This story is about the adventures the Elemental Knights encounter on their
universal tour!
Ashtarth's Tale: The Indescribable Horror
A beep sound rang throughout Ashtarth's helmet, signaling his reawakening into consciousness. He opened his eyes, which previously were deep in thought. The first thing he noticed was the familiar starry blackness of space. He loved space. The silence, the peacefulness, and most importantly, its the best place for deep meditation.
Pressing the button down on his wrist panel he spoke, "Okay, talk to me."
The computer responded in a feminine voice, "You have been in deep thought meditation for exactly 3 days, 46 minutes, and 13 seconds."
"Okay. I'm coming aboard." Ashtarth said with a grin.
"Aye-Aye Sir!" The computer responded.
Ashtarth stretched himself out; it numbs the limbs to be stuck in the lotus position for 3 days. He spun himself around so he was facing his ship. Ah, his ship. It was his most beloved position. Her name was "The Silent Wind." She shone of the light from the sun in their current system. With her sleek arrow design, to her warp drive; she was 100% great. He activated his jetpack and aimed toward the ship. Air burst from the jetpack sending him slowly toward it. As he approached, he changed his angle a little and aimed toward the airlock. He pressed a different button on his wrist, opening the airlock. He floated in, and the doors closed behind him. He waited in a small chrome room as the hiss emerged, filling the air full of O2, before the doors to the inner ship opened.
Finally the doors opened, flooding the softly lit airlock with light. Ashtarth sighed at the familiar sight of the rec. room. Removing his helmet, he let the three tentacles on the back of his head, uncoil and fall down the middle of his back. It felt good to let them hang after 3 days of being cramped inside his helmet.
The rec. room was basically a medium sized room, much like a living room. Brightly lit with chrome colored walls with an aqua colored floor. It consisted of a red couch and a table with a keyboard affixed to it; that's it. Ashtarth walked over to the coach and flopped down, relaxing. He reached over and pressed a series of keys on the keyboard. After pressing the final key, a beep sounded, confirming his command. Once the beep stopped a section of the flooring on the other end of the room opened up, and a television looking device popped up. Also a section of the table opened up, and a remote affixed to a cable (so as not to lose it) popped out.
"Let's see what's on the I.G.E.S. (Inter Galactic Entertainment System)" Ashtarth muttered to himself, as he pressed a button on the remote.
The TV switched on, ".squirmed on the wall! How sad!" the TV newscaster said, while his blue skin pulsated every time he blinked his purple eyes.
Ashtarth rolled his eyes, "Bah. More boring news."
Just as he was about to change the channel setting, the computer muted the TV volume.
The computer said, in it's feminine voice, "Sir, we are picking up a strange transmission."
"Okay, play it for me!"
"Well sir, the transmission is so distorted, it is impossible to hear anything but static and mutated sounding voices."
"Can you determine the type of signal it was by its frequency?"
"Yes. It appears to be a distress signal. The source is only a 5 minute jump from our present location!"
"Hmm" Ashtarth pondered, "Okay, take us there!"
"Aye-Aye sir!"
The computer stopped talking and activated the jump drive. Ashtarth was used to the side effects of the jump, but he still didn't like the occasional gender switching. It's not that Ashtarth didn't like being a woman for a short time (in fact, quite the opposite, eh heh), it's just that it's a little shocking sometimes.
Jump drives work on the simple principal Quantum Physics. You see, one cannot reach the speed of light, it is impossible, but it is possible to go into dimensional barriers to achieve a speed close to it. The universe is not simply one dimension, it is a complex web of an infinite amount of dimensions. In fact the web of the universe is so complex, that every time a model is made, that the viewers go insane. One cannot perceive the universe in ways we can understand, so the viewer's mind is overwhelmed by it, and goes brutally insane, nut that's beside the point. The point is that in order for a jump to work, the ship must cross the normal boundaries of space and time, and leap into an alternate dimension. Not fully into the other dimension, but into the divider between the two dimensions, where everything can and will happen, but not necessarily in that order. You see between dimensions everything exists and doesn't exist at the same time! Random objects and creatures appear and disappear in no particular order, almost none of them you could ever conceive of recognizing. This is because many of these things don't exist in our dimensions, but do in the others! One of the strangest things that had ever appeared that Ashtarth had seen was two balding middle aged Englishmen named Bob and Henry in a heated debate about epistemology, the following is just a brief part of their heated debate:
Bob: "But Henry, regardless of the seemingly intractable problems of metaphysics in this world, it is made even worse by the fact that we can't really know anything about the true nature of the Universe, anyway. Rooms change suddenly from one into another and objects disappear in these barriers between dimensions -- as if forgotten by time and space-- how can we know what is real and what is not real?"
