Chapter One: The Break in Silence
Dead Space: Requiem
Chapter One: The Break in Silence
Vinyl smashed the wrench onto the water heater pipe, causing an oppressive but dull clang throughout the lower compression engine room. Taking her hooves off of her ears, she closed her eyes and sighed.
"Two hours down here replacing the pipe's rusty bolts, and the damned last one wont go in." She wiped the grime of the dirty pipe on her pants, the suspenders hanging down without a care, not covering the sleeveless tank top she wore for work.
Her mane was kept up in a messy tail, her tail around the same design. Her black work boots for her two bottom hooves were worn but tight, giving her the proper traction, for her fore hooves were two rough flame retardant gloves. Though she wore them, her legs were burning from the overheating water pipe, the fur standing up from the heat the metal system expressed. Ready to try again, she took out her monkey wrench with her magic, sealing it as tight as she could onto the crooked bolt, and pulled the opposite direction. It creaked out into the center of it's hole, steam easily spewing from the exposure. Quickly, she jammed it it with a grunt. The new bolts were all in and secure, making Vinyl sigh with satisfaction. For the time being her job was done, and lunch was about to be served.
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Sitting at a sole table in the mess hall, Vinyl watched ponies walk by the stand to get their food for lunch, grimacing at the sloppy concoctions of meat and vegetables.Quietly munching her food, she scouted the mess hall to pony watch, observing their daily routine of straight forward work to food schedule. It was all mundane really to be working on a planet cracker/space station. It was a hybrid of sorts for both resource gathering and civilian living space. Most ponies who lived aboard the ship were working for the ship, others were either the family of those who had jobs on Requiem or had no where else to go but a space station to live.
Floor D was all the rooms that the ponies of Requiem lived, Floor E was the common place for civilian presence to extend to E-2, which was a large bio containment, filled with plants and trees from earth, a park almost as if the ponies were still within Equestria. Floor C was a mix of what most ponies were in, the cafeterias, and resource storage. Resources that are harvest from the planet are taken there and analyzed for their potency and amount, most scientists that work on Requiem locked themselves away there. Floor B was entirely dedicated to medical standing, internal, surgical, psychological, anything that spanned medicinal care. Of course, A was navigation. Where the captain stood and barked orders at the poor ponies that suffered to work there. But where all the real working was done, was the bottom floor located at the integral base of the ship were all the engineers worked. All the other ponies that work here don't do half as much for the prosperity of this vessel than us engineers. Vinyl thought spitefully. Engineers aboard Requiem were often left in the dark of praise, sense the fact that the work they form goes unnoticed. Vinyl's thoughts were stopped on a strict halt at the sight of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane that was carefully keeping her head down. Taking her tray of food from the line, she sat all alone by herself at the end of an empty table. It vexed her to think that a pegasus was aboard a space ship, as they oft prefer to stay grounded and fly in open space. As well the fact that she was eating nothing but vegetables, no spec of meat on her tray.
A huge thunk sounded and made Vinyl jump from her observations as her fellow engineer, Red Dawn, sat across from her. His red beard was full and bushy to cover his entire face, his shaggy but short hair barely touching his eyelashes. The top half of his suit was taken off, leaving a sweaty and stained tank top shit to cover his body.
"Hello, Scratch." He greeted, putting a hoof to his jaw and looking wryly at Vinyl.
"Hey Dawn. Eating meat again today?" Vinyl looked down at the large stallions plate where a mountain of nameless meat stared back at her.
Looking at his own food he shrugged. "Yes Vinyl, I am eating meat. This isn't the time when we worried about friendship and the Gryphons. We eat the flesh of other animals, we can stand on two hooves, we fire weapons, and we all dress in clothing. Hell, we even travel the stars of Luna!" Red Dawn shot back, fully aware of Vinyl's disapproval of meat.
