Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 2
Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405
Galactic Standard Time / After 1725
Terra looked at the forest beyond the shield, trying to think. There was nothing that she could see that might let them stop this. But she couldn’t even see what was doing this! “What in the stars is happening here!? I mean really!”
“I don’t know, that’s why I needed to tell you,” Jessie said with a hard edge to his voice.
Terra looked at him and shook her head. To think that her old friend would be this worked up was concerning. But after a moment, she went still as she realized why. “Oh.”
“Figured out why I told you?” Jessie asked with a babying tone.
Terra only chuckled and threw her right fist at him. He dodged it and looked at her, his eyes happy.
“Good! You’ve still got that training I put you through!” Jessie said with a grin.
Terra only looked at him and held her face with her hand as she looked down. Her hand was covering her smile, and that was enough. She would never hate her friend, but sometimes this bounty hunter made her want to shoot him!
“You told me so that someone else can tell Duncan. And you want more eyes on this before the shield falls. How long until dawn?” Terra asked with a hard edge to her voice.
Jessie looked at her and shook his head. “An hour at best, maybe half an hour if this stays the same. But that’s only….. oh. I never checked if it was the other side of the shield. I just looked at this one and told you about it.”
Terra looked at Jessie and felt her blood leave her face. If she knew her friends, then she was already kicking him in the head for forgetting that. Ut the reality that they had now, that was what was important. With a hard look in her eyes, she looked at the other stations. “They wouldn’t have your experience to notice the problem, the others?”
“No, they wouldn’t,” Jessie said with a hard edge to his voice.
Already her friend was reacting, preparing to do what they had to. “Then we should go check for them, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll say I once checked over this program for my job. That I knew what to look for,” Jessie said as he looked at her. “I’ll go up and you go down, we’ll meet across.”
“Alright. But we should talk to Duncan about everything,” Terra said. She almost turned before a strange thought came up from the depths of her mind. As that thought reverberated, she realized the truth she had been ignoring. She looked at looked at Jessie and swallowed, not sure how to say this but knowing she had to.
Jessie looked at her and then his eyes widened as he realized what she meant. “About me!? Are you mad!?”
Terra sighed, and she knew this was going to be hard. “I just meant that we should tell him about your skills as a bounty hunter. But maybe you should tell him about what you can do.”
Jessie’s mouth dropped open, and he gasped for a moment. “What?! Have you lost your mind!?”
“Think! What Jinn and that beast could do, remember that? It’s a lot like what I saw you do in that battle!” Terra said. As Jessie looked away, she knew she had him. “You remember that? Well, I don’t know how you were able to do that, and I think I should. It might be the difference between life and death for all of us!”
“That's what I can do! It…… I can’t,” Jessie said as he looked away.
Terra felt a bit bad that she had pushed her friend that far. But she truly thought it was important that Duncan knew. Somehow, she had a feeling that Jessie hadn’t told her a few things.
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Okay, okay. I’ll stay silent about you, but you should tell the chief what you can do. It would help a lot,” Terra said. As Jessie nodded, she smiled before she walked towards the left. As she moved away, she tried to think what this was. Looking out at the shield, she couldn’t see anything out there at all. Just what was going on? What was attacking them now?
After a few moments, she looked away and walked towards her destination. She had to find out what was going on, and then they needed to handle it.
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As Jones looked at the people working from where was, he grinned. This might be the best thing that had happened to him since the others gave their lives for him. If he could get tagged as a member of the team to investigate this place, then that would turn around! Sir Bradford could then be used to help spread the word, and then everything would be better. They would conquer this world and then they would find a way home! “Everything would be better then.”
“Keep working Jones!” Zevortro’s voice caused Jones to tense.
He had been looking around, and that call was enough for him to get moving again. He didn’t want any trouble, and he knew how some would think. Anything that they could use to paint in a bad light, they would use. “Yes sir, just resting my muscles!”
“Yeah? Well, we’re almost done! Just power on for a bit and then supper will be that much better!” Zevortro said with a laugh as he worked as well.
Jones scowled and looked at Zevortro, trying to figure out where he had worked on the ship. Jones couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen Zevortro before, but where? That question was going to keep bothering him until he forgot it or found an answer.
He thrust his shovel down and felt a metallic ting and scowled. He looked down and moved the dirt around until a small square of purple was there. He nodded and took a deep breath. “Found another one! Moving on!”
