Escape to Eden

So what’s the catch? Weaver thought to herself as Director Horton stood behind the podium for her speech to the Astraeus crew of 112 personnel.

The director’s well rehearsed monologue continued, “After the upcoming months of training, you will all be ready to embark. The Astraeus mission will be the first long range mission in the history of space exploration to establish a permanent settlement off Earth. This crew includes experts from across the globe in every necessary field for a self-sustaining outpost amongst the stars.”

Weaver leaned in as the rest of the assembly buzzed with excitement. Horton got to the important details, “It will take 10 years to reach the predetermined destination–a small planetary body designated, G-128, or as we’ve come to affectionately call it, ‘Eden.’ This decade-long journey will include extended periods of cryosleep through roughly charted regions of space.”

Ahh, there it is! Weaver thought. “Roughly charted” was director-speak for “not charted at all”. Essentially, they were flying blind into the dark vacuum of space with nothing but a flight plan and a fool’s hope. The calculated ambition of a groundbreaking discovery amongst undocumented space. The factors were endless.

The crew had been afforded lucrative contracts and the promise of settlement rights on the completion of their mission. They would be the first citizens of Planet G-128. That offer alone was too good for Weaver to pass up. The scientific discoveries she would make and be credited for would be awe-inspiring.

The director would not have offered Weaver this spot on the Astraeus mission if she did not implicitly trust her skills. Weaver’s expertise in biology would be necessary on this mission. There was little telling what forms of organic life they might find, but when it came to understanding what could be out there, she was the Astraeus’ best bet.

“Let’s get to work everyone. The world is counting on you,” Horton said with a hopeful smile.

It would be a long journey ahead; Weaver and the rest of the crew would train for months just to launch the Astraeus. On the other side of a long, icy sleep and millions of miles of star-filled space, they would discover the secrets of the universe. They would wake up in the reality of unknown space and the hope of Eden.

10 Years Later

The chaotic blaring of warning sirens filled the cryosleep chamber as Weaver awoke. Her body felt as though it was emerging from a deep ice bath. A piece of protocol was summoned to the forefront of her mind regarding the Astraeus’ onboard warning system. It would not wake the crew unless the ship was in critical condition. Shit!

The door of Weaver’s cryosleep pod hissed and slowly released. Cold air rushed into her lungs as her arms came free. Wiping the frost from her face, Weaver looked around. The time and date readout on her pod confirmed it had been a decade since she had been awake. Her surroundings looked the same, yet something felt different about the Astraeus.

The sirens continued to wail throughout the chamber. The echoes clattered against the metal walls, then off the four cryosleep pods in the center of the room. One had contained Weaver, and the other three were slowly opening. Weaver slowly recalled the names of the three other crew members she had shared this chamber with for the voyage.

The second pod held the Astraeus’ psychiatrist, Cruz, while the third pod held the geologist, Dancer. They gradually rose to their feet, pausing to assess the warning sirens themselves. “Quite a way to wake up from a ten year nap, huh?” Dancer jested.

The last pod opened to reveal one of the Astraeus’ technicians – Ridley. He seemed more calculated, assessing their situation. Ridley checked the chamber’s computer warning systems with his data pad. He looked up blankly at Weaver, turned the pad and showed her what it read. One foreboding message, “Unidentified Intruder Alert.”

The Astraeus’ cryosleep chambers had been built in eight large sections, each holding specific teams for the mission. Their specific chamber was in the science divisions section, positioned halfway down the main corridor. They were the last chamber before the hallway became a mixture of laboratories, storage, and this section’s security room.

The ominous message continued to blink on Ridley's pad, “What do we do now?” Cruz asked nervously.

Ridley interpreted the message as best he knew how, “I don’t have the necessary access to the Astraeus’ security systems here. We need to get to the section’s security room further down the corridor. There I can access more information and find out what kind of situation we’re in.”

“Then that’s what we do,” Weaver said walking towards the chamber’s lockers of emergency supplies.

Inside they found portable lights, a medical kit, and most importantly, space suits. The suits were pressurized to protect the crew members in the case of a breach. They would be able to move freely to the security room and once there, find out the origin of the vague message on Ridley’s data pad. If need be, they would be much safer behind the reinforced shielded door of the security room.

Weaver and the other three readied themselves to venture into the hallway. As the door slid open a rush of stale, foul air rushed in alongside the ringing of the siren. 

“Which way is the security room again?” Cruz asked.

“Right,” Ridley said, assessing the ominous corridor.

The hallway lights were not fully functional, instead they flickered intermittently. The stench was almost bad enough to make the crew want to vomit. Amidst the explosion of sensory factors, there was a thudding of approaching footsteps.

“What’s going on, Ridley?” Weaver asked the technician, as he stared into the flickering darkness.

Ridley whispered, “Something is coming.”

Suddenly, an ear piercing scream came from the darkened hallway. As the footsteps got louder, Weaver saw a sprinting figure coming closer. The figure finally came into view–it was a crew member with a face full of fear.

It was Pax, one of the Astraeus’ agricultural experts. Dancer shouted, “Pax, slow down! What’s going on?”

