I felt disgusted. How could someone on my inside change my outside? I thought about fighting Beta, but Beta was in complete control.

Beta leapt out over the empty space. The gravity now was equal to the moon’s gravity. Beta’s hands closed on the opposite stairwell and then pulled herself up. Bullets flew from below her. Beta went higher and higher, grabbing onto the sides of the stairs and then throwing herself upwards.

In seconds she had climbed two stories, and then three more floors. The chromes were now a kilometer below. They fired stray rounds upward, but they consistently missed. After a minute of climbing up, Beta reached floor 204.

She glanced up to see the glass ceiling growing larger. There was an exit, but the door was shut. No Aerial floated outside. There was only one option, one chance of survival. She swung herself around, and then smashed through the glass feet-first.

She took her bearings, looking all around herself. She floated just where the artificial gravity of the habitat ceased. All around her, a thousand buildings stretched to infinity. She glanced up to see the opposite side of the habitat spinning above her.

Beta now passed through the zero-gravity zone and now started to fall towards the other side.

“Where’s the aircraft?” Beta muttered to herself.

I felt sick. We were going to fall and splatter on the opposite side. Suddenly a light helicopter swooped down. A pair of doors opened on the side. A cable was shot out towards Beta.

Take control now.

Feeling came back to my limbs. I looked at the life-line for a second, and then grabbed it. I was jolted forward. I flew towards the helicopter, holding tightly to the cable. I was going to smash into the helicopter at my speed. I braced myself for the impact.

Suddenly I landed in someone’s arms. I opened my eyes in shock. A giant held me in his grasp, “Nothing broken?” he asked in a soft tone.

“Um. Nothing.” I answered awkwardly.

“Good.” He released me. I floated down a couple of feet and landed on the floor.

“Take a seat, our pilot will need to make a few maneuvers.” He himself sat down in a large chair behind me. I sat in the normal-sized one and then strapped in.

“Additional Package received, preceding to rendezvous point.” A radio crackled.

The four turbines that held the helicopter aloft flipped upwards, directing their thrust backwards. The helicopter shot forward, now an airplane.

“Warning to the passengers, expect a possibility of a crash. In that case, hit the eject button as soon as possible. We only have half a kilometer of room, so I wouldn’t suggest hesitating on that.” The pilot continued.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“The Alliance has scrambled a pair of their own Aerials. Looks like they are armed with missiles, not looking so great for us. We still have three kilometers to go until we reach the docks. Oh dear, missiles have been fired……”

The Aerial darted to the left and then the right. A pair of automatic repeater guns fired behind the Aerial, attempting to take out the missiles before they struck.

“Does he always talk like this?” I asked the giant.

“Yes, in fact it is to relieve his stress because for some odd reason or other, it appears that describing his situation, no matter how dire, can be stress relieving.”

The Aerial jerked again to the side and I saw a missile pass by the open cargo-bay.

“Umm…..How close does he often cut it?” I asked worriedly.

“Very close. Those missiles always get their kill, but usually after the pilot and everyone on-board bails. I have seen every single one of the rebellion’s Aerial’s get destroyed. I never actually remember being in one that survived a missile barrage. Yet again I must stress that I have survived journeys on a dozen Aerials, and this is unlikely to be my last.”

“Attention passengers, you have permission to eject.”

I pulled the eject handle just as the giant did. The floor below me disappeared. I looked around to see the pilot also leaving the Aerial. A second later it exploded over our heads. Shrapnel rained down upon us.

The retro rockets fired, slowing the seats to a halt on a street. All the pedestrians had fled when they saw the explosion.

“Hurry!” cried the pilot. He unbuckled and leapt from his seat with a pistol in his hand. The giant unstrapped quickly and efficiently. I fumbled with the mechanism and then busted out.

The pilot led the way towards the docks. A chrome ran up towards us. The pilot shot the chrome and it fell dead.

“It’s an heirloom, very accurate, very deadly because of the….”

“If you don’t mind, Jim, I believe our task is to reach the docks.” The giant interrupted.

“I know Harry, the docks are straight ahead.” Jim pointed towards a line of warehouses, circling the interior of the habitat.

“After those, we’ll jump aboard a rebellion shuttle and get out of here. Follow me.”

Three minutes later we reached the warehouses. The massive steel buildings dominated the landscape. I never saw this part of the habitat.

Harry didn’t talk as we scurried along a narrow passage way. The silence foreboded something, something dangerous.

I felt Beta within me stirring.

Tell them to stop! There’s something not right here.

I ignored Beta. I didn’t want anything to do with her.

Listen! There was a shipment to this dock, 5 years ago. You don’t remember it, but I do.

I wondered how I couldn’t remember this creepy place. An open sewer ran through the middle of the passage. Everything was a dull metal color which glinted in the limited light.

This shipment brought special containers which rattled and shook. Terrible screams issued from them.

At this que, a screech rang out, shattering the silence. I heard the creaking of a metal door opening. Harry unholstered a pair of sub-repeaters and aimed down their barrels.

“That screeching does not bode well for us.” Harry commented quietly.

He searched around in a pocket of his utility belt. “Ah, you better have this.” He handed a large knife to me. I looked at the blade with disgust.

“Don’t worry, you can throw that and it’s just like a bullet. Also useful for hand-to-hand combat.”

“You do realize I can’t kill somebody with this thing.” I said.

“It’s a necessity, I have no other weapons to spare.” Harry shrugged.

Another screech rang out through the semi-darkness. I heard something walking on metal.

“When I say run, run.” Harry ordered. I nodded, craning my neck around looking for the unseen enemy. My heart beat against my chest. What creatures hunted us, I did not know.

“RUN!” yelled Harry. Jim and I dashed forward. Another screech sounded from behind us. I glanced backwards, and then wiped my head back. I heard the semi-repeaters firing in the distance.

Then there was a long wailing scream. I glanced back again to see Harry running forward, a black substance covering his lower body.

We kept running forward. The passage seemed to extend to infinity. Then something leapt from the rooftop into our path. That something completely blocked up our way forward. That something was a spider.