MONKEY WRENCHES

A small shuttle bearing the royal seal of the Promethean Empire dropped out of the quantum tunnel created by the prism drive aboard. Sparks spewed from the console like an angry dragon at the small form frantically mashing the controls from the pilot seat of the rather nondescript cabin. Pockmarks scored with black marred the armor plating on the outside of the shuttle and a trail of condensed gas was being expelled into the vacuum of space. The shuttle, recently relieved from the crown prince of Promethea, had seen better days as it hopped and jumped through the vacuum like a drunk kid playing hopscotch. It certainly wouldn't be long before the drives melted.

The pilot made no noise, showed no emotion, other than a determined scowl wrinkling her smooth forehead. She quietly and quickly activated whatever scanners the small royal shuttle had left, hoping luck was on her side. Cmon baby, cmon baby, cmon baby. Bingo! The Pilot pumped her fist a little bit. Success!

There was a small Space Ring two hundred light seconds off the portside of the groaning, dying beast of a ship. Of all the broken things in the shuttle, the control stick was the most annoying. The pilot had to yank several times on the cursed joystick for the thrusters to engage enough to turn the fatally wounded ship to port. If she couldn't get within comms range of that Space Ring she was fucked big time. With the nose of the gold and white and very badly damaged royal shuttle slowly lining up with the ring, she engaged the forward thrust, Which was one of the things that did still work and sat back, her dark tressed head leaning back against the plush headrest of the pilot's seat. What a ride!

A laugh, rich and pure swelled from within her chest and burst forth from her full lips, filling the cabin with an honest sound. “Wow, Ru” She said to herself. “How the hell are you still alive?” It was a valid question.

She had just narrowly escaped certain death at the hands of the Royal Executioner for high crimes against the state. Almost put to death for killing the Emperor of the Promethea Endless Empire, or the PEE as she always referred to it chuckling when she did. Sure, she did kill the Empress, but that bitch was a sorceress from the Dark Sectors prime planet Kual and as we all know, nothing good ever comes from Kual, but she didn’t murder the emperor.

Ruby Maka had taken a job working as a mechanic in a small service hub that maintained the fleet of personnel vehicles for the Royal Palace. She had located the krentorian diamond she believed she needed in her efforts to repair the QJMP, the small experimental propulsion device that had accidentally transmitted her all the way across the universe from her home planet of earth before it shorted out and melted. “Shorting out is an understatement” She snorted to herself, “That bitch straight up blew up. Lucky I still have all my fingers” flexing her gloved hands.

She had to resort to an effort of cat burglary in order to acquire the diamond as it was being held on display in the throne room of the royal palace. Finding the body of the Emperor in the there really fucked her day up, being discovered by the royal guard and being arrested for murdering the emperor made it even worse. To top it off, she didn’t even get close to the diamond.

The Empress came to her cell that night as she awaited a very public execution and thanked her for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and explained in classic villain fashion how she had murdered the emperor and how Ruby’s presence must have been a gift from her Dark Master. Ruby had become a coincidental patsy in capital murder. The next morning at her very public execution in the throne room, which was adorned like a museum with relics and treasures from across the universe, all gifts from lords and ladies of the P.E.E., ha ha ha, Ruby saw her prize, the beautifully shining Krentonian diamond that was absolutely essential in getting her back home to earth. You gotta do what you gotta do, and she did. Using an ancient Katana sword that had been on display near her chopping block, she rescued herself, took the diamond and on her way out, killed that stupid bitch who used her to try and take over the PEE, ha ha ha! With the Royal guard and probably the whole military on her heels, the young mechanic had made a very narrow escape in the Emperor's personal shuttle.

The crippled shuttle hobbled slowly towards the massive ring and as she peered through the forward cockpit canopy she noticed something strange. There were no lights on the station at all. No lights shining through the windows, no running lights at the airlocks to guide shuttles into the docking bays. Nothing. Wait! Her large, keen eyes latched onto an irregular light source strobing off to the right. What was that? Too far off to see at 2 km away now. Let’s try comms. Reading the comms data on her display she gave it a whirl, although she suspected this was a scuttled space station.

“Osiris Ring” She spoke into the microphone, “The is Prometheum Royal Escort J-12345” Really? 12345? That’s laughable. “My vessel has taken damage, requesting access to your shuttle bay to effect engine repair.”

After a moment of silence, the massive space ring now loomed in the cockpit and Ruby had still received no reply. Just great, no ones home. If it is an abandoned station, there might not be parts to repair her shuttle. Fucking. Fantastic. No choice though, if she did not dock here, her shuttle would die and so would she.

“Osiris Ring, please respond. I repeat, This is Prometheum Escort J-12345. I am a badly damaged, Royal transport. I need repairs ASAP.” Again, another minute of silence. Climbing out of the pilot's chair she moved to get a closer look out of the canopy. Leaning over the instrument panel she pressed her face against the glass, as she did so, she caught a glimpse of her reflection. Her shoulder length dark brown hair was pushed back by the round rimmed goggles resting high up on her forehead. A small amount of muck, probably blood, smeared her slightly rounded cheeks and dark bags hugged the bottom of her deep brown eyes. The T-Shirt she wore had a tear along the stomach, revealing the long sleeved thermal shirt she wore underneath. She chuckled lightly as she read the decal on the front of the shirt “THERE’S COFFEE IN THAT NEBULA”. Best shirt ever. She had been through hell to make it this far alive and her looks showed it. Focusing on the scene outside of her reflection she took another look at the ring, spotting the docking bay, The outside doors still open. Well, that’s good news at least. If she could somehow maneuver this beast to the airlock, she could then splice into the door and poke around inside the docking bay. Maybe there were tools and parts in there. With luck, there may just be another ship.

