The Sharing: Rebellion From Within

[Myitt]

"I don't know if anything lives in asteroids, and I don't want to find out," Myitt said, glancing along the length of the tunnel, then back at the ship.  She took out her scanner one more time, peering at it.  "I don't see anything else coming up on the screen."  She shrugged, still feeling a bit uneasy...but letting it go.  "Come on, let's get out of here."  She walked back toward the open hatch and climbed in.

It was just too quiet out there, and that was unnerving.

[traycon3]

"Come on, kiddo," Tia said to Aurora. As much as she wanted to get back in the ship, she was not about to lose any more of these kids. She wanted Aurora between her and whatever might attack them, assuming there was anything on the asteroid.

[Terenia]

"Right. Going." Aurora scampered through the tunnel, feeling a wave of fear wash over her as she realized that Norpo was right. Two days ago she thought aliens were an old fairy tale. Now she was having vacation on an asteroid. An asteroid. Who was to say some other alien being wouldn't simply snap her up. Shuddering at the thought, Aurora climbed into the open hatch swiftly.

[traycon3]

Norpo climbed in after the two. "Right. So, how do we go about getting this stuff off?" He could tell Tia was eager to get out of the suite.

[Myitt]

Myitt took her helmet off and set it down. 

<Oh, man, I hate this...> Tara groaned. 

"Like this," she said thickly, pulling the plastic sheen off of her mouth and nose.  The material began to retract and melt into the vague mask-like shape, pulling itself out of Tara's respiratory system and making her hack back a gag.  It was a rather unsightly process involving entirely too much mucous, and Myitt covered her host's mouth, swallowing as she unhooked the wires.  "Just think of it like a bandaid," she rasped, wiping her mouth and walking to the storage room, unceremoniously tossing the mask into a bin in the wall.  Its inscription was indecipherable to anyone who couldn't read Yeerkish, but what the bin said was the equivalent of 'Clean' or maybe 'Antiseptic'. 

"Well, you lot look like you've been having fun," Corliss said, sitting up and wiping his brow.  "Did you find it?"

"I think so," said Myitt, still looking uncomfortable and rubbing her throat.  "Found something that looked like a tracking device and destroyed it, anyway.  Who knows if there are any more.  The sensors look good, though."

Something clattered outside, close to the open hatch.  Barely audible over the hum of the engines.  Probably just rocks...but there was no wind out there...

[traycon3]

"Riiight. Should probably go do this in the bathroom." Tia stomped off to the bathroom to unhook the mask. The sound of the mask retracting was followed by a vaguely unsettling sound and the flush of a toilet. Norpo dropped the used mask in the bin. "Wonderful. Now, where too next?"

[Myitt]

"Far away from here, fast," Myitt began, when something large bumped into the ship, sending everyone reeling. 

WHUMPH!  Metal crashed down inside the storage room.  Myitt slammed into the wall.  "What the hell is THAT?" she roared, reaching into her half unzipped suit and grabbing her Dracon inside her jacket pocket. 

"I dunno mate but you'd better shut the door!" Corliss shouted, clinging to his chair, unable to reach his own Dracon on the floor. 

A black, shadowy shape blocked the red light from the tunnel, and then black, oozing tentacles began to snake their way into the open hatch, their sticky purple undersides making the floor bubble. 

"Jesus Christ!" Myitt yelped, and the thing, whatever it was, screeched in return from unseen mouths on the tentacles themselves.  Bits of rock flung into the ship, and the tentacles ate those, along with pieces of the metal floor tiling.  Myitt fired her weapon at the two bravest of the arms and sent one scattering into atoms. 

[Terenia]

((just out of curiosity, if the hatch is open how is everyone breathing?))

"Oh shi--" Aurora was unable to finish her exclamation as she flattened herself against the back of the ship. Her mask was still on, and she still had the wand in her hand. A poor weapon, but she used it to beat the nearest tentacle back anyhow.

"I hate aliens!" She cried in frustration, landing another blow on the tentacle.

[morfowt]

((wait...what has you guys?))

[Myitt]

((There's an invisible shield around the ship that's preserving the atmosphere and the temperature inside, air stays in but people (and tentacles) can move in or out.  Yes, quite convenient. xD  And morf, we have no clue yet.  It's just a big tentacled asteroid monster sticking its tentacles into the ship's hatchway.  ^^  Just like real life!))

