“Run!”

“Where is it!?! I can’t see it!”

“I don’t know! Just keep running! We’ve almost made it!”

The frantic shouts mingled with the loud clanking of magnetic boots on the deck plates of the ship as a trio of young women in form fitting space suits ran, headlong down the dark, foreboding corridor. Periodically, one would stop, looking back over one shoulder, straining to look into the dark shadows in the corners of the passageway, above and below.

Earlier that day, the three female crewmembers of the small prospecting vessel had picked up an unusually strong reading of metals at the edge of the system, but only faint energy readings. Heading to check it out, they weren’t surprised to find a derelict ship drifting into system. It was a medium-sized merchant ship and seemed to be in functioning condition, but powered down, just enough juice running through to keep the life support going and no more. Needless to say, no one on the ship had responded to their hails, so the three had decided to dock their tiny craft to claim the derelict as salvage.

To their disappointment, once they were aboard, their hand scanners started picking up a faint, but definite source of life signatures, in one of the cargo holds.

“Maybe it’s livestock they were hauling.” One of the prospectors, Sally suggested hopefully. If the crew of the ship hadn’t abandoned it after all, there went their salvage. They’d have to settle for whatever reward the captain or the ship’s owners felt like paying them for their assistance.

“Or it’s the crew and they could be in trouble.” The leader of the trio, Madeline, replied. “If so, it’s our duty to render aid if we can.” The other two could only nod. Living on the fringe, they knew all to well if something went wrong with one of the systems on their tiny, ramshackle craft, they could wind up stuck, hoping there was a passing ship willing to divert to help out some fellow spacers.

They got to one of the vessel’s large cargo bays and went in. They were about halfway to the faint life signs when they started running into the…stuff. Some strange material, hard like resin, coated the walls and floor and the large cargo containers in thick matts. It seemed organic, whatever it was. Then it attacked…

From out of the darkness, something came running towards them. It was large, scaley, with several sets of legs. That was all they could tell, given the darkness and the speed it came at them. The cheap, old stun pistol Madeline carried barely slowed it down long enough for them to get back through the hatch they’d came in from. She dropped the pistol, the barrel warped and melted from the repeated firing.  

“What was that?” The third girl, Erica gasped, once they’d gotten the door closed. Before they could answer, the whole door shook in its frame. The thick metal started to buckle under the force of the blow. A second later, another blow, just as strong, bent it even more. The three turned and ran, hoping to make it back to their ship, and get away from here, before whatever it was on the other side of the door, got through the came after them again.

They’d gotten only a little further when they heard the crashing of the alien’s claws on the metal and had broken into a terrified sprint. Fast as they were running, they might as well have been standing still for how fast the alien overtook them. Erica heard claws scrabbling on metal overhead. She turned, gasping in terror as she saw the creature bursting out of a vent. It opened its mouth, heaving up a large glob of viscious material. It arced from the air, hitting the deck just in front of her. The spacer’s momentum carried her a few steps further, into the goo before she could stop herself. She gave a cry as her boots sank into the material. Whatever it was, it was sticky as glue and clung to both boot and deck, anchoring her in place. She gave a cry for help, but in their panicked flight, the two other salvagers had already continued as were out of sight. Erica turned back, screaming as the alien closed in on her.

“We lost Erica!” Sally shouted when they’d noticed the loss of a third of their party. The two paused a second, gasping for breath. “We have to go back.”

“We can’t!” Madeline replied, shaking her head. “We’d never make it past that thing. Our only chance…her only chance is to get out of here and get help!” That was easier said than done. No sooner had they caught their breath then they heard the sound of the alien approaching again. The two turned and continued back to their ship, following the same, most direct route.

The two rounded the corner and into the trap. By some bestial cunning, the alien had guessed their destination and cut them off. The hallway before them had been coated here and there in thick, sticky patches of the glue-like substance. Again, Sally saw this too late, only realizing it when her foot came down on the resin and wouldn’t come back up. Windmilling her arms in a frantic attempt to stay upright, she instead fell forward, onto her arms, which likewise immediately became stuck fast.

Warned by her crewwoman’s fate, Madeline dodged around, finding a side door and ducking through. Behind her, she heard Sally’s frightened screams as the alien descended on her, fading from hearing as it carried her off. “I’ll be back for you…” Madeline promised, before setting off again.

Unfortunately for her, with the route they’d come before blocked off by the glue trap, she was forced to try and find another route through the dark, winding corridors of the ship. Almost immediately, she became hopeless disoriented, turning around this way and that, trying to find a way back to her ship.

Then, just as things were staring to look familiar once again, she heard the familiar scrabbling of claws closing behind her. She broke into a full sprint. Not much further now, one last airlock and she was safe… A dozen yards short, she was struck from behind by another lobbed ball of the sticky resin glue. It splashed around, enveloping her arms and legs and chest. In seconds, it hardened, forming a tight shell, binding her completely.

“no…no…no…no…” She sobbed, fearfully, trying in desperation to squirm forward just a little bit further. Then the alien was over her, grabbing her with two of its forelegs and lifting her up. Her screams echoed down the hallways of the ship as she was carried back to the cargo bay where the beast had made its nest.

At the center, Madeline saw the source of the faint life signs they’d picked up earlier. It was, as they surmised, the crew of this ship, ten in total. Seven women and three men. They’d been pressed up against the walls of the cargo bay, some several feet up off the ground and glued in place with more of the sticky resin glue. They looked to be unconscious, or in some drugged state of hibernation. Further beyond, Madeline’s two crewwomen had likewise been glued to the wall. Erica was already under, same as the rest, but Sally was still conscious. The two shared frightened glances as Madeline was pressed up against the metal bulkhead beside Sally. Another lay of glue was sprayed over her, covering everything from her lips downward, cocooning her in place.

With everything powered down, the ship’s life support could run almost indefinitely. The ship’s drifting course would take it deeper into the system. Sooner or later, others would detect it and come to investigate. On the fringes out here, they would likely be either more prospectors like Madeline and her crew or pirates. Prospectors would most likely end up glued beside Madeline and the others. Pirates would have the firepower to kill the beast…but if so they might wish they’d been left with the alien instead…