Kai watched the Ursaen vessel spin helplessly through the void, trailing a plume of smoke and shattered debris from its ravaged hull. The one mighty Artemis-class ship was now a mere shell of its former self, teetering on the brink of destruction, yet the relentless Stygiamite swarm showed no mercy. With menacing coordination, the jagged cluster of spikes arced through the darkness, honing in on the Karl Jansky like an angry cloud of bees swooping in on a hapless bear that disturbed the hive.
In a devastating eruption similar to a shotgun blast, the swarm dive-bombed the crippled human ship, tearing through the vessel with brutal efficiency. Multiple spear-shaped drones punctured the ship’s hull, tearing through one side and bursting out the other. Entire sections of the craft were torn asunder, rupturing the airtight compartments and venting precious oxygen into space. The escaping gas billowed outward, forming a chaotic jet that caused the ship to spin wildly. Each strike of the Stygiamite swarm was a relentless symphony of agony, like being slowly pecked to death by a murder of crows.
Aboard the Karl Jansky, Shreya felt the familiar buzz as her nanosuit rebooted with an electronic hum. As the oxygen levels on the bridge dropped, her helmet automatically deployed with a series of beeps. A swarm of nanites emerged from the collar of her suit, materializing into a helmet within seconds, as a transparent visor appeared before her eyes, illuminated by a soft blue-white glow.
The once deafening chaos of crunching metals and screaming crew faded to a dull thrum, leaving only the sound of her frantic breathing echoing in her ears. She shifted her gaze to the top right of her visor, where a digital readout ominously showed seven minutes of oxygen remaining, and the urgent warnings flashing in the bottom left indicated the fragile integrity of her suit.
Clutching the bulkhead tightly, she felt powerless as she watched the Karl Jansky thrash violently like a wounded animal. The terrifying last moments unfolded before her like a haunting silent film as shadows danced in the fading light. The bridge flickered with bursts of light as consoles blew apart, the walls engulfed in brief flames that consumed the remaining oxygen. The muffled cries of despair from her crew accompanied the strobing flashes of their distressed faces as they held on desperately.
The strap Nathaniel clutched suddenly snapped at one end, causing him to repeatedly slam against the bulkhead, like a slab of meat being tenderized. Every painful impact was etched on his face until his grip finally faltered. Nathaniel’s limp body flew across the bridge at high speed, slamming into the wall above the sensor station with devastating force.
Below him, Megan clenched her seat with white-knuckled desperation, tears swirling inside her helmet like bubbles in a fishbowl. Each bump and jolt sent shockwaves through her trembling body, turning the spinning ship into a nightmarish carnival ride she couldn’t escape. Her head jerked violently from side to side as the bolts holding the chair rattled loose and the metal frame creaked. Suddenly, the chair broke free from its mount. Megan’s knees slammed painfully into the underside of the console, as a soundless cry of torment crossed her face. The force of the impact sent her and the chair flying across the bridge, crashing into the cockpit canopy. The impact resonated like distant thunder as the chair pierced the glass, sending a radiant aura of cracks outward while Megan stayed stuck to the chair like a fly caught in a spider’s web.
Shreya jerked her head away, her stomach twisting in knots as she closed her eyes shut. Her fingers instinctively clenched around the handhold, pulling herself closer to the wall, like a frightened child hiding from the brutality. Each violent lurch caused her body to sway like a loose hinge, her shoulders slamming into the bulkhead in equal measure. In the oppressive darkness, an eerie symphony of electronic chimes and soft chirps emanated from her suit as microscopic nanobots scurried along the fabric, tirelessly repairing the gaping holes. Although she was thankful for the protection from the rapidly dropping temperatures, she couldn’t ignore the biting sting in her limbs, each gash a painful reminder that she was on borrowed time.
Her eyes snapped open as the grab handle abruptly broke loose, plunging her into a moment of eerie stillness. The curious sensation felt like reverse gravity as her puzzled gaze watched the wall retreat into the shadows. Before she could reconcile the situation, she collided with the deck, her body uncoiling in a chaotic dance of limbs tumbling across the bridge. Her dizzy fall ended suddenly when she slammed chest-first into the rear door, the impact hitting her like a harsh sucker punch to the gut.
