Forum

MU/TH/UR continued to spew information. The Science officers logs detailing the impact of bringing the meteor onboard. Drabikowski who had been searching for any information on whatever Iron fish was, reported that she couldn't make sense of the output. Navarre hovered over her shoulder, keen to help. What was apparent to the team was the important of DA/UT/UR, further 'down' in the station.

In a moment of clarity, Ejiri approached Sajaad and asked her to hand over her PDAT tube. Was there a way to route MU/TH/UR' PDAT information to the handheld device? Whilst the task was formidable, with help and his own knowledge of the WeYu system, the company man was able to route partial information on the movement of Erebos' crew and inmates. Not wholly reliable, but still, the LED readout on the PDAT tube started to flash numbers. Confusing at first, but stabilizing eventually, the numbers on the tube seemed to indicate a number of PDAT signals emanating from an area some 70 meters 'south' of their position. Were these survivors? Crew? More of Cecil's gang?

Hedenstrom and Lark volunteered to investigate.
"Carefully." Warned Ejiri, who followed some way behind. "Sajaad, cover them!"
Lugar stuck close to the agent, leaving Drabikowski and Navarre to continue to interrogate MU/TH/UR for any additional information.

Walking through the central corridor and carefully picking their way past the destroyed Correctional Joes by the chute entrance.
"Will anyone know that we did this?" Hedenstrom asked?
"MU/TH/UR was offline when it happened." Replied Ejiri. "It's unlikely."

Lark, some 25 meters ahead of the rest of the team opened the door to the Hydroponics lab. Hedenstrom, still badly bruised from the earlier melee shrugged and walk through the open door.

The room was dark and humid. The air carried a hint of rotting vegetation. The lights from their shoulder mounted torches picked out details in the room. Long tables, the relentless sound of dripping water, room dividers and equipment strewn haphazardly. Across the huge room was a viewing pane, easily 12 meters high and 30 across, scaffolding crisscrossed the glass which was fogged with condensation. The accretion disk of the Ablassan black hole just visible as a violent red smear across their vision.

Lark and Hedenstrom stepped into the room and saw the source of the vegetative odour. Strewn haphazardly through the back half of the room were pods, seemingly made up of blackened, mutated leaves and vines, 2 meters tall, they were littered through the hydroponic lab.

"Movement." hissed Ejiri over the radio. "Don't know what, but something is moving according to this PDAT."

Lark and Hedenstrom watched in mute fascination as a humanoid creature, with grotesquely elongated limbs and a head that seemed stretched like melted plastic shamble across their line of sight. Stopping in it's tracks the abomination then vomited a thick black liquid all over the floor and itself before gathering the surrounding mess into a ragged cocoon. Surveying the room they could now make out that some of the pods were disheveled and patchy, whilst others appeared to be whole and smooth.

The others joined them, Drabikowski and Lugar holding back at the door. Hedenstrom, spotting one of the smooth pods took a step forward. At that moment a piercing note seemed to emanate from the entire station. A sound that appeared from nowhere and everywhere at once, slicing through everyone's brain. A moment later it was answered by the mournful reply of the cat.

Locked into place, not sure what was happening on this damned station, everyone turned to face the pod that Hedenstrom had been walking towards as it opened like a humongous flower. Rotting petals folding back to reveal the lithe, otherworldly form of one of the Perfected.

Drabikowski and Lugar stepped cautiously back so that they were out of sight of the elfin creature. Lark remained still, Ejiri and Navarre looked wildly about. The Fulfremen cocked its head slightly, almost quizzically gazing through them with coal black eyes. Its featureless face regarding them dispassionately.

With a loud thump, a midnight blue creature landed between the Fulfremen and Lark. It raised its eyeless head toward the synthetic and hissed. Crouched as if ready to pounce, the creatures jaw split to reveal almost human like teeth and a secondary jaw slowly extended from its maw.

Lark remained still, Hedenstrom moved slowly toward the Fulfremen before, with inhuman speed the blue alien with a 'Deacon' like appearance, sprang toward him and hissed violently, spittle flying from its mouth, warning Hedenstrom away. Undeterred, Hedenstrom maintained his composure, drew his pistol and fired at the nightmare in front of him. The shot missed, wildly, giving the alien the chance to strike with its taloned limbs, ripping across the scientists torso and causing deep rents in his flesh. Bleeding profusely Hedenstrom fell to the ground.

Drabikowski and Lugar whirled to find shelter, only to see a second midnight blue creature stalking them from the other end of the corridor. Ejiri, Lark, Sajaad and Navarre stepped into the fracas to see two more Deacons appear from the darkness, flanking the still motionless Fulfremen.

Sajaad stepped forward and fired her shotgun at the creature towering over Henedstrom, Ejiri rushed to his aid, locking his arms underneath the injured mans, making ready to pull him back. Blinded with panic, Hedenstrom lashed out wildly with his knife, causing more damage to his already broken body. "Be still." Commanded Ejiri, and Hedenstrom slumped in defeat.

The party were transfixed as another alien tone shattered through their conscious minds. Only this time, as they struggled to keep conscious, screwing their eyes shut, they became aware of images forming, unbidden in their minds.

Images of grotesque and morbid beauty. A tree of flesh and metal, in a surreal landscape, its bark made up of a thousand twisted faces. Black vines underneath a white sky, giving birth to a ribbed landscape of swelling bronchi and pulsing aortas. The tree grows ripe and rots. Pollen explodes, choking life, mutating forests, the planets surface covered in wiggling tree limbs, grasping and closing off the sky above.

The world explodes, impaling other worlds with spiked trees. A broken genetic code appears, incomplete, it is 26 Draconis.

A forest wave rolls over a new world and bears down. You give the complete formula to the Perfected. The wave strikes, but grows around you, not through you. The message is clear. Give this thing to the Perfected, and be spared. Do not, and die.

Sajaad was the first to step forward. "Is this the Church of the Immaculate Incubation? The Children of the Two Divines?"

The Fulfremen said nothing, but every head is now filled with a images of a black rib cage, as it opens, everyone is drawn into a black, beating heart.

And then the Fulfremen leaves, the four deacons following her tamely.

Carefully picking themselves up the party made their way to the medical center and placed Hedenstrom into the AutoDoc.

As he recovered, Hedenstrom heard everyone muttering and sharing stories. Questioning what they had heard, trying to work out what the hell had just happened.

"I think I can explain". He said, before unpicking the many palliative arms of the machine and standing before them.

thanks it's a love to read.