"I Found an Astronaut Floating in Space" by Wooleyty | CLANCYPASTA

[00:00:01] I was halfway through another routine scan when the proximity alarm jolted me out of my days.

[00:00:09] It wasn't loud, just a soft beeping, but on a station as quiet as this one, even the smallest sound felt like a shout.

[00:00:17] I blinked at the screen, trying to make sense of the blip that it suddenly appeared.

[00:00:24] There, floating just outside the station's perimeter, was a body.

[00:00:29] I sat up straight, eyes wide.

[00:00:33] At first, I thought it was debris, space junk drifting too close to the station, but then I saw it, a space suit.

[00:00:42] A person. They were close enough that I could see the reflection of the station's lights on their visor.

[00:00:49] Their body eerily still in the void.

[00:00:53] My fingers moved automatically over the controls.

[00:00:56] I activated the external cameras zooming in on the figure.

[00:01:01] The suit bore the insignia of a ship, though I didn't recognize it.

[00:01:06] No signs of movement, no attempt to signal just floating.

[00:01:12] A thousand thoughts rushed through my head.

[00:01:15] How did they get here? How long had they been drifting?

[00:01:20] My mind raised, but protocol kicked in.

[00:01:23] I sent out a retrieval drone, watching as its mechanical arms reached out, and gently latched onto the astronaut's suit.

[00:01:32] Slowly, it pulled them toward the airlock.

[00:01:37] I ran down the corridor, my heart pounding in my chest unsure what to expect when I opened the latch.

[00:01:44] Was this person even alive?

[00:01:47] As the inner airlock cycle, I saw the body slump forward slightly.

[00:01:52] The visor of the helmet was darkened. For a second, I felt a chill, crawled up my spine.

[00:02:00] The door hissed open, and I pulled the astronaut inside.

[00:02:04] I fumbled with the helmet, my hands trembling as I twisted it off.

[00:02:09] The face beneath was pale, almost ghostly, but alive.

[00:02:14] A rise fluttered open, unfocused at first, then locking onto mine with an intensity that made me step back.

[00:02:24] I thought I was alone, she whispered, her voice cracked and raw, like she hadn't spoken in days.

[00:02:34] I stared at her, unable to speak for a moment.

[00:02:38] She was alive, barely.

[00:02:41] But alive, I guided her carefully to the health bay, supporting her as she stumbled down the corridor.

[00:02:49] Her limbs were weak, her movements sluggish.

[00:02:52] But she followed, muttering in co-heard words under her breath.

[00:02:57] I wasn't sure if she was delirious from exhaustion or if something else had happened to her out there in the dark.

[00:03:05] The health bay wasn't much, just a sterile white room with basic medical equipment, but it was enough for an emergency.

[00:03:13] I helped her onto the examination table, my, and still shaking a bit from the adrenaline of the moment.

[00:03:20] She collapsed onto the surface, or breathing shallow, but steady.

[00:03:25] I stood there for a moment, staring at her.

[00:03:29] Who was she?

[00:03:30] How had she ended up drifting so close to the station alone?

[00:03:35] I moved to the terminal and began running the basic diagnostics, letting the machine take over for a while as I collected my thoughts.

[00:03:44] Her suit was ancient, worn, and patched in places.

[00:03:48] That insignia on her chest, I couldn't place it, but something about it felt off.

[00:03:55] The records on this station didn't list any nearby ships, no one had passed through this region of space for months, maybe years.

[00:04:05] She shouldn't have been here.

[00:04:08] I'd land stover at her again. Her eyes were closed now, her chest rising and falling slowly.

[00:04:16] She looked peaceful in a way, but there was something underneath that comb exterior, something haunted.

[00:04:22] I couldn't shake the feeling that whatever her story was, it wasn't a good one.

[00:04:29] I sat down at the console, pulling up the station's database.

[00:04:33] I had to know who she was where she came from.

[00:04:37] Maybe she had been lost in some sort of freak accident, a ship malfunction or something else.

[00:04:43] But deep down, I knew it wasn't that simple.

[00:04:47] People didn't just show up out of nowhere floating alone in space.

[00:04:54] As the machine scanned her vinyls, I found myself wondering, what had she seen out there?

