So tell me something; how is it that this story's received so few reviews. I swear, it's one of my most detailed stories, and it's hardly been reviewed.
So here's what I'm gonna do. After this chapter, I won't update until I get two reviews each.
So please, leave a review when you're done…
Chapter 3: The Surface
Crane sighed. Finally on the ground, there wasn't much to do. They'd have to give the ship an overhaul sooner or later.
"How long until we're functional?" Dallas asked, motioning to Ripley.
"About 15 to 20 hours," she sighed.
"Stay on it." Dallas replied. He turned to face Crane "You go see if that damned telescope is working. That thing's too expensive to replace."
"Right on it." Jon sighed.
He got up, and made his way back to the blister. He took a seat.
He punched in {Alt}Echo[Shift]Start up{Enter}
The interface immediately came back to life.
Telescopes On-Line…What would you like to do?
He punched in Vega-Xray[Shift]Delta-Echo(Run)
The computer buzzed
Running Diagnostic…Checking functionality…Verifying readouts…Checking for updates…Done…Radio Telescope function;Normal…Ocular Telescope function;Normal…
He sighed. This was the best news he could have received. The Telescope had made it down in one piece.
He thumbed the com switch. "Captain" He called to the Narcissus
"What is it Crane?" Dallas replied.
"Telescopes are normal." He sighed "I can't see a damned thing out of the ocular, but both still work."
"Sure the ocular isn't broken?" Dallas replied.
"I'm positive." Jon answered "It's just the cloud cover. Can't see past it."
"You're on watch while we go out to check the source." Dallas replied "We'll be leaving in about an hour. You're welcome to coffee with us on the bridge until then."
"Alright." Jon replied "I'll be right down. Let me put the cap on the lens first. I don't like all this dusty wind."
He hit [F17]Echo{Off}
There was a whirr as the cover began to move over the lens to the ocular.
"Time for some coffee." He sighed. He got up, and made his way back to the Narcissus.
"Anything new happen?" he asked as he walked in.
"Nothing but the same transmission every thirty two seconds." Ash replied "All of the other channels are dead."
"Kick on the floods." Dallas commanded "Let's see what we can see."
Immediately out the windows, the lights came on, revealing a dark, rocky environment around the ship.
"We can't go out in this." Kane commented.
"Mother says the sun's coming up in about 20 minutes." Ash replied.
"How far are we from the source of the transmission?" Dallas inquired.
"Northeast." Ash sighed "About 3000 meters."
"Close enough to walk." Kane replied.
"Let's run an atmospheric." Dallas commanded.
Ash started to punch buttons, and looked at his panel. Crane couldn't make up or down of it from what he could see.
"10 percent argon," Ash announced "85 percent nitrogen, 5 percent neon," He paused "I'm working on the trace elements."
"Pressure?" Dallas replied
"Ten to the fourth dynes," Ash replied "Per square centimeter."
"Moisture content?" Dallas asked.
"None." Ash sighed "Zero."
"Anything else?" the captain replied.
"Rock, lava base." Ash added "And cold, well below the centigrade line."
"I volunteer for the first group." Kane announced.
"I hear you." Dallas replied, he turned to Lambert "Lambert, you too?"
"Swell." She sighed.
"One more thing," Dallas announced "Let's get out some weapons."
Crane whistled down. He sure was glad he wasn't going out there. He never really liked to do EVA's.
Dallas and Kane got up and walked out.
Jon spotted his sketchpad. He then saw a pencil.
Turning to a new page, he decided to draw something. He started to sketch the Narcissus, Lambert included.
It only took him about 5 minutes. He didn't bother with much shading.
"Whatcha got there?" Lambert asked, looking over his shoulder.
"Just a still life?" Crane sighed. "Not my best work."
"What is your best work then?" She asked.
"Well," he began. Turning the pages, he arrived at Lambert in her cryo-tube.
"Wait," she asked, looking over it "Is that me?"
"Well," he sighed "Who else could it be?"
"That's me isn't it?" she sighed.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"It's very beautiful." She sighed "I've never had anybody draw me before."
"Well," he replied "perhaps I could draw you while you're awake?"
"Sure," she commented "You're such a great artist. Can I have that?"