"I know Dawn. You don't need to bite my head off. A lots changed, but that doesn't mean everything has to." Vinyl said almost sadly. The customs of pony-kind changed as time went on, throwing their disapproval of eating the meat of other animals out the window, becoming omnivores. They acquired a comfort for standing on two hooves, though they still mainly stayed on all four. And clothing was now worn on all ponies that existed, society growing a disgust for being stark naked a majority of the time.
"Well, I guess all us meat eaters are barbarians.Though we only have flat teeth, we can still easily chew meat." Red offered before tearing off a sliver of his steak and powerfully stomping it with his teeth.
Vinyl shook her head. "Evolution doesn't work like that. You just don't up and begin to eat something not compatible to your system...whatever, everyone will keep doing it any way."
Red Dawn nodded happily, thoroughly enjoying his meal. The unicorn ignored the sloppy stallion and looked at the yellow pegasus again, still eating her leaves and carrots. He pink mane reached down to her grey padded suit, cascading a curtain over her face to hide herself from others. No one obliged to sit down with her, making it seem all the more saddening.
"Alright, I'm full. I'll see you later Red." Vinyl explained to the confused stallion, sliding off the bench and walking out into the hall towards the elevator.
A yellow mare was there, her floor reaching before Vinyl's. Nodding to her, the unicorn pushed her floor number, D, and scooted back into the corner. The annoying advertisements of new beverages and hair care product flashed carelessly away in the bright blue screens on the two sides of the elevator. Reaching the yellow mares floor, two more mares walked in to the elevator, giddily in their own conversation. The door closed and they all descended to the common rooms. While sitting with her fore hooves bracing her, Vinyl tried to ignore the annoying mares.
"Did you hear? They found something in the last dig! Something huge, with spiraling tips made of black rock. It's supposed to be some sort of alien artifact!" The mare closest to Vinyl said with strange enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I heard. Apparently the Unitologists want it." The other responded.
Vinyl's ears pricked at the mention of Unitology. A bunch of whack jobs. Vinyl thought. Everything they preach is masochistic and off the wall. It would be a pain if they came aboard.
Reaching the common rooms, the elevator party disbanded to do their individual things. Making it home, Vinyl had taken a shower and dressed in a normal tank top, no rig or sweat. She lay on the bed and relaxed from the overall stressful day, the way it had started until then. Not only had seemingly every pipe in the engine room break, all the engineers around her today were acting strange. Though from those, it had been a normal day for the white unicorn engineer, drifting off into sleep under the dim lights from the half open blinders and the slow and sickly ceiling fan that spun the wind on her.
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The area was dark and chocking, nothing could be seen or heard, and Vinyl slowly trudged onward through the misty blackness that surrounded her. She could tell she was asleep, but was it a dream or a nightmare? Odd noises surrounded her and sent chills down her spine. A piercing screech of a mare, a gurgling curdle of liquid in some ponies mouth, and the rustling of hooves on metal. Vinyl froze when her hoof touched on something wet and thick, looking down in the dimming light that surrounded her to find crimson blood rolling around her in a sick speed. Jumping back, the blood had frightened her.
I've never had a dream like this. Her mouth was dry and felt small from the sight of a spreading pool of blood, meaning that someone had met an untimely fate. The muscles in her face tensed from the overwhelming stench of blood that caused her to cover her snout with a hoof to block the foul smell. She ventured carefully forward to find the source, growing more frightened by the second. Daringly, she called out.
"Hello? If someone is there, are you okay?" Vinyl asked at open space. She steered clear of the blood, walking slowly towards the right of it to escape it, stopping in her tracks when she spotted something in front of her. A pale form of a pony stood silently about seven feet from her, looking at the ground.
Looking closely, Vinyl felt all the energy drain from her body and her mouth spreading wide in terror at the sight of the pony creature. It's flesh was altered and bloody, gaping wounds covered it's body and openly spilled the crimson liquid that she had stepped in earlier. It stood on two hooves, towering over the grounded unicorn. Two legs seemed to sprout from it's shoulders that ended in long, sharp bones that resembled scythes. Most frightening of all is when it look up at Vinyl, showing it's face for her to see. It's jaw was missing, tentacles pouring out sloppily from the throat and a row of sharp, devastating teeth lining it's top half of the creatures gums. The monster's eyes where white and glassy, possibly causing it to be blind. The mane was a mess of stringy black ribbons, topping off the form of the pony to be overly revolting. In a flash, it lunged at Vinyl in a flurry, bringing it's slicing bones down on the screaming unicorn.
