Star Singer

Two

     Now blind to what was happening outside, Anna clenched her hands into fists and she frantically thought about what she needed to do. She had a few options; she could open all of the exterior doors in an attempt to use the vacuum of space to suck these intruders out - but that would cause major problems and potentially damage to the interior of the ship itself. She could wake up the ship's captain and have her deal with the problem - but that could take an hour, maybe longer.

     There were other things she could do as well, but they were risky. She could have the drones in the halls fire on the aliens, but she still had no idea if they were hostile or just curious. The entire crew had been trained that if, in the extremely unlikely case, they came across another intelligent life form they were to use aggression as a last, life saving resort. Attacking the five outside could lead to consequences she did not want to imagine.

     There was a loud bang from outside and Anna let out a terrified scream on accident. The noises stopped for a moment and then intensified. Bangs, creaks, and all sorts of other loud sounds could be heard. The entire wall was trembling and Anna had the uncomfortable feeling that she was not going be alone for much longer. She turned her attention to Singer.

     "Singer, observe the situation and put all resources into protecting the crew! If I am killed, react with hostility!" Anna hissed.

     Singer was silent for a moment before she responded.

     "Affirmative. Would you like to wake Captain Kelly Heeler?" 

     "Only after the situation has been diffused," Anna responded nervously as the five aliens apparently reached the third layer of metal. 

     It seemed they had figured out a good way of getting through the first two blockades and made short work of the last. A gap opened up and Anna saw the beady black eyes of one of the aliens. Her wits gave out and she squawked in a panic as she stumbled away from the door. The Cyber Chamber was not very large, so within moments she had cornered herself, wedging her body between two of the Cyber Pods as the door was brutally yanked open.

     Seeing the aliens up close was a whole different kind of fear from seeing them on the video feed. They were...they were huge. The tallest had to be eight - something feet and the smallest no shorter than six. All five of them stood in the doorway. The first one - a mid sized green skinned alien - watched Anna closely while the other four looked at literally anything else. But they did not immediately enter.

     It seemed like they were...waiting. Anna's teeth started to chatter as she stared at the group of strange creatures looming in front of her about twenty feet away. Her eyes shot over to Singer's terminal for a half second, just long enough to see that the hologram of Singer was floating in it as the A.I. assessed the situation.

     The alien watching her noticed the movement and craned it's head to see what she had looked at. Seeing the interesting device, it took a step into the room and the froze. It's attention turned back to Anna. After a moment, it continued on toward the terminal.

    "W-w-wait, please don't!" Anna called with a shaking voice, remembering what had happened to the camera.

     At the sound of her voice, all five of the creatures turned their attention toward her. Anna immediately shrunk into herself in fear, curling up and trying to meld into the pods that trapped her. The five aliens shifted closer to her and she shut her eyes, preparing for the worst.

     But no pain came. Nothing touched her. All she felt was air movement in front of her. After a moment, she peeked through one eye and found that the green alien was crouched in front of her, tilting it's head as it examined her. It had moved in close and she could smell a sort of reptilian scent coming off of it. Her eyes moved to the tentacle like appendages that sprouted from the creature's back and shoulders. their movements had mostly stilled, save for the tips that curled and uncurled continuously. Her breathing came in fast pants as she and the alien looked each other over.

     A sound drew her attention to a new by pod and Anna's head snapped to the side to see one of the other aliens - a very tall purple one, was climbing on top of one of the pods, pressing it's face against the glass to peer inside. The alien in front of her looked as well and a low rumbling sounds erupted from it's throat as it's mouth opened. Three rows of sharp, white teeth gleamed in the light of the room, thick, sticky blue looking saliva hung from the top and bottom of the alien's mouth as it spoke in some brutal sounding language to the other.

     The purple one gave a strange whine and slid off of the pod dejectedly. Anna watched with wide eyes and realized the alien in front of her had just reprimanded the purple. The whole rows upon rows of teeth was rather terrifying, but the alien swiftly shut it's mouth as soon as the purple one had wandered off and turned back to Anna.

     Slowly, the green alien raised a hand and held it out to Anna. Unsure what it wanted, Anna lifted her own trembling hand, copying it's movements. With another tilt of it's head, the alien pressed their hands together and then shut it's eyes for a moment. Something electric pulsed between their skin and Anna jerked her hand back with a yelp before even a second had passed.