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Survivors of the Euphrates- CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT OUT NOW!
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Chapter Eight- The Search, pt. 1
Thomas explained to Higgs about what he saw the night before at the city. At first, Higgs thought that Thomas had just seen something from an odd angle and was just overreacting. It's not every day you see people turn into glowing monsters, he thought. As Thomas explained in greater detail what he saw, Higgs changed his mind. "I'll call the guards to go look around that quarantined area, we have a few biohazard suits in the armory." he said. "I'm coming with you." replied Thomas. "Sure, I guess. Just be careful." said Higgs.
As they donned their suits, Thomas took the time to note the people who comprised their eight man team. Himself, Higgs, the doctor, and five soldiers. "Why so much protection?" Thomas asked Higgs. "Well, if what you said was true, I have a feeling this has to do with the natives. Judging from the way they handled the Scavengers after the crash, I don't want to see anybody without a gun. Call me paranoid, but I've got a bad feeling about those guys." "Fair enough..." replied Thomas. The doctor interrupted. "Hello you two, I have some interesting news about the patients. They seem to have regained all their functions, but some still have residual fevers. Nothing serious, but I still have no idea what caused it. Perhaps this expedition will answer some questions." he said. "Just be careful, doc. These suits were meant for hospitals, not the jungle. Chances are, these will tear rather easily, and I don't want anybody else turning into a rainbow." said Higgs. "No worries, I'll be fine." replied the doctor.
As they walked, the expedition noticed that the natives did not follow them into the quarantined area. "Seems they know at least something about this area. Probably just superstition." said Higgs. "Superstition? Were you blind last night, or did you just decide to forget what happened?" replied the doctor. "I had my hands full for hours trying to calm them down!" Thomas checked his air supply. "I've got ninety-seven percent and steady on air over here!" he said. "Ninety-six on me, all green lights." replied Higgs. "We should have enough air for a few hours, assuming we don't do any heavy lifting." "Bioscanner still shows nothing even remotely close to the tissue samples I recovered from the patients. So far, we should be in the clear." said the doctor. "Perhaps we should keep going." They walked a few hundred meters farther into the quarantined zone. "Scanner just got a hit, seems this plant has a match within a few hundredths of a percent match with one of the patients' genetic code. Peculiar, really. Do you think a plant could have done this?" said the doctor. "Doubtful, we should have come across something like this before if that were the case." said Thomas. "I've got another match, but this is a different organism entirely. Some sort of slug, it would seem." said the doctor. "And that's another over here, on this flower. It seems this whole area is filled with the same thing, I don't know what to make of this data." "Perhaps it's broken?" asked Higgs. "No, it still works on a control sample I took from my food." he replied. "I wasn't aware our food even had DNA anymore..." said one of the soldiers. "Last time I checked, our MREs were the same halfway inedible crap they've been serving for millenia." Indeed, they were. In much the same way as fragmentation grenades, the MRE was essentially the same thing it had been since the late twenty-second century. Or was it the nineteenth? Thomas couldn't quite remember.
The radio buzzed. "Expedition actual, this is Euphrates Camp, over." "This is expedition acual. Go ahead, Euphrates." said Higgs. "Be advised, radar is tracking a Scavenger patrol moving in from one-eight-zero degrees, ETA is four hours. Euphrates actual expects you to RTB in three hours, over." "Acknowledged, Euphrates. Expedition actual out." "Well, we need to hurry this up. I really want to get back long before that patrol gets close to us." said Higgs. They continued to walk farther into the quarantined area until the doctor said that almost every living thing in the area showed the same genetic code. "Everything looks completely different, though. There's no way these could all be the same organism." said Thomas. "That's what I don't understand." said the doctor. "Hey, I found something!" said a soldier. "Looks like a really big cave. Should we take a look inside?" "Your call, Doc." said Higgs. "I see no harm in it. Let us continue!" replied the doctor. "Thomas, can you bring up the rear?" said Higgs. "Sure thing." he replied. The cave was dark, and the walls shined a metallic blue. "Seems that was a good call. Something about this place already doesn't seem natural." said Higgs. "Bioscanner is registering no living organisms whatsoever in here. Nothing at all, actually. No air, no water, it's an almost perfect vaccum." the doctor replied. "How does that happen? We should have been thrown forward by the difference in pressure." said a soldier. "Once again, another link in a chain of increasingly unusual events." replied the doctor.
The cave was getting smaller the farther they went into it. Eventually, Thomas was barely able to stand. "Should we keep going? I don't like tight places..." said a soldier. "We'll stop when we physically cannot go any farther. I believe we are close to having our answer." said the doctor. Thomas felt a tug on his hand. He looked down at it, and saw a hole. "Breach! My suit's been breached!" he said as sirens inside his helmet began to go off and ominous red lights began to flash. "About face! Everybody clear the tunnel!" yelled Higgs.
END OF CHAPTER EIGHT
Thomas explained to Higgs about what he saw the night before at the city. At first, Higgs thought that Thomas had just seen something from an odd angle and was just overreacting. It's not every day you see people turn into glowing monsters, he thought. As Thomas explained in greater detail what he saw, Higgs changed his mind. "I'll call the guards to go look around that quarantined area, we have a few biohazard suits in the armory." he said. "I'm coming with you." replied Thomas. "Sure, I guess. Just be careful." said Higgs.
As they donned their suits, Thomas took the time to note the people who comprised their eight man team. Himself, Higgs, the doctor, and five soldiers. "Why so much protection?" Thomas asked Higgs. "Well, if what you said was true, I have a feeling this has to do with the natives. Judging from the way they handled the Scavengers after the crash, I don't want to see anybody without a gun. Call me paranoid, but I've got a bad feeling about those guys." "Fair enough..." replied Thomas. The doctor interrupted. "Hello you two, I have some interesting news about the patients. They seem to have regained all their functions, but some still have residual fevers. Nothing serious, but I still have no idea what caused it. Perhaps this expedition will answer some questions." he said. "Just be careful, doc. These suits were meant for hospitals, not the jungle. Chances are, these will tear rather easily, and I don't want anybody else turning into a rainbow." said Higgs. "No worries, I'll be fine." replied the doctor.
