The Thing: from the Depths of Hell

The Thing:

from the Depths of Hell

V Bertolaccini

First
published 2012 by CB

This
edition published 2016 by CB

This is a
Smashwords edition 2016

Copyright
© Victor Bertolaccini

ISBN:
978-1-3113-1392-8

All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission of the copyright owner. Nor can it
be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without similar condition including this
condition being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.

All
characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance
to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

From The Alien Artifact 3 and The Alien Artifact 6.

Prologue

The Deadliest
Menace

The entity stretched across the immense void
to what seemed to be infinity. Its energy field was almost
undetectable in the universe, with its energy mainly being
scattered multidimensionally in various formations. Always
altering, seeking the achievable. Floating through all eternity
with nothing other than the twinkles of radiation and energy forces
beyond, from very distant galaxies, which it had never known.

In fact, it had never known anything of the
normal universe. It had never properly seen a galaxy and its stars.
It had no proper knowledge of other life. I was alone and floating
in an abyss, only conscious of itself, and weak clouds of gas
surrounding it, which it absorbed, fed on, and used for its
uses.

Since the creation of the universe it had
formed itself, and it still recalled the first immense amounts of
energy of its original existence, and it forming out of the immense
energy explosions of the formation of the universe. Its first
thoughts had been strange, as it had never had anything other than
itself, and outer energy. Its original state of existence seemed as
though it had recently happened, but when it recalled all the
billions of years of its existence it became mesmerized, and it
would wonder if there were others, and about what the distant
galaxies were.

It had come from the reactions of massive
amounts of energy that had been unable to form normal matter, and
star formations, which existed in an immense void in the galaxies.
It was an immense energy formation that had advanced and fabricated
itself, formed with strange unknown energy structures, vaguely
comparable to life forms.

Ceaselessly it increased its powers and
structure as it drifted on, voyaging into infinity, but never ever
achieving an ultimate.

One of its first conceptions of the creation
of the universe was a strange deadly encounter that had nearly
caused its destruction. An explosion had blasted through it, but it
had survived by controlling its forces and drawing itself away from
it, and together, and restoring its elements.

It had become far more conscious while it
had changed itself to survive reoccurrences, and it had improved
its powers and had moved on, and had learned to control its
formation and powers.

It floated endlessly through emptiness on an
everlasting quest, trying to reach an ultimate goal that it was
never sure was, drifting to the galaxies that it surely would be
astounded with if it ever were to reach if it ever found a way to
increase its acceleration, as its size had grown to the size of a
small galaxy and its expansion grew more with any increase in
energy, and if it ever came into contact with even a single star
its transformation would be diabolical, and it could well be the
first threat of destruction to the galaxies themselves since their
creation.

Part I

The Deadliest
Menace

Chapter 1

The Exploration
Team

For a moment Carl Kruger thought he had died
and gone to the afterlife. The sky outside, over the space vehicle,
was so peculiar and empty of stars that he was sure that it was not
in the universe, or at the outer limits of the universe, at the
most distant point.

He switched on a small light, avoiding the
larger bright light, to see only the interior about him, and he and
the other passenger stared out the windows at the surrounding
darkness, and into visible landscape in the light.

The world that they were exploring had no
sun, and there was at least a billion light years of empty space
between them and the nearest stars. This was why they were
exploring there!

The world about them was a flat
stretch of barn ground full of nothing but space dust and rocks,
with no atmosphere, resembling areas on Earth
’
s moon, and some large
asteroids.

“
What happened then?
”
Major Ripley finally
moaned, and tried laughing, and woke himself by slapping his face
three times, as though he had woken from hangover trying to recall
the night before, in wonderment
–
and he staggered up to the front window to
look out in more detail.

Kruger could barely remember Major Ripley!
Why? He knew he had, and had known him well! He had made it a
personal mission to know as many members of the military aboard the
galactic spacecraft GX1 as he could!

In fact, he could not even remember any of
the crew in any detail, and suddenly realized that he could not
properly remember who he was. He remembered everything else, but
basic stuff about himself and everyone else. He could not remember
anything about anyone other than some names and small details. It
was as though someone had deliberately wiped particular stuff from
his mind, for some unknown purpose.

It made him shiver thinking of it and what
the consequences of it would be.

