Title: The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Author/pseudonym: Tinnean

Fandom: It! The Terror From Beyond Space

Pairing: Anderson/Carruthers

Rating: NC-17

Email address: Tinneantoo@aol.com

Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, Ann would have been Andy from the start! They belong to Vogue Pictures, United Artists and Jerome Bixby, who wrote the screenplay.

Status: new

Date: 3/01

Series/Sequel: Oh, God! No!

Archive: If I sent it to you, please do. All others just ask so I can find them.

Other website: www.angelfire.com/ny4/tinsel/

Summary: The first manned flight to Mars goes horribly wrong. (Sound familiar?) Something has boarded the rescue ship, and it’s hungry!

Warnings: m/m, language, and maybe a little gratuitous violence

Notes: For those of you who aren’t aware, this is the movie that Alien was based on. The special effects were cheesy, the acting mediocre, but the premise of man being stalked in an enclosed environment is as frightening then as it proved to be some 21 years later. In space, no one can hear you scream.

Note #2: This movie was made in 1958, and I’m using the technology that was current at that time. Of course we wouldn’t toss around hand grenades in a space ship today, but hey, they did things like that in the 50’s!

Note #3: The last lines of this part are lifted directly from the movie.

Note #4: Van Leuen is the head of the Company at the start of Aliens.

Note #5: The time line (Silk knows what a fiend I am for time) is according to the movie. If it makes no sense, well, I’m just the management.

This is for Gail, for all the beta-ing and formatting she does. Without her, my lines would be all over the place. Thanks, Gail.

And for Silk, as always, who, way back when, said of course I could do m/m. And then first person. And then f/f. Thanks, sis!

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 1

“C’mon, Chicken!” Van Heusen murmured as he stroked a finger along the curve of my neck. He had been attempting to get me into bed since I set foot on his ship a little more than two months before.

I shrugged his hand off irritably. “Knock it off, Van!” I wasn’t just playing hard to get. I was hard to get.

“Don’t be like that, baby. Let me show you how much I can do for you!”

“Do you take me for a military whore? You think I’ll trade my body for some stripes on my sleeve?” I curled my lip at him and stepped away so he was no longer invading my personal space.

“I can make you feel so good, Chicken,” he said wistfully.

“For Chrissake, stop calling me that idiotic name! Do you think I’m Ann? Well I’m fucking not one of your women!”

Before he could respond, Mary Royce, the ship’s doctor, strode into the control room. Colonel Heusen scowled at her, not pleased that his seduction of me had been interrupted.

“Do you have a reason for being up here, Mary?”

She looked at our commanding officer with cool eyes. “Jimmy said to tell you we will make planet fall in about a quarter of an hour. He wants us all to strap down.”

“He couldn’t have passed on this news via the intercom?” the Colonel demanded.

Dr. Royce ignored his peevish tone and turned toward me. “You’d better return to your cabin, Andy. This promises to be a rough landing.”

I cocked an inquiring eyebrow at her.

“Eric is reporting signs of what appear to be high velocity winds,” she said, referring to her husband who was science officer. “We’re in for a rocky ride.”

“Mars has a really thin atmosphere. It’s going to show us some pretty interesting weather.”

“That’s about the only thing of interest we’ll find down there,” Van sneered. “Except for maybe a mass murderer.”

“Colonel Carruthers hasn’t been court-martialed yet, Van!” For some reason I felt compelled to defend the man I had admired for years.

The first man in space, Edward Carruthers was facing the threat of a firing squad when we got him back to Earth. Of the ten men on the Challenger 141, he was the sole survivor. His frantic SOS had reached Earth four months after his ship had crash-landed on the red planet, and now we were about to ‘rescue’ him, only to deliver him into the hands of the Science Advisory Committee of Interplanetary Exploration.

Or as George Orwell called them, before he even knew of them, Big Brother.

Somehow the media had gotten wind of the debacle of that ill-fated trip, and now they were howling for blood. Nine men didn’t just disappear. Not unless they had a little help. And since Carruthers was the only one left, he was the most likely candidate for the label Van Leuen, head of the SACIE, had hung on him.

Colonel Heusen’s eyes grew hot as they raked over my body. “I can convince you he’s guilty, Andy. By the time we get to Earth, I’ll have his signed confession!”

“I thought a man was innocent until proven guilty,” I protested.

Van smiled and suddenly my skin felt as if it was too tight for my body. I backed away, willing to concede the game to him.

Major Perdue was just coming up the gangway, and I stepped aside hastily to give him room on the deck. “We’re good to go, Van. Better start that security check.”

For a beat the colonel held my eyes, then turned to his second in command. “What is the likelihood of anything being alive on Mars, John?”

“You mean aside from the good colonel? I’d say it was nil, Van.”

Heusen nodded in satisfaction. “My thoughts precisely!” He dismissed my presence. “All right, Major, let’s get this baby on the ground!”

I hurried down the gangway ladder that led through the dispensary, down past the galley and on into crew territory. I climbed into my bunk and fastened the webbing that would cushion me as the Challenger 142 struggled to ease her way through the turbulence of the upper atmosphere of Mars.

The intercom crackled and Van Heusen’s voice began to call out the security check.

Eric Royce. Mary Royce. Major Perdue. Lieutenant James Calder. Heinholz. Bob Finelli. Gino.

And me.

We were all secured and waiting for the Challenger to set us down safely. Her thin plated walls were all that stood between us and whatever was waiting for us on Mars.

Dangerous, treacherous Mars, which proved to be alive with something we came to know only as …

Death.

His heavy balls slapped rhythmically against my buttocks and his cock was constantly rubbing across my prostate, banishing all feeling of discomfort.

I started backing onto each thrust, bucking against him, pleading for him to nail me into the mattress, to be fucked more, fucked harder.

He fondled and toyed with my erection for long moments, driving me wild, and then began pulling strongly and I spilled myself into his hands.

*****

Note: Van Leuen was head of the Company in Aliens.

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 2

“C’mon, Chicken!” Van Heusen murmured, as he stood close behind me on the command deck, his breath warm in my ear. He ran his fingers up my arm to cup my shoulder.

I shrugged his hand off irritably. “Knock it off, Van! I’m still too sore!” Outwardly I was cool. Inside I was afraid he would push too far.

This was the first time since that experience in his bed a couple of days before that we were totally alone; usually I was able to have the buffer of some other crew member when I had to be in the Colonel’s presence.

I shuddered whenever I thought of what had transpired between us in his bed, and I did not want to be there again. I would shoot myself before I allowed that to happen. Or better yet, I’d shoot him.

“Don’t be like that, baby.” His lips caressed my neck above my uniform collar. “Let me show you how much I can do for you!”

“Do you take me for a military whore? You think I’ll trade my body for some stripes on my sleeve?” I curled my lip at him and stepped away so he was no longer invading my personal space.

“I didn’t mean it that way, baby. I can make you feel so good,” he said wistfully. “You know I can!”

I stared at him in disbelief, positive that he was putting me on. To my amazement, he was totally serious. He had no idea what a selfish lover he was! “Van, all I know is that after one time with you, I’m still so sore I can’t sit comfortably!”

“But it was worth it, wasn’t it, Chicken?” He reached down to cup my buttocks, kneading them, stroking the crevice between, searching for my opening. I winced.

“For Chrissake Van, stop calling me that idiotic name! Do you think I’m Ann?”

****

Ann had been the geologist on his last trip out, and Bob Finelli, the physicist who had taken the Osmore Fellowship in low temperature physics, had enjoyed informing me of the Colonel’s relationship with the lovely brunette.

He had called her ‘Chicken’ too.

And had managed to take her to bed. I wondered if she had gotten any pleasure out of it, or was it only men who got the short end of Van Heusen’s stick?

Throughout the long flight to the Moon, and the equally long return flight, they had gone at it hot and heavy according to Bob. But things changed, once the Defender touched down at Cape Canaveral.

Ann walked away, without a backwards glance.

Van Heusen continued pestering her, unwilling to accept their affair as merely a shipboard romance that ended once they were back on Earth. He only stopped harassing her when her earthside boyfriend proved to be less than accommodating: he threatened to tear off the Colonel’s head and piss down his neck if he ever came near his woman again.

But Heusen had his revenge in the end. Ann no longer had clearance to travel the space lanes.

And I was determined that would not happen to me.

****

Before he could respond to my sniping remark, Mary Royce, the ship’s doctor, strode into the control room and I managed to stand away from him. Colonel Heusen allowed his hands to drop and scowled at her, not pleased that his attempt to resume our relationship had been interrupted.

“Do you have a reason for being up here, Mary?”

She looked at our commanding officer with cool eyes. “Jimmy said to tell you we will make planet fall in about a quarter of an hour. He wants us all to strap down.”

