Realizing that Cray wasn't going to listen to him, Steber immediately clicked the safety off his rifle and shot the zombie square in the stomach. The thing that had once been Art Jamison cried out and awkwardly fell to the floor. Cray spun around in utter horror and exploded at Steber.

"What did you do that for?" the scientist screamed. "You shot my friend!"
"That thing was not your friend!" Steber yelled back. "Whatever it was, something had already killed it!"
"Look out!" Porter shouted and pointed to a dark recess next to where Jamison had fallen. A second zombie, this one armed with a shotgun, staggered out and was in the process of taking aim at Steber. Porter shot it in the neck and the zombie fell down, a gurgling sound coming from its throat.

"Three more behind us!" Mitchell cried and emptied six rounds from his handgun into one of zombies that was coming up from the rear. All six bullets tore right through the former human's midsection but it still kept coming.
"Christ, what are these things?" Cray screamed. Steber swung his rifle around and fired three bursts of ammo, one into each zombie's head. The undead humans dropped like stones.

Steber gasped for breath and wanted nothing more than to sit down on the floor and cry. This thought was cut short, however, when he realized that the zombie of Art Jamison was still 'alive'. Despite having a hole the size of a football blown through its chest, the living corpse was moving around, using its arms to drag itself towards the fallen shotgun. Steber took a step closer, cocked his pistol and shot the gun point-blank right into the zombie's exposed skull. The thing gave one last shudder and stopped moving. The four men formed a circle around what was left of Jamison and stared at each other. Steber couldn't help but notice that all five fallen zombies were wearing UAC nametags, with pictures of their former selves on each one. They had been part of the research team stationed here.

"Now what?" Mitchell asked.
"Monsters, now zombies... this doesn't make any sense!" Porter said. Finally, Steber felt something inside him snap. He savagely grabbed Cray by the collar of his lab coat and slammed the man against the wall.
"I'm going to ask you once more!" Steber shouted in Cray's face. "What in God's name were the scientists here working on?"
"I told you, I don't know!" Cray wailed.
"You're lying!" Steber yelled and pounded Cray against the wall once more. Finally, the doctor gave in.
"Alright, alright! Let me down and I'll tell you!" Steber let go of the man and shook his head in disgust. When Cray had come back to his senses, the doctor started talking.
"Simply put," Cray said, "they were working on a teleportation motor."
"Teleportation?" Porter repeated. "What's that?"
"It involves transferring an object from one place to another, instantaneously," Mitchell said. He then added, "It's impossible. Einstein's law of relativity forbids it."
"For a long time, that was true," Cray said. "But within the last six months, the group of scientists on this moon had a breakthrough and devised a mathematical formula that allowed them to counter Einstein's law."
"Counter Einstein's law?" Steber shouted. "How can that possibly be a good idea? Don't you people have any ethics?"
"Look," Cray said, "the planet Earth is overpopulated. It is polluted. With the lack of hospitable worlds within our reach, we need a way to fix our planet. Years ago, UAC green-lit a research program that would yield faster-than-light travel. Teleportation is the answer. Barrels of nuclear sludge, garbage, and pollution can be sent to a place where we'll never see them again. Beyond waste, imagine what it could do for commerce – items shipped from one side of the world, nay, the solar system, to the other in the blink of an eye! The possibilities are limitless!"
"Yes, but it seems that your scientists have run into a little problem, doesn't it?" Steber said.
"Specifically, they're all dead!"
"Only one obstacle..." Cray started.
"An obstacle?" Steber interrupted. "Is that what you call this? Watching your best friends being gored by a monster and having to kill reanimated corpses! Those aren't obstacles! This is an invasion!"
"That's nonsense," Cray said. "You have no proof..."
"Look around you!" Steber said. "And explain what's going on in that logical way of yours. The people who were working here have found something that they shouldn't have! They opened a door that should have remained forever closed to us! Don't you understand?"
"You're being overly dramatic," Cray said dryly. "An animal that for one reason or another, no one has encountered yet – what's so strange about that? And as for the zombies..." He paused, trying to come up with a rational explanation for the living dead the marines had just dispatched. "Well, that's not important!" Cray snapped. "What matters is that we get back to the ship so that we can report to our superiors what's going on here."
"That's assuming that the ‘obstacles' in the way of instant commerce let any of us get off this moon alive!" Steber said. Cray ignored him and stormed down the corridor in the direction that they had been going – but not without checking to make sure the ammo on his pistol was full first. Porter and Mitchell looked at Steber, who returned their gaze.
"Come on," Steber said. "We're getting out of here."

