The hallway was dark and musty, it had a cold harshness to it and the walls seemed to creak and moan by them selves. There was also a soft vibration to match the humming noise of the emergency power generators. Most of the lighting had shut down during the lock down phase and most of the emergency power supply was being diverted to the doors and electrical systems in the fourth sector. Only a few blinking lights lit up the dark passage and most of the doors had shut and locked, it was a one-way tunnel to hell.
Along it shuffled a group of shadows; nervous and aware of what might happen they continued in single file down the hallway moving slowly but on alert.
The first shadow had numerous fittings of armour plating and small side arms; it was holding a main rifle which it used to point at open vent shafts as they passed under. A soldiers shadow. The second was also similar but had a much more extended version of the rifle which was longer and thinner. The next four shadows where lightly armoured and didn't look as if they where carrying weapons while the last two where well armoured and extremely cautious.
The group arrived at a small switch post that was lying on its side in the middle of the hallway. The first two shadows moved forward and took up a position on each side of the hallway while the last two soldiers did the same to cover their flank. However the four un-armoured shadows crowded around the mangled switch post and started examining it.
'This is one of the old communications uplinks that Omega usually used…it's a little screwed but if the power was turned back on then maybe me and my colleagues could repair most of the damage back in the field lab.'
The soldier in the leading position glimpsed up the hallway and watched as the shadows seemed to move in the flickering light. His breathing had become heavier and after a short pause he replied.
'The switch is at the other end of this hallway. If private Holmes and Watson take you back with the com-uplink then me and Wilks will go on ahead…'
'As much as I like the idea it would be a suicide mission if only two of you went and ran into one of those things…It would be a much more logical choice to conti…'
'Not entirely true Giles. We would be much less noticeable than a large group. The tracker doesn't detect anything for a kilometre away and the door to the power switch is only down there. We could make it back I can assure you. Holmes, Watson, take the scientists back to the field lab and keep a sharp eye, we're going to need that uplink to find out what happened to Omega.'
The four scientists loaded the smashed uplink onto their shoulders and carried off back down the hallway accompanied by Holmes and Watson. Wilks and the corporal turned away and glanced down the hallway, it seemed darker than before and the air had grown frostier and a cold shrill was sent up the corporal's spine.
'Lets move out.'
Wilks and the corporal marched quickly and made their way down the dark hallway. A few minutes before they had reached the cross section where it met another tunnel, one of the power generators had failed and the lights had slowly died out. Now there was a stream a large red lights on the roof of the tunnel following it around from beginning to end.
The air soon became thick and cloudy and it became incredibly difficult to breathe, Wilks didn't know whether it was the air or the lump he had developed in his throat after he was ordered to go with the corporal.
'It should be the third door on,' whispered the corporal, sweating slightly even though it was almost freezing.
'When the power comes online will everything be active again,' replied Wilks, even more nervous than before.
'Of course it will…then we can get back to the field lab and concentrate on the rest of our mission,'
'But if the doors and life shafts will be activated wouldn't that give the creature a faster route to us…'
'Stop thinking like its around every corner Wilks, just keep your eyes open and stay frosty,'
'I am bloody frosty, its freezing and the guns might freeze over,'
'The life support systems have been shut down, it will get a lot colder before night is out unless we can get the power back online.'
They continued on further down the hallway, their hearts beating in rhythm with the soft humming from the remaining emergency power generators. After a few minutes the red stream of lights started to fail until they eventually blacked out and the hallway was pitch black. Wilks and the corporal flicked the small yellow switch next to the handle of their weapons and each gave off a high beam of white light.
They swept the beams from the weapon torches over the walls and followed the battered signs that hung above each door. Still they seemed miles away from the door they where looking for. Eventually Wilks broke the silence with a panic.
'I thought you said it was only three doors on and we've passed two but the third is no where,'
'Calm down Wilks; it's the entrance to the engineering compound so its bound to be away from the main living quarters,'
'How far away?'
