The Thing: from the Depths of Hell (3 page)

Read The Thing: from the Depths of Hell Online

Authors: V Bertolaccini

Tags: #multidimensional alien entities, #final frontiers of space, #ultimate voyagers, #deadliest menaces, #horror classics, #science fiction classics, #action adventure sf horror thriller, #first alien contact, #killer aliens, #mind bending science fiction

BOOK: The Thing: from the Depths of Hell
7.11Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub


Dan! What is the main objective of us
checking this world? And who ordered it? As my memory seems to have
gone!


That is an easy one! It was to check
it because it was out here in this void. It was Pratt that ordered
it.


And where were you when he ordered
it?

Major
Ripley asked.


I was near both of
you!

They all went silent again. Again neither
Major Ripley nor Kruger could fully recall what happened, nor prove
that he had not been there, and they continued to search for
clues.

It was clear to Kruger that Major Ripley
intended to catch him out somewhere, and was waiting for his
moment, and he was sure Dan also knew it. Yet he could not get why
he was so amused, confident, and waiting for something to
occur.

Kruger then saw the immense shape of
the GX1 in front of them, and saw Dan

s pupils widen, as if he had been
waiting on some event to occur, and it was now finally going to
occur.

 

Chapter 4

 

The Voyager

 

The lighted GX1 voyager was colossal, and
stretched out across their entire vision into both horizons as they
had approached it miles off, and it still fascinated them.

It looked of alien origins, from a far
superior race, and Kruger felt prouder than he had ever felt, and
thought of all the races in the universe that would see their
golden achievement.

Golden and white lights shone down from all
over its ten-mile high top making it glow like an immense alien
flying saucer, resting on the desolate world, in the deepest
reaches of space.

It was golden in areas, and lights on
it were like golden stars, sparkling in the depths of some immense
strange star cluster

tightly packed together in areas.

The sight entirely took their attention away
from Dan, and he sat watching them, and occasionally looked at it,
as though he had seen it far more than them.

Kruger sensed something mysterious existed
about him, and especially about what he intended to do. It
fascinated him that if he had a twin that he could forget all about
him, and all the things that they might have done together. And to
make matters worse he seemed to have forgotten him, which could be
embarrassing when they returned home, and they met people that they
knew.

They could even consider them both to be
imposters! What if they had forgotten everyone that they had known?
The entire GX1 could be full of people with memory loss, which
would cause incredible chaos. All the identity problems would be
incredible!

What would happen if the entire Earth
suffered from the problem, from an alien attack? It would throw the
world into total chaos?

It made him gasp out loud, and the others
thought he had reacted to the GX1 structure.

Major Ripley was proud of the DX1, and it
was a symbol of the workmanship of his race, and the best.

Chips of rock mingled with dust clouds from
below the vehicle, as they approached the base of the GX1, and the
vehicle automatically slowed and stopped, and came to rest on the
surface of the world, just in front of the energy shield.

The sight now covered their entire
sight

and
had the look of not having been manufactured by any normal
means

and
looked as if it were made from technologies far beyond
comprehension, and though he had hardly any proper knowledge of the
entire workings and technology of it, he still knew it could be
grasped if he had a few thousand of years of continues
study.

The ground was flat below them, by the
immense weight of parts of it that had rested there when it had
landed.

He felt like going outside now, as it looked
safe and everything was brightly visible about the area.

Layers of dirt occasionally blew up in
clouds from jets of gas exploding out of regions below the voyager,
and with there not being any atmosphere soon fell to the
ground.

Sounds sounded hollow and strange inside the
vehicle, as though magnified, from the strong sold materials that
they were made of, to stop any leakage of air, and as though sounds
were being reflected from the outer world as it could not allow
sounds to travel, with there being no atmosphere to carry it.

A silent whistle came from an instrument and
he saw that they had spotted them aboard the GX1, and someone was
dealing with their arrival there.

Out in the distance he spotted vehicle
three, with Mendez, and wondered what they were doing, and if they
had any problems that they had not foreseen, and wondered what they
would be doing, and if they had problems with their memory
loss.


How long will it be before they get
us through the energy screen?

Major Ripley announced, mainly to himself,
out loud.

We should be inside, and getting into it by
now!

The dazzling massive shape still kept
grasping his sight, and of it covering their front sky.


They must have started on getting us
in,

Dan
replied.


If they want us to
wait,

Kruger continued,

we will be stuck here!

And he searched its
vastness, like the depths of space from outer space, looking for
the point where they would be, their control center, for the
incoming vehicles.

Strange controls about his sides vaguely
captured his attention, making him consider if he had lost his
memory of what they were.

It was strange that they could only lose
memories of things about people, and it sounded like something the
military and intelligence agencies did, and he considered if they
had the capability to do such a thing to them aboard the GX1, and
he wondered if they had done it to cover something that they would
not even suspect existed, or if someone else aboard had used it to
carry out something deadly.

He had listened to Major Ripley theorizing
about it, as he had reported everything to the military, and he
realized that it could take warfare to a new level!