“Lieutenant Calder couldn’t have passed on this news via the intercom?” the Colonel demanded shortly.

Dr. Royce ignored his peevish tone and turned toward me. “You’d better return to your cabin, Andy. This promises to be a rough landing.” She had a tendency to mother the crew, and me most of all.

I cocked an inquiring eyebrow at her.

“Eric is reporting signs of what appear to be high velocity winds,” she said, referring to her husband, who was science officer. “We’re in for a rocky ride.”

“Mars has a really thin atmosphere. It should show us some pretty interesting weather.”

“That’s about the only thing of interest we’ll find down there,” Van sneered. “Except for maybe a mass murderer.”

“Colonel Carruthers hasn’t been court-martialed yet, Van!” For some reason I felt compelled to defend a man I had never met.

Edward Carruthers, commander of the first exploratory flight to Mars, was facing the threat of a firing squad when we got him back to Earth. Of the ten men on the Defiance, he was the sole survivor. His frantic SOS had reached Earth four months after his ship had crash-landed on the red planet, and now we were about to ‘rescue’ him, only to deliver him into the hands of the Science Advisory Committee of Interplanetary Exploration.

Somehow the media had gotten wind of the debacle of that ill-fated trip, and they were howling for blood. Nine men didn’t just disappear. Not unless they had a little help. And since Carruthers was the only one left, he was the most likely candidate for the label Van Leuen, head of the SACIE, had hung on him.

Colonel Heusen’s eyes grew hot as they raked over my body. “I can convince you he’s guilty, Andy,” he said seductively. “By the time we get to Earth, I’ll have his signed confession!”

“I thought a man was innocent until proven guilty,” I protested.

Van smiled and suddenly my skin felt as if it was too tight for my body. I backed away, unwilling to stay within his reach.

Major Perdue was just coming up the gangway, and I stepped aside hastily to give him room on the deck. “We’re good to go, Van. Better start that security check.”

For a beat the colonel held my eyes, then turned to his second in command. “What is the likelihood of anything being alive on Mars, John?”

“You mean aside from the good colonel? I’d say it was nil, Van.”

Heusen nodded in satisfaction. “My thoughts precisely!” He dismissed my presence. “All right, Major, let’s get this baby on the ground!”

I hurried down the gangway ladder that led through the dispensary, down past the galley and on into crew territory. I climbed into my bunk and fastened the webbing that would cushion me as the Defender struggled to ease her way through the turbulence of the upper atmosphere of Mars.

The intercom crackled and Van Heusen’s voice began to call out the security check.

Eric Royce. Mary Royce. John Perdue. Lieutenant Calder. Heinholz. Bob Finelli. Gino.

And me.

We were all secured and waiting for the Defender to set us down safely. Her thin plated walls were all that stood between us and whatever was waiting on Mars.

Dangerous, treacherous Mars. Planet of desolate wind storms, of rocks carved by the blowing sands.

Mars, which did prove to be alive with something other than Colonel Carruthers.

Something the Committee wanted, badly enough that nineteen men and women were considered expendable.

*****

"My mommy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are..." Rebecca ‘Newt’ Jordan, Aliens

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 3

The high-pitched scream of the Martian winds whipped through canyons of umber rock, piercing a man’s eardrums, slicing into his nerves like an ice pick, playing havoc with his senses. Fragments of stone were pounded to dust, reducing visibility to zero.

The Defender sat for three days, waiting for a respite from those awful squalls. Her stabilizers fought to keep her steady, and while her soundproofed walls protected us from the unremitting wail, vibrations traveled up from her tail fins through the decks, through flesh and bone.

Making everyone edgy, irritable.Tense.

Until, eventually, there was a temporary lull in the rampaging winds, and we were able to step out onto the soil of the red planet. The lighter Martian gravity made it easy to travel in the heavyweight protective gear we needed to wear in case the weather kicked up again. Our helmets contained oxygen breathers to assist us in dealing with Mars’ atmosphere.

The gantry lowered and four of us walked down it to stand in the bowl of the canyon that held the Defender’s sister ship.

Across the broad expanse of red dust and slag were the shattered remains of the Defiance, her back clearly broken. Next to the upper portion, which housed the command level, stood Colonel Carruthers, his figure dwarfed by the bulk of his ship.

Defeat and despair were in every line of his body. I could see that even from where I stood in the shadow of the Defender’s sleek tail fins.

Colonel Heusen spoke into the mic at his collar. “Jimmy, dump the trash, will you. I want C compartment cleaned out before our return trip. Van Leuen wants samples and we’ll need the room to store them. We won’t want anything extraneous holding us back.”

“Aye, aye, Skipper!” There was a harsh grating of metal, and then the hatch above our heads slid open, and mementos of our two-month trip came flying out.

“Watch it, Calder!” Bob Finelli yelled up at the lieutenant. “You nearly beaned me with that soup can!”

Calder’s laughter floated down on the thin, chill Martian air. Or whatever it was.

“Let’s get going!” Heusen ordered, almost bouncing with satisfaction. “I want that miserable piece of shit in custody immediately. Then we’ll make a quick pass of the area and see if we can come up with any bodies. I want off of this godforsaken place as soon as possible!”

He led the way across the rocky ground, his attention fastened on the man who waited for us.

Finelli and Major Perdue were hard on his heels, with me bringing up the rear.

I thought I heard something behind us, and turned, but it was only Calder, throwing out more garbage. I shook my head in disillusion. The Ugly Americans, that was us, always leaving junk behind to mark our passage. I sighed. Well at least no one would be writing ‘Kilroy Was Here’ on a convenient wall.

I was about to turn back and follow the other men when out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw movement. My head whipped around and my breath snagged high in my throat. I scanned the rocks and gullies that bordered the spot where the Colonel had set our ship down.

No. Nothing.

I laughed at my nerves, which were making me see the boogey man when there was really nothing there, and I hurried to catch up with the others.

****

Once we were back in the ship, we stood around in silence as colonel confronted colonel.

“I promise you, I did not kill my men! Why would I do such a stupid thing?”

Van Heusen looked over the older man and sneered at him. “Come on, Colonel. Do you take me for a fool? With your ship so badly damaged, you knew you’d never be able to lift off this chunk of spatial real estate. And you couldn’t be sure of rescue. You had no way to contact Earth, and while you had food and supplies enough to last a year, if your men were taken out of the equation, they would last you ten years!”

Colonel Carruthers slumped tiredly in a console chair. “Alone? Colonel, believe me, I don’t enjoy my own company that much!”

Major Perdue appeared in the hatchway, signaling Van that he had found something. “Watch him, Andy. He’s a sly one! Don’t let him out of your sight!”

“One moment, Colonel Heusen.” Carruthers straightened. “I need to know…do you plan to keep me in chains?”

“It’s no more than a murdering bastard like yourself deserves, Colonel, but no, no chains. This ship will be your prison. Someone will be by your side 24/7. You won’t even be able to take a piss without someone being there to hold your dick for you!”

Carruthers watched as Van followed Perdue down the ladder to the next level. “He does have a way with words, doesn’t he?”

I thought it best not to respond to that. Van Heusen still was my commanding officer. “Can I get you something, Colonel?” I asked. This was the first time I had ever been alone with such a renowned man, and to my surprise, I felt my own dick hardening. How could I possibly want a man after what had happened? I reined in my libido. “Um, a cup of coffee, perhaps?”

His smile contained a touch of exhaustion. “That would be nice,” he said politely. “Thank you.”

He watched as I filled a mug from the thermos my colonel always kept within easy reach. Van was a real caffeine junky.

“Colonel.” I offered him the coffee. “I’m sorry, it’s black. I know you take it regular but…”

“That’s quite all right, Mr. …” he peered at my name on my uniform shirt. “Mr. Anderson. I’ve had six months of dreaming about coffee. I’ll take it any way I can get it! I appreciate your kindness.” He began to weave on his feet. “I didn’t kill my men,” he repeated, and started to fold in on himself. Coffee spilled all over the two of us. I dropped the thermos and caught him before he could hit the steel deck.

He was a fair-sized man, and almost dead weight. He took me down with him, but I was able to save him from smashing his face on the cold metal.

I sat on that deck, the most decorated man in the Air Force in my arms, and gazed down at his pale face. The lines of strain were smoothed out, making him look much younger than he actually was. His lips were slightly parted, and suddenly I wanted to discover how they would feel against mine.

“Well, well. Isn’t this a cozy scene?”

I refused to show my discomfort. “Colonel, I think it might be best to get Colonel Carruthers to sick bay. Van Leuen will not be pleased if he dies before the Committee can have him shot.”

