The Hatch

Those were the only instructions Yager had been given, and he was still puzzling over them as he slid his thin body down the small opening in the floor. Above him, several hundred feet above him, in fact, was his father, mother, and wife Jodi. They were counting on him to get that hatch closed, blow the charges, and then, hopefully, return.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy. Things like this never were.

How did he know that? He'd never been in a situation like this in his whole life!

Dropping to the wire grating just below him, he pulled the small knife from his mouth, and shifted it to his left hand as he wiped the sweat from his brow. His fingers rubbed against the sharp wire which passed for a floor here. Almost immediatly, he received a gash on his index finger. Cursing himself, he stood, trying to ignore the crawling, skittering, chittering noises he could hear all around himself. He knew what they were, and they knew what he was. Just ignore it.

A flash of light. He was back home. His wife was hugging him, and telling him that they had received a deportation notice in the mail. They were going to Mars! Anything was better than the polluted, despoiled, rotting planet Earth they lived on now. A whole new world, with plants, animals, and clean, fresh air. He kissed her, and they fell into bed, savouring the moment...

Another flash of light. Back in the dark, smelly tunnel. A drop of hot water splashed onto his head from the pipe above him, reminding him why he was here. "One foot in front of the other, and start walking." he told himself. He had to force it, but his reluctant body strode forward, trying to ignore all distraction.

A hiss of steam, just ahead. The pipe was about to burst, and he would be washed in scalding hot water. But that wasn't important right now, he had work to do. He moved past the pipe, which was actually bulging under the water pressure. He had to try to get out of here before it broke.

He found the access tunnel now, and the wires in front. "Green, then Red." his brain told him, as though he might forget. A slash of the knife, and soon both wires were cut in the proper order. He tied the severed ends of each wire to the connector point on the wall, and prepared for the shock.

Mild, actually. A small buzzing feeling in his fingers.

A flash of light. He was on the colony ship, watching a movie about the first man to land on the surface of Mars. They mentioned the Mars Pathfinder, which landed July 4, 1997. It was a very interesting film. Jodi touched his neck, and leaned over to lay her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, feeling the bare flesh on her arm, touching the soft strands of her hair...

One more flash. He was climbing into the access port, having dropped the wires, and moved to lay himself across the the tunnel, smaller even than the one he'd just been in. He looked off down to the end of the small passage, only 1 metre by 2 metres across. He pulled himself along on his arms.

Just then, the pipe burst, and the water sprayed in every direction. His feet, covered by steel-toed boots, were spared, but his legs, only covered by the thin layer of his colony issue khaki pants, were boiled red. He screamed in pain, pulling himself further into the tunnel as he scrunched himself into a ball, away from the spray.

He pulled up his pant legs, and looked at his shins. First degree burns. The flesh was actually beginning to peel. He moaned in dismay, rubbing his legs in an effort to sooth the scalded skin. Down the tunnel, a thump indicated that there was something on the level above him, moving around. Besides himself, and Jodi, and his parents, he was positive that there was no living human left on the colony. Yaded shivered, trying not to think what unpleasantness lurked up there. He moved quietly now, knowing that it would most likely hear his movement and rip through the floor to pluck him from the access tunnel, rip out his entrails, and eat them even as he screamed and writhed in death.

Not pleasant.

Here was the end of the tunnel. Ready to try to kick in the small access port, he decided instead to test it, giving it a small shove. A loud creak sounded down the tunnel as the port swung open. He cringed, waiting for the creatures to drop from the ceiling, and pull him out of the tunnel, and...

The flash of light. He was on the colony now, having already met his parents who had arrived four months ago. He slept, his first day sleeping on a planet other than Earth. It only took 14 hours to reach Mars by Space Transport. Falling into his pillow, he rested, Jodi embracing him in her arms...

A second flash of light, and he shook off the image, trying not to remember Jodi now. She was still alive, as far as he knew, but to think of her right now didn't make what he had to do any easier. Her soft skin, her warm, loving embrace. Kissing him, making love to him. He winced. "Not now, damn it!"

He slid into the room, and looked about himself cautiously. He wished he hadn't drawn the short straw. He could still remember Jodi's tears. She had told him she would go instead, but he would not allow it. He appreciated her devotion, "She would die for me, and I would die for her." But he preferred to die, then live out an existence without her. He realized, with a small bit of irony, that she probably felt the same way.

