Dunstan, outskirts of Eta Leporis, three months and seventeen days after the Fall.

I drift out of the airlock, eyes fixated on the hole in the hulk on the other side of the gap, some two hundred meters away. As I approach, it feels like an open maw, threatening to swallow me. The jagged edges jutting outwards like teeth of some weird, monstrous beast. This is our first job and honestly a bit of a miracle. The explorer ship should have everything we need - food, water, fuel, suits. With a bit of luck, there might even be a reward for information about the lost ship. I am now so close that I can read the ship's name on the closed door of the hangar with my own eyes. It says EMD-23, CWS Spatha.

As I near the breach, a hand reaches out, snatching and redirecting me to land with my feet on the far bulkhead. I switch on the lights on my helmet, as well as the improvised tac-light on my shotgun. I shoulder the gun and look to each side of the corridor, finding nothing, except of course for Sigi, the owner of the hand.

"My guess is this is deck five or six, let's go," Sigi says and takes off first. With the power off, the ship has no gravity and we are in freefall the whole time, but ever since my wedding four months ago, I've been in space and got fairly used to zero-g. As for the Sigi, he was working in space for a long time, so this is daily bread for him, at least the freefall part. I click my heels to activate the magnetic boots.

We clank past several open crew cabins as well as one closed one before we reach the bulkhead as the corridor turns to the right towards the port side of the ship. I pause at the corner, thinking I heard something, and look back at the closed cabin. Then I realize how stupid that is. Sound does not travel through the vacuum. 

Just a short distance further is a shaft, that cuts through all of the ship's decks, with a ladder on the far side and a number five next to it, answering the question on which deck exactly we have entered. Once again, I let Sigi lead the way, and he takes off towards the upper decks of the ship.

"Where the hell is everyone," Sigi asks as he reaches deck six - our first target deck, and as if in response, a dried-up corpse floats from behind the corner. "SHIT!" he yells and I almost shoot the corpse, heart thumping in my chest. Luckily, he pounded some basics into all of us, and my finger is away from the trigger.

"Weird," I say after a while, letting my heart slow down and looking the corpse up and down. Not to mention forcing my breakfast back down into my stomach.

"What's weird?"

"Why would it move? The ship is in freefall and has been in freefall for quite some time by the looks of it. I don't like this."

"Because a warship with a hole in the side and dead crew is no cause for concern? I'm sure it's nothing," he answers, obviously trying to convince himself as much as me. After a short, tense silence when we both study the corpse of the commonwealth sailor, whose name is, or rather was, apparently Ensign Leath, he adds: "Let's go, we don't have much choice and hunger waits for no man. Let's put him to the side."

Together, we put the sailor's body to the side of the corridor and click his magnetic boots to activate them, depositing him in a corner, where he wouldn't provide an obstacle on our way back.

Slowly, carefully, we peek through the hatch into the galley. The cones of light from our tac-lights illuminate an eerie scene. Multiple sailors sitting by the tables, their boots clamped to the deck, the trays and food drifting slightly above said tables. We split up and circle the galley, eventually meeting by the dispenser machines. 

"There's nothing here, just dispensers. Let's try deck 7, the containers with foodstuffs will be probably there. Maybe even some spare printers." I note and Sigi agrees. We turn back towards the hatch and launch off the wall. Before continuing up, we peek out into the corridor towards the stern of the ship. Suddenly, Sigi's gun jerks to the left, then slowly back to the right.

"Did you see that?!" he asks, whispering.

"See what?" I ask back, whispering as well.

"I don't know, something moved there, just outside the light cone."

"Let's go get the stuff and let's get the hell out of here. This shit creeps me out."

Deck seven greets us with a long, straight corridor lined with soft panels. When we reach the intersection, Sigi pushes off the wall to turn and orient himself with feet towards the deck then clicks his heels to activate the magnetic boots. I follow suit.

"This should be it. There should be food storage behind these hatches," I point at the two hatches we stand right between. Then I point to two hatches further down the corridor "CIC and an armory through those two. I'd say we start with the food."

"Yeah, I know," Sigi answers and we open a hatch to the port side, revealing another corridor, this one ending in a T after a few meters. However, more important for us are the two hatches closer to us, one to each side of the one we just opened.

"Yes, this leads to the corridor that circumvents the entire front part of the ship. Food should be here." I point to the two nearby storage bays and we proceed to enter the one towards the rear of the ship. 

