The price to pay the beast below
The Earth was burning, our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled in their ships offering no aid to anyone. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter, shadows rose and stretched out after the sun to claim what was untouched by the rays. Then one day it came, from the shadows but it did not move as they did. One look told you it was worse than what came before. The power it possessed was needed to join everyone in the stars, far away from the sun, and far away from the devouring darkness. We had to do it you see, but we did not know the price we would pay in the end…
178 years after our launch our ship floats in space in search of - any life. The pipes bursting to life every morning with its inhuman roar echoing through the engineer deck waking me from sleep. Seems like we only get five minutes of sleep, thank the Sun for rotation. “Greg get up, morning rotation starts soon and we have to relieve the night shift.” Anders peeked into my bottom bunk, his ashy brown hair falling in his face as he bent down to meet my gaze with his emerald eyes. He helped me to my feet as I brushed sleep from my eyes and he pulled his hair back into the tight knot he likes to wear it in. Personally I enjoyed seeing him with his hair down. The way it framed his face and brought attention to his full lips… I’m too sleepy for this, my thoughts keep drifting but it’s a short shift today of only five hours so I can do this. I hurriedly slip on my boots and rush after Anders as I throw my jacket on. Higher ups never really come to this part of the ship so they don’t really care if we are in full uniform all the time, unless someone like the captain decides to make an appearance. It does help provide some protection from the steam as we walk through it though. I don’t need that much of a wake up call.
“Hey Greg, you hear about Chloe?”
“The green haired girl in communications? Now that you mention her I haven’t seen you on stage for karaoke night in a while. She usually always sings.What happened?” My mind conjures up an image of the last time I saw her months ago screaming in the mic while using the stand as a way to keep herself upright. She is a lot of fun but gets in a lot of trouble with the council.
"She was apparently arrested, according to Roz. She was 'found guilty of leading the revolt.'” Anders said mockingly.
The Council is very particular with people and expects you to conform with their idea of normal. If you didn’t then you were a threat to the system, but really and truly the system didn’t have many rules. Not that I thought anyway. The conversation with Anders didn’t change much and I got little bits and pieces. We went to the heart of the engineer bay and relieved the night shift. For some reason the Council thought it necessary to have someone posted by our engine furnace 24/7. The only time we do anything is for the morning routine when we put boxes into it that are full of organic materials to feed the flames. Me and Anders get to work and start inserting the large containers on the belt into the furnace’s mouth. There were only three boxes today, sometimes there’s only one or none.
The belt took the boxes into the depths of the furnace licking at the ends, browning them and the bottom opened up out of sight from our two workers. The box drops down to the heart of the engines landing with a hard thud splitting the box open. A rumble in the dark echoes as golden eyes glow making their way towards the box. Wires and chains rattles as the creature moves, trying not to get caught in wires from the engine that's hooked up to it. A clawed hand rips open the contents, tearing it with ease. Lifting their head revealing sharp crooked teeth holding onto flesh with patches of green hair poking out between bites. The creature stands at full height on two legs dragging the corpse back to the darkness. Their orange skin shows in the flutters of light from the machines, massive horns jutting from the creature’s head. Another box crashes to the floor with an arm popping out on impact. The creature slumps in the dark, their eyes looking out as they tear into the flesh, dissociating as the words left their lips, "I just wanted to help."
