Hitchhikers

FICTION | Sci-fi | Horror: It pays well to always know who you ride with, especially when it comes to space.

"Life is a highway

I wanna ride it all night long

If you're goin' my way

Well, I wanna drive it all night long"

The old tune bounced within a white pod floating in space where Mie patiently waited; hoping that by some luck, a passing ship might spot her pod and she can hitch a ride.

"But for how long?", she thought. 

She watched the empty vacuum from within the screen inside her pod, wondering just how long she will remain swimming in this endless black sea when a passing ship stopped by close to where her pod floated. 

"Finally!", she cheered.

The ship extended protruding arms and picked up the pod. Mie couldn't hide her eagerness, her heart raced with the rising tempo. It had been a really long wait. A hatch opened and smaller metallic arms clamped on her pod, while the other ones retreated back into its enclosure. These guided her pod into the chamber, carefully placed it on the floor before folding in and pulling back into a hidden crevice within the smooth wall. Waiting inside were two suited individuals: one was tall, the other was short. They approached her pod with caution. 

"You're a hoarder, know that?", spoke the taller of the suited men. 

"Shut up! Besides, this pod looked quite odd. Real smooth and unusual.", the smaller man turned around to look at his companion, "And just so we're clear, this is my loot, you hear me?", the smaller suited man hovered his hand on the plasma pistol by his waist. 

"Sure thing. I've got what I wanted anyway", the taller man chuckled. Evaluating that the taller man was no threat, the smaller man turned around to examine the pod.

"Dont tell me! Of all the luck! Space bandits!", Mie thought, noting the visual feed through the pod's discrete outer sensors. Plasma burst fire residues spotted the otherwise clean white chamber.

"I wonder what this is anyway", added the still chuckling taller man. He approached the smaller man to one side and took another purveying glance at the pod. It was just like a polished white egg, in the center lay the golden seal of the Empire that rules nearly a third of the galaxy they inhabited.

"What does it matter? It's got the golden seal of the empire...though...the pod's nothing like I've seen before", the smaller man thought back to the many raids he's executed and he smiled at the memories."This egg might be worth a fortune."

"A fortune, eh?", the taller man whistled. 

The smaller man turned at this remark and spoke, "Don't forget, I'm the only one who knows how to operate this junk. Try anything funny and see how fast you'd escape a blast". 

Raising both arms in surrender, the taller man burst out a chuckle and quickly spoke in an effort to diffuse the shorter man's temper. "Chill! I'm joking. Besides... I owe you one and I take my oaths seriously", the taller man spoke confidently and thumped on his chest once. 

"Oaths? In this line of work? Bullcrap!", laughed the smaller man mockingly.

The taller man shrugged, "I'm just saying. Don't care if you believe me or not"

The smaller man shook his head, muttering, in low tones, his disbelief. "Yeah... Yeah... Now, help me carry this one to the storage compartment, will you?". He bent over examining the pod for damages. There were none.

"You sure you want to do that?"

"See any big scanners 'round this chamber? One that ain't blasted by some trigger happy fool?", the shorter man angrily retorted.

The taller man shrugged his shoulder. 

"Now, pick that end and help me lift this shit!", the smaller one demanded in anger, his hand positioned under one end of the pod and nodded quickly towards the opposite end.

"Alright! Alright! I just got a little too excited, you know. After all, it's been a long while", the tall one grinned attempting to reduce the gravity of his earlier frenzy. He lifted one end of the pod and was surprised at how lighter it was compared to its size. 

"This one's real light, Bob" 

Bob didn't pay him any attention and merely grunted in response. He was too eager to get more data regarding the pod. Something about it piqued his curiosity. And if there is one thing Bob likes more than wealth, it's information. Information is power and whoever has it rules over those who don't. They carried the pod and walked down the quiet bright white corridor, tainted with irregular patterns of shooting residues, and into the storage compartment in silence. The pod dropped with a thud on the scanner when the taller suited man lost his hold on it causing it to slip.

"You idiot!", Bob yelled as he carefully laid down his end.

"Sorry Bob! My hands slipped"

"One more time, Sleaze, I swear... One more time and I'll shoot you into space, you hear me!", Bob spat in a fury, one hand reached for his pistol causing Sleaze to back away with his hands raised in the air.

"Sorry Bob, I mean it...I'm just clumsy, you know that". 

"And that's the problem! I don't know why they assigned me to you. You're more trouble than space mites", Bob grunted, annoyed.

"Cause you're the best Bob. One learns only from the best", Sleaze coyly remarked hoping to sway Bob's fury.

Bob scoffed and muttered to himself, "Nearing 20 years and they pair me with a kiss ass", then raising his voice, "Now fix that end up! It's sticking out of the platform". He pointed to Sleaze's end before raising his darkened visor to reveal a haggard face marked by a scar on one cheek. A scar from a knife fight that nearly killed him. 