“Run! It’s coming! It’s coming!” Pax screamed.

Weaver and Ridley shot each other an alarmed glance. Pax’s pursuer came into view. What they saw stole their breath away. A large hulking mass of limbs, torsos, hands, and eyes glowing like purple fire. It moved, not in a discernable pattern, but rather it clamored with savage quickness down the hallway after Pax. Cruz stumbled back and fell to the floor as Dancer, Weaver, and Ridley began to run behind Pax who had passed them and not slowed his pace.

The horrifying creature overtook Cruz as the four others sprinted around a nearby corner. The last they heard of Cruz was a gut-churning cry for help, but they could not turn back. Whatever was following them was hellbent on one thing, catching them like it had Cruz. Weaver’s heart raced as the four searched feverishly for the security room. 

“The security room is just ahead! Go! Go!” Ridley exclaimed.

Ridley and Pax reached the door first as Dancer and Weaver trailed. The grotesque heap of body parts turned the corner, and under one working light, Weaver caught a better look. The parts that made up this being were mostly human. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. “What is this thing?” Weaver whispered, horrified.

“Ridley! Get that door open, we’ll hold it off,” Dancer exclaimed as he chucked some nearby crates at the beast.

The creature sprinted towards them, and as it got within a few feet of their position, leapt onto the ceiling above Dancer. “No! No! No!” Dancer screamed as the monster bit down on his right shoulder with its horrific maw.

“Get back! You giant piece of shit!” Dancer shouted as he pummeled the monster repeatedly with his other arm.

With every swing, Dancer was determined to break free. Weaver thought quickly and shined her portable light directly into the cluster of eyes in the center of the creature. She gathered Dancer as the monster retreated momentarily from the light.

Ridley was so close, the door budged just enough for him to slide through and get in. “Dancer! Weaver! Door’s open! Hurry!” Ridley shouted.

Weaver and Dancer sprinted inside the security room as the monster composed itself. “Pax! Get in here, now!” Weaver screamed.

The agricultural expert, turned scared prey, froze. The combination of horror and exhaustion from the chase gripped the man with paralysis. “Just move! Get inside!” Weaver commanded again to no avail.

The creature bared down on Pax’s terror-stricken form with ferocious hunger. Purple chunks of flesh flew off the ambiguous mass as it devoured him. Pax was gone just like Cruz.

The monster turned and lunged at the door mouth wide. Its rough and coarse jaws gnawed at the small gap. Just then a blue sheet of light burst in front of the opening. Ridley had activated the energy shield just in time. A motley combination of claws, bones, and teeth attempted to break the shield, but the shield burned and scorched the beast at every attempt. 

For a minute, Weaver watched the desperate thrashing of the creature’s grotesque limbs against it, but the pain was too much for the monster to endure. Its attempts ceased, and it retreated in hopes for easier prey. The hallway went silent.

10 Minutes Later

Ridley tapped feverishly on his data pad attempting to bring up the Astraeus’ systems. The pad ran off emergency reserve power, but the technician had doubts if it would be enough to get access to the vital parts of the ship. At the very least, he had to try. Meanwhile, Weaver finished examining Dancer’s bizarre injury.

The malformed monster’s mouth had cut roughly across the geologist's shoulder, ripping the entire arm from his body. The cuts were not clean or precise but crude and jagged. As Weaver cleaned the wound she noticed purple viscous fluid mixed in with the blood. It was foreign, similar to the purple tint of the monster’s skin. Something Weaver had never seen.

It was attempting to bond with Dancer’s anatomy, fusing itself to him. From what quick glances Weaver had gotten of the horror on the other side of the shield door, she could tell it had fused itself already with several other lifeforms. Weaver’s heart sank, there was no telling when the monster’s fusing process would overtake Dancer as well. It was only a matter of time. Dancer stiffened at the sight of Weaver’s discomfort, “What’s the verdict, Doc?”

“I’m not sure Dancer, but I’ll shoot straight with you. I doubt you’ll be able to swing a pickaxe on excavations down on Eden,” Weaver said with a nervous smile.

“Don’t suppose I will,” Dancer said, glancing at his bandaged shoulder socket.

Ridley’s data pad crackled as a security monitor blinked to life. The pilot had patched into the Astraeus’ security feed in hopes of finding out what happened while the crew had been in cryosleep. Weaver, Dancer, and Ridley all watched as the screen confirmed their wildest suspicions and darkest nightmares.

The exterior camera footage showed a cluster of small meteorites impacting on the surface of the Astraeus’ cryosleep sections. Organic purple masses accumulated on the outside of the ship as the meteorites hit. Eventually, the impacts were so great that the hull opened, and the organisms were sucked inside the ship. The ship’s automatic safety measures sealed the hull, but it was too late.

From that point on, the video only intensified their horror. Their stomachs churned as they watched the organism go from section to section, chamber to chamber, tearing apart the Astraeus’ crew still deep in cryosleep. Limbs, torsos, and all manner of body parts torn apart piece by piece and then reassembling into a massive, revolting heap.

“Turn it off, Ridley,” Weaver said, trying not to vomit.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Dancer asked, a tremble of fear in his voice.

