Explorers of the Universe

Chapter 3: Explore the Ruins; Ghosts and Secrets

Later On

Equipping Station

Everyone was gearing up for the trip outside, and the teens were changing in the SIG Room. The SIG, or Symbiotic Integration Gear, was an integrated survival and strength augmentation system suit that assists users in previously impossible and dangerous environments. SIGs were advanced spacesuits using the latest in bio-nanotech and armor plating. They were designed monitor the life signs of an individual, as well as to physically enhance the body once they put it on. Developed from medical monitoring systems designed for elderly patients, it has found common usage among the earthling space travelers.

Isaac had gotten down to his underwear, and put his clothes aside. But he paled, when he turned around and saw Gwen take off her underwear. He quickly turned his back to her, as he groaned, "Can you give me a little warning when you're gonna go all natural on me, Gwen?"

Gwen turned her head, as she taunted playfully, "Oh, come on, Isaac. It's not like we haven't seen each other naked."

"We're cousins, not boyfriend and girlfriend," Isaac stated.

"We used to bathe together when we were younger," Gwen replied, as she stepped into a booth chamber.

"We were five," Isaac replied, as he stepped in a similar booth.

"Yeah, but I seem to remember we went skinny dipping at that camping trip we had together," Gwen smirked as the door closed.

"Yeah, but we were like 10 back then," Isaac argued, as the door closed behind him.

But Gwen shook her head, "Oh, stop being such a prude, Isaac."

Once the doors to the booths closed, the two were levitated off the floor about six inches, floating in the air for a moment.

Once they were secure in the air, a small black blot no bigger than a dodge ball appeared from under each of them, slowing rising up to meet their bodies. Each of their black blot spheres suddenly stretched and branched out two tentacles that moved around. As the tentacles reached their bare feet, each blot started off by encasing one teen by their feet in its black spandex skin. It began to slither up their bare skin, linking and wrapping around their flesh all over their bodies.

The black blots had finally slunked their way up to their hands, and wrapped them up in web-like patterns, wrapping their hands and for some of them encasing some or all their fingers. The blots encased all over their skin, encasing most of their bodies, and smoothing out, forming on them tight full-body black spandex suits.

And yet each one was differently designed.

For Gwen, she was mostly covered from neck to toe, save for her arms and her back, which ended just above her tailbone. And Isaac's was a full body suit except for his forearms, calves, and feet.

The two teens had been fully clothed now, but weren't let back down on the ground. Then suddenly, two large sections of wall between the sarcophagi opened up, revealing storage compartments for various kinds of equipment. Robotic arms then extended out, fitting their bodies with the armor needed. Once the arms were done, the two were sent back down on their shoed feet, and were fully suited up.

Isaac's armor was an orange brown vest that clung to his chest, a collar around the collar bone of his neck, with two shoulder guards with white rectangles on them, and had two orange brown bicep rings on his biceps. His forearms were shielded in orange brown forearm guards and white elbow pads, and his hands were in fingerless orange brown gloves with cuffs around his wrists, and white fingers. He wore a white utility belt and a pair of slacks armor with the inner thighs and crotch exposed, with white trip on the inside. Two circular orange brown and white trimmed kneepads were in place and large orange brown and white boots with mini rockets on the ankles were placed on. And to complete his armor, an oval diamond shaped backpack was linked onto him, with a blue gauge on the back, and a green circular gauge shown as well.

Gwen's armor was a sapphire blue tank top that clung to her chest, but exposed her cleavage area in an upside down pentagon, with a white dial in the end of the part where her ribs connected to her abdomen in front. On her right arm, she had a blue bicep ring, and a forearm guard, but on her left arm, she had a computer console forearm guard, but both hands had fingerless blue gloves with blue cuffs and white fingers, but black thumbs. Circular shoulder guards with white circles in the center of it. She wore a white utility belt around her waist and blue slacks guards that exposed her upper thighs and pelvic region. On the sides of the slacks were white circular compacts with different uses to them. Her boots were blue and white, with the same ankle mini rockets, and white and blue bottom parts for the boots. On her back was a blue oval diamond pack in place, with the same gauges as were on Isaac's suit.

The doors opened, as the two walked out, fully suited up, as Isaac stated, "I'll be right back, I'm going to the armory to get some weapons."

Gwen shook her head, knowing full well that was a pointless idea, "Isaac. This is a search and rescue mission. No weapons."

Isaac sighed, as he shrugged, "I wasn't planning on using them."

"Then why bother," she asked.

Isaac looked up at the ceiling in thought, but then back to her, as he stated, "Same principle as a condom: I'd rather have one and not need it, then need it… and not have one."

Gwen blinked for a moment, and let a half smirk spread on her face, "You know, that's actually the first physics principle that would make sense at all."

Isaac chuckled at that, as he walked towards the armory to gear up. At that moment, Gwen looked around to see any of the crew suiting up. They all seemed to be wearing a standard black latex under-suit with gray or black armor; gray for the research/medical team, and the black armor for military. But then Gwen spotted something that made her eyes go wide as saucers on it.

She saw Rei stepping out of a SIG suit chamber, in an exact replica of her SIG suit, only it was colored white. Rei was outfitting her left arm laptop computer, as Gwen walked up to her. Once she stopped, she asked, "Rei, what are you doing?"

"I'm accompanying you on this search and rescue mission, as well as look through the supposed temple," Rei answered.

