To Oblivion

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But everything is recorded inside a space suit.

“Start it again,” Commander Bellona demanded from the corner of the small dark conference room.

Sitting across the table from me, Taylor’s fingers hesitated over the keyboard of their laptop. The colour had drained from their face from the first viewing, let alone the third and fourth. They were the first to watch and listen to the recording after being tasked to find why they hadn’t returned that night.

“Is that really necessary?” I asked, my voice stronger than I felt. My balled fists trembled slightly under my armpits.

Bellona kept her eyes fixed on me as she walked over from the corner behind Taylor. She flattened her hands to the glass top and leaned towards me. “Again.”

Commander of the Portunes, one of the military vessels under the Earth Royal Academy, Millicent Bellona stood as a force shield given life - unyielding to a fault. Twice my age, her short grey hair hung to her shoulders, the crows feet by her eyes rarely crinkled in anything other than displeasure.

I hadn’t baulked from her infamous stare yet and I wasn’t about to start then. She may have command and jurisdiction over most of the ship, but I did not fall under it.

Taylor’s throat bobbed as they played the recordings from the start. Bellona pulled out a chair from the table to face the screen and took a seat in front of Taylor, crossing an ankle over her knee, arms folded.

I watched the side of the commander's face for a few more moments until I saw the small movement from the man sitting to Taylor’s right. Bellona’s second in command, Damian Grayson, laid back in his chair, hands behind his head. He smirked at me, green eyes laughing. I looked away.

The select few of us that had been rushed to sit in on the screening had been here for hours. We were all left dumbfounded, trying to grasp any sort of understanding as to what that thing was.

The coms and suit camera recording played clearly through the speakers. The purple scarce landscape of Dykuma12 was projected onto the one white wall of the dark room. The Portunes had been positioned above the planet for only a week and had just a few people on the surface to begin building a small science hub.

The picture quality left much to be desired but it did the job. From Cadet Bridget’s chest height, the video began after the duo of cadets had stumbled upon a rocky outcrop in a flat gravelled section amongst the violet dunes. They were sent to scout the area for “anything of interest”. Their sensors had picked up the near-impossible within a pile of rocks, shaded by a taller monolith.

The scene was eerily silent as the only microphones were within the cadets’ helmets.

Cadet Bridget’s voice came over the rooms speakers loud and clear. “How can you not be more excited about this!” She kneeled in the shade by a pile of rocks leaning in on each other. The suit’s body cam was pushed against one of the rocks as she reached over to stick her finger down into the middle of the rocks. Her white glove came out with small clumps of indigo mud stuck to it.

It was a poor excuse for a puddle but, nevertheless, extraordinary that there was any liquid on the supposedly dry planet at all.

“I can’t wait to rub that mud into old Commander Bellona’s arrogant face,” Cadet Ryder’s disinterest echoed in Bridget’s helmet.

She tried to wipe her finger clean along a magenta rock, chuckling at her unenthusiastic companion. “You know, if you learnt to keep your mouth shut, the commander wouldn’t have sent you out here in the first place.”

“Our gracious commander can get sucked off by a black hole for all I care.”

In her chair, Bellona huffed to herself at the remark, again.

The duo went quiet. We watched as Bridget piled some dry magenta sand in the shade like a child at the beach. She grabbed a handful, shifting to face away from the shade, held out her fist into the twin suns rays, and slowly let it drop. The smaller grains were whispered away on a gentle breeze, some glinting as they caught the light.

Suddenly, she let the rest drop all at once. Her suit cam moved left and right, as if she were scanning around for something she couldn’t find.

“Ryder?” Bridget’s voice was rife with concern. “Something doesn’t feel right,” she said, panic beginning to edge her words. Her hands swiped over the camera haphazardly, as if she were trying to find something lost in a pocket of her suit.

At the strange movement, Bellona placed her crossed foot back on the floor and adjusted herself, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. “Swap to Ryder.”

Taylor clicked a few quick buttons and the visual changed to Ryder’s view, pulling boxes of sample kits from the rover they’d driven out on.

Bridget’s screaming pierced the silence in the room.

“Bridget?” Ryder cried, turning to see the girl stumble backwards. The belly of her suit stretched and protruded in front of her. She tripped over her own feet, falling behind a boulder that blocked her from view. “Bridget!”

The screaming rang through my ears. The video of the outcrop was nothing but a blur as Ryder pushed himself to float over across the purple sands. He jumped high over the boulder, skidding to his knees by Bridget’s side when he fell. She writhed and clawed at her swollen suit.

“My skin!” she managed to cry.

“What’s happening?! What can I do?!” Ryder’s hands floundered in front of him. He tried to push on her suit, but Bridget’s screaming didn’t stop.

Motion at the top of the frame, from a dusty-pink boulder a few metres ahead of them, caught everyone’s attention, every time.

Bellona stood and walked towards the projection, crossing her arms again. A discerning eye trying to make sense of what we were about to see. Taylor turned their head, Grayson watched unmoving, but I sat up a little straighter, leaning a little closer.

