Author: Robert Wagner
Category: Other
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Again, the vessel rocked. Blazing light blinded her before her helmet's visor could adjust to the rapid change. When her vision cleared, she saw that her little piece of the bridge had broke away from the rest of the ship. She found herself face down again, helmet against the window. Looking down at nothing but deep space. The piece she was on floated away from the rest of the ship.
She saw streaks too fast to follow fly across her field of vision. Someone must have attacked them. But why? She didn't know but she couldn't worry about that now. If she didn't do something fast, she'd either be blown away by whoever was attacking them, or drift out too far to get back. Dying of suffocation really didn't sound like fun.
Her suit didn't have any kind of propulsion system. Her magnetic boots had at least kept her attached. She looked up at where she had been. Not only was the huge chunk of the window falling, it also started twisting to the left. She stood, swaying against the movement beneath her feet. She crouched, counting in her head. She would have to time it just right. She would have to turn off her boots as she jumped. When she reached ten she pushed off with all the force her leg muscles could give her. At the same time, she swiped the activator on her gauntlet. She shot upwards towards the opening where the bridge piece was once attached. She stretched her arms out. She was thinking she was going to make it. The blasted opening approached with agonizing slowness. All was quiet. Her quick breathing was her only companion. The comm either had stopped working or-no, she couldn't think it. Focus on getting back. That was her task now.
Something slammed into her right side. Pain radiated from her ribcage down. The ship and outer space spun in her vision like she was a top, flip flopping like her stomach now was. Everything was blurry and it made her feel nauseated. She closed her eyes, and swallowed down her panic. All was not lost yet. Her left shoulder crunched as she impacted with something else. Her helmet sharply cracked off of it as well. Her head bounced around inside her helmet. She opened her eyes only to feel them closing against her will. She was blacking out and there was nothing she could do about it. At least her world had stopped violently spinning. She fought anyway. She screamed at herself to stay awake but whether it was verbal or inside, her head Herra couldn't tell.
One second, Virgil was on the verge of thinking he could actually get what he thought was the alien's computer console powered up. The next second, static filled his helmet and he found himself slamming off the wall of the ship. He slumped to the ground stunned, watching a brightly colored beam of yellow light slice through the bridge structure like a laser beam cutting through paper. His visor went almost totally black for what seemed like minutes before becoming opaque again. When he could see again, pieces of the bridge were gone.
He pulled himself up to his feet. His back ached, but other than that he seemed okay. Virgil tried the comm but got nothing. Maybe it busted when he crashed. Another blast slammed into the deck. Virgil shrank against the wall. He had to get out of here. Then he remembered Zayan.
"Zayan. Zayan!" He called into his mic. Nothing. Not even static. "Great," he said in frustration.
Virgil slammed his boots down, like he could will the magnetic locks to hold on stronger. He held the railing in front of him as the ship broke apart all around him. He scanned the chaos, both with his eyes, and with his sensors. The deck rocked like he imagined an ancient boat would on rough seas. One of his clamping arms came out and affixed itself to the railing as well.
He could see bits of metal floating and piece of equipment floating all about him. There was so much of it, that it seemed as if his helmet light was blinking. He could see a gaping hole in the front of the bridge where the window had been. The multicolored spectrum of the nearby wormhole poured in through the rent. He couldn't see any of the other crew of the Dauntless. Virgil had to duck as a big piece of the flooring nearby gave way and swooped over his head. He came up and just about collided helmets with Zayan. His slim frame went sailing by upside down. Like he was doing a back flip in mid air in slow motion. He let one hand go and grabbed his arm as he passed. He tugged Zayan down until he was able to get a hold of the railing. Zayan wrapped his body around it, hugging it in a death grip. The ship shuddered and Virgil felt the explosion below his feet more than he heard it.
"That's two you owe me, mister." he joked, before remembering his comm didn't work.
He could see Zayan's mouth working. He tapped on his helmet where his ear would be. He tried to pantomime that he couldn't hear. After the third attempt he seemed to get it. Zayan just stared at him intently. If Zayan was expecting him to know what to do next, he was mistaken. Only thing he did know was that their only chance was to somehow get back to the Dauntless.
Before he could even conceive how he was going to do that, let alone communicate whatever his idea was to Zayan, the railing ripped out of the floor. The two went hurtling back. They didn't hit the wall this time, but flew into a newly opened seam in the wall.
Sanford saw it all happen from his vantage point next to the elevator shaft that led them here. There was static on the comm and the next minute, it was like someone set off multiple bombs around the bridge. There was a blinding yellow light he instinctively turned away from. He grabbed on to the console next to him without thinking. While he couldn't see, he checked the vitals of the crew running along both sides of his helmet display. Everyone's heart rate and breathing elevated beyond normal parameters. That was expected, adrenaline flooded their bodies during the chaos, just as it flooded his. He tried to stay detached. He'd been in a bad situations before. Then Herra's signs went wild. Her brain activity suggested she'd been knocked unconscious.
"Herra. Herra, your vitals are wild and erratic. I can't see you. Are you okay?" He got static in return. What was going on? Did someone trip a kind of self destruct sequence?
