It was supposed to bring opportunities for science. Instead, it brought us an unspeakable horror.
Everything started out perfectly normal, with the capsule detaching from the spacecraft exactly on schedule. Tracking its progress as it entered the atmosphere, we watched, through infrared cameras, as it streaked through the sky over the west coast at twenty-seven thousand miles per hour. With its heat shield keeping the payload safe from the heated plasma created by its reentry, the capsule was able to safely descend back to Earth.
After two minutes of falling, the atmosphere managed to slow down the capsule to one thousand seventy-four miles per hour. At that point the capsule deployed its drogue parachute to further reduce its speed. Entering a Special Use Airspace over Utah, we kept track of the capsule and triangulated its position using radar.
Sitting in a helicopter that circled the landing ellipse, I tried my best to scan the skies for any sign of the capsule. To say that I was excited was an understatement. This mission had been years in the making and now, two years, eleven months, and four days after collecting samples from an asteroid, we would see the return of the capsule and its precious payload.
As a member of the recovery team, I would be among the first people to see and touch the capsule after its return to Earth. It was a great honor and although my role was small, I knew I was playing my part in a larger system.
“Main chute deployed.” The Spacecraft Command Team called out on the radio.
Looking out at the window of the helicopter, I began searching for the chute and smiled when I spotted it.
“It’s there, just to our east.” I called out to my team leader.
Descending at eleven miles per hour, the capsule hung under its main parachute as it went through the final moments of its journey. Moving closer towards it, we circled the descending capsule and watched as it made a touchdown.
Once the capsule was firmly on the ground, we then descended and landed a few yards away from it. We were joined on the ground by three other helicopters which contained the Safety Team and the Environmental Sampling Team.
The first person to approach the capsule was a military officer. Since the landing zone was in the middle of a Department of Defense Test and Training Range, there was a small possibility that there were unexploded ordnance on the location. Luckily for us none were detected and we were given the green signal to approach.
Following our carefully rehearsed procedure, the Environmental Team moved towards the capsule and began testing the air around it, as well as marking and taking samples of the ground. Meanwhile, us in the recovery team brought a metal crate and placed it on top of a cargo net that was connected to a nearby helicopter thanks to a long line. The crate will act as a cradle for the capsule during its aerial transport back to the airfield, where our temporary Clean Room. Once in the Clean Room, the capsule will be dusted off, disassembled, and the sample canister removed and placed into a nitrogen glove box for nitrogen purging.
Getting close to the capsule and looking down on it, I couldn’t help but smile. This object had traveled billions of miles in space, saw things humans can only dream of seeing, took samples from an asteroid, and now it was back on Earth. It truly was a marvel and a great accomplishment for space exploration.
However, I didn’t let my awe and admiration distract me from my task. Following procedure, me and Dan, my partner for this part of the recovery, moved to stand next to the capsule, before gently lifting up the hundred pound object. Making sure not to drop it, we took our time carrying it towards the crate.
It was at this point I noticed something strange.
While lifting the capsule, I thought I heard a tapping sound coming from inside it. This surprised me, since I knew that it wasn’t supposed to be making such noise. However, as suddenly as it started, the ticking noise immediately stopped, making me wonder if it really happened or if it was just my imagination.
Seeing that Dan didn’t react to the sound, I decided that it was most likely just my imagination. Keeping quiet about it, so that I won’t embarrass myself, I returned my focus to my job and slowly lowered the capsule to its crate. Once it was secure, we then began tightly wrapping a tarp around the capsule and sealing it with tape. With that done, we secured the cargo net and signaled that the capsule was now ready for transport.
Within a few minutes, the helicopter took off and slowly lifted the capsule into the air. We watched at the capsule and its precious cargo hung under the long line, as the helicopter carried it back to the airfield. With our job done, we began packing our gear and heading back to our chopper, leaving behind the Environmental Team to continue their job of collecting ground samples around the landing zone.
By the time we arrived at the airfield, the capsule was already inside the Clean Room, where technicians will clean and open up the capsule so that the Curation Team can purge it with nitrogen and protect the sample canister from possible contamination.
With nothing more to do, us in the Recovery Team moved to one of the nearby hangars that was temporarily converted to act as our break room. Grabbing food and taking a seat next to Dan, I gave him a quick path on the back and congratulated him for our successful recovery.
“Just like the rehearsals.” I told him with a smile.
“Yea.” He said cheerfully, before suddenly frowning. “There is something bothering me though.”
This piqued my interest, as I raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “What is it?”
“It’s the capsule.” He said. “I’m not sure, but…I thought I heard something from it.”
“Heard something?” I muttered. “Was it a tapping sound?”
Dan’s eyes immediately widened as he nodded. “Yea. You heard it too?”
“I did.” I told him. “But I shrugged it off when it stopped.”
“I ignored it too. At first I thought it may have just been loose samples within the canister shaking as we moved it. But then I heard it again. After we wrapped the capsule and got it secure in the cargo net, I swear I heard the tapping again. I don’t know if you heard that too, you were busy going through the checklist at the time, but I heard it. I don’t know, I’m not sure if it’s anything of concern, but it just seems odd. Maybe I’m just overthinking it, but-”
The rest of what Dan was about to say was cut off, when the sound of sudden commotion occured on the other side of the hangar. Turning around, I saw that one of our team members was being tackled by a man that wore a white bio suit. Seeing the protective equipment on the man, I quickly realized that he was from the Curation Team. But what was he doing here and why was
Getting up and moving towards the scene, I saw our team member frantically attempt to get the other man off of him, but to no avail. The other man seemed to be stronger and kept him pinned.