“We have to abandon the Astraeus. Every moment we stay on board with that thing, we risk going out like Cruz and Pax. We need to head for a lifeboat. Every section has one,” Ridley asserted.

“What if there are survivors in the other sections?” Weaver asked.

“We don’t have the equipment or enough information to go on a rescue mission throughout the whole ship, Weaver. We need to leave.”

Dancer and Weaver knew he was right. The Astraeus was compromised. “The lifeboats were designed to hold, feed, and provide for 10 crew members in case of critical failure. We will have enough food and provisions to get down to Eden and survive. We just have to get to the lifeboat first.”

The three remaining crew members all nodded in agreement. This plan was their best odds of survival. “No doubt the monster is waiting out there, somewhere. We need weapons,” Weaver said, saying what they were all thinking.

“Good thing our security team was extra skittish about what could be down on Eden,” Dancer said as he opened one of the wall panels to reveal an array of laser rifles.

They each grabbed a rifle and gathered all of their emergency supplies. It would be a dead sprint, and the lifeboat was the finish line. “Don’t stop running,” Ridley advised.

“We can do this. We can get off this sinking ship,” Weaver said as Ridley deactivated the shield door, and they ventured back into the creature’s newfound domain.

10 Seconds Later

A shrieking scream came from down the hall, the way they had come. There was no time to think–all their energy had to go to their legs. The race for survival was on. 

“Run!” Weaver shouted above the monster’s shrill howl.

The technician and the biologist immediately began sprinting towards the lifeboat’s docking bay, but Dancer lagged behind. Without one of his arms, it was hard to hold the rifle, and he lost his balance. Dancer stumbled to the floor as the monster stalked closer and closer. His thoughts immediately rushed to Pax and Cruz. He would not go down without a fight.

Weaver and Ridley had not even realized Dancer had fallen behind until they heard an eruption of laser fire. Then just as suddenly, an ear-piercing, human scream echoed off the metal walls from behind them. “Keep running, Weaver! He’s gone. Keep running!” Ridley shouted, beads of sweat flying off his brow.

Weaver resisted her desire to look back and focused forward. Just ahead was the door to the lifeboat’s bay. Ridley arrived out of breath and frantically tapped in the override password. Weaver reached the doorway as the creature slowed its pace again, seemingly wanting to play with its next and last victims.

Purple fluid dripped from its mouth. The wild combination of human anatomy writhed in a hungry convulsion, preparing to lunge. “RIDLEY! DOOR–OPEN–NOW!”

With a final tap, the door released as the creature jumped into the air towards them. Ridley sprinted inside and pulled Weaver in after him. They shared a momentary look of appreciation and then continued their chaotic marathon to the lifeboat. It was right before them; inside Ridley could transfer enough power to fire it up. Then they had a shot at escape.

The monster’s sprawling mass crawled slowly through the small doorway and prowled closer to Weaver. Its multitude of eyes fixed on her. The Astraeus’ entire crew had been assimilated and fused with this horrifying space organism. It had been formed here, and it would die here if she had anything to do with it.

Behind her, the lifeboat’s engines roared to life. Weaver glanced into the large viewing window at Ridley taking up position in the pilot’s chair. She had to go. Weaver backed up and let loose a barrage of laser fire from the rifle. As she was about to step through the lifeboat’s main hatch, a veiny tentacle grabbed her. 

Weaver’s mind raced, had she come this far only to be assimilated like the rest of the Astraeus’ crew? Hell no. 

“Not me!” Weaver screamed,”Not today!”

Quickly twisting around, Weaver fired wildly into the frightening mass. The creature reared back in pain, the mass of fused body parts screamed as one. This was Weaver’s opening. The monster shrieked and screamed as the hatch closed behind her. Her lungs burned, and her hair was wet with sweat, but she still could not stop. As she hurried to the lifeboat’s cockpit, Ridley fiddled with several buttons and switches. Like every member of the Astraeus’ former crew, he had been trained in the operation of these lifeboats for emergencies.

There was a sudden and violent jolt near the rear thrusters. Weaver and Ridley saw on an exterior monitor that the monster had attached itself to the vessel making one last attempt. The Astraeus was doomed. They would leave no trace of this disaster and the organism that had caused such horror. 

“Time to kill this piece of space shit!” Ridley shouted as he pulled back on the thrusters, igniting a powerful stream of white hot energy. In an instant, the docking bay lit up with flames, scorching the creature. The purple mass was incinerated to ash in an instant. 

The lifeboat erupted into space as the remains of the Astraeus drifted behind them. Weaver and Ridley watched as the ruins of their mission floated into never-ending space. Behind them lay their worst nightmare, but before them was hope. The Planet G-128 came into view and a small tinge of hope warmed their still frozen hearts.

“Looks like we’ve got some work ahead of us,” Ridley said.

“Hell is behind us. Eden is ahead,” Weaver replied.

It was at this moment, she looked down at the patches on their Astraeus uniforms. Evelyn Weaver. Adam Ridley. Weaver pondered for a second with a slight smile–Adam and Eve arriving in the new Eden.