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Vinyl shot upward from her bed, letting out a yelp of terror from the nightmare. Looking around, she noticed she was awake and in her bed, the lights off and the sun no longer shining through her blinds. On the right was her alarm clock, showing that it was eleven at night. She had slept almost twelve hours, making her chuckle. Not only out of the absurdity but the relief of being alive. A startling ring called out from her com unit, causing her to jump in surprise. Settling down, she picking it up from the bed stand and clicked the call button. A flash of the holographic screen showed her boss' face.
"Vinyl, I need you to repair a stasis module malfunction in med bay. The room is B-114."
Vinyl sighed, feeling the tiredness from her long sleep. Nodding, she clicked the call button again to end the call, slipping out of bed and putting on a light flame retardant suit.
"Electrical fires hurt like a bitch." Vinyl chuckled on her way to the elevator, pushing the B floor's button. It was a silent and uneventful ride from the elevator to the walk into the med bay. All the halls were silent, absolutely no pony walking about. The silence was deafening and oppressive to the white unicorn as she made her way to B-114, finding her way around the stasis bed and to the mechanism. Pulling the panel off of the face of the podium, she glanced boringly into the mess of mess of metal and wires. She brought up the holographic status viewer to find out what was specifically wrong.
"Huh...the core module's been knocked loose. It's screwed in though, how is it out?" She asked herself.
Closing the screen, she dug out the main core from atop the plate and brought it out into the open. It was half charged, being recently used. If it's malfunctioning, how come it's just been used? On two legs, she turned around to look at the office space in the room, the door being slightly ajar. She to the door and pushed it open, looking into the room. A horror scene of blood and guts were slicked all around the floor of the room, Vinyl slamming the door wide open in shock. It was a doctor, his throat slit wide open with a scalpel that lay within his pool of blood, an audio log, still running, sitting atop his torso. The sights of her nightmare came back to her in a flash, making her head hurt from the adrenaline that furiously pumped through her veins. Carefully, she stepped over the blood and levitated the audio log up to her face and played it.
"Patient Irons was incapacitated due to self induced injuries. Sources say that he was hysterically screaming about the 'Coming of the freed souls to free them as well.', which then he began to take one of the laser saws and take it to his left hind leg. His co-workers stopped him before he could completely sever the limb. He is now sedated and in stasis as we analyze his brain waves and toxicology. We believe that he was drugged either by himself or...what are you doing? How did you get out of stasis? No, Irons, put the scalpel down! NO!" A massive clutter of metal clanged about, Vinyl looked around the floor to find a desk lamp and a tray of drugs toppled over and scattered about. A gurgle of what Vinyl assumed to be blood came from the doctors mouth. A long lull of heavy breathing came, then a smashing of metal. The audio log had been running for two hours before Vinyl had entered the room.
Turning it off, she put it away in her rig pack for safe keeping. She glanced at the broken ventilation grate before exiting the room. Back on all fours, she left the room in a panic. Out in the halls, nothing was much better. Something had happened that she did not hear while in the room. The doctors were now out and running frantically around. They all shared the same look of fear. Beds with red sheets covering them where castrated throughout the hall, more being pushed into the space by the second. Confused, Vinyl walked briskly down the hall among the commotion, evading the hurrying doctors as the made their ways to their destinations. Finding a sole stallion flipping over a clip board, she came to him to ask what was going on. But before she could even speak, he looked up and grew a stern face.
"What're you doing here? This floor is now under strict lock down. You shouldn't be here." The doctor scolded, walking towards the baffled unicorn.
