Sanguis

The Sun cast its supportive light over a space station in orbit around Earth, illuminating its soothing pale grey surface.  The station consisted of a long central spire, with three rotating rings to simulate gravity mounted around it and a network of solar panels projecting outwards from either end.

Through space, a ship flew in the direction of the station with a tall thin figure dressed in a green hooded cloak attached to the hull.  All that was visible beneath the figure’s shroud were thin skeletal hands made of metal and with only three fingers in addition to their thumbs.  And the tips of the long metallic digits were sharpened and used as claws to cling onto the side of the spaceship.

The machine’s face, concealed by its hood, looked on towards the space station ahead.  It saw the station (and everything else) in a green tint, like night vision and the following words were generated on its HUD:

Operative Ident: SANGUIS 054
Target Acquired: HEAVEN
Primary Function: UN space station controlling traffic between Earth and Moon.
Secondary Function: Micro gravity research centre.
Mission: Classified.

Heaven’s control room was a large space full of busy people at computers, located on the top ring, otherwise known as A-Deck.

One controller looked up to the image of the approaching vessel on his screen and said through his console, “You may dock at linkage station 12 on C-Deck.”

Within the enclosed environment of the ship’s cockpit, three individuals floated about in zero gravity while working hard on various computers along the walls as they guided their ship in.

As the ship linked with the station’s lowest ring, the hidden machine, still clinging to the ship’s hull tightly with its metal claws, began to crawl across the ship.  In the vacuum of space, it silently scuttled from the ship and onto the surface of Heaven.

***

The ascending lift came to a halt at linkage station 12 and the automated female voice said, “Welcome to Heaven,” as the doors opened and the crew of the ship disembarked while carrying crates of equipment into the space station.

Meanwhile, outside the station, the machine rapidly climbed up the linkage station and onto the main body of the lowest ring.  It silently approached an airlock and activated it; the doors sliding open without a sound before it slithered inside.

Back inside, the crew was already depositing their cargo into the large warehouse.

“Go back and bring the next box,” the captain ordered one of his men.

“Sure,” he responded before disappearing down a corridor.

He walked briskly as he turned a corner and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what was blocking his way.

Standing perfectly still in the middle of the well-lit hallway, there was a very tall figure.  It stood at least three feet taller than the crewman even though it appeared to be hunching over and its entire body was thickly wrapped up in a dark green hooded cloak, which masked its face in darkness.

The crewman stood there, not really knowing what to do so he just watched this thing for a few seconds, as it didn’t move at all.  The only part of its body that could be seen was two thin metallic feet protruding out from under the long cloak.  They had three elongated spindly toes mounted forwards from the ankle joint and one backwards, like the feet of a dinosaur.

As the man examined it, it examined him.

LEVEL 1 CLEARED
Mission complete: INFILTRATE HEAVEN
Loading Level 2…
New Objective: DELETE ALL HUMANS
Initiating Level 2…

This was what scrolled across the vision of the machine as the crewman gingerly stepped forwards to see exactly what was underneath that hood.  As he spotted the two dark green eyes dimly reflect the light, it moved.

The mechanical body itself didn’t budge, but through one of the two narrow slits torn in the back of its robe, a long metal tentacle appeared with a sharp 18 inch blade attached to the tip.

The crewman’s eyes widened as he saw this and began to flee before the blade was forced into his back and through his abdomen, impaling the man.

He was steadily lifted off the ground as blood gushed forth from his mouth and then slowly rotated round until he was facing his killer.  The metal creature cocked its head at the victim, as if in the process of evaluation before a second tentacle emerged from its back at such a high speed that it was difficult to see and decapitated the man before dropping him to the metal floor.  Without delay, the two tentacles then shot back inside its robes.

Two metal arms appeared from within the robe and removed its cloak, letting it fall to the ground and revealing the robot’s dull metal body, which dimly shone as it moved.

Its long narrow legs were connected to an insect-like body that resembled that of a centipede.  It wasn’t much more than a thick metal spine with four arms mounted to the sides.

Intimidating spikes lined its back and there were two slots high up where the retracted tentacles were hidden, all of them that could be seen were the long blades that were now lined up against its back.

At the top of the snake-like body, where it hunched over, there was a skull shaped head with dark green eyes and the word SANGUIS inscribed on the back.

Sanguis gradually uncoiled himself to full height and then walked forwards.  The long metallic feet stepped over the bloody headless corpse and proceeded onwards, making clicking noises as they skittered over the metal floor.  Passing through the blood, they left footprints behind as they took Sanguis deeper into Heaven.