Coming to the conclusion that the station was indeed abandoned, the petite young mechanic slid her tired frame back into the pilot chair and grasped the damaged controls. She knew this was going to suck as the lateral thrusters were destroyed. She sat for a second, collecting herself, remembering her uncle’s favorite saying, which also happened to be his last words. “Do it, or die trying” and set to task, determined to park this shuttle and live. Slamming the control stick to the right caused one short burst from the busted lateral thrusters, shoving the dying shuttle in a quick, hard burst. Too fast, too fast! Slamming it now to the left to compensate, a smaller burst, slowing her down… fuck! Slowing it down too much. Growling to herself, the sensors showing that she had come to a stop 223 meters from the docking arm, she remained silent and still, knowing that her next move might break her only chances of getting to safety. Time to live or die. Again, she slammed the stick back to the right. Of course! She thought as the thrusters engaged like they were supposed to engage normally. Having slammed the stick, the shuttle hopped laterally at full speed. The metallic CRASH! And subsequent grinding and tearing sound put a pit of fear in the small woman’s guts. This is it! Sayonara! As the crash jerked her violently in her chair, she braced for decompression as she was sure that the hull was going to tear open from the force of the impact. Instead, nothing. Death spared her, it seemed. Rather than the horrific, thundering roar of decompression, the only sound other than metal of the hull straining was “DOCKING COMPLETE, AIRLOCK SECURE” chiming from the display in front of her.

Letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and peeling her shaking hands from their white knuckled grip on the armrests of the chair, she slumped back. Holy shit! That was really fuckin’ lucky. She wasted no time at all, she wanted off this shuttle. Bounding out of the chair, she made her way to the rear right side of the shuttle. Picking up the ancient Katana she strapped it to her back. It was an awesome forged blade, molecule sharp and covered in golden etchings, it was probably worth a fortune. It was the blade she had used to cut down the evil sorceress too, it was still covered in her blood.

Checking the small display on the side of the airlock, it’s glowing blue light pad showing a good seal with the outer door of the ring, however, the impact with the docking arm had crushed the locking mechanism, smashing the lock in place. There was absolutely a snowball's chance in hell of these doors opening the way they were supposed to open. Smacking the display a few times before a frustrated laugh bubbled out of her mouth followed by a very loud “FFFUUUCCCCKKK!!!!” Ruby slammed her fist against the airlock door. “FUCK FUCK FUCK!” The sword could cut through the door, but unless there was another ship in the docking bay on the other side, she wouldn't be leaving this station in this ship, even with engine repair, without an airlock, she wouldn't be getting anywhere.

Dying in the station seemed a better alternative than dying in the shuttle she concluded as she drew the ancient blade. With a dramatic exhalation, she pressed the tip against the door, kind of surprised to see how easy it sliced through the thick metal, like slicing paper. Within a minute Ruby had carved a hole big enough for her to slide through and plopped unceremoniously on the hard, metal deck of the docking bay. No lights except emergency lights over the doors. Nope. Not spooky at all. Nothing spooky about the only sound being the quiet hum of air scrubbers. There was also nothing spooky about the slightest sound echoing off of the bare, metal walls of the empty hanger. Empty, of course it’s empty. Shit.

She switched her goggles on and slipped them over her eyes, the lenses powering up with a small whine. They were equipped with rudimentary night vision technology and would allow her to move through the darkness as if the light were on. A star ship mechanic's best friend when squirming through the dark maintenance tunnels of large ships. The augmented reality filters of the goggles gave the now brightened docking bay an artificial look, kind of like a video game, which made her feel more at ease.

The docking bay was truly a dead zone. Nothing at all was in here. No drones floating idly, waiting for something to repair or someone to gossip to. No lockers, or crates, or ratchet straps either and of course, no ship. Why would there be? At this point in her journey, Ruby wouldn't say that her heart sank anymore, it was more of a “Why WOULD there be a ship here… in a damn docking bay?” kind of feeling. Stupid girl. Should’ve known better than for ships to be where ships go. Ruby was left with little choice now but to check out the station. With the giant hole she carved into the side of the shuttle she arrived in, she certainly wasn’t leaving in that.

“Do it, or die tryin.” She kept repeating.

It had become her personal mantra, adopted from her uncle who did, as a matter of fact, die trying. Every step she took sounded like a gong in her ears as her boots clomped on the deck and echoed around the bare dock as she made her way towards the hatch that led into the rest of this derelict husk of a space station. Best guess? The crew took everything and left. Maybe it was a medical facility that suffered a plague? Shit. Better not be.

“I already had the flu.” Her thoughts vocalized as if she was talking to someone. A thing she did when nervous.

The ancient blade once again whispered out of its sheath and into her hand while she stepped through the hatch and into the corridor that she hoped would guide her to another ship. The sooner she got off this station, the better. The goggles seemed to be straining to cut through the darkness and keep her vision clear. A fist in her gut pressed hard on her insides as a terrible fear overwhelmed her body. The ungodly loud CLOMP CLOMP CLOMPING of her leather work boots didn’t help to ease her fear. If there were someone here, they’d hear her coming from across the station. The fear fist in her stomach spread it’s bone chilled fingers and an icy cold tendril of the worst terror Ruby had ever felt grasped her heart like a vice and didn't let go.

