Faster Than Thought (standard:science fiction, 616 words)
Author: Funwriter	Added: Apr 19 2007	Views/Reads: 3312/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A short fast paced tale of alien intervention and overreacting crew members.

Faster Than Thought 

The communicator felt cold in my grip as I realized the ship was lost.
The escape pod was the only option left. The thing had to be stopped 
and the only way was using the self destruct mechanism. 

She was mine as long as I can remember and piloting her through vacuum
had been an honour. Losing the Tesca was almost more than I could bear 
but it had to be done. 

The thing that got on board was a monster; we emerged near a pale blue
dot in a strange system with a bright yellow sun. I beamed in to take 
some core samples and was surprised by the pleasing alien atmosphere 
with its blue skies and strange mountain ranges white tipped with a 
crystalline material that looked beautiful and frightening. 

I was finished sampling. I sent the sample via halo to the Tesca with
other details of the planet and took out the communicator. It changed 
to green and I waited for the particle shift when it came at me low and 
fast a blur of speed and agility. 

The shift continued and I landed in dock with a slap. Beaming was always
a bit painful but necessary. 

I almost lost balance when I saw it and realized the monster had shifted
with the beam. It scurried with a loping grace at a high speed and was 
gone, moving freely in my ship. 

I sent the alarm and ran as fast as I could to lock down and quarantine
the area. The reading in the dock said no life forms, it had escaped. 

My communicator was going off and Eaan was shrilling about the monster.
It was on the move. I headed for the globe, knowing Eaan would be 
switching the autosync on. She must have sighted the beast there. 

The globe was its usual blue and soft hue sadly, empty. Eaan was gone. 

The beast let out a high pitched sound behind me. I dove into the only
escape pod and hit the charger. My existence flashed before my eyes, 
and I prayed to Those Who Know that the beast had not followed me into 
the pod. 

Safe, I scanned the immediate area. The nearest planet was large, red
and coming up fast. I did a quick scan and the only life form in the 
pod was my own. The pod settled on the big red planet and the distress 
signal slotted automatically. They would come soon and retrieve me. 

I pulled out the communicator and it blued with Eaan coming to screen,
she was mumbling about the intruder and I felt sad and pity for her. 
The self destruct would go soon and the beast would be destroyed. I 
would lose my beloved Eaan, but the mission could continue, and the 
monster would never hit our world. 

I watched the screen in awe; Eaan and the beast looking ready to fight.
It was small and multi coloured with oval eyes, two pointy ears and a 
lithe torso with four appendages. Behind it trailed a fifth appendage 
that swayed back and fourth. 

Eaan moved to strike it down with one of her danglers, but she seemed to
be moving too slow. Then I heard its alien roar "Meeow" Her dangler was 
on it now strangely stroking it and the alien was letting out a sound 
like none I have ever heard before: "Puurrrrrr"- 

Then the flash and the communicator went dead. 

* 

I sat for a moment in the pod feeling small and alone. The hue came on
and it was command. They were on their way. I climbed into the Cryo-bin 
and hit the button, darkness and dreams. 

(End)


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