How I Met My Mother Page 2

  *

  "Okay boys and girls, today we're going to visit the site of The Malvinas. Make sure everyone has a trip buddy." No-one wanted to pair up with me, obviously.

  In the kingdom of the weirdo, the weirdest is an outcast.

  I ended up being lumbered with one of the Nurses as my buddy.

  "Does anyone know how The Malvinas got here?" The Doctor asked us.

  A few hands went up. Someone was selected to answer. "It crash-landed? They say it'd been attacked by Pirates. Everyone aboard was killed." Our helpful informer was happy to share what he knew.

  "Not quite, Rodney. The ships log did report them being boarded, by forces unknown. The log ended half way through a line with them about to describe the attackers. And there was one survivor. Found three weeks after the crash, a baby boy." The Doctor said.

  I looked up at the lines of the shattered hulk that used to be The Malvinas, it looked oddly familiar.

  "Doctor Matthias, have we been here before?" I asked, looking hard at the remnants of the ship.

  "No Connor, this is our first trip here." he said.

  Hmmm, why do you look so familiar?

  As the tour progressed, I lost touch with my buddy but discovered someone else.

  Several someones.

  "It's the weirdo! Hello weirdo, enjoying the trip?" Great, just what I didn't need. Bullies out to get even. My spider squasher included.

  "It's okay. How about you?" I asked them, not really caring what they said.

  "We're really enjoying ourselves. We were thinking of hopping the barrier, maybe taking a little look inside. Possibly score us some souvenirs. You in?"

  I looked at them. I was way out-numbered so choices weren't just low, they were down to one. "Sure, why not. Sounds like a laugh. Lead the way." I said.

  The barrier was low enough to easily jump over, the ship was holed in many places and we made our way into the closest access point.

  Once inside my new "friends" soon ground to a halt in the darkness, I bumped into the back of one of them. "We're gonna split up, see if we can find us some booty. Why don't you try that tunnel down there?" He pointed to one that seemed that bit slightly darker than all the rest, I could barely make out his hand in the dark.

  I knew it was pointless to object, so I headed towards it. Once inside, after a dozen or so feet, there appeared to be some kind of green emergency lighting near the ground, it gave the whole tunnel a faint eerie glow. I didn't realise the ship still had any power. It had been here almost sixteen years now, the Doctor had told us.

  I was about fifty feet down the tunnel when I heard the noise.

  CLANG.

  Crap. That didn't sound good. I turned around and ran back to the entrance. Only it wasn't there any more. That clang had been a metal pressure door being closed. The bullies had shut me in. The activation panel on my side had been shot up, there was no way back through from this side unless they opened it.

  I lifted my fist, about to bang on the door. Then I stopped myself.

  That was exactly what they'd want me to do, to trap me here then make me beg them to go free. No way, not happening. Not in this lifetime. Not even in the next. I'd rather die in here than give them the pleasure.

  I thought back to when we'd entered, bringing up the mental picture of the exterior of The Malvinas. There were holes everywhere. All I had to do was keep walking down this tunnel, looking left. I'd soon find a way out. At least that's what I thought then.

  Now after twenty or more minutes of walking I wasn't so sure.

  The tunnel was light enough at first, but after about a hundred feet the green lighting was no longer there. Either not working or just not installed in this part of the ship. Either way, I was back in the dark again. I fumbled about inside my pocket and found what I was looking for. My flash-light.

  CLICK.

  An ordinary looking metal corridor, stretching off into the distance for at least another hundred feet, if not more.

  CLICK.

  I turned it off again, deciding to save my battery.

  I kept walking with my arms stretched out to my sides, hands bouncing off the metal wall now and then, only able to go straight on. Until I finally came out of the tunnel. In the next chamber I hit the activation panel behind me.

  CLANG.

  Now I couldn't get lost by going back the way I'd just come.

  CLICK.

  A round metal chamber, doors going off in all directions. All open except one.

  I chose the one closest to my left and entered it, hitting the activation panel behind me. I should be walking parallel to the tunnel I got stuck in, only moving in the opposite direction now.

  CLANG.

  'Just keep going forward, looking right. Look for light.' I thought to myself.

  No green lights in this corridor, I did kick something metallic with my shoe though.

  CLICK.

  A long metal bar, sharp on one side. I picked it up off the floor, it might be useful as a lever. Or a weapon, if it came to a worst case scenario. It made quite a good swoosh as I swung it through the air to test the weight of it in my hand.

  CLICK.

  Another long walk in a straight line after that, arriving in yet another large chamber. Not the one I'd started in though. Damn.

  CLANG.

  The door I'd just come out from, now sealed behind me. Just keep moving forward. 'Do I hear water?' I thought to myself. Then a memory flash.