"Well, yeah, I get that," Gwen asked, but then pointed to her suit. "But why are you wearing a SIG suit?"

Rei stopped, as she slowly turned to Gwen, and asked the confused redhead, "I beg your pardon?"

Gwen felt she had offended the android, and she understood what offense would mean. So she held her hands in defense, as she innocently stated, "Well, I'm not trying to be insulting, but you don't breathe. So why…?"

"Why wear a SIG suit?" Rei inquizzed upon. She then replied, calmly as ever, "As they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans". But I understand your confusion on the true subject at hand." She then explained, "I was designed like this because you are more comfortable interacting with your own kind rather than something that looks more machine. If I didn't wear a suit, it would defeat the purpose entirely."

Gwen thought about it and seemed to take in the logic. Rei was built and programmed to be more human; to fit in with the others as well as the crew. It really would have defeated the purpose if she didn't wear the suit or the helmet. But Gwen broke the ice further, as she asked, "Is that the only reason?"

Rei went back to her arm laptop, as the holographic screen shown, "The SIG suit also has more hard drive space. At least this way I won't overload with too much information and data."

Gwen shrugged, "Oh. Well, that's cool"

At that moment, Ken Heels walked out wearing his SIG suit. It had the same skin tight black under suit, but the design was different from Isaac's. The chest was V-shaped with the same kind of collar Isaac and Gwen's suits had, but had rings around the shoulders. The arms had no armor whatsoever, but the hands had red fingerless gloves and grey fingers and collars. He had the same holster leggings as Isaac, but his boots were black and red instead of white and red.

He walked over to the two, acting smug as ever, as he slapped the two on the butt cheeks, "Hey, girls. Lookin' sexy as ever in those space suits."

Both jumped from the slap, but Gwen turned to look at Ken, and angrily fumed, "You stupid jackass, Ken! Can't you take this seriously?!"

"C'mon," Ken said, as he looped his arms around the resisting Gwen. "Don't tell me you never thought about hookin' it up with me, Gwen?"

"How about you get a life?" she shot back.

But now his anger was getting the better of him, as he shot back, "Hey, listen you. I don't know what you think or not. Believe me this: my family and I are the ones doing all the maintenance on this ship. And if I hit on you, I expect you to get on all fours, and…"

"Is there a problem?"

The rant was interrupted, as Isaac walked forward, but not alone, as it was not his voice that spoke up. It was Jeff Carter's voice, as he had joined up with them, and was now armed with a pistol like Isaac had on his right hip, as well as a rifle hooked up behind. He wore the same skin tight under suit as the others, but unlike the SIGs everyone had, his was more military. It was grey but heavily armored up, but it seemed that it was light enough for him to move or run in. His SIG pack was rectangular with the same gauges as the others, but had a third red gauge for some unknown purpose. But despite the fact he was eighteen, the scar on his face, added with the armor and weapons would make him someone you didn't want to mess with.

And Ken got the picture, as he let go of Gwen and made distance, "Nope. Nothing to be concerned with." And then just walked off, leaving the four be.

Isaac walked over to his cousin, placing a hand on her shoulder, as he asked, "What'd he do?"

"Ugh! He tried hitting on me; getting all possessive in the process," Gwen replied, as she rubbed her arm, shivering in disgust. "When this day's over, I need to take a hot scolding shower on where he touched me."

But then Kevin walked up, as he asked looking at her in concern, but kept himself reserved, "You sure you're okay with him walking out on this?"

Gwen was a bit taken by that kind reaction, and the show of concern. 'Wow,' she thought, as she slowly gazed at him, as he looked at her, 'Here I thought he was just some quiet guy with scary scars on him. but now…' her face flushed a little, as her mind was almost drawn to a blank upon gazing at his face.

Jeff didn't take the hint something was wrong with her, but shrugged, as he pulled away, "Well, the next time he does that, he'll pull back what used to be his hand." And then walked towards the other soldiers.

Gwen continued with her gazing at him, until Isaac asked, "Hey, you alright?"

Realizing she had been staring nonstop, Gwen finally broke out of it, as she breathed regularly, "Y-Yeah, I'm okay."

Isaac blinked, not believing a word she had said. Something was up with her, and she was flushed like crazy. Isaac assumed the weirdest idea, as he asked, "Are you crushing on that guy?"

Realizing what he had just said, Gwen feverishly shook her head, as she almost screamed out, "N-No! Of course not!"

"Then what the heck was that look of wanting on your face about?"

At that question, Gwen's face lit up redder than ever, as she finally shouted out to him, punching him lightly, "NOTHING"S WRONG!"

At that moment, Captain Marek, dressed in the similar SIG suit that Carter was wearing walked in, alogn with two other men, as he called out to get everyone's attention, "Alright, everybody, listen up! Gather round."

As they gathered around, Isaac had to tease his cousin, by asking more questions, "So what is it that attracts you to him? Animal magnetism? Desire to mate with the strongest of the pack? Or are you in to the whole bad boy soldier thing?"

Gwen was really hating her existence, as she groaned, "Please just leave it alone, Isaac."

