Sequence by Adam Moon Page A

he was situated, his vision was taken over by the ship. The robot and the ship were now synced. He understood the figures scrolling across his vision even though he couldn’t consciously make out a single word or number. His body understood and his body reacted.
    Suddenly his vision completely changed. He was no longer looking around the command station, he was floating above the ship, but he knew it was just a viewpoint and that he wasn’t actually outside; he was inside a turret. No, that wasn’t quite right, he was a part of the turret, virtually. There were no controls because he was the control interface.
    He directed all of his willpower into focusing on the nearest Gray ship and fired with his mind. The turret twitched and moved around as Chris targeted key areas of the ship. Again, he didn’t know where the Gray ship’s weaknesses were, but his mech did.
    T he Gray ship started to turn its guns on the turret, but before it could get a lock, it was rendered immobile. Chris somehow knew that the creatures inside were dead or dying, because he’d destroyed their life support and knocked a large enough hole in their hull to suck out whatever atmosphere it had held.
    He didn’t dwell on it. He swiveled about and as soon as another Gray ship came into view he fired with all of his might. He saw regular projectiles hurtl ing towards the Gray ship and he saw energy beams slicing it like a lime, sizzling as they cut it to ribbons.
    He twirled around again and saw another Gray ship just as it fired at his turret. He gave them all he had , and after a terrifying minute, watched as the Gray ship flung itself to pieces.
    He spun around but the other three Grays must have been on the other side of their ship.
    He yelled out, “Flip this tub on its belly.”
    He heard the captain’s disembodied voice call out, “Spin it on its axis.”
    As the ship turned about, Chris saw the first Gray ship already focusing fire on a different gun turret, so he was able to use the element of surprise and take it out before it could pinpoint his whereabouts.
    When it was destroyed , he said, “Keep turning. I don’t see the others.”
    After a bloated moment of silence the captain’s voice came to him: “They fled. Good work, Earth-man.”

Retreat and Adapt
     
    Admiral Chaybo screamed, “What the hell happened? I thought we had them dead to rights.”
    His second in command was still nursing a bruise and a wicked gash he’d received during the attack. He said, “We were doing well until that turret started firing.”
    “We’ve seen that turret in action before, but never like that. How can we hope to destroy them when they’re so well defended?”
    “We can’t stop, Admiral. We must destroy them.”
    “ We have just these two ships at our disposal now. We’ll regroup, gather some reinforcements, and figure out a bigger and better plan of attack. We’re lucky to even be alive.”

Job Offer
     
    Chris’ vision changed again and he saw the command station spinning around rapidly. The spinning slowed after a few seconds and finally stopped. He stood from the half-egg seat. He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he had no breath, or lungs to expel it.
    Samda grinned at him and said, “You’re a natural.”
    The captain added, “Even Number Three didn’t have the reflexes you have. I’m sorry I underestimated you. You saved our butts when I thought all hope was lost.”
    Chris laughed and said, “I’ve never killed an alien before, but it was us or them, right?”
    The captain nodded.
    “It felt so easy.”
    The captain said, “I think I’d like to offer you a job, if you’re open to the idea.”
    “If it means I don’t have to go into stasis, then I’m in.”
    Samda chimed in, “I won’t be going back into stasis either. You bastards can try to force me , but I guarantee I’ll put up a bigger fight than before.”
    The captain took a menacing step towards her, but Chris said, “Let’s make that another