Entity [ONC 2024]

6

Finnegan met them half-way, all of them finding it easier to move with introduction of gravity. Porter glanced down the side corridor, toward the airlock, and the awaiting shuttle, but, despite her urge to run, she felt a morbid curiosity to see what Finnegan and Mats had found. Though they now had light, it wasn't that bright, and some of the lighting appeared to flicker and blink, but Porter could still see the lines etched into Finnegan's forehead. Even through the faceplate. His gloved hand rubbed at the back of his EV suited neck.

He refused to say what he had found. Instead, as soon as Porter and the captain reached him, he turned, rushing back the way he came. Twice, Porter looked behind her, watching the passage to safety dwindle as they ran to keep up with the science officer. She couldn't help but feel they should all have taken that escape. Turn away from their own urges to learn more about this ship, but Porter still ran.

Eventually, they descended a set of curious looking stairs, that curled around until they reached a level below, each step only able to hold one foot at a time, the drop longer than Porter used anywhere else, forcing her to almost jump to each step. It would have been far easier in microgravity, but they no longer had that luxury. Then, after a little more running, they saw Mats waiting for them outside yet another door.

She stepped aside, looking into the room that she guarded, then looked away. Finnegan, too, moved to the side, gloved fingers picking at the EV suit. The captain hesitated for only a second before entering the room, but Porter held back. The way Finnegan and Mats acted, she wasn't certain she wanted to enter and, as Mats' eyes flickered to the floor, that hesitation became all the more relevant.

"Dear god." The captain's horrified whisper came over the comms, now clear of any static, but the strange noises they had muted still continuing in the background. "What the fuck happened here?"

Porter couldn't stop herself any longer. At her feet, trails of a blackened substance led into the room. Many trails that smudged and overlapped each other. Trails that came from both directions of the corridor and still Finnegan and Mats refused to catch her eye. She made ginger steps, trying to avoid the smears of what she could only assume was blood, and stepped into the room, her breath catching in her throat.

Bodies. Around half-a-dozen, dropped in a pile in the centre of the room. Alien faces and eyes staring at nothing. Odd, smooth clothing torn and ripped, bloodied. Arms and legs twisted together in some macabre orgy of death. Before she could even stop herself, she moved further into the room, flickering light that came from everywhere and nowhere casting shadows across the walls.

"Cap? Looks like comms are back online." The voice of Chen erupted into Porter's headset, causing her to jump, hand reaching for her chest. "Give me a sit-rep, Cap. I'm getting literally zero readings from your EV suits and Ndara is radio silent."

"Standby." Without looking, the captain waved in the general direction of Finnegan and Mats. "Mats, go check on Ndara. Porter. Thoughts?"

Porter didn't answer straight away. She wouldn't if she wanted to. She could make a snap assessment, make a judgement call and allow them all to follow Mats back to the shuttle, but her sense of professionalism, her need to do her job right, precluded that. At least right now. She moved forward again, inching closer, and switched her helmet light back on, blazing constant, steady light upon the bodies and causing even more horrific shadows to play upon the walls.

She crouched, shaking hand reaching out to the nearest body, and lifted the long, thin arm. She had expected the arm to show signs of stiffness, of rigour mortis, or in consequence from their previous frozen state, but the arm moved as though the alien had died only moments before. The alien's hand concerned her, and she turned it, opening the odd configuration of fingers.