Space Sharks: Deep Space Terror Read online

  Space Sharks:

  Deep Space Terror

  Written by Nick Pond

  www.nickthewriter.net

  Contents

  Copyright Information

  Authors note

  Introduction

  Chapter 1 – The Shark of doom

  Chapter 2 - From the frying pan into the fire, with also a hint of fire-proof Space Shark

  Chapter 3 – Flight and Fight

  Chapter 4 – If can turn back the Shark of time

  Chapter 5 – Sharkaggedon!

  Chapter 6 – What goes up must come down!

  Chapter 7 – The Finale

  © Copyright

  © Copyright by Nick the Writer 2013

  Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all rights including those in copyright in the content of this book are owned by the author.

  Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law or Nick the Writer's Terms of Use, the content inside this book may not be copied, reproduced, republished, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way without first obtaining Nick the Writer's written permission or that of the copyright owner.

  For details on contacting the author please email:

  [email protected]

  http://www.nickthewriter.net

  A word from Nick Pond:

  This is an adventure into the unknown... Humans know so little about deeper space, and the potential of what could be lurking in its darkest corners... We have recently discovered living moss surviving outside our atmosphere in space conditions; it's very possible of life flourishing everywhere in every space offered within the confines of the universe; each all adapted to their own chosen environment. As we fast forward to the future; humans have colonized and spread throughout their own solar system; but they soon realize the bigger danger implications from the range of species it can host, when they start getting terrorized by one of the most ferocious predators offered by Deep Space!

  Introduction

  The stars are multiplying in their billions across the space landscape, displaying an aura of never-ending light producing all the different twinkling colors offered by the spectrum. The universe functions by using the forces of energy to stay alive, and is working mechanically non-stop allowing for everything within it to exist. It is a very creative force, which brings a lot of flare by using the manipulation of different energies to produce its various creations that are breeding across the space hemisphere. Homo-Sapiens have just begun to open Pandora’s Box when they concluded from then on that life would grab hold and flourish in any inch of universal space available; even in the no-mans land of deep space. Similar to an ocean, space creatures can live and move through the space vacuum, forming a food chain cycle, with each species playing a significant role for each other to exist. But the bigger creatures, or to be precise the one species in particular the Space Shark (or Loonaradon if your naming from their astral animal genus) has started to clash with planetary life; and are becoming more problematic for land inhabitants to deal with. Especially for civilizations advanced enough to use space as part of their economy.

  The Space Shark uses her tail and fins to propel herself forward, as she swims through the space vacuum; the plasma is less dense and lighter than atmospheric pressure and enabled this 80 foot long menacing creature to glide where ever she pleased. She was a fraction bigger than the earth's prehistoric shark, the Megalodon, and the species may even possibly be their space counterpart relatives! Her teeth are marginally more solid than the sharks in the sea (A tooth being in average 10 inches in length) – and can bite through metals and most types of solid rock. This is an evolutionary advantage for Space Sharks as they are able to eat through most obstacles to catch their hiding prey. Following the same patterns as the ocean, life never stops the deeper into space you go. In fact, it facilitates for a much vast amount of species in its dark passages than any planet could ever hold.

  Radio-active pulses also littered the space hemisphere; mainly created from colliding planets, the after-math of stars imploding, and even numerous advanced civilizations clogging up the hydrogen line with their radio communications via satellites. But little did they realize that these helped the Space Sharks to navigate; and also hunt for prey by following the signals (Just like Great White’s use sound in the ocean picked up by vibrations in their nerve system.) These are a species evolved to live in space conditions, and their hunting and defense mechanisms were not a force to be reckoned with.

  The Space Shark suddenly sensed something not far from her, as she started to home in on a group of alien hearts which were beating heavily, and sending vibrations down the sharks central nervous system. She turned with her snout pointing upwards and her pectoral fins propelling up and down in fast motion, as she made a change of direction – she swam through the black void of nothingness. Arriving near some pieces of shattered rock, being pulled in an orbit from a gravitational pull of the asteroid belt, she explored the gaps in the jagged meteorite with her pointed nose. Suddenly three smaller sharks appeared, with their heads in a shape of a hammer. These were the Space Hammerheads, they hunt in packs – and was normal for them to work as a team to take down the bigger creatures to provide enough food for sustaining them in longer periods. The Space Shark turned bearing her mouth full of sharp razor teeth; as she made no hesitation in lunging towards a Hammerhead, and sinking her jaws into the side of its body. Dark red blood leaked out, and spread – with very similar effect to bleeding in water, but much more gradual in dispersing. The other 2 Hammerhead's swam in unison behind the Space Shark, and both swung their hammer shaped heads as each slammed into her side; disorientating her. The Space Shark loosened her grip on the Hammerhead in her mouth, as she managed to swim free from the locked grip, but the hunter became the hunted, as she became injured, bleeding heavily, and looking very sorry for herself. She tried to swipe her tail at the aggressive Hammerheads behind her, but they managed to charge out the way as they positioned for another attack. But two bigger shapes decided to join the battle, as they presented themselves to be the Space Shark's pups. Although only three quarters to the mother Space Shark’s size, the Hammerheads still dwarfed the pups in comparison. The two pups charged towards both Hammerheads and opened their jaws wide, and they ripped them to shreds biting off parts at a time, as the mother then went back to feasting on the original Hammerhead – which was trying to limp away with one fin, from the bloody scene. After a few moments, the two pups turned to their mother, as she waited for them, and then they all swam together as they all engaged with a new signal – directing them further inside the solar system, a renowned local hang out for Homo-Sapiens.