Cautiously checking every turn for movement, the team moved on ahead. Finally, they came to lift that would lead them back to the entrance. An advanced version of a monorail, it was a horizontal elevator used for transporting personnel and equipment across a base such as this. Unfortunately, an ‘out of order' sign hung on the lift's door.

"Can you fix it?" Steber asked Mitchell.
"Yeah," Mitchell said. "It probably just needs to be rewired." A few seconds later, the technician had forced the doors open and was examining a fuse box inside. He removed a small blowtorch from his belt and began to solder wires, while quietly whistling to himself. "Almost done," he said a minute later.
"Good. The sooner the better." Cray said. Suddenly, a loud hissing noise filled the hallway. Every member of the team stiffened, their blood seeming to freeze in their veins. The hiss didn't sound like either the Beast or the zombies. This was something new. Unslinging his rifle, Steber eyed every corner of the hallway and the ventilation ducts above them. Again, they heard the hiss, which sounded like the biggest snake in the world was coming for them. Shuddering, Steber and Porter searched their immediate area, looking for the source of the noise. A moment later, Mitchell fixed the elevator and the doors slid shut automatically.

"Hey, open them back up!" Steber called. "We've got to get out of here fast!"
"I'll have them open in a second," Mitchell said, fumbling in the dark for the override switch that would admit his friends into the lift. Suddenly, a heavy thud was heard from behind the elevator doors.
"Something landed on the roof of the car!" Mitchell cried.
"Get that door open!" Steber shouted again, fearing the worst. Mitchell was alone in the lift without any heavy weapons. Before the technician could open the doors, a horrible grinding noise filled the corridor. The sound of metal being torn and pried apart filled the team's ears. A moment later, they heard Mitchell's scream as well.

"Damn it!" Steber shouted. Porter readied his rifle and Cray took a few steps back, not wanting any part in the upcoming fight. Finally, the elevator doors slid apart and for an instant, all the three remaining humans could see was a dark and empty car. However, before any of them came closer, a red spot flared up from the darkness, illuminating an ugly brown body. A creature stepped out of the elevator, a glowing ball in its hand expanding into a blossoming flame. The thing was roughly humanoid in shape but had a distorted bald head and large clawed hands. The flare was about the size of a soccer ball by now and before any of the marines could even react, the thing threw the ball of fire. It splashed against Steber, setting his armor ablaze.

"Put it out!" Steber screamed, as the flames engulfed his torso. Reacting on pure adrenaline, Porter jumped in and just barely managed to unhinge Steber's armor before the flames had a chance to reach the Sergeant's face. The armor fell to the floor in smoking chunks. In the mean time, the creature had come closer and had already begun growing another fireball in its palm.

"Take this, you goddamn Imp!" Porter shouted and fired a burst of energy from his rifle at the monster. The first shot missed when his target unexpectedly ducked. From his position on the floor, Steber fired off a shot, but it also went wide. The Imp jumped, narrowly dodging Steber's blast. Porter fired a second time, now aiming for where the creature would land. Sure enough, his shot connected and the monster fell backwards, an enormous hole blown in its midsection. Steber stood up, the shirt he had been wearing under the armor severely singed, but intact.

"Thanks, man," he said.
"No problem," Porter said back.
"Imp, huh?"
"Yeah. It just popped into my mind," Porter shrugged. Steber was about to laugh, but suddenly grew serious.
"Mitchell?" he called into the darkness of the elevator car. There was no answer.
"No," Steber said and felt his way around the inside of the lift. A few seconds later, he dragged Mitchell's dead body out. In addition to its pyrotechnic capabilities, the Imp's claws weren't just for show. Mitchell had been ripped to shreds. Steber closed his eyes, feeling defeat creep into his soul.
"I'm not going back to the ship just yet," Steber said.
"WHAT!" Cray exclaimed.
"These monsters are coming from somewhere. I'm all for finding the source of this plague and shutting it down."
"You can't be serious! We'll all be killed!" Cray said.
"Maybe, maybe not," Steber said.
"You marines are all crazy!" Cray wailed and turned to Porter. "Don't tell me you're considering going along with this madman!"
"I don't know. Perhaps we should vote," Porter said.
"I'll agree to that," Steber said. "You know my position."
"And you know mine," said Cray.
"Then I guess I'm the tiebreaker," Porter said. "I say that we..."