Shreya let out a wheezing gasp, her vision swimming in confusion. Her whole body felt sick, a clammy chill spreading from her stomach up to her neck, where it threatened to spill over. She shook her head to dispel the disorientation, briefly catching sight of another grab handle on her left. Reacting quickly, she lunged for the handle, her fingers brushing the yellow-striped surface as the ship lurched again, yanking it out of her reach.
Hurtling across the bridge once more, her back slammed against the overhead, rattling her teeth as she was dragged against the ceiling. Her battered body came to a halt directly above her command chair in the center of the room. Suddenly, the bulb-shaped head of the backrest raced toward her at an alarming speed. She thrust her hands out in a desperate bid for protection, but the chair slipped past her defenses with a brutal jab to her hip. The collision sent waves of agony through her body, buckling her over the seat as a chilling crack fractured her pelvis. A bolt of searing pain shot down her spine, forcing a scream to escape her lips that echoed within the confines of her helmet.
Before she could process the torment, the Karl Jansky shuddered again, spinning in a different direction. Her hands slid helplessly across the smooth surface of the chair as she was flung into the air. Out of nowhere, she collided with Rusty, who was plummeting towards her from the opposite direction. Their instincts kicked in, and without conscious thought, they grasped onto each other’s forearms, a lifeline amid the chaos. Together, they spun in a clumsy pirouette at the center of the bridge, surrounded by a shimmering orbit of debris that sparkled like stars in a fractured galaxy.
Shreya’s breath came in ragged gasps, fogging her helmet’s visor as her panic-driven heartbeat pounded in her ears. She watched in stunned silence as the ship disintegrated around them, playing out in the reflection of Rusty’s visor. Bursts of light from the explosions danced like silent fireworks across his face, etching fear into his eyes, which mirrored the turmoil within her own. His face contorted with frantic urgency, lips moving in a desperate scream, his voice swallowed by the vacuum between them.
Her eyes flicked to the small screen embedded in her flight suit, too afraid to release her grip on Rusty to activate the person-to-person radio. “What?” she screamed.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of plasma erupted on the bridge, illuminating every crevice and shadow as an alien spear shattered the canopy with a violent crash. Shreya instinctively clamped her eyes shut, raising her arms to shield her face from the intense light. In those brief moments of darkness, she felt her body tumble, bouncing off the walls like Yahtzee dice in a cup, until she was thrown free.
As the mayhem subsided, she finally dared to open her eyes, only to be greeted by the shattered remnants of the canopy swirling around her like macabre confetti. Quickly, she found herself drifting among the stars while what remained of the Karl Jansky drifted further and further away.
Paralyzed by dread, she watched in horror as the Artemis-class ship vomited the crew from the shattered bridge. The vessel twisted and spun in a confusing loop before her, drawing her gaze to the edges of her visor as her eyes tracked the ship’s movements like watching the second hand of a sped-up clock. The restless motion made her head spin and her stomach churn, on the verge of nausea. Stabilizing her attention on the glowing oxygen timer in the corner of her visor, she watched its numbers steadily counting down: ‘Oxygen Depleted in 5:30, 5:29, 5:28.’
Capturing her attention, an ominous yellow light flickered from the depths of space. Her heart raced as she realized it was the Stygiamite vessel, silently orbiting the wreckage like a predator circling its wounded prey. The once-ravenous swarm retreated to its mothership, attaching to the outer ring and reassembling the barbed silhouette of the terrifying craft. With haunting detachment, the alien ship resumed pulsating with the same eerie yellow bioluminescence it had before the attack.
Without the protective confines of her ship, she felt woefully exposed and insignificant next to the grandeur of the massive craft, like a helpless ant underfoot—praying she remained unnoticed. As the alien ship moved with unnatural grace, it distorted space in its wake, yet she couldn’t see any thrusters or exhaust. The alien appeared to be propelled by forces beyond her understanding. The starburst-shaped craft glided ominously toward a drifting body in space and emitted a bright yellow beam to shine on the helpless victim. Shreya squinted, shying away from the light slicing through the darkness, only to realize the targeted individual was her radio operator. Instinctively, she screamed his name, “Nathaniel!”