Van scowled at me, but conceded that I had a point. He nodded toward Heinholz who had followed him up the ladder. “Help Lieutenant Anderson, Heinholz. Get this…” he toed Carruthers’ side fastidiously with his boot, “..out of my sight! Oh and Andy, change your trousers. You’ve got stains all over them!”

“Of course, sir,” I said through stiff lips. He made it sound as if I had been involved in something shameful and had come all over my pants. “Where do you want us to take him?”

“Anywhere but sick bay. He’s not sick, and I won’t let him weasel out of this charge on a Section 8!”

“No sir!” Heinholz was grinning like a baboon. He had a reputation for sly cruelties, and I moved to grab Carruthers’ shoulders. I wanted the cargo chief nowhere near the colonel’s head.

We maneuvered Colonel Carruthers down the ladders until we got to crew territory. “Want him in your cabin, flyboy?” Heinholz asked snidely as I considered where to stow the Colonel. “I bet you wouldn’t mind sharing your bunk with him.”

“Y’know something, Heinholz? I always wondered why you looked so familiar to me, and now I realize why! I’ve seen pictures of your family in National Geographic!”

He dropped the Colonel’s feet to the deck where they landed with a thud and came at me. “Are you saying I look like an ape?”

The Colonel began making sounds of returning to consciousness. I set his upper body down gently and looked up at Heinholz. His face was flushed an unattractive shade of red. My lips twisted in a grin, but my eyes remained cold.

“Didn’t sound like it to me, soldier!” Colonel Carruthers stated, struggling to sit up.

Heinholz glared from the Colonel to me and back again, then turned on his heel and stomped to the ladder that would take him to the cargo level, muttering under his breath.

“Help me to my feet, will you, Lieutenant? I apologize for that display of weakness.”

“Not at all, sir. If I had been alone on a planet, with no chance of rescue, I’d do something a hell of a lot worse than pass out!” I leaned down and extended my hand to grasp his, pulling him up and steadying him. His palm was calloused and rough, and felt amazingly good in my grip.

“So. Where are you taking me, Lieutenant?”

Where was I taking him? I decided the best thing was for Mary Royce to check him over. She could decide the best place for the Colonel to stay. I led him to the galley, where I knew she’d be that time of day. Although she and her husband weren’t English, they observed 1600 hours as teatime.

And I knew everyone else would either be searching for what might be left of the Defiance’s crew, or preparing the Defender for departure as soon as the winds let up again. Colonel Carruthers didn’t need an audience while the ship’s doctor met with him.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d call me Andy, sir.” I gestured for him to follow me.

“Andy?”

“For Anderson, Colonel Carruthers.”

His smile was warm. “Andy. My friends call me Carr.”

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 4

“Anderson, report to the cargo bay! On the double!”

The disembodied voice of my colonel floated through the galley. Mary Royce pulled a face and waved me off. “I’ll take care of Colonel Carruthers, Andy, until Jimmy gets here. Go see what our lord and master wants. Oh and Andy? Watch your…back.”

I glanced over my shoulder, but she was busy checking the palm unit that was recording the Colonel’s vital signs. His eyes met mine, a silent question in them, and I knew he had caught the hesitation in Mary’s warning. She was too much of a lady to mention my ass in front of a ranking officer, but I knew what she meant.

And so, apparently, did Colonel Carruthers.

****

It felt as if we had been tramping Martian soil for days, instead of only a couple of hours. The wind was beginning to kick up again, making travel over the smallest distances difficult.

I had taken samples of rock and dust and dirt and bits of lichen that somehow managed to survive, while the others searched for bodies. Major Perdue had come up with something earlier, but no one else was able to find anything. Colonel Heusen’s stride became more and more jerky as his temper got the better of him.

“God damn it! There has to be remains around here somewhere! What did he do, lug them off for the vultures to dispose of?”

“Um, Van…?”

“Oh for chrissake, I know there aren’t any vultures on Mars! Let’s get back to the Defender. This place is giving me the heebie jeebies!” He turned too fast and went spinning out of control in the lighter gravity of the red planet.

I bit my lip to prevent laughter from spilling out, although with my suit transmitter turned off he wouldn’t have heard it.

With exaggerated movements, the rest of us carefully made our way back to the ship.

****

“Where did you leave him, Andy?”

I jumped. I was in the process of stripping off my gear and didn’t hear him come up behind me. His hand was warm on my neck, and he squeezed. There was enough controlled power in his grip to make me aware of how he could hurt me if he so chose.

As if I needed to be reminded.

“Colonel Carruthers was in the galley with Doctor Royce, Van. She said Jimmy would be coming down to keep an eye on him. Following your orders.”

“Good. Very good. We’re going to be too busy getting the Defender back into space again for the trip home Andy, but afterwards…”

“Afterwards, Van?” I got a churning feeling in my gut.

His lips parted in a shark’s grin, and I reminded myself that I had wanted to sample those lips at one time. “Afterwards…I’m going to wring a confession from that murdering, cocksucking son-of-a-bitch!” He took the ladder to the command level with a jaunty step. “Bring Carruthers up to control, Andy!” he called over his shoulder.

I stared after him, unable to believe that for once I wasn’t the sole thing on his mind. I know that sounds conceited, but for the entire two months of our outbound trip, he had made it plain to everyone that I was the one he wanted. Didn’t he want me anymore?

Wait a minute, what was wrong with me? Was I out of my fucking mind? If something, some*one* took Van’s attention from me, I should be down on my knees. Kissing… the ground he walked on!

A nagging headache was building up across the top of my skull, and I dug my fingers into my eyes. If I could get some rest before we took off, maybe I’d start feeling a little better.

I dragged myself up to the galley level, exhaustion weighing my feet. I could understand the Colonel passing out from the stressors he had experienced. I had only spent a few hours in the violent weather that passed for spring on Mars, while he had spent months, in a ship whose shell integrity had been seriously compromised. And with only the ghosts of his companions for company.

Mary Royce fussed over me when I entered the galley, trying to press a mug of liquid carbs into my hand. Even Colonel Carruthers looked concerned.

“Are you all right, Andy?” he asked.

I gulped down the warm drink, nearly gagging on its cloying sweetness, and started to feel marginally human. “I’ll be all right once we get back to Earth!” Then I bit my lip, realizing that for him, that spelled his execution. “Sorry, sir.”

His hand came up to rub my shoulder, and I felt comforted. And…interested. I glanced down to make sure my arousal was not obvious.

“You taking the watch, Andy?” Jim Calder demanded. “I’ve got to clear the cargo bays before we lift off.”

“You mean Heinholz is actually going to let you do anything?”

“Hey, I’m a first lieuie! I can do anything I fuc…” He gulped as he caught Mary giving him the fisheye. “Um, I can do what ever I please!”

“Sure you can, Calder!” I clapped him on the back, knocking him off balance. “Go tell it to the Marines, while you’re at it!”

He was laughing as he left, and I wondered why I had never been drawn physically to him. Good looking, friendly, with the makings of a solid officer, I enjoyed his friendship, but never once looked at him as anything else. I put that thought aside and turned to the older man.

“Colonel Heusen wants to see you on the command deck, sir.”

“Oh, Andy, I don’t think that’s a good idea just now!” Mary exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Royce. Orders. You’ve been married to the military long enough to know the routine,” I said apologetically.

Her lips were folded in a thin line. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it! Oh go ahead, get out of here! I need to make sure all my supplies are battened down for lift off.”

“Tell me something, Andy. Were you able to salvage anything from the Defiance?” Colonel Carruthers asked softly as we began the climb to the topmost deck.

“Sorry, sir. Colonel Heusen wouldn’t allow us more than a cursory inspection. When it became obvious that you had no bodies hidden in any of the compartments, he ordered us out of there. Spit and chewing gum looks like all that’s holding the Defiance together now.”

“Did he take the log?”

“No, sir.” We emerged up the last ladder into the command level. “Colonel Heusen.”

Van was busy feeding information into the computer, and he turned at my voice. “Ready to confess, Carruthers?”

“I’ve done nothing, Van.”

Van? They knew each other? Why hadn’t I picked up on that before?

“Nine people are dead.”

“Not by my hand! Those people were killed by something! Not me!”

“Let me show you another something, Ed!” Van stood and picked up an object wrapped in protective cloth. Meticulously he undid the numerous folds and revealed a weather-beaten skull. “We found this a few meters from your ship.” Shattering the back of it was what could only be a bullet hole. “We brought your crew’s dental records with us. This is all that’s left of Frank Kenner.”

“Frank…?” Colonel Carruthers’ face seemed to crumble, and then he got himself under control once more.

Van relaxed against the edge of the console. “Last time I looked, man was the only monster that used bullets!”

“And knowing me, considering what we once had together, you still think I’d kill my own people?”

