Those Damn Midget Aliens ATTACK! (Pt 2)

“EEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!” A screaming voice shocked Jake to the gills. “Oh gawd help me, it hurts so much!”

           Those Damn Midget Aliens ATTACK! (Pt 2)

 

                Jake had seen that hideous slimy alien monster on the other side of the portal, but now he felt, sensed one was slithering up behind him with nothing to slow it down. Was he paranoid after seeing one that there had to be more ready to make him their lunch? Was he afraid to look behind or just paralyzed in fear?

“You damn midget aliens is this what it all comes down to, how you finish me off?” Jake asked himself and for the squishy, alien’s benefit he imagined as well. “To suck my life’s blood from my dying, convulsing carcass?”

                Jake’s hands trembled as he stared at the portal. He had his body against the portal which had that thing ready to get him on the other side.  He reached out with both arms to brace himself in the cool, black curved tube interior. Jake steeled himself with knotted, tense muscles, preparing to bolt if that thing that he imagined behind him attacked but to where? He had no options.

                Seeing that thing before the portal closed made his mind spin and his heart pound in his chest with the untold milliliters of adrenaline coursing in his blood�"the crown of his head felt like it was going to blow off�"his ear drums rattled with his heart beat and the radio noise from his shouting coworker’s prattle. He convinced himself that it was all over and done for him in this dark, gleaming Number Y5 tube.  

                Face it, Jake, he scolded himself. Maybe there’s a way to take these bloodsuckers out?

                He took off his tool belt not knowing what he’d do with it and turned around swinging his tool belt hard. Clunk! It hit the other side of the tube because nothing was there!

Was I imagining what I felt or just sensed the one on the other side of the portal? Are they mind readers as well? Reading my mind full of fear before they attack? Maybe their prey is tastier that way!

Sucking in another breath his heart rate calmed a little and his rational brain kicked in. He thought about the thing that monster waiting for him. Jake had always envisioned and given form to the mythical blood-thirsty aliens he and fellow veteran tube crawlers conjured up for the benefit of the rookies, but now that he had actually seen a real live one, they weren’t anything like his imagination had painted. Nevertheless, they look downright nasty and disgusting in a different way. He had never really believed the myth himself even when he was a rookie but the description and the story that went with the myth was intense enough to make him believe it now that he had faced one. 

Now resolved to the fact that the last sights his living eyes would perceive are these ugly aliens squirming down the inside of this crappy shiny, dark tube on their way to quickly finish him off. Jake didn’t know what that thing was doing on the other side of the portal. Was it just waiting for its meal? Licking its lips? Its mandibles?  Trying to get through the portal or waiting until he opened it or�"the supervisors unlock them and open them all?  His blood ran cold.  

Jake uneasily shifted his sitting position and settled some meters from the portal just in case�". He scanned down the tube unsure if there had been another one.  He moved his helmet light about to see as far as he could as far as the curving bends would allow. Nothing to see. The clear-sight distance would allow a diminutive lead-time to react�"to do what?  Jake hadn’t an inkling. Joe Dough his illustrious supervisor hadn’t answered back since all the portals had been locked down with no explanation. Another sludge barge engineering function secret that was kept from the tube crawlers.  

Jake breathed every breath like it was his last�"long, slow, and deep. Relishing the stale air from his cylinder, he tried to steady his heart rate, while consciously contracting and relaxing his muscles starting with his toes by flexing them, rotating his feet, and swiveling his ankles and working up to his calves. He tried to fine tune his senses to be fully in control of his mind and body to think through the situation and be able to react as necessary. Over the following minutes his heart rate slowed its pounding�"his temples eased their throbbing�"

“EEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!” A screaming voice came across the radio shocking Jake to the gills. “Oh gawd help me, It hurts so much!”

The scream broke Jake’s mental concentration propelling his heart rate and nerves back into hyperspace. Thirteen voices responded including Jake’s with screams and shouts of inquiry and demands.

“Who? What? Hurt bad? What is it? Still alive?”

Gradually, without an immediate response from the injured crawler the chorus trickled off to near silence as if all thirteen men held a collective breath waiting for a reply they were quite certain they didn’t want to hear.  The radio remained quiet for several long breath-held moments, until they all heard a low, whimpering voice. 

“Blood all over, I’m okay, I think, but the pain, oh the pain, it hurts so bad. Please help meeeee.” The weak sniffling, crying voice grew quieter then mute.