"Jackpot," Sigi comments when we check the first few containers, finding not only soy and bean proteins but also fruit and vegetable fibers and even meat.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaim. Sure, you might look at this as grave robbing, but the sailors on this ship have no further use for any of the equipment, much less the food and other supplies. Not to mention that the amount of food that can feed over two hundred people for over five years, can feed our comparatively tiny crew of six for years and years. Provided our own printers didn't break.

Also, we plan to take it to the Kuiper belt of Eta Leporis and leave it adrift with a beacon. The next supply ship going to the colony should find it. Standard procedure for the majority of scavengers.

"Awesome, just one of these can take us back to Earth, while horribly spoiling Luna," Sigi pats the big container.

"Let's get four then and head in the opposite direction." I say with a smile he cannot see through the helmet anyway, "There is not much to see on Earth anyway. Also, don't spoil my dog."

A short silence spreads between us, the victorious feeling gone as we remember the terrible spectacle of the Fall. Replaced once again with the creepy emptiness of the ship.

"Let's take it all the way to deck 3 and out the main airlock," Sigi snaps out of it first.

"Good idea. Let's take four of these to the ladder, then check the engineering for fuel."

"Fuck the fuel, we need suits more than fuel right now."

"It was the best he got available, but yeah, I hate it too. Smells like plumber's crack in here," I say and I can almost hear Sigi rolling his eyes. We prepare four crates by the ladder, then it's time to check the armory just down the main corridor.

I take one more look up and down the passage, as Sigi enters the armory, his SMG shouldered. When I am turning to follow him, I glance at a movement in the corner of my eye, but when I aim the gun in the direction of the hatch, nothing is there. And then I hear Sigi say what I'm thinking: "Oh, shit." Only he's looking in the opposite direction.

"What?!" I ask, nervously while backing into the armory compartment.

"This guy, look," Sigi answers and when I turn my head towards him, he notices my posture and aims his gun at the hatch as well."What is it?"

"Dunno - thought I saw something. What do you have?" I ask and satisfied that he is guarding the door, I look at his own discovery. A guy in a spacesuit only a little shittier than mine, nowhere near military grade. "Shiiiiieeet."

"This guy clearly isn't from the crew," says Sigi.

"He's also dead for nowhere near as long," I add, after noticing the trickle of bloody bubbles forming at the rim of the man's helmet.

"Oh shit, he's still bleeding,"

"Fuck. What the hell have we crawled into?"

"Let's just get out asap."

"I have the door, you get some gear, and let's get the hell out."

"Dunstan, how's it going?" says a female voice in my ear and I almost jump out of my skin, before realizing it's Shiro, calling from our own ship to check on us.

"Something is definitely terribly wrong here, but don't worry, we have a lot of food ready and are almost ready to head back."

"Just get out now with the food. Take one or two and bug out," she says with worry evident in her voice.

"You know we can't do that, we need those suits. Don't worry, Sigi is rounding it up as we speak and we're heading back."

"Alright, be careful, love you," she answers just a tiny bit calmer.

"How's it going with the gear?" I ask Sigi.

"Good, I have a crate of pistols, a crate of rifles, two crates of ammo, and a crate of four suits."

A few moments later, Sigi clanks up next to me, a blue light blinking on his arm. When I look behind him, there is a neat row of crates floating in the middle of the compartment.

"Neat, let's get going."

I get out into the corridor and sweep every corner with the light cone, finding nothing but dust.

"I'll go first with this train. When I tell you, start sending the food crates down after me. Just activate this thing." says Sigi while putting a small, round disc on each food container.

"Ok, let's hurry, it's creeping me out here."

"Yeah, me too," he agrees, clicks his heels, and dives headfirst to the shaft we came through, leaving me alone in the empty corridor. He only takes a few moments, but they feel like an eternity. I see something moving towards me down the corridor. As it gets near I realize it's a torn-off button.

When Sigi finally talks to me again, my heart almost jumps out through my throat.

"Alright, you can start sending the food," he says and I gladly comply by activating the disc on the first of the food containers.

When it disappears in the shaft, I send the second, then the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. I decide to leave the last four containers where they are rather than stay in this creepy-ass ship any longer. I dive head-first into the ladder shaft, only to find the last container got stuck, just one deck down.

I drift to it, brace myself on the ladder, and push then pull but, for some reason, the container doesn't budge. I look around for a lever and see only an empty corridor.

