1

The Invader

The pressure, as always, was beyond intense. I could liken the feeling, although I have never

personally felt nor do I know anyone who has, to a lowland gorilla standing on my face with his hairy

kin hanging off my arms and legs like they were tree branches. Despite the unpleasant feeling of being

squished into a puddle of skin and bones, I smiled because I knew that quite soon I would once again

experience that ethereal feeling which was weightlessness, until Captain Carnell equalized the pressure

of our spacecraft.

The change to the zero gravity of the shuttle was brief and smooth and I immediately unlatched

my harness and began swimming around the room in exaggerated breaststrokes for the crews

amusement.

I floated for a short while and I heard Captain Carnell's gravelly voice through my helmet

saying "On the floor Jimbo."

I began to swim down and I was about five feet from the stainless steel deck when I heard the

noise that can only be described as a combination of steam hissing and a vacuum cleaner. I dropped the

five feet and since I was unprepared, I tumbled forward and smashed my helmet on the ground, doing a

brief headstand before I toppled over onto my back. I could still hear the captain laughing as he

removed his suit, as he had activated the gravity simulator before I had reached the deck.

"Was that necessary?" I questioned.

"No, but it was funny" he replied, emitting his guttural laugh and Gottlieb joined in too. We

were on a routine trip to Gamma 61oc for beryllium as Earth had long since exhausted its personal

supply and the supply of any nearby planets. Gamma 61oc was about a four weeks flight away and we
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had just entered space with the sound of our dispatcher still crackling over the intercom asking the

captain if everything was fine.

There were three of us on board and that was all that we needed on this simple collection

mission.

"Alright ladies, only 719 hours and 59 minutes until we're there" stated Captain Carnell, his

usual joke.

"We are practically there" joked Gottlieb with an accent as thick as pea soup, making his w's

sound like v's.

The combined best and worst thing about the trip to Gamma were the tasks we had aboard the

ship, which was a whole lot of nothing. We were paid to sit on the ship and wait until we arrived and

then return. The only member who ever had something to do was Gottlieb and malfunctions were

thankfully quite rare and maintenance was more routine then anything.

The ship was simply designed; there was the control room, currently occupied by us, and one

small corridor branching from it. At the end of the corridor was what we called the Sittin' Room which

consisted of a few kitchen essentials and a bolted down steel table where we spent most of the trip

sitting around. The vast majority of the ships volume was the cargo hold for the beryllium.

I made some coffee, which was just putting these hard brown pill things into another softer gel

capsule which somehow made coffee. Don't ask me how it works, I didn't invent the things.

Captain Carnell was regaling us with a Tompkins Tale, which was an anecdote of the prehistoric

engineer that Gottlieb had replaced. For this particular story I had been there when it happened but

Gottlieb had never heard it before and was finding it quite amusing.

"So Pete, he's never seen those coffee pills before right, they were brand spanking new after

everyone kept bitchin' about how all we could drink was those goddamn water pills eh" continued

Captain Carnell. By everyone he meant himself, I never complain about anything.

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"He thought they were the vitamin pills because back then they were brown, which was their

natural colour and Pete, well this guy was a little...."stalled Captain Carnell.

"Anal?" I added, knowing exactly what Peter Tompkins was. The captain nodded.

"Anal, you mean like ass?" asked Gottlieb, "he was an asshole?"

This sent Carnell and myself into hysterics while Gottlieb looked at us with a curious

expression. Gottlieb was fluent in English but he hadn't spent much time in America and still got a few

words confused and sometimes lapsed back into his native German when he was excited.

"No no no" continued Carnell but Gottlieb was distracted.

"Jim said Gottlieb, pronouncing it like Yim was ist das?" and pointed behind me to the edge of

the counter.

I don't speak German but guessing from the context and his body language, I assume he was

asking what something was.

I turned around in my chair and didn't immediately see what he was pointing at.

"What? The counter?" I asked him, we use that for putting things on. It was meant to be a

joke and the captain laughed but Gottlieb didnt.

