The Thing.
We had been walking for several hours now...
A shy, deep blue rose peaked through the snow. Breathing through its long deep roots, the lethal flower was one of the few flower species known to us, its kind was native to the most gelid plains of Pluto.
...
Strangely enough, I was the only one to notice the flower... I think so.
After that, my eyes lids closed lethargically. My gaze blurred along dozens of kilometers. colossal, slow-moving mountains, piles upon piles of snow, giving in to our footsteps, to remain there for eternity.
The horizon was monotonous. Bellow us was an ever-expanding land made of nothing but ice, up there was nothing but the void of stars...
[ Halt. ]
Kev's voice was difficult to confuse with any other, the sleepless days had made it rougher than usual.
Contrasting the hours of voiceless walking and hiking south, the old man's warning was enough to halt our mindless motions. Our gazes flared in alertness, scanning our immediate surroundings in search of immediate danger.
...
The lack of motion condensed our bodies, allowing the temperatures outside to seep through the inactive insulation layer.
Such was the nature of cold, it activated our minds. Only after a couple of seconds of headless scare did our eyes follow Kev's, landing on a distant... strut.
...
[ What is that thing..? ]
I couldn't help but utter through communication. I was a fool to think there would be an answer coming right back.
There was nothing. Nothing but a void right before our feet. A white void. A massive crater, spanning several kilometers in radius, sharp edges around its deep maw, a portal leading right to the depths of an abandoned hell.
A thin column of steam still radiated from the cold-burning ground.
[ Should we approach?.. ]
Right in the depths of hell hung the wrecks of an abandoned structure, a tall, sturdy spine, connected to the once majestic bays and cargo holds of an interstellar torch.
Our eyes slipped along what we intended to be the drifting trajectory of the crashing ship, spotting a long trail of smaller impacts. The remains of the disc that had been its fusion engine on the back of the ship had broken into hundreds of smaller pieces, and extended upon the land. Up as far as we could see.
What remained of one of those torches we so revered, those we used to see from afar as they parted away... One of them was now right before us.
...
[ I have a bad feeling about that thing. ]
A miner's intuition did not once fail. That notion was only more true for someone like the old man.
We didn't turn around though... There was still some conflict in Kev's eyes. Something was deterring him from making a decision. It was a push and pull.
[ Vaam. Deploy the drone, I want to take a peak from afar. ]
I hesitated for a couple of seconds. My eyes settled around the deep shadows involving the crashed ship, narrowing.
[ Yes. ]
Kneeling on the ground, I carefully assembled the cubic lightweight drone, silver in color, the device had no cameras. Instead, it used other sensors to provide a full 360-degree hologram of its surroundings.
Given it took lots of expertise to maneuver it correctly, once mastered, the drone could be used in plenty of situations, reducing risk significantly. Of course, we could not use it whenever, the MC would not allow us to play around with expensive toys.
Our handler wasn't around at the moment though. So that was that.
[ Let's get it. ]
I said to myself, as I installed the emission on the pin of my suit, just under my throat. With a flicker, a 3d hologram of the drone's immediate surroundings sparked up.
With a loud thrust, the drone activated its monopropellant thrusters, lifting off the air at considerable speeds, becoming a faraway glint as it neared the wreck.
There was debris... Everywhere.
The floor was plagued with burned scraps, all still grounded on the surface per the lack of an atmosphere. The products generated in the outfall of the impact tainted the white off deep dark.
Soon, the giant spine of the ship shadowed the ground. Seen from afar, it was difficult to truly perceive the magnitude and size of such man-made beasts.
The closer we got, the more the structure loomed over us, and the more insignificant we somehow felt.
The half-buried base of the strut was composed of four large containers, those had once been supposed to carry material to build future, faraway colonies.
Each one of them was hermetically sealed... Or so they should have been.
The drone hovered over a gaping hole open in one of the interconnected cargo holds. The marks of bending and piercing were... obvious. Something had burst from the inside out, tainting the floor off long trails of cinders.
...
[ Enter... ]
Kev's eyes narrowed on the holographic display, everyone's attention centered on the cyan representation.
[ Yes. ]
I simply answered as I manipulated the small control device to move forwards.
Small spaces were especially difficult to maneuver, it was astoundingly easy to accumulate inertia on the vacuum... For a fraction of a second, I darted my eyes to the faraway picture of the crashed torch, watching the tiny unmanned vehicle disappear within the total darkness of the gaping hole.
[ We're... in, then. ]
I muttered under my breath as the hologram shrank, adapting to the reduced surroundings.
The first thing we noticed was the overwhelming sense of unease that engulfed us. Even if the drone could not portray colors, it could represent lighting to a certain extent.
The dim lights flickered sporadically, casting eerie shadows on the walls, which were littered with scratches, dents, and scorch marks.
The silence was deafening too. Just as everything on that land.
We slowly made our way through the narrow corridors, squeezing past the debris that littered the floors and walls. Broken bits of machinery, twisted metal sheets, and loose wires jut out at odd angles, reminding us gravity was horizontal to those corridors.
The hallway ended.
We reached the ampler cargo hold. It's walls are lined with shelves and crates, all covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. The crates are haphazardly stacked, some teetering dangerously on the brink of collapse.
You can see the labels on the crates, indicating the precious cargo that was being transported – building materials, scientific equipment, and supplies for what could have been-
Then... Then it happened.
Out of the corner of my vision, in a distant corner of the broad holographic map, something moved. I was too late to notice. We all were.
The hologram disappeared. The drone had died in a mere instant.
I gulped down, my eyes trying to lamely hide terror.
[ Why did you cut it Vaa- ]
Had I been the only one who saw that?.. Martha, and Mack both looked at each other in confusion, seemingly unaware of the reason behind the cut of transmission.
They had not seen it.
[ It was not Vaam. ]
Kevin interrupted, his voice stern, frigid. His gaze locked on mine, understanding he had not been the only one to witness... It.
[ What do you mean?.. ]
No one answered. There was not really an answer. We did not know, it had just been a blur, its movement had been too fast for the recording to transmit it correctly.
Still. A blur or not, one of those frames had made a home in my mind. The slight peaking behind a cracked door of a head. Something bearing a humanoid face... It had a human jaw, it had teeth, it had arms, and probably a pair of legs too...
It was not one of us. It was something else, something that should not have been. Through the creature's own skull, thick crystals bloomed from where its eyes and forehead should have been.
Vibrating, tingling as they caught on alien movement.
...
A short stare was enough for us to understand the danger of the situation.
[ Let's go get that thing back, it sh- ]
Mack said, slowly turning around in the direction of the opening crater, before Kevin took a firm grip on his shoulder, preventing him from climbing down.
[ We are going, right now. ]
The miner said, his tone frigid, shaking like very few times we had seen.
[ That thing... Whatever it is could very well know we are here. We'll surround the crater, and continue heading south. ]
...
Pause. Martha and Mack's pale grey skin visibly trembled. Uncertainty flared inside them.
[ What? What are you saying? What thin- ]
Before continuing his lead, the miner's head turned one last time, this time towards me. His eyes were unblinking, unresponsive.
[ Vaam, override the thrusters, make that thing burst. ]
...
As four lone shadows advanced through the void plains, a lone burst was heard, igniting the cursed wreck.
Dozens wakening.