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Authors: Joseph Anderson
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happened before it was over. I grabbed him with my left,
armored hand and threw him into the corner of the room behind me. His body
landed on the floor and slid into the wall with a dull thud, and I didn’t have
to look to know that he would die of the blood loss in a few moments.
“That was risky,” Cass said.
“I was angry.”
“That’s what I mean. You can’t be angry.
The pilot will leave.”
She was right. I looked down at the
floor and saw the blood in the entrance way. In the dark it was hard to see,
but not so hidden that someone wouldn’t notice it before they got close enough
for me to strike. I had to intercept the other man before he saw it.
I stepped forward over the blood with my
left leg, knowing that I’d have to bend down far enough to carry my right leg
over. The weight of my armor caused audible footsteps as I made my way down the
hall, but the other man was out of sight and must have been searching the water
room. Any footsteps he heard he would have attributed to his partner, or
whoever the man I just killed had been.
When I reached the stairway I hid myself
from the view of the hallway against the wall. The planet was at the beginning
of its day cycle and light streamed down the stairs, casting my shadow on the
floor. They hadn’t even waited for nightfall before coming down here. They were
either cocky as Adam and I had been, or amateurs. Judging by the civilian
clothes the first man had been wearing, I assumed the latter.
I crept slowly up the stairs. I didn’t
want to leave the base without taking care of the other man but I also wanted
to see the ship, and use the size of it to gauge how many I could potentially
be up against. I leaned myself slowly to the floor and took the last set of
stairs on my belly, all the while keeping most of my attention on what I could
hear from the base below me. A few seconds were all I needed, and I had no
intention of being snuck up on.
At the top of the stairs I poked my head
out for just a moment. I knew that was all that Cass needed to capture what was
out there. I saw a brief flash of the landscape around the ruined buildings and
was quickly on my way back down again. No one shouted, or called an alarm, but
that didn’t mean no one was out there. They may have simply not seen me.
Cass displayed what she had seen in a
small window on the still cracked display of the visor. Over the years I hadn’t
managed to fix it. I was back down at the bottom of the stairs when she began
speaking to me. The second man must have walked deeper into the base to check
the empty, partly collapsed hallways. He would only need a few minutes to
search all of them.
“It’s a small ship. A very small ship,”
Cass explained as she pulled up another window of the ship’s schematics. “A
common transport. Mass produced in the last decade. It’s mostly just an engine
with a few rooms tacked. A supply room, cockpit, and not even separate quarters
for the captain. I’d say a crew of six, at the maximum. Two at a minimum. You
might have already taken out half of them.”
“That would be nice, but let’s not count
on it just yet,” I replied.
“Ah, that’s more like the Burke I know.”
I felt more confident about taking down
the remaining man in the base, but I knew better than to charge at him. If
there was anyone remaining on the ship, I couldn’t risk him communicating back
and causing them to leave. I had to take him by surprise.
After another minute passed without
hearing any footsteps, I slid out from the wall and into the hallway. I walked
down toward the water room as calmly as I could. My heart rate was beginning to
pick up again and it suddenly felt good to hold the blade in my hand. I
tightened my grip when I reached the first corner and stopped to listen.
“Nothing so far. The new guy won’t keep
his mouth shut. Might want to toss him out when we get off this shitty planet.
Did the others find anything yet?”
I was certain that there had
armored hand and threw him into the corner of the room behind me. His body
landed on the floor and slid into the wall with a dull thud, and I didn’t have
to look to know that he would die of the blood loss in a few moments.
“That was risky,” Cass said.
“I was angry.”
“That’s what I mean. You can’t be angry.
The pilot will leave.”
She was right. I looked down at the
floor and saw the blood in the entrance way. In the dark it was hard to see,
but not so hidden that someone wouldn’t notice it before they got close enough
for me to strike. I had to intercept the other man before he saw it.
I stepped forward over the blood with my
left leg, knowing that I’d have to bend down far enough to carry my right leg
over. The weight of my armor caused audible footsteps as I made my way down the
hall, but the other man was out of sight and must have been searching the water
room. Any footsteps he heard he would have attributed to his partner, or
whoever the man I just killed had been.
When I reached the stairway I hid myself
from the view of the hallway against the wall. The planet was at the beginning
of its day cycle and light streamed down the stairs, casting my shadow on the
floor. They hadn’t even waited for nightfall before coming down here. They were
either cocky as Adam and I had been, or amateurs. Judging by the civilian
clothes the first man had been wearing, I assumed the latter.
I crept slowly up the stairs. I didn’t
want to leave the base without taking care of the other man but I also wanted
to see the ship, and use the size of it to gauge how many I could potentially
be up against. I leaned myself slowly to the floor and took the last set of
stairs on my belly, all the while keeping most of my attention on what I could
hear from the base below me. A few seconds were all I needed, and I had no
intention of being snuck up on.
At the top of the stairs I poked my head
out for just a moment. I knew that was all that Cass needed to capture what was
out there. I saw a brief flash of the landscape around the ruined buildings and
was quickly on my way back down again. No one shouted, or called an alarm, but
that didn’t mean no one was out there. They may have simply not seen me.
Cass displayed what she had seen in a
small window on the still cracked display of the visor. Over the years I hadn’t
managed to fix it. I was back down at the bottom of the stairs when she began
speaking to me. The second man must have walked deeper into the base to check
the empty, partly collapsed hallways. He would only need a few minutes to
search all of them.
“It’s a small ship. A very small ship,”
Cass explained as she pulled up another window of the ship’s schematics. “A
common transport. Mass produced in the last decade. It’s mostly just an engine
with a few rooms tacked. A supply room, cockpit, and not even separate quarters
for the captain. I’d say a crew of six, at the maximum. Two at a minimum. You
might have already taken out half of them.”
“That would be nice, but let’s not count
on it just yet,” I replied.
“Ah, that’s more like the Burke I know.”
I felt more confident about taking down
the remaining man in the base, but I knew better than to charge at him. If
there was anyone remaining on the ship, I couldn’t risk him communicating back
and causing them to leave. I had to take him by surprise.
After another minute passed without
hearing any footsteps, I slid out from the wall and into the hallway. I walked
down toward the water room as calmly as I could. My heart rate was beginning to
pick up again and it suddenly felt good to hold the blade in my hand. I
tightened my grip when I reached the first corner and stopped to listen.
“Nothing so far. The new guy won’t keep
his mouth shut. Might want to toss him out when we get off this shitty planet.
Did the others find anything yet?”
I was certain that there had
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