Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 19 - Goggles

"I'm sorry, Megan. There was just nothing I could do," cried Santiago as he slumped into a chair in the briefing room.

Megan dropped down the last few rungs of the ladder and simply stared at him in disbelief. Santiago roughly wiped the tears away from his own eyes and then came to rest slumped to one side, leaning on his elbow with his forehead cradled in his palm.

She walked slowly to the counter, feeling like her world had just broken. Trying in vain to gather herself a little, she sat against the counter top and looked across at Santiago. He remained silent and motionless. As the reality of the situation began to crack her sense of detachment, she struggled to avoid crying herself.

She was the Mission Commander. She had to stay strong. She had to keep herself together and keep things under control. From the first moment her Colonisation Program training had begun, she had been fully aware that an interstellar flight carried a considerable risk and that colonising a lifeless planet would be a mortal challenge, but until this moment she had never actually lost anyone.

Now Meera was lying dead on a table in the external cylinder that was serving as a makeshift laboratory. Megan regretted sending her on the expedition and not going on it herself. The thought that, had she gone, things could have been very different, was impossible to ignore. She turned back to face Santiago and gathered her thoughts for few seconds.

"I thought she was still alive when Aron and Ekono brought her back?"

"No..." sniffled Santiago, "Well, she appeared that way. Her E.V.A. suit had kept her breathing and the defibrillator function was trying to keep her heart working but the damage was just too extreme. Without a surgical team, a prepped operating theatre and an artificial heart on hand... Even then...I don't know...the creature pierced the front of her suit and broke through her ribcage and penetrated right up to her backbone."

Santiago wiped his eyes again and then hurriedly made an effort to hide his tears as Walter suddenly poked his head up through the floor hatch. Walter scrambled up onto the deck and hesitated as if he did not know which of them to talk to. Megan decided it was time to take charge again.

"Did you discover anything from Meera's E.V.A. suit?"

Walter nodded. "Yeah. The suit itself is scrap, but the life-support pack and helmet are fine. I cleaned them both up and they're back in the hatch room. Aron's suit is a mess."

"Aron's? I thought he was unhurt?" Megan asked.

"Unhurt, yes! But his life-support pack took a beating," Walter replied, "Whatever attacked Meera, had a proper go at Aron's pack. Nothing pierced the metal skin, but there are four serious dents. I will have to strip it down to check the internals are undamaged."

"Why did the creatures get right through Meera's suit?"

"I think it's as simple as Aron having his back to them and Meera facing them. The creatures seemed to aim for the centre of their target's body. Because Aron was facing away they hit his life-support pack. Meera was just unlucky."

"It was more than bad luck," said Megan, sneering unintentionally, "She shouldn't even have been there. They were just supposed to be gathering samples from the orchard."

"What do you want me to do with her remains?" asked Santiago, suddenly sitting forward in his seat.

"I hadn't even thought of that," Megan replied. "We should have some sort of service."

"Of course," he replied then asked, "But we can't bury her and we don't have any way of cremating her. What do we do?"

"Have you kept samples of any material left by the creature?"