're right." she said before finally looking at her diving partner. "Let's go."

===

Start the Story from the Beginning

Ceaseless Dark - Chapter 1

 

=======

 

Space is one of the only wonders that humankind will never

truly manage to fathom. It's seemingly simple in its complexity,

able to be summarized in only a few words, but impossible for

any person to grasp the magnitude of it. The concept of 'Infinite'

is one that the layman and scientist alike can agree on the basic

definition readily. Endless. Without borders or edges or dimensions. 

A vastness so great that the act of traversing a fraction of a fraction

could see the birth, rise, and death of an entire species and not even

reaching your intended destination during that time. 

The very concept is so grand in its scope that no terrestrial ape,

no matter how clever in their machinations, could ever hope

to appreciate or understand the unlimited, uncaring emptiness of 

which we barely manage to survive in by no other measure than luck.

- Dr. Shagun Beckett, "Into Infinity"

 

 

Chapter 1 

    "Easy. Eaaasy." Dunagan drew out the word as if by force of will alone, the universe would bend to him.

    Colby ignored him.

    The plasma torch in her hand was hot, even through the layers upon layers of protective equipment and the thick padding of her environmental suit. Truly, a testament to the dangerous tool in her hand. The blade of blue-white flame burned noiselessly in the vacuum around her, but seemed to echo up through her suit from her fingertips as a ghostly hissing noise.

    "Almost through..." she declared. "Three... Two..."

    In the next moment, Dunagan pulled hard against the debris, wrenching the freshly cut metal loose, and then promptly pushed back against it to keep the whole mess from sweeping the two of them back into the blackness beyond.

    "We're in." Dunagan announced.

    "Good job, guys." Merrick crackled over the headset radio. "Keep us posted and be careful in there."

    "Always am." Colby responded, the excitement slipping through as she did.

    Colby always felt excited the first time they entered a wreck. To her, it was like opening a present on Christmas morning. Every ship was different. Some were big and boxxy. Others small and sleek. Plenty were somewhere in the middle with all manner of weird shapes and angles, facilitating the needs of whatever systems or people used to inhabit it. But opening them up was what really got her heart racing.

    You never knew what you'd find inside.

    Contrary to what most Earthers believed, wrecks were somehow both more and less perilous than they imagined. Many dirt-dwellers thought of it akin to diving for sunken treasure in pirate infested waters, exploring the rotting corpse of some vessel claimed by the sea years prior. But, given the lack of both sharks and water, abandoned space-vessels were more akin to urban exploring or, perhaps, wandering into a great, old ruin. It wasn't completely uncommon to find the remains of people, though probably less common then one might think.

    As fun as Colby always thought that sounded, it just wasn't accurate. Instead, the actual dangers came from the ships themselves.

    After all, people don't just abandon ship because everything is ship shape. Something catastrophic is often happening. The bigger ones, engine failure, reactor meltdown, etc. don't tend to leave much more than scrap to pick up. However radiation leaks, environmental failures like oxygen or temperature, and even contaminants like disease or a dozen different types of system failures can all lead to people high-tailing it off a ship and leaving the hulking vessel to careen lifelessly through space.

    When working ship salvage, as Colby and her team did, it was always necessary to remember that the inside of a ship was filled with untold dangers, all of which you had to be on the lookout for. Something as simple as a misstep or bumping too hard into something could tear open one's environmental suit and then it was "Bye Bye, Guy".

    Still, that had never happened with their team.

    They were professionals.

    Even with all the dangers, the reward far outweighed the risk for her.

    Just as every ship was filled with possible dangers, it too was filled with possible treasures. Scrap was the easiest haul. Literally just metal and alloy to be processed down and recycled to fly again once more. But the interior of ships were filled with anything and everything imaginable. Anything that a person might possibly carry with them or strap onto or into a ship could potentially be hidden within the confines of a dead wreck.

    Technology, electronics, equipment, contraband, smuggled goods, cargo of all shapes and sizes, and, depending on a salvager's view of graverobbing, potentially any number of personal items could all be found and resold for a decent price.

    While Colby and her team didn't fall into that later category, there were times she'd considered crossing the line. One time in particular had been on a small passenger ship when she found the remains of an old wealthy woman's jewelry box. Technically she could have commandeered the expensive box and its contents without anyone being any the wiser, but it always felt wrong.

