Page 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Dani

Hours. They’d lost hours of time. She wanted to pace, to leave the room, to get the power back on, or maybe just punch a wall or scream. So much time wasted all because of that…that spiny bastard .

She sat against a wall near the door, listening. Sometimes there was gunfire and sometimes it was quiet. They may never get back out there at this rate.

The others sat nearby, their suit lights and a glowstick the only things illuminating the room. They talked softly while Morse lay in a corner. She’d braved leaving the room again to grab a first aid kit with a medi-scanner to assess his injury. Based off the scanner, he only had a minor head wound. She gave him some medicine and let him rest.

She sat with them in the beginning, talking sparingly, until she eventually found herself by the door with a wrench she’d found under a seat gripped in one hand. Sheek sat near her with a knife.

Not long after they had locked themselves in the room, they caught the sound of something shuffling around outside the door. It sounded like a blade sliding against metal. Or nails grating against the walls. The crew had gone quiet then, and Dani had slipped by the door to listen closer.

“Hello?” she’d called out.

There had been no answer.

She had backed away until the shuffling stopped beside the door.

“Dani,” said Garret, from behind the door.

“Is that one of the security team?” Lex asked.

“Maybe it’s safe now,” Phen said excitedly.

“Don’t!” Dani ordered as she heard them get up behind her. “It’s not him.”

Sheek had come up beside her to stare at the door, sniffing at it. Dani turned to her. “It’s not him,” she repeated.

Sheek studied her then dipped her head. “I believe you.”

From there, they had guarded the door. The shuffling had ceased some hours ago. Her garometer had quieted some, the energy levels back down to normal, but she still couldn’t help wondering if it was close by, waiting.

Now she sat by the door, anger simmering.

Since she had nothing else she could do, she ran through the details she did know. Whatever it was, it was intelligent enough to learn the insides of their ship. It either knew or learned very quickly how to disable the power and the systems. It could mimic voices, but it didn’t know their language, hence why it only said her name or repeated her words. It must have heard her and Garret speaking before to learn what it did. It probably knew a lot about the workings of the city. It could move quietly and not be seen, and she suspected it could somehow hide its energy levels or make them seem weaker or it was just very good at keeping far enough from the radius of her garometer’s reach to mess with the data.

It was smart. Possibly smarter than them. That was certain.

There was only one thing that puzzled her. It could have killed her and her crew in an instant. Her, multiple times, and Morse that time in the engine room. But it hadn’t. The only explanation she had for that was it liked to play with its food, and it wanted to enjoy them slowly.

The memory of its tongues on her neck certainly made that suspicion noteworthy. She shuddered just remembering it. She also didn’t like thinking about how it had pinned her and how her whole body was throbbing as Garret brought her back to the room and the adrenaline wore off. Must have just been a side effect of the insane terror coursing through her veins.

No. She was done being messed with by this creepy sonofabitch.

She glanced over at the others sitting around the glowstick, at Myrell who was drinking heavily from her canteen. She rose from her spot on the wall and joined them.

“Myrell, pull up the map of the area,” she said.

They loomed over the map, Dani scanning the buildings. Their next target was the shipping yard, where they were to retrieve crates of ionized metal mined from the planet. Special enough the company wanted it back. Probably because it was worth trillions, making one wonder why they had left it behind in the first place.

She looked over the warehouses and the storage units. There was a generator room beside them.

“I have an idea,” Dani said. “Once we get to the shipping yard, I want us to go to this generator room first.” She pointed.

“You still want to go out there?” Lex said. “After that thing attacked you?”

“Yes,” she said. “If it doesn’t get caught by the security team soon, then we are going.”

They were let out of the room an hour later. This time, it was Saul at the door along with Garret. Seeing that she couldn’t fathom the monster being able to mimic two people at once, she unlocked the door.

Saul had a twinkle in his eye and Garret looked smug.

“We got it,” Saul said.

Dani raised her brows. “Really?”

“Come see.”

“Is it safe?” Lex asked, poking their head out.

“We cleared the outside and scanned every corner of the ship,” Garret assured. “Come see.”

They followed the two outside. Dani treaded carefully as they rounded the front side of the ship.

Tristan and Ryatt were standing together, blocking what looked like a large pile of ice, guns relaxed at their sides. As Dani got closer, she slowed.

The pile of ice was a creature, frozen until it looked like a statue, its long, lithe body curled up, jaws open like it was screaming. She didn’t know why but her stomach dropped looking at it.

“Caught it lurking near the side of the ship,” Saul explained. “It tried to run from our guns and got itself trapped by our net.” He kicked at part of the net still tangled around the body.

