After Yuki woke up, they consulted and decided to try to save the survivors. Rescuers carefully studied the station layout, checked the door lock controls where there was power, and began to develop an action plan. During the discussion, several options arose, while working through each of them, they understood that there was very little chance of saving people and staying alive themselves. As a result, the most realistic last option remained, but there was also a problem with it.

“A good option, but these creatures will still have the opportunity to get to the station’s landing platform before we get there.” Tai doubted.

“What if we weld the cargo hatch shut?” Tan suggested.

“You forgot, the fallen ship broke through one of the doors, there is a two-meter gap under the ship, there is nothing to close it.” Tai reminded.

“We can flood the cargo shaft.” Yuki suggested.

“I don't think water is a problem for these creatures.” Tan objected.

“I didn't mean water.”  Yuki continued, approaching the station diagram. “Here, on the technical level of the cargo platform next to the mine, are tanks with u-9 fuel diluents. This is a very toxic liquid; if it is mixed with water, it will cause a boiling reaction, releasing an aggressive acid. Any organic matter will dissolve in this acidic steam.”

The brothers looked at each other. Tai looked carefully at the station diagram again: “We’ll have to split up.”

“I have doubts,” Tan said and continued: “The fact is that this acid belongs to a number of unstable compounds and at high concentrations will remain stable for ten minutes, but then a large release of hydrogen will begin. The temperature will rise very quickly until the gas mixture ignites. The explosion will tear the station to shreds.”

“You can calculate the required amount of water and thinner.” Yuki suggested.

“It’s possible,” Tai agreed and added. “We can regulate the water flow, but there is no tap on the diluent tanks. The diluent is supplied by pumps only when the fuel hose is connected to the ship. It is impossible to fool the system, and there is no power to run the pumps. That sector of the station is completely de-energized.”

After a long pause, Tai finally agreed to this option and proposed an action plan according to which he would deal with fuel diluent and water. Tan will have to reach the surviving people through the inner circuit of the station by cutting a hole in the wall of the residential block. Yuki will have to stay at the control panel and watch where the monsters are moving and cut them off from Tan and Tai by blocking the station doors. The decision was made and the rescuers contacted May so that she would wait for a signal to bring the tug to the station and lower the ropes with the rescue basket.

Before proceeding with the plan, Tai put on a pressure suit and approached Yuki. He asked her to install a neck injector with an antidote. He could have done it himself, but in the current situation, they might not see each other again. This was the second time they were so close to each other. Yuki carefully inserted the injector into the vein and secured it with a bandage. Her cold palms stroked Tai's neck.

“If u-9 thinner gets on exposed skin, you will be paralyzed. Toxin poisoning occurs very quickly, you will feel a strong burning sensation in the area of contact. You'll have a few seconds to take the antidote. Most likely your arms will be paralyzed, so bend your head towards your right shoulder until you feel the injector work. After the injection, you need to breathe deeply and intensively. If you do everything right, you'll be able to move again in five minutes.” Yuki instructed, looking straight into his eyes.

“I wanted to apologize for getting you into this.” He said.

“There is no need to apologize, I had a choice, I made the decision to follow you.” Yuki answered looking into the eyes.

Tai was about to say something, but Yuki put her hand to his lips.

“I hope. No not like this. I'm sure we will succeed.” She said, turned away and pretended to be busy, tears flowed down her cheeks profusely.

Through the freight elevator shaft, Ty reached the technical area of the landing pad, and then, after passing through narrow corridors, he found himself at the refueling system. Having removed the wall panels, Ty realized that he had made an unforgivable mistake. It was naive to believe that there would be free access to a fuel system filled with a toxic substance. He stood in front of the wall of an armored multi-layer high-pressure tank. One gas cylinder for a cutter is only enough to make a hole in the armored layer. It was a complete failure. Meanwhile, Tan had already reached the living compartment and began to open the hull. Yuki warned the brothers that these creatures were on the move. Tai did not say anything to Yuki and Tan at that moment, he decided that if all else failed, he would become bait for these monsters. First, Ty unlocked the door behind which several tons of water had accumulated. He tied the opening lever with a safety lanyard to a box, which he placed on the edge of the cargo shaft. But this was clearly not enough. Ty looked around the utility rooms. In one of them, he came across an industrial welding machine with three high-temperature rods. He immediately came up with an idea on how to open the fuel diluent tank. Using a cutting torch, Ty made a hole in the outer layer of the tank and poured liquid coolant into the hole. The coolant began to evaporate, and the wall of the tank became covered with frost. Having disassembled the gas cutter and directly connected the battery and igniter, Ty inserted the found rods into the hole and tried to heat one of them with a hot igniter. The rod did not catch fire, Ty was afraid of burning through the pressure suit. When the red-hot igniter stuck to the rod, Ty jumped out of the narrow niche, a pop was heard behind him and bright sparks filled the corridor. Ty closed the protective mask of the pressure suit and opened the air tank.

“Tai. Get out of there quickly, one of the creatures is moving towards you.” Tai heard Yuki’s alarming voice in the earphone.

