The nine (or debatably ten) planets of Earth's solar system had barely begun adapting to interacting with one another when the strange transmission arrived. Allegedly from the administrators of an alien empire so distant it was as unfathomable as im...
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Well, this couldn't be good.
Not only would the Venutian not understand that his complementing the colour of her eyes in the mag-lift was flirtatious, but every eye turned to him looked like they were ready to kill him and cut him up like a shish kebob and fillet him over a Martian fire.
He did his best to pretend like he wasn't phased, but he knew everyone could probably see through that effort, as strained as it was.
So instead of saluting the Captain, or doing anything else incriminating, he just cut right to the chase, watching as Alef took to her seat again out of the corner of his vision. "What seems to be the problem, Sir?"
Alex looked like he'd just been through Hell since the few short hours he'd last seen him, hair standing askew and one eye twitching nervously, as if each and sentient in this hovel would devour him whole.
At least the feeling was mutual.
"Well, from what Ji-hoon..." He started rubbing his temples, but then his face flashed, like he'd forgotten whatever he was going to say. How odd. "Never mind."
He did a right good job of sighing, fingers fiddling over his lapels with a nervous tick.
Oh, so that's what this was about.
The distracted look. The twitching in his eyes. A certain distance in his gaze.
He couldn't help but feel smug--if only the smallest bit.
Miles scrunched up his arms, daring to let his expression turn a little playful. "You aren't scared of this place, right Captain? It's all just a bunch of myths--surely that's not why you called me up here, interrupting my very important work."
The Captain glared at him, and he shut his mouth quickly. "That's...no...just...Alef, I need you to bring up the outside cameras."
"Right away, sir," she mumbled, her seriousness offsetting Miles' nerves for the umpteenth time that day.
A central dashboard flickered to light, temporarily blinding his retinas as they took in the choppy, overly-bright hologram. He was pleased to see the others suffering and squinting along with him.
He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be seeing at first--a platform, shrouded in yellowish-haze, with vaguely-humanoid shadows in bulky suits trailing up and down the fuel-lines, procuring the materials for the required maintenance since the last solar-storm. A few of the red-skinned, four-armed beasts stood behind them, pushing apart the different compartments.
A flash over the cameras, like a mob of black and blue. He jumped, noise-vectors releasing an audio noise similar to a light screech throughout the room.
When it finally cleared from the static, splatters lay across the lens--deep red and-
Heavens, no.
That...that couldn't...
But he knew what it was--as surely as he knew his bones didn't belong to him.
