Part 1: The Kosmonavt
“Ok Gibbons, adjust your thrust vector to heading oh-eight-fifty or you’ll over shoot the target and I’ll have to come out there to save you.” Corporal Christina Adamson said over the intercom as she weightlessly floated above a console littered with a myriad of blinking switches, toggles and output screens filled with various data. Letting her thumb off of the intercom button she turned to the other crew member. “You think whoever is in that suit is still alive?”
The three person crew of the USS Calypso were on their way back to Earth from the Shackleton Crater moon outpost for a supply run when Commander Andre Gibbons noticed faintly in the distance something that appeared to be a body, floating in the vast emptiness of space. Although, initially, Captain Miranda Davies declined his request to stop, on account of fuel costs, she was eventually convinced that it was the right thing to do.
“Roger that command, but may I remind you who the expert is in space walks.” Gibbons responded with confidence and a chuckle as he neared the body floating aimlessly in the vast darkness. When he was within a few meters, he noticed something he did not expect to see, something very peculiar, “Command, you’re not going to believe this, but this guy has Soviet markings all over him...his suit looks ancient.”
“Soviets? Like...like Russia?” Adamson asked back confused.
“The helmet is scorched, you can’t see inside, but other than that the suit looks in fairly good shape…”
Captain Davies reached over Adamson to take control of the intercom button. She demanded Gibbons hurry up because, “time was a wastin’.” She then ordered Adamson to follow her back to the air-lock to prepare for Gibbons’ return. The entire time she was muttering about fuel prices and how the additional weight of the body would slow their mission. The pair swam through the air towards the back of the ship, once there they waited for Gibbons to flip the activator which would make a red light glow on their side of the wall. Davies continuously checked her watch and muttered, “come on…come on,” until the red light blinked on and the pair sprung into action. With the power coupling engaged, the oxygen levels rising and the pod depressurized the light turned green meaning the two could simultaneously press the activation buttons to open the hatch.
“Bring it in, bring it in.” Davies impatiently pulled at Gibbons’ arm and hurriedly shut the hatch behind him. “Adamson, go and restart nav. Recalculate our coordinates and make sure we are still on pace to land in Houston like we planned.”
“Yes ma’am.” And with a salute, Adamson was off towards the front of the ship to prepare a course.
“I swear if this little stunt throws us off course I’m reporting you to mission command.” Davies said sternly to Gibbons but he was too busy removing his gear and examining the ancient cosmonaut to pay her any attention.
“How long do you think he’s been out here?” He wondered aloud as the pair began latching the body to the wall to stop it from flailing about the cabin. He tapped on the glass of the helmet, then cupped his hands around his eyes in an attempt to see inside, “What do you think his body is like in there?”
“What makes you think it’s a he?” Davies quipped back catching Gibbons off guard, he stammered on his words and she slowly began to smile, breaking the tension. “Besides, that’s not scorched, it's a solar shield…”
She floated over and flipped up the thick exterior shield of the mask revealing a second, transparent piece of glass underneath. The pair of astronauts both pulled back in shock before slowly leaning forward again in morbid curiosity. Inside the domed glass helmet was a skeleton, but not pure white as one would expect, instead, the skull and bones were spattered with various colors.
“I would have expected it to be nothing but...soup.” Gibbons said as he floated closer to the body of the cosmonaut and more closely examined the skull behind the glass. The bones were strange looking, instead of pale white, they were tinted yellow and covered with specks of numerous bright colors, “what’s with these colors? It’s...it’s almost like his bones are tie dyed or something…”
“...where’s the rest of him?” Davies said as she patted down the suit towards the legs and abdomen. “He had flesh and…and muscle, it had to have gone somewhere but all I feel is this skeleton.”
The pair continued to examine the suit and other than being faded from intense sunlight and covered in space dust, it was in good condition. The latches around the wrists holding on the gloves were locked tight, the boots as well. The suit had a bit of tension to it as if it were filled with air along with the bones.
“This doesn’t make any sense…” Gibbons said as he continued to examine the suit, “it’s almost as if someone put a skeleton in the suit and launched it into space…”
“Take the helmet off.” Davies again quipped back sharply and as Gibbons stammered, she flashed no smile. This was serious, this was an order.
Gibbons floated close and began to unlatch the helmet from the back. A few quick snaps followed by a slight twist and the helmet was off and in his hands. He flipped it over and a gentle rattling noise sparked his curiosity. He reached in cautiously as Davies curiously peered over to see what it was and after a bit of jostling, he was able to get the object free from where it was fastened.
“What. The. Fuck.” Davies, normally stoic and reserved, broke character as her eyes gazed upon the large, ornate dark wooden cross that Gibbons had pulled from the helmet. The cross was covered in etching and markings, weird circular lines which seemed to weave in and out of one another as they converged around a small shimmering ruby set in the middle of the cross.
The pair slowly turned their attention away from the cross and towards the skeleton in the spacesuit as the skeleton turned to look at them.
“Holy Shit!” Gibbons released the helmet and the cross as they tumbled wildly in zero gravity. Both he and Davies began to flail about in a panic trying to swim away from the skeleton. In an instant, the entire cosmonaut’s body dropped to the floor as if pulled by gravity and began walking towards Gibbons and Davies who were still floating in the air.
“HUNGER.” A raspy, breathy voice emanated from the skull as its arms reached outward towards the pair of astronauts who did everything in their power to get away, but the skeleton, through some supernatural force, had gravity on its side. It leapt towards Gibbons and dragged him to the ground. He kicked and flailed as the boney creature lurched its head forward and sunk its teeth into his bare neck. Blood sprayed from the wound upward into the air where it remained floating in the gravity-less spaceship. His body convulsed as the skeleton sunk its teeth deeper and deeper into his flesh as life slowly left his eyes.
Davies was frozen stiff as she watched the skeleton pull its teeth out of her companions body. It arch its body backward and let out a horrific screech. The skull slowly started to bring its head back to gaze at Davies who was clutching the wall in absolute horror. As its face began to be visible to her she screamed as it appeared that the skeletal structure was now quickly growing muscle tissue. Long red tendons stretched across its face covering the multi-colored bones. Its once dark and empty eye sockets slowly began to glow in deep, muted orange and in an instant, a small black pupil popped in the center and then focused directly at Davies. The creature crouched and prepared to lunge, Davies closed her eyes and was preparing for death when suddenly an arm reached through the opening next to her, pulled her into the cockpit of the ship and slammed the hatch shut behind her.
“What. The fuck. Was that?!” Adamson said, shivering, still staring at the closed hatch door, the creature on the other side was howling and pounding with a furious rage.
“I...I don’t know Corporal….I don’t know.” Davies eyes were still closed tightly preparing for a death that never came as she still tightly gripped the hand that saved her. The two sat in the cockpit of the shuttle while the beast roared just inches away from on the other side of a steel door. Davies' thoughts went away from fuel costs and time, now obsessed with the singular thought of survival.
STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO TOMORROW
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