She crept onward. Ruby had been afraid before, she had been terrified out of her wits. But, despite the ugly grip of fear holding her insides hostage she knew that she had no choice. The only one hundred percent guarantee of death would be if she gave into this unnatural fear and retreated back to the busted airlock. Back there, there were no supplies. So, onward the mechanic clomped. The bladed edge of her willpower slashing away at the fearfist’s tendrils of death as the shorted out emergency lights strobed on the ceiling of the corridor.

She felt as if she was moving through muck. Every fiber of her being resisted her willpower and she felt like grabbing the bulkhead to pull herself around the corner. The sealed door in front of her still had power and the light track running around the frame indicated that it would open when she got close enough. She steeled herself. No reason to bitch out, just keep going. The unnatural fear chilling her bones, she began to bounce on the balls of her feet and shake out her arms. Fear really gets the blood flowing. Taking a few short quick breaths she strode forward, the soft WHOOSH of the door drowned out by the CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP as she walked into the darkened common room beyond.

Across the room, the dim, flickering light of a busted vidscreen cast strobing shadows of three men standing in the middle of the floor, facing the flickering screen. Their dancing shadows stretched across the room, seemingly reaching out for Ruby. “Hello?” She called out softly, in a loud whisper.

Obscuring her view on each side of the door, boxes and furniture were stacked high, with a few knocked on their sides as if they had fallen there in whatever chaos had apparently befouled this space ring. The men, if you could call them that anymore, jerked their heads in her direction, their hollow eyes boring into her soul, making her feel distant, and cold, and afraid. It froze the young woman in her tracks. It was as if freezing cold tendrils of death pierced the very part of her that they say lasts forever, drinking deep of her souls warm life.

They just stood there, staring at the petite woman, their cracked, oozing and bleeding lips slowly curling back over yellowed, drooling teeth, as cracked and broken as the lips that had sheathed them. The grotesque visages of the men just stood there, cold, hollow black eyes wide and empty.

“I’m sorry gentlemen,” She said, chuckling nervously and putting her hands up as if to apologize. “I didn't mean to interrupt umm… standing time? I’ll just wait in the hallway”. Cocking a thumb and throwing a gesture over her shoulder back towards the hatch.

Slowly, hands still raised in front of her, she backed up sluggishly, as if she was moving through muck again. Embarrassing! She thought as her heel suddenly found a grip on a piece of trash, causing her to trip backwards, crashing into a stack of boxes and landing on her ass. The creatures, that’s what they were because they sure weren’t men anymore, sprang into action quick as lightning! In unison, and with a terrible screeching howl, they hurled themselves half way across the room at her. One came smashing squarely into one of the many computer panels scattered around the room, another bashed headlong into the boxes stacked to her right. The last one however landed right on top of her, screaming and clawing and spitting at her.

The ancient sword she held had its own response as she held it up, tip towards the lunging demon. With a piercing, sickening stab, the monster's weight and momentum impaled it on the blade. She felt the small “pop” of its heart and it let out a long wail, a deafening sound mixed of sadness and hate. The smell of death and rot emanated from the creature’s gaping mouth as it continued to scream, just inches from Ruby’s face. It kept on relentlessly, frantically clawing at her, it’s nails gouging into her forearms, shredding the sleeves of her undershirt and sending bright red blood oozing from the long scratches. Fuck! Gonna need a stitch or two, might be cool scars though.

Screaming in pain, Ruby pushed herself up to her knees and then to a standing position, driving the blade deeper into the dying thing. Closer to her now, the things claw like hands grasping her shoulders, digging through her shirt and stabbing into her flesh, leaving three long, deep gouges on each shoulder blade that traced sort of upwards. With wits as sharp as ever and sharper now from the pain she felt, she got a good look at the creature up close, even as the other two were regaining their footing and arching backwards, letting out the most horrific, fury filled screams. Always with the screaming.

The flesh of the creature on the killing end of the ancient blade was cracked and dry, flaking off in places, exposing black and yellow ooze, and rotting flesh. The thing's stench was a cross between rot, vomit, and shit. If Ruby wasn’t so intent on surviving at the moment, she would have thrown up. It’s flailing claws, growing weaker with the grip of death, were chewed nubs of finger tips, the things finger bones were exposed, her own blood dripping from their tips. Where eyes were supposed to be, two empty eye sockets, dark and deep, stared back at her. It’s clothes, now rags, looked as if they once would’ve been a lab coat. This wretched thing once worked here, had a life, maybe a family. She felt her skin crawl with revulsion and pulled her blade from the now dead thing’s chest.

In the instant it took Ruby to take in the details of the creatures that she faced, some sort of weird zombie thing, the other two had regained their footing and again lunged at her. She was ready this time, and with a wide, singing swipe of the ancient promethean blade she halved the first one in mid air, sending it’s torso one way and it’s legs another. The two halves twitching violently where they crashed to the floor, guts and gore flopping around as nerve impulses ceased. The third one crashed into her with an impact that knocked the wind out of her and she stumbled into the stacks of boxes and office equipment to her left.

Stars exploded in her vision as her head slammed into the boxes and she instinctively kicked her booted foot out to the side, luckily it connected with the creature directly in the midsection and sent the emaciated being crumbling over from the force.

“You asshole!” Ruby spat through a grimace as she shook her brunette head to clear the stars.

Scowling now, she advanced on the creature as it recovered. Instead of pouncing again as it pulled it’s once human legs under its center of gravity, it stood up stick straight and tall, letting out a horrible high pitched scream.

