The Hermes Endeavor

Chapter 5 - Janice

Slowly Janice Betty realized she was somehow still alive. When the aliens first entered the room and she took cover, she thought her time was up. As she cowered under the control panel, she started praying frantically, unable to hear her own frenzied voice over the gunfire that erupted around her. She shivered uncontrollably as the invaders made quick work of the armed men comprising Major General Bell's entourage. She felt a terror she never knew as she watched the head of her good friend, Jerome Kesler, become separated from his shoulders and skid across the floor. Her own body remained in place while three of the investors hiding under the control panel with her completely lost their minds and made a run for it – only to be executed without remorse. As the aliens stood there looking at the remaining survivors of the massacre, she waited for the inevitable... but it never came.

In a span of time that Janice could not decide if it was seconds or hours, the world stood still. The room was dark, and it appeared to Janice that the electricity in the room was shut off except for a faint glow coming from the control panel. The low humming of the power generators and the white glow of the energy field indicated that the massive room beyond the tinted glass pain was unaffected by the power outage. No one remaining alive in the room dared to move, and the aliens made no attempt to put them out of their misery. Instead, all but two of them went back out to the large open floor below.

Janice studied the two remaining aliens, taking in their nightmarish features. Their slick, black frames reminded her of the hard exoskeleton of a beetle. Underneath their skin, tight muscles rippled through their bodies. She looked at the massive blades still stained with the blood of her friends at the end of four arms that seemed disproportionate to their bodies.

As her eyes moved up to their heads, she resisted the urge to look away. Instead, she gazed upon its two disc-like bulbous eyes, and saw that they were multifaceted like that of a fly. Their mouths were massive and lined with pointed teeth. On either side of their mouths, a pair of massive glimmering mandibles pinched and retracted. The grotesque features eventually proved too much for her to stomach, and she had to look away.

Janice returned her gaze down to her feet, but out of the corner of her vision, she still made out the silhouettes of the aliens standing over them. The remaining pair stood there stoically, barely giving any indication they were even alive. As Janice's senses started to return, she noticed new sounds coming from beyond the small control room. 'More are coming,' she thought to herself with dread.

The next sense to come back to life was feeling, as she realized something from her left was nudging at her. She looked over and saw Bill Waterson cowering beside her. His large frame was barely able to fit under the panel with her, and he was contorted in a way that looked far from comfortable. The seemingly permanent smile he had always worn was nowhere to be found now.

"Why aren't they killing us?" he whispered hoarsely to her. Janice could only shrug as she scanned the area for more survivors. In the confines of the small room, no one was doing a good job hiding. She could easily see three of the investors making a poor attempt to hide in the closet Jerome opened once the chaos broke out. She turned her head left and right to see who was under the long panel with her, and recognized Frank and Rich from her team of project managers. Further down was Stephanie Herbert, the Director of Technical Operations.

She then noticed movement in the middle of the room, and saw someone covered in blood crouching over a body lying still on the floor. She glanced up at the aliens, and found they were both looking at the new development as well, but they remained motionless outside of the subtle head movement. Janice returned her gaze back to the floor, and was relieved to identify Jared Renfro as the crouching figure. She allowed herself the smallest hint of relief upon now knowing all on her project team had somehow survived. Jared was moving slowly from person to person, apparently checking for life. The aliens standing guard allowed it, but his check would turn out to be fruitless.