Henry: "Come now, Bob, be sensible. Why should discontinuity not be a part of the Universe? You sound as if it is supposed to cohere seamlessly, and why should we expect that?"
Bob: "Our lives are a logical progression of events--they follow one after the other, a tapestry cut from whole cloth, and that is seamless, so why not the universe?"
Henry: "But that is obviously false. Take a look around you. These barrier dimensions have no comprehendible pattern. Events always change unexpectedly. One moment you are in a cavern fighting unusually large Gila monsters, the next, the Gila monsters turn into Sharon Stone, and your weapons seemingly vanish into thin air. It happens all the time. See that golf bag in the corner? It wasn't there a few moments ago, and look, now it's disappeared, and been replaced by a lawyer! Look he's gone now! Now it's a fish! See what I mean?"
Bob: "That is true, especially in this crazy, well, wherever we are, objects randomly appear and disappear here! I mean look at the shark, it wasn't here a moment ago, and now look, it's gone, and a cactus has taken its place! However, when you think about the representations of their metaphysical bodies,"
As you can see, the epistemology internal to the world of these crazy barrier dimensions is rather different from that of our own dimension!
Anyway, there are an infinite number of places these jumps could take you, but as it happens they can only take you into the original dimension you came from, not into any others. Now back to the story!
The Silent Wind made its re-entry back into its dimension, and Ashtarth relaxed as his body reverted back to it's normal male state. The Silent Wind deactivated its jump drives and returned to its normal engines. It was now only moments away from its destination.
"Approximately 23 seconds until our arrival at the source of the distress signal," the computer said.
"Okay", Ashtarth said as he got up from the coach in the rec. room. He pressed a few keys on the keyboard affixed to the table and both the TV and the remote went back into the floor and the table.
"We have arrived." The computer said.
"Okay, so?"
"So what?"
"Give me the info!"
"Oh that, right." The computer said with what sounded like humiliation, "Err, anyway. The signal appears to have been generated by a derelict space ship. Life scans read 2 life forms aboard. All hailing attempts have been negative. The ship has a large amount of damage and yet, somehow, they sent that distress signal."
"Maybee their equipment was damaged. It seems only logical, and it would explain the poor quality of the message!" Ashtarth pointed out.
"Unlikely. In the event that their signaling equipment had been damaged, the signal would not have had such an accurate frequency."
Ashtarth grinned, "So why don't I check it out? I haven't seen any action in a few weeks! Besides, if I help them, maybee they'll pay me. I'm running dangerously low on credits!"
The computer responded with, "Maybee if you and Molok had kept you're partnership, you wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Maybee, but things weren't working out. We had conflicts of interest."
"I am aware." The computer said.
"Anyway, can we hook up a docking tube to the other ship?"
"Negative. Their airlock has been damaged."
Ashtarth stretched out his prehensile neck in a showing of interest and said, "Well hot dog! I gotta go the hard way!"
Ashtarth laughed and put his helmet back on, coiling his tentacles into it.
"Good luck," the computer said.
"Luck doesn't exist," muttered Ashtarth as the doors closed and he once again was in the airlock. The outer doors opened and once again he was exposed to the coldness of space. He was amused by it every time.
Using his jetpack he pushed himself out of the airlock and changed his vector so he was aimed toward the other ship, and what it a ship it was.
A huge freighter of Rodian design.
