A horror fan since childhood, a geek by nature and a jokester by heart, Ian believes entertainment, no matter what form it takes, combined with laughter is the best medicine to combat life's challenges. His favorite movies amongst many others are Aliens, The Thing, LOTR and Star Wars.
He is a father and is currently living in Melbourne Australia with his partner, son, two stepdaughters and 4 cats which is enough of a horror story on its own.
HOSTILE LIFEFORM DETECTED
by
Ian Gielen
“Scanning,” the disembodied voice reverberates through the ship’s bridge. Captain Jim Anders, commanding officer of the scientific research vessel LWSS Aquila, stands by his chair at the center, overlooking the sophisticated array of consoles and monitors that his crew was operating, all tensely waiting for the results.
“Lifeforms detected. Location 40 miles at coordinates 32°56’ 12’’ N, 116 °23’ 46’’ W.
An enthusiastic cheer from the crew brings a smile to Jim’s face as he takes a seat and brings up the navigation display on his screen. “That would be...” Jim trails his finger across the screen and settles it at the location “Here”. His finger landed at the base of a mountain range southeast of the ship’s position. Hovering over his shoulder, Anne, his second in command, yells out to Jean, “See? I told you we would find something here. You owe me 50 credits”.
With a snort, Jean replies, “Yeah? Well you can give that back when we find out these aren’t friendly.”
Over the 28 expeditions the crew had undertaken, 16 of them had discovered that the native lifeforms they had discovered had been hostile. The long-running bet had paid off for Jean.
“Oh ye of little faith,” laughed Anne.
With an amused smile, Jim says, “Mother, any sign that these are likely to be hostile?”
“Unknown” Mother returns evenly.
“OK people, you know the drill – Anne, prepare a ground crew, be prepared for anything. Who knows what we might find down there. Jean, make sure the lab is set up and ready for any samples alive or otherwise. I’ll remain here, take further scans of the area, and see what I can find out about these lifeforms before first contact. Let’s get this done people, nice and safe”
“Yes sir,” snapping to attention sarcastically, Anne and Jean burst out laughing. Jim had a habit of going into military mode when starting off a mission. This scientific vessel didn’t follow military traditions, but Jim, a former military advisor, found it difficult to break some habits.
“Get out of here you two,” he says with a grin.
With that, the crew fell into routine. This expedition was just like any other and everyone was infected with excitement and anticipation for discovery.
A few hours later, Anne is on the surface of XE-310 with her ground crew when an alarm blares through her headset.
“Warning, proximity alert. Lifeforms incoming. Contact in two minutes”
With panic, she replies, “Mother, are the contacts hostile?” A hiss of static is her only reply.
“Jim, what’s happening? How can they be so close without us getting any warning?”
“I don’t know,” Jim replies with confusion.
“Mother should have alerted us!”
Movement out of the corner of her eye catches Anne’s attention and she gasps in horror.
Rounding the top of the hill was a creature unlike any other they had discovered so far.
With an appearance approaching that of a stingray, the creature had large leathery wings it used to glide itself towards the ship, the head was bony, its gleaming red eyes set above two embedded nostrils with a mouth full of glistening and razor-sharp teeth it was gnashing together as its gaze fixed on Anne. A whiplike, bony tail with an array of spikes trailed it and pincer-like thin arms protruded from its pale, spotted body.
Shuddering in terror, Anne called out to her crew, “Ready your weapons. Jim open the loading bay doors, we need to get out of here”
The creature halted 50 meters away, its head tilted to the side as it studied them. With a sudden ear-splitting screech, it burst into motion, rapidly charging towards Anne.
Caught unawares by the sudden movement, Anne stumbled backward, her back against the loading crate as she fearfully fired a few rounds at the creature. Anne’s attack bounced off the creature’s bony head. It ran towards her and used its pincer-like arms to swiftly shred through her suit and flesh. Its tail wrapped around her midsection as it tried to gnaw its way through the helmet, its teeth shattering the face shield and finding the head beneath. A spray of blood covered the helmets of the nearby ground crew. Blinded, they began firing in panic, shots spraying in every direction. Two crew members instantly fell as bullets tore into them.
The beating of wings signaled the arrival of further creatures, alerted by the screech and the bloodshed before them.
Back on the ship, Jim bashed his fist on the control panel. “Mother, what the hell just happened? Why didn’t you warn us they were approaching?”
A sudden pounding on the door to the bridge interrupted Jim’s question. “Alert, ship hull compromised. Hostiles lifeforms onboard” Mother proclaimed steadily.
“No shit!” Jim called out in anger as he displayed footage from the security camera fixed above the door on his console.
Three of the creatures were scraping, clawing, and bashing at the door. Visible dents, scratches, and teeth marks covered the surface. It wouldn’t be long before they found their way through.
Suddenly, something beyond the creatures caught his eye. A repair droid ambled down the corridor, focusing its attention on some damaged paneling that the creatures had punched through.
An idea forming in his head, Jim called out, “Mother, are you able to control that droid? We need to get it to the weapons lockers so it can blast these things to hell”
“Unable to comply,” Mother returned, “Access to droid systems restricted.”
“Override protocol S389, authorization code 44483, do it!”
“Accessing...”
The droid soon rounded the corner, returning from the weapons locker, flamethrower spewing flame as creatures fell to the deck in smoking piles of muscle and sinew.
Jim, weapon aimed at the door, relaxed his grip as the droid stepped through.
“Hostile lifeform detected,” Mother declared, voice now projecting from the repair droid.
“No wai...” Jim started to shout before fire consumed his flesh, the droid gazing at him with chilling awareness as he fell into darkness.