BV41 It's a Space Monster

Can't believe dis. Truly a messed up kinda situation. I'm runnin' along the big empty hallways of my former ship—it's a grand ship, got all the bells an' whistles—tryna stay outta the way of some fat, humongous tentacle thing that's rampagin' every which way.

I'm rushin' my way down the hall. The loud, hurried, echoin' stomps I take're overtaken out by the loud, wreckage of the ship violently being pummeled t'pieces behind me. An' as soon as the broken pieces touch the black nothingness, all the sound surrounding them're instantly null an' void.

It's an odd sensation. Sound, then no sound. Terror, then emptiness.

I turn a corner an' come t'a halt. Where am I? Dang, why's this ship so big? I look up, an' at that moment, the ceilin's broken in. Dat huge tentacle cleaves its way down, forcefully wreckin' any an' everything in its path. It's a miracle it hasn't hit me yet.

There's a beep in my head, followed by a “What the staak is goin' on?!” from Rutra. The helmet's speaker is supposed t'adjust for varyin' levels of volume, but the buzzin' his voice carries somehow finds a way t'mess everything up. My ears is ringin'.

Another beep, followed by Scion's voice statin', “It would appear as if the ship you're on is ensnared by a—I'm not even sure what to call it—a –”

“It's a space monster! Get out of there!” Kal-Artang interjects.

“Get out where?” Rutra asks.

The rumblings're gettin' more frequent an' violent. I can't take more than two steps without another quake forcin' me t'take a knee.

I sprint as soon as the shakin' stops. I have t'keep movin'. I feel like if I stand still for a moment, that could be the end of me. But I'm runnin' blind. I don't know when or where the next impact'll be.

“Where is everyone right now?” FengRi asks. “First of all, is everyone alive? Sound off!”

Crud, another dead end. I make it t'the end of a hall that jus' stops. Rubble an' debris from the broken in ceilin's an' walls block my path.

“I'm alive!” bug-face announces.

There ain't no lights here, save for the one beamin' from my helmet t'light my way. I wanna stop an' think, but the voices ain't givin' me no peace.

“We know, Rutra!” FengRi responds. “Captain? What about you?”

I place my hand along a wall an' start t'press against it. The wall moves. It feels flimsy t'me. I could break through it on my own. That way, I'd be able t'make my own path. Yeah, I could forge my own way out. That would work, right? What're the downsides?

“Yeah, I'm good,” I say.

I run down the hall, abandoning the thought as quick as it came. Breakin' through the ship would be a bad idea. I'm still blind. I wouldn't be knowin' where I'd end up at. An' I'd probably run into the space monster faster that way. It was a stupid plan t'begin with.

“What about the other?” FengRi goes on. “What was his name?”

“I'm here,” Mera responds.

“We've got readings on all of your locations,” Scion says. “We're sending it to your visors now. If you all reconvene at the same location, we should be able to grab you and leave.”

Now that's nice. At the top left corner of my helmet's visor, a crude collection of white lines are placed against a black background. Within the lines are three blue dots and one yellow one. As I travel down this hall, the yellow dot moves within the borders of the lines.

I think this is a map. The other dots must be Rutra, FengRi, an' Mera. I can use this.

“FengRi, you're the closest one to us,” Kal-Artang mentions. “So everyone head in his direction. Let's keep extraction this simple and clean.”

“I can work with that,” Rutra says.

“Be careful!” Scion warns. “It appears that the beast occasionally bends light around itself. It barely gives off a heat source as well, which would explain why we didn't detect it on our sensors beforehand. All this to say, in spite of its grandiose size, pinpointing it's exact location is proving quite difficult for us at this range.”

“It seems ta be doin' a bang up job pinpointing mine!” Rutra cries out. There's a loud crashing sound—multiple crashing sounds—accompanying his heavy huffin' an' excited tone.

“Do I need to come after you!?” FengRi asks.

There's another crash. It sends quakes throughout the whole ship. I'm forced t'lean against a nearby wall for support as I wait it out.

I glance back out the corner of my eye t'find that one of the blue dots has met up with another.

“Nah, I'm good! Backup's already here!” Rutra responds.

“I can see it,” Mera states. “Shouldn't be a problem for me to navigate around it. It's attacking wildly. So long as we stay out of its path, we should come out alive.”

“Then good,” FengRi says. “Hurry up and get here so we can leave! How about you captain? Can you get here without dying?”

“Yeah, I'll catch up,” I say. “Don't leave without me!”

“Wouldn't dream of it.”

I can hear the sarcasm in his voice. Don't care. I'm already hurryin' down the halls. The walls are gettin' plowed through like nothin'. These halls is turnin' into a broken maze path real quick.

