The Swarm

The year is 2245 AD. A breakthrough in space travel had allowed humanity to bend space, bridging light years worth of distance between two points to that of a few steps. With this new technology mankind was allowed to travel vast distances in the Milky Way galaxy. Inhabiting several dozen worlds hospitable to human life, the united nations of Earth had now expanded into the United Colonies of Man. To expand and explore in the vast glittering sea of space prospector ships were commissioned by the UCM to seek out potential worlds to settle on. As many mathematicians on Earth and more developed colonies in the UCM have claimed, it is just as likely to find an earth-type planet in the galaxy as it is finding a spec of carbon on a 5 mile beach of sandstone. Still such odds aren't as daunting as they claim, especially for the crews of such ships that find new worlds every Earth year.

In the black oceanic void of space a binary star system sits alone in the cold dark. One a giant red orb of intense heat, the other a blue dwarf blindingly bright nestled between each other in their conflicting gravity. Together they appear as a lidless eye overlooking the two gas giants and asteroid belt that orbit the brother stars. The closest in orbit is a green orb, churning with methane and hydrogen gas its five moons broil under the heat and pressure inflicted on them from their mother planet and suns. Six times the distance away and divided by the vast belt of asteroids separating the two, the other gas giant nearly half the size of its brother floats sharing space with two moons orbiting its rings of ice and soot. One too close in its orbit had cracked in half like a spoiled egg, its contents bleeding out to join the giant's concentric rings with its rotation. The other was safer, further in distance in its orbit, a ball of grey stone and sand... And promise.

Just outside the star system's perimeter a displacement of space and reality bent and coiled, swirling into itself like a funnel before a tiny object was spat out, the aperture closing behind it without a sound or trace. A vessel drifted slowly towards the orange gas giant, the furthest from the two stars at the centre. Its design was simple yet elegant; a column of metal nearly a mile in length floated to its destination thanks to the mass of engines at its stern, dozens of positioning thrusters lining its hull all the way to the splayed bristles of antennae at its bow. At the middle of this column were two metallic drum-like formations rotating clock-wise around the shaft of its body. Both drums glittered with photosensitive solar arrays, the hull blinking with lights shining out of solid polymer-glass windows. At either side of the ship's columned hull near the bow, a myriad of lights shun over a brass name plate a hundred feet long and half that wide, brass etchings appearing as storm clouds with faces blowing winds over etched out ship sails, 'The Northern Winds' spanned the brass plate in solid obsidian lettering.

“Coming up on the furthest gas giant of DSX-2463 now captain.” Declared the helmsman to the ageing grey haired man at the control consul. Captain Huron had been given orders to travel to this distant system, a group of prospectors had discovered this little world over a year ago and had petitioned for settler ships to wait until further research on the environment could be made. Contact was lost three months ago, forcing the UCM to send a ship to find out why. Looking at the flat LCD display on the wall of the bridge the Captain looked at the tiny grey ball orbiting the orange gas giant, the prospectors had named it Caliban, after the monster from the Shakespearean play the Tempest. Such romantic concepts were lost on the old man, unimaginative, his only aspirations were that of the steady functionality of his ship and the efficiency of his crew, he was pleased with such for well over 5 years on the Northern Winds. “We should be in stable orbit around the moon in 8 hours Sir.” Looking to the young woman at the controls Huron nodded as he straightened his coat, his face stern and unmoving like a statue as his eyes regarded the helmsman. “By that time I would like a team ready to depart for Caliban, until such time you have the bridge, I will inform our superiors of our arrival.” Stepping out and walking through the bulkhead door, the captain had left the bridge. Leaving the woman to her devices as she plotted a course parallel to the grey moon.

***

The two rotation sections of the ship were partitioned into two functioning areas, the aft section closest to the stern was the operations section of the vessel. A shuttle bay with 4 ships, and three cargo holds squaring off the section of the rotation space around the ship, enough room to fit the equivalent of 12 diesel locomotives in each hold, they held mostly supplies and equipment for long voyages in space. The section closest to the bow was the living quarters, essentially a small town wrapped around half a mile of metal and plastics, it contained the residence for a crew of 200 personnel. Along with the bridge, medical bay, mess hall, recreational centre and engineering bay of the ship. The hull's rotation simulating gravity for its occupants as they went about their duties and leisure.

