This was the fifth time this month that Graves stopped by Outpost 616 on his patrol for The Outfit. The contract called for weekly check-ins to discourage scavengers from taking decommissioned government technology.
Each trip was uneventful in that he came to an inert outpost with all the power systems shutdown and no active sensor returns.
Today, he knew something was not right when he kept getting a faint return on his active scanners showing activity in the far side docking port. No one was supposed to be here but he knew that sometimes there were situations that called for emergency measures such as stopping at a decommissioned station in the middle of nowhere.
He activated the typical hailing communications in case this was what he hoped it would be: someone who needed and wanted help. The Outfit always prepared their patrollers for unusual situations - that’s why the kept getting these contracts.
The moment he sent the signal,the faint return reading disappeared entirely. Not good. Protocol called on him to investigate within reason otherwise he could face disciplinary action for abdication of duties and the black box recorder already had everything on record.
Graves docked and made his way to his usual spot. It was all as he normally found it except for a small trickle of a black substance that ran in a straight line to his quarters in the outpost. He had places to stay on every patrol stop but this one was special - because it was the only one with a self-sustaining biodome that would-be colonist could use to gather resources that may have gone scarce on the trip out.
Graves liked to camp-out in this biodome to have a change of pace to the all around artificial life of space flight. It was nice to be able to breath air that had been made by real plants and living things.
As he followed the trail of black down the halls, it led straight to his haven. He went into the biodome carefully and found that cabin he had built over the past year on each trip. Outside in his vast. yard he saw a fire burning. Not just something but his cabin. Burning in the biodome of all things. As he quickened his pace to see what had started the fire, he saw that something was standing next to it staring at him. Or he thought it was staring at him….but all he could make out was a figure with a pair of goggles on and bleeding wound with black liquid oozing out of it.
At that moment, Graves turned around only to see that he was surrounded by more figures just like the one standing next to the fire that consumed his sanctuary.
When he started to yell, he felt something hit him in the chest and he looked down to see black liquid oozing out.
