"Adrift in Memory" Gems For Fools. Part 8
16 Aug 2016Stryker Aune
<<Part 7]HIP 103260, B4, 96.22, -109.25
This didn't just happen. Stryker’s mind was a in a fog as he staggered backwards.
"No one FRACKING messes with me or my ship." Black Rose's voice was on the verge of hysterics, her blue cybernetic eye glowed menacingly in the dimly light engine room. “Shame that I’ll have to destroy you..." Her weapon was still raised. "...I was rather hoping to add you to my little collection.” She pulled the trigger. Stryker didn't have time to react, he closed his eyes and turned his face away, ready to meet oblivion.
There was the crack of gunfire, followed by the sharp twang of metal ricocheting off metal and a loud grunt. He opened his eyes. Madam Tri’qua’s cook had snuck up behind Rose and grabbed her wrist. He smashed it against the hard metal frame of the entryway. She yelled as the gun hit the ground with a clank. The both fought to lay hands on the weapon but the cook kicked it and it shot across the room spinning and disappeared under the power plant. She elbowed the man hard in the gut. The cook wheezed and staggered backwards. She quickly brought her foot up high in a sweeping arc, landing it squarely in his jaw. He spun and hit the floor.
Dazed and in pain, Stryker had managed to pick up a large wrench in his left hand and held it loosely as he staggered over to the fighting pair. He held his right hand over the bloody wound. The dark red liquid oozing between his fingers. As Black Rose finished landing her kick, Stryker powerfully swung the wrench upward catching her hard in the jaw. There was a crack as her head whipped violently back and was flung off her feet. She landed with a thud into a crumpled heap. He took another staggering step forward and brought the wrench down on her face like a sledge hammer. There was another sickening crack as her face smashed in, blood spurting from her nose and ears. Her cybernetic eye broke and dangled out of its socket by a bundle of wires. The loss of blood started to take its toll and he felt dizzy. He leaned his back against a wall, and fell to the floor as darkness consumed his vision.
He slipped in and out of consciousness. Time slipping through his fingers. Hours, minutes, seconds, none of it mattered.
"...Bind it tightly. Staunch the flow..." He saw Evy's face as if it was through water, then nothing....
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"Alvadar! Sweety, where have you been? Your father and I have been worried sick..."
"Oh! I went over to the landing pad. There was a shipment of new stuff. I wanted to see the ship. It was really big." A eight year old Stryker held his arms wide.
"Your not allowed to go over there, you know that..."
"I -know- but c'mon, they are so awesome to look at. You think those pilots can go where ever they want?"
"Alvadar, we've told you over and over again, not to go down to the landing dock by yourself."
"I wasn't by myself, Freyja was with me!"
"Alvadar, with an adult, not your twin sister. Where is she?"
"Oh, she got board looking at the ship so she went over to Cajsa's to play..."
"Will give her a call. Here...." She passed a plate of vaniljkakor to the boy, who took one and sat at the table grinning..."Don't think you won't get grounded young man."
"I -know- but I couldn't help it!"
She continued to smiled at him shaking her head half annoyed and half amused....
His mind surfaced for a moment and realized he was being supported by two men "...It could be trapped.....Set the auto destruct...." He heard Evy say, then slipped back into the void.
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"ALVADAR! PAY ATTENTION!"
A twelve year old Alvadar was sitting at a desk in a cramped classroom. In his hand was a pad that he was engrossed with.
"Y..yes ma'am." He said quietly. He laid it down on the desk with a click, A technical schematic of the inner workings of an Alcubierre drive dimming. He placed his arms on the desk, propping his chin in his hands with a board expression on his face. Freyja smirked at him. In the background the teacher was droning on about some political figure. He didn't really care. His mind slipped into daydreaming. How long he was daydreaming was anyone's guess. There was a violent shake and the sound of an explosion. The lights flickered out of the school room and were replaced with the red emergency lighting. Bright blue strobe like lights started to flash and were accompanied with the accosting wail of klaxons; indication that a major decompression event had occurred. The door to the classroom shut and the magnetic seals engaged. Some of his classmates were screaming as complete confusion reigned. He grabbed Freyja hand and hurried over to the closet of emergency EVA suits. Living on a backwater colony, the suits were old, but like all the other people who lived there, he was trained on how to put it on. It was musty and smelled bad. He turned to help his sister put hers on. The teacher had managed to don hers and was starting to help the other children as Alvadar sat with his back against the wall. He held on tightly to his sister's hand as she squeezed it. Both terrified....
He was on his back, laying on something soft "...I don't know how much longer...." He heard someone say as he felt the subtle jerk of a ship jumping into witch space as his mind slipped out of reality once more.
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"No! NOOOOOOOOO!" Alvadar was being held tightly desperately clawing at the man holding him trying to break free. Hot tears running down his face. Freyja was sitting on the floor, stunned, unable to talk.
"They're gone Alvadar." The man said, rather unsympathetically...
"NOOOOOOOOO......" the boy continued to scream hitting the man uncontrollably.
"Alvadar! Alvadar!...."
"Alvadar?" It was Evy's voice, though it sounded as if it were coming from some sort of hollow space. "...He's coming around...."
He opened his eyes, at first everything was black, but then he saw a faint fuzzy outline of Evy. He croaked.
"Shhh..." She smiled.
Her fuzzy form started to congeal, he could see the smile. He tried to talk but his throat was as dry as a desert and felt and on fire. He asked for Water.
Evy left and a moment later she returned with a glass. "There you go..." He tried to take it, but winced in pain. His chest throbbing. "...nice and easy..." She helped him to take a sip.
He swallowed and tried to place himself. He was in a medical ward. The walls were clean and white along with the linens on his bed, though those were a bit scratchy. He propped himself up and winced in pain again as his left arm supported his weight. Evy's smile faltered.
"Just take it easy" She advised.
"Wh...what happened?" He asked in a horse voice.
Evy continued to smile her smile. "Well, the short short version." She hopped up into the bed with him. He winced. "Well, you got shot. The cook disarmed Black Rose. You rearranged her face, then passed out. We, um...stuffed her into an escape pod and uh, turned on the sedation. Then we, cohered Mongoose back onto the Python, and uh... We incapacitated him...." She took a breath. "Then we blew up the python cause it was probably booby trapped, and I flew the Orca here." She grinned.
"And where is here?" He asked.
[Part 9>>
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