The mess hall had all the esthetics of a tavern or restaurant, dim lighting and hard wood tables standing in rows with window seating peering out the hull to see the stars outside. A billiards table stood off in the corner while a jukebox played the classics at the door. Just off behind the buffet table a robotic chef prepared a meals for the crew for all three meal times, programmed for variety to keep monotony at a minimum. “So Captain Huron's making us the team to check out the planet, wonder what we'll find.” Sitting over a round bar table near the window three people sat and talked about their mission. Seven others had been assigned to join them making it a group of twelve to head down to Caliban. Jake laughed as he teetered his chair back with a glass of brandy in his hand. “Shit for all we know they've just had a nasty storm and got their communications knocked over.” Ensigns Jake Blair, Susan Shell and Mary Osprey had been friends since they joined the Northern Winds, engineering specialists they had been chosen to see why connections had been lost. The team also included seven military officers, and a pair of medics to oversee any problems that would arise on the planet. “Or... Maybe its not so clear cut, remember what happened on Ariel 3?” Mary smirked as Jake sat straight again, looking as if he were holding back his lunch. “Don't remind me, the planet where the flowers smelled like rotten ass? No wonder no one called in during THOSE three months, everyone on the colony was vomiting!”

“Don't talk about it PLEASE... The first time I stepped on that rot ball of a planet I was for three days.” Susan slunk down on the table tapping her finger over her drink, although fairly attractive with cropped black hair and blue eyes she suffered from a bad case of anaemia, fainting spells were common for her which was why she was placed in engineering instead of anything more strenuous like dock working or security. “Count your blessings Susan, while you were out cold Mary and I were kissing the toilet every three hours until they were able to seal the living areas from the rest of the planet.” Jake swung back the rest of his drink as they talked, the man wearing a worn ball-cap over his head with his engineer's jacket left unzipped and his ID tag stitched above his breast pocket. The others wore the same red work jacket and grey work jump suits as all engineering staff on the ship, the crew were colour coded per their roles.

Mary was a round faced woman with long red hair, an accident a few years ago cost her an eye when shrapnel struck her. The explosion caused by crew neglect from a station they were ordered to fix up after a nasty solar storm. Prosthesis had come a long way but the new eye wasn't her colour. With her left eye green and the other blue she certainly captured attention when spoken to, over time she got used to it. Moving up to finish her own drink Susan sighed before looking back at her friends. “Yeah thanks for watching over me guys, real nice to know you both kept me company... I still have the stains on my shirt.” The three continued to talk, sharing past stories on previous assignments the Northern Winds had been called upon in deep space, just as an announcement range out from the ship's speakers.

~Attention, response team please report to the hanger bay in one hour.~

“Well guys looks like they're playing our song.” Getting their tab off the scanner at the centre of the table, the three swiped their rations cards over the red LED scan system, the small device beeping with each card as they left the table to the hanger bay.

***

The launch from the hanger was a smooth one, the shuttle leaving the safety of the Northern Winds to float out into the void and veer over to the direction of the grey dot overshadowed by its parent gas giant. The large space shuttle was built as an all purpose lander; with a cockpit, a pair of engines and wide downward seeping wings it looked every bit as a model glider except for its undercarriage which was an empty slot. The ship could be outfitted to haul cargo from the storage bay of the ship or loaded with a passenger carriage like the one they rode in now.

