Chapter 8
"A coffin!? How do you know?" Lana asked walking back over to the metal box.
"This is a coffin used fifteen years ago for Galactic Federation funerals. The code that you just read off are the victims initials, year they died, and the case code", Samus said slowly.
"Will Adam have access to the case code to find out who this was?" Lana asked.
"Probably, but that won't be necessary. I already know who it is?"
"Who?"
"Its Houston's", Samus said shaking her head, "but that's not possible. His body was left on Zebes before the explosion. We held a mock funeral but the coffin was not jettisoned because it would have been a waste." Samus walked over to the metal coffin and slid her hand across the bottom side. "I remember the day Houston asked me to go back to Earth with him."
Lana sat down, sensing a flashback was coming.
"I had taken Houston to an isolated cave lake. It was the most beautiful site I had ever seen. Light shone from a hole in the cave's roof, and refracted off of crystals embedded in the walls and in the waters. It was an amazing site where the water would create shimmering waves on the walls. We were both young and I knew Houston liked me and I myself felt that I had fallen in love with him, but I was afraid to convey those feelings. Once we began talking we decided we would move to Amidos. Ridley and the Space Pirates had disappeared and Houston had managed to talk Old Bird into sending a colony of Chozo to the small planet. Later, Ridley re-emerged and attacked a Galactic Federation space station orbiting SR-388. Ridley escaped and Houston followed him back to Planet Zebes. During that time I was deployed to SR-388 to exterminate the Metroid species from the known universe; unfortunately, at the same time, Houston was trying to take revenge for his last fight. After I finished my mission on SR-388, I chased Ridley down to Zebes after he stole the last Metroid from the Ceres Space Station. It was there that I found Houston's remains outside of Kraid's hallway. I was devastated and infuriated at the same time. I flew through the planet leaving a trail of death and single handedly defeated the Space Pirate menace on Zebes. After that...the planet exploded and was no more. Back at Federation Headquarters, the mock funeral was held and I returned to Amidos to try and rebuild my life."
Lana walked over to Samus and took her hand in hers. "Life is hard when you lose the one you love. You're not the only one who has felt that pain", Lana said slightly pausing before continuing, "We need to check this to see if you are right though."
Samus' head jerked up and Lana could feel the SA-X's eyes stinging through the visor, not in anger but in fear. Neither of the two wanted to turn over the box to confirm their findings but both knew they were going to have to. "There's a possibility that it is still empty too", Lana said helping the SA-X to its feet.
The two of them reluctantly walked over to the death box and prepared to turn it over. With a heavy sigh, the two bounty hunters flipped the box over. The heavy coffin slid along top the un-sturdy boulders before turning on its side. A cloud of dust rose along the edges of the coffin and the lid fell off, spilling its contents over the caverns floor.
The SA-X looked away from the scene as the body of Houston Armstrong fell from its bed, sprawling across a few boulders. His once blue helmet rolling away form the pile of rocks. Lana brought her hand up to helmet, half surprised that a body had actually fallen out. Out of the corner of her eye, Lana caught a quick glimpse of Samus walking away. Before Lana could run down the SA-X, her suit came to life with warnings. The sensors had picked up a X-parasite presence, one besides the SA-X. Lana ignored the warnings and ran after Samus.
"I can't handle this", Samus said as Lana caught up with on now, you've seen a corpse before. You've seen tons more then I have."
"That may be, but seeing your father once was enough for me", Samus said raising her voice. "Zebes was the last place I saw him and I don't need another image of his corpse haunting my dreams. I just can't do it! How would you feel?" Samus asked rhetorically.
"How would I feel? I'd feel like shit. You forget, I've gone through similar events. I had you die in my arms for Enode's sake! Ok! Sure I didn't know my father. All I know is what you've told me and that sure the hell wasn't a lot", Lana yelled back before calming herself, "I'm sorry."
"No need to be. I'm the weak one."
"Stop that. You're not weak."
"I am. Besides you and the Metroid hatchling, Houston knew the most about me. Our relationship was my weakness. When I lost your father, my world fell apart around me."
