The Thing: from the Depths of Hell (5 page)

“
I have
suffered some memory loss!” he confessed, awkwardly, looking
bewildered.

She giggled,
and replied, “I’m Marsha Pendleton! I heard about it! The whole
ship must know of it! It was broadcast all over the media! I guess
I have you! I’ll tell you what you want to know!”

Kruger
wondered if it was a plot to interrogate him further! The degree
that they had gone to check him after the discovery of the second
twin, or triplet, was worrying, and he had been left with warnings
of further investigations.

He definitely
knew the woman, and liked her a great deal, and knew he was
interested in her, but she could have been put there by someone.
Yet what did he have to lose? Except they could set him up for some
crime! Dan and Don were capable of anything, and could have given
them false information, which she could be there to establish or
dump on him.

He wondered
what the spacecraft prison quarters were like! It would be terrible
being locked away out in space, and without any memories.

He showed her
to a seat, and she asked for a drink and went into the kitchen and
opened a drawer and removed a bottle, and brought it and two
glasses over to him, and he realized how well she had known
him.

He sat with
her and drank his drink, and wondered what the future held. If only
he had avoided going out in that vehicle, he would not have any
problems.

“
So did
you see my twins?”

She burst out
laughing, and managed to stop herself when she looked at the worry,
still there, in his eyes.

“
It was
on the media!”

“
But did
you know they existed before?”

“
I am
not sure! I could say they looked familiar ...”

“
Well,
did I ever mention any of them?”

“
According to all the media something or someone caused
people’s minds to be erased of information about the vehicle crew
members, and information about them contained in all the computer
records. Whoever did it seemed to have done the almost impossible,
and almost did a good job of it!”

“
You
still remember me though! And I seem to have been hit with more
loss of memory!”

She nodded,
and held back a giggle, while drinking sips.

T
he buzz
of her communications device
from her bag
disturbed him,
and she answered quickly, and
put it away.

He decided to
ignore the blasted affair, and just answer anything if it came
up.

“
What do
you think of the two twins then?” he joked, and she finally burst
out laughing, more uncontrolled than before, as though she had been
laughing over it all day.

“
They
look more similar to each other, and less similar to you, as though
they are more connected to each other.”

This fact
surprised him, and he and the others also had seen it!

“
As
though they are older?”

“
Yes! As
if they are older.”

“
Well,
now I seem to have two big brothers! And none of us seem to know
each other!”

She laughed
again, and he joined in seeing the funny side of it.

“
What
will happen when we get back home?”

“
That
will be funny when the three of us meet people who know us – and we
will not know them!”

“
But
they will be able to give you information on everything, and what
you forgot. You will just have to wait!”

“
There
are another few problems as well
! They insist a crime
has been taken place! Even though it is just their records having
been altered at the moment!
”

“
Well, you never did
anything!
”

He nodded in agreement, and finished his
drink, and poured another.

“
When are you to meet Dan and Don
again?
”

“
Why do you want to meet them? I can
call them up and ask them to meet us in the bar?
”

“
Yes! I would like that. What are they
like then?
”

“
Identical! What
’
d you expect your identical
twins to be like?
”

They laughed together, at the irony of it,
and kept laughing, at the future situations that could develop.

Chapter 10

The Space Bar

The drinks were great, and Kruger and Marsha
sat laughing, as Don and Dan arrived at the bar, and he watched
them with a slight hint of surprise. They were identical, and he
could not tell the difference between them, and the other people
around them watched on with amusement, and some casually tried to
find differences in them to identify them.

He knew there would be little to show the
difference. They were genetically the same, for reason, and he
thought he was slightly different.

He kept wondering why he never had memories
of having such a situation, which would have plagued his life.
Surely something must exist in him that could be triggered by
something?

He noticed that the two could be
distinguished from each other by the way Don argued with Dan, and
Dan repeatedly revoked his approaches, remaining silent, and
avoided making any proper contact or dispute with him or
anyone.

While they sat with them
Don
’
s
arguments increased, and he provoked Dan further and further, as if
trying to achieve something. What amazed Kruger was their reactions
were so similar to his that at times he thought that they had been
closely monitoring him in his quarters or somewhere and had started
copying him for some purpose.

Marsha laughed with the others, when she
could get away with it, and Kruger was bewildered in not knowing
what he should do or talk to them with. For one thing Dan was far
too silent and hard to communicate with.

He thanked Marsha again for letting him out
of another awkward situation!

Don tried questioning him on various
subjects, and it was clear that he was testing him, trying to
discover something.

Kruger wondered why he never approached him
instead, and considered how he would reply.

Don leaned over the table, with his
face bright pink, and suddenly removed a powerful hand energy
weapon, which was one of the most powerful aboard, and Kruger did
not know what he was more amazed with
–
him pointing it at
Dan
’
s head
or him managing to get hold of it, as nobody was ever allowed near
the powerful stuff, and they were kept for emergencies that needed
them. They would have a hard time getting a normal weapon without
permission.

Everyone stopped talking, and stared
at it, and he followed their eyes to Don
’
s eyes, and the deadliness that was
clearly there.

