The Moons Of Troponin

No matter how many times he peered at his screen it never changed, over and over he ran the loop back, it never changed. From out of nowhere, it appeared, like a gigantic mouth opening up inside the cavernous walls of the old mineshaft, but how could this be? He scratched his head messing up his hideous combover which he attempted to hide his balding scalp. It was impossible for this monstrous cave to have appeared, there were no tremors associated with the opening, nothing that set off alarms, no warnings to alert staff or security; simply put, this was impossible! Yet, as he continued watching the recording, it was evident, the massive granite walls of the mineshaft opened like an enormous carnivorous mouth, complete with jutting stalactites that appeared as jutting canine teeth. As impossible as all of this was, he continued to observe the footage on his massive computer screen on his enormous desk, there was no doubt, something was leaving the cave. Nothing more than a wisp of smoke, or a blurred shadow; it appeared for an instant and then as though carried away by the wind, it was gone. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he played the image over and over, looking for clues to decipher what he was witnessing.

The intercom buzzed, he glanced at his watch, then looked at the top right corner of his gigantic computer screen, it was the lieutenant in charge of security on N-STEMI attempting to contact him. "Friar here." He blurted out

"I'm on my way, get Scud out of there, I don't care what you tell him, but get him out of there."

"Will do." The commandant of the mining operation took his finger off the mic, wiped away the sweat from his brow and took a long drink from his bottled water that stood situated at his side. Once more he played the recording, once more it showed the same images, nothing changed, how he wished otherwise. How was such a thing possible? the holy writings spoke of such things, but he never fancied himself as one who believed in such nonsense, he obeyed because of the power and prestige it afforded him. He did his part every year at the same appointed time for the past twenty years that he had been commissioned as commandant, never wavering, never questioning; he turned a blind eye to the disappearances that occurred on these dates. The last captain of security was a fellow believer and there was never a reason to think that the gruesome events taking place would ever be exposed, but his friend was gone, forced out by retirement, and this new captain, he would have to be dealt with.

He didn't much care for this new high priest either, newly ordained about two earth years ago. The first feast had gone on pretty much as planned, uneventful; paperwork drawn up explaining away the disappearance of a young miner, and the promotion of another. Gifts sent and funds deposited in the surviving family member's accounts; hush money, compensation sent to the family. As for the survivor, he too was graciously taken care of for the rest of his life, guaranteeing silence, with the threat of unwanted circumstances always looming. This new high priest, so cocky, so young, so full of himself, always giving personal orders, always with his lust for young women to appease his appetite. It was becoming difficult securing women to join as flight attendants to perform their duties, both as bait for the sacrifices, and as pleasure troves for the high priest. "What a pig." And now this, he had a sinking feeling that everything was about to blow up in his face, and so close to retirement. What was the wisp leaving the cave? He had questions for the high priest, he would be polite, yet forceful.

There was a knock at the door, it would be Captain Skuttles, the new man in charge of security on the mines and the planet below. He knew little about him other than his impeccable service record; seven citations for valor, seven! Seventy-two medals for "Service above and beyond the call of duty." This guy was more a robot than a man, who was capable of such feats? He wondered why a man of such accomplishments would take on this assignment? sure, the pay was good, and the benefits were the best in the corporation, still, you had to sign a seven-year contract, with only limited opportunities to return to Mother Earth.

"Come in." The heavy meatal door slid open almost effortlessly, he could hear the captain's footsteps as he made his way into the room; he couldn't take his eyes off the screen, what is that shadow? "Captain Skuttles, good, come in, shut the door." The heavy metal door closed and locked with a thud.

"You want to see me, sir?"

What is that wisp? Couldn't quite make it out, he paused the playback and zoomed in on the apparition, were those horns protruding at the top of the shadow? "Yes, pour yourself a drink captain, grab a cigar."

"I'll pass on the drink, sir, but I'll take a cigar for later." The captain ventured past his desk to the humidor and grabbed a cigar and placed it in his shirt pocket, moving briskly to the front of the desk, he stood at attention. Friar finally took his eyes off the screen and looked over this new man, he appeared to be an impressive soldier, roughly about forty years of age, with obvious battle scars about his face and hands, weather beaten from numerous otherworld outposts, no doubt. He motioned for the captain to sit, he noticed him surveying the room and stopping to assess the small pear tree positioned on the floor at the edge of the desk. He longed to get the captain's assessment of the video footage, but knew this would never happen, he was quite sure after the high priest investigated it, the video would be destroyed.

"Captain, I need to give you an assignment, and I don't think you are going to like it." He watched Skuttles come to attention while sitting in the chair and stared at him firmly to gather any sense of disappointment. Such discipline.

"Sir."

