It’s been a second or two since I’ve had the chance to work on anymore horror short stories. Between the Apple Event and planning for NaNoWriMo I haven’t been able to actually write and edit.
So I did want anyone would do, I asked someone else.
Here is:
Helix
By Deena Edwards
“You take right, I’ll take left” Storm shouted at Steel. Back to back they stood weapons in hand, palms sweaty but each death gripped their assault rifle blasters as the onslaught of monstrosities prevailed. They were surrounded, the small crustacean looking creatures rushed forward with incredible speed. This was a fight to the death but a fight containing a pack and a brother’s bond.
Outpost 18, the furthest from Nebula Qyn, a place for the brave, stupid or the damned. For Storm and Steel lady luck fortuned them as the damned. The brothers had been stationed to outpost 18 a month ago. The days were hotter than the desert on earth formally named Death Valley, now a Mecca to the rich due to the newly mined and highly sought-after resource, Helix. It was discovered in the late 2040’s and was foolishly shared without wealth but soon money and privileged, like a thick stench, wrapped its sticky poison around the spice that is now aeromantic and attractive for those of wealth, fortune or fame.
Outpost 18 at night was so cold, even the planet of Roth was a warm retreat. Without a suit, the estimated time was tested as eight minutes, give or take before a painful death ensued. If the elements didn’t get you it was the lack of Helix that turned you insane. Helix was the motherboard of all resources. It has the gift of vitality, used on our trees that were on the verge of extinction, oil, natural gas, and the most sought after, human life.
For the brothers, Outpost 18 is not a punishment as it has been for so many criminals, rather a rite of passage for the Galactic special forces. Every Rigger has had to endure a stint at the outpost. Few consider the outpost as the galaxy’s waste of young recruits but the majority, with veterans claim on the planet, think of it as a hazing to be welcomed into the Galaxy’s elite fighting force. For Storm and Steel, it is a privilege, to become a vital cog in the Galactic force. Something they both lost everything for and something they would risk everything they believed in.
The brothers had been at the outpost for little over a week now, in processing was a certain type of hell only military personnel experienced and only admin enjoyed. Itching to go out, mining helix was euphoric compared to paperwork.
The planet had a blue tint that shaded everything in a Payne’s gray making mining the spice complicated, Helix was a cobalt blue with orange specks illuminated with bioluminescent plankton. All equipment was rigged for detecting Helix, however, equipment was hard to come by in outposts this far out from the nebula. Man was sufficient, easy to fix and expendable.
Storm and Steel climbed in-between crags and shimmied into much too tight conditions effecting a person who could manage claustrophobia. Helix was abundant but difficult to reach without excavation and the quarry was the whole planet making the days and nights meld together without much distinction other than the temperature differences. One could find themselves mining for hours to the point of exhaustion however Helix was something that couldn’t be filtered through the benefits of the suits. An outfitter could work for days bleeding into weeks without fatigue, reaping in the benefits of Helix generated a precarious game of much needed life and sustainability and the curses of addiction after long periods of exposure. Regulators and warning systems in the suit alert an outfitter when to cease the exposition as well as censors disabling all mining devices. Helix was mined in a gelatin state which settled in indiscernible locations between rocks fissures. The fumes Helix produced was the danger.
“How far are you going to climb in there, Steel?” Storm was checking the regulators, sensors were normal for Helix intake. “I see it, the biggest vein I have ever seen! Enough to earn a promotion.” Steel shimmied his big frame further into the slight opening. The opening expanded wider as Steel worked his way in, as he inched through the veins width widened. Helix was so thick in this pock he could almost feel it stimulate his blood. With an increased heart beat Steel began the extracting process. There was enough room to set up the equipment and soon the process began, the thick gelatinous Helix was sluggishly pumping its way back to the surface where Storm was regulating the thermos couplings, valves and tanks.
A deep rumbling worked its way to the pocket where Steel was monitoring the extraction. It was a guttural sound causing tiny pebbles to vibrate and bounce around the surface. Equipment shook with the low vibration; pressure indicators rose generating screams and whistles form the instrument panels. Helix was flowing faster than the tanks could filter with each low deep rumble the planet was making.
“Get out of there Steel, this is not looking good up here and I’m guessing it’s the Helix…holy hell, a lot of it according to the pressure gauges. I am assuming it is worse down there so get up here ASAP.” Storm stated with urgency and impatience. Steel’s microphone had gone silent since he reported the pocket. Storm’s concern began to grow. The rumbling progressed to a tearing medal sound screeching through the blue sky.
Steel shot out through the earth like a rocket, he was on his feet and running a full tilt sprint towards Storm. Behind Steel pouring out from the exact space the rigger was currently sprinting from, poured small crab like crustaceans. The planet was dissolute of all life, every outer rim geographer discerned evidence for life in outposts like this only to leave disgruntled. This was irrelevant as the newfound creatures swarmed after the two Riggers, now posed, back to back, emergency rifles locked and loaded the brothers were searching for an exit route amidst defending their lives.
What poured out was terrifying, the insect like organisms were a pale sickly blue with bright orange interior. They moved sideways and fast, quicker than anticipated. Their numbers were staggering, pouring out of the crag in droves, so many they were climbing on top of each other creating a sea of moving anomalies.
The first larger of the hoard jumped on Storm with ferocity and vengeance. It’s large pincers clacking and grabbing at the fabric of the suit. Storm somehow managed to pry it off with the butt of his rifle, Steel quickly drew fire erupting the blue crab into long whip-like ropes of molten fire. Ribbons landed on Storm singeing the flame retardant suit. Soon too late the brothers realized the bright orange coloring was not just internal coloring but rather a molten lava type substance flowing in the creature’s veins, their life force was lethal. The brothers were surrounded, blaster muzzles glowing hot, spewing the onslaught of crustaceans with thick firepower, back to back Storm and Steel were surrounded. It was hopeless and their fates were sealed.
A flash of lightning pierced the earth a few yards from where the brothers were defending their dying hope. An electrical storm, unpredictable in both accuracy and length blesse by the fates favored Storm and Steel striking directly into the largest of the hoards. Mountainous volcanos of lava erupted opening a pinhole tunnel of an escape route. Without communication, they sprinted through the escape route. Pinchers clacking snagging suits, slashing to expose flesh, crustaceans flung their bodies in hope of latching on finding anything they could lever themselves onto. An excavation vehicle beamed in the dimming light. Storm threw his body into the open cab with Steel landing in a crumpled mess next to storm, they managed to slam the door shut, start the ignition in one fluid motion. Looking out the rear-view mirrors the small crag that was just a small fissure was now a canyon vomiting crab bodies high into the air landing on a moving carpet of tangled pinchers and hard shells.
The cruiser broke the barrier of the planet’s surface. A placid planet shaded in Payne’s gray and cobalt blues now was a fiery orange and black smoke. Outpost 18 was the Nebula’s last hope for unrefined Helix.
The cruiser blasted its way to any nearby outpost with a receiving signal. Inside the cargo bay on the cool gridded floor, two bodies jerked and convulsed. The lifeless horror stuck expressions plastered on two brother’s cold white faces, immobile, a stark contrast to the puppeteering contorting the corpses into perplexing automaton animation. The scratches of the purple flesh bloated as if inserted with tiny air bladders, expanding and collapsing generating more and more mass with each expansion. The bulges became translucent in color, thinning, revealing the blue and orange exoskeleton squirming under the surface.
Outpost 16 honed its tracking device on the small cargo ship, slowly the pull eased the ship into the belly of the battleship in route to its home planet, Earth.