    It's one thing to take from an empty vessel.

    It's another thing to take from that which was once a person.

    Now, as Dunagan carefully pulled the loose pieces of metal and tossed them out behind, dooming them to an eternity of drifting through space til they either ran into a sun or burned up in the atmosphere of some planet who knows where, Colby felt her guts tightening in excited anticipation.

    The ship they'd found, the Auriga, was an old military science vessel that had been marked as destroyed roughly a century back, during the First Planetary War. Based on the condition it was in, it seemed likely that it been under fire and the crew jumped ship. Holes pockmarked the hull and detritus, attracted by the pull of the vacuum of space, had filled in the gaps of the wreckage.

    No gravity.

    No atmosphere.

    Filled with debris and the remains of a hurried escape.

    It was honestly Colby's favorite sort of wreck.

    It was probably the closest she ever felt to being one of those explorers that so many people thought ship salvager's were. Those old divers that would go down into the ocean ship wrecks. Water. Sharks. Beasts and mysteries of the deep.

    Colby felt goosebumps run down her back, the darkness closing in around her as her and Dunagan floated gently through the newly cut opening. The drifted past the thick, jagged remnants of the hull, and into a wide open space lined with computer bays, electronics, and a dozen different pieces of equipment that she could only think to describe as 'Science Stuff'.

    Her lips curled into a genuine smile as her helmet lights carved through the dark and she took in the load of old equipment that was, quite literally, in the very first room they'd entered on the ship.

    "Jackpot." she said gleefully.

    Strictly speaking, electronics that had been floating around in the emptiness of space were unlikely to actually work anymore. More than half, if not all, would almost certainly be toast. A century of exposure to cosmic and solar radiation, not to mention temperature fluctuations that varied by several hundred degrees, had a tendency to do that.

    Even so, finding military or science intel of any kind always pulled a pretty penny from the party who had lost it, more so if someone was inclined to sell to the opposing side. On top of that, the equipment itself was a good deal more valuable as scrap to be recycled and repurposed than hull metal.

    Precious metals were, after all, precious.

    "Can I say? I hope the whole damn ship is like this." Dunagan said, the smile plain in his voice.

    "It may be. May not." Jameson chimed in with a burst of static. "I'm marking it for the moment. Complete your sweep."

    "You got it, boss." Colby confirmed.

    "Be careful in there, guys." Huli's gentle voice sounded over the static of the microphones. "Military ship means no records. No records means I can't guide you through there."

    "We got this." Colby said with confidence.

    "Hell yea, we do." Dunagan agreed, lifting a heavy, gloved fist and receiving his desired fist-bump from Colby.

    "Enough chatter." Jameson said with a clipped tone. "Get moving."

    "Aye aye, boss."

    Floating past the bays of electronics, the two salvagers made their way to the sealed door on the other side of the room and began cutting their way through with the plasma torch, intent on the ship, and the bounty, beyond.

   

 ===

 

Read the Next Chapter - Chapter 2 

Nemesis - Betrayal

Copyright 'Captain' from Nemesis by Awakened Realms.

    The klaxon’s call fell away in rush.

    The screaming, blaring siren had filled his ears nearly non-stop for the last hour since waking cold and confused in the hibernatorium. At the time, even facing down the mutilated body of one his crew, the captain had known what to do.

    The sirens’ call was a call to action.

    A call that his ship was in danger, his crew was in danger, and he had to act to keep them safe.

    There were a few components to deal with first, however.
    First, whatever was responsible for the emergency, whatever intruders had found their way on board: they had to be dealt with. A full purging of the airlock system could be useful and could be triggered remotely for once his crew was back in cold sleep. Hell, the jump to hyperdrive itself might be all he needs to turn whatever beasts had made this mess into a fine stew on his walls.

    But, if he was going to deal with the intruders, he had to insure the ship was in good shape. He had to check the fire suppression systems to make sure nothing was severely damaged and the ship wouldn’t burn up while they were all asleep. He had to make sure the engines were functional. And he had to make sure they were still en-route for Earth.

    Easy.

    But that was an hour ago.

