Author: Robert Wagner
Category: Other
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Zayan grabbed the bunch and brought the first one up in front of Virgil's face. He looked at Virgil blankly. Since he was new, Virgil didn't know much about Zayan. According to Herra he was one of the smartest astrophysicist she'd ever interviewed. Maybe that was true, but the guy didn't seem to know jack about improvisation. Virgil shook his head up and down vigorously two times.
His typical big, goofy smile was Zayan's reply. He looked at the tool and at the wall. Back and forth he repeated the process. Virgil took advantage of his broken comm to let out his frustration. He knew it really wasn't Zayan's fault but he spit out a few epithets of what he thought of his situation and Zayan's skills. All while keeping a positive smile fixed on his face.
Zayan started after a few more agonizing moments of waiting. Zayan finished step one with a hard jerk on Virgil's helmet. His neck popped and he had second thoughts about this idea of his. What if Zayan busted his helmet? He willed his hands to remain at his side.
The process was the same for the next two steps. Virgil closed his eyes after the second one. He couldn't take glancing at his oxygen levels. He tried not to, but that little corner of his display was like a magnet to his eyes. This was taking entirely too long. Yet, what could he do to speed it up? Nothing. Nothing at all. That was a hard thing to accept.
So Virgil kept his eyes closed and daydreamed many things; about how he was going to tell Herra I told you so, his speech to Herra on the day he'd have enough money to quit and get his own ship, about how he wouldn't even be in this situation if he wasn't in charge. He was so deep in his own world that when his comm crackled with static he jumped and bonked his helmet off the top of the vent. The sudden movement knocked the tool string from Zayan's hands. He stretched out his arms, scrambling after them.
"Son of a bitch!" Virgil exclaimed.
Zayan snatched the tools out of mid air. He turned back to Virgil. His goofy white toothed grin was bigger than ever. "It's so nice to hear you again, Virgil. Here are your tools back." Zayan held them out. "Now you can tell me how we are going to get out of here. I've had enough excitement now."
Virgil grabbed the tools, held them up to his robotic arm, and with his thoughts guided the tools back into place on his pack. He folded up the arm and willed them away as well. Zayan's voice through the helmet's speaker was grainy but at least it worked. He had to give Zayan that much credit.
"Now that I can talk, let me tell you. We're going to go back the way we came and we're getting back to the Dauntless. And we have-"
The whole entire shaft shook and shuddered. It rolled, bouncing the two of them off the walls with each revolution. Virgil imagined this was what clothes felt like in a dryer. Guess the attacks weren't over after all. He wondered what was going on and when the hell it was going to stop.
The shaft cracked in several places. One was in between Zayan and Virgil. The two pieces floated away from each other. The two reached out to each other, they look like lovers reaching for each other's embrace. Each heard the other shout over the comm.
"What's your oxygen levels looking like?" Sanford asked.
He had gotten Chen attached to the side of the shaft and was walking beside her. Her arm was over his shoulder and as much as he hated her having to use her leg, she did need to make sure her magnetic boots made contact with the side of the elevator shaft.
"They stopped dropping at a significant rate. I think your bandage is working."
This was his second attempt to get a real answer out of Chen. It failed again. He couldn't get her to give him the exact number. He knew it wasn't good, so if she was trying to spare him worrying, it wasn't working. Chen's words were still slurred from the drugs. They also slowed down her movement. Not that they could have moved faster in the junkyard mess the elevator shaft had become. Their speed became irrelevant when Sanford's beams hit a wall of tangled debris blocking their way.
"Should we go back up?" Chen offered.
"Where we might get blown apart, crushed or sliced in half? Why would you suggest such an idea?"
"Because that's where Herra will be looking for us. She will lead us out."
Sanford thought she might be delusional. Her speech was getting more slurred instead of less. Maybe oxygen levels were even worse than he believed.
"Chen, I have to tell you. Herra's dead. She was blown out the front of the bridge into space."
