Invasive Species

Jeremy was softly beating the back of his head against the wall, counting down the minutes as they crawled towards the end of his watch. Terry twitched with every thud against the metal. “Cookie,” Terry said, finally ready to snap. “If you don’t stop that shit, I will put your head through that wall.”

“Thank you,” Maria added, not looking up from the hologram where she was absentmindedly surfing the net.

Jeremy shot both of them a dirty look and ran his fingers over his greasy mustache. “I’m hungry and bored. Lay off me,” he replied.

Terry turned back towards the loading bay and shook his head. “So am I, but you don’t see me bitching about it. Do your job, or I’ll recommend Tamsyn terminates you, and you can find your own way home.”

Jeremy pushed himself off the wall and puffed his chest as he walked up to Terry, getting as close to his face as possible. “What the fuck is your problem?”

Terry had a slight hunch to his posture, but in response to the hostile move, he straightened up. Towering at least two feet over him, Jeremy’s confidence shriveled. “My problem is I’m tired of dealing with your redneck yokel manners,” he growled pushing Jeremy back.

“Hey guys, chill,” Maria shouted, finally paying attention to the conflict.

Jeremy rounded on her, prepared to pick on what he thought would be an easier target. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a series of nerve rattling clicks. Everyone stopped and listened carefully, nearly jumping out of their skins when the sound repeated.

“I think it came from that container,” Terry said. “Can you stop the unloading?”

Maria nodded her head and hit the emergency stop on her wrist comp hologram. “Go ahead.” Under the emergency stop, the lighting went from the soothing diffused lighting to sharp beams from overhead, casting ominous shadows around the containers. Terry and Jeremy walked down the steps onto the loading bay floor. Terry approached the shipping container, pressing his ear against the cold metal. The sound returned, and he retracted as it vibrated the thick fomalanium walls of the container.

Jeremy stepped up to the ladder and began to climb. “What the hell is in here,” he asked as he unlocked it. He lifted the lid and looked inside. Turning to Terry with a furrowed brow, he said, “I don’t see any—.”

He was cut off as a pale blue blur flew towards him and decapitated him with such efficiency that it didn’t affect the momentum of his lower body. It wasn’t until Jeremy’s grip loosened that his headless corpse finally collapsed on the floor.

Terry was in shock when the blood splatter covered his face, but Maria had reacted quickly, grabbing her sidearm and landing a solitary blast of plasma on the creature, midair.

It fell with a dull, moist thud, and they approached the creature with weapons drawn. It was a pale blue, slug-looking creature, thin at the end and growing thicker as it continued to what could loosely be called its head.

Its body was at least four feet in length and three feet in diameter at its jaw, which was a gaping hole filled with spiraling rows of razor-sharp teeth. They exchanged a significant glance and went back to examining the creature. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Maria exclaimed. “What is it?”

Before Terry could answer, the noise in the loading bay and ship’s cargo bay became deafening. Every shipping container within earshot was filled with the clicking noise and the sound of tearing metal.

“I don’t know,” Terry shouted. “But I don’t think it was alone.” On the same container that Jeremy had investigated, a jagged circle appeared, followed by teeth. Another creature swallowed the round chunk of fomalanium as if the nearly indestructible material was a glob of applesauce, and quickly launched itself at Terry.

David awoke to the sound of klaxons blaring in his quarters. The sudden assault on his ears caused him to shoot up in the limited space of his alcove, smacking his head on the ceiling. He rolled off his bed in the fetal position, holding his head and releasing a steady stream of swears until his boots were on and laced.

Charging into the office, he found Dan and Dalton hurriedly strapping on their utility belts. Both of them had a look of absolute dread. Picking up on the urgency of the situation, David rushed to his own locker and began to equip himself. “What the hell is going on, Dan?”

“We’ve got distress calls going out all over the station, and weapons fire was detected in fifty-seven, twenty-six,” Dan replied, nearly out of breath.

“Any word from Maria?”

“She’s not responding.”

David stopped cold as he holstered his side arm. “She’s not…”

“No. Her vitals are still registering, but whatever is going on in there has her too occupied to answer the comms.” Dan unlocked the weapons locker and tossed a rifle each to David and Dalton. “I’ve got most of the team answering the distress calls. We’re going to check on Maria,” he added as he charged the first shot in his rifle.

Dalton heaved a sigh. “This is going to be a shit day. I can already feel it.”

“Just another day in paradise,” Dan replied as he walked out the door.

The team rounded the corner and headed for loading bay twenty-six at a jog. David heard footfalls behind him and looked over his shoulder to find Tamsyn trying to catch up with them. The look on her face indicated she knew something was wrong, but didn’t even know as much as they did. “What the hell is going on,” she asked when she had finally overcome her disadvantage in height and matched his pace.