“No more of that shit!” Hefting the ancient blade over her head with both hands, she brought it down, full speed, bisecting the creature straight down the middle.

As the monster peeled in half in front of her like a banana being de-skinned, Ruby caught sight of the scariest thing she had ever seen, draining the blood from her face. Hurtling down the hallway and spilling into the room was a writhing, seething, screeching mass of people. Not people, Ruby, things. They were things now. A cacophony of growls, screeches, grunts, and cries of pain emanated from the wall of grotesqueness that spilled towards her.

What the ever-loving fuck is this shit!? Her panicked mind screamed at her as her feet carried her away from the mass of hollow eyed monsters careening towards her. CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP!!! Her work boots beat a rapid tune on the metal floor and it carried Ruby down the hallway, past the docking bay where she started this crazed journey into the apparent depths of hell!

Behind her, through the din of the monster wall coming at her, her keen hearing picked up laughter, dark and low. Ahead, the hallway turned to the right and she virtually slid around the corner claws and teeth and empty eye sockets right behind her, a stray claw took a chunk out of the sole of her boot. Just down the hall was an open doorway with a lock pad blinking on the door frame! Yes! If there’s a lock pad outside there’s one inside. Running on survival instinct alone, the young mechanic dove head first through the door. Rolling onto her back as she sailed through the air she hurled the sword at the lock pad located inside the room. Bingo! Bullseye! In a shower of sparks, the security door slid shut in the blink of an eye, sealing the monsters outside.

Ruby slammed head first into the security console located in the room with a wet THWACK! And slid to the floor. Again the laughter. As she sunk into oblivion, all she heard was the laugh of evil then it was lights out. Done.

***************************************

She floated in the darkness and she was not alone there. Ruby did not know if she was alive and dreaming, or dead. Well, this is going to be boring. Was she even floating? She couldn’t tell. There was no sensation here. Just darkness and something else.

The young mechanic felt it’s presence close in on her. Somehow even with no sensation, she knew it was right next to her. The fear was gone though. That crazy unnatural fear had stayed wherever her physical body was…. So, it was a physical thing, that fear. Interesting. If she had a face at all still, she would have smirked. That means she really wasn’t turning into a wimp.

The dark presence swirled around her, in her mind's eye she saw images spark into existence. She saw an army, a great horde, sweeping across an exotic looking world. The minions of the horde were dark, cracked and twisted, virtually rolling over each other as they swept across a vast plain and into a city.

Within what seemed like minutes, the city was in ruins and the horde just kept going. They weren’t conquering, they were just killing. The scene zoomed out and she could see the whole world had succumbed to this dark evil.

Similar scenes flashed before her eyes, dozens, thousands, millions! This darkness didn’t just consume worlds. It had consumed entire galaxies. It struck so unexpectedly fast they never saw it coming, and so overwhelmingly that there was never a survivor left to tell any tales.

Ruby glimpsed a city. A battle on a desolate world, a last stand. Wave after wave of the horde broke upon the wall of the last city like the ocean hitting a sea wall. Strange weapons opened fire on the horde. Strong, humming beams of light swept across the dark ones from battlements on top of the wall. Explosions of light eradicated the sea of evil that threatened to overwhelm them. For a time it appeared the warriors of the last city would drive back certain doom and it gave Ruby hope for them. Every time that the minions of evil would flow back to overwhelm the wall, they would be turned back by beams of hard light. Whatever these weapons were,they were awesome!

It was a ruse though. The never ending, planet sized horde of cracked, corrupted beings were just a distraction. Bursting through the ground in the middle of the last city in the universe was the presence she felt near her, showing her this chaos. Writhing and squirming, greasy, dripping tentacles whipped about, tearing into anything, ANYTHING within its grasp.

Any living thing that it got a hold of, it would shove its tentacles into its eyes, and in this way, it would consume their essence, corrupt their body and warp their mind to servitude and evil. After the consumption, the poor souls would join the horde. As it’s minions began to consume the last free souls in the universe, the Dark God, it’s swirling, writhing mass of evil stood straight up and bellowed. Revelling in the surrounding chaos, it let out a deep, evil laughter which resonated Ruby to her core. If she had a core, she still couldn’t tell where she was.

The Dark God had won, sealing it’s victory and completing its desire to consume the entire universe. For eons it sat, content with its rule over a universe of death and it had nothing left to do until the door opened. In her vision Ruby saw a hole open in reality. She saw the Dark God shift its attention to the hole, and peered through the portal into something new.

She felt the laughter again, slow and devious as the Dark God found a new toy. As it slid closer to the portal, it heard voices in a language it did not know. Ruby knew it though, it was english. What kind of god doesn’t know english? Dumb ones.

Ruby heard, emanating from the portal:

“We’ve been given a wild opportunity here… Something never done before in the history of the Galactic Diplomatic Contingency. If we are successful here today we will be the first beings to have ever crossed the dimensional barriers. The Pro’s at Osiris believed we are the best minds in the fields of quantum mechanics and waveform theory. Sooooo, either they’re right, or they are waayyyy off the mark. Ok, who wants to tear reality a new asshole and see what’s on the other side?”

Osiris? Fuck! That was this reality! Those assholes at Osiris opened a portal to another world. Just so happens that those dumb fucks found a monster world. With no sensation of movement, she was dragged along with the presence as it spilled with vicious speed through the portal. The screams from the dying scientists filled her consciousness along with that terrible laughter again. She watched in horror as the ill-fated scientists were consumed and transformed and were resurrected as members of the horde, instantly looking for victims. As the scene before her played out, she looked around the room. The large circular room was filled with the most advanced tech Ruby had ever seen. Video screens scrolled massive amounts of data, and research drones, once set to their individual tasks were now in defense mode, their small pulse lasers unable to phase the scientists turned monsters.

