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.
CHAPTER 12
The Dormitory
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.