"Equo ne credite, Teucri. quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts."
Virgil, Aeneid.
October 24th, 2137. Earth Central Time, Inside Derelict alien ship, LV-426, unexplored moon of Zeta2 Reticuli System.
-"Catherine! Catherine!" Marlow screamed.
He was on the floor, still strapped to the harness. He saw the thing open and Catherine turned back to see it. It happened too fast, something exploded from inside the object and then Foster fell backwards, a hole pierced in helmet's visor. Air hissing as it escaped from the suit.
-"Foster!" Heyst ran and leaned to her side, and tried to close the hole with his hands. "Marlow, help me! If we don't seal the breach, she's dead."
Marlow was thinking the same, as he pulled some patching kit from his belt. Usually the kits were designed for small breaches made by micro meteors, breaking the visor was an assured death, but they weren't in outer space, the atmospheric pressure was similar those of Earth's, it was the mix of gases and temperature what would certainly kill Foster in matter of minutes.
-"What the hell?" Marlow exclaimed as he saw a strange pink-yellowish creature inside Foster's helmet.
-"What is it, Marlow?" asked Heyst.
-"There's something inside, must be the thing from that egg. It breached the visor and got inside." Marlow answered. "Meeks, she's strapped. Lift her out. It's an emergency."
The winch slowly pulled up Foster, then Marlow and Heyst both strap them and got out the derelict's cargo hold. Once outside they saw Meeks already checking the body.
-"Marlow, She's alive but unconscious. That thing over her face prevented her from breathing the atmosphere, but what I don't know is from where she's getting oxygen." Meeks noted.
-"We need to get her inside the ship. Temperature drop may cause her frostbite." Heyst said the two.
-"Lewis, we had an emergency, prepare the medical bay." Marlow told through radio.
-"Roger that, Marlow. But you have to make it fast, we have a bigger problem." Lewis responded.
-"What is it?" Marlow asked, at that moment, another tremor shocked the place with roaring sound.
-"There's an eruption. A fissure opened near your position." Lewis informed.
Marlow, Heyst and Meeks emerged from the derelict carrying Foster in a makeshift stretcher. The ash had thickened, running across the rough terrain was painful already, plus they were carrying Foster. Marlow didn't know if she'd make it to the ship.
He was glad as the cargo bay's doors closed and fresh air flowed. Foster bio-readings showed she was stable, still unconscious. The thing from the derelict must've acted like a mask, but he wondered why she wasn't suffocated. "I don't care as long as she's still alive." Marlow thought. They took Foster to medical, but one of the things the Anesidora lacked was a functional autodoc. They don't even had one of those old Pauling Medpod 720i.
-"We need to take her off the compression suit." Heyst said.
-"I have a plasma shear here" Meeks passed a pencil like object to Marlow. "Careful, we don't want to cut her, or that thing."
Marlow cut the helmet and suit and proceeded to take it off. Once out, he had a first row view of the abomination wrapped around his wife's head. It seemed like a mixture of a Japanese spider crab, a hand and a scorpion. Two flat flap-like protuberances each side, these flaps were pulsating, long finger-like legs wrapped around Foster's head and a long, segmented tail coiled around her neck.
-"I'm going to cut that thing off." Marlow said, turning the plasma shear on.
-"Wait! We don't know what it that could do to Foster, we need a scan first." Lewis told him.
-"What we need is a hospital." Heyst opined.
-"We never pass her through quarantine with that" Meeks exclaimed, pointing to the thing.
-"Then we'll bring the medic aboard if necessary." A determined Marlow exclaimed. "Meanwhile, we need to get out this rock."
They secured Foster in the medical bay and headed for the bridge. The ash fall had intensified through the windows. Thunders roared everywhere.
-"Initiating take off procedures," Marlow sat on pilot's chair. "Thrusters on"
The cargo hold retracted inside the ship's belly and the Anesidora took off the cold surface, leaving a wake of condensate exhaust from the four thrusters. It retracted its landing legs, some ash and dust was caught inside the landing gear pods.
-"Hundred meters and ascending." Marlow informed.
-"Marlow, radar and infrared shows the lava flow reached the derelict." Lewis told him.
IR Radar imaging shown a thick lava flow pouring towards the ancient ship from above and covered the protruding portside, it broke and fell to the ground, Marlow grinned.