[00:05:01] What had happened to her crew?

[00:05:03] And more importantly, why was she the only one left?

[00:05:08] With the astronaut finally resting in the health bay, I couldn't just sit still.

[00:05:14] My mind was racing with questions.

[00:05:17] Each one more unsettling than the last.

[00:05:19] Who was she?

[00:05:20] Where had she come from and why had she been left behind drifting in space?

[00:05:26] The insignia on her suit was my only lead.

[00:05:30] It was worn barely legible, but there was enough of it left to make out some details.

[00:05:35] A faded logo, a series of numbers and letters.

[00:05:40] I pulled up the station's database, typing in the fragments I piece together.

[00:05:45] As the search turned through the archives, I glanced back at the health bay monitor.

[00:05:51] She was still asleep, her vitals steady but weak.

[00:05:55] The screen flickered as the search results came in.

[00:05:58] That first nothing seemed relevant, just a bunch of old mission logs and defonct ship IDs.

[00:06:05] But then something caught my eye.

[00:06:08] A name.

[00:06:09] I scrolled back heart-thudding in my chest as I ran the details.

[00:06:15] The ship she had come from wasn't just any vessel.

[00:06:19] It was part of an old mission when I hadn't heard of in years.

[00:06:22] The Horizon 7, a crew of scientists and engineers sent on a deep space exploration decades ago.

[00:06:30] Their mission had been classified, highly secretive, in somewhere along the way they had vanished.

[00:06:38] No one knew what had happened to them.

[00:06:40] They were presumed lost, swallowed by the blackness of space.

[00:06:45] I stared at the screen disbelief creeping over me.

[00:06:49] The Horizon 7 had been missing for over 30 years.

[00:06:55] There were whispers about what they had been sent to find, rumors of alien contact,

[00:07:01] an encounter with something beyond our understanding, but nothing had ever been confirmed.

[00:07:07] And now one of its crew was here on my station after all this time.

[00:07:13] The implications rattled me.

[00:07:15] If she had been part of that mission, how would she survived out there for so long?

[00:07:20] And what had happened to the rest of the crew?

[00:07:22] I turned away from the screen, blancing back at the sleeping astronaut.

[00:07:27] She looked frail, vulnerable, but there was something else too.

[00:07:32] Something that sent a chill down my spine.

[00:07:36] She had answers.

[00:07:38] I knew that much, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to hear them.

[00:07:43] I couldn't just sit there waiting for her to wake up.

[00:07:46] The silence felt heavier with each passing hour.

[00:07:50] I kept checking the health-based monitors, watching her vitals.

[00:07:54] Everything seemed normal, stable, but she wasn't waking up.

[00:07:59] Something about this fell wrong, like the calm before a storm.

[00:08:04] I couldn't wait anymore.

[00:08:06] I needed to report this to HQ.

[00:08:08] My hands moved over the console, sending out a carefully-warded message.

[00:08:15] This is Station Epsolon.

[00:08:16] I've retrieved a lone astronaut from proximity to the station.

[00:08:20] Her suit is marked with the insignia of the Horizon 7 mission.

[00:08:25] Presumed lost three decades ago.

[00:08:27] She is unconscious, but stable, requesting further instructions.

[00:08:32] I sat back, expecting the usual protocol to kick in.

[00:08:37] Normally they'd ask for a detailed report.

[00:08:39] Maybe suggest a routine quarantine or medical evaluation.

[00:08:43] But something told me this wouldn't be routine.

[00:08:47] A response came faster than I anticipated.

[00:08:51] Station Epsolon, this is HQ.

[00:08:53] A recovery team is unwrapped to your location.

[00:08:56] I slate the individual immediately and ensure she remains secured until they arrive.

[00:09:01] Do not allow any interaction with the rest of the crew.

[00:09:04] Further instructions will follow.

[00:09:08] I blinked at the screen, reading the message again to make sure I hadn't misread it.

[00:09:14] A recovery team?

[00:09:16] Isolation?

[00:09:17] That wasn't normal.

[00:09:18] Usually we'd handle cases like this in-house, quarantine procedures, medical checks,

[00:09:24] and a full evaluation before sending anyone back.

[00:09:28] But this was different.

[00:09:31] They were treating her like a threat.

