geo
Junior Member
Posts: 183
Registered: 10-05 |
I would love to hear some reviews, comments, and critiques. Thanks so much!
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UPDATE:
Posted chapters 9-12
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QUICK SUMMARY
Before Phobos received help from Mars and a nameless marine it was overtaken by Hellish creatures from an unknown origin. This is one story of survival before help that help arrived.
Marine John Harris must leave the safety of a sanctuary in order to save nearly two dozen survivors and the woman he loves before they run out of oxygen or get killed by invading forces from Hell.
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CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO PHOBOS
Beneath the surface of a tiny dust covered moon is a vast network of chambers and caverns. While there were no visible openings to the surface at the time, technology had been able to find these networks. Technology had found the tunnels, but never did it find what dwells within them.
Being subterranean, there was thought to be no light, but from one of the larger caverns, light shines on the walls. Light trapped tightly between the walls and the bodies that create shadows that crawl upward.
These creatures are humanoid, and while they have adapted to subterranean life, they did not originate there. In fact no one knows quite where they originated from.
The shadows scurry away from something toward the top of the chamber as a giant left hand peels one of them from the wall. If any human ears were present, they would hear a haunting screech of terror from the creature as it tries to cling to the rest of its brethren for safety.
A light shines from inside of the large hand illuminating the dark hollow cavern. The face of the taken creature glowed from the light that naturally comes from its chest. There are sharp teeth within its mouth, claws at the end of its fingers, but it still cannot get away from the grasp of the giant hand.
In the darkness a giant maw slowly opens to reveal a pit of fire large enough for a man to fit in. Soon after the maw fully opens, the creature is chomped and split in two with its legs kicking in a panic.
The screeches were made silent when the creature was split in two. The top half was eaten alive by the maw and burned in the mouth of fire to be used as fuel. The lower half of the creature’s body was dropped to the floor of the giant cavern.
The bright glow at the center of the creature’s body grew faint. The vibrant reddish yellow light that emanated from the creature’s heart turned into a dead gray.
There were however, four more lights shining from the center of the cavern. On four giant pedestals were more creatures that had their limbs soldered to the top.
Each of their hearts shined a reddish yellow and illuminated their bodies to draw the attention of the massive beast that they were being sacrificed to.
As for the other creatures that crawled on the walls, they clung to the ceiling of the chamber out of the reach of the massive beast. There was such a mass of bodies at the ceiling that no light shined at all. Everything was still as the creatures watched in both terror and delight.
That was until the massive beast tore one of the sacrifices from the pedestal. The limbs of the humanoid sacrifice tore off as they had been soldered to the top of the pedestal with melted rock.
A load rumbling roar came from the fiery maw of the massive beast. It shook the chamber, but the hundreds of creatures remained hidden at the top as they continued to watch.
The sacrifice was moved by the giant left hand of the massive beast from the pedestal to the large maw. The reddish yellow heart began to grow dim from inside the creature’s chest. Even then when the creature was brought to the maw of fire, the light from the heart revealed two large horns arched forward and curved to a point next to the maw.
The creature was eaten just the same way and stoked the fire within the mouth of the massive beast. The sacrifices were used as fuel to power this mighty demon.
With another roar from its giant mouth, it shook the chamber with such force that one of the creatures on the ceiling fell. The creature plummeted from above the massive beast. The light from its luminescent heart lit up the beast’s body.
First the beast’s face which was covered with a metal plate over its forehead. Lower than the plate were two tiny red eyes that reflected the light of the creature’s heart. The enormous head of the beast moved to watch the creature plummet.
As the creature continued to fall, the light revealed a portion of the beast’s mutated body. Twists of fleshless muscle could be seen. That was until the creature was caught by the beast’s giant left hand.
That was only beneath of the surface of the moon named Phobos. On the surface, there was a series of different problems. These were problems that man had brought upon themselves in one way or another. Every other problem could be solved, but the current problem was survival.
CHAPTER 1B: TELEPORTATION
It all started with the best of intensions; within a room made of steel and titanium walls there was a single large pad at the center of the floor. The floor was made of a steel grate that allowed everyone on the sub level to see through. Next to the pad were two giant white buffers that faced one another and created a mysterious glowing red light show between them.
The beams of light stretched across the entire room that had the word “Pad B,” marked on the wall. In an instant, a man of Russian descent was thrown out of the light and he had to stop himself before he fell over from his momentum.
