“When I pictured an advanced alien spaceship I imagined everything smooth and sleek, but this…” Nikolay indicated the chunky ribs of metal and the machines and objects stained with what might be grease or oil, “…it’s like something we might build, simple and functional.”
“Give it chance, Chief, this is just one room and, if it is a maintenance workshop, sleek and smooth ain’t needed, is it?”
Nikolay shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“I’m sure the rest of the ship will be more impressive and more like the alien spaceship we all imagined.”
Some of the other engineers entered and shone flashlights around the room.
“Go no further than this doorway,” warned Nikolay, as he walked back to the hole in the hull, stepped out and gazed along the ice tunnel. The borer had done better than expected and had reached the hull after a few hours. He pulled out his radio and contacted the ship. “Captain, we are in. The spaceship is all yours.”
“Well done, Nikolay. You and your men’s efforts won’t be forgotten when we return to the Motherland. I’ll be there with the exploration team shortly.”
Thirty minutes later, the captain and the exploration team joined Nikolay and his men in the alien workshop. The men were busy collecting anything that looked technologically advanced and was easily portable.
While his men handed out the spare weapons they had brought with them to the salvage engineers, the Captain had a brief word with Nikolay.
“We’ll make our way through the ship to the higher levels and mark our passage and any rooms with technology worth salvaging as discussed. Though we’ll clear the route of any alien monsters we come across, others might come, so ensure your team keep the weapons with them at all times.”
“I will, and good luck, Captain.” Nikolay watched the men head for the exit.
Captain Brusilov led his team out through the workshop and shone his light into the corridor the exit opened onto and checked both directions. Two nearby doors revealed another storeroom and what seemed to be, by the screens on the tables and a bank of equipment similar to a large computer terminal along one wall, an office of some sort. He ordered two of his men to notify Nikolay about the computers and then remain in the corridor to protect the engineers while they salvaged the equipment.
At the end of the corridor were a large door that seemed to be an elevator and a metal staircase that led to a higher level. Believing the armory would be on one of the upper levels to be easily accessible if the weapons were needed in an emergency, they headed up the staircase and stepped out into a similar corridor as the one below. Along its length doors stood open to dark rooms where anything could be hiding. Brusilov headed in the direction leading to the center of the colossal vessel. They cautiously checked each room before they passed to ensure nothing was going to jump out at them or come up behind them and marked the rooms containing anything of worth with a spray-painted tick.
When they came to the first closed door―which might indicate something important was stored inside―Brusilov halted the team. He doubted it was the armory, but if it was, the main focus of their mission would soon be completed. Brusilov pressed the door control. Orange light seeped into the corridor as the door rasped open. The ominous squeal that accompanied it sent a shiver through the men. All wore surprised expressions when they peered through the doorway and drifted farther into the room.
Gunfire lit up the darkness and echoed along the corridor. Hunters screeched as bullets tore into them. Richard whimpered and backed away, but found his retreat blocked by the two soldiers ordered to guard their reluctant guide. When the Hunters had appeared, Richard’s previous nightmare encounters with the monsters had washed over him. Infected with fear, he slid down the wall and covered his head with his arms, dulling the deafening gunfire and the horrific gut-wrenching screeches.
The gunshots ended as the surviving Hunters retreated when they realized they couldn’t survive the onslaught from the humans’ deadly weapons.
Talbot looked at the cowering man and shook his head. “The man who saved the world from aliens! My arse he did.”
Richard tilted his head and glared at the man. “Your time will come.”
“On your feet, hero,” ordered Jenkins.
Richard glanced along the corridor at the six members of the SEAL team at its far end. One of them beckoned him. Richard climbed to his feet and reluctantly walked towards the men. His eyes flicked across the mass of Hunter corpses and the SEALs positioned at the T-Junction with their weapons trained along the corridor. Brody stepped up to a writhing creature and shot it in the head, stilling its pain-wracked throes.
While some of his men reloaded, Colbert turned to Richard. “Which way now?”
Richard searched his memory for any recollection of his surroundings. He thought they might be near the staircase where Haax had killed the Clickers, but he had been so scared at the time he had taken little notice of his surroundings or how far they had travelled.
Richard pointed along the corridor. “We go left, and if I’m remembering correctly, a little farther along there should be a short corridor on the right leading to a room with a staircase that leads up to the map room level.”
“Okay, men, let’s go. Ramirez, Sullivan, take point.”
Richard waited until the men had moved off and followed with his guards close behind.
The seven surviving Hunters headed back through the ship and away from the intruders with the weapons that dealt death from afar. When they had sensed something was happening to their now unstable world, their instinct to survive had led them to investigate the drafts of fresh air that intermittently wafted through the spaceship. Turned back by the strange intruders they sought another way to escape. When they had returned to their domain, they rested. When a small lump of ice thudded to the ground, one of the Hunters gazed up at the roof and the large patch of ice it had fallen from. It studied it for a few moments before climbing to its feet. It growled for the others to follow and started climbing the walls.
Though the SEALs had been apprehensive about heading deeper into the spaceship with the monsters and the unknown dangers they were certain to encounter, after the Hunters had proven easy to kill, the men were now confident they had enough effective firepower to handle anything the ship threw at them.
Richard was the only one who knew better. His eyes shifted enviously to the weapon held by the man directly in front. When the first man died he’d make sure he grabbed the dead man’s weapon.
The team halted at the bottom of the staircase and looked at the scattered Clicker skeletons that decorated its treads and the floor around its base. Every carcass had been stripped of flesh and was covered in teeth and claw marks. The soldiers showed particular interest in the neat round holes in the ribcages.
Crowe knelt and fingered the smooth cuts around the edges of the ribs before glancing at Richard. “Are these the monsters that Haax alien killed with the light beam weapon?”
Richard nodded. “We named them Clickers. You’ll know why if we meet any. The weapon Haax used shot a ball of light, not a beam.” He glanced up the staircase. “And he didn’t kill them all, so some might still be up there, waiting for us.”
Ramirez slapped his weapon. “It might not be alien technology, but it kills aliens just as effectively, whatever species is it.”
Richard shook his head. They had no idea and he doubted many would survive. Shadowed by his two babysitters, Richard followed the testosterone-fuelled men up the stairs.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!