Just beyond the reach of the moon’s gravitational pull, an enormous vessel dropped out of hyper-space. Gracefully following the curvature of the moon, the craft passed across the sun, casting an ominous shadow along the lunar surface.
Nearly a kilometer in length, the ship’s sleek, organic form more resembled an oceangoing manta ray or predatory bird than an interstellar vessel. As the craft plunged silently through the void, the warp engines disengaged and a thin stream of charged ions began to spew from the engine nacelles, propelling the ship on the final leg of its journey to the cloud-wreathed, blue-green orb still over 238,000 miles away.
Inside the ship, energy and life-support systems self-activated. Mazelike corridors and domed chambers were flooded with the hot, muggy, oxygen-rich atmosphere of the tropics. One by one, decks were illuminated by a green reptilian glow. The architecture was primitive, and many sections of the craft could pass for the interior of a samurai warlord’s fortress or the grim torture chamber of a medieval castle.
In the half-light, shadows danced along walls etched with sharp-edged hieroglyphics. High, vaulted ceilings resembled those in a Gothic cathedral, but here they gleamed with the blood-red hue of the abattoir.
Other sections of the ship were more organic in appearance. The armory mimicked the fleshy interior of some vast monster’s belly. Curved terra-cotta rib bones festooned the space. Between those faux-ribs, the walls were frescoed with pictographs and were hung with an array of fierce, techno-medieval weaponry: spears with retractable shafts; curved blades carved from yellow bone and bundled together like the fasces of ancient Rome; double-bladed ceremonial knives with serrated edges and ornate handles; metal clubs studded with raked white teeth; hubcap-sized shuriken edged with needle-thin blades; sharp-finned throwing darts larger than rail spikes.
The bloodstained trophies of previous hunts were also mounted in this bleak chamber—skulls of varying shapes and sizes, some broken, with empty sockets and jaws lined with fangs. A panoply of weapons, ranging from a quartz-tipped spear to a meson-interrupting particle beam weapon powerful enough to cut a mountain in half, hung in stasis behind a translucent metal bulkhead.
Beyond the armory, deep within the heart of this otherworldly ship, a computer screen brightened to reveal a thermal image of the Piper Maru floating on the vast expanse of ocean. Foreign cryptographs scrolled across the screen as the spaceship’s cybernetic brain calculated the distance between the icebreaker and the array of interconnected squares on Antarctica.
Process complete, the computer sent out an alarm—a sibilant hiss audible throughout the alien vessel. Around that central monitor, lights flickered to reveal a circular chamber heavy with moisture. A deep pool of dark liquid dominated the floor. A white mist curled over the ooze. Surrounding the pool like petals on a flower, massive shapes drifted inside of five translucent cryostasic cylinders.
Suddenly the cryo-tanks burst, spilling their contents into the central pool. The liquid roiled as colossal shapes began to stir in the muck. Broad, mottled faces surfaced in the rippling fluid, their features a nightmare amalgamation of insect, shellfish and reptile. Sentience burned behind eyes that seemed strangely human—intelligent eyes that focused on the image of the Piper Maru still flickering on the monitor. Around the mouth of each creature, fingerlike mandibles flexed.