"I'm going back. I had some type of warning when we flipped that coffin over. Are you going to come back with me or not?" Lana asked.
"I can't...I just can't."
"I understand. How bout waiting for me on the other side of that river we crossed earlier?"
"Alright", Samus said walking up the tunnel. Before the SA-X went out of site she stopped and turned back towards Lana. "Thank you Lana."
Lana nodded her head and turned. She walked back to the pile of rubble and stopped just in front of it. She took a breath and sighed loudly. The thought of seeing her father's corpse didn't bother her too much. She had never known the man they called Houston Armstrong and had only heard very little of the man. To her, this corpse would be just like any other, except she would hold this one in a much higher respect. Lana walked around the rubble and gazed upon the body of her deceased father. "So you are my dad?" She said walking up to the corpse. Lana's suit immedietly began warning her of the X presence. "First things first", she said arming a diffusion missile. She fired the missile to the left of the coffin and a field of ice took shape as the missiles explosion expanded.
Lana bent down to examine Houston's corpse. Houston had been jettisoned in his body armor, the gray primer of the suit was all that was left of the lustrious blue finish it once had. The less durable parts of the armor suit had withered away to nothing, showing the decomposing skin and bone beneath it. This was mostly around the joints of the suit. Houston's skull was almost completely decomposed with the exception of some discolored leathery skin around the cheekbones and long stringy hair falling over his shoulder pads. Frost from the diffusion missile stuck to the body like a frozen Popsicle fresh from the freezer. Lana carefully took a sample of skin from Houston's skull and placed it in tiny tube located on her free arm. Once she placed the tube in the armor, the suit began analyzing the skin sample. In a quick few minutes, the suit came to life warning that the skin contained massive amount of X infestation. The amount of time the body had been infested was undeterminable by the suit. Lana tipped the coffin back on it's bottom to the best of her ability. The metal box was extremely heavy for just one person even with an enhanced suit of armor. She carefully placed the remains of her father back in the coffin. She took one last look at the corpse.
"I wish I could have found out what kind of person you were. It's a shame the thing we are all fighting for is what takes us from the very ones we love. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live a normal life. Destiny has a path for us all I suppose and those paths sometimes end rather abruptly for some of us. Though we may think of these things as wrong paths, without those paths we would be lost in the woods. In the end, all those paths end in one place." Lana pulled the metal lid over the coffin and using her plasma beam, easily welded the coffin lid back on. She tapped her hand on the top of the coffin one last time, "I love you daddy."
Lana began walking back up to the riverfront and stopped as she could feel someone's eyes watching her. She turned and called out but received no answer.
......
Lana found Samus sitting upon one of boulders next to the rushing river. She stood beside her mother. "You OK?" Lana asked.
"Yeah...I'll be fine. What did you find?"
"It was his body according to the DNA scan. His body was infected with the X parasite but it couldn't tell me how long he was infected. Adam should be able to pinpoint the time of infection. I think we should head back and see if we can find any other leads. We might be able to get something from this but I doubt it......Samus?" Lana said as she noticed the SA-X staring back down the tunnel. "What is it?"
"He's...He's here."
"Who?"
Samus raised her cannon and charged it. She released the ball of energy calmly and it flew down the corridor slamming into one of the ice stalactites. The energy from the beam temporarly lit the areas around it and with that dim light, an blue armored figure was brought into view before fading back into the darkness with the light. Lana armed her cannon and steadied it at the figure. Samus continued sitting, calmly watching the figure approaching.
"Hallo ladies", the blue armored figure spoke to their surprise, its voice coming out with a slight hint of an earth Australian accent. The figure stood motionless across the river from the bounty hunters. He seemed unthreatening, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Samus love", he began, "I've missed you." Samus began shaking violently on the rock and Lana placed her free arm on the SA-X's shoulder, keeping her arm canon trained on the blue armored being.
That's the end of this chapter....I've started a C2 community, "The Best Of Metroid" let me know if you wanna join. Write me for details and please leave a quick review.