 

Chapter 5

 

The Control
Center

 

The
world below
the GX1 control center
glowed in
shades of gold and white
like
sunlight,
like
a ghost
world
. Pale
golden shades swept
through
rock
structures,
leaving
deep
shadows, probing
towards
the skyline,
and the
deep black abyss beyond
.

Colonel
Pratt
unscrewed the cap
off
a bottle of
fruit juice
that he held
in his palm.
Distant
voice
s
from the other side of the
control room
absurdly mingled
in
a mass of
regular waves
through
his
silence
,
almost
engulf
ing
him, and t
he buzz
of his communications
device
disturbed him
until
he answered it.


General
Chisholm here
,

a
deep voice
uttered
,
from
somewhere at the other side of the spacecraft. “I want you to
personally handle the problem with vehicles with the
spaceship’s
Lieutenant Weber
. I have enough things to do here!”


Alright. I’ll get on it right
now
!

Chisholm hung up, and left to do something
that needed his entire attention.

Colonel Pratt was happy to be the military
head of the military presence with the landing vehicles, even
though it was going to be a difficult job, but interesting, as they
were up against the unknown, and he had to be prepared for just
about anything out here in the depths of the universe.

Lieutenant Weber was great, and head of that
control center, for Captain Powell, who was the captain of the
spacecraft, and ran the spacecraft itself.

He had a hard time understanding what the
problem was! The entire vehicle crews had experienced losses of
memories, and the claims were that they were not normal memory
losses, and that they had experienced only memory losses in the
regions of their brains that were used for identifying people,
which he never thought was even possible. But with the right
equipment why not! They had mapped everything in the human brain,
and could read and alter anything in the mind, so why could they
not have had particular memories erased?

It was a strange affair. There was no
motive! Why would anyone want them to lose their memories? What
possible reasons could be behind it?

He did believe his men, and they gave
detailed accounts of what had occurred, and that they had all
crashed and woke up with the problem.

Whoever was behind it, if it was not an
accident that is, had to want something hidden? Was there something
out here somebody wanted, and wanted it hidden? What could be on
this hellhole?

He sat and read the rest of the detailed
accounts, and sat dazed, partially staggered, considering what the
outcome of the affair would be.

There was a discovery of another vehicle!
Five vehicles had left to scan the world in a detailed surveillance
mission, and six vehicles had returned!

Moreover, to confuse things further, two of
the vehicles were identical. Someone would have to have sneaked an
identical vehicle off the ship, and driven it out there, and
returned with it, which had to be impossible, unless they had
people working for them in the control room, and they had hidden
what was occurring, and someone screwed up somewhere, and they got
caught, with the extra vehicle carrying out the illegal mission to
get hold of whatever it was, which must have great value to have so
many people, going out to such lengths, behind it.

Some valuable rare mineral or similar that
could have been detected from the ship, and the information about
it hidden away from them. It could be for military use, and be
exceedingly rare?

Therefore instead of ignoring the situation,
as an insignificant crime gone wrong, the situation should be
investigated, and he started to consider what action should be
taken.

They had the upper hand on this

whatever it was
about

and
they had the vehicles and occupants sitting outside.

The merchandise had to be there, and surely
it had to be in the copied vehicle, which was vehicle four, with
Carl Kruger and Major Ripley inside.

He knew Major Ripley, and he knew he was not
involved, and that he could use him, if needed.

He wondered who was in the sixth vehicle,
and looked out the window, miles below, and checked one of the
screens nearby, and examined the vehicles until he came to the
sixth vehicle.

The vehicle was identical to the fourth
vehicle, though slightly aged, which could mean that it was an old
version that they got hold of to use, from somewhere.

Looking about he started to go over
everything, in case he had missed anything, and considered if there
could be something on the world that did not want them to know of
its presence.

 

Chapter 6

 

Something Gone
Wrong

 

The situation
seemed to get worse as they sat there over hours, waiting for some
form of announcement that they would soon be able to go aboard, and
Kruger began to come up with new worries, and that the oxygen
supply could be lower than the vehicle had announced it to be.

He had a
headache and his breathing was slow, and the air was weak, and he
wondered what had happened. He could not think of any reason that
could properly account for it and gave up.

Distant
voice
s
from the communicators
absurdly mingled in
a mass of complaining sounds, as the other
vehicle occupants tried to get information and brought aboard and
were continually let down or not answered, and he drearily
dozed
,
in
his
silence
, with his ear
crammed against things to stop him hearing it, more and more,
almost
engulfing
him in the monotony, and
a
buzz
from the communicator to the GX1 control center
brought him awake.


Colonel Pratt
here
,

a heavy
voice
announced
,
as Major Ripley turned the
sound up. “I am handling everything!”

Colonel Pratt was happy to be the military
head of the military presence, and with the landing vehicles, which
was going to be a difficult job, but interesting for him, as he was
up against the unknown, and he was prepared for just about anything
there in the depths of the universe.

Other books

Reckless by von Ziegesar, Cecily
Act V by Ansley Adams
The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie
The Maestro by Leo Barton
Rock Bottom by Canosa, Jamie
A New Beginning by A. D. Trosper
The Silvered by Tanya Huff
Navy SEAL Seduction by Bonnie Vanak
Meridian Days by Eric Brown