ILLUSION

Once again I found myself staring out the window of the refueling station. I was trying to break the monotony. Two months ago I'd been transferred to this forlorn place. Since that time I hadn't viewed a single object to break the stillness and silence of the enveloping atmosphere. Nothing moved.

A person could go crazy! Too often, thinking quickly leads one to toying with dangerous notions. Insanity sits patiently waiting in the corner, licking it's lips, then creeps forward softly on velvet paws.

I decided it was time to put on my asbestos spacesuit, get in my ship, and complete the daily survey of the outer buildings. A few more bits of information would allow me to continue the comparisons of astronomical theories I was compiling. It would also afford me a minor change in perspective - get me up and physically active.

My spacecraft was small by some standards but well equipped. I settled comfortably into the captain's chair and pressed the required buttons. The computer initiated it's list of designated procedures and I was slowly turned to face the outer doors - thick, steel doors installed by the academy with every possible safety precaution taken into consideration. As I looked down at the display screen, I thought I heard a muffled sound on the other side of the doors - but they rolled noisily open to display the nothingness so common to each previous day of my assignment.

It must have been a figment of my own imagination as it played at entertainment. I continued to go about the business at hand and soon forgot about it.

Within the space of an hour I had completed half of the data collection and was at the outermost building. It was in the oldest part of the station but had held up rather well; considering it's age and the abuse it had taken since the very first landings. What an exciting time that must have been! I became intrigued with the idea and lost myself to the memory of it all.

I didn't notice the whining sound until it was strong enough to shake me. By then the noise was so loud I was barely able to activate the automatic pilot device before I clamped my hands over my ears. I felt my insides quiver and every atom of my body began to scream!

A brilliant light pierced the glass of the cockpit window and I sank back into the seat stunned, my hands still covering my ears. That's when the ship slipped out of automatic pilot and went careening through space towards the ground.

As I grabbed the controls and tried to pull the ship out of it's tailspin a hideous and horrifying object slapped the window. It had no eyes as far as I was able to view but on one of its gelatin-like protrusions were two saucer-like obstacles leering forward as if on wire springs. On another such extension were long curved claws dripping with red liquid - a recent victim's blood?

In it's middle was a frothing open vacuole that I took to be a mouth. Out of this opening came a hollow and cruel sound - the sound a greedy, brute dog makes when it has cornered a small helpless animal.

Panic washed over me! It seized me and froze me to the heart! I watched - helpless - as the ship continued to spiral downward towards a huge crater!





The cat crept softly out of the corner, gorged itself, then sat down and began to lick it's fur clean.