by Adair Hart
“Now that’s awesome,” said Emily.
Andia walked up and tapped at the shield. “Impressive. Fredoria has a similar suit, but it’s much bulkier than this and probably half the functionality.”
Dr. Snowden tapped his interface button and studied the projection. After a few moments of messing with the options, a shield appeared off his left arm. He then pressed his green wrist button, which deployed his repulsing weapon. He waved his right arm around without effort. The repulsing device was light, and he could feel a handle in his palm. “Ohh, yeah, much better. I’m digging this suit.”
Evaran grabbed Dr. Snowden’s arm and pushed it down. “Careful with that in here.”
Dr. Snowden pulled his lips back and clenched his teeth. “Sorry.” He pressed the red wrist button, causing the repulsing weapon to slide back into the suit.
“Also keep in mind that the suits can go for several days without charging, depending on how much you use it.”
Andia and Emily both nodded and then retracted their weapons and turned off their shields.
Emily gave a thumbs-up to Evaran. “Good to go.”
Andia nodded. “Me too.”
Evaran grabbed a lower-face mask with detailed lines on it as he walked out of the room, with them in tow. They exited the research lab and walked to where Rakar stood facing the ramp. His helmet was on, and his suit and weapon were lit up.
Evaran placed his UIC on the back of Rakar’s suit. After it connected, he interacted with his ARI. He then pulled off his UIC and placed it back on his belt. He placed the mask over his lower face, and it lit up along the edges and molded to his skin. “Rakar, can you hear me?”
Rakar turned around and jerked his head back. “Did you just hack my comms?”
“I did. You are connected to the Torvatta communications system now so we can all talk.”
Andia looked at Evaran. “You’re just taking a lower-face mask? Where’s your suit?”
Evaran smiled. “I am wearing it.”
A chill ran through Dr. Snowden. He knew Evaran was not trying to be scary, but the thought that maybe Evaran was referring to wearing skin as a suit made his stomach uneasy.
V had brought the Torvatta parallel to the bottom of the colony ship near its cargo bays and matched its speed. The Torvatta then slid sideways up to the cargo bay side door, extending its shields so it was flush with the door. The ramp extended up to the door, which had two vertical metal bars overlaying it. Each bar had a handle that sat about halfway down from the top of the door. To the right of the door was a massive sealed cargo bay entrance. They walked down the ramp to the door. Evaran walked up and grabbed the two handles on the vertical bars. He began pushing them apart with little effort.
Dr. Snowden chuckled as he saw Rakar and Andia’s eyes widen. They were probably trying to figure out if the bars were easy to push or if Evaran was just that strong. They would find out about the latter soon enough. At least they did not have to go through space to get to the door. He shook his head. “Evaran, you need any help?”
Evaran turned his head halfway toward them. “I am fine. This door will be open in a few seconds. Make sure your helmets are on before we enter.”
Dr. Snowden nodded and pressed the left button on his neck, causing his helmet to spring forward. He saw Emily and Andia’s helmets pop up.
After a few more seconds, the doorway was open, and Evaran was gesturing for them to enter. Rakar went first, with Andia right after him. Emily followed Andia, and Dr. Snowden followed her. As they passed through the Torvatta’s shields and into the ship, they began to float. Dr. Snowden noted the small room they were in must be a type of decompression chamber. It would have been pitch-black if it was not for the light emitting from Rakar’s helmet lights. He wondered how the ship came to be decompressed.
Evaran went in last and closed the door. He pulled two illumination orbs off his belt and activated them. They lit up the small room. “Everyone get your lights on.”
Dr. Snowden tapped his interface button and selected the illumination icon on the interface. It showed an outline of a humanoid body, with various points highlighted. To the side of the body was a circle. He tapped the circle, and an orb launched out from the back of the suit. It hovered over him and emitted a dim light. He tapped the hands, and a ball of light surrounded his hands. He noted that when he touched his palm with his thumb, the ball of light condensed into a beam. He looked up and saw Andia and Emily watching him and then activating their lights.
“We need to get the ship’s power back on so the artificial gravity can kick in,” said Evaran. He floated toward the interior door and scanned it. As he swept his hand along the wall, his beam exposed a dimly lit line that snaked its way to a small panel. He floated to the panel and pulled out his utility handle. Pressing a button on it caused it to extend into a prying tool.
Dr. Snowden scrutinized the utility handle. He wondered how it could make so many different shapes.
After a few moments, Evaran pried open the panel, which revealed a large switch. After magnetizing his boots, which caused them to clamp to the floor, he pulled the switch and then demagnetized his boots, making him float again. The prying tool retracted back into the utility handle, which was then placed back onto his belt. He floated over to the interior door and pushed it open while gesturing forward.
They floated into the large cargo bay. Their lights were like knives cutting into the darkness. There were various small shuttles and cargo containers floating about. Their illumination orbs exited the small room and floated to the top and emitted a bright light, making the cargo bay almost look like it was lighted on its own. Several hallways led off in various directions.
Evaran followed them out and closed the door. He extended his hand and a projection shot up from his ring, showing the ship’s layout. The room they were in was highlighted green. “We need to head to the engine room.”
