Targus Major
Targus Major was a battle-scarred shabby space docking platform; years of coming and going had taken their toll. The main dock doors hung on hinges bent by constant mis-calculations of hasty pilots. Shabby as it was, it gave safe harbour to the ships from Altus and Grogych on the way through the hostile Rikor galaxy to distant Solar 12. Protected by a fully automated weapon system, the ships and their crew enjoyed safe haven.
A small ship slipped quietly into the inner harbour and lay at rest against the main supply pier. No-one had disembarked, nothing had been loaded for transit. It just sat there, silent and un-inviting, ignored by the platform workers and crew. Charlie Fergusson, however, was not quite so complacent. He beamed the main scanners at the craft but it had some kind of blocking force field, he saw nothing and assumed the ship was an unmanned robotics vessel. How wrong could he be? Very wrong, for as the scanner rays flooded the basin, small creatures scurried back and forth inside the craft.
There is no night and day that deep into space, so people sleep when they feel tired, and awaken when they’ve had enough sleep. However, there has to be some structure to life on a space dock, so the day was made up of time periods which enabled them to decide when to sleep. It was half way through the night ‘unit’ and everyone but Charlie and his fellow technician Xyloxthy, a Mindotaran from the Vijban quadrant, were sound asleep in the bunk houses. As the blue flood lights were dimmed to simulate night, Charlie thought his eyes were playing tricks when he peered out toward the small craft. He switched on a white spot light, turned it towards the vessel and involuntarily jumped at the sight of a huge bud protruding from the upper deck.
“Xoth – what the fuck’s that?”
“Looks like a big flower.”
“Fuck me, a flower, in space.”
The bud opened and a swirl of petals spread out with stamens springing up in the centre, It moved gently and then, as quick as it opened, it withered and died. The petals fell to the deck and a large pod swelled rapidly and then burst. The two men rushed outside in time to see black ovate cylinders as big as a man’s head fall all over the platform. They fell close to the two men; like black rugby balls bouncing on steel decks.
“Seeds!” Xyloxthy scooped one up.
“Fucking seeds!” Charlie laughed as he held one up to the light, “I wonder if they’re edible…..”
His voice trailed off as he saw the seed in his mate’s hand split open and a small green creature plant itself firmly on his head, sucking out his brain. He turned to throw his seed aside when it burst too. The last thing he saw were the hundreds of creatures swarming towards the bunk houses, then he saw nothing, ever again.