Chen was quiet for several moments. The ship groaned around them and the wedged blockage in front of them shuddered. Sanford racked his brain but didn't know how they were going to get out now.
Chen's voice spoke up in his ear. "She's probably back in and pacing around waiting for us to show up. You know how she is."
Sanford had to chuckle at that. Chen was right about one thing. That was how Herra behaved. If only that were true this time. He wanted to say as much but now wasn't the time for mourning. Not if he didn't want to lose anyone else.
"If we're not going all the way back up, which I think is a mistake, what about that grate we passed?"
"Grate?"
Chen pointed with the arm not around his shoulder. She turned her head to illuminate it as well. It was on the wall across from them about ten or twelve steps back the way they came.
"Huh? How'd I miss that? Okay I guess it's worth a look," Sanford said.
"You were laser focused on your goal, Sanford. So I took the opportunity of being dragged along to survey our surroundings."
Chen's weight shifted more on him. No longer was the grate lit up. No matter, Sanford had it marked in his memory. He nudged her along. "You always were the curious one."
The square grate was directly across from them. Sanford gave Chen a three second countdown and they both pushed off and change orientation mid air to land feet first on the other side. Sanford heard Chen inhale sharply on impact. The pain medicine must be wearing off.
"Hey now, Chen. Stay with me. We have to see where this opening leads to. Right? It's probably an access tube. I'm going to have to let go now. Put your hands on your knees and just stand as steady as you can. Let the boots do the work."
He let go, and Chen did what he asked. He lasered through the bolts with his scalpel, grabbed the grate, and pulled, letting it float off. He stuck his head inside the hole. He saw a shaft the ran out as far as his light could see. They were going to have to float crawl to get through it. He hated that idea. Chen's wound could reopen with too much exertion. He cursed to himself, there didn't seem to have any other choice.
"Chen, ladies first. I wouldn't want to rob you of your chance at any discoveries."
Silently, Chen clunked over, extended herself awkwardly into the shaft, and pushed herself along with her arms. Her legs banged off the sides with each movement. Sanford could hear her heavy breathing in his comm. His assessment, the pain was getting more intense for her now.
Once she was far enough along, Sanford followed. It was dark and cramped. On they went for minutes and minutes. Sanford lost all sense of direction. He didn't know if they were going straight, at an angle or even down at this point. Ahead, Chen stopped and he did the same. She disappeared downwards, like a rabbit going into it hole. He did likewise.
Minutes more passed. He thought about asking Chen what her oxygen level was at now. He passed on the idea. Even if it was one percent now, what could he really do about it? Sanford just followed her lead. He noticed he had to exert more pressure with his arms as felt pulled down the shaft they were in. Are we coming to a section of the ship that still had gravity? He expressed the idea to Chen.
"I thought that was just me, weakening. Now that you say that I believe you are correct. Let me get a scan-" Her sentence cut off, turning into a scream.
"Chen," Sanford bellowed. She disappeared in front of him. His hand uselessly snatched at empty air.
He pressed himself forward, arms working. He had to pull back and actually keep his body up as the gravitational force on him increased. He wasn't sure what to do next. His hands slipped and the decision was ma
de for him. He plummeted head first down through an opening and into a room. Everything rushed by in a blur until he smacked the floor. The air whooshed out of his lungs. Sanford closed his eyes, letting his body absorb the impact of the fall. He made himself count to thirty and then start over at one again. The second time he reached thirty, he opened them.
He raised his left arm up and accessed his internal body diagnostics. They came back with a relatively clean report. He might have sore back muscles tomorrow, but luckily nothing was broken or ruptured. He sat up and looked for Chen. She must have rolled after she hit as she was a few feet away to the left. She was face down and prone. Sanford called out to her, worried.
"Chen? Chen, you alright? Chen, answer me."
He scrambled over. Raising his gauntlet over her he did the same scan on her. He didn't want to roll her over if she had severe injuries on top of the one she already had. The report wasn't good. She hadn't sustained any serious injuries from the fall, but her cells were in serious oxygen deprivation. She had passed out.
