Explorers of the Universe

Chapter 11: Ghost Colony and Ship; Night of the Ishimura pt.1

Back Aboard the Creator Vessel

Main Nav/Cockpit Chamber

Rei was sitting upon the wall, as she waited for the others to come pick her up. Her arm was still severed, but in the time being, she had retrieved it, and had it on her lap. The left side of her face was a bit scruffed up for some reason, and it was not due to the crash. Apparently when she tried to wrestle the Creator away from the controls, he smashed her away on the face, sending her crashing into the wall. It was after when the ship crashed, the Creator did another punch across her face, scuffing her up in the process. Now she was awaiting for either one of the survivors to come for her… or to destroy her, as it was evident now that they didn't trust her anymore.

And why would they? She was programmed by her 'father', and they didn't trust him because of what he was after. Rei closed her eyes, as she accepted the obviousness of her fate. "Lonely…" she whispered, as she allowed darkness and silence to be her norm, "… it's so lonely…"

"Rei!"

Her eyes opened wide, as she looked from the wreckage of the room, and saw a sight she didn't expect. Isaac was making his way towards her, accompanied by Kori and a strange silver and green being. Once Isaac got to her first, he knelt down, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, as his helmet retracted, and asked, "Hey, you alright? Sorry it took so long, but I had to convince my cousin you were worth getting over here." But he blinked as he saw what was happening.

Rei looked at him, stunned, and surprisingly… was crying, as a few tears streamed out.

Isaac seemed confused by this, as he asked, "Rei? You alright? I thought you couldn't feel any pain. I mean, if the severed arm hurts that much…"

Kori flew over and saw it as well, as she looked at her in concern, as she knelt down, "Rei, it is so good to... Rei? What is the matter? Why are your optics leaking as so?"

Rei realized it as well, as she wiped her face off, and looked at the remnants of tears on her hand guards. She then looked to them, and simply returned to normal in appearance, as she responded, "It's nothing. I was simply cleaning my optics. It's a normal function."

The two blinked at that, unsure if what she had just told them was the truth or not. But DRU merely stood by, as he watched the scene, and softly smiled at the three, "Unpredictable."

Later On

Lifeboat

After the three had arrived back with Rei in tow, DRU took her to what was left of the Med Pod bay area. Currently, Rei was sitting on the table to what was left of the Med Pod… after DRU had disassembled and absorbed it. She had her SIG suit retracted and her top off, exposing her upper body. DRU was with her, while his right arm had morphed into what appeared to be a techno-organic ring assembly system around her left shoulder. Small tentacle or spider-like tool arms were making the necessary repairs while holding her left arm in place, setting up the systems, as the spider legs held or brought the arm close back to the shoulder socket.

It seemed much to the discovery of the others that DRU had metamorphic and polymetic abilities. Meaning he could imitate anything he scanned, saw or sampled by physical absorption or contact. Though if he could imitate a human or other lifeform, that was a bigger question yet to be asked.

Gwen was there supervising on Rei's vital systems, making sure that there were no other complications. At first she was hesitant in wanting to help, but her cousin just had to insist on helping the girl. So far, things seemed pretty good on the repairs, as DRU was almost finished attaching the arm. Once the wound was sealed, leaving a scar that was shown connecting the arm to the shoulder.

DRU retracted the rings around her arm, as his own reformed back, returning to normal. He put his hands on his hips, as he nodded, "Arm is reattached, and servos and circuits have been repaired."

Gwen walked over with a screen in front of her, showing the schematics of the now repaired arm, as she asked, "Okay, Rei. Can you move it?"

Rei lifted her arm up, and around, and then curled the hand to herself, as she flexed her fingers and made a fist, as well as other movements to ensure her hand and arm were in working condition. Once she was done, she set it down, as she nodded, "Repairs were successful; I am in complete control of my left appendage."

DRU then morphed his hands into a sort of smoothing apparatus, as he walked towards Rei again, "Now all that's left is to clear away the scarring hand…"

However, before he was about to do it, Rei spoke up, "If you could. May you leave the scar?"

The two seemed to blink on that request, especially Gwen as it seemed rather unheard of, even from an android. DRU was just more confused on this, as he asked, "May I ask why? It would seem rather pointless if you had it; the repairs to your arm are successful. I doubt you wish to see such a blemish on your body."

Gwen shook her head at DRU's bluntness, as she inquired herself, "I think what he means is why you would want to keep the scar, Rei?"

Rei reached up and gently traced her hand on the scar itself, as she seemed rather happy about it, "I guess… in a way, it makes me more human. Which was what my father attempted to do when he first constructed me. Despite the fact he wished to create an immortal being, I feel like this will help me fit in."