“Umm … there’s corpses floating around here,” said Emily, pointing off into the distance.
Evaran floated over to the corpses and scanned several of them.
Dr. Snowden noted that they were unusual-looking. Some looked like their skin was made of brown leather. Others had weird appendages breaking through the skin. Some did not even look Kreagan with all the deformations on them. “What the heck is this?”
Evaran studied his ARI. “I am not sure. According to my scan, they were in a state of transformation. No need to worry, though. It appears they are not alive. The moisture is gone from these bodies, and what remains is essentially a freeze-dried husk. V, prepare a diagnostics analysis from my scan.”
“Acknowledged,” said V over the communications channel.
“Those things are not Kreagans!” said Silva, also over the communications channel.
“Silva can hear us?” asked Emily.
“Yes, I can hear you, and see you.”
Rakar looked at Emily while tapping a device on his shoulder.
“Ohh,” said Emily.
“They were Kreagan at one point, however,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, who he envisioned was not liking the corpses. “Wonder what they were transforming into.”
“Unknown. I would guess that before they could complete it, the ship was decompressed and left that way for a while. That would have had detrimental effects on the bodies. All gases and liquids would be gone as well as bacteria over time, and they would shrivel up but still be preserved,” said Evaran.
“Like space mummies without the wrappings. Maybe they were the cause of the decompression, then,” said Emily.
“Possibly,” said Evaran. He slid his finger across his ARI, causing the illumination orbs to brighten and light up the cargo bay.
Dozens of corpses were now visible.
Andia shivered. “Well, this isn’t creepy at all.”
Evaran rubbed his chin. “Nonetheless, to the engine room.”
They followed Evaran down the hallway. Dr. Snowden noticed several
other smaller rooms off to the side as they went down the hallway. As his light cut through the darkness, he could see more corpses. His skin crawled at the thought of the gravity kicking back on and all these corpses falling to the floor. He wondered if there would be a smell, although he was not planning on finding out.
They walked up a ramp and approached the first large room. The illumination orbs surged forward and out into the room. Dr. Snowden paused at the size of it as the group entered the room. It spanned the height of the ship. There were multiple platforms and walkways connected to each other at various levels.
Evaran pointed toward the ground. “We need to head down there.” He pushed off over the railing and toward the ground.
Everyone proceeded to do the same. After five minutes, they made it to the ground level. In the middle of the floor was a large device. It had a cluster of cylinders grouped around one large cylinder. Lines along its side shot out over the ground floor to smaller single cylinders with a ribbed texture. They walked over to the central device.
Evaran scanned it with his ring. “Interesting. A fusion reactor. The injection process has stopped. I suspect when the ship was decompressed, a failsafe kicked in and shut it down.” He pointed to the single-cylinder structures. “The power cells then ran until they were drained.”
“Good luck finding power to start it up,” said Rakar.
Evaran nodded. “We just need to resupply the power cells. The reactor does not need to be turned on. I can supply that power. I need to determine what type of hookup is needed.” He walked over to several large devices on the far side of the room. “It appears the air supply tanks are also empty, but we do not need to replenish those.”
Rakar shook his head. “I wouldn’t believe half the things I have heard if I didn’t see them for myself.”
Andia nodded. “I’m with you, there.”
After a few minutes, Evaran walked back to the group. “There is an external hookup to provide power from a source outside the ship. I am guessing it was used initially to fill the power cells. I will head back to the ship and hook up the Torvatta’s power system to it. If anyone wants to come, they can, or you can wait here. It should only be about thirty minutes or so.”
“I’ll wait. I want to explore this area a bit more,” said Rakar.
“I’m with Rakar,” said Dr. Snowden.
Emily glanced at Andia, who nodded. “We’ll stay too.”
Evaran half smiled. “Very well. Make sure you stay on the ground level. When the power comes back on, the artificial gravity will kick on and the console in the back of the room should light up and show all the power cells along with other metrics of the ship’s systems. When the power cells are full, let me know. I will be able to hear you via our linked communication. I will be back shortly.” He pushed off from the ground and floated up toward the entrance they came down from.
They spread out about the ground floor. Dr. Snowden headed to a small room he noticed off to the side. He jerked his head back after latching on to the doorway. Inside was a corpse with a hole in its head. It was a preserved male Kreagan with little decomposition and no transformation. His hands gripped the chair arms, which anchored him in the seat. It looked like he had been shot execution style. Dr. Snowden wondered if he was killed willingly or not. He shivered at how desperate the situation must have been to come to those choices, then continued poking around the office.
Fifteen minutes later, Evaran spoke over the communications channel. “I just hooked up the power source. Head to the console in the back of the room.”
They floated over to the console. It had several screens showing images of power cells. As they filled up, Dr. Snowden turned around and noticed the physical cylinders in the room were beginning to light up as well. The ones on the screen matched the physical ones. After five minutes, the cells were fully charged. He wondered how much power was pumped through to fill the power cells so quickly. He figured with the Torvatta, it was probably a hurricane of energy.
