Page 7 of When Eden Falls

Or nightmares.

My eyes scanned the area. Anxiety still gnawing at my instincts. But I couldn’t deny it, this place had an enchanting aura about it. The blue sea glistened as gentle waves crashed against the ground less than half a mile in the distance. Opposite, the steep tanned cliffs looked as though they were topped with short blades of green grass, and deep pink flowers were visible in amongst the rocks where the rockface dipped towards the ground.

Rooke was leading the group towards that area. The boulders had formed a cascade of steps and it looked climbable. I remotelyclosed the ramp up securing the ship and rushed after him. “What’s the plan, Rooke?”

He pointed ahead. “If we ascend the cliff, the wreckage is only a two mile walk southeast.” Fully focused, he marched on, and I clutched my laser rifle a little tighter.

When we arrived at the wreckage, the damage was far worse than first assumed. Looking down from the clifftop above, scorch marks littered the roof of the long, bulbous shaped ship. Melted and deformed metal dominated the port side.

The scouting ship was as large as The Orka, and they tended to hold an immense amount of fuel. Their slow scouting journey around the perimeter of the Alluran solar system took more than half a year to complete, and as the sun was only a speck in the distance, solar power was useless. It was the only feasible reason for how they’d lasted the five-month journey here. The excess fuel must have caused the fire.

Carefully, we climbed down the craggy rockface onto the top of the ship, avoiding the sharp fragments of metal scattered along the obliterated front edge. Our boots clonked along the metallic body. If any of the crew were alive, they didn’t come out to greet us.

We descended the ship via the back body flap. The long, tilted piece of metal was closer to the ground due to the impact of the crash. The two-metre drop was easy enough, but I helped Cora down anyway. She was now laden with more glass pots clipped to her belt. All filled with soil, rocks, plants, and anything else that had taken her fancy. She was clearly in her element.

The sound of Oz and Rooke cursing through the radio brought my attention to where they had disappeared to. I found them standing on the starboard side of the ship next to an extended ramp. The side airlock was open, the ship was exposed, but it was the disturbing trail of dark red smeared down the ramp that caught everyone’s attention.

Zamya hovered at the base, while Rooke and Oz boarded the ramp vigilantly. Rooke glanced back at the rest of us. “Sym, Kobe, stay out here. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Both men turned their backs to the ship, guns in check, scouring the area with sharp eyes.

I followed Rooke and Oz onto the ship, Cora and Zamya at my back. All of us tried to avoid stepping in the trail of what looked like blood.

The ship was dark. The airlock doors stuck open at an odd angle, and panels of the interior metal walls were missing. I glanced at my feet. The dark smear on the floor became thicker as we walked further into the mid-section of the wide hull.

Rooke and Oz stopped a few steps ahead, peering at the ground. I realised they were questioning how or why fragments of the floor were missing, similar to those on the walls. I removed my torch from my belt and lit up the floor surrounding me. The panels looked as though they’d been chewed. But how? They were metal. What could eradicate metal in such a way?

Still questioning the thought, I flashed my torch light around the vast area. A bone chilling shiver raked its way down my spine at the scene before me. My gasp caught Rooke’s attention, his eyes discovering what was looming at the end of my spotlight.

The remains of a mauled body laid on the floor. Their grey-blue clothing indicated the deceased had been a Solarfleet employee. We slowly approached, anxiously flicking our eyes in the direction of every shadow and dark corner.

I glanced down at the decaying body. It must have been there for at least a couple of weeks. Blue and black patches plagued the sunken skin. Long, scraggly hair fell across the harrowing face where two eyes bulged unnaturally. The neck was punctured by multiple marks, exposing rotten muscle and bone beneath. The look of immense pain was frozen across the decomposing face. But the worst of it was the realisation that both legs had been ripped off at the thigh. Torn muscle, ligament, and clothing surrounded jagged, fractured bone. The red smear on the ramp had originated from this spot. This person’s legs had been shredded from their body and dragged from the ship. The thought was horrifying.

Cora’s distressed voice split through the haunting silence. “Ithink I’m gonna be sick.” She ran for the exit.

Zamya called after her, “Do not remove your helmet!” The only response was a whining hum.

Examining the corpse closer, Zamya bent down. “This is utterly barbaric.”

Rooke scanned the area. “Where are the other crew members?” A hint of desperation coated his tone. “There should be four.”

“Boss, there’s one over here,” Oz’s voice rumbled through my earpiece. He was standing in the corner of the room, behind what remained of a computer station. “This one looks like their spinal cord has been ripped out.”

Somehow my legs managed to follow Rooke over to the second body. The sight was just as horrifying as the first. Decomposing guts lay in a puddle surrounding a body that had fallen face down, split in half. Now I wanted to vomit.

I looked at Rooke. His mind was in overdrive. He hadn’t expected this. To be honest, neither had I. I had expected something eerie or inconclusive, but nothing this distressing. What had killed these people?

“Rooke, we need to get out of here as soon as possible,” I said.

Breathing deeply, he nodded his concurrence. “We can’t take these mutilated bodies home. They need to be buried here.”

“Agreed,” Oz murmured. He appeared to be the only one unaffected by the scene. “I’ll get Sym to help me dig a couple of graves outside.”

Rooke nodded and turned to me. “Let’s see if we can find any captain records or ship data. We can’t return home without some form of explanation.”

C h a p t e rT h r e e

We didn’t find any more bodies, but we found the remainder of the bridge. Although half of it, including the driving panel, had disintegrated against the rockface, we managed to find some control computers in amongst the rubble.