small map representation floated in the periphery. Why I hadn’t been contacted I didn’t know.
I maximized the map. Corridors were still snaking out and being formed. Dell must have released mapping drones when we entered the living area.
My next step was to find a ship and get off this rock. I scrolled around the map trying to find something that might be a shuttle bay. I figured it would be larger and on the periphery. My intuition was right, and I confirmed it by bringing up footage the drones had recorded.
There were two ships in the video. I overlaid the lifeform markers with the map. They were grouping together and heading towards the bay.
“ Omanix ,” I said. I dashed down the hallway and towards the shuttle bay.
“Where’s Dell?” said the Omanix . “We’re not picking up his signal. Why did you go radio silent?”
My momentum coming around a corner sent me into a wall. I grunted and bounced off it. “Dead. We found Terrans,” I said. My muscles already burned from the exertion. It seemed they hadn’t done anything for my endurance while I was in the healing chamber. “They’re making a run for the shuttles.”
“Are they hostile?”
“Very,” I said. I wanted to laugh, but it didn’t seem right since Dell’s body was still warm. “I’m heading for the shuttle bay.” Four of the lifeform blips were already there.
Baron popped up in a communication box. Its head filled the entire screen. “Do not engage. We’re sending help,” the Captain said.
This time I did laugh. Baron scrunched up their eyebrows, and I detected just a hint of a snarl. “I’m going to try and beat them to the shuttles,” I said.
I rounded the final corner and charged down the final hallway. I could see my destination ahead of me. Klaxons began to blare. A door started to shut behind me. Warning lights turned on and began to flash creating a strobe like effect. The atmosphere whooshed past me. I let out a startled cry. My body felt lighter as I got sucked along and tumbled end over end into the shuttle bay.
The bay doors were open. The stars shone in the blackness beyond. Debris sucked out of the bay floated into the emptiness and disappeared. My suit pinpointed and magnified an object: the Omanix . It sat, waiting, outside the shuttle bay.
I came to a stop on top of a woman. She kicked and punched at me. I tried to disengage and get myself untangled from her without using the full power of my suit. It was unclear what kind of protection hers offered. Her attacks kept us locked together. I yelled at her to stop but forgot she couldn’t hear me in the vacuum.
We rolled around until I slammed my fist into her chest. She skidded across the floor and came to a stop against the far wall. I got to my knees in time to see the first shuttle take off and head out.
It didn’t fly straight. The pilot took it in a drunken, zig zag pattern that made it look like a top towards the end of its spin: wobbly and unstable. The Omanix moved to intercept. The shuttle fired its weapons. The small laser missed the Confederate ship and vanished into the blackness. The Omanix returned fire, striking the smaller ship.
The shuttle contracted then expanded into a cloud of debris. There was no explosion or fire or sound. It was like I watched a balloon pop on mute.
I pitched forward from an impact to my back and slammed into the ground. My face crashed into my visor. Pain blossomed in my nose and blood ran down my face before my suit began to administer first aid. Something pounded on my back. My suit screamed warnings that an attempt was being made to take off my helmet.
With a painful grunt I rolled onto my back then sneezed clotted blood onto my visor. The woman who I’d tangled with before let go of me. She unsheathed a knife. Through the blood spray I saw her charge me and rolled onto my side.
She jumped onto me and wrapped her legs around my waist. I grabbed her wrist and felt it crush under my suit-assisted grip as she
I maximized the map. Corridors were still snaking out and being formed. Dell must have released mapping drones when we entered the living area.
My next step was to find a ship and get off this rock. I scrolled around the map trying to find something that might be a shuttle bay. I figured it would be larger and on the periphery. My intuition was right, and I confirmed it by bringing up footage the drones had recorded.
There were two ships in the video. I overlaid the lifeform markers with the map. They were grouping together and heading towards the bay.
“ Omanix ,” I said. I dashed down the hallway and towards the shuttle bay.
“Where’s Dell?” said the Omanix . “We’re not picking up his signal. Why did you go radio silent?”
My momentum coming around a corner sent me into a wall. I grunted and bounced off it. “Dead. We found Terrans,” I said. My muscles already burned from the exertion. It seemed they hadn’t done anything for my endurance while I was in the healing chamber. “They’re making a run for the shuttles.”
“Are they hostile?”
“Very,” I said. I wanted to laugh, but it didn’t seem right since Dell’s body was still warm. “I’m heading for the shuttle bay.” Four of the lifeform blips were already there.
Baron popped up in a communication box. Its head filled the entire screen. “Do not engage. We’re sending help,” the Captain said.
This time I did laugh. Baron scrunched up their eyebrows, and I detected just a hint of a snarl. “I’m going to try and beat them to the shuttles,” I said.
I rounded the final corner and charged down the final hallway. I could see my destination ahead of me. Klaxons began to blare. A door started to shut behind me. Warning lights turned on and began to flash creating a strobe like effect. The atmosphere whooshed past me. I let out a startled cry. My body felt lighter as I got sucked along and tumbled end over end into the shuttle bay.
The bay doors were open. The stars shone in the blackness beyond. Debris sucked out of the bay floated into the emptiness and disappeared. My suit pinpointed and magnified an object: the Omanix . It sat, waiting, outside the shuttle bay.
I came to a stop on top of a woman. She kicked and punched at me. I tried to disengage and get myself untangled from her without using the full power of my suit. It was unclear what kind of protection hers offered. Her attacks kept us locked together. I yelled at her to stop but forgot she couldn’t hear me in the vacuum.
We rolled around until I slammed my fist into her chest. She skidded across the floor and came to a stop against the far wall. I got to my knees in time to see the first shuttle take off and head out.
It didn’t fly straight. The pilot took it in a drunken, zig zag pattern that made it look like a top towards the end of its spin: wobbly and unstable. The Omanix moved to intercept. The shuttle fired its weapons. The small laser missed the Confederate ship and vanished into the blackness. The Omanix returned fire, striking the smaller ship.
The shuttle contracted then expanded into a cloud of debris. There was no explosion or fire or sound. It was like I watched a balloon pop on mute.
I pitched forward from an impact to my back and slammed into the ground. My face crashed into my visor. Pain blossomed in my nose and blood ran down my face before my suit began to administer first aid. Something pounded on my back. My suit screamed warnings that an attempt was being made to take off my helmet.
With a painful grunt I rolled onto my back then sneezed clotted blood onto my visor. The woman who I’d tangled with before let go of me. She unsheathed a knife. Through the blood spray I saw her charge me and rolled onto my side.
She jumped onto me and wrapped her legs around my waist. I grabbed her wrist and felt it crush under my suit-assisted grip as she
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