T-Plus 9

The lights from the depths of the Engineering Bay were a faint glow outside the range of their flashlights. The further they stepped, the dimmer it got, until eventually the intern’s faint outline faded into the shadows. The heavy thuds of two sets of technician boots accompanied by the lighter steps of worn dress shoes reverberated within the dark hallway, following the lead of flashlight beams. No one spoke, concentrating on navigating what remained of their former workplace and home.

Oliver picked his way around piles of debris, using the lines of red and orange to surmise the correct route. Some of the lines were painted over dried splatters; others dodged the floor altogether and swept the middle of the wall, cutting some of the doors they passed in half with color. They were the fruits of Joey and Soup’s efforts, symbols of safe passage within the lightless corridors, although the stray alien still popped up every few days. The pair of colors they were following curved back onto the ground, dodging the hole in the wall that was the clinic’s entrance. They paused beside the entrance, pointing one of the lights toward the half-buried gap.

“You remember the way from here?” Daniel asked the other two.

“Even if we didn’t,” Soup answered, “it wouldn’t be hard to find.”

“We’d fall into it before getting lost,” Oliver laughed, pointing his flashlight forward again. “What, you haven’t seen it, Daniel?”

“Nah, I usually patrol the other direction, so this is the furthest I’ve been after we settled up here,” the other technician replied.

“You’re in for a surprise.”

The trio continued forward, their lights reaching the end of the colored trail. To their right were the stairs leading down to the first floor. A barricade woven from debris blocked most of the entrance. The giant red ‘X’ that crisscrossed the pile, clipping the walls with its ends, marked it as a dangerous location. Oliver pointed his light toward the top of the barricade, swinging the beam left and right. He couldn’t hear anything nor did the light reveal any squiggling arms reaching up to climb over. He checked behind them as well, and saw nothing. The other two had their lights pointed at the dark corners he wasn’t checking as they moved beyond their marked path.

Soup brought out a spray paint bottle, shaking it. The rattling of the marble in the bottle was added to their meager collection of sounds. He tested out the paint, pointing the nozzle at the ground. With a press, a stream of orange spat itself out. A few more shakes and he connected the old lines to where Oliver and Daniel were waiting. As they pressed forward, Soup added the new path, walking while leaning over to keep the colored line intact.

“It should be around here,” Oliver muttered as he kept his light pointed downward. He shuffled forward, careful of where he was setting his feet. The sound of a pebble’s clatter warned him of his peril. The front of his foot felt nothing beneath it before he reeled backwards, finding a safe haven for his feet.

“Woah, never mind, found it. Watch your step.”

His light revealed the gaping hole in the floor that led down to the second floor. Keeping his feet planted, Oliver leaned forward to peer down into the abyss. It looked the same as when they had climbed out of it. If anything, it was worse peering down into it. At the very bottom, past the multitudes of steel beams and iron rods and concrete, was a tiny pinprick of light. His original flashlight was still working even after so long.

“Aww, are you telling me this hole actually goes all the way down?” Daniel complained, pointing his own light to see it reach the floor of the second floor. “What were the concrete guys doing?”

“Don’t scold them too harshly,” Soup said. “After all, it’s thanks to their carelessness that we have a way down.”

Ignoring their bickering, Oliver clipped the flashlight to his backpack’s shoulder. The others’ lights kept the entrance illuminated just enough to find a good foothold. He crouched by the hole, stabilizing his arms while lowering himself until his right foot found a sturdy position. He did the same for his left foot, angling his shoulder so he could see where his foot was swinging. Oliver glanced past where his feet, staring at the distant pinprick. Why did it seem like climbing up had been faster?

One of the other’s lights beamed down on him, lighting up more of the climb down. He looked up to see the other two had finally stopped debating on whether or not scolding the construction workers of the Station had any merit, which was something that Oliver had already decided was pointless. Daniel had circled around the hole with the orange spray paint, pointing his light at the path further down past were Soup was shining his. With a nod of thanks, Oliver freed one foot again, lowering himself further.

The clatter of small debris and pebbles accompanied his climb down. With his shoulder always at a precarious downward angle, Oliver shifted his foot yet again. Another pebble began its wayward roll down. He paused, waiting for the distant clatter to recede, before starting his descent again. One foot and hand at a time, he proceeded down, sometimes having to backtrack when he ran into deadends. Eventually, his feet made it to the solid floor at the bottom. He was on the second floor. It might’ve taken longer than going up, but it sure had been less rough.