"No" he said and shook his hand, his finger still outstretched and pointing at to where the edge

of the counter meets the wall of the spacecraft. I still couldn't see whatever he was indicating and

leaned in closer and saw what he was pointing at. It was a small grey blob, looked kind of like someone

had picked their nose and wiped it on the counter edge. Normally, back on Earth, this would not have

been anything out of the ordinary, just gross. Here in the spacecraft though, it was unusual as the craft

was sanitized and cleaned prior to takeoff and neither the captain, Gottlieb nor I even had time to rub a

booger on it yet.

"What's he pointin' at Jim?" the captain asked me, ruffled due to the lack of attention his

Tompkins Tale was receiving.

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"I don't know, check it out" I said and the captain got up and walked over to investigate the grey

lump where he squinted and leaned in.

"Get on the transmitter and tell whoever is listening that the cleaners need to get their ass in

gear" said Carnell. He was usually a pretty laid back guy but he was a complete neat freak as well, he

even made us make our beds and tuck them in the morning but this was probably a relic of the 15-years

he spent in the Royal Canadian Air Force prior to his career with Willoughby.

The captain and Gottlieb returned to their uncomfortable metal stools and I walked the short

corridor back to the control room and picked up the radio transmitter, making the captain's requested

transmission which I imagine was being received with much eye rolling.

I returned to the Sittin' Room and Captain Carnell was wrapping up his Peter Tompkins story to

Gottliebs politely feigned interest.

As I stepped into the room, what struck me as a little bit odd was that even when I was much

closer to the table earlier, I could not see the glob, but now I could easily see it poking out from the

counter edge.

"Jurgen" I started, "am I nuts or did that get bigger?" I asked him.

He turned around and observed the blob quickly, rotating back to me and he nodded slowly with

his eyebrows furrowed. This caught the captain's attention and his eyes focused to the blob also,

coming to the same conclusion. We sat in silence, all watching the grey blob and after a few minutes of

stillness, decided that it was indeed larger again. The growth wasn't able to be seen by watching it, but

it used to be the size of a tic-tac and was now about the size of a marble.

"Gentleman that is indeed concerning" said the captain.

"...what do we do?" I asked him. He put his finger up to his lips in a shushing motion and jutted

his chin out to blob, effectively telling me to shut up and watch.

In another ten minutes, it was the size of a ping pong ball and it was definitely time to act.
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"Bill?" I asked him.

"Uh, grab one of those canister things we keep up in the cupboard, and shove it in there" he

said, apparently lost for anything better to do.

"I gotta tell you Bill, uh, captain sir, I'm not entirely crazy about touching that thing" I said.

Carnell raised his eyebrows and turned his head to me.

"Do it."

I walked around the counter and reached above it, opening the cupboard and retrieving one of

these acrylic containers I have never discovered a use for. It looked like a large, transparent pill bottle

and I unscrewed the lid, moving to the other side of the counter.

There was no way in hell I was touching it so I grabbed an unopened blue ballpoint pen from

the same cupboard and slowly approached the blob. Its size now led to a better view and it was not as

mucus-y as once thought. It was no longer grey but a pearly white, like when you pour water in a cup

that recently had milk in it. It was also translucent and lumpy but in the total stillness, I observed,

although faintly, that it was quivering slightly.

I turned around to look at Carnell and Gottlieb, who were now both standing but a fair distance

from me, eyes observant and sharp. I took the pen, slowly put it towards the lump and poked it with the

click button.

Instantly, the button began to smoulder and melt into a gooey blue substance that was being

slowly sucked into the blob, resembling melted chewing gum. I shrieked loudly and effeminately,

dropping both the canister and the pen. The canister fell to the ground and clattered but the pen hung

from the blob like a dart about to fall from a corkboard. I stepped back quickly and watched as the blob

shivered a bit and began to turn the faintest shade of blue as the pen slowly entered it, turning it a

darker colour.

"Oh my" whispered the captain under his breath and we all backed up to the other side of the
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table.

The pen was now entirely in the blob which had elongated itself to accommodate the pencil's

shape, visibly splintering and disintegrating. I knew that soon there would be nothing left.

"Everyone out ordered Carnell, Jim, get Bacchus on the line, now." I obeyed.

"What's going on there Jim, still doing fine or did the captain find another snot deposit?" came

the bored reply from the Willoughby dispatcher.

"No, something's not good, we have a problem" I replied. I could see him now, feet up on the

desk with the TV on, but now I knew he was putting his feet down and turning off the TV, pulling

himself into his desk and getting ready to be serious.