DRU seemed to keep that in mind, while Gwen seemed to take that in a bit, "Rei…" But she shook it off, as Rei hopped off the table, and got dressed, as she and DRU were about to leave, "Once you get suited up, we've got a make a plan on what to do next."

Rei zipped up her collar, as she followed, "Understood."

Once the three exited, they walked over to where Jeff, Isaac, Kori, and Sphere were currently, sitting at Vickers' desk. Once they were all together, Sphere displayed a holographic model of the Falcon, as the plan of action started.

"Alright, everyone. We need to discuss the plan," Isaac stated, as he went over the situation and the solution to their problem. "The Prometheus is gone, and we're all that's left of the Falcon's crew, including the add-on three members here," he said, as he pointed to Kori, DRU, and Sphere. "Now we know that the Ishimura is currently orbiting the other side of the planet, setting up a colony to 'pop the cork' on Aegis 7. It'll take a week for the standard planet-cracking procedure to commence and finish."

"Which means we need to get over there before they leave," Jeff concluded. He then looked to Rei, and asked, "How long do you think it would take to fix the Falcon? Getting her flight ready?"

"Breaking planet atmosphere: impossible without the right tools, repairs, or the necessary engineers to repair the systems," Rei answered. "Although that will require equipment we currently don't have, and it is very doubtful that parts from the Prometheus will still be useable after the explosion." The three human teens seemed to sigh in defeat, but Rei then pointed, "However, I do believe that we can make the Falcon flyable again to reach the colony set up by the Ishimura."

"Great, but who here knows how to repair a ship," Gwen asked.

Sphere ended the display, as he looked to them, "I might be able to get the computers back online in the Falcon."

Then DRU brought his hands up, as his fingers morphed into different tool settings, as he implied, "I've also studied rather quickly the schematics of the Prometheus and Falcon. Repairing it shouldn't be a problem, I should be able to reconfigure the wiring and software, as well as welding any hull breeches and such…"

"And if there's moldy food on the ship…" Jeff joked, as he pointed to Kori. "… she can eat it."

Kori lit up at that, as she went starry-eyed, and clasped her hands together, smiling, "Oooh, that food was delicious. I pray to X'hal that there is still blue furry food aboard the Falcon."

Everyone seemed to sweat drop at that, as Isaac looked to Rei and Gwen, as he asked, "If we all work together on the repairs, how long will it take?"

Gwen and Rei looked to each other, as they silently discussed on it, until Gwen spoke up, "If we work as fast as possible, taking care of the major problems and work on the minor, I'd say we can get the Falcon running again in a week, and then it'll take only a few hours to get to the planet-cracking colony of the Ishimura."

Isaac nodded, "Alright then. Let's get to work."

A Week Later

The Last Night

It had been a long and strenuous time for the remainder of the crew of the Falcon and Prometheus. They had worked nonstop in doing hull repairs on the Falcon, making sure there was no leaks or cracks in the hull of the ship. The computers had all been rebooted and refurbished as best they could, but with Rei, DRU, and Sphere helping, it was done faster than expected. It helped to have both Sphere and DRU merge with the computer systems to speed up the process. And with the lightning speed that Rei typed on the holo-keyboard pads, it was a breeze to finish. Of course, they would have to leave the Falcon and go back to the lifeboat back outside to sleep every night, so all-nighters were a no-go for them. Although, at the end of the sixth day, they had finished the repairs, and tomorrow, they would be on their way back to the colony set up by the Ishimura, get some scrubbers for the Falcon as well as repair the ship for Deep Space Travel, and they would be home free to go home.

But at the moment, right now, Isaac stood at the window, looking outside on the only clear night without any storms happening. Before him in the window, he had a clear view of the alien ship's wreckage. He stared at the ship with silent fear and worry on his face and eyes; his mind was wringing with the thoughts of something worse than what they had seen so far crawl out of the wreckage and head right towards them. It was like he was staring into the mouth of a cave, and all he could see was pitch darkness while feeling the fear associated with the dark: the fear of the unknown in that very darkness.

"Isaac?"

Isaac jumped in surprise, and turned around to see Kori, dressed in the same sweater she had worn her first night, with a look of concern on her face. After he calmed a bit, he replied, "Kori. I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

Kori shook her head, as she explained, "No. I awoke to acquire drinking fluid, but then as I passed where you were sleeping, i noticed you were not there. I saw you here and thought you had a Nemakra." Isaac looked confused on that, until she politely stated, "That is Zamaranian for the word you refer to as a 'Nightmare'."

He shook his head, and gave her reassurance, "Nah… I was… I just couldn't sleep, is all."

"Then is there something preventing you from sleeping," she asked in concern and worry as she approached him, as they both looked at the wreckage.