He regained his composure and stood tall in a panic, looking behind him to the glowing red light. The Russian man then saw the glowing red light fade and he threw his body around to look at all of the eyes upon him. There were dozens of men and women in white lab coats watching him.
One by one they began to clap, cheer and whistle. A man in a white lab coat stepped out of the crowd. His hair was grey and he had a security clearance card in his breast pocket with his photo and name, “Dr. Voskowalski.”
“Congratulations,” said the doctor as his light clapping came to a stop. The Russian looked wide eyed at the doctor in front of him. The man asked, “Is this real?” “Yes, of course Vladimir,” replied the doctor, who then added, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Then I am first,” said Vladimir with his thick accent, only to hear Dr. Vosko comment, “Well you are not the first.”
The Russian was still wide eyed, and he did not believe the doctor. He backed away and screamed out, “Is this real?” The doctor reiterated, “Yes, you are not going to wake up. You are the first to have successfully been transported from pad A to pad B without being turned inside out.”
Behind the Russian, the machine slowly came to a stop. The red light dissipated and revealed a control panel next to the pad that the user had to activate before being teleported. Vladimir quickly turned to the machine and quietly spoke the words, “This machine needs to be stopped.”
“Stopped?” asked Dr. Vosko with almost laughter in his voice, “Vladimir, your successful teleportation just means that testing and development will occur more rapidly! It will be easier to find volunteers knowing that they will live through it, and finally we may even begin to transport things from this moon to the next. Maybe even from Mars and back to Earth.”
Vladimir clenched his stomach and said, “No, it needs to stop.” He hunched over and dropped to his knees before he threw up through the steel grated floor beneath of him. There were groans coming from his mouth and Dr. Vosko called out, “Tendrick!”
There was no response, so Dr. Vosko looked to the crowd of curious scientists, researchers and lab technicians. He asked again, “Where is my lab assistant?” From atop of a metal stairway appeared James Tendrick who said, “Here Sir!”
Tendrick ran down the stairs two at a time and boldly said, “Right here Dr. Vosko.” “Tendrick,” said Vosko, “Please escort Mr. Prudius to the medical ward and the bio research lab. I want them to a full test on both his physical and mental well being.” “Yes Sir,” said Tendrick as he and a lab technician helped Vladimir onto his feet.
As Vladimir was helped away, he kept talking about, “The demons.” Dr. Vosko paid no attention though as he said, “Somebody pop open a bottle of Champaign and get the UAC on the line! I think that we have a reason to celebrate!”
That was followed by a room full of clapping hands as the grey haired Dr. Vosko raised his hands and took a bow next to the teleportation pad. When he came up from his bow he told those clapping, “It hasn’t been an easy four years. You all know we have left our families at home, but once this is perfected, we can bring our families, our children, our wives, and even our mistresses here from Earth. Here in an instant. No one will ever have to stay on a ship for 2 years to go back and forth between the red planet and the blue planet.”
He began to politely clap his own hands and gesture to the crowd as he told them, “I owe it all to you! Every one of you who have been here those four years, and to the new people who have only been here a few months. I especially owe thanks to the UAC for funding this project, building this complex here on Phobos!”
No where in his speech did he ever mention the dozen volunteers that had lost their lives from unsuccessful tests. One of the lab technicians spoke up to ask Dr. Vosko, “What do you suppose Mr. Prudius meant when he said the demons?”
Dr. Vosko of course took the question lightly. This was his nature, and he answered, “I hope that doctors in the medical lab will ask him that question! I have a feeling that our dear volunteer; number thirteen; lucky number thirteen means that only the devil can do what we just did and we just made magic happen!”
A woman crowd with boyishly short blonde hair asked him, “Then why would he have volunteered?” “Good question Grace,” said Dr. Vosko, before he answered, “The UAC has very handsome compensation and benefits for volunteers and unsuccessful tests. I am sure Mr. Prudius was thinking of his wife and two kids back home in Russia. Of course he may have just wanted extra helpings of food in the cafeteria. Who am I to know why anyone does anything?”
The next to ask a question was from a member of security that monitored the room. He first got Vosko’s attention, “Excuse me Sir.” Dr. Vosko was a bit taken back, being asked something from a member of security. He boldly said, “Yes? You have a question?” “I do Sir,” said the member of security. “I do not recognize you,” said Dr. Vosko, “What is your name son?”
“William Jessiah,” he said, before Dr. Vosko asked him, “Well Jessiah, what is your question?” Jessiah asked, “Why teleportation? Why not cold fusion or plasma weapons technology?”
