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STORY
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An adult would say that darkness scared them as a child.
Ask the child. They’ll tell you the stories of monsters behind their closet doors, or creeping around inside the ventilation system. It wasn’t the dark; it was those of the darkness. Not so well poetically stated, monsters.
Before Darkens and the others left, I had a sense of comfort in the lights. All of this would be simple. I knew my place: I was the one who built things. I stayed back in the base while everyone else left to scout the station.
I was a little burned at first. I’d come in hopes of seeing the Frontiersmen in action, but instead got stuck hanging back groping machines. What fun.
I didn’t miss much, however. Mr. Samsa, first squad leader, reported in after sweeping a potential hive location. It was completely empty. Same with Darkens, who’d taken over third squad after Johnson accidentally killed a rat. Nobody but the commander blamed him though. Nobody cared to remark that even animal life had always been terminated in all previous recorded infestations. Usually, if it moves by now, it’s an alien. However, that didn’t seem to be the case here.
As a matter of fact, it didn’t seem to be the case at all. Second squad locked down three resource nodes without a single Kharaa report. We’d already secured two of the hives, and none had seen any action.
I might need to explain why this is odd, for those who did not read The Frontier. In all documented cases, the Kharaa maintain a few characteristics. The species are created from hives, each hive donating the creation capability of a higher species. There has never been a documented case of more than three hives functioning on a facility at once. The battle ends up being control for these hives. Sometimes, if the Frontiersmen are fast enough, they can secure a hive without even seeing a Kharaa. However, there is always some confrontation before the marines proclaim control over the second.
Except in this case.
The squads chatted quietly to one another. Though they had not come across any Kharaa, they treated the situation carefully. More so than I’d overheard in previous missions. This wasn’t normal for them. There hadn’t been so much as one sighting. Not so much as a scamper, a prattle, or a crawl.
My hand was against an arms lab, towards the corner of the great room. We had an armory, observatory, phase gate and a turret factory up. No turrets, however. Most of the comm.’s money was heading toward the outer projects. There were pipes and vents all over the ceiling. Somewhere in the overhead mesh, metal shifted against metal.
I heard a clicking sound echoing above.
I noticed something fall, rather rapidly, in the corner of my eye.
What happened next will forever be the most frightening moment of my entire life, and it’s probably not your guess as to what happened.
As I turned, I expected in every sense of my being to be instantly destroyed. I didn’t think a thing however, not for a good moment. A second passed, yet nothing happened. My brain raced, trying to make sense of what was going on. I wondered in my panic if I’d seen anything at all. I didn’t even recognize the Skulk on all fours directly in front of me. The idea that it had not attacked me yet was unfeasible. A good five seconds passed before I realized what was happening. I stood, weaponless, in the main control room, the commander blaring orders at me in a hectic panic, staring at the Beast...
...And it stared right back at me.
That was the most frightening moment of my life.
The Beast’s muzzle showed something of whom it was. He looked like a veteran, an old man who knew the game far too well. He was strong, yet careful. He stood before me completely relaxed, looking into my eyes. I felt his thoughts behind his gaze. Inside those yellow eyes, there was a definite being.
...And it was looking at me.
...And it was thinking about me.
A shotgun ineptly dropped into my hands. Immediately, the beast sprinted at me. In the rapid moment between then and his arrival, I gathered all my thought into two single actions:
Raise the gun.
Fire.
I remembered once when I was young. I had seen my reflection in a tub of oil. To my dismay, it was clearer than it was in water.
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Disclaimer
Monster is © Edan Koch. The Universe in which it takes place is based upon Natural-Selection. All characters and locations are fictional. Any association with actual persons or places is coincidental.
Natural-Selection and all artwork, screenshots, text and code associated with it are © Charles G. Cleveland, 2001.