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“Planet
of the Dead”
By
Chris McWilliams
As
the starship Valiant tore through the inky black void of space on it’s latest
mission, Captain James Halderman contemplated the assignment that he and his
twelve-person crew had been given.
Earth Command had contacted them only forty-eight hours before with a
vital mission. As
the message explained, the colony of New Pittsburgh, on the outer rim of the
galaxy, had not been heard from in nearly thirty days and had been long over due
for contact. The
Valiant, being the NEAREST ship in Earth Command employ, was to travel there and
find out what was happening.
“Captain,”
a voice said, shaking Captain Halderman out of his thoughts, it was his first
officer Commander Mahoney, “we have reached the planet where New Pittsburgh is
located and are beginning our landing protocols, however there is ONE
problem.” “What’s
that?” Captain Halderman asked curiously.
“On
a standard sensor sweep of the planet before attempting a landing we detected
some kind of super storm in the upper atmosphere.
At the moment it is well out of our landing area and away from New
Pittsburgh itself but it’s heading that way fast.”
Commander Mahoney explained.
“So,”
Captain Halderman said, “what you’re saying is that’s going to end up
right on top of us?” “Yes,”
Commander Mahoney said flatly, “and SOON.
The good news is, that the storm is so high up in the atmosphere that
it’s NOT having any effect on ground level.
However, the BAD news is that due to it’s size and strength once it
gets in the area we won’t be able to take off again for SEVERAL HOURS.”
“Understood,”
Captain Halderman said, “shouldn’t be a big deal.”
“Unless,” Commander Mahoney cautioned “we NEED to take off
QUICKLY.” “Yes,”
Captain Halderman said, “we just have to HOPE that doesn’t happen.”
Helmsman
Franklin, the man who actually piloted the Valiant, when the ship’s navigation
system wasn’t in use, said, “We are NOW in final landing stages, everyone
PLEASE be seated and make use of your chair’s inertial systems.”
Inertial systems were a relatively NEW system in starships, they were
devices built into the chairs that ALL crew members used and when occupied would
detect turbulence and other such forces and compensate for them, thus giving the
occupant a SMOOTH ride down, they could be a handy thing to have as a lot of
planetary landings COULD be really rough.
However
Helmsman Franklin was not so much a pilot as an artist and even in the roughest
conditions he SEEMED to be able to practically GLIDE a ship down to a landing so
soft that his passengers wouldn’t even have KNOWN they landed if not for the
large windows in the front of the ship.
“Another
top notch landing Franklin.” Captain Halderman said admiringly, once the ship
had touched down. “Thank
you sir.” Helmsman Franklin said, sounding both pleased and somewhat
embarrassed by the attention, Franklin tended to LIKE to stay out of the
limelight as much as he COULD.
“Ok
everyone KNOWS the drill.” Commander Mahoney said, “Massive scans, all
systems, Communications Officer Trina attempt to contact the colonists.”
After a series of yes sirs the team got to their work.
“Looks like you have EVERYTHING under control,” Captain Halderman
said, “you have the command center, I’m going down to make sure Doc Murphy
is prepared for WHATEVER we might find out there.”
“Yes sir.” Commander Mahoney said as Captain Halderman got up and
left the command center.
The
Valiant wasn’t a LARGE ship, but the trip to the infirmary still took several
minutes. On his way
there Captain Halderman found himself wondering EXACTLY what they would find on
the planet outside their ship and WHAT was happening in New Pittsburgh.
Deep
down Captain Halderman KNEW that when a colony lost contact with Earth Command
it was NEVER good news, the ONLY REAL question was: WHAT was happening?
Captain Halderman had seen this kind of situation MANY times, at BEST it
could be something as simple as technical difficulties, the colony’s
communication gear could be out, and at worst it COULD be some kind of space
plague or EVEN rebellion. Rebellion
wasn’t talked about MUCH, but it was the MOST common reason a colony stopped
contacting Earth Command. After
all, Earth Command made huge monetary demands on colonies to cover the cost of
ferrying the people and equipment to the planet, not to mention the expensive
terra-forming process.
As
Captain Halderman entered the infirmary proper, he saw Doc Murphy working on
something on his examination table, occasionally making notes and checking his
digital microscope. Doc
Murphy was a pleasant old guy, one of the best medical men in the Earth Command
and an old friend of Captain Halderman’s.
“I
will be with you shortly,” Doc Murphy said without even looking up.
“It’s ok,” Captain Halderman, said, “I just NEED to talk.”
“Oh Captain,” Doc said, still not looking up as he continued his work
“good to see you again.”
At
that point Doc Murphy looked up from his work and said “Now.
What can I do for YOU?”
“I assume you KNOW about our current mission.” Captain Halderman said
flatly. “Yes of course,”
Doc Murphy said dismissively “I DO read the e-reports.
Why do you ask?”