'Not far, wait, I think I see it…'
The corporal flashed his light beam towards the part of the tunnel which curved slightly to the right and it swept over something resembling a door. They quickened their pace and shortly after they arrived at the door that had a sign above saying 'MAIN ENGINEERING COMPARTMENTS'.
'This is it,' whispered the corporal with slight sound of relief in his voice.
Wilks stood back while the corporal stepped forward to the key pad, and after cracking his knuckles he typed in the pass code which one of the scientists had given him.
'The moment of truth, lets hope this baby still has some power left in it,'
He was cut short when the keypad exploded on the inside and then let off a big brawl of smoke, the door didn't open and it was closed tight.
'Damn it.'
Wilks stepped back away from the door and watched as the corporal slowly turn around to face him. A grieving look was struck all over his face and Wilks started to notice the small traces of sweat on his forehead. The corporal removed his helmet and shook his head, then he placed it back on and fastened the chin strap.
'We haven't got time to go around,' he started to say, 'we are going to need cutting equipment from the lab,'
'The cutting equipment might not work with out the power offline,' replied Wilks.
'They already have fresh battery cells in them so they don't need to run off the power grid.'
Wilks nodded and pulled down a small head set that was built on the side of his helmet. He pressed a small red button next to it and it came to life, the corporal could hear the static from where he was standing.
Back in the field lab the scientists had the uplink lying on top of a large metal operating table and they where crowded around it pulling and pushing, fixing and smashing. At the other end of the lab by the entrance stood the two soldiers looking out over the muddy soil towards the facility entrance, watching and waiting for everything to come back online. The flood lights that where mounted on the roof of the lab scanned the surrounding area while the light rain fell in small droplets.
'Its getting darker,' said the first marine breaking the silence, 'The emergency generators will go offline soon,'
'And that means the lights and doors will too…and if they're still in there when it happens then they will be locked in,'
'I wish they would hurry up, this waiting is pissing me off,'
Just as he had finished speaking the large boxed radio in the corner of the lab lit up and static poured out from inside. One of the scientists left his post at the table and walked over to it and switched a large key that was placed in the top of it. A small keypad flipped out and he pressed the largest button on the left side of it. As he did this a voice staggered through, rusty and distorted.
'Wilks…ere…anybody there…'
'This is Rick Marsh from science team Alpha 4…over,'
'We nee…some…utting…machiner…for th…door…over...'
'Change your frequency to 0937,'
'Frequenc…changing…I repeat, frequency changed, over,'
'Repeat your command private Wilks,'
'We need some cutting machinery for the door, its shut and the keypads blown. The corporal wants one member from the science team to bring it here and he wants private Holmes to escort him, over,'
'Yes sir, they should be there soon, over and out.'
The scientist flipped the keypad back in and slowly stood up from the radio. The radio spluttered and all its lights turned off and it went silent. Holmes and Watson had heard and they where already picking up the cutting machinery while the science team members squabbled and fought over who should go until finally the one that had answered the radio volunteered. They quickly got to work arranging the cutting machinery onto the scientist while Holmes checked his weapon and attached numerous flares to his belt. They where ready.
Wilks pushed the button again and the head set flipped back up to the rim of his helmet. The corporal had spent the last few minutes scanning the door with his torch and brushing his hands across it. After a while he had started concentrating on the keypad next to the door, the smoke had cleared and the sparks had ended.
He crouched down and looked at the side of it while running his fingers around the rim of it, until he broke the latch and pulled the cover off. Behind the broken cover was a load of burnt and simmered wires and the fuse that was attached to the side of the pad had melted and was now a large ball of twisted metal.
The corporal carried on his inspection but Wilks couldn't take his eyes away from the end of the corridor, not the way they had come but the opposite way they where travelling in. He had a quick image of one of those things running towards him, bounding out at him from the dark recesses. He startled himself when the corporal threw he remains of the door switch cover on the floor, the echo of it as it twanged on the floor pierced his mind and he felt as fearful as he had ever done.
