Sick dog! Sick dog! She's getting squirrely! (Remiet #1)
22 Jan 2023Jack Remiet
"Sick dog! Sick dog! She's getting squirrely!" Bug heard her dad squawk over voice. She focused and found her neck muscles, forced them to slowly turn her head to the left through the G's, centimeter by centimeter. One of the injectors had flashed, and the secondary (lucky it wasn't the primary, she thought) starboard fore rotational thruster was firing uncontrollably. The ship's inertia fought her as she used the visual interface to shut it down. Her head snapped backward.
"Oh praise Jesus," she heard next, and a tenth-of-a-second later found herself forcibly pressed back into her chair as her dad righted Unrest and shot away from the Medusa and its two remaining Thargoid Scouts. She heard klaxons sounding and became aware of heavy condensation on her face and hands. They must be pushing temperature, she thought; we have corrosive damage. She tried to re-engage the visual interface to check, but the torque was too much. It was all she could do to keep her lungs full. The heat sink's sudden launch sucked what little breath she had from her.
Just before she blacked out, she heard Leo's faint voice try to compete with the wailing alarms: "Frameshift Drive Charging." Hurry dad, she tried to whisper.