    The surgical room had seemed like a boon in the chaos the crew had found themselves in. It had already been used successfully by several of the crew, the captain included, to remove the monstrous little beasts that implanted themselves inside a human host. But modern medicine is two steps short of a miracle and he and the lead scientist were then resting after their impromptu surgery.

    And then the wall was gone.

    One moment they had been laying there, pain-killer still rushing through their brains, quietly discussing what the best next step was in getting to the fire suppression systems, when the wall simply wasn’t there anymore and the captain was staring past it into a void of blacks and greens and dripping things.

    A monster unlike any other.

    While the captain still knew what he needed to do not only for his own survival, but the survival of all the men and women under his command, it didn’t mean he was thrilled about it.

    The other monsters they’d seen up til now had been terrifying, but feasible. They were all sharp edges and smooth surfaces; an amalgamation of carapace and claws and fury. They were big, easily 8 feet tall, but management. This one, on the other hand, the one that stood before the captain and his crew mate, was a whole different category all together.

    If this was anything, it was the other uglies’ mama.

    Tendrils of thick, viscous slime splattered across the shattered remains of the interior wall leading back towards Cargo Room Alpha. This beast was unlike any before it; hunched and in the cramped cabin space, the captain felt it had to easily stand a good fifteen feet or more if it could stand up entirely in the smaller space. It had torn through the interior wall as easily as a child tears through tissue paper and now the eyeless beast seemed to be transfixed on them, slowly crawling through the cramped space and seeming to fill the entire surgical room with its seething black mass of spikes and armor.

    “No. Not thrilled about this at all.” The captain grumbled as he slipped his cigarette, one of many antiques he cared, back into his mouth and took a long drag.

    “W-what?” the lead scientist nearly whimpered. “Thrilled? What are you talking about?!”

    The captain grumbled and shook his head, drawing the old six-shooter from his side. The weight was satisfying in his hand and the draw of cold black metal against worn leather was a comfort.

    He focused on that.

    Not on the towering beast drawing in around them.

    “Get out of here. Get to the escape pods.” The captain said through a smile, his breath hissing out in streams of white smoke. “I’ll meet up with you once I’m done with this one.”

    The scientist stared, open-mouthed at the captain.

    And the beast lunged.

    “NOW!” The captain bellowed, firmly shoving a foot in the wheelchair-bound man’s chest and rolling him away against his will before diving in the opposite direction.

    The beast bellowed and roared, slamming computer bays and destroying sensitive equipment. It fell short of the captain, being unable to maneuver in the small space. Its sharp, elongated tail bashed about and, a moment later, there was a scream for the scientist. However, as the captain tried desperately to spot the man behind the seething mass of anger and hatred, the other man quickly disappeared down a side hall and away from the chaos.

    Good.

    “Over here you ugly, son-of-a-bitch.” Motioning with his pistol and pointing it directly at the thing’s opening mouth.

    BOOM!

    In the small space, the antique revolver’s shot seemed to explode like a cannon. The round punched a whole clean through the monster’s fangs and exploded out the other side with enough force that the captain briefly worried he might break the very engines he just checked on.

    Whatever.

    BOOM!

    The creature’s screech of pain was so loud that the air rushed from his lungs with the force.

    Whatever.

    BOOM!

    The beast whirled and lunged. Despite the awe inspiring size and the absolute destruction the creature wrought, the captain quickly realized his own advantage. While the creature had seemingly unparalleled strength, the sheer size worked to a disadvantage when trying to operate in the smaller surgery room. Were he in the Cargo Bay that it had come from, he didn’t doubt it would probably already be done with him and moving on to the scientist who had fled.

    But they weren’t there.

    They were here.

    BOOM!

    Each shot was careful.

    Each shot was clean.

    Each shot ripped clean through the inky black carapace with satisfying crunches.

    BOOM!

    The beast hit the ground, shaking the very ship beneath his feet. It weakly clawed towards him, unrelenting; hissing and gurgling as it went.

    “That’s what I thought.” The captain said. “You came in here talking a big game. Acting like you own the fucking place.”

    The beast dragged itself closer.

    “But I have news for you.” He continued. “You need to figure out who you’re fucking with before you try to take a man’s ship. Choose the wrong man, and you’re in for a bad time.”