-"Maybe the lava will destroy that damned ship, or at least pour inside the cargo bay and burn those motherfuckers back to wherever hell they came." Marlow said angrily.
As the Anesidora ascended, infrared signature intensified as the volcano erupted and ejected debris all over the place. Some of the molten slag hit the Anesidora and melted part of the circuitry which runs through the hull. An alarm sounded.
-"Were hit!"
-"We still can fly, we need to get out this place and take Foster to San Cristobal, it's the nearest hospital." Marlow told them.
Seeing the pyroclastic cloud, Marlow now was sure the Derelict ship was destroyed and he felt relieved.
-"The debris hit part of the hyperdrive circuitry, we can't go FTL, we'll fry." Lewis typed and informed.
-"Damn, Can we fix it?"
-"Not with what we have. But we still can travel at near light speed."
-"At near light speed will take almost two weeks!" Marlow cursed. "Lewis, run a system check, see if there's any damage in other system. We can't risk going to cryo and the whole thing fall apart while we're sleeping."
-"System check will take us at least 24 hours." Lewis responded.
-"Do it, the sooner the better. Meanwhile I'll be looking over Catherine." He headed towards the medical bay.
Lewis typed in the console and ran a system check. The screen flashed with numbers indicating it will be completed in 22:57:13. Almost a day later, Marlow was reclined in one of the seats, Foster lying on the bed. EKG and temperature just below normal, there wasn't any freezer burns, but the thing was firmly attached. Marlow had tried to pull it off but the thing tightened its fingers and tail.
Lewis, Heyst and Meeks entered the room and told Marlow the computer just finished the system check. There was damage in the main antenna but nothing wrong with other critical systems so they could head to Sevastopol in cryo. They saw Foster in bed and told Marlow.
-"We can't pull it off without knowing what it's doing. So far, it protected Foster from depressurization it caused. But with what end?" Heyst opined.
-"Maybe we can inject it with morphine, if it relaxes its grip, we can pull it off." Lewis said.
-"Or we kill it along with Foster." Meeks told him.
-"We have to try, Heyst, find a syringe." Marlow ordered Heyst.
Suddenly, the creature started to convulse, its finger like legs relaxed and the tail uncoiled. The thing jumped and fell to the floor, where it turned upside down and curled legs like an insecticide sprayed cockroach.
-"What the Fuck?" Marlow exclaimed.
-"It's dead?" Meeks asked.
-"I don't know, maybe. Certainly something happened to it." Heyst answered.
Marlow leaned over the little beast, examining it. The creature seemed dead and Marlow wondered if was a natural cause or something in human biology did it. "Never mind, it's dead, but Foster still needs a check, that creature could be carrier of a disease or something. It's the only way to be sure." Marlow thought.
-"Hey, Marlow, Foster's vital signs are stabilizing. It seems she'll be regaining conscious anytime soon" Meeks exclaimed.
-"I'll keep checking her out. You and Heyst, take that thing and put it in a jar. Maybe the doctor would want to run a test battery on that."
An hour later, Catherine woke up, disoriented, dizzy, as she had attended a crazy party.
-"Are you okay, Catherine?" Marlow asked her.
-"I'm fine, just… I… Did I miss something?" Foster answered.
-"You were unconscious, a nasty creature wrapped around your face like a bizarre koala." Henry responded.
-"I don't remember. I looked around when that thing opened and then all went dark."
-"Don't worry. Luckily you didn't breathe the atmosphere for a long time. The creature sealed your mouth and nose." Marlow informed her. "It's time for you to go to sleep. Whatever the thing did to you, stasis will stop it until we arrive to the hospital."
-"I'm fine, don't worry for me. What happened to the wreckage?"
-"Last thing we saw. Lava was burying it for good." Marlow told her. "Now, it's bedtime, no excuses."
She reluctantly agreed and Marlow helped Foster lie down in one of the coffin-like hyper-sleep chambers, he kissed his wife on the forehead before the plastic lid closed and then he and the others went to their own chambers.
- o -
The journey from Zeta2 Reticuli back to KG-348 which usually took about ten hours in FTL, took them sixteen days at almost light speed. In fact they started deceleration some time before entering the Zeta1 Reticuli system. When they had visual of Sevastopol, they opened a channel and hailed.
