When the door opened, he stepped inside. There was no sign of the cute alien. “Hey, little feller, I’ve come back for you,” he called out softly.
His searching gazes down the aisles between the racks detected no sign of the creature. “Where are you?”
A scratching noise came from ahead, down one of the aisles.
Richard turned toward the sound. “Is that you, little feller?”
He stepped forward to investigate. The small creature peeked out from one of the higher smashed cages. Richard smiled and held out his hands. “Jump and I’ll catch you.”
A few moments of hesitation passed before the creature emerged and leapt into Richard’s hands.
Richard stroked the creature. “Sorry for leaving you, but I won’t again. You’re too precious a commodity to leave behind.” He tickled it under the chin. The creature turned green as it purred. “So green means you’re happy, blue when you’re sad and red when frightened, is that right?”
The creature purred and nuzzled his hand.
“As you looked like a little devil when you were red, I’ll call you Lucifer, until I think of something cuter and more appealing to children.”
Lucifer purred.
Richard smiled and stroked his new pet. “It’s time to go, as I need to find a way off this ship.” He was about to place the creature on his shoulder when Lucifer trembled; its fur turned red. Something had frightened it.
Richard’s eyes searched for the cause and found it. A Web monster stared at him from a rip in the metal ceiling caused when one of the racks broke away. It slunk from the hole and climbed headfirst down the rack between him and the exit. Though he couldn’t be certain it was the same one that had chased him into the bowels of the ship, it was the same species. It claws clacked on the metal floor when it jumped the last few feet.
The small creature struggled in his grip and before Richard could stop it, it leapt to the floor and ran off. The clawed beast glanced at the fleeing creature before turning its attention back to the larger prey.
Richard slowly backed away. He’d only just managed to outrun the other Web creature before, this one was much closer. He doubted he’d get very far before it was upon him. An excited chattering directed his attention away from the threat. The small creature jumped up and down on a small control panel atop a post set in the floor. It pointed a small arm at the ceiling and opened and closed its three fingers. Richard tipped his head. Lucifer’s finger was aimed at the spooky crane machine.
Richard focused on the crane’s large arms. It was a good idea, but he didn’t have enough time to work out the controls before the beast attacked. However, it seemed the small creature had already worked out that part of the plan. It leapt from the control panel and rushed at the approaching monster. Though Richard believed Lucifer was no match for the larger claw-equipped monster, he rushed to the control panel and randomly pressed buttons. The panel sprung to life. He glanced at the howling monster. With lightning speed, the small creature leapt at the larger foe and sunk its teeth into flesh before leaping out of its reach. Though it seemed more annoying for the monster than any serious threat to its well being, it was keeping it distracted.
Richard played with the controls, and after sending the machine in the wrong direction, he grasped what each button did. His fingers moved deftly over the controls. The arms reached out and opened and closed their metal fingers. He manoeuvred the crane toward the distracted monster and lowered it. When it was near enough, he reached out a metal arm and closed the fingers. They grasped air when the monster jerked away from another bite to its flesh. Richard repositioned the arm. It took two more tries before he managed to grip one of its arms. He lifted the creature off the ground. It howled and struggled to be free of the vice-like grip. It tore at the machine with the claws of its free hand. Worried it might rip one of the cables from the machine, which might cause it to release its grip, Richard moved the other hand toward its neck. When the metal fingers were in position, he stabbed the close fingers button repeatedly. They folded around the creature’s throat and kept squeezing. The creature’s eyes bulged. Blood exploded. The creature’s head lolled to the side. It was dead. Richard powered down the machine. The monster’s body smacked to the floor.
Richard gazed around for his new found friend. “Lucifer, where are you?”
Slurping pinpointed its position. Richard approached the carcass. Lucifer was feeding. It sent a shiver down his spine, but then he thought humans eat meat also, just not raw and still oozing warm blood. The little alien had just saved his life. It could eat what it wanted as long as it wasn’t him. Lucifer’s large eyes followed his walk over to the exit where Richard waited for his friend to finish its meal.
Henry, Theo and Max shot fearful glances at the bridge door sliding open. If a monster entered there’d be no escape this time; they were trapped. Fear faded into relieved smiles when Jane, Lucy and Jack entered.
Henry stepped over to greet them. “Am I glad to see you lot. Is everyone okay?”
Jane gripped his arm softly. “We’re fine, Henry. Like you, we had a few close shaves on the way, but as you can see, we survived.”
Jack looked at Max’s clothes, stained with the Wraiths blood. “Looks like you’ve been having some fun, Max.”
Max nodded. “Yes, but not something I’d like to repeat.”
Lucy noticed the corpse in the chair. “Is that one of the crew?”
“We think it might be the ship’s pilot or captain,” said Theo.
Jane examined the alien’s face. “He looks sad.”
Theo pointed at the pilot’s chest wound. “Well, he had just been murdered.”
“There’s a wealth of information to be learnt from this unfortunate being,” said Lucy excitedly, momentarily forgetting the monsters that had plagued their journey through the alien vessel.
Henry had already been busy working out the steps and experts needed for the examination. “It could take years of study until we’ve learnt everything.”
“We’re going to be so famous when this news gets out,” beamed Theo. “I can’t believe this has happened to me. Yes, one day, I thought humans would make first contact with an intelligent alien life-form, but I didn’t expect it to happen in my life time, or to be present when it did, or aboard an actual alien spaceship.”
“We’re all very fortunate fate has decreed it was to be us lucky few to experience this event.” said Henry, who, like Theo, counted the pilot as their real first contact with an intelligent alien being.
“Did fate also decree it should be dead when this event happened?” said Jack, more worried about escaping than studying the alien pilot.
Henry glanced at Jack and back at the alien. “Unfortunately, it seemed fate did.”
“The trouble is,” said Lucy, sadly, “we don’t have years. The only way anyone’s going to have a chance of studying him is if he’s moved off the ship before it’s lost when the ice breaks from the shelf, which at the moment seems an impossible task as we don’t even know if we’ll manage to escape.”
Henry gazed around the room with a frustrated expression. “If only we had more time, we could learn so much.”
Jane nodded in agreement. “On our way here we discovered something—the crew’s quarters, rooms where they slept or spent off duty time.”
“Any sign of the crew?” asked Max.
Jane shook her head. “Some of the rooms had beds, in other rooms they were missing. The sleeping chambers could be sealed, and we think as well as for sleeping, they’re also some type of hyper-sleep chamber and escape pod. At the foot of each bed-chamber was a hatch to eject the pod somehow.”