Ice Rift (21 page)

Richard focused on the crane's large arms. It was a good idea, but he didn't have enough time to work out the controls before the beast attacked. However, it seemed the small creature had already worked out that part of the plan. It leapt from the control panel and rushed at the approaching monster. Though Richard believed Lucifer was no match for the larger claw-equipped monster, he rushed to the control panel and randomly pressed buttons. The panel sprung to life. He glanced at the howling monster. With lightning speed, the small creature leapt at the larger foe and sunk its teeth into flesh before leaping out of its reach. Though it seemed more annoying for the monster than any serious threat to its well being, it was keeping it distracted.

Richard played with the controls, and after sending the machine in the wrong direction, he grasped what each button did. His fingers moved deftly over the controls. The arms reached out and opened and closed their metal fingers. He manoeuvred the crane toward the distracted monster and lowered it. When it was near enough, he reached out a metal arm and closed the fingers. They grasped air when the monster jerked away from another bite to its flesh. Richard repositioned the arm. It took two more tries before he managed to grip one of its arms. He lifted the creature off the ground. It howled and struggled to be free of the vice-like grip. It tore at the machine with the claws of its free hand. Worried it might rip one of the cables from the machine, which might cause it to release its grip, Richard moved the other hand toward its neck. When the metal fingers were in position, he stabbed the close fingers button repeatedly. They folded around the creature's throat and kept squeezing. The creature's eyes bulged. Blood exploded. The creature's head lolled to the side. It was dead. Richard powered down the machine. The monster's body smacked to the floor.

Richard gazed around for his new found friend. “Lucifer, where are you?”

Slurping pinpointed its position. Richard approached the carcass. Lucifer was feeding. It sent a shiver down his spine, but then he thought humans eat meat also, just not raw and still oozing warm blood. The little alien had just saved his life. It could eat what it wanted as long as it wasn't him. Lucifer's large eyes followed his walk over to the exit where Richard waited for his friend to finish its meal.

*****

Henry, Theo and Max shot fearful glances at the bridge door sliding open. If a monster entered there'd be no escape this time; they were trapped. Fear faded into relieved smiles when Jane, Lucy and Jack entered.

Henry stepped over to greet them. “Am I glad to see you lot. Is everyone okay?”

Jane gripped his arm softly. “We're fine, Henry. Like you, we had a few close shaves on the way, but as you can see, we survived.”

Jack looked at Max's clothes, stained with the Wraiths blood. “Looks like you've been having some fun, Max.”

Max nodded. “Yes, but not something I'd like to repeat.”

Lucy noticed the corpse in the chair. “Is that one of the crew?”

“We think it might be the ship's pilot or captain,” said Theo.

Jane examined the alien's face. “He looks sad.”

Theo pointed at the pilot's chest wound. “Well, he had just been murdered.”

“There's a wealth of information to be learnt from this unfortunate being,” said Lucy excitedly, momentarily forgetting the monsters that had plagued their journey through the alien vessel.

Henry had already been busy working out the steps and experts needed for the examination. “It could take years of study until we've learnt everything.”

“We're going to be so famous when this news gets out,” beamed Theo. “I can't believe this has happened to me. Yes, one day, I thought humans would make first contact with an intelligent alien life-form, but I didn't expect it to happen in my life time, or to be present when it did, or aboard an actual alien spaceship.”

“We're all very fortunate fate has decreed it was to be us lucky few to experience this event.” said Henry, who, like Theo, counted the pilot as their real first contact with an intelligent alien being.

“Did fate also decree it should be dead when this event happened?” said Jack, more worried about escaping than studying the alien pilot.

Henry glanced at Jack and back at the alien. “Unfortunately, it seemed fate did.”

“The trouble is,” said Lucy, sadly, “we don't have years. The only way anyone's going to have a chance of studying him is if he's moved off the ship before it's lost when the ice breaks from the shelf, which at the moment seems an impossible task as we don't even know if we'll manage to escape.”

Henry gazed around the room with a frustrated expression. “If only we had more time, we could learn so much.”

Jane nodded in agreement. “On our way here we discovered something― the crew's quarters, rooms where they slept or spent off duty time.”

“Any sign of the crew?” asked Max.

Jane shook her head. “Some of the rooms had beds, in other rooms they were missing. The sleeping chambers could be sealed, and we think as well as for sleeping, they're also some type of hyper-sleep chamber and escape pod. At the foot of each bed-chamber was a hatch to eject the pod somehow.”

“The crew abandoned ship?” said Theo.

Jane shrugged. “Maybe? It would explain their absence.”

Henry agreed. “It's a plausible theory, but why would the crew abandon the ship?”

“Because it was about to crash on our planet would be a good enough reason, I should think,” said Theo.

Lucy glanced at the pilot captain. “But why did he remain? And don't tell me it's because a captain always goes down with his ship! This is an alien species, not some Hollywood movie.”

“If the ship was forced to make an emergency landing, maybe he tried to save the ship and its cargo, which by the good condition of the parts of the ship we've seen, he succeeded in doing.”

Jane stared at the wound in the alien's chest. “If there were no crew left aboard the ship, what killed the captain?”

“It's something we were pondering just before you arrived,” said Henry.

“Probably one of the monsters,” said Jack.

Lucy shook her head. “I don't think so. Look at the body. There's no sign of it having been eaten so it wasn't killed for food, and the wound seems to have made with some type of weapon, a knife or something similar, not claws or teeth.”

“It's like we said, the captain was murdered!” said Theo.

