Encounter
Paradise. This has to be paradise. I smiled with gratitude as the beautiful island girl fed me grapes and offered me drinks. I was lying in a hammock; the gentle breeze swaying me back and forth as a mother would cradle her child. The cerulean waves lapped softly against the white sand shore. The island girl was fanning me now with a giant palm branch, the setting sun glinting off her copper skin. A small monkey swung down off the waving tree above me and sat down on my chest, with a most serious look decorating it's tiny simian face. "Hello, little monkey." I grinned at it, and it seemed to smile back. "Would you like something to eat?"
It tilted its head before opening its mouth and shouting in a loud, gruff voice, "Johnson! Johnson!"
I jolted out of my hammock – no, bed – and stared, not into the face of the monkey, or even the beautiful island girl, but the scarred face of my commander, Jacob "Happy" Larnes. And, from the scowl on his face, he was definitely not living up to his nickname.
"Johnson! What the frickin' heck are you still in bed for?! You think you're on vacation!?"
I threw the warm covers off, and almost fell out of bed, before grabbing my trusty pulse rifle and standing to attention. With extreme embarrassment, I noticed the other members of my squad already standing, trying not to laugh as Commander Larnes cursed in my face.
"Get up, you lazy, half-witted, piece of no good trash! This isn't boot camp anymore, Private! This is the Marines! And you better darn well get up when your commander orders it! You got that, Private?!"
"Yes sir." I mumbled, still trying to get the sleep out of my eyes, and my rumpled clothes straightened.
"I can't hear you, Private!"
"Yes sir!" I shouted out, my voice cracking with sleep in the very middle, causing my cheeks to burn even hotter.
The Commander ranted a few more moments before finally turning and stomping out. My snickering comrades gathered around me. "Hey, good job, Johnson, you just made a first rate impression on the Commander!"
I took a mock swing at Kepler, the highest ranking on our little group, having been recruited before any of us. "Yeah, and thanks for your help, losers! I'll have to return the favor!" I grinned at them all, my chagrin forgotten.
"Hey, we would have helped ya, but the Commander burst in on us, and we barely had time to get ourselves ready!" Marshall stared up at me from his tiny height of only 5'3". The resident computer hacker and demolition expert, he was incredibly loud and obnoxious, not something you'd expect from someone who dealt with bombs and high tech security on a regular basis. I sometimes thought that he was almost trying to make up for his lack of tallness.
Valenski, the last member of my squad just stood off quietly in one corner. As the silent one among us, no one paid attention to him, but me. I felt sorry for the guy, he always seemed so sad about something. What it is, I had no clue. God knows I've tried to get him to open up, but to no avail. He just doesn't seem to want to be friends with anyone.
"Well," Kepler announced, shouldering his gun. "Time for patrol, girls. Let's get going."
Marshall stood up as tall as he was able and made crude jokes about Kepler's comment and we all filed out.
Rain dribbled down off the eaves of our tiny shelter. We were stationed at the perimeter of our base on planet LV-429. It was in the same system as that ship that got lost all those decades ago, the one that was never found. It made for terrific ghost stories and pranks, but I seriously doubted the stories about it. For one thing, if it was in trouble, then how come no distress signals were sent? And even if the comm-links were down, then at least one member of the crew should have survived. I mean, there's life pods on there, someone should have got free. But, oh well. No big deal. I yawned and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "Man, I wish something would happen out here. I mean, who's gonna invade the perimeter on an uninhabited planet?"
Kepler stretched. "I know, but you still gotta keep the perimeter guarded. Just because it's uninhabited, doesn't mean no one can land."
"Yeah, but it still is boring."
Marshall laughed. "Tell me about it, but I'd rather do this that some of the jobs back in base." He put his hands on his hips and scrunched up his face, looking exactly like the Commander. "Get in there and clean those toilets, Privates! I want to see my face in those crapholes in fifteen minutes, or you'll clean them with your tongue!"
Kepler laughed so hard that he snorted, and I slapped my knee and bent over; laughing so hard I thought a lung was going to come up. Valenski allowed a small smile to come over his normally stoic face before focusing on something. "Guys, comm coming in!"