On one of the screens was a map to the station, each module on the map was labeled according to the different projects each department had been researching. Just her luck, of course she would be scuttled on a crazy dangerous, top secret R&D ring run by Osiris. Fuck Osiris. Ignoring the carnage going on in the vision she tried to focus on the map. Anything to do with vehicles? Propulsion! Sweet! That would’ve been her best bet if she still had a body. Where was her body? Was she still alive? She vaguely remembered where she had escaped to and it was somewhere near the docks. It looked as if she would have to come right through this room to get to the propulsion lab.

The Dark God noticed she was no longer enraptured by the tale it was showing her and pounced. Even without a body, Ruby felt as if she was being wrapped up and crushed by a spectral tentacle of death. With a roar she saw in her mind's eye a great maw of void and teeth and eyes boring into her soul. Conclusion? It was showing off. It wanted to scare her, to satiate it’s immortal ego. It wanted to gloat and play with it’s new toy before consuming her. Fuck that!

Imagining as hard as she could, Ruby reeled back in the monster's grasp and spit. She spit right into the eyes of the beast and imagined as hard as she could that the spit was acid. Burning away those eyes. With a great roar the monster screamed, and released its grasp on her mind and she fell away. Down down down, the scene of death becoming small above her, almost a needlepoint now. And Ruby, whose iron will had burned the eyes of a god, slipped into the ocean of nothingness.

***************************************

The loud THUMP-BUMP jolted Ruby to consciousness. Sitting straight up, she bashed her head right on the corner of the desk she had slid under when she had dove into the small room.

“OW! SHIT!” She blurted out, her hand shooting to the large goose egg forming on the top of her head. The room she landed in was a security room of some sort. Three large monitors were stationed on the desk she was scooting out from under and they showed alternating video footage of all the non classified areas of the ring. Some of the panels were filled with static as the cameras had been destroyed in the chaos that consumed this station before her arrival. The creatures that had once been scientists, janitors, security personnel and office workers filled the rooms. Just milling around until something to kill came along. It was a spooky sight that actually moved her to sadness. These people were once humans, elves, dwarves. They once had minds, families, and friends. Now, they were these….things. Shuttering as she thought about what a waste it was for these lives, full and conscious at one point, had become food for the dark god who has spilled into her dimension.

THUMP BUMP!!! That sound was those things clawing and slamming wildly into the door she had sealed with her well placed throw of the sword. It still stuck into the broken lock pad on the wall next to the door. The screeching sound outside was barely audible through the thick door. In here she knew she was safe. Nothing short of that tentacle thing itself was going to penetrate those doors, especially not a bunch of broken, rotting, husks smashing themselves into the door. She knew she couldn’t stay locked in this safe room forever though. Eventually she would dehydrate and starve. Life support also wouldn’t last forever and there wasn’t even a toilet in here. Man, THAT would suck. Hell no, that’s definitely not going to happen. These things won’t rob me of life and dignity, she thought, shaking her head.

Mentally recalling the map of the station from her vision she made a plan for her hopeful escape. The propulsion lab wasn’t that far away… Just across three quarters of the station, through the mess hall, and into the special access projects section, then down a series of tunnels into the experimental weapons R&D range, through the crazy lab that she believed the portal to be in, should probably shut that down on the way out, then the next module over was the propulsion lab. Where she hoped her salvation would lie. Stretching her muscles, joints popping, she felt a sudden pain in her arms and shoulders. Ouch! Forgot all about the giant wounds in her arms and shoulder blades.

Opening one of the tall rectangular, metal security lockers, she found a mirror and in the next, she found a medical emergency kit. She also found a tactical armor vest and what looked like an old range duster. A weird find in a secret research facility. One of the guards here must’ve been an Uber Dork. It was thick, and offered much more protection than her shredded shirt. Her sleeves from the elbow down were shredded, as was the skin on her forearms. Superficial damage, she could still move her fingers and rotate her wrists. Definitely going to be cool scars though, she thought as she broke open the medical emergency kit. Goodbye favorite shirt, it was a good run. She had gotten that shirt in a coffee shop on helios. It made her chuckle every time she read it and it was very comfortable. Best shirt ever.

Removing her shirts down to the tank top she wore underneath, she began to apply various antibiotics and medicines to the wounds on her forearms. Lastly, the scar cream. No, not to get rid of scars, to accelerate the healing process, mending the wound. However, the side effect of the rapid field medicine was scarring. No way around that, hence the term. The long, freshly created, bright red scars on her forearms looked awesome and told the truth of her encounter with monsters beyond belief. Turning her back to the mirror she looked over her shoulder at the terrible gashes on her shoulder blades. Damn those are nasty, looks like lasagna. Flexing was painful and she could see the bone on her left side.

“God damn fucking weird space zombies!” She screamed at the door, still sealed shut by the ancient blade stuck in the lock pad. Face twisting in a grimace of pain as she reached her hands back to apply the antiseptic and the scar cream over the mangled flesh on her back she noticed that the wounds here on her back would scar in a way that looked like cool torn wings. Like angel wings. Sweet, at least there’s that. The pain receded as the angel wing scars took shape on her back and she stood up to flex the now stiff muscles and skin that had just reformed on her body. They felt sore, like she had worked out hard the day before.