“The power cells are all charged,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Excellent. Disconnecting the power source now. V will stay behind and keep the Torvatta close. I will be with you all here shortly,” said Evaran.
Fifteen minutes later, Evaran floated down from the engine room entrance. He walked up to the console and placed his UIC on it. He studied his ARI, then looked around at Rakar, Andia, Dr. Snowden, and Emily. “Hmm, I cannot access the command or security center. They must have manually disabled the connection. Nonetheless, hold on to something and put your feet on the ground.”
They spread out, grabbing on to what they could. Evaran looked around, and after everyone had nodded they were ready, he pressed a button on his ARI. A warning light flashed, and after several minutes, Dr. Snowden could feel the gravity. He noticed he could move his arms effortlessly, but figured that was due to no air resistance. The lights had come on, and Evaran had retrieved his illumination orbs and placed them back on his belt. Dr. Snowden shut off his lights, as did everyone else.
“The artificial gravity has been enabled. Given that there is no air here, I would suggest you keep your helmets on,” said Evaran.
“No argument there,” said Andia.
Evaran extended his hand, and a projection shot up from his ring showing the ship’s layout. A large area covering a third of the ship on the third level was highlighted. “This command control center would be a good place to begin looking for the crystal. In front of it is the security control center.” He walked toward the ramps leading up to the third level.
Dr. Snowden took a look into the office he was in earlier. He wondered what the Kreagan’s last moments were. He grimaced as he turned around and followed Evaran.
After five minutes of walking up the ramps, they reached the third level. Dr. Snowden strained his neck and noted there were two more levels. He always imagined a command center should be positioned to look outside, but with technology, it made sense that it would not be a requirement for placement. Probably safer too. He peered into the room from the entrance they were standing at. Corpses littered the ground. There was a mix of transformed and nontransformed. There were also some that had been in the process of transforming, it seemed. Most had holes in them as if something had shot a beam through them. “Looks like a fight happened here.”
“Yeah. Not usually a good idea on any type of spacecraft. It must have been a desperate measure. Good thing the hull is as tough as it is,” said Rakar.
Evaran nodded. “I concur. The security control center should be just ahead. Come.” He strode into the large, open room.
Dr. Snowden noticed that there were four big ramps on each side of the room, one that went up, and one that went down. He figured it was to make it easier for security to get around the ship as needed. He jumped as his foot hit a corpse.
Rakar put his hand on Dr. Snowden’s shoulder. “Steady.”
Dr. Snowden swallowed hard and turned his head to nod at Rakar. The sheer amount of death around him was making his palms sweat. He turned his head toward Evaran. “How many people were on this ship?”
Evaran held out his hand to the left as he kept walking. A projection shot up from his ring showing the number 10,342. “Per Max, quite a few.”
Emily shook her head. “And all dead.”
Dr. Snowden caught up to Emily and put his right arm around her. He gave her a light squeeze through her suit.
Evaran stopped and tilted his head as if listening for something, then continued walking.
Andia caught up to Evaran. “What was that about?”
“I thought I heard movement on the lower levels. May just be the ship readjusting to the gravity,” said Evaran.
“Oh,” said Andia, looking around.
After five minutes of walking, they reached the security control center. There was a split wall, the bottom half made of the same metallic texture as the ship and the top half a transparent glass-like material. In the center of it was a large sealed door.
> Evaran walked up to the panel to the right of the door and placed his UIC. After a moment, he swiped his hand across his ARI, and the door slid to the right. “I disabled the scans and unsealed the interior door as well.”
They followed Evaran through the small checkpoint. Dr. Snowden looked into the two windows on each side of the area and noted they were both empty. Once they were past the checkpoint, they found themselves in a hallway. Smaller ones branched off to the sides.
Evaran headed to the left, and after a minute or so of walking, faced a sealed door on the left side. He placed his UIC on the panel and swiped his hand across his ARI again. The door slid to the right, and he stepped in with the others in tow. The room had a large number of displays and consoles underneath them. Several nontransformed corpses lay on the ground. In the middle of the room was a sunken area reachable by steps. A command chair sat in the middle, surrounded by several workstations.
Evaran walked up to one of the consoles on the side and put his UIC on it. He pulled an orb off his belt and tossed it out. It shot up a projection of the area outside the security control center they had just come through. He studied his ARI. “This is a live feed, but there are some recordings we can check out. They are a bit corrupted, but I should be able to compensate for that. Trying to pull up the last recorded video before shutdown.” He tapped at his ARI, and the projection changed to a glitched view. “Here we go.”
The projection showed security personnel in front of the sealed door. They were firing at semi- and fully transformed Kreagans coming from the ramps. The sheer number of transformed Kreagans overwhelmed the security personnel, who retreated into the control center. After a few minutes, the entirety of the area was filled with multiple variations of transformed Kreagans, who were attacking the doors.
Dr. Snowden’s heartbeat ramped up as he scrutinized the transformed. They moved in an unusual manner and seemed focused on getting to the security personnel. He looked over at Emily, who was grimacing. “Thankfully those things are dead now.”