"Ladies and gentlemen? Listen up," Marek announced, as everyone got their undivided attention. "While this is a search and rescue mission, it's our job to keep each other alive on this, and I need your help to do that. Since we don't have the time to properly train everyone, I'm gonna lay down three simple rules. One: no one goes alone anywhere without your buddy. Two: every must maintain constant communication. And three: unexpected stuff is gonna happen. When they do, nobody try to be a hero. Got it?" He looked over to Jeff, and Ken as well, as he asked again, "Understood?"

"Yes sir," Jeff responded, standing straight as a board.

Ken merely shrugged, "Sure, whatever."

Marek nodded, "Good. Then let's go, people. We've got a job to do."

Later On

Cargo/Docking Bay

At the bottom of the Falcon, a portion of the ship the size of a medium-sized parking lot folded down to the surface of the planet, safely dropping and landing on it.

Once they were all suited up, they were boarding one of the vehicles that was carried aboard for terrain travel, the RT Series Group Transport, or Rover for short. It was a six-wheeled heavily armored tank van-like space vehicle. It was a heavily armored personnel carrier, produced by the Wayward Industries, and was one of its most popular and best-selling products. The wheels were made of shape-memory alloy and nano-reinforced hard-composite treads that could resist temperatures of up to 2000 Fahrenheit. The ceramic turbine engine had 4 million lbs of thrust, making its cargo weight virtually unlimited. And with a 5.7 meter wheelbase, this bad boy was able to fit up to 20 occupants. But it was only carrying the 10 search team members, including Isaac, Gwen, Jeff, Ken, and the captain.

The crew entered through folding doorways on the side, driver's seat and co-driver's seat, as well as the rear entrance, and sat down in safe and very comfy seats.

Once Isaac was the last to enter through the rear entrance, everyone pressed the button on their collar. Out of the back and front of the suit collars, their helmets folded out and into place, linking together to form their helmets. Isaacs was a brown and white helmet, with a silver diamond-shaped mouth piece, a visor that was black, but had two glowing eyes. Gwen's helmet was blue and white, with a Mohawk search light on top, and a mini light on the left side of her helmet, and a blue visor with two white glowing orbs that shined in. Rei's helmet was white and silver, with a pilot's visor, making it more like a NASA and Air force helmet put together. Ken's helmet was red and white with a dark visor showing on the front, and two red eyes glowing there, making it look like some kind of robot visor. Jeff's helmet, along with the others, was of military helmet design, with a blue visor showing no glow at all.

Gwen sat parallel to her cousin, while Rei sat down next to Isaac. Ken, on the other hand, tried to sit near Gwen, but she kept scooting away from him. When he tried to sit next to her again, he heard a gruff sound, like a growl. He looked and saw Jeff glaring at him through the visor. Once that was done, Ken backed away, huffing and grumbling something like 'party pooper' or 'Virgin Mary' or something else that made Jeff insulted into a queer of sorts.

Once they all boarded the vehicle, the cargo bay door opened down slowly, as the Rover drove slowly forward. It then picked up speed when it touched the darkened gravel terrain of the surface of Aegis 7, and made its way to the Prometheus.

As they drove in its direction, Isaac looked to Rei and simply said in their suits' communicator systems, "Well, in a situation like this, I'd be saying, 'This is just one small step for Mankind', but that would just sound cheesy. I mean, it's an old saying; I don't think anyone would want to say it. But, well, you know… it'd seem like an important thing to say at the time." He didn't get a response from her, as she seemed intent to look forward at the window. Feeling defeat in his attempt to talk to her, Isaac sighed, "Sorry. If I'm bugging you…"

"It's alright," Rei responded, catching his attention, as he turned to her, and she to him, as she responded. "I like old sayings."

Isaac smiled under his helmet, as Gwen smirked at the scene, "Awww, are you two having a lovers' moment?"

Isaac picked that up, and frowned under his mask, "Shut up."

But Rei was interested, as she saked, "Lovers' moment?"

"Don't ask," Isaac groaned.

But Ken, being the insensitive jerk, pushed it further, "Hard to believe you want to get it on with a robot."

"Yeah, like you weren't gonna try back in the Equipping Room," Isaac shot back. It was quiet again, as Ken was defeated verbly, but then a thought passed into Isaac's head. something that had been troublesome for him for a while. He looked to Rei, as he asked, "Rei?" She turned to him yet again, as he asked, "You said the message that they received from the Prometheus was, 'Liberatis Me', which is 'Save me' in Latin, right?"

She nodded, "Yes. But like I responded, I couldn't make out the rest."

"They said, Save me," he stated, and then asked, "… but from what? It's just a little weird that they would send a message like that on an uninhabitable planet."

"You think they ran out of life support?" Gwen asked.

Rei shook her head, as she explained, "The Prometheus is much like the Falcon; it has life support for two years on this journey; to and from this planet respectfully. It seems impossible, but in light of the transmission… I calculate that the crew might have managed to endure until now."

After a moment of silence, contemplating on Rei's explanation of the situation before them, Ken finally asked, "Someone tell me if we're getting hazard pay for this?"

At that moment, the vehicle came to a stop, indicating that they had arrived, as the doors opened. Once everyone hopped out, they saw the condition of the Prometheus before them. It looked like it was still in one piece, but it seemed a bit dinged up. But at the moment, Rei lifted her right arm up, as a blinking light appeared on the back of her hand.

"Scanning for life readings," Rei announced, as she took a scan of the Prometheus. Once she was done, she brought up her left forearm, as a holographic display of the Prometheus's schematics, as it was being scanned. "The ship's reactors are still active and hot. Although there are small radiation sources, leaks perhaps. Though they appear not to be serious to take as health risks."

