She drew herself up and said commandingly, ‘Show yourself. We know you’re here. Show yourself.’
It wasn’t invisible. But there are ways of not being seen. Something changed in our perception. Like staring at those 3D coloured dot pictures and suddenly you realise you’re looking at a giraffe riding a bike. Nothing changes, but suddenly you can see it.
We saw it now.
It was tall and bony. Man-shaped. An unhealthy grey-white pallor. A bloodless thing. Damp skin glistened in the harsh light of the pod. I thought of a white slug, except slugs are fleshy. This thing had no flesh on it anywhere. Huge hands, big as shovels, with thick, yellow nails were caked with Mary Kelly’s dried blood. Long arms hung loosely at his sides, reaching to his knees, palms turned backwards. The eyes were dark and hidden within creases of moist skin. They reflected nothing – light was captured, but not reflected. A one-way entrance to something unspeakable. The proportions of its face were all wrong. The too-big mouth was half way up its face. The chin was long, pointed, and not symmetrical. The nose was not central but set off to one side. There was no septum. This was something that had been put together wrong. I could smell bad earth. My stomach clenched. I clutched my stun gun in one hand and pepper spray in the other, but my defiance was only for show. This was the thing known as Jack the Ripper and his record spoke for itself. There was no escape for us. This was going to be bad.
Kal spoke again, and her voice was firm and without fear. I never admired her more. ‘Can you understand me?’
It dipped its chin.
‘Then listen closely. I know who you are. I know what you’ve done. Look around. You are imprisoned in a pod. You will never leave it again. None of us will leave this pod alive. Do you understand?’
It dipped its chin.
‘You heard my colleague. She declared Code Blue. That means we are contaminated. This pod is no longer under our control. We cannot open the door. We cannot get out. You cannot get out. We will all die in here. Do you understand?’
It hissed.
I gestured to the screen. ‘Look.’
It leaned forward and I took the opportunity to move half a step closer. Outside, all the techies had disappeared. They’d dimmed the lights to a blue glow. A double ring of hazmat-dressed security guards surrounded the pod. Front row kneeling; back row standing. They all had some very serious weaponry pointed directly at us.
It dipped its chin.
‘They cannot get in,’ I lied. ‘This pod is impregnable. They have only one purpose. To shoot dead anything and everything that might try to leave. They have firepower the like of which you cannot imagine. If you do somehow manage to get out, they will shoot you dead. And me. And my colleague. Everything in this pod is doomed. Do you understand?’
For the first time, it shook its head.
‘I think not.’
Its voice was deep, thick and sibilant, with a slight accent. It had difficulty speaking. Its tongue was purple and far too big for its mouth. Yellow and brown saliva crusted the corners of its lips. The thought of them touching me was unbearable.
It spoke again. ‘I think they will not be so happy to see such pretty girls … suffer. I think when you have both screamed for a day, then they will be willing to open the door. Especially when they hear you beg.’
Kal shook her head. ‘That will not happen. That door will never open again. There is no food or water here. After a week, we will be dead, either by your hand, or by ours. The guards will not move. They will stay until they see we cannot possibly be alive. On that day, they will take this pod and bury it forever. It will be your tomb. I don’t know what you are, or if you can die or not, but I hope for your sake you can, because otherwise you will sit here in this tiny box, alone in the cold and the dark, until the end of time. You should not have followed us here. You have made a big mistake. Do you understand?’
It dipped its chin. ‘I understand but I do not agree. I propose to put it to the test.’
Suddenly it was in front of us. I never saw it move. I jerked up my stun gun but it was knocked from my hands before I could fire. The same blow knocked me sideways. I rolled as I heard Kal scream. Her gun went off. I saw its arm rise and fall, rise and fall, slashing and ripping. Kal screamed again. I grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and jabbed it into the side of its face. Something gave, but it had no real effect. Kal swung her arm and I heard the bottle break.