6Saturday, July 9th 2146, 10:46 AM
Location: Earth, UAC Headquarters, Sydney Australia
It was a sunny day, only a few light, fluffy clouds were threatening the Sun's comforting warmth. A small group of news reporters stood in the shadow of the tall shining office tower. They casually muttered their usual gossip, unaware of the situation emerging off-world. A podium flanked by well dressed security agents stood in the far rear of a small courtyard outside the building's main doors, it bore the UAC logo and held a single microphone. As the media waited, employees came and went through the front glass doors like any usual business day.
A shining and expensive hover car pulled up from the road behind the assembled reporters and UAC President Charles Rosenburg emerges from the vehicle. He hastily made his way to the podium, his personal body guards following behind. He stood behind the podium for a few moments, whispering to other corporate officers, staring over at the media with concerned expressions before taking the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you all for coming" begins the President. He was tall and slim with sharp facial features, he had well-groomed black hair with a patch of greying, silver trimming the sides of his head. He was wearing a navy blue pinstriped business suit with a white shirt and black tie.
"Yesterday, at 4:12 p.m..." He begins with a note of distress in his voice, "...our listening stations began picking up the first in a number of emergency subspace transmissions from our off-world stations around Mars, Phobos and Deimos. The transmissions describe an accident relating to the classified teleportation systems that were established on those moons. Among other things, they report that the teleporters are operating out of their control and that dangerous alien creatures are entering the bases through active portals"
The chirping of birds accompanied the President's words, slightly taking away from the seriousness of the situation. The media personnel were silent, wearing faces of disbelief as they held out their recording devices.
"Many of the colonists on Deimos managed to evacuate. However, the moon was being tracked by our stationary sensors and recorded images of Deimos disappearing from its orbit around Mars. The location of Deimos is now unknown and we have lost communication with its main station computer" he continued.
"We have received reports from Phobos indicating that they are quickly losing ground to the growing alien occupation. Space marines stationed on Mars have responded to a distress call from Phobos and a rescue operation has been launched from there. We since have lost contact with the base and marines after the squad arrived" the President explains.
"Seven hundred and eighteen colonists from Deimos have survived after evacuating in escape pods. Fifty seven colonists are unaccounted for and are presumed to have been on the station when the moon vanished from our sensors. Of the Phobos colony, however, only one hundred and eighty two colonists managed to reach escape pods. Five hundred and twelve are unaccounted for, many are presumed to have been killed during the initial waves of the alien infestation, this is according to information from the transmissions we have received" he gravely explains.
"The situation on Phobos has yet to be contained. If the spread of this infestation is not stopped, we fear the aliens will become a permanent resident of our solar system" he says, finishing his statement.
"I regret having to report to you all such troubling news. I will now take some questions"
"Do you have any indication as to where Deimos is now?" asks a reporter, after a moment of silent surprise.
"No, the disappearance of Deimos is completely unexpected. We don't know" the President replies.
"What was happening when the teleporters malfunctioned?" another asks.
"I cannot comment any further on classified projects, next question" he states.
"Is there any chance that the alien infestation could reach Earth?" asks a female reporter, after another quiet moment.
"We don't know"
Beyond the boundaries of our reality lies the alternate dimension from where originates the alien infestation. Large jawed demons occupied higher, rocky territory. Spiked, brown aliens mobbed lower ground. Skulls littered the ground and were impaled on spikes that were stabbed into the dry dirt. A fiery sky burned with spectacular ribbons of moving energy and was dotted with floating, rocky islands, swirling portals and bloated, floating aliens. Above the surface of Hell was Deimos, it hovered in the surreal sky, largest of the floating islands. Within the doomed station, the growth soon meshes with the remaining systems of the station. In the teleport area, before the gate, the growth formed into a nest with strands of fleshy appendages converging on it.
A giant slithering slug, resembling a brain with a face and grasping appendages crawled from the portal, squirming as it moved. It examined its surroundings, then made its way to its cozy nest. From there, the strands of flesh served to allow the Spider-mind to spread the reach of its influence to all corners of the moon, it also gave the creature the ability to access all the station systems and databases. The seemingly endless flood of information made the Spider-mind more and more powerful. Deimos began to reform under the Spider-mind's will. The demonic growth began to take over more and more of the base and found its way to sensitive technological installations. Several grotesque gore nests formed from the growth, soon these nests would form new breeds of demon.