(This is a Repost... as I don't know what kind of craziness was going on the first time I posted it. O.o!)
What sounded like an explosion rocked the ship, and what had moments before been a pleasant exercise session turned into a panicked scramble for the bars lining the rooms walls. As the rocking grew more severe, if felt like the entire ship was tearing itself apart, and the grinding squealing sounds it was making as it did were enough to liquidize what little courage the men and women of the crew had.
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What sounded like an explosion rocked the ship, and what had moments before been a pleasant exercise session turned into a panicked scramble for the bars lining the rooms walls. As the rocking grew more severe, if felt like the entire ship was tearing itself apart, and the grinding squealing sounds it was making as it did were enough to liquidize what little courage the men and women of the crew had.
"What's happening?" Soo the re-entry pilot shouted
at nobody in particular as she reached the navigation bar fastened to the wall.
"How the heck should I know?" Jerek, the
nutritionist, reaching the bar next hollered back assuming, as was his usual,
everyone was talking to him. A habit that he obviously didn't drop even during
a crisis such as this one.
"Where is that coming from?" Zaile, research lead,
screamed as she reached the bar almost on top of Greg, physical therapist, who
yelled, "What's going on?" at the same time.
"Everyone to the suits!" Barney, the maintenance
guy, ordered, taking charge in a bad situation. This would have likely
surprised everyone had they not just recently become aware of how short their
lives were likely to be.
With direction now, everyone began pulling themselves
towards the door leading towards the suits.
* * * * *
Yawning, Brett couldn't care less what the
instructors were saying. His father had worked ship construction his whole
life, and Brett came to it naturally. There wasn't anything more complicated to
be found in this warehouse than he's already encountered at his previous job.
Drumming his fingers silently on the table at the back of the room, he let his
mind wander, dreaming of one day maybe piloting one of the ships himself. He
knew that wasn't likely. You had to be rich to afford all the pilot training
courses you needed... but it was nice to dream sometimes...
* * * * *
As Barney was pulling the door to the exercise room
too, a second explosion threw them all into the wall opposite the door and a
scraping, crashing sound accompanied what was supposed to be a stationary bike
as it lodged itself into the corridor, tearing through Barney and contorting
him into a gruesome mockery of a human form between the bike and the wall.
"Don't stop!" Soo sobbed out, hurrying behind the
rest of them as they climbed the ladder in the access corridor. Their only hope
was to make it to the suits and from there straight into the emergency life
pods... They had to make it... what was happening to the rest of the crew...
what was happening to the ship...
* * * * *
Lifting the panel into place, Brett couldn't believe
how lucky he'd been. Coming out of the last warehouse with a less than stellar
work history, he had assumed his future in ship assembly was over. His father
had of course been livid... but it wasn't his fault they fired
him. Just because he didn't brown nose the boss like all the other guys did
during training, he'd been constantly harassed since he started. Every time he
made even the tiniest mistake, the shift lead would jump down his throat like
he'd done it on purpose.
Now he was working for an even larger assembly house,
and sure... he'd had to move to get the job, but he was 'way' over qualified
for this work, and the money was great.
"What are you doing!" the boss's voice shouted out
from right behind him.
Jumping and dropping the panel as he did, Brett whirled
around angry at being surprised.
"If I have to tell you again not to use the external
housing inside the ship, you're going to spend the next year
sorting through the used materials! Do I make myself clear!"
"Yes sir..." he muttered looking down at the
ground as he did.
* * * * *
There weren't enough suits... this wasn't the way it
was supposed to be. Safety regulations specifically required that every ship
carried enough suits to protect every crew member in every station. There was
one too few suits for all of them, and they couldn't go out in the safety pod
without a suit.
"What are we going to do?" Greg shouted as soon as
they realized there weren't enough suits for all of them, "Someone's going
to have to go out without a suit! Someone's going to die! What are we going
to... Oh my God!"
Soo turned to see what he was pointing at and the
sudden panic that snared her had nothing to do with the increasingly violent
sounds the rest of the ship was making around them. Zaile was thrashing,
aimlessly with a screwdriver sticking out of one of her eyes as Jerek took the
suit she'd been holding and pushed it towards her.