“You want to know why I’m so sure you did this, Ed?” Van leaned close to the older man’s face, and Colonel Carruthers jerked back, then stilled. I’m sure they forgot for the moment that I was even in the same room with them. Van’s voice dropped to a whisper, and I had to strain to hear him.

“You left me, Ed. You knew how much I needed you, and you left me!”

*****

Note: Colonel Carruthers’ POV

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 5

Sometimes, an organization, even one as powerful as the military can make mistakes. In the case of Van Heusen, it made a big one.

He had been someone’s fair-haired boy, and his rise through the ranks had been nothing short of phenomenal. Don’t get me wrong, he was a good officer. He gave orders with panache, and he obeyed them with alacrity. The upper echelons were grooming him to be the youngest brigadier since General Custer.

Van just had this one odd kick to his gait: he had an obstinate, unswerving, unquestioning obedience to his duty. He saw everything in black and white, with no possibility of there being shades of gray. Because Van Leuen ordered him to take me back to Earth as his prisoner, Heusen would accept my guilt without a single doubt, looking no further into the deaths of my people.

The cause would go unexplored, their loss unexplained, their destruction unavenged.

I had known Van when he was just a young captain. His good looks had women falling all over themselves to get into his bed, and the result was that he never had to woo them. And since they slept with him for his access to power as well as his looks, he never needed to take the time to learn what pleased them.

I don’t know why he thought he had to experience sex with another man. And I don’t know why he chose me to be that man.

The military’s policy toward gays was in high gear. No one asked, and I certainly didn’t tell. My affairs had been discreet in the extreme, carried on far from the base, and only when I was on leave.

We were at a bar off base when Van approached me. I knew him by sight. And by reputation. I never dreamed someone like him might want someone like me. “I like the way you wear that uniform, Ed,” he remarked casually. “I’d like it even more if you weren’t wearing it!”

I could see how a come on like that might excite a younger man, but I was almost on the down side of thirty-five at that point, and a major to boot. “Excuse me, Captain?” I said, trying to remind my cock it could get us both in big trouble.

He smiled at me, a cocky grin that made him look so boyish. And my heart twisted. I should have known better. At my age, I should have…There was no excuse for what I did.

I took him home to my bed.

I leaned back against the door to my quarters and watched him as he shed his clothes, making no effort to remove my own uniform.

“C’mon, Chicken, get naked! I want to see what you’ve got under those threads!”

“You’re taking a very big risk, are you aware of that?”

“*Big risk* is my middle name!” he teased. “Along with his!” He gestured down to his cock, which was standing proudly at attention.

I sucked in my breath and pushed away from the door, moving to stand close enough to him so that each breath he took caused the insignia on my breast pockets to brush across his nipples, bringing them to pebble-hardness.

“Ohhhh! I like that!” he breathed.

“Do you want more, Van?” I began shoving him toward my bedroom. “You’re going to have to tell me. I won’t touch you, unless you do.”

His face flushed. Van licked his lips. “I want it all, Ed. Everything. I want you to kiss me senseless. I want your cock in my mouth and then in my ass. I’ve been reading about this; I found some pictures, and it looks so hot!”

“It’s going to hurt the first time, Van. I’ll take it as easy as I can with you, and I’ll take my time. I promise…” The rest of what I would have told him was cut off by his mouth as he slammed it against mine. His hands reached for the buttons on my shirt and began undoing them.

I would have stood there and let him explore my body, marking the contrasts between a male lover and a female one, but he was becoming frantic, rubbing his cock against my groin.

“*Fuck* taking your time, Ed. I want you in me now!”

I turned him and pushed him gently down onto my bed. “On your knees, Van!” Then I got out of the rest of my uniform, tracing the muscular curves of his ass with my eyes as I reached for the tube of lubricant. It was a rather battered tube. I could never bring a date home with me, so I often resorted to pleasuring myself.

I knew what made me feel good, and I promised myself I would make the younger man go wild his first time. Perhaps there would be other times for us.

The cool gel pooled in my palm, and I let it warm before I scooped up a fingerful and stroked it over his exposed hole. His cheek rested on the bedspread, and his ass was high in the air. He shuddered as I dipped my finger past the guardian muscle.

It was killing me, but I took my time, letting him get used to the feel of my fingers in his ass, finding and probing his prostate, which set him to bucking. I wanted to make sure he would be mindless when I finally entered him.

“Easy, baby. Easy. I’m going to put my cock into you now. Just relax.”

He was trembling and moaning as the head of my cock slid past his well-lubed opening.

“C’mon, Eddie! Don’t baby me! I can take it!” he gasped. And then he bore down with his inner muscles, and I lost control. I surged into him, rocking him forward on the bed.

He reared back against me, going up on his knees, and I reached for his cock. It was covered with precome and my hand slid off. My palm was slick with the clear fluid, and I started jerking him off in time to my thrusts. He wound an arm around my neck and pulled my head closer to his so he could kiss me.

It was good. It was better than good, it was great. Maybe it was the forbidden aspect of it that made me come so hard.

And then pain ripped through my mouth, and I jerked back, trying to get away from it. I felt something trickle down my chin, and thought, at first, Van’s saliva must have dribbled out of my mouth. I touched my lip and drew my hand away, shocked to find it covered with blood.

I yanked out of him, and stumbled off the bed. “Get out!”

“Ed, what’s wrong?” He seemed honestly not to know, and I struggled to regain some composure.

Blood was still dripping from my torn lip. “I don’t go in for blood sports, Van. Get your clothes on and get out of my quarters!”

His face a blank, he gathered up his uniform and retired to the bathroom to dress. I found a handkerchief and held it to my mouth as I sank down on the edge of my bed. With a snarl of distaste, I bounced up, realizing I had sat in Van’s wet spot.

Of course he had come. I always saw to my partner’s pleasure.

He stood at the bathroom door, the expression on his face making him seem too young to be an Air Force officer. “I’d really like to do this again, Ed. Maybe tomorrow night?”

“I’ve got maneuvers until the end of next week, Van.”

“I’ll call you. Okay?”

I didn’t reply. He hesitated a moment, then came over and kissed my cheek. I had to fight not to flinch. He walked through the living room and out the door. Uncontrolled anger swept through me and I tore the sheets off the bed, leaving them piled in the corner.

The next day I put in for a transfer.

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 6

I felt cold.

Colonel Carruthers and Colonel Heusen had once had some kind of relationship.

Van was looking at the older man as if he wanted to gobble him down in one bite. I didn’t like that look, and not because it was no longer directed at me.

“The Colonel can use my quarters during lift off, Van. If you have no problem with that?”

“Oh, but I do, Chicken!”

I’d swear I saw a tremor run through Colonel Carruthers. “Where do you want me, Van?”

Van’s eyes turned hot and ravenous. And then Mary Royce walked in. “Will we be lifting off anytime soon, Van? You know how jumpy Eric gets just before takeoff.”

Our Colonel seemed to snap out of his sexual preoccupation. “We’ll start the security check immediately. Andy, return to your cabin. Ed, you’ll sit it out here with me on the command deck. I want to keep an eye on you! Strap in.”

He turned back to the console and his fingers flew over the controls. “What the…?” He flipped on his intercom. “Calder, what’s the skinny on that open hatch?”

“Huh? Shit! I didn’t even see that, Skipper!” came floating over the open mic. “The emergency airlock in C compartment didn’t shut! Hang on!” We could hear him hollering at the unfortunate cargo chief. “Heinie, you stupid fuck! Get that airlock sealed!”

We felt the vibration through the ship as the final compartment was secured. Van nodded in satisfaction and returned to the screen before him. I’ll say this for him: he was a crackerjack pilot. We were dismissed from his attention as if we had never been there.

I gazed over at Colonel Carruthers, for some reason reluctant to leave him, but he nodded reassuringly toward the ladder, and I had no choice but to follow the ship’s doctor down to crew territory.

She paused as we got to the bottom of the ladder, her hand warm around my wrist. “Are you all right, Andy?”

I returned her look blankly.

“I wanted to give you a couple of days, to see how you did on your own. I know you requested some salve from the dispensary. And I know Van’s reputation. Do you need to be examined by me?”

I shook my head dumbly, not about to confirm anything. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

She smiled kindly at my expression of dismay. “I’m a shrink also, Andy. Remember that if you want to talk.” Mary paused as she further considered her words. “This ship is just a microcosm of society, Andy. Did you really expect no one to discover you had been in Van’s bed?”

“Well, I had kind of hoped…” I could feel my cheeks heat in an embarrassed flush at what I had inadvertently admitted.

The doctor squeezed my arm and started past me to get to the quarters she shared with her husband. “You know where to find me if you change your mind. I like you Andy. So does the rest of the crew. Well, maybe not Heinholz, but he’s such a putz!”

