Interrupted Transmission

The communications satellite V-116 had been operating shabbily for the past week but that day it didn't show up on the grid at all. The latest telemetry suggested some debris from the Genesis Station was headed towards the instrument when it was last online.

"Dammit! It's them again!", Pauline the network manager at Earthlink had screamed that morning at the debrief.

Host to the highest ranks of the Orion Order, the Genesis would so often knock something out of the sky intentionally or otherwise. They had declared themselves independent from the Earth and Lune both, making it quite tedious to summon them from orbit and settle some bills. It wasn't exactly practical to fire them out of the sky as one-third of the lunar mining folk practiced the Order's teachings. The bureaucrats were always itching to get some paperwork started on them but would get stuck in their own red tape.

The Interplanetary Repair Agency was put into action immediately. Three evenings later on Lune it was arranged for Ki-Ma to be shuttled up to orbit for recon and repair if possible. He could spot the trouble from quite a distance. A black globular mass had lodged itself quite firmly at the center of the dish. Maneuvering the pod close to the dish, he extended the mech-arms and tried to grab on to the object.

Soft.

It collapsed and deformed on contact with the arm. Funny, thought Ki. The mass then deformed on its own. Unsuspicious at first, slightly suspicious next but well established soon that 'it' had a mind of its own!

The globules synced up into tentacles and grabbed on to the arm pulling itself towards the pod. Bewildered, Ki fumbled to disengage the arms and deorbit immediately. The thrusters kicked in, 'it' was now grabbing on to all little perforations on the pod's outer surface. Appearing and disappearing across the potholes created an unsettling effect inside. Then it stopped at the hatch, a chill ran down Ki's spine as his breathing became heavier. The sentient mass was squeezing in somehow. Ki secured his suit drenched in nervous sweat. He blew open the hatch hoping the escaping gush of air would carry the being with it. A part of 'it' detached and got carried away with the hatch but the rest of it was now staring at Ki with its menacing tentacles. 

With a jerk it rushed onto Ki snapping and crushing him, the motion was swift and firm. It clung on to the broken body and appeared to 'consume' all mass in its grasp, growing a bit larger with each menacing breath-like motion. The pod and the being continued their descent towards the Lunar colony.