The mind awoke, screaming…

The screaming was unceasing and became thought. It had no concept of time elapsed or of flesh. It knew only pain, searing and unrelenting. The brain of the thing had no flesh to touch or feel. It could neither hold nor comfort. It had neither eyes to see nor a mouth to speak and yet it screamed. The scream became thought and the thought was “kill!” Neurons connected, circuits surged with power and the thing became aware; not in a conscious way, but somehow it could sense the soft flesh that was nearby. It longed for the warmth of flesh, it became jealous of the flesh and the jealousy became rage. Hate upon hate, wrath upon wrath. The creature awoke with but one thought.

KILL!

A huge black fist punched through the plexi-glass front of the coffin-shaped container and it shattered into a thousand spinning shards. Steam poured forth from the metal casket as the frozen interior bit at the warm air outside like a shark. The fist clenched. The forearm, as thick as a tree trunk, flexed and became a mass of lethal silver spikes. The Morgenstern stepped sluggishly out from its sarcophagus like Boris Karloff’s creature rising from his creator’s slab. It was roughly humanoid in shape but grotesquely muscular. The face bore no features other than dark semi-circular receptors where eyes should be. It seemed to be made from flexible black rubber that creaked and groaned as the creature moved. A soft red glow emanated from the chest, illuminating the area in front of the creature like a crimson searchlight. The top of the skull was transparent and pulsing within was the unmistakable shape of a human brain, severed and kept alive in a tank of nutrients. Truly the Morgenstern resembled the dark creation of a cackling mad scientist.

The creature relaxed as its covering warmed up and then it flexed its body. The muscles swelled and the whole surface of its upper torso and arms became covered by hundreds of vicious metal spikes that pushed up through the rubber skin like grotesque body piercings. The thing walked heavily forwards, its feet thudding on the metal floor like gold bars dropped from a height. One of the pirates saw the thing moving through the smoke and aimed a volley of fire straight at the creature’s chest. The bullets sank into the rubber-like flesh and then slowly popped harmlessly back out again, the flesh re-sealing like putty and leaving no trace. The pirate stared at the thing in front of him, too terrified to move, like a rabbit caught in head-lights. The Morgenstern turned slowly to face the petrified pirate and then in a lightening movement, it swung its club-like forearm straight at the man’s chest. The pirate was at the same time both crushed by the blow and skewered by several of the vicious spikes. His shredded and battered corpse dropped to the floor in a pool of blood, twitched for a moment and then became still. Trenchard skidded into the room just in time to see the Morgenstern rise through the steam like a mighty titan and slay the unwitting pirate.

‘Back! Back! FALL BACK!’ he shouted over the rattling noise of the rifle fire.

The United Worlds troopers began to retreat backwards, giving covering fire to their comrades as they went. This left the Morgenstern surrounded by an ever-growing horde of space-suited pirates, filing determinedly through the airlock.

The creature went wild…

It began to swing at anything that moved. The pirates nearest to the beast were literally diced by the furiously whirling spike covered clubs. In a short time, the floor became a mass of shredded corpses, twitching and gibbering, with the Morgenstern standing victorious over the heap of minced flesh and bone looking like Satan himself. Those pirates fortunate enough had retreated, back towards the airlock, out of reach of its terrible arms.