Crossover Earth '98
In Space... Jay Shaffstall
In space, no one can hear you scream.
Actually, it's much worse than that. You can't even hear yourself scream, or breathe, or any of the other subtleties that normally prove you're alive.
The man didn't know how long he'd been flying through space. He was under his own power, and moving quickly away from Earth. There had been a danger there...exactly what he didn't know, but something sufficient that he fled rather than face it.
To say the man was sane would be generous. He lived in a world of complete isolation, even from himself. The only sounds were in his memories, which often joined him in his flight. To say that he was insane would be incorrect. The man had entered into a light madness as a defense against the overwhelming solitude of deep space.
He couldn't remember when he'd passed Mars. He was now angled out of the elliptic and away from the solar system. He fully expected to never see another living being again.
He was wrong.
The ship phased into normal space silently in front of him, followed by half a dozen others. For a moment, he took them to be mere phantoms of his imagination, until one of the ships fired a beam of superheated plasma at him.
Rage swept through his mind, and the man rammed the ship. He punched through the outer layer of hull into an inner corridor. He stumbled and fell as the unfamiliar feel of gravity pulled at him. Finding his feet again, he started walking down the corridor, the wind from outrushing air abruptly stopping as a bulkhead slid into place behind him.
At a juncture, creatures appeared and fired energy weapons at him. Shrugging off the blasts, he stiffarmed one and kicked at another. Both creatures hit the walls and lay still.
Finally he came to doors that failed to slide open. He tore through them, and into the bridge of the ship. In the center of the bridge stood a thin, spindly creature quite unlike the others. The man strode toward the creature, intending to take control of the ship by capturing the captain. His mind had cleared sufficiently to allow the rage to receed.
The spindly creature looked at him, and abruptly his mind began to cloud again.
What was he doing? This creature was his friend, wasn't it? Yes, that was it. His only friend, protecting him against the dangers on Earth.
The man knew he could not hide behind the protection of this creature forever. He must take the offense, and carry the attack back to its source.
Back to Earth.