As they walked, the expedition noticed that the natives did not follow them into the quarantined area. "Seems they know at least something about this area. Probably just superstition." said Higgs. "Superstition? Were you blind last night, or did you just decide to forget what happened?" replied the doctor. "I had my hands full for hours trying to calm them down!" Thomas checked his air supply. "I've got ninety-seven percent and steady on air over here!" he said. "Ninety-six on me, all green lights." replied Higgs. "We should have enough air for a few hours, assuming we don't do any heavy lifting." "Bioscanner still shows nothing even remotely close to the tissue samples I recovered from the patients. So far, we should be in the clear." said the doctor. "Perhaps we should keep going." They walked a few hundred meters farther into the quarantined zone. "Scanner just got a hit, seems this plant has a match within a few hundredths of a percent match with one of the patients' genetic code. Peculiar, really. Do you think a plant could have done this?" said the doctor. "Doubtful, we should have come across something like this before if that were the case." said Thomas. "I've got another match, but this is a different organism entirely. Some sort of slug, it would seem." said the doctor. "And that's another over here, on this flower. It seems this whole area is filled with the same thing, I don't know what to make of this data." "Perhaps it's broken?" asked Higgs. "No, it still works on a control sample I took from my food." he replied. "I wasn't aware our food even had DNA anymore..." said one of the soldiers. "Last time I checked, our MREs were the same halfway inedible crap they've been serving for millenia." Indeed, they were. In much the same way as fragmentation grenades, the MRE was essentially the same thing it had been since the late twenty-second century. Or was it the nineteenth? Thomas couldn't quite remember.
The radio buzzed. "Expedition actual, this is Euphrates Camp, over." "This is expedition acual. Go ahead, Euphrates." said Higgs. "Be advised, radar is tracking a Scavenger patrol moving in from one-eight-zero degrees, ETA is four hours. Euphrates actual expects you to RTB in three hours, over." "Acknowledged, Euphrates. Expedition actual out." "Well, we need to hurry this up. I really want to get back long before that patrol gets close to us." said Higgs. They continued to walk farther into the quarantined area until the doctor said that almost every living thing in the area showed the same genetic code. "Everything looks completely different, though. There's no way these could all be the same organism." said Thomas. "That's what I don't understand." said the doctor. "Hey, I found something!" said a soldier. "Looks like a really big cave. Should we take a look inside?" "Your call, Doc." said Higgs. "I see no harm in it. Let us continue!" replied the doctor. "Thomas, can you bring up the rear?" said Higgs. "Sure thing." he replied. The cave was dark, and the walls shined a metallic blue. "Seems that was a good call. Something about this place already doesn't seem natural." said Higgs. "Bioscanner is registering no living organisms whatsoever in here. Nothing at all, actually. No air, no water, it's an almost perfect vaccum." the doctor replied. "How does that happen? We should have been thrown forward by the difference in pressure." said a soldier. "Once again, another link in a chain of increasingly unusual events." replied the doctor.
The cave was getting smaller the farther they went into it. Eventually, Thomas was barely able to stand. "Should we keep going? I don't like tight places..." said a soldier. "We'll stop when we physically cannot go any farther. I believe we are close to having our answer." said the doctor. Thomas felt a tug on his hand. He looked down at it, and saw a hole. "Breach! My suit's been breached!" he said as sirens inside his helmet began to go off and ominous red lights began to flash. "About face! Everybody clear the tunnel!" yelled Higgs.
END OF CHAPTER EIGHT
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Chapter Nine- The Search, pt. 2
Thomas began running for the opening. He estimated that he was about seven hundred meters away from it, maybe 3 minutes of backtracking if he ran. "Thomas, my bioscanner is picking up something weird going on in your suit!" said Higgs "Your...wait...Thomas, check your readouts!" Thomas looked at the HUD on his suit, and pulled up an overview of his life support systems. He expected a change, as his pressure suit was compromised and had to exert more force to keep the vacuum from harming him. What he saw was something very different. His suit's piezoelectric layer had been completely eroded, and his air pumps were slowly breaking down. Whatever it was he had touched, it seemed to be ripping his suit apart. "Air pumps are going down, compression layer isn't even there anymore, but I feel fine!" Thomas said. "What's going on with this suit? Do you think I'm just getting false readouts?" "Almost certainly not, the systems were working fine, and they're not going to go haywire from one little scrape. You're wearing one of the finest biohazard suits in existence." said the doctor. "You checked to make sure the systems were working, right, Thomas?"
Everything had been working fine before his suit was breached, why would they stop working suddenly? "It's probably just a glitch, there's no way the entire compression layer just stopped existing, and I'm still breathing fine." said Thomas "Look, we're almost out. I can see sunlight up ahead." They ran for another fifty meters, and emerged from the cave into the quarantined zone. "Okay, air pressure is back up to ten hundred millibars. Thomas, are you feeling alright?" asked the doctor. "I feel fine, but I never felt any vacuum. That said, we're still deep into the quarantined zone. Best we clear out before I get sick." he replied. The team began to walk towards camp. Higgs picked up his radio "Euphrates Camp, this is Expedition Actual, over." "This is Euphrates Camp, go ahead." "Thomas' suit was ripped, we're returning to base, over." "Acknowledged Expedition Actual, we are preparing a quarantine to receive him now." The expedition walked for another few hundred meters before hearing the sound of vehicles. "Get down, stay quiet." said Higgs. "Does anyone see the patrol? They should have been a few hours behind us..." "I have a visual, two APCs and five or six soldiers, at two hundred and ninety degrees, approximately." said a soldier. "Sir, I think we can take them. Those APCs are unarmed and the soldiers aren't carrying anything particularly heavy." "I'd advise we move around to their rear, seems they don't have any sentries back there." said another soldier. "Let's do it. Henderson, O'Neal, you two are up front. I want Gomez and Jefferson bringing up the rear. The rest of you stay within about three meters of each other, pick your targets and fire on my command." said Higgs. Thomas got into position in between Henderson and the doctor, and pulled out his pistol. "I should have brought something bigger." he mumbled to himself. He had been a soldier for a few years, but had never experienced any combat outside of the training simulators. He felt something drip down his forearm. Higgs began the countdown. "Fire on my command in five...four...three...two...one." The team sprang up behind the Scavenger patrol, and two of the enemy soldiers dropped within seconds. The other soldiers turned around and began to fire on the expedition, but fired too high. A shot pinged on a tree a few feet to Thomas' right, sending splinters into his eyes. He fell down, and remembered he had forgotten to close his helmet's faceplate. Thomas sat there for a few more seconds, hearing two more shots ping a few feet to his left. "Two to go!" he heard someone yell. He wasn't sure who it was, or even which side of the skirmish they were on, but he couldn't see anything. He heard another shot ping only a few inches from his head. He felt a pebble strike him on the head. "They're shooting at me." Thomas thought. "They're trying to kill me." He felt a tug on his arm. He felt another tug in his chest. "They shot me." He thought. Thomas tried to say something but he found he could not speak.