The Rodian's had been extinct for about 100 years, and their remaining ships were incredibly rare and expensive. How did they become extinct you ask? Well many years ago, the Rodian's lived on a happy thriving planet with people, cities, shops; it was a normal world. Except that on the high streets of those cities there were slightly more shoe shops than one might have thought necessary. And slowly, insidiously, the number of those shoe shops increased. It's a well-known economic phenomenon but tragic to see it in operation, for the more shoe shops there were, the more shoes they had to make and the worse and more unbearable they became. The worse they became to wear, the more people had to buy to keep themselves shod, and the more shops proliferated, until the whole economy of the planet passed what is scientifically termed the "Shoe Event Horizon." It became no longer economically possible to build anything other than shoe shops. The result - collapse, ruin and famine. The population died out, and it was against their culture to leave their home planet permanently, so they would rather have died, than to abandon their planet. They became extinct. Now their deserted planet is filled with cracked and gaping roads riddles with scrawny weeds, the holes filled with rotting shoes. The buildings are so crumbled and decrepit that it is unsafe to enter any of them. Well basically the point of the whole story is that their remaining ships are very rare and very expensive.
Anyway, let's get back to the situation at hand.
The distant sun silhouetted the damaged Rodian ship. It was hard to make out the details, as the ship was mostly black due to the trick of light caused by the sun, but it was obvious it was damaged. Various pieces of debris floated around, and Ashtarth had to be careful not to smack into any of it. As he approached the ship, he noticed the air lock, it was smashed, creating a vacuum inside the ship. How could anything be living in there? Ashtarth was determined to find out.
He slowed down his approach by spraying a small amount of air in front of him. He slowly approached the twisted and mangled metal that was once the airlock. He maneuvered himself between the wreckage and landed on the inside of the ship. Scorch marks caused by blaster fire were littered all over the place. A battle had gone on. It would appear that the airlock was torn open and the invaders came in while the ships inhabitants fought back with blasters, but all signs of life were gone.
Ashtarth pressed a button on his wrist and said, "Computer, I know the distress signal was distorted, but can you determine how long ago the message was sent?"
"Time is an abstract concept, created by carbon based life forms to monitor their own decay until-" the computer stared but was interrupted by Ashtarth.
"Just tell me the dang time it was sent!" he said.
The computer spoke back, "I think it was sent only an hour ago, but I can't be sure!"
"Hmmm," Ashtarth thought. He had thought for a long time now that his computer secretly hated him, but he wasn't sure.
He floated deeper in the ship. Fortunately the lights were still working. Debris and random tools and equipment floated around aimlessly. The ship was smashed and the walls had dents and cuts all over them. The rooms were deserted and the furniture and computers were smashed. Computer parts and circuitry floated around the abandoned hallways. Eventually he floated into a room was larger than the rest. It was full of crates, most of them destroyed, and their contents floated around the room aimlessly. This ship was apparently hauling cargo. He spied near the back of the room, next to some still intact crates, was something unexpected.
Ashtarth floated toward it by pushing off a crate near him. As he got closer to the object he realized what it was. A life support system. It was a large yellow tank, completely sealed off from the vacuum of space, filled with a bright yellow liquid. A man floated around the in the tank, his four hands clasped together with a light smile on his green face. Underneath his one closed eye were fade marks, and bubbles beaded on the man's lips. He looked as if he were talking to himself, as he was obviously unaware to Ashtarth's presence. He floated to the equipment the tank was hooked up to. He located a speaker and flicked it on, however, it did no good, because in a vacuum sound cannot exist.
Suddenly Ashtarth was smacked upside the head. He smashed into the side of the bulkhead of the large room. He turned his head toward his unknown assailant. It was horribly gross. So horrible I will not attempt to describe it, just imagine the grossest thing you can think of, and multiply it by seventeen. It was a hostile xenomorph and it was indescribable. Ashtarth was so grossed out, he was smacked again while distracted staring at the aliens indescribable grossness. Ashtarth hit another wall, and pushed off it, and headed toward the indescribable alien. He summoned up a wind attack, but nothing happened.
"That's right! No atmosphere in space to make a wind attack!" Ashtarth muttered.
The indescribably gross alien moved toward Ashtarth. He realized this organism must be silicon based, as silicon based organisms can survive in deep space.
Fortunately, all the debris that was floating around the room included weapons. This ship had been smuggling weapons! Illegal activity! Oh well, it just might save his life! He reached toward a floating weapon, aimed and fired.
