Mariella's Alien

Rob and Ridley travelled down a corridor on A-Deck together, pushing a trolley of cleaning supplies as they headed towards a large set of open double doors, but then Rob spotted something.

“Hey Ridley?” Rob said, stopping him from progressing any further.

“Hmm?”

“What the Hell is that?” Rob directed his attention to an air vent overhead, which seemed to have been sawn through.

“Looks like it’s been damaged,” Ridley observed.

“Those marks look like an industrial saw though,” Rob said.

“Probably a botched job by someone else and didn’t report it.  Let’s take care of it after we finish up in the Control Room.”

Ridley continued to push the trolley forwards while Rob stared at the hole a little while longer, before rushing to keep up.

They arrived at the set of double doors and looked in to see that every single person who worked in the Heaven Control Room had been slaughtered, their violently torn apart bodies lay scattered over the thick layer of blood that seemed to cover the entire floor.

Computer monitors could no longer be seen through the blood that coated their screens and various dismembered body parts lay strewn about the large room.  

Rob and Ridley stared in horror at the metal creature known as Sanguis as it typed at a large computer with its back to them.  Upon the large monitor that was mounted to a wall, the following words were generated:

Disable communications?
Are you sure?
Yes
Communications disabled
Controls locked

Ridley pulled Rob to one side and hid behind the doorway while whispering, “What the Hell is that?  Mariella’s alien?”

“That’s no alien,” Rob said.

Beyond the doorway, one of Sanguis’ tentacles emerged and pointed in the direction of the entrance as if it could hear something.

Human vocal patterns detected
Scanning local area…
Heartbeats found
Quantity: 2
Status: Elevated
Position compromised
Locked on

Rob and Ridley were running as fast as possible down the hallway when two of Sanguis’ tentacles burst down from a vent overhead and flew at the pair at high speed.

Ridley and Rob froze in place.

As Rob turned to Ridley, he saw his friend had both of Sanguis’ tentacles stuck in his chest and protruding out his back.  Ridley looked down at the pair of long sharp blades imbedded in his chest in disbelief.

Sanguis retracted its tentacles and Ridley fell to his knees and died.

With great agility, Sanguis then fell through the vent and perfectly landed in front of the horrified Rob, before uncoiling itself to full height and deploying its tentacles in an intimidating manner.

As Rob fled from the creature down an opposite hallway, he craned his neck round to see it chasing him.  Sanguis scuttled along the floor and up a wall, using its claws to propel itself at a worryingly fast speed.

Rob headed towards a doorway as Sanguis caught up.

Sanguis jumped from the wall and onto the floor just behind him and swiped in his direction with its tentacles.

One tentacle tripped up Rob who landed on the ground and proceeded to crawl to his escape as Sanguis stabbed at the floor around him.  He sustained some minor lacerations while attempting to dodge this flurry of metal.

Sanguis delivered a particularly nasty cut to Rob’s arm as he rolled through the open doorway.  He hastily got to his feet and pressed a combination of buttons on the wall panel, which caused the door to close and lock.

Rob collapsed against the wall and tried to catch his breath while examining the extent of his wounds before Sanguis could be heard hammering on the door, reminding him that he was by no means safe.

Rob clambered to a standing position as he heard the sound of Sanguis attempting to saw through the door and then hobbled away down various corridors and through doorways as he continued escaping.

Eventually making it to the nearest tram station, Rob climbed aboard a tram and activated it.  As the tram sped off in the direction of B-Deck, Rob took off his bandanna and wrapped it around his arm as a makeshift bandage, wincing as he did so.

He then took out his communicator and tried to use it, “Hello?” he called.  “Is anyone there?” but the only reply he got was static.  “Can anyone hear me?”