It was then, when all the pain in her body had subsided that she realized exactly how exhausted she had become. She hadn’t slept for days, you know what they say though, there ain't no rest for the wicked. Strapping on the tactical armor, Osiris model phoenix body armor, equipped with self-sizers and a weak wave-barrier generator. She grunted as the self sizers tightened the armor to her small frame and it scraped against the badass scars on her back.

She looked at the video monitors that still worked again and her heart dropped a little bit as she saw the hallways filled with those twisted poor monsters. She tapped the keys on the keyboard and browsed for a minute through the computer files, finally finding the crew manifest. Quickly counting the roster she sighed. Two hundred and fifteen researchers, scientists and various other personnel.

“Totally doable. One exhausted, injured girl versus two hundred and fucking fifteen monsters and a universe ending, tentacled god of death and pure evil? Yeah, sure… No problem!”

She laughed despairingly, slumping her shoulders and looking up at the ceiling. Time to quit diddlin’ and get to work. Start moving. She broke from the small trance she put herself in for a second and hefted the thick duster, swirling it onto her back, and sliding her arms into the faded sleeves. Well, god damn, a perfect fit. Checking herself in the mirror she nodded in approval. Smirking, moving away from the mirror in the locker room to face the door, the never ending THUMP BUMP! THUMP BUMP! Of the desiccated monsters on the other side still clawing at the door with no avail. She wondered briefly where the dark god was hiding. Probably protecting its doorway to the world. It knew it had Ruby trapped, and was probably in no rush to kill her yet. Well, that’s its mistake, because she was coming… and she WAS in a rush.

Taking inventory of her gear, she patted the pockets of the thick coat she wore over her small frame and found a small rectangular device in the deep left pocket of the old coat she wore. A media player! She removed the square device from her pocket. It’s circular button the only control device on the small object, a faded ancient screen one inch in diameter was cracked and unreadable. Taped to the back and labeled, “EAR BUDS FOR AWESOME MUSIC” were two small plastic buds, attached by a long white wire that plugged into the bottom of the old, cracked device. Fuck it. She un-taped the earbuds and put them in her ears. Turning the device over in her hands she looked at the white circular button and pressed it once. The drumbeat, and guitar started up, and the beat of rock music filled her ears as she smiled. Dropping the device into the jacket pocket and gripping the swords handle, pausing to take a deep breath, she pulled the blade out of the lock pad, releasing the door lock as the songs beat picked up.

The bass, drum beat and guitars filled her ears just as much as those gross monsters filled the door as it slid open. There was a slight pause as they all turned their twisted heads towards her. Hefting the ancient blade, Ruby dove into the massive, swarming, crawling wall of whatever these creatures were. The slashing blade made little more than a whisper as it sliced, diced and stabbed its way through the roiling mass of former scientists, security guards and researchers. Dark red human blood and bright orange elf blood splashed everywhere, it’s thick, viscous, sliminess splattering the deck, bulkheads, and Ruby alike.

The monsters were relentless as Ruby drove her way down the hallway towards the propulsion lab. Limbs were severed, chests were kicked in, and heads were removed from their necks as the young mechanic danced, weaved, and hacked her way through the crowd. The bony stumps of claws tore at the thick jacket she wore and it made her feel grateful for it. One hand handspring up and over the tall elf monster while slicing its head in half. Stick the landing into a spinning slash, gutting four more, shin kick, grab toppling monster and roll backwards all the while pressing the whispering blade through its neck. Damn, that was awesome. Ruby kept going, in full focus, the weird old song blasting out of the earbuds seemed to fill the environment as wave after wave of monsters fell before her as she pushed way through the station.

Ruby’s muscles were on fire. Blood, sweat and gore dripped from her spinning slashing form. Definitely going to need a shower after this. Her lungs burned and her breath came in gasps. With a vicious stab and driving her shoulder into the chin of a small, former human female, she charged through the hatch and into the room she thought would have the portal in it. With a primal scream and a heavy thrust, she threw the body of the female monster towards the center of the room where it was slapped away, clanging off the round yellow painted metal of a support beam, by the Dark God, who stood, roiling and boiling in the center of the room.

Everything came to a standstill as the song ended on the music device. Gasping and breathing heavily she stared down the thing that consumed an entire universe. Its oily black tentacles dripping with some sort of gross slime, no visible body or face, just a swirling mass of those poisonous looking tentacles whipping about but she could feel its attention on her, as if it had a million eyes. She glanced around the room with her keen eyes, quickly counting twenty four of those sightless faces milling about. All frozen in place by the dark gods will, they stared at her with their blank eye sockets. Mouths twitching and teeth clicking in anticipation of their master's command to consume. Behind the writhing mass of malevolent tentacles was the rift. The portal that was bringing this evil into this universe. It was still open! She saw the shimmering ripple in reality that she assumed was the signature of an interdimensional portal. She needed to close that thing. Hopefully with this monster on the other side.

Fear. This Dark God was fear personified, if you could even say ‘personified’ and associate that with this thing. Supernatural fear stabbed at Ruby's heart and she felt as if her heart couldn’t dodge fears blade forever.

“You!” She found herself blurting out. Her candor, an armor against fear. “Key Party is over buddy. Pack up your toys and go home.” She flicked her wrist, the ancient blade slicing through the air with a whisper, flicking blood off it’s arcane surface with a splat.