Reaching the two first, Dan quickly grabbed the man from behind and lifted him off of our team member. As he did so, the other man struggled and flailed his arms, as he gave out a hiss that I never thought a person could ever make. Wrapping his hands around the man, Dan did his best to keep him restrained, as I moved forward to help him. However, I suddenly stopped in my tracks when I saw the man’s face.
The man’s eyes were wrong and were bulging out of his eye sockets. In fact, his eyes looked too big to fit in his eye sockets, as they were stretching them to the point of tearing. Standing there frozen in sudden fear, I looked on with horror as these unnaturally large eyes stared at me.
I was only snapped out of my catatonic state when I heard Dan struggle and call out for help.
“We need to pin him on the ground.” Dan said. “He’s fighting harder than I expected and I don’t know if I can keep this up.”
Returning my attention back to the situation, I nodded my head and moved towards them. By that point other members of the team had arrived, as two of them began helping the man who was attacked. Meanwhile, another one was rushing towards a nearby exit, shouting that they’ll call the security team.
Focusing my attention on the attacker, I took a step forward and prepared to grab the man’s arms, which continued to flail around. However, before I could put my hands on him, I suddenly jerked back when I saw spider-like legs sprout out of his eye sockets. These legs then helped each eye pop out of its sockets, allowing it to crawl on the man’s face.
Letting out a curse, I stared in disbelief as his eyes crawled away, leaving behind a deep empty void where they used to be. However, they did not remain empty for long, as a new pair of eyes crawled out of its depth. This pair soon exited the eye sockets too and crawled down his face as they followed the path the previous two took.
Meanwhile, the initial two pairs crawled down the man and were now moving to Dan’s arms, which were still wrapped around him. At that point the man was still flailing his arms and struggling from Dan’s grip. However, the moment he felt the eyes crawl up one of his exposed arms, he immediately let go.
“What the fuck?” Dan remarked, as he saw the two eyes that managed to get on his arm. As they crawled, I couldn’t help but notice Dan wincing in pain as they moved on his skin.
In an attempt to get them off, he used his free arm to swat away the pair going up. However, this only resulted in him only letting out a hiss of pain, as the eyes remained on his arms. It seemed like their long spider-like legs were stabbing the skin of his arm, making it difficult to get them off.
Seeing him struggle, I moved up to try and help him, but was immediately blocked by the man whose eyes still released these unnatural little horrors. Standing in front of me, and with eyes crawling all over his body and staring at me, I felt frightened and unsure what to do.
Then, without warning, a couple of the eyes leaped from the man and headed straight towards me. I was lucky enough to react quickly to this, resulting in the eyes landing on the concrete floor. However, these little creatures were persistent, and quickly turned their gaze back towards me.
Slowly backing away, I felt that they were only moments away to make another leap. But before they could do so, John, another member of the team, rushed forward and began stomping on the eyes. As he did this though, the remaining eyes that were still crawling on the man leaped on him, landing right on his head.
Moving his hands on his head, he tried his best to pull them off. But their legs had dug into his skin, making it impossible. Screaming in pain, John was helpless as the eyes began crawling down to his face, before settling on his eyes. Burrowing themselves in, they broke through his pupils and planted themselves inside his sockets. It was a terrible sight, which was only made worse by John’s screams.
“They’re in my head! They’re burrowing into my brain!”
This was mixed with Dan’s screams, who I heard calling out for help.
At that point I ran. I feel ashamed for abandoning them, but what could I have done? Those creatures were too deadly and too horrific, I wouldn’t have been able to help. Heading towards the nearest exit, I ran as fast as I could, while praying that the eyes wouldn’t catch up to me. By then most members of the team were running away also, with some having already fled, including the first one who was attacked.
Reaching the door, I allowed myself to make one last glance towards the horrors behind me. I wished I hadn’t.
On the floor were Dan and John, both of whom had their eyes covered by their faces. John was still screaming in pain as a stream of them forced their way into his eye sockets, while Dan was silent and unmoving.
Not wanting to see anymore of it, I turned around and ran again. I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go, but I followed the other members of the team who were fleeing the scene. Eventually we met up with the military security of the airfield and informed them about the situation.
In response, they quickly dispatched teams to search the various facilities all over the airfield, while ordering us to stay in their security building. As time passed on, more people from around the airfield were gathered into the building. Talking to some technicians who arrived after us, I learnt from them that the Clean Room was a bloody mess. Passing by it on their way to the security building, they saw the large bay doors open and various parts of the capsule, including the sample canister, on the floor.
This brought a chill of fear through me, as I realized that something must have come out of it. I then remembered the tapping sound me and Dan heard. Could that have come from those little creatures?
Once military security were certain they got everyone they could find, they then did a headcount to see who was missing. Among those who weren’t there was Dan, John, the entire Curation Team, as well as five other personnel.
We were then held in the building for a while, as military and NASA personnel from other facilities were discreetly sent into the airfield, so that they wouldn’t attract outside attention. As far as everyone in the public knows, the transport aircraft that arrived was part of the team that was tasked with transporting the sample canister to Texas.
One by one, all of us who had been in the airfield were examined by a team of medical professionals. Stipped off our clothes and checked thoroughly, they wanted to make sure that none of us had those parasitic eye creatures on us.
After we were cleared, we were forced to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. I say forced because we were threatened by government officials to do so. If we didn’t sign or if we revealed anything we encountered that day, they said that they will make sure we will lose our jobs and any credibility we have in society.
I signed it, because I knew they wouldn’t let me out if I didn’t. However, I’m not keeping my silence.
NASA says that the recovery of the capsule was successful and that the samples are secure and safe within their nitrogen filled box. But this is a lie. They’re trying to cover up the truth.
What really happened was a disaster. Out there, there are dozens of individuals walking around, filled with parasites from space. If you see someone with bulging eyes walking towards you, you must run away.