Maintenance Dweller

[Fursamie]

Bang, bump..

The sound of more useless junk bumbling around in the disposals pipes. It doesn't really bother me anymore, just more white noise to add to the rest. Walking down the narrow, dimly lit, rusting maintenance shaft, I find two pairs of chairs, a box of cigarettes and a box of matches on one of them. "Must've been one of the construction workers," I mumble quietly, walking towards the chairs. They're facing out to a window, and as I approach it, displays the vacuum of space surrounding and engulfing the Cyberaid, illuminated by the lights of various stars. I pull a chair out as I approach it, sitting down on it. I grab and throw away both boxes of cigarettes and matches from the other chair - you'd be a fool to put anything in your mouth that you find in a maintenance tunnel. I whipped out my PDA, checking the messages tab. Nothing, as usual. Not like they'd get an interesting story out of an assistant. I double check the crew manifest, wanting to see if any crew have transferred to the Cyberaid. Captain, Head of Staff, Security, Science, Engineering.. All filled with people I don't know nor people that I really care about.

Thump! Thump! The sound of jackboots. Standard issue for security personnel - for what reason, I don't know. Probably because some corporate jackass thought a pair of boots would be intimidating. I know a security officer in maintenance isn't good news. Some trouble-maker has run into a shaft, looking to avoid the law. I mean, I did, and still am, but I'm sure they've forgotten about me by now. It's a bother, because when the new security transfers see me, they always ask the same questions - "Why are you in here?", "Who authorized you to enter the maintenance shafts?", "Where is your ID?", the likes.. I quickly glanced about. No easy way to get out of this hallway, no conveniently placed lockers or tables.. Shit. I turned to the sound of the jackboots, which was the other end of the hallway. Was slowly getting louder by the second, until I saw the bright, almost neon coloured red jumpsuit pop out from the corner, flashlight in hand. 

Took me a bit to get adjusted to the bright light of the flashlight, or should I say "seclite".. Corporate and their nicknames.. When my eyes got used to the light, I could get a better look at the officer. Brown hair, wrapped into a bun. A beret, an armour vest with one set of plating, a security jump-skirt, with her rank on the right shoulder & collar, bags under her eyes and a cigarette in her mouth. I barely glanced at the ID, to make sure they weren't some shmuck in an officer getup. "Who are you?" She said, with a certain grit in her voice. "Nick Pierce, ma'am." I replied, sighing, turning my head to look out back into the window. "You do understand that there is a changeling running about the shafts, right?" She hissed, sounding a bit annoyed. "Well, ma'am, how do I know you're not the changeling?" I chuckled.

She stared at me for a moment, in silence - her lack of a reply caught my attention, so I turned to her, to see this mix of fear and anger on her face. It scared me a bit, seeing this initially gruff, grizzled looking security officer now before me, looking like a guilty child. "Looks like we got a smartass, huh.." She finally retorted. I shrugged, turning back to the window without saying anything. I hear the jackboots come closer, as well, as her flashlight being shut off, and shoved into what I think is a pouch or a pocket. I turn around to see her behind me, staring out the window as well. Weird. I turn back to face the window, and after a few awkward seconds of silence, I try to occupy myself. I lay my satchel in my lap, opening it up, and taking out a notebook. I close the satchel up, putting it by my side, and take the pen out of my PDA, opening up my notebook on a new, blank page, to detail my day so far. 

"Got onto shift station today. Said hi to captain. Didn't respond. Typical. Went to maintenance airlock, explored shafts. Doodle in book (tis this one). Watch stars. Creepy Weird Stupid  Odd officer talks to me and is now watching stars with me. Don't know what to do."

Surprisingly enough, the officer doesn't mind the notebook, nor the fact I'm slandering her in it. I turn to her, and she has this dull, blank look on her face as she stares out into the window. I wave my hand infront of her face. No physical response. "Fuck, man, you turn into a statue over a little joke?" I questioned, quite obviously visibly disturbed by the immediate change in personality by the officer. I watch as her cigarette just drops from her agape jaw. Ooooooh shit. That's not good. "I think, I'm, ah, gonna be going now.." I said, nervously, closing my notebook and hurriedly shoving it in my satchel, raising my body just a bit off the chair before she grabs my shoulder. "Hey, man, what the hell?" I turn around to see her staring at me with the same dull, blank expression. She started gripping onto my shoulder slowly, and the pain started to seep in. She was grabbing it so hard, I felt as if my scapula was going to shatter! "Ahh, fuck!" I moaned, before feeling a sharp sting in my neck. Oh shit. She was going to cut my throat. I tried to elbow her in the stomach, but to no avail, as she evidently had abs of steel. I quickly came to the conclusion that this was not a human before me. 

The next course of action was to take whatever that was in my neck, OUT, of my neck. I grabbed the foreign object stabbed into my neck, to feel the warmth of flesh. I slowly turned my head to look at it, partly because of my unwillingness to know what it was, and partly because of the massive pain in both my shoulder and neck. Once my head rotated, I saw a massive tube-like tissue formed from the officer's "tongue", into my neck. Immediately afterwards, I felt a sucking sensation in my neck, as if the cells forming the blood and muscles in my neck were slowly being escorted out of my body. I felt immensely weak, and slouched back in my chair. I went to cry for help over my headset, but she was quicker, and slapped it out of my hand once she saw me grab it, letting it skid over the dusty plating. "Mmmnhh.." I could only utter, as all the energy in my body to do, well, ANYTHING, was sucked out by this vile creature. "Tis the fate of a maintenance dweller", she said, all innocent like, before letting go of me, letting me fall off the chair, and with the last moments of consciousness I had, I saw her face, as she mugged me of my clothing & belongings, slowly morph into mine.

 

[VissyViss]

Great story! Thank you for sharing!~