ENTITY
Crocket checked the guage on her tether as she drifted over the outer
hull of the ship. Oxygen levels were optimal. She'd finished securing
the panels that had come loose during launch from Hydra Delta 2.
They'd gone in search of new life, and failed to find anything.
At least, not life anyone could identify.
The others just hadn't looked in the right places.
She floated into the porthole, and the airlock sealed, and the air
blew in. Crockett removed her spacesuit and gave her commander a high
five. He didn't suspect a thing.
The entity was waiting in a locked compartment in Crockett's cabin.
When she opened it, a transparent tentacle draped out, filled with
dense circuitry. Not life... at least, not life anyone could identify.
"Do they know?" it thought at her.
"No," Crockett said. "They think the panels came loose
on their own. You need to be more careful."
"It doesn't matter," the entity said. "As long as we
make it to your homeworld. Then the plan shall come to fruition."
"The human race will know your enlightenment."
"And who shall be foolish enough to resist?"
"They will submit," Crockett said. "Whatever it
takes."
Crockett closed the door to the compartment, heart pounding for the
day with the whole Earth would bend the knee to the entity, and
glorify her as its first disciple.
