“Computer, can you plot us a safe route to the engine room so we can get off the ship?” Henry asked.
“If you go to the secondary control room in the cargo section of the ship, you will be able to activate a detailed internal blueprint of the ship. This will enable you to plot a suitable route. I have translated the controls into your language.”
“How do we find this room?” asked Jack.
“One of you not presently in this room has already been there. Find him and you find the room.”
“Eli or Richard,” said Lucy.
Theo shook his head. “Eli’s dead. It must be Richard.”
“Eli, dead! How?” asked Lucy, surprised and saddened by the news.
“One of the monsters killed him,” replied Max, sadly.
Lucy remembered the scream she’d heard shortly before they entered the biosphere, but before she could mourn his loss, the vibrations grew in strength. They were forced to grab hold of something or be thrown to the ground.
“I detect extreme pressure building on the hull.”
“It’s the ice the ship is trapped in squeezing the hull,” Henry told the computer. “It’s a sign that soon it will break free from the ice shelf. We have less time than I first predicted.”
“That is not acceptable.”
“Acceptable or not, there’s nothing any of us can do to prevent it,” said Jane. “You chose one of the worst places on the planet to land.”
“It was chosen for its remoteness and lack of habitation by indigenous life-forms. It was a logical decision.”
A powerful vibration sent them all tumbling to the floor.
A loud crack echoed around the room.
Their eyes darted to the window. Fractures appeared across its surface.
“Breach imminent in control room viewing port. Lowering safety shutters. ”
Nothing happened.
“Shutters failed. Report added to the repair crew list. Breach imminent. Evacuate control room. Door will be sealed in twenty seconds.”
The door swished open.
“We have to get out of here,” shouted Jane.
The strong vibrations made it impossible to stand. On their hands and knees, they scrambled for the door, grabbing their bags on the way.
Max paused by the door and looked back into the room. “I’m sorry, Computer—more than you will ever know—that this ship is doomed, but we’ll do all in our power to try and save it.”
“Thank you, Max, but you will fail. I calculate your chances of survival are zero point five percent.”
The door began to close.
Max glanced at the spider web of cracks creeping across the window. “I don’t understand. How can you be so certain?”
The window exploded with a deafening crash.
As glass and ice shot across the room, Max pulled his shoulders back through the doorway. Ice and glass slammed against the door, some shooting out into the corridor and down the steps.
Just before the door closed fully they heard the computers last words.
“They are coming. RUN!”
CHAPTER 14
They are Coming, RUN!
SHAKEN BY THEIR SUDDEN forced exit from the room, they remained on the floor and the steps to catch their breath and their thoughts.
Jack was the first to stand. “What did the computer mean, ‘They are coming!’”
Henry climbed to his feet and grabbed at his aching back. The continuing thought that he was getting too old for these types of adventures made him realize this would probably be his last outing. “I’m not sure, but I think whatever ‘they’ are, it’s not something we should hang about to meet.”
Suddenly, a veritable explosion of terrifying, nerve-shattering screeches and howls blasted along the corridor, clutching them all in its fear-installing embrace. Those that hadn’t already done so, jumped to their feet. With matching expressions of dread they gazed toward the horrendous sound. All were momentarily stunned by the number of creatures careening around the corner so fast they smashed into the wall. There was a moment of terrified silence. Nobody breathed. Monsters filled the full width of the passage with their grotesque bodies and spine-tingling shrieks of rage and fury. Creatures scrambled over those in front in their haste to be the first to reach the food they glimpsed ahead.
Jane, Lucy and Jack recognized the disfigured saggy-breasted female at the front from their previous encounter with it in the dormitory. She must have followed their scent. Now joined by her tribe, they thought a similar outcome where they all survived was unlikely. The creatures wanted blood, their blood, and nothing was going to stop them. The Dormitory monsters moved toward them like a malevolent plague burdened with death and pain.
Jack returned to his senses first. He tore his eyes away from the horrifying spectacle and spurred his shocked friends into motion. “RUN!”
They sped along the corridor, around a corner and along the next corridor until they were confronted by two doors. The one spanning the corridor opened on their approach.
Jane shot a nervous glance behind at the rapidly approaching screeches and scraping claws. “Which way?”
Theo answered by opening the door on the right. “If we go straight ahead we’ll have to climb down hundreds of steps and cross the monster infested landscape somehow.”
Lucy, unable to remain still, rushed through the opening as soon as the gap was wide enough. “It’s the other walkway above the Wraiths domain.”
“Everyone through,” ordered Henry.
When the female monster skidded on the metal floor at the bend in the corridor, she grabbed at the corner wall and swung around the corner. Those following her were too bunched together to navigate around the corner as smoothly; they smashed into the corridor wall. Those dazed by the impact or crushed by the weight of their kind slamming into them, were scrambled over by those who had a few seconds ago been behind. Seizing their chance of a first bite, they rushed after their fleeing prey.
Max’s hand hovered over the door control. As soon as the last person was through, he closed it. The door segments met a split second before the female arrived. The monsters muffled screams and pounding on the metal door announced their frustration and put the team’s nerves on edge.
“I suggest we keep moving,” said Jack. “Those things must know how to operate the doors or they couldn’t have followed after us.”
Spurred on by that unwelcome thought, they rushed along the high walkway. Theo led the way with his flashlight. Max had also switched his light on.
Sensing the movement above, and perhaps their fear, the Wraiths below became restless and howled.
When they were almost halfway across, Jack glanced back when the door behind rasped open. The Dormitory creatures poured onto the walkway. Their screeches joined the excited howls of the creatures below. Jack noticed the fear in Lucy’s eyes when she turned her head. “Keep running and we’ll be okay.” His reassuring tone did little to wipe the terror from her eyes. She gave him a slight nod and faced forward.
The narrow walkway the creatures found themselves funnelled into wasn’t wide enough to accommodate more than one at a time. All eager to feed, frenzied fights broke out as each battled to claim a forward hold on the limited space. Creatures were knocked, pushed and thrown over the rail. The Wraiths below swarmed across the landscape and leapt upon those who fell into their midst. Screams, screeches and howls filled the air. Flesh was ripped, bitten and devoured.
Though too dark for those above to see who was winning the gruesome battle, they thought the Wraiths numbers gave them the edge.