Infestation!

“Susan?...”

Mary Osprey's eyes widened with shock, her mouth agape as she stared up at the thing blinking down at her. She wasn't able to form words after that realization, the terrifying experience seconds earlier had rendered her almost speechless. Sliding back in terror Dr. Faust looked over the creature staring at them all, holding her med-kit up like a shield in front of her. The thing stood on six legs joined at the hip, each limb having three joints and ending in a hoof like foot sporting two scissor sharp claws. Her entire body apart from the mop of black hair on her head was covered in a chalk white exoskeleton, a hardened carapace that was once her skin. Her stance was hunch-backed, her spine guarded by an oval shaped plate of chitin that was covered in white bumps the size of tea saucers, Melisa had no doubt those were future 'infectors' waiting to separate from her, to find a new host and spawn more of their kind, willing to repeat the horrific process all over again. Susan's arms had lengthened, covered in the same white armour her hands had fused into three fingered claws that snipped at the air as she looked down at her friends with black glossy eyes. Her work cloths were shredded and ruined, caked in blue gore from her fight, the only scraps left on her were her destroyed pants hanging off her like a loincloth and her shirt, ripped wide open at the back to make room for her hatchery. Her fangs and mandibles had retracted to give her the illusion of a humanoid face, the only except to this were her missing ears, flattened nose and doll-eyed stare.

Making eye contact with the doctor, Susan's eyes narrowed as her claws rubbed together. “Who you?” Leaning forward with lightning speed the arachnid hybrid looked her up and down, sniffing the air as she reared back again. “Don't know you, you smell funny.” Looking to the others and back at Susan, Melisa whimpered before Jake spoke up. “Suzy that's the doctor we came here with, she... She treated you after you got bit... Remember?” Snapping back to look at the blue jacketed woman cringing on the floor Susan scratched her head before looking to her friends again. “Susan what's happened to you?” Finding the courage to stand Mary reached forward to touch the arachnid woman's arm, her former friend looking down at the soft skinned hand before staring back. “No remember... Everything fuzzy... Why you claw so squishy?”

“Her Anaemia!” Shouted the doctor as she stood up with Jake, realization hitting her as Susan snapped her attention back at her. “When she suffered that anxiety attack and fell into a coma, blood flow to her brain dropped, it stunted her infection from the creature's venom, her body changed but some of her mind is still intact.” A click had alerted them back to the tables behind them, turning to its source they found Chief Clover, prone on the floor with a pistol aimed right at Susan. Coughing in pain the green vested man clutched at his side as his shaky hand aimed at the creature standing between him and the others. “Everyone... Back away from that thing.”

“Chief, its Susan! She's alright, she saved us.” Hacking up from the cracked ribs he held with his arm the chief pulled back the flint of his pistol and kept his aim. “That's NOT Susan Mary, not anymore, step away from it right-... Ahk!” The man never had a chance to finish his warning as Susan moved like a blur and slapped the offending weapon out of his shaky grip, the pistol firing off the wall and rattling under a chair a few meters away. Grabbing onto his jacket she lifted him up with inhuman strength, hissing up at him as he looked away in fear, her fangs and mandibles stretching free to rattle menacingly just as her tongue slithered out and aimed at his panicked shifting eye. “SUSAN! STOP!!!” Looking back at Jake as he called her name she turned back to the man in her clawed grasp and lowered him to his feet, her jaws folding back so she could speak. “Daddy-Man... No hurt! You no shoot!” Pressing a sharp talon against his chest the man nodded to the creature staring him down before she scuttled back to the others.

Gasping in pain as he held his hurt sides, Dr. Faust ran up to check on him, pulling a bind from her kit she used it to wrap his bad arm and guard his side. “Chief, she may be one of those things but she's in control of herself, she's still Susan Shell, we've got to get to the ship before its too late.” Hearing the clicking steps of dozens of arachnids crawling over the roof Harold nodded, leaning down to pick up his gun and wincing as he stood back up. “Know a way out of here... Susan? With a fanged smirk she smiled down at the man and scurried ahead, tearing the doors to the next corridor open with ease, the metal bending like tin as the she-creature **** a hole big enough for her friends to crawl through. “Fuck it... Lets get out of here.” Finding the strength to stand on his own again Harold led the remainder of the team down the corridor, running as best they could to catch up with their altered friend up ahead. “What the hell did she mean Daddy-Man?...”