-"Sevastopol Station, this is Henry Marlow, Captain of the salvage ship Anesidora, requesting permission to dock, we need medical assistance. Please, let us board so our crewmate can be checked." Marlow hailed.
-"Please stand by. Your call is being attended." APOLLO's metallic voice answered.
-"The moment you said medical assistance, they're gonna throw us out of here." Heyst said.
-"Sevastopol Station, we have in our possession a significant salvage, a flight recorder property of Weyland Yutani. Our long range antenna is damaged and we need to contact the company so we can deliver it for the right fee." Marlow told them, and then to his crew. "Maybe this helps us convince them."
The radio crackled, and then another voice, Human this time, spoke.
"Anesidora, this is Marshal Waits of Sevastopol. Officially, I should deny your request to dock. Sevastopol is currently being decommissioned and I can't compromise security for unscheduled vessels. However... in the light of the property you found I will allow a small number of your crew to dock via a short-range shuttle. I must remind you that Sevastopol is entitled to a cut of any reward for return of said-property once it's on station. Let me know your decision. Waits out."
-"Wait Marlow, we don't need to share our reward. Foster is fine now, maybe that thing did nothing." Meeks told Marlow.
-"What are you saying Meeks? I'm the Captain, I decide what's best" Marlow scolded him.
-"But, we're breaking quarantine. At least we have to tell them about the creature." Meeks insisted.
-"Meeks, enough" Heyst intervened.
-"Marlow, please, this must be done right. We can get us arrested, lose the ship."
-"She's my wife, Meeks, don't push it. You're crossing the line." Marlow was getting impatient.
-"I'm gonna tell that Marshall…"
Meeks didn't finish the sentence. Marlow punched the man right on the face. Meeks fell backwards, both hands on his nose. Heyst helped him to stand up. He was bleeding profusely.
-"Meeks, are you okay?" told him. "Marlow, you and Lewis take the shuttle and get Foster to the hospital. I stay here with Meeks and make him come into reason."
One of the shuttles docked with the Anesidora and Marlow, Lewis and Foster left for San Cristobal Medical Facility. Sometime later, another shuttle docked, Heyst and Meeks headed to the flight terminal.
- o -
November 11th, 2137, Earth Central Time. Spaceflight Terminal, Sevastopol station, KG-348.
Marshall William Waits was outside the shuttle docking bay when the hatch opened and Marlow, Foster and Lewis entered. Officers Dale Turner and Matthew Harris accompanied them. They were the ones who piloted the shuttle and now Harris was searching Marlow for weapons or other smuggling items. The woman doesn't look so good, like she had the flu or the worse hangover case Waits had ever seen.
-"Raise your arms while we search, please." Harris ordered. Marlow raised arms and turned around.
-"What he had, Harris?" Waits asked.
-"Pistol, extra magazine…a plasma shear, rated level 3, watch, wallet, medical supplies… some of it illegal; And this, Flight recorder unit property of W-Y." Harris informed.
-"What did you'd think? Bringing weapons and illegal items aboard, Marlow? We'll keep the pistol, shear and meds. You can keep your wallet and watch. Turner, Take the flight recorder and give it to Chief Porter or Mike Tanaka in the archive, secure it until the company come to retrieve it." Waits ordered.
-"Hey, the right to bear arms followed us to space, isn't space the new frontier, Marshall?" Marlow responded.
-"Not in my town, cowboy" Waits said. "By the way, your wife looks sick. In the message you said you need medical assistance."
-"She suffered a decompression accident, Marshall; fortunately, nothing serious. If your medic can check her…" Marlow told him
-"Negative, you know the procedure. Unless there were serious injuries, I can't let you pass. Seegson security Chief Sinclair will take you two to observation."
Sinclair arrived at that moment; he accompanied Marlow, Foster and Lewis outside towards Security check. The procedure indicates 24 to 48 hours pass before anyone can have a clear check.
-"I need to take my wife to Medical, Sinclair." Marlow told the man. "Do it for an old friend."
-"Shut up, Marlow. Wait until the Marshall can't hear us." Sinclair responded with a smile.
-"Lewis, go to Communications and send a message to Wey-Yu about our salvage."
The trio took a detour towards the transit car terminal. Although most of the transport system was disabled, a few cars remained operative due to the stations enormous size. They entered a car headed for the SciMed Tower where San Cristobal Medical Facility was located while Lewis took the one for Lorenz SysTech spire.
- o -