CHAPTER 7
TAKE US OUT
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"She's quite an angel, isn't she, boss?", commented Asif as soon as the guards had left us alone back in our cells. "On Earth, how does it work? How do you take a wife?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbaHokCcIy
"Definitely not like on Io, Asif”, Jake answered him sarcastically. "You can't buy them with cash or taaffeite gems”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5XoXn2rvE
"Lester, do you think the girl is trustworthy? We don't know her, how can we trust her?", asked Hank ignoring Asif.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu82I2htvdw
"It could be a trick by Charon to know shit”, suggested Jake.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3MVn0A3wqa
"We made progress here. You call me by my last name, you want my opinion... Are you going to start calling me son in a while?", I taunted him.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pErPN4BYZ
"Let's not waste time on bullshit”, he grumbled.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2CFuGdc4A
I sighed in distress. "What do I know, I've never talked to her except with you first and what she had to say I half understood”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Mb9pHNDBE
"Talk about preferential treatment, she's a queen here”, Dr. Bancroft noted. "She would seem anything but in danger and certainly not anxious to escape from here”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5L4iwc6lB
"True”, I agreed, "but what do we really know about this? Only that Charon is a madman and a genocide. We have nothing to lose by trusting Christelle”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbCP7nk92u
"If your brother is so smart”, Jake asked, "how is it that this Christelle got to take her prisoners in daylight and have a nice chat with them in her rooms?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD9iA9WpwNe
"Good question”, said Hank, "To have that much autonomy, power and privacy, the girl must be at the top of this organization”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07lYGYIuXI
"She said”, I tried to explain, "that she was an essential host and collaborator for them. It may be that they have entered into an agreement of mutual cooperation but that she has decided to betray them at the first useful opportunity. It's quite normal to do what you can to survive, isn't it?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjC9L9LNMtN
"So”, Hank reasoned, "either Christelle is a collaborator working for Charon or she's faking it until she can escape from here”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7xEQlRYB2
"She's our only hope, it seems”, I concluded. "Besides, I have a near certainty that she's on our side”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP33wn54k3Q
"Is that so, boy? What gives you such confidence?", asked Gage skeptically.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8y8vrsFk3
"I just know it”, I said, sounding foolish. I thought about the relationship between Erik and Christelle. I didn't know if they had been just friends or something more. I did know, however, that Erik was no fool and that the hug I received from Christelle in the kitchens was for him. The person who had such love for him could not have betrayed Humanity to get involved with Charon. It was impossible after seeing that massacre.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8r7O6RVVM
I closed into myself and into silence. I thought again about what an imbecile I had been to meddle like that and how my reckless choices had brought Matt and Damien to the edge of the precipice. I could have asked Hank about the truthfulness of that Contura's words, removed the doubt about the fate of my chatty friend, but I was too afraid to know the truth.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UlG0VPb3C
I thought about how it had been possible to find Deena by chance and how this had even led me to see Sean again after years. I found it impossible that such events had happened one after the other with such spontaneity. And yet Sean, on hearing that story, had found it even plausible, unlike me. Now that was strange.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXLsRRKGBW
I felt like I was inside a video game, a twisted narrative by a frustrated man who enjoyed getting me into trouble. The more I thought about how to get out of that cell, the more I thought about how I would reach Deena after having succeeded, feeling an inexplicable sense of guilt.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHyKx5Nkl8
After yet another unspecified amount of hours, some armed guards and a discreet group of officers dressed in black arrived. I didn't even know what time it was or what day it was. Our SAIs were gone crazy and unusable, the ESP shield and the devices that were used to protect us from it were heavily affecting the software of our symbiotes. I began to understand why John's men in black had to use physical terminals to interface with their technology. After the usual abrupt procedure we were all dragged out of the cells towards an unknown destination. We were walking down one of the many corridors lined with pipes and lights, when Christelle emerged from one of the side doors and ordered the soldiers to stop. They quickly obeyed and those in front stepped aside, allowing her to pass.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56vH7t5moU
"This won't be easy, but I'm counting on your skills. Get us out of here”, she almost begged, hurriedly.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmqTk3I9jA
"Count on it”, I replied confidently. I was being a blowhard, not having a plan or even a weapon.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCY9VxURif0
"As soon as I can warn you, follow my voice and run without stopping. Follow the voice. You'll understand once you're there”, and having said that, she disappeared behind the door from which she had appeared.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYv3DeEo1Gw
"This is it then”, whispered Gage.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLiVq7uOt6
"Let's hope it's reliable”, I sighed.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQkizWUwuo
At the end of a long drive, we found ourselves in a hangar built with state-of-the-art technology. It was shaped like a seaport and some sort of incredible magnetic field isolated the pressurized interior of the structure from outer space. There were no watertight doors or decompression chambers. It was truly incredible.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYbTnZNYWxe
We were boarded in a small shuttle specially prepared for us, this one of common manufacture, which with a roar and a puff of gas from the reactors vanished without any other noise into the darkness of space.
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*
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The ship left us prisoners in a small hangar located who knows where with a completely different design from the previous one. Christelle's apartments were a miniature version of it, the place really looked like a place inside an iron forest. Whoever had built that base was crazy about dry branches and creepers because everything made of that strange metal looked the same way. Our escorts deprived us of our shields and strangely enough the visions did not occur. The fact that we boarded a transport for a few minutes was unequivocal proof that we had left Diĝir-ga-šum for another place or that the station itself was made up of hoped-for modules. We were led for a while longer into the meanderings of the strange structure. The corridors were curved, bare, and the walls were lined with that strange metal of greenish and silvery hues always etched like in Christelle's rooms. The walls were round and seemed to be made of creepers all intertwined. One had the sensation of walking through a very long ring. At the end of the path we passed through a circular entrance that led us into an immense spherical room, whose diameter must have been very close to five hundred meters. The whole view was astonishing: the walls of the sphere were bright red and continuously reflected the light from another fiery sphere placed on a pedestal in the center of the room. The latter had a diameter of about a couple of meters and shone in mid-air, giving the viewer unpleasant sensations. I didn't know what it was, but my instincts sensed with incredible simplicity the smell of death it gave off.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWy88NfiRpr
Below the pedestal, a series of thick metal cables were hooked up. These shiny tentacles descended to the back of the room, disappearing into the darkness.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQiZELZdC6
With a lot of pushing and shoving we arrived at the presence of the sphere. At his feet was Charon and at his side, almost invisible, were Christelle and Deena, beautifully dressed in those strange white clothes that looked exactly the same.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXTF5kq47P
I looked for Deena's gaze and found it intent on seeking mine. I smiled spontaneously at seeing her alive and well and she immediately returned my smile with even more joy. John noticed the exchange. Two demi-humans grabbed me by the wrists and held me tight. Charon didn't tie up his prisoners. He was so confident that he feared nothing and no one.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PkTriPaHt
"Hi Daith. Perfectly fine, as I imagined”, Charon greeted me as if nothing had happened.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO2DMP9MKJj
"Go fuck yourself”, I replied with anger and contempt, changing my expression.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSSJTMU66I
Instead of being offended, Charon smiled almost smugly, perhaps approving my attitude: "I know you're angry. But I had no choice. You have to sacrifice something to get something else, it's always like that”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhpg7S4mLQ
"What did you sacrifice?", I asked sarcastically.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTGOODSxH4
John lowered his gaze for a moment, turning dark in the face. He turned back to the girls, crossing his arms firmly planted on his legs. "It's time”, he said. "You know what to do”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuW6azBZEL7
Christelle was rather reluctant, whatever Charon expected of her. She looked at Deena for a moment, then sighed as she looked over. What had been asked of her had to be serious. She closed her eyes and stood still for a few moments; her hands clasped in prayer before her heart. Her face took on an expression of effort, then she squinted. A sudden dry metallic noise filled the air for a second, like thunder. A noise like an electric motor turning on began to play in the background.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBPztP4556
"Two years of trying”, Charon said contentedly, "and all it took was one of you. Had I known, I would have kept a few alive. Now let's get the safety off”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgRlkG8dam
Deena gazed fixedly into my eyes. Her eyes were full of terror and she was trembling. "N-No”, she refused.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0aRnkms7P
"I'd say it's too late for second thoughts, huri”, Charon said as he approached her. Spontaneously I stiffened and the demi-humans holding me down had to work harder to hold me back.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1klWcGz6Pr
"I won't. I won't!", she insisted.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHipWqRuYmB
"Deena”, Christelle called after her, trying to reason with her.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DvCroW3Ff
Charon grabbed her by the face with his fingers, bringing her violently to him. "You little suburban creature. I'm giving you a chance to change the world. To be great. Leave fears and scruples to the weak”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkOJO0nV0w
"I will not participate in your exterminations, you monster!", she said wriggling out of her grasp.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5Zu6VKBaT
"Yeah, tell him!", I exclaimed admiringly. John turned to look at me, again with that expression. He seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmU1aSIECo
"If I have to do it again, I will”, he said. He came striding toward me and hit me with a fist in the face that hit like a hammer. I saw the stars and the darkness for a few seconds before I spat out stunned blood. "You've seen what I can do to him”, he said grabbing me by the hair and shaking my head. "If it'll help convince you I'll do it again. And again. And again. To his misfortune, he will not die no matter what I do to him. First, though, I will kill these others one by one. Until I get to him”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4sPDiXu0D
