There was a stark contrast between the seeming safety of the blue ocean lights on the bridge and the pulsing glow of the blood red emergency lights throughout the rest of the ship. Never before had Harry Ransome felt less safe than he did now. He was prey on his own ship. Although his mind had been made up before they left the bridge, and the thirty-two crew members had been safely hidden in their cryo-pods, his nerves were now starting to show. Sweat pooled on his forehead, and he could feel it trickling down his back. There had also been a distinct rise in the ship’s temperature over the last few hours. So much so, that Harry, Kelly, Teale and Knight had all shed their uniform jackets, choosing to patrol in their black under vests instead. Knight suggested the colour change would give them a more tactical advantage. Harder to see black in the dark. He knew it was nonsense, given these creatures abilities, but it made everyone feel better. Harry made a note to get to know this young man, if they survived.
“Lifesigns up ahead,” Kelly whispered. “Four humans, looks like the mess hall.”
Harry nodded to Knight and Teale, and they both took up flanking positions at the junction of the corridor. So far they had heard no movement, and no sign of the aliens. Standing directly in front of the door to the mess, Harry handed his rifle to Kelly, and began to prise the doors open with his hands. He knew there were emergency release devices located in the bulkheads nearby to make this job easier, but they daren’t split up from each other. Besides, Harry was in good shape, and soon, the doors began to part. When the gap was wide enough, Harry slipped inside, and Kelly passed his rifle through the gap to him. She gestured for Knight and Teale to head inside, and covered them while they did so. Once inside, all four aimed their rifles ahead, the lights on the weapons illuminating similar devastation to Sickbay.
Tables were smashed into pieces, glass fragments everywhere, and countless food items littering every surface. Again, there was a large hole visible in the roof at the mid-way point in the room, the twisted metal at its edges giving Kelly flashbacks to her earlier attack.
Suddenly, there was a loud clatter to their right, and a tin of soup rolled into the beam of Knight’s torch. The can was coated in blood. He gestured to the others, and gradually, keeping a constant sweep around them, they moved forward towards the source of the sound. Another noise, this time the sound of a cupboard hinge whining. It reminded Harry of the ancient horror movies he had watched as a teenager where the creaking of a door would often signal a character’s impending doom. He could not help but draw comparisons to their current situation. However, the rifle torches found a half open supply cupboard, no doubt the origin of the mysterious tin of soup.
“Open it,” Harry gestured to Knight, who nodded in reply.
With a swift lunge, Knight leapt forward and ripped the cupboard door open, three officers in various states of health tumbling onto the floor in a heap.
“No! Get away from us! Get away!” one of them screamed.
“It’s okay! We’re hear to help!” Kelly whispered as loudly as she dared.
It took a few seconds for the others to realise just who they were looking at, before one of them attempted to salute the Admiral. He shook his head and lowered the saluting hand with his own.
“No need for that crewman. We need to get you out of here. Our scanner showed a fourth person. Are they not with you?”
The cupboard dwellers shook their head in unison.
“It’s just been us three for the last two hours. It’s the only place we could find to get out of sight. They… they’re in the walls.”
Harry nodded, fairly confident already that the creatures were using the maintenance tunnels to get around the Odyssey. But most of them were too small, hence the holes in the ceilings between decks.
“Sir,” interrupted Teale, “I’m still reading a fourth lifesign.
The team swept their beams before them, but it didn’t take long to locate the fourth person. It was Harry’s torch that landed on the face of the female officer in question. Her abdomen had been all but shredded, blood pooling around her. Both legs were gone, as were her arms, and her left eye was nothing more than a congealed mess of flesh and fluid. The mouth was taking in quick, short breaths, as if she was hyperventilating. But it was Knight’s torch which illuminated the true horror. Pressed against the throat of the female officer, was an enormous black foot, the claws at the end embedded in the woman’s shoulder. As all four lights moved up to show the alien in all it’s glory, it bared its teeth, and lifted its foot. As it did so, a huge stream of blood flowed upwards like a fountain from the throat of the woman. Within seconds, she was dead.
They had been baited.
“Mother fucker,” spat Knight. “It kept her alive to lure us here.”
Almost in response it seemed, the creature appeared to smile. They all heard the sinister voice in their heads.
“Clever boy.”
Kelly ushered the found crewmen out through the doors of the mess hall, but as each one exited, a dark shadow burst past the door, snatching them away, blood spraying up the walls as each one was lifted into oblivion. They were now trapped. And the creatures knew it. Again, Harry felt the voice intruding his thoughts.
“Hello… Harry…”
Hearing the creature say his name terrified Harry to his very core. It began to move slowly towards him, taking one huge footstep at a time, the complete opposite to what he knew of these creatures. The others had not been privy to the mental voice note Harry had received, and Kelly tugged on his arm.
“What is it Harry?”
Harry tensed up and took a step back.
“It knows my name.”
“We wondered when you would join us…”
Pain burst through Harry’s temple, and he dropped his rifle. He heard manic laughter in his head and he tried to shake it away but he couldn’t. The creatures outside the mess hell were now slashing through the metal, trying to create a big enough gap to fit through. The one already in the room was now mere steps from Harry and the others, and Kelly was on the ground desperately trying to shake Harry back into focus. This was it, thought Teale. This is where they died.
Except… they didn’t.
There was a huge jolt as something rocked the ship, violently. Everyone was knocked off their feet and sent careening into the wall, the creatures also losing their footing. An odd look of confusion was etched onto their black, gleaming faces. Their heads seemed to gesture to each other as if they were communicating in the same way they had done to Harry. Another jolt, and everything seemed to tilt to the left, debris on the floor rolling into the team, the broken glass and discarded tins smashing into them, slicing and bruising their bodies.
With no warning, the creature which had spoken to Harry let out a shrill scream, which was joined by the others, and as if fired from a cannon, they all launched themselves upwards through the ceiling and out of sight. The scrabbling of their claws on the decks above grew ever more distant as they fled.
“What the fuck is going on?” shouted Knight.
“I’ve got no idea, but one thing I do know,” Kelly said, “is that somehow, we’re moving!”
A bleep came from Harry’s communicator, now relocated to his belt from his sleeve. His head was still swimming with confusion and residual pain, but he managed to activate the device.
“Who is this?” he managed, failing to get up off the floor and landing on a shard of broken glass, wincing with the pain.
“Admiral Ransome, this is Darven. Hold tight, I’m getting you out of here!”
The communication cut off, but the stunned look in the room from everyone screamed one thing. Nobody knew what the fuck was going on.