END OF CHAPTER NINE
Thomas began running for the opening. He estimated that he was about seven hundred meters away from it, maybe 3 minutes of backtracking if he ran. "Thomas, my bioscanner is picking up something weird going on in your suit!" said Higgs "Your...wait...Thomas, check your readouts!" Thomas looked at the HUD on his suit, and pulled up an overview of his life support systems. He expected a change, as his pressure suit was compromised and had to exert more force to keep the vacuum from harming him. What he saw was something very different. His suit's piezoelectric layer had been completely eroded, and his air pumps were slowly breaking down. Whatever it was he had touched, it seemed to be ripping his suit apart. "Air pumps are going down, compression layer isn't even there anymore, but I feel fine!" Thomas said. "What's going on with this suit? Do you think I'm just getting false readouts?" "Almost certainly not, the systems were working fine, and they're not going to go haywire from one little scrape. You're wearing one of the finest biohazard suits in existence." said the doctor. "You checked to make sure the systems were working, right, Thomas?"
Everything had been working fine before his suit was breached, why would they stop working suddenly? "It's probably just a glitch, there's no way the entire compression layer just stopped existing, and I'm still breathing fine." said Thomas "Look, we're almost out. I can see sunlight up ahead." They ran for another fifty meters, and emerged from the cave into the quarantined zone. "Okay, air pressure is back up to ten hundred millibars. Thomas, are you feeling alright?" asked the doctor. "I feel fine, but I never felt any vacuum. That said, we're still deep into the quarantined zone. Best we clear out before I get sick." he replied. The team began to walk towards camp. Higgs picked up his radio "Euphrates Camp, this is Expedition Actual, over." "This is Euphrates Camp, go ahead." "Thomas' suit was ripped, we're returning to base, over." "Acknowledged Expedition Actual, we are preparing a quarantine to receive him now." The expedition walked for another few hundred meters before hearing the sound of vehicles. "Get down, stay quiet." said Higgs. "Does anyone see the patrol? They should have been a few hours behind us..." "I have a visual, two APCs and five or six soldiers, at two hundred and ninety degrees, approximately." said a soldier. "Sir, I think we can take them. Those APCs are unarmed and the soldiers aren't carrying anything particularly heavy." "I'd advise we move around to their rear, seems they don't have any sentries back there." said another soldier. "Let's do it. Henderson, O'Neal, you two are up front. I want Gomez and Jefferson bringing up the rear. The rest of you stay within about three meters of each other, pick your targets and fire on my command." said Higgs. Thomas got into position in between Henderson and the doctor, and pulled out his pistol. "I should have brought something bigger." he mumbled to himself. He had been a soldier for a few years, but had never experienced any combat outside of the training simulators. He felt something drip down his forearm. Higgs began the countdown. "Fire on my command in five...four...three...two...one." The team sprang up behind the Scavenger patrol, and two of the enemy soldiers dropped within seconds. The other soldiers turned around and began to fire on the expedition, but fired too high. A shot pinged on a tree a few feet to Thomas' right, sending splinters into his eyes. He fell down, and remembered he had forgotten to close his helmet's faceplate. Thomas sat there for a few more seconds, hearing two more shots ping a few feet to his left. "Two to go!" he heard someone yell. He wasn't sure who it was, or even which side of the skirmish they were on, but he couldn't see anything. He heard another shot ping only a few inches from his head. He felt a pebble strike him on the head. "They're shooting at me." Thomas thought. "They're trying to kill me." He felt a tug on his arm. He felt another tug in his chest. "They shot me." He thought. Thomas tried to say something but he found he could not speak.
END OF CHAPTER NINE
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Dark-life Chapters 4-10 have arrived, as requested. ^^
Chapter Ten- The Airlock
Thomas wasn't sure how long he was down. It could have been ten minutes, or ten days. That was irrelevant now. He stirred. After a few moments of trying to regain his senses, Thomas looked around to find that he was in a small room, about two meters by one meter. It was constructed entirely from metal, with rusted patches suggesting that no special care had been taken in preparing it. There was a small metal rack, which he assumed was supposed to be a bed, and a sealed door just barely large enough to accommodate a person. He looked around, and found that his biohazard suit was missing, and he was wearing a torn grey shirt and a pair of old jeans with holes all through them. Where was he? Higgs had said that they could easily overwhelm the patrol, was he in a medical tent in the camp? What if they were wrong, and he was being held prisoner by the Scavengers? Thomas tried to move the door, but it didn't budge. "So it's the latter." he mumbled. Thomas pressed his ear to the door, and tried to hear what was on the other side. "I've got two in the cells, one got shot up pretty good." he heard someone say. "Hey, check this out. That idiot with the ripped up biohazard suit just woke up." "You checked to make sure he wasn't contaminated with whatever crap he had the suit on for, right?" said another voice. "Cray said he had a good look at him, couldn't find anything. He's clean. There was one thing though, he healed faster than all the others. It only took him a few minutes to stop bleeding, and by an hour it was like he was never injured at all." replied the first voice. "Shall we bring idiot number two out?" The first voice casually replied, "I'll get my knife." Thomas stepped away from the door, waiting for it to open. Nothing happened. After a few moments, he pressed his ear to the door again. He recognized a soldier's voice. "I'm gonna rip your eyes out of your heads when I get out of here you slimy little-" He heard a gunshot. "Throw him back in the cell, maybe he'll be a little more inclined to talk later." "Should we bring out the other one?" Go right ahead, I'd like to see him." Thomas stepped away from the door again. It opened, and he saw a man about six and a half feet tall, who proceeded to grab him by the arms and throw him into a room not much larger than his cell. "So, this is the guy who sat in the mud while his friends got shot. Good work, champ!" The first man kicked him. "I bet you'd love to know what happened to them. Hey, fruitcake! Tell him what your boys did to his friends!" The second man stood up, and shoved the first one. "Call me fruitcake again, I dare you!" "Sorry....fruitcake." He punched the first man in the chest. "While you were so busy keeping your own head from getting ripped off by my expert marksmanship, your friends got themselves shot up trying to act all valiant. You survived because you were a coward, and we've got one more which we managed to beat up without even shooting. Well, until just now, if you heard that. The rest of your friends are dead, and it's your fault. How's that feel? Pretty bad, I hope. Oh, who am I kidding. You're probably one of those types that only cares about themselves. If I had to guess, you wanted them dead from the start. You must've been disappointed when we blew you out of the sky to find out that they were still there with you." He kicked Thomas again.
"So, what is it you want to tell us about your other best friends so that we don't kill you?" Thomas didn't say anything. He kicked Thomas again. "I'm getting bored, can we just throw him out the airlock already?" The second man picked Thomas up, and started dragging him through a hallway. "You're gonna love space. It's big, and there's nobody else out there to bother you. Hey fruitcake, you ever wondered how long someone can survive in space without any air in their suit? I say we do some science to benefit all of mankind! Except one, that is." He held a gun to Thomas' head. "Put it on." he said, gesturing towards an old EVA suit, held together with patchwork and a large amount of electrical tape. Thomas put on the suit, and the second man removed his oxygen tank. They shoved him into the airlock. "Have fun, kid!" they said. Thomas felt the air rushing out of the room. He turned around, and looked through the window. This is it, he thought. I even got back into space. Everything went quiet, and Thomas turned to face his captors. The airlock opened. The first thing Thomas noticed was the lack of gravity as he started to float inside the airlock. A robotic arm came down from the ceiling, and pushed him away. He looked around, and got his first good look at the ship that had shot down the Euphrates. It was large, made up of a patchwork from parts of other ships. Some spots were heavily rusted, while others suggested that something used to be attached.
