Day 11
PhantasyPen
Big Friendly Doggo
- Location
- Some call it hell, I call it Detroit
My hearts were pounding in my chest, terror filling my mind like the iron dust clouds that would sweep across the surface of my home world. My pupils were wide and frantic, taking in everything inside the section of the ship that I had sealed myself in, as my audio receptors heard the tell-tale sound of *It* stomping Its way through the ship. It was hunting for me, I was the only one left on this forsaken ship besides It, and I knew It wouldn't stop until it had me. Even now I could here Its breathing, rasping as It drew closer.
Before all of this horrific mess had started, It had been just another member of my ship's crew, our navigator to be specific. We had found a large asteroid while in the middle of returning to refuel and restock. Preliminary scans indicated that the lump of rock contained a large amount of gold inside of it, and we decided we would try to take a look at it and see if it could be mined. If we had possessed even an inkling of what would happen next, we would have probably turned around right then and there, and never turned back. Alas, I didn't think to listen to that shiver in my carapace until it was far too late.
For the first Galactic Standard Rotation, everything seemed to be going just fine. We landed our ship on the asteroid, and sent a survey team down in vacuum suits in order to take a look a closer look at the hunk of rock to see if it was worth our time to crack out the equipment for an "off the books" mining operation. After about one Galactic Standard Hour the "ground crew," as it was, reported back up to the ship that thought they could see hints of gold ore veins running throughout the surface of the lump of space rock, just like scans had reported.
Once the "ground crew" returned to the ship, we all returned to our cabins to enjoy our meals, and the supply officers informed me we were beginning to run low on necessary supplies, we would need to find a station as soon as we were finished with this rock. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me just *how* low our supplies were at that time.
You know, it's funny, I always sort of knew that Its species were predators, and that they subsisted on the flesh of prey animals in order to live, that was common knowledge throughout the Galaxy, even though most races capable of space flight were herbivorous prey species.
It was the third day of this off-the-books mission when another asteroid suddenly struck our ship, damaging our engines, and rendering us dead in the black, unable to move or leave. Our engineers did the best they could, but in the end, the damage was too severe, and they weren't able to repair it well enough to get us anywhere. We set up the distress beacon, and I decided we would have no choice but to sit back and wait. We were helpless out here, so the best thing to do would simply be to hope for the best, and pray to whatever deities we all believed in that a rescue would come soon.
It was unfortunate, but rather obvious considering how off the standard star lanes we were, but in the end, no rescue ship had arrived. We were trapped, and in response, I began to ration our remaining supplies, making sure that what precious little we had lasted for as long as it possibly could. The mistake I didn't know I was making then, but am unfortunately all-too-aware of now is that I was rationing based on what most non-predator species needed, and I didn't even think to listen to complaints.
When the first of our crew went missing, it confused the hell out of the rest of us. There was no space suit missing, and none of the escaped pods or tools had been taken either. We had a cursory inspection of the various places on the ship, but none of us even thought to look in Its room, or any of the other crew quarters for that matter.
That first corpse apparently managed to sate It for a time, but unfortunately It became hungry again eventually, when that first crewman ran out. By that time however, we had all stopped talking to one another, hope for a rescue dwindled away and gone. None of us kept an eye on It, none of us noticed that It had become little more than a feral monster, sizing all of us up for Its next meal.
Its found me now, I can hear It banging on the metal door. I can only pray that It doesn't make it into here.
Wait, the banging stopped, why would it stop? Did It get distracted by-
A screw falls from the vent, and I scream as I stare into the face of a human, the face of a predator, for the last time.
Before all of this horrific mess had started, It had been just another member of my ship's crew, our navigator to be specific. We had found a large asteroid while in the middle of returning to refuel and restock. Preliminary scans indicated that the lump of rock contained a large amount of gold inside of it, and we decided we would try to take a look at it and see if it could be mined. If we had possessed even an inkling of what would happen next, we would have probably turned around right then and there, and never turned back. Alas, I didn't think to listen to that shiver in my carapace until it was far too late.
For the first Galactic Standard Rotation, everything seemed to be going just fine. We landed our ship on the asteroid, and sent a survey team down in vacuum suits in order to take a look a closer look at the hunk of rock to see if it was worth our time to crack out the equipment for an "off the books" mining operation. After about one Galactic Standard Hour the "ground crew," as it was, reported back up to the ship that thought they could see hints of gold ore veins running throughout the surface of the lump of space rock, just like scans had reported.
Once the "ground crew" returned to the ship, we all returned to our cabins to enjoy our meals, and the supply officers informed me we were beginning to run low on necessary supplies, we would need to find a station as soon as we were finished with this rock. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me just *how* low our supplies were at that time.
You know, it's funny, I always sort of knew that Its species were predators, and that they subsisted on the flesh of prey animals in order to live, that was common knowledge throughout the Galaxy, even though most races capable of space flight were herbivorous prey species.
It was the third day of this off-the-books mission when another asteroid suddenly struck our ship, damaging our engines, and rendering us dead in the black, unable to move or leave. Our engineers did the best they could, but in the end, the damage was too severe, and they weren't able to repair it well enough to get us anywhere. We set up the distress beacon, and I decided we would have no choice but to sit back and wait. We were helpless out here, so the best thing to do would simply be to hope for the best, and pray to whatever deities we all believed in that a rescue would come soon.
It was unfortunate, but rather obvious considering how off the standard star lanes we were, but in the end, no rescue ship had arrived. We were trapped, and in response, I began to ration our remaining supplies, making sure that what precious little we had lasted for as long as it possibly could. The mistake I didn't know I was making then, but am unfortunately all-too-aware of now is that I was rationing based on what most non-predator species needed, and I didn't even think to listen to complaints.
When the first of our crew went missing, it confused the hell out of the rest of us. There was no space suit missing, and none of the escaped pods or tools had been taken either. We had a cursory inspection of the various places on the ship, but none of us even thought to look in Its room, or any of the other crew quarters for that matter.
That first corpse apparently managed to sate It for a time, but unfortunately It became hungry again eventually, when that first crewman ran out. By that time however, we had all stopped talking to one another, hope for a rescue dwindled away and gone. None of us kept an eye on It, none of us noticed that It had become little more than a feral monster, sizing all of us up for Its next meal.
Its found me now, I can hear It banging on the metal door. I can only pray that It doesn't make it into here.
Wait, the banging stopped, why would it stop? Did It get distracted by-
A screw falls from the vent, and I scream as I stare into the face of a human, the face of a predator, for the last time.