Deena hesitated. She was trembling. I looked at her with one eye half closed. "Don't think about me. Refuse!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B9IVdJjQx
"She won't”, Charon smiled. "He loves you too much”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKC0NZvYD2V
Deena began to cry. She knew how far Charon would go to bend her over. "I'm sorry”, she said only before turning to the strange contraption.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdot3SMpdf1
She reached out and touched her palm to the surface of the metal base where the glowing sphere was located. After a few moments, a sliding panel was activated, letting out a curious mechanism.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFAxwOojI2
A sort of handle jutted out a few centimeters, its ergonomic shape clearly suggesting that it should be pulled.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAH27YOFMG
Deena approached less than a step away. It seemed as if she was listening to an invisible voice.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeULey4cFNp
She grasped the handle with her right hand, closing her eyes in fear, then took a deep breath and pulled. Two semi-cylindrical components clicked and closed her forearm with a mechanical snap.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0f6M999Mp2
The girl screamed in pain. "Deena!", I called to her. "What are you doing? Stop!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4txwAQRP5
"Good job, Romeo”, commented Charon ruffling my hair and walking over to join the two. Christelle meanwhile approached the girl to support her. Her arm was pinned to the mechanism, blood was being sucked from her radial artery ending up collected in a pertussis below.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJBuK3BpS4
"Christelle help her! What is this madness?!", I shouted. The rest of the Navajo crew watched the scene dumbfounded.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDfqUfiAXV
Charon watched as a second sliding panel revealed a new area that I couldn't see. "Now the Judge will be able to command the Inducer directly even without your help”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUBgDbkNwY
"Yeah”, Christelle said. "You don't need me anymore”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwq1NOrW2g
"Who knows”, said Charon ignoring Deena's groans. "A sukkal came in handy now, maybe you could come in handy later. I wonder if you'll be affected by staying aboard as well. If in doubt I will keep you in sight at that time, to enjoy the show. Or maybe you'll come in handy as a hostage”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrbYc7xLaX
"My father would never betray Humanity”, she said proudly.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGRpML0vZ6
Charon smiled condescendingly. "Your father”, he repeated sarcastically. Deena meanwhile made a superhuman effort, pushing the lever down and opening the mechanism, groaning and ending up on the floor holding her bloody wrist. Christelle reached down to help her, tearing a piece of her tunic to try to stop the bleeding.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwUyq4iWL2
Charon suddenly froze, motionless. He looked like someone whose ears were being pulled back with some big reprimand. I watched him stay like that for at least two minutes, before moving again, rubbing his temples with his hands, in pain.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mX4ECJCSl
"Why does everything your kind does always have to be permeated with unnecessary symbolism?", he complained facing Christelle.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAvJUtZxmK
"Do you understand now? The seal is constantly resetting itself. Shooting it will cost you her life”, Christelle said. That sentence that I didn't fully understand didn't appeal to me one bit.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBM3LE7xD7M
"Well, it's not that time today. I understand how it works now. Very good”, he said. He turned his attention back to Deena. "Well done huri, good job. I'm sorry but we'll have to do this again in a while. I hope you keep the right mood. After all, if you don't really want it, it doesn't work”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDHH9Mykq3
"Tu es un fils de pute!", she insulted him boldly. "You'll burn in hell!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBsWm5Mvuc
Charon laughed. "Acceptable. If I take the gods with me”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04thR1Xavm
I saw Deena's face contract again into an expression of enormous distress. An unstoppable rage began to take over my mind and body, increasing as Charon approached the girl's face. With a violent movement I managed to free myself from the hold of the two demi-humans, who ended up rolling until they fell into the overhang below. My hair stood up on my head while my eyes turned white and my muscles increased in volume. Perfect. Unexpected, but perfect.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqhanUC7Ls
"Riastharta? For her? Childish”, Charon noted, perfectly calm but assuming an offensive posture, a signal that he was taking seriously the threat I now posed to him. "She'll finally see who you really are, Daith. The monsters that we are”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZc6TrCYuo
Two men in black were on me but I swatted them away so quickly I couldn't even remember how I'd knocked them out. The demi-humans who had fallen to the ground got back up but I tore them apart in moments, snapping one's neck and pulling the tube from the back of the other's head that went into the pack behind his back, causing his death.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJCiXRRETsb
