“I don’t remember everything.” Mary’s hands began trembling. “He said that Lesley worked slowly and Alan was too demanding.”
“He said that to you?” Lesley’s eyes widened.
“He mentioned it about a month ago.” Mary started fidgeting.
“What else did he say?” Lesley rolled her eyes.
“He said that you were spending too much time with Thomas. Because of that, your reports weren’t thorough enough.”
“Which reports?” Lesley scowled.
“I don’t know where they are. But after seeing how slow and careless he was, I thought Larry was trying to cover up his own mistakes. I ignored him.”
“What did he say about me?” Jen sighed.
“He said you did your job too fast. You were getting sloppy. You misplaced too many object methods. Once again, I thought he was trying to make himself look better.”
Jen flinched. “Did he have any proof?”
“I asked him that same question. He just said that he would have to search for it. He never spoke to me about it again. I ignored it.”
Lesley crossed both arms across her chest. “Did he make any formal complaints against Alan or me?”
“No, I thought he was scared, just talking crazy because he was so nervous. The trip was getting to Larry in ways he couldn’t see. I didn’t think he wanted to face the fact that the trip was pushing his limits.
“I was willing to lend an ear. Yet, I didn’t take his complaints seriously because I know both of you work as hard as anybody else.” Mary paused.
“Well, I have something to add.” Joel glanced around the room. “I thought Lisa, Susan and Wanda worked constantly. However, sometimes they were sloppy.”
“What do you mean they were
sloppy
?” Sam began staring at him.
“When all three of them updated or inspected the optical and radio interferometric networked telescopes, they didn’t check every conduit and hub thoroughly.”
Sam frowned. “I watched Susan and Lisa. They were doing their best.”
“Maybe, but that’s what I saw.” Joel coughed.
Sam raised her voice, “Can’t you give them more credit?”
“We’ll see.” Joel’s eyes moved back and forth.
Jen glanced at him. “I think everybody is doing their best.”
I announced, “Lesley, I wish you would have come to me earlier about Lisa’s plans to escape.”
“She offered this story to me in confidence.”
Sam stared at Lesley with a worried expression on her face, then looked away. I knew Sam didn’t like hiding important conversations, she thought only sneaky people did that.
Joel leaned forward. “Lesley, can I look at the background documents of the missing crew members? I’d like to check each one. They’re easy to forge.”
“Sure. I’ll send you an email and attachments.”
Joel nodded, then scribbled notes as Sam watched him.
I announced, “I should add that I am grateful to all of you. I appreciate the fact that everyone in this room puts in long hours.
“I want to thank Sam because she takes care of the meal preparation, medical records, dental work and health matters.
“I want to congratulate Alan. He pilots the ship when I have to update software.
“I want to thank Thomas and Jen for navigating so well. I know it’s hard to avoid meteor belts and create high-resolution star maps. Because of their backgrounds in Astrophysics and determination, we’ve gotten much farther than anyone imagined.
“I want to congratulate Joel because he watches the engines around the clock. He’s one hell of an engineer. His grasp of plasma-fluid dynamics amazes me. And because Joel is an expert nanotechnologist, he programs the RM robots properly. They do a lot of the routine and dangerous jobs.
“I want to thank David. So far, he has wiped out six hundred computer viruses and sixty worms. He makes sure that the spherical-area computer networks are running smoothly. He’s a great IT Director.
“Hats off to Mary and Lesley for creating outstanding galactic maps. Their in depth knowledge of binary stars, gravitational pull, main sequence stars and dark matter plays a huge role in doing that. They also help Sam with Dental work, food preparation, ship maintenance and more. The list goes on.
“I assume most of you think that Exp One would stall close to Alpha Centauri B, but your dedication improves our chances.”
“Thank you,” Sam announced in a serious tone.
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks.” Thomas offered a quick grin.
“Thanks,” the rest of the crew said in unison as they faintly smiled, their expressions obviously forced. Everyone was frightened, trying to remain calm.
I guessed everyone welcomed the acknowledgement. At the same time, they wanted to get off Exp One. Although our ship was designed so every member of the crew had their own window to look outside, everyone was tired of the cramped conditions.