Oliver picked up the dim flashlight still doing its job, turning the light off and stowing it away into his backpack. He unclipped the light on his shoulder, turning it to point upwards. Soup was making his way down next, choosing the same route Oliver had taken to get down. After the third almost accident, Oliver stepped closer to the debris pile, tensed and ready to catch the engineer if his foot ever actually did slip. Luckily, it never made it that far.

Soup set his feet on the ground, jubilant despite the near falls. He wiped his sweat off with his sleeve, fishing his paint can back out of its pocket. Daniel was... significantly more reckless with his choices. Perhaps it was the freedom of finally being able to use his legs again, but even Oliver blanched at how his friend climbed down. Correction, not climb, leap. Daniel made it to the bottom in half the time it had taken Oliver and Soup by themselves by letting go and falling a bit before slowing himself again.

The technician dusted off the debris residue from his hands. On closer inspection, his hands were red, and small scratches marked his palms and fingers. There were some longer scrapes on his arms once he rolled his sleeves up. In some areas, his skin had cracked and peeled. Due to luck, or maybe he had calculated this, none were bleeding, although there were some dark red dots just below the surface. Daniel just shrugged them off, blowing on the skin abrasions before fixing his sleeves.

“We barely left, and you’ve already gotten hurt,” Oliver sighed, shaking his head.

Daniel laughed it off, waving away his concern. Well, whatever, Soup had his spray paint again, already starting a new line down here. The three of them turned away from the hole, lighting up the second floor. The situation here was already worse than the other two floors from day one. Back then, debris were piled high and cluttered the corridor. It was worse now after the second post-alien hull breach. The piles that had littered the corridor had spread themselves, revealing some doors that Oliver remembered had been blocked originally while blocking others.

“Oh, this’ll be a pain to clean up later,” Daniel muttered.

“This is worse than before,” Soup added, taking a step forward.

Oliver nodded, stepping onto the first hill of debris. With the higher vantage point, he could see further down the corridor. As expected, he could see more debris than the floor. It’d be a trip full of footholes and sharp edges if they weren’t careful. Not that that was their worst concern. Lurking among the shadows of the corridor, his flashlight caught their new viscous neighbors. Some even sat upon the further hills, lazing about as they patrolled. Even from this distance, he could see their malformed indented faces. The technician ducked back down, pulling the other two who were about to join him.

“We have some trouble,” he said, gesturing over the hill.

“How many?” Daniel asked.

“Not sure. I counted at least ten,” Oliver sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He should’ve remembered there was a nest here on the second floor. If they were lucky, the wall of debris was still blocking the second floor entrance off, and they wouldn’t be swarmed from the Nereids hiding in the stairwell.

Soup switched from orange paint to red paint, spraying another ‘X’ at the bottom of the hill they were standing behind. Oliver clipped his flashlights back onto his shoulder straps as the Daniel took out the blowtorches they had packed. He followed, taking out his own. Soup held onto his paint cans, ready to follow either him or Daniel across the imminent battlefield.

“Did you see any doors we could duck into?” Daniel inquired, zipping up his backpack again. He made sure the flashlight was strapped on tight before helping Soup with his.

Oliver nodded, tightening his straps as well. He would have to check which doors led where when they were closer to one, but some of the storage rooms nearby weren’t blocked by debris. He climbed back up on the hill, peering over to check which door was the nearest. There were two to their left, side-by-side. They were hidden behind a smaller pile of debris, making it one of the clearer areas in this section of the corridor. Only one alien sat in their way, unless a few more were hiding in blindspots. He pointed the doors out to the others, who had climbed up after him.

“One door at a time then?” Soup confirmed.

“Might as well,” Daniel said. “Should just be electrical supplies around here, though. We won’t find much of use.” He paused for a moment, gesturing at the ceiling. “Unless we plan on fixing the power eventually.”

“That’d be nice,” Oliver said with another nod. “But we’d need a lot more than just the spares.”

“Just an idea.”