Christelle went to support her companion, who was about to faint, and told her to be ready for any eventuality. Charon put himself on guard. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. As the seconds passed, my mind began to clear. It was Charon who attacked: he launched a side kick aimed at my face, which I parried with a decisive hand movement. Then the man tried another kick, this time aimed at the chin, but I managed to intercept it before it reached his heart. I grabbed his leg and with a movement of the kidneys I lifted the opponent until he fell on his face. The blow seemed to have no effect on Charon who immediately got up and resumed unleashing powerful kicks, one of which missed the target and broke the neck of a demi-human who, like the others, was watching the scene motionless. Charon was no ordinary man and his strength and skill were legendary. His blows cleaved stone and with time he had not rusted. I landed another blow that hit my stomach with the violence of a cannonball, knocking me to the ground at dead weight. My anger left me and my body returned to normal, leaving me weak and fatigued. I got back up as quickly as I could and with a bit of luck and a lot of cunning I managed to get my left hand over my brother's heart already ready to descend on me to finish me off.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzm7gYiXee
"What the hell are you doing?", he asked, surprised that instead of hitting him I had only rested my palm on him.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKrU0HEDzj
"Drop dead, asshole”, I muttered with my eyes on the ground. From his hand came a burst similar to that produced by a rifle, we saw a splash of blood coming from who knows where and Charon fell to the ground apparently lifeless in a cloud of smoke with a sulfurous smell.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8d2ozQpmsc
After a few seconds, while I held my hand in pain, I saw the glowing orb glow with a powerful light that dazzled everyone present. Suddenly, a voice in my head, a dim but firm voice, began to give me orders. I had to run, run in front of me and follow that sound that however seemed to be only inside my mind. I obeyed immediately and took off running wildly with my eyes closed among the stunned guards lying inexplicably on the ground.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aW49hPGBi
We ran at breakneck speed for a hundred yards, then stopped; the guards around us were all stunned and writhing on the ground, some lying motionless as if dead. "Follow me”, Christelle shouted, "we have to take an elevator nearby. There's no time!", The group chased after her and after taking the elevator under Christelle's guidance we found ourselves entering a room that had all the feel of a warehouse. There was the brown coat and my weapons, Deena's clothes along with Christelle's old clothes and the shuttle crew's weapons, everything thrown in bulk.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpl8H8s8qj
"What was that?", asked Hank in amazement.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3o93oMTpsY
"My last resort”, I explained panting massaging my left hand and hurrying to cover it with a glove I had just retrieved from a coat pocket. "He'll be up soon and furious”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8siUBMVzBA
"Daith are you all right?", the equally injured girl asked.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4Mw7FXv8V
"You rather, what was that thing doing to you?", I asked observing her summarily bandaged arm.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJwSNvyngp
"Get your things, your pilots will already be warming up the engines of the Navajo, Major Gage”, Christelle interrupted us.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNXxA6BmKY
"Mr. Gage”, Hank wanted to point out, "how are my men doing?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pSZ0iRYlT
"Charon has divided you into various cells. Your men have gone over to his side, except for your pilots and of course those who were in the cell with you. I've taken care of them, don't worry, they'll come by another route. I have had the material that was taken from you brought here. I hope it's all there”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3rXmWj27u
"You had it brought in? By whom? Who's helping you?", asked Hank, growing more wary.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOcS9YgZ9R
"Charon's men are undisciplined even though they follow him blindly and fear him”, she explained. "It was only a matter of time before someone transgressed his orders and... granted me his help”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmnW7Sibi3
I had no idea what Christelle had concocted or how she had then carried it out. Some of my brother's men were helping her, but the motives behind that betrayal were a mystery. Had she offered them anything? Could she transmit her voice into our minds like we communicate over the net with SAIs, did she have the ability to influence people's decisions?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyRAG2xWgI
"I ended up in a fantasy tale”, Hank sighed as he finished checking his weapon. "All I had to do was retrieve a ragtag, sell it, and go on vacation for the next twenty years”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBY6vPl9nF
"I'm sorry”, Deena replied looking at him crookedly. Ignoring everyone, she was changing into her Rouen-bought clothes, leaving modesty aside, disdainfully tossing her tunic on the floor and vigorously shuffling the contents of her bag.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJJyFuWty0j
"Are you all right?", I asked again, returning my attention to her and placing my coat between her and the gazes of the others, giving her my back to cover her. The improvised bandage on her arm was soaked in blood. She nodded, daring a smile, and I went back to paying attention to Christelle, busily fumbling with an automatic rifle. As soon as Deena had a shirt on I went to the blonde and took the weapon from her hands with a reproach implied by the look on her face. "Leave it alone or you'll shoot yourself in the foot! Rather where do we go now?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKeIWCADaZs
"Gage and his companions will come with me to the shuttle along with Deena, you will go to distract the soldiers”, the girl said coldly, taking the weapon back from my hands.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvnLSdFI8R
"I'll go what?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBdtNdU6Ta
"Don't worry, I'll guide you, we'll meet at the Navajo. They'll think you want to be a hero and finish Charon, so they'll focus their fire on you. Take this”, she said tossing me the weapon she reloaded with so much effort. "With this you won't have too much trouble paving your way. We'll exit and go to the right. You will take the corridor on the opposite side, then continue straight ahead until further notice”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRsaxufOmy
"You're giving me the diversion”, I concluded, pretending not to notice that he had inserted the magazine backwards.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyZG1jvBfG
"Are you crazy? You'll end up getting yourself killed! Daith, don't go!" interjected Deena.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJ1udSGwDc
"I'll be right there”, I said, showing confidence by giving her a blustering look. She seemed anything but reassured but it was my job to give them time to reach the shuttle. I ran as fast as I could until after a few dozen meters I saw my way blocked by a myriad of demi-humans.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTfjtqpAbQO
The opponents opened fire immediately, forcing me to find refuge in a side door from which I could lean out and shoot. Those fools didn't care about taking cover anywhere or about their fallen comrades. Those things would stand and shoot until they died. The ones I killed were joined by others and so in a circle that would soon see me out of bullets. An officer and two demi-humans tried to surprise me from the opposite direction, I purposely let them into the room and set them up by appropriating their weapons.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjieamOBLBu
"What's this?", I asked aloud taking a curious weapon from the hands of the guy in black. It appeared as a shiny, chrome-plated cylinder that would hardly pass for a rifle. It unscrewed and extended to access the compartment of what looked like a battery. The grip was minimal and what looked like a trigger to me consisted of a simple button.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJlMqhvPJR
A small selector switch indicated three positions, an X, a ● and a ∞ that I guessed could be single safety and burst.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNP5sFbfbc
I decided to experiment, I leaned out of the door, finding a demi-gun practically in my mouth and, caught unawares, pressed the button. A bright, continuous beam came out of the tip of the cylinder, cutting that thing in half instantly. I pressed the button again but nothing came out. I rotated the cylinder and extended it and the battery came out on its own, hot.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvap2oWfKPD
Now I understood. I searched the officer's body and found two more batteries, put the weapon in single mode and resumed firing. The light beam, probably a laser, came out pulsing at very high frequencies, simulating a burst and striking on punctiform areas as long as the button was held down. In ∞ mode, however, the battery was instantly discharged in one powerful burst. I launched an ∞ beam, moving the weapon from left to right and cutting through all the remaining demi-humans at once. Rewarding.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKPWa8dGSP
After eliminating them, exhausted, I sat on the ground panting. "Where should I go now? The hallway is endless”, I said to the nothingness surrounding me. Christelle's voice seemed to boom in my head and she suggested I take a few steps back and take the door to the left, then head down. I jumped up and followed her orders and found myself in a horizontal elevator. I took it and got off at the first stop. I stepped out into what looked like an enormous three-level building. I was practically a few meters from the ceiling, but the floor of the third level, my destination, was at least fifty meters down. The voice repeated to me to get to the first level and to exit through the door that would show me.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwBzW69kNY
The immense rectangular workshop was full of maskless demi-humans dressed as workers, but no less dangerous. It was developed on three floors that cut the huge room in half, as if they had been built following the profile of a pyramid, thus developing along the diagonal of the building.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgw0uOOnDh
The faces of those creatures were expressionless and the same for all, with no eyebrows or nose, whose absence forced them to breathe through their mouths. Jumping up and down the stairs instead of running down them and shooting wildly, I finally descended to the top of the ceiling of the first level. There I ran between machines intent on printing weapons, armor and uniforms, avoiding one after another of the ambushes that followed one after another to try to stop me. To lower myself down to the last level I used a steel cable left unattended along with various tools on my catwalk.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppOBzXFxn8
I crashed on the greasy floor of the first level and waited under a strange vehicle for further instructions. The blows felt like hail against the metal and often bounced off my body. A bullet grazed my leg and ripped several insults out of my mouth, worsening the general picture of my health a little more. The fit of rage had consumed my energy and the shooting and running had drained my reserves as well. I went down two floors in the elevator and as soon as the doors opened a string of demi-humans came in front of me, opening fire. Two shots hit my left arm, piercing the TW of my coat and piercing my biceps and shoulder. Without screaming I fired the last shots, killing the last opponents and checking the state of my damaged arm. There was certainly no blood coming out but the bullet could have prevented it from working. Luckily nothing serious.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQNcEsCcc2