"Is there pressure," Marek asked.

Rei shook her head, as she continued to examine the results. "Affirmative. The hull appears to remain intact, but the thermal units are offline. There appears to be deep cold; the crew couldn't survive unless they were in stasis." But then she frowned, as she looked at the screen, almost seeing if there was a mistake, "Something's wrong with the bio-scan."

"Radiation interference," Gwen asked.

Rei shook her head, as she explained, "There's not enough to throw off the scanners. However, I'm picking up trace life forms, but I can't get a lock on the location."

"It could be the crew," Isaac suggested.

"If it were they would be in stasis, but if they were in stasis, they would show a location," Rei explained. "But these readings are all over the ship. It doesn't seem logical."

Marek nodded, as he announced to everyone, "Alright then, we'll do it the hard way. Deck by deck, room by room." He looked at each of them, as he decided on the teams, "Rei, you're with me; we'll search medical. Carter, you accompany Miss Tenalds to the Bridge. Shepard, you and Heels investigate cargo."

Everyone agreed to it, but Isaac, who didn't want to go anywhere with his high school bully, asked, "Um… couldn't I go with you to medical and one of the soldiers could go with Heels?"

"Negative, they gotta keep and maintain communication with the Falcon," Marek stated. "You two need to get over whatever you two have, and just suck it up. Let's go, people! We have a crew to look for!"

Isaac sighed, as everyone made their way to the entrance, while Ken roughly padded him on his right shoulder, rather roughly, "Let's have some fun, Shep." He then mockingly toned, "And let's try to get along, okay?"

Prometheus

Inside

The search team entered in, as the inner airlock door opened for them. The trio of teams entered into the airlock, which pretty much looked the same as the Falcon's, since the two ships were of the same model. At that moment, Isaac touched his belt's right side, to which a small but strong safety line appeared, and hooked it to Ken's left.

Seeing the movement and spooked from the action, Ken pushed at Isaac, almost wanting to pick a fight, as he shot, "The hell are you doing, Queer?!"

"I'm attaching a safety line to each other," Isaac explained, being more composed than his teammate. "I don't want to walk to the cargo bay and then find out you wander off disobeying an order."

"What? You in need of a baby leash," Ken mocked.

"No, I'd rather be on the rope and not need it than need it and not have it," Isaac explained, using his Condom Principle. "You might try it sometime if you need a condom for a girl. If you ever get one."

Ken huffed, as he shoved Isaac out of his way, "Whatever, just keep your nose clean."

Marek reported back at the Falcon's Bridge, to where Vickers and his copilots, Chance and Ravel. He tapped a comm link on the left side of his helmet, connecting with the Falcon's Bridge, as he reported, while the trio back on the Falcon watched the suit's cam monitors like kids watching Christmas.

"We've reached the inside of the Prometheus," Marek reported.

The teams looked around the corridor as they saw nothing but darkness in both directions. The dim emergency lights manifested as remote pools of blue light amidst endless black, adding to the vastness of the Prometheus's innards. On their shoulders, small lights folded out, as the light from them, as well as Gwen's helmet, reflected off tiny ice crystals of either a leak or from the atmosphere long sealed inside the ship. They were like ants in a tomb built for giants, and the giants were all gone.

"Ice crystals everywhere," Marek reported. "This place is in major deep freeze." He then looked to the groups, as he reminded the mission teams, "Alright, people, you know where you need to be. Rei and I are in Medical, Tenalds and Carter the Bridge, and Shepard and Heels in the Cargo Bay. And remember: no hot-dogging, alright?"

Isaac saluted, "Not a chance, sir."

The teams then separated, going to their respective locations to find the crew of the Prometheus. Although they were alone, it seemed the darkness that the abandoned ship seemed to come alive with their arrival.

As they journeyed to the bridge, Gwen looked at her own holo computer screen on her left arm, as she looked through the ship's database. She then frowned in her helmet, "That's odd. The life support escape pod is still on this ship. Nobody abandoned it."

"So where the heck are they," Jeff asked, walking alongside Gwen. "You pick up any bio-scans?"

Gwen shook her head, as she explained, "I've been running diagnostics with Rei's suit, but…"

"Let me guess: you're still getting those trace life readings all over the ship?" he asked. She nodded, to which Jeff asked, "Don't tell me those scanners in the suits are broken?"

Gwen shook her head, "No, there's no indication of it at all. They're running perfectly."

The two stopped, as they looked around the hallway they walked in, as Jeff stated, "But there's no one here but us."

"Not according to the computer," Gwen replied.

The two looked around the darkened area, their lights showing through the darkness. But then the two spotted splotches of dark and moist clumps of what appeared to be… fleshy. They were dripping steaming, almost as if they were alive. Nothing seemed normal about this in anyway, as the two looked to one another, both feeling a little uneasy about this, as Jeff drew out his rifle.

Gwen returned forward, and stated hastily, "Let's keep going to the bridge."

"I'm with you on that," Jeff replied, as they made their way to the bridge.

Medical Bay/ Gravity Hyper Sleep Chamber

The hatch opened, allowing Marek and Rei to enter in to the deck leading to the Hyper Sleep Chamber and Medical Bay. The areas were intended for human habitation and medical emergencies. The gravity couches were lined and in place, more than twenty in all. And they were all empty.