  Chapter 1: Shark of doom

  “This is scandalous! I spit in your face!” A suited man shouted.

  “I'm cheaper than all the mainstream garages on Playa De Sontos!” Zipper shouted defiantly, as he picked up a big metal wrench.

  Zipper’s physical characteristics were a big framed body, gray afro hair, and permanent lines running down his face from wearing a constant angry scowl to help contribute with his people skills. He no longer has any contact with the corrupt government of Playa De Sontos, and now makes a living getting by on a trade; a space ship mechanic. Although he still maintains his mansion, and still uses his equipment to monitor the Space Sharks, he now only regards it all as a non-profit hobby. That is not to say he didn't miss all the action though... Zipper had an enormous hunger for learning about the secrets of the universe, and especially in the new space animals which are becoming more frequent in sightings.

  “You is an angry man, ja? Here have money!” The rich foreigner said, wearing a black business suit - he wrote out a check; in comparison his wiry
thin body was no match to Zipper in a physical fight, even if his suit did bulk him out a bit.

  Zipper's garage is situated at the heart of Playa De Sontos, and most importantly is near a space port; where he picked up the majority of business from broken down travelers (and usually charges them three times the normal rate). Although the career change was not much of a challenge mentally, and he had to deal with the public day in and day out, it was something that got him out of the house – especially when he has an obsessive nature with any form of machinery he can take apart, and put back together again. The garage was in a very noisy area where space ships constantly come and go from the rich meteorite settlement. Zipper, who turned more at ease, put the wrench down into his red tool box. He worked on his own, and the garage was small, dark and gloomy – which is how Zipper liked it. The foreigner then climbed into his small two seat space ship, through an under-hatch. The vehicle was disc shaped, surrounded by four big spinning propellers which enabled it to hover inside the atmosphere, and had a coat of black paint all over with the one red stripe. Must be his national planetary emblem, Zipper thought. Zipper then opened a large hatch in the roof of the garage, allowing the customer to fly out the premises. Only two minutes went by for Zipper, when suddenly he was met with a new black suited guy coming through the shutter doors of the garage. He compared to his own clothing, a white sweaty vest top, and loose dark trousers showing various oil stains – Am I under dressed today or something?

  “Zipper?” The man greeted.

  “I'm closed! Go away!” Zipper snapped irately, who is still tense from the annoyance of the last customer.

  “I do not want your business...”

  “Good! Then go away!”

  “I'm here for the Ruler; he's requested that you speak with him on an urgent matter...”

  “I'm not interested! I'm done with them lot! Plus I'm going away soon... Don't know when I'll be back... But got a divorce to sort out...” Zipper explained, as he started packing his tools into his black tool bag.

  “I don't think you heard me correctly... The Ruler requested to see you...”

  “I don't care!” Zipper barked, who had a flicker of horror at the thought of going back into Parliament house; for a rendezvous with the government ministers; in fact the whole idea just wanted to make him take his chances with the Space Sharks!

  Another two suited men entered the dark garage; they both grabbed Zipper whilst one punched him in the face with full force knocking Zipper to the ground.

  “Good job boys, let's take him in...” the original suited agent chuckled.

  It’s not long before Zipper’s tied up, and is bundled into their ground rover outside (ground rovers look similar to space ships in terms of their disc shape, but have four mammoth tires propping it up, and allowing the transport to travel by ground) – they then begin trashing the garage, as if they were looking for something. The gloomy garage was turned over and left more in a state than it did to begin with – if that’s even possible.

  “He’s still living in the mansion... Outside the city, it must be there,” Said one man, in an aggressive deep voice, “let’s go!”