As Thomas drifted, he realized that they had forgotten to remove the monopropellant from the suit. He tried to check the systems. Thomas estimated he had about two minutes before the air in his suit ran out. This wasn't a compression suit, so it had some air pockets in the body. He saw a hangar about two hundred meters to his left. He turned around, and saw the planet. If he could get to the hangar before he ran out of air, at least he'd have some chance at survival, whereas his current situation virtually guaranteed death. Thomas made a small thrust in the direction of the hangar, and began drifting. He made another, and a third thrust to stabilize himself. He felt something click in his suit, followed by a white cloud suddenly appearing and surrounding him. Thomas was sent spinning in the direction of the side of the ship. He checked his monopropellant, and found that the bottle had dislodged itself when he tried to trigger a fourth burst. Thomas saw the ship getting closer. He looked for anything he could grab on to, and found a set of handrails. Thomas wasn't moving fast, and reached the rails in about thirty seconds. He grabbed onto them, and began to make his way across the hull of the ship in the hopes that he could make his way to the hangar. He heard the suit's radio crackle to life. "Fruitcake, I dare say we have a bug on the windshield. Shall we clean it off?" A panel a few feet to his right opened up, revealing a robotic arm. It grabbed his helmet, and a drill came out from the arm. It began moving towards his helmet. "I always wanted to see this, the boss never let me though. You think I'll get in trouble for this?" "Probably not, let's go ahead and break his faceplate." The drill was an inch away from his helmet. Thomas tried moving, but the arm would not let go. The drill began boring a hole into the faceplate. The faceplate fractured, sending glass shards into the vacuum. Thomas felt the air in his suit escaping in a sound not unlike thunder through his helmet. Everything went quiet, and Thomas felt cold.
END OF CHAPTER TEN
Chapter Ten- The Airlock
Thomas wasn't sure how long he was down. It could have been ten minutes, or ten days. That was irrelevant now. He stirred. After a few moments of trying to regain his senses, Thomas looked around to find that he was in a small room, about two meters by one meter. It was constructed entirely from metal, with rusted patches suggesting that no special care had been taken in preparing it. There was a small metal rack, which he assumed was supposed to be a bed, and a sealed door just barely large enough to accommodate a person. He looked around, and found that his biohazard suit was missing, and he was wearing a torn grey shirt and a pair of old jeans with holes all through them. Where was he? Higgs had said that they could easily overwhelm the patrol, was he in a medical tent in the camp? What if they were wrong, and he was being held prisoner by the Scavengers? Thomas tried to move the door, but it didn't budge. "So it's the latter." he mumbled. Thomas pressed his ear to the door, and tried to hear what was on the other side. "I've got two in the cells, one got shot up pretty good." he heard someone say. "Hey, check this out. That idiot with the ripped up biohazard suit just woke up." "You checked to make sure he wasn't contaminated with whatever crap he had the suit on for, right?" said another voice. "Cray said he had a good look at him, couldn't find anything. He's clean. There was one thing though, he healed faster than all the others. It only took him a few minutes to stop bleeding, and by an hour it was like he was never injured at all." replied the first voice. "Shall we bring idiot number two out?" The first voice casually replied, "I'll get my knife." Thomas stepped away from the door, waiting for it to open. Nothing happened. After a few moments, he pressed his ear to the door again. He recognized a soldier's voice. "I'm gonna rip your eyes out of your heads when I get out of here you slimy little-" He heard a gunshot. "Throw him back in the cell, maybe he'll be a little more inclined to talk later." "Should we bring out the other one?" Go right ahead, I'd like to see him." Thomas stepped away from the door again. It opened, and he saw a man about six and a half feet tall, who proceeded to grab him by the arms and throw him into a room not much larger than his cell. "So, this is the guy who sat in the mud while his friends got shot. Good work, champ!" The first man kicked him. "I bet you'd love to know what happened to them. Hey, fruitcake! Tell him what your boys did to his friends!" The second man stood up, and shoved the first one. "Call me fruitcake again, I dare you!" "Sorry....fruitcake." He punched the first man in the chest. "While you were so busy keeping your own head from getting ripped off by my expert marksmanship, your friends got themselves shot up trying to act all valiant. You survived because you were a coward, and we've got one more which we managed to beat up without even shooting. Well, until just now, if you heard that. The rest of your friends are dead, and it's your fault. How's that feel? Pretty bad, I hope. Oh, who am I kidding. You're probably one of those types that only cares about themselves. If I had to guess, you wanted them dead from the start. You must've been disappointed when we blew you out of the sky to find out that they were still there with you." He kicked Thomas again.
"So, what is it you want to tell us about your other best friends so that we don't kill you?" Thomas didn't say anything. He kicked Thomas again. "I'm getting bored, can we just throw him out the airlock already?" The second man picked Thomas up, and started dragging him through a hallway. "You're gonna love space. It's big, and there's nobody else out there to bother you. Hey fruitcake, you ever wondered how long someone can survive in space without any air in their suit? I say we do some science to benefit all of mankind! Except one, that is." He held a gun to Thomas' head. "Put it on." he said, gesturing towards an old EVA suit, held together with patchwork and a large amount of electrical tape. Thomas put on the suit, and the second man removed his oxygen tank. They shoved him into the airlock. "Have fun, kid!" they said. Thomas felt the air rushing out of the room. He turned around, and looked through the window. This is it, he thought. I even got back into space. Everything went quiet, and Thomas turned to face his captors. The airlock opened. The first thing Thomas noticed was the lack of gravity as he started to float inside the airlock. A robotic arm came down from the ceiling, and pushed him away. He looked around, and got his first good look at the ship that had shot down the Euphrates. It was large, made up of a patchwork from parts of other ships. Some spots were heavily rusted, while others suggested that something used to be attached.