“You
KNOW why!” Captain Halderman said forcefully.
“Yes,” Doc Murphy said, “but I WANT to hear it from YOU.”
“Because of my SISTER!” Captain Halderman said in a rage.
“BECAUSE OF HER AND HOW SHE DIED!”
Doc
Murphy moved over to where Captain Halderman was standing, and put a reassuring
hand on his shoulder, “I KNOW… I’m SORRY, but getting you to SAY it was
important, to help you IDENTIFY the problem.”
“You’re
THINKING about HER because of THIS mission, aren’t you?’
Doc Murphy asked looking him in the eyes.
“OF COURSE I AM,” Captain Halderman, said angry at first, but then
TRYING to control himself… “How COULDN’T I, she died in the New Amsterdam
incident.”
“Yes,”
Doc Murphy said, “I recall hearing about that.”
“What do you mean ‘recall hearing about that’? You KNOW all about
me and my sister and her DEATH! “Yes,”
Doc Murphy said sadly, “but again getting you to TALK about it out loud helps
in DEALING WITH IT.”
“What’s
to talk about? The
terra-forming on the planet fucked up and thousands of colonists, my sister
included, suffocated… correction, MOST of them suffocated, the REALLY unlucky
bastards got to be killed by the atmospheric pressure.
But, again, you KNOW all of this… just as you KNOW that shortly after
that I was committed to a Martian asylum for attacking several high ranking
Earth Command officials, they PROBABLY would have had me put on trial and
executed for TREASON if it wasn’t for my loss and my service record.”
“Yes,”
Doc Murphy said, THAT’S where WE met.”
“Yeah,” Captain Halderman agreed, “you were the asylum medical
doctor as well as chief psychiatrist and you HELPED me to get back to myself and
NOT to blame the Earth Command when it was a simple accident, even if it WAS the
FIRST terra-forming mishap in decades, there was always a chance it would
happen, there is ALWAYS that chance.
No one is to blame.”
“KNOWING
your record as they do,” Doc Murphy began to wonder, “WHY would Earth
Command send you… us… here to deal with this?”
“Because,” Captain Halderman explained, “we were the NEAREST ship
and IF something is wrong time would be crucial.”
“I
SEE,” Doc Murphy, said, “so they CHOSE a Captain UNFIT for the task as a
matter of speed and convenience?”
“OF COURSE NOT!” Captain Halderman shouted, “I CAN handle it… I
KNOW I CAN!” “There you
go then,” Doc Murphy said, “that’s all you have to REALIZE… you CAN
handle it.”
“You’re
RIGHT. IT’S weird, but I
guess I was feeling FEAR that I COULDN’T handle it, but you’ve SHOWN me that
DEEP DOWN I KNOW I CAN so I feel much better.”
“Anytime,” Doc Murphy said with a smile “and Captain… IF you need
a pep talk again, my door’s always open.”
“I KNOW,” Captain Halderman said as he started to walk out… “But
RIGHT NOW I HAVE A SHIP TO RUN!”
***
As Captain Halderman re-entered the command center everyone stood and saluted. “As you were. What’s the latest?” Commander Mahoney said, “All scans show that the environment is clean and safe.” Captain Halderman silently let out a small sigh of relief, AT LEAST IT’S NOT THE TERRA-FORMING he thought as Commander Mahoney continued, “HOWEVER, all life sign scans show only four survivors.” “FOUR! HOW CAN THAT BE, THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF COLONISTS HERE?” “I don’t know sir,” Command Mahoney continued, unfazed by the Captain’s emotional outburst, “but that’s NOT all. In addition to the four life signs, we also picked up an anomaly. Thousands of SOMETHINGS are moving around the area.”
“What are they?” Captain Halderman asked with interest. “We’re NOT sure Captain,” Commander Mahoney continued, “they’re definitely human sized and moving, but they have NO life signs we can pick up.” “Robots?” Captain Halderman speculated. “That was what we thought too,” Commander Mahoney said, “AT FIRST… but robots usually give off a small EM signature and we didn’t pick anything like that up. Besides we pulled up the colony manifest and they had ONLY ONE robot, a Davorak 4000 series, it was ALL they could afford. I checked and I couldn’t find any trace of IT in the area either.”
Communications Officer Trina interrupted saying, “Captain, sorry to interrupt by I managed to get a signal from the colony. It’s weak and I’m having a hard time keeping a lock but I THINK I have one of the survivors on radio.”
“Patch it through,” Captain Halderman barked, “I want to talk to them DIRECTLY!” “Yes sir,” Trina said as she worked some controls. Suddenly, the command center was filled with a garbled and static filled voice. “This is… we are under attack… strange creatures… dead… eating the fl…” the voice said, sounding terrified even through the static. Captain Halderman said, “THIS IS CAPTAIN HALDERMAN OF THE STARSHIP VALIANT, CAN YOU READ ME!?”
