Lore for October:
Tittle: “The Fourth Passenger”, 6 parts
Part 1
There was much new on Next Island… In memory of the Planet Partner who had held the concession of the planet from the Mindark Corporation, an amusement park had been built on a southern island…
Like any amusement park, it had shops, bars and a race track, as well as an instance for the seasoned hunters, and a fancy restaurant to go to with Katalina…
But ideas are not always fulfilled, because sometimes there are unforeseen events… and in this case there was also one.
I was rummaging through my closet to see what I would wear for the opening party when the InterCOM sounded… The image of Chief Socrates appeared on the screen.
-Good morning, Sir… ready for the inauguration of the park? – I told him, trying to appear calm, although with Chief Socrates you never know…
-Yes, Dante… Everything is going well… By the way, have you heard about the exhibition of beasts from other planets? -said
-No, I didn’t know… an animal exhibition? – I was interested in the subject.
-Yes… from each of the planets of the Entropy Quadrant they are going to bring the rarest specimens… Let’s see what your friend Moustapha brings… -You could tell in his voice that he was in a good mood.
-Let’s see… Well, I’m going to continue dressing for the inauguration that…
-Wait a minute, Dante… um… we have a little problem… Can I count on you?
That’s it!!! Chief Socrates is going to get me into another mess just as the opening begins…
-Tell me, Chief.
-You see… The “Kronan” came from Cyrene with a copy, let’s say, extraordinary… A Terranix female…
Terranix!!! A monster that looked like some kind of land locust… it was very elusive, only appearing occasionally at certain times, and it was so rare that it didn’t appear in official animal lists or Codex.
-Well, Chief… and what is the problem? I said with interest.
-Well, just an hour ago we lost communication contact with the “Kronan”… it is close to the Space Station, but its beacon indicates erratic movements, as if it had engine problems or something like that… Very strange. – The voice of Chief Socrates denoted concern.
-And what can I do? I asked fearing the answer.
-Dante, you and Katalina can go by Quad and investigate what’s going on… I’m worried about that ship, besides the fact that the Terranix won’t arrive on time for tonight’s Exhibition… You take care of the matter?
Well, I already had another job for the sake of Next Island…
Part 2:
Katalina and I took off in the quad in the direction of the coordinates that Chief Socrates had given us… It was not as close to the Station as we thought, but rather in the vicinity of Athena Spaceport.
Athena was a station used in the early days of exploration of the Entropy Quadrant, but it’s long since abandoned… I doubt it’s still functional.
A few minutes later we saw the “Kronan”… her movement was erratic, like in circles… Something had happened, but we couldn’t imagine what… She had no radio communications despite our efforts to communicate with them… We decided to enter the ship…
With a bit of skill we entered the Hangar and left the Quad… Everything was silent… It was very strange that none of the maintenance personnel of the ship were around, nor that any officer of the ship came out to greet us…
Most of the lights were off… Something strange was happening…
At that moment we noticed something… the cargo transport Mech from the hangar was lying on the ground, knocked over, with strange marks on its torso…
We decided to leave the hangar through the stairs that led to the habitable decks of the ship… We pressed the button to open the door and…
A huge bloodstain on the floor next to the door… Damn!!! What had happened?
Katalina and I looked at each other… something unusual had happened on the ship… With a silent gesture between us, our armor materialized around us, and a pair of EWE Purpose appeared in our hands… we were ready for anything…
We walk down the corridor… more bloodstains… and in the background, some noises near the door…
Katalina and I looked at each other, cocked our weapons and prepared to open the door… I pressed the unlock button and…
With a great movement, a form jumped behind the door and fell to the ground screaming: A technician from the “Kronan”… His clothes were torn, he had blood stains and he kept screaming and thrashing… We held his arms while he kicked with fury, and their cries hurt our ears…
Katalina was practical: with a blow from the butt of the EWE she knocked him out… In a few minutes she would wake up from her unconsciousness and maybe she can talk about what happened…
A little later the technician opened his eyes, looked at us with perplexity, shook his head and said:
-Are you… Are you the rescue team? - His eyes widened as he looked around us, as if looking for someone or something else.
-Don’t worry, you’re safe… I’m Dante, and this is Katalina… Chief Socrates of Next Island told us to come see what was happening to you… But I see that it’s serious…
The Technician began to calm down little by little… apparently the blood was not his, but someone else’s… We should have known what had happened…
-Let’s see, what’s your name? - I told.
-Ryan, my name is Ryan… Secondary Repair Officer, VSE LVL 24 and about to be promoted to pilot. - He said with a tone of pride.
-Well, Ryan… What has happened here?
Ryan looked at me with fear…whatever it was, it still scared him…he swallowed hard and answered…
-What happened? The Terranix has escaped from its cage…
Part 3:
Ryan explained to us what happened: The Terranix was able to force the lock on the cage, we don’t know how since it is a relatively unknown animal and we don’t know much about its abilities.