  The almost pitch darkness of the tunnel, water flowing underfoot, jagged walls I knew must be avoided at any cost.

  CLICK.

  I saw a glass-sharp stalagmite, and had to slap myself across the face to check I was awake. I was. I could make out two tunnels branching off into the distance behind it, going left or right.

  'Left at the glass-sharp stalagmite.' The dream fragment replayed in my mind.

  "And left again at the cairn of stones, two rights after the luminous moss and straight ahead." I said out loud, remembering the rest of it. Was it a dream? Or was this place more than familiar?

  I heard the movement half way down the next tunnel, it moved but then stayed still.

  CLICK.

  Huge spider! I swung the metal bar instinctively, slicing the creature in half. It fell to the ground with a dull thud, very dead indeed.

  I quickly clicked the flash-light off again, unaware if these creatures could see in the dark, I figured if they couldn't then why give them my light source by which to attack me.

  Three more of the huge spiders blocked my way down the tunnel, each was quickly dispatched in the same way as the first. Oddly, none of them attempted to attack me. Why? Were they checking out my defensive capabilities? Well, if they were observing these skirmishes they now knew I was armed and dangerous.

  At least to spiders.

  The tunnel led out into another large chamber.

  CLICK.

  The walls looked razor sharp to the touch, I knew I must avoid any contact with them. I had to scan across the floor before I finally saw the small cairn of stones piled up a few feet in front of the three openings ahead of me.

  'Left again at the cairn of stones.' There was nothing to the left of the cairn but a clear exit lay behind it though. I decided that was what the dream meant. I turned the flash-light off again.

  The passage started to get smaller, tighter. All the while I had to make sure to avoid any contact with the walls which I now knew must be lethal to the touch due to their sharpness, I held the metal bar out in front of me, using its width to keep me off the sides of the tunnel. My echoing footsteps soon told me I was in another large chamber.

  CLICK.

  Biggest mother loving spider I ever saw.

  "Hello my child."

  No time to think, I knew I must ignore the dream now, however real it felt or sounded. I rushed at the spider and hacked away with all my strength behind the swings, I was scared witless, just acting on pure instinct now. The metal bar sliced deep into the gigantic spi
der which just sat, motionless. I assumed that because I had reacted so quickly it had just frozen according to the fright or flight response.

  I don't know how long I swung at the beast for, all I know is it lost most of its legs and large chunks were carved from its body. It didn't twitch, it was definitely dead.

  Behind the creature I could make out a beam of light coming from a tunnel to its left, I ran towards it, dropping the bar as I ran.

  Day light. I was outside.

  "Hello Connor." It was Doctor Matthias.

  I started to ramble "Dark inside, creatures everywhere, massive spider."

  "Yes Connor, I know. Did you see her?" he asked. He was smiling at me in an odd way.

  "The big one? I did far more than just see her." I said.

  The smile on the face of Doctor Matthias fell. "No. Tell me you didn't?"

  "Kill her? I sliced her to pieces. She was going to kill me. They all were, the little ones as well." I said.

  "Did they try to attack you Connor?" Doctor Matthias asked.

  "No, but I killed them," I said.

  "Didn't you think it a little odd that not one of them fought back, or even tried to attack you?" Doctor Matthias said.

  I couldn't speak.

  "You asked outside the ship, you said 'have we been here before?' and I said no. That wasn't completely true. We hadn't. You have. You were the baby boy they found in the wreckage after three weeks. Only it wasn't us that found you. Not us humans. They found you.

  The Pirates. The spider people.

  They raised you, for two years. Before they finally found the Outpost and saw we were like you. They left you by the gate, hoping we'd take care of you."

  "But the dreams ..." I said.

  "Not dreams Connor, memories. Memories of your infancy. They cared for you like a brother, she raised you, like a mother. She was your mother." Doctor Matthias said.

  "You said they killed everyone on board. So they killed my real parents." I said.

  "No. The ship had been hit by a micro-meteorite. Your parents got you into the only remaining air tight room in the ship. The Pirates found it drifting, open to space – everyone else was already dead. The crash landing was staged." Doctor Matthias said.

  It was then I heard the scritching of movement in the distance.

  Doctor Matthias looked at me and said."Your brothers know! Your brothers are coming! You've killed us all! My god Connor, you've killed us all!"

  THE END.

  Authors Notes:- The part about being "armed and dangerous" is a reference to the character Remo Williams. Connor and Matthias know who they are. The Malvinas is what Argentina calls The Falkland Islands.

  I don't like spiders because of something that happened to me at RAF Hereford during my trade training in 1990. Don't ask. The horror!

  This story was written during my Year Of Living Bradbury. It was the third story written during week ten of that year. It was to submitted to Weirdbook Magazine who did like it but felt it didn't quite fit what they wanted. I felt it was worthy of a release though.

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