There was silence for several minutes during which NO ONE in the command center took a breath, then FINALLY the voice said, “Yes… read you… thank Go… We’re under attack… there are ONLY four of us left…” as the voice continued it started to slowly get more and more clear, finally it was as clear as Trina could make it. “Creatures are attacking us… our flesh… help us.” “We’re HERE, no more than a mile from your colony, can you reach us?” Captain Halderman asked. “Negative…. Trapp… Can’t leave our base…”
“Roger that,” Captain Halderman said, “we’re here to HELP you,” he tried to sound reassuring… “We will come and get you RIGHT NOW.” “… Careful… too dangerous… aim for the he…” the voice said, then it cut off and was gone.
“Sorry Captain,” Trina said, “We lost the signal.” “Damn it!” Captain Halderman shouted, “Get me that signal back NOW TRINA.” “I can’t,” Trina, said, “it’s no longer transmitting.” “FINE,” Captain Halderman said, “Doctor Anderson, get Doc Murphy and three of the security officers, we’re going out to get them NOW!”
“Wait a minute Captain,” Commander Mahoney said, “I SHOULD GO INSTEAD OF YOU, IT’S TOO DANGEROUS.” Captain Halderman turned to his first officer and said, “Don’t give me that protocol shit, I’m the Captain and I’M GOING!” “As you wish,” Commander Mahoney capitulated, nodding to Doctor Anderson to do as the Captain told her.
***
It didn’t take the team long to assemble in the rear hatch of the ship. Captain Halderman looked his team over: Doc Murphy was going in case the survivors needed immediate medical treatment and he was bringing his sizable kit bag so he would have EVERYTHING he needed. Doctor Anderson was coming along because, as chief science officer, she MIGHT be able to make sense of whatever SHIT was going on out there, and the three security guards were going in case things got REALLY hairy. ALL of the team was armed with blaster rifles and a backup blaster pistol with reload caps on their belts. “Now,” Commander Mahoney told the group as they finished gearing up for their mission, “according to our scans the survivors are all in a building in the center of the settlement, that is USUALLY used as some sort of group meeting place in colonies so you should head directly there and since they reported some sort of creatures attacking people you should get them and get back as fast as you can.”
“Why?” Doc Murphy asked, “I thought there was some kind of storm that would prevent us from taking off. “Yeah,” Commander Mahoney said, BUT our ship is stronger and better equipped than their shelter if we need to fight off SOMETHING, this would be a better place to be. “Agreed,” Captain Halderman said, “we shouldn’t be TOO long.”
“I hope so,” Commander Mahoney said, “I still think I SHOULD go instead.” “Probably,” Captain Halderman said “but I AM Captain, I WANT to go, so you get to stay here for a change.” “Good luck then,” was all Commander Mahoney said as the back panel doors slid open to let the team out of the ship.
***
It was night on the planet so the team had to activate their personal lights so they could see what they were doing. In the distance they could make out the settlement proper a mile ahead, and after checking their holo-map they saw exactly where they needed to go, a simple two level structure in the center of the settlement of New Pittsburgh.
The group was on guard against WHATEVER they MIGHT encounter, especially the THREE security guards, Rodney, Rick and Rich, who were also ALL brothers, they had their blaster rifles at the ready and had positioned themselves so that they could see all around the group.
The group had followed their holo-map, made from records and scans of the area when suddenly Rodney signaled for everyone to STOP. Since the security officers had the say in situations like this EVERYONE, even the Captain, stopped in their tracks and waited.
“What’s going on?” Captain Halderman asked, irritated to be just standing around like this. “I saw movement up ahead.” Rodney said, peering into the darkness just outside the range of their lights. Rick, who had been looking in the same general direction at the time, said, “Me too.”
“Well,” Doctor Anderson said with an irritated tone, she HATED their type, all muscle and blaster with not an ounce of gray matter between them, “what was it moving around?” “Don’t KNOW,” Rodney said suspiciously. “Damn it man,” Doc Murphy said, worried about the condition of the remaining colonists, “it COULD be the survivors, they KNOW we’re coming, some of them MAY have come out to find us.”
“No,” Rich said, coming to the defense of his brothers, “they said they couldn’t.” “Besides,” Rick said “If that’s the case why not come out and declare themselves instead of hiding in the shadows like that?” “Because their message said they had been attacked,” Captain Halderman said, irritated, “they COULD be scared, checking us out to make sure we’re not WHATEVER attacked them, or they could be hurt or anything.”
Suddenly, as if TRYING to put an end to all debate, several shadowy figures started to come out of the darkness toward the group. “Greetings,” Captain Halderman said, “I am Captain Halderman of the starship Valiant, we have come to help you.” No sooner did the Captain get the words out of his mouth then he noticed something odd about the figures he was addressing.
