Worlds collide

Chapter 1

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space or so they say. But what use is a scream when you're unconscious within seconds from lack of oxygen? The human mind is programmed to bypass that logic, to think that if you ever found yourself in a situation where your life was in danger, a scream would save you. But nothing could be further from the truth and a scream would cause your demise rather than your salvation.

The same could be said for the situation I find myself in now, skulking around a lab on a spaceship, orbiting an unnamed planet all the while nightmares roamed the halls in an attempt to find me. Yeah! A scream would be a bad idea right now, but as I said the brain is programmed to bypass that logic. So, when I say I let out the loudest, girliest scream as I fell over a tipped stool and landed on my ass. You should understand just how stupid I felt.

Around the same time this feeling of utter stupidity set in, something grabbed my arm in an icy grip. I made the mistake of looking at my captor and became frozen by the gaze set upon me. This thing had the appearance of a man I once knew, a man I once called family. Everything about him was familiar, his face and body even his scent was the same, all except, its eyes! They were black... no that's too simple to describe them, they were pure darkness, an endless void. It stood up from its crouched position, dragging me with it, announcing itself to the other creatures in its vicinity, people I knew and called friends. It was at this moment I realized just how screwed I was and how screwed humanity would be if He got his way, and these things made their way to the other planets.

But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, and you have no idea what I'm going on about, so to enlighten you I shall take you back to the beginning where a level one lab tech is currently getting chewed out by her over-bearing, over-protective, incredibly annoying boss who just so happens to be her mother.

"I mean of all the reckless, irresponsible, idiotic, childish, and unprofessional things you've done this takes the cake! What the hell were you thinking Freya?" Dr. Julie Jones (aka my mother) yelled angrily. I just stared at her expectantly pushing my luck, as I reminisced over the stunt that got me into this particular vat of hot water.

"Frey, I don't think this is a good idea, I'm still on thin ice after the pink mice incident! I mean we don't even know if it'll start." argued my best friend Tanya as I sat down in the decommissioned jeep.

"Of course, it'll start, you're the best mechanic on the base!" I replied

"No! Dad is the best mechanic!" she reminded, giving me her 'Don't be stupid!' eyebrow raise.

"Well, technically he's not on base at the moment so ipso facto you are the best mechanic on base." I counted in my sassiest tone. She gave her well-crafted 'whatever' look, just as I turned the key and started the engine.

"Ha, what did I tell ya? Piece of cake!" I announced as I gestured for her to get in.

"Well come on then let's go before the guards come back, that itching powder is only going to last so long! Oh, come on this is probably going to be the last fun thing we're gonna get to do for the next decade!" I said trying to coax her into listening to her inner devil ergo me!

"Oh, please even though you play up your hatred of this mission to your parents, you forget I know you and I also know you're looking forward to it!" She stated in her know-it-all tone. I mean she's not wrong, it's a trip of a lifetime, to explore the unknown quadrant of space, the planets not yet found by the coalition.

This fact does not help me win any arguments with my parents, particularly ones that revolve around jumping to yet another planet after only being on this one for six months. Our families are known as planet hoppers, once an initial sweep of a planet has been completed for atmosphere, potential threats and has been deemed 'safe to occupy', my parents go in. We stay to survey the land, the oceans (if there are any!), and the stars, but this time we'd be the first to ever occupy this region of space, it's so new that the most information the coalition has of this area is a bunch of long-range scans that leaves a lot to the imagination.