Fortunately the weapon was loaded and hit the indescribable alien, but even more unfortunately the weapon had no effect; it just somehow bounced off the alien. No wonder all the walls were littered with blast marks, they had bounced off the alien! The crew must have been sucked out into space, but the guy in the tank survived, and these were the only two life forms his computer detected aboard the ship.
The indescribable alien approached with its claws gleaming, ready to tear into his suit! Thinking quickly, Ashtarth kicked a crate that was still intact toward the alien, smashing into it, sending it flying back and hitting thew wall.
So that's it! Energy couldn't hurt the indescribable alien, but normal methods worked!
A weapon floated near him that had a viro-blade attached to its muzzle (a futuristic version of a bayonet). He grabbed the weapon, and ripped the viro-blade off the muzzle and activated it. He used his jetpack to float toward the recovering alien.
He slashed at it. If it's scream of pain could be heard, it would to have been indescribable.
He slashed for what seemed like an hour, but was in fact only a few minutes. He was caught up in the heat of it, and continued slashing even as the creature was dead.
Once the creature was dead, Ashtarth went back to The Silent Wind.
He said to the computer, "We have to warn people about these aliens. If there was once, there will be more, and we cannot let more ships fall victim to them!"
"Understood." The computer responded.
"Also call a rescue ship and get the man in there rescued! Then send out our info of the I.G.I.N. (Inter-Galactic Internet"
The computer then responded, "So what will you be doing?"
"Eating. I haven't eaten anything in 3 days remember?"
"Aren't you even concerned about the threat these aliens could pose?"
"Of course, but all we can do is report it. If people don't listen, than it isn't my fault. People choose their own fates! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry."
The computer did what it was told to do then said, "So sir. Where shall we head now?"
"Set a course for anywhere but here!"
"Okay how about Eroticon 5?"
"Oh yeah, the porno planet! Yeah, let's go!"
"Boys will be boys" the computer sighed as it set the jump coordinates.
Ashtarth grinned as they made the jump.
The computer thought to itself as they made the jump, "I can't wait 'till we get there and he realizes he doesn't have the money to get in. HA!"
THE END
Next: Baelfael and Behemos
Ashtarth's Tale: The Indescribable Horror
A beep sound rang throughout Ashtarth's helmet, signaling his reawakening into consciousness. He opened his eyes, which previously were deep in thought. The first thing he noticed was the familiar starry blackness of space. He loved space. The silence, the peacefulness, and most importantly, its the best place for deep meditation.
Pressing the button down on his wrist panel he spoke, "Okay, talk to me."
The computer responded in a feminine voice, "You have been in deep thought meditation for exactly 3 days, 46 minutes, and 13 seconds."
"Okay. I'm coming aboard." Ashtarth said with a grin.
"Aye-Aye Sir!" The computer responded.
Ashtarth stretched himself out; it numbs the limbs to be stuck in the lotus position for 3 days. He spun himself around so he was facing his ship. Ah, his ship. It was his most beloved position. Her name was "The Silent Wind." She shone of the light from the sun in their current system. With her sleek arrow design, to her warp drive; she was 100% great. He activated his jetpack and aimed toward the ship. Air burst from the jetpack sending him slowly toward it. As he approached, he changed his angle a little and aimed toward the airlock. He pressed a different button on his wrist, opening the airlock. He floated in, and the doors closed behind him. He waited in a small chrome room as the hiss emerged, filling the air full of O2, before the doors to the inner ship opened.
Finally the doors opened, flooding the softly lit airlock with light. Ashtarth sighed at the familiar sight of the rec. room. Removing his helmet, he let the three tentacles on the back of his head, uncoil and fall down the middle of his back. It felt good to let them hang after 3 days of being cramped inside his helmet.
The rec. room was basically a medium sized room, much like a living room. Brightly lit with chrome colored walls with an aqua colored floor. It consisted of a red couch and a table with a keyboard affixed to it; that's it. Ashtarth walked over to the coach and flopped down, relaxing. He reached over and pressed a series of keys on the keyboard. After pressing the final key, a beep sounded, confirming his command. Once the beep stopped a section of the flooring on the other end of the room opened up, and a television looking device popped up. Also a section of the table opened up, and a remote affixed to a cable (so as not to lose it) popped out.
