Galaxy of Terror

1

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

(PANTING)

(SCREAMS)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(SHUDDERING)

(ROARING)

(ALARM BEEPING RAPIDLY)

MITRI:
Xerces.

A small world on the fringes

of occupied space.

I am Mitri.

The interpreter of the signs.

The oracle of the Game.

I play at the bidding

of the All Powerful One,

Planet Master of Xerces.

Master, we have lost

all contact with the Remus.

First the hyper-wave and now

even the bioscans show nothing.

- Location?

- Morganthus.

We do not know

why they landed there.

Morganthus, at last.

You would do that? Such risk.

It's been too long.

I'm tired of the waiting.

Death will surround you.

It is the only way.

A terrible way.

But sure.

(BEEPING)

Yes, Master? -Put together

a class-three ship

with the normal exploratory

and defense equipment.

You will command

the rescue mission.

I will personally

select the crew.

They are not

to be informed of this.

Yes, Master.

Now, old woman, leave me.

The waiting is over.

I play alone.

(MEN TALKING

INDISTINCTLY ON RADIO)

(COMPUTER BEEPS)

Who are you?

And what are you doing at my

station? I'm flying this scrap heap.

Ilvar, mission Commander.

Welcome, Captain.

- Ancillary systems checked?

- Yes, I just...

Fine. Seconds wasted here could

be costing lives on Morganthus.

- (BEEPS)

- Tech check.

Tech check complete.

Main hatches closed.

Give me full standby.

Full standby, Captain.

All crew, this is Trantor.

Liftoff in 30 seconds.

And, mark.

- But Captain, no one's prepared.

- (BEEPING)

They've got 30 seconds

to get prepared.

- Ranger, glad you're with us.

- Cabren.

Cabren.

Wonderful. Just what we need.

Still the same

kindly old Baelon.

(BEEPING CONTINUES)

I don't know what in Master's name

you're doing back in active duty.

But I'm second in command this

time. You take orders from me.

It's nice to see you too,

old buddy.

- Here, here, quick.

- We've got a live one.

Liftoff.

- Tech Second?

- Yeah.

Oh, Tech Chief?

Sure gets the gears

stowed in a hurry.

Everyone in there all right?

- I think so, Commander.

- What's going on in there?

Dameia, are you okay?

A little out of breath, Commander.

All systems stable.

Bit long in the tooth for this kind

of job, aren't you, Commander?

I haven't been on an active

mission for some time.

Yeah, but you've been on the go

now for, what, nearly 25 years?

- Since the Hesperus, if I'm not mistaken.

- Hesperus...

Yes, everyone's forgotten now.

Yeah, if I hadn't kept

on the move after that,

I'd be an oxer

in a breather bar by now.

Let me see your hyper-jump

coords, Commander.

(BEEPING RHYTHMICALLY)

Captain, those were pre-sets.

If we have to get there at all,

we might as well get there fast.

(ALARM BEEPS RAPIDLY)

- This is insanity.

- Who is this, Trantor?

The only survivor of the Hesperus

massacre. She flew the ship back alone.

It's good to know

we're in safe hands.

Come on, baby.

- (BUZZES LOUDLY)

- Jump it.

(BEEPS)

Morganthus!

(RUMBLING)

(ALARM BUZZES RAPIDLY)

Full manual override. Quick!

Tech control. When I call it.

I want a five-second null on the gyros and

all the reverse thrust the boosters have.

I'm going to try

to spin us out of this.

Master knows what's got us, but

this is going to be some ride.

If I live through this,

she better stay out of my way.

If you live through this,

you'll be bringing her roses.

Come on, baby. Give me more.

That's it, Captain. On full.

- Pox.

- (BEEPING RAPIDLY)

We nearly had it!

There's nothing I can do.

- What about the landing jets?

- Are you crazy? At this speed?

Hey, wait a minute. We're

going down, only not so fast.

Give me landing jets.

Gyros. Thrusters.

Hit 'em... Now.

(BUZZING RHYTHMICALLY)

(INAUDIBLE)

Hang on to your shorts.

We're gonna dump.

Son of a cyborg!

(RETCHES)

(BEEPS RHYTHMICALLY)

- (BREATHES HEAVILY)

- Take a deep breath.

Hold it. Okay.

Relax, relax.

It's never easy the first time.

But it gets easier.

ILVAR:
Exploratory team prepare

for surface deployment to Remus.

And confirm bioscan and atmosphere

checks before departure.

It doesn't look friendly out there,

but you should be able to breathe.

Well, Commander,

I got you here.

The rest is up to you.

RANGER:
Remus team entering

airlock, Commander.

Atmosphere reading

within 5% safety.

Remus position confirmed to 5.3 kilolat,

but all bioscans read negative.

(AIR WHOOSHING)

CABREN:
Alluma,

are you sensing anything?

Absolutely nothing.

If there's anything to be found,

Cabren, I'll find it myself.

Baelon, I'm psi-sensitive.

The subtle energies do exist.

They even pay me

to sense them. All right?

(RETCHES)

Get back!

Cabren and Quuhod,

Alpha deck and Comm room.

BAELON:
Alluma, with me.

Cos, main control.

I can go with Cos if you want.

I'm in command here.

Death trace,

there may be survivors.

- (CLATTERING)

- (GASPS)

(SHUDDERS)

(SCREAMING)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(ALARM BUZZING LOUDLY)

- (CRACKLING)

- (SCREAMS)

(PANTING)

Wait, Baelon.

(GRUNTS)

BAELON:
Anything?

Anything?

Baelon!

What is this?

What is it, Cos? What is it?

(MUMBLING)

- What's that?

- A Remus crew member.

Anything else? -One death

trace, one burned one.

Let's get back to the ship.

I want that analyzed.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

If I didn't know better, I would

say it was coming from Cos.

Come on, kid, let's go.

Cos, come on!

(CLATTERING)

(SIGHS)

(SCREAMING)

If it weren't so gruesome,

it would be fascinating.

Yes. The human mind is still as

dark as Morganthus, isn't it, Sir?

What do you mean,

it just disappeared?

- How can a life scan just disappear?

- It did.

I sensed something around Cos.

Then when he died,

it just vanished. Gone.

Those are the facts, Baelon,

I don't guess.

What I can't understand is how

it disappeared so quickly.

We were all there. -That's

how it was on Hesperus.

At first you don't see them,

but then they're everywhere.

The other one you

brought back,

he'd sealed himself into a room

and still something got him?

- Dameia, anything?

- (SIGHS)

Sorry, nothing

useful at all yet.

Cos died of a massive hemorrhage

from the puncture wounds.

Just as it looked. -Nothing

revealing on the other one, either.

What was left was such a mess,

the cause of death is uncertain.

The fact of the matter is, we don't

know anymore now than we started

except that the Remus

wasn't safe, neither were we.

We're not even doing

the repairs we need.

Baelon!

This is a rescue mission

specifically ordered by the Master.

We are required to do

everything within our means

- to locate and assist survivors.

- There are no survivors!

We know of five certain deaths, so

there are still four unaccounted for.

Look at this.

(BEEPS)

Here it comes.

- Scan malfunction?

- No.

Once again.

(PROCESSING)

There's something along 4-1-9 that

so overloads the instruments,

we can't even get

a reading on it.

Whatever sucked us into this slag

heap pulled from a single point.

A point I'm afraid we have no

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes