The Outer Rim Braves

[machinedhearts]

Isaac took long, careful breaths in a bid to stifle panic as he stepped into the darkness. He abandoned any hope of igniting the twin helmet lamps above his visor. Their light reflected off the dust wafting around the desolate hallway, blinding him. The small mercy granted by the overhead emergency lighting was dashed by what it revealed: the desiccated corpses of long-dead marines slumped in front of blood-spattered metal walls. The bodies lined both sides of the double-wide hall. Their weaponry was ancient, and their white unarmored first gen suits bore the markings of the failed First Expedition: a green and purple triangle behind a downward pointed gladius. Isaac was still uncertain that whatever got them wouldn't get him and his team too.

From the insertion team, Isaac took an escort to search for a lone reactor core still active on this abandoned battleship. The rest of the crew searched for desperately needed supplies. He would have gone with them, but they had little time before their only Maintenance Excursion Unit would run out of fuel. The core was just as vital to keeping the lifeboat going as anything else. If they hoped to survive on the outer rim, they needed a dependable source of power.

He was escorted by his own detachment of marines, a portion of what few made it off the colony ship Endurant with the rest of the Phage survivors. The thought of hundreds of thousands of lives lost because of infestation, in such a short amount of time made Isaac shudder.

Staring at the dead bodies as the group traveled down the hall, Isaac turned his helmet radio up from the holographic display on the underside of his wrist. "Looks like a nasty way to go."

"It was quick. Lucky bastards." Erik's grizzled voice boomed over the radio. He was the marine taking point. Erik's metal-plated suit was charcoal with a thick red stripe down the middle of his helmet, signifying him as squad leader.

"Looks like they each took a shot square to the skull. Execution?" Ivar's baritone voice followed up. The marine to Isaac's left. His suit was like Erik's but lacking a red stripe, a private new to the unit.

"Nah. They all had their rifles. Unless you're saying they just stood there and took it." Arne called out. He was the marine to Isaac's right. His suit had a thick green stripe—a tech marine, the one who was to help Isaac with the potential reactor extraction.

Still moving down the hall, they passed by an open sliding door. Inside was a dusty but unbloodied living area. The four stared inside as they passed. Isaac's stomach growled as he looked, fighting the urge to seek out nourishment. Food was scarce and he hadn't eaten in days. The hope that the scavenging team would be successful in finding nutrients was the only thing keeping him going.

"Maybe they all went mad and shot each other." Ivar piped up, breaking the pregnant silence.

"They all gathered in a circular formation, and squared up a perfect shot straight to the dome, then everyone each somehow pulled the trigger at the exact same time?" Arne's skepticism wafted over the radio.

"It's possible." Ivar responded with a bittersweet tone.

"C'mere, stand across from me, we'll test this theory." Arne reached behind Isaac and smacked Ivar on the shoulder.

"N—no I don't think—"

"Cut it out." Erik's voice was partly irritated, partly angry. "If I get my ass blown off because you two are fondling each other, I'm going to be pissed."

"Sorry sarge." Arne called out.

Isaac felt left out by the banter. The marines tended to keep to their own clique, and ignored those they protected in the same way a shepherd didn't bond with the sheep. His brother, Jakob, was the same way. The minute he joined the military, Isaac's brother became cold and distant. Aside from just losing his home ship, Isaac's only living family member treating him like a guest was among the bitterest moments of his life. Being among this interaction was like reopening an old wound.

After the sergeant's scolding, the four continued down the macabre corridor in silence, the marines scanned their surroundings with measured motion.

"How far are we?" Erik impatiently broke the silence.

Isaac flipped over his arm and pulled up a blueprint of the ship. "On the other side of the bulkhead at the end of this hall is a tram station. If we follow that line, we'll end up at the second bank of reactors. The second slot was detected active."

"And if we're lucky there will be a tram waiting. Not hoofing it three klicks would be nice." Arne called out, hopeful.

"Would you know how to run the tram?" Isaac cocked an eyebrow, impressed.

"Nah, I'd figure it out. Go slow, go fast, stop. It's not like controlling a reactor array."

Isaac smiled. "Even those you can wing if you really try hard enough. Or don't mind getting a bit of exposure. To explosions." He radiated a smile and chuckled at his own joke. Manipulating a reactor array was a precision operation that required dozens of techs to get it right or risk a catastrophic failure that could result in the loss of an entire ship. Luckily the group was only after an individual isolated core, or this entire trip would be fruitless.

Arne choked in surprise. Isaac leaned forward and gave a knowing smirk, to let Arne in on the gag. The marine let off a deep belly laugh. Then Isaac couldn't help but partake and the group's icy demeanor towards him eased. But Erik pivoted at the hip and cast a baleful glance toward Arne, who snapped his mouth shut the moment the two marines locked eyes. Just like that, Isaac was secluded once more.

They reached the end of the hall which opened to a wide and tall room, a pneumatic delivery depot. Huge spherical carts lined tracks leading into clear tubes embedded into the wall. The diameter of each tube was several times the height of even the tallest of the marines. This ship was so large that it needed to move things around with internal mass drivers. Isaac let off a scoff in disbelief. He knew this ship was massive but didn't grasp its scale until then.

The bulkhead was at the end of the unlit depot. A small slit in the two cruiser-sized armor plates that composed the bulkhead, emitted a dull violet glow from beyond. As the group got closer, they spotted a mass piled on the deck, blocking the slit, several meters high. And the gap in the bulkhead was vast, more than twice as wide as the hallway the group just departed. The marines raised their rifles, and the squad leader readied his light machine gun.

Closing in, they found the mass to be a pile of dead bodies stacked higher than the group was tall. Bullet holes riddled the corpses. The bulkhead itself was peppered with impacts and char spatter, indicative of kinetic round and laser fire impacts.

"How about these guys, did they all decide to jump in a pile and shoot themselves?" Arne harassed Ivar.

"Well, no, I don't see any guns anywhere. Maybe the guys that got headshots did thi—"

"Climb over and scout it out." Erik cut him off and shook his head in disappointment as he gave the order to Ivar.

"Yes sarge." Ivar deflated and began to scale the mountain of dead bodies.

Isaac shivered as the private's hands and feet sunk into the mountain of dried, papery flesh. This section of the ship must have decompressed shortly after this happened; these bodies hadn't decomposed, just dried out. There was no atmosphere in any of the sections of the ship they'd traveled besides the one long hallway they took to get here.

As Ivar pushed forward and skirted the pile to see what was on the other side of the bulkhead, he shouted in a panic. Shocked by the response, Isaac retreated, and the marines readied their weapons. Ivar's weight caused the mountain of bodies to shift and slide towards him. The motion was so sudden that it carried Ivar away in the corpse avalanche. He tumbled end-over-end with the mummified corpses, launching mountains of dead skin flakes up into the air before they dropped back down like damp bark.

"Have a nice trip?" Erik goaded Ivar.

"See you in the fall." Arne followed up, not skipping a beat as he stepped forward to help Ivar, gun trained forward through the bulkhead, ready for threats.

Isaac followed Arne and the two began to extract the private from the mummies. Erik followed and swept his gun around, searching for threats.

"I hate this. It's too quiet." Erik muttered as he scanned by pivoting his hips, gun aligned with his movement.

Finally, the two pulled Ivar out of the corpse pile and the group moved toward the tram station almost a half a klick away from the bulkhead. The marines were on high alert as their defense vector became far more complicated. This section of the ship was a huge cityscape, complete with paved roads, tall concrete and glass buildings, even old billboard advertisements were plastered along the highways suspended from the ceiling far above them. Mummified leaves remained on the trees and shrubs of the planters that dotted the stone walkway to the tram station.

Along the path, scattered around them were more corpses, all shot dead and sprawled atop dried pools of blood where they died. Isaac wondered what did this. Was it a mutiny?

"Contact bearing 042 far." Arne spoke with intensity, grabbed Isaac by the collar and pulled both of them to a knee, into cover behind a stone planter.

The other two marines took cover and trained their weapons in the direction, slightly off to the right of their position. A shadowy figure stood upon a raised platform overlooking a set of terraces beyond the tram station, pivoting at the hips with a long gun in the violet rays of the signage above.

"Alucar." Erik spoke in a hushed tone.

Isaac gasped, terrified. Alucar were the reason why AGI, artificial general intelligence—strong AI, was permanently banned among the flotilla. They were the only explanation for who stacked all these bodies. And the bipedal drone on the platform was suspect number one.

 

[machinedhearts]

From behind a stone planter, Isaac stared in terror at the android pacing in circles around a small, raised plaza ahead. It carried an ancient large-bore kinetic rifle with two hollow-boned metal arms. A few steps ahead of Isaac, Erik rested on one knee, concealed behind a park bench. He twisted his hips to point his helmet toward Arne who also took a knee next to Isaac. The Alucar drone had perfect line of sight to see along the many city blocks.

The bipedal machine, clad in white panels. Its head was dotted with thousands of microsensors that refracted glints as its head swiveled. Mounted between its two face plates was a single spherical red sensor with a black dot, its main eye. It scanned like a sentinel but was unwilling to move from its spot. While it wasn't facing towards it, the drone had a clear line of sight to the station. It guarded the tracks and stood ready to shred anything that came along to pieces.

"Get that thing ready to move." The sergeant called to Arne, pointing toward the train powered down at the station.

"Roger." Arne pivoted, moving toward the corner of the planter closer to the tram, and readied himself to move.

Then Erik turned toward Ivar, who laid prone behind a tipped over trash bin. "Pop chaff, then go help them. I'll draw its attention."

The private looked toward Erik and gave a strained nod. Ivar pivoted, slid a canister grenade off his vest, and pulled the pin. Then he waited for acknowledgement from Arne. The tech sergeant gave him a stern nod and latched onto Isaac's collar. Rolling from shoulder to shoulder on his back, the private hurled the chaff grenade and sent it soaring over the road toward the raised plaza. As the grenade flew, Erik stood up and burst into a sprint, away from the tram. Isaac's heart leaped into his throat. It was hard not to realize the danger Erik put himself in. Blow-for-blow, that model of drone was an equal match for a fully kitted marine but as the lifeboat was running low on critical supplies, so were Erik and the rest of the marines.

As soon as the sergeant moved, the android spun on its heels, it tracked his movement in a fluid motion, sweeping the cannon. The chaff grenade exploded. A cloud of white smoke burst outwards in a sphere and a stream of iridescence weaved through the form, refracting the violet rays of the signage above and the emergency lights around, a moment of dazzling visual chaos. Through the smoke, the Alucar fired a shot. It missed Erik, nipping at his heels, boring a hole in the cloud, ricocheting off the pavement just behind him, and crashing into the side of a tall residential structure. Shards of stone exploded from the building's façade, flew across the plaza, and crashed into the ground around Erik.

Arne yanked Isaac up by the collar and dashed toward the open door of the tram car parked at the station. It wasn't far, only about a dozen paces. In a panic, Isaac tripped over a dead body as he entered the train car and slammed into the closed door on the opposite side of the train. The smack caused his ears to ring and dazed him as his head smashed against his helmet's full-face visor. Arne jumped into the control station and began flicking switches.

"No power, dammit." Arne shouted and began looking for an emergency charge station.

Ivar rushed over to Isaac and pulled him to his feet. As Isaac rose, he spotted the hand-powered generator under a seat near the control station.

"I got it here." Isaac stumbled forward. He sat down on the cushioned passenger bench and reached between his legs. With his whole shoulder he began rotating the crank, the typical clatter from these archaic generators absent in the vacuum of space.

After a few moments of spinning the generator, the control room lit up. Displays turned on and the tram's computer began booting up. Isaac began to tire and his stomach growled, but he dug deep and continued to pump away at rotating the generator, worried it needed a partially charged battery in order to safely reconnect to the grid.

Down the line, near the track bridge that brought the tram up and deeper into the ship, Erik hip fired bursts of lasers from his light machine gun, a few glowing coolant cells launched from its ejection port with each volley. The rays of red light smacked into the android and bounced off, sending diminished flickers ricocheting off and burning bulkheads in the distance.

"Damn that thing is invulnerable." Ivar stared out the window, hints of fear tinged his voice.

Arne grit his teeth in irritation and turned to the private. "Take over working the generator." Then he pointed to Isaac. "Come help me get this thing going."

Out of breath and sweat pouring down his face, Isaac stood up and made way for Ivar who rested his rifle on the seat in front of him and continued churning the generator. Isaac stumbled into the control room and looked at the tram controls. They were fairly simple—the touch panel set the destination and there was a physical throttle handle to move the train.

"Figure out where we need to go and get this thing moving. I'm relieving the sergeant." Arne slipped out from the control room and ran back to the platform.

Isaac flipped his wrist over and pulled up the route diagram. The destination was the last stop on the line. He prayed there was enough juice in this section of the ship to get them there. It was a long, winding path with many ascents and descents otherwise. He punched in an express trip to the final station. The screen ignited with a red warning indicator and text flashed.

Error: Tram drivetrain link failure. Ensure positive and negative connector alignment.

Erik launched another suppression volley as he sprinted away from the tram toward cover. The Alucar fired another high-caliber round in his direction, which landed low and shattered a planter, sending dirt flying in every direction. Isaac needed to get this thing going and fast.

Arne took cover far away from the tram and began firing bursts of lasers from his rifle at the android.

As he rushed out onto the platform and toward the rear of the tram, Isaac threw himself between the wide tracks and began crawling under the cars, toward the front of the train where the connection should have been. He wasn't an internal engineer, but he had an interest in trams when he was younger and sometimes information about these ancient vehicles could be found in literature.

On the engine car were two hooks that were linked to a slider on the rail. The positive slider looked firmly linked. The negative connector was mangled, wrapped up in a mummified leg. Isaac shuddered, reminded of the carnage at the bulkhead gap. These old trams were variable link and powered via AC voltage. One misplaced hand would close the circuit between him, the tram, and the rail. It would kill him and hurt the entire time.

Rubbing two gloved fingers together Isaac psyched himself up. He braced his shoulder against the tram, hoping if his body closed a circuit, it would only burn and not fry him. He yanked the gored femur from the link wire. A subtle giddiness filled him. The lack of a shock reassured him. Then he reached for the cable. As his finger touched the braided metal, it arced. Isaac recoiled. Then he spotted the two marines taking fire from the android and recognized there were far worse places to be right now.

Isaac took a deep breath, steeled himself, and then with one hand began to straighten out the link cable. It smacked against the motor receptor's case and bolts of electricity flew from the wire as it bobbed along the tram's metal drive wheel. Fighting off an instinctual flinch, Isaac gripped the wire and smacked it into the motor's slider. With a bit of a jolt running up from his fingers, he wrapped the link cable around the connector plate and bound it to the hook on the slider. Then he retreated, confident the connection would hold long enough to get them where they needed to be.

As he crawled out from under the tram, sprinted onto the train and into the control room, Isaac punched in the destination and the tram accepted it. With hope in his heart, Isaac pushed the horn button on the control panel to get the two marines skirmishing with the android to move back toward the tram. Nothing happened. Of course it wouldn't, this entire section of ship was decompressed.

"Train's leaving, let's go." Isaac called out over the radio.

He hoped the chaff was enough cover to keep the tram from being destroyed by the drone.

As Arne waved over to Erik, the android dropped his cannon. It was out of ammo. The Alucar produced twin blades from beneath its armor-plated arms and launched itself toward the skirmishing marines. The sergeant retreated while Arne failed to suppress the android that continued its unwavering advance toward him.

Erik slid into the door and jammed his hand toward Isaac. "Get this thing going now!"

"The doors are going to close when it starts moving." Isaac placed his hand on the throttle.

"Go, go, go!" The sergeant yelled.

Isaac punched the throttle to full and the doors shuttered. The tram's wheels spun for a moment then it lurched into motion and began accelerating rapidly.

"Move it marine, we are leaving." Erik shouted over the radio to Arne.

The sergeant began kicking out the door that just closed. With hydraulic-augmented muscles it only took a few hits before the doors flew off their rollers and tumbled away from the train.

Arne stopped shooting at the quickly closing Alucar and with a charged jump, launched himself up over the planters and onto the road which ran in parallel with the tram. In a powered-assisted sprint, Arne raced along the side of the train, gasping over the radio as he reached out for Erik.

The sergeant leaned out of the open door and crouched down, extending an arm to the sprinting marine. With the gap between their hands widening as the tram accelerated, Arne dug deep, throwing himself in desperation toward Erik.

Behind, the android caught up to Arne, ready to strike him down.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac gripped the throttle, staring out the door at Arne desperately sprinting to hop on before the train crossed onto the bridge, pursued by a hunter-killer drone. Erik leaned out through the hole where the sliding doors of the train were once mounted, straining to reach for Arne's outstretched arm. The marine only had a few more meters before he ran out of road.

Ivar ran down the train car and smashed out a window with the butt of his rifle, then aimed it at the android only a step away from cutting Arne to pieces. With a wild volley of automatic laser fire, the private laid on the trigger and pumped bolts of light into the machine's upper torso. The beams bounced and smacked into the buildings beyond, leaving char marks on what concrete was left on the high-rises.

Suddenly, the Alucar pivoted, leaped toward the tram, and latched on by driving its wrist blades into the frame. With a swipe, the machine began to carve an opening for it to fit. The long blade struck Ivar across the chest and sheared his armor plating. Blood shot out like a fountain and bathed the android as the vacuum of the deck depressurized the marine's suit. The private gasped and stumbled back, falling into a seat, and covering the hole with his hand.

"Took a hit." Ivar spoke over the radio weakly, in shock.

As the hunter-killer crawled through the mangled window frame, Arne spun and leaped, latching onto the gaps in the android's armor plates. With all his might he tugged at the Alucar drone, planting his feet on the side of the tram. After struggling against the thrashing legs, Arne dislodged the android from the window frame and they both tumbled to the ground, sliding along the asphalt.

Before the marine could recover from the fall, the Alucar leaped to its feet and pinned Arne with its legs. It began thrashing its wrist blades at his body. His screams of agony burst out over the radio, then faded as his suit depressurized and his guts burst out over the hunter-killer tearing him to pieces. Isaac froze, distressed he couldn't help the marine.

Erik remained in place, dangling from the broken tram door, leaving his free arm to dangle in defeat. Hanging his head, he stood up and turned to Ivar.

"Did you get that hole squared away?" The sergeant's voice was resolute but tinged with loss.

He found the private slumped over, pale and staring into nothingness. The entirety of his veins spewed all over his lap and the floor. For whatever reason, Ivar's autoplast system on his suit failed to patch the hole and he couldn't make a solid seal with his hand because of the damaged armor plating. Old First Expedition equipment was made from alloys that the flotilla couldn't reproduce anymore, of a far better quality, and the Alucar was First Expedition tech. Erik grit his teeth in anger and slumped him over, dislodging the plastimend canister on the private's hip.

Holding it up to the light, the indicator showed empty.

"Why didn't you say something?" Erik leaned down and shouted in the face of Ivar's body. "I would have given you mine, you stupid fuck!"

The sergeant threw the canister down the length of the tram in rage and shattered the rear window. Then he fell to a sit on the bench opposite the private's body and held his helmet in one hand and began punching the side of it with his other fist.

Isaac wanted to say something in condolence, but a better mind told him to keep his trap shut. There was nothing to be said that would make the situation any better anyways. The past months have been nothing but loss and suffering. From losing the Endurant, to suffering Alucar attacks on every abandoned vessel encountered, fewer and fewer returned from each scavenging mission. And this one was no different.

The tram ride quieted down as Erik calmed. Once the tram ascended out from the deck, most of the trip was through the inter-deck tunnels. Large, square throughways that followed through the spaces between each of the ship's main decks. At one point it seemed they had large holo displays running, perhaps showing something more pleasant than just iron girders and the metal scaffolds which supported one deck against each other. But without power, and torn from gunfire and conflict, they were just tattered translucent sheets.

"We should just scratch this mission." Erik muttered over the radio, entirely deflated.

Isaac understood the sentiment but decided to remain silent as he sat in the engineer's seat, watching the tracks ahead for obstruction.

"Get us on a cross-ship path, we're linking up with the scavenger team and calling it." Erik spoke with authority.

"No, we're not." Isaac spoke matter-of-factly, continuing to monitor the way ahead.

"It's not your call." The sergeant stood up and approached the control room. "I'm not going to be the one that got our only reactor tech killed. Turn it around."

"It doesn't matter if it isn't my call or not. We're pressing forward." Isaac didn't want to argue with him but wasn't going to stop the tram either.

"If you're going to give me a heart-felt speech about not sacrificing lives in vain, shove it up your ass. I'm pulling us out of here before we get the rest of our people killed because you got your head blown off." Erik loomed over Isaac with a dominant pose.

"I wouldn't sully their deaths with grandstanding. We're pressing on for a simple reason: we have no choice." Isaac didn't acknowledge the sergeant's overwhelming presence and continued to stare at the tracks illuminated by the tram's headlights. "Our reactor has been on its last leg for a while. Any day now it will give out." He turned and looked up at Erik. "Do you have family on our lifeboat?"

"Yes." Erik's voice was laced with venom.

