In the late 22nd Century, there is a small human colony on Titan. Operational for six months, life is tough and challenging, but strange geological activity threatens to unearth alien horror and madness!
Hattie stepped into the dome and disengaged her respirator. She breathed in deeply as her eyes adjusted to the painful brightness of the spectrum lamps.
Listen 25%,[dice]0[/dice]
She didn't hear anything in particular, but spoke in harsh whisper nonetheless.
"Drake? Professor Bergman?", she never had gotten round to omitting his title, "Ron, are you here?"
She took a few tentative steps into the dome, looking for either of her team mates.
Spot Hidden 25%,[dice]1[/dice]
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
Seth removes his helmet carefully, he hates being inside those things, and sniffs the air. The fungal aroma is oppressive but not wholly unpleasant. He starts walking up the aisles between the grow pods. "It looks even worse in it's natural state than when it's on the plate. This Is what you eat, right? Or is this a research project?"He then has a good look round and then listens for a response to Hattie's call.
Seth could hear footsteps; sliding boots, scuffled soles.
Then, after Hattie called out, they stopped. And silence hung in the air. All that could be heard was the faint buzzing of the lamps, a quiet but unpleasant insect sound.
"Whose there? Hattie?" came the call back. The voice of Drake.
"Who is with you?" he shouted. He sounded commanding, perhaps scared. A fast voice, blusteringly loud.
Drake sounded like he was coming from the quadrant adjacent, shielded off by a thin, semi transparent sheet of plastic.
"Er, Barton, hold yer horses. Something's not right." Seth whispers. The voice of the doctor doesn't tally with the faltering footsteps. He gets out the med-gun and checks there's a capsule ready loaded. Then he tiptoes to the edge of the quadrant, ready to shoot it into the doctor if necessary.Perhaps It all seems rather melodramatic to the others. He nods to Hattie.
Seth hides in the corner. If the doctor proves to be hostile, and the one who laid the trap, he'll step up behind the doctor and try to inject him. If he seems okay, Seth plans to just stay out of sight for the moment so not to complicate matters. He shakes his head; those buzzing lights are irritating!
A shadow appeared by the translucent plastic sheet that separated the two quadrants. It was certainly the size and shape of Ronald Drake. It was hard to make out.
The shadow pressed against the sheet, a plasma pistol, tracing a line.
"I'm not hurt. You can bet I'm not hurt..." a tinge of menace. Even a threat.
"Victor's bust up. Pretty bad. Couldn't patch him up. Bleeding out, I guess. George stabbed him bad. Right now, trust is in thin supply, ladies. You don't sound crazy, but still...Alpha base is down, and I don't know what the hell is going on..."
He sounded nervous, strained, something at his throat.
"Of course we're armed," says Sam. "We'd be fools not to be, under the circumstances. We'll try to help Victor. Really, he needs Dr. Bloom, but it might not be safe to move him. Beta's got some damage, but it's still intact. We don't know any more than you do about what's going on."
Seth wonders why Drake doesn't come through the plastic, surely he should be overjoyed to see his team mates. Why is he hiding? And if he's suspicious of Hattie and Sam then the prospect certainly doesn't look good for Seth. He considers staying hidden whatever the outcome. But then being alone in the base with a couple of crazies....
The shadowy figure, seen through half opaque plastic sheets, barely moved.
"This isn't happening...this isn't happening....this isn't happening....not supposed to happen...." he muttered, over and over again. If his mind was not cracking under the strain, then it was already cracked.
"I'm taking no chances. Put down your weapons. I'm in charge here until I say otherwise. Then we can get Victory to the Infirmary in Beta base. As you say, don't want anybody else dying..." he said, voice strained...
"All right," says Sam, placing her plasma pistol on the ground. She doesn't want to shoot him anyway, as he's merely not in his right mind, but she thinks she's perfectly capable of clobbering him even unarmed if it comes to it, plus Seth is their ace in the hole. Gaining Ron's trust is the only way to help Victor.
"Ron...please, calm down, we're putting down our weapons."
Hattie makes sure the safety is still on, puts the blaster on the ground and very audibly kicks it away, not inadvertently in Seth's direction. She wasn't sure what had made her trust the person she's known for the past three months less than the one she's known for the past 3 hours, but this was just getting to be too weird.
"Ron, let us help Victor."
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
With the slow fall of the plasma pistols in Titans weak gravity, the translucent plastic parted and Ron Drake stepped through. He looked haggard, to say the least, with bags under his eyes and stubble. Tired. Maybe dosed up with a little caffstim. Twitchy.
"Sorry...Sorry..." he mumbled, looking at everything but the two women's eyes.
"I don't know what's happening...something...something..." he struggled. "Victor is...I'm not sure...I don't know who to trust....George is still here...don't know what's happening...everyone's going crazy!" he blurted.
He shuffled the two women, oblivious to Seth, and pointed to the adjacent quandrant of the hydroponics dome. Whilst he didn't look like he was trigger happy, he was nerve-shot, and made sure he kept his pistol up, and made sure he had the women in eye shot.
In the next quadrant, Victor lay in a pool of blood. It didn't take a doctor to know he was in a bad way, with multiple stab wounds to the leg and abdomen.
"Wha...wha...you came...there was a city...aliens...aliens...." he whispered, faintly, before passing out cold, his flesh cold and clammy.
"I don't even know where to begin," says Samantha. "If he were a robot, I could have him back in working order, but I'm not much good at fixing people. We should have brought Dr. Bloom with us."
"Victor! Victor!", Hattie exclaims as she kneel down by his side, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. "You have to stay awake, Victor!"
"I could fly back with him, but I don't think we'll all fit in the aircraft. Are there any ATV's left here?"
She only then really notices the shape Drake is in.
"Dear Ron...what happened to you?"
"He said we were all cooked but we were all right as long as we did not know it. We were all cooked. The thing was not to recognize it."
"Alpha ATV? Haven't checked" muttered Ron. "Came back from...whatever...in a rush, got here in one piece, but don't know what shape its in. Should hold four people fine though..."
The ATV's could indeed hold four people in cramped quarters for a few days on end. Ron didn't know about Seth though. Five would be a plausible squeeze, suitable for a short journey, although whether that was advisable with a critically injured patient was quite another matter. The T-Prop would be out of the question.
"What's the matter? I'm fine, just fine..." he answered, snapping. It did not take an expert in human psychology to realise he was lying.
