Ice Rift (19 page)

THE FLASHLIGHTS HELD BY Henry, Theo and Max roamed over the thick metal door that stood ajar at the end of the short entrance corridor.

Henry shone his light through the door gap and searched for danger. “From what little I can see, it seems safe.”

“Forgive me, Henry, if your observation doesn't fill me with confidence,” said Theo, glumly. The strain was beginning to affect him. “This ship has been one death defying situation after another, and I'm not expecting that to change any time soon, however safe it currently looks beyond that door.”

Henry turned to Theo. “To go back we must first go forward and face the dangers that lie ahead. If there was another way, I'd be the first to turn around and take it, but unfortunately that's not the case. To escape we need to find a way of opening the doors that block our way back to the engine room.”

Theo sighed. “I know, Henry, just ignore me. I'm a little weary, that's all.”

Theo and Max followed Henry through the gap.

They were a little surprised to find they'd entered what seemed to be a mess hall. Oversize tables and chairs filled the huge space, and what looked to be a serving counter and food preparation area at the far end of the room.

Henry, surprised by the familiarity of the furniture, gazed around the room. “Though I assumed even aliens have to eat, I'm still surprised by the normality of this room and its similarity to a works canteen.”

“Maybe the crew will turn out to be more humanlike than we first thought,” said Max.

“If we ever find them,” added Theo.

Though various doors exited from the room, they believed the door directly opposite the one they entered through offered the best chance to take them where they wished to be― the control room. They walked to the far side of the room and passed through the opening. A short corridor led to large door with two buttons beside it, which they thought might be an elevator. When a press of the buttons failed to call it, they took the nearby stairs and ignored all the doors on each landing until they reached the top. Slightly breathless from the long climb up the oversized steps, they halted before the door they'd been led to.

Prepared like his companions to flee to a lower level if danger threatened, Henry opened the door. A blast of cold air swept over them. Their lights glinted off the thin layer of frost adorning every surface of the long, dark corridor.

Max shivered and zipped up his jacket. “It seems whatever's keeping the ship warm, it doesn't stretch to this part of the ship.”

With their breath fogging in the cold air, they passed through the opening. After a few steps the door rasped shut behind them. It gave the impression of a jailer slamming a cell door. Their inquisitive flashlights picked out doors lining the wall on the right, but keen to find the control room, these doors were also ignored. Later they could search them for weapons. At the end of the corridor they rounded a sharp bend to find the corridor continued to the far side of the ship. A walk along half its length brought them to a large door on the left, set in an archway at the top of a short flight of steps.

The three men stared at the door.

“If we've reached the front of the ship, as we seem to have, odds are it's the control room we're looking for,” said Theo.

When Max climbed the steps, the door slid aside automatically. A blast of chilled air escaped from the room. They entered, stretched out in a line inside the entrance and let their eyes wander around the frost-covered room.

“It's definitely the front of the ship,” stated Max. “It's also definitely the bridge.”

The thin layer of ice covering the large window, or view screen that filled the front of the long section of the room obscured the view of the ice pressing against the ship. Two large padded chairs with high backs were positioned along the console situated below the screen. Levers, buttons and raised screens covered its surface. Either side of the long area, two sets of steps led up to the globe sections of the room with curved ceilings. Both were equipped with a curved viewing port on each side, a console and a seat. The center ceiling was flat and contained various sized panels and what looked to be lighting strips, all dark.

Though all these details fascinated the group, it was something in particular that captured their attention and was where their gazes finally settled. Max pulled the small video camera from his rucksack and started filming. They approached what they assumed to be the pilot or captain's chair and its occupant. Henry was first to reach the chair and slowly turned it.

They all stared at the face of the first alien crew member they'd discovered since stepping aboard the ship.

“It must be the pilot or the captain," said Theo.

Though its facial features and form were set out like a human's, its resemblance was vastly different. Its head, larger proportioned than a human's relative to its body size, had raised segments of ivory bone encircling the top half of the face level with its eyes, which were set directly below two pieces of bone that seemed to have the ability to move like human eyebrows, though these were larger. A length of bone, which stretched from the back to the front, divided the head into two sections that tapered to what seemed to be its nose, a gap about one inch long and half that wide. Between the head bones were areas of light brown, leather-like skin. The two large amber eyes were positioned either side of the top of the nose. The sides of the face tapered into a sharp rounded V to form the chin, which was where the mouth was positioned. Blunt teeth that angled back into the mouth were set along the lower jaw. The upper jaw stretched out from below the eyes.

The neck was covered in the same leather-like skin as seen on the head, albeit a much lighter brown and a shade or two darker than its skull. What seemed to be two twisted braids of skin, of a smoother texture than its other skin, grew out from just below the chin to follow the neck until they disappeared beneath the breastplate that joined with other pieces to cover its torso and limbs.

