T-Plus 9

The locker room was quiet with half of its occupants gone. It was a bit strange thinking about it, but eerie silence had become the norm after the initial breakout. Gone were the days where Esther couldn’t go five minutes without someone calling for her assistance from down the hallway or a notification blipped for her attention. This Engineering Bay, which she had visited on several occasions to check up on her technician patients, especially enjoyed being the center of chaos and raucous cajoling on this floor. But now, it was vacant beside the five who called it their base.

Footsteps called her attention to their base’s entrance. The tilted lockers straightened to reveal the intern as he wedged himself back into the locker room.

“They left?”

Joey nodded, leaning down by the table of supplies. He pulled out another backpack, identical to the ones the others had taken with them on the expedition, swinging it onto his back. He grabbed some of the extra spray paint canisters on the table, and stuck them into the backpack’s side pockets for easy access. He clipped his flashlight to the shoulder strap, tightening it.

“How far are you going today?” Esther asked, picking up another flashlight from the table.

“I want to see if I can get past the biology labs today,” Joey answered, stashing some of the extra batteries into another pocket. “There were a lot of aliens over there-”

“I’m coming with you.”

The intern paused in his preparations, looking up at her. The light on his shoulder missed her face, but she still had to squint to look at him. “Are you sure? Mr. Jiang said there might be an alien nest past there.”

Esther faltered, but still gave a resolute nod. There was only one department past the biology laboratories. Locked behind high security doors and hidden deep within a maze of hallways that only those with certain access levels could step into was the ARCNAV Laboratory. It was where the Navigators stationed worked out of sight of ordinary scientists. The experiments and research done there was the focus of most of this Station’s resources, but no one but those related to it knew what they were about. It was one of this Station’s few mysteries. Esther had to check for herself. This might be her only chance.

Joey could only nod. Regardless if he had persisted, she wouldn’t have changed her mind. Equipping herself with another flashlight alongside her penlight, she followed him out of their base, turning off the lanterns to conserve battery power on their way out. She was still wearing the shoes Hensley had given her originally, the toes still stuffed with paper. This would be the furthest she had ventured since they made their base here, and she didn’t want to take any chances.

All was clear in their part of the corridor. Just the usual darkness and the beams from their lights. If there was anything new, it was the lines of color decorating the floors and walls. They criss-crossed each other, creating guided paths, a testament to the technicians’ recent explorations. Each color held a different meaning. Orange meant generally safe, red was dangerous, yellow meant they should heed caution, and other colors like blue and green marked off different types of supplies.

The intern took the lead, taking light steps, almost skipping, as he followed an orange line extending toward the right. It wove through the piles of debris, dodging dangerous wires and footholes. It scaled the walls when there was no room to paint the ground, split into multiple directions at forks, merged with another color as it raced ahead. Sometimes, even their color guide had no way forward, and giant signs or notes were left instead. At one such junction, a wall of debris had barricaded the way forward. Joey peeked over the wall with his flashlight, scanning their blindspots before helping Esther up after him.

One glance and Esther was reminded that the others had it rough on their expeditions. There were remnants of pink splatters all over this section of the corridor, some which were painted over in parallel colors of orange and red. Some splotches were half black, burnt to some degree before they were crushed under someone’s body weight. She thought back to those times they returned smelling like burnt flesh, although none of them would be toting any burn wounds, or she would find stains on their clothes that would take effort to clean off.

“Be careful,” Joey cautioned as they crossed the scene. “There might be some Nereids around here. We didn’t actually clean them all up the last time.”

Their colored road came to an end a few steps further. It stopped right beside a locked door, a laboratory they had no access to. Esther recognized the number printed in block letters beside it as one of the biology labs, the ones that examined what bits of life they could find this far out in the solar system. This was the last area before they would reach the high security labs, a few more labs to go.

"I wonder if they’re the cause of the hull breaches," Esther muttered, staring down the dark corridor beyond the reach of her light. Joey was pulling out a can of orange paint beside her, preparing to continue their guide lines.

“Doctor, do you know what’s up ahead?”

Esther turned a glance at him, raising an eyebrow. Joey faltered from her look, twisting in spot. The light on his shoulder flashed over her head as he evaded her gaze. She continued staring at him, watching with a small smile on her lips as he backed up into the wall. The intern turned a meek look towards her, rubbing the back of his head with a free hand. That was all the answer she needed. Esther rolled her eyes with a sigh, taking over as the leader. She’d rather trust herself than the intern’s adventurous spirit.

“Has no one told you what’s beyond the Engineering Bay?”

“No one’s had the time. And then this happened,” the intern explained. “And...”

“Uh huh.”

The doctor stepped away from the protesting intern, inspecting the labs nearby. The trail stopped outside Lab 26C. She turned her light to the other side of the corridor. It was partially blocked by rubble from the ceiling, but she could make out the white numbers of 27C. Taking careful steps forward, Esther skirted the dense debris, checking corners for unwanted surprises. 28C, 29C, 30C, 31C...

She stopped at Lab 34C, or what should’ve been it anyways. Joey looked over her shoulder, his light pointing at the blocked door. A pile of rubble denied entry, covering both the door and the walls around it. The white numbers that should’ve announced its existence was also buried behind the debris, but she knew what it said.

“Is there something here?” the intern asked.

“No, there’s probably nothing,” Esther said, turning away from the pile. “If we continue this way, we’ll reach the entrance to ARCNAV.”

“Wait, really? It was here this whole time?”