****

As soon as the Defender was released from the flimsy hold of Martian gravity and safely locked into her flight pattern back to Earth, we were all free to leave our cabins.

I had some work to do on the samples I had collected, so I made my way to the science lab, which was on the same deck as sickbay. Observing all the standard precautions, I donned protective eye gear and a facemask. My hands would be safeguarded by superfine latex gloves as I worked with the soil and lichen I had stored in airtight containers.

“Fascinating!” I murmured to myself as I studied a specimen under the high-resolution microscope. It seemed to have lapsed into a state of dormancy. I selected a scalpel and began to separate the fibers of the plantlike organism.

Time got away from me, as it had a tendency to do when I was working. Under my startled gaze, the lichen appeared to be multiplying, thriving in the oxygen rich atmosphere of the Defender.

And then something jolted me out of my concentration. I listened carefully, but couldn’t determine what had disturbed me.

I wanted to shrug it aside as the normal sounds a ship makes settling into her flight routine, but I was uneasy.

I scooped up the samples and carefully inserted them back into the container, and made sure to seal it tight. It would never do to have our oxygen supply contaminated by a alien airborne organism.

And then I thought I heard something on the level below. I paused, my head raised, my hand hovering over the switch for the intercom. I decided to follow my instincts. “Calder? What’s up?”

“The lieutenant isn’t here, Andy. He’s up in command,” Heinholz answered. “Did you hear something?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Me too.” For the first time since I had known him, the cargo chief didn’t take the opportunity to rag me about hearing things on my first trip into space. “I’m going to check it out. Uh, Lieutenant would you mind keeping this line open. Just in case I need a little back-up?”

My mouth went dry with nerves. “Sure thing, Heinholz.”

“My God! You really are a sucker, aren’t you, Lieutenant Andy?” he mocked me. “What on God’s green earth could be on this ship except us?” His laugh was nasty, and chopped off in the middle as he shut his intercom.

I licked my lips, still tense in spite of the fact that it was just a poor joke that Heinholz had played on me.

And then I heard the scream.

There were no weapons in the science lab, and there was no time for me to reach my quarters for my side arm. I grabbed up the scalpel and ran for the ladder that would take me down to C compartment.

I stared in horror at the hatch that closed off the lower deck from the level I was on. It looked as if it had had hell beat out of it. I swallowed heavily and got a firm grip on the lever.

It swung up, and what would normally have been a brightly lit compartment was filled with darkness. “Heinholz?” I called. “If this is another fucking trick, I’m going to slice off your balls and make you eat them raw!”

There was no sound from below.

I got a firmer grip on my makeshift weapon and took a step down the ladder. I could hear something being dragged across the deck below me, and went down the rest of the way as quietly as I could. The light switch was just at the bottom of the ladder, and my hand slapped against it.

The sudden brightness was blinding after the stygian dark, and I had to blink constantly until my pupils retracted enough for comfort. I cast a quick glance around the storage compartment, to find it empty. Except…

On the deck near a blower vent was a standard issue flashlight. I bent to retrieve it.

The force of air displaced above me told me that if I hadn’t stooped down at that moment, my head would have been bouncing on the deck. I threw myself forward and rolled under a rack of supplies, curling my legs out of harm’s way. Reflexively, my arm flung out and the scalpel bit into something.

There was a howl that deafened my ears, and then boots were pounding on the ladders leading to the lower decks. C compartment went dark and a muffled shuffling retreated into the corners where my sight couldn’t penetrate.

“Heinie? Heinholz? Joe! Goddammit, answer me!” Jim Calder paused at the bottom of the ladder. He began to cross the deck cautiously, and then he stepped into something that caused his feet to shoot out from under him. His arms pin wheeled as he tried desperately to regain his equilibrium.

He landed hard, his head whipping back and connecting with the deck with a sickening crack. There was a single moan and then silence.

I scrambed out from under the rack and searched for a pulse in his throat. It was rapid and thready, but he was still alive. I was still clutching the flashlight and I switched it on. I held it up to examine Jimmy.

A small puddle of blood seemed to elongate to mingle with the ichor that he had stepped in. It appeared to be wicking, drawing back along the trickle that dripped from the unconscious man’s head.

I had never seen anything like that before, and it scared me. Jimmy shouldn’t have been moved, he could have brain stem trauma, he could have spinal injuries but I couldn’t leave him lying there with that fluid seeking him, almost as if it was sentient.

I looped my hands under his armpits and raised his head and shoulders up off the deck, then dragged him around the pool and toward the ladder.

And whatever it was that had attacked me was still around somewhere.

Jimmy seemed to weigh about a thousand pounds. His heels caught on every other rung of the ladder, and I was almost whimpering with dread by the time I got him to the top. I got him out of the way and slammed my hand on the hatch control. It took forever to seal shut, although in reality it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.

I staggered over to the comm unit and flipped it on. “Van, I need help. I’ve got Jimmy by the science lab. He’s been hurt. Heinholz is gone. And we’ve got company.”

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 7

“What do you mean, we’ve got company?” Van demanded as the entire crew showed up at sickbay.

“Just what I said. There’s something down there, and it isn’t human!”

Before Van could snap that I was out of my fucking mind, Mary Royce reached the bottom of the ladder and hurried to where Jim Calder was just starting to regain consciousness.

“Mary! There’re five of you, Doc!” he stated with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, God! He’s concussed! Wonderful! Eric, give me a hand here. Major, if you could assist my husband?”

The two men got a firm grip on the lieutenant and carried him into sickbay. Mary started to follow them in, tsking at the blood that dripped from the injured man’s scalp.

Van touched her arm. “He’ll be okay?”

“I’m not a miracle worker, Van, but it looks like a fairly simple concussion. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve completed my examination.”

We watched as the door to sick bay slid shut.

“All right, Andy, tell me what happened.”

I explained as best I could. “And when I bent over to pick up the flashlight, something took a swing at me. I cut it with the scalpel.” I looked down at my hand where I was still clutching the surgical instrument.

As I watched in horror, green liquid was drawing back from the sharpened edge to the grip. I opened my fingers and let it fall to the floor, where droplets spattered around my feet. And they seemed to roll toward my boots reaching out for me.

I backed away, so scared I thought I would piss my pants. And then the wall was at my back, and I could move no further. I looked to the two men who watched me in disbelief. Van ran into the science lab. “Carr!” My voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Don’t move, Andy. Don’t even fucking breathe!” Van was back with an acetylene torch. He flicked the starter and a narrow stream of flame shot out to glow an incandescent blue. The fluid was almost at the toe of my boots. It seemed as if it was coiling in on itself, preparing to fling itself on my feet. Then Van crouched down and fanned the flame over the viscous liquid.

The flame touched the green stuff, seared it, and it hissed as it evaporated in the intense heat. The odor it gave off was nauseating, and I swallowed convulsively to keep from vomiting.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What was that?”

I couldn’t answer; I just kept swallowing. He spun to the rest of the men. “We’ve got to find Heinholz. Bob, Gino, break out the flamethrowers and check down in C compartment. And watch your asses!”

“Van, no, you can’t let them go down there!” I was shaking so hard I thought I would break apart.

“This is what I get paid the big bucks for, Andy. It’s crunch time, and I get to make the decisions! Ed, get him up to the galley and make sure he drinks something hot and sweet!”

“Van…!”

He ran his fingers through my hair, then turned and followed the two men down to the next deck.

Carr put an arm around my shoulder and gave me a gentle shake. “Come on, Andy. That was a direct order.” He pushed me toward the ladder that led to the upper level. I stumbled up and into the galley and managed to sit down before I fell down.

“Colonel Carruthers, what happened to you and your people on Mars?”

“I should have made him listen to me. I should have made him…” He handed me a mug of coffee that he had loaded with sugar. “This should help a little, Andy.” He turned his back and poured himself some coffee.

“It’s a long story, but I’ll try to be brief. We were exploring the southern tip of Syrtis Major when a sudden sandstorm sprang up. We couldn’t see the soldier next to us, the dust was so thick. All of a sudden there was a cry from Cartwright. Almost…affronted. There was a shape, the color of the dust around us, but darker.

“We were sitting ducks. We couldn’t see anything, or hear anything except this really weird sound. And the screaming, oh the screaming!” He scrubbed his face with his hands as if he could erase the memory of that sound if he just rubbed hard enough. “We started shooting.”

“Is that how Kenner wound up with the bullet hole in his head?” Seeing how a confrontation with whatever we now had on board affected the Colonel, I felt less of a coward.

He looked at me, hell staring back out of his eyes. “I figure the one who got the bullet was the lucky one.”

****

The intercomm crackled to life. “All hands down to C compartment, on the double. And make sure you’re heavily armed!” Van’s voice was sharp. In the background, I heard Bob shouting.