Marek reported to the Falcon, "We found the Gravity Couches and Medical."

"Any survivors," Vickers asked.

"Negative," Rei replied. "If you looked on our cam monitors, you would be the first to know."

"Just shut up and give us the heads up, Canner," Vickers replied, rather racist to Rei.

Marek and Rei moved through the deserted medical lab area. Empty operating tables, stainless steel surgical instruments that had barely been used. And Marek made it clear when he reported, "No signs in Medical. No casualties, no blood stains. It's like the place was barely used."

But then Rei stopped, as she shined her light on the operation table in the dark… and saw the same flesh spots that Gwen and Jeff had encountered. "Captain, I found something."

Marek walked over, as he saw what she was looking at, and then looked as confused as the two teens heading to the Bridge. "What the hell is that?"

Prometheus Bridge

As the door opened to the Bridge, Gwen and Jeff entered in, with Jeff's rifle at the ready. As they entered the chamber, black crystals had formed on the ice on the walls, due to the cold. Gwen looked around, as she gulped, "What is this stuff?"

"Some kind of space fungus?" Jeff asked.

Gwen stopped, as she turned around to face him. He couldn't tell, but she was frowning under the helmet, as she groaned in annoyance to him, "Don't even make a joke like that."

"I wasn't joking," Jeff stated.

Gwen took out one of the spheres on her leggings, and it folded into a sample container. "Good, because it wasn't funny," she replied, as she carefully took a sample of the frozen black substance.

Once she had it, the two moved on, as the blue emergency lights illuminated the ceilings, showing what appeared to be twisted version of human beings, frozen in anger and predatory rage. Something had happened to the crew, in an inhuman and violent way. And the worst part was that nobody was noticing the horror above or around them.

Once they were on the bridge, Gwen reported to the Falcon, "We're on the bridge."

"What do you got," Chance replied.

"Everything's been shut down," Gwen replied, as she examined the other consoles. Most were dark but for a few dim lights due to the emergency systems. "At a guess, they're conserving power. Green light on the hull at least, it's all intact."

Jeff contacted Marek, as he asked, "How's medical?"

"Medical has power. I'll see if I can find any clues about the crew's location," Marek replied.

Gwen looked around, and spotted the console, as she walked over to it, and spotted a small video deck. "Wait a minute, I think I found the ship's log. Might tell us what happened here."

Jeff walked over to her location, as she pushed the eject button. Nothing happened, as Gwen huffed, "C'mon."

"What's wrong," he asked.

"It's jammed in there," Gwen replied, as she took a probe from her belt, and then inserted it into the video deck. A small laser dis emerged partway from the deck. Gwen attempted to pull it out, by pulling on it, but it didn't budge, as she grew infuriated, "Jammed really good."

Jeff lightly pushed her aside, as he pulled at it for her, "I got it."

As he pulled at it, and Gwen watched, something above them started to move. Without them knowing, someone… or something… was in there with them.

Jeff pulled harder, with no results. Gwen reached in to help, and the two helped one another, until finally with a little more effort, they pulled the disc free. The two spun around in the room, and then…

… a body fell in front of them, halfway free from the ceiling; the face illuminated by their shoulder and helmet lights. Jeff jumped back, his rifle at the ready, as Gwen let out a startled shrieked gasp of fear. But it didn't move, as it hung there, frozen to the ceiling. Those aboard the Falcon were a bit startled as well, as everyone got a good look at the body before them, and even above as Jeff looked above the ceiling to see the rest of it.

The being that what appeared to be a man had specialized enlarged arms sporting sharp blade-like protrusions of a mixture of bone and metal. They appeared to be entirely new appendages sprouting from the shoulder blades. There also seemed to be a lower set of arms; possibly the original arms clapped down ot the sides of the body, but had turned into spindly vestigial limbs. The bones on the feet were fused and lengthened while the heel bone was extended almost parallel to the angle of the sole, forming some kind of sharp peg aiding in balance. Its lower jaw had split down, making it into a pair of mandibles, as its stomach had opened to reveal it became a vaginal mouth of sorts. The whole body seemed to have fused with its suit, showing indications of organic technology. This thing wasn't a man… at least not anymore.

Gwen, regaining her composure, finally spoke up, "I think we found one of the crew."

"Alive," Marek asked.

Jeff replied, "Frozen… and heavily mutilated."

Falcon Bridge

The crew, now with Ford with them, looked at the screen, as they saw the mutated man beast's face, leering at them with dead socket-less eyes from Gwen and Jeff's monitors. Ravel asked in fear, "That's a man?"

"What the hell happened to him," Chance asked.

Vickers, not showing any fear, simply replied, "Maybe somebody got axe crazy and mutilated somebody into that thing."

"Maybe…" Ford replied, as she looked at the body in fascinated terror, "But from what I'm looking at, and I'll need a closer examination, but it looks like the arms with the blades grew out of the back."

They were all silent on that, as Vickers looked to her, still showing her calm, "You don't know that."

Ford shrugged her head to the side, "Not yet, at least."

Back on the Prometheus

Cargo Bay

Both Ken and Isaac were walking about the vast chamber of the Cargo bay. Once pristine, all the surfaces were coated in the same black crap that were in spots around the ship. But it wasn't just the goop that was present. Around some parts, there were slash marks all over the place. It was almost as if whatever was on the bridge had been born in the cargo bay and lashed out at everyone.

