Arcturus Rising

A large spaceship glides over Peran, a moon circling a planet in the Arcturus System. Staying for a few moments, it drills a hole into the crust, deposits a box and silently leaves. Over 12,000 years later, Mining Colony Six occupies the same general area. The colony consists of six miners, a doctor and a geologist, the Doctor and the Geologist being married. It is 10 days until the end of their shift, and the crew is counting down the days. It’s boring work, but that is about to change. The miner’s break into a pipe of fused rock. PAPA the oldest miner, sends BANJO, the youngest miner to fetch Professor ARTHUR LAMBERT, the geologist so he can investigate. Banjo finds him arguing with Doctor CAROL LAMBERT about shut down protocols against the electrical storms that ravage the moon when the sun comes up. Arthur goes down into the mine, takes samples and finds a box with a lot of carving on it in a language he doesn’t understand. The other miners, BUSTER, ROMEO, and MOUSE are understandable curious. Sometime later, Arthur lays out his findings, discovering that the box was put in deliberately, surrounding soil has variations that it shouldn’t, and the box can be opened. FIST, the person in control of the refinery is leery about opening the box but Arthur assures him that STACY, the computer has done a complete scan and it’s safe. The box opens to reveal a crystal Sphere. Romeo picks it up and is burned when he touches it. Arthur takes it back to the lab to study it further. After Arthur leaves for the night, electric sparks from the lights and the lab lighting strike the sphere and it begins to glow and break apart. When Carol comes in the next morning she finds that the lighting is out, there are shards of glass where the sphere was and all of her lab animal have been killed. Now, it’s a race against time. As Arthur tries to translate the box, deaths occur. First, the cat EINSTEIN is killed, pierced and drained of salt and Acetylcholine. With every kill, the spaces between the puncture wounds grow larger, as does the creature. The miners discover that it’s feasting on Lapinium, the material they are mining. Buster is the first of the miners to die, attacked in a tunnel, then Papa is taken by the creature when the miners try to lure it into a trap. Romeo is deliberately pushed in front of the creature by Fist and is killed. Arthur finally deciphers the writing on the box, but will he have enough time to destroy the creature before it kills them all?