"Unless you want them to suffocate to death while freezing, we're not stopping." Isaac turned back to watch the path ahead. Then the thought of the other two marines crossed his mind and he turned to Erik again. "Did they?"

The sergeant was leaning against the wall and staring out the broken door, watching the bland surroundings pass. "Moller lost almost everyone back on the Endurant." Erik pointed at Ivar's body. He paused, thinking. "Some of Berg's family got out," talking about Arne.

A wave of depression washed over Isaac. There wasn't anyone on the lifeboat that was whole. "We'll be arriving shortly."

As they closed in on the final station, the tram rattled and then the car fell dark. Isaac grumbled and readied to climb back under the tram to fix the damaged link cable. "I got it, give me a few."

"Leave it." Erik stood up and began pulling Ivar's kit off his body. "Last thing we need is an ambush. This is close enough." He wrapped the second utility belt around his shoulders like a bandolier.

Then Erik tossed the private's weapon to Isaac. "You know how to use that?"

Isaac caught it and stared at the rifle. "I think I can manage." He had to sit through counter-boarding simulations for the reactor tech exam. He knew enough to point and pull the trigger.

"No heroics. If something goes down, you leave me behind." The sergeant pointed at the rifle. "That's to give you a better chance of getting back. You run or hide first."

Isaac gave a hesitant nod, and they departed the tram at the very edge of the tunnel. There was no elevation change to get to the platform, it was a maintenance station. Considering their destination, it was likely just for workers to get to and from the reactor array. There wasn't as much glamor to the surroundings. It seemed that deck design choices didn't change much since the days of the First Expedition. The Endurant's reactor platform was equally drab and depressing.

As they crossed through the doors to the hallway, it was evident this section of the ship was still pressurized. Crossing into the engaged airlock that separated the reactor deck from the tramway, Erik pulled Isaac back by the collar and the sergeant put himself ahead, shielding Isaac from the opening doors. From the drab browns of the tunnel, the reactor deck was pure white with blue undertones. There was no sign of a fight here.

As they walked along the hallway, huge pane windows still intact revealed the reactor arrays below. They were enormous glass spheres locked into banks. Each bank had five spheres with a diameter that spanned from floor to ceiling of the deck. They needed massive volume to contain the reactant within. Isaac's heart sank as he looked out at the banks. All of them were browned over, dead.

"These are looking like duds." Isaac looked out at the array. He turned his arm over and looked at the map. It looked like the live reactor reading was much farther down, deeper into the deck.

Suddenly Erik grabbed Isaac by the collar and began dragging him, in a sprint.

The sergeant's weapon-mounted radar rang out with a blip behind them. "That thing followed us."

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac was thrown forward by Erik dragging him by the collar as his radar picked up movement coming from the tram station. The Alucar drone followed them. In a bid to get away, the two sprinted down the all-white, pristine hallway overlooking the reactor banks. Isaac needed to figure out where this lone remaining active core was, and fast. The airlock warning rang out as it began to transition between states. Through the bulletproof glass doors, the drone waited for the airlock to complete transitioning.

"Why isn't it just tearing through the doors?" Isaac's voice trembled as they ran.

"You want to go ask it? Keep moving." Erik's harsh voice replied over the radio.

Through shuttered office blocks, the two followed a winding path down toward the battery banks, guided by Isaac's navigation on his arm. It was an unorthodox spiral downwards, as they crossed through abandoned administrative rooms, dimly lit. Plastered across displays were multiple warnings of the highest level – critical, over extinct reactor cells. As they passed, each reactor array control station maintained an emergency state, red warning lights overhead. This ship was on the verge of becoming nothing more than a tomb cruising through space.

They finally hit the bottom of the path, passing under the reactor deck into a vault embedded deep in the ship. Descending a lone set of metal grate stairs into a void, everything around was pure darkness with one exception, a small ray of forest green light emanating from the ajar vault door at the bottom of the abyss.

"Is that it?" Erik called out, climbing down the steps backwards with gun trained to their rear.

"I think so." Isaac's voice filled with hope.

As they closed in on the double-thick armor-plated door as big as a bulkhead, Isaac's containment warning went off on his wrist. In his ear, the crackling of his digital reactivity counter stopped him in place.

"That thing's hot!" Isaac pointed toward the vault.

Erik gave him a shove. "So is the exit, keep moving."

Behind them, the Alucar drone began to descend the long staircase slowly and methodically.

Terrified, Isaac sprinted toward the vault. His radiation instrumentation began to dazzle his right ear as it continued to increase rapidly the farther into the vault he ran. They crossed the threshold into the vault and light blasted them. Within was a massive room with a single reactor core mounted upon a circular pedestal. The vault itself was layered in white radiation-resistant tiling. As Isaac visually inspected the core from afar, it was greened over to an extreme he'd never seen. There was an absurd amount of power contained within that lone cell. Maybe enough to power this whole ship, judging by the amount of radiation it gave off.

"How are we getting this thing out of here?" Erik called out, tempering his trigger finger.

"Every cell has an emergency jettison procedure. We blow the locks, and the Excursion Unit picks it up." Isaac's gaze gravitated toward a small control room near the glass of the reactor.

"Do it." Erik demanded and stopped in place, squaring off with the Alucar drone entering the vault.

In a panic, Isaac rushed for the reactor control room. The door was ajar and the orange indicator for maintenance was ignited. Considering the dust piled up on the control panel, someone must have thought to hide in the reactor core long ago. But considering all the protective suits remained on the hooks, maybe it was them choosing to go out on their own terms. Given how reactive the cell was now, there was enough radiation escaping the cell as should normally be produced. He latched his rifle to the magnetic attach points on his suit and got to work.

As he began to flip switches, movement caught Isaac's attention from the corner of his eye. He jumped in fear. But quickly, he realized there was nothing near him, just the Alucar approaching Erik across the vault. Rebooting the control system because it was soft bricked, he needed to decouple any potential disposal protocols from the jettison executor. As he waited for the console to reboot, he sensed someone near again and startled.

Looking up through the observation window, he spotted a woman's face through the green mire that swirled chaotically within the core. Her eyes were hungry, with a scowl painted across her face. Swallowing hard, Isaac blinked and shook his head. Then opening them, the face was gone. Radiation sickness must be setting in, he was seeing things. The screen ignited and blasted the control room in white, displaying the First Expedition logo, which drew his attention back to the console.

A burst of laser fire from Erik's light machine gun rang out, the whine of the capacitors filled the space. As the rays smacked into the Alucar, they ricocheted off and were absorbed by the radiation panels with a low hiss. With each impact on the panels that lined the vault, the tumult of the reactor grew more chaotic, churning like a growing hurricane.

By the time Isaac figured out how to individualize the disposal procedure, the reactor began producing lightning, which struck the walls around. Deep within, a tumultuous thunderstorm darkened the already deep green cloud. As he worked, Isaac began to hope they didn't somehow time their arrival at the exact point the reactor was melting down. Judging by the power output, it would take the whole ship down with it.

Though something was off about the reactor's response. Usually, latent power nearby would reduce reactance, which is why cores are kept in banks, situated into arrays. The proximity to each other acted as a natural balance. If one cell began to run away, the others would respond in turn to keep it in check. It was very difficult for a single cell to actually melt down, which required an immense amount of operator negligence. This lone cell seemed to only grow in reactance from laser fire, which Isaac didn't expect.

The Alucar closed on Erik, who began to skirmish the drone in a bid to keep the machine occupied.

Finally isolating the jettison procedure in the system, Isaac initiated it. An error flashed across the screen and Isaac jumped in shock. He'd accidentally prevented the process from disconnecting the utility tunnel to enter the cell from outside. And there was no way to cancel the procedure without soft bricking it and having to do everything over again. The only way to get this thing to move was manually disconnecting it.

From the wall, Isaac yanked a hydraulic jack and a pry bar. Sprinting toward the metal tunnel and dragging the jack behind him, he only needed to get it free just enough for the system to recognize the disconnect. The cell's normal state was sealed, to contain the reactivity, so there was no danger to the reactor from the vacuum of space.

The Alucar seemed to be toying with Erik. It would get close and then stop, letting the laser fire bounce off its armor plating harmlessly. Then it would advance again. Like an animal tiring its prey before going in for the kill. The sergeant's panting echoed over the radio, validating the drone's tactics.

Isaac jammed the jack under the slightly raised tunnel and began pumping the handle to lift the armature. As it made contact and resistance grew, his shaking arms struggled to push against the grip. Starvation weakened him. He leaned into each pump, using his weight to push down. The metal began to buckle as the jack failed to dislodge the tunnel, instead deforming the structure.

"Come on!" Isaac shouted in desperation, releasing the tension on the jack, and bringing it closer to the seal.

Trying again, he was as close to the glass as he could reasonably get without risking a total structural failure on the cell. With more exhausted pumps, he pushed against the jack's handle. Then it seized, unable to continue extending against the resistance of the tunnel's weight. Angry and afraid, Isaac began pounding on the metal of the tunnel's frame with the crowbar.

"Just disconnect you bastard." Isaac yelled, smacking the tunnel.

The Alucar began herding Erik. Exhausted, the sergeant had no more energy to outmaneuver the machine and had no choice but to retreat toward Isaac. A low rumble grew from within the reactor and the floor began to vibrate. Then the tunnel hissed and the lights in the vault extinguished. Around them, the reactor threw off wild lightning, heating the reactor panels and strobing the room with yellow illumination.

With a lone swipe, the drone gored Erik. He fell backwards over the jack and onto Isaac. The sergeant pinned the trigger on his gun with a wild cry. The unleashed stream of light directly into the Alucar's face had no effect. It wound up and raised both of its arms ready to strike from overhead. A bolt of lightning plowed into the machine, and it severed in two.

Then Isaac realized he made another, far more fatal mistake. A sliding panel underneath the reactor orb shot open and jettisoned the reactor and them into space.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac tumbled through space, thrashing while watching the gargantuan battleship grow more and more distant. The jettison protocol immediately opened all the disposal ports and evacuated the contents of the reactor core vault. As he spiraled out of control, he watched the reactor come in and out of vision. Reaching in desperation, his rotation began to slow with each hand sliding across the glass surface of the reactor core also tumbling with him.

Slowed enough to stop him from nausea, Isaac tuned his radio to the high band to call for the Excursion Unit. "Mayday, mayday, mayday. Man overboard."

Throwing his hands out, Isaac gripped the reactor core and slowed himself. His skin tingled from its radiating energy. The power it gave off tugged at him, like he was magnetic. Or more like something gripped him by the wrists. Despite knowing that each moment he clung to the reactor sheared more and more off his life, he was grateful not to be tumbling into the cold void of space.

Then he spotted Erik unconscious and spiraling away from the reactor, out of arm's reach from the torso of the Alucar. Both were on approach toward the core. Isaac wondered if the pull from the reactor would work on his feet. Curling up, he eased his boot onto the surface of the glass. As if there were a suction force, his boot snapped to the sphere. With careful motion, he attached his other foot to the glass and stood, head pointed in the direction where Erik would cross.

Yanking his hands from the core, Isaac stood up and stretched into a reach for Erik. As the marine floated closer, it looked like he was almost too far away. With arm extended, Isaac noticed on his wrist display that Erik's tracking beacon was offline. The strike from the drone must have severed something. There was only one shot to save Erik before he would drift off into the cold void, never to be found again.

"This is Excursion 47, no contact, pulse your transponder." The Maintenance Excursion Unit's radio operator Gerod called out.

As Isaac reached for Erik, he strained to get as close as possible without dislodging himself from the core's surface. His fingertips grazed the marine's shoulder as he drifted by, despite Isaac's furious swipes in a bid to draw Erik closer. Then Isaac recoiled into a crouch as the Alucar drone's torso drifted by in a wild spin. Its wrist blades danced, aching for the chance to sink themselves into Isaac.

Still ducking, Isaac flipped up the radio menu on his wrist display as the drone passed by, wagging its deadly blades fruitlessly overhead. After pulsing his transponder, Isaac flipped his radio permanently to the high band.

"Excursion 47, I'm secured to an active core. I have one more on a terminal trajectory away from me." Isaac radioed the MEU, alerting them to Erik's drifting off into space. "I need a bearing sync." In space, directions were only relative to a specific body. A bearing synchronization would orient directions based on who requested it.

"Copy, go for bearing sync," Gerod replied.

With the drone passed, Isaac stood up once more and, in a hurry, shot from the hip. Pulling up the orientation app, he pointed toward Erik and led him a bit to attempt a zeroing. Isaac's wrist display vibrated, indicating it sent the sync.

"Target on a course from zero bravo toward 030 alpha." Isaac called out, indicating Erik was moving away from directly ahead toward a point upwards and to the right.

"Green line confirmed, 030 alpha." Gerod replied.

From around the massive battleship, in front of an exoplanet with purple and gold cloud cover, the MEU burned hard, with a wide berth. It came to a slow drift along the path Isaac designated. The boxy MEU had several pyramidal fuel canisters atop its elongated frame. At the rear, were two sets of cylindrical tri-pack XL-boosters, almost half of the ship's length, to move heavy ship components and haul ore. In front was a toothy quad-grip, what it used to grab things and to where it tractored mined ore. What was built for maintenance was now a makeshift drop ship.

"Negative visual contact." Gerod radioed. They couldn't see Erik.

Isaac looked around, expecting to see Erik's silhouette against the MEU. But he too lost sight of him. In a panic, Isaac began taking stilted, beleaguered steps in the direction of the MEU along the surface of the reactor core. He brought his radio back down to the low band.

"You out there? We need some directions." Isaac called out to the marine.

Isaac cursed, angry. Under his breath, he pleaded for Erik to just say something. But the radio silence was colder than the depths of space, sending a chill up Isaac's spine.

"I see him." A deep voice called out over the low band. It was Jakob, Isaac's brother. "I'm going after him."

From the airlock of the MEU a tethered figure rocketed out. With a mix of haste and calculated motion, Jakob, on the space walk, hurled himself beneath the boat and toward a point that silhouetted him against the exoplanet afar. Attached to his back, the tether extended and stretched. Then Jakob came to a halt. Isaac breathed hard, tensing all his muscles, hoping that his brother saved Erik.

"Move to 312 alpha, I need slack!" Jakob called out; his voice stressed.

"Copy, moving." Gerod replied and the MEU burst into motion.

At this distance, Isaac could barely make out movement among the silhouettes, keeping track of what was going on by how the umbilical out the back of the MEU moved.

Then a stream of laser fire ignited the void beside the exoplanet like shooting stars. Followed was stillness, silence. Isaac hoped the drone didn't get his brother too.

"Retract, RTB," Jakob called out, his voice calm. "Target secured."

The chord began to pull Jakob back and the MEU rotated, aligning to move toward the core. The boat closed in on the sphere as Jacob entered the airlock. The four grips on the front of the ship extended and enveloped the reactor's sphere. Using the armature for stability, Isaac yanked himself from the surface of the core and climbed over the MEU. Atop the ship was the ore compressor, with multiple hydraulic pistons that condensed freed chunks and powdery bits into more manageable bricks which were loaded into the cargo hold.

Climbing down the rear of the MEU, between the massive thrusters, Isaac found the airlock open and his brother already inside the cabin. With the press of a button, Isaac cycled the airlock and after a moment of atmosphere rapidly entering the space, the secondary door opened, and Isaac entered the ship. Then he rushed over to find out Erik's fate.

"Is he going to make it?" Isaac looked over Jakob's shoulder.

Jakob wagged a mediscan gun over the sergeant, silent. Isaac, frustrated by his brother's silence, looked up and around to get someone else's opinion when he found the cabin empty, aside from the four crew at the front of the ship.

Confused, Isaac looked back to Jakob. "Where's everyone else?"

"I'm it." Jakob continued to scan Erik.

Isaac drifted backwards in shock and bumped into the wall behind him. "T—there was 25 of us when we left."

"Yeah, now there's three." Jakob's voice was laced with venom. Then he took a deep breath and steadied himself. "It was an ambush."

The medical scanner completed and gave Jacob a readout on the top-mounted display. "If he's lucky he won't have to crap out of a bag for the rest of his life." Jakob let out a defeated sigh and lowered the scanner, then brought it back up to give it a second look. "And his two bottom ribs are broken. He's lucky his autoplast went off. It barely had anything left." Jakob pulled off the mediplast canister from Erik's hip and wagged it, the indicator red to show empty.

Then Jakob tossed Isaac a blood-soaked bag. "Here."

Isaac looked down, confused. "What's this?"

"Our haul." Jakob secured Erik to the bench. "Take something while you can."

Inside were cans of vegetables and prepped foods.

"This isn't enough to feed everyone on the lifeboat." Isaac muttered.

"Yeah, clearly. There are 22 less mouths to feed in exchange for that. Get it while you can." Jakob grumbled.

With hesitation, Isaac reached in and retrieved an ancient can of beans. He stared at the overly joyous images of people on the front, sitting at a dinner table. The picture was faded from time. He wondered if there would ever be moments like this again. Jakob snatched the bag from his hand, breaking Isaac's self-pitying thoughts and prompted him to stow his can of beans on a pouch on his hip.

Then a cacophonous alarm blared from the cockpit.

"Airlock warning!" The pilot called out.

Jakob and Isaac turned to find the Alucar drone prying open the airlock door.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac stared at the monitor in horror with mouth agape as the Alucar drone tore through the outer airlock door. Cutting the hardened metal away with its wrist blades, it pried hardened steel with an exacting grip. The pilots finished latching the reactor core to the front of the ship. The machine must have latched onto the tether of Jakob's spacewalk and drew itself in.

"Punch it, go!" Jakob yelled toward the cockpit.

The MEU's pilot jammed the physical throttle lever on the console between him and the co-pilot and it jolted into motion.

Unable to get a grip on a bench handle, Isaac rocketed backwards from the sudden acceleration and slammed into the rear wall of the cabin. The impact rattled his core. His helmet bounced off the metal partition. As the ship got up to speed, the force pinning him to the wall eased and he began to float freely again. With a shaking arm, he pulled himself closer to the front of the ship using overhead handles and stared at the observation monitor. The drone recovered from dangling off a shred of the outer airlock. Then it began its assault once more, dragging itself back into the ship.

"Decompress, now!" Jakob radioed.

"Copy lieutenant, decompressing cabin. Masks, masks, masks." The pilot spoke in an even tone, radioing for helmets to be on and pressurized. He reached overhead and flipped a switch. Air rushed into overhead vents in a few moments.

As oxygen vented from the room, the roar of the engines overhead faded to nothingness. Jakob floated over and brushed Isaac away from the door controls.

"What are you doing?" Isaac couldn't hold back flaring his nose in frustration, concealing worry over his brother's intentions.

Jakob turned and stared for a moment in silence. "What must be done." He broke the quiet and slammed the activation button. Then, with gladius drawn, deployed a tower shield which telescoped out from his opposite wrist.

Isaac shuddered, and the thought of watching his brother rush to his death instilled fear.

The Alucar drone was nearly inside when Jakob aligned his shield within the inner door frame and hurled himself toward the machine. As the machine stabilized itself and dislodged a blade from torn metal, Jakob slammed into the drone. Both tumbled from the MEU and began to drift off into space.

With a single strike, the Alucar jabbed both of its blades through Jakob's shield, narrowly missing his arm. He flicked his wrist and detached the tattered guard. Then he kicked center of mass in a bid to push himself back toward the MEU. But it was fruitless. The Alucar floated away from Jakob, who was still drifting away from the ship, the drone falling away faster than Jakob.

"Slow it down, man overboard." Isaac called out.

"Negative, I'm not risking it." The pilot responded.

Isaac gritted his teeth and psyched himself up. "Going out tethered," he radioed.

"Leave me." Jakob replied over the radio.

Issac wasn't having it. Throwing the spacewalking harness's belt straps over his suit and snapping them together with the hook in the middle, Isaac slapped the winch control to neutral to let it give slack. With a firm grip on the frame of the shredded outer airlock door, Isaac hurled himself from the ship and toward Jakob. The spacewalk harness had small thrusters on the belts, but Isaac wasn't sure how much fuel was left to maneuver and there was no way to check now.

He closed in on Jakob, who slowly tumbled head over heels. Isaac's jump miraculously got him on a bearing to collide with his brother. As he extended an arm to reach, Isaac tapped the thruster knob on the center of his chest to slow. He felt the thrusters vibrate but there was no deceleration. The suit was out of fuel. Without any way to control his momentum, Isaac collided with Jakob and the two drifted in a tumble toward the Alucar.

"I told you to leave me." Jakob latched on and smacked his helmet visor against Isaac's. "Now what's your plan?"

Isaac didn't know what to say and looked around for a solution. Sacrificing himself to get rid of the drone was stupid, something that Isaac couldn't accept. Despite their tenuous relationship, Jakob was Isaac's only living family. Isaac would rather risk his life for his brother than be truly alone.

"You got into this mess, how are you getting out?" Jakob demanded, staring at the Alucar drawing near with blades ready.

In a panic, Isaac tugged at the tether. It began to bunch up in a ball behind him with every frantic pull.

"That thing's kilometers long." Jakob uttered with a flat tone, defeated.

