vicinity. Ashland stumbled through the hallways and tripped over something lying in the middle of one of the corridors. It was so vivid that he felt pain in his knees. Turning towards the object he saw that it was a body, or had been at one point. It was completely mauled with claw marks all over the back and blood slowly leaking out all over the floor. He felt wetness all over his fingers and lifted it up to his eyes. It looked black in the dim light, but Ash knew what it was, blood.
Almost in slow motion he reached over and turned the dead body around to reveal a face he knew well. Gazer Tralwin’s dead eyes stared up at him. He helped him for a moment before the man’s mouth moved, but his eyes stayed completely dead and unblinking.
“You…you did this…you stole…you killed us all.”
In horror and shock Ashland pushed the body away and crawled at the wall to pull himself up. His world turned in circles around him as he tried to think of where to run. Screams echoing from one direction made the choice for him, causing him to run as fast as possible towards his quarters. It seemed like forever, but he finally reached them and the door opened for him like a mother’s waiting arms. He ran inside the room like a scared little child, all thought leaving his body. The only thing in his head was to get into bed and try to get the dream to end.
Complete darkness surrounded him as he pulled the covers over himself and shut his eyes, praying for himself to wake up, but to no avail. As he lay there the ground seemed to vibrate beneath him. A growl resounded outside his room and something massive smashed against his room door. Ashland could swear he felt the door buckle and waited for the end to come. Again he was disappointed as silence filled the room for a moment, then two before a sudden loud metallic ripping sound filled the room. A rough heavy breathing sound filled the room, a sound almost akin to that of a bear. It moved closer and closer to his bed before stopping directly above him.
Ashland was shaking with fear and try as he might to contain himself, sound left him in whispers as he willed himself to get up. When nothing happened he opened his eyes under the sheets with his heart pounding mercilessly. At always the exact same instance that his eyes snapped open, three massive claws pierced the covers and ripped them away. For a split second he saw what seemed to be a massive fur covered monster that glowed red. The thing let out deafening roar and lounged down at him.
The whole world collapsed after that moment. The last thing he felt was the thunderous earthquake move through the entire habitat.
51 Years Prior
SS-824 Star System, Uncharted Sector Six
Hand-in-Friendship FEDC Consulate
“There it is again,” Laria sighed to herself with a hint of annoyance as her fingers pushed against the earpiece just a little harder. “Every two days now for the past two weeks. I still have no idea what’s going on and neither does the computer.”
Her entire body existed in a tense state as her mind stormed with frustration. Try as she might, Laria, the chief communications expert on the ball of floating rock that they called the Consulate, couldn’t make heads or tails of the noise coming through the station’s sensors. For the most part she could only tell that the origin was somewhere within the dead solar system. Its exact location, however, was totally illusive for the time being. The static-like transmission always came in second long microbursts and didn’t seem to have any known pattern, except for the sole fact that each series sounded alike.
“Same static as before?” came a question from behind her, causing Laria to turn quickly towards the room’s entrance.
In the entrance stood a man leaning against the door frame with a clear cup of dark fluid cupped in his hands. He let out a small smirk at Laria’s fright and blew off some of
Almost in slow motion he reached over and turned the dead body around to reveal a face he knew well. Gazer Tralwin’s dead eyes stared up at him. He helped him for a moment before the man’s mouth moved, but his eyes stayed completely dead and unblinking.
“You…you did this…you stole…you killed us all.”
In horror and shock Ashland pushed the body away and crawled at the wall to pull himself up. His world turned in circles around him as he tried to think of where to run. Screams echoing from one direction made the choice for him, causing him to run as fast as possible towards his quarters. It seemed like forever, but he finally reached them and the door opened for him like a mother’s waiting arms. He ran inside the room like a scared little child, all thought leaving his body. The only thing in his head was to get into bed and try to get the dream to end.
Complete darkness surrounded him as he pulled the covers over himself and shut his eyes, praying for himself to wake up, but to no avail. As he lay there the ground seemed to vibrate beneath him. A growl resounded outside his room and something massive smashed against his room door. Ashland could swear he felt the door buckle and waited for the end to come. Again he was disappointed as silence filled the room for a moment, then two before a sudden loud metallic ripping sound filled the room. A rough heavy breathing sound filled the room, a sound almost akin to that of a bear. It moved closer and closer to his bed before stopping directly above him.
Ashland was shaking with fear and try as he might to contain himself, sound left him in whispers as he willed himself to get up. When nothing happened he opened his eyes under the sheets with his heart pounding mercilessly. At always the exact same instance that his eyes snapped open, three massive claws pierced the covers and ripped them away. For a split second he saw what seemed to be a massive fur covered monster that glowed red. The thing let out deafening roar and lounged down at him.
The whole world collapsed after that moment. The last thing he felt was the thunderous earthquake move through the entire habitat.
51 Years Prior
SS-824 Star System, Uncharted Sector Six
Hand-in-Friendship FEDC Consulate
“There it is again,” Laria sighed to herself with a hint of annoyance as her fingers pushed against the earpiece just a little harder. “Every two days now for the past two weeks. I still have no idea what’s going on and neither does the computer.”
Her entire body existed in a tense state as her mind stormed with frustration. Try as she might, Laria, the chief communications expert on the ball of floating rock that they called the Consulate, couldn’t make heads or tails of the noise coming through the station’s sensors. For the most part she could only tell that the origin was somewhere within the dead solar system. Its exact location, however, was totally illusive for the time being. The static-like transmission always came in second long microbursts and didn’t seem to have any known pattern, except for the sole fact that each series sounded alike.
“Same static as before?” came a question from behind her, causing Laria to turn quickly towards the room’s entrance.
In the entrance stood a man leaning against the door frame with a clear cup of dark fluid cupped in his hands. He let out a small smirk at Laria’s fright and blew off some of
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