Jack banged his gloved hands together to prompt circulation back into his cold fingers. It made him realize how warm the rest of the ship had been. “As the pilot's not going anywhere, how about we turn our thoughts to more immediate matters? Like how to restore some power to the ship's systems to unlock the doors so we can get off this ship before it slips into the ocean and takes us along for the ride?”

“A wise suggestion, Jack.” Henry studied the long console. “Okay, let's see if we can get this ship powered up.”

After they had brushed away as much of the thin layer of frost covering the control console as they could, they all gazed at the myriad of buttons, levers and screens lit by their flashlights. Strange symbols that might be a clue to the purpose of some of the controls were of no help to them, but a few small, simple diagrams etched into some of them hinted at their purpose.

Max pointed to a row of buttons on a panel with an image he interpreted as shining light. “I think this might be the lighting panel.”

After a brief discussion that resulted with all of them in agreement, Max pressed the first button. Nothing happened.

“Try pressing them all,” said Jane. “Just because the lights didn't come on in here, they might have in other areas of the ship.”

Max pressed every button on the panel.

Four small glass units set in the ceiling, glowed to bathe the room and its occupants in weak yellow light.

Lucy gazed at the lights with a disappointed frown. “I was expecting something a bit brighter.”

Theo pointed at one of the large light panels above the console that had remained dark. “It might be a power problem and the yellow lights are the ships emergency lighting.”

“Still, they're better than no light,” said Jack. “We're lucky to have any power at all given the length of time this ship has been entombed here. I can't imagine any human vehicle remotely functioning to this degree after such a time span had elapsed. It would probably be an unidentifiable heap of rust, plastic and rubber.”

Henry let his eyes wander over the console. “I would assume somewhere amongst all these confusing controls is a way to restore full power to the doors, if that's possible, so everyone keep on searching.”

Henry stared at one of the small console screens. “If these screens are alien versions of computer screens, and if we can activate the ship’s computer, it might provide us with information about the ship’s systems.”

“I'd already thought along the same lines, Henry,” said Lucy, “but there's no obvious button to activate the screens or any computer.”

“The screens are probably to provide the pilot and crew with information about the ship, navigation, etc.,” said Max. “Not the conventional computers we're used to, as there's no keyboard to type in any commands. I suppose they might be touch screens, but they seem too distant from the chairs to be convenient for that.”

“Maybe they're voice controlled,” Lucy suggested.

So engrossed were they with examining everything, all failed to see the thing snake out of the console, move behind Henry's back and rise to his head. When the length of articulated metal was level with Henry's neck, the end peeled back in four segments, darted forward and latched onto Henry's skin. As soon as it touched, an almost silent hiss was created by the air drawn out of the tube to seal it tight against its victim's body. A small, sharp, hollow needle slid out from the center to pierce Henry's flesh. Small filaments snaked out of the needle to attach themselves to Henry's brain stem.

Henry let out a yelp of surprise when the thing attached itself to his neck. He went to grab at it, but his arm wouldn't move, he was paralyzed.

The others turned on hearing Henry's startled cry and noticed the thing hanging from the man's neck. They rushed over. Jack attempted to pull it off. All he succeeded in doing was to drag Henry backward, almost tipping him to the floor.

“What is that thing?” said Max, stepping forward to help.

Jack released his grip on the attachment. “I've no idea, but it's stuck fast to his neck.”

Jane noticed Henry's skin stretch when Theo held Henry's head with one hand and tugged on the thing with the other. “Hold on! You might do more damage pulling it off like that.”

Reluctantly, Theo released his hold.

Jack glanced at Jane when she moved forward for a closer examination. “What do you think it's doing?”

Jane scrutinized Henry's face. His eyes had a frozen look. A wave of her hand in front of the man's face produced no reaction. “Whatever it's doing, it's paralyzed Henry so it can do it." She followed the length of the flexible metal cable down to the console. “It's connected to the ship.”

“Maybe we can cut it off,” said Theo. He pulled out his climbing knife and held it up.

“I'm not sure that would help Henry,” said Jane. “Look where that thing's attached.”

Lucy looked at Henry's neck and the thing attached to it. “You think it's attached to his brain-stem?” said Lucy.

Jane shrugged. “To have paralyzed Henry so quickly, I believe it's a good possibility. Maybe it injected him with something.”

Max pointed to the thing a few inches away from Henry's neck. “If we cut through it here, perhaps it will detach itself.”

“We must be careful we don't harm him,” Jane warned. “Perhaps its best we wait and see what happens.”

“And how long do you propose we wait?” said Max. “What if it never detaches itself, what then?”

Jane continued to watch Henry closely. “This thing has a purpose, and though I've no idea what that purpose is, I don't believe harming Henry is the reason.”

Max was about to argue, when a quiet hiss of air announced its release. Max jumped back when it slithered into the console.

Henry continued his movement from the point directly before he was paralyzed and slapped his hand on his neck. “I think I've just been bitten by something.”

Jane glanced at the others. “You don't remember what just happened?”

“Apart from being bit, you mean?”

“Yes.” Jane examined the back of Henry's neck. There was a tiny dot of blood surrounded by a round, angry discolouration.

Henry was confused. “No, what are you going on about?”

Max pointed to the console. “You see that round indent in the console?”

Henry peered at the indicated spot. “Yes. What of it?”

“Something came out of there and attached itself to your neck.”

“It paralyzed you,” Lucy told him.

“For about two minutes,” added Jane.

“Impossible,” said Henry, but he could tell by their serious expressions that they told the truth.

Jane stared at his face. “How do you feel?”

“I feel fine. Only my neck's a little sore where something…well, whatever happened, but I still think I was bit by something, an alien mosquito or insect.”