The Last Ship (18+)

Chapter Four: The Irinaut.

Luna couldn't believe what was happening. They had already gotten aboard the ship and managed to get her into the room. Now, she came to find out that without Professor Reed or one of the other's to take her out. She was being forced to stay in a locked room with no windows. What was this? Why was she such a threat?

After being called out, Luna followed behind Reed. Jewel stood in front of Luna while the twins walked next to her on each side. Luna had heard Professor Jewel arguing outside before, about how ignorant is was to keep her locked in that room. "I don't agree to it," Jewel mumbled ahead of them, "She hasn't done anything wrong."

The twins only listened, taking notes about certain things that they had already began to test on. Neither of them wanted to talk about it. They seemed just as upset as Jewel and Reed. As for Bruno, he was enjoying his time alone, with the guns. Professor Garret was yet to be seen. According to Reed, he was on his way to the committee to discuss where Luna would stay permanently.

"I'm sorry, but where are we going, Professor Jewel?" Luna spoke up, walking up forward a few ways to catch up with Professor Jewel, "Can you at least tell me before I get shocked into another coma?" Luna's brow raised. Truly all she wanted to know the truth. She wasn't by any means looking to fight or argue with them. Right now, she just wanted some answers, "I'm not looking to cause problems, Professor Jewel it's just, I'd like some answers too."

Jewel looked back at her, shaking her head lightly before glancing over her shoulder at Luna, "After the spore was released and placed under quarantine, a few Irinauts were captured. They've granted us leave to do a biopsy and see what we can find on the dead ones."

Luna tilted her head lightly, "The dead ones? How many are alive that they're keeping on here? Isn't that dangerous?" Luna had started to come to a halt, but Bruno quickly came up behind her, giving the small female a shove forward back in the circle.

"Enough of that, I'll be here with the gun, you want have to worry about getting hurt." Bruno chuckled as he held up a strange looking gun. Something that clearly didn't look human.

"Bruno, you may be able to take down a Yeti, but point a gun at a Irinaut and see where the shot goes." Professor Reed looked at Bruno as they walked. "You will be staying with your weapons.

Luna tensed a bit, shaking her head lightly at his comment. She moved forward away from him quietly, "You're rude Bruno, and it's not going to get you anywhere."

Bruno grinned; shrugging lightly as he kissed his gun. "You're right, but these babies will."

"Ugh." Professor Jewel rolled her eyes as she scanned her key card. The door opened, letting the group of them inside. All of them gasped in surprise.

In the lab, two Irinaut corpses laid on exam tables. Professor Reed walked up rather quickly, "Look at that! Two of them, can you believe it Professor Jewel? Still fresh!" Both scientists were quite excited. In fact, all of them marveled at the two bodies on the tables.

Luna covered her mouth. Her eyes widened at the two creatures that rested on tables. She quickly turned her head from there view. This didn't feel right. None of it, "They're dead, why are you doing a biopsy on them?"

"Everyone get in your aprons. Luna, sit on the table please." Professor Jewel led her over and helped her sit down. "We'll need your help with a few things, alright? For now just sit here and rest. This is a critical point of time. These are the freshest I've seen any Irinaut corpse, and we need to take advantage of it while we have them, do you understand that?" Professor Jewel smiled, "We have waited quite some time for this."

Luna shifted uncomfortably as she walked passed the two bodies. When Jewel sat her down, she understood; nodding in agreement with the other woman. She understood that they had traced a long ways just to get here away from them. Now, they had a chance to prove their worth, she understood that this was their job, and tried to respect that as far as she could, but she would be no experiment.

Luna sighed softly, leaning back from him and letting out a soft mumble quietly to herself as she turned her attention from their own as they began to work on the two decaying corpses. This was all so sudden, and a lot to take in. Luna wasn't sure why this was so important. 'This happened a thousand years ago,' She thought to herself, 'They should know plenty, right?' Luna tilted her head, oddly feeling obligated to listen to the group as the began to take apart the corpse.

Jewel stood at it's head, pulling off these leech like appendages off the Irinaut's brain. Sam held a recorder for Jewel as he was instructed, "This is Professor Jewel. It is December 20th, the year is 3999, nearly a thousand years after the invasion on planet Earth. Upon arrival to the Solar Sun, we were given the opportunity to do a biopsy on the Irinaut species before it begins its nearly immediate decay. Within 24 hours, it's body will be nothing but a pile of rotten flesh."

"Jesus they already smell!" Bruno turned his attention away from the corpse, not enjoying a moment of it.

"Professor Reed, get these leeches on ice. Hopefully it will give you some time. This is the only one I could get in tact." As Jewel had said, the Irinaut corpses were decaying in front of them. So quickly, you could see the color change in their face.

Luna tilted her head lightly, "Why do they decay so quickly?" She went to stand, but was stopped by Ian, who quickly grabbed her arm and helped her sit down with a light thud.

"We believe it's a defense mechanism. Their intelligence goes much farther then ours ever has. The leeches you see attached to their head could possibly be releasing a venom to speed up the process. The less leeches on their head, the slower the decay. These two are much older then any we have seen, so it's no surprise that they are starting to rot." Ian cleaned up Luna's arm, "Do you care to have your blood drawn? The faster we prove to the captain you're not aggressive, the faster we can get you out of that room." Ian smiled kindly.

Everyone seemed to be sincere about getting Luna out, but it concerned her still. She felt like a guinea pig. Possibly like one of the Irinauts on that table. Though, she obeyed, allowing Ian to take her blood without argument.

"The Irinaut's mouth is quite extraordinary. They have a lip, somewhat similar to ours, but unlike us, the slit expands all the way up too where their jaw would connect." Professor Reed grabbed it's mouth and gave a pull, opening it. As he did, it opened and expanded like a bass mouth, revealing the Irinaut's rows of teeth running around in a circular pattern. "Irinaut are oddly very much like us. Even their genitals are somewhat similar. Telling whether or not they're male or female has become quite simple, but we have never seen a female."

"They could have a hive, maybe that's why they work so well together," Professor Jewel pulled off another leech on the creatures head, to her surprise, it moved.

"A-ah!" Jewel dropped the leech, moving back from it quickly as it opened it's mouth and revealed it's teeth similar to the Irinaut's own. It looked around as if it had eyes, before quickly moving towards Luna where she sat on the table.

"Shit, Luna move!" Ian kicked the creature across the room and into the wall, making it splat rather quickly. The raven hair male's heart was racing as he looked at his foot then over at the creature on the wall, "What the fuck, it was going to bite me!" Ian looked at Luna, then back at the others.

The group was quiet. Reed, merely had a concerned grin as he pointed towards Luna, "It didn't want you, it wanted her."

Luna was in shock. Her lower lip quivered as she glanced over at Reed, "Professor Reed, I don't want to be attacked by those things, can you seal them up, p-please." That moment had caused a bit of a relapse in memory. Luna placed her hand on her forehead. She recalled seeing them before, but where?

Professor Jewel and Reed nodded, quickly sealing the Irinauts in glass containers with gloves to work on them from the inside. After sealing them off, the lab door suddenly opened.

Professor Garret walked in, a grin on his face, "They got a live one."