.Space///The Darkness Within (Part VI)

///transmission.exe{accept;true}

	The door burst open, revealing a pitch black room covered in cobwebs and mold. John Anderson came out from behind the rock he had been employing as shelter.

	"Nice find." grunted the Zech'tal sardonically.

	"Most obliged,” snorted Anderson in reply.

	“Will you two please just shut up?” interrupted Alcaeus.
	
	Anderson held his breath and shut his eyes. Alcaeus was, frankly, annoying to the point of self-impalement. Then he heard it. A small chirping noise from inside the building. Anderson lifted his arm and extended his hand toward his companions. 

	“Quiet,” Anderson commanded. “We’re not alone.”

	He switched the flashlight on his pistol on and crept into the room, breathing heavily and slowly. Gesturing to his comrades, he walked further into the room. In the darkness, he saw a balcony across the west side of the room, with another on the north and a staircase leading to it. Littering the room were chairs, several of which were completely dismembered. There was a counter a little ahead, and what was behind it made his blood run cold: a set of eyes, sunken into the head of the victim. Eyes of terror.

	John stepped backward and took a set of deep breaths. “We can’t get complacement,” he told his comrades. “Let’s go. Keep your weapons drawn.” Anderson quietly unsheathed his grappling gun. He moved quickly up the staircase, signaling to the troopers behind him. Aiming for the lock, Anderson dispatched a searing kick to the door, knocking it clear off its hinges and into the next room with a loud clank. He continued in and ran his hand along the doorframe, looking for a switch. He found one and clicked it on. 

	Immediately, he wished he hadn’t. The sight was a gruesome one. There was a table in the center. Four broken durasteel shackles lay upon it. The remains of a security guard and a doctor did as well. 

	A wave of nausea swept across John, forcing him to turn away. Alcaeus strode in and looked. 

	“Onward men!” he called. John felt a twinge of annoyance.

	“And woman,” said Aurora, the other human that John had rescued. Anderson didn’t feel as much regret when it came to her.

	“And Zach’Tal.”

	Alcaeus smiled weakly, realizing his own idiocy. Anderson kicked him in the shins and they continued onward. 

///transmission.end

///transmission.exe{accept;true}

	They jogged down a corridor, filled with couches, holovisions, and a decrepit vending machine.
	
	“I think,” said Alcaeus.

	“That’s new,” responded John sardonically.

	“I think that we deserve a break,” finished Alcaeus.

	“I concur,” buzzed the Zech’Tal.

	“All right,” said John. “We rest.” 

	“Then we move,” added Aurora.
	
	“We move.”

///transmission.exe{accept;true}