"Breaking" by Frost - **MATURE** (brief profanity & violence)

[Frost]

Hey all! I wrote this a few weeks ago to submit for a contest (not sure what's happened yet, but I had a blast writing it!), and wanted to share with you all. I've tagged the post as Mature due to some profanity and violence; nothing gratuitous (hopefully), but I want to comply with all the board rules and make sure that everything is approved and kosher. It's a sci-fi tale in the vein of 1979's 'Alien,' and I hope you enjoy. Definitely let me know what you think!

///


"You humans...you...wretched things."


Nax sneered, and Laredo chuckled. Pope shook her head and sighed. "Stow it, Nax," she warned. She thumbed the mic on her headset. "Get me traffic again," she said.


Nax flipped the toggle on his console. His second eyelids narrowed. "You're live."

The speakers burped distorted conversations that bordered static. Pope straightened and stared at nothing as she repeated her message. "Nassau Station, this is Commercial Breaker Astrea, en route to Outretoiles transporting out of Weitrand, traveling LTL heavy and intermodal. Over."


The bridge trembled. Colored waves ran over Laredo's screen. "Magnetic shift," he called to Pope over his shoulder.


She nodded, still staring at the void out the viewport. "Nassau Station, Astrea. Please respond."


The overlapping noise dimmed, replaced by a scrambled reply that buzzed the speakers. "Copy, Astrea, Nassau reading. Got you in the lane, two-one by seven-dot-four. Chief Administrative Officer Simpkins calling. Right on time, Pope...good job."


Pope grinned as Laredo gave her a thumbs-up from his slouched position. "Appreciated, Nassau. Any updates?"


"Another shift," Laredo called out; the ship responded in vibrations. He depressed a few keys. "Mags increasing by half, Cap."


Static bit Pope's ear for a moment, then: "I don't read you, Astrea. Updates about what?"


"So...clever," Nax said from his station, leering in Laredo's direction. "So...arrogant."


Pope frowned at Nax. "Updates on orbit window, forecast of asteroidal intercept...give me a break, Simpkins, I've got myself and a two-man crew, so we're basically flying blind at a planet with a moon on my ####."


"Don't call me a 'man'," Nax said.


"I said stow it, Nax!" Pope yelled at Nax, her eyes aflame.


"My apologies, Captain," Nax said. He smiled and bared three rows of jagged teeth. "I didn't say 'please,' did I?"


Laredo sighed. "Oh, for the love of—"


Pope snapped her fingers at Laredo and held her hand up to the headset. "What was that, Nassau? I didn't copy, over." She locked eyes with Laredo, gestured at her mic, and mouthed several profanities. Laredo threw his arms up and slouched back to his screens.


"—said there's nothing different from the plan filed before you departed, Astrea. You're due to hit the outer edge by 0700 tomorrow. Surveys found mostly iron/magnesite, maybe platinum. You're a tough ship and a big girl, Pope, and I'm not your papa, I'm not gonna hold your hand. C'mon, get it done!"


"Yeah, copy," Pope said, pulling her headset down around her neck. "Prick."


"I heard tha—!" Pope flicked a finger, and Simpkins bled back into the cacophony of intergalactic chatter. She hissed through her teeth and scratched both hands through her hair.


"Gotta love the corporate types," she said to the bridge. "Meeting in the kitchen in five."


"Well done making new friends, Captain," Nax said. His laughter rumbled deep, and soon Laredo and Pope joined him.


///


Laredo attempted to resuscitate a mug of stale coffee and rubbed at his stubble as he stirred at the dark liquid. "What's going on, Ginn?" he asked. Pope cocked her head at Laredo, and he recognized his overstep. "Sorry, Captain."


Pope joined Laredo at the table with her own mug. "Company's got us out here to break our way to Outretoiles. We've got to go through what's left of their third moon; it was destroyed during the war, and ended up making a nice ring of asteroids."


"Charming," Nax said, his large head against the wall and back to the table.

Pope ignored him and continued to Laredo. "Word is the provisional government on Weitrand is sending something to the Outrets, and that's what we're hauling."


"What is it?" Laredo asked.


Pope swallowed a mouthful and grimaced. "Don't know. An olive branch, I'm guessing."


"It's big," Nax said.


Pope pushed away from the table and went to the small fridge next to Nax. "The bigger the haul, the bigger the pay: triple time, plus seven weeks. All cred." Laredo whistled, and watched Pope uncap an unlabeled bottle, pour the amber contents into her mug, and return the bottle to the fridge.