“Why are they walking like that, they seem so STIFF?” Captain Halderman asked no one in particular. “Could be injuries, shock, fatigue… anything.” Doc Murphy replied, eyeing the group, as they moved closer he got a weird chill in his old bones SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT he thought.
Then the figures moved into the circle of light made by the group’s personal lights and they SAW something that defied what they had previously thought of as logic.
The group consisted of six figures; each was pale with an almost yellowish hue. At first Doc Murphy and EVEN Doctor Anderson thought MAYBE they had some kind of PLAGUE but then they got closer and they saw the wounds.
Each of them had some kind of wound on their bodies, all of which SHOULD have killed, or at least incapacitated them, but they seemed totally unaware of them.
“What the FUCK!” Rodney said, raising his weapon with his brothers quickly following suit. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” Rick said, full of anger and menace. The figures either didn’t hear or ignored the warning because they kept coming for them without missing a step. “We MEAN it,” Rodney inserted, “we WILL fire!” Once again there was NO reaction.
At that point the security guards opened fire on the THINGS as they continued to slowly but steadily make their way toward the group.
It didn’t take long for the security guards to realize that their blaster rifles were having NO effect. “WHAT THE FUCK!” Rich said. “That should have fragged ALL of them!” Rick added in shock. They could SEE the burn marks left by the blaster weapons, they had HIT them but other than the marks, the blasters had NO effect, they KNEW they should have KILLED them, but they didn’t WORK.
Captain Halderman couldn’t believe WHAT he was SEEING. Like the REST of the group he KNEW that blaster rifles SHOULD have killed the entire group but he could see, just as well as the OTHERS, that they seemed to shrug them off and keep coming.
He was about to order a retreat to the shelter the survivors were hiding in when the THINGS reached where the group was standing and started to attack. The three security guards held them off as best as they could but even with extensive hand-to-hand training they were hard pressed to fight an enemy who could shrug off blaster rifles.
Some of the THINGS managed to break the trio’s protective line and reach the others, who found themselves FORCED to fight them off themselves. One of the THINGS made directly for Captain Halderman, while another went for Doctor Anderson.
Meanwhile, Rich grabbed a hold of HIS attacker and tossed him to the ground, then as an afterthought took his blaster rifle and turned it around, using the butt of the weapon on the THING’S head until he had beat it to a pulp.
While he was doing that the THING was fighting him, TRYING to get back up or trying to bite any part of Rich that got too close to it’s mouth. That all stopped once he was through beating it’s head, when he did that it stopped moving completely. “Hey!” he said, “If you bust their heads in they STAY down.”
At that point another THING reached out and grabbed him, and before he could react took a good bite out of his shoulder. “SON OF A BITCH!” He screamed as he grabbed his attacker and flipped him over to the ground, and then he grabbed the THING by the head and bashed it against a nearby rock until it stopped moving.
Rodney, having heard what Rich said, aimed all of his blows at the head of the THING in front of him. A few well-placed elbows and fist strikes to the skull later it was down and OUT. Then he turned HIS attention to another attacker nearby, taking it out by tossing it head first to the ground and drilling it’s skull into the dirt until it no longer moved.
Doc Murphy, as soon as he realized that Rich had been bitten by one of the attackers, ran over to tend to his wound, pulling out his medical kit and treating the wound as best as he could with his one free hand while the other was holding his light on the wound. It looked really bad; the THING had not only bitten Rich’s shoulder but had taken a huge chunk of flesh out when it did.
Captain Halderman grabbed one of the attackers by the shoulders, keeping his distance after seeing that the THINGS would bite, and looking for a way to deal with it, tripped it to the ground, forcing it to hit it’s head HARD against the ground. Apparently, the FORCE of the fall wasn’t enough so he scanned the area as best as he could in the semi-darkness and found a rock.
Picking the rock up, Captain Halderman proceeded to bash the THING in the head until it stopped moving. About that time, being at ground level he spotted a THING that had apparently at some point fallen and instead of getting back up was simply crawling along the ground about to attack Doctor Anderson and he attempted to warn her but before he could get the words out of his mouth the THING grabbed her.
Startled by the THING suddenly reaching up to grab her she pulled away with a scream, then suddenly embarrassed by such a last century, backward, reaction she raised her foot and said, “Nice try fucker!” and began to stomp the THING in the head until, like the others before it, it had stopped moving.
Just as that happened, Rick was also finishing off the LAST one, once that was done Captain Halderman said, “What the FUCK was that?” as he looked around at the bodies. I don’t KNOW,” Doc Murphy replied “but in my medical opinion SOMETHING was really WRONG with those guys!” “No kidding,” Captain Halderman said in a sarcastic tone. Then spotting Rick asked, “Is he ok?” “As best as I can do HERE.” Doc Murphy said. “Alright then,” Captain Alderman said then to everyone added, “Let’s move out we’re losing time.”