  Playa De Sontos is a settlement upon an asteroid, following the other rocks around the orbit of the meteorite belt. Enjoying a rich economy; in trading gold, metals, and other resources they manage to mine – it's become one of the busiest and wealthiest trading hubs in the solar system. Originally pioneered by the English (was also the first established meteorite settlement for the human race), it now offers a self sufficient atmosphere, contained inside a big dome bio-sphere, and has homed many generations since mankind expanded their empire into space. The energy from the sun is absorbed by the bio-sphere, allowing the energy to power a night and day cycle, also supplying electricity to the whole settlement, and most importantly containing the purpose built atmosphere (A process known as Terra-forming).

  “Order in the house!” A man barked, wearing a long gray wig, and an old fashioned blue gown – which gave the impression of the gown owner being dug up from a 14th century monastery.

  People seated around the large hall groaned simultaneously.

  “It’s preposterous! We need to control our sky borders! Put our citizens first!” A posh young suited man shouted, as he said his peace then threw himself back down on the chair who was harboring an over the top high and mighty status quo.

  The truth is, it’s the immigration and visitor numbers that are keeping the asteroid economy going – after seven years running into a deep recession, it is a long road to recovery for the citizens, confidence was still unstable amongst the public. There was a mixture of emotions in the large room, some were angry, a proportion were shouting, others were justifying and making excuses, whilst the majority looked as if they were asleep. Suddenly the doors burst open…

  “Silence! Silence!” A voice boomed.

  Some chatter still remained. But a few people who were seated with their heads down on the table jolted upright from their interrupted nap.

  “Oh shut up!” A new powerful voice shouted as he forcefully entered the room.

  This was the Ruler of Playa De Sontos. His eyes were like dark evil slits, his face looked like a burnt doily. The room suddenly fell silent in an instant.

  “I have to announce we have come to a new technological age... I won’t go into the boring science... But our scientists have pioneered a space ship capable of going outside the solar system wall… We will be able to travel to other galaxies... Other worlds…”

  The leader of the opposition then jumped in. His name is Gregg; he’s only been in this position for a few months, so was still a bit new in the politics game.

  “It’s all well and good... But how do we stop our increasing poverty levels? The populations decline in standard of living?! And our decaying infrastructure! We should be spending on our own people... Not another right wing propaganda space exploration circus!”

  The leader of the opposition’s job was to give voice and opposition to the ruling government as a way to be democratic and balance level of power, Gregg was new and definitely meant well, but most people were unsure about what he stood for; but his hearts definitely in the right place. He was enthusiastic anyway. He had that second of taking the moral high ground, but it was taken away from him again very quickly.

  “Look here toilet breath!” The leader barked.

  The crowd of politicians burst into a roar of laughter, then boo over Gregg as he tries to put a word in – but is drowned out by the noise. The leader then controls the silence.

  “As I was saying, we are trying to push the prototypes through as we speak... But being the first major capital of manufacturing deep space ships! The tourist industry will boom! Factories will be in demand! Jobs created! The money will literally rain down over us! If we just subsidize the manufacturing to the big private firms... Everyone will win! Everyone will have money!”

  “It should be nationalized!” Gregg shouted, who attempted to put down the leader again.

  The leader laughed then replied, “Yea... And taxes would go up by more than 500% to run the whole operation! Privatization and letting businesses profiteer is the way to make it self-sufficient, and competitiveness will bring top service! Your Galactic Health Service is proof that nationalized services don’t work... Because we can’t even pay for it! And free healthcare is being abused by everyone from everywhere in the solar system! And we don’t have enough resources to cater for the exploding demand! Anyone would think living is a good thing!? ”

  A new voice, less booming than the leader, a lot frailer, suddenly contributed to the talks, “I don’t want to burst your bubble... What about the flying shark monster? Going into deep space is absurd!! We don't have the tiniest clue what could be out there?! We already work 24 hour round the clock to keep this covered up from everyone, and the constant monitoring of them is bleeding us dry!”

  “Don't be a pessimist! Human's are designed to grow and learn, and it’s our time t
o explore deeper space and learn!” The leader objected, nearly breaking out into a sweat, “we with our allies Amazbos have a special team trained to kill the Space Sharks! It's just a matter of keeping on top of hunting them down! We are just coming out of the worst recession we've ever faced, the last thing we need is to create a panic! If people start to be afraid to travel space, no one will come here for business!”

  The room eased a bit when a different voice interjected.

  “I don’t know why our ancestors settled us in the sticks anyway, so far away from everyone else... But anyway, shall we take a coffee break? I'm dying here with all this debating! And my state expense card still isn’t working!! When are we talking about our pay rise? I need to buy my new home between here and my first house! I’m getting too old for all this walking!”

  Everybody just reacted to this voice as if it was the sound of the toilet flushing in the next room, as they simply ignored it and formed an orderly queue to go outside the hall doors, as muttering and laughing began to pick up again amongst them.