"What? I'm an engineer fixing a stasis bed in 114, but there's a uh...dead body in there." Vinyl said with hesitation.
The doctors face stretched in dread after her news. "Great." The doctor solemnly said, levitating a needle full of blue liquid out of his needle pack. Vinyl shrunk back in reverence, but it was no use as the doctor shoved the sharp metal into her neck and pushed the liquid in.
"Hey! What're you..." Her sentence trailed off when she collapsed to the ground, vision losing color and the noises around her growing distant. Through the white filter, she could hear the doctor barking orders.
"Nurse! Take this unicorn and strap her into a bed! We need to keep her asleep so we can wipe her memory. Hurry!"
Vinyl let go of her conscious instead of struggling to stay awake above the influence of the sedative, vision full going black and her mind cluttering with spiderwebs, into sleep and hopefully not back into her nightmares.
Author's Note
Wolf Oblivion here, new story. Debated awhile to do a crossover of something so drastic, and went ahead with it. For chronological sake, this is in between Dead Space and Dead Space 2. I would be grateful if you liked the story so that others could see it and give it a read, I have hopes for this story to reach the end. Hope you enjoyed it.
Dead Space: Requiem
Chapter Two Nightmares
The first thing that came to Vinyls mind was the absolute pain that throttled in her head. Without even opening her eyes or even being fully conscious, she felt the pain all the way in deep sleep, rousing her to break the surface of psychosis. Her eyes shot open, bloodshot and dilated, whisking around her surroundings in lighting fast speeds. She was in an infirmary room, laying down on a normal cot. The room was dimly lit by the sun just outside of the window, giving it an eerie calmness that made Vinyl wary. Her mouth felt of lead and was twisted up in confusing knots after not drinking any substance for...she didn't know how long. All her bones and muscles felt weak, energy completely absent. Though she struggled into a sitting position, gaining a better hold of her awareness. She was still suited in her light flame retardant suit, which meant it wasn't that long of a stay.
How long was I out? Vinyl wondered. The last tangible memory was the doctor sedating her after had finding a dead body in the stasis room.
Grunting, the unicorn had made it to her hooves, pathetically collapsing to the floor. After a moment of regaining footing, she slowly shuffled to the counter and leaned on it for support. She felt the energy begin to swell in her again, which then she ventured to the door. A slight pull of her magic and the door swung open.
The halls were quite and completely peaceful, though no pony was present in the halls. It became eerie to Vinyl when she noticed the lack of life. Before she was sedated, the halls were brimming with chaos. Now, nothing but turned over beds and thrown sheets littered the place. Where was every pony? Had they just gotten up and left? Vinyl pondered her questions while moving slowly down the hall. Sickness covered her entire body like a thick film, giving her a feverish mind and slowly deteriorating speed. She shambled down hall way after hall way, giving her choices serious consideration.
Where do I go? If I go home, who knows what'll be there or if I'll find out what I need to know. Then...I'll go to the chief. He'll know what's going on. Vinyl nodded, but froze in a stiff jumble when there came rattling above her, the ventilation shaft's metal shifting around. Her blood pumped viciously in her veins, enhancing the throbbing pain that rocked her cranium.
Vsst A noise hissed from her communicator. On reaction, Vinyl slammed the answer call button, relief washing down on her. The face of a rookie engineer named Gritty Gear who Vinyl had known just graduated and boarded the Requiem for his first job during their last docking.
"Vinyl! You're okay!" Gear said, smiling happily with tired and sore eyes. His face was tensed but looked utterly dead,
"Gritty?" Vinyl called out, the light from the communicator being the only bright thing she saw for the past ten minutes. "What the hell happened?"
"What happened?" Gritty Gears repeated dumbly. He sighed and gathered his thought, face twisting to remember what had happened and the perils he had faced. "I-I-I don't know...." Gritty sobbed out, tears beginning to roll down his dusty cheeks.