Gently, Sanford rolled Chen over. Her eyes closed, she looked peaceful, like she was sleeping. Sanford checked on his bandage. The bandage was white. The wound was still closed. He didn't know what he could do for her. She was suffocating in her suit.
Chen's eyes fluttered open. She smiled up at him weakly. Her words were weak as well. "Sanford. Look at these readings."
She attempted to raise her arm but it barely moved. "No. No. Don't exert yourself. Lay there. Stay calm. Measure each breath."
Scooting around the other side, he looked down at her gauntlet's screen. He'd humor her by fulfilling her last request. The readings she had pulled up on the screen shocked him.
Herra scrambled up the side of the spaceship. It seemed like an eternity had past as she crawled along the exposed superstructure. Or maybe it was eight minutes. She wasn't sure. She was sweating inside her suit even thought she was hanging on an unknown alien ship in the depth of freezing cold space. It was because the slightest slip, the one misplaced step, would cause her to die out here. Alone in the cold. One more speck in the uncaring cosmos. That wouldn't do. She had her crew to save.
She called to them every so often. She got back silence that matched her surroundings. At that moment, static would be a welcome compared to the utter solitude she felt. It was hard to keep hope alive every time she glanced up at the devastation that was once the bridge of the ship. Still she would climb it. Once at the top, Herra would see what she could see. Until then, it was one hand up. Next hand to follow.
At least the attacks had stopped again. On her side of the ship, anyway, she saw no more movement. No more laser beams either, which she was grateful for. As she reached up and felt around for a hand hold, she thought about just jumping up. Taking her chance on finding something to grab on to as she hurdled over the skin of the ship. This whole climbing thing was taking too long for her. She stamped down the idea once her fingers wrapped around something above her head. Slow, precise movements up. Herra pretended she was maneuvering the Dauntless through a particular tricky docking procedure. Or an asteroid belt. That got her to focus.
Above her the ship seemed to look smoother. She arched back from the ship as far as she dared. She was perspiring again. If only she could wipe her brow. Her head swept back and forth. This time, she was preparing to jump when movement caught her attention from the corner of her left eye.
It was an alien ship. A different one than what she was currently hanging onto for dear life. This one was smaller that the Dauntless. Fighter sized. Surprisingly, the first thing the ship made her think of was a flower, like a daisy. It had eight wing like protrusions from a center circular hull. From the center extended a cone shaped body ending at a tip At the tip were two intertwined tubes, that looked so much like vines, jutted out. All this Herra took in as the craft closed in on her in a matter of seconds.
"Holy-"
A beam of yellowish orange light erupted from the tip, slicing across the ship right above where she was hanging. She didn't know how they could have, but she was spotted by the small crafts. Herra raised her other hand and double gripped the tenuous hold she had. Bits of ship rained down on her. She tried to watch out for what pieces were coming her way while also trying to see where the smaller attack vessel went. A direct hit on her and it was all over.
She saw the fighter too late. Herra swayed to the left only to have a chunk of metal smack into her. Close to the spot where she had just been the attackers laser beam hit the hull. The falling metal from above along with the blast of escaping air to her right knocked her off. She twirled head over feet as she moved away from the ship. Screaming inside her helmet, Herra drew her blaster. She fired down to her feet. That slowed her tumbling. She saw the large alien ship swirl by. Timing it in her head she fired again. Backwards she flew, slammed into the hull, and went skidding along it. With her free hand, she scrambled for anything to hold onto. She passed a crack and jammed both her hand and her blaster into the opening. She came to a ligament jarring stop.
Laughing hysterically, Herra hung on. She vowed to herself that once she was back on the Dauntless, she'd have some payback and pluck that little flower from interstellar space. She whipped her head around looking for it. She was moving so frantically she almost knocked herself free. Forcing herself down, she stopped the laughing. This was serious business. She needed to take stock of where she was. Get inside the ship if she could. Just when she had gotten herself under control laughter hit her again. Looking over to her right had caused it to spill out again. Thanks to that little fighter, she was closer than ever to the blown out bridge.