Looking out her window Susan could see the small planet in the distance, their destination getting closer as it slowly took up more of her vision. Looking over to the rest of the seating she could make out Mary and Jake in the group, two members wearing blue jackets identified them as the medical officers assigned to the team, the rest wore green jackets. Unlike the blue and red jacket wearing crew, the green security personnel wore flak gear under their cloths. Carbon fibre padding laced with impact gel indenting the black jump suits the men and women wore, various small arms at their sides and over carriage along with impact helmets with LCD visor guards that displayed vitals and readouts given by the shuttle's link to the Northern Winds up in orbit. Leaning over her chair Susan shook her head with a smile as she spotted Jake trying to flirt with one of the blue jacketed medical staff, the woman rolling her eyes and smiling as her friend made an ass of himself in front of her.

~We are now entering the planet's atmosphere, be prepared for immediate turbulence as we pass the threshold~

With a sudden lurch the shuttle rocked heavily before smoothing its flight again, the skilled pilot cutting through the flow of up drafts and winds cutting the planet's skies. Looking back out her window Susan could see a better view of the planet below. A jagged landscape of stone crags and fissures marred the planet surface, like mud having dried in the hot summer sun. From up high it looked like the blackened teeth of some dead animal underground threatening to swallow up the desert at its centre, a grey sea of sand and soot that flowed with the winds creating waves and tiny dust devils that disappeared seconds after they were formed. Off to the corner of this desert stood a strange shining object that sparkled in the glow of the gas giant high above. Flying closer little details became visible, shapes and structures connected to one another by metal tubes or pipes. Off at the distance not far from this oversized hamster cage of metal was a flat red landing pad, its surface dirty and half buried by a flow of grey sand as the shuttle landed. With a heavy impact the ship made land fall, walkway lights blinked down the corridor to let passengers know where to exit.

Nearly five minutes after planet fall the seven military trained members of the team stormed out of the front gates of the shuttle, their weapons ready and aimed out of the forward doorway as it descended open onto the dirty landing pad in front of them. The night air of Caliban's deserts were cold, the winds sharp as the engineering and medical crew waited for the 'all clear' from their commanding officer. With a wave from the man's gloved hand they moved up to the forward gates of the prospector's living complex. There they activated the mechanical air locks and waited for the doors to grind open.

Seconds later the heavy metal doors squealed to activity, sliding open 2 meters wide for the crew to enter. Running towards the door bay to avoid the sharp winds the team of engineers and doctors ran to join the guards just as the doors closed behind them, the whoosh of centralized air and heat filling the large space as the lights flickered on. “This hab-station has seven compartments linked together, stay here until we give an all clear, Carson stay with the red and blues until we make our final sweep.” Nodding to the captain the one guard stayed behind as the other six opened the next layer of doors and began their sweep.

***

An hour later the entire habitat had been checked by the guards, what was strange was every room was empty, vacant of the thirty or so crew meant to man and operate the station's mechanics and functions. There was no sign of a struggle, no damage to the systems or machines in or out of the complex. With personal items and clothing still in the crew quarters it proved that whatever had happened no one packed what they deeded to leave, it was as if the crew had just... Vanished.

Standing in the cafeteria habitat the team from the Northern Winds briefed over what the guards had found. The room along with the other six buildings linked together were built like ceramic igloos, easy to put together and sturdy enough to handle a small hurricane the dome was over 50 meters in diameter, a basic kitchen set up sat at the far wall while four set tables sat in the middle of the complex, three gate doors sealed and linked the dome to the medical bay and living quarters, the door opposite to the kitchen led to the communications, power station and storage facility.

Finding themselves at ease for now the captain of the guard had his visor off as he went over his findings, a digital display pad in his hand as he read over the logs and reports found in the station's databanks. “From what we can tell everyone just flat out disappeared, there's no mention of any exodus or attack so whatever happened did so quick and without warning.” Looking over to two guards to his left he nodded in their direction. “Guards Flaubert and Corgens found equipment still on but left on the floor like they were dropped in a hurry. A lot of machinery are without power or fuel so we can presume they were left on over some time as well.” Susan listened in as Mary and Jake stood in front of her. The Captain was Harold Clover, head of security back on the ship. Well into his forties with greying hair the man was surprisingly approachable despite his role on the ship, she likened him to a kind of father figure back on the Northern Winds but could just as quickly drop that image for the soldier if needed. “Doctors Jennings and Faust I'd like you both to set up in medical and check up what you can find in the station's personnel files. Blair, Shell, Osprey go to the storage and repair bay and see what these people were doing before they dropped off the face of the planet.” Nodding to the man Jake smiled back at his two friends as they made for the door. “Lastly I want guards with both teams and myself, we still don't know what happened and I don't want ANYONE alone in this ghost town until we do.”