"What the hell happened here," Ken asked, looking at a large gash on the wall.

Isaac looked for a light source, as he replied, "Haven't a clue. It's pitch black here; I can't see a damn thing." But then he spotted what appeared to be a control console as he walked towards it. He looked at the console, and saw dim lights on it. He examined it, as he pushed a button, "Found the light switch here."

"Good, switch it on," Ken told him. "This place is freaking me out!"

"Already did," Isaac responded triumphantly, as the lights shined all around the place.

But as it did, the whole place looked like a warzone. Vehicles had been torn through, almost as if someone was forcing their way through violently with a strong blade. The slashes on the walls were evident, with black splotches everywhere. The whole place looked like a massacre had begun in there. Ken backed away to Isaac backwards, not knowing what was behind him.

"Sheepy… let's get the heck out of here," he warily replied. But he didn't get an answer, as it remained quiet. "Sheepy? Shepard?"

He stopped as he hit Isaac's back, as the latter replied, "Yeah, I'm here. But ah… I think you gotta see this…"

Ken turned around, as he was in awe at what Isaac was looking at. There before them, connected to cables and wires that were linked to the ship, was a massive sphere, ten meters in diameter, dominated the center of the room. Intricate machinery was connected to it, as well as the console to the sphere but the globe itself had a feature; three rings constantly rotating around the smooth sphere. It was an enigmatic monolith, with the ice encrusting it, giving it the seeming-less notion it was a living thing.

Isaac managed to speak out in their awe, "What the hell is this thing?"

Ken shook his head, "It's not part of the blueprints of either the Prometheus or the Falcon. I'll give you that."

Isaac walked forward, looking at the rotating rings around the sphere, looking for any indication on where it came from or what it was. As he looked around, Ken leaned on the console, unintentionally pushing one of the buttons.

Back on the Falcon

As they were looking on screen, Isaac and Ken's monitors were filled with static. This caused a little urgency on Chance's side, as he tried to contact them, "Shepard? Heels? You two are breaking up? Shepard? Heels? "

Back at the Prometheus

Cargo Bay

Isaac noticed the rings stopped, as he looked at Ken, as he asked, "What'd you do?"

Ken got up, as he mouthed off, "I was leaning, what the hell is it to you?"

"What if this thing's a bomb?" Isaac shouted.

Suddenly, the orb lit up, bright as a sun, getting their attention. The two shielded their eyes, as the light grew brighter. And then finally after a while, it died down in seconds, as the two were able to see again. But when they did, they couldn't make heads or tails with what they saw. The rings had stopped in the center, and where the sphere should have been… a black hole appeared in it.

The two boys blinked at the scene, as Ken replied, "Well, I think you can assume it's not a bomb." But then he noticed Shepard walking to it, as he asked, slightly angered and freaked out, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Gotta figure out what's going on here," Isaac replied. He gently touched his fingertips at the hole, but then realized the hole was some kind of black pool in the rings' center. He dug his fingertips in there, scooping out a little bit of the black, and then it pulled back, almost as if it were alive. Isaac blinked at this astonishment, "Whoa. It's like this stuff's alive."

"Maybe you should pull back then," Ken calmly advised. "Seriously, I do stupid shit on a basis, but this is too much."

But Isaac didn't respond, as he dug in again the black ooze that light seemed unable to penetrate. As he planned to pull back, he felt a force tugging on his hand. He tried to pull back calmly, but it was becoming more forced, as he realized, "Oh shit…!"

And then he was sucked into the pool, screaming, as he was seemingly pulled in. Ken screamed out in terror, but grabbed onto the console, as the line furiously pulled at him as the rest took along with Isaac in the black pool.

Suddenly, a powerful surge of power blew from the core, bending light like a ripple in a pond, pushing debris before it, as well as knocking Ken further from the sphere. The waves surged forward, blowing out emergency lights as it came, flotsam and jetsam swirling in its wake. The same waves struck as a deep roar filled the Prometheus, alerting Marek and the others. The door in the medical wing blew apart, as the waves struck, rippling throught eh medical bay towards Marek and Rei, slamming them both into a bulkhead.

Rei recovered quickly, not able to feel pain, as she heard Ken's voice in a staticked frequency, "Somebody… help! Sheperd… can't see him… Cargo Bay… SHEPARD!"

Rei bolted out of the room, leaving Marek to get back on his feet by himself. It was happening everywhere, as the waves shot in and out of the Prometheus, hitting not just the Alien Temple, but also the Falcon.

Falcon

Bridge

The waves struck the ship, threatening to tear the Falcon apart. The ship shuddered violently, as consoles went crazy, alarms blazed, and total chaos erupted on the brother of the Prometheus, as the crew held on for dear life.

"Captain, do you read me," Chance called. "Tenalds! Carter! Anybody!"

Vickers was less than calm now, as she cried out, "Where the hell is everybody?!"

"We're trying to find them right now, Ma'am," Revel replied.

An equipment rack ignited, as Ravel ran from his post, and grabbed an extinguisher, fighting the blaze. Things were not going well on the ship, as it was on the Prometheus.

Back on the Prometheus

Rei was running like crazy, as she had made it to the Cargo bay. Once she opened the door, she saw Ken feverishly pull at the cable Isaac had attached them both to. Rei ran over, as she grabbed the line, and asked, "Where is Shepard?"