Though larger in size than the average human, about nine feet tall, it was humanoid in appearance. A head rested on a neck, two arms and legs in proportion to its torso. The most similar human trait thus far visible was the hands that had five fingers and a thumb― though thicker and longer than a human's and what seemed to be more joints― covered in leathery skin mottled with shades of light and dark brown. It also wore clothes not too dissimilar to something someone in the flight or military professions might wear― a dark tan jacket and trousers, black boots fashioned from the hide of some unknown animal, and body areas protected by sections of a grey, thin type of armour.

“I've tried to imagine what the alien crew might look like if we discovered one aboard, but nothing I envisaged resembled this,” said Theo.

“Though strange in appearance, it's surprisingly humanoid in shape,” said Henry.

Max pointed at the wound surrounded by frozen, crusted blood in the pilot's chest― the cause of his demise. “I wonder what killed him and why? The body shows no sign of being feasted upon, so food wasn't the motive.”

“It's the first alien murder mystery,” said Theo.

“Well, whatever the motive for the alien's demise, it's a cold case now as the murderer is long dead,” said Henry.

Max wasn't so confident. “From what we've seen so far on our travels through this ship, I wouldn't be so sure about that.”

With a furrowed brow, Theo looked at Max, but before he could utter a reply, the door rasped open.

A short distance away from the men on the bridge, Jane, Lucy and Jack entered the building. A metal walkway, with smaller sections leading off left and right, stretched across to the far side of the room.

They walked over to the edge of the balconied walkway and peered over the side. Tiers of identical platforms dropped into the bowels of the ship. The series of smaller walkways connected to the main path, led to doors set in the towering metal walls. Though a dim white light above each entrance lit up the gloomy scene, the ever-present shadows still dominated the room.

“It reminds me of a prison,” said Lucy. “Not that I've ever been inside one,” she added hastily.

Jack had to agree with her observation; it was very prisonlike. “I think it must be the crew quarters.”

“Let's see if any of them are at home.” Jane moved to the nearest side gangway and crossed to the door.

Though Lucy and Jack were unsure if it was a good idea, both were curious to discover what the alien crew looked like and followed her. Jane opened the door, and they peered through the opening for a few moments before entering.

The room was a decent size, about four yards wide by five long with a table fixed to the back wall with a chair either side, cupboards containing clothes and a few personal items, whose use was unrecognizable to the prying searchers. A bed was set into an alcove sealed from the rest of the room by a front panel with a small window where the head of its occupant would be able to peer out. When Jane's inquisitive finger pressed a button beside the bed, the panel slid aside with a soft hiss.

The back wall of the bed chamber contained an instrument panel with two screens, dials and buttons. After a brief discussion, the small group decided the bed might also be a hyper-sleep chamber for use when the spaceship was on a particularly long voyage.

A door led to a shower room complete with a metal toilet of a similar design to Earth toilets, though larger.

When Jack commented on the familiar design, Lucy's crude reply surprised and amused him.

“What did you expect? However advanced a species technologically, aliens still produce bodily waste, and however you look at it, if they are humanoid in form, an arse is an arse. The toilet design we all recognize here is the perfect shaped receptacle to plonk one's butt upon. The designers of this ship must have thought so too.”

The toilet made Jane realize how desperate she was to pee. As it looked clean, Jane ushered the others out and seized the opportunity to use it, gasping when her bare skin touched the cold metal. It flushed automatically with a pink, sweet-smelling fluid as she pulled her trousers up. Lucy went next and then Jack.

The next cabin they intruded upon was identical to the previous one, but the third had a subtle difference, the bed was missing. There was only an empty space and a single metal rail running the length of the alcove leading to a hatch in the wall.

Jack leaned into the space to study the hatch. “I think the bed may have another function, an escape pod!”

Jane glanced at the metal hatch and the rail. “If you're correct, and with the bed missing, we can only surmise that the alien who bunked in this room abandoned ship.”

“If they abandoned ship it would explain why we've not encountered any of the crew, dead or alive,” said Lucy.

A quick search of the nearby rooms revealed the escape pods had also been ejected.

“I wonder why they left,” Jane pondered aloud, after they'd returned to the main walkway.

Jack shrugged. “If those monsters we encountered were locked up, but escaped, maybe they were responsible for the crew fleeing.”

Lucy wasn't convinced. “But surely, a race as advanced as those who built and operated this spaceship would have weapons or some way of defending themselves against such an event.” Lucy waved an arm around at the hundreds of rooms filling the void. “And if all these rooms were occupied, they weren't short of crew to fight them. It must've been something else that drove them to such a drastic decision, something that threatened their existence!”

Jane was about to add her comments to the conversation when she felt the balustrade she gripped with one hand tremble. She frowned and looked at her two companions. “Did you feel that?”

Jack placed his on the rail. “It's vibrating slightly.”

