Nasferas: The Begotten

14

"My father?" Ranloo had asked, his voice ragged, and old. Parts beneath his suit now sagged where they once bulged. His hair had shriveled away, save his bushman dark-gray eyebrows.

The explanation wasn't easy. Davidar told his cousin how he had awakened alone and what he'd found on his trek through the ship. But he left out the specifics. Flashes of his uncle's bones strangled by old dead flesh haunted him. The reaction was anticipated, though, hard to watch.

Ranloo collapsed.

Aleese draped her toothpick thin arms over him. "I'm sorry." Her withered lips gently touched his forehead. "We all loved your dad but we need you now. Where's the settle auto release?"

A question Davidar already knew the answer to.

Ranloo wiped a bubble of mucus from his nose. "In the Engine Room."

"Will you help Davidar find a way in?"

Ranloo stood without much effort. "There's an emergency door just down the hall."

Davidar touched his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Your dad was amazing. He saved us. Now, let's honor him and save the rest of our family."

For a muscle-less-elder, Ranloo picked up the heavy Jaws as if it weighed nothing.

"Okay." He sniffled. "Grab one of those laser cutters. I know where the emergency entrance to the Engine Room is."

"Uh ... they're ... kind of broken." Davidar kicked the useless tool.

"How'd you manage that?" Ranloo's jowls sagged into a fruitless frown.

"Don't ask." Of course, he'd broken them creating the Jaws. A fact he would keep to himself.

"We'll have to use this instead." Ranloo pushed the button. The single pulse against nothing opened them to their fullest extent. "These will do."

"You approve?"

"Feels good and strong. Nice work." He swung the Jaws.

"Hey." Aleese dodged to the left. The blades missed her by a few inches.

Ranloo smiled.

Davidar tried not to laugh but couldn't help himself. After the short giggle, he felt a tad rejuvenated. Ancient. Unsteady. But with a little more pep. "Aleese, check the stores. See if any of it survived the impact."

Somehow their uncle had fed them while they slept. Why? It didn't make any sense. You don't have to eat while in cryostasis, a certainty he could no longer ignore.

Aleese nodded and scooted down the opposite corridor.

Ranloo stopped at the outset of the hallway. "My ship." His brows sank. "It's demolished." Then his eyes drifted to the Flight Room.

"The crash didn't kill him," Davidar said. "He's been gone for decades ... centuries. We really have no idea."

"Understood."

"Your dad stayed at the helm until the end."

"I said ... I understand," Ranloo snapped.

An honest reaction.

He placed his hand on Ranloo's shoulder. The two continued to the Engine Room in silence. A few yards after the crunched door, Ranloo crammed the Jaws into a small gap. Davidar hadn't seen the hidden entrance.

With one extra pulse, the door cracked in half. "This works great. Where'd you come up with the schematics?" Ranloo pushed the busted pieces apart with his foot.