    The monster was almost on top of him.

    But close enough.

    “Sorry, friend.” He said, almost placing the revolver’s muzzle against the hard shell of the hissing monster. “But I’m the captain. Now get off my fucking ship.”

    BOOM!

    The beast stopped crawling.

    For a long moment, the captain simply stared at the mountain of a creature before him and how its black carapace filled most of the surgical room and said nothing. His breath escaped him in a long, slow sigh and then the smile reasserted itself.

    “That’s what I thought.” He muttered, wisps of smoke trailing out with each word.

   Flipped open the weapon, the captain reloaded the antique six-shooter with renewed confidence. If he could take down something like this, there was nothing to stand in his way of dealing with the rest. He just had to make sure they got home safe though.

    Everything was going to be fine after-all.

    With a quick shuffle around the gargantuan corpse, he made his way after the lead scientist and, with a turn and a quick run here and there down a few darkened hallways, he found the fire suppression system.

    But something was wrong.

    Stepping into the bay of computer terminals, the starboard door behind him suddenly slammed shut.

    And then the bow door.

    And the port.

    And the stern.

    “Sorry about this.” a familiar voice chided over the intercom.

    The soldier.

    They had woken up together but the coward of a man had run off the moment they had woken up to ‘check something’. The man had been added to the company roster a day before launch for ‘additional safety’ and disappeared the moment they needed someone with his skills.

    Skills at killing and little else.

    At the time, the captain had been pissed that the man with the biggest gun and the most training to use it had suddenly run away.

    Not things made a bit more sense.

    “You have to understand. They paid me a lot of money…” the man spoke over the tinny intercom.

    “The fuck are you talking about?” asked the captain as he approached the port side door. The lead scientist, to his surprise, was looking back at him through the viewport, fear in his eyes. “What are you doing with the door systems? I already dealt with that thing back there.”

    “Oh, I know. I was watching on the monitors. Quite impressive.”

    “Then what the fuck are you doing?”

    “My job.”

    Of course you are.

    A new klaxon suddenly sounded in the room, replacing the one from before. Cycling red and gold lights threatened any space faring man’s worst nightmare.

    His worst nightmare.

    The lead scientist was now in a panic. He was screaming for the mechanic who the captain could see, but not hear, running down the hallway towards the closed doors.

    “Your job.” The captain said with burgeoning anger. “You the one that let all these monsters on-board then? You the one who killed all my crew?!”

    “No.” came the clipped response. “That was just a useful distraction.”

    “Then what’s your job?”

    “You.”

    The captain closed his eyes.

    Through the pressure doors, he felt like he just might be able to just hear the sounds of the panicked screams of his crew. He could see them on the other side of the door frantically tearing at wires near the door panel.

    They were trying to save him, their desperation clear by their frantic motion.

    They knew what was coming and so did he.

    The fire suppression system, like any critical control circuit on his ship, was directly linked to a local airlock cycle system. The idea was to all for critical circuits to be replaced completely when needed and, in the instance of catastrophic fires or intruders on a ship, the air could be cycled out as an absolute failsafe in key locations.

    Kind of an ironic location given the circumstances really.

    “Who paid you?” the captain asked simply.

    “If you must know, it was your father. But he has the entire backing of the board, so really take your pick on who you want to blame.”

    “Makes sense.”

    “If it’s any consolation, I really did respect you. Takes guts to do what you did. And that was before you killed that thing back there.”

    “In that case, let me ask for a favor.” The captain said coldly.

    “I’m not stopping the cycle.”

    “I’m not asking you to, you dumb son of a bitch.” The captain growled. “I’m just asking that you make sure my people get home. And make sure these things don’t.”

    There was silence over the intercom for a long period before it crackled back to life.

    “You have my word.”

    The captain glanced back through the viewport. The scientist was crying. The mechanic was desperately tapping something on a tiny wrist computer. Cables were strewn everywhere.

    It didn’t matter though.

    Time was up.

    “One other thing.” The captain said softly as he looked up towards the fissures forming in the airlock seal.

    “Yea?” came the tinny voice.

    “You’re a real piece of shit.”

    “Yea. I know.”

    The air rushed out.

    The captain flew towards the void.

    And the klaxon’s call fell away in rush.