I looked up, and sure enough, the tiny red light next to the viewer was blinking red. We straightened up immediately, and Kepler slammed the button to receive the message. The screen flicked on, showing nothing but static for a few moments, before the garbled face of the Commander came into view. I gasped. His face was torn up; it was almost one big bleeding cut. His entire shirt was soaked with the fluid. Marshall put one hand to his mouth like he was going to hurl, and Kepler's mouth hung open like a fish. "Marines…" The screen turned to static again before focusing. "We have a situation here, everyone… everyone's dead. These black things they -- out of -- where. You need to get away -- here. Take the emergency -- pod and get up in orbit. I've call – LV-426 and they're – to pick you up. But get out of here, Marines."
The screen once again faded to static and we almost lost the connection, but quick work from Marshall boosted it up again. Kepler grasped his gun tightly and said, "Just wait there sir, we'll come and get you."
"No, dam – you have to leave me, I'm dying anyway. The bas – got me in the gut. You'll get your squad to the life pods, and that – order. Do you hear me?"
Kepler looked like he was about to protest again, but then sighed, and lowered his head. "Yes sir."
"Good luck…" He suddenly looked up. His eyes grew wide, and he screamed horribly, reaching for his gun and firing. A swift blur of black whisked across the screen, and the Commander was thrown out of his chair onto the ground. The gun continued to fire; a rapid procession of flashes. The thing screamed with pain, and its tail lashed about before the Commander suddenly became quiet in the middle of a blood-curdling shriek. The screen was sprayed with blood before going black.
We stood in silent shock for several moments, unable to comprehend what exactly had just happened. Valenski was the first to come out of it, stalking to the gun cabinet and taking out extra clips for his gun and a few dozen grenades. He came back over to the three of us, who were still standing in mute horror. "Come on, guys. We have to get out of here." His voice was calm and quiet, betraying none of the violent emotions I knew must be hiding in there somewhere. "If we don't hurry, those things are going to find us. We have to get to the life pod."
His words seemed to set off a flurry of actions. Kepler jumped as if pinched and all but ran to the gun cabinet, Marshall and I not for behind. After getting ammo, Kepler turned around and addressed us all. "All right guys. We're getting to that life pod – "
Marshall suddenly cut him off with a hysterical laugh. "Yeah right, man, did you see what that thing did to the Commander? And there's plenty more where that came from! We're all gonna die here, just like the others!" His eyes were wide with fear, fine beads of sweat lined his upper lip, and he trembled slightly.
"No we're not. We have something that the others didn't, the element of surprise. Those things don't know we're here, and if we keep quiet, they'll never know." Kepler grabbed Marshall by the shoulder and pulled him close. "We will get out of this, Marshall, I promise you." He let the trembling computer hacker go and turned to face Valenski and I. Kepler had undergone a transformation right before my very eyes. Instead of the joking, immature private that pulled practical jokes every spare moment, there stood a competent leader who would give his life to save those under him. I was surprised at this observation. War brings out either the worst or the best in people. And that's what we were in now. War. Against those slimy alien creatures who had murdered our people. We would have revenge. "Okay, listen up. I'll take point, Johnson, you take tail. Marshall, you're next to me, Valenski, you get middle. Everyone got that?" We all nodded mutely. "All right then. Let's go."
We scurried from rocky outcrop to rocky outcrop. The base was in sight now, and we had no conflict along the way except for Marshall tripping over a branch. Kepler put his hand up, signaling us to halt. We listened hard for something, anything to give our enemy away. Nothing. Even the rain had stopped except for a fine mist that made so sound. The wind created a gentle breeze that chilled us, but that too made no sound. It was eerily quiet, almost supernaturally. I had a sudden vision of demons, black swift demons that had come to feed upon our souls. And demons can't be killed… I shook my head slightly. That was nonsense. There was no such thing as the supernatural, especially demons. These creatures could be killed just like any other. I clenched my gun tightly. And I would make sure that every single one of those bugs got squished.