[00:09:34] Protocol should have been straightforward,

[00:09:36] Monitor her condition, report any changes, and await clearance.

[00:09:41] But sending a recovery team, especially so quickly didn't make sense.

[00:09:46] Not unless there is something about this situation they already knew.

[00:09:50] Something they weren't telling me.

[00:09:54] I hesitated before replying, unsure how much to push back.

[00:10:01] I understand she remains unconscious.

[00:10:03] No signs of immediate danger will isolate as instructed.

[00:10:09] I stared at the console for a long moment after sending the message, my mind racing.

[00:10:15] What was so important about this astronaut that they'd break protocol,

[00:10:19] while were they so insistent on isolation, on keeping her away from the rest of us?

[00:10:25] I glanced back at her through the small window to the health bay.

[00:10:29] She looked armless enough, just a woman who had been lost for far too long.

[00:10:35] But HQ's urgency told me there was more to this.

[00:10:39] Something I wasn't seeing yet, and whatever it was, it was big enough to send a team out here to contain it.

[00:10:49] I hadn't slept. I sat at the console staring at the health bay monitor, waiting for something to change.

[00:10:56] Every minute felt like an eternity.

[00:10:59] The message from HQ kept running through my mind.

[00:11:03] Recovery team, isolation, no contact.

[00:11:07] It didn't sit right with me.

[00:11:09] But I followed orders.

[00:11:12] I had to.

[00:11:13] That was, until she woke up.

[00:11:16] It happened suddenly.

[00:11:19] One minute the monitor showed her vital study, her body still in the next, her eyes snapped open, wide and panicked.

[00:11:28] She gasped like she couldn't breathe, her body can voicing as if she were still out there floating in the vacuum of space.

[00:11:36] I watched as she thrashed on the bed, her arms flailing against the restraint side set up to keep her from injuring herself.

[00:11:44] My hand hovered over the console. HQ's orders were clear. I salade her, no interaction.

[00:11:53] I was supposed to wait for the recovery team to handle this, but the sight of her so confused, so terrified.

[00:12:01] And it was too much. I couldn't just watch her suffer like this.

[00:12:06] I switched on the intercom. I've always shaken as I spoke.

[00:12:10] Hey, hey, you're okay. You're safe. You're on a space station now. You're not floating anymore.

[00:12:19] She didn't stop the rushing, her head turning wildly from side to side, her eyes unfocused, wild.

[00:12:26] Her breathing came to a shallow, ragged gasp. I tried again, keeping my tone calm.

[00:12:33] Your safe, your drifting new our station. We pulled you in. You're not out there anymore.

[00:12:41] Her movements slowed, her eyes blinking rapidly as if she was trying to process the words.

[00:12:47] She stared up at the ceiling, still breathing heavily, but at least she'd stopped fighting.

[00:12:54] Where? Where am I? She rast, her voice horse barely above a whisper.

[00:13:00] I don't. What happened? You own station epsilon.

[00:13:06] I explained through the intercom relieved that she was responding.

[00:13:10] I found you outside drifting near the station. You've been unconscious for a while, but you're stable now.

[00:13:16] A recovery team is on the way.

[00:13:19] She groaned, her head lolling to the side as if the information was too much to take in.

[00:13:26] Station epsilon. I was with my crew. What happened to my crew?

[00:13:34] Her confusion hit me like a punch to the gut.

[00:13:37] The files that her ship had been lost for decades, but here she was asking about her crew like it had just happened.

[00:13:46] I hesitated, I'm sure of how much to tell her. I'm sure of what would push her further into panic.

[00:13:54] I said, my voice is softer now.

[00:14:00] Do you remember anything before we picked you up?

[00:14:04] She stared blankly at the ceiling for a long moment and I could see the fear creeping back into her eyes.

[00:14:12] There was something I don't know. I can't remember. They were her voice cracked and she shook her head violently.

[00:14:21] Like she was trying to shake loose a memory she didn't want.

[00:14:25] Where is everyone? Why am I alone?

[00:14:29] I leaned in closer to the inner calm, feeling the weight of her desperation pressing against me.

[00:14:35] I don't know yet, but you're safe now. Try to rest, okay? The recovery team will help you.

