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Once inside the cockpit, Casey and Captain Bates couldn’t help but get a look out the long windshield, which was more of a window wall. The round red planet seemed to be getting closer with every minute that passed.
“I never get sick of the view, Casey,” Bates said after a time.
“It’s why we agreed to this mission,” Casey said. “The beauty and the wonder of it all. The adventure.”
The two paused for a long beat while the many colorful lights on the computer console flashed and/or remained brightly lit. The spacecraft was flying itself with the aid of an AI robot which was presently mounted to the wall behind them. If need be, Alfred could become mobile. It had two legs, two arms, and a semi-human-looking head that sported a pleasant enough face covered in a kind of plastic that mimicked human skin. When the robot was mounted to the wall, however, all that was visible was its torso which contained a monitor and some gadgets that Casey had no idea how to operate.
“So, what’s on your mind, Case?” Bates said. “You seem a little rattled.”
“Well today’s spacewalk was a first for me,” he said. “I’m getting the feeling that Jack thinks I might have had something to do with his carabiner coming unattached to the ladder wrung.”
“You two been getting along all right?” Bates asked. “We’ve only been awake for a single day.”
“Yeah, I think so, Captain,” Casey said. “But Jack is not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
Clearing the frog from his throat like it needed clearing, he said, “You mentioned another crew made up of Chinese and Russian astronauts recently attempted this same mission but never made it.”
“Affirmative,” Bates said, making a sour expression while nodding his head. “The failed operation has more or less been hidden under wraps for obvious reasons.”
“Listen, Captain,” Casey went on, “as your Security Officer, I feel the need to tell you that the hatch above the cockpit wasn’t damaged by any kind of space debris be it manmade or even some kind of small asteroid or rock.”
“What could it have been then?” Bates begged.
Casey peered into the Captain’s blue eyes and he noticed the color on his face had gone a little pale. It was as though the Captain was afraid of the answer Casey might deliver.
“When we came back in from repairing the hatch,” Casey said, “I saw something lurking in the shadows.”
“Explain something,” Bates said.
“I can’t be sure,” Casey said. “In fact, I was planning on keeping my mouth shut about it, since I thought the crew might think of me as crazy. Or at the very least, suffering from the effects of prolonged cryo-sleep.”
“But you did see something,” Bates pressed.
“It was a living thing,” Casey said. “I swear to you, Captain, it looked like a moth, only this moth had to be about eight feet tall.”
“A moth,” Bate said, swallowing something so that his Adam's apple moved up and down in his throat.
“Like I said,” Casey went on, “I wasn’t going to say a word, but then I saw it again when I went to the lavatory just a little bit ago. It came after me, but then just like that, it vanished.”
“A moth that vanished,” Bates said.
“You don’t believe me,” Casey said with a shake of his head. “I knew I was crazy to bring this up.”
The Captain raised both hands like he was surrendering.
“Not at all, Case,” he said. “You can talk to me about anything, especially when it concerns security.”
“Captain, if I might offer an opinion on this matter,” came a gentle, almost boyish voice.
It was Alex, the ship’s AI. It must have been listening intently to their conversation. Or so thought Casey. Both men focused in on the AI’s video screen which at present was broadcasting the robot’s boyish face.
“The Russo-Chinese crew of The Expendable all died,” Alex explained. “They were torn to shreds by something. A creature. Something the captain of the ship referred to as a monster.”
“I’ve seen the video footage, Alex,” the Captain said. “It’s not easy to watch.”
“I believe Lieutenant Smith is not lying when he says he happened to catch sight of a creature of sorts,” Alex goes on. “Something very powerful and extraterrestrial had to be responsible for the hatch damage. It’s likely whatever it was wasn’t interested in damaging the ship. Instead, it wanted—”
“—It wanted in,” Casey said in Alex’s place.
“Very good, Lieutenant,” Alex responded. “You are thinking quite logically about this matter. Might I suggest sir, that we show Casey some of the video broadcast created by The Expendable?”
For a long beat, Bates gazed at the Robot’s broadcast face. Then he shifted his eyes to Casey.
“All right, Alex,” he said. “But Casey, we must agree that what you are about to see stays in this cockpit. At least for now. Including news of this moth thing you’ve spotted. I don’t need anyone panicking on me when we’re so close to our objective.”
“Understood, Captain,” Alex said.
“Yes, understood,” Casey said.
“Okay, Alex, roll the footage,” Captain Bates insisted.