***

The Northern Winds fired its directional thrusters in short bursts just as it fell into orbit on the dark side of the planet, tiny sparks of heat and thrust that flickered across its vast hull like landing markers were carefully fired in increments as it floated between Caliban and the gas giant Prospero. The ship had been fighting a game of tug-of-war with the two celestial bodies ever since it arrived here, their figure eight orbit with the binary stars DSX-2463 kept the bridge crew constantly on alert as they tried to keep a stable orbit with the dark grey planet below them. They knew that one wrong trajectory would have them either hurtling into the giant like a burning pebble or be torn apart by the asteroid rings that circled the stormy orange gas giant, just like Caliban's sister moon. The thing loomed around the ring of ice and stone like roadkill off a highway, a crescent hulk torn open and bleeding stone and ore as the molten core inside had gone cold.

Stepping back onto the bridge after being called up by his command crew Captain Huron looked over to the wide LCD screen, displaying the night side of Caliban it looked bleaker than when it was during the day. A single black sphere so pitch black it stood out even in the night blue of space behind it. “Helmsman give me a status report.” Turning to face him the young woman at the controls nodded before giving a report. “Sir, the six hour deadline has expired and we haven't heard anything from the team on the surface. I've tried contacting them but so far there hasn't been any answer.” Looking to the planet at the screen with a stern look, the Captain moved to his chair and sat, his gloved hand rubbed the square of his chin before looking back to his crew. “Are we within visual range of the station?” Nodding she typed a series of commands and the screen changed its display. Caliban was now separated by a green grid of mapped out lines determining longitude and latitude, a targeting square of four green glowing corners focused on a single point on the planet's surface and beeped once it wrapped around the desired quadrant. “We entered visual range about an hour ago sir, there is a sandstorm present but it seems to be dissipating.”

“Show me.”

Typing new commands at her station the screen focused and zoomed in on the square of space on the mapped surface, a marker at the far bottom right told the size difference to give the viewer a sense of scope from their current distance. ~1 metre/1000 kilometre scale~ The mapped out segment had been highlighted with blue lines offering topographical details along with virtual effects simulating the dying storm as it blew west. A tiny silver spec glittered in the upper right of the map grid where the rest was a bleak black ocean of sand and craggy rocks. “Zoom in on the far corner and magnify the image for me.” A green target square beeped over the desired space and blew it up over the screen, ~1 metre/100 kilometre scale~ From that the station became visible. From high above it looked like a silver and grey model toy, divided into six domes interlocked by long tubes for passageways. On the surface the station took up over two kilometres but on the display screen it looked the same size as a Christmas tree ornament. “Helmsman, what is that distortion?” Stepping forward to look closer at the display the Captain noticed an odd phenomenon, strange white flickers spread over one of the domes, it blurred the picture being displayed from the on-board ship cameras. “The display is working normally Sir, shall I focus on the distortion and zoom in?” After a second's thought he gesturing to the woman with a nod and she zoomed the picture again, the green targeting square narrowing over the blurring scene at the one dome near the landing pad and focused the image. ~1 metre/10 kilometre scale~

Blinking his eyes in confusion Captain Huron tried to make sense of what the screen displayed for him. “What is that?” What had appeared as a distortion earlier now looked rather disturbing to the rest of the crew at the bridge, tiny white dots were swarming over the surface of the dome structure like ants. Flowing over the thing as the surface became enveloped, going from a dull metallic colour to a pale glittering white. Still ever calm the captain turned to his helmsman and staff and asked out loud. “Can anyone here explain to me what I'm seeing right now?”

“I... I don't know sir but whatever it is... Its flat out creepy.”

