Again, as I'm sure you're aware, I own nothing. Visceral Studios and Electronic Arts own ALL Dead Space related things. Thanks for the reviews, hope they keep coming :)

DEAD SPACE: ON BOARD

Chapter 2: The Enigma

Hand over gloved hand pulled the engineer, each hand fall as loud within the suffocating vent shaft as the other. The ominous blue glow from Isaac's helmet stretched a good ten feet in front of him in the smothering space. In situations the stuffy helmet was a good thing to have making a flashlight an obsolete factor.

It was amazing how loud every harsh breath was to him then. After what felt like hours, but was really a mere ten minute trek (so his suit's clock said), the man had made it to a vertical point in the vent system. Here he could stand straight up and the walls allowed for a slight amount of more room. If the helmet hadn't been over him he'd've given his stubble ridden chin a good rub in thought.

"Damn," he uttered lowly. This wouldn't just be an annoyance to him but an endeavor. For a moment he thought he'd heard something far off behind him in the vent. Not that that was likely, he thought.

This little trick of climbing would take some well calibrated maneuvers. First Isaac would have to separate the artificial gravity pumps of each boot using his wrist display. From there he'd have to time on a near perfect level when to engage and disengage the gravity of each boot in order to manage steps up the ninety degree angled walls of the shaft. It was times like these he was glad he'd pursued a life in engineering. With a passing glance he couldn't see the top, but using the very end of his visor's glow he could only assume it was at least a thirty foot incline—fun. After coming to terms with his life up to this point Isaac began the death defying stunt.

Every time one of the boots connected with the hollow vent wall a thud as loud as thunder ruptured out permeating his every fiber. He undid the gravity under his left boot and raised it a good foot before reapplying the gravity making another boom of metal on metal roar. Isaac gave a hefty sigh. "It's another day out in the Venus orbit," he chuckled aloud.

He stopped mid step then. A series of clitter-clatters were coming from beneath him; not directly under, some good distance away still, yet all the same. There was something in here with him, or someone at least.

"Hello?" he called out. His voice gave a mighty echo. Silence seeped ever so disturbingly in. Then motion came from somewhere, everywhere, and nowhere.

"What the hell is going on?"

Mad scrabbles and high pitch squeals, maybe rakings of something sharp on metal accompanied the horrifying varied mix. Then, frighteningly enough, the very walls of the shaft moved under his feet and against his back. Nothing could climb this fast—unless, of course, it wasn't human. But what could possibly clamor such a difficult slope and surface with such speed? It stopped as abruptly as it began. Pitter-patters of liquid driveled down the metal side of the shaft from just beneath him. Reluctantly, Isaac peered down between his legs.

Dead eyes sunken in a pile of rotting flesh looked horrifyingly back at him. Upon the light splashing over it the thing's disjointed mouth let fly a grotesque snarl. The engineer felt something bladed go into his thigh but he wrenched it free. Hastening himself, he let the gravity of a boot undo and he slammed the heavy piece of footwear into the beast. Not only did the impact knock it loose but made it tumble all the way back to the bottom. Its land was enormous in terms of relinquished sound.

Now with his Fight-or-Flight response going haywire Isaac hurried himself up the shaft. Each of his steps went from collective and calculated to uneasy and clumsy. Finally, in all the surrounding blue, he could see the next section of vents that led off at a horizontal direction. He pushed himself to it regardless of the fact that the mess of rot was up and after him once more.

Beneath him the creature flew after.

Here the vent was narrower and because of this he had to struggle like a toddler to make any means of progress. The thing was up near him a second time. Its scrapes and growls closed in on him something like a bullet. In the heat of the moment his brain recalled the Stasis Module he'd just picked up earlier this morning in Mineral Processing. Managing however he could he twisted just enough to splash a saturating dose of Stasis over the monster.

Its pale gray body burst into a deep blue as its movement became so slow it almost appeared to not move at all. Thanks to the suit's enhancing capabilities he swung hard with a backhand cracking it so hard in the head that it became dislodged. Isaac uttered a retching sound forth from his lips and he staggered all the way to the first vent opening he came across.

In a panic the man slammed the vent off its screws with a hard kick and he undid himself from the shaft.

Then a pair of sick arms reached out past him from the darkness behind him, blades as long as arms themselves tried to envelop him like spider legs. The thing was still alive! Using its ambushing embrace it reeled Isaac back toward it. His arms were the only thing keeping him from an uncertain fate. He further used the suit's powers to fit his own needs and he reached out to where the hazy blue glow was inching. His gloved hand found a toolbox and he slid it backward off the desktop hard. It connected with whatever it was and it let Isaac go long enough for him to recover.

In the spur of the moment the engineer pulled an electrically powered rivet gun up and he undid the necessary safety on it. As soon as he saw a single inch of the ghoul he unloaded three bolts into it. It vanished back into the darkness once again. Isaac's know-how showed itself and he rammed both hands into the floor pulling back a piece of floor paneling. Sparks flew as the piece of flooring was forced to surrender itself to him leaving its protective barrier over the artificial gravity.

He spun around practically throwing the panel over the open shaft where he kept it upright with a raised boot. He took a spare clip of rivets off the side of the gun and jammed it into place. The gun relieved its pressure announcing a successful reload. Isaac proceeded to slide the panel into better position when another bladed limb jutted forth out at him scraping off his thick helmet. In the midst of rage and fear Isaac charged the gun and blasted two bolts into the right corners of the panel locking it into place.

As he did the last two corners he heard the beast succumb to its lost prey and off it went somewhere, somehow.

The rivet gun fell with a boom to the floor. The man was again left to his harsh breaths. Exhausted from the experience and tired of having to put up with his hot exhales he undid the clamps of his helmet and took it off tossing it aside. Shaky fingers ran through his short cut hair.

"What the fuck?" he cried out to himself. "What the hell was that?" Alien, demon, science experiment gone awry, he didn't know and quite frankly he wished to keep it that way.

After a few more moments Isaac Clarke, being the man he was, took the opportunity to recalibrate and adapt accordingly. He looked about the room. It was no wonder it was empty other than he. He'd come out at a storage room. Boxes and crates were stacked on either side of the only door to be had and the desk he'd drawn both the toolbox and rivet gun from was cluttered with needless junk.

Then a scream, no, a multitude of cries broke out from behind the door. They came and went in a stampeding fashion. The man's eyes widened and he brought the gun back into hand. He dashed to the door completely forgetting the helmet. He swiped his free hand over the holographic emblem over the door. It recognized his CEC ID implanted in his palm and it began its opening procedures.

Suddenly remembering, Isaac used his respectable Kinesis skills and lassoed in both two more rivet clips and the helmet. The clips attached magnetically to his thigh, the helmet again went over his head.

This time he was ready. This time he would fight.