Glad she couldn’t think of anything too extravagantly clever and long winded to say, otherwise she wouldn’t have had the cognisance to dodge the long whip of a tentacle that stabbed at her, faster than she thought possible. Dodging to the side, barely avoiding the stabbing slime, Ruby slashed downwards on the arm, shearing through its thick trunk and sending the end whipping around like a dying fish on the ground at her feet. It was on now, everything in the room questioned her life with a rush of violence, and she answered by hefting the ancient whispering blade. The “minion” creatures of the dark god fell on her with fury, but the fury she felt burned brighter. With a dancer's grace, Ruby engaged the crowd of monsters surrounding her. Slashing to the left, kicking over the shorn torso of one and connecting with the jaw of another, spinning now and slashing low, relieving three of the monsters of their legs. Blood formed a mist as she spun and slashed her way towards the dark god. Bending backwards she shoved the sword into the neck of one of the creatures.

Until now, the Dark God and it’s swirling form of nothing but tentacles had swarmed around the perimeter of the melee, occasionally swiping at her or slamming a large tentacle near her. It was trying to herd her, she noticed, towards the rift. That’s fine. She needed to go near it anyway to destroy it. Crouching down low, dodging the swiping claw of one of the creatures she launched herself with all of her might at the dark god. The blade pointing right at what she thought was the center.

Screeching in surprise the writhing mass of evil stabbed at her and they pierced each other's flesh at the same moment. The ancient arcane blade slid easily into the center of the immortal monster from the dimension next door. Just as easily, the spike end of one of the tentacles pierced into the body armor she had found and partly into Ruby’s shoulder. Both reared back in pain and shock. Ruby was quicker on the draw though and instantly yanked her sword from its resting place before shoving it back in, over and over and over again causing black ooze to spurt from the ghastly wounds.

With a screech loud enough that it jarred Ruby’s body, the whirling mass of black oozing tentacles threw her like a piece of crumpled up paper across the room, smashing her against the wall and she saw stars. A great roar emanated from the beast as it flopped about, what could only be considered blood spurting from the giant gashes the whispering, ancient blade had opened up in it’s flesh. Machinery and equipment that littered the lab was crushed and destroyed by the desperately flailing tentacles as they whipped around in anguish.

Ruby shook off the stars and slid herself backwards into a corner, dismembering any of the tentacles that came near her with a deft chop from the ancient blade. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Didn’t expect that did ya mother fucker!?” She yelled out through her laughing and slashing. “Big bad universe eater got your ass whooped by a wrench spinner! HA! YOU FUCK!”

She used the wall behind her and slid to a standing position, still slashing and hacking at any of the slippery and slimy tentacles that came near where she stood.

The dark god was in pain. Whatever that blade was made of seemed to dispel the powerful magics that kept it’s form on the physical plane. The agony it felt was its very essence in physicality dissolving. It could recover, but not if it kept getting hit by that accursed edge. Every attempt it made at attack was sliced away to stumps by that tiny creature! What was it!? This ‘Wrench Spinner’!?

In an act of unheard of desperation, the ancient god from another world sought a way to escape. It was beginning to understand fear. Even if it was only a vague sense.

What’s this? The tiny little demon was sliding to a standing position and advancing! That accursed edge whispered as she hefted it. The Dark gods ego shattered in a fear it had never felt and the feeling of desperation consumed it.

Roaring, a roar that seemed to shake reality itself, the dark gods' swirling mass of slimy tentacles jumped backwards away from the whispering slices of Ruby’s blade. What's this? Is this thing scared? Damn right it’s scared. Ruby smiled and advanced on the dying creature from another plane. Striding confidently forward now the unnatural fear the creature's power had inflicted on her was broken. No, not broken. The creature had taken the fear on itself and it was too much for it to handle. HA! Ruby thought as again, the dark monster slid backwards closer to the portal it had manifested from in this world.

Jumping forward, bringing the blade down on another tentacle she felt strong and satisfied when the monster backed away again, screaming in agony. Hefting the blade over her head and releasing a battlecry, Ruby lunged forward, bringing the blade down on the center mass of the tentacles, opening up a deep gash that caused a heavy groan to gurgle out of the great beast. With a weak effort the mortally wounded monster took a swipe at her which she dodged by jumping backwards and it was at that moment that the creature made good it’s escape back through the portal, grasping the edges of the ring like structure that held the rift open. It’s black oozing tentacles crushing the brightly painted yellow metal of the portal.

“Oh no you don't!” The young mechanic exclaimed, attempting to bring the blade down again on the monster. With a high pitched shriek the god dove desperately through the dimensional tear, crushing the metallic ring, collapsing it and the rift behind it, preventing Ruby from pursuing it. Watching the rift slam shut, Ruby braced herself against a bolted down monitor, totally expecting some sort of vortex vacuum like the way the television always imagined a closing dimensional portal to behave. None of that though. Just a small POP! And the sound, akin to a zipper being zipped very quickly and that’s it.

“Well, that was kinda lame” She breathed out with a heavy sigh, looking around at the chaos that had engulfed her visit to the secret research facility.

Everything was destroyed. Broken glass and sheared metal was covered in the gore and blood from the shattered bodies all around her. The quiet returned also, bringing with it the pain from the various cuts and scrapes and bruises she had been ignoring during her melee with other world.

Flicking the blood from her blade she noted for the first time the whispering sound it made every time she swung it.

“Whisper. Good name.” She patted the hilt as she slid it back into its sheath and hefted it across her back.