In the meantime, the duties of the missing crew had to be performed by everyone. All of us were more fatigued than usual. Everyone talked about it in their text and voice messages.
“Meeting adjourned,” I announced.
Everyone hurried out while a background engine hum grew louder.
After studying notes, I left and went down the hall. Near the center of a wall-mounted-screen, a moon enlarged as Exp One passed it. Close to the moon’s equator, there were thousands of ruins—eroded cities covered by webs. The ruins reminded me of ancient civilizations that had died out long ago.
On screen, a blurred video enlarged. In the center of the video, vines and webs had grown over every ruin, crumbling pyramids and partially destroyed houses.
According to a database, although our current flight path used less fuel, it would take thirty minutes to get past this moon. Suddenly, my stomach muscles tensed up. The moon was repulsive. It was like looking into a spider web, expecting to see dead flies.
When our ship was closer to E4, I grabbed a railing to keep my balance, and Exp One stopped. At the same time, I looked at a wall-mounted screen. Near the bottom of it, text indicated that we were eight hundred feet from the indigo ship. At the bottom of the indigo disk-like ship rose a smooth spacecraft with no windows, hatches or seams—a forty-foot-long, six-foot diameter tube. According to emails, Alan had sent many radio signals to the indigo ship within the last eight hours. But he hadn’t received any text or radio responses.
Behind me, footsteps moved closer. I turned around.
“UE?”
“Yes.”
“I’m surprised.”
“You should be.”
In his large, dark eyes, reflections shifted as he faced a monitor. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. As usual, he was speaking in a monotone, not showing any emotion.
“I can’t ask you anything.”
“I am going to break protocol,” UE announced, speaking in a slight accent, one I had grown accustomed to. “I just finished translating more hieroglyphics from E4. Although members of this race are somewhat like distant cousins, understanding them is difficult.”
“What did the hieroglyphics say?”
“There are beasts on that ship, a space vessel called the Toa. If these creatures, the Uduss, fly out and land on Exp One, someone must destroy them, or they will attack and kill us. Do any of you have weapons?”
“Just several laser pistols.” I scowled. “They were just an afterthought. This isn’t a war ship, this is a scientific expedition.”
“Think hard. Our lives depend on it.”
I hurried over to a monitor and waved my hand over it. A list of scanners, blow torches, photonic cables, spectroscope conduits and monitors appeared. “Some blow torches, gas-powered equipment can be converted into small flamethrowers. They shoot a flame that is six feet long.”
“Give them to any member of the crew that knows how to use them.”
I spoke into my vtp. It sent a message to everyone. Within minutes, I received voice responses from all the crew. The only person who could help was Jen. Everyone else was too busy. Joel said he would send one or two small robots.
I told UE about the message.
“It will have to do.” He blinked.
I nodded as my stomach muscles tensed up.
UE took one step toward me. “I just switched on the external cameras. We must watch Exp One’s hull because a beast may fly out and grab onto a satellite dish, cable or housing with its claws. If one does, both of you and the robot must go outside and destroy it before it attaches an egg to a satellite dish or anything else. An egg will hatch in about three weeks. After the new born crawls out, it will attack anyone and eat them.”
“How big is a Uduss?”
“I don’t know.” UE glanced at his vtp. “I need to translate more to find out.”
I uttered a command, “Ret One.” On a screen, hundreds of storage disks and scanners enlarged. All of them were useless. We needed automatic weapons.
“The crew wanted to get off Exp One, and now we have to fight this beast.”
UE nodded that he understood.
Near the top of a screen, eight knives rotated. They didn’t interest me. UE and I sprinted down the hall and went inside room nine.
Beyond a shelf, Jen, two flamethrowers in hand, and a three-foot high hourglass-shaped robot entered. The robot’s wheels pivoted to the right.
Jen handed a flamethrower to me. “So, UE is talking.” She frowned.
“Jen, the three of us may have to kill a Uduss.” UE paused. “Did you study the message Greg just sent?”
“Yes.
“By the way, Joel may send another robot later.” Jen scowled.
UE nodded.
“I’m not a soldier.” Jen rubbed her jaw with a trembling hand. “I’ve only used this flamethrower a few times. And that was on the ship’s test range.”