The rest of the trip to the survivor’s shelter was uneventful but what Captain Halderman and the others saw when they got there made things all the more difficult. The shelter was surrounded by dozens of THINGS like the ones they had encountered BEFORE.
“What are we going to do?” Doc Murphy asked, as he and the others looked on from behind a small rise, trying not to let the THINGS find out they were there. The THINGS just stood there, surrounding the building, pounding on it TRYING to get inside, Captain Halderman realized grimly, to attack the survivors. “What the FUCK is going on around HERE?” Captain Halderman muttered under his breath.
“Captain,” Rodney said, “we’re going to have to FIGHT our way through. IF we can reach the door the rest of us can watch YOUR back while you get them to open up.” Captain Halderman wasn’t SURE he LIKED the idea but he couldn’t THINK of anything BETTER, so he simply said, “Very good, let’s go then, we have to get in there and get them back to the ship where it’s safer.” The others nodded, and they got ready to charge the THINGS.
Going in, they KNEW they had TWO pluses on their side: The THINGS they faced were VERY slow AND while they APPEARED hard to KILL, once you KNEW about their heads being their weakness it became EASIER. With that on their side Captain Halderman and his group were able to fight their way through the throng of THINGS, only hampered by the fact that while they SEEMED pretty weak in small numbers their BIGGEST advantage was LARGE numbers.
While the others formed a human shield behind Captain Halderman he pounded on the door and shouted “Open up… This is Captain Halderman of the starship Valiant, we’ve come to help you… we spoke earlier…” There didn’t SEEM to be a reaction AT FIRST, but after he repeated himself a couple of times he heard MOVEMENT inside the shelter.
Suddenly, the door opened and he found himself face-to-face with three VERY ragged and dirty looking people holding all sorts of improvised weapons. One of them, an older man, walked forward and as soon as he spoke Captain Halderman KNEW he was the voice he had heard on the radio before. “My name is Gar, I’m the most senior person left here. Tell me: IS IT TRUE HELP HAS COME AT LAST?” “Yes,” Captain Halderman said, “you just have to LET US IN!”
At that point the survivors stepped back, and Captain Halderman and his people quickly ran inside, barely getting the doors closed before the THINGS could follow them inside, having to force one THING’S grasping arm out of the door to close and secure it once more. Gar said, “Captain, we are VERY pleased to SEE you.”
Captain Halderman raised his hand to cut Gar off in mid speech, and asked “JUST WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?” Gar was stunned and said,” You DON’T KNOW?” “NO,” Captain Halderman told him, “All I KNOW is that there hadn’t been in contact from you people in awhile and Earth Command sent me to find out WHY.”
“They’re WHY!” Gar said, pointing outside. “Those THINGS out there.” Captain Halderman said flatly. “Those THINGS as you call them,” Gar said HARSHLY, “were OUR family and friends UNTIL they DIED, NOW THEY’RE SOMETHING ELSE.”
“What are you talking about?” Doctor Anderson asked curiously. “I’m TELLING YOU,” the man said, “that those THINGS out there started out as fellow colonists. Then they died for various reasons as colonists on these new planets sometimes do and we buried them in our local cemetery, only to have them rise up from their graves as THOSE THINGS and attack us.”
Then Gar spotted Rich’s bite wound, apparently for the FIRST time, and with a wide-eyed expression of fear asked, “What happened to that MAN?” Doctor Murphy looked puzzled and said, “one of your THINGS bit him. WHY?”
“Because,” Gar said with fear in his voice, “IF he was bitten by THEM, then his time is running out. He WILL die SOON and become ONE OF THEM AS WELL.” “What?” Doc Murphy said, “don’t be silly.” “I’m all TOO SERIOUS,” Gar said gravely, “I’ve SEEN it.”
Then a woman entered the room and looked the new arrivals over with a sarcastic eye and said, “THIS IS THE HELP THEY SENT?” “Yes,” Gar said, “this is Captain Halderman and some of his crew… Captain THIS is my niece Jade, ask HER about the THINGS outside, one of them is her mother, AND my own SISTER.” Halderman’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the word sister, then he looked the woman up and down and said, “Good… maybe YOU can TELL me what’s going on here, this man is obviously cracking.”
“My UNCLE is perfectly SANE.” Jade said coldly, “I HEARD what he told you and he was right on ALL counts. Further, I have JUST figured out WHY.” “Why what?” Captain Halderman asked. “Why the dead are rising, or more accurately HOW.”
“Really,” Doctor Anderson said, again curious, “what IS the cause?” Jade didn’t hesitate, “the terra-forming done to make this world habitable. It somehow reacted with some thing in the soil that apparently causes ANYTHING on or in it that dies to come back to life.”