“Gino! Gino! Goddammit! Colonel!”

We headed for the ladder, grabbing the railing and swinging down, taking the steps in huge leaps.

Major Perdue was already in C compartment when we got there, cradling Van. Blood spurted from the wound on his arm.

Bob’s legs were disappearing through a blower vent as he went in search of his partner.

Next to the emergency airlock, crumpled beneath a storage locker was Heinholz.

I approached him gingerly and reached out to him. His bones crunched under my touch and his face looked shriveled, as if every ounce of moisture had been leached from his system.

Major Perdue had made a makeshift tourniquet and he and the Colonel were getting Van up the ladder to sickbay.

That left me to go after Bob.

My mouth was so dry I couldn’t swallow. I bit my lip so hard it started to bleed.

And I went into the vent, wriggling forward on my belly, keeping the rifle I had scooped up in front of me. The visibility in there was minimal, and the sounds were magnified.

I needed to pee in the worst way.

I heard Bob, a few feet ahead of me. “It’s okay, Gino, I promise you! It’s okay. I’ll get you out of here, baby!”

I crawled until I could tap his boot, letting him know I was there.

“’S too late for me!” The words were strangled, barely audible. “Get out. Now!”

And then there was the weirdest sound, and Bob was yanked forward, his legs kicking out in protest, catching me high on the cheekbone. I threw myself forward and wrapped my arms around his legs. Flinging us both back, I managed to break the hold of whatever had seized the physicist. I scrambled backward until we were both free of the vent.

Colonel Carruthers was back, and he helped me haul up the cover and twist the toggle bolts into place, sealing it once again.

“We’ve got to get him! He’s still alive! We can’t leave him in there!”

“Bob!” I held him tightly. “There’s nothing we could have done for him. He was finished; he knew that! He wouldn’t have wanted you to die with him!”

The older man broke down in my arms. “That’s what we planned! We were going to go out together in a blaze of glory, when the time came! It wasn’t supposed to end like this! It wasn’t…” The sound of his sobs filled the compartment.

“Let’s get him up to sick bay, Andy. Dr. Royce will give him something to calm him down.”

“Don’t talk as if I’m not fucking here!” Finelli snarled. “I don’t want anything. I don’t need anything! Just Gino!” He buried his head in his hands.

Sounds were coming from the other side of the vent. I looked at it, and then looked at Carr.

“Well, I want to get out of here. And I need that thing dead!”

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 8

The science officer poked his head into the ladder well. “Trouble, gentlemen?”

My mouth dropped open. What kind of dumbass question was that? Hadn’t he heard the shouts, the weaponry fire? What ship had he been on?

Colonel Carruthers ignored the other man and shepherded us up the steps. Eric Royce backed away, giving us room to step onto the next level. “We’ve got to find a way to destroy that thing!” the Colonel said without any heat, steering Bob Finelli into sickbay.

“*You can’t do that!*”

Carr ignored him and began talking softly with Mary.

The other Dr. Royce grabbed my arm, squeezing the muscle. “Andy, you can’t destroy it!”

“You don’t think so?” I snarled. “Just watch me!” I didn’t like being frightened like that, and I wanted a little payback.

I stood watching the Colonel as he listened to the ship’s doctor. Concern was wiped out by alarm. He examined the bottles of plasma that were feeding into the arms of Jim Calder and my colonel.

Before I could approach and discover why it was necessary for someone with just a lacerated scalp to need a blood transfusion, Eric flung my arm away in disgust. He spun around on his heel and stalked to the science lab, hostility written in every line of his body. His lips were pressed so tightly together they appeared to be one and he glared at me, before letting the door slide shut behind him.

Eric Royce was different from most people. He lived and breathed science. At the best of times it was hard to puzzle him out, but now he was acting even stranger than was normal for him!

I stared after him. If looks could kill…!

But then Carr distracted me and I forgot all about the little science officer.

“Andy?”

I turned to face the Colonel. “Yes, sir?”

“Problems?”

“Aside from what’s in the basement?” I shrugged. “You’ve had more experience with it, six months worth, I’d say. You tell me.”

“I wish I could, Andy. After the first few days of searching unsuccessfully for my crew, I had no choice but to lock myself in what was left of the Defiance and spend the dark of winter there. I hope I never have to spend so much time alone again.” He paused and licked his lips. “I have to tell you something.”

I braced myself, sure I was about to get reamed out by a superior officer for conduct unbecoming. “Very well, sir.” My arms folded behind my back, my fingers locked and I about twisted them off.

“I was very impressed with your actions in C compartment. I’d give you a commendation, for what it’s worth, but I don’t think Van Leuen cares very much right now for what I might think.”

I was stunned. “You’re…*impressed* with me? But I was so scared down there!”

He nodded. “That may be true, but you still went into that ventilator shaft after Bob. I don’t know that I could have done something like that!”

I knew I was blushing. “Thank you, sir. That means a great deal, coming from someone like you. I mean, you were the first man in space! If anything called for courage, I’d swear that did!”

He took a step closer to me, and I would have sworn he was about to kiss me. His eyes were fastened on my lips, and when my tongue slid out to moisten them, I heard him suck in a shaky breath.

“If I could interrupt this mutual admiration society for one moment, gentlemen?”

The ship’s doctor brought us back to the real world with a resounding thud. “Sorry, Mary. We were just discussing… Um… Will you be able to tell us what caused Heinholz’ death?”

“I should be able to give you the answer to that, I think, once I’ve had the opportunity to autopsy his body,” Dr. Royce remarked. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, exhaution written starkly in that simple movement.

I gulped hard. That meant going back down to C compartment, with it banging away in the air vent. I shuddered, and turned to get the nasty job done.

Major Perdue was just coming down from the command level, his arms filled with grenades. He saw the direction I was headed in and stopped me.

“Take a handful of these pineapples, Andy. Fasten them to the vent covers. I’ll do the others. We’re going to blow that son of a bitch to kingdom come!” He bared his teeth in what might have been a grin, but fell far short.

I touched his arm. “If this doesn’t work John, what then?”

He looked at me grimly. “Just pray that it does!”

****

Of course it didn’t, and we were damned lucky it didn’t blow out a hole in the side of the ship.

We sealed the hatch to C compartment and waited as it finally forced a vent open and the pins from the grenades were pulled out. We listened in dismay as it roared it’s pain and frustration and it’s …hunger.

Still alive.

We turned away from the hatch and brought Heinholz’s body into sickbay. Dr. Royce gestured to a table at the far end of the room. “Put him there and I’ll get to him in just a minute.”

She had been counting Bob Finelli’s pulse. He was on a cot, sedated, tear stains still visible on his cheeks. Mary looked up at us, her eyes old, then glanced back at the two injured men under her care. Next to each of them were numerous empty plasma bottles.

I stared at them in disbelief. “Mary, that’s almost our entire supply of blood!”

She nodded tiredly. “Something is attacking their immune systems. Their white cell count is off the charts. It’s almost as if they’ve somehow developed a leukemia-like disease!”

“What can we do to help, Dr. Royce?” Colonel Carruthers asked.

“Other than take turns giving blood? Not much, I’m afraid.”

“How, Mary?”

She knew what I meant. She shrugged. “My best guess, and it’s only a guess: their blood was contaminated by our friend below deck. Jimmy and Van both had open wounds, and when I was cleaning them up, I found some green gunk around them.”

“*Gunk*, Doctor?”

Mary smiled at the Colonel. “That’s the latest in technological terms, I’ll have you know, Carr!”

Some of the tension seeped out of the room. And then it began pounding on the hatch again, reminding us we were not alone.

“What do we do now?”

“Gas bombs!”

“Huh?” We turned to find Bob groggy, but awake.

“Gino was working on some gas bombs!” A sob caught in his throat, but he swallowed it and continued. “He said they’re powerful enough to knock over a dinosaur! It was a running gag between us. He swore we’d find BEMs when we got to Mars.”

“BEMs?” Colonel Carruthers asked.

“Bug Eyed Monsters,” I clarified.

“More like UAMs,” Mary snorted, and we laughed, both to hear that from the dignified woman, and at the confused look on the Colonel’s face.

“Sorry, now I’m really lost.”

I couldn’t resist touching his arm. “What we have with us is an Ugly Ass Monster!”

*****

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 9

Things were quiet in C compartment. We took that time to regroup, while Mary performed the autopsy on Heinholz’s body and Jim and Van got another unit of plasma.

It never dawned on us that ‘it’ could be roaming throughout the ship, using the air ducts to go from one level to another, looking for our weakest points.

How stupid was that, assuming that just because the creature was uglier than sin ‘it’ had no intelligence? What difference did it make that ‘it’ had three digits on ‘its’ hands and feet instead of five and fangs a foot long?

