Generation-10
571 Words
A SHORT DETOUR TO COLLECT one of the defense units was worth the additional risk of being seen, Jas decided. If she encountered something dangerous, she would need all the help she could get.
No one crossed her path in the ship’s corridors on her way to the unit storage room. The defense units were all exactly as she’d left them, facing each other in two rows on either side of the room in the dark, as they always were when not in use. She’d often wondered if they ever spoke to each other while they were alone.
“AX10, come with me.”
One of the figures turned and moved toward her.
“Close the door,” she said over her shoulder as she left. The unit’s footfalls were heavy as it followed her to the shuttle bay.
She was in luck. The door to the hold on the shuttle had been left open. She climbed into the dark, bare, metallic interior and directed AX10 to do the same. Stowing away in the passenger or pilot areas was out of the question. There was nowhere large enough for her to hide, and definitely nowhere the defense unit would fit. But tucked in a corner of the equipment hold they wouldn’t be easily seen. The RA teams wouldn’t check the interior before throwing in their equipment.
She’d brought along her combat suit. As soon as she heard the crew arrive for the next assessment trip in the morning, she would suit up. Though the hold offered some protection from the extremes of space, she stood a good chance of dying if she wasn’t wearing a suit, and though the planet’s atmosphere had been cleared fit to breathe, she might need the suit’s protection.
She lay down and rested her head on the unit’s thigh while she waited. Its large, firm muscles didn’t make much of a pillow, but it was better than nothing. In a way, being uncomfortable was a benefit. She couldn’t risk falling asleep.
“Hey, AX10.”
“Yes, C.S.O. Harrington?”
“Do you units talk to each other when you’re alone?”
“We do not.”
“Why not?” Long experience of working with defense units had taught Jas she was on shaky ground asking one of them a ‛why’ question, but she needed to stay awake.
“We have nothing to say, C.S.O. Harrington.”
Jas was about to ask another question, but she snapped her mouth closed. Footsteps. Someone was entering the shuttle bay. More than one person. It sounded like two or three. She sat up. What was going on? It was much too early for an assessment trip. The starship was on down-time, geostationary above the side of the planet currently facing away from the sun so the scanners could take night-state readings.
Whoever was in the shuttle bay, they weren’t talking. The footsteps were headed toward the shuttle. Surely they weren’t going to board and fly out?
She couldn’t take any chances. Jas grabbed her suit and hastily began to put it on. She thrust her legs and arms into the holes and sealed the front. She froze. Someone was walking toward the hold. She couldn’t see the door from her position, but she heard it swing down and clunk closed. She was in pitch darkness before her helmet light blinked on. The floor began to vibrate as the engines started up. The shuttle lifted, and she was tossed onto her side. She clipped her helmet in place and pulled down the visor just in time as they entered space.
Chapter Eight
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- Writer
