I turned away from the observation deck and sprinted down the hallway, the gel from the RADLSS almost having covered my entire body now. As I ran, I desperately tried to remember the decompression survival training I’d received a long time ago. I was already working towards step 1 – get as far away as possible from the environment breech.

  What was step two again?

  I heard the shattering of glass and the sheering of metal behind me and suddenly remembered step two.

  Stick as close to the internal walls as possible.

  I dived to the side and grabbed hold of a railing. For a few moments, I felt the air as it rushed past me, evacuating into space through the newly ruptured exterior.

  Make your body as small as possible and cover your eyes and ears.

  Doing my best to get as close to the wall as I could, I was thankful the RADLSS was managing one of the most essential components of step three for me – covering my eyes and ears.

  The flow of atmosphere halted abruptly, causing a strange, eerie stillness.

  That wasn’t so bad …

  Shrapnel suddenly filled the air, tearing the ship into pieces around me. There were flashes of light as the ongoing explosions continued, the Firecrackers grenade-like projectiles now exploding within the confines of the ship. The projectiles released from each explosion ripped apart anything they encountered, creating a cascade of debris that collided with everything in their path.

  I clung to the railing, my breath coming in shallow gasps as I tried to quell the panic flooding through my body, hoping that I could somehow avoid being hit. The wall beside me shredded apart, obliterating the foundation into which the railing was embedded, sending both me and the railing tumbling through a sea of particulates. I felt completely disoriented as I whirled around; my stomach lurched as a wave of dizziness and nausea joined my growing sense of panic.The dizzying whirl made my head spin, and all sense of direction was lost. Everywhere I looked, debris was flipping around. The shrapnel had enough velocity to cause harm, but the RADLSS gel absorbed the impacts. Even so, I could feel little pricks of pain all over my body as larger or faster objects penetrated the protective layer.

  “Argh!”

  Pain radiated throughout my shoulder as something slammed into it. The force of the hit smashed me into a wall and sent shock waves reverberating through me. When my senses finally began to clear, I found myself fastened to the wall.

  The impact must’ve created suction between the gel and the wall.

  Now that I was no longer tumbling about, I could look around and try to gain some perspective. I noted my physical condition first; there were points of pain all over my body. It radiated in my arms and legs, all over my torso, and even on my neck and head – no doubt these were all shrapnel impact sites – but everything else seemed to be intact. The worst pain was coming from the back of my right shoulder, but even that was lessening as the RADLSS gel numbed the wound.

  I peered to the right and saw a vast expanse of debris, filled with secondary collisions and the occasional explosion, silently erupting into the void. The three Empire ships were still visible in the distance, watching over the carnage they’d created. I peered to my left and saw a semi-intact hallway filled with holes and out of power. I stared into the darkness and saw something was moving towards me.

  No, someone!

  “Hey!” I shouted, waving my arms. “Over here!”

  The figure floated out of the darkness, twisting and turning. I recoiled as its torso spun into view; there was a gaping hole where its chest should be, blown clean through. The body was hit by another piece of shrapnel and its rotation ceased, leaving the wide eyed, blank stare of the dead gazing back at me. I fought a wave of nausea as the body passed by, turning away as they continued their journey on their endless float through space, and then noticed a sign on the wall opposite me; according to it, this was Section R, Deck 9.

  Bloody hell!

  That meant that the back third of the ship was completely gone, and I’d somehow gone up three decks. Some movement in my peripheral caught my attention, and I focused on the small, dark, malicious object tumbling into view. A chill ran down my spine – it was a Firecracker projectile.

  Maybe this one is a dud? Perhaps it won’t detonate?

  A wave of dread washed over me as a red glow suddenly appeared in the depressions of the ordinances surface, and I knew right away that it was about to detonate. I raised my arms up in front of me, a defensive action that felt like I was doing something and at the same time was probably entirely pointless.

  There was a flash – the detonation – then a wave of light washed over me, the light passing right through my arms, making them almost translucent, illuminating the bones and veins in my arms like some sort of x-ray. Then my left forearm exploded; a projectile ripped straight through the RADLSS and into my flesh and bone.

