My homework submission for my online writing group. This week’s prompt is “There was something there. (S)He knew it.”

Day 76: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Part 1)

The year is 20XX. A new wave of alien mutants surge across the galaxy. They take the form of humans, but for only one purpose: the consumption of true humans. With mysterious murders and cannibalizations now becoming the norm, all space crews across the universe are on edge. We try our best to stay isolated from others as much as possible, but sometimes the die rolls one.

Today, our space crew lands at a docking station to restock and refuel for whatever our next stretch of isolation will be. And just our luck, the docking station goes into full-lockdown. Someone has sabotaged the electrical generator, and the engineer sent to repair it has found themselves dismembered. At the same time, various other systems have been sabotaged, and the entire docking station has been thrown into chaos. Panicking and with no other options available, the station captain rounds up all crew members from all space crews at the docking station entrance, doles out a series of tasks needed to be done to restore order to the station, and shoves us out into the wild. With the sparse amount of information given, the remaining crew members dash out to complete their tasks. Everyone accept me. I still had no idea what the heck was going on. Even my own crewmmate left without saying a word. I’ll remember this, Buag.

The docking station was actually built ontop of a decently-asteriod, and was mostly barrent except for some stark and bleeding eyesores of buildings. I quickly checked my PDA to confirm my location and the location of my first task, and noted it was in the electrical building closet to me. The same building where the mutilated engineer laid slain. Fantastic. Just absolutely phenomenal. I continue cursing my luck under my breath, and make my way towards the electrical building.

Once I reach the electrical building, I note how small it is. One entrance, one exit. If I were to be caught while doing my task by… whatever killed the engineer, I probably would not fare any better. I instinctively open the door as quickly as possibly, and peer into the darkness to glance for any other entities. Nothing strikes me as out of the ordinary in the pitch-black darkness, so I take out my flashlight and make my way towards the back of the building. While walking towards the back, I step in something slippery. And squishy. And blue. But mostly red. Knowing exactly what this was, I continue walking past the blue engineer, trying my best to erase the memory of what little of the scene I witnessed.

After some fumbling in the dark, I find the electrical panel I was looking for. A series of colored wires hang neatly sliced from their center, and I thanked the space gods that this job would be easy. One.. two… three.. And four. I tied the colored cords to their missing other halves, and just as I finish tying up the last wire, I hear it. The front door behind me quickly opens and closes. I turn around to confirm who… or what just scurried inside, but it’s still pitch dark. Whatever came in was not making its way towards my flashlight, so the only other place it could hide… would be behind the wall divider. The very same wall divider that had the electrical breaker to reset the generator. And I was on the other side of this wall. Damn it, damn it, damn it, of all the idiotic architectural choices! Realizing that this wall divider was the only thing standing between me and this.. thing, I resigned myself to my fate.

“Hey! Whoever’s over there, if you could just hurry up and eat me, I’d like to get on with my next life. ”

No response. Great, just one more annoying task before I finally kick the bucket. Sighing exhaustedly, I make my way around the wall divider, and find… nothing. No menacing alien with rows of teeth and a horribly expensive dental plan to make a quick happy meal out of me. Whatever. I fumble my way around the wall, and find the electrical breaker. The comically oversized lever was ready to fulfill its destiny, and with a quick yank, the docking station became reignited with light. I make one more quick scan around the area, and spot nothing of the mysterious entity that entered the building earlier. But weirdly enough, I felt something watching me. I knew it was somewhere. I look up, the last place I hadn’t consciously searched, and soon find a pink blob collapsing on top of me.

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