He watched closely to each shadow as they moved around. He noticed how evil his imagination was when it came to these type of situations. He could feel his heart rise up in his throat as the noises of the generators vibrated all around him and it made a soft humming noise which was drilling itself in his skull.
'What was that?' coughed up Wilks as he heard a sharp sound coming from down the hallway.
'Keep quiet Wilks, I'm trying to concentrate on this,'
'Do you think they will get here soon, I mean Holmes and that…I don't like being this vulnerable in a place like this,'
The corporal placed his hand on the steel floor and pushed himself up to his feet, then he held his hand up and in it he was holding a small wire. Wilks took it from him and inspected it until he finally gave up.
'What is it corporal?'
'It's a transformer, a connection cable used to draw power from one thing to another,'
'How do you know what it is, it might be a piece of the frazzled wire,'
'We were briefed on this in case we came across anything like it,'
'Like what?'
'Like Er'neriak on Volva5, remember, it wiped the entire colony of its defensive capabilities and head hunted the general, remember?'
Wilks fell silent as he gazed down at the wire he still had in his hand, he remembered what happened; he had just gained his promotional certificate to get into the Colonial Marine squads. The thing had killed most of the marines and the last time it was seen was when he was running down a hallway with the general's head in its hands just before it disappeared into thin air. The damned thing had killed his father.
'You don't mean that there might be one of them as well as the xenomorph?' he eventually said with a sorrowful tone to his voice.
'It would explain a lot; it must have used the power that was left in the circuits to power itself,'
The two soldiers went silent, and a creepy silence followed as if everything around them was listening in on them. The corporal looked down the hallway in the direction they had come from, he then looked the other way. Wilks followed his gaze and looked in the same directions.
'We had better be careful in case it is still hanging around and if we're lucky then it was probably trapped in one of the rooms during the lock down,'
Wilks looked at the corporal with some hope that they might not run into it after all, but then the way things were going he knew that they would come across sooner or later.
The corporal reached his hand down towards his belt and pulled off a flare. It was a small cylinder with a cap at the bottom, and it was labelled with numerous safety warnings. He held it firmly in his right hand with his rifle held in his left and he looked at the direction they had come and he whispered.
'We are going to need more light than this to work in,'
'Won't that help it find our position,' replied Wilks nervously.
'I know its risky but we are going to need a lot of light to set the cutting machine up. So we'll have to play our cards and hope its secured in one of the rooms,'
Wilks turned away from the corporal and took a few steps forward into the middle of the hallway while the corporal kneeled down and cleared away all the smashed bits of the keypad, kicking them into the corner so they wouldn't bother the scientist.
Wilks turned in a circle looking all about him, keeping his ears open for any unusual sounds. After he returned his gaze back on the corporal he heard shouting coming from down the hallway. The corporal stood up and tightened his grip on his rifle while Wilks lifted his smart-gun and brought it to bare in the direction the voices where coming from.
The corporal stepped forward and moved to the side of Wilks, they both stood watching the shadows and waiting for a sound of gunfire. After a few minutes of waiting the corporal took another step forward after he heard another scream, however this one was much closer. The corporal stretched his neck and gritted his teeth while Wilks bit into his lip.
From the shadows a figure of a man came running, another scream but the figure was still running. The corporal turned remembered the flare and he hit the cap against the wall, sending a large blue stream of light from the top of it, and he threw it into the distance. The flare lit up the corridor immensely and the figure was discovered to be one of the scientists running towards them frantic as hell with blood running down his chest.
The corporal and Wilks both aimed their guns into the distance behind the scientist and just as Wilks was about to open fire the corporal pulled his gun back and screamed at him.
'Don't fire, you might hit Holmes, he might be behind the scientist,'
Another scream sounded down the corridor and it made the two soldiers sweat more and more a they watched the scientist getting closer and closer but they dared not move from the spot they where in.
To be continued…
