PathFinder: Science Fiction Short Stories

Ex Osse, or the strange case of the Bone Eating Alien Monster

"Faster, Kane! We will miss the spaghettis and meatballs! Come on!"

Kane looked at his friends rushing toward the shaft at the end of the gallery. There had been a movement in his peripheral vision he wanted to examine. All-day he had felt eyes on him, a creepy feeling of being stalked.

"Go on first! I will just go back check a thing with the machinery. I saw something... You go on first and I'll take the next lift. Secure a plate for me!" He left the other men to return to the equipment den.

It did take less than a minute for Kane to reach the large space in the gallery where all the machinery and equipment were. He stayed a moment immobile, making no sound. A weird chirping noise, barely noticeable, was coming from the back of the gallery. With the noise, Kane could see a shadow moving, similar to a flag undulating under a soft breeze.

Slowly, as silent as possible, he progressed toward the source of the disturbance. There, along the ice rock wall, near the ion incandescent lamp, a colony of silicate plankton was desperately crowding the remnant of a stalagmite icicle. The low life form had probably been attracted by the humidity, the water starting to drip from the iced formation and providing some watery home for the errant plankton.

With a shrug, Kane started back toward the shaft and his lift to the surface. A nagging sensation remained, though. The sound he heard earlier today had been different than the one produced by the plankton attached to the ice drip. In any case, he thought, tomorrow would be early enough to investigate the source of this bad feeling, and the promise of a good spaghetti and meatball replaced his concerns of a ghost stalker.

Kane pressed the button to call the lift at the bottom of the shaft and waited, humming a silly song. The familiar ding resonated and the door opened. Soon, the meatballs from Heaven would be his. As he entered the cab, he felt a wind on his neck; with the air moving, deep breathing. His fear petrified him. Turning the head took him just a couple of seconds, though it struggled to look around.

Kane saw only a blurred image of a monster before darkness enveloped him.

On the surface, two of Kane friends had remained and waited for him, asking the other to keep their seats warms and plate full. Spaghetti and meatball days were a rare treat from the kitchen.

"Ah! Here he comes..."

The ding announcing the arrival of the cab rang in the somewhat noisy hour of the midday. The doors opened and one of the two men started to call for Kane. "Come on man! Speed the move..."

The words broke in a deafening silence. The two, puzzled, at first, then frightened, observed the emptiness of the lift in the shaft. There was no Kane in view. In his place, a lonely shoe and too much blood to entertain any hope to find him alive back there in the gallery.

*~*

"Yes, Captain! I understand well. This is a tricky case..."

Inspector Clousos, the pride of the Investigative Police on the Hildas Asteroid Bel space station—also known as a the Hildas Helm Observatory, called sometimes the Observatory, but usually referred as H2O―was still pondering the instructions he received.

"... I do think there is a simple case, though. Probably some smugglers. Either the one who disappeared have found a new career or they have been killed to muddy the traces."

Clousos had often certitudes about his investigations. This case was one of them. Chances were nothing fancy was at play in this case. The issue, though, was to work around the strict and closed policies for outsiders in the mining community. He hoped the management would not hinder his snooping around the galleries.