[00:14:42] But even as I sent the words, I could feel the unease knowing it may.

[00:14:46] She wasn't just confused, she was terrified and whatever it happened to her out there.

[00:14:53] Whatever it left her floating alone in space was something she was still trying to escape.

[00:15:01] I couldn't stop myself. I had to know.

[00:15:04] Orders be damned, there was something more here. Something she wasn't saying.

[00:15:09] The confusion in her voice, the fear, it nod at me. I leaned closer to the inner calm, ticking a deep breath before speaking again.

[00:15:21] What happened to you?

[00:15:23] I asked softly. My voice barely audible above the hung of the station.

[00:15:29] What happened out there? Where's your crew?

[00:15:32] She looked up at the ceiling, her eyes distant, like she was staring pasted into something far darker.

[00:15:40] Her mouth opened, but no words came out at first.

[00:15:44] I thought she might drift back into unconsciousness, but then her voice cracked through the silence.

[00:15:51] We were, automation. She said, her voice still raspy, like it hurt to speak.

[00:15:58] I played it far from here. We were sent to investigate possible signs of life, and we found it.

[00:16:09] I leaned in closer, hanging on every word.

[00:16:14] It wasn't what we expected. No eyes, no mouth, just a rock.

[00:16:22] It looked like a rock. It felt like one too. Cold, hard, rough.

[00:16:27] It was about the size of a bowling ball. Just sat there, lifeless, but we knew it was alive.

[00:16:35] We were so excited. We brought it on board, ransom tests.

[00:16:39] It's skin, if you could call it that, was thick, like stone, but it pulsed just barely.

[00:16:49] We didn't know what to make of it, but it was alive. We were sure that it was the proof we needed.

[00:17:00] Her voice trailed off for a moment, and I felt the weight of where this was heading settled in my chest.

[00:17:08] We, set a core, back to earth, she continued.

[00:17:13] Everyone was celebrating. We thought we'd made history. We were wrong.

[00:17:19] I remember the quarantine officer. He was in charge of monitoring the life form while we kept it contained.

[00:17:27] It was protocol, but then he came running into the mess hall.

[00:17:31] He was out of breath, eyes wide, like he'd seen something, something awful.

[00:17:37] He said it was gone. The life form, it escaped quarantine.

[00:17:44] I swallowed hard. The tightness in my chest growing.

[00:17:49] What do you mean escaped? Where did it go?

[00:17:53] She shook her head through face pale. We didn't know. We searched the whole ship.

[00:17:59] It wasn't big there. We weren't that many places for it to hide, but we couldn't find anything.

[00:18:06] No traces, no signs had it moved. It was just gone.

[00:18:13] Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued.

[00:18:18] That's when we realized something was wrong. The quarantine officer wasn't with us anymore.

[00:18:24] He wasn't searching the ship with the rest of us. We started looking for him, calling his name, but he didn't answer.

[00:18:36] Her breathing grew shaky.

[00:18:39] We found him in the restroom. He was on the floor, making these horrible sounds.

[00:18:46] These wet, disgusting noises. We thought he was sick, but when we flipped him over,

[00:18:54] she stopped her hands trembling.

[00:18:58] His face, it was melting. His skin was sliding off like it wasn't attached to anything.

[00:19:06] And there were these things, sharp things, poking out of his shoulders, his stomach, blood everywhere.

[00:19:15] I could feel my own pulse quicken as she spoke.

[00:19:21] We rushed him to the med bay, isolated him, but there was nothing we could do.

[00:19:28] We rotated shifts, keeping an eye on him. I was third in line. By the time I got there, it was worse.

[00:19:35] So much worse. The spikes had grown. They were longer, sharper in his face.

[00:19:44] It was like his whole skull was sagging. Like there was nothing left underneath holding it together.

[00:19:51] I couldn't look away from her. My heart pounding in my chest.

[00:19:57] And then he was getting paleer, but his vitals. She shook her head her voice trembling.

[00:20:07] His vitals were normal. He should have been dying, but he wasn't. He was alive.

[00:20:14] Somehow, he was still alive. She stopped talking, her breath racked, her body trembling.

[00:20:22] She paused for a long time after describing the man's condition, her breathing shallow as if re-living the memory all over again.

