Hell Off-World

“You found a dead Reaper?” Theresa asked, her voice full of disbelief and fear.

“Three of them…” Blaine replied, crestfallen. “I went to the heat signature… it looks like they tore each other apart.”

Theresa only permitted herself a second of standing in stunned silence. “Blaine get back here, now. Atlas, you’ve got five seconds to download the co-ordinates to that landing site.”

“Done.” Atlas replied, proving they barely needed two.

Atlas unplugged the cable and the three of them raced towards the entry foyer and onwards to the entrance to the lab, guiding the cable as they did, on its path, retracting to the ship. They wasted no time in climbing aboard and racing to the cockpit.

“You two, fly us to the nearest plant cluster, I want that vaccine made ASAP.” Theresa ordered sternly.

As the ship rose into the air, Theresa approached a large conference screen mounted to a wall of the cockpit, wobbling slightly to keep her balance, as the ship was flown by its third and fourth best pilots. With a few taps, she had the planet’s other two crews selected, and a call initiated. She tapped her foot and ground her teeth anxiously, as she waited for them to accept the call.

The captain of the Star Skipper answered, but the Wyvern’s didn’t.

“Black Comet.” She greeted, sounding just slightly bored. “Calling in to enquire as to my good health again?”

“Yes.” Theresa abruptly replied, advertising her disinterest in banter. “We found three of those creatures I mentioned, dead. Looks like they killed each other.”

“Captain, you strike me as a woman who’s an excellent liar, who’s struggling under pressure.” The Star Skipper’s captain replied, critically. “Even if you were panicking over the health of strangers, you told me earlier that the creature’s retaliate against their attacker. Coupled with the fact that, as agreed, we’re on a different continent to you, you’ve really no reason to worry, unless you’ve been less than honest.”

Theresa promptly ended the connection. “No one who’s under attack has the time to be that pretentious.” She scowled.

Her attention returned to the Wyvern. The icon to indicate an attempted call was still shaking from left to right. She scowled anxiously, and then took a deep breath. There were countless reasons why they might be unable to answer a call. Not everyone had a crew member who was permanently connected to their ship, and there was no guarantee that a dead Reaper even meant a new Reaper. The spores which had once held that affect had been inactive for thousands of years, after all. Either way, that vaccine couldn’t come soon enough.

The ship hovered in the air, floating as close as it could, to one of the plant clusters. It was made up of two or three gargantuan trees, which stretched upwards, well into the clouds, with black bark and purple leaves. And several million individual plants of all shapes and colours growing up its massive trunk. While Atlas held the ship still, Monty made his way to the garage where, after donning a secure harness, he began plucking small plants from the trunk of the massive trees, at Atlas' direction. While the Vampire worked, Blaine’s voice returned to the comms.

“I’m just under ten minutes out, Captain.” He could be heard drawing a deep breath. “What’s the status on the three new Reapers?”

“We’re all still fine, Blaine.” Theresa answered the question within Blaine’s question. “I’ve been in touch with the other crews... One of them’s fine. The other didn’t answer. Which could mean any number of things!”

“Mum... those Reapers killed each other deliberately...” Blaine practically whispered. “Why would they just want new Reapers?”

“I don’t know, Blaine.” Theresa resignedly stated. “For all we know, this is a good thing! It could be that they’re dying already, and if we get this vaccine distributed fast enough, this could be the end of it right here.”

Theresa was doubtful, and from his voice, so was Blaine. “I hope so... I’ll be with you guys in a bit.”

The voice of Monty’s translator took over, moments after Blaine cut off. “I’ve got the plants we need. Taking them to the med bay now. Atlas, if you upload the recipe for the vaccination, we’ll have them ready in a second.”

Theresa stepped over to the cockpit’s medicine dispenser and tapped the screen a few times. Sure enough, before long, a new option appeared, a medicine Atlas had dubbed ‘Reaper Vaccine’. Unlike with her previous medication, pressing the button deployed a short metallic platform with a joystick-like handle at the end, underneath a small robot arm wielding a barely visible needle. Theresa rested her arm on the platform and held the stick and the machine quickly and painlessly jabbed her arm.