Even ensign Leath is gone. 

"Holy shit! Sigi, you there?" I ask, panic rising up my spine.

"I'm almost at the airlock. What's the problem?"

"The last crate got stuck," I answer. And after a short moment add: "and that Ensign Leath guy. He's fucking gone."

"Bulshit, he was there when I passed that deck. Sit tight, I'm coming."

"How? The stupid crate is in the way!"

"Shit, can you go up?"

"Yeah, let's meet on the open deck by the missile launchers," I answer him and then add, "I can get there," more for myself than Sigi.

I take a deep breath and one last look around the empty corridor, preparing to kick off to rise back to deck 7 when it occurs to me that the hatch opposite the corridor, slightly to the left from the ladder is ajar. The label next to the hatch reads "hydroponics bay." For a moment, my curiosity gets better of me and I take a few cautious steps towards the opening. Safety off and finger itching on the trigger I use the barrel of the short shotgun to push the hatch open, revealing the dark space beyond.

Between two rows of planters of dried, dead plants, a tangled mess of pale white tubes sticks in weird directions in the zero-g caused by the ship's lack of power. I watch for a heartbeat, unsure what am I looking at, but unwilling to come any closer. Then one of the tubes twitches. I blast it with my shotgun, pump it, blast it, pump, blast, pump blast, pump, blast. After I pump it three times on an empty magazine, I turn and try to bolt, for a moment forgetting that I'm in the unpowered ship in freefall. Doing that, I manage to make both my boots lose contact with the deck, sending me spinning and tumbling towards the overhead.

I crash into the soft padded panel and while trying to control my motion, I lose the grip on my shotgun and then impale myself onto it. Thank goodness it's empty. While tumbling back towards the deck, I manage to grab one of the handholds meant for just such a situation and launch myself towards the rear of the ship, towards stairs, and towards the medical bay.

Still tumbling, but at least moving in the right direction, I manage to control my rotation and even get rid of the shotgun, letting it float back towards the ladder, giving myself a little extra push by doing so. By that time I am halfway down the corridor lined with cushion panels framed by tubes and the initial rush of adrenaline is slowly culminating and starting to fall off. I reach the far wall and looking back, can see nothing but the tac light on the slowly rolling gun I threw there. Cursing I turn towards the hatch leading to the stairwell as well as the medical bay.

I check that I still have the pistol at least, but keep it in the holster rather than losing it as well. I hold my breath and open the hatch. In the light from my helmet lights, I see the stairs down in front of me, a hatch to the right, and another passage to the left. I slip through, without even bothering to open it all the way, turn and kick the hatch on the right, launching myself to the left corridor and the stairs up. 

With a grunt that nobody but me hears, I crash into the steel steps face-first but eventually manage to right myself. A few moments later, I am at the top and I launch myself across the corridor I was in with Sigi just a few moments before, not daring to look to either side, I shoot across the space and manage to grab a hold of a handle on the corner, turning around it and up the next set of stairs by sheer luck. I manage to get up this flight with much less difficulty and find myself on deck 8, standing attached to the deck just outside the sealed hatch to the XO's cabin.

Just like before near the breach, I have a distinct feeling that I heard something, but once again I dismiss it on the grounds of the vacuum not carrying sound. I shuffle aggressively past the corner into a wide corridor leading to the observation room. As I round the next corner towards the starboard airlock, I catch a glimpse of movement by the stairway from where I just came. The adrenaline rush comes back in full force and I leap towards the big, red button that blows out the airlock. And apparently shuts the emergency hatch just behind me. I yank at the handle, launching myself out. As I sail past the outer hatch, I realize the stupidity of such an action, and my hand shoots off and manages to grab another handle, sending me into a spin around it and finally slamming me face-first against the porthole and face to face with staring eyes of a gaunt-looking woman wrapped in something shiny.

For a moment, I stare at her. And then she blinks and her terrified eyes focus on me.

"Holy shit Sigi, where are you?"

"I'm by the launchers, where the fuck are you?" he answers and when I tell him, he's by my side staring into the eyes of the terrified woman on the other side of the porthole a few moments later. Then he looks at me, the question clearly written on his face as clearly as it is most likely written on mine.

"There is something inside. It chased me to the airlock. We have to get her out. Also, where did you leave the loot?"