"About twenty-two hundred kilometers in diameter," Nax added. He rapped his head against the wall, as if keeping time with a silent song only he heard.


"That'll take both the mains just to tug that." Laredo shook his head. "I dunno...can the quads give us the thrust we need for the breaking?"


"Hell yeah," Pope said. She drank on her mug as she walked back to the table. "The Astrea was built for this. Might be a little sluggish on the port anchor, but we'll steer her nose just fine. If anything, the haul might give us some extra momentum to work through those rocks."


"Keep an eye on those red-lines, Captain," Nax warned, still rapping. "Don't want your precious engines to seize, do we?"


Pope squinted at Nax's anvil-shaped head. "You okay, Nax? You look flush."


Nax pushed away from the wall and walked past the table, intent on his ultimate destination. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you," he spoke rapidly, barely pausing for breath. "I think I'll retire for the evening and leave you two to decide the moral reasonings behind our current mission, aside from your own covetous, monetary gain, that is. Filthy mammals."


"Good night, Nax," Laredo said, saluting with his mug.


"Don't forget your injection!" Pope hollered. She smirked and shook her head. "Trailians...am I right? I wouldn't bother, except it's company policy...adding a few Johns outside the neighborhood to each crew to help with...inclusion and...diversity." She blew at her bangs from her bottom lip. "But you already knew that, didn't you, Laredo?"


Laredo nodded. "This isn't my first breaking mission for the company. I did a stint with the Erebus when they were working through Proxmia C-B..."


"The one where the comet smashed through the planet?" Pope asked.


Laredo nodded. "It was a mess, the whole system. Nothing inhabited, of course, but we lost a couple of smaller stations on the outskirts due to the blow-out. Probably less than a hundred dead overall."


"That's decent," Pope nodded.


"We had an evac call, and showed up with a dozen other ships. We were the only breaker, so we took our time and called the shots on how things went. We broke through two thousand metric tons before the first transport made it through. It took us 35 hours straight, but we made it, and rescued about two dozen scientists." Laredo smiled at Pope. "It felt good to actually accomplish something with a trip, you know? Not just busting rock to get ore shipped, or tapping for liquid nitrogen veins."


"Twenty-four people got to go home, thanks to you." Pope nodded. "I get it. Hopefully we're doing something similar here."


"You think so?" Laredo asked. "It's none of my business...I mean, I have no feelings either way. I didn't even know there was a war, you know?"


"Most people didn't," Pope said. "Affected shipping in the region for a bit, but nothing major."


"I'd like to think what we're doing is the right thing, you know? I mean, I don't want this—our participating—to end up causing more harm than good."


"I hear you," Pope said. "But we're shippers; company says go, we load up, fuel up, and go. We don't get to open the boxes, right?"


Laredo shrugged, and watched Pope down the remnants of her mug. "Easy on that coffee, Cap."


"Nax is gone; you can call me Ginn now," Pope said. She wiped at her lips with her fingers and exhaled hard. "I figure we'll hit it at 0700 tomorrow and push to full, see what she can handle. After the first couple, we can ease off if we need to. Last orbital scan put a decent aggregate field around Outretoiles, so we're looking at a solid 48-hour break schedule."


Laredo finished his mug. "Rotating shifts?"


"You and Nax," Pope said. "I'll take a couple stims to stay alert."


"Forget the engines; I'm more concerned about your burnout, Ginn."


Pope stared out the window at the approaching planet, still the size of her thumbnail. "I'll be okay; I'm always okay." She pushed up from the table and set her mug in the sink. "Set the autopilot on six-zero, and then come on back. Let's hit the sack."


"What, a sleepover?" Laredo asked, standing and stretching.


"I'm not tired, if you're not," Pope said with a sly smirk.


"Your bunk it is," Laredo agreed. He killed the lights in the kitchen and descended to the bridge while Pope let her hair down and walked to her cabin. She opened the door...and then paused. She turned to her right, staring down the darkened hallway. Did she hear something? Something like...a hissed breathing? She waited for a moment longer, shook her head, and went into her cabin.


///


"Go to full."


"Full thrust, copy," Laredo said. All three occupants of the bridge wore headsets to compensate for the deafening roars that came as a side-effect of asteroid breaking. The bridge began to tremble, and Laredo glanced up at the overhead monitors. "Magnetic turbulence shifting frequencies, Cap."


"Nax," Pope called.