Theresa took a moment to appreciate a small victory. Her crew wouldn’t be turning into Reapers. Then she realised with a sigh, what she would have to do before she could mount a counterattack against the monsters. Sighing irritably, she returned to her conference screen and called the Star Skipper.

“Well.” The same voice snootily replied, after just a few rings. “Look who...”

“Shut up.” Theresa ordered. “You’re smart, I get it, I lied because my crew is fighting for our lives and I don’t have time to give you the full history of our time on this planet. The truth is, I need to kill these creatures to rescue one of my crew, and I can’t do that until everyone on this planet has taken the vaccine I’m about to upload to you, and if you’re still not convinced, we’re uploading our entire findings of everything we’ve discovered on this planet.” She turned to Atlas and nodded. “It’s worth billions of credits to the Empire. I’m sending you this so you’ll believe me and take that vaccine. But whether or not you do, I’m killing those creatures and saving my mechanic. Take a flick through this data and you’ll see why you’re going to want that vaccination in your systems before that starts happening.”

There was a pause. “Looks like quite the adventure you’ve had...” The smugness was slowly fading from her voice.

“Yeah, do with it what you will. If you won’t take the vaccine, you’ll just be making my job harder, and your lives much, much shorter. Comet out.”

Theresa ended the call. She looked across the screen and exhaled stressfully. The ship was still trying to contact the Wyvern, without success. She heard the Tank landing on the other side of the ship and, a couple of minutes later, Monty and Blaine joined the rest of the crew in the cockpit.

“Everyone vaccinated?” Theresa asked, getting nods in reply. “Good, we’re all safe, in a manner of speaking. Okay, update- At least three of the Reapers have killed each other, presumably because they want someone else on the planet to succeed them. We don’t know why they’d want this, or if they succeeded.”

“Could it be they’re just trying to wipe us all out, by making us Reapers?” Monty suggested.

“Maybe...” Theresa agreed. “I don’t know how perceptive they are, but I’m guessing they’ll want our ships intact to find more prey for the egg, whether or not they know about the Ark. If they infect a new subject while they’re in the ship, the mutation would destroy it, you saw how big they are.”

“The Wyvern is still intact.” Atlas added. “I’m still getting their signal.”

“Atlas, you hacked them!” Theresa suddenly remembered. “What’s happening over there?”

“They’ve had little change. Like us, they’ve been using medication to prevent them from seeing the squids at night. They’ve released the crew members who turned on the rest. They’ve yet to encounter any Reapers, and remain undecided on whether or not to heed your advice and retreat if and when they do. They last left the ship just under an hour ago, planning to investigate a nearby fissure for uncatalogued life, where they’ve presumably lost contact with their ship, keeping them from answering your call.”

Theresa sighed again. “Okay, well send them all the information we sent the Star Skipper. They seem like idiots, but hopefully they’re okay and they’ll take the vaccine. In the mean time, we have more work to do. Blaine, while we were in the lab, we discovered a report which suggested we might find a crystal at the place where the monster first landed, which we can use against it.”

Blaine took a step back in astonishment. “Really!?”

Theresa pointed the palms of her hands at him, as a sign to calm down. “It’s shaky, and groundless, and probably isn’t true, but we have to investigate. Atlas, where is it?”

“Close to the northern pole of the planet.” Atlas replied. “We’ll be dressing for cold weather.”

-x-x-x-

Unlike on Earth, and many other planets, Planet A1948-Omicron’s icy north pole was connected to the main land. The ground beneath the comet got steadily whiter, and light snow could be seen in the air. By the time they reached the co-ordinates Atlas had downloaded, almost an hour after embarking, there was very little red left in sight. The Comet hovered over an unbroken sheet of pure white snow. There were no crystals in sight.

“Okay Blaine, let’s clear away some of this snow...” Theresa suggested.

The Constantines lowered the ship towards the ground, just close enough for the retrothrusters to blast the snow instantly to liquid. The co-ordinates had been quite specific, but Theresa and Blaine flew the ship outwards in a spiral until a considerably large circle had been melted from the snow, leaving only coarse dirt and the occasional cluster of hardy, red grass, some of which had caught fire to a subtle extent.