The shoulder on the other hand hurt like hell, lifting the limb upwards was out of the question. From the small size of the hole I could see that it wasn't a whole bullet that had hit me but only a fragment of the ogive surviving from some random ricochet. Without a surgeon, that piece of metal and I would have been together for a long time.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3s3XlMzie
As I stepped out of the elevator, I found myself inside a large hangar with a dock in the middle that could hold shuttles as long as fifty meters.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfaGbecjRh
'Drop down', ordered the voice inside my brain.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7sqKYwj3f3
"What?!", I shouted in disbelief. There was no reply and seeing no way to bargain or other solutions, with some hesitation I jumped into the basin, convinced I would end up dead in space. The fall lasted a few moments under the effect of gravity but the more I descended, the more I slowed down and my body began to feel problems due to the decreasing pressure. The darkness of space seemed to be the last thing I was destined to see but suddenly the Navajo appeared under my feet. The ship stopped and from inside they opened an EVA hatch to allow me to enter.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViiQr2q6KS
I grabbed the hatch with my right hand and gave myself the push I needed to move down. I entered the airlock and closed the doorway behind me, finding myself in weightlessness.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHFuRSuiWE
"There you are!" exclaimed Deena as she appeared from the other side of the airlock. I opened the hatch and entered the Navajo and she hugged me.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Ictpi7yzL
"Hey, hands off! This is not the time”, I protested embarrassed.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS0KW9mir9q
"You took on such a dangerous mission without even asking two questions! You're a fool!", she scolded me by squeezing tightly. "How anxious you've made me!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QUKXr7W9b
"There, now you've soiled your clothes”, I said with false indifference and after untangling myself I quickly floated towards the control room, leaving behind occasional red orbs floating in mid-air. The young woman looked down at her clothes and nearly had a heart attack at the sight of the red spots that had appeared on her.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9O35vMaFCn
"Um... where's the bridge?", I asked popping up again from a corner.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzRUxVtKPG
"The bridge?", she asked shocked at all the blood.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXMO88xMgO
"Where is everyone?", I asked embarrassed. I had taken off like a rocket, not remembering that I didn't really know the ship.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMJ2CXgQU0
"Straight ahead and up to the second level by the circular duct. But if you didn't know why you ran there…”, she asked, but as soon as I got the information I wanted I disappeared again following the directions. A little later I finally passed the door with Deck written on it. All of a sudden, I had a quick vision, lasting a few seconds, of open space. Was the ESP barrier hitting us?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5EKQiIR89
"See? Everything's fine”, Christelle greeted me smiling.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1hrhamJuU
"Doctor, I should talk to you later, I have a couple of little issues that need your opinion”, I said ignoring her. It hadn't gone well at all, I was bleeding out of my shoulder and leg and her plan relied heavily on my survival instincts and luck.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVlonH9kUL
"Are you hurt boy?", asked Bancroft with her serious air, analyzing me with her eyes from top to bottom and noticing the floating red balls I was leaving around me.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOt858Jr6h
"Nothing that can't wait”, I replied. "Is everyone here?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQTyBsff93
"Don't be a braggart”, Christelle scolded as she looked at me, changing her expression. "I don't think it's a little problem that, just tell the doctor how you…”. Another vision hit everyone, this time lasting a few seconds.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7hwVp0t6s
In the meantime, the two Navajo pilots were busy dodging the shots coming from the base. The shuttle had not been designed for such vicissitudes; flying blind, the pilots had a few seconds to dodge the missiles raining down on us using all the countermeasures at their disposal.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzEXxcIDx0
"Why don't we suffer the barrier?", I asked looking at Hank, "Because I knocked Charon out?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHVwyUcnAS
"No, I took care of it”, said Christelle. A third vision came, this time more vivid and prolonged.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGefhVjEkmk
"Chief!" shouted one of the pilots. "We can't go on like this much longer. The next blackout could be fatal to us!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEoZbK6K2v
"Christelle, so?", ranted Gage sternly.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4KpH48ENH
"I don't understand, I had a barrier installed on the shuttle, I thought it would be more powerful than that! Maybe the Judge is increasing the effort!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzOv0798GK
"You thought? You mean you didn't know the range of the barrier?", yelled Jake.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82akkEi4BR