"Yes, yes yes yessss," Nax said, expelling the rest of his breath through his teeth. "Augmenting compensator coils with auxiliary power. Quads active at fifteen percent."


"Mains are lit," Laredo said. He flipped a toggle down on a console above his head, and nodded at the response. "She's haulin', Cap."


The starfield surrounding Outretoiles began to stretch, and the orange planet grew larger. Pope turned her neck towards Nax, and noted the green dots of sweat on the Trailian's forehead. "Activate the amphibs, full screens."


"Amphibians active, Captain," Nax replied, his fourteen fingers blurry across his console. Amber and blue lights strobed from fixed points atop the Astrea and bathed the immediate space in washes of psychedelic hues.


"PROXIMITY ALERT." The emotionless male voice of the Astrea main drive boomed across the bridge.


"Switch to hypersonar," Pope said. She tugged at the thick straps protruding from her contoured seat and fastened them to the waist belt buckle covering her lap. "Belts!"


Laredo slid his arms through his straps and clicked them closed in a single move. Nax hissed and stared at his screen. The hypersonar screamed.


"Starboard side," Nax said.


The large floating boulder smashed against the front of the Astrea and showered razor-sharp fragments across the viewport. The bridge rocked and shook with the impact, dipping slightly as the arrowhead-shaped breaker slipped through the bubble of increased gravity from the pulverized rock.


"####!" Laredo cried, rubbing at his face. His voice trembled while he laughed. "First one always gets me."


Pope nodded. "More where that came—"


The hypersonar screamed.


"Port," Nax said.


Another tremendous crash, metal groaning against stone and mineral. Blue-white sparks lit and exploded in sickly angles across the front of the vessel. Pope gripped the armrests of her chair as her head flopped freely on her neck like a rubber ball on a string. Nax groaned and wheezed as he struggled for his footing, clinging to his controls with all of his strength.


"She can handle it!" Pope called out.


The hypersonar screamed twice, then a third time.


"Starboard, then port—I mean, starboard, then dead ah—"


Nax didn't finish the call. The ship rocked side to side, suddenly dipped nearly perpendicular, then lifted violently on an invisible wave like a sailboat cresting a storm's wave. Laredo growled through clenched teeth as he watched his keyboard sliding away from his position.


"We're losing position, Cap!" Laredo called. "She's twisting in—"


The hypersonar screamed and didn't stop.


"All sides," Nax said, flaring the hoods on his neck. "All sides!"


"Brace!" Pope yelled.


The following seconds came and went in bursts of overwhelming sound, torrents of tremendous pressure, and flashes of blinking and seizing screens, wrapped in the ever-present howl of the hypersonar that raised and lowered pitch in eerie, unnatural tones. The Astrea burst through dead, colliding rock like a frozen bullet, dripping curtains of white-hot fragments behind her wake that disintegrated into starry, blurry dots against the black void of space. Laredo felt himself heave and give, straining against the belts that held him in place, his brain trying to leave his skull as the Astrea continued to barrel through the floating, impenetrable wall surrounding the rapidly-expanding planet. He forced himself to exhale, and struggled to inhale.


"B-b-b-back her offfffff!" Pope screamed. Laredo heard the order, fought to understand it, and tried even harder to reach the throttle stick to his right. His mind screamed at his arm to move, shove through the invisible muck of the gravity-sick bridge and grab hold of that lever, bones be damned. His armed obeyed in miniscule movements, his breaths exploding in puffs, while he fought the weight of what felt like the whole ship on his limb. The ship danced and bounced off an ice-capped asteroid, and Laredo borrowed the nanosecond respite and found the lever, easing the ship back off its throttle.


"Sh-sh-she's eeeeeeasing," Laredo said. He felt the slowing pull and thrusts of the ship reverberating through the arm holding the throttle lever, ending in his chattering teeth. He looked up, tried to lock on one of the monitors, and regretted the choice with a sudden and overwhelming wave of vertigo and nausea.


"Diiiiiagnostics running," Nax said, his fingers blurry across his boards.


Laredo leaned forward in his chair and vomited onto the floor.


"Laredo, you okay?" Pope asked, a hand at her forehead.


"Yeah," came the weak reply. He spat a couple of times and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry, I'll get that cleaned up."


"Systems check nominal; no interruptions to power flow, and engine functions sustained no damage. Hull plating intact." Nax breathed in through flared nostrils as he stared at Pope. "Well, Captain...congratulations."