Ken frantically pointed at the black pool in the sphere at them, "H-He… in there!"

Rei looked at the black pool, and then her protocols to protect the lives of the crew were switched on. She pulled at the line quickly, getting slacker out of it. It went on for what felt like five minutes, until the darkness of the pool rippled. And then suddenly, Isaac emerged quickly from the darkness, like a cork shooting out of a bottle of champagne. Isaac crashed on the floor, skidding ot the two, as the pool phased out, and the sphere returned to normal, as Isaac's motionless body lay sprawled on the floor.

Rei ran over to him, gently pushing him up in a sitting position, as she inspected the Life Gauge on the SIG. It was still in full blue, as she reported, "He's still alive…"

"And sore as hell," Isaac groaned out.

Rei realized that, as she gently leaned him back on her lap. She looked at him, as she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Like I said: sore as hell," Isaac groaned out yet again. "Ugh. Remind me again to thank myself for wanting to go on this little field trip."

Rei reported to Marek, "Captain, I'm in the Cargo Bay. Isaac Shepard and Ken Heels are alive and well. Though Isaac is a bit sore as hell, as he reports."

Back in Med Bay

Marek got his bearing back, as he leaned on the wall, "Boarding Party, sound off… Tenalds, Carter, do you read me?" Silence for a moment, which got to Marek, as he finally yelled out, "Son, are you there?!"

"Yeah, I'm here, Dad," Jeff replied.

Marek sighed in relief, "Good to hear your voice again, boy. Have you and Tenalds get that last call?"

"Yeah, we did," Jeff replied. "We also got the Falcon; I'll patch you through."

Falcon

At the bridge, everyone was continuously trying to hold on, as another vibration built up, and a second wave struck. Sparks flew as the consoles went crazy yet again. Deep in the ship, metal was screaming, followed by the shriek of escaping atmosphere. An emergency klaxon rung out:

PRESSURE WARNING! PRESSURE WARNING!

Chance shouted out, "We lost the starboard baffle! The hull's been breached!" The bridge pressure door began to close, and then stopped. "The safety circuit's failed! We're losing atmosphere!"

"There are pressure SIG suits in the airlock! Go!"

Chance, Revel, Vickers, and Ford ran following Chance, as they ran the length of the ship for the airlock bay, as did most of the crew, as they were already suiting up. As they got to the airlock suit area, Marek spoke on the link, "Chance! Revel! Can anybody hear me?!"

"I read you, Captain!" Chance shouted out.

"Chance, where have you been all my life?!"

"We have a situation, sir," Chance responded. Vickers and Revel were already suited up, as Chance was halfway done. Ford was helped with one of the other security guards, as Chance went on, "We lost the starboard baffle, and the hull's cracked. Our safety seals didn't close, the circuit's fried..."

"Is there enough time for a weld?"

"We wouldn't have enough time to fart!" Revel replied.

"He's right," Chance agreed, as he explained the situation further. "We're losing pressure at 280 liters a second, the reserve tanks didn't kick in, and our oxygen tanks are cracked. In three minutes, our atmosphere will be gone! We are fucking dead!"

"What about the Prometheus!?" Ford screamed out. "It still has air and reserve power; we can activate the life support!"

Revel thought about it, as he shrugged, "It might be our only chance!"

"There's no way in hell I'm going aboard that thing! What if the air's bad?" Vickers protested, not wanting to go on that ship. "We don't even know what happened on that ship!"

"It beats dying, Miss Vickers," Chance shouted back.

Back on the Prometheus

Marek was making his way to the Bridge, as he responded, "Mister Chance and Mister Revel are right. Get on board the Prometheus. I'll meet you soon."

"But…"

"You wanna live, get on the extra ship, now," Marek shot back, not wanting to argue about the subject at hand. As soon as he got to the bridge, he saw Gwen and Jeff hard at work, while also trying to ignore the mutated body still hanging up on the roof. "You two get all that?"

"I'm way ahead of you, captain," Gwen replied, as she was working magic on the unused console. "Bringing the thermal units online…" She flipped a series of circuit breakers, and then reached for the final switch, "Hold tight and prep for whatever's about to happen."

At that moment, everything hummed back to life. Lights went on all around the place, as the computers and equipment hummed back to life. Even in the cargo bay, as Rei, Isaac, and Ken were about to leave the room.

Moments Later

Prometheus

The lights shined from the Prometheus as power was once again restored. No longer cloaked in the darkness of the planet, it was revealed in all its splendorous glory, a monument of what was once an exploration ship, now a tomb with its cadavers missing. Once all the crew had come back to the bridge, minus Ford and Isaac who was looking over the boy, as Marek and the others were restoring the dead Prometheus back to working conditions. So far, the ship seemed to work properly, but Marek looked to Chance and Revel who were hard at work.

"How's it going boys," Marek asked.

Chance stopped for a moment, as he reported, "Well, we restored most of the ship's primary life-support functions and systems up. But we don't know how long that'll last for."

Marek nodded, and then looked to Revel, as he reported, "The antennae array's fried, we've got no radio, no laser, no high gain… zip. Even if we scavenge the Falcon, we won't be hearing from the Ishimura to come help us."

"How much O2 do we have?"