It was too late to turn back now. "Close the Hatch. Spin the dials." he thought, remembering the first two instructions. He followed them, shutting the tunnel he had just crawled through, and spinning the dials, locking it securely. It seemed the hatch was closing on the rest of his life.

The room, Yager realized, was enormous. There were also several dead colonists in this room. The smell of blood, fresh and dried, invaded his nostrils. He tried to avoid the bodies, but it was no use. The room was just the right size to hold them all, and the ceiling just low enough to force him to crouch closer to the floor, and the blood.

In the centre of the room, on either side of himself, were two access tunnels, like the one he had just come out of. He could hear them, at the end of the tunnel, crawling around, doing whatever it was they did in their spare time. Not that he wanted to know.

He was being very silent, but soon enough, a great bit of noise would run through the corridors, up the access shaft he'd first climbed down, and through every room in the colony. The noise would be accompanied, obviously, by fire, more noise, and more fire. He did not want to be here when it happened.

Of course, it was most likely that Jod and his parents had already climbed onto the transport, and blasted off into space, and head back for Earth. That was, if THEY hadn't already arrived on Earth days ago, and killed every single one of the 9 Billion human beings that lived there. He supposed it was likely that they had.

So this was it. He bent down to the floor, resting his knife on the wire grating, and looked to the access tunnels, seeing their nest in the ceiling cavity, knowing that, soon, the whole FUCKING brood of them would roast in hell.

He pulled the charges from his shirt pocket, and attached them to the floor. He set the timer, five minutes. He hoped he might be able to turn on the charges quietly, and escape, without them ever hearing a thing. But of course, they would hear.

Three beeps, as he activated the first charge. He looked to the access tunnel. Two of them had snapped their black, bulbous heads up to look in his direction. They began to skitter towards him. He pressed the three buttons to set the second charge, and more started to come in from the second access tunnel. Not much time, and still three more charges to set.

Six more beeps. Two more charges set. He pulled the last one from his pocket.

A hiss announced that one of them had entered the room. He refused to look up, to look into the bright green eyes, see the black shiny carapace, the way it it walked on four legs, leaving the two, powerful front claws open to slash and snap at helpless victims, or be used as a useful appendage. They could open doors, use guns, knives, press buttons. De-activate explosive charges.

He pressed the final charge into the floor, as it began rushing towards him, full tilt. Yager pressed the two buttons to set the level of the explosion. "10. Total annihilation." he allowed himself the small bit of pleasure. He readied his finger over the Enter key.

It hissed again, closer this time. He looked up at it, straight into the bright green eyes. His hand shot out for the knife, even as it clasped it claws around his waist. He grimaced, feeling the constriction on his breathing. He gasped for air.

He fought it in desperation, knowing it was futile, but even so, he pounded his fists against the shiny black head. He must have been hitting it harder than he thought possible, for he felt a sickening crunch, and a crack, as the carapace cracked, and a disgusting green ooze began to run out of the creature's head. It squealed in obvious pain, and released him. His hand flew to the knife, taking it in his left, while the fingers of his right slapped down onto the Enter key of the last charge, and the seconds began to tick away.

Time - 5:00

He plunged with the knife, hoping to hit the crack in the carapace, and drive down into it's brain. Instead, he missed the crack, and the knife slid harmlessly off the tough black shell. The creature hissed angrily as it lashed out for his stomach with the claws, even as at least one dozen of it's brothers skittered into the room, heading straight for Yager.

Time - 4:50

He plunged down again, not even trying to hit the crack this time, instead merely trying to vent some of his anger. However, he was pleased that the force of his thrust widened the crack, and the creature squealed in pain as he drove the knife deep into it's skull. It lashed out again, but the movement was merely an automated reaction, like a chicken running about with it's head cut off. It crashed to the ground, and he picked it up, and threw it's four foot corpse towards two of it's advancing cousins. The crunch as carapace met carapace, a squish as they all split open, and the welcome squeal of their death scream.

They rushed at him, and he swung in a futile gesture. They slashed at him with the claws, and screamed in pain as they ripped out a chunk of his knee. His knife went into the soft, green eye, and the creature squealed, trying to escape, feeling too much pain to realize it was already dead.

Time - 3:48

They clipped again. He kicked, and they shrank back. He realized, if they were more aggressive, and not worried about moving as a whole, not worried about making sure the whole hive was in on the kill, he would be dead by now. They were too slow, and too contemplative. He could fight them off by the dozen. But eventually, he knew, they would bring him down, just by sheer numbers.