Their accident had to have done something to
an area of his mind for recognizing people. Yet he found it hard to
believe. Could Major Ripley be behind it? Who else was near
there?

Did the military not want him to know
something?

“
We had to have hit
something?
”
he announced absurdly, shrugging, breaking the silence,
feeling his head for bruising
–
which he confirmed never existed.

“
I do not recall hitting
anything,
”
Major Ripley replied, looking about, and under the
vehicle.
“
Did we? We
’
ve only skidded to a standstill against some
boulders, and the vehicle has stopped itself
automatically
! You
’
re the scientist here! If I can
still remember correctly! You work it out! How come I can hardly
remember anything about you or anyone else?
”

“
Perhaps gas escaped
...?
”

“
I know this vehicle, and
there
’
s
none in this model! And if this gas exists, I
’
m sure it would be of
interest to the military
–
as I
’
ve never heard of a gas that only makes a
person forget people.
”

“
There could be some gas in the
atmosphere outside. We may have a leak!
”

Major Ripley checked the shuttles
instruments, and replied,
“
There does not seem to anything here. It
would have to be very small to be undetected.
”

Suddenly, Kruger jumped, and his heart
leapt, when a figure in a spacesuit shifted out from the darkness
at their side, and Major Ripley moved for his weapon at his
side.

“
How far do you reckon it is to the
nearest shuttle?
”
Major Ripley whispered, to confirm what he knew.

“
Well, there are four others, and the
nearest has to be vehicle three with the famous biologist Mendez,
and it has to about three miles away at least.
”

“
We better contact the others, and
check what is happening!
”

Kruger watched the strange figure move in
close, and bang his glove hard against the vehicle window, near
him.

There was something strange about him and
the way that he shifted that interested Kruger. He could not place
it and put it down to memory loss again, and the strange
environment.

“
I cannot reach them! There could be
some damage to the communications equipment at the
moment!
”

“
You mean something is blocking the
transmissions!
”

Major Ripley studied his face and the figure
outside, and tried to see the face of the man through the silver
screen of his faceplate, but gave up.

“
We will have to let him
in!
”
Kruger
stated, after minutes of silence
–
to the unsaid question.
“
Who else could it
be?
”

“
That is a good question! Who
or
what
else could be out here
in this hellhole! Away out here!
”

“
They must be in trouble if he
traveled all the way over here
–
in complete darkness!
”

“
And how did he find us? That is the
question! And why did he know we would be sitting here? We could
easily have left here, before he arrived!
”

Kruger studied the man in the spacesuit, and
realized that he had not moved or done anything since he had
arrived.

“
And if they monitored us and knew we
had stopped here, and he walked here from away over there, it would
have taken him far longer to reach here
–
especially in that spacesuit,
without any lights!
”

“
We cannot leave him,
Kruger!
”

Major Ripley moved into the back of the
vehicle and removed the spacesuits, and they fitted them on and
tested them for leaks.

Major Ripley then moved away from the door
where the stranger was and removed his weapon, and allowed Kruger
to unlock the door, and they watched the air gush out into the
outer desolate world.

They watched the man enter and close the
door behind him, and they remained silent as the air filled the
vehicle, and with amazement they watched the man remove his helmet
and reveal his identity, and that he was an identical duplicate of
Kruger.

Kruger could not realize who was more amazed
him or Ripley!

They both sat staring, dumfounded.

“
Just tell me
–
who the hell you
are?
”
Major
Ripley demanded.

“
What
’
s up, Carl!
”
the stranger announced, exhausted,
after his march across the world, and through the dust, with the
heavy suit on.
“
What don
’
t you recognize your own
brother?
”

“
I never knew you had a
brother?
”
Major Ripley continued, amused, trying to find out what he
was missing. He clearly thought there was a hidden joke to it
all.

“
I don
’
t remember any of my relatives
though!
”
he
replied, not knowing what to do now.

“
So you lost your memory as
well!
”
the
stranger replied, amused.

“
What? You lost your memory? Where did
that happen?
”

“
On my way back
here!
”

“
Back here!
”
Major Ripley replied, and laughed
loudly.
“
What? You are claiming you were here, and
left ...?
”

“
Of course! I woke up over
there!
”