Kepler motioned for us to go on again. We sneaked up to the door of the base. Pushing against it slightly, it opened up with a deafening creak. Kepler hesitated for a moment before stepping in quickly. Marshall followed, going off to the side to secure the area. Valenski went ahead, and I stopped near the door to make sure nothing came in behind us. My breath came in short shallow gasps; I felt as though I couldn't get enough air. The lights flickered sickly, and a strange hole in the ceiling that looked as though it had been burnt by acid let in the cold mist and cloudy sunlight. The floor was dirty, muddy boot prints that weren't ours cluttered the ground. Having finished securing the area, my squad moved back on my position. I tried studying their faces for some sign of what they had seen, but I couldn't detect anything. Almost afraid of the answer, I asked, "See anything?"
Kepler shook his head. "Not a thing. There isn't even a shoe left of anybody. There should at least be a little blood, but I can't find anything."
"Nothing?" I asked, not believing. "There should be something!"
Valenski sighed. "No, there isn't anything."
Marshall shook his head wildly. "They must've eaten them all! We're gonna be like dessert!"
"Marshall, calm yourself." Kepler fixed the demolition expert with a steely glare. "I said I would get us out of this, and I will."
Marshall just shook his head and mumbled something unintelligible.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, so what do we do next?"
"We get to the life pod. It's on the other side of the compound. If luck is with us, maybe the creatures left. But most likely not, so I want you all on full alert. Report anything out of the ordinary, we don't know much about these creatures and I want to know anything that might give us a clue as to how they move and work. Let's go."
Fifteen minutes passed, still nothing. I was beginning to believe that perhaps the aliens had gone, and we would get to the life pod without incident. Valenski took point now, taking his motion sensor and making sure nothing sneaked up on us. Our boots echoed hollowly on the metal floor, mixed with the synthesized sound of the motion detector taking it's periodical sweeps. Suddenly, a different sound entered the room. Sounding like a death knell, the sensor detected movement. "Twenty meters ahead, movement."
Kepler shoved ahead and looked at the motion sensor. "All right, marines, stay frosty, we got company."
Valenski's eyes stayed fixed on the motion detector. "Two, no three bogies." He rubbed his eyes. "Wait, scratch that, we have five incoming, ten meters."
My heart pounded, I could barely get enough air coming in now. Were they the creatures? Or our comrades? Injured, helpless? Dying? My hand tightened on the gun, knuckles white. My stomach was doing acrobats, and I felt like I was going to hurl all over my shoes.
"Wait a minute…" Valenski hit the side of the motion detector with one hand.
"What is it?" Marshall asked fearfully.
"This has to be wrong…" The whole thing is white now, there's too many to count!"
Kepler shoved his way to the front and took a look at the motion detector. "What do you mean – "
Marshall suddenly screamed and began firing his gun wildly. "Oh God! Oh God!"
About ten black creatures dropped from the ceiling behind the computer hacker, rending him to bite sized pieces in less than a minute. Kepler rounded and began firing, blowing the head off the nearest alien, sending a hissing yellow fluid along the walls, burning gigantic holes in the metal… Acid!
Valenski dropped the motion sensor and fired a grenade at a group of five charging aliens, blowing both of us back into Kepler, who was alternately cursing and firing. "We have to get out of here!" Valenski shouted.
"No! We have to get Marshall!" Kepler's eyes were wide with fear.
"What are you talking about? Marshall's dead!" I screamed back at him, trying desperately to hold off the second line of the aliens coming down the hall, before Valenski blew them away with another grenade.
"No! No! I promised him! I promised him everything would be all right!"
Valenski kicked open a nearby vent, grabbed Kepler and threw him in. "Follow!" He ordered. "I'll hold them off while you get in!"
I wasted no time in following our temporarily insane leader, shoving him ahead of me. Valenski tossed a few more grenades in the hall before diving in the vent, just as the explosion blew us all forward with a blast of searing hot air.