The line drifted toward the drone, and it snagged the tether and wrapped itself in the slack, then drew Isaac and Jakob closer. As the Alucar grew within almost an arm's length closer, Jakob curled his legs up and placed them against Isaac's chest, ready to shove him away. Desperately Isaac continued to tug at the tether, hoping he could get it to unravel entirely before they reached the drone. His arms began to tire as he threw his shoulders into yanking the rope. Sweating and panting, they were inches away from being in range of the drone's blades.

Suddenly, the line snapped taut, and Isaac was yanked toward the MEU. The sudden force caused Jakob to become dislodged and again tumble in space. Isaac reached for his brother. With only a few fingers, the two clasped hands as Isaac was drawn back to the ship. He strained to keep a grip on Jakob. With a pivot, Jakob latched onto Isaac's forearm and the two were pulled back toward the craft, each barely hanging on to the other. As the line straightened out, the force flung the Alucar from the line into the void.

Isaac and Jakob bumped into the rear hull of the MEU, the over-sized engines blasting away around them. Isaac shoved Jakob inside the torn hole where the outer airlock door once was. Then Isaac curled up in fear of being incinerated by the exhaust of the huge ion engines around him. The tether began to draw Isaac into the ship and as he uncovered his face, he found himself within the exposed airlock.

"I might be crapping out of a bag for the rest of my miserable life, but you're going to need a stronger back to haul around those bricks in your pants, L.T." Erik radioed weakly, floating near the winch controls.

Jakob let off a belly laugh and patted the wounded sergeant on his shoulder. Then he hauled Erik back to the passenger benches and latched him into a seat, pulling the overhead bar down.

With shaking hands, Isaac struggled to unbuckle the belt around his chest to free himself from the tether. Jakob returned and loomed over Isaac with a disapproving stare. Then, out of mercy he reached in and disconnected the clasp, letting the rig drift away.

"Get in here. Last thing I need is you falling out the back now." Jakob beckoned Isaac to get out of the airlock and back into the cabin.

As Isaac moved out of the airlock, his brother hit the switch and sealed the door.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Jakob's harsh, disappointed tone boomed over the radio. "People are depending on you to keep that lifeboat going. They need you to stay alive."

"One minute to dock." The pilot called out over the radio.

Isaac wanted to argue but found himself in the wrong and relented. He floated over to the bench and secured himself with the overhead bar, lamenting how right his brother was. The weight of how his own death meant that everyone would die shortly after. Isaac felt trapped, unable to truly decide his own fate. He sat, quiet in his thoughts as the MEU returned to the lifeboat.

It was a trapezoidal shape, slightly rounded with a bulge in the middle. The thruster blocks on one of the narrow ends were far too small for a craft of that size, but design concessions were made to prevent colony ships from carrying double its weight in thruster blocks alone. Lifeboat 9, once District 9 when it was a part of the Endurant hull, was an engineering block. It had a full-stack bio reactor array and converter facilities, something that most other districts didn't, and what was keeping them alive this long.

Lifeboats were designed for a few weeks of spacefaring, more than long enough for the flotilla to organize a rescue. Colony ships travel in formations, and there should have been others nearby to assist when the Endurant broke apart from the Phage. But Lifeboat 9 was still underway, almost a full flotilla-year. No other ships in the local formation responded. Without wasting time, the lifeboats moved in a group toward the next nearest colony ship in the formation, the Fortitude. But the ship was nowhere to be found when they reached its expected location. For a week or so, the lifeboats traveled around, searching for other colony ships. It became clear that the Endurant was unexpectedly alone.

Eventually other lifeboats couldn't continue their voyage. They ran out of battery power or life support systems started to fail. So Lifeboat 9 took on their residents and crew. As the trip continued toward the outer rim to locate military vessels, raiders came to pick the lifeboat group apart. Lifeboat 9 were the only ones who could repel them, as engineering decks were mandated by the fleet to have a detachment of marines stationed to protect all reactor arrays. Soon it was the only boat safe enough to continue the journey. Other boats were abandoned.

After matching speed with Lifeboat 9, the MEU dropped the reactor core into the containment section of the docking bay, which was a small compartment of the lifeboat that was just large enough to fit the core and the MEU like a slice of bread in a toaster. With the core secure, Isaac had a ton of work ahead of him to get that thing in a stable enough state to hook up to the ship's array.

As the MEU readied to connect to the exit hatch that led into the lifeboat proper, a looming sense of dread washed over Isaac, feeling the distinct excess of space within the cabin. He could feel the distant tug of gravity underneath his seat as air rushed in from pressurization.

"Brace for grav sync." The pilot called out as the two crafts were going to dock, which required the bio shielding, a measure to stop the spread of Phage, on the MEU to lower and allow the gravity system on the lifeboat to fully affect the MEU.

With a hiss, the two ships connected, and gravity plopped Isaac onto the bench. He didn't want to get up, knowing what was outside.

"Help me with him." Jakob called Isaac.

Erik stood with Jakob's help; arm wrapped over his shoulder. With a determined sigh, Isaac rose the restraint bar and scooped himself under the wounded marine's other appendage. The sergeant grunted in pain as Isaac moved to hold him up. Isaac pressed the inner airlock door button and a rush of air blasted into the cabin, equalizing it with the docking port.

As the three stepped out of the short thoroughfare which led into the lifeboat proper, they found themselves surrounded by the family members of everyone who didn't make it back, desperation and hunger etched into their faces.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac stared at the group of residents standing in a semicircle at the bottom of the ramp leading down from the MEU airlock. He braced for backlash from the crowd. Jakob and Isaac descended the ramp hauling Erik, hobbling with each step.

Hushed over the radio, Jakob called out. "I'll take care of this. Go take the sergeant down to medical."

As they approached, Jakob ducked out from under Erik's arm. The crowd parted to let Isaac and Erik pass as if they were being ushered by an invisible force. As Issac put all his strength into hauling the sergeant toward the stretcher at the end of the walkway, he wondered where Erik's family was, expecting to be rushed by those within the group. But as the two emerged from the other side of the crowd, they found themselves isolated.

Instead, the civilians swarmed Jakob. Like a pack of hungry dogs, they reached and grabbed for the lieutenant's suit in a bid to grab him closer. The hiss of Jakob's helmet rang out over the radio and through some sort of malfunction, kept his mic hot. He turned and addressed the woman nearest him, who was asking about her son.

"Ma'am, I regret to inform you that Corporal Starkey won't be returning." Jacob's side of the discussion carried over the radio. "He was killed in action during Excursion 47. The people of Lifeboat 9 owe him a great debt." His voice was level and unwavering as he delivered the report. But Isaac knew his brother too well to not hear the tinge of pain and regret in his voice.

From behind Issac, desperate wails filled the interior of his suit. The crowd riled as the woman's cries echoed off the walls of the cavernous, nondescript white throughfare walls. Over her ceaseless shouting, the rest of the crowd shouted over each other, demanding to know the fate of their kin. Without hesitation, Jakob addressed each family member in the group, identifying the deceased rank and name while delivering the same status with a measured tone.

With a weak arm, Erik slapped his wrist and triggered his helmet visor to retract away from his face. Then his helmet collapsed back over his head and into his suit, exposing his head. Limping and wincing with each step, the marine contorted his face into a scowl.

"He's out there all alone, left to the wolves." The sergeant puffed with a weak voice.

"Who?" Issac raised his arm with the suit's control panel, over to the opposite holding Erik up, and retracted his own helmet with an extended index finger. He worried that the sergeant was growing delirious.

"L.T." Erik spoke with exasperation about Jakob. "I got to get back there with him."

"You're going on that gurney." Issac jutted his chin forward to point at the medical team only a few steps away from them and closing. He wasn't going to entertain doing anything other than making sure the marine didn't die.

"What, now you're taking orders?" Erik half-snarled, his eyes drooping from blood loss.

Isaac ignored the verbal assault. Not only his pain but hunger must have been tearing at the sergeant's sanity. Not only that, but he just lost his friends and comrades not long ago. Isaac looked over his shoulder and felt immense guilt. In the face of the overwhelming emotion pouring out behind him, regret that of the only three that returned from the excursion, one was him and the other his brother. And grateful that his brother was still here, even if their relationship was tenuous at best.

Then remorse filled Isaac's heart, that he was such a coward. Jakob's words lingered in his mind, how everyone on this lifeboat was depending on Isaac to keep the power on and everyone alive. But being out there on that spacewalk, if Jakob didn't make it, he wasn't sure if he wouldn't have just submitted himself to the void. Genuine solitude, of going it alone terrified him.

The medical team approached and snapped Isaac from his thoughts as they rolled the stretcher before them. Without wasting a moment, the medic bounded around the gurney and waved a handheld mediscan gun at Erik. After capturing his vitals, the paramedics behind him pulled up tablets from their belt-mounted medical tools and started sifting through the sergeant's med sheets. The medic began scanning Issac.

"No, I'm good." Issac flicked his wrist in a bid to get the medic to stop his scan.

The foreboding of the mediscan's square eyelet and the green laser projecting a judgmental fine grid pattern over his suit spiked Isaac's anxiety. The last time he got scanned, the med team discovered he'd taken borderline lethal doses of radiation. It was unavoidable, from trying to keep the power going on the lifeboat. Despite his attempts to explain this, they quarantined him. Considering his latest spacewalk, he wasn't looking forward to the results. There was no way the readings weren't worse than last time. And then getting berated by Sola, the lifeboat's captain for needing to intervene and bail Isaac out.

The marine being snatched away and the med team retreating broke Issac's concentration and he found himself suddenly standing alone.

"Call a code 114, we need a radiation quarantine setup, stat." The medic spoke into a shoulder-mounted radio. "Patient is critical."

Issac cursed under his breath. He must have bled off radiation on Erik. Isaac felt more like a liability than a benefit to everyone else.

"I need a team down here. Now." The medic demanded, into his radio.

Isaac winced, remorseful. The paramedics secured Erik to the gurney and rushed him off. The medic stayed behind in a standoff with Issac.

In frustration, Issac slid his gloved hand down his face and groaned. "How bad is it? Last time they grabbed me over 0.9 grays."

"Are you confused; do you know where you are?" The concerned medic started scanning Issac again, bewildered by the readings and retrying repeatedly.

Last time Issac got in trouble for being overly sarcastic, so he decided to play along for the sake of not causing problems. "I'm on the deck of Lifeboat 9, deboarding from an MEU."

The medic continued to stare at the display of the handheld scanner, his eyes wide from shock. "Do you feel any stomach problems, aches or pains?"

"I'm on the verge of starvation." Issac spoke the truth, flatly.

The statement broke the medic's concentration, and he looked through the device in his hand. "Aren't we all…"

"So, what's the damage this time?" Issac demanded, not looking forward to the coming discussion with the captain.

"Two thousand." The medic looked nervous.

"T—two thousand what, rads?" Issac swallowed hard, realizing that was dead-man-walking territory.

"Grays." The medic took a step back.

A sharp chill washed over every inch of Issac's body that was 200,000 rads. There's no way. That's the zone where instantaneous death occurs within an hour.

"There has to be some mistake." His tongue went dry, and his stomach leaped into his throat. "I—I had contact with a hot reactor but not for that long…"

From down the hall came a pair of quarantine paramedics clad in metal-shielded protective suits sprinting toward Issac with a stretcher in tow. Issac felt pins and needles roll across his skin from head to toe as the chill wind of death washed across his face. His breathing grew rapid and he began sweating.

"W—what was his?" Issac motioned down the hall. "The marine, Erik."

The medic looked down at the scanner and swiped his finger across the display, then read for a moment. "0.15 grays, normal for a short spacewalk in this sector."

That didn't make any sense. They both were in the same reactor vault. Near each other in space. It wasn't possible for something like this to happen.

As the quarantine team closed, Issac turned to his brother to see how he was doing. Through the radio, Issac heard Jakob still giving his reports to each of the family members. The crowd grew more still with each reading, hope was being sucked out like a ship section venting atmosphere. And Issac felt like he'd just got spaced.

"Two thousand grays, confirmed." One of the quarantine crew called out, with their own handheld medscan brandished at Issac.

Issac wondered how Jakob would take the news. How would it even be reported? Idiot reactor tech didn't know how to do his job and nuked himself. He was burden on Lifeboat 9, good riddance. Considering how cold and distant Jakob was since joining the marines, would they even bother him with the news?

"Sir, please come with us." The muffled voice of the masked quarantine paramedic startled.

Issac took a long look at Jakob and mentally said his farewell, deciding to forego causing any more trouble. He didn't have the guts to say anything over the radio and considering what his brother was going through, Issac decided it was better to leave in silence. With a sluggish turn on his heel, Issac climbed onto the gurney, and was hauled out of the throughfare and into the ship proper.

The lifeboat itself was a self-contained section of the Endurant which broke away when the infection hit. The Endurant itself was a colony ship, a minimally defended capital ship which typically cruised in groups protected by other military craft of various sizes. Gen 2 ships were designed for survivability against threats like raiders and the Phage. Each living quarter was isolated between sections on the greater ship's hull frame. Most of the people on the lifeboat, including Issac and Jakob, were those who lived and worked in section 9 of the Endurant. When things went south, section 9 broke away from the main hull and became Lifeboat 9.

Gen 2 life was a far cry from what things were like on the old Gen 1 starships, judging on what Isaac saw on the expedition. Gone were the expansive, rolling cityscapes embedded in each deck, traded for close-quarters hallways, stacked bunkhouses and military-style canteens with the occasional unceremonious recreational room. Halls were lit with oppressive halogen overhead strips. Bunkhouses had off-white, wall-mounted LEDs. Most people slept in stacks; bathrooms shared. He wondered what it was like living in an expansive living like that, or why they built such exorbitant ships. The sudden thought of his own mortality sparked whimsy and he imagined a carefree life among the stars in a Gen 1 ship, with his own living quarters and innumerable places to roam among such a massive vessel.

As the med team passed by the deck's canteen and the noise broke Issac's concentration. Large groups of people huddled inside the room, waiting desperately for their next meal as they huddled, restless. When the lifeboat jettisoned, biomass was low. After taking in survivors from other lifeboats, that lack grew greater. And biomass wasn't the only problem.

The only reason Issac was out on that excursion was because District 9's reactor bank was in the middle of maintenance when they had to break away. It's one thing to do upkeep when there's power coming in from elsewhere on the hull. It's another when maintenance is cut short and you're down to one active cell. Likewise, without anyone else with reactor experience on board, Issac needed to keep the cells from dying out while keeping the lifeboat powered, all alone. Sleep and food were in short supply for Isaac. So, coupled with power issues, food processing facilities couldn't run at full output even if there was enough mass to keep everyone fed. Issac hoped that this cell they found would provide everyone with a measure of relief.

The medical team closed in on the medbay. As they did, Issac noticed an open bunkhouse door. Within, there were more signs of desperate people laying around and waiting for the inevitable. He turned and stared up at the light strips overhead and began to understand why people gave up. Waiting for death was a painful experience, even if there wasn't physical pain yet. At first, he resented those who would just roll over and accept their fate. Now he understood why: fate had a funny way of nabbing those who fought against it first.

As they rolled into the medbay, the team hurtled past the triage unit and into a small clear glass containment room within the intensive care unit. They locked the gurney in place and transferred Issac to a bed before pulling off his suit using an emergency kit to rapidly disassemble the hardpoints and disconnected the breathing apparatus. Within moments, he was in his stained gray jumpsuit, unable to recall how long he'd worn it. They cut that off him and wrapped him in a gown after dowsing him in cleaner and hosing him off.

Before he could have feelings about the matter, the team had disinfected him, gowned him, and evacuated the cell. Then an overhead vent drew air out and vented in sterile oxygen. Now locked in a clear prison a bit bigger than the area around an ICU bed, the panic of realizing he was about to die set in. But it was absent terror. There was a strange serenity washing over him that he hadn't experienced in a long while. The pressure from being responsible for everyone on board was fading and he was finally able to just worry about himself. He relaxed and his breathing slowed.

Beside the bed was a large upright health monitor, which displayed his heart rate and other vitals. Slightly lower than it was when he entered, but not abnormal. He was cold, but considering he'd been working either in a sweltering reactor control room or running from ancient death machines, it was a welcome reprieve.

Issac stared at the overhead lamp as he listened to the beep of the monitor indicating his slowing heart rate. From his training, he understood such a high dosage was probably the least painful way to die from radiation. A lower dosage would have slowly shut down his organs and immune system. He would have gone out delirious and been consumed by common infections. But at this dose, it was going to be a sudden blackout. Like falling asleep suddenly.

It could be worse. He could have been ventilated, like Ivar. Guts vented all over the floor because there wasn't enough plastimend to go around. Or like Arne, who hugged a walking chainsaw. And then guilt set in. Their lives were lost for nothing. Despite their best efforts and sacrifice to keep the lifeboat going, the unforgiving void consumed them, a meaningless sacrifice. And the same would soon take Issac as well. Then shortly after, the rest of the ship as the reactor cores would go extinct from lack of upkeep and no one with the knowledge to safely integrate the newfound core.

Overwhelmed and distraught Issac couldn't bear the thought, closed his eyes and awaited the swift embrace of death. But instead, he found a slow relaxation, like drifting away into a gradual, peaceful dream. But his surroundings suddenly changed, and Isaac found himself in darkness but still wide awake as his eyes shot open.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac felt the world around him disappear as he faded from consciousness. The synthetic sheets upon the bed he laid stopped sapping the heat from his body. What lumps in the cloth used in place of a pillow under his head ceased to drill into his neck. The ringing in his ears from the pressurization of his suit eased. He was adrift in nothingness. No more hunger. No more worry. Just a tranquil calm from every angle.

When he was alive, the thought of death was associated with pain. A raging agony that no human could describe. But this wasn't so bad. A regrettable fate, no doubt but filled with a guiltless reprieve from the chaos that surrounded the pursuit of survival. The hopeful curiosity of the possibility to finally meet his parents filled him. And perhaps in death he'd find the truth of a mystery that plagued him for his entire life, a mystery woman who saved them.

Back when Isaac and Jakob were young, the small orphanage freighter they lived on was attacked by raiders. Why, Isaac never understood, but it was a slaughter. The only reason Isaac and Jakob survived was because one of the volunteers hid them in the ventilation ducts and told them to stay quiet. After the raiders finished their terrible business and left, a woman Isaac never met before came and saved them. Even in this place, he struggled to remember what she looked like. The soft and caring tone in her voice echoed through his mind, which put Isaac at ease and cleared his thoughts.

In his peaceful drifting, he felt a pulse of warmth wash over him. Like a sun lamp flickering before going out, it was a subtle burst. And it was only once. Then he returned to float towards nowhere, carried and disturbed by nothing. For the first time in a long time, his mind was empty, as if it were a jar of water someone poured out. The thousands of things that could go wrong at any moment no longer plagued him. Another burst of heat from afar buffeted Issac, and he jostled from the shock.

The disruption brought his thoughts back to the mystery woman, with her white skin-tight suit and crimson-lined cape. Not long after they left the orphanage freighter on a combat corvette, the raiders returned in force. Despite the crew's best efforts to evade the assault, the corvette was boarded and the ship's marines fought desperately to repel them. During the drawn-out battle, the woman placed Isaac and Jakob on an escape pod and launched them deeper into the flotilla. As the pod sealed, Isaac caught a glimpse of the pirate leader. He bore a four-headed helmet. Each face looked in a separate direction all around. The silver faces of each head bore a unique emotion: sorrow, agony, joy, and anger. The thought of the raider stirred something within Isaac.

He opened his eyes and gave them a moment to focus. After a moment, he found himself floating amid countless constellations, unenumerable stars that slowly orbited around him like dust motes in a pool of liquid. The light coming in from these celestial bodies revealed he was alone in an isolated void, carried along within a shadow among many other silhouettes. These forms were closer to him than the stars but still a good distance away. As he came to understand the far surroundings, Isaac figured out what he was contained within: a huge shadow tomb. His massive void casket was drifting away from the others but continued a general course with them among the surrounding stars.

After daring to drag a palm down his face, Isaac propped his arms beneath his body and got himself sitting upright. As he moved, a sudden understanding of his orientation hit him like a bolt of electricity. Knowing which way he faced came with a deeper comprehension that the silhouette he was in wasn't a coffin, but a shadow representation of the lifeboat. It had a hard, trapezoidal shape and the silhouette of the small sets of thruster blocks danced in front of the light a bright pink and blue spiral galaxy afar. Isaac felt around, trying to get a sense of the room he was in, wondering if he was still in the ICU. As he turned, the shadows of the ships of the flotilla came into view around.

His hands met nothingness all around. As bewilderment set in, Isaac realized he wasn't actually sitting on anything. Tightening his abdomen, he thrust his legs under his body and his weight settled under his legs, standing. The soles of his feet felt like they were sinking into a viscous pool of water. As he walked around to get used to the sensation, he spotted a light green ray of light winding and twisting around a nearby shadow. Its path led straight beneath Isaac's feet. Thinking for a moment, the nearby silhouette was the ancient battleship they'd just left. And the winding light path was leading to the recovered reactor on the lifeboat.