As the Comet landed, snow was just beginning to set again on the rapidly cooling soil. They crew had dressed for the occasion. Theresa and Blaine donned snow jackets and boots, humorously, Atlas wore a jacket too, since their body produced heat as a by-product and, if they got too cold, their motors could slow down. Monty had been ordered by Theresa to sit the mission out. Due to the fact that snow reflected sunlight, effectively doubling exposure to it, it often caused vampires to become woozy and, in extreme circumstances, pass out.

Blaine cringed as his boots sunk into the soil, which had become swamp-like, with the introduction of a layer of snow’s worth of water. “So do we know for a fact that these crystals even exist?” Blaine asked. “How much of it is myth?”

“Well the Destroyer landed thousands of years before the squids settled.” Theresa pointed out. “But the squid scientist who was coming here chose these co-ordinates for a reason. What made him think this was where it landed?” Although the question was rhetorical, the Constantines found themselves slowly turning towards Atlas.

Atlas had dropped to their knees and had sunk their hands into the mud. “I’m picking up something... There’s a cavern with a strange energy signature just under a mile beneath us... If the story about the crystal formation was true, I’d say its likely they were swallowed by a planetquake.”

“A mile!?” Blaine asked, dismayed.

“Hold on... We don’t necessarily have to dig our way down...” Although their tone was serous, Atlas was joking, since they had no equipment which could take them that deep. They turned to face the ship, which had a considerably more powerful sonar than they did and, with a silent, electronic signal, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble, ever so slightly. It stopped, and Atlas turned to the others. “There’s a chasm to the South East, which connects to a small cave system. We should be able to reach the chamber beneath us with minimum difficulty.”

“Okay, you guys start walking, I’ll catch up with the spelunking gear.” Theresa decided.

While she re-entered the ship, banging her boots against the ramp to shed some of the mud, Atlas and Blaine made their way South East. The show crunched under their feet as they left the circle of mud.

“So... Atlas...” Blaine said, after a minute of walking.

“What?” The android coaxed, after their companion was silent for a moment.

“It’s just... I can’t stop thinking about Amy...” He sighed.

“I should think not.” Atlas replied, in a neutral voice. “She’s the reason we’re doing all this. I would like to think we’d help the squids out of a sense of altruism, but I’m not sure if the Captain would let us fight a behemoth of that size for them. Amy is another matter entirely though.”

“Yeah, but what I mean is... You’re really smart...” Blaine said, building up to something.

“I like to think so.”

“Do you... have any idea how we can help Amy? Anything at all? I feel like we’re all just coasting along on a ‘we’ll see what happens’ mentality, and it’s making me sick to my stomach...”

“This is new grounds for all of us.” Atlas tried their best to be comforting. “None of us have all the answers, that’s not to say we don’t all very much want Amy back safe.”

They walked in silence for several seconds. Atlas twitched their head to shake off the snowflakes which were forming on their visor.

“I do know that Amy will be fine for the foreseeable future.” Atlas elaborated. “The squids survived for thousands of years on the other side of the portal, and it seems like they’ve accepted Amy into their society, and unlike the squids, Amy has an entire empire in this galaxy, who would and will send the greatest scientific minds in the galaxy to analyse these portals, the second they find out about them. We just need to make sure these monsters don’t infest the Ark before that happens.”

Silence resumed for several seconds, before Blaine quietly said, “Thanks Atlas.”

The pair were just beginning to see, up ahead, the grey streak in the otherwise white landscape, when the Captain’s rhythmic, sprinting footsteps caught up with them. She was wearing a belt across her torso, with all manner of small survival tools, and one, large, handheld excavation tool, about the size of a pogo stick.

“Alright, let’s get ready to fight back.” She said, encouragingly.

As the team approached the chasm, they realised that, although it was barely twenty meters wide, it stretched down into an inky, black abyss. Had the suns been shining from directly above, they might have seen the bottom, but as it happened, sundown was barely an hour away. Blaine took an Imperial Credit from his pocket and flicked it into the chasm experimentally. The trio waited for several seconds, hearing nothing.

