12:00
The lunar module had successfully landed near Biological Research Area-11, located on a large, dark plain in a (relatively) remote part of the Moon. The team aboard the spacecraft hurried to put on their airtight suits, and enter the now silent and dark Foundation facility that had requested immediate assistance due to a containment breach. The frightened broadcaster failed to specify which item had escaped this time, but it was definitely something that managed to halt all operations inside the facility in a matter of minutes.
12:05
Once inside, the captain gave orders through hand gestures to some members of the task force as to which direction they needed to take, while he and the rest were focusing on making sure they had their scopes ready, as well as their fingers on the triggers, for when they had to face the living anomaly.1
The facility was dead.
All personnel were dead. Most of the computers were not working and displayed the usual error message in giant letters across their screens. The electrical wiring was largely destroyed, causing lights, electric doors, cameras, audio systems and so on to malfunction. Only the emergency systems were running at 100%.
From time to time a strange monstrous roar could be heard in the distance, leaving an eerie echo in the vast corridors of the facility. It was fairly easy to tell that these roars were coming from the runaway item. The task force changed their direction in order to get closer to the item and, thus, neutralize it.
14:00
The team had reached a point where they found themselves walking directly into a proportionally gigantic tunnel that possibly stretched hundreds of feet below them into the unknown depths of the Moon. What was going to happen next to the military unit is something that absolutely no one would wish for.
The mysterious creature slowly and silently extended its colossal limbs towards the team's most careless member. It wasn't until it managed to capture him that the team clearly noticed the peculiar sound the creature was making, similar to that of rattlesnakes. Its quick attack did not allow the team to identify any features. They only managed to recognize basic traits, such as its strong and distinctive limbs, which were moving towards them at speeds that made it impossible to counterattack.
Poor souls, they were all doomed.
15:00
It had already been an hour since the team had made contact with the creature. Even the vast amount of training the task force members had received was no match for the anomaly's abilities. It had already slaughtered more than half of the team, and the remaining members were forced to split up and figure out ways to survive.2.
The captain knew that it was not going to be easy to kill the creature. If he wanted to do so, he knew he would need something far more powerful than the weapons they carried for the mission.
Initially, he considered a couple of things.
Lethal gas? Sure, there were several cylinders full of it at the base, but he didn't have enough time to set up a trap like the one he was planning.
Grenades? Sure, he had them, but he was sure the creature would find a way to deal with them, and then with him.
At that very moment, the captain remembered that all moon bases have a large, powerful core that controls most of the heavy equipment on the base. All he had to do was to access it in a manner that would overheat the reactors, and the rest would happen naturally.
15:30
The captain had already tried several times to communicate with the rest of the team, with no success. He could only raise his voice when he found a place where the anomaly could not hear him, since in its relentless pursuit, it did not allow him to get more than a few meters ahead. He was now in the reactor control room, where he found the stiff corpses of the personnel in charge of the reactor. Now he was in charge of blowing it up into the beautiful light of a thousand suns.
He did his best to get rid of the creature while it kept trying to stop him from overriding the clearances of the gigantic device that would end it all. Sure, a great loss for Foundation researchers and for science at its finest. However, under such high levels of stress, it was almost impossible for him to choose between scientific progress and a select group of lives.
He did his best to try to be logical. To no avail, he did what his vague instinct commanded him to do. Neutralizing the item was a matter of pressing a few buttons, enduring the shocking sound of the alarm for several minutes and watching his life flash before his eyes.
The damage was done.
Was it worth it?
It didn't matter, it was all over.
The explosion brought the evil to an end.
And it was beautiful.