Shreya’s muscles tensed as she helplessly watched the Stygiamite extend thin, organic-looking tentacles from its ring, snaking outward with an unsettling elegance. The tentacles coiled around Nathaniel with a chilling gentleness, pulling him into an iris-shaped hatch that gaped open like the maw of a ravenous beast. Like a vulture stripping a carcass, the alien craft continued its grim feast, savoring the tiny human morsels dripping from the Karl Jansky.
Each frantic breath slipping past her lips reflected the rising tide of dread in her mind, the haunting notion that the Stygiamite would soon come for her. Her gaze settled on the warning notice that appeared at the bottom of her vision, a grim proclamation that reported, ‘cooling elements compromised, immediate failure.’ It felt as if the universe was against her at every turn, starting with the Prefect overriding her authority and the unexpected Stygiamite attack. Now the suit’s capability to vent excess heat had failed, trapping her inside an oven powered by her own body heat, threatening to cook her alive.
With morbid curiosity, she glanced at the clock again, the numbers ticking down like a bomb: ‘Oxygen Depleted in 3:00, 2:59, 2:58.’ As the temperature rose, her skin grew clammy, a soggy discomfort she couldn’t brush away as sweat formed around her hairline and clung to her eyelids. Adding to her problems, each breath felt like scorching embers lodged in her throat, dry and rasping. Ironically, she watched a crystal lattice of frost creep across her visor, the icy tendrils crackling against her helmet as if to mock her personal hell while the outside world froze over. As she smacked her parched lips, the frozen crystals called out like forbidden fruit, a siren’s call luring her toward madness as she considered unsealing her helmet, even just for a moment, to taste relief.
Shaking off the suicidal thoughts, she desperately sought a distraction, anything to divert her focus away from the despair. Still, all she could think about was her looming demise, the shadows creeping at the edges of her vision, waiting to whisk her away. Waves of dizziness flooded her senses, briefly robbing her of consciousness. In a desperate bid to stay awake, she fixated on the relentless countdown reading, ‘Oxygen Depleted in 2:20, 2:19, 2:18.’
Shreya glanced down at her body, her eyes widening in horror at the realization that Rusty’s hand was still gripping her forearm. A trail of blood boiled and twisted into a fine mist from the severed limb, the spiraling pattern winding back toward the Karl Jansky. The pale, frosty flesh peeking out from under a torn nanosuit bore a leathery texture, appearing dehydrated and plump. The gruesome sight sent an involuntary wave of nausea rising in her throat as she stifled a disgusted gag by squeezing her lips shut.
She grabbed Rusty’s wrist to pull it free, but the disembodied hand refused to loosen its grip, its cold fingers digging into her arm like a vice. With each futile tug and desperate yank, frustration clawed at her heart as tears began to well up in her eyes. Refusing to give up, her jaw tightened, and her nostrils flared with intense anger as she slipped her fingers beneath one of the rigid digits. With a surge of determination, she yanked hard, feeling a sickening crack resonate through her arm, the sensation sending a shiver down her spine as the finger finally gave way.
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“I’m so sorry,” she whimpered, her voice trembling as she snapped more fingers. With only the thumb and pinky finger still holding on, she reacquired her grip on Rusty’s wrist. Squeezing her eyes shut, she summoned one final shuttering breath and yanked the limb free.
“Oh god,” she cried out, a raw ache in her chest, “please forgive me. I’m… I’m so sorry.” Her gaze fixed on the severed arm, shimmering with a delicate layer of frost, like the morning dew before winter, dancing in slow circles among a cloud of sparkling ice. As she watched the remains of everything she knew fade away, uncontrollable heavy sobs shattered her heart into a thousand irretrievable pieces. She no longer had the will or desire to suppress her anguish, freely weeping until her throat felt raw. Nothing remained but the relentless countdown of the oxygen timer. With only seconds remaining, her lips moved in unison with the glowing numbers, whispering her demise along. “40, 39, 38.”
Beyond the protective visor of her helmet, the vastness of the galaxy spread out like an endless dream, a swirling canvas of shimmering stars that blurred into a tranquil whirl of glowing ribbons before her eyes. With the time she had left, her thoughts drifted to cherished memories with Den. A soft smile appeared on her lips as she remembered a joyful moment from the previous year. It was the day Den playfully covered her eyes with his hands, guiding her toward what he called a ‘special place.’ She could still feel the warmth of his hands and hear the sound of her footsteps echoing against the smooth, polished floor of the corridor, a rhythmic tap that mirrored her excitement.
