Unbearable

"I can't stay awake any longer. I just can't. I don't care if they kill us."

"We have to do this. It is just another ten hours till sunrise. We made it four days; we can make it another ten hours. It is about time you spoke to me. I have been going nuts not talking for four days."

"What do you expect? I hate you. Fifty-eight hour dark periods, really? Who the hell comes to a planet where the sun goes down for over four days? What the hell were you thinking, Bill?"

"Jessie, I told you already how many times? I am so sorry. I thought we would be in and out. The samples were only going to take 3 hours. We should have been out of here in plenty of time. Just stay with me and watch your door, OK?"

"If I think I am going to fall asleep I am going to shoot you first. No, screw that; I am just going to position myself so if I fall asleep I open the door latch. You deserve to get eaten with me."

"Don't even talk like that. Do you know what those things would do to us. It would be better to shoot each other."

"Yes, I know quite well. I read the same briefing you read. I am not having their young incubated in my abdomen while I slowly die."

"Then don't even talk about opening that door. It isn't an option."

"This is ridiculous. Why did those idiot terraformers pick them to be on this planet anyway? They don't serve any purpose to world building!"

"They thought it would be cute. I think they thought it would be a tourist attraction thing. Their biggest mistake was messing with the DNA and bio-engineering their food. You can't do that much ecosystem change and not have unpredictable results."

"Are you sure there is no way to get that cargo hold empty? Maybe if we take off quick enough and just dump it?"

"I told you a million times it won't work. They are smart buggers. They will get in the door before we get off the ground."

"Tell me again why our craft's doors don't lock! I mean really!"

"There has never been any sign of intelligent life on any planet. Nothing is going to try to enter from a vacuum. So it is more economically viable to make doors that seal but not necessarily lock."

"But these little bastards can open the doors? So there is intelligent life other than us out there? Right?"

"Well there wasn't when they designed the ships, OK?"

"So either we hold these handles down or they get in, eat the cargo, and use us as incubators?"

"Essentially yes. If we can just last a little while longer we will be OK though. They hibernate during the day."

"Why were we taking their food again?"

"We were getting samples to reverse engineer or create a poison strain which would cause sterility. That way we can retake the planet and use it for colonization."

"So you took the contract to come to a planet full of killer genetically-engineered things to steal their food and thought it would all work out? It never occurred to you that it might behoove us to upgrade the ship to have doors that lock, just in case?"

"Look, I didn't think it was going to go down like this. I really am sorry."

"What are these things called anyway?" yawn

"They are from old Earth. They were called koalas. The leaves are eucalyptus leaves. They used to be pretty harmless. No one ever figured they could become what they turned into. If you ever saw vids of the original bears they are precious. Most of the time they are silent but sometimes they make snoring sounds. Yeah, just like that. Oh crap!"

THE END

Bio: Ed Sullivan is an enthusiastic newcomer to getting published. He has been writing fiction for twenty five years. He has taken the leap just recently and begun submitting. He raises his daughter, works, writes, and spends time in his own strange thoughts most days.

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