Vinyl stopped squirming in the light and froze, hoof sinking to the ground. She turned her face and stared at Gritty with a bewildered face. "What do you mean you don't know, Gritty? I've been out cold for I don't know how long while you've been awake. I've been walking through spooky hall ways with absolutely no life present. Give me an answer!"
Gritty slumped his head into his hooves, shivering while he bawled. Tears whetted his fur and suit. Vinyl grew impatient quickly, the fever intensified.
"Okay, Gritty, keep it together okay?" Vinyl prompted. Gritty looked up from his hooves and nodded shortly.
"Alright. So...wheres the chief?"
Gritty sniffed and wiped his snot on his sleeve. He looked up into the ceiling as if it had his answer waiting for him there.
"The last thing I remember about the chief was...that he threw me and two others in here and sodded the door shut."
"Sodded the door shut? Why?"
Gritty looked behind him into the darkness before answering. "I think he was trying to protect us, Vinyl. We need help though." Gritty scratched the back of his head and looked to side of him nervously. "One of us is wounded and we don't have much food left. And i keep hearing noises in the vents."
Vinyl scratched her own head, pondering what to do next. "Alright, I'll get you out. Can you send me your location? We'll talk without video." Vinyl said, looking into the relieved stallions face.
Vinyl received the coordinates and opened her locator. The blue line streamlined on the ground and ran to the elevator down the hall.
"Thanks." Vinyl said, standing up and walking to the elevator. "How did you communicate me in the first place?"
"This is the chief's office Vinyl. I can see the vitals of all the engineers aboard the ship, only the ones that are wearing the suits at the moment though. The suits tap into their nervous and circulatory systems in case of emergency."
Vinyl stopped for a moment. "How many engineers are registered on the terminal?"
Gritty stalled. "Uh...twenty -four. Ten are registered for wearing their suits."
"How many are alive, Gritty?"
Gritty did not answer, growing silent. "There's only three left. All the rest are flat-lined."
Gritty's voice sent chills down, it became small and gruff. Whatever happened to the seven engineers, it had to be devastating. Vinyl shook her head and continued on, pushing the deaths of her co-workers to the back of her mind. Vinyl opened the elevator, the bright blinding light exploding on to the white unicorn. It surprised her how bright it was compared to the dark hallways and solid, dull colors. Once inside, she pressed the A floor's button, the elevator shooting up in response.
"Gritty, where were you before all this started?" Vinyl asked to pass the time.
"Well, I was walking around in the city and out of nowhere, these two ponies start fighting. One of them just ripped a piece of his shoulder off. Soon the security came and arrested the two. I was on my way to the chief's office to talk to him about a job I was doing in the basement, but when I got to his door, the ship started to freak out. Two ponies that were waiting just outside his door to talk to him I forgot to mention."
"The light's went off and there was screaming. That's when the vent's started to rattle like crazy." Gritty paused, trying to remember. "Then the chief burst through his door, threw me and the two ponies into the office and sodded the door." He finished.
Vinyl crossed her legs, curious of the events that had transpired while she was asleep. "Who are these two ponies, Gritty?"
Gritty didn't speak for a moment, a shuffling sound came. "One's a mare, the others a colt. The mare is the one that is wounded. They're both asleep right now."
The elevator doors snapped wide open, an oppressively dark, long hallway full of doors greeted Vinyl. Vinyl instinctivley pulled a flashlight from a mini-utility belt on her hip. Huh. Forgot I had this thing.
"Why are you awake, Gritty?" Vinyl asked, walking down the hallway with no light to find her way. It didn't matter though, she knew exactly where the chief's was.
"I'm keeping watch. I've only slept like, half a day these five days."
Vinyl rose and eyebrow and slowed down. "Watching for what?"
Gritty sighed heavily. "For whatever's causing all this to happen."
The door the three were locked in stared Vinyl in the face, walking towards it Vinyl pulled of a lazer cutter from her small utility belt, prepping herself to open it. The cutter worked quickly, shaving the fused metal between the door and the wall. Soon, the door was cut and it slid open. Standing right in front of the door was Gritty, whose face looked even worse than the video.