“Even IF what you’re saying is TRUE,” Doctor Anderson said, “how does that explain Gar’s CLAIM that being bitten will turn our friend Rich here into one of them?” “That I’m NOT sure of,” the woman admitted, “there MAY be some element of the process that creates a contagion passed on by saliva. I haven’t had any specimens to study to KNOW that for sure.”
“Wait a minute!” Rich shouted, “you’re CRAZY, ALL of you are CRAZY!” “BOTTOM LINE,” Jade said angrily, “What we’re telling you is TRUE. If you care ANYTHING about your wounded friend you would take your fancy blaster pistols and shoot HIM RIGHT NOW. IF on the OTHER HAND you want proof just wait and see, but KEEP a close eye on him.”
There was a long silence, FINALLY broken by Doc Murphy, “Captain EITHER way I would like to further treat Rich,” then to Jade he asked, “you wouldn’t happen to have some medical area set up in here.” “Sure do,” Jade said, “but you’re wasting your time.” “Well,” Doc Murphy said diplomatically, “it IS MY time to waste.” “Ok,” Jade said, “follow me.”
“Meanwhile,” Doctor Anderson said, “I would like to see your research on the cause of those THINGS out side.” “FINE!” Jade said, “it’s in the medical area TOO, you can come with us.” Once the four were gone the others tried to relax and Captain Halderman walked over to Gar.
“Listen,” Captain Halderman said, “I’m sorry if I was hostile before. The TRUTH is, it doesn’t MATTER one bit if what you say is true or NOT because there is a storm bearing down on our location and if we don’t pull out of here SOON and reach our shuttle we will be stuck here for hours.
“Captain,” Gar said, “all due respect but you MUST be NUTS! We can’t go out there with those THINGS, there are thousands of them, everyone who settled here except the FOUR of us.” “We CAN,” Rodney said, “they’re SLOW, we can run around them… hell IF they get dangerous we can take them out NOW that we KNOW about their weakness.”
“There are only a SMALL number HERE. What about the countless others out there somewhere just waiting for us?” Gar asked. “We CAN deal with them,” Captain Halderman said, “in FACT we’re better off going while their numbers are small, large numbers are their main advantage and our ship, whether it can take off or NOT, is stronger and safer.”
“Maybe you’re RIGHT,” Gar said, “besides we would have to TRY and reach your ship sooner or later. I will talk to the others.” “Very good,” Captain Halderman said, “in the meantime I will get my people working on ways to tip the odds in our favor.”
Once the Captain finished there, he ordered Rodney and Rick to huddle up with the others and work out some options, the he went to find Doc Murphy and Doctor Anderson.
It didn’t take Captain Halderman long, in the relatively SMALL confines of the structure, to find Doc Murphy and Doctor Anderson. Doc Murphy was intently caring for Rich while Doctor Anderson was lost in the notes Jade gave her.
Captain Halderman walked over to Doc Murphy and said, “What’s the verdict?” Doc Murphy looked up frowning, and pulling Captain Halderman away, said in low tones, “I’m starting to think THEY’RE right.” “What? Why?” Captain Halderman asked.
“Because I’ve done EVERYTHING I can think of to treat Rich’s wound and there is no change. There are obvious signs of infection and his temperature is dropping like a stone. At this rate he will be dead any time and IF they ARE right ONE of those THINGS shortly there after.”
“What are you recommending, that we BLAST HIS HEAD OFF LIKE JADE SUGGESTED?” Captain Halderman asked in a low angry voice. “No, of course not,” Doc Murphy said, “EVEN IF I KNEW FOR SURE THEY WERE RIGHT I COULDN’T BE A PARTY TO THAT! ‘First do no harm’ RING A BELL?” “Then WHAT?” Captain Halderman asked. “I WILL watch him and see, that’s ALL I CAN do, in the meantime he has agreed to be restrained just in case. Rich DOESN’T want to HURT ANYONE.” “Alright,” Captain Halderman said softly, “keep me posted.”
After that Captain Halderman moved over to check on Doctor Anderson, hoping she HAD
some GOOD news. “What you got Doctor?” Captain Halderman asked. “I KNOW this much for sure THEY’RE RIGHT. The terra-forming caused an interaction that created those THINGS.” “What?” Captain Halderman asked, “HOW?”
“Just like Jade said,” Doctor Anderson explained, “the terra-forming interacted with a hitherto unknown element in the planet’s soil and caused it to become SOMETHING NEW. It finds dead matter and invades the body, reanimating and contaminating it to the point where the bites transfer it. She was RIGHT ABOUT IT ALL.”
“Damn it!” Captain Halderman said. “There any way to undo it?” he asked hopefully. “No I doubt it. You know terra-forming can’t be undone, sometimes it reverses itself or something, but there’s nothing WE can DO to undo it, certainly NOT where we are and with the tools available to us.” “Alright,” Captain Halderman said sadly, “I want YOU back in the MAIN room with the others, they’re working on ways to help us make a run for the ship before we’re TRAPPED here.” “Yes sir!” Doctor Anderson said, even though she WOULD have preferred to stay and study the notes some more.