"I should have consulted you then?". Another vision, this time perfectly clear, projected us back into open space.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNSgCxdmfj
"Look out!", shouted one of the pilots. A missile hit the right side of the hull, producing a silent explosion. The ship changed course, throwing the passengers over the opposite wall. The stunned and confused pilots were no longer able to hold on to the shuttle, which spun rapidly until it crashed incredibly into something.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzKBXJK8gl
After the explosion there were gas leaks and short circuits everywhere. Wires under the walls were popping sparks and one by one the lights inside the shuttle began to go out. Asif, Jake, and Christelle were lying on top of each other, Deena had ended up sitting on top of Hank's head, and I had hit my head on something while the doctor had fallen on top of me. One of the two pilots was dead and the other was unconscious. Droplets of blood floated near his temple while little moans of pain came from his mouth. The light was now off and from inside the shuttle came an immensity of creaking and worrying hisses. Hank was the first to find the breath to speak. "What happened? Are we hit?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkZHsDHUH2
"Monkey, move that leg!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNmv3VPlMc
"Hey, don't touch me! Does that look like Asif's leg?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡicVm2qAA4z
"Enough!", intervened Hank. "Asif, go see if the O' Farrells are okay. Jake, leave the girl alone and go check her blood pressure! Agatha come here, I can't move my arm”. The doctor went to visit aching Hank while Deena immediately floated over to make sure of my condition. Jake made his way to one of the many control panels and Asif rushed over to see the status of the pilots. With great sadness he found only one of them still able to breathe.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIX7FcY3l4
"Boss, Martin didn't make it”, Asif communicated in a resigned tone. Hank grimaced as Agatha carefully touched his arm.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPs7By9Bom5
Jake meanwhile looked puzzled at the monitor in front of him, leaving a confused expression. "Chief, not that I know anything about it, but it looks like we have a pressure leak in the accommodation area and slightly in the cargo bay as well. We've only got a few minutes before we're off to the next world”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QapABwQTk
"Relax Hank. It doesn't look like a fracture, you're not swollen”, the doctor diagnosed.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1NHR4ya34
"Jake, can we get to the biosuits?", asked Hank in pain.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXAnF09wdP
"I don't think so, I'll see what the sensors say”, the man replied. "Doesn't look to me like there's a good path to the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity, Ed.) warehouse”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoVMgs4OZZ
"We're screwed”, Hank sighed with a fatalistic half-smile. "How much bad luck can we have on us to hit anything while traveling through space?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ66mQ9yV5y
"This job has brought nothing but shit, boss”, whined Alex.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKxuSuARYyv
"Yeah”, admitted Hank, "Good thinking I had”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskJwnhsQWR
A hitherto inaudible hiss began to impose itself on the stunned ears of the crew. First it became high-pitched, then a thunderous explosion echoed throughout the shuttle, coming from the cell where Damien, the girls and I had been held prisoner during the trip to Diĝir-ga-šum.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcAXUhTnIn
Out of nowhere came two demi-humans. They scanned the control room to see if the prisoners were all there, then floated into the middle of the bridge and pointed their guns at me. Deena jumped on top of me to shield me; she wrapped her arms around my neck and covered my face and chest with her thin body. I was too stunned by the headbutt and wounds to react. Christelle, on the other hand, stared at both enemies in malignant little eyes and wrinkled her forehead as if she were making some sort of mental effort. Then both of them sagged, sliding their heads back and letting their weapons float in midair.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiHW3IR63T
"Well, they haven't reprogrammed them yet”, Christelle explained smiling. "Grab their shields and follow me. I'll try to create a bubble around us and hold out but there's only so much I'll be able to do”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7n0ogbeorA
Hank led the way. After quickly going through the hold to retrieve some weapons and ammunition suffering a bit from the low pressure, we stowed everything inside Deena's duffel bag and made our way to the opening that Diĝir-ga-šum's soldiers had made in the ship's hull.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96tsdebsxz
The ship had pierced the hull of that indefinable structure and it had deformed on impact. From the portholes we could see the void outside and nearby the surface of the station we had hit.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6rj7368Sil
John had some incredibly advanced and expensive stuff at his disposal. Coming out of an airlock, probably for maintenance purposes, they had attached themselves with a kind of inflatable mobile tunnel to the outer bulkhead of the ship and then pierced it with a strange device that now lay in midair still smoking, all in a very short time. At the end of the plastic tube was a kind of transparent force field that swirled like the undulating surface of a puddle. Hank approached it suspiciously, then touched it first with the barrel of the gun he kept strictly pointed in front of him, then with the tip of his left index finger. He held his breath, then crossed it with his eyes closed.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Sd8uh4Mwk
