Andrew Mackay - Pink Symphony

“Wool…” came the voice once again, but lower in pitch.

The surface of Wool’s eyeball reflected an orange-white thing . It kicked its legs forward.

Blink, blink…

Wool’s eyelids wiped the detritus from the surface of her eyeballs. This time, the fleshy, fish-eyed image reflecting back rolled over to its side and stopped crying.

“Wool,” the image said, “It… is… you .”

The gun slipped form Wool’s frozen hand and bounced against the white floor tiles beside her left boot.

“I’m… c-cold…” the thing said in a reassuring, young voice, “P-Please?”

Wool finally managed to close her jaw. The reality of the event burrowed through her mind. She wasn’t sleeping and certainly not dreaming.

“J-Jelly… you… I…” Wool stammered, “M-My God …”

Out in the walkway, Tripp experienced restlessness on a scale he’d seldom encountered. He’d expected to hear a gunshot by now. The desire to run in and assist his colleague was proving hard to shake off.

Impatient, Bonnie paced around and clutched her belt, “What’s taking so long in there?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t like it.”

“Maybe a few seconds alone with her?” Bonnie flicked her head up towards the ceiling and licked her lips. “Can’t say I blame her.”

“ Seconds ? She’s been in there five minutes, at least. I’ll give her thirty more seconds,” Tripp held his forearm in front of his chest. He drew a pattern on the skin with his thumb tip. 00:30 . The numbers counted down the moment his pressed his fingertip against it. “More than enough time—”

He needn’t have bothered setting the timer. The door slid open, introducing a thoroughly relieved – and awe-struck – Wool.

“Done?” Tripp asked.

“Guys,” Wool took a deep breath, near ready to cry with excitement, “Come in. Something… something…”

“— Fantastic ?” Bonnie chimed in with a healthy amount of flippancy.

“Yes, yes!” Wool beamed with teary delight and clapped her hands together, “My God… something fantastic has happened.”

The elevator doors slid open. Baldron clutched Jaycee’s glove in his right hand, careful not to hit the white button. He stepped into the fluorescent-lit corridor and made for the Control Deck.

“Tor, come in,” he tried to unfasten his helmet, “Ugh, this bloody thing.”

“Yeah, good buddy. I read you. Are you on your way?”

“Yeah, about sixty seconds ETA.”

“Good, I’m working on Manuel, now. You still got that fat idiot’s glove?”

“Yeah, left his hand in the elevator,” Baldron flipped the visor screen up and took a deep breath as he jogged along the corridor.

“Whatever you do, don’t hit that button. It’s primed to go.”

“I don’t intend to.” Baldron slipped off his helmet and tossed it against the wall. He thumped the flat, cold surface on his Decapidisc, “I just want this damn thing off my neck.”

“You and me both. Just get here, now.”

“Come get me,” Jaycee waved his sparking, wrecked wrist at the creature. His legs levitated above his waist as he tried to wrench the outer elevator tube doors apart.

The monstrosity screeched up a storm, swiping its two front limbs at him.

“Nggg… c’mon ,” Jaycee failed to separate the doors. He pressed the fingers on his good hand through the slit but had no opposing force to wrench it apart, “God damn it.”

THRA-AA-APP-PP!

Six of the creature’s elongated limbs wrapped around the column. It prepared to bolt like a jellyfish toward the elevator door and attack Jaycee.

“C’mon, c’mon, budge… you stubborn slab of junk,” Jaycee turned his body and thumped his boots against the door.

The creature launched forward and squealed as it darted through the air. Jaycee looked over his shoulder and pressed his knees to his chest.

“Come on!”

The creature fanned out all twelve limbs and opened its midsection, like some perverse spider-cobra-flower.

Jaycee’s eyes widened. The blasted thing was at least ten feet wide in diameter and about to smother him. “Wow.”

SCREEEECH!

The talons at the end of each limb flicked out. The creature spun around and retracted all twelve of its limbs, creating a bizarrely beautiful spectacle.

Not beautiful enough to hang around for, though. Jaycee had to take decisive action to survive.

He kicked himself toward the creature – the two flew through the air towards each other just outside the elevator door. In a few seconds, they’d collide and slam the hell out of each other.

Jaycee reached into his belt and took out his secondary Rez-9 firearm. He aimed it at the creature’s knuckled center and waited for the perfect moment to take his shot, “Monster go bye-bye.”

“Screeeeee,” the creature flung its talons forward.

Jaycee ducked as the talon sliced the back of his helmet. “Gaah!” He jammed the Rez-9 into the creature’s screaming throat and squeezed the trigger.

KA-SCHPLAA-AATT!

Six of the creature’s limbs splattered out from his body, vomiting ropes of pink slime in all directions.

Jaycee whipped his hand out from the creature’s mouth as its jaws clamped shut. The Rez-9 bounced off its incisors and into the depths of the chamber.

“Screeeee!” It wailed against the elevator tube’s outer doors. Four of its remaining limbs pummeled the door from its railings, forcing the creature’s body into the empty travel tube.

Jaycee kicked himself away from the column. He barrel-rolled for the battered door like a twisting dart of metal.

“Let’s finish this, ass-face.”

The creature slammed three limbs on both sides of its body against the elevator tube. The result looked like a twenty-foot, limb-like cobweb – ready to catch and murder its prey.

Jaycee shot through the broken door and clenched his right fist, “Come get some.”

FLICK-SWISH-SCH’TANG!

The talons on each of the six limbs fanned out in readiness for its assailant’s arrival.

Jaycee’s knuckles connected with the beast’s screaming slit. Its razor teeth bent down its throat causing it to choke and splutter. It retaliated by swiping its limbs at Jaycee. Each attempt narrowly avoided his body. He was too close and the limbs couldn’t tuck in enough to do any significant damage.

A thundering sound of something very heavy shot down the tube as Jaycee punched the beast once again.

The sound of heaviness grew ever louder. The tube shuddered more and more…

A shadow stretched across Jaycee’s face. Something rocketed towards him and the beast – the elevator.

“Oh, shii—”

He took one, final look at the beast. The creature roared in Jaycee’s face with such force that a hairline crack tore across his visor.

He tightened his grip on the creature’s midsection and yelled back over the growing thunder of the whizzing elevator, “Die. You ugly, pink bastard.”

Jaycee booted the creature and somersaulted out of the tunnel, banging his arm on the broken door.

The force of the launch sent the creature back against the curved tube.

It looked up as its body blanketed into darkness from the shadow of the approaching elevator.

“Screeeee—”

SCHAA-PLATTT!

The elevator pulverized the creature against the ground. It exploded in a haze of pink gore and shattered bone.

Jaycee’s boots hit the ground, affording him a few seconds of respite.