“There’s probably a pretty heavy layer of snow at the bottom.” Theresa reasoned. “Okay Atlas, how deep do we need to go?”

“Deeper than our grapple cables will take us.” They admitted. “We’ll have to use the clamps. The surface seems smooth enough.”

Theresa’s gear included three sets of surface clamps, devices which strapped securely onto the wrists, and, when placed against a flat, non-porous surface, immediately reshaped to fit it and sucked the air from underneath it, creating a powerful vacuum and sealing the device immovably, until it was released with the touch of a button. They weren’t intended to be used by people who weren’t in incredible shape, which was why Theresa only owned three pairs.

Climbing nervously down from the edge, the trio descended into the abyss. Luckily, Theresa had also thought to bring a glow sphere, which, as the name suggested, was a glass sphere, which cast light brightly in all directions. The climbers’ shadows danced eerily into the darkness as they climbed lower, one clamp at a time.

Atlas gave periodic updates on how close they were to the cave system that led to the cavern. At one point they had to detour to the side to avoid a cluster of holes in the rock, which the clamps wouldn’t seal over. As the crew descended further, a number of small worms, each with a single, squinting red at the end of its head, surrounded with four small digging pincers, poked their heads from the holes and stared at them suspiciously.

After what felt like hours of climbing, the crew arrived at a small platform, and a tunnel leading away from the chasm, which stretched further downwards. They proceeded through the tunnel, having to crouch slightly, and sometimes even crawl, all the while glad their line of work quickly trained claustrophobia out of people. It was wasn’t the first time they’d investigated a cave system in such a way, although it was usually in search of insects and small mammals, not mythological weapons.

On several occasions, Theresa had to use her excavation device, which fired out a series of red laser beams, which carefully moved around the rock, carving it in such a way that allowed passage, without causing a cave in.

Moments after Atlas mentioned that they were getting close, Theresa excitedly pointed something out to the others. Growing on a small rock, was a layer of sparkling, red crystals. It was a massive relief to know that the crystals were real, and they were all certain that there would be larger, more weaponizable crystals closer to the landing site. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before they saw dagger-like crystals, growing in clusters, all around them. They were sturdy enough to be weaponised, but not so sturdy that they couldn’t be harvested with the crew’s equipment.

“Head to the exact co-ordinates, where the energy signature is strongest.” Theresa ordered.

The crystals grew larger and larger, until they crew were having to duck under mighty beams which arched across the rocky chambers. Atlas led them along the wall of a chamber, coming to rest at a blank stretch of rock.

“This wall is thin. The crystals’ energy is strongest on the other side.” They informed.

Needing no more information, Theresa armed her device and unleashed a barrage of laser fire, which carved a passable doorway. The gleam of the glow sphere reflected off the red crystals, causing a red glare from the central chamber, before they even climbed inside. The light intensified, to the point where, after they were all in the chamber, it’s crystal-covered walls, ceiling and floor emitted a constant, crimson glow. Theresa and Blaine had to squint for a few moments, as their eyes readjusted.

After all three had entered the chamber, and were looking around for any crystals that seemed especially deadly. Atlas’ head span around 180 degrees, as they noticed a heat signature flare into life. On the wall of the chamber, above the hole through which they had entered, a humanoid figure, obscured entirely in ragged, black fabric, clung to the wall. Immediately after Atlas noticed it, it dropped to the floor and lunged at the crew.

While Atlas thrust a forearm at the attacker in defence, they pointed their other palm at the Constantines, to tell them to wait, before telling them, literally.

“Wait! No laser fire!” They shouted. Sure enough, both had their hands on their weapons, in their holsters. “These crystals are highly reflective, you’ll kill us all!”

Atlas blocked the newcomer as it swiped a rag-covered hand at them, then thrust it back with the palm of their hand. The stranger stumbled and fell to the floor. They looked up and snarled an unnatural and deathly snarl, like a vicious predator who had been dying for several days. As the crew watched warily, fists poised, the noise slowly changed. Getting more familiar with each repetition.

