Sarah Gatores walked down the long, curving hallway of the nearly empty Jupiter Station. Her younger brother and sister followed closely behind her as they toured the recently completed station. Jack Gatores, their father, was assigned, by EASA, to captain this post. Mr. Gatores had insisted on having a few days to get acquainted with the systems of the new station before EASA's Space Command Central sent along any crew.
For the first time in what had seemed like years, Sarah, her brother, and their little sister were allowed to come with their father to his new post. While Mr. Gatores was down in the lower decks checking the command room, Sarah took her sister and brother up to explore the suites on the upper levels of the station.
"This place is huge!" Sarah's brother Jed exclaimed, as they rose through the center of the station in an elevator.
"Dad says that it was built to accommidete over 10,000 people," six-year-old Alice replied, mimicking her father's deep voice. "What does 'accommidete' mean?" she asked, slipping back into her own voice.
"Actually, it is 'accommodate', Alice. It means that the station can 'hold without crowding' over 10,000 people," Sarah replied, looking down at her younger sister.
"Is that a lot?" Alice asked, craning her head to look up at her brother.
"Yeah. It's a lot," Jed replied, absently.
The elevator stopped, and the twin doors opened. The three siblings stepped out into an arched hallway lined with a flat, blue carpet.
"Everyone knows that you're not happy about leaving Earth, Jed, but do you have to act miserable now that we're here?" Sarah asked her ten-year-old brother. "You should try to get used to it. This is Dad's post now. We will probably be living here for quite some time."
"You're only one year older than I am. Just because Mom died, that doesn't make you the boss," Jed replied as he stopped walking and crossed his arms.
Sarah stopped as well, turning reluctantly to look at her brother.
"I'm not saying that I'm the boss,"
"Then quit acting like it!" Jed replied, irritated.
Alice stood between her brother and sister, looking back and forth tracking the verbal tennis match.
Jed frowned and shook his head, before turning and stomping away from his sisters. Concern creased Alice's face while she watched the back of her brother's shoulders shake slightly, the way their father's did when he cried. Sarah closed her eyes and sighed. Taking Alice's hand, the girls followed, carefully leaving their brother some room to cool off.
Their mother had died from an unknown alien illness that had also taken the lives of half of her fellow crewmembers aboard the space ship Magellanic. The Magellanic was a class-A ship capable of inter-dimensional travel. Its crew was on a science mission when, after a few weeks, the strange virus was discovered on the ship.
Young Alice and their father were fortunate enough not to catch the virus despite the rest of the Gatores family becoming too sick to leave their own beds. Sarah, Jed, and their mother were put into quarantine along with the other crewmembers showing signs of the disease. Although the children were able to survive, it was quickly apparent that it was fatal to adults. Even though Jed recovered quickly he chose to remain beside their mother's bed until she drew her final breath. The Captain's first officer died a few days later.
Five months had passed and Jed, Sarah knew, had still not come to terms with their mother's death. Yes, she still missed her mother, but something about seeing their mother pass on must have disturbed Jed, for it didn't seem like he merely missed her. Something about having been there as she died seemed to have affected him deeply.
Their father had told Sarah to try to be kind and gentle about Jed's feelings, in hopes that he would soon fall back into being his old self. Sarah hoped it would be soon; she missed talking to him without being worried about triggering his temper in some unforeseen way. Coming out of her reverie, Sarah looked down at Alice, who was tugging on her hand.
"What is it?" Sarah asked quietly, so as not to disturb Jed walking ahead of them.
"Could we go find a gym room?" the young girl asked.
The Recreation Rooms... of course! Sarah thought, nodding at her little sister. That will certainly cheer Jed up!
Sarah crossed the hall and pressed one of the white buttons below the black LCD panel that hung on the wall. Apparently, the monitors on this level had yet to be activated; it took a few seconds for the screens to spring to life
"What are you doing?" Jed commanded as he turned towards her, raising an eyebrow and making a face, as if he thought his older sister was crazy.
Sarah ignored her brother and pressed a colored square along the bottom of the screen.
"Question: where is the nearest recreation room?" Sarah requested, looking at the screen.
"Answer: five doors down, left hand side," a computerized voice intoned.
"Whoa!" little Alice replied, stepping up for a closer look.
"Come on!" Sarah said in excitement, leading the race down the hall.
As they approached the door to the recreation room, all three children stood confused. The door wasn't opening at their approach.
"Maybe you have to touch it?" Alice suggested, reaching out to touch the door with her small hand.
As she drew her hand back, the door slowly opened. Alice's eyes widened as she saw the strange creatures that seemed to cover everything in the room.
"Cute!" Alice exclaimed.
