HELIUM-3

Chapter 05

POV: Danny

The main laboratory of the lunar module was colder than usual. Or maybe it was just the tremor that hadn't stopped running through my bones since I woke up.

Lena had insisted that I stay in quarantine for another 24 hours, but the clock on my wrist kept vibrating - 4:23, 4:23, 4:23 - like an anxious heartbeat against my skin.

Raj was typing frantically on his terminal when I entered, his fingers creating an irregular rhythm that mixed with the distorted music only I (and now Jun) seemed to hear.

"Commander!" He stood up so quickly he knocked over his chair. "You should be—"

"Where are the samples?" I cut him off, ignoring the throbbing pain behind my eyes.

Raj exchanged a glance with Alyssa, who was watching from her position near the air filters. Her arms were crossed, and her face, usually so expressive, was void of any emotion.

"In containment chamber B," Raj replied, lowering his voice. "But you need to see this first."

He spun his datapad in my direction. The images showed our Helium-3 samples, captured at six-hour intervals.

In the first frame, perfect blue crystals. In the second, the same crystals, but now with fine filaments extending like roots. In the third frame…

"They're multiplying," I whispered.

Raj nodded, his face pale under the bluish lights.

"No power source, no additional raw material. Just... growing."

Alyssa finally moved, her footsteps echoing on the metal floor.

"And that's not all." She threw another datapad onto the table. "I found this on Jun's personal terminal. Encrypted files, but not very well."

The images that appeared made me swallow hard.

Videos of Jun injecting small amounts of liquid Helium-3 into his own arm. Daily records of body temperature, blood pressure, brain activity. And at the end, a single phrase repeated hundreds of times:

"The music is louder today."

"What the hell is this, Danny?" Alyssa slammed her fist on the table, making the equipment shake. "Why is our chief scientist injecting himself with the material we came to collect? What didn’t Kovac tell us?"

Lena entered the room at that moment, carrying a tray of medical instruments. Her eyes observed the scene for a few seconds: me pale as chalk, Raj huddled in his seat, Alyssa shaking with rage.

"Looks like I missed the party," she murmured, carefully placing the tray on the table.

"Great timing," Alyssa growled. "Can you explain why your friend Jun is doping himself with Helium-3? Or is that another thing Kovac 'forgot' to mention?"

Lena didn't react to the provocation. Instead, she looked at me, as if waiting for some guidance.

"We need to check the communications," I said, changing the subject. "If Helium-3 is behaving unpredictably, Earth needs to know."

Raj coughed.

"About that..." He typed some commands, and a series of red alerts appeared on the main screen. "Communications have been down for twelve hours. At first, I thought it was just delays, but now..."

"We're completely isolated," Alyssa finished, her eyes gleaming as they turned toward me. "Convenient, right? Just when we find out this mission is a sham."

"I suggest you be careful with what you say," Lena cut in, finally showing some emotion. "The Great Hero is a man of respect. He never—"

"Kovac never what, Lena?" Alyssa stepped forward, her fists clenched. "Never lied? Never hid the truth? Why do you think he chose you for this mission? For your physical attributes or because he knew you'd do anything he asked?"

The low blow hit Lena like a slap. I saw her eyes narrow, her muscles tense.

"What did you say?"

"That's right. Everyone knows you've always been the favorite. Not that you have any merit in that. Not when you have a nice pair of legs and big tits like yours—"

"What are you insinuating, you little bitch? You press a few buttons and think you're superior because of that?!" Lena was hysterical. "What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do in life besides sitting your ass in a chair and messing with a computer?"

"Well, you sat your ass on the cocks of all the superiors to climb the hierarchy, didn't you?"

"ENOUGH," I shouted, furious. The music kept looping in my head. "Both of you will be severely punished if this exchange of insults continues. Behave. We're on a mission."

Alyssa seemed even more offended:

"This suicide mission? You're still worried about collecting that damn Helium?"

"I don't—"

The emergency alarm began to blare.

Raj jumped in his seat.

"It’s from the containment chamber!"

We ran down the narrow corridor, the alarm howling in our ears. When the chamber door slid open, what we saw made me stop at the threshold.

The Helium-3 samples were no longer in their containers.

They covered the walls.

Bright blue crystals spread like ice on every surface, pulsing with a soft light that beat in unison with the music in my head.

In the center of the room, with his back to us, Jun was standing.

He turned slowly.

His eyes now shone like tiny suns, and when he opened his mouth to speak, his voice came distorted, as if bells were stuck in his vocal cords.

"We can't escape. The music is getting louder."

Alyssa recoiled.

"What the hell is this?"

Jun smiled, and in his teeth, I saw small blue crystals growing between his molars.

"The beginning," he replied, as the lunar module's communication systems shut down one by one behind us. "The true beginning."