The Stonemason and Other Tales Read online

  “You see me?” Anderson asked.

  “We do, Captain! We have your beacon online.” Lawrence said. Anderson could hear the shouts of joy from the rest of Mission Control over the IC.

  ***

  Anderson’s location showed that he was on the other side of a large hill from the main facility at Outpost 51. Lawrence tried to contact the Outpost commander while Anderson began raiding an emergency pack for food and water. As he looked around, he casually glanced out the cockpit window. It was hard to see, but there was clearly a figure of something standing outside the ship. His blood ran cold.

  The figure was tall, extremely slender and its skin was a muted gray. It had two arms, and two legs. Each was long and spindly and came to extremely fine points. The torso looked like a metal pole; thin, smooth and straight. The head was small and oblong and sat atop a delicate neck not much wider than the arms. It appeared to be seven or eight feet tall.

  Anderson found a small pistol and a knife in the emergency pack. He put the gun on the console and then clipped the knife to his belt. Glancing back out the window, he could definitely see that the creature was moving towards the ship. Anderson looked down and noticed the feet, or rather the ends of the legs, just barely touched the ground. It was as if it were floating instead of walking. The light from inside the ship was reflecting off the gray skin. It looked slimy, like a salamander. Anderson picked up the handset and described the creature to Lawrence.

  “We’ll have to scan the database. It might take a several minutes,” Lawrence said.

  ***

  Lawrence rubbed his eyes. He was heading into his fourteenth hour on shift since they lost sight of Captain Anderson’s ship. The coffee was no longer as effective as it had been earlier in the day.

  “Captain, the Outpost commander isn’t responding to any of our hails,” Lawrence said.

  “Probably all asleep,” Anderson said. “Did you find any information on my friend here?”

  “No sir, we haven’t. Is it doing anything different?”

  “Nope. Just standing there,” Anderson said.

  Lawrence sat back in the chair and ordered one of the other Mission Control technicians to continue hailing the Outpost.

  ***

  Anderson was getting tired, and the pain killers were starting to wear off. His head began to throb again. The knot on his forehead seemed to have doubled in size. To make matters worse, he was already on the last of the emergency food rations. The pack wasn’t loaded correctly. They were supposed to have at least two weeks’ worth of rations for each seat on the ship. He would have to mention that in his report when he got home.

  He sat at the flight control panel, staring out the window at the creature.

  The IC clicked.

  “Sir,” Lawrence said. “We show that there hasn’t been any activity from Outpost 51 for the last seven months. The SOP for operational shutdown was never followed, however, and several of the personnel are declared missing.”

  “Do we have any of their last transmissions?” Anderson asked

  “None, sir.”

  “Do they have any supplies left? How far away from them am I?”

  “We don’t know. Judging by the map, you could probably walk it, but the atmosphere there is extremely thin. You wouldn’t be able to make it from where you are without an oxygen supply,” Lawrence said. “And what about your guest? Does that creature look hostile?”

  “Not exactly,” Anderson said.

  “Well, I do have some good news, however. We have a rescue team on their way to your location.”

  “That is good news,” Anderson said, weakly. The headache was becoming unbearable. He rubbed his head and put down the IC handset. Fatigue was setting in quickly and it was getting harder to keep his eyes open. He had grown tired of watching the creature. It didn’t move, never made a sound. Just stood there, watching him. Was it even watching him? At this point he wasn’t sure anymore. He sighed heavily and stretched his arms, making his joints pop loudly. Age had caught up with him a long time ago, but he had always been able to keep going. This was his last trip, though. No question about it. He would file for a transfer to a job closer to home, where he could be in a hot shower and his own bed every night. He looked out past the creature at the landscape around the ship. Sharp, jagged rocks jutted out from the surface like knives. The rescue team should have no trouble locating him, but it was going to be difficult finding a safe landing spot. They might even need to park down the road and hike in. Anderson wasn’t sure if he could make the trip back if that was the case, but he would try anything to get off this planet and away from that thing standing outside his ship. He thought he better rest a little just in case he did need to walk back to the rescue ship. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

  ***

  “The rescue team is almost to your location, Captain,” Lawrence said over the IC.

  Anderson nodded sleepily and opened his eyes. The creature was now directly outside the ship, the sharp points of its arms pushing against the window. Jumping awake, he grabbed the gun. His hand barely had a grip on the handle before the long slender arms of the creature broke through the window of the cockpit. He shot at the creature until the bullets ran out, though none of them seemed to have any effect. He reached for his knife, but the creature grabbed him with one of the tentacle like appendages and held him to the chair. Its skin was so cold it burned. Anderson screamed and struggled against the grip, but the arm only wound tighter. The other arm swung wide and in one smooth motion stabbed through Anderson’s skull. He slumped into the chair, blood pouring out of the wound, as the creature drew back its arms and faded into the darkness.

  ***

  The loud roar of engines shook the rocky surface as the rescue team landed. There was just enough space behind Anderson’s ship. They radioed back to Mission Control that they had made it.

  “Do you see anything standing outside the ship?” Lawrence asked.

  “No sir,” the commander said. “It’s pretty barren out here. Wait one while we get inside.”

  The team came up to the access panel and ran a cutting laser along the seam. The commander kicked in the panel and it fell with a sharp metallic clank on the floor below. The sound reverberated inside the cold, quiet of the ship.

   

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