"We didn't need her," he said in a voice too calm
for the chaos of their current situation, and not at all balanced with what
he'd just done.
"What did you do!?" she screamed, "What's
wrong with you!?" she continued not taking the suit drifting towards her.
As he was putting his suit on Jerek responded, still
in the too calm voice, "Somebody was going to die, we don't have time to
talk about it, if we don't get out of her right now we're all going to die,
would you rather we all died, I did what I had to do."
Pulling her suit on as her stomach violently
threatened to empty itself, Zaile's blood had been sent drifting across the
room by her thrashing, Soo knew they didn't have time to discuss this... but
what was wrong with Jerek?
* * * * *
These last few years had been rough for him. Brett
learned the hard way that after being fired from two of the largest ship
manufacturers in the country, it was a little harder to get another assembly
job. Even the autocraft manufacturers wouldn't hire him, and working in food processing
didn't pay nearly as well.
He'd heard some rumors though. Supposedly one of the
primary assembly shops was getting bought out by their competitors... and his
father used to have quite a bit of sway with this particular shop. Maybe if he
talked to the right people...
Only two months later he was manufacturing lead of a
crew of about 20 guys, and all the nightmare problems his lead
had dealt with in him was repaid in spades. Lazy workers, incompetent workers,
workers that just stopped showing up altogether... they were lucky to get anything built.
Next year they were going to bid on a rather important contract, and if he
could show them how amazing a lead he was... Going back down to the floor, he
knew he had an uphill battle ahead of him.
* * * * *
Pulling the launch lever, the shuttle began
separating from the ship. As the seal broke and the stabilization gel
filled the pod, Jerek began thrashing in his straps. He could feel the gel
oozing along his back. It shouldn't be getting into the suit! I sealed
the suit! Oh God it Burns! Tearing confusedly at the releases for the
suit, his vision was quickly swallowed by the gel as it seared the flesh of his
eyes.
Soo stared aghast towards where she knew Jerek was
thrashing as his screams faded from the com. Something was wrong... did she
really care? Too many people had died.. did anyone else even make it out? As
the environment in the pod stabilized, and the gel became transparent, she
looked over to see if Greg was okay. He was staring at Jerek with a sick
expression on his face.
"I... had to do it..." Greg's voice came through
the com, "He... he killed Zaile... we couldn't trust him Soo... we don't
know who he'd have killed next..."
She didn't understand, and said as much, "What did you
do?"
"I cut his suit. When we were sealing the pod, I took a
torch to the back of his suit... We couldn't trust him Soo..." he
stammered.
She didn't know what to feel anymore. Too much had
happened in too short a time. It seemed like forever ago they had all just begun
their daily workout... and now... only she and Greg were still alive, drifting
off in a life pod... with Jerek's dead body... dead because Greg killed him...
It was all just too...
The sharp sound of something metal straining as if against a
incredible force cut through the shuttle.
* * * * *
This new kid reminded him a lot of himself when he'd
been younger. All attitude, and constantly in a hurry. He refused to fire him
though. Not only would that make things more difficult as he was about to
retire, but he would prove that if you just worked with someone, you could help
them grow. Look how far he'd come. Taking a deep breath, Brett
spoke in only a low yell.
"Okay, one more time kid, and if I have to repeat
myself again... I'm sending you down to used parts," a slight tingle at
that niggled the back of his mind, but he shook it off, "I need you to put
together these last few consoles for the navigator. Remember, this ship is
heading out further than any ship they've sent before. The only reason you get
to work on this project is because your dad spoke highly of your attention to
detail. So tell me then, why are you using the old bolts for these
casings?"
"Sir," the kid responded, almost sincere
sounding... but he knew that most kids were just waiting till you turned around
to say what they really thought, "all the newer bolts were left outside.
The containers were full of water and some of the bolts had already begun to
rust."
"Are you freaking kidding me!" he shouted back.
They had to get this project finished before he could claim his full retirement
sum, and he wasn't about to let something stupid like a few rusty bolts stop
that.
* * * * *
It took less than a minute for the life pod to tear itself
apart.