“Keep your eyes closed,” Den chuckled, his voice playfully commanding.
A goofy grin spread across her lips as his hands slid away from her face, replaced by the gentle rush of his presence as it passed her shoulder. The urge to peek was irresistible, and with a mischievous flutter of her lashes, she cracked one eye open.
“No peeking,” Den laughed, gently tracing her forehead and nose with his fingers as if shutting mini blinds.
With a soft chuckle, she snapped her eyes shut again, her anticipation bubbling over with muffled giggles. As Den’s presence faded and his steps moved further away, an unsettling loneliness crept in. She instinctively reached out, her fingers brushing through the air, longing for his reassuring touch. Suddenly, she heard a door slide open, followed by a calm, female voice announcing, ‘Welcome home, Mr. and Mrs. Nova.’
“Wait, wait, not yet,” Den urged, capturing her wayward hands in his comforting grasp. With a gentle tug, he guided her forward, the soft give of plush carpet beneath her feet, offering a new sensation. The air carried a crisp, clean scent reminiscent of fresh paint and new beginnings as Den lovingly squeezed her knuckles. She felt him stop and reposition himself behind her, his warm breath brushing the nape of her neck, sending delightful shivers down her spine as he whispered, “Okay, sweetie, open your eyes.”
Eagerly, Shreya opened her eyes, expecting the comfort of her new apartment, but instead, she was met with dizzy, swirling stars. The dream shattered as reality clawed its way back with terrifying ferocity. Panic filled her eyes as they locked onto the oxygen timer flashing ominously with all red zeros.
In a frantic rush, she gasped for one last precious breath, squeezing her eyes shut in desperation to recall her previous memory. Her chest heaved with terror, limbs trembling uncontrollably until she couldn’t hold on any longer. Her breath burst from her lips in a winded gush, her eyes widening in horror as toxic fumes filled her lungs. Amidst the haze of panic, two brilliant glowing figures descended from the stars, radiating an ethereal light that was both beautiful and blinding. Shreya reached out with quaking fingers, a plea for salvation, as the two luminous entities synchronized with her spiraling body. In her final moments of consciousness, a mechanical claw emerged from the light to answer her desperate call.
Moments before, while onboard the Shizukana Kage, Kai grasped the flight stick, his heart pounding in his ears with every minor adjustment he made to the controls, carefully guiding the ship past the threatening Stygiamite. His eyes moved to the external temperature gauge, which matched the universe’s faint background radiation levels of 2.7 kelvins. Hoping the ship’s ability to hide from thermal detection extended to the watchful gaze of the alien vessel, Kai held his breath as the alien craft continued on its way, blissfully unaware of his presence.
“Parri, get down to the cargo bay,” he ordered over his shoulder, his eyes locked on the intimidating alien craft beyond the canopy.
“Alright, alright, I’m moving. Give me a second,” Parri said, crawling along the bulkhead from one handhold to the next. Lingering at the cockpit door, she glanced back. “I still don’t understand why we’re even bothering with the Ursaens. They’re hardly worth the risk.”
Kai clenched his jaw. “Damn it, Parri, just get to the cargo bay. I need you to operate the crane system.”
With a half-hearted grunt, Parri left the cockpit, muttering under her breath as she headed down the hall. Now, alone, Kai’s attention shifted to the contact list, where the sensors had picked up a lot of debris and ship parts, but strangely, no escape pods. “What am I doing?” he mumbled to himself, “Chasing shadows? There’s nothing here. Surely, someone survived.”
Kai narrowed his gaze on the sprawling debris field, squinting against the darkness as he tried to make sense of the chaotic remnants scattered across the void. With the absence of external lights, visibility was severely compromised, limiting his view to only the vague silhouettes of twisted metal fragments and shattered sections of the Artemis-class hull. Reaching for the control panel to his right, he flicked through several screens until he activated the augmented reality mode. As the heads-up display flickered with a ghostly green hue, the wreckage was overlaid by a digital outline, contrasting the profound blackness of space. Unfortunately, this newfound visibility unveiled a disconcerting complication as previously undetected shapes jostled amidst the ruins, adding to the confusion in his search for survivors.
