Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

42 - Bump in the Night

Chris felt as if he had been asleep for just seconds when Kate woke him urgently.

"What's the matter?" he groaned.

His rucksack had been a poor choice of pillow and had left him with a sore neck. He stretched his head to one side in an attempt to relieve the pain in his neck muscles.

"Wake up! I can hear something outside," she whispered sharply.

Chris rolled onto his back and struggled to sit up. The surrounding chamber was dark apart from two torches shining up onto the curved metal surface arching above them. As far as he could tell, everyone else was still asleep.

"What time is it?" he whispered.

"About two hours after we settled down," she replied. "But don't worry about that. There's something moving about out there!"

"I can't hear anything. Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?"

All Chris could hear was Fletcher snoring.

"No way. I've heard it seven or eight times since it woke..." she stopped as a metallic scraping sound resonated through the supply module's hull.

Chris, with an extra burst of energy, scrambled to his feet. "Okay, I heard that."

"See!" said Kate, getting to her feet too.

"Could it be the sound of the module settling, or components cooling down?"

"I think it sounds like something is trying to climb up the outside," she whispered, visibly shuddering at the thought.

"Even if there is something out there, it won't be able to get through the hull, plus the bottom two-thirds is filled with solid ice. There's no way it can get to us."

"But what the hell is it?" she asked.

They fell silent again as a dull tapping sound repeated erratically half-a-dozen times. A momentary pause followed, and then more tapping. Chris and Kate stared into each other's eyes, waiting for the next sound. Some thirty seconds later, there was a long scraping noise, then yet more tapping.

"That's not settling noises, is it?" she asked quietly.

"No, someone's definitely out there."

"If it was one of our crew, wouldn't they be calling for help?" she asked.

"I would think so. Why would..."

He fell quiet again when a clunk noise, apparently much closer, rang out. Moments later there was another identical clunk. They both realised that they were hearing heavy footfalls on the metal ladder tied to the side of the module. Chris suddenly wished they had pulled up the rope which dangled over the side to meet the ladder, but he never expected any reason to do so at the time.

More clanks, barely a second apart, followed. Someone or something was making use of the ladder. Chris tried to ignore his pounding heart and whirled into action. He padded across to Fletcher's sleeping form and jabbed his shoulder.

"Fletcher, wake up, quick!"

Fletcher grunted and pushed Chris away.

"Get up now, I need your help," he urged, shaking Fletcher's shoulder again.

Chris did not wait, but moved to stand directly below the hatch.

"What's going on, Commander?" Fletcher asked at full volume.

Chris shushed him then whispered, "We need to secure the hatch right now, but don't make any noise."

"Secure it? Why?!" Fletcher whispered back.