Sleaze took his helmet off and placed it on a metal trolley to his side before pushing the pod into place. Bob turned the scanner on and a holographic display hovered in midair revealing a woman in tight hugging space jumpsuit asleep inside. Intricate crystals were placed above where her head rested, set as if jewels on a crown. Lining the pod were several other gemstones, exotic crystals, and elaborate piece of weaved nano and biotech fibers circuitously lined from one end to another in a loop that traced the pod.

"Holy crap! This shit's loaded", Bob's eyes  watered. He thought of his life's retirement laid down in front of his eyes. "This pod's got some heavy credits to it", he remarked with the eagerness of a boy whose gotten a free pass to all that's within the candy store.

"She's a beauty", Sleaze's eyes watered too. He licked his lips as he surveyed the beautiful Mie asleep, taking pleasure in tracing her form with his eyes. Unable to hide his lust, he swallowed and asked Bob, "What about the woman, Bob?" 

Bob brushed his question off with a hand, his eyes still fixed on the data regarding the pod which summarizes the enormity of their lucky...his...lucky find. "This will definitely fetch a fortune", he muttered to himself. 

"So, about the woman?", Sleaze attempted once more. 

This time, Bob turned to look at him as if just noticing his presence and answered. "You're a real slimeball, know that?" 

"Well, it won't be a problem will it?" Sleaze tried to read the expression on Bob's face. Being taller of the two, Sleaze had once thought he could outmatch Bob, but Bob did not earn his legendary reputation for nothing, nor his position in the hierarchy, or his powerful connections which would prove useful if he were to sell the blueprints of the new fleet of warships the Alliance were developing. Sleaze looked at the woman again and sighed. "Damn", he thought and hoped Bob didn't find her attractive too. 

"I know what you're thinkin', you dirtrag", Bob smirked. "Supposing I was interested, what are you going to do, huh?" 

"I'd back off", Sleaze lied, unaware he fidgeted a step and his hands wavered slowly down for his weapon.

"You sure you wanna go there?"

"What do you mean, Bob? I ain't going anywhere"

Bob mockingly bobbed his head side to side and grinned maliciously. "Listen, I'll be nice just this once and give a you piece of advice, you piece of shit! You really don't want to be doing what I think you are planning to do"

"Oh yeah? And what's that?", Sleaze quickly reached for his weapon, but before he could point it at Bob, Bob had his already pointed at Sleaze’s armed hand and quickly fired in a flash. The burst struck Sleaze's wrist causing him to release his plasma gun to the floor where it fell with a thud as he yelped in sudden pain. Bob kicked the weapon far and pointed his weapon towards Sleaze's face.

"Like I said, I'm only nice once"

"Wait, wait...wait...Bob", Sleaze panicked and despite the controlled temperature of the room, a cold sweat ran through him.

"She's all yours Bob, heck, take whatever you like...Just spare me this once", Sleaze pleaded without shame, experiencing the fear of what others before him had when paired with Bob, or as he is aptly named in the business, Boogeybob. He recalled how disappointed he was when he first met Bob and was greeted abruptly by a short man with a haggard face marked by one scar. Bob looked like an old plain weather beaten man with nothing for him other than rudeness back then as he is now. Then again, almost everyone in the business was rude, one way or the other. "Please...Bob...spare me....I'll leave...Hell! Take the prints. It's all yours..." 

Bob looked up at him, his cold grey eyes concealing his thoughts, never wavering. Sleaze swallowed air, sweat crawled down his thin rough face. Then, without the slightest hint, the room echoed with Bob's laughter. Sleaze, seeing the change in Bob's demeanour, tried to laugh along, but Bob gave him a deadly stare and he muted in an instant. 

"You really like women, don't you?"

Sleaze wasn't certain how he should answer this question. Bob saw his hesitation and continued. "Listen, I'll let you off this once...for a price".

"Wha...What's that?", Sleaze wasn't confident he liked what Bob had in mind; realizing his chances of surviving, with or without Bob, closer to nil than a guarantee. Sleaze regretted not having taken up the time to learn how to operate ships as sophisticated as this research vessel they now occupied. If he survived this encounter with Bob, he made a mental note to learn from more approachable colleagues.

"Just this!", Bob curtly replied and he fired two shots. One towards each of Sleaze's hands. Sleaze screamed in agony and kneeled to the floor. "Now, you might think twice, the next time you think you can lay your hands on me!", Bob chuckled at his own cleverness.

As this was going on, a tiny slit opened at one end of Mie's pod. Out from it came biomech nanobugs that looked nothing more than smaller mites. They crawled into the port of the scanner and slowly took over the system. Mie's eyes opened, her retina flashed bits of data, while her bionanites processed and proceeded to override the systems in place within the ship.