Dani crouched down to better examine the specimen. One of its limbs was broken off, crumbling next to it. Most of it was unrecognizable as the ice melded the body to the ground. She couldn’t tell if it really was her creepy stalker or not.

She rose and went around to study its backside. There was a small section along one shoulder that the ice hadn’t fully gotten. She got closer, shining one of her lights.

There, just on the surface, was a set of flat, strange-looking blue scales.

No. Not scales. They were shaped oddly like…

Dani took out a pair of pliers from her pocket and tugged one, popping it off. She studied it closely.

“What is it, Dani?” Garret asked from beside her.

“It’s fungus,” she whispered. The head of a flat mushroom. A cluster of them had grown on this creature’s back, made to look like an extra layer of skin.

“Did you say a fungus?” Garret said.

Dani rose and the others crowded around her.

“Strange,” said Tom. “It was growing on the body?”

“Yes.”

“But it looks like scales or skin, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Weird…”

“We’ll make a note about it in our report,” said Saul. “But right now, we should get back to it. They’ll be wondering what’s taken so long.”

Dani took out a small vial from another pocket and tucked the fungus inside. She straightened, giving the creature one last look.

It’s not you, is it?

Her gaze drifted up to the shadows beyond. Saul was right. It was time to get back to work. But she would be keeping a close eye because she was done being caught scared in the dark.

The generator worked. It still had enough fuel in it, enough to grab what they needed and leave. It had been risky to try to get the power running in the shipping yard because if it didn’t, more time would have been wasted. Luckily, with a little work, it roared to life and the lights came on overhead, almost blinding.

With the power back, the computers turned on too. And with them so did the bots.

“Creepy,” Lex said as one meandered close by on eight legs like a spider, transporting empty crates across the warehouse.

“But very efficient,” Tom said, standing by a metal crate with a laser cutter in hand. “The way they work is actually quite fascinating. They have these little ball-bearings on each joint that connect to the center of its—”

“Save it, Tom,” Lex groaned, breaking one of the side compartments to a large egg-shaped tank. Dani worked on another tank close by, eyeing the bot as it crawled away. She paused several times to check around, glad that she could see across the large warehouse, the lights above reminding her of a cloudy day in mid-afternoon. She didn’t have to wear her helmet here either, now that the air was being purified and circulating again. So, it almost felt like she was outside.

Carefully she took out a set of long black capsules from the tank which stored the ionized metal. Each needed to be carefully set inside their packs which were temperature controlled. There were no bugs or other odd creatures wandering around. Either they scattered from the light or from their presence. Or found better nesting areas somewhere else. It didn’t matter. She was just happy they were gone for the time being.

Garret and Ryatt guarded close by just in case. Saul and Tristan had stayed behind with the ship again, along with Morse so he could work to restore the power onboard. It was inconvenient to lose a member, but they were making up for it by working harder and faster.

Myrell cursed somewhere nearby. “Who took them?” she shouted. “Tom, I’m not in the mood for games.”

“Took what?” he called from another side.

“My gloves. This shit is hot. I can’t handle anything without them!”

“Haven’t seen them.”

“I’m going back to the generator room to see if I left them there.”

Dani stopped. “Wait, Myrell—”

“I’ll go with her,” Ryatt cut in. He turned to Garret. “We’ll be right back.”

Dani watched them go. Arguing would be fruitless. But at the back of her mind, she saw the creature in the ice. She still wasn’t fully convinced it was her monster. If it was still lurking…

She peered around then turned back to the tank. Ryatt would take care of her. The creature always seemed to disappear when security showed up anyway.

She glanced over her shoulder every time she put a capsule in her bag. Her stunner was back on her belt, but she knew it was pointless. Assuming the monster was still alive, zapping it didn’t do a thing.

Still, she wasn’t going to let it or anything else get her again.

Moving on to the next tank, she took her heatblade and started to cut the lock off the door. She pried it open then reached for the contents within. She did this several more times before realizing it had grown quiet.

She didn’t think anything of it until Lex shouted across the room. “Uh, guys…come here!”

“What’s wrong?” Dani called out.

“Just…look!” There was fear laced in their voice.

Dani walked over to where Lex was standing, looking down at their pack. The others were already beside them. “This is not cool. I only stepped away for a second.”

Their pack lay empty, everything gone. Frowning, Dani peered inside. No…not completely empty.

It took her a moment to realize there was a face staring back at her.

“Is that...a head?” Phen asked.

They stared down at it. A skullface smiled back at them like the ones seen on the skeletons in the production line.

Garret moved in and reached inside and grabbed the head. A metal skull. “What the…?” he mumbled, turning it over.