Esther shook her head as the intern bounded ahead. She pulled his jacket back, although she was dragged forward by his momentum. He skidded to a stop, looking over his shoulder with a questioning expression.

“Weren’t you the one that said we had to be careful around here?” she said with an exasperated sigh.

Only then did the intern calm down again. He waited for her to catch up, and together they approached the ARCNAV lab. Joey took the lead again, tip toeing so he could see over certain piles of rubble while also leaning down to continue the line of orange. She watched with a raised brow as he poked his head out, flashing his light in corners created by the maze of debris and making sure everything was clear before giving her the nod of assurance.

“Wait.” Joey went through his routine, but this time he ducked back down, unzipping his backpack. He replaced his paint canister with a blowtorch, equipping a welding mask alongside it. They’d only found one of these masks, and the others had opted for the intern to have it. As Esther watched him slide the backpack back on and saw the nervous twitch in his arms, she understood why.

She followed him from a distance, taking careful steps out from the corner they had hid in. Sitting on the next pile of debris was a Nereid. Its face was turned away from them, staring at the darkness they had snuck through. She pointed her light further in as the intern went to deal with it and noticed several more just like it, all facing the same way. Even as one of their kind burnt into ashes, they didn’t move.

Joey returned to her position, flipping the mask up. He was huffing a bit as he glanced at what she was observing.

“Are they waiting for something?”

“I’m not sure.”

They drew closer, the blowtorch at the ready. Joey already had his welding mask flipped down, posing as Esther’s shield. This one didn’t react even when they intruded on its position. Joey reached up with the blowtorch, inflaming its lower fringe before it finally reacted to them. It reached out with its feelers, but the intern blasted it with the blowtorch as they backed away. Even as its pink arms were burnt black and peeled away, it still chased after them. It fed its own arms into the flames, and the burns engulfed the alien. The doctor watched wide eyed at the gradual disintegration. These things were as flammable as paper.

“You guys weren’t kidding,” she murmured.

She crouched to place a finger in the ash, rubbing her fingers together. The texture was the same as normal ash, if not a bit rubberier than burnt wood. It was a strange mixture of melted plastic and campfire ash. What were these creatures made of? They certainly weren’t carbon based creatures, not completely anyways.

“Umm, D-Doctor?” the intern quivered beside her.

“What?” she asked, glancing back at the dark stain of the other alien the intern had dispatched. Then she saw where his light was pointing to.

Approaching them was a Nereid. Even with the intern’s light pointed directly at it, they still couldn’t see its full size. The giant alien had a much paler complexion than the aliens she had seen. It had become closer to the color of skin now, albeit still a bit flushed. The indentations on its face were deeper, and as it rounded the bend and crawled onto the first pile of rubble, they could see faint indentations on the sides. It kept two thicker tendrils by its side beneath the indentations. As they stood frozen, it reached out toward them, and the aliens that had been standing guard lashed out at them.

“Run!”

They bolted toward the smaller aliens, zig-zagging to avoid their sticky arms. The intern wielded his blowtorch at the faster ones, warding them off with the flames. The sound of sizzling and the smell of burning flesh followed them. Esther ran ahead, skirting the aliens as they chased them with their outstretched tentacles.

There were only a few more labs until the entrance of ARCNAV. Esther scrambled over another pile of debris, landing with a limp on the other side. She grimaced, feeling the pain shoot up her knees as she chugged on ahead. Almost there!

The closer she got, the more aliens there were blocking her path. Desperate, she slammed into some of them at full force, feeling the alien bodies give way under her weight before her shoulder collided with the floor. Esther rolled out of the grasp of those closing in, rushing straight ahead where her light pointed. It had to be around here somewhere.

“There it is!” she pointed her light above the waving of aliens. A door that looked no different from all the other labs was just up ahead. If there was a difference, it’d be the large silver letters spelling ARCNAV embellished on the double doors and the gaping hole where more aliens were spilling out as the two charged forward.

“There was a nest here!” Joey cried, pulling on Esther’s wrist before she could take another step toward it.

She watched as he fought off the new wave of aliens, staring as they ran past the ARCNAV lab. She turned her light back the way they came. The giant alien wasn’t chasing after them, only sending more of its minions in its stead as it approached the ARCNAV door. The doctor wrenched her gaze away, focusing on where she was placing her feet instead.

The intern had taken off his welding mask, wielding it as a shield as he smashed aliens away from them with it. She stuck close to him, pointing her light in the direction where there weren’t as many of them. Where did so many of them come from?

“Psst! Over here!” a voice called out from the wall.

The two exchanged looks, and Esther pointed her light over at where the voice came from. One of the labs had cracked their door open, and a light shined back at them.

“In here! Hurry!”

They exchanged another look before charging straight at the door, letting it slam shut behind them. Hearing the bangs on the other side, they hurried away from the door. Joey handed over the blowtorch to Esther as he began stacking boxes and chairs against the door in the usual barricade. They and their rescuer retreated toward the back of the main lab area, finally hearing the aliens’ crashes fade away.

Esther sagged to the ground, sitting with her back against the wall as she hugged the flashlight. Joey dropped his backpack beside her, unclipping his light so he could address their rescuer. She heard his gasp, and looked up to see a purple uniform similar to the technicians’ blue one. Two stars were printed on her sleeves, and the same two stars were emblazoned on her chest. There was only one department that wore purple in space.

“You’re a Navigator,” she murmured looking at the young girl who stood before them.

***