The animal wandered through the ship, ramming everyone and everything, and destroyed part of the ship’s electrical wiring, so that half of the lights, the Revive, the direction and the communications stopped working.
The Terranix was hunting the crew one by one, but because the Revive was out of service, it was not known where the people were appearing…
-They will probably appear in Athena, but that is abandoned… So when this is over, you will have to send a rescue expedition or those people will have a hard time. Ryan told us.
Right… The first thing is to kill the Terranix, or better, eliminate it even if Socrates is left without his animal… Then try to restore the power so that he can pick up the crew at Athena Spaceport… finally, go to Next Island…
-But Dante, we have a bigger problem…-Katalina was very thoughtful and surely she has seen a flaw in the plan – We have to manage the ship… and none of us are LVL 25 VSE…
Right… We couldn’t handle the ship… That could be solved by finding the pilot in Athena, and bringing him back… But first, we have to stabilize the ship and capture the Terranix… It doesn’t matter what order…
-Ok, Ryan… Go make the necessary repairs, but don’t go too far… That bug could be anywhere… Meanwhile, we – Look at Katalina – We’ll go see if we catch it, kill it or whatever…
Katalina and I carefully went down to the cargo hold… we saw the cage, it was huge, strong, powerful… and still the Terranix managed to open it… We got closer to examine the lock closely… It was almost imperceptible, but we saw it: A fissure in the welding of the bolt had caused that in one of the blows and swings of the creature the mechanism jumped…
-Dante, I think that with the right equipment I can repair the lock… We may need the cage to transport that bug if we manage to capture it… -Katalina was still examining the lock.
Perfect, I left Katalina looking in a toolbox for some kind of plasma, MIG or similar welder… Meanwhile, I went out through one of the gates following the trail of breakages, blood stains and everything that had caused the being…
Clack!!! A crack… My senses alert, my finger on the trigger of the gun… Heart pounding… I had never faced a Terranix before and I didn’t know if I could handle it… Another close crack…
KATALINA:
Clack!!! Heard something, which way Dante went…Damn, I’ve got to hurry up and fix this lock…A good plasma weld and he’ll be good as new…Maybe we can lure him into the cage and bring him to the festival alive…
Without a doubt, Chief Socrates will congratulate us… With the number of people on the planet and he always sends us the most complicated missions… I don’t know whether to rejoice at the trust placed in us or tremble at the next mess he puts us into…
RYAN:
Clack!!! Damn, that sound is not from the ship… that thing is not very far… Well, this is already fixed… Now I have to go in the elevator to the bridge, to hit the switches… I hope that animal is not around …
Part 4:
I walked down one of the corridors following the noise… I made a mental sketch of the layout of the ship, as I remembered it from previous trips: The corridor ended at the hangar where we landed, and the lower staircase led to the cargo holds where the goods and the cage were…
If all went well, we might be able to capture the bug, but it depended on timing with Katalina and Ryan… I hit the comlink.
-Katalina, everything alright? Change.
-Yes, everything is fine… I fixed the lock, now it closes perfectly. Where are you?
-I’m near the hangar… I think it’s there… I’ll try to lure it down the hall to see if we can cage it again.
-Mmmm… could be… The cage has a separation between bars of about 60 cm… you could enter the cage followed by the Terranix, and exit through the rear bars while we close the door, but… - Katalina’s doubtful tone worried me.
-But?
-60 cms is too little to go out… maybe in profile, but you should go naked… Clothes and armor would get in the way of going through the bars.
Come on!!! Not only do I have to act as live bait, but also naked or at least with few clothes… And that reminds me that this afternoon I had bought an “Animal Print” Mankini to surprise Katalina… What little dignity for an animal rescue…
-Okay… We have to synchronize… Ryan, everything alright?
-Ryan here, everything is almost fine… I can now turn on the lights, but the revive and the TP, which share circuits, don’t work… Something else broke, but I don’t have spare parts here…
-Well… Go to the cage room with Katalina and wait there… Turn on the lights and watch the doors from the monitors… Close the doors remotely as the Terranix advances, so as not to let it out.
-Okay Dante, and you?
-I… I’m the bait. Attention…
Okay, crunch time… I take off my armor and weapons, put on only the Mankini and the Hermetic speed ring… I walk over to the gate and open it…
There it is… in the Hangar, near our Quad… He’s examining it, maybe he thinks it’s another threat like the Mech… It’s time… I pick up a metal fragment from the ground and throw it in his direction.
Clang!!! I hit near the quad… The monster turns around and sees a guy in Mankini waving his arms and yelling, I mean, me… And suddenly he decides that I’m more appetizing than the Quad… With a quick movement he turns and walks towards me …and hitting the Quad, which loses a skid and the right wing…
I almost have him on me, time to run down the hall, followed by the beast… Between the stamping of its legs and its roars I hear the hangar door closing… Good!!! Ryan has closed his exit, he only has to move towards the trap.
