The Corpse

They couldn't believe their eyes. The reports of a strange object reaching the vicinity of the shuttle, they thought it was just space debris or a chunk of a nearby satellite. To them it was just a clean up, the space-age equivalent of taking out the trash. Then they started getting a closer look, as they inched deeper into its lone orbit. It wasn't long until it was yanked from its interspatial slumber and hurried into the inspection room. Once everyone got a closer look at it there was no mistaking what it was.

It was a corpse.

Some of the crew members had seen dead bodies before, some of them even served in the army but this was nothing like they had previously experienced. None of them could decide what was worse, the stench or twisted visage it presented. Flesh turned sour, curling at its edges in a fan of otherworldly design as it produced a truly stomach turning aura. The state of decay was unheard of and the prospect of it occurring even in the deepest reaches of space further sickened the crew. No one wanted to look at it. This malformed, green pile of discarded flesh spat in the face of humanity's knowledge & 'control' over space. But it was the top half that was the worst. It was human and while the head was long gone many could make out the flared bits of distinctly human blonde hair surrounding the exposed skull where the face would have been. A constant reminder that whoever this person was, they died horribly and knowingly. This added more questions, they were supposed the only human settlement out here.

Long hours passed. More probing, dissecting and analysis. They all came out with nothing relating to the cause of the rotting. Whatever had caused this decay had somehow disappeared with virtually no trace. They did however find that the cause of death was some kind of evisceration and tearing and it was quickly concluded that the cause of death was by some kind of mechanical accident. They sealed it for further examination back at the colony, a 5 day trip back. There was an almost primal fear that pulsed throughout the crew knowing of its newfound passenger. Once the body had been identified they could ditch it, they wanted to forget about it. But it was their duty to report back. This had to be seen by others.

Echoing emptiness for three days. Nothing but the deafening silence of space.

It was then that they started noticing the once empty space started being filled with more corspes.

It started as one. Same story; brought in, examined. Human. Evisceration. With one came two more. Brought in, examined. Human. Evisceration. It slowly increased, endless multiplying corpses floating across the dark reaches started to overshadow the spacecraft itself, efforts to bring in the corpses for examination soon stopped. It was unbelievable, the dead surrounding the dead sprouting, surging and cocooning the ship. In the sea of the dead many of the crew started to pointed out horrifying discoveries. It wasn't just the corpses of adults, dead remains of children started to prop up, the same ghostly visage of life emitting from their cadaver. Little theory was brought up on how children had managed to end up in this sector of space. Many crew members tried to call for backup, reinforcements, anything. Even in thick steel plated ship designed for space travel, no one felt truly safe anymore. Hundreds of well-trained brave astronauts, soldiers and scientists reduced to a cowering mess.

This went on, the hours stretched into masses of immeasurable time, the end seemed unknowable. Many claimed to see the corpses stare back, one person even claimed to see one corpse try to speak. This further complicated the already broken morale on board. Soon the sanity of the people on board began to decay.

Some chose to become cowards, relinquishing their own life or snuffing out another's. Others chose to lock themselves away from it all, praying to wake up from this living nightmare. The strongest ones remained however, traversing the endless sea of the dead.

Fifth day. No colony in sight. Panic began to reach a climax and the hope of reaching the colony started to burn out. They planned to turn back. To where? Anywhere. Anywhere but the swarming graveyard.

It was then they saw it.

They couldn't believe their eyes. Amongst the sea of corpses, the raw sunlight of a distant star was being eclipsed by something. They adjusted the scanners and it was then, in the burning starlight, there was an otherworldly outline of unspeakable size.

A hand, moving.

Reaching out.