"I thought for sure that when the Creators' ship was destroyed, the threat would be gone, and everything would be normal again for us. We could all go home, try to put all that happened here to bed, and move on with our lives," Isaac confessed to her, as he sighed deeply, "Instead... It feels like this is just the beginning of something bigger and there's no escaping it."

Kori replied, "I too have been feeling like that." Isaac turned to look at her, as she went on, looking out the window as well, "When the Creators' ship crashed, I felt relieved that the place where I was tortured was gone. But lately, this feeling of something pulling me somewhere else as appeared inside. As if there is still something left unfinished..."

"And it won't stop no matter what," Isaac assured her, to which Kori nodded. "It's like we've started on a path and it's hard to get off it. The question is... Do we really have to take it?"

Kori nodded at that, as she looked outside the window, "I have wondered that myself when my mother told me I was to be the next head of the family. I did not find the answer either before it happened." Isaac looked like he was about to ask what she meant, but choose not to when Kori held his arm in comfort, as she finished, "Questions like that are hard to face alone."

Isaac looked at Kori with a slight blush on his face as he nods in agreement. He saw she was looking at the ship as well, namely the dark hole left, as if she too was expecting something of the Creators to come out as well.

They stood there for a bit in silence before the lifeboat's AC blew a cold wind causing Kori to shiver.

Isaac took her shoulders to try and warm her up, "It's pretty cold out tonight. Come on, let's try to get some sleep." Kori nodded as the two headed for where they were sleeping earlier in the lifeboat. Kori was about to sit down when Isaac pulled her into his arms on the couch.

Kori was a bit startled by this, as she asked, "Isaac? What are you-"

He sat her down in bed so that's she was sitting on his lap, as he replied, "It's cold and we're both feeling the weight of all that's happened." He took the blanket and wrapped it around them. "I'll keep watch tonight," he finished, knowing that she was feeling the fear he was feeling as well.

Kori looked surprised and nods as she moves in closer and rests her head between the left side Isaac's neck and shoulder. "Thank you."

As he brought his arms around her while the blanket warmed them both, they were warming each other up. It was evident as Isaac could feel warmth in Kori's body along with her heart beating on his side. For some reason despite his unpleasant memories of women back on Earth and how they bullied him. He looked at Kori who was sleeping soundly and could feel her breathing.

'I can't believe I'm doing this, for a girl no less,' Isaac thought to himself, as he saw her sleeping form next to him. 'But she's different from the others. Kori doesn't treat me like a weakling or boss me around. She listens to me, helps me, and is honestly nice to me without trying to use me. For the first time in my life, I'm actually comfortable around a girl...' He smiled, as he allowed a small chuckle to escape him. 'It's weird. It feels good, but weird. I wonder if this is how Jeff and Gwen feel when they are with each other.'

Later On

As everything was silent, and with Isaac asleep as well, Kori stirred awake for a moment. She looked up at Isaac, as she could feel the warmth from Isaac's body. It was a rather comforting warmth that she felt when she was held by her father at times when she used to be frightened by the Zaklefrug at a young age.

She looked at Isaac, as she thought, 'Ever since meeting Isaac, it has been so strange though. He has been looking at me as Kori, someone he has just met, not just the future ruler of Zamaron. Why am I having this feeling now?' But she pushed it aside, as she gently nuzzled into him, resting her head in the point of his body where his shoulder connected to his chest, immediately going back to sleep.

The Next Day

The Falcon had taken flight, albeit it was a bit on the clunky rickety side, but it managed to fly nevertheless. The ship was making its way to the colony of Aegis 7 made by the Ishimura. At the moment, DRU and Rei were both flying the controls while Isaac was on the main pilot seat, helping out with the flying. So far it had been a piece of cake. But at the moment, Gwen and Jeff were currently trying to radio the colony to get their attention. But so far… nothing but static.

"Ishimura planet-cracking colony, this is the USSCS Falcon. Respond," Gwen radioed. But all that was heard was static, as she tried again, "Colony, this is the USSCS Falcon. Please respond. We are in need of repairs, as our ship is barely holding together."

Sphere was hovering around, shining his blue light to make the necessary repairs, as Jeff was keeping track of the map. Kori flew over to Gwen, as one redhead asked the other, "Is there no response?"

"Nothing," Gwen replied, equally confused as Kori. "This is really creeping me out. First mutated human dead bodies trying to kill us, the Alien race we thought were benevolent to bestow us life try to kill us millions of years later. And now this. It's like this planet has the ability to make people lose their shit. So to speak."

"Gwen," Sphere hovered in place, sounding rather stunned at her turn of language. "I find it rather odd that someone of your intelligence should swear."

Gwen gave a relaxed half-smirk to the spherical A.I., "Even intelligent people need to swear once in a while."