As Thomas drifted, he realized that they had forgotten to remove the monopropellant from the suit. He tried to check the systems. Thomas estimated he had about two minutes before the air in his suit ran out. This wasn't a compression suit, so it had some air pockets in the body. He saw a hangar about two hundred meters to his left. He turned around, and saw the planet. If he could get to the hangar before he ran out of air, at least he'd have some chance at survival, whereas his current situation virtually guaranteed death. Thomas made a small thrust in the direction of the hangar, and began drifting. He made another, and a third thrust to stabilize himself. He felt something click in his suit, followed by a white cloud suddenly appearing and surrounding him. Thomas was sent spinning in the direction of the side of the ship. He checked his monopropellant, and found that the bottle had dislodged itself when he tried to trigger a fourth burst. Thomas saw the ship getting closer. He looked for anything he could grab on to, and found a set of handrails. Thomas wasn't moving fast, and reached the rails in about thirty seconds. He grabbed onto them, and began to make his way across the hull of the ship in the hopes that he could make his way to the hangar. He heard the suit's radio crackle to life. "Fruitcake, I dare say we have a bug on the windshield. Shall we clean it off?" A panel a few feet to his right opened up, revealing a robotic arm. It grabbed his helmet, and a drill came out from the arm. It began moving towards his helmet. "I always wanted to see this, the boss never let me though. You think I'll get in trouble for this?" "Probably not, let's go ahead and break his faceplate." The drill was an inch away from his helmet. Thomas tried moving, but the arm would not let go. The drill began boring a hole into the faceplate. The faceplate fractured, sending glass shards into the vacuum. Thomas felt the air in his suit escaping in a sound not unlike thunder through his helmet. Everything went quiet, and Thomas felt cold.
END OF CHAPTER TEN
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So, every time I put some information in, I check the rest of the story to make sure it doesn't conflict with anything.
I have come to the conclusion that the last paragraph of every chapter lives on the side of a cliff.
I have come to the conclusion that the last paragraph of every chapter lives on the side of a cliff.
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Just drew a concept for the Scavenger ship.
Timelapse gif of how it was created-
I made the ship by starting with a fresh design. This is essentially the ship when it is first constructed. No scrapes, bumps, or otherwise. Second, I add some plates to simulate sloppy repairs from battle damage. This is because the captain and crew would almost certainly still be inexperienced in their first fight, so naturally there would be more damage to repair. Third, some parts are added on, and the ship is given some shading to hint at an incident where the ship entered the atmosphere of a planet. Fourth, the bottom part of the ship is heavily damaged, and a hangar is built out of the hole. A few more plates attached here and there, added some more rust, and added some more sensors arrays and a turret platform designed to look like they were welded on, and were originally parts of another ship.
EDIT- Gif seems to be broken, here's a linky link
http://i.imgur.com/Sc4W7lG.gifv
Timelapse gif of how it was created-
I made the ship by starting with a fresh design. This is essentially the ship when it is first constructed. No scrapes, bumps, or otherwise. Second, I add some plates to simulate sloppy repairs from battle damage. This is because the captain and crew would almost certainly still be inexperienced in their first fight, so naturally there would be more damage to repair. Third, some parts are added on, and the ship is given some shading to hint at an incident where the ship entered the atmosphere of a planet. Fourth, the bottom part of the ship is heavily damaged, and a hangar is built out of the hole. A few more plates attached here and there, added some more rust, and added some more sensors arrays and a turret platform designed to look like they were welded on, and were originally parts of another ship.
EDIT- Gif seems to be broken, here's a linky link
http://i.imgur.com/Sc4W7lG.gifv
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Just finished another concept, this one is for the Scavenger dropships. It was created in much the same way as the warship I posted yesterday.
Aaand, le gif of its creation~
http://i.imgur.com/t2hwQGv.gifv
Aaand, le gif of its creation~
http://i.imgur.com/t2hwQGv.gifv
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MOAR CHAPTERS!
Chapter Eleven- The Escape
Thomas wasn't sure what happened, but he was alive. The arm let go of him, and receded back into the hull. Thomas looked around. He was still very much in space, and his faceplate had been shattered. Surely he wasn't in an atmosphere, how could he possibly be alive? He decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. What mattered now was getting back to the others. Thomas grabbed the handrails, and continued to climb towards the hangar. After about fifty meters or so, he was near the edge of the hull. Thomas peeked over the side, and looked down into the ship's hangar. There was a gravity generator inside, and all the ships, if you could call them that, were parked in a haphazard formation on a dirty floor covered with used and broken parts and equipment. There were only a few people in sight, and they were all preoccupied with an engine that refused to stay attached to one of the larger transports. Thomas worked his way around to the bottom of the hangar, and pulled himself up over the floor. He hid behind a series of barrels. Thomas looked around from his hiding spot, and found a transport that appeared more likely to survive reentry than the others. It was about ten meters long, with two large jets, a series of small turrets, and a large gold canopy extending from the front of the ship. He looked around, and waited until the engineers weren't looking to run for the ship.
Once on board, he looked around for the door mechanism. He found a small red lever near the door, and pulled it. The door closed with a hiss. Thomas sat down in the pilot's chair, and strapped himself in. He began to start the craft. "Master switch, master switch, master switch..." he mumbled to himself as he looked around for the switch that would activate the ship's on board computers and navigation sensors. He found what looked to be that switch, and flipped it. The screens flashed blue, and a diagram pulled up displaying the ship's location in orbit, as well as that of the Scavenger warship and a debris cloud about fifty kilometers below them relative to the planet. "Not too bad..." he said. Thomas flicked the switch that would turn on the engines. They began with a loud whine, and a cloud of smoke erupted from out one of the panels under the wing. Thomas winced. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he heard. Thomas looked out the back window, and saw someone trying to pry open the back door. The engines were almost warmed up.
"Guys, some nutjob's trying to fly off with a ship!" The other mechanics came running over, and began to pry the door open. "I'm gonna rip your head off when I get at you, you hear me? I've been working on this ship for the past month and I'm not about to have it stolen!" he heard someone say. Thankfully, they were all unarmed, Thomas thought. A shot grazed his head, and landed squarely in the center of one of the consoles. "You little son of a- I'm coming for you next when we get this idiot out of the cockpit, you hear me!?" he heard another mechanic shout. Thomas turned around to see a pair of soldiers shooting into the ship. He unbuckled from the pilot's chair, looked around, and found a gun rack that had been haphazardly bolted into the wall. He took a rifle, and began firing out of the door to try and stop the mechanics from getting in. A few moments later, one of the shots hit his rifle in the magazine, and he had to back away from the door. The engines were almost warmed up, and he began the calculations for a deorbit burn that would bring him in right above where he assumed the camp would be. As he was taking off, one of the mechanics forced his way into the ship. "You're gonna get it now, boy!" he said, as he swung a lead pipe at Thomas, narrowly missing him. They were nearing the hangar's door, and the blast doors started closing. Thomas picked up his damaged rifle just as the mechanic landed a hit right over his back. He rolled over and jabbed the mechanic with the end of the rifle. The mechanic grabbed the rifle and tossed it out the back of the ship. He pulled a pistol out from the gun rack, and aimed it at Thomas' head. Thomas kicked him in the leg, and tackled him, causing the mechanic to drop the pistol. Thomas grabbed the pistol, but the mechanic kicked his hand, and picked the pistol up again. He beat Thomas over the back with the butt of the pistol. The ship cleared the hangar as the doors were about to close, and the tail was caught in between them. The cabin depressurized as the air left out of the open door, and the mechanic started gasping for air. Thomas seized the pistol and shot him twice through the chest. He sealed the door and strapped himself back into the pilot's chair.