With his heart still hammering away in his chest and throbbing in his ears, Jake thought about what he had heard and tried to identify the voice. Sounds like Cody, Crazy Cody, the guy who claims to love working in the tubes.

Jake hit the radio button. “Cody? Hey Cody is that you? Jake here.  Easy guy, we’ll get help to you,” Jake lied through his teeth. “What, where is that thing that did this to you?” Jake had to raise his voice over the escalating chatter on the radio.

“Jake , oh Jake. Thank gawd it’s you. Come help meeeee. What are those things?”

“I don’t know,” Jake answered. “I think�"midget alien larvae. What did that thing look like that attacked you?”

“Oh, Jake I got sooo scared when I heard you on the radio about that�"thing. And then I heard the other guys too. Oh, come help meeeee.”

“WHAT? CODY, WHAT WAS IT? WHAT DID THIS DO TO YOU?” Jake was unsuccessful in controlling his anger that was bolstered by fear.

                “The portal closed and wouldn’t open it. I got scared when I heard you I got really scared.” Cody sobbed now.  “My, hand, oh my hand is gone and there’s blood, so much BLOOD, oooooh!”     

                “Cody, what happened? Where’s the monster now?” Jake shouted. “Just what the HELL happened?”

                “Jake�"sob�"guys�"sorry. I didn’t see nuthin.’” Cody sobbed some more. “Oh, so much blood. The portal wouldn’t open when I heard you about the monsters.  I had to get outa’ there, so I took out my laser tool�"“ More sobs. “I tried to get through with the laser, but I wasn’t careful at all�"I cut my friggin’ hand off. OOOOoooH! It hurts so much, help meeee!”

                “Damn!” Swore another coworker.  “That blood is gonna’ attract those things!”

                “C’mon Cody, how could you cut your hand off?” Another asked.

                Jake gulped a swallow and took a deep breath. He checked down the tube�"still clear. “Cody, easy now.  Are you bleeding badly?”

                “No, no, not anymore. The laser b-b-burned the stump�"st-stopped the bleeding,” Cody stuttered rapid fire, and then went back to sobbing.

 Jake wished he could turn off Cody’s feed so he could think clearly, but he needed to know. “Cody, did you chop�"sorry, wrong word. Did you cut; I mean could you get through the portal?”

“No, not enough time, no, not long enough. Just a burn on the portal and�"and then my hand, oh, my hand is just lying there in the blood! OOOhhhhhh.”   

“Good. Ahh, not good, I think,” Jake said. “I guess those things are still confined for now,” Jake refocused his distress and rage, but wondered if the supervisors were going to open all the portals. What a slaughter in these tube that would be. His rage overtook his thoughts. “Joe! Joe, where are you, you little prick?”

A few quiet moments passed with only Cody’s low, blubbering sobs on the radio. Apparently, everyone felt safe at the moment and calmed down despite the disturbing sobbing.

“Jake, guys!” Broke the near silence. “Sit tight. You are in no immediate danger, we think, as far as we know.” Loud and enraged shouts drowned parts of Joe’s transmission. “�"the portals, the ships ancient computer locked them down automa�" ” More incensed shouts. “We are accessing the ancient archives. It’ll take some time�"”

Jake joined the outrage. “Joe�"a*s. No danger? As far as you know? What do you know?” It didn’t bother Jake knowing that his response was probably drowned out in the chorused incensed responses on the radio. “I don’t care if your fat�"a*s mother’s ghost locked down the portals, git ‘em unlocked!” He paused for a breath; it seemed a little hard to draw a breath. “Wha’ about poor Cody? Git them unlocked!” Another heavy breath and Jake heard shouts along the same lines as his, but he decided to add some more of his shouts whether they heard him or not. “And hey, jerk Joe, what the hell do you really know about that man-eating thing I saw in here?” 

He listened but didn’t hear a reply from Joe amongst the other shouts of inquiry and outrage. He tried to relax. Leaning his back into the curve of the tube he kept a wary eye down the tube in case that thing came back. His back arched to conform to the warm curve of the tube’s shiny solid silicone surface.  As he moved to get comfortable his tool belt/bandolier clinked on tube, it feeling somewhat different than usual, more bulky and heavy, but it was a fleeting thought with more important things to consider such as living the day out and not becoming a monster’s meal. He let his feet scoot along the bottom of the curve and his body slid down until his feet were higher than his head with his butt inching up the opposite curve. He was more or less comfortable, but he felt it was a better positon if he had to react than lying down parallel with the tube.  He strained his ears to hear something other than his heart pounding, the talking, yelling even Cody’s crying on the radio. He took a shallow breath and held it, listening.