"Speaking of swearing…" Isaac pointed out as he seemed to look at the front windshield of the ship, looking rather paled. "Oh shit."

Now Sphere was even more surprised, as he hovered over to Isaac, "Isaac, I suspected Gwendolyn of swearing in situations that pushed one's patience, but you seem to be doing it rather casually."

But then Jeff spoke up, as he stated, "Maybe that's why." And pointed right out in front of them.

As the Falcon was passing over a mountain, they got their first glimpse at the Ishimura Planet-Cracking colony that had been set up nearly nine days ago. The place was in a state of ruin, as they got closer to it. Smoke fumes were climbing out of the wreckage of a few buildings, and vehicles had been crashed around. Ships had also appeared to crash as well, with fires building from them as well as from where the smoke stacks had formed from the ruins of the colony. In truth be told, the sight made the teens, both human and aliens, feel a bit unnerved at the sight.

"Oh shit," Sphere whispered. "… indeed."

Colony Landing Pad

After they had come in halfway through the colony, they immediately found a landing pad for the Falcon to station on. The landing was a bit rocky, due to the fact that it was their first time flying solo, but they managed to land nevertheless. Once the ship had safely landed, the teens got off and walked onto the bay area. As they looked around, the place was a mess; barrels and crates thrashed around, doors halfway blow or torn off. But the strangest thing they saw was the strange black organic growths on the wall. They looked similar to some kind of fungus. Truth be told, the whole place seemed rather eerie.

Sphere looked around, scanning around with his blue flashlight, "Strange. I'm not picking up any signs of life. Human or otherwise."

Kori walked over to Isaac, as she spoke her mind, "I do not like this. Where is everyone?"

"Good question," Isaac stated. He looked over to Jeff, as he asked, "This is your first time in a planet-cracking colony?"

Jeff nodded, "Yeah, this is a little weird. Colony like this should be packed full of maybe 200 people; colonists and workers. There should be a few Exo-Load Lifters walkin' about, workers blowing their money on drinks and hookers, but this… this is a ghost town."

Gwen looked over to them, as she naively stated, "Maybe they're all spending their money right now."

"With not even a sign of life," Jeff asked credulously. "Not likely." He huffed, as he groaned, "I hate to say or jinx this…."

Isaac paled as he figured what he was going to say, "Don't say it…"

"… but I think…"

"He's gonna say it," Isaac mumbled. "I know it."

"… we should split up," Jeff finished. "Gives us the chance to cover more ground."

Isaac slapped his forehead on this, as he groaned, while Kori looked at him in confusion, "May I ask what is distressing of the splitting up?"

Isaac looked over to the Zamaranian girl, as he sighed, "Your planet doesn't have any horror films, do you?" He looked around as he stated, "Splitting up is the last thing we need to do. Being in pairs: wrongo. If there's something here that isn't the norm, it's gonna pick us off one-by-one."

Gwen shook her head, as DRU implied, "I think what Jeff's implying is that we split into two teams." He then motioned to Jeff, Gwen, and Rei, "Jeff will go with Rei and Gwen…" He then pointed to Isaac, Kori, and Sphere, "… and I'll go with them."

Gwen crossed her arms, "Wow, that was quick."

Later On

Isaac, Kori, Sphere, and DRU were traversing down one of the corridor hallways, leading to the barracks of the colonies. Hopefully they would find someone to help out with repairs to the Falcon. Anyone still alive. However, as they made their way through, all they found were the same black growths on the walls and ceilings. Kori flew over to Isaac, as she grabbed his arm.

He caught this, as he asked, "Something wrong?"

"No, I am… feeling of the uneasy," she confessed, as she looked around. "Should not this place be, as you put it, howling with activity?"

"Yeah, it should," Isaac replied, as he wearily looked around. "This just doesn't make any sense. Though they might have left it behind… I think…"

"I'm not sure anyone left this place," Sphere spoke up, as it gained their attention. "I doubt they would leave all the equipment behind. Even if they had weight limits."

"That does seem strange," DRU stated as he overlooked the colony's walls. "Even if they had weight limits, I doubt everything would be left behind."

"Yeah… WHOA!" Isaac said, as he nearly slipped on his feet. He caught himself good, as he managed to see what he had slipped in… and then paled at what he saw.

Kori flew over, as she asked, "Isaac. Is something wrong?"

He steadied himself, as he looked to the two, as he gulped, "Nothing good."

The two looked down, as Sphere's light as they looked at the floor… and saw a puddle of blood. But then Kori illuminated the entire hallway with her powers, as they all looked in horror. The whole room appeared to be a slaughterhouse scene, as blood was all over the walls.

Kori gasped, as Sphere examined it, "Hmmm, this was only a week old. Due to the coagulation of the blood."