"Well," He sighed "Perhaps if you'll go out to dinner with me. I know this place on Luna that you'll just love."
"First, let me have my drawing." She replied.
"I think you'd want a drawing of you awake." He sighed "I'll happily do it when you get back from your EVA."
"I've got to go." She replied, "I'll see you when I get back." She got up, and began to walk out the Narcissus.
Jon watched her walk out, admiring her curves and beauty.
He decided to listen to a bit of music while he waited for everyone to be done.
He could easily hear the doors open as the party left.
He decided to take a nap where he was. He shut his eyes, leaned back in the chair, and fell asleeip.
xXx
After a good three hours, he heard a commotion over the intercom.
"What's going on?" he asked groggily, seeing Ripley at her station.
"Something's managed to attach itself to Kane's face while they were out." She replied "Unfortunately, I have to keep them outside. We've broken every rule or quarantine already."
"Open the God damn hatch Ripley!" Dallas' voice replied from the com.
"I can't." she replied, pressing the receive button "If you were in my position you'd do the same."
Crane couldn't believe it. He'd always known his half-sister was a bit of a cold fish on board the ship, yet this was a new cold.
He thought about Lambert. He couldn't imagine leaving her out there.
He got right out of his seat and bolted out the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ripley called out "Get back here!"
He ignored her, knowing full well the consequences of doing so. As Warrant Officer, she was a tier above Provisional Officer.
He made his way down to near the airlock, passing by a startled Ash.
He found the hatch to the airlock, and mashed the switch-buttons.
With an whine the servos started up. Outside, he could clearly see them waiting. Indeed, Kane did have something on his face.
He saw Ripley storming his direction, mad as hell. Of all the emotions she carried, anger was the one you least wanted to see.
"What the hell did you just do?" she yelled, entering the area.
"I did what you didn't have the stomach to do." He sighed "I opened the hatch. They'd have died out there if we didn't do something."
"You defied a direct order." She replied "You've got a lot of nerve defying me."
"Well if I didn't do something," he sighed, panting "Kane might die." He paused "So what if I broke quarantine, I just saved a life."
"We'll see about that." She sighed.
At this, the hatch opened.
Dallas and Lambert entered, carrying Kane's body between them.
"Stay clear" Dallas commanded.
Ripley and Jon each stepped aside.
"What's goin' on here?" Parker called out, entering the room.
"Great Gig In The Sky!" Jon replied, disgusted and amazed at the creature that had melted through the helmet. The creature resembled a cross between a spider and a horseshoe crab. The horse-shoe crab came in with the tail that was wrapped around his neck. The spider aspect was the finger appendages that were on top of his face. The entire thing was a grayish green.
"Is it alive?" Parker asked.
"I don't know," Lambert replied, fear to her voice "But don't touch it."
Brett walked in afterwards.
"Take him to the infirmary." Dallas commanded.
"Right." Brett replied.
Ash and Brett each took a hold of Kane and began to carry him.
Jon heard a "HISS" from behind.
Turning around, he saw Lambert and Dallas each take off their helmets.
"I'm going to see what happens with Kane." Dallas announced. With that, he took off his suit, and made his way to the Infirmary.
"You okay Lambert?" Jon asked. "Need any help?"
"Thanks." She replied. He helped her remove the bulky space suit, setting everything aside as she handed it to him.
"So what exactly happened?" he asked, confused at what he missed.
"I'm not sure." She replied "It all happened so fast. The worst part is what your sister tried to do. She was going to leave us out there." At this, Lambert began to sob.
"I'm so sorry for what she did." Jon sighed "She's always been so intent on keeping to procedure." He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as she sobbed.
"She was going to let Kane die!" Lambert sobbed.
"I know." He replied "I would never have allowed that to happen. That's why I opened the hatch."
"Still," Lambert sobbed "She has no right to leave us out there." Wit that, she slipped out of his very loose grip, and stormed her way to the Infirmary.
"Wait." Jon called, running after her.
As she walked in, she walked up to Ripley and slapped her across the face.
Jon noticed Kane was in a booth, 'under the scope' as it was known.
"What was that for?" Ripley asked.
"You were going to leave us out there!" Lambert sobbed.