***

“There's the pressure doors.” Called out Jake, practically colliding with the massive gate entry to stop himself as the rest came to a halt feet behind him. Harold typed in the commands to open the doors, sweat dripping down his hair and face while outside the deafening sounds of clicking feet could be heard drawing closer just as the first double doors slid open. “Where's Susan? She should have been here before us.” Having her arm pulled towards the closing pressure chamber Mary yelled just as the doors shut. As soon as they did the swarm had finally caught up with them, hundreds of clicking arachnids crawled down the corridor they came from. Scurrying over the floors, walls and ceiling to snip at the sole window peering back into the station. “Come on, come on what's the fucking hold up?”

A whoosh of air filled the thick chamber, slowly matching the air pressure and consistency with the environment outside. Harold panted as he felt more out of breath than before, the air thinner outside than it was in the controlled environment of the outpost. Moving away from the first door and leaning against the doorway leading out the four humans watched as the mass of clicking scratching claws flicked at the six inch thick plexi-glass window, just as it all parted to give space for a three pronged claw slamming into it. “Open up! Open the fuck up you stupid piece of SHIT!” With a flash of green light the doors slowly slid open, the grind of sand blasted motors whirled as the gate opened, letting the team escape as a tidal wave of parasitic creatures swarmed over the dome structure they had escaped from. Running through the deep black sands they had to guard their eyes from the sharp wind and dust being picked up, the ship was in sight on the landing bay twenty meters in front of them, the hexagonal pad half buried by the sand storm that hit on their arrival.

A powerful gust of wind blew Jake's hat off his head, the red cap fluttering behind him back to the station where he looked back and cringed. He regretted looking over his shoulder, the last thing he saw was a carpet of white shelled arachnids crawling over and moving in his direction only meters away. “DON'T LOOK BACK! KEEP RUNNING!” Digging their feet into the black soot and dust they ran as hard as their aching legs could carry them, panting from the thin air as Chief Clover reached the controls to the front sweeping door of the craft. Then everything seemed to slow down, a large white mass erupted out of the sands not two meters meters from Harold's feet, its mandibles clicking so rapidly it was like the “Ch-ch-che” of a rattlesnake's tail, its tongue snapped out like a spear, barbing itself into the man's shoulder and harpoon out the other end with a spray of red. The man's screams of pain were cut short as he was pulled towards its mouth and snipping claws. “Harold NO!!!”

A high pitch screech filled the air, forcing the swarm of arachnids to hesitate as a white blur exploded out of the nearby sands. Another hybrid had launched itself out in the open, leaping into the air and landing on the creature latched onto Chief Clover's shoulder and neck. Dropping the wounded man the two battled, rolling over the black sand dunes as Melisa ran to pull the chief out of the way. Both spider creatures hissed and slashed, snapping their jaws at each other before the one on top grabbed onto its opponent's skull and gouged its eyes out with its thumbs, the scream it gave nearly made everyone's ears pop as the victor changed its jaws to a human mouth. “YOU NO HURT DADDY MAN!!!”

With a sickening crunch Susan had crushed the monster's head like a melon under her claws, blue gore and brain tissue rained everywhere as it slumped down dead on the sands by her clawed feet. Snapping her head back to her friends she smiled seeing Mary and Jake hold the man up as Dr. Faust tried plugging the wound with a foam-like sealant, the man gritting his teeth as the wound plugged up, gasping for breath but alive. Looking back to the outpost the swarm had resumed its march, hundreds of crab sized creatures moving forward as three hybrids tore their way out of the entryway doors the team had came out from. Standing between the white swarms and her friends she hissed at the mass of creatures, her claws and teeth brandished ready to fight again as the mass of arachnids slowed and circled around her.