Hot sparks rained down onto the floor of the corridor, burning through the lining and melting the metal. The corridor instantly filled with smoke, Tai was at a dead end, there was nowhere to run. Yuki started screaming. A black silhouette of a monster appeared in the smoke. Tai pressed himself against the wall and practically stopped breathing. At the same instant, the hissing of the burning rods turned into a roar and a bright flash momentarily illuminated the eerie semi-mechanical monster. Millions of sparkling sparks turned the monster into ash and smoke. There was an explosion, the tank burst, toxic liquid under pressure escaped and put out the fire. The corridor quickly filled to the top with toxic liquid. Tai was picked up by a wave and carried along the corridor to the open hatch of the cargo shaft. He managed to grab the handrail and got out of the toxic flow.

The noise attracted the attention of a large number of monsters, they quickly moved up the shaft dodging the falling stream of toxic liquid. Yuki continued to shout something, but Tai did not pay any attention to it. He reached a box tied with a sling and threw it into the shaft. The door of the flooded sector opened, and a stream of water rushed into the mine, mixing with the diluent, turning into steam which quickly filled the cargo shaft. Tai saw one of the monsters freeze in place, organic matter smoking and falling off the metal skeleton in clumps. Acid steam quickly filled the cargo shaft and Tai, seeing that he miraculously managed to implement the plan, climbed onto the landing platform with satisfaction.

Yuki watched the movements of the monsters, there were less than ten of them left, they were blocked at different levels of the station. She was about to leave her shelter when she saw on the security camera image how Tan and the last group of rescued people were ascending to the landing pad. Suddenly the lights went out and the service-level backup power supply immediately turned on. Yuki looked at the screen and realized something was wrong. The monsters moved along closed corridors somehow unnaturally, too uniformly and somehow abruptly in one place. This movement was cyclical. Yuki tried to contact Tai and Tan, but there was no signal. She suddenly felt a vibration that swept through the walls like a wave. In the headphones, Yuki heard someone whisper: “I know where you are. No need to run”

Yuki threw down the earphone and heard a noise like a cutter in the corridor. Someone tried to get into the service level. Yuki grabbed the rifle and rushed to the exit. She blocked the hatch and climbed onto the landing platform.

Tan, meanwhile, was helping weakened people climb into the rescue basket when he saw his brother emerge from the wreckage of the crashed ship. He ran to his brother.

“Stop! “ Ty shouted and pointed to the gray coating on the pressure suit. “ It's a toxin. I can't take off the suit myself.”

Tan put on protective gloves and helped his brother take off the suit, but Tai still touched the toxin-stained suit sleeve with his wrist. He did not immediately realize that he had received a burn, only when he approached the basket he felt his hands go numb and not obey. Tai managed to bend his neck and immediately collapsed to the floor. Tan pulled his brother into the basket and started the lift.

Having sent up the rescue basket with his brother, Tan began to help the remaining three survivors climb into the last rescue basket. Tan tried to call Yuki but there was silence on the air. Suddenly shots rang out behind him. Tan turned around. Yuki ran from the opposite side of the site and shot at two disgusting monsters that jumped out of the main entrance and ran towards Tan. One of them, struck by hot metal, fell not far from the exit, the second did not reach Tan five meters and collapsed. Having lost its legs, the monster continued to crawl, scraping the floor with sharp spikes. Two hits tore the flesh on the chest, the monster fell silent. Tan was not at a loss, taking out a gas cutter, he cut off the monster’s limb and threw it into the basket.

“Don’t take this,” One of the people in the basket shouted in a weakened voice.

“We need to know what you were doing here and what kind of creature this is.” Tan answered sharply.

“Who you are?” Asked the same person.

“Pilgrims.” Answered Tan.

Shots rang out again. The people in the basket grabbed the handrails from the terrible sight of the monster that appeared. An arachnid monster jumped out of the central entrance. With one jerk he was next to Yuki. The monster opened its mouth and Yuki heard the same voice and felt that her hands were going numb, gathering her strength, she took aim and fired a burst right into the monster’s throat. The voice stopped, the monster retreated. Yuki did not stop shooting and moved away towards the rescue basket, realizing that it was useless to shoot at the monster’s body and began to shoot off its limbs. The monster fell two meters from her. Yuki ran to Tan.

“Yuki shoot!”  Tan shouted.

She turned around, the monster began to disintegrate into several parts, which began to move independently. Yuki opened fire on them, but noticed a low ammo signal.

“Tan, go away” Shouted Yuki.

Fuel cylinders were lying ten meters away from her and next to the running creatures. She began shooting at the cylinders one by one, trying to set them on fire. The shock wave threw Tan into the rescue basket. Having woken up, Tan began to look for Yuki, but did not see her among the burning rubble.

The antidote worked, Tai felt better. In the cargo hold of the rescue tug, he waited for the last rescue basket to rise. There was an explosion below and Tai began to get nervous. A minute later the basket rose, but Yuki was not in it.

“Where! Where is she?” Tai shook his brother in fear.

“I don’t know, everything was scattered around the site. Her sensor doesn't respond. It's over brother.” Tan answered regretfully.

Tai prepared to go downstairs. Tan tried to persuade his brother not to go down, but Tai did not listen, he took first aid equipment with him and went down using an automatic winch. Among the fire and debris, Tai found Yuki. He secured her neck and spine to a folding splint and gave her a quick-freeze injection. Having fastened the tire to the belts and rope, he started the lift. When they had crossed half the distance there was a powerful explosion. Filled with hydrogen, the station exploded and fell into the depths of the volcano. The shock wave threw the rescue tug away from the crater.