Daniel headed down the hill first, flicking on his blowtorch as he approached the visible alien. The moment he got into its radius, the alien’s feelers approached him followed by its main body. Oliver kept an eye out for any other aliens nearby, his blowtorch at the ready. Daniel was already burning the alien before them from its tendrils. The closer it got to him, the more it cauterized and burnt to ash. Oliver and Soup circled around Daniel and approached the first door. He pulled it open, slipping inside. Oliver followed him in, keeping the door open for Daniel.

Inside was, as Daniel said, empty shelves that used to hold electrical supplies. Most of the supplies had tumbled to the ground now, spread into every corner. Boxes had tipped over, spilling its contents among the heavy spares. There wasn’t a clear spot on the floor, and sorting through this would take a few hours. Soup was making a sweep with his flashlight, picking up anything of interest. Eventually, he turned to the door again, shaking his head. They exited and slipped into the room next door.

The situation in this room wasn’t much different from the neighboring room. From what he could tell, this room held different electrical supplies. There were a few battery boxes by his foot as he entered, which he picked up and tossed into his bag. Soup found another box holding a different type of battery. He held it up, and Oliver nodded. They stashed the batteries they found, and headed back out.

The other technician was still fending off the alien, although the fight was almost over. The pinky flesh had dwindled down to half its core, and Daniel was just pushing his blowtorch into its body, turning its body black. As they approached him, he had the rest of the alien obliterated into ash. He straightened, popping his wrists and dusting off the ash that clung to the edge of his sleeves.

There weren’t any more clear paths to another door in this section of the corridor. Oliver pointed his light toward where the stairwell was. As they skirted the aliens, clinging to the wall, they rounded the bend and saw the wall of debris that had blocked the stairwell had collapsed. A multitude of aliens covered the walls and floor, spilling into the stairwell. The mob of aliens dispersed a little further past them, but they would have to power through tens of aliens to even make it over there. If they stepped any closer, Oliver had no doubt they would all turn and rush at them.

As the trio contemplated their options, Soup’s light caught the head of one alien approaching from the far side of the corridor. It was taller than its peers by half an alien, and had a much paler complexion than the aliens swarming around it. It could still be considered pink, but it was like the pink of flushed skin compared to flesh pink. The indentations on its face were deeper, and when it turned, they could see faint indentations on the sides. It kept two thicker tendrils by its side beneath the indentations, unlike its brethren that often kept multiple feelers out.

“It’s gaining more features,” Soup murmured, horrified. “How are they evolving?”

“We should retreat,” Oliver advised, pulling them back toward the hole up to the third floor. He found out the hard way that their evolutions usually included a wider radius.

They took one step, their lights revealing more of the giant alien. It slid closer toward them, angling toward the open stairwell. The speed it was moving was faster than its peers, using its larger bulk to push the smaller ones out of the way. They were retreating slower than it was approaching. Their beams hit it in the face, showing how deep the indentations had become. Even the indentation that represented its nose had become more pronounced. As the giant alien came into view, the smaller aliens gathered around it. The aliens that were behind them came forward, some of them sliding off their hills, others appearing from their hiding spots among the debris. The trio clung to the wall, edging toward the storage rooms.

“We picked an optimal time, huh,” Daniel whispered.

Their lights left the crowd of aliens as they slipped into the closest storage room. They shut the door behind them, sliding some of the nearby shelves in front of it. It probably wouldn’t hold if an avalanche of aliens smashed against it, but it was better than nothing. They cleared a space on the floor, setting their backpacks down.

“What’re we going to do? The kitchen is past them,” Soup said.

“We might have to wait it out,” Oliver replied, rearranging his backpack. “I don’t want to risk running past that big one.”

Daniel nodded his agreement. He was also rearranging his backpack, pulling out the extra blowtorch and unclipping his flashlight. He attached both to his belt before opening the door to poke his head out. He stuck the light out, peering out into the corridor. He retracted himself after a moment.

“I can’t see the big one, but it looks like most of them have disappeared into the stairwell. They’re still moving.”

“Let’s give it a moment,” Oliver decided. “I don’t like the idea of that large group moving elsewhere, but if the big one takes more with it, we should be able to break through the remaining ones.”

The other two nodded, deciding to comb through the supplies in detail as they waited. Hopefully, wherever those aliens were migrating to, they wouldn’t go upstairs and find their base.

***