“Moving on! Marking the site!” Vivis called out.
Jones looked at her and scowled as he moved. The fact that someone had to record the shape was obvious. But did it have to be her? There was something about her that bothered him. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about her that he just didn’t like.
As he found a new place he started to dig. He had no idea what the metal he found was or why it was all over. But all he knew was that the labor passed the time, and the sooner his shift was done the sooner he could eat.
As he started to dig, he looked around and saw Jessie moving towards one of the stations. He snorted a bit. At least that one knew how to look busy without doing anything. It must be nice not to worry about anything while you escape work!
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As Jessie made it to the next station, he tried to pay attention. But the idea was to tell Duncan about him and what he could do. That would require him to be completely honest about everything. How he had nanites that destroyed his DNA when his blood left his body. How they destroyed everything and left the signs of a normal human. How he could do what he could do. The can of worms that would open alone! He didn’t know what he would do if everyone knew all his secrets. How he could survive the fallout? It would change everything that so many people thought they knew about life!
He thought that maybe Terra thought he could teach people how to do what he could. But that was the farthest thing from reality that he knew. He had learned by trial and error, and even now he still didn’t know what sparked his powers!
The deckhand manning the station looked up and squinted as he saw Jessie. “Hey, Tessie? No something ending with ‘ie right? So what can I do for you?”
Jessie felt his rage spike and then he sighed. “I need to check the system. There might be a problem here.”
“Show me,” The deckhand said as he got up.
Jessie went to work and within moments nodded, sighing in relief. “Nothing. The problem isn’t here. Just keep an eye on the power drain.”
“Got it,” The deckhand said and looked at Jessie as he walked off.
Jessie could tell that the drain was only on one side. That was as far as he knew. And that was something that might be even worse. This meant that this might be the work of something alive. And that meant that this might be part of a bigger plan. He could only hope that this wasn’t the straw that broke their backs here. He could see a lot of ways that this refuge under the shield could fail. It was all he could do to keep hoping that they would win.
Looking up he saw Terra walking towards the last station and he quickened his pace. They met there and she looked at him.
“There wasn’t a drain on the others, so we can at least use that battery to help the others. What about that one?” Terra asked pointing to where Jessie had come from.
“No drain there either. This is getting weird. And a bit nerve-wracking,” Jessie said with a scowl.
“Yeah,” Terra agreed with him as they looked at the other deckhand.
“I’m sorry, a drain? On the energy. The thing powering the shield?” The deckhand asked concern in his voice. At the nod from the two, he swallowed and looked down at his console. “Please check mine.”
Jessie nodded and within seconds went to work. After looking at the readings for a few seconds he smiled and looked up. “Nothing. It’s just on the other end. Time to see the chief.”
Terra looked at him and grinned. Within seconds they had moved far enough away that Jessie could talk quietly to Terra.
Jessie looked at Terra and took a deep breath. “I’m not showing him everything. I’ll just tell him what I was. And that’s it.”
“Fine. But if you could teach others….” Terra began only for Jessie to chuckle darkly.
“That would need me to know how I can do that. And I don’t,” Jessie admitted and Terra stopped walking for a moment.
She looked at him and then she swallowed. “You don’t?! But you were so sure when you fought that thing!”
“Psychological warfare. Make the enemy think you’re stronger and they could make a mistake. It worked a few times,” Jessie admitted.
“Okay. That‘s wow,” Terra said softly. She looked at him and nodded. “I’ll keep quiet about it all, promise.”
Jessie only nodded as they reached the others.
Vivis noticed them coming and smiled. “Hey! Everything okay?”
“Just gotta talk to the Chief about something! How’s the work going?” Terra called back.
“Good! We’re going to find the end by dinner!” Vivis exclaimed.
As the two of them moved down the hill. Jessie looked at Terra. “Find what?”
“Oh, we didn’t tell you? Or the others? Well, we are all above something made of Hull plates. Void-ranked Hull plates,” Terra said as she laughed a little.
Jessie looked at her and then looked down a the dirt. The idea that they were above the hull of something that could survive the Void, was scary. For there were only two ways that they would have survived hitting it in the capsule. And both of them opened up such horrors that he almost felt dizzy. But his mind went into hyper mode and he started to try and work the problem. He knew then and there he had to tell Duncan about his past. He had a few tricks that other Bounty Hunters had taught him to deal with Hulls. With his help, they would be able to burn a hole into it by morning. “Let’s move.”