Bob still amused by the wailing Sleaze, kneeled down to look Sleaze in the eyes. He never could resist rubbing his victory in towards his opponents. "Oh, by the way, I couldn't give a rat's ass about the woman. If you had just waited and knew your place, I'd have given her. But, you didn't know your place...Now I'm not so sure whether I even feel like giving you scraps...", Bob spat. Sleaze, still wailing, only looked down to the floor, his rage made him hot and sweaty. In fact, Sleaze started to feel warmer than usual. Bob saw the change of colour in Sleaze. He, too, felt the increased temperature in the room.

"Scraps? You couldn't be referring to me, are you?", Mie asked in a cheery tone, one hand rested on her waist. She smiled at Bob who turned quickly and pointed the gun at her. Sleaze looked up, his hands still clamped together.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", warned Mie warmly. She made a mocking gesture of a no, waving her pointing finger from side to side, deliberately.

Bob quickly fired a shot and hit Mie in the chest causing her to stagger back. Sleaze, seeing Bob turned his back on him, instantly made a dash for the weapon only to freeze when he spotted a black spot growing where the weapon was.

"That was not nice at all!", Mie pouted and Bob fired a few times, causing her to step back a few times. "Now my suit is ruined!", she complained in child-like demeanour.

"Who? How? What are you?", Bob stepped back, his voice stuttered and for the first time since the knife fight that nearly ended his life, he felt uneasy. He watched Mie move calmly towards him in leisure, unaffected and confident.

"Uh? Bob?", Sleaze ran back, fell to Bob’s side, and in a panic, shook him.

"What!?"

"There's some black thing moving about"

Bob looked back to where Sleaze pointed with his arm and right there was a black spot growing rapidly.

"What the hell!"

"Now that you mentioned it, the wait was definitely hell!", Mie smiled and the two men jumped upon seeing her face near to theirs. She had squatted innocently and proceeded to sit in front of them.

"What the hell did you do? You bitch!", yelled Sleaze and he nearly stood up to tackle her, when the black spot extended like black fluid and hurriedly swam towards where Mie sat. It rose up like a solid black wall and towered over Sleaze extending it’s presence like flexed rubber, ragged spines tracing along its edges.

"Now, now, my impatient passengers...", she soothingly spoke and the black wall flowed down stretching to form concentric thin lines encircling her. Bob and Sleaze were speechless and could only look in confused horror.

"You see boys, as I was saying, waiting was definitely hell", her voice had changed from its earlier sweet cheery tone into something that sounded like a chorus of robotic high pitched voices mashed up into one. She continued to speak. "Our host, the lovely Mie, was getting impatient and so were we, there wasn't room enough to grow and there was only so much overflow that it was only a matter of time before we simply had to seek out...new pastures". Mie looked to them, glee reflected in the bright gleam of her heterochromic eyes.

"Then you came along!", Mie clapped, her voice back to her old sweet cheery tone and once more, she clapped her hands in ecstatic excitement. "Now, I...they… can finally go out of hibernation and hitch on new host-bodies to feed...allowing them to transform into more, well...ME!", she beamed.

"Now, enough talk, my babies are getting hungry. They've hitched in stasis for too long. Would you like to meet them?", slowly, all her pores opened up and out from it crawled black spots that quickly covered her face, except her mischievous eyes, and went down her suit, crawling into the floor towards the two men, like ferrofluid occasionally spiking as bugs upon bugs, all equally eager to chow down, tried to cut in line.

The two men pushed themselves back, jumped up, and made a run for the storage door only to see it locked by the big black spot.

Bob attempted to fire at the bugs, but it only resulted in black splashes which barely stopped their advances. In horror, the two men tried to push each other forward in an effort to use the other as a meat barrier, but to no avail, the black liquid quickly encircled them. Their ferocity growing more obvious as they got closer to their prey.

"Get away! Get away!", Bob fired a couple of times towards Mie who was skipping towards him, amusement written in her eyes. The hitchhikers went up the men’s suit and into their skins, ripping a hole through and slowly worming their way in. The two slowly became enclosed in a black mask and suit. Their screams slowly muffled until not a hint of their breath remained. Mie watched, deriding pleasure at the scene.

"Thanks for the meal...". Mie stopped, taking the time to look at her upgraded surroundings, then muttering to herself as the two men fell to the floor writhing in quiet agony and pain, "and for the ride, boys… "

She stood up and thought, "Looks like we will be in for a good ride". With a mental command the old tune played and rang within Mie's ear.

"Life is a highway

I wanna ride it all night long

If you're goin' my way

Well, I wanna drive it all night long"

-fin-

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

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Author’s note:

This is a break from the fictional news publication as we feature a sci-fi story every few posts here and there. Nevertheless, this story ended quite disastrous for our unexpected guests either way. Fitting, don’t you think?