"What's your problem?" he asked.

"Bring in Dr Bacchus from the lab, right now" I commanded. I heard the dispatcher phone the

lab on the emergency phone, it took only a couple minutes for Dr Bacchus to show up and I heard him

through the transmitter. Although it didn't take long for the doctor to show up, the minutes seemed a lot

longer, Gottlieb and the captain surrounding me, the captain ready to take the transmitter.

"I am being informed you have an urgent issue?" came the mind-numbingly boring voice of

Willoughby Corporations chief scientist.

Captain Carnell snatched the transmitter from my hand, "Yes, start a video link now"

A few seconds later, the one-word reply "Yes as the video link flickered on and I was greeted

by Dr Bacchus plain, expressionless face which perfectly matched his personality.

Dont move ordered the captain.

We followed Carnell briskly to the Sittin' Room and walked to the blob on the counter and he

turned the video transmitter so Dr Bacchus could see the blob.

"What the hell is that?" asked the captain.

"...I don't know, looks like nothing" he said.

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"Well it's not nothing and you better find out, you're the scientist" growled Captain Carnell,

look. He walked over to the counter and removed a coffee pill from a container, he dropped it on to

the blob where it disappeared, turning it the colour of mud.

"Interesting, is there any way to contain it?" he continued.

"No way doc, Jim tried putting it into a bottle but it ate his pokin' stick" he said, anxious. I had

never before known Bill Carnell to be anxious.

Bacchus paused. Is it possible----."

A long mud-coloured tendril erupted from the body of the blob and hit the transmitter directly in

the centre, melting it immediately and sending the acrid smell of burnt plastic into our nostrils.

Gottlieb and I jumped back and the captain dropped the transmitter. It fell about two feet and

the tendril began its retreat into the blob, dropping tiny splatters of burnt plastic onto the floor.

Amidst our collective shrieks, another tendril whipped out and slapped Carnell across the face,

faster then anyone could even process what was happening. There was the sizzle of burning meat,

searing a straight line through his thick, grizzled beard into his skin. The odours of burning hair and

frying skin combined into a smell of a barbeque gone horribly wrong, causing me to retch.

He spun around clutching his cheek and yowling like a terrified bear. He removed his blood

streaked hands from his face and I was appalled to see square white chunks attached to his cheek and

then I realized out those were his teeth and a lipstick sized hole had spread through the side of his face.

I back stepped quickly and fell over Gottlieb, who was rushing to escape the room as quick as I was.

There was a thick slurping noise and a tendril whipped out once more and slapped Captain

Carnell on his left thigh but it didn't retreat immediately as before, it wrapped around his leg like a boa

constrictor and began to disappear into his skin. In less than two seconds, most of the captain's leg fell

off to the side and he toppled over, screaming even louder than before. His face hit the ground and a

bloody streak splattered out onto the once immaculate steel flooring. The last thing I saw was the
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severed leg being sucked into the blob, which was advancing over the counter, as Gottlieb's yell broke

my horrified trance and I sped from the room.

Not one second after I cleared the Sittin' Room, the sliding door shut and Carnell's screams

were muffled, not silenced, just muffled. I didn't want to, nor could I, look through the window so I

quickly ran from the corridor and entered the control room where Gottlieb was leaning over the control

panel, finger still on the seal door button.

He was leaning over the myriad of buttons and knobs, sweating and breathing heavily. I dashed

by him and flipped the radio intercom switch, to see if I could hear anything from dispatch. I fell down

into the chair, and stared at the roof, sweat stinging my eyes, the smell of burnt hair and flesh which I

would never forget still lurking in my nostrils.

Dr Bacchus is assembling a team immediately, await further instruction said the dispatcher, I

knew from experience that he would relay this message every thirty seconds as we could not respond

with our transmitter broken.

I did not hear Captain Carnell's cries anymore, whether I was too far away or whether he was

dead was known only to him.

Hurensohn muttered Gottlieb eventually.

We remained this way for a minute or so until I found my tongue. Should we check? I asked.

Gottlieb looked at me through wide eyes, Yes, we both should.