"Let's see what's on the I.G.E.S. (Inter Galactic Entertainment System)" Ashtarth muttered to himself, as he pressed a button on the remote.
The TV switched on, ".squirmed on the wall! How sad!" the TV newscaster said, while his blue skin pulsated every time he blinked his purple eyes.
Ashtarth rolled his eyes, "Bah. More boring news."
Just as he was about to change the channel setting, the computer muted the TV volume.
The computer said, in it's feminine voice, "Sir, we are picking up a strange transmission."
"Okay, play it for me!"
"Well sir, the transmission is so distorted, it is impossible to hear anything but static and mutated sounding voices."
"Can you determine the type of signal it was by its frequency?"
"Yes. It appears to be a distress signal. The source is only a 5 minute jump from our present location!"
"Hmm" Ashtarth pondered, "Okay, take us there!"
"Aye-Aye sir!"
The computer stopped talking and activated the jump drive. Ashtarth was used to the side effects of the jump, but he still didn't like the occasional gender switching. It's not that Ashtarth didn't like being a woman for a short time (in fact, quite the opposite, eh heh), it's just that it's a little shocking sometimes.
Jump drives work on the simple principal Quantum Physics. You see, one cannot reach the speed of light, it is impossible, but it is possible to go into dimensional barriers to achieve a speed close to it. The universe is not simply one dimension, it is a complex web of an infinite amount of dimensions. In fact the web of the universe is so complex, that every time a model is made, that the viewers go insane. One cannot perceive the universe in ways we can understand, so the viewer's mind is overwhelmed by it, and goes brutally insane, nut that's beside the point. The point is that in order for a jump to work, the ship must cross the normal boundaries of space and time, and leap into an alternate dimension. Not fully into the other dimension, but into the divider between the two dimensions, where everything can and will happen, but not necessarily in that order. You see between dimensions everything exists and doesn't exist at the same time! Random objects and creatures appear and disappear in no particular order, almost none of them you could ever conceive of recognizing. This is because many of these things don't exist in our dimensions, but do in the others! One of the strangest things that had ever appeared that Ashtarth had seen was two balding middle aged Englishmen named Bob and Henry in a heated debate about epistemology, the following is just a brief part of their heated debate:
Bob: "But Henry, regardless of the seemingly intractable problems of metaphysics in this world, it is made even worse by the fact that we can't really know anything about the true nature of the Universe, anyway. Rooms change suddenly from one into another and objects disappear in these barriers between dimensions -- as if forgotten by time and space-- how can we know what is real and what is not real?"
Henry: "Come now, Bob, be sensible. Why should discontinuity not be a part of the Universe? You sound as if it is supposed to cohere seamlessly, and why should we expect that?"
Bob: "Our lives are a logical progression of events--they follow one after the other, a tapestry cut from whole cloth, and that is seamless, so why not the universe?"
Henry: "But that is obviously false. Take a look around you. These barrier dimensions have no comprehendible pattern. Events always change unexpectedly. One moment you are in a cavern fighting unusually large Gila monsters, the next, the Gila monsters turn into Sharon Stone, and your weapons seemingly vanish into thin air. It happens all the time. See that golf bag in the corner? It wasn't there a few moments ago, and look, now it's disappeared, and been replaced by a lawyer! Look he's gone now! Now it's a fish! See what I mean?"
Bob: "That is true, especially in this crazy, well, wherever we are, objects randomly appear and disappear here! I mean look at the shark, it wasn't here a moment ago, and now look, it's gone, and a cactus has taken its place! However, when you think about the representations of their metaphysical bodies,"
As you can see, the epistemology internal to the world of these crazy barrier dimensions is rather different from that of our own dimension!
Anyway, there are an infinite number of places these jumps could take you, but as it happens they can only take you into the original dimension you came from, not into any others. Now back to the story!
The Silent Wind made its re-entry back into its dimension, and Ashtarth relaxed as his body reverted back to it's normal male state. The Silent Wind deactivated its jump drives and returned to its normal engines. It was now only moments away from its destination.
"Approximately 23 seconds until our arrival at the source of the distress signal," the computer said.