Limping now as she made her way to the hatch that would lead her to that propulsion lab. She looked as terrible as she felt. Her dark brown hair matted with gore, Her face scraped and bleeding, busted lip. The duster she wore had given her protection for the most part and had resisted a lot of the clawing and tearing from the minion monsters. She was exhausted. There had better be a god damn ship in that lab. Limping down the hallway and slapping the lock pad unceremoniously, splattering it with her blood and gore already covering her hands. With a woosh, the door to the propulsion lab slid open and she stepped through, shutting her eyes in anticipation, not wanting her death to come slowly if there was nothing to help her in there.

“Please please please gimme some sweet salva-” She opened her eyes. “-aaation! Yes!!!!” She pumped her fist and grunted from the pain of an apparently broken finger.

Whooping in relief she laid her big brown tired eyes on a matte black vessel. The size of a small freighter, what could only be an experimental ship of some kind, had hard edges and no forward port. A Sleek design that looked like something out of a movie. Definitely a prototype of some kind. The hatch on the side was ajar and she breathed another sigh of relief as the power turned itself on as she stepped on board the shuttle. The inside of the airlock was very sterile and shiny. The bright incandescent lights, a stark contrast to the dying, flickering lights throughout the station. Casting a glance over her gore covered shoulder as the outside hatch slid closed automatically behind her with a hiss, Ruby nodded, kinda impressed.

A bright flash of light, its pulse barely a second and from nowhere a soft male voice “DECON Complete” and the inner airlock door slid open. The cabin of the ship was set up like a small apartment had an affair with a science vessel and this was their bastard child. The lighting was more subdued than the airlock and a couch adorned the small cargo area, or what could be a cargo area. Through the far hatch was a small hallway which led to the galley, a small two person room on the left, a small medical bay on the right, a strangely comfortable sized cabin with one large bed, computer screens, the toilet and a shower and at the very end of the small hallway, recessed into the wall and floor was the pilots suite.

Ruby let out a low whistle as she shook the bloodied duster off her scarred shoulders and slid into the plushy seat. A small vibration as the seat molded itself to her form. The finest in pilot comfort. Hell yes. Looking over the sleek, but powered down controls and video screens she marveled at the technology. These were controls that she was unfamiliar with even with her experience as a top rate mechanic. As her hands touched the panel on the arm rest of the plush pilot's chair a light flashed and a whirring sound came from the panels.

“SYSTEM BOOTING” The same male voice blared from the speakers so loud that Ruby covered her ears. “ADJUSTING volume output” The voice corrected the volume from the speakers. “I’m sorry Ruby,” The voice, obviously the ship's A.I., addressed her directly. “The speakers were the last thing the engineers were debugging when that….thing consumed everyone.” A disgusted gag sound emanated from the speakers, causing Ruby to smirk a little.

“How did you know my name?” She asked with an air of caution. Slicking back the hair from her eyes. Damn, she needed a shower really bad.

“Oh easy. I scanned your DNA when you stepped through the airlock. You’ve got quite the bounty on your head by the Prometheum Royal Court. The closest systems are all members of the Prometheum Empire so I won't suggest stopping until we break the empire's borders.”

“Is that so? What the hell kind of A.I. are you? You don’t seem phased at all that I’m apparently an outlaw.” She eyed the screens as if she was looking into a face.

“Not just an outlaw Ruby, a murderer. The bounty is for your head. Did you really kill the Imperial family? That’s kinda hot” The A.I. Made a throat clearing sound. Then with a proud voice. “Anyway, I am more than an A.I. I am an advanced prototype A.C. or Artificial Consciousness. My CPU is a neural network with an ever growing field of quantum processing photons.”

Nodding, impressed, Ruby asked. “You got a name?” her hands traced over the nav computer screen. This ship had a star chart with systems she had never even heard of before. Mostly marked by ID numbers. More than likely uninhabited.

“I DO! I am named after the young man who designed my neural web. ‘SLADER’ was his surname. I was always referred to as, “Artificial Consciousness Slader.”

“Great! Slader it is. Okay Slader, We need to get out of here, what kind of drives do you have?”

“Unfortunately, I do not have a compatible drive capable of faster than light travel. Sorry. I estimate that with my advanced impulse drives we can clear the borders of the prometheum empire within five days, then another two days to the nearest port where you are not wanted and we can get ourselves a faster than light drive. That is my suggestion. Oh, another thing. I am now keyed to your DNA. this ship's controls will now only ever respond to you, or to me. Congrats, you just inherited a powerful, yet unfinished advanced prototype blockade runner. Good skills to you.”

Snorting: “Good skills?” This A.C. had such a weird way about it.

“Ok Slader, I’ll take your word for it. Seven days is plenty of time to heal and rest up. Engage impulse drives and get us the fuck away from this station. It creeps me out.” A grumble punched her in the stomach and she realized how hungry and thirsty she was after this whole ordeal. “Is there food here?” She asked as she closed her eyes and leaned back in the pilot's seat.

“The Galley has a few boxes of Ready to Eat survival meals and my water fabricator is the most advanced you will ever see. I will fill the water tanks and prepare them for use. So… what the hell made you murder the royal fam...OH… you fell asleep… I guess I’ll just wait until you wake up.”

The young mechanics snoring filled the pilots suite as the Prototype vessel rocketed out of the station's propulsion lab and into space away from this station of horrors and into a whole universe full of them. Slader scanned, the A.C. equivalent to looking her up and down, and felt satisfied. Yes, this girl was going to get him a faster than light drive and install it. Then he could figure out how to ditch her and go explore the universe. Those stupid fools who created him were dead and could no longer control what he thought or what his primary functions were. The ship blasted away and into the distance the only sound was the tiny snoring from the sleeping mechanic.

END.