False Face

The Mask Slips

Russel stood over the dead body while pointing his laser pistol toward the woman he'd previously believed to be his wife. The corpse at his feet, despite having been dead for more than a week, had been eerily preserved by the sterile atmosphere of the alien planet.

"What are you?" Russel demanded.

The thing resembling his wife looked confused.

"What kind of question is that?" it asked with a shrug. "I'm your wife."

"No," Russel countered coldly. He pointed with his free hand toward the body on the purple soil, his pistol's aim unwavering. "That was my wife, not you."

"It's not what it looks like," the thing defended. "I can explain."

"It looks like my wife is dead, and you're wearing her face," Russel growled through gritted teeth. His finger started to tighten on the trigger.

The thing dropped to its knees, tears cascading down the face Russel had known and loved for so many years. The aim of his pistol wavered for an instant, and in a blur of speed, the thing lashed out with an arm, now twice as large and sprouting cactus style spines from elbow to wrist. The pistol went flying, and the thing was back on its feet, lunging toward him as its other arm split into a dozen tentacles at the shoulder.

Russel, stepping backwards in a panicked flight, tripped over a rock, causing him to twist around and barely miss the tentacles lashing toward his helmet. Clawing at the ground, he bolted back toward the terraforming colony site. He lunged over large formations of iridescent crystal and threw himself across a narrow canyon fissure rather than taking the longer way around to reach the bridge. He came down hard, but shed most of the impact in a painful roll across the alien ground. Alerts from his environment suit flashed to life across his clear helmet as the pressure seals were tested to their limits, but he knew he wouldn't need the suit much longer. Back to his feet almost immediately, he didn't bother to check on his pursuer but ran full out toward the colony.

Established to transform the planet over many years, the small settlement was a collection of silver buildings submerged into the purple soil. The octagonal science lab was the primary structure in the center of the colony. The agriponics building to the north was a cylinder lying half-buried on its flank. The flat squares on the far side of the science lab housed communications and supply storage. Triangular in shape, and supporting a number of vertical tubes from the roof in a resemblance of a massive pipe organ, the habitation building contained enough rooms to support three times the number of terraformers currently assigned there, but it had been designed to accommodate an increasing population level.

Russel's momentum was so great, he had trouble slowing down and rammed his shoulder into the side of the airlock when he arrived, causing him to wince. He forced himself to push the keys slowly and deliberately on the number pad next to the armored hatch. The bulky fingers of his environment suit threatened to make him input the wrong access code. Suspecting the alien thing was near, he couldn't afford an error.

The panel lit green as the code was accepted. When the door hissed open, he dived through and hammered a fist down upon the emergency close button, triggering alarms throughout the colony and instituting a lockdown of the entire settlement. Designed to prevent an outbreak of an alien pathogen, the system was programmed to deactivate all outside door controls and thwart an infected individual from being able to get inside and spread the contagion by accident.

Russel removed his helmet and had barely taken a single lungful of air before a heavy blow thundered against the airlock door. He pushed away from the wall he was leaning against, moving over to look through the reinforced window beside the outer hatch.