Ben Hammott - Salvage

The NASA scientists and engineers walked over to the amazing spaceship and wandered around it, pointing at certain features and surmising what their functions might be. They couldn’t wait to get it back to their workshop and gain access to all of its alien advanced engineering. It should be a simple matter of reverse engineering everything and in a few years they could have a whole fleet of them going into space and traveling farther than they ever thought possible in their lifetime. Mars, Jupiter and beyond, wouldn’t be a problem with this ship. The age of true space exploration would soon be upon them. They were reluctantly pushed back when a large cover was pulled over the scout ship to hide it from prying eyes in the sky.

THE FIRST SENSATION the man experienced when he awoke was the pain behind his eyes. It felt like someone had his head in a vice and was clamping the jaws shut. His eyes blinked open to discover something covered his face, a hood of some kind. His attempts to remove it were foiled by the bindings that secured his hands to the back of the uncomfortable chair he sat on. Through the material he glimpsed a circle of light. Fear washed over him. What the hell was happening? The last thing he remembered was exiting a restaurant with the pretty woman he had impressed with his brave deeds of derring-do aboard the alien spaceship and heading back to his hotel room for a night of drink-fueled passion. When the taxi he had hailed pulled away from the curb he had noticed a hissing sound and then nothing until he had just come around. It was obvious he had been drugged and kidnapped. It was the only explanation. But why and by whom, and what happened to the woman he was with? Fear replaced his confusion when someone walked past the light filtering through the hood, blocking it briefly. He almost screamed when the hood was suddenly pulled from his head and blinked when the bright glare assaulted his eyes.

“Hello, Richard.”

Richard’s indignation shoved aside his fear as he stared at the hazy owner of the voice concealed behind the bright light. “Who the hell are you and why have you kidnapped me? You won’t get away with this.”

“But we already have,” stated the voice. “Only a select few know of your whereabouts and they won’t help you.”

The chair the man scraped across the floor was positioned in front of his prisoner. The man sat and looked at his captive, his head haloed by the light behind.

“You have been brought here because we need your help.”

Richard snorted. “You drug and kidnap me and then ask for my help. Think again, Buster. You’ll get no help from me.”

The man ignored Richard and continued, “I have been following the heroic account of your battles and escapes from the alien creatures while you and the other scientists were aboard the spaceship. It makes for a fascinating read.”

Suspicion clouded Richard’s eyes as he scrutinized the man.

“Someone with your unique experience will be invaluable to the team.”

Though Richard suspected the answer, he asked the question, “And what team would that be?”

“The team that searches the alien vessel for advanced technology.”

“I’m not interested,” replied Richard adamantly. “I’m never setting foot aboard that death-ship again.”

The man smiled. “Look around, Richard. You are already onboard.”

When the interrogation light was switched off, the darkness that remained was suddenly flooded with light from portable halogen lights set around the room. Richard’s eyes roamed over the stacks of storage containers and the large airlock door a short distance away. He was in the spaceship cargo bay. His chair scraped back when he jumped at seeing the hundreds of insects that had been swept into a pile to clear the floor.

“Relax, Richard, they are all dead. We gassed them and the Space Rats. I assure you, you are perfectly safe.”

Richard wasn’t convinced by the man’s reassurance. He had experienced the terrors contained within the ship firsthand. “Nowhere is safe on this floating coffin. There are horrors in here you can’t even imagine and all want to kill and eat you.”

“That, Richard, is where your experience will come in handy. Also, it’s imperative we reach the map room, which, according to your and the other scientists debriefings, you led the scientists to having already visited it previously. You can do the same for our team, as they’d rather not wander around aimlessly in the hope they stumble across it.”

“That’s your problem, not mine. I’ve nearly died too many times already on this vessel and it’s not an experience I’m willing to repeat. I wish you good luck, but I demand you release me immediately. If you do, and return me to where you abducted me from, I’ll say nothing about this.”

The man huffed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Richard, but didn’t you give those same assurances about the discovery of the spaceship?”

Richard cringed. Why did things always come back to bite him in the ass? “That was different. You’ve committed a crime. Release me and I promise I won’t say anything.”

The man’s smile unsettled Richard.

“I’d rather cut a vein, wander through the spaceship and trust one of those alien monsters not to eat me than have any faith in your promises.” The man stood. “However, if that’s your final word…”

“It is,” insisted Richard, obstinately.

“Then I will arrange your removal from this spaceship.”

Surprised by the man’s sudden and unexpected amicableness, worry creased Richard’s brow when he asked, “You’ll set me free?”

The man glared at his captive. “Oh, no, Richard, you’ll never be free. You seem to forget that I am not the only one that has committed a crime here. Even though it is now in our care, when we searched your home we discovered the alien creature you smuggled out of Antarctica, risking the lives of everyone on the planet if it carries a deadly virus.”

Richard snorted. “That’s utter nonsense. I’ve been close to the creature and I’m not ill.”

“How can you be sure? There could be deadly parasites or bacteria growing inside you that could affect you in ways we couldn’t possibly imagine and which could be very contagious. You have broken so many laws I don’t know where to begin. No Richard, you will not go free. When you leave here you’ll be taken to a secure facility and kept in quarantine.”

Dread now creased Richard’s features. “For how long?”

The man shrugged. “For the rest of your life I would imagine.”

“You can’t do that!”

The man smiled again. “Can’t I? Goodbye, Richard.” He headed for the airlock.

“Wait! What if I help you?” Richard called out, desperation and fear shrouded his words. “What happens to me then?”

The man stopped and turned. “If you do that, then your future will be very different. The charges against you will be waived and you will be free to carry on with your life.”

“If I survive, that is?” said Richard, not confident he would.

“You will be accompanied by well-armed and highly trained professionals who will protect you.”

Richard still wasn’t convinced. “Trained to fight other soldiers, not the monsters aboard this spaceship.”

“If they can be killed, my men will kill them. So, Richard, are you going to join the team?”

Richard sighed. “You leave me no damn choice, but I’m not sure I can remember the route. I was running from monsters at the time and didn’t take note of where I was going.”