Dang it, end of the road. Again. This time, it isn't debris blockin' my path. In fact, it's the lack of debris that makes this end especially scary. Only thing up ahead is outside. This whole part of the ship is gone. I turn around an' head back the way I came.

Why's this ship so big?

I'm runnin' as fast as I can. Dodgin' fallin' broken ship parts every which way. Then I feel myself get smacked hard from the side. It happens so fast, my brain doesn't even register it until I'm through two walls already. I look over an' see nothin'. The thing's invisible. But I definitely feel it. It's like an overgrown anaconda bein' shoved up against me.

Finally end up stoppin'. Then, the tentacle comes into light. Yup, it's a big ol' tentacle. Not much t'it. It flies upward as it leaves. I draw my sword, an' wait a second for it t'come back, but so far, there's nothin'.

“Hurry up, Captain! We ain't got all day!” Rutra's voice makes obnoxiously clear. I glance up at the map an' see the three blue dots are all together. That's a good thing, right? Me bein' the lonely yellow dot a whole four major white lines away ain't no thang, right?

“Don't you leave me!” I shout.

The laughter I hear in response isn't comforting.

So I'm runnin' again. I see that I'm comin' up on the end of this hall too, but this end doesn't exactly lead t'space. I mean, there's a huge gap of space in between, but on the other side of that gap is the rest of the ship.

Without thinkin' about it, I don't even bother t'slow down. I'm takin' this jump, an' I'm makin' this jump. My foot reaches the edge, an' I push straight off.

I feel floaty, but all the speed an' momentum I had in the lead up is still with me. I think this is called inertia. My limbs are all out, danglin' in front of me. As my feet draw closer to the other side, I feel the tug of my boots t'latch on t'the metal floor.

The landing coulda been more graceful, but I make due with it. I look up an' find that this hallway's even more broke down than the last one. The map in my helmet says I'm actually further away from the others.

As I make my way down this corridor, I spot somethin' movin' that ain't on the radar. It stops in its tracks. A tall, slender thing. Humanoid lookin'. It's neck sorta sticks out, cuz it's longer than its body needs it t'be.

I see its goggles flash an orange light, then its tense shoulders loosen. It walks up to me. I draw my sword out in front of me, an' tensen up with the blade facin' it. With a wave of its hand, the visor of my helmet lights up. Then I hear a voice.

“Ah, it's you,” it says. It's goggles flash again, an' the orange light it emits intensifies, like a flashlight. I think he's scannin' me.

“Yeah, me. Who are you?” I respond.

The dude walks around me. Part of his body is cybernetic. I can see that those goggles are actually mechanical parts ingrained into its green, veiny skin. The rest of his face seems like its fused into whatever gas-mask lookin' thing that's coverin' it.

“You don't remember?” he says. I can hear his voice in my head, like I can the rest of my crew. It's a lot more gurgly, but it's definitely discernible. “After making such a fuss about how I clean up after myself, I'd thought I'd make an impression.”

I pause for a moment. Not gonna lie, now that he mentions it, he does sorta look familiar. An' if I saw him first, I woulda already had a name for him. Then it hits me.

“Mallec?” I ask. My shoulders loosen, an' I lower my blade.

“Doctor Mallec Fry'R,” he responds.“Yes, there we go. And in an effort to clean up after myself, I need your help.”

He's still circlin' around me. It's makin' me a lil' bit uneasy. My sword's by my side in my left hand. I tighten the grip on its hilt as a reflex. Then I see him look out the big open way I jus' came jumpin' through. His gaze is focused on somethin'. I can't tell what.

“That's cool an' all,” I say. “But right now, I'm tryna leave before this invisible space monster kills me.”

“Yes, the space monster!” he jumps hastily as he turns towards me. “That's exactly what I'm referring to! I need help in order to contain it.”

An' now I've suddenly lost interest in this whole turn of events. “Good luck with that,” I say, turnin' my back t'him.

“Interesting. I seem to recall you being gungho about inserting yourself into other people's affairs, so long as it appeased your sense of morality and the greater good, or other such nonsense.”

“I guess I learned better.” I start t'walk away.

“Well, regardless, the chances of you leaving without assisting me are slim to none.”

I stop in my tracks an' turn my head t'look at the dude behind me. “Is that a threat?” I ask.

“No, I'm merely stating the obvious. This creature of mine won't let anyone here leave.”

“Oh.”

“All I'm asking is for you to draw its attention, while I devise some sort of means to render the beast immobile. Then you can be on your merry way.”

“I guess.”