Thomas raised the engines to full power, and the tail section ripped off in pieces of metal as the transport broke free from the doors. Thomas directed the ship on its deorbit burn, when he looked over at the ship he had just left. There was a flash of light, then another, and then he started hearing pinging on the hull of his transport, as the warship brought its defenses online. He tried to return to manual control to evade the incoming fire, but the system began to shut down. A voice came on over the ship's radio. It was the same voice he had heard when the Euphrates was destroyed. "You have escaped death once. You shall not escape it again." The radio went silent. He watched the flashes as he heard more and more pinging, until a shot finally made its mark. The ship was wrenched apart, and Thomas was strapped to the pilot's chair in the front. His burn was nearly complete, but he was off course and falling without any means of slowing himself down. At the very least, he thought, they would see the wreckage and be able to recover what was left of him. Thomas looked around as the ground came up to meet him.
END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN.
Chapter Eleven- The Escape
Thomas wasn't sure what happened, but he was alive. The arm let go of him, and receded back into the hull. Thomas looked around. He was still very much in space, and his faceplate had been shattered. Surely he wasn't in an atmosphere, how could he possibly be alive? He decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. What mattered now was getting back to the others. Thomas grabbed the handrails, and continued to climb towards the hangar. After about fifty meters or so, he was near the edge of the hull. Thomas peeked over the side, and looked down into the ship's hangar. There was a gravity generator inside, and all the ships, if you could call them that, were parked in a haphazard formation on a dirty floor covered with used and broken parts and equipment. There were only a few people in sight, and they were all preoccupied with an engine that refused to stay attached to one of the larger transports. Thomas worked his way around to the bottom of the hangar, and pulled himself up over the floor. He hid behind a series of barrels. Thomas looked around from his hiding spot, and found a transport that appeared more likely to survive reentry than the others. It was about ten meters long, with two large jets, a series of small turrets, and a large gold canopy extending from the front of the ship. He looked around, and waited until the engineers weren't looking to run for the ship.
Once on board, he looked around for the door mechanism. He found a small red lever near the door, and pulled it. The door closed with a hiss. Thomas sat down in the pilot's chair, and strapped himself in. He began to start the craft. "Master switch, master switch, master switch..." he mumbled to himself as he looked around for the switch that would activate the ship's on board computers and navigation sensors. He found what looked to be that switch, and flipped it. The screens flashed blue, and a diagram pulled up displaying the ship's location in orbit, as well as that of the Scavenger warship and a debris cloud about fifty kilometers below them relative to the planet. "Not too bad..." he said. Thomas flicked the switch that would turn on the engines. They began with a loud whine, and a cloud of smoke erupted from out one of the panels under the wing. Thomas winced. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he heard. Thomas looked out the back window, and saw someone trying to pry open the back door. The engines were almost warmed up.
"Guys, some nutjob's trying to fly off with a ship!" The other mechanics came running over, and began to pry the door open. "I'm gonna rip your head off when I get at you, you hear me? I've been working on this ship for the past month and I'm not about to have it stolen!" he heard someone say. Thankfully, they were all unarmed, Thomas thought. A shot grazed his head, and landed squarely in the center of one of the consoles. "You little son of a- I'm coming for you next when we get this idiot out of the cockpit, you hear me!?" he heard another mechanic shout. Thomas turned around to see a pair of soldiers shooting into the ship. He unbuckled from the pilot's chair, looked around, and found a gun rack that had been haphazardly bolted into the wall. He took a rifle, and began firing out of the door to try and stop the mechanics from getting in. A few moments later, one of the shots hit his rifle in the magazine, and he had to back away from the door. The engines were almost warmed up, and he began the calculations for a deorbit burn that would bring him in right above where he assumed the camp would be. As he was taking off, one of the mechanics forced his way into the ship. "You're gonna get it now, boy!" he said, as he swung a lead pipe at Thomas, narrowly missing him. They were nearing the hangar's door, and the blast doors started closing. Thomas picked up his damaged rifle just as the mechanic landed a hit right over his back. He rolled over and jabbed the mechanic with the end of the rifle. The mechanic grabbed the rifle and tossed it out the back of the ship. He pulled a pistol out from the gun rack, and aimed it at Thomas' head. Thomas kicked him in the leg, and tackled him, causing the mechanic to drop the pistol. Thomas grabbed the pistol, but the mechanic kicked his hand, and picked the pistol up again. He beat Thomas over the back with the butt of the pistol. The ship cleared the hangar as the doors were about to close, and the tail was caught in between them. The cabin depressurized as the air left out of the open door, and the mechanic started gasping for air. Thomas seized the pistol and shot him twice through the chest. He sealed the door and strapped himself back into the pilot's chair.
Thomas raised the engines to full power, and the tail section ripped off in pieces of metal as the transport broke free from the doors. Thomas directed the ship on its deorbit burn, when he looked over at the ship he had just left. There was a flash of light, then another, and then he started hearing pinging on the hull of his transport, as the warship brought its defenses online. He tried to return to manual control to evade the incoming fire, but the system began to shut down. A voice came on over the ship's radio. It was the same voice he had heard when the Euphrates was destroyed. "You have escaped death once. You shall not escape it again." The radio went silent. He watched the flashes as he heard more and more pinging, until a shot finally made its mark. The ship was wrenched apart, and Thomas was strapped to the pilot's chair in the front. His burn was nearly complete, but he was off course and falling without any means of slowing himself down. At the very least, he thought, they would see the wreckage and be able to recover what was left of him. Thomas looked around as the ground came up to meet him.
END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN.
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Just finished another piece of artwork, I'm finally settling down on a specific style.
Le gif~
http://i.imgur.com/B1sLydi.gifv
Le gif~
http://i.imgur.com/B1sLydi.gifv
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Did yet another concept drawing, this time of a Scavenger scout.
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Chapter Twelve- The Fall
Note- This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I need time to plan out what happens next, and there wasn't much happening in this scene anyways so I figured I'd just go ahead and release it.