Sheek took it from him and sniffed it, then threw it across the room. She turned to Dani and nodded. “It’s here.”

Shit.

“Myrell,” Dani said out loud. She whirled around, almost knocking into Garret. “Stay with them!” she ordered as she dashed away, sprinting toward the generator room.

“Dani! Wait!” Garret called to her as she got to the wide doorway. This thing was not going to harm her crew, so help her.

The inner workings of the shipping sector beyond the warehouses were a labyrinth of hallways, storage rooms, and offices all linked by automatic doors that slid open when she approached. She ran down one hallway, skidding to a halt near the generator room.

Ryatt was just outside the door sprawled on his back. Pieces of his armor lay broken around him.

She slid to her knees and shook him, but he didn’t wake.

“Myrell?” she called. As she went to peer through the narrow window of the generator room, Myrell appeared.

“I’m here,” she yelled through the glass. Dani could see the whites of her eyes. “The thing sounded just like Garret. I told the guy not to open it, but he didn’t listen! It’s lurking close by. It went down the hall.” She pointed to her left.

“Stay there, and don’t come out until we call for you,” Dani yelled back. She didn’t wait for a reply as she slipped back down the hall. From one pocket she took out a small ISpad and tapped the screen.

On the map, she could see herself moving. Each door was color coordinated—green meaning they were active, red meaning they were shut and locked. She rushed past one door then tapped on the control on her ISpad. Behind her, the door shut, little lights on its side turning red to indicate it had been locked.

She had Lex to thank for this very useful tool. Beside the generator room had been a security pod, and from there, she’d synched the device to the computer system controlling everything from the doors to the lights.

She hadn’t come unprepared this time. As she rounded back toward the warehouse, she froze just before the edge of another door.

There it was, blocking her way.

Her blood went cold as she got a clear look at it with the lights on. It towered at least seven feet if not more. Several pairs of horns twisted along its head like a wicked crown. Its skin was a deep red with blue stripes along its ribs, arms, and neck. Two giant red eyes shined in the light, but there were also several narrow blue ones above its brow, reminding her of a spider. She’d somehow missed them in the dark.

She’d also missed the second pair of arms that had been tucked against its back, long blue-black limbs that folded under its normal pair of arms. And here she thought it had been terrifying in the dark. Now she regretted turning the lights on.

Once it saw her, it stilled, its red eyes narrowing. Its tail slid across the ground, the pointed tip curling upward. Tilting its head at her, its black fangs peeked out from its upper lip.

She knew as soon as she moved it would too. Finger on the ISpad like a trigger, she took a slow step back.

The thing mimicked her, taking a slow step forward.

She counted the hammering beat of her heart. When it got to ten, she tapped on the screen then jolted back as the door above started to close. The thing broke into a sprint toward her as she ran. It slipped under the door just as she veered toward a storage room. She tapped the controls again. As the door to the storage room started to close, she lunged forward and slid underneath.

The door shut behind her just as the creature got there, but it didn’t make it under the door in time to reach her. Dani shot from the ground as she saw it staring at her through the window. Its breath fogged up the glass as it huffed in annoyance. Then it disappeared.

She didn’t stand there to wait. She moved across the room to the other end and slipped into an office space then out to another passage. She snuck through several rooms, locking doors behind her, until she turned down another hallway and dashed for a room that said TRASH ONLY by the door. She raced past piles of junk into a large octagonal space with a set of doors leading into a control room. She rushed for them and closed the door just as a shadow loomed behind her. She gasped and whirled around as the door locked in place. The creature stood there, its fist against the window. It clawed against the glass then turned toward the large pane of glass that looked out to the octagonal room. Its talons racked across the glass as it moved slowly across.

There was no other way inside. She’d trapped herself in. And it knew it.

She didn’t think it knew about the mechanic’s exit though, or if it did, it knew it would take too long to backtrack through that route, a narrow passage under the floor, no more than a large vent system.

It wouldn’t have time to do anything anyway. She closed off the exit to the octagonal room then set her sights on the computer console in front of the window. She turned it on and started going through the system controls.

Yellow lights flashed inside the octagon, a harsh bell going off.

The creature looked around it, more curious than afraid. It turned back to her and tilted its head.

Dani flipped several switches then hovered her hand over a large red button that said Burn .

“See you in hell, you evil sonofabitch!” She slammed her palm down.

Fire engulfed the room, crashing into the glass like a wave. White smoke followed, making it impossible to see.

She couldn’t bring herself to watch. As terrible as the monster had been, she didn’t want to see it burning. She just wanted to get back to the others and be gone as quickly as possible. She found the mechanic’s exit and slipped inside, shutting the door firmly behind her.