Close to the top of a monitor, a starboard satellite dish enlarged.
UE glanced at the monitor. “There’s no sign of the creature.”
Jen and I pulled on our space suits.
She picked up the flamethrower, blinking, anxious.
The robot rolled toward the decompression-chamber hatch. It opened. The robot went inside. The hatch shut, making a hissing sound.
Near the bottom of a wall-mounted screen, inside the chamber, air pressure decreased. Suddenly, the outer escape hatch opened. The robot rolled out onto the hull, secured to it by its magnetic wheels and moved away.
“UE, have you seen a beast yet?” I bit my lip nervously.
Near the edge of my sleeve-mounted screen, a satellite rotated. No creature had landed on it.
“No. However, since Exp One’s port side is aimed toward E Four’s star, S Four, the hull-mounted cameras will detect just about anything that flies by because there is enough light. Wait. I see something.”
Near the edge of his monitor, at the bottom of the Toa, an eighty-foot-long, six-foot-diameter tube rose and attached to our hull. Someone had connected it to Exp One without our permission.
On the opposite side of the dim room, the hatch popped open. A silhouette, a six-foot tall humanoid beast, an Uduss jumped out, snarling.
UE hollered, “Shoot before it attacks!”
I raised my flamethrower, squeezed the trigger. A flame shot out of the barrel and missed the creature by inches—the beast dove behind adjacent cabinets. About twenty feet from me, behind an altimeter, a soft scraping noise moved closer.
Fifteen feet from me, between two telescope housings, a human silhouette, barely visible in the darkness, slid through the gap. But it moved too fast—I couldn’t tell if it was Jen or the creature. To the right of the gap, behind a computer, there was a faint scraping sound. Not far away, I heard something breathe louder. I looked up, trying to find UE but only saw a monitor.
He was gone. Behind the spectroscope housing, a
kek, kek
noise, an unfamiliar mechanical sound, got louder.
Chills ran up my spine. I glanced up because something in my peripheral vision had moved. On a dosimeter, modulating waves fluctuated. The beast hadn’t stepped in front of it.
Behind distant cabinets, a flame shot toward the ceiling. Beyond them, Jen screamed, “Hellllp!”
Silence.
Jen might be dead or injured. I walked toward the cabinets. The only sound I heard was two spectrometers, clicking randomly. Behind a huge altimeter, a large humanoid silhouette, barely noticeable in the dim light, crawled to the left, then vanished, hidden in darkness.
I stepped backward while glancing over my shoulder. Directly behind me, there was a four-foot high server, flush against the wall. The beast was nowhere in sight. I sat down, my back against the server. Now the beast couldn’t attack me from behind.
I looked straight ahead but only saw shadows. As a computer hummed louder, I raised the flamethrower. If the humming was too loud, I couldn’t hear the Uduss.
Close to the escape hatch, the creature started panting. In the same spot, the sound of a claw dragging against the floor became louder.
I glanced down. Near the top of the barrel, a dial, an adjustment for flame size and length brightened. The flamethrower was ready to use.
Across the room, close to blue gauges, there was a six-foot tall humanoid silhouette, a suspicious shape. I aimed the barrel toward the silhouette.
The silhouette didn’t move. It was only a spacesuit. I shook my head, disgusted.
Close to it, a faint panting noise grew louder. Somewhere nearby, wings flapped quietly, barely audible. To my left and right, there were only black housings, no creature. I glanced up. In front of me, inches below the ceiling, a humanoid silhouette with wings flew closer. I aimed at the silhouette, my finger on the trigger.
The silhouette floated to the right and came to rest behind a large telescope housing.
My heart beat faster, a nervous reaction, as I reached toward my sleeve. My vtp wasn’t there! The beast had entered before I had a chance to put the device back on. I placed the barrel on my knee, flexed the other hand, then rested my legs on the floor.
In front of me, behind the altimeter, something hissed quietly—either the Uduss or an air valve, barely noticeable. I took a pen out of my chest pocket and threw it toward the spot where the silhouette had landed. It bounced across the floor and rolled to a stop. Perhaps the pen would surprise the beast. If the creature moved, I could see it.