As Albedo took to his command chair on the bridge, the rest of the crew manned each of their stations, as they continued to morn the loss of the three men. Albedo remained stoic as he glanced upward to the main view window. It wasn’t so much about Milo or Mike anymore, though it still wounded his heart, but now it was for the youngest and most innocent of the group, Pete. The newbie crew member hadn’t even made a significant impact on his career yet, and now, he wouldn’t have one at all. The poor kid probably didn’t expect his life to take a turn for the worst when he got up this morning. Gloria saw the look in his eyes, and stepped over with concern.
“Captain?”
“It’s nothing…” He answered back. “Just… a lot to take in… ya know?”
Gloria sat in the opposite chair beside Albedo, and patted his hand in comfort. She knew this was the burden of command, one he’s never had to face before, and sympathized.
“It wasn’t your fault.” She said.
He let out tired exhale and closed his eyes. “The captain is responsible for the lives of the crew. I’m going to have to answer for this one, Gloria, the corporate heads will want answers. Not to mention the families and the ECU security council.”
Gloria gave no response back to him about that. He was right, of course, this was going to spark a major inquiry. The company and the ECU security council especially would be a hassle, knowing full well that they would have to deal with his command decisions, but having to explain it all to the families as well. Anna looked on to him, she wasn’t sure what she could say or do to help her brother in the moment. She just leaned against Greg’s arm, and sighed.
“Jesus! What the—what?” Greg exclaimed as he peered at the main viewer.
Anna was puzzled by his outburst, she looked up at it as well, and did a double take, as if she wasn’t sure what was happening.
“Holy! Holy shit!” Anna gasped.
Everyone quickly turned to look and were shocked by the image. Like a nightmare slasher film, Roberto, the robot, burst out of the top of the asteroid as if the layers of rock were in its way. It’s drilling arm smashed through, sending shards of rock hurling about into space, and pelting The Calista as it sped over from the force of the explosion. The robot climbed out of the gaping hole it had made, and directed its attention towards the ship.
“That ain’t right…” Gloria soon added, standing up in horror.
“Well, there’s something you don’t see everyday, huh?” Gimpy scoffed in amazement.
“Tell me you’ve fixed that robot, Chaz.” Albedo glanced over at him, after a long gawk as well.
Chaz spun around back to his console and frantically tapped on the controls.
“That’s not possible!” He stated, looking panicked and perplexed. “He shouldn’t even be online, I swear! I haven’t even powered him back up yet!”
Roberto thrusted out of the hole, using its two back jets on full throttle, and quickly headed towards the Calista as fast as it could. Albedo’s eyes widened in fright, as did everyone, in that moment. He joined Chaz at his console and frantically patted on his shoulder.
“Come on, man! Don’t be fucking around with me, now’s not the time, Cuz!”
“I swear to you, that’s not me.” Chaz shrieked back. “The robot shouldn’t be doing anything. I switched off its power core completely!”
The crew watched helplessly as the robot drew closer and closer, its drilling arm reached out in front, as if to use it as a deadly weapon. Chaz turned back to look at the main window, and gawked at the sizeable robot heading for them.
“It won’t respond… god damn thing, it won’t respond to any of my commands. Shit!”
Albedo ran back to his chair and slapped on a button on the arm rest. A loud alarm whooped, followed by flashing red lights dotted around the room.
“All hands! All hands!” He shouted into his chair’s intercom. “This is the captain, emergency! This is not a drill, emergency! Lock down the ship, close all ports, seal the main loading-docking door. Move! Move! Move!”
Albedo barked orders to everyone on the bridge.
“Gloria, you Anna and Greg, get those decks sealed. Everyone here, let’s try to move the ship out of the way, and see if we can’t stop it from charging at us.”
“Aye-aye!” They all yelled in unison.
Gloria, Greg and Anna bolted out of the bridge. They headed down the corridor and took to the elevator to head down below.
“We’re not going to make it in time.” Greg grumbled as the doors closed.
“Shit, one of us has to head all the way down to the engine room.” Gloria stated. “Those five nitwits have no idea what is going on.”
Gloria had almost forgotten about those guys.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I’ll get after them.” Anna said. “They’ll need a hand to shut down the containment barrier.”
“Right…” Gloria nodded. “But don’t do it until Greg and I are in the clear. I’ll signal you, got it?”
Anna nodded back. The elevator was taking its dear sweet time, as always. Though, it probably felt longer since they were in a rush. The minute it touched to the floor Gloria wanted, she crammed her way past the doors as they opened, and held onto Greg’s arm to drag him along. Anna stayed on and blew her man a kiss. He mouthed “I love you” back and was soon gone from sight as they rounded the corner. Anna pounded on the controls, hoping the action would make the door close faster. It didn’t, but she did hurt her fist, and yelped in pain. She used her other hand to tap the button to send the elevator down.
* * *
In the engine room, nobody had a clue as to what was going on. Then again, the crew up top never really filled them in half the time. They’d all been busy doing their jobs, not too long ago, with the music of choice playing loudly in the background. But when the red flashing lights came on, and Captain Albedo’s dire warning cut through the cacophony they were immersed in, the group took note immediately and went into action. They’d been trained for such events, space was a dangerous place, and anything can happen out here.
