The Song On The Siren
John Appius Quill© Copyright 2017
(750 Words)
2042 was a great year for mining. The Captain and his crew were heading home from a long and prosperous mining stint when they got a recorded distress signal from the spacecraft Siren.
Captain Fisk stared at the image of the spaceship Siren on the bridge screen. He watched it float peacefully in space with its hull lights flashing in distress. The Siren was intact but its crew had simply vanished and could not be found.
”We still get no answer from the Siren, Captain.” The green haired communication android said.
”Yes, yes. All we get is the distress signal and now our sensors cannot penetrate their hull. That´s strange.” The Captain added scratching his beard as he looked over at his bridge crew.
The five crew members on the bridge stared at their Captain and then at each other. The Captain´s gaze fell back on the screen for several long minutes.
He hoped one of his crew would tell him of a case similar to this one with the name of some famous psychologist that discovered it. Like Riley syndrome or Opshwick Disorder where a crew would abandon their ship, strip naked and go swimming on the closest habitable planet until they grew tired and hungry and were then rescued. But no such disorder existed.
”Alright… Let´s suit up and check this out.” The Captain finally said.
The 5 human members of the bridge crew nodded at each other.
.
*****
The landing party stepped out onto the dark landing bay that was lit only by the runway lights on the floor. The Captain shone his flashlight on whistling steamjets that sprayed from pipes and then to oil leaks that fell from the ceiling forming large puddles on the floor.
”This ship has been neglected for quite sometime.” He said.
”Look at this Captain.” The green haired android said pointing its flashlight to an empty spacesuit on the floor.
The Captain walked over to the empty space suit and read the name badge over the heart.
”Stoker.” The Captain mouthed to himself.
He shivered.
”I know that life support works but you´re all to keep your helmets on, in case something is in the air.” The Captain said.
”We should check the bridge logs.” The communication android said.
The landing party exchanged looks of raised eyebrows before walking down the long, dark corridor toward the bridge. The grimy, metal floor gradually turned into a thick layer of dirt as they walked further down the corridor. The Captain shone his light through knee high, yellow fog onto holes in the dirt and saw the occassional giant rat scurry from one hole to another. Drops of a viscous, yellow fluid fell from places in the ceiling onto the visors of several members of the landing party.
”Are you sure the distress signal is only a week old?” The Captain asked through his visor com.
”Yep.” The communication android replied.
”Let´s pick up the pace. This place is the stuff of horror movies.” The Captain said wiping a drop of yellow ooze off his visor.
A howling, dusty, breeze suddenly swept down the dark corridor and covered the visors of the landing party with dust. As they stopped to wipe the dust off their visors a deep growl echoed down the corridor from in front of them.
”Yeah. We´re outa here.” The Captain said.
He waved the landing party to follow him back to the landing bay.
Another louder growl echoed down the corridor.
”RUN!” The Captain yelled.
They did their best to run in spacesuits, (and even crawl at times as in the Captain´s case), but the growling only grew louder as if whatever chased them seemed to be gaining ground.
They finally crossed the doorway into the landing bay when bright lights suddenly flooded the entire landing bay in a flash.
”HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” His full crew yelled as the landing party removed their helmets, panting.
”W-w-what?” The Captain stammered holding his helmet in his hand while panting.
The communication android put a knife in the dumbfounded Captain´s hand and led him, by that hand, to his giant birthday cake.
”SPEECH!” The crew yelled.
”Thanks everybody for the cake and renting the haunted ship. You had me fooled. This is all even more wonderful because you are all family to me…” The Captain began as his favorite song played in the background.
”…The greatest thing, you´ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return.”
.
written by John Appius Quill
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.