Just as the two of them were about to leave, there was a commotion coming from where Doc Murphy was tending to Rich. “What’s that!?” Captain Halderman said, turning to see what was happening. What he saw made his heart sink, Gar and Jade were RIGHT after all, Rich had turned.
He MAY NOT have WANTED to HURT ANYONE while he was alive, but apparently NOW that he had passed on and rose again that all changed. Doc Murphy quickly backed away to join the others, he looked a little stunned, “at least he can’t get loose.”
Just then JADE entered the room, shouting “YOU’RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE HIM LIKE THAT!?” Before ANYONE could SAY or DO ANYTHING she pulled out a large heavy piece of metal she had on her and bashed the THING that used to be Rich in the head until it was TRULY dead.
“What did you DO THAT FOR!?” Doc Murphy asked, enraged. “What did YOU WANT to do? Let your friend SUFFER like THAT?” Doc Murphy simply turned to leave, finally saying, “it wasn’t necessary to be so vicious about it…” to which Jade snorted and said as he left the room in anger “yeah, like those THINGS are SO NICE when they KILL US!” Doctor Anderson was quick to point out, “WE COULD HAVE STUDIED HIM, MAYBE FOUND SOME INFORMATION…SOMETHING TO HELP US.”
“Doesn’t MATTER!” Jade said, “the important thing is to get out of this shit hole ALIVE. Earth Command can send all the research teams, and whatever here to find out what went WRONG LATER. RIGHT NOW SURVIVAL IS ALL THAT MATTERS!”
***
It didn’t take Captain Halderman’s people long to come up with a plan. A check of the survivor’s inventory by Rodney and Rick revealed their robot, the Davorak 4000, which gave them an idea. It wouldn’t harm or destroy the THINGS, but it would clear a path they could USE to escape.
Before going to tell Gar and his people the plan, Captain Halderman took Rodney and Rick aside and said, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but Gar and his people were right. Rich died a little while ago and came back as one of those THINGS.” “Where is he NOW?” Rodney asked in a sorrowful tone. “Jade took care of him, I don’t THINK you’re going to want to SEE him.” “That’s where you’re WRONG Captain,” Rick said. “He’s back in the medical section, Doc Murphy can take you.” “Thanks Captain,” both brothers said, as they left to say good-bye to Rich, and Captain Halderman went to talk to Gar.
***
“That’s your plan?” Gar asked harshly. “Use our robot here to clear a path and run like hell to the ship.” “That about sums it up yeah.” Captain Halderman said, adding, “Got any BETTER ideas?”
“Not really. But, the Davorak 4000 was shut down because it was out of power. What about that?” “We have a portable generator and it won’t take much juice for what we’re planning.” “When do we go?” Gar asked. “A.S.A.P., we’ve lost ENOUGH time as it is.”
“Very well, we will gather our things…” Gar said, prompting Captain Halderman to interrupt “NO! Carry ONLY what you NEED and what WON’T slow you down and EVERYONE should have some kind of weapon, I take it you’re out of charges for your blasters.” “Yes,” Gar said, “we wasted MOST of them before we learned about shooting them in the head, but we have some improvised weapons that SHOULD do.” “Good,” Captain Halderman said, “then let’s get moving.”
Everyone stood at the door getting themselves ready for the danger they KNEW lay ahead of them. Rick turned on the Davorak 4000 and started to make programming adjustments for their plan. After working on it for several minutes he finally said, “Ok it’s ready.”
At that point the Davorak 4000 moved toward the door, and Rodney opened it to let the machine out, then quickly closed it before ANYTHING could get inside. “So HOW do we KNOW if this plan of yours worked?” Jade asked, unsure WHAT was going to happen.
“Oh,” Rodney said, “we’ll KNOW.” Suddenly there was a loud noise and the structure shook a bit then Rick said, “NOW!”
Once they got outside they saw the remains of the Davorak 4000 as well as obvious explosion damage and some fires. The THINGS that were outside were scattered and several were even damaged, helping their escape, if only a bit. “RUN!” Captain Halderman shouted, as everyone took off as fast as they COULD run.
The group ran as fast as they could, trying to get as far away from the THINGS as they could before they recovered, Rodney and Rick were counting on them being slow to recover and that their slow movements would allow them to get away.
However, what they didn’t count on was the other two survivors slowing them down. “Come on,” Rick SHOUTED “What’s the HOLD up?” “I’m sorry,” one of them said, “I’m not much of a runner.” “Well,” Rodney shouted sarcastically “you had better BECOME a runner or you’re going to start moving VERY slow.”