[00:20:32] I waited, holding my breath, knowing there was more.

[00:20:37] And whatever she was about to say, it was going to be worse, much worse.

[00:20:44] I fell asleep. She whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

[00:20:51] I was supposed to be watching him, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. The exhaust chip, it was too much.

[00:20:58] I don't know how long I was out. Could have been minutes, could have been hours.

[00:21:05] Her eyes glazed over distant.

[00:21:09] When I woke up there was this banging at first, I thought it was something wrong with the ship.

[00:21:16] I was disoriented, but then I saw it. The quarantine window, it was rattling, shaking with each hit, and he was the one doing it.

[00:21:31] She swallowed hard, her hand shaking as she continued.

[00:21:36] But it wasn't him anymore, not really. His face, God, his face was just hanging there.

[00:21:44] It wasn't even attached properly. It was like his skin had turned into a bag, just sagging over his skull, loose and wrinkled.

[00:21:54] And those spikes, the ones that had been poking out of his shoulders and stomach, they were moving, like they had a mind of their own.

[00:22:05] She stared at the ceiling, her voice trembling. He was trying to say something banging on the glass, but all that came out was this horrible wet sound, like his throat had been ripped apart.

[00:22:22] I could see it in his eyes though. You was still in there, trapped inside whatever that thing was.

[00:22:31] I could see him trying to fight, to ask for help. I felt a knot tight in my stomach, but I didn't interrupt. She had to get this out.

[00:22:46] Before you could say anything she continued her voice cracking.

[00:22:52] Two more spikes, no, not spikes, appendages burst out of his stomach right there in front of me.

[00:23:02] I'll never forget that sound, like bone snapping, flesh tearing. Whatever was inside him, it was taking over completely.

[00:23:15] She took a deep breath, arise flicking around the room as if she expected the creature to appear any second.

[00:23:24] It wasn't human anymore. The spikes had grown into limbs, arms, legs, moving independently. It was walking, walking around the room, like it was searching for a way out.

[00:23:39] The spikes on its shoulders, those were its arms now, and the ones from its stomach, they were its legs. So many legs.

[00:23:54] Her voice dropped to a whisper.

[00:23:57] It looked like a twisted messed up insect, but bigger, bigger than any human.

[00:24:05] Its head was full of black eyes, too many eyes, and its mouth got its mouth.

[00:24:13] There were all these tiny appendages wiggling, pulling bits of whatever it found closer to its mouth,

[00:24:22] like it was trying to feed. I couldn't barely breathe as she described it. The image forming in my mind more horrible than anything I could have imagined.

[00:24:37] But he was still alive, she said her voice breaking.

[00:24:44] I could hear him groaning, these low horrible sounds. Like he was in pain, the thing had split him into his bottom half, his legs, they were connected to its stomach, dangling there.

[00:25:00] And his top half, it was stuck to its back, like a sick twisted puppet.

[00:25:07] She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. I could see him fighting, his arms, his legs, trying to move, trying to break free, but he couldn't.

[00:25:19] He was trapped inside it, and there was nothing he could do. She stopped staring blankly ahead, her whole body trembling.

[00:25:31] The room was deathly quiet. I wanted to say something, anything to break the silence, but there were no words, what could I possibly say to that?

[00:25:44] She took a long shaky breath, her eyes unfocused, as if she were seeing the horrors again in her mind. I could feel my pulse quickening with every word,

[00:25:55] and I wasn't sure if I wanted her to continue, but I had to know.

[00:26:02] It was feeding on him, she whispered, her voice barely audible, the creature, it was eating him bit by bit, his legs, her voice caught under throat, her hands gripping the edges of the bed so tight, her knuckles turned white.

[00:26:24] I could see it tearing off pieces of his legs, chewing through them slowly, like it was savoring every bite, and he tried to scream, but nothing came out.

[00:26:38] Just this horrible wets out is mouth moved, but the pain got the pain was too much he couldn't get this scream out. She squeezed her eyes shut, her breath coming in thick shallow gasps.

[00:26:57] I didn't know what to do, I just stood there, frozen. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I just watched, she paused her whole body trembling in, when she spoke again, her voice was shaky.