As Bridget howled, as Ryder froze, a creature leapt onto the boulder, a sharpened rock in its hand. It crouched like a hairless human child, born at the deepest trench of Earth’s oceans. Like deep sea organisms its skin was transparent, its thin bones and organs visible in the light. But unlike water-dwellers, it was frail and shrivelled, dehydrated like a mummified skeleton. It slid from the rock to the ground, sharpened rock held in front as a primitive knife, the movement defensive - inquisitive even, as it tilted its head to one side.

Ryder quickly shuffled away from Bridget, saying nothing.

One foot at a time, its empty hand keeping it balanced, the creature slid across the ground, closing the space to where it stopped by Bridget’s side. It ignored Ryder, placing a hand on Bridget’s belly. She froze when it got into range of her limited vision from behind her visor. She gasped and stifled her sobs as she attempted to quiet herself. As if there was any chance the creature would not see her and leave.

Ryder’s breathing came quickly and shallow.

I flinched as, with no warning, the creature stabbed Bridget’s suit and dragged the knife down. Her whimpers gargled to a stop. In one motion the creature stood, staring at an orb of red liquid levitating above Bridget’s body.

Ryder held his breath.

The creature was bewildered by the orb, as we all were from the notion of all that unfolded before us. It raised a palm, fingers beckoning to the orb as a small amount detached from the whole. It was as if an invisible extension of the creature's hands brought the droplets to its open mouth.

As the crimson liquid touched its mouth, it closed its eyes and took a single step back, the orbs' smooth edges wobbling slightly as it did.

“Shit,” Ryder spat.

The creature's eyes flung open as it threw open its arms. The orb burst, hurling itself to cover the translucent skin of the creature in a spray of red. The creature stumbled backwards as the liquid coated its body.

Ryder took the opportunity to move. The camera shuffled and bounced as he crawled over the sands again to Bridget’s side. Only the far edge of Bridget's suit and body could be seen at the bottom of the frame, but we all knew there was no way she could have survived. Not only was it because of her suit being compromised but because of Ryder’s next observation.

“It sucked her dry,” he whispered to himself in disbelief.

I leaned back in my chair, tightening the fists under my arms and loosening a breath I didn't realise I was holding. The creature had a supernatural power. I would say that it was impossible, but there’s no denying what we saw, or the limitless possibilities of reality itself.

Ryder stood and turned from the creature, pushing off of any hard surface to move faster to the rover. He landed by front and flung himself into the driver's seat, pushing the ignition button. It didn’t start.

The computer’s voice sounded in his connected coms, accompanied by warning beeps from the vehicle. “Please ensure the harness is secure before starting the vehicle. Please ensure the harness is secure before starting the vehicle.” The safety measure was a requirement of all rovers, meant to reduce the number of gravitational ejections.

“Shit!” he roared again, this time at the machine. At the bottom of the frame, Ryder fumbled with the straps on the harness, pulling them across his legs into his lap rather than around his shoulders. The thick gloves made it difficult to grip the buckle, causing his fingers to slip.

The camera still mostly pointed ahead. We watched the creature appear, bigger than before. It was now plump and full, its insides no longer visible through its blood red skin. It twirled around aimlessly, arms open to the suns, shifting across the ground intoxicated.

Ryder still fought the harness buckle. “Come on,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “COME ON!” Finally, the harness clicked. He pushed the ignition again and the rover roared to life. “Stupid fu–” Ryder cut himself off when his camera tilted up slightly and, we assume, he finally saw the creature we watched ahead of him. It had stopped its twirling, leisurely leaning back on nothing, staring at Ryder. Slowly, it reached out an open hand, as if in invitation to join its senseless dance.

Ryder patted himself across the camera just as Bridget did. Whatever power this creature now took over him.

He screamed.

I pushed myself out of the table and chair, moving to stand by the window that took up most of a side wall. I felt Grayson shift, watching me. I wrapped my arms around myself again, trying to tune out the second scream that would haunt my dreams tonight, as the creature pulled Ryder’s blood from his body. It was a blaring warning of what really laid out in the vastness of space.

The Adiona Nebula outside the window existed like a six-billion-year-old painting. The chaos of dust and gas from the beginning of time floated amongst the stars it sparked to life, with no regard for the expanse of the universe beyond its edges. The clouds were not as colour-filled as some other nebulas. Painted like a horizon of craggy mountains and valleys, it glowed amber and russet like Mars’ deserts at dusk. Mists of blue wisped away from its soft edges by stellar winds, streaming motionless, as if steam rising from a hot spring. Newly birthed stars shone through the ever-expanding black and collection of cosmic matter, dotting the view with brilliant golds, reds, and aquas. Beyond them, galaxies we hoped to one day explore, waited.

To conquer.

It was a race, now more than ever. Who could make the biggest discovery, and own it. Who could find that new resource to be the victor of the continuous power struggle. Who could befriend, or dominate, an alien species first.