“SCREEEEEE�"AWWWWWKKKKKKKK!” Came a terrible, ear splitting screech that whipped Jake back up into a rapt sitting positon. 

The radio went completely dead.

Deep space vacuum dead.

Jake wondered if he was dead.

Is everyone else dead?

The sudden silence was deafening�"unnerving�"more so. Jake took a deep breath, frantically looking back and forth, up and down the tube, frozen in fright and tried to concentrate again to calm his nerves. All of a sudden it seemed like his lamplight seemed really weak and dim. The tube’s diameter began closing down on around him, feeling like a tubular makeshift coffin.  A sharp pain coursed through his chest and he wondered. A heart attack? Nah. Or was it possible with the stress? His heart hammered, pounding harder in his chest �"his ears. He looked down and swore he could see his chest pulse with his heart beats. He took in a breath�"or tried to. His lungs wouldn’t work! He tried again�"so hard to breath! The air he took in was warm, stale, more like nothingness. His throat and sinuses constricted and Jake began to heave, gag and then choke. This is it, I’m dying!

He glanced about in panic figuring he’ll die alone in the tube with monsters lurking about. Maybe that was good way to go! His eye caught his sleeve-mounted screen. A red bar was flashing urgently with a message�"air canister empty! Idiot! I never let my canister get low into the red danger zone, but I had other things�"FOCUS! Change your canister! 

Jake rolled to his side, so his body lay in the bottom of the tube. He took short, panting breaths like an overheated dog to get what air remained in his canister, but it was like breathing bone-dry dust, nothing was there. His lungs ached needing air to inflate.  His thoughts began to swim like thick gooey bdellium. His fingers fumbled�"struggled on his tool belt until he reached the Zipcro release. He coughed, gagged. Bile rose in his throat. He swallowed it back. Jake began to have difficulty to comprehend anything�"no air, the overlapping chaos of voices, the alien�"where was that terrible thing? NO! Focus damn you!

Get the new canister on your belt. Hold breath�"empty lungs nothing to hold. Hit quick release on the empty canister. CLANG! The Scott Air Pak air canister fell and hit the tube floor. Can’t grab other canister in i’s sleeve. Pull other belt release. SWUSH!  Pull up Zipcro cover. CRRRIIIPPP! Lungs are burning, hurting. Feels like chest is going to explode or implode.  Gagging. Coughing.

He grabbed the canister and in one motion slammed it into the nozzle. SSSSSS! Air leaked out, wasted, venting to the tube’s atmosphere. He craved the air he needed so badly, but it wasn’t going to his helmet. The canister was crooked, not seated properly. He twisted and pulled it out, his vision tunneling down to pinpricks. All he could see was the end of the canister. Lightheaded with aching lungs and gag reflex distracting his concentration, Jake’s fumbling fingers inserted and twisted the canister smoothly into the nozzle much to his pained relief. He hit the quick release valve. SSSSSSSSsssss!

Jake felt the air rush across his cheeks and eye lashes, and he breathed in deeply taking in and enjoying the wonderful and pleasing lukewarm stinky stale air! He coughed, swallowed, breathed in deeply again, again and again. Jake! Snap out of it! Pay attention now. Don’t hyperventilate. His intensive elevated consciousness slowly flattened out and returned to his preceding fearful level with renewed emphasis on his dire situation.

As he sat up, he kicked the empty canister. Klink, tink! How long has it’s been?  Jake checked the elapsed time:  4:13. Over four hours, how is that possible? Lost track of time. An air canister should last five hours, but with my emotions running high, elevated heart rate and respiration rate going as high as they would be running on the circumtrack in the gym, so of course I’ll go through more air. A cold blaze shock of realization ran up his back.

The whole crew, his coworkers, his friends were all trapped in the tubes with air running low, theirs more than his because they’ve been down there longer than he, so it either comes down to eventually running out of air or facing the aliens�"or both? Jake thought the available options undesirable. He awkwardly chortled at his absurd verdict.