Valenski and I pounded down the ventilation systems, dragging our leader behind us. He was still screaming about leaving Marshall behind and nothing either Valenski or I could do seemed to convince Kepler that Marshall was dead. Finally, Valenski stopped, picked up Kepler and shoved him against the wall. "Marshall is dead! He isn't coming back and we couldn't save him! Nothing you could have done would have saved him! People die, and that's just the way it is!"
Kepler whimpered. "But… I promised him…" He said in a broken whisper.
Valenski sighed and closed his eyes momentarily. "I know. I know you promised him. But you also promised us. You promised us that you would get us out alive, and right now you're backing out of that promise. We need you, Kepler. We need you to help us see our families again. Please."
Kepler stared at Valenski for a silent moment. He closed his eyes, and then opened them. "Okay. Okay, I'll get you out."
Valenski smiled and patted Kepler on the back. "All right, Private. Let's stay frosty."
Kepler darted from shadow to shadow; Valenski and I following him. He turned around to face us. "The life pod is just over there. We get to it, and we're home free, guys." The life pod was about fifty meters ahead, apparently unguarded. We had no incident since we left the ventilation ducts; the aliens seemed to want to leave us alone. Thank God. My previous bravery was gone. I just wanted to get out of here alive, I didn't care about revenge, and I just wanted to go home. Perhaps this was cowardly of me, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to see the sun rise again on earth, I wanted to see my parents again, and I didn't want to die here, alone on this cold harsh world.
We ran forward to the door of the life pod and shoved it open. Valenski covered me as I began to step in to secure the life pod…
Kepler screamed and I jerked around to see him blowing the head off an alien. Valenski ran forward to help. Kepler fired again and again into the alien's huge head, sending yellow acid flying everywhere. I heard someone screaming, and I recognized it as my own. "No! The acid!"
Kepler's war cry suddenly took a different tune as the acid blood sprayed him across the face. Valenski cried out in horror as we saw Kepler's very face begin to melt away. Aliens started pouring out from the walls, hissing and roaring their triumph. They knew that we were as good as dead, that we would become food just like all the others. I ran forward to get Kepler, who was moaning and crying in pain as the acid burned off his skin. I looked up and saw Valenski firing his pulse rifle, defending the entrance to the life pod. With one hand he was motioning for me to hurry up, but I couldn't make it. Kepler was weighing me down as I dragged him across the floor to the life pod. Suddenly, Kepler tugged on me. I looked down; trying to avoid the hideous mess his face had become, and saw the huge grenade in his hand. "I made a promise." He managed to croak out.
I nodded, trying to keep the tears out of my eyes, and saluted him. Dropping him on the ground, I ran for the life pod with all my strength. Firing on aliens that tried to blindside me I leaped forward into the life pod, just as Valenski closed the door. The aliens began to pound on the tiny hatch, creating large dents in the flimsy door. "Come on, Valenski, this door isn't going to hold for much longer!"
"I know! I know!" He flipped a few switches and started up the ship.
The aliens pounded harder, creating larger dents. A few more moments of this and the door would burst open, letting a swarm of aliens in, ready to feast.
"Hurry!" I shouted fearfully, praying to God to let me get out of this alive.
"It's starting! Lifting off!"
The ship lurched as we took off and I ran to the front. I looked down at the horde of black aliens crawling on the ground. Kepler stood up shakily in the middle of them as we burst through the roof. Raising his arm high, he pulled the pin and disappeared in an orange blossom of flame.
Valenski sighed with relief. "We did it. My God, we did it."
I sank into the chair next to him and spoke one word. "Kepler."
Valenski lowered his head and closed his eyes. "He gave his life for us. I never imagined him giving his life for us. I'll miss him."
"We all will." We were silent as the ship burst through the atmosphere and joined the quiet cold of deep space. I rubbed my face with my hands tiredly before putting them on my armrest. I felt something cold. Something slimy. Bringing my fingers up, I examined the cool gray goo on my fingers and asked, "What's this?"
Okay, so how was it? I know, it got a little sappy towards the end, and I don't know much about military ranks and all, so there might be a few errors. Also, I made a big leap across the line into Plot Hole Land, what with creating LV-429. But... Just stretch your imagination. :)