"Crates are ready outside the airlock on deck 3. Lonk is bringing Maleficent closer in, but given the new circumstances, that might not be such a good idea."

"We need to get her into a suit of something, but we have neither suits nor somethings," I start thinking aloud.

"No, but we can pressurize Mal's shield."

"Excuse me, what the fuck?"

"Yeah, we did it a couple of times rescuing some miners in the Oort. We can reclaim most of the air afterward. Main problem is the regolith. Anyway, we need the ship here. And REAL CLOSE."

"Ok, I have nothing better, let's do that," I agree after a moment then flash the thumbs-up to the woman while Sigi is already communicating with Lonk at the helm of our yacht. The woman glances at me then at the door and back at me, pleading, so I give her both my thumbs up with what I hope is a reassuring smile.

Maleficent arrives in a minute, spewing streams of nitrogen gas to nullify the momentum and come to relative rest with the much larger destroyer. In the end, she is so close I can touch the navy-blue-and-chrome hull. At the same time, I realize I can hear the clanking of Sigi's boots on the open deck as the shield bubble is starting to fill with the air and he brings a plasma cutter from the yacht's airlock.

"Turn around and keep an eye on the... Where's your shotgun?"

"I kinda lost it," I answer, embarrassed and he rolls his eyes dramatically.

"Get my SMG from the airlock and watch my back, but don't look at me."

Soon, I watch the lights from the plasma cutter dance across Maleficent's hull as well as the outer deck of the destroyer as Sigi makes his way through the armored hull of the warship. Minutes drag by and the show quickly gets boring so I take a look in through the yacht's french-window-like portholes only to see Luna standing there. 

When the Czechoslovakian wolfdog notices me looking at her, she barks and wags her tail, making me smile. I look away from her, back to the open deck, and see movement at the edge.

"Sigi, something's coming, hurry up."

"Almost there. Aaaaand, done." then he shouts, "help me get it out!" so I turn to go help him only to realize he was talking to the woman inside. Meanwhile, the skittering motion at the edge of the open deck appears again, but this time I'm more ready a spray it with the burst from Sigi's gun, pushing myself away in the process. I steady myself against the line connecting the two ships and keep scanning for the movement.

"Go, go, go!" I hear Sigi shout, both in my earpiece and from the outside, albeit faintly.

"I can't!" answers a woman's voice and I afford myself a glance at the rescue, who's slowly, gingerly pulling herself along the line towards me. As she passes me, I notice skittering movement in the corner of my eye, on the roof of the destroyer's citadel.

I quickly turn and shoot a burst there, but hit only the radar dish. This spurs the woman and she starts pulling herself faster towards the safety of Maleficent's airlock which she reaches after a few more moments.

Sigi signals Lonk and Maleficent starts moving once again, this time down to the Spatha's main starboard airlock on deck 3 where the supplies await us. I briefly consider whether it is a wise course of action, but the truth is we simply need the crates and none of the ... whatever it was ... have even come close to us.

While we transit, we let the woman go through the airlock to Eliz, Shiro, and Luna waiting on the other side. 

We quickly gather up the crates that made it in the airlock and squeeze in ourselves with the bulky old suits. The airlock cycles again, I finally take off the helmet and breathe in the artificially minty-fresh air of the ship. Sigi does the same next to me and we exchange a look.

"I say we drop the beacon and get the hell out," I'm first to speak, he nods and we push the beacon out.

"Lonk, punch it," Sigi says once it attaches to the destroyer and the stars outside disappear as Maleficent goes to warp. I get out of the smelly suit and take a shower. Then we check the loot before meeting others for a hearty dinner. We celebrate with some beers before going to bed as the ship hurtles through the space down the Eta Leporis' gravity well.

Later that night, I'm woken up by Luna's deep growl as she stands stiffly at the side of the bed as if to protect me and Shiro from something at the door.

I inhale to order the ship to turn on the lights but think better of it. However, Luna catches on and wags her tail once, but then stiffens again as something clanks on the deck. I stiffen as well. I look around while my mind races, looking for anything that can be used as a weapon. Another clank was followed by Luna's deep growl. 

When my eyes fall on Nyx, I discover her own eyes are wide open. She inhales to speak but I shake my head slightly and she stops.

"Get a gun," I spell out silently and she lifts her hand slightly, showing a finger gun gesture with a lifted eyebrow. I nod and she nods back. I inhale and then yell, "Maleficent, crisis lights, open door" while flipping around. As the light floods the dark corners of the cabin, I see the metallic, spider-like shape I saw on the Spatha and almost freeze for a split second.