Walking down the modular hallway Susan sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Getting woozy their Suzy? Just let us know OK.” Nodding back at Jake the dark haired woman took a deep breath just as they turned a corner to another hall and tapped the controls for the storage bay. With a sharp whoosh of air the mechanical doors opened showing the massive space within. Much like the cafeteria the storage facility was another fifty foot diameter dome, crates containers and cylinders of various consumables and liquids stood in cool temperatures. Stepping ahead of the group of red jackets the lone guard turned to look to the three, his voice low and gravel as he spoke. “When we checked this place we found a couple of the food crates cracked open at the back, we'll get to them in a bit, for now we need the fuel containers for the dead equipment in communications.” Closing the door behind her Mary shivered in the chill of the room before answering for the others. “Jake and I can get the fuel rods, Susan why don't you and our chaperone check the food crates while we get to work.”

“OK...” Walking to the back of the dome with the guard in tow, Susan came upon the crates mentioned earlier. Behind her she could hear Jake and Mary pulling a dolly off the wall to strap equipment to while she examined the boxes. Looking at the thick plastic containers she found two wide open with their lids on the ground a couple feet away, wrappers and cardboard boxes ripped open at her feet while foodstuffs left untouched still sat in their crates. “Well this IS weird, did rats get in here?” Asked Susan as she picked up one of the empty boxes, scratch and bite marks marred the flaps and sides of the cookie box in her hands. “They do stow away sometimes despite sanitation efforts, including roaches but those don't look like mice scratches.” Checking his name tag on the guard's jacket Susan smirked as she read Lt. Eugene Grumby, giggling behind her hand as the guard turned his attention back to her, his visor hiding any confusion on his face.

Suddenly the two froze as they heard a noise behind the crate, a light shuffling as something small moved and scurried away from the light. Gesturing with his hand to have Susan step away the guard pulled out his handgun and aimed it forward, grabbing hold of the crate he pulled it back, what they both found surprised them both. There standing behind the crate and looking back at the guard and engineer was a strange looking creature, standing three inches tall on six legs was a round little bug creature. No bigger than a rat it tilted its main body to look back at the two with its round black eyes, a pair of stubby pincers bobbing in front of its face as it studied the two who found it. “What the FUCK is that thing?” Stared the guard as he clicked the safety off his pistol. “I don't know... It looks harmless, or at least confused, I don't think its ever seen people before.” Still looking at both of them the little crab-spider thing stepped forward to examine Susan's foot, tapping its stubby limb at the leather sole before looking back at her in curiosity. “It's certainly cute, reminds me a bit of my niece’s pet hermit crab back on earth.”

kneeling down to look at the small creature closer it retained eye contact with her even as she cupped her hands slowly under its legs. One by one it shifted its feet to stand on the palms of her hands as she lifted it up to see it better. The thing still bobbing its stubby claws as it sat there. “Seems pretty harmless, I wonder how it got in here?” Shrugging as the man turned to look at it from behind. The lieutenant wiggled his finger at its shell as it turned to face him. “Who knows? Maybe its a pet from the crew down here and it escaped from its enclosure when everyone up and left.” Seeing it raise its claws to fiddle with the guard's finger Susan pursed her lips as she looked closer at it. “Is that what you are cutey? Are you someone's pet?” Just then the guard snapped his hand back as the large insect creature bit his finger tip. “Are you alright? Ouch!” Looking down the white shelled crab-spider had bit down on her palm with its little mouth parts, a weird proboscis jabbing into her hand as she flung it off her. Landing with a thud at the edge of the storage dome Eugene pulled his pistol back and fired.