Well, all right, I’m exaggerating about the length of ‘its’ teeth, but as Colonel Carruthers later pointed out, ‘it’ had managed to get ‘itself’ onboard our ship, and had killed two of our crew and left another two incapacitated. That took something other than brute force.

“My, my!”

We looked up from where we were stacking the gas bombs, giving Mary our complete attention. “Something?”

She pushed back a lock of hair with her forearm and peeled off the gloves that protected her hands. “I’d say. You know that seventy per cent of the human body is water? Well, there isn’t an ounce of moisture in Heinholz’s body.”

Van leaned up on his elbow, his face flushed from the fever he was running. “Then the fact that every bone in his body was pulverized had nothing to do with his death?”

“No, Van. It would have, but he was already dead when that thing shoved him up the air shaft.”

“How, Mary? How did ‘it’ siphon even the most microscopic particle of fluid from him?”

She shrugged. “I’ve found no puncture wounds large enough to do the job. My guess is that it was done through osmosis.”

“Huh?”

“Just by touch alone, Van. That’s the only way I can think of. After eons of evolution on such a dry planet, those creatures would have developed the most efficient way to absorb what they need.”

“Then, as far as ‘it’s’ concerned, we’re just another food source!”

The doctor nodded tiredly. “It looks like it. And we’re taking ‘it’ to a place where ‘it’ will have an unlimited supply!” She tossed the gloves into a disposal unit. “There’s more, and it’s worse.” She touched a control and the table Heinholz’s body was on began to slide into the wall.

“Mary! What are you doing? You can’t do that!”

“I have no choice, Van. Joe’s body needs to be cremated, at once.”

“A burial at space…” I had never seen my colonel so distressed.

“We don’t have the luxury of time, Van.” We could hear the mechanism that would send the body of our crewmate into the ship’s reactor. “That thing deposited something in Joe’s esophagus. An egg? An embryo? Whatever it was, it would have hatched out of his chest and we would have been dealing with another one of those things!”

My mouth went dry. “But…Oh shit!” I looked around to make sure Bob wasn’t within hearing distance. “Gino’s still down there! The odds of him incubating that…”

“I’d say they were better than even. Carr, did you have any idea ‘it’ would do this?”

“God, no Mary! When that sandstorm finally let up I went out searching for my people, but I never found a sign of them! I didn’t even know…”

I touched his arm to give him a measure of comfort. I glanced toward the two injured men, to find Van watching me soberly. He tried to smile, but he had heard Mary’s prognosis of our situation. His eyes were bleak.

“Better go get the gas masks, Chicken. The sooner we get rid of our guest, the sooner we can all breathe easier.” He tried to shove himself into an upright position, but the doctor put her hand on his chest and pushed gently. Van resisted for a moment, then collapsed onto the bed bonelessly. “Carr…”

“Go on, Andy,” Colonel Carruthers said softly, and turned to see what the other man had to say.

I was watching them over my shoulder as I left, when I bumped into someone. “Sorry.”

It was the other Dr. Royce, who had finally emerged from the science lab. Eric pulled me further into the corridor. His grip on my arm bordered on painful, and I tried to jerk free, but he only tightened his hold.

“Listen to me, Andy! You have to help me! We can’t harm that creature!”

“Want to tell me why, when ‘it’ has no problem harming us?”

He hesitated, chewing his lip. “We are under orders to bring that creature back to Earth, no matter what the cost!”

That brought me up short. Under orders by whom? “’It’s’ already cost us the lives of two men on this ship! And nine men on Colonel Carruthers’!”

He waved aside those deaths as if they were inconsequential. “Van Leuen wants this creature. It’s my job to see we get ‘it’ to him!”

“He wants ‘it’? What for? To find a new way to die? Do you have any idea what ‘it’s’ using Gino for, down there?”

“Andy, this will be a shot in the arm for science! Do you realize how efficient this thing is? ‘It’ has survived in Mars’ thin atmosphere for centuries, millennia! We can study ‘it’, learn how ‘it’ managed to do that!”

“Do you realize that I don’t fucking care?”

His face froze into a mask of disapproval. “It doesn’t matter what you feel, Lieutenant Anderson. This creature will be delivered to the Committee, alive and unharmed!” He turned on his heel, about to stalk back into the science lab.

My fingers dug into his arm as I yanked him to a halt. “That creature is incubating little monsters just like ‘it’, down in that air shaft, in Gino! And when they hatch, they’re going to be hungry!”

“Then it will be our responsibility to make sure they all, no matter how many of them there are, arrive safely on Earth!”

“Even if that means our deaths?”

He nodded. “We owe it to mankind, to die here if we must!”

“Are you fucking crazy?”

His eyes gleamed; he didn’t seem to hear me. “We’ll go down in history! New corridors of space exploration will be opened! We’ll reach the far end of the universe in our lifetime!” He removed his arm from my nerveless grasp and left me standing alone in the corridor.

“Something wrong, Andy?” Major Perdue came over from the chemical closet and handed me a gas mask before he went into sickbay to see the others were safeguarded.

There would be no glory for man. That creature had destroyed all of Carr’s crew in less than an hour. If ‘it’ arrived on an unprepared Earth, I wondered how long man would be the dominant species.

An unprepared Earth… I pounded up the ladder to the command level and flipped the switch to activate the communicator. “This is the Defender calling Terra One. Come in Terra One.” I waited for my transmission to travel the millions of miles between us and them.

And then I noticed the green light indicating power was not glowing. I toggled the switch with increasing panic. Still nothing.

I was forced to accept the fact that our one link with home had been disabled, possibly destroyed.

My one question was: who had done it? That thing below decks? Or …Eric Royce?

I went back down to sickbay. Major Perdue and Colonel Carruthers stood beside Bob, waiting for me. I picked up my mask and slipped it over my head, making sure it settled securely around my face.

There had been some muffled sounds over the intercomm. Jack Perdue pressed the switch that raised the hatch to C compartment. Smoothly and quietly it opened. One after another, we pulled the pin, waited a beat, and then tossed a gas bomb down to our guest.

Howls of pain rose to beat at us, and we continued throwing the bombs until there were none left. Jack hit the switch and we stepped back, watching the hatch close.

We held our collective breaths. From below came the sounds of destruction as the creature vented ‘its’ rage on whatever was handy. Gradually the sounds became more and more faint. We looked from one to another. Had Bob’s plan succeeded?

One of us would have to go down and check.

Bob rolled his shoulders and touched the switch. “Hand me that pea shooter, will you Andy?”

I gave him the rifle and took one for myself. He looked at me through the visor of his mask, grim satisfaction in his eyes. “Let’s go ditch this sucker!”

“Andy.” I turned to Carr, who was holding a communicator between his fingers. He fastened it to my collar. “Be careful!”

The haze created by the exploding canisters hovered throughout the compartment. Cautiously we stepped down into it and separated, Bob going to the left, I going to the right. We could see nothing.

I kicked on the mic at my collar. “We can’t see anything! It’s like London down here!”

“We’ll turn on the blowers and clean that up.”

Whose voice was that? It wasn’t the Colonel’s or the Major’s.

It suddenly came to me. “Royce! No! Don’t…”

The blowers went on and the gas was slowly sucked out of the compartment. Visibility was restored.

“Bob! Get over here! Now!”

The physicist stumbled to where I stood at the bottom of the ladder and started to ascend backwards, watching the corner he had come from.

I stepped onto the first rung, keeping my eyes on that same area. Step by step we made our way up, rifles at the ready.

Bob was almost in the clear. I was three steps from safety.

And then there ‘it’ was, big as life and twice as ugly. ‘Its’ three-clawed hand swung up at me and tangled in the laces of my boot.

I fired my weapon point blank as ‘it’ began pulling me back down the ladder. Under my breath I was praying feverishly, unaware until Carr told me much later what I was saying. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”

And then a long arm reached over me and a gleaming knife descended, slicing through the laces, freeing me. Two pairs of hands dragged me up and out of harm’s way. I was gasping into my mask, fogging up the faceplate. I heard the hatch seal shut once more, and then the furious pounding from the other side.

Colonel Carruthers was holding tight to me, absorbing the shudders that ran through my body. “It’s okay, baby,” he whispered so softly I was sure I was the only one to hear him. He looked to where Major Perdue had the science officer, his hand fisted in the little man’s collar, nearly strangling him. “We’d better fall back, Major.”

Perdue hesitated, then nodded and threw Royce away from him. “Help me get Jim and Van up to the next level. Bob, see if you can find me some wire.”

“You’ve got a plan Major?”

“Yes. I dunno. Maybe. This baby has enough electrical power to light up New York City on New Year’s Eve. Let’s see if it’s enough to send this son of a bitch to hell!”