“
Right now,
”
Don ordered.
“
You or whatever you
are
–
I
want answers now! You start telling all of us who or what you
really are! And this time I want the truth!
”

Kruger got what he was doing, and it was his
only to get answers out of him, but not if he was right or why he
was so certain and determined to do what he had planned.

He waved it around
Dan
’
s
unworried face, trying to get him to react, as though he had it
planned down to the last detail.

Suddenly, Kruger saw a faint mist
surrounding them, and people started examining it, trying to see
what I was, and gasping, and Kruger looked at the door, instantly
looking for a fire outside, but it was not coming from outside, and
just about everything there was not flammable.

It was thickening visibly into a drifting
cloud over the floor, and it moved around as though there were no
artificial gravity.

Don watched it and held the weapon firmly,
not letting go of anything, but stayed silent, waiting for
something to happen.

The next thing Kruger saw was that it was
not made of smoke!

The cloud was made of some form of energy,
and he still looked for the source. He was sure that something was
there or somewhere, and he looked for projections off something, or
if it was being projected from somewhere. Yet there was nothing
anywhere that could produce anything like it.

It hung there thickening, in the air over
the middle of the room, swirling around in an intelligent way, and
as he watched it to see if was being controlled. He saw
straightaway Dan reacting in an uncontrolled fashion! He mentally
seemed to be actually doing something! Don watched on satisfied,
sure that he was going to get the reaction and answers that he
wanted. He was sure he was not fully able to explain its presence,
and stayed still and where he was, ready for action, and to take
any course of action that appeared and he could.

It shifted creepily, forming a more
turbulent thickening formation, formed shapes in itself, and
everyone started rushing for the doors, as people from outside came
in to check what the excitement was, and stood pondering what was
occurring.

Marsha and Kruger stayed where they
were, watching what Don would do next
–
checking if was a figment of their
imaginations.

Strange sights
and silent sounds began manifesting everywhere about them – like
partially visible life forms were appearing.

Strange
glowings and swirlings forces formed and reformed, as the energy
around them increased and increased as though something was
manifesting or creating itself right across the room, almost in a
bubble formation, surrounding them.

Some
formations were similar to what he thought telepathic visions were
like, like spirits in shrouds flying about, with wails and
shrieks.

Don held them
there, with him almost forcing them with the gun not to leave him.
Dan had gone into what looked like some form of dream state, but
only partially, and was still holding himself upright. Then it
swiftly increased, and it was like they were holding onto reality,
and sanity.

The cloud was actually forming itself into
something!

He strained his tired mind trying to form a
mental picture of what it could be. It resembled a giant
mind-bending round life form, with strange multicolors, which he
could not recognize.

Don
suddenly moved back
from it, as some form of
mysterious force prevented his arm from pointing the weapon on
Dan.

“
We
better get out here now!” Don screamed, holding out the weapon,
watching wild energy surges making his arms shudder and vibrate
crazily.

Dan had turned
green, and slime poured out his mouth, and Kruger shouted, “We
better get him out of here. It will kill him!”

“
No!”
Don shouted back. “He must stay! It is him that is causing it, so
leave him! It is dangerous, and will kill!”

Don shifted
them back, and Dan exploded into a burst of energy that joined with
the energy cloud, turning to part life form and part entity, with
beams of light and energy pulsating and beaming out in multicolors
from it.

Its form altered continuously, from one form
to another, trying to form a correct and permanent life form. An
altering manifestation, and Don fired the weapon into it, and it
screeched loudly and reformed into another style of entity/life
form that would not be damaged by the weapon.

At the door
they watched the whole lot, and the formation become one and turn
into an acceptable ghost life form, which still took shape shifting
alterations, and it floated and rushed to the floor, and its energy
life form formation passed straight through the thick hard floor
material, without leaving a hole or mark, like light passing
through a window, and like a poltergeist life form.

Chapter 11

The Entity/Life
Form

A spectacular energy explosion had
discharged, with searing hot beams, mystifying the entity for
seconds, as it had continued its work examining the amazing weird
life forms in the vehicles, as they had continuously accelerated
across the world, at high speeds.

It had recalled that a long time ago that it
had encountered a miniature object that had swiftly passed through
it, and its examination of it and occupants had been too swift and
uncontrolled, and it had failed, and had failed to come up with any
proper examination, and from its present findings it wondered why
it had not realized that they and their technology had existed.

Their world was different and so dense, and
when it examined their minds it started to realize the truth, and
that solid matter and dense space was the common state, and that it
was in an empty formation, in a bubble, in the real universe.

While it had continued its explorations
another part of it had started work on creating a copy of one of
the life forms, and it had examined their minds, thoughts,
communications, behavior, and chose the life form called Kruger,
because he communicated the least, and he had been an outsider,
which it realized was the best form to take to avoid discovery, and
revealing itself.

On the barn world it had formed a copy of
the man, in its suit covering, and it had been surprised to find
another life form in another vehicle appear in an identical
vehicle, which was vehicle six, and it had believed it had created
it by accident, by some form of unknown reaction, as it had been so
new to it.