Kai scanned the expanse for a human-shaped figure, a task akin to locating a puzzle piece among an ocean of blank puzzle pieces. Suddenly, an unfamiliar low rumble vibrated through the cockpit, forcing him to react quickly and zero out the ship’s momentum. His eyes rolled upward, his breath hitching in his throat as the Stygiamite loomed directly overhead. His eyes widened with a mix of awe and trepidation as the alien vessel glided past, distorting space in its wake like the keel of a boat slicing through water. At this range, the hull of the Stygiamite craft was a horrifying sight to behold, a gruesome weave of hardened plates that appeared organic in nature, similar to the keratin found in animal horns.
As the Xeno craft came to a halt, its massive bulk filled his view, and a sharp yellow beam shot out, piercing the darkness. Kai looked at the object illuminated by the spotlight, mortified to see ribbons of yellow energy reach from the craft and scoop up a body from the wreckage.
“Damn it!” Kai growled, slamming his fist against the console, frustrated that he hadn’t noticed the person earlier. As the alien craft moved on, scouring the ruins elsewhere, he gritted his teeth and scrutinized the debris, but nothing had the familiar shape of a human figure. Rotating the ship 90 degrees, he angled his gaze downward, catching a quick glimpse of something white, reflective, and humanoid. Jolting over the armrest of his chair with a startled gasp, his eyes flicked back and forth, trying to relocate the fleeting object.
When the vision reappeared, he was surprised to see it was a body in a sleek white nanosuit, drifting calmly through the wreckage like a ghost. After a glance toward the Stygiamite vessel, which remained on its grim task, Kai refocused on the figure slipping away from the carnage. He initiated a series of short, controlled bursts, turning the ship to drift closer to the survivor. With the ship operating on minimal power, the digital range finder was disabled, leaving him to navigate solely by instinct and judgment, a dubious prospect at the best of times. He understood that a single miscalculation could send the survivor careening off the hull, spiraling into space, and likely to be lost forever.
The intercom speaker crackled with a sharp hiss. “I’m in the cargo bay.”
Kai reached over, his thumb toggling the intercom while his gaze remained fixed on the motionless body drifting in the void. “Good, suit up and open the door. I need you to use the loading arm to catch the person I’m flying toward.”
“What?” Parri’s voice squeaked, clearly bewildered. “I can’t do that. I’ll mess it up.”
“You’ll do just fine,” Kai assured. “Just stay focused and calm.”
The speaker scoffed audibly. “Calm… have you ever known me to be calm?”
Kai momentarily let his eyes drift to the speaker, the question giving him pause. He struggled to recall a moment when Parri wasn’t fidgeting with her hands or bouncing her legs. “Oh,” he snapped with a sudden spark of excitement, “when you’re sleeping. Yes, you are calm when you’re sleeping.”
A lengthy silence filled the air before Parri’s hesitant voice piped up again. “You watch me sleep?”
Kai smirked, struggling to maintain a serious facade. “Not all the time.”
“Nope… that’s too creepy. I’m not talking to you anymore.”
Inside the cargo bay, Parri pulled her thumb off the microphone while Kai’s laughter continued to resonate through the speaker. She shook her head with a resigned sigh and activated the EVA function of her nanosuit. In an instant, the helmet materialized around her head with a soft hiss, as she locked her boots to the deck with a firm tap of her heels. Her gaze drifted, almost hypnotically, to the emergency release button for the cargo bay doors, the only barrier between her and the vast emptiness of space. “This is a stupid idea,” she muttered under her breath, gripping the nearby railing for support.
When she slammed her palm against the button, red lights strobed, and the large hydraulic pistons hissed. The heavy creaking ramp beneath the catwalk began to lower, stirring up rust-colored clouds of dust. The moment the compartment opened to the void, the room was engulfed in a violent rush of depressurized air.
Parri was forcefully doubled over the railing as her boots held firm, anchoring her to the metal-grated floor. As the sounds in the cargo bay faded into an eerie silence, she stared in awe at the sprawling galaxy, stars twinkling like scattered diamonds against a black curtain. Parri shimmied along the railing toward the loading arm controls, a curved panel of knobs and screens built into the center of the catwalk. As she grasped the two joysticks protruding from the controls, the massive mechanical claw nestled in the ceiling suddenly shuddered like a corpse quivering with unnatural life.