Dr. Vosko happily answered the question, “First and foremost, I am a man of peace. I am not making weapons. Nor do I have the power to make some limitless energy source. Secondly, and personally most important to me; almost ten years ago my wife had a heart attack at home on a very ordinary evening. It was ordinary for us, but for the world outside, it was a chaotic blizzard outside on the streets of Chicago. When I called the rescue squad, the dispatcher warned me that due to the snow it would take the ambulance a good amount of time. I had to watch my wife Julianne, die in my arms because the ambulance couldn’t make it in time. If teleportation existed, she would be alive. I would have had her instantly teleported to the hospital. She would have lived, no matter what the weather was like outside.”
To break the tension, he laughed and said, “That is my reason, but the UAC wants to see cars replaced by teleporters in people’s garages. They want to see airports replaced with teleportation to other planets, and you know what? I want to help them to do that, especially if it will save a life here and there.”
That answer stuck in Jessiah’s mind, but more so, it was a reoccurring nightmare every night for Dr. Vosko. His attempt to alleviate his own nightmares would unleash a Hellish nightmare into the waking reality of everyone in the research complex.
There were many stories of survival, but there was only one of harrowing rescue. There were nearly two dozen survivors trapped in the medical ward and only one man was willing to save them all.
CHAPTER 2: CALL ME HARRIS
“But you can’t go out there,” said a woman who’s face was pale from fear. Her hair was long and greasy from a week of not being washed. She looked at the man before her. Her gaze was focused on his broad back that was covered in a dark green armor standard issue for a member of the USSMC.
The man before her looked at himself in the mirror of a small washroom. Above him was a single light that focused straight down, and left the rest of the room dark. He was hunched over the sink as he lowered his brow and asked her, “Do you want to get out of here and back to your patients?” The woman almost touched his shoulder, as she shook her head no.
Her arm recoiled slowly as she told him, “Two weeks ago you were my only patient in his forsaken ward.” The man at the sink turned on the faucet in front of him as he continued to look into the mirror. He spoke again, “I remember, and that’s why I’m still alive right now.”
“That’s why we’re all alive,” she added, before a brief pause, “You’re our defender.” He began to wet his hands in the water and wiped the sweat off of his face. The washroom had the scent of recycled air being so small with two people in it.
The woman turned her head to let out a heavy cough next to her shoulder, before she tried to cover it with her fist.
Next to the small wash basin was a pistol. The man glanced down to the other side of the wash basin to see the clip.
After a moment, he lowered his head as he wiped his brow with the warm water and then remarked, “I’ve defended you all so well we’re pinned down. No longer am I going to defend us, instead I am going to save us; all of us.”
He then asked her, “How many days has it been now?”
The woman continued to stand behind him. Her body was covered in green scrubs with a long white lab coat draped around her shoulders. She looked at his rough face in the mirror and answered him with a question, “It’s been at least as long as your last shave.”
“I,” he hesitated, “I lost track of the days. I’ve never been away from my squad this; you know; I’ve been cut off from command. There has been no reason for me to shave.” He then looked at her in the mirror, with his body still hunched over the sink. “You’ve done a good job,” said the woman from behind him, “A great job,” she added, “Considering it is just you here defending us.”
“I’ve got to change that,” said the man in green armor. The woman’s eyes focused on the back of his neck as she said, “A marine to the death.” “Was that a statement or a question?” he asked. She slightly tilted her head to look into his eyes in the mirror again.
She told him, “I’m just reading the tattoo on the back of your neck.” With her index finger, she traced it over his neck and pointed as she read, “Marine.”
“That’s how I’ve been tagged and that’s how I’ll be remembered,” said the marine in green armor. He turned off the faucet and told her, “You want to leave the room? It’s getting stuffy and sweaty with two people in it.” The woman’s breaths were heavy next to him, until she let out another cough with her head turned.
She then turned her head to his body again and asked, “Are you going to leave us?” He turned his broad body around to look at her pale face and said, “I’m going to save you and to do that I need to leave.” “You can’t leave,” she retorted, before she added, “We’ll be defenseless if you go.”
The marine looked from her neck up to her eyes before he uttered, “You’ll still have a lot of guns. You’ll be able to defend yourself.” He gave half a smile on his tan face and told her, “I’ve seen you handle yourself in a fire fight.”