“Susan come on, come with us we can help you.” Called out Jake as he helped Harold back up over his shoulder, the man coughing just as the ship's ramp came down. Mary and Melisa stood at the ramp's foot as they waited for Susan to join them. “No... No go back...” Seeing the swarm move closer she snapped back at them and hissed again, her mandibles flicking their razor sharp fangs as she kept them all at bay. “Why?! Susan please come with us!” Looking back at her friend she noticed something frightening on her back. The large bumps on the shell of her spine had begun to rattle and break off from her, sprouting finger length limbs and claws before opening their eyes to stare back at the people standing at the ship. “No go back, you go... Be safe... From US...” Seven little spider creatures had now spawned from her back, bobbing their claws as they stared at the four red glowing people with their black glossy eyes. Just as they began to crawl off their 'mother' Susan had turned and hissed back at her friends. “YOU GO NOW! NOW!!!”

Slapping the controls by the ramp Harold closed the door to the ship, coughing up blood as he got to his feet with help and stumbled over to the cockpit, Melisa sat nearby to keep an eye on him while Mary and Jake strapped themselves in, looking out the windows as the swarm had finally decided to rush the ship, crawling over its hull to make a **** attempt to get at the four fleeing people inside. Outside her window Mary could see Susan making a futile effort to stop the creatures from gaining foot on the shuttle, her friend disappearing among the rush of limbs and chitin as they crawled right over her. With a roar of the engines the ship began to take to the air, the rush of air pressure sending everything flying, blowing the offending spiders off the hull as it took off into the air. Within an hour they were out of the atmosphere leaving behind the dark grey planet behind them.

Out in space the shuttle took twenty minutes to re-dock with the Northern Winds orbiting over the planet, by the time the ship had been mag-locked into the docking bay and reconnected to unboard, a group of medical and security staff moved in to check on the remaining crew. Chief Clover was rushed to the medical bay with Dr. Faust running with him detailing to the others of his injuries on the planet. Jake Blair and Mary Osprey were checked over and examined as they filed in the staff on what had happened on their way to join the Chief.

***

After four hours of surgery and recuperation the man slept on a padded bed connected to the wall, an IV drip stung into his arm as a beeping screen over his head showed his vitals from connectors latched on his chest, neck, and head. Blinking his eyes slowly Harold looked up to find Mary asleep on a chair at the corner of his room while Jake stood over a window, turning his head to smile at the man as the view turned with the rotation of the ship. “So finally awake huh?” Trying to sit up and wincing, he remembered his bad shoulder and ribs and felt around for a control pad and found the button to raise his bedding up. “The docs say you got roughed up pretty bad, three cracked ribs, a busted shoulder blade and collar bone, not to mention the loss of blood.”

Nodding weakly Chief Clover looked out the window port, the same one Jake had been looking through. The grey planet came into view slowly before going out of sight in minutes, followed with a view of Prospero and its rings moments later. The view rotating with the living section of the ship as it turned to simulate gravity for its occupants on board. “The doctors are looking at the blue stuff those things bled on our cloths when we were down there.” Sitting over the bed corner Jake rubbed the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath. “They still can't make heads or tails of it but the captain has made the decision to make DSX-2463 a no-fly zone until they can find a way to counteract the venom those... THINGS down there use.”

“Daddy-man...”

“Hmm?” Looking over to the prone man on the bed Jake leaned forward to hear him better. “She called me Daddy-man down there, when she was one of those things, why?” Chuckling to himself despite what he and the others had gone through Jake swept his hair in thought as he came up with an answer. “It's no secret Sir that everyone kinda looks up to you, especially the younger crew members on board the ship.” Taking a deep breath he continued. “Susan's an orphan Chief, she lost her parents when she was like five or something back on Oberon IV.” Nodding the Chief remembered the details of what happened there from news reports, a solar event like a sun flare killed off a good number of the population, the atmosphere wasn't as thick as Earth's so the damage was catastrophic, scientists said it was a one in a billion event. Those that survived ended up with severe health issues like heart and lung diseases, leukaemia and anaemia from the radiation poisoning. “Well guess that explained the fainting spells she got all the time...” Sharing a quick laugh both men looked back out the window, Caliban coming back into view and sobering the two from their mirth. “Well she told me once that something about you reminded her of her old man, the way you always stood up for her little fainting spells around the ship.”