Then, like a whip, the band of light flicked and snapped. It shot out beyond the ancient battleship and as if it were a ship in super-cruise, bolted across Isaac's vision and deeper into the shadow flotilla. Quickly spinning to keep it in sight, he dizzied himself so to not lose track as it gained distance. Then in a cluster of shadows afar, it whirled around, trapped in turbulent pool. The small strand of light snapped taut before bursting into luminous dust, which quickly faded.

But from the point where the ray of light burst, a dull, droning hum emanated. Then, it eased and dissipated with a sigh. Isaac felt a presence afar. He called out, uncertain if his voice would even carry in this place. The boom that rushed from his lips startled, and he staggered backwards as his eardrums throbbed with pain. Another long rumble rang out like a giant snoring amid the shadows.

Isaac steeled himself and called out again, his voice even louder, which interrupted the noise from afar.

A grumble and groan returned in response.

"Is anyone out there?" Isaac's voice was carried by despair.

"Leave me be, wretched demons." The giant responded.

Isaac recoiled at the response, insulted by the insinuation. "I'm not a demon! You're the disembodied voice in the void. You're the demon."

As Isaac spoke, the giant afar returned to his snoring for a moment before Isaac's proclamation disrupted its slumber.

"Look at where you are." The giant responded with incredulousness. "Not even during my unending slumber could you ever hope to draw nearer to me. How pitiful."

"Why would I want to do that?" Isaac wondered who would want to be near such a slothful, repugnant creature. "Even at this distance, you're far too close."

A ponderous hum came from the giant. From where the ray of light exploded, a new strand of luminance shot up. This one was crimson. Before it traveled too far, the red ray burst into particles. These motes, though, instead aligned into an orb and expanded in a sphere away from the light's origin. In a few heartbeats the shape engulfed Isaac. Then it disappeared.

"What was that?" Isaac's voice radiated terror despite not feeling anything.

"Can you see?" The giant called out.

At first, Isaac noticed nothing different about his surroundings.

"Will you see?" The giant demanded.

As Isaac readied to respond, a crimson gleam ignited within the shape of a ship's silhouette in the distance. Then another not far beyond the first. Like a reactor array control panel booting up, red dots filled more and more shadow ships all around Isaac, dotting the space around him with small glints.

"Do you see?" The giant spoke with resolve.

As Isaac spun around to take in the crimson light that overpowered the distant light of galaxies, he could no longer make out the shapes of the silhouettes. Just the oppressive illumination of countless motes everywhere he turned.

"What are these? What are you showing me?" Isaac shuddered with fear as an overwhelming sense of impending doom descended upon him, seeing himself surrounded by foreboding crimson motes.

"Demons."

"Why would you show me this if you thought I was a demon?" Isaac wanted to press the issue if for no other reason than to ease his own nerves.

"Eons of dreaming has washed away my ability to easily identify man." The giant's voice was steady. "Your response, realization. Something a demon couldn't easily mimic."

"What are they? How can they seem human?" Isaac tried to clear his parched throat.

"Such things were once man. But evil begets evil. Where one exists, corruption of the many becomes fate."

Isaac's heart leaped into his throat. These were all Phage hives. Ships entirely consumed by the disease. Each one of these dots was a human consumed by the plague. These ships were lost. He stumbled back in disbelief and fell backwards. A rush of air underneath him slowed his fall and he found himself sitting with his legs bent.

"There's no way. They said it was a freak accident." Isaac shook his head in shock, his voice trembling. "One in a million odds, that's what we were told." His mind wandered to the Endurant.

The Phage was supposed to be something rare. The result of careless ship crew initiating warp procedures and traveling around the flotilla without adequate protection. It wasn't possible for a ship to contract it otherwise. If this was the case, then all of these infected craft were carelessly warping around the flotilla. Isaac couldn't believe dozens upon dozens of ship crews were so needlessly reckless.

"Dreams bring a haze to my recollection, but these ones were made as a seed is planted within a soil." The giant interjected with a sleepy tone.

"What, do you think none of this matters? You lethargic lug nut, you're just going back to bed?" Isaac snapped, rage about the situation welled suddenly. Anger melted into fear as he realized where he was and remembered his own circumstances, his own death.

The giant let out an amused hum. "Definitely not a demon. But a monster, nonetheless. Explains why you're here."

Isaac stood up and scowled at the patronizing tone the giant took with him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Am I not dead?"

A deep belly laugh filled Isaac's ears as the giant found amusement at Isaac's expense.

"Dead? No, definitely not dead." The giant calmed himself. "At least not yet."

Isaac scoffed. "Then why am I here?"

"It seems that someone thought you had promise."

With a scowl, Isaac raised his voice, deafening even himself. "Promise for what? And who brought me to this place?"

Around him, the crimson motes began to vibrate and sway, agitated by Isaac's aggression.

"If I were you, I wouldn't do that again." The giant spoke in a raised whisper. "It's time for me to awaken."

"How does that concern me?" Isaac followed suit and whispered.

"You have been chosen."

"Chosen" Isaac scoffed. "To awaken you?"

"Don't get overambitious. Many have tried. I slumber out of obligation. You've been chosen to attempt."

Isaac swallowed hard. "Do I have a choice?"

"The same as any other. But consider the alternative," the giant started. "Evil begets evil. If I am slothful, what does that make one who runs from duty?"

With a clenched fist, Isaac silently accepted the imposition. That the Phage was consuming the flotilla, and some day it would consume him too. "Where do I start?"

"Seek an Ordinal. They will be the patron to guide you."

Suddenly, the agitated crimson masses began to thrash and swarm like turbulent water. The air around Isaac grew hot, then cold in rapid succession. The ground beneath his feet vibrated and threatened to draw him in as his legs sank.

"The dream beckons once more. Take my mark and go forth." The giant boomed over the growing cacophony of shrieking that the crimson motes emitted.

From the giant's direction a golden ray ascended high. Then it shot straight for Isaac. It pierced his chest, straight through his heart and knocked him prone. The chaos around him faded as pain in his chest throbbed and burned.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac opened his eyes and found the crimson glow around him gone. Laying in bed within the isolation cell in the ICU, his monitor let off a steady tone with each heartbeat. His head ached and ears rang still from the booming interaction with the giant. It took a while for his sight to adjust to the bright overhead lighting and the oppressive white walls.

With agitation, he ran a palm down his face to ease the grogginess from just waking up. As he got himself upright, his chest ached from the impact of the giant's seal that struck him to the core. It hurt bad enough that it spurred him to peel his medical gown forward and peer down to see if there was a hole down there or something.

The only thing Issac spotted was a birthmark center of mass that wasn't there before. Unsure if he was just seeing things, and nervous if it was some kind of reaction to radiation poisoning, he shoved his whole arm down the front of his gown in panic. As his index fingertip came in contact with the mark, it singed, and he retreated his appendage, shocked. Anxiety set in, wondering if the mark was going to burn him alive. A sinking feeling in his gut emerged, thinking this was the sign of his end.

"How you holding up?" Erik called out from an ICU bed on the other side of the glass wall. His voice carried through a mounted speaker.

Isaac held his head in his hand, feeling dizzy from the disorientation of returning to reality. "I've seen better days." He ran his fingers through his blond hair and collected himself. "How long was I out?"

Erik cocked his head in confusion while still laying back. "Out? They just brought you in here."

With a grumble, Isaac smacked his own cheek to rouse himself from the grogginess. Erik cocked an eyebrow, concerned. As the marine opened his mouth to speak, the lifeboat's doctor, Adeline Meyer, burst into the room and quieted the both of them with her sudden appearance.

The doctor donned a pair of gloves and rushed into the quarantine cell while putting a surgical mask on. "It seems our reactor tech has a habit of getting irradiated lately." She produced a mediscan gun from the pocket of her white lab coat and pointed it at Isaac. She was young, fresh out of medical academy. She'd lost some weight from the voyage, but her V-neck and pencil skirt still held close enough to her hourglass form, which was only teased from the motion of her oversized coat. Isaac remembered when she first arrived in the medbay a lot of the reactor techs suddenly called out sick.

"What can I say? It's the hot new thing." Isaac winced, embarrassed by her observation. "All the cool kids are doing it."

"You've got to be kidding me." Doctor Meyer blurted out, flicking her light brown curls.

"Yeah, I know it's not—" Isaac started, staring at the blankets over his legs.

"Get up." Meyer spoke with an authoritative tone.

Surprised in her unusual tone, Isaac complied. Despite the dire circumstances, she usually had a compassionate bedside manner. This was completely out of character.

"What's the reading?" Isaac looked around, concerned.

"This is ridiculous. 0.12 grays. You'd get more from eating a banana." She scoffed.

Isaac wasn't sure that the way you measure radiation from potassium consumption was the same as absorbing it from the environment, but he also didn't want to prolong freezing from standing under the air vent by arguing.

"Now I have to find you a new jumpsuit." Meyer looked him over with her clearly stressed yet beautiful brown eyes. She let out an anguished sigh and her demeanor eased. "I didn't mean to yell at you, I'm sorry. Lay back down until I sort this out, you look frigid." She spoke with her usual delicate tone.

Before he was fully back in bed, the doctor rushed from the containment cell, leaving the door ajar, and through the ICU doorway toward a different section of the med bay. Moments after the room quieted from the sudden chaos of the examination, a young girl meekly walked in, looking around carefully before edging toward the ICU beds with nervousness.

"Papa." The girl spoke just above a whisper.

Isaac was only able to hear her because of the amplification from the intercom on the wall. The girl and Erik had similar features. Both of them had raven hair. Hers was long and straight, albeit unwashed. Erik was bald but his beard hairs were straight, well kept. Likewise, their blue eyes almost matched.

A bit louder, the girl repeated her declaration. After, Erik opened one eye which locked onto the little one. The girl stood, frozen. With a weak arm, the marine beckoned. Hesitating, she inched closer toward Erik, a sniffle escaping from her.

"Astrid, come." Erik flicked his wrist to motion for her to get closer.

Finally relenting as her sniffs turned to sobs, the sergeant's daughter rushed him. As Astrid collided with the bed and him, Erik stifled a pained groan, wrapping his arm around her.

"I thought you didn't come back." She spoke through tears.

Erik looked away for a moment, scowling at his inability to muster a response. The silence between them was broken when Astrid's stomach rumbled.

"Miss Reiner hasn't been feeding you?" Erik's attention snapped back to his daughter.

"The cafeteria was closed all day yesterday."

Isaac stood up and looked at his own kit strewn out over the table at the far side of the isolation cell and was reminded of the can of beans he took from the meager haul of the expedition. Then his mind wandered toward the sacrifices made to get it and the reactor core out of the ship, to Ivar and Arne. Erik said they had families, back when they were on the tram, which made Isaac wonder what happened to them as well.

Rummaging through the pouches on his belt, Isaac found the can of beans and stared at it for a moment, his stomach growling. Then he looked at Erik talking with his daughter and sighed in resignation. He wouldn't be here without Erik.

Issac worried that there was a possibility somehow the food could have been irradiated from his clothes. There was a misplaced mediscan gun on the countertop. He recalled from his first aid training that there was a way to check radiation contamination in food. After fiddling with the device, he found the right setting and scanned the can. It came up clean. He left the mediscan, snatched the food up and walked over to Erik's bed.

Kneeling to get eye-to-eye with Astrid, Isaac presented the girl with the can of beans. "Your dad asked me to hang on to this for him." He nodded, reassuring her. "Something he brought back for you.

Astrid shuffled, nervous and skeptical. With hesitation, she gripped the can with both hands and slid it off Isaac's palm. Then she looked to her father for approval.

Erik flashed a puzzled glance at Isaac before acknowledging his daughter with a reassuring grunt. Behind her back, Isaac locked eyes with the marine and gave him an encouraging nod. Erik's demeanor softened and his body seemed to relax as his head sunk ever so slightly more into his pillow. A sudden moment of understanding came between them in that moment.

"Daddy, how do I open this?" Astrid interjected, wagging the can in his face.

Erik reached for his hip, but in his gown ended up smacking the bed and he scoffed. Looking around for his gear, he was frustrated to be laid up, unable to move around.

"I can help with that." Doctor Meyer's gentle voice called out behind Isaac, carrying a clean albeit worn jumpsuit with a few apparent holes.

As Isaac stood, he hoped in the back of his mind those weren't bullet holes.

Handing him the outfit with one arm, Meyer offered her opposite, outstretched hand to Astrid with a bright smile. "C'mon, we'll go find something to get that opened up." She beckoned with her head. "Besides, you know what they say about beans."

Astrid blinked, confused and suspicious. "No, what?"

Meyer cleared her throat nervously, not wanting to frighten the child with silly limericks. "Uh, th—they're good for you."

As the two whisked away, Isaac looked around the otherwise empty ICU, save for Erik, and donned the jumpsuit. It was a little too big, but close enough was good enough.

Erik waited in silence, then let out a determined sigh. "I just want to—"

A wild pain in Isaac's chest, coming from the mark, radiated throughout his body and a shout slipped from his lips. Stumbling backwards and slamming into the glass, a thin ray of white light overlaid his vision. At the far side, a face hovered. The same face which revealed itself within the reactor core back on the battleship. The cell called to him.

"What? What's going on?" Erik sat up, puffing and grunting in struggle as he got himself upright.

Overhead, the ship-wide intercom rang out. "Now hear this, all reactor personnel to the power bank immediately." The voice repeated the message multiple times.

Still leaning against the isolation cell, Isaac groaned in pain before recomposing himself. "I need to go. Cover for me if the doc says anything." He spun into the isolation chamber and snatched up his equipment. Closing his eyes for a moment, he braced himself to endure the agony in his chest and then burst into a sprint to leave the med bay.

Doctor Meyer rushed into the room. "What was that?"

Erik turned to her. "I stubbed my toe."

"In bed?!" Meyer recoiled.

As Isaac dashed for the reactor bay, the pain intensified as the light beam that pointed toward the core grew short. The face faded as he drew near, making Isaac even more nervous. Something horrible was happening inside that bay.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac pushed through the agony radiating from his chest to finally reach the reactor bay. The entrance led to a double-wide catwalk spanning the length of the area and overlooked the core bank. Out of breath, with beads of sweat pouring down his face, he descended the winding staircase to the control room. The intercom relayed an automatic alert message from the monitoring station indicating something was critically wrong with the core.

Inside the station, he hawked his space suit on the visitor's chair and sat in the monitoring pit. Within, multiple displays showed every angle of the reactor bank in the center. Wrapped around the chair were arrays of hard switches for everything from controlling how much power came from the core and what amount went to what part of the lifeboat, to shutting down and even jettisoning the core. Isaac pulled the lockout key for the jettison sequence from the panel and put it in his desk, in fear of getting too punchy and destroying their only source of power.

As he looked over the data on a small screen embedded beneath the camera monitors, it was clear that core health dropped beneath safe limits. Usually, the bank held four cores which would balance out each other's reactivity. When one needed maintenance, the reactivity of the others would be out of balance, which prompted removal from the bank. This was done by a team of specialists. But the lifeboat had only one core and Isaac was no maintenance expert. His focus was in power delivery. So, through a combination of load balancing where power went on the lifeboat, and carefully timed touchups on the core, Isaac somehow managed to keep it running this long. But time was up.

By Isaac's calculations, the core had a few hours, maybe a day if they were lucky, until it went extinct. And then the battery banks could hold them over for another few days. Then the ship would stop making oxygen and frost over. Thinking back to the new-found core, it would take him at least a day to clean that thing up enough to get it ready to connect to the rest of the ship.

Isaac held his head in his hands and massaged his temple to relieve stress, thinking about how much work it would be to even trim down such an unkempt mess. He closed his eyes and as soon as his lid sank, the image of the mysterious reactor woman's face etched into the darkness. In shock, he sat up straight and gasped.

Reaching over to the phone, he unhooked it and dialed over to the docking bay. He needed to figure out what it would take to get the core unloaded and into the reactor bay as fast as possible.

It took many rings before someone picked up. "Go for landing crew."

"This is reactor control, connect me with the pilot who just ran E-47." Isaac wasted no time with his response.

The line went silent after a click indicating Isaac was put on hold. Each second he waited increased his blood pressure. The question wasn't if the current active cell would die, but when. Watching the slow trickle of text print out across the data monitor, the core's vitals creeped downward, then slowly recovered, but not as high as it was prior. This oscillation continued with the same rhythm of a man on his death bed breathing his last dying gasps. Isaac clenched his teeth and tried in desperation to maintain composure while he waited for the docking crew to get him off hold.

An audible snap on the line indicated the landing crew came back on the phone. "Yeah, ah, he's not available right now."

"Why." Isaac demanded through gritted teeth.

"Look," the crewmember spoke with a hushed tone. "There was an incident with the logistics crew. Lieutenant Garod is bringing the core to you himself as we speak."

Isaac's demeanor eased, hearing the pilot was on the way with the cargo. "…incident?"

"He's almost to the bulkhead now. We have medical responders enroute; I have to go." The dockworker spoke with a demoralized tone and hung up on Isaac.

Confused and nervous, Isaac eased the phone back onto the hook. As soon as the two prongs clicked down, it started ringing. He snatched up the receiver. "Reactor control."

"I'm at the bulkhead." Gerod, the MEU pilot shouted. "Get this damn thing off my deck. Now." Fury blasted through the phone's speaker.

The landing deck shared a bulkhead gateway which allowed moving material between the docking bay and the reactor bank. Isaac pivoted in his chair and looked up at the bulkhead monitor. Near a heavy lifter, Gerod stood hanging by his arm on the nearby phone box. Upon the three-pronged grip on the front of the tracked hauler rested the new reactor core. Visual artifacts danced across the monitor, caused by the stray power shed.

After wincing from the yelling, Isaac recovered. He reached over to a long metal key with many teeth spiraling toward the grip, which hung from a wire next to the monitor and inserted it into a box next to the phone hook. "Go for unlock sequence."

Gerod punched the keys on the box and tones rang in Isaac's ear. After confirming the sequence on a seven segment display next to the inserted key, Isaac turned it.

"Bulkhead opening." An automated voice called out, echoing in both the docking and reactor bays.

The tracked hauler creeped into the reactor bay. As soon as it broke the threshold, Isaac felt the rush of power fill the space like oxygen repressurizing the area. Its strength dazed him, bringing tears to his eyes from the electrifying sensation washing over him.

As the hauler drew closer to the reactor banks, the monitoring station ignited with output warnings, sending the active core into a wild fit of power surges. With frantic swipes at the switch array, Isaac struggled to keep a steady flow of power moving throughout the lifeboat. He turned knobs and flipped switches, desperately diverting power in order to prevent the ship from being overloaded. The data readings fluctuated between borderline extinct to factors of ten times extra output in the blink of an eye.

Unable to keep up, Isaac surrendered and decoupled the bank from the ship's electrical system, leaving the lifeboat to run exclusively on its battery backup. Out of breath, and arms shaking from the frantic rush to prevent damage to the ship's wiring and components, Isaac flipped the switch to squelch the warning tones blaring at him, defeated.

Looking up at the monitors, he noticed the hauler stopping short of the core mount and Gerod bailing from the halted machine, making a break back the way he came on foot. Isaac stood up, rushed out onto the floor and shouted towards him.

"Hey! Where are you going? Don't you need to take the mover with you?"

Gerod slowed to a jog. "Keep it. That thing killed two of the deck crew. It's your problem now." Then he returned to his sprint, running for his life back to the landing deck.

Isaac slid a palm down his face in distress. He regretted not getting hauler certified. Running over to the mover, he jumped into the open pit controls. It didn't seem too hard, a couple of levers near his left leg, a few near his right leg, and a display on the roll cage support next to his head indicating the status of the hauler.

Unsure of which lever to move, he grabbed the first one he found and pushed. Gears grinded. He released it, acknowledging that was the wrong one. Picking another at random, the motor began to whir, but nothing else happened. After some experimentation and plenty of gears grinded, he managed to shuffle the machine forward enough to lower the core into the bank's retainer and lock it into place.

Then using an overhead winch and the lift as a fulcrum, he managed to shift the maintenance entryway from the old core over to the new. It was a rectangular rounded metal tube that served as both an airlock and a means to ascend to the core while it was still in the retainer, which was several times higher than Isaac was tall.

After shuffling the hauler back enough to keep it out of the way, he powered it down. He would worry about returning it later, when the reactor situation was sorted. Sparing no time, driven by the panic from the current reactor status, Isaac rushed over to the maintenance booth not far from the core entryway.

Within were multiple orange protective suits. They covered the body from head to toe, with a small window to see and a respirator to breathe. After donning one and sealing it with the wrist-mounted controls, he tipped a wheelbarrow back from leaning against the wall and into it, piled all the tools he'd need to get the core in a decently respectable state. He took the chainsaw, that was certainly going to come in handy, some manual clippers, an axe in case the chainsaw ran out of juice, a spade, and a hoe.

Piling his tools into the wheelbarrow, he struggled with all his weight to push it into motion. But once he got going, Isaac burst into a sprint, rushing across the reactor deck. At full speed he shoved the wheelbarrow over the entryway lip and up the ramp.