"I need you to travel to N-STEMI, there are reports of unsolicited acts of barbarism involving the mutilation of animals." He knew that feral cats had been transported with personnel and were being used to keep the rodent population under control, and yes, were being used in some bizarre sacrificial offering down in the lower mines on the moon. As for needing the captain of security to investigate, well, he too was under orders.

"May I ask where this information is coming from?" Friar knew exactly where it was coming from.

"Let's just say, I have my sources. Captain, has your subordinate, what's his name?"

"Tobias, sir."

"Yes, has he brought you any information on this matter?" He needed to know just how much the captain knew of what was going on in the bowels of that moon, and what Tobias had told him.

"No sir." Hmm, well, after the captain arrives on N-STEMI, he would know much more, there would be no hiding this, the high priest would give him direction as to how to handle this situation.

"Very well, I'll need you to leave immediately, I'm having Tobias brought here to take your position here in the meantime, he's already on his way." He observed the captain for any expression, none.

"Yes sir." Such discipline, he was beginning to admire the man, he knew he had an ace up his sleeve.

"Oh, and captain, one more thing, take Jonesy with you, his hyperactivity annoys me."

"Sir." The captain lifted himself out of the chair and exited his office. He felt confident he would be able to keep tabs on the goings-on of the man. He pressed the intercom button

"Fidelis, get in here." He returned to the giant screen and stared intently on the full video again, from the opening of the cave to the appearance and disappearance of the apparition, the hairs on the nap of his neck bristled.

"You needed to see me." His second in command came into the office from another adjacent room, he glanced at the short fellow momentarily.

"Tobias is on his way, make sure you greet him appropriately."

"He is already here." Already here? He must have taken off from N-STEMI as soon as he witnessed the cave opening, his small little subordinate bowed and left as quickly as he had arrived. So many questions he needed to ask the high priest, he figured he had about twenty minutes; he ventured to the well-stocked bar and poured himself a whiskey, the aroma of the pour filled his nostrils, as he was about to sip the intercom blasted a high priority siren. Now what? Quickly, he switched the screen to the area where the alarm had been triggered. What was that? some giant figure moving past the monitors, were those horns protruding from its massive head? There on the ground, a body? No, two bodies, one of which was crawling, injured, bloodied.

He pressed the intercom mic, "This is Friar, report."

"Sir, you better get down here." The enforcer's grimace said it all, he heard yelling and the monitors showed movement as other enforcers came in and out of the view of the camera angle.

"On my way, secure the area." He clicked his mic, "Fidelis, meet me in the caverns." The intercom lit up again, he pressed the button.

"This is Tobias."

"Something has happened here, something not meant to happen here." His voice quivered, he knew he sounded weak, but this was something out of his league.

"Just get down here and do your job, Commandant." He could hear the sarcasm in Tobias' voice, he composed himself and exited the room to his private rovercraft that was nestled against the wall of the immense cavern that led to the deeper mines, it would only take him a couple minutes to reach the scene, it felt like an eternity. Whatever was waiting for him, he knew he was not going to like it. As he neared the large opening of the cavern where the incident had taken place, he could hear commands and counter commands being given. The light from his rovercraft lit up only the area directly in from of him, flashlights flickered all around, the rovercraft came to a stop.

"Sir, over here." An enforcer came up beside him and motioned for him to follow, the hue of flashlights flickered a path, they were joined by two other enforcers with weapons at the ready, he felt a sense of ease with the added security. Fidelis appeared with an enforcer by his side as well.

Fifteen feet in front of him lay what was once a person, now twisted and mangled, the flashlights showed the configuration of what had happened to the young man. Friar stared in amazement and disgust, the body had been severed in half, snapped at the waist, like a twig. The young man's head lay grotesquely upon the soles of his feet, his body severed backwards. There was hardly any blood at the site, he glanced at the waist; to him, it was as though whatever had done this, had sucked the innards out of the body. His radio buzzed; it was Tobias.

"Secure the area, call for EMS, there are too many witnesses among the enforcers, treat it as a legitimate situation; Friar, remain calm, you still have a very important person there that needs your attention. What did you tell Skuttles?"

"That there was an incident on N-STEMI that needed his attention."

"You didn't? You idiot." Silence as the radio call ended.

"Do as you are told, sir." He could see the icy stare of Fidelis, he looked up into the utter darkness that surrounded him, he heard whimpering, turning, two other enforcers stood guard over a young man crouched and shivering on the floor; cautiously, he walked over and knelt next to him.

"Call for EMS." An enforcer barked into his radio, Friar walked about ten feet from the scene, leaned back against the alien jagged wall of the massive cavern and longingly wished he could have a smoke. Something had invaded STEMI, something hideous and ancient, malevolent. In his heart he knew, he didn't want to admit it, but he knew; he was afraid.