"Tense?", I asked snidely after observing him. I crossed the barrier feeling crushed to the ground and approached the man.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ03ckUbQevg
"Exhausted”, Hank replied coldly, "I'm not a kid anymore, but I still have good aim”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHLNQYEy2k
"What?", I tried to ask, but suddenly Hank exploded a shot toward me. I made to react, but before I could realize it a demi-human fell prone to the ground behind me. We exchanged a glance, one victorious, the other smug.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsazXEeIG5W
From that point on, it took two people to drag the surviving pilot unconscious once we entered the gravity structure. Deena held me up, being careful not to touch my injured arm.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlf4m59fFPd
The group continued, again led by Christelle, walking circumspectly and casting glances at every door or fork in the road. Oddly enough, the base seemed deserted and lifeless.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmV4tbs5Lct
"They're waiting for us somewhere”, I said breaking the silence.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ViXrZSpuc
"You read my mind”, Hank added.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMG8AyCXxw
"You weren't thinking anything like that, however you are wrong. I can't explain now, but about 80% of the soldiers on the base are non-operational and will be for another three or four hours. The ones that are still moving have been turned on by the emergency system”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKremIGC8k2
"Turned on?", asked Deena.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVArmA3dGc0
"I'll explain another time. Right now we have to run”.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPESdJoRT6l
"We don't even know where we are!" burst in Asif in his big voice.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQXLSxPvrT
"I know where we are. This way”, Christelle ordered, venturing a smile of victory. She led the rest of the crew into a large circular room. It had a low ceiling, apparently made of a single sheet of engraved metal as we had seen many times, which slightly distorted the images it could reflect. In front of us were a dozen oval doors. On each of them was an unknown symbol.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHcon0Idok
"These are escape pods, part of the original design and have been salvaged and installed here. Maybe they still work”, he explained448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7K2BVJYEO6
"Maybe? Girl, I don't want to die here!", cried Agatha exhausted and visibly tried.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2aiFVqwkX
"Do you have a better idea? Have a seat old woman”. Christelle lost her usual composure for a moment by crossing her arms.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxAf8bO6pm
"Calm down! Can you make them work?", asked Hank. She nodded her head and walked, followed by the rest of the group, to one of the doors. She placed the palm of her hand near the strange sign and the door suddenly opened inward, hissing and creaking.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPTWHBwEWI
"Come on, let's go. Hold on, please”, Deena replied with a smile. Taking care of me put her in a strangely good mood. I didn't know how to handle all that care but given my state of health, I was forced to accept it.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9SmbtFLlp
We entered the capsule. The cockpit was about five or maybe six meters long and two meters high and inside it had the shape of a parallelepiped with rounded corners. On the sides were black seats similar to those that were mounted on roller coasters in the old amusement parks, only more padded. Apart from a couple of portholes placed symmetrically on the longest walls, there was nothing else. It still had the effect that two different technologies had been put together in that aircraft in a way that was, to say the least, haphazard.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡos1hl34FvJ
"Empty”, Hank growled.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdMlywkN33
"There's no control panel. This thing wouldn't even move with a kick”, Jake said. "My SAI is broken, how's yours?".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHmJKWmwxK
"Man, all our AI are broken”, I reminded him.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjl5zc6h9QW
"Sit down, we're going to move”, Christelle scolded us.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFyOZ6P6P0
"Sure, using Asif's ass as a thruster, we could be back on Io in less than a month”, Jake joked.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQCC0W2zbQ
Asif laughed with him, too. "Much, much less!".448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqFN46QIQV
"I've got it! Sit down!", the girl ordered. She waited for everyone to sit down and then, sitting down as well, closed her eyes. The hatch closed, the cockpit began to vibrate and the capsule abruptly departed, crushing us against the seat backs and cutting off our breath.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7X4pHVmRaC
The descent to Earth was anything but a joke: the capsule used a technology very similar to the ancient capsules used by the ancient cosmonauts, who after a few hours in orbit fell back to earth with the sole help of parachutes. The Diĝir-ga-šum capsule did not use parachutes, but it certainly did not have the structure of a modern shuttle. It was a simple cylinder covered with a very good quality heat shield but the lack of wings made gliding impossible. The impact with the sea was the most terrible moment. Few of us were still conscious from the shock of the descent. I had lost a lot of blood and as far as I remember the trip was a short descent into darkness. I lost consciousness.
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