Losing momentum, Isaac shook as he struggled against the slowing wheelbarrow, which continued to resist his push. Panting, sweating, and coughing as the respirator fought his desperately needed inhales, Isaac inched up the incline until finally he made it to the landing.

The first doorway was already open and thankfully the door controls were drawing power from the core, so he didn't have to manually crank the damn airlock open. Stopping to catch his breath, Isaac stared through the glass of the next set of double doors at the soupy mire on the other side. His plan was simple, work from the doors and in a clockwise motion around the outer perimeter. He'd deal with the higher regions that looked even worse, hoping that as he fixed the lower perimeter, the upper sections would descend and make it easy for him.

Finally catching his breath, he positioned the wheelbarrow in front of the airlock door and then pressed the toggle. Behind him, the entryway double doors sealed shut. Then the ones ahead of him opened, letting out a hiss as the atmosphere within the airlock balanced with the interior of the core.

As the doors parted, he lifted the wheelbarrow and readied to push inside. But as the partition made way, he stopped, and his jaw dropped in shock and anguish. Inside the core was a large sprawling meadow with rolling hills. A single great oak sprouted and reached all the way to almost the top of the glass barrier, its leaves colored in gradation from red at the very top to yellow in the middle, and a deep, vibrant green at the bottom.

A slight breeze blew across the ankle-high grass which danced and swayed. Isaac stepped into the core and looked around in nervous amazement. There was nothing to fix here. It was perfectly kept, as if a team of ace maintainers just came through.

Isaac placed the wheelbarrow down and paced slowly, dismayed. If there was no need for upkeep on this place, then this was the natural state of the core. He hung his head in defeat. It was going to take so much more, and there was a good chance this thing couldn't be hooked up to the lifeboat. It had way too much juice. Which was something he should have expected, considering it came off a massive Gen 1 battleship.

Before he could feel too sorry for himself, Isaac spotted movement in his periphery. Snapping his head up, there was someone lingering around the tree. His heart raced and he snatched up the spade from the wheelbarrow and readied to attack as he inched toward the tree.

"Who's there?" Isaac's voice was a mix of terror and anger, praying it wasn't an Alucar drone that somehow stowed away.

Closing in on the tree trunk, he paused and looked around, seeing if the stranger somehow flanked him. But only the sweeping meadow filled his surroundings. Closing his eyes for a moment to steel himself, he readied to swing his digging implement at anything that might be on the other side of the tree.

With a single bound, he leaped up and over an exposed root, then found himself in clear view of the other side of the oak. There was no one. He was alone.

Still suspicious, Isaac did several laps around the tree, trying to find any sign of the stowaway to no avail. Perhaps he was exhausted, hungry, stressed, or any number of other things that would make him hallucinate.

Out of breath, he stopped and despite it being against regulation, he sat down and leaned against the tree, having spent all his energy and needing a moment to recompose himself. As he leaned his head against the trunk and stared up at the vibrant leaves on broad branches, he spotted a small dangling object not far from his head. On one of the branches, a red object wagged in the breeze. The tree was sprouting fruit.

Isaac sat in bewilderment at the sight. He'd never seen a reactor do such a thing before. And there was certainly nothing in the manual about reactor core fruit. In a few moments, not far from his face, a lush, plump, juicy red apple grew and dangled from the branch overhead.

Curiosity got the better of him and he struggled to his feet to get a better look. With two small green leaves on the branch from which it hung, the fruit shimmered in the overhead golden glow of the reactor, through the sparse canopy.

Isaac's stomach growled and temptation gripped him. As he reached for the apple, the mark on his chest grew warm and before he touched the fruit, the mark began to radiate heat.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac drove the reactor bay four-wheeler to the power substation at the far end of the bank. He abandoned his tools and dumped the protective gear in the airlock, needing to figure something else out after realizing the new-found reactor was already maintained and well-groomed. Which meant that there wouldn't be any reduction in power output. With the lifeboat now relying solely on battery power, time was against him to figure out how to connect this thing to the system.

Skidding to a halt, he leaped off the vehicle and rushed into the cage, the reactor's apple dangling in his overalls pocket. Overhead, wire bundles led up into the ceiling from the four massive transformers within the gated area. He needed to figure out how to dampen what extra power was coming off the new core without risking blowing the transmission equipment up from a surge. If the transformers were destroyed, that would be the end of the lifeboat.

Isaac rushed over to the monitoring equipment and checked how long it would take for the substation to deplete itself of lingering electricity. Despite the fact that the reactor bank was disconnected, it took time for the transmission equipment to entirely de-energize. That would give him a gauge of how long he had to plan out how to fix this problem.

The screen flickered on and took a reading. The measurements came back negative. Isaac stood there, confused. The power flow readings shouldn't come back negative. That would mean power was coming from the battery banks and flowing into the reactor system, which wasn't possible given the multitude of back-feed prevention in place. Certain there was some sort of issue with the monitoring equipment, he rebooted.

After the screen flashed with the Endurant's logo: an inverted green and purple pyramid, the equipment came back online. And the readings were again, negative. The draw was greater than the rest of the lifeboat's average usage combined. At this rate, the batteries would be depleted in a few hours, at best.

Isaac couldn't hold back a curse as he looked up and over at the new core. Inside its glass sphere swirled a foreboding green mire. Clouds of emerald danced and swirled. Somehow that thing was draining the lifeboat dry.

The control phone of the monitor rang, startling him and breaking Isaac's concentrated ire directed at the new core. Without taking his eyes off the reactor bank, he reached down and snatched the receiver off the hook. "Reactor control." He spoke with a venomous tone.

A baritone voice replied. "This is the bridge; I'm getting multiple low power warnings coming from all decks. What's going on down there?" It was Sola, acting Commanding Officer of the lifeboat.

"We have an isolation problem with the new core. I'm working the problem." Isaac felt his mark burn as he spoke with a tinge of fear and anger.

"What's the ETA?" Sola demanded.

"I don't know. The solution is still in progress. I'll let you know as soon as I have something."

"We're struggling to keep the lights on in this section of the ship, I need answers now." Panic laced the officer's voice.

"We can spend what little time there is left arguing on estimates, or I can get to work." An unnatural rage tore at Isaac's innards, stifled by his contempt for the situation.

"…copy. Keep me updated." Sola hesitated and then hung up the phone.

As soon as Isaac touched the phone receiver to the hook, it began to ring again. But it didn't sound normal. It was a demented, frantic tone. As if the monitoring station cried out in pain. The rage in his heart was stifled by the terrifying sound, that of the machine itself being tortured. "Reac—"

A woman breathing, on the verge of elated moaning filled Isaac's ear. The voice overpowered the static otherwise on the line. He stared at the core as the chaos on the other end of the phone continued. Through the emerald mire within the reactor emerged a crimson hand, resting against the glass. Then through the morass, a golden arm with leaf-like scales swaying in the rushing nebula of the core emerged, followed by a pale, emerald-tinged face. The woman's hair was a chaotic interspersing of gold, red, and purple, long and flowing with the current within the reactor. It was the same face Isaac saw in the battleship's vault.

The breathing shuddered, growing excited. "Free me." The voice spoke with an inviting flirtatiousness. Raw feminine energy poured from the phone's speaker over the cracks and pops of the line noise.

"Who are you?" Isaac winced as his chest surged with painful burning.

"You bear his mark." The woman's voice was playful, sultry. "Take me… there." As she spoke, her feminine form pressed against the glass. Her entirety looked as if she were made from various flower petals with a multitude of bright colors.

Isaac squinted as the agony radiating throughout his body sparked a strange intuition. The thought of the light ray shooting across space in the shadow dream raced through his mind. It wasn't a euphemism, she wanted to go somewhere. "Where is it you want to be?"

A whimsical sigh emanated from the phone. "Free me." She spoke with a combination of frustration and sadness.

Isaac looked down at the power station monitor and queried the current reactor energy output. Each of the two cores were out of sync. One would rocket beyond safe levels, the other would teeter on the verge of extinction. Then they leveled out and swapped as the readings inverted. He'd never seen anything like this happen. Type-III reactors were self-regulating systems. They weren't supposed to contend with each other.

Flipping over to the battery bank readings, it became apparent he had to figure out something fast. The reactors somehow already drained over half of the total capacity despite not even being connected to the grid. The lifeboat didn't even have a few hours. They had minutes, at best.

With a frustrated grunt, Isaac hung the phone up and looked at the transformers. Each of the four was used to convert the power output of individual cores and feed it into the system. The best he could hope to do was connect them all in parallel and divide out the enormous power output among them. He hoped four transformers tied together would be enough to bear the load.

Rolling a bundle of high voltage wire out from the utility shed, he eyeballed the distance between each of the connections between the transformers, not having a measuring tape on hand. He sliced with his wiring multitool, which was held with two hands like a bolt cutter and allowed the safe handling of live wire. He bound positive terminals to each other in a mesh, then the same for negative. One wrong move in either touching the cable with his skin or letting it hit the floor and it would pan-sear him to oblivion. Finally all the transformers were linked together after severing the outbound terminals for each, save for two, one serving as the positive connection and the other, the negative.

With only a minute or two left on the battery, Isaac raced over to the control station to reconnect the reactor bank to the system. The lights dimmed and flickered from low power as he entered the station and readied to toggle the hard throw lever to reengage the reactor bank. The low power warning distorted as the station's controls couldn't keep themselves fully energized.

Gritting his teeth and bracing himself, Isaac wrapped his fingers around the handle and slammed it back into the 'engaged' position. Then the lights went out. The dull hum of the bay's ventilation quieted. All he could hear was his own breathing in the vast silence that permeated everything. Unwilling to give up, he slammed the handle into the off position and back again. No dice. Isaac screamed in anger, trying repeatedly to no avail.

Behind him, the glow of the new reactor core ignited. In defeat, Isaac ceased his useless tantrum, shuffled over to the monitoring station door, and gazed out. What lingered within the glass was no longer a thick soup swirling, but the meadow and multi-colored oak was visible, illuminating the bay with its golden glow. Before the tree was a giant orchid bobbing in the core's breeze. It was half as tall as the oak, and almost as wide.

From Isaac's periphery, he spotted a luminance in his pocket. He pulled out the core fruit that he'd retrieved from the oak. Though much dimmer than the reactor, it still gave off a deep red glow that reflected off the metallic walls of the control room. Isaac sensed the woman still within the core. The orchid tilted in his direction as he felt her desire, wanting him to eat it.

The combination of his growling stomach and the encroaching cold in the bay brought about a resigned compliance. As he raised the apple to his lips, the giant flower perked up with a measured pace. Isaac opened his mouth and hoped that whatever kind of radioactivity this thing had would put him out of his misery faster.

As his teeth sank into the fruit and peeled away flesh, the rest of the apple vanished. Isaac's mouth was filled with the flavors of chicken and ice cream. It was a strange combination, but not unpleasant. The texture was crisp, the crunch of the fruit's flesh and tautness of the skin was inoffensive. After swallowing it, Isaac found himself strangely satisfied, as if he ate a full meal.

Then the sound of blood rushing pulsed through his ears and the ground began to spin under him. He latched onto the door frame to keep himself from falling over. Throbbing filled his chest as his heart raced, threatening to burst. He felt something leaking from the mark, a hot viscous fluid. His ears were overpowered by his unrelenting heartbeat as he could no longer hold himself upright. Isaac fell to one knee, weakened. Unlike the radiation scare, this time he wasn't resigned to death. He was resentful; rage permeated every fiber of his being.

After a moment, the lights turned on and the ground beneath him stopped spinning. As the blood rushing in his ears subsided, he heard the ventilation pushing air throughout the reactor bay again. The agony in his chest eased for the first time since the dream. But the relief found from a sudden lack of pain was replaced with anxiety from his decision to eat the reactor fruit.

Behind, the monitoring station phone began to ring, causing a startle. Isaac pulled himself to his feet and stumbled over to the chair before picking up the phone with weak, shaking hands.

"R—reactor control." Issac spoke with beleaguered breath.

"All systems returned to normal, good work." Sola's voice boomed. "Can you confirm the situation on your end?"

Isaac turned and flipped on the status monitor. As he observed the readings, his eyes widened in panic. "We've got a problem."

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac ascended the lift to the bridge. As the doors parted, a conversation between commanding officer Sola and the navigator Heron could be heard.

Sola wore a white officer's uniform with a flat-top cap. His well-kept, long black beard stretched the length of his neck. The voyage took its toll on him hard. Deep grooves etched into his face; the stress aged him by years in only weeks. He was a Junior Class Lieutenant visiting his father's memorial site on Deck 9 when the Endurant broke up. The council for the section was away, meeting with the Endurant's captain. They were never heard from again, which left Sola the only qualified officer left to lead, despite his rank.

Isaac didn't know much about Heron. He came from a separate lifeboat that was abandoned. Sola trusted him fully, and Isaac had no reason to doubt his abilities otherwise. The navigator was a red head with deep green eyes and an unnatural pale complexion. Perhaps he was just being overworked and didn't get enough time under a sun lamp. Isaac regretted being in the same position.

"Explain this to me again. I don't understand." Sola spoke, bewildered.

"I've had to reboot the system a dozen times since starting my post. Something strange is going on with the nav planner. At one point I thought we lost track of our current destination." Heron spoke in a hushed tone, the two tucked away in a corner of the bridge near the lift.

"Could it be raider activity?" Sola cocked his head, suspicious. "Why would our entire navigation system go dark all of a sudden?"

"I don't think so. We would have picked up something on radar if so. There isn't anything around us." Heron shook his head.

Sola looked around the navigator and spotted Isaac standing near the lift. The C.O. crossed his arms. "Keep working on it, let me know if you find anything."

With a quick look over his shoulder, Heron spotted Isaac and then gave Sola a firm nod before departing back to a large table at the far end of the bridge. The control center of the lifeboat lacked any sort of flair. It wasn't much bigger than a double-sized supply closet. Located in the exact center of the lifeboat, it was safe but inconvenient to access.

The captain's chair was situated only a few steps in front of the lift. Just beyond that, the helmsman's seat was a step or two farther. On the far wall was a projection of multiple images. The outer groups monitored the perimeter of the ship with multiple camera feeds. The center was the local star map with various bits of data flanking the bottom of the image, such as bearing, velocity, and core ship parameters such as power.

"No chance you came here to deliver good news." Sola looked at Isaac with a mild sheepishness that broke through his otherwise stern demeanor.

"Oh, I have plenty of good news." Isaac folded his hands in front of him. "For one, the new core was installed on time and under budget."

Sola motioned for him to continue, suspicious.

"But that same core is threatening to turn this ship into a molten hunk of metal."

"And that's why you're standing here right now." Sola pursed his lips, frustrated.

"When we broke away, most of our coolant had been sent out for recycling." Isaac started. "We were lucky, there was enough in the transmission lines to keep us going."

A mild clamor rose from deeper in the bridge, near the navigation terminal.

"We need to find a ship to scavenge coolant from or there is a good chance that within the next six to eight weeks we could have a meltdown, in the worst case." Isaac knew there were other worst cases, but those didn't involve coolant and decided to omit them from his report. Particularly where if the new core wasn't put under load, it would sap the lifeboat's batteries, threatening to turn it into a sterile, icy tomb.

"We have a severe lack of capable manpower right now. Going on any sort of excursion is a risk we can't take." Sola's stone-faced expression began to waver, revealing nervousness. "Maybe we can—"

"Sola." Heron called out across the bridge.

The C.O. pivoted in the direction of the navigation terminal. Most of the bridge crew were standing around it. Without another word, Sola broke away from Isaac and approached the group.

"This is bad." Heron shook his head, distraught. "It's gone haywire."

Sola looked over the shoulder-high display with hardware directional controls on one side. "How so?"

Heron pointed to the star map displayed on the navigation terminal. "This isn't our original destination." It showed a series of waypoints strewn together, curving toward a particular point labeled 'Argo – Unknown Contact'. "We were on a direct intercept with the G-109 Firebird, the only ship within range that might have space for all on board this lifeboat."

Looking around confused, Sola shook his head. "Where's the Firebird in relation to our current destination?"

Heron pressed the directional buttons in a panic, to no effect. "I can't show you; this thing is unresponsive." He pointed to the floor, in the opposite direction of the series of waypoints. "But it would be that way."

"Can't you reboot it?" Isaac piped up.

Heron shook his head and pressed the power button next to the directional pad multiple times, in demonstration.

Isaac pursed his lips, mildly frustrated. "Just pull the hardwire."

The navigation officer reached behind the display and produced the plug dislodged from the hull power connector.

"So the display is frozen then. Call someone from I.T. to—"

Heron pointed at the travel ETA timer counting down, about four weeks to destination.

"You're telling me this thing is somehow running on its own? What about the network connection, maybe that's providing power?" Isaac cocked his head, bewildered.

The navigation officer produced the disconnected network wire. Isaac swallowed hard, the thought of the phone call with the woman of the reactor core crossed his mind. Was this her doing? His eye twitched, nervous.

"Then we do it as the first navigators once did. Draw a paper map, calculate the route manually and once we get closer—" Sola started but was interrupted by the navigator.

"We just lost control of the ship." Heron spoke up for the helmsman. "Whatever is doing this to the navigation system is using it to steer us toward this unknown target."

Sola looked to the small server closet on the other side of the room. "Then shut down everything, reboot it. There must have been a virus uploaded from Alucar contact."

"We already did that. Everything in this room is air gapped. The control servers are shut down. Inbound and outbound network connections have been severed." Heron spoke, fear filled his voice. "Whatever is causing this has full control of the ship."

The C.O. looked around, resolute. I want all hands working on getting this boat back under control. Then Sola turned and pointed to Isaac and motioned for him to follow back toward the lift. The C.O. spoke in a hushed tone. "You said worst case that we had six weeks until this coolant issue becomes critical."

"It's alre—" Isaac caught himself as he glanced at the frantic movement on the bridge. "Yes, six weeks, worst case."

Sola let off a stressed sigh. "Then for the next four, your job is to keep it under control."

Isaac immediately understood that the issue with the navigation was a higher priority than the coolant problem. He lamented more over-long days monitoring the reactor again, but who knows what awaited them at the end of this imposed trek. He turned and pressed the button to call the lift.

"Oh." Sola called out. "Good news for good news." The C.O. forced a smirk. "Bio processing reported they're now running at full capacity. The canteens should be opening again soon." He plucked at Isaac's baggy jumpsuit arm. "You look like death. Make sure you get something on the way back." As the lift arrived, Sola motioned with his head for Isaac to get a move on. "It's in no small part thanks to you." The C.O.'s voice grew solemn. "Good work. And good luck."

After a silent farewell, Isaac returned to the reactor bay. As he plodded along the narrow halls, he passed by several canteens, all mired in chaos as the facilities opened again. Starving people clamored for the food that was being put out in long metal trays. Isaac contemplated abiding by Sola's command and braving the rush. But the bite from the reactor fruit kept him sated. Yet another bad choice which weighed on Isaac's mind.

Returning to the maintenance bay, he sat down and looked over the reactor stats display. Everything was still running hot, but not as much as before. Maybe he was tired and blew the whole issue out of proportion. Pressing two fingers against the bridge of his nose he suddenly needed to take a walk, to clear his mind. He felt like a fool for not giving the system time to adjust to the new reactor. After reaching the door, a rumble in his chest, like something rattled his heart halted his motion.

Isaac looked up and spotted the floral-figured woman towering before the reactor's oak. Anger welled within his belly and without thinking, Isaac leaped onto the four-wheeler and peeled out, rushing for the reactor's entryway. He was going to get answers out of this thing. Even if it meant taking an axe to everything within the core.

 

[machinedhearts]

By the time Isaac reached the top of the airlock leading into the new reactor core, an inexplicable rage consumed, propelled him forward. For reasons he couldn't explain, a deep hatred permeated every cell in his body, radiating from the depths of his bones. As he bolted beyond the first airlock door, the memories of everything that went wrong in his life filled his head and washed away any chance of rational thought.

As if an invisible string were bound to the mark on his chest, an otherworldly force drew him toward the core. With each step, a new recollection swept through his mind. The thought of just being dumped off at an orphanage, in that cold dank place, boiled him. He concentrated on the abandonment, the thought that no one wanted him and his brother.

With hand placed on the airlock transition button, Isaac's mind wandered to Jakob, his fraternal twin. Ire filled Isaac, remembering being bullied as a child and Jakob always coming to his rescue. Then came resentment, seeing Jakob always getting preferential treatment, people always liked him more. And after Isaac's brother became a marine, Isaac was treated differently by him, like Jakob wasn't his only blood. As if Jakob were better than Isaac.

The sound of his heartbeat filled Isaac's ears as he pressed the button. A warning blared overhead, but he couldn't care less about another new problem. He was on a mission to figure out and dispatch whatever was in the reactor core. Anything else could wait.

As the doors sealed behind, he slid the axe from the wheelbarrow he left behind. The thought of blood inspired rage, thinking about losing the Endurant. Both he and Jakob lived on that ship after being rescued, for years. Isaac made friends he'd never hear from again. Watched his neighbors' families be torn apart by torment, lack. And after everything, the flotilla said the Phage was nothing more than a rarity, a freak accident. The shadow dream showed him that was a lie.