Time - 2:31

He killed one more, and tried to slide his way towards the hatch. He didn't care about sacrificing himself for Jodi now. "I wanted to LIVE." He thought selfishly Even in his crippled state, he could almost move faster than they. He tried not to run on his bad leg, feeling the blood trickle down in his boot. He span the dials appropriately, and pulled the hatch open. They were only a few feet away. He slid into the tunnel.

Time - 1:49

The claw snapped at him, missing him even as he shut the hatch on it. The claw squirmed about on it's narrow little arm, and he slashed at it, feeling it begin to crack. Finally, with a spurt of green, the claw fell to the wire grating, and he slid back as it writhed about on the floor, still trying to find it's victim.

Time - 1:38

Checking his portable timer, which was connected to the charges by remote, he realized they had not yet shut off the charges. They were too fixed on him to remember them! Feeling as good as was possible, he pulled himself along on his elbows, trying to ignore the wire grating cutting into his flesh. He could hear the ones above him now, skittering about in that fashion they had. It seemed they had designed it that way to sound the most sinister, the most scary. He reached the end of the access tunnel, and slid out into the corridor. His eyes adjusted to the brighter light as he tried to run for the ladder.

Time - 1:05

His fingers wrapped around the first rung of the ladder, even as he heard the chittering hiss, almost like they were laughing at him. He looked down the passage, to see the bright green eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark at the end of the corridor, moving slowly towards him. Coming from the other direction, too, was the faint skitter of their claws as they clicked towards him.

They poured out of the access tunnel as he began to climb, and his heart sank into his stomach. They had broken through the hatch! Had they disarmed the charges? No, one look at the timer, still ticking dutifully away, gave him hope. He pulled himself up two rungs, placing the timer back in his pocket.

Time - 0:52

One of them grasped his ankle, and pulled, and he winced in pain, but held on as the foot was pulled from the ankle socket. He kicked with his good foot, which also happened to be the leg they had clipped open earlier, and the thing shrank back with a squeal. Twenty more pulled themselves onto the lowest rungs of the ladder, climbing upwards.

He was at the top now, sealing the small door to the ladder, and hobbled with one dislocated foot, and one knee torn open to the elevator. He closed the wire mesh and pressed the button, and the elevator shot upwards at dizzying speed.

Time - 0:38

The elevator stopped, right at the hanger bay, where he had first set out. Jodi was rushing aboard the colony ship even as he stumbled out of the elevator, screaming for his life. She didn't hear him, having other concerns on her mind right now.

Time - 0:21

The small black creatures skittered into the hanger bay from the entrance way across the room. He screamed in dismay, trying to hobble towards the ship, but now, with him on two bad legs, they were faster. They rushed towards the ship, two of them managing to rush aboard. He could hear his father and Jodi fighting them. He tried to hold back the tears as he heard Jodi's scream, heard tearing flesh. He lashed out at the nearest thing, literally ripping it open with his knife in rage.

Time - 0:15

His father must have heard the screams of battle over the whine of the ship, for he leaned his head out. Seeing his face was like a godsend to Yager. Father shouted back to his mother, who must have been powering up the ship.

Blacking out for a brief second, he only felt the arm pull him on board, could hear the entrance to the ship shut, catching several of the things in it's sides, snapping down on their shells, crushing them, their thick, pulpy green spraying all over him, and all over the inside of the ship.

But he was away from them now.

Time - 0:10

He felt the lift-off of the ship. He could hear Jodi's voice, calling out to him. She was alive! Injured badly, but alive. He tried not too move. He could hear his father's voice, booming loudly over the noise of the engines. The ship began to move away from the hanger bay.

Time - 0:01

Looking back towards the colony, Yager watched as his "New Beginning" was ripped apart by flame, the vast western habitat building exploding, falling under the stresses of the heat that the flames brought, fuelled on by the oxygen atmosphere inside the colony. Quickly though, it met the pure carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars, shrivelling out from lack of fresh air. The flames died, and with them, a little piece of Yager seemed to die too. He realized that he would be returning to Earth, not even knowing if anyone was still alive there.

He had no time for these questions. Was this a species local to Mars? Were they interstellar invaders? He didn't even try to answer any of the questions his brain asked him. He only knew he was returning to Earth, and he would never get a chance to leave there again.

Jodi wrapped her arms around him, and he felt the tears coming, running down off his cheek onto the cold deckplate of the ship.

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