"A week?" Isaac asked. "What happened?"

Sphere was silent for a moment, and turned to Isaac, as he simply replied, "I'm not sure."

DRU bent down, as he carefully examined the walls… and could tell there was struggle involved, "Whatever it was… nothing good came from it."

Isaac sighed, as he regained his nerve, "We should keep going. Maybe there might be someone around here who could talk to us."

And they continued to do so, unaware of what was awaiting them. As they treaded further, they found there was more bloodstains all around the floor, walls, and the ceiling. And to make matters worse, they found body parts, some were even blocking the doors from closing. And through it all, the trio had not found anyone that was still alive to even tell them what had happened. This was seriously unnerving Isaac to say the least; the others, he didn't know about though.

But he spoke his mind of it, "Okay, this is really starting to lose my calm here. It's like whatever happened here it seems like everyone lost their minds here. I mean this is weird shit." But then he shrugged, "But then again, we're in deep space, weird shit happens."

Kori took that into consideration, as she asked, "Why would excrement be strange or weird?"

Isaac shook his head, explaining to her, "It's another way of stating stuff." While talking to her, it was evident his cool seemed to return. So he continued, "Usually in deep space mining, accidents and weird stuff happens. And the people that work in this are somewhat the kind that are usually attracted to this kind of stuff."

"But does this usually happen in your deep space mining," DRU asked.

Isaac stopped, along with Kori to keep up with him, as he looked around the surroundings, as he finally replied, "Not like this. Really not like this."

Sphere scanned the walls, as they entered what appeared to be the cafeteria, as he scanned the walls, and saw symbols on them. Symbols either scratched into the walls with broken parts of fingernails… or scribed in blood. He turned to the two teens, as he called out, "Isaac! Kori! I think you two should see this." The two walked over to him, as he shined the light on the walls, "Any of this look familiar?"

It was then that Isaac pieced it together, as the symbols were indeed familiar. Ignoring the source of what the symbols were made of, they instead recognized their origin. Isaac went wide eye, as he spoke up, "These symbols are the same as the ones in the…"

"The Creators' vessel," Kori finished. They all turned to each other as she asked, "But I do not understand. How did…?"

However, the question was put on hold as they heard cracking sounds. They turned to the darkness to find the source of the sounds, and were a bit shocked to see what they had discovered. It was one of the diggers, male, covered in blood stains, cuts, and looked like a zombie. Well, not an undead zombie, but more like a couch potato zombie. He was really out of it, as he slumped towards them, bleeding, and stepping on broken glass on his bare feet. He finally stopped ten feet in front of them, still zonked out, but in his right hand, was a plasma cutter that switched on.

Isaac gently spoke to him, raising his hands to show he wasn't a threat, "Sir? Sir, what's going on?"

"They want us…" he raggedly spoke out, as he still looked like he was in a trance. "They want our bodies… they needed us to turn…"

Isaac looked confused on that, "Um, I'm not sure I understand…"

"I had to kill them. Me and the others who heard," the worker responded, as he looked to the teens in a frantic panic, "We had to kill them all, don't ya understand?"

Kori immediately tried to calm him down, "Please, sir. We do not…"

"I WONT LET'EM HAVE ME!" the man shouted, waving his plasma blade around to keep the three back. Finally, the man settled it down, as he clawed the left side of his face iwht his left hand, drawing blood in the process, as he mumbled, "They want… they want our bodies… all of us…" he then pulled his hand towards them, as he mumbled, "This body's mine. It's my flesh. My bone. And my blood."

Then they saw him lifting the blue glowing blade up to his neck, as the two teens were in shock to see this, as Isaac tried to stop him, "Wait, don't!"

But the man chuckled like a lunatic, as he smiled the same, as he finished, "They can have my body… in hell…" And then he silenced himself, by slashing his neck, nearly cutting his head off as it hung by a thread, dangling on the tidbit left of flesh. He collapsed on the ground splattering blood out in the process.

The three teens and spherical ball looked in horror, but Isaac snapped out of it, as he radioed to his cousin, "Gwen! Gwen, pick up!"

Control Room

The trio had made their way to the control room, to which Rei and Gwen were working on the consoles. They figured they could find someone alive there with use of the security cameras, but if not a visual log from someone. So far, they had seen the same thing that Isaac and his group had found. At the moment, Jeff was leaning on Gwen's chair, as he was looking at the blank screens.

"How long is this gonna take," he asked. "This whole place is giving me the creeps."

"Not long. There's just a few more firewalls to go through, and I think we'll have something solid," Gwen answered, as she was typing. She then looked to Rei, "Any luck on your side?"

"I'm almost done, though something has begun to trouble me," Rei replied.

Jeff arched an eyebrow as he looked at her, "You don't look so troubled."