Many of the space agencies no longer considered why man first started exploring the universe for truth. No longer considered the urge, the instinct every human unknowingly had to look to the night sky and gaze at the stars. Some found tranquillity, some found eternal faith. Unlucky ones discovered that the colossal unknown generated a crushing anxiety, while others gained a clarity of the fleetingness of mortality, and embraced a simple peace in life.

I had joined the Earth Royal Academy because they promised to go further than any other. I joined to be amongst the impossibility of existence. The minute I saw the first photos received from the James Webb Space Telescope over a millennia ago, photos that still stood as a turning point in astronomy, I knew there was no other place for me to be. No other place for me to exist, just as the Adiona did.

I stared into the nebula, lost in the colours and silhouettes. I had heard a call to the stars ever since I was a little girl, and so I followed it. Sometimes, I swore that the call was an ethereal voice from the celestial formations themselves, beckoning me no matter where I travelled.

Find me, it said. I’ve been waiting for you.

It drifted into my dreams, showing me other worlds through the portal-like nebulas.

“Show me the footage from the rover.” Commander Bellona’s unsympathetic tone broke me from my daze. I turned my back to the boundless possibilities of space, from the voice, leaning on and gripping the window frame to watch the projected image again.

The video swapped, a better quality recorded from the stationary rover. The creature was twirling again. Like an ape, its short legs and long arms were clumsy to the motion. It tripped over the arm of Ryder’s suit, left discarded after it had pulled him from the rover with its impossible power. It fell and sprawled on its back, staring into the sky. Its limbs flailed for a minute before relaxing against the sands, as if cloud watching.

“Skip to when it’s finished.” Bellona waved a hand at Taylor, her eyes not leaving the screen.

Taylor forwarded the footage a few hours as the creature continued to lay motionless on the ground, seemingly asleep. Suddenly, its figure was up and zooming around in circles at multiplied speed. Taylor slowed it back down as it lumbered towards the rover, pausing the frame as it walked by the camera.

The blood of Bridget and Ryder soaked its skin.

An uncomfortable silence stretched through the room as we all stared at the creature. Bellona moved closer again, into the projection, illuminating the back of the head and creating a shadowed void on the screen.

“Your observations, Professor Asra,” Bellona requested, never turning.

I took a breath to steady my nerves, trying to release the tension in my shoulders and loosen my grip on the window’s metal frame. “Obviously, it goes without saying, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” I let out a shuddering breath, trying to put together all we’d seen. “Humanoid, with enough intelligence to fashion a knife and be alert before attacking. We can assume its physiology is an evolutionary advantage for the planet's environment. I’d say it would be to appear near invisible, to avoid predators.”

Taylor’s mouth dropped open slightly at the notion of a predator worse than this creature existing.

“Or just a defence against their own kind,” I rushed to say, trying to ease their worry slightly. “Or, simply an extreme case of lack of melanin, to minimise any heat absorption from the suns.”

Bellona nodded slightly to herself. “And it’s…” she fought for the right word, “abilities?”

“The best I can describe its powers as is nothing short of magical. Psychic. A vampyric alien waterbender.” Taylor surprised me by raising their eyebrows in recognition. It wasn’t the best description, referencing an ancient show, however apt. I continued, “If Cadet Ryder is correct in saying it drained Cadet Bridget dry then we can assume that it’s telekinesis of not just blood, but all liquid. Also, from the size of the spheres from their bodies there was more volume than the standard five litres of average humans. Though I say nothing for certain unless we choose to watch and study it.”

The commanders’ head finally whipped around to me, the tip of her hair brushing her shoulders. “‘Choose to’? ‘Watch and study’?” she scoffed. “You make it sound like there is a choice at all.”

I had to blink slowly. She couldn’t honestly think there was any chance of capturing a creature that could drain the very life from someone?

She finally turned and overlooked the room, the light of the recording still paused across her face. “We keep it quiet,” she stated, holding her hands behind her back. “This information doesn’t leave this room.”

I stepped forward and opened my mouth to protest before she raised a hand to stop me.

“You were called here as a courtesy, Asra. And you’ll be called again when needed.” She shifted to Taylor and Grayson, clearly done with me. “The bodies have to be retrieved. And the suits and rover. I won’t leave that much value to sit useless in the desert. If the water still remains, we need that too.” She smirked in my direction again. “Our scientists need something to keep them happy.”

I pushed off from the window frame, sweeping out an arm. “We don’t know if it’s still out there! We don’t know what else is out there!” It was my turn to lean across the table and glare at the woman.

“Grayson,” she said, taking no heed of my concerns. Grayson stood to attention, towering over Taylor at his full height. “Get it done.”

He nodded, leaving the room. I watched him go, not oblivious to the wink he gave me as he pulled the door shut.

I looked at the glass beneath my hands. “Bellona, we need–” I began to try again but was cut off as a cadet burst the door open again.

Her eyes were wide as she panted, trying to swallow breaths. As she opened her mouth, before she had the chance to speak, sirens blared through the ship.