KATALINA AND RYAN:
-I can hear noise… they’re coming down the south corridor… Ryan, keep closing doors and pay attention.
-Ok, Katalina… do you have control of the cage door?
-I send? what command?
-The one on the door… it closes remotely… If you don’t have it, you must activate the bolt manually, but when the Terranix is already inside…
-But the gate is huge…
-Well, Katalina, well, we’ll push it together and close the latch later… And let’s hope everything goes well and we don’t end up dead in Athena…
Part 5:
I heard the footsteps of the monster very close… I turned my face and saw him just a few meters from me… Another closed door behind him and another open door in front of me… The cargo hold door… I ran inside as if the devil were chasing me which was basically it…
-Katalina, pay attention!!!
I saw the cage at the back, with the door open… I ran in followed by the Terranix… The cage was about 20 meters long, and I saw with regret that perhaps 60 centimeters were not enough for me…
I got to the bottom of the cage followed by the bug and I stood in profile to try to pass through the bars… Katalina is an excellent cook and I think I have overused the stews she prepares.
KATALINA AND RYAN:
-Has entered!!! Now, Ryan, help me.
Ryan and I ran to the door, pushing as hard as we could… the gate almost closed, but it caught the end of one of the monster’s legs… It stopped dead, turned its huge head, and looked at us…
DANTE:
Something has slowed him down… Now I have to go out… A little more… From today only salads and juices…
-Already!!! I’m out… Gods, close the damn cage now!!!
KATALINA AND RYAN:
-Push, push – Ryan was doing all the force he could… and with one last push, the Terranix finished turning towards us, but taking the leg out of the door… Now !!!
With a loud thud the door closed… I had just time to activate the lock when one of its legs came out between the bars and swept us, throwing us to the ground… And between roars and blows, we saw Dante come out from behind the cage … With an “Animal Print” Mankini!!!
-Dante, darling… Didn’t you have something more ridiculous to wear for this hunt?
One hour later:
-Well, the Terranix is caged, the ship almost repaired except for the Revive and the TP… And our Quad is a mess in the hangar… Ryan, go and fix it… So we can go down to Next Island and ask for help… -I said, already with dignity restored after getting rid of the damn Mankini.
-Well, you see, Dante… I hardly have any welding wire left… I don’t know if I’ll even be able to do anything to it. Ryan’s tone was doubtful.
We went down to the Hangar… there was the poor Quad… Ryan approached, arranged the RK on him and began his work… a second later, greenish lights surrounded him.
-At last!! At last!!! I am already LVL 25 in VSE… I can now pilot the ship!!! – He said happily while his RK turned off due to lack of welding wire…
-Well… the welding wire ran out, and I can’t repair the Quad, but… I can now pilot the ship to Next Island… Let’s go? -Ryan’s joy was immense…
…How immense is my concern… A novice pilot in a gigantic ship; I hope we don’t crash the “Kronan”…
Part 6:
NEXT ISLAND:
Chief Socrates was making the official presentations of the contest… The competition was very close… Arkadia had presented a Divine Kamaldon, very rare to find…
Toulan had brought a new specimen of Tab-tab but adorned with a kind of plaid pants… And the other planets and satellites also had strange animals… only Cyrene was missing…
KRONAN:
-Well, we’ll have to do something unusual since we don’t have any landing craft or operational TP: We’ll have to land the “Kronan” on the planet. – Ryan said.
-But man!!! How are you going to land a ship of these dimensions??? We are going to crash, and there is going to be no welding wire in the entire Entropy Quadrant to repair this hulk!!! –I exploded.
-Yes, Dante, trust me… I’ve read the ship’s manual at least a hundred times… and now it’s time to put it into practice for the first time!!! - Ryan was elated.
I looked at Katalina… For the first time, he says… There is no other choice…
NEXT ISLAND:
Chief Socrates lengthened the speech unnecessarily, worried about the lack of news from Dante and the “Kronan”… Much to his regret, he decided to cancel Cyrene’s presentation, when…
A loud buzz in the sky made everyone present look up… A huge shadow loomed over the park… The “Kronan” was descending!!! Amazing…
The ship grew larger and larger until it finally reached ground level… Unfortunately, space was limited, and much of the ship ended up in the water, kicking up a wave that hit those present, high dignitaries and Chief Socrates himself… The stage was swept away, and a lot of people were wet…
The cellar gate had been flush with the beach, and it opened… A smiling Dante and Katalina followed by another person in Technician uniform emerged from the cellar… Followed by a huge motorized cage with a large female Terranix inside.
-Don’t worry, don’t worry… Cyrene’s delegation has arrived on time… and we present the Terranix!!!.. But… what happened here? Was there a Tsunami?
The expression of Chief Socrates and of all those present was worse than the look of the Gorgon…