Hutton Orbital, Part 3
07 May 2017User4296
Somewhere in Alpha CentauriFederation Space
January 3302
I rushed back into the corridor, mindful enough this time to slap the door controls on my way out. The door to the cargo bay slid closed, leaving me alone in the darkened hallway. There wasn't anywhere else to go except back up the stairs, so I started moving that way - until a glint under the staircase caught my eye.
It was a tight fit around the stairs, but there was a small space underneath them, likely for someone to be able to access some of the subsystems for the SRV hangar and cargo bay. Sure enough, against the back wall of the space there was a maintenance hatch.
... Though it was more like a grate, I saw, and reached into my pocket to pull out a small flashlight - the kind you could clip to your shirt so you can see but still have both hands available. This I did, and crawled toward the opening.
This one must've been left open, I thought. Next to the opening was the metal grate, which had been partially slid aside, probably by one of the workers who readied the Python for her new owner. The hole was large enough for a human to crawl though, and certainly whatever was small enough to fit through the hole in the cargo container could easily fit through here.
I sighed and pushed the grate the rest of the way, fully exposing the crawlspace, and questioned my choice to buy a ship large enough to require maintenance tubes. I crawled inside, and noticed that it was surprisingly roomy – two people my size could comfortably lay side-by-side in the small tunnel, and while it wasn’t tall enough to stand in, one didn’t need to worry about bumping one’s head against the ceiling. The only annoying thing about it was the circular indentations on the floor, which began to dig into my knees.
“Verity?” I asked.
There was no response, but that made sense - there likely wasn’t the necessary equipment here in the tunnel for her to hear me – or to communicate back if she could.
A few minutes passed as I crawled along in relative silence, making my way further into the maintenance tube, and came across the first intersection. I paused, trying to decide which way to go.
Chik-chik-click-chik-chik-
Very faint, somewhere in the tunnel to my right, came a noise. I froze.
Chicka-tac-clik-chik-tic-
The flashlight flickered off.
I cursed under my breath, and fumbled in the dark tunnel. I blindly pointed my pistol down the tunnel as my other hand unclipped the flashlight.
Clik-tic-taka-tic-clika-
It was getting closer.
This is how the invasion begins, I thought. And you, the first poor bastard murdered in a maintenance tunnel in your new Python like an idiot-
Clik-tika-tac-chic-clika-tic-
Seriously, who follows an alien into an enclosed space-
I slapped the side of the flashlight against the floor of the tunnel.
The clicks sped up. I looked into the darkness. For all I knew I was aiming at the wall.
Click-tic-clika-tic-clika-
My life flashed before my eyes.
Imperial navy graduation-
First ship-
Blue hair-
Click-tic-tika-clack-tika-
"I WON'T BE THE FIRST BODY YOU SNATCH YOU ALIEN SON OF A BITCH!" I roared into the darkness.
"ARF!" came the reply.
What happened next was a blur. I slammed the flashlight down at the same moment I pulled the trigger, and the older weapon spit a kinetic round into the darkness. A split second later, the flashlight came back on, illuminating the tunnel once again.
It was a strange scene. Huddled before me, against the left side of the tunnel, eyes wide and shaking, was a small border collie: Sugar, Mindy’s dog.
My gaze moved to the right. Sure enough, I had been aiming at the wall, and in the bulkhead in the right side of the tunnel, a few feet ahead, was a new, smoldering bullet hole.
"God damn it," I breathed, dropping my head to the deck.
Sugar tentatively padded forward to sniff at my hair.
***
The bridge door slid open.
"Welcome back, commander," Verity said.
I didn't immediately reply. Sugar licked my cheek. I slowly took the few steps toward the co-pilot's chair, and dropped the blanket I had retrieved from the living quarters into it. Sugar followed. She seemed happy enough, turning around a few times before she laid down.
I moved to the pilot's chair next, and returned my pistol to its holster before sitting down myself.
"Verity," I said finally.
"Yes, commander?" she replied.
"I think I just had a heart attack."
"Scanning," she said, and paused. After a few moments, she continued. "Sir, I am detecting a slightly elevated heart rate and trace amounts of adrenaline. I can detect no signs of a heart att-
"Verity," I said next.
"Yes, commander?”
"Shut up."