Nightmare Ship: Space Exploration Thriller Page 10

  But how did the ship even get here?

  “I hope this message finds you well. If you are listening to this, then I am no doubt dead. That is unfortunate, but not unexpected. I am old, and quite sick.” Nolan was only half-listening. He approached the environment suit and inspected it. It looked in perfect working order. He lifted the helmet from its rack and looked into the empty suit. It might as well have been brand new.

  “I apologise for not waking you, but we were not sure how you would react,” the video continued. Nolan grunted at that, but his attention moved to the two weapons. One was clearly a blaster, and the other looked similar but had a metal cylinder attached to the end. Nolan picked it up, inspected it more closely.

  “For the record, my name is Doctor Webber. I am a scientist from the fourth planet of this system. Alas, I am the last survivor of a disastrous calamity. A... Well, I don't want to talk about it, not now. My logs have a complete archive of my work, and the events that led me to escape my home. However, there are important things I need to tell you. You will want to listen.”

  Nolan stared at the blaster and cylinder and hefted the weapon in his hands. There was a large aiming-notch on the barrel and a second button above the trigger.

  “It's a tether,” Nolan said to himself. He looked back to the suit, then at the secondary airlock. Yes, that made perfect sense: the tether gun would stop him from drifting out into space. Nolan wondered if it was magnetic, or if it worked on some other principle that was too advanced for him to know about.

  “My work involves genetic engineering,” the departed voice of Doctor Webber continued. Nolan nodded, put the helmet back on the rack. He looked back to the playing video, where the good doctor was still staring into the camera. Nolan could make out the background of the ship; the doctor had made the video in the same chair he was decomposing in now. He was more handsome in life than in death.

  “There were two areas that fascinated me: food, and cheap labour. I am sure you are no doubt aware about the rise of robotic labour and the limitations they provide.”

  Nolan frowned at that; he didn't know much about robotics at all. Doctor Webber continued: “I found samples of DNA records that had been sequenced sometime before human history. The sequences were nearly complete, and adequate for my purposes. Sub-human, of course, which meant my work was not to be bastardised by any regulations or ethics committees. I can report my work a complete success: I have brought a few servants with me on this voyage. Even though I am dead, I pray that they are not. They are quite loyal, and very hard working. They have become my friends—something that can not be said for any damned robot.” Here, Doctor Webber laughed merrily. “They breed fast, my little friends, and they have developed a simple culture without my guidance. You might find the place teeming with the creatures, like mice. Do not be alarmed: they will not harm you. In fact, some of them have come with me as I have explored your large vessel, and they are most confused by the way you sleep. I have tried to explain it to them, but the realities of your situation are beyond the capabilities of their little minds.”

  Nolan looked around the rest of the ship. The staircase led to an open trap-door. Below, it was dark but there was enough light to make out more golden carpet and a set of rooms down below. The living areas, Nolan assumed. There would be a cargo hold down there, too. Nolan had seen the outline of the small ship from the camera and it was bigger than just this small area. He would have to explore it with Jakool before they made any decisions. He reached out and touched the button to close the trap-door. If there were any hunters down below, they could wait until he was ready for them.

  “You might be wondering why we bothered you and your ship, and we didn't just jump to the nearest hub straight away,” Doctor Webber's deceased voice continued. Nolan's head jerked around at the word jump. Jump-drives... They had been invented since he was asleep. Nolan's heart tightened as he saw a million worlds flourishing with human life whilst he slept like a dead person.

  “You were supposed to wake me up!” Nolan shouted at the corpse of Doctor Webber. “That was the deal! You were supposed to... And you left me! I could have been... Could have been...” Nolan trailed off, his legs felt weak. So his suspicions were right all along. This ship—and it's dead captain—could have woken him at any time and taken him anywhere he wanted to go. But the Good Doctor—the scientist—had decided not to interfere. Nolan sagged as the realities of his situation unfolded in his mind's eye. So many years asleep... How had civilisation changed? How had jump-drives affected the economy, commerce, everything? All the cargo his ship carried would be worthless. If ships could jump between space, then the entire trip had been a waste of time. He might as well have stayed at home.

  And the company had never come and woken him. That was the deal, and they had cast him aside like so much dead meat. They had probably just made a little mark in one of their ledgers: Flight Officer Nolan—Abandoned.

  “Alas, I must confess my curiosity. It was by chance that we picked you up as you drifted through the system. It was too good an opportunity to pass up: one does not get the chance to inspect a piece of living history very often; a chance to open the emperor's tomb, as it were. It has all been very exciting—and I have needed the last few days to think.”

  Nolan sagged, grabbed onto the stair railing for support. How much had he missed? What had mankind achieved since he had slept? Did the company even exist? How many wars had waged, had alien life been discovered... Nolan felt the urge to vomit all over the brilliantly golden carpet. He would be an alien to his own people—as alien as Jakool was to him. They would be outcasts. Pariahs. On the video screen, Doctor Webber cleared his throat. Nolan looked up, saw that the good doctor looked embarrassed.

