Black Dawn

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Then why as my emergency pod tumbled wildly through the empty dark expanse, did I hear a scream that woke me out of a sound sleep and made every hair on my body stand up. My heart was beating wildly in my chest. It wasn’t really a scream. It was more like a high-pitched shriek of a predator spotting its prey. I peered desperately into the inky darkness, but all I saw was an endless ocean of stars. I took some deep breathes and reassured myself.

“It is just a dream,” I reassured myself.

I took several deep slow breathes counting to three as I blew each breathe out trying to slow my heart rate. I had been flying through space for 3 days. I had just started working on this escape pod’s navigation when the cargo ship was suddenly attacked by carnivorous reptilian pirates. Their cloaked ship appeared out of nowhere. Within minutes hull of our ship was pierced and a walkway was created between the 2 ships that allowed the seven-foot beast to pour into our ship. They were ugly with grey green skin like armor and large bulging yellow eyes. Long thin tongues flicked greedily out of their mouths. Fierce, heartless, and cruel I watched helplessly from inside the pod as the reptilian pirates snatched up the crew and effortlessly ripped open their stomachs with claw like hands. The men and women screamed in pain and fear as the reptiles sucked voraciously their exposed innards. As the people’s intestines tumbled out, the Lizards gulped voraciously. Some clawed wildly through the intestines, pulling out the livers and devouring them raw. I vomited and then fainted. When I opened my eyes, there was an eerie silence. Panic gripped me. Where were these beasts and what would they do next? I cautiously peered out the pod. The mutilated bodies of the crew were tossed haphazardly against the bay doors. I did not see a single pirate.

Suddenly the bay doors opened and the dismembered bodies, the empty emergency pods, and my broken pod was sucked out into the black void of space. Fortunately for me the oxygen and atmospheric controls were still working, but the navigation system was in pieces and the spare parts and most of my tools that I had left on the cargo bay floor, tumbled into space around me. Even if I was able to fix the navigation system, I had no idea where I could go. I was a novice engineer, not a pilot. My geographical knowledge of space was poor, and I knew even less how to navigate using the stars. I had little water and even less food. The emergency oxygen was only good for about 5 days. I had been careening haphazardly in space for 3 days now.

I managed to slow my breathing and heart rate, when suddenly I heard the shriek again. I knew this time it was not my imagination.

“What could make a sound in space?” I said out loud. I cautiously peered out the pod’s window again and all I could see once more was a vast expanse of darkness.

“Where are the stars, “I wondered. Then the blackness rippled. The size of an intergalactic starship, a drifting black cloud hovered above me. The cloud was ever changing its shape as tentacles eased in and out of its form. One of the tentacles wrapped itself around the pod. The pod grew cold, and I gasped for air. Clawed frantically at the air like a drowning victim. Darkness engulfed me. Just before I passed out, I saw flashes of light. Heard a shriek of pain before I fell across the pod floor.