*****

Warning: implied m/f

The One Who Got the Bullet Was Lucky

Part 10

While Colonel Carruthers and I eased Jim and Van up the steps as gently as we could, the Major and Bob worked on wiring the ten foot stretch of ladder from the level that contained sickbay to the next level that housed the galley. Mary hauled up as much plasma as she could carry, and then returned down for more. She bullied her husband into helping, and although he grumbled, a sharp look from Jack shut him up and he followed her orders.

Not wanting to take any chances, she set up the command level as the new sickbay, and we settled the two injured men into the console chairs.

“Damn!” Jimmy groused. “I’d rather die down there! At least I’d be laying down!”

Mary popped a very large capsule into his mouth and shut him up. She disappeared down the stairs once more. “I’m making coffee,” her voice floated back. “Any takers?”

I looked at Carr, and he nodded. Eric sneered at me. “Just two, Mary,” I called down to her.

“Chicken!”

The muscles between my shoulders tightened. I walked to where my colonel lay back in his chair, shivering uncontrollably. I tucked a blanket high around his shoulders. “What can I do for you, Van?”

His hand reached up and involuntarily I flinched. He dropped in back onto his lap. “I’ve lost you, haven’t I, Chicken?”

“You never had me, Van.”

“No, I know I had you. But it was for such a short time. Just that one night, when we made love.”

“Not even then, Van. What we did had nothing to do with love.” I didn’t want to go into greater detail, not with Colonel Carruthers so close, and the science officer listening avidly.

It must have been a measure of how ill he felt; he eyes welled up with moisture. “Ask Mary if I can have some coffee, all right, Chicken?”

I nodded and turned away, relieved to drop the conversation. I nearly tripped over my loosened boot as I started down the steps, and I paused to toe them both off. I went down the rest of the way in my sock feet.

That’s why they didn’t hear me. In the galley, Mary Royce and Major Perdue were locked in a torrid embrace. “I’m so frightened, Jack. Hold me tight and don’t let go!”

“Never, Mary. As soon as we get back, we’ll tell Eric that you’re leaving him.”

“As soon as we get back? Don’t you mean if we get back?”

The Major groaned and took her mouth in a ravenous kiss.

I backed out quietly and scrambled half way up the ladder. Then I started down again, making enough noise to alert them to my presence. “Mary,” I called. “Van wants to know if he can have coffee too,”

When I got in the galley this time, Jack was sitting at the far end, staring broodingly into his cup. Mary was pouring out cups of coffee. I made sure to keep my eyes off her swollen mouth.

Her fingers ran through her hair, and I realized she did that every time she was stressed. “He may as well,” she shrugged. “It certainly won’t do any more damage!”

“Mary, I have to know, what are his odds?”

She shook her head. “The infection that’s eating his bone marrow is an alien one. I’ve got nothing that can combat it. I’ll try to keep him as comfortable as possible, but I don’t think he’s going to last the four months it will take us to get back to Earth. I’m sorry, Andy.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

****

We waited on the command level while Jack and Bob connected the wire to a transformer. There would be no time to test it out.

“Okay.” Bob blew out a breath. “There’ll be enough electrical power feeding through this line to fry thirty humans!” He sealed the hatch to this level.

“Too bad that thing isn’t human.” Colonel Carruthers looked around, spotted whom he was searching for. “Someone keep an eye on Dr. Royce. We can’t afford to have this fucked up.”

The little science officer puffed up like a bantam rooster, but Major Perdue crowded him back away from the relays. He said something very softly into the other man’s ear, and Eric turned a sickly shade of green. He seemed to fold in on himself and began tearing at his cuticles, his eyes darting from one to another of us.

He didn’t find any sympathy. We held him responsible for ‘its’ surviving our last attempt.

Bob licked his lips nervously and waited for the signal from Major Perdue. Jack nodded and Bob touched the master switch, opening the hatch to sickbay. The intercomm was on, but we heard nothing.

Why wasn’t it trying to reach us?

Long minutes stretched past. Sweat began to pool under my arms, and rolled down my back, darkening the stripe that ran along our uniforms. I didn’t know who to look to.

“*Shit*!” Bob swore with amazing eloquence. When he was finished, he sighed. “Is ‘it’ so stupid it doesn’t know enough to come after us?”

I didn’t voice the opinion that maybe it was smart enough not to come looking. “I’ll go down and see if I can entice ‘it’ into coming up and seeing us sometime.”

Carr stifled a burst of laughter. “If it was me, I’d definitely be enticed!” he said softly, and I jumped. I hadn’t realized he was so close behind me. His eyes were hot as they swept over my body.

Bob was shaking his head. “*I’ll* go.”

Major Perdue rose stiffly. “No. This was my idea. It’s my responsibility.”

“Jack!” Mary reached for him, wanting to keep him safe. She reined in her emotions. “Be careful.”

“Famous last words,” Van muttered, severely in the throes of the fever now.

“I’m going with you, Jack.”

“Carr!” I protested. He cupped the curve of my jaw.

“It’ll be all right, Andy. I survived six months with this thing out there. I won’t let it get me now!”

The two ranking officers glanced at each other and a silent message seemed to pass between them. “Okay, let’s do it!”

The hatch opened and they began the cautious, silent descent to the lower levels, their side arms drawn and at the ready. I waited at the top of the ladder with a rifle in my hands. Every once in a while, I would glance over to make sure Eric Royce had not stirred.

And then roars emerged from down below, and the staccato sound of small arms’ fire, and feet pounding up the ladder. I went down halfway, ready to shoot to protect the two men.

Mary suddenly gave a cry of protest and a muffled thud echoed in the ladder will. “Andy! Eric’s…” The rest of her warming was cut off as the hatch slammed shut above me.

I threw myself against the metal barrier, but all I succeeded in doing was bruising my shoulder. I beat against it with my fists until they were torn and bloody, the breath sobbing out of my lungs.

“Andy. Andy!” Strong arms came around my chest, forcing my arms down to my side. Carr held me and whispered soft words until I stopped trying to fight loose and sagged in his embrace.

Bob looked up at us from the base of the ladder. “We can’t stay here! That thing is on ‘it’s’ way up! This is not a good place to be, trust me!”

Carr released me once he saw I was under some kind of control. It seemed to me that he was reluctant to let me go, although I could have been reading what I wanted into that simple action. I picked up the rifle from where I had dropped it on the steps and followed him down to the galley level.

Bob gestured for us to follow him into the darkened galley. We would have to make do with hand signals now, because the creature was too near to risk speaking, even in a whisper.

Cautiously we made out way back to the pantry area. There was a cold storage locker there. It wasn’t very large, because most of our provisions were either freeze-dried or powdered and needed to be reconstituted with water.

But it was big enough to hold three men. If they sucked in their guts and didn’t mind getting too familiar with each other.

Somehow I got sandwiched in the middle. Bob was behind me and Carr was snug against my chest.

I was distracted by the hard erection that was nudging my groin. Startled, I gazed up into the Colonel’s navy eyes, which were alight with passion.

Bob laughed softly behind us. “I am decidedly in the way! I’m going to see if our little friend has passed us by yet.”

“Bob, be careful!” Carr’s whisper was a puff of air in my ear, and I shivered.

“Ain’t I always?” The physicist cracked the panel and pressed an eye to it. “Seems safe. If I’m not back in five, send out the Marines!” And then he was gone.

And Carr and I were alone in the locker. I stepped back to give him some room, but he wound his arms around me and pulled me into a snug embrace.

And for the first time, I was kissed by another man. But I remembered too well how I had first felt with Van, and I didn’t trust the sensations that shimmered through my body. I was not going to be caught in that trap again.

Carr traced the seam of my lips with his tongue. “Open for me, baby,” he pleaded, and I wanted to, oh how I wanted to. Tentatively, I parted my lips and touched his tongue with the tip of my own. He held himself still and let me explore at my own rate.

“Carr? What’s this?” I had felt a line of what had to be scar tissue on his lower lip.

“Souvenir of a selfish lover.”

I shuddered, knowing too well what a selfish lover could do to you. “Van?” I asked. “I heard him call you Chicken.”

Carr rocked his lower body against mine, and I spread my legs, allowing his cock to fit into the vee between my thighs. His actions caressed my balls through the material of my trousers and my arousal was imprisoned by the cotton of my briefs.

“I need to know something, Andy,” he said quietly, drawing me closer to the heat that came off his body in waves. “How badly did he hurt you?”

“I’m okay. I was sore for a couple of days, and I was positive I’d never want to do this again…”

“But now?”

“I like how you taste Carr. I want to see how you taste…all over.”

“Andy!” His hands went to my belt.

And then the screaming started.

Section 2