  “If this is going to be my last words, then I cannot escape the realities of what I have done. My mistake. As I have already said, there are two areas that interest me: food and labour. Surely you do not think me such a monster that the little humanoids I have created could be food? No? Good! Alas, the monsters I have created... It has long been known that the greatest source of protein do not come from mammals and birds but from insects and arachnids. I could not see much good from creating large insects, but large arachnids could produce superb amounts of spider silk, and I admit I was curious... But my experiments have proven a disaster. Do not land on the fourth planet of this system: it is crawling with monsters. So many people are dead—and not just my little friends, but men and women, too. All of them... I am the last. But, do not worry—” and here, Doctor Webber puffed his chest with pride—“this ship has been completely swept and checked. There is no contamination aboard this vessel. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, think that I'm a raging lunatic. But please take this as my final confession: I have made mistakes and they have cost lives. My only redemption is the race of beings I have brought back from the dead. Surely, they will be my ticket out of purgatory. They are a good people, and I know they will serve humanity well. If you are watching this, I ask you to take them with you—use this ship, if you must. Use them, even. They will serve you.”

  Nolan waited for more, but the doctor just sat there in his chair, looking off-camera. His face darkened and he coughed, wiped blood from his mouth. He looked back into the camera and smiled weakly.

  “And now for the bitter finale, I guess. I am a dying man, but I have lived a full life. Finding you sleeping here has given me hope. I cannot return to civilised society. What I have done is unforgivable. You can go in my stead. When you wake, you will watch this video and I hope you understand the gift I am offering you—and the gift that you will bestow upon me if you accept. Take these fine creatures with you to whatever planet you are headed. You will find them good workers. They deserve to live. I do not, but they do. Take them—and take my thanks. Goodbye, sweet dreamer.”

  And then the video screen blanked out and Nolan only had Doctor Webber's corpse as company—his corpse, and the smell of the dead.

  No, not the dead
at all. Nolan froze as a shadow appeared in the golden airlock. Eight legs, six feet high—the hunter filled the entire airlock.

  And then it came inside.

  19

  The hunter lurched forward, into the golden ship. Nolan froze, didn't dare move. The giant spider hadn't noticed him yet—or, if it had, gave no indication. Instead, it launched itself onto the chair containing Doctor Webber. There was a sound like a breaking egg as its monstrous fangs smashed into the doctor's skull.

  There was a gap of a few feet between the hunter and the airlock, back into the ship. Nolan would never make it. He was stuck above the stairwell. He could open the trap-door and head into the lower depths, but what then? Those depths were unexplored; there could be more hunters.

  He would have to shoot the damn thing.

  Nolan reached for his blaster by his side, but it wasn't there. He saw it lying next to the control panel, behind the hunter. Nolan froze. His death was assured. He might as well step out into the airlock and blast his sorry ass into space.

  The airlock...

  Nolan moved slowly. Headed towards the door. He reached up for the button that would open the lock's inner door. His hand brushed against the environment suit instead, and it fell onto the floor.

  The hunter whirled. Nolan screamed.

  Nolan grabbed the space suit, held the helmet in his free hand. The hunter launched itself through the air, all eight legs spread for his face. Nolan screamed again as the spider crashed into him. Its weight was incredible, and its giant fangs slammed at his face—only the helmet stopped them. Nolan held it like a shield; the hunter's fangs hit the helmet with such force that the helmet slapped him in the face, made blood explode out of his nose.

  Nolan fell backwards, into the airlock door. The spider landed on the ground; one of its legs caught inside the stair railing, twisted around the metal.

  That was the only thing that saved Nolan's life.

  Nolan saw the red button of the airlock right beside his face. He slapped it with the helmet and the inner airlock door slid open. Nolan fell backwards into the airlock. He dragged the suit in with him. He saw the hunter pull its leg free, its intent clear.

  Nolan jumped up, slapped his hand on the button inside the airlock. The door slammed shut just as the hunter reached it. Nolan could see its hideous underside pressed against the plexi-glass of the airlock window. The fangs slapped against the glass, tried to get through.

  Nolan stepped back, into the airlock. The room was hardly larger than a coffin: a few feet in all directions, with another door directly behind him and outer space beyond.

  Nolan started to shake. The only thing between him and death was an unknown airlock. There was a light flashing for his attention, but he didn't know what it meant. Would the outer door open without warning? He would die.

  He grabbed at the spacesuit, didn't dare take his eyes off the spider that was pressed against the plexi-glass. How long did he have? Nolan didn't know; he had to hurry.

  The suit opened around the back. Nolan slid his legs inside like dressing with a pair of overalls. When his feet slid into the boots he felt the suit react around his ankles. The suit tightened, held his feet in place. The suit closed around his waist, as well. Then he slid his hands into the thickened gloves and he felt the suit respond to his presence and close around him. The seal at the back closed seamlessly behind him.

