The dark and red clouds loomed overhead, full of threat, as the sun began to set.
“A storm is coming,” he thought to himself.
The storms of this planet made the worst storm in earth seem like a drizzle. The wind picked up, and the dust from the mountain tops began to skip across the ground beneath him. He inched closer to the outpost.
An eerie feeling came over him.
He arrived at the outpost door, which slid open just as he passed the sensor. While in the decontamination chamber, he noticed the steady white noise over the outpost comms. Not a word was spoken.
As decontamination finished he walked inside the outpost. Uncomfortable with the silence he shouted, “That’s some serious weather out there!”
He smiled at the breath of fresh o2 inside, but his happiness quickly turned to worry as the lights inside began to fade. All he could see was the texture of the walls, and all he could hear was the sound of his footsteps and the white noise from the comms.
“Um, this is courier Lee of the Recour quadrant. I’m here to retrieve a package.” he said nervously.
He walked around the outpost for a minute or two before reaching the cafeteria, where it was pitch black. He scurried around, feeling the walls for a light switch. He found it.
There, from the ceiling, hung four people. What looked to be the crew of the outpost. Eyes wide open, toes numb, blood rushing… this is probably what they would have felt had they been alive. They were perfectly straight, as if standing; head straight, arms, legs, everything, just perfect.
He didn’t scream, he didn’t shout, he didn’t run, he stared. He walked around the bodies, examining every aspect of them. He’d seen dead people before. What he had never seen was four people dead, floating, in mid air.