The tentacle Aurora was bashing away at screeched and snapped at her, its whiplike end barely missing her face.  Myitt turned and tried aiming at the tentacles, but now they were moving quite fast and she was aiming right toward the guts of her ship.  She growled in exhasperation and stepped lightly over to a tentacle, stomping on it.  "You son of a--"  She threw a few colorful words at the slithering creature's appendage.  "Computer!" she howled.  "Close exterior hatch!"

The hatch melted closed, and the tentacle creature started retracting its limbs or mouths or whatever they were...but not before the merging metal sliced off three or four still moving, still snapping limbs.  Black blood, or something like it, oozed onto the ship's tiles.  Outside, the angry creature rocked against the ship's hull. 

Corliss couldn't do much more than try in vain to crouch down for his Dracon, now under the seat next to where he sat, pain twisting through his wounds.  "Damnit, don't let that bastard bite my arse!" his host cried, more to Corliss than anyone else.

[Terenia]

"Get it away from me!" Aurora squealed shrilly, continuing to beat the severed tentacle nearest her with all of her strength. With a shriek she let go of the wand, hurling it at the tentacle. Unfortunately her aim is poor and it ricochete's off of the floor.

[traycon3]

Tia fell to the floor with a loud WUMPH and a groan. One of the tenticles had managed to lift her by the ankle, and when it was severed, she had of course fallen to the floor. With the tenticle still gripping her ankle. Some of the blood was flung into her face due to the sudden fall.
"Oh," she muttered, turning a shade of green. Pain was flaring up on her left again, but somehow it seemed less important than THE FREAKING TENTICLE STUCK TO HER LEG!!! That was still moving! She gagged, the bile dribbling down her front.
Groaning and leaning back, she was barely aware of Norpo attempting to dislodge the tenticle with her other foot. The pain was just too intense, the nausia too overpowering. She slipped into unconsciousness.

[Myitt]

Myitt carefully aimed at two of the tentacles and burned them into atoms, leaving one and a half...a messy, gooey, disgusting half...flopping around the floor, or attached to Tia.  The entire cabin smelled like vinegar, it was quite disgusting in such close quarters. 

"Alright, we've got to get bloody out of here," Corliss said wearily, straining to pull himself to his feet and stagger to the controls, where he sat down and began punching in instructions on the floating holoscreen.

Fuming, Myitt stalked off to the bathroom, where a small recirculating water tap was stuck in the wall.  She rinsed the burning slime off of her hands, which were already getting red and welty, and hastily wrapped one in a towel. 

WHAM!  The ship rocked again, and a pleasant, alien voice came on overhead, explaining in an alien language that the shielding was at 70 percent.  Whatever that creature was, it was strong enough to batter the shields of an alien ship.

Or perhaps it was feeding off of them...

Myitt walked back out, noting that Tia was unconscious.  She stepped over to her and stomped on the tentacle still clinging to her.  "God..damn..." Once it was clear of Tia's body she aimed at it with her unbandaged hand, stunned the tentacle, then turned up the notch with her more blistered hand and disintegrated it. 

Corliss began piloting the ship, which maneuvered away from the creature and down the tunnel with a sick wrenching sound.  A drunken Gedd could indeed do better.

"They're alive," Myitt said, feeling Tia's pulse.  She looked up at Aurora.  "Are you alright?" she breathed, standing up in the middle of a spaceship cabin that stinks and still has the slithery remains of half a dead tentacle twitching on the floor near the hatch. 

[Terenia]

"Yeah," Aurora gulped and quickly closed her mouth. The smell was overpowering, and combined with the oozing severed tentacle she felt dangerously close to hurling. She inched towards the twitching tentacle and nudged it with her shoe, morbidly curious. Up until now the only actual alien she had seen was Norpo, but that had only been for a few minutes. Now, in front of her, was something undeniably alien. Or at least something from a Stephen King novel. She nudged it again and it twitched violently, making her jump back in shock. Another wave of nausea rolled through her and she glanced up at Mike.

"Ugh...could you please stop driving like a crazy person?"

[Myitt]

Mike/Corliss glanced back at her.  Not entirely comforting, seeing as even with his eyes on the 'road' the ship was clanging unnervingly into far too many hanging pieces of rock.  It was Mike who spoke, with a weak smile.  "Would you rather me fly like a dead person?" 

Behind them, the monster clung tenaciously to the side of the ship, getting scraped along, until it finally dislodged with an angry, silent howl. 

The rickety Bug fighter zipped out of the tunnel and into the bright, safe expanse of stars.

((Haha, Stephen King...my boyfriend's just reading a part in one of the Dark Tower books that has tentacle worms in it, complete coincidence...XD  Hehehh...Lovecraft. ..))