I got up and Gottlieb and I walked beside each other down the narrow corridor, both careful not

to get the least bit ahead of the other one, both grabbing the others sleeve. The window in the door was

clear and we could see nothing except the small viewing window beside the table in the Sittin' Room

which allowed us to look into the cargo hold. We inched closer, on tiptoes, looking at the bottom of the

door window, trying to get a view of either the captain or the blob. There was no noise except the huffs

and puffs from our agitated lungs.

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There, I see it, right there I jabbered, pointing to the bottom of the window. Gottlieb was a

few inches shorter than me and he could not see yet so we edged closer yet. The top of the glob was

visible and it was now the size of a round hay bale and coloured a disgusting puce. We continued our

advance and were soon at the door, peering into the room. I could see nothing in the room besides the

puce lump and the captain was completely gone.

Gottlieb's finger touched the little window, is, are those teeth?

Squinting, I was able to see little white chunks of tooth floating around the midsection of the

blob which it evidently had a difficult time breaking down.

We backed up, not a second too soon as another tendril, except not a tendril anymore, this was

more of a tentacle, hit the window and bubbled the plastic. We spun around and bolted back down the

hall towards the control room. I whipped my head around and saw the blob sliding through the hole in

the window like molasses at an alarming speed, buckling the door. In my panic, the tip of my shoe

came down on the back of Gottlieb's and we were both sent sprawling, me lying on top of him like a

toboggan.

We slid several feet and the top of Gottlieb's head smashed into the corridor wall. A sickening

crack followed and I pushed myself off, jumping back onto my feet and rushing past Gottlieb. I

snapped my head around once more but the blob was entirely through the window and had progressed

halfway up the corridor, there was no time for Gottlieb.

I dashed to the console of the control room, scrambling to locate the door controls. I found it

finally, and the door shut just as the blob was nearly across its threshold.

For whatever reason, this door did not have a window and I hoped to any sort of religious deity

or all-knowing cosmic entity that it could not eat through metal but I also figured I was wrong. When

the buzzing in my head stopped and I was able to think again, I heard the voice of the dispatcher

repeating his message that Bacchus would return shortly. It had seemed like an eternity since I had
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called Bacchus but in reality it had only been about five minutes.

Little late doc I said bitterly to no one.

I watched the door, unblinking until my eyes watered. My breathing slowed down momentarily

to its regular rate, until I heard the first noise indicating that the intention of this predatory organism,

this invasive presence, was to enter the control room and finish off the last crew member of this

goddamn ship. There was the squelching noise of pulling your rubber boot out of some really wet mud

and then the hot, bubbling sound of thick cream soup boiling. I had to blink or else my eyes would

shrivel and during that blink, there was the sound of metal crunching and slight hissing noise and I

knew that before long, it would breach the door and be here to kill me and there was nothing I could so.

I turned around and looked down at the console, sweat obscuring my vision. I don't know how, I

am running on autopilot, but I managed to log into the flight path and I punched numbers in haste,

trying vainly to change the course path so I would not take this monstrosity to Gamma 61oc.

I checked over my shoulder and saw there was a large hole spreading in the centre of the door

and the blood red blob now seeping through like warm syrup. I set the coordinates to the nearest star

and pressed the enter button but much to my heart-stopping dismay, the monitor displayed the blinking

words Verification Needed.

I did not have the code, only the late Captain Carnell had the code as he was the only one

authorized to change the flight plan. This ship, and that being, were headed nonstop to the colony on

Gamma 61oc and I couldnt even warn them. I turned around slowly and saw the crimson sludge had

entered the room and was standing completely still by the melted door, ceasing its quivering

momentarily.

I could see some of Gottlieb still inside, most of him was gone already but his stretched out

skull was staring directly me, reminding me with a sickening bit of nostalgia of that stretched out Coke

bottle I had when I was a kid.

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There was nothing left to do now, so I decided make this quick. I barely heard the voice of Dr.

Bacchus and the mathletes over the transmitter as he finally returned, saying something or other about

this and that.

I pressed my feet against the base of the control panel and pushed off like an Olympic runner,

running straight for the red being which had remained stationary. It lurched forward at the precise

moment I kicked off the ground, aiming straight for the centre in a dolphin dive. I felt the top of my

head break into the being and smelled my own burning hair, feeling the most incredible pain of my life

for what can only be described as a fraction of a nanosecond. Then I felt nothing and all was dark.