  Time seemed to stand still as I watched, horrified, as chunks of my arm, destroyed flesh, bone, and blood shot in all directions. My arm was destroyed, but the projectile didn’t cease there as I watched it continue forward, crossing the short distance between where my forearm had been and where my upper arm still was. Again, the protection of the RADLSS gel was no match for the energy being imparted by the shredded piece of shrapnel, which after the massacre of my lower arm, had now embedded itself in my bicep.

  I was aware of the speed of everything, yet it felt so slow in my mind, my brain attempting to give me a chance to react and lessen the destruction – there was no way to avoid this devastation. I stared as the metal bore through the muscle and into the bone, sawing through the triceps and out the other side. The RADLSS had sealed over the end of my destroyed arm and now the gel was expanding as the remnants of my arm swelled. For an instant, I thought it might hold, that maybe the metals destruction had stopped. But then, like a macabre balloon, the gel burst and more of my arm was flung into the dark vacuum of space.

  The projectile slammed into the wall behind me, and suddenly I was dislodged and tumbled around once more thanks to the force of the exploding wall. My body rag-dolled left and right as the cascade of destruction continued to unfold around me. I slammed into the body that had drifted by earlier; the collision bounced me downwards, somewhat stabilising my own trajectory.

  Suddenly, my nerves registered the absence of my left limb, and a searing pain erupted throughout my body.

  “Aaarrrggghhh!”

  It felt like my arm was still there, and this phantom limb was on fire – the burning agony was shooting through my stump into my body. I wanted to do something, anything, to stop the pain, but what could I do?

  I screamed again, pain and frustration blending together.

  Then the pain started to subside, and I stared at the stump of my arm; the RADLSS gel had expanded over the wound, sealing it in and restoring suit integrity, as well as applying its numbing agents. I took in a deep breath and focused, releasing the pain as I exhaled. What to do now?

  Step 4 of decompression survival training: after the decompression, make your way to a pressurised area as quickly as you can.

  I was still drifting through space and now looked around – was there a pressurised area I could make my way to? Up ahead, I saw what I was looking for: the open entrance to a hallway that still had power.

  My current flight path was too wide, though – I was going to miss the passageway – but then I noticed a large piece of structural steel floating up ahead.

  That’s what I need.

  As I passed by the beam, I pushed off it with my right arm, altering my course.

  Not perfect … but close enough.

  I looked ahead and saw I was still slightly off to the side, but at least I was heading in the right general direction. As I drew nearer, I noticed the jagged edges of the entrance – which made sense, considering it had been ripped apart. This was going to hurt. I worked out that my upper half lined up with the hallway, but my legs were going to hit the wall around the opening.

  Moments later, my left leg hit a relatively flat area, whilst my right leg hit part of the jagged, ripped edge, the metal spikes driving themselves through the gel and into my thigh.

  “Unngghh!” I groaned as a fresh source of pain spread through my body.

  The collision bounced my legs back outward, yanking them off the spikes with another burning surge of pain, whilst my upper half continued moving forward, rotating me, and sending me headfirst into the hallway.

  At least I’m inside the ship again.

  I floated down the hallway, scanning left and right, looking for any nook or cranny that might serve as a safe harbour.

  There – a supply closet!

  As the closet came into reach, I slammed my fist into the control panel, triggering the door to open. The force of my strike sent me sideways, where I bounced off the opposite wall and tumbled into the closet, hitting the control panel within to close the door behind me.

  With my adrenaline wearing off, the shock of the situation was setting in. My entire body ached with a dull, pulsing pain that seemed to grow with each passing second. I felt my head spinning and my eyelids drooping – I assumed my blood pressure was dropping, and my body was urging me to faint, to collapse onto the ground and let my blood flow more easily to my head.

  Who am I to resist such urges?

  I felt my eyes close, and my body slumped forward as the world faded away.