"Outside I may seem calm, but inside, my systems are all fired in a negative," Rei explained. "Although it may sound insignificant, to me it's the equivalent of the emotion you call fear."

Gwen was a bit taken by that, but kept her eyes on the screen, "Fear? You?"

"I know it may seem hard for you to believe, but Wayward built me to learn to be more human," Rei explained. "The more contact I have with living lifeforms, the more I can learn from them. And in this experience, I've been learning a lot."

Gwen stole a glance at her, and half-smirked, "Guess there's something about you that is human. Good to hear."

"Done," Rei finished, as the screens lit up with the vid cams.

However, what the three teens saw… it wasn't reassuring.

On the screens it was the same, just as Isaac and the others saw. There were bloodstains on the walls as well as indications of the black ooze growths. There were no signs of any of the bodies either, although on one screen, they saw a leg stopping the door from closing. They thought it might have been someone passed out, but it was no good. Once the door opened fully, they saw the leg had been severed off the body, showing that it was just another casualty. The entire colony was empty but had been discovered to have been reduced to a slaughterhouse.

Jeff gulped, as he looked to Rei, "Now I know why you're freakin' out on the inside."

But then Gwen seemed to light up, as she typed in something, "Wait. There's a log here; it might help in getting some answers."

She pushed the button, and the screen was a bit on the static side, until things cleared up a little. On the screen, a man was a slight on the panic side, as he relayed the message, "This is Dig Team 7! I don't know what the hell is going on, but it's turning into Hell down here. Ever since we dug up that strange Monolith structure a week ago, things have been getting really crazy! All the suicides and homicides…! And worse, the other dig crews have changes! Oh my God! What the hell's going on?! Why hasn't the Ishimura done anything?!" At the moment, a familiar growl was heard on the screen, as they saw the man was frightened even more, as he whimpered, "Oh my God! OH MY GOD!" And then suddenly a big slash-like claw stabbed him, sending him off screen with a big splash of blood… and then the video ended.

The three looked rather shocked at this, as Gwen looked to the two, and stated, "We so need to get out of here." Suddenly, her comm-link went on, as she answered, "Isaac?"

"Gwen! Gwen, pick up!"

She answered, "I read you, Isaac."

"We've got to get out of here! Now!"

Outer Space

Aegis 7 Orbit

After they had gotten back to the Falcon, they used the escape pod, to which Sphere and DRU had managed in a short time to convert into a space vehicle. It didn't have shock point travel, but it had enough power and oxygen to make it to the Ishimura. Currently everyone was a bit on the edgy side, since the colony was a giant abatuaire, and possibly the butchers were still running amuck. They were just lucky that none of them had gotten aboard the ship. For now, all they could do was head for the Ishimura.

Isaac, who was sitting with Rei as she tried to get a com link to the Ishimura, asked, "What the heck happened down there? I thought we destroyed the ship back at the site? Did we miss a vase or something?"

Sphere floated next to him, as he replied, "Perhaps it wasn't the only base lab. They must have set the entire planet as the lab."

At that moment, DRU reported, "We're approaching the planet cracker, USG Ishimura."

Once they were in sight, as well as safely navigating through the debris field in Aegis 7's orbit, they saw the Ishimura, gently floating around the atmosphere of the planet, and with the sun coming up on the edge of the planet, giving illumination to the ship.

Kori walked over to where Isaac and Rei were, as she took a glimpse for the first time ever at the planet cracker ship. "This is the ship, Ishimura? It is rather lethargic."

"Deep space mining is a rather lethargic and lucrative business, Kori," Rei stated, as she continued to try to get a signal. "Before the rescue mission, Aegis 7 was discovered as a rather large mineral find, according to the prospector reports."

"Not to mention the Ishimura's the oldest planet cracker of its kind," Jeff chimed in. "This thing's supposed to be decommissioned after this mission."

Gwen looked to Rei and asked, "Anything, Rei?"

"Nothing at the moment," Rei answered, as she turned on the main comm. All that was heard was static, which didn't bode well, "Strange. There's usually interference at first, but not from this close to the ship." She then tried again, "Ishimura, this is Rei 8 of Wayward Industries. Requesting landing clearance. Over" Static once again was heard, as she tried again, "Ishimura, this is Rei 8 of Wayward Industries. Requesting landing clearance. Do you read? Over."

And yet still… more static.

Gwen thought about it for a moment, until she spoke, "That's odd. We're close enough to the Ishimura, so there shouldn't be any sort of interference. Not even the debris field. What's going on?"

Jeff shrugged, "Maybe they are on coffee break or something."

At that moment, Kori looked confused, as she asked, "Why would coffee cause people to break things?"

Everyone just looked confused on that, until Isaac cleared it up, "No Kori, he means that they are all taking a moment to rest before getting back to work."