“It's probably caused by the movement of the ice shaking the ship,” offered Lucy.

Jack thought it felt more localized. He leaned over the edge and peered into the gloomy void, but his headlamp wasn't bright enough to pierce the darkness very far. “Jane, shine your light down there.”

Lucy became anxious. She glanced along the walkway at the door her flashlight picked out at its far end. She didn't think she could tolerate facing another horrific monster. “Maybe we should just go?” Sometimes ignorance was bliss and this seemed to her like an ideal opportunity to put that thought into practice.

But it was too late, Jane had already directed the beam below to pick out the horror Lucy imagined. It climbed up one of the metal walkway supports. The light picked out its grotesque, red form, mottled with patches of black. The creature halted its slow methodical movements with one of its long arms poised a few inches away from the metal strut, and slowly tilted its head. Its gruesome, disfigured features made Jane gasp, which heightened Lucy's already nervous disposition.

The crack in the creature's fleshless skull, along with a torn withered leg hanging from its torso, was evidence of wounds from previous encounters with the ship's residents. A gnarly pale growth over one eye continued down its face and covered the corner of its jagged-toothed mouth. Its remaining good eye, a sinister crimson orb, stared up at them.

Now that its presence had been discovered, it abandoned its previous stealthy approach, grabbed at the support and swiftly climbed.

Jack recovered from the latest shock to confront them and pulled Jane away from the rail. “It's time to go.”

Their footsteps slamming on the metal walkway echoed through the cavernous room when they sprinted for the door on the far side.

The creature in pursuit gazed at the erratic light beams dancing in the darkness above race across the path. They were escaping. It changed direction to intercept them. Its long powerful arms sped it along the metal framework and enabled it to leap the wide gaps between the struts. When it gained on those attempting to flee its wrath, it swung up and over the edge of the walkway.

Lucy screamed when the hideous creature landed on the path, blocking their escape route. She stopped so abruptly she would've teetered into its clutches if Jack hadn't yanked her out of its extensive reach, almost spilling her to the floor. Jack steadied her and the three frightened victims retreated along the walkway.

Though its paunchy body covered in crusty flaps of bulbous skin was only a yard long, its arms were twice the length and ended in three elongated skeletal fingers, which, unusual for the ship's monstrous inhabitants thus far encountered, lacked any claws. This didn't mean it was defenseless. Its functioning muscular rear limb, a fraction of the length of its arms and also equipped with skeletal fingers, gripped a long, sharp-bladed knife with stains on its surface that hinted at past kills.

The creature stared at them for a moment, as if calculating the threat they posed and which one it would kill first.

Lucy noticed its saggy breasts. “It's a female.”

The creature stretched out its two long limbs and rested its knuckles on the metal path. It seemed to smile at its prey. It opened its mouth and roared shrilly. It leapt forward and propelled itself toward its prey like someone with a broken leg on crutches, quickly moving its arms forward ready for the next bound. The walkway shook each time it landed.

Jane, Jack and Lucy fled back to the exit. When it became apparent they'd never outrun the swiftly approaching menace, Jack formulated a plan to save his friends and stopped. “You two run for the door while I hold it off.”

Unable to remove her terrified gaze from the approaching monster, Lucy was equally horrified by Jack's sacrifice. “You'll be killed!”

Jack shot her a quick glance. “But you two will survive. Now run, you don't have much time.”

Though Jane understood the sense of Jack's action, she was hesitant to let him sacrifice himself. She also wasn't keen on moving through the ship without him at her side. “I thought you weren't the hero type?”

Jack, his eyes never leaving the approaching threat, shrugged and flashed a nervous smile. “Guess I was wrong.” A puzzled frown appeared on his face when the monster abruptly stopped!

“What's it doing?” asked Lucy. Though she wanted to flee, she was terrified any movement would entice the creature to attack.

Jack was as confused by the creature's sudden halt as his friends. He was even more confused when it leapt over the side of the walkway, which shook when it grabbed hold again, and climbed down.

Jane peered over the edge. Her flashlight picked out the creature dropping from level to level until it fell from the light's reach. She looked at Jack. “What just happened?”

“I'm not sure, but I don't think we should dwell on our lucky escape. There could be more of those things down there, or something else more willing to kill us. Let's move while we have the chance.”

They sprinted for the far door.

When the Mimic, who had been observing them since they entered the dormitory, had shunned its cloak of invisibility to save them, the sight of her presence had been enough to halt the attack. A previous encounter between her and the species had left many of them dead and wounded. Its sudden departure was verification it didn't want a rematch.

The Mimic watched the three strangers head for the door she required them to pass through. Though she didn't need them all to survive, the many dangers they faced while trapped within the ship made it prudent for her to help conserve their numbers when the occasion arose. When they reached the door safely, she leapt over the balustrade and dropped into the void.