[00:27:18] All of a sudden, I snapped out of it, I couldn't stay there anymore. I ran as fast as I could.

[00:27:29] I watched her, feeling my stomach not tighter with each word. I could hear it behind me, she continued her eyes wide and wild.

[00:27:42] It was slamming into the door hard. I could hear the metal bending cracking, like it was about to give way, it was going to break out.

[00:27:53] I knew it was, it was so close, I didn't look back, I just ran, I didn't care where I just had to get away.

[00:28:04] She took a deep breath, her hands trembling as she spoke.

[00:28:09] I made it to the corridor and that's when I saw the others. They had heard the noise they were coming to check on me.

[00:28:17] I tried to tell them what I saw, but my words were all over the place, I couldn't make sense of it myself.

[00:28:25] Then we heard it, the sound, it was crawling, it was coming down the corridor right behind me.

[00:28:34] Revoiced cracked and she closed her eyes.

[00:28:38] We turned hand-brand, we locked ourselves in the mess hall, but then we realized someone was missing. One of the crew, we heard him screaming.

[00:28:50] I felt my heart drop as she continued.

[00:28:54] He was pounding on the door, begging us to let him in, we didn't know if we should open it, what if the thing was right behind him, but we couldn't leave him out there?

[00:29:03] Revoiced tremble as she relived the moment.

[00:29:08] We opened the door just a little, and enough for him to squeeze through, he barely made it collapsing onto the floor.

[00:29:16] He was holding his stomach, groaning in pain but the creature, it didn't follow him, it just stopped.

[00:29:26] She paused, her eyes wide with fear.

[00:29:30] We gathered around him, asking what happened but he couldn't talk, he just kept holding his stomach.

[00:29:38] I remember someone turning him over trying to help him, but when they did, her voice dropped to a whisper, her face pale.

[00:29:48] We saw it, this huge, sharp appendage sticking out of his stomach.

[00:29:56] He was grasping it, trying to pull it out, but the moment we turned him over, he lost his grip.

[00:30:04] The thing, it wiggles like it was alive and pushed itself deeper into his stomach.

[00:30:09] We could hear the bones cracking, the flesh tearing.

[00:30:14] His scream, his scream was like nothing I've ever heard before.

[00:30:21] She looked down tears, welling up in her eyes.

[00:30:26] We all backed away, terrified, no one knew what to do.

[00:30:30] We just watched as the thing kept moving inside him, like it was burrowing deeper.

[00:30:37] She stopped, her breath coming in racket gasps.

[00:30:42] The room felt colder now, the air thick with the weight of her story.

[00:30:48] I couldn't speak, I couldn't think, all I could do was sit there horrified by the nightmare she had lived through.

[00:30:55] Her voice and groaned softer, more distant as if the weight of her memories was pulling her back into that nightmare.

[00:31:04] I could see the fear and her eyes, and I didn't push her, not yet.

[00:31:10] I waited as she gathered herself, but I could sense something terrible was coming.

[00:31:19] We were in the kitchen, she started again, her voice trembling.

[00:31:25] The captain and I, it was just the two of us left.

[00:31:27] We knew there was nothing we could do for the others, they were already gone, taken by whatever that thing was.

[00:31:36] We knew we couldn't stop it, we were trying to come up with a plan, the captain, he wanted to go back to Earth.

[00:31:44] He thought that if we could just get back HQ and know what to do, they could help.

[00:31:51] Her face twisted with regret.

[00:31:55] I told him it was a terrible idea.

[00:31:59] That thing, it was still on the ship we couldn't bring it to Earth.

[00:32:03] We argued, I told him we had to destroy the ship, but he wouldn't listen. He said it was too late, we had no other options.

[00:32:14] She stopped shaking her head.

[00:32:18] Eventually, we agreed to think of something else.

[00:32:22] He told me there was a breach on the outside layer of the ship, something messing with the communications.

[00:32:28] He told me I needed to do a spacewalk to inspect it.

[00:32:34] Her eyes flicked up to meet mine full of regret.

[00:32:40] I didn't want to go, I had a bad feeling, but he insisted.

[00:32:44] He got aggressive pushing me to do it, so I did.

[00:32:50] I suited up, hooked into my tether and went out.

[00:32:56] Her voice grew cold.