"O2's not the problem," Chance pointed out. "It's the CO2; Carbon Dioxide we need to worry about. It's building up with every breath we make. And the CO2 filters on the Prometheus are all shot."

"Why not take the filters from the Falcon," Gwen spoke up, getting everyone's attention. Once she felt confident again, she explained, "With the filters from the Falcon, we've got enough breathable air for 2-3 days."

"She's right," Revel defended. "It might buy us some time to fix the Falcon again."

"Something else you should know," Chance pointed out. "The Prometheus' sensors show the same thing: Bio-reading of indeterminate origin. Right before that wave hit the Falcon, there was a huge surge, right off the scale. But now, everything's back to normal."

"What's causing the readings?" Marek asked.

Gwen then cleared her throat, as she got their attention yet again, as she pointed out. "Um, well… I think I might know."

They all turned, as she pointed at the black clumps of flesh that seemed to cocoon themselves to the hulls of the ship. Marek sighed, as he walked out, with Gwen, Jeff, and Vickers following, knowing where he was heading to.

Medical Bay

Isaac was sitting on a medical bed, the upper armor of the SIG suit off, as he was shown the bottom of the suit still on, while on top, with a sleeveless turtleneck part of the under suit on, with two brown orange diamond lines on each of his shoulders, going from peck to shoulder blade each. Ford was looking over Isaac, who seemed fit as a fiddle, after what happened to him. Once she was done looking at his pupil retractions, she closed up, and sighed in relief, "Well, physically you seem alright. No unusual side effects from whatever you went through."

"Glad to know that," Isaac groaned, as he got back to his feet.

At that moment, Marek and the others walked in, as Gwen ran up to her cousin, and hugged him. "You doofus. Glad you look okay," she politely berated him. she pulled back, and asked, "What happened to you back there?"

For a moment, Isaac's smile disappeared, as he remembered what happened. His mind went back, as he remembered getting sucked in that black hole, going down further and further down a tunnel until finally, he was brought out to a white light. And then…

Isaac shrugged, "I was… taken."

"Taken," Jeff asked, crossing his arms on this, as he listened. "Taken where?"

"Another galaxy," he replied. "Best I can say is I was sucked through that hole, and then I wound up at the end… and then I see myself floating in the abyss of a whole other universe. I saw stars. Lots of them… and they didn't belong where we're from or from this place. It was like one minute I was here, and the next… I'm in another galaxy in seconds rather than a year."

Vickers scoffed at that, as she stated, "Yeah right." She looked to Marek, as she asked, "You can't seriously believe him?"

"I believe in Rei; she reported seeing the same thing," Marek pointed out. "Not ot mention Heels is freaking out silently in the corner of the wreck room in this place. I have to assume whatever happened might end up happening again unless we know what the heck happened in the cargo bay."

"Well, maybe what he saw was an optical effect," Ford stated.

"And optical effect is no way that realistic," Isaac stated. "And you certainly don't feel weightlessness like I did."

Then Marek shrugged, "Alright then… what's in the Cargo Bay?"

Cargo Bay

They all met there, as they saw the sphere with three rings still moving silently, like a window bobble on display. Rei had currently pulled up a log, as she explained, "From what I found on the ship's records, they found this artifact in the Temple. They dubbed it the Gateway Core. Apparently, they hooked up these monitors and consoles together in order to activate it, but they coudlnt use it on their ship. Apparently it creates a black hole, and using computers, they can focus its immense gravitational power to create a gateway anywhere in space."

They all heard that, as Gwen stated, "A Black Hole: the most descruticve force in the Universe." She then looked at Rei, as she asked, "And you're saying that they found something like this in that structure?"

Rei nodded, "Yes. Your uncle, Jonathan Shepard theorized that the Creators used this to travel around space."

"How they do that?" Jeff asked.

It was then that Isaac figured it out, as he snapped his fingers, "I think it's like a piece of paper. You want to get from Point A to Point B, and the shortest way to get from one point of origin to the other is Zero."

Jeff blinked, as he asked, "I thought it was a straight line?"

Isaac shook his head, "Nah, not really. But I think that's what this thing does: it folds space and time so that point A and B coexist in the same area. The ship goes through the gateway, and then space returns to normal. Just like that."

"I just can't believe these Creators built something like this," Gwen said in disbelief. "I mean, it's insane."

Marek walked around the Core, as he asked, "So if this thing was activated, it could have sent Shepard anywhere to wherever these Creators were last time?"

Rei nodded, "Theoretically."

Marek nodded, and then decided, "Right. I want this thing powered down and taken to the Falcon. The sooner it's off the Prometheus, the better we are from having this thing happen again."

"Why do we want this thing on the Falcon," Vickers pointed out.

"Because when this thing was activated, it didn't fry the Prometheus' systems," Marek stated. "I have a feeling that whatever ship it's on, it won't fry the system of the other." He then folded his arms, as he stated, "We still haven't found the crew of the Prometheus, and we're running out of light soon."

Isaac and Gwen looked to one another, and decided on it, as they both knew what they were thinking. Isaac spoke up, as he suggested, "What about the Temple? They might have moved some hyper gravity couches in there. They run on separate power sources."

Marek thought about it, and knowing it was worth a shot, sighed, as he nodded, "Alright. But a small team like before. Hope you're feeling better, everybody. You'll leave as soon as possible."

Next Chapter: Mysteries of the Prometheus and the Temple; Of Ghosts and Monsters