Dark Haven - Chapter 6

[crunn]

Chapter 1 (Fate of the Armadeaus)
Chapter 2 (Portents)
Chapter 3 (Passing of a Fantasy)
Chapter 4 (Fissures in the Dark)
Chapter 5 (Reminiscence)

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DARK HAVEN

Chapter 6 (Things that go Bump...)


A tear shaped droplet fell in slow motion downward. Down and down, rippling slightly with the air resistance. Until it finally reached the pool at the bottom. The crescendo rose upward around as the droplet became one with its predecessors. A moment of perfect beauty. Symmetry.
Then once more, stillness. Before the next bead of liquid began its journey.

Monroe stood transfixed on the scene, watching the arm, watching the drops of blood, watching ripples in the pool.


'Pull your self together Jack, you've seen death before.
I should probably take a look up through the gap, see what's there.
Standing just past the arm, where the gap is at its widest, I see very little. The brightness of the room above is dazzling.
I let my eyes adjust a moment. I see nothing more than the ceiling of the room above, no wait, lines, that ceiling is also fractured.
Has there been an attack on this station?
There was no visible damage on the exterior.
Hmm, well something has torn great gashes throughout this place.
I'll try to get to that room above. The body might give me some clue.'

...

'I'm back in the corridor, continuing to the end. I expect the door at the end is another elevator. The panel is lit, good.
As I near the elevator I notice, to the left, an opening. A stairwell leading up. Excellent!
I step through the opening and look up, the stairs lead half way to the next floor turn one eighty degrees then up the rest of the way. Hard to tell from here but they must lead up at least three or four floors.
At the bottom of the stairs there is a diagram. It shows the layout of the stairs and the contents of each of the floors it connects to. The writing is Teladi, but each floor has a pictorial description. My guess is that this floor and the one above are staff quarters and the two above that are rooms for rent, finally above that there is a "no entry" sign. I guess staff only, that's where I need to be.
Anyway, up I go.
The stairs are on the outer side of the station. I see windows halfway up, if I'm right they should face at ninety degrees to the first window I looked out.
I look out as I reach the window, nothing, just black, odd. Maybe it's not a window after-all.'

...

'I have reached the next floor. The stairs continue up but I want to look at the body first.
Out into the corridor. Other than the pattern of debris, it looks identical to the floor below. Numerous doors on either side, each leading to small rooms. The lights are mostly working, one has crashed to the floor mid way down.
I proceed. I count the doors on my left, one, two, three, four. This is the one.
I open the door and prepare for the worst.
But I couldn't have expected this.'

'Just an arm. No body. I've seen a few corpses before, but disembodied limbs.
I walk nearer and look down at it and into the room below.
Surprisingly little blood. A small spatter around the arm. The blood in the room below must have dripped directly from the limb. So where is its owner?
Suddenly I feel something touch my ear. Startled, I jump forward over the fissure while puling out my weapon. I spin around to check behind me.'

'Nothing, no one.'

'I dart back into the corridor to find it just as empty as I left it.'

'Then something dawns on me. The place where I was standing.
I reach up with my gloved hand and touch my ear. Bringing it back down I see blood, not mine. I holster my pistol as I return to the fissure. This time looking up at the twisted metal, there is more dripping from the room above. The arm must have fallen from there.'

...

As the Captain makes his way back to the staircase the vibrations then violent shaking starts again. The metallic creaking noises, more obvious this time, new fractures being torn and old ones being widened.
Monroe tries to steady himself too late and falls to his knees just as a ceiling panel crashes down on him.
Electricity crackles as lights shatter. Louder and louder the metal groans as if the station itself were crying out in pain.
Then suddenly silence.

A few minutes pass, then something under the rubble begins to stir. Monroe, having been unconscious briefly, crawls out and holds his head in his hands.

...

'Damn that hurts!
More blood, this time mine.'

'I need to get out of here. Up to the top, C&C should tell me how to get to the docking bay. If there are no ships there I'm screwed.
I would still like to take a quick look at the body first, maybe give me some indication of what happened here, or what is happening here.'

...

Halfway up to the next floor Monroe stops and crouches clutching his head.

'Ahhhh, feels like my head is split open. Still bleeding, that's not good.
Ok, no more running up the stairs, just walk.'

...

I've reached the corridor of the next floor. Much the same as the previous, all but fewer doors wider spaced.
From the left, one, two, three. I guess this is the one.
I touch the pad, the door opens.
Uughhh.
The scene is nothing short of a nightmare.
The room is rather larger than the staff rooms and in partial shade as only the small light at the bed side is on. The bed a double, the cupboard a little larger, a set of drawers and a small view screen for comms and watching movies or Interstellar News.
The paint, what little can be see of it, is magnolia, not the usual military grey.
The floor is awash with blood. The walls, little better.
As I look up I see that in several places there is even blood dripping from the ceiling. No cracks up there though.
Still no body or entrails, it looks a though someone exploded a bag of blood in the room.
I'll check the cupboard and under the bed. I tread carefully across the room trying not to slip, stoop to look under the bed, nothing. Hand on pistol I open the cupboard, a few clothes on hangers, otherwise empty. I close it again'

'As I head back to the door a sense of dread creeps over me, a feeling like... like someone is watching me, someone is in this room with me... behind me. I tear the pistol from its holster and spin as fast as I can.
But nothing. As I'm about to tell myself to get a grip I see movement in the corner of my eye, the opposite corner of the room the corner least well lit.
I turn my head toward the movement too fast and the burning in the back of my skull re-ignites. I grit my teeth against the pain and blink away the tears welling in my eyes, to see once more nothing.
I walk to the corner, gun in hand.
There was something here, I swear to it.
There is something here, a tiny crack in the corner of the wall no more than a millimetre or two wide. It runs almost the full length, floor to ceiling.
Was it light that I saw shining through, there's no light there now.
No It wasn't light, it was dark movement, a definite shape.
The odd unpleasant smell I noticed earlier is very strong in this room now, and wasn't a moment ago.'

'There was something here.'

[Moss]

Definatly a creepy station this one is Crunn, I do wonder about that blood tho, blood usualy dries up or runs out in a normal(ish) atmosphere, depending on species I supose, you didn't mention if it was a human arm that Monroe saw. Either that or the death was very recent and considering the violent shaking of the station i'm begining to supect an attack may still be in progress.

Good read, keep it coming eh?

[crunn]

Definatly a creepy station this one is Crunn, I do wonder about that blood tho, blood usualy dries up or runs out in a normal(ish) atmosphere, depending on species I supose, you didn't mention if it was a human arm that Monroe saw. Either that or the death was very recent and considering the violent shaking of the station i'm begining to supect an attack may still be in progress.

Good read, keep it coming eh?

Thanks,

I am going for creepy in the station, so I'm glad you thought so.

The blood, yes.
Trying not to give anything away but I'll just say it hasn't had time to dry yet.

Your right, no mention of species yet, the arm or otherwise. But soon.