Luna, however, being ever the protector, jumps the intruder while Nyx bolts through the door, screaming for Sigi. This cuts short my hesitation and I make two quick leaps for the tumble of black-brown fur and chrome. I lunge and manage to grab the spider thing's appendage. I yank at the appendage and the intruder flies across the room, smashing into the large porthole of the cabin, making a tiny crack. 

It recovers and clanks around, trying to flank me and the dog by my side. Luna lets out another deep growl as I circle around the compartment, keeping my distance from the alien thing, then follows my lead, apparently deciding that attacking is not a good strategy. We circle around ever so slowly and I finally have a moment to actually look at it.

It has a spherical body of shiny metal about twenty centimeters in diameter, split in the middle by a sort of trench of a different, black material from which eight or maybe even ten, half-meter long legs sprout in regular intervals. Each leg is divided into two short and one long segment. The last and longest segment of each leg is sharp, like a triangular needle.

My wondering about how it could crawl over the hull of the destroyer in zero is interrupted when the thing stops its circling and sort of slouches, likely preparing to lunge. I stiffen and lower my center of mass in preparation for the attack and feel Luna do the same next to me. Then I hear the sound that caused this, last of course. The sound of two sets of thumping feet comes from the corridor a moment later.

Just as I'm sure the attack is about to come, Sigi bursts through the door and starts pouring the contents of his pistol's magazine into the thing. When he's out, we all stare in horror as the thing stands there, mostly unscathed. His attack, while failing to destroy the intruder, at least made it cringe away from us, giving us time to run. And that's exactly what we do. I grab Luna's collar and bolt out to the corridor. Sigi follows and the door hisses closed behind us.

I collapse on the deck and prop myself against the far bulkhead. Nyx stands by the door and works on the panel, sealing the room, while Luna paces around, and I notice she's bleeding heavily from multiple wounds.

"Luna's bleeding," I say to everyone and no one at the same time.

"Yeah, so are you," Sigi answers after collapsing next to me.

As my adrenalin rush slowly fades, I notice the pain in my right hand and when I look at it, I discover multiple long gashes across my palm.

"That's nothing, I just grabbed it. Where is it?"

"Inside, pacing around," answers Nyx from the door.

"Ok so what now?" I ask no one and everyone.

"Vent the fucker," answers an unfamiliar voice with a thick German accent, "throw it into the warp bubble."

We all turn, to see Lucy, the officer we saved from Spatha, along with the Seldons.

"How? It's in a crew cabin, not the airlock," I counter.

"All compartments can be vented. These cabins even have massive windows instead of normal portholes," she informs us. And then asks into a stunned silence: "Which one of you is the captain?"

"I guess I am?" I answer hesitantly, "I mean it is my ship."

"What do you mean any compartment can be vented?" asks Eliz.

"Exactly that. The captain can vent any compartment of the ship. On most ships, it has to be at least two out of the captain, first and second officer. But this is a private boat, so I guess only the ship's owner is needed." Sigi explains instead of our guest.

"Yeah, I need to get back on a planet," Elize adds, and Lonk hums something that can be understood as an agreement. 

With an eerie feeling, I follow Lucy up the stairs to the cockpit, where she has me enter the passcode they asked me for when I bought the ship. I manage to remember on the third try. I have a strong suspicion that she watched me put it in, so I make a mental note to change it later. Then she helps me find what I need to find and I input the password again. The ship shudders ever so slightly and I see a blip of black on the port side of the bubble, but it's gone as fast as it appeared.

When we watch the video later, we have a good laugh at how the air current yeets the thing out into the weird opalescing glow of the warp bubble and annihilation. Sadly, along with our blankets and my favorite coffee cup. Serves me right for not returning it to the galley.

Later, I rewatch the video of the thing in our cabin over and over, stopping it, slowly advancing it frame by frame, trying to find anything, that could tell me what the hell it is. Is it a Chinese weapon? But why would they attack an explorer? Not to mention how would they get this far from their territory? It doesn't make any sense. But the alternative is what? Certainly not Russians. Americans? Why would they attack their allies? Maybe our own weapon? That makes even less sense. But what else could it be? It's not like the aliens made it. Cold sweat breaks all over me as I look at the thing one more time.

It doesn't feel human-made.