Now he was haunted by this thing in the core. Isaac was beyond his breaking point. He let the axe head drag through the dirt behind him as he rushed toward the massive orchid bobbing in the reactor's breeze in front of the giant golden oak, among the core's meadow. An intuition deep within drew him toward the massive flower, sensing that the scourge on his existence was that.

Sweating and panting from the hatred that welled, Isaac closed on the orchid. As he did, the stem became rigid and stood straight up. The head drooped down and the petals parted. Descending from a series of vibrant green tendrils was the floral-figured woman which appeared to him before. Her green and purple toes reached for the ground as she lowered, the grass parted away from her feet like a regal procession making way for the royal. The three thick vines which ran from within the orchid stayed attached to her like an umbilical cord.

At the sight of the creature, Isaac descended into an uncontrollable fury. He swept the axe up into both hands and charged her down.

The woman scoffed, bobbing her curly red hair with a disappointed head shake. "Just once why can't I get one in alignment with me? That damn cat always gets the good ones." Her soothing voice filled the reactor. As she spoke, the wind pulsed.

With Isaac charging her down with a rancorous shout and axe brandished overhead, the flower monster gave a knowing, devious smirk and extended her arms as if to beckon him closer. As he neared, a sweet floral scent filled Isaac's nostrils. It brought a calm that clashed with the rage in his heart.

For a moment, the thought of being carried away, being rescued by the enigmatic woman in white so long ago slowed his pace and eased his rigid arms. The first and only time he felt that kind of affection from someone that wasn't his brother, the only time that it seemed like a stranger actually cared if they lived or died. Then Isaac remembered the four-masked raider, the one that assaulted the orphanage and their rescuers. His rage returned and he redoubled his charge.

A flicker of surprise dashed across the floral creature's face and a hint of relief melded with her smirk. "Yes. Yes, I can use you."

Isaac reached within striking distance and a green blur filled one side of his periphery. Pain blunted the anger in his heart as a bundle of vines burst from the orchid and lashed out, sweeping from across the meadow and slamming into him. He soared across the core. Rolling shoulder over shoulder, he slid to a stop. He turned on his back and his arm smacked the core's glass.

The floral beast picked up the axe at her feet, which Isaac dropped from the impact. With two fingers she held it by the very tip of the knob. Then with a mild disgust, as if tossing away putrid trash, she flung it toward Isaac. The blade buried in the dirt only a few steps from his legs. The creature then turned toward him and again held out both arms in invitation.

Isaac groaned as he pried himself loose from the divot created by his impact. With a shaking arm, he yanked the axe from the dirt and rose with furious determination. On his feet, he saw the beast mocking him and broke into another attack, stymied by an aching ribcage.

As he rushed forth, the vines which struck him writhed and curved into shape for another attack. Determined not to fall for the same trap, Isaac ran wide, away from the direction that the plants would strike so that they would have to hit the beast if they wanted a chance at Isaac. He closed for an overhead strike. The vines retracted and the axe head descended upon the creature.

Then from under him, the vines darted along the ground and launched up, slamming into Isaac's chest and rocketing him again across the reactor core. He tumbled and slid once more, bumping into the reactor's glass shell.

Frustrated and in agony, Isaac closed his eyes, contemplating how he could approach the beast and hope to land a strike. He refused to give up, knowing deep down that taking this thing out would mean the end of all the chaos on the bridge and finally make it to salvation. The chance to survive this nightmare.

"Don't tell me you've given up. I would be so… put off." The floral creature goaded Isaac after tossing his axe toward him once more and extending her arms.

The vines did sweeping attacks, whether from the side, the bottom, or the top. Isaac just needed to approach from a direction that would halt their assault and give him a clear shot at the beast. He had an idea. Maybe he could force them to wrap around the tree, with the right approach it would entangle them just long enough.

Snatching up the axe laying near him within arm's reach, he started to jog the long way around, to put the tree between the giant orchid and him. As Isaac moved, the beast's devious grin melted into frustration and her arms lowered, her stance closed, defensive.

Finally putting the tree between them, Isaac rushed around the small mound upon which the oak was rooted. In a wild charge, he baited the vines to strike at him before darting back toward the tree and around, for a second assault. The tendrils swooped and wrapped around the oak's branches. Now with no protection, Isaac was instilled with confidence as he bore down on the beast with another overhead strike.

"Clever boy." The creature smirked, delighted.

Isaac's axe head met only dirt as it slammed into the ground at his feet, missing his target. The beast effortlessly dodged his attack and then closed with a palm strike to his chest. With only one hit, the force was great enough to send him prone and he slammed into the mound, knocking the wind from him.

Then the beast picked up the axe with two fingers and tossed it aside before pinning him to the ground by pressing the ball of her foot into his cheek.

"You know," the creature's soothing voice echoed out. "Long ago, before we started this death march among the stars, I would lure men into the forest by singing sweet melodies." The floral beast began to shift in color. Her skin, once composed of thousands of pedals, smoothed. Like a slosh of water, her form turned human. She had bright green eyes and kept her curly red hair. "It is a rare treat to have one show up ready to cut me down." She kept a seductive gaze while smiling with delight.

Isaac writhed; the pressure put against his face was like a pneumatic piston driving square into his cheekbone. He couldn't do anything but kick. The sense that his head would be crushed drove away what anger once lingered in his heart. Any more pressure and she would cave his head in.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac groaned as the immense pressure from the now human-like floral beast's foot threatened to cave his head in.

The creature hummed with delight. "So, tell me why you're here." She squinted with suspicion. "I absolutely must know."

"I'm here to stop you." Isaac strained to speak.

"Oh!" The floral beast called out with a patronizing tone. "Now I really am curious, stop me from what?" Her voice oozed condescension.

"From taking over this ship."

The creature scoffed, disappointed. "Now here I thought it was going to be something more interesting. Come to slay me in the name of… what's-his-four-face…" She thought for a moment. "Doesn't matter, but you'd be here in the name of honor, or duty."

"I am here in the name of duty." Isaac grunted in pain and thrashed his legs.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure." The beast rolled her emerald eyes and sighed out of boredom. Silence fell between them as the creature suddenly became lost in thought, her eyes searching the far distance while her unenthused expression melted away for surprise. The pressure on Isaac's face eased and with two toes, the creature unzipped Isaac's jumpsuit down to his navel, parting the two sides with her big toe.

After staring at the pinkie-nail-sized mark on his chest for a moment, she cooed a satisfied hum. "I was locked in that prison for far too long. This is a far more interesting revelation." What was once an unenthused tone changed to determination, teetering on the verge of excitement.

As Isaac tried to sit up, she slammed him back down with a toe to his chest. It was like getting hit by a pneumatic jack piston at full force.

"You were with him." The floral beast's eyebrow twitched.

"With who?" Isaac struggled out between labored breaths, the beast's weight threatening to crush his ribcage.

"Don't play coy with me. The Son of Stars." Her voice was harsh, impatient.

"I don't know who that is." Isaac puffed out.

The beast grimaced and pressed her whole foot against his chest. "How about now?" She spoke through her teeth. "Does feeling your mortality coming to a close spark any kind of memory?"

Isaac yelped as the sudden pressure came with overwhelming agony. He gripped her calf and tried to push it away while slipping out. But her pin was so powerful that he couldn't even wiggle his body enough to roll even a little. As he sputtered and it became hard to breathe, the shadow dream washed over everything around him. The darkness spread out from under him and washed over his surroundings. Isaac felt the mark on his chest grow hot, a searing sensation emanated from his heart.

As the void engulfed everything, the pressure lifted and Isaac was able to breathe, but not move. An invisible force pinned him to the non-existent ground beneath him. He could hear the familiar, rhythmic snoring of the giant afar.

"I should have known," the giant spoke, "that after all this time, even the Ordinals couldn't stave off the madness this trek imposes."

"She's an Ordinal? Like you told me about before?" Isaac called out into the void, finally able to catch his breath.

"One in the same." The giant's voice was washed away of its drowsiness. "Long ago, they were the anchors of the elements which spurred all life, from the world in which we all departed." His voice sounded as if he were roused—awakened and fully alert.

"Why did you want me to find one? If they're all mad, what hope could they have to locate you?" Isaac was filled with despair.

"The Ordinals, when brought together, form an equilibrium with all life." The giant sound perturbed as he finished speaking. "At least, that was the case before we left Home." He let off a frustrated groan. "I can't be sure how this all works, among the stars. Now I'm nothing more than a minnow swimming in a vast, dark ocean. Where I came from was familiar, certain. This voyage brings us to a place where we're nothing more than uninvited guests." The giant sounded demoralized.

Isaac felt a strange solidarity with the giant's words but wanted to focus on changing things for the better. "You said an Ordinal could help me find and free you. Why, what can they do that any sane human couldn't?"

"We're all connected, the Ordinals and I." The giant spoke, a tinge of nostalgia laced within his words. "It's not just that, but what powers they can bestow to one they deem worthy."

"Powers? What does that mean?" Isaac placed a hand on the mark, intuition sparked curiosity.

"We were all bound by the World Spark, a conduit of elemental energy. Without its light, wind stopped blowing, water stopped flowing, earth held not its form, no spark could rouse fire. When the World Spark's light faded, we had no choice but to escape to the stars. Home died with it." The giant's voice was solemn. "But the attendants of the World Spark were the Scholars, men whose duty it was to maintain and protect its light from the forces of darkness."

"It sounds like the Scholars failed then." Isaac sounded disappointed in the inevitability of the tale.

A disappointed sigh came from the giant. "All life begins and ends at a single point. Everything that has a beginning has an end. Never forget that."

Isaac shuffled, suddenly uncomfortable as he remembered where he was before being drawn into the shadow dream.

"These powers," the giant started. "The ones which come from the Ordinals are only bestowed upon he whom is worthy of becoming a Scholar."

"I don't understand." Isaac cocked his head. "If there's no World Spark, what good is a Scholar?"

"The light from the World Spark has faded." The giant sounded whimsical. "But its spirit remains. If there is no single creation worthy of bearing the elements, then it must be found in these machines which carry us among the stars." His voice became resolute. "And I can think of no greater station than that of the Scholar to marshal them."

Isaac put his head back and thought for a while, contemplating the giant's words. If the Phage was as serious as it seemed, then someone like a Scholar would be the tip of the spear, to fight back such a terrible thing. He lifted his head once more. "You want me to become a Scholar."

"What I said," the giant began, "was that he who could release me from this dream would be worthy. You, are simply someone that has a chance to rise to the challenge."

"Yeah, with raging Ordinals, an uncurable disease with 100% lethality, and on a dying, uncontrollable lifeboat." Isaac clenched his teeth in frustration. "Great odds."

The giant chuckled. "Long ago, such a task came with an entitlement bestowed by the light of the World Spark itself. Because she is gone now, I shall have to suffice."

From deep within the void, a small red orb rose. It shot across the darkness like a long-tailed comet. The sight of the sphere reminded Isaac of what the floral beast said.

"Are you the Son of Stars?" Isaac called out to the giant.

"A name bestowed upon me, long ago." The giant replied with whimsy.

The orb hovered above Isaac and slowly descended toward his chest. As it grew closer, the mark cooled, then oscillated in temperature from cold to hot and back again.

"A meager consolation." The giant called out as the orb neared the mark on Isaac's chest. "For an age without light."

The crimson orb was absorbed into Isaac's body, and it felt as if he spontaneously combusted. Every inch of him burned with white-hot flame. He wanted to scream but the heat sucked the air from his lungs. As he burned, the pain dazzled and evoked images. These memories he'd never experienced flashed before him like an incomplete movie. Unfamiliar figures in ancient, ornate metal armor drove their hands forth and evoked the very flames that consumed Issac.

The images blurred past him and while these specific figures weren't recognizable, their designs were reminiscent of the history pages he used to read, about warriors of old who wore metal plates and fought in melee. A style nearly identical to the marines on the ships of the flotilla. Though, the historical texts never mentioned anything like fire coming from these warriors' hands. In fact, whatever power Isaac saw in these visions was something completely missing from any kind of history page.

In that moment, the motions and words needed to call forth such fire seared into his mind.

"Send Slephna my regards." The Son of Stars called out with a mild contempt as the darkness faded.

With the void gone, the fire that engulfed Isaac disappeared with it. The mark was hot and pulsed with electricity that radiated throughout his arms. The crushing sensation on his chest returned as Slephna, the floral beast, reappeared and continued to pin him to the dirt of the meadow within the reactor core.

"How about now?" Slephna spoke with a growl as she twisted her toe. "Does this spark remembrance within you?"

Isaac gritted his teeth, holding back the desire to cry out in pain as the pressure threatened to churn his innards. "Yes. The Son of Stars says hello." He reached out towards her and thinking of the visions, evoked a blast of fire from his palms.

 

[machinedhearts]

Estimated Time of Arrival to Waypoint 1 of 4: One Week, Three Days​

Estimated Total Trip Time Remaining: Three Weeks, Six Days​

Current Trip Destination: Argo — Unknown Contact​

Primary Reactor Core State: Stable​

Isaac sat and stared at the console in the management office of the reactor bay, exhausted and battered. The unnatural rage that once consumed him subsided, but its presence was not entirely gone, like a scar upon his soul. Though he still smoldered over the outcome of the scuffle in the reactor, realizing he was not suited for any sort of combat. The thrashing Slephna gave him caused every muscle fiber to radiate throbbing pain. How he mustered a draw from that encounter was a miracle.

The rhythmic clatter of metal rapping against the grating of the upper levels in the reactor bay filled the office. Isaac sat and stared at the monitoring console, watching the power outputs slowly and steadily rise then fall with load on the system, unperturbed by the noise growing louder. Then, as the cacophony ceased, the smack of a bar against the doorframe jostled the walls of the otherwise empty room.

"Damn, you look like hell. What happened to you?" Erik uttered as he breached the doorway, his unsteady gait sent his shoulder sliding along the pane glass window next to the door frame. He caught himself on the empty desk perpendicular to the window, the only thing saving him from falling flat on the ground.

Weary and tempted to be a smart ass about the marine's state in turn, Isaac decided otherwise, considering what sacrifices were made to put him in that state. "I got in a fight with a wheelbarrow. I lost." Isaac didn't look away from the monitor.

Surprised by Isaac's response, Erik recovered and couldn't hold back a chuckle. He hobbled over to an open row of chairs against the far wall and settled in, leaving one of his legs extended straight.

A long silence fell between them. Isaac didn't expect Erik to recover so quickly or even have business here in the reactor bay. Sometimes when there was a high security alert there would be marines stationed directly in the reactor bay, on patrol in case of a boarding incident. Isaac noticed no security bulletins and even if he missed one, they wouldn't send a lone debilitated marine on a security detail.

"What brought you down here?" Isaac continued to look at the live readings of the reactor bank.

"Well," Erik cleared his throat, "I needed to take a walk and wanted to see how you were holding up."

The sudden personability coming from the marine roused suspicion in Isaac. Erik was no stranger to the reactor bay, he often would be the one leading patrols, especially during the confusion, just after the Endurant broke up. Despite everything, he was cordial but otherwise very detached, as the rest of the marines assigned to the reactor bay were, for reasons Isaac could never figure out. This was certainly a break in character.

"A walk." Isaac looked over his shoulder. "From the med bay to here, almost the entire length of the ship."

"Yep." Erik fidgeted with his crutch, nervous. "Been in bed a while and just wanted to stretch the ol' hamstrings, didn't want the muscles to atrophy."

Isaac flicked his tongue behind his lips in frustration, feeling owed the dignity of not being toyed with after everything they'd both gone through together. He turned back and stared at the monitor, lacking the energy to get into another confrontation. "Seen better days."

With a firm nod, Erik restlessly tapped the side of his crutch with a fingertip. Quiet again fell between them. The marine's chair whispered out squeaks as he continued to shuffle in his chair, perturbed. Finally, Erik broke the silence with a resolute sigh. "I ah…"

Isaac turned in his chair, lips pursed with impatience.

"I just wanted to say thank you." Erik's demeanor turned serious. "For what you did. Back in the med bay."

Spinning his chair around, Isaac sized up the marine. Erik's posture was closed, and he was uncomfortable in this situation. It was clear that whatever code or guideline the marines had, Erik was breaking in having this conversation. Isaac didn't know why it was like this in the first place.

"Don't mention it." Isaac spoke with weariness, pivoting back to watching the reactor's status.

"I've been assigned as your security detail until further notice." Erik followed up, with his usual stern marine sergeant tone.

Isaac groaned in frustration. "You didn't have to butter me up to tell me that. Just stay out of my way."

"That wasn't my intent—"

"Do what you have to do." Isaac gritted his teeth and turned hardware dials on the console, to flip through other statistics about the reactor bank.

"Your brother is concerned with the current state of affairs on the bridge and assigned me to look after you." Erik spoke with a resolute tone.

"My brother…" Isaac shook his head in disappointment. "I haven't had a brother in a long time. I know a Lieutenant who might be related."

"It's not like that." Erik declared.

Isaac pivoted his chair, squaring off with the sergeant. "Then what is it like? Because I have no fathomable idea what it could possibly be."

With a groan, Erik sat forward. "A marine is a shepherd of the flotilla. It's our duty to protect the people from threats beyond or within the confines of the fleet. Because of that, we took an oath to keep our distance. It's easier for both parties if our duties were disconnected from each other."

Isaac rolled his eyes and shook his head in frustration. "Like you kept distance with your daughter?"

"That—" Erik grunted in defeat. "She's too young to un—"

Gritting his teeth and nodding his head, disappointed by the hypocrisy, Isaac turned back to his workstation. "Yeah, I get it. Feel free to keep your oath any time now."

Erik resigned himself by sitting back in his chair, upright, and folding his hands in front of him.

Hours passed as Isaac continued to tweak values, carefully managing the amount of load being placed upon the reactor, worried that too much or too little would cause it to go haywire again. The blip of a bulletin coming across on his secondary screen broke Isaac's concentration. A funeral notice for the twenty-five lost on the excursion. It came with short notice, starting in a few hours. Given the mayhem on the bridge, it made sense there weren't more preparations. Isaac was surprised that they weren't going to postpone, or even scrap it entirely, given the circumstances.

"There's a thing for what happened soon." Isaac looked over his shoulder at the sergeant. "You going?"

"Can't." Erik grunted out.

Isaac turned to him. "Why not?"

Erik motioned toward Isaac, to say that he was the reason the sergeant couldn't leave. Isaac looked back at the bulletin, nodded, then checked the reactor status one more time. He looked at the history of manual changes and realized the adjustments he made were nothing more than over-obsessiveness that didn't make a difference either way.

Along with Erik, Arne, one of the marines lost on the excursion, was almost always the one accompanying him on patrol in the reactor. There were a number of other marines on station with them, lost to other scavenging excursions but it was always those two in specific making sure things were in order around here. As upset as Isaac was at the whole ordeal with the marines taking some strange oath of distance between them and civilians, it was clear that Arne was like a brother to Erik.

"I'm going for a walk." Isaac flipped a switch to release all adjustments to the automatic system load balancer and then stood up.

The sergeant looked at the empty reactor management console, then to Isaac who already crossed the threshold onto the catwalk. "Don't you have to keep an eye on that thing?"

Isaac shrugged. "It'll be fine." He hoped that was the truth.

Blinking with a tinge of doubt breaking through his otherwise stern demeanor, Erik groaned in pain as he struggled to his feet. With a labored hobble, the marine pushed himself to keep up, trailing Isaac as he descended the catwalk staircase and strolled toward the control station near the reactor bank.

Isaac sat down on the four-wheeler and started it up. "Get on." He pointed to the load-bearing cargo scaffolding attached to the rear of the seat. "Hang on tight."

With hesitation, Erik spun around and sat with his back to Isaac, staring out behind the four-wheeler. "This doesn't seem like much of a walk." The sergeant tied down his crutch with a strap on the scaffold. "Where are we going?"

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac navigated the four-wheeler through the narrow pathway that linked the reactor bay to the docking area. As they emerged, the echo of the tires against concrete dissipated and the claustrophobic close quarters expanded into a space which hollowed a significant portion of the lifeboat.

Back on the Endurant, the docking bay was a boon. Getting your hands on anything off-ship deeper in the hull was almost impossible, or so overwhelmingly expensive it wasn't worth it. But with a dock close by, all manner of things flowed through, and finding the rare and exotic wasn't as difficult. Especially the stuff they couldn't make on a civilian ship. Isaac remembered picking up an old-style three-piece suit from one of the traveling merchants that came through for supplies. Isaac didn't know if he'd ever wear it, but he picked the outfit up because he saw it in an article about ancient fashions and wanted to have it. He later regretted it because it was hard to stow.

But now the docking bay was a bittersweet feature. It was one of the only few that could hold an MEU, a multipurpose utility ship, but at the cost of space. A significant portion of the lifeboat's internal volume was taken up by the docking bay. Which meant that lifeboat 9 had one of the smallest internal capacities. And they had to take on the survivors from the rest as they failed.