Chuck started shouting out orders to them all, this was no drill from the sound of Albedo’s desperate voice coming through the speaker. The twins, Shawn and Nate, went around turning off valves, moving equipment out of the way, and sealed off the exits. Lewis and Izzy tended to the engine core, by switching on the plate shielding, rising up out of the floor and sliding down from the ceiling, to cover the exposed engine from any chance of fire or micro-meter damage. There was always a chance the outer hull would be venerable to those nasty little rocks.
Chances of it happening were rare, at best, but again, you don’t take anything lightly out in deep space. Once everyone was done, they switched positions and re-checked each other’s safety measures. Everything had to be secured and ready for any kind of event. And that was the problem, they didn’t know what was going on at all. Chuck wondered if they somehow got too close to an asteroid, or one of the working crew in a pod, outside the ship, was out of control and about to ram them.
The alarms and lights flashing were still going strong, this made the men nervous and gathered around Chuck, as they looked for answers.
“What the hell is going on, man?” Lewis yelled in frustration as he joined the mini-meeting.
“Yeah, what’s the word, man?” One of the twins motioned.
Chuck was never sure who was who when either twin was speaking, they had the same features, mannerisms and even dressed alike. Usually one was more vocal than the other, so, he was sure it was Shawn, or at leased hoped he was. Though, it could be Nate, he’d just have to take a wild guess. The twins really liked messing with everybody about which was which. Chuck believed they liked it that way. But, this wasn’t time for games, he quickly took a stab in the dark.
“You know as much as I do, Shawn.” He glanced over at him. “Whatever it is, it must be something serious.”
“Maybe we should get into the crash room?” Izzy said with a worried look in his eyes.
The crash room was a vital area all engine rooms were equipped with. A secure, yet small boxed in section that kept the workers safe during extreme crisis. It was located in the middle of the room, underneath the floor, and built like a bunker. It was made out of super thick steel, hermetically sealed, and had enough oxygen to last about two weeks. Provided that there’s a rescue vessel within able to reach them in that span of time. As far as anyone knew, there’d never been any incident that required that long a wait for such a rescue.
Nate and Shawn quickly ran over to the section of floor, and removed the grates covering the hatch for it. They then unlocked the dual locking wheels, and lifted the ultra-heavy door open.
“Shit,” Lewis groaned while glancing over at them prying it up. “Do we really have get in there?”
“You want to live, ya damn pussy?” Nate stated, as he ran past with a grate flooring in hand. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“It’s protocol,” Chuck conceded. “The engine is secure, and until the all clear is given, I think you boys better be safe.”
“What about you, Chuck?” Izzy stated while heading for the hatch.
“I’m going to turn off the energy barrier in the main bay, hopefully they’ve closed all the inner hatches around it.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes, damnit!” He shouted back. “Now go, will ya!”
Izzy took a minute to think, glancing over at the Crash Box, and then back over at Chuck. He turned about and headed straight for him. Chuck saw what Izzy was doing and yelled at him.
“What are you doing ya idiot?”
“Helping you out, you’re going to need it.”
“I’m fine…”
“The bloody hell you are, mate.” Izzy stated back. “I’m not leaving until I know you’re good too.”
“Come on, this is serious.” Chuck motioned his hand about. “We don’t have time to fuck around!”
“We’re not…” Lewis returned and stood by Izzy’s side. “We’re The Underdog Boys, remember? We’re family for life.”
Nate and Shawn looked at each other as they were about to step into the Crash Box, they nodded, stepped back out, and joined the others as well.
“Ride or die, that’s us boys…” Nate smirked.
“If we hurry, we can still make it.” Shawn stated, while folding his arms.
“You guys are all stupid.” Chuck said as he stared at them. But then a smile grew on is face and conceded to their choice. He gave a light shrug in response, followed by a gesture of this thumb. “Alright you morons, Stupid is that way, let’s get it done then.”
As the group started to head back to the engine, Grace came sprinting into the room and glared at them all.
“What the hell, guys! Haven’t you locked this down yet?”
“Keep your pantyhose on there Grace,” Chuck retorted. “We’re on it, okay? The boys and I are going to finish up and then head into the box…”
“There’s no time for that now!” She shouted. “The robot, Roberto, has gone haywire and is on the way at full speed.”
The group looked at each other with confused faces. Even Chuck wasn’t sure what she was worried about.
“That’s what this was all about? We’re colliding with the robot? Shit, man… I thought one of the asteroids was off course and about to sideswipe us.”
“The robot ain’t going do nothing to this hull, that thing will bounce right off…” Shawn snickered.
Grace had no time to talk. She ran past the group and started the procedure to lock the engine room down. The other followed behind and helped her. They still looked confused about the emergency, but continued to help nonetheless. As she tapped not console buttons, triggering the doors to close off all entry points of the room, Chuck took to the other side of the computer and finished the rest of the sequence.
“What’s going on Grace?” He grumbled at her. “What’s got you so spooked about this? It’s just a robot drifting about.”
Grace slapped the last button, and bitterly glared at him.
“It’s not drifting about. It’s heading straight for us. The damn thing has gone crazed and on the attack. It’s not obeying our override commands and is aiming straight for the mining bay. You get me, Chucky-boy? We’re not in control of it.”
“Oh…” He stated, blinking once. Then, it suddenly struck of what she meant. “Oh shit… that’s not good at all.”
With a final tap on the console, she sealed the last door.
“No it’s not.”