[00:33:00] The moment I was outside, I felt it.

[00:33:04] The jolt, the tether, it snapped.

[00:33:08] No, it didn't snap, he released it.

[00:33:11] He left me floating, watching the ship get smaller and smaller as it drifted away.

[00:33:18] He abandoned me, left me to die out there while he took the ship back to Earth.

[00:33:27] The betrayal in her voice was raw, and I could feel my own stomach twist at the thought of it.

[00:33:35] Suddenly, the console blinked, breaking the silence between us.

[00:33:39] HQ was trying to contact me.

[00:33:42] I turned to the console, my hands trembling as I opened the channel.

[00:33:48] Station Epsilon, this is HQ, great news.

[00:33:51] The lost ship from the Horizon 7 mission has just arrived back on Earth.

[00:33:57] The voice on the other end was disturbingly, cheerful.

[00:34:02] We'll be making contact with the crew after a 24 hour quarantine, but we've been having trouble establishing communication inside.

[00:34:09] Nothing to worry about, though. We'll investigate after quarantine ends.

[00:34:15] My blood ran cold. They had no idea what they were dealing with.

[00:34:22] I turned back toward the health bay, my heart pounding.

[00:34:26] You have to listen to me.

[00:34:28] I sat into the comms, urgency creeping into my voice.

[00:34:32] You can't let anyone near that ship, the crew.

[00:34:35] But before I could finish, I heard a voice behind me.

[00:34:41] Help! She whispered, her voice trembling.

[00:34:45] I turned just in time to see her body convuls violently, her back arched off the bed,

[00:34:52] her hands clawing at the air as her mouth opened in a silent scream.

[00:34:58] For a split second, I saw the terror and her eyes.

[00:35:01] The desperation as she reached down toward me, and then with a sickening crack, her chest exploded.

[00:35:10] The sound was deafening, bone snapping, flesh tearing apart as something burst from inside her,

[00:35:18] Blood sprayed across the window in a thick, dark sheet. I'm scaring her body for a moment.

[00:35:24] I could hear her ribs cracking, splitting apart under the force of whatever was tearing through her.

[00:35:33] When the blood finally cleared, I saw it, a creature, grotesque, twisted, emerged from the gory wreckage of her torso.

[00:35:44] Its limbs were long and jagged, sharp appendages that looked almost insect-like, slick with her blood.

[00:35:52] The first two appendages to appear were spiked, writhing as they pushed their way out of her chest cavity.

[00:36:00] But the most horrifying part wasn't the creature itself. It was that she wasn't dead.

[00:36:07] Her body was torn in half, her legs still attached to the lower part of the creature.

[00:36:13] Her torso, one was left of it, was connected to its back, hanging there like some sick puppet.

[00:36:22] Her arms twitched, her hands still grasping at nothing.

[00:36:27] While her head lulled to one side, her eyes wide and unfocused, her mouth moving in silent agony.

[00:36:36] The creature wasn't just bursting out of her, it was using her.

[00:36:42] Her lower half had been split open, and the creature's slick, spindly legs were wrapped around her waist,

[00:36:49] digging into the flesh where her hips used to be. The jagged appendages moved with terrifying precision,

[00:36:56] lifting her body as if it were part of its own anatomy.

[00:37:00] Her legs now useless, twitched as the creature began to crawl forward.

[00:37:07] But it was her face, her face, that sent a chill through my entire body.

[00:37:15] Her skin sacked, like there was no more structure underneath.

[00:37:19] The connective tissue was gone and her face drooped, the muscles barely holding together in the spikes that embarrassed from her shoulders.

[00:37:30] While they were moving independently, like grotesque limbs growing out of her.

[00:37:37] Suddenly, the creatures had emerged from the gory mass of her torso.

[00:37:43] It was bulbous with too many eyes, black glistening, soulless eyes.

[00:37:51] Its mouth opened, revealing rows of tiny appendages, wiggling, pulling bits of her flesh closer to its mouth.

[00:38:01] It was feeding on her, and through it all she was still alive.

[00:38:08] Her body was being consumed but her eyes, those wide, terrified eyes, looked straight at me.

[00:38:16] Her mouth opened again, and this time I could hear her voice, help. She whispered.