Zayan had a hold of Virgil's arm as the vacuum of space sucked at him. What Zayan was holding Virgil didn't know. The pieces of the shaft they had been in had slid off around them and went flying off towards the huge slice along the far wall. There they crashed sideways, blocking off some of the opening. The air pressure difference pulling on them decreased. Virgil could fight against the tug trying to expel him to the outside. Zayan pulled at him until Virgil could reach out to the same lip that Zayan was holding. Zayan might be a thin man, but he has some wiry strength in him. At that moment, Virgil was grateful he did. If he hadn't been sucked into space he probably would've ended up dashed upon the wall or among the flying debris. Either outcome would have ended in a bad day for him.
The pull on him dropped and dropped until it became almost non existent. Virgil pulled himself up on the ledge Zayan had gripped and looked out at where they had ended up. Above them, lights flickered weakly. Virgil figured the lights had there own version of a battery backup. In the partial lighting, Virgil could see they were in a big open area that seemed part hanger, part storage. There were three ships of totally alien design. Virgil could see them from behind. They had eight fins radiating out around a circular engine. They were small, the size of typical Earth single person fighters. They had been only nudged off their pads by the rip in the hull. Strewn all around them and filling in the crack into space were crates, barrels, and boxes. All of different shapes and sizes.
Virgil spoke over the comm to Zayan. "Thanks for grabbing me, buddy. Guess you only owe me one now."
"I say you welcome. My arm isn't liking me too well right now though." Zayan rotated it back and forth, making circles.
"Let's go find Sanford then. He'll make sure that it's nothing more than a strain." Virgil had seen an opening far to the right of where they were now. He directed Zayan's attention to it. "I think we need to get down there and go out that door. Once through we can take a moment. See if we can figure out where we are now in relation to the Dauntless."
Getting down in zero gravity was always a bit of a chore. With someone as inexperienced at traveling through it as Zayan tagging along, it was a real slog. He's gotten lots of real world experience today though. Virgil was able to find places along the wall they were on to use like ladder rungs to pull themselves down. He tried the boots but whatever material the wall was made out
of, it didn't allow for attachment. Once down to the hangar floor, things got easier. Virgil thought it still wasn't a traipse through the park. Looking up to where they had come from, Virgil could see the wall did look different. It looked like it was made out of some milky white substance. Horizontally along it were zagging black lines. If they could touch it, he wondered, would it feel smooth or chalky? Shrugging at the answer, Virgil moved on.
As they passed by the smaller alien ships, Virgil had to use all of his will not to stop and explore them. As an engineer, he would have loved nothing more than to scan them. Start taking one apart and seeing what made it tick would have been even better. With no more than fifteen minutes of oxygen left, now was not the time. Herra was right about one thing, if they could have come in and gotten out in one piece, they would have made a hell of a profit. It could have been that one score he'd been waiting for. With a heavy sigh he made his feet trod on.
"This is all so amazing," came Zayan's voice over his comm. He followed behind Virgil. "Think you could get one of those flying and we could get out that way?"
"Not in fifteen minutes. It would take me that long how to figure out how to open the doors to space. I mean, along the hull there I see indentures that look like hangar doors, but I don't know."
Looking over his shoulder, Virgil eyed the mostly blocked cut through the ship's hull. All the junk in it quivered and vibrated. "Let's speculate once we get to an area of the ship with a bulkhead or two between me and the hull."
Once they crossed the hanger, Virgil found a door like the others they had come across. Like before, he was able to pry it open. Once on the other side, he spent a minute trying to work it back shut. He got it inches away from the floor and just had to tell himself that was good enough. Back in the darkness, Virgil trained his headlamps around the room. They were in another of the red metal lined hallways.