He watched helplessly as the front section of the bridge blew off. What he was sure were laser blasts cut through the roof and across the room, to where Virgil and Zayan were. Pieces of everything flew around, some were as big as his helmet, some were the size of bullets. He crouched, making his profile small. What happened around him didn't seem like a normal self destruct routine.
"My leg it feel...zzz...Sanfor...zzz...falling down the shaft." Chen broke into his comm. "Help..." Static cut off her scream.
"Chen!" He called back, not even knowing if she heard him. Crouch walking was hard with the magnetic boots, but it wouldn't do anybody else any good if he got hurt. It took an unbearably long time to cross the short distance to the shaft.
He found it blocked, covered by two long pieces of railing and some metal scrap. Sanford steadied himself on the wall as the ship lurched. He didn't know the who, what, or why of what happened to the ship. If it was an attack, did they plan on blowing the whole ship apart?
Sanford called for Chen again, and got nothing but static. He didn't know why that was. He wasn't a tech guy unless it was equipment that had to do with his profession.
In the zero gravity, it was easy to pull off the pieces that probably weighed hundreds, if not thousands of pounds. It still frustrated him. It was more precious minutes waiting. He could see on the monitor that Chen's heart rate and blood pressure were dropping little by little. He tore enough away to duck inside. With his light, he peered down in the darkness.
Chen was floating about five meters below him. She was prone, facing up towards him. Her hands wrapped around a jagged piece of metal that stuck through her thigh, above her knee. A trail of round, red colored globs showed the path of her fall. They also floated around the wound in her leg.
Still not knowing how much of what he was saying, if any, was getting through, Sanford went into bedside manner mode. Projecting soothing and calmness through his voice. "Hey Chen. I'm here. I see you. I'm coming down. Just stay still."
Not only was her leg wounded and bleeding, but her suit was also punctured. She was losing valuable oxygen. As quickly as he could, Sanford got himself attached to the wall and clomped down to her. He st
ood on the side of the shaft looking down at her. He stretched and grabbed her arm, pulling her close enough that he could work on her.
He didn't know if it was the close proximity or something else, but suddenly the comm started working again. Only between him and Chen at the moment, it seemed. He heard her yell out a string of curses in her native language, static free.
"Hey, Chen. I'm here."
Sanford unshouldered his pack. He placed the square case in the air with precision. He didn't want it floating away. He held the bottom while he pulled out what he needed.
First he shot her with a prefilled syringe of pain medication next to the puncture wound in her leg. He heard her audible sigh in relief. Her heartbeat and breathing steadied. Now that she wasn't screaming or cursing, the crying started. The time for comforting would be later. Right now, he needed to fix her leg before she bled out or lost all of her air.
He let go of the syringe and got out his laser scalpel. It wasn't made for industrial use, but Sanford used it to cut the metal sticking out of her to a more manageable size. That chewed up more time than he liked. That done, he cut around the chunk that was left in her leg on the front of her thigh. Flipping her around, he cut around the back as well, grabbed on with a clamp, and pulled. The metal came free, soundless in the low atmosphere. More globs of red floated around him. Chen inhaled sharply, but with the amount of drugs he injected in her, he knew she didn't feel much.
Quickly, he sealed the wound shut on both sides. That done, the last step was good old fashioned bandages. He wrapped them around the entire open hole in her suit. He did it a little tighter than he would have liked. He hoped that it would slow down the loss of oxygen from her suit. He didn't have anything in his bag that would fix that problem.
"Chen, guess what?" He waited for her to respond. It was a few minutes.
"What?" She sounded weak and groggy.
"You'll still be able to go out on the town and dance the night away."
Her half-hearted chuckle was better than nothing.
"Let's get you down and back to the ship. Nice and easy." He kept to himself the worry that there would be no ship to get back to.
Herra's head throbbed. She would have cradled it in her hands, if she could have. Instead, she had to settle for laying it back against the metal deck behind her. She closed her eyes, giving the feeling a moment to pass.
When she came back to consciousness, she found herself in a precarious situation. The slab she had fallen with had wedged itself into some of the broken superstructure she had seen when flying in. The bridge was far above her. Worse than that, her left arm had gotten pinned. It seemed while she fell, twisting and turning as she went, wiring cables wrapped themselves around her arm and the piece of the deck she landed on. Her attempts to free herself from the wires led to no good results. The cable was strong. There was no give at all. Well shit.
Her view up wasn't encouraging. Whatever was attacking them seemed to have ceased for now. Maybe they stopped because the ship is coming apart. At least the top part.
All around her, chunks of the ship were spinning off in every direction. From her vantage point it looked as if the left side of the bridge was sliding off from the rest. It was hard to tell what else was going on up there. She was too far away to really see the opening left by her exit. Every attempt to call for someone on her radio ended with absolute silence. Her oxygen and power levels were dropping. Well shit, she said to herself again. Who could have anticipated this?
She only gave herself until the count of sixty to see if the pounding subsided. When it didn't, she opened her eyes. Unless death was her destination, she needed to stop lying around. Herra began to calculate escape scenarios in her head.