“Shots fired in the loading bay. Other than that, we don’t know,” David replied. When they reached the hatch, he held out his arm to signal her to let the officers go first. As they stepped in, the team fanned out in search of their missing customs officer.

David was almost deafened as a bolt of cobalt blue plasma flew over his shoulder with a loud clack and falling whistle. The bolt had come from Tamsyn’s DX45 before he even heard her un-holster it. Her target fell with a dull thud, and staring into the slug-like creature’s vicious jaw, David realized that Tamsyn’s seemingly superhuman reflexes had saved his life.

Before he could thank her, the room was filled with quieter scarlet plasma bolts, as more of the creatures started flying in their direction. David put down at least fifteen of the dozens that attacked them before the barrage seemed to stop. “Over there,” Dan shouted pointing to the back wall where he had seen weapons fire during the attack. Maria was crouched against the back wall of the loading bay. In her right hand was her outstretched pistol, frantically searching for more targets. Her other hand was putting pressure on the wound where Terry’s arm once was.

The team began to run towards them, but Tamsyn bolted ahead and slid to her knees in front of Terry. As David approached, he could see that Terry’s skin had gone pale and his left arm was shaking under the weight of his gun. He would’ve attributed the symptoms to fear and having to use his offhand for shooting, but on closer inspection, David could see he was sitting in a pool of his own blood.

“What were those things,” Dan asked, not taking his eyes off the direction they came from.

“I dunno,” Maria replied, clearly shaken up. “One of them killed the other guard, then they started chewing their way out of the containers. We’ve killed at least a few hundred of them.”

“Looks like you took care of all of them,” Dan said.

“Don’t count on it. They’ve been coming in waves,” Maria corrected him. “We thought we were clear after one of the last waves. That’s when Terry lost his arm.”

“Let’s get him out of here before the next one hits,” David said, lifting Terry onto his shoulder.

“I see one,” Dalton shouted.

David looked to where Dalton was aiming his scope, and saw one of the creatures crawling out of a hole in a distant container. “Don’t,” David shouted. But, the warning was too late. Dalton fired and the Scarlet bolt hit its target, but also pierced it. With a blinding flash, the reclite ignited, and almost instantly melted the container to a glowing pile of slag.

“Everyone out!” David screamed as he started for the hatch.

The team followed, blasting away at a new wave of slugs as they went. Once through the hatch, David quickly but carefully placed Terry back on the floor, before helping Dan close emergency hatch. Just as it sealed, David felt the pull as the container melted through the lower decks, and breached the outer titanium hull.

“Good job, man. Trying to get us all killed?” Dan snapped at Dalton.

“No need for that, Dan,” David interjected as he went for the emergency supply locker on the wall. He pulled out the first aid kit, then spotted the fire blanket and brought it with him. He immediately went to work on the wound where Terri’s arm had been, cut clean from his shoulder.

“Is he gonna make it,” Tamsyn asked, watching Terry’s pale, barely lucid face bob from side to side.

“I think I can slow down the bleeding. As long as we get him to the station hospital quickly, he should make it,” David answered without taking his eyes off of his work. When he finished, he stood up and laid the fire blanket out like a stretcher. Signaling for Tamsyn’s assistance, they placed Terry’s limp body onto it. “Help me pull them onto the omnivator, and we’ll get him to the hospital. “

Tamsyn obliged, grabbing the other corner of the blanket, and the team made their way down the hall. The entire group was silent as they walked to the omnivator. Only the sound of the footsteps echoing off the walls filled the void. David glanced his wrist comp to ensure it was still functioning. “Dan, are your comms working? I haven’t heard anything since we reached the loading bay.”

Dan’s eyes widened with realization, and he immediately held down his subdermal switch. “Forty-one to all units. Status report.” David heard Dan’s words echo on his own audio implant, and pushed down a feeling of dread when he realized it wasn’t a faulty comm link responsible for the radio silence. Dan repeated his message with more urgency, but was left with only silence in return. “Fantastic. Something must be causing interference.”

“You’ve been here longer than me, Dan,” David replied. “Has that ever happened to every unit in the same hemisphere?”

“Well, no,” Dan said as they reached the on the omnivator door. “But, what else do you think it could be?”

“You don’t want to know what I’m thinking, Dan.”

Dan reached out to call the omnivator car, but before his hand made contact with the panel, there was a loud, distant explosion, and the hallway shook with tremendous force. The entire team was knocked off their feet, as they were cast into darkness.