Gripping her wrist Susan panicked as she felt the sting in her hand throb, the bite mark going red just as her eyes fluttered closed and she dropped to the ground. “Son of a bitch bites hard, damn thing bore a fucking hole in my finger!” Winced the guard as he looked down at the dead creature, oozing blue blood as he turned to the woman and called for help.

***

Storming through the double doors of the medical bay both blue jacketed doctors looked over Susan's vitals, her body being held aloft by an anti-gravity stretcher levitating three feet off the ground and gliding to the middle of the lab dome with little effort, Doctor Faust walked at her side opening Susan's eyes and flashing a pen light into them to check her response time. The woman was young for a doctor, barely into her thirties yet she possessed the medical expertise of a seasoned physician. “There's no response, check her pulse.” Doctor Jennings moved up to the other side of the floating stretcher, pulling back the woman's sleeve and pressing a thumb at her wrist. Jennings was a stocky built man, a pair of thin glasses wedged at the bridge of his nose as he counted under his breath. “Her pulse is steady but its weak, we need to check her vitals with the equipment.” Making a dead stop in front of a table anchored to the tiled floor. Mary, Jake and the guard had followed along hoping to find some way to help. The thirty foot dome complex was cramped for all of them, a cabinet of supplies stood off to the side while two examination beds took up the middle of the space. Blinds separated the dome into a hexagon to give patients privacy if any were there. Lifting Susan carefully onto one of the tables, Doctor Jennings checked her vitals while Doctor Faust set up a table full of equipment to check her blood work. Standing by with worry on their faces Jake and Mary stayed close as the doctors drew blood and checked the woman's heart rate and injury. “She's stable but her anaemia triggered a coma after she was bitten, do you still have the creature?” Lifting the dripping dead thing by its leg the guard sat it on a tray on the table, flicking his fingers to clean off the blue slime dripping off its dead body. “I'll check her blood work and that... Thing to see if there are any toxins it has, Lt. Grumby were you bitten also?”

“No ma’am, damn thing just scratched my finger, I feel fine.” Answered the tall man, hiding his redden finger tip as the two doctors tried to make Susan comfortable. “If these things are indigenous I suggest you either call security or hit it with a frying pan, because if it is then expect more of them... Ugly little prawn isn't it?” Moving over to the table Mary held Susan's hand as Dr. Jennings wrapped the sting mark on her other palm, spraying it with disinfectant before finishing the wrap. “Doctor please make sure she's OK” Receiving a comforting nod from the man in the blue jacket Mary and Jake turned to the guard they were stationed with, Jake taking his cap off to speak with him. “Lieutenant I think we can handle the rest on our own, we'll meet the guards in communications and get them the fuel they need.” Nodding back to the two Eugene stepped out of the lab, a dolly with cylinders was already wrapped up and being moved by the two down the hallways to refuel the heavy equipment.

Making his way down the corridors back to storage he looked over the space for an hour, looking for any more of the little white crab creatures. Satisfied that the place was clear he was about to leave when he was struck with a wave of dizziness. Pulling off his visor-helmet the man wiped the sweat off his brow, breathing a heavy sigh as he moved to sit on one of the crates. Looking back at the red bump on his finger his gaze fell on the rest of his arm, pulling back the sleeve he looked on in confusion as his skin had gone from a healthy pink complexion to a pale grey colour. Scratching at his neck and back the guard stood up and moved over to the opened crates at the back of the storage bay, his stomach growling suddenly as he picked up a box of preserved fruits and pulled open the container. Biting into the cold strawberries, he was oblivious to the rest of his skin paling as he tried to satisfy his need to eat something. Finishing off the container after a few minutes he tossed it behind him and opened another, his skin chalk white as his marble black eyes looked for something else to eat.

Even as he ate he ignored the tearing sounds in his cloths, the strange cracking noises his body made as he shifted closer to the food stuffs in front of him. Soon the storage room was filled with a strange clicking sound as the former guard ate his fill.