The overlords ordered their team to leave sickbay and continue pillaging the rest of the habitat ring, leaving one grunt to stand and watch over Kostelecky. She moved from where she had stood, stepping next to the air vent that had been so intently examined. She played the role of the doctor being held hostage as she looked up at the ceiling, past the grill of the air vent where seconds earlier she had hidden the Poniga. They were safe for now, but unless something was done about the invaders, it would only be a matter of time before they returned to conduct a more detailed search of the ship.
Bailey, Rivera. This better work.
31 CHANG
ESRS Carl Sagan exterior
SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system
May 22, 2050, 04:28 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“It’s showtime!”
Flight lieutenant Denis Chang left the cockpit of the transport after he completed the tedious task of suiting up in an EVA suit. He looked at Pierce and Nereid who all wore EVA suits as well. Chevallier kept her combat armor on and took the time to equip herself with a new Hammerhead helmet from the overhead storage compartment. Afterward, she handed Pierce an ePistol as he was the only one that wasn’t armed. Chevallier gave Chang the thumbs-up afterward, they were good to go. He hoped that she was right since Nereid didn’t understand the concept of wearing an EVA suit for a space walk.
Chang opened the transport’s doors and activated his magnetic boots. He stepped outside onto the hull of the Carl Sagan, just five meters shy of the entrance to the docking bay. When news of the incursion made it to them, he quickly piloted the transport back outside and forced it to land along the outside hull of the Carl Sagan. Luckily for them, the Carl Sagan had come to a full stop at that point, making the landing possible.
The four exited the transport and walked along the underside of the ship, their magnetic boots clinging to the surface of the hull. They stepped away from the docking bay doors and toward what Chang believed to be their only way out of the chaos. He kept his eyes forward during their magnetic boot trek as it was a disorienting one. Technically, they were upside down walking on the bottom of the ship, not that space followed rules of up or down. Above them, or below, depending on one’s perspective on the matter, was the ocean world of Meroien and its cloudy skies.
It was a long way down. Dude, eyes forward!
“Where are we going, Chang?” Chevallier asked him.
“Just before we left Earth the captain asked me to give her a grand exterior tour of the ship,” Chang said. “I remember seeing one maintenance hatch on the habitat ring. It should lead us inside and put us closer to the armory.”
“Well then, you might want to lead the way faster.” Chevallier pointed at the egg-shaped drone ship circling around the Carl Sagan.
The drone didn’t seem to be aware of their presence. Yet.
“Nereid, is it possible you can give MC more of the good stuff?” Chang said.
“That ability drained a lot of my psionic power,” Nereid said. “We might want to consider leaving that as a last option.”
“She almost passed out with that technique,” Chevallier said. “I’d rather not have to drag her ass around.”
“Then let’s do our best to stay low,” Chang said. “If that thing spots us, well, yeah, you know.”
Chevallier grunted. “No pressure, right?”
“The elevator shafts and tethers connecting the main hull of the Carl Sagan to the habitat ring is way the fuck down there.” Chang pointed toward the aft end of the ship, the direction they were walking. “We’ll need to climb up those to reach the habitat ring . . . and avoid detection from that circulating asshole out there.”
The four pushed on, playing a game of cat and mouse with only the magnetic boots to keep them from floating away into space. Magnetic boots . . . Chang thought to himself. It gave him an idea.
There was no up or down, they could walk along the bottom of the hull, or they could switch it up and walk along the sides of it. And if things really got desperate, climb upward to the topside. Just like how the habitat rings rotated around the Carl Sagan, the four moved in a stealth-like manner and rotated their trek across the ship to avoid detection from the circling drone.
Random maintenance hatches along the central fuselage had to be used when they found themselves unable to sidestep away from the circling drone. It was tempting to stay inside and wait it out, or perhaps follow the pitch-black tunnels back inside of the ship. But they needed to stay on course. Most of the fuselage had been taken over by the Architect’s forces so the habitat ring was where they needed to be. Gravity, weapons, and armor awaited them.
One of the long metallic tethers was a meter away arching upward to the giant ring from Chang’s point of view. And apparently, several Architect soldiers were a few meters away as well. They too were using magnetic boots by the looks of it and began to fan out with their weapons forward, ready to kill. They knew the idle transport was outside of the ship, probably the biggest giveaway that they made their escape.
“MC, we got company,” Chang called out to her.
“Yeah . . . I see it,” Chevallier moaned.
Chang stepped next to the spinning tethers. “OK, guys, so, we now have to avoid being shot by them, and the drone, while climbing up to the top.” He looked up and saw how much of a climb was awaiting them. The distance between the main ship and habitat ring was long, kilometers long. He felt as if he was standing high up on a towering skyscraper and looking downward at a city below. “Fuck.”
32 BAILEY
ESRS Carl Sagan, Mess hall
SC-149 AKA Meroien far orbit, Sirius C system
May 22, 2050, 04:48 SST (Sol Standard Time)
The oven timer buzzed, reminding Demarion that his baked dessert was ready. It also notified the aliens aboard the habitat ring that someone was hidden back in the kitchen. The invaders burst into the mess hall searching to find the source of the buzz. The chocolate smell of Demarion’s dish led them into the kitchen where they found the frightened chef amongst the messy recently used mixing bowls and opened flour and peanut bags.
Laser weapons were aimed at him as the alien leaders, the overlords as the rest of the crew called them, stepped forward with their spears in hand aggressively speaking to him in their language.
“Good day to you too,” Demarion said as his oven-mittened hands placed the baking dish in front of them. “Hey, mon, you must be hungry, eh?” Demarion pushed the hot baking dish closer to them, freshly baked brownies, recipe courtesy of Rivera. “You and your friend are my honored guests, have these on the house while I prepare dinner.”
The overlords moved in closer keeping their eyes on the brownie dish, attracted to its chocolate smell. Demarion could tell they were interested in it and cut them a square slice to sample. He demonstrated to them that it was safe to eat, and they became further intrigued. The overlords removed their helmets, showing their humanlike faces to him and the strange glowing cybernetic implants on their heads.
One overlord ate a serving of the brownies and then addressed the rest of the overlords behind him. The tone of his voice was a pleasant one, he liked it. Each one yanked a serving of the brownies and ate it. If the doctor’s message was correct, the Architect wasn’t one to properly feed his troops. The whole dish was consumed by the overlords in minutes. They didn’t care to wait for it to cool down.