But worst of all was Fields’ face. The eyes were gone. There were two red holes where they should have been. His mouth was open in a silent scream, revealing a toothless cavity. His hair, complete with scalp, had been ripped from his head and lay next to the body.
Jeff retched and held his hand over his nose to block out the horrific smell of flesh and blood, but it hardly helped.
He wasn’t sure how long they stood around their shipmate’s mutilated body, but it seemed like an eternity.
“Green,” Irons barked. As usual, the major was the first one to recover his senses. “Guard the corridor,” he commanded. The engineer hastily made his way outside.
Finally, Finni stepped up and covered Fields’ face with a large piece of tarpaulin-like material he had found lying on the floor.
“What happened to him?” Owl asked. His voice had never sounded so shrill. “That light alien?”
The question was directed at Irons, but he didn’t reply. Instead he dropped to his knees and reached under the tarp. “His handheld is missing,” he said quietly.
“What do we do now?” Jeff asked, and immediately felt stupid for asking.
Finally, Irons turned around. He fixed his emotionless gaze on Jeff. “We go back to headquarters.”
12.
“Unbelievable,” Joanne whispered. She was holding Jeff’s handheld and swiping through the photos of Fields’ remains that Jeff had taken before returning to HQ. Now they were sitting at the table for supper, but nobody had any appetite. Jeff felt nauseous. The sight of Fields’ ravaged body had been too much to take.
“I would like you to go to the gate tomorrow and see his body for yourself,” Irons said. “Maybe you can find out what kind of creature did that to him.”
Joanne shook her head and handed the handheld back to Jeff. “I don’t really see the point. I trained as a paramedic, but I’m not a doctor. I’ve never performed an autopsy.”
Irons looked at her in silence for a moment, then nodded. “You may be right. But what springs to mind when you see the photos?”
Joanne exhaled with a whistle. “During my training, we were shown photos of attacks by wild animals. This looks kind of similar. Maybe a sakkar from New Australia or a bear from Earth. If it was an animal, it must have been very strong, otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to open up the rib cage so easily. The wounds are smooth, so I’m guessing they were sharp claws.
“Could this light alien have done it?” Castle asked.
“What kind of creature is it, anyway? What did he mean by ‘light alien’?” Mac asked.
Owl grunted. “A ghost, maybe.”
Irons raised his hand. “Fields said it consisted entirely of light, but of course he could have been mistaken. The creature may have had some source of radiance that just made it look like it was made of light. Maybe it was some kind of shield or cloaking device.”
Jeff shook his head. “It wasn’t a cloaking device, that’s for sure. It was because of the light that Fields became aware of the creature in the first place.”
Irons nodded. “You’re right. But it could have been a protective shield. “What do you think, Green?”
The engineer was sitting at the far end of the corner, pale and apathetic. His eyes were glazed. He appeared not to have heard the major’s question. Castle slapped him on the shoulder.
Green’s eyes focused again. “What?” he asked.
“Could the creature’s light have been some kind of shield to protect it against our weapons?” Castle repeated the major’s question.
Green’s gaze wandered unsteadily back and forth between Castle and Irons, then suddenly he nodded. “That sounds logical. But we have to stay as far away as possible from these creatures.”
Irons sighed. “What is it, Green? You don’t look well. Are you still fighting that infection?”
The engineer really did look ill, Jeff thought, although in the morning he’d seemed to be recovering. Probably the shock of the day’s events had caused a relapse.
“I don’t feel well.”
“Then go to bed,” Irons said. “Get plenty of rest.”
Green nodded and disappeared to his room without another word.
“What do we do now?” Joanne asked.
Jeff had heard this question being asked more than a few times over the last few hours. But so far, Irons hadn’t been able to provide an answer.
Now he sighed. “I have to confess I don’t really know what to make of this situation. First, I’d like to speak to the computer.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure it’s going to like hearing that we bypassed the closed gate and got to the other side,” Castle said.
Irons gave him a stern look. “It said we could move around the ship freely. And that’s what we did.”
“Should we keep exploring the other side?” Joanne asked. Her tone suggested she wasn’t keen on the idea.
“We’ll decide that after we’ve talked to the computer,” Irons said. “There are certainly plenty of clues about the builders of this ship over on that side. It’s probably the only place we’ll find anything out.”
“You’re not serious,” Finni raised his eyebrows. “The critter that killed Fields live there. We have no idea what kind of monster we’re dealing with.”
“One more reason to kick ass,” Mac retorted. “We’ll root out that creature and kill it!”
“I’d like to point something out,” Castle began. “We don’t actually have many weapons. We have some pistols, a heap of spare magazines, and a few plastic explosives. That’s not exactly an arsenal to take on a pack of wild animals.”
“A pack of wild animals?” Joanne looked skeptical. “If they have a protective shield, we’re hardly dealing with any kind of animal.”
“Or whatever…” Mac said gruffly.
A lengthy discussion ensued. It wasn’t the first one that afternoon. Jeff was surprised Irons didn’t put a stop to them before they became too heated.
But maybe it was good for the crew members to get the shock out of their systems. Maybe Irons wanted to hear their thoughts. Jeff’s mind was whirring. “There’s one thing I don’t understand: if this creature has some kind of advanced technology at its disposal—some kind of light system or even a light shield—why did it rip Field’s body apart with its claws?”
“Maybe it wasn’t carrying a weapon,” Owl speculated.
“Maybe some of the ship’s builders are still on board,” Joanne suggested.
“Yeah, right” Castle’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “You reckon they’ve been hanging around for millions of years?”
“Maybe they’re descendants of some of the builders who didn’t leave the ship for whatever reason. They could have degenerated over thousands of generations.”
A crackling sound announced the presence of the computer. The conversation came to an abrupt end and Jeff found himself, illogically, looking up at the ceiling.
“Hello,” said the voice. “I hope you are well?”
Jeff and the others looked at the major.
He took a deep breath. “Today we found a way to the other side of the gate.”
“Indeed?” Jeff blinked. Had he detected a hint of sarcasm in the computer’s voice? No, he must have been mistaken.
“Through an air vent that we discovered by accident,” the major continued. “And on the other side, one of our men was killed.”
The computer did not answer.
“By a creature that seems to emit light. Does that sound familiar?”
“No,” the voice answered immediately. “As I said, I have no access to that part of the ship. It is completely cut off from my systems.”