Parri flinched and quickly released her grip. Peering down at the controls, the small screen typically used to select a target for the loading arm’s automation was woefully blank. Parri flipped a few switches and turned various dials, but nothing registered on the screen. She reluctantly activated her suit radio, desperation creeping into her voice. “Kai, we have a problem. I don’t have a target.”
“That’s okay. I think I’m lined up correctly. You should be able to see the person from the cargo bay,” he replied, his voice less than reassuring.
Parri squinted at the darkness beyond the ship. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
“They might be hard to spot at first, so watch for when the starlight reflects off their suit.”
She gently shook her head, her tone dripping with sarcasm, “Oh, goody, so this will be easy.”
“Exactly.”
Parri let out an exasperated groan. “I wasn’t being serious. This is ridiculously hard. I don’t see anything.” She leaned forward suddenly, eyes narrowing. “Wait, wait… are you talking about that white speck?”
“Yes, that’s the target. Use the loading arm to reach out and pick up the body,”—emphasizing the word—“carefully.”
“But I already told you I don’t have a target lock,” she protested, her eyes darting back to the blank display. “I think it’s broken.”
“It’s not broken,” Kai reassured, his voice sounding distracted. “We turned SAM off, remember? You’ll need to do this part manually.”
“Manually?” she echoed, throwing her hands up in disbelief. “No, I don’t think so. There’s no way I can operate the claw with that level of precision! You need to turn automation systems back on.”
The radio chimed with urgency. “You can do this, Parri. I can’t turn SAM on right now. The power requirements for the ship’s AI are too high, and we’d risk detection.”
Parri crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “Well, I guess we’ll be detected then.”
“Parri, we’re running out of time. I know you can do this. Just stay focused, predict where the target will be, and keep your movements small. I’ll turn on our forward spotlights so you can see, but only for a moment, okay?
Parri grunted, reluctantly grabbing the twin control sticks. “We should’ve left a long time ago.”
The radio’s voice softened, “Parri, please, we have to do this.”
“Why?” she asked, steadying her breath as she aligned the mechanical arms with the rapidly approaching white dot in space.
“Because,” there was a brief pause, “it’s simply the right thing to do.”
Parri’s heart raced as she remained silent, every thought focused on the task. Her hands trembled with anticipation, while the tip of her tongue stuck out from the corner of her lips. As the dot grew larger, she blinked, and suddenly it took on a distinctly human shape. Another blink brought the figure startlingly close, right on top of her. With barely a moment to spare, she swung the mechanical arm in a swift arc, then brought it down to realign.
The figure collided with the claw slightly off-center as Parri promptly activated the capture sequence. The body ricocheted between the metallic pincers like a pinball as the fingers closed, securing the survivor. The tension in her shoulders eased as she retracted the mechanical arm to its stowed position and closed the cargo bay doors.
In the cockpit, the green indicator light for the cargo bay doors caught Kai’s attention as his eyes flicked to the rising air pressure in the bay. “Did we get him?” he asked.
“Her,” came the curt reply over the speaker.
“What?”
“We rescued a woman,” the speaker clarified, her voice tinged with irritable exhaustion.
Kai shook his head, dismissing the minutiae of semantics. “Alright, fine then,” he conceded, clearing his throat to emphasize his next question. “Did we get her?”
The speaker let out a long sigh. “Yes, can we leave now?”
A smile crept across Kai’s face as he reached overhead, activating the lever for the LAT drive. “Yes… Yes, we can. Hold on to your buttons; tunneling in three… two… one.”
Question for the Comments: Shreya spent her final minutes of oxygen dealing with a "severed grip" and memories of a home she thought she'd never see again. At what point in the countdown did you think she was officially out of time? Was it when the cooling failed, or when she started counting along with the red zeros?
I am updating every single day until we reach the finale of this 13-chapter journey! Hit Follow to see the first conversation between the Centurion who lost everything and the thief who saved her.
Rating. It helps the story reach more readers during this daily run!
What was the most stressful part of Shreya's countdown?