Kori seemed to understand better, "Oh."

DRU walked over to Gwen's post, as she contemplated on the situation, "Strange. Never heard of a total communication blackout on a planet cracker this big."

"Look-" DRU called out, as he moved his arm that collided with Gwen's arm. He looked down to her in apology, "Sorry." Then pointed out at the vid screen before them, "Look, there's a ship heading into the Ishimura now."

Sure enough, there was a small freighter heading right towards the Ishimura.

"We can follow that shuttle in and explain to the crew inside that our radio wasn't functioning," DRU suggested.

Gwen felt a little unsure on that, as she saw the way the freighter was going at the Ishimura, "I'm not sure, DRU. If they're not responding, that might mean something is going on aboard the ship. Possibly something dangerous."

"Our fuel is unfortunately running low," Rei stated, as she pointed out the obviousness. "If we don't land soon, we may end up drifting through space, or crash back on to Aegis 7."

Everyone was silent on it, until Isaac sat up, and spoke his mind, "I say we go for it; it's worth a shot. At least we'll risk running out of fuel inside the ship rather than outside it."

"It's your call, Jeff," Gwen pointed out. "You are the senior officer here due to you being the only one of us officially in the military."

Everyone looked at Jeff for an answer as he looked with a neutral expression, "Gwen makes a good point, but Shepard and DRU have the right idea due to the circumstances. Besides our chances our better on the Ishimura than on that dead rock."

Everyone nodded in agreement, as DRU sat next to Gwen, as Rei piloted the ship as best she could, as Gwen stated, "The Ishimura it is." They then flew the lifeboat after the smaller ship into the Ishimura.

As they flew through, the smaller ship was heading for the opening to the docking area, but the doors were closing.

Kori looked in worry, as she asked for everyone, "Are they trying to lock us out?!"

Sphere observed the situation, as he stated, "It would seem Gwen was correct. There might be a situation going on right now and we've come at a bad time."

"We aren't going to make it," Jeff called out, as he looked at Rei, "Step on it Rei!"

"My apologies, but this is as fast as the lifeboat will go," Rei replied.

The door closed just as the shuttle barely made it through. Everyone looked in worry, as DRU stated the obvious, "It appears as though we are now trapped like rats."

Gwen was starting to panic a little bit, "Please don't make it sound like that, DRU."

Kori, Rei, DRU, and Sphere look confused by that, but Isaac and Jeff knew what was bothering her.

'Oh no, she's starting to get nervous from being in this tight space again,' Isaac realized. He then looked to Rei, as he asked, "Rei, can you get contact the bridge now that we are inside the Ishimura?"

Rei nodded, as she managed to get the comms on again, "Ishimura, this is Rei 8 of Wayward Industries. Requesting landing clearance in the main docking area. Over" but once again, stating, earning a groan from Jeff, as she tried again. "Ishimura, this is Rei 8 of Wayland Industries. Requesting landing clearance in the main docking area. Do you read? Over" More static. Rei looked to the others, as she apologized, "I'm sorry, but there's still some sort of interference between our signals."

Jeff thought about it and then spoke up, "Well then there's only one thing left to do." Everyone looked at him as he replied, "One of us is going to have to leave the ship and manually open the doors from outside."

Kori stood up, as she waved, "I can do it. I will simply fly out and pull the doors open." And then went for the door, as she activated her SIG suit.

Sphere flew right into her face, as he stated, "I wouldn't advise that. The doors need to be opened via the controls to ensure the risk of everything inside flying out into space is avoided."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of another SIG suit activating, and looked to see Isaac, standing there, suited up, as he stated, "I'll do it. It should be easy to do."

Kori then insisted with Isaac, "I shall go with you in case something goes wrong."

Sphere flew up to them as well, as he chimed in his service, "I'll go with you as well. Just in case."

But Isaac waved it off, as he assured both of them, "It's all right. It won't take me more than a few minutes to fly out, access the controls, and fly back in."

"Isaac is correct," Rei concurred, as she further explained to the two alien occupants. "It won't take him long and I'll be able to walk him through it if he needs assistance over the radio in his SIG suit." But then she looked to Isaac, as she advised, "However, Isaac, you will also have to close the doors where you are. You will have to go through the Ishimura to where we are after closing them."

"Just another thing to mention when they security team comes after us," DRU chimed in less than enthusiastic about the security rounding them up.

"Thanks and I understand," he said, as he was about to make his way to the airlock. But before he did, he walked over to one of the couches, and pulled up the plasma cutter. "Just in case," he said, as he headed for the airlock.

"Isaac," Korie spoke up, stopping him in his tracks. She went over to him with a concerned expression, as she looked at him in a worried but pleading manor. "Please be careful. If this ship has been in orbit around this planet for as long as we have been here, it may have Xenocromophs inside already."

