Stellaris

The door slides open to command deck two, my heart still pounding from the attack. That thing was out for one thing...blood. I’m not sure if there’s some special way to kill it, but I’m gonna fucking try. I slump down in a seat and roll myself up to the computer screen and monitor the thrusters, everything seems good. A little red light is flashing in the corner of the screen, it’s a flight recording and it’s date is only a few days ago. I send it to the big glass screen behind me and order the Stellar Computer to play it. The beat in my chest gains speed as the recording starts.

“Hello, my name is Mason Jones and I’m a military captain aboard the Stellaris Deep Space Exploration Ship. Upon awakening, I noticed that the crew had been murdered, the only one left asleep is Hannah Watson, she will be the last to recover from hibernation and also the last to die. We told the crew when we left, that this mission was to contact life, but we did not tell them the truth. This mission was to meet the intelligent life that we had contacted three years prior. I took it upon myself to take the drop ship down before everyone awoke and investigate, there was nothing but dirt. When I arrived back on the Stellaris, a monster followed. I went back into hibernation, knowing that the alien was on board. My apologies. Hannah, if you’re still alive...kill that fucker.”

My body heaves forward and a pain in my stomach makes me want to puke. He brought that thing here, he knew it was here, but he went back to sleep hoping that someone would kill it before he woke back up, ...and wait...the Stellaris has a drop ship? I quickly stand and throw the chair at the glass screen. It shatters into a million pieces and collects on the floor, my hands press against the table as I lean over it and cry. The drop ship won’t get me home, it most likely doesn’t have a sleeping pod or the supplies to last two years, plus I can’t leave this alien on the ship. He’s right, I have to kill it, if I don’t, it’ll catch a ride back home and who know’s what will happen.

“Command Deck One now open.” The Stellaris computer’s voice rings through my ears.

“Stellaris, close deck one, now!”

“Negative. Door has been breached.” The fucking thing broke through the door.

“Is there an armory on board?” I ask it.

There is a small cache of weapons in the Stabilizing Ring.”

Why are there weapons in the stabilizers? I don’t have time to ask myself questions. I can see the ring through the window, it’s directly in front of me. That would mean I have to go through deck one. I could do a space walk but that’s not practical. God, there’s no other way, I have to go through there. I dropped the ax, fuck. No weapons. The power suddenly goes out for a few seconds and the backup flicks on dim lights, not enough to see fully.

“Power failure to lights. Please restore main power system in Stellar Observatory.”

Fuck, did the alien do that? Or maybe there’s someone else on board. Weapons or lights first? The backup lights could work until I get a flashlight. I have to get a weapon or I’m not going to be able to turn anything back on. I fumble through a drawer and grab a small clip on light that connects to my shirt. It’ll have to do for now. The door slides open and out I go.

I’m pressed against the wall, so the alien doesn’t grab me from behind. I ease my way down the hall and get closer to deck one. A low growl echoes through the room, I quickly click off my light and plaster myself to the wall. The monster stomps it’s way out of the command deck and turns to go down another passage. I was holding my breath the whole time, praying it wouldn’t come my way. I continue, not bothering to turn my light on. The sliding door is torn apart and sparks as I step through it. The ax is somewhere in here, I’m not sure where I dropped it. The sounds of footsteps get louder and louder, he’s coming back. Panicking, I hide in a small rolling locker. I lean back as far as possible and hold my breath as the monster walks by. Last time I tried to hide, that thing found me, it’s not gonna be as gentle on me this time. It’s head turns towards the locker and sniffs around. It’s coming closer and closer until a sound of metal hitting metal comes from deck two. It takes off through the vents. I wait for a few seconds and then jump out, grabbing the ax and running as fast as I can to the Stabilizers. Someone has to be alive, that means strength in numbers.

The halls are winding and seem like they never end. I’m not even sure how I got here, I don’t remember it. I find myself outside the door to the Stabilizing Ring. The process of scanning my card takes almost a lifetime, but the door finally slides open. I start the climb of a very long ladder, it’s heading up into the main ring that wraps around the ship. There’s a faint sound under me, I stop and listen, it’s the growl of something not so friendly. My head thumps and my heart pounds furiously. My body screams at me, telling me to go! I climb and climb, but the ladder never ends and the alien is getting closer. I can feel it reaching out for me and then a voice calls out.

“Watch out!” He screams. A blast of hot air swoops by me, then a bright flash of red and orange dance around my skin. I can feel the hair on my body singe. The monster falls and the light fades.
“Here, take my hand.”

I grab it and he pulls me up. “Jonas.” I say in awe. “You’re alive.”

“Yeah, I seen your pulse on my watch.” He shows me a high tech wrist watch that has two small screens. There’s a green dot flashing, one for me and one for him.

“God, did you know about any of this?” I ask.

“No...I’m assuming you heard the recording?”

“Yeah. Jones is an asshole.” I pull him into a hug, I don’t want to let go. “So, you stayed here for the weapons?”

“Yep. Flamethrower, crowbar, climbing ax. Not much, but I guess they could kill that thing.” He eventually pulls away and hands me a candybar.

“Thanks. I didn’t get a chance to eat when I woke up. I had this awful feeling when no one was there to help me.”

“I did too. But I caught up with Jameson and Riley as they were listening to the recording. I don’t know what happened to them, their pulses aren’t showing up...But I didn’t see or hear them die.”

“Jonas, we have to get off this ship.” I put my hands on his shoulders and look into his eyes. “We can’t stay here, we’ll die.”

“Monty fucked up the drop ship, it’s just floating freely out there. I guess he was trying to get up and running.”

“Fuck.” I say. “We’re never going home.”

Before Jonas has any time to say another word, a spike enters into his back and out his chest, blood sprays all over the floor and on me. It thrusts down and then up, cutting him in half from the stomach. My hands instantly grab the flamethrower and before my mind can process what’s happening, fire is engulfing the alien’s body. It screams in pain and jumps away, into the vents. Jonas is dead, he might’ve been the only other person alive on this floating hell. I remove the watch from him and attach it to my left wrist. It shows me the alien running away through the vent system above me, then it fades, it’s too far for the watch to pick up on it’s pulse. I know what I have to do, kill that motherfucker. I climb down the ladder and there’s the body of the alien Jonas burned. Dead. There’s not just one of them on the ship. Oh god.