Pope unbuckled her belts and stood slowly, almost falling forward before catching herself on her console. "I'll accept your praise today, Nax. But we're going to have a serious conversation once we—"


The hypersonar screamed.


"Starboard," Nax said. "Minimal diameter; should be—"


Laredo stared out the viewport and saw an orange cloud where Main Engine #2 sat before. Concussive, angry ripples leapt out every which way where the impact point hit, and the ship lurched completely off-balance. One of his shoulder straps ripped the seam, and he jerked free like a marionette. The air popped in the bridge close to a dozen times before the roar shook the frame of the whole ship, and Laredo's head hit his console.


...boom...


A soft thrum, like a wave on a beach...


...booom...


Or distant summer thunder from a night-bound storm...


...boooooom...


Laredo sat up before his eyes opened, and he fought another wave of vomit. He brought his trembling left hand to the center of pain on his temple, and winced when his fingers came back wet and red. He'd fallen under his console, but missed landing in the pool of vomit. He eased slowly into a sitting position and breathed slow and deep, noting the rhythmic booms of distant impacts against the hull...or explosions from the dead engine?


"Wha—?" he started, then stopped. His parched mouth ached like his head, and he tasted nickel. Probably bit the inside of his cheek, or maybe part of his tongue, he figured. He turned his head slowly, carefully, and deliberately, until he saw Pope and Nax. The Trailian jerked at a corner of fabric wrapped around Pope's right armpit, and Lambert saw her jacket sleeve stained maroon, an ugly black hole near her shoulder. "P-Pope...what...?"


"Meteoroid," Nax said, dressing Laredo down in a nonchalant gaze. "Or mini-asteroid, if you want to be technical. Some sort of shrapnel came through the bridge and went through our dear Captain's shoulder."


"Almost took my neck," Pope said, and Laredo noted she sounded even more distant than normal, her skin tone frighteningly pale.


Laredo blinked slowly, almost passed out again, and shook himself alert. "Explosion...the engine..." he said.


"Yes, poor Main #2," Nax said, sounding sad.


Pope excused him with a weak wave, almost like he was a bad odor. "It wasn't an asteroid hit," she said. She walked around the bridge and approached Laredo, her right arm dead at her side. She knelt down carefully in front of the navigator, wincing at the exertion. "We think we hit a mine."


"Mine?" Laredo asked.


Pope smirked and rubbed a hand over Laredo's cheek. "How are you, Laredo?"


Laredo exhaled a laugh and relished her touch. "Not so good, Cap." He closed his eyes and frowned. "Hard to...to focus."


Pope eased him back carefully with her left arm, resting his head against the edge of the level divide descending the bridge. "Just rest," she said. "I'll get us going again."


Laredo attempted a weak nod and swallowed, thinking if he—


...boom...


Waves on the shore again, and this time, when he looked up, he saw stars colliding in the sky overhead...


...booooom...


Except those weren't stars...they had contrails and flew in arcs, and appeared like they'd been fired...


...booooom...


He heard Pope, frustrated: "I don't care what you think, Nax. We shouldn't move him; he's had a head injury."


...booooom...


Nax, his deep voice sounding strained: "I don't know how long the bridge will be safe; the transparent aluminum is already cracked."


...boooooom...


Something roared near the bridge, and Laredo sat up with a shout. All of the consoles were off, save the glow from Pope's and Nax's stations. Pope stood at her post, her left arm holding her headset, while Nax sat with arms folded at his post, glowering at the captain.


"Nassau Station, this is Commercial Breaker Astrea, en route to Outretoiles transporting out of Weitrand," Pope called, staring out the viewport at an unfriendly field of colliding asteroids. "We've encountered an emergency, and are no longer able to complete our mission. Please respond, over."


Garbled distant conversation and heavy static blared across the bridge, and Laredo winced at the sudden noise. He pushed his luck and tried to stand, and to his surprise, his legs accepted the weight. He leaned against the wall of his console, watching Pope fidget with a few switches on her belt control.


"Nassau Station, this is Captain Pope of the Astrea. We've hit a magnetic mine in orbit of Outretoiles and lost our #2 Main engine. Umbilical to cargo haul is compromised. We are operating on battery power only, and transmitting in the open for general S.O.S., ship in distress, three man crew." She thumbed the MUTE and turned to Nax. "Anything?"


"I don't think you're broadcasting to anyone, Captain," Nax said, breathing deeply. Laredo thought he seemed out of breath, and his breathing resembled panting more than inhaling and exhaling.