A small pause between the two as this information set in. But Isaac nodded, "I will, Kori. You too." Kori smiled in relief and moved away from the door so that she wouldn't get sucked out. As the door closed behind him, as he grumbled, "Flying through space. They never covered any of this in training." The door opened up, and Isaac flew out in the blackness of space.

As he was far enough, his boots' soles ignited with blue streams of boosters, as his pack opened up two stalks with rocket boosters on them. Using all four, he was enabled better control in the zero gravity of the area, as he stopped spinning and was now floating stabilized in space.

Gwen then spoke up over the radio, "All right Isaac, you should see maintenance hatch somewhere near the door."

Isaac flew over to the Ishimura with the life pod following behind slowly. Once he got to the doors, he looked around until he saw a medium sized door with a wheel to the right of the door to the docking area.

"I see it," he said as he floated over, but enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness all in space, "I wonder how many people get to feel what it's like to float in zero gravity?"

"I'd say a good handful of people at best," Gwen answered.

"Probably yeah." He then landed by the door and began to turn the wheel with a strained look on his face hidden underneath his faceplate, "There must not be much maintenance out here because this wheel is really stiff."

Jeff then chimed in to ask, "Do you need a hand out there, Shepard?"

Kori obviously was overhearing this, as she spoke up, almost anxious, "I will head out now and-"

"No thanks," Isaac said. He managed to turn the wheel after one last strong pull, "It just needed one last strong turn!" The door opened and he went into an empty hall with different pieces of junk and debris everywhere. There was barely any light in the hall only giving enough illumination to see where the twists and turns were. "It's not just the door that needs maintenance. This part of the ship looks likes someone was living in it for the trip here and didn't bother to clean up."

"Isaac, according to my digital map of the Ishimura, the manual override controls should be in the room at the end of the hall to the left of the intersection a head of you," Rei responded.

Isaac started to move through the hallway until he saw the intersection. "I see it. I'm heading there now." He turned left and walked down the hall.

"That's strange," DRU stated confused as he looked towards the others, "I thought the procedure for extended space travel was the crew sleeping in hyper sleep chambers. How could that part of the ship be a mess if it's only been here for two or three days?"

"It usually is. I don't like this," Gwen stated, as she then switched on to her radio. "Isaac, does the hallway look as though there was a battle or anything indicating a Xenocromorph," Gwen asked leading to Kori looking tense at the thought of Isaac alone inside.

"Nope. It's just full of junk and debris," he responded, as he looked around while walking through the hallway until he reached the door. "I'm at the door Rei mentioned now," he opened the door by pushing the green button on the control panel by the door.

"Maybe all that junk was when the ship was being prepared for the trip and a lazy employee left it all there just to avoid the work," Jeff hypothesized over the radio. "The crew didn't bother to clean it up because we're the only ones in need of it so far."

"That's probably it. I wonder who would be lazy enough to do-" at that moment, Isaac saw the console to the left of the window where the lifeboat could be seen. "I see the controls now. They look old but still functional."

"That's good," Rei responded. "There should be a manual button somewhere on the controls. However I should warn you now that your door will lock due to the security system in there while ours opens due to clearance." Isaac looked stunned by this, but Rei assured him, "Don't worry though, I have the security code for that part of the ship, as soon as the door locks, I'll radio tell you the code to deactivate it."

Isaac saw the command above the controls covered in dust and he wiped away, "I see it. I'm pressing it now." As soon as he pressed the button, the door behind him made a locking sound as the doors in front of the lifeboat opened.

"Okay Isaac, we're heading it now," Rei replied, as she and DRU used the controls to head into the Ishimura. "After you close the doors, use the keyboard to enter 971Weyward. It's Mr. Weyward's personal password so it should unlock the door no problem."

"Thanks, Rei," Isaac replied.

The ship flew in without any problems. Isaac closed the door with the command and entered the password. The door unlocked and he walked out back into the hallway, and radioed, "Okay, the door is unlocked. I just need directions to where-"

"-Where we can see them and stand down or we will shoot!"

Rei spoke up, sounding reasonable, "Wait. We can explain-"

A gunshot was heard on the radio as it went silent.

Isaac heard the unknown voice and gunshot, "Rei? Kori? Gwen? Anyone?" Static filled the radio. 'I guess the security team isn't in a listening mood,' he moaned in defeat. 'Okay, I guess I'm on my own. I already know where not to go so that's a start.' He then headed back where he came but this time went down the other hallway. 'I hope they are okay. That or the security team isn't too beaten up by Kori.'

Next Chapter: Meeting Old and New Faces; Night of the Ishimura pt.2