Upon hearing her voice, the creatures stood up on their tentacle legs. The tops of their flat, coral-like heads tipped forward toward the children to display two rows of sharp teeth on top. Their jaws were gnawing on empty air.
"I don't think they're all that cute now!" Sarah stammered as the children all backed away from the door.
Together, they turned and ran down the hall as the creatures poured out of the room after them. Jed looked behind them, realizing they wouldn't be able to outrun the creatures. He ran ahead to the nearest door and slapped his hand against it.
The door slid open, and the children jumped inside, leaning their backs against the door in relief once it was safely shut. A large object suddenly slammed into the outside of the door. Alice screamed and threw her hands over her head as Jed and Sarah jumped away from the door.
The door was slowly forced open a crack, and one of the creatures thrust its tentacles inside while Alice ran, terrified, across the room to her sister. Jed desperately tried to push the door shut again but couldn't stay out of the creature's reach. The creature managed to grab Jed's arm, and pull him toward its wide mouth. As it opened and closed in anticipation of its catch, it revealed its razor-sharp teeth.
Jed yelled and reached out with his free hand to his older sister for help. Sarah and Alice grabbed his arm and pulled him free of the creature's grasp. The three of them toppled onto the floor in a heap. The creature retreated, and the door finally slid shut.
"What are those things?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know," Jed replied, slowly rising to his feet.
"I want to go back to Daddy!" Alice whimpered.
"We can't go back to Daddy right now! We're trapped in this room!" Jed snapped.
Alice bit her lower lip and sniffled as Sarah drew her into her arms to hug her.
"Don't yell at her, she doesn't understand! I don't understand!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Well if you hadn't decided to go to the rec room, maybe we wouldn't be trapped by a bunch of monsters right now!" Jed yelled back. He crossed his arms and plopped down on the edge of the king-sized bed in the middle of the room.
"How was I supposed to know? Ugh. Never mind," Sarah replied, throwing up her hands. "Let's try to figure out a way to get out of here."
"Fine," Jed answered, rolling his eyes.
"Perhaps there is a vent or some type of access tunnel in here," Sarah mused out loud to herself.
Jed just rolled his eyes again, making sure Sarah could see.
'Obstinate as ever, even when we are all in danger.' Sarah thought.
She instructed Alice to look along the wall for any type of vent in the room.
"But I have to go potty," Alice said in a soft voice.
Sarah rolled her eyes and led Alice across the room to a door labeled 'Lavatory.' It slid open and Alice went inside. After the door closed, Sarah got down on her hands and knees to look along the base of the wall for any vents.
"Aren't you going to help?" she called up to Jed, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I am. I'm looking from here," he replied in a biting tone.
Sarah sighed to herself and lowered her head to look under a Victorian-style wooden dresser. Alice came out of the bathroom, wiping her clean, still-wet hands on her overalls.
"Sare?"
"Yes, Alice?" Sarah replied sitting up and tightening the strap of her sister's overalls.
"There is another door."
"Where?" Sara exclaimed, jumping up and turning around.
"In the bathroom."
"Okay, let's check it out! You coming, Jed?"
"I guess so," Jed replied.
The three children walked into the stainless-steel bathroom and opened the door at its far end. As they entered the new room, the bathroom door slid shut behind them. Sarah looked around at the couches, chairs, and coffee table.
"This must be a living room," Sarah replied.
"No, Duh!" Jed replied as he walked around the couch.
Sarah watched him in frustration for a moment, and then crossed over to the large window showing the multicolored Jupiter spinning below them.
"Can we try this door?" Alice asked.
"Why not," Sarah replied, smiling. She was trying her best to keep up hope about the situation.
She picked up a metal candle holder from the table beside the window and crossed the room.
Jed stood up from the couch as Sarah neared the door. Alice walked a few steps behind her sister. Sarah touched the door and it slowly opened halfway, revealing another coral-headed, sharp-toothed, tentacled creature suspended in the upper part of the open door. Suddenly inspired, Sarah wedged her back along the edge of the door and braced her feet against the threshold.
"Come on, Alice, you first!" Sarah exclaimed, not daring to look up at the creature.
Alice climbed with hesitation over Sarah's legs and toppled into the hallway. The creature in the door reached down for Sarah, but its tentacles were tangled in her long, curly, blonde hair. Sarah tossed Jed the candle holder.
"Help me, Jed!" she cried as the creature began tugging on her hair.
Jed picked up the candlestick and tried to whack the creature perched above Sarah's head. He hit it hard, and it arched out of the doorway. Sarah gasped in surprise as the door suddenly began to force itself shut again. She jumped out of the way and pulled her hair free as she landed on her backside at Alice's feet.