Pope sighed and jerked the headset down around her neck. "Now what?"


Nax opened his hands and spread his fingers. "We wait."


"How long?" Laredo asked.


Pope looked over at Laredo in pleasant surprise. "Hey, you," she said with a smile. Laredo thought she sounded groggy, her eyes glassy.


"Four hours," Nax answered.


Laredo pushed off of the wall, limping towards the pair. "Four hours? Until what?"


Nax smiled, green sweat dripping down his face. "Take your pick, navigator: we get crushed by the asteroids. We get pulled into the planet's orbit, decay, and burn up on entry. We strike another hidden mine. We run out of clean air and asphyxiate." He grinned, and his eyes grew black. "Same result every time."


"I can't accept that," Pope said.


"You're in no condition to do anything, Captain." Nax shot to his feet and stalked around Pope, sneering at her. "You let this happen, and it's all your fault because you wanted to be the one to end it all."


Laredo frowned. "What are you talking about, Nax?"


"Didn't she tell you last night, while you two conjugated between your sheets?" Nax sniffed and hissed. "Our dear captain wanted to be the one to bring this cargo to the Outrets because she hates them. Hates all aliens, actually."


"Nax," Pope warned.


"Oh, she knew about the war," Nax continued, growing louder. "But she wasn't upset about the lives lost, or the planets ruined, or the moons shattered—no! No, she was upset that it ruined her freight route, and she was out of work for eighteen months. Tell me I'm wrong about that, Ginn."


Pope bit down on her lip. "That's enough," she said.


"Millions of bipedal, creative, intelligent, noble, alien lives lost at the hands of each other for nothing! And you have the gall to pretend you were a harbinger of peace, bringing a peace offering to cover up the pyre of destruction as big as an entire system?!"


"The shot," Pope said.


"What are you talking about, Nax?!" Laredo said, stepping between Pope and the Trailian.


Nax smiled, baring all of his teeth.


"You haven't taken your injections," Pope continued, turning slowly towards Nax.


"Injections," Nax said, feigning surprise. "Company injections for alien crewmembers. Especially Trailians, right?" He gnashed his teeth at Pope. "Shatta."


"Company policy, Nax," Pope said carefully, her left hand slowly going to the holster on her right side. "You've got to take those shots while we're in deep space, remember?"


"Trailians...you lose chemicals in your second brain while traveling through space," Laredo said. His eyes widened. "Damn...!"


"Poor Nax...doesn't play well with others..." Nax laughed, and his laughter turned to short coughs. "See? I'm already struggling with the lower oxygen in this fel'shi'tala."


"He's breaking," Laredo said to Pope.


Pope popped the snap over her sidearm.


Nax's eyes dropped to Pope's side, and he snarled.


Laredo lunged.


The Trailian danced through the air like a piece of fabric, jerked the pistol free from the holster, kicked Pope back against the wall, and put three rounds through Laredo's chest. The bullets hit the transparent aluminum and fell harmlessly to the ground.


Pope and Laredo hit the ground simultaneously. Nax hoisted Laredo to his feet, dragged him across the bridge, and threw him through the door of one of the emergency escape pods like a sack of dirty laundry.


"Take a seat, my yt'et'teeri," Nax said. "I'll be back for you."


He stomped over to Pope, who struggled to push herself upright on one arm.


"You can't," she moaned. "You can't do this..."


"Ah, Captain Pope," Nax said, green sweat cascading down his angular face. "I know you've prepared a tremendous tx'tel'txta to share with us, but I don't believe your lies." The Trailian bent down, grabbed Pope by the hair, and jerked her to her feet with a yelp. "You see, I believe we're transporting a giant weapon—a bomb, perhaps, or maybe a fusion catalyst, or bio-engineered virus of some sort."


"Nax, stop!" Pope hollered. She swung her arm and caught Nax in one of his eye sockets with her elbow. He shrieked and dropped her, arms cradling his damaged face.


Laredo struggled to push himself upright, blood trickling from his lips. "It's...not...a weapon," he gasped.


Pope scooped up the sidearm and leveled it at Nax. The Trailian dropped his arms and held them up in a mock surrender, grinning at her as he approached slowly, blue blood mixing with green sweat around his lost eye.


"We're just a merchant ship, Nax, you #### idiot!" Pope yelled, firing into Nax's torso. The Trailian jerked backwards, then twisted back at her.