“Ssss... Usss... Kill usss all...” The thing growled.

“Telepathy...?” Theresa mouthed, as the crew shared some nervous looks.

Atlas shook their head. “It’s just mimicking us...”

The creature continued rasping and attempting to mimic spoken words for a few seconds, before it lunged at the crew again, and this time, it wasn’t so easily deterred. It moved like a machine, ironic, since Atlas was unable to best it. It punched, kicked and elbowed, all the while effortlessly deflecting attacks from the crew in all directions.

At one point, Theresa managed to thrust her arms beneath to stranger’s armpits and lock her own arms over its shoulders. As Blaine prepared a devastating right hook, the stranger had leapt up, kicked off Blaine’s chest and flipped behind Theresa. It twisted its body, easily throwing the Captain aside, across the room, and then dashed forwards, thrusting its knee into Blaine’s stomach. As Blaine recoiled, Atlas attempted to lunge at the stranger, with a powerful electrical charge built up in their palms, but Atlas’ ignorance of the attacker’s species was their downfall. Its spine bent backwards, in a motion impossible for any member of the UGE, avoiding Atlas’ attack, then, it swept the android’s feet from beneath them, and kicked them across the chamber, leaving a noticeable dent in their torso.

The fight waged on for almost ten minutes, during which time no serious damage had been done to the mysterious alien, but, not for lack of trying, it hadn’t been able to seriously harm any of the crew either. Just as the three of them were launching what felt like their hundredth co-ordinated attack, the cloaked figure threw its hands to its side.

“ENOUGH!” It roared. Its voice was deep and masculine.

The crew stumbled to a halt and mentally backtracked. None of them had said that word since entering the chamber.

“You’re more useful to my master alive...” He scowled, failing to hide his disappointment at his inability to kill the crew.

“Wow...” Theresa breathed, after a moment of silence. “Every cultist movie ever, much?”

“You’re speaking Galactic Standard...” Atlas realised, after thoroughly scanning their own brainwaves to rule out telepathy.

“Your language is not challenging.” He scowled.

“Okay, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that your master is the thing in the egg?” Blaine suggested. “Did you... or, your body anyway... used to be one of this planet’s citizens, like the Reapers?”

“I do not reincarnate or reproduce, nor am I reborn, I defy nature so that I might serve the...” He emitted a series of ear-splitting shrieks, deliberate enough to make it clear it was saying a proper noun in an alien language. “… for all eternity!”

“We’ve been calling it the Destroyer...” Theresa sarcastically pointed out that they were unable to say its true name. “And you became immortal so that you could serve it by squatting in a cave for...” Realisation slowly dawned on Theresa’s face. “Ohhhh, you’re guarding the crystals!”

The stranger stood silently.

“So how exactly are you going to keep us from taking a few with us to kill your boss?” She teased.

“Captain, the energy from the crystals is originating from him.” Atlas announced, as they became aware of the fact. “Specifically, from immediately under his rags.”

“I could easily kill you before you get the only crystal that’ll do you any good...” The stranger said, mockingly.

He reached under a fold in his robe and pulled out a shard, shaped like a sea urchin or a rolled up hedgehog, and glowing like a tiny, red sun. Evidently, immortality did nothing to dull arrogance, as the stranger gently tossed the crystal into the air, planning to catch it a second later, but no sooner had it broken contact with his rags, had Atlas deployed a small screwdriver from their wrist and thrown it like a shuriken, at the crystal, sending it flying into Theresa’s hands.

“G... GIVE THAT BACK!” The stranger roared, after overcoming his shock.

Blinded by rage and desperation, the stranger didn’t notice Blaine as he lunged towards the rag-coated Guardian and thrust a handheld stun device into his side. Before he recovered, Atlas clamped their hands, still carrying the electrical charge, onto his shoulders, and Theresa continued the assault from her side. Tiny arcs of blue lightning arced over the stranger as he shuddered and twitched. Atlas almost wondered if he would lose consciousness before they ran out of power, but mercifully, he slowly tilted forwards, fell to his knees, and then flat on his face.