At this, she lost her composition, and began to cry very hard.
Jon walked in, and put his arms around her.
She leaned in against his shoulder, and continued to cry.
"Maybe she should have." Parker sighed "Who the hell knows what that is."
"Right" Brett seconded.
After there was a good sized tearstain on Jon's shirt, Lambert stopped crying.
Ripley looked over at Lambert. "Let's call it settled." She sighed.
"Sure." Lambert replied.
"Can somebody fill me in?" Ripley asked.
"I've been wondering the same thing." Jon sighed.
"He went into the structure alone," Dallas replied "And we lost radio contact. When we pulled him out, it was on his face."
"Where did it come from?" Ash asked.
"Somewhere inside that ship." Dallas replied.
"What ship?" Jon asked. "Of all the times to take a nap, I choose the time while you're out."
"Well, to fill you in," Dallas began "We determined that the source of that transmission was a derelict ship out in the distance. We went inside, and lost radio contact. Then this happened."
"How the hell is he breathing?" Parker asked.
Everyone looked at the monitors.
"Blood's thoroughly oxygenated." Ash announced.
"How," Dallas inquired "His nose and mouth seem to be blocked."
"We'd better look inside his head." Ash sighed. He pressed a series of three buttons.
The monitor showed an X-ray of Kane's head and upper torso. The creature was clearly visible on it. Kane's jaws were forced open, and there was a tube down his throat. The tube ended at the base of the esophagus.
"It's got something down his goddamn throat." Brett commented.
"That must be how it's getting oxygen to him." Ash replied.
"It doesn't make any sense." Ripley commented, shaking her head "It paralyzes him, puts him in a coma, then keeps him alive?"
"Sure doesn't sound like anything I've seen?" Crane sighed "It's practically the opposite of most parasitic life forms out here."
"Let's kill it!" Parker suggested "We can't leave the damn thing on him!"
"I don't know." Ash sighed "At the moment, the creature is keeping him alive. If we remove it, we might terminate Kane."
"I don't think so." Dallas replied "Let's take the chance and cut it off him."
"You'll take the responsibility." Ash sighed.
"That's right." Dallas confirmed.
Lambert gasped, and pulled her eyes away in disbelief, burying them in Jonathan's chest.
Dallas and Ash slipped on pairs of surgical gloves. Ash pressed a switch, and Kane slid back out of the booth.
"Give me the knife." Dallas commanded to Ripley.
She took the surgical laser blade from the case, and gingerly passed it to Dallas.
Lambert pressed her face further into Jon's chest, fearful. He sighed, stroking her hair gently.
Dallas flicked the switch with his thumb, and the device began to HUMM. He made his way up to Kane, and gently touched the scalpel to the creature's left side middle "finger"
From the creature came a urine-like fluid that began to drip from the wound.
"Starting to bleed." Dallas announced.
Jon watched the Liquid flow onto the bedding next to Kane's head. There was a "HISS" and smoke started to come from the stain.
It then started to eat a hole through the bed and dripped to the deck below.
There was even more smoke, and the metal was bubbling and sizzling, creating fumes.
Everyone started to cough. It was like the fumes ate into your lungs. They started to go out of the cabin. Jon made sure to help Lambert out.
They still were coughing. Dallas made a yelp.
"Shit!" Brett called "It's going to eat through the decks and go out the hull."
He started to run for the companionway.
Everyone followed, going down to the B Deck.
"Where is it?" Ripley questioned aloud.
"There!" Dallas cried, pointing to a spot about five feet away.
There was a sizzling sound from the ceiling and the fluid oozed down. It dripped to the deck, and continued to bubble, going straight through the bulkhead.
"What can we put under it?" Ash asked, confused.
Ripley and Parker both made their way down to the C Deck, while Dallas, Ash, Brett, Lambert, and Crane stayed on this deck.
"Don't get under it!" Parker replied, still able to be heard from above.
Everyone crouched around the spot in the deck.
Ash took out a pen and started to probe the spot in the deck. He pressed the end to the deck, slowly.
There was no response
"Just to be sure." Crane sighed, he put his finger to the spot in the deck. There was nothing, except warm metal.
"It's stopped penetrating." Ash sighed.