  [)
  I lost track of time, vaguely aware of the growling of my stomach and the dry ache in my throat as I faded in and out of consciousness. The strength I’d gained back during the weeks in the cabin was seeping away, and I grew weaker by the day. My injuries prevented me from getting up and going to an escape pod or a docked vessel; I knew my situation was dire. I was starving, dehydrated, and cold. Life support still seemed to be on, which was probably the only reason I hadn’t been frozen or choked to death already, but if help didn’t arrive soon, I would be a dead man. I didn’t care about my life, though.

  Hell, this world would probably be better off without me in it.

  What I did care about was Amorina and Emma. I hoped that they’d survived the Empire’s attack, that they’d been escorted to an escape pod and gotten off the ship, or if they were still here, that they were safely contained within the engineering core and would soon be found by rescuers.

  There would be rescuers, right?

  There had to be. Surely somebody would come and find them. Suddenly, sparks lit up the darkness at the far end of the supply closet. Something, or someone, was cutting through the metal safety shutters. The sparks continued, and a red glowing circle slowly appeared as the glowing metal shards continued to shoot out and rain down. When the circle was complete, the circular cut-out fell to the floor, the vibrations of its collision with the floor reverberating around the room. An Arachnobot scuttled into the room, followed by beams of light.

  Head torches?

  Several lights entered the room and walked through the darkness towards me. How long had I been here? Who were these people? Were they people? Did they belong to the Republic or the Empire? I raised my remaining fist, unsure of whether I had to fight these approaching figures.

  “Easy there, mate. It’ll do you no good startin’ a fight. You’re with friends, you are. Let us do the rescuing, aye?” said an oddly familiar voice.

  “Yo re fry ends?” I asked, my speech barely intelligible. “Re bub like?”

  “Of a sorts, mate, of a sorts. Don’t you worry; we’ve got you. You just lie back now, and we’ll hav’ you back on your feet in no time at all!”

  The Arachnobot had now scuttled up onto my lap and jittered about.

  *Are you okay, Raith?* the text scrawling along its back read.

  “Bitsy?”

  *Yes, it’s me.*

  Huh – maybe I am among friends after all.

  [)
  I awoke to a bright fluorescent light that filled the room. I attempted to sit up but was met with a sharp, stinging sensation as my head struck the low ceiling above me, producing a loud, echoing thump.

  “Ow!” I cried as I fell back onto the bed.

  “Easy there, mate.”

  I looked to my right and saw a grizzly, older man sitting beside me. It took me a moment, but suddenly his face registered.

  “Arty?” I exclaimed.

  “In the flesh, mate.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Long story short, our mutual acquaintance had the good sense not to disband the Insurgency after the fall of the Empire. Should our enemy ever arise again, we’d ‘ave to be ready to rise too.”

  Our mutual acquaintance? That had to be Zavis, surely.

  “Where are we?”

  “In the medical bay of the ship we’re on. Nothin’ special, but good enough to do what we need it to.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “Via your little friend o’ course. The jailbreaking your bot got all those years ago saved your life. An Insurgency installed ‘n’ accessible tracking system – led us right to you, it did.”

  I chuckled. Wasn’t it funny how the choices of the past affected the actions of the present? The feeling of joy that had filled me was suddenly replaced by unease.

  “Did you find anyone else on the ship? In any of the ships?”

  “I’m sorry mate, we didn’t. Yours was the only life sign amongst a whole lotta bodies.”

  I felt a shiver course through me, and my skin prickled with goosebumps.

  “There was … there was no one else?” I whispered.

  Arty slowly shook his head.

  My heart dropped as the implication of Arty’s confirmation sank in: Amorina and Emma were out there, dead and adrift in space.

  They couldn’t be dead.

  “Where are we? In space, I mean – I know we’re on a ship.”

  “We’re still in the Gliese 570 system.”

  “Show me –” I cut my sentence short as I reached out with my arm, only to realise there was no arm there.