As the two pulled into the docking bay, the families of the fallen marines were already in attendance, standing in a semicircle around rows of makeshift coffins lined on a palette launcher which was already set upon the outbound tracks. Military funerals were treated as burials at sea, an ancient custom in which the dead were laid to rest in the vast bodies of water of the home world. They pulled up to a makeshift gatehouse constructed from metal shipping containers. One of the deck crew motioned for Isaac to stop just outside the raised gate, a container suspended from gantry crane hooks.

"What's going on here?" Isaac looked around at the fortification after coming to a stop.

"Lieutenant Ensolus ordered us to put up a partition. He wanted to give privacy to the families." The dockworker pointed upwards at the observation windows.

From the higher decks, the viewing galleries were filled, overflowing with onlookers. Crowds of people flooded around the panes on high.

"Wouldn't it have just been easier if you blocked out the windows?" Isaac asked with suspicion.

"I said the same thing." The dockworker shook his head with hands on hips. "We offered to do just that, but the lieutenant demanded we treat it like a counter-boarding drill. Ran it textbook and beat our old record, for the third time this month. You think he'd be satisfied." He scoffed.

Isaac thought back to the discussion on the bridge with Sola, the commander. Though they hadn't talked, considering the high-security bulletins coming across, it seemed that things were still the same: control over the lifeboat was still not in the hands of the crew. The commander probably wanted everyone to be on alert while they sorted things out up there on the bridge.

"That's interesting. Well, we're headed in, thanks for the info." Isaac got ready to move beyond the wall.

"No vehicles past this point," the dockworker declared.

Isaac looked over his shoulder at Erik, wounded and having trouble moving. "He can barely walk; I just need to—"

"No exceptions."

Not wanting to cause a scene near the funeral and despite wanting to break this guy's balls, Isaac relented with clenched teeth and a guttural groan as he dismounted. In tandem, Erik slid off the back of the vehicle and caught himself with his crutch with a grunt. As the two left for the enclosure, Isaac swiped the key from the four-wheeler.

"Hey, I need that key to move this thing." The dockworker piped up at them, pointing at the vehicle.

Isaac looked over his shoulder and saw it wouldn't be crushed if the gate made from shipping crates was lowered. "Reactor Bay property." He tossed the key up in the air and then snatched it back as he turned away. "No exceptions." There wasn't such a thing as individual ship section property when it came to utility vehicles, but it sounded good in Isaac's head.

He was careful not to outpace Erik as they approached the five rows by six columns of fist-sized black caskets, all evenly spaced apart from one another. On each side were the surname and first letter initial of the deceased. Isaac stood and waited for Erik to catch up, but the marine pressed on, gravitated toward Arne's casket labeled Berg, A.

Erik stood there alone, as the rest of the funeral attendees lingered afar. Isaac, not wanting to leave the marine there alone, pressed forward and waited in silence, shoulder to shoulder with Erik.

"All three of us," Erik broke the contemplative quiet between them, "enlisted together—me, your brother, and Berg." He pointed with his chin to Arne's casket. "Me and Berg got our bottom stripe almost at the same time. Your brother became a mustang. That was back when that little cargo ship, the Lupine Dawn went rogue and started knocking off civvies in the local cluster." Erik looked down and closed his eyes, with pursed lips, holding back showing pain. "This lucky bastard wouldn't die, going on that raid. Of all people, I was sure he'd've outlived me throughout all this chaos."

Isaac remained silent, letting Erik continue to talk, who was clearly in pain now. The marine unzipped a portion of his jumpsuit and pulled out a folded piece of paper from an inner arm pocket before straightening his outfit. Then struggling to one knee as he bent down, Erik held back labored groans. He reached to place the letter on the small plate beneath the casket.

"Say hi to my parents for me." Erik braced himself against his crutch, touched Arne's casket with his fingertips, then stood and hobbled past Isaac.

The caskets were in alphabetical order, and he pressed onward to Ivar's, labeled Moller, I. Both of them stood in silence for a while, staring down.

"He was a good kid." Erik again broke the quietness. "Volunteered right after the Endurant broke up." The marine shook his head and pursed his lips, remorsefully. "He didn't know what else to do. Just wanted to make sure everyone got through alright." Erik placed both hands on his crutch and held himself up with it. "He was like your brother and you."

Isaac cocked an eyebrow in confusion and tilted his head.

"He'd only been on the Endurant a few months before the incident, shipped in from an orphanage boat too old to stay on."

Isaac grunted; a mild shock set in. "Took me a long while to get used to being alone on a massive colony ship, after my brother joined the marines. I'm surprised."

Erik shrugged. "I guess he found his people."

"Did the rest of them make it out?"

"I don't know." Erik shook his head. "He never talked about it again once the lifeboats started merging. With everything that went on, I wouldn't have kept high hopes."

Isaac turned to stare at the private's casket with a newfound respect. He thought of his days after arriving on the Endurant. Bitter and distraught over the assaults and the loss, finding himself alone with his brother disappearing in joining the marines. Isaac at that time threw himself into his work and shut away from everyone around him. He couldn't see himself then doing what Ivar did, to ask little and give everything. A sudden contempt creeped up from within his bones as Isaac found in the shiny surface of the laminated caskets the visage of a coward staring back. Unable to stomach his own reflection, he looked away in shame.

"I'm sorry." One of the neon-yellow-clad flight crew piped up from across the platform at them. "It's time." As if he were directing outbound traffic, he motioned with his hands for the two to back away from the launching platform.

Erik nodded, grabbed Isaac by the arm, and ushered him away while hobbling quickly. As they cleared the launch pad and moved toward the semicircle of funeral attendees, Erik released Isaac and spotted someone in the crowd. The marine pushed himself to rush for them. The front of the semicircle made way and revealed a brown-haired woman in a blue jumpsuit, standing among them meekly, teary-eyed and holding back sobs.

"How you holding up, kid?" Erik searched her eyes, a solemn look on his face.

She pursed her lips and tried to give him a reassuring nod, almost falling to tears in the process.

"This is Trisha Berg." Erik introduced the woman. "Arne's wife." He pointed to Isaac. "This is Isaac Ensolus, he—"

"You're the one keeping the lights on." Trisha spoke through sniffles.

Isaac saw the sorrow painted on her face and fought to indurate himself. "I'm trying my hardest to keep them lit."

"You were with him, when he died?" She hushed out, her lip quivering.

With a steeled heart, Isaac nodded. "I was. What he did was very brave. Arne saved us all."

As Isaac spoke, Trisha reached over and latched onto Erik's arm. Her teeth chattered as she fought back tears. The marine groaned in pain as he braced himself and held her up. Isaac reached and offered his other arm, and the widow accepted it.

As they all turned and faced the launch platform, Jakob parted the crowd and stood just before the caskets.

"Commander Sola is unable to attend to today's service," Jakob announced with an authoritative tone, "and has asked me to proceed in his stead. He sends his deepest condolences in this dark hour."

As Jakob scanned the crowd, he locked eyes with Isaac and flashed a malicious grimace. Then his gaze craned toward Erik and unleashed a disapproving look upon the sergeant. The lieutenant produced a book and began reading from it, words of comfort and reassurance.

As the launch pad began to lurch forward, the hum of hydraulics filled the quiet between Jakob's words. The noise provoked Trisha, who broke down into uncontrollable sobbing. The rest of the crowd were also riled by the widow's cries and denial. Her legs buckled and Erik was unable to stifle a grunt of pain as she let all of her weight drop on him and Isaac.

Isaac retrieved her from Erik's grasp and let her down easy onto the ground. As she folded neatly upon the metal floor, Trisha reached out and cried for Arne to come back, over and over again.

Jakob finished his sermon with an ancient warrior's vow. "…for if I fall, my body may come to rest, but my brothers shall carry my name with them, to victory once more."

As the launchpad crept out of the airlock, the caskets detached and fell away from the ship, slowly disappearing into the void. Trisha was inconsolable and though Isaac squatted next to her, he couldn't understand anything she said through her crying, though she continued to reach out toward the airlock as the launchpad returned, empty.

Isaac tried to calm Trisha. As he spoke to reassure her, the mark on his chest grew hot. The crowd grew quiet and still, as did the widow in front of Isaac's eyes. As if he were standing within a portrait, nothing moved. Erik was mid-bend, reaching for Trisha.

"The cycle of death and rebirth is unending." Slephna's voice called out, consolingly. "Even in such an unforgiving place."

Isaac looked up and saw the floral beast standing upon the now-still launchpad. "Can you give it a rest for just five minutes?" He yelled out at her, his voice booming.

"Peace." Slephna raised a leaf-clad arm. "Can you feel them?"

Isaac instinctively readied to shout how he didn't know what she was talking about, but as the mark pulsed on his chest, a strange sensation poured over his skin. It was like bolts of electricity reaching for a way to ground itself, afar. Like the hairs on his arms were slowly attracted towards the airlock.

"Hunters." Slephna quarter-turned toward the airlock. "They come. For you and I. Prepare."

In the blink of an eye, the chaos of sorrow returned, engulfing the space around Isaac. Erik struggled to a knee to place a hand on Trisha's back in comfort. Jakob approached the crowd and offered condolences. Slephna was gone. No one saw what just happened.

As the crowd quieted with the widow's calming, an overwhelming sense of dread descended on Isaac. He didn't have the slightest idea of how to prepare for what he sensed out there.

 

[machinedhearts]

Estimated Total Trip Time Remaining: Two Weeks, Three Days

Current Trip Destination: Argo — Unknown Contact

Estimated Time of Arrival to Waypoint 1 of 4: Arrival Imminent

Primary Reactor Core State: Anomaly Detected
​

In the past days, Isaac wasted no time heeding the Ordinal's words, which were that they were being hunted and those tracking them were arriving soon. There wasn't a minute that passed in which he didn't feel the looming threat in the void. With each hour the hunters grew closer. Based on nothing but assumption, he decided to use the waypoint tracker as a timer, which was better than nothing.

In the week prior, before Isaac could raise the issue of the hunters with the bridge and not cause panic by telling them there was a monster living in their only remaining reactor core, for some reason, Jakob started shoring up defenses at all points of entry on the lifeboat and began running drills to drive off spontaneous insertions on various decks. At first Isaac thought it was because the bridge was tracking whatever was awaiting them at the first waypoint. But after they turned him away for making baseless claims, the theory was thrown out the window. The bridge finally started taking Isaac seriously when nearby space traffic reported a strange derelict craft lingering in the middle of nowhere.

Not long after Erik's equipment was returned to him, Isaac insisted on learning enough to defend himself. Either by luck or by chance, the reactor remained stable during the trip. Isaac wasn't sure Erik actually believed that something was coming. When told about what was near the first waypoint, the sergeant didn't seem overly concerned about it. But despite being nonplused, he continued to dutifully train Isaac.

They focused entirely on close quarters combat. Because Isaac insisted they only had a week to prepare and he was still the only one responsible for the reactor, Erik gave him a crash course in the ways of fighting in tight spaces with sword and spear. The marine was relentless with his ambushes and solo night raids. It didn't help that Isaac moved his bunk to the reactor management office and had been sleeping there since the lifeboat broke away from the Endurant. The tops of the desks were hard, but it was quiet, and he didn't have to sprint all the way down if something happened. But it also meant he was exposed when the sergeant descended upon Isaac's sleeping spot.

Finally, the time came when Lifeboat 9 approached the first waypoint. Isaac awoke with a startle, in cold sweat. The electric sensation that lingered afar intensified. As if the desk he laid under was energized and the ground upon which it stood, ready to electrocute. With hesitation, he slid his feet from atop his resting place and tapped the tiled floor with one toe. Though it was cool, nothing discharged, no shock hit him. Convinced there wasn't some freak short in the office wiring, he placed two feet on the ground and slowly rose upright.

"Something wrong?" Erik piped up, sitting in his usual chair across from the office door, one eye open.

The marine's voice scared Isaac, and he jolted from the sudden sound. "It's noth—" Isaac wanted to brush it off but given that Erik didn't ask questions with regards to training him, Isaac felt it was wrong to do so. "You remember what I said before, about how I had a bad feeling about where we were going?"

"I do." Erik opened both eyes, and his voice remained serious.

"Well, we're about to—" Isaac jumped when the office door burst open.

"Sir, as ordered, two coffees and a black tea, hot. Sir." A marine stepped into the office holding a platter with three drinks.

Unperturbed, Erik rose to his feet, still struggling some as his gut and leg bothered him. He pointed to the desk next to the door. "Just put it there."

The marine acted promptly and as he was ordered.

"That'll be all." Erik turned and readied to sit back down.

"Yes sir." The marine placed his hands behind his back and posted up on the door.

Looking over his shoulder, Erik let off a frustrated sigh and sized up the marine. "Private Helvig."

Steffan Helvig was tall with light brown hair, shaved. A bit lanky than most of the senior marines, especially much less muscular than Erik. The lack of food over the past weeks must have taken its toll on his muscle mass. "Sir?" The private responded with intensity.

"How long have you been in, private?" Erik turned and closed on Helvig, who was a half-head taller.

"Just graduated boot camp, sir."

Erik nodded, an agitated grimace on his face. "Took your sweet time joining, huh?"

"No sir. I was on the waiting list. Got in as soon as they would let me." The private stared ahead, with chin level to the ground as he spoke. "Sir."

Isaac leaned against his makeshift bed, calming down as the two spoke, the scent of coffee called to him. He stood fast, choosing instead to ease his nerves and let Erik do what he needed.

The private's answer seemed to ease the sergeant's disdain for the recently graduated marine.

"I have another detail." Erik stared out the office, toward the bulkhead doors that led to the docking bay before passing a glance to Isaac.

"Sir." Helvig responded promptly.

"I want the current disposition of the docking bay," Erik said.

"Disposition, sir?"

The sergeant pursed his lips in frustration. "I want to know everything that's going on down there. Go on foot and tell me everything you see. If there's a mouse blowing farts in the corner of a container, it will be in your report."

"Understood, sir."

"Carry on." Erik turned and moved back toward his seat.

Without another word, Helvig dashed out the office and rushed for the catwalk stairs to descend to the reactor bay floor.

As the sergeant sat down, he shouted toward the door. "Take your coffee."

The private reappeared and in rigid motions, snatched up the coffee from the tray and sprinted away. Erik folded his arms and shook his head with a chuckle. "Just got assigned to the Reactor Bay troop this morning."

Isaac nodded, the image of Arne and Ivar's coffins drifting away into space flashed into his mind. "He's young."

Erik's expression turned more marine-like, mechanical. "We all were, once." He leaned forward and picked up his tea from the platter. "You were saying earlier about something going on." He took a sip of his drink.

Isaac sauntered over and followed Erik's lead, picking up the only remaining cup of coffee. "Yeah." He took a swig. "You know how I had a bad feeling, about where we were going?"

"I do." Erik continued to drink his tea.

"That sense I got, grew stronger this morning."

The sergeant nodded with care. "You think something bad's going down today?"

"I'm almost certain of it." Isaac spoke, gripping his cup tightly.

"We'll be ready then."

Throughout the day, Isaac focused on his duties monitoring the reactor bank. Multiple warnings went off despite the fact that the status readings were within their normal range. Restless, Isaac decided to go and check out the reactor himself. He went alone to the core, with Erik overlooking his walk from the management office.

Suited up, for the sake of not panicking the sergeant, Isaac came to realize he no longer needed the protective gear after his scuffle with Slephna. The walkway airlock was equipped with an irradiation warning system, scanning those departing for radiation sickness due to suit leaks or any other issues. After he'd hobbled away from that fight, there was no warning. Either it was busted, or the bioreactors couldn't pump him full of radiation anymore. His intuition indicated the latter.

As Isaac entered the glass sphere, the wind howled, causing the great oak to sway and the grass to bend. Standing stalwart, the giant orchid resisted the gale. He fought to keep himself upright, the blasts of air threatened to sweep him from his feet.

The flower bloomed and from within emerged Slephna. She hovered off the ground, suspended by vines that emerged from within the petals. "Perhaps I should be less subtle with my messages from now on. I don't like to be ignored."

Isaac looked away, frustrated. "Well, I'm here now. What do you want?"

The floral beast's skin flickered from a monochrome red and green back to its gradation from crimson to gold to green as she grunted with dissatisfaction. "Do you feel it? They are near."

"I feel something, that's for sure. What, I don't know. Is it these hunters you spoke about before?"

"Yes, the ones who seek to slay us. To eradicate you and me." Slephna's voice was harsh, bitter.

Isaac shuddered as she spoke, something about her delivery made his skin crawl. "Who are they? Why are they doing this?"

"These types are all the same. They seek destruction, a usurpation of the ways of old and to impose their own petty methods for how the order of things should be done." Slephna scoffed.

"Is that it? What should I expect?"

"I sense a powerful technomage among them, wild and untamed." The floral beast hummed in disapproval. "More of a monster than even I could ever be."

As she spoke, Isaac got a terrible feeling in his gut. If this guy was so powerful, what could be done to stop him? Isaac knew just enough to hold his own against Slephna at most. If this technomage could track them among the stars, then Isaac had no hope against him.

"What do you want me to do then?" Isaac swallowed hard.

"Don't be a fool. Kill or be killed." Slephna turned her chin up condescendingly at him.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac jogged through the narrow catwalk thoroughfare which linked the reactor bay to the dock. With Erik and Helvig in tow, their footsteps caused the unmanned defensive barriers set up on the pathway to clatter as they stomped their spacesuit boots in a rush to get into the dock before it was sealed.

The docking bay traffic controller blared over the radio. "Unknown contact inbound, 230 bravo. ETA ten mikes." The mystery vessel that waited for the lifeboat at the first waypoint, started its approach and it would only be about ten minutes before it was within estimated strike distance. The lifeboat had no outward defense systems, but most strike craft were short range, for reasons Issac wasn't sure of. In ten minutes, if the contact were a strike craft, it would be within firing range.

Helvig's panting echoed over the short wave. He was carrying a heavy machine gun tripod, his weapon and an extra bag of ammunition, all without power assist. A lot of the operable muscular enhancement gear was lost on the last excursion and what was left of the engineering team had more on their hands than just working on grunt gear.

As the three rushed into the docking bay, their short waves started picking up cross chatter among the defenders that set up on the cargo container wall encircling the airlock.

"Militia team four, five shift to the rear and setup barricade." Jakob broadcasted on the shortwave.

Through huffing and puffing Helvig piped up. "Sir, why aren't we just holding the reactor?"

"We don't have enough people to defend the entire lifeboat. We're reinforcing here. If things get bad, we fall back and seal the reactor." Erik stifled his limp as he ran.

"What about everyone else in the docking bay?" Helvig mustered out a reply through his labored breaths.

Erik's face washed over with a disappointed, resentful grimace. "We'll honor their sacrifice." He reached over to the controls on the underside of his arm and switched on his short-range radio. "Control, reactor team. We're on site and awaiting orders." He radioed out to whoever was overseeing the defense of the docking bay to let them know they were ready to be assigned a location to defend.

"Reactor team, control. You're assigned to Red team. Move to your designated sector and follow established orders." Jakob replied over the radio.

"Reactor to Red team, copy. Out." Erik replied and he looked over the map on his wrist display. "We're on the near corner, up on the wall." He pointed toward the stack of shipping containers. It was lined with polymer defense barriers, and several small teams, two to four men in spacesuits, were scattered along the top, huddled behind the shields.

As the three rushed over to the corner of the wall, Erik jumped, engaging his power suit legs and leaped up to the top in a single bound, about five meters in height. Then he spun around and fell prone, reaching down for the tripod on Helvig's shoulders. The private hoisted the metal stand up to the sergeant, then tossed his bag upon the wall.

"You first, c'mon." Erik pointed at Helvig, motioning for him to be pulled up to the top of the wall.

With a running leap, the private scaled about halfway before Erik snatched him by the wrists and yanked him to the top. As Helvig ascended, the electric sensation which emanated from the mystery craft intensified in Isaac's chest, the mark a conduit for this painful feeling.

With the waxing and waning of this sensation coursing throughout his muscles, it was as if a pressure was pushing him closer toward the airlock from behind. Isaac was forced onto the balls of his feet, inexplicably ready to charge forth. Whatever was radiating this energy out there was suddenly creating a force, drawing him closer.

"Unknown contact inbound, 312 bravo. ETA five mikes." The docking bay traffic controller radioed out. They changed their approach to a steeper trajectory and were five minutes from strike distance.

Erik got the private up on the wall, then leaned back down and reached for Isaac. "Let's go." He beckoned with his wrist.

Like the four-wheeler racing forth with a pinned throttle, Isaac burst forth and scaled the wall with three steps against the barrier. As he breached the lip, he gained a moment of air before landing hard on the metal surface.

Erik rolled over in shock and pushed himself to a squat, his eyes wide. "What the hell was that?"

Isaac cleared his throat, not sure he wanted to, or could, explain what just happened. "Good coffee this morning."

With suspicion, Erik slowly rose upright, eyeballing Isaac the whole time. Then the sergeant turned to the private who stood with mouth agape.

"Why isn't this gun setup yet?" Erik spoke with harsh authority, pointing at the empty tripod on the floor.

