When it entered a large room with a layer of mist hugging the floor blown by wind from an unknown source, it slunk across the room in the direction it came from. Wary of the human weapons that spat death from afar, it moved cautiously nearer to the large opening and peered into the next room. Though it detected the lingering scent of humans and their distant voices, none were in its line of vision. It cautiously entered and moved towards the opening where the fresh gusts of air entered. The next room was also empty. It followed the sounds of the humans drifting through the ice tunnel and arrived on the ledge as one of the humans’ noisy flying machines rose into the air and headed out over the raging sea. It watched it until it had landed on the distant ship before it turned and headed back into the spaceship it had hoped to escape from.
Sullivan arrived at a staircase and without hesitating led the way along the bone-columned corridor it led to. When they arrived at a junction, they halted briefly while they checked it was clear before taking the route straight ahead.
When Jack reached the turnings he called out, “Stop, you’re going the wrong way.”
The SEALs halted and Colbert walked back to speak with Jack. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty much.” Jack pointed along the corridor leading off to the left. “If there’s a right-hand turning along there that leads us to the junction where Haax killed the Hunters, then we’ll see their remains and know I’m right. From there it’s an easy jaunt to the hangar now there are no insects to worry about.”
“I think Jack’s right,” said Jane, vaguely recognizing the junction route they had taken before.
“That’s good enough for me,” stated Colbert. “Our guide that led us through the ship before took so many wrong turnings I’ve no idea which is the correct route back.”
Following Jack’s directions, Colbert led the team along the corridor.
When they entered the insects’ domain, Jane and Jack remembered the last time they passed through and became anxious.
“Are you sure all the insects were killed?” asked Jane, her eyes flitting around the foggy room for any sign of survivors.
“I was told all were gassed,” reassured Colbert.
Jane reached out for Jack’s hand as they moved through the mist.
“We’re here, Commander,” called out Sullivan when he spied the cargo bay ahead. They entered the cargo bay, which was now almost half empty. Crates, open and sealed, were scattered about the floor or stacked to one side. Colbert, who had expected the room to be a hive of activity, was surprised by its abandoned state. When they passed through the airlock into the hangar, they found that too was vacant.
Colbert’s radio crackled. “SEAL Team Five, are you reading me, over.”
Colbert replied, “Commander Colbert here. We have just arrived in the hangar.”
“It’s great to hear your voice, Commander,” replied Corporal Norton. “Was your mission a success?”
“If you mean do we have the merchandise, then yes.”
“Well done. I’ll arrange extraction, but it’s going to be dicey. The storm’s hit and it’s a big one. How many for retrieval?”
“Six. That includes Jack and Jane.”
There was a pause as Norton was surprised by the news. “Acknowledged, six for retrieval. Make your way out to the ice ledge. The helicopter’s on its way.”
CHAPTER 27
Escape
THE RUSSIANS RETRACED their steps back along the corridor, down two levels and paused at a T-junction they recognized. Because they couldn’t return the way they had come, they headed in the opposite direction. They followed the corridor, opened the door it led to and stepped into a room with four exits. After a brief consultation, they decided to keep heading towards the front of the spaceship until they believed they were past all the blockages and monsters that prevented them from travelling back the original route. They would then turn right and hopefully arrive at the maintenance room from the opposite direction.
They passed through the selected door into a green, ghostly-lit corridor, different than those journeyed through before. This one had curved walls with matching supports set at intervals along its length. Light was provided by a glowing green transparent tube running through the center of a two-foot-wide tube with sides fashioned from metal mesh that ran along the middle of the curved ceiling.
They rushed along it and stopped after covering only a short distance when the mesh tube started vibrating. They turned towards the squeals that drifted along the corridor and saw the cause. Small creatures, the size of baby rabbits, but with none of their cuteness, rushed along it. Though the tube acted as a cage to keep them confined, the Russians had learned not to take anything for granted in the hell-spawned alien vessel and ran.
Rounding a curve, they reached a section that had all but collapsed. Girders and debris was strewn along its path, but worst of all, sections of the tube cage had broken free and lay on the floor. They jumped over the obstacles and kept running as the creatures poured from the missing section and dropped to the floor.
Brusilov glanced behind. The creatures were gaining. He glanced ahead and spied an opening on the right with its door partially open. “Turn right through the door,” he yelled.
Babinski dashed into the room. The first thing he noticed was the amount of debris littering the long tall room. The second was the buckled door would never close. “We need to block the door.” He grabbed a metal panel and when the last man entered he slammed it against the door. It only covered the bottom half. Sergei and Brusilov piled pieces of metal against it. Nikolay carried another panel over and as he placed it over the top of the gap, he glimpsed the creatures arriving. The men kept piling scrap and props against the door until the panels were held in place.
The men listened. No sound made by the creatures drifted through the door. No squeals, shrieks or scraping at the barrier.
That the creatures weren’t trying to break through the barricade worried Brusilov. He shot his gaze around the huge, disarrayed room. It was too large not to have more than one entrance, and the creatures were so small they could fit through a small gap. He feared they hadn’t seen the last of them and urged his men on, “Head across the room. There has to be an exit on the other side.”
Leaping, climbing and dodging around the many obstacles, they rushed past ornately carved columns stretching up to the arched ceiling covered in paintings too faded and gloom-shrouded to make out their details. The rolling, trembling ship popped free metal panels and girders that clanged to the floor around them, one narrowly missing Nikolay. The men continually dodged the falling debris as they tried to keep their footing on the violently shaking floor during their rush to the far side. All felt the increased rocking of the ship and all guessed if they didn’t get off soon they would never leave.
When they reached the middle of the room, the vibrations softened, giving them time to briefly admire the monument standing proudly upon a raised plinth. It seemed to depict a battle between the crew and another far more monstrous species. The arrays of figures were expertly rendered in frozen brutal acts of killing or being killed.
Shrieks and scampering directed their attention away from the artistic, but gruesome sculpture. The vicious Alien Rabbits rushed towards them and spread out.
Brusilov looked around for a place where they could set up a defense. “Climb on the statue,” he shouted. It wasn’t ideal, but other options and time to find a better defensive position weren’t available.
The men climbed.