“I did what I had to,” she stated, “I defended my patients when you had your hands and gun barrels busy in blood.” He took her arms in his grasp and told her, “Your duty is to save lives and that’s exactly what you did. My duty is to let command know that there are survivors here.”
She started to tell him, “If command were still... Phobos was hit pretty hard.” “We took all they had and we’re still alive,” said the marine, only to hear her retort, “Barely. There are people out that door that I can’t treat. They’re dying.”
His grasp on her arms loosened when he gave a half hearted smile and told her, “There could still be more survivors out there and I’m sure that they’re all headed for command.” She cynically told him, “Even if there were more survivors; the ward is full John; it was when we sealed ourselves off from the rest of the complex.”
She continued on her rant, “Those stories that people tell when they come in are horrible. Nothing like we’ve seen yet!” “And now we have,” said the marine only to hear her retort, “I meant things that you and I haven’t seen in here. The creatures that they talk about, those things are out there John and you want to go out there?”
“I can handle them,” said the marine, only to see the woman shake her head, “No. No you really can’t. You’re just one man.” John tried to interject a word, but she stopped him as she said, “The last time we heard from command, they said that there were thousands of them. If you leave, those things are going to get you and then come in here and get us if we’re not dead already.”
She took a small white bottle out of the pocket of her white lab coat and poured two pills into her hand. With a quick slap she popped the pills into her mouth and asked him, “Give me some water there please.” The marine quickly filled a small glass and gave it to her so she could down that just as quickly as the pills.
“You need to stop taking those pills,” he told her, but she quickly snapped, “You’re not a doctor.” “Relax,” he said slowly with his calming deep voice, “Why would you think they’re coming here? We haven’t been attacked in three days and like you said the doors to the ward have been sealed shut.” He then calmly added, “Welded shut and barricaded.”
“I can’t relax without you or the pills,” said the dark haired woman folded her arms as her face began to pout. She then asked him, “Why are you really leaving?” The only response was when the marine turned his head away from her gaze. She spoke words, “Give it up, I know why you’re leaving.” “Don’t make this harder than it is,” retorted the marine.
The woman in the white lab coat gave him a sharp comment, “You made that choice last night John.” His body turned to face the mirror and as he picked up his empty pistol, he looked into his own eyes and then said, “Call me Harris.”
There was a voice, “Sergeant Harris it says here.” John was no longer in the tiny bathroom. Instead he was in a clean white bed with his eyes slowly starting to open. His right arm was bandaged up with stains of blood beneath of it. There was a cold wet rag on his forehead and he was covered by a thin white sheet.
Behind his bed was a long window that spanned across the ward. It was a window that overlooked the grey surface of the Martian moon that they were on. The window had giant black shutters to protect the thick glass from the grey dust that would periodically stream across the moon’s surface.
High in the sky was the giant and unavoidable red surface of Mars. The tiny planet appeared massive simply from how close proximity the moon was to Mars. Outside the window was a place with no atmosphere, nor any breathable air.
However, in the room, the air was fresh and breathable.
The voice spoke again to ask, “How are you feeling today Sergeant?” His eyes swirled as he looked over the clean white ward. All of the beds were empty beside him. He was the only person in the ward, aside from the woman that had just asked him the question.
The blue eyes of Sergeant Harris looked to the woman. Her arm cradled a clip board and in her left hand was a pen to write down his answers. He asked her, “Where am I?” There were white walls, a white ceiling and a flickering light over him. He spoke a quip, “Is this heaven?”
“Hardly,” she said, “You are in the medical ward on Phobos.” “How did I get here?” asked Sergeant Harris. “You were there, you tell me,” said the woman as she slowly clicked her pen to calm her nerves.
She inquired again, “How are you feeling today?” “Didn’t you just ask me that?” wondered the sergeant, only to hear her reply, “But you never answered me Sergeant Harris. How do you feel?”
“First of all, call me Harris,” he told her, before he asked her, “Do you feel good?” She stopped clicking her pen briefly to wonder, “Why do you ask?” “Because you sure look good,” he told her.
Her only response was, “That is the best line I’ve heard since I started working on this grey rock.” “Why is that?” he asked, before he followed up with, “What else have you heard?” She shifted her brown eyes to the left and pondered, “Oh I don’t know.”
The arm holding her pen fell to her side as she stood for a minute and tried to remember. In that brief time, Harris looked over her slender body from her thin green scrubs covered by a white lab coat to her long black hair tied in a bun. “I have it now,” she said. Harris quickly said, “Let’s hear it.” “How would you like to give me a sponge bath?” she stated as her eyes shifted back to her only patient.