"Okay", Ashtarth said as he got up from the coach in the rec. room. He pressed a few keys on the keyboard affixed to the table and both the TV and the remote went back into the floor and the table.
"We have arrived." The computer said.
"Okay, so?"
"So what?"
"Give me the info!"
"Oh that, right." The computer said with what sounded like humiliation, "Err, anyway. The signal appears to have been generated by a derelict space ship. Life scans read 2 life forms aboard. All hailing attempts have been negative. The ship has a large amount of damage and yet, somehow, they sent that distress signal."
"Maybee their equipment was damaged. It seems only logical, and it would explain the poor quality of the message!" Ashtarth pointed out.
"Unlikely. In the event that their signaling equipment had been damaged, the signal would not have had such an accurate frequency."
Ashtarth grinned, "So why don't I check it out? I haven't seen any action in a few weeks! Besides, if I help them, maybee they'll pay me. I'm running dangerously low on credits!"
The computer responded with, "Maybee if you and Molok had kept you're partnership, you wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Maybee, but things weren't working out. We had conflicts of interest."
"I am aware." The computer said.
"Anyway, can we hook up a docking tube to the other ship?"
"Negative. Their airlock has been damaged."
Ashtarth stretched out his prehensile neck in a showing of interest and said, "Well hot dog! I gotta go the hard way!"
Ashtarth laughed and put his helmet back on, coiling his tentacles into it.
"Good luck," the computer said.
"Luck doesn't exist," muttered Ashtarth as the doors closed and he once again was in the airlock. The outer doors opened and once again he was exposed to the coldness of space. He was amused by it every time.
Using his jetpack he pushed himself out of the airlock and changed his vector so he was aimed toward the other ship, and what it a ship it was.
A huge freighter of Rodian design.
The Rodian's had been extinct for about 100 years, and their remaining ships were incredibly rare and expensive. How did they become extinct you ask? Well many years ago, the Rodian's lived on a happy thriving planet with people, cities, shops; it was a normal world. Except that on the high streets of those cities there were slightly more shoe shops than one might have thought necessary. And slowly, insidiously, the number of those shoe shops increased. It's a well-known economic phenomenon but tragic to see it in operation, for the more shoe shops there were, the more shoes they had to make and the worse and more unbearable they became. The worse they became to wear, the more people had to buy to keep themselves shod, and the more shops proliferated, until the whole economy of the planet passed what is scientifically termed the "Shoe Event Horizon." It became no longer economically possible to build anything other than shoe shops. The result - collapse, ruin and famine. The population died out, and it was against their culture to leave their home planet permanently, so they would rather have died, than to abandon their planet. They became extinct. Now their deserted planet is filled with cracked and gaping roads riddles with scrawny weeds, the holes filled with rotting shoes. The buildings are so crumbled and decrepit that it is unsafe to enter any of them. Well basically the point of the whole story is that their remaining ships are very rare and very expensive.
Anyway, let's get back to the situation at hand.
The distant sun silhouetted the damaged Rodian ship. It was hard to make out the details, as the ship was mostly black due to the trick of light caused by the sun, but it was obvious it was damaged. Various pieces of debris floated around, and Ashtarth had to be careful not to smack into any of it. As he approached the ship, he noticed the air lock, it was smashed, creating a vacuum inside the ship. How could anything be living in there? Ashtarth was determined to find out.
He slowed down his approach by spraying a small amount of air in front of him. He slowly approached the twisted and mangled metal that was once the airlock. He maneuvered himself between the wreckage and landed on the inside of the ship. Scorch marks caused by blaster fire were littered all over the place. A battle had gone on. It would appear that the airlock was torn open and the invaders came in while the ships inhabitants fought back with blasters, but all signs of life were gone.
Ashtarth pressed a button on his wrist and said, "Computer, I know the distress signal was distorted, but can you determine how long ago the message was sent?"
"Time is an abstract concept, created by carbon based life forms to monitor their own decay until-" the computer stared but was interrupted by Ashtarth.
"Just tell me the dang time it was sent!" he said.
The computer spoke back, "I think it was sent only an hour ago, but I can't be sure!"
"Hmmm," Ashtarth thought. He had thought for a long time now that his computer secretly hated him, but he wasn't sure.