The shock from Erik speaking snapped Helvig out of his awe and he swallowed hard. "S-sorry sir!"

"Don't be sorry, be doing." Erik then returned his attention to Isaac and sized him up with an unsure eye.

The private jumped into motion and retrieved the heavy machine gun that was secured to the front of the sergeant's suit. Then fumbled in trying to secure the weapon to its tripod.

"And you." Erik continued to stare at and motion toward Isaac. "I know you're full of piss and vinegar but if this whole operation eats it, you're the first one out of here."

Isaac gritted his teeth, not unfamiliar with this kind of talk, and why: because he was the ship's only reactor tech. "I get it. Don't worr—"

"I want to hear it." Erik demanded.

Blinking and exhaling hard in resignation, Isaac nodded. "I'm the first one out of here."

Finally slotting the machine gun into its tripod, Helvig looked at the two and cocked an eyebrow as he reached over to the bag, pulled out a long belt of blue core heavy coolant cells, and pulled the tab through the receiver to insert the first of the belt.

"Good. Sit behind that barrier and don't move." Erik pointed to the polymer shield next to where the heavy machine gun was set up.

Before Isaac could comply, Jakob walked by below, inspecting the line. "Sergeant, I want an effective field of fire from—" The lieutenant stopped as he spotted Isaac. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Your orders were to provide security for him at all times. I can't—" Erik started.

"Security detail doesn't mean put him in the line of fire, sergeant." Jakob shouted. "Get off the wall." He motioned with a lone finger toward the ground.

"No. There's—" Isaac shook his head.

"That wasn't a request. Get off the wall." Jakob grit his teeth, his voice teetering on the verge of anger.

"I need to be here. I'm not moving." Isaac squared himself off with Jakob.

"Look, just get down—" Erik leaned in to hush out to Isaac.

"Stow it, sergeant." Jakob pointed at Erik.

The sergeant backed off and stood upright with a stressed groan.

"Get off the wall. Now." Jakob's voice was laced with venom.

Isaac needed to be at the forefront, to fend off the incoming hunters. There was no way he was leaving. On top of that, how could he even explain to them in the time they had left. "I'm not going."

"Unknown contact inbound to primary airlock, docking imminent." The docking bay traffic controller called out over the radio.

Jakob looked away, listening to the broadcast and then pointed a finger between both Erik and Isaac. "I'm not done with either of you." As he turned to leave, the lieutenant gritted his teeth and scowled at Isaac, then departed to inspect the rest of the line.

Staring at his brother leaving, Isaac could feel anger pummeling the back of his head, from Erik's gaze.

"Why'd you have to pick a fight with the L.T.?" Helvig turned to Isaac, kneeling as he finished setting up the heavy machine gun.

Erik spun on his heel and darted over to the marine in the blink of an eye. "Why are you talking to a civilian, private?" The sergeant unloaded all his rage on Helvig.

The private stood at attention in an instant. "N-no excuse, sir."

"What is the marine's creed?" Erik butted his glass visor against Helvig's.

"I am the shepherd of my people. I will guide us toward salvation. Nothing, man or otherwise will stand fast in my path. If I must let blood, I will. If my people need my blood, they shall have it." Helvig recited the marine's creed with fear in his voice.

"Do you know what shepherd means, private?" Erik shouted.

"Yes sir!" Helvig responded promptly.

"Get on that fucking gun and point it toward the airlock. Don't blink. Don't say a word until I tell you otherwise." Erik snapped his elbow and pointed with an open hand and fingers pinned together toward the heavy machine gun.

The private fell to a sit and pinned his boots against the tripod, pivoting the weapon to point toward the airlock.

Then Erik picked up the spare rifle on the ground and pulled the charging handle slightly, to check that it was loaded. As he did, he looked up at Isaac. "I got a spot all warmed up for you." He pointed at the floor near the barricade.

Isaac relented and knelt behind the deployed shield. On the other side, the sergeant took up a firing position, stabilizing his weapon against the polymer cover.

A small asymmetrical craft leveled off slowly outside the green laser barrier of the airlock. It had a central hull with hard angles but an oblong, bubbly cockpit offset from the center. The docking craft lurched forward with a careful pace.

"Defensive R.O.E." Jakob radioed. "No one fires unless fired upon."

The ship entered the airlock and lazily descended to the ground. Its golden hull contrasted against the gunmetal deck. The ship's red blinking docking lights overpowered the illumination of the dock.

Erik looked down at the shaking barrel of the heavy machine gun and placed a careful hand on Helvig's shoulder. "Easy now."

The mystery craft touched down with pads that emerged from within its hull. As Isaac peeked around the shield, the shape and design of the craft looked like something that would have come from one of the ancient First Expedition ships. Its design was sleek, ornate, with various embossed lines that gave it an almost regal appearance. Different than the otherwise current practical designs of the fleet.

The rear of the docking craft let out a hiss and steam poured out as the ships' atmospheres equalized. A ramp extended from the parting doors on the back side of the craft, just wide enough for departing passengers. After the walkway contacted the deck, a clicking sound filled the quiet docking bay.

As the noise grew louder, Isaac realized it was the sound of heels smacking against the metal of the ramp. From the docking craft emerged a woman in an officer's uniform: a black and white blazer, white pencil skirt, an officer's cap, and low white heels. She rounded the ramp with her hands up.

"Identify yourself!" Jakob's voice called out over the docking bay intercom.

"Inquisitor Regina Escavalde Antonio, Second Expedition Investigation Unit." The woman complied.

Erik groaned and lowered his weapon. "Crap. Stand down." He motioned to Helvig.

Isaac felt the electric sensation radiating from her very presence. The inquisitor locked gaze with Isaac and gave him a knowing smirk. It was her, the huntress Slephna described.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac walked with the group, unable to take his eyes off the inquisitor as Jakob and multiple marines escorted her to the bridge.

"Ma'am, please understand that we've been on high alert since—" Jakob stopped, a pondering gaze washed over his face. "…since starting our journey from the Endurant." He grew more careful as he continued the sentence.

As his brother spoke, Isaac felt a wave of relief ease a small amount of tension that swelled in his shoulders. Jakob was no fool and despite the lifeboat's predicament, he wasn't outright trusting her just because she wore the same colors. Isaac felt like an idiot for keeping what happened in the reactor core a secret from his brother and the rest of the marines. Now he was going to have to figure out how to play their game and also communicate this woman was more than she seemed.

The inquisitor adjusted her officer's cap then nodded with a careful pace. "Understandable, the journey must have been difficult. You have my deepest condolences for what happened." She flashed a gaze to Isaac as she paused for a moment. "Rest assured you have the fleet's full support during these trying times."

In those few heartbeats when the inquisitor looked toward Isaac, in so much as they were shoulder-to-shoulder, the air in his suit grew icy. His heart skipped as pins rolled up and down his skin. For that instant, he felt like a cadaver in a meat locker.

"We're grateful for any assistance the flotilla can provide." Jakob responded. "I would be lying if I said we weren't short on supply and equipment."

The inquisitor craned her head from Isaac to Jakob. "Soon you'll have nothing to worry about." Her tone washed over, soothing.

Isaac clenched his teeth as she spoke, a bitter pang in his chest rattled as her words slipped from her lips. The sudden shift in her tone, from authoritative to bleeding compassion, put Isaac on edge. That wasn't condolences, that was a threat.

"Right this way, we're nearly to the bridge." Jakob motioned toward a lift at the end of the hallway.

As he raised his hand, the shortwave in Isaac's ear blared chatter that reached out this far from the docking bay.

"This is control, uh. We still got an unknown headed in our direction. It wasn't one we were tracking. It looks like it emerged from passing cargo traffic at 112 alpha." The radar controller radioed, indicating something else appeared that had no signature coming in from high over the lifeboat.

Jakob reached over and began punching in shorthand on his wrist display. Something the marines would do when they couldn't talk.

"Copy. Keep eyes on. Militia deployment stands." Jakob's computerized shorthand voice called out over the radio. He must have been thinking the same as Isaac: the inquisitor was sending in reinforcements of some kind while she kept command busy.

Isaac looked behind, to Erik and Helvig tailing him. Erik was no slouch, he read the room as well as Jakob, carrying the heavy machine gun on his hip and the belt of coolant cores draped over his shoulder. Isaac didn't know how much a gun was going to do against someone as powerful as the inquisitor, but it brought a measure of calm that he so desperately needed.

After one of Jakob's escort marines called the lift to the bridge, they fanned out and covered all corners. Erik grabbed Isaac by the handle on the back of his oxygen tank and carefully drew him to the wall. As they locked eyes, Isaac understood: if something went down on the bridge, they all were the first team going in to get the crew out.

The doors slid open, and Jakob extended an open hand to indicate into the elevator. "After you, ma'am."

With a bright smile, the inquisitor stepped onto the lift alone. She gently raised a palm to her two escort marines, both of whom wore black suits with tinted glass visors and red reflective bands on their armor pauldrons. Her escorts' suit design was ornate, with no sharp edges and clean rounded corners throughout. The lifeboat's crew equipment was surplus in comparison. Mismatched gunmetal and chrome gear, the marines' armor plating were a mosaic of various blue and grey hexagonal inserts. There was a clear distinction between the quality of gear for those at the civil level and those in the Second Expedition.

The First Expedition was a group who set out as pathfinders, a group charting a clear course among the stars and the first to arrive at the various flotilla waypoints to ensure there wouldn't be anything lurking out there. Ultimately the expedition failed when they found something: the Phage. Unable to fend it off, the First Expedition disappeared into the void, choosing to sacrifice themselves rather than put the rest of the fleet at risk. Unfortunately, their sacrifice was in vain, as Isaac saw from the shadow dream.

Supposedly the Second Expedition was an effort to reorganize the fleet after the disarray caused by the disappearance from the First Expedition. The Second Expedition is a group who travels among the various groups and identify lost ships and bring them back into formation. It made sense that a Second Expedition representative would show up to a lifeboat, especially one wayward. But why they would send an inquisitor is the question. Another would be, what an inquisitor does exactly.

As the elevator doors closed, the light emanating from between the seam showed it ascending to the bridge. An unsettling calm fell upon the hallway as neither Isaac and the two marines, nor the two Second Expedition guards spoke a word. It was strange to not be able to see their faces. The two posted up on one side of the hallway and were statuesque, unmoving. With a careful hand, Erik tugged at the charging handle and looked down into the machine gun receiver to ensure there was a coolant cell loaded.

Suddenly, the electricity that emanated from the inquisitor eased. Like it was blown away by a massive force.

"Intruder Alert. Attention all stations, Intruder Alert." The overhead intercom blared.

Erik brandished the weapon at the two guards. "What the hell is going on?"

Hesitant, Helvig followed the sergeant's lead and raised his gun. The two Second Expedition guards didn't move nor flinch.

"Trygg, Helvig, we're coming out with the bridge crew. Get ready to move them to secure zone bravo." Jakob radioed.

Erik sized up the two guards and scoffed in distrust. As the lift descended, he turned and brought the heavy gun to point down an adjacent hallway. Then with his offhand pointed the way they came. "Cover over there." He spoke to Helvig.

The private looked at him unassuredly and then complied and aimed down the hallway. Isaac's hand rested on the gladius that Erik gave him. He didn't know if it would be at all effective against Second Expedition equipment, but it sure beat nothing at all. Well, save for the ability to call fire, that he still wasn't sure was reliable.

Jakob exited the lift and ushered the bridge crew off, along with the inquisitor holding the rear. He motioned for Erik and Helvig to follow him. As Isaac readied to fall in with them, Jakob jabbed a palm into his chest. "Not you. You're going with them." Jakob motioned to the commander and the rest of those from the bridge. "Get in back."

"Lieutenant, I got a faint signature on deck three, second from aft. It's possible they're inserting there but I don't even have a perimeter sensor going off over that way." The radar controller from the docking bay called over the radio.

"Copy, they're doing a tac insert. Get me militia one and three up to the aft secondary loading port. Militia two, go port side mass ejector. Everyone else hold position in the docking bay." Jakob responded as he rushed down the hallway with Erik and Helvig beside him.

Isaac wedged himself in between the navigator and Commander Sola.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Isaac couldn't help but blurt out at Sola.

"Not a clue." Sola responded.

"Militia one moving to aft loading port." A shaky voice called out over the radio.

The group rushed down the hallway at a jog. Jakob started shouting over his personal intercom for anyone in the hall to get out of the way. Around the group, civilians hid in bunkhouse and canteen doorways, staring out at the chaos unfolding in front of them in shock.

"Don't worry my lovelies, it will be all over soon." The inquisitor muttered under her breath from behind Isaac.

Farther down the hall, a bulkhead with a small entry gap split the throughway. The group crossed into a small antechamber created by the joining of two hull points. In only a few steps, a second gateway and bulkhead led to the other half of the lifeboat. The emergency lighting flashed and flickered, indicating there was an emergency on board.

As the group passed through, Isaac was yanked by the oxygen tank and fell to the ground with a hard slam. The bulkheads sealed and the overhead lights went out. In a panic, he drew his gladius and swung, finding only air.

A deep cackle filled the darkness, the inquisitor stood on the other side of the antechamber. Breathing heavy and in a panic, Isaac struggled to his feet and brandished his sword. Her two guards stood beside her, unmoving. Between the strobes of emergency lights blaring, Isaac swore he saw a crimson glow coming from the two guards' torsos.

"Come back, come back—" Isaac shouted into his radio. As he spoke, the receiver in his ear blasted him with static.

"You parochials make it all too easy." The inquisitor called out with an unhinged tone. "Nearly takes the fun out of this."

"Takes the fun out of what?" Isaac pointed his weapon at her. "Why are you doing this?"

Emergency light strobes revealed the inquisitor's frenzied smile. She flicked her wrist and the tint on the two guards' visors disappeared, revealing their heads suspended in a green, viscous goo. They were infected with the Phage.

"Evolution." The inquisitor breathed heavily, elated.

 

[machinedhearts]

Isaac stood in terror at the two Phage-infested marines lingering next to the inquisitor. Her otherwise well-kept hair beneath her black and white officer's cap now dangling and frazzled across her frenzied face, breathing heavily behind clenched teeth. Above, the sound of metal bending echoed throughout the space.

"Submit and be freed of mortal suffering." The inquisitor, hunched over, reached for him as if he were an object on a shelf.

The offer repulsed him in the most primal way. One look at the contorted guards' faces, permanently locked in torturous agony, their jaws distended and eye sockets empty, sent a shiver down Issac's spine. In the viscous mire of the leftmost guard's helmet lingered a worm-like creature that slithered around his glass visor before squeezing into his right eye socket and disappearing into his sinuses. The guard's head bobbed as the thing entered his head, but otherwise remained still.

Isaac gritted his teeth and breathed heavy to ready himself. "Why don't you come and get me?" He brandished his gladius at the inquisitor.

She laughed and sauntered towards him. "What exactly is that going to do?"

As the inquisitor closed in on him, he braced his sword arm, ready to stab if she made a move. But she only continued to advance. As she got within reach, Isaac wound up and readied to pierce her heart, center of mass just like Erik taught him. After another sluggish step towards him, he struck out.

The blow landed almost exactly where he aimed. Not that she was hard to hit. The weapon sank deep into her flesh, down to the hilt, and the sword tip burst out from her back, bathing the white of her jacket in rancid black blood. The inquisitor stopped mid-stride and looked down with a steely expression. Her lack of a reaction to being skewered stunned Isaac.

"It will only hurt for a moment." The inquisitor's voice grew calm, soothing as she yanked the blade from her chest and dropped it on the floor. As soon as the weapon exited her body, the wound closed.

Overhead, a slice of the bulkhead partition broke away and slammed into the floor. A shadowy figure fell through the hole and landed with finesse, as a cat would from a great height. With a small slap of a heel against the metal plate floor, a crystalline mist trailed the stranger, filling the room with an icy cloud. Each strobe of the emergency lights blasted the room like a camera flash, bursts of photons refracting off the frosty fog blinded.



The mystery arrival gestured as if an orb were in front of them and they were spinning it. As they swirled their fingertips, a blue glow emanated from the center point of their motions, revealing their previously silhouetted features. The inquisitor turned and pivoted away from Isaac, ready to strike with arched fingers.

"Glaciebus!" The stranger, a woman, shouted from behind a spacesuit visor. What light the orb produced grew brighter as the mist coalesced into its form.

The suit was something Isaac had never seen before. Almost form-fit, in contrast to the bulky second gen suit he wore, the visor was actually a dome, covered by a draped azure argyle cloth that was tucked under her miniature rounded pauldrons. The rest of her suit was charcoal with hints of navy blue, except for her boots which were white. From the orb between the stranger's palms came an explosion as the rounded shape shattered and from within, burst forth a massive icicle.

As the bolt of ice rushed toward the inquisitor, she dodged but was too late. The mass pierced her gut and sheared a chunk of flesh from her torso and drove through, pinning the meat-laden icicle into the bulkhead, filling Isaac's suit with an ear-piercing screech.

The inquisitor fell to one knee, grasping at the missing mass above her hip. "Kill them!" She shouted at her guards.

With more gesticulation, the stranger readied to evoke another orb but found herself only swaying with empty movement. As the guards lurched towards them, the mystery woman pivoted to look at Isaac.

"Balance!" She shouted at him.

"What does that mean?" Isaac hollered back.

The stranger motioned with her hands. "Do something!"

In revelation Isaac placed his gloved hand over his torso. Despite the distance, he could feel the mark radiating from his chest to his hands. Remembering what was taught to him in the shadow dream, he thrust his palms forward and shouted, evoking a momentary wave of fire that bathed the two guards in white-hot flame. The searing surge surprised the stranger, and she stumbled backwards in shock.

Gasping for air, the inquisitor couldn't muster enough strength to stand. Seeing her guards incinerated and turned to dust, she panicked and with the whisk of her hand, her form fell to shadow, and she disappeared. As her shape dissipated, the inquisitor's voice filled the space. "Know this, heretics: you can't fight the inevitable. There's no where you can run from me."

With the inquisitor gone, the overhead lights ignited, and the emergency lights stopped strobing.

"What was that?" The woman spoke with a hushed, trembling voice. "I've never seen such raw power before."

The doors on the bulkhead unlocked with an audible click and slid open.

Isaac looked down at his hands, unsure of what she meant. His gloves were charred. Rubbing his fingers together caused the surface to fall to ash and expose his skin underneath. The kind of fire evoked was no different than when he battled Slephna. And the Ordinal didn't have much to say about it. Well, she had words, but they were mostly in anger.

"I don't—" Isaac started.

"Get on the ground, get on the ground right now!" Marines shouted cacophonously as they filed into the antechamber with guns drawn.

Isaac instinctively raised his hands, shocked. The stranger begrudgingly followed suit.

We got another intruder here." The lead marine trained his gun on the woman.

With a yank on the handle of his oxygen tank, Isaac was dragged out of the antechamber by Jakob.

"Where's the inquisitor?" Jakob shouted.

The docking controller came in on the radio. "Second Expedition dispatch ship outbound." That was the inquisitor leaving.

"She attacked me." Isaac spoke flatly, still trying to process what had just happened.

"Say again?" Jakob leaned forward, to lock his gaze with Isaac.

With his brother coming into view, Isaac snapped his attention back to what was going on around him. "The inquisitor, she somehow locked me in there and—"

An automated warning blared over the intercom overhead. "Threat level red: Phage detected in Section B-12 to C-12 connector. All medical staff deploy quarantine immediately."

"At least you got your suit on." Jakob took a step back.

Isaac revealed his exposed palms, sheared gloves.

In shock, Jakob slammed his fist against the wall. "Shit!"

It was the first time in a very long while that Isaac saw any kind of outburst from his brother. In a way, it was comforting, like seeing his brother from the past, before everything changed.

"Medical response, what's your ETA?" Jakob radioed, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"ETA two minutes." The quarantine staff responded.

"Nothing takes two minutes, get your ass moving!" Jakob gestured ahead, as if who he was talking to was right in front of him.

The marines emerged from the antechamber and placed the mystery woman seated against the wall. Then a second, unknown man in a similar suit was sat next to her, both of their arms were bound behind their backs. Isaac thought the man looked familiar but wasn't sure from where.

"Vulkan…" The woman hushed out, nervous.

"Just be quiet Embla, let me do the talking." The strange man, Vulkan, responded.

"You infected?" Jakob squared off and bent down, almost touching helmet to helmet with Vulkan.

"No. Neither of us are infected." Vulkan locked eyes with Jakob.

"You better hope you're right." Jakob spoke through clenched teeth. Then he turned to the response squad which included Erik and Helvig. "Marines, weapons in a row against the wall. I want armor plating stacked in front of them. Do not take your helmets or suit off."

As he spoke, the marines did as ordered, lining their weapons up and disassembling armor plating from the harness on their spacesuits one by one. As the group disarmed, several civilians stumbled out from the bunkhouse only a few paces beyond the bulkhead.

"Stay in your dorms. We're handling the situation." Jakob pointed and spoke with authority.

The first resident, a man in a brown jumpsuit was breathing heavily, a large pustule pulsated on the side of his face.

"It's already spreading." Embla spoke solemnly.