Thomas was still strapped into the pilot's chair as the ship began to break through the upper layers of the atmosphere. The ship's emergency heat shield was still functional from the front, but the generator had been broken off when the ship was shot, and the backup batteries lining the top of the ship were not enough to trigger the active shield from stopping the heat effects from entering the compromised cabin. Thomas looked around for a high-velocity parachute, so he could simply jump from the ship and land safely on the planet's surface. He found nothing, and stared blankly at the console, hoping for a sign of rescue. He leaned back, looking at the ceiling, hoping he had simply missed something. He found nothing. Thomas strapped himself in and prepared for a hard impact. Perhaps there was an emergency parachute system? They came standard on all the transports I've ever flown in. Thomas thought. However, this ship is possibly decades old, with aging systems which were barely being kept alive. It'd be a miracle if the heat shield didn't fail and I simply burned to a crisp.
Thomas started to hear a faint whistling noise, and he realized that the ship was beginning to enter the atmosphere. He looked around, and began to notice small crystals floating throughout the cockpit. They began to melt, and turn to gas. "What are you..." Thomas mumbled. He looked backward, and saw more of the substance in various states coming from a broken pipe where the ship had been torn apart. He looked forward, and heard a faint voice coming from the speakers on both sides of the chair's headrest. At first he could not distinguish what it was saying, but as the atmospheric pressure increased, he began to make out words. "...Hull temperatures rising...Atmospheric pressure detected...Warning...System malfunction...Hull temperature two hundred degrees Celsius and rising... Hull temperature two hundred twenty degrees Celsius and rising... Warning... Hull temperatures two hundred forty degrees Celsius and rising... Warning... Gas leak detected."
It was gasoline. Fire flickered around the edges of the ship as it began reentry. "Warning... Fire detected in-" The vapor ignited. Thomas felt heat on his face, and the console in front of him came off its mounting. It was thrown forward by the explosion, breaking the glass in front of him. It was a small crack, but it grew as the temperature increased. "Hull temperature one thousand fifteen degrees Celsius..." The crack widened, and gave way. The atmosphere which had been held back and forced around the craft suddenly rushed through it. Thomas was thrown against the back of his chair, and blacked out. "Warning... Cockpit fracture detected...Warning...altitude five thousand meters... Warning... altitude four thousand six hundred meters..." Thomas woke up. He looked around, and saw a blue light. He blacked out again. The ship hit the surface.
END OF CHAPTER TWELVE.
Note- This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I need time to plan out what happens next, and there wasn't much happening in this scene anyways so I figured I'd just go ahead and release it.
Thomas was still strapped into the pilot's chair as the ship began to break through the upper layers of the atmosphere. The ship's emergency heat shield was still functional from the front, but the generator had been broken off when the ship was shot, and the backup batteries lining the top of the ship were not enough to trigger the active shield from stopping the heat effects from entering the compromised cabin. Thomas looked around for a high-velocity parachute, so he could simply jump from the ship and land safely on the planet's surface. He found nothing, and stared blankly at the console, hoping for a sign of rescue. He leaned back, looking at the ceiling, hoping he had simply missed something. He found nothing. Thomas strapped himself in and prepared for a hard impact. Perhaps there was an emergency parachute system? They came standard on all the transports I've ever flown in. Thomas thought. However, this ship is possibly decades old, with aging systems which were barely being kept alive. It'd be a miracle if the heat shield didn't fail and I simply burned to a crisp.
Thomas started to hear a faint whistling noise, and he realized that the ship was beginning to enter the atmosphere. He looked around, and began to notice small crystals floating throughout the cockpit. They began to melt, and turn to gas. "What are you..." Thomas mumbled. He looked backward, and saw more of the substance in various states coming from a broken pipe where the ship had been torn apart. He looked forward, and heard a faint voice coming from the speakers on both sides of the chair's headrest. At first he could not distinguish what it was saying, but as the atmospheric pressure increased, he began to make out words. "...Hull temperatures rising...Atmospheric pressure detected...Warning...System malfunction...Hull temperature two hundred degrees Celsius and rising... Hull temperature two hundred twenty degrees Celsius and rising... Warning... Hull temperatures two hundred forty degrees Celsius and rising... Warning... Gas leak detected."
It was gasoline. Fire flickered around the edges of the ship as it began reentry. "Warning... Fire detected in-" The vapor ignited. Thomas felt heat on his face, and the console in front of him came off its mounting. It was thrown forward by the explosion, breaking the glass in front of him. It was a small crack, but it grew as the temperature increased. "Hull temperature one thousand fifteen degrees Celsius..." The crack widened, and gave way. The atmosphere which had been held back and forced around the craft suddenly rushed through it. Thomas was thrown against the back of his chair, and blacked out. "Warning... Cockpit fracture detected...Warning...altitude five thousand meters... Warning... altitude four thousand six hundred meters..." Thomas woke up. He looked around, and saw a blue light. He blacked out again. The ship hit the surface.
END OF CHAPTER TWELVE.
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Chapter Thirteen- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Euphrates
The blue glow Thomas saw was simply the console flickering back to life for a second. His entirely average human body slammed into the ground at orbital velocity, killing him.
THE END.
loljk
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Chapter Thirteen- The Medicine Man
Thomas felt something move him. He could just barely make out a bright light, and he felt the sensation of being carried. He blacked out again. Thomas opened his eyes a few hours later. "Hey, look who's finally awake... Easy, easy. You're weak." Thomas looked around. His neck hurt. He squinted in the light, but slowly began to make out the figure of a man sitting in a chair, drinking something. "You fell pretty hard, I thought you weren't going to pull through. That said, I saw you glowing, so I figured you'd make it with a little help." the man said. Thomas tried to speak, but he couldn't form the words. "You've got more broken bones than I can count on one hand, and you managed to basically turn your entire body into a bruise. You were quite the mess when I found you. A very impressive landing, though. Here, drink this." He held a small pitcher over Thomas' head, which Thomas drank from. Whatever it was, Thomas thought, it certainly wasn't water. The liquid tasted like a mixture of sour cardboard and crude oil, and had the consistency of syrup.
Thomas nearly gagged. "What was that?" he said. "Your people would probably call it liquid carbon. We just call it Carba sap." the man replied. "My name is Joshua Verde. I'm the town doctor. What's yours, stranger?" "Thomas Eyri. Where am I?" Thomas replied. "You crashed in New Constantinople just short of the ocean on the Istanbul Peninsula. A few degrees more and you would have ended up in the water." Joshua said. "You pulled through, evidently, but it's going to be a day or two at the least before you are well enough to walk." Thomas looked around. He was in a small, neat room filled with bookshelves. He was laying on a bed next to a window. Thomas tried to sit up to look outside, but laid back down after feeling a sharp pain in his chest. "Easy, Thomas. I just said you were not well. Here, have another drink." He handed Thomas the pitcher. "Why would drinking carbon help me get better, exactly?" Thomas asked. "You have the glow, but yours is weak. You need to drink this to replenish it." Joshua replied. "Glow? You mean like those people in the medical tent?" Thomas said. "I do not know what tent you are referring to, but if your people were glowing then they have it too." Joshua replied. "Now, drink." "Does that mean I'm infected too? Did I turn into one of those monsters like they did?" Thomas asked, frantically. "Shut up and drink. You're too weak to be worrying about your friends right now." Joshua said, as he forced the pitcher into Thomas' mouth. Thomas nearly gagged on the black sludge. "See, you're fine." Thomas was feeling tired, and wasn't so sure of Joshua's statement.