He floated deeper in the ship. Fortunately the lights were still working. Debris and random tools and equipment floated around aimlessly. The ship was smashed and the walls had dents and cuts all over them. The rooms were deserted and the furniture and computers were smashed. Computer parts and circuitry floated around the abandoned hallways. Eventually he floated into a room was larger than the rest. It was full of crates, most of them destroyed, and their contents floated around the room aimlessly. This ship was apparently hauling cargo. He spied near the back of the room, next to some still intact crates, was something unexpected.
Ashtarth floated toward it by pushing off a crate near him. As he got closer to the object he realized what it was. A life support system. It was a large yellow tank, completely sealed off from the vacuum of space, filled with a bright yellow liquid. A man floated around the in the tank, his four hands clasped together with a light smile on his green face. Underneath his one closed eye were fade marks, and bubbles beaded on the man's lips. He looked as if he were talking to himself, as he was obviously unaware to Ashtarth's presence. He floated to the equipment the tank was hooked up to. He located a speaker and flicked it on, however, it did no good, because in a vacuum sound cannot exist.
Suddenly Ashtarth was smacked upside the head. He smashed into the side of the bulkhead of the large room. He turned his head toward his unknown assailant. It was horribly gross. So horrible I will not attempt to describe it, just imagine the grossest thing you can think of, and multiply it by seventeen. It was a hostile xenomorph and it was indescribable. Ashtarth was so grossed out, he was smacked again while distracted staring at the aliens indescribable grossness. Ashtarth hit another wall, and pushed off it, and headed toward the indescribable alien. He summoned up a wind attack, but nothing happened.
"That's right! No atmosphere in space to make a wind attack!" Ashtarth muttered.
The indescribably gross alien moved toward Ashtarth. He realized this organism must be silicon based, as silicon based organisms can survive in deep space.
Fortunately, all the debris that was floating around the room included weapons. This ship had been smuggling weapons! Illegal activity! Oh well, it just might save his life! He reached toward a floating weapon, aimed and fired.
Fortunately the weapon was loaded and hit the indescribable alien, but even more unfortunately the weapon had no effect; it just somehow bounced off the alien. No wonder all the walls were littered with blast marks, they had bounced off the alien! The crew must have been sucked out into space, but the guy in the tank survived, and these were the only two life forms his computer detected aboard the ship.
The indescribable alien approached with its claws gleaming, ready to tear into his suit! Thinking quickly, Ashtarth kicked a crate that was still intact toward the alien, smashing into it, sending it flying back and hitting thew wall.
So that's it! Energy couldn't hurt the indescribable alien, but normal methods worked!
A weapon floated near him that had a viro-blade attached to its muzzle (a futuristic version of a bayonet). He grabbed the weapon, and ripped the viro-blade off the muzzle and activated it. He used his jetpack to float toward the recovering alien.
He slashed at it. If it's scream of pain could be heard, it would to have been indescribable.
He slashed for what seemed like an hour, but was in fact only a few minutes. He was caught up in the heat of it, and continued slashing even as the creature was dead.
Once the creature was dead, Ashtarth went back to The Silent Wind.
He said to the computer, "We have to warn people about these aliens. If there was once, there will be more, and we cannot let more ships fall victim to them!"
"Understood." The computer responded.
"Also call a rescue ship and get the man in there rescued! Then send out our info of the I.G.I.N. (Inter-Galactic Internet"
The computer then responded, "So what will you be doing?"
"Eating. I haven't eaten anything in 3 days remember?"
"Aren't you even concerned about the threat these aliens could pose?"
"Of course, but all we can do is report it. If people don't listen, than it isn't my fault. People choose their own fates! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry."
The computer did what it was told to do then said, "So sir. Where shall we head now?"
"Set a course for anywhere but here!"
"Okay how about Eroticon 5?"
"Oh yeah, the porno planet! Yeah, let's go!"
"Boys will be boys" the computer sighed as it set the jump coordinates.
Ashtarth grinned as they made the jump.
The computer thought to itself as they made the jump, "I can't wait 'till we get there and he realizes he doesn't have the money to get in. HA!"
THE END
Next: Baelfael and Behemos