“Please doctor,” uttered Harris, “We’re not even dating yet.” “Yet?” she asked, before her eyes squinted and she postured her head differently, “Trying to be sly isn’t going to get you any special treatment here Harris. I am no angel of mercy and I’ll treat you just as badly as all the other boys in green.”
“I already feel special,” said Harris, only to hear her retort, “And why is that? Is that because a marine like you just put one over on me?” “No. It’s because I am taking up all of the doctor’s time,” said Harris. There was of course no one else in the long room full of white beds.
She gazed down to the clip board as she scribbled something on his form. Harris had to wonder, “What are you writing?” She continued to write as she slowly told him word for word, “Seems in good spirits, reluctant to answer questions.”
She then added, “Oh and I’m not the doctor; Just a nurse.” Harris could only ask, “Where is the doctor then?” “Don’t know,” she said, “Dr. Stein didn’t show up today.” There was an intermitted pause, until she added, “Or the day before.”
“That’s been happening a lot,” stated Harris as he watched his nurse continue to fill out the form with her left hand. “What’s happening a lot?” she wondered.
“Oh nothing,” he replied before he continued with a deeper vindictive voice, “People haven’t been showing up to duty lately either.” With the form almost filled out, the nurse told him, “We have duty here too Harris. It’s just not as glamorous as patrolling the surface of the moon like you.”
With that said, the nurse’s eyes looked to the long window in the ward. The ward was atop a ridge of grey carbonate rock and overlooked the rest of the complex on Phobos. The research complex on the face of Phobos was in the pattern of a T and had a stretch of monorail from one building to the next. Above it all was a lone control tower at the center of the T.
Harris told her, “We’re keeping this grey rock safe.” After a mere moment, the nurse continued and completed the form. She then folded her arms around the clip board and then wondered, “Safe from what Harris?” She let out a small chuckle, and added, “There is nothing on the surface. No water; nothing to even support life.”
“Just because there’s nothing on the surface,” he said, “Doesn’t mean that it is safe.” The nurse tucked her pen into the pocket of her white lab coat and told him, “I know it’s not. If it was, you would not be here now would you?”
“So,” Harris uttered, “When can I go?” “You Sergeant,” she started to reply, “You are mine for at least three more days.” “I told you before,” he started to say, but the nurse then cut him off, “Call you Harris?”
She then put the clip board at the foot of his bed and told him, “And you can call me Phoebe.” Harris gave her a smirk as he said, “You must be the only Phoebe on Phobos.”
“Funny,” she said, “My kid brother said that to me when I told my family that I was assigned to this place.” Harris continued the conversation, “My dad said something similar, only he said that I’d be the only one on Phobos.”
With a slight smile Phoebe told him, “For that to happen, three hundred members of personnel would have to abandon this base.” After that was said, she began to walk away quickly with the bottom of her lab coat whipping behind her.
Harris called out, “Are you abandoning me?” “No!” She called back to him, “I’m giving you your bed rest!” Once she was at the door to the white medical ward, she turned to look at him one last time. Her delicate hand pressed a button to open the door to the ward as she called out to him, “In the meantime, maybe you can remember why you’re here. I’d really like to know why your arm was almost burnt off and you almost killed yourself!”
In an instant, Harris was back standing in front of the mirror looking into his own blue eyes. He took the clip from beside the sink and quickly slapped it into the base of his pistol. He then pulled the barrel of the pistol back with the sound of a metal clink to turn off the safety.
The sergeant turned around with his pistol at his side and told her, “I need to get to command.” The nurse pleaded with him, “Don’t go Harris.” “And don’t fall for a marine,” he told her, as he looked into her brown eyes.
With a quick motion he slapped his hand against a button next to the door of the washroom as he told her, “You’ll only get yourself dog tags in the end.” The door of the tiny washroom slid to the side and Harris pushed his way around the pale nurse Phoebe.
Once he was past her, Phoebe turned and used her forearm to wipe the sweat off of her forehead as she watched him. She muttered to herself, “He’s right Phoebe.” After that was said, she let out a heavy cough and curled her fist up to her mouth to cover it.
After exiting the tiny wash room, the marine Harris found himself in the no longer clean medical ward of the base. There were eighteen beds in three rows that lead to the front of the ward where the only exit was. Each bed was full of the injured, bleeding and dying.
Last edited by geo on 05-19-08 at 16:06
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02-01-08 04:34 