"Yesss," he hissed.


"You ####, you killed Laredo!" Pope fired two more shots into Nax, and the Trailian whirled again, blue blood flying from fresh wounds.


"Not yet," he whispered hoarsely, "but soon...oh, very, very ss'ssh'ooou..."


Pope pulled the trigger again and again, but the hammer clicked against an empty chamber. Nax swatted the gun away with his left hand, and swatted Pope across her face with his right, breaking almost every bone in her face. She crumpled into a heap and didn't move.


Nax hummed in contentment, turning back to Laredo's station. Laredo watched in horror as Nax punched in new commands on the nav computer, and he felt the Astrea strain one last time as the ship turned on its anchored axis and eventually faced the massive cargo sphere they carried. Nax nodded to himself, then eased the throttle level forward, and Laredo felt the ship move slowly. The big white sphere grew closer in the viewport as Nax approached the bloodied form of Pope.


"Come, Captain," Nax said, dragging Pope by the hair. He heard her grunt and moan in protest, and tugged a little harder. "It's time to see."


"S-s-stop!" Laredo hollered weakly.


Nax stopped at the viewport, bathed in brilliant white reflected light as they approached the massive sphere that came from Weitrand. His good eyes searched the surface of the sphere, and he hummed again to himself. "A peace offering, you said? Let's see how we'ye'tor'ryo you are, Pope." The Trailian bent down, grabbed Pope around the neck, hauled her upright, and shoved what was left of her face into the aluminum viewport.


"Look," Nax ordered.


Pope struggled, her good arm and legs flailing and straining against the hold and force that Nax put against the back of her head. She couldn't see, she couldn't breathe...her whole world was blinding white light and blood, so much blood...


"Look!" Nax ordered.


Pope strained, her eyes darting this way and that, her lids threatening to close as her body begged for air and release from the pressure. The viewport cracked in front of her face.


"Stop!" Laredo cried again, his eyes filling with tears. "Stop, please..."


Nax grit his teeth together and pushed with all his strength. "Look!!" he bellowed. His eyes scanned the surface of the sphere, and from his vantage point, he saw concealed missile bays, hidden virus pods, hundreds of bunkers for hidden snipers, miles upon miles of trenches for molten iron fountains...a flying death planet ready to wreak havoc upon the helpless population of Outrets. He cursed the technology that created this, and the minds that thought of it, and knew the devious bastards responsible could only be human.


Pope gasped one last time, and her head exploded against the viewport in a burst of mush.


Nax drew his bloodied hand back, stared at it in the blinding white light, chunks of Pope dripping to the floorboards, and laughed.


Laredo shut his eyes, tears streaming down his filthy cheeks, and howled in frustration and sorrow. His breaths came shallow and painful, and he coughed with each inhale. After several moments of heaving yelps, he opened his eyes again and saw one of the central monitors frantically blinking.


The display read:


WARNING! PROXIMITY ALERT! DANGER — RAPIDLY APPROACHING OBJECT OF HIGH DENSITY. EXCEEDS STRENGTH OF ARMOR PLATING. SLOW APPROACH OR ADJUST COURSE. ^&* ERR-COURSE CORRECTION UNAVAILABLE. ^&* IMPACT IMMINENT!! WARNING! PROXIMITY ALERT! RECOMMEND ABANDON SHIP!


In a sudden, brilliant, dazzling display, Laredo watched the front of the ship disintegrate into the massive white sphere. The transparent aluminum viewport wrapped around Nax like a metal-framed blanket, and the shards of aluminum tore his wretched alien body into bloody meat piles. The impact crumpled most of the front of the bridge, causing a cascade of electrical explosions that made their way through the length of the ship.

Laredo watched the secondary steel door of the escape pod drop in front of his face as the artificial atmosphere rushed into the vacuum, leaving a strip of viewport wide enough for him to look out, and he felt the dull thud of the exo-thrusters rocket the escape pod out of the dying ship. The escape pod ricocheted off of two asteroids, and Laredo heard the frame of the pod creak and crack in the strain.

His eyes were heavy, and breathing was almost impossible, but before he fell asleep for the last time, he strained to look out of the viewport as the white sphere they carried so safely through the field cracked along its equator thanks to the breaking wedge of what was left of the Astrea.


The white sphere broke like a hollow egg and spilled its contents into the silent, black space orbiting Outretoiles, and Laredo finally saw what was inside that giant planetoid.


"No..." he whispered.