Marsiana 3-6
CHAPTER 6
The docking was successful. The gateway hatch opened and Colonel McKinney saw Captain Harper and scientific leader of the expedition Whitman. ‘Glad to see you safe and sound on board the ship,’ Harper said happily taking a step forward. Colonel McKinney was left to stand still. In response to a friendly Captain’s greeting he only nodded slightly, it might seem not polite to him. But Captain Harper pretended nothing had happened. McKinney carefully scrutinized the face of Harper. He suddenly saw that Harper got just in a few hours much grayer and his cheeks white beard breaks. And that beard ... Colonel McKinney blinked then rubbed his hand over his eyes ... stirs! It all became clear. He pulled out a gun and fired several shots in the head of Captain Harper. Harper cried, fell. Whitman wanted to escape, but did not. A bullet in the back of his head knocked him down. Everything happened so quickly that Lieutenant Thompson had not even said the word. Gasped, he stared in shock at the two motionless bodies. But not for long. Head of Captain Harper split apart by bullets and fell out hideous tangle of squirming white threads. The same thing happened with Whitman. From the wounds on his head already appeared white hairs. Colonel McKinney's face turned pale with horror and disgust. ‘Lieutenant, fire!’ he ordered in a hoarse voice. Thompson woke up picked up his weapon and with the multiple charges burned down clews. Then he stared at the Colonel. ‘How did ... how did you know, Sir?’ he said haltingly. ‘I do not know. Intuition. And bristles of Harper seemed surprisingly lively.’ ‘What do we do now, Sir? My God, Sir. What if the others too? What if the entire crew is infected? And our guys, too,’ he said. That idea so impressed Lieutenant Thompson, he nearly panicked. Only Colonel McKinney’s calmness of mind caused him to pull himself together. ‘This we find out with you, Lieutenant,’ - resolute tone said Colonel McKinney said in a resolute tone. ‘In any case we have nowhere to retreat. Without the ship we can not go home and if we stay on the Oberon we’ll die.’ Compartment after compartment Colonel McKinney and Lieutenant Thompson examined on the spacecraft. There was no crew as well as SWAT fighters. ‘I wonder did they all evaporate or what?’ Thompson said puzzled opening another door. ‘Soon we’ll know it,’ Colonel McKinney said. ‘We have to examine just a few more that’s all what left on board.’ Inside they found some brown sarcophagi covered with unusual pattern on the top cover. Patterns reminded of something to Lieutenant Thompson but he could not remember where he had seen them. ‘Sir this staffs were not on board before,’ he said trying to keep a safe distance from the nearest sarcophagus. Colonel McKinney's face darkened even more. He seemed to have guessed what a sarcophagus discovered by them meant. ‘Check with scanner. Let's see what's inside.’ ‘Okay, Sir,’ Thompson eagerly rushed to fulfill orders of Colonel. It is difficult to convey the horror that gripped the Lieutenant after what he saw in the first sarcophagus. He turned to Colonel his pale, frightened face. ‘Sir ... Sir ...’ his voice trembled. ‘Inside is Kent Brass. Marine Sgt.’ ‘Keep checking,’ Colonel McKinney ordered nervously clutching a gun. Lieutenant Thompson went from one to another sarcophagus. Near the latter he stayed longer. ‘Sir, in the sarcophagi is crew members and our guys,’ he said. ‘I didn’t find only our doc Nicole Pearson.’ ‘I'm here,’ there was behind Colonel the highest female’s voice. Colonel McKinney turned slowly. He was ready for anything but he saw a woman but not a monster. And this woman was the doctor of the expedition Nicole Pearson. Outwardly she looked as always and has not changed. This alarmed the most. Colonel McKinney thought that some kind of a trap prepared for him and Thompson. ‘What happened here?’ he asked sharply. Mrs. Pearson looked with her cold eye at aimed the gun at her chest. The Colonel knew that meant her eye and slightly lowered his weapon. ‘Sorry, Mrs. Pearson. We have just returned from Oberon. Lost our men and here so happened. You must understand what we are feeling now.’ he said. ‘What happened to the crew?’ he asked. Mrs. Pearson, bit her lower lip. ‘You do not believe me, Colonel, but I do not know.’ ‘How it could be?’ Colonel McKinney said. ‘All the guys are inside of it bun only you have not changed. How can you explain that?’ ‘You accuse me for what happened?’ Mrs. Pearson interested. ‘So far not, but such a conclusion suggests itself. You were hiding somewhere?’ ‘I'm not hiding anywhere,’ Nicole said, adjusting her white medical gown as if it could protect her from the unpleasant questions of Colonel. ‘After your departure the crew suddenly started to feel bad. Everyone begun to complain that their hand and legs got numb and don’t abbey them. I did everything in my power. But then ...’ her voice broke. ‘I saw that one of the men fell to the floor and began to be covered by a brown pellicle which is hardened before our eyes ... Sir, he shouted, so shouted.’ face of Nicole paled even more. ‘You even I can not imagine. I could not bring myself to go in and help. Yes and what I could do to help him? And then they all one after another began to cover with this pellicle and were turning into it,’ she nodded at the sarcophagi. ‘I am closed in my lab and did not come out.’ Colonel McKinney and Lt. Thompson heard the terrible story of the doctor of the expedition with the feeling that this is all some sort of a nightmare that had happened not with them, but with someone else. ‘Why then Harper and Whitman escaped this fate?’ Colonel McKinney asked another question. ‘And why changes have not touched you?’ Mrs. Pearson shook his head. ‘I do not know, Sir. I know nothing. I am in my lab had swallowed so much sedative tablets that now probably fall,’ Nicole sat down on a chair and closed her eyes. Colonel McKinney was waiting with a tension that from her now climb parasites, but came second, nothing happened. Colonel and Lieutenant looked at each other. Thompson pointedly directed at the woman by his weapon. Colonel McKinney stopped him with his gesture. They can get rid of Mrs. Pearson or who she really was at any time by eliminating with their weapon. Of course if she is a human and their weapon can destroy her. Colonel McKinney suspected that Mrs. Pearson had been turned into a spy and left to wait, when the remnants of the group who went to the surface of Oberon return back on board the ship. If Colonel was not right in his assumption, the doctor of the expedition would be waiting for the same unenviable fate that befell his guys and the crew. He decided to keep an eye on Mrs. Pearson. Perhaps she will bring him to those who turned the members of the expedition into the huge sarcophaguses. ‘That’s all. Everything is all right with me,’ Nicole Pearson opened her eyes easily rose from her chair looked first at Colonel McKinney then at Lieutenant Thompson. ‘If you do not mind, Sir,’ she looked again at Colonel McKinney. ‘I'll be back to his lab and continue to study. Maybe we can find out what happened with all of us.’ ‘I do not mind. Go back,’ Colonel McKinney simply said. ‘Okay,’ Nicole Pearson turned and headed for the exit. The men looked after her. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Thompson still not misses the opportunity to note to himself that doctor Pearson has got the excellent figure. Near the door Nicole’s Pearson index finger of her right hand suddenly fell off and fell to the floor. She quickly picked it up clutched it in her hand and went into the corridor. Lieutenant Thompson saw it from the surprise nearly cried out. Only by his willpower he managed to restrain himself. He knew he needed something to do for example to catch up with her in the corridor and destroy. They can not allow that on board the ship freely moves not known who. The fact that it was not Nicole Pearson he personally, Lieutenant Thompson had no doubt. ‘Sir, have you seen?’ he hissed his eyes wide open with. ‘What?’ Colonel McKinney asked keep studying the sarcophagi. ‘How do you mean what?’ Thompson incredibly surprised. ‘She lost one of her finger fell to the floor. I thought you saw. You stood by.’ Colonel McKinney's eyes narrowed. ‘Finger you say fell off. It’s quite possible. Unfortunately I was looking at sarcophagi.’ ‘What shall we do? Can return her back and question as we have been taught.’ No. doesn’t do it. If this is the alien hostile moreover it is better to stay away from him. We do not know how strong he is and if make him suspect that we know who he really is; he can become embittered and attack us. The outcome of this struggle it is difficult to judge. I do not except that our weapons can do nothing against him. Although if it necessary we have to use our full arsenal.’ ‘What are we going to do, Sir? Somehow I do not really want to be here in the community of sarcophagi and wandering through the corridors of the ship the stranger,’ Thompson said and determination sounded in his voice. ‘What are you suggesting, Lieutenant?’ ‘I hope somehow get rid of her or of it.’ ‘It’s reasonable. Do you know how to do that?’ ‘So far, no, Sir,’ Thompson said in a small voice said. ‘Me too. We will look around the ship is and check its condition. At the same time we will follow the pseudo doctor Pearson. If she shows aggression we’ll try to destroy her.’ ‘Maybe it's better to do it now,’ Thompson suggested. ‘While she does not have enough power to do the same with us.’ ‘Why did you decide that she had no power?’ Colonel McKinney asked. ‘Otherwise she would have done to us the same as to the rest of the crew,’ he looked pointedly at the sarcophagi. ‘Sir, maybe try to get guys out, if they of course still alive.’ ‘Maybe we’ll try. At first we have to examine the sarcophagi. Perhaps they have changed so much that it is better to us no longer see them.’ ‘I understand, Sir,’ Thompson fell in thoughts. ‘We’ll have to report to the Center about everything that happened here.’ ‘Fine. Do it,’ Colonel McKinney agreed to it. ‘And you, Sir?’ ‘What me?’ Colonel McKinney did not understand him. ‘Do you want me to go with you? Are you afraid of someone?’ Thompson blushed. ‘Not afraid but you can cover me while I'll send the message.’ ‘Do not worry, Lieutenant, I’ll cover your back,’ Colonel McKinney promised. ‘Thank you, Sir,’ Thompson thanked his commander. Colonel McKinney sparingly grinned. Picking up and checking their weapons they cautiously went into the corridor. It was empty. ‘I wonder what she is doing now,’ Thompson whispered. ‘May be she transformed into some kind of monster?’ ‘Soon we’ll know it,’ Colonel McKinney said. ‘Come on, Lieutenant. On Earth they need to know what is happening here.’ ‘You are right, Sir.’ Colonel McKinney and Lt. Thompson headed for the ship control Center.
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