Thomas fell asleep, and went in and out of sleep for a few days. Eventually, he woke up. Joshua was nowhere to be seen. "Joshua? Hello? I'm awake..." Thomas tried to get up. He found he could walk easily enough with little pain. He walked through the door into a bathroom. He washed his face in the sink, which he found had running water, and looked in the mirror. He was covered in bandages, and his eyes had a slight blue tint to them. He stared into the mirror and tried to recollect what had happened to get him into his current position. He remembered getting his suit ripped, and everyone running out from the cave. He remembered getting caught by the Scavengers, and he... The suit. There was no air in the cave and he was fine. He had been shot and he was fine. His suit had been broken by the drill, and he was fine. He fell from orbit and he was still fine. Was this all just a big dream? Surely he couldn't have survived in space without his suit like that, much less hitting the ground at orbital velocity. Thomas stared intently into the mirror. Was he already dead? Perhaps he was just delusional? Thomas heard the door open.
"Ah, you're up! How do you feel?" It was Joshua. "I feel like I don't know what's going on." Thomas replied. "You crashed a ship in my front yard, for one. Well, at least it wasn't as bad as all those other ones in the real big ship that nearly landed on the launch complex." Joshua replied. "You mean the Euphrates? We're near them?" "Sort of. They're about a day's hike North of us." "I need to go see them as soon as I can. Are the looking for me?" "They didn't mention losing anybody. I don't think they'd notice, to be honest. They've been busy keeping the people that shot them down from taking their reactor." "The reactor? That was in the aft section of the ship." Thomas said. "Yeah, they seemed awful attached to it. I mean I would be too if it kept the few antiaircraft weapons I had running, but these guys are devoted to that thing. It's a lot more powerful than the one we have." Joshua replied. "You know them?" "I was in the front half of the Euphrates. We assumed they had all died." "Well, isn't that a pleasant little surprise, then." Joshua said. "I'll take you to them tomorrow, I want to make sure you're okay before we go walking for a day straight."
END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
Thomas felt something move him. He could just barely make out a bright light, and he felt the sensation of being carried. He blacked out again. Thomas opened his eyes a few hours later. "Hey, look who's finally awake... Easy, easy. You're weak." Thomas looked around. His neck hurt. He squinted in the light, but slowly began to make out the figure of a man sitting in a chair, drinking something. "You fell pretty hard, I thought you weren't going to pull through. That said, I saw you glowing, so I figured you'd make it with a little help." the man said. Thomas tried to speak, but he couldn't form the words. "You've got more broken bones than I can count on one hand, and you managed to basically turn your entire body into a bruise. You were quite the mess when I found you. A very impressive landing, though. Here, drink this." He held a small pitcher over Thomas' head, which Thomas drank from. Whatever it was, Thomas thought, it certainly wasn't water. The liquid tasted like a mixture of sour cardboard and crude oil, and had the consistency of syrup.
Thomas nearly gagged. "What was that?" he said. "Your people would probably call it liquid carbon. We just call it Carba sap." the man replied. "My name is Joshua Verde. I'm the town doctor. What's yours, stranger?" "Thomas Eyri. Where am I?" Thomas replied. "You crashed in New Constantinople just short of the ocean on the Istanbul Peninsula. A few degrees more and you would have ended up in the water." Joshua said. "You pulled through, evidently, but it's going to be a day or two at the least before you are well enough to walk." Thomas looked around. He was in a small, neat room filled with bookshelves. He was laying on a bed next to a window. Thomas tried to sit up to look outside, but laid back down after feeling a sharp pain in his chest. "Easy, Thomas. I just said you were not well. Here, have another drink." He handed Thomas the pitcher. "Why would drinking carbon help me get better, exactly?" Thomas asked. "You have the glow, but yours is weak. You need to drink this to replenish it." Joshua replied. "Glow? You mean like those people in the medical tent?" Thomas said. "I do not know what tent you are referring to, but if your people were glowing then they have it too." Joshua replied. "Now, drink." "Does that mean I'm infected too? Did I turn into one of those monsters like they did?" Thomas asked, frantically. "Shut up and drink. You're too weak to be worrying about your friends right now." Joshua said, as he forced the pitcher into Thomas' mouth. Thomas nearly gagged on the black sludge. "See, you're fine." Thomas was feeling tired, and wasn't so sure of Joshua's statement.
Thomas fell asleep, and went in and out of sleep for a few days. Eventually, he woke up. Joshua was nowhere to be seen. "Joshua? Hello? I'm awake..." Thomas tried to get up. He found he could walk easily enough with little pain. He walked through the door into a bathroom. He washed his face in the sink, which he found had running water, and looked in the mirror. He was covered in bandages, and his eyes had a slight blue tint to them. He stared into the mirror and tried to recollect what had happened to get him into his current position. He remembered getting his suit ripped, and everyone running out from the cave. He remembered getting caught by the Scavengers, and he... The suit. There was no air in the cave and he was fine. He had been shot and he was fine. His suit had been broken by the drill, and he was fine. He fell from orbit and he was still fine. Was this all just a big dream? Surely he couldn't have survived in space without his suit like that, much less hitting the ground at orbital velocity. Thomas stared intently into the mirror. Was he already dead? Perhaps he was just delusional? Thomas heard the door open.
"Ah, you're up! How do you feel?" It was Joshua. "I feel like I don't know what's going on." Thomas replied. "You crashed a ship in my front yard, for one. Well, at least it wasn't as bad as all those other ones in the real big ship that nearly landed on the launch complex." Joshua replied. "You mean the Euphrates? We're near them?" "Sort of. They're about a day's hike North of us." "I need to go see them as soon as I can. Are the looking for me?" "They didn't mention losing anybody. I don't think they'd notice, to be honest. They've been busy keeping the people that shot them down from taking their reactor." "The reactor? That was in the aft section of the ship." Thomas said. "Yeah, they seemed awful attached to it. I mean I would be too if it kept the few antiaircraft weapons I had running, but these guys are devoted to that thing. It's a lot more powerful than the one we have." Joshua replied. "You know them?" "I was in the front half of the Euphrates. We assumed they had all died." "Well, isn't that a pleasant little surprise, then." Joshua said. "I'll take you to them tomorrow, I want to make sure you're okay before we go walking for a day straight."
END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
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Enjoy a picture of the Euphrates' construction team.
that's not actually them but it's still inside the Euphrates so yeah