She brought her right knee up as close to her chest as she could. It was awkward, trying to fumble her blaster out without being able to twist. Her fingers pried at it. She willed herself to slow down. She'd really be in a black hole if she got the blaster out only to have it float away on her. Another attempt moved it to the edge of being free. Her third try got it out. Her hand knocked against it and she saw the blaster sail inches above her face. She grabbed at it. She let out a sigh when she successfully had a grip on it, fogging up her helmet.
Movement and a flash of light caught her attention. The attackers seemed to be back. They were too fast and too far away for her to make out what the ships looked like. At least they weren't shooting up the place, not yet. She turned her attention back to getting herself free.
Herra stuck the end of the pistol inches away from the cable. Squeezing her eyes as she squeezed the trigger, she steadied herself. One slip up and her piloting days would be over. Even if she could get a cybernetic limb, it just wouldn't be the same.
Herra's eyes widened as more movement drew her head away from her task. The ships hadn't attacked her directly, but the consequences of what they had done were barreling down on her in the form of two large chunks of the upper body of the ship.
Willing herself to still take it easy, she repositioned the pistol. Herra fought all of her instincts that wanted her to look up at what was approaching. She pulled the trigger. The beam sliced through the metal. The light from the wormhole, which had helped her see what she was doing, disappeared. A shadow fell over her. She pulled. Her arm moved halfway out. She lined up a shot, with only her helmet now illuminating the area. The darkness of space lit up. Her arm came free. The pieces of ship filled her peripheral vision. Herra rolled, came up, and jumped.
Behind her, all the pieces smashed together without a sound. She could feel tiny shards of it bouncing off her back and legs. All she could do was hope that none would pierce her suit. A piece of strut rushed towards her. She put her arms out, hoping to grab it. She smacked into it right at lower chest level. She careened off, flipping head first over it. She flailed at the beam wildly. Trying not to think what would she do if she missed it, how this could be her last chance.
A sigh of relief escaped her as she was able to wrap one arm around it. Luckily, it was smooth. It wouldn't cut through her as she used it to stop her momentum. Which was strange, but it was a fact she stuck in the back of her mind for now. She need to see if she could get to the Dauntless.
Now that she was free and seemed to be out of immediate danger, Herra looked around. She assessed her situation again. Stranded on the side of an alien ship? Check. Oxygen below thirty minutes? Check. Confused and disoriented as to the direction I need to go? Check. Am I going to hear it from Virgil? Not if I shut him down fast.
Sarcasm spent, Herra took the only real option she saw to her. Hand over hand she moved herself farther down the beam towards the alien ship.
Virgil slammed his hand against the side of his helmet. He tapped his gauntlet again, running diagnostics. If he couldn't get the comm working he felt it impossible to get him and Zayan back to the Dauntless.
The two of them had landed in what looked like an access shaft after being blown from the bridge. They couldn't stand up straight, even Zayan, and Virgil was constantly banging his pack on the top of the shaft. For now, the ship they were on seemed calm. The attacks must have stopped. Or at least been put on pause. Miraculously, the both of them seemed injury free. He'd know how Zayan was once he could talk to him again. Right now the man huddled over in the corner. His face was a mask of shock. Zayan wanted to leave his planet for adventure. He got what he asked for.
He had told Herra this was a bad idea. Like usual, did she listen? Nope. He banged on the helmet again in frustration. If only he could take it off. He'd have it working in two minutes flat.
The last he had seen of Herra was her sitting in the big chair in the middle of the deck, which was now gone. It was likely she dead, her body floating off into space, this alien solar system her grave. Did Chen and Sanford survive? Who knew? Their chances were as good as his though. At least Chen was smart and had a doctor with her. All he had this worthless newbie.
The gauntlet beeped at him, telling him the diagnostics were fin
ished. The results told him there was a loose wire inside the helmet. The good news was the problem had been found. He could get to the wiring from the outside. The bad news was it'd be pretty hard for him to reach up and work on it while the helmet was still on his head.
He was going to need Zayan's help. How was he going to tell him what the man needed to do? His oxygen readout told him he didn't have much time to think about it. He got out his laser tool out of his backpack. Training his lamps on the wall next to them, Virgil burned out an elementary sketch of the system affected. Below that he numbered some steps and again made crude outlines the best he could with a tool that wasn't built for that use. Not satisfied but resolute that was the best he could do, Virgil turned to Zayan, illuminating the man. He made big motions for Zayan to come over and join him.
Virgil got helmet to helmet with Zayan. Virgil tried to explain the situation as best he could, he wanted to make sure what was wrong was clear. He didn't want Zayan thinking he was ignoring him. Zayan nodded in understanding. He mouthed the words "no comm" while tapping the broken side of his helmet. Zayan's face seemed to relax. Focusing on a task always made Virgil feel better, more in control. Maybe that's what Zayan was feeling.
He directed Zayan's attention to the wall. Pointing one by one he went through his sketches. Zayan looked and followed along. Then he shrugged. Using his gripper arm Virgil detached and brought forward a little metal box. He let go of it and it hung in the air between them. Again he led Zayan through the steps. At the end he opened the box, which contained the tools needed. Each were already tethered to each other by a thin, dull metal string. They floated without purpose in the tight area.