  As I stared down at the empty air where an arm should be, the events that took my arm came rushing into my mind. I slowly lifted my head and looked at Arty; his expression softened into a knowing, sympathetic look.

  “Yeah … you’re a … well, you’re short an arm. No easy way to say it, mate. On the bright side, though, you’ve met your weight loss goals for the year.”

  I would’ve smiled on any other occasion, but right now, I only wanted to cry, shout, and scream.

  “This ship doesn’t have the equipment or the parts to set you up with a replacement, but we cleaned it up the best we could. Shaved off the rough edges and applied a trauma kit to seal it up.”

  I looked down at the metal cap that now enclosed the end of my stump. It wasn’t pretty, but it was functional.

  “Thanks.” With the shock wearing off, my mind returned to its previous priority. “Can you help me up, please? Show me the wreckages.”

  I needed to see it for myself, to prove that it was real. I couldn’t believe it was real. I didn’t want to believe it was real.

  It can’t be real … it can’t be!

  Arty reached an arm behind me as I swung my legs out of the recess in the wall where the bed sat. Every movement hurt, and I winced as my body tried to support its weight.

  “Yeah … you’re gonna hurt for a while, mate. We fished sixty-one pieces of shrapnel out of your body, plus you got some deep cuts in your leg, and your shoulder was pretty banged up too,” Arty explained, listing my injuries. “An’ your arm, of course.”

  “I don’t care about my injuries – just take me to a window!”

  “Alright, mate.”

  Arty walked me through the ship, and the further we went, the more it felt like this was all real.

  It can’t be real.

  I had to be hallucinating. This was just some fever dream as I lay dying in the supply closet, my hunger and thirst finally catching up with me.

  It can’t be real.

  Yet with each step, with each painful contraction and expansion of my muscles, it felt real. Arty’s arm, wrapped around me, supporting my weight and helping me stand, felt so real.

  It can’t be real.

  It couldn’t be real … because the truth would be too much if it were.

  We rounded a corner and stepped into a small observation lounge, a large window dead ahead. Gaia was immediately visible in the distance, that beautiful green orb I called home. But the view wasn’t beautiful – it was hell. As I took in the destruction, a numbness spread through my body, and a piercing white noise filled my ears.

  “It’s real,” I whispered as my eyes moistened.

  The Horror had moved in on its target, ploughing into the ruined fleet as it had moved closer to Gaia, sending the carcases tumbling off into space, where they were now being dispersed into the orbit of Gaia’s trinary star system, forming a great cloud of death and debris.

  “Oh god … it’s real, all of it is real,” I whispered, as the first tear rolled down my cheek.

  The Horror had destroyed my home, stripping Gaia of its greenery and now seemed to be sucking up its ocean.

  It’s real.

  My wife was dead. My daughter was dead. Tynan had killed them.

  All of this is real.

  Their bodies were in a cold orbit, alongside thousands of other murdered people, in a floating grave of shrapnel and debris.

  “Nooo!” I screamed, my entire body trembling as tears poured down my face.

  My legs buckled beneath me, and my bodyweight, light as it was, was too much for Arty to handle on his own. I dropped to the ground, feeling the impact of the hard floor, but the physical pain didn’t register. How could it in comparison to the overwhelming emotion surging through me? My body quaked uncontrollably, and my soul ached as a deluge of grief cascaded through me, wave after wave piercing the core of my being, tearing it apart and leaving me shattered.

  “No, no, no, no!” I cried as if my shouts could somehow erase what I was seeing … and somehow bring them back.

  My sobs reverberated around the room, and my anguish was the only sound to be heard. I could see a blurry reflection of Arty in the window, his face set in an expression of helplessness, unable to offer any words of comfort. I looked out the window, past Arty’s reflection, at the Horror, its great swarming tendrils tearing apart my home, the only home I’ve ever known. It was taking away my dream, my farm – the farm I was supposed to grow old on with my family and their families – the farm that would’ve held my grave. Now, it was all being consumed, gobbled up into the belly of the beast. But for all the Horror had done, it hadn’t killed my family.