Oh yeah... No she's not sleeping on the job, she's already finished, why aren't you doing your job fast enough that you can take a nap too Huh?” Laughing just as it was cut short by the pain in his sides he looked back out the window, a heavy sigh escaping him as Jake shared the same feeling. “She's stuck down there, a monster surrounded by other monsters, intent on making more monsters for the rest of her life.” Shaking his head Jake wondered as the view switched back to empty space, the orange gas giant expected to come back into view in a few moments. “Life's fucked up sometimes, the worst happens to the best of us...”

“Yeah...”

***

Standing at his post, his uniform coat straight and poised Captain Huron stared at the black moon they had been orbiting for the last twelve hours, once again it was aligned with the gas giant behind it, the image not unlike a glaring eye staring back at the old man. “Let it be recorded that these coordinates will be off limits until the UCM deems it necessary, any warp travel will be prohibited and punishable accordingly by law.” Typing the commands at his helm the captain stared back at the planet as the ship began to veer off, turning out of sight as they made their way out of the system to clear its storming gravitational pulls. Moving out of orbit the red and blue suns came into view, their light a stark contrast as the ship moved out of their influence. Looking down at the data slate in his hands the Captain went over the roster details of the lost crew members of the team he sent, pausing over Susan Shell's file. A list of her personal information scrolled under a holographic display of her face and name as he set the slate back onto the armrest of his chair. “In addition I would like to have Ensign Susan Shell listed as missing, since there was no body nor details of her **** on the planet.” Gaining an acknowledgement from his staff recording his commands he turned back to the screen looking out.

“We will be exiting the system in minutes Captain.”

Switching the camera feed to look behind them the helmsman took one last look at DSX-2463 and frowned, thinking out loud with the view. “Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming, the clouds methought would open, and show riches ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again.”

“Hmm? Something to add to the report then helmsman?” Asked Captain Huron as he paused his reading to look at the young woman at the controls. “N-no Sir... Just... Just thinking about the planet.” Nodding despite the cryptic answer he gave commands to exit the system, the space bending engines coming online and twisting the space in front of them, swirling like a cone before the ship was swallowed up and pulled away from the red and blue stars behind them.

Down on the surface of the planet, Susan looked up as she noticed the bright flash of the Northern Winds disappear into the abyss of space. She stared up for some time after she watched her friends leave the system, likely to never come back in her life time. Looking over at the swarm at her feet and around the outpost the parasitic arachnids had grown lethargic, without a viable host or meal to prey upon the hundreds of creatures and their hybrid spawners now lulled about with nothing to do. Feeling another crop of infectors begin to gestate on her back she slowly made her way down the sand dunes, walking past one of the hybrids it cowered away from her, knowing all too well that she was capable of killing their kind, something it just couldn't fathom. “Move!” The rest of the swarm gave her a wide berth as she walked back to the station, her six clawed feet leaving prints in the black sands that were swept up by the winds seconds after she made them. Bumping into something small she looked down to one of her feet and noticed a red thing half buried in the dirt and sands. Plucking it out with her lithe claws she brushed it off and looked at the red cap in her hands, blinking at the thing as she traced the UCM logo on its front. “Jake...” Turning it around she fit it over her head and looked to the other hybrids watching her, five of them looking at her in confused curiosity as she made her way back to the outpost.

“You make mess... now me fix.” Hissing her displeasure Susan scuttled back inside, the rest of the swarm following her out of curiosity, instinctively recognizing her as the strongest of them as they stayed behind her. Travelling through a corridor with flickering lights she found a bundle of tools next to a pile of cloths and boots. In front of them was an open panel she walked over to, looking over the circuit board she picked out a device from the case and went to work on the fuse panel, the lights going back to full power as the hybrids behind her stared up and around in amazement. “What you look at?” Frowned the she-creature as she continued on, picking up the heavy case on the floor and holstering it over her shoulder. As she moved on to find something else to fix the other hybrids looked to each other and clicked their mandibles as if to speak, once they were all silent they came to a final decision and resumed following her. Oblivious to it all Susan had no idea.

She had become ruler of the swarm.