He barely got the words out when suddenly the other survivor seemed to trip. She was about to get up when the others suddenly realized she didn’t TRIP, she was pulled down by a THING that had it’s legs blown off by the explosion.
By the time anyone realized that fact, the THING was already on her and had bitten her throat out. The OTHER survivor, the woman’s boyfriend or something, saw this and foolishly ran to help her, which led him RIGHT into a group of THINGS who attacked him as one. They were BOTH dead before anyone could even TRY and help them.
“Don’t look back,” Rick shouted, just keep going. THAT proved to be a big mistake because the shouting he was doing SEEMED to attract the THINGS. Rick tried to shoot the THINGS in front of him, but that ONLY left his BACK open and that was where they pounced.
“Son of a bitch!” Rodney shouted. “You THINGS have KILLED ONE BROTHER, I WON’T LET YOU take ANOTHER.” Then he ran to try and help, only to discover that he was too late, Rick was already gone and now he was surrounded. True to his nature Rodney went down fighting to the last second.
“Damn it!” Captain Halderman shouted. Then realizing that it was far TOO late to do ANYTHING for them, added once again, “RUN!” and tried to prod the others to get moving. At last they started to pick up the pace, even the older Doc Murphy SEEMED like he was making good time.
After a little while, even in the dim light provided ONLY by their personal lights they could see the rough outline of the ship in the distance. They started running faster when suddenly; seemingly out of nowhere a group of THINGS showed up and attacked.
One of them grabbed Doc Murphy, and before he could fight it off another one showed up and started to attack him as well. Before anyone could run to his aid, Doc Murphy raised his blaster pistol as if to defend himself, but before he could shoot, one of the THINGS bit him in the thigh. Doc screamed out of pain and anger, but collected himself long enough to put his gun to his head.
Captain Halderman was about to run to stop him, but Doc Murphy shook his head and yelled GET AWAY, I’M DONE FOR… Captain Halderman stood frozen for a second as Doc Murphy shot himself. As soon as he did that the THINGS lost interest in him, and started to move to the others, which forced them to start TRYING to run again.
Suddenly, Captain Halderman heard Gar say something. When he turned to see what was going on, he saw Gar standing frozen in front of a female THING. “Oh my God!” Jade shouted, “it’s MY MOTHER, or WAS!” Then when she saw that her uncle was just standing there looking at the THING, she shouted “Come on uncle, that THING’S NOT HER ANYMORE!” but by then it was TOO late, the THING reached out and grabbed Gar, ripping his throat out with it’s teeth.
Doctor Anderson ran over and pulled the THING away but it was, of course, too late. She raised her weapon to take the THING out but Jade shouted “NO I SHOULD DO IT!” and shot the THING that had been her MOTHER in the head with a blaster Captain Halderman had JUST handed her.
Doctor Anderson was about to turn to leave when ANOTHER THING came around a large rise in the ground and jumped her, it took her out and started feeding on her flesh before she could do much more than let out a wet gurgle of a scream.
“Damn it!” Captain Halderman shouted, “looks like it’s just you and me Jade. You get out ahead of me, and NO MATTER WHAT, don’t look back.” She was about to say something when they could see THINGS all around them so instead she slightly nodded and did as he told her to.
They BOTH ran full out for the ship that by now was only a few yards away. Once they got close Captain Halderman saw the rear hatch was open and wondered to himself why, finally deciding that they must have detected their approach and opened it so they could get to safety faster.
Jade was nearly there but stopped as if waiting for Captain Halderman to reach her. WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING? He thought to himself. He WANTED to shout to her to go, but he was nearly out of breath and KNEW she wouldn’t LISTEN anyway. He hadn’t dared SAY anything but she REMINDED him a lot of his sister, he KNEW she NEVER listened, even when he begged her not to move to that fucking colony.
In a couple of more minutes he reached Jade and between panting asked her “Why didn’t you go on inside?” She just pointed and when he looked over he saw bodies, some of those THINGS with their heads either shot OFF or greatly damaged. “Damn! They attacked here,” Captain Halderman said, then grabbing Jade by the hand, said, “come on we will be much safer INSIDE the ship!”
Turned out Captain Halderman was VERY WRONG about that. As they were about to get inside they saw the crew standing inside the ship. At first Captain Halderman was glad to see them, see that they were up and walking around, but then he realized they were moving slow and stiff.
He turned to try and get away, but there were MORE THINGS behind them, he noticed with sadness that some of the THINGS he recognized as his own people. He tried to raise his weapon but the THINGS already had him, he leaned his head just enough to see Jade was in the same situation. He tried to prepare himself for the pain to come.
As they bit and tore into his flesh he heard Jade scream in pain as they did the SAME to her. He had stoically decided he wasn’t going to make a sound no matter how much they did to him. He doubted they CARED if he screamed or not, but just in case they DID he wasn’t going to give the FUCKERS the satisfaction.
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