  Nolan grabbed onto the helmet, held it close to his head. The rest of the suit was ready to go—Nolan was amazed at the ease of slipping it on. The suits he was used to took half an hour to climb into and check the seals. He could see a set of lights on the upper torso of the suit. They all changed from yellow to green as every seal tightened.

  The hunter was still there, pressed against the glass. Nolan looked up, shivered. It was motionless, but there was something about the way it just stood there, hugging the airlock door that gave Nolan pause. He felt the blood drain from his face, knew he should hurry and get the helmet onto his head... But he couldn't move.

  Slowly, he saw one of the eight legs move to the side of the door. Nolan could almost picture the leg finding the large red button of the airlock. No, it couldn't open the door—it couldn't!

  The hunter opened the door.

  Nolan cried out as the massive monster raced into the airlock with him. Nolan could do nothing but hold the helmet in front of his face as the hunter tried to jab at him with its fangs. The stench of rotting flesh filled his nostrils, almost overwhelmed him. Behind him, the airlock door slid shut—he was trapped with the giant spider.

  A half-dozen legs tried to pin him to the ground, the other two tried to pull his hands away from his face, where the helmet was still in front of him. Bang-bang-bang, the sound of the fangs against his helmet was like a drill into the brain.

  Nolan tumbled, fell against the rear door. There was another red button, next to his foot. If he could only get to it... Maybe. There was a chance—a single chance to blast the monster into space.

  And himself with it.

  Nolan pulled his arms free, exposed his face for just the fastest of seconds. A horrible fraction of time, where his mouth and nose and eyes were exposed inches away from two giant fangs and a million eyes, all of them intent on the blood and flesh held within his skin. Already the fangs were reaching towards him, too fast to fight against. Too fast to do anything but hope that he was faster.

  The helmet slid over his head as the fangs crashed against them. Nolan's head jerked backwards, into the floor. The helmet wasn't sealed, not yet. He grabbed at the bubble of plexi-glass, slid it down towards the suit. The helmet stuck against something: one of the spider's legs had slid down through the gap between his neck and into the suit. Nolan could feel it pressing against his flesh. He screamed, struggled backwards.

  His free hand found the blaster around his belt. He screamed in terror as the spider slid over him, straddled him like a monstrous lover. Nolan fired—thick smoke billowed in the small chamber. The spider jumped back.

  The leg withdrew.

  Nolan cried out again, slammed the helmet down onto the gap between his neck and the suit. He didn't wait for the seal to complete but lunged for the button near the outer airlock door.

  The spider jumped for him. Nolan felt its legs crash into his back just as his open palm slapped the red button to open the door.

  The outer airlock swept open. Nolan's ears went pop and then he was blown into space in a screaming torrent of air. Two tubes of oxygen snapped onto the back of his helmet, even as he flew into space. Cool, fresh air flooded into his suit, but Nolan didn't care about that, not now. The spider flapped around on top of him, hanging on as the two of them flew away from the ship, towards the heavens.

  Nolan grabbed onto the tethering blaster on his other side. He aimed it at the ship and fired. Super-strong cord exploded out from the blaster, raced towards the ship. The metal tether clung onto the ship's hull and the tether pulled fast.

  Nolan crashed into the inside of his helmet as he slammed to a halt. Blood exploded across the inside of the glass, obscured his vision. The hunter still clung to him. It scrambled across his body, tried to pull his helmet off and get to the juicy flesh within.

  Nolan struggled, tried to kick free. There were too many legs to contend against: he would get one free and another would cling onto him. The giant hunter's fangs scraped at his suit, clawed at the outer layer. Nolan didn't know how long the suit would hold against the onslaught, but he knew he had to get out of the monster's grip.

  Nolan pulled on the tether, jerked away from the monster. With his other hand he grabbed the blaster, fired into the creature's middle. The hunter jerked at the blast and for a second he was free—free!

  Nolan pulled once more on the tether, jerked another foot away from the hunter. The spider hung in space, clawed at his helmet. The hideously ugly legs brushed an inch past his helmet, but they couldn't reach him. The spider just hung there, unable to do anything except dance in space.

&nbs
p; Nolan saw its underside open up and a white sac appeared. The hunter was going to shoot its web at him, drag him back towards his death... But nothing happened. The spider's legs came to a stop, the web never appeared. Nolan watched as the spider's legs hardened, turned grey. The monster was freezing.

  It was dead.

  Nolan let out a cry of anguish and terror, wrapped in pain. The spider was dead, and he was alive. He turned away from the monster, looked at the hull of his ship as it hung in the void. Nolan pulled on the tether, dragged himself back towards the hulk of metal.

  The rest of the bastards would be next.

  20

  Jakool hurried through his metal home. He moved with confidence; even though everything had been turned on its head, he still knew the way to go. Some sections were easier: long sections of stairs were now just a simple corner; other sections were harder, and some long caverns were now deathly drops that he had to avoid.