"Alright Gritty, get ready to..." Vinyl trailed off and grew confused. Gritty was solid and frozen, he didn't move a muscle. "You alright?" Vinyl asked.
A small bump appeared on his forehead, growing larger by the second. In a matter of seconds, the bump had burst, and out came a sharp point, shoving farther through his cranium. Vinyl gasped, blood covering her face and clothes, jumping back in surprise. The spike stopped moving, then quickly became dislodged and let the small framed stallion fall to the ground. What had killed him stood defiantly before Vinyl, the monster that had appeared in her dream six night's prior. It glared and Vinyl and screamed, piercing her ears and making her cringe.
Vinyl watched it come towards her through squinted eyes. Reacting to suppress it, she lifted her lazer and shot the beam right into the monsters gaping, toothy mouth. It drilled a hole right through the muscle and the tissue, stunning the monster for a moment. Taking the chance, Vinyl rushed forward and punched the monster in the face, causing it to lose its balance. Finally, she shoved the monster to the ground and began to furiously stomp it's head in. Without stopping, she decapitated the monster and still smashed the head into pieces. Vinyl slowly stopped stomping, stepping back for a moment to gather her breath. Gasping for air, she ignored the abomination and came to the door. Gritty lay dead at her hooves, making Vinyl's throat twist and become dry. Another person had become lost to the mess.
She looked in for the colt that he had mentioned, but did not find it at a small glance. Deciding to search within, the unicorn lifted the dead stallion with her fore-legs from the doorway and set it down on the desk in the center of the office. Looking around the dark room, she admired the black and red tapestries that decorated the room with CEC awards. The chief's engineering suit was hung up on the wall to the left of the room, where two cots lay unattended. After searching the entire room and not finding the colt, Vinyl gave up. He had escaped somehow and was alone in the massacre.
"What do I do now?" Vinyl asked herself, slumping down in the seat behind the desk. She didn't have many choices, considering the violence that was most likely anywhere, waiting for her and waiting for a chance to strike.
Looking at the engineer suit, Vinyl got up from the seat to inspect it. It was a older model than the standard one that all the current CECs wore, making Vinyl wonder what it's story. The suit was in good condition, being polished everyday by the engineers executive.
Soon, the metal suit was fitted tightly around the white unicorn, the metal boots clanking easily when she walked. Prongs came out of the neck of the suit and caught her neon blue hair, pulling it back and down into the base. Then the sectioned bars and base came around her entire head, wrapping around her temples and securing fit back into the neck. The blue light of her suit's HUD came into view, showing her RIG's status. She felt equipped and ready to take on whatever lay in her path.
A blaring sound exploded from the desk, the terminal flashing blue and yellow at an alarming rate. Vinyl hurried over and inspected the screen. The screen showed the entire ship and the individual sections status of damage. Vinyl inspected the surface city, bringing up the surviving video feeds. What showed was devastated buildings, wildfire laying waste to the interiors, and black figures dashing around within them. Vinyl jumped at the sudden beeping of the machine, bringing up a notification on the botanical gardens. It had suffered heavy damage to it's filtration system, the video feed showing a transparent cloud rolling around. The plant's that would be secure were rustling around in the harmful smog, but what caused Vinyl's most worry was the flash of a pegasus darting past. Three of the same monsters that she had encountered quickly chased after the pony. Vinyl debated whether or not to save the distraught pony, if she should just go back to her home. With a sigh, she leaped off the desk and charged down the hall to the elevator.
Just hold on, I'm coming.
Author's Note
Sorry for the delay, but I've published again. If anyone would like to edit for me so I can amp production faster, that'd be awesome. I'm taxed on writing, so just message me if you want to see the new chapters early and fix my dead brained problems. You would be credited in each chapter and in the description so, yeah. Your choice.
If the chapter seems loose and rush, that's 'cause it is. I'm antsy when it comes to my new chapters to publish, so if I miss an entire week without publishing, I spend an entire night to finish it.
Thanks for reading!