Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

47 - Out There

Chris had only been asleep maybe two hours when someone woke him by urgently shaking his shoulder and calling his name. It took a few seconds for him to wake up and even longer to open his eyes and identify who was shaking him.

"Commander!" whispered Hugo urgently. "This is going to sound mad, but we think there's someone outside."

"What time is it?" Chris groaned, struggling to sit up.

"Still middle of the night. We keep hearing noises from outside the ship, scratching and banging. We're debating whether we should open the inner airlock door."

"Don't do that," Chris growled, rolling onto his feet.

"Who's out there?" Hugo sounded puzzled.

"Whatever bothered us back at Supply Module 1, last night."

"What is it?"

"No idea. We hid from it. It tried to get into the supply module for hours, but failed."

"Tried to get in?!"

"Yes, it tried, repeatedly, to spin the wheel to unlock the hatch. We had to hold it shut from inside."

"Did you put the cover back over the external crank handle when you opened the outer airlock door last night, Commander?"

"I genuinely can't remember," Chris sighed. "We were tired and half-frozen. Putting things away wasn't foremost in my mind."

"If whatever's out there can open a hatch wheel, can it do a crank handle too?" Hugo asked.

"How can I know that?" Chris replied. "Is it there now? By the airlock I mean?"

"None of the ship's systems have power, so we can't see what's going on out there," Hugo sighed. "There's definitely sounds coming from that end."

"Let's get down there and have a look," said Chris, rolling his shoulders backwards to loosen up his stiff muscles.

They arrived to find the inner airlock door still safely sealed. Dan and Fletcher were already there, listening at the doors, and other members of the crew had gathered nearby, looking worried. They parted to let Chris and Hugo through.

"It's gone quiet now, Commander," Fletcher whispered, lifting his ear away from the door.

"You reckon it's the same thing we experienced back at the supply module?" Chris whispered.

"Aye, Commander. I don't know what else it can be. Unless that thing has friends?"

"And we can't tell whether it's just gone quiet, or it's left completely."

A voice cried out from the hatchway back to the Medi-Bay. "Something is scratching outside the Gym!"

Hugo shushed whoever it was, but Chris set off to investigate. He stopped as he reached the open hatch. "You're sure it's from outside the ship?"

"Sounds like they're trying to scrape their way through the hull."

"Fletcher, the Gym, it's about the middle of the Command Module?"

"Aye, about that, Commander."

"Hugo, take a couple of people up into the Control Room and bang on the walls. Make as much noise as you can at that end. We'll keep quiet down at this end."

"You want to attract it away from the airlock?"

"I figure, it's unlikely to get through the hull, but the airlock is an unknown."

"Commander, I've got an idea," Fletcher whispered.

Before Fletcher could reply, Hugo grabbed two handheld radios from an already open locker and thrust one towards Chris.