slowed down and Dell would nudge me or point in the direction we needed to go. He continued to keep his distance. The thought of a surprise attack crossed my mind briefly, but I tried to dismiss the idea. Dell would be on alert for one; I was not a fighter.
I ran through a few other scenarios but came to the conclusion I wouldn’t be very good in a fight. I decided that if worst comes to worst that I would take a ship from whoever was here. They had to have a ship because otherwise how would they have gotten here. Flying it would be up to the AI. I was pretty sure ships had some kind of autopilot.
I shook my head. My plan was terrible, but I couldn’t think of anything else.
I continued to trudge along. One part of my mind tried to tell me to be ready for the worst. The other part tried to tell me that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to believe.
As we moved down the hallways signs of life began to pop up; a blood smeared white tank top sat wadded on the ground, a rotten smell, and unintelligible voices echoing in the distance. With the first voices Dell grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down until we were both crouched. My heart pounded, and the saliva dried up in my mouth.
I wasn’t sure what the plan was supposed to be, as there had been an assumption in briefing that the people we’d meet would be aggressive. I supposed if they were friendly I’d be able to strike up a conversation with them. It made sense that we needed to be alert. Even the walk down into SpaciEm felt cautious, but this almost felt like we were part of a raiding party sneaking up on the villagers.
Something crashed in an offshoot hallway at the T-junction ahead of us. It sounded like an empty barrel had fallen over. Someone began cursing. My ears perked up. Then someone spoke in English with a Zimbabwean accent.
“I recognize the accent,” I whispered to Dell.
“Terran?” he said.
I nodded.
Dell got up and walked around the corner. “Don’t move,” he yelled. His tin can voice from his suit mike echoed in the hallways.
“Fuck,” yelled the someone. Three shots rang out. The noise reverberated around the small space, and I silently thanked my suit for filtering out the worst of it. .
Dell’s arm cannon blared. It made a whomph sound each time it fired its small energy blast. Something fell onto the grating with a thud and a separate clatter of plastic. Someone shouted. Footsteps pounded down the corridor away from my position.
Two more shots fired then another three from Dell. His heavy footsteps moved down the corridor. He traded fire with someone else who yelled obscenities.
My brain screamed at me to run. I opened my eyes. During the shooting I’d screwed them shut so tight tears rolled down my cheeks. With the sounds of fighting fading in the distance I looked around at the empty corridor and stood up.
I peeked around the corner to get a view of the aftermath. The corpse of a man draped across a pile of boxes. His rifle lay a few feet away from him. He wore the standard jumpsuit I remembered the colonists had on in promotional photos. Every inch of exposed skin had a myriad of tattoos and scarring in the shape of the symbols we’d seen on the walls of SpaciEm.
Another violent encounter filtered around a corner and down the corridor. Every fiber in my body told me to take off in the opposite direction of Dell and the colonists. Whatever fight he partook in wasn’t one I wanted take part in. At this time I didn’t want to be found by either him or the colonists. I wanted off Nasee Four.
Once again I found myself choosing random corridors. I’d slow down at hallway intersections and try to identify something that would help me find a path to the shuttle bay. In my head it should have been easy like finding a firehose in a skyscraper, but here I couldn’t find anything. The thought crossed my mind that since this was an unfinished colony they had never put any signage.
As I ran, voices
I ran through a few other scenarios but came to the conclusion I wouldn’t be very good in a fight. I decided that if worst comes to worst that I would take a ship from whoever was here. They had to have a ship because otherwise how would they have gotten here. Flying it would be up to the AI. I was pretty sure ships had some kind of autopilot.
I shook my head. My plan was terrible, but I couldn’t think of anything else.
I continued to trudge along. One part of my mind tried to tell me to be ready for the worst. The other part tried to tell me that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to believe.
As we moved down the hallways signs of life began to pop up; a blood smeared white tank top sat wadded on the ground, a rotten smell, and unintelligible voices echoing in the distance. With the first voices Dell grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down until we were both crouched. My heart pounded, and the saliva dried up in my mouth.
I wasn’t sure what the plan was supposed to be, as there had been an assumption in briefing that the people we’d meet would be aggressive. I supposed if they were friendly I’d be able to strike up a conversation with them. It made sense that we needed to be alert. Even the walk down into SpaciEm felt cautious, but this almost felt like we were part of a raiding party sneaking up on the villagers.
Something crashed in an offshoot hallway at the T-junction ahead of us. It sounded like an empty barrel had fallen over. Someone began cursing. My ears perked up. Then someone spoke in English with a Zimbabwean accent.
“I recognize the accent,” I whispered to Dell.
“Terran?” he said.
I nodded.
Dell got up and walked around the corner. “Don’t move,” he yelled. His tin can voice from his suit mike echoed in the hallways.
“Fuck,” yelled the someone. Three shots rang out. The noise reverberated around the small space, and I silently thanked my suit for filtering out the worst of it. .
Dell’s arm cannon blared. It made a whomph sound each time it fired its small energy blast. Something fell onto the grating with a thud and a separate clatter of plastic. Someone shouted. Footsteps pounded down the corridor away from my position.
Two more shots fired then another three from Dell. His heavy footsteps moved down the corridor. He traded fire with someone else who yelled obscenities.
My brain screamed at me to run. I opened my eyes. During the shooting I’d screwed them shut so tight tears rolled down my cheeks. With the sounds of fighting fading in the distance I looked around at the empty corridor and stood up.
I peeked around the corner to get a view of the aftermath. The corpse of a man draped across a pile of boxes. His rifle lay a few feet away from him. He wore the standard jumpsuit I remembered the colonists had on in promotional photos. Every inch of exposed skin had a myriad of tattoos and scarring in the shape of the symbols we’d seen on the walls of SpaciEm.
Another violent encounter filtered around a corner and down the corridor. Every fiber in my body told me to take off in the opposite direction of Dell and the colonists. Whatever fight he partook in wasn’t one I wanted take part in. At this time I didn’t want to be found by either him or the colonists. I wanted off Nasee Four.
Once again I found myself choosing random corridors. I’d slow down at hallway intersections and try to identify something that would help me find a path to the shuttle bay. In my head it should have been easy like finding a firehose in a skyscraper, but here I couldn’t find anything. The thought crossed my mind that since this was an unfinished colony they had never put any signage.
As I ran, voices
Similar Books
